Fessenden's experience and known ability at the head of the Finance Committee,his acceptance would go far toward reestablishing a feeling of security.He said to him,very earnestly,'Fessenden,the Lord has not deserted me thus far,and He is not going to now--you must accept!'
"They separated,the Senator in great anxiety of mind.
Throughout the day,Mr.Lincoln urged almost all who called to go and see Mr.Fessenden,and press upon him the duty of accepting.Among these,was a delegation of New York bankers,who,in the name of the banking community,expressed their satisfaction at the nomination.This was especially gratifying to the President;and in the strongest manner,he entreated them to 'see Mr.Fessenden and assure him of their support.'"[4]
In justification of his choice,Lincoln said to Hay:--"Thinking over the matter,two or three points occurred to me:first his thorough acquaintance with the business;as chairman of the Senate Committee of Finance,he knows as much of this special subject as Mr.Chase;he possesses a national reputation and the confidence of the country;he is a Radical without the petulance and fretfulness of many radicals."[5]In other words,though he was not at heart one of them,he stood for the moment so close to the Vindictives that they would not make an issue on his confirmation.
Lincoln had scored a point in his game with the Vindictives.
But the point was of little value.The game's real concern was that Reconstruction Bill which was now before the Senate with Wade as its particular sponsor.The great twin brethren of the Vindictives were Wade and Chandler.Both were furious for the passage of the bill."The Executive,"said Wade angrily,"ought not to be allowed to handle this great question of his own liking."On the last day of the session,Lincoln was in the President's room at the Capitol Signing bills.The Reconstruction Bill,duly passed by both Houses,was brought to him.Several Senators,friends of the bill and deeply anxious,had come into the President's room hoping to see him affix his signature.To their horror,he merely glanced at the bill and laid it aside.
Chandler,who was watching him,bluntly demanded what he meant to do."This bill,"said Lincoln,"has been placed before me a few minutes before Congress adjourns.it is a matter of too much importance to be swallowed in that way.""If it is vetoed,"said Chandler,whose anger was mounting,"it will damage us fearfully in the Northwest.The important point is that one prohibiting slavery in the Reconstructed States.""That is the point,"replied the President,"on which I doubt the authority of Congress to act.""It is no more than you have done yourself,"retorted Chandler.
Lincoln turned to him and said quietly but with finality:"Iconceive that I may in an emergency do things on military grounds which can not constitutionally be done by Congress."Chandler angrily left the room.To those who remained,Lincoln added:"I do not see how any of us now can deny and contradict what we have always said,that Congress has no constitutional power over slavery in the States."[6]
In a way,he was begging the question.The real issue was not how a State should be constitutionally reconstructed,but which,President or Congress,had a right to assume dictatorial power.At last the true Vindictive issue,lured out of their arms by the Democrats,had escaped like a bird from a snare and was fluttering home.Here was the old issue of the war powers in a new form that it was safe for them to press.And the President had squarely defied them.it was civil war inside the Union party.And for both sides,President and Vindictives,there could now be nothing but rule or ruin.
In this crisis of factional politics,Lincoln was unmoved,self-contained,lofty,deliberate."If they (the Vindictives)choose to make a point on this,I do not doubt that they can do harm.They have never been friendly to me.At all events,Imust keep some consciousness of being somewhere near right.Imust keep some standard of principle fixed within myself."
