“But this cannot be without Education. As the soldier disappears,
his place must be supplied by the schoolmaster. The muster-roll
will be exchanged for the school-register, and our head-quarters
will be in a school-house.”
And I accompanied this with a proposition to require in the
reconstructed States “a system of public schools open to all, without
distinction of race or color,” which was lost by a tie vote, being 20
to 20.[220]
The subject recurred again in the Senate July 13, 1867, when, after
declaring regret at the inadequacy of the pending measure, especially
in not securing a system of Public Education, and not excluding Rebel
influence, I remarked:--
“In saying this, I desire to add, that, in my judgment, all
exclusions belong to what I call _the transition period_. When
Reconstruction is accomplished, the time will come for us to open
the gates.”[221]
In these few words will be found the ruling principle which I have
recognized in Reconstruction.
The address, “Are We a Nation?” made at the Cooper Institute, November
19, 1867, testifies again to Reconciliation. After showing how the
national supremacy in the guardianship of equal rights is consistent
with local self-government, and vindicating the two in their respective
spheres, it says:--
“There will be a sphere alike for the States and Nation. Local
self-government, which is the pride of our institutions, will
be reconciled with the national supremacy in maintenance of
human rights, and the two together will constitute the elemental
principles of the Republic. The States will exercise a minute
jurisdiction required for the convenience of all; the Nation
will exercise that other paramount jurisdiction required for the
protection of all. _The reconciliation--God bless the word!_--thus
begun will embrace the people, who, forgetting past differences,
will feel more than ever that they are one.”[222]
Then again, in addressing the Republican State Convention at Worcester,
September 22, 1869, I said:--
“Do not think me harsh; do not think me austere. I am not. I will
not be outdone by anybody in clemency; nor at the proper time will
I be behind any one in opening all doors of office and trust.…
Who can object, if men recently arrayed against their country are
told to stand aside yet a little longer, until all are secure in
their rights? Here is no fixed exclusion,--nothing of which there
can be any just complaint,--nothing which is not practical, wise,
humane,--nothing which is not born of justice rather than victory.
In the establishment of Equal Rights conquest loses its character,
and is no longer conquest,--
‘For then both parties nobly are subdued,
And neither party loser.’”[223]