ost part, became rebels, and
in the North those who did not unite with the Union party generally
passed under the control and leadership of the peace Democracy.

At the beginning of the war, the creed of the Union party consisted
of one idea--it labored for one object--the restoration of the
Union. Slavery, the rights of man, the principles of the
Declaration of Independence, were for the time lost sight of in the
struggle for the Nation's life. As late as August, 1862, President
Lincoln wrote to Mr. Greeley: "My paramount object is to save the
Union, and not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could
save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I
could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I
could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also
do that."

Slowly, gradually, after repeated disasters and disappointments,
the eyes of the Union leaders were opened to the fact that slavery
and rebellion were convertible terms; that the Confederacy,
according to its Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens, was founded
upon "exactly the opposite idea" from that of Jefferson and the
fathers. "Its foundations," said he, "are laid, its corner-stone
rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white
man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his
natural and normal condition." Mr. Lincoln and the Union party,
struggling faithfully onward, finally reached the solid ground that
the American government was founded on the broad principles of
right, justice, and humanity, and that, for this Nation, "Union and
liberty" were indeed "one and inseparable."

The leaders of the peace Democracy were for a time overwhelmed by
the popular uprising which followed the attack on Fort Sumter, and
were not able during the year 1861 or the early part of 1862 to
mark out definitely the course to be pursued. But, like the Union
party, they gradually approached the position they were ultimately
to occupy.

Their success in the autumn elections of 1862 encouraged them to
enter upon the pathway in which they have plodded along
consistently if not prosperously ever since. Opposition to the war
measures of Mr. Lincoln's administration, and in particular to
every measure tending to the e