The grief of the nation is still
fresh. It finds some solace in the consideration that he lived to
enjoy the highest proof of confidence by entering on the renewed
term of the Chief Magistracy to which he had been elected; that he
brought the civil war substantially to a close; that his loss was
deplored in all parts of the Union, and that foreign nations have
rendered justice to his memory. His removal cast upon me a heavier
weight of cares than ever devolved upon any one his predecessors. To
fulfill my trust I need the support and confidence of all who are
associated with me in the various departments of Government and the
support and confidence of the people. There is but one way in which
I can hope to gain their necessary aid. It is to state with
frankness the principles which guide my conduct, and their
application to the present state of affairs, well aware that the
efficiency of my labors will in a great measure depend on your and
their undivided approbation.
The Union of the United States of America was intended by its
authors to last as long as the States themselves shall last. 'The
Union shall b perpetual' are the words of the Confederation. 'To
form a more perfect Union,' by an ordinance of the people of the
United States, is the declared purpose of the Constitution. The hand
of Divine Providence was nevermore plainly visible in the affairs of
men than in the framing and the adoption of that instrument. It is
beyond comparison the greatest event in American history, and,
indeed, is it not of all events in modern times the most pregnant
with consequences for every people of the earth? The members of the
Convention which prepared it brought to their work the experience of
the Confederation, of their several States, and of other republican
governments, old and new; but they needed and they obtained a wisdom
superior to experience. And when for its validity it required the
approval of a people that occupied a large part of a continent and
acted separately in many distinct conventions, what is more
wonderful than that, after earnest contention and long discussion,
all feelings and all opinions were ultimately drawn in one way to
its support? The Constitution to which life was thus imparted
contains within itself ample resources for its own preservation. It
has power to enforce the laws, punish treason, and insure domestic
tranquillity. In case of the usurpation of the government of a State
by one man or an oligarchy, it becomes a duty of the United States
to make good the guaranty to that State of a republican form of
government, and so to maintain the homogeneousness of all. Does the
lapse of time reveal defects? A simple mode of amendment is provided
in the Constitution itself, so that its conditions can always be
made to conform to the requirements of advancing civilization. No
room is allowed even for the thought of a possibility of its coming
to an end. And these powers of self-preservation have always been
asserted in their complete integrity by every patriotic Chief
Magistrate--by Jefferson and Jackson not less than by Washington and
Madison. The parting advice of the Father of his Country, while yet
President, to the people of the United States was that the free
Constitution, which was the work of their hands, might be sacredly
maintained; and the inaugural words of President Jefferson held up
'the preservation of the General Government in its whole
constitutional vigor as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and
safety abroad.' The Constitution is the work of 'the people of the
United States,' and it should be as indestructible as the people.
It is not strange that the framers of the Constitution, which had no
model in the past, should not have fully comprehended the excellence
of their own work. Fresh from a struggle against arbitrary power,
many patriots suffered from harassing fears of an absorption of the
State governments by the General Government, and many from a dread
that the States would break away from their orbits. But the very
greatness of our country should allay the apprehension of
encroachments by the General Government. The subjects that come
unquestionably within its jurisdiction are so numerous that it must
ever naturally refuse to be embarrassed by questions that lie beyond
it. Were it otherwise the Executive would sink beneath the burden,
the channels of justice would be choked, legislation would be
obstructed by excess, so that there is a greater temptation to
exercise some of the functions of the General Government through the
States than to trespass on their rightful sphere. The 'absolute
acquiescence in the decisions of the majority' was at the beginning
of the century enforced by Jefferson as 'the vital principle of
republics; ' and the events of the last four years have established,
we will hope forever, that there lies no appeal to force.
The maintenance of the Union brings with it 'the support of the
State governments in all their rights,' but it is not one of the
rights of any State government to renounce its own place in the
Union or to nullify the laws of the Union. The largest liberty is to
be maintained in the discussion of the acts of the Federal
Government, but there is no appeal from its laws except to the
various branches of that Government itself, or to the people, who
grant to the members of the legislative and of the Executive
departments no tenure but a limited one, and in that manner always
retain the powers of redress. The sovereignty of the States' is the
language of the Confederacy, and not the language of the
Constitution. The latter contains the emphatic words
This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which shall be
made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land, and the judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstanding.
Certainly the Government of the United States is a limited
government, and so is every State government a limited government.
With us this idea of limitation spreads through every form of
administration- general, State, and municipal--and rests on the
great distinguishing principle of the recognition of the rights of
man. The ancient republics absorbed the individual in the
state--prescribed and his religion and controlled his activity. The
American system rests on the assertion of the equal right of every
man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to freedom of
conscience, to the culture and exercise of all his faculties. As a
consequence the State government is limited--as to the General
Government in the interest of union, as to the individual citizen in
the interest of freedom.
States, with proper limitations of power, are essential to the
existence of the Constitution of the United States. At the very
commencement, when we assumed a place among the powers of the earth,
the Declaration of Independence was adopted by States; so also were
the Articles of Confederation; and when 'the people of the United
States' ordained and established the Constitution it was the assent
of the States, one by one, which gave it vitality. In the event,
too, of any amendment to the Constitution, the proposition of
Congress needs the confirmation of States. Without States one great
branch of the legislative government would be wanting. And if we
look beyond the letter of the Constitution to the character of our
country, its capacity for comprehending within its jurisdiction a
vast continental empire is due to the system of States. The best
security for the perpetual existence of the States is the 'supreme
authority' of the Constitution of the United States. The perpetuity
of the Constitution brings with it the perpetuity of the States;
their mutual relation makes us what we are, and in our political
system their connection is indissoluble. The whole can not exist
without the parts, nor the parts without the whole. So long as the
Constitution of the United States endures, the States will endure.
The destruction of the one is the destruction of the other; the
preservation of the one is the preservation of the other.
I have thus explained my views of the mutual relations of the
Constitution and the States, because they unfold the principles on
which I have sought to solve the momentous questions and overcome
the appalling difficulties that met me at the very commencement of
my Administration. It has been my steadfast object to escape from
the sway of momentary passions and to derive a healing policy from
the fundamental and unchanging principles of the Constitution.
I found the States suffering from the effects of a civil war.
Resistance to the General Government appeared to have exhausted
itself. The United States had recovered possession of their forts
and arsenals, and their armies were in the occupation of every State
which had attempted to secede. Whether the territory within the
limits of those States should he held as conquered territory, under
military authority emanating from the President as the head of the
Army, was the first question that presented itself for decision
Now military governments, established for an indefinite period,
would have offered no security for the early suppression of
discontent, would have divided the people into the vanquishers and
the vanquished, and would have envenomed hatred rather than have
restored affection. Once established, no precise limit to their
continuance was conceivable. They would have occasioned an
incalculable and exhausting expense. Peaceful emigration to and from
that portion of the country is one of the best means that can be
thought of for the restoration of harmony, and that emigration would
have been prevented; for what emigrant from abroad, what industrious
citizen at home, would place himself willingly under military rule?
The chief persons who would have followed in the train of the Army
would have been dependents on the General Government or men who
expected profit from the miseries of their erring fellow-citizens,
The powers of patronage and rule which would have been exercised,
under the President, over a vast and populous and naturally wealthy
region are greater than, unless under extreme necessity, I should be
willing to intrust to any one man. They are such as, for myself, I
could never, unless on occasions of great emergency, consent to
exercise. The willful use of such powers, if continued through a
period of years, would have endangered the purity of the general
administration and the liberties of the States which remained loyal.
Besides, the policy of military rule over a conquered territory
would have implied that the States whose inhabitants may have taken
part in the rebellion had by the act of those inhabitants ceased to
exist. But the true theory is that all pretended acts of secession
were from the beginning null and void. The States can not commit
treason nor screen the individual citizens who may have committed
treason any more than they can make valid treaties or engage in
lawful commerce with any foreign power. The States attempting to
secede placed themselves in a condition where their vitality was
impaired, but not extinguished; their functions suspended, but not
destroyed.
But if any State neglects or refuses to perform its offices there is
the more need that the General Government should maintain all its
authority and as soon as practicable resume the exercise of all its
functions. On this principle I have acted, and have gradually and
quietly, and by almost imperceptible steps, sought to restore the
rightful energy of the General Government and of the States. To that
end provisional governors have been appointed for the States,
conventions called, governors elected, legislatures assembled, and
Senators and Representatives chosen to the Congress of the United
States. At the same time the courts of the United States, as far as
could be done, have been reopened, so that the laws of the United
States may be enforced through their agency. The blockade has been
removed and the custom-houses reestablished in ports of entry, so
that the revenue of the United States may be collected. The
Post-Office Department renews its ceaseless activity, and the
General Government is thereby enabled to communicate promptly with
its officers and agents. The courts bring security to persons and
property; the opening of the ports invites the restoration of
industry and commerce; the post-office renews the facilities of
social intercourse and of business. And is it not happy for us all
that the restoration of each one, of these functions of the General
Government brings with it a blessing to the States over which they
are extended? Is it not a sure promise of harmony and renewed
attachment to the Union that after all that hak happened the return
of the General Government is known only as a beneficence?
I know very well that this policy is attended with some risk; that
for its success it requires at least the acquiescence of the States
which it concerns; that it implies an invitation to those States, by
renewing their allegiance to the United States, to resume their
functions as States of the Union. But it is a risk that iuust be
taken, In the choice of difficulties it is the smallest risk; and to
diminish and if possible to remove all danger, I have felt it
incumbent on me to assert one other power of the General
Government--the power of pardon. As no State can throw a defense
over the crime of treason, the power of pardon is exclusively vested
in the executive government of the United States. In exercising that
power I have taken every precaution to connect it with the clearest
recognition of the binding force of the laws of the United States
and at, unqualified acknowledgment of the great social change of
condition in regard to slavery which has grown out of the war.
The next step which I have taken to restore the constitutional
relations of the States has been an invitation to them to
participate in the high office of amending the Constitution. Every
patriot must wish for a general amnesty at the earliest epoch
consistent with public safety. For this great end there is need of a
concurrence of all opinions and the spirit of mutual conciliation.
All parties in the late terrible conflict must work together in
harmony. It is not too much to ask, in the name of the whole people,
that on the one side the plan of restoration shall proceed in
conformity with a willingness to cast the disorders of the past into
oblivion, and that on the other the evidence of sincerity in the
future maintenance of the Union shall be put beyond any doubt by the
ratification of the proposed amendment to the Constitution, which
provides for the abolition of slavery forever within the limits of
our country. So long as the adoption of this amendment is delayed,
so long will doubt and jealousy and uncertainty prevail. This is the
measure which will efface the sad memory of the past--this is the
measure which will most certainly call population and capital and
security to those parts of the Union that need them most. Indeed, it
is not too much to ask of the States which are now resuming their
places in the family of the Union to give this pledge of perpetual
loyalty and peace. Until it is done the past, however much we may
desire it, will not be forgotten. The adoption of the amendment
reunites us beyond all power of disruption; it heals the wound that
is still imperfectly closed; it removes slavery, the element which
has so long perplexed and divided the country; it makes of us once
more a united people, renewed and strengthened, bound more than ever
to mutual affection and support.
The amendment to the Constitution being adopted, it would remain for
the States whose powers have been so long in abeyance to resume
their places in the two branches of the National Legislature, and
thereby complete the work of restoration. Here it is for you,
fellow-citizens of the Senate, and for you, fellow-citizens of the
House of Representatives, to judge, each of you for yourselves, of
the elections, returns, and qualifications of your own members.
The full assertion of the powers of the General Government requires
the holding of circuit courts of the United States within the
districts where their authority has been interrupted. In the present
posture of our public affairs strong objections have been urged to
holding those courts in any of the States where the rebellion has
existed; and it was ascertained by inquiry that the circuit court of
the United States would not be held within the district of Virginia
during the autumn or early winter, nor until Congress should have
'an opportunity to consider and act on the whole subject.' To your
deliberations the restoration of this branch of the civil authority
of the United States is therefore necessarily referred, with the
hope that early provision will be made for the resumption of all its
functions. It is manifest that treason, most flagrant in character,
has been committed. Persons who are charged with its commission
should have fair and impartial trials in the highest civil tribunals
of the country, in order that the Constitution and the laws may be
fully vindicated, the truth clearly established and affirmed that
treason is a crime, that traitors should be punished and the offense
made infamous, and, at the same time, that the question may be
judicially settled, finally and forever, that no State of its own
will has the right to renounce its place in the Union.
The relations of the General Government toward the 4,000,000
inhabitants whom the war has called into freedom have engaged my
most serious consideration. On the propriety of attempting to make
the freedmen Electors by the proclamation of the Executive I took
for my counsel the Constitution itself, the interpretations of that
instrument by its authors and their contemporaries, and recent
legislation by Congress. When, at the first movement toward
independence, the Congress of the United States instructed the
several States to institute governments of their own, they left each
State to decide for itself the conditions for the enjoyment of the
elective franchise. During the period of the Confederacy there
continued to exist a very great diversity in the qualifications of
electors in the several States, and even within a State a
distinction of qualifications prevailed with regard to the officers
who were to be chosen. The Constitution of the United States
recognizes these diversities when it enjoins that in the choice of
members of the House of Representatives of the United States 'the
electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for
electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature.'
After the formation of the Constitution it remained as before, the
uniform usage for each State to enlarge the body of its electors
according to its own judgment, and under this system one State after
another has proceeded to increase the number of its electors, until
now universal suffrage, or something very near it, is the general
rule. So fixed was this reservation of power in the habits of the
people and so unquestioned has been the interpretation of the
Constitution that during the civil war the late President never
harbored the purpose--certainly never avowed the purpose-of
disregarding it; and in the acts of Congress during that period
nothing can be found which, during the continuance of hostilities,
much less after their close, would have sanctioned any departure by
the Executive from a policy which has so uniformly obtained.
Moreover, a concession of the elective franchise to the freedmen by
act of the President of the United States must have been extended to
all colored men, wherever found, and so must have established a
change of suffrage in the Northern, Middle, and Western States, not
less than in the Southern and Southwestern. Such an act would have
created a new class of voters, and would have been an assumption of
power by the President which nothing in the Constitution or laws of
the United States would have warranted.
On the other hand, every danger of conflict is avoided when the
settlement of the question is referred to the several States. They
can, each for itself, decide on the measure, and whether it is to be
adopted at once and absolutely or introduced gradually and with
conditions. In my judgment the freedmen, if they show patience and
manly virtues, will sooner obtain a participation in the elective
franchise through the States than through the General Government,
even if it had power to intervene. When the tumult of emotions that
have been raised by the suddenness of the social change shall have
subsided, it may prove that they will receive the kindest usage from
some of those on whom they have heretofore most closely depended.
But while I have no doubt that now, after the close of the war, it
is not competent for the General Government to extend the elective
franchise in the several States, it is equally clear that good faith
requires the security of the freedmen in their liberty and their
property, their right to labor, and their right to claim the just
return of their labor. I can not too strongly urge a dispassionate
treatment of this subject, which should be carefully kept aloof from
all party strife. We must equally avoid hasty assumptions of any
natural impossibility for the two races to live side by side in a
state of mutual benefit and good will. The experiment involves us in
no inconsistency; let us, then, go on and make that experiment in
good faith, and not be too easily disheartened. The country is in
need of labor, and the freedmen are in need of employment, culture,
and protection. While their right of voluntary migration and
expatriation is not to be questioned, I would not advise their
forced removal and colonization. Let us rather encourage them to
honorable and useful industry, where it may be beneficial to
themselves and to the country; and, instead of hasty anticipations
of the certainty of failure, let there be nothing wanting to the
fair trial of the experiment. The change in their condition is the
substitution of labor by contract for the status of slavery. The
freedman can not fairly be accused of unwillingness to work so long
as a doubt remains about his freedom of choice in his pursuits and
the certainty of his recovering his stipulated wages. In this the
interests of the employer and the employed coincide. The employer
desires in his workmen spirit and alacrity, and these can be
permanently secured in no other way. And if the one ought to be able
to enforce the contract so ought the other. The public interest will
be best promoted if the several States will provide adequate
protection and remedies for the freedmen. Until this is in some way
accomplished there is no chance for the advantageous use of their
labor, and the blame of ill success will not rest on them.
I know that sincere philanthropy is earnest for the immediate
realization of its remotest aims; but time is always an element in
reform. It is one of the greatest acts on record to have brought
4,000,000 people into freedom. The career of free industry must be
fairly opened to them, and then their future prosperity and
condition must, after all, rest mainly on themselves . If they fail,
and so perish away, let us be careful that the failure shall not be
attributable to any denial of justice. In all that relates to the
destiny of the freedmen we need not be too anxious to read the
future; many incidents which, from a speculative point of view,
might raise alarm will quietly settle themselves. Now that slavery
is at an end, or near its end, the greatness of its evil in the
point of view of public economy becomes more and more apparent.
Slavery was essentially a monopoly of labor, and as such locked the
States where it prevailed against the incoming of free industry.
Where labor was the property of the capitalist, the white man was
excluded from employment, or had but the second best chance of
finding it; and the foreign emigrant turned away from the region
where his condition would be so precarious. With the destruction of
the monopoly free labor will hasten from all parts of the civilized
world to assist in developing various and immeasurable resources
which have hitherto lain dormant. The eight or nine States nearest
the Gulf of Mexico have a soil of exuberant fertility, a climate
friendly to long life, and can sustain a denser population than is
found as yet in any part of our country. And the future influx of
population to them will be mainly from the North or from the most
cultivated nations in Europe. From the sufferings that have attended
them during our late struggle let us look away to the future, which
is sure to be laden for them with greater prosperity than has ever
before been known. The removal of the monopoly of slave labor is a
pledge that those regions will be peopled by a numerous and
enterprising population, which will vie with any in the Union in
compactness, inventive genius, wealth, and industry.
Our Government springs from and was made for the people--not the
people for the Government. To them it owes allegiance; from them it
must derive its courage, strength, and wisdom. But while the
Government is thus bound to defer to the people, from whom it
derives its existence, it should, from the very consideration of its
origins, be strong in its power of resistance to the establishment
of inequalities. Monopolies, perpetuities, and class legislation are
contrary to the genius of free government, and ought not to be
allowed. Here there is no room for favored classes or monopolies;
the principle of our Government is that of equal laws and freedom of
industry. Wherever monopoly attains a foothold, it is sure to be a
source of danger, discord, and trouble. We shall but fulfill our
duties as legislators by according 'equal and exact justice to all
men,' special privileges to none. The Government is subordinate to
the people; but, as the agent and representative of the people, it
must be held superior to monopolies, which in themselves ought never
to be granted, and which, where they exist, must be subordinate and
yield to the Government.
The Constitution confers on Congress the right to regulate commerce
among the several States. It is of the first necessity, for the
maintenance of the Union, that that commerce should be free and
unobstructed. No State can be justified in any device to tax the
transit of travel and commerce between States. The position of many
States is such that if they were allowed to take advantage of it for
purposes of local revenue the commerce between States might be
injuriously burdened, or even virtually prohibited. It is best,
while the country is still young and while the tendency to dangerous
monopolies of this kind is still feeble, to use the power of
Congress so as to prevent any selfish impediment to the free
circulation of men and merchandise. A tax on travel and merchandise
in their transit constitutes one of the worst forms of monopoly, and
the evil is increased if coupled with a denial of the choice of
route. When the vast extent of our country is considered, it is
plain that every obstacle to the free circulation of commerce
between the States ought to be sternly guarded against by
appropriate legislation within the limits of the Constitution.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior explains the condition
of the public lands, the transactions of the Patent Office and the
Pension Bureau, the management of our Indian affairs, the progress
made in the construction of the Pacific Railroad, and furnishes
information in reference to matters of local interest in the
District of Columbia. It also presents evidence of the successful
operation of the homestead act, under the provisions of which 1,160,
533 acres of the public lands were entered during the last fiscal
year-- more than one-fourth of the whole number of acres sold or
otherwise disposed of during that period. It is estimated that the
receipts derived from this source are sufficient to cover the
expenses incident to the survey and disposal of the lands entered
under this act, and that payments in cash to the extent of from 40
to 50 Per cent will be made by settlers who may thus at any time
acquire title before the expiration of the period at which it would
other-wise vest. The homestead policy was established only after
long and earnest resistance; experience proves its wisdom. The lands
in the hands of industrious settlers, whose labor creates wealth and
contributes to the public resources, are worth more to the United
States than if they had been reserved as a solitude for future
purchasers.
The lamentable events of the last four years and the sacrifices made
by the gallant men of our Army and Navy have swelled the records of
the Pension Bureau to an unprecedented extent. On the 30th day of
June last the total number of pensioners was 85,986, requiring for
their annual pay, exclusive of expenses, the sum of $8,023,445. The
number of applications that have been allowed since that date will
require a large increase of this amount for the next fiscal year.
The means for the payment of the stipends due under existing laws to
our disabled soldiers and sailors and to the families of such as
have perished in the service of the country will no doubt be
cheerfully and promptly granted. A grateful people will not hesitate
to sanction any measures having for their object the relief of
soldiers mutilated and families made fatherless in the efforts to
preserve our national existence.
The report of the Postmaster General presents an encouraging exhibit
of the operations of the Post Office Department during the year. The
revenues of the past year, from the loyal States alone, exceeded the
maximum annual receipts from all the States previous to the
rebellion in the sum of $6,038,091; and the annual average increase
of revenue during the last four years, compared with the revenues of
the four years immediately preceding the rebellion, was $3,533,845.
The revenues of the last fiscal year amounted to $14,556,158 and the
expenditures to $13,694,728, leaving a surplus of receipts over
expenditures of $86,430. Progress has been made in restoring the
postal service in the Southern States. The views presented by the
Postmaster-General against the policy of granting subsidies to the
ocean mail steamship lines upon established routes and in favor of
continuing the present system, which limits the compensation for
ocean service to the postage earnings, are recommended to the
careful consideration of Congress.
It appears from the report of the Secretary of the Navy that while
at the commencement of the present year there were in commission 530
vessels of all classes and descriptions, armed with 3,000 guns and
manned by 51,000 men, the number of vessels at present in commission
is 117, with 830 guns and 12,128 me. By this prompt reduction of the
naval forces the expenses of the Government have been largely
diminished, and a number of vessels purchased for naval purposes
from the merchant marine have been returned to the peaceful pursuits
of commerce. Since the suppression of active hostilities our foreign
squadrons have been reestablished, and consist of vessels much more
efficient than those employed on similar service previous to the
rebellion. The suggestion for the enlargement of the navy-yards, and
especially for the establishment of one in fresh water for ironclad
vessels, is deserving of consideration, as is also the
recommendation for a different location and more ample grounds for
the Naval Academy.
In the report of the Secretary of War a general summary is given of
the military campaigns of 1864 and 1865, ending in the suppression
of armed resistance to the national authority in the insurgent
States. The operations of the general administrative bureaus of the
War Department during the past year are detailed and an estimate
made of the appropriations that will be required for military
purposes in the fiscal year commencing the 1st day of July, 1866.
The national military force on the 1st of May, 1865, numbered
1,000,516 men. It is proposed to reduce the military establishment
to a peace footing, comprehending 50,000 troops of all arms,
organized so as to admit of an enlargement by filling up the ranks
to 82,600 if the circumstances of the country should require an
augmentation of the Army. The volunteer force has already been
reduced by the discharge from service of over 800,000 troops, and
the Department is proceeding rapidly in the work of further
reduction. The war estimates are reduced from $516,240, 131 to
$33,814,461, which amount, in the opinion of the Department, is
adequate for a peace establishment. The measures of retrenchment in
each bureau and branch of the service exhibit a diligent economy
worthy of commendation. Reference is also made in the report to the
necessity of providing for a uniform militia system and to the
propriety of making suitable provision for wounded and disabled
officers and soldiers.
The revenue system of the country is a subject of vital interest to
its honor and prosperity, and should command the earnest
consideration of Congress. The Secretary of the Treasury will lay
before you a full and detailed report of the receipts and
disbursements of the last fiscal year, of the first quarter of the
present fiscal year, of the probable receipts and expenditures for
the other three quarters, and the estimates for the year following
the 30th of June, 1866. I might content myself with a reference to
that report, in which you will find all the information required for
your deliberations and decision, but the paramount importance of the
subject so presses itself on my own mind that I can not but lay
before you my views of the measures which are required for the good
character, and I might almost say for the existence, of this people.
The life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and
intelligence of its citizens; but it is equally true that a good
revenue system is the life of an organized government. I meet you at
a time when the nation has voluntarily burdened itself with a debt
unprecedented in our annals. Vast as is its amount, it fades away
into nothing when compared with the countless blessings that will be
conferred upon our country and upon man by the preservation of the
nation's life. Now, on the first occasion of the meeting of Congress
since the return of peace, it is of the utmost importance to
inaugurate a just policy, which shall at once be put in motion, and
which shall commend itself to those who come after us for its
continuance. We must aim at nothing less than the complete
effacement of the financial evils that necessarily followed a state
of civil war. We must endeavor to apply the earliest remedy to the
deranged state of the currency, and not shrink from devising a
policy which, without being oppressive to the people, shall
immediately begin to effect a reduction of the debt, and, if
persisted in, discharge it fully within a definitely fixed number of
years.
It is our first duty to prepare in earnest for our recovery from the
ever-increasing evils of an irredeemable currency without a sudden
revulsion, and yet without untimely procrastination. For that end we
must each, in our respective positions, prepare the way. I hold it
the duty of the Executive to insist upon frugality in the
expenditures, and a sparing economy is itself a great national
resource. Of the banks to which authority has been given to issue
notes secured by bonds of the United States we may require the
greatest moderation and prudence, and the law must be rigidly
enforced when its limits are exceeded. We may each one of us counsel
our active and enterprising countrymen to be constantly on their
guard, to liquidate debts contracted in a paper currency, and by
conducting business as nearly as possible on a system of cash
payments or short credits to hold themselves prepared to return to
the standard of gold and silver. To aid our fellow-citizens in the
prudent management of their monetary affairs, the duty devolves on
us to diminish by law the amount of paper money now in circulation.
Five years ago the bank-note circulation of the country amounted to
not much more than two hundred millions; now the circulation, bank
and national, exceeds seven hundred millions. The simple statement
of the fact recommends more strongly than any words of mine could do
the necessity of our restraining this expansion. The gradual
reduction of the currency is the only measure that can save the
business of the country from disastrous calamities, and this can be
almost imperceptibly accomplished by gradually funding the national
circulation in securities that may be made redeemable at the
pleasure of the Government.
Our debt is doubly secure--first in the actual wealth and still
greater undeveloped resources of the country, and next in the
character of our institutions. The most intelligent observers among
political economists have not failed to remark that the public debt
of a country is safe in proportion as its people are free; that the
debt of a republic is the safest of all. Our history confirms and
establishes the theory, and is, I firmly believe, destined to give
it a still more signal illustration. The secret of this superiority
springs not merely from the fact that in a republic the national
obligations are distributed more widely through countless numbers in
all classes of society; it has its root in the character of our
laws. Here all men contribute to the public welfare and bear their
fair share of the public burdens. During the war, under the impulses
of patriotism, the men of the great body of the people, without
regard to their own comparative want of wealth, thronged to our
armies and filled our fleets of war, and held themselves ready to
offer their lives for the public good. Now, in their turn, the
property and income of the country should bear their just proportion
of the burden of taxation, while in our impost system, through means
of which increased vitality is incidentally imparted to all the
industrial interests of the nation, the duties should be so adjusted
as to fall most heavily on articles of luxury, leaving the
necessaries of life as free from taxation as the absolute wants of
the Government economically administered will justify. No favored
class should demand freedom from assessment, and the taxes should be
so distributed as not to fall unduly on the poor, but rather on the
accumulated wealth of the country. We should look at the national
debt just as it is--not as a national blessing, but as a heavy,
burden on the industry of the country, to be discharged without
unnecessary delay.
It is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury that the
expenditures for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1866, will
exceed the receipts $112,1194,947. It is gratifying, however, to
state that it is also estimated that the revenue for the year ending
the 30th of June, 1867, will exceed the expenditures in the sum of
$111,682,818. This amount, or so much as may be deemed sufficient
for the purpose, may be applied to the, reduction of the public
debt, which on the 31st day of October, 1865, 'Was $2,740,854,750.
Every reduction will diminish the total amount of interest to be
paid, and so enlarge the means of still further reductions, until
the whole shall be liquidated; and this, as will be seen from the
estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury, may be accomplished by
annual payments even within a period not exceeding thirty years. I
have faith that we shall do all this within a reasonable time; that
as we have amazed the world by the suppression of a civil war which
was thought to be beyond the control of any government, so we shall
equally show the superiority of our institutions by the prompt and
faithful discharge of our national obligations.
The Department of Agriculture under its present direction is
accomplishing much in developing and utilizing the vast agricultural
capabilities of the country, and for information respecting the
details of its management reference is made to the annual report of
the Commissioner.
I have dwelt thus fully on our domestic affairs because of their
transcendent importance. Under any circumstances our great extent of
territory and variety of climate, producing almost everything that
is necessary for the wants and even the comforts of man, make us
singularly independent of the varying policy of foreign powers and
protect us against every temptation to 'entangling alliances,' while
at the present moment the reestablishment of harmony and the
strength that comes from harmony will be our best security against
'nations who feel power and forget right' For myself, it has been
and it will be my constant aim to promote peace and amity with all
foreign nations and powers, and I have every reason to believe that
they all, without exception, are animated by the same disposition.
Our relations with the Emperor of China, so recent in their origin,
are most friendly. Our commerce with his dominions is receiving new
developments, and it is very pleasing to find that the Government of
that great Empire manifests satisfaction with our policy and reposes
just confidence in the fairness which marks our intercourse. The
unbroken harmony between the United States and the Emperor of Russia
is receiving a new support from an enterprise designed to carry
telegraphic lines across the continent of Asia, through his
dominions, and so to connect us with all Europe by a new channel of
intercourse. Our commerce with South America is about to receive
encouragement by a direct line of mail steamships to the rising
Empire of Brazil. The distinguished party of men of science who have
recently left our country to make a scientific exploration of the
natural history and rivers and mountain ranges of that region have
received from the Emperor that generous welcome which was to have
been expected from his constant friendship for the United States and
his well-known zeal in promoting the advancement of knowledge. A
hope is entertained that our commerce with the rich and populous
countries that border the Mediterranean Sea may be largely
increased. Nothing will be wanting on the part of this Government to
extend the protection of our flag over the enterprise of our
fellow-citizens. We receive from the powers in that region
assurances of good will; and it is worthy of note that a special
envoy has brought us messages of condolence on the death of our late
Chief Magistrate from the Bey of Tunis, whose rule includes the old
dominions of Carthage, on the African coast.
Our domestic contest, now happily ended, has left some traces in our
relations with one at least of the great maritime powers. The formal
accordance of belligerent rights to the insurgent States was
unprecedented, and has not been justified by the issue. But in the
systems of neutrality pursued by the powers which made that
concession there was a marked difference. The materials of war for
the insurgent States were furnished, in a great measure, from the
workshops of Great Britain, and British ships, manned by British
subjects and prepared for receiving British armaments, sallied from
the ports of Great Britain to make war on American commerce under
the shelter of a commission from the insurgent States. These ships,
having once escaped from British ports, ever afterwards entered them
in every part of the world to refit, and so to renew their
depredations. The consequences of this conduct were most disastrous
to the States then in rebellion, increasing their desolation and
misery by the prolongation of our civil contest. It had, moreover,
the effect, to a great extent, to drive the American flag from the
sea, and to transfer much of our shipping and our commerce to the
very power whose subjects had created the necessity for such a
change. These events took place before I was called to the
administration of the Government. The sincere desire for peace by
which I am animated led me to approve the proposal, already made, to
submit the question which had thus arisen between the countries to
arbitration. These questions are of such moment that they must have
commanded the attention of the great powers, and are so interwoven
with the peace and interests of every one of them as to have insured
an impartial decision. I regret to inform you that Great Britain
declined the arbitrament. but, on the other hand, invited us to the
formation or a joint commission to settle mutual claims between the
two countries, from which those for the depredations before
mentioned should be excluded. The proposition, in that very
unsatisfactory form, has been declined.
The United States did not present the subject as an impeachment of
the good faith of a power which was professing the most friendly
dispositions, but as involving questions of public law of which the
settlement is essential to the peace of nations, and though
pecuniary reparation to their injured citizens would have followed
incidentally on a decision against Great Britain, such compensation
was not their primary object. They had a higher motive, and it was
in the interests of peace and justice to establish important
principles of international law. The correspondence will be placed
before you . The ground on which the British minister tests his
justification is, substantially, that the municipal law of a nation
and the domestic interpretations of that law are the measure of its
duty as a neutral, and I feel bound to declare my opinion before you
and before the world that that justification can not be sustained
before the tribunal of nations. At the same time, I do not advise to
any present attempt at redress by acts of legislation. For the
future, friendship between the two countries must rest on the basis
of mutual justice.
From the moment of the establishment of our free Constitution the
civilized world has been convulsed by revolutions in the interests
of democracy or of monarchy, but through all those revolutions the
United States have wisely and firmly refused to become propagandists
of republicanism. It is the only government suited to our condition;
but we have never sought to impose it on others, and we have
consistently followed the advice of Washington to recommend it only
by the careful preservation and prudent use of the blessing. During
all the intervening period the policy of European powers and of the
United States has, on the whole... been harmonious. Twice, indeed,
rumors of the invasion of some parts of America in the interest of
monarchy have prevailed; twice my predecessors have had occasion to
announce the views of this nation in respect to such interference.
On both occasions the remonstrance of the United States was
respected from a deep conviction on the part of European Governments
that the system of noninterference and mutual abstinence from
propagandism was the true rule for the two hemispheres. Since those
times we have advanced in wealth and power, but we retain the same
purpose to leave the nations of Furope to choose their own dynasties
and form their own systems of government. This consistent moderation
may justly demand a corresponding moderation. We should regard it as
a great calamity to ourselves, to the cause of good government, and
to the peace of the world should any European power challenge the
American people, as it were, to the defense of republicanism against
foreign interference. We can not foresee and are unwilling to
consider what opportunities might present themselves, what
combinations might offer to protect ourselves against designs
inimical to our form of governraent. The United States desire to act
in the future as they have ever acted heretofore; they never will be
driven from that course but by the aggression of European powers,
and we rely on the wisdom and justice of those powers to respect the
system of noninterference which has so long been sanc- tioned by
time, and which by its good results has approved itself to both
continents.
The correspondence between the United States and France in reference
to questions which have become subjects of discussion between the
two Governments will at a proper time be laid before Congress.
When, on the organization of our Government under the Constitution,
the President of the United States delivered his inaugural address
to the two Houses of Congress, he said to them, and through them to
the country and to mankind, that-
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of
the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps,
as deeoly, as finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the
hands of the American people.
And the House of Representatives answered Washington by the voice of
Madison:
We adore the invisible Hand which has led the American people,
through so many difficulties, to cherish a conscious responsibility
for the destiny of republican liberty.
More than seventy-six years have glided away since these words were
spoken; the United States have passed through severer trials than
were foreseen; and now, at this new epoch in our existence as one
nation, with our Union purified by sorrows and strengthened by
conflict and established by the virtue of the people, the greatness
of the occasion invites us once more to repeat with solemnity the
pledges of our fathers to hold ourselves answerable before our
fellow-men for the success of the republican form of government.
Experience has proved its sufficiency in peace and in war; it has
vindicated its authority through dangers and afflictions, and sudden
and terrible emergencies, which would have crushed any System that
had been less firmly fixed in the hearts of the people. At the
inauguration of Washington the foreign relations of the country were
few and its trade was repressed by hostile regulations, now all the
civilized nations of the globe welcome our commerce, and their
Governments profess toward us amity. Then our country felt its way
hesitatingly along an untried path, with States so little bound
together by rapid means of communication as to be hardly known to
one another, and with historic traditions extending over very few
years; now intercourse between the States is swift and intimate; the
experience of centuries has been crowded into a few generations, and
has created an intense, indestructible nationality. Then our
jurisdiction did not reach beyond the inconvenient boundaries of the
territory which had achieved independence; now, through cessions of
lands, first colonized by Spain and France the country has acquired
a more complex character, and has for its natural limits the chain
of lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and on the east and the west the two
great oceans. Other nations were wasted by civil wars for ages
before they could establish for themselves the necessary degree of
unity; the latent conviction that our form of government is the best
ever known to the world has enabled us to emerge from civil war
within four years with a complete vindication of the constitutional
authority of the General Government and with our local liberties and
State institutions unimpaired.
The throngs of emigrants that crowd to our shores are witnesses of
the confidence of all peoples in our permanence. Here is the great
land of free labor, where industry is blessed with unexampled
rewards and the bread of the workingman is sweetened by the
consciousness that the cause of the country 'is his own cause, his
own safety, his own dignity.' Here everyone enjoys the free use of
his faculties and the choice of activity as a natural right. Here,
Under the combined influence of a fruitful soil, genial climes, and
happy institutions, population has increased fifteen-fold within a
century. Here, through the easy development of boundless resources,
wealth has increased with twofold greater rapidity than numbers, so
that we have become secure against the financial vicissitudes of
other countries and, alike in business and in opinion, are self-centered
and truly independent. Here more and more care is given to provide
education for everyone born on our soil. Here religion, released
from political connection with the civil government, refuses to
subserve the craft of statesmen, and becomes in its independence the
spiritual life of the people. Here toleration is extended to every
opinion, in the quiet certainty that truth needs only a fair field
to secure the victory. Here the human mind goes forth unshackled in
the pursuit of science, to collect stores of knowledge and acquire
an ever-increasing mastery over the forces of nature. Here the
national domain is offered and held in millions of separate
freeholds, so that our fellow-citizens, beyond the occupants of any
other part of the earth, constitute in reality a people. Here exists
the democratic form of government; and that form of government, by
the confession of European statesmen, 'gives a power of which no
other form is capable, because it incorporates every man with the
state and arouses everything that belongs to the soul.'
Where in past history does a parallel exist to the public happiness
which is within the reach of the people of the United States? Where
in any part of the globe can institutions be found so suited to
their habits or so entitled to their love as their own free
Constitution? Every one of them, then, in whatever part of the land
he has his home, must wish its perpetuity. Who of them will not now
acknowledge, in the words of Washington, that 'every step by which
the people of the United States have advanced to the character of an
independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of
providential agency'? Who will not join with me in the prayer that
the Invisible Hand which has led us through the clouds that gloomed
around our path will so guide us onward to a perfect restoration of
fraternal affection that we of this day may be able to transmit our
great inheritance of State governments in all their rights, of the
General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, to our
posterity, and they to theirs through countless generations?
Andrew Johnson |