Social/Political Issues – Page 4 – The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

By David A. Carrino, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2014-2015, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the February 2015 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

The acclaimed movie Lincoln focuses on passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. But before this Thirteenth Amendment was even conceived, there was another proposed Thirteenth Amendment that was far different in its intended objective than Lincoln’s Thirteenth Amendment. This Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on March 2, 1861, two days before Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration. In contrast to Lincoln’s Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, this other Thirteenth Amendment protected slavery by denying to Congress the power to pass either laws or a constitutional amendment to interfere with or abolish slavery. Moreover, Abraham Lincoln publicly expressed support for this Thirteenth Amendment.

By David A. Carrino, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2015-2016, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the January 2016 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

The opening lines of the official state song of what was once one of the 13 original colonies are as follows. “The despot’s heel is on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland. His torch is at thy temple door, Maryland, my Maryland.” In light of the uncomplimentary things that were written in the Declaration of Independence about King George III, it is not surprising that the state song of one of the 13 original colonies refers to a despot. But what may be surprising to many people is that the despot referred to in the state song of Maryland is not George III, but Abraham Lincoln. In other lines Lincoln is referred to as a tyrant and a vandal, and near the end of the song there is a line that calls opponents of secession “Northern scum.” These sentiments are expressed in this song because this song, which is titled “Maryland, My Maryland,” was not written at the time of the Revolutionary War, but was written in late April of 1861 as a poem urging Maryland to secede from the Union. In spite of the fact that the song advocates secession, “Maryland, My Maryland” remains the state song of Maryland.