!£ 286 ^ ^^ ^,^-^-y ^^ 
 
 .S32 ^^-^y^- ^ ' C^ ^:^c^^^ , 
 
 1865 
 
 Copy I 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 COMMOI COUNCIL AND CITIZENS 
 
 CITY OF SCHENECTADY, 
 
 JULY 4, 1865. 
 
 By ALONZO C. PAIGE, LL. D. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BICI'ORE THE 
 
 COMMON COUNCIL AND CITIZENS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CITY OF SCHENECTADY, 
 
 JULY 4, 1S65. 
 
 By ALONZO C. PAIGE, LL. D. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 VAN BENTHUYSEN'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 
 1865. 
 
lib 5. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Schenectady, Jul]j 12th, 1865. 
 Hon. A. C. Paige: 
 Dear Sir — By a resolution passed at a regular meeting of the Com- 
 mon Council of the City of Schenectady, I am directed to request a 
 copy of the oration delivered by you on the 4th of Ju\y, for publication. 
 
 Respectfully yours, &c., 
 
 A. Mc:\HjLLEX, 
 
 Mayor. 
 
 Schenectady, July I'Hh, 1805. 
 
 Dear Sir — In compliance with the request of the Common Council, 
 
 I will send you a copy of my address for publication. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 A. C. PAIGE. 
 Hon. A. McMuLLEN, Mayor, <^c. 
 
 \ 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Oil the 4tli July 1776, the delegates of the 
 people of thirteen diistinct Colonies, occnpying 
 territories on this continent, and having sever- 
 ally a political existence under charters from 
 successive kings of Great Britain, in General 
 Congress assembled, in the name of the people of 
 these Colonies, solemnly declared, " that these 
 United Colonies were and of right ought to be 
 free and independent States;" and "that all politi- 
 cal connection between them and the State of 
 Great Britain was and ought to be totally dis- 
 solved." This sublime manifesto to the civil- 
 ized world, was a transcendant exercise of that 
 primordial and ultimate right which, under the 
 laws of nature and of nature's God, belongs to 
 every j)eople, to establish, alter and abolish their 
 own systems of government. In the legitimate 
 exercise of this imprescriptible right, the people 
 of the American Colonies renounced their allegi- 
 ance to the British Crown, and assumed " their 
 separate and equal station among the powers of 
 
the earth." By the potential instrumentality of 
 this grand and glorious act of political sover- 
 eignty, these Colonies, lifted up from the humil- 
 iating condition of colonial subjection, and trans- 
 formed into free and independent States, pre- 
 sented themselves to the startled gaze of the 
 admiring and sympathizing masses of other 
 countries, a one, united, self-constituted nation, 
 proclaiming the principles upon which it was 
 founded, and l)y which its creation was justified. 
 This declaration of independence, was not a form 
 of government and did not prescribe one. That 
 great desideratum had yet to be supplemented. 
 The severance from the British Empire, and the 
 assumption of sovereign power, as well as the 
 institution of civil government, were all acts of 
 political authority wliich the people alone could 
 perform. The two former were accomplished 
 by the Declaration of Independence, which was 
 published in the name and was the act of the 
 people. In that instrument the people of the 
 United Colonies assumed the obligation of insti- 
 tuting a civil government to secure the rights of 
 life, liberty and tlie pursuit of happiness ; rights 
 declared therein to Ije iuialienal)le ; and by that 
 instrument also the whole people of these Colo- 
 
nies, by their delegates entered into a compact 
 with each citizen thereof, whereby they in effect 
 covenanted with each other that the Colonies as 
 United Colonies, were and of right ought to be 
 without limitation as to time, free and indepen- 
 dent States; and thus by necessary implication, 
 they guaranteed to each other their perpetual 
 union, freedom and independence. 
 
 There still remained to be fulfilled, the obliga- 
 tion to institute a civil government uj^on the 
 principles set forth in the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, to secure to the people of the several 
 States, and to every citizen thereof, the blessings 
 of liberty, and to provide for their safety and 
 happiness. No system of civil government could 
 effectually accomplish these objects, unless it 
 combined both the elements of unity and nation- 
 ality. The first attempt of Congress and the 
 State Legislatures to fulfill the pledge of the 
 Declaration of Independence, to institute a civil 
 government, was a miserable failure. The Arti- 
 cles of Confederation proposed by Congress in 
 1777 and approved by the State Legislatures, in 
 1778, did not embrace the elements of unity and 
 nationality, and did not meet the requirements 
 of the Declaration of Independence. The Con- 
 
6 
 
 federacy had no power to enforce obedience to 
 its own enactments, or to aid one of the States in 
 suppressing insurrection within its limits, and no 
 power to collect taxes, or to regulate commerce. 
 It had no power to raise armies or moneys for the 
 public expenses, except by requisitions upon the 
 States for quotas of men or money, which they 
 at their option disregarded or rejected. It had 
 no executive power, and no judicial power. The 
 Articles of Confederation could only act upon the 
 individual citizens indirectly through the agency 
 of the States. This apology for a system of gov- 
 ernment w^as the joint and exclusive offspring of 
 Congress and the State Legislatures. The people 
 in their political capacity had no part in its ma- 
 ternity. The Confederation had not a single char- 
 acteristic of nationality. It is described in the 
 articles as a league of friendship. Mr. John 
 Quincy Adams called it an alliance of States. 
 It was miserably ineffectual in accomplishing 
 any of the purposes foreshadowed in the Declar- 
 ation of Independence. Pul)lic credit was de- 
 stroyed; public faith violated; and the union 
 was in the last agonies of dissolution. Wash- 
 ington in his retirement was alarmed. At Mount 
 Vernon, the idea was first suggested of a revisal 
 
of the xVrticler^ of Confedenition, which led to 
 the convent ion of 1787; to the preparation of 
 our glorious Constitution, and to the ultimate 
 ratification of the same, hy the whole people in 
 conventions for the purpose assembled. The 
 adoption of this Constitution by the people in 
 virtue of their sole right of political sovereignty, 
 was the birth of our nationality. It was the 
 triumphant consummation of the political revo- 
 lution commenced by the war and the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. 
 
 This Constitution Avas made by and for the 
 people, and not by the States as such. It is 
 national in its character, and is clothed with the 
 powers and prerogatives of nationalit3^ It is not 
 a compact or league of friendship between inde- 
 pendent States or a mere alliance of States, as 
 were the Articles of Confederation. Its j)reroga- 
 tives of nationality are the right of Congress to 
 collect taxes, regulate commerce, declare war, 
 raise and support armies, and to exercise the 
 powers of legislation; the right of the President, 
 with the consent of the Senate, to make treaties, 
 to appoint the judicial and other officers of the 
 United States, to suppress insurrection and repel 
 invasion, and to take care that the laws are faith- 
 
8 
 
 fully executed ; and the right of the judicial 
 po\Yer to exercise jurisdiction over all cases 
 arising under the Constitution, the laws of Con- 
 gress and the treaties of the United States ; all 
 of which are declared to be the supreme law of 
 the land. 
 
 We find in this Constitution all the powers del- 
 egated by the people, necessary " to form a more 
 perfect union, establish justice, insure domes- 
 tic tranquility, provide for the common defence, 
 promote the general w^elfare, and secure the 
 blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos- 
 terity." We find also, in the amendments to the 
 Constitution, a provision that the powers not 
 delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
 tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- 
 served to the States respectively or to the people. 
 
 We do not find in this Constitution any author- 
 ity — not even an approximation to an authority — 
 for a State to nullify an act of Congress, or to 
 secede from the Union. The Constitution is 
 the Avork of the w^hole people, and not of the 
 States as jDolitical corporations. It is the su- 
 preme law of the land, and is paramount to all 
 State Constitutions and laws. It was ratified by 
 the peo23le of all the original thirteen States, and 
 
9 
 
 has received the assent of, and l)een adopted by 
 the peoi)le of every Sttite, which has since been 
 admitted into the Union. It was a political com- 
 pact, voluntarily entered into by the people of 
 all the States in their individual capacities, as 
 the ultimate and exclusive depositaries of polit- 
 ical })ower, by which the whole people agreed 
 with each citizen of the States, with the as- 
 sent of the States, to establish and did estab- 
 lish, a civil government; and surrendered and 
 delegated to such government certain enumera- 
 ted and defined powers; and thereby they in 
 jjehalf of themselves and of the several States 
 forever renounced the exercise of such powers. 
 From the moment of the adoption of the Consti- 
 tution and the institution of this government, no 
 one of the States, nor any citizen or body of 
 citizens of any State or of the United States, had 
 the right or power to declare null and void an act 
 of Congress; nor had any State the power or 
 right to separate itself from the other States, or 
 to secede from the Union. The right and power 
 to do either of these acts had been surrendered by 
 the States and by the people of the States to the 
 government established by the Constitution. A 
 
10 
 
 principal object of the Constitution was to form 
 a more perfect union of the States. The asserted 
 riffht of nullification and secession would defeat 
 this object ; because it involves the right of any 
 one State to abrogate the laws of Congress and 
 supercede the Constitution, and to maintain such 
 right by arms ; or in other words it involves the 
 right to organize insurrection;' and to overthrow 
 the government and dissolve the Union by phys- 
 ical force. It is a claim to array the sovereignty 
 of one State against the sovereignty of the Uni- 
 ted States. The Union of the Colonies preceded 
 the Declaration of Independence, Each State, 
 and the people of each State, having parted with 
 just so many powers as were necessary to create a 
 single nation by an intimate Union of all the States 
 and an association of the whole people of the United 
 States, nullification and secession cannot under 
 any possible circumstances be tolerated ; as they 
 are inevitably destructive of that national unity, 
 which was the object of the concession of the 
 political powers, delegated to the Federal Gov- 
 ernment. Secession never can be even morally 
 justified, except as a right of revolution, confer- 
 red by the extremity of oppression, after every 
 other conceivable remedy has been exhausted. 
 
11 
 
 The compact, by which the whole people and the 
 States instituted the Federal Governineut, im- 
 posed reciprocal and sacred obligations upon 
 each. It is the duty of the States and the peo- 
 ple to obey the Constitution and laws of Congress 
 made in pursuance thereof. It is the solemn and 
 imperative duty of the government, under all 
 circumstances, toyindicate the just power of the 
 Constitution ; to preserve the integrity of the 
 Union, and to execute the laws by all constitu- 
 tional means; by civil remedies so long as they 
 avail, and, when they fail, then by physical 
 force. While the Government should be always 
 willing to exercise forbearance in respect to the 
 errors of the people, when the exigency of an 
 open and organized resistance to the laws, or to 
 its constitutional authoritv demands it, it should 
 never hesitate to employ force, sufficient to over- 
 come it. The proposition that the general gov- 
 ernment has no rightful ^^ower to coerce a State 
 to jierform its constitutional obligations, is too 
 preposterous for discussion. Our Constitution 
 and Union are too precious and have cost too 
 much, to be surrendered upon so shallow and so 
 odious a doctrine. Our priceless inheritance of 
 a free Constitution and regulated liberty, is a 
 
12 
 
 sacred trust in our hands ; and the solemn res- 
 ponsibility is upon us to transmit it unimpaired 
 to our posterity. Our rallying cry must be 
 " the Constitution and the laws are supreme and 
 the Union indissoluble." 
 
 There is no ground for aj)prehension in regard 
 to the self sustaining vitality of our goyernment. 
 The powers delegated to it are amply sufficient 
 in their legitimate exercise, to provide for its 
 preservation. The powers of Congress to col- 
 lect taxes and to raise and support armies, and 
 of the President as such and as Commander in 
 Chief to see that the laws are faithfully execu- 
 ted and that rebellion is suppressed and invasion 
 repelled, confer not only the right, but arm the 
 Government and the Executive Avith the power 
 to coerce the citizens of a vState, who are attempt- 
 ing to carry it out of the Union, to relinquish the 
 enterprise, and resume their obligations to obey 
 and sup2)ort the Constitution. So perfectly clear 
 in my judgment are these propositions, that I am 
 amazed that they ever should have been contro- 
 yerted. We look in yain for any authority for 
 the doctrine of nullification and secession in the 
 expressed oj)inions or acts of the great men who 
 framed the constitution. Jefferson and Madison 
 
denied {iiiy siieli autliority. Jackson declared 
 the doctrine to be "a metaphysical subtlety in 
 pursuit of an impracticable theory ; " and in his 
 proclamation of Dec. ISo^ he denounced it as 
 "incompatible with the existence of the Union, 
 contradicted expressly by the letter of the Con- 
 stitution ; unauthorized by its spirit, — inconsis- 
 tent with every principle on which it was 
 founded, and destructive of the great ol)jects for 
 which it was formed." John Quincy Adams, 
 declared that "the right of a State to nullify an 
 act of Congress was too a1)surd for argument and 
 too odious for discussion." 
 
 The preposterous doctrine of nullification and 
 secession, claimed l)y Southern politicians as a 
 State right, has created an unjust prejudice against 
 those unquestionable rights, which are expressly 
 reserved by the Constitution to the States and 
 the people. It has induced mistaken and erro- 
 neous views in respect to the reserved rights 
 of the states, even in the minds of many educa- 
 ted men. Not a few scholars and statesmen have 
 thus been influenced to discard the entire doc- 
 trine of State rights as incompati))le with Amer- 
 ican nationality ; and even to adopt such al)surd 
 and latitudiuarian principles of constructi(m, 
 
14 
 
 under the delusive name of implied powers, as 
 would subvert the legitimate and fundamental 
 rights of the States, never surrendered, and 
 would aggregate in the general government, po- 
 litical powers, overshadowing and imperial. 
 Thus the reserved rights of the States are stig- 
 matised as " the pestilent pretension of State 
 rights ; " " the perverse pretension of State 
 rights ; " " the miserable pretension of State sov- 
 ereignty;" "the dogma and delusion of State 
 rights;" as instrumental in making our nation 
 a nuisance on the earth; "as the lying names of 
 conservatism, State rights and State sovereignty," 
 And thus it is insisted that the States of our 
 Union are so incohesive ; so diremptive ; so au- 
 tonomous; so slenderly conjoined; "such apiece 
 of conventional patchwork," that the obliteration 
 of State lines, — the abolition of State rights,- — 
 and of State sovereignties, — and consolidation, 
 political, geographical, and historical, can alone 
 preserve American nationality. And to further 
 this scheme of an imperial consolidation with 
 despotic powers, we are told that the Federal 
 Government, under our present Constitution, ab- 
 sorbs all political sovereignty, and that no resi- 
 duum, not the slightest, is left for the States ; 
 
15 
 
 thiit the States are mortal ; that they may com- 
 mit suicide ; that as political corporations they 
 can be guilty of treason ; and that treason Ijy 
 States is self destruction ; that Congress may 
 abolish them; that it may declare them civilly 
 dead; their rights as States forfeited; and their 
 places in the Union abdicated; and that it may 
 establish upon their ruins Congressional govern- 
 ments. What would the great men of the revo- 
 lution — what would Washington, and Hamilton, 
 and Madison, and Jay, and Jeiferson, and John 
 Adams, if now living, say to such opinions and 
 schemes. There is not an act of their lives, nor 
 a thought ever expressed by either of them, 
 which countenances such political heresies as 
 these. The States, and the people of the States, 
 united under and by virtue of the Constitution, 
 form the American Union. The Constitution 
 provides for the admission of new States into the 
 Union ; but it makes no provision for the oblit- 
 eration or expulsion of a State. If a State can- 
 not by the voluntary action of its corporate au- 
 thorities or of its people, be taken out of the 
 Union, — it cannot be expelled from it. The 
 States are integrant and indispensable parts 
 of the Union. The proposition that an act of 
 
16 
 
 secession of the Legislature of a State, inoperate 
 and void, is self-murder by the State, involves 
 an egregious absurdity, legally, constitutionally 
 and logically. Treason mny overthrow the legit- 
 imate governments of the States ; and their 
 functions thereby become temporarily suspended, 
 but they remain existent States of the Union ; 
 althouoh in abeyance, and are always in a con- 
 dition at any time to be resuscitated, reorganized 
 and rehabilitated by loyal hands. This work of 
 resuscitation may be achieved in any State by 
 loyal citizens, whether "to the manor born" or 
 denizens from other States. A State is a political 
 corporation, soulless and insentient. It cannot 
 commit a crime — moral guilt is not imputable 
 to it. If treason be perpetrated by its public 
 officers, they are the offenders and they alone 
 are responsible. 
 
 Our Government is a compound Government ; 
 in part national, and in part federative. It is 
 national in respect to the operation of its powers 
 upon the individual citizens, in their individual 
 capacities; and in' respect to the foundation on 
 which it is established, the ratification of the 
 Constitution by the people. It is national in the 
 manner of the choice of the House of Represen- 
 
17 
 
 tatives ; and federative in the constitution of the 
 Senate, and in its j)articipation in tlie three <i;reat 
 de])artnients of constitutional power. It is na- 
 tional in the element that the Constitution and 
 the constitutional laws of the United States 
 are the supreme law of the land. It is partly 
 national and partly federative in the mode of the 
 election of the President. Both houses of Con- 
 gress represent at the same time both the whole 
 people and all the States of the Union. The 
 Federal Government is called a dual govern- 
 ment, Ijecause it shares governmental powers with 
 the States. Its jurisdiction extends to certain 
 enumerated ol:)jects, connected with the general 
 welfare of the whole people. The powers of the 
 States relate to local and municipal subjects — 
 the lives, liberties and properties of the ^^eople, 
 and the internal order, improvement and pros- 
 perity of the State. The States move in interior 
 circles; the general government in an outer 
 comprehensive circle, embracing all the States, 
 binding them together in a compact union, and 
 creating a political oneness — a national unit. 
 The line of demarcation between the two juris- 
 dictions, is clearly defined and perfectly distinct. 
 
18 
 
 There is no antagonism between them. The 
 relation is one of perfect adaptation. The powers 
 delegated and those reserved can under no cir- 
 cumstances collide, if constitutionally exercised. 
 The two departments of political power, State 
 and National, are harmonious and co-operative. 
 They invigorate, fortifv and sustain each other. 
 The States operating within their own spheres, 
 exercising political power in respect to all local 
 and internal matters, and maintaining domestic 
 tranquility within their respective territorial 
 limits, the general Government is left to gather 
 up and husband its national powers to defend the 
 Union, provide for the common defence, and pro- 
 mote the general welfare. The States are neces- 
 sary and essential parts of our com23ound and dual 
 Government. They, and the powers reserved 
 to them, are indisjDensable to its perpetuity. 
 With the States obliterated, and their pow- 
 ers transferred to the general Government, 
 and jurisdiction committed to it, over all local 
 and municipal matters, as well as those of gen- 
 eral and national interest, with but one Leg- 
 islature and one Executive, the general Gov- 
 ernment would not outlive a single generation, 
 unless clothed with despotic power, and having 
 
19 
 
 the support of a great standing army to maintain 
 its authority. Thus the price of consolidation 
 "Nvouhl he the surrender of civil and political 
 liherty ; and the eipiivalent for our present bene- 
 ficent Government, would be a military despot- 
 ism — with its provincial satraps and cohorts of 
 provost marshals, and their concomitants, — mili- 
 tary trials, — perpetual suspension of the writ of 
 habeas corpus, — -the censorship of the Press, — 
 and the abolition of the trial by jury and the 
 freedom of speech. 
 
 The American people have, of all nations on 
 the earth, the greatest possible cause for grati- 
 tude to Almighty God, for his bestowal upon them 
 of a system of government, of all others the best 
 adapted to create and preserve national unity; 
 and to secure domestic tranquility and the bless- 
 ings of regulated liberty to them and their pos- 
 terity. And yet, apparently unconscious of the 
 priceless value, and the inherent vitality of this 
 government, and of its self-sustaining power, we 
 find scholars and statesmen still regarding our 
 political union as in danger of disruj)tion from 
 the feebleness of the political bonds which bind 
 it together. We see that they have derived no 
 instruction from the triumphant vindication by 
 
20 
 
 our Government of its own autliority, which, 
 within a few months has crowned its resistance 
 to the most formidable rebellion which ever per- 
 illed the life of a nation. Blind to the recent 
 experimental Avorkings of this government, they 
 continue skeptics in its adaptability to the per- 
 petuation of American nationality, and pronounce 
 the opinion that State Rights are still the rock 
 of danger upon which, unless they are removed, 
 our Union will be wrecked. 
 
 Let us turn for a moment from political trans- 
 cendentalists — dogmatising innovators — men 
 either with minds unsettled by the spirit of in- 
 tense partisanship, or who are the slaves of a 
 single idea, and are madly pushing onward to 
 its realization, reckless of the damage to greater 
 ideas, and to the political confusion and anarchy 
 into which they are plunging the complicated 
 machinery of our compound Government. Let 
 us turn from these to the great Fathers of our 
 E-epublic, to the glorious men trained up by Al- 
 mighty God to achieve our independence, and 
 who, by his aid, did achieve it, and h^amed that 
 incomparable and matchless system of civil gov- 
 ernment under the beneficent auspices of which 
 we have advanced from the feebleness of infancy 
 
21 
 
 to the vast proportions of the lejidiiig nation on 
 the globe. Let ns turn to these men, and borrow 
 from their wisdom to guide us in the present in- 
 teresting crisis. 
 
 What was Washington's opinion of the Consti- 
 tution and Government of the United States ? 
 He regarded the Constitution as the "precious 
 depositor}^ of American happiness." He appeal- 
 ed Avith aflectionate earnestness to his fellow- 
 citizens to maintain it; to so carefully preserve 
 it, so prudently use this blessing " as to acquire 
 to them the glory of recommending it to the ap- 
 j)lause, the affection and adoption of every nation 
 which is yet a stranger to it ;" and he urged 
 upon them that " the Government, the offspring 
 of their own choice- — in the distribution of its 
 powers uniting security with energy ^ — had a just 
 claim to their confidence and support." And what 
 did John Adams, his successor, think of this Con- 
 stitution ? He said, " as an experiment, it was 
 better adapted to the genius, character, situation 
 and relations of this nation and country, than 
 any which had either been proposed or suggest- 
 ed ;" and he exhorted his countrymen to " fortify 
 and cling to their political institutions, and resist 
 with unabating perseverance the progress of those 
 
22 
 
 dano;erous innovations which mioht diminish 
 their influence." Jefferson dechired that " the 
 Government was the strongest Government on 
 earth ; " that its essential principles were " the 
 support of the State governments in all their 
 rights, as the most competent administrations for 
 our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks 
 against anti-republican tendencies ; and the pres- 
 ervation of the general Government in its whole 
 constitutional vigor as the sheet anchor of our 
 jDeace at home and safety abroad ; " that " to keep 
 within the pale of our constitutional powers, and 
 to cherish the Federal Union as the only rock of 
 our safety," were landmarks by which we were 
 to i>uide ourselves. Madison savs, in his fifth 
 annual message, that " the war (of 1812) has 
 proved that our free Government, like other free 
 Governments, though slow in its early move- 
 ments, acquires in its progress, force proportioned 
 to its freedom, and that the union of these States, 
 the guardian of the freedom and safety of all and 
 of each, is strengthened by every occasion that 
 puts it to the test." Again, in a subsequent mes- 
 sage he says, " We can rejoice in the proofs given 
 that our political institutions, founded in human 
 rights and framed for their preservation, are 
 
23 
 
 equal to the f<everest trials of war, as well as 
 adapted to the ordinary periods of repose." 
 Monroe, in his inaugural, speaks of the wise par- 
 tition of power hetween the General and the 
 State governments, and of the protection of the 
 latter hy the former against foreign dangers; 
 and says " that the Government is adequate to 
 every purpose for which the social compact is 
 formed ; " that " it is equal to the greatest trials 
 of w^ar under the most unfavorahle circumstan- 
 ces ; " and that never was the success of a Gov- 
 ernment so complete. After a generation liad 
 passed away since the adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion, John Quincy Adams entered upon his pres- 
 idential term of office, and, speaking for a later 
 generation, adds his testimony to that of all his 
 predecessors, in favor of the permanent excel- 
 lence of the Constitution and general govern- 
 ment ; and tells us " that the great result of this 
 experiment upon the theory of human rights has 
 been crowned with success equal to the most 
 sanguine expectations of its founders" — "that 
 union, justice, tranquility, the common defence, 
 the general welfare, and the l)lessings of liberty 
 — all have been promoted by the Government 
 under which we have lived,"—" that the general 
 
24 
 
 government of the Union and the separate gov- 
 ernments of the States are all sovereignties of 
 legitimated powers ; fellow servants of the same 
 masters, nncontroUed within their respective 
 spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments upon 
 each other," — that we are admonished by the 
 collisions of party spirit, " to preserve alike and 
 with equal anxiety, the rights of each individual 
 State in its own government, and the rights of 
 the whole nation in that of the Union." He says 
 " to respect the rights of the State governments 
 is the inviolable duty of that of the Union ; the 
 government of every State will feel its own obli- 
 gation to respect and preserve the rights of the 
 whole." These words were from the pen of one 
 of the most accomplished scholars, statesmen, 
 writers, and orators the United States or the 
 world ever produced — he who was called in after 
 years " the old man eloquent." Every opinion 
 as thus expressed by him, was reiterated by his 
 successor, Jackson, and were the opinions of all 
 his predecessors. Statesmanship had been the 
 study of his life. He was a statesman in the 
 largest sense of the term ; theoretical and prac- 
 tical ; familiar with the science of government, — • 
 with the political history of every nation, since 
 
25 
 
 the beginning of time ; with constitutional juris- 
 prudence and international law ; with the genius, 
 character, haljits, condition, and opinions of the 
 American people; and with the practical work- 
 ings of our political system. You have seen what 
 were the opinions of this great man; and espe- 
 cially as to the partition of powers between the 
 General and the State governments, and the 
 legitimate rights of the States. He did not 
 regard these rights as "a dogma and delusion" — 
 " a pestilent pretension " — " a lying name " — 
 " as the bane of the American States" — " as the 
 rock of danger to American nationalitv." 
 
 No; it was reserved for modern pretenders to 
 statesmanship — for sciolists in political philoso- 
 phy and in constitutional jurisprudence — for 
 j)olitical partisans and one-idea philosophers — for 
 consolidationists — for the advocates of a strong 
 government, republican in name, but monarch- 
 ial in substance ; — it was reserved for the arro- 
 gance of such as these, to attempt to controvert 
 the opinions of the grand and glorious statesAen 
 whose names I have mentioned. It is not neces- 
 sary to add, that the attempt is as abortive as it 
 is presumptuous. 
 4 
 
26 
 
 This class of politicians, wlio array themselves 
 against the illustrious men whose opinions in 
 relation to the National Constitution and the 
 partition of powers hetween the General and 
 State Governments I have given, have no re- 
 spect, no reverence for the Constitution. They 
 profess to see in it incurahle defects. 
 
 An article, of July, 18G4, in a leading Boston 
 periodical, entitled " The Constitution and its 
 Defects," represents their opinions and peculiar 
 political philosophy. This article speaks deri- 
 sively of what is called in it " Constitution-w^or- 
 ship," and " excessive reverence for the Consti- 
 tution." It pronounces the Constitution a fail- 
 ure ; because, as it alleges, it was not able to 
 prevent a disruption of the Union. It commends 
 the higher law doctrine, and declares that there 
 should be a re-distribution of j^olitical powers 
 between the General and State Governments ; 
 that a larger share should be allotted to the 
 former, and that the whole doctrine of State 
 Sovereignty might be swept away without preju- 
 dice to our liberties. 
 
 If the preparation of this article had been de- 
 layed until July, 18G5, the public would probably 
 never have seen it; as ^Drevious to that date it 
 
27 
 
 had been demonstrated by the logic of facts, that 
 the Constitution was no faihire, and that its 
 ])()Aver was ample to maintain the Union, under 
 any and all supposable circumstances. 
 
 This class of politicians, to whom I have re- 
 ferred, may be designated as political transcen- 
 dentalists. They affiliate with the New England 
 theological transcendentalists. Both profess to 
 be illuminated by a new philosophy — a new rev- 
 elation, — the former in the science of govern- 
 ment, and the latter in theology. 
 
 This transcendental philosophy, whether po- 
 litical or theological, goes beyond the boundaries 
 of human knowledge, and expatiates in the 
 shadowy regions of imaginary truth. It teaches 
 a hilse philosophy. It is alike hostile to the 
 spirit of the Gospel and the free institutions 
 of our country. It unsettles the foundations of 
 religious belief, and expels from the minds of 
 the people their love for, and confidence in our 
 system of government; the best calculated of 
 any system ever suggested to maintain the Un- 
 ion, and make the American people a great, 
 happy, and prosperous nation. 
 
 The result of the bloody conflict in which we 
 
28 
 
 have been engaged, has furnished us conclusive 
 evidence of the cohesiveness of the States in the 
 Union created by the Constitution ; and of the ir- 
 resistible power of that Constitution to assert its 
 jurisdiction over every delinquent State, and 
 over every Territory of the United States. 
 And when Slavery, the only disturbing element, 
 is thoroughly eliminated, these States will pre- 
 sent the most sublime spectacle of political, 
 social, and religious homogeneity, which hist- 
 ory records, or the sun ever shone upon. 
 
 The logic of the events crowded into the last 
 four years of our history, demonstrates the sta- 
 bility, as well as the inherent strength and vigor 
 of our Government ; and dissipates all the fears 
 which have been entertained in respect to its 
 permanency. 
 
 The political example and fall of other repub- 
 lics should have no terrors for us ; for there is 
 no analogy between their political condition 
 and ours. 
 
 It has been insisted with earnestness, that we 
 have " a complete exemplar in the States of 
 Greece ;" that autonomy was the bane of Greece; 
 and that the doctrine of State rights and State sov- 
 ereignties, has been, and is yet, the rock of dan- 
 
29 
 
 ger to American nationality. 1 can see no simil- 
 itude between the small States of Greece, and 
 the States of the American Union. The States 
 of Greece were factious, turbulent, and jealous; 
 they were disunited and discordant ; and when 
 most accordant, united by no other bond than 
 a league, or an alliance — Amphyctionic or 
 Achaean. The American States are conjoined 
 in a well cemented Union, created and held to- 
 gether by the irresistible compression of a Na- 
 tional Constitution. The States of Greece occu- 
 pied a territory not exceeding in size the State 
 of New York. The United States span a mighty 
 Continent; and its opposite shores are washed by 
 the two great oceans of the globe. The States 
 of Greece were without God in the world; while 
 the American States in numerous periods of their 
 history, have enjoyed the protection and the 
 smiles of an overruling Providence. We cer- 
 tainly have nothing to fear from any such auton- 
 omy, as was the bane of Greece; for none such is 
 to be found in the Constitution of the States of 
 the American Union. 
 
 We are now at peace among ourselves, and 
 with all the world. The temple of Janus as to 
 us is closed. Blessed be God for the same. 
 
30 
 
 Our swords are being beaten into plongli shares, 
 and our spears into pruning hooks ; and may the 
 universal prayer go up from all our hearts, on 
 this happy day, that never again in all the fu- 
 ture of our history, may it be necessary for the 
 citizens of our glorious Republic, to lift up the 
 sword against each other. In the words of John 
 Quincy Adams, " now the future is all before us, 
 and Providence is our guide." Let our prayers 
 ascend daily to the throne of the Father of our 
 spirits, that he vouchsafe to be near this people, 
 to watch over and protect them as he did their 
 fathers ; that he give them grace to learn right- 
 eousness ; and that he continually teach them 
 how to serve him, and how to discharge all 
 their obligations ; to cultivate the spirit of 
 fraternity and justice, the spirit of truth and 
 mercy ; and may they learn that the only per- 
 manent security for our Government, and for 
 public tranquility and order, is the influence of 
 Christianity upon the hearts of the people. 
 
 It is a self-evident proposition that the only 
 durable foundation of a free government is the 
 virtue of the peoj)le, — a virtue which is the fruit 
 and the oftspring of the joint-teachings of religion 
 and moralitv. The stability of the Government 
 
31 
 
 iniist (iepeiul upon the stabiUtij ol' this virtue in 
 the pe<)i)le. Let us see to it then, as our ^reat 
 and imperative duty, tliat the schoolmaster is 
 continually abroad, and that the mission of our 
 divine master is systematically, perseveringly, 
 earnestly, and enthusiastically prosecuted, on 
 every parallel of latitude, and every line of lon- 
 gitude in our vast National domain. Not a fish- 
 erman's hut, on the rivers, lakes, or oceans, not 
 a shanty on the prairies, nor a log liouse upon 
 the mountains, should want a bible or the means 
 of rudimental instruction. 
 
 My Fellow Citizens, we have assembled to-day 
 for the purpose of a double celebration, — the birth 
 of our National independence, and the triumph 
 of our arms over rebellion, succeeded by the res- 
 toration of peace. 
 
 During four ^^ears, civil war has been drench- 
 ing our fair fields with fraternal blood. A law- 
 less and wicked rebellion, gigantic in its proj^or- 
 tions, instigated and martialled by disappointed 
 politicians, has raised its gorgon head and assail- 
 ed the life of the Constitution and the integrity 
 of the Union. It has brought sorrow to the 
 homes of hundreds of thousands of our people, 
 and sacrificed in its fury a quarter of a million 
 
32 
 
 of the lives of loyal men, who had gone forth to 
 the battle field in defence of the Constitution and 
 the Union. It has spread havoc and desolation 
 broadcast over the States in rebellion. Their 
 blasted fields, consumed ha])itations, ruined in- 
 habitants, and the graves of slain warriors, indi- 
 cate the theatre of the bloody conflicts, and the 
 marches of the contending hosts. 
 
 An Almighty hand has conducted us in safety 
 through this terrible conflict. Under his over- 
 ruling providence, the bravery of our armies and 
 the genius, wisdom, prudence, energy and 
 skill of our generals have achieved resplend- 
 ent victories, over a brave, gallant and formida- 
 ble foe ; coerced the surrender of all the armed 
 forces of the enemy; and given to us a vindi- 
 cated Constitution, a restored Union, and honor, 
 glor}^, and peace. 
 
 One of the most beneficent fruits, nay, the 
 crowning triumph of these victories, is the crush- 
 ing out of existence, never to be resurrected, of 
 the accursed and disinteoratino- doctrine of nul- 
 lification and secession. 
 
 Fellow Citizens — This should be a happy and 
 joyous day to us all. Under other circumstances 
 our joy would be enthusiastic and hilarious. But 
 
33 
 
 now a gentle sadness steals into our minds, and 
 tinges with melancholy all our thoughts. The 
 memory of the numerous dead, a great congre- 
 gation, all lives given to their country — is present 
 with us here. And rising above all in solemn 
 magnitude is a great special grief, which thrusts 
 itself upon us, and infuses into our hearts the spirit 
 of heaviness. Our great triumph was heralded 
 and accompanied by a great sorrow. Beautiful 
 was the thought exj^ressed recently in one of our 
 churches, that it seemed to be an ordering of 
 Providence, that a great blessing should be sanc- 
 tified by a great sacrifice. The sacrifice here, 
 and the great sorrow, was the diabolical assassina- 
 tion of our lamented President. Under the able 
 and sagacious administration of Abraham Lincoln, 
 the war was conducted with various successes 
 and defeats, until a succession of victories and 
 superior forces, compelled Gen. Lee to surrender 
 to Gen. Grant ; and the deadly struggle was in 
 near approximation to its termination. Peace 
 was certain soon to crown the arduous labors of 
 the President, with complete success ; and he 
 doubtless was anticipating the happy hour, when 
 every armed foe should have disappeared from 
 
^ 
 
 34 
 
 the field, and he t^honkl receive the jubiLant con- 
 gratulations of his countrymen. At this precise 
 moment, the hand of the assassin interposed, and 
 thrust aside the victorious wreath, about to be 
 placed by grateful hands upon his brow. Bless- 
 ed and sweet Avill ever be the memory of his 
 good deeds. The amenities and the kind hearted- 
 ness of his every day life, will be placed in our 
 hearts and kept there as part of its richest treas- 
 ures. Many are the lives of the poor soldiers 
 whom he respited from death, in response to the 
 weeping importunities of wdves, mothers, and 
 daucfhters. His niercv to these men as well as 
 to many others, has ascended to heaven as a sweet 
 incense ; and has doubtless secured to him the 
 benefit of the rich reward, "Blessed are the 
 merciful ; for they shall obtain mercy." 
 
 It is one of the pleasing duties of the day to 
 offer our tribute of applause to our gallant armies 
 and their renowned leaders, who have achieved 
 in the field the great triumph which we have 
 assembled to celebrate. The prominent person- 
 age in this brilliant galaxy of military chief- 
 tains, (all now historic names,) and the cjaiosure 
 of all eyes, is Lieut. Gen. Grant ; of all men the 
 most modest and unpretending, but of all men 
 
possessing the highest chiims to pre-eminence. 
 The best evidence of true greatness is modesty ; 
 an humble and moderate estimate of one's own 
 worth and importance. With what graphic truth 
 can we apply to Gen. Grant tlie beautiful com- 
 pliment of the speaker of the House of Burgesses 
 of Virginia, to Washington; "Your modesty 
 equals your valor ; and that surpasses the power 
 of any language that I possess." John Quincy 
 Adams attributes the success of Washington in 
 his public life, both military and civil, to two 
 properties happilj^ blended in his character, and 
 constituting his highest excellence ; " the spirit 
 of command, and the spirit of meekness." How 
 admirably are the same qualities united in the 
 character of Gen. Grant. Fort Donelson, Shi- 
 loh, Vicksburgh, the battles of the Wilderness, 
 and before Petersburgh and Richmond, are wit- 
 nesses of his lion-hearted courage, his military 
 genius and skill, his iron will, and his persistence 
 in the pursuit of his purpose, denoting the fixed 
 resolve from Avhicli there was no appeal, and no 
 retreat. His vast comprehensive military com- 
 binations culminated in the involvement of Lee 
 in a net of stragetic arrangements, which com- 
 pelled his surrender; and the ultimate surrender 
 
36 
 
 of all the other armies of the rebellion. The 
 characteristic magnaniinity of Gen. Grant, the 
 index of a great soul, exhibited two sublime 
 manifestations in his return to Lee of his sword, 
 accompanied by a generous reply complimentary 
 to the gallantry and soothing to the mortified 
 pride of the latter ; and his immediate withdrawal 
 from Raleigh on the delivery to Sherman of the 
 disapproval of his first arrangement with Johns- 
 ton, and leaving to him the sole honor of receiv- 
 ing from the latter his surrender- — an honor to 
 which he was preeminently entitled. 
 
 The next prominent personage of this military 
 galaxy who commands our notice, is Gen. Sher- 
 man himself, — the greatest campaigner of the 
 age. A distinguished British General j^ro- 
 nounced Gen. Sherman, after his march from 
 Atlanta to the sea, the greatest campaigner since 
 the days of Napoleon, But if we compare Na- 
 poleon's march from the borders of Poland to 
 Moscow, 800 miles — his longest march — and its 
 disastrous result, his retreat to France, with the 
 loss of all but a remnant of his immense army of 
 500,000 men ; — why may we not claim, that 
 Sherman's successful march from Chattanooga by 
 way of Atlanta and Savannah to Raleigh, about 
 
Oi 
 
 the same distance as I'roiii Poland to Moscow, 
 and its glorious consummation in the capture of 
 Johnston's army, entitles him as a campaigner 
 to rank at least as the equal of Napoleon. The 
 original idea of this march, was Sherman's ; and 
 its execution was as briliant as Avas its magnifi- 
 cent conception. It demonstrated the greatness 
 of his intellect, and the fertility of his genius ; 
 the acuteness of his apprehension, and the un- 
 erring determinations of his judgment. 
 
 But Sherman is not only a fighter and a pro- 
 found planner as a general, ])ut he excels also as 
 a writer and a speaker. He can make his mark 
 —emphatically his mark— with his pen as well 
 as with his sword. x\ll honor to Sherman,— 
 worthy, thrice worthy, his place by the side of 
 his great commander, Grant. 
 
 Burke's glowhig description of the descent of 
 Hyder Ali upon the plains of the Carnatic, and 
 his sweeping into captivity all its inhabitants 
 "m a lohirlwind of cavalry, ^^ reminds me of Sheri- 
 dan, the peerless cavalry officer of the Federal 
 army. His tremendous charges, and his light- 
 ning movements, can well be illustrated by the 
 havoc and the speed of the whirlwind. His rapid 
 advance from the west, and his splendid opera- 
 
tions against Lee, contributed essentially to his 
 surrender. 
 
 My Fellow Citizens, I wish that time allowed 
 me to present to your notice, the names of all 
 the brave and noble officers of our army of all 
 ranks, nay, of the privates also, who hy their 
 courage, endurance, patience, sufferings, and sac- 
 rifices, have contributed to the overthrow of the 
 rebellion and the restoration of peace. But if I 
 should engage in this grateful task, the setting 
 sun although now not far from its meridian, 
 would find me with my labor of love not half 
 completed. It would give me great pleasure to 
 speak of Thomas and Mead and Howard, and 
 Slocumb, and Hooker, and Franklin and Smith, 
 and numerous others in my mind ; and it would 
 be a pleasing, although a melancholy duty, to 
 stop at the grave of Sedgwick, that model sol- 
 dier and gentleman, and offer a trilmte to his 
 cherished memory ; and to pause at the last 
 resting, place of McPherson, and drop tears of 
 regret for his untimely but glorious death on the 
 battle field. 
 
 Before I pass to my remaining toj)ics, I am 
 desirous of addressing a few words of greeting 
 and welcome to the officers and privates of the 
 
39 
 
 lo-ltli Regiment , our regiment, who have recently 
 been mustered out of service, and have returned 
 to their homes among us ; as well as to the officers 
 and privates of other regiments, who have re- 
 turned under like circumstances. All of you 
 after a faithful and honorable service in the 
 cause of your country, have come back to resume 
 the pursuits of private life. We welcome your 
 return. We thank you for all you have done, 
 all you have sufiered, and all you have sacrificed 
 in defence of the Union. 
 
 Soldiers of the 134th Regiment, your conduct 
 in the numerous battles in which, under the com- 
 mand of your Colonel, Allan H. Jackson, you 
 have been engaged, has established your claim to 
 the applause of your fellow citizens, and the 
 gratitude of your country. No regiment has won 
 brighter laurels than yours. We have heard of 
 your bravery everywhere. We heard of you at 
 the bloody battle of Chancellorville ; and shortly, 
 after in that deadliest of fights on the first of the • 
 three days conflict at Gettysburgh, wdiere three 
 hundred of your number were led into action by 
 your Colonel, and only twenty-seven of them 
 escaped slaughter and captivity. In October 
 1863, we heard of you again, with pride, when 
 
40 
 
 forming a part of the command, which under the 
 leadership of Hooker, " Fighting Joe Hooker," 
 and in the advance, yon drove the enemj^ from 
 Lookout Valle}^ ; and in the same valley with 
 two divisions repulsed a spirited attack by Long- 
 street. You were in the first line, the place of 
 danger and of honor at the battle of Lookout 
 Mountain, and Mission Ridge, and afterwards in 
 November and December 1863, in inclement 
 weather, and with insufficent clothing, and many 
 of you without shoes, you made with the 11th 
 Army Corps a march of three hundred miles for 
 the relief of Knoxville — one of the severest cam- 
 paigns of the war. You were with Sherman in 
 his campaign- — that greatest campaign of modern 
 times — being most of the time in the advance of 
 his army. Yon took part in all the l^attles of 
 that army during the entire campaign, from 
 Chattanooga, by way of Atlanta and Savannah, 
 to Raleigh. You were at the murderous battle 
 of Rocky-faced Ridge, when occuj^ying the first 
 line, you lost forty men and an officer, one- 
 fifth of your number; and j^ou were again at 
 Resaca, where with two other regiments you 
 made a most gallant charge upon a battery of 
 four guns, capturing the batter}', with many 
 
41 
 
 prisoners. Your gallant conduct in the battles 
 of White Hope Church, Pine Knob, Golgotha, 
 Kulp's Farm, Kennesau Mountain, Chattahoo- 
 chee, Peach-tree Creek, Atlanta, Savannah and 
 Goldsboro, added to the high distinction which 
 you had previously gained. Often in the advance, 
 and in situations where danger only was to be 
 met with and glory to be won, at no time and 
 under no circumstances did you fail to maintain 
 the fighting character of your regiment, or the 
 honor of our flag. All honor to the gallant 
 134tli ! Again I say, welcome among us, and 
 may your future lives be as happy and as pros- 
 perous, as your conduct during the war has been 
 honorable and glorious. 
 
 On this day when all political differences are 
 ignored, and when we all stand together upon 
 the platform of the Constitution and the Union, 
 justice demands that I should refer to another 
 high military officer, who contributed much, very 
 much, to the overthrow of the rebellion. I allude 
 to the creator of the Army of the Potomac, and 
 the hero of the peninsular campaign and of An- 
 tietam, — George B. McClellan. Elaborate, con- 
 certed, and systematic attempts have been made 
 6 
 
42 
 
 to shake the confidence of the American people 
 in his generalship and patriotism. Military 
 rivalship may have been an element stimulating 
 the prosecution of these attemjDts. Their incep- 
 tion is doubtless traceable to antagonisms in res- 
 pect to the political policy of conducting the war. 
 They did not originate with, or receive the sanc- 
 tion of the great body of the political party, 
 which supported the policy of the late adminis- 
 tration. I have reasons for believing that a large 
 number of the most influential members of that 
 party, that the lamented Lincoln himself, and 
 several members of his cabinet, retained their 
 confidence in General McClellan as a military 
 commander, unabated to the last. If the Wash- 
 ington policy of non-interference with the general 
 in command, subsequently adopted in respect to 
 Grant, had been applied to McClellan, it seems 
 to me, there can be no doulit, that the peninsular 
 campaign, instead of resulting in a ftiilure, would 
 have culminated in the capture of Ilichmond, and 
 the acceleration of the overthrow of the rebel- 
 lion. McClellan' s independent control of Mc- 
 Dowell's corps, would have enabled him to sub- 
 stitute success for failure, and victory for defeat. 
 There is now no longer any purpose of partizan- 
 
ship to subserve, by withholding justice from 
 McClellan. Let it be awarded to-daj. History 
 will vindicate alike his patriotic devotion to his 
 country, as one and indivisible ; and his claims 
 to the highest rank of military cheiftains. Her 
 verdict is inevitable. The civilized w^orld has 
 alread}* pronounced it. Our national character 
 for justice, truth, and gratitude, is involved in 
 anticipating the verdict of historj^ and the glo- 
 rious record preparing for McClellan, which will 
 form one of its brightest pages. He Avill be 
 awarded a place by the side of Grant and Sher- 
 man, as one of the three most distinguished gen- 
 erals of the war ; and the characteristic justice, 
 independence and magnanimity of these, his illus- 
 trious com23eers, will ratify this award. 
 
 Fellow Citizens — I will call your attention to 
 one other topic before I close, the responsibili- 
 ties of the crisis in relation to the practical res- 
 toration of the Union, and the rehabilitation of 
 the Governments of the revolted States. 
 
 This subject presents two questions for the 
 consideration of President Johnson ; one in rela- 
 tion to the political condition of the States 
 whose citizens revolted against the Federal 
 Government; and the other in respect to the 
 
44 
 
 extent of tlie amnesty to those who have been 
 actively engaged or implicated in the rebellion. 
 
 As to the first question, I understand he has 
 decided, that these States are not extinct as 
 such, but remain members of the Union. That 
 their functions have only been susj^ended by the 
 usurping governments ; and whenever there are 
 loyal citizens in these States of sufficient number 
 for the purpose, they can reorganize legitimate 
 governments therein; and such States when so 
 rehabilitated will be recognized as States of the 
 Union. And the President is now instituting 
 proceedings to reorganize the revolted States 
 under the Constitution upon these principles. 
 
 My Fellow Citizens — You liave abundant reason 
 for congratulation, that an overruling Providence 
 continues to manifest his beneficent regard for 
 your safety and your happiness, by giving you 
 in the place of the lamented Lincoln, one who 
 respects the Constitution, and declares his high 
 determination to preserve, protect, and defend it. 
 No man who is acquainted with his personal his- 
 tory, can question his eminent qualifications for 
 the high position he now occujDies. Cool, self- 
 possessed, thoughtful, dignified, bland and cor- 
 teous, he maintains up to the highest standard, 
 
45 
 
 the official proprieties of that exalted office. He 
 has been long in public life, and has had a large 
 experience as a statesman. He is, beyond all 
 doubt eminently qualified to meet and discharge 
 the high responsibilities Avhicli have deyolved 
 upon him — to work out wisely, leniently, firmly 
 and successfully, the delicate and difficult task 
 of the practical restoration of the Union. He 
 has shown his disposition to deal generously and 
 mercifully with a conquered and repentant enemy, 
 so far as is consistent with the claims of justice, 
 and the success of his policy of restoration. 
 
 The President in this policy recognizes, as I 
 understand, the yalidity and continuing obliga- 
 tion of the laws of the revolted States, in force 
 immediately prior to their secession ; except 
 such as uphold the institution of slavery, which 
 he regards as abrogated by the proclamations of 
 the President, the acts of Congress, and the laws 
 of war; or as annulled l)y the arbitrament of 
 arms. And he feels constrained to assume that 
 the abolition of slavery in respect to the insur- 
 gents, is a legitimate result of their overthrow ; 
 and hence, that he must make it an element in 
 his policy of restoration. 
 
 Upon the principles of the President's policy, 
 
46 
 
 the laws of these States in force at the time of 
 their separation from the Union, in respect to 
 the elective franchise, and such as they shall 
 constitutionally enact upon that subject after the 
 reorganization of their legitimate governments, 
 or pending the process of reorganization, will pre- 
 scribe in their respective States the qualifications 
 for electors of representatives in Congress. The 
 Constitution of the United States j^rovides (Art. 
 1 sec. 2,) that such electors " shall have the 
 qualifications requisite for electors of the most 
 numerous branch of the State Legislature." 
 This jirovision in connection with the one 
 (Amend, of Consti. art. 10,) reserving to the 
 States all powers not delegated to the United 
 States by the Constitution, commits to the res- 
 pective States in express terms, the exclusive 
 jurisdiction of the elective franchise. 
 
 It is proposed by some of the advocates of the 
 immediate extension of the ris-ht of suffraj!;e to 
 all the freedmen of the revolted States, that 
 Congress should refuse admission to the repre- 
 sentatives of these States until they thus extend 
 the elective franchise. In other words the 
 proposition is, that Congress nullify and subvert 
 certain essential and vital provisions of the Con- 
 
47 
 
 stitution, and violate their oaths to support the 
 Constitution, as coercive acts to compel the reha- 
 bilitated States to grant the right of suffrage to 
 the colored race. No conceivable proposition could 
 be so indefensible and demoralizing as this. It 
 is nullification in a more offensive form than that 
 of South Carolina in 1832. South Carolina nul- 
 lified certain revenue acts of Congress, upon the 
 assumed ground that they were unauthorized by 
 the Constitution. The nullification now propos- 
 ed is of the Constitution itself, without any pre- 
 tense of legal or constitutional justification. This 
 nullification is a revolutionary act, and is a moral 
 if not an overt act of treason; and the violation 
 of the oath to support the Constitution which it 
 involves, is moral perjury ; and the persons who 
 counsel and advise and induce the commission of 
 these acts, would be startled at being told that 
 they are accessaries in respect to the treason, 
 and suborners as to the perjury. The persons 
 who advocate and recommend this nullification 
 of the Constitution to accomplish the purpose 
 avowed, are enemies of the President's policy of 
 rehabilitation, and design to defeat it. They are 
 doubtless the nucleus of a gathering opposition 
 to the President's administration, initiated be- 
 
48 
 
 cause his respect for the Constitution and his 
 inflexible determination to see that the laws are 
 faithfully executed, will not allow him to further 
 their schemes at the expense of the Constitution, 
 and of the tranquility, welfare, and security of 
 the American people. 
 
 The times are too critical to justify or excuse 
 an attempt to introduce even a meritorious polit- 
 ical reform, which will jeo2)ard the success of the 
 President's plan of restoring the unity and na- 
 tionality of the people and of the States upon the 
 princijDles of the Constitution. 
 
 In this anxious crisis, the patriotism of men 
 will be accurately gauged, by the extent and 
 earnestness of the unconditonal support they 
 give the President's policy of restoring the 
 Union. 
 
 The problem of restoration is as difficult, and 
 requires as much statesmanship, as that of the 
 conduct of the war. All in solid phalanx should 
 rally to the President's aid, and strengthen his 
 hands in the great work in which he is now en- 
 gaged ; of re-establishing not only the political 
 oneness and nationality, but the fraternity of the 
 American people. 
 
 The remarks I have presented to you in res- 
 
49 
 
 pect to tho proposition that Congress refuse 
 admission to the Representatives of tlie Southern 
 States until they extend the right of suffrage to 
 the coh)red race, are made irrespective of the 
 merits of the question of the expediency or jus- 
 tice of such States granting such right to their 
 freedmen, either immediatel}^ or when they shall 
 he so educated as to he ahle to exercise the right 
 with intelligence and independence. 
 
 Upon the theory that the revolted States have 
 continued integrant parts of the Union, as soon 
 as their respective State governments are reor- 
 ganized under the proclamation of the President, 
 thej' hecome States de facto as well as de jure, and 
 entitled immediately to exercise all the powers 
 and rights of States, without any previous recog- 
 nition by Congress. Congress has no power 
 under the Constitution to prevent their restora- 
 tion to the Union, or to prescribe conditions of 
 restoration. Either of these acts on the part of 
 Congress would be disintegration; which in- 
 volves a like crime as that of secession. The 
 Southern States have the same right to amend 
 their constitutions as Massachusetts or New York. 
 These amendments require no ratification by 
 7 
 
50 
 
 Congress. And where they are confined to the 
 abolition of shivery, there is no pretense of a 
 right of review hy Congress, under the provi- 
 sion of the Constitution, that the United States 
 shall guarantee to every State a Republican forui 
 of Government. 
 
 In respect to the extent of the amnesty to 
 those who have been actively engaged or impli- 
 cated in the rebellion, a powerful appeal was 
 made a few days since in favor of lenity to the 
 Southern people, by Maj. Gen. F. P. Blair, a sup- 
 porter of the polic}^ of the President; a man of 
 mark as a statesman and a soldier. One power- 
 ful argument urged by General Blair in fixvor of 
 lenity, was, that a majority of the Southern States 
 had incurred no moral guilt ; for the reason that 
 they were the involuntary instruments and vic- 
 tims of the rebellion, having been overawed and 
 coerced to participate therein, by the minority 
 who controlled the political power and had in 
 their hands the arms and the entire military 
 force of such States. He insisted that it could 
 not be asserted of any State, that a majority 
 were in favor of secession ; and in reference to 
 Virginia, the majority was 80,000 against it ; 
 that the Union men of these States were true 
 
51 
 
 and loyal to the Government ay long as the Uni- 
 ted States protected them ; and that they re- 
 mained so, nntil this protection was withdrawn, 
 and they were constrained by the rebel govern- 
 ments to take np arms in favor of the rebellion, 
 or to give it aid and comfort. Citizens of a 
 nation, yielding nnder sncli circumstances obe- 
 dience to a usurping de facto government, are 
 not responsible criminally, to the government 
 to which tliey owe allegiance. And General 
 Blair says, that the class of men who talk of 
 exterminating the people of the south and oblit- 
 erating their State lines, are those men who did 
 not go down south " to help kill any of the peo- 
 ple there, and who were careful not to go there 
 as long as the rebels had arms in their hands to 
 defend themselves." We must concede that 
 these are cogent reasons in favor of lenity to the 
 southern people. 
 
 Mr. Gerret Smith makes a similar ap^^eal in 
 favor of the south. He has been for years a con- 
 sistent and eloquent advocate of the emancipa- 
 tion of the colored race. He now, influenced by 
 like motives of humanity which induced his 
 support of emancipation, aj^peals for the exten- 
 sion of mercy to the Southern people, including 
 
52 
 
 those who heki in bondage tlie race for whose 
 liberation he has so hjng hiborecl. 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher is also an advocate for 
 lenity to the South. Always courageous and 
 direct in assailing an adverse opinion, he meets 
 the question of amnesty wdth characteristic frank- 
 ness, and presents a forcible argument in favor 
 of a general condonation of the southern people; 
 extending it e.ven to the life of Jefferson Davis. 
 Let us second the eloquent appeals of these dis- 
 tinguished gentlemen. 
 
 All the fighting generals of our army, whose 
 opinions have been expressed, unite in the ap- 
 peal for lenity. Sherman, with his characteristic 
 energ}^ and earnestness, not only commends a 
 generous treatment of the South, l)ut stigmatises 
 as disgraceful to soldier or civilian the superad- 
 ding of oppression and insult to an overwhelming- 
 defeat. In these generous and noble sentiments, 
 he represents the opinions and feelings of the 
 army. Magnanimity and humanity are the hand- 
 maids of true heroism. A brave soldier never 
 tramples upon or insults a conquered enemy. 
 The most magnificent feats of arms are attended 
 and succeeded by distinguished acts of forbear- 
 ance and kindness. The true knight first con- 
 
oo 
 
 quers liis adversjiry by his prowess, and then 
 wins his heart by his princely courtesy. The 
 popuhir heart of the North sympathises with 
 these sentiments. It thirsts not for the bhjod of 
 southern rebels. It has been sickened, grieved, 
 and agonized -by the immense waste of human 
 life, in I /us vnna ural war. It now yearns for peace 
 — perpetual peace- — domestic tranquility, and the 
 restoration of the fraternal as well as the j^oliti- 
 cal relations between the North and South. If 
 it is suggested that further punishment should be 
 intlicted upon the insurgents, the answer is, they 
 have been already grievously punished. They 
 are the victims as well as the authors of the war; 
 a war which has more than decimated their arms- 
 bearing popidation ; which has devastated their 
 plantations ; consumed their hal)itations ; demo- 
 lished their public works, and destroyed their 
 property. The interest in slavery forfeited, 
 alone, exceeds three' thousand millions of dollars. 
 The insurrectionary States environed by sea and 
 land, with powerful Federal armies in the heart 
 of their territory ; their commerce, foreign and 
 domestic, destroyed; their staples seized, and 
 reproduction impossible ; the entire population 
 have been reduced to poverty, and the whole in- 
 
54 
 
 sursent territory involved in universal distress 
 and ruin. 
 
 The two principal issues involved in the con- 
 flict were secession and slavery. Both are now 
 dead — abolished by the triumph of the Union 
 arms. And it is a cheering augury of our coun- 
 try's future, that the insurgent leaders, military 
 and civil, and the entire southern population, 
 adopt this result as an irreversible finality; and 
 manifest a willingness and readiness to accept 
 the amnesty of the President upon the terms 
 proposed, and to co-operate w4th him in the 
 execution of his plan of restoration. Shall 
 we give his plan our support ? The pop- 
 ular voice North and South is evidently in its 
 favor. Wisdom and patriotism demand its adop- 
 tion. A restoration of the Union upon the Pre- 
 sident's princij^les, with the free assent and con- 
 currence of the South, will be a restoration upon 
 an imperishable foundation; — the beneficent 
 principles of the Constitution — the fraternity of 
 the whole people' — the union of minds and hearts 
 of all sections' — homogeneous institutions andcom- 
 munity of material interests — although various 
 and diverse, ^^et harmonious and essential to the 
 highest growth of each other. Secession and 
 
bo 
 
 slavery being expunged, there will remain no 
 elements of discord to irritate, alienate or divide 
 the American people. The Union will secure 
 the peace and safety of each and all the parts, 
 against external and internal danger, and will 
 furnish a guarantee of its own indissolubility. 
 Such is the promise of the President's policy of 
 restoration. Christianity commends it to a 
 Christian people, as a beneficent plan of recon- 
 ciliation and condonation, founded upon prin- 
 ciples of humanity and justice, wisdom and 
 patriotism; the fruits of which will extend into 
 the distant future ; infusing new vigor into our 
 democratic institutions, increasing the tenac- 
 ity of the bonds of the Union, and giving us the 
 assurance that the refraternisation of the people 
 humbled under the judgments of God, will bear 
 the promise of a purer national life, of a higher 
 standard of public morals, of increased religious 
 attainments, of a more earnest loyalty, and a 
 livelier sense of every civil and political obliga- 
 tion. Let our prayers daily ascend to the Su- 
 preme Governor of the world, invoking the be- 
 stowal upon our nation and people of all these 
 blessings, and also of all other needed blessings; 
 
oG 
 
 and especially supplicating that he would make 
 us a happy, virtuous and righteous people. 
 
 And now allow me to repeat the sentiment of 
 Mr. Adams — -" The future is all before us, and 
 Providence is our guide ;"— and I cannot better 
 conclude this address than by adopting the sen- 
 timent of Jackson — -" Our Federal Union ; it must 
 be preserved," 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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