the war, and particularly on those of
confiscation, emancipation, and reconstruction, or the restoration of
the States to their rightful position, and the reestablishment of the
Union, were had during the whole of the second session of the
Thirty-seventh Congress. All of these were exciting and important
questions, the last involving grave principles affecting our federal
system, and was most momentous in its consequences. As time and events
passed on, the convictions and conclusions of the President became more
clear and distinct as to the line of policy which it was his duty and
that of the Administration to pursue.

Dissenting, wholly and absolutely, from the revolutionary views and
schemes of Senator Sumner and those who agreed with him, the President
became convinced, as the subject had been prematurely introduced and
agitated, with an evident intent to forestall and shape the action of
the Government, that the actual status of the rebel States and their
true relation to the Federal Government should be distinctly understood.
The resolution of Mr. Dixon, a gentleman of culture and intelligence,
who, as well as Mr. Sumner, was a New England Senator, and also of the
same party, was, it will be observed, diametrically opposed to the
principles and the project of the Massachusetts Senator on the great,
impending, and forthcoming subject of reconstruction. It was directly
known that the President coincided with the Connecticut Senator in the
opinion that all the acts and ordinances of secession were mere
nullities, and should be so treated; that while such acts might subject
_individuals_ to penalties and forfeitures, they did not in any degree
affect the _States_ as commonwealths, and their relations to the Federal
Government; that such acts were rebellious, insurrectionary, and hostile
on the part of the _persons_ engaged in them, but that the _States_,
notwithstanding the acts and conspiracies of individuals, were still
members of the Federal Union, and that the loyal citizens of these
States had forfeited none of their rights, but were entitled to all the
protection and privileges guaranteed by the Constitution.

The theory and principles set forth in Senator Dixon's resolutions were
the opinions and convictions of the President, deliberately formed and
consistently maintained while he lived, on the subject of reconstruction
and the condition of the States and people in the insurrectionary
region. In his view there