The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-09-27
ADDRESS OF THE NATIONALUNiON
COMMITTEE TO THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE.

/ PEOPLE.
| Fr11ow- C1r1zENs-Very grave difference
] having arisen between your Immediate Rep
! resentatiyes in. Congress and the President
I who owes his position to your votes, we are
/ imDcllu,l to ask your attention thereto, ana
to suggest the duties to your country which
they render imperative.
We shall avoid the use of hard words. OF
these there have already been too MANY.
! And that the matters in issue may be brought
within the narrowest compass. let us hrst
eliminate from the controversy all that has
already been settled or has never been IN dis
pute.
The Republic has been desperately assailed
| from within, and its very existence seriously
| Imperfect Thirteen States were claimed as
having withdrawn from the Cniony and were
| REPRESENTED for years in ii hostile Congress
meeting at Richmond. Ten ofthcse States
were, for time, wholly in the power OF a hos
! tile confederacY; the other three partially So
| The undoubtedly loyal States were repeated
ly and forrnidably invaded by Rebel armies,
which were only expelled after obstinate and
| bloody battles. Through four years OF ardu-
Gus, desperate civil strife, the hosts of the
rebel Con1ederacy withstood those of the
Union Agents of that Confederacy ira
versed the civilized world, seeking allies In
their war against the Republic, and melting
the rapacious and unprincipled to lit out
armed corsairs to prey upon our commerce.
BY State authority. and in the perverted
names of patriotism and loyalty, hundreds of
thousands of our countrymen were conscrlp-
ted into Rebel armies and made to fight des-
peratcy for our National disruption and
ruin. And though, by the blessing OF COD
and the valor and constancy OF our loyal
people, the Rebellion was finally and utterly
crushed. it did not succumb until 1t had
caused the destruction of more than hafa
| tn
of property to the valne of at least five bill
ions OF dollats.
At length, the rebel armies surrendered
and the rebel power utterly collapsed and van
ished What then ?
The claim of the insurgents that they eth
er now re-acquired or had never forfeited
their constitutional rights in the Union, in
Guiding that of representation lii Congress,
in pointed antagonism alike to the require
mcuts OF Congress and to those of the acting
President. 1t was the Executive alone who,
after the Rebellion no more, appointed
Provisional Governors for the now submits
siyc unarmed Southern States, on the as
scmbing of a Convention, composed of dele
gates to be chosen by that portion of the
people of said State who are loyal to the
United States, anil 40 others, for the purpose
of altering and amending the Constitution
of said State l. was President johnson
W no. so late as October last-when all shad-
dow of overt resistance to the Union had
long since isappeared-insisted that it was
not enough that a State winch had revolted
must recognize her Ordinance of Secession
as null and void from the beginning, and
ratify the Constitutional Amendment prohib
tinp slavery evermOre, but she must also re-
puCiate " every dollar of Indebtedness cret-
ted to aid in carrying on the Rebellion" 1t
was he who ordered the dispersion by mill
tary force Of any Legislatures chosen under
I
make laws after the rebellion had fallen 1t
was he who referred to Congress all inquiries
to the probability OF Representatives from
States lately in revolt being admitted to
seats in either House, and suggested that
they should present their credentials, not at
the organizing of Congress, but afterward.
And finally, it was lie, and not Congress,
who suggested to his Gov. Sharkey of Miss
issippi, that
If you could extend the elective franchise
to all persons of color who can read the
Constitution Ofthe United States in English
and write their names, and to all persons of
color who own real estate valued at not less
than $3.50 and pay taxes thereon, you would
completely disarm the adversary, and set an
example that other States will follow
If then, there be any controversy as to the
right of the loyal States to exact conditions
and require guarantees of those which plung-
ell madIy into Secession and Rebellion, the
supporters respectively of Andrew johnson
and of Congress cannot be antagonist parties
to that contest. since their record places them
on the same side.
1t being thus agreed that conditions of
restoration and guarantees against future
bclli0n may be eXacted of the States lately In
revolt the right of Congress to voice in
prescribing those conditions and i'll shaping
those guarantees is plainly incontestib!e-
Whether it take the shape of law of u
oil tha r,f
Congress is vital. Even if they were to I've
settled by treaty, the ratification OF tue Sen
ate, by a two-thirCls vote, would he indispcn-
sable There is nothing in the Federal con-
stituton, nor in the nature of the case that
countenapces an Executive monopoly of this
power.
What, then, is the ground of complaint
against Congress
1t is charged that the action of tie two
Houses was tardy and hesitating. Consider
with how many cmbarrassments and difficult
ties the problem is besct, and you will not
wonder that months were required to devise,
perfect, and pass, by two-thirds vote in Ell
ther House, IL just and safe plan of recon-
struction.
Yet the plan has been matured It. has
passed the Senateby 50 to II, and the House
by 1873 to 36. 1t is now fairly before the
country, having already been ratified by the
Legislatures of several States and rejected by
none. Under it, the State of Tennessee has
been formally restored to all the privileges
she forfeited by Rebellion, including repre-
sentat;on in either House of Congress And
the door thus passed through stands invi-
tingly open to all who linger without
Are the conditions thus prescribed intoler-
obe, or even humiliating They are in sub
stance these.
l. All persons born or naturalized in this
country are henceforth citizens ofthe United
States, and shall enjoy all the rights of citi-
zens evermole and no State shall have pow
er to contravene this most righteous and neccs-
sary provision.
II. While the States claim and exercise the
power of denying the elective franchise to
part of their people, heweight of each State
in the Union shall be measured by and based
upon its enfranchiscd population. If any
State shall choose, for crime, to deny po-
litical rights to any rare or caste, it must no
longer count that race or caste as basis of
political powerin the Union.
III. He who once held office on the