We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper
practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the
government, civil and military, in regard to those States, is to again
get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it is not
only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even
considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than
with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly
immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing
the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between
these States and the Union, and each for ever after innocently indulge
his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from
without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never
having been out of it. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which
the new Louisiana government rests, would be more satisfactory to all if
it contained forty thousand, or thirty thousand, or even twenty
thousand, instead of only about twelve thousand as it does. It is also
unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the
coloured man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the
very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.
Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it
stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, will it be
wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and
disperse it? Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation
with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State
government? Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave State of
Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful
political power of the State, held elections, organized a State
government, adopted a free-State constitution, giving the benefit of
public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the
legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the coloured man.
Their legislature has already voted to ratify the constitutional
amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout
the nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully committed to
the Union and to perpetual freedom in the State,--committed to the very
things, and nearly all the things, the nation wants,--and they ask the
nation's recognition and its assistance to make good their committal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account