Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-03-17
Veto Of the Treedmen's Bureau Bill.
q, NcI1;DED I

not less than the others The State Of Ten
nessee, tor instance, whose authorities engaged
IN rebellion, was restored to all her constitu-
tional relations to the Union by the patriot
ism and energy of her injured and betrayed
people. Before the war was brought to ter
ninaton,. they had placed themselves in rea-
tions with the General Government, had es-
tablishcd a State. Government of their own
and, as they were not included in the emanci-
patton proclamation, they, by their own act,
had amended their Constitution so as to abol-
lsli slavery within the limits of their State l
know no reason why the State Of Tennessee,
for example, should'not fully enjoy call her
constitutional relations to the United States -
The President of the United States stauds
towards the country in somewhat different
attitude from that OF any member of Congress.
Each member of Congress is chosen from a
single District or, State; the President is
chosen by the people Of all the States. AS
eleven States are not at this time represented
in either branch Of Congress, it would seem
to be his duty on all proper occasions to pre-
sent their just claims to Congress. There all
ways will be differences of opinion in the com
munity, and individuals may be guilty Of trans
gressions Of the law but these do not consti-
tdte valid objections against the right Of a
State to representation. | 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.
interests OF peace and in the interests of Union,
the admission OF every State to its share in
public legislation, when, however insubordi-
nate, insurgent, or rebellious its people may
have been, it presents itself not only in an at
titude of loyalty and harmony, but in the per-
sons OF representatives, whose loyalty cannot
be questioned under any existing constitutions
al or legal test.
1t is plain that all indeGnitc or permanent
exclusion of any part of the country from rep
resentation must be attended by spirit of
disquiet and complaint. 1t is unwisc and
dangerous to pursue u course Of measures
which will unite a very large section of the
country against another large section of the
country, however much the latter may prcpon-
Acrate. The course Of emigration, tho deyel-
opmcnts of industry and business, and natural
causes, will raise Zip ut the South men as devo-
ted to the Union as those of any other part of
the land Ol5ut if they are all excluded from
Congress-if, in permanent statute, they are
declared to be not in full constitutional rcla-
tlons to the country, they may think they have
cause to become unit im feeling and scnti-
mene against the Government. Under the
political education Of the American people,
the idea is Inherent and ineratlicable that the
consent of the majority of the whole people is
necessary to secure willing acquiesccncc in
legislation
The bill under consideration refers to Ger
tain of the States as though they had not
been fully restored in all their Constitutions
al relations to the United States" If they
have not, let us at once act together to secure
that desirable end at the earliest possible mo-
ment. 1t is hardly necessary for me to in
form 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 as entitled to
enjoy their Constitutional rights as members
OF the Union. Reasoning from the Constitu-
tion itself, and from the actual situation of the
country, feel not only entitled, but bound,
to assume that, with the Federal Courts re-
stored, and those Of the several States in the
full exercise of their functions, the rights and
interests of all classes Of the people will, with
theaid of the military in cases of resistance
to the law, be essentially protected against un-
constitutional infringement and violation.
Should this expectation unhappily fail
which / do not anticipate then the Execu-
tive is already fully armed with the powers
conferred by the Act Of March, 1862, estab-
fishing the Freedmen's Bureau, and hereafter,
as heretofore, he can employ the land and ma