U.S. Representative and The Thirteenth Amendment
Rollins was elected to Congress in 1860 as a Constitutional Unionist. He defeated Independent Democrat John B. Henderson. Rollins was elected again in 1862, this time as a Unionist, defeating Radical Republican Arnold Krekel.
During the Civil War, Rollins remained a Unionist, and voted for most war measures in Congress. But his stands on slavery and African-American rights were more conservative than those of the dominant Republican Party. He opposed a measure allowing blacks and Indians to enlist in the war, on the basis that this policy would offend Southerners. He also stated that the Emancipation Proclamation was legally void, and only defensible as a military necessity.
In Congress, Rollins introduced a bill to build a transcontinental railroad, passed as the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862. He also advocated the Morrill Act of 1862, providing funding for state agricultural colleges.
Rollins’ support of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, played a key part in its passage by Congress, sending the amendment to the states for ratification. The Senate passed the bill easily on its first vote on April 8, 1864, but the House defeated it twice in 1864 before passing it on January 31, 1865. Rollins initially voted against the bill. Shortly before the third vote, President Lincoln personally asked Rollins to support the amendment, as necessary to preserve the Union. Rollins agreed to do so. On January 13, 1865, two days after the Missouri Constitutional Convention abolished slavery there, he spoke for the first time for the amendment, in a lengthy and persuasive speech to Congress. With Rollins’ support, the amendment passed with the required two-thirds majority with just two votes to spare.
Read more about this topic: James S. Rollins
Famous quotes containing the words thirteenth and/or amendment:
“Just as the French of the nineteenth century invested their surplus capital in a railway-system in the belief that they would make money by it in this life, in the thirteenth they trusted their money to the Queen of Heaven because of their belief in her power to repay it with interest in the life to come.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“Every family should extend First Amendment rights to all its members, but this freedom is particularly essential for our kids. Children must be able to say what they think, openly express their feelings, and ask for what they want and need if they are ever able to develop an integrated sense of self. They must be able to think their own thoughts, even if they differ from ours. They need to have the opportunity to ask us questions when they don’t understand what we mean.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)