The Great Event of the Session

Mr. Forney, in his letter to the Philadelphia Press, says:

The passage of the bill by the senate, yesterday evening, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, is the great event of the session. You must not be misled by the fact that, because none but Republicans voted for it, therefore it is obnoxious to those who did not go for it on the final vote. With about four exceptions, nearly all the opposition favored emancipation in some shape. This is certainly true of Senator Wright of Indiana, Senator McDougal of California; Senator Henderson, of Missouri, and Senator Willey of Virginia. The colonization policy, originating with the able Senator, Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin, was engrafted on the bill by a decisive vote – an amendment that will be most satisfactory to the President, who is known to favor this course, by having suggested it in his annual message. The fate of the bill in the house is easy to predict, but the sooner it is passed into law the better for all concerned. The effect of this great act of deliverance will be most healthy in this country and in the Old World. It shows that the statesmen of our day are not afraid to meet the issue of the political campaign, and the war campaigns; and also that while there is every determination to strike at slavery wherever this can be done, there is no purpose to exercise doubtful powers to ignore the constitutional rights of any portion of the people.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, April 16, 1862, p. 2