Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-01-22
President Lincoln's Plan.

tons, gave the first public and full
account of Il most interesting histori-
cal event-the plan of reconstruction
agreed upon in President Lincoln's
Cabinet, on the very day of the Pres
ident's assassination. His father be-
ing ill, Mr.. Seward was present as
the representative of the State De-
partment, and participated in the de-
alterations. Mr.. Stewards remarks
were as follows:
The questions about Louisiana are
not new ones. On the contrary, they
are very old ones. They arose i'm
mediately upon the closing of the
| war.
On the morning of the l4th of
April, 1865, when Richmond and
Petersburg had fallen, and Sherman
was holding Johnson's army at bay,
everything betokened that peace was
at hand. President Lincoln called a
Cabinet-meeting at the Executive
Mansion, and invited to participate
in it the victorious General to whom
Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
AT such meeting, in such time
there could be but one question and
that question of transcendant impor-
tance-thc question of reconstruc-
ton, restoration, or re-establishment
Of the seeded States in their former
relations, as members of the federal
| Union. The conference was long
and earnest, with little diversity of
opinion except as to details.
One of the difficulties of the prob
lem was, who should be recognized
as State authorities. There was Il
loyal Governor in Virginia. There
We're military Governors in some of
the other States. But the Southern
Legislatures were, for the most part,
avowedly reasonable.
Whether they should be allowed
to continue until they committed
some new overt act of hostility;
whether the Governors should be re-
quested to order new elections,
whether such elections should be or
dered by the General Government
all these We're questions raised.
Among many similar expressions
of the President, in that terse and
homely mode of speech, the memory
of which still fingers pleasantly in
the hearts Of the American people,
he said: ''Wc can't undertake to
run State Governments in all these
Southern States. Their people must
do that, though reckon that, at
first, they may do it badly
The Secretary of War, Mr.. Stan
ton, produced some sheets Of paper
Oh which he had drafted the outlines
of plan of reconstruction, embody-
ING the Presidents views, and, as l
understood, those of most of the 9TH
er members of the Cabinet.
In substance it was, that the Treas
ury Department should take possess
ion of the Custom Houses, and pro-
cecd to collect the revenues; that the
War Department should garrison or
destroy the forts, take possession of
arms and munitions, and maintain
the public peace; that the Navy De
partment should in like manner oc-
cupy the harbors, take possession of
the navy-yards, ships and ordnance;
that the Interior Department should
send out its Surveyors, Land, Pen
sion, and Indian Agents and set them
at work; that the Pos:mastcr-Gcnera
should reopen his postoficcs and es-
tablish his mail-routcs; that the At
torncy-General should look after the
re-cstablishment of the Federal
Courts, with their Judges, Marshals,
and Attorneys; in short, that the ma
chinery Of the United States Govern.
ment should be set in motion, that
its laws should be faithfully executed
and vigorously enforced, that every
thing like domestic violence or insur-
rection should be repressed; but that
public authorities and private citi-
zens should remain unmolested, if
not found in actual hostility to the
Government of the Union.
In word, it was a plan based up
on the Constitution Of the United
States.
That night Abraham Lincoln pass.
ed from earth Through the mad.
ness of an assassin, the Southern peo-
pie lost lcnient judge, just and
generous friend.
The plan for their peace and safety,
upon which the morning hours OF
his last day had been spent, was taken
up by his successor; but the embit-
tered public feeling which followed
his murder rendered both Congress
and the people far less ready to ac-
quiesce in its adoption. From that
time to this the efforts that have been
made to carry it out have met with
an amount Of opposition and a de-
gree of i'll success and failure that are
now among the familiar facts of his
tory.
still think that this first plan Hor
the reconstruction of the Southern
States was the best and wisest one of
all. 1t would have been fortunate
for the South and the Union if it had
been adopted then. 1t will be fortlt-
nate for the South and the Union if
! it shall be adopted now.
But it is not to be accomplished by
mere denunciation of what is or has
been done wrong; it is necessary to
find out and apply the remedy.
That remedy is not now within the
power of political parties or of public
meetings. 1t is not within our power
on this floor. 1t is not even within
the power of the President. 1t is
only within the power of the people
of the United States, through their
Representatives in Congress assem-
bled. 1t is right and proper, there
fore, that our resolutions should be
addressed to them, invoking their
prompt and patriotic action.
And what is the remedy? You
have it in the pending resolutions
Congressional action to define and
enforce the faithful adherence of all
concerned to the respective duties