Year: 1866

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courage in the presence of national dangers


a capacity for military organization ant


achievement, and devotion on the part Q
| the people to the form of government whicl
| they have ordained, and to the principles, o


liberty which that Government was designed


to promote, which must confirm the conf


dence of. the nation in the perpetuity of it


republican institutions; and command the


respect of the civilized world.


! Like all great contests which rouse thu


passions and test the endurance of nations


this war has given new scope to the ambition
of political parties, and fresh impulse to plans
of innovation and reform. Amid the chaos
of conflicting sentiments inssparable from
such an era, while the public heart is keenly
alive to all the passions that can sway the
public judgment and affect the public action
while the wounds of war are still fresh and
bleeding on either side, and fears for the fu-
ture. take unjust proper iions from the memo
ries and reseptments- Of the past, it is diff
cult but an imperative duty which on your
behalf, we, who are here assembled, have nn.
dertaken to perform.


For the first time after six long years OF
alienation and of conflict, we have come
together from every State and every section
of our land, as citizens of common country
under the flag, the symbol again Of a common
glory, to consult together how best to cement
and perpetuate that Union which is again the
object OF our common love, and thus secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity.


In the first place we invoke you to remem-
Der, always and everywhere, that the war is
ended and the nation is again at peace. The
shock of contending arms no longer assails
the shuddering heart of the Republic. The
insurrection against the supreme authority of
the nation has been suppressed, and that au-
thority has been again acknowledged, by
word and act, ic every State and by every
citizen within its jurisdiction. we are no
longer required or permitted to regard or
treat each other as enemies. Not only have
the acts of war been discontinued, and the
weapons of war laid aside, but the state of
var no longer exists, and the sentiments, the
passions, the relations of war have no longer
lawful or rightful place anywhere throughout
our broad domain. We are again people of
the United States, fellow citizens of one coun-
try, bound by the duties and obligations Of q
common patriotism, and having neither rights
nor interests apart from common destiny.
Inc duties that dgyolve upeo US now are
again the duties of peace, and no longer the
duties of war. We have assembled here to
take counsel concerning the interests ofpeace;
to decide how wemay most wisely and effec-
tually heal the wounds the war has made,
and perfect and perpetuate the benefits it
has secured, and the blessings which, under
q wise and benign Providence, have sprung
up in its fiery track. This is the work, not
of passion. bugof calm and sober judgment,
not of resentment for past offences prolonged
beyond the limits which justice and reason
prescribe, but of q liberal craftsmanship which
lolerates whatit cannot prevent, and builds
Its plans and its hopes for the future rather
upon acommunity of interest and ambition
than upon distruss and the weapons Of force.
in the next place, we call l-upon yon TO
recognize in their full significance, and to ac'
cept with all their legitimate consequences,
the political results of the war just closed.
In two most important particulars the victory
achieved by the National Government has
been final and decisive. First, it has estab.
lished beyond all further controversy, and by
the highest Of all human sanctions, the abso
lutte supremacy Of the National Government,
as defined and limited BY the Constitution of
the United States, and the permanent integ
rity and indissolrbility of the Federal Union
as c necessary consequence; and, second, it
has put an end finally and forever to the ex-
istence of slavery upon the soil or within the
jurisdiction of the United States. Both these
points became directly involved in the con
test, and controversy upon both was ended
absolutely and finally by the result.


In the third place, we deem it of the ut
most importance that the real character Of
tro war and the victory by which it was
closed should be accurately understood. The
war was carried on by the Government Of
the United States in maintenance of its own
authority, and in defence Of its own existence,
both of which were menaced by the insurrec,
ton which it sought to suppress. The snp-
preston Of. that insurrection accomplished
that result. The Government Of the United
States maintained by force Of arms the sn-
preme authority over all the territory, and
over all the States and people within its ju-
risdiction which the Constitution confcrs upon
It; but it acquired thereby no new power, no
enlarged jurisdiction, no rights of territorial
possession or of civil authority which it did
not possess before the rebellion broke out.
All the rightful power it can ever possess is
that which is conferred upon it, either in ex-
press terms or by fair and necessary implica-
ton, by the Constitution of the United States.
1t was that power and that authority which
the rebellion sought to overthrow, and the
victory of the Federal arms was simply the
defeat of that attempt. The Government of
the United States acted throughout the war
on the defensive. 1t sought only to hold
possession of what was its own. Neither the
war, nor the victory by which it was closed,
changed in any way the Constitution OF the
United States. The war was carried on by
virtue Of its provisions, aqd under the limi-
tation which they prescribe, and the resul
of the war did not either enlarge, abridge,
or in any way change or affect the powers it
confers upon the Federal Government, Or re.
lease that Government from the restrictions
which it has imposed.


The Constitution of the United States is
to-day precisely as it was before the war, the
"supreme law of the land, anything in the
Constitution or laws of any State to the con-
trary, notwithstanding;' and, to-day, Also
precisely as before the war, all the powers
rot conferred by the Constitution upon the
General Government, nor prohibited BY it IL
the States, are Preserved to the several States
or to the people thereof


"his position is yindic1ted not only By the
essential nature Of our Government, and the
language and spirit Of the Constitution, but
by all the acts and the language Of our Gov.
ernment, in all its departments, and, at al
times, from the outbreak of the rebellion to
its final overthrow. In every message and
proclamation of the Executive it was explic
itly declared that the sole purpose ond object
of the war was to maintain the authority o.


the Constitution aud to preserve the integri