Thus on every hand political and social difficulties arise. But the people of the United States have a peculiar faculty for adjusting themselves to circumstances and learning by experience, suddenly changing their course and thus nearly always disappointing prophets of disaster. The Americans will make mistakes but they will quickly find out how to remedy them. They will lose their way temporarily among the problems which beset them, trying out and abandoning unsatisfactory solutions, but in the end, when truth and justice have taken some kind of shape and revealed themselves to the eyes of the world, the people will seize upon them. So we must reserve our judgment for a time. For the present I will do no more than indicate the fluctuations of public opinion. The events of the last four years have taught me never to give up hope for this country.
The President has just set at liberty the rebel Senator Hunter who was imprisoned for some time in Fort Pulaski. Jefferson Davis, Clement Clay, and John Mitchel are still in Fort Monroe, but they are free to see each other and go about as they please. Jefferson Davis’s trial has been delayed by the long drawn-out trial of Wirz, the warden of Andersonville Prison. The atrocities of Wirz are unimaginable. The most crushing testimony was given against him by a Confederate general, who was commissioned in 1862 to make a report on the prisons. This general, named Chandler, denounced the cruelty of Wirz in an official report addressed to the Richmond government, but Wirz was continued in his position. This is one of the most serious accusations against Jefferson Davis. Bear in mind that thousands of wounded soldiers died at Andersonville through ill treatment, and that Wirz openly boasted that he killed more Northerners than did General Lee in his battles.
General Lee has accepted the presidency of a college, and has written letters to the newspapers urging submission and obedience to the laws. Joe Johnston has done likewise. Magruder, Price, and Polk have gone to Mexico City with Maury, who was made Director of the Observatory there.
“WE MUST BE PATIENT”:
WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER 1865
George L. Stearns:
Interview with President Johnson
Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 1865—11 1/2 A.M.
I have just returned from an interview with President JOHNSON, in which he talked for an hour on the process of reconstruction of rebel States. His manner was as cordial, and his conversation as free, as in 1863, when I met him daily in Nashville.
His countenance is healthy, even more so than when I first knew him.
I remarked, that the people of the North were anxious that the process of reconstruction should be thorough, and they wished to support him in the arduous work, but their ideas were confused by the conflicting reports constantly circulated, and especially by the present position of the Democratic party. It is industriously circulated in the Democratic clubs that he was going over to them. He laughingly replied, “Major, have you never known a man who for many years had differed from your views because you were in advance of him, claim them as his own when he came up to your stand-point?”
I replied, I have often. He said so have I, and went on; the Democratic party finds its old position untenable, and is coming to ours; if it has come up to our position, I am glad of it. You and I need no preparation for this conversation; we can talk freely on this subject for the thoughts are familiar to us; we can be perfectly frank with each other. He then commenced with saying that, the States are in the Union which is whole and indivisible.
Individuals tried to carry them out, but did not succeed, as a man may try to cut his throat and be prevented by the bystanders; and you cannot say he cut his throat because he tried to do it.
Individuals may commit treason and be punished, and a large number of individuals may constitute a rebellion and be punished as traitors. Some States tried to get out of the Union, and we opposed it, honestly, because we believed it to be wrong; and we have succeeded in putting down the rebellion. The power of those persons who made the attempt has been crushed, and now we want to reconstruct the State Governments and have the power to do it. The State institutions are prostrated, laid out on the ground, and they must be taken up and adapted to the progress of events. This cannot be done in a moment. We are making very rapid progress; so rapid I sometimes cannot realize it; it appears like a dream.
We must not be in too much of a hurry; it is better to let them reconstruct themselves than to force them to it; for if they go wrong, the power is in our hands and we can check them at any stage, to the end, and oblige them to correct their errors; we must be patient with them. I did not expect to keep out all who were excluded from the amnesty, or even a large number of them, but I intended they should sue for pardon, and so realize the enormity of the crime they had committed.
You could not have broached the subject of equal suffrage, at the North, seven years ago, and we must remember that the changes at the South have been more rapid, and they have been obliged to accept more unpalatable truth than the North has; we must give them time to digest a part, for we cannot expect such large affairs will be comprehended and digested at once. We must give them time to understand their new position.
I have nothing to conceal in these matters, and have no desire or willingness to take indirect courses to obtain what we want.
Our government is a grand and lofty structure; in searching for its foundation we find it rests on the broad basis of popular rights. The elective franchise is not a natural right, but a political right. I am opposed to giving the States too much power, and also to a great consolidation of power in the central government.
If I interfered with the vote in the rebel States, to dictate that the negro shall vote, I might do the same thing for my own purposes in Pennsylvania. Our only safety lies in allowing each State to control the right of voting by its own laws, and we have the power to control the rebel States if they go wrong. If they rebel we have the army, and can control them by it, and, if necessary by legislation also. If the General Government controls the right to vote in the States, it may establish such rules as will restrict the vote to a small number of persons, and thus create a central despotism.
My position here is different from what it would be if I was in Tennessee.
There I should try to introduce negro suffrage gradually; first those who had served in the army; those who could read and write, and perhaps a property qualification for others, say $200 or $250.
It will not do to let the negroes have universal suffrage now. It would breed a war of races.
There was a time in the Southern States when the slaves of large owners looked down upon non-slaveowners because they did not own slaves; the larger the number of slaves their masters owned, the prouder they were, and this has produced hostility between the mass of the whites and the negroes. The outrages are mostly from non-slaveholding whites against the negro, and from the negro upon the non-slaveholding whites.
The negro will vote with the late master whom he does not hate, rather than with the non-slaveholding white, whom he does hate. Universal suffrage would create another war, not against us, but a war of races.
Another thing. This Government is the freest and best on the earth, and I feel sure is destined to last; but to secure this, we must elevate and purify the ballot. I for many years contended at the South that slavery was a political weakness, but others said it was political strength; they thought we gained three-fifths representation by it; I contended that we lost two-fifths.
If we had no slaves, we should have had twelve representatives more, according to the then ratio of representation. Congress apportions representation by States, not districts, and the State apportions by districts.
Many years ago, I moved in the Legislature that the apportionment of Representatives to Congress, in Tennessee, should be by qualified voters.
The apportionment is now fixed until 1872; before that time we might change the basis of representation from population to qualified voters, North as well as South, and in due course of time, the States, without regard to color, might extend
the elective franchise to all who possessed certain mental, moral, or such other qualifications, as might be determined by an enlightened public judgment.
WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER 1865
Andrew Johnson:
Speech to the 1st U.S. Colored Infantry,
Washington, D.C.
October 10, 1865
My Friends:
My object in presenting myself before you on this occasion is simply to thank you, members of one of the colored regiments which have been in the service of the country, to sustain and carry its banners and its laws triumphantly in every part of this broad land. I repeat that I appear before you on the present occasion merely to tender you my thanks for the compliment you have paid me on your return home, to again be associated with your friends and your relations, and those you hold most sacred and dear. I repeat, I have but little to say. It being unusual in this government and in most of the other governments to have colored troops engaged in their service, you have gone forth, as events have shown, and served with patience and indurance in the cause of your country. This is your country as well as anybody else’s country. [Cheers.] This is the country in which you expect to live, and in which you should expect to do something by your example in civil life as you have done in the field. This country is founded upon the principles of equality, and at the same time the standard by which persons are to be estimated is according to their merit and their worth; and you have observed, no doubt, that for him who does his duty faithfully and honestly, there is always a just public judgment that will appreciate and measure out to him his proper reward. I know that there is much well calculated in the government and since the late rebellion commenced, to excite the white against the black and the black against the white man. There are things you should all understand, and at the same time prepare yourself for what is before you. Upon the return of peace and the surrender of the enemies of the country, it should be the duty of every patriot and every one who calls himself a Christian to remember that with the termination of the war his resentments should cease, that angry feelings should subside, and that every man should become calm and tranquil, and be prepared for what is before him. This is another part of your mission. You have been engaged in the effort to sustain your country in the past, but the future is more important to you than the period in which you have just been engaged. One great question has been settled in this government, and that is the question of slavery. The institution of slavery made war against the United States, and the United States has lifted its strong arm in vindication of the government and of free government; and in lifting that arm, and appealing to the God of Battles, it has been decided that the institution of slavery must go down. [Cheers.] This has been done; and the Goddess of Liberty, in bearing witness over many of our battle-fields since the struggle commenced, has made the loftiest flight, and proclaimed that true liberty has been established upon a more permanent and enduring basis than heretofore. [Applause.] But this is not all; and as you have paid me the compliment to call upon me, I shall take the privilege of saying one or two words, as I am before you. I repeat that it is not all. Now, when the sword is returned to its scabbard, when your arms are reversed, and the olive branch of peace is extended, as I remarked before, resentment and revenge should subside. Then what is to follow? You do understand, no doubt, and if you do not, you cannot understand too soon, that simple liberty does not mean the privilege of going into the battle-field, or into the service of the country as a soldier. It means other things as well; and now, when you have laid down your arms, there are other objects of equal importance before you. Now that the government has triumphantly passed through this rebellion, after the most gigantic battles the world ever saw, the problem is before you, and it is best that you should understand it; and, therefore, I speak simply and plainly. Will you now, when you have returned from the army of the United States, and take the position of the citizen; when you have returned to the associations of peace, will you give evidence to the world that you are capable and competent to govern yourselves? That is what you will have to do. Liberty is not a mere idea; a mere vagary. It is an idea or it is a reality; and when you come to examine this question of liberty, you will not be mistaken in a mere idea for the reality. It does not consist in idleness. Liberty does not consist in being worthless. Liberty does not consist in doing all things as we please, and there can be no liberty without law. In a government of freedom and of liberty there must be law and there must be obedience and submission to the law, without regard to color. [Cheers.] Liberty (and may I not call you my countrymen) consists in the glorious privilege of work; of pursuing the ordinary avocations of peace with industry and with economy; and that being done, all those who have been industrious and economical are permitted to appropriate and enjoy the products of their own labor. [Cheers.] This is one of the great blessings of freedom; and hence we might ask the question, and answer it by stating that liberty means freedom to work and enjoy the products of your own labor. You will soon be mustered out of the ranks. It is for you to establish the great fact that you are fit and qualified to be free. Hence, freedom is not a mere idea, but is something that exists in fact. Freedom is not simply the privilege to live in idleness; liberty does not mean simply to resort to the low saloons and other places of disreputable character. Freedom and liberty do not mean that the people ought to live in licentiousness, but liberty means simply to be industrious, to be virtuous, to be upright in all our dealings and relations with men; and to those now before me, members of the first regiment of colored volunteers from the District of Columbia and the Capital of the United States, I have to say that a great deal depends upon yourselves. You must give evidence that you are competent for the rights that the government has guaranteed to you. Henceforth each and all of you must be measured according to your merit. If one man is more meritorious than the other, they cannot be equals; and he is the most exalted that is the most meritorious without regard to color. And the idea of having a law passed in the morning that will make a white man a black man before night, and a black man a white man before day, is absurd. That is not the standard. It is your own conduct; it is your own merit; it is the development of your own talents and of your own intellectuality and moral qualities. Let this then be your course: adopt a system of morality. Abstain from all licentiousness. And let me say one thing here, for I am going to talk plain. I have lived in a Southern State all my life and know what has too often been the case. There is one thing you should esteem higher and more supreme than almost all others; and that is the solemn contract with all the penalties in the association of married life. Men and women should abstain from those qualities and habits that too frequently follow a war. Inculcate among your children and among your associations, notwithstanding you are just back from the army of the United States, that virtue, that merit, that intelligence are the standards to be observed, and those which you are determined to maintain during your future lives. This is the way to make white men black and black men white. [Cheers.] He that is most meritorious and virtuous and intellectual and well-informed, must stand highest without regard to color. It is the very basis upon which heaven rests itself. Each individual takes his degree in the sublimer and more exalted regions in proportion to his merits and his virtue. Then I shall say to you on this occasion in returning to your homes and firesides after feeling conscious and proud of having faithfully discharged your duty, returning with the determination that you will perform your duty in the future as you have in the past, abstain from all those bickerings and jealousies and revengeful feelings which too often spring up between different races. There is a great problem before us, and I may as well allude to it here in this connection; and that is, whether this race can be incorporated and mixed with the people of the United States, to be made a harmonious and permanent ingredient in the population. This is a problem not yet settled, but we are in the right line to do so. Slavery raised its head against the government, and the government raised its strong arm and struck it t
o the ground. So that part of the problem is settled: the institution of slavery is overthrown. But another part remains to be solved, and that is, Can four millions of people, raised as they have been with all the prejudices of the whites, can they take their places in the community and be made to work harmoniously and congruously in our system? This is a problem to be considered. Are the digestive powers of the American Government sufficient to receive this element in a new shape, and digest and make it work healthfully upon the system that has incorporated it? This is the question to be determined. Let us make the experiment, and make it in good faith. If that cannot be done, there is another problem before us. If we have to become a separate and distinct people, (although I trust that the system can be made to work harmoniously, and the great problem will be settled without going any further) if it should be so that the two races cannot agree and live in peace and prosperity, and the laws of Providence require that they should be separated—in that event, looking to the far distant future and trusting that it may never come; if it should come, Providence, that works mysteriously but unerringly and certainly, will point out the way, and the mode, and the manner by which these people are to be separated, and to be taken to their lands of inheritance and promise; for such a one is before them. Hence we are making the experiment. Hence let me impress upon you the importance of controlling your passions, developing your intellect, and of applying your physical powers to the industrial interests of the country; and that is the true process by which this question can be settled. Be patient, persevering and forbearing, and you will help to solve the problem. Make for yourselves a reputation in this cause as you have won for yourselves a reputation in the cause in which you have been engaged. In speaking to the members of this regiment I want them to understand that so far as I am concerned, I do not assume or pretend that I am stronger than the laws, of course, of nature, or that I am wiser than Providence itself. It is our duty to try and discover what those great laws are which are at the foundation of all things, and, having discovered what they are, conform our actions and our conduct to them, and to the will of God who ruleth all things. He holds the destinies of nations in the palm of His hand; and He will solve the question and rescue these people from the difficulties that have so long surrounded them. Then let us be patient, industrious and persevering. Let us develop any intellectual and moral worth. I trust what I have said may be understood and appreciated. Go to your homes and lead peaceful, prosperous and happy lives, in peace with all men. Give utterance to no word that would cause dissensions; but do that which will be creditable to yourselves and to your country. To the officers who have led and so nobly commanded you in the field, I also return my thanks for the compliment you have conferred upon me.
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