THE PRESIDENT JUDGED BY HIMSELF
No event since the end of the war has so profoundly moved the country as
the massacre at New Orleans, and none of the circumstances connected with it have been
regarded with more painful surprise than the action of the President. Ever since the
meeting of Congress last December he has strenuously insisted that the late rebel States,
by conforming to certain terms which he had named, without consultation with Congress,
were fully restored to their equal relations in the Union with the loyal States. He has
publicly denounced Senators and Representatives as traitors and disunionists because they
did not agree with him. He has vetoed the most important bills passed by Congress,
assigning among his reasons in every instance that legislation during the exclusion from
representation of the States in question was of doubtful constitutionality. He has
uniformly spoken of those States as no longer in an exceptional situation, insisting that
war was over, that all its methods were at an end, and that nothing remained to complete
the normal condition of the Union but the admission of representatives duly qualified.Louisiana is one of these States. The President
told us that it was upon exactly the same footing in the Union as New York, and was to be
treated by the national authorities exactly as New York is treated. He had recognized its
local State Government as no less valid and independent within its constitutional sphere
than that of New York, and however opinions as to the constitutionality or good policy or
common-sense of his views may have differed, no one, we suppose, doubted that they were
sincerely held and would honestly control his action.
But the President has suddenly shown
that, while he denounces the Legislative branch of the Government as disorganizing or
treasonable for not assenting to his theory, he does not mean to be bound by it himself.
While he and his supporters are vociferously accusing Congress of revolutionary intentions
because it does not immediately recognize what he calls the lawful representatives of
Louisiana, he himself calls to account and peremptorily disregards the Governor of
Louisiana, whom he has recognized as a lawful Governor as much as Governor Fenton of New
York. He does in that State what he knows would not be for a moment tolerated in this.
On the 21st of July the
President issues the following extraordinary order to the Governor of Louisiana, who, let
it be remembered, he asserts is the peer of the Governor of Pennsylvania, of
Massachusetts, of Illinois, or of any other State. "I have been advised that you
have issued a proclamation convening the Convention elected in 1864. Please inform me
under and by what authority this has been done, and by what authority this Convention can
assume to represent the whole people of the State of Louisiana." This is the
order of a superior to a subordinate agent. This is a message which the commander-in-chief
may properly send to a provisional lieutenant. But it is a message which the President of
the United States has no more rightful authority to send to the Governor of New York than
the Queen of England has. And when such a missive is forwarded by a President who has been
for months tediously reiterating that the rights of the States are in imminent danger of
being destroyed by despotic centralization it is both ludicrous and alarming; ludicrous,
because the executive act is such a ridiculous contradiction of the executive assertion;
and alarming, because it shows either the Presidents incapacity to comprehend the
limits of the executive power, or his determination to disregard them at his pleasure.
The Presidents "policy"
thus proves to be the Presidents pleasure. When it is convenient for him to treat a
State as fully in the Union the Presidents "policy" requires us to assent.
When it is convenient to consider it as under absolute military supervision the
Presidents "policy" requires us to say Amen. If the President blows hot,
we must agree that it is war. If he blows cold, we must declare it is exceeding chilly. If
he denounces Congress as revolutionary for not recognizing the representatives of
Louisiana, we must beg him to sweep it out of the Capitol. If he turns on his heel and
refuses to recognize the Governor of Louisiana, we must vow that he is the savior of the
Constitution.
The whole melancholy history justifies
Congress. It has steadily refused to act upon a visionary theory, "a pernicious
abstraction." Familiar with the causes of the war, understanding the vast social
convulsions that always attend so fierce a struggle, and knowing that statesmanship deals
with facts, it has not foolishly supposed that every thing was settled because insurgents
had laid down their arms, nor assumed that States still quivering with hatred and
hostility could be admitted to a share in the Government without patient inquiry and
deliberation. It has asked only that the facts be ascertained, not assumed. Without
hostile emotion, without vindictiveness, it has required that no State deliberately
withdrawing its representatives, in order to destroy the Government, shall claim to have
them readmitted except upon terms of reasonable precaution, and that rebellion shall not
be rewarded by increased political power. Whether Congress, in its prudent care, is less
patriotic, constitutional, and reasonable than the President in his immoderate haste -
whether its calm and consistent policy is not as respectful of just State rights as
the capricious, arbitrary, and utterly illogical and inconsistent conduct of the President
- whether, in settling a civil war, it is more revolutionary to deprive a State of
its national representation until it conforms to reasonable terms, than to deprive it of
its local government at the executive pleasure - are questions upon which we believe
there is very little difference among the loyal people of the United States.
Articles Related to the Initial Impeachment
Discussions:
The President Judged by Himself
August 25, 1866, page 530
Reconstruction and How
it Works (cartoon)
September 1, 1866, pages 552-553
Which Is The More
Illegal (cartoon)
September 8, 1866, page 569
The New Orleans Report
October 20, 1866, page 658
The New Orleans Massacre
IMarch 30, 1867, page 202
Text from Illustration of Andys Trip
October 27, 1866, pages 680-681
The Great Campaign of
66
September 29, 1866, page 610
What Next?
October 27, 1866, page 674
King Andy (cartoon)
November 3, 1866 page 696
Shall the President be
Impeached?
November 3, 1866, page 690
The Popular Will
November 24, 1866, page 738
Andy Makes a Call on
Uncle Sam, Who Rises to the Occasion (cartoon)
December 1, 1866, page 768
Impeachment and General
Butler
December 15, 1866, page 786
Congress
December 22, 1866, page 803
What Next?
December 29, 1866, page 818
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