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 now 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 care of the National Government within the
just limits prescribed by the Constitution and wise public economy.

But at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as for every
other part of the country, lies the improvement of the intellectual
and moral condition of the people. Universal suffrage should rest
upon universal education. To this end, liberal and permanent
provision should be made for the support of free schools by the State
governments, and, if need be, supplemented by legitimate aid from
national authority.

Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my
earnest desire to regard and promote their truest interests--the
interests of the white and of the colored people both and equally--and
to put forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which w