The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1856-12-18
Extract from the PreSid ,nt's Message.

Extract from the PreSid nt'S Message.
The Constitution requires tba. the Presi.
dent shall, from time to time, not only re-.
commend TO the consideration of Congress
suen measures as he may Judge necessary
ana .expedient, but also That he shall piye
Information to them Of the state of the
Union. To do this fully involves exposi.
ton of all matters in the actual condition
OF the country, domestic or foreign.
wmch essentially concern the general wei
iare. While performing his constitutional
duty IN this respect, the President does not
speak merely TO express personal convic
tons, but as the executive minister of The
government, enabled by his position. and
called upon by his official obligations. to
scan with an impartial eye the interests of
s,e,S. sae whole and of every part of the United
In the brief interval between the termin
alton of the last and the commencement of
the present session of Congress. the public
mind has been occupied with the care of
selecting, for another constitutional term.
the President and Vice President of the
United States.
The determination Of persons, who are
OF right, or contingently, 10 preside over the
administration of the government, is, under
our syftem, committed to the States and the
people. We appeal 10 them, by their voice
pronounced in the forms of law, 10 call
whomsoever they will to the high post of
Chief Magistrate.
And thus it is that as the senators repre-.
sent the respective States Of the Union, and
the members of the House of Representa-.
uves the several constituencies of each
State, so the President represents the appre
gate population of the United States. Their
election of him is the explicit and solemn
act of the sole sovereign authority of the
Union.
lis impossible TO misapprehend the grea,
principles, which, by their recent political
action, the people of the United States have
sanctioned and announced.
They have asserted the constitutional
equality of each and all of the States of the
onion as States; they have affirmed the con
stitutional equality Of each and all of the
citizens of the United States as citizens
whatever their religion, wherever their birth
or their residence; they have maintained the
inviolabllity Of the constitutional riphts of
the different sections Of the Union: and they
have proclaimed their-devoted and unal,or.
able attachment TO the Union and TO the
constitution, rs objects Of interest superior
to all subjects of local or sectional contro-
verSy, rs the safeguard of the rights of al.
rs The spirit and the essence Of the liberty.
peace, and greatness of the Republic.
In doing this, they have, at the same
Time. empha,ically condemned the idea of
organizing in these United States mere eco.
graphical parties; of marshaling in hostile
array towards each other the different parts
OF The country, North or South, E..s, or
West.
Schemes Of this nature, fraught with in
calcuIablc mischief, and which the cousid
crate sense of the people has rejected, could
nave had countcnance in no part of the
country, had they not been disguised by
suggestions plausible in appearance, acting
upon an excited state OF the public mind,
induced by causes temporary in their char.
acicr, anl 1t Is be hoped transient in their
influence.
Perfect liberty Of association for poI!icaI
objects, and the widest scope of discussion.
are the received aud ordinary conditions
OF government IN our country oar inst-
tutions, framed in the spirit of confidence in
the intelligence and integrity of the people
do not forbid citizens, either individually or
associated together, TO attack bv writino
speech, or any other methods short of nhys.
icaI force, the Constitution aud the very
existence Of the Union. Under the shelter
OF this great liberty, and protected by the
laws and usages OF the government they
assaii, associations have been formed in
some OF the States, OF individuals. who. pre
tending TO seek only TO prevent the spread
of the institution of slavery into the nreseu,
or future inchoate States of the Union. are
really intiamed with desire 10 change the
domestic institutions OF existing States. To
accomplish their objects, they dedicate
themselves TO the olieus task of deprecia
ting the government organization which
stands IN their way, and of caIumnialinr
with lndiscnmi9ate invective, not only the
citizens of particular States, with whose
laws they find fault, but all others of their
fellow citizens throughout the country who
do not participate with them in their as
sauis upon the Constitution, framed md
adopted by our fathers, and claiming for
ii has conferred, the steady support AID
grateful reverence of their children. They
seek an object which they well know to he
n revolutionary one. They are perfectly
aware that the change in the relative con.
dIIIon OF the white and black races in the
sIayehoId'ng States. which they would pro.
mote, Is beyond their lawful authority; that
TO them 1t is foreign object; thai it cauno,
be effected by any peaceful instrumen,alitv
OF theirs; that for them, and the States Gf
which they are citizens the only path to lis
accomplishment is through burning cities.
aud ravaged fields, and slaughtered popu.
lations, and all there is most tc,,ibls in
foreign, complicated with civil anil s.ryile
war; and that the first step in tie attempt
is the forciblc disruption Of country en-.
bracing in its broad bosom degree of lib.