The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-04-03
Andrew JOhnson's Appeal to the People,
of Tennessee.


year seventeen hundred and ninety-six,1
at once entitled to all the privileges of
the Federal Constitution, and bound by
all its obligations. For nearly sixty
hve years she continued in the enjoy
ment OF all her rights, and in the per-
formanceS OF all her duties, one of the
most loyal and devoted of the sister
hood of States. She had been honoredI
by the elevation of two of her citi-a
zens to the highest place in the gift of
American people, and third has been
nominated for the same high Office,
who received liberal though ineffec-
tive support. Her population had rap
idly and Largely increased, and their
moral and material interest correspond
ingly advanced. Never was a people
more prosperous, contented and happy
than the people of Tennessee under
the Government of the United States,
none SO little burdened for the support
of the authority by which they were
protected. They felt their Government
only in the conscious enjoyment Of the
benefits it conferred and the blessings
it bestowed. t- .aft t7..i.
Such was our enviable position until
within the year just past, when undere
what paneful influence it is not my
purpose now to inquire, the authority
of the government was set at defiance,
and the Constitution and the Laws
condemned, by a rebellious armed
force. Men who in addition to ordi-
nary privileges and duties of the citi-
zens, and enjoyed largely the bounty
and official patronage of the Govern
ment, and have by repeated oaths, OBJ
ligated themselves to its support, with
sudden ingratitude for the bounty and
disregard for their solemn obligation,
engaged, deliberately and ostentatious-
ly, in the accomplishment of its over
throw. Many, accustomed to defer
to their own opinions and TO accepts
their guidance, and others, carried
away by excitement or overawed by
seditious clamor, arrayed themselves
under their banners, thus organizing q
reasonable power, which for the time
being, stified and suppressed the au-
thority of the Federal Government.
In this condition of affairs it devolyed
upon the President, bound by his
official oath, to preserve, protect and
defend the Constitution, and charged 2
by the law with the duty of suppress
sing insurrection and domestic violence,
to resist and repel this rebelious force
by the military arm of the Govern q
ment, and thus TO e-establish the Fede-
raj authority. Congress, assembling at
an early day, found him engaged in ac-
tive discharge of this momentous trust,
That body came promptly to his aid.
and, while supplying him with treasure
and arms to an extent that would pre-
viously have been considered fabulous,
they, at the same time with almost alb
solute unanimty, declared that this war
sis not waged on their part in any
spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose
of conquest or subjugation, or for the
purpose of overthrowiDg or interfering
with the rights or established institu-
tions of these States, bu; to defend and :
maintain the supremacy Of the Consti-
tuition and to preserve the Union with
all the dignity, equality and rights of
the several States unimpaired; and p
that as these objects are accomplished,
the war ought to cease" In this spirit,
and by such cooperation, has the. Pres
ident conducted this mighty CONTEST,
until, as the Commander-in-Ch Chief of
the army, he has caused the national
flag to float undisputed over the capi-
tol of our State. Meanwhile the State
Government has disappeared. The
Executive has abdicated; the Legisla- 2
ture has dissolved; the Judiciary is in
abeyance. The great ship Of State,
freighted with its precious cargo of
human interests and human hopes, its
sails all set, and its glorionsf flag unfurled,
has been suddenly abandoned by
her officers and mutinous crew, and left
to float at the mercy of the winds, and
to be plundered by every rover upon
the deep. Indeed, the work of plunder
has already commenced. The archives
have been desecrated the vaults of :
the State Bank violated, and its trea-
sures robbed, including the funds care :
fully gathered and consecreated for all
time to the instruction of our children. g
In such a lamentable crisis, the Gov &
ernment of the United States could
not be unmindful of its high constitu-
tional obligation to guarantee to every
State in the Union q republican form
of government, an obligation which
every State has direct and immediate
interest in having observed towards (
every other. State, and from which, by
no action on the part of the people
in any State, can the Federal Govern
ment be absolved. A republican form
of government, in consonance with the
Constitution of the United States, is
one of the fundamental conditions of
our political existance, by WHICH every
part of the country is alike bound, and
from which no part can escape. Tho
obligation the National Government is
now atemting to discharge. have
been appointed, in absence of the reg.
ular and established State authorities,
as Military Governor for the time. being
TO preserve the public property OF the
State, to give the protection of law ac-
lively enforced to her citizens, and, As
speedily as may be, TO restore her Gov
ernment to the same condition as before
the existing rebellion.
! In this grateful but arduous under.