Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-04-03
Tie Sfapqaafo.
AN ELOQUENT APPEAL FOR THE UNION.
Extract JIon a speech delioersd IN tie Senate Of
&ls United States, March I'd, 1861,
ANDREW JOHNSON, OF TENNESSEE

because have stood by the people; because have
advocated those measures that are sometimes called
demagogicl. would TO God that we had few
more men here who were for the people in fact and
who would legislate in conformity with their will
and wishes. If We had, the difficulties and dan.
gers that surround US now, would be postponed,
and set aside; they would not be upon us. But in
May last We could not vote that it was Necessary
to pass slave code for the Territories Oh, no; the
presidential election was on hand. We were very
willing then to try to get northern votes to secure
their influence In the passage of resolutions; and
to crowd some men down, and let others up It
was oil very well then; but since the people have
determined that somebody else should be President
of the United States all at once the grape has got
to be very sour, and gentlemen do not have good
an opinion of the people as they had before; We
thought quite as well of us as We desired they
should, and if could not get 10 be President or
Vice President of all these United States, rather
than miss it altogether, would be perfectly willing
to be President Of part and therefore we will
divide-yes we will divide. am in favor of Sc
cession; Of breaking up the Union; of having the
rights Of the States out of the linton; and as sig
nal:y failed in being President Of ALL as the people
have decided against me- We have reached that pre-
to be broken up. 1t looks . little that way.
But sir, alluded to the fact that secession has
been brought about by usurpation. During the
last forty days. six States of this Confederacy have
been taken out Of the Union; how? By the voice
Of the people! No; it is demagogsm to talk of
the people. By the voice of the freemen of the
country! No By whom has it been done? Have
the people of South Carolina passed upon the ordi-
nance adopted by their convention? No; but
system Of usurpation was instituted, and reign of
terror inaugurated. How was it in Georgia? Have
the people there passed upon the ordinance of Sc
cessions No. We know that there was power
full party there, of passive, conservative men, who
have been overslaughed, borne down; and tyranny
and usurpation have triumphed. convention
passed an ordinance to take the State out of the
Confederacy; and the very same convention appoint
ed delegates to 60 to congress to make constitu.
ton, without consulting the people So with Lousi-
ana; so with Mssissippi so with all the six States
which have undertaken to form new confederacy.
Have the people been consulted? Not in single
instance We are in the habit Of saying that man
is capable Of selfgovernment; that he has the right
the unquestioned right to govern himself; but
here, government has been assumed over him; it
has been taken out Of his bands, and at Montgomery
set of usurpers are enthroned, legislating and
making constitutions and adopting them without
consulting the freemen of the country. Do we not
know it to be so? Have the people of Alabama, Of
Georgia, Of any of those States, passed upon it,
No; but q constitution is adopted by those men,
with a provision that it may be changed by vote
of two thirds. Four votes, in convention of six,
can change the whole organic law of people con-
sttuting six States. Is not this coup detat equal
to any Of Napoleon? Is it not a usnrpation of the
peoples rights! In some of those States, even our
stars and our stripes have been changed. One State
has palmetto, another has pelican, and the last
that can enumerate on this occasion, is State
that has the rattlesnake run up as an emblem. On
former OCCASION spoke of the origin of secession;
and traced Its early history to the garden of Eden
when the serpents vile and the serpent's wicked
ness beguiled and betrayed our first mother. After
that occurred, and they hnew light and knowledge,
when their Lord and Master turned to them, they
seeded, and hid themselves from his presence
The serpents vile and the serpents wickedness first
started SECESSION and now, secession brings about
a return of the serpent Yes, sir the willy serpent,
the rattlesnake has been substituted the emblem
the flag of of the seeding States; and that
old flag the stars and the stripes, under which our
fathers fought and bled and conquered and achieved
our rights and our liberties, is pulled down and
trailed in the dust and the ratesnake substituted
Will the American people tolerate it They will
be indulgent; time l think, is wanted; but they
will not submit to it.
A word more in conclusion. Give the border
States that security which they DESIRE and the time
will come when the other States will come back !;
when they will be brought back-how? Not by
the coercion Of the border States but by the coer-
cion of the people and those leaders who have
taken them out will fall beneath the indignation and
the accumulating force of that public opinion which
will ultimately crush them. The gentlemen who
have taken those States out not the to bring
them back
have already suggested that the idea may have
entered into some minds "if we cannot get to be
President and Vice President of the whole United
States, we may divide the Government, set up a
new establishment have new Offices and monopolize
them ourselves when we take our States out" Here
We see . President made, Vice President made,
cabinet officers appointed, and yet the great mass
of the people not consulted their assent obtain
ed in any manner whatever. The people of the
country ought to be aroused to this condition Of
things; they ought to buckle on their armor; and,
as Tennessee has done (God bless herD by the
exercise Of the elective franchise, BY going to the
ballot-box under q new set of leaders, they will
repudiate and put down those men who have car.
ried these States out and usurped a government
over their heads. I trust in God that the old fac
Of the Union will never be struck. l hope it may
long wave and that we may long hear the national
air sung:
"Tbe star-spangled banner, long may it wave,
Ger the land Of the free and the home Of the braye
Long may we hear old Hail Columbia, that good
old national air, played on all our martial instru
ments! long may we hear, and never repudate, the
old tune of Yankee Doodel Long may wave that
gallant old flag which went through the Revolution
and which was borne by Tennessee and Kentucky
at the battle of New Orleans upon that soil the
right to navigate the Mississippi near which they
are now denied. Upon that bloody field the star
and stripes waved in triumph; and in the Language
Of another, the Goddess of Liberty lowered arount
when !" the rockets red glare went forth, indcat
ing TT tbe battle was raging, and watched tn
issue; ~ the conflict grew fierce, and the issu
was doGetil; but when, at length, victory perchet
upon your stsrs and your stripes it was then on tn
plains Of New Orleans that the Goddess Of Llbert,
made her loftiest fight and proclaimed victory il
strains Of exultat:on. Will Tennessee ever deser
the grave Of him who bore it in triumph, or deser
the Gag that he waved with success? No, we wer
in the Union before Of these States spoke
into existence; and we intend to remain in, and in
sist upon---as we have the confident belief We shall
get-all our constitutional rights and protection il
the Union, and under the Constitution of the coun