President[ Abraham Lincoln
Date[ December 1, 1862
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
Since your last annual assembling another year of health and bountiful
harvests has passed, and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless
us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best
light He gives us, trusting that in His own good time and wise way all
will yet be well.
The correspondence touching foreign affairs which has taken place
during the last year is herewith submitted, in virtual compliance with
a request to that effect made by the House of Representatives near the
close of the last session of Congress. If the condition of our
relations with other nations is less gratifying than it has usually
been at former periods, it is certainly more satisfactory than a nation
so unhappily distracted as we are might reasonably have apprehended. In
the month of June last there were some grounds to expect that the
maritime powers which at the beginning of our domestic difficulties so
unwisely and unnecessarily, as we think, recognized the insurgents as a
belligerent would soon recede from that position, which has proved only
less injurious to themselves than to our own country. But the temporary
reverses which afterwards befell the national arms, and which were
exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens abroad, have hitherto delayed
that act of simple justice.
The civil war, which has so radically changed for the moment the
occupations and habits of the American people, has necessarily
disturbed the social condition and affected very deeply the prosperity
of the nations with which we have carried on a commerce that has been
steadily increasing throughout a period of half a century. It has at
the same time excited political ambitions and apprehensions which have
produced a profound agitation throughout the civilized world. In this
unusual agitation we have forborne from taking part in any controversy
between foreign states and between parties or factions in such states.
We have attempted no propagandism and acknowledged no revolution. But
we have left to every nation the exclusive conduct and management of
its own affairs. Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated by
foreign nations with reference less to its own merits than to its
supposed and often exaggerated effects and consequences resulting to
those nations themselves. Nevertheless, complaint on the part of this
Government, even if it were just, would certainly be unwise. The treaty
with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade has been put
into operation with a good prospect of complete success. It is an
occasion of special pleasure to acknowledge that the execution of it on
the part of Her Majesty's Government has been marked with a jealous
respect for the authority of the United States and the rights of their
moral and loyal citizens.
The convention with Hanover for the abolition of the Stade dues has
been carried into full effect under the act of Congress for that
purpose. A blockade of 3,000 miles of seacoast could not be established
and vigorously enforced in a season of great commercial activity like
the present without committing occasional mistakes and inflicting
unintentional injuries upon foreign nations and their subjects. A civil
war occurring in a country, where foreigners reside and carry on trade
under treaty stipulations is necessarily fruitful of complaints of the
violation of neutral rights. All such collisions tend to excite
misapprehensions, and possibly to produce mutual reclamations between
nations which have a common interest in preserving peace and
friendship. In clear cases of these kinds I have so far as possible
heard and redressed complaints which have been presented by friendly
powers. There is still, however, a large and an augmenting number of
doubtful cases upon which the Government is unable to agree with the
governments whose protection is demanded by the claimants. There are,
moreover, many cases in which the United States or their citizens
suffer wrongs from the naval or military authorities of foreign nations
which the governments of those states are not at once prepared to
redress. I have proposed to some of the foreign states thus interested
mutual conventions to examine and adjust such complaints. This
proposition has been made especially to Great Britain, to France, to
Spain, and to Prussia. In each case it has been kindly received, but
has not yet been formally adopted.
I deem it my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the owners
of the Norwegian bark Admiral P. Tordenskiold, which vessel was in May,
1861, prevented by the commander of the blockading force off Charleston
from leaving that port with cargo, notwithstanding a similar privilege
had shortly before been granted to an English vessel. I have directed
the Secretary of State to cause the papers in the case to be
communicated to the proper committees.
Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of African
descent to favor their emigration, with a view to such colonization as
was contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other parties, at home and
abroad--some from interested motives, others upon patriotic
considerations, and still others influenced by philanthropic
sentiments--have suggested similar measures, while, on the other hand,
several of the Spanish American Republics have protested against the
sending of such colonies to their respective territories. Under these
circumstances I have declined to move any such colony to any state
without first obtaining the consent of its government, with an
agreement on its part to receive and protect such emigrants in all the
rights of freemen; and I have at the same time offered to the several
States situated within the Tropics, or having colonies there, to
negotiate with them, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate,
to favor the voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their
respective territories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just, and
humane. Liberia and Hayti are as yet the only countries to which
colonists of African descent from here could go with certainty of being
received and adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such persons
contemplating colonization do not seem so willing to migrate to those
countries as to some others, nor so willing as I think their interest
demands. I believe, however, opinion among them in this respect is
improving, and that ere long there will be an augmented and
considerable migration to both these countries from the United States.
The new commercial treaty between the United States and the Sultan of
Turkey has been carried into execution.
A commercial and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to the
Senate's consent, with Liberia, and a similar negotiation is now
pending with the Republic of Hayti. A considerable improvement of the
national commerce is expected to result from these measures. Our
relations with Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Prussia,
Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Rome, and the other
European States remain undisturbed. Very favorable relations also
continue to be maintained with Turkey, Morocco, China, and Japan.
During the last year there has not only been no change of our previous
relations with the independent States of our own continent, but more
friendly sentiments than have heretofore existed are believed to be
entertained by these neighbors, whose safety and progress are so
intimately connected with our own. This statement especially applies to
Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, and Chile. The
commission under the convention with the Republic of New Granada closed
its session without having audited and passed upon all the claims which
were submitted to it. A proposition is pending to revive the
convention, that it may be able to do more complete justice. The joint
commission between the United States and the Republic of Costa Rica has
completed its labors and submitted its report. I have favored the
project for connecting the United States with Europe by an Atlantic
telegraph, and a similar project to extend the telegraph from San
Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with the line which is
being extended across the Russian Empire. The Territories of the United
States, with unimportant exceptions have remained undisturbed by the
civil war; and they are exhibiting such evidence of prosperity as
justifies an expectation that some of them will soon be in a condition
to be organized as States and be constitutionally admitted into the
Federal Union.
The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought to be
developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that direction would
have a tendency to improve the revenues of the Government and diminish
the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious consideration
whether some extraordinary measures to promote that end can not be
adopted. The means which suggests itself as most likely to be effective
is a scientific exploration of the mineral regions in those Territories
with a view to the publication of its results at home and in foreign
countries--results which can not fail to be auspicious.
The condition of the finances will claim your most diligent
consideration. The vast expenditures incident to the military and naval
operations required for the suppression of the rebellion have hitherto
been met with a promptitude and certainty unusual in similar
circumstances, and the public credit has been fully maintained. The
continuance of the war, however, and the increased disbursements made
necessary by the augmented forces now in the field demand your best
reflections as to the best modes of providing the necessary revenue
without injury to business and with the least possible burdens upon
labor.
The suspension of specie payments by the banks soon after the
commencement of your last session made large issues of United States
notes unavoidable. In no other way could the payment of the troops and
the satisfaction of other just demands be so economically or so well
provided for. The judicious legislation of Congress, securing the
receivability of these notes for loans and internal duties and making
them a legal tender for other debts, has made them an universal
currency, and has satisfied, partially at least, and for the time, the
long-felt want of an uniform circulating medium, saving thereby to the
people immense sums in discounts and exchanges.
A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period compatible
with due regard to all interests concerned should ever be kept in view.
Fluctuations in the value of currency are always injurious, and to
reduce these fluctuations to the lowest possible point will always be a
leading purpose in wise legislation. Convertibility, prompt and certain
convertibility, into coin is generally acknowledged to be the best and
surest safeguard against them; and it is extremely doubtful whether a
circulation of United States notes payable in coin and sufficiently
large for the wants of the people can be permanently, usefully, and
safely maintained.
Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision for the
public wants can be made and the great advantages of a safe and uniform
currency secured?
I know of none which promises so certain results and is at the same
time so unobjectionable as the organization of banking associations,
under a general act of Congress, well guarded in its provisions. To
such associations the Government might furnish circulating notes, on
the security of United States bonds deposited in the Treasury. These
notes, prepared under the supervision of proper officers, being uniform
in appearance and security and convertible always into coin, would at
once protect labor against the evils of a vicious currency and
facilitate commerce by cheap and safe exchanges.
A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would compensate
the United States for the preparation and distribution of the notes and
a general supervision of the system, and would lighten the burden of
that part of the public debt employed as securities. The public credit,
moreover, would be greatly improved and the negotiation of new loans
greatly facilitated by the steady market demand for Government bonds
which the adoption of the proposed system would create. It is an
additional recommendation of the measure, of considerable weight, in my
judgment, that it would reconcile as far as possible all existing
interests by the opportunity offered to existing institutions to
reorganize under the act, substituting only the secured uniform
national circulation for the local and various circulation, secured and
unsecured, now issued by them.
The receipts into the treasury from all sources, including loans and
balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on the 30th
June, 1862, were $583,885,247.06, of which sum $49,056,397.62 were
derived from customs; $1,795,331.73 from the direct tax; from public
lands, $152,203.77; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787.64; from loans
in all forms, $529,692,460.50. The remainder, :$2,257,065.80, was the
balance from last year.
The disbursements during the same period were: For Congressional,
executive, and judicial purposes, $5,939.009.29; for foreign
intercourse, $1,339,710.35; for miscellaneous expenses, including the
mints, loans, Post-Office deficiencies, collection of revenue, and
other like charges, $14,129,771.50; for expenses under the Interior
Department, 985.52; under the War Department, $394,368,407.36; under
the Navy Department, $42,674,569.69; for interest on public debt,
$13,190,324.45; and for payment of public debt, including reimbursement
of temporary loan and redemptions, $96,096,922.09; making an aggregate
of $570,841,700.25, and leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st
day of July, 1862, of $13,043,546.81.
It should be observed that the sum of $96,096,922.09, expended for
reimbursements and redemption of public debt, being included also in
the loans made, may be properly deducted both from receipts and
expenditures, leaving the actual receipts for the year $487,788,324.97,
and the expenditures $474,744,778.16.
Other information on the subject of the finances will be found in the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whose statements and views
I invite your most candid and considerate attention.
The reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy are herewith
transmitted. These reports, though lengthy, are scarcely more than
brief abstracts of the very numerous and extensive transactions and
operations conducted through those Departments. Nor could I give a
summary of them here upon any principle which would admit of its being
much shorter than the reports themselves. I therefore content myself
with laying the reports before you and asking your attention to them.
It gives me pleasure to report a decided improvement in the financial
condition of the Post-Office Department as compared with several
preceding years. The receipts for the fiscal year 1861 amounted to
$8,349,296.40, which embraced the revenue from all the States of the
Union for three quarters of that year. Notwithstanding the cessation of
revenue from the so-called seceded States during the last fiscal year,
the increase of the correspondence of the loyal States has been
sufficient to produce a revenue during the same year of $8,299,820.90,
being only $50,000 less than was derived from all the States of the
Union during the previous year. The expenditures show a still more
favorable result. The amount expended in 1861 was $13,606,759.11. For
the last year the amount has been reduced to $11,125,364.13, showing a
decrease of about $2,481,000 in the expenditures as compared with the
preceding year, and about $3,750,000 as compared with the fiscal year
1860. The deficiency in the Department for the previous year was
$4,551,966.98. For the last fiscal year it was reduced to
$2,112,814.57. These favorable results are in part owing to the
cessation of mail service in the insurrectionary States and in part to
a careful review of all expenditures in that Department in the interest
of economy. The efficiency of the postal service, it is believed, has
also been much improved. The Postmaster-General has also opened a
correspondence through the Department of State with foreign governments
proposing a convention of postal representatives for the purpose of
simplifying the rates of foreign postage and to expedite the foreign
mails. This proposition, equally important to our adopted citizens and
to the commercial interests of this country, has been favorably
entertained and agreed to by all the governments from whom replies have
been received.
I ask the attention of Congress to the suggestions of the
Postmaster-General in his report respecting the further legislation
required, in his opinion, for the benefit of the postal service.
The Secretary of the Interior reports as follows in regard to the
public lands: The public lands have ceased to be a source of revenue.
From the 1st July, 1861, to the 30th September, 1862, the entire cash
receipts from the sale of lands were $137,476.26--a sum much less than
the expenses of our land system during the same period. The homestead
law, which will take effect on the 1st of January next, offers such
inducements to settlers that sales for cash can not be expected to an
extent sufficient to meet the expenses of the General Land Office and
the cost of surveying and bringing the land into market.
The discrepancy between the sum here stated as arising from the sales
of the public lands and the sum derived from the same source as
reported from the Treasury Department arises, as I understand, from the
fact that the periods of time, though apparently, were not really
coincident at the beginning point, the Treasury report including a
considerable sum now which had previously been reported from the
Interior, sufficiently large to greatly overreach the sum derived from
the three months now reported upon by the Interior and not by the
Treasury. The Indian tribes upon our frontiers have during the past
year manifested a spirit of insubordination, and at several points have
engaged in open hostilities against the white settlements in their
vicinity. The tribes occupying the Indian country south of Kansas
renounced their allegiance to the United States and entered into
treaties with the insurgents. Those who remained loyal to the United
States were driven from the country. The chief of the Cherokees has
visited this city for the purpose of restoring the former relations of
the tribe with the United States. He alleges that they were constrained
by superior force to enter into treaties with the insurgents, and that
the United States neglected to furnish the protection which their
treaty stipulations required.
In the month of August last the Sioux Indians in Minnesota attacked the
settlements in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing
indiscriminately men, women, and children. This attack was wholly
unexpected, and therefore no means of defense had been prodded. It is
estimated that not less than 800 persons were killed by the Indians,
and a large amount of property was destroyed. How this outbreak was
induced is not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust,
need not to be stated. Information was received by the Indian Bureau
from different sources about the time hostilities were commenced that a
simultaneous attack was to be made upon the white settlements by all
the tribes between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The
State of Minnesota has suffered great injury from this Indian war. A
large portion of her territory has been depopulated, and a severe loss
has been sustained by the destruction of property. The people of that
State manifest much anxiety for the removal of the tribes beyond the
limits of the State as a guaranty against future hostilities. The
Commissioner of Indian Affairs will furnish full details. I submit for
your especial consideration whether our Indian system shall not be
remodeled. Many wise and good men have impressed me with the belief
that this can be profitably done.
I submit a statement of the proceedings of commissioners, which shows
the progress that has been made in the enterprise of constructing the
Pacific Railroad. And this suggests the earliest completion of this
road, and also the favorable action of Congress upon the projects now
pending before them for enlarging the capacities of the great canals in
New York and Illinois, as being of vital and rapidly increasing
importance to the whole nation, and especially to the vast interior
region hereinafter to be noticed at some greater length. I purpose
having prepared and laid before you at an early day some interesting
and valuable statistical information upon this subject. The military
and commercial importance of enlarging the Illinois and Michigan Canal
and improving the Illinois River is presented in the report of Colonel
Webster to the Secretary of War, and now transmitted to Congress. I
respectfully ask attention to it.
To carry out the provisions of the act of Congress of the 15th of May
last, I have caused the Department of Agriculture of the United States
to be organized.
The Commissioner informs me that within the period of a few months this
Department has established an extensive system of correspondence and
exchanges, both at home and abroad, which promises to effect highly
beneficial results in the development of a correct knowledge of recent
improvements in agriculture, in the introduction of new products, and
in the collection of the agricultural statistics of the different
States.
Also, that it will soon be prepared to distribute largely seeds,
cereals, plants, and cuttings, and has already published and liberally
diffused much valuable information in anticipation of a more elaborate
report, which will in due time be furnished, embracing some valuable
tests in chemical science now in progress in the laboratory.
The creation of this Department was for the more immediate benefit of a
large class of our most valuable citizens, and I trust that the liberal
basis upon which it has been organized will not only meet your
approbation, but that it will realize at no distant day all the fondest
anticipations of its most sanguine friends and become the fruitful
source of advantage to all our people.
On the 22d day of September last a proclamation was issued by the
Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted. In accordance with
the purpose expressed in the second paragraph of that paper, I now
respectfully recall your attention to what may be called "compensated
emancipation."
A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its
laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability.
"One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the
earth abideth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider
and estimate this ever-enduring part. That portion of the earth's
surface which is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States
is well adapted to be the home of one national family, and it is not
well adapted for two or more. Its vast extent and its variety of
climate and productions are of advantage in this age for one people,
whatever they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and
intelligence have brought these to be an advantageous combination for
one united people.
In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
disunion as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
sections. I did so in language which I can not improve, and which,
therefore, I beg to repeat: One section of our country believes slavery
is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong
and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The
fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the
suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced,
perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of
the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the
people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break
over in each. This I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be
worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before.
The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be
ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive
slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all
by the other. Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not
remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable
wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the
presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of
our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and
intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them, Is
it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more
satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties
easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully
enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to
war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides
and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions,
as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. There is no line,
straight or crooked, suitable for a national boundary upon which to
divide. Trace through, from east to west, upon the line between the
free and slave country, and we shall find a little more than one-third
of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, or soon to
be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its remaining
length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk back and
forth without any consciousness of their presence. No part of this line
can be made any more difficult to pass by writing it down on paper or
parchment as a national boundary. The fact of separation, if it comes,
gives up on the part of the seceding section the fugitive-slave clause,
along with all other constitutional obligations upon the section
seceded from, while I should expect no treaty stipulation would ever be
made to take its place.
But there is another difficulty. The great interior region bounded east
by the Alleghanies, north by the British dominions, west by the Rocky
Mountains, and south by the line along which the culture of corn and
cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee,
all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois,
Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota,
Nebraska, and part of Colorado, already has above 10,000,000 people,
and will have 50,000,000 within fifty years if not prevented by any
political folly or mistake. It contains more than one-third of the
country owned by the United States--certainly more than 1,000,000
square miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts already is, it
would have more than 75,000,000 people. A glance at the map shows that,
territorially speaking, it is the great body of the Republic. The other
parts are but marginal borders to it. The magnificent region sloping
west from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific being the deepest and also
the richest in undeveloped resources. In the production of provisions
grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them this great interior
region is naturally one of the most important in the world. Ascertain
from the statistics the small proportion of the region which has as yet
been brought into cultivation, and also the large and rapidly
increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed with the
magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has no
seacoast--touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one nation, its people
now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New York, to
South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco;
but separate our common country into two nations, as designed by the
present rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is
thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not perhaps by
a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.
And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed.
Place it between the now free and slave country, or place it south of
Kentucky or north of Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south
of it can trade to any port or place north of it, and none north of it
can trade to any port or place south of it, except upon terms dictated
by a government foreign to them. These outlets, east, west, and south,
are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting and to
inhabit this vast interior region. Which of the three may be the best
is no proper question. All are better than either, and all of right
belong to that people and to their successors forever. True to
themselves, they will not ask where a line of separation shall be, but
will vow rather that there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal
regions less interested in these communications to and through them to
the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must have access
to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at the crossing of any
national boundary.
Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the
land we inhabit: not from our national homestead. There is no possible
severing of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us. In
all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and abhors
separation. In fact, it would ere long force reunion, however much of
blood and treasure the separation might have cost. Our strife pertains
to ourselves--to the passing generations of men--and it can without
convulsion be hushed forever with the passing of one generation.
In this view I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and
articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States: Resolved
by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring),
That the following articles 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:
ART.--. Every State wherein slavery now exists which shall abolish the
same therein at any time or times before the 1st day of January, A. D.
1900, 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 installments 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
afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein shall refund to
the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all
interest paid thereon.
ART.--All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances
of the war at any time 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.
ART.--Congress may appropriate money and otherwise 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 continue.
Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment
and of policy in regard to slavery and the African race amongst us.
Some would perpetuate slavery; some would abolish it suddenly and
without 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 compromise, 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 concessions. 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 consummating it (thirty-seven years);
and, thirdly, the compensation.
The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
slavery, but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
derangement--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 vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate
emancipation in localities where their numbers are 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 proceed 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 continuance. 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
benefits 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 compensated
emancipation was proposed last March, and consider whether if that
measure had been promptly accepted 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 economical 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 people to share the burden, instead
of thirty-one millions as now. And not only so, but the increase of our
population may be expected to continue for a long time after that
period as rapidly as before, because our territory will not have become
full. I do not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of
increase which we have maintained, 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 continue that ratio far
beyond that period? Our abundant room, our broad national homestead, is
our ample resource. Were our territory as limited as are the British
Isles, very certainly our population could not expand as stated.
Instead of receiving the foreign born as now, we should be compelled to
send part of the native born away. But such is not our condition. We
have 2,963,000 square miles. Europe has 3,800,000, with a population
averaging 73 1/3 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 Europe, 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 73 1/3 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 average, 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 country in
natural capacity for sustaining a dense population.
Taking the nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and
ratio of increase for the several decennial periods to be as follows:
Year - Population - Ratio of increase.
- - Per cent.
1790 - 3,929,827 - ..........
1800 - 5,304,937 - 35.02
1810 - 7,239,814 - 36.45
1820 - 9,638,131 - 36.45
1830 - 12,866,020 - 33.49
1840 - 17,069,453 - 32.67
1850 - 23,191,876 - 35.87
1860 - 31,443,790 - 35.58
This shows an average decennial increase of 34.60 per cent in
population through the seventy years from our first to our last census
yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase at no one of these
seven periods is either 2 per cent below or 2 per cent above the
average, thus showing how inflexible, and consequently how reliable,
the law of increase in our case is. Assuming that it will continue, it
gives the following results:
Year - Population
1870 - 42,323,341
1880 - 56,967,216
1890 - 76,677,872
1900 - 103,208,415
1910 - 138,918,526
1920 - 186,984,335
1930 - 251,680,914
These figures show that our country may be as populous as Europe now is
at some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our territory, at
73 1/3 persons to the square mile, being of capacity to contain
217,186,000.
And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the
chance by the folly and evils of disunion or by long and exhausting war
springing from the only great element of national discord among us.
While it can not be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of
secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population,
civilization, and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it
would be very great and injurious.
The proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace,
insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of
the country. With these we should pay all the emancipation would cost,
together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt
without it. If we had allowed our old national debt to run at 6 per
cent per annum, simple interest, from the end of our revolutionary
struggle until to-day, without paying anything on either principal or
interest, each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each
man owed upon it then; and this because our increase of men through the
whole period has been greater than 6 per cent--has run faster than the
interest upon the debt. Thus time alone relieves a debtor nation, so
long as its population increases faster than unpaid interest
accumulates on its debt.
This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly
due, but it shows the great importance of time in this connection--the
great advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we
number 100,000,000 what by a different policy we would have to pay now,
when we number but 31,000,000. In a word, it shows that a dollar will
be much harder to pay for the war than will be a dollar for
emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no
blood, no precious life. It will be a saving of both.
As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to return
to bondage the class of persons therein contemplated. Some of them,
doubtless, in the property sense belong to loyal owners, and hence
provision is made in this article for compensating such. The third
article relates to the future of the freed people. It does not oblige,
but merely authorizes Congress to aid in colonizing such as may
consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one hand
or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing unless by the mutual
consent of the people to be deported and the American voters, through
their representatives in Congress.
I can not make it better known than it already is that I strongly favor
colonization; and yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
free colored persons remaining in the country which is largely
imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.
It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace white
labor and white laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere
catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present
men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be
responsible through time and in eternity. Is it true, then, that
colored people can displace any more white labor by being free than by
remaining slaves? If they stay in their old places, they jostle no
white laborers; if they leave their old places, they leave them open to
white laborers. Logically, there is neither more nor less of it.
Emancipation, even without deportation, would probably enhance the
wages of white labor, and very surely would not reduce them. Thus the
customary amount of labor would still have to be performed--the freed
people would surely not do more than their old proportion of it, and
very probably for a time would do less, leaving an increased part to
white laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand, and
consequently enhancing the wages of it. With deportation, even to a
limited extent, enhanced wages to white labor is mathematically
certain. Labor is like any other commodity in the market--increase the
demand for it and you increase the price of it. Reduce the supply of
black labor by colonizing the black laborer out of the country, and by
precisely so much you increase the demand for and wages of white labor.
But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
whole land. Are they not already in the land? Will liberation make them
any more numerous? Equally distributed among the whites of the whole
country, and there would be but one colored to seven whites. Could the
one in any way greatly disturb the seven? There are many communities
now having more than one free colored person to seven whites and this
without any apparent consciousness of evil from it. The District of
Columbia and the States of Maryland and Delaware are all in this
condition. The District has more than one free colored to six whites,
and yet in its frequent petitions to Congress I believe it has never
presented the presence of free colored persons as one of its
grievances. But why should emancipation South send the free people
North? People of any color seldom run unless there be something to run
from. Heretofore colored people to some extent have fled North from
bondage, and now, perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if
gradual emancipation and deportation be adopted, they will have neither
to flee from. Their old masters will give them wages at least until new
laborers can be procured, and the freedmen in turn will gladly give
their labor for the wages till new homes can be found for them in
congenial climes and with people of their own blood and race. This
proposition can be trusted on the mutual interests involved. And in any
event, can not the North decide for itself whether to receive them?
Again, as practice proves more than theory in any case, has there been
any irruption of colored people northward because of the abolishment of
slavery in this District last spring?
What I have said of the proportion of free colored persons to the
whites in the District is from the census of 1860, having no reference
to persons called contrabands nor to those made free by the act of
Congress abolishing slavery here.
The plan consisting of these articles is recommended, not but that a
restoration of the national authority would be accepted without its
adoption.
Nor will the war nor proceedings under the proclamation of September
22, 1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its
timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay
both.
And notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress provide
by law for compensating any State which may adopt emancipation before
this plan shall have been acted upon is hereby earnestly renewed. Such
would be only an advance part of the plan, and the same arguments apply
to both.
This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but
additional to, all others for restoring and preserving the national
authority throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in
its economical aspect. The plan would, I am confident, secure peace
more speedily and maintain it more permanently than can be done by
force alone, while all it would cost, considering amounts and manner of
payment and times of payment, would be easier paid than will be the
additional cost of the war if we rely solely upon force. It is much,
very much, that it would cost no blood at all.
The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It can not become
such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
afterwards three-fourths of the States. The requisite three-fourths of
the States will necessarily include seven of the slave States. Their
concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally
adopting emancipation at no very distant day upon the new
constitutional terms. This assurance would end the struggle now and
save the Union forever.
I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed
to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the nation,
nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you
have more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I
trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me you will
perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I
may seem to display.
Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten
the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it
doubted that it would restore the national authority and national
prosperity and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we
here--Congress and Executive can secure its adoption? Will not the good
people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can
they, by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital
objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not "Can any of us
imagine better?" but "Can we all do better?" Object whatsoever is
possible, still the question recurs, "Can we do better?" The dogmas of
the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is
piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our
case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall
ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and
this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No
personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us.
The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or
dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The
world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union.
The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even we here, hold the
power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we
assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we
preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of
earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain,
peaceful, generous, just--a way which if followed the world will
forever applaud and God must forever bless.
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