The Van Buren press., 1866-12-14
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
FsIlo,0- GHisens Of tie Senate


tranquility and civil authority have bee
formally declared TO exist throughout IN
whole of the United States. In all of the State
civil authority has superseded the coercion a
arms, and the people by their voluntary actiol
are maintaining their Government In full ac
tivity and complete operation The enforce
ment of the laws Is no longer obstructcd n
any State by combinations too powerful to IA,
suppressed by the ordinary course of iudiciu
proceedings, and the animostics engenderp,
by the war are rapidly yielding to the benif.
cent influence of our free institutions and Nh,
kindly effects of unrestricted social and com.
mercial intercourse. An entire restoration ot
fraternal feeling must be the earnest Will, nj
every patriotic heart and we will have ~
complished our gian1Cest national achieve.
inen' Wheh' .orgetting the sad events of the
l"'.., ana remembering only their instructive
lessons, we resume our onward career as \
| free. prosperous and united people.
In my message of the ith OfDecember. 1SG5
Congress was informed of the measures which
had been Instituted by the Executive with a
view 10 the gradual restoration of the States
IN which the instlrrection occurred, to their
relations with the General Government, Pro-
Niaional Governors had been appointed, Con
vcntions called, Governors elected, Iegisln-
lures assembled, and Senators and Represen-
tatives chosen TO the Congress of the United
States. Courts had been opened for the en-
forcement of laws long in abeyance. The
blockade had been removed, Custom houses
re-established and the Internal Revenue laws
put in force, in order that the people might
contribute to the national income. Postal
operations had been renewed and efforts We're
being made 10 restore them to their former
condition of efficiency. The States themselve,
had been asked to take part in the hieh fnnc-
tions of amending the Constitution, and of
thus sanctioning the extinction of African
slavery as one of the legitimate results of our
internccine struggle. Having progressed
thus far, the Executive Department found il
had accomplished nearly all that was within
the scope of its constitutional authority.
One thing. however, ives left to be done be-
fore the work Of restoration could be COM
pleted. and that was the admission to Con-
gress of loyal Senators and Representatives
from the States, whose people had rebeled
against the lawful authority of the General
Government. This question devolved upon
the respective Houses which by the Constiul-
tion are made the Judges of the election re-
turns and qualifications of their own members,
and its considerations at once engaged (hc at
tention of Congress.
In the meantime the Executive Department.
no other plan having been proposed by Con-
gress, continued its efforts to perfect, as far
was practicable, the restoration of the propcr
relations between the citizens ofthe respective
States, the Federal Government extending
from time to time As the public interests
seemed to require the judicial revenue and
postal systems ofthe country. With the ad-
vice and consent of the Senate, the necessary
officers were appointed, and appropriations
made by Congress for the payment of their
salaries. The proposition to amend the Fed
eral Constitution 50 As to prevent the existence
Of slavery within the United States, or anv
place subject TO their jurisdiction, was ratified
by the requisite number of States. and ON fine
18th day OF December, 1865. it was Officially
declared to have become valid as a part of the
Constitution of the United States. All of the
States III which the insurrection had existed
promptly amended their Constitutions so as
to make them conform to the great change
thus effected in the organic law of the land
declared null and void all ordinances and Law :
OF secession. repudiated all pretended debts
anc obligations created for the rernlut:nna.,-
purposes or tirc l,lSurrectlon, and aeded in
good faith to the enactment of measures for
the protection and amelioration of the condi-
ton of the colored race. Congress, however,
yet hesitated to admit any of these States to
representation, and it was not until the close
OF the eigth month of the session, that an eX-
ception was made in favor of Tennessee. by
the admission other Senators and Representa-
tiyes. deem it a subject of profound regret
that Congress has thus far failed to admit ia
seats loyal Senators and Representatives from
the other States whose inhabitants, with those
of Tennessee, had engaged in the rebellion
Ten states, more than onc-tourth of the whole
number. remain without representation The
seats of fifty members of the House and twep-
ty OF the senate are yet vacant, not by their
own consent not by failure of election. but
hN thp .ui n tp a.
dentals. Their admission, it Is believed.
would have accomplished much towards the
renewal and strengthening of our relations as
one people, and removed serious cause for
discomfort on the part of the people of those
States. 1t would have accorded with fine
great principle enunciated in the Declaration
of American Independence that no peope
ought to bear the burden of taxation and VET
be denied the right of representation. II
would have been in consonance with the cx-
press provisions of the Constitution that eacl
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 propositions were intended to secure tc
every State the right ofrepresentation in each
IIou sc of Congress, and so important was il
deemt d by the trainers of the Constitution
that th,, equality of the States shall be pre-
served in the Senate, that not even BY an
amendment, OF the Constitution can any State
without its consent be denied voice in that
branch of the natioRal legislature. 1t is true
it has been assumed that the existence of the
States was terminated by the rebellious acts of
their inhabitants, that the insurrection hav-
ing suppressed they were thence forward to
be considered merely as conquered Terrific
ries.
The Legislative. Executive and Judicial de-
partments of the Government have however
with great distinctness and uniform consisten-
ey, refused TO sanction an assumption so in
compatible with the nature of our republican
system, and the protessed objects of the war.
Throughout the recent legislation of Congress
the undeniable fact makes itself apparent that
these ten political communities are nothing
less than States of this Union. At the very
commencement of the rebellion each house
declared with unanimity as remarkable as
1t was significant that the war "was not waged
upon our part in any spirit of oppression. nor
for any purpose of conquest or subjugation
nor for the purpose OF overthrowing or inter-
fering with the rights or established institu-
tions ofthosc States but to defend and main
tain the supremacy of the Constitution and all
laws made in pursuance thereof and to pre-
serve the Union, with all the dignity. equality
and rights Oft the several States unimpaired