Year: 1866

ton, by ell their public conducs in every
way and by the most solemn acts by which
States and societies can pledge their faith,
their engagement to bear true faith and
allegiance, through ali time to come to the
Constitution of the United States, and to all
laws that may be made IN pursuance thereof.


Fellow counrymenl We call upon you,
IN full reliance upon your intelligence and
your patriotism, to accept, with generous
and ungradging confidence, this full surren-
der on the part Of those lately IN arms
against your authority, and to share with
them the honor and renoWn that awaits those
who bring back peace and concord to jarrine
States. The war just closed, with ali its
sorrows and disasters, has opened a new
career Of glory to the nation it has saved.
1t has swept away the hostihties of senti-
ment and Of interest which were a standing
menace to its peace. 1t has destroyed the
institution Of slavery, always a cause Of
sectional agitation and strife, and has opened
for our country the way to unity Of interest,
of principle, and of action, through oil time
to come. 1t has developed in both sections
military capacity-an aptitude for achieve
ments of war, both by sea and land-before
unknown even to ourselves, and destined to
exercise hereafter under united coUnsels an
important influence upon the character and
destiny of the continent and the world
And while it has thus revealed, disciplined
and cOmpacted our power, it has proved to
Us, beyond controversy or doubt, by the
course pursued toward both contending
sections by foreign powers, that we must be
the guardians of our own independence. and
that the principles of republican freedom
we represent can find among the nations of
the earth no friends or defenders but our
selves


We call upon you, therefore, by every
consideration of your own dignity and safety
and in the name of liberty throughout the
world, to complete the work of restoration
and peace which the President Of the United
States has so well begun, and which the
policy adopted and the principles asserted by
the present Congress alone obstruct The
time IS close at hand when members of a
new Congress are to be elected. If that
Congress shall perpetuate this policy, and,
by excluding lOyal States and people from
representation in its halls, shall continue the
usurpation by which the legislative powers
of the Government are now exercised, COM
mon prudence cOmpels US to anticipate
augmented discomfort, sullen withdrawal
from the duties and obligations Of the Fede-
raj Government, internal dissension and
general collision of sentiments and preten-
sions which may renew in q still more fear
ful shape, the civil war from which we haYe
just emerged We call upon you to inter
pose your power to prevent the recurrence
Of so transeendant a calamity We call
upon you in every Congressional district Of
every State, to secure the election of mem
bers, who, whatever other difficulties may
characterize their political action, will unite
in recognizing the right Of every State of
the Union to Representation in Congress,
and who will admit to seats in either branch,
every loyal representative from every State
in allegiance to the Government, who may
be found by each House, in the exercise of
the power conferred upon it by the Constitu-
ton, to have been duly elected, returned
and qualified for a seat therein


When this shall have been done the Gov
ernment will have been restored to its integ-
rity, the Constitution of the United States
will have been re-established In its full
supremacy, and the American Union viii
have again become what It was designed to
be by those who formed it, a sovereign nation,
composed of separate States, each like ITSELF
moving in a distinct and Independent sphere,
exercising powers defined and reserved by a
common constitution, and resting upon the
assent, the confidence and cooperation of
all the States and all the people subject to its
authority. Thus reorganized and restored
to their Constitutional relations, the States
and the General Government can enter IN
fraternal spirit with common purpose and
common interest upon whatever reforms
the security of personal rights, the enlarge
ment of popular liberty and the perfection
of our Republican institutions may demand.