Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1862-03-12
THE RAF TsmAu'g JOURNAL,
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT.

The President transmitted TO Congress the
! following message. on Thursday, March 6, 1862
FeHoW citi zeas Of The Senate aud House Of Rep
I TeSenfafires.
recommend the adoption of joint resolu-
tion by your honorable bodies which shall be
substantially as follows:
Resolred, That the United States ought to
Cooperate with any State which may adopt a
gradual abolisbment of Slavery, giving to
such State pecuniary aid to be used by such
State in its discretion to compensate for the
lnconveniences public and private produced
by such change of system.
If the proposition contained in the resolu-
ton does not meet the approval of Congress
and the country, there is the end but if it
does command such approval deem it of i'm
portance that the States and people immedi
ately interested should at once be 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 interest IN such measure as one of
the most efficient means of self-pTeservation.
The leaders of the existing Instruction enter
tam the hope that the Government will ulti-
mateiy be forced to acknowledge the indepen-
dence of some part OF the disaffected region,
and that all the Slave States north of such
parts will then say 1.-The Union for which we
have struggled being already gone, now
choose to &c with the Southern section.''
To deprive them OF this hope, substantially
ends the rebellion, and the initiation OF eman-
clpation completely deprives them of it. AS
TO all the States initiating it, the point is not
that all the States tolerating Slavery, would
very soon. if at all, initiate emancipation, but
that, while the offer is equally made to all, the
more Northern shall, by such initiation, make
it certain TO the more Southern, that in no E.
vent will the former ever join the latter in
their proposed Confederacy.
say t'intiation, because, in my dgement,
gradual, and not sudden, emancipation is
better for all. In the mere financial or pecu-
mary view, any Member OF Congress, with
the census tables and the Treasury reports be-
fore him, readily see for himself how very
soon the current expenditures OF this war
would purchase, at fair valuation, all the
slaves in any named State. Such PROPOSE
tion on the part Of the General Government
sets up no claim OF right, by Federal authori-
ty, to interfere with Slavery within State linn
its, referring, as it does, the absolute control
of the subject in each case TO the State and
its people Immediately interested.
1t is proposed as a matter of perfectly free
choice with them. In the Annual Message,
last December, l thought fit to say 1.-The
Union must be preserved, and hence all indis-
pensable means must be employed.' | said
this not hastily, but deliberately. War has
been and continues to be, an indispensable
means to this end. A practical reacknowledg-
ment of the national authority would render
the war unnecessary land it twonld at once cease.
II, however, resistance continues, the war
must also continue, and it is impossible to
foresee all the incidents which may attend,
and all the ruin which may follow it. 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, hope it may be esteemed no ofeuse to
ask whether the pecuniary consideration ten
dered would not be of more value to the States
and private persons concerned, than are the
institutions and property in it, in the present
aspect of affairs.
While it is true that the adoption of the pro-
posed resolution would be merely initiatory,
and not within itself a practical measure, it is
recommended in the hope that it would seen
lead to important results. In full view of my
great responsibility to my God and to my
Country, earnestly beg the attention of Con-
gress and the people to the subject.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN