The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-12-04
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE,

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
DELIVERED TUESDAY, DEC. 8, 1867.
Fello,o- Citizens Of the Senate and House
Of Representatives:
The continued disorganization of
the Union, to which the President
has so often called the attention of
Congress, is yet subject of profound
however, find come relief from that
anxiety in the reflection that the
painful political situation, although
before untried by ourselves, is not
new in the experience of nations.
Political science, perhaps as highly
perfected in our own time and coun-
try as in any other, has not yet dis
closed any means by which civil wars
can be absolutely prevented. An
enlightened nation, however, with a
wise and beneficent Constitution of
free Government, may diminish their
frequency and mitigate their severity
by directing all its proceedings in
accordance with its fundamental law.
When o civil war has been brought
to close, it is manifestly the first
interest and duty of the State to
repair the injuries which the war has
inflicted, and to secure the benefit OF
the lessons it teaches as fully and as
speedily as possible. This duty was,
upon the termination of the rebel
lion, promptly accepted, not only by
the Executive Department., but by
the insurrectionary States themselves,
and restoration, in the first moment
OF peace, was believed to be as easy
and certain as it was Indispensable.
The expectations, however, then so
reasonably and confidently enter
tanned, were disappointed by legisla-
ton from which I felt constrained,
by my obligations to the Constitu-
tion, to withhold my assent.
1t is, therefore, source of pro-
found regret, that in complying with
the obligation imposed upon the
President by the Constitution, to
give to Congress from time to time
information of the state of the Union.
L am unable to communicate any def
mite adjustment, satisfactory to the
American people, Of the questions
which, since the close of the rebel
lion, have agitated the public mind.
On the contrary, candor compels me
to declare that at this time there is
no Union as our fathers understood
the term, and as they meant it to be
understood by us. The Union which
they established can exist only where
all the States are represented in both
houses of Congress-; where one State
is as free as another to regulate its
internal concerns according to its
own will, and where the laws of the
Central Government, strictly confined
to matters of national Jurisdiction.
apply with equal force to nll the peo-
pie of every section. That such is
not the present estate of the Union, !"
is melancholy fact, and we all must
acknowledge that the restoration of
the States to their proper legal rela-
tions with the Federal Government
and with one another, according to
the terms of the original compact,
would be the greatest temporal bless
ing which God, in His kindest pro-
violence, could bestow upon this
nation. 1t becomes our imperative
duty to consider whether or not it is
impossible to effect this most desira-
BILE consummation.
The Union and the Constitution
are inseparable. AS long as one is
obcJca BY al parties, the other will
be preserved; and if one is DESTROYED,
both must perish together. The de-
struction of the Constitution will be
foli~wed by other and still greater
calamities. 1t was ordained not only
to form o more perfect union between
the States, but to Establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide
for the common defence, promote
the general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and
our posterity." Nothing but impli-
cit obedience to its requirements in