Stephen Miller, Inaugural Address of Governor Miller to the Legislature of Minnesota, Delivered January 13, 1864

KYR-0001-009-0013.xml

Accession Number

KYR-0001-009-0013

Document Genre

Speech

Repository

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

Collection

Office of the Governor, Thomas E. Bramlette: Governor's Official Correspondence File, 1863-1867

Item Location

BR1-26 to BR1-33

Place of Creation

Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota

Date of Creation

13 January 1864

Dates Mentioned

1864-01-13

1864

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
GOVERNOR MILLER
TO THE
LEGISLATURE OF MINNESOTA,
DELIVERED JANUARY 13, 1864.

PRINTED BY AUTHORITY.

SAINT PAUL:
FREDERICK DRISCOLL, STATE PRINTER.
PRESS PRINTING COMPANY.
1864.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
GOVERNOR MILLER
TO THE
LEGISLATURE OF MINNESOTA,
DELIVERED JANUARY 13, 1864.

PRINTED BY AUTHORITY.

SAINT PAUL:
FREDERICK DRISCOLL, STATE PRINTER.
1864.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

With profound gratitude to the Father of all Mercies for innumerable State and National blessings during a period of imminent peril, and under a sense of deep and abiding obligation to the people of Minnesota, I this day assume the duties of that position to which they have assinged me.

My able and patriotic predecessor, in his Annual Message of the eleventh instant, has presented such a comprehensive view of the condition and resources of the State, that I shall, as nearly as practicable, confine myself to a brief enunciation of the general policy which I deem essential to her future prosperity.

One of the leading objects of your legislation should be the improvement and success of our Common School system. The postponement of this duty may be attended with serious detriment to the present as well as coming generations, and to the reputation of our State.

In view of the other official responsibilities of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, that officer has performed his duty with a zeal and fidelity worthy of all commendation, and too much weight cannot be given to the many valuable suggestions contained in his annual report.

But in my judgment, the necessities of this department demand the organization of an Independent Bureau of Public Instruction. We require a State Superintendent whose time and labor shall be exclusively devoted to the great trust committed to our care, and whose integrity, experience and executive and administrative capacity shall commend him for the position. He should be authorized to decide the minor controversies pertaining to the system without

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appeal or costs, and those of greater magnitude subject to judicial revision.

The efficiency of our instructors and the success of our schools, demand a thorough local or county superintendency. These officers should be held amenable to and be examined by the State Superintendent, and they should in turn be authorized to examine, grade and issue requisite certificates of qualification to the teachers of their respective counties or districts.

The importance of Normal Schools to provide men and women for the noble avocation of teachers can scarcely be overestimated, and I earnestly recommend this class of institutions to your favorable consideration.

I feel it my duty also to invoke your prompt action in extricating the State University from its present embarrassments, if practicable, and to place it in such a position as will ensure the accomplishments of the noble object for which it was created; and such encouragement as is compatible with our limited resources should also be given to the Agricultural College, and to such other higher institutions of learning as may be requisite to meet the wants of the rising generation.

As intimately connected with the advancement of our educational system, as well as the general prosperity of the State, the great land interests of Minnesota require your vigilant supervision.

Our predecessors have wisely provided stringent enactments for the safe keeping of the millions of acres devoted to public instruction; and the evidences of their wisdom are already discernible in the accumulating revenue, which bids fair at no distant period, to furnish the means for strengthening and invigorating the most distant schools within our borders.

The importance of a fixed, uniform and equitable policy, which shall regulate the disposition of our Swamp Lands, is daily becoming more apparent. With prudent management the proceeds of these several millions of acres, will pay the public debt, promote immigration, erect a State

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Prison, and endow Normal Schools; and will build up "those great humane institutions, Asylums for the blind, deaf, dumb and insane, which are at once the glory and necessity of modern civilization."

We are evidently drifting upon that alternative which shall secure the early appropriation of these lands to the above and kindred objects, or result in their inequitable distribution to corporations important to our prosperity, but, secondary to the great interests involved.

Along the track of legislation in the neighboring States, we everywhere discover the wreck of similar gratuities; and if, with these warnings, we pursue an equally reckless course, we shall deserve the condemnation both of our cotemporaries and of the generations that will succeed us.

The healthy progress of our railroad system justifies the belief that, during the present year, some two hundred miles of these great arteries of trade will be completed and in operation, within the State; and that, at no distant day, Lake Superior and the Mississippi river, St. Paul and the British Possessions, the Falls of St. Anthony and the State of Iowa, and the Minnesota Valley and Winona will be indissolubly connected by these channels of intercourse and commercial prosperity.

The low stage of water in our navigable streams, during the past season, has demonstrated the importance of an early construction of the contemplated railroads along the valleys of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, from their upper settlements to the Southern limits of the State.

In this connection I respectfully submit that, in meritorious cases, a donation of the alternate sections of Swamp Lands, within a specified distance of the respective roads — and transferrable upon their completion — might materially aid these Corporations, while the enhanced value of the residue would liberally compensate the State for such contribution.

Nothing in my judgment is more certain than the construction of a Northern line of railroads to the Pacific Ocean, at some period more or less distant. The capital and com-

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merce of the great Atlantic States are so much interested in the success of that enterprise, as to render it indispensable. While we are without the means at present, to contribute to the final accomplishment of this magnificent project, it well becomes the representatives of the people of Minnesota, to make every exertion to induce the location of the route through our own State. The effect of such a railway upon her prosperity, in developing the riches of this vast region, would be incalculable; and we should not hesitate to use every effort to secure these benefits.

I respectfully recommend the adoption of such measures, as will attract to Minnesota, her fair proportion of immigration. We should be admonished by the efforts of rival localities, that ill-advised economy with reference to this important subject, may result in serious loss to the State.

I learn from excellent authority, that the judicious expenditure of a few thousand dollars per annum, will secure communication through the most influential channels, with the chief fountains of our European supplies; and at the same time provide an appropriate Agency in New York, which might also be used as a place of resort and registry, by such of our citizens as may visit that great commercial emporium.

It is the peculiar duty of State Legislators to examine thoroughly into the system of taxation for local purposes. Whenever the burden can be diminished with due regard to the public interests, it should be done promptly. In view of the increasing necessities of the General Government for money as well as men, which must alike be furnished by the citizens of the loyal States, I respectfully suggest that a stringent examination be made of the existing laws governing taxation, with the intent to modify and reduce their requirements to the lowest practicable limits.

I also recommend a suitable appropriation to the proper State Board, for the purpose of developing our unrivalled Agricultural resources.

The great advance in rents, fuel, and indeed all the necessaries of life, renders it impossible for the clerks in the

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several Departments, the Private Secretary and subordinate employees of the Capitol, to support themselves respectably upon their present salaries. Justice to these worthy laborious officials, demands that such an addition be made to their compensation as is warranted by the increased cost of living.

In compliance with the application of the commanding officer of the First Minnesota volunteers, I suggest the appropriation of the requisite sum to provide for the transportation from New York, of the Steel Gun Battery, presented to that honored Regiment, through the liberality of General Sanford, United States Minister to the Court of Brussels.

While it is evident that our financial condition precludes the payment of an appropriate State bounty to our volunteers, everything else possible should be brought to bear, to honor and sustain them, and to contribute to their comfort in the service.

The President should be memorialized to sanction the establishment of a National Hospital in our midst, in which the wounded, diseased and debilitated of our regiments may be concentrated. We should provide for the appointment of a suitable commissioner, whose entire time and attention should be employed in securing the rigths and ministering to the necessities of our soldiers in the hospital and in the field. We can urge upon Congress the propriety of a law granting an increase in the compensation of all enlisted men. And we can indicate by a substantial appropriation, our earnest sympathy with those benevolent citizens who contemplate the erection of a suitable monument to our honored and lamented dead.

The policy should also be adopted of appointing one half, if not all the commissioned officers of future military organizations in this State, for national objects, from the ranks of those, who, for at least one year, have been actively engaged in the war; and if requisite to secure to the enlisted men from Minnesota the full exercise of the right of suffrage, we should submit to the people such an amendment to the Constitution as will place that privilege beyond controversy. I

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need hardly add, that any proposition which will conduce to the welfare or efficiency of the patriotic men from our State, who are in arms for the Union, will meet with my cordial assent and approbation.

The improved aspect of our Indian affairs affords cause for congratulation. A war which threatened at the outset to assume gigantic proportions, involving all the tribes upon our borders, has, by the vigorous measures adopted by the government, been almost terminated. The Sioux convicts preserved from death by the clemency of the President, and the remainder of that tribe, with the Winnebagoes, have been removed from within the limits of the State, the the former to a secure prison in Iowa, and the latter to a new reservation upon the Missouri river.

The expeditions under Generals Sibley and Sully, — the command of the first named officer consisting entirely of Minnesota troops, who successfully performed one of the longest marches upon record, — have slain, scattered or paralized those perpetrators of the inhuman butcheries of 1862, who unfortunately escaped the immediate punishment meted out to their associates in crime, together with the powerful western bands by whom they were harbored or assisted.

No hostile savage now finds a resting place within hundreds of miles of our settlements; and with the exception of the more atrocious criminals, who have sought and found a refuge upon British soil, the survivors are suing for that mercy which they denied to their hapless victims.

In addition to these gratifying results, ex-Governor Ramsey has recently negotiated a treaty on the part of the Federal Government, with the Chippewas of Red Lake and Pembina, which secures to us a large and fertile tract of land, and, what is of equal importance, an uninterrupted communication by land and water with the settlements on our northern boundary and those within Her majesty's conterminous territory.

These results, so auspicious in their bearings on the future prosperity of our State, should not, however, be allowed to beget a cessation of vigilance on the part of the au-

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thorities charged with the maintainance of peace and quiet on our frontier.

The return of spring may witness a renewal of raids by small predatory parties, or possibly a formidable body of these Ishmaelites of the prairies, driven to desperation by their recent reverses, or by their utter destitution, may attempt a more important demonstration upon our remote and sparsely settled counties. To guard against the bare possibility of such a contingency, we have the right to demand the most ample protection from the General Government for our citizens.

With this view, and fully to restore the public confidence, the military force and organization now existing in the State should be efficiently maintained outside of the line of settlements for at least another year, and meanwhile the refractory bands of savages, including the Teton Sioux beyond the Missouri, should be still further humiliated and chastised by the strong arm of the government.

It will probably become requisite to advance the military line, the right resting upon Fort Abercrombie, and the left upon the Missouri at or near its confluence with the Cannon Ball River, with such intermediate posts as may be necessary. Such a movement would confine the warlike Sioux to a remote position, and cover and protect Iowa and Minnesota and the greater portion of the inhabitants of Dakota Territory, and would also indicate a direct and important thoroughfare to the great gold-bearing regions of Idaho.

Measures will doubtless be taken by the United States Indian Department, to restrict the Sioux and Winnebagoes lately removed from the State, within the boundaries of their own reservations; but to prevent any attempt on the part of these Indians to revisit their old homes, a State law should prohibit under stringent penalties a return of any of their number.

It would indeed be a great blessing if the Indians yet remaining in the vicinity of our border settlements, could be concentrated at some distant point, under the immediate supervision of the United States authorities; as the proximity

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of the white and red races to each other has always proved a curse to both.

The practice of furnishing liquor to the Indians should be a penal offence of so great magnitude, as to subject the offender to imprisonment for a term of years in the penitentiary; and I respectfully recommend such legislation on your part as will tend to the entire suppression of this horrible traffic.

I deem it my duty to call your attention to the cases of Nathan Lamson and Chauncy Lamson, who on the third of July last, shot and killed the Sioux chief "Little Crow," the principal leader and instigator of the Indian massacres on our border. This meritorious service on their part, deserves proper consideration at your hands; and I therefore respectfully suggest that such provision be made for them, as may comport with the dignity of the State.

We have, from the chief Executive of the Nation, the most gratifying assurances of amicable relations and intercourse with the different powers of Europe.

This satisfactory condition of our foreign affairs will enable the Federal Government to devote its undivided energies to the suppression of the wicked and formidable rebellion, which for almost three years has threatened the stability of the Union, and the existence of free Institutions.

From the commencement of this unnatural and unhappy war, Minnesota has been true to her responsibilities and faithful to her obligations. Nor will she be found behind her sister States in a cheerful submission to any sacrifices requisite to effect the restoration of the authority of the Government over the seceded states. She will not consent to any termination of the contest which does not secure that result. Young, poor and sparsely settled, she has nevertheless given largely of her best and bravest for the great cause of the Union; and her noble regiments and detachments have every where won a reputation, which should fill all true hearted Minnesotians with pride and admiration.

Nor is the probable solution of the great question of African Slavery to be numbered among the unimportant re-

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sults of this terrible conflict. Though abhorrent to the better feelings of human nature, the institution — because of the obligations assumed by our fathers, with the intent of perpetuating peace between the States — was acquiesced in or tolerated by a large majority of our fellow citizens.

But the propagandists of the system, have on their part, spurned those obligations and broken that peace, and, in the execution of their treasonable designs against the government, have unintentionally opened the prison doors of those that were bound. And if, while we are contending for the integrity of the Union, the inciting cause of our calamities shall pass away, we, and the friends of freedom in all christendom, cannot but gratefully accept the behests of that benign and omnipotent Being, who, amid our national convulsions, shall thus "proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

Having thus briefly stated my views in connection with the main topics of interest which will necessarily engage your attention, I deem it proper once more, emphatically to assure you, that you will have my earnest co-operation in all measures having for their object a judicious economy in the expenditure of public money, the decrease of taxation for local purposes, the development of the resources of our infant State, and particularly the discharge of our whole duty as one of the loyal States, in this time of our nation's peril. And I do not hesitate to repeat my convictions, that whatever of sacrifice or of sufferings may be requisite on our part, or on the part of the people we represent, to re-establish the national authority within the rebellious states, and to restore the Union in its integrity, will be even joyfully submitted to, if thereby we can contribute to the accomplishment of this great result; which involves the welfare of ourselves and of our children, and in a more extended sense, will decide the momentous question of man's capacity for self-government, for ages to come.

STEPHEN MILLER.

St. Paul, January 13, 1864.

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