Year: 1869

A N II II Ii w d Oil IN OO IN


PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.


To the People Of the United &ates::


The robe of Office. by constitutional
Limitation, this day falls from my shoulders,


to be Immediately assumed by my success
sor. For him the cooperation aud for
bearance of the American people. in all
his efforts to administer the Government
within the pale of the Federal Constitu-
ton, are sincerely invoked Without
ambition to crafty, party ends to sub
serve, or personal quarrels to avenge at
the sacrifice of the peace and welfare of
the country. my earnest desire is to see
the Constitution. as defined and limited
by the fathers Of the Republic, again re-
|cognized and obeyed as the supreme law
Of the land. and the whole people. North,
South, East and West. prosperous and
happy under its wise provisions.


Surrendering the high office to which I
was called four years ago at memorable
and terrible crisis, it is my privilege, I
trust, to say to the people of the United
States few parting words in vindication
of an official course so ceaslessly assailed
and aspersed by political leaders to whose
plans and wishes my policy to restore the
Union has been obnoxious.


In period of difficulty and turmoil al
most without precedent in the history of
any people, consequent upon the closing
scene of great rebellion, and the assas-
sination of the then President, it was per-
haps too much on my part to expect of
devoted partisans. who rode on the waves
of excitement which at that time swept all
before them, that degree of toleration and
magnanimity which I sought to recon-
mend and enforce, and which, l believe,
in good time, would have advanced us in
fnitely further on the road to permanent
peace and prosperity than we have thus
far attained. Doubtless, had I. at the
commencement of my term of office, un-
hesitatingly lent its powers, or perverted
them to purposes and plans outside of the
Constitution, and become an instrument
to schemes Of confscation, of general and
oppressive disqnsli6cations. I would hare.
been hailed as all that was true, loyal and
discerning, as the reliable head Of party,
whatever T might have been as the Exc
cutive of the nation. Unwilling, how
ever, to accede to the propositions of ex-
tremists, and bound to adhere. at every
personal hazard, to my oath to defend the
Constitution, need not, perhaps, be sur
prised at having met the fate of others
whose only rewards for upholding consti-
tutional right and law have been the con-
sciousness of having attempted to do their:
duty, and the calm and unprejudiced
Judgment of history.


At the time a mysterious Providence
assigned to me the Office of President, I
was by the terms of the Constitution the
Commander-in- Chief of nearly million
Of men under arms. One of my first acts
was to disband and restore to the voca-
tions of civil life this immense host, and
to divest myself, so far as I could, of the
unparalleled powers then incident to the
Office and the times. Whether or not, in
this step, was right, and how far deserv.
ing of the appreciation of the people, all
can now on reflection judge, when remind
ed Of the ruinous condition of public af-
fairs that must have resulted from the
continuance in the military service of such
q vast number of men.


The close of our domestic conflict found
the army eager to distinguish itself in a
new field, by an effort to punish European
Intervention in Mexico. By many it was
believed and urged that, aside from the
assumed justice of the proceeding. for
eign war, in which both sides would
cheerfully unite to vindicate the honor of
the national flag, and further illustrate
the national prowess. would be the surest
and speediest way of awakening national
enthusiasm. reviving devotion to the
Union, and occupying force concerning
which grave doubts existed as to its will
ingness, after four years of active cam
paigning, at once to return to the pursuits
of peace. Whether these speculations
we're true or false, it will be conceded that
they existed, and that the predictions of
the army we're. for the time being. in the
direction indicated. Taking advantage of
this feeling, it would have been easy, as
the Commander-in-C Chief of the army and
navy, and with all the power aud patron
age of the Presidential Office at my dis
posal, to turn the concentrated military
strength of the nation against French in
tervence in Mexico. and to inaugurate a
movement which would have been receiv-
ed with favor by the military and large
portion of the people.


1t is proper, in this connection, that l
should refer to the almost unlimited ad-
ditional powers rendered to the Executive
by the measures relating to civil rights
and the Freedmen's Bureau. Contrary
to most precedents in the experiences of
public men, the powers thus placed with
in my grasp were declined. as in violation
of the Constitution, dangerous to the lib
critics of the people. and tending to ag-
gravate, rather than lessen, the discords
naturally resulting from our civil war
With large army and augmented autho-