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Franklin Repository: September 19, 1867 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Amnesty Proclamation
(Column 7)

Summary: Contains a copy of the Amnesty Proclamation issued by President Johnson; the decree bestows a "pardon to all persons who had directly or indirectly participated in the then existing rebellion."

Full Text of Article:

By the President of the United States of America:

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, In the month of July, Anno Domini 1861, the two Houses of Congress, with extraordinary unanimity, solemnly declared that the war then existing was not waged on the part of the Government in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of the States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired, and that as soon as these objects should be accomplished the war ought to cease;

And Whereas, The President of the United States, on the 8th day of December, A. D., 1863, and on the 26th day of March, A. D., 1864, did, with the objects of suppressing the then existing rebellion, of inducing all persons to return to their loyalty, and of restoring the authority of the United States, issue proclamations, offering amnesty and pardon to all persons who had directly or indirectly participated in the then existing rebellion, except as in those proclamations was specified and reserved; and whereas, the President of the United States did on the 29th day of May, A. D., 1865, issue a further proclamation with the same objects before mentioned, and to the end that the authority of the government of the United States might be restored, and that peace, order and freedom might be established, and the President did by the said last mentioned proclamation, proclaim and declare that he thereby granted to all persons who had directly or indirectly participated in the then existing rebellion, except as therein excepted amnesty and pardon with the restoration of all the rights of property, except as to slaves, and except in certain cases where a legal proceeding had been instituted, but upon condition that such persons should take and subscribe an oath therein prescribed, which oath should be registered for permanent preservation; and whereas, in and by said last mentioned proclamation of the 29th day of May, A. D., 1865, fourteen extensive classes of persons therein speedily described, were altogether excepted and excluded from the benefits thereof; and whereas, the President of the United States did, on the 2nd of April, A. D., 1866, issue a proclamation, declaring that the insurrection was at an end, and was thenceforth to be so regarded; and, whereas, there now exists no organized armed resistance of misguided citizens or others, to the authority of the United States, in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas, and the laws can be sustained and enforced therein, by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of said States are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed, and if permitted to do so, will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs, growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting slavery within the limits, and jurisdiction of the United States; and whereas, there no longer exists any reasonable ground to apprehend that the within States, where were, involved in the late rebellion and renewal thereof, or any unlawful resistance by the people of said States, to the Constitution and laws of the United States; and, whereas, as large standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals and the suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus, and the right of trial by jury, are, in time of peace, dangerous to the public liberty and incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions and expansive of the national resources, and ought not therefore to be sanctioned or allowed, except in cases of actual necessity for repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection or rebellion; and whereas, a retaliatory or vindictive policy, attended by unnecessary disqualifications, pains, penalties, confiscations and disfranchisement, now, as always, could only tend to hinder the reconciliation among the people and the national restoration, while it must seriously embarrass, obstruct and repress the popular energies, national industry and enterprise; and whereas, for these reasons it is now deemed essential to the public welfare to the more perfect restoration of the Constitutional law and order that the said last mentioned proclamation, so as aforesaid issue on the 29th day of May A. D. 1865 should be modified, and that the full and beneficent pardon conceded thereby should be opened and further extended to a large number of persons who by its aforesaid exceptions have been hitherto excluded from Executive clemency.

Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the full pardon described in the said proclamation of the 29th day of May, A. D., 1865, shall henceforth be opened and extended to all persons who directly or indirectly participated in the late rebellion, with the restoration of all privileges, immunities and rights of property, except as to property with regard to slaves and except in cases of legal proceedings under the laws of the United States, but upon this condition, nevertheless, that every such person who shall seek to avail himself of this proclamation, shall take and subscribe the following oath, and shall cause the same to be registered for permanent preservation in the same manner, and with the same effects with the oath prescribed in the said proclamation of the 29th day of May, 1865, namely: "I do solemnly swear, or affirm in presence of Almighty God, that I will hereafter faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder, and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the late rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God.--The following persons, and no others, are excluded from the benefits of this proclamation, and of the said proclamation of the 29th day of May, A. D., 1865, viz: 1st. The chief or prescribed chief executive officers, including the President, Vice President and all heads of departments of the pretended Confederate or rebel government, and all who were agents thereof, in foreign States and countries, and all who had or pretended to hold in the service of the said pretended confederate government a military rank or title above the grade of brigadier-general, and the naval rank or title above that of captain, and all who were or pretended to be Governors of States, while maintaining, abetting or submitting to and acquiescing in the rebellion. 2d, all persons who in any way treated otherwise than as lawful, prisoners of war, persons who in any capacity were employed or actively engaged in the military or naval service of the United States. 3rd. All persons who at the time they may seek to obtain the benefits of this proclamation, are actually in civil, military or naval confinement, or custody or legally held to bail either before or after conviction, and all persons who were engaged directly or indirectly in the assassination of the late President of the United States, or in any plot or conspiracy in any manner therewith connected.

In testimony, whereof, I have signed these presents with my hand, and have caused the seal of the United States to be thereunto affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, the 7th day of September, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven. By the President,

ANDREW JOHNSON

WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

The First Consul
(Column 1)

Summary: The editors cast Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation as yet another unsavory act promulgated by the President since his ascent to power. The proclamation illustrates just how little regard Johnson has for democracy and the nation as a whole.

Full Text of Article:

Step by Step the Presidential autocrat moves forward. Never, from seed time to harvest, might a naturalist have traced the evolutions of a vegetable's growth with more of satisfaction at the certainty of his observations, than may a citizen of the Republic, follow the unfolding of Johnson's plan of usurpation. Like a plant, it is to-day at its period of efflorescence--the fruit will speedily follow the flower.

Contemplating the last act of the usurper, we detect its relation to the acts which preceded it, which were necessary conditions to its performance, and its connection with such other acts as must yet be done, ere the plan is consummated.

They are mistaken who deem Johnson other than a persistent, tireless, schemer, whose pursuit of an idea will not terminate sooner than his power to follow it. What he is to-day, he was when he was inaugurated. Rodin, the Jesuit, might falter as soon as he. Having the re-establishing of the Democratic party in view and his own reconciliation with the slaveholders to be effected as a consequence, he has not slumbered or slept since March 1865, upon that purpose. Hence the hundred expedients he has resorted to, that he might mould the shaking communities of the South to his ends, or might delay the moulding when he could not control, until in the future he might set aside or surmount the difficulty. In the outset, he refused to assemble Congress--but himself assumed to guide at his will, the movements of communities larger and more convulsed than all the States of the North German confederation, which even Bismarck could not so openly or effectively direct. With eager haste he anticipated Congress and wielded greater powers than a monarch. It was not the audacity of a fool who rushes in where angels fear to tread, but the deliberate resolve to once do what could hardly be undone. In the same train have been all subsequent acts. Has he not largely effected his purpose? Congress, to whom it belonged to direct the settlement of the war and its questions, did not reverse his actions. Perhaps they thought they ought not, in view of the circumstances. So Johnson believed they would think, and acted accordingly. Are not his encroachments, save the last, substantially ratified by this Congress? They have, it's true, overridden the veto and enacted laws repugnant to his pretensions, but have they or their laws, in any case, restored the status quo or checked the issuing of his coming move? With a quiet regularity on the contrary, as Nature evolves her wonders, the logical sequent has followed its premise until we have arrived at the Proclamation of Amnesty by the grace of Johnson. Here then we are,--the First Consul and a Council of Four Hundred! In any other land it would be safe enough to predict a coup de'etat and an extension of the consul's term. Perhaps Johnson don't mean this, no doubt he would hesitate at attempting it in a land of common schools, yet acquiescence, too ready and unquestioning in his present attempts might inspire the hope, as their complete success would go far to furnish the means. So bold a stroke would possibly, also, be unnecessary, if the results of what he has already done would be to restore the Democratic party to power, which we deemed Johnson's original motive, but, supineness now would make the advance to this easy, as an ineffectual resistance might produce the other in the struggle. We take it, therefore, that this alternative has been looked at--Democratic mastery under the forms of the Republic or without them--or if necessary and very easy, a revolution with the same end, to wit, Democratic rule under any form.

The Amnesty proclamation has no significance for us save as one of a series of moves and as an indication of purpose. So far as its effects on individuals are concerned, and the number to be benefited by it, if allowed to have its full effect, we care little. The classes yet excepted embrace but few. No one knows how many. Special pardons have hitherto been granted to most of the members. They who remain may still be pardoned, if the Johnson assumption be still tolerated.

But, if the Amnesty be followed by the claim that Johnson's grace rehabilitates a traitor; that whom he binds and whom he looses is loosed or bound on earth, despite the will of the people; and, if this claim be acquiesced in, any fool can see that our President is an elective monarch and our Congress a body, in truth "on the verge of the government." It may be deemed weakness to admit the possibility of the Congress resting quietly under this assumption of power to pardon wholesale; still more to dream that such subsequent claim will be admitted; yet, we do fear the one and are sure that silence, or half measures towards it, will bring the other. Whilst we fear, taking our inspiration from the recent past, we have hope as well in the people who have ever been radical enough to meet an evil or treat a scoundrel as was deserving, as in the ultimate determining by Congress to meet encroachment by effective measures. There is much of truth in the demagogue's belief that the people are grumbling asses--that they will bear longer as communities than as individuals, but there is this oversight in the scheming of our chief of demagogues, that, the people of this land differ from every other people in the degree of their intelligence. They will not be content with murmurs forever. They see, as clearly as their servants, the limitations they have placed on their delegations of power and they will soon, as we trust, at the coming elections and through their Congress evince their sense of the temerity which seeks for selfish ends to abuse the privileges of office.

The distinction between the terms amnesty and pardon is as wide as it is vital. Even the greatest blunderer in the use of language never uses them as synonyms. They differ as words in their etymological import--the former indicating oblivion as to acts and without prime or chief reference to the actor--the latter a giving back of something forfeited or endangered and with a close reference to the donee. The one is a word of familiar, daily use in social life--the other a technical term having a limited and precise signification. The terms differ in the manner of their use, in that amnesty, regards men in the gross, in classes--pardon is extended to the individual. They are totally dissimilar if we consider the time of their application--amnesty being the boon granted to offenders immediately upon the offence and before the formal processes in inquisitorial and retributive or vindicatory justice. Amnesty may precede even arrest--pardon only relieves from the penalty of a sentence, pronounced after trial, or from the remainder of a partially endured pain. With all of these differences mankind are familiar. The history of any people furnishes, in profusion, examples of their use. No man, hitherto, on this broad earth has ever urged to sane men, the possibility of terms identity. The granting of amnesty for political offences has ever been deemed the choicest flower of the prerogative of the supreme power of the State. Pardons are usually granted by the executive authority. It is consummate audacity to hope that at this day, in this land, a jealous people will suffer their executive to wrest from them their chief privilege upon so bald and untenable as well as so dangerous an assumption. Least of all will they, when at the best, the scarcely concealed object is to recall to power a set of demagogues who ruled and sought to ruin them, and who, untaught by reverses, unabashed by rebuke, seek, with more pertinacity than a Chatham street clothes-dealer, to retain their ears and force their confidence. Although it is somewhat late to reverse the engine and return to the point whence our drunken engineer has treacherously guided the train, full-freighted with human interests and human hopes, and turn it upon the true trackway of progress, yet it may be done.

This journal was the first to descry the danger, to mark the divergence from the right way, and to proclaim the utter worthlessness and hypocrisy of him whom the assassin's bullet had elevated to power. We review the warning with tenfold earnestness, and demand in the name of the people he despises and is now aiming to betray, that the shortest, sharpest, surest remedies which the Constitution affords be applied. Let the President be impeached and cast down from the office he has disgraced

California and Maine
(Column 3)

Summary: The article implores Democrats not to jump to conclusions in light of the recent election results in Maine and California; in both instances, it contends, the Democrats may have garnered small victories, but they will have little or no lasting effect on the party's future.

Origin of Article: Pittsburg Gazette

A Handsome Compliment
(Column 3)

Summary: The article lavishes praise on the Republican nominee for Supreme Justice, Judge Henry Williams.

Origin of Article: Washington Chronicle

The Election
(Column 3)

Summary: Impressing upon voters the importance of the Fall elections, and drawing the lines between the parties as clear as possible, the article notes: "We must decide whether Northern ideas of good government, of order, peace, and observance of the law shall prevail or whether Southern ideas of resistance to the law and encouragement of disorder, defiance of the authorities, murder, arson, and revolution shall be established."

Our State Debt
(Column 3)

Summary: The article relates that the state continues to reduce its debt, which has diminished considerably in the past seven years. In fact, during the rebellion, Pennsylvania was the only state in the Union to accomplish this feat.

Johnson's Future Policy
(Column 3)

Summary: It is reported that President Johnson will hold off on any further personnel changes until after the fall elections.

Facts For The People--No. 1
(Column 4)

Summary: The article lists the symptoms related to the disease Catarrh.

Trailer: Dr. W. B. Brown

Stray Ideas
(Column 5)

Summary: Building upon ethnic stereotypes, the article contains the political ruminations of a fictional character named Obidiah Snodgrass.

Trailer: Obidiah Snodgrass

The Pacific Railways
(Column 8)

Summary: The article discusses a recently published pamphlet that lays out the reasons for supporting "a speedy completion of the Pacific railroads." The written pieces were extracted from speeches delivered by prominent politicians.

Local Items--Shocking Occurrence at Thayer & Noyes Circus
(Column 1)

Summary: The article recounts a violent and grisly attack by a lion during a circus performance in Rochester. The piece concludes by mentioning that the same circus will be visiting Franklin county at the end of September.

Local Items--A Word On Lightning Rods
(Column 1)

Summary: The piece dismisses the utility of using lightning rods and, employing a testimonial from Jacob Whitmore, a Greencastle resident whose house recently burned down, argues that the poles actually attract lightning bolts.
(Names in announcement: Jacob Whitmore)

Local Items--A Library for the Town
(Column 2)

Summary: Mr. Shyrock, the article reports, has established a circulating library in Chambersburg--"a great need in our town since the great fire of '64." The article contains a partial list of the books held by the library.
(Names in announcement: Shyrock)

Local Items--Return of the Band
(Column 2)

Summary: On Friday last, says the article, the Chambersburg Silver Cornet Band returned home after days of tramping about the eastern counties of the state. The band had intended to tour longer, but called off the last leg, which was to include a trip to Antietam, because several members of the entourage had to return home to take care of business matters. The article includes extracts, some more generous than others, from local journals where the band played during its time away.

Local Items--Distressing Accident
(Column 1)

Summary: Relates the details regarding the death of Harper Shrek, a boy of twelve who suffered a fatal scalding. A relative of P. S. Davis, he was a "very bright and promising boy."
(Names in announcement: Harper Shrek)

Local Items--Painful Accident
(Column 3)

Summary: Charles N. Sellers, of Fayetteville, was seriously injured on September 9th when he was "caught by the tumbling shaft of a grain separator." As a result of the accident, Sellers suffered significant damage to his head and other parts of the body, and is currently is critical condition at the residence of Jacob L. Wingert, in Guilford where the incident took place.
(Names in announcement: Charles N. Sellers, Jacob Wingert)

Local Items--Republican Meeting
(Column 3)

Summary: Notes that the Republicans in Franklin officially kicked off the campaign last Saturday in Fayetteville where addresses were delivered by local politicians.
(Names in announcement: Col. D. Watson Rowe, I. H. McCauley, Theodore McGowan)

Local Items--Salary Increased
(Column 3)

Summary: At a meeting of the School Director of Franklin county held last Thursday, it was decided to raise the salary of P. M. Shoemaker, the Superintendent of the Common Schools, from $800 to $1,200.
(Names in announcement: P. M. Shoemaker)

Local Items--Whiskey Stolen
(Column 1)

Summary: Reports that thieves stole two barrels of whiskey and a wagon from Hollingsworth's distillery. The loss is estimated at $200.
(Names in announcement: Hollingsworth)

Local Items--Change
(Column 1)

Summary: Announces that the Republican meeting scheduled for Greenvillage on September 24th has been relocated to Scotland, on the same night.

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 8th, William J. Harkins and Isabella Shillito were married.
(Names in announcement: William J. Harkins, Isabella Shillito)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 5th, John Heller and Catharine Summers were married by Rev. W. E. Krebs.
(Names in announcement: John Heller, Catharine Summers, Rev. W. E. Krebs)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 5th, John M. Miller and Ann Elizabeth Barnhart were married by Rev. W. E. Krebs.
(Names in announcement: John M. Miller, Elizabeth Barnhart, Rev. W. E. Krebs)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 8th, Cyrus Ridenour, of Washington county, Md., and Harriet McPherrin were married by Rev. W. E. Krebs.
(Names in announcement: Cyrus Ridenour, Harriet McPherrin, Rev. W. E. Krebs)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 12th, David Gipe and Maggie R. Koons were married by Rev. J. Keller Miller.
(Names in announcement: David Gipe, Maggie R. Koons, Rev. J. Keller Miller)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept 5th, Andrew M. Maxwell and Mattie Jane Kitzmiller were married by Rev. J. Hassler.
(Names in announcement: Andrew M. Maxwell, Mattie Jane Kitzmiller, Rev. J. Hassler)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 12th, John A. Furtney and Esther Berkepile were married by Rev. James M. Bishop.
(Names in announcement: John A. Furtney, Esther Berkepile, Rev. James M. Bishop)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 12th, John H. Caufman nad Elizabeth Sollenberger were married by Rev. B. S. Schneck.
(Names in announcement: John H. Caufman, Elizabeth Sollenberger, Rev. B. S. Schneck)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 3rd, Myrtle, eldest daughter of Dr. I. N. Snively, died. She was 2 years old.
(Names in announcement: Myrtle Snively, Dr. I. N. Snively)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 1st, Margaret Ann, wife of Francis Garlinger, died in Wayneboro. She was 18 years old.
(Names in announcement: Margaret Ann Garlinger, Francis Garlinger)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On August 27th,

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On August 30th, Joseph Shank died near Waynesboro. He was 4 years old.
(Names in announcement: Joseph Shank)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 10th, John Rhodes died suddenly in Chambersburg. He was 60 years old.
(Names in announcement: John Rhodes)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 6th, Margaret, 40, and William Strickler, one month old, the wife and son of John R. Croft, died at Bridgeport.
(Names in announcement: Margaret Croft, William Strickler Croft, John R. Croft)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On Sept. 9th, William Beaver died in Chambersburg. He was 37 years old.
(Names in announcement: William Beaver)