E 668 
 I— .B77 
 Copy 1 
 
 '§^ttomtxmtxm : |ts Crue ^mxB. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 HON. GEORCtE S. BOUTWELL, 
 
 WEYMOUTH, MASS., 
 
 JULY 4, 1865. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WEIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, 4 SPRING LA.NE. 
 1865. 
 
Iltrnnstmdbit : |ts Crm §iisb. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, 
 
 WEYMOUXH,,MASS., 
 
 JULY 4, 1865. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, 4 SPRING LANE. 
 
 18 6 5. 
 

Weymouth, July 10, 1865. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Bj' direction of the Committee of Arrangements for the celebration 
 in Weymouth of the late Anniversary of our National Independence, I have the honor 
 to express to you their cordial thanks for the very able, instructive and eloquent 
 Address delivered by you before the citizens of this town on that occasion, and also 
 to request from you the favor of a copy of the Address for publication. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Z. L. BICKNELL, 
 
 Chairman Comniiitee of Arrangements. 
 
 Hon. George S. Boutwell. 
 
 Groton, July 12, 1865. 
 
 Sir, — Be pleased to express to the Committee of Arrangements ray thanks for the 
 vote passed by them requesting a copy for publication of the Address delivered by 
 me on the 4th instant. 
 
 It will give me pleasure to comply with the request. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 GEO. S. BOUTWELL. 
 Z. L. BiCKNELL, Esq., Chairman of Committee of Arrangements. 
 
SPEECH: 
 
 1 
 
 Fellow Citizens, — The series of events of the 
 last four years, eiidmg m the overthrow of the 
 rebelhon, mipose upon us obhgations and duties 
 more important and solemn than have rested upon 
 the American people at any previous period 
 in their histor}^ We are able, however, for 
 the first time to rejoice in the complete, or, at 
 least, in the near fulfilment of the great truths 
 contained in the second paragraph of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. Our ancestors said : " We 
 hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men 
 are created equal, and that they are endowed by 
 their Creator Avith certain natural, essential and 
 unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness." They believed 
 these cardinal truths; and Mr. Jefterson, in the 
 original draft of the Declaration of Independence, 
 charged the King of Great Britain, in addition to 
 many other allegations, with the pre-eminent crime 
 of having countenanced the African slave-trade, 
 and opposed all measures for its overthroAv or 
 restriction. We have passed through a great 
 struggle, which was a necessary incident of oiu- 
 
national life, due to tlic fact, whk-h now Ave can 
 comprelicnd, and wliich it is lu-itliei- disgrace to 
 our fathers, nor dishonor to us, to confess, that 
 our national system contained a fundamental error; 
 namely, that it was possijjle to set np and main- 
 tain jjermanently a government based in part 
 upon the ])rinciple that " all men are created 
 equal,"" and in i)ai-t upon the i)rinciple that a 
 certain portion of mankind have the right to 
 hold a certain other j^ortion in bondage. This 
 was the experunent in government tried here by 
 the adoption of the Constitution of 1789, and the 
 experiment has fiiiled. The government which was 
 then set up, founded in i)art upon the principles 
 of freedom, and in part upon the jjrinciples of slav- 
 er}", has failed ; it has gone do"\\ni in blood, amid 
 horrors such as have not often been Avitnessed in 
 Christian countries. There has been no failure of 
 republican institutions; nothing has occuri-ed to 
 diminish our confidence in the capacity of the people 
 to govern themselves; but on the other hand, their 
 conduct in relation to the questions and issues of 
 the times is the sublimcst event of history, and fur- 
 nishes conclusi\^' evidence that just governments 
 are strong, and democratic governments arc wise. 
 The question before us is, whether out of this strug- 
 gh' tlu'i-c sliall couie a nation ])Ui"irK'd and glorious 
 and |»('i maiu'iit in its institutions and in its policy 
 or not. 
 
Thus far, lUKler Proviclence, the Union and the 
 cause of justice have triumphed. We look upon 
 the past with satisfaction, marred in two particuhu's 
 only; first, that so many of the brave men of the 
 Republic have fallen in defence of its principles and 
 of its integrity; and secondly, that he who was the 
 moderate, consistent and trusted leader of the 
 people, finally became the great martyr to Repub- 
 lican institutions, to the right of this nation to be 
 free. 
 
 I congratulate myself, and I congratulate you, 
 that in the course of remark on which I purpose to 
 enter to-day, I follow the lead of that great man, — 
 who, intellectually and morally, will stand among 
 the foremost men of this country, of this age, and 
 of the world, — in reference to the rights of the 
 negro race as citizens of this country, and inhabit- 
 ants of this continent. We know now, from the 
 record exposed since his death, that it was one of 
 the objects which he had near to his heart, to secure 
 to the negro population the right of suffrage, with- 
 out which, I shall, as I think, be able to show you, 
 there can, in this country, and under Republican 
 institutions, be no security for any other right 
 whatever. 
 
 We have come out of the war triumphantly. 
 We entered upon it, four years ago, reluctantly, 
 uncertain as to the issue. There were those who, 
 seeing beyond the present moment, were assured 
 
8 
 
 fliat tlic i)('()])l(' Avlio occupied the continent, tlie 
 descendants ol' the men who, in tlie first paragraph 
 of the Deehiration of Independence, before the 
 Constitntion was formed, or the Union, in terms, 
 liad an existence, deehired that these then united 
 colonies constituted one people, would never give 
 up their right to he the inhabitants of a countiy 
 indivisible and perpetual. That expectation, gen- 
 tlemen, has not only been I'calized, but we have 
 also subjugated those who, more than thirty years 
 ago, treasonably conspired for the overthrow of 
 this government, for the destruction of Rei3ublican 
 institutions on this continent, and for the suppres- 
 sion of the hopes of liberty and of freemen 
 throughout the Avorld. They are sul)jngated; and 
 tiie question remaining for you, citizen soldiers, 
 for you, citizens of the Republic, to decide is, 
 whether, in the reconstruction of the government, 
 those men, and they who, like tliem in pi'inciple 
 are like tliem also in ])ui poses, shall reappear 
 to guide, control, disturb, and finally ruin the 
 Kepublic ; or whether you will reconstruct the 
 nation u])<)u the eternal princi])le of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, that '^ all men are created 
 c'luai?" Justici', juKiivc is the only ibundation 
 ibr statesman-^Iii|), tlie only security foi* national 
 life, and oni" falln'i's, in (h'])arting Ironi tht> pi'in- 
 <i|>l(' of jn>-ti('e, in llu' original construction ol' 
 tills govermni'nt, Id't to tlieir j)osterity the woes 
 
9 
 
 through Avhich we have passed. Believing, as I 
 do, that these horrors, and sacrifices and sufferings 
 are a just judgment of Heaven upon this nation, 
 for its great sin in reference to the institution of 
 slavery, — which is but one form of injustice, — so 
 here and everywhere during these four years, I 
 do pledge and have pledged myself to resist the 
 re-establishment of this government upon the 
 principle of injustice. If there be those, few or 
 many, who, in their anxiety to reconstruct their 
 government speedily, and according to its ancient 
 forms, choose to forego the securities which ought 
 to be taken, I have no lot or part with them. I 
 prefer to stand alone upon the principle of justice 
 as the only foundation on which the government 
 can securely rest. And if there be those Avho 
 choose to take the responsibility of becoming, in 
 the eyes of posterity, the agents for the repeti- 
 tion of the woes which we have endured, let 
 the responsibility be upon them. I feel assured, 
 however, that whatever ma}^ be the prejudices 
 of some, whatever may be the influence of tradi- 
 tion upon others, whatever may be the distinctions 
 of race or color that exist among us, the people 
 of this country are finally to re-establish the 
 government upon the distinct enunciation of the 
 doctrine that " all men are created equal." 
 Building upon that foundation, the nation will 
 withstand the storms and the floods of time; 
 
10 
 
 iMit if you l)uild upon injustice, upon -wrong, 
 U})()n distinctions of race, of color, oi- upon 
 caste, 30U l)uikl upon the sand, and when the 
 storms ^'onie, and the winds ]j1(jav, and the rains 
 fall, I lull will the structure tliat you liave reared 
 be l)rouij;ht (h)wn in ruin upon your lieads. 
 
 Xor is the triunipli oi' the day limited to the 
 restoration of the Union as a result, and the (over- 
 throw of shivery as an incident of tlie war. We 
 have phiced the United States, as a nation, in the 
 front rank of the nations of the earth. We have 
 had no Avar with England or Avitli France, and we 
 trust that the time is far distant when there shall 
 be any rupture of the relations of amity that now 
 exist. This nation is foi; jDcace, as it ever 
 has l)een- but in the subjugation of the reljcls 
 of the South, we have conquered both England 
 and France, as well as the enemies of Hepublican 
 institutions the Avorld over. If you Avere to ask 
 an Englishman Avhether France or the United 
 States is the first naval and military poAver of the 
 world, he Avould ansAver at once, the United States. 
 If you Avere to ask a Frenchman Avhether England 
 oi- the I nited States is the hrst naval and military 
 jxjAvci', lu- would also ansAA'cr, the United States. 
 If you Avere to ])ut the question to a Kussian, 
 whether England or Fi'ance or the United States 
 is the chief military and naval poAver of the Avorld, 
 he AVijuld at once answer, the United States. As 
 
11 
 
 Themistoclcs acquired the reputation of being the 
 first general of Greece by the circumstance that all 
 his rivals recognized him as the second in merit, 
 each claiming to be the first himself, so we, by the 
 judgment of the people of all those nations, are 
 to-day accorded the first rank among the naval 
 and. military powers of the earth. 
 
 I hope you will pardon me, my friends, if 
 now, before I proceed to the purpose which I 
 have in view on this occasion, I refer to the 
 circumstance of my invitation to speak here 
 to-day, that there may be no misunderstanding 
 on the part of any. Your committee, when 
 thus honoring me, received the statement that 
 I preferred not then to accept it, but rather 
 desired that they should communicate to their asso- 
 ciates of the committee and to the public possibly, 
 to some extent, the fact that if I accepted the 
 invitation, I must do it with the distinct under- 
 standing that I was to discuss those topics, and 
 those only, which concern the fortunes of the coun- 
 tr3^ The time has long since passed when I had 
 the ambition to speak for the purpose of sj^eaking; 
 and during this war I have invariably declared what 
 I believed to be the truth without regard to any 
 consequences personal to myself. I wish thus early 
 to state my views of the policy now pursued b}^ the 
 administration in reference to the great subject of 
 reconstruction, because it is quite likely there may 
 
12 
 
 be some ])rc.sent who will draw inferences from what 
 I shall oiler. If I imderstand President Johnson, 
 he does not object to negro suttVage. It is, how- 
 ever, his desire that the right should hd extended 
 to the negroes of the once existing eleven States, 
 recently in rebellion, by the white peojile of those 
 States, wlio wci-e authorized to vtjte when the 
 rebellion commenced. If negro suffrage can be 
 secured in that way, I shall, for one, readily accept 
 the result without any inquiry as to the means. 
 But if, on the other hand, as I expect, the attempt 
 to secure negro suffrage, thi'ough the white people 
 of the eleven rebel States, shall I'ail, I then expect 
 that President Johnson and those who are co- 
 operating with him, Avill accept the judgment of 
 the country, — if it sliall ])rove' to be the judgment 
 of the coinitry, — that negro suffrage must be 
 secured by some other means. Therefore, while 
 I am content that these effort^s should be made, 
 and while I shall Avelcome the result, if it be 
 favorable, I look u])on the efforts as experiments, 
 not ])inding u])on President Johnson or upon his 
 administration or on the country; and as was the 
 fact in 18G1 and '02, in reference to the expediency 
 of emancipation, and the inrolnient of colored 
 soldiers in the aiiiiv of tlie Kepublic, 1 now expect 
 that the people will take this uKiiler into ihcii- own 
 hands. I bchevi', with reference to President John- 
 son, ;is ill |S(jl and '()!} I believed in reference 
 
13 
 
 to President Lincoln, that he will accept the 
 judgment of the country, if, upon the whole, 
 the public opinion shall be that negro suffrage 
 is essential to the security of the Union as well 
 as to the protection of the negroes themselves. 
 Therefore I counsel discussion, argument, on the 
 part of those who believe in negro suffrage; 
 jDatience, that those in authority may have an 
 ojDportunity to make this effort to secure the 
 reconstruction of the government according to the 
 ideas that have first presented themselves to them ; 
 that no one be committed to any particular line of 
 policy, but all look to the grand result — the recon- 
 struction of the government upon the jDrinciple of 
 the equality of men. 
 
 But such is my confidence in the justice of the 
 policy Avhich we maintain, such my conviction of its 
 necessity, that I am assured it does not only not 
 need the support which we now attempt to render, 
 but that its success is not even dependent upon the 
 power of office or the wisdom of leaders. 
 
 There was a Divine policy in our affairs which 
 made emancipation a necessity; and we are now so 
 subject to circumstances that all plans for the 
 reconstruction of the govermnent which do not 
 recognize the political rights of the negro are sure 
 to fail. The white men of the ]N^orth must recog- 
 nize the political rights of the black men of the 
 South or surrender their own equality in the gov- 
 
14 
 
 crnmc'iit of the country. They iinist decree political 
 freedom for the l)hi(l<s or accept political inferiority 
 for themselves. Hence I ^vell know in the begin- 
 nin<^- what their conduct will be. Xor do I under- 
 estimate the ap])arent difficulties in (jur way. There 
 is first, the wide-spread and plausible error, which 
 I shall attcm])t now to refute, that if we deny the 
 existence of the eleven States as States, we admit 
 the heresy of secession. There is next the prejudice 
 against the negro race coupled with a sad misap- 
 prehension as to his capacity to take care of himself 
 and to serve the country; and finally there is the 
 difficulty, amounting to an obstacle in the estimation 
 of some, that certain of the loyal States do even now 
 deny to the negro the right of franchise. But all 
 these are errors, misfortunes and wrongs, rather 
 than serious difficulties in our way. When slavery 
 existed, citizenship was of course denied to the slave 
 class in all the slave States. It was also natural in 
 States where slavery did not exist, but where its 
 ideas Avere carried by immigrants or where its social 
 and business mfluences prevailed, or, possibly, by 
 mere comity in some cases, that the public policy 
 should be fashioned upon the theory that slavery, 
 or at least, a condition of ])olitical inferiority was 
 the |)r()|)i'r rortiiiie of the ])laek man. It is likely 
 thai the overthrow of slavery will hv followed by a 
 revision <>f this policy; but in any event the argu- 
 ment in favor of negro sutfrage in the rebellious 
 
15 
 
 districts is as valid when addressed to Illinois or 
 Indiana as when "addressed to 'Ne^y York or Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 The war for freedom and the Union has been 
 carried on by the whites and negroes born on this 
 continent, by the Irish and the Germans, and indeed 
 by representatives of every European race, ^^ith 
 this fresh exjoerience we ought to make it a part of 
 the organic government that no State shall make 
 any distinction in the enjojTnent of the elective 
 franchise on account of race or color. 
 
 Asking you to bear with me while I proceed 
 farther in the discussion of this subject, I desire to 
 call your attention in the outset, to the question of 
 the power of the National Government over the 
 eleven States that have been engaged in this rebel- 
 lion ; to the question of power with reference to the 
 result we seek, the right of the negro to vote in the 
 State where he happens to be. There are those 
 who believe that these eleven States are States in 
 the Union precisely as they were in 1860 ; or rather, 
 there are those who use language which Avould lead 
 us to believe that they are of opinion that the eleven 
 rebellious States are still States in the Union. The 
 fact, however, is, that the Government, during 
 these foiu* years, has proceeded upon the idea that 
 they were not States. President Johnson himself, 
 in the declarations he makes to the provisional 
 Governors whom he is just now appointing, says 
 
16 
 
 that, in order tliat the' Kepresentatives of those 
 States may be recognized by the Senate and House, 
 they must abolish llic institution oC slavery, and 
 ratify the amendment to the Constitution, ])roliilHt- 
 ing shiveiy in the United States. AVould he 
 address that language to !N^ew York, or (Jliio, or 
 Massachusetts? In the very fact that provisional 
 Governors are appointed, in the very fact that terais 
 are made with those provisional Governors, and, 
 through them, with the people, we liave evidence 
 abundant that the President does not recognize 
 these States as States in the Union, with the 
 powers of the old States. They are in a difterent 
 condition, confessedly. Will any one even i)retend 
 that South Carolina has the same immediate, 
 unquestionable, indisputable right of representation 
 in the Senate and House that is enjoyed by Xew 
 York and the other loyal States? In the House of 
 Representatives, for example, although the Con- 
 stitution of the United States says that a majority 
 of the House shall be a quorum for doing busi- 
 ness, and it would require one hundred and 
 eighteen at least to make a majority of all the 
 membei-s of the House of Representatives, including 
 representatives fi'om the eleven disloyal States, we 
 still lia\e been acting, — laws have been passed, 
 armies have been raised, i)ubrK' dclii has been 
 incurred. IjoikIs ha\i' l)een issued, — upon the |)rin- 
 ciple that a (piorum was a majority of the rcprcsen- 
 
17 
 
 tatives from the loyal States. JSTinety-four instead 
 of one hmidrecl and eighteen has been the recog- 
 nized quorum of the Thirty-Eighth Congress. We 
 have acted upon the principle that those who 
 were not present, who were voluntarily absent, 
 were not to be considered or consulted at all; and 
 in the same manner, gentlemen, we shall be obliged 
 to act finally in reference to the amendment to the 
 Constitution. There are twenty-five loyal States of 
 the Union; there are eleven disloyal States, that 
 have not been represented in either branch of Con- 
 gress for four years; that have had neither gov- 
 ernor nor judge nor legislator within their limits 
 sworn to support the Constitution of the United 
 States; but, on the other hand, all their State and 
 local officers have taken an oath, abjuring the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. I wish, in the 
 beginning, to assail the doctrine that these States, 
 because they were once States in this Union, are 
 still States in this Union. We assert that they 
 have ceased to exist, and I think I can show you 
 how they have ceased to exist. Consider, first, 
 how a State is created. It is created, as you all 
 know, by the will of the people within its Imiits. 
 How was Massachusetts created? By an assembly 
 of the representatives of the people of the State 
 forming a Constitution, submitting it to the people, 
 and when that Constitution was ratified, by the 
 election of officers under it. They did not yield to 
 
18 
 
 external j^owcr or external aiitliority. A State, as 
 a political oi-gaiiization, is the product, the politi- 
 cal product, of the people within its limits; it can- 
 not 1k' created, it never has been created, by any 
 external force whatever. But what follows? I am, 
 as far as this doctrine is concerned, a State-rights 
 man ; not one who Ijelieves in the sovereignty of 
 the State over the nation, ncjt one who believes m 
 the right of the smallest State, as Delaware, for 
 example, to decide Avhether this Republic has a 
 right to exist or not; but I am of those who believe 
 that State rights are a necessary and essential fact 
 in the political organization and Constitution of this 
 country; and, while subject to the supreme author- 
 ity of the nation, the States are powerful instru- 
 ments to protect public liberty, promote the general 
 welfare, and secure the blessings of freedom to 
 ourselves and our posterity. 
 
 Can a State be destroyed? I answer it can. 
 That is to say, its jjolitical existence, including its 
 organic law, can be destroyed, — eradicated. By 
 whom? By the people who created it. Do 3'ou 
 say they have no right to destroy it? I answer, in 
 concurrence, they have no right to destroy it, but we 
 must look at the fact, and not at theories, nor even 
 at the mere declaration of the law. The declaration 
 of the law, bolli hniiinn and divine, is, that no man 
 has a i-ight to take his own life; but it is possible 
 foi- a man to take his life, and when he has taken 
 
19 
 
 his life, it is useless, it is visionaiy, it is insane for 
 men to stand up and say, " This thing cannot be 
 done, — God's law is against it." It is done; the 
 dead body is before you. And so it is useless to 
 say that the people of a State cannot destroy the 
 State, because they have no legal right so to do. 
 It is not a question of legal right, it is a question 
 of fact. 
 
 IS^ow, what are the facts? Take South Carolina, 
 for example. Is she a State of the American 
 Union? Did she not, in the most solemn manner 
 laioAvn to human proceedings, in December, 1860, 
 declare that she ceased to exist as a State of the 
 American Union ! Did she not proceed, in con- 
 formity witli that declaration, to annul all her 
 relations to the IS^ational Government, and to create 
 new relations with another government, foreign 
 and hostile to the government of the United States ? 
 and has she not dm-ing these four years, sturdily 
 refused to elect any man to office who was known 
 to be in favor of the government of the United 
 States? and after all this, do you say that South 
 Carolina is still a State of the American Union? 
 
 "What else did she do? She preserved her State 
 organization; but she transferred her allegiance to 
 the so-called Confederate States. Hence as a j)olit- 
 ical organization as a body or corporation or State 
 which the government of the United States could 
 recognize, she, by her own act, ceased to exist. 
 
20 
 
 "What followed? By the success of our arms, we 
 have destroyed the State of South Carolina, that 
 professed to owe allegiance to the so-called Con- 
 federate States, and the old State of South Caro- 
 lina has not been reproduced, and theref(H*e there 
 is no State of South Carolina, as a political organi- 
 zation, which can be recognized. All men, I think, 
 when pnt to the test, will achnit it. If Mr. Khett, 
 or any other man from South Carolina, were to 
 come to the Senate of the United States and say, 
 " South Carolina is a State in this nation ; I have 
 been duly elected by the legislature of that State; 
 I ask for my seat;" would he not be rejected? and 
 for this reason, that South Carolina, at the present 
 moment, in the judgment of everybody, has not 
 that immediate, and distinct, and unquestioned, 
 and unquestionable right to be represented in Con- 
 gress, that appertains to Kew York, or Pennsyl- 
 vania, or Ohio. What I ask of the country is to 
 accept this fact, that the political organization 
 known as South Carolina has ceased to exist by 
 the will of the people who at the fii'st created, and 
 who from the first until 18G0 sustained that organ- 
 ization as one of the States of the American 
 Union. "Wliat follows? That South Carolina, 
 the people and territory, are out of the Uni(m? 
 that they have seceded? By no means. The 
 jurisdiction and authority which the National Gov- 
 ernment originally had over the territory and people 
 
21 
 
 of South Carolina remain, and we shall exercise 
 that jurisdiction and authority just as far and as 
 fast as we can. But the result is, that for the pur- 
 poses of Government to-day, South Carolina is a 
 blank piece of paper, on which may be written a 
 new form of government, on wliich a new form of 
 government must be written by the people of 
 South Carolina, and can be written by nobody 
 else. What next? What is the authority of the 
 General Government? A State may exist by the 
 will of its own people; but it cannot exist, pri- 
 marily and originally, as a State of the American 
 Union, and, indeed, it cannot exist at all as a 
 State of the American Union, except by the 
 consent of the representatives of the existing 
 government. Therefore, when South Carolina has 
 formed her government, and asks for the admission 
 of her Senators and Kepresentatives into Congress, 
 it is then for the Representatives of the existing 
 States and of the people of the Union to say 
 whether they shall be admitted or not. At this 
 stage in the proceedings there is a legal and con- 
 stitutional opportunity to examine their principles 
 of Government, and decide whether they are in 
 general correspondence with the settled policy of 
 the country. 
 
 If you assent to what I have said thus far, then 
 I ask you confidentl}^ to accept without argu- 
 ment the proposition, which I should be ashamed 
 
22 
 
 to ar<^iic to any of my countrymen, that a 
 Constitution -which disfranchises more than half 
 the people of a State is not a "Republican fonn 
 of Government," in the eye of the Constitution of 
 the United States, and which we are bound to 
 protect a people in maintaining- and enjoying. 
 It is just at this j^oint that we have the power 
 over the j^eople of all the rebel States with refer- 
 ence to the Constitutions or forms of Government 
 which they may set up. 
 
 With your leave, gentlemen, I will read a state- 
 ment, as sucdinct and direct as I could prepare 
 u2)on this point, which was framed more than a 
 year since, and which I have no disposition to alter 
 in the least degree. It is this : That a State can 
 exist or cease to exist only ])y the will of the 
 people within its limits, and it cannot be created or 
 destroyed by the external force or opinion of other 
 States, or even by the judgment or action of the 
 nation itself; a State when created by the will of 
 its people can become a member of the American 
 Union only by its own organized action and the 
 concurrent action of the existing national Govern- 
 ment; when a State has been admitted to the 
 Union, no vote, resolution, ordinance, or proceed- 
 ing, on its part, however formal in eliarac-ter or 
 vigorously sustained, can deprive the National Gov- 
 ernment of the legal jurisdiction and sovereignty 
 over the territory and people of such State which 
 
23 
 
 existed previous to the aet of admission, or which 
 were acquired thereby; that the effect of tlie so- 
 called acts, resolutions, and ordinances of secession 
 adopted by the eleven States engaged in the pres- 
 ent rebellion is, and can only be, to destroy those 
 political organizations as States, Avhile the legal and 
 constitutional jurisdiction and authority of the 
 National Government over the people and territory 
 remain unimpaired; that these several communities 
 can be organized into States only by the will of the 
 loyal people expressed freely and in the absence of 
 all coercion; that States so organized can become 
 States of the American Union onl}^ when they shall 
 have applied for admission, and their admission 
 shall have been authorized by the existing National 
 Government; that when a people have organized a 
 State upon the basis of allegiance to the Union and 
 applied for admission, the character of the institu- 
 tions of such proposed State may constitute a suf- 
 ficient justification for granting or rejecting such 
 application. 
 
 But if there be those among you Avho still 
 doubt the authority of the ^N^ational Government 
 over the people and territory of the eleven rebel- 
 lious States, I ask them to consider the fact that 
 the Supreme Court ha^ decided that we have 
 been engaged in a territorial war, and that with 
 reference to the territory and people in antagonism 
 to the Government of the United States, we have 
 
24 
 
 all tlic I'ights of a belligerent poAver. We have 
 carried on the wai' to' a suceessfnl tennination; 
 we have snbjngated the rebellious people; we 
 have overthrown their militar}^ power; we have 
 acquired jurisdiction over the territory, and con- 
 sequently we have a right to demand, — as much 
 as we should if, in a war with Mexico, we had 
 acquired. Chihuahua or Sonoi'a, — that wlien these 
 once existing States are reconstinicted and admit- 
 ted to the Union, they shall come with institu- 
 tions which are in substantial harmony with the 
 settled policy of the nation. And therefoin?, upon 
 either of these theories, — upon the theory of the 
 j^ower of the people of the rebel States, or upon 
 the theory of the war power of the Government, — 
 we find sufficient reason and justification for what 
 we projiose. And I implore you not to allow yoiu* 
 minds to be diverted from the conclusion which 
 we have thus reached, nor your judgments to be 
 biased by the expectation or apprehension that it 
 is my purpose, upon this foundation, to demand 
 justice for the negro race. I assume not too much 
 when I say that you all, and, indeed, all my coun- 
 trymen of the loyal States who entertain loyal 
 purposes, would accept these conclusions without 
 hesitation, if it were understood that the exercise 
 of this just power ol' the nation were demanded 
 to ])revent the establishment of the office of Gov- 
 ernor ill a single fiunily perpetually, or to prevent 
 
25 
 
 in any applicant State the constitution of an order 
 of nobilitj, in which the government of the State 
 shonld be vested permanently. If, then, this 
 assumption be true, 3'our objection is not to the 
 claim that the Greneral Government has this power 
 of scrutiny and exclusion, but to the subject- 
 matter or the manner of its exercise. It remains 
 for me to satisfy you, if I may be able, that the 
 exercise of this power in the interest of universal 
 suffrage in the South is more important to the 
 nation than Avould be its exercise for the exclu- 
 sion of the principle of hereditary right in public 
 office in any or all of the applicant States. 
 
 In passing, permit me to say that there are four 
 methods or forms of government which might be 
 established in the rebellious States. First, mili- 
 tary governments, responsible to the Executive of 
 the country. Secondly, territorial governments, in 
 w^hich a law of Congress should define and pre- 
 scribe the rights of the people in reference to suf- 
 frage, with the power lodged in the President and 
 Senate to appoint the Governor, Secretary of State, 
 District- Attorney and perhaps some other officers. 
 Thirdly, to recognize these States as States in the 
 American nation, and this without any inquiry 
 and with their old constitutions. And, fourthly, 
 by treating the people of these eleven States as 
 within the jurisdiction of the General Government, 
 but without institutions of any sort, permit them 
 
2G 
 
 to frame a government anil npi)ly for admission 
 to tlie I'^nion, A military government, being- 
 irresponsible, expensive, and, l<>r tlie most pai-t, 
 tyTannieal, is unaceeptable to the Ameriean people. 
 It can be continued for a short period of time only, 
 ])nt ere long it "woidd be compelled to give place 
 to another fonn. Probably, with reference to 
 some of the States, as Sonth Carolina and Flor- 
 ida, a teiTitorial government wonld be best adapted 
 to the existing condition of things. In Arkansas, 
 Tennessee and Louisiana there is possibly so large 
 a loyal sentiment, that if the colored people were 
 allowed the right of suffrage, those States might be 
 safely i-estored to their ancient relations to the 
 Union. It therefore follows, as the practical result, 
 that it will be necessary to adopt diflerent lines of 
 policy for diflerent States. 
 
 But I wish 3^ou to consider with me the effect of 
 pennitting these eleven States to act as tliough 
 they were still States within the Union. I believe 
 tin re is one consideration which will control all 
 classes of men in this country, without regard to 
 their opinions concerning the negro ; one consider- 
 ation which will finally control in resisting the 
 recognition of those States except upon the basis of 
 universal suffrage. I refer to the subject of rep- 
 resentation in the lower House of Congress. I 
 ha\e o])ser\'('(l, within a few days, that a lead- 
 ing NcAV York journal has made the i-einark that 
 
27 
 
 the friends of negro suffrage were too fast in 
 conceding to the rebelKons States the right of 
 representation for the four million of colored peo- 
 ple. Gentlemen, the fact is, we are neither too 
 fast nor too slow. We have nothing to do with 
 the question. The Constitution of the United 
 States, in its first article, second section, and third 
 paragraph, has settled this matter. The words are 
 these : — 
 
 "Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor- 
 tioned among the several States which may be 
 included within this Union, according to their 
 respective numbers, which shall be determined by 
 adding to the whole number of free persons, includ- 
 ing those bound to service for a term of j^cars, and 
 excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other 
 persons." 
 
 If the Proclamation of Emancipation is to stand, 
 these four million of heretofore slaves are to be 
 free. They reside in the fifteen old slave State's. 
 These States are to have political power in Con- 
 gress, not only according to the number of loJiite 
 persons Avithin their limits, but according to the 
 number of free persons, black as well as white. 
 "What is the result? To-day, upon the census 
 of 1860, under the three-fifths rule, there are 
 nineteen seats in the House of Representatives 
 which may be filled by men whose constitu- 
 ency, if they were voters, would be negroes of 
 
28 
 
 the South. Tn 1870 there "will l)e a new eeiisus, 
 and a new a])[)()rti()niiient of political power. The 
 South will take political power in the House of 
 Kepresentatives according to its combined white 
 and colored population. I have made an estimate, 
 which is probably not far I'rom what Avill prove to 
 be true in 1870. There will be about four and a 
 half million of colored people in the old slave 
 States; there will be about nine million of white 
 people in the old slave States; and there will be 
 about twenty-two million of people in the Free 
 States, — making thirty-five and a half million in 
 all. Upon the constitutional basis, j^olitical pow'er 
 will be apportioned, in 1870, in tliis wise: To the 
 four and a half million of negroes in the South, 
 thirty Re2)resentatives; to the nine million white 
 people in the South, sixt}^ Representatives — ninety 
 Representatives from the South. ' To the t^^'*enty- 
 two million of people iu the iJs^orth, one hundred 
 and forty-four Rej^resentatives in Congress. ]S^ow, 
 wdiat is the inevitable result of the doctrine that 
 these eleven rebellious States are States in tlie 
 Union, and liave a right to be represented as 
 States? It is this : that the nine million of 
 white people in the South are to do all the voting 
 in the fifteen old slave States; and when you con- 
 sider that the war in the South has proved prett}^ 
 nearly a war of extermination of all the men 
 between twenty and forty-five years of age, and 
 
29 
 
 that the proportion of women and chikh-en is vastly 
 greater than the natural proportion of women and 
 children to adult males in any community that has 
 not been ravaged by the fires of war, you will 
 understand that the number of voters among those 
 nine million of people will be but a small propor- 
 tion of the whole. These white voters of the South 
 are to elect ninety Representatives to Congress. 
 And who are these white men of the South? They 
 are the men who have been in arms against the 
 Republic and against the soldiers of the Republic. 
 They are of a race which through two centuries 
 has been contaminated by the vilest crime, the 
 crime of slavery, until the whole public sentiment 
 of the South has become debauched, until it has 
 given birth to conspiracies, for the perpetration 
 of the crimes of arson, of murder, of treason, of 
 assassination, in all their hideous and unnamable 
 forms; such crimes as could not have been com- 
 mitted, or even contemplated, in any other country 
 or by any other j^eople. It is out of the institution 
 of slavery that there came the infamous decree by 
 which sixty thousand of the soldiers of the Republic 
 were starved in the prisons and pens of the South; 
 and will the people of this country, if they have a 
 prejudice against the negro race such as human 
 beings never felt toward any of the animate crea- 
 tion, from the foundation of the world until now — 
 will the people of this country, if they have such a 
 
30 
 
 prejudice c\'en, exeliule the negroes from the ballot- 
 box, and allow it to be controlled by these nine mil- 
 lion, or the representatives of these nine million, 
 of white people in the South? Under all circum- 
 stances, a majority, a confessed majority of the 
 white people of the South, have shown themselves 
 the enemies of this country; the loyalists among 
 them, — the men who have stood by the old flag, — 
 have been few, '^ like angel visits." On the other 
 hand, the black man, despised, down-trodden, 
 with no reason to cheer or bless the flag of the 
 Kepublic, Avhicli to him, from the foundation of 
 the government until the signal shot uj^on Fort 
 Sumter, had been only the ensign of oppression, 
 with no reminiscences or traditions in its behalf, 
 has proved true to the country, has led and guided 
 and cheered the soldier, has enlisted in the 
 armies of the Kepuljlic, has fought for the integ- 
 rity of the nation and the safety of freedom; and 
 can it l)e — can it he in the heart of any man of the 
 twenty million of inhabitants in the ^orth, with an 
 ingratitude unexampled save in the instance of 
 Judas Iscariot, now to consign these people, their 
 race, and their posterity to the tender mercies of 
 the men who instituted Libby Prison and Ander- 
 sonville, who sent to the islands of the ocean for 
 the pestilence with which they hoped to blast the 
 cities of the North, who instituted arson as a 
 plan, and Anally closed their career of systematic 
 
'^ 1 
 
 and organized crime by the assassination of the 
 President of the Repubhc? Do 3'ou propose to 
 allow these people to send ninety representatives 
 into the Congress of the United States, when 
 according to nnmbers they Avould be entitled to but 
 sixty? Upon the basis of thirty-five and a half mil- 
 lion of people, a constituency would consist of one 
 hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants; and, the 
 nmnber of members of the House being limited by 
 law to tAvo hiuidred and thirty-four, the white 
 voters of the South would take sixty members in 
 their own right, and thirty more upon the basis of 
 the negro population — giving them ninety votes. 
 They would then lack but twenty-eight votes of a 
 majority in the House of Representatives; twenty- 
 eight votes, which l!^e^Y York alone could give, 
 which two or three other States in a moment of 
 disaflection might give. And what is the result, 
 or at least the possible danger? The government 
 of this country is in the hands of rebels. "Will not 
 the men interested in public securities look to it 
 that no such exigency arise? We have issued two 
 and a half thousand million of public securities, 
 the value of which depends entirely upon the good 
 faith of the people of this country. If you put 
 the power into the hands of these rebels, one of 
 two things is sure to happen, — either that the rebel 
 debt will be foisted upon the N^ational Government 
 or the IS^ational debt will be repudiated. And more 
 
32 
 
 than that; if these nine million of people in the 
 South are to elect ninety representatives, they will 
 elect one for every one hundred thousand white 
 persons represented by the voting ]:)opulation ; while 
 in the Xorth it will take one hundred and fifty 
 thousand persons to constitute the basis of rep- 
 resentation; that is', two voters in the South will 
 have equal power in the government of the coun- 
 try with three voters in the Xorth. I submit that 
 the people of the Xorth, unless they are infatuated, 
 so that there is no hope of their being able to com- 
 prehend the means necessary for their own salva- 
 tion, will reject, — once, twice, thrice, continually 
 reject, — every proposition which recognizes those 
 States as States of the American Union. One of 
 two things must happen, — either that the negro 
 shall be allowed to vote, or that, by an amendment 
 to the Constitution, the representative power shall 
 be based upon voters ; and if, as is contended by 
 those who oppose negro sufiVage, these eleven 
 States are States in the Union, as it requires three- 
 fourths of the States to make an amendment to the 
 Constitution, and as the eleven States are more 
 than one-fourth, and are interested in the mainte- 
 nance of the present condition of things, there is 
 no hope of an amenchnent of the Constitution. 
 Therefore, fellow-citizens and countrymen, you 
 have but one path before you, and, thank God, it 
 is the path of justice, and in it you must walk; 
 
33 
 
 and that path leads you to contend for and to 
 secure to the negro the right of suffrage in this 
 country. 
 
 "We are told that the negroes will vote with thair 
 masters. I do not Iniow whether they will or not; 
 but it is no excuse for us, in denying them their 
 rights, to say that they will ^ote in a particular 
 way. If they have the right to vote, we are not to 
 trample that right under our feet, because we infer 
 that they will hereafter exercise it in some way 
 disagreeable to us. But the same persons told us, 
 in 1861 and 1862, that if we put arms in the hands 
 of the negroes, they would fight on the side of 
 their masters. Was that prediction verified? By 
 no means. And neither will this prediction be 
 verified, unless the spirit of the masters is changed, 
 and they vote on the side of this government. 
 
 It is well enough, also, for its to consider the 
 subject of voting with reference to the negroes of 
 the South. We have a constitutional provision in 
 Massachusetts, that no man shall vote unless he can 
 read the Constitution and write his OAvn name. A 
 very proper provision; but consider that it was 
 instituted with reference to men about whose 
 loyalty there was no question ; but only this ques- 
 tion existed, as to whether they were competent to 
 judge of the administration of public aifairs. In 
 the ordinary course of things, it is necessary 
 that men should be able to read and write, in 
 
34 
 
 order to decide intelligently upon questions of 
 public policy. AYe do not, to-day, ask suffrage 
 for the negroes because they are competent to 
 judge of questions of public policy, but "vve ask for 
 suffrage for them because they are in fiivor of this 
 government, and tlie white people of tlie South are 
 against it. That is an issue already made up. 
 Parties have taken their stand. The whites, by a 
 majority, are on one side, the blacks, unanimously, 
 are on the other. They understand that question, 
 and that is the vital question to us. It is not 
 whether, in South Carolina, judges shall be elected 
 by the people, or appointed by the governor; that 
 question very likely would be better solved by men 
 who coidd read and write. But the question in 
 which we are concerned is not a question of internal 
 policy, not a question of local or of State adminis- 
 tration, but the question is, " Shall this government 
 exist? " We know that the negro is in favor of its 
 existence, and, therefore, for all the purposes of 
 voting, whether he can read and write or not, he is 
 a safe depositary of power; and therefore I am in 
 favor of allowing him to vote, without going into 
 any inquiry whether he can read and write, because 
 his power at the ballot-box is now essential to us, 
 just exactly as his power in the field witli tlic bay- 
 onet was essential to us during the war. In this 
 country there are but two means of exercising power. 
 One is by the bayonet, in time of war; tlie other is 
 
35 
 
 by the ballot, in time of peace. AYe have taken the 
 bayonet, in time of war, out of the hands of onr rebel 
 enemies. What are we invited to do? To put the 
 ballot, which is the instrument of power in time of 
 peace, into the hands of our enemies, and deprive 
 our friends of the privilege of exercising that 
 power. Was there ever any infatuation equal to 
 this ? If these four million who have been loyal to 
 the flag and to the Union had been Germans in the 
 South, instead of negroes, not a man would have 
 raised the question whether these loyal Germans, 
 upon the restoration of the government, should be 
 allowed to vote. Every man, with one voice, with 
 one acclaim, would have said, " They, of course, 
 are to vote. The only question remaining is, 
 whether the rebels who have been in arms against 
 this government are to be permitted to vote or not." 
 You thus see, my friends, how far the country has 
 been drawn aside from the true question at issue by 
 that ancient prejudice, originating in slavery, and 
 which has been fostered, embittered, and spread by 
 the influence of slavery throughout this country. 
 You are not willing to allow to a patriot under a 
 black skin that which you would readily concede to 
 a patriot under a white skin. Are the people of 
 this country more disposed to put power into the 
 hands of rebels because they are white, than into 
 the hands of patriots Avho happen to be black? 
 
36 
 
 Tliei'c arc some over-seiisitivc persons who are 
 ratlici- ivluetant to give suffrage to the negroes, 
 Ix'cause they f'eai' it Avill irritate tlic wliite ])eople of 
 the 8onth. "\Yell, my friends, 1 am for coneiHation. 
 T see already tliat wvy few men in the Sontli ai"e to 
 ])(■ ])unished. Xohody among the whites is to be 
 disfraneliised. Of all the men who are suffered to 
 live and to remain in the South, — white people, I 
 mean, — all will enjoy the elective franchise; and 
 I have ali'cady reached the conclusion, that there 
 arc l)ut two men Avho are in any danger of suffering 
 the penalty of the law for the crime of treason. 
 They are Davis and Lee. I may turn aside for a 
 single moment to say here, Avhat I think will find a 
 response in the judgment of the country, that those 
 two men, above all others, deserve to pay the 
 highest forfeit ever exacted by human tribunals 
 from those who have violated human law. There 
 w^ere many leaders in the rebellion. The guilt of 
 those men is inconceivable, and of course inexpres- 
 sible. But Davis and Lee, by a peculiar supremacy, 
 were the leaders. One was at the head of the mili- 
 tary and the (^ther at the head of the civil and 
 military power of the so-called Confederacy. Tf 
 we select these and execute them, it will be a warn- 
 ing to all men, in all time, that it is not safe to be 
 the leaders of a rebellion against this novt'rnmcnt. 
 Tlici-cfoi'e, by tlieii' execution, you take all the 
 seeiu'itv of the future which you can take. II" vou 
 
37 
 
 go bej^ond these two men, I know not where 3 ou 
 are to stop. There are ten, twenty, fifty, one hun- 
 dred, perhaps one thousand other men who are 
 equally gnilty, eaeh Avith the other. Inasmuch as 
 no countr}^ can aftbrd to exact blood, to any con- 
 siderable extent, for political crimes, Ave should do 
 that which will be justified upon the page of 
 histor}^, and Avhich aaIII lead to all the practical 
 benefits which can result from the punishment 
 of any number of traitors. By a peculiar preemi- 
 nence these tAYO men are responsible to the country 
 for the sloAA^ murder of our soldiers in prison. At 
 au}^ moment, DaA^is or Lee could haA^e put a stop 
 to this cruel torture and murder of men, through 
 months and almost years of sufi'ering. It cannot 
 be said, perhaps, of an}^ other man engaged in 
 the rebellion, that it AA^as in his poAA^er to liaA'e 
 suppressed this s^^stematic murder; and therefore 
 they are peculiarly responsible to the army of 
 Republic, to the country, and to mankind for this 
 great crime. It is only second in turpitude to 
 that of Mithridates, king of Pontus, aa-Iio seized a 
 Roman proconsul, cariied him to the city of 
 Pergamus, and ordered melted gold to be poured 
 doAA^n his throat. At the same time he sent a letter 
 to all the cities and proA'inces of his kingdom, 
 directing his officers to seize all persons OAving 
 allegiance to Rome, and execute them on a day 
 
38 
 
 naiiK'd. Uutk'!' this order a hundred and fifty 
 thousand men, women and ehikh'en were murdered. 
 
 Cicero referred to this crime, after the lapse 
 of more tlian twenty years, in his speech, — the 
 greatest perhaps of liis s})eeches, — his speecli for 
 the Manihan law, in Aviiich he urgx'd the appoint- 
 ment of Pompey to tlie supreme command oi' the 
 army as the only means by which this crime and 
 olfcnce to Rome might be avenged in common with 
 other crimes and wrongs which the state had 
 suftcred at the hands of its enemies. 
 
 But however heinous the crime of the reljels 
 in the treatment of prisoners, and however respon- 
 siljle the Southern people are for the war and 
 its woes, there Avill Ije no condign punishment 
 except wdiat is inflicted upon these two men; 
 possibly even they may escape; but there is one 
 punishment which we can carry home to every 
 rebel in the South. lie has been afraid of negro 
 cqualit}'. The ballot is, in a certain sense, the 
 spnbol of equality. The Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence does not mean that " all men arc created 
 equal " in e^■ely respect, but tliat no man is, by 
 natiii'e, in a state of i)olitical subserviency to any 
 other man. All ai'C equal, — none supivme. 1 
 know of no j>unishnient wliiih would be so uni- 
 versally eiiicacious throughout tlu- i-ebel Slates as 
 to i)iil into the hand of the negro the l^allot, 
 thai at the l)allot-box once a veai', or once in 
 
39 
 
 two years, or once in four years, he may stand 
 the equal of his former master. This is a punish- 
 ment that will go home to every rebel in the eleven 
 rebellious States. 
 
 By the Emancipation ProcLamation, we have 
 taken the initiatory steps towards the freedom of 
 the negro; but how are liberties secured? Are 
 there laboring men here to-day? Wliat security 
 have they for the integrity of their famihes ? "What 
 security have they for the benefit of the writ of 
 hcibeas corpus? What security have they for 
 the education of their children at the public 
 expense? What security have they that their 
 testimony shall be taken in a court of justice? 
 Their security is in the ballot. We say tliat men 
 possess certain " natural, essential and unalienable 
 rights." How are those rights to be defended? 
 Either by the bayonet or by the ballot. If the 
 negroes are to protect themselves in their rights, 
 it is for the country to give them the means by 
 giving them the ballot. And it is not less in 
 favor of the South than of the whole country 
 that we advocate negro suffrage. We of Massa- 
 chusetts remember the difficulties in Rhode Island, 
 less than quarter of a century ago, when men of 
 our own race, having the political power of the 
 State in their own hands exclusively, refused to 
 recognize the rights of other men of the same race, 
 the same blood, equally qualified with themselves, 
 
40 
 
 until tilt' concession was extorted i'roni them by 
 revolution; and do you expect that the white 
 men oi' the South, if you allow them to institute 
 governments with political ])()\vcr in thcii- own 
 hands, exclusively, will ever concede it to the 
 negroes, until the negroes extort it I'roni tlicm at 
 the point of the bayonet? These negroes are four 
 million to-day. They will increase through 
 decades and centuries until they are eight, ten, 
 twenty million, and if you do not give them the 
 right of suffrage now, at some future time, they or 
 their posterity will demand it and secure it by force. 
 Instead, therefore, of being the enemies of the 
 South, when we demand negro suffrage, we are its 
 real friends, because Ave take security in their 
 behalf, at this early day, that hereafter they shall 
 be saved from intestine commotion, from ci^ il and 
 social wars. 
 
 Perversion and misrepresentation are power- 
 less, and argument thus far has not been heard, 
 in behalf of the monstrous proposition that the 
 ]N^orth should consent to such a reconstruction 
 of this govenmient as will guarantee perpet- 
 ually to two white men in the South tlie i)olil- 
 ical power that is accorded to three white men 
 in the IS^ortli. ^\ ho are they and what are 
 they, if they exist at all within the limits of the 
 loyal States, who ai-e [jrepared to maintain the 
 doctrine that Virginia, South Carolina, Florida and 
 
41 
 
 Texas have the same immediate and indisputable 
 right of representation as is enjoyed by ]N'ew York, 
 lUinois, Pennsylvania and California? That they 
 have not this right is conceded by all, or by nearly 
 all among lis. ISTo one is prepared to accept South 
 Carolina with her old constitution. The veriest 
 stickler for State rights demands some alteration. 
 This demand, however slight it may seem in its 
 practical application, is the equivalent in principle, 
 'of the demand I make. South Carolina is in the 
 Union with her constitution of 1860, or as a politi- 
 cal organization known as a State she is not in 
 the Union at all ; and if she is not in the Union 
 as a State, her application for admission may 
 be rejected until she appears with a frame of 
 government in substantial harmony with the pol- 
 icy of the nation. You must be just to the 
 negro. When you invited him to assume the 
 uniform of the army of the Republic, Avhen 
 3^ou put the musket into his hand, when you 
 asked him to jeopard, and, if need • be, to sacri- 
 fice his life in defence of the country, you did, 
 in fact, if not in terms, agree that if the cause 
 — his cause as well as your own — was success- 
 ful, he should have the same part in the govern- 
 ment as yourselves, and therefore you cannot, 
 without the basest ingratitude, now reject him. 
 I am compelled to declare to you, my friends, 
 in all sincerity, heinous as are the crimes of these 
 
42 
 
 Southern men, infamous as they will be upon the 
 l)age of history, that if the people of the Xorth, 
 now that they have acquired liljerty for themselves, 
 now that they have secm'ed the restorati(jn of the 
 Union l)y the services and sacrifices of the negro, 
 in common Avitli their own ser^■i(•(.'s and llieir own 
 sacrifices, should surrender him, bound hand and 
 foot, as he will be, if he does not enjoy the right of 
 suffrage, into the custody of his enemies, made 
 doubly ferocious by the events of this war, and mto* 
 the custody of your enemies, also, your position 
 upon the page of history, and in the judgment of 
 posterity, will be only less infamous than theirs. I 
 know of no excuse that we can offer to ourselves, I 
 know of no excuse that we can offer to this genera- 
 tion in other coimtries, I know of no excuse that 
 we can offer to mankind in the coming ages, if, 
 after having accepted the services and the blood of 
 these men in defence of the flag, of liberty and of 
 the Union, we turn and conspire with these their 
 ancient oj^pressors and tram2)le our faithful allies 
 in the dust. Let it not be that this infamy is 
 reserved for the people of this country. Of all the 
 woes of Avhicli avc have drunk through these four 
 years, of all the instances of degradation wliich 
 have been treasured iij) in the long annals of man- 
 kind, I know of none which will compare with 
 the woe and the degradation of a free peoj^le, 
 who, having secured their OAvn liberties by the 
 
43 
 
 blood of tlieii' fellow men, with base ingratitude 
 ofiered their allies to the common enemy, to the 
 enemy of the country, of liberty and of mankind. 
 
 I have thus, gentlemen, attempted to demon- 
 strate the existence of sufficient and constitutional 
 power in the government to enable Congress to 
 hold the people of the rebellious districts under the 
 jurisdiction of the national authority, wdiile they 
 are excluded from any voice in the public councils, 
 until they frame State governments which are truly 
 republican in form, and until evidence is furnished 
 that the public sentiment of each proposed State is 
 so far loyal as to justify the expectation that its 
 general policy will accord A\dth the general policy 
 of the country; and this without claiming to inter- 
 fere, and without interfering with the mstitutions 
 of a State. 
 
 I have also sought to demonstrate that the exer- 
 cise of this power is necessary for the security of 
 the loyal people, the preservation of the public 
 credit, as it is connected with and dependent upon 
 a constant exhibition of good faith, by the people 
 and the public authorities. Moreover, you cannot 
 fail to be influenced by the plain statement that, 
 under the constitution, you must secure the elective 
 franchise to the negro, or surrender your own 
 equal right in the government of the country; and 
 finally, you are not insensible to the obligations 
 
44 
 
 resting iii)on you, to secure to all men the means 
 of protecting those rights of person and property, 
 Avhich are the evidences of freedom and its con- 
 stant su};port. This i)olicv furnishes at (uice secu- 
 rity to the country, equality to the ^vhites of all 
 sections, justice to the negro, universal punishment 
 of the rebels, the only efficient means of stimulating 
 the industry and developing the resources of the 
 South, and at last adequate and permanent protec- 
 tion against civil and social feuds and wars in all 
 portions of the country where the two races are 
 nearly equal in numbers or strength. 
 
 I have assumed also that the instances of pardon 
 of rebels l)y the President will Ije increased, and 
 that in })eace we shall abandon the policy which 
 was inaugurated in time of wai", and adapted to a 
 time of war, of confiscating the property of rebels 
 who are not distinguished b}^ any special criminal- 
 it}' from their associates in treason. "Whether you 
 indict and try persons, or confiscate their property, 
 the number of the guilty is so great, that many 
 necessarily escape. During the war, we seized the 
 property of individual enemies, as a means of 
 diminishing the })ower of those in arms against us. 
 The reason no longer remains, and it will prol)al)ly 
 be thought wise to modily our legislation so as to 
 relieve the mass of Southern people Irom all ai)pre- 
 hension. So, too, we can ha\ e no secui'ity for the 
 loyalty of a State, until a clear majority of its po])- 
 
45 
 
 ulation are known to Ijc worthy of trust. "When- 
 ever a State is restored to the Union, the lo^'al 
 sentiment should be sufficiently powerful to permit 
 those who have been disloyal to exercise the elec- 
 tive franchise; otherwise you nourish alienation, 
 and encourage the elements of treason and war. 
 Our policy towards the mass of our enemies must 
 be liberal. Restore to them, with as little delay as 
 possible, all the personal, civil and political rights 
 which they enjoyed previous to the rebellion. 
 With such an exhibition of magnanimity towards 
 those w^ho have been our enemies, not even they 
 can justly complain when Ave demand the elective 
 franchise for those who have been our friends. 
 Thus does this policy appear to be wise and con- 
 servative as a national policy; thus is it necessary 
 to ourselves; thus is it just to our friends; thus is 
 it magnanmious to our enemies. 
 
LibKMKt Ul- lUNL.Kti>b 
 
 009 086 449 fi