This intra-cabinet public contretemps delighted Democratic leaders like New York lawyer S. L. M. Barlow, who urged Edwin M. Stanton to foment even greater dissension within the Republican ranks: “Such quarrels should be fostered in every proper way.” Stanton was in a good position to do so, for he had become close to Cameron. Acting on Barlow’s advice, Stanton recommended that the war secretary incorporate into his annual report a paragraph on the emancipation and arming of slaves. Stanton perused the draft report closely and suggested the following addition: “Those who make war against the Government justly forfeit all rights of property, privilege, and security derived from the Constitution and laws against which they are in armed rebellion; and as the labor and service of their slaves constitute the chief property of the rebels, such property should share the common fate of war. … It is as clearly the right of the Government to arm slaves, when it may become necessary, as it is to use gunpowder taken from the enemy.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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