Iowa
Old Press
The Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa
January 3, 1863
"We believe that he (Lincoln) has violated the most solemn
of all oaths over and over again. We believe that for the purpose
of giving liberty to the slave he has enthralled the freemen and
while life lasts and our present convictions are retained, we
will oppose him and counsel opposition to the bitter end. What
right has he to play the usurper over men as free as he? What
right has he to burden the country with an ever-eating,
never-satisfying debt? What right has he to destroy the nation as
he has and then proceed to render it forever abject as he does.
The people who submit to the insolent fanaticism which dictated
this last act (emancipation proclamation) are and deserve to be
enslaved to the class which Abraham Lincoln self-sufficiently
declares free. If they possessed a tithe of the spirit which
animated Rome when Catiline was expelled from its walls, or of
their own immediate ancestry who went to war for an act which
seemed to encroach upon their liberties, they would hurl him into
the Potomac, Cabinet, Congress and all."
[contributed by Dubuque co. IAGenWeb, Sept. 2015]
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The Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa
January 8, 1863
"On January 6' Mahony spoke of Lincoln as "a brainless
tyrant, a perjured public servant, a blundering partisan, a
buffoon President."
The Dubuque Herald continually misunderstood and
misconstrued the objects of the war, if its statements are to be
believed. At all times it insisted that the object was to free
the slaves and establish a despotism, that "save the
Union" was a mere pretext; that the freed slaves would be
poured on the North to the ruin of free white labor; that the
freed slaves would be used by the Federal officers to aid them in
stealing the cotton of the South. The fact or the northern view
seems never to have entered Mr. Mahony's head, or else he was
playing the cards for the Secessionists living in this county. He
said "emancipation and re-Union are incompatible objects of
the war; he who is for emancipation must be for dis-Union, for
emancipation is dis-Union with the South. As the South can never
be conquered the war should stop." He resumed connection
with the Herald January 1, 1863, and said:
"I shall continue to advocate the application of
constitutional principles to the administration of the
government, not only with a fervor unabated by my temporary
subjection to arbitrary power but with a zeal stimulated with a
zealous regard for American liberty, by the experience which I
have acquired, by how easy it is to subvert the best government
of nations and to subject millions of freemen to the outrages of
a military despotism."
[contributed by Dubuque co. IAGenWeb, Sept. 2015]
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The Dubuque Daily Times
Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa
January 8, 1863
The Dubuque Daily Times of yesterday announces, probably
by authority, that Governor Kirkwood has decided not to enforce
the draft. The results elsewhere attending this "indication
of government authority' have not been so encouraging as to
enamor his excellency with the system, and so we go free. The
'exempt brigade' can burn up their tickets of physical debility
and inability; they are not wanted. The war is getting to be a
little unpopular and the draft unhealthy.
[contributed by Dubuque co. IAGenWeb, Sept. 2015]
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The Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa
January 16, 1863
"Camp Franklin is now desolate, not a solitary soldier
inhabiting a single barrack. The governor says that no more
troops will be rendezvoused in Dubuque, so notoriously
secessional is the character of its leading citizens. The
governor does us proud by clearing us of all charges of
Abolitionism."
[contributed by Dubuque co. IAGenWeb, Sept. 2015]
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The Dubuque Herald
Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa
January 18, 1863
"Has not the proclamation of emancipation discouraged
enlistments? has it not demoralized the army? has it not united
the South to a man? has it not disaffected the border states? Is
it not the crowning act of Lincoln's folly?"
[contributed by Dubuque co. IAGenWeb, Sept. 2015]
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The Dubuque Daily Times
Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa
January 20, 1863
Train's Lecture Last Evening. --Globe Hall was well filled last
evening to listen to the lying renegade from Massachusetts. Rebel
sympathizers were there--men who have sons in the rebel army were
there--men who pray daily that our armies may be overthrown (the
only prayers they ever make) were there--and all of them
applauded to the echo his infamous lies and treason. Ah, well,
let the poor fool lie and talk. If it were not for the sweet
pleasure it gives the Tories here we wouldn't care a fig for the
effect of last night's lecture.
[contributed by Dubuque co. IAGenWeb, Sept. 2015]