Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-12-06
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

TsS6RtdtipeS.
After a brief interval, the Congress OF the |
United States resumes its annual legislative IA
| bors 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 ana |
civil authority have been formally declaredto eN-
| list Throughout the whole of the United States. |
In all of the States civil authority has superce-
| ded the coercion of arms, and the people by
| their voluntary actionare maintaining their gov
ernments in fun activity and complete opera
/ ton. The enforcement of the laws is no longer
| obstructed in any State by combinations TOO
powerful 10 be Suppressed by the ordinary course
! of judicial proceedings, and the anmositles en-
| gendered by the war are rapidly yielding TO the
| benefcent influences of our free institutions,
| and TO the kindly effects OF unrestricted socla!
| and commercial intercourse.
| An entire restoration of fraterna feeling must
| be the earnest wish of every patriotic heart and
| we will have accomplished our grandcst national
| achievement when, forgetting the sad events OF
! the past. and remembering only their instructive
| lessons, we resume our onward career as Il
| free prosperous and united people. In my mes
sage of the 4th of December 1860, Congress was
| informed of the measures which had been m
| stituted by the executive with view to the
gradual restoration of the States in which the m
| surreCtiOn occurred, TO their relations WIN luc
| general government.
Provisional Governors had been appointed,
| conventions called Governors elected, leglsia-
lures assembled and Senators and Representa-
tives chosen to the Congress of theU nited STATES
Courts had been opened for the enforcement Oh
laws long in allegiance the blockade haa oeGn
removed, custom houses re-estabIsned anu tuc
internal revenue laws put IN force III Oruer tliaI
! the nponle MIGHT contribute to the national IN
come Postal operations nad been tehc"eu anu
efforts were being made to restore them TO their
former condition OF emclehcy. me otatcs
Themselves had been asked to take part, III hlgh
functions of amending the constitution ana
Thus sanction the extinction of African slavery
as one of the legitimate results of our inferno
cine struggle. Having progressed thus far, the
Executive Department found that it had accom-
plished nearly all that was WITHIN the scope OF
its constitutional authority. One thing, hoWeVc
err vet remained to be done before Inc WORK OF
restoration could be completed and that was the
I admission to Congress of Loyal Senators and
representatives from the States whose people
had rebeled against the lawful authority OF the
general government.
Houses, which by the constitution are MADE the
Judges of elections, returns and quallhcauons OF
b their own members and its consideration AT
once engaged the attention OF Congress- III
the meantime the executive department, no
/ other plan having been proposed by congress,
: continued its efforts TO perfect as lat as was
practicable the restoration II the proper rela-
lions between the citizens OF the respective
States and the federal government, extending
| from time to time, the pubic interests
Y seemed to require, the judicial, revenue anu
postal systems of the country. WIN the ADVICE
> and consent of the Senate, the necessary ohcefs
e were appointed and appropriations maze by
. Congress for the payment of their salaries
u The proposition to amend the Federal Gonsutu-
A tion so as to prevent the existence OF slavery
within the United States or any place subject tt
e. their iurisdiCton was ratified by the requisite
O. number of States, and on the 18th OF Decemoe
1865, it officially declared 10 RaEe p g;tn
!, valid as part of the constitution or the thte'
# States All of the States in when lhe lhsUfreC
- ton had existed, promptly amended lhetf con
1t | situations so as to make them conform 10 th'
:. Great change thus effected in the organic law o
1t orp1 mil and NDlu all ordinance
n. and laws of secession; repudiated all pretcnde'
debts and obligations created Tor the revolution
rs arv purposes of the instruction, ana proCeeue
m in GOOD faith TO the enactment OF measure
for the protection and ameHor0tion OF inc cor
OF dition of the COlOred race. E. .
- Con1ress however vet hesltated to admit an
- of these States to Representatives ana II was 1T
m. until towards the close OF the eighth month
, the session that an exception was maze IN laV'
ID of Tennessee by the admission OF her Senator
NJ and Representatives. | deem 1t SUBJECT
nrOfluna rerrpt that Congress has thus II
ne failed TO admit to seats loyal Senators and Re
IF resentatiyps from the other States whose lnna
itants with those of Tennessee, had engaged
ne the rebellion Ten States, more than one-iour
a of the whole number, remain without fepr
septaton The seats of fifty members Ill u
I'D House of Representatives and of twenty mel
oh bers in the Senate, are yet vacant, not oy tne
own consent, not by failure OF eiec!lon, o
no by the refusal of Congress to accept ther crede
nd tials Their admission, it Is beleVeu, won
NV" have accomplished much towards the renew
oh and strengthening of our relations as one peopi
Al and removed serious cause Tor olscoHSehl Oh u
ia mart of the inhabitants of these states:
led | wOuld have accorded with the great PrlhclpI
cnnnciated in the Declaration of American
er, dependence that no people ought to be~F |
,le, burden Of taxation ana yei pc aenlea te rdg
YER sonaHce with the express provisions oil the 90
{, stitntion that each State shall have at lest Of
80 representative, and that no state without ]
by consent shall be deprived of its equal suttra
on. in the Senate. These provisions were ntend'
eo TO secure to every State and to the people
no every State the right of representation in ca
~ House of Congress, and so important was
NV deemed by the trainers of the Constitution, IN
the the equality of the States in the senate shou
be preserved, that not even by an amendment
les, the Constitution can any State without its CO
he sent, be denied voice in that branch olthe
tional Legislature.
md It's true it has been assumed that the ext
,oa ence of the States was terminated by the reb
-" lious acts of their inhabitants, and that the
I've surrection having been suppressed, they we
kad thenceforward to be considered merely as CO
'ou auered territories. The Legislative, EXecuti
q | and Judicial departments of the Governme
A., have, however, with great distinctness and III
ueT form consistency, refused to sanction an
will sumption so Incompatible with the nature
| our Republican system, and with the profess
eak objects of the war Throughout The recent le
18th islation of Congress, the undeniable fact max
, itself apparent, that these ten political comm
The mites nothing less than States OF this Unto
oh | At the very commencement of the rebeio
III, each House declared, with unanimity as
,eo marl1able as IL was significant, that the war
COL not "waged, upon our part, in any spirit of G
e"' preston, nor for any purpose of conquest
lest subjugaton nor purpose of overthrowing or
= terfering with the rights or established fnstit
,fn tons of those States but to defend and mainta
wit the supremacy of the Constitution and all la
made In pursuance thereof, and to preserve t
Union with all the dignity, equality and rigf
:. | of the several States unimpaired; and that
az soon as these objects were accomplished,
the war ought to cease" In some instances, Ser
tors were permitted to continue their legislati
oV- functions while in other instances Represen
ooo tiyes were elected ana admitted to seats af
''e' their States had formally declared their right
alt withdraw from the Union, and were endeav
- ing to maintain that right by force Of arms.
CA of the States whose Poop were in insurrectit
for as States were included in the apportionmt
of the direct tax of twenty millions of DOH
ceS- annually laid upon the United States by the
and approved 5th August 1861. Congress, by
act of March a. 1852 and by the apportonmt
late of representation Hereunder also recogni;
apd their presence as States in the Union; and Il
have, for Judicial purposes, been divided j
ing districts as States alone can be divided.
40 | same recognition appears in the recent legi
SELL ton in r ference to Tennessee, which evideI
be- rests upon the fact that the functions of
| State were not destroyed by the rebellion,