Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 12

9. Speeches of Hon. Edgar Cowan, of Pennsylvania; Hon. Jas. R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin; Hon. Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of Treasury; Letter of Hon. O. H. Browning, of Illinois; and an Address by a Member of the Club; The Condition of the South; A Report of Special Commissioner B. F. Truman (Washington, DC: The National Union Executive Committee, [1866?]). (32 p.)

Speeches favoring President Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction policies, which include the rapid readmission into the Union of the former Confederate States and the lenient treatment of ex-Confederates. This quotation comes from Turman’s report on the condition of the South. “The rank and file of the disbanded Southern army—those who remained in it to the end—are the backbone and sinew of the South. . . . To the disbanded regiments of the rebel army, both officers and men, I look with great confidence as the best and altogether most hopeful element of the South—the real basis of reconstruction and the material of worthy citizenship.” The “Declaration of Principles” adopted at the National Union Convention in Philadelphia, August 14-16, 1866, is printed inside the front cover.