Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-31
LINCOLN'S YEAR OF JUBILEE
de Would Have Abolished Slavery b,
January l, 1900
HIS PLAN OF COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION
Prcsidcnts Message TO Conrrcs Pro-
posing = Practical scheme for
Freeing the NcRro in the
United states.

On December !, 1852, President Abraham
Lincoln sent the following message TO con-
gross, giving his idea OF a practical plan
TOT complete negro emancipation by Janu-
airy !, 1900:
On the POD Gay Of September last a procla-
nation was Issued by the executive, a copy
Of which Is herewith submitted.
In accordance with the purpose expressed
in the second paragraph Of that paper, / now
respectfully recall your attention to what
may be called Compensated emancipation"
a nation may be said 20 consist Of It's ter.
ritory, its people and it's laws. That terri
tory is the only part which Is of certain
durability. zone generation passeth away
and another generation cometh, but the earth
abideth forever" 1t is of the first importance
to duly consider and estimate this ever
enduring part. That portion Of the oarth'S
surface which is owned and inhabited by the
people of the United States is we'll adapted
TO be the home of one national family. and
1t is not well adapted for two or more. is
vast extent and it's variety of climate and
productions are Of advantage in this age for
one people, whatever they might have been
in former ages. Steam, telegraph and in
telligenCe have brought these to be an ad-
vantageous combination for one united peo-
pie.
In the inaugural address | briefly pointed
out the total inadequacy of disunlon as a
remedy for the differences between the peo-
pie CT the two sections. | did so in Lam
guage which | can not improve, and which,
therefore,, | beg to repeat:
Disunion Impossible.
zone section Of our country believes slav-
cry Is right and ought to be extended, while
the other believe it is wrong and ought not
to be extended. This is the only substantial
dispute. The fugitive-slave clause Of the
constitution and the law for the suppression
OF the foreign slave trade are each as well
enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be
in a community where the moral sense Of
the people imperfectly supports the law it
self. The great body Of the people abide
by the dry legal obligation in both cases,
and a few break over in each. This, | think.
cannot be perfectly cured, and it would be
worse in both cases after the separation Of
the sections than before. The foreign slave
trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be
ultimately revived without restriction in one
section, while fugitive slaves, now only par
italy surrendered, would not be surrendered
at all by the other.
physically speaking, we cannot separate.
We cannot remove our respective sections
from each other nor build an impossible
wall between them. A husband and wife
may be divorced and go out of the presence
and beyond the reach of each other, but
the different parts of our country cannot
do this. They cannot but remain face to
face, and intercourse, either amicably or
hostile, must continue between them. IL
1t possible, then, to make that intercourse
more advantageous or more satisfactory after
separation than before? Can aliens make
treaties easier than friends can make laws?
Can treaties be more faithfully enforced be-
tween aliens than laws can among friends?
Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight al
ways; and when, after much loss on both
sides and no gain on either, you cease fight
ing, the identical old questions, as to terms
of intercourse, are again upon you"
No Dividing Line.
There is no line straight or crooked, suit
able for a national boundary upon which to
divide. Trace through, from east to west,
upon the line between the free and slave
country, and we shall find a little more than
one-third of it's length are rivers, easy to
be crossed, and populated, or soon to be
populated, thickly upon both sides; while
nearly all it's remaining length are merely
surveyors lines, over which people may
walk back and forth without any conscious
ness of their presence. No part of this line
can be made any more difficult to pass by
writing 1t down on paper or parchment as a
national boundary. The fact of separation,
If it comes, gives up on the part of the
seeding section the fugitive-slave clause,
along with all other constitutional obliga-
tons upon the section seeded from, while
I should expect no treaty stipulation would
ever be made to take its place.
But there is another difficulty. The great
interior region bounded east by the Ale
ghanies, north by the British dominions,
west by the Rocky mountains and south by
the line along along which the culture Of
corn and cotton meets, and which includes
part of Virginia, part Of Tennessee, all Of
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wis
consin. Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa,
Minnesota, and the territories of Dakota,
Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has
above 100000 900 people, and will have So
OO0, 900 within fifty years If not prevented
by any political folly or mistake. 1t con-
tains more than one-third of the country
owned by the United States-certainly more
than 1000, 600 square miles. Once half as
populous as Massachusetts alreacy is, it
would have more than IS, 900, 600 people. A
glance at the map shows that, territorially
speaking, it Is the great body of the re-
public. The other parts are but marginal
borders to It, the magnificent region slipping
west from the lkuGhS MOUNTAINS 10 the IA
cifc being the deepest and al9o the richest
in undeveloped resources. In the production
OF provisions, grains, grasses, ana all which
proceed from them this great interior region
is naturally one OF the most important in
the world. Ascertain from the statistics the
small proportion Of the region which has
as yet been brought into cultivation, and
also the large and rapidly increasing amount
OF it's products, and we shall be overwhelmed
with the magnitude q the prospect pre-
scented, And yet this region has no seacoast
touches no ocean anywhere. As part OF
one nation. its people now find, and may
forever find, their way to Europe by New
York, TO South America and Africa by New
Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco; hui
separate cur common country into two ma
tions, az designed by the present rebellion,
and every man of this great interior region
Is thereby cut off from some one or more
Of these outlets, not perhaps by a physical
barrier. but by embarrassing and oner0us
trade regulations ~.