Year: 1860




our Union, he said:


"And then add, if you can, without
horror and remorse, this happy Union we
will dissolve-this picture Of peace and
prosperity we will deface-this free inter.
course we will interrupt--tbese fertile
fields we will deluge with blood-the / 70
lection of that glorious flag we denounce
the very name Of Americans we dis.
card. And for what, mistaken men! for
what do you throw away these inestimablc
blessings-lor what would you exchange
your share in the advantages and honor
of the Union? For the dream of sep
arate Independence dream interrupted
by bloody conflicts with your ncighbors,
and vile dependence on foreign power.


If your leaders could succeed in estab-
fishing a separation, what would he your
situation? Are you united at homc-are
you free from the apprehension of civil
discord, with all its fearful consequences?
Do our neighboring Republics, every day
suffering some new revolution or contend
ing with some new insurrection- do they
excite your envy? But the dictates Of q
high duty obige me solemnly to announce
that you cannot succeed. The laws of
the United States must be executed. l
have no discretionary power upon the
subject-my duty is emphatically pro-
nounced in the Constitution. Those who
told you that you might peaceably pre-
vent their execution, deceived you--they
could not have been deceived themselves.
They know that forcible opposition
could alone prevent the execution of the
laws. and they know that such opposition
must be repelled.


Their objects is disunion; but be not
deceived by names; disunion, by armed
force, is TREASON. Are you really ready
to incur its guilt? If you are, on the
head of the instigators Of the act be the
dreadful consequences--on their heads be
the dishonor, but on yours may fall the
punishment--on your unhappy State
(South Carolina) will inevitably fall all
the evils Of the conflict YOU force upon the
Government of your country. 1t cannot
accede to the mad project of disunion of
which you would be the first victims--its
first magistrate cannot, if he would, avoid
the performance of his duty--the conse-
quence must be fearful for you, distressing
to your fellow citizens here, and to the
friends of a good government throughout
the world.


Its enemies have beheld our prosperity
with a vcxation they could not conceal
it was a standing refutation of their
slavish doctrines, and they will point to
our discord with the triumph ofmalignant
JOY. 1t is yet in your power to disap-
point them. There is yet time to show
that the descendants of the Pickneys. the
Sumpters, the Rutledges, and Of the thou
sand other names which adorn the pages
of your revolutionary history, will not
abandon that Union to support which SO
many of them fought, bled and died. l
adjure you, as you honor their memory
as you love the cause of freedom, to
which they dedicate their lives--as you
prize the peace of your country, the lives
of its best citizens, and your own fair
fame, to retrace your steps.


Snatch from the archives of your State
the disorganizing cdct Of its Convention
bid its members to re-assemble and
promulgate the decided expressions Of
your will to remain in the path which
alone can conduct you to safety, prosper
ity and honor--tell them that compared
to disunion, all other evils are light, be-
cause that brings with it an accumulation
of all--decare that you will never take
the field unless the star spangled banner
of your country shall float over you--
that you will not be stigmatized when
dead, and dishonored and scorned while
you live, as the authors of the first attack
on the Constitution of your country!--its
destroyers you cannot be. You may
disturb its peace--you may interrupt the
course of its prosperity--you may cloud
its reputation for stabilty--but its tran
guilty will be restored, its prosperity will
return, and the stain upon its national
character will be transferred and remain
an eternal blot on the memory of those
who caused the disorder


Fellow citizens Of the United States the
threat of unhallowed disunion--the names
of those, once respected by whom it is
uttered--the array of military force to
support it-dcnote the approach of a
crisis in our affairs on which the continu-
ance Of our unexampled prosperity, our
political existance. and perhaps that of
all free governments, may depend. The
conjuncture demanded free, full and
explicit enumeration, not only of my in
tentions, but of my principles of action;
and as the claim was asserted of right
by State to annul the laws the Union,
and even to secede from it at pleasure, n
frank exposition of my opinions in rela-
tion to the origin and form of our gov
eminent, and the construction l give to
the instrument by which it was created,
seemed TO be proper.


Having the fullest confidence in the
ustness of the legal and constitutional
opinion of my duties which has been ex-
pressed, l rely with equal confidence on
your undivided support in my dctermina'
tion to execute the laws--to preserve the
the Union by all constitutional means
to arrest, if possible. by moderate but
firm measures, the necessity Of a recourse
to force; and, if it be the will of Heaven
that the recurrence of its primeval curse
on man for the shedding of brothers
blood should fall upon our land, that it be
not called down by any offensive act on
the part of the United States.


Fellow citizens The momentous case
is before you. On your undivided sup