The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1874-10-09
Jlle selarietta sonrual.
Marietta, Ga. Friday, Oct, 9, 1874
4 ANDREW JOHNSON.
His Views Of Reconstruction The I'm
peaohment Trial.

In the course Of his address be-
fore the Sumner County Agricultur-
al and Mechanical Association, al
Gallatin, Tenn, on Friday last, ex-
President Johnson said
"The charge of tardiness has
been made against me by some Of
the people of my State, and they say
/ have not been as just as | might
have been in the restoration Ut the
State--I do not say reconstruction,
as | believe there was no such thing
as reconstruction in the South il
was only restoration. | think !
have not been tardy nor unjust. -
On the 18th day of March, 1865,
Mr. Lincoln was assassinated, and
on the 18th I was inaugurated Pres
idsnt. Congress met in December.
In the meantime the rebellion had
collapsed, but there were eleven
States to be restored to their form
err rights in the Union. ! was
alarmed at the idea of allowing our
vast army to remain South, and |
disbanded it in June--as soon as it
was possible to do so--and the next
thing was the providing Of mill
tary government in each State, so
that conventions might be called
and State officers properly elected
by the people. Congress met on
the first Monday in December, but
the work Of reorganizing and re-
storing had been done before this by
the Executive; but Congress drew
back and said, "This man johnson
is Southern man, and he wants to
do too much for the South" and
they refused to admit Senators who
had been elected by the people Of
the Southern States. | planted my
self firmly on tho constitution.
The first thing they did was to
pass the Freedman's Bureau BILL
The first Civil Rights bill containing
all the Objectionable features of the
one now pending, passed March %,
1866. Both these bills / vetoed
Then Congress organized five mill
tary districts in the South, and this
bill I also vetoed. They passed
their bills and I vetoed them for |
resolved | would exercise every yes
tige Of power possessed 10 support
Of that instrument which had been
handed down to me by my fathers,
and which / intened to hand down,
inviolate, to my children. | will
say right here, that had | been dis
posed to pass these bills, | might
have been clothed with power that
would have been imperial and pos
sessed means that would have been
enormous. In consequence of my
determination to stand by this peo~
pie in their rights under the consti>
tuition, the impeachment business
began. They said had exercised
the pardoning power too freely;
and, by the way, It Is altogether
likely that those who accuse me Of
Hardness do so with my pardon in
their pockets, and when l was i'm,
peached by Congress, with "Pon
thus Plate" at their head, the people
whom / had helped were powerless
to help lme. Thank God, gentle-
men, that while | was engaged in
this, my pathway has been one Of
peace-that the highway which 1
have travelled in public life has not
been one paved with human skulls,
or the bridges over which / have
passed been causewayed or hoored
with the mutilated limbs and bodies
Of dead men. There are no gol-
gothas one on one hand, or potters-
field on the other. The cries and
sufferings Of orphaned children and
widowed mothers salute not my ears
with rcproacb. The blood Of hus>
bands and sons is not upon my skirts.
/ am NOT responsible for the strife and
passions that brought civil war upon
the nation with all its disasters and
blighting consequences. It was not
me that set man upon man, and
caused him to lift his hand against
the throat of his brother, drenching
the land with fraternaI blood, which,
like the sacriGcial blood of Abel,
cries from the tongueless caverns
for peace and reconciliation. Let
the yawning chasm Of blood be clos
ed, leaving no scar or sign of its
former existence. Peace--pcace is
the natural element Of my nature,
but | have power to resist when 4
know that ! am in the right, and l
feel I have as much courage in the
line Of duty as any man requires
When the rebellion went down, |
did all in my power to restore my
countrymen to their former rights,
and to preserve their property from
confscation. Sometimes ! have
thought that this quality we call
gratitude has become extinct. |
have read somewhere that "gatitude
is not for favors past, but lively
sanaa IF fhinns 70 rome y