592 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



of conscience, freedom of the press and of speech, 

 personal freedom from military arrest, of being held 

 to answer for crime only upon presentment and in- 

 dictment, of trial by jury, of the writ of habeas cor- 

 pus, and the protection of civil and constitutional 

 government a citizen, thus deeply wronged, appeals 

 to the Supreme Court for the protection guaranteed 

 to him by the organic law of the land. At once a 

 fierce and excited majority, by the ruthless hand of 



dation and bondage worse than death. 



It will also be recorded as one of the marvels of the 

 times, that a party claiming for itself a monopoly of 

 consistency and patriotism, and boasting, too, of its 

 unlimited sway, endeavored, by a costly and delib- 

 erate trial, to impeach one who defended the Consti- 

 tution and the Union not only throughout the war of 

 the rebellion, but during his whole term of office as 

 Chief Magistrate ; but, at the same time, could find 

 no warrant or means at their command to bring to 

 trial even the chief of the rebellion. Indeed, the 

 remarkable failures in his case were so often repeated 

 that, for propriety's sake if for no other reason, it be- 

 came at last necessary to extend to him an uncon- 

 ditional pardon. What more plainly than this illus- 

 trates the extremity of party management and incon- 

 sistency on the one hand, and of faction, vindictive- 

 ness, and intolerance, on the other ? Patriotism will 

 hardly be encouraged when, in such a record, it sees 

 that its instant reward may be the most virulent party 

 abuse and obloquy, if not attempted disgrace. In- 

 stead of seeking to " make treason odious/' it would, 

 in truth, seem to have been their purpose rather to 

 make the defence of the Constitution and the Union 

 a crime, and to punish fidelity to an oath of office, if 

 counter to party dictation, by all the means at their 

 command. 



Happily for the peace of the country, the war has 

 determined against the assumed power of the States 

 to withdraw at pleasure from the Union. The insti- 

 tution of slavery also found its destruction in a rebel- 

 lion commenced in its interest. It should be borne 

 in mind, however, that the war neither impaired nor 

 destroyed the Constitution, but, on the contrary, pre- 

 served its existence, and made apparent its real power 

 and enduring strength. All the rights granted to the 

 States, or reserved to the people thereof, remain 

 therefore intact. Among those rights is that of the 

 people of each State to declare the qualifications of 

 their own State electors. It is now assumed that 

 Congress can control this vital rigjit, which can never 

 be taken away from the States without impairing the 

 fundamental principles of the Government itselfT It 

 is necessary to the existence of the States, as well as 

 to the protection of the liberties of the people ; for the 

 right to select the elector in whom the political power 

 ot a State shall be lodged, involves the right of the 

 State_ to govern itself. When depi-ived of this pre- 

 rogative, the States will have no power worth retain- 

 ing ; all will be gone, and they will be subjected to 

 the arbitrary will of Congress. The Government will 

 then be centralized, if not by the passage of laws, 

 then by the adoption, through partisan influence, of 

 an amendment directly in conflict with the original 

 design of the Constitution. This proves how neces- 

 sary it is that the people should require the adminis- 

 tration of the three great departments of the Govern- 

 ment strictly within the limitations of the Constitu- 

 tion. Their boundaries have been accurately defined, 

 and neither should be allowed to trespass upon the 

 other, nor, above all, to encroach upon the reserved 

 rights of the people and the States. The troubles of 

 the past four years will prove to the nation blessings 

 if they produce so desirable a result. 



Upon those who became young men amid the sound 

 of cannon and din of arms, and quietly returned to 

 the farms j the factories, and the schools of the land, 

 will principally devolve the solemn duty of perpetu- 

 ating the Union of the States, in defence of which 

 hundreds of thousands of their comrades expired, and 

 hundreds of millions of national obligations were in- 

 curred. A manly people will not neglect the train- 

 ing necessary to resist aggression, but thejr should 

 be jealous lest the civil be made subordinate to 

 the military element. We need to encourage, in 

 every legitimate way, a study of the Constitution for 

 which the war was waged, a knowledge of and rever- 

 ence for whose wise checks by those so soon to occu- 

 py the places filled by their seniors, will be the only 

 hope of preserving the republic. The young men of 

 the nation, not yet under the control of party, must 

 resist the tendency to centralization an outgrowth 

 of the great rebellion and be familiar with the fact 

 that the country consists of united States, and that, 

 when the States surrendered certain great rights for 

 the sake of a more perfect union, they retained rights 

 as valuable aud important as those which they relin- 

 quished for the common weal. 



This sound old doctrine, far different from the 

 teachings that led to the attempt [to secede, and a 

 kindred theory that States were taken out of the 

 Union by the rash acts of conspirators that happened 

 to dwell within their borders, must be received and 

 advocated with the enthusiasm of early manhood, or 

 the people will be ruled by corrupt combinations of 

 the commercial centres, who, plethoric from wealth, 

 annually migrate to the capital of the nation to pur- 

 chase special legislation. Until the representatives 

 of the people in Congress more fully exhibit the 

 diverse views and interests of the whole nation, and 

 laws cease to be made without full discussion at the 

 behest of some party leader, there will never be a 

 proper respect shown by the law-making power 

 either to the judicial or executive branch of the Gov- 

 ernment. The generation just beginning to use the 

 ballot-box, it is oelieved, only need that their atten- 

 tion should be called to these considerations to indi- 

 cate, by their votes, that they wish their representa- 

 tives to observe all the restraints which the people, 

 in adopting the Constitution, intended to impose 

 upon party excess. 



Calmly reviewing my administration of the Govern- 

 ment, I feel that, with a sense of accountability to 

 God, having conscientiously endeavored to discharge 

 my whole duty, I have nothing to regret. Events 

 have proved the correctness of the policy set forth in 

 my first and subsequent messages ; the woes which 

 have followed the rejection of forbearance, magna- 

 nimity, and constitutional rule, are known and de- 

 plored by the nation. 



It is a matter of pride and gratification, in retiring 

 from the most exalted position in the gift of a free 

 people, to feel and know that in a long, arduous, 

 and eventful public life, my action has never been 

 influenced by desire for gain, and that I can, in- 

 all sincerity, Inquire, "Whom have I defrauded? 

 whom have I oppressed ? or off whose hand have 1 

 received any bribe to blind my eyes therewith?" 

 No responsibility for wars that have been waged 

 or blood that has been shed rests upon me. My 

 thoughts have been those of peace, and my effort 

 has ever been to allay contentions among my coun- 

 trymen. 



^ Forgetting the past, let us return to the first prin- 

 ciples of the Government, and, unfurling the banner 

 of our country, inscribe upon it, in ineffaceable char- 

 acters, "The Constitution and the Union, one and 

 inseparable." 



ANDKEW JOHNSON. 



WASHINGTON, March 4, 1869. 



