The
burdens of government should as far as practicable be distributed
justly and equally among all classes of our population. These
general views, long entertained on this subject, I have deemed it
proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which conflicting
interests of sections and occupations are supposed to exist, and a
spirit of mutual concession and compromise in adjusting its
details should be cherished by every part of our widespread
country as the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful
acquiescence of all in the operation of our revenue laws. Our
patriotic citizens in every part of the Union will readily submit
to the payment of such taxes as shall be needed for the support of
their Government, whether in peace or in war, if they are so
levied as to distribute the burdens as equally as possible among
them.
The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our
Union, to form a part of our Confederacy and enjoy with us the
blessings of liberty secured and guaranteed by our Constitution.
Texas was once a part of our country--was unwisely ceded away to a
foreign power--is now independent, and possesses an undoubted
right to dispose of a part or the whole of her territory and to
merge her sovereignty as a separate and independent state in ours.
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