Message to the Congress Transmitting Communications from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster-General Suggesting a Modification of the Oath of Office

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I herewith transmit communications from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster-General, suggesting a modification of the oath of office prescribed by the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862. I fully concur in their recommendation, and as the subject pertains to the efficient administration of the revenue and postal laws in the Southern States I earnestly commend it to the early consideration of Congress.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 19, 1866.

SIR: Herewith I hand you the names of collectors of internal revenue, assessors, assistant assessors, collectors and surveyors of customs, &c., &c., appointed since the overthrow of the rebellion in the southern States, who have not been able to take, literally, the oath of office prescribed by the act approved July 2, 1862. Besides these officers, a considerable number, perhaps the larger proportion, of those holding subordinate positions in the revenue departments have been also unable to comply with the requirements of the statute. As a consequence, they have served without compensation, as their accounts could not be audited by the accounting officers of the government.

Many of these officers have performed very important duties with more fidelity ; and not a few must be in great distress by reason of their inability to draw their salaries and commissions.

When these appointments were made, it was feared that it would be difficult to find competent officers in many of the southern revenue districts who could take the oath referred to, but so important did it seem to you and to your Cabinet for the purpose of equalizing the public burdens, that the revenue system should be established throughout the recently rebellious States with as little delay as practicable, and that the unpleasant duty of collecting taxes from an exhausted and recently rebellious people should be performed by their own citizens, that I did not hesitate to recommend for appointment, and you did not hesitate to appoint, men of whose present loyalty there was no question, but who might have been, either willingly or unwillingly, during the progress of the rebellion, so connected with the insurgent State and confederate government as to be unable to take the oath of office. This was not done from any disposition to disregard the law, but with an honest and sincere purpose of collecting the revenues with as little odium to the tax-payers as possible.

The country was in a peculiar condition. . The rebellion had come to a sudden close. All resistance to the authority of the United States had ceased, and some seven millions of people, in a state of utter disorganization, were left without any civil government whatever, and without even an adequate military protection against anarchy and violence. Under these circumstances, as it seemed clearly to be the duty of the Executive to proceed at once to establish the federal authority and civil government in these States, so it seemed to be necessary to carry into effect the revenue laws of the general government. As the country was passing from a state of war to a state of peace, and the emergency seemed to be too pressing to admit of delay until the meeting of Congress, it was thought that the test oath might, in view of the great objects to be attained, in some cases be dispensed with; or rather, that persons might be permitted to hold revenue offices who could take it only in a qualified form. No one could have regretted more than yourself and the members of your Cabinet the necessity which existed for this course; but there seemed to be no alternative, and it was confidently hoped that, under the circumstances of the case, it would be approved by Congress.

Among all those whose names are presented to you, I have no reason to suppose that there is one who can be justly charged with being instrumental in instigating the rebellion, although a few may have contributed to its support and continuance.

Some, with strong attachments for the Union, had followed the States in which they lived into the war against the United States, under the baleful influence of the doctrine of State sovereignty. Some had held office under the insurgent authorities as the only means of supporting their families; others, to escape conscription, or to be in a better condition to resist, at the proper time, confederate rule. Not one is known to have been a disunionist, or unfriendly to the government, at the commencement of the war. A very slight change in the oath, a change that would not cover a particle of present disloyalty, would enable the most of them to hold the offices they are now so acceptably filling. Great loss to the government and great inconvenience to this department must result from the discontinuance of their services; but it is due to them, unless relief should be given to them at an early day, that they should be notified of the fact that as their services cannot be legally paid for, they will be no longer required. At the same time I would respectfully suggest, if it should be necessary to give them this notice, that Congress be asked that authority be granted for the payment of the salaries and commissions to which they would be entitled had they taken the oath. It is true they were advised that their accounts could not be audited until Congress had modified the oath; but as they expected, as did yourself and your Cabinet, a modification of it early in the session, and as they have been living and working in this hope, it would seem to be unjust, as well as unwise, for the government to decline paying them for the valuable services which they have rendered.

In regard to future appointments I have to say that I am well satisfied that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to find competent men at the south to fill the revenue offices, who can qualify under the statute. Especially will this be so in regard to the subordinate positions. In the progress of the rebellion very few persons of character and intelligence in most of these States failed, in some way or other, to participate in the hostilities, or to connect themselves with the insurgent government. This is almost universally true of the young men, who are expected to fill clerkships and other inferior places in the revenue service. Men of the necessary qualifications who were able to take the oath, and were inclined to accept appointments, have, as far as they could be found, already been employed by the government. For those offices that must soon become vacant if Congress should not deem it to be safe or proper to modify the oath, I am at a loss to know where the right men are to be obtained, or how the revenues in many of the southern districts are to be collected.

It is urged, I know, that there are plenty of men at the south who can comply with the statute, and that, if this should not prove to be the fact, men at the north can be found who will accept prominent offices at the present salaries, and also the subordinate positions, if the proper inducements in the way of increased salaries are held out to them.

It is true that there are still some applicants for office in the southern States who present what they call "a clean record for loyalty," but, with rare exceptions, they are persons who would have been able to present an equally fair record for place under the confederate government if the rebellion had been a success, or persons lacking the qualifications which are needed in revenue positions.

In regard to the matter of compensation, I have only to remark that the law fixes definitely the salaries and commissions of most officers, and that the pay of subordinate officers is altogether inadequate to tempt northern men to assume the risk and incur the odium of collecting taxes in the southern States, except, perhaps, in the commercial cities of the seaboard.

I deem it my duty further to remark that I do not consider it advisable for the government to attempt to collect taxes in the southern States by the hands of strangers. After having given the subject careful consideration, anxious as I am to increase the revenue and to lighten by distributing and equalizing the burdens of the people, with no party interest to promote, and with nothing but the good of the government at heart, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that it would be better for the country, politically and financially, to suspend the collection of internal revenue taxes in the southern States, except in commercial cities, for months, if not for years to come, rather than to undertake to collect them by men not identified with the tax-payers in sympathy or in interest.

The rebellion grew out of an antagonism of opinion between the people of the free and slave States, the legitimate result of a difference of institutions. With the abolition of slavery, all real differences of opinion and all serious causes of estrangement ought rapidly to disappear. It will be a calamity, the extent of which cannot now be estimated, both to this nation and to the cause of civil liberty throughout the world, if, instead of looking towards reconciliation and harmony, the action of the government shall tend to harden and intensify a sectionalism between the northern and southern States. It is difficult to conceive of a more unfortunate course for the government of the United States to pursue than to make tax-gatherers at the south of men who are strangers to the people. It needs no reference to history (although it is full of lessons upon this subject) to illustrate the fatal consequences of such a policy.

The importance of this subject must be my apology for thus calling your attention to it. I am greatly embarrassed, on the one hand, by the consideration that by sanctioning the longer continuance in office of persons who have not taken the oath, I am not acting with entire fairness to them, and am subjected to the charge of disregarding the law; and, on the other hand, by the consideration that, if they should be dismissed, or requested to resign, the public revenues would be very considerably diminished, and reconciliation and harmony between the government and a large portion of its citizens greatly retarded. I would, therefore, respectfully suggest that the whole matter be referred to Congress for such action as, in their judgment, the interest of the service and the interest of the Union may seem to require.

I am, with great respect, very truly yours,

HUGH McCULLOCH, Secretary.

The PRESIDENT.

List of assessors and collectors in the southern States who have not taken the oath of office without qualification.

James H. Norwood, assessor first district South Carolina.
Charles J. Elford, assessor third district South Carolina.
Alexander M. McDowell, assessor first district Alabama.
William H. Yasser, assessor third district Mississippi.
Benjamin F. McDonough, assessor first district Texas.
Montgomery Moses, collector first district South Carolina.
James G. Gibbes, collector third district South Carolina.
Robert B. Kingsbury, collector second district Texas.
John B. Black, Andrew G. Boskin, Bolivar J. Hayes, Godfrey Leaphart, Richard C. Griffin, William W. Adams, George Allen, John H. Marshall, (no oath,) John S. Hair, Richard W. Gaillard, Robert Hawthorne, Thomas M. Graham, William Butler, James J. Shumate, Homer L. McGowan, Thomas S. Crayton, William E. Walters, W. E. Holcomb, B. F. Morgan, James E. Haygood, William Goldsmith, Henry M. Smith, Joseph M. Elford, John C. P. Jeber, H. F. Adicks, Walter B. Mitts, assistant assessors third district South Carolina.
Ishmael S. Harwell, Sampson S. Lanier, Lemuel A. Collier, Elias M. Kiels, Charles W. Braswell, John W. Leslie, Thomas E. Randolph, Charles R. Warren, Joseph Silver, Lewis J. Laird, Edward Ward, assistant assessors first district of Alabama.
Thomas W. King, George N. Forbes, assistant assessors second district Georgia.

There are undoubtedly others (assistant assessors) whose oaths have not yet been received.

E.A. ROLLINS.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Office of Commissioner of Customs, March 19, 1866.

SIR: In compliance with your request to furnish you with the names of such customs officers as have taken the oath prescribed by the act of July 2, 1862, in a modified form, I have the honor to state that the following are the only persons falling within that category, to wit:

James M. Mathews, collector, Rappahannock, Virginia.
William S. Croft, collector, Georgetown, South Carolina.
Gordon Forbes, surveyor, Yeocomico, Virginia.
William Leitch, surveyor, Charleston, South Carolina.
F. M. Robertson, special examiner of drugs, Charleston, South Carolina.
Edgar M. Lazarus, appraiser, Charleston, South Carolina.
J. F. Walter, appraiser, Charleston, South Carolina.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

N. SARGENT, Commissioner.

Hon. H. MCCULLOCH, Secretary off the Treasury.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
Washington, March 17, 1866.

SIR: AS a means of restoring the business interests in the southern States' and of aiding in the re-establishment of their constitutional relations with the general government, it was deemed important by yourself and Cabinet that the mails should be introduced and post offices re-opened in those States as rapidly as practicable; to which end the energies of this department were promptly and have been continuously directed. I regret to have to inform you that my expectations have not been fully realized. Various causes have doubtless contributed to the failure in accomplishing all that was hoped for, but that resulting from the oath prescribed by acts of July 2, 1862, and March 3, 1863, has not been the least, while it has been the one to which my attention has been most frequently called. This, as I am inclined to believe, has not been owing exclusively to there not being loyal persons who could take the oath, but to the limited compensation in most of the offices, offering insufficient inducements to persons to act as postmasters, and also to the unwillingness of many who might otherwise act to do so in consequence of the compromise of their social position, which they fear would result from taking the oath, where the great majority of their neighbors consist of those who had in some form aided the rebellion. To obviate these difficulties, in part, resort has been had to the appointment of women as post mistresses, which has proved to be of doubtful utility to the service, and necessity has also compelled the appointment of very many ignorant persons, incompetent to discharge the duties of their offices.

As a remedy for the future, I would venture to suggest a modification of the oath by inserting the word "voluntarily" immediately preceding the word "sought," so that the clause would read, "That I have neither voluntarily sought, nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority, or pretended authority, in hostility to the United States." This would enlarge the class of persons who could qualify as postmasters and mail-contractors, and be in harmony, as it seems to me, with the general provisions and purposes of the oath, and thus facilitate the speedy re-establishment of the postal service to the common benefit of all sections of the country; for it must be borne in mind that while the people of the southern States are more directly interested in the restoration of this service, the citizens of all the other States are also largely interested.

It may not be uninteresting to you to know that of the 2,258 mail-routes in operation in the disloyal States at the breaking out of the rebellion the service of 757 only has been restored; and that of 8,902 post offices in those States only 2,042 appointments of postmasters have been made, of whom 1,177 only have qualified for office, 757 of them being males, and 420 females. Of the 865 who have not qualified it is believed that quite all of them have not done so because of the oath.

I should add, in justice to the department, in view of the inefficient service, as shown by the foregoing facts, that no propositions for transportation of the mails for a fair consideration have been declined, while postmasters have been uniformly and promptly appointed upon reliable recommendations.

I need not enlarge upon the evils resulting from so partial a restoration of the postal service in the southern States, nor upon the benefits to the government and to the people of all sections of the country that would result from a more general and efficient restoration of that service.

I respectfully submit, whether it will not be proper for you to invite the attention of Congress to the subject.

Very respectfully, yours, &c.,

W. DENNISON.

The PRESIDENT.