U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 7, 1871_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
The union of the States of Germany into a form of government similar in
many respects to that of the American Union is an event that can not
fail to touch deeply the sympathies of the people of the United States.
This union has been brought about by the long-continued, persistent
efforts of the people, with the deliberate approval of the governments
and people of twenty-four of the German States, through their regularly
constituted representatives.
In it the American people see an attempt to reproduce in Europe some
of the best features of our own Constitution, with such modifications
as the history and condition of Germany seem to require. The local
governments of the several members of the union are preserved, while
the power conferred upon the chief imparts strength for the purposes
of self-defense, without authority to enter upon wars of conquest and
ambition.
The cherished aspiration for national unity which for ages has
inspired the many millions of people speaking the same language,
inhabiting a contiguous and compact territory, but unnaturally separated
and divided by dynastic jealousies and the ambition of short-sighted
rulers, has been attained, and Germany now contains a population of
about 34,000,000, united, like our own, under one Government for its
relations with other powers, but retaining in its several members the
right and power of control of their local interests, habits, and
institutions.
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