lillilllllillllllllllillHliJiiiiiiiiiii"^ 
 
 012 028 005 3 M 
 
 Hollinger 
 
 pH8.5 
 
 Mill Run F3-1719 
 

 flil BETTERS 
 
 I ON OUR COUNTRY'S CRISIS 
 
 Col . 
 
 AMOS KENDALL 
 
 'OUP. FEDERAL UNION: IT MUST BB PBESEEVID .■'-, 
 
 Andrew Jacksoa, 
 
 WASHmOTON, D. C. : 
 
 PEI^TIC AT in. omCE 0. ..THE OONSTITOTIONAL UNION/ 
 
 1864. 
 
INTBODUCTORY. 
 
 f " Kendall Green, Jan. 16th, 1864. 
 Hon. Thomas B. Florence: 
 
 Dear Sir : Herewith, I send you for inser- 
 tion in "The Constitutional Union" a com- 
 munication signed Andrew Jackson, a name 
 now more than ever dear to every friend of 
 liberty and union. 
 
 I adhere to tho sentiment of the old hero's 
 celebrated toast — " The Federal Union, it must 
 be preserved' ' — and I subscribe with all my 
 heart to the kindred sentiment uttered by 
 G-ineral McClellan in the following words, viz : 
 
 "Our cause must never be abando^ied — it 
 is the cause of free institutions and self-gov- 
 ernment. The Constitution and Union must 
 be preserved whatever may be the cost in 
 time, treasure and blood. If secession is suc- 
 cessful, other dissolutions are clearly to be 
 seen in the future. Let neither military dis- 
 aster, political faction, nor foreign war shake 
 your settled purpose to enforce the equal 
 operation of the laws of the United States 
 upon the peoi)le of every iState." 
 
 I deplore the fact, that the^ Administration, 
 by its policy and its agts, has immeasurably 
 lessened its own power to suppress the rebel- 
 lion, and by its threatened attacks on the 
 fundamental principles of our institutions, 
 has made it the duty of every conservative 
 man to raise his voice against it. Let this 
 opposition, however, be based on exalted 
 principle, free from faction and demagoguism, 
 conceding to those in power all the legitimate 
 means they demand for carrying on the war. 
 
 This I intend shall be the character of my 
 own opposition, and difficult as it is under ex- 
 treme provocation, I would fain hope that the 
 same spirit may pervade all those who strive 
 for union and peace through a change of 
 rulers, not a peace procured by concession to 
 rebels, but a peace flowing from their un- 
 qualified submission to the Constitution and 
 laws. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Ahos Kendall. 
 
/ 
 
L. E T T E R S 
 
 LETTER I. 
 TO ALL LOTAL CITIZENS OP THB USITED STATES, 
 
 By Loyal Citiaens, I mean " Unconditional 
 Union men," all who would uphold the Union 
 and the Constitution as established by Wash- 
 ington and his compatriots, illustrated by 
 Jefferson, and defended by Jackson. 
 
 I do not mean those professed "uncondi- 
 tional Union men," to whose unionism there 
 ii a condition, and that condition is, an unques- 
 tioning support of all the measures of the 
 present Administration though they may be 
 subversive of the Constitution and fatal to the 
 white man's lil>erty. To such men I have 
 nothing to say ; Imt I would, if my voice could 
 reach every honest man in the country, warn 
 him against the cry of " unconditional union- 
 ism" coming from men who are daily under- 
 mining the foundations of our constitution. 
 
 No people on earth ever poured out their 
 treasure and blood more freely to sustain their 
 governmerit than have the loyal people of the 
 United States. Although the results have 
 not met their just expectations, they are pre- 
 pared to continue those sacrifices for an inde- 
 finite period rather than see our constitution 
 overthrown, our glorious country cut up into 
 hostile confederacies, and the hopes of our 
 fathers overclouded forever. Oar system of 
 government was no longer an experiment. — 
 For three score years and ten, our country 
 had, under its benign sway, increased in po- 
 pulation, wealth and power without a parallel { States, or are we to have another edition 
 
 Confederate Republics to iive at peace witfl 
 each other, while their citizens enjoy self- 
 government and all practicable freedom. 
 
 But in view of recent events and passing 
 scenes, it becomes the duty of every "uncon- 
 ditional Union man" to demand of the Admin- 
 istration what sort of an Union they design 
 for us at the close of the pending war ? Is it 
 to be an Union in which individual liberty is 
 to be enjoyed under the guaranty of constitu- 
 tions and laws, or an Union in which it shall 
 be held at the will of the President and the 
 caprice of military ofncers and provost mar- 
 shals f Is it to be an Union in which the 
 rulers shall derive their powers from the peo- 
 ple, or one in v.hich the people shall derive 
 their powers from the rulers ? Is it to be an 
 Union in which the qualifications for suffrage 
 ihall be prescribed by the President, and all 
 citizens of the States, loyal and disloyal, ex- 
 cluded from the polls by military force, who 
 will not consent to take illegal and degrading 
 oaths ? Is it to be an Union made up in largo 
 part of bastard States, deriving their govern- 
 ments, not from the will of the people, but 
 from a small fraction of their voters qualified 
 to act by the President of the United States, 
 and sustained in their action by armies under 
 his command ? In short, are we to have th* 
 old Union of the United States constructed 
 by Washington and his compatriots, based ou 
 the suffrages of the people as regulated by the 
 
 since God called the earth out of chaos. The 
 experience of the past should be our guide for 
 the future. We cannot hope far a more per- 
 fect system of government than that bequeath- 
 ed to us by our fathers of the revolution. To 
 defend it, our people took up arms. To hand 
 it down to posterity, they are still willing to 
 be taxed, to suffer, and if need be, to die. 
 They have a duty to perform, not only to 
 themselves and their posterity, but to all man- 
 kind. It is to vindicate institutions which 
 reconcile liberty with dominion, and enable | by inverting the principles on which they are 
 
 of 
 the " Union of all the Russias" in which the 
 rights of Provinces and persons shall be held 
 at the mercy of a Caar called the President ? 
 
 The truly *' unconditional Union men" 
 have a difficult task to perform. On the one 
 hand, it is their duty, by all legitimate means, 
 to sustain the Administration in its efforts to 
 suppress rebellion. On the other hand, it is 
 equally their duty to set their faces like flint 
 against all such measures as may be ealcu- 
 lated to change the character of our institutions 
 
6 
 
 fotinclecl. Each of these duties is as assential 
 as the other to the perpetaation of the Union. 
 
 The avowed object of the Administration in 
 assuming extr^rdinary powers^ is the ex- 
 tinction of slavery in the United States. 
 Though that object is in itself illegitimate, no 
 assumption of unconstitutional powers has 
 ever been necessary for its accomplishment. 
 Slavery received its death-blow when rebel 
 cannon opened upon Fort Sumpter. "Whom 
 God intends to destroy he first makes mad, " 
 is an ancient maxim. What hut madness 
 could have induced Southern statesmen, 
 with such an institution among them, to re- 
 pudiate the protection it derived from the 
 Constitution and cast it upon ths waves of 
 revolution? What but madness could'induce 
 them to contemplate and proclaim to the 
 world^ at this period of its history, that their 
 object was to establish an emph-e whose cor- 
 ner stone shoHld be slavery ? What but 
 madness could induce them to persist in the 
 rebellion after losing all hope of effective as- 
 sistance from Europe or the North? And 
 what is it now which impels them to force 
 every able-bodied white man into their armies 
 and threaten a never-ending guerrilla war ? 
 What is it, but a God-inspired madness de- 
 signed to obliterate the last vestige of their 
 cherished institution ! After being guilty 
 of the wickedness and folly of rebellion, they 
 might, when they saw all hope of succor de- 
 parting from them, have averted the catas- 
 trophe by laying down their arms. They 
 might save its remnants even now, by a full 
 and frank submission to the Constitution 
 and laws. They will not do it. They are 
 mad. God keeps them mad that slavery may 
 perish. 
 
 And as far as they are concerned, it is but 
 a providential retribution that the rehd master 
 is now being confronted in arms by the rebel 
 slave. It is just what, but for their madness, 
 they would have foreseen. 
 
 The great question now is, not the perpet- 
 uation of the black man's bondage, but the 
 preservation of the white raari's Ubertjj. Let slave- 
 ry perish; but let the God-inspired principles 
 of our Constitution live forever. They are the 
 only guarantee we have or can have for "Lib- 
 erty and Union, now and forever, one and in- 
 separable." 
 
 But the progress of the Union armies, co- 
 operating with the madness of slavehold- 
 ers, aided by sweeping confiscation acts, is too 
 Blow a process of emancipation for our pseudo 
 
 friends of liberty. They would rush to that, 
 and over individual rights, State rights, and 
 the Constitution of the United States, pun- 
 ishing the innocent with the guilty and ex- 
 posing the North as well as the South to uni- 
 versal anarchy. Like the blind Sampson, 
 they would pull dov/n the pillars of the temple 
 which protects them, burying negro slavery 
 and themselves in a common ruin. 
 
 Before entering upon a discussion of the 
 
 short-comings of the Administration, I deem 
 
 it proper, in another letter, to give my views 
 
 in relation to the suppression of the rebellion. 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 January 16th, 1864. 
 
 LETTER 11. 
 CONSIDERATIOKS WHY EVEKY PATRIOT SHOULD 
 SUSTAIN THE ADMINISTRATION IN THEIB AT- 
 TEMPTS TO SUPFBESS THE KEBELLION. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union men in the United 
 
 States : 
 
 The following considerations are conclusive 
 in the mind of the writer, that it is the im- 
 perative duty of every true patriot to sustain 
 the Administration in their eiforts to suppress 
 the existing rebellion : 
 
 1. Our country is at war, and the Admin- 
 istration are the only constitutional organs 
 by whom it can be carried on. 
 
 2. The object of the war on the part of the 
 rebels is to break up the Government and de- 
 stroy the Union, now and forever, by the es- 
 tablishment of a Southern Confederacy. 
 What would soon be the fate of the North if 
 the Admiaistration be not sustained with men 
 and money, may be conceived by imagining 
 where the rebel armies of Lee and Bragg 
 would now be had they been victorious at 
 Antietam or Gettysburg, Murfreesboro', and 
 Chattanooga. Not to support the Adminis- 
 tration with adequate means, is to give up 
 our Capital, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New 
 York, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, and 
 the lake cities to rebel occupancy, aad the in- 
 termediate country to ravage and plunder by 
 swarms of men more hungry than the locusts 
 of the African desert. 
 
 3. But it is alleged that the imjbecility, bad 
 policy, military jealousy, and political ambi- 
 tion of the Administration and its adherents, 
 have already sacrificed unnecessarily tens of 
 thousands of Northern lives and hundreds of 
 millions of Northern money. What then? 
 
shall we tlieroiore submit to the rebels and 
 give up forever ths hope of handing down to 
 our children the glorious legacy bequeathed 
 to us by our fathers ? Let us rather consider 
 the imbecility, jealousy, and ambition of civil 
 aad military rulers in the same light as other 
 obstacles to success, aM to be overcome by 
 wcrilices and perseverance. ♦ 
 
 4. But ix, is said the Administration has 
 made and will make an uuconstiiutional use 
 of the means put at their disposition. That 
 is a riskvve must always encoantyr under any 
 
 had rather die than go down to posterity as 
 unsuccessful traitors. They have sot their 
 hearts upon the establishment of a new em- 
 pire, and will not give up the hope of gilding 
 their crimes with the tinsel of victory so long 
 as they can " set a squadron in the feld." 
 Every suggestion of compromise and peace on 
 any other terms t|ian the acknowledgment of 
 their independence, has been, and will be 
 treated with scorn and derision. There is no 
 alternative for this Government, by whomso- 
 ever administered, but to deprive these men 
 
 administration. But the possibility that they j of power by defeating and dispei-bing the rebel 
 will not do their duty, is no excuse for not armies. Let that be done and the great mass 
 doing our own. Give all the requisite means I of the Southern people, will if permitted, gkd- 
 and hold the Administration to a strict re- i ly return to their allegiance, 
 spoxisibility for their proper application. But were it otherwise, whence comes the 
 Herein is the ground of & legitimate opposi- cowardly or, treacherous cry that the rebels 
 tiou, and it is already bro&d enough in all ; cannot be conquered t When the war corn- 
 conscience, menced, the men of the military age in the 
 5. If there were no principle which requires ; loyal Statet;, were as four to one compared 
 the patriot to furnish tke Administration all i with t)ie white men of similar age in the seced- 
 the means they want for carryiug on the war, ed Slates. Now, the proportions, throwing 
 
 partizau policy would dictate the same course. 
 It furnished w;ith abundant meauis as hereto- 
 fore, the responsibility for failui*es will rest 
 exclusively with themselves ; but if they are 
 restricted in means, they will caot the respon- 
 sibility on those who may have denied them. 
 (i. But there are those who would refuse to 
 furnish the Administration with the means of 
 
 into the loyal scale the whites and Macks capa- 
 ble of bearing^ arms in those portions of the 
 seceded States occupied by the Union armies, 
 are as hve to one. The loss of one man to the 
 labels is equal to the loss of five to the loyal- 
 ists ; every drawn battle is virtually an Union 
 victory ; and every able-bodied rebel prisoner 
 detained in custody, is equal to five soldiers 
 
 carrying on the war, because they think the | added to the Union armies. There are already 
 
 Union cannot be restored by forcfl, and would 
 compel the Government to resort to an 
 armistice and negotiation. Many of these men 
 are perfectly sincere ; but they labor under a 
 strange delusion. They seem to forget the 
 origin, progress and object of the conspiracy 
 
 about 40,000 rebel prisoners in the North, and 
 should not exchanges be resumed, there is 
 ground to hope the day is not distant when 
 half of the rebel army will be found in North- 
 ern prisons. 
 
 If, with this disparity of fighting men, the 
 
 which in 1861, culminated in the great rebel- ! command of the sea and an equal disparity in 
 
 lion. That conspiracy was the growth of 
 tbirtyyears* Assiduously, duriiig that period, 
 have the leading conspirators inculcated iheir 
 revolutionary dogmas on the Southern mind, 
 and, by bandying insults with the Abolition- 
 ists of the North, sought to produce implac- 
 able hatred between the two sections. They 
 forced themselves by threats of opposition into 
 ibc Cabinet of a weak President, and used 
 their positions to disarm the Government and 
 lay the country prostrate before meditated 
 insurrection. Their avowed object, from first 
 to last, has not been a redress of grievances 
 or further guarantees for their rights, but 
 absolute and entire independence. They are 
 proud and haughty men who have hazarded 
 
 all the means and appliances of war, the North 
 cannot, if need be, subjugate the people 
 of the rebel States, we may as well admit 
 their insolect claim to superiority and bow our 
 necks to southern domiaatiofe. 
 
 It has seemed to me amazing, that any 
 northern man, and especially any Democrat, 
 can entertain the least sympathy for the per- 
 jured leaders ot this inexcusable and bloody 
 rebellion. They are rebels not only to their 
 country and to mankind, but doubly rebels to 
 the Democratic Party which they betrayed and 
 abandoned. Sympathy with them by any 
 loyal man, is a crime ; but by a Democrat 
 it is not only a crime, but a degradation. 
 With what utter contempt must he be looked 
 
 ftratj thing upon the chances of success, and I upon by those proud men 1 But lot us not. 
 
8 
 
 confoand with the arch conspirators the mass 
 Df the sonthern people who have beensednced 
 cr driven iuto rebellion. While we sustain 
 our government in defeating and dispersing 
 the rebel armies, let us be prepared then to 
 demaild that the popular masses shall be 
 allowed to resume unconditionally, their form- 
 er position under the Consfltution and laws 
 of their country. 
 
 This leads me to consider the President's i 
 plan of restoration which will form the eub- 
 ject of another letter 
 
 Akdeew Jackson. 
 
 January 21st, 18(i4. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 WHY OPPOSITION TO THE ADMINISTRATION IS A 
 
 DOTY THE PBE-IDENT'S PLAN THE LOYAL 
 
 NEGROES EKTtKELYOVEKLOOKEI>— LOYAL TTEITE 
 MEN TREATED AS REBELS. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men in the United 
 
 States : . 
 
 " Why," asks the unquestioning supporter 
 of the administration, " if you are in favor of 
 the suppression of the rebellion, do you en- 
 deavor to lessen the public confidence in those 
 who have the rightful direction of public af- 
 fairs ?" I answer, it is because they are not 
 content with putting pown the rebellion, bat, 
 locking beyond that object, commit acts and 
 avow designs v/hich strike at the foundations 
 of our federal republio. It is one thing to em- 
 ploy our armies in putting down the rebellion ; 
 but it is a far difiorent thing • to employ them 
 in controlling the elections in the loyal States. 
 It is one thing to conq aer and disarm the hosts 
 arrayed against the Government in the sece- 
 ded States ; but it is a far diflerent thing to 
 impose on the loyal as well a.? tha repentant 
 citizens of those States anli-republicaa gov- 
 ernments supported by the federal crms. If 
 the Administration would use their military 
 power for the sole and only legitimate purpose 
 of clearing the States of armed rebels, and 
 leave the liberated people, in their own good 
 time, to restore their old governments or es- 
 tablish new ones, no voice of censure would 
 be raised by the writer of these articles. 
 When the Administration, under cover of the 
 war power, undertake to suppress i'ree suf- 
 frage in loyal atates by illegal oaths 'and armed 
 bands, or to overthrow the State governments 
 and build up new civil institutions in the se- 
 ocded States, they far transcend the legiti- 
 
 mate limits of that power and establish pre- 
 cedents which, " unquestioned,^^ might enablo 
 some future Cajsar to convert our Federal 
 Republic into another Roman Empire. It is, 
 therefore, as much the duty of every patriot 
 to raise his voice against these assumptions 
 of power as it is to support the Administration 
 in suppressing the rebellion. 
 
 Let ns now make a critical examination of 
 the principles involved in the President' s pro- 
 clamation of amnesty, and his plan for organ- 
 izing new State governments in the seceded 
 States. 
 
 The proclamation grants a pardon, with cer- 
 tain exceptions, to all persons ia rebellion, 
 remitting all forfeitures of property except 
 slaves, on condition that they shall take and 
 keep the followiijg oath, viz : 
 
 " I, , do solemnly swear, in pres- 
 ence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth 
 faithfully support, protect, and defend the 
 Constitution of the United States, and the 
 Union of the States thereunder ; and that I 
 will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully 
 support all acts of CoBgress passed during the 
 existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so 
 long and sd Jar as not repealed, modified, or 
 held void by Congress, or by decision of the 
 Supreme Court ; and that I will, in like man- 
 ner, abide by and faithfully support all pro- 
 clamations of the President made daring the 
 ! existing rebellion having reference to slaves, 
 1 so long and so far as not modified or declared 
 j void by decision of the Supreme Court. So 
 help me God." 
 
 ' After enuraerating the classes of persons 
 ; not entitled to the benefit of the amnesty, the 
 ' proclamation provides as follows, viz : 
 I " And I do further proclaim, declare and 
 I make knovra, that whenever, in any of the 
 I States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Missia- 
 I sippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, 
 ; South Carolina and North Carolina, a number 
 i of persons, not less than one-tenth in number 
 ' of the votes cast in such State at the Presi- 
 ! dential election of the year of our Lord IStiO, 
 j each having takea the oath aforesaid, and not 
 I having since viol;vted it, and being aqnilificd 
 voter by the election law of the State existing 
 j immediately before the so-called af;t of seces- 
 I sion, and excluding all others, shall re-e3tat>- 
 1 lish a State Government which shall be repub- 
 lican, and in no wise contravening said oath, 
 I such shall be recognized as the true govern- 
 ' ment of the State, and the State shall receive 
 j thereunder the beneiits of the constitutional 
 provision which declares that " the United 
 States shall guaranty to every State in this 
 Union a republican form of government, and 
 shall protect each of them against invasion ; 
 and, on application of the Legislature, or the 
 Executive, Cwheu the Legislature cantiot be 
 convened^} against domestic violence." 
 One of the first things .that must strike 
 
8very careful reader of this project, is its in- 
 jonsistency with the ruling principles of the 
 hour ! The ei-er loyal negro is to have no voice 
 in the establishm'^nt of the new State govern- 
 ments t How often have we been told that 
 the negroes in certain States, were the only 
 loyal men therein ; yet, by this plan, they are 
 to be left under the absolute govern- 
 ment of their repentant or perjured rebel 
 masters. It is not one-tenth of the freemen 
 o€ the States who are authorized to form a 
 new state government, but one-tenth of those 
 qualified to vote by the election law of that 
 State "existing immediately before the so- 
 called act of secession." As the negroes were 
 not entitled to vote under those la^s, they 
 are 'not now to be allowed a voice in the 
 establishment of the governments under which 
 they are to live hereafter. It is not enough 
 that one-tenth of the tcJiite men, ("though a per- 
 jured traitor every one of them may be,) shall 
 govern nine-tenths of the v.'hite men, but 
 they are also to govern the whole body of the 
 black men however numerous and loyal they 
 may be I This is the less excusable in the 
 administration, because it vrasjust as easy and 
 just as constitutional for the President to quality 
 black men as white to vote iu the construc- 
 tion and management of new State govern- 
 ments. "We commend this feature of the 
 President's plan to the Garrisons, and Phil- 
 lipses, the Beechers and Cheevers, the Sum- 
 ners and Wilsons. Surely, you will insist that 
 ih^cfreedman shall be treated as a freeman. Or 
 sj-c you content, now that you have rescued 
 the slave from his one master, that he shall 
 become the slave of many masters ? And 
 ai':er all, is the only boon you design for the j 
 poor negro the privilege of figliting the white 
 man's battles? Why not carry out your prin- ! 
 ciples and let us have black voters, and black ; 
 legislators, black governors and black judges, { 
 black Congressmen and black Presidents ? I 
 Another striking feature of this notable [ 
 scheme is, that it places the loyal white man \ 
 on a level with the rebel, imposing on him ; 
 •(the same conditions. No matter how much 
 he has suffered for his loyaUy. No matter if 
 he has fought and bled in the cause 
 of the Union, he is obliged to purge I 
 himself by an oath before he can have a voice 
 in the reconstruction of his State government. I 
 He is not only required, in common with his | 
 rebel neighbor, to swear to an allegiance 
 •which he has never violated, but also, if he i 
 bo the owner of a slave, swear that he will j 
 
 consider him free without compensation. He 
 must Gwear that he "will faithfully support 
 the proclamations of the President made 
 during the existing rebellion having refer- 
 ence to slaves" — the proviso, "so long and 
 so far as not modified or declared void by 
 decision of the Supreme Court," being bat 
 mockery added to robbery and insult. 
 
 That this is the treatment designed for the 
 loyal men of the seceded States, will be made 
 apparent by reverting to the qualifications re- 
 quired by the President of the one-tenth au- 
 thorized to establish State governments. — 
 '^ Each having^ taken the oath aforesaid,'' s&ja 
 the President, "and excluding all others.*' 
 No others, however loyal, are to be permitted 
 to have a voice in establishing a new State 
 government. 
 
 This is the reward of the devoted East Ten- 
 nesseeans, who, leaving all behind th«m, fled 
 to the caves of the mountains rather than 
 fight against their country, and are now by 
 thousands in the Union armies. It is the re- 
 ward of old gray-headed patriots, for years 
 languishing half starved and in rags in the 
 prisons at Richmond, for no other crime than 
 refusing to swear allegiance to the rebel con- 
 federacy. All these and other thousands upon 
 thousands of loyal men within the seceded 
 States, are required to place themselves on a 
 level with their rebel neighbors under i^ain cl 
 disfranchisement. Though they have com- 
 mitted no crime, they are not to bo recognized 
 as voters unless they will submit to the con- 
 ditions of an amnesty. Th-^y must virtually- 
 acknowledge themselves traitors to be re- 
 cognized as loyal 1 This is the culmination 
 of a series of measures eminently calculated, 
 though we charitaby hope not designed, to 
 crush out every spark of genuine loyalty in 
 the seceded and boinier States, and govern 
 them indefinitely by subservient minorities 
 sustained by the Federal s.Ymiss— virtually bif 
 the bayonet. 
 
 Of what sort of men are these minorities in 
 the seceded States likely to be composed? 
 Not so mtich of the truly loyal ("who may re- 
 fuse to take the degrading oath) as ef the 
 disciples of the Slidells and the Wigfalls, the 
 Floyds and the Masons, who regard heaven 
 and hell as a fable, and paths as play-thingg. 
 Think you tlic followers of those men in the 
 Cabinet and in Congress, who in the winter 
 of 18G0-(Jl, though sworn to support the Con- 
 stitution of the United States were laboring 
 day and night to destroy it, will hesitate to 
 
.0 
 
 take or break any oath to gratify their pas- 
 sions or subserve their interests ? No, no ; 
 the most unprincipled of the rebels, attractad 
 by the allarements of power and the hope of 
 gain, will be foremost in accepting the Presi- 
 dent's pardon and foremost in establishing 
 and controlling the new State governments. 
 
 But I cannot suCiciently develope my views 
 of this monstrous scheme in one letter, and 
 perhaps not in two. 
 
 AXDBEW JaCKSOS. 
 
 January 25th, 1SG4, 
 
 P. S. — A correspondent inquires of me 
 whether I will support for the Presidency any 
 jother man than Gen. McQJeilan, should 
 another be nominated by the Democratic 
 National Convention. I answer that I will 
 support any competent man of unquestionable 
 loyalty who can best unite the conservatives 
 of the country against the disorganizers who 
 now caotrol the government. I am not ac- 
 quainted with Gen. MoClellan; but I admire 
 him for his talents, his virtues, and his loy- 
 alty. I sympathise with him in the wicked 
 persecutions he has patiently endured ; and I 
 think the wrongs which the country has 
 suffered through him, can be most appro- 
 priately redressed by placing him at the head 
 of its government. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 LODISIANA — bakes' PEeCLAMATION THE ACT OF 
 THE PKESIDEXT — HE ASSUMES THE SOVEREIGN 
 POWEK OF TDH STATE, OVEETHKOWS ITS GOV- 
 EBNMEST ASD ESTABLISHES ANOTHER— THE 
 ■WAR POWER EXHAUSTED WH3N KESELLION IS 
 SUPPRESSED — ITS FUNCTION 13 TO RESCUE THE 
 STATE MACnillEUY FROM THE GRASP OF TRAI- 
 TORS AND LEAVE THE PEOPLE TO PUT IT IN 
 OPERATION — GOVERNMENTS FORMED ON THE 
 president's PLAN W12L BE SUBSERVIENT TO 
 HIS WILL. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union men in the United 
 
 States. 
 
 We now have in detail an outline of the 
 process to be followed in organizing new State 
 governments upon the plan prescribed by the 
 President. A third and perhaps half of the 
 State of Louisianfi is in possession of the 
 Union forces commanded by General Banks. 
 Byordcroftl^ President, thatGe^eral, instead 
 of employing himself and tke troops under 
 his command in clearing the balance of the 
 State of p.rraed rebels, their legitimate duty. 
 Is busying himself in getting up new civil in- 
 
 stitutions. He Jias issued a proclamation of 
 which the following extract contains the es- 
 sential parts, viz : 
 
 Headqu'rs Department of the Gulf, 7 
 New Orleans, January 11, 1864. j 
 To T3E ^People of Louisiana: 
 
 I. In pursuance of authority vested in me by the 
 President of the United States, and upon consulta- 
 tion with many representative men of diJTerent in- 
 terests, being fully assured that more than a tenth 
 of the population desire the earliest po.-sL'ok' resto- 
 ration of LoHisiaua to the Union, I invite tlic loyal 
 citizens of the State qualified to voie in public af- 
 fairs, as hereinafter prescribed, to assemble in the 
 election prcciKcts designated by law, or at such 
 place? as may hereafter be established, on the 22d 
 day of February, 1864, to cast their votes for the 
 election of State officers herein named, viz : 1. 
 (juvernor: 2. Lieutenant Governor; .3. Secretary 
 of State; 4. Treasurer; 5. Attorney General; 6. 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction; 7. Auditor 
 of Public Accounts; who shall when elected, for 
 the time being, and until others are appointed by 
 competent authority, constitute the civii govern- 
 ment of the State, under the Constitulion and laws 
 of Louisiana, except so mucTi of the said Consfitu- 
 tion and laws as recognize, regulafe, or relate to 
 slavery, which being inconsistent with the present 
 condition of public affairs, and plainly inapplicable 
 tw any class of persons now existing within its lim- 
 its, must be suspended, and they are hereby de- 
 clared to be inoperative and void. This proceed- 
 ing is not intended to ignore the right uf property 
 existing prior to the rebellion, nor to preclude tho 
 claim for compensation of loyal citizens for losses 
 
 «ustaiaed by enlistments or other authorized acts of 
 the Government. 
 
 II. Tho oath of allegiance prescribed by the 
 President's proclamation, with tho condition aiS.^ed 
 to the elective franchise by the Constitution of 
 Louisiana, will constitute the qualification of voters 
 in this eleetioH. Officers elected by them will bo 
 dulv installed in their offices on the 4th day of 
 March, 1864. 
 
 III. The registration of voters, effected under 
 the direction of the Military Governor and the sev- 
 eral Union Associations, not inconsistent with the 
 proclamation or other orders of the President, are 
 confirmed and approved. 
 
 IV. In order that the organic law of the State 
 may be made to conform to tho will of the people, 
 and harmonize with tho spirit of tho age, as well 
 as to maintain and preserve the ancient landmarks 
 of civil and religious liberty, an election of dele- 
 gates to a Convention for the revision of the Con- 
 stitution will be held on tho first Monday of. April, 
 1864. The basis of representation, the number of 
 delegates, and the details of election will be an- 
 nounced in subseqcnt orders. 
 
 V. Arrangements will be made for the early 
 election of members of Congress for tho State. 
 
 The General says, he issues this Proclama- 
 tion "in pursuance of authority vested in me by 
 the President of the United States." His acts, 
 therefore, are to be considered the acts of the 
 President. And what is it that the Preaident 
 does or proposes to do ? 
 
 He prescribes a qualification for voters with- 
 out which no citizen shall be allowed to vote 
 however qualified under the Constitution and 
 law% of the Stato. All arc to be disfranchized^ 
 
11 
 
 whether loyal or disloyal, wlio will not take 
 the prescribed oath. 
 
 He calls upon his voters thus qualified to 
 hold a State election, and tells them what ofB- 
 cers to elect without the least regard in those 
 respects to the State constiLUtion. 
 
 He designates the time and places for hold- 
 ing the election. 
 
 He declares that the persons then and there 
 elected shall be, for the time being, ' ' the civil 
 government of the State.'^ , 
 
 To make sure that none without the Presi- 
 dential qualification shall vote, he commits 
 the registration of the voters to the * ' Military 
 Governor and the several Union Associa- 
 tions." 
 
 He announces to his voters, that "arrange- 
 ments will be made, ("by his order of coursej 
 for an early election of members of Congress 
 for the State." 
 
 Hg announces to them, that an election for 
 delegates to a State Convention will be held on 
 the first Mofcday of April next, for the purpose 
 of so altering the State Constitution as to make 
 it, as we are in mockery told, ^'conform to the 
 will of the people. ' ' 
 
 He tells them he will hereafter announce 
 '.'the basis of representation, the number of 
 delegates and the details of election." 
 
 To cap the climax of these assumptions of 
 power over State voters and State institutions, 
 the President, through his Maj or General, de- 
 clares certain portions of the Constitution and 
 laws of Louisiana " inoperative and void.^' 
 
 What, but the wantonness of power could 
 dictate such a declaration as this, while treat- 
 ing the entire Constitution of the State as a 
 nullity, and proceeding to establish a new 
 State Government ! It is tantamont to a claim 
 of right in the President to nullify all the con- 
 stitutions and all the laws of the seceded States, 
 assuming sovereign pow^r into his own hands, 
 and then doling it out to his faithful followers 
 as European Monarchs grant privileges to 
 their dutiful subjects. 
 
 Now, I ask evei'y man, whether Republican, 
 Democrat or Conservative, whether, in the pro- 
 posed government of Louisiana, the sovereign 
 power is to come tip from the people or come down 
 from the President f I^ he or they who are in 
 effect to create the new government ? 
 
 The total vote of Louisiana in 1860, is stated 
 to have been 50, 500, one-tenth of which is 
 5,050. General Banks is satis^ed that more 
 than one-tenth desire to accept the President's 
 plan — say 6,000. Now, which are the people, 
 
 the 6,000 or the 44,500? If the latter, how 
 comes it that the 6,000 have power to impose 
 a government upon them ? Do they not derive 
 the power from the President ? If not, whence 
 comes it ? 
 
 It is the sworn duty of the President to 
 protect the State Governments against foreign 
 invasion and domestic insurrection. A State 
 Government is the Constitution and lazes cf the 
 State. There was nothing in the Constitution 
 and. laws of Louisiana prior to the rebellion 
 incompatible with the Constitution acd laws 
 of the United States. The machinery of the 
 two Governments was in perfect harmony. 
 But insurgents seized the State mauhine and 
 used it to destroy the Government of the 
 United States. Now, what was the duty of 
 this Government f Simply to rescue the State 
 machinery from the hands, of traitors. What 
 next ? Merely to hold it intact without al- 
 tering a bolt or a screw until the vital princi- 
 ple comes up from the people and puts it in 
 motion again by agents elected by them under 
 their own laws and sworn to support the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. In this opera- 
 tion the war power of the Presidfent — the 
 power to suppress insurrection — is exhausted. 
 But what is our President doing? Hs is 
 smashing the State machine which he is hound to 
 protect and constructing another out cfvcry rotten 
 materials bolted together by Federal bayonets. 
 
 Of the GisfiOO voters, more or less, who are 
 destined to be the President's workmen in 
 constructing the new machine, a very large 
 proportion, perhaps one-half, will be fur- 
 nished by the city of New Orleans. That 
 city, it is well known, had, ever since the days 
 of the Know Nothings until its re- capture by 
 the Federal arms, been governed by clubs 
 more unprincipled and quite as unscrupulous 
 as the Jacobins of France. Some of their 
 members have probably perished in the war, 
 but many of them with their adherents doubt- 
 less remain in the city. Ready to swear any 
 thing and do anything for money and power ; 
 they are becoming very "loyal" since they 
 lost all hope of either under the banner of 
 rebellion. Allured by the prospect of Fed- 
 eral ofSces, State offices and city oliicss, now 
 that they have failed to overthrow me Federal 
 Government, they are prepared to aid in sub- 
 verting their State Government. It is just 
 this sort of men who are most likely to rush 
 with shouts of loyalty to take the oath pre- 
 scribed by the President, accept the proffered 
 pardon for their treason against the Federal 
 
12 
 
 Governri.ent, and claim at Lis hands the re- 
 wards «f their treason to their State Govern- 
 ment I Shall we look further into the fearful 
 vista which these measures open to us ? The ! 
 voters thus qualified by the President and ! 
 registered by the "Union Associations" (which j 
 seem to be the successors of the rebel clubs 
 and are recognized as " a power in the State"_) ' 
 will in general, if not to a man, be obedient ! 
 to the Executive mandate. Every man whom ' 
 they elect Governor or Legislator will be i 
 subservient to the wishes of the President. I 
 So will every Senator and Representative sent ' 
 to Congress. Every Elector of President and 
 Vice President chosen by the revolutionized 
 
 rill of course be in favor of his re- 
 election. And are these illegitimate organ- 
 ization?, the creatures of Executive power, 
 founded on the ruins of the legitimate State Gov- 
 ernments and controlled by subservient mi- 
 norities, to come in and vote dov/n in Congress 
 and in the Electoral Colleges, the free and 
 independent millions of the North and West ? 
 Let us pause and attempt to realize the awful 
 prospect before us. 
 
 * Andbew Jackson. 
 
 January 26th, 1804. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 TEE POWER TO REGULATE SaFFRAGE EXCLUSIVE- 
 LY A STATE RIGHT — NO EUCH THING AS UNITED 
 STATES VOTEKS— THE PRESIDENT ASSUMES THAT 
 
 POWER THE CONDITIONS OP AN AMNESTY MUST 
 
 BE LAWFUL — TH<E PRESIDENT'S PLAN INCONSIS- 
 TENT WITH ITSELF AND WORSE THAN SUMXER's 
 IT;3 EFFECT IN CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDEN- 
 TIAL ELECTION. 
 
 To all Unconditional'-Union Men in the United 
 
 States : 
 
 For the purpose of making more palpable 
 the character of the President's plan of recon- 
 struction, let us look a little into the structure 
 of our Government. To prevent misconstruc- 
 tion as to the meaning of the Constitution, the 
 tenth amendment was adopted in the follow- 
 ing words, viz : * 'The powers not delegated to 
 the United States by the Constitution nor 
 prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to 
 the States respectively, or to the people." 
 Suffrage is the basis of all our free institu- 
 tions. Through that right the people elect, 
 directly or indirectly, all our rulers, State 
 legislators, governors and judges, members 
 of Congress, President and Vice-President, 
 Federal Judges, and all the army of office- 
 holders under the State and National Govern- 
 
 ments. The power to regulate suffrage, to 
 declare who may vote and who shall not, "is 
 not delegated to the United States by the Con- 
 stitution nor prohibited by it to the States." 
 It is therefore "reserved to the States or the 
 people." 
 
 There is no such thing as United States vo- 
 ters ; on the contrary, the whole fabric of the 
 General Government is built upon State suf- 
 frage. Article I, section 2, of the Constitu- 
 tion, provides as follows, viz. : "The House 
 of Representatives shall be composed of mem- 
 bers chosen every second year by the people 
 of the several States, and the electors (voters} 
 of each State shall have the qualification re- 
 quisite for electors of the most numerous 
 branch of the State legislature." 
 
 In other words, all the people of the seve- 
 ral States who are qualified by their State 
 constitutions and laws to vote for members of 
 the most numerous branch of their State 
 legislatures, and no others, have a right to vote 
 for members of the House of Representatives. 
 Senators of the United States are chosen by 
 the State legislatures who derive their power 
 from the same voters. The electors of Presi- 
 dent and Vice-President also derive their ex- 
 istence and power directly or indirectly from 
 the same voters. 
 
 Thus it is, that through Ike exercise of a 
 power "reserved to the States or the people," 
 voters qualified by the Constitution and laws 
 of the several States/or/» the foundation of our 
 entire system of gov eminent. He who looks into 
 the Constitntion of the United States for any 
 grant of power, express or implied, authoris- 
 ing Congress or the Executive to prescribe 
 qualifications for voters, whether voting for 
 State officers, members of Congress or Presi- 
 dent and Vice-President, will not find it. No 
 such power was given or intended to be givs'n, 
 and its assumption is a blow at the heart and 
 life of constitutional liberty. 
 
 Now let us consider the act of the President 
 in connection with these principles and the 
 state of things in Louisiana. The President 
 recognizes that State as a State in the Union. 
 Its constitution and laws, constituting its go- 
 vernment and regulating the right of suffrage, 
 remain intact, not hsrting been abolished or 
 altered by the rebellion. They have been so 
 far rescued from rebel grasp, that the people 
 in a large portion of the State might exerciso 
 that right unintimidated by armed rebels. 
 But they are restrained ; not by the rebels, 
 but by the army of the United States- 
 
13 
 
 rfae President assumes that the govemmeni 
 of Louisiana has been subrertedby the rebel- 
 lion of some of her sons, and that, as a cense- 
 quenoe of that rebellion, all her sons have lost 
 their right of suffrage— an assumption with- 
 out reason or law. He then proceeds to grant 
 that right to such of them as will take an 
 oath prescribed by him — we say grant, for 
 however obscured by cunning phraseology, it 
 amounts to grant. The essence of the trans- 
 action is more clearly expressed in the follow^ 
 ing words, via: "Whereas, by reason of the 
 the rebellion of a portion of the people of 
 Lonisiana, all the citizens of said State have 
 lost their right of suffrage ; now I, Abraham 
 Lincoln, President of the United States, by 
 virtue of ("what t) do hereby give, grant and 
 convey to so many of said citizens as shall 
 take the oath aforesaid, the right to vote 
 for State officers, members of Congress, and 
 electors of President and Vice-President ; to 
 Lave and to hold said right so long as they 
 shall keep said oath and no longer." Now, 
 by what authority is this grant made ? But 
 one pretext has been alleged for it. and that is 
 scarcely worthy of notice. It is that the 
 President has a right to grant an amnesty 
 and to annex conditions to that amnesty. We 
 concede the principle, with the reservation 
 that the conditions must in themselves be lawful. 
 We admit that when a citizen has forfeited 
 ijfe and property by rebellion, the President 
 may spare his life by amnesty and leave his 
 property to confiscation. But he cannot ac- 
 complish any unlawful purpose through the con- 
 ditions of an amnesty. Ho cannot overthrow 
 State institutions through the conditions of an 
 amnesty to traitors against the United States. 
 He cannot, by such conditions, overthrow the 
 legitimate State governments. He cannot 
 exact an oath of treason to the State, as a con- 
 dition of pardon for treason against the United 
 States. He cannot rightfully grant, modify, 
 or restrict the right of suffrage within a State 
 recognized to be in the Union ; for that entire 
 "power is reserved to the States or the peo- 
 ple." But in this plan we have the overthrow 
 of State institutions, the subversion of the 
 legitimate State government, the assumption 
 by the President of the power to grant and 
 regulate sviffrage — all to be effected through 
 the conditions of an amnesty : conditions, 
 .00, affecting alike the innocent and the 
 guilty, the loyal and the disloyal. Who ever 
 before heard of an amnesty, with or without 
 conditions, to those who had committed no 
 
 ctijT.c? These assumptions of power would 
 be less obnoxious upon the Sumner theo- 
 ry, unsound as it is, that the seceded 
 States have ceased to be States of the 
 Union and should be treated as territories in 
 which no local governments exist. If such 
 were the law and the fact, the assumption of 
 power might not be so glaring. But by recog- 
 nising Louisiana as a State in the Union, th« 
 President virtually admits that her people 
 have the same rights as the people of Massa- 
 chusetts and New York and yet he treats them 
 as if they had no right and no government. 
 A State IN THE Union without a government whost 
 people have no right to establish one without leave 
 from the President. While treating the seceded 
 States as conquered territory whose people 
 have lost all political rights as effectually as 
 in the Sumner theory, this plan has one dis- 
 tinctive feature, which, were not the men in 
 power, so perfectly unselfish and unambitious, 
 it might be imagined, commended it to their 
 adoption. It is to bring into the Senate and 
 House of Representatives a host of members 
 to vote with the radicals of Massachusetts. 1% 
 is to bring into the electoral college a host of 
 electors to aid in the re-election of Mr. Lincoln. 
 There are still some features in this plan 
 requiring further -development. 
 
 Andbew Jackson. 
 January 30th, 1*864. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 SINGULAR FEATURES OF THB OATH — INCOJrai?- 
 TENT WITH ITSELF — ITS PROSPECTIVE CHAKAO- 
 TER — EEPEREKCK TO SCPKEME COURT A MOCK- 
 ERY SLAVERY TO BS DECLARED ABOLISHED BT 
 
 NEW STATE GOVERNMENTS — LOYAL MEN CHEAT- 
 ED BY USURPING CONVENTIONS THB PRESI- 
 DENT'S FREED MEN WITH THEIR " FREE PA- 
 PERS" — SCHEME UNNECESSARY — THE PRESI- 
 DENT REFUSES TO LET STATE GOVERNMENT BB 
 PUT IN OPERATION, BUT MUST HAVE ONB OF 
 EXECUTIVE TOOLS. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men in the United 
 
 States : 
 
 The oath which the President prescribes as 
 a test of loyalty and a quulification for suf- 
 frage in his plan of reconstruction, has a fea- 
 ture about it which is probably without a 
 precedent in the history of government. The 
 first clause is an ordinary oath of allegiance. 
 It then proceeds as follows, viz. r 
 
 "And that I will, in like manner, abide by 
 and faithfully support all acts of Congress 
 passed during the existing rebellion with 
 reference to slaves, so long and so far as not 
 
14 
 
 repealed, modified, or held void by Congress, 
 or bv decision of the Supreme Court ; and 
 that I will, in like manner, abide by and faith- 
 fully support all proclamations of the Presi- 
 dent made during the existing rebellion hav- 
 ing referenc<rto slaves, so long and so far as 
 not modified or declared void by decision of 
 'the Supreme Court. So help me God." 
 
 Whence the necessity for these clauses of 
 the oath for the restoration of the Union ? If 
 the acts of Congress and the proclamations of 
 the President be constitutional and lawful, 
 the citizen binds himself to obey them by his 
 oath of allegiance. Acts of Congress may be 
 so palpably unconstitutional that no citizen 
 will be bound to obey them for a moment ; 
 and as for the President's emancipation pro- 
 clamations, few men believe that they have 
 the shadow of cosstitutionality or legality in 
 them. They purport to strip of a portion of 
 their property every citizen in certain States, 
 loyal and disloyal, the one without any crime 
 committed, and the other without conviction 
 of crime, and this oath binds him to consider 
 the robbary lawful ; and if he will not be un- 
 true to his own rights and false to his own 
 conscience, he is not to be allowed to vote in 
 the establishment and management of his own 
 government! In the first clause of the oath 
 he is required to swear that he " will 
 henceforth faithfully, support, 'protect, and de- 
 fend the Constitution of the, United States." 
 In the latter clauses, he is called upon to swear 
 that he "will abide by and faithfully sup- 
 port" all acts of Congress and proclamations 
 of the PifSident touching slavery, which have 
 been or may be passed or issued during the 
 rebellion, however unjust or unconstitutional. 
 How can he support a statute or proclamation 
 palpahhj miconstitutional, and, at the same 
 time, faithfully " support, protect, and defend 
 the Constitution." Congress pass an act prac- 
 tically to repeal a provision in the Constitu- 
 tion: which is he bound to support? The 
 President issues a proclamation purporting to 
 take from loyal men Cto say nothing of the 
 disloyalj without law and without the tyrant's 
 plea of necessity, a portion of their property 
 in direct viola on of the Constitution, and 
 the citizen must swear that he will support 
 both the right and the wrong, both the Constitu- 
 tion and the proclamation or be disfranchised. 
 Nor is this oath confined to the past. The 
 President is not content that men shall swear 
 to support the acts of Congress already pas- 
 Bed, and proclamations heretofore issued ; 
 but they must swear to support all that may 
 
 be passed or issued " during the existing rebel- 
 lion.''^ What honest man can do this who htiS 
 not faith in the President and Congress strong- 
 er than that required to remove mountains ? 
 But, says the supporter of the President, it 
 is only until the acts of Congress and the 
 proclamations of the President are modified 
 by the proper authority, or decided to be void 
 by the Supreme Court, that the citizen is to 
 be bound to support them. These provisions 
 are a piece of mockery, holding out a prospect 
 of Redress impracticable in itself and never 
 intended to be realized. Who is to raise 
 the question in the courts f Not those who 
 have taken the oath. They are precluded 
 by the oath itself. To attempt to nullify an 
 act of Congress or a proclamation in any 
 way, is not giving it a faithful support. 
 But if they or any one else could raise 
 the question in the courts, it is deter- 
 mined that they shall be metby another ques- 
 tion before they can get a decision from the 
 Supreme Court. By General Banks' procla- 
 mation, the President's voters in Louisiana 
 were called upon. to elect delegates to a Con- 
 vention on the first Monday of April next. It 
 appears by the late news that the time of 
 the election has been changed to the 22d 
 of February. No decision of the Supreme 
 Court can be procured before the meeting 
 of the Convention, which will doubtlesc take 
 place immediately after the election. The 
 members, being all sworn to support the Pre- 
 sident's proclamation, and being gotten up 
 for one special purpose, will of course, in any 
 constitution framed by them, declare the in- 
 stitution of slavery abolished in the Siate of 
 Louisiana. Hence, if any citizen, loyal or 
 disloyal, whose property has been taken from 
 him under cover of the President's proclama- 
 tion, shall seek to recover it through the 
 courts, he will be met with the claim that 
 slavery has been abolished by Siate authority. To 
 give him relief, the courts must decide not 
 only that the President's proclamation, but the 
 acts of these State Conventions in (hat regard, 
 are null and void. In the meantime, all the 
 slaves will have been taken from their masters 
 and become practically free. Thus it is, that 
 the loyal men of the South are mocked by the 
 pretended chance of redress through the 
 courts, cut ©f which they are to be cheated 
 by usurping conventions held by the Presi- 
 dent's instruments elected by Mi freed white 
 men, each presenting his "free-papers." 
 We learn through the National Intelligencet 
 
15 
 
 that the Presideut's amnesty proclamation has 
 been printed for circulation in large numbers 
 with the following notice appended, viz : 
 
 *' Tlie book wherein to record the taking of 
 the above oaih by such persons as may apply 
 is in the custody of , at , who is auth- 
 orized to adrainistered the said oath to such 
 persons of that vicinity, and is required to 
 give every person requesting it a certificate 
 in form below, until some other mode of proof 
 shall be authoritatively provided, sufScient 
 evidence of the facts certified to entitle the 
 holder to the benefits as provided in said pro- 
 clamation : 
 
 " Certificate. — I do hereby certify that on 
 
 day of 1S6 — , at , the oath presented by 
 
 the President of the United States in his proclama- 
 tion of December eighth, eigliteen hundred and 
 sixty-three, was duly taken, subscribed, and made 
 matter of record by ." 
 
 So, it seems that persons are to be appoint- 
 ed to grant free papers to voMte men on their 
 taking the prescribed oaih, in the shape of 
 a certificate and cause their emancipation to be 
 recorded in a book ! How honored and proud 
 must a loyal man feel on presenting proof of 
 his pardon at the polls for a crime which he 
 never committed and of the restoration of a 
 right which he has never forfeited I Doubt- 
 less he will be much obliged to the President 
 for placing him in the position of an emanci- 
 pated negro of the olden ticae who must carry 
 the proof of his emancipation in his pocket 
 and have it recorded in court. This is another 
 specimen of the manner in which this Admin- 
 istration encourages loyalty in the seceded 
 States I 
 
 This scheme of the President not only strikes 
 at the foundation of cur National and State 
 governments, bat is entirely unnecessary to 
 the restoration of Louisiana to the Union. 
 If the rebellion is so far put down that the 
 people can vote peaceably under the authori- 
 ty of the President, they could equally well 
 vote under the authority of their own Con- 
 stitution and laws. Indeed some months ago, 
 the people, through delegates sent to Wash- 
 ington asked leave to hold such an election ; 
 but they were refused upon the allegation 
 that it might interfere with military opera- 
 tions and that some of the people of the State 
 desired to change the State Constitution. It 
 seemed a little mysterious how such a desire 
 could be a,iiy objection to the restoration of 
 the legitimate State government ; but the mys- 
 tery is now solved. That government, being 
 a governmenfof the people, might not be en- 
 tirely subservient to the designs of the Ad- 
 ministration. Instead of allowing it to be 
 
 again put in operation, it must therefore be 
 destroyed and gnother established on its ruins, 
 constructed and managed by the tools of the 
 Executive. 
 
 In our next we shall for the present turn 
 from this subject and consider the conduct of 
 the Administration in certaip loyal States. 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 February 1st, 1864. 
 
 , LETTER Vn. 
 
 STATE ELECTIONS IN LOYAL STATES — UNITED STATES 
 GENEBALS PKESCBIBE QUALIFICATIONS OP VO- 
 TERS — TELL THE PEOPLE WUOM THEY SHALL 
 NOT VOTE FOR, AND REQUIRE ILLEGAL OATHS UN- 
 DER FALSE PRETENCES — C. A. WICKLIFFE — HIS 
 LOYALITY — TWO PARTIES IN KENTUCKY — BOTH 
 LOYAL — FIFTY THOUSAND FEDERAL TROOPS AR- 
 RAYED AGAINST A POLITICAL PASTY — KENTUCKY 
 UNDER MARTIAL LAW. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men in the United 
 
 States : 
 
 That the Administration should attempt to 
 overthrow the legitimate governments in the 
 seceded States and establish therein new gov- 
 ernments controlled by subservient minorities 
 sustained by federal bayonets, will surprise 
 no one who observed their course in certain 
 loyal States at the last elections. In a former 
 letter, we showed that the right of suffrage 
 was the vital principle of our free institutions ; 
 that the regulation of that right is by the 
 Constitution of the United States declared to 
 be "reserved to the States or the people;" 
 that there is no such thing as . United States 
 voters ; that the legislative and executive offi- 
 cers of the United States derive their existence 
 as such, directly or indirectly, from voters 
 qualified exclusively by State laws and consti- 
 tutions. 
 
 From these principles it follows that the 
 authorities of the United States have nothing 
 to do with the qualifications of the voters from 
 whom they derive their offices, and have no 
 warrant to interfere with the exercise of the 
 fight of suffrage as regulated by the States. 
 Yet, at the last elections in the loyal States 
 of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Dela- 
 ware, the military authorities of the United 
 States, with the tacit sanction, if not by the 
 positive order of .the President, not only un- 
 dertook to prescribe new qualifications for vo- 
 ters, bat to designate what candidates they 
 might and should not vote for — and commit- 
 ted other outrages, utterly destroying the 
 freedom of elections, and placing in State 
 
16 
 
 offlcei^ and in Congress men obnoxioua to a 
 majority of the people. 
 
 It is represented that there were in Kentucky 
 at the time of the last August election, about 
 fifty thousand Federal troops. The State was 
 entirely free from armed rebels except for a 
 few days in the southern part of the 'State, 
 where a small force of raiders from Tennessee 
 entered within its limits and suddenly re- 
 treated. There was nothing to prevent a free 
 expresssion of public opinion at the polls if 
 the people were not to be interfered with by 
 the Federal troops. There were two parties 
 in the State, both, with individual exceptions, 
 in favor of suppressing the rebellion, ,ind 
 maintaining the Ujiion. One party was dis- 
 posed to sustain the Administration with " iin- 
 questioning" subserviency; the other desirous 
 of confining them within the limits of the 
 Constitution aad pursuing a conciliatory policy 
 towards their fellow citizens in rebellion. The 
 candidate of the latter party for Governor 
 was the Hon. C. A. Wickliffe who was in 
 Congress when the rebellioa broke out and 
 sustained all the early measures for its sup- 
 pression. He was opposed to the President's 
 emancipation policy and the employment of 
 black troops, and with Mr. Crittenden and 
 others voted against an appropriation bill in- 
 tended to provide for their payment. 
 
 The platform on which he was brought 
 oat as a candidate was substantially as fol- 
 lows, viz: That the Constitution and laws 
 of the United States are adequate to the^es- 
 isting emergency and that the constitutional 
 guarantees of liberty and property cannot be 
 suspended by war. That the Federal Gov- 
 ernment is one of limited powers which can- 
 not be enlarged by the existence of civil 
 commotion. That tho rights reserved to the 
 States are equally sacred with those' granted 
 to the United States. 
 
 That the Administration has committed 
 grave errors in confiscation bills, lawless pro- 
 clamations and military orders setting aside 
 
 outside of military lines where there was no 
 public danger to excuse it. That it was the 
 obvious purpose of the Administration to arm 
 the negroes of tho South to make war upon 
 the whites, and that it was thfe duty of Ken- 
 tucky to protest against it. That free speech 
 and a free press are inalienable rights. That 
 the rebellion was utterly unjustifiable in its 
 inception; that a dissolution of the Union 
 would bo the greatest of calamities ; and that 
 
 all just and constitutional means should be 
 adopted to suppress the one ^nd restore the 
 other. 
 
 The strength of Mr. Wicklifie's loyalty was 
 exhibited in a remark made to the writer of 
 these articles in condolence for the loss of an 
 only son in the winter of 1861-2 : "/ have a 
 son," said he, *^who has joined the rebel army, 
 and I would rather have followed him to his 
 grave.''* A ticket on the same platform was 
 gotten up for State officers and members of 
 Congress in most if not all the counties of the 
 State and its friends were sanguine of suc- 
 cess. The administration and its "unques- 
 tioning' ' supporters took the alarm and de- 
 termised to prevent tho election of Mr. Wick- 
 liffe and his friends by military force. In Ju- 
 ly orders were issued by sundry military offi- 
 cers in dilferent portions of the State, direct- 
 ing that when it should bo necessary to im- 
 press forage or other property for the use of 
 the troops, it • should be taken from rebels or 
 rebel sympathizers, and announcements were 
 made that all who voted the Democratic ticket 
 would be considered as of those classes. In 
 some of the counties, the military officers, by 
 general orders, directed the county courts not 
 to appoint any persons as judges or clerks of 
 the election except those whom they were 
 pleased to call * ^unconditional Union men," 
 In the same orders, the Judges and Clerks 
 were directed not to place on the poll books as 
 candidates any one who was not a Union 
 m'an or was opposed to furnishing men and 
 money for a vigorous prosecution of the war. 
 They were also directed not to permit any 
 man to vote unless known to the Judges as a 
 Union man, without taking an oath annexed 
 to the order. The following extract from an 
 order issued at Hudson, Ky., on the 22d 
 July, 1S63, is a condensed specimen of many 
 others issued in various parts of the State, viz : 
 
 ' ' None but loyal citiaens will act as officers 
 of the election. 
 
 " No one will be allowed to offer himself aa 
 
 Constitutions and laws and making arrests "^«^^<^^<l^'«/°y •^®«^°^„HT^ted for at said 
 
 election, who is not, m all things, loyal to the 
 State and Federal Governments, and in favor 
 
 of a vigorous prosecution of the war for the 
 suppression of the rebellion. 
 
 ' ' The j udges of the election will allow no one 
 to vote at said election unless he is known to 
 them to be an undoubtedly loyal citizen, or 
 unless he shall first take the oath required by 
 the laws of the State of Kentucky. No dis- 
 loyal man will offtir himself as aicandidate or 
 attempt to vote, except for treasonable pur- 
 poses, and all such efforts will be summarily 
 suppressed by the military authorities." 
 
17 
 
 A statute of Kentucky, passed March 11th, 
 1S62, had expatriated all citizens of that State 
 who should thereafter Join the rebel army or 
 having joined it, should contiuue therein over 
 thirty days thereafter, as well as all those 
 who should give them voluntary aid and as- 
 sistance. And it was provided that when any 
 person attempts to exercise the rights of a 
 citizen, "he may he required to negative on oath 
 the expatriation''^ provided for in the act.. 
 
 Now, in the first place, this was a State 
 law, with which the Federal authorities have 
 nothing to do. In the second place, it was 
 an amnesty, so far as the State was con- 
 cerned, for all its citizens in rebellion, who 
 should abandon the rebel service within 
 thirty days — all such, of course, were 
 entitled to the right of suffrage. In the 
 third place, to require the oath or not was 
 discretioEary with the State officers superin- 
 tending the elections. Yet, the military offi- 
 cers of the United States, under pretext of 
 executing the State law, with which they had 
 no rightful concern, undertook to prescribe 
 oaths of various forms, all of which entlrf^ly 
 ignored the amnesty feature of the act, im- 
 posing conditions not prescribed in its pro- 
 visions. Perhaps the most qpmprehensive 
 of these oaths was that proscribed by General 
 Asboth, in the following words, viz: *' I do 
 solemnly swear that I have never entered the 
 service of the so-called Confederate States ; 
 that I have not been engaged in the service 
 of the so-called Provisional Governmsnt of 
 Kentucky, either in a civil or military capaci- 
 ty : that I have never, either directly or in- 
 directly, aided the rebellion against the Gov- 
 enimti^t of the Uiiittjd States or the State of 
 Kentucky ; that I am unconditionally for the 
 Union and the suppression of the rbbelliou, 
 a«id am willing to furnish men and money for 
 the vigorous prosecution of the war against 
 the rebellious league known as the ' Confed- 
 erate States.' So help me God." This oath 
 excludes all who had accepted the State am- 
 nesty ; it excludes all who would Kot swear 
 that they were " unconditionally for the 
 Union and the suppression of the rebellion ;" 
 it excludes all who would not swear that 
 they were ''willing to famish men and money 
 for the vigorous prosecution of the war." 
 
 "We all know that "Unconditional Union- 
 ism," in the language of this Administration 
 and its adherents, means an "unquestioning" 
 support of all its measures, taken under the 
 plea of suppressing the rebellion*evcn to the 
 
 destruction of the State Governments and the 
 
 Constitution of the United States r and free- 
 men are not to be allowed to think or fed that 
 the Union, could be more surely preserved by 
 a more pacific policy. Who is to decide when 
 this war shall stop— the people or the army? 
 If the Army, God save our liberties J 
 
 We have. now some fifty thousand Federal 
 soldiers in battle array, not against -the ene- 
 mies of their country, but against an unarm- 
 ed political party in Kentucky, most of whom 
 were at least as loyal to the Union as them- 
 selves. To complete the preparations for the 
 onset, on the 31st of July out came a general 
 order placing the whole State of Kentucky 
 under martial law ! 
 
 How the battle was fought and the victory 
 won, I must record in another letter. 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 February 3, 1804. 
 
 ■ LETTER VIII.- 
 I KENTUCKY ELECTION — MILITARY ONSKT CP0:i. THB 
 
 POLLS POLL BOOKS SEIZED — NA3IE3 0? DEMO- 
 
 CKATIC CANDIDATES ERASED — VOTERS AND CAN- 
 PIDATiSS THREATENED AND AKKK&T£D — A VIC- 
 TORY OVER THE WHITE MAn'S LIBERTY — A DIS- 
 UNION VICTORY— MEMBERS OP CONGRESS AND 
 
 STATS LEGtSLATURE ELECTED BY THE BAYONET 
 
 NO ORDERS FROM WAR DEPARTMENT — A MYS- 
 TERY TO BS INVESTIGATED, 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men in the United 
 
 Slates : 
 
 In the closing paragraph of our last letter, 
 we presented the extraordinary spectacle is, 
 this country of about fifty thousand Federal 
 troops iu battle array against an unarEipdi po- 
 litical party in Kentucky. They were distri- 
 buted to all the principal towns amj votin? 
 places in the State. The attack was made 
 simultaneously at many points. Tlic follow- 
 in^ extract from a certificate of the judge of 
 election at Bardstown, Kentucky, Mr. Wiok- 
 liffo's place of residonce, shows the result at 
 that place, viz: 
 
 " We, the judges of the election held at tha 
 courthouse iu Bardstown, Nelson ooanty, K>. 
 I in Precinct No. 9, on this the 3d day of Au- 
 gust, 1863, do certify that the names of C. A. 
 Wkkliffrt, p. candidate for Governor of Ken- 
 I tucky, Yi. B. Read, candidate for the office of 
 I Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, were erased 
 from the poll-books by Lieut. Col. Butler 
 commanding the Fifth Regiment, Indiana 
 I Cavalry, U. S. Army, now with hoadquartera 
 I at this place, who would permit no voter ta 
 ; vote for said persons for said offices. " 
 
18 
 
 Against this outrage, Mr. Wickliffe filed tlie 
 follov/ing protest, viz : 
 
 C. A. Wickliffe protests against the act by 
 which his name was stricken from the poll- 
 books, and the people denied the privilege of 
 voting for him as a candidate for the office of 
 GoveriiOr. 
 
 He states that he has ever been opposed to 
 secession or a dissolutioa of the Union. 
 
 He is in favor of a restoration of the Union 
 8S it was under the present Constitution. 
 
 He h:is opposed the abolition of slavery as 
 a war measure and the arming of negroes as 
 soldiers of the army of the United States, and 
 voted figainst the appropriation bill at the last 
 session after the House refused to adopt the 
 proviso offered by Mr. Mallory, providing, in 
 substance, that no part of the money should 
 be expended in freeing negroes, in arming 
 and paying negroes as soldiers of the 
 army. Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Mallorj, Mr. 
 .Menzies, Mr. Harding, Mr. Yeaman, and Mr. 
 Grider. opposed the bill, and refused to vote 
 for it for the same reasons. 
 
 I deey that I am disloyal to the Govern- 
 ment or to the Constitution. 
 
 I request the judges to file this paper with 
 the poll-books and returns. 
 
 C. A. Wickliffe." 
 
 The following condensed statements exhibit 
 a portion of the military operations in various 
 portions of the State, viz : 
 
 McCf.acken Copnty. — In this county the 
 election was held under strict military rule. 
 Soldiers were stationed at each precinct. No 
 one was allowed to vote without taking the 
 oath prescribed by Gen. Asboth. The Dem- 
 ocratic ticket was struck from the poll-books 
 and not allowed to be voted for. 
 
 Bullitt CoDNTY. — At Mount Washington the 
 voting commenced about eight o'clock. At 
 nine in the morning WicklifTo had received 
 twenty- one votes and Bramlette three votes. 
 A lifcuteaant of cavalry, with a squad of fifty 
 men und<jr his command, then ordered the 
 name of the Democratic candidates to be 
 erased from the poll- books, and this was done. 
 
 Hancock County. — At Hawcsviile a lieuten- 
 ant in command of a. military force forbade the 
 judges to place the names of the Democratic 
 candidates on the poll-books, and they obeyed, 
 refusing to receive any votes for these candi- 
 dates. At Lewisport the same course was 
 pursued. At Indian Creek no poll was open- 
 ed for the Democratic ticket. At Lane pre- 
 cinct twenty- two votes were allowed to be 
 cast for Wickliffe. 
 
 BALiiAED County. — At Precinct No. 1 there 
 was no interference with voters and Wickliffe 
 received all but two or three of the votes cast. 
 At the remaining precincts the election was 
 oonductv,'d by armed soldiers under the orders 
 of Gen. Asboth, all the voters being required 
 to taka the oath prescribed in his order. At 
 Precinct Nos. 2 and 4 no election was held as 
 the judges refused to hold it unless permitted 
 to conduct It agreeably to the laws of the 
 State. 
 
 McLean County. — The Democratic ticket 
 was erased from the poll-books at all but one 
 or two pr. cincts. 
 I Caldwell Cocnty. — Wickliffe's name was 
 not allowed to go on the poll-books at any of 
 the precincts, although many of the best citi- 
 zens offered to take the oaths required if per- 
 mitted to vote for him. 
 
 Breckinridge County. — The Democratic 
 ticket was stiicken from the poll books at seven 
 out of twelve precincts. At several precincts 
 the Democratic ticket waspermittedto be voted 
 for until ten o'clock a. m., and at each of them 
 at the time of suppression there were at least 
 two votes for Wickliffe to one for Bramlette. 
 Graves County. — The election was conduct- 
 ed under the military orders of Hurlbut and 
 Asboth. The Democratic ticket was not per- 
 mitted to be placed upon the poll-books at 
 either of nine places of voting. Men were ar- 
 rested at Mayfield by the military for offering 
 to vote the Democratic ticket. 
 
 CALjiOWAY County. — The Bramlette ticket 
 alone was permiited to go upon the poll- books. 
 Hickman County. — At Columbus, McAllis- 
 ter's and Hays' precincts no polls were open- 
 j ed. as the ofBcers refused to act unless per- 
 I mitted tohold the election according to law. 
 At Moscow precinct the judges were arrested 
 and carried to Columbus. At Springhill and 
 Peto precincts the Democratic ticket was not 
 allowed to be voted for. At Clinton an officer 
 ; attended with Asboth's order, but, on being 
 i shown the law of the State, he refused to in- 
 terfere, and the election was held according 
 i to law; but the voters having understood that 
 1 Asboth's order would be enforced, they re- 
 mained at home, and not half the Democratic 
 i vote of the precinct was cast. 
 I Fulton County. — At Hickman en officer 
 commanding the troops ordered the judges to 
 1 suffer no one to be voted for unless they were 
 satisfied he had taken the oath prescribed by 
 Gen. Asboth. The Democratic ticket was 
 therefore not allowed to be voted for at that 
 point, though many offered to vote for it 
 I Meade County. — At Big Spring Captain 
 j Johnson forbade the Democratic ticket to be 
 ! placed on the poll-books, stating that he was 
 ! acting under the orders of Gen. Shackleford. 
 I Shelby County. — At Doke's precinct no 
 ' one was allowed to vote unless for Bramlette, 
 I though voters offered to take any oath re- 
 i quired. They were told that no disloyal maa 
 I could vote, and an offer to vote the Demo- 
 cratic ticket was evidence of disloyalty. 
 
 Lyon County. — Soldiers were stationed at 
 each precinct. The Democratic ticket was 
 not permitted to be voted for. ^ 
 
 Daviess County. — At Owensboro' the Dem- 
 ocratic ticket was not permitted to be entered 
 on the poll- book. At Yelvington the oath re- 
 j quired by the State laws only was adminis- 
 j tered, and WicklilTe got two votes to one for 
 j Bramlette. At Knottsvillo the Democratic 
 I ticket was erased from the poll-book by the 
 I military, as was also done at CurdviUe, Oak- 
 [ ford, and Murday's. 
 
 j HendeesoS^ounty. — Voters were required 
 ' to take Gen. Shackleford's oath. At Hejjdep- 
 
19 
 
 B9n several persons were arrested for voting 
 the Democratic ticket. At the Hebardville, 
 Spottsville, and Tillotson's precincts tlie Dem- 
 ocratic ticket was not allowed on the poll- 
 books. At the Walnut Bottom precinct six- 
 teen were cast for Wickliffe and none for 
 Bramlette before the arrival of the military, 
 when the officer in command seized the poll- 
 books and carried them to headquarters. 
 
 Owen County. — In eight precincts no votes 
 were permitted to be cast for Wickliffe. For 
 some reason ninety-seven votes were permit- 
 ted to be recorded for him in one precinct and 
 thirty-six in another. 
 
 Nflson County. — At Bardstown Col. Butler 
 ia person erased the Democratic ticket from 
 the poll-books. At Boston, Blocmfield, High 
 Grove, Deatsville, and Ballard's, the soldiery 
 prohibited any one from voting for Wicblfife. 
 At Chaplain the military were not permitted 
 to control the election, and WicklifFe got 
 ninety- three votes to Six for Bramlette. 
 
 WooDFOKD County. — At Versailles the Pro- 
 vost Marshal gave notice at the polls that 
 those who voted the Democratic ticket would 
 leave a record of their disloyalty so that he 
 would know whose property to seize as the 
 sympathizers in rebellion. Finally, none 
 were allowed to vote who disapproved the 
 negro policy of the Administration. 
 
 Conokessional Distkicts Nos. 6 and 7. — 
 Voters, in addition to the oath required by 
 law, were required to answer questions as to 
 their feelings, sympathies, and wishes. If 
 they failed to answer these satisfactorily, cr 
 refused to answer at all, their votes were re- 
 jected. Those who had voted early in the 
 day were afterward called back and these 
 questions put to them and their votes erased. 
 
 Before the election, the Democratic candi- 
 date for Congress in the fifth District and the 
 candidate for the Legislature in Livingston 
 county, were arrested and sent to Henderson, 
 many miles from their homes, and there 
 detained until after the election. Thus, by 
 prescribing illegal oaths, by dictating illegal 
 act to county courts and judges and clerks of 
 the election, by arresting judges of the elec- 
 tion for refusing to administer the illegal oaths 
 in violation of their oaths of office, by not 
 allowing men who were willing to take the oath 
 to vote the Democratic ticket, by threaten- 
 ing to arrest and actually arresting voters in 
 favor of that ticket, by declaring such votes 
 a proof of disloyalty thus exposing their pra- 
 perty to seizure, by seizing the poll books 
 and erasing the names of the Democratic 
 candidates in more than fifty precincts, by 
 erasing Democratic votes and abstracting poll 
 books showing Democratic majorities — by a 
 multiplicity of outrages like these, a great 
 victory was acliieved by the federal army in 
 Kentucky — a victory over the right of suf- 
 
 frage, over the white man's liberty, over the 
 Constitutions of the State and of the United 
 States, a victory if often repeated, as fatal to 
 the Union as secession itself, a disunion tio- 
 TORY. The total number of voters in Kentucky 
 as officially reported, was 182,246. Only 
 80,000 were cast, of which Mr. Wickliffe re- 
 ceived less than 17,400. The opposing can- 
 didate received the residue, being but a little 
 more than one-third of the actual vote of the 
 State. This fact, connected with the means 
 taken to defeat Mr. Wickliffe, affords strong 
 presumptive evidence that he would have re- 
 ceived a majority of the votes had there been 
 a free election. And the same means which 
 defeated him, placed in Congress and in the 
 State Legislature many members who now 
 hold their seats, not" by the will of the people, 
 but by federal bayonets. 
 
 And what do we hear now f The Secretary 
 of War in reply to a call from the Senate for a 
 copy of all orders issued from his Department 
 touching these elections, reports that no such 
 orders were issued! If there were no orders 
 from the Secretary of War, the General-in- 
 Chief or the President, every officer who par- 
 ticipated in these outrages, ought to be 
 cashiered and driven from the army in dis- 
 grace. But has any one of them been punish- 
 ed, reprimanded or censured ? Not one. 
 
 There is a mystery here which demands 
 from Congress a most searching investigation. 
 As friends of the white man's liberty, will they 
 not make it ? 
 
 In my next, I propose to treat of the last 
 Maryland election. 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 February 9th, 1864. 
 
 ^ LETTER IX. 
 
 MARYLAND ELECTION — THE' ELECTION LAWS OP 
 
 THAT STATE ITS STEELING LOYALTY GENERAL 
 
 SCHENCK's order — MODIFICATION BY THE PRE- 
 SIDENT — THE governor's PROCLAMATION 
 
 HOW IT WAS TREATED — THE PRESIDENT RB- 
 EPONSIBLE — SUMMARY OF OUTRAGES. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men in the United 
 
 States : 
 
 The Kentucky election was early in August 
 last. The Maryland election was in the sub- 
 sequent November. If the Administration 
 had disappreved of the outrages committed 
 by the military authorities in Kentucky, they 
 had ample time to guard against similar out- 
 
20 
 
 rages in Maryland. How far any such pre- 
 cautions were taken maybe judged by the 
 following narrative. 
 
 The qualifications of voters and the rules 
 governing elections were pressribed by the 
 constitution and laws of Maryland in the 
 exercise of the "powers reserved to the 
 States respectively or to the people " on the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 Among the laws regulating elections, was 
 one prohibiting " any commissioned or non- 
 commissioned ofBcer, having command of any 
 Boldier or soldiers quartered or posted in any 
 district of any county of the State, to muster 
 or embody any of said troops or march any 
 recruiting party within the view of any place 
 of election during the time of hold said elec- 
 tions." And the election 'laws of the State 
 empowered the judges of the election to pre- 
 serve order at the polls, and if necessary for 
 that purpose to call out any part, or the whole 
 power of the country. 
 
 If the military authorities had possessed the 
 Tight to interfere with the elections under any 
 circumstances, there was nothing in the con- 
 dition of Maryland at that time, which requir- 
 ed, justified or in any degree escused their 
 interference. 
 
 Nobody has undertaken to call iu question 
 the loyalty or veracity of his Excellency A. 
 W. Bradford, the Governor of Maryland. In 
 his proclamation issued on the second day of 
 November last are the following passages, viz : 
 
 "It is a well known fact, that with perhaps 
 one single exception, there is not a Congres- 
 sional candidate in this State whoie loyalty is 
 even of a questionable character, and not in a 
 county in the State outside of the same Con- 
 gressional district, is there, I believe, a can- 
 didate for the legislature, or any State office, 
 "whose loyalty is not equally undoubted." 
 
 Again he says ; "For more than two years 
 past there has never been a time, when, if 
 every traitor and every treasonable sympa- 
 thiser in the State had voted, they could have 
 controlled, whoever might have been their 
 candidate, a single Department of the State 
 or jeoparded the success of the general gov- 
 ernment. No State in the Union has been or 
 is now, actuated by more heartfelt or unwaver- 
 ing loyalty than Maryland, a loyalty intensi- 
 fied and purified by the ordeal through which 
 it has passed." 
 
 In refereece to the loyalty of Maryland, we 
 Lava the evidence of General Schenck in 
 confirmation of that of Governor Bradford. 
 
 In an explanatory order issued by him on the 
 3d of November last, he speaks as follows, viz : 
 
 "Governor Bradford himself cannot appre- 
 ciate more highly than I do, the sterling loyal- 
 ty of the great majority of the people of Mary- 
 land.^' 
 
 One would think that this * ' great majority' ' 
 countenanced by the presence of United States 
 troops in this State, might safely be left to 
 manage their own elections according to law, 
 without the interference of the military. Yet 
 the General in command, without notice to 
 the State authorities, on the 27th of October 
 issued & General Order of the following tenor, 
 viz: 
 
 It directed, Jirst, " all provost marshals and 
 other military ofScers to arrest all such per- 
 sons [evil disposed persoHS, who had been 
 engaged in rebellion or given aid and comfort] 
 found at or hanging about or approaching any 
 poll or place of election on the 4th November, 
 1863, and report such arrest to his Headquar- 
 ters." 
 
 Secondly, It prescribed a long oath to be 
 required of those whose votes might be ckal- 
 lenged on the ground of disloyalty. 
 
 Thirdly. It required all provost marshals 
 and military olScers to arrest and report to 
 Headquarters all Judges of election who might 
 refuse to aid in carrying out the Order or to 
 administer the oath. 
 
 This order was not communicated to the 
 Governor of the State nor published, but 
 sent off privately with squads of soldiers to 
 various counties. The Governor having ob- 
 tained information of the arrangements in 
 progress, did, on the Slst October, appeal to 
 the President to prevent the meditated out- 
 rage. Not having received any reply, he, on 
 the 2d November, issued a proclamation 
 denouncing the projected iHtorference with 
 th<^ freedom of the election, and promising 
 the aid of the State authorities as far as prac- 
 titable to maintain it. The general in com 
 mand prohibited the publication of this paper 
 in the Baltimore newspapers and laid an 
 embargo on aU vessels bound to the Eastern 
 Shore to prevent its circulation in that part 
 of the State ! 
 
 After his proclamation was printed, the 
 Governor received an answer from the Presi- 
 dent, in which he rescinded the first clause 
 of General Schenck's order substituting for it 
 an order that "all provost marshals and 
 military officers do prevent all disturbance 
 and violeaae at or about the polls." "The 
 
21 
 
 otiier two propesitioEs," 
 to stand." 
 What hare wo here ? 
 
 allow i he and i:i3 ofucer* esripcially devoted them- 
 
 j selves throughout, the day of election. 
 clh-p"'- I "^^"^ *'"^® statements and certificates whicli 
 
 , , , ^ .. ^,. ,/,. "/'"7T'' I li'''"^s been forwarded to me from diSyrent 
 
 order from the President himseh directing hiy ; counties in that Congressional district, I have 
 provost marshals and military oftScers to j bpen furnished I presume, v/ith an account of 
 usurp the power of keeping order at the polls ! P^" ^ "^^^7 of the outrages to which their citi- 
 in a State election-a function belonging by i f?f „^^f subjected The 'Governnient 
 , .,,,,. ^ , , , ^ ticKet' above retcrred to Avas in several, if 
 
 law exclusively to thejadges of the election, ^ ^ot all of these counties designated by its 
 and this usurpation involving a palpable , color ; it was a yellow ticket, and armed With 
 violation of the law which prohibits the pre- ^^lat, a voter could safely run the gauntlet of 
 sence of the military within sight of the polls. !^^ sabres and carbines that guarded the en- 
 „ , „ ,, ,. ^ , T. T. i trance to the pohs, ana known sympathisers 
 
 We have, secondly, the direct approval by the j .^it^ the rebellion were, as certified to me, 
 President of the second and third clauses of ! allowed to vote unquestioned, if they would 
 General Schenck's order prescribing an illegal 
 oath and directing the arrest of all judges of 
 election who might refuse to administer it. 
 Thus, whether any orders were issued from 
 the War Department or not, the responsibil- 
 ity for the interference of the military with 
 the freedom of elections in Maryland, 
 brought home to the President. 
 
 How the orders of General Schenck and the ! caused every ballot offered to be examined 
 President were carried out, the Governor of ^"^^ ^=^^^^^ \%^^f the favored one, the voter 
 ' . was required to t'.ke the oath, and not otber- 
 
 Muryland graphically describes in his late \ wise ; and in another again, after one vote 
 message to the Legislature. After stating [ only had been given, the polls were closed, 
 f.:i.ong other things, that the modification of I '■^° ji^^ages all arrestsd an-t sent out of the 
 the order by the President " seemed to re- | l^T^' ''"'^ "^'^'^^'^ occupation taken of th« 
 ceive no attention from those entrusted with | ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ treatment received by one of 
 it5 execution, and was in some instances!,^, adhering States of this Union. ^' The 
 openly disregarded," he sums up the out- i ,_r i u j . ■. „ c i 
 
 f ■> b, } f , sterhnj loyalty of a great majority" of whosa 
 
 ' people is admitted ! 
 
 That the object of this interference Vt'ith 
 the election the offiGcr in command of the ! *^« election was not to preserve order at the 
 regiment which had been distributed among i polls, is quite palpable. Y/hat the real ob- 
 the counties of the Eastern Shore, and who ' ject was can scarcely be mistaken. But there 
 had himself landed in Kent county com- ; ^.^ some features of the transaction which re- 
 mc-nced his operations by arresting and send- I . . „ , ., . 
 ing across the bay some ten or more of the | ^'^^''^ ^'^'^^^'^ elucidation. 
 
 vote that ticket, whilst loysl and respected 
 citiz»^ns, ready to take the oath, were turned 
 back by the ofScera in charge without even 
 allowing them to approach the polls. In one 
 district, &■? appears by certificate from the 
 judge, the military ofUcer took his stand at 
 llie pclb before they were opened, declaring 
 that none but ' the yellow ticket' should be 
 is 1 voted, and excluded all others throughout the 
 I day. In another district a similar officer 
 
 rages of the election as follows 
 
 '■Thtse abuses commenced even before the 
 opening of the polls. On liie day preceding 
 
 ino't estimable end distinguished of its citi- 
 rens, including several of the most steadfast 
 and uncompromising loyalists 'of the Shore. [ 
 The jail of the county was entered, the jailor 
 seized, imprisoned, and afterwards sent to 
 Ealtimore, and prisoners confined therein un- 
 der indictment set at liberty. Thecoramand- 
 ing officer referred to gave the first clue to the 
 character of the disloyalty against which he 
 considered himself as particularly commis- 
 sioned by printing and publishing a procla- 
 mation in which, referring to the election to 
 take place the next day, he invited all the 
 truly loyal to avail themselves of that oppor- 
 tunity and establi.<h their loyalty ' by giving 
 a fall and ardent support to the whole Gov- 
 ernment ticket upon the p*atform adopted by 
 the Union League Convention,' declaring 
 that 'none other is recognizt^d by the Federal 
 authorities as loyal or worthy of support of 
 jiny one who desires the peace and restoration 
 cf the Union.' To secure the election of 
 that ticket seemed to be Iho business to which 
 
 February 11, 1S64. 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 A SAD SIGN — THE PRESlDKST's REASOSISG— IS UK 
 
 A MONAKCH? PRETEXT EOK l.NTERFERENCH I^^ 
 
 ELECTIONS — THE REAL OBJECT SHOWN AT THil 
 POLLS — IT WAS TO PUT DOWN THE CONSERVA- 
 TIVE PARTY AND PCf UP THE REVOLUTIONARY 
 
 PARTY — IT WAS REVOLUTION IP THERE HAD 
 
 r>EEN DLOODSUED, WHO KESPONSIDLE ? 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men in the United 
 
 States : 
 
 In th<5 ccnclusion of my last letter I said 
 there were some features in the interference 
 of the military with the Maryland clcctiou 
 which required further elucidation. 
 
 It is a sad sign of the times, that the Exe- 
 cutive authorities cf the United States seem to 
 
22 
 
 forget that we live under written constitu- 
 tions and laws. They seem to consider them- 
 Belves the leaders of a revolution, entitled, as 
 such, to the unlimited power of binding men's 
 consciences with oaths and controlling their 
 •wiU by bayonets. What shadow of constitu- 
 tional or legal right has the President to as- 
 sume that the governments of the seceded 
 States have ceased to exist, or, if they have, 
 by what grant of power is he authorized to 
 reconstruct them? State governments con- 
 structed by any other power than a majority 
 of the people to be governed, are hitherto un- 
 known in our political system. The whole 
 proceeding is a military usurpation, fraught 
 with fearful dangers. 
 
 So in the elections within the border States. 
 The oath prescribed by the military officers 
 as a qualification for suffrage ("in the case of 
 Maryland at least approved by the President) 
 are either without law, or in violation of 
 law. In his approval of General Schenck's 
 order, the President authorizes a direct viola- 
 tion of the election laws of that State. Hear 
 what he says in a letter to Governor Brad- 
 ford dated the second day of November last. 
 Says he : " The remaining point of your let- 
 ter is a protest against any person ofifering to | 
 vote being put to any test not found in the j 
 laws of Maryland. This brings ua to a differ- j 
 ence between Missouri and Maryland. With 
 the same reason in both States. Missouri 
 has by law provided a test for the voter with 
 reference to the present rebellion, while Mary- 
 land has not.'' ^ 
 
 Consider the result of this reasoning. Be- 
 cause Missouri, having a perfect right to re- 
 strict suffrage to loyal voters, has done so, 
 and Maryland, being thoroughly loyal and 
 not deeming it necessary, has not done so, 
 therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, by my Major 
 General Schenck, will prescribe such a law for 
 the State of Maryland 1 Now, where does the 
 President get the power to legislate jor Mary- 
 land ? Is he an absolute monarch ? 
 
 At the outset of the rebellion, the country 
 was ready to tolerate the assumption of illegal 
 powers in Maryland and elsewhere, under the 
 impression that the safety of the country re- 
 quired it. But the occasion for the exercise 
 of such powers in Maryland has passed away. 
 Governor Bradford bears testimony to the 
 tried loyalty of the State at large, and Gen- 
 eral Schenck admits the " sterling loyalty " 
 of a " great majority" of its citizens. Whbt, 
 then, is the pretext for prescribing a new 
 
 qualification for voters, stationing soldiers at 
 the polls in violation of the State law, and 
 usurping the control of the elections f The 
 pretext as stated by General Schenck in his 
 original order was that "there are many evil- 
 disposed persons now at large in the State of 
 Maryland who have been engaged in rebellioa 
 against the lawful government, or have given 
 aid and comfort or encouragement to ethers 
 so engaged, er who do not recognize their 
 allegiance to the United States, and who may 
 avail themselves of the indulgence of the au- 
 thority which tolerates their presence to em- 
 barrass the approaching election, or through 
 it to foist enemies of the United States into 
 power." In an explanatory order he said: 
 " Its simple purpose is to prevent traitoroas 
 persons from controlling, in any degree, by 
 their votes or taking part in the coming elec- 
 tion." And this in a State whose Governor 
 tells us that "/ur more than two years past 
 there has never been a time when, if every traitor 
 and every treasonable sympathizer had voted, 
 they could have controlled, whoever might hav* 
 been their candidate, a single department of th* 
 State, or jeopardized the success of the General 
 Government." 
 
 What, then, was the object of the military 
 interference ? The demonstration made at 
 the polls unmistakeably indicates. 
 
 It seems there are in Maryland a number of 
 political clubs, whose members are sworn to 
 secrecy, called "Union Leagues." These 
 clubs held a convention before the election, 
 and prescribed a political platform for all 
 candidates as a test of loyalty. Candidates 
 were brought out on that platform, which 
 was t"horoughly radical and revolutionary. 
 Conservative Union men, who had stood by 
 the Government from the outbreak of the 
 rebellion, were to be driven out of Congress 
 and the State Legislature, and their places 
 supplied by men pledged to support the 
 President in all his unconstitutional and re- 
 volutionary measures and designs. That the 
 military officers might know what tickets to 
 receive 'and what to reject, the Union League 
 ticket was printed on yellow paper. Procla- 
 mation was made by one military com- 
 der, calling on "all the truly loyal to 
 avail themselves of that opportunity and 
 establish their loyalty by giving a full and 
 ardent support to the whole Government 
 ticket upon the platform adopted by the Union 
 League Convention," declaring that "none other 
 is recognized by the Federal authorities as loyal or 
 
23 
 
 worthy of the support of any one who de- 
 sires the peace and restoration of the Union." 
 At one precinct, a Federal officer declared 
 that none but the yellow ticket should be. 
 voted, and enforced his declaration ; known 
 sympathizers armed with the yellow ticket, 
 were allowed to vote unquestioned, while 
 thoroughly loyal men, riot so armed, were not 
 allowed to vote at all. 
 
 The contest in that election was not be- 
 tween Union men and Secessionists ; but 
 between conservatives and ultras, between 
 unconditional Union men who are in favor of 
 sustaining the Constitution as it is and restor- 
 ing the Union as it was, and a revolutionary 
 party, falsely calling themselves uncondi- 
 tional Union men, who are (Jo-operating with 
 the Executive in uprooting the very founda- 
 tions of our free institutions. 
 
 That the Administration approved the out- 
 rageous conduct of its officers at the polls is 
 evidenced, as in the State of Kentucky, by 
 their utter failure to punish or even censure 
 them. 
 
 Now, can any one after all this, doubt the 
 real object of this military interference ? It 
 was to sustai7i the revolutionary parti/ and to put 
 down the conservative parti/. It was to decide 
 an election by the bayonet. It was to place 
 in Congress and the State Legislature subser- 
 vient instruments of the Exsculive instead of 
 true representatives of the people. It was 
 revolution ! The President might as well have 
 appointed the members thus elected himself 
 withoat the formality of a sham election. 
 And it is a mark of the degeneracy of the 
 limes, that men are found willing to accept 
 and hold offices thus conferred. 
 
 Gen. Schenck says in his explanatory order 
 that he will not presume the Governor's pro- 
 clamation "was designed to produce collision 
 between the military power and the citizens 
 asserablec" at the polls to vote at the election ; 
 but I cannot doubt," says he "that its obvious 
 tendency is to invito and suggest such dis- 
 turbance." Well, had the judges of the 
 election, in pursuance of law, called out the 
 power of the counties and driven the federal 
 troops with slaughter from the polls, where 
 they were, not only without law, but in viola- 
 tion of law, who woald have been responsible? 
 the government which placed them there, or 
 the people who would have act«d in defence 
 of their darest right — that right on which all 
 other rights depend ? 
 
 These "Union Leagues," so called, at 
 
 I whose bf^hest the government sends out its 
 armies to aid them in carrying elections, 
 deserve more attention than they have re- 
 ceived. AxDBEW Jackson. 
 February 25, 1864. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 THE UJTION LEAOaES — THEIR OATH — THEIR OBJECI 
 
 THEIS MEANS TREMENDOUS INDIVIDUAL EB- 
 
 SPONSIBILITY — IN PARTNEKSHiP WITH THE PBB- 
 SIDENT — THE ARMY AT THEIR COMMAND — THEIS 
 "plans" THE "freeman's PLEDGE" THE 
 
 negro's freedom is what thet mean. 
 To all Unconditional Union Men of the United 
 
 States. 
 
 The relations which appear to exist between 
 the Union Leagues and the present Adminis- 
 tration of our Government, make it the duty 
 of every loyal citizen to inquire into the mo- 
 tives and designs of those combinations. 
 
 The basis of these clubs is an oath or oaths 
 which have recently been brought to light in 
 the following manner and In the following 
 words, viz : 
 
 A Springfield CHlinois,) letter, published in 
 the St. Louis Republican of the 30th ultimo, 
 gives a full exposition of the ceremonies, pass- 
 words, &o., of the Union League, as derived 
 "from a correct and literal copy of the Ritual 
 adopted by the National Convention of the 
 Union League of America, at Cleveland, on 
 the 21st day of May, A. D. 1S63, duly certi- 
 fied by the signature of J. M. Edwards, Q. P., 
 andW. R. Irwin, G. R, S." This work is 
 described as a pamphlet of three by four 
 inches, containing twenty pages. Th« oaih 
 administered to initiates is as follows : 
 
 " I, A B , do solemnly swear, (or afiarm,) 
 
 in the presence of those witnesses, that I have 
 never vuluntarily borue arms against tbo United 
 States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I 
 will support, protect, and dcfead tho Constitution 
 and Government of the United States, and the 
 flag thereof, against all enemies, foreign and do- 
 mestic; that I will bear true faith and aliegianoo 
 to tho same ; and that I will also defend this Stiito 
 against any invasim, insurrection, or rebellion, to 
 the extent of my ability. This I freely plodgo 
 without mental reservation or evasion. Futher- 
 morc, that I will do all in my power to elect true 
 and reliable Union men and supporters of th» 
 Government, and none others, to all utiicos of 
 prolit or trust, from tho lowest to tho highest, in 
 ward, town, county, State, and General Govern- 
 ment. And should I ever be called to till any 
 office, I will faithfully carry out tho objects and 
 lirinciplos of this League. And, further, that I 
 will protect, aid, and defend all worthy mem- 
 bers of tho Union League. And, further, I will 
 never make known in any way or maanor, to any 
 person or persons, not mombors of tho Union 
 League, any of tho signs, pass-words, proceed- 
 ings, debates, or plans of this or any other Coun- 
 cil under this organization, except when engaged 
 in admitting new members into this League. And 
 
24 
 
 witli my hand upon the Iloly B;b]a, Ceclarafion 
 of Independence, and Constitution of tbe United 
 States of America, under the seal of my sacred 
 honor, I acknowledge myself firmly bound and 
 pledged to tbe faithful performance of this my 
 solemn obligation. So help me Grod." 
 
 This oath having been taken "with clasped 
 and uplifted hands," all repeat the "free- 
 man's pledge," as follows : 
 
 •■'To defend and perpetuate Freedom and the 
 Union, I pledge my life, my fortune, and my 
 sacred honor. So help me God." 
 
 These oaths have been for many weeks be- 
 fore the public and there seems to bo no rea- 
 son to doubt their authenticity. I believe it 
 has never been denied. 
 
 Far be it from me to impeach the motives 
 of all those who may have taken these oaths 
 or joined these associations ; but I am per 
 suaded that they have done it without due 
 consideration of the tremendous responsibi- 
 lity involved in the act. Tlie leading object 
 of the Leagues is said to be, no doubt truly, 
 the extinction of slavery ia the United States. 
 That object is not in itself illegal or imconsti- 
 tutional ; for slavery may be abolished by 
 legal and constitutional means. Eut these 
 oaths are not limited to such means. They 
 bind the men who take them to support any 
 means for the accomplishment of tha.t end 
 which the League itself may prescribe, how- 
 ever unlawful and atrocious. They go fur- 
 ther and bind the member never to ' ' make 
 known vi any way or manner, to any person or 
 persons, not members of the Union Leatjue, any of 
 the signs, passwords, proceedings, debates or 
 PLANS of this or any other Council under this 
 organization, except when engaged in admit- 
 ting new members into this League." 
 
 Look at the comprehensiveness of this obli- 
 gation. The '^plans^' of an organization are 
 always digested by its leaders. Does robbery en- 
 t«r into their "plans ?" Their sworn followers 
 are bound not to disclose it ! Does revolution ? 
 They must be silent I Does assassination^ 
 They must be mute ! Are they called upon be- 
 fore a court or jury to testify in such a case ? 
 They must PERJURE themselves ! ! To all 
 this the Union Leaguer binds himself when he 
 says : ' ' With my hand on the Holy Bible, Decla 
 ration cf Independence arid Constitution of the 
 United States of Aincrica, under the seal of my 
 sacred honor, I acknotcledge myself Jirmly bound 
 and pledged the faithful performance of this 7ny 
 solemit obligation. So iielp Jte Qod." 
 
 Honest Union Leaguer, is it not so ? Look 
 again at the oath you have taken. Does it 
 except any "plan" which may be adopted by 
 
 your "League," however unjust, cruel, dia- 
 bolical and bloody ? Have you not surren- 
 dered your right of individual opinion and 
 independent action ? Have you not sworn to 
 conceal "treason, stratagem and crime" even 
 to the extreme of perjury in a court of justice, 
 should such elements enter into the "plans'^ of 
 the Union Leagues'? In fine, have you not 
 made yourself a slave in the name of freedom f 
 
 "What the present "plans" of those Leagues 
 are, has been but partially developed. That 
 the leading Leaguers themselves are conscious 
 that they will not bear the light, is proved 
 by the means used to keep them secret. If 
 their object be to extinguish slavery by consti- 
 tutional and legal means, why impose an oath 
 of secrecy ? The very fact of their requiring 
 such an oath, is of itself proof that they con- 
 template, the use of questionable means. 
 
 Whether the Union Leagues or President 
 Lincoln now command the army and govern 
 the country, is perhaps a question of doubt. 
 The indications are that they share the honor 
 between them. The confidence they have in 
 each other, is shown on the one hand by their 
 being intrusted with the registration of the 
 PresideQt's voters in Louisiana, and by the 
 vi'se of the army to enable them to carry the 
 late election in Maryland and other States, 
 and on the other, by the unanimity with 
 which the Union Leagues are coming out in 
 favor of Mr. Lincoln's re-election. Indeed it 
 may be assumed, without much danger of 
 mistake, that the President's emancipation 
 proclamation, his scheme of reconstruction, 
 and the treatment v^hich the loyal raen of th® 
 Border States are receiving at his hands, are 
 parts of the "plans" of the Union Leagues. 
 But whether these "plans" were originally 
 theirs or uot, they adopt them as their own 
 by giving them their united support. And 
 what are the characteristics of these plans ? 
 
 One of these characteristics is robbery of 
 loyal men! The President's emancipation 
 proclamation declares all the slaves in certain 
 Stales and parts of States free, whether the 
 property of loyal masters or disloyal. 
 
 Another characteristic of the "plan" is, 
 that it punishes the loyal masters by disfran- 
 chisement if they refuse assent to the rob- 
 bery. They must swear to support the Presi- 
 dent's emancipation proclamation, or not be 
 allowed to vote in the reconstruction of their 
 own governraent! No alternative is left 
 them; they must consent to bo robbed or dis- 
 franchised !' 
 
25 
 
 Another characteristic of the "plan "is, 
 
 that it purposes to use the armies of the 
 
 United States to enable minorities to govern 
 
 ' majorities, one- tenth to govern nine-tenths, 
 
 in the redeemed States. 
 
 Another part of the " plan " is, to use the 
 army to enable them to carry the elections in 
 the loyal States, driving freemen from the 
 polls and filling Congress and the State Leg- 
 islatures with men of their own type of loy- 
 alty. Look at the late elections in Missouri, 
 Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland, where 
 the freedom of elections has been suppressed 
 by the united action of the Union Leagues and 
 the Union Armij ! It is officially reported that 
 no orders were issued from the War Depart- 
 ment touching the employment of the troops 
 in their raids upon the polls. Did their orders 
 come from the Union Leages ? 
 
 It appears that the Leaguers are not con- 
 tent with imposing on their converts one oath 
 taken "with clasped and uplifted hands;" 
 but after he has taken it, they ail swear him 
 and themselves over again in what they call the 
 " freeman'd pledge " in the following words, 
 viz : 
 
 "To defend and perpetuate Freedom and 
 the Union, I pledge my life, ray fortune, and 
 my sacred honor. So help me God." 
 
 What a spectacle before High Heaven is a 
 conclave of men who have sworn away their 
 own freedom of opinion and of action, swear- 
 ing themselves ahundi-ed times over " to de- 
 fend and perpetuate Freedom''^ with a pledge 
 of life, fortune, and sacred honor ! This strange 
 inconsistency is to be reconciled only on the 
 ground, that the only freedom they mean is 
 iiiQ freedom of the negro, and to that they are 
 willing to sacrifice their own ; not only their 
 own freedom, but "/(/e, fortune, and sacred 
 honor." 
 
 I am not done with this subject. 
 
 Andeew Jackson. 
 
 February 25, 1864. 
 
 LETTER XII. I 
 
 KECAPITCLATION — APPEAL TO THE FAITHFUL 
 
 THE LEAGUER SWEARS AWAY HIS PERSONAL AND 
 
 OFFICIAL INPKPEKDENCE A POLITICAL TRAP j 
 
 HE MUST PROTECT, AID AND DEFEND WORTHY { 
 ]f EMBERS — HOW ? — WHO ARE "WORTHY " MEM- 
 BERS ? 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men of the United 
 
 States : 
 
 III ray last letter I presented you with the 
 form of the oath, end of the pledge prescribed 
 by the National Union League Convention, to 
 
 be taken by ?.1I new members admitted into 
 that association, and called particular atten- 
 tion to the clause which binds them never to 
 disclose, under a/fay circumstancgs any of their 
 "plans." 
 
 I showed by unmistakable indications in 
 Louisiana and Maryland, a perfect concert of 
 action between the Union Leagues and the 
 military power of the country of which the 
 President is the head. 
 
 I showed by conclusive circumstantial evi- 
 dence, that one of the "plans" of the Union 
 Leagues, which its members are sworn not 
 to disclose, is to use the army of the United 
 States to enable minorities to govern majori- 
 ties in the redeemed States, and to suppress 
 the freedom of elections in the loyal Slates, 
 so far as may be necessary to the execution of 
 their own " plans." 
 
 I showed that having sworn away their 
 own freedom of opinion and action, they yet 
 pledge life, fortune and sacred honor "to 
 defend and perpetuate Freedom," and that 
 this inconsistency can be reconcile'' only oa 
 the ground that they mean, not th-j freedom 
 of the white man, but only the freedom of the 
 negro, for which they are ready to sacrifice 
 their own ! 
 
 Hoi all ye "unconditional Union men," 
 will ye not rush forward and join this most 
 benevolent and disinterested of all associa- 
 tions I Are ye not ready to sacrifice, not 
 only your own freedom and that of thirty 
 millions of whites, but also your own " life, 
 fortune and sacred honor" to set four millions 
 of negroes free ? Are ye not ready, if need- 
 ful, to order the armies of the United States 
 into New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and ail 
 the free States, to enable you to carry the 
 ^^ yellow ticket" there, as in the Slate of Mary- 
 land ? What is the white man's liberty com- 
 pared with the negro's freedom ! 
 
 But I am digressing from my immediate ob- 
 ject. Let us look a little further into the 
 bond under which the Union Leaguer is re- 
 quired to put his conscience, his tongue and his 
 actions. In one clause of the oath, he swears 
 " that I will do all iu my power to elect true 
 aud reliable Union men and supporters of the 
 government, aud none others, to all offices 
 of profit and trust, from the lowest to the 
 highest, in ward, town, county, State and 
 general government." 
 
 Here it will be seen that it is not sufiicient 
 that a candidate is "a reliable Union man" 
 
26 
 
 to get a Leaguer's vote ; but he must also be 
 *^ a supporter of the Government/' What this 
 means becomes pvident when we advert to 
 the fact, that the newspaper organs of the 
 Lea^iiers, stotitly maintain, that the Admin- 
 istration is the Government, and that those who 
 would support the Government, must support 
 the Administration. This clause of the oath, 
 therefore, is a mere party pledge. It bjnds 
 those who take it, to support for all offlces 
 "from the lowest to the highest" the parti- 
 zans of the Administration, " and none others." 
 
 Now, will any considerate man deliberately 
 bind his conscience by an oath to do, what, 
 in the mutations of men and things, that same 
 conscience may tell him it is his duty to God 
 and his country not to do ? Does it become 
 an honest man or a patriotic man to place 
 himself in a condition where he may find it 
 necessary to violate his conscience or his 
 oath ? Will he not rather maintain his inde- 
 pendence of opinion and of action, so that 
 upon the recurrence of each successive elec- 
 tion he may vote according to the dictates of 
 his own reason and conscience ? 
 
 The truth is, this is but a trap set by polit- 
 ical leaders to catch unwary voters and mul- 
 titudes are running into it as the simple 
 partridge or quail runs into the hunter's 
 Bet. 
 
 They dare not rely on the freedom of the pop- 
 ular reason and conscience, and therefore they 
 seek by an oath to deprive the people of their 
 freedom of action. And this they do in the 
 name of liberty 1 
 
 These political leaders are not content to 
 deprive the voter of his freedom of opinion and 
 action, but lest the person elected should, in 
 his official capacity, assert his independence of 
 this political combination, they include the 
 following clause in his oath, viz : 
 
 *^ And should 1 be called to Jill any office, I 
 will fhith fully carry out the objects and princi- 
 ples of this League." 
 
 Having sacrificed his personal indepen- 
 dence, the Leaguer here sacrifices his ojicial 
 independence. He swfears beforehand, not to 
 be true to the Constitution and laws of his 
 country or to the will and interests of his con- 
 stituents, but to "the objects and principles 
 of the Union League." Those " objects and 
 principles" are to be considered above and 
 before all constitutions and laws, all constitu- 
 encies and public interests 1 In fine, every 
 Union Leaguer, by whomsoever elected, is 
 sworn to consider the Union Leagues his only 
 
 I constitu'^ats and its "objects and principles" 
 
 I his only constitution I 
 
 i Let all independent voters in the Repub- 
 lic take care that they do not put in offices of 
 profit or trust, men who have already sworn 
 
 t away their individual and official indepen- 
 dence, and bound themselves by an oath to 
 represent the Union Leagues rather than 
 
 j those who elect them. 
 
 I Having thus sworn away his own freedom 
 
 j of thought and action, the League? is made to 
 swear as follows, viz : 
 
 I "And further, that I wUl protect, aid, and 
 
 defend all worthy members of the Union 
 
 League." 
 
 I Here is another comprehensive obligation. 
 
 ! Who are '^worthy members?" What makes 
 
 i them "worthy?" How are they to be pro- 
 
 i tectedt By what means and under what cir- 
 
 j cumstances are they to be aided? Against 
 
 j what are they to be defended 9 
 
 I In the absence of any decisions by the judi- 
 
 j cial authorities of this quasi government, 
 
 ! which aspires, through oath-bound subjects, 
 
 j to control all the other governments in tnis 
 
 I country " from the lowest to the highest," 
 
 we must answer their questions in the light 
 
 of the principles and practices of the Union 
 
 Leagues as far as disclosed. In this light, 
 
 we take the "worthy member" to be one who 
 
 keeps his oath, one who devotes himself to 
 
 " the objects and principles of the League ;" 
 
 one who will not disclose its "plans" though 
 
 they might involve robbery, murder and 
 
 revolution ; one who would not hesitate to 
 
 perjure himself in court if necessary to avoid 
 
 j the disclosure ; one who will vote only as bid- 
 
 ! den by the Leagues ; one who, if elected to 
 
 ! office, will, if necessary to effect the objects 
 
 j of the League, disregard the will and interests 
 
 of his constituents, trample under foot all 
 
 existing constitutions, laws and institutions, 
 
 and bury the North as well as the South in 
 
 an ocean of blood. And thig " worthy member'^ 
 
 every other member swears to "protect, aid, 
 
 and defend," without limitation as to the 
 
 means, involving protection from arrest, aid 
 
 in escaping, defence if need be, by perjury in 
 
 court and by arms out of court 1 
 
 Is any one startled by this development ? 
 Let him look at the oath. Does it confine the 
 means of protection, aid, or defence to lawful 
 means ? Does it not embrace all means, right 
 or wrong, lawful or unlawful, peaceful or 
 violent ? Indeed, if nothing beyond the ordi. 
 nary means were intended, what was the 
 
2T 
 
 necessity for this clause in the oath ? Well 
 might a political organization embracing such 
 anarchical and revolutionary principles, en- 
 deavor to cover up its "plans" in an oath- 
 bound secrecy. Treachery or accident has 
 brought out their secret oath to the light of 
 day. Doubtless the formulas of their National 
 Convention have been adopted by all the sub- 
 ordinate Leagues, but whether they have or 
 not, they distinctly show the spirit of thk 
 formidable combination. 
 
 Before I pass to minor topics, I propose to 
 review the dangers which overhang the free- 
 dom of the white maa, involved in the means 
 adopted to give freedom to the negro. 
 
 AifDEEW Jackson. 
 
 February 27, 1864. 
 
 LETTER Xm. 
 HOW MINOKITT BTATB GOVERNMENTS AEE TO BE | 
 
 SUSTAINED A MILITAET DESPOTISM IN THE j 
 
 SOUTH — ITS EFFECT ON THE NOSTH — POLITICAL 
 POWER EXTRACTED FROM MILITAET DESPOTISM 
 
 INCREASED SOUTHERN BEPEESENTATION IN 
 
 CONGRESS — PUT THERE BY UNION LEAGUES AND 
 
 FEDERAL BAYONETS ELECTORS OP PRESIDENT 
 
 CHOSEN BY THE SAME POWER — RAIDS ON THE 
 POLLS IN LOYAL STATES TO MAKE UP MAJORITY 
 — WHO TO BE OUR CiESAR — PEOPLE NOT PRE- 
 PAKSD — WILL NORTH ANB WEST SUBMIT — A 
 WARNING. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union People of the United 
 
 States : 
 
 Let us now take a survey of the kind of 
 government in store for our beloved country 
 as shadowed forth in the President's plan of 
 reconstruction, and in the management of elec- 
 tions in certain loyal States by the united 
 action of the Union Leagues and the Federal 
 Army. 
 
 Should State governments be established in 
 the seceded States by the agency of one-tenth 
 or any other minority of voters, how is their 
 authority to be maintained against the major- 
 ity ? The President anticipates that difficulty, 
 and to meet it, promises in effect, to sustain 
 the minority against the majority by the army 
 of the United States. If the nine-tenths 
 easemble in convention and form a constitu- 
 tion for their own government, securing equal 
 rights to every citizen, in opposition to the 
 constitution of the one-tenth, in which a vast 
 majority of the people are disfranchised, the 
 Federal Army is to step in and compel the 
 majority to submit to the minority, and this 
 upon the pretext of guaranteeing to the State 
 "a Republican form of government" as required 
 
 in the Constitution ! Wculdnit the effect 
 be practically the subversion of Kepublican 
 government in the redeemed Statos and the 
 establishment of a military despotism ? The 
 people, instead of having a republican govern- 
 ment guaranteed to them, will have been sub- 
 jected to the government of the bayonet 
 directed by a combination of Jacobin Clubs 
 to act as spies and informers whose members 
 are sworn to secrecy. 
 
 And what is to be the effect upon the North 
 of this system of government in the South ? 
 The people of the North must furnifh in 
 the main both the men and the means to 
 keep up an army of two hundred thousand 
 men, more or less, not to put down the 
 rebellion, but to enable minorities to govern 
 majorities and held the mass of the Southern 
 people in practical slavery. 
 
 This is not all. The plan is cunningly devised 
 to extract political power from this military qoo- 
 ernment in the South for the benpjit of its authors. 
 The minorities establishing the new State 
 governments, will of course elect all the 
 members to which the States are entitled in 
 the United States House of Eepresentatives. 
 Emancipation of the slaves will very consid- 
 erably increase the number of Soiithcrn mem- 
 bers. In fixing the appointment under the 
 Constitution, three -fifths only of the slaves 
 have heretofore been counted; but being 
 freed, they must all be counted. Several 
 members will therefore be added to the 
 Southern Delegation in Congress, and the 
 Northern Delegation will be relatively re- 
 duced in an equal proportion. But if the 
 President's plan be carried into effect in all 
 the seceded States, it will throw into the 
 House of Representatives according to the 
 present apportionment about sixty members, 
 elected by minorities controlled by Union 
 Leagues and Federal bayonets. 
 
 And it would tiarow into the Senate upwards 
 of twenty Senators elected by the . same in- 
 fluences and subservient to the same power. 
 
 Each of these bastard States would of course 
 claim as many electors of President and Vice 
 President as they may have Senators and 
 Representatives, all elected by the President's 
 sworn voters under the direction of (he Union 
 Leagues, and all pledged to sustain the power 
 which created them. Should the President 
 aspire to be elected for a second term, or for 
 successive terms during life, he would thus 
 have a force of about eighty votes in the eleo- 
 toral Colleges of his own creation, to start 
 
upon. If it be necessary to add enougli to 
 this number to make a majority of the whole, 
 he has but to send his armies into the loyal 
 States to enable the Union L?>agues to carry 
 their "yellow tickets" as in the State of 
 Maryland at iho last election. Will not the 
 same pretexts alleged to justify the late in- 
 terfer.^nce in Maryland, equally justify mili- 
 tary interference in the elections in New- 
 York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or any and all of 
 the loyal States? Are there no ''Copper- 
 heads," so called, and sympathizers with the 
 rebellion in any of thopi States, whom the 
 President has as much right to drive from the 
 polls as he had to drive men of the same 
 class from the polls in Maryland ? And are 
 there no oath-bound Union Leagues in those 
 States to get up "government tickets," and 
 cause them to be presented to t e people at 
 th<i point of the bayonet as the only ticket 
 which the Government recognizes as " loyal ?" 
 In short, has not the Administration as much 
 right, and just as much reason, to place one 
 of their own boi^y in the Presidential chair 
 by using the army to protect minorities in 
 governing majorities in the South, and con- 
 trolling elections in the North as it has to 
 place it^ own partizans in Congress and the 
 State Legislatures, by the same means as it 
 has already done f The principle North and 
 South is the same, though cropping out in 
 different shapes. It involves tho suppres- 
 sion of majorities. North as well as South, 
 and the subjection of the whole country 
 to military domination, flimsily veiled 
 by sham popular elections. It is a recur- 
 rence of the routine of ancient Rome in her 
 decline, when liberty was lost in civil war, 
 and the army made the Emperor, and 
 the Emperor made the army. Who is to 
 be our CsBsar ? Not, I am sure, Abraham the 
 Jolcer, 
 
 We do not think our people are prepared 
 for such an Union and. such a government as 
 the principles, and the practices of this Ad- 
 ministration seem to be preparing for them. 
 But we beg the Administration to desist from 
 their revolutionary schemes and confine their 
 military operations hereafter to the only le- 
 gitimate objects of the war. Employ your 
 armies in defeating and dispersing the rebel 
 hosts instead of building up or controlling 
 civil institutions. Put down the armed 
 rebels and you have nothing to fear from 
 "Copperheads" and " Sympathizers." Take 
 and set free the slave of every rebel, if you 
 
 please, under your confiscation Liws, thus 
 virtually abolishing slavery ; but do not pun- 
 ish the innocent with the guilty. Above all 
 do not root up the very foundations of our 
 free institutions for the purpose of robbing 
 or disfrancising those noble Southern men 
 who have always been true to our country 
 and its Constitution. The great Apostle of 
 the Gentiles says: ''Shall loe do evil that 
 good may come?^^ God forbid, much less 
 should you do evil that wrong and injustice 
 may come. 
 
 But independent of means and ends, do 
 you imagine that the great States of the North 
 and West will long be content to associate on 
 equal terms with the Representatives of the 
 bastard State governments, tlie illcgitiraate 
 off'spring of the strumpet Abolition ? Will the 
 millions of Naw York be content with an 
 Union which places them on an equality in 
 the Senate with fifteen hundred white-washed 
 rebels in Florid.i, redeemed and purified by an 
 oath to support the President's proclamations ? 
 Do you not apprehend danger from extending 
 or repeating ths military operations of 1S63, 
 at the polls ia Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland 
 and Delaware ? Do you think you can, by 
 means of armed men and Union Leagues with 
 their oath-concealed plans, again suppress 
 the freedom of elections in those States or 
 drive voters from the polls in New York, 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio and the entire North and 
 West or any part thereof? 
 
 Beware of the attempt. The mutteringa 
 of discontent already reach your ears. The 
 lightnings begin to flash around the Northern 
 and Western horizon. You will soon hear 
 the thunder. Persist ia your unconstitu- 
 tional, unjust and revolutionary, career, and 
 you will soon find yourselves swimming in a 
 sea of blood, with the wrecks of our late glorious 
 institutions fioating around you. 
 
 The people North and West, will, as they 
 have done heretofore, give men and money 
 without stint and endure taxation and priva- 
 tion, to enable you to put down the rebellion, 
 and they care not if negro slavery perish in tho 
 conflict ; but they prefer their own liberty to that 
 of the negro. Judge ye, whether they will 
 long consent to famish you m«n or means to 
 ba employed in subverting, building up or 
 controlling civil institutions or suppressing 
 the right of suffrage in their own or other 
 States. Your oath-bound minions and slan- 
 derers cannot muchloager delude the freemen 
 of the country with the phantom of negro 
 
29 
 
 " libert}) and equality" and the cry of " Copper- 
 head!'^ " Copperhead r* 
 
 A few remarks upon the profane swearing 
 taught by this administration will close this 
 branch of our discussion. 
 
 Andbew Jackson. 
 
 March Sth, 1864. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 BESPECT PAID TO OATHS BY KEBEL3 AND ^* WOOL- 
 
 LT heads" SWEAKINO ALL AROUND TO PRE- 
 
 SCBIBS CATHS IS A LEGISLATIVE FCKCTION — BUT 
 NOT EVEN CONGRESS CAN BY AN OATH AT D TO 
 OK TAKE FROM THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUALIFICA- 
 TIONS OF PRESIDENT OS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 
 
 OR INTERFERE WITH STATE SUFFRAGE YET THE 
 
 PRESIDENT DOES WHAT CONORKS3 DARES NOT DO 
 AND MAKES OATHS ACCOMPLISH THE FUNCTIONS 
 OF LAW— CORRUPTS THE FOUNTAINS OF LEGIS 
 
 LATION PECURES A SUBSERVIENT CONGRESS AND 
 
 UNITES ALL POWER IN HIMSELF. 
 
 To all Unconditional Union Men of the United 
 States. 
 
 "Our army swore terribly in Flanders," 
 said my Uncle Toby. 
 
 Oaths, multiplied beyond all precoden:., ap- 
 pear to be one of the principal weapons by 
 which the present Administration expect to 
 suppress the rebellion and restore the Union. 
 What a genuine rebel's oath is worth, may 
 be pretty accurately ascertained by reference 
 to Mason, Slidell, Wigfall, Floyd, Cobb and 
 the band of conspirators in Congress and the 
 Executive Departments in l850-6i, all sworn 
 to support the Constitution, yet Laboring 
 ui^ht .and day to destroy it. What the oaths 
 of another class of men nov,' in Congress and 
 the Esecative Departments who may be called 
 *' Woolly Iliads" are worth, may be estima- 
 ti'il by the fact, that though they arc sworn to 
 support the Constitution, they are laboring as 
 assiduously to siibvert it as did the perjured 
 ^oathern conspirators. Yet, a rebel's oath is 
 now a purgation from all crime, and a loyal 
 man's oath, is a guarantee for the most per- 
 fect political righteousness. 
 
 I.^ a man arrested en suspicion of being 
 '•j>. sympathizer" or giving "aid and com- 
 fort" to the rebels? They shut him up a 
 wl.ilo, then swear him and let him go. 
 
 Do they catch a spy luiking about Wash- 
 ^«:gton or conveying intelligence to the en- 
 emy? Instpad of trying and hanging him, 
 they swear him and turn him loose to resume 
 his occupation. 
 
 Do you seek a contract under government ? 
 You must swear. 
 
 Do you seek for justice in certain Federal 
 courts ? You must swear. 
 
 Would you practice law in those courts? 
 You must swear. 
 
 Would a rebel become a voter ? Ho must 
 sioear. Would a loyal man in the seceded 
 States, preserve his privileges as a citizen? 
 He must swear. 
 
 Would a citizen in certain loyal States enjoy 
 his right of suffrage as guaranteed to him by 
 the Constitution and laws of his State ? He 
 must swear. 
 
 This refrain of oaths prescribed by the Ad- 
 ministration and its officers, is taken up by 
 their adherents throughout the country who 
 are organizing themselves into swearing asso- 
 ciations, called Union Leagues. Each mem- 
 ber swears when he enters, and then all the 
 members swear in chorus. "The angels," we 
 are told, "rejoice over one sinner that re- 
 penteth;" but over the repentant political 
 sinner, these angels of darkness sioear. 
 
 And never before have mere oaths been re- 
 quired to perform such important functions. 
 They are the test of loyalty and the co::(lition 
 of pardon. They are in effect, with those 
 who take them in certain States, a confisca- 
 tion law, and at the same time involve n grant 
 of political rights. To those who take them, 
 they make that law which is no law to any body 
 else. They make certain acts of the President 
 on a certain subject, known and unknown, 
 past, present and future, laws to the swearer. 
 Even Congress, not content with the oath 
 prescribed by the Constitution, hare virtually 
 resolved themselves into a National Conven- 
 tion, and have virtually r.meuded the Consti- 
 tution by prescribing new qualifications for 
 membership in their own bodies in the shape 
 of new fangled oaths. 
 
 If the rebels aro not conquered and the 
 Union restored by these voU.ies of oal.hs tired 
 against them along the whole Union line, 
 there is no use in swearing ! 
 
 To prescribe an oath is a legislative function. 
 The framers of the Constitution did not think 
 it necessary to exact an. oath of allegiance 
 from the gre.it body of the people, and have 
 required it only from certain cLisecs of rflicers 
 in both the Sti;to and General governments. 
 That CcHgrcso may require every citizen to 
 take such au oath may bo conceded ; but they 
 cannot, by any form of oath, add anything to 
 or take anything from, the qualifications for 
 
30 
 
 office in ca?03 whore those qualifications are 
 definitely fixed by tlie Constitution. 
 
 To be eligible to the Presidency, a citizen 
 must be thirty five years old. Congress can- 
 not enact that he shall be eligible at thirty 
 years of f.ge. The Constitution prescribes in 
 terms his oath of office ; Congress cannot add 
 to those terms or take anything from them. 
 Bo, of the members of the Senate and House 
 of Representatives. The Constitution fixes 
 their age of eligibility and prescribes their 
 other qualifications, including their official 
 oath. Where the Constitution grants to each 
 house of Congress the power to "judge of 
 all elections, returns and qualifications of its 
 own members," it has reference only to the 
 qualifications and elections as prescribed in 
 that instrument, and not to new qualifications 
 prescribed by themselves or elections by 
 voters qualified otherwise than by State con- 
 stitutions and laws. 
 
 I know that Congress has assumed the 
 power to prescribe new qualifications for its 
 members ; but I look upon the act as an 
 unconstitutional and alarming innovation. 
 But even this revolutionary Congress has not 
 dared to attack by oaths cr otherwise, the 
 basis of suffrage in the States. That opera- 
 tion has been left to the President, the Union 
 Leagues and the army. The President legis- 
 lates by prescribing oaths, the Union Leagues 
 aid and direct, and the arrpy enforces. Swear 
 and be robbed, or refuse to swear and be dis- 
 franchised; this is the decree of President 
 Lincoln, thus far uniting in himself legisla- 
 tive, judicial and executive power as com-' 
 
 plet<^ly as ever did King or Emperor in an- 
 cient or raoderH times. Thus it is that by 
 Executive usurpation of all the powers of 
 government, the voters who elect the mem- 
 bers of Congress are made the instruments of 
 the President, the legitimate legislative power 
 corrupted at the fountain. Congress is made 
 as subservient to the President as ever the 
 Roman Senate was to Julius Caesar. And 
 the present Congress, which ought to be in- 
 dependent, instead of arresting these mon- 
 strous schemes by legislation or even protest, 
 silently acquiesce or openly approve, and 
 thus the Republic is rapidly sliding into a 
 military despotism amidst the firing of can- 
 non, the ringing of bells and the shouts of 
 the multitude celebrating universal emanci- 
 pation. 
 
 So far has the organization of the " uncon- 
 ditional" supporters of the President pro- 
 gressed, that the more considerate Republi- 
 cans who see no end to the war under his 
 changeable and imbecile management, dare 
 not attempt to put in competition with him 
 at the fall election, a man on whose talents 
 and energy the country might rely with some 
 hope of being relieved from the calamiti«s 
 under which it now groans. 
 
 It was my purpose to dwell somewhat on 
 the moral evils arising from the multiplica- 
 tion of oaths ; but I have been led off by 
 their more immediate political effects. 
 
 These numbers will be suspended for a 
 few days. 
 
 Anobew Jacksok. 
 
 March Uth, 1864. 
 
% 
 
 KIEEI? IT I3EI^OIE2.E TIIE: I^JSOl^X^E X 
 
 DISTRIBUTE THE DOC Ui^IENTS I 
 
 S@„WILL BE READY ON THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 18G4,»g33 
 THE ONLY CORRECTED CHEAP EDITION. 
 
 THE REPORT OF 
 
 ]?1A»23®S£ C^EJ^ESSAIi ^E^ISCJE B. McCI.E£,IiAJ¥, 
 
 CORRECTED AND REVISED, 
 
 WITH 
 
 A PORTEAIT OP THE DISTINGUISHED AUTHOR. 
 
 TO BE PKINTED BY SUBSCRIPTION. 
 
 Its interest added to by a Biograpldeal Sketch of his Life. 
 « > » 
 The Publisher of the Constitutional Union has determined 
 to issue this great and inteiisely interesting puhlic document, care- 
 fully corrected and revised at an early day by subscription, at a' very 
 low price for single copies, and at a much lower rate when furnished 
 in considerable numbers. It is proposed to print the Heport upon 
 fine paper, with clear new type, under a good cover, at the followino- 
 cheap scale of prices : ° 
 
 Single Copies, (sent free of postage,) .---__ gg Cents. 
 
 Ten Copies, in one package, -----__ 'f;4 50 
 
 Fifty Copies, in one package, ----___ 20 00 
 
 One Hundred Copies in one package, ---___ 37 50 
 
 Five Hundred Copies in one package, - - - . - . 173 00 
 
 One Thousand Copies in one package, ----_. 333 qq 
 
 Five Tliousand Copies, in one package, - - « _ . j^qq qq 
 The money in all cases to accompany the order. 
 
 The immense pressing and continued demand for copies of the 
 Report of Major General George B. McCloJlan, on the organization 
 of the Army of the Potomac, and its campaign in Viro-inia and 
 Maryland, while under his command, is so great, and the number 
 printed by order of Congress is so small, it is utterly out of the power 
 of any Member of Congress to gratify to any considerable extent 
 his friends or constituents who may apply for them. This fact has 
 induced us to make arrangements to publish a laro-e edition 
 which will be ready for distribution on Thursday ^next the 
 10th March, instant. We will be prepared to supply any demand 
 for copies, however great, and will furnish all who may desire this 
 interesting and valuable Report at a price loiv enough to place this 
 great and important public document in the hands and possession of 
 the poorest or most humble citizen of the Republic, and thereby 
 enable all who desire to peruse it to obtain it at very small cost. 
 
 )J@=Clubs, Associations, Agents, Canvassers, Sutlers, Newsmen, 
 Bookdealcrs, Pedlers, or individuals desiring copies of the Report 
 will please forward their orders at the earlics't possible moment, that 
 they may be promptly sujpplied. 
 . The Trade and Booksellers generally supplied on very liberal terms 
 
 for CASH. 
 
 Address, with money or draft inclosed, 
 
 ^ THOMAS B. FLOREXCE, 
 Office of the "■ Constitutional Union," 
 330 E street, Washington, D. 0. 
 
r 458 ^KOSPECTUS for the new ysar^ 
 
 '.K33 -7IE cojsrsTiTUTioNA.1. uisrioi^. 
 
 Copy ^ ' Daily and Weekly Democratic Conservative Union Newspaper. 
 
 Tlie Bald and Fearless Defender of Constitutional Liberty I 
 
 Devoted earnestly to the maintenance of the Constitution as it is, and the restoration of 
 the Union as it was. 
 
 The " Constitutional Union" has won. since its establishment, the heartiest approval ' 
 of all national and conservative men, for its able and fearless advocacy of Constitutional 
 Libei-ty, Constitutional Eights, and Constitutional Principles. As the Publisher desires 
 * to enlarge the field of its operations by an increase in its subscription list and a more 
 extended circulation, he is encouraged in the belief that it may be made a means of vast 
 and s;reater usefulness in the important work of the Preservation of the Union, which, 
 in His inscrutable wisdom, Providence has committed to the National Conservative De- 
 mocracv ; and in which, if our free form of Constitutional Government is to be preserved, 
 there mVst be neither hesitation, timidity, or dnlay. The " Constitutional Union " will 
 continue to exercise, as fearlessly as it has heretofore done, its constitutional right of th« 
 Freedo^in of the Press, while it will earnestly contend for the entire Freedom of Speech, 
 iiid a free and uutrammeled biiUot for the people, unawed and undismayed by the inter- 
 vention of bands of armed men at the polls, so as to secitre a constitutional victory through 
 tLe ballot-bos a restoration of law and order in the administration of the Government, 
 and the election in the autumn of 18G4 of a President of the United States who will 
 faithfully and constitutionally adsuinister the duties of his great office. 
 
 THE DAILY CONSTITUTIONAL UNION is sent to subscribers, by mail, at $8 a yeaF. 
 Clubs, for the daily, of twenty five persons, mailed to one address, $150 per year. 
 
 THE VrEEKLY CONSTITUTIONAL XINION, for single copies, is furnished by mail a 
 the low rate of 5^2 a year, and at less \m-di^s for Clubs. 
 
 THE ITSTjEEKX^Y COINJ^Tn?XJTIOIN"A.3L. -UTdCOlV. 
 
 Especial attention is solicited to our weekiy paper, which is a mammoth sheet, filled 
 with choice matter, and exceedingly desirable, in our judgment, as a peiiodical visitor at 
 the hearthstone and in the family of every conservative man in the Union. It may ho iad, 
 considerincf the onormons price of paper .and increased cost of labor and materials, at a 
 very cheap rate, as the scale of prices will show. We suggest the union of effort among 
 friends to form Clubs, by which a large reduction in the price of the paper is attained. 
 OUR TERMS FOR, CLUBS* 
 
 52 00 
 
 3 50 
 
 Single Copies, one year. 
 Two Copies, one year 
 
 Ten Copies to one address, with an extra Copy to .the person sending the Club 17 50 
 
 Twenty Copies, to one address, with an extra Copy to the person sending the Club. . 30 00 
 
 Additional names can be added to the Clubs, at any time, at the usual Club rates. 
 
 Xs^^ SPECIMEN COPIES will be sent to the address of any one who may desire them. 
 
 All subscriptions to be invariably in advance. Address 
 
 THOMAS B. FLOPvENCE, 
 330 E street, Washington, D. C. 
 
 The Constitutional Union Recommended and Indorsed. 
 
 The Democratic and Conservative members of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, now m 
 eession, held a meeting at the Capitol, on llonday, January 12, 18G4, when it wa5 unani- 
 mously 
 
 ''Resohed That the Democratic members of Congress earnestly recommend Titk Con- 
 stitution 'i.L Union, published in Washington, to the patronage and support of the Demo- 
 cratic par'T of the Uniied Sfates, as the fearless- exponent of sound Democratic doctrines. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 012 028 005 3 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 HoIIinger 
 
 pH8.5 
 
 Mill Run F3-1719