He determined therefore to lay before the people a choice between the Union and Slavery.

He would persuade them that both could not be saved and that they must choose the one which they regarded as the more worthy of preservation.

Slavery was not only the inciting cause of the rebellion but was its chief strength and support in the South and at the same time a weakening element to the Union cause in the Loyal States.

You are patriots and statesmen, and as such I pray you to consider this proposition and at least commend it to the consideration of your States and people.

As you would perpetuate popular government, I beseech you that you do in no wise omit this.

Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief.

Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world, its beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, its happy future assured and rendered inconceivably grand.

To you more than to any others the privilege is given to assure that happiness, to swell that grandeur, to link your own names therewith forever.

Having resisted in vain the aggressive legislation of Congress already accomplished, they could hardly fail to see that the institution of slavery was threatened with utter destruction.

He plainly warned them that every thing was at stake and that if they were unwilling to meet the trial with the courage and the sacrifice demanded, they were foredoomed to disaster, to defeat, to dishonor.

He believed that the destruction of slavery was essential to the safety of the Union, and he trusted with composure to the discerning judgment and ultimate decision of the people.

If the purse of the Nation was to be handed over to the control of those who were not ready to use the last dollar in the war for the preservation of the Union, the President was resolved that every voter in the Loyal States should be made…

That portion of the earth's surface which is inhabited by the people of the United States is well adapted for the home of one National family, but it is not well adapted for two or more.

His success however was of overwhelming importance to the National Government and put a stop to an invasion of Pennsylvania which might have been disastrous in the extreme.

They had expected to arouse fresh revolt, but they met a people tired of conflict and longing for repose under the flag of the Nation.

The measure had long been demanded by the aggressive sentiment of the North, and its enactment was hailed by the mass of people in the Loyal States as a great step forward.

The spirit with which the President and Congress proceeded in that depressing and depressed period proved invaluable to the country.

What the President desired was the establishment of civil government by a loyal people, with the reign of law and order everywhere recognized.

They realized that with the secession of Virginia, completed and proclaimed, they must do one of two things--either proceed at once to organize a State government which would be faithful to the National Constitution, or drift helplessly…

Their prompt and intelligent action is a remarkable illustration of the trained and disciplined ability of Americans for the duties of self-government.

The West-Virginians were aware of the splendid resources of their section and were constantly irritated by the neglect of the parent State to aid in their development.

They enjoyed a climate as genial as that of the Italians who dwell on the slopes of the Apennines; they had forests more valuable than those that skirt the upper Rhine; they had mineral wealth as great as that which has given England her…

But now, by the chances of war, the same men who desired to create the new State were wielding the entire political power of Virginia, and they would naturally grant permission to themselves to erect a State that would be entirely free…

They believed that the convictions of the people of West Virginia had developed to the point embodied in the bill, and that to attempt the immediate extirpation of slavery might lead to re-action and possibly to the rejection of the…

He argued that West Virginia had taken every step regularly and complied with every requirement of the Constitution.