The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-03-10

Upon those who became young men
amid the sound of cannon and the din
of arms, and who quietly returned to
the farms. the factories, and the schools
of the land, will principally de9olve
the solemn duty of the perpetuation
of the union of the States, in defense
of which hundreds of thousands of
their comrades expired, and hundreds
of millions of national obligations
were incurred. A manly people will
not neglect the training necessary to
resist aggression; but they should be
Jealous lest the civil should be made
subordinate to the military element.
We need to encourage, in every leg
innate way, a study of the Constitu-
ton for which the war vas waged, a
knowledge of and reverence for whose
wise checks, by those so soon to &C.
cupy the places filled by their seniors,
will be the only hope of preserving the
Republic. The young men of the ma
ton not yet under the control of par
ty must resist the tendency to central
i~zation, an outgrowth of the great re-
bellion, and be familiar with the fact
that the country consists of the Uni
ted States, and that when the States
surrendered certain great rights fol
the sake of more perfect union, they
retained rights as valuable and impor-
tant as those they reIinquished for the
common veal. This sound old doc
trine, far different from the teachings
that led to the attempt to secede, and
a kindred theory that the States were
taken out of the Union by the rash
acts of conspirators that happened to
dwell within their borders, must be
received and advocated with the en-
thusiasm of early manhood, Or the
people will be ruled by corrupt COM
binations of the commercial centers,
who, when plethoric from wealth, an
nually migrate to the capital of the
nation to purchase special legislation.
Until the representatives of the peo-
pie in Congress more fully exhibit the
divers views and interests of the whole
nation, and laws a to be made
without full discussion, at the behest
of some party leader, there will never
be a proper respect shown by the law
making power, either to the Judicial
or Executive branch of the Govern
ment. The generation just beginning
to use the bailot-box, it is believed,
only need that their attention should
be called to these considerations, to
indicate by their votes that they wish
their Representatives to observe all
the restraints which the people, i
adopting the Constitution, intended to
impose on party excess.
Calmly reviewing my administrator
of the Government, l feel that with d
sense of accountability to God, hav-
ing conscientiously endeavored to dis
charge my whole duty, / have moth
ing to regret. Events have proved
the correctness of the policy set forth
in my first and subsequent messages
The woes which have followed the re-
lection of forbearance, magnanimity
and constitutional rule, are. known
and deplored by the nation.
1t is a matter of pride and gratiica-
ton, in retiring from the exalted
position in the gift of the people, to
feel and know that in a long, arduous
and eventful public life, my acti n has
meyer been influenced by a desire for
gain, and hat / can in all sincerity
inquire-whom have 1 defrauded,
whom have 1 oppressed, or at whose
hand have 1 received any bride to blind
my eyes Herewith?
No responsibility for wars that have
been waged, or blood that has been
shed, rests upon me. My thoughts
have been those of peace, and my eff
fort has ever been to allay contentious
among my countrymen. Forgetting
the past, let lis return to the first prin-
ciples of the Government, and, un-
furling the banner of our country, in
scribe upon it in inefaceable charac-
tiers, 'the Constitution and the Union,
one and inseperable."
ANDREW JOHNSON.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Marcia 1869.