Hampton Roads Conference
The Hampton Roads Conference was an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate an end to the American Civil War. On February 3, 1865, near Fort Monroe in Newport News, Virginia, aboard a ship, the River Queen, President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward, representing the United States government, met with Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, Senator Robert M. T. Hunter, and Assistant Secretary of War John A. Campbell, representing the Confederate States of America (CSA).[1]
Francis P. Blair had speculated that the war might be brought to a close and the two embattled areas of the nation reunited by directing the armies of both areas to attack Emperor Maximilian in Mexico, but that topic did not come up.[2]
The conference lasted for four hours, but no agreements were produced. President Lincoln dominated the proceedings. The three men who represented the Confederacy made little or no impression on those who represented the Union, and were not authorized to accept any offer, other than independence. The Confederate commissioners immediately returned to Richmond at the conclusion of the conference. The war was to continue.
[edit] Lincoln's position
President Lincoln's positions were these:[3]
- He disapproved of the joint attack on the French in Mexico.
- He wished for "the voluntary abolition of slavery by the southern states.
- He refused to consent to any treaty with the Confederate government.
- After their surrender, he was in favor of re-admitting representatives of the Southern States to Congress.
- He favored the payment by the Federal Government of a fair indemnity to the former slaveholders.
- He would not weaken the Emancipation Proclamation.
- The complete restoration of the Union must be the final result of the war, or the war would continue to be fought.
The Confederates insisted on independence, and no agreement was reached.[4]
[edit] References
- Harris, William C. "The Hampton Roads Peace Conference: A Final Test of Lincoln's Presidential Leadership," Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Jan 2000, Vol. 21 Issue 1, pp 30–61 online
- Hampton Roads Conference in Encyclopedia Virginia
- Nicolay, J. G. and John Hay, "Abraham Lincoln: A History. The Hampton Roads Conference" The Century (Oct 1889) pp 846–852
- Sanders, Charles W. Jr. "Jefferson Davis and the Hampton Roads Peace Conference: 'To secure Peace to the two countries'." Journal of Southern History 63 (November 1997): 803–826.
- "Hampton Roads Conference", The New York Times, July 22, 1895
