The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1866-12-13
Presidents Message.
Felto,c-citizenS of The Senate
,.,J yTn,,s, NJ


tive 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 author
ity have been formally declared to exist
throughout the whole of the United States.
In all of the States civil authority has su-
perseded the coercion of arms, and the /
people by their voluntary actions, are |
maintaining their governments in full ac-
tivity and complete operation. The en-
forcement of the laws is no longer "ob- !
structed in any State by combinations too
powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary |
course of judicial proceedings :" and the !
animosities engendered by the war are rap
idly yielding to the benehcent influences
of our free institutions, and to the kindly
effects of unrestricted social and CONNER
cial 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 instructive lessons, we resume our
onward career as q free, prosperous, and
united people.
In my message ofthe 4th of December,
1865, Congress was informed of the meas
ures which had been instituted by the Ex-
ton of tho States in which the insurrection
occurred to their relations with the Gener-
al Government. Provisional Governors
had been appointed, Conventions called,
Governors elected, Legislatures assembled,
and Senators and Representatives chosen
to the Congress of the United States.-
Courts had been opened for the enforce
, ment of laws long in allegiance. The block
ade had been removed, custom-houses re-
hi fclx
put in force, in order that the people might
contribute to the national income. Postal
operations had been renewed, 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 of amending the Consti-
tutlon, and of thus sanctioning the extinc-
uon OF African slavery as one of the legiti.
mate results of our intornooiue struggle.
Having progressed thus far, the EXecu-
tive Department found that il had accom-
plished nearly all that was within the
scope of its constitutional authority. One
thing, however, yet remained to be done
before the work of restoration could be
completed and that was the admission to
Congress of loyal Senators and Represen-
tatives from the States whose people had
rebelled against the lawful authority of the
General Government. This question de-
VOWED upon the respective Houses, which,
by the Constitution, are made the judges
OF elections, returns, and qualifications of
their own members and it's consideration
at once engaged the attention of Congress.
In the meantime, the Executive Depart
ment-no other plan having been proposed
by Congress-continued its efforts to per-
feet, as far as was practicable, the restora-
ton 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, revenue,
: and postal systems of the country. With
the advice and consent of the Senate. the
necessary officers were appointed, and ap-
!. preparations made by Congress for the pay
mont of their salaries. The proposition TO
amend the Federal Constitution, so as to
prevent the existence of slavery within the
United States or any place subject to their
jurisdiction, was ratified by the requisite
. number of States and on the 18th day of
December, 1865, it was officially declared
to have become valid as part of the Con-
sti;ution of the United States. All of the
States in which the insurrection had exist
ed 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 ordi-
nances and laws of secession repudiated
all pretended debts and obligations created
, for the revolutionary purposes of the in
surrection and proceeded, 6n good faith,
to the enactment of measures for the pro-
lection and amelioration of the condition
of the colored race. Congress, however,
vet hesitated to admit any of these States
to representation; and it was not until to-
wards the close of the eighth month of the
session that an exception was made in fa-
vor of Tennessee, by the admission of her
Senators and REPRESENTATIVES.
deem 1t a subject of profound regret
that Congress has thus far failed to admit
to seats loyal Senators and Representatives
from the other States, whose inhabitants
with those of Tennessee, had en~..-1 In
p the rebellion. Ten States~more than one
Iourth OF the whole number-remain with
OUT representation; the seats of fifty men,
bers in the House of Representatives and
OF twenty members in the Senate are yet
vacant-not by their own consent, not by
a failure of election, but by the refusal OF
Congress to accept their credentials. Their
admission, it is believed, would have ac-
c0mplished much toward the renewal and
. strengthening of our relations as one peo-
pie, and removed serious cause for dis
content on the part of the inhabitants OF
those States. 1t would have accorded with
the great principle enunciated in the Dec
7, laration OF American Independence, that
no people OuBnI 10 Dear inc Duruen OF TAX
alton, and yet be denied the right of rep
resentation. II would have been in con-
sonance with the express provisions Of the
Constitution that ''each State shall have
p. at least one Representative" and "that no
State, without it's consent, shall be depriv-
ed of its equal suffrage in the Senate."-
These provisions were intended to secure
= to every State, and to the people of every
State, the right of representation in each
House of Congress (; and so important was
1t deemed by the trainers of the Constitu-
ton, that the equality of the States in the
Senate should be preserved, that not even
by an amendment of the Constitution can
any State, without its consent, he denied a
It. voice in that branch of the National Leg
= islature.
1t is true, IL has been assumed that the
existence of the States was terminated by
the rebellious acts oftheir inhabitants, and
= that the insurrection having been sup
pressed, they were thenceforward to be
considered merely as conquered terrific
ries. The Legislative, Executive, and Ju-
dicial Departments of the Government
Il have, however, with great distinctness and
uniform consistency, refused to sanction
an assumption so Incompatible with the
nature of our republican system, and with
!. the professed objects of the war. Through
out the recent legislation of Congress, the
81 undeniable fact makes itself apparent, that
these ten political communities are moth.