When this shall have been consummated, I pray God that the errors of the past may be forgotten and that once more we shall be a happy, united, and prosperous people, and that at last, after the bitter and eventful experience through which…

I have considered the bill entitled 'An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,'' passed March 2, 1867, and to facilitate restoration.

A military republic, a government rounded on mock elections and supported only by the sword, was nearly a quarter of a century since pronounced by Daniel Webster, when speaking of the South American States, as 'a movement, indeed, but a…

All this legislation proceeds upon the contrary assumption that the people of each of these States shall have no constitution except such as may be arbitrarily dictated by Congress and formed under the restraint of military rule.

If ever the American citizen should be left to the free exercise of his own judgment it is when he is engaged in the work of forming the fundamental law under which he is to live.

No consideration could induce me to give my approval to such an election law for any purpose, and especially for the great purpose of framing the constitution of a State.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior and a copy of a letter of Hon. Lewis V. Bogy, special commissioner, of the 20th instant, explanatory of the said treaty, are also herewith transmitted.

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded on the 19th of March, 1867, between the United States and the Chippewa tribe of Indians of the Mississippi.

To the House of Representatives: I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution of the 18th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with its accompanying papers.

I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution of the 18th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with an accompanying paper.

To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate, in further answer to their resolution of the 31st of January last, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded in this city on the 15th instant (ultimo) between the United States and the Stockbridge and Munsee tribes of Indians.

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded on the 2d March, 1866, between the United States and the Shawnee tribe of Indians of Kansas.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 25th instant (ultimo) and a copy of a communication from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 19th instant (ultimo), explanatory of the said treaty, are also herewith transmitted.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 26th instant (ultimo) and a copy of a letter of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 25th instant (ultimo), explanatory of said treaty, are also herewith transmitted.

A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 6th instant and a copy of a communication from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 2d instant, explanatory of the said treaty, are also herewith transmitted.

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded in this city on the 23d instant (ultimo) between the United States and the following tribes of Indians, viz: The Senecas, the confederated Senecas…

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded this day between the United States and the chiefs and headmen of the Kickapoo tribe of Indians.