"
On the day of election General McClellan resigned his commission in the
army, and the place thus made vacant was filled by the appointment of
General Philip H. Sheridan, a fit type and illustration of the turn in
the tide of affairs, which was to sweep from that time rapidly onward to
the great decisive national triumph.
XXXIII
The Thirteenth Amendment--The President's Speech on its Adoption--The
Two Constitutional Amendments of Lincoln's Term--Lincoln on Peace and
Slavery in his Annual Message of December 6, 1864--Blair's Mexican
Project--The Hampton Roads Conference
A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution
prohibiting slavery throughout the United States had passed the Senate
on April 8, 1864, but had failed of the necessary two-thirds vote in the
House. The two most vital thoughts which animated the Baltimore
convention when it met in June had been the renomination of Mr. Lincoln
and the success of this constitutional amendment. The first was
recognized as a popular decision needing only the formality of an
announcement by the convention; and the full emphasis of speech and
resolution had therefore been centered on the latter as the dominant and
aggressive reform upon which the party would stake its political
fortunes in the presidential campaign.
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