800 



UNITED STATES. 



prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such an ex- 

 clusive and inflexible plan would surely become a 

 new entanglement. Important principles may and 

 must be inflexible. In the present situation, as the 

 phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new 

 announcement to the people of the South. I am 

 considering, and shall not fail to act when satisfied 

 that action will be proper. 



At the same time proclamations were issued 

 relative to closing the Southern ports, in which 

 the Government claimed to exercise the same 

 legal authority over them as over other ports of 

 the United States, and also declaring that in 

 future foreign cruisers would receive in ports 

 of the United States the same treatment which 

 in their ports was given to 'cruisers of the United 

 States. About the same time, April 13th, an 

 order was issued from the War Department, 

 stopping all drafting and recruiting, curtailing 

 the purchase of military stores, etc. 



But the time was now close at hand when 

 the duty of restoring the integrity of the coun- 

 try was to pass into other hands. On April 

 15th, Vice-President Johnson, then in "Wash- 

 ington, received the following letter : 



WASHINGTON CITY, D. 0., April 15, 1865. 

 SIR: Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 

 States, was shot by an assassin last evening at Ford's 

 Theatre, in this city, and died at the hour of twenty- 

 two minutes after seven o'clock this morning. 



About the same time at which the President was 

 shot an assassin entered the sick-chamber of the Hon. 

 William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and stabbed 

 him in several places in the throat, neck, and face 

 severely if not mortally wounding him. Other mem- 

 bers of the Secretary's family were dangerously 

 wounded by the assassin while making his escape. 



By the death of President Lincoln the office of 

 President has devolved under the Constitution upon 

 you. The emergency of the Government demands 

 that you should immediately qualify according to the 

 requirements of the Constitution, and enter upon the 

 duties of President of the United States. If you will 

 please make known your pleasure, such arrangements 

 as you deem proper will be made. 

 Your obedient servants, 

 HUGH McCULLOCH, Sec. of the Treasury, 

 EDWIN M. STANTON, Sec. of War, 

 GIDEON WELLES, Sec. of the Navy, 

 W. DEXNISON, Postmaster-General, 

 J. P. USHER, Sec. of the Interior, 

 JAMES SPEED, Attorney-General. 

 To Hon. ANDREW JOHNSON, Vice-President of the 

 United States. 



Mr. Johnson, in answer, appointed 11 o'clock, 

 A.M., at his rooms at the Kirkwood Hotel, as 

 the time and place when he would take the 

 oath of office. It was duly administered to him 

 by Chief Justice Chase, in presence of the 

 Cabinet and several members of Congress. He 

 then said : 



Gentlemen, I must be permitted to say that I have 

 been almost overwhelmed by the announcement of 

 the sad event which has so recently occurred. I feel 

 incompetent to perform duties so important and re- 

 sponsible as those which have been so unexpectedly 

 thrown upon me. As to an indication of any policy 

 which may be pursued by me in the administration 

 of the Government, I have to say that that must be 

 left for development, as the administration progresses. 

 The message or declaration must be made by the acts 

 os they transpire. The only assurance that I can 

 now give of the future, is by reference to the past. 

 Tht course which I have taken in the past, in con- 



nection with this rebellion, must be regarded as a 

 guaranty for the future. My past public life, which 

 has been long and laborious, has been founded, as I 

 in good conscience believe, upon a great principle of 

 right, which lies at the basis of all things. The best 

 energies of my life have been spent in endeavoring 

 to establish and perpetuate the blessings of free gov- 

 ernment; and I believe that the Government, in pass- 

 ing through its present trials, will settle down upon 

 principles consonant with popular rights, more per- 

 manent and enduring than heretofore. I must be 

 permitted to say, if 1 understood the feelings of my 

 own heart, I have long labored to ameliorate and al- 

 leviate the condition of the great mass of the Amer- 

 ican people. Toil, and an honest advocacy of the 

 great principles of free government, have been my 

 lot. The duties have been mine the consequences 

 are God's. This has been the foundation of my 

 political creed. I feel that in the end the Govern- 

 ment will triumph, and that these great principles 

 will be permanently established. 



In conclusion, gentlemen, let me say that I want 

 your encouragement and countenance. I shall ask, 

 and rely, upon you and others, in carrying the Gov- 

 ernment through its present perils. I feel, in making 

 this request, that it will be heartily responded to by 

 you and all other patriots and lovers of the rights 

 and interests of a free people. 



Unparalleled as were the excitement and re- 

 gret produced by this death, the details of which 

 will be found elsewhere (see LINCOLN, ABBA- 

 HAM), the authority of the nation, without any 

 formal parade or ceremony, was thus quietly 

 transferred to other hands. The Cabinet of Mr. 

 Lincoln continued unchanged through the year. 

 Much interest was immediately awakened in 

 the public mind to learn the views of the 

 President on the state of the country, and the 

 plan to be pursued in the restoration of the 

 union of the States. Delegations of citizens 

 from several States waited upon him and ten- 

 dered their hearty support, to whom he said, in 

 most explicit terms, that his past course must 

 be an indication of what his future would be. 

 To a delegation of citizens of New Hampshire 

 he said : 



I have now, as always an abiding faith in the ulti- 

 mate triumph of justice and right, and I shall seek 

 the inspiration and guidance of this faith, in the as- 

 sured belief that the present struggle will result in 

 the permanent establishment of our Government, and 

 in making us a free, united, and happy people. This 

 Government is novv passing through a fiery, and, let 

 us hope, its last ordeal one that will test its powers 

 of endurance, and will determine whether it can do 

 what its enemies have denied suppress and punish 

 treason. This is the trial through which we are now 

 passing, and, if we are true to ourselves and the prin- 

 ciples upon which the Constitution was framed, who 

 can doubt that the Government will settle down upon 

 a more enduring basis than its best friends have dared 

 to hope for it ? 



In entering upon the discharge of the grave duties 

 before me, it has been suggested and even urged by 

 friends whose good opinions I value, and whose judg- 

 ment I respect, that I shall foreshadow the policy 

 that would guide me, in some formal, public mani- 

 festo. But who c< mid have foretold the events of the 

 East four years ? Who was wise enough to indicate 

 eforehand a line of policy adapted to all the chang- 

 ing emergencies of that period? It is not in the 

 wisdom and foresight of man to prescribe a course 

 of action in advance for such disturbed and perilous 

 conditions as now distract public affairs. I believe I 

 may say that my past life is known to the country, 



