All this is general. Descending to details, we find that the issue now presented reappears in other questions. Of these none is more important than that of the Reconstruction Acts, which have been openly assailed as “unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void.”[267] In nothing more than in this declaration, associated with the letter of its candidate, do we behold the audacity of the Rebel Party. Even while professing allegiance and asking your vote, they proclaim war in a new form. Instead of _Secession_ maintained by arms, it is now _Nullification_ maintained by arms. In no other way can we interpret the party platform, and the programme of Mr. Blair, when, with customary frankness, he calls upon the President “to declare these Acts null and void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at the South, and disperse the carpet-bag State governments.”[268] Here is Nullification with a vengeance,--that very Nullification which, in a much milder type, made Andrew Jackson threaten to hang its authors high as Haman. Secession is declared to be settled by the war; but Nullification is openly recognized. What is the difference between the two? The answer is plain. Secession is war out of the Union; Nullification is war in the Union. And this is the open menace of the Rebel Party. * * * * * The Reconstruction Acts err from what they fail to do rather than from what they do. They do too little rather than too much. They should have secured a piece of land to the landless freedman, whose unrewarded toil has mingled for generations in the soil; and they should have secured a system of common schools open to all. In these demands, as in every other measure of Reconstruction, I would do nothing in severity or triumph, nothing to punish or humble. Nor is it only in justice to the freedman, who has a bill against his former master for unpaid wages, and also against the country for an infinite debt, but it is for the good of all constituting the community, including the former master. Nothing can be truer than that under such influences society will be improved, character will be elevated, and the general resources will be enlarged. Only in this way will the Barbarism of Slavery be banished, and a true civilization organized in its place. Our simple object is expressed in the words of Holy Writ: “Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us.”[269] By contributing to this work, by laboring for its accomplishment, by sending it our God-speed, we perform a service at once of the highest charity and the highest patriotism, which hereafter the children of the South, emancipated from error, will rejoice to recognize. With Human Rights under a permanent safeguard, there can be no limit to prosperity. As under this sunshine the land yields its increase and the gardens bloom with beauty, while commerce and