and to the people. On the 25th day of November 584 national banks had
been organized, a considerable number of which were conversions from
State banks. Changes from State systems to the national system are
rapidly taking place, and it is hoped that very soon there will be in
the United States no banks of issue not authorized by Congress and no
bank-note circulation not secured by the Government. That the
Government and the people will derive great benefit from this change in
the banking systems of the country can hardly be questioned. The
national system will create a reliable and permanent influence in
support of the national credit and protect the people against losses in
the use of paper money. Whether or not any further legislation is
advisable for the suppression of State-bank issues it will be for
Congress to determine. It seems quite clear that the Treasury can not
be satisfactorily conducted unless the Government can exercise a
restraining power over the bank-note circulation of the country. The
report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying documents will
detail the campaigns of the armies in the field since the date of the
last annual message, and also the operations of the several
administrative bureaus of the War Department during the last year. It
will also specify the measures deemed essential for the national
defense and to keep up and supply the requisite military force.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents a comprehensive and
satisfactory exhibit of the affairs of that Department and of the naval
service. It is a subject of congratulation and laudable pride to our
countrymen that a Navy of such vast proportions has been organized in
so brief a period and conducted with so much efficiency and success.
The general exhibit of the Navy, including vessels under construction
on the 1st of December, 1864, shows a total of 671 vessels, carrying
4,610 guns, and of 510,396 tons, being an actual increase during the
year, over and above all losses by shipwreck or in battle, of 83
vessels, 167 guns, and 42,427 tons.
The total number of men at this time in the naval service, including
officers, is about 51,000.
There have been captured by the Navy during the year 324 vessels, and
the whole number of naval captures since hostilities commenced is
1,379, of which 267 are steamers.
The gross proceeds arising from the sale of condemned prize property
thus far reported amount to $14,396,250.51. A large amount of such
proceeds is still under adjudication and yet to be reported.
The total expenditure of the Navy Department of every description,
including the cost of the immense squadrons that have been called into
existence from the 4th of March, 1861, to the 1st of November, 1864, is
$238,647,262.35.
Your favorable consideration is invited to the various recommendations
of the Secretary of the Navy, especially in regard to a navy-yard and
suitable establishment for the construction and repair of iron vessels
and the machinery and armature for our ships, to which reference was
made in my last annual message.
Your attention is also invited to the views expressed in the report in
relation to the legislation of Congress at its last session in respect
to prize on our inland waters.
I cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary as to the
propriety of creating the new rank of vice-admiral in our naval
service. Your attention is invited to the report of the
Postmaster-General for a detailed account of the operations and
financial condition of the Post-Office Department.
The postal revenues for the year ending June 30, 1864, amounted to
$12,438,253.78 and the expenditures to $12,644,786.20, the excess of
expenditures over receipts being $206,652.42.
The views presented by the Postmaster-General on the subject of special
grants by the Government in aid of the establishment of new lines of
ocean mail steamships and the policy he recommends for the development
of increased commercial intercourse with adjacent and neighboring
countries should receive the careful consideration of Congress.
It is of noteworthy interest that the steady expansion of population,
improvement, and governmental institutions over the new and unoccupied
portions of our country have scarcely been checked, much less impeded
or destroyed, by our great civil war, which at first glance would seem
to have absorbed almost the entire energies of the nation.
The organization and admission of the State of Nevada has been
completed in conformity with law, and thus our excellent system is
firmly established in the mountains, which once seemed a barren and
uninhabitable waste between the Atlantic States and those which have
grown up on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
The Territories of the Union are generally in a condition of prosperity
and rapid growth. Idaho and Montana, by reason of their great distance
and the interruption of communication with them by Indian hostilities,
have been only partially organized; but it is understood that these
difficulties are about to disappear, which will permit their
governments, like those of the others, to go into speedy and full
operation. As intimately connected with and promotive of this material
growth of the nation, I ask the attention of Congress to the valuable
information and important recommendations relating to the public lands,
Indian affairs, the Pacific Railroad, and mineral discoveries contained
in the report of the Secretary of the Interior which is herewith
transmitted, and which report also embraces the subjects of patents,
pensions, and other topics of public interest pertaining to his
Department.
The quantity of public land disposed of during the five quarters ending
on the 30th of September last was 4,221,342 acres, of which 1,538,614
acres were entered under the homestead law. The remainder was located
with military land warrants, agricultural scrip certified to States for
railroads, and sold for cash. The cash received from sales and location
fees was $1,019,446.
The income from sales during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1864, was
$678,007.21, against $136,077.95 received during the preceding year.
The aggregate number of acres surveyed during the year has been equal
to the quantity disposed of, and there is open to settlement about
133,000,000 acres of surveyed land.
The great enterprise of connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific States
by railways and telegraph lines has been entered upon with a vigor that
gives assurance of success, notwithstanding the embarrassments arising
from the prevailing high prices of materials and labor. The route of
the main line of the road has been definitely located for 100 miles
westward from the initial point at Omaha City, Nebr., and a preliminary
location of the Pacific Railroad of California has been made from
Sacramento eastward to the great bend of the Truckee River in Nevada.
Numerous discoveries of gold, silver, and cinnabar mines have been
added to the many heretofore known, and the country occupied by the
Sierra Nevada and Rocky mountains and the subordinate ranges now teems
with enterprising labor, which is richly remunerative. It is believed
that the product of the mines of precious metals in that region has
during the year reached, if not exceeded, one hundred millions in
value.
It was recommended in my last annual message that our Indian system be
remodeled. Congress at its last session, acting upon the
recommendation, did provide for reorganizing the system in California,
and it is believed that under the present organization the management
of the Indians there will be attended with reasonable success. Much yet
remains to be done to provide for the proper government of the Indians
in other parts of the country, to render it secure for the advancing
set-tier, and to provide for the welfare of the Indian. The Secretary
reiterates his recommendations, and to them the attention of Congress
is invited.
The liberal provisions made by Congress for paying pensions to invalid
soldiers and sailors of the Republic and to the widows, orphans, and
dependent mothers of those who have fallen in battle or died of disease
contracted or of wounds received in the service of their country have
been diligently administered. There have been added to the pension
rolls during the year ending the 30th day of June last the names of
16,770 invalid soldiers and of 271 disabled seamen, making the present
number of army invalid pensioners 22,767 and of navy invalid pensioners
712.
Of widows, orphans, and mothers 22,198 have been placed on the army
pension rolls and 248 on the navy rolls. The present number of army
pensioners of this class is 25,433 and of navy pensioners 793. At the
beginning of the year the number of Revolutionary pensioners was 1,430.
Only 12 of them were soldiers, of whom 7 have since died. The remainder
are those who under the law receive pensions because of relationship to
Revolutionary soldiers. During the year ending the 30th of June, 1864,
$4,504,616.92 have been paid to pensioners of all classes.
I cheerfully commend to your continued patronage the benevolent
institutions of the District of Columbia which have hitherto been
established or fostered by Congress, and respectfully refer for
information concerning them and in relation to the Washington Aqueduct,
the Capitol, and other matters of local interest to the report of the
Secretary.
The Agricultural Department, under the supervision of its present
energetic and faithful head, is rapidly commending itself to the great
and vital interest it was created to advance It is peculiarly the
people's Department, in which they feel more directly concerned than in
any other. I commend it to the continued attention and fostering care
of Congress.
The war continues. Since the last annual message all the important
lines and positions then occupied by our forces have been maintained
and our arms have steadily advanced, thus liberating the regions left
in rear, so that Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and parts of other
States have again produced reasonably fair crops.
The most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year is
General Sherman's attempted march of 300 miles directly through the
insurgent region. It tends to show a great increase of our relative
strength that our General in Chief should feel able to confront and
hold in check every active force of the enemy, and yet to detach a
well-appointed large army to move on such an expedition. The result not
yet being known, conjecture in regard to it is not here indulged.
Important movements have also occurred during the year to the effect of
molding society for durability in the Union. Although short of complete
success, it is much in the fight direction that 12,000 citizens in each
of the States of Arkansas and Louisiana have organized loyal State
governments, with free constitutions, and are earnestly struggling to
maintain and administer them. The movements in the same direction, more
extensive though less definite, in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee
should not be overlooked. But Maryland presents the example of complete
success. Maryland is secure to liberty and union for all the future.
The genius of rebellion will no more claim Maryland. Like another foul
spirit being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will woo her
no-more.
At the last session of Congress a proposed amendment of the
Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the United States passed the
Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the
House of Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress and
nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or
patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the
reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of
course the abstract question is not changed; but in intervening
election shows almost certainly that the next Congress will pass the
measure if this does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to
when the proposed amendment will go to the States for their action. And
as it is to so go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the
better? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on
members to change their views or their votes any further than, as an
additional element to be considered, their judgment may be affected by
it. It is the voice of the people now for the first time heard upon the
question. In a great national crisis like ours unanimity of action
among those seeking a common end is very desirable--almost
indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable
unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority simply
because it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end is
the maintenance of the Union, and among the means to secure that end
such will, through the election, is most dearly declared in favor of
such constitutional amendment.
The most reliable indication of public purpose in this country is
derived through our popular elections. Judging by the recent canvass
and its result, the purpose of the people within the loyal States to
maintain the integrity of the Union was never more firm nor more nearly
unanimous than now. The extraordinary calmness and good order with
which the millions of voters met and mingled at the polls give strong
assurance of this. Not only all those who supported the Union ticket,
so called, but a great majority of the opposing party also may be
fairly claimed to entertain and to be actuated by the same purpose. It
is an unanswerable argument to this effect that no candidate for any
office whatever, high or low, has ventured to seek votes on the avowal
that he was for giving up the Union. There have been much impugning of
motives and much heated controversy as to the proper means and best
mode of advancing the Union cause, but on the distinct issue of Union
or no Union the politicians have shown their instinctive knowledge that
there is no diversity among the people. In affording the people the
fair opportunity of showing one to another and to the world this
firmness and unanimity of purpose, the election has been of vast value
to the national cause.
The election has exhibited another tact not less valuable to be
known--the fact that we do not approach exhaustion in the most
important branch of national resources, that of living men. While it is
melancholy to reflect that the war has filled so many graves and
carried mourning to so many hearts, it is some relief to know that,
compared with the surviving, the fallen have been so few. While corps
and divisions and brigades and regiments have formed and fought and
dwindled and gone out of existence, a great majority of the men who
composed them are still living. The same is true of the naval service.
The election returns prove this. So many voters could not else be
found. The States regularly holding elections, both now and four years
ago, to wit, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, east
3,982,011 votes now, against 3,870,222 cast then, showing an aggregate
now of 3,982,011. To this is to be added 33,762 cast now in the new
States of Kansas and Nevada, which States did not vote in 1860, thus
swelling the aggregate to 4,015,773 and the net increase during the
three years and a half of war to 145,551. A table is appended showing
particulars. To this again should be added the number of all soldiers
in the field from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware,
Indiana, Illinois, and California, who by the laws of those States
could not vote away from their homes, and which number can not be less
than 90,000. Nor yet is this all. The number in organized Territories
is triple now what it was four years ago, while thousands, white and
black, join us as the national arms press back the insurgent lines. So
much is shown, affirmatively and negatively, by the election. It is not
material to inquire how the increase has been produced or to show that
it would have been greater but for the war, which is probably true. The
important fact remains demonstrated that we have more men now than we
had when the war began; that we are not exhausted nor in process of
exhaustion; that we are gaining strength and may if need be maintain
the contest indefinitely. This as to men. Material resources are now
more complete and abundant than ever.
The national resources, then, are unexhausted, and, as we believe,
inexhaustible. The public purpose to reestablish and maintain the
national authority is unchanged, and, as we believe, unchangeable. The
manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. On careful
consideration of all the evidence accessible it seems to me that no
attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader could result in any
good. He would accept nothing short of severance of the Union,
precisely what we will not and can not give. His declarations to this
effect are explicit and oft repeated. He does not attempt to deceive
us. He affords us no excuse to deceive ourselves. He can not
voluntarily reaccept the Union; we can not voluntarily yield it.
Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple, and inflexible. It is
an issue which can only be tried by war and decided by victory. If we
yield, we are beaten; if the Southern people fail him, he is beaten.
Either way it would be the victory and defeat following war. What is
true, however, of him who heads the insurgent cause is not necessarily
true of those who follow. Although he can not reaccept the Union, they
can. Some of them, we know, already desire peace and reunion. The
number of such may increase. They can at any moment have peace simply
by laying down their arms and submitting to the national authority
under the Constitution. Alter so much the Government could not, if it
would, maintain war against them. The loyal people would not sustain or
allow it. If questions should remain, we would adjust them by the
peaceful means of legislation, conference, courts, and votes, operating
only in constitutional and lawful channels. Some certain, and other
possible, questions are and would be beyond the Executive power to
adjust; as, for instance, the admission of members into Congress and
whatever might require the appropriation of money. The Executive power
itself would be greatly diminished by the cessation of actual war.
Pardons and remissions of forfeitures, however, would still be within
Executive control. In what spirit and temper this control would be
exercised can be fairly judged of by the past.
A year ago general pardon and amnesty, upon specified terms, were
offered to all except certain designated classes, and it was at the
same time made known that the excepted classes were still within
contemplation of special clemency. During the year many availed
themselves of the general provision, and many more would, only that the
signs of bad faith in some led to such precautionary measures as
rendered the practical process less easy and certain. During the same
time also special pardons have been granted to individuals of the
excepted classes, and no voluntary application has been denied. Thus
practically the door has been for a full year open to all except such
as were not in condition to make free choice; that is, such as were in
custody or under constraint. It is still so open to all. But the time
may come, probably will come, when public duty shall demand that it be
closed and that in lieu more rigorous measures than heretofore shall be
adopted. In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the
national authority on the part of the insurgents as the only
indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the
Government, I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat
the declaration made a year a ago, that "while I remain in my present
position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation
proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by
the terms of that proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress." If
the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty
to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their
instrument to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace I mean
simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the Government
whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those who began it.
Table showing the aggregate votes in the States named, at the presidential
election respectively in 1860 and 1864.
State 1860 1864
California 118,840 *110,000
Connecticut 77,246 86,616
Delaware 16,039 16,924
Illinois 339,693 348,235
Indiana 272,143 280,645
Iowa 128,331 143,331
Kentucky 146,216 *91,300
Maine 97,918 115,141
Maryland 92,502 72,703
Massachusetts 169,533 175,487
Michigan 154,747 162,413
Minnesota 34,799 42,534
Missouri 165,538 *90,000
New Hampshire 65,953 69,111
New Jersey 121,125 128,680
New York 675,156 730,664
Ohio 42,441 470,745
Oregon 14,410 +14,410
Pennsylvania 476,442 572,697
Rhode Island 19,931 22,187
Vermont 42,844 55,811
West Virginia 46,195 33,874
Wisconsin 152,180 148,513
--------- --------
3,870,222 3,982,01
--------
Kansas 17,234
Nevada 16,528
--------
33,762
3,982,011
--------
Total 4,015,773
3,870,222
--------
Net increase 145,551
*Nearly. +Estimated.
End of Project Gutenberg's State of the Union Addresses, by Abraham Lincoln