have defended, her best blood has cemented, this happy Union. And
then add, if you can, without horror and remorse, This happy Union we
will dissolve; this picture of peace and prosperity we will deface; this
free intercourse we will interrupt; these fertile fields we will deluge
with blood; the protection of that glorious flag we renounce; the very
name of Americans we discard. And for what, mistaken men? For what do
you throw away these inestimable blessings? For what would you exchange
your share in the advantages and honor of the Union? For the dream of a
separate independence--a dream interrupted by bloody conflicts with your
neighbors and a vile dependence on a foreign power. If your leaders
could succeed in establishing a separation, what would be your
situation? Are you united at home? Are you free from the apprehension of
civil discord, with all its fearful consequences? Do our neighboring
republics, every day suffering some new revolution or contending with
some new insurrection, do they excite your envy? But the dictates of a
high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you can not succeed. The
laws of the United States must be executed. I have no discretionary
power on the subject; my duty is emphatically pronounced in the
Constitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their
execution deceived you; they could not have been deceived themselves.
They know that a forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution
of the laws, and they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their
object is disunion. But be not deceived by names. Disunion by armed
force is _treason_. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you are,
on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful consequences;
on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours may fall the punishment. On
your unhappy State will inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict
you force upon the Government of your country. It can not accede to the
mad project of disunion, of which you would be the first victims. Its
First Magistrate can not, if he would, avoid the performance of his
duty. The consequence must be fearful for you, distressing to your
fellow-citizens here and to the friends of good government throughout
the world. Its enemies have beheld our prosperity with a vexation they
could not conceal; it was a standing refutation of their slavish
doctrines, and they will point to our discord with the triumph of
malignant joy. It