Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-03-14
The Presidents Message on
Gradual Emancipation.
WASHINGTON. March


WASHINGTON, March 6.
The President to-day transmitted to
Congress the following message:
"fslao'o citizens t'the Senate and Hostse
Of Representatives:
81 recommend the adoption Of joint
resolution by your honorable bodies,
which shall be substantial as follows:
"Rssolpsd, That the United States
ought to cooperate with any State which
may adopt gradual abelishment of
Slavery, giving to such State pecuuiary
aid, TO be used by such State in its dis
erection, to compensate for the inconve-
niences, public and private, produced BY
such change Of system. IF the propo-
sition contained in, the resolution does
| not meet the approval of Congress and
the country, there is the end; but if it
does command such approval, deem it
Of Importance that the States and peo-
pie Immediately interested should be at
once distinctly notified of the fact, SO
| that. they may begin to consider whether
to accept or reject it: The Federal
Government would find its highest in
tersst in such a measure, as one of the
II
ton. The leaders Of the existing insur-
rection entertain the hope that the Gov.
fernment will ultimately be forced to
acknowledge the independence Of some
part of .he disaffected region, and that
all the slave States north of such parts
viii then say: The Union for which we
have struggled being already gone, We
nov choose to go with them. To de-
prive them of this hope substantially
emancipation completely .deprives them
of it as to all the States initiating it.
The point is not that all the States toll
Grating Slavery would very soon, if at
all, initiate emancipation, but that while
the offer is equal made to all, the more
Northern shall by such initiation make
it certain to the more Southern that in
no event shall the former join the latter
in their proposed Confederacy. I say
initiation, because, in my Judgment,
gradual, and not sudden emancipation,
is better for ALL In the mere financial
Or pecuniary view, any member of Con-
gress, with the census tables and Treas
ury reports before him, can readily see
for himself how very soon the current
expenditures of the var would purchase
at fair valuation all the slaves in any
named State. Such proposition on the
part of the General Government sets up
no claim or right by Federal authority
to interfere with Slavery within State
limits, referring as it does the absolute
control of the subject in each case to
the State and its people Immediately in
terested. 1t is proposed as a matter Of
perfectly free choice with them. In the
annual message last December, l thought
fit to say that the Union must be pre-
served, and hence all indispensable
means must be employed. l said this
not hastily, but deliberately.
| War has been and continues to be an
indispensable means to this end. a
practical acknowledgment of the ma
tional authority would render the war
unnecessary, and itwould at once cease.
| IF, however, resistance continues, the
war must also continue; and it is i'm
possible to foresee all the incidents which
may attend, and all the ruin which may
follow. Such as may seem indispensable
or may obviously promise great efficiency
toward ending the struggle, must and
will come. The proposition now made,
though an offer only, I hope it may be
esteemed DO offe2se to ask whether the
pecuniary consideration rendered would
not be Of more value to the States and
private persons concerned than are the
institution and propriety in it, in the
presen. aspect Of affairs. While it is
true that the adoption of the proposed
resolution would be merely initiatory,
and not within itself a practical meas
ure, it is recommended in the hope that
it-would sooner lead to important re-
suits. In fu ii view of my great respon-
sibility to my God and to my country,
earnestly beg the attention of Con-
gress and the people to the subject.
/ (Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.