PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



713 



gross, during that period, nothing can be found 

 which, during the continuance of hostilities, much 

 less after their close, would have sanctioned any 

 departure by the Executive, from a policy which has 

 so uniformly obtained. Moreover, a concession of 

 the elective franchise to the freedmen, by act of the 

 President of the United States, must have been ex- 

 tended to all colored men, wherever found, and so 

 must have established a change of suffrage in the 

 Northern, Middle, and Western States, not less than 

 in the Southern and Southwestern. Such an act 

 would have created a new class of voters, and would 

 have been an assumption of power by the President 

 which nothing in tne Constitution or laws of the 

 United States would have warranted. 



On the other hand, every danger of conflict is 

 avoided when the settlement of the question is re- 

 ferred to the several States. They can, each for itself, 

 decide on the measure, and whether it is to be adopted 

 at once and absolutely, or introduced gradually and 

 with conditions. In my judgment, the freedmen, if 

 they show patience and manly virtues, will sooner 

 obtain a participation in the elective franchise through 

 the States than through the General Government, 

 even if it had power to intervene. When the tumult 

 of emotions that have been raised by the suddenness 

 of the social change shall have subsided, it may prove 

 that they will receive the kindliest usage from some 

 of those on whom they have heretofore most closely 

 depended. 



But while I have no doubt that now, after the close 

 of the war, it is not competent for the General Gov- 

 ernment to extend the elective franchise in the sev- 

 eral States, it is equally clear that good faith requires 

 the security of the freedmen in their liberty and their 

 property, their right to labor, and their right to claim 

 the just return of their labor. I cannot too strongly 

 urge a dispassionate treatment of this subject, which 

 should be carefully kept aloof from all party strife. 

 We must avoid hasty assumptions of any natural 

 impossibility for the two races to live side by side, 

 in a state of mutual benefit and good will. The ex- 

 periment involves us in no inconsistency; let us, 

 then, go on and make that experiment in good faith, 

 and not be too easily disheartened. The country is 

 in need of labor, and the freedmen are in need of 

 employment, culture, and protection. While their 

 right of voluntary migration and expatriation is not 

 to be questioned, I would not advise their forced 

 removal and colonization. Let us rather encourage 

 them to honorable and useful industry, where it may 

 be beneficial to themselves and to the country ; and, 

 instead of hasty anticipations of the certainty of fail- 

 ure, let there be nothing wanting to the fair trial of 

 the experiment. The change in their condition is 

 the substitution of labor by contract, for the status of 

 slavery. The freedman cannot fairly he accused of 

 unwillingness to work, so long as a doubt remains 

 about his freedom of choice in his pursuits, and the 

 certainty of his recovering his stipulated wages. In 

 this the interests of the employer and the employed 

 coincide. The employer desires in his workmen 

 spirit and alacrity, and these can be permanently 

 secured in no other way. And if the one ought to be 

 able to enforce the contract, so ought the other. The 

 public interest will be best promoted, if the several 

 States will provide adequate protection and remedies 

 for the freedmen. Until this is in some way accom- 

 plished, there is no chance for the advantageous use 

 of their labor; and the blame of ill success will not 

 rest on them. 



I know that sincere philanthropy is earnest for the 

 immediate realization of its remotest aims ; but time 

 is always an element in reform. It is one of the great- 

 est acts on record, to have brought four millions of 

 people into freedom. The career of free industry 

 must be fairly opened to them ; and then their future 

 prosperity and condition must, after all, rest mainly 

 on themselves. If they fail, and so perish away, let 

 us be careful that the failure shall not be attributable 



to any denial of justice. In all that relates to the 

 destiny of the freedmen, we need not be too anxious 

 to read the future; many incidents which, from a 

 speculative point of view, might raise alarm, will 

 quietly settle themselves. 



Now that slavery is at an end, or near its end, the 

 greatness of its evil, in the point of view of public 

 economy, becomes more and more apparent. Slaverv 

 was essentially a monopoly of labor, and as such 

 locked the States where it prevailed against the in- 

 coming of free industry. Where labor was the prop- 

 erty of the capitalist, the white man was excluded 

 from employment, or had but the second best chance 

 of finding it; and the foreign emigrant turned away 

 from the region where his condition would be so 

 precarious. With the destruction of the monopoly, 

 free labor will hasten from all parts of the civilized 

 world to assist in developing various and immeas- 

 urable resources which have hitherto lain dormant. 

 The eight or nine States nearest the Gulf of Mexico, 

 have a soil of exuberant fertility, a climate friendly 

 to long life, and can sustain a denser population than 

 is found as yet in any part of our country. And the 

 future influx to them will be mainly from the North, 

 or from the most cultivated nations in Europe. From 

 the sufferings that have attended them during our 

 late struggle, let us look away to the future, which 

 is sure to be laden for them with greater prosperity 

 than has ever before been known. The removal of 

 the monopoly of slave labor, is a pledge that those 

 regions will be peopled by a numerous and enter, 

 prising population, which will vie with any in the 

 Union in compactness, inventive genius, wealth, and 

 industry. 



Our Government springs from, and was made for the 

 peopl e not the people for the Government. To them 

 it owes allegiance ; from them it must derive its cour- 

 age, strength, and wisdom. But, while the Govern- 

 ment is thus bound to defer to the people, from whom 

 it derives its existence, it should, from the very con- 

 sideration of its origin, be strong in its power of re- 

 sistance to the establishment of inequalities. Monop- 

 olies, perpetuities, and class legislation are contrary 

 to the genius of free government, and ought not to 

 be allowed. Here, there is no room for favored 

 classes or monopolies ; the principle of our Govern- 

 ment is that of equal laws and freedom of industry. 

 Wherever monopoly attains a foothold, it is sure to 

 be a source of danger, discord, and trouble. We 

 shall but fulfil our duties as legislators, by according 

 " equal and exact justice to all men," special privi- 

 leges to none. The Government is subordinate to 

 the people; but, as the agent and representative of 

 the people, it must be held superior to monopolies, 

 which, in themselves, ought never to be granted, 

 and which, where they exist, must be subordinate 

 and yield to the Government. 



The Constitution confers on Congress the right to 

 regulate commerce among the several States. It is 

 of the first necessity, for the maintenance of the 

 Union, that that commerce should be free and unob- 

 structed. No State can be justified in any device to 

 tax the transit of travel and commerce betAyeen States. 

 The position of many States is such that, if they were 

 allowed to take advantage of it for the purposes of 

 local revenue, the commerce between States might 

 be injuriously burdened, or even virtually prohibited. 

 It is best, wh"ile the country is still young, and while 

 the tendency to dangerous monopolies of this kind 

 is still feeble, to use the power of Congress so as to 

 prevent any selfish impediment to the free circula- 

 tion of men and merchandise. A tax on travel and 

 merchandise, in their transit, constitutes one of the 

 worst forms of monopoly, and the evil is increased if 

 coupled with a denial of the choice of route. When 

 the vast extent of our country is considered, it is 

 plain that every obstacle to the free circulation of 

 commerce between the States ought to be sternly 

 guarded against by appropriate legislation, within the 

 limits of the Constitution. 



