A Just and Lasting Peace: A Documentary History of Reconstruction by John David Smith Page B

said commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars in full compensation for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and assigned to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of congress, make full report of his proceedings with exhibits of the state of his accounts to the President, who shall communicate the same to congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President or either house of congress; and the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required.
    S EC . 4.
And be it further enacted,
That the commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart, for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen, such tracts of land within the insurrectionary states as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or otherwise, and to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land, and the person to whom it was so assigned shall be protected in the use and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of such land, as it was appraised by the state authorities in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, for the purpose of taxation, and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner may by regulation prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent aforesaid.
    S EC . 5.
And be it further enacted,
That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

A BRAHAM L INCOLN, “ S ECOND I NAUGURAL A DDRESS”
    (March 4, 1865)
    In his famous Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln reflected more on the spiritual meaning of the Civil War than on plans for what became his tragically short-lived second administration. Simple in language and direct in purpose, Lincoln’s speech defined the war as the crucible for a new American nation, one fashioned from the sacrifices of Northerners and Southerners (“this mighty scourge of war”). Slavery, Lincoln informed his countrymen, was the nation’s great sin, and he hoped that the reunited nation would live in a world “With malice toward none; with charity for all.” The racial violence of Reconstruction and the almost century-long history of Jim Crow betrayed the president’s dream.
    At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention, and engrosses the enerergies [
sic
] of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
    On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil-war. All dreaded it—all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being