“First principles were never more important.”

William Goodell, January 1866

During Black History Month, it is worthwhile examining some of the writings of Lavinia Goodell’s father, Reverend William Goodell, a lifelong abolitionist.

During the Civil War years, William Goodell was the publisher of The Principia, an anti-slavery newspaper. Lavinia assisted in all aspects of the publication process from writing articles to preparing the papers for mailing to serving as editor-in-chief in her father’s absence. By 1865, Lavinia had taken a job as a teacher in Brooklyn, and her parents had retired to Connecticut. The Principia continued publication until 1866, with J.W. Alden at the helm.

The period from 1865 to 1867 was known as Reconstruction, the goal of which was to reunite the North and South and ensure the rights of freed slaves. In January of 1866, William Goodell wrote a lengthy letter to J.W. Alden, which was published in the February 8, 1866 issue of The Principia. In it, Goodell expressed his frustration with Reconstruction and lamented that many northerners seemed to be forgetting why the war had been fought. He wrote:

First principles were never more important, more needed, or less heeded than at present. “Let bygones be bygones,” say politicians, looking over both shoulders for votes, and richly deserving none from either. “Let bygones be bygones,” re-echo rebel sympathizers at the North, who are watching the weather vanes and holding their ears close to the ground to catch the first undulations of sound from every quarter. “Let bygones be bygones,” say editors, who, like mariners, trim their sails to the breeze, and prefer to navigate smooth waters. “Let bygones be bygones,” respond the unrepentant rebel slaveholders, in full chorus, with Presidential pardons in one hand, and whips in the other.

Goodell went on:

The question is daily asked, What can the President’s (Andrew Johnson) object be in pressing a reconstruction with Southern rebels, excluding loyalists, and putting the latter under the heels of the former? The most common conjecture is that he is calculating upon the votes of the southern rebels in connection with the votes of Northern Copperheads and shaky Republicans, to re-elect him to the Presidency.

Referring to the recently ratified Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, except as punishment for a crime, Goodell said:

Already the New York Herald is putting out its feelers, by arguing that Jefferson Davis has been guilty of no crime; has only fulfilled the duties of a Democratic statesman by obeying the will of his constituents! Look next at the President’s assumption of the old doctrine of “State rights” in practically conceding that to the states belong exclusively the determining of the status of its inhabitants. How much is the Constitutional amendment worth under such an admission?

A little wholesome attention to the past – to “bygones” – might teach editors and politicians what to expect from “the very same policy,” now. And pray, how did “the very same policy” carry us successfully and gloriously through the war? Was it by acting on the defensive in carrying the war into the enemy’s camp. Was it by employing pro-slavery generals, known to be in sympathy with the rebels and relieving from command those Generals who, on the contrary, pioneered the policy of emancipation that had to be finally adopted? Was it by employing our soldiers to protect the property (the slave property of rebel slaveholders, instead of making war upon them? Was it, in one word, by deferring the work of justice, and refusing to welcome Southern loyalists to the defense of their country, until driven to it by stern necessity, when the nation was gasping for breath?

But I must stop. It is so long since I have had a medium of communication with my old anti-slavery associates, and I now see so many things to be said, that I knew not where to begin. So, for once, I have loaded a blunderbuss, with the materials at hand, and let fly. But “the more scattering the fire, the less chance to dodge.” I find I have not hit half my game; and must load again.

Sources consulted: “J. W. Alden – From My Rural Retreat, I Hail the Re-appearance of the Principia;” Letter written by William Goodell, published in The Principia on February 8, 1866.