PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



641 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. Message of Presi- 

 dent JOHNSON to the two Houses of Con- 

 gress, at the commencement of the second 

 regular session of the Fortieth Congress, 

 December 7, 1868. 



Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and 



Home of Representatives : 



Upon the reassembling of Congress, it again be- 

 comes my duty to call your attention to the state ^ of 

 the Union, and to its continued disorganized condition 

 under the various laws which have been passed upon 

 the subject of reconstruction. 



It may be safely assumed, as an axiom in the gov- 

 ernment of States, that the greatest wrongs inflicted 

 upon a people are caused by unjust and arbitrary 



oppressive ^ 



conferred upon a nation. The legislator or ruler who 

 has the wisdom and magnanimity to retrace his steps, 

 when convinced of error, will sooner or later be re- 

 warded with the respect and gratitude of an intelli- 

 gent and patriotic people. 



Our own history although embracing a period of 

 less than a century affords abundant proof that most, 

 if not all, of pur domestic troubles are directly trace- 

 able to violations of the organic law and excessive 

 legislation. The most striking illustrations of this 

 fact are furnished by the enactments of the past three 

 jrears upon the question of reconstruction. After a 

 fair trial, they have substantially failed, and proved 

 pernicious in their results, and there seems to be no 

 good reason why they should longer remain upon the 

 statute-book. States to which the Constitution guar- 

 antees a republican form of government, have oeen 

 reduced to military dependencies, in each of which 

 the people have been made subject to the arbitrary 

 will of the commanding general. Although the Con- 

 stitution requires that each State shall be represented 

 in Congress, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas are yet 

 excluded from the two Houses, and, contrary to the 

 express provisions of that instrument, were denied 

 participation in the recent election for a President 

 and Vice-President of the United States. The at- 

 tempt to place the white Copulation under the domi- 

 nation of persons of color in the South, has impaired, 

 if not destroyed, the kindly relations that had pre- 

 viously existed between them; and mutual distrust 

 has engendered a feeling of animosity which, leading 

 in some instances to collision and bloodshed, has 

 prevented that cooperation between the two races so 

 essential to the success of industrial enterprises in the 

 Southern States. Nor have the inhabitants of those 

 States alone suffered from the disturbed condition of 

 affairs growing out of these congressional enactments. 

 The entire Union has been agitated by grave appre- 

 hensions of troubles which might again involve the 

 peace of the nation ; its interests have been injuriously 

 affected by the derangement of business and labor, 

 and the consequent want of prosperity throughout 

 that portion of the country. 



The Federal Constitution the magna charta of 

 American rights, under whose wise and salutary pro- 

 visions we have successfully conducted all our do- 

 mestic and foreign aifairs, sustained ourselves in peace 

 and in war, and become a great nation among the 

 powers of the earth must assuredly be now adequate 

 to the settlement of questions growing out of the civil 

 war waged alone for its vindication. This great fact 

 is made most manifest by the condition of the country 

 when Congress assembled in the month of December, 

 1865. Civil strife had ceased ; the spirit of rebellion 

 had spent its entire force ; in the Southern States the 

 people had warmed into national life, and throughout 

 the whole country a healthy reaction in public senti- 

 ment had taken gjace. By the application of the 

 simple, yet effective, provisions of the Constitution, 

 the Executive Department, with the voluntary aid or 

 the States, had brought the work of restoration as 

 VOL. vm. 41 A 



near completion as was within the scope of its author- 

 ity, and the nation was encouraged by the prospect 

 of an early and satisfactory adjustment of all its 

 difficulties. Congress, however, intervened, and re- 

 fusing to perfect the work so nearly consummated, 

 declined to admit members from the unrepresented 

 States, adopted a series of measures which arrested 

 the progress of restoration, frustrated all that had 

 been so successfully accomplished, and, after three 

 years of agitation and strife, has left the country far- 

 ther from the attainment of union and fraternal feel- 

 ing than at the inception of the Congressional plan 

 of reconstruction. It needs no argument to show 

 that legislation which has produced such baneful 

 consequences should be abrogated, or else made to 

 conform to the genuine principles of republican 

 government. 



Under the influence of party passion and sectional 

 prejudice, other acts have been passed not warranted 

 by the Constitution. Congress has already been 

 made familiar with my views respecting the " Tenure- 

 pf-Office Bill." Experience has proved that its repeal 

 is demanded by the best interests of the country, and 

 that while it remains in force the President cannot 

 enjoin that rigid accountability of public officers so 

 essential to an honest and efficient execution of the 

 laws. Its revocation would enable the Executive De- 

 partment to exercise the power of appointment and 

 removal in accordance with the original design of the 

 Federal Constitution. 



The act of March 2, 1867 ? making appropriations 

 for the support of the army for the year ending June 

 30,^1868, and for other purposes, contains provisions 

 which interfere with the President's constitutional 

 functions as Commander-in-Chief of the army, and 

 deny to States of the Union the right to protect them- 

 selves by means of their own militia. These provi- 

 sions should be at once annulled ; for while the first 

 might, in tunes of great emergency, seriously embar- 

 rass the Executive in efforts to employ and direct the 



militia being necessary to the security of a free State, 

 the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall 

 not be infringed." 



It is believed that the repeal of all such laws would 

 be accepted by the American people as at least a 

 partial return to the fundamental principles of the 

 Government, and an indication that hereafter the 

 Constitution is to be made the nation's safe and un- 

 erring guide. They can be productive of no perma- 

 nent benefit to the country, and should not be per- 

 mitted to stand as so many monuments of the 

 deficient wisdom which has characterized our recent 

 legislation. 



The condition of our finances demands the early 

 and earnest consideration of Congress. Compared 

 with the growth of our population, the public expen- 

 ditures have reached an amount unprecedented in our 

 history. 



The population of the United States in 1790 was 

 nearly four millions of people. Increasing each de- 

 cade about thirty-three per cent., it reached in 1860 

 thirty-one millions an increase of seven hundred 

 per cent, on the population in 1790. In 1869 it is 

 estimated that it will reach thirty-eight millions, or 

 an increase of eight hundred and sixty-eight per cent, 

 in seventy-nine years. 



The annual expenditures of the Federal Govern- 

 ment in 1791 were four million two hundred thousand 

 dollars ; in 1820, eighteen million two hundred 

 thousand dollars ; in 1850, forty-one millions ; in 

 I860, sixty-three millions; in 1865, nearly thirteen 

 hundred millions : and in 1869 it is estimated by the 

 Secretary of the Treasury, in his last annual report, 

 that they will be three hundred and seventy-two 

 millions. 



By comparing the public disbursements of 1869, as 

 estimated, with those of 1791, it will be seen that the 



