Abraham Lincoln’s journey to Washington continues, as he travels from Ohio to Pennsylvania. It is a rainy day, but large crowds greet Lincoln at his stops throughout the day. The uppermost question on everyone’s mind is that of secession: how will Lincoln deal with the seceded southern states upon his inauguration?
Meanwhile, in Montgomery, delegates to the Confederate States of America convention have coalesced around Jefferson Davis (Mississippi; pictured) and Alexander Stephens (Georgia) as provisional president and vice-president of the CSA. An editorial in today’s Charleston Mercury expresses the feelings of many white southerners, Baptists included:
Southern men here are delighted — no other word will convey the fullness of their satisfaction — at the election of DAVIS and STEPHENS, and the established fact of an organized Southern Confederacy. All predict a happy and proud future for the new Republic, and I have yet to see the man, with a spark of fire in his breast, who does not openly express his desire to share your fortunes, whether for weal or woe. Constitutional liberty, freedom from Abolition outrage, freedom from a negro equality and military despotism — these are priceless blessings.”
Source: Lincoln’s journey to Washington (link)
