The Shadow of Treason in the Territorial Legislature
Local pro-Union editors call out their colleagues and legislators for harboring sympathy for the Confederacy.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In the Territorial Legislature of Washington Territory, which recently met at Olympia, there were several such men who were elected as democrats. They professed to be Union men, but their acts showed that they were not Union men. Hon. Miles S. Griswold, of Pacific county, introduced resolutions of support for the Union, the Constitution, and the administration of Mr. Lincoln. The men elected as democrats to the Legislature deliberately voted against these resolutions, and as plainly as men could say by their votes, they declared: 'We are opposed to sustaining the Union, the Constitution, and the laws.' Although the resolutions were lost, they served to place upon the official records the fact that the majority of the members of the Washington Territorial legislature do not possess sympathy for the Government.
“The men elected as democrats to the Legislature deliberately voted against these resolutions, and as plainly as men could say by their votes, we are opposed to sustaining the Union.”
This reflects the volatile political climate of Washington during the Civil War, where local loyalty was constantly tested. The rhetoric mirrors the intense partisan polarization seen in contemporary Washington State politics, where the definition of 'patriotism' and loyalty to federal versus local interests remains a point of heated debate.
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