The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1866-02-28

United States stands toward the
country in a somewhat different atti-
tude from that of any member of Con-
gress, chosen from a single district or
State. The President is chosen by the
people of all the States. Eleven States
are not at this time represented in either
branch of Congress. 1t would seem to
be his duty on all proper occasions to
present their just claims to Congress-
There always will be differences of opin
ion in the community, and individuals
may be guilty of trangression of the law,
but these do not constitute valid objec-
lions against the right of a State to rep
resentation,
1t would in no wise interfere with the
discretion of Congress with regard to the
qualifications of members, but | hold it
my duty to recommend to you in the in
%terests of peace, and in interests of the
Union, the admission of every State to
its share of public legislation, when,
however insubordinate, iusurgent or re-
bellious its people may have been, it pre-
sents himself, not only in an attitude of
loyalty and harmony, but in the persons
Of representatives whose loyalty cannot
be questioned under existing Constitu-
tional or legal tests, it is plain that an
indefinite or permanent exclusion of any
part of the country from representation
must be attended by a spirit of disquiet
and complaint.
1t is unwise and unsafe to pursue a
course of measures which will unite any
large section of the country against an
other section of the country, no matter
how much the latter may predominate.-
The course of migration, development
Of industry and business, and natural
causes, will raise up at the South men as
devoted to the Union as those Of any
other part Of the land. But if they are
all excluded from Congress-if, in a per-
manent statute, they are declared not to
be in full Constitutional relations to the
country, they may think they have cause
to become a unit in feeling and sentiment
against the Government.
Under the political education of the
American people, the idea is inherent and
iDeradicab.e, that the consent of the ma
jority of the whole people is necessary to
secure a willing acquiescence in legisla-
ton. The bill under consideration re-
fers to certain of the States as though
they had not been fully restored to the
United States. If they have not, let us
at once act together to secure that desi-
rable end at the earliest possible mo.
ment.
tits hardly necessary for me to inform
Congress that in my own judgment most
of those States, SO far at least as depends
upon their own action, have already been
fully restored, and are to be deemed tc
be entitled to enjoy their Constitutions
rights as members Of the Union. Rea-
soning from the Constitution itself, and
from the actual situation of the Country
| feel not only entitled but bound to as.
sumo that with the Federal Courts re.
stored in the several States, and in the
full exercise of their functions, and the
tights and interests Of all classes of the
people will, with the aid Of the military
in cases of resistance to the law, be es
seutially protected against %unconstitu
tional infringement and violation.
Should this expectation unhappily fail
which | do not anticipate, then the ex
e%cutive is already armed with the powers
conferred by the act of March, 1865, es
tablishing the Freedmen's Bureau, anC
hereafter, as heretofore, he can employ
the land and naval forces of the country
to suppress instruction and to overcome
distractions to the laws.
l return the bill to the Senate in the
earnest hope that a measure involving
questions and interests so important t.
the country will not become a law, unless
upon deliberate consideration by the PEG.
pie, it shall receive the sanction Of an en-.
lightened public Judgment.
[Signed.] ANDREW JOHNSON.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Feb. 10, 1866.