On general principles of law and reason, all the oaths which, since the war,
have been given by Southern men, that they will obey the laws of Congress,
support the Union, and the like, are of no validity. Such oaths are invalid,
not only because they were extorted by military power, and threats of
confiscation, and because they are in contravention of men's natural right
to do as they please about supporting the government, but also because they
were given to nobody. They were nominally given to "the United States."
But
being nominally given to "the United States," they were necessarily given to
nobody, because, on general principles of law and reason, there were no
"United States," to whom the oaths could be given. That is to say, there
was no open, authentic, avowed, legitimate association, corporation, or body
of men, known as "the United States," or as "the people of the United States,"
to whom the oaths could have been given. If anybody says there was such a
corporation, let him state who were the individuals that composed it, and
how and when they became a corporation. Were Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. C
members
of it? If so, where are their signatures? Where the evidence of their
membership? Where the record? Where the open, authentic proof? There is
none. Therefore, in law and reason, there was no such corporation.
On general principles of law and reason, every corporation, association, or
organized body of men, having a legitimate corporate existence, and legitimate
corporate rights, must consist of certain known individuals, who can prove,
by legitimate and reasonable evidence, their membership. But nothing of this
kind can be proved in regard to the corporation, or body of men, who call
themselves "the United States." Not a man of them, in all the Northern
States, can prove by any legitimate evidence, such as is required to prove
membership in other legal corporations, that he himself, or any other man whom
he can name, is
a member of any corporation or association called "the United
States," or "the people of the United States," or, consequently, that there
is any such corporation. And since no such corporation can be proved to exist,
it cannot of course be proved that the oaths of Southern men were given to any
such corporation. The most that can be claimed is that the oaths were given
to a secret band of robbers and murderers, who called themselves "the United
States," and extorted those oaths. But that is certainly not enough to prove
that the oaths are of any obligation.