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PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



Resolved 'by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

 the United States of America in Congress ansembled (two 



{birds of both Houses concurring), That the following ar- 

 icles 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 thou- 

 sand 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 State 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 instalments, 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 after- 

 ward reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall re- 

 fund 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 free- 

 dom by the chances of the war, at any lime 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 other- 

 wise 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 con- 

 tinue. 



Among the friends of the Union there is great diver- 

 sity of sentiment and of policy in regard to slavery, 

 and the African race amongst us. Some would perpet- 

 uate slavery ; some would abolish it suddenly and with- 

 out 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 compro- 

 mise ; 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 conces- 

 sions. 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 consum- 

 mating it thirty -seven years ; and, thirdly, the com- 

 pensation. 



The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the ad- 

 vocates of perpetual slavery ; but the length of time 

 should greatly mitigate their dissatisfaction. The time 

 spares both races from the evils of sudden derange- 

 ment 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 va- 

 grant destitution which must largely attend immediate 

 emancipation in localities where their numbers a,re 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 pro- 

 ceed 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 con- 

 tinuance. 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 bene'fits 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 compen- 

 sated emancipation was proposed last March, and con- 

 sider whether, if that measure had been promptly ac- 

 cepted 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 eco- 

 nomical 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 peo- 

 ple to share the burden, instead of thirty-one millions, 

 as now. And not only so, but the increase of our pop- 

 ulation may be expected to continue for a long time 

 after that period as rapidly as before; because our ter- 

 ritory will not have become full. I do not state this 

 inconsiderately. 



At the same ratio of increase which we have main- 

 tained, on an average, from our first national census, 

 in 1790, until that of 1860, we should, in 1900, have a 

 population of 103,208,415. And why may we not con- 

 tinue that ratio far beyond that period ? Our abundant 

 room our broad national homestead is our ample re- 

 source. Were our territory as limited as are the Brit- 

 ish Isles, very certainly our population could not ex- 

 pand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign born 

 as now, we should be compelled to send part of the na- 

 tive born away. But such is not our condition. We 

 have two millions nine hundred and sixty-three thou- 

 sand square miles. Europe has three millions and eight 

 hundred thousand, with a population averaging seven- 

 ty-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 Eu- 

 rope, 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 157 ; Rhode Island 

 133; Connecticut 99 ; New York and New Jersey, each 

 80. Also two other great States, Pennsylvania and 

 Ohio, are not far below, the former having 63 and the 

 latter 59. The States already above the European av- 

 erage, 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 coun- 

 try in natural capacity for sustaining a dense population. 



