Sold – Van Buren Gives the Clearest Statement of Support for the War, Lincoln Made by a President
He “approved of the call which had been made by the President...to suppress the Rebellion and...was in favor of the earnest & vigorous support of the Federal Government in the prosecution of the war for its own maintenance & for the maintenance of the .
Van Buren saw early, and feared, the prospect of civil war. When President, he determined to do all he could to promote sectional harmony, and that meant supporting a number of pro-Southern measures such as the gag rule in the House of Representatives. However, feeling that the admission of Texas as...
Van Buren saw early, and feared, the prospect of civil war. When President, he determined to do all he could to promote sectional harmony, and that meant supporting a number of pro-Southern measures such as the gag rule in the House of Representatives. However, feeling that the admission of Texas as a slave state would fan the flames of confrontation and risk disruption of the Union, Van Buren opposed it, declining to negotiate a treaty of annexation. His opposition to the annexation of Texas eventually damaged his career, as it denied him the 1844 presidential nomination of his Democratic Party. In 1848, he ran for President on the anti-slavery Free Soil ticket but was not a factor in the election. When the Civil War broke out, despite political differences with the Republican administration of President Lincoln, he threw his support squarely behind the administration and the war effort.
I… was in favor of the earnest & vigorous support of the Federal Government in the prosecution of the war for its own maintenance & for the maintenance of the Union and the Constitution which had been forced upon it.
When war came in 1861, there were five former presidents living: Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Tyler joined the Confederate Congress, which was a clear enough statement of his views. Pierce barely gave lip service to supporting the cause, but indiscreetly gave evidence of personal pro-Confederate sympathies. He openly opposed the Lincoln administration and was widely excoriated by his New England neighbors. Buchanan made one statement in a private letter supporting the President’s calling for volunteers, and the armies in the field, but otherwise preferred to remain silent. Fillmore supported the war effort but not the Lincoln administration. So two Presidents had pro-Confederate sympathies and two gave overall support to the war, but somewhat equivocally, not to Lincoln and his policies. Only one former President was foresquare in approving of the war and the Lincoln administration both, and that man was Martin Van Buren.
What follows must be the clearest and strongest statement of support for the Civil War and President Lincoln given by any former U.S. President. Letter Signed, Lindenwald, New York, November 28, 1861, to young John Habberton, then a typesetter for Harper Brothers. “I received your letter of the 31st October on the eve of a visit to the western part of this state from which I have just returned. You ask whether I have made ‘any public manifesto regarding the questions of the day’, and give as your reason for making the enquiry that you are engaged in compiling a diary of the times, and wish to substantiate all you commit to paper. Early in the month of May last, a Union meeting of the citizens of Kinderhook was called, and a portion of my townsmen, who had been instrumental in making the call, gentlemen who differed from me in their general political views, did me the honor to ask me to advise with them in regards to its proceedings. My opinion and feelings upon the subject to be acted on were freely communicated to them. These were, in substance, that the attack upon our flag and the capture of Fort Sumter by the secessionists could be regarded in no other light than as the commencement of a treasonable attempt to overthrow the Federal Government by military force – that I approved of the call which had been made by the President upon the loyal states for the necessary means to enable him to suppress the Rebellion and rejoiced at the manner in which that call had been responded to, & was in favor of the earnest & vigorous support of the Federal Government in the prosecution of the war for its own maintenance & for the maintenance of the Union and the Constitution which had been forced upon it.
“These opinions I requested one of the gentlemen to communicate to the meeting as my views of the subject which would call them together, which was done. The sense of the meeting was expressed by the unanimous adoption of the following resolutions, which met my approbation. They were published in the newspaper printed in the village of Kinderhook, accompanied, editorially, by this declaration:?‘We were also gratified by the assurance that our distinguished townsman, ex-President Van Buren, was in favor of the immediate suppression of treason & rebellion.’ ‘Resolved, that forgetful of all past political differences, we pledge ourselves heartily to the support of the Government & the Constitution, and will devote ourselves with unanimity &?patriotic zeal to the suppression of rebellion and treason, for the maintenance of the laws and the supremacy of the Union at all hazards. Resolved that, while deploring the advent of civil war, which the madness of secession has precipitated upon us, we believe that policy and humanity alike demand the most vigorous and energetic measures to crush out treason now & forever; and that we will fully sustain the Government in such policy.’
“These declarations to my townsmen are the only avowals of my opinions on the subject referred to which have been made for publication. They have, at no time, undergone the slightest change and have been freely repeated in conversation to my friends &?neighbors and to all others who have asked to be informed of them.”
Van Buren died in 1862 and never saw the policies he supported here succeed. As for the recipient, Habberton, that same year he enlisted in the army and served through the war. He went on to become a noted author and journalist, with an editorial position on the New York Herald.
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