Des Arc weekly citizen., 1867-12-21
DIES ARC, ARKANSAS, DECEMBER 21, 1867

rect contrary was averred by this Gov
 ernment to be its purpose, and was SC
 understood by all those who gave theil
 blood and treasure to aid in it's prose
 cution. It cannot be that a successful
 war, waged for the preservation of tho
 Union, had the legal effect of dissolv'
 ing it.
 The victory of the nations arms was
 not the disgrace of her policy. Tho
 defeat of secession on the battlefield
 was not the triumph of its lawless
 principles. Nor could Congress, with
 or without the consent of the Execu- tive, do anything which would have the effect, directly or indirectly, oi separating States from each other. Io dissolve the Union is to repeal the Constitution which holds it together and that is power which does not be- long to any department of this Gov ernment, or to all of them united.
 This is SO plain that it has been &C., knowledged by all branches of the Federal Government, legislative and executive. My predecessor, as well as myself and the Heads of Departments, have uniformly acted upon the princi- pie that the Union is not only undis- solved but iRdissulable. Congress sub- mitted an amendment of the Constitu- ton to be ratified by the Southern States, and accepted their acts of rati- fication as . necessary and lawful ex- ercise of their highest function. If they were not States, or were States out of the Union, their consent to a change in the fundamental law of the Union would be nugatory; and Con- gress, in asking it, committed a politi- cal absurdity. The Judiciary has also given the solemn sanction of it's au- thority to the same view of the case. The Judges of the Supreme Court have included the Southern States in their circuits, and they are constantly, ill banco and elsewhere, exercising juris- diction which does not belong to them unless those States are States of the Union.
 If the Southern States are compo- nent parts of the Union, the Constitu- tion is the supreme law for them, as it is for all other States. They are bound to obey it, and so are we. The right of the Federal Government, which is clear and unquestionable, to enforce the Constitution upon them, implies the correlative obligation on our part to observe its limitations and execute its guaranties. Without the Constitution we are nothing; by, through and under the Constitution we are what it makes us. We may doubt the wisdom of the law, we may not approve of it's provi- sions, but we cannot violate it merely because it seems to confine our powers within limits narrower than we could wish. It is not a question of indiyid- ual, or class, or sectional interest, much less of party predominance, but of duty, which we are all sworn to perform. If we cannot support the with the cheerful alacrity of those who love and believe in it, we must give to it, at least, the fidelity of public servants, who are each under solemn obligations and commands which they do not disregard.
 THE WAR PLEDGES OF THE GOVERNMENT.
 Constitutional duty is not the only one which requires States to be re- stored. There is another considera- ton, which, though of minor impor- tance, is yet of great weight.
 On the 22d of July, 1861, Congress declared, by an almost unanimous vote of both Houses, that the war should be conducted solely for the purpose of the Union and maintaining the supremacy of the Federal Consti- tuition and laws without impairing the equality and rights of States or individuals and that when this was done the war should cease. do not say that this declaration is personally on those who joined in making it, any more than individual members of Congress are personally bound to pay a public debt created under law for which they voted; but it was a solemn, public, official pledge of nation- al honor, and 1 cannot imagine upon what ground repudiation of it is to be justified. If it be said that we are not bound to keep faith with rebels, let it be remembered that this promise was not made to rebels only. Thousands of true men in the South were drawn to our standard by it, and hundreds of thousands in the North gave their lives in the belief that it would be carried out.
 It was made on the day after the first great battle of the war had been fought and lost. All patriotic and intelligent men then saw the necessity of giving such an assurance, and believed that without it the war would end in dis aster to our cause. Having given that assurance in the extremity of our peril, violation of it now, in the day of our power, would be rude rending of that good faith which holds the moral world together. Our country would cease to have any claim upon the con- fidence of men. It would make the war not only failure but fraud.
 REPEAL OF THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS.
 Being sincerely convinced that these views are correct, I would be unfaith- ful to my duty did I not recommend the repeal of the acts of Congress which place ten of the Southern States under the domination of military masters If calm reflection shall satisfy ma iOrity of your honorable bodies that the acts referred to are not only vio- lation of the national faith, but in di- rect conflict with the Constitution, l dare not permit myself to doubt that you will Immediately strike them from the statute books. To demonstrate the unconditional character of those acts I need do no more than refer to their general provisions.
 It must be seen at once that they are authorized to dictate what altercations shall be made in the Constitutions of the several States, to control elections of State Legislatures and State officers, members of Congress and election of President and Vice-Presidcnt, by ar- bitrarily declaring who shall vote and who shall be excluded from that priv ilege to dissolve State Legislatures or prevent them from assembling; to dis miss judges and other civil function aries of States, and appoint others without regard to the State to organ ize and operate all the political machin- cry of the State; to regulate the whole