The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-04
Presidents S Message.
FeEIol0 Citizens of the Senate and House
Of Representatives:

After brief interval the Congress of
the United States resumes its annual
| legislative labors. An all-wise and
merciful Providence has abated the
pestilence which visited our shores.
leaving its calamitous traces upon some
portions of our country. Peace, order,
| tranquility and civil authority have
been formally declared to exist
throughout the whole OF the United
States. In all of the States civil au-
thority has superseded the coercion of
arms, and the people, by their yolun-
tary action, are maintaining their gov
ernments in full activity and complete
operation. The enforcement of the
laws is no longer Constructed in any
State by combinations too powerful to
be suppressed by the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings" and the animos-
tiles engendered by the war are rapid
ly yielding to the beneficent influences
of our free institutions, and to the
kindly effects ofunrestricted social and
commercial intercourse. An entire
restoration of fraternal feeling must be
the earnest wish of every patriotic
heart; and we will have accomplished
| our grandeSt national achieVement
when, forgetting the sad events of the
past, and remembering only their in
structiVe lessons, we resume our on
ward career as free, prosperous and
united people.
In my message of the 4th of Dec. '65.
| Congress was informed of the measures
which had been instituted by the Exec
utive with view to the gradual resto-
ration of the States in which the insur-
rection occurred to their relations with
| the General Government. Provisional
| Governors had been appointed, conVen-
tions called, Governors elected, Legis-
| latures assembled, and Senators and
| Representatives chosen to the Congress
of the United States; courts had been
! opened for the enforcement of laws
long in allegiance, the blockade had
| been removed, custom houses re-estab-
lished, and the internal revenue laws
put in force, in order that the people
might contribute to the national in
come. Postal operations had been re-
newed, and efforts were being made to
restore them to their former condition
| of efficiency. The States themselves had
been asked to take part in the high
| function ofamending the Constitution,
and of thus sanctioning the extinction
of African slavery as one of the legiti-
mate results of Our -internecine strug-
gle. aa -s
Having progressed thus far, the Exec
utive Department found that it had ac-
complished nearly all that was within
the scope ofits Constitutional authori-
tv. One thing, however, yet remained
| to be done before the work of restora-
| ton could be completed, and that was,
| the admission TO Congress of loyal SEN
ators and Representatives from the
States whose people had rebelled
| against the lawful authority of the GEN
eral Government. This question de-
vOlved upon the respective Houses,
which, by the Constitution, are made
| the judges of the elections, returns and
qualifications of their own members;
and its consideration at once engaged
the attention of Congress.
In the meantime, the Executive
ing been proposed by Congress
continued its efforts to perfect, as far
as was practicable, the restoration of the
proper relations between the citizens of
the respective States, the States and the
Federal Government extending from
time to time as the public interests
seemed to require, the judicial, reve-
nue., and postal systems ofthe country
With the advice and consent of the
Senate, the necessary officers were ap-
pointed. and appropriations made by
Congress for the payment of their sala-
ries. The proposition to amend the Fed
eral Constitution, so as to prevent the
existence of slavery within the United
States or any place subject to their jur-
isdiction, was ratified by the requisite
number of States; and on the 18th day
OfDecember, 1865, it was officially de-
Cl1Teu 10 nave DeCOLne Nilllu uS Il part OF
the Constitution of the United States.
All of the States in which the insurrec-
ton had existed promptly amended
their constitutions, so as to make them
conform to the great change thus ef-
fected in the organic law of the land;
declared null and void all ordinances
and laws of secession; repudiated all
Tor the revolutionary purposes of the
insurrection; and proceeded, in good
faith, to the enactment of measures for
the protection and amelioraiion of the
condition of the colored race. Con-
Cress, however, vet hesitated to admit
any of these States to representation ;
and it was not until towards the close
of the eight month of the session that
an exception was made in favor Of Ten
nessee, by the admission of her Sena-
tors and Representatives.
deem it a subject of profound regret
that Congress has thus far failed to adj
nit to seats loyal Senators and Repre-
sentativeS from the other States, whose
inhabitants, with those of Tennessee,
had engaged in the rebellion. Ten
States-mOre than. one-fourth of the
whole number-remain without repre-
sentation; the seats OF fifty members in
the House of Representatives and twen-
ty members in the Senate are yet va
cant-not by their own consent,
not by failure of election,
but by the refusal of Congress
to accept their credentials. Their adj
mission, it is believed, would have ac-
complished much towards the renewal
and strengthening of our relations as
one people, and removed serious cause
for discomfort on the part of the inhRb-
itants of those States. 1t would have
accorded with the great principle enun-
ciated in the Declaration of American
Independence, that no people ought TO
bear the burden of taxation, and yet
| be denied the right of representation.
1t would have been in cOnsonance with
the express provisions of the Constitu-
ton, that "each State shall have at
least one Representative" and that
no State, without its consent, shall be
deprived of its equal suffrage in the
Senate" These. provisions wereinteud-
ed to secure to every States, and to the
people of every State, the right of rep
fesentation IN each House of Congress;
and so important was it deemed by the
framers of the Constitution that the
equality of the States in the Senate
should be preserved, that not even
by an amendment to The Constitution,
can any State, without its consent, be
denied a voice in that branch of the
National Legislature.
It is true, it has been assumed that
the existence of the State was termina-
ted blythe rebellious acts of their inhabi-
tants, and that the insuTrection having
| been suppressed, they were theucefor-
ward to be considered merely as con
iquered territories. The Legislative,
Executive and Judicial Departments
OF the Government have, however, with
great distinctness and uniform consis-
teucy, refused to sanction an assump
ton so incompatible with the nature
of our Republican system, and
with the prOfessed objects of the war.