Amnesty
Posted May 28th, 2009 by RChadwick
In "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief", James McPherson mentions Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ sharp response to the idea of President Abraham Lincoln perhaps offering amnesty.
"Amnesty, Sir, applies to criminals. We have committed no crime. At your door lies all the misery and crime of this war … We are fighting for Independence—and that, or extermination, we will have … You may emancipate every negro in the Confederacy, but we will be free. We will govern ourselves … if we have to see every Southern plantation sacked, and every Southern city in flames."
Respectfully,
Randy