ull
constitutional relations to the country, they may think they have cause
to become a unit in feeling and sentiment against the Government. Under
the political education of the American people the idea is inherent and
ineradicable that the consent of the majority of the whole people is
necessary to secure a willing acquiescence in legislation.

The bill under consideration refers to certain of the States as though
they had not "been fully restored in all their constitutional relations
to the United States." If they have not, let us at once act together to
secure that desirable end at the earliest possible moment. It is hardly
necessary for me to inform Congress that in my own judgment most of
those States, so far, at least, as depends upon their own action, have
already been fully restored, and are to be deemed as entitled to enjoy
their constitutional rights as members of the Union. Reasoning from the
Constitution itself and from the actual situation of the country, I feel
not only entitled but bound to assume that with the Federal courts
restored and those of the several States in the full exercise of their
functions the rights and interests of all classes of people will,
with the aid of the military in cases of resistance to the laws,
be essentially protected against unconstitutional infringement or
violation. Should this expectation unhappily fail, which I do not
anticipate, then the Executive is already fully armed with the powers
conferred by the act of March, 1865, establishing the Freedmen's Bureau,
and hereafter, as heretofore, he can employ the land and naval forces of
the country to suppress insurrection or to overcome obstructions to the
laws.

In accordance with the Constitution, I return the bill to the Senate,
in the earnest hope that a measure involving questions and interests so
important to the country will not become a law, unless upon deliberate
consideration by the people it shall receive the sanction of an
enlightened public judgment.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, D.C., _March 27, 1866_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I regret that the bill, which has passed both Houses of Congress,
entitled "An act to protect all persons in the United States in their
civil rights and furnish the means of their vindication," contains
provisions which I can not approve consistently with my sense of duty to
the whole people and my obligations to the Constitution of the United
States. I am there