Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous revolution which
has passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable
benefits which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and
generous acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution
have not yet been realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions
meet us at the threshold of this subject. The people of those
States are still impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of
wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is not fully
enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the cause
of this condition of things, the fact is clear that in the
progress of events the time has come when such government is the
imperative necessity required by all the varied interests, public
and private, of those States. But it must not be forgotten that
only a local government which recognizes and maintains inviolate
the rights of all is a true self-government.
With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to
each other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and
perplexities which exist in those States, it must be a government
which guards the interests of both races carefully and equally. It
must be a government which submits loyally and heartily to the
Constitution and the laws--the laws of the nation and the laws of
the States themselves--accepting and obeying faithfully the whole
Constitution as it is.
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