Little Omnibus battle

 Let's return to the Omnibus bill of 1850. Stephen Douglas succeeded where Daniel Webster had failed and brought the provisions through the Senate in small bites instead of at a single gulp. Getting the provisions through the House would be another battle.

The laconic and handsome Linn Boyd would spearhead the effort in the House. Howell Cobb of Georgia was Speaker of the House, which contained members who were often hot-headed and undisciplined. Cobb picked Boyd from those clamoring for attention on August 29. Boyd moved to add creation of the New Mexico and Utah Territories as an amendment to the Texas border bill. He soon dropped the Utah amendment, and argued, so that none would doubt where he stood, that he was for union and the Constitution. He proclaimed that he was for union not only as protection against foreign aggression, but "for the more important reason that it protects us from on another."

Joseph Root of Ohio wanted to add the Wilmot Proviso to the bill. McClernand rose to oppose the motion. Cobb repeatedly ruled the Southern members out of order on their attempts to delay the bill. Boyd, with Douglas' constant help, battled against the chaos that reigned in the chamber. Votes swayed back and forth. The bill's fate teetered on the edge between success and failure. 

On September 5, Boyd refused to allow any more amendments to be offered for his bill for fear that they would cause the bill's demise. He moved previous question to call for a vote on the bill, but the question failed. "Long John" Wentworth of Illinois wanted to send the bill back to committee to add selected amendments. Cobb ruled that his proposed amendments could be considered separately. After an amendment calling for the Wilmot Proviso to be implemented in the new territories was voted down, Cobb ruled against a second division of Wentworth's motion, reversing his ruling on the basis that it had applied to a new motion, which Wentworth's motion had then been, but with a number of votes having taken place since, the motion was no longer new and could no longer be divided. Thus the only vote left on the motion was whether it should go back to committee. Cobb's ruling was upheld by a vote, and Wentworth's motion and amendments were defeated. 

Robert Toombs then proposed an amendment which, although hidden in innocuous terms, would establish slavery in the New Mexico Territory, but the trickery was detected and nullified by slashing some of the language from Toombs' proposal. 

September 6, Cobb recognized Volney Howard of Texas, who moved for reconsideration of a third reading of the compromise bill, which had been voted down the day before. The vote carried. Finally, the bill itself could be voted on. The little omnibus bill passed by 108 to 97.

The next day the California Statehood bill passed. After heated debate, the Utah Territory bill also passed. The fugitive slave bill passed on September 12. 

Washington celebrated. Stephen Douglas gave an impromptu speech, declaring the nation united from shore to shore with the mighty west as the connecting link. Millard Fillmore proclaimed, "The long agony is over."

The above is summarized from Chapter 26 of Fergus Bordewich's America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas and the Compromise that Preserved the Union.  

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I finished a short story yesterday. By "finished" I mean the first draft is complete. I'll do a read through and send it to my Skirmish Team for comments and criticism before I submit it. It's tentatively titled "A Stardust Memory."

 I also finished Jed the Dead by Alan Dean Foster. I had heard good things about it, and it was on sale for a buck or two. The story is about Ross Ed who finds a dead alien in a desert cave on his way from Texas to California. He continues his journey and encounters people along the way who help or hinder him. The government definitely falls into the hindering category. He ends up on the run from the military, people who want to use the alien to attract other aliens, and those looking to make big bucks from the intergalactic corpse. I have to admit that I couldn't get attached to Ross Ed or any of the other characters, and the story, although intriguing at times, couldn't consistently hold my interest. The text of the ebook had errors on almost every page, as if the book had been scanned with faulty OCR technology. I'm a fan of Foster, but this one didn't reach me. I give it 3 out of 5 road kill rabbits.

Don't forget, the first trilogy in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series is on sale, as is Smoke. See the links at the top of the page.

Omnibus Resurrection

 

Steve A. Douglas

 His Omnibus Bill defeated, Henry Clay left Washington, but the "steam engine in britches" Stephen A. Douglas would attempt to collect the pieces of the failed bill. He concluded that combining the various provisions into one bill had united the opponents of the various measures instead of securing friends on the specific issues. He declared he would get California statehood passed as well as the bill for New Mexico. He would depend on constant off-record negotiations and, something which Clay had lacked, presidential support.

Douglas introduced the California bill on August 1, but soon realized he would have to deal with the Texas issue first. August 5, he and James Pierce (who's incompetence had pierced the heart of the Omnibus bill) presented a bill giving Texas the shape it has today. Texas received more land that it would've under the Omnibus, but it it would receive $10 million from the Federal Government in 5% stock -- which was more than enough to pay off the debt it had banked on paying with the taxes and duties it could raise as an independent republic. President Fillmore provided the stick to the bill's carrot by warning Texas that New Mexico constituted federal territory where Texas had no legitimate claims--warning the Texas militia that armed force would be deployed against any efforts to enforce Texas law in the territory.

The Texas matter pitted the Unionists against the radical southerners who were pushing for secession. One of the latter, David Yulee, declared that the right of expansion, or the Liberty of Growth was indispensable to the slaveholding south. He followed by calling for a new Constitutional Convention to renegotiate the compact of Union to give the southern states control of one legislative body. 

The Texans, realizing that there was no better deal coming for them, joined with the union senators for passage of the bill. In a few days, Douglas had achieved a significant result which had eluded Clay over several months. Three days later, he pushed the California issue.

The admission of California would make the slave states a minority. Sam Houston threw in vote for California Statehood. "If we are men, let us meet the difficulties which have come upon us like men." Several southern senators joined as well, and Douglas had scored a second victory.

The New Mexico bill soon followed and passed as well. Douglas had three victories, and left Washington on business to avoid voting on the Fugitive Slave Bill, which provided draconian powers for the recapture of escaped slaves and was aimed at destroying the underground railroad. The bill ultimately passed with an unrecorded vote.

Douglas had succeeded on all points--provided the House passed the bills as well.

The above is summarized from Chapters 24-25 of Fergus Bordewich's America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas and the Compromise that Preserved the Union.

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I've already mentioned my next story to be published, "Love under a Purple Sky," in Raconteur Press' Space Cowboys 6: Fission Chips. My copies of Cursed Canyon arrived this week as well. It's chocked full of rip-roarin' tales of rootin' tootin' cowboys and their encounters with the strange, eerie, and weird. You'll want to read my story, "Letters in the Mail," to catch up on the exploits of Rufus and Glen, along with the other accounts of the fantastic and unfamiliar.

The Compromise compromised

 "Few things are certain in this life, however shrewdly a man may plan." -- Raphael Sabatini -- The Black Swan

Fun Fact:

Back to 1850 and the Great American Compromise. The matter of Texas in Clay's Omnibus bill was tentatively resolved by the Dawson Proviso, an amendment stipulating that New Mexico would not be allowed to exercise any authority east of the Rio Grande until the boundary commission had drawn a line that satisfied both Congress and the Texas Legislature. In other words, Texas had veto power over the boundary issue. Naturally, this brought Texas in to support the Omnibus. However, Stephen Douglas and others saw that Texas, having a de facto border established at the Rio Grande by the proviso, would never agree to anything less. 

James A. Pearce of Maryland moved to strike the entire Texas and New Mexico section of the Omnibus and reinsert it without the Dawson Proviso, as an unreasonable capitulation to Texas. Henry Clay saw all his hard work would be undone by Pearce. Clay and his friends tried to dissuade him from the maneuver, but Peace carried on. David Yulee seized the occasion for a maneuver of his own, asking if Pearce would consent to allow them to vote separately on the deletion and reinsertion provisions. When Pearce agreed, they voted for the deletion, but before the reinsertion vote, Yulee made a motion to delete everything still in it that related to Texas. His motion passed. With Texas unsatisfied, the Omnibus was critically wounded and leaking blood in shark infested waters. The predators moved to strike the portions relating to New Mexico, and then to California--each passing and leaving the Omnibus a hollow shell, with Utah remaining as the lone passenger. That issue was voted on and passed a few days later with little opposition. 

Defeated, Clay left Washington. Would anyone step up to fill the gap?

The above is summarized from Chapter 23 of Fergus Bordewich's America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas and the Compromise that Preserved the Union.

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 Check out my new book page with also includes magazines and anthologies featuring my short stories. Two more will be added soon.

"Let him fire!" The debate heats up

 

"My opinions, even if I were the president of the United States, are neither important nor necessary." - Zachary Taylor

Fun Fact:

Henry Clay's 1850 Omnibus Bill for the admission of California as a free state; establishing territorial governments in Utah and New Mexico, leaving the question of slavery to those states to determine; establishing the border of Texas to exclude New Mexico; paying Texas' debts; not abolishing slavery in D.C. but prohibiting the slave trade there; and recognizing that Congress had no power to prohibit the slave trade between slave holding states, consumed months of debate in the Senate.

A variety of plans and amendments were presented. Some carved California into multiple states; some split Texas into two or more states. Only Clay's plan left Texas intact.

Clay received the support of Stephen Douglas, and Lewis Cass railed against the Southern Democrats and their desire for an effective veto over any legislation. Senator Tom Benton argued in support of admitting California--although he opposed the omnibus compromise bill as a concession to those who threatened seccession. Senator Foote seized the opportunity to ridicule Benton with veiled reference to his daughter eloping with John C. Fremont--and challenged Benton to a duel. The feud between Benton and Foote would later boil over on the Senate floor during debate. 

Foote decided to support the compromise, and Benton determined to sway the Senate against it or destroy it with amendments and prolonged debate. At one point Benton offered 9 amendments to the bill which would leave it a useless husk. The amendments were continually voted down, but Benton simply offered more of the same ilk.

Foote at last gained the floor to defend Clay and the bill; he repeated a claim that Benton had taken bribes. Benton leaped to his feet and came at Foote. The latter backed away and as Benton drew close, he drew a horse pistol from his vest. Vice-president Fillmore, presiding over the Senate, shouted for order, and senators dragged Benton away from Foote. He broke away from the holds, bearing on toward Foote again, who pointed the pistol at him.

"Let him fire!" Benton cried, tearing open his coat and shirt to bare his chest. "Let the assassin fire!"

Other senators pried the gun free and locked it in Foot's desk. Naturally, Benton, who had initiated the appearance of a physical attack, raged that a pistol had been brought to assassinate him, and Foote's protestations of possessing the pistol for defense only went unheeded. A committee formed later to investigate the incident did absolve Foote of wrong doing, finding he had drawn the pistol in self-defense.

The above was gleaned from several chapters of Fergus Bordewich's America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas and the Compromise that Preserved the Union.

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Well, sometimes the chickens come home to roost - and that can be a good thing. I've recently submitted 3 short stories for publication and yesterday I learned that the third one was accepted for publication. That's three stories in a row with notices coming in three successive weeks. The competition was said by the editor to be particularly fierce for this third publication, and I'm ecstatic that my story made the cut. I do have a fourth story submitted and another that needs editing before I submit it.

I've started writing an adventure novel for boys. The idea didn't spark my interest when the call for submissions first came, but I finally decided that I am uniquely qualified to write great adventure books for boys. First, I have been (and always will be) a boy, having started at a very young age. I knew a lot of boys growing up. Not only did I read a lot of old adventure books as a boy, I now write adventure in various genres. My writing may be at its best when creating and relating exciting action and boundless adventure. In fact, last week, one of my readers shared a similar observation and noted that my use of historical themes and strange creatures hits the bull's eye. I'll cop to that charge.

Daniel Webster's Speech of 1850

 Before I get to some of the stirring quotes from Daniel Webster, let me share some stirring news of my own. I doubt it will be quoted like Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, but it's almost as meaningful for me. I signed a contract yesterday for the publication of another one of my short stories. I finished and submitted it last month. It will come out in an anthology early next month, and I''ll be sure to post a cover picture and link.

In addition, I'm about to finish another short story and submit it for consideration. I'm down to the final thousand words. I had a wrestle before the computer screen about how to construct a satisfying ending from the materials I brought to the project through the telling of the story to the two-thirds point. From that point the story must reach an exciting confrontation, which was already in progress, and resolve the tension the unanswered questions and conflict created. It's always the latter that is tougher to handle. It's easy to create questions, uncertainty, and tension. Resolving that is where too many stories and story tellers fall short. For further info, check out my posts on my writing philosophy of The Trauma, The Drama, and The Dream, or my presentation on the subject.

 

 Fun Fact:

I'm currently reading Fergus M. Bordewich's book America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas and the Compromise the Preserved the Union. The quotes below are from the Congressional Record as given in the book. So far, this book is excellent. It presents a fascinating account of the men and circumstances surrounding the Congressional debates of 1850 concerning the admission of Texas, and states from the territory gained in the war with Mexico. The slavery issue yawned like a great gulf that separated the factions in congress and threatened to divide the nation. After Henry Clay had presented his 8 point proposal for a compromise, and it had been debated and denounced by the extreme wings of the major factions. Daniel Webster spoke for four hours in support of the proposed compromise in a way that only he could do. It made him enemies all around and did not resolve the matter. Here are a few portions of it:

“In all such disputes, there will sometimes be found men with whom everything is absolute; absolutely right, or absolutely wrong. They deal with morals as with mathematics; and they think what is right may be distinguished from what is wrong with the precision of an algebraic equation. They have, therefore, none too much charity towards others who differ from them. They are apt, too, to think that nothing is good but what is perfect, and that there are no compromises or modifications to be made in consideration of difference of opinion or in deference to other men’s judgment. If their perspicacious judgment enables them to detect a spot on the face of the sun, they think that a good reason why the sun should be struck down from heaven. They prefer the chance of running into utter darkness to living in heavenly light, if that heavenly light be not absolutely without any imperfection.”

“I hear with distress and anguish the word ‘secession... Secession! Peaceable secession! Who is so foolish, I beg everyone’s pardon, as to expect to see any such thing? Who sees these states, now revolving in harmony around a common centre, and expects to see them quit their places and fly off without convulsion, may look the next hour to see heavenly bodies rush from their spheres, and jostle against each other in the realms of space, without causing the wreck of the universe. Peaceable secession is an utter impossibility. Is the great Constitution under which we live, covering the whole country, is it to be thawed and melted away by secession, as the snows on the mountain melt under the influence of a vernal sun, disappear almost unobserved, and run off? No, sir! No, sir! I will not state what might produce the disruption of the Union; but, sir, I see as plainly as I see the sun in heaven what that disruption itself must produce; I see that it must produce war. “Peaceable secession! Where is the line to be drawn? What states are to secede? What is to remain American? What am I to be? An American no longer? Am I to become a sectional man, a local man, a separatist, with no country in common with the gentlemen who sit around me here, or who fill the other house of Congress? Heaven forbid! Where is the flag of the republic to remain? Where is the eagle still to tower? Or is he to cower, and shrink, and fall to the ground? What is to become of the army? What is to become of the Navy? What is to become of the public lands? How is each of the thirty states to defend itself? To break up this great government! To dismember this glorious country! To astonish Europe with an act of folly such as Europe for two centuries has never beheld in any government or any people! No, sir! No, sir! There will be no secession!”

"[L]et us come out into the light of day. Let us not be pigmies in a case that calls for men. Let us make our generation one of the strongest and brightest links in that golden chain which is destined, I fondly believe, to grapple the people of all the states to this Constitution for ages to come.”

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There are few things that ring so true with regard to modern problems as the wise words of earlier statesmen. Unfortunately, those on opposite sides both attempt to bend those words to serve their own cause. Compromise held the nation together until those sectional divisions finally burst the frail seams of the agreement. Eventually--especially when one side's positions become more and more extreme, running away from the middle ground rather than toward a compromise position, the rift must open and swallow both progress and the hopes for a peaceful solution. 

Speaking of solutions to difficult questions: Check out Truth in Flames for some lively debate about independence amid fire and fury.