In our remarks last week upon
the Veto Message we assumed from the Presidents remarks that he proposed to leave
the freedmen to the care of the States in which they live. We did so because he spoke of
some of those States as in his opinion entitled to resume their normal relations with the
Union, and consequently to the right of caring for all their people. He spoke of the
present Freedmens Bureau as still existing; but as that is to expire a year after
the end of the war, and as he told us war was now ended, it was fair to assume that the
present arrangement would end by the first of May. Moreover, he did not say that he
approved such a Bureau, and by insisting that the freedmen were not so forlorn as has been
represented, and might emigrate if they were dissatisfied or appeal to the courts, he very
plainly intimated, as we inferred, that their rights were not to be defended by the United
States. We therefore said nothing of his objections to the particular bill presented to
him, but simply expressed our profound sorrow that, in his judgment, the emancipated
slaves ought to be abandoned homeless, houseless, landless, and at an inconceivable
disadvantage to those who are peculiarly hostile to them.
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HarpWeek
Commentary: On April 14, 1866, Thomas Nast drew a cartoon of "The Grand
Masquerade Ball" featuring large sketches of many of the celebrities of the day.
Andrew Johnson is pictured kicking out the Freedmens Bureau with his veto, with
scattered black people coming out of it. |
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That our view was not singular was proved
by the universal excitement that followed the Message. The party of hostility to human
rights, the "Democracy," whose sole article of faith is contempt of negroes,
fired their loudest guns at the pleasing prospect that the loyal people of South Carolina
who had fought for the Union were now to be turned over to the revengeful hands of those
who had fought against it. The extreme opponents of this party, true friends of the people
and of equal rights also generally hung their heads in speechless sorrow and amazement.
But the Evening Post, which is edited by men as faithful to justice and equal
rights as man can be; Henry Ward Beecher, whose tongue flames and sparkles against the
enemies of man; and many a private citizen not less constant in the good faith, openly
asserted that they did not understand the President to be opposed to any bill, but only to
the present one, and for reasons which were in some points very weighty. But such was the
doubt of the Presidents position arising from the want of precision of statement,
and from the mixed discussions of his Message, that it was immediately announced that the
Secretary of State would come to New York and speak upon the subject. Under such
circumstances a speech could only be an explanation, and we waited patiently the
Secretarys coming.
Mr. Sewards reception was deserved.
It was a tumult of enthusiasm. Every man in the audience remembered his services and his
sufferings, and forgot every thing else. The important part of his speech was this plain
declaration:
"Both the President and Congress agree that during
the brief transition which the country is making from civil war to internal peace the
freedmen and refugees ought not to be abandoned by the nation to persecution or suffering.
It was for this transition period that the Bureau of Freedmen was created by Congress, and
was kept and is still kept in effective operation. Both the President and Congress, on the
other hand, agree that when that transition period shall have been fully passed, and the
harmonious relations between the States and the Union fully restored, that bureau would be
not only unnecessary, but unconstitutional, demoralizing, and dangerous, and therefore
that it should cease to exist."
He added that the President thought the
transition period was nearly passed, and that the original provision is sufficient for the
end desired. That provision is for a year after the end of the war; but the war does not
end, he said, until a proclamation is issued by the Government; and if, as the year
closes, it is found necessary to continue the provision, it is for Congress to continue
it. Mr. Seward confirmed our view that in the Presidents judgment the war of the
rebellion is "not yet fully closed."
General Howard was equally uncertain of
the Presidents meaning, and asked an explanation. The General subsequently issued a
letter to the agents of the present bureau informing them that the President regards the
law as continuing "at least a year from this time;" and Senator Wilson, who has
wisely maintained pleasant relations with the President, has introduce a bill extending
the operations of the present bill for two years.
We are sincerely glad that this is the
truth. The national disgrace of an abandonment of the freedmen in their present condition
to those who lately held them as slaves would be overwhelming. They are our wards, and we
have no moral right to relinquish their hands until we leave them as fully secure in every
civil right as every other citizen. Upon this point there is no difference of opinion
among Union men. It is the "Democracy" only which would abandon them. The
President, in his conversation with Governor Cox, of Ohio, speaks of his resolution to see
justice done with a distinctness which we should have been glad to find in his Message.
The case in unprecedented, and we must treat it accordingly.
Articles Relating to Johnson's First Vetoes:
A Long Step
Forward
January 27, 1866, page 50
Congress
February 10, 1866, page 83
Education of the
Freedmen
February 10, 1866, page 83
The Veto Message
March 3, 1866, page 130
The Freedmens
Bureau
March 10, 1866, page 146
The Presidents Speech
March 10, 1866, page 147
The Political
Situation
April 14, 1866, page 226
The Civil Rights
Bill
April 14, 1866, page 226
The Civil Rights
Bill
April 21, 1866, page 243
The Congressional
Plan of Reorganization
May 12, 1866, page 290
The Trial of the
Government
May 26, 1866, page 322
Making Treason
Odious
June 2, 1866, page 338
The Final Report of
the Reconstruction Committee
June 23, 1866, page 387
The Report of the
Congressional Committee
June 23, 1866, page 386
The Case Stated
August 4, 1866, page 482