Hampton Roads Conference The Hampton Roads Conference of February 3 , 1865 , was a peace conference held by high officials on both sides to discuss terms for ending the American Civil War . President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H . Seward , representing the Union , met with three commissioners from the Confederate States of America ( CSA ) : Vice President Alexander H . Stephens , Senator Robert M . T . Hunter , and Assistant Secretary of War John A . Campbell . The representatives discussed a possible alliance against France , the possible terms of surrender , the question of whether slavery might persist after the war , and the question of whether the South would be compensated for property lost through emancipation . Lincoln and Seward reportedly offered some possibilities for compromise on the issue of slavery . The only concrete agreement reached was over prisoner - of - war exchanges . The Confederate commissioners immediately returned to Richmond at the conclusion of the conference . CSA President Jefferson Davis announced that the North would not compromise . Lincoln drafted an amnesty agreement based on terms discussed at the Conference , but met with opposition from his Cabinet . John Campbell continued to advocate for a peace agreement and met again with Lincoln after the fall of Richmond on April 2 . The war continued until April 9 , 1865 . Overtures for peace . In 1864 , pressure mounted for both sides to seek a peace settlement to end the long and devastating Civil War . Several people had sought to broker a North – South peace treaty in 1864 . Francis P . Blair , a personal friend of both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis , had unsuccessfully encouraged Lincoln to make a diplomatic visit to Richmond . Blair had advocated to Lincoln that the war could be brought to a close by having the two opposing sections of the nation stand down in their conflict , and reunite on grounds of the Monroe Doctrine in attacking the French - installed Emperor Maximilian in Mexico . Lincoln asked Blair to wait until Savannah had been captured . South . Davis was pressed for options as the Confederacy faced collapse and defeat . Peace movements in the South had been active since the beginning of the war , and intensified in 1864 . Alexander Stephens . Stephens , Vice President of the CSA , had by 1863 became an active advocate for ending the war . Stephens had almost begun negotiations with Lincoln in July 1863 , but his efforts were thwarted after Confederate defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg . By 1864 , Stephens was an outright dissident against the power of Davis ' s CSA government , and was invited by General William T . Sherman to discuss independent peace negotiations between Georgia and the Union . Stephens addressed the Confederate Senate on January 6 , 1865 , urging peace talks with the North . Some Confederate legislators agreed with Stephens and began to agitate for negotiations . John Campbell . John Campbell , another of the peace commissioners , had also opposed secession . Campbell served on the U . S . Supreme Court from 1853 – 1861 , but began to consider resignation after Lincoln ' s inaugural address . He stayed on for the Spring term of 1861 and supported the Corwin Amendment to protect slavery from federal intervention . Hoping to prevent a war , Samuel Nelson enlisted Campbell to help broker negotiations over Fort Sumter . On March 15 , Campbell relayed to Martin Jenkins Crawford a supposed promise from Seward that the federal government would evacuate Fort Sumter within five days . As the Fort remained occupied on March 21 , Confederate commissioners pushed Campbell to find out more ; Seward reassured Campbell that evacuation would take place and Campbell reassured Crawford : on March 21 , March 22 , April 1 , and hesitantly on April 7 . Lincoln had already ordered the Fort resupplied . By April 12 diplomacy had evidently failed and the Battle of Fort Sumter began . Campbell resigned his position on the Court and went South . Fearing he would be persecuted as a Union sympathizer in his home state of Alabama , he moved instead to New Orleans . Campbell declined a number of positions in the CSA government , but accepted the post of Assistant Secretary of War in 1862 . For the duration of the job , Campbell was criticized for trying to limit the scope of wartime conscription . By late 1864 , he was pushing again for an end to the war . In an 1865 letter to Judge Benjamin R . Curtis , he described the disastrous state of the Confederacy and marveled : " You would suppose there could be no difficulty in convincing men under such circumstances that peace was required . But when I look back upon the events of the winter , I find that I was incessantly employed in making these facts known and to no result . " North . Lincoln would clearly insist on full sovereignty of the Union . Slavery posed a more difficult problem . The Republican platform in 1864 had explicitly endorsed abolition ; but pushing too hard on the slavery issue might offend mainstream politicians and voters . Within this precarious political situation , in July 1864 Lincoln issued a statement via Horace Greeley : " To Whom It May Concern , " Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace , the integrity of the whole Union , and the abandonment of Slavery , and which comes by and with authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States , will be received and considered by the Executive Government of the United States , and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral points ; and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways . Lincoln confided to James W . Singleton that his primary concern was the Union . In Singleton ' s words : " that he never has and never will present any other ultimatum — that he is misunderstood on the subject of slavery — that it shall not stand in the way of peace " . Lincoln ' s reassurance earned him Singleton ' s support in the 1864 election . Seward openly suggested in September 1864 that if the Confederate States relented on the question of independence . The question of slavery would fall " to the arbitrament of courts of law , and to the councils of legislation " . ( He did not mention the ongoing debate over the Thirteenth Amendment , and declined to clarify his position in written correspondence . ) Seward invited the South to return to the " common ark of our national security and happiness " as " brethren who have come back from their wanderings " . Having won the election , Lincoln told Congress that reaching a peace agreement with Davis would be unlikely : " He affords us no excuse to deceive ourselves . He cannot voluntarily reaccept the Union ; we cannot voluntarily yield it . " However , said Lincoln , the South could end the War by laying down arms : They can , at any moment , have peace simply by laying down their arms and submitting to the national authority under the Constitution . . . . If questions should remain , we would adjust them by the peaceful means of legislation , conference , courts , and votes , operating only in constitutional and lawful channels . . . . In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national authority on the part of the insurgents , as the only indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the government , I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery . I repeat the declaration made a year ago , that " while I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation , nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation , or by any of the Acts of Congress . Preparation for conference . Blair duly renewed his efforts in January 1865 , and traveled to Richmond on January 11 . He met with Davis and outlined a plan to end the war , based partly on a North – South alliance against French presence in Mexico . Blair assured Davis that Lincoln had become more willing to negotiate . On January 12 , Davis wrote a letter inviting Lincoln to begin negotiations " with a view to secure peace to the two countries " . Lincoln replied , via Blair , that he would discuss only " securing peace to the people of one common country . " Davis was upset by this response ; Blair blamed the political climate in Washington . At Blair ' s suggestion , Davis proposed a meeting between Generals Robert E . Lee and Ulysses S . Grant . Lincoln refused . Grant ultimately smoothed over the “ two countries ” dispute and convinced Lincoln to meet the Confederates at Fort Monroe . Davis appointed his three commissioners on January 28 and instructed them to explore all options short of renouncing independence . ( Davis ' s precise understanding of what an " independent " Confederacy might be , in 1865 , is not fully clear . ) Of the three commissioners , Alexander Stephens and Robert Hunter wanted to focus more on the possibility of an alliance against France ; Campbell focused more on a scenario for domestic peace . Campbell wrote in his letter to Curtis : He duped Mr . Davis with the belief that President Lincoln regarded the condition of Mexico with more concern than the war ; that he would be willing to make a suspension of hostilities under some sort of collusive contract , and to unite Southern and Northern troops on the Rio Grande for the invasion of Mexico , and that after matters were assured in Mexico affairs might be adjusted here . This was the business at Hampton Roads . I was incredulous , Mr . Hunter did not have faith . Mr . Stephens supposed Blair to be “ the mentor of the Administration and Republican party . ” The Union Congress was shaken by the news of possible Confederate peace negotiations in late January , just days before a rescheduled Thirteenth Amendment vote . Some Congress members feared that adopting an emancipation amendment would signal hostility and undermine the talks . Reassurance from Lincoln ' s secretary John Hay was not convincing to Ohio Democrat Sunset Cox who demanded that Ashley investigate the rumor of impending negotiations . Lincoln issued a memo denying the arrival of Confederates — in Washington . Cox investigated further , decided that Lincoln was " mistaken or ignorant " , and shocked a crowd of onlookers by voting ' nay ' to the Amendment . When the Amendment passed anyway , two members of the " Seward lobby " — George O . Jones and William Bilbo — both telegraphed congratulations to Seward and commented on his upcoming meeting with the Confederate diplomats . LaWanda Cox and John Cox wrote : " It is worthy of note that these messages of Jones and Bilbo implied a verbal commitment from the Secretary of State that passage of the Amendment would be coupled with a policy of peace and reconciliation which Southerners might accept with relief and Northern Democrats with enthusiasm . " On January 29 , a Confederate Officer with a flag of truce interrupted the Siege of Petersburg to announce the passage of the three Confederate peace commissioners . Soldiers from both armies cheered . On February 1 , Seward dropped off a copy of the new amendment in Annapolis , then departed with the " River Queen " for Fort Monroe . Conference . Lincoln and Stephens had been political allies before the war and the meeting began on friendly terms . Stephens discussed the topic of a military alliance against France in Mexico , but Lincoln cut him off and asked directly about the question of sovereignty . Prodded by Campbell , Lincoln insisted that the South would have to disband its armies and submit to federal authority . ( Campbell wrote : " We learned in five minutes that the assurances to Mr . Davis were a delusion , and that union was the condition of peace . " On the question of slavery , Lincoln reportedly told the Confederates that Northern opinion was divided on the question of how new laws would be enforced . Regarding the Emancipation Proclamation , Lincoln reportedly interpreted it as a war measure that would permanently affect only the 200 , 000 people who came under Army protection during the War — but noted that the Courts might feel differently . Seward reportedly showed the Confederates a copy of the newly adopted Thirteenth Amendment , referred to this document also as a war measure , and suggested that if they were to rejoin the Union they might be able to prevent its ratification . After further discussion , Lincoln suggested that the Southern states might “ avoid , as far as possible , the evils of immediate emancipation ” by ratifying the Amendment “ " prospectively " , so as to take effect — say in five years . ” Seward and Lincoln denied that they were demanding " unconditional surrender " ; Seward said that rejoining the Union , under the Constitution , could not " properly be considered as unconditional submission to conquerors , or as having anything humiliating in it . " Lincoln also offered possible compensation for emancipation , perhaps naming the figure of $ 400 , 000 , 000 which he later proposed to Congress . Reportedly , Seward disagreed with Lincoln ; Lincoln responded that the North had been complicit in the slave trade . The Conference ended with agreement on prisoner - of - war exchange . Lincoln would release Stephens ' s nephew in exchange for a Northern official in Richmond — and would recommend that Grant establish a system for prisoner exchange . Historical uncertainties . There are no official records of the conference itself , so all reports originate from the subsequent commentary of involved parties . The two lengthy accounts of the Conference — written by Confederates Stephens and Campbell — concur on most of the details . These accounts , along with secondary records from the archives of Lincoln and Seward , suggest that Lincoln and Seward would have compromised on the issue of slavery . Lincoln ' s personal communications , even from around the time of his ' To Whom it May Concern ' letter , confirm that he might have been willing to privately give ground on slavery . That Lincoln proposed a delayed ratification plan is mentioned by the " Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel " in June 1865 — based on a report by Stephens from after the meeting . From a legal standpoint , Lincoln never believed that the federal government had the authority to ban slavery in the states — thus his constant emphasis on the status of the Emancipation Proclamation as a measure effective only during wartime . According to Paul Escott , Lincoln ' s moral opposition to slavery did not override his understanding of the Constitution ; therefore , Lincoln may have believed that Rebel states would have a right to reject the Thirteenth Amendment if they rejoined the Union . Seward ' s biographers generally agree that the Secretary of State may have suggested an outright rejection of the Amendment . The Confederate delegates spread word of this suggestion privately , contradicting Jefferson Davis ' s public statements that the surrender terms had been unconscionable . Some historians dispute Stephens ' s interpretation of the Conference . Michael Vorenberg writes that Lincoln would have known that a constitutional amendment cannot be " prospectively " ratified , and therefore " the story is suspicious at best . " Vorenberg suggests that although Lincoln might have expressed his " preference " for " gradual emancipation " , he would not have sought to portray this option as legally or politically possible . William C . Harris also doubts the ' prospective ratification ' story , on the grounds that this offer is not mentioned by Campbell in his 1865 letter to Curtis . James McPherson suggests : " It is probable that Stephens was reading his own viewpoint into Seward ' s remarks . " According to David Herbert Donald , Lincoln and Seward may have advanced offered olive branches to the Confederates based on their sense that the institution of slavery was doomed and would end regardless . Relenting on the slavery issue might thus have prevented unnecessary warfare . Seward biographer Walter Stahr supports this inevitability theory , confirming that Seward would have accepted delay in ratification in order to end the war . Ludwell H . Johnson theorizes that peace negotiations reflected Lincoln ' s efforts to consolidate political power by creating " a new conservative coalition which would include Southerners " . Johnson argues that negotiations would have built support among Northern Democrats as well as nascent Southern governments . Aftermath . Congress debated a resolution asking Lincoln to provide a report on the Conference . Willard Salisbury introduced an amendment stipulating that Lincoln reveal the precise terms he had offered . Salisbury ' s amendment failed and the resolution passed . Lincoln released a set of documents which met with an exceptionally positive reaction from Congress . Response from Davis . Davis portrayed the conference in harsh terms , saying that Lincoln had demanded unconditional surrender and that the Confederacy must continue to fight . Some historians argue that Davis entered the Conference in bad faith in order to generate publicity around Northern hostility . Charles Sanders contends that Davis did not retain enough control over the negotiations to ensure they would serve his purpose , writing : " If Davis ' s motive , therefore , was to discredit the ' croakers , ' he was running the enormous political risk that the negotiations might actually succeed . " Sanders also argues that if Davis had intended to sabotage the Conference , he would not have considered such prominent representatives as Lee or Stephens . Stephens left Richmond and went home to Georgia on February 9 . Lincoln amnesty resolution . Lincoln followed through on his promise to pursue compensation , requesting amnesty and $ 400 , 000 , 000 for the Southern states if they ended armed resistance and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment . Soon after returning to Washington , Lincoln wrote an amnesty resolution offering pardons and the return of confiscated property " except slaves " . The resolution stipulated that the Confederacy would receive $ 200 , 000 , 000 if it ceased " resistance to national authority " before April 1 , 1865 , and $ 200 , 000 , 000 more for successful ratification of the Thirteenth amendment before July 1 , 1865 . These terms were unpopular , particularly with Lincoln ' s ( relatively Radical ) cabinet , and no such resolution was adopted . The " New York Herald " reported that Seward had been seeking a peace agreement in order to bolster a new coalition of conservative Republicans and Democrats ; " that Secretary Seward seized upon the movement to secure whatever " éclat " there might be connected with it , in hopes that if peace was the result he would be able to ride upon the wave of joy of a grateful people , and thus become the standard bearer of the great conservative party in 1868 . " ( Johnson ' s " Presidential Reconstruction " would achieve some of these goals by other means . ) Lincoln – Campbell meetings . Campbell continued to push a peace settlement within the CSA , writing to John C . Breckinridge on March 5 that " The South may succomb but it is not necessary that she should be destroyed . " Campbell was the only member of the Confederate government to stay in Richmond after it fell to the Union . He met twice with Lincoln to discuss the future of the South . On April 5 , Lincoln delivered the following message in writing : According to Campbell , Lincoln said he would be willing to pardon most Confederates other than " Jeff Davis " . Campbell pushed the peace terms advanced by Lincoln , but his letter to the CSA published on April 11 was undercut by Lee ' s Appomatox surrender on April 9 . Campbell was subsequently arrested under suspicion of conspiring to assassinate Lincoln , when his initials were discovered on an incriminating document . In culture . The film " Lincoln " ( 2012 ) includes a brief dramatization of the conference , focusing on the slavery aspect and the desire of the Confederates to block adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment if re - admitted to the Union .