Chapter VII: Part 7

Less than two years ago it appears to have been the deliberate judgment of Congress that tracts of land containing coal beds or coal fields should be sold, after three months' notice, to the bidder at public auction who would give the highest price over $20 per acre, and that a citizen engaged in the business of actual coal mining on the public domain should only secure a tract of 160 acres, at private entry, upon payment of $20 per acre and formal and satisfactory proof that he in all respects came within the requirements of the statute. It can not be that the coal fields of Montana have depreciated nearly twenty fold in value since July, 1864. So complete a revolution in the land policy as is manifested by this act can only be ascribed, therefore, to an inadvertence, which Congress will, I trust, promptly correct.

Believing that the preemption policy--so deliberately adopted, so long practiced, so carefully guarded with a view to the disposal of the public lands in a manner that would promote the population and prosperity of the country--should not be perverted to the purposes contemplated by this bill, I would be constrained to withhold my sanction even if this company were, as natural persons, entitled to the privileges of ordinary preemptors; for if a corporation, as the name and the absence of any designation of individuals would denote, the measure before me is liable to another fatal objection.

Why should incorporated companies have the privileges of individual preemptors? What principle of justice requires such a policy? What motive of public welfare can fail to condemn it? Lands held by corporations were regarded by ancient laws as held in mortmain, or by "dead hand," and from the time of Magna Charta corporations required the royal license to hold land, because such holding was regarded as in derogation of public policy and common right. Preemption is itself a special privilege, only authorized by its supposed public benefit in promoting the settlement and cultivation of vacant territory and in rewarding the enterprise of the persons upon whom the privilege is bestowed. "Preemption rights," as declared by the Supreme Court of the United States, "are founded in an enlightened public policy, rendered necessary by the enterprise of our citizens. The adventurous pioneer, who is found in advance of our settlements, encounters many hardships, and not unfrequently dangers from savage incursions. He is generally poor, and it is fit that his enterprise should be rewarded by the privilege of purchasing the spot selected by him, not to exceed 160 acres."

It may be said that this company, before they obtain a patent, must prove that within two years they "have erected and have in operation in one or more places on the said lands iron works with a capacity for manufacturing at least 1,500 tons of iron per annum." On the other hand, they are to have possession for two years of more than 12,000 acres of the choice land of the Territory, of which nearly 2,000 acres are to contain _iron ore and coal_ and over 10,000 acres to be of _timber_ land selected by themselves. They will thus have the first and exclusive choice. In fact, they are the only parties who at this time would have any privilege whatever in the way of obtaining titles in that Territory. Inasmuch as Montana has not yet been organized into a land district, the general preemption laws for the benefit of individual settlers have not yet been extended to that country, nor has a single acre of public land in the Territory yet been surveyed. With such exclusive and extraordinary privileges, how many companies would be willing to undertake furnaces that would produce 5 tons per day in much less time than two years?

It is plain the pretended consideration on which the patent is to issue bears no just proportion to that of the ordinary preemptor, and that this bill is but the precursor of a system of land distribution to a privileged class, unequal, unjust, and which ought not to receive the sanction of the General Government. Many thousand pioneers have turned their steps to the Western Territories, seeking, with their wives and children, homesteads to be acquired by sturdy industry under the preemption laws. On their arrival they should not find the timbered lands and the tracts containing iron ore and coal already surveyed and claimed by corporate companies, favored by the special legislation of Congress, and with boundaries fixed even in advance of the public surveys--a departure from the salutary provision requiring a settler upon unsurveyed lands to limit the boundaries of his claim to the lines of the public survey after they shall have been established. He receives a title only to a legal subdivision, including his residence and improvements. The survey of the company may not accord with that which will hereafter be made by the Government, while the patent that issues will be descriptive of and confer a title to the tract as surveyed by the company.

I am aware of no precedent for granting such exclusive rights to a manufacturing company for a nominal consideration. Congress have made concessions to railway companies of alternate sections within given limits of the lines of their roads. This policy originated in the belief that the facilities afforded by reaching the parts of the country remote from the great centers of population would expedite the settlement and sale of the public domain. These incidental advantages were secured without pecuniary loss to the Government, by reason of the enhanced value of the reserved sections, which are held at the double minimum. Mining and manufacturing companies, however, have always been distinguished from public-improvement corporations. The former are, in law and in fact, only private associations for trade and business on individual account and for personal benefit. Admitting the proposition that railroad grants can stand on sound principle, it is plain that such can not be the case with concessions to companies like that contemplated by this measure. In view of the strong temptation to monopolize the public lands, with the pernicious results, it would seem at least of doubtful expediency to lift corporations above all competition with actual settlers by authorizing them to become purchasers of public lands in the Territories for any purpose, and particularly when clothed with the special benefits of this bill. For myself, I am convinced that the privileges of ordinary preemptors ought not to be extended to incorporated companies.

A third objection may be mentioned, as it exemplifies the spirit in which special privileges are sought by incorporated companies.

Land subject to Indian occupancy has always been scrupulously guarded by law from preemption settlement or encroachment under any pretext until the Indian title should be extinguished. In the fourth section of this act, however, lands held by "Indian title" are excepted from prohibition against the patent to be issued to the New York and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company.

The bill provides that the patent "shall convey no title to any mineral lands _except iron and coal_, or to any lands held by right of possession, or by any other title, _except Indian title_, valid at the time of the selection of the said lands." It will be seen that by the first section lands in "Indian reservations" are excluded from individual preemption right, but by the fourth section the patent may cover any Indian title except a _reservation_; so that no matter what may be the nature of the Indian title, unless it be in a reservation, it is unprotected from the privilege conceded by this bill.

Without further pursuing the subject, I return the bill to the Senate without my signature, and with the following as prominent objections to its becoming a law:

First. That it gives to the New York and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company preemption privileges to iron and coal lands on a large scale and at the ordinary minimum--a privilege denied to ordinary preemptors. It bestows upon the company large tracts of _coal_ lands at one-sixteenth of the minimum price required from ordinary preemptors. It also relieves the company from restrictions imposed upon ordinary preemptors in respect to _timber lands_; allows double the time for payment granted to preemptors on offered lands; and these privileges are for purposes not heretofore authorized by the preemption laws, but for trade and manufacturing.

Second. Preemption rights on such a scale to private corporations are unequal and hostile to the policy and principles which sanction preemption laws.

Third. The bill allows this company to take possession of land, use it, and acquire a patent thereto before the Indian title is extinguished, and thus violates the good faith of the Government toward the aboriginal tribes.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 16, 1866_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

A careful examination of the bill passed by the two Houses of Congress entitled "An act to continue in force and to amend 'An act to establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees, and for other purposes'" has convinced me that the legislation which it proposes would not be consistent with the welfare of the country, and that it falls clearly within the reasons assigned in my message of the 19th of February last, returning, without my signature, a similar measure which originated in the Senate. It is not my purpose to repeat the objections which I then urged. They are yet fresh in your recollection, and can be readily examined as a part of the records of one branch of the National Legislature. Adhering to the principles set forth in that message, I now reaffirm them and the line of policy therein indicated.

The only ground upon which this kind of legislation can be justified is that of the war-making power. The act of which this bill is intended as amendatory was passed during the existence of the war. By its own provisions it is to terminate within one year from the cessation of hostilities and the declaration of peace. It is therefore yet in existence, and it is likely that it will continue in force as long as the freedmen may require the benefit of its provisions. It will certainly remain in operation as a law until some months subsequent to the meeting of the next session of Congress, when, if experience shall make evident the necessity of additional legislation, the two Houses will have ample time to mature and pass the requisite measures. In the meantime the questions arise, Why should this war measure be continued beyond the period designated in the original act, and why in time of peace should military tribunals be created to continue until each "State shall be fully restored in its constitutional relations to the Government and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United States"?

It was manifest, with respect to the act approved March 3, 1865, that prudence and wisdom alike required that jurisdiction over all cases concerning the free enjoyment of the immunities and rights of citizenship, as well as the protection of person and property, should be conferred upon some tribunal in every State or district where the ordinary course of judicial proceedings was interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same should be fully restored. At that time, therefore, an urgent necessity existed for the passage of some such law. Now, however, war has substantially ceased; the ordinary course of judicial proceedings is no longer interrupted; the courts, both State and Federal, are in full, complete, and successful operation, and through them every person, regardless of race and color, is entitled to and can be heard. The protection granted to the white citizen is already conferred by law upon the freedman; strong and stringent guards, by way of penalties and punishments, are thrown around his person and property, and it is believed that ample protection will be afforded him by due process of law, without resort to the dangerous expedient of "military tribunals," now that the war has been brought to a close. The necessity no longer existing for such tribunals, which had their origin in the war, grave objections to their continuance must present themselves to the minds of all reflecting and dispassionate men. Independently of the danger, in representative republics, of conferring upon the military, in time of peace, extraordinary powers--so carefully guarded against by the patriots and statesmen of the earlier days of the Republic, so frequently the ruin of governments founded upon the same free principles, and subversive of the rights and liberties of the citizen--the question of practical economy earnestly commends itself to the consideration of the lawmaking power. With an immense debt already burdening the incomes of the industrial and laboring classes, a due regard for their interests, so inseparably connected with the welfare of the country, should prompt us to rigid economy and retrenchment, and influence us to abstain from all legislation that would unnecessarily increase the public indebtedness. Tested by this rule of sound political wisdom, I can see no reason for the establishment of the "military jurisdiction" conferred upon the officials of the Bureau by the fourteenth section of the bill.

By the laws of the United States and of the different States competent courts, Federal and State, have been established and are now in full practical operation. By means of these civil tribunals ample redress is afforded for all private wrongs, whether to the person or the property of the citizen, without denial or unnecessary delay. They are open to all, without regard to color or race. I feel well assured that it will be better to trust the rights, privileges, and immunities of the citizen to tribunals thus established, and presided over by competent and impartial judges, bound by fixed rules of law and evidence, and where the right of trial by jury is guaranteed and secured, than to the caprice or judgment of an officer of the Bureau, who it is possible may be entirely ignorant of the principles that underlie the just administration of the law. There is danger, too, that conflict of jurisdiction will frequently arise between the civil courts and these military tribunals, each having concurrent jurisdiction over the person and the cause of action--the one judicature administered and controlled by civil law, the other by the military. How is the conflict to be settled, and who is to determine between the two tribunals when it arises? In my opinion, it is wise to guard against such conflict by leaving to the courts and juries the protection of all civil rights and the redress of all civil grievances.

The fact can not be denied that since the actual cessation of hostilities many acts of violence, such, perhaps, as had never been witnessed in their previous history, have occurred in the States involved in the recent rebellion. I believe, however, that public sentiment will sustain me in the assertion that such deeds of wrong are not confined to any particular State or section, but are manifested over the entire country, demonstrating that the cause that produced them does not depend upon any particular locality, but is the result of the agitation and derangement incident to a long and bloody civil war. While the prevalence of such disorders must be greatly deplored, their occasional and temporary occurrence would seem to furnish no necessity for the extension of the Bureau beyond the period fixed in the original act.

Besides the objections which I have thus briefly stated, I may urge upon your consideration the additional reason that recent developments in regard to the practical operations of the Bureau in many of the States show that in numerous instances it is used by its agents as a means of promoting their individual advantage, and that the freedmen are employed for the advancement of the personal ends of the officers instead of their own improvement and welfare, thus confirming the fears originally entertained by many that the continuation of such a Bureau for any unnecessary length of time would inevitably result in fraud, corruption, and oppression. It is proper to state that in cases of this character investigations have been promptly ordered, and the offender punished whenever his guilt has been satisfactorily established.

As another reason against the necessity of the legislation contemplated by this measure, reference may be had to the "civil-rights bill," now a law of the land, and which will be faithfully executed so long as it shall remain unrepealed and may not be declared unconstitutional by courts of competent jurisdiction. By that act it is enacted--

That all persons born in the United States and not subject to any
foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to
be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every race
and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right in every
State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce contracts;
to sue, be parties, and give evidence; to inherit, purchase, lease,
sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal
benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and
property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like
punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute,
ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

By the provisions of the act full protection is afforded through the district courts of the United States to all persons injured, and whose privileges, as thus declared, are in any way impaired; and heavy penalties are denounced against the person who willfully violates the law. I need not state that that law did not receive my approval; yet its remedies are far more preferable than those proposed in the present bill--the one being civil and the other military.

By the sixth section of the bill herewith returned certain proceedings by which the lands in the "parishes of St. Helena and St. Luke, South Carolina," were sold and bid in, and afterwards disposed of by the tax commissioners, are ratified and confirmed. By the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh sections provisions by law are made for the disposal of the lands thus acquired to a particular class of citizens. While the quieting of titles is deemed very important and desirable, the discrimination made in the bill seems objectionable, as does also the attempt to confer upon the commissioners judicial powers by which citizens of the United States are to be deprived of their property in a mode contrary to that provision of the Constitution which declares that no person shall "be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." As a general principle, such legislation is unsafe, unwise, partial, and unconstitutional. It may deprive persons of their property who are equally deserving objects of the nation's bounty as those whom by this legislation Congress seeks to benefit. The title to the land thus to be portioned out to a favored class of citizens must depend upon the regularity of the tax sales under the law as it existed at the time of the sale, and no subsequent legislation can give validity to the right thus acquired as against the original claimants. The attention of Congress is therefore invited to a more mature consideration of the measures proposed in these sections of the bill.

In conclusion I again urge upon Congress the danger of class legislation, so well calculated to keep the public mind in a state of uncertain expectation, disquiet, and restlessness and to encourage interested hopes and fears that the National Government will continue to furnish to classes of citizens in the several States means for support and maintenance regardless of whether they pursue a life of indolence or of labor, and regardless also of the constitutional limitations of the national authority in times of peace and tranquillity.

The bill is herewith returned to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, for its final action.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 28, 1866_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return, without my approval, the bill entitled "An act erecting the Territory of Montana into a surveying district, and for other purposes."

The bill contains four sections, the first of which erects the Territory into a surveying district and authorizes the appointment of a surveyor-general; the second constitutes the Territory a land district; the third authorizes the appointment of a register and receiver for said district; and the fourth requires the surveyor-general to--

select and survey eighteen alternate odd sections of nonmineral timber
lands within said district for the New York and Montana Iron Mining and
Manufacturing Company, incorporated under the laws of the State of New
York, which lands the said company shall have immediate possession of on
the payment of _$1.25_ per acre, and shall have a patent for the same
whenever, within two years after their selection, they shall have
furnished evidence satisfactory to the Secretary of the Interior that
they have erected and have in operation on the said lands iron works
with a capacity for manufacturing 1,500 tons of iron per annum:
_Provided_, That the said lands shall revert to the United States in
case the above-mentioned iron works be not erected within the specified
time: _And provided_, That until the title to the said lands shall have
been perfected the timber shall not be cut off from more than one
section of the said lands.

To confer the special privileges specified in this fourth section appears to be the chief object of the bill, the provisions of which are subject to some of the most important objections that induced me to return to the Senate with my disapproval the bill entitled "An act to enable the New York and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company to purchase a certain amount of the public lands not now in market." That bill authorized the same corporation to select and survey in the Territory of Montana, in square form, twenty-one sections of land, three of which might contain coal and iron ore, for which the minimum rate of $1.25 per acre was to be paid. The present bill omits these sections of mineral lands, and directs the surveyor-general to select and survey the timber lands; but it contains the objectionable feature of granting to a private mining and manufacturing corporation exclusive rights and privileges in the public domain which are by law denied to individuals. The first choice of timber land in the Territory is bestowed upon a corporation foreign to the Territory and over which Congress has no control. The surveyor-general of the district, a public officer who should have no connection with any purchase of public land, is made the agent of the corporation to select the land, the selections to be made in the absence of all competition; and over 11,000 acres are bestowed at the lowest price of public lands. It is by no means certain that the substitution of alternate sections for the compact body of lands contemplated by the other bill is any less injurious to the public interest, for alternate sections stripped of timber are not likely to enhance the value of those reserved by the Government. Be this as it may, this bill bestows a large monopoly of public lands without adequate consideration; confers a right and privilege in quantity equivalent to seventy-two preemption rights; introduces a dangerous system of privileges to private trading corporations; and is an unjust discrimination in favor of traders and speculators against individual settlers and pioneers who are seeking homes and improving our Western Territories. Such a departure from the long-established, wise, and just policy which has heretofore governed the disposition of the public funds [lands] can not receive my sanction. The objections enumerated apply to the fourth section of the bill. The first, second, and third sections, providing for the appointment of a surveyor-general, register, and receiver, are unobjectionable if any necessity requires the creation of these offices and the additional expenses of a new surveying land district. But they appear in this instance to be only needed as a part of the machinery to enable the "New York and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company" to secure these privileges; for I am informed by the proper Department, in a communication hereto annexed, that there is no public necessity for a surveyor-general, register, or receiver in Montana Territory, since it forms part of an existing surveying and land district, wherein the public business is, under present laws, transacted with adequate facility, so that the provisions of the first, second, and third sections would occasion needless expense to the General Government.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

PROCLAMATIONS.

ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

_To all whom it may concern_:

An exequatur, bearing date the 13th day of October, 1864, having been issued to Esteban Rogers, recognizing him as consul _ad interim_ of the Republic of Chile for the port of New York and its dependencies and declaring him free to exercise and enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed to consuls by the law of nations or by the laws of the United States and existing treaty stipulations between the Government of Chile and the United States; but as it is deemed advisable that the said Esteban Rogers should no longer be permitted to continue in the exercise of said functions, powers, and privileges:

These are therefore to declare that I no longer recognize the said Esteban Rogers as consul _ad interim_ of the Republic of Chile for the port of New York and its dependencies and will not permit him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers, or privileges allowed to a consular officer of that nation; and that I do hereby wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given and do declare the same to be absolutely null and void from this day forward.

In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand, at Washington, this 12th day of February, A.D. 1866, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

_To all whom it may concern_:

An exequatur, bearing date the 7th day of October, 1864, having been issued to Claudius Edward Habicht, recognizing him as consul of Sweden and Norway at New York and declaring him free to exercise and enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed to consuls by the law of nations or by the laws of the United States and existing treaty stipulations between the Government of Sweden and Norway and the United States; but as it is deemed advisable that the said Claudius Edward Habicht should no longer be permitted to continue in the exercise of said functions, powers, and privileges:

These are therefore to declare that I no longer recognize the said Claudius Edward Habicht as consul of Sweden and Norway at New York and will not permit him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers, or privileges allowed to a consular officer of that nation; and that I do hereby wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given and do declare the same to be absolutely null and void from this day forward.

In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand, at Washington, the 26th day of March, A.D. 1866, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

_To all whom it may concern_:

An exequatur, bearing date the 1st day of July, 1865, having been issued to S.M. Svenson, recognizing him as vice-consul of Sweden and Norway at New Orleans and declaring him free to exercise and enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed to vice-consuls by the law of nations or by the laws of the United States and existing treaty stipulations between the Government of Sweden and Norway and the United States; but as it is deemed advisable that the said S.M. Svenson should no longer be permitted to continue in the exercise of said functions, powers, and privileges:

These are therefore to declare that I no longer recognize the said S.M. Svenson as vice-consul of Sweden and Norway at New Orleans and will not permit him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers, or privileges allowed to a consular officer of that nation; and that I do hereby wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given and do declare the same to be absolutely null and void from this day forward.

In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand, at Washington, the 26th day of March, A.D. 1866, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by proclamations of the 15th and 19th of April, 1861, the President of the United States, in virtue of the power vested in him by the Constitution and the laws, declared that the laws of the United States were opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals by law; and

Whereas by another proclamation, made on the 16th day of August, in the same year, in pursuance of an act of Congress approved July 13, 1861, the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida (except the inhabitants of that part of the State of Virginia lying west of the Alleghany Mountains and of such other parts of that State and the other States before named as might maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the Constitution or might be from time to time occupied and controlled by forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of insurgents) were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States; and

Whereas by another proclamation, of the 1st day of July, 1862, issued in pursuance of an act of Congress approved June 7, in the same year, the insurrection was declared to be still existing in the States aforesaid, with the exception of certain specified counties in the State of Virginia; and

Whereas by another proclamation, made on the 2d day of April, 1863, in pursuance of the act of Congress of July 13, 1861, the exceptions named in the proclamation of August 16, 1861, were revoked and the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties of Virginia designated as West Virginia and the ports of New Orleans, Key West, Port Royal, and Beaufort, in North Carolina) were declared to be still in a state of insurrection against the United States; and

Whereas the House of Representatives, on the 22d day of July, 1861, adopted a resolution in the words following, namely:

_Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United
States_, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the
country by the disunionists of the Southern States now in revolt against
the constitutional Government and in arms around the capital; that in
this national emergency Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion
or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that
this war is not waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for
any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or
interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States,
but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to
preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the
several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are
accomplished the war ought to cease.

And whereas the Senate of the United States, on the 25th day of July, 1861, adopted a resolution in the words following, to wit:

_Resolved_, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon
the country by the disunionists of the Southern States now in revolt
against the constitutional Government and in arms around the capital;
that in this national emergency Congress, banishing all feeling of
mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole
country; that this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit
of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor
purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy
of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof and to
preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of
the several States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are
accomplished the war ought to cease.

And whereas these resolutions, though not joint or concurrent in form, are substantially identical, and as such may be regarded as having expressed the sense of Congress upon the subject to which they relate; and

Whereas by my proclamation of the 13th day of June last the insurrection in the State of Tennessee was declared to have been suppressed, the authority of the United States therein to be undisputed, and such United States officers as had been duly commissioned to be in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions; and

Whereas there now exists no organized armed resistance of misguided citizens or others to the authority of the United States in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, and the laws can be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of said States are well and loyally disposed and have conformed or will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States; and

Whereas, in view of the before-recited premises, it is the manifest determination of the American people that no State of its own will has the right or the power to go out of, or separate itself from, or be separated from, the American Union, and that therefore each State ought to remain and constitute an integral part of the United States; and

Whereas the people of the several before-mentioned States have, in the manner aforesaid, given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important resolution of national unity; and

Whereas it is believed to be a fundamental principle of government that people who have revolted and who have been overcome and subdued must either be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends or else they must be held by absolute military power or devastated so as to prevent them from ever again doing harm as enemies, which last-named policy is abhorrent to humanity and to freedom; and

Whereas the Constitution of the United States provides for constituent communities only as States, and not as Territories, dependencies, provinces, or protectorates; and

Whereas such constituent States must necessarily be, and by the Constitution and laws of the United States are, made equals and placed upon a like footing as to political rights, immunities, dignity, and power with the several States with which they are united; and

Whereas the observance of political equality, as a principle of right and justice, is well calculated to encourage the people of the aforesaid States to be and become more and more constant and persevering in their renewed allegiance; and

Whereas standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ are in time of peace dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed except in cases of actual necessity for repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection or rebellion; and

Whereas the policy of the Government of the United States from the beginning of the insurrection to its overthrow and final suppression has been in conformity with the principles herein set forth and enumerated:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida is at an end and is henceforth to be so regarded.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 2d day of April, A.D. 1866, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

ANDREW JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

_To all whom it may concern_:

Whereas the exequatur of Claudius Edward Habicht, recognizing him as consul of Sweden and Norway at New York, and that of S.M. Svenson as vice-consul of Sweden and Norway at New Orleans were formally revoked on the 26th day of March last; and

Whereas representations have been made to me since that date which have effectually relieved those gentlemen from the charges of unlawful and unfriendly conduct heretofore entertained against them:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby annul the revocation of the exequaturs of the said Claudius Edward Habicht and S.M. Svenson and restore to them the right to exercise the functions and privileges heretofore granted as consular officers of the Government of Sweden and Norway.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of May, A.D. 1866, and of the Independence of the United States the ninetieth.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it has become known to me that certain evil-disposed persons have, within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States, begun and set on foot and have provided and prepared, and are still engaged in providing and preparing, means for a military expedition and enterprise, which expedition and enterprise is to be carried on from the territory and jurisdiction of the United States against colonies, districts, and people of British North America, within the dominions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with which said colonies, districts, and people and Kingdom the United States are at peace; and

Whereas the proceedings aforesaid constitute a high misdemeanor, forbidden by the laws of the United States as well as by the law of nations:

Now, therefore, for the purpose of preventing the carrying on of the unlawful expedition and enterprise aforesaid from the territory and jurisdiction of the United States and to maintain the public peace as well as the national honor and enforce obedience and respect to the laws of the United States, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do admonish and warn all good citizens of the United States against taking part in or in any wise aiding, countenancing, or abetting said unlawful proceedings; and I do exhort all judges, magistrates, marshals, and officers in the service of the United States to employ all their lawful authority and power to prevent and defeat the aforesaid unlawful proceedings and to arrest and bring to justice all persons who may be engaged therein.

And, pursuant to the act of Congress in such case made and provided, I do furthermore authorize and empower Major-General George G. Meade, commander of the Military Division of the Atlantic, to employ the land and naval forces of the United States and the militia thereof to arrest and prevent the setting on foot and carrying on the expedition and enterprise aforesaid.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 6th day of June, A.D. 1866, and of the Independence of the United States the ninetieth.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas a war is existing in the Republic of Mexico, aggravated by foreign military intervention; and

Whereas the United States, in accordance with their settled habits and policy, are a neutral power in regard to the war which thus afflicts the Republic of Mexico; and

Whereas it has become known that one of the belligerents in the said war, namely, the Prince Maximilian, who asserts himself to be Emperor in Mexico, has issued a decree in regard to the port of Matamoras and other Mexican ports which are in the occupation and possession of another of the said belligerents, namely, the United States of Mexico, which decree is in the following words:

The port of Matamoras and all those of the northern frontier which have
withdrawn from their obedience to the Government are closed to foreign
and coasting traffic during such time as the empire of the law shall not
be therein reinstated.

ART. 2. Merchandise proceeding from the said ports, on arriving at any
other where the excise of the Empire is collected, shall pay the duties
on importation, introduction, and consumption, and, on satisfactory
proof of contravention, shall be irremissibly confiscated. Our minister
of the treasury is charged with the punctual execution of this decree.

Given at Mexico, the 9th of July, 1866.

And whereas the decree thus recited, by declaring a belligerent blockade unsupported by competent military or naval force, is in violation of the neutral rights of the United States as defined by the law of nations as well as of the treaties existing between the United States of America and the aforesaid United States of Mexico:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the aforesaid decree is held and will be held by the United States to be absolutely null and void as against the Government and citizens of the United States, and that any attempt which shall be made to enforce the same against the Government or the citizens of the United States will be disallowed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, the 17th day of August, A.D. 1866, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-first.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by proclamations of the 15th and 19th of April, 1861, the President of the United States, in virtue of the power vested in him by the Constitution and the laws, declared that the laws of the United States were opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law; and

Whereas by another proclamation, made on the 16th day of August, in the same year, in pursuance of an act of Congress approved July 13, 1861, the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida (except the inhabitants of that part of the State of Virginia lying west of the Alleghany Mountains, and except also the inhabitants of such other parts of that State and the other States before named as might maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the Constitution or might be from time to time occupied and controlled by forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of insurgents) were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States; and

Whereas by another proclamation, of the 1st day of July, 1862, issued in pursuance of an act of Congress approved June 7, in the same year, the insurrection was declared to be still existing in the States aforesaid, with the exception of certain specified counties in the State of Virginia; and

Whereas by another proclamation, made on the 2d day of April, 1863, in pursuance of the act of Congress of July 13, 1861, the exceptions named in the proclamation of August 16, 1861, were revoked and the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties of Virginia designated as West Virginia and the ports of New Orleans, Key West, Port Royal, and Beaufort, in North Carolina) were declared to be still in a state of insurrection against the United States; and

Whereas by another proclamation, of the 15th day of September, 1863, made in pursuance of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1863, the rebellion was declared to be still existing and the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ was in certain specified cases suspended throughout the United States, said suspension to continue throughout the duration of the rebellion or until said proclamation should, by a subsequent one to be issued by the President of the United States, be modified or revoked; and

Whereas the House of Representatives, on the 22d day of July, 1861, adopted a resolution in the words following, namely:

_Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United
States_, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon
the country by the dis-unionists of the Southern States now in revolt
against the constitutional Government and in arms around the capital;
that in this national emergency Congress, banishing all feelings of
mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole
country; that this war is not waged upon our part in any spirit of
oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor
purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy
of the Constitution and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity,
equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as
soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

And whereas the Senate of the United States, on the 25th day of July, 1861, adopted a resolution in the words following, to wit:

_Resolved_, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon
the country by the disunionists of the Southern States now in revolt
against the constitutional Government and in arms around the capital;
that in this national emergency Congress, banishing all feeling of
mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole
country; that this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit
of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor
purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy
of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof and to
preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of
the several States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are
accomplished the war ought to cease.

And whereas these resolutions, though not joint or concurrent in form, are substantially identical, and as such have hitherto been and yet are regarded as having expressed the sense of Congress upon the subject to which they relate; and

Whereas the President of the United States, by proclamation of the 13th of June, 1865, declared that the insurrection in the State of Tennessee had been suppressed, and that the authority of the United States therein was undisputed, and that such United States officers as had been duly commissioned were in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions; and

Whereas the President of the United States, by further proclamation, issued on the 2d day of April, 1866, did promulgate and declare that there no longer existed any armed resistance of misguided citizens or others to the authority of the United States in any or in all the States before mentioned, excepting only the State of Texas, and did further promulgate and declare that the laws could be sustained and enforced in the several States before mentioned, except Texas, by the proper civil authorities, State or Federal, and that the people of the said States, except Texas, are well and loyally disposed and have conformed or will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States;

And did further declare in the same proclamation that it is the manifest determination of the American people that no State, of its own will, has a right or power to go out of, or separate itself from, or be separated from, the American Union; and that, therefore, each State ought to remain and constitute an integral part of the United States;

And did further declare in the same last-mentioned proclamation that the several aforementioned States, excepting Texas, had in the manner aforesaid given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important resolution of national unity; and

Whereas the President of the United States in the same proclamation did further declare that it is believed to be a fundamental principle of government that the people who have revolted and who have been overcome and subdued must either be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends or else they must be held by absolute military power or devastated so as to prevent them from ever again doing harm as enemies, which last-named policy is abhorrent to humanity and to freedom; and

Whereas the President did in the same proclamation further declare that the Constitution of the United States provides for constituent communities only as States, and not as Territories, dependencies, provinces, or protectorates;

And further, that such constituent States must necessarily be, and by the Constitution and laws of the United States are, made equals and placed upon a like footing as to political rights, immunities, dignity, and power with the several States with which they are united;

And did further declare that the observance of political equality, as a principle of right and justice, is well calculated to encourage the people of the before named States, except Texas, to be and to become more and more constant and persevering in their renewed allegiance; and

Whereas the President did further declare that standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, and the suspension of the writ of _habeas corpus_ are in time of peace dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed except in cases of actual necessity for repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection or rebellion;

And the President did further, in the same proclamation, declare that the policy of the Government of the United States from the beginning of the insurrection to its overthrow and final suppression had been conducted in conformity with the principles in the last-named proclamation recited; and

Whereas the President, in the said proclamation of the 13th of June, 1865, upon the grounds therein stated and hereinbefore recited, did then and thereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the several States before named, except in Texas, was at an end and was henceforth to be so regarded; and

Whereas subsequently to the said 2d day of April, 1866, the insurrection in the State of Texas has been completely and everywhere suppressed and ended and the authority of the United States has been successfully and completely established in the said State of Texas and now remains therein unresisted and undisputed, and such of the proper United States officers as have been duly commissioned within the limits of the said State are now in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions; and

Whereas the laws can now be sustained and enforced in the said State of Texas by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of the said State of Texas, like the people of the other States before named, are well and loyally disposed and have conformed or will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment of the Constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States; and