Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/299

Rh December, 1863, which offered pardon to all who were in arms if they would lay them down and take an oath to support the government of the United States. He said he would recognize a State government as a loyal government, provided as many as one-tenth of the number who voted in 1860 would organize a State government and comply with certain conditions named in the proclamation. It was evident also, that he followed the spirit of the resolution passed by Congress in July, 1861, as to preservation of the Union, "with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired, although in the progress of the war, the Constitution was greatly strained, and had been, at times, ignored to secure success which he regarded as paramount to a restored Union. He tried personally to keep as near the principles of the Constitution as was possible in war. His object was to restore the Union. This was the one object near his heart. His theory was, "that the States were never out of the Union; that the people of these States, when they returned to their allegiance, had the power of reconstruction in their own hands." His views as to the qualification of voters were given in his proclamation of 1863, referred to in his message of December 21, 1863, viz: "Being a qualified voter by the election laws of the State, existing immediately before the so-called act of secession and excluding all other, shall re-establish a State government" He believed in the people; to the extent that the people in the seceded States, notwithstanding the war, should and must be trusted. There can be no doubt as to Mr. Lincoln's intention in reconstructing the Southern States, and time has demonstrated that his statesmanship was correct, and that his principles were based on the proper theory of the organization of the government. The decisions of the Supreme court since the war clearly sustain his general views.

When he visited Richmond early in April, 1865, after the city had been occupied by the Union troops, he con-