amount of restraint and
punishment shall be inflicted--what terms of peace shall be imposed.
The Constitution of the United States does not seem to contemplate the
holding, by the Federal Government, of any State as a conquered and
dependent province; but in authorizing it to suppress rebellion, it
confers every power necessary to do the work effectually. It authorizes
the use of the whole military means of the Government, to be applied in
the most unrestricted manner, for the destruction of the rebellious
power. If a State be in rebellion, then the State itself may be held and
restrained by military power, so long as may be necessary, in order to
secure its obedience to the Federal laws and the due performance of its
constitutional obligations. It would be contradictory and wholly
destructive of the right of suppressing rebellion by military power, to
admit the irreconcilable right of the State unconditionally to assume
its place in the Union, only to renew the war at its own pleasure.
Acting in good faith, the Federal Government has the undoubted right to
provide for its own security, and to follow its military measures with
all those supplementary proceedings which are usual and appropriate to
this end. This principle surely cannot be questioned; and if so, it
involves everything, leaving the question one only of practical
expediency and of good faith in the choice of means.

But it is said there is and indeed can be no war between the Government
and any of the States; but only between the former, and certain
rebellious individuals in the States. We are well aware that in the
ordinary operation of the Federal Government, it acts directly on
individuals and not on States. The cause of this arrangement and its
purpose are well understood. But in case of war or insurrection, the
power must be coextensive with the emergency which calls it forth. If
States are actually in rebellion, then of necessity the Government must
treat that fact according to its real nature. The fiction of supposing
the State to be loyal when its citizens are all traitors, and of
considering it incapable of insurrection when all its authorities are
notoriously in open rebellion, would be not less pernicious in its folly
and imbecility than it would be absurd to the common sense of mankind.
Undoubtedly it may be true in some instances, that the rebellion has
usurped authority in the States. The will of the people may have been
utterly disregarded,