Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

In the midst of unprecedented political troubles we have cause of great
gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests.

You will not be surprised to learn that in the peculiar exigencies of the
times our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound
solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs.

A disloyal portion of the American people have during the whole year been
engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation which
endures factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect abroad, and one
party, if not both, is sure sooner or later to invoke foreign
intervention.

Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the
counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although measures
adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate and injurious
to those adopting them.

The disloyal citizens of the United States who have offered the ruin of our
country in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked abroad
have received less patronage and encouragement than they probably expected.
If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents have seemed to assume, that
foreign nations in this case, discarding all moral, social, and treaty
obligations, would act solely and selfishly for the most speedy restoration
of commerce, including especially the acquisition of cotton, those nations
appear as yet not to have seen their way to their object more directly or
clearly through the destruction than through the preservation of the Union.
If we could dare to believe that foreign nations are actuated by no higher
principle than this, I am quite sure a sound argument could be made to show
them that they can reach their aim more readily and easily by aiding to
crush this rebellion than by giving encouragement to it.

The principal lever relied on by the insurgents for exciting foreign
nations to hostility against us, as already intimated, is the embarrassment
of commerce. Those nations, however, not improbably saw from the first that
it was the Union which made as well our foreign as our domestic commerce.
They can scarcely have failed to perceive that the effort for disunion
produces the existing difficulty, and that one strong nation promises more
durable peace and a more extensive, valuable, and reliable commerce than
can the same nation broken into hostile fragments.

It is not my purpose to review our discussions with foreign states,
because, whatever might be their wishes or dispositions, the integrity of
our country and the stability of our Government mainly depend not upon
them, but on the loyalty, virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the
American people. The correspondence itself, with the usual reservations, is
herewith submitted.

I venture to hope it will appear that we have practiced prudence and
liberality toward foreign powers, averting causes of irritation and with
firmness maintaining our own rights and honor.

Since, however, it is apparent that here, as in every other state, foreign
dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties, I recommend that adequate
and ample measures be adopted for maintaining the public defenses on every
side. While under this general recommendation provision for defending our
seacoast line readily occurs to the mind, I also in the same connection ask
the attention of Congress to our great lakes and rivers. It is believed
that some fortifications and depots of arms and munitions, with harbor and
navigation improvements, all at well-selected points upon these, would be
of great importance to the national defense and preservation. I ask
attention to the views of the Secretary of War, expressed in his report,
upon the same general subject.

I deem it of importance that the loyal regions of east Tennessee and
western North Carolina should be connected with Kentucky and other faithful
parts of the Union by railroad. I therefore recommend, as a military
measure, that Congress provide for the construction of such road as
speedily as possible. Kentucky no doubt will cooperate, and through her
legislature make the most judicious selection of a line. The northern
terminus must connect with some existing railroad, and whether the route
shall be from Lexington or Nicholasville to the Cumberland Gap, or from
Lebanon to the Tennessee line, in the direction of Knoxville, or on some
still different line, can easily be determined. Kentucky and the General
Government cooperating, the work can be completed in a very short time, and
when done it will be not only of vast present usefulness, but also a
valuable permanent improvement, worth its cost in all the future.

Some treaties, designed chiefly for the interests of commerce, and having
no grave political importance, have been negotiated, and will be submitted
to the Senate for their consideration.

Although we have failed to induce some of the commercial powers to adopt a
desirable melioration of the rigor of maritime war, we have removed all
obstructions from the way of this humane reform except such as are merely
of temporary and accidental occurrence.

I invite your attention to the correspondence between Her Britannic
Majesty's minister accredited to this Government and the Secretary of State
relative to the detention of the British ship Perthshire in June last by
the United States steamer Massachusetts for a supposed breach of the
blockade. As this detention was occasioned by an obvious misapprehension of
the facts, and as justice requires that we should commit no belligerent act
not rounded in strict right as sanctioned by public law, I recommend that
an appropriation be made to satisfy the reasonable demand of the owners of
the vessel for her detention.

I repeat the recommendation of my predecessor in his annual message to
Congress in December last in regard to the disposition of the surplus which
will probably remain after satisfying the claims of American citizens
against China, pursuant to the awards of the commissioners under the act of
the 3d of March, 1859. If, however, it should not be deemed advisable to
carry that recommendation into effect, I would suggest that authority be
given for investing the principal, over the proceeds of the surplus
referred to, in good securities, with a view to the satisfaction of such
other just claims of our citizens against China as are not unlikely to
arise hereafter in the course of our extensive trade with that Empire.

By the act of the 5th of August last Congress authorized the President to
instruct the commanders of suitable vessels to defend themselves against
and to capture pirates. This authority has been exercised in a single
instance only. For the more effectual protection of our extensive and
valuable commerce in the Eastern seas especially, it seems to me that it
would also be advisable to authorize the commanders of sailing vessels to
recapture any prizes which pirates may make of United States vessels and
their cargoes, and the consular courts now established by law in Eastern
countries to adjudicate the cases in the event that this should not be
objected to by the local authorities.

If any good reason exists why we should persevere longer in withholding our
recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti and Liberia, I am
unable to discern it. Unwilling, however, to inaugurate a novel policy in
regard to them without the approbation of Congress, I submit for your
consideration the expediency of an appropriation for maintaining a charge'
d'affaires near each of those new States. It does not admit of doubt that
important commercial advantages might be secured by favorable treaties with
them.

The operations of the Treasury during the period which has elapsed since
your adjournment have been conducted with signal success. The patriotism of
the people has placed at the disposal of the Government the large means
demanded by the public exigencies. Much of the national loan has been taken
by citizens of the industrial classes, whose confidence in their country's
faith and zeal for their country's deliverance from present peril have
induced them to contribute to the support of the Government the whole of
their limited acquisitions. This fact imposes peculiar obligations to
economy in disbursement and energy in action.

The revenue from all sources, including loans, for the financial year
ending on the 30th of June, 1861, was $86,835,900.27, and the expenditures
for the same period, including payments on account of the public debt, were
$84,578,834.47, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July of
52,257,065.80. For the first quarter of the financial year ending on the
30th of September, 1861, the receipts from all sources, including the
balance of the 1st of July, were $102,532,509.27, and the expenses
$98,239,733.09, leaving a balance on the 1st of October, 1861, of
$4,292,776.18.

Estimates for the remaining three quarters of the year and for the
financial year 1863, together with his views of ways and means for meeting
the demands contemplated by them, will be submitted to Congress by the
Secretary of the Treasury. It is gratifying to know that the expenditures
made necessary by the rebellion are not beyond the resources of the loyal
people, and to believe that the same patriotism which has thus far
sustained the Government will continue to sustain it till peace and union
shall again bless the land.

I respectfully refer to the report of the Secretary of War for information
respecting the numerical strength of the Army and for recommendations
having in view an increase of its efficiency and the well-being of the
various branches of the service intrusted to his care. It is gratifying to
know that the patriotism of the people has proved equal to the occasion,
and that the number of troops tendered greatly exceeds the force which
Congress authorized me to call into the field.

I refer with pleasure to those portions of his report which make allusion
to the creditable degree of discipline already attained by our troops and
to the excellent sanitary condition of the entire Army.

The recommendation of the Secretary for an organization of the militia upon
a uniform basis is a subject of vital importance to the future safety of
the country, and is commended to the serious attention of Congress.

The large addition to the Regular Army, in connection with the defection
that has so considerably diminished the number of its officers, gives
peculiar importance to his recommendation for increasing the corps of
cadets to the greatest capacity of the Military Academy.

By mere omission, I presume, Congress has failed to provide chaplains for
hospitals occupied by volunteers. This subject was brought to my notice,
and I was induced to draw up the form of a letter, one copy of which,
properly addressed, has been delivered to each of the persons, and at the
dates respectively named and stated in a schedule, containing also the form
of the letter marked A, and herewith transmitted.

These gentlemen, I understand, entered upon the duties designated at the
times respectively stated in the schedule, and have labored faithfully
therein ever since. I therefore recommend that they be compensated at the
same rate as chaplains in the Army. I further suggest that general
provision be made for chaplains to serve at hospitals, as well as with
regiments.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents in detail the operations
of that branch of the service, the activity and energy which have
characterized its administration, and the results of measures to increase
its efficiency and power. Such have been the additions, by construction and
purchase, that it may almost be said a navy has been created and brought
into service since our difficulties commenced.

Besides blockading our extensive coast, squadrons larger than ever before
assembled under our flag have been put afloat and performed deeds which
have increased our naval renown.

I would invite special attention to the recommendation of the Secretary for
a more perfect organization of the Navy by introducing additional grades in
the service.

The present organization is defective and unsatisfactory, and the
suggestions submitted by the Department will, it is believed, if adopted,
obviate the difficulties alluded to, promote harmony, and increase the
efficiency of the Navy.

There are three vacancies on the bench of the Supreme Court--two by the
decease of Justices Daniel and McLean and one by the resignation of Justice
Campbell. I have so far forborne making nominations to fill these vacancies
for reasons which I will now state. Two of the outgoing judges resided
within the States now overrun by revolt, so that if successors were
appointed in the same localities they could not now serve upon their
circuits; and many of the most competent men there probably would not take
the personal hazard of accepting to serve, even here, upon the Supreme
bench. I have been unwilling to throw all the appointments northward, thus
disabling myself from doing justice to the South on the return of peace;
although I may remark that to transfer to the North one which has
heretofore been in the South would not, with reference to territory and
population, be unjust.

During the long and brilliant judicial career of Judge McLean his circuit
grew into an empire altogether too large for any one judge to give the
courts therein more than a nominal attendance--rising in population from
1,470,018 in 1830 to 6,151,405 in 1860.

Besides this, the country generally has outgrown our present judicial
system. If uniformity was at all intended, the system requires that all the
States shall be accommodated with circuit courts, attended by Supreme
judges, while, in fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Florida, Texas,
California, and Oregon have never had any such courts. Nor can this well be
remedied without a change in the system, because the adding of judges to
the Supreme Court, enough for the accommodation of all parts of the country
with circuit courts, would create a court altogether too numerous for a
judicial body of any sort. And the evil, if it be one, will increase as new
States come into the Union. Circuit courts are useful or they are not
useful. If useful, no State should be denied them; if not useful, no State
should have them. Let them be provided for all or abolished as to all.

Three modifications occur to me, either of which, I think, would be an
improvement upon our present system. Let the Supreme Court be of convenient
number in every event; then, first, let the whole country be divided into
circuits of convenient size, the Supreme judges to serve in a number of
them corresponding to their own number, and independent circuit judges be
provided for all the rest; or, secondly, let the Supreme judges be relieved
from circuit duties and circuit judges provided for all the circuits; or,
thirdly, dispense with circuit courts altogether, leaving the judicial
functions wholly to the district courts and an independent Supreme Court.

I respectfully recommend to the consideration of Congress the present
condition of the statute laws, with the hope that Congress will be able to
find an easy remedy for many of the inconveniences and evils which
constantly embarrass those engaged in the practical administration of them.
Since the organization of the Government Congress has enacted some 5,000
acts and joint resolutions, which fill more than 6,000 closely printed
pages and are scattered through many volumes. Many of these acts have been
drawn in haste and without sufficient caution, so that their provisions are
often obscure in themselves or in conflict with each other, or at least so
doubtful as to render it very difficult for even the best-informed persons
to ascertain precisely what the statute law really is.

It seems to me very important that the statute laws should be made as plain
and intelligible as possible, and be reduced to as small a compass as may
consist with the fullness and precision of the will of the Legislature and
the perspicuity of its language. This well done would, I think, greatly
facilitate the labors of those whose duty it is to assist in the
administration of the laws, and would be a lasting benefit to the people,
by placing before them in a more accessible and intelligible form the laws
which so deeply concern their interests and their duties.

I am informed by some whose opinions I respect that all the acts of
Congress now in force and of a permanent and general nature might be
revised and rewritten so as to be embraced in one volume (or at most two
volumes) of ordinary and convenient size; and I respectfully recommend to
Congress to consider of the subject, and if my suggestion be approved to
devise such plan as to their wisdom shall seem most proper for the
attainment of the end proposed.

One of the unavoidable consequences of the present insurrection is the
entire suppression in many places of all the ordinary means of
administering civil justice by the officers and in the forms of existing
law. This is the case, in whole or in part, in all the insurgent States;
and as our armies advance upon and take possession of parts of those States
the practical evil becomes more apparent. There are no courts nor officers
to whom the citizens of other States may apply for the enforcement of their
lawful claims against citizens of the insurgent States, and there is a vast
amount of debt constituting such claims. Some have estimated it as high as
$200,000,000, due in large part from insurgents in open rebellion to loyal
citizens who are even now making great sacrifices in the discharge of their
patriotic duty to support the Government.

Under these circumstances I have been urgently solicited to establish by
military power courts to administer summary justice in such cases I have
thus far declined to do it, not because I had any doubt that the end
proposed--the collection of the debts--was just and right in itself, but
because I have been unwilling to go beyond the pressure of necessity in the
unusual exercise of power. But the powers of Congress, I suppose, are equal
to the anomalous occasion, and therefore I refer the whole matter to
Congress, with the hope that a plan may be devised for the administration
of justice in all such parts of the insurgent States and Territories as may
be under the control of this Government, whether by a voluntary return to
allegiance and order or by the power of our arms; this, however, not to be
a permanent institution, but a temporary substitute, and to cease as soon
as the ordinay courts can be reestablished in peace.

It is important that some more convenient means should be provided, if
possible, for the adjustment of claims against the Government, especially
in view of their increased number by reason of the war. It is as much the
duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself in favor of
citizens as it is to administer the same between private individuals. The
investigation and adjudication of claims in their nature belong to the
judicial department. Besides, it is apparent that the attention of Congress
will be more than usually engaged for some time to come with great national
questions. It was intended by the organization of the Court of Claims
mainly to remove this branch of business from the halls of Congress: but
while the court has proved to be an effective and valuable means of
investigation, it in great degree fails to effect the object of its
creation for want of power to make its judgments final.

Fully aware of the delicacy, not to say the danger, of the subject, I
commend to your careful consideration whether this power of making
judgments final may not properly be given to the court, reserving the right
of appeal on questions of law to the Supreme Court, with such other
provisions as experience may have shown to be necessary.

I ask attention to the report of the Postmaster-General, the following
being a summary statement of the condition of the Department:

The revenue from all sources during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1861,
including the annual permanent appropriation of $700,000 for the
transportation of "free mail matter," was $9,049,296.40, being about 2 per
cent less than the revenue for 1860.

The expenditures were $13,606,759.11, showing a decrease of more than 8 per
cent as compared with those of the previous year and leaving an excess of
expenditure over the revenue for the last fiscal year of $4,557,462.71.

The gross revenue for the year ending June 30, 1863, is estimated at an
increase of 4 per cent on that of 1861, making $8,683,000, to which should
be added the earnings of the Department in carrying free matter, viz,
$700,000, making $9,383,000.

The total expenditures for 1863 are estimated at $12,528,000, leaving an
estimated deficiency of $3,145,000 to be supplied from the Treasury in
addition to the permanent appropriation.

The present insurrection shows, I think, that the extension of this
District across the Potomac River at the time of establishing the capital
here was eminently wise, and consequently that the relinquishment of that
portion of it which lies within the State of Virginia was unwise and
dangerous. I submit for your consideration the expediency of regaining that
part of the District and the restoration of the original boundaries thereof
through negotiations with the State of Virginia.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior, with the accompanying
documents, exhibits the condition of the several branches of the public
business pertaining to that Department. The depressing influences of the
insurrection have been specially felt in the operations of the Patent and
General Land Offices. The cash receipts from the sales of public lands
during the past year have exceeded the expenses of our land system only
about $200,000. The sales have been entirely suspended in the Southern
States, while the interruptions to the business of the country and the
diversion of large numbers of men from labor to military service have
obstructed settlements in the new States and Territories of the Northwest.

The receipts of the Patent Office have declined in nine months about
$100,000, rendering a large reduction of the force employed necessary to
make it self-sustaining.

The demands upon the Pension Office will be largely increased by the
insurrection. Numerous applications for pensions, based upon the casualties
of the existing war, have already been made. There is reason to believe
that many who are now upon the pension rolls and in receipt of the bounty
of the Government are in the ranks of the insurgent army or giving them aid
and comfort. The Secretary of the Interior has directed a suspension of the
payment of the pensions of such persons upon proof of their disloyalty. I
recommend that Congress authorize that officer to cause the names of such
persons to be stricken from the pension rolls.

The relations of the Government with the Indian tribes have been greatly
disturbed by the insurrection, especially in the southern superintendency
and in that of New Mexico. The Indian country south of Kansas is in the
possession of insurgents from Texas and Arkansas. The agents of the United
States appointed since the 4th of March for this superintendency have been
unable to reach their posts, while the most of those who were in office
before that time have espoused the insurrectionary cause, and assume to
exercise the powers of agents by virtue of commissions from the
insurrectionists. It has been stated in the public press that a portion of
those Indians have been organized as a military force and are attached to
the army of the insurgents. Although the Government has no official
information upon this subject, letters have been written to the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs by several prominent chiefs giving assurance
of their loyalty to the United States and expressing a wish for the
presence of Federal troops to protect them. It is believed that upon the
repossession of the country by the Federal forces the Indians will readily
cease all hostile demonstrations and resume their former relations to the
Government.

Agriculture, confessedly the largest interest of the nation, has not a
department nor a bureau, but a clerkship only, assigned to it in the
Government. While it is fortunate that this great interest is so
independent in its nature as to not have demanded and extorted more from
the Government, I respectfully ask Congress to consider whether something
more can not be given voluntarily with general advantage.

Annual reports exhibiting the condition of our agriculture, commerce, and
manufactures would present a fund of information of great practical value
to the country. While I make no suggestion as to details, I venture the
opinion that an agricultural and statistical bureau might profitably be
organized.

The execution of the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade
has been confided to the Department of the Interior. It is a subject of
gratulation that the efforts which have been made for the suppression of
this inhuman traffic have been recently attended with unusual success. Five
vessels being fitted out for the slave trade have been seized and
condemned. Two mates of vessels engaged in the trade and one person in
equipping a vessel as a slaver have been convicted and subjected to the
penalty of fine and imprisonment, and one captain, taken with a cargo of
Africans on board his vessel, has been convicted of the highest grade of
offense under our laws, the punishment of which is death.

The Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada, created by the last
Congress, have been organized, and civil administration has been
inaugurated therein under auspices especially gratifying when it is
considered that the leaven of treason was found existing in some of these
new countries when the Federal officers arrived there.

The abundant natural resources of these Territories, with the security and
protection afforded by organized government, will doubtless invite to them
a large immigration when peace shall restore the business of the country to
its accustomed channels. I submit the resolutions of the legislature of
Colorado, which evidence the patriotic spirit of the people of the
Territory. So far the authority of the United States has been upheld in all
the Territories, as it is hoped it will be in the future. I commend their
interests and defense to the enlightened and generous care of Congress.

I recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress the interests of the
District of Columbia. The insurrection has been the cause of much suffering
and sacrifice to its inhabitants, and as they have no representative in
Congress that body should not overlook their just claims upon the
Government.

At your late session a joint resolution was adopted authorizing the
President to take measures for facilitating a proper representation of the
industrial interests of the United States at the exhibition of the industry
of all nations to be holden at London in the year 1862. I regret to say I
have been unable to give personal attention to this subject--a subject at
once so interesting in itself and so extensively and intimately connected
with the material prosperity of the world. Through the Secretaries of State
and of the Interior a plan or system has been devised and partly matured,
and which will be laid before you.

Under and by virtue of the act of Congress entitled "An act to confiscate
property used for insurrectionary purposes," approved August 6, 1861, the
legal claims of certain persons to the labor and service of certain other
persons have become forfeited, and numbers of the latter thus liberated are
already dependent on the United States and must be provided for in some
way. Besides this, it is not impossible that some of the States will pass
similar enactments for their own benefit respectively, and by operation of
which persons of the same class will be thrown upon them for disposal. In
such case I recommend that Congress provide for accepting such persons from
such States, according to some mode of valuation, in lieu, pro tanto, of
direct taxes, or upon some other plan to be agreed on with such States
respectively; that such persons, on such acceptance by the General
Government, be at once deemed free, and that in any event steps be taken
for colonizing both classes (or the one first mentioned if the other shall
not be brought into existence) at some place or places in a climate
congenial to them. It might be well to consider, too, whether the free
colored people already in the United States could not, so far as
individuals may desire, be included in such colonization.

To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the acquiring of
territory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be expended
in the territorial acquisition. Having practiced the acquisition of
territory for nearly sixty years, the question of constitutional power to
do so is no longer an open one with us. The power was questioned at first
by Mr. Jefferson, who, however, in the purchase of Louisiana, yielded his
scruples on the plea of great expediency. If it be said that the only
legitimate object of acquiring territory is to furnish homes for white men,
this measure effects that object, for the emigration of colored men leaves
additional room for white men remaining or coming here. Mr. Jefferson,
however, placed the importance of procuring Louisiana more on political and
commercial grounds than on providing room for population.

On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with the
acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to absolute
necessity--that without which the Government itself can not be perpetuated
?

The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted for suppressing
the insurrection I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable
conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and
remorseless revolutionary struggle. I have therefore in every case thought
it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the primary
object of the contest on our pan, leaving all questions which are not of
vital military importance to the more deliberate action of the
Legislature.

In the exercise of my best discretion I have adhered to the blockade of the
ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force by proclamation
the law of Congress enacted .at the late session for closing those ports.

So also, obeying the dictates of prudence, as well as the obligations of
law, instead of transcending I have adhered to the act of Congress to
confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law upon
the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly considered.
The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be
employed. We should not be in haste to determine that radical and extreme
measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the disloyal, are
indispensable.

The inaugural address at the beginning of the Administration and the
message to Congress at the late special session were both mainly devoted to
the domestic controversy out of which the insurrection and consequent war
have sprung. Nothing now occurs to add or subtract to or from the
principles or general purposes stated and expressed in those documents.

The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the
assault upon Fort Sumter, and a general review of what has occurred since
may not be unprofitable. What was painfully uncertain then is much better
defined and more distinct now, and the progress of events is plainly in the
right direction. The insurgents confidently claimed a strong support from
north of Mason and Dixon's line, and the friends of the Union were not free
from apprehension on the point. This, however, was soon settled definitely,
and on the right side. South of the line noble little Delaware led off
right from the first. Maryland was made to seem against the Union. Our
soldiers were assaulted, bridges were burned, and railroads torn up within
her limits, and we were many days at one time without the ability to bring
a single regiment over her soil to the capital. Now her bridges and
railroads are repaired and open to the Government; she already gives seven
regiments to the cause of the Union, and none to the enemy; and her people,
at a regular election, have sustained the Union by a larger majority and a
larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any candidate or any
question. Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now decidedly and, I
think, unchangeably ranged on the side of the Union. Missouri is
comparatively quiet, and, I believe, can not again be overrun by the
insurrectionists. These three States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri,
neither of which would promise a single soldier at first, have now an
aggregate of not less than 40,000 in the field for the Union, while of
their citizens certainly not more than a third of that number, and they of
doubtful whereabouts and doubtful existence, are in arms against us. After
a somewhat bloody struggle of months, winter closes on the Union people of
western Virginia, leaving them masters of their own country.

An insurgent force of about 1,500, for months dominating the narrow
peninsular region constituting the counties of Accomac and Northampton, and
known as Eastern Shore of Virginia, together with some contiguous parts of
Maryland, have laid down their arms, and the people there have renewed
their allegiance to and accepted the protection of the old flag. This
leaves no armed insurrectionist north of the Potomac or east of the
Chesapeake.

Also we have obtained a footing at each of the isolated points on the
southern coast of Hatteras, Port Royal, Tybee Island (near Savannah), and
Ship Island; and we likewise have some general accounts of popular
movements in behalf of the Union in North Carolina and Tennessee.

These things demonstrate that the cause of the Union is advancing steadily
and certainly southward.

Since your last adjournment Lieutenant-General Scott has retired from the
head of the Army. During his long life the nation has not been unmindful of
his merit; yet on calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and brilliantly he
has served the country, from a time far back in our history, when few of
the now living had been born, and thenceforward continually, I can not but
think we are still his debtors. I submit, therefore, for your consideration
what further mark of recognition is due to him, and to ourselves as a
grateful people.

With the retirement of General Scott came the Executive duty of appointing
in his stead a General in Chief of the Army. It is a fortunate circumstance
that neither in council nor country was there, so far as I know, any
difference of opinion as to the proper person to be selected. The retiring
chief repeatedly expressed his judgment in favor of General McClellan for
the position, and in this the nation seemed to give a unanimous
concurrence. The designation of General McClellan is therefore in
considerable degree the selection of the country as well as of the
Executive, and hence there is better reason to hope there will be given him
the confidence and cordial support thus by fair implication promised, and
without which he can not with so full efficiency serve the country.

It has been said that one bad general is better than two good ones, and the
saying is true if taken to mean no more than that an army is better
directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior ones at
variance and cross-purposes with each other.

And the same is true in all joint operations wherein those engaged can have
none but a common end in view and can differ only as to the choice of
means. In a storm at sea no one on board can wish the ship to sink, and yet
not unfrequently all go down together because too many will direct and no
single mind can be allowed to control.

It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not
exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popular government--the
rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most
grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general
tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgment of the
existing right of suffrage and the denial to the people of all right to
participate in the selection of public officers except the legislative
boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove that large control of the
people in government is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself
is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people.

In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising
a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.

It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argument should be made in
favor of popular institutions, but there is one point, with its
connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief
attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if
not above, labor in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor
is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless
somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to
labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital
shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or
buy them and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so
far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers
or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a
hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life.

Now there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is
there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of
a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from
them are groundless.

Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of
labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor
is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other
rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a
relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is
in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation.
A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their
capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong
to neither class--neither work for others nor have others working for them.
In most of the Southern States a majority of the whole people of all colors
are neither slaves nor masters, while in the Northern a large majority are
neither hirers nor hired. Men, with their families--wives, sons, and
daughters--work for themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in
their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors
of capital on the one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It
is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own
labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands and also buy
or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a
distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this
mixed class.

Again, as has already been said, there is not of necessity any such thing
as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many
independent men everywhere in these States a few years back in their lives
were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors
for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for
himself, then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires
another new beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and
prosperous system which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and
consequent energy and progress and improvement of condition to all. No men
living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty;
none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly
earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they
already possess, and which if surrendered will surely be used to close the
door of advancement against such as they and to fix new disabilities and
burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost.

From the first taking of our national census to the last are seventy years,
and we find our population at the end of the period eight times as great as
it was at the beginning. The increase of those other things which men deem
desirable has been even greater. We thus have at one view what the popular
principle, applied to Government through the machiney, of the States and
the Union, has produced in a given time, and also what if firmly maintained
it promises for the future. There are already among us those who if the
Union be preserved will live to see it contain 250,000,000. The struggle of
to-day is not altogether for to-day; it is for a vast future also. With a
reliance on Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the
great task which events have devolved upon us.

***

State of the Union Address
Abraham Lincoln
December 1, 1862

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

Since your last annual assembling another year of health and bountiful
harvests has passed, and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless us
with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best light He
gives us, trusting that in His own good time and wise way all will yet be
well.

The correspondence touching foreign affairs which has taken place during
the last year is herewith submitted, in virtual compliance with a request
to that effect made by the House of Representatives near the close of the
last session of Congress. If the condition of our relations with other
nations is less gratifying than it has usually been at former periods, it
is certainly more satisfactory than a nation so unhappily distracted as we
are might reasonably have apprehended. In the month of June last there were
some grounds to expect that the maritime powers which at the beginning of
our domestic difficulties so unwisely and unnecessarily, as we think,
recognized the insurgents as a belligerent would soon recede from that
position, which has proved only less injurious to themselves than to our
own country. But the temporary reverses which afterwards befell the
national arms, and which were exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens
abroad, have hitherto delayed that act of simple justice.

The civil war, which has so radically changed for the moment the
occupations and habits of the American people, has necessarily disturbed
the social condition and affected very deeply the prosperity of the nations
with which we have carried on a commerce that has been steadily increasing
throughout a period of half a century. It has at the same time excited
political ambitions and apprehensions which have produced a profound
agitation throughout the civilized world. In this unusual agitation we have
forborne from taking part in any controversy between foreign states and
between parties or factions in such states. We have attempted no
propagandism and acknowledged no revolution. But we have left to every
nation the exclusive conduct and management of its own affairs. Our
struggle has been, of course, contemplated by foreign nations with
reference less to its own merits than to its supposed and often exaggerated
effects and consequences resulting to those nations themselves.
Nevertheless, complaint on the part of this Government, even if it were
just, would certainly be unwise. The treaty with Great Britain for the
suppression of the slave trade has been put into operation with a good
prospect of complete success. It is an occasion of special pleasure to
acknowledge that the execution of it on the part of Her Majesty's
Government has been marked with a jealous respect for the authority of the
United States and the rights of their moral and loyal citizens.

The convention with Hanover for the abolition of the Stade dues has been
carried into full effect under the act of Congress for that purpose. A
blockade of 3,000 miles of seacoast could not be established and vigorously
enforced in a season of great commercial activity like the present without
committing occasional mistakes and inflicting unintentional injuries upon
foreign nations and their subjects. A civil war occurring in a country,
where foreigners reside and carry on trade under treaty stipulations is
necessarily fruitful of complaints of the violation of neutral rights. All
such collisions tend to excite misapprehensions, and possibly to produce
mutual reclamations between nations which have a common interest in
preserving peace and friendship. In clear cases of these kinds I have so
far as possible heard and redressed complaints which have been presented by
friendly powers. There is still, however, a large and an augmenting number
of doubtful cases upon which the Government is unable to agree with the
governments whose protection is demanded by the claimants. There are,
moreover, many cases in which the United States or their citizens suffer
wrongs from the naval or military authorities of foreign nations which the
governments of those states are not at once prepared to redress. I have
proposed to some of the foreign states thus interested mutual conventions
to examine and adjust such complaints. This proposition has been made
especially to Great Britain, to France, to Spain, and to Prussia. In each
case it has been kindly received, but has not yet been formally adopted.

I deem it my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the owners of
the Norwegian bark Admiral P. Tordenskiold, which vessel was in May, 1861,
prevented by the commander of the blockading force off Charleston from
leaving that port with cargo, notwithstanding a similar privilege had
shortly before been granted to an English vessel. I have directed the
Secretary of State to cause the papers in the case to be communicated to
the proper committees.

Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of African descent
to favor their emigration, with a view to such colonization as was
contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other parties, at home and
abroad--some from interested motives, others upon patriotic considerations,
and still others influenced by philanthropic sentiments--have suggested
similar measures, while, on the other hand, several of the Spanish American
Republics have protested against the sending of such colonies to their
respective territories. Under these circumstances I have declined to move
any such colony to any state without first obtaining the consent of its
government, with an agreement on its part to receive and protect such
emigrants in all the rights of freemen; and I have at the same time offered
to the several States situated within the Tropics, or having colonies
there, to negotiate with them, subject to the advice and consent of the
Senate, to favor the voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their
respective territories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just, and
humane. Liberia and Hayti are as yet the only countries to which colonists
of African descent from here could go with certainty of being received and
adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such persons contemplating
colonization do not seem so willing to migrate to those countries as to
some others, nor so willing as I think their interest demands. I believe,
however, opinion among them in this respect is improving, and that ere long
there will be an augmented and considerable migration to both these
countries from the United States.

The new commercial treaty between the United States and the Sultan of
Turkey has been carried into execution.

A commercial and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to the
Senate's consent, with Liberia, and a similar negotiation is now pending
with the Republic of Hayti. A considerable improvement of the national
commerce is expected to result from these measures. Our relations with
Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden,
Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Rome, and the other European States remain
undisturbed. Very favorable relations also continue to be maintained with
Turkey, Morocco, China, and Japan.

During the last year there has not only been no change of our previous
relations with the independent States of our own continent, but more
friendly sentiments than have heretofore existed are believed to be
entertained by these neighbors, whose safety and progress are so intimately
connected with our own. This statement especially applies to Mexico,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, and Chile. The commission under the
convention with the Republic of New Granada closed its session without
having audited and passed upon all the claims which were submitted to it. A
proposition is pending to revive the convention, that it may be able to do
more complete justice. The joint commission between the United States and
the Republic of Costa Rica has completed its labors and submitted its
report. I have favored the project for connecting the United States with
Europe by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend the
telegraph from San Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with the
line which is being extended across the Russian Empire. The Territories of
the United States, with unimportant exceptions have remained undisturbed by
the civil war; and they are exhibiting such evidence of prosperity as
justifies an expectation that some of them will soon be in a condition to
be organized as States and be constitutionally admitted into the Federal
Union.

The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought to be
developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that direction would have a
tendency to improve the revenues of the Government and diminish the burdens
of the people. It is worthy of your serious consideration whether some
extraordinary measures to promote that end can not be adopted. The means
which suggests itself as most likely to be effective is a scientific
exploration of the mineral regions in those Territories with a view to the
publication of its results at home and in foreign countries--results which
can not fail to be auspicious.

The condition of the finances will claim your most diligent consideration.
The vast expenditures incident to the military and naval operations
required for the suppression of the rebellion have hitherto been met with a
promptitude and certainty unusual in similar circumstances, and the public
credit has been fully maintained. The continuance of the war, however, and
the increased disbursements made necessary by the augmented forces now in
the field demand your best reflections as to the best modes of providing
the necessary revenue without injury to business and with the least
possible burdens upon labor.

The suspension of specie payments by the banks soon after the commencement
of your last session made large issues of United States notes unavoidable.
In no other way could the payment of the troops and the satisfaction of
other just demands be so economically or so well provided for. The
judicious legislation of Congress, securing the receivability of these
notes for loans and internal duties and making them a legal tender for
other debts, has made them an universal currency, and has satisfied,
partially at least, and for the time, the long-felt want of an uniform
circulating medium, saving thereby to the people immense sums in discounts
and exchanges.

A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period compatible
with due regard to all interests concerned should ever be kept in view.
Fluctuations in the value of currency are always injurious, and to reduce
these fluctuations to the lowest possible point will always be a leading
purpose in wise legislation. Convertibility, prompt and certain
convertibility, into coin is generally acknowledged to be the best and
surest safeguard against them; and it is extremely doubtful whether a
circulation of United States notes payable in coin and sufficiently large
for the wants of the people can be permanently, usefully, and safely
maintained.

Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision for the
public wants can be made and the great advantages of a safe and uniform
currency secured?

I know of none which promises so certain results and is at the same time so
unobjectionable as the organization of banking associations, under a
general act of Congress, well guarded in its provisions. To such
associations the Government might furnish circulating notes, on the
security of United States bonds deposited in the Treasury. These notes,
prepared under the supervision of proper officers, being uniform in
appearance and security and convertible always into coin, would at once
protect labor against the evils of a vicious currency and facilitate
commerce by cheap and safe exchanges.

A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would compensate the
United States for the preparation and distribution of the notes and a
general supervision of the system, and would lighten the burden of that
part of the public debt employed as securities. The public credit,
moreover, would be greatly improved and the negotiation of new loans
greatly facilitated by the steady market demand for Government bonds which
the adoption of the proposed system would create. It is an additional
recommendation of the measure, of considerable weight, in my judgment, that
it would reconcile as far as possible all existing interests by the
opportunity offered to existing institutions to reorganize under the act,
substituting only the secured uniform national circulation for the local
and various circulation, secured and unsecured, now issued by them.

The receipts into the treasury from all sources, including loans and
balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on the 30th
June, 1862, were $583,885,247.06, of which sum $49,056,397.62 were derived
from customs; $1,795,331.73 from the direct tax; from public lands,
$152,203.77; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787.64; from loans in all
forms, $529,692,460.50. The remainder, :$2,257,065.80, was the balance from
last year.

The disbursements during the same period were: For Congressional,
executive, and judicial purposes, $5,939.009.29; for foreign intercourse,
$1,339,710.35; for miscellaneous expenses, including the mints, loans,
Post-Office deficiencies, collection of revenue, and other like charges,
$14,129,771.50; for expenses under the Interior Department, 985.52; under
the War Department, $394,368,407.36; under the Navy Department,
$42,674,569.69; for interest on public debt, $13,190,324.45; and for
payment of public debt, including reimbursement of temporary loan and
redemptions, $96,096,922.09; making an aggregate of $570,841,700.25, and
leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st day of July, 1862, of
$13,043,546.81.

It should be observed that the sum of $96,096,922.09, expended for
reimbursements and redemption of public debt, being included also in the
loans made, may be properly deducted both from receipts and expenditures,
leaving the actual receipts for the year $487,788,324.97, and the
expenditures $474,744,778.16.

Other information on the subject of the finances will be found in the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whose statements and views I
invite your most candid and considerate attention.

The reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy are herewith
transmitted. These reports, though lengthy, are scarcely more than brief
abstracts of the very numerous and extensive transactions and operations
conducted through those Departments. Nor could I give a summary of them
here upon any principle which would admit of its being much shorter than
the reports themselves. I therefore content myself with laying the reports
before you and asking your attention to them.

It gives me pleasure to report a decided improvement in the financial
condition of the Post-Office Department as compared with several preceding
years. The receipts for the fiscal year 1861 amounted to $8,349,296.40,
which embraced the revenue from all the States of the Union for three
quarters of that year. Notwithstanding the cessation of revenue from the
so-called seceded States during the last fiscal year, the increase of the
correspondence of the loyal States has been sufficient to produce a revenue
during the same year of $8,299,820.90, being only $50,000 less than was
derived from all the States of the Union during the previous year. The
expenditures show a still more favorable result. The amount expended in
1861 was $13,606,759.11. For the last year the amount has been reduced to
$11,125,364.13, showing a decrease of about $2,481,000 in the expenditures
as compared with the preceding year, and about $3,750,000 as compared with
the fiscal year 1860. The deficiency in the Department for the previous
year was $4,551,966.98. For the last fiscal year it was reduced to
$2,112,814.57. These favorable results are in part owing to the cessation
of mail service in the insurrectionary States and in part to a careful
review of all expenditures in that Department in the interest of economy.
The efficiency of the postal service, it is believed, has also been much
improved. The Postmaster-General has also opened a correspondence through
the Department of State with foreign governments proposing a convention of
postal representatives for the purpose of simplifying the rates of foreign
postage and to expedite the foreign mails. This proposition, equally
important to our adopted citizens and to the commercial interests of this
country, has been favorably entertained and agreed to by all the
governments from whom replies have been received.

I ask the attention of Congress to the suggestions of the
Postmaster-General in his report respecting the further legislation
required, in his opinion, for the benefit of the postal service.

The Secretary of the Interior reports as follows in regard to the public
lands: The public lands have ceased to be a source of revenue. From the 1st
July, 1861, to the 30th September, 1862, the entire cash receipts

from the sale of lands were $137,476.26--a sum much less than the expenses
of our land system during the same period. The

homestead law, which will take effect on the 1st of January next, offers
such inducements to settlers that sales for cash can not be expected

to an extent sufficient to meet the expenses of the General Land Office and
the cost of surveying and bringing the land into market.

The discrepancy between the sum here stated as arising from the sales of
the public lands and the sum derived from the same source as

reported from the Treasury Department arises, as I understand, from the
fact that the periods of time, though apparently, were not really

coincident at the beginning point, the Treasury report including a
considerable sum now which had previously been reported from the

Interior, sufficiently large to greatly overreach the sum derived from the
three months now reported upon by the Interior and not by the

Treasury. The Indian tribes upon our frontiers have during the past year
manifested a spirit of insubordination, and at several points have engaged
in open hostilities against the white settlements in their vicinity. The
tribes occupying the Indian country south of Kansas renounced their
allegiance to the United States and entered into treaties with the
insurgents. Those who remained loyal to the United States were driven from
the country. The chief of the Cherokees has visited this city for the
purpose of restoring the former relations of the tribe with the United
States. He alleges that they were constrained by superior force to enter
into treaties with the insurgents, and that the United States neglected to
furnish the protection which their treaty stipulations required.

In the month of August last the Sioux Indians in Minnesota attacked the
settlements in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing
indiscriminately men, women, and children. This attack was wholly
unexpected, and therefore no means of defense had been prodded. It is
estimated that not less than 800 persons were killed by the Indians, and a
large amount of property was destroyed. How this outbreak was induced is
not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust, need not to be
stated. Information was received by the Indian Bureau from different
sources about the time hostilities were commenced that a simultaneous
attack was to be made upon the white settlements by all the tribes between
the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The State of Minnesota has
suffered great injury from this Indian war. A large portion of her
territory has been depopulated, and a severe loss has been sustained by the
destruction of property. The people of that State manifest much anxiety for
the removal of the tribes beyond the limits of the State as a guaranty
against future hostilities. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs will furnish
full details. I submit for your especial consideration whether our Indian
system shall not be remodeled. Many wise and good men have impressed me
with the belief that this can be profitably done.

I submit a statement of the proceedings of commissioners, which shows the
progress that has been made in the enterprise of constructing the Pacific
Railroad. And this suggests the earliest completion of this road, and also
the favorable action of Congress upon the projects now pending before them
for enlarging the capacities of the great canals in New York and Illinois,
as being of vital and rapidly increasing importance to the whole nation,
and especially to the vast interior region hereinafter to be noticed at
some greater length. I purpose having prepared and laid before you at an
early day some interesting and valuable statistical information upon this
subject. The military and commercial importance of enlarging the Illinois
and Michigan Canal and improving the Illinois River is presented in the
report of Colonel Webster to the Secretary of War, and now transmitted to
Congress. I respectfully ask attention to it.

To carry out the provisions of the act of Congress of the 15th of May last,
I have caused the Department of Agriculture of the United States to be
organized.

The Commissioner informs me that within the period of a few months this
Department has established an extensive system of correspondence and
exchanges, both at home and abroad, which promises to effect highly
beneficial results in the development of a correct knowledge of recent
improvements in agriculture, in the introduction of new products, and in
the collection of the agricultural statistics of the different States.

Also, that it will soon be prepared to distribute largely seeds, cereals,
plants, and cuttings, and has already published and liberally diffused much
valuable information in anticipation of a more elaborate report, which will
in due time be furnished, embracing some valuable tests in chemical science
now in progress in the laboratory.

The creation of this Department was for the more immediate benefit of a
large class of our most valuable citizens, and I trust that the liberal
basis upon which it has been organized will not only meet your approbation,
but that it will realize at no distant day all the fondest anticipations of
its most sanguine friends and become the fruitful source of advantage to
all our people.

On the 22d day of September last a proclamation was issued by the
Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted. In accordance with the
purpose expressed in the second paragraph of that paper, I now respectfully
recall your attention to what may be called "compensated emancipation."

A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws.
The territory is the only part which is of certain durability. "One
generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the earth
abideth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider and
estimate this ever-enduring part. That portion of the earth's surface which
is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States is well adapted
to be the home of one national family, and it is not well adapted for two
or more. Its vast extent and its variety of climate and productions are of
advantage in this age for one people, whatever they might have been in
former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence have brought these to be
an advantageous combination for one united people.

In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
disunion as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
sections. I did so in language which I can not improve, and which,
therefore, I beg to repeat: One section of our country believes slavery is
right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and
ought not to be

extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause
of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave

trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a
community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports

the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal
obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This I think, can

not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the
separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now

imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in
one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered,

would not be surrendered at all by the other.Physically speaking, we can
not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor
build an impassable wall between

them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and
beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our

country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and
intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them, Is it

possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more
satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties

easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced
between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to

war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and
no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions,

as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. There is no line, straight
or crooked, suitable for a national boundary upon which to divide. Trace
through, from east to west, upon the line between the free and slave
country. and we shall find a little more than one-third of its length are
rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, or soon to be populated, thickly
upon both sides; while nearly all its remaining length are merely
surveyors' lines, over which people may walk back and forth without any
consciousness of their presence. No part of this line can be made any more
difficult to pass by writing it down on paper or parchment as a national
boundary. The fact of separation, if it comes, gives up on the part of the
seceding section the fugitive-slave clause, along with all other
constitutional obligations upon the section seceded from, while I should
expect no treaty stipulation would ever be made to take its place.

But there is another difficulty. The great interior region bounded east by
the Alleghanies, north by the British dominions, west by the Rocky
Mountains, and south by the line along which the culture of corn and cotton
meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee, all of
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas,
Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and part of
Colorado, already has above 10,000,000 people, and will have 50,000,000
within fifty years if not prevented by any political folly or mistake. It
contains more than one-third of the country owned by the United
States--certainly more than 1,000,000 square miles. Once half as populous
as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than 75,000,000 people. A
glance at the map shows that, territorially speaking, it is the great body
of the Republic. The other parts are but marginal borders to it. the
magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific
being the deepest and also the richest in undeveloped resources. In the
production of provisions grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them
this great interior region is naturally one of the most important in the
world. Ascertain from the statistics the small proportion of the region
which has as yet been brought into cultivation, and also the large and
rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed with
the magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has no
seacoast--touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one nation, its people now
find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New York, to South
America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco; but
separate our common country into two nations, as designed by the present
rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby cut off
from some one or more of these outlets, not perhaps by a physical barrier,
but by embarrassing and onerous trade regulations.

And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed. Place
it between the now free and slave country, or place it south of Kentucky or
north of Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south of it can trade
to any port or place north of it, and none north of it can trade to any
port or place south of it, except upon terms dictated by a government
foreign to them. These outlets, east, west, and south, are indispensable to
the well-being of the people inhabiting and to inhabit this vast interior
region. Which of the three may be the best is no proper question. All are
better than either, and all of right belong to that people and to their
successors forever. True to themselves, they will not ask where a line of
separation shall be, but will vow rather that there shall be no such line.
Nor are the marginal regions less interested in these communications to and
through them to the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must
have access to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at the crossing
of any national boundary.

Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the land
we inhabit: not from our national homestead. There is no possible severing
of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us. In all its
adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and abhors separation. In fact,
it would ere long force reunion, however much of blood and treasure the
separation might have cost. Our strife pertains to ourselves--to the
passing generations of men--and it can without convulsion be hushed forever
with the passing of one generation.

In this view I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and
articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States: Resolved by
the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses

concurring), That the following articles be proposed to the legislatures
(or conventions) of the several States as amendments to the

Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when
ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures (or conventions ), to
be

valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, viz:

ART.--. Every State wherein slavery now exists which shall abolish the same
therein at any time or times before the 1st day of January., A.

D. 1900, shall receive compensation from the United States as follows, to
wit:

The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State bonds
of the United States bearing interest at the rate of per cent per

annum to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of____for each slave shown to
have been therein by the Eighth Census of the United States,

said bonds to be delivered to such State by installments or in one parcel
at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall

have been gradual or at one time within such State; and interest shall
begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its

delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid and
afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein shall refund to

the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all
interest paid thereon.

ART--All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of the
war at any time before the end of the rebellion shall be

forever free; but all owners of such who shall not have been disloyal shall
be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for

States adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall
be twice accounted for.

ART.--Congress may appropriate money and otherwise provide for colonizing
free colored persons with their own consent at any place or

places without the United States. I beg indulgence to discuss these
proposed articles at some length. Without slavery the rebellion could never
have existed; without slavery it could not continue.

Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment and of
policy in regard to slavery and the African race amongst us. Some would
perpetuate slavery; some would abolish it suddenly and without
compensation; some would abolish it gradually and with compensation: some
would remove the freed people from us, and some would retain them with us;
and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these diversities we
waste much strength in struggles among ourselves. By mutual concession we
should harmonize and act together. This would be compromise, but it would
be compromise among the friends and not with the enemies of the Union.
These articles are intended to embody a plan of such mutual concessions. if
the plan shall be adopted, it is assumed that emancipation will follow, at
least in several of the States.

As to the first article, the main points are, first, the emancipation;
secondly, the length of time for consummating it (thirty-seven years); and,
thirdly, the compensation.

The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
slavery, but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
derangement--in fact, from the necessity of any derangement--while most of
those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the measure
will have passed away before its consummation. They will never see it.
Another class will hail the prospect of emancipation, but will deprecate
the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little to the now
living slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them from the
vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate emancipation in
localities where their numbers are very great, and it gives the inspiring
assurance that their posterity shall be free forever. The plan leaves to
each State choosing to act under it to abolish slavery now or at the end of
the century, or at any intermediate time, or by degrees extending over the
whole or any part of the period, and it obliges no two States to proceed
alike. It also provides for compensation, and generally the mode of making
it. This, it would seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those
who favor perpetual slavery, and especially of those who are to receive the
compensation. Doubtless some of those who are to pay and not to receive
will object. Yet the measure is both just and economical. In a certain
sense the liberation of slaves is the destruction of property--property
acquired by descent or by purchase, the same as any other property. It is
no less true for having been often said that the people of the South are
not more responsible for the original introduction of this property than
are the people of the North; and when it is remembered how unhesitatingly
we all use cotton and sugar and share the profits of dealing in them, it
may not be quite safe to say that the South has been more responsible than
the North for its continuance. If, then, for a common object this property
is to be sacrificed, is it not just that it be done at a common charge?

And if with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the
benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the war alone, is it not
also economical to do it? Let us consider it, then. Let us ascertain the
sum we have expended in the war since compensated emancipation was proposed
last March, and consider whether if that measure had been promptly accepted
by even some of the slave States the same sum would not have done more to
close the war than has been otherwise done. If so, the measure would save
money, and in that view would be a prudent and economical measure.
Certainly it is not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing, but
it is easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And it is
easier to pay any sum when we are able than it is to pay it before we are
able. The war requires large sums, and requires them at once. The aggregate
sum necessary for compensated emancipation of course would be large. But it
would require no ready cash, nor the bonds even any faster than the
emancipation progresses. This might not, and probably would not, close
before the end of the thirty-seven years. At that time we shall probably
have a hundred millions of people to share the burden, instead of
thirty-one millions as now. And not only so, but the increase of our
population may be expected to continue for a long time after that period as
rapidly as before, because our territory will not have become full. I do
not state this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase which we have
maintained, on an average, from our first national census, in 1790, until
that of 1860, we should in 1900 have a population of 103,208,415. And why
may we not continue that ratio far beyond that period? Our abundant room,
our broad national homestead, is our ample resource. Were our territory as
limited as are the British Isles, very certainly our population could not
expand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign born as now, we should
be compelled to send part of the native born away. But such is not our
condition. We have 2,963,000 square miles. Europe has 3,800,000, with a
population averaging 73 1/3 persons to the square mile. Why may not our
country at some time average as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste
surface by mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or other causes? Is it
inferior to Europe in any natural advantage? If, then, we are at some time
to be as populous as Europe, how soon? As to when this may be, we can judge
by the past and the present; as to when it will be, if ever, depends much
on whether we maintain the Union. Several of our States are already above
the average of Europe 73 1/3 to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157;
Rhode Island, 133; Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each 80. Also
two other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the
former having 63 and the latter 59. The States already above the European
average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio since passing
that point as ever before, while no one of them is equal to some other
parts of our country in natural capacity for sustaining a dense
population.

Taking the nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and ratio of
increase for the several decennial periods to be as follows:

Year - Population - Ratio of increase.

- - Per cent.

1790 - 3,929,827 - ..........

1800 - 5,304,937 - 35.02

1810 - 7,239,814 - 36.45

1820 - 9,638,131 - 36.45

1830 - 12,866,020 - 33.49

1840 - 17,069,453 - 32.67

1850 - 23,191,876 - 35.87

1860 - 31,443,790 - 35.58

This shows an average decennial increase of 34.60 per cent in population
through the seventy years from our first to our last census vet taken. It
is seen that the ratio of increase at no one of these seven periods is
either 2 per cent below or 2 per cent above the average, thus showing how
inflexible, and consequently how reliable, the law of increase in our case
is. Assuming that it will continue, it gives the following results:

Year - Population

1870 - 42,323,341

1880 - 56,967,216

1890 - 76,677,872

1900 - 103,208,415

1910 - 138,918,526

1920 - 186,984,335

1930 - 251,680,914

These figures show that our country may be as populous as Europe now is at
some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our territory, at 73 1/3
persons to the square mile, being of capacity to contain 217,186,000.

And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the chance
by the folly and evils of disunion or by long and exhausting war springing
from the only great element of national discord among us. While it can not
be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of secession, breeding lesser
ones indefinitely, would retard population, civilization, and prosperity,
no one can doubt that the extent of it would be very great and injurious.

The proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace, insure
this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of the country.
With these we should pay all the emancipation would cost, together with our
other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt without it. If we had
allowed our old national debt to run at 6 per cent per annum, simple
interest, from the end of our revolutionary struggle until to-day, without
paying anything on either principal or interest, each man of us would owe
less upon that debt now than each man owed upon it then; and this because
our increase of men through the whole period has been greater than 6 per
cent--has run faster than the interest upon the debt. Thus time alone
relieves a debtor nation, so long as its population increases faster than
unpaid interest accumulates on its debt.

This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly due,
but it shows the great importance of time in this connection--the great
advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we number
100,000,000 what by a different policy we would have to pay now, when we
number but 31,000,000. In a word, it shows that a dollar will be much
harder to pay for the war than will be a dollar for emancipation on the
proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no blood, no precious life. It
will be a saving of both.

As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to return to
bondage the class of persons therein contemplated. Some of them, doubtless,
in the property sense belong to loyal owners, and hence provision is made
in this article for compensating such. The third article relates to the
future of the freed people. It does not oblige, but merely authorizes
Congress to aid in colonizing such as may consent. This ought not to be
regarded as objectionable on the one hand or on the other, insomuch as it
comes to nothing unless by the mutual consent of the people to be deported
and the American voters, through their representatives in Congress.

I can not make it better known than it already is that I strongly favor
colonization; and yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
free colored persons remaining in the country which is largely imaginary,
if not sometimes malicious.

It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace white labor
and white laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch
arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present men
should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible
through time and in eternity. Is it true, then, that colored people can
displace any more white labor by being free than by remaining slaves? If
they stay in their old places, they jostle no white laborers; if they leave
their old places, they leave them open to white laborers. Logically, there
is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation, even without deportation,
would probably enhance the wages of white labor, and very surely would not
reduce them. Thus the customary amount of labor would still have to be
performed--the freed people would surely not do more than their old
proportion of it, and very probably for a time would do less, leaving an
increased part to white laborers, bringing their labor into greater demand,
and consequently enhancing the wages of it. With deportation, even to a
limited extent, enhanced wages to white labor is mathematically certain.
Labor is like any other commodity in the market--increase the demand for it
and you increase the price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor by
colonizing the black laborer out of the country, and by precisely so much
you increase the demand for and wages of white labor.

But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
whole land. Are they not already in the land? Will liberation make them any
more numerous? Equally distributed among the whites of the whole country,
and there would be but one colored to seven whites. Could the one in any
way greatly disturb the seven? There are many communities now having more
than one free colored person to seven whites and this without any apparent
consciousness of evil from it. The District of Columbia and the States of
Maryland and Delaware are all in this condition. The District has more than
one free colored to six whites, and yet in its frequent petitions to
Congress I believe it has never presented the presence of free colored
persons as one of its grievances. But why should emancipation South send
the free people North? People of any color seldom run unless there be
something to run from. Hertofore colored people to some extent have fled
North from bondage, and now, perhaps, from both bondage and destitution.
But if gradual emancipation and deportation be adopted, they will have
neither to flee from. Their old masters will give them wages at least until
new laborers can be procured, and the freedmen in turn will gladly give
their labor for the wages till new homes can be found for them in congenial
climes and with people of their own blood and race. This proposition can be
trusted on the mutual interests involved. And in any event, can not the
North decide for itself whether to receive them?

Again, as practice proves more than theory in any case, has there been any
irruption of colored people northward because of the abolishment of slavery
in this District last spring?

What I have said of the proportion of free colored persons to the whites in
the District is from the census of 1860, having no reference to persons
called contrabands nor to those made free by the act of Congress abolishing
slavery here.

The plan consisting of these articles is recommended, not but that a
restoration of the national authority would be accepted without its
adoption.

Nor will the war nor proceedings under the proclamation of September 22,
1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. Its timely
adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay both.

And notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress provide by
law for compensating any State which may adopt emancipation before this
plan shall have been acted upon is hereby earnestly renewed. Such would be
only an advance part of the plan, and the same arguments apply to both.

This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but additional
to, all others for restoring and preserving the national authority
throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in its
economical aspect. The plan would, I am confident, secure peace more
speedily and maintain it more permanently than can be done by force alone,
while all it would cost, considering amounts and manner of payment and
times of payment, would be easier paid than will be the additional cost of
the war if we rely solely upon force. It is much, very much, that it would
cost no blood at all.

The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It can not become
such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
afterwards three-fourths of the States. The requisite three-fourths of the
States will necessarily include seven of the slave States. Their
concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally adopting
emancipation at no very distant day upon the new constitutional terms. This
assurance would end the struggle now and save the Union forever.

I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to
the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the nation, nor do I
forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have more
experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that in
view of the great responsibility resting upon me you will perceive no want
of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may seem to display.

Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten the
war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted
that it would restore the national authority and national prosperity and
perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we here--Congress and
Executive can secure its adoption? Will not the good people respond to a
united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means so
certainly or so speedily assure these vital objects? We can succeed only by
concert. It is not "Can any of us imagine better?" but "Can we all do
better?" Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, "Can we
do better?" The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy
present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with
the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We
must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this
Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal
significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery
trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the
latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget
that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know
how to save it. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the
responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the
free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly
save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed;
this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way
which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever
bless.

***

State of the Union Address
Abraham Lincoln
December 8, 1863

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

Another year of health and of sufficiently abundant harvests has passed.
For these, and especially for the improved condition of our national
affairs, our renewed and profoundest gratitude to God is due.

We remain in peace and friendship with foreign powers.

The efforts of disloyal citizens of the United States to involve us in
foreign wars to aid an inexcusable insurrection have been unavailing. Her
Britannic Majesty's Government, as was justly expected, have exercised
their authority to prevent the departure of new hostile expeditions from
British ports. The Emperor of France has by a like proceeding promptly
vindicated the neutrality which he proclaimed at the beginning of the
contest. Questions of great intricacy and importance have arisen out of the
blockade and other belligerent operations between the Government and
several of the maritime powers, but they have been discussed and, as far as
was possible, accommodated in a spirit of frankness, justice, and mutual
good will. It is especially gratifying that our prize courts, by the
impartiality of their adjudications, have commanded the respect and
confidence of maritime powers.

The supplemental treaty between the United States and Great Britain for the
suppression of the African slave trade, made on the 17th day of February
last, has been duly ratified and carried into execution. It is believed
that so far as American ports and American citizens are concerned that
inhuman and odious traffic has been brought to an end.

I shall submit for the consideration of the Senate a convention for the
adjustment of possessory claims in Washington Territory arising out of the
treaty of the 15th June, 1846, between the United States and Great Britain,
and which have been the source of some disquiet among the citizens of that
now rapidly improving part of the country.

A novel and important question, involving the extent of the maritime
jurisdiction of Spain in the waters which surround the island of Cuba, has
been debated without reaching an agreement, and it is proposed in an
amicable spirit to refer it to the arbitrament of a friendly power. A
convention for that purpose will be submitted to the Senate.

I have thought it proper, subject to the approval of the Senate, to concur
with the interested commercial powers in an arrangement for the liquidation
of the Scheldt dues, upon the principles which have been heretofore adopted
in regard to the imposts upon navigation in the waters of Denmark.

The long-pending controversy between this Government and that of Chile
touching the seizure at Sitana, in Peru, by Chilean officers, of a large
amount in treasure belonging to citizens of the United States has been
brought to a close by the award of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, to
whose arbitration the question was referred by the parties. The subject was
thoroughly and patiently examined by that justly respected magistrate, and
although the sum awarded to the claimants may not have been as large as
they expected there is no reason to distrust the wisdom of His Majesty's
decision. That decision was promptly complied with by Chile when
intelligence in regard to it reached that country.

The joint commission under the act of the last session for carrying into
effect the convention with Peru on the subject of claims has been organized
at Lima, and is engaged in the business intrusted to it.

Difficulties concerning interoceanic transit through Nicaragua are in
course of amicable adjustment.

In conformity with principles set forth in my last annual message, I have
received a representative from the United States of Colombia, and have
accredited a minister to that Republic.

Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war have forced upon my
attention the uncertain state of international questions touching the
rights of foreigners in this country and of United States citizens abroad.
In regard to some governments these rights are at least partially, defined
by treaties. In no instance, however, is it expressly stipulated that in
the event of civil war a foreigner residing in this country within the
lines of the insurgents is to be exempted from the rule which classes him
as a belligerent, in whose behalf the Government or his country can not
expect any privileges or immunities distinct from that character. I regret
to say, however, that such claims have been put forward, and in some
instances in behalf of foreigners who have lived in the United States the
greater part of their lives.

There is reason to believe that many persons born in foreign countries who
have declared their intention to become citizens, or who have been fully
naturalized, have evaded the military duty required of them by denying the
fact and thereby throwing upon the Government the burden of proof. It has
been found difficult or impracticable to obtain this proof, from the want
of guides to the proper sources of information. These might be supplied by
requiring clerks of courts where declarations of intention may be made or
naturalizations effected to send periodically lists of the names of the
persons naturalized or declaring their intention to become citizens to the
Secretary of the Interior, in whose Department those names might be
arranged and printed for general information.

There is also reason to believe that foreigners frequently become citizens
of the United States for the sole purpose of evading duties imposed by the
laws of their native countries, to which on becoming naturalized here they
at once repair, and though never returning to the United States they still
claim the interposition of this Government as citizens. Many altercations
and great prejudices have heretofore arisen out of this abuse. It is
therefore submitted to your serious consideration. It might be advisable to
fix a limit beyond which no citizen of the United States residing abroad
may claim the interposition of his Government.

The right of suffrage has often been assumed and exercised by aliens under
pretenses of naturalization, which they have disavowed when drafted into
the military service. I submit the expediency of such an amendment of the
law as will make the fact of voting an estoppel against any plea of
exemption from military service or other civil obligation on the ground of
alienage.

In common with other Western powers, our relations with Japan have been
brought into serious jeopardy through the perverse opposition of the
hereditary aristocracy of the Empire to the enlightened and liberal policy
of the Tycoon, designed to bring the country into the society of nations.
It is hoped, although not with entire confidence, that these difficulties
may be peacefully overcome. I ask your attention to the claim of the
minister residing there for the damages he sustained in the destruction by
fire of the residence of the legation at Yedo.

Satisfactory arrangements have been made with the Emperor of Russia, which,
it is believed, will result in effecting a continuous line of telegraph
through that Empire from our Pacific coast.

I recommend to your favorable consideration the subject of an international
telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean, and also of a telegraph between this
capital and the national forts along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of
Mexico. Such communications, established with any reasonable outlay, would
be economical as well as effective aids to the diplomatic, military, and
naval service.

The consular system of the United States, under the enactments of the last
Congress, begins to be self-sustaining, and there is reason to hope that it
may become entirely so with the increase of trade which will ensue whenever
peace is restored. Our ministers abroad have been faithful in defending
American rights. In protecting commercial interests our consuls have
necessarily had to encounter increased labors and responsibilities growing
out of the war. These they have for the most part met and discharged with
zeal and efficiency. This acknowledgment justly includes those consuls who,
residing in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Japan, China, and other Oriental
countries, are charged with complex functions and extraordinary powers.

The condition of the several organized Territories is generally
satisfactory, although Indian disturbances in New Mexico have not been
entirely suppressed. The mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, New
Mexico, and Arizona are proving far richer than has been heretofore
understood. I lay before you a communication on this subject from the
governor of New Mexico. I again submit to your consideration the expediency
of establishing a system for the encouragement of immigration. Although
this source of national wealth and strength is again flowing with greater
freedom than for several years before the insurrection occurred, there is
still a great deficiency of laborers in every field of industry, especially
in agriculture and in our mines, as well of iron and coal as of the
precious metals. While the demand for labor is much increased here, tens of
thousands of persons, destitute of remunerative occupation, are thronging
our foreign consulates and offering to emigrate to the United States if
essential, but very cheap, assistance can be afforded them. It is easy to
see that under the sharp discipline of civil war the nation is beginning a
new life. This noble effort demands the aid and ought to receive the
attention and support of the Government.

Injuries unforeseen by the Government and unintended may in some cases have
been inflicted on the subjects or citizens of foreign countries, both at
sea and on land, by persons in the service of the United States. As this
Government expects redress from other powers when similar injuries are
inflicted by persons in their service upon citizens of the United States,
we must be prepared to do justice to foreigners. If the existing judicial
tribunals are inadequate to this purpose, a special court may be
authorized, with power to hear and decide such claims of the character
referred to as may have arisen under treaties and the public law.
Conventions for adjusting the claims by joint commission have been proposed
to some governments, but no definitive answer to the proposition has yet
been received from any.

In the course of the session I shall probably have occasion to request you
to provide indemnification to claimants where decrees of restitution have
been rendered and damages awarded by admiralty courts, and in other cases
where this Government may be acknowledged to be liable in principle and
where the amount of that liability has been ascertained by an informal
arbitration.

The proper officers of the Treasury have deemed themselves required by the
law of the United States upon the subject to demand a tax upon the incomes
of foreign consuls in this country. While such a demand may not in
strictness be in derogation of public law, or perhaps of any existing
treaty between the United States and a foreign country, the expediency of
so far modifying the act as to exempt from tax the income of such consuls
as are not citizens of the United States, derived from the emoluments of
their office or from property not situated in the United States, is
submitted to your serious consideration. I make this suggestion upon the
ground that a comity which ought to be reciprocated exempts our consuls in
all other countries from taxation to the extent thus indicated. The United
States, I think, ought not to be exceptionally illiberal to international
trade and commerce.

The operations of the Treasury during the last year have been successfully
conducted. The enactment by Congress of a national banking law has proved a
valuable support of the public credit and the general legislation in
relation to loans has fully answered the expectations of its favorers. Some
amendments may be required to perfect existing laws, but no change in their
principles or general scope is believed to be needed.

Since these measures have been in operation all demands on the Treasury,
including the pay of the Army and Navy, have been promptly met and fully
satisfied. No considerable body of troops, it is believed, were ever more
amply provided and more liberally and punctually paid, and it may be added
that by no people were the burdens incident to a great war ever more
cheerfully borne.

The receipts during the year from all sources, including loans and balance
in the Treasury at its commencement, were $901,125,674.86, and the
aggregate disbursements $895,796,630.65, leaving a balance on the 1st of
July, 1863, of $5,329,044.21. Of the receipts there were derived from
customs $69,059,642.40, from internal revenue $37,640,787.95, from direct
tax $1,485,103.61, from lands $167,617.17, from miscellaneous sources
$3,046,615.35, and from loans $776,682,361.57, making the aggregate
$901,125,674.86. Of the disbursements there were for the civil service
$23,253,922.08, for pensions and Indians $4,216,520.79, for interest on
public debt $24,729,846.51, for the War Department $599,298,600.83, for the
Navy Department $63,211,105.27, for payment of funded and temporary debt
$181,086,635.07, making the aggregate $895,796,630.65 and leaving the
balance of $5,329,044.21. But the payment of funded and temporary debt,
having been made from moneys borrowed during the year, must be regarded as
merely nominal payments and the moneys borrowed to make them as merely
nominal receipts, and their amount, $181,086,635.07, should therefore be
deducted both from receipts and disbursements. This being done there
remains as actual receipts $720,039,039.79 and the actual disbursements
$714,709,995.58, leaving the balance as already stated.

The actual receipts and disbursements for the first quarter and the
estimated receipts and disbursements for the remaining three quarters of
the current fiscal year (1864) will be shown in detail by the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, to which I invite your attention. It is
sufficient to say here that it is not believed that actual results will
exhibit a state of the finances less favorable to the country than the
estimates of that officer heretofore submitted, while it is confidently
expected that at the close of the year both disbursements and debt will be
found very considerably less than has been anticipated.

The report of the Secretary of War is a document of great interest. It
consists of--

1. The military operations of the year, detailed in the report of the
General in Chief. 2. The organization of colored persons into the war
service. 3. The exchange of prisoners, fully set forth in the letter of
General Hitchcock. 4. The operations under the act for enrolling and
calling out the national forces, detailed in the report of the
Provost-Marshal-General. 5. The organization of the invalid corps, and 6.
The operation of the several departments of the Quartermaster-General,
Commissary- General, Paymaster-General, Chief of Engineers, Chief of
Ordnance, and Surgeon-General.

It has appeared impossible to make a valuable summary of this report,
except such as would be too extended for this place, and hence I content
myself by asking your careful attention to the report itself.

The duties devolving on the naval branch of the service during the year and
throughout the whole of this unhappy contest have been discharged with
fidelity and eminent success. The extensive blockade has been constantly
increasing in efficiency as the Navy has expanded, yet on so long a line it
has so far been impossible to entirely suppress illicit trade. From returns
received at the Navy Department it appears that more than 1,000 vessels
have been captured since the blockade was instituted, and that the value of
prizes already sent in for adjudication amounts to over $13,000,000.

The naval force of the United States consists at this time of 588 vessels
completed and in the course of completion, and of these 75 are ironclad or
armored steamers. The events of the war give an increased interest and
importance to the Navy which will probably extend beyond the war itself.

The armored vessels in our Navy completed and in service, or which are
under contract and approaching completion, are believed to exceed in number
those of any other power; but while these may be relied upon for harbor
defense and coast service, others of greater strength and capacity will be
necessary for cruising purposes and to maintain our rightful position on
the ocean.

The change that has taken place in naval vessels and naval warfare since
the introduction of steam as a motive power for ships of war demands either
a corresponding change in some of our existing navy-yards or the
establishment of new ones for the construction and necessary repair of
modern naval vessels. No inconsiderable embarrassment, delay, and public
injury have been experienced from the want of such governmental
establishments. The necessity of such a navy-yard, so furnished, at some
suitable place upon the Atlantic seaboard has on repeated occasions been
brought to the attention of Congress by the Navy Department, and is again
presented in the report of the Secretary which accompanies this
communication. I think it my duty to invite your special attention to this
subject, and also to that of establishing a yard and depot for naval
purposes upon one of the Western rivers. A naval force has been created on
those interior waters, and under many disadvantages, within little more
than two years, exceeding in numbers the whole naval force of the country
at the commencement of the present Administration. Satisfactory and
important as have been the performances of the heroic men of the Navy at
this interesting period, they are scarcely more wonderful than the success
of our mechanics and artisans in the production of war vessels, which has
created a new form of naval power.

Our country has advantages superior to any other nation in our resources of
iron and timber, with inexhaustible quantities of fuel in the immediate
vicinity of both, and all available and in close proximity to navigable
waters. Without the advantage of public works, the resources of the nation
have been developed and its power displayed in the construction of a Navy
of such magnitude, which has at the very period of its creation rendered
signal service to the Union.

The increase of the number of seamen in the public service from 7,500 men
in the spring of 1861 to about 34,000 at the present time has been
accomplished without special legislation or extraordinary bounties to
promote that increase. It has been found, however, that the operation of
the draft, with the high bounties paid for army recruits, is beginning to
affect injuriously the naval service, and will, if not corrected, be likely
to impair its efficiency by detaching seamen from their proper vocation and
inducing them to enter the Army. I therefore respectfully suggest that
Congress might aid both the army and naval services by a definite provision
on this subject which would at the same time be equitable to the
communities more especially interested.

I commend to your consideration the suggestions of the Secretary of the
Navy in regard to the policy of fostering and training seamen and also the
education of officers and engineers for the naval service. The Naval
Academy is rendering signal service in preparing midshipmen for the highly
responsible duties which in after life they will be required to perform. In
order that the country should not be deprived of the proper quota of
educated officers, for which legal provision has been made at the naval
school, the vacancies caused by the neglect or omission to make nominations
from the States in insurrection have been filled by the Secretary of the
Navy. The school is now more full and complete than at any former period,
and in every respect entitled to the favorable consideration of Congress.

During the past fiscal year the financial condition of the Post-Office
Department has been one of increasing prosperity, and I am gratified in
being able to state that the actual postal revenue has nearly equaled the
entire expenditures, the latter amounting to $11,314,206.84 and the former
to $11,163,789.59, leaving a deficiency of but $150,417.25. In 1860, the
year immediately preceding the rebellion, the deficiency amounted to
$5,656,705.49, the postal receipts of that year being $2,645,722.19 less
than those of 1863. The decrease since 1860 in the annual amount of
transportation has been only about 25 per cent, but the annual expenditure
on account of the same has been reduced 35 per cent. It is manifest,
therefore, that the Post-Office Department may become self-sustaining in a
few years, even with the restoration of the whole service.

The international conference of postal delegates from the principal
countries of Europe and America, which was called at the suggestion of the
Postmaster-General, met at Paris on the 11th of May last and concluded its
deliberations on the 8th of June. The principles established by the
conference as best adapted to facilitate postal intercourse between nations
and as the basis of future postal conventions inaugurate a general system
of uniform international charges at reduced rates of postage, and can not
fail to produce beneficial results.

I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Interior, which is
herewith laid before you, for useful and varied information in relation to
the public lands, Indian affairs, patents, pensions, and other matters of
public concern pertaining to his Department.

The quantity of land disposed of during the last and the first quarter of
the present fiscal years was 3,841,549 acres, of which 161,911 acres were
sold for cash, 1,456,514 acres were taken up under the homestead law, and
the residue disposed of under laws granting lands for military bounties,
for railroad and other purposes. It also appears that the sale of the
public lands is largely on the increase.

It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen that
the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring interest in
the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the public lands than
in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the sale of them. This
opinion has had a controlling influence in shaping legislation upon the
subject of our national domain. I may cite as evidence of this the liberal
measures adopted in reference to actual settlers; the grant to the States
of the overflowed lands within their limits, in order to their being
reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation; the grants to railway companies
of alternate sections of land upon the contemplated issues of their roads,
which when completed will so largely multiply the facilities for reaching
our distant possessions. This policy has received its most signal and
beneficent illustration in the recent enactment granting homesteads to
actual settlers. Since the 1st day of January last the before-mentioned
quantity of 1,456,514 acres of land have been taken up under its
provisions. This fact and the amount of sales furnish gratifying evidence
of increasing settlement upon the public lands, notwithstanding the great
struggle in which the energies of the nation have been engaged, and which
has required so large a withdrawal of our citizens from their accustomed
pursuits. I cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary of the
Interior suggesting a modification of the act in favor of those engaged in
the military and naval service of the United States. I doubt not that
Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as will, without essentially
changing the general features of the system, secure to the greatest
practicable extent its benefits to those who have left their homes in the
defense of the country in this arduous crisis.

I invite your attention to the views of the Secretary as to the propriety
of raising by appropriate legislation a revenue from the mineral lands of
the United States.

The measures provided at your last session for the removal of certain
Indian tribes have been carried into effect. Sundry treaties have been
negotiated, which will in due time be submitted for the constitutional
action of the Senate. They contain stipulations for extinguishing the
possessory rights of the Indians to large and valuable tracts of lands. It
is hoped that the effect of these treaties will result in the establishment
of permanent friendly relations with such of these tribes as have been
brought into frequent and bloody collision with our outlying settlements
and emigrants. Sound policy and our imperative duty to these wards of the
Government demand our anxious and constant attention to their material
well-being, to their progress in the arts of civilization, and, above all,
to that moral training which under the blessing of Divine Providence will
confer upon them the elevated and sanctifying influences, the hopes and
consolations, of the Christian faith. I suggested in my last annual message
the propriety of remodeling our Indian system. Subsequent events have
satisfied me of its necessity. The details set forth in the report of the
Secretary evince the urgent need for immediate legislative action.

I commend the benevolent institutions established or patronized by the
Government in this District to your generous and fostering care. The
attention of Congress during the last session was engaged to some extent
with a proposition for enlarging the water communication between the
Mississippi River and the northeastern seaboard, which proposition,
however, failed for the time. Since then, upon a call of the greatest
respectability, a convention has been held at Chicago upon the same
subject, a summary of whose views is contained in a memorial addressed to
the President and Congress, and which I now have the honor to lay before
you. That this interest is one which ere long will force its own way I do
not entertain a doubt, while it is submitted entirely to your wisdom as to
what can be done now. Augmented interest is given to this subject by the
actual commencement of work upon the Pacific Railroad, under auspices so
favorable to rapid progress and completion. The enlarged navigation becomes
a palpable need to the great road.

I transmit the second annual report of the Commissioner of the Department
of Agriculture, asking your attention to the developments in that vital
interest of the nation. When Congress assembled a year ago, the war had
already lasted nearly twenty months, and there had been many conflicts on
both land and sea, with varying results; the rebellion had been pressed
back into reduced limits; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at
home and abroad was not satisfactory. With other signs, the popular
elections then just past indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while, amid
much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from Europe were
uttered in accents of pity that we were too blind to surrender a hopeless
cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by a few armed vessels built upon
and furnished from foreign shores, and we were threatened with such
additions from the same quarter as would sweep our trade from the sea and
raise our blockade. We had failed to elicit from European Governments
anything hopeful upon this subject. The preliminary emancipation
proclamation, issued in September, was running its assigned period to the
beginning of the new year. A month later the final proclamation came,
including the announcement that colored men of suitable condition would be
received into the war service. The policy of emancipation and of employing
black soldiers gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope and fear
and doubt contended in uncertain conflict. According to our political
system, as a matter of civil administration, the General Government had no
lawful power to effect emancipation in any State, and for a long time it
had been hoped that the rebellion could be suppressed without resorting to
it as a military measure. It was all the while deemed possible that the
necessity for it might come, and that if it should the crisis of the
contest would then be presented. It came, and, as was anticipated, it was
followed by dark and doubtful days. Eleven months having now passed, we are
permitted to take another review. The rebel borders are pressed still
farther back, and by the complete opening of the Mississippi the country
dominated by the rebellion is divided into distinct parts, with no
practical communication between them. Tennessee and Arkansas have been
substantially cleared of insurgent control, and influential citizens in
each, owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the beginning of the
rebellion, now declare o