The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion
of our country and the advance of 4,000,000 people from a condition of
servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal footing with their
former masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the
gravest moment, to be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their
former masters, and by the General Government, the author of the act of
emancipation. That it was a wise, just, and providential act, fraught
with good for all concerned, is not generally conceded throughout the
country. That a moral obligation rests upon the National Government to
employ its constitutional power and influence to establish the rights
of the people it has emancipated, and to protect them in the enjoyment
of those rights when they are infringed or assailed, is also generally
admitted.

The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or
remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated
by motives of mutual sympathy and regard; and while in duty bound and
fully determined to protect the rights of all by every constitutional
means at the disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely anxious to
use every legitimate influence in favor of honest and efficient local
self-government as the true resource of those States for the promotion
of the contentment and prosperity of their citizens. In the effort I
shall make to accomplish this purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of
all who cherish an interest in the welfare of the country, trusting
that party ties and the prejudice of race will be freely surrendered in
behalf of the great purpose to be accomplished. In the important work
of restoring the South it is not the political situation alone that
merits attention. The material development of that section of the
country has been arrested by the social and political revolution
through which it has passed, and now needs and deserves the considerate