The Governor argues for franchise for all Southerners, including former slaves and those who fought for the Confederate States of America.

Excerpt from Valedictory Address of His Excellency John An; Andrew: To the Two Branches of the Legislature of Massachusetts, January 4, 1866 Gentlemen of the Senate, and the House of Representatives: The people of Massachusetts have vindicated alike their intelligence, their patriotism, their will, and their power; both in the cultivation of the arts of Peace, and in the prosecution of just and unavoidable War. At the end of five years of Executive administration, I appear before a Convention of the two Houses of her General Court, in the execution of a final duty. For nearly all that period, the Commonwealth, as a loyal State of the American Union, has been occupied, within her sphere of co-operation, in helping to maintain, by arms, the power of the nation, the liberties of the people, and the rights of human nature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.