LAST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS.
Situation of the Country--Opposition to the Administration--
President’s Message.
Dark days for the friends of freedom in this country were those at
the close of 1862. Prior to the autumn of that year the elections
had shown a popular indorsement of the acts of the Administration.
Then came a change. The three leading States--New York, Ohio, and
Pennsylvania--through manifestations and misrepresentations which it is
unnecessary here to detail, had been induced to give majorities against
the Government. Not the least singular of the many remarkable instances
of inconsistency which our political annals afford, was furnished in
the State first-named, which had actually elected a “Peace” man as its
Governor, on the platform of “a more vigorous prosecution of the war.”
The failure of the Peninsular Campaign was charged upon the President.
The war, it was asserted, had been perverted from its original purpose.
It was no longer waged to preserve the Union, but to free the slave;
or, in the more elegant phraseology of the day, it had become “a nigger
war.” With the ignorant and unthinking such statements passed as
truths.
The number of those who, never having invested any principle in the
struggle, had become tired of the war, had largely increased. The
expectation of a draft--or a “conscription,” as it better suited the
objects of the disaffected to term it--which was passed at the next
session of Congress, made the lukewarm love of many to wax cold.
Newspapers and stump-speakers had the hardihood to demand peace upon
any terms. It was even claimed that an opposition majority had been
secured in the lower House of the next Congress. Their representatives
in the Congress of 1862 began to re-assume those airs of insolence and
defiance which they had previously found it convenient to lay aside for
the time.
Dark days, indeed, when the Thirty-seventh Congress assembled for its
last session, on the 1st of December, 1862.
Yet there was one who never faltered in purpose, however discouraging
the prospect; one, who, assured that he was right, was determined
to follow the right, wherever it might lead him. And, though his
careworn expression and anxious look told plainly how the fearful
responsibilities of his office weighed upon him, he had ever a cheerful
word, a happy illustration, a kindly smile, or a look of sympathy for
those with whom he came in contact.
* * * * *
The essential portions of his Annual Message on this occasion are given
below:
“FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:--Since
your last annual assembling, another year of health and bountiful
harvests has passed. And, while it has not pleased the Almighty to
bless us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the
best light He gives us, trusting that, in His own good time and
wise way, all will yet be well....
“If the condition of our relations with other nations is less
gratifying than it has usually been at former periods, it is
certainly more satisfactory than a nation so unhappily distracted
as we are, might reasonably have apprehended. In the month of June
last there were some grounds to expect that the maritime powers
which, at the beginning of our domestic difficulties, so unwisely
and unnecessarily, as we think, recognized the insurgents as a
belligerent, would soon recede from that position, which has proved
only less injurious to themselves than to our own country. But the
temporary reverses which afterward befell the National arms, and
which were exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens abroad, have
hitherto delayed that act of simple justice.
“The civil war, which has so radically changed, for the moment,
the occupations and habits of the American people, has necessarily
disturbed the social condition, and affected very deeply the
prosperity of the nations with which we have carried on a commerce
that has been steadily increasing throughout a period of half a
century. It has, at the same time, excited political ambitions and
apprehensions which have produced a profound agitation throughout
the civilized world. In this unusual agitation we have forborne
from taking part in any controversy between foreign States, and
between parties or factions in such States. We have attempted
no propagandism, and acknowledged no revolution. But we have
left to every nation the exclusive conduct and management of its
own affairs. Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated by
foreign nations with reference less to its own merits, than to its
supposed, and often exaggerated, effects and consequences resulting
to those nations themselves. Nevertheless, complaint on the part of
this Government, even if it were just, would certainly be unwise.
“The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the
slave-trade, has been put into operation, with a good prospect
of complete success. It is an occasion of special pleasure to
acknowledge that the execution of it, on the part of Her Majesty’s
Government, has been marked with a jealous respect for the
authority of the United States, and the rights of their moral and
loyal citizens....
“Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of
African descent to favor their emigration, with a view to such
colonization, as was contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other
parties, at home and abroad--some from interested motives, others
upon patriotic considerations, and still others influenced by
philanthropic sentiments--have suggested similar measures; while,
on the other hand, several of the Spanish-American republics have
protested against the sending of such colonies to their respective
territories. Under these circumstances I have declined to move
any such colony to any State, without first obtaining the consent
of its Government, with an agreement on its part to receive and
protect such emigrants in all the rights of freemen; and I have,
at the same time, offered to the several States situated within
the tropics, or having colonies there, to negotiate with them,
subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, to favor the
voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their respective
territories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just, and
humane. Liberia and Hayti are, as yet, the only countries to which
colonists of African descent from here, could go with certainty of
being received and adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such
persons, contemplating colonization, do not seem so willing to
migrate to those countries, as to some others, nor so willing as
I think their interest demands. I believe, however, opinion among
them in this respect is improving; and that, ere long, there will
be an augmented and considerable migration to both these countries,
from the United States....
“I have favored the project for connecting the United States with
Europe by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend
the telegraph from San Francisco, to connect by a Pacific telegraph
with the line which is being extended across the Russian Empire.
“The Territories of the United States, with unimportant exceptions,
have remained undisturbed by the civil war; and they are exhibiting
such evidence of prosperity as justifies an expectation that some
of them will soon be in a condition to be organized as States, and
be constitutionally admitted into the Federal Union.
“The immense mineral resources of some of those territories
ought to be developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in
that direction would have a tendency to improve the revenues of
the Government, and diminish the burdens of the people. It is
worthy of your serious consideration whether some extraordinary
measures to promote that end can not be adopted. The means which
suggests itself as most likely to be effective, is a scientific
exploration of the mineral regions in those Territories, with a
view to the publication of its results at home and in foreign
countries--results which can not fail to be auspicious.
“The condition of the finances will claim your most diligent
consideration. The vast expenditures incident to the military and
naval operations required for the suppression of the rebellion,
have hitherto been met with a promptitude and certainty unusual
in similar circumstances; and the public credit has been fully
maintained. The continuance of the war, however, and the increased
disbursements made necessary by the augmented forces now in the
field, demand your best reflections as to the best modes of
providing the necessary revenue, without injury to business, and
with the least possible burdens upon labor.
“The suspension of specie payments by the banks, soon after the
commencement of your last session, made large issues of United
States notes unavoidable. In no other way could the payment of
the troops, and the satisfaction of other just demands, be so
economically or so well provided for. The judicious legislation of
Congress, securing the receivability of these notes for loans and
internal duties, and making them a legal tender for other debts,
has made them a universal currency; and has satisfied, partially
at least, and for the time, the long felt want of an uniform
circulating medium, saving thereby to the people immense sums in
discounts and exchanges.
“A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period
compatible with due regard to all interests concerned, should ever
be kept in view. Fluctuations in the value of currency are always
injurious, and to reduce these fluctuations to the lowest possible
point, will always be a leading purpose in wise legislation.
Convertibility, prompt and certain convertibility into coin, is
generally acknowledged to be the best and the surest safeguard
against them; and it is extremely doubtful whether a circulation of
United States notes, payable in coin, and sufficiently large for
the wants of the people, can be permanently, usefully and safely
maintained.
“Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision
for the public wants can be made, and the great advantages of a
safe and uniform currency secured?
“I know of none which promises so certain results, and is, at the
same time, so unobjectionable, as the organization of banking
associations, under a general Act of Congress, well guarded
in its provisions. To such associations the Government might
furnish circulating notes, on the security of the United States
bonds deposited in the treasury. These notes, prepared under the
supervision of proper officers, being uniform in appearance and
security, and convertible always into coin, would at once protect
labor against the evils of a vicious currency, and facilitate
commerce by cheap and safe exchanges.
“A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would
compensate the United States for the preparation and distribution
of the notes, and a general supervision of the system, and would
lighten the burden of that part of the public debt employed
as securities. The public credit, moreover, would be greatly
improved, and the negotiation of new loans greatly facilitated by
the steady market demand for Government bonds which the adoption of
the proposed system would create.
“It is an additional recommendation of the measure of considerable
weight, in my judgment, that it would reconcile as far as possible,
all existing interests, by the opportunity offered to existing
institutions to reörganize under the act, substituting only the
secured uniform national circulation for the local and various
circulation, secured and unsecured, now issued by them.
“The receipts into the treasury, from all sources, including loans,
and balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on
the 30th June, 1862, were $583,885,247 06, of which sum $49,056,397
62 were derived from customs $1,795,331 73 from the direct tax;
from public lands, $152,203 77; from miscellaneous sources,
$931,787 64 from loans in all forms, $529,692,460 50. The remainder
$2,257,065 80, was the balance from last year.
“The disbursements during the same period were for Congressional,
Executive, and Judicial purposes, $5,939,009 29; for foreign
intercourse, $1,339,710 35; for miscellaneous expenses, including
the mints, loans, post office deficiencies, collection of revenue,
and other like charges, $14,129,771 50; for expenses under the
Interior Department, $3,102,985 52; under the War Department,
$394,368,407 36; under the Navy Department, $42,674,569 69; for
interest on public debt, $13,190,324 45; and for payment of public
debt, including reimbursement of temporary loan, and redemptions
$96,096,922 09; making an aggregate of $570,841,700 25, and leaving
a balance in the treasury on the first day of July, 1862, of
$13,043,546 81.
“It should be observed that the sum of $96,096,922 09, expended for
reimbursements and redemption of public debt, being included also
in the loans made, may be properly deducted, both from receipts
and expenditures, leaving the actual receipts for the year,
$487,788,324 97; and the expenditures $474,744,778 16....
“On the 22d day of September last a proclamation was issued by the
Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.
“In accordance with the purpose expressed in the second paragraph
of that paper, I now respectfully call your attention to what may
be called ‘compensated emancipation.’
“A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people
and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain
durability. ‘One generation passeth away and another generation
cometh, but the earth abideth forever.’ It is of the first
importance to duly consider, and estimate, this ever-enduring part.
That portion of the earth’s surface which is owned and inhabited by
the people of the United States, is well adapted to be the home of
one national family; and it is not well adapted for two or more.
Its vast extent, and its variety of climate and productions, are
of advantage, in this age, for one people, whatever they might
have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs and intelligence have
brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united
people.
“In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the total
inadequacy of disunion, as a remedy for the differences between the
people of the two sections. I did so in language which I can not
improve, and which, therefore, I beg to repeat:
“‘One section of our country believes Slavery is _right_, and
ought to be extended, while the other believes it is _wrong_ and
ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute.
The fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, and the law for the
suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced,
perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral
sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great
body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both
cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be
perfectly cured; and it would be worse in both cases _after_ the
separation of the sections, than before. The foreign slave-trade,
now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without
restriction in one section; while fugitive slaves, now only
partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.
“‘Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our
respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall
between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the
presence, and beyond the reach of each other; but the different
parts of our country can not do this. They cannot but remain face
to face; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue
between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse
more advantageous, or more satisfactory, _after_ separation than
_before_? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make
laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens,
than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not
fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain
on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to
terms of intercourse, are again upon you.
“‘There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a National
boundary, upon which to divide. Trace through, from east to west,
upon the line between the free and slave country, and we shall
find a little more than one-third of its length are rivers, easy
to be crossed, and populated, or soon to be populated, thickly,
upon both sides; while nearly all its remaining length are merely
surveyors’ lines, over which people may walk back and forth without
any consciousness of their presence. No part of this line can be
made any more difficult to pass, by writing it down on paper, or
parchment, as a national boundary. The fact of separation, if it
comes, gives up, on the part of the seceding, the fugitive slave
clause, along with all other constitutional obligations upon the
section seceded from, while I should expect no treaty stipulation
would ever be made to take its place.
“But there is another difficulty. The great interior region,
bounded east by the Alleghanies, north by the British Dominions,
west by the Rocky Mountains, and south by the line along which
the culture of corn and cotton meets, and which includes part
of Virginia, part of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota,
and The territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and part of Colorado,
already has above ten millions of people, and will have fifty
million within fifty years, if not prevented by any political folly
or mistake. It contains more than one-third of the country owned
by the United States--certainly more than one million of square
miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts already is, it would
have more than seventy-five millions of people. A glance at the
map shows that, territorially speaking, it is the great body of
the Republic. The other parts are but marginal borders to it; the
magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific, being the deepest, and also the richest, in undeveloped
resources. In the production of provisions, grains, grasses,
and all which proceed from them, this great interior region is
naturally one of the most important in the world. Ascertain from
the statistics the small proportion of the region which has, as
yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the large and rapidly
increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed with
the magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has no
sea-coast, touches no ocean any where. As part of one nation, its
people now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New
York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by
San Francisco. But separate our common country into two nations,
as designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great
interior region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these
outlets, not, perhaps, by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing
and onerous trade regulations.
“And this is true, _wherever_ a dividing or boundary line may be
fixed. Place it between the now free and slave country, or place it
south of Kentucky, or north of Ohio, and still the truth remains,
that none south of it can trade to any port or place north of
it, and none north of it can trade to any port or place south of
it, except upon terms dictated by a government foreign to them.
These outlets, east, west, and south, are indispensable to the
well-being of the people inhabiting, and to inhabit, this vast
interior region. _Which_ of the three may be the best, is no proper
question. All are better than either; and all, of right, belong to
that people, and to their successors forever. True to themselves,
they will not ask _where_ a line of separation shall be, but will
vow, rather, that there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal
regions less interested in these communications to, and through
them, to the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must
have access to this Egypt of the West, without paying toll at the
crossing of any National boundary.
“Our National strife springs not from our permanent part; not from
the land we inhabit; not from our National homestead. There is no
possible severing of this, but would multiply, and not mitigate,
evils among us. In all its adaptations and aptitudes, it demands
union, and abhors separation. In fact it would, ere long, force
reunion, however much of blood and treasure the separation might
have cost.
“Our strife pertains to ourselves--to the passing generations of
men; and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever with the
passing of one generation.
“In this view, I recommend the adoption of the following resolution
and articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States:
“_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, (two-thirds of both
Houses concurring,) That the following articles be proposed to the
Legislatures (or conventions) of the several States as amendments
to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which
articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures
(or conventions), to be valid as part or parts of the said
Constitution, viz.:
“_Article --._ Every State, wherein Slavery now exists, which shall
abolish the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand and nine
hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States as
follows, to wit:
“The President of the United States shall deliver, to every such
States, bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate
of ---- per cent. per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate
sum of ---- for each slave shown to have been therein, by the
eighth census of the United States, said bonds to be delivered to
such State by installments, or in one parcel, at the completion of
the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall have been gradual,
or at one time, within such State; and interest shall begin to
run upon any such bond, only from the proper time of its delivery
as aforesaid. Any State, having received bonds as aforesaid, and
afterward re-introducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall
refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value
thereof, and all interest paid thereon.
“_Article --._ All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom
by the chances of the war, at any time before the end of the
rebellion, shall be forever free; but all owners of such, who shall
not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them, at the same
rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery,
but in such way, that no slave shall be twice accounted for.
“_Article --._ Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise
provide for colonizing free colored persons, with their own
consent, at any place or places without the United States.
“I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed articles at some
length. Without slavery, the rebellion could never have existed;
without slavery, it could not continue.
“Among the friends of the Union, there is great diversity of
sentiment, and of policy, in regard to slavery, and the African
race among us. Some would perpetuate slavery; some would abolish
it suddenly, and without compensation; some would abolish it
gradually, and with compensation; some would remove the freed
people from us, and some would retain them with us; and there are
yet other minor diversities. Because of these diversities, we waste
much strength in struggles among ourselves. By mutual concession we
should harmonize, and act together. This would be compromise; but
it would be compromise among the friends, and not with the enemies
of the Union. These articles are intended to embody a plan of such
mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is assumed
that emancipation will follow, at least in several of the States.
“As to the first article, the main points are: first, the
emancipation; secondly, the length of time for consummating
it--thirty-seven years; and thirdly, the compensation.
“The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of
perpetual slavery; but the length of time should greatly mitigate
their dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the
evils of sudden derangement--in fact, from the necessity of any
derangement--while most of those whose habitual course of thought
will be disturbed by the measure, will have passed away before its
consummation. They will never see it. Another class will hail the
prospect of emancipation, but will deprecate the length of time.
They will feel that it gives too little to the now living slaves.
But it really gives them much. It saves them from the vagrant
destitution which must largely attend immediate emancipation in
localities where their numbers are very great; and it gives the
inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be free forever. The
plan leaves to each State, choosing to act under it, to abolish
slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate
time, or by degrees extending over the whole or any part of the
period; and it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also
provides for compensation, and, generally, the mode of making it.
This, it would seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of
those who favor perpetual slavery, and especially of those who
are to receive the compensation. Doubtless, some of those who are
to pay, and not to receive, will object. Yet the measure is both
just and economical. In a certain sense, the liberation of slaves
is the destruction of property--property acquired by descent, or
by purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less true
for having been often said, that the people of the South are not
more responsible for the original introduction of this property,
than are the people of the North; and when it is remembered how
unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar and share the profits of
dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say, that the South
has been more responsible than the North for its continuance. If,
then, for a common object, this property is to be sacrificed, is it
not just that it be done at a common charge?
“And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can
preserve the benefits of the Union by this means, than we can by
the war alone, is it not also economical to do it? Let us consider
it then. Let us ascertain the sum we have expended in the war since
compensated emancipation was proposed last March, and consider
whether, if that measure had been promptly accepted, by even some
of the slave States, the same sum would not have done more to close
the war, than has been otherwise done. If so, the measure would
save money, and, in that view, would be a prudent and economical
measure. Certainly it is not so easy to pay _something_ as it is
to pay _nothing_; but it is easier to pay a _large_ sum, than it
is to pay a _larger_ one. And it is easier to pay any sum _when_
we are able, than it is to pay it _before_ we are able. The war
requires large sums, and requires them at once. The aggregate
sum necessary for compensated emancipation, of course, would be
large. But it would require no ready cash; nor the bonds even,
any faster than the emancipation progresses. This might not, and
probably would not, close before the end of the thirty-seven
years. At that time we shall probably have a hundred millions of
people to share the burden, instead of thirty-one millions, as
now. And not only so, but the increase of our population may be
expected to continue for a long time after that period, as rapidly
as before; because our territory will not have become full. I do
not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase
which we have maintained, on an average, from our first National
census, in 1790, until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a
population of one hundred and three million, two hundred and eight
thousand, four hundred and fifteen. And why may we not continue
that ratio far beyond that period? Our abundant room--our broad
National homestead--is our ample resource. Were our territory as
limited as are the British Isles, very certainly our population
could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign born,
as now, we should be compelled to send part of the native born
away. But such is not our condition. We have two millions nine
hundred and sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three
millions and eight hundred thousand, with a population averaging
seventy-three and one-third persons to the square mile. Why may not
our country, at some time, average as many? Is it less fertile? Has
it more waste surface, by mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or
other causes? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural advantage?
If, then, we are, at some time, to be as populous as Europe, how
soon? As to when this _may_ be, we can judge by the past and the
present, as to when it _will_ be, if ever, depends much on whether
we maintain the Union. Several of our States are already above the
average of Europe--seventy-three and a third to the square mile.
Massachusetts has one hundred and fifty-seven; Rhode Island, one
hundred and thirty-three; Connecticut, ninety-nine; New York and
New Jersey, each, eighty. Also two other great States, Pennsylvania
and Ohio, are not far below, the former having sixty-three and the
latter fifty-nine. The States already above the European average,
except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio, since passing
that point, as ever before; while no one of them is equal to some
other parts of our country, in natural capacity for sustaining a
dense population.
“Taking the nation in the aggregate, and we find its population
and ratio of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as
follows:
1790 3,929,827
1800 5,305,937 35.02 per cent. ratio of increase
1810 7,239,814 36.45 “ “
1820 9,638,131 33.13 “ “
1830 12,866,020 33.49 “ “
1840 17,069,453 32.67 “ “
1850 23,191,876 35.87 “ “
1860 31,443,790 35.58 “ “
“This shows an average decennial increase of 34.60 per cent. in
population through the seventy years from our first to our last
census yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase, at one
of these seven periods, is either two per cent. below, or two
per cent. above, the average, thus showing how inflexible, and,
consequently, how reliable, the law of increase, in our case is.
Assuming that it will continue, gives the following results:
1870 42,423,341
1880 56,967,216
1890 76,677,872
1900 103,208,415
1910 138,918,526
1920 186,984,335
1930 251,680,914
“These figures show that our country _may_ be as populous as Europe
now is, at some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our
territory, at seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile,
being the capacity to contain 217,186,000.
“And we _will_ reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish
the chance, by the folly and evil of disunion, or by long and
exhausting war, springing from the only great element of National
discord among us. While it can not be foreseen exactly how much one
huge example of secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would
retard population, civilization, and prosperity, no one can doubt
that the extent of it would be very great and injurious.
“The proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace,
insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth
of the country. With these, we should pay all the emancipation
would cost, together with our other debt, easier than we should
pay our other debt, without it. If we had allowed our old National
debt to run at six per cent. per annum, simple interest, from the
end of our Revolutionary struggle until to-day, without paying any
thing on either principal or interest, each man of us would owe
less upon that debt now, than each man owed upon it then; and this
because our increase of men, through the whole period, has been
greater than six per cent.; has run faster than the interest upon
the debt. Thus, time alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its
population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its
debt.
“This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is
justly due; but it shows the great importance of time in this
connection--the great advantage of a policy by which we shall
not have to pay until we number a hundred millions, what, by a
different policy, we would have to pay now, when we number but
thirty-one millions. In a word, it shows that a dollar will be much
harder to pay for the war, than will be a dollar for emancipation
on the proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no blood, no
precious life. It will be a saving of both.
“As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to
return to bondage the class of persons therein contemplated. Some
of them, doubtless, in the property sense, belong to loyal owners;
and hence, provision is made in this article for compensating such.
“The third article relates to the future of the freed people.
It does not oblige, but merely authorizes, Congress to aid in
colonizing such as may consent. This ought not to be regarded as
objectionable, on the one hand, or on the other, in so much as it
comes to nothing, unless by the mutual consent of the people to be
deported, and the American voters, through their representatives in
Congress.
“I can not make it better known than it already is, that I strongly
favor colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection
urged against free colored persons remaining in the country, which
is largely imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.
“It is insisted that their presence would injure, and displace
white labor and white laborers. If there ever could be a proper
time for mere catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In
times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they
would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity.
Is it true, then, that colored people can displace any more
white labor by being free, than by remaining slaves? If they
stay in their old places, they jostle no white laborers; if they
leave their old places, they leave them open to white laborers.
Logically, there is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation,
even without deportation, would, probably enhance the wages of
white labor, and, very surely, would not reduce them. Thus, the
customary amount of labor would still have to be performed; the
freed people would surely not do more than their old proportion
of it, and very probably, for a time, would do less, leaving
an increased part to white laborers, bringing their labor into
greater demand, and, consequently, enhancing the wages of it. With
deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to white
labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity
in the market--increase the demand for it, and you increase the
price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor, by colonizing the
black laborer out of the country, and, by precisely so much you
increase the demand for, and wages of, white labor.
“But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth, and
cover the whole land. Are they not already in the land? Will
liberation make them any more numerous? Equally distributed among
the whites of the whole country, and there would be but one colored
to seven whites. Could the one, in any way, greatly disturb the
seven? There are many communities now, having more than one free
colored person to seven whites; and this without any apparent
consciousness of evil from it. The District of Columbia, and the
States of Maryland and Delaware, are all in this condition. The
District has more than one free colored to six whites; and yet,
in its frequent petitions to Congress, I believe it has never
presented the presence of free colored persons as one of its
grievances. But why should emancipation South send the freed people
North? People, of any color, seldom run, unless there be something
to run from. _Heretofore_, colored people, to some extent, have
fled North from bondage; and _now_, perhaps, from both bondage
and destitution. But if gradual emancipation and deportation be
adopted, they will have neither to flee from. Their old masters
will give them wages, at least until new laborers can be procured;
and the freed men, in turn, will gladly give their labor for the
wages, till new homes can be found for them, in congenial climes,
and with people of their own blood and race. This proposition can
be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And, in any event, can
not the North decide for itself, whether to receive them?
“Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case has there
been any irruption of colored people northward, because of the
abolishment of slavery in this District last spring?
“What I have said of the proportion of free colored persons to the
whites, in the District, is from the census of 1860, having no
reference to persons called contrabands, nor to those made free by
the Act of Congress abolishing slavery here.
“The plan consisting of these articles is recommended, not but that
a restoration of the National authority would be accepted without
its adoption.
“Nor will the war, nor proceedings under the proclamation of
September 22d, 1862, be stayed because of the _recommendation_
of this plan. Its timely _adoption_, I doubt not, would bring
restoration, and thereby stay both.
“And, notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress
provide by law for compensating any State which may adopt
emancipation, before this plan shall have been acted upon, is
hereby earnestly renewed. Such would be only an advance part of the
plan, and the same arguments apply to both.
“This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of,
but in addition to, all others for restoring and preserving
the National authority throughout the Union. The subject is
presented exclusively in its economical aspect. The plan would,
I am confident, secure peace more speedily, and maintain it more
permanently, than can be done by force alone; while all it would
cost, considering amounts, and manner of payment, and times of
payment, would be easier paid than will be the additional cost of
the war, if we rely solely upon force. It is much--very much--that
it would cost no blood at all.
“The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It cannot
become such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of
Congress, and, afterward, three-fourths of the States. The
requisite three-fourths of the States, will necessarily include
seven of the slave States. Their concurrence, if obtained, will
give assurance of their severally adopting emancipation, at no very
distant day, upon the new constitutional terms. This assurance
would end the struggle now, and save the Union forever.
“I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper
addressed to the Congress of the nation, by the Chief Magistrate
of the nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors;
nor that many of you have more experience than I, in the conduct
of public affairs. Yet I trust that, in view of the great
responsibility resting upon me, you will perceive no want of
respect to yourselves, in any undue earnestness I may seem to
display.
“Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would
shorten the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of
blood? Is it doubted that it would restore the national authority
and national prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is
it doubted that we here--Congress and Executive--can secure its
adoption? Will not the good people respond to a united and earnest
appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means, so certainly
or so speedily, assure these vital objects? We can succeed only
by concert. It is not, ‘Can _any_ of us _imagine_ better?’ but,
‘Can we _all_ do better?’ Object whatsoever is possible, still the
question recurs, ‘Can we do better?’ The dogmas of the quiet past
are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high
with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case
is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disinthrall
ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
“Fellow-citizens, _we_ can not escape history. We of this Congress
and this Administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves.
No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or
another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light
us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We _say_
we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this.
We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how
to save it. We--even _we here_--hold the power, and bear the
responsibility. In _giving_ freedom to the _slave_, we _assure_
freedom to the _free_--honorable alike in what we give and what we
preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope
of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way
is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which, if followed, the
world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.
Dec. 1, 1862. “ABRAHAM LINCOLN.”