204 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES [Aug. 22
rebellion without the use of the emancipation policy, and every other policy calculated to weak- en the moral and physical forces of the rebellion. "Freedom has given us 150,000 men, raised on Southern soil. It will give us more yet. Just so much it has subtracted from the enemy, and, instead of alienating the South, there are now evidences of a fraternal feeling growing up be- tween our men and the rank and file of the rebel soldiers. Let my enemies prove to the country that the destruction of slavery is not necessary to a restoration of the Union. I will abide the
Remarks on Inequalities of Taxation, Made to the 164th Ohio Regiment.
On August 18, 1864, in an address to the 164th Ohio Regiment, President Lincoln referred to the bearing of Union success on future generations, and appealed to his hearers as patriots to bear incidental inequalities in administration of government, especially those of taxa- tion.
Soldiers: You are about to return to your homes and your friends, after having, as I learn, performed in camp a comparatively short term of duty in this great contest. I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come for- ward at the call of their country. I wish it might be more generally and universally under- stood what the country is now engaged in. We have, as all will agree, a free government, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle, this form of government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by
