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Andrew Johnson Speech - 1st Annual Message
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
To express gratitude to God in the name of the people for the preservation
of the United States is my first duty in addressing you. Our thoughts next
revert to the death of the late President by an act of parricidal treason.
The grief of the nation is still fresh. It finds some solace in the
consideration that he lived to enjoy the highest proof of confidence by
entering on the renewed term of the Chief Magistracy to which he had been
elected; that he brought the civil war substantially to a close; that his
loss was deplored in all parts of the Union, and that foreign nations have
rendered justice to his memory. His removal cast upon me a heavier weight
of cares than ever devolved upon any one his predecessors. To fulfill my
trust I need the support and confidence of all who are associated with me
in the various departments of Government and the support and confidence of
the people. There is but one way in which I can hope to gain their
necessary aid. It is to state with frankness the principles which guide my
conduct, and their application to the present state of affairs, well aware
that the efficiency of my labors will in a great measure depend on your
and their undivided approbation.
The Union of the United States of America was intended by its authors to
last as long as the States themselves shall last. 'The Union shall b
perpetual' are the words of the Confederation. 'To form a more perfect
Union,' by an ordinance of the people of the United States, is the
declared purpose of the Constitution. The hand of Divine Providence was
nevermore plainly visible in the affairs of men than in the framing and
the adoption of that instrument. It is beyond comparison the greatest
event in American history, and, indeed, is it not of all events in modern
times the most pregnant with consequences for every people of the earth?
The members of the Convention which prepared it brought to their work the
experience of the Confederation, of their several States, and of other
republican governments, old and new; but they needed and they obtained a
wisdom superior to experience. And when for its validity it required the
approval of a people that occupied a large part of a continent and acted
separately in many distinct conventions, what is more wonderful than that,
after earnest contention and long discussion, all feelings and all
opinions were ultimately drawn in one way to its support? The Constitution
to which life was thus imparted contains within itself ample resources for
its own preservation. It has power to enforce the laws, punish treason,
and insure domestic tranquillity. In case of the usurpation of the
government of a State by one man or an oligarchy, it becomes a duty of the
United States to make good the guaranty to that State of a republican form
of government, and so to maintain the homogeneousness of all. Does the
lapse of time reveal defects? A simple mode of amendment is provided in
the Constitution itself, so that its conditions can always be made to
conform to the requirements of advancing civilization. No room is allowed
even for the thought of a possibility of its coming to an end. And these
powers of self-preservation have always been asserted in their complete
integrity by every patriotic Chief Magistrate--by Jefferson and Jackson
not less than by Washington and Madison. The parting advice of the Father
of his Country, while yet President, to the people of the United States
was that the free Constitution, which was the work of their hands, might
be sacredly maintained; and the inaugural words of President Jefferson
held up 'the preservation of the General Government in its whole
constitutional vigor as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety
abroad.' The Constitution is the work of 'the people of the United
States,' and it should be as indestructible as the people.
It is not strange that the framers of the Constitution, which had no model
in the past, should not have fully comprehended the excellence of their
own work. Fresh from a struggle against arbitrary power, many patriots
suffered from harassing fears of an absorption of the State governments by
the General Government, and many from a dread that the States would break
away from their orbits. But the very greatness of our country should allay
the apprehension of encroachments by the General Government. The subjects
that come unquestionably within its jurisdiction are so numerous that it
must ever naturally refuse to be embarrassed by questions that lie beyond
it. Were it otherwise the Executive would sink beneath the burden, the
channels of justice would be choked, legislation would be obstructed by
excess, so that there is a greater temptation to exercise some of the
functions of the General Government through the States than to trespass on
their rightful sphere. The 'absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the
majority' was at the beginning of the century enforced by Jefferson as
'the vital principle of republics; ' and the events of the last four years
have established, we will hope forever, that there lies no appeal to
force.
The maintenance of the Union brings with it 'the support of the State
governments in all their rights,' but it is not one of the rights of any
State government to renounce its own place in the Union or to nullify the
laws of the Union. The largest liberty is to be maintained in the
discussion of the acts of the Federal Government, but there is no appeal
from its laws except to the various branches of that Government itself, or
to the people, who grant to the members of the legislative and of the
Executive departments no tenure but a limited one, and in that manner
always retain the powers of redress. The sovereignty of the States' is the
language of the Confederacy, and not the language of the Constitution. The
latter contains the emphatic words
This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which shall be made under the
authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land, and
the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
Certainly the Government of the United States is a limited government, and
so is every State government a limited government. With us this idea of
limitation spreads through every form of administration- general, State,
and municipal--and rests on the great distinguishing principle of the
recognition of the rights of man. The ancient republics absorbed the
individual in the state--prescribed and his religion and controlled his
activity. The American system rests on the assertion of the equal right of
every man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to freedom of
conscience, to the culture and exercise of all his faculties. As a
consequence the State government is limited--as to the General Government
in the interest of union, as to the individual citizen in the interest of
freedom.
States, with proper limitations of power, are essential to the existence
of the Constitution of the United States. At the very commencement, when
we assumed a place among the powers of the earth, the Declaration of
Independence was adopted by States; so also were the Articles of
Confederation; and when 'the people of the United States' ordained and
established the Constitution it was the assent of the States, one by one,
which gave it vitality. In the event, too, of any amendment to the
Constitution, the proposition of Congress needs the confirmation of
States. Without States one great branch of the legislative government
would be wanting. And if we look beyond the letter of the Constitution to
the character of our country, its capacity for comprehending within its
jurisdiction a vast continental empire is due to the system of States. The
best security for the perpetual existence of the States is the 'supreme
authority' of the Constitution of the United States. The perpetuity of the
Constitution brings with it the perpetuity of the States; their mutual
relation makes us what we are, and in our political system their
connection is indissoluble. The whole can not exist without the parts, nor
the parts without the whole. So long as the Constitution of the United
States endures, the States will endure. The destruction of the one is the
destruction of the other; the preservation of the one is the preservation
of the other.
I have thus explained my views of the mutual relations of the Constitution
and the States, because they unfold the principles on which I have sought
to solve the momentous questions and overcome the appalling difficulties
that met me at the very commencement of my Administration. It has been my
steadfast object to escape from the sway of momentary passions and to
derive a healing policy from the fundamental and unchanging principles of
the Constitution.
I found the States suffering from the effects of a civil war. Resistance
to the General Government appeared to have exhausted itself. The United
States had recovered possession of their forts and arsenals, and their
armies were in the occupation of every State which had attempted to
secede. Whether the territory within the limits of those States should he
held as conquered territory, under military authority emanating from the
President as the head of the Army, was the first question that presented
itself for decision
Now military governments, established for an indefinite period, would have
offered no security for the early suppression of discontent, would have
divided the people into the vanquishers and the vanquished, and would have
envenomed hatred rather than have restored affection. Once established, no
precise limit to their continuance was conceivable. They would have
occasioned an incalculable and exhausting expense. Peaceful emigration to
and from that portion of the country is one of the best means that can be
thought of for the restoration of harmony, and that emigration would have
been prevented; for what emigrant from abroad, what industrious citizen at
home, would place himself willingly under military rule? The chief persons
who would have followed in the train of the Army would have been
dependents on the General Government or men who expected profit from the
miseries of their erring fellow-citizens, The powers of patronage and rule
which would have been exercised, under the President, over a vast and
populous and naturally wealthy region are greater than, unless under
extreme necessity, I should be willing to intrust to any one man. They are
such as, for myself, I could never, unless on occasions of great
emergency, consent to exercise. The willful use of such powers, if
continued through a period of years, would have endangered the purity of
the general administration and the liberties of the States which remained
loyal.
Besides, the policy of military rule over a conquered territory would have
implied that the States whose inhabitants may have taken part in the
rebellion had by the act of those inhabitants ceased to exist. But the
true theory is that all pretended acts of secession were from the
beginning null and void. The States can not commit treason nor screen the
individual citizens who may have committed treason any more than they can
make valid treaties or engage in lawful commerce with any foreign power.
The States attempting to secede placed themselves in a condition where
their vitality was impaired, but not extinguished; their functions
suspended, but not destroyed.
But if any State neglects or refuses to perform its offices there is the
more need that the General Government should maintain all its authority
and as soon as practicable resume the exercise of all its functions. On
this principle I have acted, and have gradually and quietly, and by almost
imperceptible steps, sought to restore the rightful energy of the General
Government and of the States. To that end provisional governors have been
appointed for the States, conventions called, governors elected,
legislatures assembled, and Senators and Representatives chosen to the
Congress of the United States. At the same time the courts of the United
States, as far as could be done, have been reopened, so that the laws of
the United States may be enforced through their agency. The blockade has
been removed and the custom-houses reestablished in ports of entry, so
that the revenue of the United States may be collected. The Post-Office
Department renews its ceaseless activity, and the General Government is
thereby enabled to communicate promptly with its officers and agents. The
courts bring security to persons and property; the opening of the ports
invites the restoration of industry and commerce; the post-office renews
the facilities of social intercourse and of business. And is it not happy
for us all that the restoration of each one, of these functions of the
General Government brings with it a blessing to the States over which they
are extended? Is it not a sure promise of harmony and renewed attachment
to the Union that after all that hak happened the return of the General
Government is known only as a beneficence?
I know very well that this policy is attended with some risk; that for its
success it requires at least the acquiescence of the States which it
concerns; that it implies an invitation to those States, by renewing their
allegiance to the United States, to resume their functions as States of
the Union. But it is a risk that iuust be taken, In the choice of
difficulties it is the smallest risk; and to diminish and if possible to
remove all danger, I have felt it incumbent on me to assert one other
power of the General Government--the power of pardon. As no State can
throw a defense over the crime of treason, the power of pardon is
exclusively vested in the executive government of the United States. In
exercising that power I have taken every precaution to connect it with the
clearest recognition of the binding force of the laws of the United States
and at, unqualified acknowledgment of the great social change of condition
in regard to slavery which has grown out of the war.
The next step which I have taken to restore the constitutional relations
of the States has been an invitation to them to participate in the high
office of amending the Constitution. Every patriot must wish for a general
amnesty at the earliest epoch consistent with public safety. For this
great end there is need of a concurrence of all opinions and the spirit of
mutual conciliation. All parties in the late terrible conflict must work
together in harmony. It is not too much to ask, in the name of the whole
people, that on the one side the plan of restoration shall proceed in
conformity with a willingness to cast the disorders of the past into
oblivion, and that on the other the evidence of sincerity in the future
maintenance of the Union shall be put beyond any doubt by the ratification
of the proposed amendment to the Constitution, which provides for the
abolition of slavery forever within the limits of our country. So long as
the adoption of this amendment is delayed, so long will doubt and jealousy
and uncertainty prevail. This is the measure which will efface the sad
memory of the past--this is the measure which will most certainly call
population and capital and security to those parts of the Union that need
them most. Indeed, it is not too much to ask of the States which are now
resuming their places in the family of the Union to give this pledge of
perpetual loyalty and peace. Until it is done the past, however much we
may desire it, will not be forgotten. The adoption of the amendment
reunites us beyond all power of disruption; it heals the wound that is
still imperfectly closed; it removes slavery, the element which has so
long perplexed and divided the country; it makes of us once more a united
people, renewed and strengthened, bound more than ever to mutual affection
and support.
The amendment to the Constitution being adopted, it would remain for the
States whose powers have been so long in abeyance to resume their places
in the two branches of the National Legislature, and thereby complete the
work of restoration. Here it is for you, fellow-citizens of the Senate,
and for you, fellow-citizens of the House of Representatives, to judge,
each of you for yourselves, of the elections, returns, and qualifications
of your own members.
The full assertion of the powers of the General Government requires the
holding of circuit courts of the United States within the districts where
their authority has been interrupted. In the present posture of our public
affairs strong objections have been urged to holding those courts in any
of the States where the rebellion has existed; and it was ascertained by
inquiry that the circuit court of the United States would not be held
within the district of Virginia during the autumn or early winter, nor
until Congress should have 'an opportunity to consider and act on the
whole subject.' To your deliberations the restoration of this branch of
the civil authority of the United States is therefore necessarily
referred, with the hope that early provision will be made for the
resumption of all its functions. It is manifest that treason, most
flagrant in character, has been committed. Persons who are charged with
its commission should have fair and impartial trials in the highest civil
tribunals of the country, in order that the Constitution and the laws may
be fully vindicated, the truth clearly established and affirmed that
treason is a crime, that traitors should be punished and the offense made
infamous, and, at the same time, that the question may be judicially
settled, finally and forever, that no State of its own will has the right
to renounce its place in the Union.
The relations of the General Government toward the 4,000,000 inhabitants
whom the war has called into freedom have engaged my most serious
consideration. On the propriety of attempting to make the freedmen
Electors by the proclamation of the Executive I took for my counsel the
Constitution itself, the interpretations of that instrument by its authors
and their contemporaries, and recent legislation by Congress. When, at the
first movement toward independence, the Congress of the United States
instructed the several States to institute governments of their own, they
left each State to decide for itself the conditions for the enjoyment of
the elective franchise. During the period of the Confederacy there
continued to exist a very great diversity in the qualifications of
electors in the several States, and even within a State a distinction of
qualifications prevailed with regard to the officers who were to be
chosen. The Constitution of the United States recognizes these diversities
when it enjoins that in the choice of members of the House of
Representatives of the United States 'the electors in each State shall
have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch
of the State legislature.' After the formation of the Constitution it
remained as before, the uniform usage for each State to enlarge the body
of its electors according to its own judgment, and under this system one
State after another has proceeded to increase the number of its electors,
until now universal suffrage, or something very near it, is the general
rule. So fixed was this reservation of power in the habits of the people
and so unquestioned has been the interpretation of the Constitution that
during the civil war the late President never harbored the
purpose--certainly never avowed the purpose-of disregarding it; and in the
acts of Congress during that period nothing can be found which, during the
continuance of hostilities, much less after their close, would have
sanctioned any departure by the Executive from a policy which has so
uniformly obtained. Moreover, a concession of the elective franchise to
the freedmen by act of the President of the United States must have been
extended to all colored men, wherever found, and so must have established
a change of suffrage in the Northern, Middle, and Western States, not less
than in the Southern and Southwestern. Such an act would have created a
new class of voters, and would have been an assumption of power by the
President which nothing in the Constitution or laws of the United States
would have warranted.
On the other hand, every danger of conflict is avoided when the settlement
of the question is referred to the several States. They can, each for
itself, decide on the measure, and whether it is to be adopted at once and
absolutely or introduced gradually and with conditions. In my judgment the
freedmen, if they show patience and manly virtues, will sooner obtain a
participation in the elective franchise through the States than through
the General Government, even if it had power to intervene. When the tumult
of emotions that have been raised by the suddenness of the social change
shall have subsided, it may prove that they will receive the kindest usage
from some of those on whom they have heretofore most closely depended.
But while I have no doubt that now, after the close of the war, it is not
competent for the General Government to extend the elective franchise in
the several States, it is equally clear that good faith requires the
security of the freedmen in their liberty and their property, their right
to labor, and their right to claim the just return of their labor. I can
not too strongly urge a dispassionate treatment of this subject, which
should be carefully kept aloof from all party strife. We must equally
avoid hasty assumptions of any natural impossibility for the two races to
live side by side in a state of mutual benefit and good will. The
experiment involves us in no inconsistency; let us, then, go on and make
that experiment in good faith, and not be too easily disheartened. The
country is in need of labor, and the freedmen are in need of employment,
culture, and protection. While their right of voluntary migration and
expatriation is not to be questioned, I would not advise their forced
removal and colonization. Let us rather encourage them to honorable and
useful industry, where it may be beneficial to themselves and to the
country; and, instead of hasty anticipations of the certainty of failure,
let there be nothing wanting to the fair trial of the experiment. The
change in their condition is the substitution of labor by contract for the
status of slavery. The freedman can not fairly be accused of unwillingness
to work so long as a doubt remains about his freedom of choice in his
pursuits and the certainty of his recovering his stipulated wages. In this
the interests of the employer and the employed coincide. The employer
desires in his workmen spirit and alacrity, and these can be permanently
secured in no other way. And if the one ought to be able to enforce the
contract so ought the other. The public interest will be best promoted if
the several States will provide adequate protection and remedies for the
freedmen. Until this is in some way accomplished there is no chance for
the advantageous use of their labor, and the blame of ill success will not
rest on them.
I know that sincere philanthropy is earnest for the immediate realization
of its remotest aims; but time is always an element in reform. It is one
of the greatest acts on record to have brought 4,000,000 people into
freedom. The career of free industry must be fairly opened to them, and
then their future prosperity and condition must, after all, rest mainly on
themselves . If they fail, and so perish away, let us be careful that the
failure shall not be attributable to any denial of justice. In all that
relates to the destiny of the freedmen we need not be too anxious to read
the future; many incidents which, from a speculative point of view, might
raise alarm will quietly settle themselves. Now that slavery is at an end,
or near its end, the greatness of its evil in the point of view of public
economy becomes more and more apparent. Slavery was essentially a monopoly
of labor, and as such locked the States where it prevailed against the
incoming of free industry. Where labor was the property of the capitalist,
the white man was excluded from employment, or had but the second best
chance of finding it; and the foreign emigrant turned away from the region
where his condition would be so precarious. With the destruction of the
monopoly free labor will hasten from all parts of the civilized world to
assist in developing various and immeasurable resources which have
hitherto lain dormant. The eight or nine States nearest the Gulf of Mexico
have a soil of exuberant fertility, a climate friendly to long life, and
can sustain a denser population than is found as yet in any part of our
country. And the future influx of population to them will be mainly from
the North or from the most cultivated nations in Europe. From the
sufferings that have attended them during our late struggle let us look
away to the future, which is sure to be laden for them with greater
prosperity than has ever before been known. The removal of the monopoly of
slave labor is a pledge that those regions will be peopled by a numerous
and enterprising population, which will vie with any in the Union in
compactness, inventive genius, wealth, and industry.
Our Government springs from and was made for the people--not the people
for the Government. To them it owes allegiance; from them it must derive
its courage, strength, and wisdom. But while the Government is thus bound
to defer to the people, from whom it derives its existence, it should,
from the very consideration of its origins, be strong in its power of
resistance to the establishment of inequalities. Monopolies, perpetuities,
and class legislation are contrary to the genius of free government, and
ought not to be allowed. Here there is no room for favored classes or
monopolies; the principle of our Government is that of equal laws and
freedom of industry. Wherever monopoly attains a foothold, it is sure to
be a source of danger, discord, and trouble. We shall but fulfill our
duties as legislators by according 'equal and exact justice to all men,'
special privileges to none. The Government is subordinate to the people;
but, as the agent and representative of the people, it must be held
superior to monopolies, which in themselves ought never to be granted, and
which, where they exist, must be subordinate and yield to the Government.
The Constitution confers on Congress the right to regulate commerce among
the several States. It is of the first necessity, for the maintenance of
the Union, that that commerce should be free and unobstructed. No State
can be justified in any device to tax the transit of travel and commerce
between States. The position of many States is such that if they were
allowed to take advantage of it for purposes of local revenue the commerce
between States might be injuriously burdened, or even virtually
prohibited. It is best, while the country is still young and while the
tendency to dangerous monopolies of this kind is still feeble, to use the
power of Congress so as to prevent any selfish impediment to the free
circulation of men and merchandise. A tax on travel and merchandise in
their transit constitutes one of the worst forms of monopoly, and the evil
is increased if coupled with a denial of the choice of route. When the
vast extent of our country is considered, it is plain that every obstacle
to the free circulation of commerce between the States ought to be sternly
guarded against by appropriate legislation within the limits of the
Constitution.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior explains the condition of the
public lands, the transactions of the Patent Office and the Pension
Bureau, the management of our Indian affairs, the progress made in the
construction of the Pacific Railroad, and furnishes information in
reference to matters of local interest in the District of Columbia. It
also presents evidence of the successful operation of the homestead act,
under the provisions of which 1,160, 533 acres of the public lands were
entered during the last fiscal year-- more than one-fourth of the whole
number of acres sold or otherwise disposed of during that period. It is
estimated that the receipts derived from this source are sufficient to
cover the expenses incident to the survey and disposal of the lands
entered under this act, and that payments in cash to the extent of from 40
to 50 Per cent will be made by settlers who may thus at any time acquire
title before the expiration of the period at which it would other-wise
vest. The homestead policy was established only after long and earnest
resistance; experience proves its wisdom. The lands in the hands of
industrious settlers, whose labor creates wealth and contributes to the
public resources, are worth more to the United States than if they had
been reserved as a solitude for future purchasers.
The lamentable events of the last four years and the sacrifices made by
the gallant men of our Army and Navy have swelled the records of the
Pension Bureau to an unprecedented extent. On the 30th day of June last
the total number of pensioners was 85,986, requiring for their annual pay,
exclusive of expenses, the sum of $8,023,445. The number of applications
that have been allowed since that date will require a large increase of
this amount for the next fiscal year. The means for the payment of the
stipends due under existing laws to our disabled soldiers and sailors and
to the families of such as have perished in the service of the country
will no doubt be cheerfully and promptly granted. A grateful people will
not hesitate to sanction any measures having for their object the relief
of soldiers mutilated and families made fatherless in the efforts to
preserve our national existence.
The report of the Postmaster General presents an encouraging exhibit of
the operations of the Post Office Department during the year. The revenues
of the past year, from the loyal States alone, exceeded the maximum annual
receipts from all the States previous to the rebellion in the sum of
$6,038,091; and the annual average increase of revenue during the last
four years, compared with the revenues of the four years immediately
preceding the rebellion, was $3,533,845. The revenues of the last fiscal
year amounted to $14,556,158 and the expenditures to $13,694,728, leaving
a surplus of receipts over expenditures of $86,430. Progress has been made
in restoring the postal service in the Southern States. The views
presented by the Postmaster-General against the policy of granting
subsidies to the ocean mail steamship lines upon established routes and in
favor of continuing the present system, which limits the compensation for
ocean service to the postage earnings, are recommended to the careful
consideration of Congress.
It appears from the report of the Secretary of the Navy that while at the
commencement of the present year there were in commission 530 vessels of
all classes and descriptions, armed with 3,000 guns and manned by 51,000
men, the number of vessels at present in commission is 117, with 830 guns
and 12,128 me. By this prompt reduction of the naval forces the expenses
of the Government have been largely diminished, and a number of vessels
purchased for naval purposes from the merchant marine have been returned
to the peaceful pursuits of commerce. Since the suppression of active
hostilities our foreign squadrons have been reestablished, and consist of
vessels much more efficient than those employed on similar service
previous to the rebellion. The suggestion for the enlargement of the
navy-yards, and especially for the establishment of one in fresh water for
ironclad vessels, is deserving of consideration, as is also the
recommendation for a different location and more ample grounds for the
Naval Academy.
In the report of the Secretary of War a general summary is given of the
military campaigns of 1864 and 1865, ending in the suppression of armed
resistance to the national authority in the insurgent States. The
operations of the general administrative bureaus of the War Department
during the past year are detailed and an estimate made of the
appropriations that will be required for military purposes in the fiscal
year commencing the 1st day of July, 1866. The national military force on
the 1st of May, 1865, numbered 1,000,516 men. It is proposed to reduce the
military establishment to a peace footing, comprehending 50,000 troops of
all arms, organized so as to admit of an enlargement by filling up the
ranks to 82,600 if the circumstances of the country should require an
augmentation of the Army. The volunteer force has already been reduced by
the discharge from service of over 800,000 troops, and the Department is
proceeding rapidly in the work of further reduction. The war estimates are
reduced from $516,240, 131 to $33,814,461, which amount, in the opinion of
the Department, is adequate for a peace establishment. The measures of
retrenchment in each bureau and branch of the service exhibit a diligent
economy worthy of commendation. Reference is also made in the report to
the necessity of providing for a uniform militia system and to the
propriety of making suitable provision for wounded and disabled officers
and soldiers.
The revenue system of the country is a subject of vital interest to its
honor and prosperity, and should command the earnest consideration of
Congress. The Secretary of the Treasury will lay before you a full and
detailed report of the receipts and disbursements of the last fiscal year,
of the first quarter of the present fiscal year, of the probable receipts
and expenditures for the other three quarters, and the estimates for the
year following the 30th of June, 1866. I might content myself with a
reference to that report, in which you will find all the information
required for your deliberations and decision, but the paramount importance
of the subject so presses itself on my own mind that I can not but lay
before you my views of the measures which are required for the good
character, and I might almost say for the existence, of this people. The
life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence
of its citizens; but it is equally true that a good revenue system is the
life of an organized government. I meet you at a time when the nation has
voluntarily burdened itself with a debt unprecedented in our annals. Vast
as is its amount, it fades away into nothing when compared with the
countless blessings that will be conferred upon our country and upon man
by the preservation of the nation's life. Now, on the first occasion of
the meeting of Congress since the return of peace, it is of the utmost
importance to inaugurate a just policy, which shall at once be put in
motion, and which shall commend itself to those who come after us for its
continuance. We must aim at nothing less than the complete effacement of
the financial evils that necessarily followed a state of civil war. We
must endeavor to apply the earliest remedy to the deranged state of the
currency, and not shrink from devising a policy which, without being
oppressive to the people, shall immediately begin to effect a reduction of
the debt, and, if persisted in, discharge it fully within a definitely
fixed number of years.
It is our first duty to prepare in earnest for our recovery from the
ever-increasing evils of an irredeemable currency without a sudden
revulsion, and yet without untimely procrastination. For that end we must
each, in our respective positions, prepare the way. I hold it the duty of
the Executive to insist upon frugality in the expenditures, and a sparing
economy is itself a great national resource. Of the banks to which
authority has been given to issue notes secured by bonds of the United
States we may require the greatest moderation and prudence, and the law
must be rigidly enforced when its limits are exceeded. We may each one of
us counsel our active and enterprising countrymen to be constantly on
their guard, to liquidate debts contracted in a paper currency, and by
conducting business as nearly as possible on a system of cash payments or
short credits to hold themselves prepared to return to the standard of
gold and silver. To aid our fellow-citizens in the prudent management of
their monetary affairs, the duty devolves on us to diminish by law the
amount of paper money now in circulation. Five years ago the bank-note
circulation of the country amounted to not much more than two hundred
millions; now the circulation, bank and national, exceeds seven hundred
millions. The simple statement of the fact recommends more strongly than
any words of mine could do the necessity of our restraining this
expansion. The gradual reduction of the currency is the only measure that
can save the business of the country from disastrous calamities, and this
can be almost imperceptibly accomplished by gradually funding the national
circulation in securities that may be made redeemable at the pleasure of
the Government.
Our debt is doubly secure--first in the actual wealth and still greater
undeveloped resources of the country, and next in the character of our
institutions. The most intelligent observers among political economists
have not failed to remark that the public debt of a country is safe in
proportion as its people are free; that the debt of a republic is the
safest of all. Our history confirms and establishes the theory, and is, I
firmly believe, destined to give it a still more signal illustration. The
secret of this superiority springs not merely from the fact that in a
republic the national obligations are distributed more widely through
countless numbers in all classes of society; it has its root in the
character of our laws. Here all men contribute to the public welfare and
bear their fair share of the public burdens. During the war, under the
impulses of patriotism, the men of the great body of the people, without
regard to their own comparative want of wealth, thronged to our armies and
filled our fleets of war, and held themselves ready to offer their lives
for the public good. Now, in their turn, the property and income of the
country should bear their just proportion of the burden of taxation, while
in our impost system, through means of which increased vitality is
incidentally imparted to all the industrial interests of the nation, the
duties should be so adjusted as to fall most heavily on articles of
luxury, leaving the necessaries of life as free from taxation as the
absolute wants of the Government economically administered will justify.
No favored class should demand freedom from assessment, and the taxes
should be so distributed as not to fall unduly on the poor, but rather on
the accumulated wealth of the country. We should look at the national debt
just as it is--not as a national blessing, but as a heavy, burden on the
industry of the country, to be discharged without unnecessary delay.
It is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury that the expenditures for
the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1866, will exceed the receipts
$112,1194,947. It is gratifying, however, to state that it is also
estimated that the revenue for the year ending the 30th of June, 1867,
will exceed the expenditures in the sum of $111,682,818. This amount, or
so much as may be deemed sufficient for the purpose, may be applied to
the, reduction of the public debt, which on the 31st day of October, 1865,
'Was $2,740,854,750. Every reduction will diminish the total amount of
interest to be paid, and so enlarge the means of still further reductions,
until the whole shall be liquidated; and this, as will be seen from the
estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury, may be accomplished by annual
payments even within a period not exceeding thirty years. I have faith
that we shall do all this within a reasonable time; that as we have amazed
the world by the suppression of a civil war which was thought to be beyond
the control of any government, so we shall equally show the superiority of
our institutions by the prompt and faithful discharge of our national
obligations.
The Department of Agriculture under its present direction is accomplishing
much in developing and utilizing the vast agricultural capabilities of the
country, and for information respecting the details of its management
reference is made to the annual report of the Commissioner.
I have dwelt thus fully on our domestic affairs because of their
transcendent importance. Under any circumstances our great extent of
territory and variety of climate, producing almost everything that is
necessary for the wants and even the comforts of man, make us singularly
independent of the varying policy of foreign powers and protect us against
every temptation to 'entangling alliances,' while at the present moment
the reestablishment of harmony and the strength that comes from harmony
will be our best security against 'nations who feel power and forget
right' For myself, it has been and it will be my constant aim to promote
peace and amity with all foreign nations and powers, and I have every
reason to believe that they all, without exception, are animated by the
same disposition. Our relations with the Emperor of China, so recent in
their origin, are most friendly. Our commerce with his dominions is
receiving new developments, and it is very pleasing to find that the
Government of that great Empire manifests satisfaction with our policy and
reposes just confidence in the fairness which marks our intercourse. The
unbroken harmony between the United States and the Emperor of Russia is
receiving a new support from an enterprise designed to carry telegraphic
lines across the continent of Asia, through his dominions, and so to
connect us with all Europe by a new channel of intercourse. Our commerce
with South America is about to receive encouragement by a direct line of
mail steamships to the rising Empire of Brazil. The distinguished party of
men of science who have recently left our country to make a scientific
exploration of the natural history and rivers and mountain ranges of that
region have received from the Emperor that generous welcome which was to
have been expected from his constant friendship for the United States and
his well-known zeal in promoting the advancement of knowledge. A hope is
entertained that our commerce with the rich and populous countries that
border the Mediterranean Sea may be largely increased. Nothing will be
wanting on the part of this Government to extend the protection of our
flag over the enterprise of our fellow-citizens. We receive from the
powers in that region assurances of good will; and it is worthy of note
that a special envoy has brought us messages of condolence on the death of
our late Chief Magistrate from the Bey of Tunis, whose rule includes the
old dominions of Carthage, on the African coast.
Our domestic contest, now happily ended, has left some traces in our
relations with one at least of the great maritime powers. The formal
accordance of belligerent rights to the insurgent States was
unprecedented, and has not been justified by the issue. But in the systems
of neutrality pursued by the powers which made that concession there was a
marked difference. The materials of war for the insurgent States were
furnished, in a great measure, from the workshops of Great Britain, and
British ships, manned by British subjects and prepared for receiving
British armaments, sallied from the ports of Great Britain to make war on
American commerce under the shelter of a commission from the insurgent
States. These ships, having once escaped from British ports, ever
afterwards entered them in every part of the world to refit, and so to
renew their depredations. The consequences of this conduct were most
disastrous to the States then in rebellion, increasing their desolation
and misery by the prolongation of our civil contest. It had, moreover, the
effect, to a great extent, to drive the American flag from the sea, and to
transfer much of our shipping and our commerce to the very power whose
subjects had created the necessity for such a change. These events took
place before I was called to the administration of the Government. The
sincere desire for peace by which I am animated led me to approve the
proposal, already made, to submit the question which had thus arisen
between the countries to arbitration. These questions are of such moment
that they must have commanded the attention of the great powers, and are
so interwoven with the peace and interests of every one of them as to have
insured an impartial decision. I regret to inform you that Great Britain
declined the arbitrament. but, on the other hand, invited us to the
formation or a joint commission to settle mutual claims between the two
countries, from which those for the depredations before mentioned should
be excluded. The proposition, in that very unsatisfactory form, has been
declined.
The United States did not present the subject as an impeachment of the
good faith of a power which was professing the most friendly dispositions,
but as involving questions of public law of which the settlement is
essential to the peace of nations, and though pecuniary reparation to
their injured citizens would have followed incidentally on a decision
against Great Britain, such compensation was not their primary object.
They had a higher motive, and it was in the interests of peace and justice
to establish important principles of international law. The correspondence
will be placed before you . The ground on which the British minister tests
his justification is, substantially, that the municipal law of a nation
and the domestic interpretations of that law are the measure of its duty
as a neutral, and I feel bound to declare my opinion before you and before
the world that that justification can not be sustained before the tribunal
of nations. At the same time, I do not advise to any present attempt at
redress by acts of legislation. For the future, friendship between the two
countries must rest on the basis of mutual justice.
From the moment of the establishment of our free Constitution the
civilized world has been convulsed by revolutions in the interests of
democracy or of monarchy, but through all those revolutions the United
States have wisely and firmly refused to become propagandists of
republicanism. It is the only government suited to our condition; but we
have never sought to impose it on others, and we have consistently
followed the advice of Washington to recommend it only by the careful
preservation and prudent use of the blessing. During all the intervening
period the policy of European powers and of the United States has, on the
whole... been harmonious. Twice, indeed, rumors of the invasion of some
parts of America in the interest of monarchy have prevailed; twice my
predecessors have had occasion to announce the views of this nation in
respect to such interference. On both occasions the remonstrance of the
United States was respected from a deep conviction on the part of European
Governments that the system of noninterference and mutual abstinence from
propagandism was the true rule for the two hemispheres. Since those times
we have advanced in wealth and power, but we retain the same purpose to
leave the nations of Furope to choose their own dynasties and form their
own systems of government. This consistent moderation may justly demand a
corresponding moderation. We should regard it as a great calamity to
ourselves, to the cause of good government, and to the peace of the world
should any European power challenge the American people, as it were, to
the defense of republicanism against foreign interference. We can not
foresee and are unwilling to consider what opportunities might present
themselves, what combinations might offer to protect ourselves against
designs inimical to our form of governraent. The United States desire to
act in the future as they have ever acted heretofore; they never will be
driven from that course but by the aggression of European powers, and we
rely on the wisdom and justice of those powers to respect the system of
noninterference which has so long been sanc- tioned by time, and which by
its good results has approved itself to both continents.
The correspondence between the United States and France in reference to
questions which have become subjects of discussion between the two
Governments will at a proper time be laid before Congress.
When, on the organization of our Government under the Constitution, the
President of the United States delivered his inaugural address to the two
Houses of Congress, he said to them, and through them to the country and
to mankind, that-
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the
republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeoly,
as finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the
American people.
And the House of Representatives answered Washington by the voice of
Madison:
We adore the invisible Hand which has led the American people, through so
many difficulties, to cherish a conscious responsibility for the destiny
of republican liberty.
More than seventy-six years have glided away since these words were
spoken; the United States have passed through severer trials than were
foreseen; and now, at this new epoch in our existence as one nation, with
our Union purified by sorrows and strengthened by conflict and established
by the virtue of the people, the greatness of the occasion invites us once
more to repeat with solemnity the pledges of our fathers to hold ourselves
answerable before our fellow-men for the success of the republican form of
government. Experience has proved its sufficiency in peace and in war; it
has vindicated its authority through dangers and afflictions, and sudden
and terrible emergencies, which would have crushed any System that had
been less firmly fixed in the hearts of the people. At the inauguration of
Washington the foreign relations of the country were few and its trade was
repressed by hostile regulations, now all the civilized nations of the
globe welcome our commerce, and their Governments profess toward us amity.
Then our country felt its way hesitatingly along an untried path, with
States so little bound together by rapid means of communication as to be
hardly known to one another, and with historic traditions extending over
very few years; now intercourse between the States is swift and intimate;
the experience of centuries has been crowded into a few generations, and
has created an intense, indestructible nationality. Then our jurisdiction
did not reach beyond the inconvenient boundaries of the territory which
had achieved independence; now, through cessions of lands, first colonized
by Spain and France the country has acquired a more complex character, and
has for its natural limits the chain of lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and on
the east and the west the two great oceans. Other nations were wasted by
civil wars for ages before they could establish for themselves the
necessary degree of unity; the latent conviction that our form of
government is the best ever known to the world has enabled us to emerge
from civil war within four years with a complete vindication of the
constitutional authority of the General Government and with our local
liberties and State institutions unimpaired.
The throngs of emigrants that crowd to our shores are witnesses of the
confidence of all peoples in our permanence. Here is the great land of
free labor, where industry is blessed with unexampled rewards and the
bread of the workingman is sweetened by the consciousness that the cause
of the country 'is his own cause, his own safety, his own dignity.' Here
everyone enjoys the free use of his faculties and the choice of activity
as a natural right. Here, Under the combined influence of a fruitful soil,
genial climes, and happy institutions, population has increased
fifteen-fold within a century. Here, through the easy development of
boundless resources, wealth has increased with twofold greater rapidity
than numbers, so that we have become secure against the financial
vicissitudes of other countries and, alike in business and in opinion, are
self-centered and truly independent. Here more and more care is given to
provide education for everyone born on our soil. Here religion, released
from political connection with the civil government, refuses to subserve
the craft of statesmen, and becomes in its independence the spiritual life
of the people. Here toleration is extended to every opinion, in the quiet
certainty that truth needs only a fair field to secure the victory. Here
the human mind goes forth unshackled in the pursuit of science, to collect
stores of knowledge and acquire an ever-increasing mastery over the forces
of nature. Here the national domain is offered and held in millions of
separate freeholds, so that our fellow-citizens, beyond the occupants of
any other part of the earth, constitute in reality a people. Here exists
the democratic form of government; and that form of government, by the
confession of European statesmen, 'gives a power of which no other form is
capable, because it incorporates every man with the state and arouses
everything that belongs to the soul.'
Where in past history does a parallel exist to the public happiness which
is within the reach of the people of the United States? Where in any part
of the globe can institutions be found so suited to their habits or so
entitled to their love as their own free Constitution? Every one of them,
then, in whatever part of the land he has his home, must wish its
perpetuity. Who of them will not now acknowledge, in the words of
Washington, that 'every step by which the people of the United States have
advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been
distinguished by some token of providential agency'? Who will not join
with me in the prayer that the Invisible Hand which has led us through the
clouds that gloomed around our path will so guide us onward to a perfect
restoration of fraternal affection that we of this day may be able to
transmit our great inheritance of State governments in all their rights,
of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, to our
posterity, and they to theirs through countless generations?
Andrew Johnson
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