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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24596-8.txt b/24596-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30b9317 --- /dev/null +++ b/24596-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,29187 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the +United States, by Wiliam H. Barnes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States + +Author: Wiliam H. Barnes + +Release Date: February 13, 2008 [EBook #24596] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Christine P. Travers and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all +other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling +has been maintained. + +In some cases, part of the illustration's captions were illegible.] + + + + +[Illustration: Hon. Schuyler Colfax.] + + + + + HISTORY + + OF THE + + THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS + + OF THE + + UNITED STATES. + + + + By WILLIAM H. BARNES, A.M., + AUTHOR OF "THE BODY POLITIC." + + + + _WITH PORTRAITS._ + + + + + NEW YORK: + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + 327 TO 335 PEARL STREET. + 1868. + + + + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by + WILLIAM H. BARNES, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States + for the District of Columbia. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The history of the Thirty-Ninth Congress is a sequel to that of the +Rebellion. This having been overthrown, it remained for Congress to +administer upon its effects. It depended upon the decisions of +Congress whether the expected results of our victories should be +realized or lost. + +Now that the work of the Thirty-Ninth Congress stands forth complete, +people naturally desire to know something of the manner in which the +rough material was shaped into order, and the workmanship by which the +whole was "fitly joined together." It can not be said of this fabric +of legislation that it went up without "the sound of the hammer." The +rap of the gavel was often heard enforcing order or limiting the +length of speeches. + +Discussion is the process by which legislation is achieved; hence no +history of legislation would be complete without presenting the +progress of debate preparatory to the adoption of important measures. +The explanation of what our legislators did is found in what they +said. Debates, as presented in the following pages, are by necessity +much abridged. No attempt has been made to give a summary or synopsis +of speeches. That which seemed to be the most striking or +characteristic passage in a speech is given, in the words of the +orator. + +Many things said and done in the Thirty-Ninth Congress, of great +importance to the nation, are by necessity omitted. The reader, in +forming his opinion of Congressional character and ability, will bear +in mind that those who speak most frequently are not always the most +useful legislators. Men from whom no quotation is made, and to whom no +measure is attributed in the following pages, may be among the +foremost in watchfulness for their constituents, and faithfulness to +the country. + +If it should seem that one subject -- the negro question -- occupied +too much of the time and attention of Congress, it must be borne in +mind that this subject was thrust upon Congress and the country by the +issue of the Rebellion, and must be definitely and finally settled +before the nation can be at rest. "Unsettled questions have no pity on +the repose of mankind." + +No attempt has been made to present a journal of Congressional +proceedings, giving a detail of what was said and done from day to day +in the Senate and the House. There was always some great national +question under consideration in one or the other House, forming an +uninterrupted series of discussions and transactions. To present these +in review is to give a history of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, since +they distinguish it from all its predecessors, and make it historical. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I.--Opening Scenes. + + (Page 13-21.) + + Momentous Events of the Vacation -- Opening of the Senate -- + Mr. Wade -- Mr. Sumner -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. Harris -- Edward + McPherson -- As Clerk of the preceding Congress, he calls + the House to order -- Interruption of Roll-call by Mr. + Maynard -- Remarks by Mr. Brooks -- His Colloquy with Mr. + Stevens -- Mr. Colfax elected Speaker -- His Inaugural + Address -- The Test Oath. + + + CHAPTER II.--Locations of the Members and Cast of the Committees. + + (Page 22-32.) + + Importance of surroundings -- Members sometimes referred to + by their seats -- Senator Andrew Johnson -- Seating of the + Senators -- Drawing in the House -- The Senate Chamber as + seen from the Gallery -- Distinguished Senators -- The House + of Representatives -- Some prominent characters -- + Importance of Committees -- Difficulty in their appointment + -- Important Senate Committees -- Committees of the House. + + + CHAPTER III.--Formation of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. + + (Page 33-49.) + + Lack of Excitement -- Cause -- The Resolution -- Dilatory + Motions -- Yeas and Nays -- Proposed Amendments in the + Senate -- Debate in the Senate -- Mr. Howard -- Mr. Anthony + -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. + Hendricks -- Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Guthrie -- Passage of the + Resolution in the Senate -- Yeas and Nays -- Remarks of Mr. + Stevens on the Amendment of the Senate -- Concurrence of the + House -- The Committee appointed. + + + CHAPTER IV.--Suffrage in the District of Columbia. + + (Page 50-94.) + + Duty of Congress to Legislate for the District of Columbia + -- Suffrage Bill introduced into the House -- Speech by Mr. + Wilson -- Mr. Boyer -- Mr. Schofield -- Mr. Kelly -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Farnsworth -- Mr. Davis -- Mr. Chanler -- Mr. + Bingham -- Mr. Grinnell -- Mr. Kasson -- Mr. Julian -- Mr. + Thomas -- Mr. Darling -- Mr. Hale's Amendment -- Mr. Thayer + -- Mr. Van Horn -- Mr. Clarke -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. + Boutwell. + + + CHAPTER V.--The Freedmen. + + (Page 95-103.) + + Necessities of the Freedmen -- Committee in the House -- + Early Movement by the Senate in behalf of Freedmen -- + Senator Wilson's Bill -- Occasion for it -- Mr. Cowan Moves + its reference -- Mr. Reverdy Johnson advises deliberation -- + A Question of time With Mr. Sherman -- Mr. Trumbull promises + a more efficient Bill -- Mr. Sumner presents proof of the + bad condition of affairs in the South -- Mr. Cowan and Mr. + Stewart produce the President as a Witness for the Defense + -- Mr. Wilson on the Testimony -- "Conservatism" -- The Bill + absorbed in greater measures. + + + CHAPTER VI.--The Freedmen's Bureau Bill in the Senate. + + (Page 104-137.) + + The Bill introduced and referred to Judiciary Committee -- + Its provisions -- Argument of Mr. Hendricks against it -- + Reply of Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Cowan's Amendment -- Mr. + Guthrie wishes to relieve Kentucky from the operation of the + bill -- Mr. Creswell desires that Maryland may enjoy the + benefits of the bill -- Mr. Cowan's Gratitude to God and + Friendship for the Negro -- Remarks by Mr. Wilson -- "The + short gentleman's long speech" -- Yeas and Nays -- Insulting + title. + + + CHAPTER VII.--The Freedmen's Bureau Bill in the House. + + (Page 138-157.) + + The Bill Reported To the House -- Mr. Eliot's Speech -- + History -- Mr. Dawson Vs. the Negro -- Mr. Garfield -- The + Idol Broken -- Mr. Taylor Counts the Cost -- Mr. Donnelly's + Amendment -- Mr. Kerr -- Mr. Marshall On White Slavery -- + Mr. Hubbard -- Mr. Moulton -- Opposition From Kentucky -- + Mr. Ritter -- Mr. Rosseau's Threat -- Mr. Shanklin's Gloomy + Prospect -- Mr. Trimble's Appeal -- Mr. Mckee an Exceptional + Kentuckian -- Mr. Grinnell on Kentucky -- The Example of + Russia -- Mr. Phelps -- Mr. Shellabarger's Amendment -- Mr. + Chanler -- Mr. Stevens' Amendments -- Mr. Eliot Closes the + Discussion -- Passage of The Bill -- Yeas and Nays. + + + CHAPTER VIII.--The Senate and the Veto Message. + + (Page 158-187.) + + Mr. Trumbull on the Amendments of the House -- Mr. Guthrie + exhibits feeling -- Mr. Sherman's deliberate Conclusion -- + Mr. Henderson's sovereign remedy -- Mr. Trumbull on patent + medicines -- Mr. Mcdougall a white Man -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson on the power to pass the Bill -- Concurrence of the + House -- The Veto Message -- Mr. Lane, of Kansas -- His + efforts for delay -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Trumbull's + reply to the President -- The Question taken -- Yeas and + Nays -- Failure of passage. + + + CHAPTER IX.--The Civil Rights Bill in the Senate. + + (Page 188-219.) + + Duty of Congress consequent upon the Abolition of Slavery -- + Civil Rights Bill introduced -- Reference to Judiciary + Committee -- Before the Senate -- Speech By Mr. Trumbull -- + Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. van Winkle -- Mr. Cowan -- Mr. Howard + -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Davis -- Conversations with Mr. + Trumbull and Mr. Clark -- Reply of Mr. Johnson -- Remarks by + Mr. Morrill -- Mr. Davis "wound Up" -- Mr. Guthrie's Speech + -- Mr. Hendricks -- Reply of Mr. Lane -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. + Trumbull's closing remarks -- Yeas And Nays on the passage + of the Bill. + + + CHAPTER X.--The Civil Rights Bill in the House of Representatives. + + (Page 220-244.) + + The Bill referred to the Judiciary Committee and reported + back -- Speech by the Chairman of the Committee -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Cook -- Mr. Thayer -- Mr. Eldridge -- Mr. + Thornton -- Mr. Windom -- Mr. Shellabarger -- Mr. Broomall + -- Mr. Raymond -- Mr. Delano -- Mr. Kerr -- Amendment by Mr. + Bingham -- His Speech -- Reply by his Colleague -- + Discussion closed by Mr. Wilson -- Yeas and Nays on the + passage of the Bill -- Mr. Le Blond's proposed title -- + Amendments of the House accepted by the Senate. + + + CHAPTER XI.--The Civil Rights Bill and the Veto. + + (Page 245-293.) + + Doubts as to the President's Decision -- Suspense ended -- + The Veto Message -- Mr. Trumbull's Answer -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson defends the Message -- Rejoinder -- Remarks of Mr. + Yates -- Mr. Cowan appeals to the Country -- Mr. Stewart + shows how States may make the Law a Nullity -- Mr. Wade -- + Mr. McDougall on Persian Mythology -- Mr. J. H. Lane defends + the President -- Mr. Wade -- The President's Collar -- Mr. + Brown -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Saulsbury + -- Yeas And Nays in the Senate -- Vote in the House -- The + Civil Rights Bill becomes a Law. + + + CHAPTER XII.--The Second Freedmen's Bureau Bill becomes a Law. + + (Page 294-306.) + + The Discovery of the Majority -- The Senate Bill -- The + House Bill -- Its Provisions -- Passage of the Bill -- + Amendment and Passage in the Senate -- Committee of + Conference -- The Amendments as Accepted -- The Bill as + Passed -- The Veto -- The Proposition of a Democrat accepted + -- Confusion in Leadership -- Passage of the Bill over The + Veto -- It Becomes a Law. + + + CHAPTER XIII.--First Words on Reconstruction. + + (Page 307-323.) + + Responsibility of the Republican Party -- Its Power and + Position -- Initiatory Step -- Mr. Stevens speaks for + himself -- Condition of the Rebel States -- Constitutional + Authority under which Congress should act -- Estoppel -- + What Constitutes Congress -- The First Duty -- Basis of + Representation -- Duty on exports -- Two Important + Principles -- Mr. Raymond's Theory -- Rebel States still in + the Union -- Consequences of the Radical Theory -- + Conditions to be required -- State Sovereignty -- Rebel Debt + -- Prohibition of Slavery -- Two Policies contrasted -- + Reply of Mr. Jenckes -- Difference in Terms, not in + Substance -- Logic of the Conservatives leads to the Results + of the Radicals. + + + CHAPTER XIV.--The Basis of Representation in the House. + + (Page 324-372.) + + First work of the Joint Committee -- The Joint Resolution + proposing a Constitutional Amendment -- Mr. Stevens' reasons + for speedy action -- Protracted Discussion Commenced -- + Objections to the Bill by Mr. Rogers -- Defense by Mr. + Conkling -- Two other Modes -- How States might Evade the + Law -- Not a Finality -- Wisconsin and South Carolina -- + Amendment for Female Suffrage proposed -- Orth on Indiana + and Massachusetts -- Obscuration of the Sun -- More Radical + Remedy desired -- A Kentuckian gratified -- Citations from + the Census -- Premium for Treason -- White Slaves -- Power + to amend well-nigh exhausted -- Objections to the Suffrage + Basis -- "Race" and "Color" ambiguous -- Condition of the + Question -- Recommitted -- Final Passage. + + + CHAPTER XV.--The Basis of Representation in the Senate. + + (Page 373-414.) + + The Joint Resolution goes to the Senate -- + Counter-proposition by Mr. Sumner -- He Speaks Five Hours -- + Mr. Henderson's Amendment -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Henry S. + Lane -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Henderson -- Mr. Clark's + Historical Statements -- Fred. Douglass' Memorial -- Mr. + Williams -- Mr. Hendricks -- Mr. Chandler's "blood-letting + Letter" -- Proposition of Mr. Yates -- His Speech -- Mr. + Buckalew against New England -- Mr. Pomeroy -- Mr. Sumner's + second Speech -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Morrill -- Mr. + Fessenden meets Objections -- Final Vote -- The Amendment + defeated. + + + CHAPTER XVI.--Representation of the Southern States. + + (Page 417-433.) + + Concurrent Resolution -- A "Venomous Fight" -- Passage in + the House -- The Resolution in the Senate -- "A Political + Wrangle" deprecated -- Importance of the Question -- "A + Straw in a Storm" -- Policy of the President -- Conversation + between two Senators -- Mr. Nye's Advice to Rebels -- "A + Dangerous Power" -- "Was Mr. Wade once a Secessionist?" -- + Garrett Davis' Programme for the President -- "Useless yet + Mischievous" -- The Great Question Settled. + + + CHAPTER XVII.--The Reconstruction Amendment in the House. + + (Page 434-451.) + + A Constitutional Amendment proposed and postponed -- + Proposition by Mr. Stewart -- The Reconstruction Amendment + -- Death of its Predecessor lamented -- Opposition to the + Disfranchisement of Rebels -- "The Unrepentent Thirty-three" + -- Nine-tenths Reduced to One-twelfth -- Advice to Congress + -- The Committee denounced -- Democratic and Republican + Policy compared -- Authority without Power -- A Variety of + Opinions -- An Earthquake predicted -- The Joint Resolution + passes the House. + + + CHAPTER XVIII.--The Reconstruction Amendment in the Senate. + + (Page 452-455.) + + Difference between Discussions in the House and in the + Senate -- Mr. Sumner proposes to postpone -- Mr. Howard + takes Charge of the Amendment -- Substitutes proposed -- The + Republicans in Council -- The Disfranchising Clause stricken + out -- Humorous Account by Mr. Hendricks -- The Pain and + Penalties of not holding Office -- A Senator's Piety + appealed to -- Howe vs. Doolittle -- Marketable Principles + -- Praise of the President -- Mr. McDougall's Charity -- + Vote of the Senate -- Concurrence in the House. + + + CHAPTER XIX.--Report of the Committee on Reconstruction. + + (Page 466-472.) + + An important State Paper -- Work of the Committee -- + Difficulty of obtaining information -- Theory of the + President -- Taxation and Representation -- Disposition and + doings of the Southern People -- Conclusion of the Committee + -- Practical Recommendations. + + + CHAPTER XX.--Restoration of Tennessee. + + (Page 473-482.) + + Assembling of the Tennessee Legislature -- Ratification of + the Constitutional Amendment -- Restoration of Tennessee + proposed in Congress -- The Government of Tennessee not + Republican -- Protest against the Preamble -- Passage in the + House -- New Preamble proposed -- The President's Opinion + deprecated and disregarded -- Passage in the Senate -- The + President's Approval and Protest -- Admission of Tennessee + Members -- Mr. Patterson's Case. + + + CHAPTER XXI.--Negro Suffrage. + + (Page 483-501.) + + Review of the preceding action -- Efforts of Mr. Yates for + Unrestricted Suffrage -- Davis's Amendment to Cuvier -- The + "Propitious Hour" -- The Mayor's Remonstrance -- Mr. + Willey's Amendment -- Mr. Cowan's Amendment for Female + Suffrage -- Attempt to out-radical the Radicals -- Opinions + for and against Female Suffrage -- Reading and Writing as a + Qualification -- Passage of the Bill -- Objections of the + President -- Two Senators on the Opinions of the People -- + The Suffrage Bill becomes a Law. + + + CHAPTER XXII.--The Military Reconstruction Act. + + (Page 502-551.) + + Proposition by Mr. Stevens -- "Piratical Governments" not to + be recognized -- The Military Feature introduced -- Mr. + Schofield's Dog -- The Only Hope of Mr. Hise -- Conversation + concerning the Reconstruction Committee -- Censure of a + Member -- A Military Bill Reported -- War Predicted -- The + "Blaine Amendment" -- Bill passes the House -- In the Senate + -- Proposition to Amend -- Mr. McDougall desires Liberty of + Speech -- Mr. Doolittle pleads for the Life of the Republic + -- Mr. Sherman's Amendment -- Passage in the Senate -- + Discussion and Non-concurrence in the House -- The Senate + unyielding -- Qualified Concurrence of the House -- The Veto + -- "The Funeral of the Nation" -- The Act -- Supplementary + Legislation. + + + CHAPTER XXIII.--Other Important Acts. + + (Page 552-560.) + + Equalizing Bounties -- The Army -- The Department of + Education -- Southern Homesteads -- The Bankrupt Law -- The + Tariff -- Reduction of Taxes -- Contracting the Currency -- + Issue of Three Per Cents. -- Nebraska and Colorado -- Tenure + of Office. + + + CHAPTER XXIV.--The President and Congress. + + (Page 561-567.) + + The President's treatment of the South -- First Annual + Message -- Mr. Sumner's Criticism -- The President + triumphant -- He damages his Cause -- Humor of Mr. Stevens + -- Vetoes Overridden -- The Question submitted to the People + -- Their Verdict -- Summary of Vetoes -- Impeachment -- + Charges by Mr. Ashley -- Report of the Committee. + + + CHAPTER XXV.--Personal. + + (Page 568-576.) + + Contested Seats -- Mr. Stockton votes for Himself -- New + Jersey's Loss of two Senators -- Losses of Vermont -- + Suicide of James H. Lane -- Death in the House -- General + Scott -- Lincoln's Eulogy and Statue -- Mr. Sumner on Fine + Arts in the Capitol -- Censure of Mr. Chanler -- Petition + for the Expulsion of Garret Davis -- Grinnell assaulted by + Rousseau -- The Action of the House -- Leader of the House. + + + Biographical Sketches 577 + + + + +LIST OF PORTRAITS. + + PAGE + 1.--Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Frontispiece. + + 2.--Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, 29 + + 3.--Hon. William D. Kelley, 59 + + 4.--Hon. Sidney Clarke, 89 + + 5.--Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, 109 + + 6.--Hon. Henry Wilson, 135 + + 7.--Hon. Samuel C. Pomeroy, 171 + + 8.--Hon. Reverdy Johnson, 203 + + 9.--Hon. James F. Wilson, 239 + + 10.--Hon. William M. Stewart, 275 + + 11.--Hon. Ebon C. Ingersoll, 307 + + 12.--Hon. Robert C. Schenck, 353 + + 13.--Hon. Richard Yates, 399 + + 14.--Hon. Edwin D. Morgan, 453 + + 15.--Hon. William B. Stokes, 481 + + 16.--Hon. George H. Williams, 517 + + 17.--Hon. John Conness, 541 + + 18.--Hon. James M. Ashley, 567 + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +By HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX, + +SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + + +The Congress that has just passed away has written a record that will +be long remembered by the poor and friendless, whom it did not forget. +Misrepresented or misunderstood by those who denounced it as enemies, +harshly and unjustly criticised by some who should have been its +friends, it proved itself more faithful to human progress and liberty +than any of its predecessors. The outraged and oppressed found in +these congressional halls champions and friends. Its key-note of +policy was protection to the downtrodden. It quailed not before the +mightiest, and neglected not the obscurest. It lifted the slave, whom +the nation had freed, to the full stature of manhood. It placed on our +statute-book the Civil Rights Bill as our nation's magna charta, +grander than all the enactments that honor the American code; and in +all the region whose civil governments had been destroyed by a +vanquished rebellion, it declared as a guarantee of defense to the +weakest that the freeman's hand should wield the freeman's ballot; and +that none but loyal men should govern a land which loyal sacrifices +had saved. Taught by inspiration that new wine could not be safely put +in old bottles, it proclaimed that there could be no safe or loyal +reconstruction on a foundation of unrepentant treason and disloyalty. + +The first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress proposed, as their plan +of Reconstruction, a Constitutional Amendment. It was a bond of public +justice and public safety combined, to be embodied in our national +Constitution, to show to our posterity that patriotism is a virtue and +rebellion is a crime. These terms were more magnanimous than were ever +offered in any country under like circumstances. They were kind, they +were forbearing, they were less than we had a right to demand; but in +our anxiety, in our desire to close up this question, we made the +proposition. How was it received? They trampled upon it, they spat +upon it, they repudiated it, and said they would have nothing to do +with it. They were determined to have more power after the rebellion +than they had before. + +When this proposition was repudiated, we came together again, at the +second session of the same Congress, to devise some other plan of +reconstruction in place of the proffer that had been spurned. We put +the basis of our reconstruction, first, upon every loyal man in the +South, and then we gave the ballot also to every man who had only been +a traitor. The persons we excluded, for the present, from suffrage in +the South, were not the thousands who struggled in the rebel army, not +the millions who had given their adhesion to it, but only those men +who had sworn allegiance to the Constitution and then added to treason +the crime of perjury. + +Though we demand no indemnity for the past, no banishment, no +confiscations, no penalties for the offended law, there is one thing +we do demand, there is one thing we have the power to demand, and that +is security for the future, and that we intend to have, not only in +legislation, but imbedded in the imperishable bulwarks of our national +Constitution, against which the waves of secession may dash in future +but in vain. We intend to have those States reconstructed on such +enduring corner-stones that posterity shall realize that our fallen +heroes have not died in vain. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OPENING SCENES. + + Momentous Events of the Vacation -- Opening of the Senate -- + Mr. Wade -- Mr. Sumner -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. Harris -- Edward + McPherson -- As Clerk of the preceding Congress, he calls + the House to order -- Interruption of Roll-call by Mr. + Maynard -- Remarks by Mr. Brooks -- His Colloquy with Mr. + Stevens -- Mr. Colfax elected Speaker -- His Inaugural + Address -- The Test Oath. + + +The Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States, convened in the +Capitol at Washington on the fourth of December, 1865. Since the +adjournment of the Thirty-eighth Congress, events of the greatest +moment had transpired--events which invested its successor with +responsibilities unparalleled in the history of any preceding +legislative body. + +Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, had been +slain by the hand of the assassin. The crime had filled the land with +horror. The loss of its illustrious victim had veiled the nation in +unaffected grief. + +By this great national calamity, Andrew Johnson, who on the fourth of +March preceding had taken his seat simply to preside over the +deliberations of the Senate, became President of the United States. + +Meanwhile the civil war, which had been waged with such terrible +violence and bloodshed for four years preceding, came to a sudden +termination. The rebel armies, under Generals Lee and Johnston, had +surrendered to the victorious soldiers of the United States, who in +their generosity had granted to the vanquished terms so mild and easy +as to excite universal surprise. + +Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, and some other leaders in the +rebellion, had been captured and held for a time as State prisoners; +but, at length, all save the "President of the Confederate States" +were released on parole, and finally pardoned by the President. + +The President had issued a proclamation granting amnesty and pardon to +"all who directly or indirectly participated in the rebellion, with +restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves," on +condition of their subscribing to a prescribed oath. By the provisions +of this proclamation, fourteen classes of persons were excepted from +the benefits of the amnesty offered therein, and yet "any person +belonging to the excepted classes" was encouraged to make special +application to the President for pardon, to whom clemency, it was +declared, would "be liberally extended." In compliance with this +invitation, multitudes had obtained certificates of pardon from the +President, some of whom were at once elected by the Southern people, +to represent them, as Senators and Representatives, in the +Thirty-ninth Congress. + +The President had further carried on the work of reconstruction by +appointing Provisional Governors for many of the States lately in +rebellion. He had recognized and entered into communication with the +Legislatures of these States, prescribing certain terms on which they +might secure representation in Congress, and recognition of "all their +rights under the Constitution." + +By these and many other events which had transpired since the +expiration of the preceding Congress, the legislation pertaining to +reconstruction had become a work of vast complexity, involving +principles more profound, and questions more difficult, than ever +before presented for the consideration and solution of men assembled +in a legislative capacity. + +At twelve o'clock on the day designated in the Constitution for the +meeting of Congress, the Senate assembled, and was called to order by +Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, President pro tempore. Senators from +twenty-five States were in their seats, and answered to their names. +Rev. E. H. Gray, Chaplain of the Senate, invoked the blessing of +Almighty God upon Congress, and prayed "that all their deliberations +and enactments might be such as to secure the Divine approval, and +insure the unanimous acquiescence of the people, and command the +respect of the nations of the earth." + +Soon after the preliminary formalities of opening the Senate had +transpired, Benjamin F. Wade, Senator from Ohio, inaugurated the +labors of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and significantly foreshadowed +one of its most memorable acts by introducing "a bill to regulate the +elective franchise in the District of Columbia." + +The Senate signified its willingness to enter at once upon active duty +by giving unanimous consent to Mr. Sumner, Senator from Massachusetts, +to introduce a number of important bills. The measures thus brought +before the Senate were clearly indicative of the line of policy which +Congress would pursue. The bills introduced were designed "to carry +out the principles of a republican form of government in the District +of Columbia;" "to present an oath to maintain a republican form of +government in the rebel States;" "to enforce the amendment to the +Constitution abolishing slavery;" "to enforce the guarantee of a +republican form of government in certain States where governments have +been usurped or overthrown." + +Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, was not behind his distinguished +colleague in his readiness to enter upon the most laborious +legislation of the session. He introduced "a bill to maintain the +freedom of the inhabitants in the States declared in insurrection by +the proclamation of the President on the first of July, 1862." + +Senator Harris, of New York, long known as one of the ablest jurists +of his State, and recently an eminent member of the Senate's Judiciary +Committee, directed attention to his favorite field of legislative +labor by introducing "a bill to reörganize the Judiciary of the United +States." + +While the Senate was thus actively entering upon the labors of the +session, a somewhat different scene was transpiring in the other end +of the Capitol. + +Long before the hour for the assembling of Congress, the halls, the +galleries, and corridors of the House of Representatives were thronged +with such crowds as had never before been seen at the opening of a +session. The absorbing interest felt throughout the entire country in +the great questions to be decided by Congress had drawn great numbers +to the Capitol from every quarter of the Union. Eligible positions, +usually held in reserve for certain privileged or official persons, +and rarely occupied by a spectator, were now filled to their utmost +capacity. The Diplomatic Gallery was occupied by many unskilled in the +mysteries of diplomacy; the Reporters' Gallery held many listeners and +lookers on who had no connection with newspapers, save as readers. The +"floor" was held not only by the "members," who made the hall vocal +with their greetings and congratulations, but by a great crowd of +pages, office-seekers, office-holders, and unambitious citizens, who +thronged over the new carpet and among the desks. + +The hour having arrived for the assembling of Congress, Edward +McPherson, Clerk of the last House of Representatives, brought down +the gavel on the Speaker's desk, and called the House to order. The +members found their seats, and the crowd surged back up the aisles, +and stood in a compact mass in the rear of the last row of desks. + +Edward McPherson, who at that moment occupied the most prominent and +responsible place in the nation, had come to his position through a +series of steps, which afforded the country an opportunity of knowing +his material and capacity. A graduate of Pennsylvania College in 1848, +editor, author, twice a Congressman, and Clerk of the House of +Representatives in the Thirty-eighth Congress, he had given evidence +that he was reliable. Having shown himself a thoroughly conscientious +man in the performance of all his public duties, the great interests +of the nation were safe in his hands. + +The country had been greatly concerned to know how the Clerk would +make up the Roll of the House, and whether the names of members elect +from the late rebellious States would be called at the opening of the +session. If this should be done, the first step would be gained by the +Representatives of those States toward holding seats in Congress to +which the majority at the North considered them not entitled. It had +even been intimated that the color of constitutionality which they +would gain from recognition by the Clerk would be used to justify an +assertion of their claims by force. What the Clerk would do, as master +of the rolls and presiding officer of the House, was not long in +doubt. + +The Clerk proceeded to call the roll of Representatives elect, while +the subordinates at the desk took note of the responses. He called the +names of Congressmen from the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, +Massachusetts, and so forth, in a certain order which had been +customary time immemorial in naming the States. In this order +Tennessee had place after Kentucky and before Indiana. When the name +of the last Representative from Kentucky had been called, the decisive +moment arrived. The delegation from Tennessee were on the floor, ready +to answer to their names. The Clerk passed over Tennessee and went +direct to Indiana. As soon as the first member from Indiana had +responded, there arose a tall, black-haired, dark-faced figure, that +every body recognized as Horace Maynard, of Tennessee. He shook his +certificate of election at the Clerk, and began to speak, but the +gavel came down with a sharp rap, and a firm, decided voice was heard +from the desk, "The Clerk declines to have any interruption during the +call of the roll." The roll-call then proceeded without further +interference to the end. When, at last, the Clerk had finished his +list of Representatives and Territorial Delegates, Mr. Maynard once +more arose. "The Clerk can not be interrupted while ascertaining +whether a quorum is present," says the presiding officer. The count of +the assistants having been completed, the Clerk announced, "One +hundred and seventy-six members having answered to their names, a +quorum is present." Mr. Morrill immediately moved that the House +proceed to the election of Speaker. "Before that motion is put," said +Mr. Maynard, again arising. The Clerk was ready for the emergency, and +before Mr. Maynard could complete his sentence, he uttered the +imperative and conclusive words, "The Clerk can not recognize as +entitled to the floor any gentleman whose name is not on this roll." A +buzz of approbation greeted the discreet ruling of the Clerk. The +difficult point was passed, and the whole subject of the admission of +Southern Representatives was handed over intact, to be deliberately +considered after the House should be fully organized for business. + +Mr. Morrill, in moving to proceed to the election of a Speaker, had +forgotten or neglected to demand the previous question, and thus cut +off debate. Mr. James Brooks, most plausible in address, and most +ready in talk on the side of the minority, saw the point left +unguarded by his opponents, and resolved to enter. Born in Maine, now +a citizen of New York, and editor of the "Express," Mr. Brooks was in +Congress for the fourth time a champion of what he deemed the rights +of the South, and not in accordance with the prevailing sentiments in +his native and adopted States. + +Mr. Brooks obtained the floor, and desired to amend the motion. He +thought the roll should be completed before proceeding to the election +of Speaker. "I trust," said he, "that we shall not proceed to any +revolutionary, any step like that, without at least hearing from the +honorable gentleman from Tennessee. If Tennessee is not in the Union, +by what right does the President of the United States usurp his place +in the White House when an alien and a foreigner, and not from a State +in the Union?" + +At this stage, a man of mark--five times a Representative in Congress, +but now twelve years away from the capital and a new member--John +Wentworth, of Chicago--elevated his tall and massive form, and with a +stentorian voice called Mr. Brooks to order. The Clerk having fairly +decided that gentleman entitled to the floor on the question of +proceeding to the election of a Speaker, Mr. Wentworth sat down, and +Mr. Brooks in resuming his remarks improved his chance to administer +rebuke in a manner which provoked some mirth. "When the honorable +gentleman from Illinois is better acquainted with me in this House," +said Mr. Brooks, "he will learn that I always proceed in order, and +never deviate from the rules." Mr. Brooks then returned to his +championship of Mr. Maynard: "If he is not a loyal man, and is not +from a State in this Union, what man, then, is loyal? In the darkest +and most doubtful period of the war, when an exile from his own State, +I heard his eloquent voice on the banks of the St. Lawrence arousing +the people of my own State to discharge their duties to the country." + +Mr. Brooks joined Virginia with Tennessee, and asked the Clerk to give +his reasons for excluding the names of Representatives from these +States from the roll. The Clerk replied that he had acted in +accordance with his views of duty, and was willing to let the record +stand; if it was the desire of the House to have his reasons, he would +give them. + +"It is not necessary," said Thaddeus Stevens; "we know all." + +"I know," replied Mr. Brooks, "that it is known to all in one quarter, +but that it is not known to many in other quarters in this House, why +this exclusion has been made. I should know but little, if I had not +the record before me of the resolution adopted by the Republican +majority of this House, that Tennessee, Louisiana, and Virginia were +to be excluded, and excluded without debate. Why without debate? Are +gentlemen afraid to face debate? Are their reasons of such a character +that they dare not present them to the country, and have to resort to +the extraordinary step of sideway legislation, in a private caucus, to +enact a joint resolution to be forced upon this House without debate, +confirming that there are no reasons whatever to support this position +except their absolute power, and authority, and control over this +House? If the gentleman from Pennsylvania would but inform me at what +period he intends to press this resolution, I would be happy to be +informed." + +"I propose to present it at the proper time," was the response of Mr. +Stevens, provoking laughter and applause. + +Mr. Brooks replied: "Talleyrand said that language was given to man to +conceal ideas, and we all know the gentleman's ingenuity in the use of +language. The proper time! When will that be?" Mr. Brooks then +proceeded at some length to answer this question. He supposed the +proper time would be as soon as the House was organized, and before +the President's message could be heard and considered, that the action +of the House might silence the Executive, and nullify the exposition +which he might make, and become a _quasi_ condemnation of the action +of the President of the United States. + +Mr. Brooks was at length ready to close, and sought to yield the floor +to a Democratic member. The Republicans, however, were ready to meet +the emergency, and objected to the floor being yielded in such a way +as would cause delay without furthering the business of organizing the +House. Points of order were raised, and efforts made to entangle the +Clerk, but in vain. His rulings were prompt, decisive, and effectual. +The moment a Republican fairly held the floor, the previous question +was moved, the initial contest was over, and the House proceeded to +elect a Speaker. + +A stoop-shouldered, studious-looking gentleman, now for the sixth +successive term a member of Congress--Justin S. Morrill, of +Vermont--arose and nominated Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana. On the other +side of the house, a gentleman from New York portly in his person, now +entering on his second Congressional term--Charles H. Winfield--nominated +James Brooks, of New York. Four members took their seats behind the +Clerk to act as tellers. The responses were at length all given, and +the numbers noted. Mr. Morrill, one of the tellers, announced the +result--"Mr. Colfax, one hundred and thirty-nine; Mr. Brooks, +thirty-six." The Clerk formally announced the result, and stepped +aside; his work as presiding officer of the Thirty-ninth Congress was +at an end. + +In the place thus made vacant appeared the man but a moment before +elected to the position by the largest political majority ever given +to a Speaker of the House. A well-proportioned figure of medium size, +a pleasing countenance often radiant with smiles, a style of movement +quick and restless, yet calm and self-possessed, were characteristic +of him upon whom all eyes were turned. In the past a printer and +editor in Indiana, now in Congress for the sixth term and elected +Speaker the second time, SCHUYLER COLFAX stood to take the oath of +office, and enter upon the discharge of most difficult and responsible +duties. He said: + +"Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The reässembling of +Congress, marking as it does the procession of our national history, +is always regarded with interest by the people for whom it is to +legislate. But it is not unsafe to say that millions more than ever +before, North, South, East, and West, are looking to the Congress +which opens its session to-day with an earnestness and solicitude +unequaled on similar occasions in the past. The Thirty-eighth Congress +closed its constitutional existence with the storm-cloud of war still +lowering over us, and after nine months' absence, Congress resumes its +legislative authority in these council halls, rejoicing that from +shore to shore in our land there is peace. + +"Its duties are as obvious as the sun's pathway in the heavens. +Representing in its two branches the States and the people, its first +and highest obligation is to guarantee to every State a republican +form of government. The rebellion having overthrown constitutional +State governments in many States, it is yours to mature and enact +legislation which, with the concurrence of the Executive, shall +establish them anew on such a basis of enduring justice as will +guarantee all necessary safeguards to the people, and afford what our +Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, proclaims is the chief +object of government--protection to all men in their inalienable +rights. The world should witness, in this great work, the most +inflexible fidelity, the most earnest devotion to the principles of +liberty and humanity, the truest patriotism and the wisest +statesmanship. + +"Heroic men, by hundreds of thousands, have died that the Republic +might live. The emblems of mourning have darkened White House and +cabin alike; but the fires of civil war have melted every fetter in +the land, and proved the funeral pyre of slavery. It is for you, +Representatives, to do your work as faithfully and as well as did the +fearless saviors of the Union in their more dangerous arena of duty. +Then we may hope to see the vacant and once abandoned seats around us +gradually filling up, until this hall shall contain Representatives +from every State and district; their hearts devoted to the Union for +which they are to legislate, jealous of its honor, proud of its glory, +watchful of its rights, and hostile to its enemies. And the stars on +our banner, that paled when the States they represented arrayed +themselves in arms against the nation, will shine with a more +brilliant light of loyalty than ever before." + +Mr. Colfax having finished his address, took the following oath, which +stood as the most serious obstacle in the way of many elected to +Congress from the Southern States: + + "I do solemnly swear that I have never voluntarily borne + arms against the United States since I have been a citizen + thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, + counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed + hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted + nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office + whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in + hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a + voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, + power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or + inimical thereto. And I do further swear that, to the best + of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the + Constitution of the United States against all enemies, + foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and + allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, + without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and + that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the + office on which I am about to enter. So help me God!" + +The subordinate officers were then elected by resolution, and the +House of Representatives being organized, was ready to enter upon its +work. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOCATIONS OF THE MEMBERS AND CAST OF THE COMMITTEES. + + Importance of surroundings -- Members sometimes referred to + by their seats -- Senator Andrew Johnson -- Seating of the + Senators -- Drawing in the House -- The Senate-chamber as + seen from the Gallery -- Distinguished Senators -- The House + of Representatives -- Some prominent characters -- + Importance of Committees -- Difficulty in their appointment + -- Important Senate Committees -- Committees of the House. + + +The localities and surroundings of men have an influence on their +actions and opinions. A matter which, to the casual observer, seems so +unimportant as the selection and arrangement of the seats of Senators +and Representatives, has its influence upon the legislation of the +country. Ever since parties have had an existence, it has been +considered of vital moment that those of one political faith in a +deliberative body should occupy, as nearly as possible, the same +locality. + +It is sometimes of service to a reader, in attempting to understand +the reported proceedings of Congress, to know the localities of the +members. Each seat has a sort of history of its own, and becomes in +some way identified with its occupant. Members are frequently alluded +to in connection with the seats they occupy. Sometimes it happens +that, years after a man has gone from Congress, it is convenient and +suggestive to refer to him by his old place in the chamber. As an +illustration, Mr. Trumbull, in his speech on the veto of the Civil +Rights Bill, desiring to quote Andrew Johnson, Senator, against Andrew +Johnson, President, referred to "a speech delivered in this body by a +Senator occupying, I think, the seat now occupied across the chamber +by my friend from Oregon (Mr. Williams)." + +A necessary and important part of the adjustment of the machinery, at +the opening of each Congress, is the selection of seats. As the +Senators serve for six years, and many of them have been reëlected +more than once, there are comparatively few changes made at the +opening of any Congress. The old members generally choose to retain +their accustomed seats, and the small number that come in as new +Senators choose among the vacant seats, as convenience or caprice may +dictate. + +In the House of Representatives the formality of drawing for seats is +necessary. That this may be conveniently and fairly done, at the +appointed time all the members retire to the antechambers, leaving the +seats all unoccupied. The Clerk draws at random from a receptacle +containing the names of all the members. As the members are called, +one by one, they go in and occupy such seats as they may choose. The +unlucky member whose name last turns up has little room for choice, +and must be content to spend his Congressional days far from the +Speaker, on the remote circumference, or to the right or left extreme. + +There are in the Senate-chamber seventy seats, in three tiers of +semi-circular arrangement. If all the old Southern States were +represented by Senators on the floor, the seats would be more than +full. As it was in the Thirty-ninth Congress, there were a number of +vacant desks, all of them situated to the right and left of the +presiding officer. + +In a division of political parties nearly equal, the main aisle from +the southern entrance would be the separating line. As it was, the +Republican Senators occupied not only the eastern half of the chamber, +but many of them were seated on the other side, the comparatively few +Democratic Senators sitting still further to the west. + +Seated in the gallery, the spectator has a favorable position to +survey the grand historic scene which passes below. His eye is +naturally first attracted to the chair which is constitutionally the +seat of the second dignitary in the land--the Vice-President of the +United States. That office, however, has no incumbent, since he who +took oath a few months before to perform its duties was called to +occupy a higher place, made vacant by a most atrocious crime. The +event, however, cost the Senate little loss of dignity, since the +chair is filled by a President _pro tempore_ of great ability and +excellence--Lafayette S. Foster, Senator from Connecticut. + +The eye of the spectator naturally seeks out Charles Sumner, who sits +away on the outer tier of seats, toward the south-east corner of the +chamber; and near him, on the left, are seen the late Governors, now +Senators, Morgan and Yates, of New York and Illinois. Immediately in +front of them, on the middle tier of seats, is an assemblage of old +and distinguished Senators--Trumbull, Wilson, Wade, and Fessenden. To +the right of the Vice-President's chair, and in the row of seats +neares this desk, sits the venerable and learned lawyer, Reverdy +Johnson, of Maryland. Just in his rear sits the youthful Sprague, of +Rhode Island, to whose right is seen Sherman, of Ohio. To the rear of +these Senators, in the outer segment of seats, sits, or perhaps +stands, Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, the most garrulous of old men, +continually out of temper with the majority, yet all the time marked +by what he calls his "usual courtesy." To the left of Davis, beyond +Nesmith, of Oregon, and the other and more silent Senator from +Kentucky, sits Saulsbury, of Delaware, unless he should be traversing +the carpeted space in the rear of his seat, like a sentinel of the +Senate. + +Far different is the sight presented to the spectator who looks down +from the galleries of the House of Representatives. The immense area +below is supplied with two hundred and fifty-three seats, with desks +arranged in semi-circular rows, having a point in front of the +Speaker's desk as a focus. On the right of the spectator, as he looks +from the gallery in front of the Speaker, is the Republican side of +the House. But this prosperous organization has grown so rapidly since +its birth, ten years ago, that it has overstepped all old and +traditional party limitations. One-half of the House is not sufficient +to afford its representatives adequate accommodations. Republican +members have passed over the main aisle, and occupy half of the +Democratic side, having pressed the thin ranks of their opponents to +the extreme left. + +As the spectator scans the House, his eye will rest on Thaddeus +Stevens, whose brown wig and Roman cast of countenance mark the +veteran of the House. He sits in the right place for a leader of the +Republicans, about half-way back from the Speaker's desk, on the +diagonal line which divides the western side of the House, where he +can readily catch the Speaker's eye, and be easily heard by all his +friends. Immediately in his rear is his successor in the chairmanship +of the Committee of Ways and Means--Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. To the +right, across the aisle, is Elihu B. Washburn, of Illinois, the oldest +member in continuous service in the House; and to his rear is Henry J. +Raymond, of the Times. To the right, and partly in the rear of Mr. +Stevens, are a number of noteworthy men: among them are General +Schenck, General Garfield, and "Long John" Wentworth, of Chicago. Far +around to the right, and much nearer, the Speaker's desk, is seen a +man distinguished in civil and military history, who once occupied the +Speaker's chair--General Banks, of Massachusetts. In physical contrast +with him, sits--in the adjoining desk, a tall, dark, bearded +Californian--General John Bidwell, a new member of the House. On the +opposite side of the House, among the Democrats, is the seat of John +A. Bingham, who now returns to Congress after an absence of one term, +whom his friends describe as the "best-natured and crossest-looking +man in the House." James Brooks, most plausible and best-natured of +Democrats, notwithstanding the inroads of the Republicans, sturdily +keeps his seat near the main aisle. His seat, however, he is destined +to lose before many months in favor of a contestant, who will occupy +the other side of the chamber. + +In looking down upon so large an assemblage, a large part of which is +so distant, the eye of the spectator will weary in the attempt to +discover and recognize individuals, however familiar, amidst the busy +throng. + +In preparing for the work of legislation, a matter of more importance +than the arrangement of the seats is the cast of the committees. Most +of the labor of legislative bodies is done by committees. As it is +impossible for any one Congressman to give that minute and particular +attention to all the numerous interests demanding legislation, +essential to a wise determination as to what bills should be +presented, and how they should be drawn in every case, the various +subjects are parceled out among those whose opportunities, interests, +or inclinations have led them to give particular attention to the +matters committed to their charge. The perfection of legislation on +particular subjects depends not more on the wisdom of the entire body +of legislators than on the good sense of the committees that +deliberate upon them. Much of the efficiency and success of the +legislative acts of Congress will depend upon the structure of the +committees that do the laborious work of preparing business for the +body. Tracing the stream of legislative enactment still nearer to its +source, it will be found that the work of a committee takes a decided +tinge from the character of its chairman. + +It consequently becomes a matter of great interest to the country, at +the opening of each Congress, to know who constitute the committees. +One of the most arduous and responsible duties of the Speaker of the +House of Representatives is the selection of committees and filling +their chairmanships. Fitness and special adaptation are supposed to +constitute the rule by which choice is made. Many elements, however, +enter into the work which are not a part of this philosophy. It is +impossible that the presiding officer should know unerringly who is +absolutely the fittest man for any position, and if he possessed such +superhuman knowledge he would still be trammeled by long-established +rules of precedence and promotion. There is often a regular gradation +by which men arrive at positions which is not in direct ratio to their +fitness for their places. + +Notwithstanding all the errors which were unavoidable elements in the +work, committees were never better constituted than those of the +Thirty-ninth Congress. + +The Senate being comparatively small in numbers, and, moreover, by +usage, doing most of the details of this business in caucus, the +announcement of the committees in this body was made on Wednesday, the +third day of the session. On the other hand, the size of the House, +the large proportion of new and unknown members appearing every term, +the number and magnitude of the committees, and the fact that the duty +of appointment devolved upon the Speaker, combined to render the +reading out of committeemen in the latter body impossible before the +following Monday, one week after the assembling of Congress. + +Of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Charles Sumner was +appointed chairman. This is a very important committee, being the +direct channel of communication between the State Department and the +Senate. It being the constitutional duty of the Senate to pass upon +all treaties, and to decide upon qualifications of all persons +nominated by the Executive to represent the United States in foreign +countries, the labors of this committee are arduous and responsible. +The chairmanship of this committee was filled by a Senator of most +eminent fitness and ability. His literary culture, and attainments as +a scholar, his general legal ability and familiarity with the laws of +nations, his residence abroad for several years, and his long +membership in the Senate, now of fourteen years' duration, all marked +him as wisely chosen for his important position. + +On account of the immense National debt accumulated in the war, and +the complication of the financial affairs of the nation, the Committee +on Finance has an important bearing upon the interests of the country, +unknown until recent years. William P. Fessenden was the Senator +chosen chairman of this committee. His success in his private +business, his appointment, in 1864, as the head of the Treasury +Department, and his service in the Senate since 1853 as member of the +Finance Committee, and since 1859 as its chairman, all indicated the +propriety of his continuance in this position. Second on the list of +this committee stood Senator Sherman, of Ohio, who has been described +as "_au fait_ on National Banks, fond of figures, and in love with +finances." + +The Committee on Commerce was constituted with Senator Chandler, of +Michigan, as its chairman. Himself most successful in commercial life, +in which he had attained distinction before coming to the Senate, and +representing a State having a greater extent of coast and better +facilities for commerce than any other inland community in the world, +Senator Chandler was eminently suitable as head of the Committee on +Commerce. His associates being selected from Maine, New York, Vermont, +Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oregon, left unrepresented no important +commercial interest in the nation. + +The Committee on Manufactures was headed by William Sprague, Senator +from Rhode Island, a State having the largest capital invested, and +most persons employed in manufactures, in proportion to population, of +any in the Union. Senator Sprague himself having been educated in the +counting-room of a manufacturing establishment, and having control of +one of the largest manufacturing interests in the country, was the +appropriate person for such a position. + +The agricultural States of Ohio, Kansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and +Kentucky furnished the members of the Committee on Agriculture, with +Senator Sherman at its head. + +Of the Committee on the Judiciary, a Senator has given a description. +In a speech delivered in the Senate, December 12, 1865, Mr. Doolittle, +of Wisconsin, said: "From its very organization the Senate designs to +make that committee its constitutional adviser--not that its opinions +are to be conclusive or controlling on the vote of any member of this +body, like the opinion of the bench of Judges in the House of Lords; +but its members are chosen in consideration of their high professional +ability, their long experience, and well-known standing as jurists, in +order that their report upon constitutional questions may be entitled +to the highest consideration. And, sir, if you look into the +organization of the Judiciary Committee appointed by the Senate at the +present session, what is it? There is the Senator from Illinois, [Mr. +Trumbull], for years Judge of the Supreme Court of that State before +he entered this body, who, for ten years and more, has been a +faithful, laborious, distinguished member of that committee, and for +the last four years its chairman. And there sits my honorable friend +from New York [Mr. Harris], for twenty years before he came here known +and distinguished among the able jurists and judges of that great +State. And there is the honorable Senator from Vermont [Mr. Poland]. +He has, it is true, just entered this body, but his reputation as a +jurist preceded his coming, and he comes here to fill the place in +this chamber, and is put upon this Judiciary Committee to fill the +place of him of whom I will say, without disparagement to any, that he +was the ablest jurist of us all--the late distinguished Senator from +Vermont [Mr. Collamer]. And there is the Senator from New Hampshire +[Mr. Clark], from the far East, and the Senator from Nevada [Mr. +Stewart], from the Pacific coast, and the Senator from Indiana [Mr. +Hendricks], from the central region, each of whom stands eminent in +the profession in the State which he represents, and all of whom are +recognized here among the ablest jurists of this body." + +Some of the great political questions destined to engage the attention +of the Thirty-ninth Congress invested the _Committee on the District +of Columbia_ with a national interest, although its duties pertained +chiefly to the local concerns of the immediate neighborhood of the +capital. Its chairman, Mr. Morrill, of Maine, as well as its members, +among whom were Wade, Sumner, and Yates, gave it character and +ability, and afforded assurance that the great questions involved +would be calmly met and honestly answered. + +[Illustration: Thaddeus Stevens, representative from Pennsylvania.] + +In the House of Representatives, the _Committee of Ways and Means_ has +ever been regarded of first importance, and its chairman has been +considered leader of the House. Its duties, though of a somewhat +miscellaneous character, relate chiefly to devising the ways and means +of raising revenue. The fact that the Constitution provides that "all +bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of +Representatives," gives the Committee of Ways and Means a sort of +preeminence over all other committees, whether of the Senate or the +House. + +The work of the Committee of Ways and Means, as it had existed before +the Thirty-ninth Congress, was, at the opening of this session, +divided among three committees; one retaining the old name and still +remaining the leading committee, a second on _Appropriations_, and a +third on _Banking and Currency_. + +Of the new Committee of Ways and Means, Justin S. Morrill, of Vermont, +was appointed chairman--a Representative of ten years' experience in +the House, who had seen several years of service on the same +committee. While his abilities and habits, as a student and a thinker, +well adapted him for the work of conducting his committee by wise +deliberation to useful measures, yet they were not characteristics +fitting him with readiest tact and most resolute will to "handle the +House." + +Thaddeus Stevens, the old chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, +was appointed the head of the new Committee on Appropriations. His +vigilance and integrity admirably fitted him for this position, while +his age made it desirable that he should be relieved of the arduous +labors of the Committee of Ways and Means. Of this committee he had +been chairman in the two preceding Congresses, and had filled a large +space in the public eye as leader of the House. His age--over seventy +years--gave him the respect of members the majority of whom were born +after he graduated at college--the more especially as these advanced +years were not attended with any perceptible abatement of the +intellectual vivacity or fire of youth. The evident honesty and +patriotism with which he advanced over prostrate theories and policies +toward the great ends at which he aimed, secured him multitudes of +friends, while these same qualities contributed to make him many +enemies. The timid became bold and the resolute were made stronger in +seeing the bravery with which he maintained his principles. He had a +habit of going straight to the issue, and a rugged manner of +presenting his opinions, coupled with a cool assurance, which, one of +his unfriendly critics once declared, "sometimes rose almost to the +sublime." He alone, of all the members of the Pennsylvania Convention, +in 1836, refused to sign the new State Constitution, because it robbed +the negro of his vote. It was a fitting reward that he, in 1866, +should stand in the United States House of Representatives, at the +head of a majority of more than one hundred, declaring that the +oppressed race should enjoy rights so long denied. + +The Committee on Banking and Currency had as chairman Theodore M. +Pomeroy, of New York, who had served four years in Congress. Perhaps +its most important member was Samuel Hooper, a Boston merchant and +financier, who, from the outset of his Congressional career, now +entering upon the third term, had been on the Committee of Ways and +Means, of which he still remained a member, the only Representative +retaining connection with the old committee and holding a place in one +of the new offshoots from it. + +Hiram Price, of Iowa, was appointed chairman of the Committee on the +Pacific Railroad. The Speaker of the House, in his recent visit to the +Pacific coast, had been impressed with the importance of this work, +and wisely chose as members of this committee Representatives from +Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York, Missouri, Kansas, +California, and Oregon. + +A committee of much importance to Congress and the country--that of +Commerce--had for its chairman Elihu B. Washburn, of Illinois, who had +been in the previous Congress the oldest member in continuous service, +and hence was styled "Father of the House." + +The Committee on Elections subsequently lost some of its importance in +the public estimation by the creation of a special committee to +consider subjects of reconstruction and the admission of Southern +members; yet the interests confided to it demanded ability, which it +had in its chairman, Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, as well as in +the Representatives that constituted its membership. + +The legislation relative to our vast unoccupied domain, having to pass +through the Committee on Public Lands, renders this committee one of +much importance. The honesty and ability of its chairman, George W. +Julian, of Indiana, together with his long experience in Congress, +gave to the recommendations of this committee great character and +weight. + +Of the Committee on the Judiciary, James F. Wilson, of Iowa, was +appointed for the second time as chairman. George S. Boutwell, of +Massachusetts, and other Representatives of ability, were appointed as +members of this committee. Since the duty devolved upon it of taking +testimony in regard to the impeachment of the President, this +committee attracted public attention to a degree never known before. + +The interests of manufactures were not likely to suffer in the hands +of a committee in which the first place was held by James K. Moorhead, +tanner's apprentice, and pioneer of cotton manufactures in +Pennsylvania, and the second by Oakes Ames, a leading manufacturer of +Massachusetts. + +Agriculture--the most gigantic material interest in America--was +intrusted to a committee having John Bidwell, of California, as its +chairman, and members chosen from Iowa, Indiana, Vermont, Ohio, +Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. + +The chairmanship of the Committee on Military Affairs was bestowed +upon a major-general of volunteers from Ohio, Robert C. Schenck; while +membership on the committee was given to a Connecticut colonel, Henry +C. Deming; a New Hampshire brigadier-general, Gilman Marston; a +Kentucky major-general, Lovell H. Rousseau; a New York Colonel, John +H. Ketchum, and four civilians. + +Nathaniel P. Banks, Henry J. Raymond, and other men of much ability, +were appointed on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. + +Special committees were appointed on the important subjects of +Bankruptcy and the Freedmen. Of the committee on the former, Thomas A. +Jenckes was appointed chairman. Thomas D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, was +made chairman of the Committee on the Freedmen. + +Many other committees were appointed whose labors were arduous and +necessary to our legislation, yet, as they had to do with subjects of +no great general interest, they need not be named. + +There was another committee, however, of great importance whose +members were not yet designated. The resolution by which it should be +created, was yet to pass through the ordeal of discussion. The process +by which this committee was created will be described in the following +chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FORMATION OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION. + + Lack of Excitement -- Cause -- The Resolution -- Dilatory + Motions -- Yeas and Nays -- Proposed Amendments in the + Senate -- Debate in the Senate -- Mr. Howard -- Mr. Anthony + -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. + Hendricks -- Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Guthrie -- Passage of the + Resolution in the Senate -- Yeas and Nays -- Remarks of Mr. + Stevens on the Amendments of the Senate -- Concurrence of + the House -- The Committee appointed. + + +Since it was known throughout the country that members-elect from +Tennessee and other States recently in rebellion would appear at +Washington on the opening of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and demand +recognition of their right to represent their constituents, all eyes +were turned to observe the action which would be taken on the subject. +It was anticipated that the question would be sprung at once, and that +a season of storm and excitement would ensue, unparalleled in the +political history of the nation. Since the American people are +exceedingly fond of excitements and sensations, the expectation of +trouble in Congress drew immense numbers to its galleries on the first +day of the session. Lovers of sensation were doomed to disappointment. +Correspondents and reporters for the press, who were prepared to +furnish for the newspapers descriptions of an opening of Congress +"dangerously boisterous," were compelled to describe it as +"exceptionally quiet." + +The cause of this unexpected state of things was the fact that the +majority had previously come to the wise conclusion that it would not +be well to pass upon the admission of Southern members in open session +and amid the confusion of organization. As there was so much +difference of opinion concerning the _status_ of the communities +recently in rebellion, and such a variety of considerations must be +regarded in reaching wise conclusions, it was deemed advisable that +the whole subject should be calmly and deliberately investigated by a +select number of able and patriotic men from both Houses of Congress. + +Accordingly, on the first day of the session, soon after the House was +organized, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens offered the following important +RESOLUTION: + + "_Resolved_, by the Senate and House of Representatives in + Congress assembled, that a joint committee of fifteen + members shall be appointed, nine of whom shall be members of + the House, and six members of the Senate, who shall inquire + into the condition of the States which formed the so-called + Confederate States of America, and report whether they or + any of them are entitled to be represented in either House + of Congress, with leave to report at any time by bill or + otherwise; and until such report shall have been made, and + finally acted upon by Congress, no member shall be received + into either House from any of the said so-called Confederate + States; and all papers relating to the representation of the + said States shall be referred to the said committee without + debate." + +To avoid the delay occasioned by a protracted debate, Mr. Stevens +called the previous question. The minority perceived the impossibility +of preventing the final passage of the resolution, yet deemed it their +duty to put it off as far as possible by their only available +means--"dilatory motions." They first objected to the introduction of +the resolution, under the rule that unanimous consent must be given to +permit a resolution to come before the House without notice given on a +previous day. To meet this difficulty, Mr. Stevens moved to suspend +the rules to enable him to introduce the resolution. On this motion +the yeas and nays were demanded. To suspend the rules under such +circumstances required a two-thirds' vote, which was given--one +hundred and twenty-nine voting for, and thirty-five against the +motion. The rules having been suspended, the resolution was regularly +before the House. A motion was then made to lay the resolution on the +table, and the yeas and nays demanded. Thirty-seven were in favor of +the motion, and one hundred and thirty-three against it. Before a call +for the previous question is available to cut off debate, it must, by +the rules of the House, be seconded by one-fifth of the members +present. This having been done, the vote was taken by yeas and nays on +the concurrent resolution submitted by Mr. Stevens. One hundred and +thirty-three voted in favor of the resolution, and thirty-six against +it, while thirteen were reported as "not voting." As this vote was on +an important measure, and is significant as marking with considerable +accuracy the political complexion of the House of Representatives, it +should be given in detail. + +The following are the names of those who voted "Yea:" + + Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Baker, Baldwin, + Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, + Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, + Bundy, Reader W. Clark, Sidney Clark, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, + Cullom, Culver, Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, + Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, + Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, + Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, + Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, John H. + Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, James R. + Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, + Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketchum, Kuykendall, Laflin, + Latham, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, + Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, + McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, + Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orthe, Paine, Patterson, Perham, + Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Price, William H. Randall, Raymond, + Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, + Scofield, Shellabarger, Smith, Spaulding, Starr, Stevens, + Stilwell, Thayer, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van + Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu + B. Washburne, Welker, Wentworth, Whaley, Williams, James F. + Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge. + +The following members voted "Nay:" + + Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Dawson, + Denison, Eldridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Grider, + Aaron Harding, Hogan, James M. Humphrey, Johnson, Kerr, Le + Blond, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Radford, + Samuel J. Randall, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Shanklin, + Sitgreaves, Strouse, Tabor, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, + Winfield, and Wright. + +The following are reported as "not voting:" + + Messrs. Delos R. Ashley, James M. Ashley, Blaine, Farquhar, + Harris, Edwin N. Hubbell, Jones, Marshall, Plants, Rousseau, + Sloan, Francis Thomas, Voorhees, and William B. Washburn. + +Thus the resolution passed the House. The immense size of this body +required that, by stringent rule, debate should have limitation, and +even sometimes be cut off altogether by the operation of previous +question. This arrangement enabled skillful and resolute leaders to +carry through this measure within an hour's time, whereas, in the +Senate, a body of less than one-third the size, it passed after a +delay of several days, and at the end of a discussion of considerable +length. + +On the day following the passage of the resolution in the House of +Representatives, it was read in the Senate. Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, +objecting to its being considered on the day of its reception, under a +regulation of the Senate it was postponed. + +After the lapse of a week, on Tuesday, December 12, the resolution was +taken up for consideration in the Senate. Mr. Anthony moved to amend +the enacting clause so as to change it from a joint resolution to a +concurrent resolution, since, under its original shape, it would +require the President's approval. + +This amendment having been made, Mr. Anthony moved to further amend +the resolution by striking out all after the word "otherwise." The +following are the words proposed to be stricken out: + + "And until such report shall have been made and finally + acted on by Congress, no member shall be received into + either house from any of the said so-called Confederate + States; and all papers relating to the representation of + said States shall be referred to the said committee without + debate." + +Mr. Howard, of Michigan, preferred the resolution as it came from the +House of Representatives. "It contains within itself a pledge on the +part of the two houses, that until the report of this important +committee shall have been presented, we will not reädmit any of the +rebel States, either by the recognition of their Senators or their +Representatives. I think the country expects nothing less than this at +our hands. I think that portion of the loyal people of the United +States who have sacrificed so much of blood and treasure in the +prosecution of the war, and who secured to us the signal victory which +we have achieved over the rebellion, have a right to at least this +assurance at our hands, that neither house of Congress will recognize +as States any one of the rebel States until the event to which I have +alluded. + +"Sir, what is the present position and _status_ of the rebel States? +In my judgment they are simply conquered communities, subjugated by +the arms of the United States; communities in which the right of +self-government does not now exist. Why? Because they have been for +the last four years hostile, to the most surprising unanimity hostile, +to the authority of the United States, and have, during that period, +been waging a bloody war against that authority. They are simply +conquered communities, and we hold them, as we know well, as the world +knows to-day, not by their own free will and consent as members of the +Union, but solely by virtue of our military power, which is executed +to that effect throughout the length and breadth of the rebel States. +There is in those States no rightful authority, according to my view, +at this time, but that of the United States; and every political act, +every governmental act exercised within their limits, must necessarily +be exercised and performed under the sanction and by the will of the +conqueror. + +"In short, sir, they are not to-day loyal States; their population are +not willing to-day, if we are rightly informed, to perform peaceably, +quietly, and efficiently the duties which pertain to the population of +a State in the Union and of the Union; and for one I can not consent +to recognize them, even indirectly, as entitled to be represented in +either house of Congress at this time. The time has not yet come, in +my judgment, to do this. I think that, under present circumstances, it +is due to the country that we should give them the assurance that we +will not thus hastily reädmit to seats in the legislative bodies here +the representatives of constituencies who are still hostile to the +authority of the United States. I think that such constituencies are +not entitled to be represented here." + +Mr. Anthony, of Rhode Island, said: "The amendment was proposed from +no opposition to what I understand to be the purpose of the words +stricken out. That purpose I understand to be that both houses shall +act in concert in any measures which they may take for the +reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion. I think that that +object is eminently desirable, and not only that the two houses shall +act in concert, but that Congress shall act in concert with the +Executive; that all branches of the Government shall approach this +great question in a spirit of comprehensive patriotism, with +confidence in each other, with a conciliatory temper toward each +other, and that each branch of the Government will be ready, if +necessary, to concede something of their own views in order to meet +the views of those who are equally charged with the responsibility of +public affairs. + +"The words proposed to be stricken out refer to the joint committee of +the two houses of Congress matters which the Constitution confides to +each house separately. Each house is made, by the Constitution, the +judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own +members. + +"There is one other reason why I move this amendment, and that is, +that the resolution provides that papers shall be referred to this +committee without debate. This is contrary to the practice of the +Senate. The House of Representatives has found it necessary, for the +orderly transaction of its business, to put limitations upon debate, +hence the previous question and the hour rule; but the Senate has +always resisted every proposition of this kind, and submitted to any +inconvenience rather than check free discussion. Senators around me, +who were here in the minority, felt that the right of debate was a +very precious one to them at that time, and, as it was not taken from +them, they are not disposed to take it from the minority now. + +"The purpose of all that is stricken out can be effected by the +separate action of the two houses, if they shall so elect. The House +of Representatives, having passed this resolution by a great vote, +will undoubtedly adopt, in a separate resolution, what is here +stricken out; and, except so far as relates to the restriction upon +debate, I shall, if this amendment be adopted and the resolution +passed, offer a resolution substantially declaring it to be the +opinion of the Senate that, until this committee reports--presuming +that it will report in a reasonable time--no action should be taken +upon the representation of the States lately in rebellion." + +Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, said: "All of these great questions, +concerning reconstruction, pacification, and restoration of civil +government in the Southern States, representation in this body, or any +thing which concerns of Federal relations with the several States, +ought to be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Such has been +the practice of this Government from the beginning. Great questions of +constitutional law, questions concerning the relations of the Union to +the States and the States to the Union, and above all, and without any +exception, all questions relating to representation in this body, to +its membership, have always been referred to the Judiciary Committee. + +"There is nothing in the history of the Senate, there is nothing in +the constitution of this committee, which would send these great +constitutional questions for advisement and consideration to any other +committee than the Committee on the Judiciary. To place their +consideration in the hands of a committee which is beyond the control +of the Senate, is to distrust ourselves; and to vote to send their +consideration to any other committee, is equivalent to a vote of want +of confidence in the Judiciary Committee. + +"I object to this resolution, because, upon these great questions +which are to go to the joint committee, the Senate does not stand upon +an equality with the House. This resolution provides that, of the +joint committee of fifteen, nine shall be appointed by the House of +Representatives, six only by the Senate, giving to the House portion +of the committee a majority of three. We all know that in joint +committees the members vote, not as the representatives of the two +houses, but _per capita_. The vote of a member of the committee from +the House weighs precisely the same as the vote of a member of the +committee from the Senate; so that, to all intents and purposes, if we +pass this concurrent resolution, which we can not repeal but by the +concurrence of the other house, we place the consideration of these +grave questions in the hands of a committee which we can not control, +and in which we have no equal voice. + +"Under the Constitution, upon all subjects of legislation but one, the +two houses are equal and coördinate branches of Congress. That one +relates to their representation in the bodies, to their membership, +that which constitutes their existence, which is essential to their +life and their independence. That is confided to each house, and to +each house alone, to act for itself. It judges for itself upon the +elections, returns, and qualifications of its members. It judges, it +admits, it punishes, it expels. It can not share that responsibility +with any other department of the Government. It can no more share it +with the other house than it can share it with the Supreme Court or +with the President. It is a matter over which its jurisdiction is +exclusive of every other jurisdiction. It is a matter in which its +decisions, right or wrong, are absolute and without appeal. In my +opinion the Senate of the United States can not give to a committee +beyond its control this question of the representation in this body, +without a loss of its self-respect, its dignity, its independence; +without an abandonment of its constitutional duty and a surrender of +its constitutional powers. + +"There is another provision in this resolution, as it stands, that we +shall refer every paper to the committee without debate. Yes, sir, the +Senate of the United States is to be led like a lamb to the slaughter, +bound hand and foot, shorn of its constitutional power, and gagged, +dumb; like the sheep brought to the block! Is this the condition to +which the Senator from Michigan proposes to reduce the Senate of the +United States by insisting upon such a provision as that contained in +the resolution as it comes from the House of Representatives? + +"There is a still graver objection to this resolution as it stands. +The provision that 'until such report shall have been made and finally +acted on by Congress, no member shall be received into either house +from any of the so-called Confederate States,' is a provision which, +by law, excludes those eleven States from their representation in the +Union. Sir, pass that resolution as it stands, and let it receive the +signature of the President, and you have accomplished what the +rebellion could not accomplish, what the sacrifice of half a million +men could not accomplish in warring against this Government--you have +dissolved the Union by act of Congress. Sir, are we prepared to +sanction that? I trust never. + +"The Senator from Michigan talks about the _status_ of these States. +He may very properly raise the question whether they have any +Legislatures that are capable of electing Senators to this body. That +is a question of fact to be considered; but as to whether they are +States, and States still within the Union, notwithstanding their civil +form of government has been overturned by the rebellion, and their +Legislatures have been disorganized, that they are still States in +this Union is the most sacred truth and the dearest truth to every +American heart, and it will be maintained by the American people +against all opposition, come from what quarter it may. Sir, the flag +that now floats on the top of this Capitol bears thirty-six stars. +Every star represents a State in this Union. I ask the Senator from +Michigan, does that flag, as it floats there, speak the nation's truth +to our people and to the world, or is it a hypocritical, flaunting +lie? That flag has been borne at the head of our conquering legions +through the whole South, planted at Vicksburg, planted at Columbia, +Savannah, Charleston, Sumter; the same old flag which came down before +the rebellion at Sumter was raised up again, and it still bore the +same glorious stars; 'not a star obscured,' not one. + +"These people have been disorganized in their civil governments in +consequence of the war; the rebels overturned civil government in the +first place, and we entered with our armies and captured the +rebellion; but did that destroy the States? Not at all. We entered the +States to save them, not to destroy them. The guarantee of the +Constitution is a guarantee to the States, and to every one of the +States, and the obligation that rests upon us is to guarantee to South +Carolina a republican form of government as a State in this Union, and +not as a Territory. No State nor the people of any State had any power +to withdraw from the Union. They could not do it peacefully; they +undertook to do it by arms. We crushed the attempt; we trampled their +armies under our feet; we captured the rebellion; the States are ours; +and we entered them to save, and not to destroy. + +"The Constitution of the United States requires the President, from +time to time, to give to Congress information of the state of the +Union. Who has any right to presume that the President will not +furnish the information which his constitutional duty requires? He has +at his control all the agencies which are necessary. There is the able +Cabinet who surround him, with all the officers appointed under them: +the post-masters under the Post-office Department, the treasury agents +under the Treasury Department, and almost two hundred thousand men +under the control of the War Department, in every part of this +'disaffected' region, who can bring to the President information from +every quarter of all the transactions that exist there. That the +President of the United States will be sustained, in the views which +he takes in his message, by the people of this country, is as certain +as the revolutions of the earth; and it is our duty to act +harmoniously with him, to sustain him, to hold up his hands, to +strengthen his heart, to speak to him words of faith, friendship, and +courage. + +"I know that in all these Southern States there are a thousand things +to give us pain, sometimes alarm, but notwithstanding the bad +appearance which from time to time presents itself in the midst of +that boiling caldron of passion and excitement which the war has left +still raging there, the real progress which we have made has been most +wonderful. I am one of those who look forward with hope, for I believe +God reigns and rules in the affairs of mankind. I look beyond the +excitement of the hour and all the outbreaking passion which sometimes +shows itself in the South, which leads them to make enactments in +their Legislatures which are disgraceful to themselves, and can never +be sanctioned by the people of this country, and also in spite of all +the excitement of the North, I behold the future full of confidence +and hope. We have only to come up like men, and stand as the real +friends of the country and the Administration, and give to the policy +of the President a fair and substantial trial, and all will be well." + +Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, then remarked: "When this resolution was +first promulgated in the newspapers as having been agreed upon, I +approved it because I sympathized with its object and purpose. I did +not examine it particularly; but, looking simply at what it was +designed for, it met my approbation simply for this reason: that this +question of the reädmission of these Confederate States, so called, +and all the questions connected with that subject, I conceived to be +of infinite importance, requiring calm and serious consideration, and +I believe that the appointment of a committee, carefully selected by +the two houses, to take that subject into consideration, was not only +wise in itself, but an imperative duty resting upon the +representatives of the people in the two branches of Congress. For +myself, I was not prepared to act upon that question at once. I am not +one of those who pin their faith upon any body, however eminent in +position, or conceive themselves obliged, on a question of great +national importance, to follow out any body's opinions simply because +he is in a position to make those opinions, perhaps, somewhat more +imperative than any other citizen of the republic. Talk about the +Administration! Sir, we are a part of the Administration, and a very +important part of it. I have no idea of abandoning the prerogatives, +the rights, and the duties of my position in favor of any body, +however that person or any number of persons may desire it. In saying +this, I am not about to express an opinion upon the subject any +further than I have expressed it, and that is, that in questions of +such infinite importance as this, involving the integrity and welfare +of the republic in all future time, we are solemnly bound, and our +constituents will demand of us that we examine them with care and +fidelity, and act on our own convictions and not upon the convictions +of others. + +"I do not agree with the honorable Senator from Wisconsin, that by +passing a simple resolution raising a committee of our own body, and +referring to it certain papers, if we conclude to do so, we are +infringing upon the rights of any body or making an intimation with +regard to any policy that the President may have seen fit to adopt and +recommend to the country. Sir, I trust there are no such things as +exclusive friends of the President among us, or gentlemen who desire +to be so considered. I have as much respect for the President of the +United States probably as any man. I acted with him long, and I might +express the favorable opinions which I entertain of him here, if they +would not be out of place and in bad taste in this body. That I am +disposed and ready to support him to the best of my ability, as every +gentleman around me is, in good faith and with kind feeling in all +that he may desire that is consistent with my views of duty to the +country, giving him credit for intentions as good as mine, and with +ability far greater, I am ready to asseverate. + +"But, sir, I do not agree with the doctrine, and I desire to enter my +dissent to it now and here, that, because a certain line of policy has +been adopted by one branch of the Government, or certain views are +entertained by one branch of the Government, therefore, for that +reason alone and none other, that is to be tried, even if it is +against my judgment; and I do not say that it is or is not. That is a +question to be considered. I have a great respect, not for myself, +perhaps, but for the position which I hold as a Senator of the United +States; and no measure of Government, no policy of the President, or +of the head of a department, shall pass me while I am a Senator, if I +know it, until I have examined it and given my assent to it; not on +account of the source from which it emanates, but on account of its +own intrinsic merits, and because I believe it will result in the good +of my country. That is my duty as a Senator, and I fear no +misconstruction at home on this subject or any other. + +"Now, therefore, sir, I hope that, laying aside all these matters, +which are entirely foreign, we shall act upon this resolution simply +as a matter of business. No one has a right to complain of it that we +raise a committee for certain purposes of our own when we judge it to +be necessary. It is an imputation upon nobody; it is an insult to +nobody; it is not any thing which any sensible man could ever find +fault with, or be disposed to do so. It is our judgment, our +deliberate judgment, our friendly judgment--a course of action adopted +from regard to the good of the community, and that good of the +community comprehends the good of every individual in it." + +Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, said: "This resolution is very +objectionable to my mind. It is for the appointment of a committee of +the two houses to determine and to report upon what? The right of +representation of eleven States in this body. What determines the +rights of those States to representation here? Is it the views of the +members of the House of Representatives? Do we stand in need of any +light, however bright it may be, that may come from that distinguished +quarter? Are we going to ask them to illuminate us by wisdom, and +report the fact to us whether those States are entitled to +representation on this floor? + +"Mr. President, on the first day of your assemblage after the battle +of Manassas, you and they declared, by joint resolution, that the +object for which the war was waged was for no purpose of conquest or +subjugation, but it was to preserve the union of the States, and to +maintain the rights, dignity, and equality of the several States +unimpaired. While that war was being waged there was no action, either +of this house or of the House of Representatives, declaring that, when +it was over, the existence of those States should be ignored, or their +right to representation in Congress denied. Throughout the whole +contest the battle-cry was 'the preservation of the Union' and 'the +Union of the States.' If there was a voice then raised that those +States had ceased to have an existence in this body, it was so feeble +as to be passed by and totally disregarded. + +"Sir, suppose this committee should report that those States are not +entitled to representation in this body, are you bound by their +action? Is there not a higher law, the supreme law of the land, which +says if they be States that they shall each be entitled to two +Senators on this floor? And shall a report of a joint committee of the +two houses override and overrule the fundamental law of the land? Sir, +it is dangerous as a precedent, and I protest against it as an humble +member of this body. If they be not States, then the object avowed for +which the war was waged was false." + +Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, said: "I shall vote against this resolution +because it refers to a joint committee a subject which, according to +my judgment, belongs exclusively to the Senate. I know that the +resolution no longer provides in express terms that the Senate, +pending the continuance of the investigation of this committee, will +not consider the question of credentials from these States, but in +effect it amounts to that. The question is to be referred to the +committee, and according to usage, and it would seem to be the very +purpose of reference that the body shall not consider the subject +while the question is before them. I could not vote for a resolution +that refers to a joint committee a subject that this body alone can +decide. If there are credentials presented here, this body must decide +the question whether the person presenting the credentials is entitled +to a seat; and how can this body be influenced by any committee other +than a committee that it shall raise itself?" + +Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, then followed: "If I understood the +resolution as the Senator from Indiana does, I should certainly vote +with him; but I do not so understand it. It is simply a resolution +that a joint committee be raised to inquire into the condition of the +States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and +to report whether they or any of them are entitled to be represented +in either House of Congress, with leave to report at any time by bill +or otherwise. It is true, as the Senator says, that after having +raised this committee, the Senate will not be likely to take action in +regard to the admission of the Senators from any of these States until +the committee shall have had a reasonable time at least to act and +report; but it is very desirable that we should have joint action upon +this subject. It would produce a very awkward and undesirable state of +things if the House of Representatives were to admit members from one +of the lately rebellious States, and the Senate were to refuse to +receive Senators from the same State. + +"We all know that the State organizations in certain States of the +Union have been usurped and overthrown. This is a fact of which we +must officially take notice. There was a time when the Senator from +Indiana, as well as myself, would not have thought of receiving a +Senator from the Legislature, or what purported to be the Legislature, +of South Carolina. When the people of that State, by their +Representatives, undertook to withdraw from the Union and set up an +independent government in that State, in hostility to the Union, when +the body acting as a Legislature there was avowedly acting against +this Government, neither he nor I would have received Representatives +from it. That was a usurpation which, by force of arms, we have put +down. Now the question arises, Has a State government since been +inaugurated there entitled to representation? Is not that a fair +subject of inquiry? Ought we not to be satisfied upon that point? We +do not make such an inquiry in reference to members that come from +States which have never undertaken to deny their allegiance to the +Government of the United States. Having once been admitted as States, +they continue so until by some positive act they throw off their +allegiance, and assume an attitude of hostility to the Government, and +make war upon it; and while in that condition, I know we should all +object that they, of course, could not be represented in the Congress +of the United States. Now, is it not a proper subject for inquiry to +ascertain whether they have assumed a position in harmony with the +Government? and is it not proper that that inquiry should be made the +subject of joint action?" + +Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, wished to ask the friends of this resolution +if it was contemplated that this committee should take evidence, and +report that evidence to the two houses. "If," said he, "they are only +to take what is open to every member of the Senate, the fact that the +rebellion has been suppressed; the fact that the President of the +United States has appointed officers to collect the taxes, and, in +some instances, judges and other officers; that he has sent the +post-office into all the States; that there have been found enough +individuals loyal to the country to accept the offices; the fact that +the President has issued his proclamation to all these States, +appointing Provisional Governors; that they have all elected +conventions; that the conventions have rescinded the ordinances of +secession; that most of them have amended their constitutions and +abolished slavery, and the Legislatures of some of them have passed +the amendment to the Constitution on the subject of slavery--if they +are only to take these facts, which are open and clear to us all, I +can see no necessity for such a committee. My principal objection to +the resolution is, that this committee can give us no information +which we do not now possess, coupled with the fact that the loyal +conservative men of the United States, North, South, East, and West, +do most earnestly desire that we shall so act that there shall be no +longer a doubt that we are the United States of America, in full +accord and harmony with each other. + +"I know it has been said that the President had no authority to do +these things. I read the Constitution and the laws of this country +differently. He is to 'take care that the laws be faithfully +executed;' he is to suppress insurrection and rebellion. The power is +put in his hands, and I do not see why, when he marches into a rebel +State, he has not authority to put down a rebel government and put up +a government that is friendly to the United States, and in accordance +with it. I do not see why he can not do that while the war goes on, +and I do not see why he may not do it after the war is over. The +people in those States lie at the mercy of the nation. I see no +usurpation in what he has done, and if the work is well done, I, for +one, am ready to accept it. Are we to send out a commission to see +what the men whom he has appointed have done? It is said that they are +not to be relied on; that they have been guilty of treason, and we +will not trust them. I hope that no such ideas will prevail here. I +think this will be a cold shock to the warm feelings of the nation for +restoration, for equal privileges and equal rights. They were in +insurrection. We have suppressed that insurrection. They are now +States of the Union; and if they come here according to the laws of +the States, they are entitled, in my judgment, to representation, and +we have no right to refuse it. They are in a minority, and they would +be in a minority even if they meant now what they felt when they +raised their arms against the Government; but they do not, and of +those whom they will send here to represent them, nineteen out of +twenty will be just as loyal as any of us--even some of those who took +up arms against us. + +"I really hope to see some one move a modification of the test oath, +so that those who have repented of their disloyalty may not be +excluded, for I really believe that a great many of those who took up +arms honestly and wished to carry out the doctrines of secession, and +who have succumbed under the force of our arms and the great force of +public opinion, can be trusted a great deal more than those who did +not fight at all. + +"To conclude, gentlemen, I see no great harm in this resolution except +the procrastination that will result from it, and that will give us +nothing but what we have before us." + +The question being taken, the resolution, as amended, passed the +Senate, thirty-three voting in the affirmative and eleven in the +negative. The following are the names of those who voted for the +resolution: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Creswell, + Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Howard, Howe, Lane + of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Norton, Nye, + Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, + Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, and + Yates. + +The following Senators voted against the resolution: + + Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Guthrie, + Hendricks, Johnson, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and Wright. + +Five Senators were absent: Messrs. Cragin, Davis, Henderson, +McDougall, and Nesmith. + +On the day succeeding the adoption of the concurrent resolution by the +Senate, the amendments of that body came before the House of +Representatives. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens moved that the House concur in +the amendments of the Senate. He said: "The Senate took what to them +appeared to be the proper view of their prerogatives, and, though they +did not seem to differ with us as to the main object, the mode of +getting at it with them was essential, and they very properly put the +resolution in the shape they considered right. They have changed the +form of the resolution so as not to require the assent of the +President; and they have also considered that each house should +determine for itself as to the reference of papers, by its own action +at the time. To this I see no objection, and, while moving to concur, +I will say now, that when it is in order I shall move, or some other +gentleman will move when his State is called, a resolution precisely +similar, or very nearly similar, to the provision which the Senate has +stricken out, only applicable to the House alone." + +The House then concurred in the amendments of the Senate, so the +resolution passed in the following form: + + "_Resolved_, by the House of Representatives (the Senate + concurring), That a joint committee of fifteen members shall + be appointed, nine of whom shall be members of the House, + and six members of the Senate, who shall inquire into the + condition of the States which formed the so-called + Confederate States of America, and report whether they, or + any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house + of Congress, with leave to report at any time, by bill or + otherwise." + +A resolution subsequently passed the House, "That all papers offered +relative to the representation of the late so-called Confederate +States of America, shall be referred to the joint committee of fifteen +without debate, and no members shall be admitted from either of said +so-called States until Congress shall declare such States entitled to +representation." + +On the fourteenth of December the Speaker announced the names of the +committee on the part of the House. They were: Thaddeus Stevens, Elihu +B. Washburn, Justin S. Morrill, Henry Grider, John A. Bingham, Roscoe +Conkling, George S. Boutwell, Henry T. Blow, and Andrew J. Rogers. + +On the twenty-first of December the following gentlemen were announced +as members of the committee on the part of the Senate: William Pitt +Fessenden, James W. Grimes, Ira Harris, Jacob M. Howard, Reverdy +Johnson, and George H. Williams. + +Thus, before the adjournment of Congress for the holidays, the Joint +Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction had been appointed and +empowered to proceed with investigations of the utmost importance to +the country. Hated by the late insurgents of the South, who expected +little leniency at its hands; opposed by politicians at the North, who +viewed it as an obstacle in the way of their designs, and even +misrepresented by the President himself, who stigmatized it as a +"Central Directory," this committee went forward in the discharge of +its important duties, without fear or favor, having a marked influence +upon the doings of Congress and the destinies of the country. + +Meanwhile other important measures were enlisting the attention of +Congress, and were proceeding, by the slow but steady steps of +parliamentary progress, to their final consummation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SUFFRAGE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. + + Duty of Congress to legislate for the District of Columbia + -- Suffrage Bill introduced into the House -- Speech by Mr. + Wilson -- Mr. Boyer -- Mr. Schofield -- Mr. Kelley -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Farnsworth -- Mr. Davis -- Mr. Chanler -- Mr. + Bingham -- Mr. Grinnell -- Mr. Kasson -- Mr. Julian -- Mr. + Thomas -- Mr. Darling -- Mr. Hale's amendment -- Mr. Thayer + -- Mr. Van Horn -- Mr. Clarke -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. + Boutwell. + + +Whatever differences of opinion may exist as to the authority of +Congress to legislate for States loyal or disloyal, or for +Territories, there is entire unanimity as to the power and duty of +Congress to enact laws for the District of Columbia. Here there is no +countercurrent of "reserved rights" or "State sovereignty" opposed to +the authority of Congress. + +Congress being responsible for the legislation of the District of +Columbia, we naturally look in that direction for an exhibition in +miniature of the policy of the national legislature on questions +relating to the interests of the nation at large. If slavery +flourished and the slave-market existed in the capital, it was because +a majority of the people of the United States were willing. So soon as +the nation became anti-slavery, the "peculiar institution" could no +longer exist in the District of Columbia, although it might still +survive in other localities. + +The General Government having become completely disenthralled from the +dominion of slavery, and a wide-spread opinion prevailing at the North +that all loyal men should enjoy the right of suffrage, the members of +the Thirty-ninth Congress convened with a sense of duty impelling them +to begin the great work of political reform at the capital itself. +Hence Mr. Wade, as we have seen, on the first day of the session, +introduced "Senate bill Number One," designed, as its title declared, +"to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia." In +the House of Representatives, on the second day of the session, Mr. +Kelley introduced "a bill extending the right of suffrage in the +District of Columbia." This bill was referred to the Judiciary +Committee. + +In the House of Representatives, on the 18th of December, Mr. Wilson, +chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, reported a bill extending +the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia. The bill provided +that from all laws and parts of laws prescribing the qualification of +electors for any office in the District of Columbia, the word "white" +should be stricken out; also, that from and after the passage of the +bill, no person should be disqualified from voting at any election +held in the District of Columbia on account of color; also, that all +acts of Congress, and all laws of the State of Maryland in force in +the District of Columbia, and all ordinances of the cities of +Washington and Georgetown inconsistent with the provisions of the +bill, should be repealed and annulled. + +This bill was made the special order for Wednesday the 10th of +January. + +Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, whose duty it was, as chairman of the Judiciary +Committee, to report the bill, opened the discussion by speaking as +follows in favor of the measure: + +"Can we excuse ourselves in continuing a limitation on the right of +suffrage in the capital of the republic that has no justification in +reason, justice, or in the principles on which we profess to have +based our entire political system? Upon this question there seems to +have been but little difference of opinion among the men who laid the +foundation and built the superstructure of this Government. In those +days no limitation was placed upon the enjoyment of the defensive +rights of the citizen, including the right of suffrage, on account of +the color of the skin, except in the State of South Carolina. All of +the other States participating in the formation of the Government of +the United States had some limitation, based on sex, or age, or +property placed upon the right of suffrage; but none of them so far +forgot the spirit of our Constitution, the great words of the +Declaration of Independence, or the genius of our institutions, as to +inquire into the color of a citizen before allowing him the great +defensive right of the ballot. It is true, that as the republic moved +off in its grand course among the nations a change occurred in the +minds and practices of the people of a majority of the States. The +love of liberty, because of its own great self, and not because of its +application to men of a particular color, lost its sensitive character +and active vitality. The moral sense of the people became dormant +through the malign influence of that tolerated enemy to all social and +governmental virtue, human slavery. The public conscience slumbered, +its eyes closed with dollars and its ears stuffed with cotton. When +these things succeeded the active justice, abounding mercy, and love +of human rights of the earlier days, State after State fell into the +dark line of South Carolinian oppression, and adopted her +anti-republican limitation of the right of suffrage. A few States +stood firm and kept their faith, and to-day, when compared with the +bruised and peeled and oppression-cursed State of South Carolina, +stand forth as shining examples of the great rewards that are poured +upon the heads of the just. Massachusetts and South Carolina, the one +true, the other false to the faith and ideas of the early life of the +nation, should teach us how safe it is to do right, and how dangerous +it is to do wrong; how much safer it is to do justice than it is to +practice oppression. + +"But, sir, not the States alone fell into this grievous error. The +General Government took its stand upon the side of injustice, and +apostatized from the true faith of the nation, by depriving a portion +of its citizens of the political right of self-defense, the use of the +ballot. What good has come to us from this apostasy? Take the history +of the municipal government of this city, and what is there in its +pages to make an American feel proud of the results of this departure +from the principles of true democracy? Is there a worse governed city +in all the republic? Where in all the country was there to be found +such evidences of thriftless dependence as in this city before the +cold breath of the North swept down here during the rebellion and +imparted a little of 'Yankee' vigor to its business and population? +Where within the bounds of professed fidelity to the Government was +true loyalty at a lower ebb, and sympathy with the rebellion at higher +flood; freedom more hated, and emancipation more roundly denounced; +white troops harder to raise, and black ones more heartily despised; +Union victories more coldly received, and reverses productive of less +despondency, than right among that portion of the voting population +and its adjuncts which control the local elections in this District? +With what complaisance the social elements of this capital fostered +the brood of traitors who rushed hence to the service of the rebellion +in 1861! Are these fruits of our errors pleasing? + +"I would not be vindictive, I would be just. I do not want to +legislate against the white citizen for the purpose of advancing the +interests of the colored citizen. It is best to guard against all such +legislation. Let the laws which we pass here be of such pure +republican character, that no person can tell from the reading of them +what color is stamped upon the faces of the citizens of the United +States. Let us have no class legislation, no class privileges. Let our +laws be just and uniform in their operation. This is the smooth sea +upon which our ship of state may sail; all others are tempestuous and +uncertain. + +"And now, Mr. Speaker, who are the persons upon whom this bill will +operate, if we shall place it upon the statute-book of the nation? +They are citizens of the United States and residents of the District +of Columbia. It is true that many of them have black faces, but that +is God's work, and he is wiser than we. Some of them have faces marked +by colors uncertain; that is not God's fault. Those who hate black men +most intensely can tell more than all others about this mixture of +colors. But, mixed or black, they are citizens of this republic, and +they have been, and are to-day, true and loyal to their Government; +and this is vastly more than many of their contemners can claim for +themselves. In this District a white skin was not the badge of loyalty +while a black skin was. No traitor breathed the air of this capital +wearing a black skin. Through all the gradations of traitors, from +Wirz to Jeff. Davis, criminal eyes beamed from white faces. Through +all phases of treason, from the bold stroke of Lee upon the +battle-field to the unnatural sympathy of those who lived within this +District, but hated the sight of their country's flag, runs the blood +which courses only under a white surface. While white men were fleeing +from this city to join their fortunes with the rebel cause, the +returning wave brought black faces in their stead. White enemies went +out, black friends came in. As true as truth itself were these poor +men to the cause of this imperiled nation. Wherever we have trusted +them, they have been true. Why will we not deal justly by them? Why +shall we not, in this District, where the first effective legislative +blow fell upon slavery, declare that these suffering, patient, devoted +friends of the republic shall have the power to protect their own +rights by their own ballots? Is it because they are ignorant? Sir, we +are estopped from that plea. It comes too late. We did not make this +inquiry in regard to the white voter. It is only when we see a man +with a dark skin that we think of ignorance. Let us not stand on this +now in relation to this District. The fact itself is rapidly passing +away, for there is no other part of the population of the District so +diligent in the acquisition of knowledge as the colored portion. In +spite of the difficulties placed in their pathway to knowledge by the +white residents, the colored people, adults and children, are pressing +steadily on. + +"Taken as a class, they surely show themselves possessed of enough of +the leaven of thrift, education, morality, and religion to render it +safe for us to make the experiment of impartial suffrage here. Let us +make the trial. A failure can work no great harm, for to us belongs +the power to make any change which the future may show to be +necessary. How can we tell whether success or failure shall be the +fruit of a practical application of the principles upon which our +institutions rest, unless we put them to a fair test? Give every man a +fair chance to show how well he can discharge the duties of fully +recognized citizenship. This is the way to solve the problem, and in +no other way can it be determined. That success will attend the +experiment I do not doubt. Others believe the result will prove quite +the reverse. Who is right and who wrong can be ascertained only by +putting the two opinions to a practical test. The passage of this bill +will furnish this test, and to that end I ask for it the favorable +consideration of this house." + +Mr. Boyer, of Pennsylvania, said: "The design of this bill is to +inaugurate here, upon this most conspicuous stage, the first act of +the new political drama which is intended to culminate in the complete +political equality of the races and the establishment of negro +suffrage throughout the States. Constitutional amendments with this +view have been already introduced at both ends of the Capitol. The +object of the leaders of this movement is no longer concealed; and if +there is any thing in their action to admire, it is the candor, +courage, and ability with which they press their cause. The agitation +is to go on until the question has been settled by the country, and it +may as well be met here upon the threshold. The monstrous proposition +is nothing less than the absorption into the body politic of the +nation of a colored population equal to one-sixth of all the +inhabitants of the country, as the census reports will show. Four +millions of the population so to be amalgamated have been just set +free from a servitude, the debasing influences of which have many a +time been vividly depicted in the anti-slavery speeches of the very +men who are the most prominent champions of this new political +gospel. + +"The argument in favor of the American negro's right to vote must be +measured by his capacity to understand and his ability to use such +right for the promotion of the public good. And that is the very +matter in dispute. But the point does not turn simply upon the +inferiority of the negro race; for differences without inferiority may +unfit one race for political or social assimilation with another, and +render their fusion in the same government incompatible with the +general welfare. It is, as I conceive, upon these principles that we +must settle the question whether this is a white man's government. + +"The negro has no history of civilization. From the earliest ages of +recorded time he has ever been a savage or a slave. He has populated +with teeming millions the vast extent of a continent, but in no +portion of it has he ever emerged from barbarism, and in no age or +country has he ever established any other stable government than a +despotism. But he is the most obedient and happy of slaves. + +"Of all men, the negroes themselves are best contented with their +situation. They are not the prime movers in the agitations which +concern them. An examination of the tables of the last census will +demonstrate that they do not attach much importance to political +rights. It will be found that the free people of color are most +numerous in some of those States which accord them the fewest +political privileges; and in those States which have granted them the +right of suffrage they seem to see but few attractions. In Maryland +there were, in 1860, 83,942 free people of color; in Pennsylvania, +56,949; in Ohio, 36,673. In neither of those States were they voters. +In the State of New York, where they could not vote except under a +property qualification, which excluded the most of them, they numbered +49,005. But in Massachusetts, where they did then and do now vote, +there were but 9,602. And in all New England, (except Connecticut, +where they are not allowed to vote,) there were at the last census but +16,084. If the American negro, in his desire and capacity for +self-government, bore any resemblance to the Caucasian, he would +distinguish himself by emigration; and, spurning the soil which had +enslaved his race, he would seek equality and independence in a more +congenial clime. But the spirit of independence and hardy manhood +which brought the Puritans to the shores of a New England wilderness +he lacks. He will not even go to Massachusetts now, although, instead +of a stormy ocean, his barrier is only an imaginary State line, and +instead of a howling wilderness, he is invited to a land resounding +with the myriad voices of the industrial arts, and instead of painted +savages with uplifted tomahawks, he has reason to expect a crowd of +male and female philanthropists, with beaming faces and outstretched +hands, to welcome him and call him brother. There will he find +lecturers to prove his equality, and statesmen to claim him as an +associate ruler in the land. If he cares for these things, or is fit +for them, why does he linger outside upon the very borders of his +political Eden? Why does he not enter into it--avoiding Connecticut in +his route--and take possession? The fact is, that the fine political +theories set up in his behalf are not in accordance with the natural +instinct of the negro, which, in this particular, is truer than the +philosophy of his white advisers. + +"They are but superficial thinkers who imagine that the organic +differences of races can be obliterated by the education of the +schools. The qualities of races are perpetuated by descent, and are +the result of historical influences reaching far back into the +generations of the past. An educated negro is a negro still. The +cunning of the chisel of a Canova could not make an enduring +Corinthian column out of a block of anthracite; not because of its +color, but on account of the structure of its substance. He might +indeed, with infinite pains, give it the form, but he could not impart +to it the strength and adhesion of particles required to enable it to +brave the elements, and the temple it was made to support would soon +crumble into ruin." + +Mr. Schofield, of Pennsylvania, said: "The cheapest elevator and best +moralizer for an oppressed and degraded class is to inspire them with +self-respect, with the belief in the possibility of their elevation. +Bestow the elective franchise upon the colored population of this +District, and you awaken the hope and ambition of the whole race +throughout the country. Hitherto punishment has been the only +incentive to sobriety and industry furnished these people by American +law. They were kept too low to feel disgrace, and reward was +inconsistent with the theory of 'service owed.' Let us try now the +persuasive power of wages and protection. If colored suffrage is still +considered an experiment, this District is a good place in which to +try it. The same objections do not exist here that are urged on behalf +of some of the States. No constitutional question intervenes. Here, at +least, Congress is supreme. The law can be passed, and if it is found +to be bad, a majority can repeal it. The colored race is too small in +numbers here to endanger the supremacy of the white people, but large +and loyal enough to counteract to some extent disloyal proclivities. + +"Both the precept and practice of our fathers refute the allegation +that this is exclusively a white man's government. If we can not now +consent to so slight a recognition, as proposed by this bill, of the +great underlying theory of our Government, as declared and practiced +by our fathers, we are thrown back upon that new and monstrous +doctrine, that the five millions of our colored population, and their +posterity forever, have no rights that a white man is bound to +respect. + +"Who pronounces this crushing sentence? The political South. And what +is this South? The Southern master and his Northern minion. Have these +people wronged the South? Have they filled it with violence, outrage, +and murder? No, sir; they are remarkably gentle, patient, and +respectful. Have they despoiled its wealth or diminished its grandeur? +No, sir; their unpaid toil has made the material South. They removed +the forests, cleared the fields, built the dwellings, churches, +colleges, cities, highways, railroads, and canals. Why, then, does the +South hate and persecute these people? Because it has wronged them. +Injustice always hates its victim. They are forced to look to the +North for justice. And what is the North? Not the latitude of frosts; +not New England and the States that border on the lakes, the +Mississippi, and the Pacific. The geographical is lost in the +political meaning of the word. The North, in a political sense, means +justice, liberty, and union, and in the order in which I have named +them. Jefferson defined this 'North' when he wrote 'all men are +created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable +rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' +This North has no geographical boundaries. It embraces the friends of +freedom in every quarter of this great republic. Many of its bravest +champions hail from the geographical South. The North, that did not +fear the slave power in its prime, in the day of its political +strength and patronage, when it commanded alike the nation and the +mob, and for the same cruel purpose, will not be intimidated by its +expiring maledictions around this capital. The North must pass this +bill to vindicate its sincerity and its courage. The slave power has +already learned that the North is terrible in war, and forgiving and +gentle in peace; let its crushed and mangled victims learn from the +passage of this bill, that the justice of the North, unlimited by +lines of latitude, unlimited by color or race, slumbereth not." + +Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, followed: "In preparing to begin the work +of reconstructing the grandest of human governments, shattered for a +time by treason, and in endeavoring to ascertain what we should do, +and how and when it should be done, I have consulted no popular +impulse. Groping my way through the murky political atmosphere that +has prevailed for more than thirty years, I have seated myself at the +feet of the fathers of our country, that I might, as far as my +suggestions would go, make them in accordance with the principles of +those who constructed our Government. I can make no suggestion for the +improvement of the primary principles or general structure of our +Government, and I would heal its wounds so carefully that it should +descend to posterity unstained and unmarred as it came, under the +guidance of Providence, from the hands of those who fashioned it. + +[Illustration: Hon. William D. Kelley, representative from +Pennsylvania.] + +"For whom do we ask this legislation? In 1860, according to the +census, there were fourteen thousand three hundred and sixteen colored +people in this District, and we ask this legislation for the male +adults of that number. Are they in rags and filth and degradation? The +tax-books of the District will tell you that they pay taxes on +$1,250,000 worth of real estate, held within the limits of this +District. On one block, on which they pay taxes on fifty odd thousand +dollars, there are but two colored freeholders who have not bought +themselves out of slavery. One of them has bought as many as eight +persons beside himself--a wife and seven children. Coming to freedom +in manhood, mortgaged for a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars as his +own price, he has earned and carried to the Southern robber thousands +of dollars, the price extorted for his wife and children, and is now a +freeholder in this District. They have twenty-one churches, which they +own, and which they maintain at an annual cost of over twenty thousand +dollars. Their communing members number over forty-three hundred. In +their twenty-two Sunday-schools they gather on each Sabbath over three +thousand American children of African descent. They maintain, sir, to +the infamous disgrace of the American Congress and people, +thirty-three day schools, eight of which are maintained exclusively by +contributions from colored citizens of the District; the remainder by +their contributions, eked out by contributions from the generous +people of the North; and every dollar of their million and a quarter +dollars of real estate and personal property is taxed for schools to +educate the children of the white people of the District, the fathers +of many of those children having been absent during the war fighting +for the Confederacy and against our constitutional flag. Who shall +reproach them with being poor and ignorant while Congress, which has +exclusive jurisdiction over the District, has, till last year, robbed +them day by day, and barred the door of the public school against +them? Such reproach does not lie in the white man's mouth; at any +rate, no member of the Democratic party ought to utter it." + +The debate was continued on the day following. Mr. Rogers, of New +Jersey, having obtained the floor, addressed the House for two hours. +He said: "I hold that there never has been, in the legislation of the +United States, a bill which involved so momentous consequences as that +now under consideration, because nowhere in the history of this +country, from the time that the first reins of party strife were drawn +over the land, was any political party ever known to advocate the +doctrine now advocated by a portion of the party on the other side of +this House, except within the last year, and during the heat and +strife of battle in the land. The wisdom of ages for more than five +thousand years, and the most enlightened governments that ever existed +upon the face of the earth, have handed down to us that grand +principle that all governments of a civilized character have been and +were intended especially for the benefit of white men and white women, +and not for those who belong to the negro, Indian, or mulatto race. + +"It is the high prerogative which the political system of this country +has given to the masses, rich and poor, to exercise the right of +suffrage and declare, according to the honest convictions of their +hearts, who shall be the officers to rule over them. There is no +privilege so high, there is no right so grand. It lies at the very +foundation of this Government; and when you introduce into the social +system of this country the right of the African race to compete at the +ballot-box with the intelligent white citizens of this country, you +are disturbing and embittering the whole social system; you rend the +bonds of a common political faith; you break up commercial intercourse +and the free interchanges of trade, and you degrade the people of this +country before the eyes of the envious monarchs of Europe, and fill +our history with a record of degradation and shame. + +"Why, then, should we attempt at this time to inflict the system of +negro suffrage upon those who happen to be so unfortunate as to reside +in the District of Columbia? This city bears the name of George +Washington, the father of our country; and as it was founded by him, +so I wish to hand it down to those who shall come after us, preserving +that principle which declares that the sovereignty is in the white +people of the country, for whose benefit this Government was +established. I am not ready to believe that those men who have laid +down their lives in the battles of the late revolution, who came from +their homes like the torrents that sweep over their native hills and +mountains, those men who gathered round the sacred precincts of the +tomb of Washington to uphold and perpetuate our proud heritage of +liberty, intended to inflict upon the people of this District, or of +this land, the monstrous doctrine of political equality of the negro +race with the white at the ballot-box. + +"No such dogma as this was ever announced by the Republican party in +their platforms. When that party met at Chicago, in 1860, they took +pains to enunciate the great principle of self-government which +underlies the institutions of this country, that each State has the +right to control its own domestic policy according to its own judgment +exclusively. I ask the gentlemen on the other side of the house to +allow the people of the District of Columbia to exercise the same +great right of self-government, to determine by their votes at the +ballot-box whether they desire to inaugurate a system of political +equality with the colored people of the District. + +"Self-government was the great principle which impelled our fathers to +protest against the powers of King George. That was the principle +which led the brave army of George Washington across the ice of the +river Delaware. It was the principle which struck a successful blow +against despotism, and planted liberty upon this continent. It was the +principle that our fathers claimed the Parliament of England had no +right to invade, and drove the colonies into rebellion, because laws +were passed without their consent by a Parliament in which they were +unrepresented. + +"I am here to-day to plead for the white people of this District, upon +the same grounds taken by our fathers to the English Parliament, in +favor of self-government and the right of the people of the District +to be heard upon this all-important question. Although we may have a +legal yet we have no moral right, according to the immutable +principles of justice, and according to the declaration of Holy Writ, +that we should do unto others as we would they should do unto us, to +inflict upon the people of this District this fiendish doctrine of +political equality with a race that God Almighty never intended should +stand upon an equal footing with the white man and woman in social or +civil life." + +Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, replied: "He [Mr. Rogers] says this is a +white man's Government. 'A white man's Government!' Why, sir, did not +the Congress of the United States pass a law for enrolling into the +service of the United States the black man as well as the white man? +Did not we tax the black man as well as the white man? Does he not +contribute his money as well as his blood for the protection and +defense of the Government? O, yes; and now, when the black man comes +hobbling home upon his crutches and his wooden limbs, maimed for life, +bleeding, crushed, wounded, is he to be told by the people who called +him into the service of the Government, 'This is a white man's +Government; you have nothing to do with it?' Shame! I say, eternal +shame upon such a doctrine, and upon the men who advocate it! + +"What should be the test as to the right to exercise the elective +franchise? I contend that the only question to be asked should be, 'Is +he a man?' The test should be that of manhood, not that of color, or +races, or class. Is he endowed with conscience and reason? Is he an +immortal being? If these questions are answered in the affirmative, he +has the same right to protection that we all enjoy. + +"I am in favor, Mr. Speaker, of making suffrage equal and universal. I +believe that greater wisdom is concentrated in the decisions of the +ballot-box when all citizens of a certain age vote than when only a +part vote. If you apply a test founded on education or intelligence, +where will you stop? One man will say that the voter should be able to +read the Constitution and to write his name; another, that he should +be acquainted with the history of the United States; another will +demand a still higher degree of education and intelligence, until you +will establish an aristocracy of wisdom, which is one of the worst +kinds of aristocracy. Sir, the men who formed this Government, who +believed in the rights of human nature, and designed the Government to +protect them, believed, I think, as I do, that when suffrage is made +universal, you concentrate in the ballot-box a larger amount of wisdom +than when you exclude a portion of the citizens from the right of +suffrage. + +"I grant, sir, that many of the colored men whom I would enfranchise +are poor and ignorant, but we have made them so. We have oppressed +them by our laws. We have stolen them from their cradles and consigned +them to helpless slavery. The shackles are now knocked from their +limbs, and they emerge from the house of bondage and stand forth as +men. Let us now take the next grand step, a step which must commend +itself to our judgment and consciences. Let us clothe these men with +the rights of freemen, and give them the power to protect their +rights. + +"Sir, as I have already remarked, we have passed through a fiery +ordeal. There are but few homes within our land that are not made +desolate by the loss of a son or a father. The widow and the orphan +meet us wherever we turn. The maimed and crippled soldiers of the +republic are every-where seen. Many fair fields have become +cemeteries, where molder the remains of the noble men who have laid +down their lives in defense of our Government. We thought that we had +attained the crisis of our troubles during the progress of the war. +But it has been said that the ground-swell of the ocean after the +storm is often more dangerous to the mariner than the tempest itself; +and I am inclined to think that this is true in reference to the +present posture of our national affairs. The storm has apparently +subsided; but, sir, if we fail to do our duty now as a nation--and +that duty is so simple that a child can understand it; no elaborate +argument need enforce it, as no sophistry can conceal it; it is simply +to give to one man the same rights that we give to another--if we fail +now in this our plain duty as a nation, then the ship of state is in +more peril from this ground-swell on which we are riding than it was +during the fierce tempest of war. I trust that this Congress will have +the firmness and wisdom to guide the old ship safely into the haven of +peace and security. This we can do by fixing our eyes upon the guiding +star of our fathers--the equal rights of all men." + +The discussion was resumed on the following day, January 12, by Mr. +Davis, of New York: "Republican government can never rest safely, it +can never rest peacefully, upon any foundation save that of the +intelligence and virtue of its subjects. No government, republican in +form, was ever prosperous where its people were ignorant and debased. +And in this Government, where our fathers paid so much attention to +intelligence, to the cultivation of virtue, and to all considerations +which should surround and guard the foundations of the republic, I am +sure that we would do dishonor to their memory by conferring the +franchise upon men unfitted to receive it and unworthy to exercise it. + +"I am perfectly aware that in many States we have given the elective +franchise to the white man who is debased and ignorant. I regret it, +because I think that intelligence ought always, either as to the black +or the white man, to be made a test of suffrage. And I glory in the +principles that have been established by Massachusetts, which +prescribes, not that a man should have money in his purse, but that he +should have in his head a cultivated brain, the ability to read the +Constitution of his country, and intelligence to understand his rights +as a citizen. + +"I have never been one of those who believed that the black man had +'no rights that the white man was bound to respect.' I believe that +the black man in this country is entitled to citizenship, and, by +virtue of that citizenship, is entitled to protection, to the full +power of this Government, wherever he may be found on the face of +God's earth; that he has a right to demand that the shield of this +Government shall be held over him, and that its powers shall be +exerted on his behalf to the same extent as if he were the proudest +grandee of the land. But, sir, citizenship is one thing, and the right +of suffrage is another and a different thing; and in circumstances +such as exist around us, I am unwilling that general, universal, +unrestricted suffrage should be granted to the black men of this +District, as is proposed by the bill under consideration. + +"This whole subject is within the power of Congress, and if we grant +restricted privilege to-day, we can extend the exercise of that +privilege to-morrow. Public sentiment on this, as on a great many +subjects, is a matter of slow growth and development. That is the +history of the world. Development upon all great subjects is slow. The +development of the globe itself has required countless ages before it +was prepared for the introduction of man upon it. And take the +progress of the human race through the historic age--kingdoms and +empires, systems of social polity, systems of religion, systems of +science, have been of no rapid growth, but long centuries intervened +between their origin and their overthrow. + +"The Creator placed man on earth, not for the perfection of the +individual, but the race; and therefore he locked up the mysteries of +his power in the bosom of the earth and in the depths of the heavens, +rendering them invisible to mankind. He made man study those secrets, +those mysteries, in order that his genius might be cultivated, his +views enlarged, his intellect matured, so that he might gradually rise +in the scale of being, and finally attain the full perfection for +which his Creator designed him. + +"Thus governments, political systems, and political rights have been +the subjects of study and improvement; changes adapted to the advance +of society are made; experiments are tried, based upon reason and upon +judgment, and those are safest which in their gradual introduction +avoid unnecessary violence and convulsion. + +"I submit, sir, whether it be wise for us now so suddenly to alter so +entirely the political _status_ of so great a number of the citizens +of this District, in conferring upon them indiscriminately the right +of franchise." + +Mr. Chanler, of New York, then addressed the House: + +"If, sir, it should ever be your good fortune to visit romantic old +Spain, and to enter the fortress and palace of Alhambra, the fairest +monument of Moorish grandeur and skill, as this Capitol is the pride +of American architecture, you may see cut in stone a hand holding a +key, surmounting the horse-shoe arch of the main gateway. They are the +three types of strength, speed, and secresy, the boast of a now fallen +Saracen race, sons of that sea of sand, the desert, who carried the +glory of Islam to furthest Gades. In an evil hour of civil strife and +bitter hatred of faction, the Alhambra was betrayed to Spain, 'to feed +fat an ancient grudge' between political chiefs. The stronghold of the +race, with the palace, the sacred courts of justice, and all the rare +works of art--the gardens of unrivaled splendor--all that was their +own of majesty, strength, and beauty, became the trophies of another. + +"The legend of the Saracen exile tells the story of penitence and +shame; and to the last moment of his sad life he sighs in the sultry +desert for the fair home of his ancestors, the gorgeous Alhambra. We, +too, are descended from a race of conquerors, who crossed the ocean to +establish the glory of civil and religious liberty, and secure freedom +to themselves and their posterity. To-day we are assembled in the +Alhambra of America; here is our citadel; here our courts of highest +resort; around these halls cluster the proudest associations of the +American people; they seem almost sacred in their eyes. No hostile +foot of foreign foe or domestic traitor has trodden them in triumph. +Above it floats the flag, the emblem of our Union. That Union is the +emblem of the triumphs of the white race. That race rules by the +ballot. Shall we surrender the ballot, the emblem of our sovereignty; +the flag, the emblem of our Union; the Union, the emblem of our +national glory, that they may become the badges of our weakness and +the trophies of another race? Never, sir! never, never! + +"Shall the white laborer bow his free, independent, and honored brow +to the level of the negro just set free from slavery, and, by yielding +the entrance to this great citadel of our nation, surrender the +mastery of his race over the Representatives of the people, the +Senate, and Supreme Court of this Union? Then, sir, the white +workingman's sovereignty would begin to cease to be. + +"Then the most democratic majesty of American liberty would be humbled +in the little dust which was lately raised by a brief campaign of two +hundred thousand negro troops, and even they led by white officers, +while millions of white soldiers held the field in victory by their +own strength and valor. Deny it if ye dare! Sir, I know that this is a +white man's Government, and I believe the white workingman has the +manhood which shall preserve it to his latest posterity, pure and +strong, in 'justice tempered with mercy.' + +"There may be a legend hereafter telling of the exile of +Representatives now on this floor, who, in the hour of party spite, +betrayed the dominion of their race here, and the stronghold of their +people's liberty, to a servile and foreign race." + +Near the close of Mr. Chanler's remarks, his time having been extended +by courtesy of the House, a forensic passage at arms occurred between +that gentleman and Mr. Bingham, of Ohio. Mr. Chanler had said: "I deny +that any obligation rests against this Government to do any thing more +for the negro than has already been done. 'On what meats doth this +Cćsar feed that he has grown so great?' The white soldier did as much +work as he, fought as well, died as bravely, suffered in hospitals and +in the field as well as he. More than this, the white soldier fought +to liberate the slave, and did do it. The white soldier did more: he +fought to preserve institutions and rights endeared to him by every +hallowed association; to overthrow the rebellion of his brother +against their Commonwealth and glorious Union; to preserve the +sovereignty of the people against the conspiracy of a slave +aristocracy, if you will; to maintain the fabric of the Government +built by their fathers for them and their race in every country of +kindred men who, downtrodden and disenfranchised, look to this country +as a sure refuge. The white soldier fought as a volunteer, as a +responsible, free, and resolute citizen, knowing for what he fought, +and generously letting the slave share with him the honor, and +bestowing on him more than his share of the profits of the white man's +victory over his equal and the negro's master. + +"We are willing that the negro should have every protection which the +law can throw around him, but there is a majesty which 'hedges in a +king.' That he ought not to have until he shows himself 'every inch a +king.' + + "'Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.' + + "'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have + greatness thrust upon them.' + +"We are opposed to thrusting honor on the negro. He is to-day, as a +race, as dependent on the power and skill of the white race for +protection as when he was first brought from Africa. Not one act of +theirs has proved the capacity of the black race for self-government. +They have neither literature, arts, nor arms, as a race. They have +never, during all the changes of dynasties or revolution of States, +risen higher than to be the helpers of the contending parties. They +have had the same opportunity as the Indian to secure their +independence of the white race, but have never systematically even +attempted it on this continent, although they have been educated with +equal care, and in the same schools as the white man. Their race has +been subject to the white man, and has submitted to the yoke." + +Mr. Bingham.--"I understood the gentleman to say, that the colored +race had failed to strike for their rights during the late rebellion. +I wish to remind the gentleman of the fact, which ought to bring a +blush to the cheek of every American citizen, that at the beginning of +this great struggle, a distinguished general, who, I have no doubt, +received the political support of the gentleman himself for the +Presidency, and who, then at the head of an American army within the +Commonwealth of Virginia, issued his proclamation, as general in +command of the army, notifying the insurgents in arms against the +Constitution that, if their slaves rose in revolt for their liberty, +he, Major-General McClellan, by the whole force of the army at his +command, would crush them with an iron hand. Yet the gentleman gets up +here to-day, after a record of that sort, to cast censure upon this +people because they did not strike for their liberties against the +combined armies of the republic and the armies of treason!" + +Mr. Chanler.--"My honorable friend from Ohio may have made a good +point against General McClellan, but he has made none against me. I +admit that they have made successful insurrections, but my argument +was not to the effect that the negro race was not capable of the +bloodiest deeds. I avoided entering into that question. I asserted +that they had made successful insurrection; that they had held the +white race under their heel in Hayti and St. Domingo. I would only +say, with regard to this question of race, that I assert there is no +record of the black race having proved its capacity for +self-government as a race; that they have never struck a blow for +freedom, and maintained their freedom and independence as individuals +when free. I appeal to history, and to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. +Bingham], and I speak as a student of history, and the representative +of a race whose proudest boast is that their capacity for +self-government is the only charter of their liberty. I assail no +race; I assail no man. I have taken the greatest pains to prove that +the inalienable rights of the black man are as sacred to me as those +inalienable rights I have received from my God. If the gentleman +misunderstood me, I hope he will accept this explanation. If I have +not met his question, I will now yield the floor to him to continue." + +Mr. Bingham.--"And I continue thus far, that the gentleman's speech +certainly has relation to the rights of the black man within the +Republic of the United States. What he may say of their history +outside of the jurisdiction of this country, it is not very important +for me to take notice of. But inasmuch as the gentleman has seen fit, +in his response to what I said, to refer to the testimony of history, +I will bear witness now, by the authority of history, that this very +race of which he speaks is the only race now existing upon this planet +that ever hewed their way out of the prison-house of chattel slavery +to the sunlight of personal liberty by their own unaided arm. So much +for that part of the gentleman's argument as relates to history." + +Mr. Chanler.--"Does the gentleman allude now to what has been done in +other lands than this? I ask the question because he says he does not +like me to go outside of the jurisdiction of this country, and I +therefore ask him not to go too far into Africa." + +Mr. Bingham.--"I am not in Africa. I refer to what the gentleman +referred to himself. The insurrection in St. Domingo, I say, stands +without a parallel in the history of any race now living on this +earth, and I challenge the gentleman to refute that statement from +history." + +Mr. Chanler.--"That is admitted." + +Mr. Bingham.--"That is admitted. Then I want to know, with a fact like +that conceded, what sort of logic, what sort of force, what sort of +reason, what sort of justice is there in the remark of the gentleman +made here in a deliberative assembly touching the question of the +personal enfranchisement of the black race, when he says in the +statement here, right in the face of that fact, that they only are +entitled to their liberty who strike the blow for and maintain their +liberty? They did strike the blow in Hayti, and did maintain their +liberty there. They struck such a blow for liberty there as no other +race of men under like circumstances ever before struck, now +represented by any organized community upon this planet; and that the +gentleman conceded. And yet this sort of argument is to be adduced +here as reason why these people in the District of Columbia should not +receive the consideration of this House, and be protected in their +rights as men. If the gentleman's remark is not adduced for that +purpose, then it is altogether foreign to our inquiry. If the +gentleman can assign any other reason for the introduction of any such +argument as that, I should like to hear him." + +Mr. Chanler.--"I merely wish to say, in reply to the gentleman, that I +have read history a little further back. I remember when the British +fleet and the British army held out a similar threat to the white race +of this country. The proclamation of General McClellan did keep down +the negroes; and this fact proves what I assert--that they are a race +to be kept under. No race capable of achieving its liberty by its own +efforts, would have listened for one moment to the paper threats of +all the generals in the world. The negroes listened to McClellan, and +they shrank behind the bush. They are bushmen in Africa. They are a +dependent race, unwilling--I assert it from the record of +history--unwilling to assert their independence at the risk of their +lives. By their own efforts they never have attained, and I firmly +believe they never will attain, their liberty." + +Mr. Bingham replied: "I desire to say to the gentleman from New York, +when he talks of being a 'student of history,' that before the +tribunal of history the facts are not against me nor against the +colored race. I beg leave to say to the gentleman that these people +have borne themselves as bravely, as well, and, I may add, as wisely +during the great contest just closed, as any people to whom he can +point, situated in like circumstances, at any period of the world's +history. They were in chains when the rebellion broke out. They +constituted but one-sixth of the whole body of the people. By the +terms of the Constitution of the United States, if they lifted a hand +in the assertion of their right to freedom, they were liable that +moment to be crushed by the combined power of the Republic, called +out, in pursuance of the very letter of the Constitution, 'to suppress +insurrection.' Yet, notwithstanding the fact that their whole living +generation and the generations before them, running back two +centuries, had been enslaved and brutalized, reduced to the sad and +miserable condition of chattels, which, for want of a better name, we +call a 'slave'--an article of merchandise, a thing of trade, with no +acknowledged rights in the present, and denied even the hope of a +heritage in the great hereafter--yet, sir, the moment that the word +'Liberty' ran along your ranks, the moment that the word +'Emancipation' was emblazoned upon your banners, those men who, with +their ancestors, had been enslaved through five generations, rose as +one man to stand by this republic, the last hope of oppressed humanity +upon the earth, until they numbered one hundred and seventy-five +thousand arrayed in arms under your banners, doing firmly, +unshrinkingly, and defiantly their full share in securing the final +victory of our arms. I have said this much in defense of men who had +the manhood, in the hour of the nation's trial, to strike for the flag +and the unity of the republic in the tempest of the great conflict, +and to stand, where brave men only could stand, on the field of poised +battle, where the earthquake and the fire led the charge. Sir, I am +not mistaken; and the record of history to which I have referred does +not, as the gentleman affirms it does, make against me." + +Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, in reply to Mr. Chanler, said: "He [Mr. +Chanler] proceeds to say that they are now, as a class, dependent as +when they were brought from their native wilds in Africa. Sir, I +believe if the gentleman were master of all languages, if he were to +attempt to put into a sentence the quintessence, the high-wines, and +sublimation of an untruth, he could not have more concentrated his +language into a libel. + +"What is the fact, sir? It is perfectly notorious that these four +million slaves have not only taken care of themselves amid all the +ingenious impediments which tyrants could impose, but they have borne +upon their stalwart shoulders their masters, millions of people, for a +century. Why, sir, it seemed as impossible for a man to swim the +Atlantic with Mount Atlas upon his back, or make harmonious base to +the thunders of heaven. But these men have achieved the world's +wonder--coming out from the tortures of slavery, from the +prison-house, untainted with dishonor or crime, and out of the war +free, noble, brave, and more worthy of their friends, always true to +the flag. + +"Mr. Speaker, it was in fable that a man pointed a lion to the picture +which represented the king of the forest prostrate, with a man's foot +on his neck, and asked what he thought of that. The reply was, 'Lions +have no painters.' For days the unblushing apostles of sham Democracy +have in this House drawn pictures of the ignorance and degradation of +the people of color in the District of Columbia. Had the subjects of +their wanton defamation had a Representative here, there would have +been a different coloring to the picture, and I would gladly leave +their defense to the Representatives of classes who have by hundreds +darkened these galleries with their sable countenances, waiting for +days to hear the decisive vote which announces that their freedom is +not a mockery. + +"Who are they to whom this bill proposes to give suffrage? They are +twenty thousand people, owning twenty-one churches, maintaining +thirty-three day schools, and paying taxes on more than one and a +quarter million dollars' worth of real property. Thirty per cent. of +their number were slaves; but the census does not show that there is a +Democratic congressional district in the Union where a larger +proportion of its population are found attendant at the churches or in +the schools. + +"They did not follow the example of their pale-faced neighbors, to the +number of thousands, crossing the line to join in the rebellion; but +three thousand and more of their number went into the Union army, +nearly one thousand of whom, as soldiers, fell by disease and battle +in the room of those who wept on Northern soil for rebel defeats, and +now decry the manhood and withhold just rights from our true national +defenders. + +"In the South they were our friends. In the language of an official +dispatch of Secretary Seward to Minister Adams, 'Every-where the +American general receives his most useful and reliable information +from the negro, who hails his coming as the harbinger of freedom.' Not +one, but many, of our generals have proclaimed that the negro has +gained by the bayonet the ballot. Admiral Du Pont made mention of the +negro pilot Small, who brought out the steamer Planter, mounting a +rifled and siege gun, from Charleston, as a prize to us, under the +very guns of the enemy. He brought us the first trophy from Fort +Sumter, and information more valuable than the prize. + +"The celebrated charge of the negro brigade at the conflict at Port +Hudson has passed into history. The position of the colored people in +the State of Iowa reflects lasting honor on their loyalty, and our +brave white soldiers would not have me withhold the facts. In the +State there were between nine hundred and a thousand people of their +class subject to military duty. Of that number more than seven hundred +entered the army. They put to blush the patriotism of the dominant +race in all Democratic districts. Seven-tenths of a class, without the +inducement of commissions as lieutenants, captains, colonels, +commissaries, or quartermasters, braving the hate and vengeance of +rebels, rushing into the deadly imminent breach in the darkest hour of +our struggle! Where is the parallel to this? They had no flag; it was +a mockery. There was no pledge of political franchise. Does history +cite us to a country where so large a per cent. of the population went +forth for the national defense? It was not under the Cćsars; and +Harold, in the defense of Britain, left behind him a larger per cent. +of the stalwart and the strong. They were more eager to maintain the +national honor than the zealots to rescue Jerusalem from the +profanation of infidels. Not Frank or Hun, nor Huguenot or Roundhead, +or mountaineer, Hungarian, or Pole, exceeded their sacrifices made +when tardily accepted. And this is the race now asking our favor. + +"Mr. Speaker, it will be one of the most joyful occasions of my life +to give expression to my gratitude by voting a ballot to those who +owed us so little, yet have aided us so faithfully and well. My +conscience approves it as a humane act to the millions who for +centuries have groaned under a terrible realization that on the side +of the oppressor there is power. + +"My purpose is not to leave that heritage of shame to my children, +that I forgot those whose blood fed our rivers and crimsoned the sea, +and left them outcasts in the 'land of the free,' preferring white +treason to sable loyalty. I rather vote death the penalty for the +chief traitor, all honor and reward for our soldiery, and a ballot, +safety, and justice for the poor." + +On the 15th of January the discussion was continued by Mr. Kasson, of +Iowa, who said: "Much has been said in this debate about the gallantry +of the negro troops, and about the number of negro troops in the war. +Gentlemen have declared here so broadly that we were indebted to them +for our victories as to actually convey the impression that they won +nearly all the victories accomplished by the armies of the United +States, and that to them are we indebted for the salvation of our +country and our triumph over the rebellion. + +"I do not agree with them in the extent of their praise, nor the +grounds upon which it has been placed. One gentleman, I think it was +the gentleman from Pennsylvania, speaks of our debt to the negroes, +because they have fought our battles for us. This is a falsification +of the condition of the negroes, and of the history of the country in +this particular. _Those negroes fought for their liberty_, which was +involved in the preservation of the Union of the States. They fought +with us to accomplish the maintenance of the integrity of the country, +which carried with it the liberty of their own race; and what would +have been said of the negroes if they had not, under such +circumstances, come forward and united with us? While I yield to the +negro troops the credit of having exhibited bravery and manhood when +put to the test, I do not yield to them the exclusive or chief credit +of having won the victory for the Government of my country in +preserving this Union. Let us not, under false assertions of fact, +send out to the country and the world from this floor the declaration +that the white race of this country are wanting in the gallantry, the +devotion, and the patriotism which ultimately secured for our armies +triumph, and for our nation perpetuity. + +"Unless intelligence exists in this country, unless schools are +supported and education diffused throughout the country, our +institutions are not safe, and either anarchy or despotism will be the +result; and when you propose substantially to introduce at once +three-quarters of a million or a million of voters, the great mass of +whom are ignorant and unable to tell when the ballot they vote is +right side up, then I protest against such an alarming infusion of +ignorance into the ballot-box, into that sacred palladium, as we have +always called it, of the liberties of our country. Let us introduce +them by fit degrees. Let them come in as fast as they are fit, and +their numbers will not shock the character of our institutions. + +"I turn for a single moment to call attention to the philanthropy of +the proposition. If you introduce all without regard to qualification, +without their being able to read or write, and thus to understand the +questions on which they are to decide, what would be the effect? You +will take away from them the strongest incentive to learn to read or +write. As a race, it is not accustomed to position and property; it +has no homesteads, it has no stake in the country; and unless they are +required to be intelligent, and qualified to understand something +about our institutions and our laws, and the questions which are +submitted to the people from time to time, you say then to them, 'No +matter whether or not you make progress in civilization or education, +you shall have all the rights of citizenship,' and in that way you +take away from them all special motive to education and improvement. +On the contrary, if the ability to read and write and understand the +ballot is made the qualification on the part of these people to +exercise the right of voting, the remaining portion will see that +color is not exclusion. They would all aspire to the qualification +itself as preliminary to the act. You can submit no motive to that +race so powerful for the purpose of developing in them the education +and intelligence required. + +"I say, therefore, on whatever grounds you put it, whether you regard +the safety of our institutions or the light of philanthropy, you +should insist on qualifications substantially the same as those +required in the State of Massachusetts. And let me say that, taking +the State of Massachusetts as an example of the result of general +intelligence and qualified suffrage, and a careful guardianship of the +ballot-box, I know of no more illustrious example in this or any other +country of its importance. + +"With a credit that surpasses that of the United States, with a +history that is surpassed by no State in the Union, with wealth that +is almost fabulous in proportion to its population, with a prosperity +almost unknown in the history of the world, that State stands before +us to-day in all her dignity, strength, wealth, intelligence, and +virtue. And if we, by adopting similar principles in other States, can +secure such results, we certainly have an inducement to consider well +how far this condition is to be attributed to her diffused education, +and to the provisions of her constitution." + +At the close of Mr. Kasson's speech, a colloquy occurred between him +and his colleague, Mr. Price, eliciting the fact that the question of +negro suffrage in Iowa had been squarely before the people of that +State in the late fall election, and their vote had been in favor of +the measure by a majority of sixteen thousand. + +Mr. Julian, of Indiana, having obtained the floor near the hour of +adjournment, made his argument on the following day, when the +consideration of the question was resumed. In answer to the objection +that negro voting would "lead to the amalgamation of the races or +social equality," he said: "On this subject there is nothing left to +conjecture, and no ground for alarm. Negro suffrage has been very +extensively tried in this country, and we are able to appeal to facts. +Negroes had the right to vote in all the Colonies save one, under the +Articles of Confederation. They voted, I believe, generally, on the +question of adopting the Constitution of the United States. They have +voted ever since in New York and the New England States, save +Connecticut, in which the practice was discontinued in 1818. They +voted in New Jersey till the year 1840; in Virginia and Maryland till +1833; in Pennsylvania till 1838; in Delaware till 1831; and in North +Carolina and Tennessee till 1836. I have never understood that in all +this experience of negro suffrage the amalgamation of the races was +the result. I think these evils are not at all complained of to this +day in New England and New York, where negro suffrage is still +practiced and recognized by law." + +In answer to the argument that a "war of races" might ensue, Mr. +Julian said: "Sir, a war of races in this country can only be the +result of denying to the negro his rights, just as such wars have been +caused elsewhere; and the late troubles in Jamaica should teach us, if +any lesson can, the duty of dealing justly with our millions of +freedmen. Like causes must produce like results. English law made the +slaves of Jamaica free, but England failed to enact other laws making +their freedom a blessing. The old spirit of domination never died in +the slave-master, but was only maddened by emancipation. For thirty +years no measures were adopted tending to protect or educate the +freedmen. At length, and quite recently, the colonial authorities +passed a whipping act, then a law of eviction for people of color, +then a law imposing heavy impost duties, bearing most grievously upon +them, and finally a law providing for the importation of coolies, thus +taxing the freedmen for the very purpose of taking the bread out of +the mouths of their own children! I believe it turns out, after all, +that these outraged people even then did not rise up against the local +government; but the white ruffians of the island, goaded on by their +own unchecked rapacity, and availing themselves of the infernal +pretext of a black insurrection, perpetrated deeds of rapine and +vengeance that find no parallel anywhere, save in the acts of their +natural allies, the late slave-breeding rebels, against our flag. Sir, +is there no warning here against the policy of leaving our freedmen to +the tender mercies of their old masters? Are the white rebels of this +District any better than the Jamaica villains to whom I have referred? +The late report of General Schurz gives evidence of some important +facts which will doubtless apply here. The mass of the white people in +the South, he says, are totally destitute of any national feeling. The +same bigoted sectionalism that swayed them prior to the war is almost +universal. Nor have they any feeling of the enormity of treason as a +crime. To them it is not odious, as very naturally it would not be, +under the policy which foregoes the punishment of traitors, and gives +so many of them the chief places of power in the South. And their +hatred of the negro to-day is as intense and scathing and as universal +as before the war. I believe it to be even more so. The proposition to +educate him and elevate his condition is every-where met with contempt +and scorn. They acknowledge that slavery, as it once existed, is +overthrown; but the continued inferiority and subordination of the +colored race, under some form of vassalage or serfdom, is regarded by +them as certain. Sir, they have no thought of any thing else; and if +the ballot shall be withheld from the freedmen after the withdrawal of +military power, the most revolting forms of oppression and outrage +will be practiced, resulting, at last, in that very war of races which +is foolishly apprehended as the effect of giving the negro his +rights." + +A serious question confronted Mr. Julian, namely: How could +Representatives from States which negroes by constitutional provision +are forbidden to enter, be expected, to vote for negro suffrage in +this District? He said: "In seeking to meet this difficulty, several +considerations must be borne in mind. In the first place, the demand +for negro suffrage in this District rests not alone upon the general +ground of right, of democratic equality, but upon peculiar reasons +superinduced by the late war, which make it an immediate practical +issue, involving not merely the welfare of the colored man, but the +safety of society itself. If civil government is to be revived at all +in the South, it is perfectly self-evident that the loyal men there +must vote; but the loyal men are the negroes and the disloyal are the +whites. To put back the governing power into the hands of the very men +who brought on the war, and exclude those who have proved themselves +the true friends of the country, would be utterly suicidal and +atrociously unjust. Negro suffrage in the districts lately in revolt +is thus a present political necessity, dictated by the selfishness of +the white loyalist as well as his sense of justice. But in our Western +States, in which the negro population is relatively small, and the +prevailing sentiment of their white people is loyal, no such emergency +exists. Society will not be endangered by the temporary postponement +of the right of negro suffrage till public opinion shall render it +practicable, and leaving the question of suffrage in the loyal States +to be decided by them on its merits. If Indiana had gone out of her +proper place in the Union, and her loyal population had been found too +weak to force her back into it without negro bullets and bayonets, and +if, after thus coercing her again into her constitutional orbit, her +loyalists had been found unable to hold her there without negro +ballots, the question of negro suffrage in Indiana would most +obviously have been very different from the comparatively abstract one +which it now is. It would, it is true, have involved the question of +justice to the negroes of Indiana, but the transcendently broader and +more vital question of national salvation also. Let me add further, +that should Congress pass this bill, and should the ballot be given to +the negroes in the sunny South generally, those in our Northern and +Western States, many of them at least, may return to their native land +and its kindlier skies, and thus quiet the nerves of conservative +gentlemen who dread too close a proximity to those whose skins, owing +to some providential oversight, were somehow or other not stamped with +the true orthodox luster. + +"The ballot should be given to the negroes as a matter of justice to +them. It should likewise be done as a matter of _retributive_ justice +to the slaveholders and rebels. According to the best information I +can obtain, a very large majority of the white people of this District +have been rebels in heart during the war, and are rebels in heart +still. That contempt for the negro and scorn of free industry, which +constituted the mainspring of the rebellion, cropped out here during +the war in every form that was possible, under the immediate shadow of +the central Government. Meaner rebels than many in this District could +scarcely have been found in the whole land. They have not been +punished. The halter has been cheated out of their necks. I am very +sorry to say that under what seems to be a false mercy, a misapplied +humanity, the guiltiest rebels of the war have thus far been allowed +to escape justice. I have no desire to censure the authorities of the +Government for this fact. I hope they have some valid excuse for their +action. This question of punishment I know is a difficult one. The +work of punishment is so vast that it naturally palsies the will to +enter upon it. It never can be thoroughly done on this side of the +grave. And were it practicable to punish adequately all the most +active and guilty rebels, justice would still remain unsatisfied. Far +guiltier men than they are the rebel sympathizers of the loyal States, +who coolly stood by and encouraged their friends in the South in their +work of national rapine and murder, and while they were ever ready to +go joyfully into the service of the devil, were too cowardly to wear +his uniform and carry his weapons in open day. But Congress in this +District has the power to punish by ballot, and there will be a +beautiful, poetic justice in the exercise of this power. Sir, let it +be applied. The rebels here will recoil from it with horror. Some of +the worst of them, sooner than submit to black suffrage, will +doubtless leave the District, and thus render it an unspeakable +service. To be voted down and governed by Yankee and negro ballots +will seem to them an intolerable grievance, and this is among the +excellent reasons why I am in favor of it. If neither hanging nor +exile can be extemporized for the entertainment of our domestic +rebels, let us require them at least to make their bed on negro +ballots during the remainder of their unworthy lives. Of course they +will not relish it, but that will be their own peculiar concern. Their +darling institution must be charged with all the consequences of the +war. They sowed the wind, and, if required, must reap the whirlwind. +Retribution follows wrong-doing, and this law must work out its +results. Rebels and their sympathizers, I am sure, will fare as well +under negro suffrage as they deserve, and I desire to leave them, as +far as practicable, in the hands of their colored brethren. Nor shall +I stop to inquire very critically whether the negroes are _fit_ to +vote. As between themselves and white rebels, who deserve to be hung, +they are eminently fit. I would not have them more so. Will you, Mr. +Speaker, will even my conservative and Democratic friends, be +particularly nice or fastidious in the choice of a man to vote down a +_rebel_? Shall we insist upon a perfectly finished gentleman and +scholar to vote down the traitors and white trash of this District, +who have recently signalized themselves by mobbing unoffending +negroes? Sir, almost any body, it seems to me, will answer the +purpose. I do not pretend that the colored men here, should they get +the ballot, will not sometimes abuse it. They will undoubtedly make +mistakes. In some cases they may even vote on the side of their old +masters. But I feel pretty safe in saying that even white men, +perfectly free from all _suspicion_ of negro blood, have sometimes +voted on the wrong side. Sir, I appeal to gentlemen on this floor, and +especially to my Democratic friends, to say whether they can not call +to mind instances in which white men have voted wrong? Indeed, it +rather strikes me that white voting, ignorant, depraved, party-ridden, +_Democratic_ white voting, had a good deal to do in hatching into life +the rebellion itself, and that no results of negro voting are likely +to be much worse." + +After an hour occupied by Mr. Randall and Mr. Kelley, both of +Pennsylvania, in a colloquial discussion of the history and present +position of their State upon the subject of negro suffrage, Mr. +Thomas, of Maryland, addressed the House. After setting forth the +injustice the passage of the bill would work toward the people of his +State, he said: + +"If I believed that the matter of suffrage was the only mode to help +the negro in his elevation, and the only safeguard to his protection, +or guarantee to his rights, I would be willing to give it to him now, +subject to proper qualifications and restrictions. But I am honest in +my conviction that, uneducated and ignorant as he is, a slave from his +birth, and subject to the will and caprice of his master, with none of +the exalted ideas of what that privilege means, and with but a faint +conception of the true position he now occupies, the negro is not the +proper subject to have conferred upon him this right. I believe if it +is given to him, that in localities where his is the majority vote, +parties will spring up, each one bidding higher than the other for his +ballot, and that in the end the negro-voting element will be +controlled by a few evil and wicked politicians, and as something to +be bought and sold as freely as an article of merchandise. I am +satisfied of another fact, from my experience of the Southern negro, +that if they are ever allowed to vote, the shrewd politician of the +South, who has been formerly his master, will exert more influence +over his vote than all the exhortations from Beecher or Cheever. + +"It is a notorious fact that the Southern planter maintained his +political influence over the poor white man of the South, because the +poor white man was dependent on him for his living and support. And +you will find, when it is too late, that the Southern planter will +maintain the same political influence over the poor, uneducated, +ignorant, and dependent African, even to a greater extent than he +formerly exercised over what used to be called the 'poor white trash.' + +"Mr. Speaker, let us not, because we have the majority here to-day, +pass upon measures which, if we were evenly divided, we would hesitate +to pass. Let us not, because we are called radicals, strike at the +roots of society, and of the great social and political systems that +have existed for over a century, and attempt to do in a day, without +any preparation, what, to do well and safely, will require years of +patience on the part of the freedmen, and earnest, honest exertions to +elevate, improve, and educate on our part. Let us look at this +question as statesmen, not as partisans. Let us not suppose that the +parties of to-day will have a perpetual existence, and that because +the negro, freed and emancipated by us, would naturally vote on the +side of his deliverer to-day, that it is any guarantee, when new +parties are formed and a competition arises, that the whole or the +major part of his vote will be cast on the right side. White men and +black men are liable to the same infirmities. + +"Let us rather, sir, rejoice at what has been already done for him, +and be content to watch his future. Let us help to elevate and improve +him, not only in education, but in morals. Let us see to it that he is +not only protected in all his rights of person and of property, but +let us insist that the amplest guarantees shall be given. Let us wait +until the great problem the African is now working out has been +finished, and we find that he thoroughly comprehends and will not +abuse what he has got, before we attempt to confer other privileges, +which, when once granted, can never be taken from him. Sir, let it not +be forgotten that 'revolutions never go backward;' and if you ever +confer this right on the negro, and find it will not work well, that +you have been too hasty, that you should have waited awhile longer, +you will find it is too late, and that, once having possessed it, they +will not part with it except with their lives." + +On the 17th of January the debate was resumed by Mr. Darling, of New +York, who remarked: + +"What public necessity exists for the passage of this bill at this +time? There are no benefits which the colored people of this District +could attain by the exercise of the right of suffrage that Congress +could not bestow. Our right and power to legislate for this District +are unquestioned, and instead of wasting days and weeks over a +question which is exciting bitter feeling among our own people, had we +not better give our attention to matters of great national interest +which so urgently demand speedy action on our part? Let us pass laws +for the education of the people of this District, and fit them +ultimately to receive the elective franchise; or, if any thing is +required to satisfy the intense desire, manifested by some gentlemen +of this House, to bestow the franchise on those not now possessed of +it, give it to every soldier who served in the Union Army and was +honorably discharged, whether old or young, rich or poor, native or +foreign-born, white or black, and show to the world that the American +people, recognizing the services and sufferings of their brave +defenders, give them, as a recognition, the highest and best gift of +American citizenship. + +"If I know myself, I know that no unjust or unmanly prejudice warps my +judgment or controls my action on any matter of legislation affecting +the colored race on this continent. I believe in their equality of +rights before the law with the dominant race. I believe in their +rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And yet I +believe that, before we confer upon them the political right of +suffrage, as contemplated by the bill now under consideration, we +should seek to elevate their social condition, and lift them up from +the depths of degradation and ignorance in which many of them are left +by the receding waves of the sea of rebellion. There are many strong +objections to conferring upon the colored men of this District the +gift of unqualified suffrage without any qualification based on +intelligence. The large preponderance which they possess numerically +will inevitably lead to mischievous results. Neither would I entirely +disregard the views of the people of this District, many of whom I +know to be sound, loyal Union men. + +"But I do not wish to see the Union party take any step in this +direction from which they may desire hereafter to recede. Let us first +rather seek to enlighten this people, and educate them to know the +value of the great gift of liberty which has been bestowed upon them; +teach them to know that to labor is for their best interests; teach +them to learn and lead virtuous and industrious lives, in order to +make themselves respected, and encourage them to act as becomes +freemen. Then they will vote intelligently, and not be subject to the +control of designing men, who would seek to use them for the +attainment of their own selfish ends. + +"Now, Mr. Speaker, in conclusion I desire to say that, as no election +will take place in this District until next June, there can be no +reason for special haste in the passage of this bill, and that there +is a proposition before this House, which seems to be received with +very general favor, to create a commission for the government of this +city; and, in order to give an opportunity to mature a bill for that +purpose, and have it presented for the consideration of this House, I +move the postponement of the pending bill until the first Tuesday in +April next." + +At a previous stage of the discussion of this measure, Mr. Hale had +proposed amendments to the bill. These amendments were now the subject +under discussion. They were in the following words: + + "Amend the motion to recommit by adding to that motion an + instruction to the committee to amend the bill so as to + extend the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia to + all persons coming within either of the following classes, + irrespective of caste or color, but subject only to existing + provisions and qualifications other than those founded on + caste or color, to wit: + + "1. Those who can read the Constitution of the United + States. + + "2. Those who are assessed for and pay taxes on real or + personal property within the District. + + "3. Those who have served in and been honorably discharged + from the military or naval service of the United States. + + "And to restrict such right of suffrage to the classes above + named, and to include proper provisions excluding from the + right of suffrage those who have borne arms against the + United States during the late rebellion, or given aid and + comfort to said rebellion." + +At the close of Mr. Darling's remarks, in which he had moved to +postpone the whole subject, Mr. Hale, of New York, having argued at +considerable length in favor of the several clauses of his proposed +amendment, remarked: "Of the details of my amendment I am by no means +tenacious. I do not expect to bring every member of the House, or even +every member on this side of the House, to concur in all my own views. +I desire simply to put my measures fairly before the House, and to +advocate them as I best can. I am ready and willing to yield my own +preferences in matters of detail to their better judgment. More than +that, I shall not follow the example that has been set by some on this +side of the House who oppose my amendment, and who claim to be the +peculiar friends of negro suffrage, by proclaiming that I will adhere +to the doctrine of qualified suffrage, and will join our political +enemies, the Democrats, in voting down every thing else. No, sir; for +one, and I say it with entire frankness, I prefer a restricted and +qualified suffrage substantially upon the basis that I have proposed. +If the voice of this House be otherwise--if the sentiment of this +Congress be that it is more desirable that universal suffrage should +be extended to all within this District, then, for one, I say most +decidedly I am for it rather than to leave the matter in its present +condition, or to disfranchise the black race in this District." + +Mr. Thayer, of Pennsylvania, spoke as follows: "The proposition +contained in this bill is a new proposition. It contemplates a change +which will be a landmark in the history of this country--a landmark +which, if it is set up, will be regarded by the present and future +generations of men who are to inhabit this continent with pride and +satisfaction, or deplored as one of the gravest errors in the history +of legislation. The bill, if it shall become a law, will be, like the +law to amend the Constitution by abolishing slavery, the deep +foot-print of an advancing civilization, or the conspicuous monument +of an unwise and pernicious experiment. + +"Much has been said, on the part of those who oppose the bill, on the +subject of its injustice to the white inhabitants of the District of +Columbia. Indeed, the argument on that side of the question is, when +divested of all that is immaterial, meretricious, and extravagant, +reduced almost entirely to that single position. Abstract this from +the excited declamation to which you have listened, and what is left +is but the old revolting argument in favor of slavery, and a selfish +appeal to prejudice and ignorance. It is insisted that a majority of +the white voters of the District are opposed to the contemplated law, +that they have recently given a public expression of their opinion +against it, and that for that reason it would be unjust and oppressive +in Congress to pass this law. In my judgment, this is a question not +concerning alone the wishes and prejudices of the seven thousand +voters who dwell in this District, but involving, it may be, the +honor, the justice, the good faith, and the magnanimity of the great +nation which makes this little spot the central seat of its empire and +its power. + +"If it concerns the honor of the United States that a certain class of +its people, in a portion of its territory subject to its exclusive +jurisdiction and control, shall, in consideration of the change which +has taken place in its condition, and of the fidelity which it has +exhibited in the midst of great and severe trials, be elevated +somewhat above the political degradation which has hitherto been its +lot, shall the United States be prevented from the accomplishment of +that great and generous purpose by the handful of voters who +temporarily encamp under the shadow of the Capitol? It may be that the +determination of a question of so much importance as this belongs +rather to the people of the United States, through their +Representatives in Congress assembled, than to the present qualified +voters of this District. Sir, the field of inquiry is much wider than +the District of Columbia, and the problem to be solved one in which +not they alone are interested. When Congress determined that the time +had come when slavery should be abolished in this District, and the +capital of the nation should no longer be disgraced by its presence, +did it pause in the great work of justice to which it laid its hand to +hear from the mayor of Washington, or to inquire whether the masters +would vote for it? It is not difficult to conjecture what the fate of +that great measure would have been had its adoption or rejection +depended upon the voters of this District. + +"Shall we be told, sir, that if the Representatives of the people of +twenty-five States are of the opinion that the laws and institutions +which exist in the seat of Government of the United States ought to be +changed, that they are not to be changed because a majority of the +voters who reside here do not desire that change? Will any man say +that the voices of these seven thousand voters are to outweigh the +voices of all the constituencies of the United States in the capital +of their country? I dismiss this objection, therefore, as totally +destitute of reason or weight. It is based upon a fallacy so feeble +that it is dissipated by the bare touch of the Constitution to it. + +"Whatever is the duty of the United States to do, that is for their +interest to do. The two great facts written in history by the iron +hand of the late war are, first, that the Union is indissoluble, and +second, that human slavery is here forever abolished. From these two +facts consequences corresponding in importance with the facts +themselves must result: from the former, a more vigorous and powerful +nationality; from the latter, the elevation and improvement of the +race liberated by the war from bondage, as well as a higher and more +advanced civilization in the region where the change has taken place. +It is impossible to say that the African race occupies to-day the same +position in American affairs and counts no more in weight than it did +before the rebellion. You can not strike the fetters from the limbs of +four million men and leave them such as you found them. As wide as is +the interval between a freeman and a slave, so wide is the difference +between the African race before the rebellion and after the rebellion. +You can not keep to its ancient level a race which has been released +from servitude any more than you can keep back the ocean with your +hand after you have thrown down the sea-wall which restrained its +impatient tides. Freedom is every-where in history the herald of +progress. It is written in the annals of all nations. It is a law of +the human race. Ignorance, idleness, brutality--these belong to +slavery; they are her natural offspring and allies, and the gentleman +from New York, [Mr. Chanler,] who consumed so much time in +demonstrating the comparative inferiority of the black race, answered +his own argument when he reminded us that the Constitution recognized +the negro only as a slave, and gave us the strongest reason why we +should now begin to recognize him as a freeman. Sir, I do not doubt +that the negro race is inferior to our own. That is not the question. +You do not advance an inch in the argument after you have proved that +premise of your case. You must show that they are not only inferior, +but that they are so ignorant and degraded that they can not be safely +intrusted with the smallest conceivable part of political power and +responsibility, and that this is the case not on the plantations of +Alabama and Mississippi, but here in the District of Columbia. Nay, +you must not only prove that this is the general character of this +population here, but that this condition is so universal and +unexceptional that you can not allow them to take this first step in +freedom, although it may be hedged about with qualifications and +conditions; for which of you who have opposed this measure on the +ground of race has proposed to give the benefit of it to such as may +be found worthy? Not one of you. And this shows that your objection is +founded really on a prejudice, although it assumes the dignity and +proportions of an argument. The real question, sir, is, can we afford +to be just--nay, if you please, generous--to a race whose shame has +been washed out in the consuming fires of war, and which now stands +erect and equal before the law with our own? Shall we give hope and +encouragement to that race beginning, as it does now for the first +time, its career of freedom, by erecting here in the capital of the +republic a banner inscribed with the sacred legend of the elder days, +'All men are born free and equal?' or shall we unfurl in its stead +that other banner, with a strange device, around which the dissolving +remnants of the Democratic party in this hall are called upon to +rally, inscribed with no great sentiment of justice or generosity, but +bearing upon its folds the miserable appeal of the demagogue, 'This is +a white man's Government?' When you inaugurate your newly-discovered +political principle, do not forget to invite the colored troops; beat +the assembly; call out the remnants of the one hundred and eighty +thousand men who marched with steady step through the flames and +carnage of war, and many of whom bear upon their bodies the honorable +scars received in that unparalleled struggle and in your defense, and +as you send your banner down the line, say to them, 'This is the +reward of a generous country for the wounds you have received and the +sufferings you have endured.' + +"Shall we follow the great law to which I have referred--the law that +liberty is progress--and conform our policy to the spirit of that +great law? or shall we, governed by unreasonable and selfish +prejudices, initiate a policy which will make this race our hereditary +enemy, a mine beneath instead of a buttress to the edifice which you +are endeavoring to repair? Sir, I do not hesitate to say that, in my +opinion, it were better to follow where conscience and justice point, +leaving results to a higher Power, than to shrink from an issue which +it is the clear intention of Providence we shall face, or to be driven +from our true course by the chimeras which the excited imaginations of +political partisans have conjured up, or by the misty ghosts of +long-buried errors." + +Mr. Van Horn, of New York, while willing to accept the bill as +originally presented, preferred it as modified by Mr. Hale's +amendments. In his speech he charged those who had opposed the bill as +laboring in the interest of slavery. + +"They seem to have forgotten," he said, "in their advocacy of slavery, +that we have passed through a fierce war, begun by slavery, waged +against the Government by slavery, and solely in its interest to more +thoroughly establish itself upon the Western Continent, and crush out +the best interests of freedom and humanity; and that this war, guided +on our part by the omnipotent arm of the Invisible, made bare in our +behalf, has resulted in a most complete overthrow of this great wrong; +and by the almost omnipotent voice of the republic, as now expressed +in its fundamental law, it has no right to live, much less entitled to +the right of burial, and should have no mourners in the land or going +about the streets. Such speeches as those of the gentlemen from New +Jersey, [Mr. Rogers,] and from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Boyer,] and my +colleague and friend, [Mr. Chanler,] who represents, with myself, in +part, the Empire State, carry us back to the days and scenes before +the war, when slavery ruled supreme, not only throughout the land, by +and through its hold upon power, which the people in an evil hour had +given it, but here in these halls of legislation, where liberty and +its high and noble ends ought to have been secured by just and equal +laws, and the great and paramount object of our system of government +carried out and fully developed. They seem to forget that liberty and +good government have been on trial during these five years last past +of war and blood, and that they have succeeded in the mighty struggle. +They forget that Providence, in a thousand ways, during this fierce +conflict, has given us evidence of his favor, and led us out of the +land of bondage into a purer and higher state of freedom, where +slavery, as an institution among us, is no more. Why do they labor so +long and so ardently to resurrect again into life this foul and +loathsome thing? Why can not they forget their former love and +attachments in this direction, and no longer cling with such undying +grasp to this dead carcass, which, by its corruptions and rottenness, +has well nigh heretofore poisoned them to the death? Why not awake to +the new order of things, and accept the results which God has worked +out in our recent struggle, and not raise the weak arm of flesh to +render null and void what has thus been done, and thus attempt to turn +back the flow of life which is overspreading all, and penetrating +every part of the body politic with its noble purposes and exalted +hopes?" + +Thursday, January 18, was the last day of the discussion of this +important measure in the House of Representatives. When the subject +was in order, Mr. Clarke, of Kansas, "as the only Representative upon +the floor of a State whose whole history had been a continual protest +against political injustice and wrong," after having advocated the +bill by arguments drawn from the history of the country and the record +of the negro race, remarked as follows: "This cry of poverty and +ignorance is not new. I remember that those who first followed the Son +of man, the Savior of the world, were not the learned rabbis, not the +enlightened scholar, not the rich man or the pious Pharisee. They were +the poor and needy, the peasant and the fisherman. I remember, also, +that the more learned the slaveholder, the greater the rebel. I +remember that no black skin covered so false a heart or misdirected +brain, that when the radiant banner of our nationality was near or +before him, he did not understand its meaning, and remained loyal to +its demands. The man capable of taking care of himself, of wife and +children, and, in addition to his unrequited toil, to hold up his +oppressor, must have intelligence enough, in the long run, to wield +the highest means of protection we can give. + +"But, sir, it is for our benefit, as well as for the benefit of the +proscribed class, that I vote for and support impartial manhood +suffrage in this District. We can not afford, as a nation, to keep any +class ignorant or oppress the weak. We must establish here republican +government. That which wrongs one man, in the end recoils on the many. +Sir, if we accept, as the Republican party of the Union, our true +position and our duty, we shall nobly win. If we are false and +recreant, we shall miserably fail. Let us have faith in the people and +the grand logic of a mighty revolution, and dare to do right. Class +legislation will be the inevitable result of class power; and what +would follow, so far as the colored race are concerned, let the recent +tragedy of Jamaica answer. + +[Illustration: Hon. Sidney Clarke.] + +"The principles involved in the arguments put forth on the other side +of the House are not alone destructive to the rights of the +defenseless, intelligent, and patriotic colored men of this District, +but they militate with a double effect and stronger purpose against +the poor whites of the North and of the South, against the German, the +Irishman, and the poor and oppressed of every race, who come to our +shores to escape the oppression of despotic governments, and to seek +the protection of a Government the true theory of which reposes in +every citizen a portion of its sovereign power. Against this attempt +to deny or abridge in any way the rights of the weak, the poor, and +the defenseless, and to transfer the governing power of the nation to +the favored classes, to the rich and the powerful, and thus change the +very purpose and principles of our republican system, I protest in the +name of constitutional freedom, and in behalf of equal rights and +equal laws. + +"I protest against this stealthy innovation upon popular rights, in +the name of the toiling millions of the land; and I warn the House and +the country of the untold mischief and disaster which must come to +distract and divide the republic in the future, if we follow the +pernicious and destructive doctrines founded upon either the +prejudices of class, caste, wealth, or power. I protest in the name of +a constituency whose early history was a sublime and persistent +struggle against the prejudices of pampered and arrogant ruffianism at +home, and the worse than ruffian spirit of the Administrations of +Pierce and Buchanan, and the Democratic traitors who at that time +constituted a majority of this House, and were engaged in preparing +the nation for its harvest of blood. We must go back to the spirit and +purposes of the founders of our Government. We must accept the grand +logic of the mighty revolution from which we are now emerging. We must +repudiate, now and forever, these assaults upon the masses of the +people and upon the fundamental principles of popular rights. I accept +in their full force and effect the principles of the Declaration of +Independence, and by constitutional amendment and law of Congress I +would stamp them with irrevocable power upon the political escutcheon +of the new and regenerated republic. I would avoid the mistakes of the +past, and I would spurn that cringing timidity by which, through all +history, liberty has been sacrificed and humanity betrayed. + +"Sir, I hesitate not to say that if we do not gather up, in the +process of national reconstruction, the enduring safeguards of future +peace, we shall be false to our history and unmindful of the grand +responsibilities now devolving upon us. The establishment of impartial +suffrage in this District will be a fitting commencement of the work. +It will be hailed by the friends of freedom every-where as a return to +a policy of national justice too long delayed. In behalf of the State +I have the honor to represent, and upon whose soil this contest for a +larger liberty and a nobler nationality was first submitted to the +arbitrament of arms, I hail this measure with feelings of satisfaction +and pride. It is the legitimate result of the courage and fidelity of +the hardy pioneers of Kansas in 1856, who dared to face the +blandishment of power and the arrogance and brutality of slavery when +compromisers trembled, and Northern sycophants of an oligarchic +despotism, then, as now, scowled and fretted at the progress of free +principles." + +Mr. Johnson, of Pennsylvania, after having adduced a variety of +arguments against the bill, finally said: "Sir, we hear a tremendous +outcry in this House in favor of popular government and about the +guarantee of the Constitution of the United States to the several +States that they shall have republican governments. How are the poor +people of this District to have a republican form of government if +gentlemen who have come to this city, perhaps for the first time in +their lives, undertake to control them as absolutely and arbitrarily +as Louis Napoleon controls France or Maximilian Mexico? Gentlemen ask, +What right have they to hold an election and express their sentiments? +What right have they to hold such an election? Surely they ought to +have the right to petition, for their rulers are generally arbitrary +enough. + +"Mr. Speaker, it seems to me ridiculously inconsistent for gentlemen +upon this floor to prate so much about a republican form of +government, and rise here and offer resolution after resolution about +the Monroe doctrine and the downtrodden Mexicans, while they force +upon the people of this District a government not of their own choice, +because the voter in a popular government is a governor himself. But, +sir, this is only part of a grand plan. Gentlemen who dare not go +before their white constituents and urge that a negro shall have a +vote in their own States, come here and undertake to thrust negro +suffrage upon the people here. Gentlemen whose States have repudiated +the idea of giving the elective franchise to negroes, come here and +are willing to give the suffrage to negroes here, as if they intended +to make this little District of Columbia a sort of negro Eden; as if +they intended to say to the negroes of Virginia and Maryland and +Delaware, 'You have no right to vote in these States, but if you will +go to Washington you can vote there.' I imagine I can see them +swarming up from different sections of the country to this city and +inquiring where the polls are. Agents, men and women, such as there +are at work in this city, will no doubt be at work in these States, +telling them to pack their knapsacks and march to Washington, for on +such a day there is to be an election, and there they will have the +glorious privilege of the white man. Sir, all this doctrine is +destructive of the American system of government, which recognizes the +right of no man to participate in it unless he is a citizen, which +secures to the citizen his voice in the control and management of the +Government, and prevents those not citizens from standing in the way +of the exercise of his just rights. + +"This Government does not belong to any race so that it can be +divested or disposed of. The present age have no right to terminate +it. It is ours to enjoy and administer, and to transmit to posterity +unimpaired as we received it from the fathers." + +Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, then addressed the House: "When we +emancipated the black people, we not only relieved ourselves from the +institution of slavery, we not only conferred upon them freedom, but +we did more, we recognized their manhood, which, by the old +Constitution and the general policy and usage of the country, had +been, from the organization of the Government until the Emancipation +Proclamation, denied to all of the enslaved colored people. As a +consequence of the recognition of their manhood, certain results +follow in accordance with the principles of this Government, and they +who believe in this Government are, by necessity, forced to accept +those results as a consequence of the policy of emancipation which +they have inaugurated and for which they are responsible. + +"But to say now, having given freedom to them, that they shall not +enjoy the essential rights and privileges of men, is to abandon the +principle of the proclamation of emancipation, and tacitly to admit +that the whole emancipation policy is erroneous. + +"It has been suggested that it is premature to demand immediate action +upon the question of negro suffrage in the District of Columbia. I am +not personally responsible for the presence of the bill at the present +time, but I am responsible for the observation that there never has +been a day during a session of Congress since the Emancipation +Proclamation, ay, since the negroes of this District were emancipated, +when it was not the duty of the Government, which, by the +Constitution, is intrusted with exclusive jurisdiction in this +District, to confer upon the men of this District, without distinction +of race or color, the rights and privileges of men. And, therefore, +there can be nothing premature in this measure, and I can not see how +any one who supports the Emancipation Proclamation, which is a +recognition of the manhood of the whole colored people of this +country, can hesitate as to his duty; and while I make no suggestion +as to the duty of other men, I have a clear perception of my own. And, +first, we are bound to treat the colored people of this District, in +regard to the matter of voting, precisely as we treat white people. +And I do not hesitate to express the opinion that if the question here +to-day were whether any qualification should be imposed upon white +voters in this District, if they alone were concerned, this House +would not, ay, not ten men upon this floor would, consider whether any +qualifications should be imposed or not. + +"Reading and writing, or reading, as a qualification, is demanded, and +an appeal is made to the example of Massachusetts. I wish gentlemen +who now appeal to Massachusetts would often appeal to her in other +matters where I can more conscientiously approve her policy. But it is +a different proposition in Massachusetts as a practical measure. When, +ten years ago, this qualification was imposed upon the people of +Massachusetts, it excluded no person who was then a voter. For two +centuries we have had in Massachusetts a system of public instruction +open to the children of the whole people without money and without +price. Therefore all the people there had had opportunities for +education. Now, why should the example of such a state be quoted to +justify refusing suffrage to men who have been denied the privilege of +education, and whom it has been a crime to teach? Is there no +difference? + +"We are to answer for our treatment of the colored people of this +country, and it will prove in the end impracticable to secure to men +of color civil rights unless the persons who claim those rights are +fortified by the political right of voting. With the right of voting, +every thing that a man ought to have or enjoy of civil rights comes to +him. Without the right to vote, he is secure in nothing. I can not +consent, after all the guards and safeguards which may be prepared for +the defense of the colored men in the enjoyment of their rights--I can +not consent that they shall be deprived of the right to protect +themselves. One hundred and eighty-six thousand of them have been in +the army of the United States. They have stood in the place of our +sons and brothers and friends. They have fallen in defense of the +country. They have earned the right to share in the Government; and if +you deny them the elective franchise, I know not how they are to be +protected. Otherwise you furnish the protection which is given to the +lamb when he is commended to the wolf. + +"There is an ancient history that a sparrow pursued by a hawk took +refuge in the chief assembly of Athens, in the bosom of a member of +that illustrious body, and that the senator in anger hurled it +violently from him. It fell to the ground dead, and such was the +horror and indignation of that ancient but not Christianized body--men +living in the light of nature, of reason--that they immediately +expelled the brutal Areopagite from his seat, and from the association +of humane legislators. + +"What will be said of us, not by Christian, but by heathen nations +even, if, after accepting the blood and sacrifices of these men, we +hurl them from us and allow them to be the victims of those who have +tyrannized over them for centuries? I know of no crime that exceeds +this; I know of none that is its parallel; and if this country is true +to itself, it will rise in the majesty of its strength and maintain a +policy, here and every-where, by which the rights of the colored +people shall be secured through their own power--in peace, the ballot; +in war, the bayonet. + +"It is a maxim of another language, which we may well apply to +ourselves, that where the voting register ends the military roster of +rebellion begins; and if you leave these four million people to the +care and custody of the men who have inaugurated and carried on this +rebellion, then you treasure up for untold years the elements of +social and civil war, which must not only desolate and paralyze the +South, but shake this Government to its very foundation." + +Soon after the close of Mr. Boutwell's speech, Mr. Darling's motion to +postpone and Mr. Hale's motion to amend having been rejected, a vote +was taken on the bill as reported by the committee. The bill passed by +a vote of one hundred and sixteen in the affirmative--fifty-four +voting in the negative. + +The friends of the measure having received evidence that it would not +meet with Executive approval, and not supposing that a vote of +two-thirds could be secured for its passage over the President's veto, +determined not to urge it immediately through the Senate. + +There was great reluctance on the part of many Senators and members of +the House to come to an open rupture with the President. They desired +to defer the day of final and irreconcilable difference between +Congress and the Executive. If the subject of negro suffrage in the +District of Columbia was kept in abeyance for a time, it was hoped +that the President's approval might meanwhile be secured to certain +great measures for protecting the helpless and maintaining the civil +rights of citizens. To accomplish these important ends, the suffrage +bill was deferred many months. The will of the majority in Congress +relating to this subject did not become a law until after the opening +of the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE FREEDMEN. + + Necessities of the Freedmen -- Committee in the House -- + Early movement by the Senate in behalf of Freedmen -- + Senator Wilson's Bill -- Occasion for it -- Mr. Cowan moves + its reference -- Mr. Reverdy Johnson advises deliberation -- + A question of time with Mr. Sherman -- Mr. Trumbull promises + a more efficient bill -- Mr. Sumner presents proof of the + bad condition of affairs in the South -- Mr. Cowan and Mr. + Stewart produce the President as a witness for the defense + -- Mr. Wilson on the testimony -- "Conservatism" -- The bill + absorbed in greater measures. + + +The necessities of three millions and a half of persons made free as a +result of the rebellion demanded early and efficient legislation at +the hands of the Thirty-ninth Congress. In vain did the Proclamation +of Emancipation break their shackles, and the constitutional amendment +declare them free, if Congress should not "enforce" these important +acts by "appropriate legislation." + +The House of Representatives signified its view of the importance of +this subject by constituting an able Committee "on Freedmen," with +Thomas D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, as its chairman. The Senate, +however, was first to take decided steps toward the protection and +relief of freedmen. We have seen that on the first day of the session +Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill "to maintain the +freedom of the inhabitants in the States declared in insurrection and +rebellion by the proclamation of the President of the 1st of July, +1862," of which the following is a copy: + + _Be it enacted, etc._, That all laws, statutes, acts, + ordinances, rules and regulations, of any description + whatsoever, heretofore in force or held valid in any of the + States which were declared to be in insurrection and + rebellion by the proclamation of the President of the 1st of + July, 1862, whereby or wherein any inequality of civil + rights and immunities among the inhabitants of said States + is recognized, authorized, established, or maintained, by + reason or in consequence of any distinctions or differences + of color, race, or descent, or by reason or in consequence + of a previous condition or status of slavery or involuntary + servitude of such inhabitants, be, and are hereby, declared + null and void; and it shall be unlawful to institute, make, + ordain, or establish, in any of the aforesaid States + declared to be in insurrection and rebellion, any such law, + statute, act, ordinance, rule, or regulation, or to enforce, + or to attempt to enforce, the same. + + SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who + shall violate either of the provisions of this act shall be + deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a + fine of not less than $500 nor exceeding $10,000, and by + imprisonment not less than six months nor exceeding five + years; and it shall be the duty of the President to enforce + the provisions of this act. + +On the 13th of December, Mr. Wilson called up his bill, which the +Senate proceeded to consider as in Committee of the Whole. The author +of the bill presented reasons why it should become a law: "A bill is +pending before the Legislature of South Carolina making these freedmen +servants, providing that the persons for whom they labor shall be +their masters; that the relation between them shall be the relation of +master and servant. The bill, as originally reported, provided that +the freedmen might be educated, but that provision has already been +stricken out, and the bill now lies over waiting for events here. That +bill makes the colored people of South Carolina serfs, a degraded +class, the slaves of society. It is far better to be the slave of one +man than to be the slave of arbitrary law. There is no doubt of the +fact that in a great portion of those States the high hopes, the +confidence, and the joy expressed last spring by the freedmen, have +passed away; that silence and sorrow pervade that section of the +country, and that they are becoming distrustful and discontented. God +grant that the high-raised expectations of these loyal and deserted +people may not be blasted. God forbid that we should violate our +plighted faith." + +Mr. Cowan moved the reference of the bill to the Committee on the +Judiciary, but its author was unwilling that it should be so referred, +since it was highly important that action should be had upon it before +the holidays. + +Mr. Johnson said that the bill gave rise to grave questions on which +it was very desirable that the deliberation of the Senate should be +very calmly advised. He objected on the ground of its indefiniteness: +"There are no particular laws designated in the bill to be repealed. +All laws existing before these States got into a condition of +insurrection, by which any difference or inequality is created or +established, are to be repealed. What is to be the effect of that +repeal upon such laws as they exist? In some of those States, by the +constitution or by the laws, (and the constitution is equally a law,) +persons of the African race are excluded from certain political +privileges. Are they to be repealed, and at once, by force of that +repeal, are they to be placed exactly upon the same footing in regard +to all political privileges with that which belongs to the other class +of citizens? Very many of those laws are laws passed under the police +power, which has always been conceded as a power belonging to the +States--laws supposed to have been necessary in order to protect the +States themselves from insurrection. Are they to be repealed +absolutely? + +"No man feels more anxious certainly than I do that the rights +incident to the condition of freedom, which is now as I personally am +glad to believe, the condition of the black race, should not be +violated; but I do not know that there is any more pressing need for +extraordinary legislation to prevent outrages upon that class, by any +thing which is occurring in the Southern States, than there is for +preventing outrages in the loyal States. Crimes are being perpetrated +every day in the very justly-esteemed State from which the honorable +member comes. Hardly a paper fails to give us an account of some most +atrocious and horrible crime. Murders shock the sense of that +community and the sense of the United States very often; and it is not +peculiar to Massachusetts. Moral by her education, and loving freedom +and hating injustice as much as the people of any other State, she yet +is unable to prevent a violation of every principle of human rights, +but we are not for that reason to legislate for her." + +Mr. Wilson replied: "The Senator from Maryland says that cruelties and +great crimes are committed in all sections of the country. I know it; +but we have not cruel and inhuman laws to be enforced. Sir, armed men +are traversing portions of the rebel States to-day enforcing these +black laws upon men whom we have made free, and to whom we stand +pledged before man and God to maintain their freedom. A few months ago +these freedmen were joyous, hopeful, confident. To-day they are +distrustful, silent, and sad, and this condition has grown out of the +wrongs and cruelties and oppressions that have been perpetrated upon +them." + +Mr. Sherman said: "I believe it is the duty of Congress to give to the +freedmen of the Southern States ample protection in all their natural +rights. With me it is a question simply of time and manner. I submit +to the Senator of Massachusetts whether this is the time for the +introduction of this bill. I believe it would be wiser to postpone all +action upon this subject until the proclamation of the Secretary of +State shall announce that the constitutional amendment is a part of +the supreme law of the land. When that is done, there will then be, in +my judgment, no doubt of the power of Congress to pass this bill, and +to make it definite and general in its terms. + +"Then, as I have said, it is a question of manner. When this question +comes to be legislated upon by Congress, I do not wish it to be left +to the uncertain and ambiguous language of this bill. I think that the +rights which we desire to secure to the freedmen of the South should +be distinctly specified. + +"The language of this bill is not sufficiently definite and distinct +to inform the people of the United States of precisely the character +of rights intended to be secured by it to the freedmen of the Southern +States. The bill in its terms applies only to those States which were +declared to be in insurrection; and the same criticism would apply to +this part of it that I have already made, that it is not general in +its terms." + +Mr. Trumbull made some remarks of great significance, as foreshadowing +important measures soon to occupy the attention of Congress and the +country: + +"I hold that under that second section Congress will have the +authority, when the constitutional amendment is adopted, not only to +pass the bill of the Senator from Massachusetts, but a bill that will +be much more efficient to protect the freedman in his rights. We may, +if deemed advisable, continue the Freedman's Bureau, clothe it with +additional powers, and, if necessary, back it up with a military +force, to see that the rights of the men made free by the first clause +of the constitutional amendment are protected. And, sir, when the +constitutional amendment shall have been adopted, if the information +from the South be that the men whose liberties are secured by it are +deprived of the privilege to go and come when they please, to buy and +sell when they please, to make contracts and enforce contracts, I give +notice that, if no one else does, I shall introduce a bill, and urge +its passage through Congress, that will secure to those men every one +of these rights; they would not be freemen without them. It is idle to +say that a man is free who can not go and come at pleasure, who can +not buy and sell, who can not enforce his rights. These are rights +which the first clause of the constitutional amendment meant to secure +to all." + +On a subsequent day, December 20, 1865, when this subject was again +before the Senate, Mr. Sumner spoke in its favor. Referring to the +message of the President on the "Condition of the Southern States," +the Senator said: + +"When I think of what occurred yesterday in this chamber; when I call +to mind the attempt to whitewash the unhappy condition of the rebel +States, and to throw the mantle of official oblivion over sickening +and heart-rending outrages, where human rights are sacrificed and +rebel barbarism receives a new letter of license, I feel that I ought +to speak of nothing else. I stood here years ago, in the days of +Kansas, when a small community was surrendered to the machinations of +slave-masters. I now stand here again, when, alas! an immense region, +with millions of people, has been surrendered to the machinations of +slave-masters. Sir, it is the duty of Congress to arrest this fatal +fury. Congress must dare to be brave; it must dare to be just." + +After having quoted copiously from the great Russian act by which the +freedom given to the serfs by the Emperor's proclamation "was +secured," and having emphasized them as examples for American +legislation, Mr. Sumner said: + +"My colleague is clearly right in introducing his bill and pressing it +to a vote. The argument for it is irresistible. It is essential to +complete emancipation. Without it emancipation will be only _half +done_. It is our duty to see that it is wholly done. Slavery must be +abolished not in form only, but in substance, so that there shall be +no black code; but all shall be equal before the law." + +He then read extracts from letters and documents, showing the hostile +sentiments of the people, and the unhappy condition of the colored +population in nearly all of the rebel States, and closed by saying: "I +bring this plain story to a close. I regret that I have been +constrained to present it. I wish it were otherwise. But I should have +failed in duty had I failed to speak. Not in anger, not in vengeance, +not in harshness have I spoken; but solemnly, carefully, and for the +sake of my country and humanity, that peace and reconciliation may +again prevail. I have spoken especially for the loyal citizens who are +now trodden down by rebel power. You have before you the actual +condition of the rebel States. You have heard the terrible testimony. +The blood curdles at the thought of such enormities, and especially at +the thought that the poor freedmen, to whom we owe protection, are +left to the unrestrained will of such a people smarting with defeat, +and ready to wreak vengeance upon these representatives of a true +loyalty. In the name of God let us protect them. Insist upon +guarantees. Pass the bill now under consideration; pass any bill; but +do not let this crying injustice rage any longer. An avenging God can +not sleep while such things find countenance. If you are not ready to +be the Moses of an oppressed people, do not become its Pharaoh." + +Mr. Cowan rebuked the Senator from Massachusetts for applying the term +"whitewash" to the message of the President. He then charged Mr. +Sumner with reading from "anonymous letter-writers, from cotton +agents, and people of that kind," and placed against them "the +testimony of the President of the United States, not a summer soldier, +or a sunshine patriot, who was a Union man, and who was in favor of +the Union at a time and in a place when there was some merit in it." +He then proceeded to read extracts from the President's message and +General Grant's report. + +On a subsequent day, Mr. Stewart, of Nevada, made a speech in +opposition to the positions assumed by Mr. Sumner. He declared his +opinion that "if the great mass of the people of the South are capable +of the atrocities attributed to them by the anonymous witnesses +paraded before this Senate, then a union of these States is +impossible; then hundreds and thousands of the bravest and best of our +land have fallen to no purpose; then every house, from the gulf to the +lakes, is draped in mourning without an object; then three thousand +millions of indebtedness hangs like a pall upon the pride and +prosperity of the people, only to admonish us that the war was wicked, +useless, and cruel." + +After making the remark, "In judging of testimony upon ordinary +subjects, we take into consideration not only the facts stated, but +the character and standing of the witness, his means of information, +and last, but not least, his appearance upon the stand," Mr. Stewart +thus spoke in behalf of the principal witness relied upon in the +defense of the South: "In this great cause, the Senate properly called +upon the chief Executive of the nation for information. Was he a +witness whose character and standing before the country would entitle +his testimony to consideration? Let the voice of a great people, who +have indorsed his patriotism and administration, answer. Were his +means of information such as to entitle him to speak advisedly upon +this subject? Let the machinery of the Government, that collects facts +from every department, civil and military, upon the table of the +Executive, answer. Was not his appearance before the public, in +communicating this testimony to the Senate and the country such as to +remove all grounds of suspicion? Let the exalted tone, bold and +fearless statement, pure and patriotic spirit of both his messages be +his best vindication." + +The Senator's remarks were principally directed in opposition to the +policy of regarding the rebel States as "conquered territories." He +finally remarked: "I wish to be distinctly understood as not opposing +the passage of the bill. I am in favor of legislation on this subject, +and such legislation as shall secure the freedom of those who were +formerly slaves, and their equality before the law; and I maintain +that it can be fully secured without holding the Southern States in +territorial subjugation." + +Mr. Wilson replied: "The Senator who has just addressed us questions +the testimony adduced here by my colleague yesterday. He might as well +question the massacre at Fort Pillow, and the cruelties perpetrated at +Andersonville, where eighty-three per cent, of the men who entered the +hospitals died--Andersonville, where more American soldiers lie buried +than fell throughout the Mexican war; where more American soldiers lie +buried than were killed in battle of British soldiers in Wellington's +four great battles in Spain, and at Waterloo, Alma, Inkermann, and +Sebastopol. The Senator might as well question the atrocities of +sacked Lawrence and other atrocities committed during the war. If he +will go into the Freedman's Bureau, and examine and study the official +records of officers who, for five or six months, have taken testimony +and have large volumes of sworn facts; if he will go into the office +of General Holt, and read the reports there, his heart and soul will +be made sick at the wrongs man does to his fellow-man." + +The Senator, in the course of his remarks, took occasion to express +his opinion of "conservatism:" "Progress is to be made only by +fidelity to the great cause by which we have stood during the past +four years of bloody war. For twenty-five years we had a conflict of +ideas, of words, of thoughts--words and thoughts stronger than +cannon-balls. We have had four years of bloody conflict. Slavery, +every thing that belongs or pertains to it, lies prostrate before us +to-day, and the foot of a regenerated nation is upon it. There let it +lie forever. I hope no words or thoughts of a reactionary character +are to be uttered in either house of Congress. I hope nothing is to be +uttered here in the name of 'conservatism,' the worst word in the +English language. If there is a word in the English language that +means treachery, servility, and cowardice, it is that word +'conservative.' It ought never hereafter to be on the lips of an +American statesman. For twenty years it has stood in America the +synonym of meanness and baseness. I have studied somewhat carefully +the political history of the country during the last fifteen or twenty +years, and I have always noticed that when I heard a man prate about +being a conservative and about conservatism, he was about to do some +mean thing. [Laughter.] I never knew it to fail; in fact, it is about +the first word a man utters when he begins to retreat." + +Mr. Wilson declared his motives in proposing this bill, and yet +cheerfully acquiesced in its probable fate: "Having read hundreds of +pages of records and of testimony, enough to make the heart and soul +sick, I proposed this bill as a measure of humanity. I desired, before +we entered on the great questions of public policy, that we should +pass a simple bill annulling these cruel laws; that we should do it +early, and then proceed calmly with our legislation. That was my +motive for bringing this bill into the Senate so early in the session. +Many of the difficulties occurring in the rebel States, between white +men and black men, between the old masters and the freedmen, grow out +of these laws. They are executed in various parts of the States; the +military arrest their execution frequently, and the agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau set them aside; and this keeps up a continual +conflict. If these obnoxious State laws were promptly annulled, it +would contribute much to the restoration of good feeling and harmony, +relieve public officers from immense labors, and the freedmen from +suffering and sorrow; and this is the opinion of the most experienced +men engaged in the Freedmen's Bureau. I have had an opportunity to +consult with and to communicate with many of the agents of the Bureau, +with teachers, officers, and persons who understand the state of +affairs in those States. + +"But, sir, it is apparent now that the bill is not to pass at present; +that it must go over for the holidays at any rate. The constitutional +amendment has been adopted, and I have introduced a bill this morning +based upon that amendment, which has been referred to the committee of +which the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Trumbull] is chairman. This bill +will go over; possibly it will not be acted upon at all. We shall +probably enter on the discussion of the broader question of annulling +all the black laws in the country, and putting these people under the +protection of humane, equal, and just laws." + +The presentiment of the author of the bill was realized. The bill +never saw the light as a law of the land. Nor was it needful that it +should. It contributed to swell the volume of other and more sweeping +measures. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL IN THE SENATE. + + The bill introduced and referred to Judiciary Committee -- + Its provisions -- Argument of Mr. Hendricks against it -- + Reply of Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Cowan's amendment -- Mr. + Guthrie wishes to relieve Kentucky from the operation of the + bill -- Mr. Creswell desires that Maryland may enjoy the + benefits of the bill -- Mr. Cowan's gratitude to God and + friendship for the negro -- Remarks by Mr. Wilson -- "The + short gentleman's long speech" -- Yeas and nays -- Insulting + title. + + +On the 19th of December Mr. Trumbull gave notice that "on some early +day" he would "introduce a bill to enlarge the powers of the +Freedmen's Bureau so as to secure freedom to all persons within the +United States, and protect every individual in the full enjoyment of +the rights of person and property, and furnish him with means for +their vindication." Of the introduction of this measure, he said it +would be done "in view of the adoption of the constitutional amendment +abolishing slavery. I have never doubted that, on the adoption of that +amendment, it would be competent for Congress to protect every person +in the United States in all the rights of person and property +belonging to a free citizen; and to secure these rights is the object +of the bill which I propose to introduce. I think it important that +action should be taken on this subject at an early day, for the +purpose of quieting apprehensions in the minds of many friends of +freedom, lest by local legislation or a prevailing public sentiment in +some of the States, persons of the African race should continue to be +oppressed, and, in fact, deprived of their freedom; and for the +purpose, also, of showing to those among whom slavery has heretofore +existed, that unless by local legislation they provide for the real +freedom of their former slaves, the Federal Government will, by virtue +of its own authority, see that they are fully protected." + +On the 5th of January, 1866, the first day of the session of Congress +after the holidays, Mr. Trumbull obtained leave to introduce a bill +"to enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau." The bill was read +twice by its title, and as it contained provisions relating to the +exercise of judicial functions by the officers and agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau, under certain circumstances, in the late insurgent +States, it was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. + +On the 11th of January Mr. Trumbull reported the bill from the +Judiciary Committee, to whom it had been referred, with some +amendments of a verbal character. On the following day these +amendments were considered by the Senate, in Committee of the Whole, +and adopted. The consideration of the bill as amended was deferred to +a subsequent day. + +The bill provided that "the act to establish a Bureau for the relief +of Freedmen and Refugees, approved March 3, 1865, shall continue until +otherwise provided for by law, and shall extend to refugees and +freedmen in all parts of the United States. The President is to be +authorized to divide the section of country containing such refugees +and freedmen into districts, each containing one or more States, not +to exceed twelve in number, and by and with the advice and consent of +the Senate, to appoint an assistant commissioner for each district, +who shall give like bond, receive the same compensation, and perform +the same duties prescribed by this act and the act to which it is an +amendment. The bureau may, in the discretion of the President, be +placed under a commissioner and assistant commissioners, to be +detailed from the army, in which event each officer so assigned to +duty is to serve without increase of pay or allowances. + +"The commissioner, with the approval of the President, is to divide +each district into a number of sub-districts, not to exceed the number +of counties or parishes in each State, and to assign to each +sub-district at least one agent, either a citizen, officer of the +army, or enlisted man, who, if an officer, is to serve without +additional compensation or allowance, and if a citizen or enlisted +man, is to receive a salary not exceeding $1,500 per annum. Each +assistant commissioner may employ not exceeding six clerks, one of the +third class and five of the first class, and each agent of a +sub-district may employ two clerks of the first class. The President +of the United States, through the War Department and the commissioner, +is to extend military jurisdiction and protection over all employés, +agents, and officers of the bureau, and the Secretary of War may +direct such issues of provisions, clothing, fuel, and other supplies, +including medical stores and transportation, and afford such aid, +medical or otherwise, as he may deem needful for the immediate and +temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and +freedmen, their wives and children, under such rules and regulations +as he may direct. + +"It is also provided that the President may, for settlement in the +manner prescribed by section four of the act to which this is an +amendment, reserve from sale or settlement, under the homestead or +preemption laws, public lands in Florida, Mississippi, and Arkansas, +not to exceed three million acres of good land in all, the rental +named in that section to be determined in such manner as the +commissioner shall by regulation prescribe. It proposes to confirm and +make valid the possessory titles granted in pursuance of Major-General +Sherman's special field order, dated at Savannah, January 16, 1865. +The commissioner, under the direction of the President, is to be +empowered to purchase or rent such tracts of land in the several +districts as may be necessary to provide for the indigent refugees and +freedmen dependent upon the Government for support; also to purchase +sites and buildings for schools and asylums, to be held as United +States property until the refugees or freedmen shall purchase the +same, or they shall be otherwise disposed of by the commissioner. + +"Whenever in any State or district in which the ordinary course of +judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and +wherein, in consequence of any State or local law, ordinance, police +or other regulation, custom, or prejudice, any of the civil rights or +immunities belonging to white persons (including the right to make and +enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, +purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, +and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the +security of person and estate), are refused or denied to negroes, +mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or any other persons, on account of +race, color, or any previous condition of slavery or involuntary +servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall +have been duly convicted, or wherein they or any of them are subjected +to any other or different punishment, pains, or penalties, for the +commission of any act or offense, than are prescribed for white +persons committing like acts or offenses, it is to be the duty of the +President of the United States, through the commissioner, to extend +military protection and jurisdiction over all cases affecting such +persons so discriminated against. + +"Any person who, under color of any State or local law, ordinance, +police, or other regulation or custom, shall, in any State or district +in which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been +interrupted by the rebellion, subject, or cause to be subjected, any +negro, mulatto, freedman, refugee, or other person, on account of race +or color, or any previous condition of slavery or involuntary +servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall +have been duly convicted, or for any other cause, to the deprivation +of any civil right secured to white persons, or to any other or +different punishment than white persons are subject to for the +commission of like acts or offenses, is to be deemed guilty of a +misdemeanor, and be punished by fine not exceeding $1,000 or +imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. It is to be the duty of +the officers and agents of this bureau to take jurisdiction of and +hear and determine all offenses committed against this provision; and +also of all cases affecting negroes, mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or +other persons who are discriminated against in any of the particulars +mentioned in this act, under such rules and regulations as the +President of the United States, through the War Department, may +prescribe. This jurisdiction is to cease and determine whenever the +discrimination on account of which it is conferred ceases, and is in +no event to be exercised in any State in which the ordinary course of +judicial proceedings has not been interrupted by the rebellion, nor in +any such State after it shall have been fully restored in all its +constitutional relations to the United States, and the courts of the +State and of the United States within its limits are not disturbed or +stopped in the peaceable course of justice." + +Other business occupying the attention of the Senate, the +consideration of the Freedman's Bureau Bill was not practically +entered upon until the 18th of January. On that day, Mr. Stewart made +a speech ostensibly on this bill, but really on the question of +reconstruction and negro suffrage, in reply to remarks by Mr. Wade on +those subjects. + +Mr. Trumbull moved as an amendment to the bill that occupants on land +under General Sherman's special field order, dated at Savannah, +January 16, 1865; should be confirmed in their possessions for the +period of three years from the date of said order, and no person +should be disturbed in said possession during the said three years +unless a settlement should be made with said occupant by the owner +satisfactory to the commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. + +Mr. Trumbull explained the circumstances under which the freedmen had +obtained possessory titles to lands in Georgia, and urged the +propriety of their being confirmed by Congress for three years. He +said: + +"I should be glad to go further. I would be glad, if we could, to +secure to these people, upon any just principle, the fee of this land; +but I do not see with what propriety we could except this particular +tract of country out of all the other lands in the South, and +appropriate it in fee to these parties. I think, having gone upon the +land in good faith under the protection of the Government, we may +protect them there for a reasonable time; and the opinion of the +committee was that three years would be a reasonable time." + +On the following day, Mr. Hendricks presented his objections to the +bill in a speech of considerable length. He was followed by Mr. +Trumbull in reply. As both were members of the Judiciary Committee +from which the bill was reported, and both had carefully considered +the reasons for and against the measure, their arguments are given at +length. + +[Illustration: Hon. T. A. Hendricks, Senator from Indiana.] + +Mr. Hendricks said: "At the last session of Congress the original law +creating that bureau was passed. We were then in the midst of the war; +very considerable territory had been brought within the control of the +Union troops and armies, and within the scope of that territory, it +was said, there were many freedmen who must be protected by a bill of +that sort; and it was mainly upon that argument that the bill was +enacted. The Senate was very reluctant to enact the law creating the +bureau as it now exists. There was so much hesitancy on the part of +the Senate, that by a very large vote it refused to agree to the bill +reported by the Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumner,] from a +committee of conference, and I believe the honorable Senator from +Illinois, [Mr. Trumbull,] who introduced this bill, himself voted +against that bill; and why? That bill simply undertook to define the +powers and duties of the Freedmen's Bureau and its agents, and the +Senate would not agree to confer the powers that that bill upon its +face seemed to confer, and it was voted down; and then the law as it +now stands was enacted in general terms. There was very little gained, +indeed, by the Senate refusing to pass the first bill and enacting the +latter, for under the law as it passed, the Freedmen's Bureau assumed +very nearly all the jurisdiction and to exercise all the powers +contemplated in the bill reported by the Senator from Massachusetts. + +"Now, sir, it is important to note very carefully the enlargement of +the powers of this bureau proposed by this bill; and in the first +place, it proposes to make the bureau permanent. The last Congress +would not agree to this. The bill that the Senate voted down did not +limit the duration of the bureau, and it was voted down, and the bill +that the Senate agreed to provided that the bureau should continue +during the war and only for one year after its termination. That was +the judgment of the Senate at the last session. What has occurred +since to change the judgment of the Senate in this important matter? +What change in the condition of the country induces the Senate now to +say that this shall be a permanent bureau or department of the +Government, when at the last session it said it should cease to exist +within one year after the conclusion of the war? Why, sir, it seems to +me that the country is now, and especially the Southern States are now +in better condition than the Senate had reason to expect when the law +was enacted. Civil government has been restored in almost all the +Southern States; the courts are restored in many of them; in many +localities they are exercising their jurisdiction within their +particular localities without let or hinderance; and why, I ask +Senators, shall we make this bureau a perpetual and permanent +institution of the Government when we refused to do it at the last +session? + +"I ask Senators, in the first place, if they are now, with the most +satisfactory information that is before the body, willing to do that +which they refused to do at the last session of Congress? We refused +to pass the law when it proposed to establish a permanent department. +Shall we now, when the war is over, when the States are returning to +their places in the Union, when the citizens are returning to their +allegiance, when peace and quiet, to a very large extent, prevail over +that country, when the courts are reëstablished; is the Senate now, +with this information before it, willing to make this a permanent +bureau and department of the Government? + +"The next proposition of the bill is, that it shall not be confined +any longer to the Southern States, but that it shall have a government +over the States of the North as well as of the South. The old law +allowed the President to appoint a commissioner for each of the States +that had been declared to be in rebellion--one for each of the eleven +seceding States, not to exceed ten in all. This bill provides that the +jurisdiction of the bureau shall extend wherever, within the limits of +the United States, refugees or freedmen have gone. Indiana has not +been a State in insurrection, and yet there are thousands of refugees +and freedmen who have gone into that State within the last three +years. This bureau is to become a governing power over the State of +Indiana according to the provisions of the bill. Indiana, that +provides for her own paupers, Indiana, that provides for the +government of her own people, may, under the provisions of this bill, +be placed under a government that our fathers never contemplated--a +government that must be most distasteful to freemen. + +"I know it may be said that the bureau will not probably be extended +to the Northern States. If it is not intended to be extended to those +States, why amend the old law so as to give this power? When the old +law limited the jurisdiction of this bureau to the States that had +been declared in insurrection, is it not enough that the bureau should +have included one State, the State of Kentucky, over which it had no +rightful original jurisdiction? And must we now amend it so as to +place all the States of the Union within the power of this +irresponsible sub-government? This is one objection that I have to the +bill, and the next is the expense that it must necessarily impose upon +the people. We are asked by the Freedmen's Bureau in its estimates to +appropriate $11,745,050; nearly twelve million dollars for the support +of this bureau and to carry on its operations during the coming year. +I will read what he says: + + "'It is estimated that the amount required for the + expenditures of the bureau for the fiscal year commencing + January, 1866, will be $11,745,050. The sum is requisite for + the following purposes: + + Salaries of assistant and sub-assistant commissioners $147,500 + Salaries of clerks 82,800 + Stationery and printing 63,000 + Quarters and fuel 15,000 + Clothing for distribution 1,750,000 + Commissary stores 4,106,250 + Medical department 500,000 + Transportation 1,980,000 + School superintendents 21,000 + Sites for school-houses and asylums 3,000,000 + Telegraphing 18,000 + +Making in all the sum which I have mentioned. The old system under +this law, that was before the commissioner when he made this estimate, +requires an expenditure to carry on its operations of nearly twelve +million dollars, and that to protect, as it is called, and to govern +four millions of the people of the United States--within a few +millions of the entire cost of the Government under Mr. Adams's +administration, when the population of the States had gone up to many +millions. How is it that a department that has but a partial +jurisdiction over the people shall cost almost as much for the +management of four million people as it cost to manage the whole +Government, for its army, its navy, its legislative and judicial +departments, in former years? My learned friend from Kentucky suggests +that the expenses under John Quincy Adams's administration were about +thirteen million dollars. What was the population of the United States +at that time I am not prepared to state, but it was far above four +millions. Now, to manage four million people is to cost the people of +the United States, under the law as it stands, nearly as much as it +cost the people to manage the whole affairs of the Government under +the administration of Mr. John Quincy Adams. + +"I hear Senators speak very frequently of the necessity of economy and +retrenchment. Is this a specimen, increasing the number of officers +almost without limit, and increasing the expenditures? I think one +might be safe in saying that, if this bill passes, we can not expect +to get through a year with less than $20,000,000 of an expenditure for +this bureau. But that is a mere opinion; for no man can tell until we +have the number of officers that are to be appointed under the bill +prescribed in the bill itself, and this section leaves the largest +discretion to the bureau in the appointment of officers. I appeal to +Senators to know whether, at this time, when we ought to adopt a +system of retrenchment and reform, they are willing to pass a bill +which will so largely increase the public expenditures. + +"Then, sir, when this army of officers has been organized, the bill +provides: 'And the President of the United States, through the War +Department and the commissioner, shall extend military jurisdiction +and protection over all employés, agents, and officers of this +bureau.' + +"Will some Senator be good enough to tell me what that means? If +Indiana be declared a State within which are found refugees and +freedmen, who have escaped from the Southern States, and if Indiana +has a commissioner appointed to her, and if in each county of Indiana +there be a sub-commissioner at a salary of $1,500 a year, with two +clerks with a salary of $1,200 each, and then the War Department +throws over this little army of office-holders in the State of Indiana +its protection, what does that mean? The people of Indiana have been +ground hard under military authority and power within the last three +or four years, but it was borne because it was hoped that when the war +would be closed the military power would be withdrawn from the State. +Under this bill it may be established permanently upon the people by a +body of men protected by the military power of the Government. An +officer is appointed to the State of Indiana to regulate the contracts +which are made between the white people and the colored people of that +State, and because he holds this office, not military in its +character, involving no military act whatever, the military throws +over him its iron shield of protection. What does that mean? If this +officer shall do a great wrong and outrage to one of the people, and +the wronged citizen appeals to the court for his redress and brings +his suit for damages, does the protecting shield of the War Department +prevent the prosecution of that suit and the recovery of a judgment? +What is the protection that is thrown over this army of +office-holders? Let it be explained. + +"It may be said that this is a part of the military department. That +will depend not so much upon what we call them in the law as what are +the duties imposed upon these sub-agents. It is a little difficult to +tell. They are to protect the freedmen; they are to protect refugees; +they are to buy asylums and school-houses; they are to establish +schools; they are to see to the contracts that are made between white +men and colored men. I want to know of the chairman of the committee +that reported this bill, in what respect these duties are military in +their character? I can understand one thing, that it may be regarded +as a war upon the liberties of the people, but I am not able to see in +what respect the duties of these officers otherwise are military. But +this protection is to be thrown over them. I will not occupy longer +time upon that subject. + +"The third section of the bill changes the letter of the law in two +respects: first, 'That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of +provisions, clothing, fuel, and other supplies, including medical +stores and transportation,' etc. Those last words, 'medical stores and +transportation,' make the change in the law that is proposed in this +bill. But, sir, in point of fact it makes no change in the law; for if +you will turn to the report of the commissioner of this bureau, it +will be found that the bureau, during the past six months, has been +furnishing medical supplies and transportation. A very large item in +the expenditures estimated for is transportation. But I wish to ask of +the Senator who framed this bill why we shall now provide for the +transportation of freedmen and refugees. During the war, a very large +number of refugees came from the Southern States into the North; but +the Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, in his report, says that +those refugees have mainly returned, and but few remain now to be +carried back from the North to the South, or who desire to be. Then +why do we provide in this bill for transportation? Is it simply to +give the bureau the power to transport refugees and freedmen from one +locality to another at its pleasure? The necessity of carrying them +from one section of the country to another has passed away. Is it +intended by this bill that the bureau shall expend the people's money +in carrying the colored people from one locality in a Southern State +to another locality? I ask the Senator from Illinois, when he comes to +explain his bill, to tell us just what is the force and purpose of +this provision. + +"The fourth resolution, as amended, provides for the setting apart of +three million acres of the public lands in the States of Florida, +Mississippi, and Arkansas for homes for the colored people. I believe +that is the only provision of the bill in which I concur. I concur in +what was said by some Senator yesterday, that it is desirable, if we +ever expect to do any thing substantially for the colored people, to +encourage them to obtain homes, and I am willing to vote for a +reasonable appropriation of the public lands for that purpose. I shall +not, therefore, occupy time in discussing that section. + +"The fifth section, as amended by the proposition before the Senate, +proposes to confirm the possessory right of the colored people upon +these lands for three years from the date of that order, or about two +years from this time. I like the amendment better than the original +bill; for the original bill left it entirely uncertain what was +confirmed, and of course it is better that we should say one year, or +three years, or ten years, than to leave it entirely indefinite for +what period we do confirm the possession. I have no doubt that General +Sherman had the power, as a military commander, at the time, to set +apart the abandoned lands along the coast as a place in which to leave +the colored people then surrounding his army; but that General Sherman +during the war, or that Congress after the war, except by a proceeding +for confiscation, can take the land permanently from one person and +give it to another, I do not admit; nor did General Sherman undertake +to do that. In express terms, he said that they should have the right +of possession; for what length of time he did not say, for the reason +that he could not say. It was a military possession that he conferred, +and that possession would last only during the continuance of the +military occupation, and no longer. If General Sherman, by his General +Order No. 15, placed the colored people upon the lands along the coast +of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, for a temporary purpose, what +was the extent of the possessory right which he could confer? He did +not undertake to give a title for any defined period, but simply the +right of possession. It is fair to construe his order as meaning only +what he could do, giving the right of possession during military +occupancy. Now, sir, the President informs us that the rebellion is +suppressed; that the war is over; that military law no longer governs +in that country; but that peace is restored, and that civil law shall +now govern. What, then, is the law upon the subject? A right of +possession is given by the commanding general to certain persons +within that region of country; peace follows, and with peace comes +back the right of the real owners to the possession. This possession +that the General undertook to give, according to law, could not last +longer than the military occupancy. When peace comes, the right of the +owners return with it. Then how is it that Congress can undertake to +say that the property that belongs to A, B, and C, upon the islands +and sea-coast of the South, shall, for two years from this date, not +belong to them, but shall belong to certain colored people? I want to +know upon what principle of law Congress can take the property of one +man and give it to another. + +"I know very well what may be done in the courts by a proceeding for +confiscation. I am not discussing that question. If there has been any +property confiscated and disposed of under proceedings of +confiscation, I do not question the title here. That is purely a +judicial question. But, sir, I deny that Congress can legislate the +property of one man into the possession of another. If this section is +to pass, I prefer that this confirmation shall be for three years +rather than leave it in the uncertain state in which General Sherman's +order left it. + +"The sixth section provides, 'That the commissioners shall, under the +direction of the President, procure in the name of the United States, +by grant or purchase, such lands within the districts aforesaid as may +be required for refugees and freedmen dependent on the Government for +support; and he shall provide, or cause to be erected, suitable +buildings for asylums and schools.' Upon what principle can you +authorize the Government of the United States to buy lands for the +poor people in any State of the Union? They may be very meritorious; +their cases may appeal with great force to our sympathies; it may +almost appear necessary to prevent suffering that we should buy a home +for each poor person in the country; but where is the power of the +General Government to do this thing? Is it true that by this +revolution the persons and property of the people have been brought +within the jurisdiction of Congress, and taken from without the +control and jurisdiction of the States? I have understood heretofore +that it has never been disputed that the duty to provide for the poor, +the insane, the blind, and all who are dependent upon society, rests +upon the States, and that the power does not belong to the General +Government. What has occurred, then, in this war that has changed the +relation of the people to the General Government to so great an extent +that Congress may become the purchasers of homes for them? If we can +go so far, I know of no limit to the powers of Congress. Here is a +proposition to buy a home for each dependent freeman and refugee. The +section is not quite as strong as it might have been. It would have +been stronger, I think, in the present state of public sentiment, if +the word 'refugee' had been left out, and if it had been only for the +freedmen, because it does not seem to be so popular now to buy a home +for a white man as to buy one for a colored man. But this bill +authorizes the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau to buy homes for +white people and for black people only upon the ground that they are +dependent. If this be the law now, there has come about a startling +change in the relation of the States and of the people to the General +Government. I shall be very happy to hear from the learned head of the +Judiciary Committee upon what principle it is that in any one single +case you may buy a home for any man, whether he be rich or poor. The +General Government may buy land when it is necessary for the exercise +of any of its powers; but outside of that, it seems to me, there is no +power within the Constitution allowing it. + +"The most remarkable sections of the bill, however, are the seventh +and eighth, and to those sections I will ask the very careful +attention of Senators; for I think if we can pass those two sections, +and make them a law, then indeed this Government can do any thing. It +will be useless to speak any longer of limitations upon the powers of +the General Government; it will be idle to speak of the reserved power +of the States; State rights and State power will have passed away if +we can do what is proposed in the seventh and eighth sections of this +bill. We propose, first, to legislate against the effects of 'local +law, ordinance, police, or other regulation;' then against 'custom,' +and lastly, against 'prejudice,' and to provide that 'if any of the +civil rights or immunities belonging to white persons' are denied to +any person because of color, then that person shall be taken under the +military protection of the Government. I do not know whether that will +be understood to extend to Indiana or not. That will be a very nice +point for the bureau to decide, I presume, after the enactment of the +law. The section limits its operation to 'any State or district in +which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted +by the rebellion.' It will be a little difficult to say whether in the +State of Indiana and Ohio the ordinary course of judicial proceeding +has or has not been interrupted. We had some war in Indiana; we had a +very great raid through that State and some fighting; and I presume +that in some cases the proceedings of the courts were interrupted and +the courts were unable to go on with their business, so that it might +be said that even in some of the Northern States this provision of the +bill would be applicable. Suppose that it were applicable to the State +of Indiana, then every man in that State, who attempted to execute the +constitution and laws of the State, would be liable for a violation of +the law. We do not allow to colored people there many civil rights and +immunities which are enjoyed by the white people. It became the policy +of the State in 1852 to prohibit the immigration of colored people +into that State. I am not going to discuss the question whether that +was a wise policy or not. At the time it received the approval of my +judgment. Under that constitutional provision, and the laws enacted in +pursuance of it, a colored man coming into the State since 1852 can +not acquire a title to real estate, can not make certain contracts, +and no negro man is allowed to intermarry with a white woman. These +are civil rights that are denied, and yet this bill proposes, if they +are still denied in any State whose courts have been interrupted by +the rebellion, the military protection of the Government shall be +extended over the person who is thus denied such civil rights or +immunities. + +"The next section of the bill provides punishments where any of these +things are done, where any right is denied to a colored man which +under State law is allowed to a white man. The language is very vague, +and it is very difficult to say what this section will mean. If it has +as broad a construction as is attempted to be given to the second +section of the constitutional amendment, I would not undertake to +guess what it means. Any man who shall deny to any colored man any +civil rights secured to white persons, shall be liable to be taken +before the officers of this bureau and to be punished according to the +provisions of this section. In the first place, now that peace is +restored, now that there is no war, now that men are no longer under +military rule, but are under civil rule, I want to know how such a +court can be organized; how it is that the citizen may be arrested +without indictment, and may be brought before the officers of this +bureau and tried without a jury, tried without the forms which the +Constitution requires. + +"But sir, this section is most objectionable in regard to the offense +that it defines. If any portion of the law ought to be certain, it is +that which defines crime and prescribes the punishment. What is meant +by this general expression, 'the deprivation of any civil right +secured to white persons?' The agent in one State may construe it to +mean one thing, and the agent in another State another thing. It is +broad and comprehensive--'the deprivation of any civil right secured +to white persons.' That act of deprivation is the crime that is to be +punished. Take the case that I have just referred to. Suppose a +minister, when called upon, should refuse to solemnize a marriage +between a colored man and a white woman because the law of the State +forbade it, would he then, refusing to recognize a civil right which +is enjoyed by white persons, be liable to this punishment? + +"My judgment is that, under the second section of the constitutional +amendment, we may pass such a law as will secure the freedom declared +in the first section, but that we can not go beyond that limitation. +If a man has been, by this provision of the Constitution, made free +from his master, and that master undertakes to make him a slave again, +we may pass such laws as are sufficient in our judgment to prevent +that act; but if the Legislature of the State denies to the citizen as +he is now called, the freedman, equal privileges with the white man, I +want to know if that Legislature, and each member of that Legislature, +is responsible to the penalties prescribed in this bill? It is not an +act of the old master; it is an act of the State government, which +defines and regulates the civil rights of the people. + +"I regard it as very dangerous legislation. It proposes to establish a +government within a government--not a republic within a republic, but +a cruel despotism within a republic. In times of peace, in communities +that are quiet and orderly, and obedient to law, it is proposed to +establish a government not responsible to the people, the officers of +which are not selected by the people, the officers of which need not +be of the people governed--a government more cruel, more despotic, +more dangerous to the liberties of the people than that against which +our forefathers fought in the Revolution. There is nothing that these +men may not do, under this bill, to oppress the people. + +"Sir, if we establish courts in the Southern States, we ought to +establish courts that will be on both sides, or on neither side; but +the doctrine now is, that if a man is appointed, either to an +executive or a judicial office, in any locality where there are +colored people, he must be on the side of the negro. I have not heard, +since Congress met, that any colored man has done a wrong in this +country for many years; and I have scarcely heard that any white man +coming in contact with colored people has done right for a number of +years. Every body is expected to take sides for the colored man +against the white man. If I have to take sides, it will be with the +men of my own color and my own race; but I do not wish to do that. +Toward these people I hope that the legislation of Congress, within +the constitutional powers of Congress, will be just and fair--just to +them and just to the white people among whom they live; that it will +promote harmony among the people, and not discord; that it will +restore labor to its channels, and bring about again in those States a +condition of prosperity and happiness. Do we not all desire that? If +we do, is it well for us to inflame our passions and the passions of +the people of the North, so that their judgments shall not be equal +upon the questions between these races? It is all very well for us to +have sympathy for the poor and the unfortunate, but both sides call +for our sympathy in the South. The master, who, by his wickedness and +folly, has involved himself in the troubles that now beset him, has +returned, abandoning his rebellion, and has bent down upon his humble +knees and asked the forgiveness of the Government, and to be restored +again as a citizen. Can a man go further than that? He has been in +many cases pardoned by the Executive. He stands again as a citizen of +the country. + +"What relation do we desire that the people of the North shall sustain +toward these people of the South--one of harmony and accord, or of +strife and ill will? Do we want to restore commerce and trade with +them, that we shall prosper thereby as well as they, or do we wish +permanent strife and division? I want this to be a Union in form, +under the Constitution of the United States, and, in fact, by the +harmony of the people of the North and of the South. I believe, as +General Grant says, that this bureau, especially with the enlarged +powers that we propose to confer upon it, will not be an instrument of +concord and harmony, but will be one of discord and strife in that +section of the country. It can not do good, but, in my judgment, will +do much harm." + +Following immediately upon the close of the above argument, Mr. +Trumbull thus addressed the senate: "Mr. President, I feel it +incumbent on me to reply to some of the arguments presented by the +Senator from Indiana against this bill. Many of the positions he has +assumed will be found, upon examination, to have no foundation in +fact. He has argued against provisions not contained in the bill, and +he has argued also as if he were entirely forgetful of the condition +of the country and of the great war through which we have passed. + +"Now, sir, what was the object of the Freedmen's Bureau, and why was +it established? It was established to look after a large class of +people who, as the results of the war, had been thrown upon the hands +of the Government, and must have perished but for its fostering care +and protection. Does the Senator mean to deny the power of this +Government to protect people under such circumstances? The Senator +must often have voted for appropriations to protect other classes of +people under like circumstances. Whenever, in the history of the +Government, there has been thrown upon it a helpless population, which +must starve and die but for its care, the Government has never failed +to provide for them. At this very session, within the last thirty +days, both houses of Congress have voted half a million dollars to +feed and clothe people during the present winter. Who were they? Many +of them were Indians who had joined the rebellion, and had slain loyal +people of the country. Yes, sir, we appropriated money to feed Indians +who had been fighting against us. We did not hear the Senator's voice +in opposition to that appropriation. What were the facts? It was +stated by our Indian agents that the Indian tribes west of Arkansas, a +part of whom had joined the rebel armies and some the Union armies, +had been driven from their country; that their property had been +destroyed; and now, the conflict of arms having ceased, they had +nothing to live upon during the winter; that they would encroach upon +the white settlements; that unless provision was made for them, they +would rob, plunder, and murder the inhabitants nearest them; and +Congress was called upon to appropriate money to buy them food and +clothing, and we did it. We did it for rebels and traitors. Were we +not bound to do it? + +"Now, sir, we have thrown upon us four million people who have toiled +all their lives for others; who, unlike the Indians, had no property +at the beginning of the rebellion; who were never permitted to own any +thing, never permitted to eat the bread their own hands had earned; +many of whom are without support, in the midst of a prejudiced and +hostile population who have been struggling to overthrow the +Government. These four million people, made free by the acts of war +and the constitutional amendment, have been, wherever they could, +loyal and true to the Union; and the Senator seriously asks, What +authority have we to appropriate money to take care of them? What +would he do with them? Would he allow them to starve and die? Would he +turn them over to the mercy of the men who, through their whole lives, +have had their earnings, to be enslaved again? It is not the first +time that money has been appropriated to take care of the destitute +and suffering African. For years it has been the law that whenever +persons of African descent were brought to our shores with the +intention of reducing them to slavery, the Government should, if +possible, rescue and restore them to their native land; and we have +appropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars for this object. Can any +body deny the right to do it? Sir, humanity as well as the +constitutional obligation to suppress the slave trade required it. So +now the people relieved by our act from the control of masters who +supplied their wants that they might have their services, have a right +to rely upon us for assistance till they can have time to provide for +themselves. + +"This Freedmen's Bureau is not intended as a permanent institution; it +is only designed to aid these helpless, ignorant, and unprotected +people until they can provide for and take care of themselves. The +authority to do this, so far as legislative sanction can give it, is +to be found in the action of a previous Congress which established the +bureau; but, if it were a new question, the authority for establishing +such a bureau, in my judgment, is given by the Constitution itself; +and as the Senator's whole argument goes upon the idea of peace, and +that all the consequences of the war have ceased, I shall be pardoned, +I trust, if I refer to those provisions of the Constitution which, in +my judgment, authorize the exercise of this military jurisdiction; for +this bureau is a part of the military establishment not simply during +the conflict of arms, but until peace shall be firmly established and +the civil tribunals of the country shall be restored with an assurance +that they may peacefully enforce the laws without opposition. + +"The Constitution of the United States declares that Congress shall +have authority 'to declare war and make rules concerning captures on +land and water,' 'to raise and support armies,' 'to provide and +maintain a navy,' 'to make rules for the government and regulation of +the land and naval forces,' 'to provide for calling forth the militia +to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection, and repel +invasion,' and 'to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper +for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.' It also declares +that 'the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the +privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States,' and that +'the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a +republican form of government.' Under the exercise of these powers, +the Government has gone through a four years' conflict. It has +succeeded in putting down armed resistance to its authority. But did +the military power which was exercised to put down this armed +resistance cease the moment the rebel armies were dispersed? Has the +Government no authority to bring to punishment the authors of this +rebellion after the conflict of arms has ceased? no authority to hold +as prisoners, if necessary, all who have been captured with arms in +their hands? Can it be that, the moment the rebel armies are +dispersed, the military authority ceases, and they are to be turned +loose to arm and organize again for another conflict against the +Union? Why, sir, it would not be more preposterous on the part of the +traveler, after having, at the peril of his life, succeeded in +disarming a highwayman by whom he was assailed, to immediately turn +round and restore to the robber his weapons with which to make a new +assault. + +"And yet this is what some gentlemen would have this nation do with +the worse than robbers who have assailed its life. They propose, the +rebel armies being overcome, that the rebels themselves shall be +instantly clothed with all the authority they possessed before the +conflict, and that the inhabitants of States who for more than four +years have carried on an organized war against the Government shall at +once be invested with all the powers they had at its commencement to +organize and begin it anew; nay, more, they insist that, without any +action of the Government, it is the right of the inhabitants of the +rebellious States, on laying down their arms, to resume their former +positions in the Union, with all the rights they possessed when they +began the war. If such are the consequences of this struggle, it is +the first conflict in the history of the world, between either +individuals or nations, from which such results have followed. What +man, after being despoiled of much of his substance, his children +slain, his own life periled, and his body bleeding from many wounds, +ever restored the authors of such calamities, when within his power, +to the rights they possessed before the conflict without taking some +security for the future. + +"Sir, the war powers of the Government do not cease with the +dispersion of the rebel armies; they are to be continued and exercised +until the civil authority of the Government can be established firmly +and upon a sure foundation, not again to be disturbed or interfered +with. And such, sir, is the understanding of the Government. None of +the departments of the Government understand that its military +authority has ceased to operate over the rebellious States. It is but +a short time since the President of the United States issued a +proclamation restoring the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ in +the loyal States; but did he restore it in the rebellious States? +Certainly not. What authority has he to suspend the privilege of that +writ anywhere, except in pursuance of the constitutional provision +allowing the writ to be suspended 'when in cases of rebellion or +invasion the public safety may require it?' Then the President +understands that the public safety in the insurrectionary States still +requires its suspension. + +"The Attorney-General, when asked, a few days ago, why Jefferson Davis +was not put upon trial, told you that, 'though active hostilities have +ceased, a state of war still exists over the territory in rebellion,' +so that it could not be properly done. General Grant, in an order +issued within a few days--which I commend to the especial +consideration of the Senator from Indiana, for it contains many of the +provisions of the bill under consideration--an order issued with the +approbation of the Executive, for such an order, I apprehend, could +not have been issued without his approbation--directs 'military +division and department commanders, whose commands embrace or are +composed of any of the late rebellious States, and who have not +already done so, will at once issue and enforce orders protecting from +prosecution or suits in the State, or municipal courts of such State, +all officers and soldiers of the armies of the United States, and all +persons thereto attached, or in anywise thereto belonging; subject to +military authority, charged with offenses for acts done in their +military capacity, or pursuant to orders from proper military +authority; and to protect from suit or prosecution all loyal citizens +or persons charged with offenses done against the rebel forces, +directly or indirectly, during the existence of the rebellion; and all +persons, their agents and employés, charged with the occupancy of +abandoned lands or plantations, or the possession or custody of any +kind of property whatever, who occupied, used, possessed, or +controlled the same, pursuant to the order of the President, or any of +the civil or military departments of the Government, and to protect +them from any penalties or damages that may have been or may be +pronounced or adjudged in said courts in any of such cases; and also +protecting colored persons from prosecutions, in any of said States, +charged with offenses for which white persons are not prosecuted or +punished in the same manner and degree.'" + +Mr. Saulsbury having asked whether the Senator believed that General +Grant or the President had any constitutional authority to make such +an order as that, Mr. Trumbull replied: "I am very glad the Senator +from Delaware has asked the question. I answer, he had most ample and +complete authority. I indorse the order and every word of it. It would +be monstrous if the officers and soldiers of the army and loyal +citizens were to be subjected to suits and prosecutions for acts done +in saving the republic, and that, too, at the hands of the very men +who sought its destruction. Why, had not the Lieutenant-General +authority to issue the order? Have not the civil tribunals in all the +region of country to which order applies been expelled by armed rebels +and traitors? Has not the power of the Government been overthrown +there? Is it yet reëstablished? Some steps have been taken toward +reëstablishing it under the authority of the military, and in no other +way. If any of the State governments recently set up in the rebellious +States were to undertake to embarrass military operations, I have no +doubt they would at once be set aside by order of the Lieutenant-General, +in pursuance of directions from the Executive. These governments which +have been set up act by permission of the military. They are made use +of, to some extent, to preserve peace and order and enforce civil +rights between parties; and, so far as they act in harmony with the +Constitution and laws of the United States and the orders of the +military commanders, they are permitted to exercise authority; but +until those States shall be restored in all their constitutional +relations to the Union, they ought not to be permitted to exercise +authority in any other way. + +"I desire the Senator from Indiana to understand that it is under this +war power that the authority of the Freedmen's Bureau is to be +exercised. I do not claim that its officers can try persons for +offenses without juries in States where the civil tribunals have not +been interrupted by the rebellion. The Senator from Indiana argues +against this bill as if it was applicable to that State. Some of its +provisions are, but most of them are not, unless the State of Indiana +has been in rebellion against the Government; and I know too many of +the brave men who have gone from that State to maintain the integrity +of the Union and put down the rebellion to cast any such imputation +upon her. She is a loyal and a patriotic State; her civil government +has never been usurped or overthrown by traitors, and the provisions +of the seventh and eighth sections of the bill to which the Senator +alludes can not, by their very terms, have any application to the +State of Indiana. Let me read the concluding sentence of the eighth +section: + + "'The jurisdiction conferred by this section on the officers + and agents of this bureau to cease and determine whenever, + the discrimination on account of which it is conferred + ceases, and in no event to be exercised in any State in + which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has not + been interrupted by the rebellion, nor in any such State + after said State shall have been fully restored in all its + constitutional relations to the United States, and the + courts of the State and of the United States within, the + same are not disturbed or stopped in the peaceable course of + justice.' + +"Will the Senator from Indiana admit for a moment that the courts in +his State are now disturbed or stopped in the peaceable course of +justice? If they were ever so disturbed, they are not now. Will the +Senator admit that the State of Indiana does not have and exercise all +its constitutional rights as one of the States of this Union? The +judicial authority conferred by this bill applies to no State, not +even to South Carolina, after it shall have been restored in all its +constitutional rights. + +"There is no provision in the bill for the exercise of judicial +authority except in the eighth section. Rights are declared in the +seventh, but the mode of protecting them is provided in the eighth +section, and the eighth section then declares explicitly that the +jurisdiction that is conferred shall be exercised only in States which +do not possess full constitutional rights as parts of the Union. +Indiana has at all times had all the constitutional rights pertaining +to any State, has them now, and therefore the officers and agents of +this bureau can take no jurisdiction of any case in the State of +Indiana. It will be another question, which I will answer, and may as +well answer now, perhaps, as to what is meant by 'military +protection.' + +"The second section declares that 'the President of the United States, +through the War Department and the commissioner, shall extend military +jurisdiction and protection over all employés, agents, and officers of +this bureau.' He wants to know the effect of that in Indiana. This +bureau is a part of the military establishment. The effect of that in +Indiana is precisely the same as in every other State, and under it +the officers and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau will occupy the same +position as do the officers and soldiers of the United States Army. +What is that? While they are subject to the Rules and Articles of War, +if they chance to be in Indiana and violate her laws, they are held +amenable the same as any other person. The officer or soldier in the +State of Indiana who commits a murder or other offense upon a citizen +of Indiana, is liable to be indicted, tried, and punished, just as if +he were a civilian. When the sheriff goes with the process to arrest +the soldier or officer who has committed the offense, the military +authorities surrender him up to be tried and punished according to the +laws of the State. It has always been done, unless in time of war when +the courts were interrupted. The jurisdiction and 'protection' that is +extended over these officers and agents is for the purpose of making +them subject to the Rules and Articles of War. It is necessary for +this reason: in the rebellious States civil authority is not yet fully +restored. There would be no other way of punishing them, of holding +them to accountability, of governing and controlling them, in many +portions of the country; and it is because of the condition of the +rebellious States, and their still being under military authority, +that it is necessary to put these officers and agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau under the control of the military power. + +"The Senator says the original law only embraced within its provisions +the refugees in the rebellious States; and now this bill is extended +to all the States, and he wants to know the reason. I will tell him. +When the original bill was passed, slavery existed in Tennessee, +Kentucky, Delaware, and in various other States. Since that time, by +the constitutional amendment, it has been every-where abolished." + +Mr. Saulsbury, aroused by the mention of his own State, interrupted +the speaker: "I say, as one of the representatives of Delaware on this +floor, that she had the proud and noble character of being the first +to enter the Federal Union under a Constitution formed by equals. She +has been the very last to obey a mandate, legislative or executive, +for abolishing slavery. She has been the last slaveholding State, +thank God, in America, and I am one of the last slaveholders in +America." + +Mr. Trumbull continued: "Well, Mr. President, I do not see +particularly what the declaration of the Senator from Delaware has to +do with the question I am discussing. His State may have been the last +to become free, but I presume that the State of Delaware, old as she +is, being the first to adopt the Constitution, and noble as she is, +will submit to the Constitution of the United States, which declares +that there shall be no slavery within its jurisdiction." [Applause in +the galleries.] + +"It is necessary, Mr. President, to extend the Freedmen's Bureau +beyond the rebel States in order to take in the State of Delaware, +[laughter,] the loyal State of Delaware, I am happy to say, which did +not engage in this wicked rebellion; and it is necessary to protect +the freedmen in that State as well as elsewhere; and that is the +reason for extending the Freedmen's Bureau beyond the limits of the +rebellious States. + +"Now, the Senator from Indiana says it extends all over the United +States. Well, by its terms it does, though practically it can have +little if any operation outside of the late slaveholding States. If +freedmen should congregate in large numbers at Cairo, Illinois, or at +Evansville, Indiana, and become a charge upon the people of those +States, the Freedmen's Bureau would have a right to extend its +jurisdiction over them, provide for their wants, secure for them +employment, and place them in situations where they could provide for +themselves; and would the State of Illinois or the State of Indiana +object to that? The provisions of the bill which would interfere with +the laws of Indiana can have no operation there. + +"Again, the Senator objects very much to the expense of this bureau. +Why, sir, as I have once or twice before said, it is a part of the +military establishment. I believe nearly all its officers at the +present time are military officers, and by the provisions of the +pending bill they are to receive no additional compensation when +performing duties in the Freedmen's Bureau. The bill declares that the +'bureau may, in the discretion of the President, be placed under a +commissioner and assistant commissioners, to be detailed from the +army, in which event each officer so assigned to duty shall serve +without increase of pay or allowances.' + +"I shall necessarily, Mr. President, in following the Senator from +Indiana, speak somewhat in a desultory manner; but I prefer to do so +because I would rather meet the objections made directly than by any +general speech. I will, therefore, take up his next objection, which +is to the fifth section of the bill. That section proposes to confirm +for three years the possessory titles granted by General Sherman. The +Senator from Indiana admits that General Sherman had authority, when +at the head of the army at Savannah, and these people were flocking +around him and dependent upon him for support, to put them upon the +abandoned lands; but he says that authority to put them there and +maintain them there ceased with peace. Well, sir, a sufficient answer +to that would be that peace has not yet come; the effects of war are +not yet ended; the people of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, +and Florida, where these lands are situated, are yet subject to +military control. But I deny that if peace had come the authority of +the Government to protect these people in their possessions would +cease the moment it was declared. What are the facts? The owners of +these plantations had abandoned them and entered the rebel army. They +were contending against the army which General Sherman then commanded. +Numerous colored people had flocked around General Sherman's army. It +was necessary that he should supply them to save them from starvation. +His commissariat was short. Here was this abandoned country, owned by +men arrayed in arms against the Government. He, it is admitted, had +authority to put these followers of his army upon these lands, and +authorize them to go to work and gain a subsistence if they could. +They went on the lands to the number of forty or fifty thousand, +commenced work, have made improvements; and now will the Senator from +Indiana tell me that upon any principle of justice, humanity, or law, +if peace had come when these laborers had a crop half gathered, the +Government of the United States, having rightfully placed them in +possession, and pledged its faith to protect them there for an +uncertain period, could immediately have turned them off and put in +possession those traitor owners who had abandoned their homes to fight +against the Government? + +"The Government having placed these people rightfully upon these +lands, and they having expended their labor upon them, they had a +right to be protected in their possessions, for some length of time +after peace, on the principle of equity. That is all we propose to do +by this bill. The committee thought it would not be more than a +reasonable protection to allow them to remain for three years, they +having been put upon these lands destitute, without any implements of +husbandry, without cattle, horses, or any thing else with which to +cultivate the land, and having, up to the present time, been able to +raise very little at the expense of great labor. Perhaps the Senator +thinks they ought not to remain so long. I will not dispute whether +they shall go off at the end of one year or two years. The committee +propose two years more. The order was dated in January, 1865, and we +propose three years from that time, which will expire in January, +1868, or about two years from this time. + +"On account of that provision of the bill, the Senator asks me the +question whether the Government of the United States has the right, in +a time of peace, to take property from one man and give it to another. +I say no. Of course the Government of the United States has no +authority, in a time of peace, by a legislative act, to say that the +farm of the Senator from Indiana shall be given to the Senator from +Ohio; I contend for no such principle. But following that up, the +Senator wants to know by what authority you buy land or provide +school-houses for these refugees. Have we not been providing +school-houses for years? Is there a session of Congress when acts are +not passed giving away public lands for the benefit of schools? But +that does not come out of the Treasury, the Senator from Indiana will +probably answer. But how did you get the land to give away? Did you +not buy it of the Indians? Are you not appropriating, every session of +Congress, money by the million to extinguish the Indian title--money +collected off his constituents and mine by taxation? We buy the land +and then we give the land away for schools. Will the Senator tell me +how that differs from giving the money? Does it make any difference +whether we buy the land from the Indians and give it for the benefit +of schools, or whether we buy it from some rebel and give--no, sir, +use--it for the benefit of schools, with a view ultimately of selling +it for at least its cost? I believe I would rather buy from the +Indian; but still, if the traitor is to be permitted to have a title, +we will buy it from him if we can purchase cheaper. + +"Sir, it is a matter of economy to do this. The cheapest way by which +you can save this race from starvation and destruction is to educate +them. They will then soon become self-sustaining. The report of the +Freedmen's Bureau shows that to-day more than seventy thousand black +children are being taught in the schools which have been established +in the South. We shall not long have to support any of these blacks +out of the public Treasury if we educate and furnish them land upon +which they can make a living for themselves. This is a very different +thing from taking the land of A and giving it to B by an act of +Congress. + +"But the Senator is most alarmed at those sections of this bill which +confer judicial authority upon the officers and agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau. He says if this authority can be exercised there is +an end to all the reserved rights of the States, and this Government +may do any thing. Not at all, sir. The authority, as I have already +shown, to be exercised under the seventh and eighth sections, is a +military authority, to be exerted only in regions of country where the +civil tribunals are overthrown, and not there after they are restored. +It is the same authority that we have been exercising all the time in +the rebellious States; it is the same authority by virtue of which +General Grant issued the order which I have just read. Here is a +perfect and complete answer to the objection that is made to the +seventh and eighth sections. + +"But, says the Senator from Indiana, we have laws in Indiana +prohibiting black people from marrying whites, and are you going to +disregard these laws? Are our laws enacted for the purpose of +preventing amalgamation to be disregarded, and is a man to be punished +because he undertakes to enforce them? I beg the Senator from Indiana +to read the bill. One of its objects is to secure the same civil +rights and subject to the same punishments persons of all races and +colors. How does this interfere with the law of Indiana preventing +marriages between whites and blacks? Are not both races treated alike +by the law of Indiana? Does not the law make it just as much a crime +for a white man to marry a black woman as for a black woman to marry a +white man, and _vice versa_? I presume there is no discrimination in +this respect, and therefore your law forbidding marriages between +whites and blacks operates alike on both races. This bill does not +interfere with it. If the negro is denied the right to marry a white +person, the white person is equally denied the right to marry the +negro. I see no discrimination against either in this respect that +does not apply to both. Make the penalty the same on all classes of +people for the same offense, and then no one can complain. + +"My object in bringing forward these bills was to bring to the +attention of Congress something that was practical, something upon +which I hoped we all could agree. I have said nothing in these bills +which are pending, and which have been recommended by the Committee on +the Judiciary--and I speak of both of them because they have both been +alluded to in this discussion--about the political rights of the +negro. On that subject it is known that there are differences of +opinion, but I trust there are no differences of opinion among the +friends of the constitutional amendment, among those who are for real +freedom to the black man, as to his being entitled to equality in +civil rights. If that is not going as far as some gentlemen would +desire, I say to them it is a step in the right direction. Let us go +that far, and, going that far, we have the coöperation of the +Executive Department; for the President has told us 'Good faith +requires the security of the freedmen in their liberty and their +property, their right to labor, and their right to claim the just +return of their labor.' + +"Such, sir, is the language of the President of the United States in +his annual message; and who in this chamber that is in favor of the +freedom of the slave is not in favor of giving him equal and exact +justice before the law? Sir, we can go along hand in hand together to +the consummation of this great object of securing to every human being +within the jurisdiction of the republic equal rights before the law, +and I preferred to seek for points of agreement between all the +departments of Government, rather than to hunt for points of +divergence. I have not said any thing in my remarks about +reconstruction. I have not attempted to discuss the question whether +these States are in the Union or out of the Union, and so much has +been said upon that subject that I am almost ready to exclaim with one +of old, 'I know not whether they are in the body or out of the body; +God knoweth.' It is enough for me to know that the State organizations +in several States of the Union have been usurped and overthrown, and +that up to the present time no State organization has been inaugurated +in either of them which the various departments of Government, or any +department of the Government, has recognized as placing the States in +full possession of all the constitutional rights pertaining to States +in full communion with the Union. + +"The Executive has not recognized any one, for he still continues to +exercise military jurisdiction and to suspend the privilege of the +writ of _habeas corpus_ in all of them. Congress has not recognized +any of them, as we all know; and until Congress and the Executive do +recognize them, let us make use of the Freedmen's Bureau, already +established, to protect the colored race in their rights; and when +these States shall be admitted, and the authority of the Freedmen's +Bureau as a court shall cease and determine, as it must when civil +authority is fully restored, let us provide, then, by other laws, for +protecting all people in their equal civil rights before the law. If +we can pass such measures, they receive executive sanction, and it +shall be understood that it is the policy of the Government that the +rights of the colored men are to be protected by the States if they +will, but by the Federal Government if they will not; that at all +hazards, and under all circumstances, there shall be impartiality +among all classes in civil rights throughout the land. If we can do +this, much of the apprehension and anxiety now existing in the loyal +States will be allayed, and a great obstacle to an early restoration +of the insurgent States to their constitutional relations in the Union +will be removed. + +"If the people in the rebellious States can be made to understand that +it is the fixed and determined policy of the Government that the +colored people shall be protected in their civil rights, they +themselves will adopt the necessary measures to protect them; and that +will dispense with the Freedmen's Bureau and all other Federal +legislation for their protection. The design of these bills is not, as +the Senator from Indiana would have us believe, to consolidate all +power in the Federal Government, or to interfere with the domestic +regulations of any of the States, except so far as to carry out a +constitutional provision which is the supreme law of the land. If the +States will not do it, then it is incumbent on Congress to do it. But +if the States will do it, then the Freedmen's Bureau will be removed, +and the authority proposed to be given by the other bill will have no +operation. + +"Sir, I trust there may be no occasion long to exercise the authority +conferred by this bill. I hope that the people of the rebellious +States themselves will conform to the existing condition of things. I +do not expect them to change all their opinions and prejudices. I do +not expect them to rejoice that they have been discomfited. But they +acknowledge that the war is over; they agree that they can no longer +contend in arms against the Government; they say they are willing to +submit to its authority; they say in their State conventions that +slavery shall no more exist among them. With the abolition of slavery +should go all the badges of servitude which have been enacted for its +maintenance and support. Let them all be abolished. Let the people of +the rebellious States now be as zealous and as active in the passage +of laws and the inauguration of measures to elevate, develop, and +improve the negro as they have hitherto been to enslave and degrade +him. Let them do justice and deal fairly with loyal Union men in their +midst, and henceforth be themselves loyal, and this Congress will not +have adjourned till the States whose inhabitants have been engaged in +the rebellion will be restored, to their former position in the Union, +and we shall all be moving on in harmony together." + +On the day following the discussion above given, Mr. Cowan moved to +amend the first section of the bill so that its operation would be +limited to such States "as have lately been in rebellion." In +supporting his amendment, Mr. Cowan remarked: "I have no idea of +having this system extended over Pennsylvania. I think that as to the +freedmen who make their appearance there, she will be able to take +care of them and provide as well for them as any bureau which can be +created here. I wish to confine the operation of this institution to +the States which have been lately in rebellion." + +To this Mr. Trumbull replied: "The Senator from Pennsylvania will see +that the effect of that would be to exclude from the operation of the +bureau the State of Kentucky and the State of Delaware, where the +slaves have been emancipated by the constitutional amendment. The +operation of the bureau will undoubtedly be chiefly confined to the +States where slavery existed; but it is a fact which may not be known +to the Senator from Pennsylvania, that during this war large numbers +of slaves have fled to the Northern States bordering on the +slaveholding territory. + +"It is not supposed that the bill will have any effect in the State of +Pennsylvania or in the State of Illinois, unless it might, perhaps, be +at Cairo, where there has been a large number of these refugees +congregated, without any means of support; they followed the army +there at different times. + +"The provision of the bill in regard to holding courts, and some other +provisions, are confined entirely to the rebellious States, and will +have no operation in any State which was not in insurrection against +this Government. I make this explanation to the Senator from +Pennsylvania, and I think he will see the necessity of the bureau +going into Kentucky and some of the other States, as much as into any +of the Southern rebellious States." + +Mr. Guthrie was opposed to the extension of the bill to his State. He +said: "I should like to know the peculiar reasons why this bill is to +be extended to the State of Kentucky. She has never been in rebellion. +Though she has been overrun by rebel armies, and her fields laid +waste, she has always had her full quota in the Union armies, and the +blood of her sons has marked the fields whereon they have fought. +Kentucky does not want and does not ask this relief. The freedmen in +Kentucky are a part of our population; and where the old, and lame, +and halt, and blind, and infants require care and attention they +obtain it from the counties. Our whole organization for the support of +the poor, through the agencies of the magistrates in the several +counties, is complete." + +[Illustration: Hon. Henry Wilson.] + +On the other hand, Mr. Creswell, of Maryland, saw a necessity for the +operation of the bill in his State. He said: "I have received, within +the last two or three weeks, letters from gentlemen of the highest +respectability in my State, asserting that combinations of returned +rebel soldiers have been formed for the express purpose of +persecuting, beating most cruelly, and in some cases actually +murdering the returned colored soldiers of the republic. In certain +sections of my State, the civil law affords no remedy at all. It is +impossible there to enforce against these people so violating the law +the penalties which the law has prescribed for these offenses. It is, +therefore, necessary, in my opinion, that this bill shall extend over +the State of Maryland." + +Mr. Cowan, in the course of a speech on the bill, said: "Thank God! we +are now rid of slavery; that is now gone." He also said: "Let the +friends of the negro, and I am one, be satisfied to treat him as he is +treated in Pennsylvania; as he is treated in Ohio; as he is treated +every-where where people have maintained their sanity upon the +question." + +Mr. Wilson said: "The Senator from Pennsylvania tells us that he is +the friend of the negro. What, sir, he the friend of the negro! Why, +sir, there has hardly been a proposition before the Senate of the +United States for the last five years, looking to the emancipation of +the negro and the protection of his rights, that the Senator from +Pennsylvania has not sturdily opposed. He has hardly ever uttered a +word upon this floor the tendency of which was not to degrade and to +belittle a weak and struggling race. He comes here to-day and thanks +God that they are free, when his vote and his voice for five years, +with hardly an exception, have been against making them free. He +thanks God, sir, that your work and mine, our work which has saved a +country and emancipated a race, is secured; while from the word 'go,' +to this time, he has made himself the champion of 'how not to do it.' +If there be a man on the floor of the American Senate who has tortured +the Constitution of the country to find powers to arrest the voice of +this nation which was endeavoring to make a race free, the Senator +from Pennsylvania is the man; and now he comes here and thanks God +that a work which he has done his best to arrest, and which we have +carried, is accomplished. I tell him to-day that we shall carry these +other measures, whether he thanks God for them or not, whether he +opposes them or not." [Laughter and applause in the galleries.] + +After an extended discussion, the Senate refused, by a vote of +thirty-three against eleven, to adopt the amendment proposed by Mr. +Cowan. + +The bill was further discussed during three successive days, Messrs. +Saulsbury, Hendricks, Johnson, McDougall, and Davis speaking against +the measure, and Messrs. Fessenden, Creswell, and Trumbull in favor of +it. Mr. Garrett Davis addressed the Senate more than once on the +subject, and on the last day of the discussion made a very long +speech, which was answered by Mr. Trumbull. The Senator from Illinois, +at the conclusion of his speech, remarked: + +"What I have now said embraces, I believe, all the points of the long +gentleman's speech except the sound and fury, and that I will not +undertake to reply to." + +"You mean the short gentleman's long speech," interposed some Senator. + +"Did I say short?" asked Mr. Trumbull. "If so, it was a great mistake +to speak of any thing connected with the Senator from Kentucky as +short." [Laughter.] + +"It is long enough to reach you," responded Mr. Davis. + +The vote was soon after taken on the passage of the bill, with the +following result: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, + Cragin, Creswell, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, + Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of + Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Norton, Nye, + Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, + Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Williams, Wilson, and Yates--37. + + NAYS--Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Guthrie, Hendricks, Johnson, + McDougall, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and Wright--10. + + ABSENT--Messrs. Cowan, Nesmith, and Willey--3. + +The bill having passed, the question came up as to its title, which it +was proposed to leave as reported by the committee: "A bill to enlarge +the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau." + +Mr. Davis moved to amend the title by substituting for it, "A bill to +appropriate a portion of the public land in some of the Southern +States and to authorize the United States Government to purchase lands +to supply farms and build houses upon them for the freed negroes; to +promote strife and conflict between the white and black races; and to +invest the Freedmen's Bureau with unconstitutional powers to aid and +assist the blacks, and to introduce military power to prevent the +commissioner and other officers of said bureau from being restrained +or held responsible in civil courts for their illegal acts in +rendering such aid and assistance to the blacks, and for other +purposes." + +The President _pro tempore_ pronounced the amendment "not in order, +inconsistent with the character of the bill, derogatory to the Senate, +a reproach to its members." + +Mr. McDougall declared the proposed amendment "an insult to the action +of the Senate." + +The unfortunate proposition was quietly abandoned by its author, and +passed over without further notice by the Senate. By unanimous +consent, the title of the bill remained as first reported. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL IN THE HOUSE. + + The Bill reported to the House -- Mr. Eliot's Speech -- + History -- Mr. Dawson vs. the Negro -- Mr. Garfield -- The + Idol Broken -- Mr. Taylor counts the Cost -- Mr. Donnelly's + Amendment -- Mr. Kerr -- Mr. Marshall on White Slavery -- + Mr. Hubbard -- Mr. Moulton -- Opposition from Kentucky -- + Mr. Ritter -- Mr. Rousseau's Threat -- Mr. Shanklin's Gloomy + Prospect -- Mr. Trimble's Appeal -- Mr. Mckee an exceptional + Kentuckian -- Mr. Grinnell on Kentucky -- the Example of + Russia -- Mr. Phelps -- Mr. Shellabarger's Amendment -- Mr. + Chanler -- Mr. Stevens' Amendments -- Mr. Eliot closes the + Discussion -- Passage of the Bill -- Yeas and Nays. + + +On the day succeeding the passage of the bill in the Senate, it was +sent to the House of Representatives, and by them referred to the +Select Committee on the Freedmen. + +On the 30th of January, Mr. Eliot, Chairman of this committee, +reported the bill to the House with amendments, mainly verbal +alterations. + +In a speech, advocating the passage of the bill, Mr. Eliot presented +something of the history of legislation for the freedmen. He said: "On +the 3d day of last March the bill establishing a Freedmen's Bureau +became a law. It was novel legislation, without precedent in the +history of any nation, rendered necessary by the rebellion of eleven +slave States and the consequent liberation from slavery of four +million persons whose unpaid labor had enriched the lands and +impoverished the hearts of their relentless masters. + +"At an early day, when the fortunes of war had shown alternate +triumphs and defeats to loyal arms, and the timid feared and the +disloyal hoped, it was my grateful office to introduce the first bill +creating a bureau of emancipation. It was during the Thirty-seventh +Congress. But, although the select committee to which the bill was +referred was induced to agree that it should be reported to the House, +it so happened that the distinguished Chairman, Judge White, of +Indiana, did not succeed in reporting it for our action. At the +beginning of the Thirty-eighth Congress it was again presented, and +very soon was reported back to the House under the title of 'A bill to +establish a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs.' It was fully debated and +passed by the House. The vote was sixty-nine in favor, and sixty-seven +against the bill; but of the sixty-seven who opposed it, fifty-six had +been counted against it, because of their political affinities. On the +1st of March, 1864, the bill went to the Senate. It came back to the +House on the 30th of June, four days before the adjournment of +Congress. To my great regret, the Senate had passed an amendment in +the nature of a substitute, attaching this bureau to the Treasury +Department; but it was too late to take action upon it then, and the +bill was postponed until December. At that time the House +non-concurred with the Senate, and a committee of conference was +chosen. The managers of the two houses could not agree as to whether +the War Department or the Treasury should manage the affairs of the +bureau. They therefore agreed upon a bill creating an independent +department neither attached to the War nor Treasury, but communicating +directly with the President, and resting for its support upon the arm +of the War Department. That bill was also passed by the House but was +defeated in the Senate. Another Conference Committee was chosen, and +that committee, whose chairman in the House was the distinguished +gentleman from Ohio, then and now at the head of the Military +Committee, agreed upon a bill attaching the bureau to the War +Department, and embracing refugees as well as freedmen in its terms. +That bill is now the law. + +"The law was approved on the 3d of March, 1865. Nine months have not +yet elapsed since its organization. The order from the War Department +under which the bureau was organized bears date on the 12th of May, +1865. General Howard, who was then in command of the Department of +Tennessee, was assigned as commissioner of the bureau. The bill became +a law so late in the session that it was impossible for Congress to +legislate any appropriation for its support. It was necessary, +therefore, that the management of it should be placed in the hands of +military officers, and fortunately the provisions of the bill +permitted that to be done. General Howard was, as I stated, in command +of the Department of Tennessee, when he was detailed to this duty. But +on the 15th of May, that is to say, within three days after the order +appointing him, was issued, he assumed the duties of his office. + +"In the course of a few days, the commissioner of the bureau announced +more particularly the policy which he designed to pursue. The whole +supervision of the care of freedmen and of all lands which the law +placed under the charge of the bureau was to be intrusted to assistant +commissioners. + +"Before a month had expired, head-quarters had been established for +assistant commissioners at Richmond, Raleigh, Beaufort, Montgomery, +Nashville, St. Louis, Vicksburg, New Orleans, and Jacksonville, and +very shortly afterward assistant commissioners were designated for +those posts of duty. They were required to possess themselves, as soon +as practicable, with the duties incident to their offices, to quicken +in every way they could and to direct the industry of the freedmen. +Notice was given that the relief establishments which had been created +by law under the operations of the War Department should be +discontinued as soon as they could be consistently with the comfort +and proper protection of the freedmen, and that every effort should be +made--and I call the attention of gentlemen to the fact that that +policy has been pursued throughout--that every effort should be made +to render the freedmen, at an early day, self-supporting. The supplies +that had been furnished by the Government were only to be continued so +long as the actual wants of the freedmen seemed to require it. At that +time there were all over the country refugees who were seeking their +homes, and they were notified that, under the care of the bureau, they +would be protected from abuse, and directed in their efforts to secure +transportation and proper facilities for reaching home. + +"Wherever there had been interruption of civil law, it was found +impossible that the rights of freedmen could be asserted in the +courts; and where there were no courts before which their rights could +be brought for adjudication, military tribunals, provost-marshals' +courts, were established, for the purpose of determining upon +questions arising between freedmen or between freedmen and other +parties; and that, also, has been continued to this day. + +"The commissioners were instructed to permit the freedmen to select +their own employers and to choose their own kind of service. All +agreements were ordered to be free and mutual, and not to be +compulsory. The old system that had prevailed of overseer labor was +ordered to be repudiated by the commissioners who had charge of the +laborers, and I believe there has been no time since the organization +of the bureau when there have not been reports made to head-quarters +at Washington of all labor contracts; and wherever any provisions had +been inserted, by inadvertence or otherwise, that seemed unjustly to +operate against the freedmen, they have been stricken out by direction +of the commissioner here. + +"In the course of the next month, action was taken by the commissioner +respecting a provision of the law as it was passed in March, +authorizing the Secretary of War to make issues of clothing and +provisions, and the assistant commissioners were required carefully to +ascertain whatever might be needed under that provision of the law, +and to make periodical reports as to the demands made upon the +Government through the bureau. Directions were given by the +commissioner to his assistant commissioners to make repeated reports +to him upon all the various subjects which had come under his +charge--with regard to the number of freedmen, where they were, +whether in camps or in colonies, or whether they were employed upon +Government works, and stating, if they obtained supplies, how they +were furnished, whether by donations or whether procured by purchase. +Reports were also required as to all lands which had been put under +the care of the bureau; and statements were called for showing +descriptions of the lands, whether, in the language of the law, +'abandoned' or 'confiscated,' so that the bureau here could have full +and complete information of all action of its agents throughout these +States, and upon examination it could be determined where any specific +lands which were under the charge of the bureau came from, and how +they were derived. + +"In the course of the summer, it became necessary to issue additional +instructions. The commissioner found that his way was beset with +difficulties; he was walking upon unknown ground; he was testing here +and there questions involved in doubt. It was hardly possible at once +and by one order to designate all that it would be needful for him to +do, and, therefore, different instructions were issued from time to +time from his office. The assistant commissioners were called upon +thoroughly to examine, either by themselves or their agents, the +respective districts allotted to them, to make inquiry as to the +character of the freedmen under their charge, their ability to labor, +their disposition to labor, and the circumstances under which they +were placed, so that the aid, the care, and the protection which the +law contemplated might be afforded to them as quickly and as +economically as possible. + +"The commissioner continually repeated his injunctions to his +assistants to be sure that no compulsory or unpaid labor was +tolerated, and that both the moral and intellectual condition of the +freedmen should be improved as systematically and as quickly as +practicable. + +"When the bureau was first organized, indeed when it was first urged +upon the attention of this House, it was stated and it was believed +that the bureau would very shortly be self-sustaining. That was the +idea from the beginning. And when it was stated here in debate that +the bureau would probably be self-sustaining, it was supposed that +from the lands abandoned, confiscated, sold, and the lands of the +United States, which by the provisions of the bill had been placed +under the care of the commissioner, these freedmen would be given an +opportunity to earn substantially enough for the conduct of the +bureau. And I have no doubt at all that such would have been the case +had the original expectation been carried out. + +"There were large tracts of land in Virginia and the other rebel +States which were clearly applicable to this purpose. There was the +source of supply--the lands and the labor. There were laborers enough, +and there was rich land enough. At a very early day the abandoned +lands were turned over to the care of the commissioners, and I +supposed, and probably we all supposed, that the lands which in the +language of the law were known as 'abandoned lands,' and those which +were in the possession of the United States, would be appropriated to +the uses of these freedmen. Within a week after the commissioner +assumed the duties of his office, he found it necessary to issue an +order substantially like this: Whereas, large amounts of lands in the +State of Virginia and in other States have been abandoned, and are now +in the possession of the freedmen, and are now under cultivation by +them; and, whereas, the owners of those lands are now calling for +their restoration, so as to deprive the freedmen of the results of +their industry, it is ordered that the abandoned lands now under +cultivation be retained by the freedmen until the growing crops can be +secured, unless full and just compensation can be made them for their +labor and its products. + +"'The above order'--this is the part about which it appeared that some +difference of judgment existed between the Executive and the +commissioner of the bureau--'the above order will not be construed so +as to relieve disloyal persons from the consequences of their +disloyalty; and the application for the restoration of their lands by +this class of persons will in no case be entertained by any military +authority.' + +"It was found, not a great while afterward, that the views which the +President entertained as to his duty were somewhat in conflict with +the provisions of this order; for it was held by the President that +persons who had brought themselves within the range of his pardon and +had secured it, and who had taken or did afterward take the amnesty +oath, would be entitled, as one of the results of the pardon and of +their position after the oath had been taken, to a restoration of +their lands which had been assigned to freedmen. In consequence of +this, an order was subsequently issued, well known as circular No. 15. +And under the operation of that circular, on its appearing +satisfactorily to any assistant commissioner that any property under +his control is not 'abandoned,' as defined in the law, and that the +United States have acquired no perfect right to it, it is to be +restored and the fact reported to the commissioner. 'Abandoned' lands +were to be restored to the owners pardoned by the President, by the +assistant commissioners, to whom applications for such restoration +were to be forwarded; and each application was to be accompanied by +the pardon of the President and by a copy of the oath of amnesty +prescribed in the President's proclamation, and also by a proof of +title to the land. It must be obvious that the effect of this must +have been to transfer from the care of the bureau to the owners very +large portions of the land which had been relied upon for the support +of the freedmen. Within a few weeks from the date of that order, no +less than $800,000 worth of property in New Orleans was transferred, +and about one third of the whole property in North Carolina in +possession of the bureau was given up; and the officer having charge +of the land department reports that before the end of the year, in all +probability, there will be under the charge of the commissioner +little, if any, of the lands originally designed for the support of +these freedmen. + +"It is obvious, if these lands are to be taken, that other lands must +be provided, or the freedmen will become a dead weight upon the +Treasury, and the bill under consideration assigns other lands, in the +place of those thus taken, from the unoccupied public lands of the +United States." + +On the following day, Mr. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, obtained the floor +in opposition to the bill. His speech was not devoted to a discussion +of the bill in question, but was occupied entirely with general +political and social topics. The following extract indicates the tenor +of the speech: + +"Negro equality does not exist in nature. The African is without a +history. He has never shown himself capable of self-government by the +creation of a single independent State possessing the attributes which +challenge the respect of others. The past is silent of any negro +people who possessed military and civil organization, who cultivated +the arts at home, or conducted a regular commerce with their +neighbors. No African general has marched south of the desert, from +the waters of the Nile to the Niger and Senegal, to unite by conquest +the scattered territories of barbarous tribes into one great and +homogeneous kingdom. No Moses, Solon, Lycurgus, or Alfred has left +them a code of wise and salutary laws. They have had no builder of +cities; they have no representatives in the arts, in science, or in +literature; they have been without even a monument, an alphabet, or a +hieroglyphic." + +On the other hand, Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, among the friends of the +measure, delivered a speech "on the Freedmen's Bureau Bill," in which +the topic discussed was "Restoration of the Rebel States." In the +course of his remarks Mr. Garfield said: + +"Let the stars of heaven illustrate our constellation of States. When +God launched the planets upon their celestial pathway, he bound them +all by the resistless power of attraction to the central sun, around +which they revolved in their appointed orbits. Each may be swept by +storms, may be riven by lightnings, may be rocked by earthquakes, may +be devastated by all the terrestrial forces and overwhelmed in ruin, +but far away in the everlasting depths, the sovereign sun holds the +turbulent planet in its place. This earth may be overwhelmed until the +high hills are covered by the sea; it may tremble with earthquakes +miles below the soil, but it must still revolve in its appointed +orbit. So Alabama may overwhelm all her municipal institutions in +ruin, but she can not annul the omnipotent decrees of the sovereign +people of the Union. She must be held forever in her orbit of +obedience and duty." + +After having quoted Gibbon's narrative of the destruction of the +colossal statue of Serapis by Theophilus, Mr. Garfield said: "So +slavery sat in our national Capitol. Its huge bulk filled the temple +of our liberty, touching it from side to side. Mr. Lincoln, on the 1st +of January, 1863, struck it on the cheek, and the faithless and +unbelieving among us expected to see the fabric of our institutions +dissolve into chaos because their idol had fallen. He struck it again; +Congress and the States repeated the blow, and its unsightly carcass +lies rotting in our streets. The sun shines in the heavens brighter +than before. Let us remove the carcass and leave not a vestige of the +monster. We shall never have done that until we have dared to come up +to the spirit of the Pilgrim covenant of 1620, and declare that all +men shall be consulted in regard to the disposition of their lives, +liberty, and property. The Pilgrim fathers proceeded on the doctrine +that every man was supposed to know best what he wanted, and had the +right to a voice in the disposition of himself." + +Mr. Taylor, of New York, opposed the bill principally on the ground of +the expense involved in its execution. After having presented many +columns of figures, Mr. Taylor arrived at this conclusion: "The cost +or proximate cost of the bureau for one year, confining its operation +to the hitherto slave States, will be $25,251,600. That it is intended +to put the bureau in full operation in every county and parish of the +hitherto slave States, including Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and +Missouri, I have not the least doubt, nor have I any doubt but that it +is intended to extend it into parts of some of the border States." + +Mr. Donnelly moved to amend the bill by inserting the provision that +"the commissioner may provide a common-school education for all +refugees and freedmen who shall apply therefor." He advocated +education as an efficient means of restoration for the South. He +presented ample tables of statistics, and summed up the results in +their bearing upon his argument as follows: + +"The whole United States, with a population of 27,000,000, contains +834,106 illiterate persons, and of these 545,177 are found in the +Southern States with a population of 12,000,000. In other words, the +entire populous North contains but 288,923, while the sparsely-settled +South contains 545,177." + +As an argument for the passage of the bill, he answered the question, +"What has the South done for the black man since the close of the +rebellion?" + +"In South Carolina it is provided that all male negroes between two +and twenty, and all females between two and eighteen, shall be bound +out to some 'master.' The adult negro is compelled to enter into +contract with a master, and the district judge, not the laborer, is to +fix the value of the labor. If he thinks the compensation too small +and will not work, he is a vagrant, and can be hired out for a term of +service at a rate again to be fixed by the judge. If a hired negro +leaves his employer he forfeits his wages for the whole year. + +"The black code of Mississippi provides that no negro shall own or +hire lands in the State; that he shall not sue nor testify in court +against a white man; that he must be employed by a master before the +second Monday in January, or he will be bound out--in other words, +sold into slavery; that if he runs away the master may recover him, +and deduct the expenses out of his wages; and that if another man +employs him he will be liable to an action for damages. It is true, +the President has directed General Thomas to disregard this code; but +the moment the military force is withdrawn from the State that order +will be of no effect. + +"The black code of Alabama provides that if a negro who has contracted +to labor fails to do so, he shall be punished with damages; and if he +runs away he shall be punished as a vagrant, which probably means that +he shall be sold to the highest bidder for a term of years; and that +any person who entices him to leave his master, as by the offer of +better wages, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be sent to +jail for six months; and further, that these regulations include all +persons of negro blood to the third generation, though one parent in +each generation shall be pure white; that is, down to the man who has +but one eighth negro blood in his veins." + +After quoting the black codes of other States, the speaker thus +epitomized their substance: "All this means simply the reëstablishment +of slavery. + +"1. He shall work at a rate of wages to be fixed by a county judge or +a Legislature made up of white masters, or by combinations of white +masters, and not in any case by himself. + +"2. He shall not leave that master to enter service with another. If +he does he is pursued as a fugitive, charged with the expenses of his +recapture, and made to labor for an additional period, while the white +man who induced him to leave is sent to jail. + +"3. His children are taken from him and sold into virtual slavery. + +"4. If he refuses to work, he is sold to the highest bidder for a term +of months or years, and becomes, in fact, a slave. + +"5. He can not better his condition; there is no future for him; he +shall not own property; he shall not superintend the education of his +children; neither will the State educate them. + +"6. If he is wronged, he has no remedy; for the courts are closed +against him." + +Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, addressed the House on the subject of +reconstruction, maintaining, by extended arguments and quotations from +learned authorities, that the rebel States were still in the Union. He +concluded his speech by opposing the bill under consideration on the +ground of its expense: "It involves the creation of a small army of +agents and commissioners, whose jurisdiction and control shall pervade +the whole country, shall extend into every State, into every +congressional district, into every county, into every township and +city of this broad Union; provided, only, that they can find some +freedmen or refugees upon whom to exercise their jurisdiction. I +submit that, before a measure of this kind should be adopted, we +should reflect most carefully upon what we are doing. We should +remember that this country is now almost crushed into the very earth +with its accumulated burden of public debt, of State debts, of county +debts, of city debts, of township debts, of individual debts. We +should bear in mind that we may impose upon the people of this +country, by this kind of latitudinarian and most dangerous +legislation, a burden that is too heavy to be borne, and against which +the day may come when the people, as one man, will feel themselves +called upon to protest in such a manner as forever to overthrow that +kind of legislation, and condemn to merited reproach those who favor +it." + +On a subsequent day of the discussion, Mr. Marshall, of Illinois, +spoke against the bill. He put much stress upon an objection to which +nearly all the opponents of the bill had referred, namely, that +Congress had no warrant in the Constitution for passing such a +measure. He said: "Instead of this being called a bill for the +protection of freedmen and refugees, it ought to be called a bill for +the purpose of destroying the Constitution of the United States, and +subjecting the people thereof to military power and domination. That +would be a much more appropriate title." + +Mr. Marshall was opposed to bestowing any thing in charity. "I deny," +said he, "that this Federal Government has any authority to become the +common almoner of the charities of the people. I deny that there is +any authority in the Federal Constitution to authorize us to put our +hands into their pockets and take therefrom a part of their hard +earnings in order to distribute them as charity. I deny that the +Federal Government was established for any such purpose, or that there +is any authority or warrant in the Constitution for the measures which +are proposed in this most extraordinary bill." + +He viewed with horror the slavery which the head of the War Department +could impose upon the people by virtue of the provisions of this bill. +"He is to send his military satraps," said Mr. Marshall, "into every +county and district of these States; and they may enslave and put down +the entire white people of the country by virtue of this law." He saw +in the bill power "to rob the people by unjust taxation; to take the +hard earnings from the white people of the West, who, unless wiser +counsels prevail, will themselves soon be reduced to worse than +Egyptian bondage. I demand to be informed here upon this floor by what +power you put your hands into their pockets and drag from them their +money to carry out the purposes of this measure." + +Mr. Hubbard, of Connecticut, made a short speech in reply to the +speaker last quoted. He said: "The gentleman from Illinois, some +twenty times in the course of his eloquent speech this morning, called +upon some one to tell him where Congress gets the power to enact such +a law as this. In the first place, I commend to him to read the second +section of the article of the immortal amendment of the Constitution, +giving to Congress power to pass all appropriate laws and make all +appropriate legislation for the purpose of carrying out its +provisions. I commend to his careful study the spirit of the second +section of that immortal amendment, and I think, if he will study it +with a willingness to be convinced, he will see that it has given to +this Congress full power in the premises. Moreover, sir, I read in the +Constitution that Congress has been at all times charged with the duty +of providing for the public welfare; and if Congress shall deem that +the public welfare requires this enactment, it is the sworn duty of +every member to give the bill his support. + +"Sir, there is an old maxim of law in which I have very considerable +faith, that regard must be had to the public welfare; and this maxim +is said to be the highest law. It is the law of the Constitution, and +in the light of that Constitution as amended I find ample power for +the enactment of this law. It is the duty of Congress to exercise its +power in such a time as this, in a time of public peril; and I hope +that nobody on this side of the House will be so craven as to want +courage to come up to the question and give his vote for the bill. It +is necessary to provide for the public welfare." + +Mr. Moulton, of Illinois, spoke in favor of the bill. Of the +oft-repeated objection that "this bill is in violation of the +Constitution of the United States," he said: "This is the very +argument that we have heard from the other side of this chamber for +the last five years with reference to every single measure that has +been proposed to this House for the prosecution of the war for the +Union. No measure has been passed for the benefit of the country, for +the prosecution of this war, for the defense of your rights and mine, +but has been assailed by gentlemen on the opposite side of this House +with the argument that the whole thing was unconstitutional." + +He then proceeded to set forth at length the authority of Congress to +pass such a bill. + +Very strenuous opposition to the passage of the bill was made by most +of the members from Kentucky. Mr. Ritter, of that State, uttered his +earnest protest at considerable length against the measure. He +presented his views of the "grand purposes and designs of those who +introduced this bill." In his opinion they intended "to commence a +colony in each one of the five States above named, which is ultimately +to drive out the entire white population of those States and fill +their places with the negro race." And whether this is the design or +not, it is certain, in my judgment, to have this effect. And they +could not have devised a more effectual scheme for that purpose. + +"Sir, it is not to be expected that the two races will live +contentedly where there are large numbers of the colored people living +near to neighborhoods settled with white persons. Experience has +proved to many of us that wherever large numbers of colored people +live, that the white people living within five or ten miles of the +place become sufferers to a very large extent. Now, sir, if this +should be the case (as I have no doubt it will) in the States in which +you propose to establish these people, the whites and blacks will +disagree to such an extent that, when people find that the colored +people are permanently established, they will be compelled, in self +defense, to seek a home somewhere else. No doubt, Mr. Speaker, but +that those who prepared this bill saw that the difficulties and +disagreements to which I have just alluded would arise, and hence they +require that military jurisdiction and protection shall be extended, +so as to give safety in their movements; and if the white inhabitants +become dissatisfied, the commissioner is prepared with authority by +this bill to buy them out and put the negroes upon the land." + +He thus presented his calculation of the cost of carrying out the bill +as an argument against it: "In 1822 the ordinary expenses of the +Government were $9,827,643, and in 1823 the expenses amounted to the +sum of $9,784,154. Now, sir, who could have thought at that day that +in the comparatively short time of forty-three years it would require +the sum of even $12,000,000 to fix up a machinery alone for the +benefit of three or four million negroes, and more especially, sir, +when it is understood that in 1820 we had a population, including +white and colored, of 9,633,545. Mr. Speaker, how long will it be at +this rate--when we take into consideration the fact that our +Government proper, besides this little bureau machine, is now costing +us hundreds of millions of dollars--how long, sir, will it be before +we have to call in the services of Mr. Kennedy, of census notoriety, +to estimate the amount of the debt we owe?" + +Mr. Rousseau, of Kentucky, in defining his position, said: "I am not a +Republican; I was a Whig and a Union man, and belong to the Union +party, and I am sorry to say that the Union party and the Republican +party are not always convertible terms." + +Mr. Rousseau urged, against the Freedmen's Bureau Bill the wrongs and +oppressions which its abuses heaped upon the people of the South. In +the course of his speech Mr. Rousseau quoted what he had said on one +occasion to an official of the Freedmen's Bureau: "I said to him, 'if +you intend to arrest white people on the _ex parte_ statements of +negroes, and hold them to suit your convenience for trial, and fine +and imprison them, then I say that I oppose you; and if you should so +arrest and punish me, I would kill you when you set me at liberty; and +I think that you would do the same to a man who would treat you in +that way, if you are the man I think you are, and the man you ought to +be to fill your position here.'" + +This extract has considerable importance as being the occasion of an +unfortunate personal difficulty between Mr. Rousseau and Mr. Grinnell, +of Iowa, narrated in a subsequent chapter. The latter portion of Mr. +Rousseau's speech was devoted to the subject of reconstruction. He was +followed by Mr. Shanklin, of Kentucky. He characterized the Freedmen's +Bureau as a "gigantic monster." He declared that "the effect of this +measure upon the negro population will be to paralyze their energy, +destroy their industry, and make them paupers and vagabonds." He saw +"revolution and ruin" in prospect. "I affirm," said he, "that in +legislating for those States, or without allowing them any +representation in these halls, you are violating one of the cardinal +principles of republican government; you are tearing down the main +pillar upon which our whole fabric of Government rests; you are sowing +broadcast the seeds of revolution and ruin. Mr. Speaker, if the object +of gentlemen here is to restore harmony and peace and prosperity +throughout the Union, why do they adopt measures thus insulting, +tyrannical, and oppressive in their character? Is this the way to +restore harmony and peace and prosperity? How can you expect to gain +the respect and affection of those people by heaping upon them insult +and injustice? If they have the spirit of their ancestors, you may +crush them, you may slay them, but you can never cause them to love +you or respect you; and they ought not while you force upon them +measures which are only intended to degrade them." + +Mr. Trimble, of Kentucky, viewed the question in a similar light to +that in which it was regarded by his colleague. "I hold," said he, +"this bill is in open and plain violation of that provision of the +Constitution. There exists no power in this Government to deprive a +citizen of the United States of his property, to take away the hard +earnings of his own industry and bestow them upon this class of +citizens. The only way you can take property in South Carolina, +Georgia, or any other State, is to take that property under the +Constitution of the United States and the laws passed in pursuance +thereof." + +He closed his speech with the following appeal: "I appeal to my +friends who love this Union, who love it for all the memories of the +past, who love it because it has protected them and theirs; I appeal +to them to pause and reflect before they press this measure upon these +people; for I tell you that, in my judgment, the effects of the +provisions of this bill to us as a nation will not be told in our +lifetimes. If legislation of this character is to be pressed here, I +awfully fear hope will sink within us. Our love for this Union and +desire for its restoration will be greatly weakened and estranged." + +Mr. McKee alone, of all the Representatives from Kentucky, was +favorable to the bill. The opponents of the measure had spoken of it +as a "monstrous usurpation." "We have heard that talk," said Mr. +McKee, "for more than four years here. What bill has been introduced +into and passed by Congress since this war began that this same party +has not been accustomed to denounce as a monstrous usurpation of +power? When the President of the United States issued his call for +troops they cried out, 'A monstrous usurpation of power.' When he sent +a requisition to the Governor of my own State, what was the response? +'Not a man, not a dollar, to prosecute this wicked war against our +Southern brethren.' And the Union party, God help them! in Kentucky, +indorsed the sentiment at that day. I did not belong to that part of +the Union party; I never belonged to that 'neutrality concern.' I +never put in my oar to help propel that ship which was in favor of +thundering forth with its cannon against the North and the South +alike. I never belonged to that party which said, 'We will stand as a +wall of fire against either side.' I thank God I never stood upon but +one side, and that was the side of my country, against treason, +against oppression, against wrong in all its forms." + +In arguing the necessity for some such legislation as that provided in +this bill, Mr. McKee asked, "Has any Southern State given the freedmen +'their full rights and full protection?' Is there a solitary State of +those that have been in rebellion, (and I include my own State with +the rest, because, although she has never been, by proclamation, +declared a State in rebellion, I think she has been one of the most +rebellious of the whole crew,) is there a single one of these States +that has passed laws to give the freedmen full protection? In vain we +wait an affirmative response. Until these States have done so, says +this high authority, the Freedmen's Bureau is a necessity. This is to +my mind a sufficient answer to the arguments of gentlemen on the other +side. In none of those States has the black man a law to protect him +in his rights, either of person or property. He can sue in a court of +justice in my State, but he can command no testimony in his +prosecution or defense unless the witness be a white man. We have one +code for the white man, another for the black. Is this justice? Where +is your court of justice in any Southern State where the black man can +secure protection? Again there is no response." + +Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, a member of the committee that had reported +this bill, took the floor in its favor. Much having been said by +Representatives of Kentucky in reference to that State, Mr. Grinnell +remarked: "I can not forget, when I hear these extravagant claims set +up here, that her Governor, in the first year of the rebellion, +refused to honor the call for troops made by the President of the +United States in our darkest hour; nor can I forget that when her +soldiers wished to organize regiments they were obliged to cross the +Ohio River into the State of Indiana, that they might organize them +free from the interference of the power of Kentucky neutrality. That +is a fact in history, and I can not overlook it, when gentlemen here +arraign the President of the United States because he has seen fit to +suspend the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ in the State of +Kentucky." + +"Let us see," said Mr. Grinnell, in a subsequent part of his speech, +"what are the laws of Kentucky which are so just and honorable and +equitable. The white man in Kentucky can testify in the courts; the +black man can testify against himself. The white man can vote; the +black man can not. The white man, if he commits an offense, is tried +by a jury of his peers; the black man is tried by his enlightened, +unprejudiced superiors. The rape of a negro woman by a white man is no +offense; the rape of a white woman by a negro man is punishable by +death, and the Governor of the State can not commute. + +"A white man may come into Kentucky when he pleases; the free negro +who comes there is a felon, though a discharged soldier, and wounded +in our battles. A white man in Kentucky may keep a gun; if a black man +buys a gun he forfeits it, and pays a fine of five dollars if +presuming to keep in his possession a musket which he has carried +through the war. Arson of public buildings, if committed by a white +man, is punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of +from seven to twenty-one years; if committed by a black man, the +punishment is death. Arson of a warehouse, etc., when committed by a +white man, is punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to +six years; when committed by a negro, the penalty is death. + +"If a white man is guilty of insurrection or rebellion, he is punished +by being called 'chivalrous.' I instance the rebel General Forest, who +murdered white men at Fort Pillow, and is reputed the most popular man +South. If a negro rebels, or conspires to rebel, he is punished with +death. These are specimens." + +Referring to the benefits conferred by the Freedmen's Bureau upon +Kentucky, Mr. Grinnell remarked: "As it is asserted that this +Freedmen's Bureau is a partial, unnecessary, speculating affair, I +wish to call attention to the fact that in the State of Kentucky, +during the last five months, more white refugees than freedmen, in the +proportion of seven and one-fourth to one, have received rations at +the hands of the Government; that this bureau has kept in schools in +the State of Kentucky fourteen thousand black people." + +In further illustration of the work accomplished by this +instrumentality, he said: "This bureau is in charge of 800,000 acres +of land and 1,500 pieces of town property. It has issued more than +600,000 rations to refugees, and 3,500,000 to freedmen. It has treated +2,500 refugees in hospitals, and decently buried 227 of them. It has +treated 45,000 freedmen, and made the graves for 6,000 of the number. +Transportation has been furnished to 1,700 refugees and 1,900 +freedmen. In the schools there are 80,000 people that have been +instructed by this bureau. And now it is proposed to leave all these +children of misfortune to the tender mercies of a people of whom it is +true by the Spanish maxim, 'Since I have wronged you I have hated +you.' I never can. Our authority to take care of them is founded in +the Constitution; else it is not worthy to be our great charter. It +gives authority to feed Indian tribes, though our enemies, and a just +interpretation can not restrain us in clothing and feeding unfortunate +friends. In providing schools, we can turn to the same authority which +led to the gift of millions of acres of the public domain for the +purpose of establishing agricultural colleges in this country." + +He referred to Russia for example of what should be done in such an +emergency: "We should be worse than barbarians to leave these people +where they are, landless, poor, unprotected; and I commend to +gentlemen who still cling to the delusion that all is well, to take +lessons of the Czar of the Russias, who, when he enfranchised his +people, gave them lands and school-houses, and invited school-masters +from all the world to come there and instruct them. Let us hush our +national songs; rather gird on sack-cloth, if wanting in moral courage +to reap the fruits of our war by being just and considerate to those +who look up to us for temporary counsel and protection. Care and +education are cheaper for the nation than neglect, and nothing is +plainer in the counsels of heaven or the world's history." + +An allusion made by Mr. Grinnell to the speech of Mr. Rosseau, +provoked the personal assault to be described hereafter. + +Mr. Raymond having the floor for a personal explanation, took occasion +to make the following remarks in reference to the bill: "I have no +apprehensions as to the practical workings of this law. So far as I +have been able to collect information from all quarters--and I have +taken some pains to do so--I find that this law, like most other laws +on our statute books, works well where it is well administered. The +practical operations of this bureau will depend upon the character of +the agents into whose hands its management is intrusted. I certainly +have no apprehension in this respect. I do not for one moment fear +that the agents who will be appointed to carry this law into execution +will not use the powers conferred upon them for the furtherance of the +great object which we all have in view--the reconciliation, the +protection, the security of all classes of those who are now our +fellow-citizens in the Southern States." + +Mr. Phelps, of Maryland, made a speech indorsing the principle of the +bill, but objecting to some of its details. His objections were +removed by the presentation and acceptance of the following amendment +by Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio: "No person shall be deemed destitute, +suffering, or dependent upon the Government for support, within the +meaning of this act, who, being able to find employment, could, by +proper industry and exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering and +dependence." + +Mr. Chanler made a long speech in opposition to the bill. He gave +particular attention to the speech of Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, who +had advocated education as a necessity for the South. "The malignant +party spirit and sectional hate," said Mr. Chanler, "that runs through +this whole statement, needs no illustration." After presenting +voluminous extracts from speeches, letters, and public documents, Mr. +Chanler summed up his objections to the bill in the following words: +"Our people are not willing to live under military rule. + +"This bureau is under military rule. It proposes to perpetuate and +strengthen itself by the present bill. + +"It founds an '_imperium in imperio_' to protect black labor against +white labor. + +"It excludes the foreign immigrant from the lands given to the +native-born negro. + +"It subjects the white native-born citizen to the ignominy of +surrendering his patrimony, his self-respect, and his right to labor +into the hands of negroes, idle, ignorant, and misled by fanatic, +selfish speculators." + +Mr. Stevens desired to amend the bill by striking out the limitation +to three years given the possessory titles conferred by General +Sherman, and rendering them perpetual. This amendment the House were +unwilling to accept. Mr. Stevens further proposed to strike out the +proviso "unless as punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have +been duly convicted," giving as a reason for this amendment, "I know +that men are convicted of assault and battery, and sentenced to +slavery down there. I have authentic evidence of that fact in several +letters, and, therefore, I propose to strike out those words." + +This amendment was adopted. Another important amendment proposed by +the committee was the limitation of the operation of the bill to +States in which the writ of _habeas corpus_ was suspended on the 1st +of February, 1866. Mr. Eliot closed the debate by answering some +objections to the bill, and presenting some official documents proving +the beneficent results of the bureau, especially in the State of +Kentucky. + +On the 6th of February the question was taken, and the bill passed by +the following vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. + Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, + Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, + Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, Bundy, Reader W. + Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, + Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, + Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, + Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, + Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, + Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. + Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, + James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, + Kelso, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, Latham, George V. + Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, + Marvin, McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, + Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, + Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, Phelps, Pike, Plants, + Pomeroy, Price, William H. Randall, Raymond, Alexander H. + Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, + Shellabarger, Smith, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Stilwell, + Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, + Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, + Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, + Whaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, + Windom, and Woodbridge.--136. + + NAYS--Messrs. Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Dawson, Eldridge, + Finck, Glossbrenner, Grider, Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, + Edwin N. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, Kerr, Le Blond, + Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Samuel J. + Randall, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, + Sitgreaves, Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, and + Wright--33. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Buckland, Culver, + Denison, Goodyear, Hulburd, Johnson, Jones, Radford, Sloan, + Voorhees, and Winfield--13. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SENATE AND THE VETO MESSAGE. + + Mr. Trumbull on the amendments of the House -- Mr. Guthrie + exhibits feeling -- Mr. Sherman's deliberate conclusion -- + Mr. Henderson's sovereign remedy -- Mr. Trumbull on patent + medicines -- Mr. McDougall a white man -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson on the power to pass the bill -- Concurrence of the + House -- the Veto Message -- Mr. Lane, of Kansas -- His + efforts for delay -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Trumbull's + reply to the President -- The question taken -- Yeas and + Nays -- Failure of passage. + + +On the 7th of February the amendments of the House to the Freedmen's +Bureau Bill were presented to the Senate, and referred to the +Committee on the Judiciary. + +On the following day Mr. Trumbull, chairman of this committee, +reported certain amendments to the amendments made by the House of +Representatives. Mr. Trumbull said: "The House of Representatives have +adopted a substitute for the whole bill, but it is the Senate bill +_verbatim_, with a few exceptions, which I will endeavor to point out. +The title of the bill has been changed, to begin with. It was called +as it passed the Senate 'A bill to enlarge the powers of the +Freedmen's Bureau.' The House has amended the title so as to make it +read, 'A bill to amend an act entitled "An act to establish a Bureau +for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees," and for other purposes.' Of +course, there is no importance in that. + +"The first amendment which the House has made, and the most important +one, will be found to commence in the eighth line of the first +section. The House has inserted words limiting the operation of the +Freedmen's Bureau to those sections of country within which the writ +of _habeas corpus_ was suspended on the 1st day of February, 1866. As +the bill passed the Senate, it will be remembered that it extended to +refugees and freedmen in all parts of the United States, and the +President was authorized to divide the section of country containing +such refugees and freedmen into districts. The House amend that so as +to authorize the President to divide the section of country within +which the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ was suspended on +the 1st day of February, 1866, containing such refugees and freedmen, +into districts. The writ of _habeas corpus_ on the 1st day of February +last was suspended in the late rebellious States, including Kentucky, +and in none other. The writ of _habeas corpus_ was restored by the +President's proclamation in Maryland, in Delaware, and in Missouri, +all of which have been slaveholding States. + +"As the bill passed the Senate, it will be observed it only extended +to refugees and freedmen in the United States, wherever they might be, +and the President was authorized to divide the region of country +containing such refugees and freedmen, and it had no operation except +in States where there were refugees and freedmen. The House has +limited it so that it will not have operation in Maryland, or +Delaware, or Missouri, or any of the Northern States." + +After Mr. Trumbull had stated the other and less important amendments +made by the House, the Senate proceeded to consider the amendments +proposed by the Judiciary Committee, the first of which was to strike +out the words "within which the privileges of the writ of _habeas +corpus_ was suspended on the 1st day of February, 1866." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "I wish to say upon that point that the bill as it +passed the Senate can have no operation except in regions of country +where there are refugees and freedmen. It is confined to those +districts of country, and it could not have operation in most of the +loyal States. But it is desirable, as I am informed, and it was so +stated by one of the Senators from Maryland, that the operations of +this bill should be extended to Maryland. It may be necessary that it +should be extended to Missouri, and possibly to Delaware. I trust not; +but the authority to extend it there ought to exist, if there should +be occasion for it. The only objection I have to limiting the +operation of the bill to the late slaveholding States is, that I think +it bad legislation, when we are endeavoring to break down +discrimination and distinction, to pass a law which is to operate in +one State of the Union and not in another. I would rather that the law +should be general, although I am fully aware that there is nothing for +the law to operate upon in most of the States of the Union. I do not +feel quite willing to vote upon Kentucky, for instance, a law that I +am not willing to have applicable to the State of Illinois, if such a +state of facts exists as that the law can operate in Illinois. I +prefer, therefore, to have the bill in the shape in which it passed +the Senate, and such was the opinion of the Committee on the +Judiciary." + +Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, spoke with much feeling upon the bearings of +the bureau upon his State: "You will have to acknowledge these States +or you will have to do worse. The passage of this system of bills is a +dissolution of the Union, and you can not help it. It will be +impossible for you to carry on this Government under any such system. +When the Union is not to be restored, when there is nothing of that +feeling to make the people endure, do you suppose they will endure +forever? Do you suppose this bill will attach the people in these +eleven States more thoroughly to the Union than they felt when they +reörganized their State governments, passed laws manumitting their +slaves, electing their Legislatures, and doing all that was indicated +as necessary to be done? Do you suppose that there will ever come a +time, under this bill, that they will desire to become members of this +Union once more? I see in this bill exactly how Kentucky is tolerated +here; for as to having part in this legislation, when she is charged +openly with being ruled at home by rebels, our counsels can be of no +good here; but still we are not to be driven from the Union, and from +raising our voice in favor of it, and raising it in favor of +conciliation and confidence from one section to the other. Gentlemen +do not get these doctrines of hatred and vengeance from the Gospel. +These are not the doctrines taught by the Savior of the world. While +you cry for justice to the African, you are not slow to commit wrong +and outrage on the white race. + +"Sir, there were rebels in all the States, and will be again if you +drive these people to desperation. The Senator from Massachusetts, if +I understood his language aright, threatened us with war or worse if +we did not yield to his suggestions, and the Senator from Indiana +intimated very strongly the same thing. You have strength enough to +carry these measures, if it is the sentiment of the nation; but we are +not a people to be alarmed by words or threats." + +Mr. Sherman had been, as he said, "during this whole debate, rather a +spectator than a participant." Not desiring to commit himself too +hastily, he had reserved his opinion that he might act and vote +understandingly, without feeling, or prejudice, or passion. It was +after full reflection that he voted for the bill so harshly +characterized by the Senator from Kentucky, who had evinced a degree +of feeling entirely uncalled for. Mr. Sherman said further: "I look +upon the Freedman's Bureau Bill as simply a temporary protection to +the freedmen in the Southern States. We are bound by every +consideration of honor, by every obligation that can rest on any +people, to protect the freedmen from the rebels of the Southern +States; ay, sir, and to protect them from the loyal men of the +Southern States. We know that, on account of the prejudices instilled +by the system of slavery pervading all parts of the Southern States, +the Southern people will not do justice to the freedmen of those +States. We know that in the course of the war the freedmen have been +emancipated; that they have aided us in this conflict; and, therefore, +we are bound, by every consideration of honor, faith, and of public +morals, to protect and maintain all the essential incidents of freedom +to them. I have no doubt that in doing this we shall encounter the +prejudices not only of rebels, but of loyal men; but still the +obligation and guarantee is none the less binding on us. We must +maintain their freedom, and with it all the incidents and all the +rights of freedom." + +Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, like the Senator from Ohio, had hitherto +taken no part in the discussion. He was opposed to the limitations +placed upon the bill by the House of Representatives. "I would not +have voted for it if it had not been carried to my own State; and if +this amendment of the House of Representatives is to be adopted, I +will not vote for the bill. I want the bill to be made general. If it +is to be made special, if it is to be applied to Kentucky only, I +appreciate the feeling that drove my friend from Kentucky to make the +most unfortunate remark that has been made upon the floor of the +Senate since 1861. I sincerely hope, for the good of the country, that +the distinguished Senator may see fit to take back what he said a few +moments ago. + +"Sir, we have had enough of disunion. I hope that no Senator in the +future will rise upon this floor and talk, under any circumstances +whatever, of another war of rebellion against the constituted +authorities of this country. My God! are we again to pass through the +scenes of blood through which we have passed for the last four years? +Are we to have this war repeated? No Freedmen's Bureau Bill, no bill +for the protection of the rights of any body, shall ever drive me to +dream of such a thing." + +Mr. Henderson thought a better protection for the negro than the +Freedmen's Bureau would be the ballot. He said: "I live in a State +that was a slaveholding State until last January a year ago. I have +been a slaveholder all my life until the day when the ordinance of +emancipation was passed in my State. I advocated it, and have +advocated emancipation for the last four years, at least since this +war commenced. Do you want to know how to protect the freedmen of the +Southern States? This bill is useless for that purpose. It is not the +intention of the honorable Senators on this floor from Northern +States, who favor this bill, to send military men to plunder the good +people of Kentucky. It is an attempt to enforce this moral and +religious sentiment of the people of the Northern States. Sir, these +freedmen will be protected. The decree of Almighty God has gone forth, +as it went forth in favor of their freedom originally, that they shall +be endowed with all the rights that belong to other men. Will you +protect them? Give them the ballot, Mr. President, and then they are +protected." + +In reference to the remarks by Mr. Henderson, Mr. Trumbull said: "The +zeal of my friend from Missouri seems to have run away with him. +Having come from being a slaveholder to the position of advocating +universal negro suffrage as the sovereign remedy for every thing, he +manifests a degree of zeal which I have only seen equaled, I confess, +by some of the discoverers of patent medicines who have found a grand +specific to cure all diseases! Why, he says this bureau is of no +account; give the negro the ballot, and that will stop him from +starving; that will feed him; that will educate him! You have got on +your hands to-day one hundred thousand feeble indigent, infirm colored +population that would starve and die if relief were not afforded; and +the Senator from Missouri tells you, 'This is all nonsense; give them +the right of suffrage, and that is all they want.' This to feed the +hungry and clothe the naked! He has voted for these bills; but if you +will only just give the right of suffrage, you do not want to take +care of any starving man, any orphan child, any destitute and feeble +person that can not take care of himself! It is the most sovereign +remedy that I have heard of since the days of Townsend's +Sarsaparilla." + +Referring to the feeling manifested by Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Trumbull said: +" God forbid that I should put a degradation on the people of +Kentucky. I never thought of such a thing. I would sooner cut off my +right hand than do such a thing. What is it that so excites and +inflames the mind of the Senator from Kentucky that he talks about the +degradation that is to be put upon her, the plunder of her people, the +injustice that is to be done her inhabitants? Why, sir, a bill to help +the people of Kentucky to take care of the destitute negroes, made +free without any property whatever, without the means of support, left +to starve and to die unless somebody cares for them; and we propose in +the Congress of the United States to help to do it. Is that a +degradation? Is that an injustice? Is that the way to rob a people?" + +Mr. McDougall having subsequently obtained the floor, made the remark: +"I, being a white man, say for the white men and white women that they +will take care of themselves. This bill was not made for white women +or white men, or white men and women's children." + +This brought out the following statistical statement from Mr. +Trumbull: "I have before me the official report, which shows the +consolidated number of rations issued in the different districts and +States during the month of June, July, August, September, and October, +1865. In June there were issued to refugees three hundred and thirteen +thousand six hundred and twenty-seven rations, and thirty six thousand +one hundred and eighty-one to freedmen. In August, in Kentucky and +Tennessee, there were issued to refugees eighty-seven thousand one +hundred and eighty rations, and to freedmen eighty-seven thousand one +hundred and ninety-five--almost an equality." + +Mr. Johnson, of Maryland remarked: "The object of the bill is a very +correct one; these people should be taken care of; and as it is +equally applicable to the whites and to the blacks, and the whites in +many of the States requiring as much protection as the blacks, I would +very willingly vote for the bill if I thought we had the power to pass +it; but on the question of power I have no disposition now or perhaps +at any time in the present stage of the bill to trouble the Senate." + +The bill soon after passed the Senate as amended in the House, and +reämended in the Senate, by a vote of twenty-nine to seven. + +On the following day, the amendments of the Senate were concurred in +by the House without debate, and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill was ready +to be submitted to the Executive. + +Ten day's after the final passage of the bill, the President sent to +the Senate a message, "with his objection thereto in writing." + +The Senate immediately suspended other business to hear the VETO +MESSAGE, which was read by the Secretary, as follows: + + "_To the Senate of the United States:_ + + "I have examined with care the bill which originated in the + Senate, and has been passed by the two houses of Congress, + to amend an act entitled 'An act to establish a Bureau for + the relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' and for other + purposes. Having, with much regret, come to the conclusion + that it would not be consistent with the public welfare to + give my approval to the measure, I return the bill to the + Senate with my objections to its becoming a law. + + "I might call to mind, in advance of these objections, that + there is no immediate necessity for the proposed measure. + The act to establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and + Refugees, which was approved in the month of March last, has + not yet expired. It was thought stringent and extensive + enough for the purpose in view in time of war. Before it + ceases to have effect, further experience may assist to + guide us to a wise conclusion as to the policy to be adopted + in time of peace. + + "I share with Congress the strongest desire to secure to the + freedmen the full enjoyment of their freedom and property, + and their entire independence and equality in making + contracts for their labor; but the bill before me contains + provisions which, in my opinion, are not warranted by the + Constitution, and are not well suited to accomplish the end + in view. + + "The bill proposes to establish by authority of Congress, + military jurisdiction over all parts of the United States + containing refugees and freedmen. It would, by its very + nature, apply with most force to those parts of the United + States in which the freedmen most abound; and it expressly + extends the existing temporary jurisdiction of the + Freedmen's Bureau, with greatly enlarged powers, over those + States 'in which the ordinary course of judicial proceeding, + has been interrupted by the rebellion.' The source from + which this military jurisdiction is to emanate is none other + than the President of the United States, acting through the + War Department and the commissioner of the Freedmen's + Bureau. The agents to carry out this military jurisdiction + are to be selected either from the army or from civil life; + the country is to be divided into districts and + sub-districts; and the number of salaried agents to be + employed may be equal to the number of counties or parishes + in all the United States where freedmen and refugees are to + be found. + + "The subjects over which this military jurisdiction is to + extend in every part of the United States include protection + to 'all employés, agents, and officers of this bureau in the + exercise of the duties imposed' upon them by the bill. In + eleven States it is further to extend over all cases + affecting freedmen and refugees discriminated against' by + local law, custom, or prejudice.' In those eleven States the + bill subjects any white person who may be charged with + depriving a freedman of 'any civil rights or immunities + belonging to white persons' to imprisonment or fine, or + both, without, however, defining the 'civil rights and + immunities' which are thus to be secured to the freedmen by + military law. This military jurisdiction also extends to all + questions that may arise respecting contracts. The agent who + is thus to exercise the office of a military judge may be a + stranger, entirely ignorant of the laws of the place, and + exposed to the errors of judgment to which all men are + liable. The exercise of power, over which there is no legal + supervision, by so vast a number of agents as is + contemplated by the bill, must, by the very nature of man, + be attended by acts of caprice, injustice, and passion. + + "The trials, having their origin under this bill, are to + take place without the intervention of a jury, and without + any fixed rules of law or evidence. The rules on which + offenses are to be 'heard and determined' by the numerous + agents, are such rules and regulations as the President, + through the War Department, shall prescribe. No previous + presentment is required, nor any indictment charging the + commission of a crime against the laws; but the trial must + proceed on charges and specifications. The punishment will + be, not what the law declares, but such as a court-martial + may think proper; and from these arbitrary tribunals there + lies no appeal, no writ of error to any of the courts in + which the Constitution of the United States vests + exclusively the judicial power of the country. + + "While the territory and the classes of actions and offenses + that are made subject to this measure are so extensive, the + bill itself, should it become a law, will have no limitation + in point of time, but will form a part of the permanent + legislation of the country. I can not reconcile a system of + military jurisdiction of this kind with the words of the + Constitution, which declare that 'no person shall be held to + answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless upon + a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases + arising in the land and naval forces, or in the militia when + in actual service in time of war or public danger;' and that + 'in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the + right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of + the State or district wherein the crime shall have been + committed.' The safeguards which the experience and wisdom + of ages taught our fathers to establish as securities for + the protection of the innocent, the punishment of the + guilty, and the equal administration of justice, are to be + set aside, and for the sake of a more vigorous interposition + in behalf of justice, we are to take the risk of the many + acts of injustice that would necessarily follow from an + almost countless number of agents established in every + parish or county in nearly a third of the States of the + Union, over whose decisions there is to be no supervision or + control by the Federal courts. The power that would be thus + placed in the hands of the President is such as in time of + peace certainly ought never to be intrusted to any one man. + + "If it be asked whether the creation of such a tribunal + within a State is warranted as a measure of war, the + question immediately presents itself whether we are still + engaged in war. Let us not unnecessarily disturb the + commerce and credit and industry of the country by declaring + to the American people and to the world, that the United + States are still in a condition of civil war. At present + there is no part of our country in which the authority of + the United States is disputed. Offenses that may be + committed by individuals should not work a forfeiture of the + rights of whole communities. The country has returned, or is + returning, to a state of peace and industry, and the + rebellion is in fact at an end. The measure, therefore, + seems to be as inconsistent with the actual condition of the + country as it is at variance with the Constitution of the + United States. + + "If, passing from general considerations, we examine the + bill in detail, it is open to weighty objections. + + "In time of war it was eminently proper, that we should + provide for those who were passing suddenly from a condition + of bondage to a state of freedom. But this bill proposes to + make the Freedmen's Bureau, established by the act of 1865 + as one of many great and extraordinary military measures to + suppress a formidable rebellion, a permanent branch of the + public administration, with its powers greatly enlarged. I + have no reason to suppose, and I do not understand it to be + alleged, that the act of March, 1865, has proved deficient + for the purpose for which it was passed, although at that + time, and for a considerable period thereafter, the + Government of the United States remained unacknowledged in + most of the States whose inhabitants had been involved in + the rebellion. The institution of slavery, for the military + destruction of which the Freedmen's Bureau was called into + existence as an auxiliary, has been already effectually and + finally abrogated throughout the whole country by an + amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and + practically its eradication has received the assent and + concurrence of most of those States in which it at any time + had an existence. I am not, therefore, able to discern, in + the condition of the country, any thing to justify an + apprehension that the powers and agencies of the Freedmen's + Bureau, which were effective for the protection of freedmen + and refugees during the actual continuance of hostilities + and of African servitude, will now, in a time of peace and + after the abolition of slavery, prove inadequate to the same + proper ends. If I am correct in these views, there can be no + necessity for the enlargement of the powers of the bureau, + for which provision is made in the bill. + + "The third section of the bill authorizes a general and + unlimited grant of support to the destitute and suffering + refugees and freedmen, their wives and children. Succeeding + sections make provision for the rent or purchase of landed + estates for freedmen, and for the erection for their benefit + of suitable buildings for asylums and schools, the expenses + to be defrayed from the Treasury of the whole people. The + Congress of the United States has never heretofore thought + itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the limits of + the District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our + disabled soldiers and sailors. It has never founded schools + for any class of our own people, not even for the orphans of + those who have fallen in the defense of the Union; but has + left the care of education to the much more competent and + efficient control of the States, of communities, of private + associations, and of individuals. It has never deemed itself + authorized to expend the public money for the rent or + purchase of homes for the thousands, not to say millions, of + the white race, who are honestly toiling from day to day for + their subsistence. A system for the support of indigent + persons in the United States was never contemplated by the + authors of the Constitution, nor can any good reason be + advanced why, as a permanent establishment, it should be + founded for one class or color of our people more than + another. Pending the war, many refugees and freedmen + received support from the Government, but it was never + intended that they should thenceforth be fed, clothed, + educated, and sheltered by the United States. The idea on + which the slaves were assisted to freedom was that, on + becoming free, they would be a self-sustaining population. + Any legislation that shall imply that they are not expected + to attain a self-sustaining condition must have a tendency + injurious alike to their character and their prospects. + + "The appointment of an agent for every county and parish + will create an immense patronage; and the expense of the + numerous officers and their clerks, to be appointed by the + President, will be great in the beginning, with a tendency + steadily to increase. The appropriations asked by the + Freedmen's Bureau, as now established, for the year 1866, + amount to $11,745,000. It may be safely estimated that the + cost to be incurred under the pending bill will require + double that amount--more than the entire sum expended in any + one year under the administration of the second Adams. If + the presence of agents in every parish and county is to be + considered as a war measure, opposition, or even resistance, + might be provoked, so that, to give effect to their + jurisdiction, troops would have to be stationed within reach + of every one of them, and thus a large standing force be + rendered necessary. Large appropriations would therefore be + re-required to sustain and enforce military jurisdiction in + every county or parish from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. + The condition of our fiscal affairs is encouraging, but, in + order to sustain the present measure of public confidence, + it is necessary that we practice not merely customary + economy, but, as far as possible, severe retrenchment. + + "In addition to the objections already stated, the fifth + section of the bill proposes to take away land from its + former owners without any legal proceedings being first had, + contrary to that provision of the Constitution which + declares that no person shall 'be deprived of life, liberty, + or property, without due process of law.' It does not appear + that a part of the lands to which this section refers may + not be owned by minors or persons of unsound mind, or by + those who have been faithful to all their obligations as + citizens of the United States. If any portion of the land is + held by such persons, it is not competent for any authority + to deprive them of it. If, on the other hand, it be found + that the property is liable to confiscation, even then it + can not be appropriated to public purposes until, by due + process of law, it shall have been declared forfeited to the + Government. + + "There is still further objection to the bill on grounds + seriously affecting the class of persons to whom it is + designed to bring relief; it will tend to keep the mind of + the freedman in a state of uncertain expectation and + restlessness, while to those among whom he lives it will be + a source of constant and vague apprehension. + + "Undoubtedly the freedman should be protected, but he should + be protected by the civil authorities, especially by the + exercise of all the constitutional powers of the courts of + the United States and of the States. His condition is not so + exposed as may at first be imagined. He is in a portion of + the country where his labor can not well be spared. + Competition for his services from planters, from those who + are constructing or repairing railroads, and from + capitalists in his vicinage or from other States, will + enable him to command almost his own terms. He also + possesses a perfect right to change his place of abode; and + if, therefore, he does not find in one community or State a + mode of life suited to his desires, or proper remuneration + for his labor, he can move to another, where that labor is + more esteemed and better rewarded. In truth, however, each + State, induced by its own wants and interests, will do what + is necessary and proper to retain within its borders all the + labor that is needed for the development of its resources. + The laws that regulate supply and demand will maintain their + force, and the wages of the laborer will be regulated + thereby. There is no danger that the exceedingly great + demand for labor will not operate in favor of the laborer. + + "Neither is sufficient consideration given to the ability of + the freedmen to protect and take care of themselves. It is + no more than justice to them to believe that, as they have + received their freedom with moderation and forbearance, so + they will distinguish themselves by their industry and + thrifty and soon show the world that, in a condition of + freedom, they are self-sustaining, capable of selecting + their own employment and their own places of abode, of + insisting for themselves on a proper remuneration, and of + establishing and maintaining their own asylums and schools. + It is earnestly hoped that, instead of wasting away, they + will, by their own efforts, establish for themselves a + condition of respect, ability, and prosperity. It is certain + that they can attain to that condition only through their + own merits and exertions. + + "In this connection the query presents itself, whether the + system proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete + operation, practically transfer the entire care, support, + and control of four million emancipated slaves to agents, + overseers, or taskmasters, who, appointed at Washington, are + to be located in every county and parish throughout the + United States containing freedmen and refugees? Such a + system would inevitably tend to a concentration of power in + the Executive which would enable him, if so disposed, to + control the action of this numerous class and use them for + the attainment of his own political ends. + + "I can not but add another very grave objection to this + bill: The Constitution imperatively declares, in connection + with taxation, that each State shall have at least one + Representative, and fixes the rule for the number to which, + in future times, each State shall be entitled. It also + provides that the Senate of the United States shall be + composed of two Senators from each State, and adds, with + peculiar force, 'that no State, without its consent, shall + be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.'. The + original act was necessarily passed in the absence of the + States chiefly to be affected, because their people were + then contumaciously engaged in the rebellion. Now the case + is changed, and some, at least, of those States are + attending Congress by loyal Representatives, soliciting the + allowance of the constitutional right of representation. At + the time, however, of the consideration and the passing of + this bill, there was no Senator or Representative in + Congress from the eleven States which are to be mainly + affected by its provisions. The very fact that reports were + and are made against the good disposition of the people of + that portion of the country is an additional reason why they + need, and should have, Representatives of their own in + Congress to explain their condition, reply to accusations, + and assist, by their local knowledge, in the perfecting of + measures immediately affecting themselves. While the liberty + of deliberation would then be free, and Congress would have + full power to decide according to its judgment, there could + be no objection urged that the States most interested had + not been permitted to be heard. The principle is firmly + fixed in the minds of the American people that there should + be no taxation without representation. + + "Great burdens have now to be borne by all the country, and + we may best demand that they shall be borne without murmur + when they are voted by a majority of the Representatives of + all the people. I would not interfere with the + unquestionable right of Congress to judge, each house for + itself, 'of the elections, returns, and qualifications of + its own members,' but that authority can not be construed as + including the right to shut out, in time of peace, any State + from the representation to which it is entitled by the + Constitution. At present, all the people of eleven States + are excluded--those who were most faithful during the war + not less than others. The State of Tennessee, for instance, + whose authorities engaged in rebellion, was restored to all + her constitutional relations to the Union by the patriotism + and energy of her injured and betrayed people. Before the + war was brought to a termination, they had placed themselves + in relation with the General Government, had established a + State government of their own; as they were not included in + the Emancipation Proclamation, they, by their own act, had + amended their Constitution so as to abolish slavery within + the limits of their State. I know no reason why the State of + Tennessee, for example, should not fully enjoy 'all her + constitutional relations to the United States.' + + "The President of the United States stands toward the + country in a somewhat different attitude from that of any + member of Congress. Each member of Congress is chosen from a + single district or State; the President is chosen by the + people of all the States. As eleven are not at this time + represented in either branch of Congress, it would seem to + be his duty, on all proper occasions, to present their just + claims to Congress. There always will be differences of + opinion in the community, and individuals may be guilty of + transgressions of the law; but these do not constitute valid + objections against the right of a State to representation. I + would in nowise interfere with the discretion of Congress + with regard to the qualifications of members; but I hold it + my duty to recommend to you, in the interests of peace and, + in the interests of union, the admission of every State to + its share in public legislation when, however insubordinate, + insurgent, or rebellious its people may have been, it + presents itself, not only in an attitude of loyalty and + harmony, but in the persons of Representatives whose loyalty + can not be questioned under any existing constitutional or + legal test. + + "It is plain that an indefinite or permanent exclusion of + any part of the country from representation must be attended + by a spirit of disquiet and complaint. It is unwise and + dangerous to pursue a course of measures which will unite a + very large section of the country against another section of + the country, however much the latter may preponderate. The + course of emigration, the development of industry and + business, and natural causes will raise up at the South men + as devoted to the Union as those of any other part of the + land. But if they are all excluded from Congress--if, in a + permanent statute, they are declared not to be in full + constitutional relations to the country--they may think they + have cause to become a unit in feeling and sentiment against + the Government. Under the political education of the + American people, the idea is inherent and ineradicable that + the consent of the majority of the whole people is necessary + to secure a willing acquiescence in legislation. + + "The bill under consideration refers to certain of the + States as though they had hot 'been fully restored in all + their constitutional relations to the United States.' If + they have not, let us at once act together to secure that + desirable end at the earliest possible moment It is hardly + necessary for me to inform Congress that, in my own + judgment, most of these States, so far, at least, as depends + upon their own action, have already been fully restored, + andťare to be deemed as entitled to enjoy their + constitutional rights as members of the Union. Reasoning + from the Constitution itself, and from the actual situation + of the country, I feel not only entitled but bound to assume + that, with the Federal courts restored, and those of the + several States in the full exercise of their functions, the + rights and interests of all classes of the people will, with + the aid of the military in cases of resistance to the laws, + be essentially protected against unconstitutional + infringement or violation. Should this expectation unhappily + fail--which I do not anticipate--then the Executive is + already fully armed with the powers conferred by the act of + March, 1865, establishing the Freedmen's Bureau, and + hereafter, as heretofore, he can employ the land and naval + forces of the country to suppress insurrection or to + overcome obstructions to the laws. + + "In accordance with the Constitution, I return the bill to + the Senate, in the earnest hope that a measure involving + questions and interests so important to the country will not + become a law unless, upon deliberate consideration by the + people, it shall receive the sanction of an enlightened + public judgment. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON." + +[Illustration: Hon. S. C. Pomeroy.] + +The majority of the Senate was in favor of proceeding immediately to +the consideration of the message, and to have a vote as to whether the +bill should be passed, "the objections of the President to the +contrary notwithstanding." To this Mr. Lane, of Kansas, was opposed. +He said: "There are several Senators absent, and I think it but just +to them that they should have an opportunity to be present when the +vote is taken on this bill. I can not consent, so long as I can +postpone this question by the rules of the Senate, to have a vote upon +it to-night." Mr. Lane accordingly made four successive motions to +adjourn, in each of which he called for the yeas and nays. Finally, +the motion for adjournment having been made for the fifth time, it was +carried, with the understanding that the bill should be the pending +question at one o'clock on the following day. + +On that day, February 20th, the bill and the message came duly before +the Senate. Mr. Davis obtained the floor, and made a long speech in +opposition to the bill and in favor of the Veto Message. He expressed +his aversion to the bill, and the objects sought to be attained under +it in very emphatic terms, but added nothing to the arguments which +had already been adduced. + +Mr. Trumbull replied to the objections urged against the bill in the +President's Message. The President said, "The bill, should it become a +law will have no limitation in point of time, but will form a part of +the permanent legislation of the country." + +"The object of the bill," replied Mr. Trumbull, "was to continue in +existence the Freedmen's Bureau--not as a permanent institution. Any +such intent was disavowed during the discussion of the bill. It is +true, no time is expressly limited in the bill itself when it shall +cease to operate, nor is it customary to insert such a clause in a +law; but it is declared that the bill shall operate until otherwise +provided by law. It is known that the Congress of the United States +assembles every year, and no one supposed that this bill was to +establish a bureau to be ingrafted upon the country as a permanent +institution; far from it. Nor is it a bill that is intended to go into +the States and take control of the domestic affairs of the States." + +"There is no immediate necessity for the proposed measure," said the +President; "the act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen +and Refugees, which was approved in the month of March last, has not +yet expired. It was thought stringent and extensive enough for the +purpose in view in time of war." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "By the terms of the act, it was to continue +'during the present war of rebellion and for one year thereafter.' +Now, when did the war of rebellion cease? So far as the conflict of +arms is concerned, we all admit that the war of rebellion ceased when +the last rebel army laid down its arms, and that was some time in the +month of May, when the rebel army in Texas surrendered to the Union +forces. I do not hold that the consequences of the war are over. I do +not understand that peace is restored with all its consequences. We +have not yet escaped from the evils inflicted by the war. Peace and +harmony are not yet restored, but the war of rebellion is over, and +this bureau must expire in May next, according to the terms of the act +that was passed on the 3d of March, 1865, and according to the views +of the President as expressed in his Veto Message." + +"The bill," said the President, "proposes to establish by authority of +Congress, military jurisdiction over all parts of the United States +containing refugees and freedmen." + +"I would like to know," said Mr. Trumbull, "where in that bill is any +provision extending military jurisdiction over all parts of the United +States containing refugees and freedmen? The bill contains no such +clause. It is a misapprehension of the bill. The clause of the bill +upon that subject is this: + + "'And the President of the United States, through the War + Department and the commissioner, shall extend military + jurisdiction and protection over all employés, agents, and + officers of this bureau in the exercise of the duties + imposed or authorized by this act or the act to which this + is additional.' + +"Is not the difference manifest to every body between a bill that +extends military jurisdiction over the officers and employés of the +bureau and a bill which should extend military jurisdiction over all +parts of the United States containing refugees and freedmen? This bill +makes the Freedmen's Bureau a part of the War Department. It makes its +officers and agents amenable to the Rules and Articles of War. But +does that extend jurisdiction over the whole country where they are? +How do they differ from any other portion of the army of the United +States? The army of the United States, as every one knows, is governed +by the Rules and Articles of War, wherever it may be, whether in +Indiana or in Florida, and all persons in the army and a part of the +military establishment are subject to these Rules and Articles of War; +but did any body ever suppose that the whole country where they were +was under military jurisdiction? If a company of soldiers are +stationed at one of the forts in New York harbor, the officers and +soldiers of that company are subject to military jurisdiction; but was +it ever supposed that the people of the State of New York were thereby +placed under military jurisdiction? It is an entire misapprehension of +the provisions of the bill. It extends military jurisdiction nowhere; +it merely places under jurisdiction the persons belonging to the +Freedmen's Bureau who, nearly all of them, are now under military +jurisdiction." + +"The country," objected the President, "is to be divided into +districts and sub-districts, and the number of salaried agents to be +employed may be equal to the number of counties or parishes in all the +States where freedmen and refugees are to be found." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "A single officer need not be employed other +than those we now have. I have already stated that it is in the power +and discretion of the President to detail from the army officers to +perform all the duties of the Freedmen's Bureau, and, in case they are +detailed, the bill provides that they shall serve without any +additional compensation or allowance. But, sir, is it necessary, or +was it ever contemplated, that there should be an officer or agent of +the Freedmen's Bureau in every county and every parish where refugees +and freedmen are to be found? By no means. What is the bill upon that +subject? Does it make it imperative upon the President to appoint an +agent in each county and parish? It authorizes him 'when the same +shall be necessary for the operations of the bureau;' not otherwise. +He has no authority, under the bill, to appoint a single agent unless +it is necessary for the operations of the bureau, and then he can only +appoint so many as may be needed. Sir, it never entered the mind, I +venture to say, of a single advocate of this bill, that the President +of the United States would so abuse the authority intrusted to him as +to station an agent in every county in these States; but it was +apprehended that there might be localities in some of these States +where the prejudice and hostility of the white population and the +former masters were such toward the negroes that it would be necessary +to have an agent in every county in that locality for their +protection; and, in order to give the President the necessary +discretion where this should be requisite, the bill authorized, when +it was necessary for the operations of the bureau, the appointment of +an agent in each county or parish. In order to vest the President with +sufficient power in some localities, it was necessary, legislating by +general law, to give him much larger power than would be necessary in +other localities. + +"Sir, the country is not to be divided, I undertake to say, into +districts and sub-districts unless the President of the United States +finds it necessary to do so for the protection of these people; and if +the law should be abused in that respect, it would be because he +abused the discretion vested in him by Congress, and not because the +law required it. It makes no such requirement." + +"This military jurisdiction," said the President, "also extends to all +questions that may arise respecting contracts." + +"So far," replied Mr. Trumbull, "from extending this military +jurisdiction over all questions arising concerning contracts, and so +far from extending military jurisdiction anywhere, it is expressly +provided, by the very terms of the bill, that no such jurisdiction +shall be exercised except where the President himself has established, +and is maintaining military jurisdiction, which he is now doing in +eleven States; and the very moment that he ceases to maintain military +jurisdiction, that very moment the military jurisdiction conferred +over freedmen by this act ceases and terminates. + +"Sir, the whole jurisdiction to try and dispose of cases by the +officers and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau is expressly limited to +the time when these States shall be restored to their constitutional +relations, and when the courts of the United States and of the States +are not interrupted nor interfered with in the peaceable course of +justice. So far, then, from the bill establishing a military +jurisdiction, upon which the Senator from Kentucky and other Senators +have so much harped, it confers no jurisdiction to try cases one +moment after the courts are restored, and are no longer interrupted in +the peaceable administration of justice. Let me ask by what authority +is it that military tribunals are sitting to-day at Alexandria, +Virginia? By what authority is it that the writ of _habeas corpus_ is +suspended to-day in eleven States, when the Constitution of the United +States says that the writ shall not be suspended except when, in cases +of rebellion and invasion, the public safety may require it. By what +authority does the President of the United States object to the +exercise of military jurisdiction by that part of the army charged +with the execution of the provisions of the Freedmen's Bureau when he +exercises that military jurisdiction himself by other portions of the +army? But a few days since a military commission was sitting in +Alexandria, trying persons charged with crimes--and they are held all +over the South--and yet that part of the army connected with the +Freedmen's Bureau can not exercise any such authority because it is +unconstitutional--unconstitutional to do by virtue of a law of +Congress what is done without any law! + +"Where does the Executive get the power? The Executive is but the +Commander-in-chief of the armies, made so by the Constitution; but he +can not raise an army or a single soldier, he can not appoint a single +officer, without the consent of Congress. He can not make any rules +and regulations for the government of the army without our permission. +The Constitution of the United States declares, in so many words, that +Congress shall have power 'to make rules for the government and +regulation of the land and naval forces' of the United States. Can it +be that that department of the Government, vested in express terms by +the Constitution itself with authority to make rules for the +government and regulation of the land and naval forces, has no +authority to direct that portion of the land and naval forces employed +in the Freedmen's Bureau to exercise this jurisdiction instead of +department commanders? Sir, it is competent for Congress to declare +that no department commanders shall exercise any such authority; it is +competent for Congress to declare that a court-martial shall never +sit, that a military commission shall never be held, and the President +is as much bound to obey it as the humblest citizen in the land." + +The President said: "The trials having their origin under this bill +are to take place without the intervention of a jury, and without any +fixed rules of law or evidence." + +"Do not all military trials take place in that way," asked Mr. +Trumbull. "Did any body ever hear of the presentment of a grand jury +in a case where a court-martial set for the trial of a military +offense, or the trial of a person charged with any offense cognizable +before it? This Freedmen's Bureau Bill confers no authority to do this +except in those regions of country where military authority prevails, +where martial law is established, where persons exercising civil +authority act in subordination to the military power, and where the +moment they transcend the proper limits as fixed by military orders, +they are liable to be arrested and punished without the intervention +of a grand jury, or without the right of appeal to any of the judicial +tribunals of the country. I would as soon think of an appeal from the +decision of the military tribunal that sat in the city of Washington, +and condemned to death the murderers of our late President, to the +judicial tribunals of the country! Where military authority bears +sway, where the courts are overborne, is it not an absurdity to say +that you must have a presentment of a grand jury, and a trial in a +court." + +"I can not reconcile a system of military jurisdiction of this kind +with the words of the Constitution," said the President. + +"If you can not reconcile a system of military jurisdiction of this +kind with the words of the Constitution, why have you been exercising +it," asked Mr. Trumbull. "Why have you been organizing courts-martial +and military commissions all over the South, trying offenders, and +punishing some of them with death? Why have you authorized the present +Freedmen's Bureau to hold bureau courts all through the South? This +has all been done by your permission, and is being done to-day. Then, +sir, if you are still in the exercise of this power now, if you have +been exercising it from the day you became President of the United +States, how is it that you can not reconcile a system of jurisdiction +of this kind with the words of the Constitution? + +"Sir, does it detract from the President's authority to have the +sanction of law? I want to give that sanction. I do not object to the +exercise of this military authority of the President in the rebellious +States. I believe it is constitutional and legitimate and necessary; +but I believe Congress has authority to regulate it. I believe +Congress has authority to direct that this military jurisdiction shall +be exercised by that branch of the army known as the Freedmen's +Bureau, as well as by any other branch of the army." + +"The rebellion is at an end," said the President. "The measure, +therefore, seems to be as inconsistent with the actual condition of +the country as it is at variance with the Constitution of the United +States." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "If the rebellion is at an end, will anybody +tell me by what authority the President of the United States suspends +the writ of _habeas corpus_ in those States where it existed. The act +of Congress of March, 1863, authorized the President of the United +States to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ during the present +rebellion. He says it is at an end. By what authority, then, does he +suspend the writ? By his own declaration, let him stand or fall. If it +is competent to suspend the writ, if it is competent for military +tribunals to sit all through the South, and entertain military +jurisdiction, this bill, which does not continue military +jurisdiction, does not establish military jurisdiction, but only +authorizes the officers of this bureau, while military jurisdiction +prevails, to take charge of that particular class of cases affecting +the refugee or freedman where he is discriminated against, can not be +obnoxious to any constitutional objection." + +"This bill," said the President, "proposes to make the Freedmen's +Bureau, established by the act of 1865, as one of many great and +extraordinary military measures to suppress a formidable rebellion, a +permanent branch of the public administration, with its powers greatly +enlarged." + +"This is a mistake," replied Mr. Trumbull; "it is not intended, I +apprehend, by any body, certainly not by me, to make it a permanent +branch of the public administration; and I am quite sure that the +powers of the bureau are not, by the amendatory bill, greatly +enlarged. A careful examination of the amendment will show that it is +in some respects a restriction on the powers already exercised." + +"The third section of the bill," the President objected, "authorizes a +general and unlimited grant of support to the destitute and suffering +refugees and freedmen, their wives and children." + +"What is the third section of the bill," asked Mr. Trumbull, "which +the President says contains such an unlimited grant of support to the +destitute and suffering refugees, their wives and children? I will +read that third section: + + "'That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of + provisions, clothing, fuel, including medical stores and + transportation, and afford such aid, medical or otherwise, + as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary + shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and + freedmen, their wives and children, under such rules and + regulations as he may direct: _Provided_, That no person + shall be deemed "destitute," "suffering," or "dependent upon + the Government for support," within the meaning of this act, + who, being able to find employment, could, by proper + industry and exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or + dependence.' + +"Does the President object to this bill on the ground that it +authorizes medical aid to be furnished the sick? Or does he object to +it because of the proviso which limits its operation, and declares +that nobody shall be deemed destitute and suffering under the +provisions of the act who is able, by proper industry and exertion, to +avoid such destitution? Why, sir, it is a limitation on the present +existing law. Does that look much like taking care of four million of +people--a provision that expressly limits the operations of this act +to those only who can not find employment? A statement of the fact is +all that is necessary to meet this statement in the Veto Message." + +"The Congress of the United States," said the President, "has never +heretofore thought itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the +limits of the District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our +disabled soldiers and sailors. It has never founded schools for any +class of our own people. It has never deemed itself authorized to +expend the public money for the rent or purchase of homes for the +thousands, not to say millions of the white race who are honestly +toiling from day to day for their subsistence." + +"The answer to that is this," said Mr. Trumbull: "We never before were +in such a state as now"; never before in the history of this +Government did eleven States of the Union combine together to +overthrow and destroy the Union; never before in the history of this +Government have we had a four years' civil war; never before in the +history of this Government have nearly four million people been +emancipated from the most abject and degrading slavery ever imposed +upon human beings; never before has the occasion arisen when it was +necessary to provide for such large numbers of people thrown upon the +bounty of the Government unprotected and unprovided for. But, sir, +wherever the necessity did exist the Government has acted. We have +voted hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars, and are doing it +from year to year, to take care of and provide for the destitute and +suffering Indians. We appropriated, years ago, hundreds of thousands +of dollars to take care of and feed the savage African who was landed +upon our coast by slavers. We provided by law that whenever savages +from Africa should be brought to our shores, or whenever they should +be captured on board of slavers, the President of the United States +should make provision for their maintenance and support, for five +years, on the coast of Africa. He was authorized by law to appoint +agents to go to Africa to provide means to feed them, and we paid the +money to do it. And yet, sir, can we not provide for these Africans +who have been held in bondage all their lives, who have never been +permitted to earn one dollar for themselves, who, by the great +Constitutional Amendment declaring freedom throughout the land, have +been discharged from bondage to their masters, who had hitherto +provided for their necessities in consideration of their services? Can +we not provide for these destitute persons of our own land on the same +principle that we provide for the Indians, that we provide for the +savage African?" + +"But," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the President says we have never +rented lands for the white race, we have never purchased lands for +them. What do we propose to do by this bill? This authorizes, if the +President thinks proper to do it--it is in his discretion--the +purchase or renting of lands on which to place these indigent people; +but before any land can be purchased or rented, before any contract +can be made on the subject, there must be an appropriation made by +Congress. This bill contains no appropriation. If the President is +opposed to the rent or purchase of land, and Congress passes a bill +appropriating money for that purpose, let him veto it if he thinks it +unconstitutional; but there is nothing unconstitutional in this bill. +This bill does not purchase any land; but it prevents even a contract +on the subject until another law shall be passed appropriating the +money for that purpose. + +"But, sir, what is the objection to it if it did appropriate the +money? I have already undertaken to show, and I think I have shown, +that it was the duty of the United States, as an independent nation, +as one of the powers of the earth, whenever there came into its +possession an unprotected class of people, who must suffer and perish +but for its care, to provide for and take care of them. When an army +is marching through an enemy's country, and poor and destitute persons +are found within its lines who must die by starvation if they are not +fed from the supplies of the army, will any body show me the +constitutional provision or the act of Congress that authorizes the +general commanding to open his commissariat and feed the starving +multitude? And has it not been done by every one of your commanders +all through the South? Whenever a starving human being, man, woman, or +child, no matter whether black or white, rebel or loyal, came within +the lines of the army, to perish and die unless fed from our supplies, +there has never been an officer in our service, and, thank God! there +has not been, who did not relieve the sufferer. If you want to know +where the constitutional power to do this is, and where the law is, I +answer, it is in that common humanity that belongs to every man fit to +bear the name, and it is in that power that belongs to us as a +Christian nation, carrying on war upon civilized principles. + +"If we had the right then to feed those people as we did, have we not +the right to take care of them in the cheapest way we can? If, when +General Sherman was passing through Georgia, he found the lands +abandoned; if their able-bodied owners had entered the rebel army to +fight against us; if the women and children had fled and left the land +a waste, and he had, as is the fact, thousands of persons hanging upon +his army dependent upon him for supplies; if it was believed that it +would be cheaper to support these people upon these lands than to buy +provisions to feed them, might we not do so? May we not resort to +whatever means is most judicious to protect from starvation that +multitude which common humanity requires us to feed? + +"Nor, sir, is it true that no provision has been made by Congress for +the education of white people. We have given all through the new +States one section of land in every township for the benefit of common +schools. We have donated hundreds of thousands of acres of land to all +the States for the establishment of colleges and seminaries of +learning. How did we get this land? It was purchased by our money, and +then we gave it away for purposes of education. The same right exists +now to provide for these people, and it is not simply for the black +people, but for the white refugees as well as the black, that this +bill provides." + +Said the President: "The appropriations asked by the Freedmen's +Bureau, as now established, for the year 1866, amounts to $11,745,000. +It may be safely estimated that the cost to be incurred under the +pending bill will require double that amount." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "A far larger sum, in proportion to the number +that were thrown upon our hands, was expended before the creation of +the Freedmen's Bureau, in feeding and taking care of refugees and +freedmen, than since the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau. Since +that time, the authority of the Government has been extended over all +the rebellious States, and we have had a larger number of refugees and +freedmen to provide for, but in proportion to the number I have no +doubt that the expense is less now than it was before the +establishment of the bureau." + +"The query again presents itself," said the President, "whether the +system proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete +operation, practically transfer the entire care, support, and control +of four million emancipated slaves to agents, overseers, or +taskmasters, who, appointed at Washington, are to be located in every +county and parish throughout the United States containing freedmen and +refugees." + +"I scarcely know how to reply to that most extravagant statement," +said Mr. Trumbull. "I have already shown that it would be a great +abuse of the power conferred by this bill to station an agent in every +county. I have already stated that but a small proportion of the +freedmen are aided by the Freedmen's Bureau. In this official document +the President has sent to Congress the exaggerated statement that it +is a question whether this bureau would not bring under its control +the four million emancipated slaves. The census of 1860 shows that +there never were four million slaves in all the United States, if you +counted every man, woman, and child, and we know that the number has +not increased during the war. But, sir, what will be thought when I +show, as I shall directly show by official figures, that, so far from +providing for four million emancipated slaves, the Freedmen's Bureau +never yet provided for a hundred thousand, and, as restricted by the +proviso to the third section of the present bill, it could never be +extended, under it, to a larger number. Is it not most extraordinary +that a bill should be returned with the veto from the President on the +ground that it provides for four million people, when, restricted in +its operations as it is, and having been in operation since March +last, it has never had under its control a hundred thousand? I have +here an official statement from the Freedmen's Bureau, which I beg +leave to read in this connection: + + "'The greatest number of persons to whom rations were + issued, including the Commissary Department, the bureau + issues to persons without the army, is one hundred and + forty-eight thousand one hundred and twenty.' + +"Who are they? I said there were not a hundred thousand freedmen +provided for by the bureau. + + "'Whites, 57,369; colored, 90,607; Indians, 133. The + greatest number by the bureau was 49,932, in September. The + total number for December was 17,025.' + +"That sounds a little different from four millions. Seventeen thousand +and twenty-five were all that were provided for by the Freedmen's +Bureau in the month of December last, the number getting less and less +every month. Why? Because, by the kind and judicious management of +that bureau, places of employment were found for these refugees and +freedmen. When the freedmen were discharged from their masters' +plantations they were assisted to find places of work elsewhere. + +"The President says," continued Mr. Trumbull, "that Congress never +thought of making these provisions for the white people. Let us see +what provisions have been made for the white people. Major-General +Fisk, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of +Tennessee, in his testimony given before the Reconstruction Committee, +said: + + "'During the last year, the rations issued to white people + in Tennessee have been much in excess of those issued to + freedmen. When I took charge of my district the Government + was feeding twenty-five thousand people; in round numbers, + about seventeen thousand five hundred white persons and + seven thousand blacks. The month preceding the establishment + of the Freedmen's Bureau, for rations alone for that class + of people the sum of $97,000 was paid. My first efforts were + to reduce the number of those beneficiaries of the + Government, to withhold the rations, and make the people + self-supporting as far as possible; and in the course of + four months I reduced the monthly expenses from $97,000 to + $5,000.' + +"In addition to the objections already stated," said the President, +"the fifth section of this bill proposes to take away land from its +former owners, without any legal proceedings first had." + +"I regret," said Mr. Trumbull, "that a statement like that should +inadvertently (for it must have been inadvertent) have found a place +in this Veto Message. The fifth section of the bill does not propose +to take away lands from any body. I will read it, and we shall see +what it is: + + "'That the occupants of land under Major-General Sherman's + special field order, dated at Savannah, January 16, 1865, + are hereby confirmed in their possession.' + +"Is not this a different thing from taking away land from any body? Do +you take a thing away from another person when you have it in your +possession already? This fifth section, so far from taking land from +any body, provides simply for protecting the occupants of the land for +three years from the 16th of January, 1865, a little less than two +years from this time. If the section does any thing, it simply +prevents the restoration of this property to its former owners within +that period, except upon terms to be entered into, satisfactory to the +commissioner, between the occupant and the former owner. This is all +there is of it. It is a very different thing from taking away land +from its former owners." + +"Undoubtedly," said the President, "the freedmen should be protected +by the civil authorities, especially by the exercise of all the +constitutional powers of the courts of the United States and of the +States." + +"Let us see," replied Mr. Trumbull, "how they are protected by the +civil authority." After having read from documents setting forth laws +in reference to freedmen in force in Texas and Mississippi, Mr. +Trumbull continued: "I have here a number of communications of a +similar character, showing that, by the laws in some of the Southern +States, a pass system still exists, and that the negro really has no +protection afforded him either by the civil authorities or judicial +tribunals of the State. I have letters showing the same thing in the +State of Maryland, from persons whose character is vouched for as +reliable. Under this state of things, the President tells us that the +freedman should be protected 'by the exercise of all the +constitutional powers of the courts of the United States and of the +States!'" + +"He also possesses," said the President, referring to the freedman, "a +perfect right to change his place of abode; and if, therefore, he does +not find in one community or State a mode of life suited to his +desires, or proper remuneration for his labor, he can move to another +where that labor is more esteemed and better rewarded." + +"Then, sir," said Mr. Trumbull, "is there no necessity for some +supervising care of these people? Are they to be coldly told that they +have a perfect right to change their place of abode, when, if they are +caught in a strange neighborhood without a pass, they are liable to be +whipped? when combinations exist against them that they shall not be +permitted to hire unless to their former master? Are these people, +knowing nothing of geography, knowing not where to go, having never in +their lives been ten miles from the place where they were born, these +old women and young children, these feeble persons who are turned off +because they can no longer work, to be told to go and seek employment +elsewhere? and is the Government of the United States, which has made +them free, to stand by and do nothing to save and protect them? Are +they to be left to the mercy of such legislation as that of +Mississippi, to such laws as exist in Texas, to such practices as are +tolerated in Maryland and in Kentucky? Sir, I think some protection is +necessary for them, and that was the object of this bureau. It was not +intended, and such is not its effect, to interfere with the ordinary +administration of justice in any State, not even during the rebellion. +The moment that any State does justice and abolishes all +discrimination between whites and blacks in civil rights, the judicial +functions of the Freedmen's Bureau cease. + +"But," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the President, most strangely of all, +dwells upon the unconstitutionality of this act, without ever having +alluded to that provision of the Constitution which its advocates +claim gives the authority to pass it. Is it not most extraordinary +that the President of the United States returns a bill which has +passed Congress, with his objections to it, alleging it to be +unconstitutional, and makes no allusion whatever in his whole message +to that provision of the Constitution which, in the opinion of its +supporters, clearly gives the authority to pass it? And what is that? +The second clause of the constitutional amendment, which declares that +Congress shall have authority by appropriate legislation to enforce +the article, which declares that there shall be neither slavery nor +involuntary servitude throughout the United States. If legislation be +necessary to protect the former slaves against State laws, which allow +them to be whipped if found away from home without a pass, has not +Congress, under the second clause of the amendment, authority to +provide it? What kind of freedom is that which the Constitution of the +United States guarantees to a man that does not protect him from the +lash if he is caught away from home without a pass? And how can we sit +here and discharge the constitutional obligation that is upon us to +pass the appropriate legislation to protect every man in the land in +his freedom, when we know such laws are being passed in the South, if +we do nothing to prevent their enforcement? Sir, so far from the bill +being unconstitutional, I should feel that I had failed in my +constitutional duty if I did not propose some measure that would +protect these people in their freedom. And yet this clause of the +Constitution seems to have escaped entirely the observation of the +President. + +"The President objects to this bill because it was passed in the +absence of representation from the rebellious States. If that +objection be valid, all our legislation affecting those States is +wrong, and has been wrong from the beginning. When the rebellion broke +out, in the first year of the war, we passed a law for collecting a +direct tax, and we assessed that tax upon all the rebellious States. +According to the theory of the President, that was all wrong, because +taxation and representation did not go together. Those States were not +represented. Then, according to this argument, (I will not read all of +it,) we were bound to have received their Representatives, or else not +legislate for and tax them. He insists they were States in the Union +all the time, and according to the Constitution, each State is +entitled to at least one Representative. + +"If the argument that Congress can not legislate for States +unrepresented is good now, it was good during the conflict of arms, +for none of the States whose governments were usurped are yet relieved +from military control. If we have no right to legislate for those +States now, we had no right to impose the direct tax upon them. We had +no right to pass any of our laws that affected them. We had no right +to raise an army to march into the rebellious States while they were +not represented in the Congress of the United States. We had no right +to pass a law declaring these States in rebellion. Why? The rebels +were not here to be represented in the American Senate. We had no +right to pass a law authorizing the President to issue a proclamation +discontinuing all intercourse with the people of those rebellious +States; and why? Because they were not represented here. We had no +right to blockade their coast. Why? They were not represented here. +They are States, says the President, and each State is entitled to two +Senators, and to at least one Representative. Suppose the State of +South Carolina had sent to Congress, during the war, a Representative; +had Congress nothing to do but to admit him, if found qualified? Must +he be received because he comes from a State, and a State can not go +out of the Union? Why, sir, is any thing more necessary than to state +this proposition to show its absolute absurdity?" + +The President said: "The President of the United States stands toward +the country in a somewhat different attitude from that of any member +of Congress. Each member of Congress is chosen from a single district +or State; the President is chosen by the people of all the States. As +eleven States are not at this time represented in either branch of +Congress, it would seem to be his duty, on all proper occasions, to +present their just claims to Congress." + +"If it would not be disrespectful," said Mr. Trumbull, "I should like +to inquire how many votes the President got in those eleven States. +Sir, he is no more the representative of those eleven States than I +am, except as he holds a higher position. I came here as a +Representative chosen by the State of Illinois; but I came here to +legislate, not simply for the State of Illinois, but for the United +States of America, and for South Carolina as well as Illinois. I deny +that we are simply the Representatives of the districts and States +which send us here, or that we are governed by such narrow views that +we can not legislate for the whole country; and we are as much the +Representatives, and, in this particular instance, receive as much of +the support of those eleven States as did the President himself." + +Mr. Trumbull finally remarked: "The President believes this bill +unconstitutional; I believe it constitutional. He believes that it +will involve great expense; I believe it will save expense. He +believes that the freedmen will be protected without it; I believe he +will be tyrannized over, abused, and virtually reënslaved, without +some legislation by the nation for his protection. He believes it +unwise; I believe it to be politic." + +Without further debate, the vote was taken on the question, "Shall the +bill pass, the objections of the President of the United States +notwithstanding?" The Senators voted as follows: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, + Cragin, Creswell, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, + Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Lane of + Kansas, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, + Sprague, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Williams, Wilson, and + Yates--30. + + NAYS--Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, + Guthrie, Hendricks, Johnson, McDougall, Morgan, Nesmith, + Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stewart, Stockton, Van Winkle, + and Willey--18. + + ABSENT--Messrs. Foot and Wright--2. + +The President _pro tempore_ then announced, "On this question the yeas +are thirty and the nays are eighteen. Two-thirds of the members +present not having voted for the bill, it is not a law." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL IN THE SENATE. + + Duty of Congress consequent upon the Abolition of Slavery -- + Civil Rights Bill introduced -- Reference to Judiciary + Committee -- Before the Senate -- Speech by Mr. Trumbull -- + Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. van Winkle -- Mr. Cowan -- Mr. Howard + -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Davis -- Conversations with Mr. + Trumbull and Mr. Clark -- Reply of Mr. Johnson -- Remarks by + Mr. Morrill -- Mr. Davis "wound up" -- Mr. Guthrie's Speech + -- Mr. Hendricks -- Reply of Mr. Lane -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. + Trumbull's closing remarks -- Yeas and Nays on the passage + of the Bill. + + +The preceding Congress having proposed an amendment to the +Constitution by which slavery should be abolished, and this amendment +having been "ratified by three-fourths of the several States," four +millions of the inhabitants of the United States were transformed from +slaves into freemen. To leave them with their shackles broken off, +unprotected, in a new and undefined position, would have been a sin +against them only surpassed in enormity by the original crime of their +enslavement. + +As provided in the amendment itself, it devolved upon Congress "to +enforce this article by appropriate legislation." The Thirty-ninth +Congress assembled, realizing that it devolved upon them to define the +extent of the rights, privileges, and duties of the freedmen. That +body was not slow in meeting the full measure of its responsibility. + +Immediately on the reässembling of Congress after the holidays, +January 5, 1866, Mr. Trumbull, in pursuance of previous notice, +introduced a bill "to protect all persons in the United States in +their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication." This +bill, having been read twice, was referred to the Committee on the +Judiciary. + +It was highly appropriate that this bill, involving the relations of +millions of the inhabitants of the United States to the Government, +should be referred to this able committee, selected from among the men +of most distinguished legal ability in the Senate. Its members were +chosen in consideration of their high professional ability, their long +experience, and exalted standing as jurists. They are the legal +advisers of the Senate, whose report upon constitutional questions is +entitled to the highest consideration. + +To such a committee the Senate appropriately referred the Civil Rights +Bill, and the nation could safely trust in their hands the great +interests therein involved. + +The bill declares that "there shall be no discrimination in civil +rights or immunities among the inhabitants of any State or Territory +of the United States on account of race, color, or previous condition +of slavery; but the inhabitants, of every race and color, without +regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, +except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been +duly convicted, shall have the same right to make and enforce +contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, +purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, +and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the +security of person and property, and shall be subject to like +punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, +ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. Any +person who, under cover of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or +custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any +State or Territory to the deprivation of any right secured or +protected by the act, or to different punishment, pains, or penalties, +on account of such person having at any time been held in a condition +of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime +whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason of his +color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of white persons, +is to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, to be +punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding +one year, or both, in the discretion of the court." + +Other provisions of the bill relate to the courts which shall have +jurisdiction of cases which arise under the act, and the means to be +employed in its enforcement. + +That no question might arise as to the constitutionality of the law, +all the provisions which relate to the enforcement of the act were +borrowed from the celebrated Fugitive Slave Law, enacted in 1850. It +was a happy thought to compel the enemies of the negro themselves, as +judges, to pronounce in favor of the constitutionality of this +ordinance. It is an admirable illustration of the progress of the age, +that the very instruments which were used a few years before to rivet +tighter the chains of the slave, should be employed to break those +very chains to fragments. It shall forever stand forth to the honor of +American legislation that it attained to more than poetic justice in +using the very means once employed to repress and crush the negro for +his defense and elevation. + +Within less than a week after the reference of this bill to the +Judiciary Committee, it was reported back, with no alteration save a +few verbal amendments. On account of pressure of other business, it +did not come up for formal consideration and discussion in the Senate +until the 29th of January. On that day Mr. Trumbull, having called up +the bill for the consideration of the Senate, said: + +"I regard the bill to which the attention of the Senate is now called, +as the most important measure that has been under its consideration +since the adoption of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. +That amendment declared that all persons in the United States should +be free. This measure is intended to give effect to that declaration, +and secure to all persons within the United States practical freedom. +There is very little importance in the general declaration of abstract +truths and principles unless they can be carried into effect, unless +the persons who are to be affected by them have some means of availing +themselves of their benefits. Of what avail was the immortal +declaration 'that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by +their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are +life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' and 'that to secure +these rights governments are instituted among men,' to the millions of +the African race in this country who were ground down and degraded, +and subjected to a slavery more intolerable and cruel than the world +ever before knew? Of what avail was it to the citizen of +Massachusetts, who, a few years ago, went to South Carolina to enforce +a constitutional right in court, that the Constitution of the United +States declared that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to +all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States? +And of what avail will it now be that the Constitution of the United +States has declared that slavery shall not exist, if in the late +slaveholding States laws are to be enacted and enforced depriving +persons of African descent of privileges which are essential to +freemen? + +"It is the intention of this bill to secure those rights. The laws in +the slaveholding States have made a distinction against persons of +African descent on account of their color, whether free or slave. I +have before me the statutes of Mississippi. They provide that if any +colored person, any free negro or mulatto, shall come into that State +for the purpose of residing there, he shall be sold into slavery for +life. If any person of African descent residing in that State travels +from one county to another without having a pass or a certificate of +his freedom, he is liable to be committed to jail, and to be dealt +with as a person who is in the State without authority. Other +provisions of the statute prohibit any negro or mulatto from having +firearms; and one provision of the statute declares that for +'exercising the functions of a minister of the Gospel, free negroes +and mulattoes, on conviction, may be punished by any number of lashes +not exceeding thirty-nine, on the bare back, and shall pay the costs." +Other provisions of the statute of Mississippi prohibit a free negro +or mulatto from keeping a house of entertainment, and subject him to +trial before two justices of the peace and five slaveholders for +violating the provisions of this law. The statutes of South Carolina +make it a highly penal offense for any person, white or colored, to +teach slaves; and similar provisions are to be found running through +all the statutes of the late slaveholding States. + +"When the constitutional amendment was adopted and slavery abolished, +all these statutes became null and void, because they were all passed +in aid of slavery, for the purpose of maintaining and supporting it. +Since the abolition of slavery, the Legislatures which have assembled +in the insurrectionary States have passed laws relating to the +freedmen, and in nearly all the States they have discriminated against +them. They deny them certain rights, subject them to severe penalties, +and still impose upon them the very restrictions which were imposed +upon them in consequence of the existence of slavery, and before it +was abolished. The purpose of the bill under consideration is to +destroy all these discriminations, and to carry into effect the +constitutional amendment." + +After having stated somewhat at length the grounds upon which he +placed this bill, Mr. Trumbull closed by saying: "Most of the +provisions of this bill are copied from the late Fugitive Slave Act, +adopted in 1850 for the purpose of returning fugitives from slavery +into slavery again. The act that was passed at that time for the +purpose of punishing persons who should aid negroes to escape to +freedom is now to be applied by the provisions of this bill to the +punishment of those who shall undertake to keep them in slavery. +Surely we have the authority to enact a law as efficient in the +interests of freedom, now that freedom prevails throughout the +country, as we had in the interest of slavery when it prevailed in a +portion of the country." + +Mr. Saulsbury took an entirely different view of the subject under +consideration: "I regard this bill," he said, "as one of the most +dangerous that was ever introduced into the Senate of the United +States, or to which the attention of the American people was ever +invited. During the last four or five years, I have sat in this +chamber and witnessed the introduction of bills into this body which I +thought obnoxious to many very grave and serious constitutional +objections; but I have never, since I have been a member of the body, +seen a bill so fraught with danger, so full of mischief, as the bill +now under consideration. + +"I shall not follow the honorable Senator into a consideration of the +manner in which slaves were treated in the Southern States, nor the +privileges that have been denied to them by the laws of the States. I +think the time for shedding tears over the poor slave has well nigh +passed in this country. The tears which the honest white people of +this country have been made to shed from the oppressive acts of this +Government, in its various departments, during the last four years, +call more loudly for my sympathies than those tears which have been +shedding and dropping and dropping for the last twenty years in +reference to the poor, oppressed slave--dropping from the eyes of +strong-minded women and weak-minded men, until, becoming a mighty +flood, they have swept away, in their resistless force, every trace of +constitutional liberty in this country. + +"I suppose it is a foregone conclusion that this measure, as one of a +series of measures, is to be passed through this Congress regardless +of all consequences. But the day that the President of the United +States places his approval and signature to that Freedmen's Bureau +Bill, and to this bill, he will have signed two acts more dangerous to +the liberty of his countrymen, more disastrous to the citizens of this +country, than all the acts which have been passed from the foundation +of the Government to the present hour; and if we on this side of the +chamber manifest anxiety and interest in reference to these bills, and +the questions involved in them, it is because, having known this +population all our lives, knowing them in one hour of our infancy +better than you gentlemen have known them all your lives, we feel +compelled, by a sense of duty, earnestly and importunately, it may be, +to appeal to the judgment of the American Senate, and to reach, if +possible, the judgment of the great mass of the American people, and +invoke their attention to the awful consequences involved in measures +of this character. Sir, stop, stop! the mangled, bleeding body of the +Constitution of your country lies in your path; you are treading upon +its bleeding body when you pass these laws." + +After having argued at considerable length that this bill would be a +most unconstitutional interference on the part of the Federal +Government with "the powers of the States under the Federal +Constitution," the Senator from Delaware thus concluded: + +"Sir, from early boyhood I was taught to love and revere the Federal +Union and those who made it. In early childhood I read the words of +the Father of his country, in which he exhorted the people to cling to +the union of these States as the palladium of liberty, and my young +heart bounded with joy in reading the burning words of lofty +patriotism. I was taught in infancy to admire, as far as the infant +mind could admire, our free system of government, Federal and State; +and I heard the old men say that the wit of man never devised a better +or more lovely system of government. When I arrived at that age when I +could study and reflect for myself, the teachings of childhood were +approved by the judgment of the man. + +"I have seen how under this Union we had become great in the eyes of +all nations; and I see now, notwithstanding the horrible afflictions +of war, if we can have wisdom in council and sincere purpose to +subserve the good of the whole people of the United States, though +much that was dear to us has been blasted as by the pestilence that +walketh in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noonday, how +we might, in the providence of God, resume our former position among +the nations of the earth, and command the respect of the whole +civilized world. But, sir, to-day, in viewing and in considering this +bill, the thought has occurred to me, how happy were the founders of +our Federal system of government, that they had been taken from the +council chambers of this nation and from among their fellow-men before +bills of this character were seriously presented for legislative +consideration. Happily for them, they sleep their last sleep, and-- + + "'How sleep the brave who sink to rest, + By all their country's wishes blest! + When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, + Returns to deck their hallowed mold, + She there shall dress a sweeter sod + Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. + + "'By fairy hands their knell is rung; + By forms unseen their dirge is sung; + There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, + To bless the turf that wraps their clay; + And Freedom shall henceforth repair + And dwell a weeping hermit there.'" + +On the following day, Mr. Van Winkle, of West Virginia, addressed the +Senate on the merits of the bill. He thought that the objects sought +could only be attained through an amendment to the Constitution. He +moreover said: + +"We hear a great deal about the sentence from the Declaration of +Independence, that 'all men are created equal.' I am willing to admit +that all men are created equal; but how are they equal? Can a citizen +of France, for instance, by going into England, be entitled to all the +rights of a citizen of that country, or by coming into this country +acquire all the rights of an American, unless he is naturalized? Can a +citizen of our country, by going into any other, become entitled to +the rights of a citizen there? If not, it may be said that they are +not equal. I believe that the division of men into separate +communities, and their living in society and association with their +fellows, as they do, are both divine institutions, and that, +consequently, the authors of the Declaration of Independence could +have meant nothing more than that the rights of citizens of any +community are equal to the rights of all other citizens of that +community. Whenever all communities are conducted in accordance with +these principles, these very conditions of their prosperous existence, +then all mankind will be equal, each enjoying his equality in his own +community, and not till then. Therefore, I assert that there is no +right that can be exercised by any community of society more perfect +than that of excluding from citizenship or membership those who are +objectionable. If a little society is formed for a benevolent, +literary, or any other purpose, the members immediately exercise, and +claim the right to exercise, that right; they determine who shall come +into their community. We have the right to determine who shall be +members of our community; and much as has been said here about what +God has done, and about our obligations to the Almighty in reference +to this matter, I do not see where it comes in that we are bound to +receive into our community those whose minglings with us might be +detrimental to our interests. I do not believe that a superior race is +bound to receive among it those of an inferior race, if the mingling +of them can only tend to the detriment of the mass. I do not mean +strict miscegenation, but I mean the mingling of two races in society, +associating from time to time with each other." + +Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, spoke against the bill. He said: "The +identical question came up in my State--the question whether the negro +was a citizen, and whether he possessed political power in that +State--and it was there decided that he was not one of the original +corporators, that he was not one of the freemen who originally +possessed political power, and that they had never, by any enactment +or by any act of theirs, admitted him into a participation of that +power, except so far as to tax him for the support of Government. And, +Mr. President, I think it a most important question, and particularly +a most important question for the Pacific coast, and those States +which lie upon it, as to whether this door shall now be thrown open to +the Asiatic population. If it be, there is an end to republican +government there, because it is very well ascertained that those +people have no appreciation of that form of government; it seems to be +obnoxious to their very nature; they seem to be incapable either of +understanding it or of carrying it out; and I can not consent to say +that California, or Oregon, or Colorado, or Nevada, or any of those +States, shall be given over to an irruption of Chinese. I, for my +part, protest against it. + +"There is a great deal more in this bill that is exceedingly +objectionable. It is the first time, I think, in the history of +civilized legislation, that a judicial officer has been held up and +subjected to a criminal punishment for that which may have been a +conscientious discharge of his duty. It is, I say, the first case that +I know of, in the legislation of modern and civilized nations, where a +bill of indictment is to take the place of a writ of error, and where +a mistake is to be tortured into a crime. + +"I may state that I have another objection to this bill at the present +time; and that is, that the people of several States in the Union are +not represented here, and yet this law is mainly to operate upon those +people. I think it would be at least decent, respectful, if we desire +to maintain and support this Government on the broad foundation upon +which it was laid--namely, the consent of the governed--that we should +wait, at any rate, until the people upon whom it is to operate have a +voice in these halls." + +Mr. Cowan then proceeded in a somewhat "devious course," as it was +characterized by another Senator, to make remarks upon the subject of +reconstruction. Many questions and remarks were interposed by other +Senators, giving the discussion an exceedingly colloquial style. + +At length, Mr. Howard, of Michigan, having obtained the floor, spoke +in favor of the bill. He said: "If I understand correctly the +interpretation given by several Senators to the constitutional +amendment abolishing slavery, it is this: that the sole effect of it +is to cut and sever the mere legal ligament by which the person and +the service of the slave was attached to his master, and that beyond +this particular office the amendment does not go; that it can have no +effect whatever upon the condition of the emancipated black in any +other respect. In other words, they hold that it relieves him from his +so-called legal obligation to render his personal service to his +master without compensation, and there leaves him, totally, +irretrievably, and without any power on the part of Congress to look +after his well-being from the moment of this mockery of emancipation. +Sir, such was not the intention of the friends of this amendment at +the time of its initiation here, and at the time of its adoption; and +I undertake to say that it is not the construction which is given to +it by the bar throughout the country, and much less by the +liberty-loving people. + +"But let us look more closely at this narrow construction. Where does +it leave us? We are told that the amendment simply relieves the slave +from the obligation to render service to his master. What is a slave +in contemplation of American law, in contemplation of the laws of all +the slave States? We know full well; the history of two hundred years +teaches us that he had no rights, nor nothing which he could call his +own. He had not the right to become a husband or a father in the eye +of the law; he had no child; he was not at liberty to indulge the +natural affections of the human heart for children, for wife, or even +for friend. He owned no property, because the law prohibited him. He +could not take real or personal estate either by sale, by grant, or by +descent or inheritance. He did not own the bread he earned and ate. He +stood upon the face of the earth completely isolated from the society +in which he happened to be. He was nothing but a chattel, subject to +the will of his owner, and unprotected in his rights by the law of the +State where he happened to live. His rights, did I say? No, sir, I use +inappropriate language. He had no rights; he was an animal; he was +property, a chattel. The Almighty, according to the ideas of the +times, had made him to be property, a Chattel, and not a man. + +"Now, sir, it is not denied that this relation of servitude between +the former negro slave and his master was actually severed by this +amendment. But the absurd construction now forced upon it leaves him +without family, without property, without the implements of husbandry, +and even without the right to acquire or use any instrumentalities of +carrying on the industry of which he may be capable; it leaves him +without friend or support, and even without the clothes to cover his +nakedness. He is a waif upon the current of time; he has nothing that +belongs to him on the face of the earth, except solely his naked +person. And here, in this State, we are called upon to abandon the +poor creature whom we have emancipated. We are coolly told that he has +no right beyond this, and we are told that under this amendment the +power of the State within whose limits he happens to be is not at all +restrained in respect to him, and that the State, through its +Legislature, may at any time declare him to be a vagrant, and as such +commit him to jail, or assign him to uncompensated service." + +Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, made a speech, in which he expressed himself +as in favor of conferring citizenship upon the negro, and yet unable +to vote for this bill from the opinion he entertained on "the question +of power." He referred to the Dred Scott and other decisions, and +showed their bearing upon the legislation now proposed. He said: "I +have been exceedingly anxious individually that there should be some +definition which will rid this class of our people from that +objection. If the Supreme Court decision is a binding one, and will be +followed in the future, this law which we are now about to pass will +be held, of course, to be of no avail, as far as it professes to +define what citizenship is, because it gives the rights of citizenship +to all persons without distinction of color, and, of course, embraces +Africans or descendants of Africans." + +He referred to a precedent when Congress had conferred the rights of +citizenship: "The citizens of Texas, who, of course, were aliens, it +has never been doubted became citizens of the United States by the +annexation of Texas; and that was not done by treaty, it was done by +legislation. If the power was in Congress by legislation to make +citizens of all the inhabitants of the State of Texas, why is it not +in the power of Congress to make citizens by legislation of all who +are inhabitants of the United States, and who are not citizens? That +is what this bill does, or what it proposes to do. There are within +the United States millions of people who are not citizens, according +to the view of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ought they to +be citizens? I think they ought. I think it is an anomaly that says +there shall not be the rights of citizenship to any of the inhabitants +of any State of the United States. + +"While they were slaves, it was a very different question; but now, +when slavery is terminated, and by terminating it you have got rid of +the only obstacle in the way of citizenship, two questions arise: +First, whether that fact itself does not make them citizens? Before +they were not citizens, because of slavery, and only because of +slavery. Slavery abolished, why are they not just as much citizens as +they would have been if slavery had never existed? My opinion is that +they become citizens, and I hold that opinion so strongly that I +should consider it unnecessary to legislate on the subject at all, as +far as that class is concerned, but for the ruling of the Supreme +Court to which I have adverted." + +Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, spoke against the propriety and +constitutionality of making all negroes citizens of the United States. +He said: "There never was a colony before the Declaration of +Independence, and there never was a State after the Declaration of +Independence, up to the time of the adoption of the Constitution, so +far as I have been able to learn by the slight historical examination +which I have given to the subject, that ever made or attempted to make +any other person than a person who belonged to one of the +nationalities of Europe a citizen. I invoke the chairman of the +committee to give me an instance, to point to any history or any +memento, where a negro, although that negro was born in America, was +ever made a citizen of either of the States of the United States +before the adoption of this Constitution. The whole material out of +which citizens were made previous to the adoption of the present +Constitution was from the European nationalities, from the Caucasian +race, if I may use the term. I deny that a single citizen was ever +made by one of the States out of the negro race. I deny that a single +citizen was ever made by one of the States out of the Mongolian race. +I controvert that a single citizen was ever made by one of the States +out of the Chinese race, out of the Hindoos, or out of any other race +of people but the Caucasian race of Europe. + +"I come, then, to this position: that whenever the States, after the +Declaration of Independence and before the present Constitution was +adopted, legislated in relation to citizenship, or acted in their +governments in relation to citizenship, the subject of that +legislation or that action was the Caucasian race of Europe; that none +of the inferior races of any kind were intended to be embraced or were +embraced by this work of Government in manufacturing citizens." + +Mr. Trumbull inquired, "Will the Senator from Kentucky allow me to ask +him if he means to assert that negroes were not citizens of any of +these colonies before the adoption of the Constitution?" + +"I say they were not," said Mr. Davis. + +"Does the Senator wish any authority to show that they were?" asked +Mr. Trumbull. + +"When I get through," said Mr. Davis, "you can answer me." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "I understood the Senator to challenge me to +produce any proof on that point, and I thought he would like to have +it in his speech. I can assert to him that by a solemn decision of the +Supreme Court of North Carolina, they were citizens before the +adoption of the Constitution." + +"If the honorable Senator will allow me," said Mr. Davis, "I will get +along with my remarks." + +"I think you will get along better," replied Mr. Trumbull, "by not +being exposed in your statements." + +"The honorable Senator is full of conceit, but I have seen less +conceit with a great deal more brains," said Mr. Davis, who then +proceeded "to throw up" what he termed "the main buttress for the +defense of the positions" that he took. + +"My main position," said he, "is, that no native-born person of the +United States, of any race or color, can be admitted a citizen of the +United States by Congress under the power conferred in relation to +naturalization by the Constitution upon Congress." + +After reading some authorities, the Senator proceeded to say: "A grave +hallucination in this day is to claim all power; and a minor error is +that every thing which passion, or interest, or party power, or any +selfish claims may represent to the judgment or imagination of +gentlemen who belong to strong parties, to be necessary or useful for +the good and the domination of such parties, is seized upon in +defiance of a fair construction of language, in outrage of the plain +meaning of the Constitution. That is not the rule by which our +Constitution is to be interpreted. It is not the rule by which it is +to be administered. On the contrary, if the able, honorable, and +clear-headed Senator from Illinois would do himself and his country +the justice to place himself in the position of the framers of the +Constitution; if he would look all around on the circumstances and +connections of that day, on the purposes of those men not only in +relation to forming a more perfect Union, but also in relation to +securing the blessings of life, liberty, and property to themselves +and their posterity forever; if the honorable Senator would construe +the Constitution according to the light, the sacred and bright light +which such surrounding circumstances would throw upon his intellect, +it seems to me that he would at once abandon this abominable bill, and +would also ask to withdraw its twin sister from the other House that +both might be smothered here together upon the altar of the +Constitution and of patriotism." + +At the close of Mr. Davis' speech, much debate and conversation ensued +among various Senators upon a proposed amendment by Mr. Lane, of +Kansas, by which Indians "under tribal authority" should be excluded +from the benefits conferred by this bill. After this question was +disposed of, Mr. Davis was drawn out in another speech by what seemed +to him to be the necessity of defending some positions which he had +assumed. He said: + +"I still reiterate the position that the negro is not a citizen here +according to the essential fundamental principles of our system; but +whether he be a citizen or not, he is not a foreigner, and no man, +white or black, or red or mixed, can be made a citizen by +naturalization unless he is a foreigner." + +Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, interposed: "I wish the Senator from +Kentucky would tell us what constitutes a citizen under the +Constitution." + +"A foreigner is not a citizen in the fullest sense of the word at +all," said Mr. Davis. + +"The Senator is now telling us," said Mr. Clark, "who is not a +citizen, but my question is, What constitutes a citizen?" + +"I leave that to the exercise of your own ingenuity," replied Mr. +Davis. + +"That is it," said Mr. Clark. "Washington is dead; Marshall is dead; +Story is dead; I hoped the Senator from Kentucky would have +enlightened us. He says a negro is not a citizen, and a negro is not a +foreigner and can not be made a citizen. He says that a person who +might be and was a citizen before the Constitution, is not a citizen +since the Constitution was adopted. What right was taken away from him +by the Constitution that disqualifies him from being a citizen? The +free negroes in my State, before the Constitution was adopted, were +citizens." + +Mr. Davis, having admitted that free negroes were citizens before the +Constitution in New Hampshire, Mr. Clark said: + +"I desired that the Senator should tell me what, in his opinion, +constituted a citizen under the Constitution." + +Mr. Davis replied: "I will answer the honorable Senator. We sometimes +answer a positive question by declaring what a thing is not. Now, the +honorable Senator asks me what a citizen is. It is easier to answer +what it is not than what it is, and I say that a negro is not a +citizen." + +"Well, that is a lucid definition," said Mr. Clark. + +"Sufficient for the subject," said Mr. Davis. + +"That is begging the question," Mr. Clark replied. "I wanted to find +why a negro was not a citizen, if the gentleman would tell me. If he +would lay down his definition, I wanted to see whether the negro did +not comply with it and conform to it, so as to be a citizen; but he +insists that he is not a citizen." + +"I will answer that question, if the honorable Senator will permit +me," said Mr. Davis. "Government is a political partnership. No +persons but the partners who formed the partnership are parties to the +government. Here is a government formed by the white man alone. The +negro was excluded from the formation of our political partnership; he +had nothing to do with it; he had nothing to do in its formation." + +"Is it a close corporation, so that new partners can not be added?" +asked Mr. Stewart, of Nevada. + +"Yes, sir," said Mr. Davis; "it is a close white corporation. You may +bring all of Europe, but none of Asia and none of Africa into our +partnership." + +"Let us see," said Mr. Clark, "how that may be. Take the gentleman's +own ground that government is a partnership, and those who did not +enter into it and take an active part in it can not be citizens. Is a +woman a citizen under our Constitution?" + +"Not to vote," said Mr. Davis. + +"I did not ask about voting," said Mr. Clark. "The gentleman said +awhile ago that voting did not constitute citizenship. I want to know +if she is a citizen. Can she not sue and be sued, contract, and +exercise the rights of a citizen?" + +"So can a free negro," said Mr. Davis. + +"Then, if a free negro can do all that," said Mr. Clark; "why is he +not a citizen?" + +"Because he is no part of the governing power; that is the reason," +Mr. Davis replied. + +"I deny that," said Mr. Clark, "because in some of the States he is a +part of the governing power. The Senator only begs the question; it +only comes back to this, that a nigger is a nigger." [Laughter.] + +"That is the whole of it," said Mr. Davis. + +[Illustration: Hon. Reverdy Johnson.] + +"That is the whole of the gentleman's logic," said Mr. Clark. + +In answer to the statement insisted on by Mr. Davis, "You can not make +a citizen of any body that is not a foreigner," Mr. Johnson said: + +"That would be an extraordinary condition for the country to be in. +Here are four million negroes. They are not foreigners, because they +were born in the United States. They have no foreign allegiance to +renounce, because they owed no foreign allegiance. Their allegiance, +whatever it was, was an allegiance to the Government of the United +States alone. They can not come, therefore, under the naturalizing +clause; they can not come, of course, under the statutes passed in +pursuance of the power conferred upon Congress by that clause; but +does it follow from that that you can not make them citizens; that the +Congress of the United States, vested with the whole legislative power +belonging to the Government, having within the limits of the United +States four million people anxious to become citizens, and when you +are anxious to make them citizens, have no power to make them +citizens? It seems to me that to state the question is to answer it. + +"The honorable member reads the Constitution as if it said that none +but white men should become citizens of the United States; but it says +no such thing, and never intended, in my judgment, to say any such +thing. If it had designed to exclude from all participation in the +rights of citizenship certain men on account of color, and to have +confined, at all times thereafter, citizenship to the white race, it +is but fair to presume, looking to the character of the men who framed +the Constitution, that they would have put that object beyond all +possible doubt; they would have said that no man should be a citizen +of the United States except a white man, or rather would have +negatived the right of the negro to become a citizen by saying that +Congress might pass uniform rules upon the subject of the +naturalization of white immigrants and nobody else; but that they did +not do. They left it to Congress. Congress, in the exercise of their +discretion, have thought proper to insert the term 'white' in the +naturalization act; but they may strike it out, and if it should be +stricken out, I do not think any lawyer, except my friend from +Kentucky, would deny that a black man could be naturalized, and by +naturalization become a citizen of the United States. + +"But to go back to the point from which the questions of my honorable +friend from Kentucky caused me to digress, we have now within the +United States four million colored people, the descendants of +Africans, whose ancestors were brought into the United States as +chattels. It was because of that condition that they were considered +as not entitled to the rights of citizenship. We have put an end to +that condition. We have said that at all times hereafter men of any +color that nature may think proper to impress upon the human frame, +shall, if within the United States, be free, and not property. Then, +we have four million colored people who are now as free as we are; and +the only question is, whether, being free, they can not be clothed +with the rights of citizenship. The honorable member from Kentucky +says no, because the naturalization clause does not include them. I +have attempted to answer that. He says no, because the act passed in +pursuance of that clause does not include them. I have answered that +by saying that that act in that particular may be changed." + +On the following day, February 1st, the discussion of the bill was +resumed by Mr. Morrill, of Maine. He said of the bill: "It marks an +epoch in the history of this country, and from this time forward the +legislation takes a fresh and a new departure. Sir, to-day is the only +hour since this Government began when it was possible to have enacted +it. Such has been the situation of politics in this country, nay, sir, +such have been the provisions of the fundamental law of this country, +that such legislation hitherto has never been possible. There has been +no time since the foundation of the Government when an American +Congress could by possibility have enacted such a law, or with +propriety have made such a declaration. What is this declaration? All +persons born in this country are citizens. That never was so before. +Although I have said that by the fundamental principles of American +law all persons were entitled to be citizens by birth, we all know +that there was an exceptional condition in the Government of the +country which provided for an exception to this general rule. Here +were four million slaves in this country that were not citizens, not +citizens by the general policy of the country, not citizens on account +of their condition of servitude; up to this hour they could not have +been treated by us as citizens; so long as that provision in the +Constitution which recognized this exceptional condition remained the +fundamental law of the country, such a declaration as this would not +have been legal, could not have been enacted by Congress. I hail it, +therefore, as a declaration which typifies a grand fundamental change +in the politics of the country, and which change justifies the +declaration now. + +"The honorable Senator from Kentucky has vexed himself somewhat, I +think, with the problem of the naturalization of American citizens. As +he reads it, only foreigners can be naturalized, or, in other words, +can become citizens; and upon his assumption, four million men and +women in this country are outside not only of naturalization, not only +of citizenship, but outside of the possibility of citizenship. Sir, he +has forgotten the grand principle both of nature and nations, both of +law and politics, that birth gives citizenship of itself. This is the +fundamental principle running through all modern politics both in this +country and in Europe. Every-where, where the principles of law have +been recognized at all, birth by its inherent energy and force gives +citizenship. Therefore the founders of this Government made no +provision--of course they made none--for the naturalization of +natural-born citizens. The Constitution speaks of 'natural-born,' and +speaks of them as citizens in contradistinction from those who are +alien to us. Therefore, sir, this amendment, although it is a grand +enunciation, although it is a lofty and sublime declaration, has no +force or efficiency as an enactment. I hail it and accept it simply as +a declaration. + +"The honorable Senator from Kentucky, when he criticises the methods +of naturalization, and rules out, for want of power, four million +people, forgets this general process of nations and of nature by which +every man, by his birth, is entitled to citizenship, and that upon the +general principle that he owes allegiance to the country of his birth, +and that country owes him protection. That is the foundation, as I +understand it, of all citizenship, and these are the essential +elements of citizenship: allegiance on the one side, and protection on +the other." + +In reply to statements made by Mr. Davis, Mr. Morrill remarked: "The +Senator from Kentucky denounces as a usurpation this measure, and +particularly this amendment, this declaration. He says it is not +within the principles of the Constitution. That it is extraordinary I +admit. That the measure is not ordinary is most clear. There is no +parallel, I have already said, for it in the history of this country; +there is no parallel for it in the history of any country. No nation, +from the foundation of government, has ever undertaken to make a +legislative declaration so broad. Why? Because no nation hitherto has +ever cherished a liberty so universal. The ancient republics were all +exceptional in their liberty; they all had excepted classes, subjected +classes, which were not the subject of government, and, therefore, +they could not so legislate. That it is extraordinary and without a +parallel in the history of this Government, or of any other, does not +affect the character of the declaration itself. + +"The Senator from Kentucky tells us that the proposition is +revolutionary, and he thinks that is an objection. I freely concede +that it is revolutionary. I admit that this species of legislation is +absolutely revolutionary. But are we not in the midst of revolution? +Is the Senator from Kentucky utterly oblivious to the grand results of +four years of war? Are we not in the midst of a civil and political +revolution which has changed the fundamental principles of our +Government in some respects? Sir, is it no revolution that you have +changed the entire system of servitude in this country? Is it no +revolution that now you can no longer talk of two systems of +civilization in this country? Four short years back, I remember to +have listened to eloquent speeches in this chamber, in which we were +told that there was a grand antagonism in our institutions; that there +were two civilizations; that there was a civilization based on +servitude, and that it was antagonistic to the free institutions of +the country. Where is that? Gone forever. That result is a revolution +grander and sublimer in its consequences than the world has witnessed +hitherto. + +"I accept, then, what the Senator from Kentucky thinks so obnoxious. +We are in the midst of revolution. We have revolutionized this +Constitution of ours to that extent; and every substantial change in +the fundamental constitution of a country is a revolution. Why, sir, +the Constitution even provides for revolutionizing itself. Nay, more, +it contemplates it; contemplates that in the changing phases of life, +civil and political, changes in the fundamental law will become +necessary; and is it needful for me to advert to the facts and events +of the last four or five years to justify the declaration that +revolution here is not only radical and thorough, but the result of +the events of the last four years? Of course, I mean to contend in all +I say that the revolution of which I speak should be peaceful, as on +the part of the Government here it has been peaceful. It grows out, to +be sure, of an assault upon our institutions by those whose purpose it +was to overthrow the Government; but, on the part of the Government, +it has been peaceful, it has been within the forms of the +Constitution; but it is a revolution nevertheless. + +"But the honorable Senator from Kentucky insists that it is a +usurpation. Not so, sir. Although it is a revolution radical, as I +contend, it was not a usurpation. It was not a usurpation, because it +took place within the provisions contemplated in the Constitution. +More than that, it was a change precisely in harmony with the general +principles of the Government. This great change which has been wrought +in our institutions was in harmony with the fundamental principles of +the Government. The change which has been made has destroyed that +which was exceptional in our institutions; and the action of the +Government in regard to it was provoked by the enemies of the +Government. The opportunity was afforded, and the change which has +been wrought was in harmony with the fundamental principles of the +Government." + +The Senator from Maine opposed the theory that this is a Government +exclusively for white men. He remarked: "It is said that this +amendment raises the general question of the antagonism of the races, +which, we are told, is a well-established fact. It is said that no +rational man, no intelligent legislator or statesman, should ever act +without reference to that grand historical fact; and the Senator from +Pennsylvania, [Mr. Cowan,] on a former occasion, asserted that this +Government, that American society, had been established here upon the +principle of the exclusion, as he termed it, of the inferior and the +barbarian races. Mr. President, I deny that proposition as a +historical fact. There is nothing more inaccurate. No proposition +could possibly be made here or anywhere else more inaccurate than to +say that American society, either civil or political, was formed in +the interest of any race or class. Sir, the history of the country +does not bear out the statement of the honorable Senator from +Pennsylvania. Was not America said to be the land of refuge? Has it +not been, since the earliest period, held up as an asylum for the +oppressed of all nations? Hither, allow me to ask, have not all the +peoples of the nations of the earth come for an asylum and for refuge? +All the nations of the earth, and all the varieties of the races of +the nations of the earth, have gathered here. In the early settlements +of the country, the Irish, the French, the Swede, the Turk, the +Italian, the Moor, and so I might enumerate all the races, and all the +variety of races, came here; and it is a fundamental mistake to +suppose that settlement was begun here in the interests of any class, +or condition, or race, or interest. This Western Continent was looked +to as an asylum for the oppressed of all nations and of all races. +Hither all nations and all races have come. Here, sir, upon the grand +plane of republican democratic liberty, they have undertaken to work +out the great problem of man's capacity for self-government without +stint or limit." + +Mr. Davis then made another speech in opposition to the bill. When the +hour for adjournment had arrived, and Mr. Johnson interrupted him with +a proposition that "the bill be passed over for to-day," Mr. Davis +said, "I am wound up, and am obliged to run down." The Senate, +however, adjourned at a late hour, and resumed the hearing of Mr. +Davis on the following day. + +In alluding to Mr. Johnson's strictures on his assertion that Congress +had no power to confer the right of citizenship on "the native born +negro," Mr. Davis said: "The honorable Senator, [Mr. Johnson,] as I +said the other day, is one of the ablest lawyers, and, I believe, the +ablest living lawyer in the land. I have seen gentlemen sometimes so +much the lawyer that they had to abate some of the statesman +[laughter]; and I am not certain, I would not say it was so--I will +not arrogate to myself to say so--but sometimes a suspicion flashes +across my mind that that is precisely the predicament of my honorable +friend. + +"I maintain that a negro can not be made a citizen by Congress; he can +not be made a citizen by any naturalization laws, because the +naturalization laws apply to foreigners alone. No man can shake the +legal truth of that position. They apply to foreigners alone; and a +negro, an Indian, or any other person born within the United States, +not being a foreigner, can not be naturalized; therefore they can not +be made citizens by the uniform rule established by Congress under the +Constitution, and there is no other rule. Congress has no power, as I +said before, to naturalize a citizen. They could not be made citizens +by treaty. If they are made so at all, it is by their birth, and the +locality of their birth, and the general operation and effect of our +Constitution. If they are so made citizens, that question is a +judicial question, not a legislative question. Congress has no power +to enlarge or extend any of the provisions of the Constitution which +bear upon the birth or citizenship of negroes or Indians born in the +United States. + +"If there was any despot in Europe or in the world that wanted a +master architect in framing and putting together a despotic and +oppressive law, I would, if my slight voice could reach him, by all +means say to him, Seek the laboratory of the Senator from Illinois. If +he has not proved himself an adept in this kind of legislation, +unconstitutional, unjust, oppressive, iniquitous, unwise, impolitic, +calculated to keep forever a severance of the Union, to exclude from +all their constitutional rights, privileges, and powers under the +Government eleven States of the Union--if he has not devised such a +measure as that, I have not reason enough to comprehend it." + +Mr. Davis closed his speech by saying: "Was it for these fruits and +these laws that we went into this war? Was it for these fruits and +these laws and these oppressions that two million and a quarter of men +were ordered into the field? Was it that the American people might +enjoy these as the fruits of the triumphant close of this war, that +hundreds of thousands of them have been mutilated on the battle-field +and by the diseases of the camp, and that a debt of four or five +thousand million dollars has been left upon the country? If these are +to be the results of the war, better that not a single man had been +marshaled in the field nor a single star worn by one of our officers. +These military gentlemen think they have a right to command and +control every-where. They do it. They think they have a right to do it +here, and we are sheep in the hands of our shearers. We are dumb." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "I will occupy a few moments of the attention of +the Senate, after this long harangue of the Senator from Kentucky, +which he closed by declaring that we are dumb in the presence of +military power. If he has satisfied the Senate that he is dumb, I +presume he has satisfied the Senate of all the other positions he has +taken; and the others are about as absurd as that declaration. He +denounces this bill as 'outrageous,' 'most monstrous,' 'abominable,' +'oppressive,' 'iniquitous,' 'unconstitutional,' 'void.' + +"Now, what is this bill that is obnoxious to such terrible epithets? +It is a bill providing that all people shall have equal rights. Is not +that abominable? Is not that iniquitous? Is not that monstrous? Is not +that terrible on white men? [Laughter.] When was such legislation as +this ever thought of for white men? + +"Sir, this bill applies to white men as well as black men. It declares +that all men in the United States shall be entitled to the same civil +rights, the right to the fruit of their own labor, the right to make +contracts, the right to buy and sell, and enjoy liberty and happiness; +and that is abominable and iniquitous and unconstitutional! Could any +thing be more monstrous or more abominable than for a member of the +Senate to rise in his place and denounce with such epithets as these a +bill, the only object of which is to secure equal rights to all the +citizens of the country--a bill that protects a white man just as much +as a black man? With what consistency and with what face can a Senator +in his place here say to the Senate and the country, that this is a +bill for the benefit of the black men exclusively, when there is no +such distinction in it, and when the very object of the bill is to +break down all discrimination between black men and white men?" + +Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, said: "My doctrine is that slavery exists no +longer in this country; that it is impossible to exist in the face of +that provision; and with slavery fell the laws of all the States +providing for slavery, every one of them. I do not see what benefit +can arise from repealing them by this bill, because, if they are not +repealed by the Constitution as amended, this bill could not repeal +them. I hope that all the States in which slavery formerly existed +will accept that constitutional provision in good faith. I myself +accept it in good faith. Believing that all the laws authorizing +slavery have fallen, I have advised the people of Kentucky, and I +would advise all the States, to put these Africans upon the same +footing that the whites are in relation to civil rights. They have all +the rights that were formerly accorded to the free colored population +in all the States just as fully this day as they will have after this +bill has passed, and they will continue to have them. + +"Now, to the States belong the government of their own population, and +those within their borders, upon all subjects. We, in Kentucky, +prescribe punishment for those who violate the laws; we prescribe it +for the white population; we prescribe it for the free African +population, and we prescribe it for the slave population. All the laws +prescribing punishment for slaves fell with slavery, and they were +subject afterward only to the penalties which were inflicted upon the +free colored population, they then being free. Slaves, for many +offenses, were punished far less than the free colored people. No +slave was sent to the penitentiary and punished for stealing, or any +thing of that kind, whereas a free person was. But all these States +will now, of course, remodel their laws upon the subject of offenses. +I would advise that there should be but one code for all persons, +black as well as white; that there shall be one general rule for the +punishment of crime in the different States. But, sir, the States must +have time to act on the subject; and yet we are here preparing laws +and penalties, and proposing to carry them into execution by military +authority, before the States have had time to legislate, and even +before some of their Legislatures have had time to convene. + +"Kentucky has had her share of talking here, and, sir, she has had her +share of suffering during the war. At one time she was invaded by +three armies of the rebellion; all but seven or eight counties of the +State, at one time, were occupied by its armies, and her whole +territory devastated by guerrillas. We have suffered in this war. We +have borne it as best we could. We feel it intensely that now, at the +end of the war, we should be subjected to a military despotism, our +houses liable to be entered at any time when our families are at rest, +by military men who can arrest and send to prison without warrant, and +we are obliged to go, and we are obliged to pay any fines they may +impose. I do not believe that you will lose any thing if you pause +before passing such legislation as this, and establishing these +military despotisms, for we do not know where they are to end." + +Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, had proposed to strike out the last clause +of the bill, which provided that "such part of the land and naval +forces of the United States, or of the militia," as should be +necessary, might be employed to prevent the violation, and enforce the +due execution of this act. The Senator from Indiana opposed the bill +on the ground that it employed the machinery of the Fugitive Slave +Law, and that it was to be enforced by the military authority of the +United States. He said: + +"This bill is a wasp; its sting is in its tail. Sir, what is this +bill? It provides, in the first place, that the civil rights of all +men, without regard to color, shall be equal; and, in the second +place, that if any man shall violate that principle by his conduct, he +shall be responsible to the court; that he may be prosecuted +criminally and punished for the crime, or he may be sued in a civil +action and damages recovered by the party wronged. Is not that broad +enough? Do Senators want to go further than this? To recognize the +civil rights of the colored people as equal to the civil rights of the +white people, I understand to be as far as Senators desire to go; in +the language of the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Sumner], to place +all men upon an equality before the law; and that is proposed in +regard to their civil rights." + +In reference to the reënactment of the odious features of the Fugitive +Slave Law in this bill, Mr. Hendricks said: "I recollect how the blood +of the people was made to run cold within them when it was said that +the white man was required to run after the fugitive slave; that the +law of 1850 made you and me, my brother Senators, slave-catchers; that +the _posse comitatus_ could be called to execute a writ of the law, +for the recovery of a runaway slave, under the provisions of the +Constitution of the United States; and the whole country was agitated +because of it. Now slavery is gone; the negro is to be established +upon a platform of civil equality with the white man. That is the +proposition. But we do not stop there; we are to reënact a law that +nearly all of you said was wicked and wrong; and for what purpose? Not +to pursue the negro any longer; not for the purpose of catching him; +not for the purpose of catching the great criminals of the land; but +for the purpose of placing it in the power of any deputy marshal in +any county of the country to call upon you and me, and all the body of +the people, to pursue some white man who is running for his liberty, +because some negro has charged him with denying to him equal civil +rights with the white man. I thought, sir, that that frame-work was +enough; I thought, when you placed under the command of the marshal, +in every county of the land, all the body of the people, and put every +one upon the track of the fleeing white man, that that was enough; but +it is not. For the purpose of the enforcement of this law, the +President is authorized to appoint somebody who is to have the command +of the military and naval forces of the United States--for what +purpose? To prevent a violation of this law, and to execute it. + +"You clothe the marshals under this bill with all the powers that were +given to the marshals under the Fugitive Slave Law. That was regarded +as too arbitrary in its provisions, and you repealed it. You said it +should not stand upon the statute-book any longer; that no man, white +or black, should be pursued under the provisions of that law. Now, you +reënact it, and you claim it as a merit and an ornament to the +legislation of the country; and you add an army of officers and clothe +them with the power to call upon any body and every body to pursue the +running white man. That is not enough, but you must have the military +to be called in, at the pleasure of whom? Such a person as the +President may authorize to call out the military forces. Where it +shall be, and to whom this power shall be given, we do not know." + +Mr. Lane, of Indiana, replied to the argument of his colleague. He +said: "It is true that many of the provisions of this bill, changed in +their purpose and object, are almost identical with the provisions of +the Fugitive Slave Law, and they are denounced by my colleague in +their present application; but I have not heard any denunciation from +my colleague, or from any of those associated with him, of the +provisions of that Fugitive Slave Law which was enacted in the +interest of slavery, and for purposes of oppression, and which was an +unworthy, cowardly, disgraceful concession to Southern opinion by +Northern politicians. I have suffered no suitable opportunity to +escape me to denounce the monstrous character of that Fugitive Slave +Act of 1850. All these provisions were odious and disgraceful in my +opinion, when applied in the interest of slavery, when the object was +to strike down the rights of man. But here the purpose is changed. +These provisions are in the interest of freemen and of freedom, and +what was odious in the one case becomes highly meritorious in the +other. It is an instance of poetic justice and of apt retribution that +God has caused the wrath of man to praise Him. I stand by every +provision of this bill, drawn as it is from that most iniquitous +fountain, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. + +"Then my colleague asks, Why do you invoke the power of the military +to enforce these laws? And he says that constables, and sheriffs, and +marshals, when they have process to serve, have a right to call upon +the _posse comitatus_, the body of the whole people, to enforce their +writs. Here is a justice of the peace in South Carolina or Georgia, or +a county court, or a circuit court, that is called upon to execute +this law. They appoint their own marshal, their deputy marshal, or +their constable, and he calls upon the _posse comitatus_. Neither the +judge, nor the jury, nor the officer, as we believe, is willing to +execute the law. He may call upon the people, the body of the whole +people, a body of rebels steeped in treason and rebellion to their +lips, and they are to execute it; and the gentleman seems wonderfully +astonished that we should call upon the military power. We should not +legislate at all if we believed the State courts could or would +honestly carry out the provisions of the constitutional amendment; but +because we believe they will not do that, we give the Federal officers +jurisdiction. + +"But what harm is to result from it? Who is to be oppressed? What +white man fleeing, in the language of my colleague, pursued by these +harpies of the law, is in danger of having his rights stricken down? +What does the bill provide? It places all men upon an equality, and +unless the white man violates the law, he is in no danger. It takes no +rights from any white man. It simply places others on the same +platform upon which he stands; and if he would invoke the power of +local prejudice to override the laws of the country, this is no +Government unless the military may be called in to enforce the order +of the civil courts and obedience to the laws of the country." + +Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said, in answer to some objections to +the bill urged by Mr. Guthrie: "The Senator tells us that the +emancipated men ought to have their civil rights, that the black codes +fell with slavery; but the Senator forgets that at least six of the +reörganized States in their new Legislatures have passed laws wholly +incompatible with the freedom of these freedmen; and so atrocious are +the provisions of these laws, and so persistently are they carried +into effect by the local authorities, that General Thomas, in +Mississippi, General Swayne, in Alabama, General Sickles, in South +Carolina, and General Terry, in Virginia, have issued positive orders, +forbidding the execution of the black laws that have just been passed. + +"So unjust, so wicked, so incompatible are these new black laws of the +rebel States, made in defiance of the expressed will of the nation, +that Lieutenant-general Grant has been forced to issue that order, +which sets aside the black laws of all these rebellious States against +the freedmen, and allows no law to be enforced against them that is +not enforced equally against white men. This order, issued by General +Grant, will be respected, obeyed, and enforced in the rebel States +with the military power of the nation. Southern legislators and people +must learn, if they are compelled to learn by the bayonets of the Army +of the United States, that the civil rights of the freedmen must be +and shall be respected; that these freedmen are as free as their late +masters; that they shall live under the same laws, be tried for their +violation in the same manner, and if found guilty, punished in the +same manner and degree. + +"This measure is called for, because these reconstructed Legislatures, +in defiance of the rights of the freedmen, and the will of the nation, +embodied in the amendment to the Constitution, have enacted laws +nearly as iniquitous as the old slave codes that darkened the +legislation of other days. The needs of more than four million colored +men imperatively call for its enactment. The Constitution authorizes +and the national will demands it. By a series of legislative acts, by +executive proclamations, by military orders, and by the adoption of +the amendment to the Constitution by the people of the United States, +the gigantic system of human slavery that darkened the land, +controlled the policy, and swayed the destinies of the republic has +forever perished. Step by step we have marched right on from one +victory to another, with the music of broken fetters ringing in our +ears. None of the series of acts in this beneficent legislation of +Congress, none of the proclamations of the Executive, none of these +military orders, protecting rights secured by law, will ever be +revoked or amended by the voice of the American people. There is now + + "'No slave beneath that starry flag, + The emblem of the free.' + +"By the will of the nation freedom and free institutions for all, +chains and fetters for none, are forever incorporated in the +fundamental law of regenerated and united America. Slave codes and +auction blocks, chains and fetters and blood-hounds, are things of the +past, and the chattel stands forth a man, with the rights and the +powers of the freemen. For the better security of these new-born civil +rights we are now about to pass the greatest and the grandest act in +this series of acts that have emancipated a race and disinthralled a +nation. It will pass, it will go upon the statute-book of the republic +by the voice of the American people, and there it will remain. From +the verdict of Congress in favor of this great measure, no appeal will +ever be entertained by the people of the United States." + +Mr. Cowan spoke again, and denounced the section of the bill which +provided for its enforcement by the military. He said: "There it is; +words can not make it plainer; reason can not elucidate it; no +language can strengthen it or weaken it, one way or the other. There +is the question whether a military man, educated in a military school, +accustomed to supreme command, unaccustomed to the administration of +civil law among a free people, is to be intrusted with these appellate +jurisdiction over the courts of the country; whether he can in any +way, whether he ought in any way, to be intrusted with such a power. +I, for my part, will never agree to it; and I should feel myself +recreant to every duty that I owed to myself, to my country, to my +country's history, and I may say to the race which has been for +hundreds and thousands of years endeavoring to attain to something +like constitutional liberty, if I did not resist this and all similar +projects." + +Mr. Trumbull answered some objections to the bill. "The Senator from +Indiana [Mr. Hendricks] objects to the bill because he says that the +same provisions which were enacted in the old Fugitive Slave Law are +incorporated into this, and that it has been heralded to the country +that it was a great achievement to do this; and he insists that if +those provisions of law were odious and wicked and wrong which +provided for punishing men for aiding the slave to escape, therefore +they must be wicked and wrong now when they are employed for the +punishing a man who undertakes to put a person into slavery. Sir, that +does not follow at all. A law may be iniquitous and unjust and wrong +which undertakes to punish another for doing an innocent act, which +would be righteous and just and proper to punish a man for doing a +wicked act. We have upon our statute-books a law punishing a man who +commits murder, because the commission of murder is a high crime, and +the party who does it forfeits his right to live; but would it be just +to apply the law which punishes a person for committing murder to an +innocent person who had killed another accidentally, without malice? +That is the difference. It is the difference between right and wrong, +between good and evil. True, the features of the Fugitive Slave Law +were abominable when they were used for the purpose of punishing, not +negroes, as the Senator from Indiana says, but white men. The Fugitive +Slave Law was enacted for the purpose of punishing white men who aided +to give the natural gift of liberty to those who were enslaved. Now, +sir, we propose to use the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law for +the purpose of punishing those who deny freedom, not those who seek to +aid persons to escape to freedom. The difference was too clearly +pointed out by the colleague of the Senator [Mr. Lane] to justify me +in taking further time in alluding to it. + +"But the Senator objects to this bill because it authorizes the +calling in of the military; and he asserts that it is the only law in +which the military is brought in to enforce it. The Senator from +Pennsylvania [Mr. Cowan] follows this up with a half hour's speech, +denouncing this law as obnoxious to the objection that it is a +military law, that it is taking the trial of persons for offenses out +of the hands of the courts and placing them under the military--a +monstrous proposition, he says. Is that so? What is the law? + +"It is a court bill; it is to be executed through the courts, and in +no other way. But does the Senator mean to say it is a military bill +because the military may be called in, in aid of the execution of the +law through the courts? Does the Senator from Pennsylvania--I should +like his attention, and that of the Senator from Indiana, too--deny +the authority to call in the military in aid of the execution of the +law through the courts? + +"Let me read a clause from the Constitution, which seems to have been +forgotten by the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from +Indiana. The Senator from Pennsylvania, who has denounced this law, +has been living under just such a law for thirty years, and it seems +never found it out. What says the Constitution? 'Congress shall have +power to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of +the Union.' + +"Then, can not the militia prevent persons from violating the law? +They are authorized by the Constitution to be called out for, the +purpose of executing the law, and here we have a law that is to be +carried into execution, and when you find persons combined together to +prevent its execution, you can not do any thing with them! Suppose +that the county authorities in Muscogee County, Georgia, combine +together to deny civil rights to every colored man in that county. +For the purpose of preventing it, before they have done any act, I say +the militia may be called out to prevent them from committing an act. +We are not required to wait until the act is committed before any +thing can be done. That was the doctrine which led to this rebellion, +that we had no authority to do any thing till the conflict of arms +came. I believed then, in 1860, that we had authority; and if it had +been properly exercised, if the men who were threatening rebellion, +who were in this chamber defying the authority of the Government, had +been arrested for treason--of which, in my judgment, by setting on +foot armed expeditions against the country, they were guilty--and if +they had been tried and punished and executed for the crime, I doubt +whether this great rebellion would ever have taken place. + +"There is another statute to which I beg leave to call the attention +of the Senator from Pennsylvania, and under which he has lived for +thirty years without ever having known it; and his rights have been +fully protected. I wish to call attention to a section from which the +tenth section of the bill under consideration, at which the Senator +from Indiana is so horrified, is copied word for word, and letter for +letter. The act of March 10, 1836, 'supplementary to an act entitled +"An act in addition to the act for the punishment of certain crimes +against the United States, and to repeal the acts therein mentioned," +approved 20th of April, 1818,' contains the very section that is in +this bill, word for word. It did not horrify the country; it did not +destroy all the liberties of the people; it did not consolidate all +the powers of the Constitution in the Federal Government; it did not +overthrow the courts, and it has existed now for thirty years!" + +The question was first taken on the amendment offered by Mr. +Hendricks, to strike out the tenth section of the bill. The vote +resulted yeas, twelve; nays, thirty-four. + +At this stage of the proceedings, Mr. Saulsbury moved to amend the +bill by adding in the first section of the bill after the words "civil +rights," the words, "except the right to vote in the States." He +desired that if the Senate did not wish to confer the right of +suffrage by this bill, they should say so. The question being taken on +Mr. Saulsbury's amendment, the vote resulted seven in the affirmative +and thirty-nine in the negative. + +The vote was finally taken on the passage of the bill, which resulted +thirty-three in the affirmative and twelve in the negative. The +following Senators voted in favor of the bill: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Connor, Cragin, + Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Harris, Henderson, Howard, + Howe, Kirkwood, Henry S. Lane, James H. Lane, Morgan, + Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, + Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, + and Yates--33. + +The following voted against the bill, namely: + + Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Guthrie, Hendricks, + McDougall, Nesmith, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and + Van Winkle--12. + +Five Senators were absent, to wit: + + Messrs. Creswell, Doolittle, Grimes, Johnson, and Wright--5. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + + The Bill referred to the Judiciary Committee and reported + back -- Speech by the Chairman of the Committee -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Cook -- Mr. Thayer -- Mr. Eldridge -- Mr. + Thornton -- Mr. Windom -- Mr. Shellabarger -- Mr. Broomall + -- Mr. Raymond -- Mr. Delano -- Mr. Kerr -- Amendment by Mr. + Bingham -- His Speech -- Reply by his Colleague -- + Discussion closed by Mr. Wilson -- Yeas and Nays on the + Passage of the Bill -- Mr. Le Blond's proposed title -- + Amendments of the House accepted by the Senate. + + +On the 5th of February, four days after the passage of the Civil Rights +Bill in the Senate, it came before the House of Representatives, and +having been read a first and second time, was referred to the +Committee on the Judiciary. On the 1st of March, the Chairman of the +Judiciary Committee, Mr. Wilson, brought the bill again before the +House, proposing some verbal amendments which were adopted. He then +made a motion to recommit the bill, pending which, he made a speech on +the merits of the measure. He referred to many definitions, judicial +decisions, opinions, and precedents, under which negroes were entitled +to the rights of American citizenship. In reference to the results of +his researches, he said: + +"Precedents, both judicial and legislative, are found in sharp +conflict concerning them. The line which divides these precedents is +generally found to be the same which separates the early from the +later days of the republic. The further the Government drifted from +the old moorings of equality and human rights, the more numerous +became judicial and legislative utterances in conflict with some of +the leading features of this bill." + +He argued that the section of the bill providing for its enforcement +by the military arm was necessary, in order "to fortify the +declaratory portions of this bill with such sanctions as will render +it effective." In conclusion he said: + +"Can not protection be rendered to the citizen in the mode prescribed +by the measure we now have under consideration? If not, a perpetual +state of constructive war would be a great blessing to very many +American citizens. If a suspension of martial law and a restoration of +the ordinary forms of civil law are to result in a subjection of our +people to the outrages under the operation of State laws and municipal +ordinances which these orders now prevent, then it were better to +continue the present state of affairs forever. But such is not the +case; we may provide by law for the same ample protection through the +civil courts that now depends on the orders of our military +commanders; and I will never consent to any other construction of our +Constitution, for that would be the elevation of the military above +the civil power. + +"Before our Constitution was formed, the great fundamental rights +which I have mentioned belonged to every person who became a member of +our great national family. No one surrendered a jot or tittle of these +rights by consenting to the formation of the Government. The entire +machinery of Government, as organized by the Constitution, was +designed, among other things, to secure a more perfect enjoyment of +these rights. A legislative department was created, that laws +necessary and proper to this end might be enacted; a judicial +department was erected to expound and administer the laws; an +executive department was formed for the purpose of enforcing and +seeing to the execution of these laws; and these several departments +of Government possess the power to enact, administer, and enforce the +laws 'necessary and proper' to secure those rights which existed +anterior to the ordination of the Constitution. Any other view of the +powers of this Government dwarfs it, and renders it a failure in its +most important office. + +"Upon this broad principle I rest my justification of this bill. I +assert that we possess the power to do those things which governments +are organized to do; that we may protect a citizen of the United +States against a violation of his rights by the law of a single State; +that by our laws and our courts we may intervene to maintain the proud +character of American citizenship; that this power permeates our whole +system, is a part of it, without which the States can run riot over +every fundamental right belonging to citizens of the United States; +that the right to exercise this power depends upon no express +delegation, but runs with the rights it is designed to protect; that +we possess the same latitude in respect to the selection of means +through which to exercise this power that belongs to us when a power +rests upon express delegation; and that the decisions which support +the latter maintain the former. And here, sir, I leave the bill to the +consideration of the House." + +Mr. Rogers, of New Jersey, followed with an argument against the bill, +because it interfered with "States' Rights." Under its provisions, +Congress would "enter the domain of a State and interfere with its +internal police, statutes, and domestic regulations." He said: + +"This act of legislation would destroy the foundations of the +Government as they were laid and established by our fathers, who +reserved to the States certain privileges and immunities which ought +sacredly to be preserved to them. + +"If you had attempted to do it in the days of those who were living at +the time the Constitution was made, after the birth of that noble +instrument, the spirit of the heroes of the Revolution and the ghosts +of the departed who laid down their lives in defense of the liberty of +this country and of the rights of the States, would have come forth as +witnesses against the deadly infliction, and the destruction of the +fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the States in violation of +the Constitution, and the breaking down of the ties that bind the +States, and the violation of the rights and liberties of the white men +and white women of America. + +"If you pass this bill, you will allow the negroes of this country to +compete for the high office of President of the United States. Because +if they are citizens at all, they come within the meaning and letter +of the Constitution of the United States, which allows all +natural-born citizens to become candidates for the Presidency, and to +exercise the duties of that office if elected. + +"I am afraid of degrading this Government; I am afraid of danger to +constitutional liberty; I am alarmed at the stupendous strides which +this Congress is trying to initiate; and I appeal in behalf of my +country, in behalf of those that are to come after us, of generations +yet unborn, as well as those now living, that conservative men on the +other side should rally to the standard of sovereign and independent +States, and blot out this idea which is inculcating itself here, that +all the powers of the States must be taken away, and the power of the +Czar of Russia or the Emperor of France must be lodged in the Federal +Government. + +"I ask you to stand by the law of the country, and to regulate these +Federal and State systems upon the grand principles upon which they +were intended to be regulated, that we may hand down to those who are +to come after us this bright jewel of civil liberty unimpaired; and I +say that the Congress or the men who will strip the people of these +rights will be handed down to perdition for allowing this bright and +beautiful heritage of civil liberty embodied in the powers and +sovereign jurisdiction of the States to pass away from us. + +"I am willing to trust brave men--men who have shown as much bravery +as those who were engaged on battle-fields against the armed legions +of the North; because I believe that even when they were fighting +against the flag, of their country, the great mass of those people +were moved by high and conscientious convictions of duty. And in the +spirit of Christianity, in the spirit which Jesus Christ exercised +when he gave up his own life as a propitiation for a fallen world, I +would say to those Southern men, Come here in the Halls of Congress, +and participate with us in passing laws which, if constitutionally +carried into effect, will control the interests and destinies of four +millions people, mostly living within the limits of your States." + +Mr. Cook, of Illinois, replied: "Mr. Speaker, in listening to the very +eloquent remarks of the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Rogers], I have +been astonished to find that in his apprehension this bill is designed +to deprive somebody, in some State of this Union, of some right which +he has heretofore enjoyed. I am only sorry that he was not specific +enough; that he did not inform us what rights are to be taken away. He +has denounced this bill as dangerous to liberty, as calculated in its +tendency at least to destroy the liberties of this country. I have +examined this bill with some care, and, so far as I have been able to +understand it, I have found nothing in any provision of it which tends +in any way to take from any man, white or black, a single right he +enjoys under the Constitution and laws of the United States. + +"I would have been glad if he would have told us in what manner the +white men of this country would have been placed in a worse condition +than they are now, if this becomes the law. This general denunciation +and general assault of the bill, without pointing out one single thing +which is to deprive one single man of any right he enjoys under the +Government, seems to me not entitled to much weight. + +"When those rights which are enumerated in this bill are denied to any +class of men, on account of race or color, when they are subject to a +system of vagrant laws which sells them into slavery or involuntary +servitude, which operates upon them as upon no other part of the +community, they are not secured in the rights of freedom. If a man can +be sold, the man is a slave. If he is nominally freed by the amendment +to the Constitution, he has nothing in the world he can call his own; +he has simply the labor of his hands on which he can depend. Any +combination of men in his neighborhood can prevent him from having any +chance to support himself by his labor. They can pass a law that a man +not supporting himself by labor shall be deemed a vagrant, and that a +vagrant shall be sold. If this is the freedom we gave the men who have +been fighting for us and in defense of the Government, if this is all +we have secured them, the President had far better never have issued +the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the country had far better never +have adopted the great ordinance of freedom. + +"Does any man in this House believe that these people can be safely +left in these States without the aid of Federal legislation or +military power? Does any one believe that their freedom can be +preserved without this aid? If any man does so believe, he is +strangely blind to the history of the past year; strangely blind to +the enactments passed by Legislatures touching these freedmen. And I +shuddered as I heard the honorable gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. +Rogers] claiming that he was speaking and thinking in the spirit which +animated the Savior of mankind when he made atonement for our race; +that it was in that spirit he was acting when he was striving to have +these people left utterly defenseless in the hands of men who were +proving, day by day, month by month, that they desire to oppress them, +for they had been made free against their consent. Every act of +legislation, every expression of opinion on their part, proves that +these people would be again enslaved if they were not protected by the +military arm of the Federal Government; without that they would be +slaves to-day. And I submit, with all deference, that it is any thing +but the spirit which the gentleman claims to have exercised, which +prompted the argument he has made. + +"For myself, I trust that this bill will be passed, because I consider +it the most appropriate means to secure the end desired, and that +these people will be protected. I trust that we will say to them, +Because upon our call you aided us to suppress this rebellion, because +the honor and faith of the nation were pledged for your protection, we +will maintain your freedom, and redeem that pledge." + +On the following day, the House of Representatives resumed the +consideration of this bill. A speech was made by Mr. Thayer, of +Pennsylvania. He said: + +"This bill is the just sequel to, and the proper completion of, that +great measure of national redress which opened the dungeon-doors of +four million human beings. Without this, in my judgment, that great +act of justice will be paralyzed and made useless. With this, it will +have practical effect, life, vigor, and enforcement. It has been the +fashion of gentlemen, holding a certain set of opinions, in this House +to characterize that great measure to which I have referred as a +revolutionary measure. + +"Sir, it was a revolutionary measure. It was one of the greatest, one +of the most humane, one of the most beneficial revolutions which ever +characterized the history of a free State; but it was a revolution +which, though initiated by the conflict of arms and rendered necessary +as a measure of war against the public enemy, was accomplished within +and under the provisions of the Constitution of the United States. It +was a revolution for the relief of human nature, a revolution which +gave life, liberty, and hope to millions whose condition, until then, +appeared to be one of hopeless despair. It was a revolution of which +no freeman need be ashamed, of which every man who assisted in it +will, I am sure, in the future be proud, and which will illumine with +a great glory the history of this country. + +"There is nothing in this bill in respect to the employment of +military force that is not already in the Constitution of the United +States. The power here conferred is expressly given by that +instrument, and has been exercised upon the most stupendous scale in +the suppression of the rebellion. What is this bill? I hope gentlemen, +even on the opposite side of the House, will not suffer their minds to +be influenced by any such vague, loose, and groundless denunciations +as these which have proceeded from the gentleman from New Jersey. The +bill, after extending these fundamental immunities of citizenship to +all classes of people in the United States, simply provides means for +the enforcement of these rights and immunities. How? Not by military +force, not through the instrumentality of military commanders, not +through any military machinery whatever, but through the quiet, +dignified, firm, and constitutional forms of judicial procedure. The +bill seeks to enforce these rights in the same manner and with the +same sanctions under and by which other laws of the United States are +enforced. It imposes duties upon the judicial tribunals of the country +which require the enforcement of these rights. It provides for the +administration of laws to protect these rights. It provides for the +execution of laws to enforce them. Is there any thing appalling in +that? Is that a military despotism? Sir, it is a strange abuse of +language to say that a military despotism is established by wholesome +and equal laws. Yet the gentleman declaimed by the hour, in vague and +idle terms, against this bill, which has not a single offensive, +oppressive, unjust, unusual, or tyrannical feature in it. These civil +rights and immunities which are to be secured, and which no man can +conscientiously say ought to be denied, are to be enforced through the +ordinary instrumentalities of courts of justice. + +"While engaged in this great work of restoration, it concerns our +honor that we forget not those who are unable to help themselves; who, +whatever may have been the misery and wretchedness of their former +condition, were on our side in the great struggle which has closed, +and whose rights we can not disregard or neglect without violating the +most sacred obligations of duty and of honor. To us they look for +protection against the wrongs with which they are threatened. To us +alone can they appeal in their helplessness for succor and defense. To +us they hold out to-day their supplicating hands, asking for +protection for themselves and their posterity. We can not disregard +this appeal, and stand acquitted before the country and the world of +basely abandoning to a miserable fate those who have a right to demand +the protection of your flag and the immunities guaranteed to every +freeman by your Constitution." + +Mr. Eldridge, of Wisconsin, opposed the bill, in a speech of which the +following are the concluding remarks: + +"I had hoped that this subject would be allowed to rest. Gentlemen +refer us to individual cases of wrong perpetrated upon the freedmen of +the South as an argument why we should extend the Federal authority +into the different States to control the action of the citizens +thereof. But, I ask, has not the South submitted to the altered state +of things there, to the late amendment of the Constitution, to the +loss of their slave property, with a cheerfulness and grace that we +did not expect? Have they not acquiesced more willingly than we dared +to hope? Then why not trust them? Why not meet them with frankness and +kindness? Why not encourage them with trust and confidence? + +"I deprecate all these measures because of the implication they carry +upon their face, that the people who have heretofore owned slaves +intend to do them wrong. I do not believe it. So far as my knowledge +goes, and so far as my information extends, I believe that the people +who have held the freedmen slaves will treat them with more kindness, +with more leniency, than those of the North who make such loud +professions of love and affection for them, and are so anxious to pass +these bills. They know their nature; they know their wants; they know +their habits; they have been brought up together, and have none of the +prejudices and unkind feelings which many in the North would have, +toward them. + +"I do not credit all these stories about the general feeling of +hostility in the South toward the negro. So far as I have heard +opinions expressed upon that subject, and I have conversed with many +persons from that section of the country, they do not blame the negro +for any thing that has happened. As a general thing, he was faithful +to them and their interests until the army reached the place and took +him from them. He has supported their wives and children in the +absence of the husbands and fathers in the armies of the South. He has +done for them what no one else could have done. They recognize his +general good feeling toward them, and are inclined to reciprocate that +feeling toward him. + +"I believe that is the general feeling of the Southern people to-day. +The cases of ill-treatment are exceptional cases. They are like the +cases which have occurred in the Northern States where the unfortunate +have been thrown upon our charity. Take for instance the stories of +the cruel treatment of the insane in the State of Massachusetts. They +may have been barbarously confined in the loathsome dens, as stated in +particular instances, but is that any evidence of the general ill-will +of the people of the State of Massachusetts toward the insane? Is that +any reason why the Federal arm should be extended to Massachusetts to +control and protect the insane there? + +"It has also been said that certain paupers in certain States have +been badly used--paupers, too, who were whites. Is that any reason why +we should extend the arm of the Federal Government to those States to +protect the poor who are thrown upon the charities of the people +there? + +"Sir, we must yield to the altered state of things in this country. We +must trust the people; it is our duty to do so; we can not do +otherwise. And the sooner we place ourselves in a position where we +can win the confidence of our late enemies, where our counsels will be +heeded, where our advice may be regarded, the sooner will the people +of the whole country be fully reconciled to each other and their +changed relationship; the sooner will all the inhabitants of our +country be in the possession of all the rights and immunities +essential to their prosperity and happiness." + +Mr. Thornton, of Illinois, feared there was "something hidden, +something more than appears in the language" of the bill. He feared "a +design to confer the right of suffrage upon the negro," and urged that +a proviso should be accepted "restricting the meaning of the words +'civil rights and immunities.'" He remarked further: "The most serious +objection that I have to this bill is, that it is an interference with +the rights of the South. It was remarked by my friend from Wisconsin +that it has often been intimated on this floor, and throughout the +country, that whenever a man talks about either the Constitution or +the rights of the States, he is either a traitor or a sympathizer with +treason. I do not assume that the States are sovereign. They are +subordinate to the Federal Government. Sovereignty in this country is +in the people, but the States have certain rights, and those rights +are absolutely necessary to the maintenance of our system of +government. What are those rights? The right to determine and fix the +legal _status_ of the inhabitants of the respective States; the local +powers of self-government; the power to regulate all the relations +that exist between husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and +ward; all the fireside and home rights, which are nearer and dearer to +us than all others. + +"Sir, this is but a stepping-stone to a centralization of the +Government and the overthrow of the local powers of the States. +Whenever that is consummated, then farewell to the beauty, strength, +and power of this Government. There is nothing left but absolute, +despotic, central power. It lives no longer but as a naked despotism. +There is nothing left to admire and to cherish." + +Mr. Windom, of Minnesota, next obtained the floor. Referring to the +speech of Mr. Rogers, he said: "I wish to make another extract from +the speech of the gentleman from New Jersey. He said, 'If you pass +this bill, you will allow negroes to compete for the high office of +the President of the United States.' You will actually allow them to +compete for the Presidency of the United States! As for this fear +which haunts the gentleman from New Jersey, if there is a negro in the +country who is so far above all the white men of the country that only +four millions of his own race can elect him President of the United +States over twenty-six millions of white people, I think we ought to +encourage such talent in the country. + +"Sir, the gentleman has far less confidence in the white race than I +have, if he is so timid in regard to negro competition. Does he really +suppose that black men are so far superior to white men that four +millions of them can elect a President of their own race against the +wishes of thirty millions of ours? Ever since I knew any thing of the +party to which the gentleman belongs, it has entertained this same +morbid fear of negro competition; and sometimes I have thought that if +we were to contemplate the subject from their stand-point we would +have more charity than we do for this timidity and nervous dread which +haunts them. I beg leave, however, to assure the gentleman that there +is not the slightest danger of electing a black President, and that he +need never vote for one, unless he thinks him better fitted for the +office than a white man." + +With more direct reference to the merits of the question, Mr. Windom +said: "Our warrant for the passage of this bill is found in the genius +and spirit of our institutions; but not in these alone. Fortunately, +the great amendment which broke the shackles from every slave in the +land contains an express provision that 'Congress shall have power to +enforce this article by appropriate legislation.' + +"When this amendment was acted upon, it was well understood, as it is +now, that although the body of slavery might be destroyed, its spirit +would still live in the hearts of those who have sacrificed so much +for its preservation, and that if the freedmen were left to the tender +mercy of their former masters, to whose heartless selfishness has been +superadded a malignant desire for vengeance upon the negro for having +aided us in crushing the rebellion, his condition would be more +intolerable than it was before the war. And hence the broad grant of +power was made to enable Congress to enforce the spirit as well as the +letter of the amendment. Now, sir, in what way is it proposed to +enforce it? By denying to any one man a single right or privilege +which he could otherwise constitutionally or properly enjoy? No. By +conferring on any one person or class of persons a single right or +immunity which every other person may not possess? By no means. Does +it give to the loyal negro any preference over the recent would-be +assassins of the nation? Not at all. It merely declares that hereafter +there shall be no discrimination in civil rights or immunities among +the citizens of any State or territory of the United States on account +of race, color, or previous condition of slavery, and that every +person, except such as are excluded by reason of crime, shall have the +same right to enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give +evidence, to inherit, purchase, sell, hold, and convey real and +personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and +proceedings for the security of person and property, and shall be +subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other. + +"We know, and the whole world knows, that when in the hour of our +extremity we called upon the black race to did us, we promised them +not liberty only, but all that that word liberty implies. All remember +how unwilling we were to do any thing which would inure to the benefit +of the negro. I recall with shame the fact that when, five years ago, +the so-called Democracy--now Egyptians--were here in this capital, in +the White House, in the Senate, and on this floor, plotting the +destruction of the Government, and we were asked to appease them by +sacrificing the negro, two-thirds of both houses voted to rivet his +chains upon him so long as the republic should endure. A widening +chasm yawned between the free and slave States, and we looked wildly +around for that wherewith it might be closed. In our extremity we +seized upon the negro, bound and helpless, and tried to cast him in. +But an overruling Providence heard the cries of the oppressed, and +hurled his oppressors into that chasm by hundreds of thousands, until +the whole land was filled with mourning, yet still the chasm yawned. +In our anguish and terror, we felt that the whole nation would be +speedily ingulfed in one common ruin. It was then that the great +emancipator and savior of his country, Abraham Lincoln, saw the danger +and the remedy, and seizing four million bloody shackles, he wrenched +them from their victims, and standing with these broken manacles in +his hands upraised toward heaven, he invoked the blessing of the God +of the oppressed, and cast them into the fiery chasm. That offering +was accepted, and the chasm closed. + +"When the reports from Port Hudson and Fort Wagner thrilled all loyal +hearts by the recital of the heroic deeds of the black soldier, we +were not reminded that if the negro were permitted to enjoy the same +rights under the Government his valor helped to save that are +possessed by the perjured traitors who sought its destruction, it +would 'lead to a war of races.' O no! Then we were in peril, and felt +grateful even to the negro, who stood between us and our enemies. Then +our only hope of safety was in the brave hearts and strong arms of the +soldier at the front. Now, since by the combined efforts of our brave +soldiers, white and black, the military power of the South has been +overthrown, and her Representatives are as eager to resume their +places on this floor as five years ago they were to quit them for a +place in the rebel army, we are told that, having been victorious, it +becomes a great nation like ours to be magnanimous. I answer, it is +far more becoming to be just. I am willing to carry my magnanimity to +the verge of justice, but not one step beyond. I will go with him who +goes furthest in acts of generosity toward our former enemies, unless +those acts will be prejudicial to our friends. But when you advise me +to sacrifice those who have stood by us during the war, in order to +conciliate unrepentant rebels, whose hearts still burn with +ill-suppressed hatred to the Government, I scorn your counsel." + +Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio, said: "I agree with the gentleman on the +other side of the House, that this bill can not be passed under that +clause of the Constitution which provides that Congress may pass +uniform rules of naturalization. Under that clause it is my opinion +that the act of naturalization must not only be the act of the +Government, but also the act of the individual alien, by which he +renounces his former allegiance and accepts the new one. And that +proposition and distinction will be found, I think, in all judicious +arguments upon the subject. + +"There is another class of persons well recognized, not only in our +constitutional history, but also by the laws of nations, who are not +foreigners, who occupy an intermediate position, and that intermediate +position is defined by the laws of nations by the word 'subjects.' +Subjects are all persons who, being born in a given country, and under +a given government, do not owe an allegiance to any other government. + +"To that class in this country, according to the decisions of our +courts hitherto, belong American Indians and slaves, and, according to +the Dred Scott decision, persons of African descent whose ancestors +were slaves. All these were subjects by every principle of +international as well as of settled constitutional law in this +country. + +"Now, then, to that class belong the persons who are naturalized by +this bill. If they were not, indeed, citizens hitherto, they were at +least subjects of this Government, by reason of their birth, and by +reason of the fact that they owed no foreign allegiance. + +"That brings me to the next remark, and it is this: that these +subjects, not owing any foreign allegiance, no individual act of +theirs is required in order to their naturalization, because they owe +no foreign allegiance to be renounced by their individual acts, and +because, moreover, being domiciled in our own country, and continuing +here to reside, it is the individual election of each member of the +tribe, or race, or class, to accept our nationality; therefore, no +additional individual act is required in order to his citizenship. + +"That being proved, it is competent for the nationality, or for the +government, wherever that subject may reside, to naturalize that class +of persons by treaty or by general law, as is proposed by the +amendment of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Raymond]. It is the act +of the sovereign alone that is requisite to the naturalization of that +class of persons, and it may be done either by a single act +naturalizing entire races of men, or by adopting the heads of families +out of those races, or it may be done to any extent, greater or less, +that may please the sovereign. For this proposition, I refer gentlemen +who desire to examine this subject to the authorities that may be +found collected in any judicious work on public law, and they will +find them very fully collected, certainly, in the notes to Wheaton. + +"Now, then, what power may do that act of naturalization, and how may +it be exercised? That is also answered by these same authorities. It +may be done in this country either by an act of Congress, or it may be +done by treaty. It has been done again and again and again in both +ways in this country. It was done once in the case of the Choctaw +Indians, as you will find in the Statutes-at-Large, where, in case the +heads of families desired to remain and not to remove to the West, it +was provided by the treaty of September 27, 1830, that those families +should be naturalized as a class. + +"Then, again, it was done in the other way, by an act of Congress, in +the case cited by my learned friend from Iowa [Mr. Wilson], in the +case of the Stockbridge Indians. + +"It was done again, as you may remember, in the case of the Cherokees, +in December, 1835. There again a class was naturalized by treaty." + +Some amendments having been proposed, the bill was recommitted to the +Committee on the Judiciary, with the understanding that it should be +returned for consideration on Thursday of the following week. + +Accordingly, on that day, March 8, the consideration of the bill being +resumed, Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania, addressed the House, He viewed +the bill as beneficent in its provisions, since it made no +discriminations against the Southern rebels, but granted them, as well +as the negro, the rights of citizenship. + +"A question might naturally arise whether we ought again to trust +those who have once betrayed us; whether we ought to give them the +benefits of a compact they have once repudiated. Yet the spirit of +forgiveness is so inherent in the American bosom, that no party in the +country proposes to withhold from these people the advantages of +citizenship; and this is saying much. With a debt that may require +centuries to pay; with so many living and mutilated witnesses of the +horrors of war; with so many saddened homes, so many of the widowed +and fatherless pleading for justice, for retribution, if not revenge, +it speaks well for the cause of Christian civilization in America that +no party in the country proposes to deprive the authors of such +immeasurable calamity of the advantages of citizenship. + +"But the election must be made. Some public legislative act is +necessary to show the world that those who have forfeited all claims +upon the Government are not to be held to the strict rigor of the law +of their own invoking, the decision of the tribunal of their own +choosing; that they are to be welcomed back as the prodigal son, +whenever they are ready to return as the prodigal son. + +"The act under consideration makes that election. Its terms embrace +the late rebels, and it gives them the rights, privileges, and +immunities of citizens of the United States, though it does not +propose to exempt them from punishment for their past crimes. + +"I might consent that the glorious deeds of the last five years should +be blotted from the country's history; that the trophies won on a +hundred battle-fields, the sublime visible evidences of the heroic +devotion of America's citizen soldiery, should be burned on the altar +of reconstruction. I might consent that the cemetery at Gettysburg +should be razed to the ground; that its soil should be submitted to +the plow, and that the lamentation of the bereaved should give place +to the lowing of cattle. But there is a point beyond which I will +neither be forced nor persuaded. I will never consent that the +Government shall desert its allies in the South, and surrender their +rights and interests to the enemy, and in this I will make no +distinction of caste or color, either among friends or foes." + +Mr. Raymond, of New York, was impressed with the importance of the +measure. "Whether we consider it by itself, simply as a proposed +statute, or in its bearings upon the general question of the +restoration of peace and harmony to the Union, I regard it as one of +the most important bills ever presented to this House for its action, +worthy, in every respect, to enlist the coolest and the calmest +judgment of every member whose vote must be recorded upon it." + +He was in favor of the first part of the bill, which declares "who +shall be citizens of the United States, and declares that all shall be +citizens without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of +servitude, who are, have been, or shall be born within the limits and +jurisdiction of the United States. + +"Now, sir, assuming, as I do, without any further argument, that +Congress has the power of admitting to citizenship this great class of +persons just set free by the amendment to the Constitution of the +United States abolishing slavery, I suppose I need not dwell here on +the great importance to that class of persons of having this boon +conferred upon them. + +"We have already conferred upon them the great, inestimable, priceless +boon of personal liberty. I can not for one moment yield to what seems +to be a general disposition to disparage the freedom we have given +them. I think the fact that we have conferred upon four million people +that personal liberty and freedom from servitude from this time +forward for evermore, is one of the highest and most beneficent acts +ever performed by any Government toward so large a class of its +people. + +"Having gone thus far, I desire to go on by successive steps still +further, and to elevate them in all respects, so far as their +faculties will allow and our power will permit us to do, to an +equality with the other persons and races in this country. I desire, +as the next step in the process of elevating that race, to give them +the rights of citizenship, or to declare by solemn statute that they +are citizens of the United States, and thus secure to them whatever +rights, immunities, privileges, and powers belong as of right to all +citizens of the United States. I hope no one will be prepared or +inclined to say this is a trifling boon. If we do so estimate this +great privilege, I fear we are scarcely in the frame of mind to act +upon the great questions coming before us from day to day here. I, for +one, am not prepared or inclined to disparage American citizenship as +a personal qualification belonging to myself, or as conferred upon any +of our fellow-citizens." + +Mr. Raymond expressed doubts as to the constitutionality of that part +of the bill "that provides for that class of persons thus made +citizens protection against anticipated inequality of legislation in +the several States." + +In this direction he was desirous of avoiding a veto. He said: +"Moreover, on grounds of expediency, upon which I will not dwell, I +desire myself, and I should feel much relieved if I thought the House +fully and heartily shared my anxiety, not to pass here any bill which +shall be intercepted on its way to the statute-book by well-grounded +complaints of unconstitutionality on the part of any other department +of the Government." + +Mr. Delano, of Ohio, followed, expressing doubts as to the +constitutionality of the measure. He considered it a serious +infringement of the rights of the States. He said: "Now, sir, should +this bill be passed, that law of the State might be overthrown by the +power of Congress. In my opinion, if we adopt the principle of this +bill, we declare, in effect, that Congress has authority to go into +the States and manage and legislate with regard to all the personal +rights of the citizen--rights of life, liberty, and property. You +render this Government no longer a Government of limited powers; you +concentrate and consolidate here an extent of authority which will +swallow up all or nearly all of the rights of the States with respect +to the property, the liberties, and the lives of its citizens." + +He added, near the close of his address: "I am not to be understood as +denying the power of this Government, especially that great war power +which, when evoked, has no limit except as it is limited by necessity +and the laws of civilized warfare. But, sir, in time of peace I would +not and I can not stand here and attempt the exercise of powers by +this General Government, which, if carried out with all the logical +consequences that follow their assumption, will, in my opinion, +endanger the liberties of the country." + +Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, maintained the theory that the States should +settle questions of citizenship as relating to those within their +borders; that "the privileges and immunities of citizenship in the +States are required to be attained, if at all, _according to the laws +or Constitutions of the States_, and never in _defiance_ of them." To +sustain this theory, he read from a number of authorities, and finally +remarked: + +"This bill rests upon a theory utterly inconsistent with, and in +direct hostility to, every one of these authorities. It asserts the +right of Congress to regulate the laws which shall govern in the +acquisition and ownership of property in the States, and to determine +who may go there and purchase and hold property, and to protect such +persons in the enjoyment of it. The right of the State to regulate its +own internal and domestic affairs, to select its own local policy, and +make and administer its own laws, for the protection and welfare of +its own citizens, is denied. If Congress can declare what rights and +privileges shall be enjoyed in the States by the people of one class, +it can, by the same kind of reasoning, determine what shall be enjoyed +by every class. If it can say who may go into and settle in and +acquire property in a State, it can also say who shall not. If it can +determine who may testify and sue in the courts of a State, it may +equally determine who shall not. If it can order the transfer of suits +from the State to the Federal courts, where citizens of the same State +alone are parties, in such cases as may arise under this bill, it can, +by parity of logic, dispense with State courts entirely. Congress, in +short, may erect a great centralized, consolidated despotism in this +capital. And such is the rapid tendency of such legislation as this +bill proposes." + +On the succeeding day, March 9th, Mr. Wilson having demanded the +previous question, on the motion to recommit, was entitled to the +floor, but yielded portions of his time to Mr. Bingham and Mr. +Shellabarger. + +The former had moved to amend the motion to recommit, by adding +instructions "to strike out of the first section the words, 'and there +shall be no discrimination in civil rights or immunities among +citizens of the United States, in any State or Territory of the United +States, on account of race, color, or previous condition of slavery,' +and insert in the thirteenth line of the first section, after the word +'right,' the words, 'in every State and Territory of the United +States.' Also, to strike out all parts of said bill which are penal, +and which authorize criminal proceedings, and in lieu thereof to give +to all citizens injured by denial or violation of any of the other +rights secured or protected by said act, an action in the United +States courts with double costs in all cases of recovery, without +regard to the amount of damages; and also to secure to such persons +the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_." + +Mr. Bingham said: "And, first, I beg gentlemen to consider that I do +not oppose any legislation which is authorized by the Constitution of +my country to enforce in its letter and its spirit the bill of rights +as embodied in that Constitution. I know that the enforcement of the +bill of rights is the want of the republic. I know if it had been +enforced in good faith in every State of the Union, the calamities, +and conflicts, and crimes, and sacrifices of the past five years would +have been impossible. + +"But I feel that I am justified in saying, in view of the text of the +Constitution of my country, in view of all its past interpretations, +in view of the manifest and declared intent of the men who framed it, +the enforcement of the Bill of Rights, touching the life, liberty, and +property of every citizen of the republic, within every organized +State of the Union, is of the reserved powers of the States, to be +enforced by State tribunals and by State officials, acting under the +solemn obligations of an oath imposed upon them by the Constitution of +the United States. Who can doubt this conclusion who considers the +words of the Constitution, 'the powers not delegated to the United +States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are +reserved to the States respectively, or to the people?' The +Constitution does not delegate to the United States the power to +punish offenses against the life, liberty, or property of the citizen +in the States, nor does it prohibit that power to the States, but +leaves it as the reserved power of the States, to be by them +exercised. The prohibitions of power by the Constitution to the States +are express prohibitions, as that no State shall enter into any +treaty, etc., or emit bills of credit, or pass any bill of attainder, +etc. The Constitution does not prohibit States from the enactment of +laws for the general government of the people within their respective +limits. + +"The law in every State should be just; it should be no respecter of +persons. It is otherwise now, and it has been otherwise for many years +in many of the States of the Union. I should remedy that, not by +arbitrary assumption of power, but by amending the Constitution of the +United States, expressly prohibiting the States from any such abuse of +power in the future. You propose to make it a penal offense for the +judges of the States to obey the Constitution and laws of their +States, and for their obedience thereto to punish them by fine and +imprisonment as felons. I deny your power to do this. You can not make +an official act, done under color of law, and without criminal intent, +and from a sense of public duty, a crime." + +[Illustration: James F. Wilson.] + +Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio said: "I do not understand that there is now +any serious doubt anywhere as to our power to admit by law to the +rights of American citizenship entire classes or races who were born +and continue to reside in our territory or in territory we acquire. I +stated, the other day, some of the cases in which we naturalized +races, tribes, and communities in mass, and by single exercises of +national sovereignty. This we did by the treaty of April 30, 1800, by +which we acquired Louisiana; also in the treaty of 1819, by which we +acquired Florida; also in the treaty of 1848, by which we acquired +part of Mexico; also by the resolution of March 1, 1845, annexing +Texas, and the act of December 29, same year, admitting Texas into the +Union, we made all the people not slaves citizens; also by the treaty +of September 27, 1830, we admitted to citizens certain heads of +families of Choctaws; also by the treaty of December 29, 1855, we did +the same as to the Cherokees; also by the act of March 3, 1843, we +admitted to full citizenship the Stockbridge tribe of Indians." +Referring to the first section which his colleague had proposed to +amend, he said: "Self-evidently this is the whole effect of this first +section. It secures, not to all citizens, but to all races as races +who are citizens, equality of protection in those enumerated civil +rights which the States may deem proper to confer upon any races. Now, +sir, can this Government do this? Can it prevent one race of free +citizens from being by State laws deprived as a race of all the civil +rights for the securement of which his Government was created, and +which are the only considerations the Government renders to him for +the Federal allegiance which he renders? It does seem to me that that +Government which has the exclusive right to confer citizenship, and +which is entitled to demand service and allegiance, which is supreme +over that due to any State, may--nay, must--protect those citizens in +those rights which are fairly conducive and appropriate and necessary +to the attainment of his 'protection' as a citizen. And I think those +rights to contract, sue, testify, inherit, etc., which this bill says +the races shall hold as races in equality, are of that class which are +fairly conducive and necessary as means to the constitutional end; +to-wit, the protection of the rights of person and property of a +citizen. It has been found impossible to settle or define what are all +the indispensable rights of American citizenship. But it is perfectly +well settled what are some of these, and without which there is no +citizenship, either in this or any other Government. Two of these are +the right of petition and the right of protection in such property as +it is lawful for that particular citizen to own." + +The debate was closed by Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Judiciary +Committee. He said: "This bill, sir, has met with opposition in both +houses on the same ground that, in times gone by, before this land was +drenched in blood by the slaveholders' rebellion, was urged by those +who controlled the destinies of the southern portion of the country, +and those who adhered to their fortunes in the North, for the purpose +of riveting the chains of slavery and converting this republic into a +great slave nation. The arguments which have been urged against this +bill in both houses are but counterparts of the arguments used in +opposition to the authority the Government sought to exercise in +controlling and preventing the spread of slavery. + +"Citizens of the United States, as such, are entitled to certain +rights, and, being entitled to those rights, it is the duty of the +Government to protect citizens in the perfect enjoyment of them. The +citizen is entitled to life, liberty, and the right to property. The +gentleman from Ohio tells us, in the protection of these rights, the +citizen must depend upon the 'honest purpose of the several States,' +and that the General Government can not interpose its strong right arm +to defend the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and in +possession of property. In other words, if the States of this Union, +in their 'honest purpose,' like the honesty of purpose manifested by +the Southern States in times past, should deprive the citizen, without +due process of law, of life, liberty, and property, the General +Government, which can draw the citizen by the strong bond of +allegiance to the battle-field, has no power to intervene and set +aside a State law, and give the citizen protection under the laws of +Congress in the courts of the United States; that at the mercy of the +States lie all the rights of the citizens of the United States; that +while it was deemed necessary to constitute a great Government to +render secure the rights of the people, the framers of the Government +turned over to the States the power to deprive the citizen of those +things for the security of which the Government was framed. In other +words, the little State of Delaware has a hand stronger than the +United States; that revolted South Carolina may put under lock and key +the great fundamental rights belonging to the citizen, and we must be +dumb; that our legislative power can not be exercised; that our courts +must be closed to the appeal of our citizens. That is the doctrine +this House of Representatives, representing a great free people, just +emerged from a terrible war for the maintenance of American liberty, +is asked to adopt. + +"The gentleman from Ohio tells the House that civil rights involve all +the rights that citizens have under the Government; that in the term +are embraced those rights which belong to the citizen of the United +States as such, and those which belong to a citizen of a State as +such; and that this bill is not intended merely to enforce equality of +rights, so far as they relate to citizens of the United States, but +invades the States to enforce equality of rights in respect to those +things which properly and rightfully depend on State regulations and +laws. My friend is too sound a lawyer, is too well versed in the +Constitution of his country, to indorse that proposition on calm and +deliberate consideration. He knows, as every man knows, that this bill +refers to those rights which belong to men as citizens of the United +States and none other; and when he talks of setting aside the school +laws, and jury laws, and franchise laws of the States, by the bill now +under consideration, he steps beyond what he must know to be the rule +of construction which must apply here, and, as the result of which +this bill can only relate to matters within the control of Congress." + +Comparing Mr. Bingham's proposed amendment with the original bill, Mr. +Wilson said: "What difference in principle is there between saying +that the citizen shall be protected by the legislative power of the +United States in his rights by civil remedy and declaring that he +shall be protected by penal enactments against those who interfere +with his rights? There is no difference in the principle involved. If +we may adopt the gentleman's mode, we may also select the mode +provided in this bill. There is a difference in regard to the expense +of protection; there is also a difference as to the effectiveness of +the two modes. Beyond this, nothing. This bill proposes that the +humblest citizen shall have full and ample protection at the cost of +the Government, whose duty it is to protect him. The amendment of the +gentleman recognizes the principle involved, but it says that the +citizen despoiled of his rights, instead of being properly protected +by the Government, must press his own way through the courts and pay +the bills attendant thereon. This may do for the rich, but to the +poor, who need protection, it is mockery. The highest obligation which +the Government owes to the citizen, in return for the allegiance +exacted of him, is to secure him in the protection of his rights. +Under the amendment of the gentleman, the citizen can only receive +that protection in the form of a few dollars in the way of damages, if +he shall be so fortunate as to recover a verdict against a solvent +wrong-doer. This is called protection. This is what we are asked to do +in the way of enforcing the bill of rights. Dollars are weighed +against the right of life, liberty, and property. The verdict of a +jury is to cover all wrongs and discharge the obligations of the +Government to its citizens. + +"Sir, I can not see the justice of that doctrine. I assert that it is +the duty of the Government of the United States to provide proper +protection and to pay the costs attendant on it. We have gone out with +the strong arm of the Government and drawn from their homes, all over +this land, in obedience to the bond of allegiance which the Government +holds on the citizen, hundreds of thousands of men to the +battle-field; and yet, while we may exercise this extraordinary power, +the gentleman claims that we can not extend the protecting hand of the +Government to these men who have been battling for the life of the +nation, but can only send them, at their own cost, to juries for +verdicts of a few dollars in compensation for the most flagrant wrong +to their most sacred rights. Let those support that doctrine who will, +I can not." + +At the conclusion of Mr. Wilson's speech, Mr. Eldridge, of Wisconsin, +moved to lay the whole subject on the table. This motion was +rejected--yeas, 32; nays, 118. + +The House then rejected Mr. Bingham's proposed amendment, and +recommitted the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. + +On the 13th of March the bill was reported back from the committee +with some amendments, one of which was to strike out in section one +the following words: + + "Without distinction of color, and there shall be no + discrimination in civil rights, or immunities among citizens + of the United States in any State or Territory of the United + States on account of race, color, or previous condition of + slavery." + +The words were omitted to satisfy some who feared that it might be +held by the courts that the right of suffrage was conferred thereby. + +Another amendment proposed was the addition of a section to the bill, +to-wit: + + "_And be it further enacted_, That upon all questions of law + arising in any case under the provisions of this act, a + final appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United + States." + +Other amendments proposed and adopted were chiefly of a verbal +character. + +The main question was finally taken, and the bill passed by the +following vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, James M. + Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Baxter, Beaman, Bidwell, + Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, + Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis, + Dawes, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, + Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, + Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, + Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John + H. Hubbard, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, + Julian, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, George + V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, + Marston, Marvin, McClurg, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, + Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, + Paine, Perham, Pike, Plants, Price, Alexander H. Rice, + Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, Sloan, Spalding, + Starr, Stevens, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, + Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Ward, Warner, + Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, + Whaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, + Windom, and Woodbridge--111. + + NAYS--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Bingham, Boyer, Brooks, + Coffroth, Dawson, Denison, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Grider, + Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, Jones, Kerr, + Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, McCullough, Nicholson, Phelps, + Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, Ritter, + Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, Taber, + Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, and Winfield--38. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Delos R. Ashley, Barker, Benjamin, + Brandegee, Chanler, Reader W. Clarke, Culver, Defrees, + Eckley, Eggleston, Eldridge, Finck, Griswold, Hale, + Henderson, Hotchkiss, James R. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, + Johnson, Kasson, McIndoe, McKee, Niblack, Noell, Patterson, + Pomeroy, Raymond, John H. Rice, Rollins, Stilwell, Strouse, + Robert T. Van Horn, Henry D. Washburn, and Wright--34. + +It is an illustration of the opinion which the minority entertained of +the bill to the last, that after it had finally passed, and the +previous question had been moved on the adoption of the title, Mr. Le +Blond moved to amend the title of the bill by making it read, "A bill +to abrogate the rights and break down the judicial system of the +States." + +On the 15th of March the amendments made by the House came before the +Senate for adoption in that body. While these were under consideration +by the Senate, Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, made two motions to amend, +which were rejected. He then moved to lay the bill on the table, and +was proceeding to make a speech, when he was informed that his motion +was not debatable. He then withdrew his motion to lay on the table, +and moved to postpone the bill until the first Monday of December +following. Finding that the last amendment proposed by the House of +Representatives was before the Senate, and that his motion could not +be entertained, he proceeded to make a speech on the question before +the Senate. He asserted that "Congress has no authority or +jurisdiction whatever" over the subject of legislation which the bill +contains. He closed his remarks with the following words: "I +therefore, on the grounds that I have stated, oppose this bill. I know +that they weigh nothing with the dominant power here. What care I for +that? What care I for the manner in which my suggestions may be +received by the majority? Nothing--less than nothing, if possible. I +am performing my duty according to my sense of that duty; and in +despite of all opposition, of frowns or scoffs, or of any other +opposition, come in what form it may, I will stand up to the last hour +of my service in this chamber, and will, endeavor, as best I can, to +perform my duty whatever may betide me." + +The amendments of the House were agreed to, and the CIVIL RIGHTS BILL +wanted only Executive approval to become a law of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, AND THE VETO. + + Doubts as to the President's Decision -- Suspense ended -- + The Veto Message -- Mr. Trumbull's Answer -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson defends the Message -- Rejoinder -- Remarks of Mr. + Yates -- Mr. Cowan appeals to the Country -- Mr. Stewart + shows how States may make the Law a Nullity -- Mr. Wade -- + Mr. McDougall on Persian Mythology -- Mr. J. H. Lane defends + the President -- Mr. Wade -- The President's Collar -- Mr. + Brown -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Saulsbury + -- Yeas and Nays in the Senate -- Vote in the House -- The + Civil Rights Bill becomes a Law. + + +The Civil Rights Bill having finally passed through Congress, on the +15th of March, by the concurrence of the Senate in the amendments of +the House, was submitted to the President for his approval. Much +anxiety was felt throughout the country to know what would be the fate +of the bill at the hands of the Executive. Some thought it incredible +that a President of the United States would veto so plain a +declaration of rights, essential to the very existence of a large +class of inhabitants. Others were confident that Mr. Johnson's +approval would not be given to a bill interfering, as they thought, so +flagrantly with the rights of the States under the Constitution. + +All doubts were dispelled, on the 27th of March, by the appearance of +the President's Secretary on the floor of the Senate, who said, in +formal phrase: "Mr. President, I am directed by the President of the +United States to return to the Senate, in which house it originated, +the bill entitled 'An act to protect all persons in the United States +in their civil rights, and to furnish the means of their vindication,' +with his objections thereto in writing." + +The Secretary of the Senate then read the message, which was heard +with profound attention by the Senators, and a large assembly which +thronged the galleries, drawn thither in anticipation of the +President's veto message. + + "_To the Senate of the United States:_ + + "I regret that the bill which has passed both houses of + Congress, entitled 'An act to protect all persons in the + United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means + for their vindication,' contains provisions which I can not + approve, consistently with my sense of duty to the whole + people and my obligations to the Constitution of the United + States. I am therefore constrained to return it to the + Senate, the house in which it originated, with my objections + to its becoming a law. + + "By the first section of the bill, all persons born in the + United States, and not subject to any foreign power, + excluding Indians not taxed, are declared to be citizens of + the United States. This provision comprehends the Chinese of + the Pacific States, Indians subject to taxation, the people + called Gypsies, as well as the entire race designated as + blacks, people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and persons of + African blood. Every individual of those races, born in the + United States, is by the bill made a citizen of the United + States. It does not purport to declare or confer any other + right of citizenship than Federal citizenship. It does not + purport to give these classes of persons any _status_ as + citizens of States, except that which may result from their + _status_ as citizens of the United States. The power to + confer the right of State citizenship is just as exclusively + with the several States as the power to confer the right of + Federal citizenship is with Congress. + + "The right of Federal citizenship thus to be conferred on + the several excepted races before mentioned is now, for the + first time, proposed to be given by law. If, as is claimed + by many, all persons who are native-born, already are, by + virtue of the Constitution, citizens of the United States, + the passage of the pending bill can not be necessary to make + them such. If, on the other hand, such persons are not + citizens, as may be assumed from the proposed legislation to + make them such, the grave question presents itself, whether, + when eleven of the thirty-six States are unrepresented in + Congress, at this time it is sound policy to make our entire + colored population and all other excepted classes citizens + of the United States? Four millions of them have just + emerged from slavery into freedom. Can it be reasonably + supposed that they possess the requisite qualifications to + entitle them to all the privileges and immunities of + citizens of the United States? Have the people of the + several States expressed such a conviction? It may also be + asked whether it is necessary that they should be declared + citizens in order that they may be secured in the enjoyment + of civil rights? Those rights proposed to be conferred by + the bill are, by Federal as well as by State laws, secured + to all domiciled aliens and foreigners even before the + completion of the process of naturalization, and it may + safely be assumed that the same enactments are sufficient to + give like protection and benefits to those for whom this + bill provides special legislation. Besides, the policy of + the Government, from its origin to the present time, seems + to have been that persons who are strangers to and + unfamiliar with our institutions and our laws should pass + through a certain probation, at the end of which, before + attaining the coveted prize, they must give evidence of + their fitness to receive and to exercise the rights of + citizens as contemplated by the Constitution of the United + States. + + "The bill, in effect, proposes a discrimination against + large numbers of intelligent, worthy, and patriotic + foreigners, and in favor of the negro, to whom, after long + years of bondage, the avenues to freedom and intelligence + have now been suddenly opened. He must, of necessity, from + his previous unfortunate condition of servitude, be less + informed as to the nature and character of our institutions + than he who, coming from abroad, has to some extent at + least, familiarized himself with the principles of a + Government to which he voluntarily intrusts 'life, liberty, + and the pursuit of happiness.' Yet it is now proposed by a + single legislative enactment to confer the rights of + citizens upon all persons of African descent, born within + the extended limits of the United States, while persons of + foreign birth, who make our land their home, must undergo a + probation of five years, and can only then become citizens + upon proof that they are of 'good moral character, attached + to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, + and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the + same.' + + "The first section of the bill also contains an enumeration + of the rights to be enjoyed by these classes, so made + citizens, 'in every State and Territory in the United, + States.' These rights are, 'To make and enforce contracts, + to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, + lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property,' + and to have 'full and equal benefit of all laws and + proceedings for the security of persons and property as is + enjoyed by white citizens.' So, too, they are made subject + to the same punishment, pains, and penalties in common with + white citizens, and to none others. Thus a perfect equality + of the white and black races is attempted to be fixed by + Federal law, in every State of the Union, over the vast + field of State jurisdiction covered by these enumerated + rights. In no one of these can any State ever exercise any + power of discrimination between the different races. + + "In the exercise of State policy over matters exclusively + affecting the people of each State, it has frequently been + thought expedient to discriminate between the two races. By + the statutes of some of the States, Northern as well as + Southern, it is enacted, for instance, that no white person + shall intermarry with a negro or mulatto. Chancellor Kent + says, speaking of the blacks, that 'marriages between them + and whites are forbidden in some of the States where slavery + does not exist, and they are prohibited in all the + slaveholding States, and when not absolutely contrary to + law, they are revolting, and regarded as an offense against + public decorum.' + + "I do not say this bill repeals State laws on the subject of + marriage between the two races, for as the whites are + forbidden to intermarry with the blacks, the blacks can only + make such contracts as the whites themselves are allowed to + make, and therefore can not, under this bill, enter into the + marriage contract with the whites. I cite this + discrimination, however, as an instance of the State policy + as to discrimination, and to inquire whether, if Congress + can abrogate all State laws of discrimination between the + two races in the matter of real estate, of suits, and of + contracts generally, Congress may not also repeal the State + laws as to the contract of marriage between the two races? + Hitherto every subject embraced in the enumeration of rights + contained in this bill has been considered as exclusively + belonging to the States. They all relate to the internal + policy and economy of the respective States. They are + matters which in each State concern the domestic condition + of its people, varying in each according to its own peculiar + circumstances, and the safety and well-being of its own + citizens. I do not mean to say that upon all these subjects + there are not Federal restraints, as, for instance, in the + State power of legislation over contracts, there is a + Federal limitation that no State shall pass a law impairing + the obligations of contracts; and as to crimes, that no + State shall pass an _ex post facto_ law; and as to money, + that no State shall make any thing but gold and silver a + legal tender. But where can we find a Federal prohibition + against the power of any State to discriminate, as do most + of them, between aliens and citizens, between artificial + persons called corporations and natural persons, in the + right to hold real estate? + + "If it be granted that Congress can repeal all State laws + discriminating between whites and blacks, in the subjects + covered by this bill, why, it may be asked, may not Congress + repeal in the same way all State laws discriminating between + the two races on the subject of suffrage and office? If + Congress can declare by law who shall hold lands, who shall + testify, who shall have capacity to make a contract in a + State, then Congress can by law also declare who, without + regard to color or race, shall have the right to sit as a + juror or as a judge, to hold any office, and, finally, to + vote, 'in every State and Territory of the United States.' + As respects the Territories, they come within the power of + Congress, for, as to them, the law-making power is the + Federal power; but as to the States, no similar provisions + exist, vesting in Congress the power 'to make rules and + regulations' for them. + + "The object of the second section of the bill is to afford + discriminating protection to colored persons in the full + enjoyment of all the rights secured to them by the preceding + section. It declares 'that any person who, under color of + any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall + subject, or cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any + State or Territory to the deprivation of any right secured + or protected by this act, or to different punishment, pains, + or penalties on account of such person having at one time + been held in a condition of slavery or involuntary + servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the + party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason of his + color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of + white persons, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, + on conviction, shall be punished by fine not exceeding + $1,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, + in the discretion of the court.' This section seems to be + designed to apply to some existing or future law of a State + or Territory which may conflict with the provisions of the + bill now under consideration. It provides for counteracting + such forbidden legislation by imposing fine and imprisonment + upon the legislators who may pass such conflicting laws, or + upon the officers or agents who shall put, or attempt to + put, them into execution. It means an official offense, not + a common crime committed against law upon the persons or + property of the black race. Such an act may deprive the + black man of his property, but not of the right to hold + property. It means a deprivation of the right itself, either + by the State Judiciary or the State Legislature. It is + therefore assumed that, under this section, members of State + Legislatures who should vote for laws conflicting with the + provisions of the bill; that judges of the State courts who + should render judgments in antagonism with its terms; and + that marshals and sheriffs, who should, as ministerial + officers, execute processes, sanctioned by State laws and + issued by State judges, in execution of their judgments, + could be brought before other tribunals, and there subjected + to fine and imprisonment for the performance of the duties + which such State laws might impose. + + "The legislation thus proposed invades the judicial power of + the State. It says to every State court or judge, If you + decide that this act is unconstitutional; if you refuse, + under the prohibition of a State law, to allow a negro to + testify; if you hold that over such a subject-matter the + State law is paramount, and 'under color' of a State law + refuse the exercise of the right to the negro, your error of + judgment, however conscientious, shall subject you to fine + and imprisonment. I do not apprehend that the conflicting + legislation which the bill seems to contemplate is so likely + to occur as to render it necessary at this time to adopt a + measure of such doubtful constitutionality. + + "In the next place, this provision of the bill seems to be + unnecessary, as adequate judicial remedies could be adopted + to secure the desired end without invading the immunities of + legislators, always important to be preserved in the + interest of public liberty; without assailing the + independence of the judiciary, always essential to the + preservation of individual rights; and without impairing the + efficiency of ministerial officers, always necessary for the + maintenance of public peace and order. The remedy proposed + by this section seems to be, in this respect, not only + anomalous, but unconstitutional; for the Constitution + guarantees nothing with certainty, if it does not insure to + the several States the right of making and executing laws in + regard to all matters arising within their jurisdiction, + subject only to the restriction that, in cases of conflict + with the Constitution and constitutional laws of the United + States, the latter should be held to be the supreme law of + the land. + + "The third section gives the district courts of the United + States exclusive 'cognizance of all crimes and offenses + committed against the provisions of this act,' and + concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts of the + United States of all civil and criminal cases 'affecting + persons who are denied or can not enforce in the courts or + judicial tribunals of the State or locality where they may + be any of the rights secured to them by the first section.' + The construction which I have given to the second section is + strengthened by this third section, for it makes clear what + kind of denial or deprivation of the rights secured by the + first section was in contemplation. It is a denial or + deprivation of such rights 'in the courts or judicial + tribunals of the State.' It stands, therefore, clear of + doubt, that the offense and the penalties provided in the + second section are intended for the State judge, who, in the + clear exercise of his function as a judge, not acting + ministerially, but judicially, shall decide contrary to this + Federal law. In other words, when a State judge, acting upon + a question involving a conflict between a State law and a + Federal law, and bound, according to his own judgment and + responsibility, to give an impartial decision between the + two, comes to the conclusion that the State law is valid and + the Federal law is invalid, he must not follow the dictates + of his own judgment, at the peril of fine and imprisonment. + The legislative department of the Government of the United + States thus takes from the judicial department of the States + the sacred and exclusive duty of judicial decision, and + converts the State judge into a mere ministerial officer, + bound to decree according to the will of Congress. + + "It is clear that, in States which deny to persons whose + rights are secured by the first section of the bill any one + of those rights, all criminal and civil cases affecting them + will, by the provisions of the third section, come under the + exclusive cognizance of the Federal tribunals. It follows + that if, in any State which denies to a colored person any + one of all those rights, that person should commit a crime + against the laws of the State--murder, arson, rape, or any + other crime--all protection and punishment through the + courts of the State are taken away, and he can only be tried + and punished in the Federal courts. How is the criminal to + be tried? If the offense is provided for and punished by + Federal law, that law, and not the State law, is to govern. + + "It is only when the offense does not happen to be within + the purview of the Federal law that the Federal courts are + to try and punish him under any other law; then resort is to + be had to 'the common law, as modified and changed' by State + legislation, 'so far as the same is not inconsistent with + the Constitution and laws of the United States.' So that + over this vast domain of criminal jurisprudence, provided by + each State for the protection of its own citizens, and for + the punishment of all persons who violate its criminal laws, + Federal law, wherever it can be made to apply, displaces + State law. + + "The question here naturally arises, from what source + Congress derives the power to transfer to Federal tribunals + certain classes of cases embraced in this section. The + Constitution expressly declares that the judicial power of + the United States 'shall extend to all cases in law and + equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the + United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, + under their authority; to all cases affecting embassadors, + other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of + admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to + which the United States shall be a party; to controversies + between two or more States, between a State and citizens of + another State, between citizens of different States, between + citizens of the same State claiming land under grants of + different States, and between a State, or the citizens + thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.' + + "Here the judicial power of the United States is expressly + set forth and defined; and the act of September 24, 1789, + establishing the judicial courts of the United States, in + conferring upon the Federal courts jurisdiction over cases + originating in State tribunals, is careful to confine them + to the classes enumerated in the above recited clause of the + Constitution. This section of the bill undoubtedly + comprehends case, and authorizes the exercise of powers that + are not, by the Constitution, within the jurisdiction of the + courts of the United States. To transfer them to those + courts would be an exercise of authority well calculated to + excite distrust and alarm on the part of all the States; for + the bill applies alike to all of them--as well to those that + have as to those that have not been engaged in rebellion. + + "It may be assumed that this authority is incident to the + power granted to Congress by the Constitution, as recently + amended, to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the article + declaring that 'neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, + except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall + have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United + States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.' It can + not, however, be justly claimed that, with a view to the + enforcement of this article of the Constitution, there is, + at present, any necessity for the exercise of all the powers + which this bill confers. + + "Slavery has been abolished, and, at present, nowhere exists + within the jurisdiction of the United States; nor has there + been, nor is it likely there will be, any attempt to revive + it by the people of the States. If, however, any such + attempt shall be made, it will then become the duty of the + General Government to exercise any and all incidental powers + necessary and proper to maintain inviolate this great + constitutional law of freedom. + + "The fourth section of the bill provides that officers and + agents of the Freedmen's Bureau shall be empowered to make + arrests, and also that other officers may be specially + commissioned for that purpose by the President of the United + States. It also authorizes circuit courts of the United + States and the superior courts of the Territories to + appoint, without limitation, commissioners, who are to be + charged with the performance of _quasi_ judicial duties. The + fifth section empowers the commissioners so to be selected + by the courts to appoint, in writing, under their hands, one + or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute + warrants and other processes described by the bill. These + numerous official agents are made to constitute a sort of + police, in addition to the military, and are authorized to + summon a _posse comitatus_ and even to call to their aid + such portion of the land and naval forces of the United + States, or of the militia, 'as may be necessary to the + performance of the duty with which they are charged.' + + "This extraordinary power is to be conferred upon agents + irresponsible to the Government and to the people, to whose + number the discretion of the commissioners is the only + limit, and in whose hands such authority might be made a + terrible engine of wrong, oppression, and fraud. The general + statutes regulating the land and naval forces of the United + States, the militia, and the execution of the laws, are + believed to be adequate for every emergency which can occur + in time of peace. If it should prove otherwise, Congress + can, at any time, amend those laws in such manner as, while + subserving the public welfare, not to jeopard the rights, + interests, and liberties of the people. + + "The seventh section provides that a fee of ten dollars + shall be paid to each commissioner in every case brought + before him, and a fee of five dollars to his deputy, or + deputies, 'for each person he or they may arrest and take + before any such commissioner,' 'with such other fees as may + be deemed reasonable by such commissioner,' 'in general for + performing such other duties as may be required in the + premises.' All these fees are to be 'paid out of the + Treasury of the United States,' whether there is a + conviction or not; but, in case of conviction, they are to + be recoverable from the defendant. It seems to me that, + under the influence of such temptations, bad men might + convert any law, however beneficent, into an instrument of + persecution and fraud. + + "By the eighth section of the bill, the United States + courts, which sit only in one place for white citizens, must + migrate, with the marshal and district attorney (and + necessarily with the clerk, although he is not mentioned), + to any part of the district, upon the order of the + President, and there hold a court 'for the purpose of the + more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged with a + violation of this act;' and there the judge and the officers + of the court must remain, upon the order of the President, + 'for the time therein designated.' + + "The ninth section authorizes the 'President, or such person + as he may empower for that purpose, to employ such part of + the land and naval forces of the United States, or of the + militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the violation and + enforce the due execution of this act.' This language seems + to imply a permanent military force, that is to be always at + hand, and whose only business is to be the enforcement of + this measure over the vast region where it is intended to + operate. + + "I do not propose to consider the policy of this bill. To me + the details of the bill seem fraught with evil. The white + race and the black race of the South have hitherto lived + together under the relation of master and slave--capital + owning labor. Now, suddenly, that relation is changed, and, + as to the ownership, capital and labor are divorced. They + stand, now, each master of itself. In this new relation, one + being necessary to the other, there will be a new + adjustment, which both are deeply interested in making + harmonious. Each has equal power in settling the terms, and, + if left to the laws that regulate capital and labor, it is + confidently believed that they will satisfactorily work out + the problem. Capital, it is true, has more intelligence; but + labor is never so ignorant as not to understand its own + interests, not to know its own value, and not to see that + capital must pay that value. This bill frustrates this + adjustment. It intervenes between capital and labor, and + attempts to settle questions of political economy through + the agency of numerous officials, whose interest it will be + to foment discord between the two races; for, as the breach + widens, their employment will continue, and when it is + closed, their occupation will terminate. + + "In all our history, in all our experience as a people + living under Federal and State law, no such system as that + contemplated by the details of this bill has ever before + been proposed or adopted. They establish, for the security + of the colored race, safeguards which go infinitely beyond + any that the General Government has ever provided for the + white race. In fact, the distinction of race and color is, + by the bill, made to operate in favor of the colored and + against the white race. They interfere with the municipal + legislation of the States, with the relations existing + exclusively between a State and its citizens, or between + inhabitants of the same State--an absorption and assumption + of power by the General Government which, if acquiesced in, + must sap and destroy our federative system of limited + powers, and break down the barriers which preserve the + rights of the States. It is another step, or rather stride, + to centralization and the concentration of all legislative + power in the National Government. The tendency of the bill + must be to resuscitate the spirit of rebellion, and to + arrest the progress of those influences which are more + closely drawing around the States the bonds of union and + peace. + + "My lamented predecessor, in his proclamation of the 1st of + January, 1863, ordered and declared that all persons held as + slaves within certain States and parts of States therein + designated, were and thenceforward should be free; and, + further, that the Executive Government of the United States, + including the military and naval authorities thereof, would + recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons. This + guarantee has been rendered especially obligatory and sacred + by the amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery + throughout the United States. I, therefore, fully recognize + the obligation to protect and defend that class of our + people whenever and wherever it shall become necessary, and + to the full extent compatible with the Constitution of the + United States. + + "Entertaining these sentiments, it only remains for me to + say that I will cheerfully coöperate with Congress in any + measure that may be necessary for the protection of the + civil rights of the freedmen, as well as those of all other + classes of persons throughout the United States, by judicial + process under equal and impartial laws, in conformity with + the provisions of the Federal Constitution. + + "I now return the bill to the Senate, and regret that, in + considering the bills and joint resolutions--forty-two in + number--which have been thus far submitted for my approval, + I am compelled to withhold my assent from a second measure + that has received the sanction of both houses of Congress. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON. + + "WASHINGTON, D. C., _March_ 27, 1866." + +The death and funeral obsequies of Senator Foot prevented the Senate +from proceeding to the consideration of the President's veto message +for more than a week after it was read. On the 4th of April the Civil +Rights Bill came up to be reconsidered, the question being, "Shall the +bill pass, the objections of the President notwithstanding." + +It devolved upon Mr. Trumbull, the author of the bill, to answer the +objections of the President. In answer to the President's position +that the bill conferred only Federal citizenship, and did not give any +_status_ as citizens of States, Mr. Trumbull said: "Is it true that +when a person becomes a citizen of the United States he is not also a +citizen of every State where he may happen to be? On this point I will +refer to a decision pronounced by the Supreme Court of the United +States, delivered by Chief-Justice Marshall, the most eminent jurist +who ever sat upon an American bench. In the case of Gassies _vs._ +Ballon, reported in 6 Peters, the Chief-Justice, in delivering the +opinion of the court, says: + + "'The defendant in error is alleged in the proceedings to be + a citizen of the United Stated States, naturalized in + Louisiana, and residing there. This is equivalent to an + averment that he is a citizen of that State. _A citizen of + the United States residing in any State of the Union is a + citizen of that State._'" + +The message declared "that the right of Federal citizenship is now for +the first time proposed to be given by law." "This," said Mr. +Trumbull, "is not a misapprehension of the law, but a mistake in fact, +as will appear by references to which I shall call the attention of +the Senate." Mr. Trumbull then referred to the "collective +naturalization" of citizens of Louisiana, Texas, and Cherokees, +Choctaw, and Stockbridge Indians. + +To the remark in the message that "if, as many claim, native-born +persons are already citizens of the United States, this bill can not +be necessary to make them such," Mr. Trumbull replied: "An act +declaring what the law is, is one of the most common of acts known by +legislative bodies. When there is any question as to what the law is, +and for greater certainty, it is the most common thing in the world to +pass a statute declaring it." + +To the objection that eleven States were unrepresented, the Senator +replied: "This is a standing objection in all the veto messages, yet +the President has signed some forty bills. If there is any thing in +this objection, no bill can pass Congress till the States are +represented here. Sir, whose fault is it that eleven States are not +represented? By what fault of theirs is it that twenty-five loyal +States which have stood by this Union and by the Constitution are to +be deprived of their right to legislate? If the reason assigned is a +good one now, it has been a good one all the time for the last five +years. If the fact that some States have rebelled against the +Government is to take from the Government the right to legislate, then +the criminal is to take advantage of his crime; the innocent are to be +punished for the guilty. + +"But the President tells us that 'the bill, in effect, proposes a +discrimination against large numbers of intelligent, worthy, and +patriotic foreigners, and in favor of the negro.' Is that true? What +is the bill? It declares that there shall be no distinction in civil +rights between any other race or color and the white race. It declares +that there shall be no different punishment inflicted on a colored man +in consequence of his color than that which is inflicted on a white +man for the same offense. Is that a discrimination in favor of the +negro and against the foreigner--a bill the only effect of which is to +preserve equality of rights? + +"But perhaps it may be replied to this that the bill proposes to make +a citizen of every person born in the United States, and, therefore, +it discriminates in that respect against the foreigner. Not so; +foreigners are all upon the same footing, whether black or white. The +white child who is born in the United States a citizen is not to be +presumed at its birth to be the equal intellectually with the worthy, +intelligent, and patriotic foreigner who emigrates to this country. +And, as is suggested by a Senator behind me, even the infant child of +a foreigner born in this land is a citizen of the United States long +before his father. Is this, therefore, a discrimination against +foreigners? + +"The President also has an objection to the making citizens of Chinese +and Gypsies. I am told that but few Chinese are born in this country, +and where the Gypsies are born, I never knew. [Laughter.] Like Topsy, +it is questionable, whether they were born at all, but 'just come.' +[Laughter.] + +"But, sir, perhaps the best answer to this objection that the bill +proposes to make citizens of Chinese and Gypsies, and this reference +to the foreigners, is to be found in a speech delivered in this body +by a Senator occupying, I think, the seat now occupied across the +chamber by my friend from Oregon, [Mr. Williams,] less than six years +ago, in reply to a message sent to this body by Mr. Buchanan, the then +President of the United States, returning, with his objections, what +was known as the Homestead Bill. On that occasion the Senator to whom +I allude said: + + "'But this idea about "poor foreigners," somehow or other, + bewilders and haunts the imagination of a great many. * * * * * + + "'I am constrained to say that I look upon this objection to + the bill as a mere quibble on the part of the President, and + as being hard-pressed for some excuse in withholding his + approval of the measure; and his allusion to foreigners in + this connection looks to me more like the _ad captandum_ of + the mere politician or demagogue, than a grave and sound + reason to be offered by the President of the United States + in a veto message upon so important a measure as the + Homestead Bill.' + +"That was the language of Senator Andrew Johnson, now President of the +United States. [Laughter.] That is probably the best answer to this +objection, though I should hardly have ventured to use such harsh +language in reference to the President as to accuse him of quibbling +and of demagoguery, and of playing the mere politician in sending a +veto message to the Congress of the United States." + +The President had urged an objection that if Congress could confer +civil rights upon persons without regard to color or race, it might +also confer upon them political rights, and among them that of +suffrage. In reply to this, Mr. Trumbull referred to the policy of the +President himself in undertaking to "reörganize State governments in +the disloyal States." He "claimed and exercised the power to protect +colored persons in their civil rights," and yet, when "urged to allow +loyal blacks to vote," he held that "he had no power; it was +unconstitutional." + +"But, sir," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the granting of civil rights does +not and never did, in this country, carry with it rights, or, more +properly speaking, political privileges. A man may be a citizen in +this country without a right to vote or without a right to hold +office. The right to vote and hold office in the States depends upon +the legislation of the various States; the right to hold certain +offices under the Federal Government depends upon the Constitution of +the United States. The President must be a natural-born citizen, and a +Senator or Representative must be a citizen of the United States for a +certain number of years before he is eligible to a seat either in this +or the other House of Congress; so that the fact of being a citizen +does not necessarily qualify a person for an office, nor does it +necessarily authorize him to vote. Women are citizens; children are +citizens; but they do not exercise the elective franchise by virtue of +their citizenship. Foreigners, as is stated by the President in this +message, before they are naturalized are protected in the rights +enumerated in this bill, but because they possess those rights in +most, if not all, the States, that carries with it no right to vote. + +"But, sir, what rights do citizens of the United States have? To be a +citizen of the United States carries with it some rights, and what are +they? They are those inherent, fundamental rights which belong to free +citizens or free men in all countries, such as the rights enumerated +in this bill, and they belong to them in all the States of the Union. +The right of American citizenship means something. It does not mean, +in the case of a foreigner, that when he is naturalized he is to be +left entirely to the mercy of State legislation. He has a right, when +duly naturalized, to go into any State of the Union, and to reside +there, and the United States Government will protect him in that +right. It will protect a citizen of the United States, not only in one +of the States of the Union, but it will protect him in foreign lands. + +"Every person residing in the United States is entitled to the +protection of that law by the Federal Government, because the Federal +Government has jurisdiction of such questions. American citizenship +would be little worth if it did not carry protection with it. + +"How is it that every person born in these United States owes +allegiance to the Government? Every thing that he is or has, his +property and his life, may be taken by the Government of the United +States in its defense, or to maintain the honor of the nation. And can +it be that our ancestors struggled through a long war and set up this +Government, and that the people of our day have struggled through +another war, with all its sacrifices and all its desolation, to +maintain it, and at last that we have got a Government which is +all-powerful to command the obedience of the citizen, but has no power +to afford him protection? Is that all that this boasted American +citizenship amounts to? Go tell it, sir, to the father whose son was +starved at Andersonville; or the widow whose husband was slain at +Mission Ridge; or the little boy who leads his sightless father +through the streets of your city, made blind by the winds and the sand +of the Southern coast; or the thousand other mangled heroes to be seen +on every side, that this Government, in defense of which the son and +the husband fell, the father lost his eyes, and the others were +crippled, had the right to call these persons to its defense, but has +no right to protect the survivors or their friends in any right +whatever in any of the States. Sir, it can not be. Such is not the +meaning of our Constitution. Such is not the meaning of American +citizenship. This Government, which would go to war to protect its +meanest--I will not say citizen--inhabitant, if you please, in any +foreign land, whose rights were unjustly encroached upon, has +certainly some power to protect its own citizens in their own country. +Allegiance and protection are reciprocal rights." + +To the President's objection to the second section of the bill, that +it discriminated in favor of colored persons, Mr. Trumbull replied: +"It says, in effect, that no one shall subject a colored person to a +different punishment than that inflicted on a white person for the +same offense. Does that discriminate in favor of the colored person? +Why, sir, the very object and effect of the section is to prevent +discrimination, and language, it seems to me, could not more plainly +express that object and effect. It may be said that it is for the +benefit of the black man, because he is now, in some instances, +discriminated against by State laws; but that is the case with all +remedial statutes. They are for the relief of the persons who need the +relief, not for the relief of those who have the right already; and +when those needing the relief obtain it, they stand upon the precise +footing of those who do not need the benefit of the law." + +The President had further objected to this section, that "it provides +for counteracting such forbidden legislation by imposing fine and +imprisonment upon the legislators who may pass such conflicting laws." + +"Let us see," said Mr. Trumbull, "if that is the language or the +proper construction of the section. I will read again the first lines +of it. It declares 'that any person who, under color of any law, +ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or cause to be +subjected, etc., * * * shall be punished,' etc. + +"Who is to be punished? Is the law to be punished? Are the men who +make the law to be punished? Is that the language of the bill? Not at +all. If any person, 'under color of any law,' shall subject another to +the deprivation of a right to which he is entitled, he is to be +punished. Who? The person who, under the color of the law, does the +act, not the men who made the law. In some communities in the South a +custom prevails by which different punishment is inflicted upon the +blacks from that meted out to whites for the same offense. Does this +section propose to punish the community where the custom prevails? or +is it to punish the person who, under color of the custom, deprives +the party of his right? It is a manifest perversion of the meaning of +the section to assert any thing else. + +"But it is said that under this provision judges of the courts and +ministerial officers who are engaged in execution of any such statutes +may be punished, and that is made an objection to this bill. I admit +that a ministerial officer or a judge, if he acts corruptly or +viciously in the execution or under color of an illegal act, may be +and ought to be punished; but if he acted innocently, the judge would +not be punished. Sir, what is a crime? It is a violation of some +public law, to constitute which there must be an act, and a vicious +will in doing the act; or, according to the definition in some of the +law-books, to constitute a crime there must be a violation of a public +law, in the commission of which there must be a union or joint +operation of act and intent, or criminal negligence; and a judge who +acted innocently, and not viciously or oppressively, would never be +convicted under this act. But, sir, if he acted knowingly, viciously, +or oppressively, in disregard of a law of the United States, I repeat, +he ought to be punished, and it is no anomaly to prescribe a +punishment in such a case. Very soon after the organization of this +Government, in the first years of its existence, the Congress of the +United States provided for punishing officers who, under color of +State law, violated the laws of the United States." + +Mr. Trumbull then read from an act of Congress passed in 1790, +providing for the punishment of certain offenses against foreign +ministers, and said: "By this provision all officers executing any +process in violation of the laws of the United States are to be +subject to a much longer imprisonment than is provided by this bill. + +"But, sir, there is another answer, in my judgment, more conclusive, +to all these objections to this second section, which is the vital +part of the bill. Without it, it would scarcely be worth the paper on +which the bill is written. A law without a penalty, without a +sanction, is of little value to any body. What good does it do for the +Legislature to say, 'Do this, and forbear to do that,' if no +consequence is to follow the act of disobedience? This is the vitality +of the bill. What is the objection that is made to it, and which seems +even to have staggered some friends of the measure? It is because it +reads in the first section that any person who, 'under color of law,' +shall commit these offenses, shall be subject to the penalties of the +law. Suppose those words had been left out, and the bill read, 'any +person who shall subject any inhabitant of a State to different +punishment by reason of his color shall be punished,' would there have +been any objection to the bill then? That is the way most criminal +laws read. That is the way the law punishing conspiracies against the +Government reads. If two or more persons conspire together to +overthrow the Government, or by force to resist its authority, they +are liable to indictment, and, upon conviction, to imprisonment in the +penitentiary and to heavy fine. Would the fact that the persons +engaged in the conspiracy were judges or governors or ministerial +officers, acting under color of any statute or custom, screen them +from punishment? Surely not. + +"The words 'under color of law' were inserted as words of limitation, +and not for the purpose of punishing persons who would not have been +subject to punishment under the act if they had been omitted. If an +offense is committed against a colored person simply because he is +colored, in a State where the law affords him the same protection as +if he were white, this act neither has nor was intended to have any +thing to do with his case, because he has adequate remedies in the +State courts; but if he is discriminated against, under color of State +laws, because he is colored, then it becomes necessary to interfere +for his protection. + +"The assumption that State judges and other officials are not to be +held responsible for violations of United States laws when done under +color of State statutes or customs is akin to the maxim of the English +law that the king can do no wrong. It places officials above the law; +it is the very doctrine out of which the rebellion was hatched. + +"Every thing that was done by that wicked effort to overturn our +Government was done under color of law. The rebels insisted that they +had a right to secede; they passed ordinances of secession, they set +up State governments, and all that they did was under color of law. +And if parties committing these high crimes are to go free because +they acted under color of law, why is not Jeff Davis and every other +rebel chief discharged at once? Why did this country put forth all its +resources of men and money to put down the rebellion against the +authority of the Government except it had a right to do so, even as +against those who were acting under color of law? Lee, with his rebel +hordes, thundering upon the outskirts of this very city, was acting +under color of law; every judge who has held a court in the Southern +States for the last four years, and has tried and convicted of treason +men guilty of no other offense than loyalty to the Union, acted under +color of law. + +"Sir, if we had authority by the use of the army and the war power to +put down rebels acting under color of law, I put the question to every +lawyer, if we had not authority to do that through the courts and the +judicial tribunals if it had been practicable? Suppose it had been +practicable, through the marshals, to arrest the Legislature which +convened at Montgomery, and undertook to take the State of Alabama out +of the Union and set up a government in hostility thereto, ought it +not to have been done? Was not that a conspiracy against this +Government? When the Legislature assembled at Montgomery in 1861, and +resolved that the connection between Alabama and the United States was +dissolved, and when its members took steps to maintain that +declaration; when the same thing was done in South Carolina, and +courts were organized to carry out the scheme, will any body tell me +it would not have been competent, had it been practicable, for the +United States courts in those States to have issued process for the +arrest of every one of those legislators, governors, judges, and all. +And, sir, had this been done, and it had turned out upon trial that +any of the parties arrested had been engaged in armed hostility +against the United States, as some of them had been when, with arms in +their hands, they seized the arsenals and other public property of the +United States, would they not have been found guilty of treason and +hung for treason? and would the fact that they had acted under color +of law have afforded them any protection?" + +The President, in his Veto Message, had said, "I do not apprehend that +the conflicting legislation which the bill seems to contemplate is so +likely to occur as to render it necessary, at this time, to adopt a +measure of such doubtful constitutionality." + +"That statement," replied Mr. Trumbull, "makes it necessary that I +should advert to the facts and show whether there is any likelihood of +such conflicting legislation; and my testimony comes from the +President himself, or those acting under his authority." + +After having referred to legislative enactments of several of the +Southern States very oppressive to the colored people, Mr. Trumbull +remarked: "Now, sir, what becomes of this declaration that there is no +necessity for any measure of this kind? Here are the laws of Texas, of +Mississippi, of Virginia, to which I have referred; and laws equally +oppressive exist in some of the other States. Is there no necessity to +protect a freedman when he is liable to be whipped if caught away from +home? no necessity to protect a freedman in his rights when he is not +permitted to hold or lease a piece of ground in a State? no necessity +to protect a freedman in his rights, who will be reduced to a slavery +worse than that from which he has been emancipated if a law is +permitted to be carried into effect? Sir, these orders emanate and +this information comes from officers acting by presidential authority, +and yet the President tells us there is no danger of conflicting +legislation." + +After having answered other objections of the President, Mr. Trumbull +said: "I have now gone through this Veto Message, replying with what +patience I could command to its various objections to the bill. Would +that I could stop here, that there was no occasion to go further; but +justice to myself, justice to the State whose representative I am, +justice to the people of the whole country, in legislation for whose +behalf I am called to participate, justice to the Constitution I am +sworn to support, justice to the rights of American citizenship it +secures, and to human liberty, now imperiled, require me to go +further. Gladly would I refrain speaking of the spirit of this +message, of the dangerous doctrines it promulgates, of the +inconsistencies and contradictions of its author, of his encroachments +upon the constitutional rights of Congress, of his assumption of +unwarranted powers, which, if persevered in and not checked by the +people, must eventually lead to a subversion of the Government and the +destruction of liberty. + +"Congress, in the passage of the bill under consideration, sought no +controversy with the President. So far from it, the bill was proposed +with a view to carry out what were supposed to be the views of the +President, and was submitted to him before its introduction in the +Senate. I am not about to relate private declarations of the +President, but it is right that the American people should know that +the controversy which exists between him and Congress in reference to +this measure is of his own seeking. Soon after Congress met, it became +apparent that there was a difference of opinion between the President +and some members of Congress in regard to the condition of the +rebellious States and the rights to be secured to freedmen. + +"The President, in his annual message, had denied the constitutional +power of the General Government to extend the elective franchise to +negroes, but he was equally decided in the assertion of the right of +every man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This was his +language: + + "'But while I have no doubt that now, after the close of the + war, it is not competent for the General Government to + extend the elective franchise in the several States, it is + equally clear that good faith requires the security of the + freedmen in their liberty and their property.' + +"There were some members of Congress who expressed the opinion that in +the reörganization of the rebellious States the right of suffrage +should be extended to the colored man, though this was not the +prevailing sentiment of Congress. All were anxious for a +reörganization of the rebellious States, and their admission to full +participation in the Federal Government as soon as these relations +could be restored with safety to all concerned. Feeling the importance +of harmonious action between the different departments of the +Government, and an anxious desire to sustain the President, for whom I +had always entertained the highest respect, I had frequent interviews +with him during the early part of the session. Without mentioning any +thing said by him, I may with propriety state that, acting from the +considerations I have stated, and believing that the passage of a law +by Congress, securing equality in civil rights to freedmen and all +other inhabitants of the United States, when denied by State +authorities, would do much to relieve anxiety in the North, to induce +the Southern States to secure these rights by their own action, and +thereby remove many of the obstacles to an early reconstruction, I +prepared the bill substantially as it is now returned with the +President's objections. After the bill was introduced and printed, a +copy was furnished him, and at a subsequent period, when it was +reported that he was hesitating about signing the Freedmen's Bureau +Bill, he was informed of the condition of the Civil Rights Bill then +pending in the House, and a hope expressed that if he had objections +to any of its provisions he would make them known to its friends, that +they might be remedied, if not destructive of the measure; that there +was believed to be no disposition on the part of Congress, and +certainly none on my part, to have bills presented to him which he +could not approve. He never indicated to me, nor, so far as I know, to +any of its friends, the least objection to any of the provisions of +the bill till after its passage. And how could he, consistently with +himself? The bill was framed, as was supposed, in entire harmony with +his views, and certainly in harmony with what he was then and has +since been doing in protecting freedmen in their civil rights all +through the rebellious States. It was strictly limited to the +protection of the civil rights belonging to every freeman, the +birthright of every American citizen, and carefully avoided conferring +or interfering with political rights or privileges of any kind. + +* * * * "If the bill now before us, and which goes no further than to +secure civil rights to the freedman, can not be passed, then the +constitutional amendment proclaiming freedom to all the inhabitants of +the land is a cheat and a delusion. + +"I can not better conclude what I have to say than in the language of +Mr. Johnson on the occasion of the veto of the Homestead Bill, when, +after stating that the fact that the President was inconsistent and +changed his opinion with reference to a great measure and a great +principle, is no reason why a Senator or Representative, who has acted +understandingly, should change his opinion. He said: + + "'I hope the Senate and House of Representatives, who have + sanctioned this bill by more than a two-thirds majority, + will, according to the Constitution, exercise their + privilege and power, and let the bill become a law of the + land, according to the high behest of the American people.'" + +On the next day, April 5th, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, made a speech +sustaining the Veto Message. He argued that negroes were not citizens +of the United States by reason of their birth in the United States, +and that Congress had no authority by law to declare them such. To +sustain his position, he made quotations from the opinion of the +minority in the Dred Scott case, as rendered by Mr. Justice Curtis. He +then proceeded to reply to some of Mr. Trumbull's arguments against +the Veto Message: "The honorable member from Illinois disposes of the +President's objection to the first section of this bill by saying that +it is merely declaratory. I know it is competent for any legislative +body, on a question where difference of opinions exist in relation to +any legal proposition, to remove them by declaratory legislation; but +that is not the purpose of this bill. It professes to be passed in the +exercise of a positive and absolute power to change the law--not to +declare what the law was in order to remove doubts, but to make the +law. It assumes, or otherwise there would be no occasion for it, that +birth alone does not confer citizenship; and assuming that no +citizenship would exist in consequence of birth alone, it declares +that birth alone, in spite of State constitution and State laws, shall +confer citizenship. Now, with all deference to the opinion of the +honorable Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, that seems to me +to be a proposition as clearly erroneous as any proposition can be in +relation to constitutional law. The States were sovereign before the +Constitution was adopted; and the Constitution not only, according to +its very terms, does not profess to confer upon the Government of the +United States all governmental power, but as far as Congress is +concerned, professes to confer upon that department of the Government +only the particular delegated powers there enumerated; but so anxious +were the framers of that instrument and the great men of that day, to +whom the subsequent organization of this Government was left, that +although they had no doubt as to the principle that only the delegated +powers were granted, (and the debates in the Convention itself as well +as the debates in the conventions of the several States, when the +Constitution was before them for adoption or rejection, all went upon +the theory that no powers were conferred except such as were expressly +granted, or as were reasonably implied to be as necessary to carry out +the powers expressly granted,) by the tenth amendment adopted recently +after the Constitution went into operation, and recommended by the +men, many of whom were the framers of the Constitution itself, that +the powers not delegated by the Constitution, and not denied to the +States by the same instrument, were to be considered reserved to the +States respectively, or to the people. + +"Standing, therefore, as well upon the nature of the Government +itself, as a Government of enumerated powers specially delegated, as +upon the express provision that every thing not granted was to be +considered as remaining with the States unless the Constitution +contained some particular prohibition of any power before belonging to +the States, what doubt can there be that if a State possessed the +power to declare who should be her citizens before the Constitution +was adopted that power remains now as absolute and as conclusive as it +was when the Constitution was adopted? The bill, therefore, changes +the whole theory of the Government. + +"The President, then, I think, is right. I go further than he does. He +expresses a doubt whether Congress has the power; I affirm, with all +deference to the better judgment of the majority of the Senate who +voted for the bill, and to that of the honorable Chairman of the +Committee on the Judiciary, that it is perfectly clear that no such +power exists in Congress as the one attempted to be exercised by the +first section. I hold, with Mr. Justice Curtis--and his opinion to +this day has never been questioned--that citizenship of the United +States consequent upon birth in a State is to depend upon the fact +whether the constitution and laws of the State make the party so born +a citizen of the State. + +"But that is not all. This first section has another provision. Not +satisfied with making the parties citizens and clothing them with all +the rights belonging to white citizens by the laws of the States, it +says that they 'shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and +penalties, and to none other.' That invades the jurisdiction of the +States over their criminal code. Congress assumes to define a crime, +and defining a crime gives to its own courts exclusive jurisdiction +over the crime and the party charged with its perpetration. It strikes +at the criminal code of the States. The result, therefore, of the +three provisions in this section is, that contrary to State +constitutions and State laws, it converts a man that is not a citizen +of a State into a citizen of the State; it gives him all the rights +that belong to a citizen of the State; and it provides that his +punishment shall only be such as the State laws impose upon white +citizens. Where is the authority to do that? If it exists, it is still +more obvious that the result is an entire annihilation of the power of +the States. It seems to be the fashion of the hour--I do not know that +my honorable friend from Illinois goes to that extent--to hold to the +doctrine that the sooner every thing is vested in the Government of +the United States the better for the country. It is a perilous +delusion. If such a proposition had been supposed to be found any +where in the Constitution of the United States, it never would have +been adopted by the people; and if it is assumed, or if it is +considered as constitutionally existing by virtue of some power not +before known, the Government will not last half a century. I have not +time to read from the writings of Mr. Madison and Mr. Hamilton and the +decisions of the Supreme Court on the question. + +"But you, Mr. President, know very well that consolidation of power in +the Government of the United States was looked upon as certain ruin to +republican institutions. In the first place, it would be sure to +result in anarchy; and in the second place, in order to be saved from +the horrors of anarchy, we should be compelled to take refuge in +despotic power, and the days of constitutional liberty would soon be +numbered. The doubt then was, and the doubt now should be more firmly +settled in the public mind, that a country as extensive as that of the +United States can not exist except by means of divided sovereignties; +one sovereignty having charge of all external matters, or matters +between the States to which the powers of the States are inadequate; +the other sovereignties having power over all internal matters to the +management of which they are adequate. Despotism would soon be our +fate, preceded by anarchy; the military chieftain instead of being +looked upon, as he should be by every republican, with alarm and +concern, would be hailed as a savior, in order to save us from the +horrors of disorganization. + +"The honorable member referred to the act of 1790, but it relates +entirely to different subjects, and all the statutes to which he +adverted are statutes of the same description. What is the +twenty-sixth section of the act of 1790 to which he referred? The +preceding section provided that no one should sue a foreign minister, +and the section to which my friend referred particularly, said that if +a party did sue a foreign minister he should be liable to be punished. +Certainly; but why? Because the Government of the United States was +vested with the exclusive authority in all cases depending upon the +law of nations; and the law of nations saving from responsibility +embassadors accredited to the United States, for civil debts, he who +attempted to interfere offended against the Government, and he +offended in relation to a subject exclusively committed to the General +Government. The power, therefore, which Congress exerted in the +particular legislation to which the honorable member reverted is just +the power which they exert when they provide for the punishment of any +man who counterfeits the currency of the United States, or forges its +paper, or forges its bonds, or interferes with the administration of +the Post-office Department. These are all powers incidental to the +possession of the express power, and in the case to which he adverted +the express power was one necessarily belonging to the Government, +because it was a power belonging to and regulated by the law of +nations, and not by any municipal regulation. + +"The honorable member from Illinois tells us that the President's +objection, that there are eleven States not now represented, is +entitled to no consideration whatever. The honorable member seems to +suppose that the President adverted to the fact that there were eleven +States not represented as showing that Congress possessed no +constitutional authority to legislate upon the subject, supposing that +they would have had the authority if those States were represented. +That is not the view taken by the President; it is an entire +misapprehension of the doctrine of the President. He says no such +thing, and he intimates no such thing. But assuming, what in another +part of the message he denies, that the authority might be considered +as existing, he submits as a question of policy whether it is right to +change the whole domestic economy of those eleven States, in the +absence of any representation upon this floor from them. My honorable +friend asks whose fault it is that they are not represented. Why are +they not here? He says their hands are reeking with the blood of loyal +men; that they are unable to take the oath which a statute that he +assumes to be constitutional has provided; and he would have the +country and the Senate to believe that that is the reason why they are +not here. Is that the fact, Mr. President? These States are organized, +and how organized? What have they done? They have abolished slavery by +an astonishing unanimity; they have abolished nearly all the +distinctions which antecedently existed between the two races. They +have permitted the negroes to sue, they have permitted them to +testify; they have not yet permitted them to vote. + +"Why are they not received? Because, in the judgment of the Senate, +before the States can be considered as restored, Congressional +legislation on the subject is necessary. Whose fault is it that there +has not been Congressional legislation? Is it the fault of the eleven +States? Certainly not; it is our own fault. And why is it that we are +in point of fact delaying their admission, whether it is to be +considered as a fault or not? Because we want to inquire into the +condition of these States. Why, in the name of Heaven! how long have +we been here? We came here early in December, and this is the month of +April; and here we may remain until July, or, as rumor has it, until +next December; and shall we be satisfied within that time that +Congressional legislation may be safely adopted? + +"I have a word or two more to say. My honorable friend from Illinois, +as it seemed to me--his nature is impulsive, and perhaps he was +carried further than he intended--seemed to intimate that the +President of the United States had not acted sincerely in this matter; +that his usurpation was a clear one, and that he was to be censured +for that usurpation. What has he done? He has vetoed this bill. He had +a constitutional right to do so. Not only that; if he believed that +the effect of the bill would be that which he states in his Veto +Message, he was not only authorized but bound to veto it. His oath is +to 'preserve' as well as to 'protect and defend' the Constitution of +the United States; and believing, as he does, and in that opinion I +concur, that this bill assails the Constitution of the United States, +he would have been false to his plighted faith if he had not returned +it with his objections. + +"He desires--and who does not?--that the Union shall be restored as it +originally existed. He has a policy which he thinks is best calculated +to effect it. He may be mistaken, but he is honest. Congress may +differ with him. I hope they will agree sooner or later, because I +believe, as I believe in my existence, that the condition in which the +country now is can not remain without producing troubles that may +shake our reputation, not only in our own eyes, but in the eyes of the +civilized world. Let the day come when we shall be again together, and +then, forgetting the past, hailing the present, and looking forward to +the future, we shall remember, if we remember the past at all, for the +exhibition of valor and gallantry displayed on both sides, and find in +it, when we become one, a guarantee that in the future no foreign +hostilities are to be dreaded, and that no civil discord need be +apprehended." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "The opinion of Judge Curtis, from which the +Senator read, was the opinion of a dissenting judge, entitled to very +great credit on account of the learning and ability of that judge, but +it was not the opinion of the court, and an examination of the entire +opinion, which is very lengthy, would perhaps not sustain the precise +principles the Senator from Maryland laid down. But, sir, I have +another authority which I think of equal weight with that of Judge +Curtis--not pronounced in a judicial tribunal it is true, but by one +of the most eminent members of the bar in this nation; I may say by a +gentleman who stands at the head of the bar in America at this +time--an opinion pronounced, too, in the exercise of official duties; +and I propose to read a few sentences from that opinion, for it is to +be found reported in the Congressional Globe containing the +proceedings of this body less than ninety days ago. This is the +language: + + "'While they [negroes] were slaves, it was a very different + question; but now, when slavery is terminated, and by + terminating it you have got rid of the only obstacle in the + way of citizenship, two questions arise: first, Whether that + fact itself does not make them citizens? Before they were + not citizens, because of slavery, and only because of + slavery. Slavery abolished, why are they not just as much + citizens as they would have been had slavery never existed? + My opinion is that they become citizens, and I hold that + opinion so strongly that I should consider it unnecessary to + legislate on the subject at all, as far as that class is + concerned, but for the ruling of the Supreme Court, to which + I have adverted.' + +"Sir, that opinion was held by the honorable Senator from Maryland who +made this speech to-day. He holds the opinion so strongly now that +slavery is abolished, which was the only obstacle in the way of their +being citizens, that he would want no legislation on the subject but +for the Dred Scott decision! What further did the Senator from +Maryland say less than ninety days ago? It is possible, doubtless--it +is not only possible but it is certainly true--that the Senator from +Maryland, by reading the conclusive arguments of the Veto Message in +regard to Chinese and Gypsies, has discovered that he was in error +ninety days ago. I by no means mean to impute any wrong motive to the +Senator from Maryland, but simply to ask that he will pardon me if I +have not been able to see the conclusive reasoning of the Veto +Message." + +After quoting still further from Mr. Johnson's speech, made on a +previous occasion, Mr. Trumbull said: "But as I am up, I will refer to +one other point to which the Senator alluded, and that is in regard to +the quotation which I made yesterday from the statute of 1790. I +quoted that statute for the purpose of showing that the provisions in +the bill under consideration, which it was insisted allowed the +punishment of ministerial officers and judges who should act in +obedience to State laws and under color of State laws, were not +anomalous. I read a statute of 1790 to show that the Congress of the +United States, at that day, provided for punishing both judges and +officers who acted under color of State law in defiance of a law of +the United States. How does the Senator answer that? He says that was +on a different subject; the law of 1790 provided for punishing judges +and officers who did an act in violation of the international law, +jurisdiction over which is conferred upon the nation. Let me ask the +Senator from Maryland, if the bill under discussion does not provide +for the punishment of persons who violate a right secured by the +Constitution of the United States? Is a right which a citizen holds by +virtue of the Constitution of his country less sacred than a right +which he holds by virtue of international law?" + +Mr. Johnson replied as follows: "It is singular, in my estimation, how +a gentleman with a mind as clear as Mr. Trumbull's, with a +perspicacity that is a little surprising, could have fallen into the +error of supposing that there is any inconsistency between the +doctrine contained in the speech to which he has adverted and the one +which I have maintained to-day. What I said then I say now, that as +far as the United States are concerned, all persons born within the +limits of the United States are to be considered as citizens, and that +without reference to the color or the race; and after the abolition of +slavery the negro would stand precisely in the condition of the white +man. But the honorable member can hardly fail, I think--certainly he +can not when I call his attention to it--to perceive that that has +nothing to do with the question now before the Senate. His bill makes +them citizens of the United States because of birth, and gives them +certain rights within the States." + +Mr. Fessenden asked: "Were not your remarks made on this very question +in this bill?" + +"No," replied Mr. Johnson; "on another bill." He continued: "What I +maintain is this--and I have never doubted it, because I entertained +the same opinion when I made those remarks that I entertain now--that +citizenship of the United States, in consequence of birth, does not +make a party a citizen of the State in which he is born unless the +Constitution and laws of the State recognize him as a citizen. Now, +what does this bill propose? All born within the United States are to +be considered citizens of the United States, and as such shall have in +every State all the rights that belong to any body else in the State +as far as the particular subjects stated in the bill are concerned. +Now, I did suppose, and I shall continue to suppose, it to be clear, +unless I am met with the almost paramount authority of the Chairman of +the Judiciary Committee, that citizenship, by way of birth, conferred +on the party as far as he and the United States were concerned, is not +a citizenship which entitles him to the privilege of citizenship +within the State where he is born; if it be true, and I submit that it +is true beyond all doubt, that over the question of State citizenship +the authority of the State Government is supreme. + +"Now, the honorable member is confounding the _status_ of a citizen of +the United States and the _status_ of a citizen of the United States +who as such is a citizen of the State of his residence. Maintaining, +as I do, that there is no authority to make any body a citizen of the +United States so as to convert him thereby into a citizen of a State, +there is no authority in the Constitution for this particular bill, +which says that because he is a citizen of the United States he is to +be considered a citizen of any State in which he may be at any time +with reference to the rights conferred by this bill." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "I desire simply to remark that the speech from +which I quoted, made by the Senator from Maryland, was made upon this +very bill. It was in reference to this bill that he was speaking when +he laid down the proposition that every person born in the United +States since the abolition of slavery was a citizen of the United +States, and if there was any doubt about it, it was proper for us to +declare them so, and not only proper, but our duty to do so; and to +make the matter specific, the honorable Senator voted for this +proposition, which I will now read, on the yeas and nays: + + "'All persons born in the United States, and not subject to + any foreign Power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby + declared to be citizens of the United States, without + distinction of color.' + +"Upon the adoption of that proposition as an amendment, it not being +in the bill as originally introduced, the Senator from Maryland, with +thirty others, voted in the affirmative. So we have his high authority +for saying that all persons born in the United States, and not subject +to any foreign Power, are citizens of the United States, exactly as it +appears in this bill." + +"Mr. Yates, of Illinois, remarked: "I remember very well that the +Senator from Maryland offered an amendment to the Freedmen's Bureau +Bill to this effect: to strike out the words 'without distinction of +color.' The Freedmen's Bureau Bill applied legislation by Congress to +the freedmen in the States and to the condition of the freedmen in the +States. It was legislation that affected the freedmen in the +rebellious States. If I remember aright the Senator from Maryland +moved to strike out the words 'without distinction of color' in one +section of that bill, and for that motion he gave this reason: +because, under the Constitution of the United States, as amended, +abolishing slavery in all the States and Territories of the United +States, the freedmen occupied precisely the same position with any +other citizen of the United States in any State or Territory. I +understood him as taking the broad position, which I have maintained, +and which Republican Senators have maintained, and which I think the +country maintains, that under the Constitution, as amended, the +freedman occupies precisely the same position as any man born in any +State or Territory of the United States; and that was the object, if I +understood the Senator from Maryland, of his moving to amend the +Freedmen's Bureau Bill by striking out the words 'without distinction +of color.' + +"I recognize the authority of the decisions quoted by the Senator from +Maryland before the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution. The +States had the power over the question of slavery in the States before +the amendment to the Constitution; but by the amendment to the +Constitution, in which the States have concurred, the freedman becomes +a free man, entitled to the same rights and privileges as any other +citizen of the United States." + +Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, spoke in favor of the veto, premising that +his words, "if they are not to convince any body in the Senate, may go +to the country and be reflected on there." Mr. Cowan said he was quite +willing that all the people of this country should enjoy the rights +conferred upon them by this bill. But, supposing the bill had all the +merit in the world, it would not be effective to attain the ends hoped +for by its friends; and apart from that, its provisions were +exceedingly dangerous. It gave married women and minors the right to +make and enforce contracts. The grammatical structure of a portion of +the bill was such as to enable a corrupt, passionate, or prejudiced +judge to take advantage of it in order to widen the jurisdiction of +the United States courts, and drag into them all the business which +had heretofore occupied the State courts. This would be enough in this +nineteenth century to make a man tremble for the fate of +constitutional government. "If," said Mr. Cowan, "we had undoubted +authority to pass this bill, under the circumstances I would not vote +for it, on account of its objectionable phraseology, its dubious +language, and the mischief which might attend upon a large and liberal +construction of it in the District and Circuit Courts of the United +States." The trouble and expense of obtaining justice in the United +States courts, but one, or at most two existing in any of the Southern +States, would debar the African from applying to them for redress. +"Your remedy," said the Senator, "is delusive; your remedy is no +remedy at all; and to hold it up to the world as a remedy is a gross +fraud, however pious it may be. It is no remedy to the poor debtor +that you prosecute his judge, and threaten him with fine and +imprisonment. It is no remedy to the poor man with a small claim that +you locate a court one or two hundred miles away from him which is so +expensive in its administration of justice that he can not enter +there. + +[Illustration: WM. M. Stewart, Senator from Nevada.] + +"There is another provision of the bill, which, notwithstanding the +act of Congress relied upon by the honorable Senator from Illinois, I +think is unquestionably anomalous, and to me not only anomalous, but +atrocious; and that is, the substitution of an indictment for the writ +of error. What has been the law of these United States heretofore? +When an act of Congress came in contact with a State law, and the +judge of a State court decided that the law of Congress was +unconstitutional, there was an appeal given to the debated party to +the Supreme Court of the United States in order to determine the +constitutionality of the law. But, sir, who, until the last few +months, ever heard of making the judge a criminal because he decided +against the constitutionality of a law of the United States? One would +think we were being transported back to the dark ages of the world +when a man is to be accused and perhaps convicted of a crime who has +done nothing more than honestly and conscientiously discharged his +duty. I know that the persons of embassadors are sacred, and I know +that it is a very high offense against the law of nations, which no +civil judge of any court could justify, to invade this sacred right of +the embassador, but every body knows that that is an exceptional case. +Every body knows that in all times and at all ages the judge was +punishable who did not respect the person of an embassador. But that +is not this case. That analogy will not help the third section of this +bill. It is openly avowed upon the floor of the Senate of the United +States, in the year of our Lord 1866, in the full blaze and light of +the nineteenth century, that the indictment is to be a substitute for +the writ of error, and it is justified because a judge ought to be +indicted who violates the sacred person of an embassador! What potency +there must be in the recent amendment of the Constitution which has +foisted the negro and set him upon the same platform as the envoy +extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain or of all +the Russias to the United States of America, and made him as sacred as +an embassador, and the judge who decides against him is to be punished +as a criminal!" + +Mr. Stewart showed that States might easily avoid all the annoying +operations of this bill which were feared by its opponents: "When I +reflect how very easy it is for the States to avoid the operation of +this bill, how very little they have to do to avoid the operation of +the bill entirely, I think that it is robbed of its coercive features, +and I think no one has any reason to complain because Congress has +exercised a power, which it must be conceded it has, when it has +exercised it in a manner which leaves it so easy for the States to +avoid the operation of this bill. If passed to-day, it has no +operation in the State of Georgia; it is impossible to commit a crime +under this bill in the State of Georgia; and the other States can +place themselves in the same position so easily that I do not believe +they ought to complain." + +He then read the second section of an act passed in Georgia, precisely +similar to the first section of the Civil Eights Bill. Nothing could +be done in Georgia under "color of law," which would subject officers +to the penalties provided by the Civil Rights Bill. "It being so +easily avoided by being complied with, by doing a simple act of +justice, by carrying out the spirit of the constitutional amendment, I +can not give my consent to defeat a bill the purpose of which is good, +the operation of which is so innocent, and may be so easily avoided." + +The Republican Senators were desirous of bringing the bill to a final +vote on this evening, but on account of the illness of Senator Wright, +of New Jersey, it was proposed by Democratic members to appoint some +hour on the following day when the vote should be taken in order that +they might have a full vote. + +Mr. Wade, of Ohio, said: "If this was a question in the ordinary +course of legislation, I certainly would not object to the proposition +which the gentlemen on the other side make; but I view it as one of +the greatest and most fundamental questions that has ever come before +this body for settlement, and I look upon it as having bearings +altogether beyond the question on this bill. The bill is, undoubtedly, +a very good one. There is no constitutional objection to it; there has +been no objection to it raised that creates a doubt in the mind of any +mortal man; but, nevertheless, we are at issue with the President of +the United States upon a question peculiarly our own. The President of +the United States has no more power under the Constitution to +interpose his authority here, to prescribe the principle upon which +these States should be admitted to this Union, than any man of this +body has out of it. The Constitution makes him the executive of the +laws that we make, and there it leaves him; and what is our condition? +We who are to judge of the forms of government under which States +shall exist; we, who are the only power that is charged with this +great question, are to be somehow or other wheedled out of it by the +President by reason of the authority that he sets up. + +"Sir, we can not abandon it unless we yield to a principle that will +unhinge and unsettle the balances of the Constitution itself. If the +President of the United States can interpose his authority upon a +question of this character, and can compel Congress to succumb to his +dictation, he is an emperor, a despot, and not a President of the +United States. Because I believe the great question of congressional +power and authority is at stake here, I yield to no importunities of +the other side. I feel myself justified in taking every advantage +which the Almighty has put into my hands to defend the power and +authority of this body, of which I claim to be a part. I will not +yield to these appeals of comity on a question like this; but I will +tell the President and every body else that, if God Almighty has +stricken one member so that he can not be here to uphold the dictation +of a despot, I thank him for his interposition, and I will take +advantage of it if I can." + +Mr. McDougall, of California, replied to Mr. Wade. This wayward +Senator from California has wide notoriety from his unhappy habits of +intemperance. He has been described by a writer unfriendly to his +politics as "the most brilliant man in the Senate; a man so +wonderfully rich, that though he seeks to beggar himself in talents +and opportunities, he has left a patrimony large enough to outdazzle +most of his colleagues." He frequently would enter the Senate-chamber +in a condition of apparent stupor, unable to walk straight; and after +listening a few moments to what was going on, has arisen and spoken +upon the pending question in words of great beauty and force. + +On this occasion Mr. McDougall is described as having been in a worse +condition than usual. His words were muttered rather than spoken, so +that only those immediately about him could hear; and yet his remarks +were termed by one of his auditors as "one of the neatest little +speeches ever heard in the Senate." His remarks were as follows: "The +Senator from Ohio is in the habit of appealing to his God in +vindication of his judgment and conduct; it is a common thing for him +to do so; but in view of the present demonstration, it may well be +asked who and what is his God. In the old Persian mythology there was +an Ormudz and an Ahriman--a god of light and beauty, and a god of +darkness and death. The god of light sent the sun to shine, and gentle +showers to fructify the fields; the god of darkness sent the tornado, +and the tempest, and the thunder, scathing with pestilence the +nations. And in old Chaldean times men came to worship Ahriman, the +god of darkness, the god of pestilence and famine; and his priests +became multitudinous; they swarmed the land; and when men prayed then +their offerings were, 'We will not sow a field of grain, we will not +dig a well, we will not plant a tree.' These were the offerings to the +dark spirit of evil, until a prophet came who redeemed that ancient +land; but he did it after crucifixion, like our great Master. + +"The followers of Ahriman always appealed to the same spirit +manifested by the Senator from Ohio. Death is to be one of his angels +now to redeem the Constitution and the laws, and to establish liberty. +Sickness, suffering, evil, are to be his angels; and he thanks the +Almighty, his Almighty, that sickness, danger, and evil are about! It +may be a good god for him in this world; but if there is any truth in +what we learn about the orders of religion in this Christian world, +his faith will not help him when he shall ascend up and ask entrance +at the crystal doors. If there can be evil expressed in high places +that communicates evil thoughts, that communicates evil teachings, +that demoralizes the youth, who receive impressions as does the wax, +it is by such lessons as the Senator from Ohio now teaches by word of +mouth as Senator in this Senate hall. + +"Sir, the President of the United States is a constitutional officer, +clothed with high power, and clothed with the very power which he has +exercised in this instance; and those who conferred upon him these +powers were men such as Madison, and Jay, and Hamilton, and Morris, +and Washington, and a host of worthies; men who, I think, knew as much +about the laws of government, and how they should be rightly balanced, +as any of the wisest who now sit here in council. It is the duty of +the President of the United States to stand as defender of the +Constitution in his place as the conservator of the rights of the +people, as tribune of the people, as it was in old Rome when the +people did choose their tribunes to go into the senate-chamber among +the aristocracy of Rome, and when they passed laws injurious to the +Roman people, to stand and say, 'I forbid it.' + +"That is the veto power, incorporated wisely by our fathers in the +Constitution, conferred upon the President of the United States, and +to be treated with consideration; and no appeal of the Senator to his +God can change the Constitution or the rights of the President of the +United States, or can prevent a just consideration of the dignity of +this Senate body by persons who have just consideration, who feel that +they are Senators. + +"It is a strange thing, an exceedingly strange thing, that when a few +Senators in the city of Washington, ill at their houses, give +assurance that they can be here to act upon a great public question on +the day following this, we should hear a piece of declamation, the +Senator appealing to his God, and saying, with an _Io triumphe_ air, +'Well or ill, God has made them ill.' Sir, the god of desolation, the +god of darkness, the god of evil is his god. I never expected to hear +such objections raised among honorable men; and men to be Senators +should be honorable men. I never expected to hear such things in this +hall; and I rose simply to say that such sentiments were to be +condemned, and must receive my condemnation, now and here; and if it +amounts to a rebuke, I trust it may be a rebuke." + +The Senate adjourned, with the understanding that the vote should be +taken on the following day. In the morning hour on that day, as the +States were called for the purpose of giving Senators an opportunity +of introducing petitions or resolutions, Mr. Lane, of Kansas, +presented a joint resolution providing for admitting Senators and +Representatives from the States lately in insurrection. This bill, +emanating from a Republican Senator, who professed to have framed it +as an embodiment of the President's policy, was evidently designed to +have an influence upon the action of the Senate upon the Civil Rights +Bill. It proposed that Senators and Representatives from the late +rebellious States should be admitted into Congress whenever it should +appear that they had annulled their ordinances of secession, ratified +the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, repudiated all rebel +debts, recognized the debts of the United States, and extended the +elective franchise to all male persons of color residing in the State, +over twenty-one years of age, who can read and write, and who own real +estate valued at not less than two hundred and fifty dollars. + +As a reason for introducing this measure, Mr. Lane, of Kansas, +remarked: "I have been laboring for months to harmonize the President +of the United States with the majority on the floor of Congress. I +thought yesterday that there was a hope of securing such a result. It +did seem that some of the members of this body were disposed to +harmonize with the President. I proposed to go very far yesterday to +secure that harmony. But while pursuing this course, we were awakened +by one of the most vindictive assaults ever made upon any official, by +either friend or opponent, from the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Wade]--an +assault upon my personal friend, a man who for two years sat side by +side with me here, whom I learned to respect and admire for his pluck, +his ability, and integrity, and to love for his manly virtues; a man +whom I originally selected as the candidate of the Republican party +for the second office within the gift of that party; a man whom I +urged on the Republican convention at Baltimore as their candidate; a +man whose election I did my utmost to secure against the efforts of +the Senator from Ohio. In the most critical moment of that political +campaign, an assault was made on our presidential candidate in the +same spirit evinced by him yesterday in his attack upon the President. +I defended the candidate of the Republican party against that assault, +and I defend the President of the Republican party against the assault +of yesterday. + +"'A despot!' 'A dictator!' In what? In seeking to reconstruct the +rebellious States in violation of the wishes of the Congress of the +United States? When Mr. Johnson took his seat in the presidential +chair, I ask you, sir, what had Congress done? The people of the +United States had done this: Mr. Lincoln had marked out the policy of +reconstruction, since adopted by Mr. Johnson, and the people of the +United States, the party to which the Senator from Ohio and myself +belong, indorsed by triumphant majorities that very reconstruction +policy. A despot for proposing, in violation of the wishes of the +Congress of the United States, to reconstruct the insurrectionary +States upon the theory expressed in that joint resolution annulling +the ordinances of secession, ratifying the amendment to the +Constitution abolishing slavery, repudiating the Confederate debt, +indorsing the national debt, and extending suffrage to all colored men +who can read the Constitution of the United States and sign their +names, and to all colored men owning and paying taxes upon $250 worth +of property! + +"Mr. President, I am not as conversant with the constituency of the +Senator from Ohio as he is, but I venture the assertion that outside +of New England there is not a single Northern State in this Union but +will by a majority vote to indorse the policy of reconstruction +advised by President Johnson and expressed in that joint resolution. +You can not carry before the people of this country suffrage to the +unqualified black man. You can not find a State in this Union outside +of New England, in my judgment, that will indorse that policy. +Restrict it to a qualification clause, as the President of the United +States recommends, and you can carry the Republican Union party +every-where, and with unanimity. + +"The President of the United States 'a despot' for exercising a +constitutional right in vetoing a bill passed by Congress! Mr. +President, had the Senator from Ohio occupied the position which is +occupied by President Johnson, in my judgment, he would have vetoed +the Civil Rights Bill. 'A despot!' What is the exercise of the veto +power? It amounts merely to a vote to reconsider, with the lights +given in his reasons for the veto. When before has the exercise of a +constitutional right justified a political friend of the President of +the United States in denouncing that President as a despot and a +dictator? He has been and is now, in my judgment, as anxious to +harmonize the difficulties in the Union party as any Senator upon this +floor. If he was met in the same spirit, that party would be reunited +and this Union would be restored. His advances are met by insult; his +advances are met by denunciation from the leader of the Republican +party upon this floor in language without a parallel. Mr. President, +so far as I am concerned, I propose to-day and hereafter to take my +position alongside the President of the Republican party, and stand +there unflinchingly so long as he remains faithful to the principles +of that party, defending him against the Senator from Ohio as I +defended his predecessor against the same Senator." + +Mr. Lane then expressed his desire that his proposition should lie +upon the table and be printed. An order having been entered to that +effect, Mr. Wade addressed the Senate. He remarked: "It is said I made +an attack on the President of the United States. As a Senator upon +this floor, I care no more about the opinions of the President of the +United States than I do about those of any respectable Senator upon +this floor, or any Senator on this floor. Who is your President, that +every man must bow to his opinion? Why, sir, we all know him; he is no +stranger to this body. We have measured him; we know his height, his +depth, his length, his breadth, his capacity, and all about him. Do +you set him up as a paragon and declare here on the floor of this +Senate that you are going to make us all bow down before him? Is that +the idea? You [to Mr. Lane, of Kansas,] are going to be his apologist +and defender in whatever he may propose to do! Is that the +understanding of the Senator from Kansas? + +"I do not believe that his constituents will be quite satisfied with +so broad a declaration, that he is to wear any man's collar, and +follow him wherever he may go. Did I use harsh language toward the +President yesterday? All that I said I stand by to-day and forever. +What was the question upon which I made those observations, and what +has been the opinion of the President heretofore? what has been his +action since? Here are three million people, our friends, friends to +the Government, who generously came forward in its difficulty, and +helped us throughout the war, sacrificed their blood and their lives +to maintain the issue on our side, and who were faithful beyond all +men that were ever faithful before, to us during the whole of the +difficulty, every-where assisting our brave soldiers in the field, +laying down their lives to maintain our principles, and ministering in +every way to the misfortunes of our brave men whenever they fell into +the hands of those worse than savages with whom we were warring; and +now these men are laboring, are under one of the most frightful +despotisms that ever settled down upon the heads of mankind. Three +million people are exposed to the outrages, the insolence, the murder +of those worse than savages, their former masters, murdered as we hear +every day, oppressed every-where, their rights taken away, their +manhood trampled under foot; and Congress, under the Constitution of +the United States, endeavors to extend to them some little protection, +and how are we met here? Every attempt of your Moses has been to +trample them down worse, and to throw every obstruction in the way of +any relief that could be proposed by Congress. He has from all +appearances become their inveterate and relentless foe, making violent +war upon any member of Congress who dares raise his voice or give his +vote in favor of any measure having for its object the amelioration of +the condition of these poor people. Talk to me about the President +being their friend! When did it ever happen before that a great +measure of relief to suffering humanity on as broad a scale as this +was met by the stern veto of the President of the United States, and +without being able when he undertakes to make his obstruction to our +measures to designate a single clause of the Constitution that he +pretends has been violated. + +"Yesterday what was the issue? I was charged with great cruelty on +this floor, because I was unwilling to wait for recruits to be brought +in here for the purpose of overthrowing the ground we had taken upon +this important question whether these poor people shall have relief or +not. Now, I wish to say that I am willing to extend courtesy to our +old associates on this floor under other circumstances; but when you +extend this kind of courtesy to them, the result is death and +destruction to three million people, trampled under the feet of their +former masters. My courtesy is extended to those poor men, and I would +not wait a moment that their enemies may be brought in here in order +to prevent our doing any thing for their relief, joining with the +President, who is determined, if we may judge by his acts, that no +measure having for its object any relief shall be extended to them. + +"Did you hear the fact stated here the other day, that bills were +drawn with a view to escape the anathemas of your President, and were +exhibited to him, and he asked 'if he had any objection to them to +look them over well, because if we can, consistent with the object +aimed at, make them clear of any objection you may have, we will do +it?' + +"I said, sir, that he seemed to have meditated a controversy with +Congress from the beginning, and he has. He has treated our majorities +as hostile to the people; two thirds of both branches of Congress have +been treated by him as mere factionists, disunionists, enemies to the +country, bent upon its destruction, bargaining with the enemy to +destroy the Government. This is the way the President has treated +Congress, and every bill they have passed, which promised any relief +to the men whom we are bound to protect, has been trampled under the +Executive heel; and even when members of this body did what I say they +ought not to have done--for I do not approve of my brother Trumbull's +going up to the President, when he has a measure pending here as a +Senator, to ask the President, in the first place, whether he will +approve of it or not; even when he was asked if he objected to this +measure, and made no objection, he still undertakes to veto it. + +"If Congress should recede from the position they have taken to claim +jurisdiction over this great question of reädmitting these States, +from that hour they surrender all the power that the Constitution +places in their hands and that they were sworn to support, and they +are the mere slaves of an accidental Executive; of a man who formerly +associated with us upon this floor; who was no more infallible than +the rest of us poor mortals; and yet the moment, by death or accident, +he is placed in the executive chair, it would seem as if some Senators +believed him to be endowed with superhuman wisdom, and ought to be +invested with all the powers of this Government; that Congress ought +to get on their knees before him, and take his insults and his +dictation without resentment and without even an attempt to resist. +Some States may send such instrumentalities here, but God knows some +will not; and I pity those that do, for they would hold their freedom +on a very uncertain tenure. + +"Some gentlemen may be patient under the charge of treason, perhaps +the more so because treason is becoming popular in this day; but, sir, +I am a little too old-fashioned to be charged by the executive branch +of this Government as a traitor on the floor of Congress, and not +resent it. I do not care whether he be King or President that +insinuates that I am a disunionist or traitor, standing upon the same +infamous platform with the traitors of the South; I will not take it +from any mortal man, high or low, without repelling the charge. If any +man here is tame enough to do it, he is too tame to be the Senator of +a proud-spirited people, conscious of their own freedom. I claim to be +their representative, and they will censure me if they do not like my +doctrine. + +"And now, Mr. President, I wish to make an appeal to those great, +patriotic statesmen on this floor, who, by their love of principle, by +their unswerving honesty, unseduced by the blandishments of executive +power, unawed by threats of violence, stand here to defend the rights +of the people upon this floor, and will stand here forever. I say to +you Senators, we, the majority who are stigmatized as traitors, are +the only barrier to-day between this nation and anarchy and despotism. +If we give way, the hope of this nation is lost by the recreancy--yea, +sir, I will say the treachery--of a man who betrayed our confidence, +got into power, and has gone into the camp of the enemy, and joined +those who never breathed a breath of principle in common with us." + +Mr. Lane replied: "I stated that the party to which I belong nominated +the present President of the United States and elected him, and that +as long as he fought within our lines and remained in our party, I +would endeavor to defend him upon this floor against all unjust +assaults. After making that statement, the Senator from Ohio, +forgetting the position he occupies, has suggested that I have taken +upon myself the collar of the President of the United States. I hurl +the suggestion in the teeth of the Senator from Ohio as unworthy a +Senator. I wear a collar! The pro-slavery party of the United States, +backed by a Democratic Administration, sustained and supported by the +army of the United States, could not fasten a collar upon the handful +of Kansas squatters of whom I had the honor to be the leader. The +gallant fight made in this Senate-chamber by the Senator from Ohio, +aided by the Senators from Massachusetts and other Senators, would +have been of but little avail had it not been for that other fight +that was made upon the prairies of Kansas under the lead of your +humble speaker. I wear a collar! Indicted for treason by a pro-slavery +grand jury, hunted from State to State by a writ founded upon that +indictment for treason, and $100,000 offered for my head! Jim Lane +wear a collar! Wherever he is known, that charge will be denounced as +false by both friends and enemies." + +Mr. Brown, of Missouri, made a short speech, in which he set forth the +position of Mr. Lane, of Kansas, on questions previously before the +Senate, showing their inconsistency with some of his recent remarks. + +Mr. Doolittle next delivered a speech, in the course of which he +called attention to a bill which he had drawn "to provide appropriate +legislation to enforce article thirteen of the Amendments to the +Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States." His object in +presenting this bill was to "avoid the objections raised by men not +only in this body, but in the other house, and the objections raised +by the President of the United States, to the bill now pending." + +He endeavored to explain his position and changes of opinion upon the +Civil Rights: "While this measure was upon its passage, I took no part +in its discussion except upon a single point in relation to the Indian +tribes. The bill passed, and the final vote was taken when I was not +present in the Senate; but it was not under such circumstances that, +had I been here, I should not have voted for the bill. I have no doubt +that if I had been present I should have voted for it. My attention +was not drawn very earnestly to the consideration of all the +provisions of this bill until the bill had passed from Senate and had +gone to the House of Representatives, when the speeches of Mr. +Bingham, of Ohio, and of Mr. Delano, of Ohio, both able and +distinguished lawyers of that State, arrested my attention and called +me very carefully to the consideration of the great questions which +are involved in the bill. The bill was passed by the House of +Representatives; it went to the President. From the fact that it was +not signed and returned to this body at once, and from all I heard, I +became satisfied that, at least, if the bill was not to be returned +with objections, it was being withheld for most earnest and serious +consideration by the Executive. + +"Then, Mr. President, it was, in view of all that had occurred, what +had been said by gentlemen in whom I had the utmost--I may say +unbounded--confidence, that I began to look into this measure and to +study it for myself. It is not my purpose now to go into a discussion +of the provisions of this bill any further than to say that there are +provisions in it upon which the judgments of the best patriots, the +best jurists, the most earnest men disagree. There are men, in whom I +have entire confidence, who maintain that all its provisions are +within the purview of the Constitution; there are others in whom I +have confidence, and equal confidence, who maintain directly the +contrary; and this has brought me seriously to consider whether there +be no common ground upon which friends can stand and stand together. +Sir, I may have failed to find it; but if I have, it is not because I +have not most earnestly sought for it with some days of study and most +earnest reflection. I have endeavored to put upon paper what I believe +would carry this constitutional provision into effect and yet would be +a common ground on which we could unite without violating the +conscientious convictions of any." + +In concluding his remarks, Mr. Doolittle referred to instructions +received by him from the Legislature of Wisconsin: "Mr. President, I +have received, in connection with my colleague, a telegraphic dispatch +from the Governor of the State of Wisconsin, which I have no doubt is +correct, although I have not seen the resolution which is said to have +been passed by the Legislature, in which it is stated that the +Legislature has passed a resolution instructing the Senators in +Congress from Wisconsin to vote for the passage of the Senate bill +commonly known as the Civil Rights Bill, the veto of the President to +the contrary notwithstanding. I have already stated, from my +stand-point, the reasons why, in my judgment, I can not do it; I have +stated them freely and frankly, and, as a matter of course, I expect +to abide the consequences. I know that it has sometimes been said to +me, by those, too, in whom I would have confidence, that for me, under +circumstances like these, not to follow the instructions of the +Legislature of my State, would be to terminate my political life. Sir, +be it so. I never held or aspired to any other office politically than +the one I now hold; and God knows, if I know my own heart, if I can +see this Union restored after this gigantic war which has put down the +rebellion, and to which I have lent my support, I shall be satisfied. +I do not desire to remain in political life beyond that hour. There is +nothing in that which will have the slightest influence whatever upon +me. The duty which I owe to myself, the duty which I owe to the +country, the duty which I owe to the union of these States, and the +preservation of the rights of the States, and the duty which I owe to +the great Republican party, which I would still desire to save, +prompts me to pursue the course which I now do." + +Mr. Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, addressed the Senate in a long speech, +of which the following is the closing paragraph: "Public justice is +often slow, but generally sure. Think you that the people will look on +with folded arms and stolid indifference and see you subvert their +Constitution and liberties, and on their ruins erect a grinding +despotism. No; erelong they will rise up with earthquake force and +fling you from power and place. I commend to your serious meditation +these words: 'Go tell Sylla that you saw Caius Marius sitting upon the +ruins of Carthage!'" + +Mr. Saulsbury thought a revolution would result from the passage of +this bill: "In my judgment the passage of this bill is the +inauguration of revolution--bloodless, as yet, but the attempt to +execute it by the machinery and in the mode provided in the bill will +lead to revolution in blood. It is well that the American people +should take warning in time and set their house in order, but it is +utterly impossible that the people of this country will patiently +entertain and submit to this great wrong. I do not say this because I +want a revolution; Heaven knows we have had enough of bloodshed; we +have had enough of strife; there has been enough of mourning in every +household; there are too many new-made graves on which the grass has +not yet grown for any one to wish to see the renewal of strife; but, +sir, attempt to execute this act within the limits of the States of +this Union, and, in my judgment, this country will again be plunged +into all the horrors of civil war." + +Mr. McDougall said: "I agree with the Senator from Delaware that this +measure is revolutionary in its character. The majority glory in their +giant power, but they ought to understand that it is tyrannous to +exercise that power like a giant. A revolution now is moving onward; +it has its center in the North-east. A spirit has been radiating out +from there for years past as revolutionary as the spirit that went out +from Charleston, South Carolina, and perhaps its consequences will be +equally fatal, for when that revolutionary struggle comes it will not +be a war between the North and its power and the slaveholding +population of the South; it will be among the North men themselves, +they who have lived under the shadows of great oaks, and seen the tall +pine-trees bend." + +At the conclusion of the remarks by the Senator from California, the +vote was taken, with the following result; + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, + Cragin, Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, + Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, + Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, + Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Williams, + Wilson, and Yates--33. + + NAYS--Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Guthrie, + Hendricks, Johnson, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Nesmith, + Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, Van Winkle, and Wright--15. + + ABSENT--Mr. Dixon. + +The President _pro tempore_ then made formal announcement of the +result: "The yeas being 33 and the nays 15, the bill has passed the +Senate by the requisite constitutional majority, notwithstanding the +objection of the President to the contrary." + +On the 9th of April, 1866, three days after the passage of the bill in +the Senate, the House of Representatives proceeded to its +consideration. The bill and the President's Veto Message having been +read, Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, demanded the previous question on the +passage of the bill, the objections of the President to the contrary +notwithstanding, and gave his reasons for so doing: "Mr. Speaker, the +debate which occurred on this bill occupied two weeks of the time of +this House. Some forty speeches were made, and the debate was not +brought to a close until all had been heard who expressed a desire to +speak upon the bill. At the close of that debate, the bill was passed +by more than two-thirds of this House. It has been returned to us with +the objections of the President to its becoming a law. I do not +propose to reöpen the discussion of this measure; I am disposed to +leave the close of this debate to the President by the message which +has just been read. I ask the friends of this great measure to answer +the argument and statements of that message by their votes." + +The vote was finally taken on the question, "Shall this bill pass, +notwithstanding the objections of the President?" The following is the +record of the vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Delos R. Ashley, James M. + Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, + Benjamin, Bidwell, Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, + Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, + Colfax, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis, Dawes, + Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Dodge, Donnelly, Eckley, + Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, + Grinnell, Griswold, Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, + Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. + Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. + Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, + Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, + William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, + McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, + Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, + Paine, Patterson, Perham, Pike, Plants, Pomeroy, Price, + Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, + Scofield, Shellabarger, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Thayer, + Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van + Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Elihu B. + Washburne, Henry D. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, + Wentworth, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and + Woodbridge--122. + + NAYS--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Coffroth, Dawson, + Dennison, Eldridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Aaron Harding, + Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, Latham, + Le Blond, Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, + Phelps, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, + Raymond, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, + Sitgreaves, Smith, Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, + Trimble, Whaley, Winfield, and Wright--41. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Ames, Anderson, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, + Chanler, Culver, Driggs, Dumont, Goodyear, Grider, Demas + Hubbard, Johnson, Jones, Julian, Kerr, Kuykendall, Sloan, + Stilwell, Warner, and Williams--21. + +The Speaker then made the following announcement: "The yeas are 122, +and the nays 41. Two-thirds of the House having, upon this +reconsideration, agreed to the passage of the bill, and it being +certified officially that a similar majority of the Senate, in which +the bill originated, also agreed to its passage, I do, therefore, by +the authority of the Constitution of the United States, declare that +this bill, entitled 'An act to protect all persons in the United +States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their +vindication,' has become a law." + +This announcement was followed by prolonged applause on the floor of +the House and among the throng of spectators in the galleries. + +The following is the form in which the great measure so long pending +became a law of the land: + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + all persons born in the United States and not subject to any + foreign Power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby + declared to be citizens of the United States; and such + citizens of every race and color, without regard to any + previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, + except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall + have been duly convicted, shall have the same right in every + State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce + contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to + inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and + personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws + and proceedings for the security of person and property as + is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like + punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any + law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the + contrary notwithstanding. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who, + under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or + custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected, any + inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of + any right secured or protected by this act, or to different + punishment, pains, or penalties on account of such person + having at any time been held in a condition of slavery or + involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime + whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or by + reason of his color or race, than is prescribed for the + punishment of white persons, shall be deemed guilty of a + misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be punished by a fine + not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding one + year, or both, in the discretion of the court. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the district + courts of the United States, within their respective + districts, shall have, exclusively of the courts of the + several States, cognizance of all crimes and offenses + committed against the provisions of this act, and also, + concurrently with the circuit courts of the United States, + of all causes, civil and criminal, affecting persons who are + denied or can not enforce in the courts or judicial + tribunals of the State or locality where they may be, any of + the rights secured to them by the first section of this act; + and if any suit or prosecution, civil or criminal, has been + or shall be commenced in any State court against any such + person, for any cause whatsoever, or against any officer, + civil or military, or other person, for any arrest or + imprisonment, trespasses or wrongs, done or committed by + virtue or under color of authority derived from this act or + the act establishing a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and + Refugees, and all acts amendatory thereof, or for refusing + to do any act upon the ground that it would be inconsistent + with this act, such defendant shall have the right to remove + such cause for trial to the proper district or circuit court + in the manner prescribed by the 'Act relating to _habeas + corpus_ and regulating judicial proceedings in certain + cases,' approved March 3, 1863, and all acts amendatory + thereof. The jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters + hereby conferred on the district and circuit courts of the + United States shall be exercised and enforced in conformity + with the laws of the United States, so far as such laws are + suitable to carry the same into effect; but in all cases + where such laws are not adapted to the object, or are + deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable + remedies and punish offenses against law, the common law, as + modified and changed by the constitution and statutes of the + States wherein the court having jurisdiction of the cause, + civil or criminal, is held, so far as the same is not + inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United + States, shall be extended to and govern said courts in the + trial and disposition of such cause, and, if of a criminal + nature, in the infliction of punishment on the party found + guilty. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the district + attorneys, marshals, and deputy-marshals of the United + States, the commissioners appointed by the circuit and + territorial courts of the United States, with powers of + arresting, imprisoning, or bailing offenders against the + laws of the United States, the officers and agents of the + Freedmen's Bureau, and every other officer who may be + specially empowered by the President of the United States, + shall be, and they are hereby, specially authorized and + required, at the expense of the United States, to institute + proceedings against all and every person who shall violate + the provisions of this act, and cause him or them to be + arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may be, for + trial before such court of the United States, or territorial + court, as by this act has cognizance of the offense. And + with a view to affording reasonable protection to all + persons in their constitutional rights of equality before + the law, without distinction of race or color, or previous + condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a + punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly + convicted, and to the prompt discharge of the duties of this + act, it shall be the duty of the circuit courts of the + United States and the superior courts of the Territories of + the United States, from time to time, to increase the number + of commissioners, so as to afford a speedy and convenient + means for the arrest and examination of persons charged with + a violation of this act. And such commissioners are hereby + authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the + powers and duties conferred on them by this act, and the + same duties with regard to offenses created by this act, as + they are authorized by law to exercise with regard to other + offenses against the laws of the United States. + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of all marshals and deputy-marshals to obey and execute + all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of + this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or + deputy-marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other + process when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently + to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be + fined in the sum of $1,000, to the use of the person upon + whom the accused is alleged to have committed the offense. + And the better to enable the said commissioners to execute + their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with + the Constitution of the United States and the requirements + of this act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, + within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing, + under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from + time to time, to execute all such warrants and other process + as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their + respective duties; and the persons so appointed to execute + any warrant or process as aforesaid, shall have authority to + summon and call to their aid the bystanders or the _posse + comitatus_ of the proper county, or such portion of the land + and naval forces of the United States, or the militia, as + may be necessary to the performance of the duty with which + they are charged, and to insure a faithful observance of the + clause of the Constitution which prohibits slavery, in + conformity with the provisions of this act; and said + warrants shall run and be executed by said officers anywhere + in the State or Territory within which they are issued. + + "SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who + shall knowingly and willfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent + any officer, or other person, charged with the execution of + any warrant or process issued under the provisions of this + act, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him or + them, from arresting any person for whose apprehension such + warrant or process may have been issued, or shall rescue or + attempt to rescue such person from the custody of the + officer, other person or persons, or those lawfully + assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested pursuant to the + authority herein given and declared, or who shall aid, abet, + or assist any person so arrested as aforesaid, directly or + indirectly, to escape from the custody of the officer or + other person legally authorized as aforesaid, or shall + harbor or conceal any person for whose arrest a warrant or + process shall have been issued as aforesaid, so as to + prevent his discovery and arrest after notice or knowledge + of the fact that a warrant has been issued for the + apprehension of such person, shall, for either of said + offenses, be subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000, and + imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and + conviction before the district court of the United States + for the district in which said offense may have been + committed, or before the proper court of criminal + jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized + Territories of the United States. + + "SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That the district + attorneys, the marshals, the deputies, and the clerks of the + said district and territorial courts shall be paid for their + services the like fees as may be allowed to them for similar + services in other cases; and in all cases where the + proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled + to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each + case, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and + examination. The person or persons authorized to execute the + process to be issued by such commissioners for the arrest of + offenders against the provisions of this act, shall be + entitled to a fee of five dollars for each person he or they + may arrest and take before any such commissioner as + aforesaid, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable + by such commissioner for such other additional services as + may be necessarily performed by him or them, such as + attending at the examination, keeping the prisoner in + custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his + detention, and until the final determination of such + commissioner, and in general for performing such other + duties as may be required in the premises; such fees to be + made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the + officers of the courts of justice within the proper district + or county, as near as may be practicable, and paid out of + the Treasury of the United States on the certificate of the + judge of the district within which the arrest is made, and + to be recoverable from the defendant as part of the judgment + in case of conviction. + + "SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That whenever the + President of the United States shall have reason to believe + that offenses have been or are likely to be committed + against the provisions of this act within any judicial + district, it shall be lawful for him, in his discretion, to + direct the judge, marshal, and district attorney of such + district to attend at such place within the district, and + for such time as he may designate, for the purpose of the + more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged with a + violation of this act; and it shall be the duty of every + judge or other officer, when any such requisition shall be + received by him, to attend at the place, and for the time + therein designated. + + "SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be + lawful for the President of the United States, or such + person as he may empower for that purpose, to employ such + part of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of + the militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the violation + and enforce the due execution of this act. + + "SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That upon all + questions of law arising in any cause under the provisions + of this act a final appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court + of the United States." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE SECOND FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL BECOMES A LAW. + + The Discovery of the Majority -- The Senate Bill -- The + House Bill -- Its Provisions -- Passage of the Bill -- + Amendment and Passage in the Senate -- Committee of + Conference -- The Amendments as Accepted -- The Bill as + Passed -- The Veto -- The Proposition of a Democrat Accepted + -- Confusion in Leadership -- Passage of the Bill over the + Veto -- It Becomes a Law. + + +Congress having succeeded in placing the Civil Rights Bill in the +statute-book in spite of Executive opposition, was not disposed to +allow other legislation which was regarded as important to go by +default. The disposition of the President, now plainly apparent, to +oppose all legislation which the party that had elevated him to office +might consider appropriate to the condition of the rebel States, the +majority in Congress discovered that, if they would make progress in +the work before them, they must be content to do without Executive +approval. The defection of the President from the principles of the +party which had elected him, so far from dividing and destroying that +party, had rather given it consolidation and strength. After the veto +of the Civil Rights Bill, a very few members of the Senate and House +of Representatives who had been elected as Republicans adhered to the +President, but the most of those who had wavered stepped forward into +the ranks of the "Radicals," as they were called, and a firm and +invincible "two-thirds" moved forward to consummate legislation which +they deemed essential to the interests of the nation. + +So fully convinced were the majority that some effective legislation +for the freedmen should be consummated, that two days after the final +vote in which the former bill failed to pass over the veto, Senator +Wilson introduced a bill "to continue in force the Bureau for the +relief of Freedmen and Refugees," which was read twice and referred to +the Committee on Military Affairs. + +The bill, however, which subsequently became a law, originated in the +House of Representatives. In that branch of Congress was a Special +Committee on the Freedmen, who were able to give more immediate and +continuous attention to that class of people than could committees +such as those of the Judiciary and Military Affairs, having many other +subjects to consider. + +The Committee on the Freedmen, having given much time and attention to +the perfection of a measure to meet the necessities of the case, on +the 22d of May reported through their chairman, Mr. Eliot, "A bill to +continue in force and amend an act entitled 'an act to establish a +Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees, and for other +purposes.'" + +This bill provided for keeping in force the Freedmen's Bureau then in +existence for two years longer. Some of the features to which the +President had objected in his veto of the former bill had been +modified and in part removed. In providing for the education of +freedmen, the commissioner was restricted to cooperating so far with +the charitable people of the country as to furnish rooms for +school-houses and protection to teachers. The freedmen's courts were +to be kept in existence till State legislation should conform itself +to the Civil Rights Bill, and the disturbed relations of the States to +the Union were restored. The President was required to reserve from +sale public lands, not exceeding in all one million of acres, in +Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, to be assigned +in parcels of forty acres and less to loyal refugees and freedmen. + +One week after the introduction of the bill, its consideration was +resumed. The question was taken without debate, and the bill passed by +a vote of ninety-six in favor and thirty-two against the measure. +Fifty-five members failed to vote. + +On the day following, May 30th, the clerk of the House conveyed the +bill to the Senate. It was there referred to the Committee on Military +Affairs, as that committee already had before them seven bills +relating to the same subject. Nearly a fortnight subsequently, the +committee reported back to the Senate the House bill with certain +amendments. The report of the committee, and the amendments proposed +therein, could not be considered in the Senate until the lapse of +another fortnight. On the 26th of June, the amendments devised by the +committee were read in the Senate and adopted. Mr. Davis made a number +of attempts to have the bill laid on the table or deferred to a +subsequent day, but without success. Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Buckalew +made ineffectual attempts to amend the bill by proposing to strike out +important sections. + +The Senate indulged in but little discussion of the bill or the +amendments. The bill as amended finally passed the Senate by a vote of +twenty-six for and six against the measure. The bill then went to the +House for the concurrence of that body in the amendments passed by the +Senate. + +The Committee on the Freedmen made a report, which was adopted by the +House, to non-concur in the amendments of the Senate. A Committee of +Conference was appointed on the part of the Senate and the House. +They, after consultation, made a report by which the Senate +amendments, with some modifications, were adopted. + +Mr. Eliot, Chairman of the Committee on the Freedmen, and of the +Committee of Conference on the part of the House, at the request of a +member, thus explained the amendments proposed by the Senate: "The +first amendment which the Senate made to the bill, as it was passed by +the House, was simply an enlargement of one of the sections of the +House bill, which provided that the volunteer medical officers engaged +in the medical department of the bureau might be continued, inasmuch +as it was expected that the medical force of the regular army would be +speedily reduced to the minimum, and in that case all the regular +officers would be wanted in the service. It was therefore thought +right that there should be some force connected with the Bureau of +Refugees and Freedmen. The Senate enlarged the provisions of the House +bill by providing that officers of the volunteer service now on duty +might be continued as assistant commissioners and other officers, and +that the Secretary of War might fill vacancies until other officers +could be detailed from the regular army. That is the substance of the +first material amendment. + +"The next amendment strikes out a portion of one of the sections of +the House bill, which related to the officers who serve as medical +officers of the bureau, because it was provided for in the amendment +to which I have just referred. + +"The next amendment strikes out from the House bill the section which +set apart, reserved from sale, a million acres of land in the Gulf +States. It may perhaps be recollected that when the bill was reported +from the committee, I stated that, in case the bill which the House +had then passed, and which was known as the Homestead Bill, and which +was then before the Senate, should become a law, this section of the +bill would not be wanted. The bill referred to has become a law, and +this section five, providing for that reservation, has, therefore, +been stricken from the bill. + +"The next amendment made by the Senate was to strike out a section of +the House bill which simply provided that upon application for +restoration by the former owners of the land assigned under General +Sherman's field order, the application should not be complied with. +That section is stricken out and another substituted for it, which +provides that certain lands which are now owned by the United States, +having been purchased by the United States under tax commissioners' +sales, shall be assigned in lots of twenty acres to freedmen who have +had allotments under General Sherman's field order, at the price for +which the lands were purchased by the United States; and not only that +those freedmen should have such allotments, but that other freedmen +who had had lots assigned to them under General Sherman's field order, +and who may have become dispossessed of their land, should have +assignments made to them of these lands belonging to the United +States. I think the justice of that provision will strike every one. +And it will be perhaps a merit in the eyes of many that it does not +call upon the Treasury for the expenditure of any money. In the bill +which was passed by the House, it will be recollected that there was a +provision under which there should be purchased by the commissioner of +the bureau enough public lands to be substituted for the lands at +first assigned to freedmen. Instead of that, provision is made by +which they can have property belonging to the United States which has +come into its possession under tax sales, and where the titles have +been made perfect by lapse of time. + +"The next amendment of the Senate provides that certain lands which +were purchased by the United States at tax sales, and which are now +held by the United States, should be sold at prices not less than ten +dollars an acre, and that the proceeds should be invested for the +support of schools, without distinction of color or race, on the +islands in the parishes of St. Helena and St. Luke. That is all the +provision which was made for education. + +"The only other material amendment made by the Senate gives to the +commissioner of the bureau power to take property of the late +Confederate States, held by them or in trust for them, and which is +now in charge of the commissioner of the bureau, to take that property +and devote it to educational purposes. The amendment further provides +that when the bureau shall cease to by the Senate and House of +Representatives of the United States of America in exist, such of the +late so-called Confederate States as shall have made provision for +education, without regard to color, should have the balance of money +remaining on hand, to be divided among them in proportion to their +population." + +The vote followed soon after the remarks of Mr. Eliot, and the bill, +as amended, passed the House of Representatives. + +The following is the bill as it went to the President for his +approval: + + "AN ACT to continue in force and to amend 'An Act to + establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' + and for other purposes. + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + the act to establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and + refugees, approved March third, eighteen hundred and + sixty-five, shall continue in force for the term of two + years from and after the passage of this act. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That the supervision + and care of said bureau shall extend to all loyal refugees + and freedmen, so far as the same shall be necessary, to + enable them, as speedily as practicable, to become + self-supporting citizens of the United States, and to aid + them in making the freedom conferred by proclamation of the + commander-in-chief, by emancipation under the laws of + States, and by constitutional amendment, available to them + and beneficial to the republic. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the President + shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, + appoint two assistant commissioners, in addition to those + authorized by the act to which this is an amendment, who + shall give like bonds and receive the same annual salaries + provided in said act; and each of the assistant + commissioners of the bureau shall have charge of one + district containing such refugees or freedmen, to be + assigned him by the commissioner, with the approval of the + President. And the commissioner shall, under the direction + of the President, and so far as the same shall be, in his + judgment, necessary for the efficient and economical + administration of the affairs of the bureau, appoint such + agents, clerks, and assistants as may be required for the + proper conduct of the bureau. Military officers or enlisted + men may be detailed for service and assigned to duty under + this act; and the President may, if, in his judgment, safe + and judicious so to do, detail from the army all the + officers and agents of this bureau; but no officer so + assigned shall have increase of pay or allowances. Each + agent or clerk, not heretofore authorized by law, not being + a military officer, shall have an annual salary of not less + than five hundred dollars, nor more than twelve hundred + dollars, according to the service required of him. And it + shall be the duty of the commissioner, when it can be done + consistently with public interest, to appoint, as assistant + commissioners, agents, and clerks, such men as have proved + their loyalty by faithful service in the armies of the Union + during the rebellion. And all persons appointed to service + under this act, and the act to which this is an amendment, + shall be so far deemed in the military service of the United + States as to be under the military jurisdiction and entitled + to the military protection of the Government while in + discharge of the duties of their office. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That officers of the + Veteran Reserve Corps or of the volunteer service, now on + duty in the Freedmen's Bureau as assistant commissioners, + agents, medical officers, or in other capacities, whose + regiments or corps have been or may hereafter be mustered + out of service, may be retained upon such duty as officers + of said bureau, with the same compensation as is now + provided by law for their respective grades; and the + Secretary of War shall have power to fill vacancies until + other officers can be detailed in their places without + detriment to the public service. + + "SEC. 5. _And he it further enacted_, That the second + section of the act to which this is an amendment shall be + deemed to authorize the Secretary of War to issue such + medical stores or other supplies, and transportation, and + afford such medical or other aid as may be needful for the + purposes named in said section: _Provided_, That no person + shall be deemed 'destitute,' 'suffering,' or 'dependent upon + the Government for support,' within the meaning of this act, + who is able to find employment, and could, by proper + industry or exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or + dependence. + + "SEC. 6. Whereas, by the provisions of an act approved + February sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, entitled + 'An act to amend an act entitled "An act for the collection + of direct taxes in insurrectionary districts within the + United States, and for other purposes," approved June + seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,' certain lands in + the parishes of Saint Helena and Saint Luke, South Carolina, + were bid in by the United States at public tax sales, and, + by the limitation of said act, the time of redemption of + said lands has expired; and whereas, in accordance with + instructions issued by President Lincoln on the sixteenth + day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, to the + United States direct tax commissioners for South Carolina, + certain lands bid in by the United States in the parish of + Saint Helena, in said State, were in part sold by the said + tax commissioners to 'heads of families of the African + race,' in parcels of not more than twenty acres to each + purchaser; and whereas, under the said instructions, the + said tax commissioners did also set apart as 'school-farms' + certain parcels of land in said parish, numbered in their + plats from one to sixty-three inclusive, making an aggregate + of six thousand acres, more or less: _Therefore, be it + further enacted_, That the sales made to 'heads of families + of the African race,' under the instructions of President + Lincoln to the United States direct tax commissioners for + South Carolina, of date of September sixteenth, eighteen + hundred and sixty-three, are hereby confirmed and + established; and all leases which have been made to such + 'heads of families' by said direct tax commissioners shall + be changed into certificates of sale in all cases wherein + the lease provides for such substitution; and all the lands + now remaining unsold, which come within the same + designation, being eight thousand acres, more or less, shall + be disposed of according to said instructions. + + "SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That all other lands + bid in by the United States at tax sales, being thirty-eight + thousand acres, more or less, and now in the hands of the + said tax commissioners as the property of the United States, + in the parishes of Saint Helena and Saint Luke, excepting + the 'school-farms,' as specified in the preceding section, + and so much as may be necessary for military and naval + purposes at Hilton Head, Bay Point, and Land's End, and + excepting also the city of Port Royal, on Saint Helena + island, and the town of Beaufort, shall be disposed of in + parcels of twenty acres, at one dollar and fifty cents per + acre, to such persons, and to such only, as have acquired + and are now occupying lands under and agreeably to the + provisions of General Sherman's special field order, dated + at Savannah, Georgia, January sixteenth, eighteen hundred + and sixty-five; and the remaining lands, if any, shall be + disposed of, in like manner, to such persons as had acquired + lands agreeably to the said order of General Sherman, but + who have been dispossessed by the restoration of the same to + former owners: _Provided_, That the lands sold in compliance + with the provisions of this and the preceding section shall + not be alienated by their purchasers within six years from + and after the passage of this act. + + "SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That the + 'school-farms' in the parish of Saint Helena, South + Carolina, shall be sold, subject to any leases of the same, + by the said tax commissioners, at public auction, on or + before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and + sixty-seven, at not less than ten dollars per acre; and the + lots in the city of Port Royal, as laid down by the said tax + commissioners, and the lots and houses in the town of + Beaufort, which are still held in like manner, shall be sold + at public auction; and the proceeds of said sales, after + paying expenses of the surveys and sales, shall be invested + in United States bonds, the interest of which shall be + appropriated, under the direction of the commissioner, to + the support of schools, without distinction of color or + race, on the islands in the parishes of Saint Helena and + Saint Luke. + + "SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That the assistant + commissioners for South Carolina and Georgia are hereby + authorized to examine the claims to lands in their + respective States which are claimed under the provisions of + General Sherman's special field order, and to give each + person having a valid claim a warrant upon the direct tax + commissioners for South Carolina for twenty acres of land; + and the said direct tax commissioners shall issue to every + person, or to his or her heirs, but in no case to any + assigns, presenting such warrant, a lease of twenty acres of + land, as provided for in section seven, for the term of six + years; but, at any time thereafter, upon the payment of a + sum not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per acre, the + person holding such lease shall be entitled to a certificate + of sale of said tract of twenty acres from the direct tax + commissioner or such officer as may be authorized to issue + the same; but no warrant shall be held valid longer than two + years after the issue of the same. + + "SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That the direct tax + commissioners for South Carolina are hereby authorized and + required, at the earliest day practicable, to survey the + lands designated in section seven into lots of twenty acres + each, with proper metes and bounds distinctly marked, so + that the several tracts shall be convenient in form, and, as + near as practicable, have an average of fertility and + woodland; and the expense of such surveys shall be paid from + the proceeds of sales of said lands, or, if sooner required, + out of any moneys received for other lands on these islands, + sold by the United States for taxes, and now in the hands of + the direct tax commissioners. + + "SEC. 11. _And be it further enacted_, That restoration of + the lands now occupied by persons under General Sherman's + special field order, dated at Savannah, Georgia, January + sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, shall not be + made until after the crops of the present year shall have + been gathered by the occupants of said lands, nor until a + fair compensation shall have been made to them by the former + owners of said lands, or their legal representatives, for + all improvements or betterments erected or constructed + thereon, and after due notice of the same being done shall + have been given by the assistant commissioner. + + "SEC. 12. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioner + shall have power to seize, hold, use, lease, or sell, all + buildings and tenements, and any lands appertaining to the + same, or otherwise, held under claim or title by the late + so-called Confederate States, and any buildings or lands + held in trust for the same by any person or persons, and to + use the same or appropriate the proceeds derived therefrom + to the education of the freed people; and whenever the + bureau shall cease to exist, such of the late so-called + Confederate States as shall have made provision for the + education of their citizens, without distinction of color, + shall receive the sum remaining unexpended of such sales or + rentals, which shall be distributed among said States for + educational purposes in proportion to their population. + + "SEC. 13. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioner + of this bureau shall at all times coöperate with private + benevolent associations of citizens in aid of freedmen, and + with agents and teachers, duly accredited and appointed by + them, and shall hire or provide by lease buildings for + purposes of education whenever such associations shall, + without cost to the Government, provide suitable teachers + and means of instruction; and he shall furnish protection as + may be required for the safe conduct of such schools. + + "SEC. 14. _And be it further enacted_, That in every State + or district where the ordinary course of judicial + proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until + the same shall be fully restored, and in every State or + district whose constitutional relations to the Government + have been practically discontinued by the rebellion, and + until such State shall have been restored in such relations, + and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United + States, the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be + parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, + sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to + have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings + concerning personal liberty, personal security, and the + acquisition, enjoyment, and disposition of estate, real and + personal, including the constitutional right to bear arms, + shall be secured to and enjoyed by all the citizens of such + State or district, without respect to race or color, or + previous condition of slavery. And whenever in either of + said States or districts the ordinary course of judicial + proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until + the same shall be fully restored, and until such State shall + have been restored in its constitutional relations to the + Government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of + the United States, the President, shall, through the + commissioner and the officers of the bureau, and under such + rules and regulations as the President, through the + Secretary of War, shall prescribe, extend military + protection and have military jurisdiction over all cases and + questions concerning the free enjoyment of such immunities + and rights; and no penalty or punishment for any violation + of law shall be imposed or permitted because of race or + color, or previous condition of slavery, other or greater + than the penalty or punishment to which white persons may be + liable by law for the like offense. But the jurisdiction + conferred by this section upon the officers of the bureau + shall not exist in any State where the ordinary course of + judicial proceedings has not been interrupted by the + rebellion, and shall cease in every State when the courts of + the State and the United States are not disturbed in the + peaceable course of justice, and after such State shall be + fully restored in its constitutional relations to the + Government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of + the United States. + + "SEC. 15. _And be it further enacted_, That the officers, + agents, and employees of this bureau, before entering upon + the duties of their office, shall take the oath prescribed + in the first section of the act to which this is an + amendment; and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with + the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. + +On the 16th of July the President returned the bill to the House of +Representatives, in which it originated, with his "objections thereto" +in writing. The following is + + THE VETO MESSAGE. + + "_To the House of Representatives:_ + + "A careful examination of the bill passed by the two houses + of Congress, entitled 'An act to continue in force and to + amend "An act to establish a bureau for the relief of + freedmen and refugees," and for other purposes,' has + convinced me that the legislation which it proposes would + not be consistent with the welfare of the country, and that + it falls clearly within the reasons assigned in my message + of the 19th of February last, returning without my signature + a similar measure which originated in the Senate. It is not + my purpose to repeat the objections which I then urged. They + are yet fresh in your recollection, and can be readily + examined as a part of the records of one branch of the + National Legislature. Adhering to the principles set forth + in that message, I now reäffirm them, and the line of policy + therein indicated. + + "The only ground upon which this kind of legislation can be + justified is that of the war-making power. The act of which + this bill was intended as amendatory was passed during the + existence of the war. By its own provisions, it is to + terminate within one year from the cessation of hostilities + and the declaration of peace. It is therefore yet in + existence, and it is likely that it will continue in force + as long as the freedmen may require the benefit of its + provisions. It will certainly remain in operation as a law + until some months subsequent to the meeting of the next + session of Congress, when, if experience shall make evident + the necessity of additional legislation, the two houses will + have ample time to mature and pass the requisite measures. + In the mean time the questions arise, Why should this war + measure be continued beyond the period designated in the + original act? and why, in time of peace, should military + tribunals be created to continue until each 'State shall be + fully restored in its constitutional relations to the + Government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of + the United States?' It was manifest with respect to the act + approved March 3, 1865, that prudence and wisdom alike + required that jurisdiction over all cases concerning the + free enjoyment of the immunities and rights of citizenship, + as well as the protection of person and property, should be + conferred upon some tribunal in every State or district + where the ordinary course of judicial proceeding was + interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same should be + fully restored. At that time, therefore, an urgent necessity + existed for the passage of some such law. Now, however, war + has substantially ceased; the ordinary course of judicial + proceedings is no longer interrupted; the courts, both State + and Federal, are in full, complete, and successful + operation, and through them every person, regardless of race + or color, is entitled to and can be heard. The protection + granted to the white citizen is already conferred by law + upon the freedman; strong and stringent guards, by way of + penalties and punishments, are thrown around his person and + property, and it is believed that ample protection will be + afforded him by due process of law, without resort to the + dangerous expedient of 'military tribunals,' now that the + war has been brought to a close. The necessity no longer + existing for such tribunals, which had their origin in the + war, grave objections to their continuance must present + themselves to the minds of all reflecting and dispassionate + men. Independently of the danger in representative republics + of conferring upon the military, in time of peace, + extraordinary powers--so carefully guarded against by the + patriots and statesmen of the earlier days of the republic, + so frequently the ruin of governments founded upon the same + free principle, and subversive of the rights and liberties + of the citizen--the question of practical economy earnestly + commends itself to the consideration of the law-making + power. With an immense debt already burdening the incomes of + the industrial and laboring classes, a due regard for their + interests, so inseparably connected with the welfare of the + country, should prompt us to rigid economy and retrenchment, + and influence us to abstain from all legislation that would + unnecessarily increase the public indebtedness. Tested by + this rule of sound political wisdom, I can see no reason for + the establishment of the 'military jurisdiction' conferred + upon the officials of the bureau by the fourteenth section + of the bill. + + "By the laws of the United States, and of the different + States, competent courts, Federal and State, have been + established, and are now in full practical operation. By + means of these civil tribunals ample redress is afforded for + all private wrongs, whether to the person or to the property + of the citizen, without denial or unnecessary delay. They + are open to all, without regard to color or race. I feel + well assured that it will be better to trust the rights, + privileges, and immunities of the citizens to tribunals thus + established, and presided over by competent and impartial + judges, bound by fixed rules of law and evidence, and where + the rights of trial by jury is guaranteed and secured, than + to the caprice and judgment of an officer of the bureau, + who, it is possible, may be entirely ignorant of the + principles that underlie the just administration of the law. + There is danger, too, that conflict of jurisdiction will + frequently arise between the civil courts and these military + tribunals, each having concurrent jurisdiction over the + person and the cause of action--the one judicature + administered and controlled by civil law, the other by the + military. How is the conflict to be settled, and who is to + determine between the two tribunals when it arises? In my + opinion it is wise to guard against such conflict by leaving + to the courts and juries the protection of all civil rights + and the redress of all civil grievances. + + "The fact can not be denied that since the actual cessation + of hostilities many acts of violence--such, perhaps, as had + never been witnessed in their previous history--have + occurred in the States involved in the recent rebellion. I + believe, however, that public sentiment will sustain me in + the assertion that such deeds of wrong are not confined to + any particular State or section, but are manifested over the + entire country--demonstrating that the cause that produced + them does not depend upon any particular locality, but is + the result of the agitation and derangement incident to a + long and bloody civil war. While the prevalence of such + disorders must be greatly deplored, their occasional and + temporary occurrence would seem to furnish no necessity for + the extension of the bureau beyond the period fixed in the + original act. Besides the objections which I have thus + briefly stated, I may urge upon your consideration the + additional reason that recent developments in regard to the + practical operations of the bureau, in many of the States, + show that in numerous instances it is used by its agents as + a means of promoting their individual advantage, and that + the freedmen are employed for the advancement of the + personal ends of the officers instead of their own + improvement and welfare--thus confirming the fears + originally entertained by many that the continuation of such + a bureau for any unnecessary length of time would inevitably + result in fraud, corruption, and oppression. + + "It is proper to state that in cases of this character + investigations have been promptly ordered, and the offender + punished, whenever his guilt has been satisfactorily + established. As another reason against the necessity of the + legislation contemplated by this measure, reference may be + had to the 'Civil Rights Bill,' now a law of the land, and + which will be faithfully executed as long as it shall remain + unrepealed, and may not be declared unconstitutional by + courts of competent jurisdiction. By that act, it is enacted + 'that all persons born in the United States, and not subject + to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are + hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and + such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to + any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, + except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall + have been duly convicted, shall have the same right in every + State and Territory of the United States, to make and + enforce contracts, to sue, to be parties, and give evidence, + to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and + personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws + and proceedings for the security of person and property, as + is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like + punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any + law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the + contrary notwithstanding.' + + "By the provisions of the act full protection is afforded, + through the district courts of the United States, to all + persons injured, and whose privileges, as they are declared, + are in any way impaired, and heavy penalties are denounced + against the person who willfully violates the law. I need + not state that that law did not receive my approval, yet its + remedies are far preferable to those proposed in the present + bill--the one being civil and the other military. + + "By the sixth section of the bill herewith returned, certain + proceedings by which the lands in the 'parishes of St. + Helena and St. Luke, South Carolina,' were sold and bid in, + and afterward disposed of by the tax commissioners, are + ratified and confirmed. By the seventh, eighth, ninth, + tenth, and eleventh sections, provisions by law are made for + the disposal of the lands thus acquired to a particular + class of citizens. While the quieting of titles is deemed + very important and desirable, the discrimination made in the + bill seems objectionable, as does also the attempt to confer + upon the commissioners judicial powers, by which citizens of + the United States are to be deprived of their property in a + mode contrary to that provision of the Constitution which + declares that no person 'shall be deprived of life, liberty, + or property, without due process of law.' As a general + principle, such legislation is unsafe, unwise, partial, and + unconstitutional. It may deprive persons of their property + who are equally deserving objects of the nation's bounty, as + those whom, by this legislation, Congress seeks to benefit. + The title to the land thus to be proportioned out to a + favored class of citizens must depend upon the regularity of + the tax sale under the law as it existed at the time of the + sale, and no subsequent legislation can give validity to the + rights thus acquired against the original claimants. The + attention of Congress is therefore invited to a more mature + consideration of the measures proposed in these sections of + the bill. + + "In conclusion, I again urge upon Congress the danger of + class legislation, so well calculated to keep the public + mind in a state of uncertain expectation, disquiet, and + restlessness, and to encourage interested hopes and fears + that the National Government will continue to furnish to + classes of citizens, in the several States, means for + support and maintenance, regardless of whether they pursue a + life of indolence or labor, and regardless, also, of the + constitutional limitations of the national authority in + times of peace and tranquillity. + + "The bill is herewith returned to the House of + Representatives, in which it originated, for its final + action. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON. + + "WASHINGTON, D. C., _July_ 16, 1866." + +As soon as the reading of this document had been completed, a motion +was passed that it should be laid on the table and printed. Notice was +given that it would be called up for the action of the House on the +following day. Mr. Le Blond, a Democrat, suggested that it would be +too long to wait until to-morrow to pass it over the veto, and without +debate. The sooner action was taken, the more apparent would be the +bad _animus_. + +"I have no objection," said Mr. Eliot, taking him at his word. Others +said, "There is no objection," whereupon the vote was reconsidered by +which the matter was postponed. + +The motion to reconsider the postponement was carried, and the +previous question called, "Shall this bill become a law, the +objections of the President to the contrary notwithstanding?" + +"I do not see why we need be in such a hurry," said Mr. Rogers. + +"One of your own side suggested that the vote better be taken now," +replied Mr. Ashley. + +"Well, he was not in earnest, of course," said Mr. Rogers, creating +some mirth by the remark. + +"I hope the gentleman will make no objection," said Mr. Le Blond, +addressing his remark to Mr. Rogers. + +Mr. Ward suggested that "the Democrats should choose their leader, and +not confuse us in this way." + +Without further parley, the vote was one hundred and four in the +affirmative, thirty-three in the negative, and forty-five "not +voting." The Speaker then announced, "Two-thirds having voted in the +affirmative, the bill has, notwithstanding the objections of the +President, again passed." + +The Clerk of the House of Representatives immediately announced the +action of that body to the Senate. Other business was at once laid +aside, and the Veto Message was read in the Senate. + +Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Saulsbury then addressed the Senate in support +of the position of the President. The question being taken, +thirty-three voted for and twelve against the bill. Thereupon the +President _pro tempore_ announced, "Two-thirds of this body have +passed the bill, and it having been certified that two-thirds of the +House of Representatives have voted for this bill, I now pronounce +that this bill has become a law." + +[Illustration: Hon. Eben C. Ingersoll, Representative from Illinois.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FIRST WORDS ON RECONSTRUCTION. + + Responsibility of the Republican Party -- Its Power and + Position -- Initiatory Step -- Mr. Stevens steaks for + Himself -- Condition of the Rebel States -- Constitutional + Authority under which Congress should act -- Estoppel -- + What constitutes Congress -- The First Duty -- Basis of + Representation -- Duty on Exports -- Two important + Principles -- Mr. Raymond's Theory -- Rebel States still in + the Union -- Consequences of the Radical Theory -- + Conditions to be Required -- State Sovereignty -- Rebel Debt + -- Prohibition of Slavery -- Two Policies contrasted -- + Reply of Mr. Jenckes -- Difference in Terms, not in + Substance -- Logic of the Conservatives leads to the Results + of the Radicals. + + +Having traced the progress through Congress of the great measures +relating to civil rights and protection of the freedmen, it is now +proper to go back to an earlier period in this legislative history, +and trace what was said and done upon a subject which, more than any +other, awakened the interest and solicitude of the American +people--the subject of _Reconstruction_. + +The Republican party had a majority of more than one hundred in the +House, and after all its losses, retained more than two thirds of the +Senate. As a consequence of this great preponderance of power, the +party possessing it was justly held responsible for the manner in +which the country should pass the important political crisis +consequent upon the termination of the war in the overthrow of the +rebellion. + +It became an important question for members of the Republican party in +Congress to determine among themselves what line of policy they should +pursue. + +The appointment of the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction, +was every-where regarded by the constituents of the majority as a most +happy initiatory step. The whole country listened with eagerness to +hear what words would be spoken in Congress to give some clue to the +course the committee would recommend. Words of no uncertain +significance and weight were uttered at an early period in the +session. + +On the 18th of December, a fortnight after the opening of the session, +Mr. Stevens announced his opinions on reconstruction with great +boldness and distinctness. At the same time, seeing himself much in +advance of many of his party, and fearing lest his opinions might +alarm the less resolute, he declared: "I do not profess to speak their +sentiments, nor must they be held responsible for them." + +Mr. Stevens opened his speech with remarks on the condition of the +rebel States. He said: "The President assumes, what no one doubts, +that the late rebel States have lost their constitutional relations to +the Union, and are incapable of representation in Congress, except by +permission of the Government. It matters but little, with this +admission, whether you call them States out of the Union, and now +conquered territories, or assert that because the Constitution forbids +them to do what they did do, that they are, therefore, only dead as to +all national and political action, and will remain so until the +Government shall breathe into them the breath of life anew and permit +them to occupy their former position. In other words, that they are +not out of the Union, but are only dead carcasses lying within the +Union. In either case, it is very plain that it requires the action of +Congress to enable them to form a State government and send +Representatives to Congress. Nobody, I believe, pretends that with +their old constitutions and frames of government they can be permitted +to claim their old rights under the Constitution. They have torn their +constitutional States into atoms, and built on their foundations +fabrics of a totally different character. Dead men can not raise +themselves. Dead States can not restore their own existence 'as it +was.' Whose especial duty is it to do it? In whom does the +Constitution place the power? Not in the judicial branch of +Government, for it only adjudicates and does not prescribe laws. Not +in the Executive, for he only executes and can not make laws. Not in +the commander-in-chief of the armies, for he can only hold them under +military rule until the sovereign legislative power of the conqueror +shall give them law. + +"There is fortunately no difficulty in solving the question. There are +two provisions in the Constitution, under one of which the case must +fall. The fourth article says: 'New States may be admitted by the +Congress into this Union.' In my judgment, this is the controlling +provision in this case. Unless the law of nations is a dead letter, +the late war between two acknowledged belligerents severed their +original compacts, and broke all the ties that bound them together. +The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the +conqueror. They must come in as new States or remain as conquered +provinces. Congress--the Senate and House of Representatives, with the +concurrence of the President--is the only power that can act in the +matter. But suppose, as some dreaming theorists imagine, that these +States have never been out of the Union, but have only destroyed their +State governments so as to be incapable of political action, then the +fourth section of the fourth article applies, which says, 'The United +States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form +of government.' Who is the United States? Not the judiciary; not the +President; but the sovereign power of the people, exercised through +their Representatives in Congress, with the concurrence of the +Executive. It means the political Government--the concurrent action of +both branches of Congress and the Executive. The separate action of +each amounts to nothing either in admitting new States or guaranteeing +republican governments to lapsed or outlawed States. Whence springs +the preposterous idea that either the President, or the Senate, or the +House of Representatives, acting separately, can determine the right +of States to send members or Senators to the Congress of the Union?" + +Mr. Stevens then cited authorities to prove that "if the so-called +Confederate States of America were an independent belligerent, and +were so acknowledged by the United States and by Europe, or had +assumed and maintained an attitude which entitled them to be +considered and treated as a belligerent, then, during such time, they +were precisely in the condition of a foreign nation with whom we were +at war; nor need their independence as a nation be acknowledged by us +to produce that effect." + +Having read from a number of authorities to support his position, Mr. +Stevens continued: "After such clear and repeated decisions, it is +something worse than ridiculous to hear men of respectable standing +attempting to nullify the law of nations, and declare the Supreme +Court of the United States in error, because, as the Constitution +forbids it, the States could not go out of the Union in fact. A +respectable gentleman was lately reciting this argument, when he +suddenly stopped and said: 'Did you hear of that atrocious murder +committed in our town? A rebel deliberately murdered a Government +official.' The person addressed said, 'I think you are mistaken.' 'How +so? I saw it myself.' 'You are wrong; no murder was or could be +committed, for the law forbids it.' + +"The theory that the rebel States, for four years a separate power and +without representation in Congress, were all the time here in the +Union, is a good deal less ingenious and respectable than the +metaphysics of Berkeley, which proved that neither the world nor any +human being was in existence. If this theory were simply ridiculous it +could be forgiven; but its effect is deeply injurious to the stability +of the nation. I can not doubt that the late Confederate States are +out of the Union to all intents and purposes for which the conqueror +may choose so to consider them." + +Mr. Stevens further maintained that the rebel States should be +adjudged out of the Union on the ground of estoppel. "They are +estopped," said he, "both by matter of record and matter _in pais_. +One of the first resolutions passed by seceded South Carolina in +January, 1861, is as follows: + + "_Resolved, unanimously_, That the separation of South + Carolina from the Federal Union is final, and she has no + further interest in the Constitution of the United States; + and that the only appropriate negotiations between her and + the Federal Government are as to their mutual relations as + foreign States." + +"Similar resolutions appear upon all their State and Confederate +Government records. The speeches of their members of Congress, their +generals and executive officers, and the answers of their Government +to our shameful suings for peace, went upon the defiant ground that no +terms would be offered or received except upon the prior +acknowledgment of the entire and permanent independence of the +Confederate States. After this, to deny that we have a right to treat +them as a conquered belligerent, severed from the Union in fact, is +not argument but mockery. Whether it be our interest to do so is the +only question hereafter and more deliberately to be considered. + +"But suppose these powerful but now subdued belligerents, instead of +being out of the Union, are merely destroyed, and are now lying about, +a dead corpse, or with animation so suspended as to be incapable of +action, and wholly unable to heal themselves by any unaided movements +of their own. Then they may fall under the provision of the +Constitution which says, "the United States shall guarantee to every +State in the Union a republican form of government." Under that power, +can the judiciary, or the President, or the commander-in-chief of the +army, or the Senate or House of Representatives, acting separately, +restore them to life and reädmit them into the Union? I insist that if +each acted separately, though the action of each was identical with +all the others, it would amount to nothing. Nothing but the joint +action of the two houses of Congress and the concurrence of the +President could do it. If the Senate admitted their Senators, and the +House their members, it would have no effect on the future action of +Congress. The Fortieth Congress might reject both. Such is the ragged +record of Congress for the last four years." + +He cited a decision of the Supreme Court to show that "it rests with +Congress to decide what government is the established one in a State," +and then remarked: "But Congress does not mean the Senate, or the +House of Representatives, and President, all acting severally. Their +joint action constitutes Congress. Hence a law of Congress must be +passed before any new State can be admitted or any dead ones revived. +Until then, no member can be lawfully admitted into either house. +Hence, it appears with how little knowledge of constitutional law each +branch is urged to admit members separately from these destroyed +States. The provision that "each house shall be the judge of the +elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members," has not +the most distant bearing on this question. Congress must create States +and declare when they are entitled to be represented. Then each house +must judge whether the members presenting themselves from a recognized +State possesses the requisite qualifications of age, residence, and +citizenship, and whether the election and returns are according to +law. The houses separately can judge of nothing else. + +"It is obvious from all this, that the first duty of Congress is to +pass a law declaring the condition of these outside or defunct States, +and providing proper civil government for them. Since the conquest, +they have been governed by martial law. Military rule is necessarily +despotic, and ought not to exist longer than is absolutely necessary. +As there are no symptoms that the people of these provinces will be +prepared to participate in constitutional government for some years, I +know of no arrangement so proper for them as territorial government. +There they can learn the principles of freedom and eat the fruit of +foul rebellion. Under such governments, while electing members to the +territorial legislatures, they will necessarily mingle with those to +whom Congress shall extend the right of suffrage. In territories +Congress fixes the qualifications of electors, and I know of no better +place nor better occasion for the conquered rebels and the conqueror +to practice justice to all men and accustom themselves to make and +obey equal laws." + +Mr. Stevens proceeded to specify amendments to the Constitution which +should be made before the late rebel States "would be capable of +acting in the Union." The first of those amendments would be to change +the basis of representation among the States from federal numbers to +actual voters. After explaining the operation of this amendment, he +depicted the consequences of reädmitting the Southern States without +this guarantee. "With the basis unchanged," said he, "the eighty-three +Southern members, with the Democrats that will in the best of times be +elected from the North, will always give them the majority in Congress +and in the Electoral College. They will, at the very first election, +take possession of the White House and the halls of Congress. I need +not depict the ruin that would follow. Assumption of the rebel debt or +repudiation of the Federal debt would be sure to follow; the +oppression of the freedmen, the reämendment of their State +constitutions, and the reëstablishment of slavery would be the +inevitable result." + +Mr. Stevens thus set forth the importance of a proposed amendment to +allow Congress to lay a duty on exports: "Its importance can not well +be overstated. It is very obvious that for many years the South will +not pay much under our internal revenue laws. The only article on +which we can raise any considerable amount is cotton. It will be grown +largely at once. With ten cents a pound export duty, it would be +furnished cheaper to foreign markets than they could obtain it from +any other part of the world. The late war has shown that. Two million +bales exported, at five hundred pounds to the bale, would yield +$100,000,000. This seems to be the chief revenue we shall ever derive +from the South. Besides, it would be a protection to that amount to +our domestic manufactures. Other proposed amendments--to make all laws +uniform, to prohibit the assumption of the rebel debt--are of vital +importance, and the only thing that can prevent the combined forces of +copper-heads and secessionists from legislating against the interests +of the Union whenever they may obtain an accidental majority. + +"But this is not all that we ought to do before these inveterate +rebels are invited to participate in our legislation. We have turned, +or are about to turn, loose four million slaves, without a hut to +shelter them or a cent in their pockets. The infernal laws of slavery +have prevented them from acquiring an education, understanding the +commonest laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary business of +life. This Congress is bound to provide for them until they can take +care of themselves. If we do not furnish them with homesteads, and +hedge them around with protective laws; if we leave them to the +legislation of their late masters, we had better have left them in +bondage. Their condition would be worse than that of our prisoners at +Andersonville. If we fail in this great duty now, when we have the +power, we shall deserve and receive the execration of history and of +all future ages. + +"Two things are of vital importance: 1. So to establish a principle +that none of the rebel States shall be counted in any of the +amendments of the Constitution until they are duly admitted into the +family of States by the law-making power of their conqueror. For more +than six months the amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery +has been ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States +that acted on its passage by Congress, and which had Legislatures, or +which were States capable of acting, or required to act, on the +question. + +"I take no account of the aggregation of whitewashed rebels, who, +without any legal authority, have assembled in the capitals of the +late rebel States and simulated legislative bodies. Nor do I regard +with any respect the cunning by-play into which they deluded the +Secretary of State by frequent telegraphic announcements that 'South +Carolina had adopted the amendment,' 'Alabama has adopted the +amendment, being the twenty-seventh State,' etc. This was intended to +delude the people and accustom Congress to hear repeated the names of +these extinct States as if they were alive, when, in truth, they have +now no more existence than the revolted cities of Latium, two-thirds +of whose people were colonized, and their property confiscated, and +their rights of citizenship withdrawn by conquering and avenging +Rome." + +A second thing of vital importance to the stability of this republic, +Mr. Stevens asserted to be "that it should now be solemnly decided +what power can revive, recreate, and reinstate these provinces into +the family of States, and invest them with the rights of American +citizens. It is time that Congress should assert its sovereignty, and +assume something of the dignity of a Roman senate. It is fortunate +that the President invites Congress to take this manly attitude. After +stating, with great frankness, in his able message, his theory--which, +however, is found to be impracticable, and which, I believe, very few +now consider tenable--he refers the whole matter to the judgment of +Congress. If Congress should fail firmly and wisely to discharge that +high duty, it is not the fault of the President." + +Mr. Stevens closed his speech by setting the seal of reprobation upon +a doctrine which is becoming too fashionable, that "this is a white +man's Government." He uttered a severe rebuke to those who thus +"mislead and miseducate the public mind." + +There were some Republicans in Congress who disagreed with Mr. Stevens +in his theory of the condition of the late rebel States, yet no one +ventured immediately, to use a contemporary expression, "to take the +Radical bull by the horns." + +At length, three days afterward, Mr. Raymond, as a representative of +the "Conservatives," ventured a reply. He thus set forth his theory as +in opposition to that of Mr. Stevens: "I can not believe that these +States have ever been out of the Union, or that they are now out of +the Union. I can not believe that they ever have been, or are now, in +any sense a separate power. If they were, sir, how and when did they +become so? They were once States of this Union--that every one +concedes; bound to the Union and made members of the Union by the +Constitution of the United States. If they ever went out of the Union, +it was at some specific time and by some specific act. Was it by the +ordinance of secession? I think we all agree that an ordinance of +secession passed by any State of this Union is simply a nullity, +because it encounters in its practical operation the Constitution of +the United States, which is the supreme law of the land. It could have +no legal, actual force or validity. It could not operate to effect any +actual change in the relations of the States adopting it to the +National Government, still less to accomplish the removal of that +State from the sovereign jurisdiction of the Constitution of the +United States. + +"Well, sir, did the resolutions of these States, the declarations of +their officials, the speeches of members of their Legislatures, or the +utterances of their press accomplish the result? Certainly not. They +could not possibly work any change whatever in the relations of these +States to the General Government. All their ordinances and all their +resolutions were simply declarations of a purpose to secede. Their +secession, if it ever took place, certainly could not date from the +time when their intention to secede was first announced. After +declaring that intention, they proceeded to carry it into effect. How? +By war. By sustaining their purpose by arms against the force which +the United States brought to bear against it. Did they sustain it? +Were their arms victorious? If they were, then their secession was an +accomplished fact; if not, it was nothing more than an abortive +attempt, a purpose unfulfilled. This, then, is simply a question of +fact, and we all know what the fact is. They did not succeed. They +failed to maintain their ground by force of arms; in other words, they +failed to secede. + +"But the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] insists that they +did secede, and that this fact is not in the least affected by the +other fact that the Constitution forbids secession. He says that the +law forbids murder, but that murders are, nevertheless, committed. But +there is no analogy between the two cases. If secession had been +accomplished; if these States had gone out, and overcome the armies +that tried to prevent their going out, then the prohibition of the +Constitution could not have altered the fact. In the case of murder +the man is killed, and murder is thus committed in spite of the law. +The fact of killing is essential to the committal of the crime, and +the fact of going out is essential to secession. But in this case +there was no such fact. I think I need not argue any further the +position that the rebel States have never for one moment, by any +ordinances of secession, or by any successful war, carried themselves +beyond the rightful jurisdiction of the Constitution of the United +States. They have interrupted for a time the practical enforcement and +exercise of that jurisdiction; they rendered it impossible for a time +for this Government to enforce obedience to its laws; but there has +never been an hour when this Government, or this Congress, or this +House, or the gentleman from Pennsylvania himself, ever conceded that +those States were beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution and laws +of the United States." + +Referring to the citation of authorities made by Mr. Stevens, Mr. +Raymond maintained that they did not lend the "slightest countenance +to the inference which was drawn from them." + +In reply to the theory maintained by Mr. Stevens, that States +forfeited their State existence by the fact of rebellion, Mr. Raymond +said: "I do not see how there can be any such forfeiture involved or +implied. The individual citizens of those States went into the +rebellion. They thereby incurred certain penalties under the laws and +Constitution of the United States. What the States did was to endeavor +to interpose their State authority between the individuals in +rebellion and the Government of the United States, which assumed, and +which would carry out the assumption, to declare those individuals +traitors for their acts. The individuals in the States who were in +rebellion, it seems to me, were the only parties who, under the +Constitution and laws of the United States, could incur the penalties +of treason. I know of no law, I know of nothing in the Constitution of +the United States, I know of nothing in any recognized or established +code of international law, which can punish a State as a State for any +act it may perform. It is certain that our Constitution assumes +nothing of the kind. It does not deal with States, except in one or +two instances, such as elections of members of Congress and the +election of electors of President and Vice-President. + +"Indeed, the main feature which distinguishes the Union under the +Constitution from the old Confederation is this: that whereas the old +Confederation did deal with States directly, making requisitions upon +them for supplies and relying upon them for the execution of its laws, +the Constitution of the United States, in order to form a more perfect +Union, made its laws binding on the individual citizens of the several +States, whether living in one State or in another. Congress, as the +legislative branch of this Government, enacts a law which shall be +operative upon every individual within its jurisdiction. It is binding +upon each individual citizen, and if he resists it by force, he is +guilty of a crime, and is punished accordingly, any thing in the +constitution or laws of his State to the contrary notwithstanding. But +the States themselves are not touched by the laws of the United States +or by the Constitution of the United States. A State can not be +indicted; a State can not be tried; a State can not be hung for +treason. The individuals in a State may be so tried and hung, but the +State as an organization, as an organic member of the Union, still +exists, whether its individual citizens commit treason or not." + +Mr. Raymond subsequently cited some of the consequences which he +thought must follow the acceptance of the position assumed by Mr. +Stevens. "If," said Mr. Raymond, "as he asserts, we have been waging +war with an independent Power, with a separate nation, I can not see +how we can talk of treason in connection with our recent conflict, or +demand the execution of Davis or any body else as a traitor. Certainly +if we were at war with any other foreign Power, we should not talk of +the treason of those who were opposed to us in the field. If we were +engaged in a war with France, and should take as prisoner the Emperor +Napoleon, certainly we could not talk of him as a traitor or as liable +to execution. I think that by adopting any such assumption as that of +the honorable gentleman, we surrender the whole idea of treason and +the punishment of traitors. I think, moreover, that we accept, +virtually and practically, the doctrine of State sovereignty, the +right of a State to withdraw from the Union, and to break up the Union +at its own will and pleasure. + +"Another of the consequences of this doctrine, as it seems to me, +would be our inability to talk of loyal men in the South. Loyal to +what? Loyal to a foreign, independent Power, as the United States +would become under those circumstances? Certainly not. Simply disloyal +to their own Government, and deserters, or whatever you may choose to +call them, from that to which they would owe allegiance, to a foreign +and independent State. + +"Now, there is another consequence of the doctrine which I shall not +dwell upon, but simply suggest. If that confederacy was an independent +Power, a separate nation, it had the right to contract debts; and we, +having overthrown and conquered that independent Power, according to +the theory of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, would become the +successors, the inheritors, of its debts and assets, and we must pay +them." + +Mr. Raymond set forth his theory of the conditions and relations of +the late rebel States in the following language: "I certainly do not +think these States are to be dealt with by us as provinces--as simply +so much territory--held to us by no other ties than those of conquest. +I think we are to deal with them as States having State governments, +still subject to the jurisdiction of the Constitution and laws of the +United States, still under the constitutional control of the National +Government; and that in our dealings with them we are to be guided and +governed, not simply by our sovereign will and pleasure as conquerors, +but by the restrictions and limitations of the Constitution of the +United States, precisely as we are restrained and limited in our +dealings with all other States of the American Union." + +In answer to the question how we are to deal with the late rebel +States, Mr. Raymond remarked: "I think we have a full and perfect +right to require certain conditions in the nature of guarantees for +the future, and that right rests, primarily and technically, on the +surrender we may and must require at their hands. The rebellion has +been defeated. A defeat always implies a surrender, and, in a +political sense, a surrender implies more than the transfer of the +arms used on the field of battle. It implies, in the case of civil +war, a surrender of the principles and doctrines, of all the weapons +and agencies, by which the war has been carried on. The military +surrender was made on the field of battle, to our generals, as the +agents and representatives of the Commander-in-chief of the armies of +the United States. + +"Now, there must be at the end of the war, a similar surrender on the +political field of controversy. That surrender is due as an act of +justice from the defeated party to the victorious party. It is due, +also, and we have a right to exact it, as a guarantee for the future. +Why do we demand the surrender of their arms by the vanquished in +every battle? We do it that they may not renew the contest. Why do we +seek, in this and all similar cases, a surrender of the principles for +which they fought? It is that they may never again be made the basis +of controversy and rebellion against the Government of the United +States. + +"Now, what are those principles which should be thus surrendered? The +principle of State sovereignty is one of them. It was the corner-stone +of the rebellion--at once its animating spirit and its fundamental +basis. Deeply ingrained as it was in the Southern heart, it must be +surrendered. The ordinances in which it was embodied must not only be +repealed, the principle itself must be abandoned, and the ordinances, +so far as this war is concerned, be declared null and void, and that +declaration must be embodied in their fundamental constitutions." + +The speech was here interrupted by Mr. Bingham, who insisted that the +adoption of the principle in the State constitutions would not be +sufficient guarantee. Adoption in the Constitution of the United +States was essential to its permanent effective force. + +Mr. Raymond thought the Constitution of the United States as plain as +possible in its declaration against the doctrine of State sovereignty. +If any more explicit denial could be got into the Constitution, he +would favor it. + +"Another thing," said Mr. Raymond, "to be surrendered by the defeated +rebellion is the obligation to pay the rebel war debt. We have the +right to require this repudiation of their debt, because the money +represented by that debt was one of the weapons with which they +carried on the war against the Government of the United States. + +"There is another thing which we have the right to require, and that +is the prohibition of slavery. We have the right to require them to do +this, not only in their State constitutions, but in the Constitution +of the United States. And we have required it, and it has been +conceded. They have also conceded that Congress may make such laws as +may be requisite to carry that prohibition into effect, which includes +such legislation as may be required to secure for them protection of +their civil and personal rights--their 'right to life, liberty, and +the pursuit of happiness.'" + +Mr. Spalding having inquired whether there was any limit to the right +to make these requisitions, except the good judgment of Congress, Mr. +Raymond answered: + +"My impression is that these requisitions are made as a part of the +terms of surrender which we have a right to demand at the hands of the +defeated insurgents, and that it belongs, therefore, to the President, +as Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, to +make them, and to fix the limit, as to what they shall embrace." + +By way of setting forth the opinions of the "Radicals" in as strong a +light as possible, Mr. Raymond said: "It may be for the welfare of +this nation that we shall cherish toward the millions of our people +lately in rebellion feelings of hatred and distrust; that we shall +nurse the bitterness their infamous treason has naturally and justly +engendered, and make that the basis of our future dealings with them. +Possibly we may best teach them the lessons of liberty, by visiting +upon them the worst excesses of despotism. Possibly they may best +learn to practice justice toward others, to admire and emulate our +republican institutions, by suffering at our hands the absolute rule +we denounce in others. It may be best for us and for them that we +discard, in all our dealings with them, all the obligations and +requirements of the Constitution, and assert as the only law for them +the unrestrained will of conquerors and masters." + +In contrast with this, he placed what he supposed to be a different +policy: "I would exact from them, or impose upon them through the +constitutional legislation of Congress, and by enlarging and +extending, if necessary, the scope and powers of the Freedmen's +Bureau, proper care and protection for the helpless and friendless +freedmen, so lately their slaves. I would exercise a rigid scrutiny +into the character and loyalty of the men whom they may send to +Congress, before I allowed them to participate in the high prerogative +of legislating for the nation. But I would seek to allay rather than +stimulate the animosities and hatred, however just they may be, to +which the war has given rise. But for our own sake as well as for +theirs, I would not visit upon them a policy of confiscation which has +been discarded in the policy and practical conduct of every civilized +nation on the face of the globe." + +Mr. Raymond having closed his speech, it was moved that the Committee +of the Whole should rise, but the motion was withdrawn to allow Mr. +Jenckes, of Rhode Island, five minutes for reply. He said: "The +gentleman states, and properly, that every act or ordinance of +secession was a nullity. Undoubtedly it was. Upon that question of law +we do not disagree. But he seems to me to overlook entirely what was +the state of facts from the time of the passage of the ordinances of +secession until the time of the surrender of Lee's army. During that +period what were the relations which all that territory--I will not +use the term States, but all that territory--between the Potomac and +the Rio Grande sustained to the Government of the United States? Who +could see States there for any purpose for which legislation was +required by the Constitution of the United States? + +"At the time of the passage of the ordinance of secession, States were +organized there, in existence, in action, known to the Constitution +and the constitutional authorities under it. But were they loyal? Did +they obey the Constitution of the United States? This is a question +that needs no answer other than that which is conveyed to every mind +by the recollection of the last four years of war, with their +expenditure of treasure and blood. Those States were not destroyed, in +the technical language of the law--they simply died out. As their +Governors passed out of office, as the terms of their legislatures +expired, who knew those facts? None but themselves. And yet, behind +this grand cordon of armies, stretching from here to the Rio Grande, +there were States in existence, organized as States, but States in +rebellion, occupying the territory belonging to the people of the +United States. They were not acting in concert with this Government, +but against it. That, Mr. Chairman, is a matter of fact. My eyes are +not dimmed or blinded by the parchment upon which constitutions or +laws are written. I, like the men who carried the bayonets and planted +the cannon, recognize the fact that was before us during all this +time. There was a state of rebellion. There were in that part of our +territory no States known to our Constitution or the laws that we +enact, or the officers whose duty it is to enforce those laws. + +"I recognize, too, the next fact. Bear in mind, I am simply stating +now what I conceive to be the facts. The question as to what may be +the law can be reserved for discussion on another occasion. I +recognize fully the duties of the Executive. And it was the duty of +the President of the United States, as the head of the civil and +military power of this great republic--not 'empire;' God forbid that +this country should ever be so designated with applause or even with +toleration--to beat down armed opposition to it, whether it came from +a foreign power or from domestic insurrection. That was the duty of +the President, and he recognized it; and it was not the duty of any +one in this Congress to gainsay it. It was written on the face of the +Constitution that the President was to see that the laws should be +faithfully executed, and the power of this republic maintained, and he +did so. + +"The next fact--the fact which seems to me to be the one most +pertinent for consideration now--is that the military power which was +opposed to this Government has been destroyed. It was the duty of the +Executive to see that this was done, and to report to the Congress of +the United States that it has been done. But what then? Then there +comes the third question of fact, intimately connected with the last, +and hardly separable from it, because it requires the immediate action +of the Executive and of Congress. All the power that existed in the +shape of Confederated States behind rebel bayonets and fortifications +has fallen to the earth. The territory which these States in rebellion +occupied was the property of the people of the United States, and +never could be taken from us. I hold it to be a question of public +law, worthy of consideration by the representatives of the American +people, by the President and the Administration generally, to +ascertain what existed in the shape of civil constitutions and laws +behind the military government that has been overthrown. I hesitate +not to say, here or elsewhere, that the Executive of this Government +has done his duty in this matter. All conquering nations, when they +overcome a rebellious people by overthrowing their military power, +look, as did the Government of Great Britain when it had overcome the +mutiny in India, to see what government of a civil kind has existed or +may exist from custom among the people who are conquered. I see no +reason in this view to discriminate between the argument of the +gentleman from Pennsylvania and the argument of the gentleman from New +York. It seems to me, that if they will look at the particular +questions which are now before us, and which require our action, the +differences would be in terms and not in substance." + +The people of the predominant party generally acquiesced in the +opinion of Mr. Jenckes, as expressed in the conclusion of his remarks +as above presented. They conceived that the difference between the +various views of the whole question was "one of details and not of +essence." The question of reconstruction was purely practical. All +shades of opinion in the Republican party blended in this: that the +States in question were not to be restored until satisfactory pledges +were given to the United States. All speculation or attempt at +argument in reference to their abstract condition was consequently +superfluous--"a pernicious abstraction," in the language of Mr. +Lincoln. + +If some were not prepared to accept the deductions of Mr. Stevens, yet +accepting the logic of Mr. Raymond, they would be carried almost as +far. The latter held that the citizens of those States were defeated +insurgents who must submit to any conditions of surrender imposed by +the victorious commander. Certain concessions could be rightfully +demanded as parts of their surrender and conditions of their +restoration. Their acquiescence had been required in a constitutional +amendment affecting the great social and industrial interests of +Southern society. After this none could deny the right, whatever might +be the expediency, of requiring their assent to other amendments +bearing upon the political structure of the Southern States. + +Some of the predominant party were willing to stop short in their +demands upon the rebel States with requiring acceptance of the +emancipation amendment, repudiation of the rebel debt, legal +protection of freedmen, and revocation of the ordinances of secession. +The majority, however, were disposed to go still further, and demand +other conditions and guarantees which should become a part of the +fundamental law of the land. This was the practical work of +reconstruction for which the Joint Committee of Fifteen was preparing +the way, and upon which Congress was soon to enter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BASIS OF REPRESENTATION--IN THE HOUSE. + + First work of the Joint Committee -- The joint resolution + proposing a constitutional amendment -- Mr. Stevens' reasons + for speedy action -- Protracted discussion commenced -- + Objections to the bill by Mr. Rogers -- Defense by Mr. + Conkling -- Two other modes -- How States might evade the + Law -- Not a finality -- Wisconsin and South Carolina -- + Amendment for Female Suffrage proposed -- Orth on Indiana + and Massachusetts -- Obscuration of the sun -- More Radical + remedy desired -- A Kentuckian gratified -- Citations from + the Census -- Premium for Treason -- White Slaves -- Power + to amend well-nigh exhausted -- Objections to the Suffrage + Basis -- "Race" and "Color" ambiguous -- Condition of the + Question -- Recommitted -- Final passage. + + +Although the Joint Committee of Fifteen were assiduous in their +attention to the work assigned them, it was not until the 22d of +January, 1866, that they were ready to make a partial report and +recommend a practical measure for the consideration of Congress. + +On that day Mr. Fessenden, of the Senate, and Mr. Stevens, of the +House of Representatives, brought before those bodies respectively a +partial report from the committee, recommending the passage of the +following joint resolution: + + _Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the + United States of America in Congress assembled_, (two-thirds + of both houses concurring,) That the following article be + proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an + amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, + when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, + shall be valid as part of said Constitution, namely: + + ARTICLE--. Representatives and direct taxes shall be + apportioned among the several States which may be included + within this Union according to their respective numbers, + counting the whole number of persons in each State, + excluding Indians not taxed: _Provided_, That whenever the + elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State + on account of race or color, all persons of such race or + color shall be excluded from the basis of representation. + +In the Senate this subject was laid over, and was not reached for +several days, as the Freedmen's Bureau Bill was then under discussion. + +The subject was pressed upon the attention of the House for immediate +action. Mr. Stevens had no intention to make a speech, since the +question had been under consideration by every member for the last six +weeks. He remarked, however: "There are twenty-two States whose +Legislatures are now in session, some of which will adjourn within two +or three weeks. It is very desirable, if this amendment is to be +adopted, that it should go forth to be acted upon by the Legislatures +now in session. It proposes to change the present basis of +representation to a representation upon all persons, with the proviso +that wherever any State excludes a particular class of persons from +the elective franchise, that State to that extent shall not be +entitled to be represented in Congress. It does not deny to the States +the right to regulate the elective franchise as they please; but it +does say to a State, 'If you exclude from the right of suffrage +Frenchmen, Irishmen, or any particular class of people, none of that +class of persons shall be counted in fixing your representation in +this House. You may allow them to vote or not, as you please; but if +you do allow them to vote, they will be counted and represented here; +while if you do not allow them to vote, no one shall be authorized to +represent them here; they shall be excluded from the basis of +representation.'" + +As indicative of the apparent harmony of sentiments prevailing on the +question, Mr. Wilson said that the Committee on the Judiciary had +determined to report a proposition substantially identical with that +offered by Mr. Stevens. + +It was deemed important to have the joint resolution passed as soon as +possible, that it might go before the State Legislatures then in +session for their ratification before their adjournment. The member +who had the measure in charge desired, after one or two speeches on +either side, to have the question put to vote, and have the resolution +passed before the sun went down. Such action, however, seemed to the +House too hasty, and a discussion of the measure was entered upon, +which ran through many days. + +Mr. Rogers, a member of the committee, offered a minority report, and +addressed the House in opposition to the proposed amendment of the +Constitution. He thus presented his view of the object of the measure +proposed: "It appears to have in its body, in its soul, and in its +life only one great object and aim; that is, to debase and degrade the +white race, and to place upon a higher footing than the white men are +placed, under the Constitution, this African race. It is a proposition +to change the organic law of the land with regard to one of the +fundamental principles which was laid down by our fathers at the +formation of the Constitution as an axiom of civil and political +liberty, that taxation and representation should always go together. +If gentlemen will examine this proposed amendment of the Constitution, +they will see that it is in violation of that great doctrine which was +proclaimed by the fathers of the republic when they enunciated the +Declaration of Independence, and protested against the tyranny and +despotism of England, because she attempted to tax the people of the +colonies without allowing them representation in the councils of the +kingdom. The amendment now under consideration proposes the very same +identical thing that the Parliament of England proposed when it +attempted to inflict upon the American colonies taxation without +allowing the people of the colonies to have representatives in the +Parliament of England to represent them upon the question whether they +should be taxed by the mother country or not. + +"The first objection I have to the passage of this joint resolution +is, that it is violative of the main principle upon which the +Revolutionary War was conducted, and which induced our fathers to +enter the harbors of Boston and New York and throw the tea into the +water. Because the British people attempted to inflict taxation upon +them with regard to that tea, and refused to allow them representation +in the Parliament of England, our fathers rebelled against their +mother country. What has come over the fortunes and happiness of the +people of this country that the great principle of the Constitution +should now be violated, that principle for which our fathers spilt +their blood to sustain, the great axiom of American liberty, that +taxation never should be imposed upon a people unless that people have +a corresponding representation? If this amendment to the Constitution +should be carried into effect, it will prevent any State, North or +South, from allowing qualified suffrage to its colored population, +except upon forfeiture of representation; and if qualified suffrage +should be allowed to the colored population of any State in this +Union, on account of race of color, and but one single negro should be +deprived of his vote by failure to meet the requirements of the +qualification imposed, that State would be denied representation for +the whole of that colored population--men, women, and children. + +"More than that: this bill attempts, in an indirect manner, to have +passed upon, by the Legislatures of the different States, a question +which the party in power dare not boldly and openly meet before the +people of this country, because there can be but one object lying at +the foundation of this bill--an object which has been explained and +expatiated upon in this House--and that object, as I have said, is, +through the Federal power, to force the States to adopt unqualified +negro suffrage, by holding over them the penalty of being deprived of +representation according to population. + +"But I object to this joint resolution upon another ground--upon the +same ground that I objected to the passage of the Negro Suffrage Bill +for the District of Columbia--without consulting the people. It has +been said in this country that all power emanates from the people. And +I say that to submit this grave question to the consideration and +decision of partisan Legislatures in the different States--Legislatures +which were elected without any regard to this question--is violative +of the great principles which lie at the foundations of the liberties +of this country; that no organic law, affecting the whole people, +should be passed before submitting it to the people for their +ratification or rejection. Now this joint resolution proposes simply +to submit this amendment for ratification to the Legislatures of the +different States. The Legislatures are not the States; the +Legislatures are not the people in their sovereign capacity; +Legislatures are not the source from which all power emanates. But the +people, the _sacred people_, in the exercise of their sovereign power, +either at the ballot-box or in conventions, are the only true and +proper forum to which such grave and serious questions should be +submitted. + +"I maintain that the Constitution of the United States, as it now +exists, is not as liberal toward the Southern States, now that slavery +has been abolished, as it was before the abolition of slavery. Why, +sir, in the days of the past, under our Constitution, the Southern +States have been allowed a representation for a population that was +not classed as citizens or people; they were allowed a representation +for people who had no political _status_ in the State; persons who +were not entitled even to exercise the right of coming into a court of +civil justice as a plaintiff or defendant in the prosecution or +defense of a suit. + +"Now, after the raging fires of war have swept from the domain of +every State in the South the pernicious institution of slavery; after +the result has been that every slave has received his freedom; after +the slaves have gained more by the success of this war than any other +class of people in the United States, white men, men who are the +representatives of the white race, come here proposing to compel the +States, on pain of being deprived of a portion of their +representation, to allow all the negroes within their limits to vote, +without regard to qualification or any thing else, while under the +same provision the State may, by its organic law, impose +qualifications and conditions upon the exercise of the right of +suffrage by the white population. The proposed amendment to the +Constitution undertakes to consolidate the power in the Federal +Government. It throws out a menace to the States, and the inevitable +result of the passage would be to induce every State in the Union to +adopt unqualified negro suffrage, so as not to deprive them of the +great and inestimable right of representation for that class of +population in the halls of the legislation of the United States." + +Mr. Conkling, also a member of the Reconstruction Committee, made an +argument in favor, of the proposed amendment: "Emancipation vitalizes +only natural rights, not political rights. Enfranchisement alone +carries with it political rights, and these emancipated millions are +no more enfranchised now than when they were slaves. They never had +political power. Their masters had a fraction of power as masters. But +there are no masters now. There are no slaves now. The whole +relationship in which the power originated and existed is gone. Does +this fraction of power still survive? If it does, what shall become of +it? Where is it to go? + +"We are told the blacks are unfit to wield even a fraction of power, +and must not have it. That answers the whole question. If the answer +be true, it is the end of controversy. There is no place, logically, +for this power to go, save to the blacks; if they are unfit to have +it, the power would not exist. It is a power astray, without a +rightful owner. It should be resumed by the whole nation at once. It +should not exist; it does not exist. This fractional power is +extinct. + +"A moral earthquake has turned fractions into units, and units into +ciphers. If a black man counts at all now, he counts five-fifths of a +man, not three-fifths. Revolutions have no such fractions in their +arithmetic; war and humanity join hands to blot them out. Four +millions, therefore, and not three-fifths of four millions, are to be +reckoned in here now, and all these four millions are, and are to be, +we are told, unfit for political existence. + +"Did the framers of the Constitution ever dream of this? Never, very +clearly. Our fathers trusted to gradual and voluntary emancipation, +which would go hand in hand with education and enfranchisement. They +never peered into the bloody epoch when four million fetters would be +at once melted off in the fires of war. They never saw such a vision +as we see. Four millions, each a Caspar Hauser, long shut up in +darkness, and suddenly led out into the full flash of noon, and each, +we are told, too blind to walk, politically. No one foresaw such an +event, and so no provision was made for it. The three-fifths rule gave +the slaveholding States, over and above all their just representation, +eighteen Representatives beside, by the enumeration of 1860. + +"The new situation will enable those States, when relationships are +resumed, to claim twenty-eight Representatives beside their just +proportion. Twenty-eight votes to be cast here and in the Electoral +College for those held not fit to sit as jurors, not fit to testify in +court, not fit to be plaintiff in a suit, not fit to approach the +ballot-box! Twenty-eight votes to be more or less controlled by those +who once betrayed the Government, and for those so destitute, we are +assured, of intelligent instinct as not to be fit for free agency! + +"Shall all this be? Shall four million beings count four millions, in +managing the affairs of the nation, who are pronounced by their +fellow-beings unfit to participate in administering government in the +States where they live, or in their counties, towns, or precincts; who +are pronounced unworthy of the least and most paltry part in local +political affairs? Shall one hundred and twenty-seven thousand white +people in New York cast but one vote in this House, and have none but +one voice here, while the same number of white people in Mississippi +have three votes and three voices? Shall the death of slavery add +two-fifths to the entire power which slavery had when slavery was +living? Shall one white man have as much share in the Government as +three other white men merely because he lives where blacks outnumber +whites two to one? Shall this inequality exist, and exist only in +favor of those who without cause drenched the land with blood and +covered it with mourning? Shall such be the reward of those who did +the foulest and guiltiest act which crimsons the annals of recorded +time? No, sir; not if I can help it." + +Two other modes of meeting the case had been considered by the +committee, namely: _First_, To make the basis of representation in +Congress and the Electoral College consist of sufficiently qualified +voters alone; _Second_, To deprive the States of the power to +disqualify or discriminate politically on account of race or color. + +After presenting some reasons why the committee saw proper to +recommend neither of these plans, Mr. Conkling further argued in favor +of the proposed amendment: "It contains but one condition, and that +rests upon a principle already imbedded in the Constitution, and as +old as free government itself. That principle I affirmed in the +beginning; namely, that representation does not belong to those who +have not political existence, but to those who have. The object of the +amendment is to enforce this truth. It therefore provides that +whenever any State finds within its borders a race of beings unfit for +political existence, that race shall not be represented in the Federal +Government. Every State will be left free to extend or withhold the +elective franchise on such terms as it pleases, and this without +losing any thing in representation if the terms are impartial as to +all. Qualifications of voters may be required of any kind--qualifications +of intelligence, of property, or of any sort whatever, and yet no loss +of representation shall thereby be suffered. But whenever in any +State, and so long as a race can be found which is so low, so bad, so +ignorant, so stupid, that it is deemed necessary to exclude men from +the right to vote merely because they belong to that race, in that +case the race shall likewise be excluded from the sum of Federal power +to which the State is entitled. If a race is so vile or worthless that +to belong to it is alone cause of exclusion from political action, the +race is not to be counted here in Congress." + +Mr. Conkling maintained that the pending proposition commended itself +for many reasons. "_First._ It provides for representation coëxtensive +with taxation. I say it provides for this; it does not certainly +secure it, but it enables every State to secure it. It does not, +therefore, as the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Rogers] insists, +violate the rule that representation should go with taxation. If a +race in any State is kept unfit to vote, and fit only to drudge, the +wealth created by its work ought to be taxed. Those who profit by such +a system, or such a condition of things, ought to be taxed for it. Let +them build churches and school-houses, and found newspapers, as New +York and other States have done, and educate their people till they +are fit to vote. 'Fair play,' 'A fair day's wages for a fair day's +work,' 'Live and let live'--these mottoes, if blazoned over the +institutions of a State, will insure it against being cursed for any +length of time with inhabitants so worthless that they are fit only +for beasts of burden. I have said that the amendment provides for +representation going hand in hand with taxation. That is its first +feature. + +"_Second._ It brings into the basis both sexes and all ages, and so it +counteracts and avoids, as far as possible, the casual and +geographical inequalities of population. + +"_Third._ It puts every State on an equal footing in the requirement +prescribed. + +"_Fourth._ It leaves every State unfettered to enumerate all its +people for representation or not, just as it pleases. + +"Thus every State has the sole control, free from all interference, of +its own interests and concerns. No other State, nor the General +Government, can molest the people of any State on the subject, or even +inquire into their acts or their reasons, but all the States have +equal rights. If New York chooses to count her black population as +political persons, she can do so. If she does not choose to do so, the +matter is her own, and her rights can not be challenged. So of South +Carolina. But South Carolina shall not say, 'True, we have less than +three hundred thousand "persons" in this State, politically speaking, +yet we will have, in governing the country, the power of seven hundred +thousand persons.' + +"The amendment is common to all States and equal for all; its +operation will, of course, be practically only in the South. No +Northern State will lose by it, whether the Southern States extend +suffrage to blacks or not. Even New York, in her great population, has +so few blacks that she could exclude them all from enumeration and it +would make no difference in her representation. If the amendment is +adopted, and suffrage remains confined as it is now, taking the census +of 1860 as the foundation of the calculation, and the number of +Representatives as it then stood, the gains and losses would be these: +Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, +Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maine would gain one Representative +each, and New York would gain three; Alabama, Kentucky, North +Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee would each lose one; Georgia, +Louisiana, and Virginia would each lose two, and Mississippi would +lose three." + +On the following day, January 23d, the proposed joint resolution came +up in the regular order of business. + +Mr. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, feared that a construction might be put +upon the bill which would be fatal to its efficiency for the purposes +had in view by its friends. He said: "It says nothing about the +qualification of property. Suppose this amendment is adopted by +three-fourths of the States, and becomes a part of the fundamental law +of the land, and after its adoption the State of South Carolina should +reinstate the constitution of 1790, striking out the word 'white' and +reëstablishing the property qualification of fifty acres of land, or +town lots, or the payment of a tax, there would then be no +discrimination of color in the State of South Carolina, yet the number +of electors would not be enlarged five hundred, and the basis of +representation would be exactly as it is, with the addition of +two-fifths of the enfranchised freedmen. A Representative to this +House would be reëlected by the same voting constituency as now, +perhaps with the addition of five hundred black men in the State. If +it bears this construction, and I believe it does, I shall vote +against it. + +"If any of the States should establish property qualification based +upon lands, then the same oligarchy would be enthroned on the whole +basis of representation, entitled to a larger number of +Representatives than now in this House, and elected by a slightly +enlarged number of qualified electors, giving power more firmly to +that very aristocracy we have sought to overthrow." + +A number of queries were propounded, several amendments proposed, and +a considerable desire for discussion expressed, until Mr. Stevens, +much disappointed at the reception the measure met in the House, +withdrew the demand for the previous question, and left the subject +open for unlimited debate. + +Mr. Blaine, of Maine, addressed the House, detailing some objections +to the measure. He said: "While I shall vote for the proposition, I +shall do so with some reluctance unless it is amended, and I do not +regret, therefore, that the previous question was not sustained. I am +egotistic enough to believe that the phraseology of the original +resolution, as introduced by me, was better than that employed in the +pending amendment. The phrase 'civil or political rights or +privileges,' which I employed, is broader and more comprehensive than +the term 'elective franchise,' for I fear, with the gentleman from +Illinois, [Mr. Farnsworth,] that under the latter phrase the most +vicious evasions might be practiced. As that gentleman has well said, +they might make suffrage depend on ownership of fifty acres of land, +and then prohibit any negro holding real estate; but no such mockery +as this could be perpetrated under the provisions of the amendment as +I originally submitted it." + +In relation to taxation, Mr. Blaine remarked: "Now, I contend that +ordinary fair play--and certainly we can afford fair play where it +does not cost any thing--calls for this, namely, that if we exclude +them from the basis of representation they should be excluded from the +basis of taxation. Ever since this Government was founded, taxation +and representation have always gone hand in hand. If we shall exclude +the principle in this amendment, we will be accused of a narrow, +illiberal, mean-spirited, and money-grasping policy. More than that, +we do not gain any thing by it. What kind of taxation, is distributed +according to representation? Direct taxation. Now, we do not have any +direct taxation. There has been but twenty millions of direct taxation +levied for the last fifty years. That tax was levied in 1861, and was +not collected, but distributed among the States and held in the +Treasury Department as an offset to the war claims of the States; so +that, as a matter of fact, we are putting an offensive discrimination +in this proposition and gaining nothing by it except obloquy." + +Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, said: "It follows, as a logical +conclusion, that if men have no voice in the National Government, +other men should not sit in this hall pretending to represent them. +And it is equally clear that an oppressed race should not lend power +to their oppressors, to be used in their name and for their +destruction. It is a mockery to say that a man's agent shall be his +enemy, and shall be appointed without his consent and against his +desire, and by other enemies. + +"In fact, I can not see how any Northern man can vote against this +measure, unless he wishes to perpetuate an injustice to his section, +because the effect of it will clearly be to increase the +representation of the North and decrease that of the South; and this, +too, upon a basis of undoubted justice. It means simply that those who +do not take part in the Government shall not be represented in the +Government." + +Mr. Donnelly did not, however, regard the proposed amendment as "a +grand panacea for all the ills that affect the nation." He would vote +for the law, "not as a finality, but as a partial step as one of a +series of necessary laws." Said he, "When we vote for this measure, it +must be because we think it right and necessary, not that it may +furnish us with an excuse for failing to do all other right and +necessary things expected of us by the people. We must take direct, +not sidelong measures. We must make laws, not arguments. We must +enforce, not induce. + +"To pass this law and then hope that South Carolina, moved by the hope +of future power, would do justice to the negro, is absurd. She has +291,300 whites and 412,406 negroes. To pass such a law would be for +the governing power to divest itself of the government and hand it +over to a subject and despised caste, and that, too, for a faint hope +of some future advantage that might never be realized under the most +favorable circumstances, and certainly could never be realized by the +aspiring class abdicating and relinquishing power. The same is true, +more or less, of all the South. In Mississippi there are 353,901 +whites, and 436,631 negroes; and in all the States the negro vote +would be large enough to turn the scale against the disloyal party." + +Mr. Sloan, of Wisconsin, thus presented the practical workings of the +"Constitution as it is:" "Look at the practical operation of the +question we are discussing to-day. In the State I represent there are +eight hundred thousand free white people loyal to the Constitution, +who have done their whole duty in sustaining their Government during +this terrible war. The bones of our soldiers are moldering in the soil +of every rebel State. They have stood around our flag in the deadly +hail of every battle of the war. The State of Wisconsin has six +Representatives on this floor. South Carolina has three hundred +thousand white inhabitants, disloyal, who have done all in their power +to overthrow and destroy the Government, and yet, sir, under the +Constitution as it now stands, the three hundred thousand disloyal +white inhabitants of South Carolina will exercise as much political +power in the Government as the eight hundred thousand loyal people of +the State of Wisconsin." + +Mr. Sloan called attention to a proposition which he had submitted to +the preceding Congress, providing that the right of representation +should be based upon the right of suffrage--upon the numbers allowed +the right to vote in the respective States. + +In answer to a supposed objection to this plan, that "there might be +some inequality in the representation of the respective States," he +said: "We all know that the young men of the old States go out in +large numbers to settle in the new States and Territories, while the +women and children do not emigrate to so great an extent, and hence +there would be a larger number of voters in the new States in +proportion to population than in the old. And yet this is a +consideration which, in my judgment, ought not to weigh a hair with +any member on this floor. It would be only a temporary inequality. In +the rapidly increasing settlement and in the natural increase of +population of our new States, that inequality would very soon be +entirely swept away. I believe the difference to-day between +Massachusetts and Wisconsin would be very slight, if any, so rapid has +been the increase of our population and the settlement of our State. +We are now proposing to adopt an amendment to the Constitution which +we expect to stand for all time, and any temporary inequality which +could continue but for a few years ought not to have any weight." + +Mr. Brooks, of New York, thought that Mr. Stevens would better "at the +start have named what are States of this Union. The opinion of the +honorable gentleman himself, that there are no States in this Union +but those that are now represented upon this floor, I know full well; +but he knows as well that the President of the United States +recognizes thirty-six States of this Union, and that it is necessary +to obtain the consent of three-fourths of those thirty-six States, +which number it is not possible to obtain. He knows very well that if +his amendment should be adopted by the Legislatures of States enough, +in his judgment, to carry it, before it could pass the tribunal of the +Executive chamber it would be obliged to receive the assent of +twenty-seven States in order to become an amendment to the +Constitution." + +Mr. Brooks, in the course of his speech, presented a petition from +certain ladies of New York, asking an amendment of the Constitution, +prohibiting the several States from disfranchising any of their +citizens on the ground of sex. He then proposed to amend the joint +resolution by inserting the words "or sex" after the word "color," so +that it would read, "_Provided_, That whenever the elective franchise +shall be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or color +or sex, all persons of such race or color or sex shall be excluded +from the basis of representation." + +"Is the gentleman in favor of that amendment?" asked Mr. Stevens. + +"I am," replied Mr. Brooks, "if negroes are allowed to vote." + +"That does not answer my question," said Mr. Stevens. + +"I suggested that I would move it at a convenient time," said Mr. +Brooks. + +"Is the gentleman in favor of his own amendment?" Mr. Stevens again +asked. + +"I am in favor of my own color in preference to any other color, and I +prefer the white women of my country to the negro," was the response +of Mr. Brooks, which was followed by applause in the galleries. + +Mr. Orth, of Indiana, obtained the floor for the purpose of offering +an amendment, which he prefaced with the following remarks: "My +position is that the true principle of representation in Congress is +that voters alone should form the basis, and that each voter should +have equal political weight in our Government; that the voter in +Massachusetts should have the same but no greater power than the voter +in Indiana; and that the voter in Indiana should have the same power, +but no greater, than the voter in the State of South Carolina. The +gentleman from Maine, however, states that the census tables will show +that by the amendment which I desire to offer at this time you will +curtail the representative power of the State of Massachusetts. And +why? Because he has shown by his figures that although Massachusetts +has a male population of 529,244, her voting population is only +175,487, being a percentage of twenty-nine, while Indiana, with a +white male population of 693,469, has a voting population of 280,655, +being about forty per cent. Why is this difference? Is it because our +voting population is so much greater in proportion than the voting +population of Massachusetts? Not at all. The difference arises from +the fact that the State of Massachusetts has seen fit to exclude a +portion of her citizens from the ballot-box. Indiana has done the same +thing. Indiana has excluded one class of citizens; Massachusetts has +excluded another class. Indiana has seen fit, for reasons best known +to herself, to exclude the colored population from the right of +suffrage; Massachusetts, on the contrary, has seen fit to exclude from +the ballot-box those of her citizens who can not read or write. While +we in Indiana are governed by a prejudice of color, the people of +Massachusetts, I might say, are governed by a prejudice as regards +ignorance. But here is the difference: under the amendment that I +propose, while Indiana excludes the black man from the right to +participate in the decisions of the ballot-box, she does not ask that +the black man shall be represented on this floor. On the contrary, +while Massachusetts excludes black and white persons who can not read +and write, she yet asks that that population excluded from the ballot +shall have representation on this floor. I regard this as wrong in +theory, wrong in principle, and injurious to the State which I have +the honor to represent, giving to Massachusetts a power upon this +floor of which my State is deprived. Why? Because the exclusion which +drives from the ballot-box in Massachusetts a large portion of her +citizens, yet admits them to representative power on this floor." + +Mr. Orth's amendment proposed that Representatives should "be +apportioned among the several States according to the number of male +citizens over twenty-one years of age, having the qualifications +requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State +Legislature." There being objection to the reception of this amendment +under the rules of the House, it could not be considered. + +Mr. Chanler, of New York, alluding to Mr. Stevens' desire to have the +joint resolution passed on the day of its introduction, before the sun +went down, said: "Sir, this measure, if passed, will tend to obscure +the sun from which the liberties of this country derive their +nourishment and life, the brilliant orb, the Constitution, whose light +has spread itself to the farthest ends of the earth. The vital +principle of that Constitution, the soul of its being, is that balance +of power between the States which insures individual liberty to every +citizen of each State, and harmony among all the States of the Union. + +"I affirm, sir, that the discussion of this subject in the +Constitutional Convention of 1787 was conducted in a spirit worthy of +a great people, and resulted in the noble instrument under whose +authority we now live. That era furnishes us a sad comparison with the +present epoch, when it may well be said that our Rome has 'lost the +breed of noble bloods,' and when, so far as the agitation of these +fanatical and partisan questions is concerned, reason seems to have +'fled to brutish beasts.' How differently and with what wise +moderation did the framers of the Constitution act! No narrow and +fanatical partisanship marks their opinions or their acts." + +After reading an extract from Curtis' History of the Constitution, Mr. +Chanler, contrasting former legislation with the present on the +subject of suffrage, said: "From the above historical statement, it +will be found that the framers of the Constitution considered the +question of suffrage of so vital importance in fixing the balance of +power between the States, that it was, after full discussion in +Congress by the whole body, referred to a select committee of one from +each State, again reported and fully discussed, and then referred to a +committee of five, whose thorough examination of the subject gave rise +to new difficulties, and caused the matter to be referred to another +committee of one member from each State. All differences were +compromised in a spirit of patriotism and justice. How different is +all this from the hasty partisan legislation on this very suffrage +question by the present Congress! + +"A caucus met before Congress organized, and chalked out a line of +policy and action for the Republican party on the floor of Congress. +The whole matter of reconstruction was referred to a grinding +committee, whose dictation should govern Congress in every measure +brought before it for consideration. Is this wise, just, or +reasonable? I hold that this resolution is too narrow to be of use and +too weak to last. It will totter to an untimely grave, and hobble, a +feeble and contemptible instrument, from this Congress to every State +Legislature to which it may be submitted, to be rejected for its +feebleness in a time like this, amid the overwhelming issues which +agitate this country." + +Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, remarked: "It is necessary, it seems to +me, that whatever constitutional provision we may make should be made +clear, manifest, certain. If possible, we should make it enforce +itself, so that by no cunningly-devised scheme or shift can they +nullify it. It seems to me that the resolution reported by the joint +Committee on Reconstruction is not so clear as it ought to be; I am +afraid that it will be worthless. A State may enact that a man shall +not exercise the elective franchise except he can read and write, +making that law apply equally to the whites and blacks, and then may +also enact that a black man shall not learn to read and write, exclude +him from their schools, and make it a penal offense to instruct or to +teach him, and thus prevent his qualifying to exercise the elective +franchise according to the State law. And they may do in regard to the +elective franchise just what they are doing now in regard to slavery. +They may provide that no man shall exercise the elective franchise who +has been guilty of a crime, and then they may denounce these men as +guilty of a crime for every little, imaginary, petty offense. They may +declare that no man shall exercise the right of voting who has not a +regular business or occupation by which he may obtain a livelihood, +and then they may declare that the black man has no settled occupation +and no business. It seems to me, therefore, necessary that we should, +by some provision in this amendment, settle this beyond a +peradventure, so that none of these shifts or devices may defeat the +purpose of the enactment." + +Mr. Farnsworth was in favor of more radical remedies: "I protest here +that I will not accept any such constitutional amendment as this as a +substitute for that full measure of justice which it is our duty to +mete out. I will not promise that hereafter I will not propose, and +vote for, and advocate with whatever power I possess, a measure which +will give to all the people of the States that which is their due. By +no vote of mine shall there be incorporated in the Constitution a +provision which shall, even by implication, declare that a State may +disfranchise any portion of its citizens on account of race or color. +We have no right to give our countenance to any such injustice. All +provisions in reference to representation which are based upon any +other principle than that of the people of this country, who are the +subjects of government, have the right to vote and to be represented, +are false in principle. Such a measure may, perhaps, answer for a +temporary expedient, but it will not do as a fundamental rule to be +embodied in the Constitution for the people of this country to live +by. I deny that a State has the right to disfranchise a majority or +even a minority of its citizens because of class or race. And I say +that that provision of the Constitution which makes it the duty of the +General Government to 'guarantee to every State in this Union a +republican form of government' ought to be taken into consideration by +this Congress and enforced. Does a State that denies the elective +franchise to one-half of its citizens possess a republican form of +government? Where a large portion of the citizens of a State--the men +who are required to pay taxes and perform military duty, to contribute +their money and their strength in support of the Government--are +denied the elective franchise, is that a republican form of +government? I say that it is a libel upon republicanism; it is not a +republican form of government; it is neither republican in form nor in +substance." + +Mr. Baker, of Illinois, although anxious to have an amendment of the +Constitution "achieving the general purpose of supplying a more just +basis of representation," saw points of objection to the proposition +before the House, some of which had been raised by previous speakers. +He said: "I am reluctant to indorse an amendment to the Constitution +framed in this day of growing liberty, framed by the party of +progress, intended to make representative power in this Government +correspond with the quantum of political justice on which it is based, +and yet which leaves any State in the Union perfectly free to narrow +her suffrage to any extent she pleases, imposing proprietary and other +disqualifying tests, and still strengthening her aristocratic power in +the Government by the full count of her disfranchised people, provided +only she steers clear of a test based on race or color." + +Mr. Jenckes was desirous of having a more just and comprehensive +enactment than the one proposed: "In my judgment," said he, "justice +requires that the qualification of electors for members of this House +and for electors of President and Vice-President of the United +States--in other words, for the two popular branches of this great +Government--should be defined in the fundamental law. Upon this point +let me quote the words of Madison, written in his mature years to a +distinguished son of the republic seeking advice from him. He says: +'The right of suffrage, the rule of apportioning representation, and +the mode of appointing to and removing from office, are fundamentals +in a free government, and ought to be fixed by the Constitution.' + +"Certainly, sir, it is less difficult, in a Congress composed of less +than three hundred men, to agree to a proposition which will meet the +views of the whole country on this question of suffrage than to adopt +a proposition which, when submitted to and adopted by the requisite +number of States, must be carried into effect by as many Legislatures +as there are States, and in a different manner by each, and which, in +being carried into effect, must be acted upon by as many thousands of +men in State conventions and Legislatures as there are hundreds in +this Congress. + +"There is no equality, and there can be no equality, in the proposed +amendment. It seems to me, therefore, if we undertake to amend the +fundamental law at all in this respect, we ought to agree upon what +should be the qualification of voters for members of this House, +embodying them in the proposed amendments to submit to the +Legislatures of the States. Then there would be a definite +proposition; and that, I believe, if it emanated from this House, +would have substantial equality and justice--would have the elements +of equality and uniformity, and be enforced without difficulty in +every State of the Union." + +Referring to a mode which might be adopted for evading the legitimate +results of the proposed amendment, Mr. Jenckes remarked: "I was +alluding to another one. Some of the Southern States, up to the +breaking out of the war, had constitutions which prescribed a property +qualification. Suppose this amendment were adopted, and the State of +South Carolina chose to annul the Constitution recently proclaimed and +to go back to that of 1790, and that the word 'white' should be +stricken out of it, I desire to ask how many freedmen, how many +persons of African descent, can be found who own in fee fifty acres of +land or a town lot, or who have paid a tax of three shillings +sterling. As far as I can ascertain from the statistics, there would +not be, if that constitution were restored and the word 'white' +omitted, over five hundred additional qualified voters in that State. + +"Ever since the adoption of the Constitution of 1790 down to the time +of firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina was in practical relation to +this Government as a State of this Union. She had been considered as +having a republican form of government, and that which we had +guaranteed as such for many years we would be bound to guarantee to +her hereafter. Stronger than ever this oligarchy would be enthroned +upon their old seat of power, not upheld merely by slaves beneath it, +but by the power of the General Government above and around it. She +might make any of the discriminations which I have suggested, of age, +of residence, of previous servitude, and of ignorance or poverty." + +Mr. Trimble, of Kentucky, was "exceedingly gratified at the +disposition manifested among the party in opposition here, by reason +of their own differences of opinion, to allow an opportunity to us to +present our objections to the measure now under consideration. This +subject of amending the Constitution under which we have lived so +long, so happily, and so prosperously, is one of great moment; and +while I have some confidence in the ability and capacity of some of +the friends on the opposite side to make a constitution, yet I prefer +the Constitution as made by our fathers eighty years ago. + +"In my opinion, the amendment proposed is in violation of the reserved +rights of the people of the States under that instrument. The object +and purpose of this resolution is to enfranchise a million men in this +country whom no political party in this country ever had the boldness +to propose the enfranchisement of prior to the present session of +Congress. I remember that, in 1860 and 1861, the party known in this +country as the Union party took the ground, from one end of the +country to the other, that neither Congress nor the people of the +States had the power, under the Constitution of the United States, to +interfere with slavery in the States where it existed; much less, sir, +did they claim the power not only to destroy it, but to strike down +the provisions of the Constitution that protected me and my +constituents in our right to our property. Sir, there was an amendment +submitted then for the purpose of peace, for the purpose of restoring +peace and quiet throughout the country. It met, at the time, my hearty +support, and I regret, from the bottom of my heart, that the people, +North, South, East, and West, did not agree to that proposition, and +make it part and parcel of the Constitution. I refer to the amendment +proposed in 1861, declaring that Congress should never thereafter +interfere with the question of slavery in the States. + +"Sir, it is a well-established principle that no one should be +permitted to take advantage of his own wrong. If the party in power +have succeeded in freeing the slaves of the South, ought they not, at +least, to allow the Southern States to enjoy the increased +representation to which, according to the rule established by the +Constitution, they are now entitled? Or, if the Northern States +sincerely desire that the negroes of the South shall vote and shall be +represented in Congress, let them transport those negroes to the North +and take them under their guardianship; they are welcome to them. + +"I believe that the people of Kentucky, whom I in part represent, and +I have no doubt the people of the whole South, will submit in good +faith to the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. While they +may believe that the amendment is revolutionary and unjust, in +violation of the rights of Kentucky and the South, still the Southern +States, having in a way yielded up this question, for representation +and peace, they will stand by the Constitution as amended." + +Finally, Mr. Trimble presented the following argument against the +measure: "This proposition is a direct attack upon the President of +the United States; it is a direct attack upon the doctrines and +principles taught by that distinguished man now holding the +presidential chair. This amendment is in violation, in my judgment, of +every principle that that man has held from his boyhood up to the +present hour. Sir, the President of the United States does not believe +that the Congress of the United States has the right, or that the +people have the right, to strike down the inalienable right of the +States to settle for themselves who shall be clothed with that high +privilege--suffrage." + +The subject being resumed on the following day, January 24th, Mr. +Lawrence, of Ohio, addressed the House, premising his remarks by a +motion that the resolution and amendments be recommitted to the +Committee on Reconstruction, "with instructions to report an amendment +to the Constitution which shall, first, apportion direct taxes among +the States according to property in each; and which shall, second, +apportion Representatives among the States on the basis of adult male +voters who may be citizens of the United States." + +He argued that "the rule which gave representation to three-fifths of +the slave population was wrong in principle, and unjust in practical +results. It was purely arbitrary, the result of compromise, and not of +fixed political principles, or of any standard of abstract justice. If +slavery was a just element of political strength, I know of no rule +which could properly divide it into 'fractional quantities;' if it was +not a just element of political strength, I know of no rule which +could properly give it 'fractional power.' + +"The basis of representation was unjust in practical results, because +it gave to chattel slavery political power--a power accorded to no +other species of property--thus making what the slave States regarded +as wealth an element of political strength." + +After having given a statistical table showing how representation was +apportioned among the several States having free and slave population, +Mr. Lawrence deduced the following facts: "New Hampshire, with a white +population of 325,579, has but three Representatives, while Louisiana, +with a white population of 357,629, had five. California, with a white +population of 323,177, has but three Representatives, while +Mississippi, with a similar population of 353,901, had five. In South +Carolina 72,847 white persons had one Representative, while the ratio +of representation is one for 127,000 persons. + +"Under this mode of apportionment, the late slave States had eighteen +Representatives, by the census of 1860, more than their just share, if +based on free population. The whole political power of Ohio was +counterbalanced by slave representation. It was equal to two-thirds of +all the representation from New England. In South Carolina 14,569 +votes carried as much political power as 25,400 in the free States." + +Freedom having been given to the slaves, "the effect will be, so soon +as lawful State Governments are created in the rebel States, to +largely increase their representation in Congress and the Electoral +College. The slave population, by the census of 1860, was 3,950,531. +Three-fifths of this, or 2,370,318, has heretofore entered into the +basis of representation. Now, the additional 1,580,213 is to be added +to that basis. This will give ten additional Representatives to the +late slave States--in all twenty-eight more than their just proportion +upon a basis excluding the late slaves. If this injustice can be +tolerated and perpetuated, and the late rebel States shall soon be +admitted to representation, they will enjoy as the reward of their +perfidy and treason an increased political power. This will reward +traitors with a liberal premium for treason." + +As to the proper time for amending the Constitution, Mr. Lawrence +said: "But if ever there could be a time for making fundamental changes +in our organic law, and ingrafting on it irreversible guarantees, that +time is now. The events of the past four years demonstrate their +necessity, and our security for the future imperatively demands them +at our hands. The great events which have transpired, and the altered +circumstances that surround us, admonish us that we will be recreant +to our trusts if we fail to inscribe justice on the Constitution, and +fortify it against the encroachments of treason, so that it shall be +eternal. One of the elements of our past misfortunes, and which gave +power for evil to the enemies who assailed us in this temple, was +unequal and unjust representation--political power wielded by a +dominant class, augmented by concessions on behalf of a disfranchised +and servile race, insultingly declared almost in the very citadel of +national justice as having no rights which a white man was bound to +respect. By this amendment we strike down the iniquity of one class +wielding political power for another, and arrogant because in the +exercise of unjust power." + +Maintaining that representation should be based upon suffrage, Mr. +Lawrence said: "The reason which conclusively justifies it is, that a +people declared by law, if in fact unprepared for suffrage, should not +be represented as an element of power by those interested in forever +keeping them unprepared. But children never can be qualified and +competent depositaries of political power, and, therefore, should not +enter into the basis of representation. It never has been deemed +necessary for the protection of females that they should be regarded +as an element of political power, and hence they should not be an +element of representation. If the necessity shall come, or if our +sense of justice should so change as to enfranchise adult females, it +will be time enough then to make them a basis of representation." + +Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio, though having "fifteen times as much +respect for the opinions of the Committee on Reconstruction" as for +his own, yet suggested the following as objections to their report: + +"1. It contemplates and provides for, and in that way, taken by +itself, authorizes the States to wholly disfranchise entire races of +its people, and that, too, whether that race be white or black, Saxon, +Celtic, or Caucasian, and without regard to their numbers or +proportion to the entire population of the State. + +"2. It is a declaration made in the Constitution of the only great and +free republic in the world, that it is permissible and right to deny +to the races of men all their political rights, and that it is +permissible to make them the hewers of wood and drawers of water, the +mud-sills of society, provided only you do not ask to have these +disfranchised races represented in that Government, provided you +wholly ignore them in the State. The moral teaching of the clause +offends the free and just spirit of the age, violates the foundation +principles of our own Government, and is intrinsically wrong. + +"3. The clause, by being inserted into the Constitution, and being +made the companion of its other clauses, thereby construes and gives +new meanings to those other clauses; and it thus lets down and spoils +the free spirit and sense of the Constitution. Associated with that +clause relating to the States being 'republican,' it makes it read +thus: 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union +a republican form of government;' provided, however, that a government +shall be deemed to be republican when whole races of its people are +wholly disfranchised, unrepresented, and ignored. + +"4. The report of the committee imposes no adequate restraint upon +this disfranchisement of races and creation of oligarchies in the +States, because after a race is disfranchised in a State it gives to +one vote cast in such State by the ruling race just the same power as +a vote has in a State where no one is disfranchised. + +"5. These words of the amendment, to-wit, 'denied or abridged on +account of color,' admit of dangerous construction, and also of an +evasion of the avowed intent of the committee. Thus, for example, the +African race may, in fact, be disfranchised in the States, and yet +enumerated as part of the basis of representation, by means of a +provision disfranchising all who were slaves, or all whose ancestors +were slaves. + +"6. The pending proposition of the committee is a radical departure +from the principles of representative republican government, in this, +that it does not provide for nor secure the absolute political +equality of the people, or, relatively, of the States. It does not +secure to each vote throughout the Government absolute equality in its +governing force. It, for example, permits twenty-five thousand votes +in New York city to elect two members of Congress, provided one-half +of its population should happen to be foreigners unnaturalized, and +not electors of the State, whom the law deems unfit to vote; whereas, +twenty-five thousand votes in Ohio would elect but one member of +Congress, provided her citizens were all Americans instead of +foreigners." + +Mr. Eliot submitted an amendment to the effect that population should +be the basis of representation, and that "the elective franchise shall +not be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or color." +He stated the following grounds of objection to the resolution offered +by the committee: "First, the amendment as it is now reported from the +committee is objectionable, to my mind, because it admits by +implication that a State has the right to disfranchise large masses of +its citizens. No man can show that in that Constitution which the +fathers made, and under which we have lived, the right is recognized +in any State to disfranchise large masses of its citizens because of +race. And I do not want now, at this day, that the Congress of the +United States, for the purpose of effecting a practical good, shall +put into the Constitution of the land any language which would seem to +recognize that right. + +"The next objection I have to the amendment is this: that it enables a +State, consistently with its provisions, by making the right to vote +depend upon a property qualification, to exclude large classes of men +of both races. A State may legislate in such a way as to be, in fact, +an oligarchy, and not a republican State. South Carolina may legislate +so as to provide that no man shall have the right to vote unless he +possesses an annual income of $1,000, and holds real estate to the +amount of five hundred acres. Every one sees that that would exclude +multitudes of all classes of citizens, making the State no longer +republican, but oligarchical. Yet gentlemen say that under the +Constitution Congress is bound to see to it that each State shall have +a republican form of government. + +"The third objection I have to this amendment is, that it controls by +implication that power; because, while the Constitution now says that +Congress shall guarantee to every State a republican form of +government, this amendment, as reported by the committee, admits by +implication that, although a State may so legislate as to exclude +these multitudes of men, not on account of race or color, but on +account of property, yet, nevertheless, she would have a republican +form of government, and that Congress will not and ought not to +interfere." + +Mr. Pike, of Maine, had, on the assembling of Congress after the +holidays, offered a resolution, expressing the idea contained in the +report of the committee, but on reflection had come to the conclusion +that the resolution would not accomplish the purpose desired. He +stated his reasons for changing his opinion. He thought that the +provisions of the proposed amendment might be evaded. "Suppose," said +he, "this constitutional amendment in full force, and a State should +provide that the right of suffrage should not be exercised by any +person who had been a slave, or who was the descendant of a slave, +whatever his race or color. I submit that it is a serious matter of +doubt whether or not that simple provision would not be sufficient to +defeat this constitutional amendment which we here so laboriously +enact and submit to the States." + +Mr. Conkling thought that this criticism could have no practical +importance, from the fact that the proposed amendment was to operate +in this country, where one race, and only one, has been held in +servitude. + +Mr. Pike replied: "In no State in the South has slavery been confined +to any one race. So far as I am acquainted with their statutes, in no +State has slavery been confined to the African race. I know of no +slave statute, and I have examined the matter with some care, which +says that Africans alone shall be slaves. So much for race. As to +color, it was a common thing throughout the whole South to advertise +runaway slaves as having light hair and blue eyes, and all the +indications of the Caucasian race, and 'passing themselves off for +white men.' I say further to the honorable gentleman from New York, +that well-authenticated instances exist in every slave State where men +of Caucasian descent, of Anglo-Saxon blood, have been confined in +slavery, and they and their posterity held as slaves; so that not only +free blacks were found every-where, but white slaves also abounded." + +Mr. Kelley, who next addressed the House, also brought proof to +controvert the "hasty assertion" that but one race had been enslaved: +"The assertion that white persons have been sold into slavery does not +depend on common report, but is proven by the reports of the superior +courts of almost every Southern State. One poor German woman, who had +arrived in our country at thirteen years of age, was released from +slavery by the Supreme Court of Louisiana, but not until she had +become the mother of three mulatto children, her owner having mated +her with one of his darker slaves. Toward the close of the last +century, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided that American Indians +could be reduced to and legally held in slavery. And so long ago as +1741 white slave women were so common in North Carolina, that the +Legislature passed a law dooming to slavery the child of every 'white +servant woman' born of an Indian father." + +Mr. Kelley thought that the enforcement of this long-dormant power of +the Constitution would be for the benefit not merely of the poor, the +ignorant, and the weak, but also of the wise, "the strong, and the +wealthy of our country." "There is now pending," said he, "before the +Legislature of regenerated and, as gentlemen would have us believe, +reconstructed Virginia, a bill to require five years' residence on the +part of citizens of other States who may invest their capital and +settle within the sacred limits of the Old Dominion before they can +acquire citizenship. If they may pass a limitation of five years, why +may they not pass a limitation of fifty? Why will not any limitation +that comes within the ordinary duration of human life be admissible?" + +Mr. Bromwell, obtaining the floor, inquired whether the question was +in such condition that any amendment or substitute could be offered. +The Speaker replied: "Six amendments are pending now. The only one +that could be offered would be to amend the amendment of the gentleman +from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] which was, to add the word 'therein' +in the fifteenth line. No other amendment would be in order now, the +whole legislative power to amend being exhausted." + +Mr. Bromwell had desired to offer an amendment which, in his opinion, +would obviate many of the objections to pending joint resolution, and +the amendments thereto; but the way not being open for this, he +addressed the House in a brief speech. He said: "When this amendment +was introduced, on last Monday morning, the differences of opinion +which have been developed in reference to the principles of the +amendment were not anticipated. But to-day we see that it has, so far, +not an advocate upon this floor. Such may be the result with every +amendment which may be presented. It is difficult to see, among all +the amendments which are now pending, any one of them, or any +combination of them, that will meet the desire of the majority, not to +say two-thirds of this House. I apprehend that the members of this +House desire to act so as to secure the support of a proper majority +here. I apprehend, also, that they desire to make this amendment such +that it will meet with the sanction of a sufficient number of the +States of the Union to make it effectual. Now, sir, it is in vain for +this Congress to launch an amendment which shall die on the road +through the Legislatures." + +Notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of all the plans proposed, +Mr. Bromwell was heartily in favor of modifying the basis of +representation. "I think," said he, "seventy years is long enough for +fifteen, twenty, or thirty Representatives to sit here and make laws +to apply to Northern people, with no constituencies behind them. I +think it has been seen long enough that a large number of persons +called property, made property by the laws of the States, shall give +to the oligarchs of those particular districts of country the right to +outvote the independent men of the North, of the free States, where +some approximation has been made to securing God-given rights to all +inhabitants. I think that it is wrong that the further a State recedes +from common right and common justice the more power the oligarchy +which controls it shall grasp in their hands; and I desire that this +amendment shall be made so that it shall bear down upon that abuse +with the crushing power of three-fourths of the legislatures of the +Union." + +After the House had heard so many objectors to the basis of +representation, as proposed by the committee, Mr. Cook, of Illinois, +took the floor in favor of the measure. He said: "We have now, as I +believe, the golden opportunity to remedy this evil which will never +come again to the men of this generation. The system of slavery has +fallen. The States whose representation was increased by it have, with +two or three exceptions, destroyed their loyal and legal State +governments, and now seek reconstruction. The adoption of this +amendment by the States lately in rebellion should be one of the +guarantees to be insisted upon as a condition precedent to their +taking equal authority and rank in the Union with the loyal States." + +To the proposition that the basis of representation should be voters +only, Mr. Cook presented the following objections: + +"1. It is difficult to enumerate voters accurately; their +qualifications are fixed by State laws. We can not send Federal +officers into every State to adjudicate, in disputed cases, the rights +of those claiming to be voters under the State laws, as we should have +to do. + +"2. It would not be just; the voters of the country are unequally +distributed. The old States have fewer, the new States more, voters +according to the white population. In other words, there is a greater +proportion of women and children in the old States. These should be +and are represented. They are represented, in the true sense of that +word, by their fathers and brothers. The man who represents them does +so really and practically, and not by legal fiction, like the man who +represents 'three-fifths of all other persons.' + +"3. It takes from the basis of representation all unnaturalized +foreigners. I do not wish to discuss the question whether this would +be judicious or not, but I do not want a measure of this almost +supreme importance loaded down with these questions, and its passage +jeopardized by the incorporation of provisions which, would render it +so liable to attack and misrepresentation." + +Mr. Cook referred as follows to some objections urged against the +basis of representation proposed by the Reconstruction Committee: "It +is said that the Southern States may impose a property qualification, +and so exclude the negroes, not on account of race or color, but for +want of a property qualification, or that they might provide for a +qualification of intelligence, and so disfranchise the negroes because +they could not read or write, and still enumerate them. To do this +they must first repeal all the laws now denying suffrage to negroes; +and, second, provide qualifications which will disfranchise half their +white voters; two things neither of which will, in any human +probability, occur. And in the event that it was possible that both +these measures should be adopted, and all the blacks and half the +whites disqualified, it would become a grave question whether the +provision of the Constitution which requires the United States to +guarantee to each State a republican form of government would not +authorize the Government to rectify so gross a wrong. There is no +measure to which fanciful objections may not be urged; but I believe +this to be the least objectionable of any measure which has been +suggested to meet this evil. But above all, I am well persuaded that +it is the only measure that can meet the approval of three-fourths of +the States; consequently, that this is the only practical measure +before the House." + +Mr. Marshall, of Illinois, declared the proposition, as reported by +the committee, to be "wholly untenable, is monstrous, absurd, damnable +in its provisions, a greater wrong and outrage on the black race than +any thing that has ever been advocated by others." + +He thus set forth the measure in the light of injustice to the negro: +"The gentlemen who report it profess to be, and doubtless are, the +peculiar advocates of the African race. I wish to ask them upon what +principle of justice, upon what principle of free government, they +have provided that if, after this amendment is adopted, South +Carolina, Mississippi, or any other State shall adopt a provision that +all white men over twenty-one years of age shall be voters, and all +black men who have two hundred dollars' worth of property, and if +there shall be ten thousand legal black voters in such State, upon +what principle will you place in the Constitution of the United States +a provision which would deprive these ten thousand legal black voters +of any representation upon the floor of Congress, or of being +considered in the basis of representation? And I wish to ask the +honorable gentleman who reported this amendment if that is not the +effect and result of the amendment reported from the committee." + +In reference to the time and place of inaugurating constitutional +amendments, Mr. Marshall used the following language: "If any +amendments are necessary to the Constitution of our country, this is +not the time, and more especially is this not the place, to inaugurate +such amendments. I believe, notwithstanding the conceded wisdom, +ability, and virtue of this House, that the fathers who framed our +glorious Constitution were wiser, better, and nobler than we are; yet +every day we have offered here some dozen or twenty proposed +amendments to the Constitution, offered as if we were discussing +resolutions in a town meeting." + +[Illustration: Robert C. Schenck.] + +Among the propositions before the House relating to this subject, was +an amendment proposed by Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, providing that +representation should be based upon "the number of male citizens of +the United States over twenty-one years of age, having the +qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of +the State legislature." + +Mr. Schenck addressed the House, and thus gave a history of his own +connection with the measure: "At a very early day in this session, I +was one of those disposed to ask the attention of Congress to the +subject, to propose in proper form the submission of the question to +the Legislatures of the several States. On the first day of the +session, on the 4th of December last, as soon as the House was +organized, I gave notice that I would on the next, or some succeeding +day, introduce a proposition to amend the Constitution. On the ensuing +day I did accordingly present a joint resolution. It stands as House +Resolution No. 1 of the session. + +"In that I propose representation hereafter shall be based upon +suffrage. I propose that representation shall be apportioned among the +several States of the Union according to the number of voters having +qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of +the Legislature of the State where they reside, following in this the +language of the Constitution; these voters, however, to be further +limited in their descriptions and definitions as being male citizens +of the United States over twenty-one years of age. Now, whether the +proposition be a good one or not; whether the limitation be such as +should commend itself to the masses of our people, I will not for the +present inquire. I will only remark they have seemed to me to embrace +as many qualifications as we ought to include when we are going to lay +down a new organic law on this subject." + +An objection urged by Mr. Schenck against the plan proposed by the +committee was, that it failed to offer inducements for a gradual +enfranchisement of the negro. He said: "Now, sir, I am not one of +those who entertain Utopian ideas in relation, not merely to the +progress, but to the immediate change of sentiment, opinions, and +practice among the people of those States that have so lately been +slave States, and so recently in rebellion. I believe that, like all +other people, their growth toward good and right and free institutions +must necessarily be gradual; and if we pass the amendment which I have +proposed, or any thing similar to it, and say to them, 'You shall have +representation proportioned to the portion of your population to which +you extend this inestimable franchise,' my belief is that they will +not, on the next day after it becomes a part of the organic law of the +United States, at once enfranchise all the negroes in their midst. I +am not sure that they ought to do it; but we are dealing with the +matter now as it presents itself as a practical question. What will +they probably do? My belief is, that if you persuade them to do right, +if you hold out to them an inducement for letting their negroes vote, +and striking out these disqualifications and putting all upon the +basis of manhood, they will probably begin, after the amendment +becomes part of the organic law, by extending this right to those who +have acquired certain property; perhaps they will also extend it, +after awhile, to those who have certain qualifications of education. +However they may proceed, whether rapidly or slowly, it will be a work +of progress and a work of time. But by this amendment you would say to +them, 'We do not want you to enter upon any such gradual bringing up +of these people to the level plain of right to be enjoyed by them +equally with others of other races in your midst.' We say to them, +'You may enfranchise one-third or one-fourth of your people who are +black and deprived of the privilege of voting by introducing the +qualification of property, up to which one-third or one-fourth may +come; you may introduce a qualification of education, up to which a +number of them may come; but that will all be of no value; so long as +there is any denial or any abridgement of the right to vote of a +single man on account of his race or color, you shall have no part of +the population of that race or color counted to measure to you your +share of representation.' + +"Now, I will not go into the abstract question whether they ought to +enfranchise the negroes at once or not; I will not go into the +question of how soon they ought to do it as a matter of expediency; I +say that, in all human probability, when they come to enfranchise, if +they do it at all, this portion of their population, they will do it +gradually; yet, by this amendment, as it comes from the committee, you +say that they shall not be represented for any part of it at all till +they completely enfranchise them and put them on the same footing with +the white population." + +In conclusion, Mr. Schenck remarked: "New England, if she should even +lose a vote, or two votes, or a fraction of a vote, can not afford, +any more than Ohio or Indiana, or any other of those States can, +having these particular objections to the scheme, to let the +opportunity go by now and not introduce a general amendment which will +remedy the one great evil under which we are all laboring together. I +hold that Ohio must give up her objections on account of her negro +population; that the North-western States must give up their +objections on account of the fact that they are permitting persons to +vote who are not yet citizens of the United States. Those persons +would have to wait, 'to tarry at Jericho until their beards are +grown,' I hold that New England must give up her objections; and, if +we are to amend the organic law at all, we must do it by uniting upon +a common principle, a common sympathy, a common feeling, at least on +this side of the House, upon which the entire responsibility is +thrown, acting harmoniously, and adopting such an amendment to the +organic law as shall be entirely democratic and fair in all its scope +and action upon all the people of the States of this Union." + +The discussion was continued on the day following, Mr. Eldridge, of +Wisconsin, having the floor for the first speech. After having +expressed his satisfaction that the sun was allowed to go down on the +deliberations upon this resolution, he confessed himself opposed to +the amendment of the Constitution. He said: "I believe that this is +not the time for its amendment, and I believe, further, that there are +other States than those represented upon this floor which are entitled +to deliberate with us on that question, and to that point I shall +mainly address the remarks which I have to make at this time." + +He made a protracted speech on the general subject of reconstruction. +At the close of his remarks, he said: "It would much more comport with +the dignity and sense of justice of the American Congress to let the +legally elected members from the Southern States be admitted, and +participate in the proceedings and debates, especially in matters of +so great importance as a change in our organic law. Let us have a +representation for our whole country. Wherever the American flag +floats, from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico--wherever the +Star-spangled Banner waves--that is our country. And let us legislate +as Americans, as Representatives of our whole country, in a spirit of +justice, liberality, and patriotism, and we will again have one +country." + +Mr. Higby, of California, was opposed to the joint resolution from the +fact that the proviso in the proposed amendment is in conflict with +that portion of the Constitution which requires that "the United +States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form +of government." "I say it," said he, "without fear or favor, that that +amendment will allow any State government in its organization to +exclude one-half of its population from the right of suffrage; and I +say such State governments will not be republican in form." + +In a conversation which ensued with some members, Mr. Higby maintained +that no State excluding any class of citizens on account of race or +color was republican in form. "I do not believe," said he, "there is a +single State in the Union, except it may be one of the New England +States, which is an exception to that general rule." + +Mr. Hill, of Indiana, asked whether the gentleman would favor the +House with his opinion as to what would be a republican form of +government. + +Mr. Higby was sorry that the gentleman had lived to his time of life, +and obtained a position as the Representative of a large constituency, +without finding out what a republican form of government is. "I will +ask the gentleman," said he, "if he thinks that those States that have +excluded and disfranchised more than half of their native population +have a republican form of government?" + +"In my opinion," said Mr. Hill, "when the framers of the Constitution +placed in that instrument the declaration or the provision that the +Government of the United States would guarantee to each State a +republican form of government, they spoke with reference to such +governments as then existed, and such as those same framers recognized +for a long time afterward as republican governments." + +"Well, that is a very good answer," said Mr. Higby. "It is an answer +from a stand-point seventy-five years ago. I speak from the +stand-point of the present time." + +Mr. Higby desired that the joint resolution should go back to the +committee. He said: "I do not wish it disposed of here, to be voted +down. I want, if it is possible, that it shall be so framed that it +shall receive the full constitutional majority required, and be a +proposition that shall operate with full force in all those States +that now have a great population excluded from the rights of +citizenship." + +"If the gentleman proposes," said Mr. Stevens, "to send it back to the +committee without instructions, I would ask him what we are to do. +There are not quite as many views upon this floor as there are +members; but the number lacks very little of it. And how are we to +gather up all those views spread through all this discussion, and +accommodate all, when each view would now probably receive from one to +three votes in its favor?" + +"I have only this to say," replied Mr. Higby: "with my views of the +Constitution, I never can vote for this proposition with this proviso +in its present language. I say that it gives a power to the States to +make governments that are not republican in form." + +"I say to my friend," said Mr. Stevens, "that if I thought, that by +any fair construction of language, such an interpretation could be +given as he gives, I would vote against it myself; but I do not +believe there is any thing in that objection." + +Mr. Bingham took the floor in favor of the proposed joint resolution. +In "giving this and other amendments to the Constitution my support," +said he, "I do not subject myself to the gratuitous imputation of a +want of reverence either for the Constitution or its illustrious +founders. I beg leave, at all events, to say, with all possible +respect for that gentleman, that I do not recognize the right of any +man upon this floor, who was a representative of that party which +denied the right to defend the Constitution of his country by arms +against armed rebellion, to become my accuser. + +"In seeking to amend, not to mar, the Constitution of the United +States, we ought to have regard to every express or implied limitation +upon our power imposed by that great instrument. When gentlemen object +to amending the Constitution, when they talk sneeringly about +tinkering with the Constitution, they do not remember that it is one +of the express provisions of that instrument that Congress shall have +power to propose amendments to the Legislatures of the several States. +Do gentlemen mean, by the logic to which we have listened for the past +five days on this subject of our right to amend, that we are not to +add any thing to the Constitution, and that we are to take nothing +from it? I prefer to follow, in this supreme hour of the nation's +trial, the lead of a wiser and nobler spirit, who, by common consent, +was called, while he lived, 'the Father of his Country,' and, now that +he is dead, is still reverenced as 'the Father of his Country,' and to +be hailed, I trust, by the millions of the future who are to people +this land of ours as 'the Father of his Country.' In his Farewell +Address, his last official utterance, Washington used these +significant words, which I repeat to-day for the consideration of +gentlemen: "The basis of our political systems is the right of the +people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.' We +propose, sir, simply to act in accordance with this suggestion of +Washington. We propose, in presenting these amendments, to alter, in +so far as the changed condition of the country requires, the +fundamental law, in order to secure the safety of the republic and +furnish better guarantees in the future for the rights of each and +all. + +"The question that underlies this controversy is this: whether we will +stand by the Constitution in its original intent and spirit, or, like +cravens, abandon it. I assert it here to-day, without fear of +contradiction, that the amendment pending before this House is an +amendment conforming exactly to the spirit of the Constitution, and +according to the declared intent of its framers. + +"My friend from California [Mr. Higby] has informed us that there are +one hundred thousand more free colored citizens of the United States +in the State of Mississippi to-day than there are of white citizens; +that there are one hundred thousand more free colored citizens of the +United States in South Carolina than there are of white citizens; and +then we are gravely told that we must not press this amendment, +because we are abandoning the Constitution and the intent of our +fathers. That is a new discovery, one for which the Democracy ought to +take out letters patent, that it was ever intended that a minority of +free citizens should disfranchise the majority of free male citizens, +of full age, in any State of the Union! For myself, I will never +consent to it." + +In answer to the objection that the proviso in the proposed amendment +seemed to acknowledge the right to deny or abridge the elective +franchise on account of race or color, Mr. Bingham said: "I beg the +gentleman to consider that a grant of power by implication can not be +raised by a law which only imposes a penalty, and nothing but a +penalty, for a non-performance of a duty or the violation of a right. +Within the last hundred years, in no country where the common law +obtains, I venture to say, has any implication of a grant of power +ever been held to be raised by such a law, and especially an implied +power, to do an act expressly prohibited by the same law. The +guarantee of your Constitution, that the people shall elect their +Representatives in the several States, can not be set aside or +impaired by inserting in your Constitution, as a penalty for +disregarding it, the provision that the majority of a State that +denies the equal rights of the minority shall suffer a loss of +political power. + +"I have endeavored to show that the words of the Constitution, the +people of 'the States shall choose their Representatives,' is an +express guarantee that a majority of the free male citizens of the +United States in every State of this Union, being of full age, shall +have the political power subject to the equal right of suffrage in the +minority of free male citizens of full age. There is a further +guarantee in the Constitution of a republican form of government to +every State, which I take to mean that the majority of the free male +citizens in every State shall have the political power. I submit to my +friend that this proviso is nothing but a penalty for a violation on +the part of the people of any State of the political right or +franchise guaranteed by the Constitution to their free male +fellow-citizens of full age. + +"The guarantee in the first article of the second section of the +Constitution, rightly interpreted, is, as I claim, this: that the +majority of the male citizens of the United States, of full age, in +each State, shall forever exercise the political power of the State +with this limitation: that they shall never by caste legislation +impose disabilities upon one class of free male citizens to the denial +or abridgement of equal rights. The further provision is, that the +United States shall guarantee to each State a republican form of +government, which means that the majority of male citizens, of full +age, in each State, shall govern, not, however, in violation of the +Constitution of the United States or of the rights of the minority." + +In closing his address, Mr. Bingham said: "I pray gentlemen to +consider long before they reject this proviso. It may not be the best +that the wisest head in this House can conceive of, but I ask +gentlemen to consider that the rule of statesmanship is to take the +best attainable essential good which is at our command. The reason why +I support the proposed amendment is, that I believe it essential and +attainable. I do not dare to say that it could not be improved. I do +dare to say that it is in aid of the existing grants and guarantees of +the Constitution of my country, that it is simply a penalty to be +inflicted upon the States for a specific disregard in the future of +those wise and just and humane grants 'to the people' to elect their +Representatives and maintain a republican government in each State. + +"Mr. Speaker, the republic is great; it is great in its domain, equal +in extent to continental Europe, abounding in productions of every +zone, broad enough and fertile enough to furnish bread and homes to +three hundred million freemen. The republic is great in the +intelligence, thrift, industry, energy, virtue, and valor of its +unconquered and unconquerable children, and great in its matchless, +wise, and beneficent Constitution. I pray the Congress of the United +States to propose to the people all needful amendments to the +Constitution, that by their sovereign act they may crown the republic +for all time with the greatness of justice." + +Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania, presented an objection to the +resolution which had not been alluded to by any gentleman on the +floor. He said: "The resolution provides that whenever the elective +franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State, on account of race +or color, all persons of such race or color shall be excluded from the +basis of representation. Now, there is a great deal of indefiniteness +in both those terms, 'race' and 'color.' + +"What is a race of men? Writers upon the subject of races differ very +materially on this point. Some of them would make four or five races; +others fifteen; and one, whom I might name, seems inclined not to +limit the number short of a thousand. I myself am inclined to think +that the Celtic race is a distinct one from ours. I think that any +gentleman who has studied this subject attentively will at least have +doubts whether or not the race that appears to have inhabited Europe +in the early historic period, and has been partly dispossessed there +by ours, is not a distinct race from ours. + +"Again: the word 'color' is exceedingly indefinite. If we had a +constitutional standard of color, that of sole-leather, for example, +by which to test the State laws upon this subject, there might be less +danger in incorporating this provision in the Constitution. But the +term 'color' is nowhere defined in the Constitution or the law. We +apply the term to persons who are of African descent, whether their +color is whiter or darker than ours. Every one who is familiar with +the ethnological condition of things here in the United States, and +who sees the general mixing up of colors, particularly in the +Democratic portion of the country--I allude to that portion south of +Mason and Dixon's line--must say with me that the word 'color' has no +very distinct meaning when applied to the different peoples of the +United States of America." + +Two Representatives from New York--Mr. Davis and Mr. Ward--expressed +opinions favorable to a modification of the basis of representation, +and yet were opposed to the details of the proposition before the +House. + +Mr. Nicholson, of Delaware, in emphatic terms, denounced the acts of a +majority of the House in attempting to amend the Constitution. "If +they shall finally triumph," said he, "in the mad schemes in which +they are engaged, they will succeed in converting that heretofore +sacred instrument, reverenced and obeyed till the present dominant +party came into power, from a bond of union to a galling yoke of +oppression--a thing to be loathed and despised." + +The discussion was still much protracted. Many members had an +opportunity of presenting their views and opinions without adding much +to the arguments for or against the measure. The power of debate, as +well as "the power of amendment," seemed to have exhausted itself, and +yet gentlemen, continued to swell the volume of both through several +days. + +On Friday, January 26th, Mr. Harding, of Kentucky, made a violent +political speech, ostensibly in opposition to the measure before the +House. The following is an extract from his remarks: + +"The Republican party have manufactured a large amount of capital out +of the negro question. First they began with caution, now they draw on +it as if they thought it as inexhaustible as were the widow's barrel +of meal and cruse of oil. The fact that the negro question has +continued so long has been owing to the great care with which the +Republican party has managed it." + +Mr. McKee, of Kentucky, followed. Referring to his colleague who had +preceded him, he said: "I regret extremely that he has pursued the +same line of policy that gentlemen belonging to the same political +party have pursued ever since the idea took possession of the +Government that the negro was to be a freeman. His whole speech has +been made up of the negro and nothing else. + +"I would like it if the amendment could go a little beyond what it +does. I would like so to amend the Constitution that no man who had +raised his hand against the flag should ever be allowed to participate +in any of the affairs of this Government. But it is not probable that +we can go that far. Let us go just as far as we can. + +"Gentlemen say that they are not willing to vote for an amendment that +strikes off a part of the representation of the States; they are not +willing to vote for an amendment that lessens Kentucky's +representation upon this floor. The whole course of my colleague's +remarks on this point is as the course of his party--and I may say of +the loyal party in Kentucky--has been through a great part of the war, +that Kentucky is the nation, and the United States a secondary +appendage to her." + +Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, did not desire to be heard at length upon the +main question before the House, but upon some questions incidentally +connected with it. He then proceeded to discuss the question whether +Congress has "the power so to regulate the suffrage as to give the +right of suffrage to every male citizen of the country of twenty-one +years of age." "I propose now," said he, "for a few moments, to +examine this question with a somewhat extensive reference to the +history of the Constitution in this connection, and if possible to +arrive at a conclusion whether the honorable gentleman from +Pennsylvania has given greater attention to the history of this +question than the President, and whether the conclusion which he has +reached is a safer one for the country, or more in harmony with the +history and true intent of the Constitution, than that of the +President." + +Near the close of his remarks, referring to the measure before the +House, Mr. Kerr remarked: "I can see but one single clear result that +will follow from this amendment if it is adopted by the people of this +country, and that is an effect that will inure not to the advantage of +the nation, nor of any State in the Union, nor of any class or race of +men in any State; but it will inure solely to the benefit and +advantage of the Republican party. In my judgment, the only persons +who will gain by this provision will be the now dominant party in this +country. They will thereby increase their power; they will thereby +degrade the South; they will reduce her representation here, and +relatively increase their own representation; they will confirm the +sectional supremacy of the North in the legislation and administration +of the Government. They may thus compel the South to become suppliants +at their feet for justice, and it may be for mercy." + +Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, and Mr. Wright, of New Jersey, made extended +remarks, avowedly in opposition to the measure, but dwelling, for the +greater portion of their time, upon subjects remotely connected with +the resolution before the House. + +Discussion was resumed in the House on Monday, January 29th. The +question having become much complicated by the numerous propositions +to amend, the Speaker, by request of Mr. Conkling, stated the exact +position of the subject before the House, and the various questions +pending. The Speaker said: "The committee having reported this joint +resolution, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] moved to +amend by inserting the word 'therein' after the words 'all persons,' +in the last clause of the proposed amendment to the Constitution. + +"Pending that motion, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kelley] +moved an entirely new proposition in the nature of a substitute for +the joint resolution reported from the joint committee, proposing an +amendment to the Constitution differing from the one reported from the +committee. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Baker] also submitted for +his colleague [Mr. Ingersoll] a proposition in the nature of a +substitute for the one reported from the committee, as an amendment to +the amendment. + +"Pending those two propositions, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. +Lawrence] moved to recommit the joint resolution to the joint +committee with certain instructions. The gentleman from Massachusetts +[Mr. Eliot] moved to amend the instructions, and the gentleman from +Ohio [Mr. Schenck] moved to amend the amendment. + +"The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Le Blond] also moved to commit the whole +subject to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union. The +first question will, therefore, be upon the motion to commit to the +Committee of the Whole, as that committee is higher in rank than the +joint Committee on Reconstruction. + +"Next after that will be the various motions to recommit with +instructions. If all those propositions should fail, then the motion +of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] being for the +purpose of perfecting the original proposition, will come up for +consideration. Then propositions in the nature of substitutes will +come up for consideration; first the amendment to the amendment, +proposed by the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. Baker,] and next the +substitute amendment of the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kelley]." + +Mr. Raymond, of New York, made a speech three hours in length, in +opposition to the proposed amendment to the Constitution. He discussed +the general questions of reconstruction, affirming that the Southern +States had resumed their functions of self-government in the Union, +that they did not change their constitutional relations by making war, +and that Congress should admit their Representatives by districts, +receiving only loyal men as members. + +The closing words of Mr. Raymond's speech excited great sensation and +surprise. They were as follows: "The gigantic contest is at an end. +The courage and devotion on either side which made it so terrible and +so long, no longer owe a divided duty, but have become the common +property of the American name, the priceless possession of the +American Republic through all time to come. The dead of the contending +hosts sleep beneath the soil of a common country, and under one common +flag. Their hostilities are hushed, and they are the dead of the +nation forever more. The victor may well exult in the victory he has +achieved. Let it be our task, as it will be our highest glory, to make +the vanquished, and their posterity to the latest generation, rejoice +in their defeat." + +Mr. Julian could not accept heartily the proposition reported by the +joint committee. He thus presented what he considered a preferable +plan: "Under the constitutional injunction upon the United States to +guarantee a republican form of government to every State, I believe +the power already exists in the nation to regulate the right of +suffrage. It can only exercise this power through Congress; and +Congress, of course, must decide what is a republican form of +government, and when the national authority shall interpose against +State action for the purpose of executing the constitutional +guarantee. No one will deny the authority of Congress to decide that +if a State should disfranchise one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of +her citizens, such State would cease to be republican, and might be +required to accept a different rule of suffrage. If Congress could +intervene in such a case, it could obviously intervene in any other +case in which it might deem it necessary or proper. It certainly might +decide that the disfranchisement by a State of a whole race of people +within her borders is inconsistent with a republican form of +government, and in their behalf, and in the execution of its own +authority and duty, restore them to their equal right with others to +the franchise. It might decide, for example, that in North Carolina, +where 631,000 citizens disfranchise 331,000, the government is not +republican, and should be made so by extending the franchise. It might +do the same in Virginia, where 719,000 citizens disfranchise 533,000; +in Alabama, where 596,000 citizens disfranchise 437,000; in Georgia, +where 591,000 citizens disfranchise 465,000; in Louisiana, where +357,000 citizens disfranchise 350,000; in Mississippi, where 353,000 +citizens disfranchise 436,000; and in South Carolina, where only +291,000 citizens disfranchise 411,000. Can any man who reverences the +Constitution deny either the authority or the duty of Congress to do +all this in the execution of the guarantee named? Or if the 411,000 +negroes in South Carolina were to organize a government, and +disfranchise her 291,000 white citizens, would any body doubt the +authority of Congress to pronounce such government anti-republican, +and secure the ballot equally to white and black citizens as the +remedy? Or if a State should prescribe as a qualification for the +ballot such an ownership of property, real or personal, as would +disfranchise the great body of her people, could not Congress most +undoubtedly interfere? So of an educational test, which might fix the +standard of knowledge so high as to place the governing power in the +hands of a select few. The power in all such cases is a reserved one +in Congress, to be exercised according to its own judgment, with no +accountability to any tribunal save the people; and without such power +the nation would be at the mercy of as many oligarchies as there are +States. It is true that the power of Congress to guarantee republican +governments in the States through its intervention with the question +of suffrage has not hitherto been exercised, but this certainly does +not disprove the existence of such power, nor the expediency of its +exercise now, under an additional and independent constitutional +grant, and when a fit occasion for it has come through the madness of +treason. Why temporize by adopting half-way measures and a policy of +indirection? The shortest distance between two given points is a +straight line. Let us follow it in so important a work as amending the +Constitution. + +"How do you know that the broad proposition I advocate will fail in +Congress or before the people? These are revolutionary days. Whole +generations of common time are now crowded into the span of a few +years. Life was never before so grand and blessed an opportunity. The +man mistakes his reckoning who judges either the present or the future +by any political almanac of bygone years. Growth, development, +progress are the expressive watchwords of the hour. Who can remember +the marvelous events of the past four years, necessitated by the late +war, and then predict the failure of further measures, woven into the +same fabric, and born of the same inevitable logic?" + +On Monday, January 30th, the proposed constitutional amendment was +recommitted to the joint Committee on Reconstruction. On the following +day Mr. Stevens reported back the joint resolution, with an amendment +striking out the words "and direct taxes," so as to fix simply the +basis of representation in Congress upon population, excluding those +races or colors to which the franchise is denied or abridged. + +Mr. Schenck offered a substitute making "male citizens of the United +States over twenty-one years" the basis of representation. Mr. Schenck +occupied a few minutes in advocating his proposition. + +On the other hand, Mr. Benjamin, of Missouri, objected to the +substitute as greatly to the detriment of Missouri, since it would +reduce her representation in Congress from nine to four, because she +has endeavored to place the Government in loyal hands by +disfranchising the rebel element of that State. In doing this, she had +disfranchised one-half her voters. + +The previous question having been called, Mr. Stevens made the closing +speech of the protracted discussion. In the opening of his speech, Mr. +Stevens said: "It is true we have been informed by high authority, at +the other end of the avenue, introduced through an unusual conduit, +that no amendment is necessary to the Constitution as our fathers made +it, and that it is better to let it stand as it is. Now, sir, I think +very differently, myself, for one individual. I believe there is +intrusted to this Congress a high duty, no less important and no less +fraught with the weal or woe of future ages than was intrusted to the +august body that made the Declaration of Independence. I believe now, +if we omit to exercise that high duty, or abuse it, we shall be held +to account by future generations of America, and by the whole +civilized world that is in favor of freedom, and that our names will +go down to posterity with some applause or with black condemnation if +we do not treat the subject thoroughly, honestly, and justly in +reference to every human being on this continent." + +That the above paragraph may be understood, it will be necessary to +state that the President of the United States himself had taken part +in the discussion of the measure pending before Congress. The "unusual +conduit" was the telegraph and the press--the means by which his +opinions were given to Congress and the public. The President's +opinions were expressed in the following paper, as read by the Clerk +of the House, at the request of several members: + + "The following is the substance of a conversation which took + place yesterday between the President and a distinguished + Senator, as telegraphed North by the agent of the Associated + Press: + + "The President said that he doubted the propriety at this + time of making further amendments to the Constitution. One + great amendment had already been made, by which slavery had + forever been abolished within the limits of the United + States, and a national guarantee thus given that the + institution should never exist in the land. Propositions to + amend the Constitution were becoming as numerous as + preambles and resolutions at town meetings called to + consider the most ordinary questions connected with the + administration of local affairs. All this, in his opinion, + had a tendency to diminish the dignity and prestige attached + to the Constitution of the country, and to lessen the + respect and confidence of the people in their great charter + of freedom. If, however, amendments are to be made to the + Constitution, changing the basis of representation and + taxation, (and he did not deem them at all necessary at the + present time,) he knew of none better than a simple + proposition, embraced in a few lines, making in each State + the number of qualified voters the basis of representation, + and the value of property the basis of direct taxation. Such + a proposition could be embraced in the following terms: + + "'Representatives shall be apportioned among the several + States which may be included within this Union according to + the number of qualified voters in each State. + + "'Direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States + which may be included within this Union according to the + value of all taxable property in each State.' + + "An amendment of this kind would, in his opinion, place the + basis of representation and direct taxation upon correct + principles. The qualified voters were, for the most part, + men who were subject to draft and enlistment when it was + necessary to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, and quell + domestic violence and insurrection. They risk their lives, + shed their blood, and peril their all to uphold the + Government, and give protection, security, and value to + property. It seemed but just that property should compensate + for the benefits thus conferred by defraying the expenses + incident to its protection and enjoyment. + + "Such an amendment, the President also suggested, would + remove from Congress all issues in reference to the + political equality of the races. It would leave the States + to determine absolutely the qualifications of their own + voters with regard to color; and thus the number of + Representatives to which they would be entitled in Congress + would depend upon the number upon whom they conferred the + right of suffrage. + + "The President, in this connection, expressed the opinion + that the agitation of the negro-franchise question in the + District of Columbia, at this time was the mere + entering-wedge to the agitation of the question throughout + the States, and was ill-timed, uncalled for, and calculated + to do great harm. He believed that it would engender enmity, + contention, and strife between the two races, and lead to a + war betweenťthem which would result in great injury to both, + and the certain extermination of the negro population. + Precedence, he thought, should be given to more important + and urgent matters, legislation upon which was essential for + the restoration of the Union, the peace of the country, and + the prosperity of the people." + +"This," said Mr. Stevens, "I take to be an authorized utterance of one +at the other end of the avenue. I have no doubt that this is the +proclamation, the command of the President of the United States, made +and put forth by authority in advance, and at a time when this +Congress was legislating on this very question; made, in my judgment, +in violation of the privileges of this House; made in such a way that +centuries ago, had it been made to Parliament by a British king, it +would have cost him his head. But, sir, we pass that by; we are +tolerant of usurpation in this tolerant Government of ours." + +In answer to those who contended that Congress should regulate the +right of suffrage in the States, Mr. Stevens said: "If you should take +away the right which now is and always has been exercised by the +States, by fixing the qualifications of their electors, instead of +getting nineteen States, which is necessary to ratify this amendment, +you might possibly get five. I venture to say you could not get five +in this Union. And that is an answer, in the opinion of the committee, +to all that has been said on this subject. But it grants no right. It +says, however, to the State of South Carolina and other slave States, +True, we leave where it has been left for eighty years the right to +fix the elective franchise, but you must not abuse it; if you do, the +Constitution will impose upon you a penalty, and will continue to +inflict it until you shall have corrected your actions. + +"Now, any man who knows any thing about the condition of aspiration +and ambition for power which exists in the slave States, knows that +one of their chief objects is to rule this country. It was to ruin it +if they could not rule it. They have not been able to ruin it, and now +their great ambition will be to rule it. If a State abuses the +elective franchise, and takes it from those who are the only loyal +people there, the Constitution says to such a State, You shall lose +power in the halls of the nation, and you shall remain where you are, +a shriveled and dried-up nonentity instead of being the lords of +creation, as you have been, so far as America is concerned, for years +past. + +"Now, sir, I say no more strong inducement could ever beheld out to +them; no more severe punishment could ever be inflicted upon them as +States. If they exclude the colored population, they will lose at +least thirty-five Representatives in this hall; if they adopt it, they +will have eighty-three votes." + +Mr. Stevens urged several objections to the proposition of Mr. +Schenck. He said: "If I have been rightly informed as to the number, +there are from fifteen to twenty Representatives in the Northern +States founded upon those who are not citizens of the United States. +In New York I think there are three or four Representatives founded +upon the foreign population--three certainly. And so it is in +Wisconsin, Iowa, and other Northern States. There are fifteen or +twenty Northern Representatives that would be lost by that amendment +and given to the South whenever they grant the elective franchise to +the negro. + +"Now, sir, while I have not any particular regard for any foreigner +who goes against me, yet I do not think it would be wise to put into +the Constitution or send to the people a proposition to amend the +Constitution which would take such Representatives from those States, +and which, therefore, they will never adopt. + +"But I have another objection to the amendment of my friend from Ohio. +His proposition is to apportion representation according to the male +citizens of the States. Why has he put in the word 'male?' It was +never in the Constitution of the United States before. Why make a +crusade against women in the Constitution of the nation? [Laughter.] +Is my friend as much afraid of their rivalry as the gentlemen on the +other side of the House are afraid of the rivalry of the negro? +[Laughter.] I do not think we ought to disfigure the Constitution with +such a provision. I find that every unmarried man is opposed to the +proposition. Whether married men have particular reason for dreading +interference from that quarter I know not. [Laughter.] I certainly +shall never vote to insert the word 'male' or the word 'white' in the +national Constitution. Let these things be attended to by the +States." + +In answer to the objection that the amendment proposed by the +committee "might be evaded by saying that no man who had ever been a +slave should vote, and that would not be disfranchisement on account +of race or color," Mr. Stevens said: "Sir, no man in America ever was +or ever could be a slave if he was a white man. I know white men have +been held in bondage contrary to law. But there never was a court in +the United States, in a slave State or a free State, that has not +admitted that if one held as a slave could prove himself to be white, +he was that instant free. And, therefore, such an exclusion, on +account of previous condition of slavery, must be an exclusion on +account of race or color. Therefore that objection falls to the +ground." + +In reply to the closing paragraph of Mr. Raymond's speech, Mr. Stevens +said: "I could not but admire (an admiration mingled with wonder) the +amiability of temper, the tenderness of heart, the generosity of +feeling which must have prompted some of the closing sentences of the +excellent and able speech delivered by the gentleman on last Monday. +His words were these: + + "'The gigantic contest is at an end. The courage and + devotion on either side, which made it so terrible and so + long, no longer owe a divided duty, but have become the + common property of the American name, the priceless + possession of the American Republic, through all time to + come. The dead of the contending hosts sleep beneath the + soil of a common country, under their common flag. Their + hostilities are hushed, and they are the dead of the nation + for evermore.' + +"Sir, much more than amiable, much more than religious, must be the +sentiment that would prompt any man to say that 'the courage and +devotion' which so long withstood our arms, prolonging the terrible +conflict of war, and sacrificing the lives of thousands of loyal men, +are hereafter to be the common boast of the nation, 'the priceless +possession of the American Republic through all time to come;' that it +is the pride of our country so many infamous rebels were so ferocious +in their murders. + +"Sir, we are to consider these dead on both sides as the dead of the +nation, the common dead! And so, I suppose, we are to raise monuments +beside the monuments to Reynolds and others, to be erected in the +cemetery on the battle-field of Gettysburg. We must there build high +the monumental marble for men like Barksdale, whom I have seen in this +hall draw their bowie-knives on the Representatives of the people; men +who died upon the battle-field of Gettysburg in arms against the +Government, and where they now lie buried in ditches, 'unwept, +unhonored, and unsung!' They are, I suppose, to be raised and put into +the fore-front ranks of the nation, and we are to call them through +all time as the dead of the nation! Sir, was there ever blasphemy +before like this? Who was it burnt the temple of Ephesus? Who was it +imitated the thunder of Jove? All that was poor compared with this +blasphemy. I say, if the loyal dead, who are thus associated with the +traitors who murdered them, put by the gentleman on the same footing +with them, are to be treated as the 'common dead of the nation'--I +say, sir, if they could have heard the gentleman, they would have +broken the cerements of the tomb, and stalked forth and haunted him +until his eye-balls were seared." + +The question was first taken on the substitute offered by Mr. Schenck, +which was rejected by a vote of one hundred and thirty-one to +twenty-nine. + +The question was then taken on agreeing to the joint resolution as +modified by the committee, and it was decided in the affirmative by +the following vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, James M. + Ashley, Baker, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, + Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, + Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. Clarke, + Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis, + Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Eckley, + Eggleston, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, + Griswold, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Hill, Holmes, + Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, + Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, + James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, + Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William + Lawrence, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, McClurg, + McIndoe, McKee, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, + Moulton, Myers, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, + Pike, Plants, Pomeroy, Price, Alexander H. Rice, John H. + Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, + Sloan, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Stilwell, Thayer, Francis + Thomas, John L. Thomas, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, + Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu B. Washburne, + William B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, Williams, James F. + Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge--120. + + NAYS--Messrs. Baldwin, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, + Dawson, Dennison, Eldridge, Eliot, Finck, Grider, Hale, + Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, James M. + Humphrey, Jenckes, Johnson, Kerr, Latham, Le Blond, + Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Phelps, + Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, Raymond, Ritter, + Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, Strouse, + Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, Voorhees, Whaley, and + Wright--46. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Ancona, Delos R. Ashley, Culver, Driggs, + Dumont, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Henderson, Higby, Jones, + Loan, McRuer, Newell, Radford, Trowbridge, and Winfield--16. + +Two-thirds having voted in the affirmative, the Speaker declared the +joint resolution adopted. + +The strong vote by which this measure was passed, after so general an +expression of dissent from it, excited some surprise. Many gentlemen +evidently surrendered their individual preferences for the sake of +unanimity. They believed that this was the best measure calculated to +secure just representation, which would pass the ordeal of Congress +and three-fourths of the States. They accepted the "rule of +statesmanship," to "take the best attainable, essential good which is +at our command." + +A disposition to rebuke supposed Executive dictation had some effect +to produce an unexpected unanimity in favor of the measure. One Rhode +Island and two Massachusetts members insisted on national negro +suffrage, and voted against the amendments. Mr. Raymond and Mr. Hale, +of New York, were the only Republicans who voted against the measure +in accordance with the President's opinions. Of the border slave State +members, ten voted for the amendment and sixteen against it. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE BASIS OF-REPRESENTATION--IN THE SENATE. + + The Joint Resolution goes to the Senate -- + Counter-proposition by Mr. Sumner -- He Speaks Five Hours -- + Mr. Henderson's Amendment -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Henry S. + Lane -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Henderson -- Mr. Clark's + Historical Statements -- Fred. Douglass' Memorial -- Mr. + Williams -- Mr. Hendricks -- Mr. Chandler's "Blood-letting + Letter" -- Proposition of Mr. Yates -- His Speech -- Mr. + Buckalew against New England -- Mr. Pomeroy -- Mr. Sumner's + Second Speech -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Morrill -- Mr. + Fessenden meets Objections -- Final Vote -- The Amendment + Defeated. + + +The joint resolution, providing for amending the basis of +representation, having passed the House of Representatives on the last +day of January, 1866, the action of that body was communicated to the +Senate. The Civil Rights Bill at that time occupying the attention of +the Senate, Mr. Fessenden gave notice that unless something should +occur to render that course unwise, he would ask that the +consideration of the proposed constitutional amendment should be taken +up on the following Monday, February 5th. + +On the second of February, Mr. Sumner gave notice of his intention to +move a joint resolution as a counter-proposition to the proposed +constitutional amendment. Mr. Sumner's resolution was as follows: + + _Whereas_, it is provided in the Constitution that the + United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a + republican form of government; and whereas, by reason of the + failure of certain States to maintain Governments which + Congress can recognize, it has become the duty of the United + States, standing in the place of guarantor, where the + principal has made a lapse, to secure to such States, + according to the requirement of the guarantee, governments + republican in form; and whereas, further, it is provided in + a recent constitutional amendment, that Congress may + 'enforce' the prohibition of slavery by 'appropriate + legislation,' and it is important to this end that all + relics of slavery should be removed, including all + distinction of rights on account of color; now, therefore, + to carry out the guarantee of a republican form of + government, and to enforce the prohibition of slavery. + + "_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + in all States lately declared to be in rebellion there shall + be no oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, or monopoly invested + with peculiar privileges or powers, and there shall be no + denial of rights, civil or political, on account of color or + race; but all persons shall be equal before the law, whether + in the court-room or at the ballot-box; and this statute, + made in pursuance of the Constitution, shall be the supreme + law of the land, any thing in the constitution or laws of + any such State to the contrary notwithstanding." + +According to notice given by the Chairman of the joint Committee on +Reconstruction on the part of the Senate, the proposed constitutional +amendment came up for consideration on the fifth of February. + +Mr. Sumner addressed the Senate in opposition to the measure. His +speech was five hours in length, and occupied parts of the sessions of +two days in its delivery. Mr. Sumner argued that the proposed +amendment would introduce "discord and defilement into the +Constitution," by admitting that rights could be "denied or abridged +on account of race or color," and that by its adoption Congress would +prove derelict to its constitutional duty to guarantee a republican +form of government to each State, and that having already legislated +to protect the colored race in civil rights, it is bound to secure to +them political rights also. + +Concerning the Committee on Reconstruction and their proposition, Mr. +Sumner said: "Knowing, as I do, the eminent character of the +committee, its intelligence, its patriotism, and the moral instincts +by which it is moved, I am at a loss to understand the origin of a +proposition which seems to me nothing else than another compromise of +human rights, as if the country had not already paid enough in costly +treasure and more costly blood for such compromises in the past. I had +hoped that the day of compromise with wrong had passed forever. Ample +experience shows that it is the least practical mode of settling +questions involving moral principles. A moral principle can not be +compromised." + +He thought the proposed change in the Constitution could not properly +be called an amendment. "For some time we have been carefully +expunging from the statute-book the word 'white,' and now it is +proposed to insert in the Constitution itself a distinction of color. +An amendment, according to the dictionaries, is 'an improvement'--'a +change for the better.' Surely the present proposition is an amendment +which, like the crab, goes backward." + +This measure would not accomplish the results desired by its authors. +"If by this," said he, "you expect to induce the recent slave-master +to confer the right of suffrage without distinction of color, you will +find the proposition a delusion and a snare. He will do no such thing. +Even the bribe you offer will not tempt him. If, on the other hand, +you expect to accomplish a reduction of his political power, it is +more than doubtful if you will succeed, while the means you employ are +unworthy of our country. There are tricks and evasions possible, and +the cunning slave-master will drive his coach and six through your +amendment, stuffed with all his Representatives." + +Drawing toward the close of his speech, Mr. Sumner gave the following +review of his remarks that had preceded: "We have seen the origin of +the controversy which led to the revolution, when Otis, with such wise +hardihood, insisted upon equal rights, and then giving practical +effect to the lofty demand, sounded the battle-cry that 'Taxation +without Representation is Tyranny.' We have followed this controversy +in its anxious stages, where these principles were constantly asserted +and constantly denied, until it broke forth in battle; we have seen +these principles adopted as the very frontlet of the republic, when it +assumed its place in the family of nations, and then again when it +ordained its Constitution; we have seen them avowed and illustrated in +memorable words by the greatest authorities of the time; lastly, we +have seen them embodied in public acts of the States collectively and +individually; and now, out of this concurring, cumulative, and +unimpeachable testimony, constituting a speaking aggregation +absolutely without precedent, I offer you the American definition of a +republican form of government. It is in vain that you cite +philosophers or publicists, or the examples of former history. Against +these I put the early and constant postulates of the fathers, the +corporate declarations of the fathers, the avowed opinions of the +fathers, and the public acts of the fathers, all with one voice +proclaiming, first, that all men are equal in rights, and, secondly, +that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the +governed; and here is the American idea of a republic, which must be +adopted in the interpretation of the National Constitution. You can +not reject it. As well reject the Decalogue in determining moral +duties, or as well reject the multiplication table in determining a +question of arithmetic." + +Maintaining that "the rebel States are not republican governments," +Mr. Sumner said: "Begin with Tennessee, which disfranchises 283,079 +citizens, being more than a quarter of its whole 'people.' Thus +violating a distinctive principle of republican government, how can +this State be recognized as republican? This question is easier asked +than answered. But Tennessee is the least offensive on the list. There +is Virginia, which disfranchises 549,019 citizens, being more than a +third of its whole 'people.' There is Alabama, which disfranchises +436,030 citizens, being nearly one half of its whole 'people.' There +is Louisiana, which disfranchises 350,546 citizens, being one half of +its whole 'people.' There is Mississippi, which disfranchises 437,404 +citizens, being much more than one half of its whole 'people.' And +there is South Carolina, which disfranchises 412,408 citizens, being +nearly two-thirds of its whole 'people.' A republic is a pyramid +standing on the broad mass of the people as a base; but here is a +pyramid balanced on its point. To call such a government 'republican' +is a mockery of sense and decency. A monarch, 'surrounded by +republican institutions,' which at one time was the boast of France, +would be less offensive to correct principles, and give more security +to human rights." + +Of the Southern system of government he said: "It is essentially a +monopoly, in a country which sets its face against all monopolies as +unequal and immoral. If any monopoly deserves unhesitating judgment, +it must be that which absorbs the rights of others and engrosses +political power. How vain it is to condemn the petty monopolies of +commerce, and then allow this vast, all-embracing monopoly of human +rights." + +Mr. Sumner maintained that the ballot was the great guarantee--"the +only sufficient guarantee--being in itself peacemaker, reconciler, +schoolmaster, and protector." The result of conferring suffrage upon +the negro will be, "The master will recognize the new citizen. The +slave will stand with tranquil self-respect in the presence of the +master. Brute force disappears. Distrust is at an end. The master is +no longer a tyrant. The freedman is no longer a dependent. The ballot +comes to him in his depression, and says, 'Use me and be elevated.' It +comes to him in his passion, and says, 'Use me and do not fight.' It +comes to him in his daily thoughts, filling him with the strength and +glory of manhood." + +Most beneficent results, it was thought, would flow from such +legislation as that advocated by Mr. Sumner. "I see clearly," said he, +"that there is nothing in the compass of mortal power so important to +them in every respect, morally, politically, and economically--that +there is nothing with such certain promise to them of beneficent +results--that there is nothing so sure to make their land smile with +industry and fertility as the decree of equal rights which I now +invoke. Let the decree go forth to cover them with blessings, sure to +descend upon their children in successive generations. They have given +us war; we give them peace. They have raged against us in the name of +slavery; we send them back the benediction of justice for all. They +menace hate; we offer in return all the sacred charities of country +together with oblivion of the past. This is our 'Measure for Measure.' +This is our retaliation. This is our only revenge." + +The following was the closing paragraph of Mr. Sumner's speech: "The +Roman Cato, after declaring his belief in the immortality of the soul, +added, that if this were an error, it was an error which he loved. And +now, declaring my belief in liberty and equality as the God-given +birthright of all men, let me say, in the same spirit, if this be an +error, it is an error which I love; if this be a fault, it is a fault +which I shall be slow to renounce; if this be an illusion, it is an +illusion which I pray may wrap the world in its angelic arms." + +On the seventh of February, the subject being again before the Senate, +Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, moved to strike out the constitutional +amendment proposed by the committee and insert the following: + + "ARTICLE 14. No State, in prescribing the qualifications + requisite for electors therein, shall discriminate against + any person on account of color or race." + +Mr. Fessenden made a speech in favor of the report of the committee, +and in reply to Mr. Sumner. Referring to the subject of constitutional +amendments, Mr. Fessenden said: "Something has been said, also, on +different occasions, with reference to a disposition that is said to +prevail now to amend the Constitution, and the forbearance of Congress +has been invoked with regard to that venerable and great instrument. I +believe that I have as much veneration for the Constitution as most +men, and I believe that I have as high an opinion of its wisdom; but, +sir, I probably have no better opinion of it than those who made it, +and it did not seem to them, as we learn from its very provisions, +that it was so perfect that no amendment whatever could be made that +would be, in the language of the Senator from Massachusetts, an +improvement. Why, sir, they provided themselves, as we all know, in +the original instrument, for its amendment. They, in the very earliest +days of our history, amended it themselves." + +The result of retaining the "Constitution as it is" would be this: +"The continuance of precisely the same rule, and the fostering of a +feeling which the honorable Senator from Massachusetts has well proven +to be contrary to the very foundation principles of a republican +government. There can be no question that such would be the result; +and we should have in a portion of the States all the people +represented and all the people acting, and in another portion of the +States all the people represented and but a portion of the people only +exercising political rights and retaining them in their own hands. +Such has been the case, and such, judging of human nature as it is, we +have a right to suppose will continue to be the case." + +The measure proposed by the committee was not entirely satisfactory to +Mr. Fessenden. "I am free to confess," said he, "that could I +legislate upon that subject, although I can see difficulties that +would arise from it, yet trusting to time to soften them, and being +desirous, if I can, to put into the Constitution a principle that +commends itself to the consideration of every enlightened mind at +once, I would prefer something of that sort, a distinct proposition +that all provisions in the constitution or laws of any State making +any distinction in civil or political rights, or privileges, or +immunities whatever, should be held unconstitutional, inoperative, and +void, or words to that effect. I would like that much better; and I +take it there are not many Senators within the sound of my voice who +would not very much prefer it; but, after all, the committee did not +recommend a provision of that description, and I stand here as the +organ of the committee, approving what they have done, and not +disposed to urge my own peculiar views, if I have any, against theirs, +or to rely exclusively on my own judgment so far as to denounce what +honorable and true men, of better judgments than myself, have thought +best to recommend, and in which I unite and agree with them." + +After having given objections to limiting the basis of representation +to voters, Mr. Fessenden remarked: "And if you extend it to citizens, +or narrow it to citizens, you make it worse so far as many of the +States are concerned; for my honorable friends from the Pacific coast, +where there is a large number of foreigners, would hardly be willing +to have them cut off; and they have no benefit of political power in +the legislation of the country arising from the number of those +foreigners who make a portion of their population. The difficulty is, +that you meet with troubles of this kind every-where the moment you +depart from the principle of basing representation upon population and +population alone. You meet with inequalities, with difficulties, with +troubles, either in one section of the country or the other, and you +are inevitably thrown back upon the original principle of the +Constitution. + +"It will be noticed that the amendment which we have thus presented +has one good quality: it preserves the original basis of +representation; it leaves that matter precisely where the Constitution +placed it in the first instance; it makes no changes in that respect; +it violates no prejudice; it violates no feeling. Every State is +represented according to its population with this distinction: that if +a State says that it has a portion, a class, which is not fit to be +represented--and it is for the State to decide--it shall not be +represented; that is all. It has another good point: it is equal in +its operation; all persons in every State are to be counted; nobody is +to be rejected. With the very trifling exception fixed by the original +Constitution, all races, colors, nations, languages, and denominations +form the basis. + +"But, sir, the great excellence of it--and I think it is an +excellence--is, that it accomplishes indirectly what we may not have +the power to accomplish directly. If we can not put into the +Constitution, owing to existing prejudices and existing institutions, +an entire exclusion of all class distinctions, the next question is, +can we accomplish that work in any other way?" + +Concerning the "counter-proposition" of Mr. Sumner, the speaker said: +"It is, in one sense, like a very small dipper with a very long +handle; for the preamble is very much more diffuse than the proposed +enactment itself. I looked to see what came next. I supposed that +after that preamble we should have some adequate machinery provided +for the enforcement and security of these rights; that we should have +the matter put to the courts, and if the courts could not accomplish +it, that we should have the aid of the military power, thus shocking +the sensibilities of my honorable friend from Indiana [Mr. Hendricks] +again. I do not know what good it does to merely provide by law that +the provisions of the Constitution shall be enforced, without saying +how, in what manner, by what machinery, in what way, to what extent, +or how it is to be accomplished. Why reënact the Constitution of the +United States and put it in a bill? What do you accomplish by it? How +is that a remedy? It is simply as if it read in this way: Whereas, it +is provided in the Constitution that the United States shall guarantee +to every State in the Union a republican form of government, therefore +we declare that there shall be a republican form of government and +nothing else." + +Mr. Sumner had said, in his speech in opposition to the proposed +amendment, "Above all, do not copy the example of Pontius Pilate, who +surrendered the Savior of the world, in whom he found no fault at all, +to be scourged and crucified, while he set at large Barabbas, of whom +the Gospel says, in simple words, 'Now, Barabbas was a robber.'" + +To this Mr. Fessenden responded: "Is it a 'mean compromise'--for so it +is denominated--that the Committee of Fifteen and the House of +Representatives, when they passed it, placed themselves in the +situation of Pontius Pilate, with the negro for the Savior of the +world and the people of the United States for Barabbas, as designated +by the honorable Senator. Why, sir, I expected to hear him in the next +breath go further than that, and say that with the Constitution of the +United States and the constitutions of the States the negro had been +crucified, and that now, by the amendment of the Constitution, the +stone had been rolled away from the door of the sepulcher, and he had +ascended to sit on the throne of the Almighty and judge the world! One +would have been, permit me to say with all respect, in as good taste +as the other." + +In conclusion, Mr. Fessenden said: "I wish to say, in closing, that I +commend this joint resolution to the careful consideration of the +Senate. It is all that we could desire; it is all that our +constituents could wish. It does not accomplish, as it stands now, +all, perhaps, that it might accomplish; but it is an important step in +the right direction. It gives the sanction of Congress, in so many +words, to an important, leading, effective idea. It opens a way by +which the Southern mind--to speak of it as the Southern mind--may be +led to that which is right and just. I have hopes, great hopes, of +those who were recently Confederates; and I believe that now that they +have been taught that they can not do evil, to all the extent that +they might desire, with impunity, and when their attention is turned +of necessity in the right direction, the road will seem so pleasant to +their feet, or, at any rate, will seem so agreeable to their love of +power, that they will be willing to walk in the direction that we have +pointed. If they do, what is accomplished? In process of time, under +this constitutional amendment, if it should be adopted, they are led +to enlarge their franchise. That necessarily will lead them to +consider how much further they can go, what is necessary in order to +fit their people for its exercise, thus leading to education, thus +leading to a greater degree of civilization, thus bringing up an +oppressed and downtrodden race to an equality, if capable of an +equality--and I hope it may be--with their white brethren, children of +the same Father. + +"And, sir, if this is done, some of us may hope to live--I probably +may not, but the honorable Senator from Massachusetts may--to see the +time when, by their own act, and under the effect of an enlightened +study of their own interests, all men may be placed upon the same +broad constitutional level, enjoying the same rights, and seeking +happiness in the same way and under the same advantages; and that is +all that we could ask." + +On the following day, the discussion was continued by Mr. Lane, of +Indiana, who addressed the Senate in a speech of two hours' duration. +Mr. Lane seldom occupied the time of the Senate by speech-making, but +when he felt it his duty to speak, none upon the floor attracted more +marked attention, both from the importance of his matter and the +impressiveness of his manner. + +Much of Mr. Lane's speech, on this occasion, was devoted to the +general subject of reconstruction, since he regarded the pending +measure as one of a series looking to the ultimate restoration of the +late rebel States. He was opposed to undue haste in this important +work. He said: "The danger is of precipitate action. Delay is now what +we need. The infant in its tiny fingers plays to-day with a handful of +acorns, but two hundred years hence, by the efflux of time, those +acorns are the mighty material out of which navies are built, the +monarch of the forest, defying the shock of the storm and the +whirlwind. Time is a mighty agent in all these affairs, and we should +appeal to time. We are not ready yet for a restoration upon rebel +votes; we are not ready yet for a restoration upon colored votes; but, +thank God! we are willing and able to wait. We have the Government, we +have the Constitution of the United States, we have the army and the +navy, the vast moral and material power of the republic. We can +enforce the laws in all the rebel States, and we can keep the peace +until such time as they may be restored with safety to them and safety +to us." + +Of the measure proposed by the committee, Mr. Lane remarked: "This +amendment, as I have already endeavored to show, will do away with +much of the irregularity now existing, and which would exist under a +different state of things, the blacks being all free. So far as the +amendment goes, I approve of it, and I think I shall vote for it, but +with a distinct understanding that it is not all that we are required +to do, that it is not the only amendment to the Constitution that +Congress is required to make." + +Mr. Lane expressed his opinion of Mr. Summer's "counter-proposition" +in the following language: "It is a noble declaration, but a simple +declaration, a paper bullet that kills no one, and fixes and maintains +the rights of no one." + +Of Mr. Henderson's proposition, he said: "It is a simple amendment to +the Constitution of the United States, that no one shall be excluded +from the exercise of the right of suffrage on account of race or +color. That begins at the right point. The only objection to it is, +that its operation can not be immediate, and in the mean time the +rebels may be permitted to vote, and its adoption by the various State +Legislatures is exceedingly doubtful. I should not doubt, however, +that we might secure its adoption by three-fourths of the loyal States +who have never seceded; and I believe that whenever that question is +presented, the Supreme Court of the United States will determine that +a ratification by that number of States is a constitutional approval +of an amendment so as to make it the supreme law of the land. I have +no doubt about it. + +"If the rebel States are to be organized immediately, the only +question is whether the right of suffrage shall be given to rebel +white men or loyal black men. The amendment of the Senator from +Missouri meets that issue squarely in the face. Whatsoever I desire to +do I will not do by indirection. I trust I shall always be brave +enough to do whatsoever I think my duty requires, directly and not by +indirection." + +Mr. Lane, with several other Western Senators, had been counted as +opposed to negro suffrage, hence his advocacy of the principle gave +much strength to those who desired to take a position in advance of +the proposition of the committee. + +In reply to an oft-reiterated argument that a war of races would +result from allowing suffrage to the negro, Mr. Lane remarked: "If you +wish to avoid a war of races, how can that be accomplished? By doing +right; by fixing your plan of reconstruction upon the indestructible +basis of truth and justice. What lesson is taught by history? The +grand lesson is taught there that rebellions and insurrections have +grown out of real or supposed wrong and oppression. A war of races! +And you are told to look to the history of Ireland, and to the history +of Hungary. Why is it that revolution and insurrection are always +ready to break out in Hungary? Because, forsooth, the iron rule of +Austria has stricken down the natural rights of the masses. It is a +protest of humanity against tyranny, oppression, that produces +rebellion and revolution. So in the bloody history of the Irish +insurrections. Suppose the English Parliament had given equal rights +to the Irish, had enfranchised the Catholics in Ireland in the reign +of Henry VIII, long ere this peace and harmony would have prevailed +between England and Ireland. But the very fact that a vast portion of +a people are disfranchised sows the seeds of continual and +ever-recurring revolution and insurrection. It can not be otherwise. +These insurrections and revolutions, which are but the protest of our +common humanity against wrong, are one of the scourges in the hands of +Providence to compel men to do justice and to observe the right. It is +the law of Providence, written upon every page of history, that God's +vengeance follows man's wrong and oppression, and it will always be +so. If you wish to avoid a war of races, if you wish to produce +harmony and peace among these people, you must enfranchise them all." + +On the following day, February 9th, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, occupied +the time devoted by the Senate to a consideration of this question +with a speech against the proposed amendment of the Constitution. Mr. +Johnson said that when the Constitution was framed there was no such +objection to compromising as now existed in the minds of some +Senators. "The framers of the Constitution came to the conclusion that +the good of the country demanded that there should be a compromise, +and they proposed, as a compromise, the provision as it now stands; +and that is, that, for the purposes of representation, a person held +in slavery, or in involuntary servitude, shall be esteemed +three-fifths of a man and two-fifths property; and they established +the same rule in relation to taxation. They very wisely concluded +that, as it was all-important that some general rule should be +adopted, this was the best rule, because promising more than any other +rule to arrive at a just result of ascertaining the number of +Representatives and ascertaining the quota of taxation." + +Mr. Johnson did not think that the North needed such a provision as +this amendment to render her able to cope with Southern statesmanship +in Congress: "Are not the North and the statesmen of the North equal +to the South and the statesmen of the South on all subjects that may +come before the councils of the nation? What is there, looking to the +history of the two sections in the past, which would lead us to +believe that the North is inferior to the South in any thing of +intellectual improvement or of statesmanship? You have proved--and I +thank God you have proved--that if listening to evil counsels, +rendered effective, perhaps, by your own misjudged legislation, and by +the ill-advised course of your own population, exhibited through the +press and the pulpit, a portion of the South involved the country in a +war, the magnitude of which no language can describe--you have proved +yourselves, adequate to the duty of defeating, them in their mad and, +as far as the letter of the Constitution is concerned, their +traitorous purpose. And now, having proved your physical manhood, do +you doubt your intellectual manhood? Mr. President, in the presence in +which I speak, I am restrained from speaking comparatively of the +Senate as it is and the Senate as it has been; but I can say this, +with as much sincerity as man ever spoke, that there is nothing to be +found in the free States calculated to disparage them properly in the +estimation of the wise and the good. They are able to conduct the +Government, and they will not be the less able because they have the +advice and the counsels of their Southern brethren." + +In answer to the position that the Southern States were not possessed +of a republican form of government, Mr. Johnson remarked: "Did our +fathers consider that any one of the thirteen States who finally came +under the provisions of that Constitution, and have ever since +constituted a part of the nation, were not living under republican +forms of government? The honorable member will pardon me for saying +that to suppose it is to disparage the memory of those great and good +men. There was not a State in the Union when the Constitution was +adopted that was republican, if the honorable member's definition of a +republican government is the one now to be relied upon. A property +qualification was required in all at that time. Negroes were not +allowed to vote, although free, in most of the States. In the Southern +States the mass of the negroes were slaves, and, of course, were not +entitled to vote. If the absence of the universal right of suffrage +proves that the Government is not republican, then there was not a +republican government within the limits of the United States when the +Constitution was adopted; and yet the very object of the clause to +guarantee a republican government--and the honorable member's +citations prove it--was to prevent the existing governments from being +changed by revolution. It was to preserve the existing governments; +and yet the honorable member would have the Senate and the country +believe that, in the judgment of the men who framed the Constitution, +there was not a republican form of government in existence. + +"The definition of the honorable member places his charge of +antirepublicanism as against the present forms of constitution upon +the ground of the right to vote. I suppose the black man has no more +natural right to vote than the white man. It is the exclusion from the +right that affects the judgment of the honorable member from +Massachusetts. Voting, according to him, is a right derived from God; +it is in every man inalienable; and its denial, therefore, is +inconsistent and incompatible with the true object of a free +government. If it be such a right, it is not less a right in the white +man than in the black man; it is not less a right in the Indian than +in the white man or the black man; it is not less a right in the +female portion of our population than in the male portion. Then the +honorable member from Massachusetts is living in an anti-republican +government, and he ought not to stay there a moment if he can find any +government which would be a government according to his theory. None +has existed since the world commenced, and it is not at all likely +that any will exist in all time to come; but if there is any such +government to be found on the face of the earth, let him leave +Massachusetts, let him hug that angelic delusion which he hopes will +encircle the whole world, and go somewhere, where he can indulge it +without seeing before him every day conclusive evidence that no such +illusion exists at home. Leave Massachusetts, I beg the honorable +member, just as soon as you can, or you will never be supremely +happy." + +In conclusion, Mr. Johnson remarked, referring to the recent rebels: +"Let us take them to our bosom, trust them, and as I believe in my +existence, you will never have occasion to regret it. You will, if the +event occurs, look back to your participation in it in future time +with unmingled delight, because you will be able to date from it a +prosperity and a national fame of which the world furnishes no +example; and you will be able to date from, it the absence of all +cause of differences which can hereafter exist, which will keep us +together as one people, looking to one destiny, and anxious to achieve +one renown." + +On Tuesday, February 13th, the Senate resumed the consideration of the +Basis of Representation. Mr. Summer proposed to amend the proviso +recommended by the committee--"all persons therein of such race or +color shall be excluded from the basis of representation"--by adding +the words "and they shall be exempt from taxation of all kinds." + +Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, occupied the attention of the Senate, +during a considerable part of this and the following day, in a speech +against the proposition of the Committee of Fifteen, which he +considered a compromise, surrendering the rights of the negro out of +the hands of the General Government into the hands of States not fit +to be intrusted with them. In favor of his own amendment prohibiting +the States from disfranchising citizens on the ground of color, Mr. +Henderson said: "I propose to make the State governments republican in +fact, as they are in theory. The States now have the power and do +exclude the negroes for no other reason than that of color. If the +negro is equally competent and equally devoted to the Government as +the Celt, the Saxon, or the Englishman; why should he not vote? If he +pays his taxes, works the roads, repels foreign invasion with his +musket, assists in suppressing insurrections, fells the forest, tills +the soil, builds cities, and erects churches, what more shall he do to +give him the simple right of saying he must be only equal in these +burdens, and not oppressed? My proposition is put in the least +offensive form. It respects the traditionary right of the States to +prescribe the qualifications of voters. It does not require that the +ignorant and unlettered negro shall vote. Its words are simply that +'no State, in prescribing the qualifications requisite for electors +therein, shall discriminate against any person on account of color or +race.' The States may yet prescribe an educational or property test; +but any such test shall apply to white and black alike. If the black +man be excluded because he is uneducated, the uneducated white man +must be excluded too. If a property test be adopted for the negro, as +in New York, the same test must apply to the white man. It reaches all +the States, and not a few only, in its operation. I confess that, so +far as I am personally concerned, I would go still further and put +other limitations on the power of the States in regard to suffrage; +but Senators have expressed so much distrust that even this +proposition can not succeed, I have concluded to present it in a form +the least objectionable in which I could frame it. It will be observed +that this amendment, if adopted, will not prevent the State +Legislatures from fixing official qualifications. They may prevent a +negro from holding any office whatever under the State organization. +It is a singular fact, however, that to-day, under the Federal +Constitution, a negro may be elected President, United States Senator, +or a member of the lower branch of Congress. In that instrument no +qualification for office is prescribed which rejects the negro. The +white man, not native born, may not be President, but the native-born +African may be. The States, however, may, in this respect, +notwithstanding this amendment, do what the Federal Constitution never +did." + +Mr. Henderson closed his speech with the following words: "The reasons +in favor of my proposition are inseparably connected with all I have +said. I need not repeat them. Every consideration of peace demands it. +It must be done to remove the relics of the rebellion; it must be done +to pluck out political disease from the body politic, and restore the +elementary principles of our Government; it must be done to preserve +peace in the States and harmony in our Federal system; it must be done +to assure the happiness and prosperity of the Southern people +themselves; it must be done to establish in our institutions the +principles of universal justice; it must be done to secure the +strongest possible guarantees against future wars; it must be done in +obedience to that golden rule which insists upon doing to others what +we would that others should do unto us; it must be done if we would +obey the moral law that teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves; +in fine, it must be done to purify, strengthen, and perpetuate a +Government in which are now fondly centered the best hopes of +mankind." + +Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, addressed the Senate on the pending +measure. He made the following interesting historical statements: "As +the traveler who has passed a difficult road, when he comes to some +high hill looks back to see the difficulties which he has passed, I +turn back, and I ask the Senator to turn back, to consider what +occurred, as I say, about six years ago. In the session of 1859-60, in +the old Senate-chamber, a bill was brought into the Senate of the +United States by the then Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Brown], who +was chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, a place +which my friend from Maine [Mr. Morrill] now so worthily fills--a bill +in aid of the education of the children of this District. The bill +proposed to grant certain fines and forfeitures to the use of the +schools, and also proposed to tax the people ten cents on every +hundred dollars of the property in this District for the purpose of +educating the children. That bill proposed to tax the white man and +the black man alike; and fearing that the property of the black man +would be taxed to educate the child of the white man, I proposed an +amendment to the bill, that the tax collected from the black man +should go to educate the black man's child. + +"There was also a further provision of the bill, that if the District +raised a certain amount of money for the education of the children, +the Government of the United States would appropriate a like amount +from the Treasury. If, for instance, you raised $20,000 by taxes on +the people in the District, the Government should pay $20,000 more, to +be added to it for the education of the children of the District. I +moved the amendment that no child whose father paid any portion of +that tax for the education of the children should be excluded from the +benefit of it, be he white or black; but that there might be no +inconvenience felt, I agreed to an amendment that the black child +should not be put into the same school with the white child, but that +they should be educated in different schools to be provided for them; +but if the black man paid for educating the children of the District, +his child should be educated. There was at once an outcry, 'Why, this +is social equality of the two races; this is political equality;' and +they would not consent that the black child should be educated, even +with the money of the black father. That amendment was declared to be +carried in the Senate of the United States, and after declaring it was +carried, the Senate adjourned, and after the adjournment, the chairman +of that committee, Mr. Brown, appealed to me personally if I would not +withdraw it. I said to him, 'No, I would never withdraw it; if you tax +the black man, the black man should have a part of the money that you +raise from him to educate his child.' + +"After some days, the bill came up again in the Senate of the United +States, and the Senator from Mississippi, the chairman of the +Committee on the District of Columbia, got up and in open Senate +appealed to me, 'Will the Senator from New Hampshire withdraw that +amendment?' 'Never, Mr. President.' 'Then,' said the Senator from +Mississippi, 'I will lay the bill aside, and will not ask the Senate +to pass it;' and so the whole scheme failed, because they would not +consent that the money of the black man should educate his own child, +and they could not vote it to educate a white child. + +"Now I turn back to that time six years ago, and I mark the road that +we have come along. I mark where we struck the chains from the black +man in this same District, whose child you could not educate six years +ago; I mark, in this Senate, at this very session, that we have passed +a bill in aid of the Freedmen's Bureau to secure to him his rights in +this District; I mark that all through this nation we have stricken +off the chains of the slave and secured to the slave his rights +elsewhere in the Union; and we have now come to the height of the +hill, and are considering whether we will not enfranchise those very +black men through all the country." + +In favor of granting political rights to the negro, Mr. Clark made the +following remarks: "Mr. President, the question of the negro has +troubled the nation long. His condition as a slave troubled you; and +his condition as a freedman troubles you. Are you sick, heart-sick of +this trouble? and do you inquire when will it end? I will tell you. +When you have given him equal rights, equal privileges, and equal +security with other citizens; when you have opened the way for him to +be a man, then will you have rendered exact justice which can alone +insure stability and content. + +"Sir, if I ever did hold that this Government was made or belonged +exclusively to the white man, I should now be ashamed to avow it, or +to claim for it so narrow an application. The black man has made too +many sacrifices to preserve it, and endangered his life too often in +its defense to be excluded from it. The common sentiment of gratitude +should open its doors to him, if not political justice and equality. + +"Mr. President, my house once took fire in the night-time; my two +little boys were asleep in it, when I and their mother were away. The +neighbors rushed into it, saved the children, and extinguished the +flames. When I reached it, breathless and exhausted, the first +exclamation was, 'Your children are safe.' Can you tell me how mean a +man I should have been, and what execration I should have deserved, if +the next time those neighbors came to my house I had kicked them out +of it? Tell me, then, I pray you, why two hundred thousand black men, +most of whom volunteered to fight your battles, who rushed in to save +the burning house of your Government, should not be permitted to +participate in that Government which they helped to preserve? When you +enlisted and mustered these men, when your adjutant-general went +South, and gathered them to the recruiting-office, and persuaded them +to join your ranks, did he, or any one, tell them this was the white +man's Government? When they came to the rendezvous, did you point to +the sign over the door, 'Black men wanted to defend the white man's +Government?' When you put upon them the uniform of the United States, +did you say, 'Don't disgrace it; this is the white man's Government?' +When they toiled on the march, in the mud, the rain, and the snow, and +when they fell out of the ranks from sheer weariness, did you cheer +them on with the encouragement that 'this is the white man's +Government?' + +"When they stood on picket on the cold, stormy night to guard you +against surprise, did you creep up and warm their congealing blood +with an infusion of the white man's Government? When, with a wild +hurrah, on the 'double-quick,' they rushed upon the enemy's guns, and +bore your flag where men fell fastest and war made its wildest havoc, +where explosion after explosion sent their mangled bodies and severed +limbs flying through the air, and they fell on glacis, ditch, and +scarp and counterscarp, did you caution them against such bravery, and +remind them that 'this was the white man's Government?' And when the +struggle was over, and many had fought 'their last battle,' and you +gathered the dead for burial, did you exclaim, 'Poor fools! how +cheated! this is the white man's Government?' No, no, sir; you +beckoned them on by the guerdon of freedom, the blessings of an equal +and just Government, and a 'good time coming.' + +"'White man's Government, 'do you say? Go to Fort Pillow; stand upon +its ramparts and in its trenches, and recall the horrid butchery of +the black man there because he had joined you against rebellion, and +then say, if you will, 'This is the white man's Government.' Go to +Wagner. Follow in the track of the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth, as they +went to the terrible assault, with the guns flashing and roaring in +the darkness. Mark how unflinchingly they received the pelting iron +hail into their bosoms, and how they breasted the foe! See how nobly +they supported, and how heroically they fell with their devoted +leader; count the dead; pick up the severed limbs; number the wounds; +measure the blood spilled; and remember why and wherefore and in whose +cause the negro thus fought and suffered, and then say, if you can, +'This is the white man's Government.' Go to Port Hudson, go to +Richmond, go to Petersburg, go anywhere and every-where--to every +battle-field where the negro fought, where danger was greatest and +death surest--and tell me, if you can, that 'this is the white man's +Government.' And then go to Salisbury and Columbia and Andersonville, +and as you shudder at the ineffable miseries of those dens, and think +of those who ran the dead-line, and were not shot, but escaped to the +woods and were concealed and fed and piloted by the black men, and +never once betrayed, but often enabled to escape and return to their +friends, and then tell me if 'this is a white man's Government.' + +"In ancient Rome, when one not a citizen deserved well of the +republic, he was rewarded by the rights of citizenship, but we deny +them, and here in America--not in the Confederate States of America, +where, attempting to found a government upon slavery and the +subjection of one race to another, it would have been fitting, if +anywhere, but in the United States of America, the cardinal principle +of whose Government is the equality of all men. After these black men +have so nobly fought to maintain the one and overthrow the other, when +they ask us for the necessary right of suffrage to protect themselves +against the rebels they have fought, and with whom they are compelled +to live, we coolly reply, 'This is the white man's Government.' Nay, +more, and worse, we have refused it to them, and allowed it to their +and our worst enemies, the rebels. Sir, from the dim and shadowy +aisles of the past, there comes a cry of 'Shame! shame!' and pagan +Rome rebukes Christian America. + +"But not chiefly, Mr. President, do I advocate this right of the black +man to vote because he has fought the battles of the republic and +helped to preserve the Union, but because he is a citizen and a +man--one of the people, one of the governed--upon whose consent, if +the Declaration of Independence is correct, the just powers of the +Government rest; an intelligent being, of whom and for whom God will +have an account of us, individually and as a nation; whose blood is +one with ours, whose destinies are intermingled and run with ours, +whose life takes hold on immortality with ours, and because this right +is necessary to develop his manhood, elevate his race, and secure for +it a better civilization and a more enlightened and purer +Christianity." + +On the 15th of February, Mr. Sumner presented a memorial from George +T. Downing, Frederick Douglass, and other colored citizens of the +United States, protesting against the pending constitutional amendment +as introducing, for the first time, into the Constitution a grant to +disfranchise men on the ground of race or color. In laying this +memorial before the Senate, Mr. Sumner said: "I do not know that I +have at any time presented a memorial which was entitled to more +respectful consideration than this, from the character of its +immediate signers and from the vast multitudes they represent. I hope +I shall not depart from the proper province of presenting it if I +express my entire adhesion to all that it says, and if I take this +occasion to entreat the Senate, if they will not hearken to arguments +against the pending proposition, that they will at least hearken to +the voice of these memorialists, representing the colored race of our +country." + +Mr. Williams, of Oregon, argued in favor of the resolution reported by +the committee as the best measure before the Senate. He was for +proceeding slowly in the work of reconstruction. In his opinion, +neither the negro nor his master was now fit to vote. Upon this point +he said: "It seems to me there can be little doubt that at this +particular time the negroes of the rebel States are unfit to exercise +the elective franchise. I have recently conversed with two officers of +the Federal army from Texas, who told me that there, in the interior +and agricultural portions of the State, the negroes do not yet know +that they are free; and one of the officers told me that he personally +communicated to several negroes for the first time the fact of their +freedom. Emancipation may be known in the towns and cities throughout +the South, but the probabilities are that in the agricultural portions +of that country the negroes have no knowledge that they are free, or +only vague conceptions of their rights and duties as freemen. Sir, +give these men a little time; give them a chance to learn that they +are free; give them a chance to acquire some knowledge of their rights +as freemen; give them a chance to learn that they are independent and +can act for themselves; give them a chance to divest themselves of +that feeling of entire dependence for subsistence and the sustenance +of their families upon the landholders of the South, to which they +have been so long accustomed; give them a little time to shake the +manacles off of their minds that have just been stricken from their +hands, and I will go with the honorable Senator from Massachusetts to +give them the right of suffrage. And I will here express the hope that +the day is not far distant when every man born upon American soil, +within the pale of civilization, may defend his manhood and his rights +as a freeman by that most effective ballot which + + "'Executes the freeman's will + As lightning does the will of God.'" + +Concerning the amendment proposed by Mr. Henderson, Mr. Williams said: +"All the impassioned declamation and all the vehement assertions of +the honorable Senator do not change or affect the evidence before our +eyes that the people of these United States are not prepared to +surrender to Congress the absolute right to determine as to the +qualifications of voters in the respective States, or to adopt the +proposition that all persons, without distinction of race or color, +shall enjoy political rights and privileges equal to those now +possessed by the white people of the country. Sir, some of the States +have lately spoken upon that subject. Wisconsin and Connecticut, +Northern, loyal, and Republican States, have recently declared that +they would not allow the negroes within their own borders political +rights; and is it probable that of the thirty-six States, more than +six, at the most, would at this time adopt the constitutional +amendment proposed by the gentleman?" + +Notwithstanding the temporary darkness of the political sky, Mr. +Williams saw brilliant prospects before the country. "This nation," +said he, "is to live and not die. God has written it among the shining +decrees of destiny. Inspired by this hope and animated by this faith, +we will take this country through all its present troubles and perils +to the promised land of perfect unity and peace, where freedom, +equality, and justice, the triune and tutelar deity of the American +Republic, will rule with righteousness a nation 'whose walls shall be +salvation and whose gates praise.'" + +At the close of this speech, the Senate being about to proceed to a +vote upon the pending amendment, it was proposed to defer action and +adjourn the question over to the following day, for the purpose of +affording an opportunity for speeches by Senators who were not +prepared to proceed immediately. Mr. Fessenden, who had the measure in +charge, protested against the delays of the Senate. "This subject," +said he, "has dragged along now for nearly two weeks. If members +desire to address the Senate, they must be prepared to go on and do so +without a postponement from day to day for the purpose of allowing +every gentleman to make his speech in the morning, and then adjourning +early every evening. We shall never get through in that way. I give +notice to gentlemen that I shall begin to be a little more +quarrelsome--I do not know that it will do any good--after to-day." + +On the day following, Mr. Hendricks delivered a speech of considerable +length in opposition to the constitutional amendment. After having +maintained that the proposition did not rest the right of +representation upon population, nor upon property, nor upon voters, +Mr. Hendricks inquired: "Upon what principle do Senators propose to +adopt this amendment to the Constitution? I can understand it if you +say that the States shall be represented in the House of +Representatives upon their population; I can understand it if you say +that they shall be represented upon their voters; but when you say +that one State shall have the benefit of its non-voting population and +another State shall not, I can not understand the principle of equity +and justice which governs you in that measure. Sir, if it does not +stand upon a principle, upon what does it rest? It rests upon a +political policy. A committee that had its birth in a party caucus +brings it before this body, and does not conceal the fact that it is +for party purposes. This measure, if you ever allow the Southern +States to be represented in the House of Representatives, will bring +them back shorn of fifteen or twenty Representatives; it will bring +them back so shorn in their representation that the Republican party +can control this country forever; and if you cut off from fifteen to +thirty votes for President of the United States in the States that +will not vote for a Republican candidate, it may be that you can elect +a Republican candidate in 1868." + +Mr. Hendricks thought that "this proposition was designed to +accomplish three objects: first, to perpetuate the rule and power of a +political party; in the second place, it is a proposition the tendency +of which is to place agriculture under the control and power of +manufactures and commerce forever; and, in the third place, it is +intended, I believe, as a punishment upon the Southern States." + +In reference to changing the basis of representation as a punishment +for the Southern States, Mr. Hendricks said: "Now that the war is +over; now that the Southern people have laid down their arms; now that +they have sought to come again fully and entirely into the Union; now +that they have pledged their honors and their fortunes to be true to +the Union and to the flag; now that they have done all that can be +done by a conquered people, is it right, after a war has been fought +out, for us to take from them their political equality in this Union +for the purpose of punishment? The Senator from Maine, the chairman of +the committee, says that the right to control the suffrage is with the +States, but if the States do not choose to do right in respect to it, +we propose to punish them. You do not punish New York for not letting +the foreigner vote until he resides there a certain period. You do not +punish Indiana because she will not allow a foreigner to vote until he +has been in the country a year. These States are not to be punished +because they regulate the elective franchise according to their +sovereign pleasures; but if any other States see fit to deny the right +of voting to a class that is peculiarly guarded and taken care of +here, then they are to be punished." + +Referring to the speech of the Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. +Hendricks asked: "Had the white men of this country a right to +establish a Government, and thereby a political community? If so, they +had a right to say who should be members of that political community. +They had a right to exclude the colored man if they saw fit. Sir, I +say, in the language of the lamented Douglas, and in the language of +President Johnson, this is the white man's Government, made by the +white man for the white man. I am not ashamed to stand behind such +distinguished men in maintaining a sentiment like that. Nor was my +judgment on the subject changed the day before yesterday by the +lamentations of the Senator from New Hampshire, [Mr. Clark,] sounding +through this body like the wailing of the winds in the dark forest, +'that it is a horrible thing for a man to say that this is a white +man's Government.' + +"Mr. President, there is a great deal said about the part the colored +soldiers have taken in putting down this rebellion--a great deal more +than there is any occasion for, or there is any support for in fact or +history. This rebellion was put down by the white soldiers of this +country." + +Criticising sentiments toward the South, expressed by Senators, Mr. +Hendricks said: "We hear a good deal said about blood now. Yesterday +the Senator from Oregon [Mr. Williams] criticised the President for +his leniency toward the South. A few days ago, the Senator from Ohio +[Mr. Wade] made a severe criticism on the President for his leniency, +and my colleague asks for blood. Mr. President, this war commenced +with blood; nay, blood was demanded before the war. When the good men +and the patriotic, North and South, representing the yearning hearts +of the people at home, came here, in the winter and spring of 1861, in +a peace congress, if possible to avoid this dreadful war, right then +the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] announced to his Governor and +the country that this Union was scarcely worth preserving without some +blood-letting. His cry before the war was for blood. Allow me to say +that when the Senator's name is forgotten because of any thing he says +or does in this body, in future time it will be borne down upon the +pages of history as the author of the terrible sentiment that the +Union of the people that our fathers had cemented by the blood of the +Revolution and by the love of the people; that that Union, resting +upon compromise and concession, resting upon the doctrine of equality +to all sections of the country; that that Union which brought us so +much greatness and power in the three-quarters of a century of our +life; that that Union that had brought us so much prosperity and +greatness, until we were the mightiest and proudest nation on God's +footstool; that that grand Union was not worth preserving unless we +had some blood-letting!" + +Mr. Chandler, of Michigan, replied: "The Senator from Indiana has +arraigned me upon an old indictment for having written a certain +letter in 1861. It is not the first time that I have been arraigned on +that indictment of 'blood-letting.' I was first arraigned for it upon +this floor by the traitor John C. Breckinridge; and I answered the +traitor John C. Breckinridge; and after I gave him his answer, he went +out into the rebel ranks and fought against our flag. I was arraigned +by another Senator from Kentucky and by other traitors upon this +floor. I expect to be arraigned again. I wrote the letter, and I stand +by the letter; and what was in it? What was the position of the +country when that letter was written? The Democratic party, as an +organization, had arrayed itself against this Government--a Democratic +traitor in the presidential chair, and a Democratic traitor in every +department of this Government; Democratic traitors preaching treason +upon this floor, and preaching treason in the hall of the other house; +Democratic traitors in your army and in your navy; Democratic traitors +controlling every branch of this Government. Your flag was fired upon, +and there was no response. The Democratic party had ordained that this +Government should be overthrown; and I, a Senator from the State of +Michigan, wrote to the Governor of that State, 'Unless you are +prepared to shed blood for the preservation of this great Government, +the Government is overthrown.' That is all there was to that letter. +That I said, and that I say again; and I tell that Senator if he is +prepared to go down in history with the Democratic traitors who then +coöperated with him, I am prepared to go down on that 'blood-letting' +letter, and I stand by the record as then made." [Applause in the +galleries.] + +On the 19th of February, Mr. Howard, of Michigan, offered an amendment +providing that the right of suffrage should be enjoyed by all persons +of African descent belonging to the following classes: those who have +been in the military service of the United States, those who can read +and write, and those who possess $250 worth of property. + +Mr. Yates, of Illinois, addressed the Senate for three hours on the +pending amendment of the Constitution. On the 29th of January +preceding, Mr. Yates had proposed a bill providing that no State or +Territory should make any distinction between citizens on account of +race, or color, or condition; and that all citizens, without +distinction of race, color, or condition should be protected in the +enjoyment and exercise of all their civil and political rights, +including the right of suffrage. + +This bill Mr. Yates made the basis of his argument. His reason for +preferring a bill to a constitutional amendment was presented as +follows: "There is only one way of salvation for the country. Your +amendments to the Constitution of the United States can not be +adopted. If we have not the power now under the Constitution of the +United States to secure full freedom, then, sir, we shall not have it, +and there is no salvation whatever for the country. Let not freedom +die in the house, and by the hands of her friends." + +[Illustration: Hon. Richard Yates.] + +Mr. Yates maintained that the constitutional amendment abolishing +slavery gave to Congress power to legislate to the full extent of the +measure proposed by him. "Let gentlemen come forward," said he, "and +meet the issue like men. Let them come forward and do what they have +by the Constitution the clear power to do, and that is a _sine qua +non_ in order to carry into effect the constitutional prohibition of +slavery. As for me, I would rather face the music and meet the +responsibility like a man, and send to the people of the State of +Illinois the boon of universal suffrage, and of a full and complete +emancipation, than meet the taunt of Northern demagogues that I would +force suffrage upon North Carolina, and Tennessee, and Delaware, while +I had not the courage to prescribe it for our own free States. Sir, it +will be the crime of the century if now, having the power, as we +clearly have, we lack the nerve to do the work that is given us to +do. + +"Let me say to my Republican friends, you are too late. You have gone +too far to recede now. Four million people, one-seventh of your whole +population, you have set free. Will you start back appalled at the +enchantment your own wand has called up? The sequences of your own +teachings are upon you. As for me, I start not back appalled when +universal suffrage confronts me. When the bloody ghost of slavery +rises, I say, 'Shake your gory locks at me; I did it.' I accept the +situation. I fight not against the logic of events or the decrees of +Providence. I expected it, sir, and I meet it half way. I am for +universal suffrage. I bid it 'All hail!' 'All hail!' + +"Four million people set free! What will protect them? The ballot. +What alone will give us a peaceful and harmonious South? The ballot to +all. What will quench the fires of discord, give us back all the +States, a restored Union, and make us one people? The ballot, and that +alone. Is there no other way? None other under the sun. There is no +other salvation. + +"The ballot will lead the freedman over the Red Sea of our troubles. +It will be the brazen serpent, upon which he can look and live. It +will be his pillar of cloud by day, and his pillar of fire by night. +It will lead him to Pisgah's shining height, and across Jordan's +stormy waves, to Canaan's fair and happy land. Sir, the ballot is the +freedman's Moses. So far as man is concerned, I might say that Mr. +Lincoln was the Moses of the freedmen; but whoever shall be the truest +friend of human freedom, whoever shall write his name highest upon the +horizon of public vision as the friend of human liberty, that man--and +I hope it may be the present President of the United States--will be +the Joshua to lead the people into the land of deliverance." + +Mr. Yates maintained that for the exercise of the right of suffrage +there should be no test of intelligence, wealth, rank or race. To +bring the people up to the proper standard, the ballot itself was "the +greatest educator." He said: "Let a man have an interest in the +Government, a voice as to the men and measures by which his taxes, his +property, his life, and his reputation shall be determined, and there +will be a stimulus to education for that man. + +"As the elective franchise has been extended in this country, we have +seen education become more universal. Look throughout all our Northern +States at our schools and colleges, our academies of learning, our +associations, the pulpit, the press, and the numerous agencies for the +promotion of intelligence, all the inevitable offspring of our free +institutions. Here is the high training which inspires the eloquence +of the Senate, the wisdom of the cabinet, the address of the +diplomatist, and which has developed and brought to light that +intelligent and energetic mind which has elevated the character and +contributed to the prosperity of the country. It is the ballot which +is the stimulus to improvement, which fires the heart of youthful +ambition, which stimulates honorable aspiration, which penetrates the +thick shades of the forest, and takes the poor rail-splitter by the +hand and points him to the shining height of human achievement, or +which goes into the log hut of the tailor boy and opens to him the +avenue of the presidential mansion." + +Mr. Yates then declared his confidence in the triumph of the principle +of universal suffrage: "It is my conscientious conviction that if +every Senator on this floor, and every Representative in the other +House, and the President of the United States, should, with united +voices, attempt to oppose this grand consummation of universal +equality, they will fail. It is too late for that. You may go to the +head-waters of the Mississippi and turn off the little rivulets, but +you can not go to the mouth, after it has collected its waters from a +thousand rivers, and with accumulated volume is pouring its foaming +waters into the Gulf, and say, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no +further.' + +"It is too late to change the tide of human progress. The enlightened +convictions of the masses, wrought by the thorough discussions of +thirty years, and consecrated by the baptism of precious blood, can +not now be changed. The hand of a higher power than man's is in this +revolution, and it will not move backward. It is of no use to fight +against destiny. God, not man, created men equal. Deep laid in the +solid foundations of God's eternal throne, the principle of equality +is established, indestructible and immortal. + +"Senators, sixty centuries of the past are looking down upon you. All +the centuries of the future are calling upon you. Liberty, struggling +amid the rise and wrecks of empires in the past, and yet to struggle +for life in all the nations of the world, conjures you to seize this +great opportunity which the providence of Almighty God has placed in +your hands to bless the world and make your names immortal, to carry +to full and triumphant consummation the great work begun by your +fathers, and thus lay permanently, solidly, and immovably, the +cap-stone upon the pyramid of human liberty." + +On the 21st of February, the proposed amendment being again before the +Senate, Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, delivered an elaborate speech +in opposition to the measure. He had previously refrained from +speech-making, supposing that "while the passions of the country were +inflamed by the war, reason could not be heard." He regretted that +questions pertaining to the war still occupied the attention of +Congress to the exclusion of those connected with economy, revenue, +finance, ordinary legislation, and the administration of +justice--questions which require intelligence, investigation, labor, +and the habits of the student. As an argument against changing the +basis of representation as it existed, Mr. Buckalew gave statistical +details, showing the various ratios of representation in the Senate, +as possessed respectively by the East, West and South. He maintained +that New England had too great a preponderance of power in the Senate, +both, as to membership and the chairmanships of committees, "While," +said he, "the population of the East is less than one-seventh of the +population of the States represented in the Senate, she has the +chairmanships of one-third of the committees. The chairmanship of a +committee is a position of much influence and power. The several +distinguished gentlemen holding that position have virtual control +over the transaction of business, both in committee and in the +Senate." + +Mr. Buckalew thus presented the effect of restoration of +representation to the Southern States upon the relative position of +New England: "Twenty-two Senators from the Southern States and two +from Colorado--being double the number of those from the East--would +reduce the importance of the latter in the Senate and remit her back +to the condition in which she stood in her relations to the Union +before the war. True, she would even then possess much more than her +proportion of weight in the Senate, regard being had to her +population, but she would no longer dominate or control the Government +of the United States." + +Mr. Buckalew argued at some length that representation should continue +to be based upon population. He thought that the two-fifths added to +the representative population in the South by the abolition of slavery +would be counterbalanced by the mortality of the slave population +since the outbreak of the war. He then presented the following +objections to "any propositions of amendments at this time by +Congress:" + +"1. Eleven States are unrepresented in the Senate and House. They are +not heard in debate which may affect their interests and welfare in +all future time. + +"2. Any amendment made at this time will be a partisan amendment. + +"3. The members of this Congress were not chosen with reference to the +subject of constitutional amendment. + +"4. Whatever amendments are now proposed by Congress are to be +submitted to Legislatures, and not to popular conventions in the +States; and most of those Legislatures are to be the ones now in +session. + +"5. In submitting amendments at this time, we invite a dispute upon +the question of the degree of legislative assent necessary to their +adoption. If ratified by the Legislatures of less than three-fourths +of all the States, their validity will be denied, and their +enforcement resisted." + +Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, replied to Mr. Buckalew's imputations +against New England. "The Senator gave us to understand that he had +not wasted reason, thought, and culture upon the stormy passions +engendered by the war, but now, when reason had resumed her empire, he +had come forth to instruct his country. + +"The Senators from New England, unlike the Senator from Pennsylvania, +remained not silent during the great civil war through which the +nation has passed. They have spoken; they have spoken for the unity of +their country and the freedom of all men. They have spoken for their +country, their whole country, and for the rights of all its people of +every race. Their past is secure, and the imputations of the Senator +from Pennsylvania will pass harmless by them. + +"When the Constitution was formed, New England had eight of the +twenty-six Senators--nearly one-third of the body; now she has twelve +of the seventy-two Senators--one-sixth of the body. Her power is +diminishing in this body and will continue to diminish. When the +Constitution was adopted, quite as great inequalities existed among +the States as now. The illustrious statesmen who framed the +Constitution knew and recognized that fact; they based the Senate upon +the States, and upon the equality of the States. They were so +determined in that policy of equal State representation in the Senate +that they provided that the Constitution should never be amended in +that respect without the consent of every State. + +"The Senator suggests that the Senators from New England are actuated +by local interests and love of power in their action regarding the +admission of the Representatives of the rebel States. Nothing can be +more unjust to those Senators. It is without the shadow of fairness or +justice, or the semblance of truth. I can say before God that I am +actuated by no local interests, no love of power, in opposing the +immediate and unconditional admission of the rebel States into these +chambers; and I know my associates from New England too well to +believe for a moment that they are actuated by interest or the love of +power. Thousands of millions of money have been expended, and hundreds +of thousands of brave men have bled for the unity and liberty of the +republic. I desire--my associates from New England desire--to see +these vacant chairs filled at an early day by the Representatives of +the States that rebelled and rushed into civil war. We will welcome +them here; but before they come it is of vital importance to the +country, to the people of all sections, to the interests of all, that +all disturbing questions should be forever adjusted, and so adjusted +as never again to disturb the unity and peace of the country. It is +now the time to settle forever all matters that can cause estrangement +and sectional agitations and divisions in the future. Nothing should +be left to bring dissensions, and, it may be, civil war again upon our +country. The blood poured out to suppress the rebellion must not be +shed in vain." + +Prominent Republican Senators bringing earnest opposition to bear +against the proposed constitutional amendment, and a sentiment +evidently gaining ground that it did not meet the requirements of the +case, caused its friends to urge it with less zeal than had at first +characterized them. Meanwhile, other important propositions coming up +from the Committee of Fifteen, which occupied the attention of the +Senate, as detailed in a subsequent chapter, the subject of changing +the basis of representation was allowed to lie over for nearly a +fortnight. + +On the 5th of March, the subject being resumed, Mr. Pomeroy addressed +the Senate. He feared that the nation was not ready to adopt a +constitutional amendment such as the necessities of the country +required. "This nation," said he, "although severely disciplined, has +not yet reached the point of giving to all men their rights by a +suffrage amendment; three-fourths of the States are not ready. And any +patchwork, any 'step toward it' (as said the chairman of the +committee) which does not reach it, I fear to take, because but one +opportunity will ever be afforded us to step at all; and lost +opportunities are seldom repeated." + +Mr. Pomeroy did not think the case was without remedy, however, since +"the last constitutional amendment embraced all, gave the most ample +powers, even if they did not exist before; for, after having secured +the freedom of all men wherever the old flag floats, it provided that +Congress might 'secure' the same by 'appropriate legislation.' + +"What more could it have said? And who are better judges of +appropriate legislation than the very men who first passed the +amendment and provided for this very case? + +"Sir, what is 'appropriate legislation' on the subject, namely, +securing the freedom of all men? It can be nothing less than throwing +about all men the essential safeguards of the Constitution. The 'right +to bear arms' is not plainer taught or more efficient than the right +to carry ballots. And if appropriate legislation will secure the one, +so can it also the other. And if both are necessary, and provided for +in the Constitution as now amended, why, then, let us close the +question of congressional legislation. + +"Let us not take counsel of our own fears, but of our hopes; not of +our enemies, but of our friends. By all the memories which cluster +about the pathway in which we have been led; by all the sacrifices, +suffering, blood, and tears of the conflict; by all the hopes of a +freed country and a disenthralled race; yea, as a legacy for mankind, +let us now secure a free representative republic, based upon impartial +suffrage and that human equality made clear in the Declaration of +Independence. To this entertainment let us invite our countrymen and +all nations, committing our work, when done, to the verdict of +posterity and the blessing of Almighty God." + +On the day following, Mr. Saulsbury took the floor. His speech, +ostensibly against the pending measure, was a palliation of the +conduct of the Southern States, and a plea for their right of being +admitted to representation in Congress. All that the Senator said +directly upon the subject under discussion was contained in the +following paragraph: + +"Now, suppose your constitutional amendment passes. If it passes, it +ought to meet with the respect of some body. If this constitutional +amendment shall be presented to the States who are now represented in +Congress, and shall be adopted by simply three-fourths of those +States, is there any body that will have the least respect for it? +Then suppose you could go with the bayonet--which I think now, under +the brighter dawn of a better day which we begin to realize, you are +not going to have the liberty to do--suppose you were to go with the +bayonet and present it to the other eleven States, and they, acting +under duress, not as free agents and as free men, could get some +people in their section so miserable and poor in spirit and craven in +soul as to vote to adopt in their Legislatures such an amendment, +would it command the respect of any body in this land? Not at all. +Open your doors, sir; admit the Representatives of the Southern States +to seats in this body; require no miserable degrading oath of them; +administer to them the very oath that you first took when you entered +this body, and the only oath that the Constitution of the United +States requires, and the only oath which Congress has any right to +exact, an oath to support the Constitution of the United States; and +then, if you think your Constitution is defective, if you think it +needs further amendment, or if you have not sufficiently exhausted +your bowels of mercy and love and kindness toward your sable friends +whose shadows darken this gallery every day, submit your amendments to +the States represented in the Congress of the United States; and if +they choose, acting freely as citizens of their States, to agree to +your amendments, it will command the respect of themselves, but still +it will not command mine. I should despise a people who would +voluntarily assume so degrading a position." + +On the 7th of March, Mr. Sumner occupied the attention of the Senate +for three hours, with a second speech in opposition to the proposed +constitutional amendment. He used very strong language to express his +abhorrence of the proposition: "It reminds me of that leg of mutton +served for dinner on the road from London to Oxford, which Dr. +Johnson, with characteristic energy, described 'as bad as bad could +be, ill-fed, ill-killed, ill-kept, and ill-dressed.' So this +compromise--I adopt the saying of an eminent friend, who insists that +it can not be called an 'amendment,' but rather a 'detriment' to the +Constitution--is as bad as bad can be; and even for its avowed purpose +it is uncertain, loose, cracked, and rickety. Regarding it as a +proposition from Congress to meet the unparalleled exigencies of the +present hour, it is no better than the 'muscipular abortion' sent into +the world by the 'parturient mountain.' But it is only when we look at +the chance of good from it that this proposition is 'muscipular.' +Regarding it in every other aspect it is infinite, inasmuch as it +makes the Constitution a well-spring of insupportable thralldom, and +once more lifts the sluices of blood destined to run until it comes to +the horse's bridle. Adopt it, and you will put millions of +fellow-citizens under the ban of excommunication; you will hand them +over to a new anathema maranatha; you will declare that they have no +political rights 'which white men are bound to respect,' thus +repeating in a new form that abomination which has blackened the name +of Taney. Adopt it, and you will stimulate anew the war of race upon +race. Slavery itself was a war of race upon race, and this is only a +new form of this terrible war. The proposition is as hardy as it is +gigantic; for it takes no account of the moral sense of mankind, which +is the same as if in rearing a monument we took no account of the law +of gravitation. It is the paragon and masterpiece of ingratitude, +showing more than any other act of history what is so often charged +and we so fondly deny, that republics are ungrateful. The freedmen ask +for bread, and you send them a stone. With piteous voice they ask for +protection. You thrust them back unprotected into the cruel den of +their former masters. Such an attempt, thus bad as bad can be, thus +abortive for all good, thus perilous, thus pregnant with a war of race +upon race, thus shocking to the moral sense, and thus treacherous to +those whom we are bound to protect, can not be otherwise than +shameful. Adopt it, and you will cover the country with dishonor. +Adopt it, and you will fix a stigma upon the very name of republic. As +to the imagination, there are mountains of light, so are there +mountains of darkness; and this is one of them. It is the very +Koh-i-noor of blackness. Adopt this proposition, and you will be +little better than the foul Harpies who defiled the feast that was +spread. The Constitution is the feast spread for our country, and you +are now hurrying to drop into its text a political obscenity, and to +spread on its page a disgusting ordure, + + "'Defiling all you find, + And parting leave a loathsome stench behind.'" + +Having presented his objections to the pending proposition, at great +length, he summed them up as follows: "You have seen, first, how this +proposition carries into the Constitution itself the idea of +Inequality of Rights, thus defiling that unspotted text; secondly, how +it is an express sanction of the acknowledged tyranny of taxation +without representation; thirdly, how it is a concession to State +Rights at a moment when we are recovering from a terrible war waged +against us in the name of State Rights; fourthly, how it is the +constitutional recognition of an oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, and +monopoly founded on color; fifthly, how it petrifies in the +Constitution the wretched pretensions of a white man's government; +sixthly, how it assumes what is false in constitutional law, that +color can be a 'qualification' for an elector; seventhly, how it +positively ties the hands of Congress in fixing the meaning of a +republican government, so that, under the guarantee clause, it will be +constrained to recognize an oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, and +monopoly founded on color, together with the tyranny of taxation +without representation, as not inconsistent with such a government; +eighthly, how it positively ties the hands of Congress in completing +and consummating the abolition of slavery according to the second +clause of the constitutional amendment, so that it can not, for this +purpose, interfere with the denial of the elective franchise on +account of color; ninthly, how it installs recent rebels in permanent +power over loyal citizens; and, tenthly, how it shows forth, in +unmistakable character, as a compromise of human rights, the most +immoral, indecent, and utterly shameful of any in our history. All +this you have seen, with pain and sorrow, I trust. Who that is moved +to sympathy for his fellow-man can listen to the story without +indignation? Who that has not lost the power of reason can fail to see +the cruel wrong?" + +Mr. Doolittle mentioned some facts which he thought would prove the +apprehension of an increase of the basis of representation in the +South to be without foundation. "The destruction of the population," +said he, "both white and black, during the civil war, has been most +enormous. Of the white population, there were in those States in 1860, +of white males over twenty years of age, about one million six hundred +thousand. Nearly one-third of that white population over twenty years +of age has perished. The actual destruction of the black population +since 1860 has been at least twenty-five per cent. of the whole +population. The population of the South has been so destroyed and +wasted and enfeebled in consequence of this war, that I do not for +one, I confess, feel those apprehensions which some entertain that, if +they are admitted to representation under the Constitution just as it +stands, they will have any increase of Representatives. My opinion is, +that after the next census their representation will be diminished +unless emigration from the North or from Europe shall fill up their +population and increase it so as to entitle it to an increased +representation." + +Mr. Doolittle argued that the amendment was capable of being evaded by +a State disposed to disfranchise colored men: "I do not see," said he, +"that there is any thing in the resolution which would prevent South +Carolina or any other State from passing a law that any person who was +born free, or whose ancestors were free, should exercise the elective +franchise, and none others. That would exclude the whole of the +colored population, and yet would leave the State to have its full +representation. There is nothing which would prevent the State of +South Carolina or any other State from saying that only those persons +who had served in the military service, and their descendants, should +exercise the elective franchise. That would exclude the colored +population, and the Union population, too, if they refused to serve in +the army." + +Mr. Doolittle closed his remarks by advocating an amendment basing +representation upon actual voters under State laws. + +Mr. Morrill, of Maine, addressed the Senate in support of the +proposition to amend the Constitution. He said: "Some amendment is +rendered absolutely necessary, unless the American Constitution is to +give to the nation the expression of utterly contradictory sentiments, +saying involuntary servitude no longer exists, in one portion of it; +in another, bearing on its front in marked contrast, that three-fifths +only of the 'other persons' are to still constitute the basis of +representation." + +He recalled a time not far remote when amendments of the Constitution +were adopted by those who now oppose any alteration of the fundamental +law: "I do not forget," said he, "that within the last five years a +class of statesmen and politicians, who now resist all propositions +for an amendment of the Constitution, here and elsewhere urged and +demanded amendments of the Constitution of the nation. What were the +circumstances then? Several States threatened to dissolve this Union; +several States had taken an attitude hostile to the Government of the +country. They demanded the extension, the protection, and the +perpetuation of slavery; and upon that question the country was +divided. Then amendments to the Constitution were proposed without +number here, elsewhere, and every-where. Amendments to the +Constitution seemed to be the order of the day. To what end, and for +what purpose? To increase the power in the hands of the few who +wielded the political power in those States, and who were demanding +it. + +Referring to an argument presented by the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. +Morrill remarked: "But yesterday we had an additional reason given why +this amendment should not be adopted; and that was that it was wholly +unnecessary, because, it was said, by the events which were +transpiring in the country in regard to the recent slave population, +there need be no apprehension of excess of representation based on the +whole 'numbers' instead of three-fifths, from the important fact that +they were passing away. If I gather the force of that argument, it is +this: we are to base no legislation and no action upon the idea that +this race, recently slave, now free, is part and parcel of the +American people, the object of our care, solicitude, and protection. +They are passing away--dying; let them be represented as slaves now, +and let them never enter into the basis hereafter of the +representative system. Sir, that is the old argument--an argument +worthy of another period than this. Our people have been an inexorable +people, in some respects, in regard to the races that have been within +their power. In the march of our civilization across the continent, +the iron heel of that civilization has rested upon the Indian, and he +is passing away. We seem to contemplate the probable extinction of the +Indians from our limits with composure. He is a nomad; he is a savage; +he is a barbarian; he is not within our morals or our code of law; he +is not within the pale of the Constitution, but flits upon the verge +of it, outside our protection, the subject of our caprices, and +sometimes, I think, of our avarice. And, now, if any consequence is to +be attached to the remark of the honorable Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. +Doolittle] yesterday, this 'inferior race' is not to be the subject of +our solicitude. They, too, are passing away; it is not worth while to +change your Constitution in regard to them. Let them be represented as +two-fifths slaves on the old basis until they shall have perished, and +then your Constitution will need no amendment. The laws of a fearful +antagonism of superior and inferior races are expected to accomplish +what, if American statesmanship does not incite, it contemplates with +apparent satisfaction." + +Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, profoundly regretted to see indications +that the amendment was doomed to defeat. He said: "My heart, my +conscience, and my judgment approve of this amendment, and I support +it without qualification or reservation. I approve of the purpose for +which it is introduced. I approve it because I believe it would sweep +the loyal States by an immense majority; that no public man could +stand before the people of the loyal States in opposition to it, or +oppose it with any force whatever. I approve it because I believe if +it were put in the Constitution every black man in America, before +five years could pass, would be enfranchised and weaponed with the +ballot for the protection of life, liberty, and property." + +Referring to the opposition brought to bear against the measure by his +colleague, Mr. Wilson said: "We are also told that it is immoral and +indecent, an offense to reason and to conscience. Sir, this measure +came into Congress with the sanction of the Committee on +Reconstruction, composed as it is of men of individual honor and +personal character, and as true to the cause of the colored race as +any other men here or elsewhere. It comes to the Senate by an +overwhelming vote of the House of Representatives. It is sustained by +ninety-nine out of every hundred of the public journals that brought +the present Administration into power, and were it submitted to the +American people, it would, I am quite sure, be sustained by men in the +loyal States who believe that the soldier who fought the battles of +the republic is the equal of the traitor who fought against the +country. I see no compromise in it, no surrender in it, no defilement +of the Constitution in it, no implication that can be drawn from it +against the rights or interests of the colored race. On the contrary, +I believe the black men, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, would go +for it and rejoice to see it adopted." + +Mr. Wilson described the results that would follow the adoption of +this amendment. "Being incorporated in the Constitution, the practical +effect would be this, and only this: it would raise up a party in +every one of these States immediately in favor of the enfranchisement +of the colored race. That party might be animated and influenced by +the love of power, by pride, and by ambition. These men might begin +the contest, for they would not like to yield the power of their +States in Congress; they might begin the battle animated by no high +and lofty motives; but as soon as the discussion commenced, it would +address itself to the reason, to the heart, and to the conscience of +the people. The advocates of negro enfranchisement would themselves +speedily grow up to believe in the justice, equity, and right of +giving the ballot to the black men. There would be discussion on every +square mile of the rebel States. Appeals would be made to their pride, +to their ambition, to their justice, to their love of fair play, to +their equity; all the interests and passions, and all the loftier +motives that can sway, control, and influence men, would impel them to +action. They would coöperate with the friends of freedom throughout +the country; would seek their counsel and aid. They would be the left +wing of the great army of freedom, of elevation, and improvement in +the country. We would give them our influence, our voices, and our aid +in fighting the battle of enfranchisement. They would have the support +and the prayers of the poor black men of the South; and before five +years had passed away, there would not be a rebel State that did not +enfranchise the bondman." + +Referring to the policy of "enlightened Christian States," in refusing +the right of suffrage to the negro, Mr. Wilson said: "After all the +fidelity and heroic conduct of these men, prejudice, party spirit, and +conservatism, and all that is base and mean on earth, combine to deny +the right of suffrage to the brave soldier of the republic. God alone +can forgive such meanness; humanity can not. After what has taken +place, is taking place, I can not hope that the constitutional +amendment proposed by the Senator from Missouri will receive a +majority of three-fourths of the votes of the States. I, therefore, +can not risk the cause of an emancipated race upon it. In the present +condition of the nation we must aim at practical results, not to +establish political theories, however beautiful and alluring they may +be." + +It was the understanding of the Senate that the discussion would close +and the vote would be taken on the 9th of March. On that day Mr. +Fessenden took the floor in reply to objections urged by those who had +previously spoken. In reply to the objection that the advocates of +this measure were wrong in attempting to accomplish by indirection +that which they could not accomplish directly, Mr. Fessenden said: "If +negro suffrage can be secured by the indirect action of an amendment +of the Constitution which appeals to the interest of those who have +hitherto been and who are yet probably the ruling class among whom +this large population is situated, and with whom they live, it will be +far better than to run the risk of all the difficulties that might +arise from a forcible imposition, which would create ill-feeling, +generate discord, and produce, perhaps undying animosities." + +To the objection urged by Mr. Hendricks, that it was intended for a +party purpose, Mr. Fessenden replied: "Has he any right to attack the +motives of those who support it? Must it necessarily be attended with +benefit to a particular party? If so, it is necessarily attended with +injury to another party, of which the honorable Senator is a prominent +member; and it would as well become me to say that his opposition to +it is for party purposes and for party objects as it became him to say +that its introduction and its support were intended for party +purposes. It is well known here and out of this Senate that the +honorable Senator from Indiana is a gentleman who never, in any of his +addresses here, says any thing that is in the slightest degree +calculated to effect a party purpose, and has so little of that party +feeling which presses itself upon other men as to be hardly suspected +of being a party man at all." [Laughter.] + +Mr. Fessenden thus replied to the objections of two opponents of the +measure: "The Senator [Mr. Hendricks] objected to this measure upon +another ground, and that was, that in one sense it was intended as a +punishment, and that was wrong; and in another sense it was what he +called a bribe, a reward, and that was wrong. If he considers it a +punishment, he differs very much from his leading associate on this +question, the honorable Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumner,] for +he does not consider it a punishment at all. The Senator from +Massachusetts says there is nothing punitive in it. On the contrary, +it is a reward to these States; it is conferring power upon them; it +is strengthening power in the hands of the whites of the South, and +only oppressing the colored race. Behold how doctors disagree! They +operate upon the same patient, and are operating at the same time, +with different remedies and in different directions. + +"Suppose it is a punishment, and suppose it is a bribe, a reward; it +does not differ very much from the principle upon which all criminal +legislation is founded, to say the least of it. We punish men when +they do wrong. I never heard that it was an objection to legislation +that it punished those who perpetrate a wrong. I never heard that it +was an objection to legislation that it held out rewards to those who +did right." + +Referring to Mr. Buckalew's argument, Mr. Fessenden remarked: "Eight +out of sixteen pages of his speech were devoted to abuse of New +England, and to showing that New England had too much power, and that +it ought to be abridged in some way. "He closed those remarks by +saying (for which I was very much obliged to him) that he did not +despise New England. We are happy to know it. I will say to him that +New England does not despise him that I am aware of. [Laughter.] I am +not aware that it is really affected in any degree by the elaborate +attack of eight pages which he delivered against New England on that +occasion, and which he thought were views so important that he could +not be justified if he failed to give them utterance." + +Of Mr. Sumner's part in the debate, Mr. Fessenden said: "On this +subject I think he has occupied about eight or nine hours of the time +of the Senate, and on the last occasion, while saying that principles +were to be considered, he has undertaken to designate the character of +this proposed amendment. I have already stated who the men were who +were in favor of it. What does the Senator call it? I have chosen a +few, and but a few, flowers of rhetoric from the speech of the +honorable Senator: 'Compromise of human rights,' 'violating the +national faith,' 'dishonoring the name of there public,' 'bad mutton,' +'new muscipular abortion,' 'a new anathema maranatha,' 'abomination,' +'paragon and masterpiece of ingratitude,' 'abortive for all good,' +'shocking to the moral sense,' 'the very Koh-i-noor of blackness,' +'essential uncleanliness,' 'disgusting ordure,' 'loathsome stench;' +and the men who support it, if they pass it, will be 'Harpies,' +'Pontius Pilate, with Judas Iscariot on his back.' + +"The Senator from Massachusetts makes several points against this +proposition, to which my answer is the same. His first point is, that +it recognizes 'the idea of inequality of rights founded on race or +color.' I deny _in toto_ the correctness, or even the plausibility, to +a man of sense, any point that he has raised on the subject. There is +not one of them that is tenable; and more than that, there is not one +of them but what is just as tenable against the proposition he is in +favor of to found representation on voters as this. What lawyer in the +world ever heard that a denial is an admission? What lawyer ever heard +that a penalty is a permission? By this proposition, we say simply +this: 'If, in the exercise of the power that you have under the +Constitution, you make an inequality of rights, then you are to suffer +such and such consequences.' What sane man could ever pretend that +that was saying, 'Make an inequality of rights and we will sanction +it?' We do not deny--nobody can deny--that the power may be thus +exercised. What we say by this amendment is, 'If you attempt to +exercise it in this wrongful way, you create an inequality of rights; +and if you do create an inequality of rights'--not we, but you--'if +you undertake to do it under the power which exists in the +Constitution, then the consequence follows that you are punished by a +loss of representation.' That is all that is in it." + +Having replied to the most of Mr. Sumner's objections in order, Mr. +Fessenden said: "The last point of the Senator is, that this +proposition is 'a compromise of human rights, the most immoral, +indecent, and utterly shameful in our history.' + +"Mr. President, I stand rebuked, but I do not feel so bad as I might. +The Committee of Fifteen, the friends and associates of the honorable +Senator, stand rebuked. More than two-thirds of the House of +Representatives and a large majority of this body, all the political +friends and associates of the Senator, stand charged with proposing a +compromise of human rights the most immoral, indecent, and shameful in +our history! All I can say with regard to that is, that neither on its +face, in its effect, nor in its intention is it any compromise. None +such was dreamed of." + +Mr. Fessenden thus described the remarkable combination of Senators +opposing the amendment: "I can not close, however, without saying how +amusing seems to me the character of the opposition to this joint +resolution. That opposition is composed of men of all shades of +opinion. The Democrats on the other side of the House oppose it +because they say it is unjust to the Southern States; my honorable +friends who have been some time with us are opposed to it because--I +do not know why, except that the President is opposed to it, and I +believe that is the ground; my honorable friend from Massachusetts +objects because it is unjust to the negro. Why, sir, just imagine all +the gentlemen opposed to this resolution met in caucus together, and +looking around at each other, would there not be a smile on all their +faces to see what company they had fallen into? I think Senators would +be surprised to find themselves there, and, like the countryman +looking at the reel in the bottle, they would consider how the devil +they did get there. [Laughter.] It would be a very strange meeting; +and yet they are all against this proposition." + +After a running debate between several Senators, the vote was taken +upon the substitute proposed by Mr. Henderson as a constitutional +amendment, viz.: "No State, in prescribing the qualifications +requisite for electors therein, shall discriminate against any person +on account of color or race." The amendment was lost--yeas, 10; nays, +37. The question was then taken on Mr. Sumner's substitute, which was +simply a joint resolution providing 'there shall be no oligarchy, +aristocracy, caste, or monopoly invested with peculiar privileges, and +no denial of rights, civil or political, on account of color or race, +anywhere within the United States." This resolution was lost--yeas, 8; +nays, 39. The vote was then taken on the amendment proposed by Mr. +Yates, providing that no State shall make or enforce any distinction +between citizens of the United States on account of race or color, and +that all citizens shall hereafter be protected in the exercise of all +civil and political rights, including the right of suffrage. This +amendment was lost--yeas, 7; nays, 38. The vote was then taken upon +the original amendment as reported by the joint Committee of Fifteen. +The following was the result: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Cragin, + Creswell, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Howe, Kirkwood, + Lane of Indiana, McDougall, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, + Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Trumbull, Wade, Williams, and + Wilson--25. + + NAYS--Messrs. Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, + Doolittle, Guthrie, Henderson, Hendricks, Johnson, Lane of + Kansas, Nesmith, Norton, Pomeroy, Riddle, Saulsbury, + Stewart, Stockton, Sumner, Van Winkle, Willey, and + Yates--22. + + ABSENT--Messrs. Foot, Howard, and Wright--3. + +Two thirds of the Senators not having voted for the joint resolution, +it was lost. The defeat of the proposed constitutional amendment was +accomplished by the combination of five "Radical" Senators with six +"Conservatives," elected as Republicans, whose vote, added to the +regular Democratic strength, prevented its adoption by the required +constitutional majority of two-thirds. + +The advocates of constitutional reform, though foiled in this attempt, +were not disheartened. Their defeat taught them the important lesson +that pet measures and favorite theories must be abandoned or modified +in order to secure the adoption of some constitutional amendment to +obviate difficulties of which all felt and acknowledged the existence. + +Meanwhile other measures, designed to lead to the great end of +reconstruction, were demanding and receiving the consideration of +Congress. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. + + Concurrent Resolution -- A "Venomous Fight" -- Passage in + the House -- The Resolution in the Senate -- "A Political + Wrangle" Deprecated -- Importance of the Question -- "A + Straw in a Storm" -- Policy of the President -- Conversation + between two Senators -- Mr. Nye's Advice to Rebels -- "A + Dangerous Power" -- "Was Mr. Wade once a Secessionist?" -- + Garrett Davis' Programme for the President -- "Useless yet + Mischievous" -- The Great Question Settled. + + +It was understood when the Committee of Fifteen introduced the joint +resolution proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the basis +of representation, that this was only one of a series of measures +which they thought essential to the work of reconstruction, and which +they designed to propose at a proper time. + +In pursuance of this plan, on the 20th of February, the day after the +veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, and while the amendment of the +basis of reconstruction was pending in the Senate, Mr. Stevens brought +before the House, from the Committee of Fifteen, a "Concurrent +Resolution concerning the Insurrectionary States," as follows: + + "_Be it resolved by the House of Representatives_, (the + Senate concurring,) That in order to close agitation upon a + question which seems likely to disturb the action of the + Government, as well as to quiet the uncertainty which is + agitating the minds of the people of the eleven States which + have been declared to be in insurrection, no Senator or + Representative shall be admitted into either branch of + Congress from any of said States until Congress shall have + declared such State entitled to such representation." + +After the reading of this resolution, Mr. Grider, of Kentucky, a +member of the Committee of Fifteen, offered the following minority +report: + + "The minority of the Committee on Reconstruction, on the + part of the House, beg leave to report that said committee + have directed an inquiry to be made as to the condition and + loyalty of the State of Tennessee. There has been a large + amount of evidence taken, some part of it conducing to show + that at some localities occasionally there have been some + irregularities and temporary disaffection; yet the main + direction and weight of the testimony are ample and + conclusive to show that the great body of the people in said + State are not only loyal and willing, but anxious, to have + and maintain amicable, sincere, and patriotic relations with + the General Government. Such being the state of the facts, + and inasmuch as under the census of 1860 Congress passed a + law which was approved in 1863, fixing the ratio and + apportioning to Tennessee and all the other States + representation; and inasmuch as Tennessee, disavowing + insurrectionary purposes or disloyalty, has, under the laws + and organic law of said State, regularly elected her members + and Senators to the Congress of the United States, in + conformity to the laws and Constitution of the United + States, and said members are here asking admission; and + inasmuch as the House by the Constitution is the 'judge of + the election, returns, and qualification of its members,' + considering these facts and principles, we offer the + following resolution, to-wit: + + "_Resolved_, That the State of Tennessee is entitled to + representation in the Thirty-ninth Congress, and the + Representatives elected from and by said State are hereby + admitted to take their seats therein upon being qualified by + oath according to law." + +Mr. Stevens then said: "Having heard an ingenious speech upon that +side of the question, and not intending to make any speech upon this +side, as I hope our friends all understand a question which has +agitated not this body only, but other portions of the community, I +propose to ask for the question. I think I may say without +impropriety, that until yesterday there was an earnest investigation +into the condition of Tennessee, to see whether by act of Congress we +could admit that State to a condition of representation here, and +admit its members to seats here; but since yesterday there has arisen +a state of things which the committee deem puts it out of their power +to proceed further without surrendering a great principle; without the +loss of all their dignity; without surrendering the rights of this +body to the usurpation of another power. I call the previous +question." + +Strenuous efforts were made by the Democratic minority to defeat the +proposed joint resolution by means of "dilatory motions." Repeated +motions were made to adjourn, to excuse certain members from voting, +and to call the House, on all of which the yeas and nays were called. +This "parliamentary tactics" consumed many hours. The minority seemed +resolved to make the passage of the resolution a question of physical +endurance. In reply to a proposition of Mr. Eldridge, of the minority, +that they would allow business to proceed if debate should be allowed, +Mr. Stevens said: "It is simply the return of the rebels of 1861. I +sat thirty-eight hours under this kind of a fight once, and I have no +objections to a little of it now. I am ready to sit for forty hours." + +Late in the evening, a member of the minority proposed that the House +should take a recess for an hour, that the door-keeper might have the +hall fitted up as a dormitory. From indications, he thought such +accommodations would be necessary. At length, Mr. Eldridge said: "We +know our weakness and the strength and power of the numbers of the +majority. We have not had the assistance which we expected from the +other side of the House in our effort to obtain the privilege of +debating the resolution. We know perfectly well that it has become a +question of physical endurance. We know perfectly well that we can not +stand out against the overpowering majority of this House any great +length of time. We know if the majority will it, the resolution will +pass without debate. We have done all we could. We therefore yield to +that power, and throw the responsibility of this most extraordinary, +this most revolutionary measure, upon the majority of the House." + +To this Mr. Stevens answered: "The gentlemen accept their situation +just as Jeff. Davis did his--because they can not help it. [Laughter.] +I confess, sir, for so small a number, they have made a most venomous +fight." + +The vote was then taken upon the concurrent resolution, which passed +the House--yeas, 109; nays, 40. + +The hopes which had arisen in the minds of the minority that a +considerable number of Republicans would permanently separate +themselves from the party that elected them, and adhere to the policy +and fortunes of the President, were disappointed. The imprudence of +the President himself, in making his unfortunate speech of the 22d of +February, tended to unite the Republicans in Congress against his +policy, and render fruitless the efforts of his new Democratic friends +in his favor. + +On the 23d of February, Mr. Fessenden proposed that the pending +constitutional amendment should give way, to enable the Senate to +consider the concurrent resolution passed by the House concerning the +representation of the Southern States. + +Mr. Sherman thought it would be better and wiser to allow this matter +to lie over for a few days. He thought it best not to press this +"declaration of political opinion" while the public mind and Senators +themselves were more or less affected by surrounding circumstances. "I +think," said he, "that we ought not to postpone all the important +business now pending in Congress for the purpose of getting into a +political wrangle with the President." + +Mr. Fessenden replied: "The Senator from Ohio says we are getting up a +political wrangle with the President of the United States. When the +President of the United States tells Congress that it is transcending +its proper limits of authority, that it has nothing to do in the way +of judgment upon the great question of reconstructing the rebel +States, and Congress assumes to express its own sense upon that +question, I think it is hardly a proper term to apply to such a state +of things. I am not aware that there has been any effort anywhere to +get up a political wrangle or engage in a political wrangle with the +President. Certainly I have not. No man has ever heard me speak of him +except in terms of respect, in my place here and elsewhere. + +"I am not sensible myself of any excitement that would prevent my +speaking upon this question precisely in the style which I deem it +deserves. I am not carried away by passion. I have reflected, and I am +ready to express my opinion upon the great question at issue; and the +Senator will allow me to say that, in my judgment, the sooner the +judgment of Congress is expressed, the better. + +"He talks about important business to be done by this Congress. Sir, +is there any thing more important than to settle the question whether +the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States have +or have not something to say in relation to the condition of the late +Confederate States, and whether it is proper to admit Senators and +Representatives from them? If the President is right in his +assumption--for the assumption is a very clear one--that we have +nothing to say, we ought to admit these men at once, if they come here +with proper credentials, and not keep them waiting outside the door." + +Mr. Sherman said: "In my judgment, the events that transpired +yesterday are too fresh in the mind of every Senator not to have had +some influence upon him, and I think it as well to allow the influence +of those events to pass away. I do not wish now myself, nor do I wish +any Senator here, to reply to what was said yesterday by the President +of the United States. I would prefer that the Senate of the United +States, the only legislative body which can deliberate fully and +freely without any limitation on the right of debate, should +deliberate, reflect, and act calmly after the excitement of the events +of the last two or three days has passed off." + +Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, remarked: "If there be passion and excitement +in the country at this present time, I do not hold myself as an +individual responsible for any share of it; and I am here to say that +if I know myself--and if I do not know myself nobody about me knows +me--I am as competent to consider this particular question to-day as I +was the day before yesterday or last week, and, so far as my judgment +informs me, quite as competent to consider it as I expect to be next +week or the week after. And when the Senator from Ohio asks me to vote +against proceeding to the consideration of any measure, either because +I distrust my own fitness to consider it, or distrust the fitness of +my associates about me, I must respectfully decline, not because I +care particularly whether we take up this measure to-day or another +day, but because I ask the Senate to vindicate their own course as +individual men, and to say that they are not to be swept from the seat +of judgment by what is said, or can be said, by the first magistrate +of the nation, or by the lowest and the last magistrate of the +nation." + +The Senate, by a vote of 26 to 19, agreed to proceed to consider the +concurrent resolution proposed by the Committee of Fifteen, which had +already passed the House of Representatives. + +Mr. Fessenden advocated the resolution in a speech of considerable +length. He presented extracts from the President's speech of the day +before, in which he had arrayed himself against the right of Congress +to decide whether a rebel State is in condition to be represented. + +Mr. Fessenden considered the pending resolution as "transcending in +importance the question of the amendment of the Constitution, which +had been under discussion for several days." He deemed the resolution +necessary now, "in order that Congress may assert distinctly its own +rights and its own powers; in order that there may be no mistake +anywhere, in the mind of the Executive or in the minds of the people +of this country; that Congress, under the circumstances of this case, +with this attempted limitation of its powers with regard to its own +organization, is prepared to say to the Executive and to the country, +respectfully but firmly, over this subject they have, and they mean to +exercise, the most full and plenary jurisdiction. We will judge for +ourselves, not only upon credentials and the character of men and the +position of men, but upon the position of the States which sent those +men here. In other words, to use the language of the President again, +when the question is to be decided, whether they obey the +Constitution, whether they have a fitting constitution of their own, +whether they are loyal, whether they are prepared to obey the laws as +a preliminary, as the President says it is, to their admission, we +will say whether those preliminary requirements have been complied +with, and not he, and nobody but ourselves." + +Mr. Fessenden made an extended argument on the subject of +reconstruction, affirming that while the people of the rebel States +had not passed from under the jurisdiction of the United States +Government, yet having no existence as States with rights in the Union +and rights to representation in Congress. "My judgment is," said he, +"that we hold the power over the whole subject in our hands, that it +is our duty to hold it in our hands, and to regard it as a matter of +the most intense interest to the whole people, involving the good of +the whole people, calling for our most careful consideration, and to +be adjudged without passion, without temper, without any of that +feeling which may be supposed to have arisen out of the unexampled +state of things through which we have passed." + +On the 26th of February, Mr. Sherman addressed the Senate on the +pending concurrent resolution. He approved the principle but doubted +the expediency of now reäffirming it. "I regard it," said he, "as a +mere straw in a storm, thrown in at an inopportune moment; the mere +assertion of a naked right which has never yet been disputed, and +never can be successfully; a mere assertion of a right that we have +over and over again asserted. My idea is that the true way to assert +this power is to exercise it, and that it was only necessary for +Congress to exercise that power in order to meet all these complicated +difficulties." + +Mr. Sherman regarded the President's speech as humiliating and +unworthy of his high office. A part of the speech he characterized as +"the product of resentment, hatched by anger and passion, and hurled, +without reflection, at those he believed wished to badger and insult +him." + +Mr. Sherman favored the prompt restoration of Tennessee. "I think our +first duty," said he, "is at once to prepare a mode and manner by +which she may be admitted into the Union upon such terms and +conditions as will make her way back the way of pleasantness and +peace." + +Of the general question of reconstruction he said: "If I had any power +in arranging a plan, I would mark the line as broad and deep between +the loyal people who stood at our side and the rebels who fought +against us as between heaven and hell." + +"How can you do it?" asked Mr. Howard. + +"Whenever loyal men," replied Mr. Sherman, "present a State +organization, complying with such terms and conditions and tests of +loyalty as you may prescribe, and will send here loyal Representatives, +I would admit them; and whenever rebels send or come here, I would +reject them." + +"I fear the storm," said Mr. Sherman, near the conclusion of his +speech. "I fear struggles and contentions in these eleven States, +unless there is some mode by which the local power of those States may +be put in loyal hands, and by which their voices may be heard here in +council and in command, in deliberation and debate, as of old. They +will come back here shorn of their undue political power, humbled in +their pride, with a consciousness that one man bred under free +institutions is as good, at least, as a man bred under slave +institutions. I want to see the loyal people in the South, if they are +few, trusted; if they are many, give them power. Prescribe your +conditions, but let them come back into the Union upon such terms as +you may prescribe. Open the door for them. I hope we may see harmony +restored in this great Union of ours; that all these States and all +these Territories may be here in council for the common good, and that +at as speedy a moment as is consistent with the public safety." + +Mr. Dixon addressed the Senate in opposition to the concurrent +resolution, and in favor of the policy of the President. "It is my +belief," said he, "that what is known as the policy of the President +for the restoration of the late seceded States in this Government is +the correct policy. I believe it is the only safe policy." Having been +requested to state that policy, Mr. Dixon said: "It contemplates a +careful, cautious, discriminating admission of a loyal representation +from loyal States and districts in the appropriate House of Congress, +by the separate action of each, every case to be considered by itself +and decided on its own merits. It recognizes the right of every loyal +State and district to be represented by loyal men in Congress. It +draws the true line of distinction between traitors and true men. It +furnishes to the States lately in rebellion the strongest possible +inducement to loyalty and fidelity to the Government. It 'makes +treason odious,' by showing that while the traitor and the rebel are +excluded from Congress, the loyal and the faithful are cordially +received. It recognizes and rewards loyalty wherever it is found, and +distinguishes, as it ought, between a Horace Maynard and a Jefferson +Davis." + +Of the purpose expressed in this resolution to "close agitation," Mr. +Dixon said: "The vast business interests of this country are eagerly +intent on this question. The people of this country are mutually +attracted, the North and the South, and they must sooner or later act +together. Whatever Congress may do, this question will not cease to be +agitated. Adjourn, if you see fit, without settling this question; +leave it as it is; admit no member from Tennessee; and when you go +through the States next fall which hold their elections for Congress, +see whether agitation has ceased. Sir, a word of caution may not be +unfit on that subject." + +Mr. Dixon maintained that the Senate would surrender its independence +by resolving that Senators should not be admitted from rebel States +until Congress should have declared them entitled to such +representation. "Upon the question of credentials," said he, "this +whole question is before the Senate; and it is for us to consider on +that question whether the member presenting himself here for admission +is a traitor or whether he is true to his country." + +"Suppose," said Mr. Trumbull, "that in a time of peace the Legislature +of Tennessee is disloyal, and swears allegiance to the Emperor +Maximilian, does the Senator deny the authority of Congress to inquire +into the character of that Legislature?" + +"I do," replied Mr. Dixon. "It is for the Senate, and not for +Congress, to make the inquiry if a Senator from Tennessee in the +supposed case presents himself." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "He denies the authority of Congress to decide +whether the constituency is traitorous or loyal!" + +"That is another point," said Mr. Dixon. + +"That is the very one I put," said Mr. Trumbull. "If all the members +of the Legislature of Tennessee swear allegiance to the Emperor +Maximilian, and send a Senator here, I want to know if Congress has a +right to inquire into the character of that Legislature?" + +"I will answer that by asking another question," said Mr. Dixon. +"Suppose that was the case, that the Emperor Maximilian had entire +control of the State of Tennessee, and a person claiming a right so to +do should come here and offer himself as a member of the Senate, and +should be received here; that, in judging of the qualifications, +returns, and elections of the member, the Senate decided that he was a +Senator, has Congress any thing to do with the question? I ask him if +the House of Representatives can interfere? Is there an appeal to +Congress or any other tribunal? I ask him if that man is not a Senator +in spite of the world?" + +"If," replied Mr. Trumbull, "the Senator means to ask me if the Senate +has not the physical power to admit any body, elected or not, I admit +they have the same right to do it that twelve jurymen would have, +against the sworn and uncontradicted testimony of a hundred witnesses, +to bring in a verdict directly against the evidence and perjure +themselves. I suppose we have the physical power to commit perjury +here, when we have sworn to support the Constitution. We might admit a +man here from Pennsylvania Avenue, elected by nobody, as a member of +this Senate; but we would commit perjury in doing it, and have no +right to do it." + +Mr. Trumbull made an extended reply, which assumed somewhat the form +of a conversation, in which Mr. Dixon and other Senators participated. +Mr. Trumbull claimed that it required the concurrent action of both +houses of Congress to recognize any government in States where +rebellion had overthrown it. + +On the 28th of February, the concurrent resolution still pending, Mr. +Nye, of Nevada, advocated its passage. He opposed the present +admission of any member from the seceding States. "We are told," said +he, "by the apologists of these men who are being elected on their +merits as rebels, to the exclusion of Union men, that 'we must not +expect too much of them.' I fully accede to this idea. A class that +during its whole political life has aimed at a monopoly of wealth, a +monopoly of labor, and a monopoly of political power; that engaged in +the attempt at revolution in order to establish more fully and to +perpetuate such monopoly; that, failing in this, has become more +bitter by disappointment, should have time; and, sir, I am decidedly +in favor of giving them all the time necessary for the most +substantial improvement. I would say to these men, 'Go home! Go back +and labor as industriously to disabuse the minds of your +constituencies as you labored to mislead and impose upon them. Tell +them that the Union Government always was and never can be any thing +else than a just Government. Tell them that the Constitution has +become the acknowledged sovereign, and that it presides in both houses +of Congress. Inform them, while you are about it, that the rebel +sympathizers and apologists in the North can do them no good; that +they are acting as much out of time and propriety now as they did in +the time of the war, when their encouragement only prolonged the +conflict and added to Southern disaster. You may say to your +constituencies that the majority in Congress is very tenacious on the +subject of the Union war debt; that it is determined to keep faith +with the national creditors; that it is bent on adopting and throwing +around it all the safeguards and precautions possible; and that your +admission just now, and your alliance with Northern sympathizers, +would not be propitious in raising the value of our public securities. +While you are conferring with your constituents, you may as well +repeat to them the common political axiom that Representatives are +elected to represent their constituents, and that it is not believed +at the seat of Government that a disloyal constituency would make such +a mistake as to send loyal Representatives to Congress. In short, you +may as well say to your people that, as Congress represents the +loyalty of the nation, South as well as North, and has much important +work on hand, some of it requiring a two-thirds majority, it is not +deemed wholly prudent to part with that majority out of mere comity to +men from whom no assistance could be expected. Finally, by way of +closing the suggestive instructions, you may give your constituents to +understand that, as you went out of Congress rebel end foremost, you +will not probably get into those vacant seats over yonder except that +you come back Union end foremost." + +Mr. Stewart, of Nevada, held opinions of the pending question +different from those maintained by his colleague. He thought "the +power to suspend the right of a State to representation might imply a +dangerous power, and might imply a right to suspend it for any reason +that Congress might see fit. The power to suspend the right of a State +to be represented might hereafter be a terrible precedent." "There is +no provision in the Constitution," said Mr. Stewart, "conferring such +a power upon Congress. No authority of the kind is expressed in that +instrument, nor can I find any place where it is implied." In another +portion of his speech, which was very long, and occupied part of the +session of the succeeding day, Mr. Stewart remarked: "In the darkest +time of the rebellion, I deny that the right to represent Tennessee in +this hall by those who were loyal ever was for a moment suspended, but +their power to obey the law, their power to represent it was prevented +by treason. They were overpowered, and they were denied the right of +representation, not by Congress, not by the Government. This war was +to maintain for them that right which rebellion had sought to take +away from them, and had for a time suspended the harmonious relations +of the State to the General Government; and it will be too much to +admit that this Government has ever been in such a fix that the people +thereof were really not entitled to the protection of the +Constitution, and because they were denied it this war was brought on, +this war was prosecuted." + +Mr. Johnson opposed the resolution in a protracted speech in which he +reviewed the entire subject of reconstruction. Of the condition and +rights of the Southern States he said: "They are as much States as +they were when the insurrection was inaugurated, and their relation to +their sister States, and their consequent relation to the Government +of the United States, is the same relation in which they stood to both +when the insurrection was inaugurated. That would seem to follow +logically as a necessary result, and if that is a necessary result, +does it not also follow that they are entitled to representation in +this chamber? Whether they can present persons who can take their +seats, because they have individually committed crimes against the +United States is another question; but I speak now of the right +itself." + +Mr. Johnson argued that holding secession sentiments a few years ago +was no evidence of present disloyalty, and cited in proof of this +proposition a newspaper article purporting to give secession +resolutions drawn up by Mr. Wade, and passed at a meeting held at +Cleveland in 1859, which was presided over by Joshua E. Giddings. + +This called forth an answer from Mr. Wade, who said: "The Senator from +Maryland called me in question for having been present at a meeting +which he affirmed was held in Cleveland some seven years ago by +persons called 'Sons of Liberty,' and he alleged that I there +consented to certain resolutions that were passed which favored the +doctrine of secession, and that I was chairman of the committee which +reported them. Sir, the charge is a total forgery so far as I am +concerned. I never was at any such meeting of the Sons of Liberty or +any other sons. I never uttered such a sentiment in my life; I am not +one of those who have or have had much association with gentlemen +holding to secession principles. My associations have all been the +other way. During the war that secession made my counsels were against +it. I was for war to the death against the principle of secession, +while many other gentlemen in my eye were either participants in or +apologists for that sentiment. I am perfectly aware that a war is +made--and I am willing to meet it anywhere--upon what are called +Radicals of the country, and I am one of them. In olden times I was +here in the Senate called an Abolitionist, but they have changed the +name since. They have all got to be Abolitionists now, and they have +changed my name to 'Radical.' + +"Mr. President, in the history of mankind, so far as I have read or +know it, there never has been a time when parties were so organized on +radical principles of justice and right. The party with whom I act +appeal to no expediency, to none of your political policies; we dig +down to the granite of eternal truth, and there we stand, and they who +assail us have to assail the great principles of the Almighty, for our +principles are chained to his throne, and are as indestructible as the +Almighty himself. I want no warfare with any body; but if you will +make war upon such principles as we have adopted, it is the worse for +you. You can not prevail. + +"I have been in these political warfares for a long time; I claim to +be an old soldier in them. I stood in this Senate when there were not +five men with me to support me, and then I rose here and told those +who were inveighing like demons against the principles that they +called abolitionism, that I was an Abolitionist. To-day you are all +Abolitionists, not voluntarily, but by compulsion. I have wondered a +great deal why men did not learn more about these things than they +seem to do. Our principles are assailed now with just the same +virulence that they used to be when we were in a small minority. I do +not hold that they have triumphed thus far because of any superior +capacity on our part. Certainly not. Why is it, then, that we, from +the smallest of all beginnings, have conquered the prejudices of the +people and conquered the predominant party of this country which had +stood completely dominating the whole nation for more than forty +years? Why is it that we have conquered you, and now are triumphant +here in this Senate and almost by two-thirds in both branches, with +the whole nation at our backs? What miracle has wrought this change? +None other than the great consoling fact that justice, liberty, and +right are destined among the American people to succeed, and the gates +of hell can not prevail against them, although they are trying at this +particular time very hard to do it." [Laughter.] + +On the 2d of March, the last day of the debate, Mr. Cowan first +claimed the attention of the Senate in a speech two hours in length. +He argued "that for any guilty part taken by the people in the late +war, that the sufferings and losses they endured in that war were the +natural and sufficient punishment; that after it they remain purged, +and ought to be reädmitted to all their constitutional rights at once. +That it is due to the dignity of the United States as a great nation, +if she punishes the actual traitors who incited the rebellion, that it +be done solemnly and according to the strictest form of law, in open +courts, where the prisoners may have counsel and witnesses, so that +they may make their defense, if they have any. That according to the +Constitution and laws all the States are still in the Union; that +secession ordinances could not repeal the one, nor war set aside the +other; that they are neither dead by forfeiture or _felo de se_, but +are now in full and perfect existence, with all their municipal +machinery in full play. That the proposition of the Committee of +Fifteen to amend the Constitution is fundamental and revolutionary, +and destructive of the freedom of the States and the liberties of the +people; that it is a threat to deprive them of their rights by +compelling them either to admit negroes to the right of suffrage or to +give up a share of their representation, which is theirs by law and +the last amendment to the Constitution. That the resolution now before +us from the same committee is also revolutionary and destructive, +being an attempt to suspend the Constitution and laws in regard to +representation in Congress over eleven States of the Union until +Congress shall see fit to restore them. It is a declaration on the +part of the members of the present House and Senate, that having the +means of keeping these States from being represented here, they are +going to do so as long as they please; that no one of these measures +can be justified as a punishment for the rebellion; that the +Constitution forbids them as bills of pains and penalties, and as _ex +post facto_ in their character." + +Mr. Garret Davis, in the course of a speech in opposition to the +resolution, suggested a summary solution of the present difficulties: +"There is," said he, "a provision in the Constitution which requires +the President to communicate to the two houses of Congress information +as to the state of the Union, and to recommend to them such measures +"as he shall deem proper and expedient. What does this necessarily +impose upon him? He has to ascertain what men compose the two houses +of Congress. It is his right, it is his constitutional function, to +ascertain who constitute the two houses of Congress. The members of +the Senate who are in favor of the admission of the Southern Senators +could get into a conclave with those Southern Senators any day, and +they would constitute a majority of the Senate. The President of the +United States has the constitutional option--it is his function, it +his power, it is his right--and I would advise him to exercise it, to +ascertain, where there are two different bodies of men both claiming +to be the Senate, which is the true Senate. If the Southern members +and those who are for admitting them to their seats constitute a +majority of the whole Senate, the President has a right--and, by the +Eternal! he ought to exercise that right forthwith, to-morrow, or any +day--to recognize the Opposition in this body and the Southern +members, the majority of the whole body, as the true Senate. And then +what would become of you gentlemen? Oh, if the lion of the Hermitage, +and that great statesman, the sage of Ashland, were here in the seat +of power, how soon would they settle this question! They would say to, +and they would inspire those to whom they spoke, 'You Southern men are +kept out of your seats by violence, by revolution, against the +Constitution, against right; the Union is dissolved, the Government is +brought to an end by keeping the Senators from eleven States out of +their seats when the Constitution expressly states that every State +shall have two Senators.' + +"There is no plainer principle of constitutional law than that the +President has the right to ascertain and decide what body of men is +the Senate and what the House of Representatives when there are two +bodies of men claiming to be each. It is his right to do so, and the +people of America will sustain him in the noble and manly and +patriotic performance of his duty in determining the identity of the +true House. It ought to have been done at the beginning of this +session. When a petty clerk took upon himself to read the list of the +Representatives of the people of the United States, and to keep the +Representatives of eleven States out of their seats, the Constitution +guaranteeing to them those seats for the benefit of their constituents +and country, that subordinate never ought to have been tolerated for +one day in the perpetration of so great an outrage. Whenever Andrew +Johnson chooses to exercise his high function, his constitutional +right of saying to the Southern Senators, 'Get together with the +Democrats and the Conservatives of the Senate, and if you constitute a +majority, I will recognize you as the Senate of the United States,' +what then will become of you gentlemen? You will quietly come in and +form a part of that Senate." + +Mr. Doolittle opposed the passage of the resolution. Referring to the +plan proposed by Mr. Davis, he said: "If such a thing should +happen--which God in his mercy, I hope, will always prevent--that the +Senate should be divided, and one portion should go into one room, and +another into another, each claiming to be the Senate, I suppose the +House of Representatives could direct its clerk to go to one body and +not go to the other, and I do not know but the President of the United +States would have the power, in case of such a division, to send his +private secretary with messages to one body and not send them to the +other. Perhaps that might occur; but it is one of those cases that are +not to be supposed or to be tolerated." + +Mr. Wilson advocated the resolution: "The nation," said he, "is +divided into two classes; that the one class imperiously demands the +immediate and unconditional admission into these halls of legislation +of the rebellious States, _rebel end foremost_; that the other class +seeks their admission into Congress, at an early day, _loyal end +foremost_. He would hear, too, the blended voices of unrepentant +rebels and rebel sympathizers and apologists mingling in full chorus, +not for the restoration of a broken Union, for the unity and +indivisibility of the republic has been assured on bloody fields of +victory, but for the restoration to these vacant chairs of the +'natural leaders' of the South." + +Referring to Mr. Davis' programme for the President's interference +with the Senate, Mr. Wilson said: "Sir, there was a time when a +Senator who should have said what we have recently heard on this floor +would have sunk into his seat under the withering rebuke of his +associates. No Senator or Representative has a right to tell us what +the Executive will do. The President acts upon his own responsibility. +We are Senators, this is the Senate of the United States, and it +becomes us to maintain the rights and the dignity of the Senate of the +United States. The people demand that their Senators and +Representatives shall enact the needed measures to restore, at the +earliest possible day, the complete practical relations of the seceded +States to the National Government, and protect the rights and +liberties of all the people, without regard to color, race, or +descent." + +Mr. Fessenden, having the resolution in charge, made a second speech, +in which he answered objections which had been urged, and defended the +Committee of Fifteen against imputations of a disposition to delay the +work of reconstruction. + +Mr. McDougal took occasion to say a few words against the resolution. +He said: "I would not dare to vote for this proposition, because I +have some regard for the great Judge who lives above. The question +pending now, as practically useless as it will be as rule, is yet +mischievous. It is in the way of teaching bad precedents, false law, +unsound loyalty. These things are like the worms that eat into the +majestic oaks which are used to build vessels to ride the sea, and +decay their strength, so that they fall down and make wrecks of +navies." + +Mr. Hendricks had moved to amend the resolution by inserting the words +"inhabitants of" after the word "States." This amendment was rejected. +The Senate then proceeded to take the vote on the concurrent +resolution, which was passed--yeas, 29; nays, 18. + +Thus the opinion of Congress was established, by a large majority, +that the two houses should act conjointly upon the whole question of +the representation of States, and that this question was entirely +independent, of the Executive. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT--IN THE HOUSE. + + A Constitutional Amendment Proposed and Postponed -- + Proposition by Mr. Stewart -- The Reconstruction Amendment + -- Death of its Predecessor Lamented -- Opposition to the + Disfranchisement of Rebels -- "The Unrepentent Thirty-three" + -- Nine-tenths Reduced to One-twelfth -- Advice to Congress + -- The Committee Denounced -- Democratic and Republican + Policy Compared -- Authority without Power -- A Variety of + Opinions -- An Earthquake Predicted -- The Joint Resolution + Passes the House. + + +While the joint resolution proposing a modification of the basis of +representation was the subject of consideration in the Senate, a +constitutional amendment relating to the rights of citizens was made +the topic of brief discussion in the House. It had been previously +introduced and referred to the Committee of Fifteen. From this +committee it was reported back by Mr. Bingham. It was proposed in the +following form: + + "ARTICLE--. That Congress shall have power to make all laws + which shall be necessary and proper to secure to the + citizens of each State all privileges and immunities of + citizens in the several States, and to all persons in the + several States equal protection in the rights of life, + liberty, and property." + +This proposition was introduced on the 26th of February, and was +debated during the sessions of three successive days. + +Many members of the legal profession saw in the final clause a +dangerous centralization of power. It was considered objectionable as +seeming to authorize the General Government to interfere with local +laws on the subject of property, the legal rights of women, and other +matters hitherto considered wholly within the domain of State +legislation; hence the Republican majority unanimously voted to +postpone the amendment until April. + +After this postponement, and the failure of the amendment relating to +the basis of representation to pass the Senate, the subject of +reconstruction was in the hands of the Committee of Fifteen until the +30th of April. + +Individuals had, from time to time, introduced propositions on the +subject, which were referred to the appropriate committee. The one +which attracted most attention and excited greatest interest was a +proposition in the Senate, by Mr. Stewart, of Nevada. This was in +favor of a joint resolution providing that each of the States lately +in rebellion shall be recognized as having resumed its relations with +the Government, and its Representatives shall be admitted to Congress +whenever it shall have amended its Constitution so as to provide-- + + "1. There shall be no distinction in civil rights among its + citizens by reason of race or color or previous condition of + servitude; 2. That all debts incurred in aid of the + rebellion shall be repudiated; 3. That all claim for + compensation for liberated slaves shall be relinquished; and + 4. That the elective franchise be extended to all persons on + the same terms, irrespective of race, color, or previous + condition, provided that none be disfranchised who were + qualified voters in 1860; and that upon these conditions + being ratified by a majority of the present voting + population of each State, (including all qualified to vote + in 1860,) a general amnesty shall be proclaimed as to all + who engaged in the rebellion." + +This proposition had peculiar significance, since it emanated from a +gentleman who, though elected as a Republican, had ever since the veto +of the Freedmen's Bureau acted with the Conservatives. Mr. Sumner, +"with open arms," welcomed the Senator from Nevada as "a new convert +to the necessity of negro suffrage." Mr. Wilson was thankful to the +author of this proposition for placing the whole question "on the +basis of universal liberty, universal justice, universal suffrage, and +universal amnesty." The resolution was referred to the Committee of +Fifteen, with whom Mr. Wilson had no doubt it would receive "serious +consideration." + +On the 30th of April, Mr. Stevens reported from the Committee of +Fifteen a joint resolution providing for the passage of the following +amendment to the Constitution: + + "ARTICLE--. + + "SEC. 1. "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall + abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the + United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of + life; liberty, or property without due process of law; nor + deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal + protection of the laws. + + "SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the + several States which may be included within this Union + according to their respective numbers, counting the whole + number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not + taxed. But whenever in any State the elective franchise + shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens not less + than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged, except + for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of + representation in such State shall be reduced in the + proportion which the number of male citizens shall bear to + the whole number of such male citizens not less than + twenty-one years of age. + + "SEC. 3. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1870, all + persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, + giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right + to vote for Representatives in Congress and for electors for + President and Vice-President of the United States. + + "SEC. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall + assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or + which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of insurrection or + of war against the United States, or any claim for + compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor. + + "SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by + appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." + +This proposed amendment to the Constitution was accompanied by two +bills, one of which provided that when any State lately in +insurrection should have ratified the amendment, its Senators and +Representatives, if found duly elected and qualified, should be +admitted as members of Congress. The other bill declared the high +ex-officials of the late Confederacy ineligible to any office under +the Government of the United States. + +The proposed constitutional amendment was by a vote of the House made +the special order for Tuesday, the 8th of May. On that day Mr. Stevens +occupied the attention of the House with a brief argument in favor of +the amendment. Referring to the death in the Senate of the amendment +previously proposed, Mr. Stevens said: "But it is dead, and unless +this (less efficient, I admit) shall pass, its death has postponed the +protection of the colored race perhaps for ages. I confess my +mortification at its defeat. I grieved especially because it almost +closed the door of hope for the amelioration of the condition of the +freedmen. But men in pursuit of justice must never despair. Let us +again try and see whether we can not devise some way to overcome the +united forces of self-righteous Republicans and unrighteous +Copper-heads. It will not do for those who for thirty years have +fought the beasts at Ephesus to be frightened by the fangs of modern +catamounts." + +Of the present proposition, Mr. Stevens said: "It is not all that the +committee desired. It falls far short of my wishes, but it fulfills my +hopes. I believe it is all that can be obtained in the present state +of public opinion. Not only Congress, but the several States are to be +consulted. Upon a careful survey of the whole ground, we did not +believe that nineteen of the loyal States could be induced to ratify +any proposition more stringent than this." + +Referring to the section prohibiting rebels from voting until 1870, +Mr. Stevens said: "My only objection to it is that it is too lenient. +Here is the mildest of all punishments ever inflicted on traitors. I +might not consent to the extreme severity denounced upon them by a +provisional governor of Tennessee--I mean the late lamented Andrew +Johnson of blessed memory--but I would have increased the severity of +this section." + +Mr. Blaine called attention to the fact that most of the persons whom +the third section of the amendment was designed to disfranchise, had +their political rights restored to them by the Amnesty Proclamation, +or had been pardoned by the President. + +Mr. Finck opposed the proposition in a speech of which the following +are extracts: "Stripped of all disguises, this measure is a mere +scheme to deny representation to eleven States; to prevent +indefinitely a complete restoration of the Union, and perpetuate the +power of a sectional and dangerous party. + +"Sir, the whole scheme is revolutionary, and a most shallow pretext +for an excuse to exclude the vote of eleven States in the next +Presidential election. You can not exact conditions in this way from +any State in the Union; no more from Georgia than from Massachusetts. +They are each equal States in the Union, held together by the same +Constitution, neither being the superior of the other in their +relation to the Federal Government as States." + +Commenting on the first section, designed to insert a recognition of +civil rights in the Constitution, Mr. Finck said: "If it is necessary +to adopt it in order to confer upon Congress power over the matters +contained in it, then the Civil Rights Bill, which the President +vetoed, was passed without authority, and is clearly unconstitutional." + +To this inference, Mr. Garfield replied: "I am glad to see this first +section here, which proposes to hold over every American citizen +without regard to color, the protecting shield of law. The gentleman +who has just taken his seat undertakes to show that because we propose +to vote for this section, we therefore acknowledge that the Civil +Rights Bill was unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Bill is now a part +of the law of the land. But every gentleman knows it will cease to be +a part of the law whenever the sad moment arrives when that +gentleman's party comes into power. It is precisely for that reason +that we propose to lift that great and good law above the reach of +political strife, beyond the reach of the plots and machinations of +any party, and fix it in the serene sky, in the eternal firmament of +the Constitution, where no storm of passion can shake it, and no cloud +can obscure it. For this reason, and not because I believe the Civil +Rights Bill unconstitutional, I am glad to see that first section +here." + +Mr. Garfield opposed the section disfranchising rebels as "the only +proposition in this resolution that is not bottomed clearly and +plainly upon principle--principle that will stand the test of +centuries, and be as true a thousand years hence as it is to-day." + +Mr. Thayer, while favoring the proposed amendment in all other +particulars, was opposed to the third section. "I think," said he, +"that it imperils the whole measure under consideration. What will +continue to be the condition of the country if you adopt this feature +of the proposed plan? Continual distraction, continued agitation, +continued bickerings, continued opposition to the law, and it will be +well for the country if a new insurrection shall not spring from its +bosom." + +Mr. Boyer denounced the proposition as "an ingenious scheme to keep +out the Southern States, and to prevent the restoration of the Union +until after the next Presidential election." + +Mr. Kelley, if he "could have controlled the report of the Committee +of Fifteen, would have proposed to give the right of suffrage to every +loyal man in the country." He advocated the amendment, however, in all +its provisions. He especially defended the third section. "This +measure," said he, "does not propose to punish them; on the contrary, +it is an act of amnesty, and proposes, after four years, to reinvest +them with all their rights, which they do not possess at this time +because of their crime." + +The passage of the resolution was next advocated by Mr. Schenck. +Referring to the third section, he denied the principle advanced by +Mr. Garfield that there was any thing inconsistent or wrong in making +it an exclusion for a term of years instead of exclusion altogether. +"If there be any thing in that argument," said he, "in case of crime, +you must either not sentence a man to the penitentiary at all, or else +incarcerate him for the term of his natural life. Or, to compare it to +another thing, which perhaps better illustrates the principle +involved, when a foreigner arrives upon our shores we should not say +to him, 'At the end of five years, when you have familiarized yourself +with our institutions, and become attached to them, we will allow you +to become a citizen, and admit you to all the franchises we enjoy,' +but we should require that he be naturalized the moment he touches our +soil, or else excluded from the rights of citizenship forever." + +Mr. Schenck thought the loyal and true people throughout the land were +"full ready to declare that those who have proved traitors, and have +raised their parricidal hands against the life of the country, who +have attempted to strike down our Government and destroy its +institutions, should be the very last to be trusted to take any share +in preserving, conducting, and carrying on that Government and +maintaining those institutions." + +Mr. Smith opposed the resolution in a speech which, if it added +nothing to the arguments, contributed, by its good humored +personalities and its harmless extravagancies, to the amusement of the +auditors. + +On the following day, May 9th, the consideration of the subject was +resumed, and Mr. Broomall addressed the House in favor of the +resolution. He began by counting the votes that would probably be cast +against the amendment. "It would meet the opposition," said he, "of +the unrepentant thirty-three of this body. It was also to be expected +that the six Johnsonian new converts to Democracy would oppose and +vote against this measure, commencing with the gentleman from New +York, [Mr. Raymond,] who, I believe, has the disease in the most +virulent form, thence down to the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. +Smith,] who preceded me on this question, and who has the mildest and +most amiable type of the infection. Upon them, too, arguments are +useless. There must, then, be thirty-nine votes against the measure, +and I want there to be no more." + +To the objection urged against the third section of the proposed +amendment, that it would disfranchise nine-tenths of all the voters of +the South, Mr. Broomall replied: "This is a grand mistake. There were +in 1860 one million one hundred and twenty thousand voters in those +eleven States. We may take seven hundred and fifty thousand as the +number of individuals in the South who rendered aid and comfort to the +enemy, not counting the comparatively few though powerful leaders who +rendered aid and comfort outside of the army. But, sir, we do not +propose to disfranchise even these seven hundred and fifty thousand. +Supposing two hundred and fifty thousand of the rebel army were lost, +we have five hundred thousand actual voters in the South to be +disfranchised by this measure, if they come within the meaning of it. +But do they come within the meaning of this provision? Why, sir, it +does not embrace the unwilling conscripts; it does not embrace the men +who were compelled to serve in the army. It would be fair to say three +hundred thousand of these people belonged to the unwilling class, who +were forced into the army by rigid conscription laws and the various +contrivances of the leading rebels. This will leave two hundred +thousand; and I say now it is utterly impossible, in my opinion, that +the number of people in the South who can be operated upon by this +provision should exceed two hundred thousand, if, indeed, it should +reach the one half of that number. Is this nine-tenths of the voters +of the South? Why, it is about one in every twelve." + +Mr. Shanklin opposed the amendment as intended "to disfranchise the +people of the Southern States who have gone into this rebellion, until +the party in power could fasten and rivet the chains of oppression for +all time to come, and hedge themselves in power, that they may rule +and control those people at will." + +Mr. Shanklin closed his speech with the following advice to Congress: +"Discharge your joint Committee on Reconstruction; abolish your +Freedmen's Bureau; repeal your Civil Rights Bill, and admit all the +delegates from the seceded States to their seats in Congress, who have +been elected according to the laws of the country and possess the +constitutional qualification, and all will be well." + +Mr. Raymond spoke in favor of the amendment, except the +disfranchisement clause. He had opposed the Civil Rights Bill on the +ground of want of constitutional power in Congress to pass it. He +favored the first section of this amendment, since it gave the +previous acts of Congress a constitutional basis. + +In answer to Mr. Broomall's "ingenious argument," Mr. Raymond said: +"It seems to me idle to enter into such calculations, which depend on +a series of estimates, each one of which can not be any thing more +than a wild and random guess. I take it that we all know perfectly +well that the great masses of the Southern people 'voluntarily adhered +to the insurrection;' not at the outset not as being originally in +favor of it, but during its progress, sooner or later, they +voluntarily gave in their adhesion to it, and gave it aid and comfort. +They did not all join the army. They did not go into the field, but +they did, at different times, from various motives and in various +ways, give it aid and comfort. That would exclude the great body of +the people of those States under this amendment from exercising the +right of suffrage." + +Mr. Raymond asserted that all that was offered to the rebel +legislatures of the Southern States, in return for the concessions +required of them, was "the right to be represented on this floor, +provided they will also consent not to vote for the men who are to +represent them! The very price by which we seek to induce their assent +to these amendments we snatch away from their hands the moment that +assent is secured. Is there any man here who can so far delude himself +as to suppose for a moment that the people of the Southern States will +accede to any such scheme as this? There is not one chance in ten +thousand of their doing it." + +Mr. McKee advocated the amendment. He thought that opposition to its +third section was a rebuke to those States which had passed laws +disfranchising rebels. To obviate all objections to this section, +however, he proposed a substitute forever excluding "all persons who +voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection" from holding "any office +under the Government of the United States." + +Mr. Eldridge did not intend "to make an argument on the merits of the +joint resolution." His remarks were mostly in derogation of the +committee by whom the measure was recommended. "The committee," said +he, "report no facts whatever, and give us no conclusion. They simply +report amendments to the Constitution. Was that the purpose for which +the committee was organized? Was it to change the fundamental law of +the land under which we of the loyal States assembled here? Was that +the duty with which the committee was charged? Were they to inquire +and report an entire change of the fundamental law of the nation which +would destroy the States and create an empire? I say they were charged +with no such duty. The resolution can not fairly be construed as +giving to the committee any such power, any such jurisdiction. The +committee stands resisting the restoration of this Union, and I hope +that no further business will be referred to it. It has rendered +itself unworthy of the high duty with which it was charged." + +Mr. Eldridge asserted: "The whole scheme is in the interest of party +alone, to preserve and perpetuate the party idea of this Republican +disunion party." + +The debate thus entering "the domain of partisan controversy," Mr. +Boutwell, in a speech which followed, undertook to show how the +proposition before the House "traverses the policy of the Democratic +party with reference to the reconstruction of the Government." Mr. +Boutwell described the policy of the Democratic party, "which," said +he, "they laid down as early as 1856 in the platform made at +Cincinnati, wherein they declared substantially that it was the right +of a Territory to be admitted into this Union with such institutions +as it chose to establish, not even by implication admitting that the +representatives of the existing Government had any right to canvass +those institutions, or to consider the right of the Territory to be +recognized as a State. + +"Now, sir, from that doctrine, which probably had its origin in the +resolutions of 1798, the whole of their policy to this day has +legitimately followed. First, we saw its results in the doctrine of +Mr. Buchanan, announced in 1860, that, while the Constitution did not +provide for or authorize the secession of a State from this Union, +there was no power in the existing Government to compel a State to +remain in the Union against its own judgment. Following that doctrine, +they come legitimately to the conclusion of to-day, in which they are +supported, as I understand, by the President of the United States upon +the one side, and, as I know, by the testimony of Alexander H. +Stephens, late Vice-President of the so-called Confederacy, upon the +other. That doctrine, is that these eleven States have to-day, each +for itself, an existing and unquestionable right of representation in +the Government of this country, and that it is a continuous right +which has not been interrupted by any of the events of the war." + +On the other hand, Mr. Boutwell thus defined the position of "the +Union party," which, he said, "stands unitedly upon two propositions. +The first is equality of representation, about which there is no +difference of opinion. The second is, that there shall be a loyal +people in each applicant State before any Representative from that +State is admitted in Congress. And there is a third: a vast majority +of the Republican party, soon to be the controlling and entire force +of that party, demand suffrage for our friends, for those who have +stood by us in our days of tribulation. And for myself, with the +right, of course, to change my opinion, I believe in the +Constitutional power of the Government to-day to extend the elective +franchise to every loyal male citizen of the republic." + +Mr. Spalding favored the amendment, including the third section, to +which exception had been taken by some of his friends. He asked, "Is +it exceptionable? Is it objectionable? If it be so, it is, in my +judgment, for the reason that the duration of the period of incapacity +is not extended more widely. I take my stand here, that it is +necessary to ingraft into that enduring instrument called the +Constitution of the United States something which shall admonish this +rebellious people, and all who shall come after them, that treason +against the Government is odious; that it carries with it some +penalty, some disqualification; and the only one which we seek to +attach by this amendment is a disqualification in voting--not for +their State and county and town officers, but for members of Congress, +who are to be the law-makers, and for the Executive of the United +States, this disqualification to operate for the short period of four +years." + +Mr. Miller advocated all the sections of the proposed amendment except +the third. Of this he said: "Though it seems just on its face, I doubt +the propriety of embodying it with the other amendments, as it may +retard, if not endanger, the ratification of the amendment in regard +to representation, and we can not afford to endanger in any manner a +matter of such vital importance to the country." + +Mr. Eliot had voted against the former amendment, which was passed by +the House and rejected by the Senate. The present proposed amendment, +while it was not all he could ask, was not open to the objections +which then controlled his vote. In advocating the third section, he +said: "It is clear, upon adjudged law, that the States lately in +rebellion, and the inhabitants of those States, by force of the civil +war, and of the Union triumph in that war, so far have lost their +rights to take part in the Government of the Union that some action on +the part of Congress is required to restore those rights. Pardon and +amnesty given by the President can not restore them. Those men can not +vote for President or for Representatives in Congress until, in some +way, Congress has so acted as to restore their power. The question, +then, is very simple: Shall national power be at once conferred on +those who have striven, by all means open to them, to destroy the +nation's life? Shall our enemies and the enemies of the Government, as +soon as they have been defeated in war, help to direct and to control +the public policy of the Government--and that, too, while those men, +hostile themselves, keep from all exercise of political power the only +true and loyal friends whom we have had, during these four years of +war, within these Southern States?" + +It had been argued against the third section that it could not be +enforced, that it would be inoperative. To this objection Mr. +Shellabarger replied: "It will not require standing armies. You can +have registry laws. Upon this registry list you may place the names of +men who are to be disqualified, and you may also have the names of all +who are qualified to vote under the law. There they will stand, there +they will be, to be referred to by your Government in the execution of +its laws. And when it comes to this House or to the Senate to +determine whether a man is duly elected, you can resort to the +ordinary process applicable to a trial in a contested election case in +either body, as to whether he has been elected by the men who were +entitled to elect him." + +Thursday, May 10th, was the last day of this discussion in the House. +Mr. Randall first took the floor and spoke in opposition to the joint +resolution. To the friends of the measure he said: "It is intended to +secure what you most wish: an entire disagreement to the whole scheme +by the eleven Southern States, and a continued omission of +representation on this floor." + +Mr. Strouse, in opposing the amendment, occupied most of his time in +reading an editorial from the New York Times, which he characterized +as "sound, patriotic, statesmanlike, and just." + +Mr. Strouse expressed, as his own opinion, "that the States are, and +never ceased to be, in law and in fact, constituent parts of our +Union. If I am correct in this opinion, what necessity exists for +these amendments of the Constitution? Let the States be represented in +the Senate and House by men who can conscientiously qualify as +members; and after that, when we have a full Congress, with the whole +country represented, let any amendment that may be required be +proposed, and let those most interested have an opportunity to +participate in the debates and deliberations of matters of so much +moment to every citizen." + +Mr. Banks regarded the pending amendment as the most important +question which could be presented to the House or to the country. "It +is my belief," said he, "that reörganization of governments in the +insurgent States can be secured only by measures which will work a +change in the basis of political society. Any thing that leaves the +basis of political society in the Southern States untouched, leaves +the enemy in condition to renew the war at his pleasure, and gives him +absolute power to destroy the Government whenever he chooses. + +"There are two methods by which the change I propose can be made: one +by extending the elective franchise to the negro, the other by +restrictions upon the political power of those heretofore invested +with the elective franchise--a part of whom are loyal and a part of +whom are disloyal, a part of whom are friends and a part of whom are +enemies. + +"I have no doubt that the Government of the United States has +authority to extend the elective franchise to the colored population +of the insurgent States, but I do not think it has the power. The +distinction I make between authority and power is this: We have, in +the nature of our Government, the right to do it; but the public +opinion of the country is such at this precise moment as to make it +impossible we should do it. The situation of opinion in these States +compels us to look to other means to protect the Government against +the enemy. + +"I approve of the proposition which disfranchises the enemies of the +country. I think it right in principle. I think it necessary at this +time. If I had any opinion to express, I should say to the gentlemen +of the House that it is impossible to organize a government in the +insurgent States, and have the enemies of the country in possession of +political power, in whole or in part, in local governments or in +representation here. + +"An enemy to the Government, a man who avows himself an enemy of its +policy and measures, who has made war against the Government, would +not seem to have any absolute right to share political power equally +with other men who have never been otherwise than friends of the +Government. + +"A pardon does not confer or restore political power. A general act of +amnesty differs from an individual pardon only in the fact that it +applies to a class of offenders who can not be individually described. +It secures immunity from punishment or prosecution by obliterating all +remembrance of the offense; but it confers or restores no one to +political power. + +"There is no justification for the opinion so strongly expressed, that +this measure will fail because the rebel States will not consent to +the disfranchisement of any portion of their own people. The +proposition is for the loyal States to determine upon what terms they +will restore to the Union the insurgent States. It is not necessary +that they should participate in our deliberations upon this subject, +and wholly without reason that they should have the power to defeat +it. It is a matter of congratulation that they have not this power. We +have the requisite number of States without them. + +"I do not believe that there is a State in this Union where at least a +clear majority of the people were not from the beginning opposed to +the war; and could you remove from the control of public opinion one +or two thousand in each of these States, so as to let up from the +foundations of political society the mass of common people, you would +have a population in all these States as loyal and true to the +Government as the people of any portion of the East or West. + +"The people knew that it was the rich man's war and the poor man's +fight. The legislation of the insurgent States exempted, to a great +degree, the rich men and their sons, on account of the possession of +property, while it forced, at the point of the bayonet, and oftentimes +at the cost of life, the masses of the people to maintain their cause. +There is nothing in the whole war more atrocious than the cruel +measures taken by the rebel leaders to force the people who had no +interest in it, and were averse to sharing its dishonor and peril." + +Mr. Banks remarked of the amendment: "It will produce the exact result +which we desire: the immediate restoration of the governments of the +States to the Union, the recognition of the loyal people, and the +disfranchisement of the implacable and unchangeable public enemies of +the Union, and the creation of State governments upon the sound and +enduring basis of common interest and common affection." + +Mr. Eckley advocated the joint resolution, citing a number of +historical and political precedents in favor of its provisions. Of the +disfranchising clause, he said: "The only objection I have to the +proposition is, that it does not go far enough. I would disfranchise +them forever. They have no right, founded in justice, to participate +in the administration of the Government or exercise political power. +If they receive protection in their persons and property, are +permitted to share in the nation's bounties, and live in security +under the broad ćgis of the nation's flag, it is far more than the +nation owes them." + +Mr. Longyear favored the amendment, but disliked the third section, of +which he said: "Let us then reject this dead weight, and not load down +good provisions, absolutely essential provisions, by this, which, +however good in and of itself, can not be enforced. I regard this +provision, if adopted, both worthless and harmless, and, therefore, I +shall vote for the proposed amendment as a whole, whether this be +rejected or retained." + +Mr. Beaman held a similar opinion. He said: "We very well know that +such a provision would be entirely inoperative, because electors for +President and Vice-President can be appointed by the Legislatures, +according to a practice that has always obtained in South Carolina. +The provision does not extend to the election of Senators, and, +consequently, it can operate only to affect the election of members of +this House, and that only for a period of four years." + +Mr. Rogers denounced the proposed amendment in emphatic terms. He +said: "The first section of this programme of disunion is the most +dangerous to liberty. It saps the foundation of the Government; it +destroys the elementary principles of the States; it consolidates +every thing into one imperial despotism; it annihilates all the rights +which lie at the foundation of the union of the States, and which have +characterized this Government and made it prosperous and great during +the long period of its existence. It will result in a revolution worse +than that through which we have just passed; it will rock the earth +like the throes of an earthquake, until its tragedy will summon the +inhabitants of the world to witness its dreadful shock. + +"In the third section, you undertake," said Mr. Rogers, "to enunciate +a doctrine that will, if carried out, disfranchise seven or eight +million people, and that will put them in a worse condition than the +serfs of Russia or the downtrodden people of Poland and Hungary, until +the year 1870." + +Mr. Farnsworth advocated the amendment, but did not regard the third +section as of any practical value. It did not provide punishment +adequate to the guilt of the various offenders. "There is a large +class of men," said he, "both in the North and South, equally--yea, +and more--guilty than thousands of the misguided men who will be +disfranchised by this provision, who will not be affected by it. I +allude to those politicians and others at the South, who, keeping +themselves out of danger, set on the ignorant and brave to fight for +what they were told by these rascals were 'their rights;' and to other +politicians, editors, 'copper-heads' in the North, some of whom were +and are members of Congress, who encouraged them and discouraged our +soldiers." + +Mr. Bingham spoke in favor of the amendment. He preferred that the +disfranchising clause should be embodied in an act of Congress. "I +trust," said he, "that this amendment, with or without the third +section, will pass this House, that the day may soon come when +Tennessee--loyal Tennessee--loyal in the very heart of the rebellion, +her mountains and plains blasted by the ravages of war and stained +with the blood of her faithful children fallen in the great struggle +for the maintenance of the Union, having already conformed her +constitution and laws to every provision of this amendment, will at +once, upon its submission by Congress, irrevocably ratify it, and be, +without further delay, represented in Congress by her loyal +Representatives and Senators. + +"Let that great example be set by Tennessee, and it will be worth a +hundred thousand votes to the loyal people in the free North. Let this +be done, and it will be hailed as the harbinger of that day for which +all good men pray, when the fallen pillars of the republic shall be +restored without violence or the noise of words or the sound of the +hammer, each to its original place in the sacred temple of our +national liberties, thereby giving assurance to all the world that, +for the defense of the republic, it was not in vain that a million and +a half of men, the very elect of the earth, rushed to arms; that the +republic still lives, and will live for evermore, the sanctuary of an +inviolable justice, the refuge of liberty, and the imperishable +monument of the nation's dead, from the humblest soldier who perished +on the march, or went down amid the thunder and tempest of the dread +conflict, up through all the shining roll of heroes and patriots and +martyrs to the incorruptible and immortal Commander-in-chief, who fell +by an assassin's hand in the capital, and thus died that his country +might live." + +The hour having arrived when, by understanding of the House, the +discussion should close, Mr. Stevens closed the debate with a short +speech. "I am glad," said he, "to see great unanimity among the Union +friends in this House on all the provisions of this joint resolution +except the third one. I am not very much gratified to see any division +among our friends on that which I consider the vital proposition of +them all. Without that, it amounts to nothing. I do not care the snap +of my finger whether it be passed or not if that be stricken out. I +should be sorry to find that that provision was stricken out, because, +before any portion of this can be put into operation, there will be, +if not a Herod, a worse than Herod elsewhere to obstruct our actions. +That side of the house will be filled with yelling secessionists and +hissing copper-heads. Give us the third section or give us nothing. Do +not balk us with the pretense of an amendment which throws the Union +into the hands of the enemy before it becomes consolidated. Do not, I +pray you, admit those who have slaughtered half a million of our +countrymen until their clothes are dried, and until they are reclad. I +do not wish to sit side by side with men whose garments smell of the +blood of my kindred. Gentlemen seem to forget the scenes that were +enacted here years ago. Many of you were not here. But my friend from +Ohio [Mr. Garfield] ought to have kept up his reading enough to have +been familiar with the history of those days, when the men that you +propose to admit occupied the other side of the House; when the mighty +Toombs, with his shaggy locks, headed a gang who, with shouts of +defiance on this floor, rendered this a hell of legislation. + +"Ah, sir, it was but six years ago when they were here, just before +they went out to join the armies of Catiline, just before they left +this hall. Those of you who were here then will remember the scene in +which every Southern member, encouraged by their allies, came forth in +one yelling body because a speech for freedom was being made here; +when weapons were drawn, and Barksdale's bowie-knife gleamed before +our eyes. Would you have these men back again so soon to reënact those +scenes? Wait until I am gone, I pray you. I want not to go through, it +again. It will be but a short time for my colleague to wait. I hope he +will not put us to that test." + +At the close of his remarks, Mr. Stevens moved the previous question. + +Mr. Garfield hoped that it would be voted down, that he might have an +opportunity to offer a substitute for the third section, forever +excluding the persons therein specified "from holding any office of +trust or profit under the Government of the United States." + +Nevertheless, the previous question was sustained, and a vote was +taken on the joint resolution proposing the constitutional amendment +as it came from the committee. The following are the yeas and nays: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. + Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, + Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, + Boutwell, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. + Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, + Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, + Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, + Farnsworth, Perry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, Abner C. + Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Holmes, Hooper, + Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas + Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, + Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, + Kuykendall, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, + Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, + McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, + Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, + Pike, Plants, Price, William H. Randall, Raymond, Alexander + H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, + Shellabarger, Spalding, Stevens, Stilwell, Thayer, Francis + Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt + Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu B. + Washburne, Henry D. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, + Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, + Woodbridge, and the Speaker--128. + + NAYS--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Chanler, Coffroth, + Dawson, Eldridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Grider, + Aaron Harding, Harris, Kerr, Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, + McCullough, Niblack, Phelps, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, + Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, + Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, Whaley, Winfield, + and Wright--37. + +Applause on the floor and in the galleries greeted the announcement +that two-thirds of the House having voted in the affirmative the joint +resolution was passed. + +The heavy majority by which this measure passed the House indicated an +effect of the President's steady opposition, the opposite of what was +anticipated. The amendment secured two votes which were cast against +the Civil Rights Bill, while it lost no vote which that measure +received. + +It is remarkable that the joint resolution should have been carried +with such unanimity when so many Republicans had expressed +dissatisfaction with the third section. This is accounted for, +however, by the pressure of the previous question, in which fifteen +Democrats joined forces with the radical Republicans to force the +undivided issue upon the House. A large minority of the Republican +members were thus prevented from voting against the clause +disfranchising the late rebels until 1870. + +In the Senate, as will be seen, the amendment assumed a shape more in +accordance with their wishes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT--IN THE SENATE. + + Difference between Discussions in the House and in the + Senate -- Mr. Sumner proposes to postpone -- Mr. Howard + takes Charge of the Amendment -- Substitutes proposed -- The + Republicans in Council -- The Disfranchising Clause stricken + out -- Humorous Account by Mr. Hendricks -- The Pain and + Penalties of not holding Office -- A Senator's Piety + appealed to -- Howe vs. Doolittle -- Marketable Principles + -- Praise of the President -- Mr. Mcdougall's Charity -- + Vote of the Senate -- Concurrence in the House. + + +The joint resolution providing for amendments to the Constitution in +relation to the rights of citizens, the basis of representation, the +disfranchisement of rebels, and the rejection of the rebel debt, +having passed the House of Representatives on the 10th of May, awaited +only similar action of the Senate to prepare it to go before the +several State Legislatures for final consideration. A fortnight had +elapsed before it was taken up by the Senate. That body was much +behind the House of Representatives in the business of the session. +Notwithstanding the great size of the latter, it was accustomed to +dispatch business with much greater rapidity than the Senate. The hour +rule, limiting the length of speeches, and the previous question +putting a boundary upon debate, being part of the machinery of the +House, caused legislation to go on to final completion, which would +otherwise have been swallowed up and lost in interminable talk. + +The Senate, consisting of a smaller number, did not realize the need +of such restrictions. Senators sometimes indulged themselves in +speeches of such length as, if permitted in the House, would have +proved an insurmountable obstacle to legislation. + +[Illustration: Hon. E. O. Morgan, Senator from New York.] + +The contrast between the discussions in the two houses of Congress was +never more marked than in connection with the amendment relating to +reconstruction. In this case the members of the House by special rule +limited themselves to half an hour in the delivery of their speeches, +which were consequently marked by great pertinency and condensation. +In the Senate the speeches were in some instances limited only by the +physical ability of the speakers to proceed. In one instance--the case +of Garrett Davis--a speech was prolonged four hours, occupying all +that part of the day devoted to the discussion. The limits of a volume +would be inadequate for giving more than a mere outline of a +discussion conducted upon such principles, and protracted through a +period of more than two weeks. + +The joint resolution was taken up by the Senate on the 23d of May. Mr. +Sumner preferred that the consideration of the question should be +deferred until the first of July. "We were able," said he, "to have a +better proposition at the end of April than we had at the end of +March, and I believe we shall be able to accept a better proposition +just as the weeks proceed. It is one of the greatest questions that +has ever been presented in the history of our country or of any +country. It should be approached carefully and solemnly, and with the +assurance we have before us all the testimony, all the facts, every +thing that by any possibility can shed any light upon it." + +The Senate proceeded, however, to the consideration of the joint +resolution. Owing to the ill-health of Mr. Fessenden, who, as Chairman +of the joint Committee on Reconstruction, would probably have taken +charge of the measure, Mr. Howard opened the discussion and conducted +the resolution in its passage through the Senate. He addressed the +Senate in favor of all the sections of the proposed amendment except +the third. "It is due to myself," said he, "to say that I did not +favor this section of the amendment in the committee. I do not +believe, if adopted, it will be of any practical benefit to the +country." + +Mr. Clark offered a substitute for the third section--the +disfranchising clause--the following amendment, which, with slight +modifications, was ultimately adopted: + + "That no person shall be a Senator or Representative in + Congress, or permitted to hold any office under the + Government of the United States, who, having previously + taken an oath to support the Constitution thereof, shall + have voluntarily engaged in any insurrection or rebellion + against the United States, or given aid or comfort thereto." + +Mr. Wade offered a substitute for the whole bill, providing that no +State shall abridge the rights of any person born within the United +States, and that no class of persons, as to whose right to suffrage +discrimination shall be made by any State except on the ground of +intelligence, property, or rebellion, shall be included in the basis +of representation. "I do not suppose," said Mr. Wade, "that if I had +been on the committee I could have drawn up a proposition so good as +this is that they have brought forward; and yet it seems to me, having +the benefit of what they have done, that looking it over, reflecting +upon it, seeing all its weak points, if it have any, I could, without +having the ability of that committee, suggest amendments that would be +beneficial." + +Referring to the third section of the joint resolution, Mr. Wade +remarked: "I am for excluding those who took any leading part in the +rebellion from exercising any political power here or elsewhere now +and forever; but as that clause does not seem to effect that purpose, +and will probably effect nothing at all, I do not think it is of any +consequence that it should have a place in the measure." + +On the 24th of May, Mr. Stewart spoke three hours on the +constitutional amendment. He advocated the extension to the States +lately engaged in rebellion of all civil and political rights on +condition of their extending impartial suffrage to all their people. +He announced his policy as that of "protection for the Union and the +friends of the Union, and mercy to a fallen foe. Mercy pleaded +generous amnesty; justice demanded impartial suffrage. I proposed +pardon for the rebels and the ballot for the blacks." Of the Committee +on Reconstruction, Mr. Stewart said: "I realize the difficulties which +they have been called upon to encounter. They have acted a noble part +in their efforts to harmonize conflicting opinions. I rejoice in the +manner in which the report is presented, and the liberal spirit +manifested by the committee toward those who are anxious to aid in the +perfection of their plan." + +Mr. Johnson moved to strike out the third section, without offering a +substitute. + +Mr. Sherman offered a substitute for the second and third sections, +apportioning representation according to the number of male citizens +qualified to vote by State laws, and apportioning direct taxes +according to the value of real and personal property. + +The constitutional amendment was not again brought up for +consideration in the Senate until Tuesday, May 29th. The several days +during which the discussion was suspended in the Senate were not +fruitless in their effect upon the pending measure. The amendment was +carefully considered by the majority in special meetings, when such +amendations and improvements were agreed upon as would harmonize the +action of the Republicans in the Senate. + +The first action of the Senate, when the subject was resumed, was to +vote upon Mr. Johnson's motion to strike out the third section, which +was passed unanimously--yeas, 43; nays, 0. + +Mr. Howard, acting for the committee, then offered a series of +amendments to the joint resolution under consideration. The first of +these provided for the insertion as a part of section one, the +following clause: + + "All persons born in the United States, and subject to the + jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and + of the States wherein they reside." + +Another modification moved by Mr. Howard was the insertion, in place +of the third section already stricken out, a clause disabling certain +classes of rebels from holding federal offices. This amendment was +substantially the same as that previously proposed by Mr. Clark. + +It was proposed to amend section four, which, as passed by the House, +simply repudiated the rebel debt, by inserting the following clause: + + "The obligations of the United States incurred in + suppressing insurrection, or in defense of the Union, or for + payment of bounties or pensions incident thereto, shall + remain inviolate." + +Such were the amendments to the pending measure which the majority saw +proper to propose. + +At a subsequent period of the debate, Mr. Hendricks, in a speech +against the joint resolution, gave his view of the manner in which +these amendments were devised. Being spoken, in good humor, by one +whom a fellow-Senator once declared to be "the best-natured man in the +Senate," and having, withal, a certain appropriateness to this point, +his remarks are here presented: + +"For three days the Senate-chamber was silent, but the discussions +were transferred to another room of the Capitol, with closed doors and +darkened windows, where party leaders might safely contend for a +political and party policy. When Senators returned to their seats, I +was curious to observe who had won and who lost in the party lottery. +The dark brow of the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark] was +lighted with a gleam of pleasure. His proposed substitute for the +third section was the marked feature of the measure. But upon the +lofty brow of the Senator from Nevada [Mr. Stewart] there rested a +cloud of disappointment and grief. His bantling, which he had named +universal amnesty and universal suffrage, which he had so often +dressed and undressed in the presence of the Senate, the darling +offspring of his brain, was dead; it had died in the caucus; and it +was left to the sad Senator only to hope that it might not be his +last. Upon the serene countenance of the Senator from Maine, the +Chairman of the Fifteen, there rested the composure of the highest +satisfaction; a plausible political platform had been devised, and +there was yet hope for his party." + +On the 30th of May, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, +proceeded in the consideration of the constitutional amendment. The +several clauses were taken up separately and in order. + +Mr. Doolittle was desirous of amending the first section, relating to +the rights of citizens, by inserting a clause excepting from its +operation "Indians not taxed." His proposition was rejected. + +"The Committee of Fifteen," said Mr. Doolittle, referring to the Civil +Rights Bill, "fearing that this declaration by Congress was without +validity unless a constitutional amendment should be brought forward +to enforce it, have thought proper to report this amendment." + +"I want to say to the honorable Senator," Mr. Fessenden replied, "that +he is drawing entirely upon his imagination. There is not one word of +correctness in all that he is saying; not a particle; not a scintilla; +not the beginning of truth." + +The first and second sections of the amendment were accepted in +Committee of the Whole, with little further attempt at alteration. + +The third section, cutting off late Confederate officials from +eligibility to Federal offices, provoked repeated attempts to modify +and emasculate it. Among them was a motion by Mr. Saulsbury to amend +the final clause by adding that the President, by the exercise of the +pardoning power, may remove the disability. + +It augured the final success of the entire amendment in the Senate, +that the numerous propositions to amend, made by those unfavorable to +the measure, were voted down by majorities of more than three-fourths. + +Mr. Doolittle, speaking in opposition to the third section, said that +it was putting a new punishment upon all persons embraced within its +provisions. "If," said he, "by a constitutional amendment, you impose +a new punishment upon offenders who are guilty of crime already, you +wipe out the old punishment as to them. Now, I do not propose to wipe +out the penalties that these men have incurred by their treason +against the Government. I would punish a sufficient number of them to +make treason odious." + +"How many would you like to hang?" asked Mr. Nye. + +"You stated the other day that five or six would be enough to hang," +replied Mr. Doolittle. + +"Do you acquiesce in that?" asked Mr. Nye. + +"I think I ought to be satisfied," replied Mr. Doolittle, "if you are +satisfied with five or six. + +"The insertion of this section," said Mr. Doolittle, continuing his +remarks, "tends to prevent the adoption of the amendment by a +sufficient number of States to ratify it. What States to be affected +by this amendment will ratify it?" + +"Four will accept that part of it," said Mr. James H. Lane. + +"What four?" asked Mr. Doolittle. + +"Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana," replied Mr. Lane. "I +saw some gentlemen on Monday from Tennessee, who told me that this +particular clause would be the most popular thing that could be +tendered. And the very men that you want to hang ought to accept it +joyfully in lieu of their hanging." [Laughter.] + +"I do not know who those particular gentlemen were," said Mr. +Doolittle. "Were they the gentlemen that deserved hanging or not?" + +"They were Conservatives from Tennessee," replied Mr. Lane. + +"I deem this section as the adoption of a new punishment as to the +persons who are embraced within its provisions," said Mr. Doolittle. + +"They seem to have peculiar notions in Wisconsin in regard to +officers," said Mr. Trumbull; "and the Senator who has just taken his +seat regards it as a punishment that a man can not hold an office. +Why, sir, how many suffering people there must be in this land! He +says this is a bill of pains and penalties because certain persons can +not hold office; and he even seems to think it would be preferable, in +some instances, to be hanged. He wants to know of the Senator from +Ohio if such persons are to be excepted. This clause, I suppose, will +not embrace those who are to be hanged. When hung, they will cease to +suffer the pains and penalties of being kept out of office. + +"Who ever heard of such a proposition as that laid down by the Senator +from Wisconsin, that a bill excluding men from office is a bill of +pains, and penalties, and punishment? The Constitution of the United +States declares that no one but a native born citizen of the United +States shall be President of the United States. Does, then, every +person living in this land who does not happen to have been born +within its jurisdiction undergo pains, and penalties, and punishment +all his life because by the Constitution he is ineligible to the +Presidency? This is the Senator's position." + +Mr. Willey spoke in favor of the pending clause of the joint +resolution. "I hope," said he, "that we shall hear no more outcry +about the injustice, the inhumanity, and the want of Christian spirit +in thus incorporating into our Constitution precautionary measures +that will forever prohibit these unfaithful men from again having any +part in the Government." + +"The honorable Senator," remarked Mr. Davis in reply, "is a professor +of the Christian religion, a follower of the lowly and humble +Redeemer; but it seems to me that he forgot all the spirit of his +Christian charity and faith in the tenor of the remarks which he +made." + +"This cry for blood and vengeance," exclaimed Mr. Saulsbury, "can not +last forever. The eternal God who sits above, whose essence is love, +and whose chief attribute is mercy, says to all his creatures, whether +in the open daylight or in the silent hours of the night, 'Be +charitable; be merciful.'" + +Mr. Doolittle proposed two amendments to section three: the first to +limit its application to those who "_voluntarily_ engaged in +rebellion," and the second to except those "who have duly received +amnesty and pardon." + +These propositions were both rejected by large majorities, only ten +Senators voting for them. The third section, as proposed by Mr. +Howard, was then adopted by a vote of thirty against ten. + +The death of General Scott having been the occasion of an adjournment +of Congress, the consideration of the constitutional amendment was not +resumed until the 4th of June. Mr. Hendricks moved to amend by +including in the basis of representation in the Southern States +three-fifths of the freedmen. Mr. Van Winkle offered an amendment +providing that no person not excluded from office by the terms of the +third section shall be liable to any disability or penalty for treason +after a term of years. Both of these propositions were rejected by the +Senate. + +On the 5th of June, Mr. Poland, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Howe addressed +the Senate in favor of the constitutional amendment. Mr. Poland did +not expect to be able to say any thing after six months' discussion of +this subject. He took more hopeful views of the President's +tractability than many others. "Although these propositions," said he, +"may not, in all respects, correspond with the views of the President, +I believe he will feel it to be his patriotic duty to acquiesce in the +plan proposed, and give his powerful influence and support to procure +their adoption." + +"While it is not the plan that I would have adopted," said Mr. +Stewart, "still it is the best that I can get, and contains many +excellent provisions." + +"I shall vote for the Constitutional amendment," said Mr. Howe, +"regretfully, but not reluctantly. I shall vote for it regretfully, +because it does not meet the emergency as I hoped the emergency would +be met; but I shall not vote for it reluctantly, because it seems to +me just now to be the only way in which the emergency can be met at +all." + +An issue of some personal interest arose between Mr. Howe and his +colleague, Mr. Doolittle, which led them somewhat aside from the +regular channel of discussion. + +"He has been a most fortunate politician," said Mr. Howe, "always to +happen to have just those convictions which bore the highest price in +the market." + +"That I ever intended in the slightest degree," replied Mr. Doolittle, +"to swerve in my political action for the sake of offices or the price +of offices in the market, is a statement wholly without foundation." + +Mr. Howe had said in substance that in 1848 Mr. Doolittle was acting +with the Free Democratic party in New York, which was stronger than +the Democratic party in that State. In 1852, when he left the Free +Democratic party, and acted with the Democratic party in Wisconsin, +the Democratic party was in the majority in that State. He did not +leave the Democratic party and join the Republican party in 1854, but +only in 1856, and then Wisconsin was no longer a Democratic State. + +Mr. Doolittle, after having given a detailed account of his previous +political career, remarked: "During the last six months, in the State +of Wisconsin, no man has struggled harder than I have struggled to +save the Union party, to save it to its platform, to save it to its +principles, to save it to its supremacy. For six months, from one end +of Wisconsin to the other--ay, from Boston to St. Paul--by every one +of a certain class of newspapers I have been denounced as a traitor to +the Union party because I saved it from defeat. Sir, it is not the +first time in the history of the world that men have turned in to +crucify their savior." + +On the same day, June 6th, Messrs. Hendricks, Sherman, Cowan, and +others having participated in the discussion, the Senate voted on +another amendment offered by Mr. Doolittle, apportioning +Representatives, after the census of 1870, according to the number of +legal voters in each State by the laws thereof. This proposition was +rejected--yeas, 7; nays, 31. + +On the 7th of June, Mr. Garrett Davis occupied the entire time devoted +to the constitutional amendment in opposing that measure, denouncing +Congress, and praising the President. "There is a very great state of +backwardness," said he, "in both houses of Congress in relation to the +transaction of the legitimate, proper, and useful portion of the +public business; but as to the business that is of an illegitimate and +mischievous character, and that is calculated to produce results +deleterious to the present and the future of the whole country, there +has been a good deal, much too much, of progress made." + +Of President Johnson Mr. Davis said: "He seems to be the man for the +occasion; and his ability, resources, courage, and patriotism have +developed to meet its great demands. If this ark which holds the +rights and liberties of the American people is to be rescued and +saved, he will be one of the chief instruments in the great work, and +his glory and fame will be deathless." + +On the 8th of June, the last day of the discussion, the constitutional +amendment was opposed by Messrs. Johnson, McDougall, and Hendricks, +and defended by Messrs. Henderson, Yates, and Howard. + +"Let us bring back the South," said Mr. Johnson, in closing his +remarks, "so as to enable her to remove the desolation which has gone +through her borders, restore her industry, attend to her products, +instead of keeping her in a state of subjection without the slightest +necessity. Peace once existing throughout the land, the restoration of +all rights brought about, the Union will be at once in more prosperous +existence than it ever was; and throughout the tide of time, as I +believe, nothing in the future will ever cause us to dream of +dissolution, or of subjecting any part, through the powerful +instrumentality of any other part, to any dishonoring humiliation." + +"I went down once on the Mississippi," remarked Mr. McDougall, "at the +opening of the war. I met a general of the Confederate army, and I +took him by the hand and took him to my state-room, on board of my +gun-boat. Said he, 'General,' throwing his arms around me, 'how hard +it is that you and I have to fight.' That was the generosity of a +combatant. I repeated to him, 'It is hard,' and he and I drank a +bottle of wine or two--just as like as not. [Laughter.] This thing of +bearing malice is one of the wickedest sins that men can bear under +their clothes." + +Speaking of the third section, which had encountered great opposition, +as inflicting undue punishment upon prominent rebels, Mr. Henderson +said: "If this provision be all, it will be an act of the most +stupendous mercy that ever mantled the crimes of rebellion." + +"Let us suppose a case," said Mr. Yates. "Here is a man--Winder, or +Dick Turner, or some other notorious character. He has been the cause +of the death of that boy of yours. He has shot at him from behind an +ambuscade, or he has starved him to death in the Andersonville prison, +or he has made him lie at Belle Isle, subject to disease and death +from the miasma by which he was surrounded. When he is upon trial and +the question is, 'Sir, are you guilty, or are you not guilty?' and he +raises his blood-stained hands, deep-dyed in innocent and patriotic +blood, the Senator from Pennsylvania rises and says, 'For God's sake! +do not deprive him of the right to go to the legislature.' The idea is +that if a man has forfeited his life, it is too great a punishment to +deprive him of the privilege of holding office." + +Speaking of radicalism, Mr. Yates remarked: "My fear is not that this +Congress will be too radical; I am not afraid of this Congress being +shipwrecked upon any proposition of radicalism; but I fear from timid +and cowardly conservatism which will not risk a great people to take +their destiny in their own hands, and to settle this great question +upon the principles of equality, justice, and liberality. That is my +fear." + +Mr. Doolittle moved that the several sections of the amendment be +submitted to the States as separate articles. This motion was +rejected--yeas, 11; nays, 33. + +The vote was finally taken upon the adoption of the constitutional +amendment as a whole. It passed the Senate by a majority of more than +two-thirds, as follows: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Cragin, + Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, + Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Lane of + Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, + Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, + Williams, Wilson, and Yates--33. + + NAYS--Messrs. Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Guthrie, Hendricks, + Johnson, McDougall, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, and Van + Winkle--11. + +On the 13th of June, the joint resolution, having been modified in the +Senate, reäppeared in the House for the concurrence of that branch of +Congress. There was a short discussion of the measure as amended in +the Senate. Messrs. Rogers, Finck, and Harding spoke against the +resolution, and Messrs. Spalding, Henderson, and Stevens in its favor. + +"The first proposition," said Mr. Rogers, "was tame in iniquity, +injustice, and violation of fundamental liberty to the one before us." + +"I say," said Mr. Finck, "it is an outrage upon the people of those +States who were compelled to give their aid and assistance in the +rebellion. You propose to inflict upon these people a punishment not +known to the law in existence at the time any offense may have been +committed, but after the offense has been committed." + +"Let me tell you," said Mr. Harding, "you are preparing for +revolutions after revolutions. I warn you there will be no peace in +this country until each State be allowed to control its own citizens. +If you take that from them, what care I for the splendid machinery of +a national government?" + +Mr. Stevens briefly addressed the House before the final vote was +taken. He had just risen from a sick-bed, and ridden to the Capitol at +the peril of his life. During the quarter of an hour which he occupied +in speaking, the solemnity was such as is seldom seen in that +assembly. Members left their seats, and gathered closely around the +venerable man to hear his brave and solemn words. From his youth he +had hoped to see our institutions freed from every vestige of human +oppression, of inequality of rights, of the recognized degradation of +the poor and the superior caste of the rich. But that bright dream had +vanished. "I find," said he, "that we shall be obliged to be content +with patching up the worst portions of the ancient edifice, and +leaving it in many of its parts to be swept through by the tempests, +the frosts, and the storms of despotism." + +It might be inquired why, with his opinions, he accepted so imperfect +a proposition. "Because," said he, "I live among men, and not among +angels; among men as intelligent, as determined, and as independent as +myself, who, not agreeing with me, do not choose to yield their +opinions to mine." With an enfeebled voice, yet with a courageous air, +he charged the responsibility for that day's patchwork upon the +Executive. "With his cordial assistance," said Mr. Stevens, "the rebel +States might have been made model republics, and this nation an empire +of universal freedom; but he preferred 'restoration' to +'reconstruction.'" + +The question was taken, and the joint resolution passed the House by a +vote of over three-fourths--120 yeas to 32 nays. From the necessary +absence of many members, the vote was not full, yet the relative +majority in favor of this measure was greater than in the former vote. + +The following is the Constitutional Amendment as it passed both Houses +of Congress: + + "ARTICLE--. + + "SEC. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United + States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are + citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they + reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall + abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the + United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of + life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor + deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal + protection of the laws. + + "SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the + several States according to their respective numbers, + counting the whole number of persons in each State, + excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at + any election for the choice of electors for President and + Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in + Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or + the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of + the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years + of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way + abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other + crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced + in the proportion which the number of such male citizens + shall bear to the whole number of such male citizens + twenty-one years of age in such State. + + "SEC. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in + Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or + hold any office, civil or military, under the United States + or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as + a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, + or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive + or judicial officer of any State, to support the + Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in + insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or + comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote + of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. + + "SEC. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United + States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for + payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing + insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But + neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay + any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or + rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the + loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, + obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. + + "SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by + appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." + +The President was requested to send the Amendment to the several +States for ratification. + +On the 22d of June, President Johnson sent a message to Congress +informing them that the Secretary of State had transmitted to the +Governors of the several States certified copies of the proposed +amendment. "These steps," said the President, "are to be considered as +purely ministerial, and in no sense whatever committing the Executive +to an approval of the recommendation of the amendment." It seemed to +the President a serious objection to the proposition "that the joint +resolution was not submitted by the two houses for the approval of the +President, and that of the thirty-six States which constitute the +Union, eleven are excluded from representation." + +The President having no power under the Constitution to veto a joint +resolution submitting a constitutional amendment to the people, this +voluntary expression of opinion could not have been designed to have +an influence upon the action of Congress. The document could have been +designed by its author only as an argument with the State Legislatures +against the ratification of the Constitutional Amendment, and as a +notice to the Southern people that they were badly treated. + +The President's message was received by Congress without comment, and +referred to the Committee on Reconstruction. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION. + + An important State Paper -- Work of the Committee -- + Difficulty of obtaining information -- Theory of the + President -- Taxation and Representation -- Disposition and + doings of the Southern People -- Conclusion of the Committee + -- Practical Recommendations. + + +On the 8th of June, the day on which the constitutional amendment +passed the Senate, the report of the joint Committee on Reconstruction +was presented to Congress. This important State paper had been looked +for with great interest and no little anxiety by the people in all +parts of the country. It was drawn up with marked ability, and was +destined to have a most important bearing upon public opinion in +reference to the great subject which, in all its bearings, it brought +to the view of Congress and the country. + +The committee having had unrivalled opportunities for obtaining +information, their conclusions commanded the respect of those who +differed from them, and obtained the almost unanimous approval of the +party which carried the war to a successful close. + +Referring to the nature of the work which was required of them, the +committee said: + + "Such an investigation, covering so large an extent of + territory, and involving so many important considerations, + must necessarily require no trifling labor, and consume a + very considerable amount of time. It must embrace the + condition in which those States were left at the close of + the war; the measures which have been taken toward the + reörganization of civil government, and the disposition of + the people toward the United States--in a word, their + fitness to take an active part in the administration of + national affairs." + +The first step to be taken by the committee, that of obtaining +required information, and the difficulties attending it, were thus set +forth: + + "A call was made on the President for the information in his + possession as to what had been done, in order that Congress + might judge for itself as to the grounds of belief expressed + by him in the fitness of States recently in rebellion to + participate fully in the conduct of national affairs. This + information was not immediately communicated. When the + response was finally made, some six weeks after your + committee had been in actual session, it was found that the + evidence upon which the President seemed to have based his + suggestions was incomplete and unsatisfactory. Authenticated + copies of the constitutions and ordinances adopted by the + conventions in three of the States had been submitted; + extracts from newspapers furnished scanty information as to + the action of one other State, and nothing appears to have + been communicated as to the remainder. There was no evidence + of the loyalty of those who participated in these + conventions, and in one State alone was any proposition made + to submit the action of the convention to the final judgment + of the people. + + "Failing to obtain the desired information, and left to + grope for light wherever it might be found, your committee + did not deem it either advisable or safe to adopt, without + further examination, the suggestions of the President, more + especially as he had not deemed it expedient to remove the + military force, to suspend martial law, or to restore the + writ of habeas corpus, but still thought it necessary to + exercise over the people of the rebellious States his + military power and jurisdiction. This conclusion derived + greater force from the fact, undisputed, that in all those + States, except Tennessee, and, perhaps, Arkansas, the + elections which were held for State officers and members of + Congress had resulted almost universally in the defeat of + candidates who had been true to the Union, and in the + election of notorious and unpardoned rebels--men who could + not take the prescribed oath of office, and who made no + secret of their hostility to the Government and the people + of the United States. + + "Under these circumstances, any thing like hasty action + would have been as dangerous as it was obviously unwise. It + appeared to your committee that but one course remained, + viz.: to investigate carefully and thoroughly the state of + feeling and opinion existing among the people of these + States; to ascertain how far their pretended loyalty could + be relied upon, and thence to infer whether it would be safe + to admit them at once to a full participation in the + Government they had fought for four years to destroy. It was + an equally important inquiry whether their restoration to + their former relations with the United States should only be + granted upon certain conditions and guarantees, which would + effectually secure the nation against a recurrence of evils + so disastrous as those from which it had escaped at so + enormous a sacrifice." + +The theory of the President, and those who demanded the immediate +admission of Southern Senators and Representatives, was stated in the +report to amount to this: + + "That, inasmuch as the lately insurgent States had no legal + right to separate themselves from the Union, they still + retain their positions as States, and, consequently, the + people thereof have a right to immediate representation in + Congress, without the imposition of any conditions whatever; + and, further, that until such admission, Congress has no + right to tax them for the support of the Government. It has + even been contended that, until such admission, all + legislation affecting their interests is, if not + unconstitutional, at least unjustifiable and oppressive. + + "It is moreover contended that, from the moment when + rebellion lays down its arms, and actual hostilities cease, + all political rights of rebellious communities are at once + restored; that because the people of a State of the Union + were once an organized community within the Union, they + necessarily so remain, and their right to be represented in + Congress at any and all times, and to participate in the + government of the country under all circumstances, admits of + neither question nor dispute. If this is indeed true, then + is the Government of the United States powerless for its own + protection, and flagrant rebellion, carried to the extreme + of civil war, is a pastime which any State may play at, not + only certain that it can lose nothing, in any event, but may + be the gainer by defeat. If rebellion succeeds, it + accomplishes its purpose and destroys the Government. If it + fails, the war has been barren of results, and the battle + may be fought out in the legislative halls of the country. + Treason defeated in the field has only to take possession of + Congress and the Cabinet." + +The committee in this report asserted: + + "It is more than idle, it is a mockery to contend that a + people who have thrown off their allegiance, destroyed the + local government which bound their States to the Union as + members thereof, defied its authority, refused to execute + its laws, and abrogated every provision which gave them + political rights within the Union, still retain through all + the perfect and entire right to resume at their own will and + pleasure all their privileges within the Union, and + especially to participate in its government and control the + conduct of its affairs. To admit such a principle for one + moment would be to declare that treason is always master and + loyalty a blunder." + +To a favorite argument of the advocates of immediate restoration of +the rebel States, the report presented the following reply: + + "That taxation should be only with the consent of the + people, through their own representatives, is a cardinal + principle of all free governments; but it is not true that + taxation and representation must go together under all + circumstances and at every moment of time. The people of the + District of Columbia and of the Territories are taxed, + although not represented in Congress. If it be true that the + people of the so-called Confederate States have no right to + throw off the authority of the United States, it is equally + true that they are bound at all times to share the burdens + of Government. They can not, either legally or equitably, + refuse to bear their just proportion of these burdens by + voluntarily abdicating their rights and privileges as States + of the Union, and refusing to be represented in the councils + of the nation, much less by rebellion against national + authority and levying war. To hold that by so doing they + could escape taxation, would be to offer a premium for + insurrection--to reward instead of punishing treason." + +Upon the important subject of representation, which had occupied much +of the attention of the committee and much of the time of Congress, +the report held the following words: + + "The increase of representation, necessarily resulting from + the abolition of slavery, was considered the most important + element in the questions arising out of the changed + condition of affairs, and the necessity for some fundamental + action in this regard seemed imperative. It appeared to your + committee that the rights of these persons, by whom the + basis of representation had been thus increased, should be + recognized by the General Government. While slaves they were + not considered as having any rights, civil or political. It + did not seem just or proper that all the political + advantages derived from their becoming free should be + confined to their former masters, who had fought against the + Union, and withheld from themselves, who had always been + loyal. Slavery, by building up a ruling and dominant class, + had produced a spirit of oligarchy adverse to republican + institutions, which finally inaugurated civil war. The + tendency of continuing the domination of such a class, by + leaving it in the exclusive possession of political power, + would be to encourage the same spirit and lead to a similar + result. Doubts were entertained whether Congress had power, + even under the amended Constitution, to prescribe the + qualifications of voters in a State, or could act directly + on the subject. It was doubtful in the opinion of your + committee whether the States would consent to surrender a + power they had always exercised, and to which they were + attached. As the best, not the only method of surmounting + all difficulty, and as eminently just and proper in itself, + your committee comes to the conclusion that political power + should be possessed in all the States exactly in proportion + as the right of suffrage should be granted without + distinction of color or race. This, it was thought, would + leave the whole question with the people of each State, + holding out to all the advantages of increased political + power as an inducement to allow all to participate in its + exercise. Such a proposition would be in its nature gentle + and persuasive, and would tend, it was hoped, at no distant + day, to an equal participation of all, without distinction, + in all the rights and privileges of citizenship, thus + affording a full and adequate protection to all classes of + citizens, since we would have, through the ballot-box, the + power of self-protection. + + "Holding these views, your committee prepared an amendment + to the Constitution to carry out this idea, and submitted + the same to Congress. Unfortunately, as we think, it did not + receive the necessary constitutional support in the Senate, + and, therefore, could not be proposed for adoption by the + States. The principle involved in that amendment is, + however, believed to be sound, and your committee have again + proposed it in another form, hoping that it may receive the + approbation of Congress." + +The action of the people of the insurrectionary States, and their +responses to the President's appeals, as showing their degree of +preparation for immediate admission into Congress, was thus set forth +in the report: + + "So far as the disposition of the people of the + insurrectionary States and the probability of their adopting + measures conforming to the changed condition of affairs can + be inferred, from the papers submitted by the President as + the basis of his action, the prospects are far from + encouraging. It appears quite clear that the anti-slavery + amendments, both to the State and Federal Constitutions, + were adopted with reluctance by the bodies which did adopt + them; and in some States they have been either passed by in + silence or rejected. The language of all the provisions and + ordinances of the States on the subject amounts to nothing + more than an unwilling admission of an unwelcome truth. As + to the ordinance of secession, it is in some cases declared + 'null and void,' and in others simply 'repealed,' and in no + case is a refutation of this deadly heresy considered worthy + of a place in the new constitutions. + + "If, as the President assumes, these insurrectionary States + were, at the close of the war, wholly without State + governments, it would seem that before being admitted to + participate in the direction of public affairs, such + governments should be regularly organized. Long usage has + established, and numerous statutes have pointed out, the + mode in which this should be done. A convention to frame a + form of government should be assembled under competent + authority. Ordinarily this authority emanates from Congress; + but under the peculiar circumstances, your committee is not + disposed to criticise the President's action in assuming the + power exercised by him in this regard. + + "The convention, when assembled, should frame a constitution + of government, which should be submitted to the people for + adoption. If adopted, a Legislature should be convened to + pass the laws necessary to carry it into effect. When a + State thus organized claims representation in Congress, the + election of Representatives should be provided for by law, + in accordance with the laws of Congress regulating + representation, and the proof, that the action taken has + been in conformity to law, should be submitted to Congress. + + "In no case have these essential preliminary steps been + taken. The conventions assembled seem to have assumed that + the Constitution which had been repudiated and overthrown, + was still in existence, and operative to constitute the + States members of the Union, and to have contented + themselves with such amendments as they were informed were + requisite in order to insure their return to an immediate + participation in the Government of the United States. And + without waiting to ascertain whether the people they + represented would adopt even the proposed amendments, they + at once called elections of Representatives to Congress in + nearly all instances before an Executive had been chosen to + issue certificates of election under the State laws, and + such elections as were held were ordered by the conventions. + In one instance, at least, the writs of election were signed + by the provisional governor. Glaring irregularities and + unwarranted assumptions of power are manifest in several + cases, particularly in South Carolina, where the convention, + although disbanded by the provisional governor on the ground + that it was a revolutionary body, assumed to district the + State." + +The report thus sets forth the conduct naturally expected of the +Southern people, as contrasted with their actual doings: + + "They should exhibit in their acts something more than + unwilling submission to an unavoidable necessity--a feeling, + if not cheerful, certainly not offensive and defiant, and + should evince an entire repudiation of all hostility to the + General Government by an acceptance of such just and + favorable conditions as that Government should think the + public safety demands. Has this been done? Let us look at + the facts shown by the evidence taken by the committee. + Hardly had the war closed before the people of these + insurrectionary States come forward and hastily claim as a + right the privilege of participating at once in that + Government which they had for four years been fighting to + overthrow. + + "Allowed and encouraged by the Executive to organize State + governments, they at once place in power leading rebels, + unrepentant and unpardoned, excluding with contempt those + who had manifested an attachment to the Union, and + preferring, in many instances, those who had rendered + themselves the most obnoxious. In the face of the law + requiring an oath which would necessarily exclude all such + men from Federal office, they elect, with very few + exceptions, as Senators and Representatives in Congress, men + who had actively participated in the rebellion, insultingly + denouncing the law as unconstitutional. + + "It is only necessary to instance the election to the Senate + of the late Vice President of the Confederacy--a man who, + against his own declared convictions, had lent all the + weight of his acknowledged ability and of his influence as a + most prominent public man to the cause of the rebellion, and + who, unpardoned rebel as he is, with that oath staring him + in the face, had the assurance to lay his credentials on the + table of the Senate. Other rebels of scarcely less note or + notoriety were selected from other quarters. Professing no + repentance, glorying apparently in the crime they had + committed, avowing still, as the uncontradicted testimony of + Mr. Stephens and many others proves, an adherence to the + pernicious doctrines of secession, and declaring that they + yielded only to necessity, they insist with unanimous voice + upon their rights as States, and proclaim they will submit + to no conditions whatever preliminary to their resumption of + power under that Constitution which they still claim the + right to repudiate." + +Finally the report thus presented the "conclusion of the committee:" + + "That the so-called Confederate States are not at present + entitled to representation in the Congress of the United + States; that before allowing such representation, adequate + security for future peace and safety should be required; + that this can only be found in such changes of the organic + law as shall determine the civil rights and privileges of + all citizens in all parts of the republic, shall place + representation on an equitable basis, shall fix a stigma + upon treason, and protect the loyal people against future + claims for the expenses incurred in support of rebellion and + for manumitted slaves, together with an express grant of + power in Congress to enforce these provisions. To this end + they have offered a joint resolution for amending the + Constitution of the United States, and two several bills + designed to carry the same into effect." + +The passage of the Constitutional Amendment by more than the necessary +majority has been related. One of the bills to which reference is made +in the above report--declaring certain officials of the so-called +Confederate States ineligible to any office under the Government of +the United States--was placed in the amendment in lieu of the +disfranchising clause. The other bill provided for "the restoration of +the States lately in insurrection to their full rights" so soon as +they should have ratified the proposed amendment. This bill was +defeated in the House by a vote of 75 to 48. Congress thus refused to +pledge itself in advance to make the amendment the sole test of the +reädmission of rebel States. Congress, however, clearly indicated a +disposition to restore those States "at the earliest day consistent +with the future peace and safety of the Union." The report and doings +of the Committee of Fifteen, although by many impatiently criticised +as dilatory, resulted, before the end of the first session of the +Thirty-ninth Congress, in the reconstruction of one of the States +lately in rebellion. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE. + + Assembling of the Tennessee Legislature -- Ratification of + the Constitutional Amendment -- Restoration of Tennessee + proposed in Congress -- The Government of Tennessee not + Republican -- Protest against the Preamble -- Passage in the + House -- New Preamble proposed -- The President's Opinion + deprecated and disregarded -- Passage in the Senate -- The + President's Approval and Protest -- Admission of Tennessee + Members -- Mr. Patterson's Case. + + +The most important practical step in the work of reconstruction taken +by the Thirty-ninth Congress was the restoration of Tennessee to her +relations to the Union. Of all the recently rebellious States, +Tennessee was the first to give a favorable response to the overtures +of Congress by ratifying the Constitutional Amendment. + +Immediately on the reception of the circular of the Secretary of State +containing the proposed amendment, Governor Brownlow issued a +proclamation summoning the Legislature of Tennessee to assemble at +Nashville on the 4th of July. + +There are eighty-four seats in the lower branch of the Legislature of +Tennessee. By the State Constitution, two-thirds of the seats are +required to be full to constitute a quorum. The presence of fifty-six +members seemed essential for the legal transaction of business. Every +effort was made to prevent the assembling of the required number. The +powerful influence of the President himself was thrown in opposition +to ratification. + +On the day of the assembling of the Legislature but fifty-two members +voluntarily appeared. Two additional members were secured by arrest, +so that the number nominally in attendance was fifty-four, and thus it +remained for several days. It was ascertained that deaths and +resignations had reduced the number of actual members to seventy-two, +and a Union caucus determined to declare that fifty-four members +should constitute a quorum. Two more Union members opportunely +arrived, swelling the number present in the Capitol to fifty-six. +Neither persuasion nor compulsion availed to induce the two +"Conservative members" to occupy their seats, and the house was driven +to the expedient of considering the members who were under arrest and +confined in a committee room, as present in their places. This having +been decided, the constitutional amendment was immediately ratified. +Governor Brownlow immediately sent the following telegraphic dispatch +to Washington: + + "NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, _Thursday_, July 19--12 M. + + "_To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C._ + + My compliments to the President. We have carried the + Constitutional Amendment in the House. Vote, 43 to 18; two + of his tools refusing to vote. + + W. G. BROWNLOW." + +On the 19th of July, the very day on which Tennessee voted to ratify +the amendment, and immediately after the news was received in +Washington, Mr. Bingham, in the House of Representatives, moved to +reconsider a motion by which a joint resolution relating to the +restoration of Tennessee had been referred to the Committee on +Reconstruction. + +This joint resolution having been drawn up in the early part of the +session, was not adapted to the altered condition of affairs resulting +from the passage of the constitutional amendment in Congress. The +motion to reconsider having passed, Mr. Bingham proposed the following +substitute: + + "Joint resolution declaring Tennessee again entitled to + Senators and Representatives in Congress. + + _Whereas_, The State of Tennessee has in good faith ratified + the article of amendment to the Constitution of the United + States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress to the + Legislatures of the several States, and has also shown, to + the satisfaction of Congress, by a proper spirit of + obedience in the body of her people, her return to her due + allegiance to the Government, laws, and authority of the + United States: Therefore, + + _Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + the State of Tennessee is hereby restored to her former, + proper, practical relation to the Union, and again entitled + to be represented by Senators and Representatives in + Congress, duly elected and qualified, upon their taking the + oaths of office required by existing laws." + +On the following day, this joint resolution was the regular order, and +gave rise to a brief discussion. + +Mr. Boutwell desired to offer an amendment providing that Tennessee +should have representation in Congress whenever, in addition to having +ratified the constitutional amendment, it should establish an "equal +and just system of suffrage." Mr. Boutwell, although opposed to the +joint resolution before the House, had no "technical" objections to +the immediate restoration of Tennessee. "I am not troubled," said he, +"by the informalities apparent in the proceedings of the Tennessee +Legislature upon the question of ratifying the constitutional +amendment. It received the votes of a majority of the members of a +full house, and when the proper officers shall have made the customary +certificate, and filed it in the Department of State, it is not easy +to see how any legal objection can be raised, even if two-thirds of +the members were not present, although that proportion is a quorum +according to the constitution of the State." + +Mr. Boutwell declared that his objections to the pending measure were +vital and fundamental. The government of Tennessee was not republican +in form, since under its constitution more than eighty thousand male +citizens were deprived of the right of suffrage. The enfranchisement +of the freedmen of Tennessee should be the beginning of the great work +of reconstruction upon a republican basis. "We surrender the rights of +four million people," said Mr. Boutwell in concluding his remarks; "we +surrender the cause of justice; we imperil the peace and endanger the +prosperity of the country; we degrade ourselves as a great party which +has controlled the government in the most trying times in the history +of the world." + +Mr. Higby thought that Tennessee should not be admitted without a +restriction that she should not be allowed any more representation +than that to which she would be entitled were the constitutional +amendment in full operation and effect. + +Mr. Bingham advocated at considerable length the immediate restoration +of Tennessee. "Inasmuch," said he, "as Tennessee has conformed to all +our requirements; inasmuch as she has, by a majority of her whole +legislature in each house, ratified the amendment in good faith; +inasmuch as she has of her own voluntary will conformed her +constitution and laws to the Constitution and laws of the United +States; inasmuch as she has by her fundamental law forever prohibited +the assumption or payment of the rebel debt, or the enslavement of +men; inasmuch as she has by her own constitution declared that rebels +shall not exercise any of the political power of the State or vote at +elections; and thereby given the American people assurance of her +determination to stand by this great measure of security for the +future of the Republic, Tennessee is as much entitled to be +represented here as any State in the Union." + +Mr. Finck, Mr. Eldridge, and other Democrats favored the resolution, +while they protested against and "spit on" the preamble. + +The question having been taken, the joint resolution passed the House, +one hundred and twenty-five voting in the affirmative, and twelve in +the negative. These last were the following: Messrs. Alley, Benjamin, +Boutwell, Eliot, Higby, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Loan, McClurg, Paine, +and Williams. + +The announcement of the passage of the joint resolution was greeted +with demonstrations of applause on the floor and in the galleries. + +On the day succeeding this action in the House, the joint resolution +came up for consideration in the Senate. After a considerable +discussion, the resolution as it passed the House was adopted by the +Senate. + +In place of the preamble which was passed by the House, Mr. Trumbull +proposed the following substitute: + + "_Whereas_, In the year 1861, the government of the State of + Tennessee was seized upon and taken possession of by persons + in hostility to the United States, and the inhabitants of + said State, in pursuance of an act of Congress were declared + to be in a state of insurrection against the United States; + and whereas said State government can only be restored to + its former political relations in the Union by the consent + of the law-making power of the United States; and whereas + the people of said State did on the 22d of February, 1865, + by a large popular vote adopt and ratify a constitution of + government whereby slavery was abolished, and all ordinances + and laws of secession and debts contracted under the same + were declared void; and whereas a State government has been + organized under said constitution which has ratified the + amendment to the Constitution of the United States + abolishing slavery, also the amendment proposed by the + Thirty-ninth Congress, and has done other acts proclaiming + and denoting loyalty: Therefore." + +Mr. Sherman opposed the substitution of this preamble. "These +political dogmas," said he, "can not receive the sanction of the +President; and to insert them will only create delay, and postpone the +admission of Tennessee." + +"I pay no regard," said Mr. Wade, "to all that has been said here in +relation to the President probably vetoing your bill, for any thing he +may do, in my judgment, is entirely out of order on this floor. Sir, +in olden times it was totally inadmissible in the British Parliament +for any member to allude to any opinion that the king might entertain +on any thing before the body; and much more, sir, ought an American +Congress never to permit any member to allude to the opinion that the +Executive may have upon any subject under consideration. He has his +duty to perform, and we ours; and we have no right whatever under the +Constitution to be biased by any opinion that he may entertain on any +subject. Therefore, sir, I believe that it is, or ought to be, out of +order to allude to any such thing here. Let the President do what he +conceives to be his duty, and let us do ours, without being biased in +any way whatever by what it may be supposed he will do." + +Mr. Brown entered his disclaimer. "Republicanism," said he, "means +nothing if it means not impartial, universal suffrage. Republicanism +is a mockery and a lie if it can assume to administer this government +in the name of freedom, and yet sanction, as this act will, the +disfranchisement of a large, if not the largest, part of the loyal +population of the rebel States on the pretext of color and race." + +The question being taken on the passage of the preamble as substituted +by the Senate, together with the resolution of the House, resulted in +twenty-eight Senators voting in the affirmative, and four in the +negative. The latter were Messrs. Brown, Buckalew, McDougal, and +Sumner. + +The House concurred in the amendment of the Senate, without +discussion, and the joint resolution went to the President for his +approval. + +On the 24th of July, the President, not thinking it expedient to risk +a veto, signed the joint resolution, and at the same time sent to the +House his protest against the opinions presented in the preamble. +After having given his objections to the preamble and resolution at +considerable length, the President said: "I have, notwithstanding the +anomalous character of this proceeding, affixed my signature to the +resolution. [General applause and laughter.] My approval, however, is +not to be construed as an acknowledgment of the right of Congress to +pass laws preliminary to the admission of duly-qualified +representatives from any of the States. [Great laughter.] Neither is +it to be considered as committing me to all the statements made in the +preamble, [renewed laughter,] some of which are, in my opinion, +without foundation in fact, especially the assertion that the State of +Tennessee has ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United +States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress." [Laughter.] + +After the reading of the President's Message, Mr. Stevens said: +"Inasmuch as the joint resolution has become a law by the entire and +cordial approval of the President, [laughter,] I am joint committee on +reconstruction to ask that that committee be discharged from the +further consideration of the credentials of the members elect from the +State of Tennessee, and to move that the same be referred to the +Committee of Elections of this House." + +This motion was passed. At a later hour of the same day's session, Mr. +Dawes, of the Committee on Elections, having permission to report, +said that the credentials of the eight Representatives elect from +Tennessee had been examined, and were found in conformity with law. He +moved, therefore, that the gentlemen be sworn in as members of the +House from the State of Tennessee. + +Horace Maynard and other gentlemen from Tennessee then went forward +amid applause, and took the oath of office. + +On the day following, Joseph S. Fowler was sworn in, and took his seat +as a Senator from Tennessee. + +The next day Mr. Fowler presented the credentials of David T. +Patterson as a Senator elect from Tennessee. A motion was made that +these credentials be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, with +instructions to inquire into the qualifications of Mr. Patterson. + +The circumstances in this case were peculiar. Mr. Patterson had been +elected circuit judge by the people of East Tennessee in 1854. His +term of office expired in 1862, after Tennessee had passed the +ordinance of secession and became a member of the Southern +Confederacy. He was a firm, avowed, and influential Union man, and in +the exercise of the duties of his office did much to protect the +interests of loyal men. Persons who were opposed to secession, which +with lawless violence was sweeping over the State, felt the importance +of having the offices filled by Union men. Mr. Patterson was urged to +again become a candidate for judge. He reluctantly consented, and was +elected by a large majority over a rebel candidate. Governor Harris +sent his commission, with peremptory orders that he should immediately +take the oath to support the Southern Confederacy. Judge Patterson +delayed and hesitated, and consulted other Union men as to the proper +course to be pursued. They advised and urged him to take the oath. By +so doing he could afford protection, to some extent, to Union men, +against acts of lawless violence on the part of rebels. He was advised +that, if he did not accept the office, it would be filled by a rebel, +and the people would be oppressed by the civil as well as the military +power of the rebels. He yielded to these arguments and this advice, +and took the oath prescribed by the Legislature, which in substance +was that he would support the Constitution of Tennessee and the +Constitution of the Confederate States. He declared at the time that +he owed no allegiance to the Confederate Government, and did not +consider that part of the oath as binding him at all. + +Judge Patterson held a few terms of court in counties when he could +organize grand juries of Union men, and did something toward +preserving peace and order in the community. He aided the Union people +and the Union cause in every possible way, and thus became amenable to +the hostility of the secessionists, who subjected him to great +difficulty and danger. He was several times arrested, and held for +some time in custody. At times he was obliged to conceal himself for +safety. He spent many nights in out-buildings and in the woods to +avoid the vengeance of the rebels. + +In September, 1863, the United States forces under General Burnside +having taken possession of Knoxville, Mr. Patterson succeeded, with +his family, in making his escape to Knoxville, and did not return to +his home until after the close of the rebellion. + +The Committee on the Judiciary having taken into consideration the +above and other palliating circumstances, proposed a resolution that +Mr. Patterson "is duly qualified and entitled to hold a seat in the +Senate." On motion of Mr. Clark this resolution was amended to read, +"that, upon taking the oaths required by the Constitution and the +laws, he be admitted to a seat in the Senate." + +It was, however, thought better by the Senate to pass a joint +resolution that in the case of Mr. Patterson there should be omitted +from the test oath the following words: "That I have neither sought, +nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office +whatever under any authority, or pretended authority, in hostility to +the United States." This joint resolution having passed the Senate, +was immediately sent to the House of Representatives, then in session, +and at once came up before that body for consideration. The resolution +was eloquently advocated by Messrs. Maynard and Taylor, and opposed by +Mr. Stokes, all of Tennessee. + +"On the night of the 22d of February last," said Mr. Stokes, "I +delivered a speech in Nashville, and there and then declared, if +admitted as a member of this House, I would freeze to my seat before I +would vote to repeal the test oath. [Long-continued applause on the +floor and in the galleries.] I have made the same declaration in many +speeches since then. + +"Sir, I regard the test oath passed by the United States Congress as +the salvation of the Union men of the South as well as of the North. I +regard it as sacred as the flaming sword which the Creator placed in +the tree of life to guard it, forbidding any one from partaking of the +fruit thereof who was not pure in heart. Sir, this is no light +question. Repeal the test oath and you permit men to come into +Congress and take seats who have taken an oath to the Confederate +Government, and who have aided and assisted in carrying out its +administration and laws. That is what we are now asked to do. Look +back to the 14th of August, 1861, the memorable day of the +proclamation issued by Jefferson Davis, ordering every man within the +lines of the confederacy who still held allegiance to the Federal +Government to leave within forty-eight hours. That order compelled +many to seek for hiding-places who could not take the oath of +allegiance to the Confederate Government. When the rebel authorities +said to our noble Governor of Tennessee, 'We will throw wide open the +prison doors and let you out, if you will swear allegiance to our +government,' what was his reply? 'You may sever my head from my body, +but I will never take the oath to the Confederate Government.'" + +[Illustration: W. B. Stokes, Representative from Tennessee.] + +Mr. Conkling said: "I should be recreant to candor were I to attempt +to conceal my amazement at the scene now passing before us. Only eight +short days ago and eleven States were silent and absent here, because +they had participated in guilty rebellion, and because they were not +in fit condition to share in the government and control of this +country. Seven short days ago we found one of these States with +loyalty so far retrieved, one State so far void of present offenses, +that the ban was withdrawn from her, and she again was placed on an +equal footing with the most favored States in the Union. The doors +were instantly thrown open to her Senators and Representatives, the +whole case was disposed of, and the nation approved the act. Here the +matter should have rested; here it should have been left forever +undisturbed. But no; before one week has made its round, we are called +upon to stultify ourselves, to wound the interests of the nation, to +surrender the position held by the loyal people of the country almost +unanimously, and the exigency is that a particular citizen of +Tennessee seeks to effect his entrance to the Senate of the United +States without being qualified like every other man who is permitted +to enter there. + +"We are asked to drive a ploughshare over the very foundation of our +position; to break down and destroy the bulwark by which we may secure +the results of a great war and a great history, by which we may +preserve from defilement this place, where alone in our organism the +people never lose their supremacy, except by the recreancy of their +Representatives; a bulwark without which we may not save our +Government from disintegration and disgrace. If we do this act, it +will be a precedent which will carry fatality in its train. From +Jefferson Davis to the meanest tool of despotism and treason, every +rebel may come here, and we shall have no reason to assign against his +admission, except the arbitrary reason of numbers." + +Mr. Conkling closed by moving that the joint resolution be laid on the +table, which was carried by a vote of eighty-eight to thirty-one. + +During the same day's session--which was protracted until seven +o'clock of Saturday morning, July 28th--the same subject came up again +in the Senate, on the passage of the resolution to admit Mr. Patterson +to a seat in the Senate upon his taking the oaths required by the +Constitution and laws. After some discussion, the resolution passed, +twenty-one voting in the affirmative and eleven in the negative. + +Mr. Patterson went forward to the desk, and the prescribed oaths +having been administered, he took his seat in the Senate. Thus, on the +last day of the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Tennessee +was fully reconstructed in her representation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +NEGRO SUFFRAGE. + + Review of the Preceding Action -- Efforts of Mr. Yates for + Unrestricted Suffrage -- Davis's Amendment to Cuvier -- The + "Propitious Hour" -- The Mayor's Remonstrance -- Mr. + Willey's Amendment -- Mr. Cowan's Amendment for Female + Suffrage -- Attempt to Out-radical the Radicals -- Opinions + for and against Female Suffrage -- Reading and Writing as a + Qualification -- Passage of the Bill -- Objections of the + President -- Two Senators on the Opinions of the People -- + The Suffrage Bill becomes a Law. + + +On the reässembling of the Thirty-ninth Congress for the second +session, December 3d, 1866, immediately after the preliminaries of +opening had transpired, Mr. Sumner called up business which had been +introduced on the first day of the preceding session--a year +before--which still remained unfinished--the subject of suffrage in +the District of Columbia. In so doing, the Senator from Massachusetts +said: "It will be remembered that it was introduced on the first day +of the last session; that it was the subject of repeated discussions +in this chamber; that it was more than once referred to the Committee +on the District of Columbia, by whose chairman it was reported back to +the Senate. At several different stages of the discussion it was +supposed that we were about to reach a final vote. The country +expected that vote. It was not had. It ought to have been had. And +now, sir, I think that the best way is for the Senate in this very +first hour of its coming together to put that bill on its passage. It +has been thoroughly debated. Every Senator here has made up his mind +on the question. There is nothing more to be said on either side. So +far as I am concerned, I am perfectly willing that the vote shall be +taken without one further word of discussion; but I do think that the +Senate ought not to allow the bill to be postponed. We ought to seize +this first occasion to put the bill on its passage. The country +expects it; the country will rejoice and be grateful if you will +signalize this first day of your coming together by this beautiful and +generous act." + +Objection being raised to the immediate consideration of the subject, +it was decided that it must be deferred under a rule of the Senate +until after the expiration of six days from the commencement of the +session. + +It is proper here to present a brief record of the proceedings upon +the subject during the preceding session. The passage of a bill in the +House of Representatives, and the discussion upon the subject in that +body are given in a preceding chapter. This bill, as Mr. Morrill +subsequently said in the Senate, was not an election bill, and +conferred no right of voting upon any person beyond what he had +before. It was a mere declaration of a right to vote. As such, the +bill was favorably received by the Senate Committee to whom it was +referred, and was by them reported back with favor, but was never put +upon its passage. + +Meanwhile the Senate Committee had under consideration a bill of their +own, which they reported on the 10th of January. This bill provided +for restricted suffrage, requiring the qualification to read and +write. Mr. Yates, an original and uncompromising advocate of universal +suffrage was opposed to this restriction. He was a member of the +Committee on the District of Columbia, but had been prevented from +being present in its deliberations when it was resolved to report the +bill as then before the Senate. Fearing that the bill might pass the +Senate with the objectionable restrictions, Mr. Yates moved that it be +recommitted, which was done. + +At a meeting of the committee called to reconsider the bill, Mr. Yates +argued at length and with earnestness against disfranchisement on the +ground of inability to read and write. The committee reversed their +former decision, and reported the bill substantially in the form in +which it subsequently became a law. The bill being before the Senate +on the 16th of January, 1866, Mr. Garrett Davis opposed it in a speech +of great length. He made use of every argument and referred to every +authority within his reach to prove the inferiority of the negro race. +After giving Cuvier's definition of the "negro," the Senator remarked: +"The great naturalist might have added as other distinctive +characteristics of the negro; first, that his skin exhales perpetually +a peculiar pungent and disagreeable odor; second, that 'the hollow of +his foot makes a hole in the ground.'" The Senator drew a fearful +picture of the schemes of Massachusetts to use the negro voters, whom +it was her policy to create in the South. + +This subject did not again come up in the Senate until after the lapse +of several months. On the 27th of June it was "disentombed" from what +many supposed was its final resting place. Mr. Morrill proposed as an +amendment that the elective franchise should be restricted to persons +who could read and write. This was rejected; fifteen voting in the +affirmative, and nineteen in the negative. + +Mr. Willey opposed the bill before the Senate in a speech of +considerable length. He advocated the bestowal of a qualified and +restricted suffrage upon the colored people of the District. His chief +objection to the measure before the Senate was that it was untimely. +"Any thing not essential in itself," said he, "or very material to the +welfare of the nation, or a considerable part of the nation, if it is +calculated to complicate our difficulties, or inflame party passions +or sectional animosities, had better be left, it appears to me, to a +more propitious hour." + +The "propitious hour" hoped for by the Senator, did not come around +until after the opening of the second session. The subject did not +again seriously occupy the attention of the Senate, with the exception +of Mr. Sumner's effort to have it taken up on the first day of the +session, until the 10th day of December, 1866. + +On that day, Mr. Morrill, who, as Chairman of the Committee on the +District of Columbia, had the bill in charge, introduced the subject +with a speech of considerable length. "This measure," said he, "not +only regulates the elective franchise in this District, but it extends +and enlarges it. The principal feature of the bill is that it embraces +the colored citizens of the District of Columbia. In this particular +it is novel, and in this particular it is important. In this +particular it may be said to be inaugurating a policy not only +strictly for the District of Columbia, but in some sense for the +country at large. In this respect it is, I suppose, that this bill has +received so large a share of the public attention during the last +session and the recess of the Congress of the United States." + +Mr. Morrill called attention to the remonstrance of the Mayor of +Washington, who had informed the Senate that in an election held for +the purpose of ascertaining the sentiments of the voters of the city +upon the subject, some six thousand five hundred were opposed to the +extension of the elective franchise, while only thirty or forty were +in favor of it. + +"These six or seven thousand voters," said Mr. Morrill, "are only one +in thirty at most of the people of this District, and it is very +difficult to understand how there could be more significance or +probative force attached to these six or seven thousand votes than to +an equal number of voices independent of the ballot, under the +circumstances. This is a matter affecting the capital of the nation, +one in which the American people have an interest, as indirectly, at +least, touching the country at large. What the National Congress +pronounce here as a matter of right or expediency, or both, touching a +question of popular rights, may have an influence elsewhere for good +or for evil. We can not well justify the denial of the right of +suffrage to colored citizens on the protest of the voters of the +corporation of Washington. We may not think fit to grant it simply on +the prayer of the petitioners. Our action should rest on some +recognized general principle, which, applied to the capital of the +nation, would be equally just applied to any of the political +communities of which the nation is composed." + +In closing his speech, Mr. Morrill remarked: "In a nation of professed +freemen, whose political axioms are those of universal liberty and +human rights, no public tranquillity is possible while these rights +are denied to portions of the American people. We have taken into the +bosom of the Republic the diverse elements of the nationalities of +Europe, and are attempting to mold them into national harmony and +unity, and are still inviting other millions to come to us. Let us not +despair that the same mighty energies and regenerating forces will be +able to assign a docile and not untractable race its appropriate place +in our system." + +Mr. Willey's amendment, proposed when the subject was last considered +in the previous session, six months before, being now the pending +question, its author addressed the Senate in favor of some +restrictions upon the exercise of the elective franchise. "There ought +to be some obligation," said he, "either in our fundamental laws in +the States, or somewhere, by some means requiring the people to +educate themselves; and if this can be accomplished by disqualifying +those who are not educated for the exercise of the right of suffrage, +thus stimulating them to acquire a reasonable degree of education, +that of itself, it seems to me, would be a public blessing." + +"I am against this qualification of reading and writing," said Mr. +Wilson; "I never did believe in it. I do not believe in it now. I +voted against it in my own State, and I intend to vote against it +here. There was a time when I would have taken it, because I did not +know that we could get any thing more in this contest; but I think the +great victory of manhood suffrage is about achieved in this country." + +"Reading and writing, as a qualification for voting," said Mr. +Pomeroy, "might be entertained in a State where all the people were +allowed to go to school and learn to read and write; but it seems to +me monstrous to apply it to a class of persons in this community who +were legislated away from school, to whom every avenue of learning was +shut up by law." + +Some discussion was elicited by a proposition made by Mr. Anthony to +attach to Mr. Willey's amendment a provision excluding from the right +to vote all "who in any way voluntarily gave aid and comfort to the +rebels during the late rebellion." + +This was opposed by Mr. Wilson. "We better not meddle with that matter +of disfranchisement," said he. "There are but few of these persons +here, so the prohibition will practically not amount to any thing. As +we are to accomplish a great object, to establish universal suffrage, +we should let alone all propositions excluding a few men here. +Disfranchisement will create more feeling and more bitterness than +enfranchisement." + +Mr. Willey's amendment was finally so much "amended" that he could not +support it himself, and it received but one affirmative vote, that of +Mr. Kirkwood. + +Mr. Cowan proposed to amend the bill by striking out the word "male" +before the word "person," that females might enjoy the elective +franchise. "I propose to extend this privilege," said he, "not only to +males, but to females as well; and I should like to hear even the most +astute and learned Senator upon this floor give any better, reason for +the exclusion of females from the right of suffrage than there is for +the exclusion of negroes. + +"If you want to widen the franchise so as to purify your ballot-box, +throw the virtue of the country into it; throw the temperance of the +country into it; throw the purity of the country into it; throw the +angel element--if I may so express myself--into it. [Laughter.] Let +there be as little diabolism as possible, but as much of the divinity +as you can get." + +The discussion being resumed on the following day, Mr. Anthony +advocated Mr. Cowan's amendment. "I suppose," said he, "that the +Senator from Pennsylvania introduced this amendment rather as a satire +upon the bill itself, or if he had any serious intention, it was only +a mischievous one to injure the bill. But it will not probably have +that effect, for I suppose nobody will vote for it except the Senator +himself, who can hardly avoid it, and I, who shall vote for it because +it accords with a conclusion to which I have been brought by +considerable study upon the subject of suffrage." + +After having answered objections against female suffrage, Mr. Anthony +remarked in conclusion: "I should not have introduced this question; +but as it has been introduced, and I intend to vote for the amendment, +I desire to declare here that I shall vote for it in all seriousness, +because I think it is right. The discussion of this subject is not +confined to visionary enthusiasts. It is now attracting the attention +of some of the best thinkers in the world, both in this country and in +Europe; and one of the very best of them all, John Stuart Mill, in a +most elaborate and able paper, has declared his conviction of the +right and justice of female suffrage. The time has not come for it, +but the time is coming. It is coming with the progress of civilization +and the general amelioration of the race, and the triumph of truth, +and justice, and equal rights." + +Mr. Williams opposed the pending amendment. "To extend the right of +suffrage to the negroes in this country," said he, "I think is +necessary for their protection; but to extend the right of suffrage to +women, in my judgment, is not necessary for their protection. Wide as +the poles apart are the conditions of these two classes of persons. +The sons defend and protect the reputation and rights of their +mothers; husbands defend and protect the reputation and rights of +their wives; brothers defend and protect the reputation and rights of +their sisters; and to honor, cherish, and love the women of this +country is the pride and the glory of its sons. + +"When the women of this country come to be sailors and soldiers; when +they come to navigate the ocean and to follow the plow; when they love +to be jostled and crowded by all sorts of men in the thoroughfares of +trade and business; when they love the treachery and the turmoil of +politics; when they love the dissoluteness of the camp, and the smoke +of the thunder, and the blood of battle better than they love the +affections and enjoyments of home and family, then it will be time to +talk about making the women voters; but until that time, the question +is not fairly before the country." + +Mr. Cowan defended his amendment and his position. "When the time +comes," said he, "I am a Radical, too, along with my fellow Senators +here. By what warrant do they suppose that I am not interested in the +progress of the race? If the thing is to be bettered, I want to better +it." + +Mr. Morrill replied to the speech of Mr. Cowan. "Does any suppose," +said Mr. Morrill, "that he is at all in earnest or sincere in a single +sentiment he has uttered on this subject? I do not imagine he believes +that any one here is idle enough for a moment to suppose so. If it is +true, as he intimates, that he is desirous of becoming a Radical, I am +not clear that I should not be willing to accept his service, although +there is a good deal to be repented of before he can be taken into +full confidence. [Laughter.] + +"When a man has seen the error of his ways and confesses it, what more +is there to be done except to receive him seventy and seven times? +Now, if this is an indication that the honorable Senator means to +out-radical the Radicals, 'Come on, Macduff,' nobody will object, +provided you can show us you are sincere. That is the point. If it is +mischief you are at, you will have a hard time to get ahead. While we +are radical we mean to be rational. While we intend to give every male +citizen of the United States the rights common to all, we do not +intend to be forced by our enemies into a position so ridiculous and +absurd as to be broken down utterly on that question, and who ever +comes here in the guise of a Radical and undertakes to practice that +probably will not make much by the motion. I am not surprised that +those of our friends who went out from us and have been feeding on the +husks desire to get in ahead; but I am surprised at the indiscretion +and the want of common sense exercised in making so profound a plunge +at once! If these gentlemen desire to be taken into companionship and +restored to good standing, I am the first man to reach out the hand +and say, 'Welcome back again, so that you are repentant and +regenerated;' but, sir, I am the last man to allow that you shall +indorse what you call Radicalism for the purpose of breaking down +measures which we propose!" + +"He alleges," replied Mr. Cowan, "that I am not serious in the +amendment I have moved; that I am not in earnest about it. How does he +know? By what warrant does he undertake to say that a brother Senator +here is not serious, not in earnest? I should like to know by what +warrant he undertakes to do that. He says I do not look serious. I +have not perhaps been trained in the same vinegar and persimmon +school, [laughter;] I have not been doctrinated into the same solemn +nasal twang which may characterize the gentleman, and which may be +considered to be the evidence of seriousness and earnestness. I +generally speak as a man, and as a good-natured man, I think. I hope I +entertain no malice toward any body. But the honorable Senator thinks +that I want to become a Radical. Why, sir, common charity ought to +have taught the honorable Senator better than that. I think no such +imputation, even on the part of the most virulent opponent that I +have, can with any justice be laid to my door. I have never yielded to +his radicalism; I have never truckled to it. Whether it be right or +wrong, I have never bowed the knee to it. From the very word 'go' I +have been a Conservative; I have endeavored to save all in our +institutions that I thought worth saving." + +Mr. Wade had introduced the original bill, and had put it upon the +most liberal principle of franchise. "The question of female +suffrage," said he, "had not then been much agitated, and I knew the +community had not thought sufficiently upon it to be ready to +introduce it as an element in our political system. While I am aware +of that fact, I think it will puzzle any gentleman to draw a line of +demarcation between the right of the male and the female on this +subject. Both are liable to all the laws you pass; their property, +their persons, and their lives are affected by the laws. Why, then, +should not the females have a right to participate in their +construction as well as the male part of the community? There is no +argument that I can conceive or that I have yet heard that makes any +discrimination between the two on the question of right. + +"I shall give a vote on this amendment that will be deemed an +unpopular vote, but I am not frightened by that. I have been +accustomed to give such votes all my life almost, but I believe they +have been given in the cause of human liberty and right and in the way +of the advancing intelligence of our age; and whenever the landmark +has been set up the community have marched up to it. I think I am +advocating now the same kind of a principle, and I have no doubt that +sooner or later it will become a fixed fact, and the community will +think it just as absurd to exclude females from the ballot-box as +males." + +Mr. Yates opposed the pending amendment, deeming it a mere attempt on +the part of the Senator from Pennsylvania to embarrass this question. +"Logically," said he, "there are no reasons in my mind which would not +permit women to vote as well as men, according to the theory of our +government. But that question, as to whether ladies shall vote or not, +is not at issue now. I confess that I am for universal suffrage, and +when the time comes, I am for suffrage by females as well as males." + +"While I will vote now," said Mr. Wilson, "or at any time, for woman +suffrage as a distinct, separate measure, I am unalterably opposed to +connecting that question with the pending question of negro suffrage. +The question of negro suffrage is now an imperative necessity; a +necessity that the negro should possess it for his own protection; a +necessity that he should possess it that the nation may preserve its +power, its strength, and its unity." + +"Why was the consideration of this measure discontinued at the last +session, and the bill not allowed to pass the Senate?" asked Mr. +Hendricks. + +"The bill passed the House of Representatives early in the session," +replied Mr. Wilson. "It came to the Senate early in December. That +Senator, I think, knows very well that we had not the power to pass it +for the first five or six months of the session; that is, we had not +the power to make it a law. We could not have carried it against the +opposition of the President of the United States, and we had +assurances of gentlemen who were in intimate relations with him that +his signature would not be obtained. It would not have been wise for +us to pass the bill if it was to encounter a veto, unless we were able +to pass it over that veto. The wise course was to bide our time until +we had that power, and that power came before the close of the +session, but it came in the time of great pressure, when other +questions were crowding upon us, and it was thought best by those who +were advocating it, especially as the chairman of the committee, the +Senator from Maine, [Mr. Morrill,] was out of the Senate for many days +on account of illness, to let the bill go over until this December." + +Mr. Johnson opposed the pending amendment. "I think if it was +submitted to the ladies," said he--"I mean the ladies in the true +acceptation of the term--of the United States, the privilege would not +only not be asked for, but would be rejected. I do not think the +ladies of the United States would agree to enter into a canvass and +undergo what is often the degradation of seeking to vote, particularly +in the cities, getting up to the polls, crowded out and crowded in. I +rather think they would feel it, instead of a privilege, a dishonor." + +Mr. Johnson was unwilling to vote for the amendment with a view to +defeat the bill. "I have lived to be too old," said he, "and have +become too well satisfied of what I think is my duty to the country to +give any vote which I do not believe, if it should be supported by the +votes of a sufficient number to carry the measure into operation, +would redound to the interests and safety and honor of the country." + +"The women of America," said Mr. Frelinghuysen, "vote by faithful and +true representatives, their husbands, their brothers, their sons; and +no true man will go to the polls and deposit his ballot without +remembering the true and loving constituency that he has at home. More +than that, sir, ninety-nine out of a hundred, I believe nine hundred +and ninety-nine out of a thousand, of the women in America do not want +the privilege of voting in any other manner than that which I have +stated. In both these regards there is a vast difference between the +situation of the colored citizens and the women of America. + +"The learned and eloquent Senator from Pennsylvania said yesterday +with great beauty that he wanted to cast the angel element into the +suffrage system of America. Sir, it seems to me, that it would be +ruthlessly tearing the angel element from the homes of America; and +the homes of the people of America are infinitely more valuable than +any suffrage system. It will be a sorry day for this country when +those vestal fires of piety and love are put out." + +On the next day, December 12th, the discussion being resumed, Mr. +Brown advocated the amendment. "I stand," said he, "for universal +suffrage, and as a matter of fundamental principle do not recognize +the right of society to limit it on any ground of race, color, or sex. +I will go further and say that I recognize the right of franchise as +being intrinsically a natural right; and I do not believe that society +is authorized to impose any limitation upon it that does not spring +out of the necessities of the social state itself." + +Believing "that the metaphysical always controls the practical in all +the affairs of life," Mr. Brown gave the "abstract grounds" upon which +he deemed the right of woman to the elective franchise rested. Coming +finally to the more practical bearings of the subject, he answered the +objection, that "if women are entitled to the rights of franchise, +they would correspondingly come under the obligation to bear arms." +"Are there not large classes," he asked, "even among men in this +country, who are exempt from service in our armies for physical +incapacity and for other reasons? And if exemptions which appertain to +males may be recognized as valid, why not similar exemptions for like +reasons when applied to females? Does it not prove that there is +nothing in the argument so far as it involves the question of right? +There are Quakers and other religious sects; there are ministers of +the Gospel; persons having conscientious scruples; indeed, all men +over a certain age who under the laws of many of the States are +released from service of that character. Indeed, it is the boast of +this republic that ours is a volunteer military establishment. Hence I +say there is nothing in the position that because she may not be +physically qualified for service in your army, therefore you have the +right to deny her the franchise on the score of sex." + +In closing an extended speech, Mr. Brown remarked: "Even though I +recognize the impolicy of coupling these two measures in this manner +and at this time, I shall yet record my vote in the affirmative as an +earnest indication of my belief in the principle, and my faith in the +future." + +Mr. Davis made another protracted speech against both the amendment +and the original bill. "The great God," said he, "who created all the +races, and in every race gave to man woman, never intended that woman +should take part in national government among any people, or that the +negro, the lowest, should ever have coördinate and equal power with +the highest, the white race, in any government, national or +domestic." + +In conclusion, Mr. Davis advised the late rebels to "resist this +great, this most foul, cruel, and dishonoring enslavement. Men of the +South, exhaust every peaceful means of redress, and when your +oppressions become unendurable, and it is demonstrated that there is +no other hope, then strike for your liberty, and strike as did your +fathers in 1776, and as did the Hollanders and Zealanders, led by +William the Silent, to break their chains, forged by the tyrants of +Spain." + +"When it is necessary," said Mr. Sprague, "that woman shall vote for +the support of liberty and equality, I shall be ready to cast my vote +in their favor. The black man's vote is necessary to this at this +time. Do not prostrate all the industrial interests of the North by a +policy of conciliation and of inaction. Delays are dangerous, +criminal. When you shall have established, firmly and fearlessly, +governments at the South friendly to the republic; when you shall have +ceased from receiving terms and propositions from the leaders of the +rebellion as to their reconstruction; when you shall have promptly +acted in the interest of liberty, prosperity will light upon the +industries of your people, and panics, commercial and mercantile +revolutions, will be placed afar off; and never, sir, until that time +shall have arrived. And as an humble advocate of all industrial +interests of the free people of the North, white and black, and as an +humble representative of these interests, I urge prompt action to-day, +to-morrow, and every day until the work has been completed. Let no +obstacle stand in the way now, no matter what it may be. You will save +your people from poverty and free principles from a more desperate +combat than they have yet witnessed. Ridicule may be used in this +chamber, calumny may prevail through the country, and murder may be a +common occurrence South to those who stand firmly thus and who +advocate such measures. Let it be so; for greater will be the crowning +glory of those who are not found wanting in the day of victory. Let +us, then, press to the vote; one glorious step taken, then we may take +others in the same direction." + +"The objection," said Mr. Buckalew, "which I have to a large extension +of suffrage in this country, whether by Federal or State power, is +this: that thereby you will corrupt and degrade elections, and +probably lead to their complete abrogation hereafter. By pouring into +the ballot-boxes of the country a large mass of ignorant votes, and +votes subjected to pecuniary or social influence, you will corrupt and +degrade your elections and lay the foundation for their ultimate +destruction." + +"After giving some considerable reflection to the subject of +suffrage," said Mr. Doolittle, "I have arrived at the conclusion that +the true base or foundation upon which to rest suffrage in any +republican community is upon the family, the head of the family; +because in civilized society the family is the unit, not the +individual." + +Mr. Pomeroy was in favor of the bill without the proposed amendment. +"I do not want to weigh it down," said he, "with any thing else. There +are other measures that I would be glad to support in their proper +place and time; but this is a great measure of itself. Since I have +been a member of the Senate, there was a law in this District +authorizing the selling of these people. To have traveled in six years +from the auction-block to the ballot with these people is an immense +stride, and if we can carry this measure alone, of itself, we should +be contented for the present." + +The vote being taken on Mr. Cowan's amendment conferring the elective +franchise upon women, the result was yeas, nine; nays, thirty-seven. +The following are the names of those who voted in the affirmative: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Foster, Nesmith, + Patterson, Riddle, and Wade. + +Mr. Dixon then moved to amend the bill by adding a proviso: + + "That no person who has not heretofore voted in this + District shall be permitted to vote unless he shall be able, + at the time of offering to vote, to read and also write his + own name." + +"I would deny to no man," said Mr. Dixon, "the right of voting solely +on account of his color; but I doubt the propriety of permitting any +man to vote, whatever his race or color, who has not at least that +proof of intelligence which the ability to read and write furnishes." + +"What is the test?" asked Mr. Saulsbury. "A person who can read and +write. Is it his name, or only read and write?" + +"His name," said one. + +"Read and write his name!" continued Mr. Saulsbury. "A wonderful +amount of education to qualify a man for the discharge of the high +office and trust of voting! Great knowledge of the system of +government under which we live does this impart to the voter!" + +"If this were really an intelligence qualification," said Mr. Cowan, +"I do not know what I might say; but of the fact that the ability of a +man merely to write his own name and read it, is intelligence, I am +not informed. To write a man's name is simply a mechanical operation. +It may be taught to any body, even people of the most limited +capacity, in twenty minutes; and to read it afterward certainly would +not be very difficult." + +"I understand the amendment to include," said Mr. Willey, "the +qualification of reading generally, and also of writing his name; two +tests, one the reading generally, and the other the writing his own +name." + +"Where is its precision?" asked Mr. Cowan; "where is it to end, and +who shall determine its limits? I will put the case of a board +belonging to the dominant party, and suppose they have the statute +amended by my honorable friend from Connecticut before them, and a +colored man comes forward and proposes to vote. They put to him the +question, 'Can you write your name and read?' 'Oh, yes.' 'Well, let us +see you try it.' He then writes his name and he reads it; and he is +admitted if he is understood to belong to that party. But suppose, as +has recently happened, that this dark man should come to the +conclusion to vote on the other side, and it were known that he meant +to vote on the other side, what kind of a chance would he have? Then +the man of the dominant party, who desires to carry the election, +says, 'You shall not only write your name and read it, but you must +read generally. I have read the senatorial debates upon this question, +and the honorable Senator from West Virginia, who originated this +amendment, was of opinion that a man should read generally. Now, sir, +read generally, if you please.' 'Well,' says he, 'what shall I read?' +Read a section of the _Novum Organum_, or some other most difficult +and abstruse thing, or a few sections from Okie's Physiology." + +On the 13th of December, the last day of the discussion, Mr. Anthony +occupied the chair during a portion of the session, and Mr. Foster +took the floor in favor of the amendment proposed by his colleague. +"The honorable Senator from Pennsylvania," said he, "from the manner +in which he treats this subject, I should think, was now fresh from +his reading of 'Much A-do about Nothing,' and was quoting Mr. Justice +Dogberry, who said, 'To be a well-favored man is the gift of fortune, +but to read and write comes by nature.' The Senator from Pennsylvania +and others seem inclined to say, 'Away with writing and reading till +there is need of such vanity.' I believe that the idea of admitting +men to the elective franchise who can neither read nor write is going +backward and downward. + +"Who are the men who come forward to deposit their ballots in the +ballot-boxes? They are the people of this country, to whom all +questions must ultimately go for examination and correction. They +correct the mistakes which we make, and which Congress makes, and +which the Supreme Court makes. The electors at the ballot-boxes are +the grand court of errors for the country. Now, sir, these Senators +propose to allow men who can not read and write to correct our +mistakes, to become members of this high court of errors. + +"The honorable Senator from Massachusetts says he wants to put the +ballot into the hands of the black man for his protection. If he can +not read the ballot, what kind of protection is it to him? A Written +or printed slip of paper is put into the hands of a man, black or +white, and if he can not read it, what is it to him? What does he know +about it? What can he do with it? How can he protect himself by it? As +well might the honorable Senator from Massachusetts put in the hands +of a child who knew nothing of firearms a loaded pistol, with which to +protect himself against his enemies. The child would be much more +likely to endanger himself and his friends by the pistol than to +protect himself. A perfectly ignorant man who can not read his ballot +is much more likely to use it to his own detriment, and to the +detriment of the country, than he is to use it for the benefit of +either." + +"The argument in favor of making the right to vote universal," said +Mr. Frelinghuysen, in making a second speech upon the question, "is +that the ballot itself is a great education; that by its encouraging +the citizen, by its inspiring him, it adds dignity to his character, +and makes him strive to acquire learning. Secondly, that if the voting +depended on learning, no inducement is extended to communities +unfavorable to the right of voting in the colored man to give him the +opportunity to learn; they would rather embarrass him, to prevent his +making the acquisition, unless they were in favor of his voting; while +if voting is universal, communities, for their own security, for their +own protection, will be driven to establish common schools, so that +the voter shall become intelligent." + +Pursuing a similar line of thought, Mr. Wilson said: "Allow the black +men to vote without this qualification and they will demand education, +the school-houses will rise, school-teachers will be employed, these +people will attend the schools, and the cause of education will be +carried forward in this District with more rapidity than at any other +period in its history. Give the negro the right of suffrage, and +before a year passes round, you will see these men, who voted that +they should not have the right to vote, running after them, and +inquiring after the health of their wives and children. I do not think +the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Davis] will be examining their pelvis +or shins, or making speeches about the formation of their lips, or the +angle of their foreheads on the floor of the Senate. You will then see +the Democracy, with the keen scent that always distinguishes that +party, on the hunt after the votes of these black men, [laughter;] and +if they treat them better than the Republicans do, they will probably +get their votes, and I hope they will. + +"And it will be just so down in these rebel States. Give the negroes +of Virginia the right to vote, and you will find Wise and Letcher and +the whole tribe of the secessionists undertaking to prove that from +the landing at Jamestown in 1620 the first families of the Old +Dominion have always been the champions and the special friends of the +negroes of Old Virginia, and that there is a great deal of kindred +between them, [laughter;] that they are relations, brethren; that the +same red blood courses in the veins of many of them. They will +establish all these things, perhaps by affidavits. [Laughter.] And I +say to you, sir, they will have a good opportunity to get a good many +of their votes, for in these respects they have the advantage of us +poor Republicans." + +Of the pending amendment, Mr. Hendricks said: "I propose to vote for +it, not because I am in favor, as a general proposition, of an +intelligence qualification for the right to vote, but because in this +particular instance, I think it to be proper to prescribe it." + +"I shall vote," said Mr. Lane, "to enfranchise the colored residents +of this District because I believe it is right, just, and proper; +because I believe it is in accordance with those two grand central +truths around which cluster every hope for redeemed humanity, the +common fatherhood of God above us and the brotherhood of universal +mankind." + +"The bill for Impartial Suffrage in the District of Columbia," said +Mr. Sumner, "concerns directly some twenty thousand colored persons, +whom it will lift to the adamantine platform of equal rights. If it +were regarded simply in its bearings on the District it would be +difficult to exaggerate its value; but when it is regarded as an +example to the whole country under the sanction of Congress, its value +is infinite. It is in the latter character that it becomes a pillar of +fire to illumine the footsteps of millions. What we do here will be +done in the disorganized States. Therefore, we must be careful that +what we do here is best for the disorganized States. + +"When I am asked to open the suffrage to women, or when I am asked to +establish an educational standard, I can not on the present bill +simply because the controlling necessity under which we act will not +allow it. By a singular Providence we are now constrained to this +measure of enfranchisement for the sake of peace, security, and +reconciliation, so that loyal persons, white or black, may be +protected and that the Republic may live. Here in the District of +Columbia we begin the real work of reconstruction by which the Union +will be consolidated forever." + +The question was taken upon Mr. Dixon's amendment, which was lost; +eleven voting for, and thirty-four against the proposition. The vote +was then taken upon the bill to regulate the elective franchise in the +District of Columbia. It passed the Senate, thirty-two voting in the +affirmative, and thirteen in the negative. + +On the following day, December 14th, the bill came before the House of +Representatives and passed without discussion; one hundred and +eighteen voting in the affirmative, and forty-six in the negative. + +On the 7th of January, the President returned the bill to the Senate +with his objections. The Veto Message was immediately read by the +Secretary of the Senate. + +The President's first objection to the bill was that it was not in +accordance with the wishes of the people to whom it was to apply, they +having "solemnly and with such unanimity" protested against it. + +It seemed to the President that Congress sustained a relation to the +inhabitants of the District of Columbia analogous to that of a +legislature to the people of a State, and "should have a like respect +for the will and interests of its inhabitants." + +Without actually bringing the charge of unconstitutionality against +this measure, the President declared "that Congress is bound to +observe the letter and spirit of the Constitution, as well in the +enactment of local laws for the Seat of Government, as in legislation +common to the entire Union." + +The Civil Rights Bill having become a law, it was, in the opinion of +the President, a sufficient protection for the negro. "It can not be +urged," said he, "that the proposed extension of suffrage in the +District of Columbia is necessary to enable persons of color to +protect either their interests or their rights." + +The President argued that the negroes were unfitted for the exercise +of the elective franchise, and "can not be expected correctly to +comprehend the duties and responsibilities which pertain to suffrage. +It follows, therefore, that in admitting to the ballot-box a new class +of voters not qualified for the exercise of the elective franchise, we +weaken our system of government instead of adding to its strength and +durability. It may be safely assumed that no political truth is better +established than that such indiscriminate and all-embracing extension +of popular suffrage must end at last in its destruction." + +The President occupied a considerable portion of his Message with a +warning to the people against the dangers of the abuse of legislative +power. He quoted from Judge Story that the legislative branch may +absorb all the powers of the government. He quoted also the language +of Mr. Jefferson that one hundred and seventy tyrants are more +dangerous than one tyrant. + +The statements of the President in opposition to the bill were +characterized by Mr. Sherman as "but a _resume_ of the arguments +already adduced in the Senate," hence but little effort was made by +the friends of the measure to reply. + +Mr. Sherman, in noticing the President's statements in regard to the +danger of invasions by Congress of the just powers of the executive +and judicial departments, said, "I do not think that there is any +occasion for such a warning, because I am not aware that in this bill +Congress has ever assumed any doubtful power. The power of Congress +over this District is without limit, and, therefore, in prescribing +who shall vote for mayor and city council of this city it can not be +claimed that we usurp power or exercise a doubtful power. + +"There can be but little danger from Congress; for our acts are but +the reflection of the will of the people. The recent acts of Congress +at the last session, those acts upon which the President and Congress +separated, were submitted to the people, and they decided in favor of +Congress. Unless, therefore, there is an inherent danger from a +republican government, resting solely upon the will of the people, +there is no occasion for the warning of the President. Unless the +judgment of one man is better than the combined judgment of a great +majority, he should have respected their decision, and not continue a +controversy in which our common constituency have decided that he was +wrong." + +The last speech, before taking the vote, was made by Mr. Doolittle. +"Men speak," said he, "of universal negro suffrage as having been +spoken in favor of in the late election. There is not a State in this +Union, outside of New England, which would vote in favor of universal +negro suffrage. When gentlemen tell me that the people of the whole +North, by any thing that transpired in the late election, have decided +in favor of universal, unqualified negro suffrage, they assume that +for which there is no foundation whatever." + +The question being taken whether the bill should pass over the +President's veto, the Senate decided in the affirmative by a vote of +twenty-nine yeas to ten nays. + +The next day, January 8th, the bill was passed over the veto by the +House of Representatives, without debate, by a vote of one hundred and +thirteen yeas to thirty-eight nays. The Speaker then declared that +notwithstanding the objections of the President of the United States, +the act to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia +had become a law. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. + + Proposition by Mr. Stevens -- "Piratical Governments" not to + be Recognized -- The Military Feature Introduced -- Mr. + Schofield's Dog -- The Only Hope of Mr. Hise -- Conversation + Concerning the Reconstruction Committee -- Censure of a + Member -- A Military Bill Reported -- War Predicted -- The + "Blaine Amendment" -- Bill Passes the House -- In the Senate + -- Proposition to Amend -- Mr. Mcdougall Desires Liberty of + Speech -- Mr. Doolittle Pleads for the Life of the Republic + -- Mr. Sherman's Amendment -- Passage in the Senate -- + Discussion and Non-concurrence in the House -- The Senate + Unyielding -- Qualified Concurrence of the House -- The Veto + -- "The Funeral of the Nation" -- The Act -- Supplementary + Legislation. + + +Soon after the passage of the bill extending the elective franchise in +the District of Columbia, Congress was occupied in devising and +discussing a practical and efficient measure for the reconstruction of +the rebel States. The germ of the great "Act for the more efficient +government of the rebel States" is to be found in the previous session +of Congress in a proposition made by Mr. Stevens on the 28th of May +"to enable the States lately in rebellion to regain their privileges +in the Union." + +The Constitutional Amendment had been eliminated in the Senate of +features which Mr. Stevens regarded as of great importance. There was +an indisposition on the part of the House to declaring by an act of +Congress that the rebel States should be restored on the sole +condition of their accepting and ratifying the Constitutional +Amendment. The bill proposed by Mr. Stevens was designed by its author +as a plan of restoration to take the place of the proposition which +accompanied the Constitutional Amendment. This bill recognized the _de +facto_ State governments at the South as valid "for municipal +purposes." It required the President to issue a proclamation within +six months calling conventions to form legitimate State constitutions, +which should be ratified by the people. All male citizens above +twenty-one years of age should be voters, and should be eligible to +membership in these constitutional conventions. All persons who held +office under the "government called the Confederate States of +America," or swore allegiance thereto, were declared to have forfeited +their citizenship, and were required to be naturalized as foreigners +before being allowed to vote. All citizens should be placed upon an +equal footing in the reörganized States. + +On the 28th of July, the last day of the session, Mr. Stevens brought +this bill to the notice of the House, without demanding any action +upon it. He made a solemn and affecting appeal to the House, and +insisted upon it as the great duty of Congress to give all loyal men, +white and black, the means of self-protection. "In this, perhaps my +final action," said he, "on this great question, upon careful review, +I can see nothing in my political course, especially in regard to +human freedom, which I could wish to have expurged or changed." + +On the 19th of December, 1866, a few days after the reässembling of +Congress for the second session, Mr. Stevens called up his bill for +the purpose of amending it and putting it in proper shape for the +consideration of Congress after the holidays. + +On the 3d of January, 1867, Mr. Stevens addressed the House in favor +of his plan of reconstruction. "This bill," said he, "is designed to +enable loyal men, so far as I could discriminate them in these States, +to form governments which shall be in loyal hands, and may protect +them from outrages." + +As an amendment to this bill, Mr. Ashley, chairman of the Committee on +Territories, offered a substitute which was intended to establish +provisional governments in the rebel States. + +Mr. Pike brought in review before the House three modes of dealing +with the rebel States which had been proposed for the consideration +and decision of Congress. The first was the immediate admission of the +States into a full participation in the Government, treating them as +if they had never been in rebellion. The second was "the let-alone +policy, which would merely refuse them representation until they had +adopted the constitutional amendments." The third mode was "the +immediate action by Congress in superseding the governments of those +States set up by the President in 1865, and establishing in their +place governments founded upon loyalty and universal suffrage." The +policy last mentioned was advocated by Mr. Pike. "It has got to be +time for action," said he, "if we are to fulfill the reasonable +expectations of the country during the life of this Congress." + +On the 7th of January Mr. Stevens proposed to amend his bill by +inserting a provision that no person should be disfranchised as a +punishment for any crime other than insurrection or treason. He gave +as a reason for proposing this amendment that in North Carolina, and +other States where punishment at the whipping-post deprives the person +of the right to vote, they were every day whipping negroes for trivial +offenses. He had heard of one county where the authorities had whipped +every adult negro they knew of. + +On the 8th of January a speech was made by Mr. Broomall advocating the +passage of the bill before the House. "Can the negro in the South +preserve his civil rights without political ones?" he asked. "Let the +convention riot of New Orleans answer; let the terrible three days in +Memphis answer. In the latter city three hundred negroes, who had +periled their lives in the service of their country, and still wore +its uniform, were compelled to look on while the officers of the law, +elected by white men, set their dwellings in flames and fired upon +their wives and children as they escaped from the doors and windows. +Their churches and school-houses were burned because they were their +churches and school-houses. Yet no arrest, no conviction, no +punishment awaits the perpetrators of these deeds, who walk in open +day and boast of their enormities, because, forsooth, this is a white +man's Government." + +On the 16th of January the discussion was resumed. Mr. Paine first +addressed the House. He opposed the second section of the bill, which +recognized the _de facto_ governments of the rebel States as valid for +municipal purposes. "I am surprised," said he, "that the gentleman +from Pennsylvania should be ready, voluntarily, to assume this burden +of responsibility for the anarchy of murder, robbery, and arson which +reigns in these so-called _de facto_ governments. He may be able to +get this fearful burden upon his back; but if he does, I warn him of +the danger that the sands of his life will all run out before he will +be able to shake it off. He will have these piratical governments on +his hands voluntarily recognized as valid for municipal purposes until +duly altered. He will have gratuitously become a copartner in the +guilt which hitherto has rested upon the souls of Andrew Johnson and +his Northern and Southern satellites, but which thenceforth will rest +on his soul also until he can contrive duly to alter these +governments. And so it will happen that the great Union party to which +he belongs, and to which I belong, will become implicated, for how +long a time God only knows, in this unspeakable iniquity which daily +and hourly cries to Heaven from every rood of rebel soil for vengeance +on these monsters." + +Mr. Bingham moved to refer the two bills--that of Mr. Stevens and that +of Mr. Ashley--to the Committee on Reconstruction. He opposed these +bills as "a substantial denial of the right of the great people who +saved this republic by arms to save it by fundamental law." He +advocated the propriety of making the proposed Constitutional +Amendment the basis of reconstruction. It had already received the +ratification of the Legislatures representing not less than twelve +millions of the people of this nation. The fact that all the rebel +States which had considered the amendment in their Legislatures had +rejected it did not invalidate this mode of reconstruction. "Those +insurrectionary States," said he, "have no power whatever as States of +this Union, and can not lawfully restrain, for a single moment, that +great body of freemen who cover this continent from ocean to ocean, +now organized States of the Union and represented here, in their fixed +purpose and undoubted legal right to incorporate the amendment into +the Constitution of the United States." + +Mr. Bingham maintained that Congress has the power, without +restriction by the Executive or the Supreme Court, to "propose +amendments to the Constitutions, and to decide finally the question of +the ratification thereof, as well as to legislate for the nation." "I +look upon both these bills," said Mr. Bingham, "as a manifest +departure from the spirit and intent of our Constitutional Amendment. +I look upon it as an attempt to take away from the people of the +States lately in rebellion that protection which you have attempted to +secure to them by your Constitutional Amendment." + +Mr. Dawson, in a speech of an hour's duration, maintained the +doctrine, which he announced as that which had given shape to +presidential policy, "that the attempt at secession having been +suppressed by the physical power of the Government, the States, whose +authority was usurped by the parties to the movement, have never, at +any time, been out of the Union; and that having once expressed their +acquiescence in the result of the contest and renewed their allegiance +to the Union, they are, at the same time, restored to all the rights +and duties of the adhering States." + +On the other hand, the policy of Congress, in the opinion of Mr. +Dawson, was "a shameless outrage upon justice and every conservative +principle,"--a "usurpation of Federal powers and a violation of State +rights." + +Mr. Maynard gave expression to his opinions by asking the significant +question, "Whether the men who went into the rebellion did not by +connecting themselves with a foreign government, by every act of which +they were capable, denude themselves of their citizenship--whether +they are not to be held and taken by this Government now as men +denuded of their citizenship, having no rights as citizens except such +as the legislative power of this Government may choose to confer upon +them? In other words, is not the question on our part one of +enfranchisement, not of disfranchisement?" + +On the 17th of January, Mr. Baker addressed the House in favor of +referring the pending bill to the Committee on Reconstruction. He was +opposed to the use of the term "Government," without qualification or +restriction, as applied to the lately revolted States. He opposed the +second section, as causing the _de facto_ governments to become valid +for municipal purposes long before the scheme of reconstruction +contemplated by the bill is effectuated. "To recognize them in +advance," said he, "would be to incur the danger of further +embarrassing the whole subject by the illogical consequences of our +own illogical procedure." + +At this stage Mr. Stevens arose and modified his substitute by +withdrawing the second section, which contained the provision objected +to by Mr. Baker as well as by his "ardent friend" Mr. Paine. Mr. Baker +objected to that feature of the bill which provided that none should +be deprived of the right to vote as a punishment for any crime save +insurrection or treason. "The penitentiaries of these States," said +he, "might disgorge their inmates upon the polls under the operation +of this bill." + +Mr. Grinnell was opposed to sending the question to the Committee on +Reconstruction. He did not think it the most modest proposition in the +world for Mr. Bingham to urge the reference to his committee of a +great question which, the House generally desired to consider. "Let us +have no delay," said he, "no recommitment, rather the earliest action +upon this bill, as the requirement of the people who have saved the +country, what the suffering implore, what justice demands, and what I +believe God will approve." + +"It is to my mind most clear," said Mr. Donnelly, in a speech upon the +pending question, "that slavery having ceased to exist, the slaves +became citizens; being citizens they are a part of the people, and +being a part of the people no organization deserves a moment's +consideration at our hands which attempts to ignore them." + +Of the Southern States as under rebel rule, Mr. Donnelly remarked: +"The whites are to make the laws, execute the laws, interpret the +laws, and write the history of their own deeds; but below them; under +them, there is to be a vast population--a majority of the whole +people--seething and writhing in a condition of suffering, darkness, +and wretchedness unparalleled in the world. And this is to be an +American State! This is to be a component part of the great, humane, +Christian republic of the world." + +"It is hard," said Mr. Eldridge, in a speech against the bill, "sad to +stand silently by and see the republic overthrown. It is indeed +appalling to those accustomed from early childhood to revere and love +the Constitution, to feel that it is in the keeping of those having +the power and determination to destroy it. With the passage of this +bill must die every hope and vestige of the government of the +Constitution. It is indeed the final breaking up and dissolution of +the union of the States by the usurpation and revolutionary act of +Congress." + +"Your work of restoration," said Mr. Warner, "will never commence +until the Congress of the United States assumes to be one of the +departments of the General Government. It will never commence until +you have declared, in the language of the Supreme Court, that the +Executive, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, 'can not +exercise a civil function.'" + +"In less than two brief years of office," said Mr. Warner, speaking of +the President, "he has exercised more questionable powers, assumed +more doubtful constitutional functions, obliterated more +constitutional barriers, and interposed more corrupt schemes to the +expression of the popular sentiment or will of the people than all +other Executives since the existence of the Government." + +Mr. Spalding feared that the bill, should it become a law, would be +found defective in not affording any protection to that loyal class of +the inhabitants of those communities upon whom the elective franchise +was conferred. "These colored men," said he, "who are now recognized +by the Government as possessing the rights of freemen, are to be in +jeopardy of being shot down like so many dogs when they attempt to +visit the polls." He then offered an amendment, which was accepted by +Mr. Stevens, by which a section was added to the bill suspending the +writ of _habeas corpus_ in the ten rebel States, and placing them +under martial law until they should be admitted to representation in +Congress under the provisions of the bill. In this section thus +introduced may be seen the origin of that feature which, in an +enlarged and extended form, gave character to the important measure +ultimately adopted by Congress, which is popularly known as the +"Military Reconstruction Bill." + +The discussion was continued by Mr. Koontz. "It is a solemn, +imperative duty," said he, "that this nation owes to its colored +people to protect them against their own and the nation's foes. It +would be a burning, lasting disgrace to the nation were it to hand +them over to their enemies. I know of no way in which this protection +can be better given than by extending to them the elective franchise. +Place the ballot in the hands of the black man and you give him that +which insures him respect as well as protection." + +Mr. Scofield maintained that the ratification of the Constitutional +Amendment by three-fourths of the loyal States was all that was +necessary. "Twenty-three of the twenty-six States elected Legislatures +instructed to adopt it. Very soon these twenty-three States, having a +population in 1860 of twenty-one million five hundred thousand, and +not less than twenty-seven millions now, will send to a perfidious +Secretary the official evidence of the people's will. Delaware, +Maryland, and Kentucky alone give a negative answer. Who, then, stands +in the way? One old man who is charged by law with the duty of +proclaiming the adoption of the amendment, but who has determined to +incorporate into the Union the _debris_ of the late Confederacy--he +stands in the way." + +"The Secretary is clever in work of this kind. An English nobleman was +at one time exhibiting his kennel to an American friend, and passing +by many of his showiest bloods, they came upon one that seemed nearly +used up. 'This,' said the nobleman, 'is the most valuable animal in +the pack, although he is old, lame, blind, and deaf.' 'How is that?' +inquired the visitor. The nobleman explained: 'His education was good, +to begin with, and his wonderful sense of smell is still unimpaired. +We only take him out to catch the scent, and put the puppies on the +track, and then return him to the kennel.' Do not suppose that I +intend any comparison between the Secretary of State and that veteran +hunter. Such a comparison would be neither dignified nor truthful, +because the Englishman went on to say, 'I have owned that dog for +thirteen years, and, hard as he looks, he never bit the hand that fed +him nor barked on a false trail.'" + +The laughter and applause which followed, were checked by the +Speaker's gavel, which Mr. Schofield mistook for a notice to quit. +"Has my time expired?" asked he. "It has not," replied the Speaker. +"The Chair called you to order," said Mr. Stevens, in his seat, "for +doing injustice to the dog." + +Mr. Ward, who next addressed the House, presented a novel theory of +the rebel war. "The people of the South," said he, "did not make war +upon our republican form of government, nor seek to destroy it; they +only sought to make two republics out of one. They are now, and have +been all the time, as much attached to our system of free republican +government as those who abuse them for disloyalty." + +Mr. Ward presented his view of the state of things which would result +from the passage of the pending bill. "These negro judges," said he, +"will sit and hold this election backed by the United States army. +That is rather an elevated position for the new-made freedman; the +_habeas corpus_ suspended, martial law proclaimed, the army at the +back of the negro conducting an election to reconstruct States." + +Mr. Plants addressed the House in favor of the pending bill. Of the +reception given by the rebels to the proposed constitutional +amendment, he said: "They have not only refused to accept the more +than generous terms proposed, but have rejected them with contumely, +and with the haughty and insulting bravado of assumed superiority +demand that the nation shall submit to such terms as they shall +dictate." + +Mr. Miller, while advocating the pending measure, favored its +reference to the Committee on Reconstruction. He gave a detailed +account of the Constitutional Amendment, and its progress toward +ratification among the Legislatures. He showed that the progress of +reconstruction was delayed through fault of the rebels themselves. "It +is not the desire of the great Republican party," said he, "to retard +the restoration of those ten States to full political rights, but on +the contrary they are anxious for a speedy adjustment, in order to +secure adequate protection to all classes and conditions of men +residing therein, and at the same time afford ample security to the +United States Government against any future refractory course that +might be pursued on the part of those States." + +On the 21st of January the discussion was resumed by Mr. Kerr in a +speech against the bill. He quoted extensively from judicial decisions +and opinions to show that the rebel States were still entitled to +their original rights in the Union. "The undisguised and most +unrighteous purpose of all this kind of legislation," said he, "is to +usurp powers over those States that can find no warrant except in the +fierce will of the dominant party in this Congress. It is alike at war +with every principle of good and free government, and with the highest +dictates of humanity and national fraternity." + +Mr. Higby was in favor of the pending bill, and opposed its reference +to the Committee on Reconstruction. He preferred that it should be +retained in the House, where it could be changed, matured, and finally +passed. He contended that the rebel States should not come into the +Union under any milder conditions than those imposed upon Territories +recently passed upon in Congress. "Impartial suffrage," said he, "is +required of each of those Territories as a condition precedent to +their becoming States; and shall South Carolina, upon this basis of +reconstruction, become a part of this Union upon different terms and +principles entirely from those implied by the votes we have just +given?" + +Mr. Trimble denounced the pending legislation in violent terms. "By +this act," said he, "you dissolve their connection with the Government +of the United States, blot them out of existence as freemen, and +degrade them to the condition of negro commonwealths. We have this +monstrous proposition: to declare martial law in ten States of this +Union; and in making this declaration, we, in my judgment, step upon +the mangled ruins of the Constitution; for the Constitution plainly +gives this power neither to the executive nor the legislative +department of the Government." + +Mr. Dodge, although a Republican, and in favor of "protecting the best +interests of the colored man," could not vote for either of the +propositions before the House. "The result of the passage of this +bill," said he, "if it shall become operative, will be to disfranchise +nearly the entire white population of the Southern States, and at the +same time enfranchise the colored people and give them the virtual +control in the proposed organization of the new State governments." + +Mr. Dodge was particularly opposed to the military feature proposed by +Mr. Spalding. "This is not likely," said he, "in the nature of things, +to bring about an early reörganization of the South. The commercial, +the manufacturing, and the agricultural interests of this country, as +they look at this matter, will see in it a continuance of taxation +necessary to support this military array sent to these ten States." + +"This bill, if executed," said Mr. Hise, in the course of a speech +against the measure, "will in effect establish corrupt and despotic +local governments for all those States, and place in all the offices +the most ignorant, degraded, and corrupt portion of their population, +who would rule and ruin without honesty or skill the actual +property-holders and native inhabitants, making insecure life, +liberty, and property, and still holding those States in their Federal +relations subject to the most rapacious, fierce, and unrelenting +despotism that ever existed, that of a vindictive and hostile party +majority of a Congress in which they have no voice or representation, +and by which irresponsible majority they would be mercilessly +oppressed for that very reason; and this will be continued, I fear, +until the country shall again be precipitated into civil war." + +Since the "beneficent conservative power" of the President was +overcome by two-thirds of Congress, Mr. Hise could see safety for the +nation in but one direction. "Our only hope," said he, "of the +preservation of a free government is in the judicial department of the +government, and in the decisions of the Supreme Court pronouncing your +acts unconstitutional and void." + +Mr. Raymond preferred the Constitutional Amendment as the basis of +reconstruction, and blamed the party in power for abandoning that +policy. "Last year," said he, "that man was untrue to his party +obligations who did not stand by it; this year the man is declared to +be faithless to his party who does." + +Having spoken at considerable length against the pending measure, Mr. +Raymond said: "For these reasons, sir, reasons of policy and of +authority, I do not think we ought to pass this bill. I do not believe +it would be at all effective in securing the objects at which we aim, +or that it would conduce in the slightest degree to promote peace and +secure equal rights among the people upon whom it is to take effect. +And I can not help believing that it contains provisions directly at +war with specific and peremptory prohibitions of the Constitution." + +Mr. Raymond defended the Secretary of State against the accusations of +Mr. Schofield. Mr. Seward was not "a perfidious old man," but one +"venerable, not more for age than for the signal services to his +country and the cause of freedom every-where, by which his long and +laborious life, devoted wholly, from early manhood, to the public +service, has been made illustrious." The Secretary of State acted +under law. If Congress expected him to act under the theory that +three-fourths of the loyal States were sufficient for the ratification +of the Constitutional Amendment, they should pass a law to that +effect. + +"The man," said Mr. Shellabarger, "who is now the acting President of +the United States, once said to me, in speaking of a bill like the one +now before the House, that it was a measure to dissolve the Union. +That proposition has been so often repeated by members upon the other +side of this hall, that I have thought the House would probably pardon +me if I should attempt to condense into a few sentences a suggestion +or two in regard to that declaration, repeated so often and worn out +so thoroughly as it is." + +Mr. Shellabarger maintained the right of governments to withhold from +those who discard all the obligations pertaining to their citizenship +the powers and rights which come alone from performing these +obligations. "This identical principle," said he, "was asserted at the +origin of your Government in the legislation of every one of the +States of the Confederation; was repeated and reënacted by three, at +least, of the first Congresses under the Constitution, and has been +virtually reënacted by being kept in force by every subsequent +Congress which ever met under the Constitution." + +"I see such diversity of opinion on this side of the House," said Mr. +Stevens, "upon any question of reconstruction, that, if I do not +change my mind, I shall to-morrow relieve the House from any question +upon the merits of this bill by moving to lay it on the table." + +On the 26th of January the discussion was renewed. Mr. Ross, +considering the argument on the constitutionality of the measure +exhausted, endeavored to show that the bill was "in clear conflict +with the action of the party in power during the entire progress of +the war, and in conflict with the clearly-expressed opinions of the +Executive of the nation, the Supreme Court, and the Congress of the +United States." + +Mr. Ashley withdrew his amendment to Mr. Stevens' bill that the House +might, in Committee of the Whole, have an opportunity to perfect the +bill so as to send it to the Senate within two or three days. + +"I ask the gentleman," said Mr. Conkling, "to state his objection to +having a subject like this committed to a committee which has now no +work upon its hands, and which has a right to report at any time." + +"The Committee on Reconstruction," replied Mr. Ashley, "have held no +meetings during this entire session up to this hour. Several bills +proposed by gentlemen have been referred to that committee during this +session, upon which they have taken no action. If the committee ever +gets together again--which I doubt, as it is a large committee, +composed of both branches of Congress--I have but little hope of their +being able to agree. The chairman of the committee on the part of the +Senate, as is well known, is absorbed in his efforts to perfect the +financial measures of the country, and I fear that if this bill goes +to that committee it will go to its grave, and that it will not, +during the life of the Thirty-ninth Congress, see the light. If I were +opposed to these bills, I would vote to send them to that committee as +sending them to their tomb." + +"There is no difficulty," responded Mr. Conkling, "in having prompt +consideration of any thing which may be sent to the committee. It was +created originally solely to deal with this subject. It was, at first, +broken into four sub-committees, that the work of gathering evidence +might be more advantageously and speedily carried on. It became one +committee, usually working together, only during a few weeks +immediately preceding the bringing forward of its ultimate +propositions. It would not be decorous for me to praise the committee +or the work it did, but I may say with propriety that if it ever was a +good committee, if it ever should have been created and composed as it +was, it is a good committee now--better than it ever was before; +better, because more familiar with this subject, because its members, +having now become acquainted with each other's views, and having +become accustomed to act with each other, and having studied the whole +subject committed to them, can proceed with much more hope of good +results than ever before. Having a right to report at any time, and +being led, on the part of this House, by the distinguished gentleman +from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens], I see no reason why it can not +consider and digest wisely and promptly whatever may be referred to it +and make report." + +"We are now considering a report from that very committee," said Mr. +Stevens. "That committee made a report, and I have offered a +substitute for the bill which they reported. If the gentleman thinks +the report of that committee is best, then let him vote against my +substitute. But why send this subject back again to the committee? The +gentleman knows as well as I do how many different opinions there are +in that committee; some of us believe in one thing, and some of us in +another; some of us are very critical, and some of us are not. The +idea that we can consider any thing in that committee, constituted as +it is, in less than a fortnight, it seems to me is wholly out of the +question; and as we have only about some twenty working days in which +to mature this bill in both branches of Congress, if we send this +subject to that committee and let it take its time to consider it, and +then have it reported here and considered again, I certainly need not +say to gentlemen that that would be an end of the matter, at least for +this session." + +"The gentleman from Pennsylvania concurred in that report," replied +Mr. Conkling. "He had his full share in molding it and making it +precisely what it was. He supported it then; now he offers a +substitute for it. Why? Because the time which has elapsed since then, +and the events which have transpired, have modified, he thinks, the +exigencies of the case. Is not that as applicable to the judgment of +the committee as to his own? Is it not proper that it should have the +opportunity of acting for once in the light of all the facts and +circumstances as they are to day?" + +"Two or three bills on this subject," said Mr. Stevens, "have been +referred during this session to that committee. Why has not the +committee acted on them?" + +"If I were the chairman of the committee on the part of this House," +replied Mr. Conkling, "I should be able to answer that question, +because then I could tell why I had not called the committee together. +But as I am only a subordinate member of the committee, whose business +it is to come when I am called, and never to call others, I am +entirely unable to give the information for which the gentleman +inquires." + +"If I could have any assurance," said Mr. Ashley, "that this committee +would be able to report promptly a bill upon which this House could +probably agree, I would not hesitate a single moment to vote for the +reference of this measure to that committee; but, believing that they +will be unable to agree, I shall vote against a recommitment." + +In describing the character of the opposition arrayed against the +Congressional plan of reconstruction, Mr. Ashley used the following +emphatic language: "Why, sir, the assumption, the brazen-faced +assumption of men who during the entire war were in open or secret +alliance with the rebels, coming here now and joining hands with the +apostate at the other end of the avenue, who is the leader, the +recognized leader of a counter-revolution--a negative rebellion, as I +said awhile ago--passes comprehension." + +"If intended to apply to us," said Mr. Winfield, speaking for the +Democratic members, "it is a base and unfounded slander." + +"So far as I am concerned, it is a base lie," said Mr. Hunter. For +using these words, "condemned by gentlemen every-where, as well as by +parliamentary law," the House passed a vote of censure on Mr. Hunter, +and he was required to go forward and receive a public reprimand from +the Speaker. + +On the 28th of January, the House having resumed the consideration of +the bill to restore to the rebel States their full political rights, +Mr. Julian expressed his belief that the time had come for action, and +that having the great subject before them, they should proceed +earnestly, and with little delay, to mature some measure which would +meet the demand of the people. "Let us tolerate no further +procrastination," said he; "and while we justly hold the President +responsible for the trouble and mal-administration which now curse the +South and disturb the peace of the country, let us remember that the +national odium already perpetually linked with the name of Andrew +Johnson will be shared by us if we fail in the great duty which is now +brought to our doors." + +Mr. Julian differed with many others in his opinion of the real wants +of the rebel States. "What these regions need," said he, "above all +things, is not an easy and quick return to their forfeited rights in +the Union, but _government_, the strong arm of power, outstretched +from the central authority here in Washington, making it safe for the +freedmen of the South, safe for her loyal white men, safe for +emigrants from the Old World and from the Northern States to go and +dwell there; safe for Northern capital and labor, Northern energy and +enterprise, and Northern ideas to set up their habitation in peace, +and thus found a Christian civilization and a living democracy amid +the ruins of the past." + +"It would seem," said Mr. Cullom, "that the men who have been +struggling so hard to destroy this country were and still are the +instruments, however wicked, by which we are driven to give the black +man justice, whether we will or no. + +"By the unholy persistence of rebels slavery was at last overthrown. +Their contempt of the Constitutional Amendment, now before the +country, will place in the hands of every colored man of the South the +ballot." + +The bill before the House was referred to the Committee on +Reconstruction by a vote of eighty-eight to sixty-five. + +On the 4th of February, Mr. Williams, of Oregon, introduced into the +Senate "A bill to provide for the more efficient government of the +insurrectionary States," which was referred to the Committee on +Reconstruction. + +[Illustration: Geo. H. Williams, Senator from Oregon.] + +This bill, having been considered by the Committee, was adopted by +them, and was reported by their chairman to the House, on the 6th of +February, in the following form: + + "_Whereas_, the pretended State Governments of the late + so-called Confederate States of Virginia, North Carolina, + South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, + Florida, Texas, and Arkansas were set up without the + authority of Congress and without the sanction of the + people; and _whereas_ said pretended governments afford no + adequate protection for life or property, but countenance + and encourage lawlessness and crime; and _whereas_ it is + necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in + said so-called States until loyal and Republican State + Governments can be legally established: Therefore, + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + said so-called States shall be divided into military + districts and made subject to the military authority of the + United States, as hereinafter prescribed; and for that + purpose Virgina shall constitute the first district, North + Carolina and South Carolina the second district, Georgia, + Alabama, and Florida the third district, Mississippi and + Arkansas the fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas the + fifth district. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of the General of the army to assign to the command of + each of said districts an officer of the regular army not + below the rank of brigadier general, and to detail a + sufficient force to enable such officer to perform his + duties and enforce his authority within the district to + which he is assigned. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of each officer assigned, as aforesaid, to protect all + persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress + insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or + cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and + criminals; and to this end he may allow civil tribunals to + take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or when in his + judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders he + shall have power to organize military commissions or + tribunals for that purpose, any thing in the constitution + and laws of the so-called States to the contrary + notwithstanding; and all legislative or judicial proceedings + or processes to prevent the trial or proceedings of such + tribunals, and all interference by said pretended State + governments with the exercise of military authority under + this act shall be void and of no effect. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That courts and + judicial officers of the United States shall not issue writs + of _habeas corpus_ in behalf of persons in military custody + unless some commissioned officer on duty in the district + wherein the person is detained shall indorse upon said + petition a statement certifying upon honor that he has + knowledge or information as to the cause and circumstances + of the alleged detention, and that he believes the same to + be rightful; and further, that he believes that the indorsed + petition is preferred in good faith and in furtherance of + justice, and not to hinder or delay the punishment of crime. + All persons put under military arrest, by virtue of this + act, shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel + or unusual punishment shall be inflicted. + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That no sentence of + any military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, + affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall be + executed until it is approved by the officer in command of + the district; and the laws and regulations for the + government of the army shall not be affected by this act, + except in so far as they conflict with its provisions." + +Mr. Stevens, having been remonstrated with by a Democratic member for +expressing a wish to bring the question to vote without a prolonged +debate, replied: "I am very willing that the debate which has been +going on here for three weeks shall all be read over by the gentleman +whenever he can take time to read it." "On behalf of the American +people," said the same member, "I ask more time for debate." "I will +see what the American people think of it in the morning. If they are +generally for a prolongation of the debate, of course I will go with +them. But I will wait until then, in order to ascertain what the +people want." + +On the following day, February 7th, Mr. Stevens introduced the +discussion with a brief speech. "This bill provides," said he, that +"the ten disorganized States shall be divided into five military +districts, and that the commander of the army shall take charge of +them through his lieutenants as governors, or you may call them +commandants if you choose, not below the grade of brigadiers, who +shall have the general supervision of the peace, quiet, and the +protection of the people, loyal and disloyal, who reside within those +precincts; and that to do so he may use, as the law of nations would +authorize him to do, the legal tribunals where-ever he may deem them +competent; but they are to be considered of no validity _per se_, of +no intrinsic force, no force in consequence of their origin, the +question being wholly within the power of the conqueror, and to remain +until that conqueror shall permanently supply their place with +something else. I will say, in brief, that is the whole bill. It does +not need much examination. One night's rest after its reading is +enough to digest it." + +"Of all the various plans," said Mr. Brandegee, "which have been +discussed in this hall for the past two years, to my mind it seems the +plainest, the most appropriate, the freest from constitutional +objection, and the best calculated to accomplish the master aims of +reconstruction. + +"It begins the work of reconstruction at the right end, and employs +the right tools for its accomplishment. It begins at the point where +Grant left off the work, at Appomattox Court-house, and it holds those +revolted communities in the grasp of war until the rebellion shall +have laid down its spirit, as two years ago it formally laid down its +arms." + +Mr. Le Blond characterized the Committee on Reconstruction as "the +maelstrom committee, which swallows up every thing that is good and +gives out every thing that is evil." + +"There is nothing left," said he, in the conclusion of his speech, +"but quiet submission to your tyranny, or a resort to arms on the part +of the American people to defend themselves. + +"I do not desire war; but as one American citizen, I do prefer war to +cowardly submission and total destruction of the fundamental +principles of our Government. In my honest conviction, nothing but the +strong arm of the American people, wielded upon the bloody +battle-field, will ever restore civil liberty to the American people +again." + +"Is it possible," said Mr. Finck, "that in this Congress we can find +men bold enough and bad enough to conspire against the right of trial +by jury, the great privilege of _habeas corpus_; men who are willing +to reverse the axiom that the military should be subordinate to the +civil power, and to establish the abhorred doctrine resisted by the +brave and free men of every age, that the military should be superior +to the civil authority?" + +"It does not seem to me," said Mr. Pike, "that the change proposed to +be made by this bill in the management of the Southern States is so +violent as gentlemen on the other side would have us suppose. They +seem to believe that now the people of those States govern themselves; +but the truth is, since the suppression of the rebellion, that is, +since the surrender of the rebel armies in 1865, the government of +those States have been virtually in the hands of the President of the +United States. + +"This bill does not transfer the government of those States from the +people to the officers of the army, but only from the President to +those officers." + +Mr. Farnsworth, who next addressed the House, gave numerous +authenticated instances of outrages and murders perpetrated by rebels +upon Union soldiers and citizens. "It is no longer a question of +doubt," said he, "it can not be denied that the loyal men, the Union +soldiers and the freedmen in these disorganized and disloyal States +are not protected. They are murdered with impunity; they are despoiled +of their goods and their property; they are banished, scattered, +driven from the country." + +Mr. Rogers denounced the pending bill in most emphatic language. "You +will carry this conflict on," said he, "until you bring about a war +that will shake this country as with the throes of an earthquake; a +war that will cause the whole civilized world to witness our dreadful +shock and fill nature with agony in all her parts, with which the one +we have passed through is not at all to be compared." + +He eulogized President Johnson in the highest terms. "Free +government," said he, "brought him from a poor boy to as great a man +as ever lived, and he deserves as much credit as Washington and will +yet receive it. He will not submit to have the citadel of liberty +invaded and destroyed without using the civil and military powers to +prevent it. He will maintain the Constitution, sir, even to the +spilling of blood." + +Mr. Bingham proposed to amend the bill to make it accord with his +theory by substituting the phrase "the said States" for the words +"so-called States." He also proposed some limitation of the extent to +which the _habeas corpus_ should be suspended. "When these men," said +he, "shall have fulfilled their obligations" and when the great people +themselves shall have put, by their own rightful authority, into the +fundamental law the sublime decree, the nation's will, that no State +shall deny to any mortal man the equal protection of the laws--not of +the laws of South Carolina alone, but of the laws national and State, +and above all, sir, of the great law, the Constitution of our own +country, which is the supreme law of the land, from Georgia to Oregon, +and from Maine to Florida--then, sir, by assenting thereto those +States may be restored at once. To that end, sir, I labor and for that +I strive." + +"Unless the population of these States," said Mr. Lawrence, "is to be +left to the merciless rule of the rebels, who employ the color of +authority they exercise under illegal but _de facto_ State governments +to oppress all who are loyal without furnishing them any protection +against murder and all the wrongs that rebels can inflict on loyal +men, we can not, dare not refuse to pass this bill." + +Since, however, the bill did not propose any "plan of reörganizing +State governments in the late rebel States," Mr. Lawrence read +amendments which he desired to introduce at the proper time, providing +that the laws of the District of Columbia, "not locally inapplicable," +should be in force in the rebel territory and that the United States +courts should have jurisdiction. + +Mr. Hise declared this a "stupid, cruel, unwise, and unconstitutional +measure." "If I had not been prepared," said he, "by other measures +hitherto adopted and others hitherto introduced into this House, I +should not have been less startled at the introduction of this than if +I had received the sudden intelligence that the ten States enumerated +in this bill had been sunk by some great convulsion of nature and +submerged under an oceanic deluge." + +"This is not, strictly speaking, a measure of reconstruction," said +Mr. Ingersoll, "but a measure looking simply to the enforcement of +order. It seems to me clear, then, that, not only under the laws of +war and under the laws of nations, but under the express authority of +the Constitution itself, Congress possesses the rightful authority to +establish military governments, as proposed by the bill under +consideration." + +Referring to Mr. Le Blond's anticipated war, Mr. Ingersoll said: "I +desire to ask the gentleman where he is going to get his soldiers to +make war upon the Government and the Congress of the United States? +You will hardly find them in the rebel States. They have had enough of +war; they have been thoroughly whipped, and do not desire to be +whipped again. You will not get them from the loyal people of the +Northern or Southern States. If you get any at all, you may drum up a +few recruits from the Democratic ranks, but in the present weak and +shattered condition of that party you would hardly be able to raise a +very formidable army, and I tell the gentleman if the party decreases +in the same ratio in the coming year as it has in the last, the whole +party together would not form a respectable _corps d'armée_." + +"How about the bread and butter brigade?" interposed a member. + +"I did not think of that heroic and patriotic band," replied Mr. +Ingersoll, "but I do not apprehend much danger from that source; it +would be a bloodless conflict; we would have no use either for the +sword or musket; all that would be necessary to make a conquest over +them would be found in the commissary department. Order out the bread +and butter and peace would be restored." + +Mr. Shanklin warned the House of the danger of establishing military +governments in the South. "You may be in the plenitude of power +to-day," he said, in conclusion, "and you may be ousted to-morrow. And +I hope, if you do not cease these outrages upon the people of the +country, such as you propose here, such as are attempting to be +inflicted by your Freedmen's Bureau and your Civil Rights Bills, that +the time will not be long before that army which the gentleman from +Illinois [Mr. Ingersoll] seemed to think could not be raised--an army +armed with ballots, and not with bayonet--will march to the polls and +hurl the advocates of this and its kindred measures out of their +places, and fill them with men who appreciate more highly and justly +the rights of citizens and of freemen, with statesmen whose minds can +grasp our whole country and its rights and its wants, and whose hearts +are in sympathy with the noble, the brave, and the just, whether they +live in the sunny South or the ice-bound regions of the North." + +"I hail this measure," said Mr. Thayer, "as interrupting this baleful +calm, which, if not disturbed by a proper exercise of legislative +power upon this subject, may be succeeded by disaster and collision. +It furnishes at least an initial point from which we can start in the +consideration and adjustment of the great question of reconstruction. +I regard this as a measure which lays the grasp of Congress upon this +great question--a grasp which is to hold on to it until it shall be +finally settled. I regard it as a measure which is to take that great +question out of that sea of embarrassment and sluggish inactivity in +which, through the course which the President has thought proper to +pursue, it now rests." + +"For our neglect," said Mr. Harding, of Illinois, "to exert the +military power of the Government, we are responsible for the blood and +suffering which disgrace this republic. Let us go back, then, or +rather let us come up to where we were before, and exercise +jurisdiction over the territory conquered from the rebels, which +jurisdiction the President has given up to those rebels, to the great +suffering and injury of the Government and of loyal people." + +"Let it be remembered all the time," said Mr. Shellabarger, "that your +country has a right to its life, and that the powers of your +Government are given for its preservation. Let it be remembered that +one portion of your republic has fallen into a state of rebellion, and +is still in a state of war against your Government, and that the +powers of the Government are to be exercised for the purposes of the +protection and the defense of the loyal, and the disloyal too, in that +part of the republic; and that, for the purpose of that defense, you +are authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of _habeas +corpus_, and to exercise such extraordinary powers as are necessary to +the preservation of the great life of the nation. Let these things be +remembered; and then let it also be remembered that the law-making +power of the Government not only controls the President, but controls +the purposes and the ends and the objects of war, and, of course, the +movements of the armies that are to be employed in war. Let these +things be remembered, and it seems to me that all the difficulties +with which it is sought to surround this measure will at once +disappear." + +"What carried our elections overwhelmingly?" asked Mr. Hotchkiss. "It +was the story of the Southern refugees told to the people of the North +and the West. They told us they demanded protection. They enlisted the +sympathy of Northern soldiers by telling that the very guerrillas who +hung upon the skirts of our army during the war were now murdering +Southern soldiers who fought on the Union side, and murdering peaceful +citizens, murdering black men who were our allies. We promised the +people if we were indorsed we would come back here and protect them, +and yet not a step has been taken." + +Mr. Griswold regretted to vote against a measure proposed by those +whom he believed to "have at heart the best interest of the whole +country." "It seems to me," said he, "that the provisions of this bill +will lead us into greater danger than is justified by the evils we +seek to correct. It is, Mr. Speaker, a tremendous stride that we +propose to make by this bill to subject to military control ten +million people who have once been partners of this common country, and +who are to be united with us in its future trials and fortunes. This +bill proposes to place all the rights of life, liberty, and happiness +exclusively in the control of a mere military captain. This bill +contains no provisions for the establishment in the future of civil +governments there; it simply provides that for an indefinite period in +the future a purely military power shall have exclusive control and +jurisdiction there. That is, therefore, to me, another and a very +serious objection to this bill." + +"There is a necessity," said Mr. Raymond, "for some measure of +protection to the people of the Southern States. I think it is clear +that life, liberty, and property are not properly guarded by law, are +not safe throughout those Southern States. They are not properly +protected by the courts and judicial tribunals of those States; they +are not properly protected by the civil authorities that are in +possession of political power in those States." + +Of the pending bill, he said: "It is a simple abnegation of all +attempts for the time to protect the people in the Southern States by +the ordinary exercise of civil authority. It hands over all authority +in those States to officers of the army of the United States, and +clothes them as officers of the army with complete, absolute, +unrestricted power to administer the affairs of those States according +to their sovereign will and pleasure. In my opinion there has not +occurred an emergency which justifies a resort to this extreme remedy. +The military force ought to follow the civil authority, and not lead +it, not take its place, not supersede it." + +"We must compel obedience to the Union," said Mr. Garfield, "and +demand protection for its humblest citizen wherever the flag floats. +We must so exert the power of the nation that it shall be deemed both +safe and honorable to have been loyal in the midst of treason. We must +see to it that the frightful carnival of blood now raging in the +South, shall continue no longer. The time has come when we must lay +the heavy hand of military authority upon these rebel communities and +hold them in its grasp till their madness is past." + +Mr. Stevens having expressed a wish to have an immediate vote, Mr. +Banks remarked: "I believe that a day or two devoted to a discussion +of this subject of the reconstruction of the Government will bring us +to a solution in which the two houses of Congress will agree, in which +the people of this country will sustain us, and in which the President +of the United States will give us his support." + +"I have not the advantage," replied Mr. Stevens, "of the secret +negotiations which the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. +Banks] has, and from which he seems to expect such perfect harmony +between the President and the Congress of the United States--within a +few days. If I had that advantage, I do not know what effect it might +have upon me. Not having it, I can not, of course, act upon it." + +"In the remarks which I made," said Mr. Banks, "I made no allusion to +any negotiations with the President. I have had no negotiations with +the President of the United States, nor do I know his opinions, and in +the vote which I shall give upon this question, neither the gentleman +from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] nor any other man has the right to +assume that I accept the policy of the Executive in the smallest +particular. I hope for a change of his position; I think that it is +not impossible. At all events, I think it is something which is worth +our while to try for." + +The previous question was moved by Mr. Stevens; but a majority +refusing to second the motion, the discussion was continued. + +Mr. Kasson denied the existence of a right in Congress "to establish a +military government over people who have been in insurrection." He +proposed as a substitute for the pending measure "A bill to establish +an additional article of war for the more complete suppression of the +insurrection against the United States." This provided for a division +of the rebel territory into military districts, as did the original +bill, and authorized commanders to declare martial law wherever it +should be necessary for the "complete suppression of violence and +disorder." + +Mr. Ashley moved an amendment providing for the restoration to loyal +owners of property confiscated by the rebel government, and providing +that military government should cease so soon as the people of the +rebel States should adopt State constitutions securing to all citizens +equal protection of the laws, including the right of the elective +franchise, and should ratify the proposed amendment to the +Constitution. + +Mr. Raymond thought that, on account of the great diversity of +opinion, the whole subject should be referred to a select committee, +who should be instructed to report within three or four days a bill +which should "provide temporarily for the protection of rights and the +preservation of the peace in the States lately in rebellion, and also +for the speedy admission of those States to their relations in the +Union upon the basis of the Constitutional Amendment." Thus he hoped a +result could be reached which "would command the support of Congress +and of the country, and the approval, or at least the assent, of the +Executive." + +Mr. Boutwell remarked that previous propositions having been referred +to the Committee on Reconstruction, they had agreed upon the bill +before the House with a unanimity which no other report had ever +obtained, nor had any bill submitted by that committee ever been so +carefully considered as this. "To-day," said he, "there are eight +millions and more of people, occupying six hundred and thirty thousand +square miles of the territory of this country, who are writhing under +cruelties nameless in their character--injustice such as has not been +permitted to exist in any other country in modern times; and all this +because in this capital there sits enthroned a man who, so far as the +executive department is concerned, guides the destinies of the +republic in the interest of rebels; and because, also, in those ten +former States rebellion itself, inspired by the executive department +of this Government, wields all authority, and is the embodiment of law +and power every-where. Until in the South this obstacle to +reconstruction is removed, there can be no effectual step taken toward +the reörganization of the Government." + +"A well man needs no remedies," said Mr. Niblack, in a speech against +the bill; "it is only when he is sick that you can require him to +submit to medicinal applications. A country at peace does not need and +ought not to allow martial law and other summary remedies incident to +a state of war. The highest and dearest interests of this country are +made subordinate to party exigencies and to special and particular +interests. No wonder, then, that trade languishes and commerce +declines." + +On the 12th of February, Mr. Bingham proposed an amendment making the +restoration of the rebel States conditional upon their adoption of the +Constitutional Amendment, and imposing upon them, meanwhile, the +military government provided by the pending bill. + +Mr. Kelley advocated the bill as reported from the committee. "This," +said he, "is little more than a mere police bill. The necessity for it +arises from the perfidy of the President of the United States. Had he +been true to the duties of his high office and his public and repeated +pledges, there would have been no necessity for considering such a +bill." + +"Throughout the region of the unreconstructed States," said Mr. +Maynard, "the animating, life-giving principle of the rebellion is as +thoroughly in possession of the country and of all the political power +there to-day as it ever has been since the first gun was fired upon +Fort Sumter. The rebellion is alive. It is strong--strong in the +number of its votaries, strong in its social influences, strong in its +political power, strong in the belief that the executive department of +this Government is in sympathy and community of purpose with them, +strong in the belief that the controlling majority of the supreme +judiciary of the land is with them in legal opinion, strong in the +belief that the controversy in this body between impracticable zeal +and incorrigible timidity will prevent any thing of importance being +accomplished or any legislation matured." + +"It is," said Mr. Allison, "because of the interference of the +President of the United States with the military law which exists in +those States that this bill is rendered necessary. In my judgment, if +we had to-day an Executive who was desirous of enforcing the laws of +the United States to protect loyal men in those States, instead of +defending the rebel element, this bill would not be needed." + +Mr. Blaine submitted an amendment providing that any one of the "late +so-called Confederate States" might be restored to representation and +relieved of military rule when, in addition to having accepted the +Constitutional Amendment, it should have conferred the elective +franchise impartially upon all male citizens over twenty-one years of +age. + +Mr. Blaine maintained that the people in the elections of 1866 had +declared in favor of "universal, or, at least, impartial suffrage as +the basis of restoration." + +On the 13th of February the discussion was continued. "That the spirit +of rebellion still lives," said Mr. Van Horn, of New York, "and now +thrives in the South no sane man can deny; that the determination +exists to make their rebellion honorable and the loyalty of the South +a lasting disgrace and a permanent badge of dishonor is equally true +and can not be denied. The leaders of the rebellion, being in power in +all the ten States unreconstructed, still defy the authority of the +United States to a great extent, and deny the-power of the loyal +millions of the country, who have saved our nation's life against +their treason and rebellion, to prescribe terms of settlement of this +great controversy, and deny also that they have lost any rights they +had before the war or committed any treason against the Government." + +The measure before the House, as it came from the Committee on +Reconstruction, "was not intended as a reconstruction bill," according +to the interpretation of Mr. Stevens. "It was intended simply as a +police bill to protect the loyal men from anarchy and murder, until +this Congress, taking a little more time, can suit gentlemen in a bill +for the admission of all those rebel States upon the basis of civil +government." + +The various amendments proposed were designed by their authors to add +a plan of reconstruction to the pending bill. Of these Mr. Boutwell +remarked: "Without examining into the details of the amendments, I +have this to say, that any general proposition for the restoration of +these States to the Union upon any basis not set forth in an act of +Congress is fraught with the greatest danger to future peace and +prosperity of the republic." + +The amendments of Mr. Bingham and Mr. Blaine were finally combined by +their authors. The combination made an amendment providing that the +"States lately in insurrection" should be restored and relieved of +military rule upon their ratification of the Constitutional Amendment +and adoption of impartial suffrage. In order to "disentangle what +seemed so much entangled," it was moved that the bill be recommitted +to the Judiciary Committee, with instructions to report back +immediately the amendment of Messrs. Blaine and Bingham. + +Mr. Stevens then addressed the House, premising that in his state of +health a few words must suffice. He felt a moral depression in viewing +the condition of the party responsible for the doings of Congress. +"For the last few months," said he, "Congress has been sitting here, +and while the South has been bleeding at every pore, Congress has done +nothing to protect the loyal people there, white or black, either in +their persons, in their liberty, or in their property." + +Of his previous bill, which had been consigned to its tomb in being +referred to the Committee on Reconstruction, Mr. Stevens said: "I +thought it was a good bill; I had labored upon it in conjunction with +several committees of loyal men from the South for four months; I had +altered and realtered it, written and rewritten it four several times, +and found that it met the approbation of numerous societies and +meetings in all the Southern States. It was, therefore, not altogether +my fault if it was not so good a bill as might be found; but I did +think that, after all, it was uncivil, unjust, indecent not to attempt +to amend it and make it better, to see whether we could do something +to enable our friends in the Southern States to establish institutions +according to the principles of republican government." + +Mr. Stevens deprecated a disposition among his friends to be +hypercritical in relation to mere verbal details. "If I might presume +upon my age," said he, "without claiming any of the wisdom of Nestor, +I would suggest to the young gentlemen around me that the deeds of +this burning crisis, of this solemn day, of this thrilling moment, +will cast their shadows far into the future and will make their +impress upon the annals of our history, and that we shall appear upon +the bright pages of that history just in so far as we cordially, +without guile, without bickering, without small criticisms, lend our +aid to promote the great cause of humanity and universal liberty." + +The question being taken on the motion to refer to the Committee on +the Judiciary, it was decided in the negative--yeas, 69; nays, 94. The +question was then taken on the passage of the bill. It passed the +House--one hundred and nine voting in the affirmative, and fifty-five +in the negative. + +"I wish to inquire, Mr. Speaker," said Mr. Stevens, "if it is in order +for me now to say that we indorse the language of good old Laertes, +that Heaven rules as yet, and there are gods above." + +At the evening session of the Senate on the same day, the bill "to +provide for the more efficient government of the insurrectionary +States" was announced as having passed the House, and at once received +its first reading. Mr. Williams gave notice of his intention to +propose an amendment, but on the following day, when the Senate +proceeded to consider the subject, he said that being impressed with +the necessity of the passage of the bill, and fearing that any +amendment might endanger if not defeat it, he had concluded not to +present his amendment. + +Mr. Johnson said that the adoption of the amendment would make the +bill much less objectionable to him, although he could not vote for it +even if amended. He then offered the amendment, which was +substantially the same as that proposed by Messrs. Bingham and Blaine +in the House of Representatives. + +Mr. Stewart regretted that the Senator from Oregon had changed his +mind in regard to this amendment. "The military bill without that," +said he, "is an acknowledgment that, after two years of discussion and +earnest thought, we are unable to reconstruct, and are compelled to +turn the matter over to the military. It seems to me that the people +of the United States want and demand something more than a military +government for the South." + +Several Senators thought Mr. Stewart was unnecessarily troubled about +military governments in the South. "Are we," asked Mr. Morrill, "who +have stood here for five long, bloody years, and witnessed the +exercise of military power over these rebel States, to be frightened +now by a declaration of that sort? That is not the temper in which I +find myself to-day. I have got so accustomed, if you please, to the +exercise of this authority----" + +"That is the trouble," said Mr. Stewart. + +"That has not been our trouble that we have exercised power," said Mr. +Morrill; "that has been the salvation of the nation. The trouble has +been from the hesitation to exercise authority when authority was +required." + +Mr. Wilson thought that the wisest course would be to pass the bill +just as it came from the House. If it was to be amended at all, he +would propose an amendment that all citizens should "equally possess +the right to pursue all lawful avocations and receive the equal +benefits of the public schools." + +"I think the amendments," said Mr. Howard, "entirely incompatible with +the scheme and provisions of the bill itself, and that gentlemen will +discover that incompatibility on looking into it." + +Mr. Henderson thought that the remedy proposed by him long before +would be found the only cure for the ills of the nation. "I offered," +said he, "twelve months ago, a proposition, as a constitutional +amendment, that was to give political rights to the negroes. Some +Senators said it was a humbug, that it was Jacob Townsend's +Sarsaparilla, or some thing to that effect, that it would amount to +nothing. Now, I will ask what other protection can you give to a Union +man in the Southern States than the ballot?" + +Since the bill must be passed both Houses and go to the President by +the following Tuesday, in order to give Congress time to pass it over +his veto, Mr. Williams, who had the bill in charge, was desirous of +having it passed upon in the Senate on the evening of the day of this +discussion, February 15th. Several Senators protested against this as +unreasonable haste. "It is extraordinary," said Mr. Doolittle, "that a +bill of this kind, that proposes to establish a military despotism +over eight million people and a country larger than England, France, +and Spain combined, is to be pressed to a vote in this Senate the +first day it is taken up for consideration." + +"If the measure will not bear argument," said Mr. Hendricks, "then let +it be passed in the dark hours of the night. I think it is becoming, +when despotism is established in this free land, that the best blood +that ever ran in mortal veins was shed to make free, that that +despotism shall be established when the sun does not shed its bright +light upon the earth. It is a work for darkness and not for light." + +"He talks about establishing a despotism," said Mr. Henderson, "and +gets into a perfect fret about it. Why, sir, the Southern States have +presented nothing but a despotism for the last six years. During the +rebel rule it was a despotism, the veriest despotism ever established +upon earth; and since the rebel rule ceased, the President of the +United States certainly has governed the Southern States without ever +consulting Congress on the subject." + +The Senate held an evening session for the consideration of this bill. +Mr. Hendricks proposed to modify the pending amendment so as to +provide for impartial rather than universal suffrage. He thought that +States should be allowed to limit suffrage. Mr. Saulsbury would not +vote for this amendment because he was unwilling to "touch, taste, or +handle the unclean thing." On the other hand, Mr. Davis could vote for +it because he preferred a "little unclean thing" to "a big one." Mr. +Hendricks finally withdrew his amendment. + +Mr. Doolittle hoped that the majority would seriously weigh this +question because on it might depend whether the people of the South +would accept the Constitutional Amendment, and accept the proposition +necessary to get rid of military despotism. + +"Make them," said Mr. Wilson. + +"I ask," said Mr. Doolittle, "if that is the true language of a +statesman, to say to a people who have been educated in the largest +liberty, a people in whose veins the Anglo-Saxon blood is flowing, +which for a thousand years has been fighting against despotism of +every form, 'You must accept this position at the point of the +bayonet, or forever live with the bayonet at your throats?' Is that +the way to make peace?" + +"I think it is statesmanship," replied Mr. Wilson, "to settle this +question of reconstruction upon the solid basis of the perfect +equality of rights and privileges among citizens of the United States. +Colored men are citizens, and they have just as much right as this +race whose blood has been fighting against oppression for a thousand +years, as he says, and any settlement of this civil war upon any other +basis than perfect equality of rights and privileges among citizens of +the United States is not statesmanship; it is mere trifling; only +keeping open questions for future controversy. Nothing is settled +unless it is settled upon the basis of justice." + +"I shall vote for this amendment," said Mr. Lane, "believing that it +is necessary to make a perfect system for the restoration of the +lately rebellious States." + +"The amendment," said Mr. Johnson, "is objectionable to me only upon +the ground that it denies to those States the right of coming into the +Union entitled to representation until they extend the suffrage, +because I believe the right of suffrage is a matter with which the +Congress of the United States has no concern." + +"I know perfectly well," said Mr. Buckalew, "that a vote for this +amendment, although given under circumstances which do not commit me +to the proposition as a final one, will be misunderstood and +perverted. It will be said throughout the country of each of those who +stand in the position in which I stand, that we have departed, to some +extent at least, from that position which we have hitherto maintained, +and maintained against all the influences of the time, against the +pressure of circumstances which have swept many from our side and +carried them into the large and swollen camp of the majority. Sir, I +for one am ambitious of being known as one among that number of men +who have kept their faith, who have followed their convictions, who +have obeyed the dictation of duty in the worst of times, who did not +bend when the storm beat hardest and strongest against them, but kept +their honor unsullied, their faith intact, their self-respect unbroken +and entire." + +"My object is," said Mr. Henderson, when proposing to modify the +pending amendment, "to secure the franchise, and after that is +secured, to go forward and establish civil governments in the Southern +States." + +Extended arguments against the measure were made by Mr. Johnson and +Mr. Hendricks. At twelve o'clock the minority desired to adjourn, and +the friends of the measure would have been willing to do so could an +understanding have been had as to an hour on the following day when +the vote would be taken. + +Mr. McDougall would submit to no such-limitation upon free speech. "I +do not expect myself," said he, "to speak at any great length, but yet +if upon careful consideration I should choose to do so, or if +possessing the recollections of past times and memories and reasons +and considerations that yet lay in my hidden memories I shall choose +to talk for a longer period, I shall claim the right to do so." + +"I am anxious to give my views on this subject," said Mr. Davis. "I do +not feel able to give them at this late hour of the night; still, I +believe I could hang on for three or four hours if I was disposed to +do so, [laughter,] but I believe that to-morrow I should not occupy +more than at the farthest two hours of the time of the Senate." + +Numerous amendments were proposed, much discursive talk was indulged +in, and many motions to adjourn were voted down. At length, three +o'clock of Saturday morning, February 16th, having arrived, an +adjournment was brought about by means of a very long amendment +proposed by Mr. Henderson as a substitute for the entire bill. This +opening up a new discussion, the friends of the pending bill saw the +impossibility of coming to a speedy vote, and consented to an +adjournment. + +On the reässembling of the Senate on Saturday, February 16th, Mr. +Doolittle delivered a very long speech in opposition to the bill, and +in vindication of his political course which had been called in +question by the "Radicals of Wisconsin." "I rise," said he, "to plead +for what I believe to be the life of the republic, and for that spirit +which gives it life. I stand here, also, to answer for myself; +because, foreseeing and resisting from the beginning what I knew must +follow as the logical consequences of the adoption of certain +fundamental heresies originating in Massachusetts, and of which the +honorable Senator upon my right [Mr. Sumner] is the advocate and +champion, I have been for more than eighteen months denounced in my +State by many of my former political associates and friends." + +At the evening session of the Senate, Mr. Saulsbury and Mr. Davis +delivered extended speeches against the measure. "I appeal to you, +sir," said Mr. Saulsbury; "I appeal to those who exercise political +power in this country now, by all the memories that cluster around the +glorious past; by the recollection of the noble deeds and heroic +sufferings of our ancestors, for you and for me, for your posterity +and for my posterity; by all the bright realizations which might be +ours in this present hour; by all the bright future and all the +glories which are in that immediate future, stop your aggressions upon +the Constitution of your country." + +The vote having been taken on the amendment proposed by Mr. Johnson +and the substitute of Mr. Henderson, they were both rejected. + +Mr. Sherman then offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute, +the preamble of which declared that "No legal State governments or +adequate protection for life or property now exist in the rebel +States." It retained the military feature of the original bill, with +the modification that the President, instead of the General of the +army, should appoint district commanders. The most important part of +the amendment was a plan of reconstruction, which added a new section +to the bill in the following form: + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That when the people + of any one of said rebel States shall have formed a + Constitution of government in conformity with the + Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by + a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of + said State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever + race, color, or previous condition of servitude, who have + been resident in said State for one year previous to the day + of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for + participation in the rebellion, or for felony at common law, + and when such Constitution shall provide that the elective + franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the + qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates, and + when such Constitution shall be ratified by a majority of + the persons voting on the question of ratification who are + qualified as electors of delegates, and when such + Constitution shall have been submitted to Congress for + examination and approval, and Congress shall have appointed + the same, and when said State, by a vote of its Legislature + elected under said Constitution, shall have adopted the + amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed + by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, + and when said article shall have become a part of the + Constitution of the United States, said State shall be + declared entitled to representation in Congress, and + Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom on + their taking the oath prescribed by law, and then and + thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be + inoperative in said State." + +Mr. Sherman made a brief speech in explanation of the bill. "All there +is material in the bill," said he, "is in the first two lines of the +preamble and the fifth section, in my judgment. The first two lines +may lay the foundation, by adopting the proclamation issued first to +North Carolina, that the rebellion had swept away all the civil +governments in the Southern States; and the fifth section points out +the mode by which the people of those States, in their own manner, +without any limitations or restrictions by Congress, may get back to +full representation in Congress." + +After numerous propositions to amend, and speeches against the bill by +Messrs. Hendricks, Cowan, Buckalew and McDougall, the Senate reached a +vote upon the bill at six o'clock on Sunday morning. Twenty-nine voted +in the affirmative, namely: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Cattell, Chandler, Conness, Cragin, + Creswell, Fogg, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Howard, Howe, + Kirkwood, Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, + Ross, Sherman, Stewart, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, + Williams, Wilson, and Yates. + +Ten voted in the negative, to-wit: + + Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Hendricks, + McDougall, Nesmith, Norton, Patterson, and Saulsbury. + +The Senate amended the title of the bill by substituting the word +"rebel" for "insurrectionary." Thus passed in the Senate the great +measure entitled "A bill to provide for the more efficient government +of the rebel States." + +On Monday, February 18th, the bill, as amended, came before the House. +Mr. Stevens moved that the amendments of the Senate be non-concurred +in, and that the House ask a Committee of Conference. + +Mr. Boutwell opposed the amendment. "If I did not believe," said he, +"that this bill, in the form in which it now comes to us from the +Senate, was fraught with great and permanent danger to the country, I +would not attempt to resist further its passage." + +He objected to the bill on the ground that it proposed to reconstruct +the rebel State governments at once, through the agency of disloyal +men, and that it gave additional power to the President when he had +failed to use the vast power which he already possessed in behalf of +loyalty and justice. + +Mr. Stokes saw in the bill the principle of universal amnesty and +universal suffrage. "I would rather have nothing," said he, "if these +governments are reconstructed in a way that will place the rebels over +Union men." + +"Now, what has the Senate done?" Mr. Stevens asked. "Sent back to us +an amendment which contains every thing else but protection. It has +sent us back a bill which raises the whole question in dispute as to +the best mode of reconstructing these States by distant and future +pledges which this Congress has no authority to make and no power to +execute. What power has this Congress to say to a future Congress, +When the Southern States have done certain things, you shall admit +them, and receive their members into this House?" + +"Our friends," said he, in another part of his remarks, "who love this +bill, love it now because the President is to execute it, as he has +executed every law for the last two years, by the murder of Union men, +and by despising Congress and flinging into our teeth all that we seek +to have done." + +Mr. Stevens thought that in two hours a Committee of Conference could +frame a bill and report it to the House free from all these +difficulties--free from all this extraneous matter--which would +protect every loyal man in the Southern States, and do no injustice to +the disloyal. + +Mr. Blaine supported the bill as it came from the Senate. "Congress," +said he, "no more guarantees, under this bill, the right of any rebel +in any State to vote than did Congress guarantee to the rebels in +Tennessee the right to vote." + +"Although this bill," said Mr. Wilson of Iowa, "does not attain all I +desire to accomplish, it does embrace much upon which I have insisted. +It reaches far beyond any thing which the most sanguine of us hoped +for a year ago. It secures equal suffrage to all loyal men; it sets +aside the pretended governments which now abuse power in the rebel +States; it insists on the ratification of the Constitutional +Amendment, under the operation of which all the rebels who now occupy +official position in the States affected by this bill will be rendered +ineligible to office, State or national; it presents an affirmative +policy, on the part of Congress, hostile to that of the President; it +demonstrates the ability of Congress to agree upon a given line of +future action; and, finally, it reserves to Congress jurisdiction over +the whole case when the people of any Southern disorganized State may +present a Constitution and ask for admission to this body as a part of +the governing power of the nation. There is too much of good in this +to be rejected. I will vote to concur in the amendment of the Senate." + +Mr. Bingham maintained that in the bill, as it passed the House, they +had voted as extensive powers to the President as were conferred upon +him by the bill as amended by the Senate. The former bill provided +that the General in command of the army should detail army officers; +but all officers of the army are under command of the Commander-in-chief +as constituted by the supreme law of the land. "For myself," said he, +"I had rather that my right hand should forget its cunning, and that +my tongue should cleave to the roof of my mouth, than to find myself +here so false to my own convictions, and so false to the high trust +committed to me by that people who sent me here as to vote against +this bill." + +"This bill," said Mr. Farnsworth, "provides a platform ten steps in +advance of the platform upon which we went to the people last fall. We +then only expected the ratification of the amendment to the +Constitution proposed by Congress at its last session, and the +formation of Constitutions, republican in form, which should give the +people there the right to send loyal men here as Senators and +Representatives. But by this bill we extend impartial suffrage to the +black man--universal suffrage." + +"I am one of those who believe we ought to do something," said Mr. +Schenck. "I believe we ought to declare to these rebel States, as we +do by this bill, that they shall be put under martial law, and held by +the strong hand to keep the peace until they have complied with +whatever conditions are imposed upon them. But while we do this, I +think it equally important to announce to them, to announce to the +country, to announce to our constituents as the completion of the +whole platform upon which we go before the nation, the terms which we +require of them." + +Mr. Garfield favored the Senate amendment. "There are some gentlemen," +said he, "who live among the eagles on the high mountain peaks, beyond +the limit of perpetual frost, and they see the lineaments in the face +of freedom so much clearer than I do, whenever any measure comes here +that seems almost to grasp our purpose, they rise and tell us it is +all poor and mean and a surrender of liberty." + +"These terms embrace, in my judgment," said Mr. Thayer, "every +guarantee, every safeguard, and every check which it is proper for us +to demand or apply. Upon these foundations we can safely build, for by +them we retain the final control of the question in our own hands." + +Mr. Hotchkiss opposed the bill as amended. "If you allow this bill to +go into operation as it now stands," said he, "without making any +amendment of its provisions, and permit these elections to be held, as +they must necessarily be held under this bill, under the authority, +control, and regulation of the rebel governments in those States, +there will be no security whatever, and you will have the elections in +New Orleans held under the control of Mayor Monroe and the mob which +he used to such fell purpose last summer. That is the entertainment to +which this bill invites us. + +"I regard this as a flank movement," said Mr. Bromwell, "by which is +to be brought about that darling scheme of certain politicians--universal +amnesty and universal suffrage. Whether it end in universal suffrage +or not, one thing is certain, it is universal amnesty." + +"It would be emphatically," said Mr. Donnelly, "a government of +rebels. I say a government of rebels, because although the amendment +which has reached us from the Senate contains the words, 'Except such +as may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion,' that +disfranchisement has to come from the rebels themselves, and surely +there is no man upon this floor weak enough to suppose that they will +so disfranchise themselves." + +Mr. Le Blond opposed both bills. Of the one before the House, he said: +"This bill is quite as infamous, quite as absurd, as the bill that the +distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] who is +Chairman of the Committee on Reconstruction, contends for and hangs so +tenaciously to. It confers all the powers that that bill gives; it +confers all the powers that the most radical could claim +consistently." + +"I shall content myself," said Mr. Eldridge, "with denouncing this +measure as most wicked and abominable. It contains all that is +vicious, all that is mischievous in any and all of the propositions +which have come either from the Committee on Reconstruction or from +any gentleman upon the other side of the House." + +"If you do not take this bill," said Mr. Delano, "although in all its +parts it does not suit you, what are you likely to give the American +people? Nothing. I will not return to my constituents admitting that I +have failed to try to do something in this great trial of the nation. +It is not for rebels that I legislate; it is not for the right of +those who have sought to destroy this Government that I extend mercy; +but it is for the liberties, rights, and welfare of my country, for +all parts of it." + +"If this bill be passed," said Mr. Banks, "in my belief there will be +no loyal party known and no loyal voice heard in any of these States, +from Virginia to Texas." + +Many members subsequently presented arguments and opinions for and +against the bill, in speeches limited to fifteen minutes in length. +This occupied a session protracted until near midnight. + +On the following morning, February 19th, a vote was taken, and the +House refused to concur in the amendments of the Senate, and asked a +Committee of Conference. + +The action of the House having been announced in the Senate, that body +immediately proceeded to consider a motion made by Mr. Williams, that +they insist on their amendment and agree to the conference. The +proposition to give the subject into the hands of a Committee of +Conference was opposed by many Senators, who thought a question of so +much importance should be deliberated upon in a full Senate. If such a +committee were appointed, their report could only be adopted or +rejected without modification or amendment. They would only have the +power which they possess over a nomination by the President--power to +reject a nominee without naming another. + +"The result arrived at by the Senate in reference to this bill," said +Mr. Conness, "was after the most mature consideration that was ever +given to any proposition that came before this body, resulting in an +unanimity, at least on this side of the chamber, unparalleled in +legislative proceedings--a result hailed by the country at large, +demanded by the most intelligent and powerful of the American press, +alike acceptable to the industrial and commercial interests of the +country, which suffer from a continual disorganization of the country +affecting its vital industries." + +"The fact that it is a very important bill," said Mr. Williams, "only +makes it the more necessary, as it seems to me, to adopt the usual +practice in such cases"--that of appointing a Committee of Conference. + +Mr. Sumner favored the appointment of such a committee. The Senate had +made its best endeavor, the House had refused to concur, and now to +ask that body to vote upon the question again without a Committee of +Conference would kill the bill. In such a case there could be no hope +during the session for any just and beneficent measure either of +protection or reconstruction. + +Mr. Fessenden had taken no part in the debate upon the bill when it +was on its passage. A majority of his political friends having +determined that the measure which passed the Senate was the best that +could be accomplished, he had deemed it his duty not to present his +individual objections to the bill. "I would have very much preferred," +said he, "the Military Bill, as it was called, pure and simple, +without having any thing else upon it, and leaving to other +legislation, if it was judged expedient, what else might be done." + +Mr. Trumbull had not before said a word in reference to this bill. He +never regarded the Military Bill as it came from the House of +Representatives as of the slightest importance. Section fourteenth, of +the Freedmen's Bureau Bill conferred all the powers given in the +Military Bill. If these had not been used for the protection of the +loyal people of the South, would the reiteration of the statute be to +any purpose? Yet Mr. Trumbull thought the amendment put upon the bill +by the Senate contained every guarantee that had ever been asked for +by any one. He was unwilling that a great question like this, open in +all its parts, should be submitted to a Committee of Conference. + +[Illustration: Hon. John Conness, Senator from California.] + +The vote was finally taken, after a prolonged discussion. The Senate +insisted on its amendment, and refused to appoint a Committee of +Conference. + +The bill having gone back to the House of Representatives, they +resolved by a vote of one hundred and twenty-six to forty-six to +recede from their disagreement to the amendment of the Senate, and to +concur in the same with amendments, providing that no person excluded +from holding office by the recently proposed Constitutional Amendment +should be eligible for membership in the convention to frame a +constitution for any of the rebel States, nor should any such person +be allowed to vote for members of such convention. Another amendment +proposed by the House was the addition of a section (sixth) to the +bill providing that until the rebel States should be admitted to +representation in Congress, any civil governments existing therein +should be deemed provisional only, and subject to the paramount +authority of the United States, who may at any time abolish, modify, +control, or supersede them. + +This qualified concurrence on the part of the House having been +announced in the Senate, that body proceeded immediately to consider +the question of acquiescence. + +Mr. Sherman said that his only objection to the amendment of the House +was, that it disfranchised ten or fifteen thousand leading rebels from +voting at the elections, yet he was willing to agree to the amendment. + +Mr. Sumner congratulated Mr. Sherman on the advanced step he had +taken. "To-morrow," said Mr. Sumner, "I hope to welcome the Senator to +some other height." + +Mr. Sherman was unwilling to admit that he had come to Mr. Sumner's +stand-point. He was willing to accept the bill, although it excluded a +few thousand rebels from voting, yet "I would rather have them all +vote," said he, "white and black, under the stringent restrictions of +this bill, and let the governments of the Southern States that are +about now to rise upon the permanent foundation of universal liberty +and universal equality, stand upon the consent of the governed, white +and black, former slaves and former masters." + +Then followed an extended discussion of the question as to whether the +Senate should agree to the amendments proposed by the House. Mr. +Doolittle proposed and advocated an amendment providing that nothing +in the bill should be construed to disfranchise persons who have +received pardon and amnesty. This amendment was rejected--yeas, 8; +nays, 33. + +The vote was then taken upon the final passage of the bill as amended +by the House; it passed the Senate--yeas, 35; nays, 7. + +The Bill "to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel +States," having thus passed both houses of Congress on the 20th of +February, it was immediately submitted to the President for his +approval. + +On the second of March the President returned the bill to the House, +in which it originated, with his objections, which were so grave that +he hoped a statement of them might "have some influence on the minds +of the patriotic and enlightened men with whom the decision must +ultimately rest." + +The Veto Message was immediately read by the clerk of the House of +Representatives. The following extracts present the President's +principal objections to the measure: + + "The bill places all the people of the ten States therein + named under the absolute domination of military rulers. * * * + + "It is not denied that the States in question have each of + them an actual government, with all the powers, executive, + judicial, and legislative which properly belong to a free + State. They are organized like the other States of the + Union, and like them they make, administer, and execute the + laws which concern their domestic affairs. An existing _de + facto_ government, exercising such functions as these, is + itself the law of the State upon all matters within its + jurisdiction. To pronounce the supreme law-making power of + an established State illegal is to say that law itself is + unlawful. * * * + + "The military rule which it establishes is plainly to be + used, not for any purpose of order or for the prevention of + crime, but solely as a means of coercing the people into the + adoption of principles and measures to which it is known + that they are opposed, and upon which they have an + undeniable right to exercise their own judgment. + + "I submit to Congress whether this measure is not, in its + whole character, scope, and object, without precedent and + without authority, in palpable conflict with the plainest + provisions of the Constitution, and utterly destructive to + those great principles of liberty and humanity for which our + ancestors on both sides of the Atlantic have shed so much + blood and expended so much treasure. + + * * * * * + + "The power thus given to the commanding officer over all the + people of each district is that of an absolute monarch. His + mere will is to take the place of all law. The law of the + States is now the only rule applicable to the subjects + placed under his control, and that is completely displaced + by the clause which declares all interference of State + authority to be null and void. He alone is permitted to + determine what are rights of person or property, and he may + protect them in such way as in his discretion may seem + proper. It places at his free disposal all the lands and + goods in his district, and he may distribute them without + let or hinderance to whom he pleases. Being bound by no + State law, and there being no other law to regulate the + subject, he may make a criminal code of his own; and he can + make it as bloody as any recorded in history, or he can + reserve the privilege of acting upon the impulse of his + private passions in each case that arises. He is bound by no + rules of evidence; there is indeed no provision by which he + is authorized or required to take any evidence at all. Every + thing is a crime which he chooses to call so, and all + persons are condemned whom he pronounces to be guilty. He is + not bound to keep any record or make any report of his + proceedings. He may arrest his victims wherever he finds + them, without warrant, accusation, or proof of probable + cause. If he gives them a trial before he inflicts the + punishment, he gives it of his grace and mercy, not because + he is commanded so to do. + + * * * * * + + "Cruel or unusual punishment is not to be inflicted, but who + is to decide what is cruel and what is unusual? * * * Each + officer may define cruelty according to his own temper, and + if it is not usual, he will make it usual. Corporal + punishment, imprisonment, the gag, the ball and chain, and + the almost insupportable forms of torture invented for + military punishment lie within the range of choice. The + sentence of a commission is not to be executed without being + approved by the commander, if it affects life or liberty, + and a sentence of death must be approved by the President. + This applies to cases in which there has been a trial and + sentence. I take it to be clear, under this bill, that the + military commander may condemn to death without even the + form of a trial by a military commission, so that the life + of the condemned may depend upon the will of two men instead + of one. + + "It is plain that the authority here given to the military + officer amounts to absolute despotism. + + * * * * * + + "I come now to a question which is, if possible, still more + important. Have we the power to establish and carry into + execution a measure like this? I answer certainly not, if we + derive our authority from the Constitution, and if we are + bound by the limitations which it imposes. This proposition + is perfectly clear; that no branch of the Federal + Government, executive, legislative, or judicial, can have + any just powers except those which it derives through and + exercises under the organic law of the Union. Outside of the + Constitution we have no legal authority more than private + citizens, and within it we have only so much as that + instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our + function and applies to all subjects. It protects not only + the citizens of States which are within the Union, but it + shields every human being who comes or is brought under our + jurisdiction. "We have no right to do in one place more than + in another that which the Constitution says we shall not do + at all. If, therefore, the Southern States were in truth out + of the Union, we could not treat their people in a way which + the fundamental law forbids. * * * + + "If an insurrection should take place in one of our States + against the authority of the State government, and end in + the overthrowing of those who planned it, would they take + away the rights of all the people of the counties where it + was favored by a part or a majority of the population? Could + they for such a reason be wholly outlawed and deprived of + their representation in the Legislature? I have always + contended that the Government of the United States was + sovereign within its constitutional sphere; that it executed + its laws like the States themselves, by applying its + coercive power directly to individuals; and that it could + put down insurrection with the same effect as a State and no + other. The opposite doctrine is the worst heresy of those + who advocated secession, and can not be agreed to without + admitting that heresy to be right. + + * * * * * + + "This is a bill passed by Congress in time of peace. There + is not in any one of the States brought under its operation + either war or insurrection. The laws of the States and of + the Federal Government are all in undisturbed and harmonious + operation. The courts, State and Federal, are open and in + the full exercise of their proper authority. Over every + State comprised in these five military districts life, + liberty, and property are secured by State laws and Federal + laws, and the national Constitution is every-where enforced + and every-were obeyed. + + * * * * * + + "Actual war, foreign invasion, domestic insurrection--none + of these appear, and none of these in fact exist. It is not + even recited that any sort of war or insurrection is + threatened." + +"Upon this question of constitutional law and the power of Congress," +the President gave quotations from "a recent decision of the Supreme +Court _ex parte_ Milligan." Having commented upon this opinion, the +President proceeded with his objections: + + "I need not say to the Representatives of the American + people that their Constitution forbids the exercise of + judicial power in any way but one; that is, by the ordained + and established courts. It is equally well known that, in + all criminal cases, a trial by jury is made indispensable by + the express words of that instrument. I will not enlarge on + the inestimable value of the right thus secured to every + freeman, or speak of the danger to public liberty, in all + parts of the country, which must ensue from a denial of it + anywhere, or upon any pretense. * * * + + "The United States are bound to guaranty to each State a + republican form of government Can it be pretended that this + obligation is not palpably broken if we carry out a measure + like this, which wipes away every vestige of republican + government in ten States, and put the life, property, + liberty and honor of all the people in each of them under + the domination of a single person clothed with unlimited + authority. + + * * * * * + + "The purpose and object of the bill--the general intent + which pervades it from beginning to end--is to change the + entire structure and character of the State governments, and + to compel them by force to the adoption of organic laws and + regulations which they are unwilling to accept if left to + themselves. The negroes have not asked for the privilege of + voting; the vast majority of them have no idea what it + means. This bill not only thrusts it into their hands, but + compels them, as well as the whites, to use it in a + particular way. If they do not form a Constitution with + prescribed articles in it, and afterward elect a Legislature + which will act upon certain measures in a prescribed way, + neither blacks nor whites can be relieved from the slavery + which the bill imposes upon them. Without pausing here to + consider the policy or impolicy of Africanizing the Southern + part of our territory, I would simply ask the attention of + Congress to that manifest, well-known, and + universally-acknowledged rule of constitutional law which + declares that the Federal Government has no jurisdiction, + authority, or power to regulate such subjects for any State. + To force the right of suffrage out of the hands of the white + people and into the hands of the negroes is an arbitrary + violation of this principle. + + "This bill imposes martial law at once, and its operations + will begin so soon as the General and his troops can be put + in place. The dread alternative between its harsh rule and + compliance with the terms of this measure is not suspended, + nor are the people afforded any time for free deliberation. + The bill says to them, Take martial law first, then + deliberate. + + * * * * * + + "The bill also denies the legality of the governments of ten + of the States which participated in the ratification of the + amendment to the Federal Constitution abolishing slavery + forever within the jurisdiction of the United States, and + practically excludes them from the Union. * * * + + "That the measure proposed by this bill does violate the + Constitution in the particulars mentioned, and in many other + ways which I forbear to enumerate is too clear to admit of + the least doubt. + + * * * * * + + "I am thoroughly convinced that any settlement, or + compromise, or plan of action which is inconsistent with the + principles of the Constitution, will not only be unavailing, + but mischievous; that it will but multiply the present evils + instead of removing them. The Constitution, in its whole + integrity and vigor, throughout the length and breadth of + the land, is the best of all compromises. Besides, our duty + does not, in my judgment, leave us a choice between that and + any other. I believe that it contains the remedy that is so + much needed, and that if the coördinate branches of the + Government would unite upon its provisions, they would be + found broad enough and strong enough to sustain, in time of + peace, the nation which they bore safely through the ordeal + of a protracted civil war. Among the most sacred guarantees + of that instrument are those which declare that 'each State + shall have at least one Representative,' and that 'no State, + without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage + in the Senate.' Each house is made the 'judge of the + elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members,' + and may, 'with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a + member.'" + + * * * * * + + "And is it not far better that the work of restoration + should be accomplished by simple compliance with the plain + requirements of the Constitution, than by a recourse to + measures which, in effect, destroy the States, and threaten + the subversion of the General Government? All that is + necessary to settle this simple but important question, + without further agitation or delay, is a willingness, on the + part of all, to sustain the Constitution, and carry its + provisions into practical operation. If to-morrow either + branch of Congress would declare that, upon the presentation + of their credentials, members constitutionally elected, and + loyal to the General Government, would be admitted to seats + in Congress, while all others would be excluded, and their + places remain vacant until the selection by the people of + loyal and qualified persons; and if, at the same time, + assurance were given that this policy would be continued + until all the States were represented in Congress, it would + send a thrill of joy throughout the entire land, as + indicating the inauguration of a system which must speedily + bring tranquillity to the public mind. + + "While we are legislating upon subjects which are of great + importance to the whole people, and which must affect all + parts of the country, not only during the life of the + present generation, but for ages to come, we should remember + that all men are entitled at least to a hearing in the + councils which decide upon the destiny of themselves and + their children. At present ten States are denied + representation, and when the Fortieth Congress assembles, on + the fourth day of the present month, sixteen States will be + without a voice in the House of Representatives. This grave + fact, with the important questions before us, should induce + us to pause in a course of legislation, which, looking + solely to the attainment of political ends, fails to + consider the rights it transgresses, the law which it + violates, or the institutions which it imperils. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON." + +After the reading of the message, the question came up, "Shall the +bill pass, the objections of the President to the contrary +notwithstanding?" + +Mr. Eldridge declared that it would be the duty of the minority, if it +were within their physical power, to defeat the bill. "But we are +conscious," said he, "that no effort of ours can prevent its passage, +and the consequent accomplishment of a dissolution of the Union, and +the overthrow and abandonment of our constitution of government. We +can only, in the name of the Constitution, in the name of the +republic, in the name of all we hold dear on earth, earnestly, +solemnly protest against this action of this Congress." + +Mr. Le Blond said that "the passage of this bill would be the +death-knell of republican liberty upon this continent." He declared +his willingness, if a sufficient number on his side of the House would +stand by him, to resist to the utmost extremity of physical exhaustion +the passage of this bill, which would "strike a death-blow to this +Government." + +Mr. Stevens would not be discourteous to those who were opposed to +this bill: "I am aware," said he, "of the melancholy feelings with +which they are approaching this funeral of the nation." He was +unwilling, however, to lose the opportunity to pass the bill at once, +and send it to the Senate, that the House might proceed to other +matters. + +The vote was taken, and the House passed the bill over the President's +veto--yeas, 135; nays, 48. The announcement of this result was +followed by great applause on the floor and in the galleries. + +The immense numbers that had assembled in the galleries of the House +to witness these proceedings went immediately to the other end of the +Capitol to see the reception which the Veto Message would receive in +the Senate. The consideration of the subject, however, was deferred +until the evening session. + +The Veto Message having been read in the Senate by the Secretary, the +pending question at once became whether the bill should pass +notwithstanding the objections of the President? + +Mr. Johnson advocated the passage of the bill over the veto. "It +contains," said he, speaking of the President's message, "some legal +propositions which are unsound, and many errors of reasoning. I lament +the course he has thought it his duty to pursue, because I see that it +may result in continued turmoil and peril, not only to the South, but +to the entire country. I see before me a distressed, a desolated +country, and in the measure before you I think I see the means through +which it may be rescued and restored erelong to prosperity and a +healthful condition, and the free institutions of our country +preserved." + +In reply to a charge of inconsistency brought against him by Mr. +Buckalew, Mr. Johnson said: "Consistency in a public man can never +properly be esteemed a virtue when he becomes satisfied that it will +operate to the prejudice of his country. The pride of opinion, which +more or less belongs to us all, becomes, in my judgment, in a public +man, a crime when it is indulged at the sacrifice or hazard of the +public safety." He urged upon the people of the South their acceptance +of the terms proposed by Congress. In view of the probability these +overtures should be rejected, harsher measures would be resorted to. + +Mr. Saulsbury expressed his admiration for the wisdom of the President +in "vetoing the most iniquitous bill that ever was presented to the +Federal Congress." "I hope," said he, "that there may be no man within +the limits of these ten States who will participate in his own +disgrace, degradation, and ruin: let them maintain their honor. If +there be wrath in the vials of the Almighty, if there be arrows of +vengeance in his quiver, such iniquity and injustice can not finally +prove successful." + +Mr. Hendricks disagreed with the Senator from Delaware that the people +of the South, at once and without consideration, must turn their backs +upon the proposition now made them in order to maintain their honor. +He hoped they would bring to the consideration of the subject the +coolest judgment and the highest patriotism. He was still opposed to +the bill; he approved of the President's veto. His judgment against +the measure had been "fortified and strengthened by that able +document." + +The discussion of the question was continued by Messrs. Buckalew, +Dixon, and Davis, who spoke against the bill. The friends of the +measure were content to let the subject go without a further word from +them, save the solemn and final declaration of their votes. + +The question being taken, the bill was passed over the veto by a vote +of almost four-fifths. Thirty-eight Senators voted for the bill in its +final passage, and but ten were found willing to stand by the +President and his veto. + +The bill whose progress through Congress has thus been traced became a +law of the land in the following form: + + "AN ACT to provide for the more efficient government of the + rebel States + + "_Whereas_, no legal State governments or adequate + protection for life or property now exists in the rebel + States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, + Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and + Arkansas; and _whereas_ it is necessary that peace and good + order should be enforced in said States until loyal and + republican State governments can be legally established: + therefore, + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + said rebel States shall be divided into military districts + and made subject to the military authority of the United + States, as hereinafter prescribed; and for that purpose + Virginia shall constitute the first district, North Carolina + and South Carolina the second district, Georgia, Alabama, + and Florida the third district, Mississippi and Arkansas the + fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas the fifth + district. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of the President to assign to the command of each of + said districts an officer of the army not below the rank of + brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient military force + to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his + authority within the district to which he is assigned. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of each officer assigned, as aforesaid, to protect all + persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress + insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or + cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and + criminals; and to this end he may allow local civil + tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or + when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of + offenders he shall have power to organize military + commissions or tribunals for that purpose, and all + interference, under color of State authority, with the + exercise of military authority under this act shall be null + and void. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That all persons put + under military arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried + without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual + punishment shall be inflicted, and no sentence of any + military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting + the life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until + it is approved by the officer in command of the district; + and the laws and regulations for the government of the army + shall not be affected by this act, except in so far as they + conflict with its provisions: _Provided_, That no sentence + of death under the provisions of this act shall be carried + into effect without the approval of the President. + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That when the people + of any one of said rebel States shall have formed a + constitution of government in conformity with the + Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by + a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of + said State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever + race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident + in said State for one year previous to the day of such + election, except such as may be disfranchised for + participation in the rebellion or for felony at common law, + and when such constitution shall provide that the elective + franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the + qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates, and + when such Constitution shall be ratified by a majority of + the persons voting on the question of ratification who are + qualified as electors for delegates, and when such + constitution shall have been submitted to Congress for + examination and approval, and Congress shall have approved + the same, and when said State, by a vote of its Legislature + elected under said constitution, shall have adopted the + amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed + by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, + and when said article shall have become a part of the + Constitution of the United States, said State shall be + declared entitled to representation in Congress, and + Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom on + their taking the oath prescribed by law, and then and + thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be + inoperative in said State: _Provided_, That no person + excluded from the privilege of holding office by said + proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, + shall be eligible to election as a member of the convention + to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States, nor + shall any such person vote for members of such convention. + + "SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That, until the people + of said rebel States shall be by law admitted to + representation in the Congress of the United States, any + civil government which may exist therein shall be deemed + provisional only, and in all respects subject to the + paramount authority of the United States at any time to + abolish, modify, control, or supersede the same; and in all + elections to any office under such provisional governments + all persons shall be entitled to vote, and none others, who + are entitled to vote under the provisions of the fifth + section of this act; and no person shall be eligible to any + office under such provisional governments who would be + disqualified from holding office under the provisions of the + third article of said Constitutional Amendment." + +The friends of this measure were dissatisfied with it on the ground of +its incompleteness in not containing provisions for carrying it into +effect in accordance with the purpose of its framers. This record +would be incomplete without a statement of what was done to perfect +the measure in the succeeding Congress. The Fortieth Congress, meeting +on the 4th of March, immediately upon the close of its predecessor, +proceeded without delay to perfect and pass over the President's veto +a bill supplementary to the act to provide for the more efficient +government of the rebel States. By this act it was provided that the +commanding general of each district should cause a registration to be +made of the male citizens twenty-one years of age in his district, +qualified to vote under the former act. In order to be registered as a +voter under this act, a person is required to swear that he has not +been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war +against the United States, nor for felony; that he has never been a +member of any State Legislature, nor held any executive or judicial +office in any State and afterward engaged in insurrection or rebellion +against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies +thereof; that he has never taken an oath as a member of Congress of +the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an +executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the +Constitution of the United States, and afterward engaged in +insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or +comfort to the enemies thereof, and that he will faithfully support +the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and encourage +others to do so. + +Persons thus qualified shall vote at elections held for the purpose of +selecting delegates to the conventions for framing constitutions for +the States. + +A majority of voters so qualified shall determine whether +constitutional conventions shall be held in the several States, and +shall vote for delegates who shall be as numerous as the members of +the most numerous branch of the Legislature of such State in the year +1860. This convention having framed a constitution, it shall be +submitted to the people, and if ratified by a majority of the +qualified voters, it shall be forthwith transmitted to Congress. If +this constitution is satisfactory to Congress, and found to be in +accordance with the provisions of the act of which this is +supplementary, the State shall be declared entitled to representation. +All elections are required to be by ballot, and all officers acting +under the provisions of this act are required to take the test oath. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +OTHER IMPORTANT ACTS. + + Equalizing Bounties -- The Army -- The Department of + Education -- Southern Homesteads -- The Bankrupt Law -- The + Tariff -- Reduction of Taxes -- Contracting the Currency -- + Issue of Three Per Cents. -- Nebraska and Colorado -- Tenure + of Office. + + +The great national measures, whose progress through Congress has been +given in detail, occupied the attention of that body continuously, +from the first days of its existence to the closing hours of its last +session. No day passed which was not rendered important by something +said or done upon questions which concern not only the nation, but +humanity, and which are of interest not only for the present, but for +all time to come. While these great measures were passing through +Congress, making it memorable, and absorbing the public attention, +there was a constant undercurrent of patient, laborious legislation +upon subjects of less interest to the public, but of real importance +to the country. + +One of the first duties devolving upon the Thirty-ninth Congress was +the great work of disbanding the vast volunteer army which had +suppressed the rebellion, saved the country, and earned the undying +gratitude of the nation. The soldiers of the republic were to be paid +for their distinguished services, their reasonable demands for +equalization of bounty were to be met, and a suitable number retained +in the service for the necessities of the nation on a "peace footing." +Near the close of the first session, a bill to equalize soldiers' +bounties, introduced by Mr. Schenck of Ohio, passed the House by a +nearly unanimous vote, but was lost in the Senate. Subsequently, the +Senate attached to the Civil Appropriation Bill a provision for paying +additional bounty, differing materially from the bill which passed the +House. This being in such shape that it could not be easily detached, +became a law. + +During the first session, Congress passed the "Act to increase and fix +the military peace establishment of the United States." By this law +the regular army consists of five regiments of artillery, ten +regiments of cavalry, and forty-five regiments of infantry. It +acknowledged the services and claims of the volunteer officers and men +who served in the recent war by providing that a large proportion of +the commissions in the new service should be conferred upon them. At +the same time the standard of attainment and talent was not lowered, +since the law provided for such an examination as must exclude the +unqualified and relieve the army from some who unworthily held +commissions. + +The important fact that general intelligence is one of the greatest +safeguards of the nation was fully recognized by the Thirty-ninth +Congress. Of this they gave permanent proof in establishing a Bureau +of Education. Early in the first session, Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, +introduced a resolution instructing the joint Committee on +Reconstruction to inquire into the expediency of establishing a +National Bureau of Education "to enforce education, without regard to +color." The necessity for such a measure was set forth in the preamble +to arise from the fact that "republican institutions can find +permanent safety only upon the basis of the universal intelligence of +the people," and that "the great disasters which have afflicted the +nation and desolated one-half its territory are traceable in a great +degree to the absence of common schools and general education among +the people of lately rebellious States." This resolution passed the +House by a large majority. + +This subject was subsequently referred to an able select committee, of +which Mr. Garfield was chairman. On the 5th of June he reported a bill +to establish a Department of Education. The measure was supported by +Messrs. Donnelly, Garfield, Banks, and Boutwell, and opposed by +Messrs. Pike, Rogers, and Randall. The bill passed the House on the +19th of June and went to the Senate, where it was referred to the +Committee on the Judiciary. The bill went over, in the press of +business, to the second session, and passed the Senate on the 28th of +February, 1867. + +A measure indirectly connected with the subject of reconstruction, +destined to have an important influence upon the future of Southern +society, was introduced by Mr. Julian on the 7th of February, 1866. +This was a bill for the disposal of the public lands for homesteads to +actual settlers, without distinction of color, in the States of +Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida, providing that +the quantity of land selected by any one person should be eighty +acres, and not one hundred and sixty acres, as provided in the +Homestead Bill of 1862. The necessity of this measure, as shown by Mr. +Julian, arose from the abolition of slavery and the demands of free +labor. It was designed to cut off land speculation in the Southern +country. "Without some provision of this kind," said Mr. Julian, +"rebel speculators now hovering over the whole of that region, and +hunting up the best portion of it, and the holders of Agricultural +College scrip can come down upon it at one fell swoop and cheat the +actual settler, whether white or black, out of his rights, or even the +possibility of a home in that region, driving the whole of them to +some of our Western Territories or to starvation itself." + +The bill was finally passed in the House on the 28th of February, +1867, with an amendment excluding from the benefit of the act persons +who have borne arms against the United States, or given aid and +comfort to its enemies. + +A work of legislation of much importance, destined to have beneficent +effect upon the business interests of the country, was the passage of +the Bankrupt Law, which was finally enacted near the close of the +Thirty-ninth Congress. The Bankrupt Bill passed the House of +Representatives as early as May, 1866, but the Senate objecting to the +entire principle of the bill, it was postponed till December. On the +reässembling of Congress for the second session, the consideration of +the Bankrupt Bill was resumed, and after much opposition in the +Senate, it finally received the support of a decisive majority in that +body of all shades of politics. The perfection and final passage of +this measure were among the last acts of the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +The Bankrupt Law of 1800 was enacted in the interest of creditors, and +that of 1841 for the benefit of debtors. The law of 1867 was framed +with a view to protect the interests of both parties. The passage of +this important law is due mainly to the energy and perseverance of +Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island. + +The subject of the tariff occupied, first and last, a considerable +share of the time and attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. In the +early part of the first session numerous petitions poured in upon +Congress in favor of a protective tariff. In June and July the subject +was discussed, and a Tariff Bill passed the House by a vote of +ninety-four to fifty-three. The friends of protection said of this +bill that though not perfect, it was "a decided improvement on the +tariff in existence." The bill, on its introduction to the Senate was +postponed till December. + +There was soon after introduced into the House a revised Tariff Bill, +entitled a bill "to protect the revenue." Gradually many of the +features which the advocates of protection regarded as most important, +were eliminated from the bill. This was passed in the Senate on the +24th of July, with amendments in which the House was unwilling to +concur. A Committee of Conference was appointed, who made a report +which was accepted by both Houses of Congress. The bill greatly +modified and "enfeebled" as its original friends regarded it, finally +passed on the day before the close of the first session. + +The subject of diminishing taxation, as far as consistent with the +obligations of the nation to its creditors, early enlisted and +occupied the attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. The principle +upon which Congress acted was announced by the distinguished chairman +of the Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Morrill, to be "_The abolition +or speedy reduction of all taxes which tend to check development, and +the retention of all those which like the income tax fall chiefly on +realized wealth._" + +In the midst of many conflicting interests, and in the face of +remonstrances, protests, and prayers from every trade and profession, +Congress proceeded to work out the difficult question. As a result of +most patient and careful investigation, Congress found itself able to +reduce to the extent of one hundred millions of dollars per annum, the +taxation resting upon the shoulders of the American people. + +On the subject of finance and the national currency great diversity of +opinion existed among leading members of the Thirty-ninth Congress. +Unanimity prevailed upon the opinion that the currency should sooner +or later be subjected to suitable contraction, but there was diversity +of sentiment as to the ways and means by which this result should be +achieved without involving the country in commercial and financial +disaster. + +"I am for specie payments," remarked Mr. Stevens, on one occasion, +"when we can arrive at them without crushing the community to death. I +am for arriving at specie payments, and still allowing the business of +the country to go on and thrive, and the people engaged in business to +pay the taxes which you impose on them. I say that there is not a man +in the community who would not as soon have one dollar in greenbacks +as one dollar in gold. No one expects to be paid in gold until a +general resumption by the banks of specie payment; nobody now knows +any other currency than greenbacks, and, therefore, I am in favor of +keeping that currency. In my judgment, we have not more circulation +now than the expanded business of the country requires. + +"This war has given an immense impulse to every thing. Whence this +precipitation? We have barely got out of the war against the rebels +before we have a war made upon the business community, upon the +manufacturing interests, and upon all others." + +"When this great Republican party was made up," said Mr. Wentworth, +"we, who were originally Democrats, took up a cross, and it was a +great cross. [Laughter.] We were told that if we went into that thing, +we should have to lay down at the feet of the irresponsible +paper-money men. Now, I want to know of the gentleman distinctly, +whether, if he could, he would resume specie payments to-morrow?" + +"If," replied Mr. Stevens, "I could have specie payment to-morrow, +without deranging the business of the country, I would. If it would +derange the business of the country to return to specie payment at +once, I would postpone it a little. I voted for the Legal-tender Bill; +and I am glad I did so, for the country would not have survived +without it." + +"Would you compromise on a year?" asked Mr. Wentworth. + +"No, sir; nor on two years," replied Mr. Stevens. "England did not +resume specie payment the year after the wars with France. The Bank of +England issued paper money, but the Government had Ł14,000,000 in the +stock of that bank to give it security, and the Government prevented +it from resuming specie payment until it thought it best. Now, when +that great war of twenty-five years was over, did England attempt, in +1814 and 1815, to return to specie payment? They had afloat but +Ł20,000,000, or $100,000,000, and they began with their one-pound +notes. In a few years they took their two-pound notes; afterward they +took their five-pound notes. But they never resumed full specie +payment until the latter part of the year 1822. Does my friend from +Illinois expect me to be wiser than the great men of England?" + +"Does my friend from Pennsylvania deny," asked Mr. Garfield, "that in +1819 the law for resuming specie payment was passed, to go into effect +gradually at first, and completely in 1823, and that the full +resumption of specie payment actually took place early in the Spring +of 1821--only about a year and three-quarters from the passage of the +law?" + +"Yes," answered Mr. Stevens, "except in very large sums. The law +authorized them to go on until the first of January, 1823." + +"But they resumed in 1821, about a year and three-quarters earlier," +said Mr. Garfield. + +"About a year earlier," said Mr. Stevens. "But the law did not pass +until four years after the war. Do gentlemen here expect, when +England, with almost all the commerce of the world at her command, was +unable to resume specie payments for eight years after the conclusion +of her wars, and then did it by such gradual legislation that there +should be no shock to the business of the country--do gentlemen expect +that we are to put it into the power of one man to compel the +resumption of specie payments in a single year?" + +"I want to know," said Mr. Wentworth, "if the power, and the +patronage, and the influence of the great Republican party, so called, +is to be used to deprive us of our natural standard of value. Now, I +wish, while we go together, to be perfectly honest. Nobody respects +the talents of my friend from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] more than I +do. He knows more than all of us put together. [Laughter.] I want him +to state to the House, fairly and candidly, whether, if we follow him, +he will lead us to specie payment; or whether, if he could, he would." + +"I will say to my friend," replied Mr. Stevens, "that in this case I +do not act as a member of the Republican party." + +"I have followed the gentlemen," said Mr. Wentworth, "because I +supposed him to be a Republican leader." + +"If I believed," said Mr. Stevens, "that we could resume specie +payments in a month without crushing the interests of the country, +without injuring the laborer, without breaking down the manufacturer, +without oppressing the people, without decreasing the revenues of the +Government; if I had the power, I would order every bank in the +country, State and national, and the Government also, to resume specie +payment." + +"Suppose McCulloch could do that," said Mr. Wentworth, "and give all +our boys their money at par." + +"If he could do it, I would give him great credit," said Mr. Stevens. + +"I believe he can," said Mr. Wentworth. + +"My friend is large," said Mr. Stevens, "and has faith like two grains +of mustard-seed." + +Plans were devised, and ultimately carried through Congress, by which +the great volume of paper currency should be gradually reduced at a +certain fixed rate, so that the people might know how to calculate the +future, and be enabled to provide against a commercial crash. + +The first measure designed to accomplish this result was popularly +called the Loan Bill, which was amendatory of an act "to provide ways +and means to support the Government." When first considered, in March, +1866, it was defeated in the House. It was soon after brought up again +in a modified form, and passed both the House and Senate by large +majorities. The act provided that the Secretary of the Treasury might +receive treasury notes, or "other obligations issued under any act of +Congress," in exchange for bonds. The contraction of the currency was +restricted and limited by the provision that not more than ten +millions of dollars might be retired and canceled within six months +from the passage of the act, and thereafter not more than four +millions of dollars in any one month. + +A financial problem of great importance presented itself for solution +in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. A large amount of +compound-interest notes, weighed down with accrued interest, had +ceased to float as currency, and lay in the vaults of the banks and +the coffers of capitalists, awaiting redemption. The question arose as +to how they should be redeemed, and the nation saved the payment of +the immense amounts of interest which must accumulate in course of +time. The House of Representatives proposed to pass an act authorizing +and directing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue legal-tender +notes, without interest, not exceeding $100,000,000, in place of the +compound-interest bearing notes. + +To this proposition the Senate would not accede, and passed a +substitute which the House would not accept. A Committee of Conference +reported a modification of the Senate's substitute, which finally +became a law, providing that, for the purpose of redeeming and +retiring compound-interest notes, the Secretary of the Treasury should +issue temporary loan certificates, to the amount of $50,000,000, at a +rate of interest not exceeding three per cent. per annum. + +While the greater share of the attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress +was occupied with efforts to reconstruct the eleven States which had +forfeited their rights by rebellion, the Territories of Colorado and +Nebraska applied for admission to the Union. Congress voted to admit +both, but the President obstructed their entrance with his vetoes. +Congress, on reconsideration, admitted Nebraska, the objections of the +President to the contrary notwithstanding. Colorado was not so +fortunate, since her people had been so unwise as to prejudice their +cause by restricting the enjoyment of political rights by ingrafting +the word "white" into their fundamental law. By this mistake they +forfeited the favor of the "Radicals," who refused to champion their +cause against the President. Incidental to this, Congress ordained +that political rights should not be restricted in the Territories on +account of race or color. + +The manifest evils of unrestricted Executive patronage--the bane of +American politics--early enlisted the efforts of the Thirty-ninth +Congress to provide a remedy. A bill to regulate appointments to and +removals from office was introduced by Mr. Henderson into the Senate +near the close of the first session, and referred to the Committee on +the Judiciary, but never saw the light as an act of Congress. + +The President's power of removal and appointment having been +unsparingly used during the recess of Congress, the country became +convinced that a remedy should be applied which would be effectual for +time to come. On the first day of the second session, Mr. Williams +brought before the Senate a bill to "regulate the tenure of offices," +which was subsequently referred to the joint Committee on +Retrenchment. On the 10th of December Mr. Edmunds, chairman of this +committee, reported the bill to the Senate, with amendments. In +bringing forward the measure, Mr. Edmunds asserted that they were +acting in no spirit of hostility to any party or administration +whatever, but for "the true republican interest of the country under +all administrations, and under the domination of all parties in the +growth before the nation in the future." After grave consideration and +protracted discussion in both houses of Congress, the bill was passed +near the close of the session. On the 2d of March the bill encountered +the veto of the President, who saw in the measure serious interference +with the ability of the Executive to keep his oath to preserve, +protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. The bill +was immediately passed over the veto without debate. + +The act thus passed provides that officers appointed by and with the +advice and consent of the Senate shall hold their offices until their +successors are in like manner appointed and qualified. Members of the +Cabinet hold their offices during the term of the President by whom +they are appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal +by consent of the Senate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. + + The President's treatment of the South -- First Annual + Message -- Mr. Sumner's Criticism -- The President + triumphant -- He damages his Cause -- Humor of Mr. Stevens + -- Vetoes overridden -- The Question submitted to the People + -- Their Verdict -- Summary of Vetoes -- Impeachment -- + Charges by Mr. Ashley -- Report of the Committee. + + +The Thirty-ninth Congress is remarkable for having run its entire +career with the constant opposition of the Executive obstructing its +progress. In all representative governments, a contest between the +executive and the legislative branches of the government has sooner or +later arisen, which has invariably ended in the defeat of the former. +The hopelessness of the contest on the part of the executive, and the +pertinacity with which it has been waged, have given it a mock-heroic +character. + +During the months which intervened between the death of Abraham +Lincoln and the assembling of Congress, Andrew Johnson had ample time +to preöccupy the field and intrench himself against what he termed a +coördinate branch "hanging on the verge of the Government." + +In June, 1865, delegates from the South were first admitted to private +interviews with the President. On the 17th of June he issued his +proclamation providing for the restoration of civil government in +Georgia and Alabama, in which he excludes negroes from the category of +loyal citizens entitled to vote. The President soon after proceeded to +appoint provisional governors for the Southern States--a step which +was viewed with joy by the late rebels, and sorrow by the Union men of +the North. The character of these appointments may be seen in a +sentiment uttered by Governor Perry soon after his elevation to +office: "There is not now in the Southern States," said he, "any one +who feels more bitterly the humiliation and degradation of going back +into the Union than I do." Governor Perry saved himself from dismissal +by assuring the people that the death of Mr. Lincoln was no loss to +the South, while he had every hope that Mr. Johnson, an old +slaveholding Democrat, would be an advantage. + +In Alabama, under the provisional government established by Mr. +Johnson, the convention prohibited negroes from testifying in the +courts. Rebels throughout the South at once began to make their +arrangements for taking part in the government. In November, Governor +Perry made a public demand that when Congress met the Clerk of the +House should place on the roll the names of Representatives from the +rebel States. + +When South Carolina hesitated to adopt the Constitutional Amendment +abolishing slavery, President Johnson assured the Governor that the +clause giving Congress the power to enforce it by appropriate +legislation really limited congressional control over the negro +question. After this assurance, South Carolina accepted the +Constitutional Amendment. + +In August and September, 1865, Democratic conventions indorsed the +President's policy, and Democratic papers began to praise him. +Republicans were unwilling to believe that they had been deserted, and +hoped that after the assembling of Congress all differences would +disappear. + +The message of the President, read at the opening of the Thirty-ninth +Congress, placed him in direct opposition to the leaders of the +Republican party, and at variance with his own policy. "A concession +of the elective franchise," said he, "to the freedmen, by act of the +President of the United States, must have been extended to all colored +men, wherever found, and must have established a change of suffrage in +the Northern, Middle, and Western States, not less than in the +Southern and Southwestern." + +Every one could see that the President possessed as much power to +admit the black man to the right of suffrage in the rebel States as to +appoint provisional governors over them. + +While Congress was in session, and actually employed in legislating +for the restoration of the rebel States, Mr. Johnson substantially +declared that Congress had no control over the subject, by removing +the provisional governor of Alabama, and handing the State Government +over to the officers elected by the people. + +The Senate having requested information from the President as to the +condition of the rebel States, the President, on the 20th of December, +sent in a message which Mr. Sumner characterized as an attempt to +"whitewash" the unhappy condition of the rebel States. The message of +the President was accompanied by reports from General Grant and +General Schurz, in which Congress found evidence that the late rebels +had little sense of national obligation, and were chiefly anxious to +regain political power, and compensate themselves for the loss of +slavery by keeping the negroes in abject servitude. + +The passage of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, by a large majority in +Congress, and its veto by the President, presents the next phase in +the contest. To Republicans the most alarming feature in the Veto +Message was the evidence it gave that the President was ready at once +to give to traitors who had fought fiercely for four years to destroy +the Union an equal voice with loyal men in determining the terms of +its reconstruction. + +In this instance the President prevailed. The bill failed to pass over +the veto, from the fact that six Senators--Dixon, Doolittle, Morgan, +Norton, Stewart, and Van Winkle--who had voted for the bill, now sided +with the President. This was the first and last triumph of the +President. + +Two days after, on the 22d of February, the President greatly damaged +his cause by denouncing a Senator and a Representative, and using the +slang of the stump against the Secretary of the Senate in the midst of +an uproarious Washington mob. The people were mortified that the +Executive of the nation should have committed so serious an +indiscretion. + +The incident received notice in Congress in a humorous speech of +Thaddeus Stevens, who declared that the alleged speech could never +have been delivered; that it was "a part of the cunning contrivance of +the copperhead party, who have been persecuting our President;" that +it was "one of the grandest hoaxes ever perpetrated." + +Congress, now aware that it must achieve its greatest works of +legislation over the obstructing veto of the President, moved forward +with caution and deliberation. Every measure was well weighed and +carefully matured, since, in order to win its way to the favor of a +triumphant majority in Congress and the country, it must be as free as +possible from all objectionable features. + +Impartial suffrage, as provided in the District of Columbia Suffrage +Bill, being a subject upon which the people had not yet spoken, the +Senate determined that it would be better not to risk the uncertainty +of passing the measure over the inevitable veto until the people +should have an opportunity of speaking at the ballot-box. + +The President applied his veto to the Civil Rights Bill and the second +Freedmen's Bureau Bill, but a majority of more than the requisite +two-thirds placed these measures among the laws of the land. In the +House of Representatives, Mr. Raymond was the only Republican member +who voted to sustain the veto of the Civil Rights Bill. The temptation +to be friends of the President, in order to aid him in the +distribution of patronage, was very great with members of Congress, +and the wonder is that so many were able to reject it all, and adhere +to principles against which the Executive brought to bear all his +power of opposition. + +On the adjournment of Congress in July, at the close of the first +session, the contest was still continued, though in another arena. +Members of Congress went to their several districts, submitted their +doings to their constituents, and took counsel of the people. The +President also traversed the States from the Atlantic to the +Mississippi. He made numerous speeches, and endeavored to popularize +his policy. + +The people gave their verdict at the ballot-box in favor of Congress. +The reëlection of Congress was the rejection of the President. The +ruin of the President's fortunes was shared by his followers. No +gentleman ever entered the House of Representatives with more _eclat_ +than that with which Mr. Raymond took his seat as a member of the +Thirty-ninth Congress, but his constituents did not see proper to +elect him for a second term. Delano and Stillwell, of the West, were +left at home. Cowan, in the Senate, elected six years before as a +Republican, was superseded, and Doolittle was instructed by his +Legislature to resign. + +The message of the President at the opening of the second session +displayed no disposition to yield to the people or to Congress. He +declared to a State delegation that waited on him that he was too old +to learn. + +One of the first acts of Congress after reässembling was to accept the +sanction of the people for impartial suffrage, and pass the District +Suffrage Bill over the President's veto. The President deemed it due +to his consistency to return bills, with his "objections thereto in +writing," to the very last. Among the last doings of the Thirty-ninth +Congress was the passage of the Tenure-of-office Bill and the Military +Reconstruction Bill over vetoes. In humiliating contrast with the +circumstances one year before, when the veto of the Freedmen's Bureau +Bill prevailed, the veto of the Military Reconstruction Bill had but +ten supporters in the Senate. + +The following is a complete list of the bills vetoed by the President +during the Thirty-ninth Congress, and of the bills which were passed +over the veto, and those which became laws without the President's +signature: + + FIRST SESSION.--To enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's + Bureau; vetoed February 19, 1866. + + To protect all persons in the United States in their civil + rights, and furnish the means of their vindication; vetoed; + and passed, April 9, 1866, over veto. + + For the admission of the State of Colorado into the Union; + vetoed May, 1866. + + To enable the Montana and New York Iron Mining and + Manufacturing Company to purchase a certain amount of the + public lands not now in market; vetoed June, 1866. + + To continue in force and to amend an act entitled "an act to + establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees, + and for other purposes;" vetoed; passed, July 16, 1866, over + veto. + + For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union; + not signed; failed through the adjournment of Congress. + + * * * * * + + SECOND SESSION.--To regulate the elective franchise in the + District of Columbia; vetoed; passed, January 8, 1867, over + veto. + + To admit the State of Colorado into the Union; vetoed + January 18, 1867. + + For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union; + vetoed; passed, February 9, 1867, over veto. + + To provide for the more efficient government of the + insurrectionary States; vetoed; passed, March 2, 1867, over + veto. + + To regulate the tenure of office; vetoed; passed, March 2, + 1867, over veto. + + * * * * * + + _Bills which became laws without the President's signature, + the constitutional limit of ten days having expired without + their return:_ + + To repeal section 13 of "an act to suppress insurrection, to + punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the + property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July + 17, 1862; became a law January 22, 1867. + + To regulate the franchise in the Territories of the United + States; became a law January 31, 1867. + + To regulate the duties of the Clerk of the House of + Representatives, in preparing for the organization of the + House, and for other purposes; became a law February 20, + 1867. + + To declare the sense of an act entitled "an act to restrict + the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims, and to provide for + the payment of certain demands for quartermasters' stores + and subsistence supplies furnished to the army of the United + States;" became a law February 22; 1867. + + * * * * * + + RECAPITULATION.--Vetoes, 10; pocket vetoes, 1; laws passed + over vetoes, 6; vetoes sustained, 4; became laws without + signature, 4. + +As President Johnson proceeded in his career of opposition to the +legislative branch of the Government, the conviction fastened upon the +minds of some that he was guilty of crimes rendering him liable to +impeachment. On the 7th of January, 1867, Hon. James M. Ashley, of +Ohio, brought before the House of Representatives articles of +impeachment, as follows: + + "I do impeach Andrew Johnson, Vice-President and acting + President of the United States, of high crimes and + misdemeanors. + + "I charge him with a usurpation of power and violation of + law: + + "In that he has corruptly used the appointing power; + + "In that he has corruptly used the pardoning power; + + "In that he has corruptly used the veto power; + + "In that he has corruptly disposed of public property of the + United States; + + "In that he has corruptly interfered in elections, and + committed acts which, in contemplation of the Constitution, + are high crimes and misdemeanors; Therefore, + + "_Be it resolved_, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, + and they are hereby, authorized to inquire into the official + conduct of Andrew Johnson, Vice-President of the United + States, discharging the powers and duties of the office of + President of the United States, and to report to this House + whether, in their opinion, the said Andrew Johnson, while in + said office, has been guilty of acts which are designed or + calculated to overthrow, subvert, or corrupt the Government + of the United States, or any department or office thereof; + and whether the said Andrew Johnson has been guilty of any + act, or has conspired with others to do acts, which, in + contemplation of the Constitution, are high crimes and + misdemeanors, requiring the interposition of the + constitutional power of this House; and that said committee + have power to send for persons and papers, and to administer + the customary oath to witnesses." + +This resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and eight to +thirty-eight. + +[Illustration: Hon. James M. Ashley.] + +Near the close of the session, the Committee on the Judiciary, having +in charge the question of impeachment, made a report. The condition in +which the subject was left by the Thirty-ninth Congress will be seen +from the following extract: + + "The duty imposed upon the committee by this action of the + House was of the highest and gravest character. No + committee, during the entire history of the Government, has + ever been charged with a more important trust. The + responsibility which it imposed was of oppressive weight and + of most unpleasant nature. Gladly would the committee have + escaped from the arduous labor imposed upon it by the + resolution of the House; but once imposed, prompt, + deliberate, and faithful action, with a view to correct + results, became its duty, and to this end it has directed + its efforts. + + "Soon after the adoption of the resolution by the House, the + Hon. James M. Ashley communicated to the committee, in + support of his charges against the President of the United + States, such facts as were in his possession, and the + investigation was proceeded with, and has been continued + almost without a day's interruption. A large number of + witnesses have been examined, many documents collected, and + every thing done which could be done to reach a conclusion + of the case. But the investigation covers a broad field, + embraces many novel, interesting, and important questions, + and involves a multitude of facts, while most of the + witnesses are distant from the capital, owing to which, the + committee, in view of the magnitude of the interests + involved in its action, has not been able to conclude its + labors, and is not, therefore, prepared to submit a definite + and final report. If the investigation had even approached + completeness, the committee would not feel authorized to + present the result to the House at this late period of the + session, unless the charge had been so entirely negatived as + to admit of no discussion, which, in the opinion of the + committee, is not the case. Certainly, no affirmative report + could be properly considered in the expiring hours of this + Congress. + + "The committee, not having fully investigated all the + charges preferred against the President of the United + States, it is deemed inexpedient to submit any conclusion + beyond the statement that sufficient testimony has been + brought to its notice to justify and demand a further + prosecution of the investigation. + + "The testimony which the committee has taken will pass into + the custody of the Clerk of the House, and can go into the + hands of such committee as may be charged with the duty of + bringing this investigation to a close, so that the labor + expended upon it may not have been in vain. + + "The committee regrets its inability definitely to dispose + of the important subject committed to its charge, and + presents this report for its own justification, and for the + additional purpose of notifying the succeeding Congress of + the incompleteness of its labors, and that they should be + completed." + +With the acceptance of this report, the impeachment was at an end so +far as the action of the Thirty-ninth Congress was concerned. The +subject was handed over to the consideration of the Fortieth Congress. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +PERSONAL. + + Contested Seats -- Mr. Stockton votes for Himself -- New + Jersey's loss of two Senators -- Losses of Vermont -- + Suicide of James H. Lane -- Death in the House -- General + Scott -- Lincoln's Eulogy and Statue -- Mr. Sumner on Fine + Arts in the Capitol -- Censure of Mr. Chanler -- Petition + for the expulsion of Garret Davis -- Grinnell assaulted by + Rousseau -- The Action of the House -- Leader of the House. + + +Matters of interest relating to the members of the Thirty-ninth +Congress remain to be noticed. Some names of members appear in the +opening scenes of Congress which were substituted by others before the +close. This was occasioned partly through successful contests for +seats by persons who, after an investigation of their claims, were +declared to have been legally elected, but failed, through fraud or +mistake, to receive their credentials. The right of Mr. Voorhees, of +Indiana, to a seat in the Thirty-ninth Congress was contested by Henry +D. Washburn. The testimony in this case was laid before the Committee +on Elections early in the session, and after patient hearing of the +parties and careful consideration of the subject, the committee +reported in favor of Mr. Washburn and unseated Mr. Voorhees. + +The seat in Congress taken at the opening of the session by James +Brooks, of New York, was decided by the committee, after consideration +of the claims of the contestant, to belong to William E. Dodge, a +merchant of New York city. + +The right of John P. Stockton, of New Jersey, to a seat in the Senate +having been disputed on account of irregularity in his election, the +Senate came to a vote on the question, after considerable discussion, +on the 23d of March, 1866. Mr. Stockton was declared entitled to his +place by the close vote of 22 to 21, he giving the decisive vote in +favor of himself. There arose a very exciting debate as to the right +of a Senator to vote for himself under such circumstances. Mr. +Stockton finally yielded to the arguments against his right to sit in +judgment on his own case, and he was unseated March 27th by a vote of +22 to 21. For a time the seat thus vacated, to which New Jersey was +entitled in the Senate, remained unoccupied on account of the refusal +of the Republican Speaker of the New Jersey Senate to give his vote in +favor of the nominee of the Union caucus, Mr. Cattell. On account of +the nearly equal balance of the parties, the choice was long deferred, +but eventually made in favor of Mr. Cattell. The other seat held by +New Jersey in the Senate was practically vacant for a considerable +time on account of the illness of its incumbent, Mr. William Wright, +who consequently resigned and eventually died before the expiration of +the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +Other seats in Congress were vacated by death. Of all the States, +Vermont suffered most severely in this respect. A part of the +proceedings of the Thirty-ninth Congress consists of funeral addresses +and eulogies upon Judge Collamer, a distinguished Senator from +Vermont, whose term of service, had he lived, would have expired with +the close of this Congress. He died, lamented by the nation, on the +8th of November, 1865. One who took a prominent part in the funeral +obsequies of Mr. Collamer was Solomon Foot, the surviving Senator from +Vermont. A man termed, from his length of service, "the father of the +Senate," long its presiding officer, of purest morals, incorruptible +integrity, and faithful industry, he died universally lamented on the +28th of March, 1866. Mr. Foot's death created a profound impression, +since it exhibited, in a most remarkable manner, the effect of +Christianity in affording its possessor a happy close of life. + +The death of another Senator stands forth in striking contrast with +that of Mr. Foot. On the first of July, 1866, Senator James H. Lane +shot himself at Leavenworth, Kansas. While on his way home from +Washington, when at St. Louis, he had intimated a determination to +commit suicide. His friends watched him closely, and obtained +possession of his pocket-knife lest he might use it for the fatal +purpose. Mr. Lane having reached Leavenworth, two of his friends +invited him to ride with them on Sabbath afternoon. After getting into +the carriage, he expressed a desire to return to his room for his +cane, refusing to allow any one to go for him. Mr. Lane having +returned with his cane, they drove to the heights overlooking the +city. He entered cheerfully into the conversation, remarking upon the +beauty of the city and landscape. On returning, they had to pass +through a gate that separated two fields. One of the gentlemen +alighted to open the gate. At the same time Mr. Lane stepped down from +the carriage, and, passing around behind it, said, "Good-by, +gentlemen," and instantly discharged a pistol with its muzzle in his +mouth. The ball passed out at the top of his head, near the center of +the skull, producing a fatal wound. The unhappy man lingered for a few +days in a state of unconsciousness and died. Thus ended the stirring, +troubled life of one who as a politician had occupied no +inconsiderable space in the public eye. + +A number of seats in the House of Representatives were vacated by +death. James Humphrey, an able and honored member from New York, died +in Brooklyn on the 16th of June, 1866. During the second session of +the Thirty-ninth Congress, two members of the House of Representatives +were removed by death--Philip Johnson, of Pennsylvania, in his third +term of Congressional service, and Henry Grider, of Kentucky, a +veteran member, who, having served in Congress from 1843 to 1847, was +more recently a member of the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, and +Thirty-ninth Congresses. + +Congress was called upon to pay funeral honors to others than its +members. The death of General Scott, so long the illustrious chief of +the military establishment of the nation, was regarded with due +solemnity and honor by Congress, who deputized a large committee to +attend the funeral obsequies at West Point. An equestrian statue of +the distinguished General was voted by Congress to adorn the public +grounds of the national capital. + +The name of Abraham Lincoln, the nation's martyred President, was +always pronounced with profoundest respect and sincerest gratitude in +the halls of Congress. His birthday, February 12th, was celebrated by +the adjournment of Congress, and such an assembly as the hall of +Representatives has rarely witnessed, to hear a eulogy pronounced by +Mr. Bancroft, the American historian. An appropriation of ten thousand +dollars was made to pay a young artist, Miss Minnie Ream, to model a +statue of Abraham Lincoln. This proposition elicited an animated +discussion, and was the occasion of a most interesting address by Mr. +Sumner on Art in the Capitol. "Surely this edifice," said he, "so +beautiful and interesting, should not be opened to the experiments of +untried talent. Only the finished artists should be invited to its +ornamentation. + +"Sir, I doubt if you consider enough the character of this edifice in +which we are now assembled. Possessing the advantage of an +incomparable situation, it is one of the first-class structures in the +world. Surrounded by an amphitheater of hills, with the Potomac at its +feet, it resembles the capitol in Rome, surrounded by the Alban hills, +with the Tiber at its feet. But the situation is grander than that of +the Roman capitol. The edifice itself is worthy of the situation. It +has beauty of form and sublimity in proportions, even if it lacks +originality in conception. In itself it is a work of art. It ought not +to receive in the way of ornamentation any thing which is not a work +of art. Unhappily this rule has not always prevailed, or there would +not be so few pictures and marbles about us worthy of the place they +occupy. But bad pictures and ordinary marbles should warn us against +adding to their number." + +Perhaps no Congress in the history of the country presents fewer +disagreeable incidents of a personal nature than this. The Democrats +in Congress being in such a small minority as to be unable to _do_ any +thing effectual either to impede or advance legislation, could only +present their vain protests in words. Chafing under the difficulties +they encountered, it is not surprising that at times they used +language so ill-timed and unparliamentary as to call forth the censure +of the House. + +On one occasion, Mr. Chanler, of New York, submitted a resolution +"that the independent, patriotic, and constitutional course of the +President of the United States, in seeking to protect, by the veto +power, the rights of the people of this Union against the wicked and +revolutionary acts of a few malignant and mischievous men meets with +the approval of this House, and deserves the cordial support of all +loyal citizens of the United States." + +For introducing this resolution, the House voted to censure Mr. +Chanler as having "attempted a gross insult to the House." + +Before the vote was taken, Mr. Chanler said: "If by my defiance I +could drive your party from this hall, I would do so; if by my vote I +could crush you, I would do so, and put the whole party, with your +leader, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens], into that +political hell surrounded by bayonets referred to by him in his +argument on Thursday last." + +In the Senate a petition was presented from citizens of New York +praying that Garret Davis be expelled from the Senate, and, "with +other traitors, held to answer to the law for his crime, since he +stood in the attitude of an avowed enemy of the Government"--since he +had made the declaration in reference to the Civil Rights Bill "that +if the bill should become a law, he should feel compelled to regard +himself as an enemy of the Government, and to work for its overthrow." + +"It is true," replied Mr. Davis, "that I used in substance the words +that are imputed to me in that petition; but, as a part of their +context, I used a great many more. As an example of garbling, the +petition reminds me of a specimen that I heard when I was a young man. +It was to this effect: 'The Bible teaches "that there is no God."' +When those words were read in connection with the context, the passage +read in about these terms: 'The fool hath said in his heart that there +is no God.' That specimen of the Bible was about as fair as this +garbled statement is of what I said upon the matter to which it +refers." + +The most serious subject coming up for the censure of the House was an +assault made by Mr. Rousseau, of Kentucky, upon Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa. +In many of its features this incident resembles the "affairs" of a +personal character which were of frequent occurrence when Southern +members were in Congress before the war. In February, 1866, Mr. +Rousseau, in the course of a speech on the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, +made the remark, "If you intend to arrest white people on the _ex +parte_ statement of negroes, and hold them to suit your convenience +for trial, and fine and imprison them, then I say that I oppose you; +and if you should so arrest and punish me, I would kill you when you +set me at liberty." + +To this Mr. Grinnell replied, "I care not whether the gentleman was +four years in the war on the Union side or four years on the other +side, but I say that he degraded his State and uttered a sentiment I +thought unworthy of an American officer when he said that he would do +such an act on the complaint of a negro against him." + +To this Mr. Rousseau, on the following day, replied: "I pronounce the +assertion that I have degraded my State and uttered a sentiment +unworthy an American officer to be false, a vile slander, and unworthy +to be uttered by any gentleman upon this floor." + +Some months after this, Mr. Rousseau, in a public speech delivered in +New York city, denounced Mr. Grinnell as a "pitiable politician from +Iowa." In a speech made in the House on the 11th of June, Mr. Rousseau +said of Mr. Grinnell: "I do not suppose that any member of this House +believed a word he said. When a member can so far depart from what +every body believes he ought to know and does know is the truth, it is +a degradation, not to his State, but to himself." + +"When any man," replied Mr. Grinnell--"I care not whether he stands +six feet high, whether he wears buff and carries the air of a certain +bird that has a more than usual extremity of tail, wanting in the +other extremity--says that he would not believe what I utter, I will +say that I was never born to stand under an imputation of that sort. + +"The gentleman begins courting sympathy by sustaining the President of +the United States preparatory to his assault upon me. Now, sir, if he +is a defender of the President of the United States, all I have to say +is, God save the President from such an incoherent, brainless +defender, equal in valor in civil and in military life. His military +record--who has read it? In what volume of history is it found?" + +Mr. Rousseau determined to resent the insult which he conceived to be +offered him in this speech by inflicting a bodily chastisement upon +Mr. Grinnell. On the morning of June 14th, Mr. Rousseau informed a +military friend of his purpose of flogging Mr. Grinnell. The person so +informed procured a pistol and waited in the capitol until the close +of the day's session, in order to be present at the flogging and see +"fair play." Two other friends of Mr. Rousseau, also armed with +pistols, happened to be present when the scene transpired. While Mr. +Grinnell was passing from the House through the east portico of the +capitol, he was met by Mr. Rousseau, who, in an excited manner, said, +"I have waited four days for an apology for words spoken here upon +this floor." + +"What of that?" asked Mr. Grinnell. + +"I will teach you what of that," said Mr. Rousseau, who then proceeded +to strike Mr. Grinnell about the head and shoulders with a rattan, +stopping occasionally to lecture him, and saying, "Now, you d----d +puppy and poltroon, look at yourself." + +After receiving half a dozen blows, Mr. Grinnell exclaimed, "I don't +want to hurt you." + +"I don't expect you to hurt me, you d----d scoundrel," said Mr. +Rousseau, "but you tried to injure me upon the floor of the House. And +now look at yourself; whipped here; whipped like a dog, disgraced and +degraded! Where are your one hundred and twenty-seven thousand +constituents now?" + +A committee was appointed to investigate this disgraceful affair. In +just one month after the transaction, a report was presented, signed +by Messrs. Spalding, Banks, and Thayer, stating the facts in the case, +and recommending the expulsion of Mr. Rousseau. They also proposed a +resolution to express disapproval of the reflections made by Mr. +Grinnell upon the character of Mr. Rousseau. The "views of the +minority" were also presented by Messrs. Raymond and Hogan. They +recommended that the punishment of Mr. Rousseau should be a public +reprimand by the Speaker. After protracted discussion, the House came +to a final decision. The motion to expel, requiring two-thirds, failed +by a few votes. The motion by which the Speaker was directed to +publicly reprimand Mr. Rousseau was carried by a vote of 89 to 30. +There were not enough in favor of the motion to disapprove of Mr. +Grinnell's remarks to call the ayes and noes. Mr. Rousseau endeavored +to evade the execution of the sentence by sending his resignation to +the Governor of Kentucky. The House declared that a member could not +dissolve his connection with the body under such circumstances, +without its consent. On the 21st of July, the execution of the order +was of the House having been demanded, Mr. Rousseau appeared at the +bar, when the Speaker said, "General Rousseau, the House of +Representatives have declared you guilty of a violation of its rights +and privileges in a premeditated personal assault upon a member for +words spoken in debate. This condemnation they have placed on their +journal, and have ordered that you shall be publicly reprimanded by +the Speaker at the bar of the House. No words of mine can add to the +force of this order, in obedience to which I now pronounce upon you +its reprimand." + +Early in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, an +interesting case came up relating to the privileges and immunities of +a member of Congress. Charles V. Culver, Representative of the +Twentieth District of Pennsylvania, having been engaged very +extensively in banking, made a failure in business. In June, 1866, +during the session of Congress, one of his creditors caused his arrest +upon a contract for the return of certain bonds and notes alleged to +have been lent to him, charging that the debt incurred thereby was +fraudulently contracted by Culver. In default of required security, +Mr. Culver was committed to jail, where he remained until the 18th of +December. Mr. Culver claimed his immunity as a member of Congress, +under the clause of the Constitution which provides that Senators and +Representatives "shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and +breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance +at the sessions of their respective houses, and in going to and +returning from the same." The judge decided that the offense fell +under the constitutional exception, and was to be regarded as a +"breach of the peace." From this remarkable decision an appeal was +made to the House of Representatives itself, as "the highest court of +the nation, and depository of its supreme authority." The case was +referred to the Judiciary Committee, who reported a resolution, +unanimously adopted by the House, directing the Speaker to issue his +warrant to the Sergeant-at-Arms, commanding him to deliver forthwith +Charles V. Culver from the custody of the sheriff and jailor of +Venango County, and make return to the House of the warrant, and the +manner in which he may have executed the same. The Sergeant-at-Arms +proceeded immediately to execute the order of the House, and in a +short time the Speaker announced that Mr. Culver was unrestrained in +his seat as a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +Among the numerous distinguished men who constituted the Thirty-ninth +Congress, no one towered so conspicuously above the rest as to be +universally recognized and followed as the "leader." This title has +been frequently applied to Thaddeus Stevens. He was in many respects +the most prominent figure in the Thirty-ninth Congress. His age, his +long fidelity to the principles of the Republican party, his +uncompromising spirit, and his force of character made him a +conspicuous and influential member of the House, but did not cause him +to be generally recognized or implicitly followed as a leader. + +In so large a legislative body, composed of so many men of independent +thought and action, acknowledging no parliamentary leader, it is +remarkable that the wheels of legislation should run so smoothly, and +that after all the disagreement in discussion, great results should be +at last so harmoniously wrought out. This is partly due to the +patriotic spirit which pervaded the minds of its members, inducing +them to lay aside minor differences of opinion for the good of that +common country for which their constituents had lately made such +tremendous sacrifice. The result is also owing to the parliamentary +ability and tact of him who sat patiently and faithfully as Speaker of +the House. Deprived by his position of opportunity of taking part in +the discussions, which his genius and experience fitted him to +illustrate, he nevertheless did much to direct the current of +legislation which flowed smoothly or turbidly before him. The +resolution of thanks to the Speaker, moved by a member of the +minority, and passed unanimously by the House, was no unmeaning +compliment, but was an honor fairly earned and justly paid. + +The labor of presiding over the Senate--a much lighter task, owing to +the smaller number which composed the body--was faithfully performed +by Mr. Foster. His remarks to the Senate on retiring from the chair as +President _pro tempore_, and closing a career of twelve years as a +member of the body, were most beautiful and impressive. + +Benjamin F. Wade, "a Senator from Ohio," having been duly elected +President _pro tempore_ of the Senate, took the "iron-clad oath" and +assumed his seat as acting Vice-President of the United States without +ostentation or remark. + +At twelve o'clock noon of March 4, 1867, the Thirty-ninth Congress +closed its existence, handing over its great enactments to the +country, and its unfinished business to its successor, which +immediately came into life. + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. + +(The numbers appended to the following sketches refer to preceding +pages of the book.) + +[The names of Republicans are printed in ROMAN; of Democrats in +_ITALICS_.] + + +JOHN B. ALLEY was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, January 7, 1817. Having +learned the art of shoemaking, he devoted himself to the shoe and +leather trade. After having served several years in the City Council +of Lynn, he was chosen a member of the Governor's Council in 1851. He +was a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1852, and of the State +Constitutional Convention held in the following year. In 1858 he was +elected a Representative in Congress from Massachusetts. He entered +upon his fourth Congressional term in 1865 as a member of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress; and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by +General Butler. + +WILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Wayne County, Ohio, March 2, 1829. He +was educated at Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, and at Western +Reserve College, Ohio. From 1851 to 1857 he practiced law in Ohio, and +subsequently settled in Dubuque, Iowa. He was a member of the Chicago +Convention of 1860. As a member of the Governor's staff; in 1861, he +rendered efficient service in raising troops for the war. In 1862 he +was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Eighth Congress, from Ohio. +He was re-elected in 1864, and again in 1866.--527. + +OAKES AMES was born in Easton, Massachusetts, January 10, 1804. He has +devoted most of his life to the business of manufacturing, taking but +little public part in politics. Having served for two years as a +member of the Executive Council of his State, he was, in 1862, 1864, +and 1866, elected a Representative in Congress, from Massachusetts.--31. + +_SYDENHAM E. ANCONA_ was born in Warwick, Pennsylvania, November 20, +1824. Removing to Berks County, he was, for a number of years, +connected with the Reading Railroad Company. In 1860 he was elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Seventh Congress from Pennsylvania, and +was subsequently returned to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth +Congresses. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _J. Lawrence +Getz_. + +GEORGE W. ANDERSON was born in Tennessee, May 22, 1832. Having +received a liberal education, he adopted the profession of law. In +1853 he settled in Missouri, where he soon after became editor of the +"North-East Missourian." In 1858 he was elected to the State +Legislature. In 1862 he was chosen a State Senator, and served as such +until he was elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +HENRY B. ANTHONY was born of Quaker ancestry, at Coventry, Rhode +Island, April 1, 1815. He graduated at Brown University in 1833. He +became editor of the "Providence Journal" in 1838. He was chosen +Governor of Rhode Island in 1849, and served two terms. In 1859 he was +elected a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, and was subsequently +re-elected for a second term, which ends in 1871.--36, 37, 487, 488, +497. + +SAMUEL M. ARNELL was born in Maury County, Tennessee, May 3, 1834. He +studied at Amherst College, Massachusetts, and adopted the profession +of law, which he practiced in Columbia, Tennessee. In April, 1865, he +was elected a member of the Legislature of Tennessee, and in the +following August was elected a Representative in Congress. The +Tennessee delegation not being admitted at the opening of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, he continued to hold his seat in the +Legislature. He was the author of the Franchise Law, which became a +part of the Constitution of Tennessee, and of the Civil Rights Bill of +Tennessee. He took his seat as a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress +at the opening of its second session, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress. + +DELOS R. ASHLEY studied and practiced the profession of law in Monroe, +Michigan. In 1849 he removed to California, where he was elected +District Attorney in 1851. He was elected to the Assembly in 1854, and +to the State Senate in 1856. He subsequently held the office of +Treasurer of State. Having removed to Nevada in 1864, he was elected +the Representative from that State to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +JAMES M. ASHLEY was born in Pennsylvania, November 14, 1824. He spent +several years of his early life in a printing-office, and was some +time a clerk on Ohio and Mississippi steamboats. He studied law, and +was admitted to the bar in 1849, but immediately engaged in the +business of boat-building. He subsequently went into the wholesale +drug business in Toledo. In 1858 he was elected a Representative from +Ohio to the Thirty-Sixth Congress, and has been a member of every +succeeding Congress, including the Fortieth.--306, 503, 513, 515, 525, +566. + +JEHU BAKER was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, November 4, 1822. He +received a good education, and entered the profession of law. Having +settled in Illinois, he was, in 1864, elected a Representative from +that State to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in +1866.--340,560. + +JOHN D. BALDWIN was born in North Stonington, Connecticut, September +28, 1810. He graduated at Yale College. Having studied law, and gone +through a course of theological studies, he published a volume of +poems, and became connected with the press, first in Hartford, and +then in Boston, where he was editor of the "Daily Commonwealth." He +subsequently became proprietor of the "Worcester Spy." In 1860 he was +a delegate to the Chicago Convention. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative in Congress from Massachusetts, and was re-elected in +1864 and 1866. + +NATHANIEL P. BANKS was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, January 30, +1816. His parents, being poor, could afford him no advantages of +education save those of the common school. He was editor of a +newspaper first in Waltham and then in Lowell. He studied law, but did +not practice. In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature. He served in +both Houses, and officiated part of the time as Speaker. He was +President of the Convention, held in 1853, for revising the +Constitution of Massachusetts. From 1853 to 1857 he was a +Representative in Congress. During his second term in Congress he held +the office of Speaker of the House, with unsurpassed acceptability and +success. In 1857 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held +the office for three successive terms. During the late rebellion he +served as a Major-General of Volunteers. In 1865 he was elected a +member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.--25, +31, 445, 524, 525, 539, 553. + +ABRAHAM A. BARKER was born in Lovell, Maine, March 30, 1816. He +received a common-school education, and engaged in agricultural +pursuits. He was an early and earnest advocate of temperance and +anti-slavery. In 1854 he removed to Pennsylvania, and entered upon the +lumber business and mercantile pursuits. In 1860 he was a delegate to +the Chicago Convention. In 1864 he was elected to represent the +Seventeenth District of Pennsylvania in the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He +was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Daniel J. Morrell. + +PORTUS BAXTER was born in Brownington, Vermont. He received a liberal +education, and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits. In +1852 and 1856 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1860 he was elected a +Representative from Vermont to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Worthington C. Smith. + +FERNANDO C. BEAMAN was born in Chester, Vermont, June 28, 1814, and +was removed in boyhood to New York. He received an English education +at the Franklin County Academy, and studied law in Rochester. In 1838 +he removed to Michigan, and engaged in the practice of his profession. +He served six years as Prosecuting Attorney for the county of Lenawee, +and four years as Judge of Probate. In 1856 he was a Presidential +Elector. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the +Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was successively re-elected to the +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--447. + +JOHN F. BENJAMIN was born in Cicero, New York, January 23, 1817. After +having spent three years in Texas, he settled in Missouri, in 1848, +and engaged in the practice of law. He was a member of the Missouri +Legislature in 1851 and 1852, and was a Presidential Elector in 1856. +He entered the Missouri Cavalry as a private, in 1861, and by a series +of promotions reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He resigned to +accept the appointment of Provost-Marshal for the Eighth District of +Missouri. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention of 1864, and +was the same year elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and in 1866 was re-elected.--366. + +_TEUNIS G. BERGEN_ was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 6. 1806, He +received an academical education at Flatbush, and engaged in surveying +and horticulture. He served the town of New Utrecht as supervisor for +twenty-three years. He was a member of the State Constitutional +Convention of 1846. In 1860 he was a member of the Democratic +Conventions of Charleston and Baltimore. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. At the +close of his Congressional term he was elected a member of the New +York Constitutional Convention of 1867. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by _Demas Barnes_. + +JOHN BIDWELL was born in Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 5, 1819. In +1829 he removed with his father to Erie, Pennsylvania, and two years +after to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where, through his own exertions he +obtained an academical education. In 1838 he taught school in Darke +County, Ohio, and subsequently taught two years in Missouri. In 1841 +he emigrated to California, one of the first adventurers on the wild +overland route. At the breaking out of the war with Mexico, he entered +the service of the United States as a private, and reached the rank of +Major. He was among the first who discovered gold on Feather River in +1848. In 1849 he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention, +and to the Senate of the first Legislature of California. In 1860 he +was a delegate to the Charleston Convention, and refused to sanction +the secession movement there made. In 1863 he was appointed Brigadier +General of California militia, when it was necessary to organize in +order to preserve the peace of the State. In 1864 he was a member of +the Baltimore Convention, which renominated Lincoln. The same year he +was elected a Representative from California to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was not a candidate for re-election to Congress, since +nearly all the papers in the State had hoisted his name as candidate +for Governor. He failed, however, to receive the nomination for that +office by the Republican Convention. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by _James A. Johnson_.--31. + +JOHN A. BINGHAM was born in Pennsylvania in 1815. Having received an +academical education, and spending two years in a printing-office, he +entered Franklin College, in Ohio, but owing to ill-health, did not +prosecute his studies to graduation. He was admitted to the bar in +1840, and from 1845 to 1849 he was Prosecuting Attorney for the county +of Tuscarawas. In 1854 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to +the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Fifth, +Thirty-Sixth, and Thirty-Seventh Congresses. In 1864 he was appointed +a Judge-Advocate in the Army, and Solicitor of the Court of Claims. He +was Assistant Judge-Advocate in the trial of the Assassination +Conspirators, in May, 1865. In 1865 he took his seat for his fifth +term of service in Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress--25, 67, 237, 285, 319, 357, 434, 448, 474, 475, 505, 520, +526, 537. + +JAMES G. BLAINE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1830. +After graduating at Washington College, 1847, he removed to Maine and +became editor of the "Kennebec Journal," and "Portland Advertiser". He +was four years a member of the Maine Legislature, and served two years +as Speaker of the House. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Maine to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was successively re-elected +to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--333, 437, 527, 528, 536. + +HENRY T. BLOW was born in Southampton county, Virginia, July 15, 1817. +In 1830 he removed to Missouri, and goon after graduated at the St. +Louis University. He engaged extensively in the drug and lead +business. He served four years in the Senate of Missouri. In 1861 he +was appointed by President Lincoln Minister to Venezuela, but resigned +the position before the expiration of a year. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by Carman A. Newcomb. + +GEORGE S. BOUTWELL was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, January 28, +1818, and removed to Groton in 1835. He was engaged in mercantile +business as clerk and proprietor for several years, and subsequently +entered the profession of the law. From 1842 to 1850 he was a member +of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1849 and 1850 he was +Bank Commissioner. In 1851 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, +and served two terms. He was a member of the Massachusetts +Constitutional Convention of 1853. He was eleven years a member and +Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and ten years a +member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College. He was appointed +Commissioner of the Internal Revenue, in July, 1862, and organized the +Revenue system. In 1863 he took his seat as a Representative in +Congress from Massachusetts, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth +and Fortieth Congresses. He is the author of a "Manual of the School +System, and School Laws of Massachusetts," "Educational Topics and +Institutions," "A Manual of the Revenue System," and a volume just +published, entitled "Speeches on Reconstruction."--31, 91, 442, 475, +526, 528, 536, 553. + +_BENJAMIN M. BOYER_ was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, +January 22, 1823. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and +adopted the profession of law. In 1848 he was elected District +Attorney for the county of Montgomery. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--54, 438. + +ALLEN A. BRADFORD was born in Friendship, Maine, July 23, 1815. In +1841 he emigrated to Missouri, where he was admitted to the bar in +1843. He held the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court of Atchinson +County, and subsequently removed to Iowa, where he was appointed Judge +of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. Resigning this office in 1855, he went +to Nebraska, and became a member of the Legislative Council. Having, +in 1860, settled in Colorado, he was appointed Judge of the Supreme +Court for that territory, and held this office until he was elected a +delegate to the Thirty-Ninth Congress from Colorado. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by George M. Chilcott. + +AUGUSTUS BRANDEGEE was born in New London, Conn., July 15, 1828. He +graduated at Yale College in 1849, and at the Yale Law School in 1851. +From 1854 to 1861 he served in the Connecticut Legislature, of which +he was Speaker in the latter year. He was a Presidential Elector in +1861, and was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress +from Connecticut in 1863, and was re-elected in 1865. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by Henry H. Starkweather. + +HENRY H. P. BROMWELL was born in Baltimore, Maryland, August 26, 1823. +Having spent seven years of his boyhood in Ohio, he went to Illinois +in 1836, and came to the bar in 1853. He was subsequently an editor, +Judge of a County Court, and Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and in 1866 was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--349, 538. + +_JAMES BROOKS_ was born in Portland, Maine, November 10, 1810. When +eleven years old he became a clerk in a store. At sixteen he was a +school-teacher, and at twenty-one graduated at Waterville College. +After several years spent in traveling and writing letters for the +press, he was, in 1835, elected to the Legislature of Maine. In 1836 +he established the "New York Daily Express," of which he has since +been chief editor. In 1847 he was elected to the General Assembly of +New York. In 1849 and again in 1851 he was elected a Representative in +Congress. In 1863 he was returned to Congress. In December, 1865, he +took his place as a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but held it +only until the 6th of April following, his seat having been +successfully contested by William E. Dodge. In 1866 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Fortieth Congress.--17, 20, 25, +335, 336, 568. + +JOHN M. BROOMALL was born in Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania, in 1816. +Having received a common-school education, he devoted himself to legal +studies and pursuits. In 1861 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1862 +he was elected to represent the Seventh Pennsylvania District in +Congress. Two years later was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--223, 360, 439, 504. + +B. GRATZ BROWN is grandson of John Brown, who was United States +Senator from Kentucky in 1805. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, May +28, 1826. Having graduated at Yale College and studied law, he settled +at St. Louis, Mo., where he edited the "Missouri Democrat," from 1854 +to 1859, and was a member of the State Legislature. He raised a +regiment at the breaking out of the war, which he commanded during its +term of service. He was among the foremost champions of freedom in +Missouri, and was elected a Senator in Congress from that State for +the term commencing in 1863 and ending in 1867. He was succeeded by +Charles D. Drake.--285, 477, 493. + +_CHARLES R. BUCKALEW_ was born in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, +December 28, 1821. He was admitted to practice law in 1843, and was +elected Prosecuting Attorney for his native county in 1845. In 1850 he +was elected a Senator in the State Legislature, which office he held +for a series of years. In 1854 he was a Commissioner to exchange the +ratifications of a treaty with Paraguay. He was a Presidential Elector +in 1856, and Chairman of the State Democratic Committee in 1857. He +was appointed by President Buchanan Minister to Equador in 1858, and +held the position until 1861. He was, in 1863, elected United States +Senator from Pennsylvania for the term ending 1869.--296, 401, 413, +494, 532, 535, 547, 548. + +RALPH P. BUCKLAND was born in Leyden, Massachusetts, January 20, 1812, +and was removed by his parents to Ohio in the same year. From 1831 to +1834 he was clerk in a large cotton commission house in New Orleans. +Returning to Ohio, he took an academical course of study at Kenyon +College. Having studied law, he was admitted to the bar in 1837. He +was a member of the Philadelphia Whig Convention of 1848. In 1855 and +1857 was elected to the Senate of Ohio. In 1861 he was appointed +Colonel of the Seventy-Second Ohio Infantry, and commanded a brigade +in the battle of Shiloh. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier +General, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg. He was +subsequently assigned to the command of the District of Memphis, and +defeated Forrest in his attack on that city. At the close of the war +he was brevetted a Major General of Volunteers. In 1864, while absent +in the field, he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +HEZEKIAH S. BUNDY was born in Marietta County, Ohio, August 15, 1817. +Having been left an orphan when a mere boy, and the support of the +family devolving upon him, his opportunities for attaining an +education were limited. From 1835 to 1846 he was engaged in mercantile +pursuits, and subsequently turned his attention to farming and the +furnace business. Meanwhile he studied law, and was admitted to the +bar in 1850. He served two terms in the House of Representatives of +Ohio, and was, in 1855, elected State Senator. In 1860 he was a +Presidential Elector, and in 1864 he was elected a Representative from +Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by John T. Wilson. + +_WALTER A. BURLEIGH_ was the Delegate from Dakota Territory in the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He received a common-school education, studied +medicine, and practiced his profession for a number of years. He was +subsequently appointed an Indian Agent, and removed to the West. Soon +after the organization of the Territory of Dakota he was elected to +represent its interests in Congress, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress. + +WILLIAM B. CAMPBELL was born in Tennessee, and served as Captain of +mounted Volunteers in the Florida War. He served for some time in the +State Legislature, and was a Representative in Congress from 1837 to +1843. He commanded the first regiment of Tennessee Volunteers in the +Mexican War, and at its close he was elected a Circuit Judge. From +1851 to 1853 he was Governor of Tennessee. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but was +not admitted until July, 1866. He died of disease of the heart at his +residence in Lebanon, Tennessee, August 19, 1867. + +ALEXANDER G. CATTELL was born in Salem, New Jersey, in 1816. He +received a commercial education, and began his business-life, as a +clerk, at the age of thirteen. Before reaching his majority he had +advanced to the head of a large and flourishing business. In 1840 he +was elected to the General Assembly of New Jersey, and in 1844 he was +a member of the Convention called to frame a new Constitution for that +State. He subsequently became the head of the extensive mercantile +house of A. G. Cattell & Co., of Philadelphia. During a residence of +nine years in that city he was several times elected to the City +Council, and was President of the Corn Exchange Association, which, +largely through his exertions, recruited and equipped two and a half +regiments for service in the late war. Having resumed his residence in +New Jersey, he was, in 1866, elected a Senator in Congress from that +State.--569. + +ZACHARIAH CHANDLER was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, December 10, +1813. He received an academical education, and removed to Michigan, +where he engaged extensively in mercantile pursuits and in banking. In +1851 he held the office of Mayor of Detroit. In 1852 he was an +unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Michigan. He entered the United +States Senate, during the Thirty-Fifth Congress, as the successor of +General Cass. In 1863 he was re-elected to the Senate for the term +ending in 1869.--27, 397. + +_JOHN W. CHANLER_ was born in the City of New York in 1826. In 1859 +and 1860 he was a member of the General Assembly of New York. In 1862 +he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--64, 156, 337, 338, 571. + +J. FRANCISCO CHAVES was born in New Mexico in 1833. He studied +medicine in New York, and subsequently devoted several years to +mercantile pursuits and cattle-raising. In 1861 he entered the +military service as Major of the First New Mexico Infantry, and after +seeing much active service was mustered out as Lieutenant-Colonel. In +1865 he was elected a Delegate from New Mexico to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. + +DANIEL CLARK was born in Stratham, New Hampshire, October 24, 1809. He +graduated at Dartmouth College in 1834, and was admitted to the bar in +1837. From 1842 to 1857 he was repeatedly a member of the New +Hampshire Legislature. In 1857 he was elected a Senator in Congress +from New Hampshire, and in 1861 he was re-elected for the term ending +in 1867. At the close of the first session of the Thirty-Ninth +Congress he resigned his seat in the Senate, having been appointed U. +S. District Judge for New Hampshire.--28, 201, 202, 388, 453, 455, +456, 479. + +READER W. CLARKE was born in Bethel, Clermont County, Ohio, May 18, +1812. He learned the art of printing, but subsequently studied law, +and was admitted to the bar in 1836. In 1840 and 1841 he was a member +of the Ohio Legislature. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention +of 1844, and was a Presidential Elector in the same year. For six +years succeeding 1846 he held the office of Clerk of the Courts of +Clermont County. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention of 1860. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +SIDNEY CLARKE was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, October 16, +1831. He adopted the profession of an editor, and published the +"Southbridge Press." He emigrated to Kansas in 1858, and settled in +Lawrence. In 1862 he was a member of the Kansas Legislature. He served +during the rebellion as Captain of Volunteers, and Assistant Provost +Marshal General for Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota. In 1864 he +was elected the Representative from Kansas to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth.--88. + +AMASA COBB was born in Crawford County, Illinois, September 27, 1823. +He emigrated to Wisconsin Territory in 1842, and engaged in the +lead-mining business. He served as a private in the Mexican War, and +at the close of this service he commenced the practice of law. He +served as District Attorney, State Senator, and Adjutant-General of +Wisconsin. He was subsequently a member of the State Legislature, and +was chosen Speaker. He was Colonel of the Fifth Wisconsin Regiment in +the war, and was elected a Representative from Wisconsin to the +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. + +_ALEXANDER H. COFFROTH_ was born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, May 18, +1828. He commenced the practice of law in 1851. He was a delegate to +the Charleston Convention in 1860, and was elected a Representative to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He appeared as a member of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, but his seat was successfully contested by +William H. Koontz. + +SCHUYLER COLFAX was born in New York City, March 23, 1823. He became a +printer, and settled in Indiana, 1836. He was for many years editor +and publisher of the "South Bend Register." In 1850 he was a member of +the Indiana Constitutional Convention. He was a delegate and secretary +of the Whig National Conventions of 1848 and 1852. He was elected a +Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and has +been a member by re-election of each succeeding Congress. He was +elected Speaker of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to +the same office in the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--12, 20, +289, 306, 363, 501, 574, 576. + +ROSCOE CONKLING, son of Alfred Conkling, a member of the Seventeenth +Congress, was born at Albany, in 1828. Having entered the profession +of law, he successively held the offices of District Attorney for +Oneida County and Mayor of Utica. In 1859 he took his seat as a member +of the Thirty-Sixth Congress from New York, and remained a +Representative in Congress by successive re-elections until the 4th of +March, 1867, when he entered the United States Senate as the successor +of Ira Harris.--328, 330, 348, 363, 481, 513, 514. + +JOHN CONNESS was born in Ireland in 1822, and came to America when +thirteen years of age. He was an early emigrant to California, where +he engaged in mercantile and mining pursuits. In 1852 he was elected +to the State Legislature, and served in that capacity for a series of +years. In 1863 he was elected United States Senator from California +for the term ending in 1869.--540. + +BURTON C. COOK was born in Monroe County, New York, May 11, 1819. He +received a collegiate education, and entered upon the profession of +law in Illinois. After serving as State Attorney for six years, he was +elected to the State Senate in 1852, and was a member of that body +until 1860. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress.--223, 350, 351. + +_EDMUND COOPER_ was born in Maury County, Tennessee. He graduated at +the Harvard Law School, and entered upon the practice of law at +Columbia, and afterwards at Shelbyville, Tennessee. He has served in +the Tennessee Legislature, and was a member of the Constitutional +Convention of 1865. In August, 1865, he was elected a Representative +from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but was not admitted +until near the close of the first session. While waiting at Washington +to be admitted to Congress, he acted as Private Secretary to President +Johnson. In November, 1867, he was appointed by the President to act +as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. + +EDGAR COWAN was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, September +19, 1815. He graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, in 1839. Having been +at different times clerk, boat-builder, schoolmaster, and student of +medicine, he studied law and practiced the profession until 1861, when +he was elected United States Senator from Pennsylvania for the term +ending 1867. He was succeeded by Simon Cameron.--96, 100, 133, 135, +195, 216, 273, 429, 460, 487, 489, 496, 535, 564. + +AARON H. CRAGIN was born in Weston, Vermont, February 3, 1821. He +studied law in Albany, New York, and in 1847 removed to Lebanon, New +Hampshire, where he practiced his profession. From 1852 to 1855 he was +a member of the New Hampshire Legislature. He was a Representative +from New Hampshire in the Thirty-Fifth and Thirty-Sixth Congresses. In +1865 he entered the Senate of the United States for the term ending in +1871. + +JOHN A. J. CRESWELL was born in Port Deposit, Maryland, November 18, +1828. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1848, and was admitted to +the bar in 1850. He was successively a member of the Maryland House of +Delegates, Assistant Adjutant-General for the State and a +Representative in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. In 1865 he was chosen a +United States Senator for the unexpired term of T. H. Hicks, +deceased.--134, 136. + +SHELBY M. CULLOM was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, November 27, +1829, and was removed to Illinois, when scarcely a year old, by his +parents, who settled in Tazewell County. He spent two years as a +student at the Mount Morris Seminary. Having studied law, he entered +upon the practice of his profession in Springfield, and was +immediately elected City Attorney. In 1856 he was elected to the State +Legislature, and was re-elected in 1860, and chosen Speaker of the +House. In 1856 was a Fillmore Elector for the State at large. In 1864 +he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. In 1866 he was re-elected by more than double his former +majority.--516. + +CHARLES V. CULVER was born in Logan, Ohio, September 6, 1830. Having +settled in Western Pennsylvania, he engaged in business pursuits, and +especially in banking. He was largely concerned in railroads and other +public enterprises. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from the +Twentieth District of Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He +was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Darwin A. Finney.--575. + +WILLIAM A. DARLING was born in Newark, New Jersey, December 17, 1817. +He shortly after settled in New York City, where he received a +commercial education, and devoted himself to the wholesale business. +He became a Director of the Mercantile Library Association, and served +eleven years as officer and private of the Seventh Regiment, National +Guard. From 1847 to 1854 he was Deputy Receiver of Taxes for New York +City. In 1860 he was a Presidential Elector, and in 1863 and 1864 was +President of the Union and Republican Organization of New York City. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was nominated for the Fortieth Congress, and +was defeated by _Fernando Wood_ by 1600 majority, in a District giving +Hoffman (Dem.) for Governor nearly 6000 majority.--81. + +_GARRETT DAVIS_ was born at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, September 10, +1801. Having received an English and classical education, he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1823. With his professional labors +he joined a considerable attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1833 +he was elected to the Legislature, and was twice re-elected. He was a +member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1839. From the latter +year to 1847 he was in Congress, representing the District in which +Henry Clay resided, of whom he was a warm personal and political +friend. In 1861 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Kentucky, +and was re-elected in 1867.--24, 136, 171, 199, 208, 243, 287, 296, +430, 458, 460, 484, 493, 498, 531, 533, 534, 548, 572. + +THOMAS T. DAVIS was born in Middlebury, Vermont, August 22, 1810. +Having removed to the State of New York, he graduated at Hamilton +College in 1831, and was admitted to the bar in Syracuse in 1833. He +has devoted much attention to business relating to railroads, +manufactures, and mining. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Dennis +McCarthy.--63, 361. + +HENRY L. DAWES was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, October 30, +1816. Having graduated at Yale College in 1839, he engaged +successively in school-teaching, editing a newspaper, and practicing +law. From 1848 to 1853 he was a member of the Legislature of +Massachusetts. In 1853 he was chosen District Attorney for the Western +District of the State, and held the office until 1856, when he was +elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-Fifth +Congress. He has been a member of every subsequent Congress, including +the Fortieth.--30, 478. + +_JOHN L. DAWSON_ was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, February 7, +1813. He was educated at Washington College, adopted the profession of +law, and was, in 1845, appointed by President Polk United States +Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Since 1844 he has +been a member of most of the Democratic National Conventions. In 1850 +he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Second Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Third, in which he served as Chairman of the +Committee on Agriculture, and was the author of the Homestead Bill +which passed in 1854. In 1855 he was appointed by President Pierce +Governor of Kansas, but declined the office. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and +was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by John Covode.--144, 505. + +JOSEPH H. DEFREES was born in White County, Tennessee, May 13, 1812. +When eight years old he removed to Piqua, Ohio, and a few years after, +he entered a printing-office, in which he obtained the most of his +early education. In 1831 he established a newspaper in South Bend, +Indiana, and two years after removed to Goshen, where he engaged in +mercantile pursuits. In 1836 he was elected Sheriff of Elkhart County. +In 1849 he was elected to the House of Representatives of Indiana, and +in 1850 to the State Senate. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is William Williams. + +COLUMBUS DELANO was born in Shoreham, Vermont, in 1809. When eight +years old he removed to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he studied law and +was admitted to the bar in 1831. In 1844 he was elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Twenty-Ninth Congress. In 1860 he was +a delegate to the Chicago Convention. In 1861 he was appointed +Commissary General of Ohio. Two years after he was a member of the +Ohio Legislature. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Baltimore +Republican Convention, and was in the same year elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor +in the Fortieth Congress is _George W. Morgan_.--236, 285 539, 564. + +HENRY C. DEMING was born in Connecticut. He graduated at Yale College +in 1836, and at the Harvard Law School in 1838. He had been a member +of the Lower House and Senate of Connecticut, and for six years Mayor +of Hartford, when in 1861 he went into the war as Colonel of the +Twelfth Connecticut Regiment. He participated in the capture of New +Orleans, and was Mayor of that city until 1868, when he returned to +his native State, and was soon after elected a Representative in the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1865, He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by _Richard D. Hubbard_.--31. + +CHARLES DENISON was born in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, January 23, +1818. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1839, and entered the +profession of law. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in +1864. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _George W. +Woodward_. + +ARTHUR A. DENNY was born in Indiana, in 1822, and removed in boyhood +to Illinois. In 1851 he removed to Washington Territory, and was a +member of the Territorial Legislature from 1853 to 1861. He was four +years Register of the Land Office at Olympia, and was subsequently +elected a Delegate from Washington Territory to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was succeeded by Alvan Flanders in the Fortieth Congress. + +JAMES DIXON was born in Enfield, Connecticut, in 1814. He graduated at +Williams College in 1834, and soon after entered upon the practice of +law. In 1837 he was elected to the Legislature of Connecticut, and was +twice reëlected. He was a Representative in Congress from Connecticut +from 1845 to 1849. In the latter year he was elected to the State +Senate. He was elected United States Senator from Connecticut in 1857, +and was re-elected in 1863.--423, 425, 495, 548. + +NATHAN F. DIXON, son of a Senator of the same name, was born in +Westerly, Rhode Island, May 1, 1812, and graduated at Brown University +in 1833. After attending the Law Schools at New Haven and Cambridge, +he was admitted to the bar in 1837. From 1840 to 1849 he was a member +of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, and after having served in +the Thirty-First Congress, was again elected to the Legislature. In +1863 he was elected a Representative from Rhode Island to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and entered upon his second Congressional term +in 1865. He was in 1866 re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +WILLIAM E. DODGE was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 4, 1805. +Early in life he went to New York City, where he engaged actively, in +business. He has been forty years at the head of one of the most +extensive manufacturing and importing establishments in the country. +He was many years President of the National Temperance Society, and +has long been a prominent promoter of benevolent enterprises in New +York City. Having established his right to the seat held by _James +Brooks_, he was admitted a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress in the +spring of 1866. He was succeeded by _James Brooks_ in the Fortieth +Congress.--511, 568. + +IGNATIUS DONNELLY was born in Philadelphia, November 3, 1831, and was +educated at the Central High School of his native city. He studied law +and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He emigrated to Minnesota in +1857, and two years after was elected Lieutenant Governor of that +State, and held the office two terms. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Minnesota to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--145,156, 333, +507, 238, 553. + +JAMES R. DOOLITTLE was born in Hampton, New York, January 3, 1815. He +graduated at Geneva College in 1834, became a lawyer, and for several +years held the office of District Attorney for Wyoming County. In 1851 +he removed to Wisconsin, and two years after was elected Judge of the +First Judicial Circuit of that State. In 1857 he was elected a United +States Senator from Wisconsin, and in 1863 was re-elected for the term +ending in 1869.--28, 38, 285, 408, 431, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 462, +495, 501, 531, 532, 533, 541, 564. + +JOHN F. DRIGGS was born in Kinderhook, New York, March 8, 1813. He +served an apprenticeship in the sash and door-making business, and +soon after set up as a master mechanic in New York City. He took no +part in politics until 1844, when he assisted in the reform movement +by which James Harper was elected Mayor of New York. He was soon after +appointed Superintendent of Blackwell's Island Penitentiary. In 1856 +he removed to East Saginaw, Michigan, and was two years after elected +President of that town. In 1859 he was elected to the Michigan +Legislature. Two years after he was appointed Register at the Land +Office for the Saginaw District, and held the office until his +election as a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress in 1862. He was returned by increased majorities to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +EBENEZER DUMONT was born in Vevay, Indiana, November 23, 1814. He was +educated at the Indiana University, and adopted the profession of law. +In 1838 he was elected a member of the Indiana Legislature, and from +1839 to 1845 held the office of County Treasurer. He served in the +Mexican War as a Lieutenant Colonel, and was subsequently a member of +the State Legislature, a Presidential Elector, and President of the +State Bank. At the breaking out of the rebellion, he was appointed +Colonel of the Seventh Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and fought in +the battle of Philippi, in West Virginia. Having been promoted to the +rank of Brigadier General, he commanded a brigade at the battle of +Murfreesboro. He was subsequently assigned to the military command of +Nashville, and from that place led an expedition against John Morgan, +capturing nearly all of his command. In 1862, while yet in the army, +he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in the Fortieth +Congress is John Coburn. + +EPHRAIM R. ECKLEY was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, December 9, +1812, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. From 1843 to 1853 he served +in the House of Representatives and in the Senate of Ohio. In the +Civil War he was Colonel of the Twenty-Sixth and Eightieth Regiments +of Ohio Volunteers. He fought in several battles, and at Corinth +commanded a brigade. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio +to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth +and Fortieth.--447. + +GEORGE F. EDMUNDS was born in Richmond, Vermont, February 1, 1828, and +was admitted to the bar in 1849. In 1854 he entered the Vermont +Legislature, and served three years as Speaker. In 1861 and 1862 he +served in the State Senate, and was the Presiding Officer of that +body. He was appointed to the vacancy in the United States Senate +occasioned by the death of Solomon Foot, and entered upon the duties +of that position in April, 1866.--559, 560. + +BENJAMIN EGGLESTON was born in Corinth, New York, January 3, 1816. He +removed to Ohio in 1831, and gave his attention to commercial +pursuits. He has been identified with many important public +enterprises. He was for many years Chairman of the Board of Public +Works of Cincinnati, and President of the City Council. He was for +some years a member of the State Legislature. In 1860 he was a +delegate to the Chicago Convention, and was a Presidential Elector in +the election of that year. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +_CHARLES A. ELDRIDGE_ was born at Bridport, Vermont, February 27, +1821. He removed to the State of New York, where he was admitted to +the bar in 1846. In 1848 he removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and +served in the Senate of that State in 1854 and 1855. In 1862 he was +elected a Representative from Wisconsin to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, +and was returned to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--226, +242, 355, 419, 441, 476, 507, 539, 546. + +THOMAS D. ELIOT was born in Boston, March 20, 1808. Having graduated +at Columbia College, Washington, in 1825, he settled as a lawyer in +New Bedford. Having served in both branches of the Massachusetts +Legislature, he first entered Congress in 1855 for an unexpired term. +In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress, and has been returned to every succeeding +Congress, including the Fortieth.--31, 95, 138, 157 295, 296, 306, +347, 443. + +JOHN F. FARNSWORTH was born of New England parentage, in Eaton, Lower +Canada, March 27, 1820, but was early removed to the Territory of +Michigan. In 1843 he settled in St. Charles, Illinois, and entered +upon the practice of law. In 1846 he left the Democratic Party with +which he had acted, and joined the "Liberty Party." In 1856 and again +in 1858 he was elected to Congress, from what was then known as the +Chicago District. In 1861 he raised the Eighth Illinois Cavalry +Regiment, of which he was Colonel until his promotion to the rank of +Brigadier General. The severe service in which he was engaged in the +Peninsular Campaign brought on a disability which necessitated his +resignation. In the fall of 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Illinois to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864 and +1866, on both occasions receiving the largest majorities given by any +district in the United States.--61, 333, 339, 448, 519, 537. + +JOHN H. FARQUHAR was born in Frederick County, Maryland, December 20, +1818. With his widowed mother he removed to Indiana in 1833, and was +employed as civil engineer upon some of the earliest public +improvements of the State. In 1841 he was elected Secretary of the +Indiana Senate. In 1843 he was Chief Clerk of the Indiana House of +Representatives, and was the same year admitted to the bar in +Brookfield. In 1844 he was a delegate to the National Convention which +nominated Henry Clay. In 1852 he was candidate for Presidential +Elector on the Scott ticket, and in 1860 on the Lincoln ticket. In +1861 he was commissioned a Captain in the Nineteenth United States +Infantry, and was detailed as mustering and disbursing officer for +Indiana. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was succeeded by _William S. Holman_ in the +Fortieth Congress. + +THOMAS W. FERRY was born in Mackinac, Michigan, June 1, 1827. He has +been occupied extensively in the lumber trade and in banking. In 1850 +he was elected to the House of Representatives of Michigan, and in +1856 to the State Senate. For eight years he was an efficient member +of the Republican State Committee, and was a delegate and a +Vice-President of the Chicago Convention of 1860. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and was re-elected in 1866. + +WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, October +16, 1806. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1823, and in 1827 entered +upon the practice of law in Portland, Maine. In 1832 he was a delegate +to the Convention which nominated Henry Clay. In the same year he was +elected to the Maine Legislature, and again in 1840. In 1841 he was +elected a Representative in Congress, and declined a re-election. In +1845, 1846, and 1853 he served his fellow citizens in the State +Legislature. In 1853 he was elected a United States Senator from +Maine, and was re-elected in 1859. Upon the resignation of Mr. Chase +as Secretary of the Treasury, in July, 1864, he was appointed to that +office. On the 4th of March following he resigned his seat in the +Cabinet, and re-entered the United States Senate, to which he had been +elected for the term ending in 1871. In the Senate he has held the +important positions of Chairman of the Finance Committee and of the +Joint Committee on Reconstruction. He has received the degree of LL.D. +from Bowdoin College and Harvard University--27, 42, 136, 271, 224, +373, 377, 380, 394, 412, 419, 431, 432, 453, 456, 540. + +_WILLIAM E. FINCH_ was born in Ohio in 1822, and at the age of +twenty-one was admitted to the bar. In 1851 he was elected to the +State Senate. In the following year he was a delegate to the +Convention which nominated General Scott for President. In 1861 he was +again elected a State Senator. In 1862 he was elected a Representative +from Ohio to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded by _Philadelph Van Trump_ in the +Fortieth Congress.--437, 462, 476, 519. + +GEORGE G. FOGG was a newspaper editor, of New Hampshire, until his +appointment by President Lincoln as United States Minister Resident +for Switzerland. He made a considerable fortune while there by +investing his salary in United States Securities when they were very +low in Europe. At the opening of the second session of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress he took his seat in the Senate, having been +appointed to fill the unexpired term of Daniel Clark, which closed on +the 4th of March, 1867. He was succeeded by James W. Patterson. + +SOLOMON FOOT was born in Cornwall, Vermont, November 19, 1802, and +graduated at Middlebury College in 1826. Having occupied some years in +teaching, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. He was +for many years a member of the State Legislature of Vermont, and State +Attorney. From 1843 to 1847 he was a Representative in Congress. In +1851 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Vermont, was re-elected +in 1857, and again in 1863. For several years he held the office of +President _pro tem._ of the Senate. He died in Washington, March 28, +1866.--253, 269. + +LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER, a lineal descendant of Miles Standish, was born +in Franklin, Connecticut, November 22, 1806. In 1828 he graduated at +Brown University, which honored him with the degree of LL.D. in 1850. +He was admitted to the bar in 1831. He was six times a member of the +Connecticut Legislature, and two years Mayor of the city of Norwich. +In 1855 he was elected a United States Senator for Connecticut, and +was re-elected in 1862. He was chosen President _pro tem._ of the +Senate at the extra session in 1865, and by the elevation of Andrew +Johnson to the Presidency became Acting Vice-President of the United +State. His service of twelve years in the Senate closed March 4, 1887, +when he was succeeded by Orris S. Ferry.--23, 137, 187, 288, 306, 497, +576. + +JOSEPH S. FOWLER was born near Steubenville, Ohio. He was left +dependent on his own resources when very young, but by energy and +perseverance succeeded in attaining a thorough collegiate education. +Having adopted the profession of teaching, he was elected to a college +Professorship of Mathematics in Tennessee. He was subsequently for +some years at the head of a flourishing seminary of learning near +Nashville. He was conspicuous for his staunch loyalty, and when the +State Government passed out of the hands of the rebels he was elected +to the important office of Comptroller of Tennessee. In 1865 he was +elected a Senator in Congress from Tennessee, but with his colleagues +was not admitted to a seat until near the close of the first session +of the Thirty-Ninth Congress.--478. + +FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN was born at Millstone, New Jersey, August +4, 1817. His grandfather, of the same name, was a member of the +Continental Congress, and was a United States Senator from 1793 to +1796. Young Frederick having been left an orphan at an early age was +adopted and reared by his uncle, Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen. He +graduated at Rutgers College, and studied law. He was appointed +Attorney General of New Jersey in 1861, and was re-appointed in 1866. +On the 24th of January, 1867, he took his seat as a United States +Senator from New Jersey having been elected for the unexpired term of +_William Wright_, deceased, which will end March 4, 1869.--492, 497. + +JAMES A. GARFIELD was born in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November +19, 1831. He graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1856, +and was for some years principal of a flourishing Seminary of learning +at Hiram, Ohio. In 1859 and 1860 he was a member of the Ohio Senate. +In 1861 he entered the army as Colonel of the Forty-Second Regiment of +Ohio Volunteers, and in the following year was commissioned a +Brigadier General. He served as Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans. +He fought at the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and Chicamauga. For +gallant service in the last named battle he was promoted to the rank +of Major General. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses.--144, 438, 450, 524, 540, 538, 553, 557. + +_ADAM J. GLOSSBRENNER_ was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, August 31, +1810. He was apprenticed at an early age to the printing-business. +When seventeen years of age he journeyed westward, and became foreman +in the office of the "Ohio Monitor," and afterwards of the "Western +Telegraph." In 1829 he returned to Pennsylvania and settled in York, +and there published the "York Gazette." In 1849 he was elected +Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives for the Thirty-First +Congress, and held the same office through the four following +Congressional terms. In 1861 he was private secretary to President +Buchanan. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress. + +_CHARLES GOODYEAR_ was born in Schoharie County, New York, April 26, +1805. He graduated at Union College in 1824, and entered upon the +practice of law in 1827. In 1839 he was elected to the New York +Legislature, and in 1841 was appointed First Judge of Schoharie +County. In 1845 he was elected a Representative to the Twenty-Ninth +Congress, and twenty years after was elected to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. During the interval he devoted his attention to the business +of banking. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _John V. L. +Pruyn_. + +_HENRY GRIDER_ was born in Kentucky, July 16, 1796. He was a private +in the last war with England. He subsequently divided his attention +between agriculture and law. In 1827 and 1831 he was elected to the +Legislature of Kentucky, and in 1833 to the State Senate. As early as +1843 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Kentucky and +held the position until 1847. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He died before the +expiration of the last term for which he was elected.--417, 570. + +JAMES W. GRIMES was born in Deering, New Hampshire, October 16, 1816. +He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1836, and soon after removed to +Iowa, where he was, in 1838, elected to the first Territorial +Legislature. From 1854 to 1858 he was Governor of Iowa. In 1859 he was +elected a Senator in Congress, and was in 1865 elected for a second +term, which will end in 1871. In 1865 he received the degree of LL.D. +from Iowa College. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of 1861. +For a number of years he has been Chairman of the Committee on Naval +Affairs. + +JOSIAH B. GRINNELL was born in New Haven, Vermont, December 22, 1821. +He received a collegiate and theological education. In 1855, he went +to Iowa, where he turned his attention to farming, and became the most +extensive wool-grower in the State. He was four years a member of the +Iowa Senate, and two years a special agent for the General Post +Office. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was +succeeded by William Loughridge in the Fortieth Congress.--70, 153, +507, 572, 573, 574. + +JOHN A. GRISWOLD was born in Rensselaer County, New York, in 1822. He +has been engaged in the iron trade and business of banking. He was +once Mayor of the City of Troy. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, was +re-elected in 1864, and again in 1866.--523. + +_JAMES GUTHRIE_ was born near Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1795. Having +spent some years in trading with New Orleans as the owner of +flatboats, he settled in Louisville as a lawyer, at the age of +twenty-five. He was at one time shot by a political opponent, and was +in consequence laid up for three years. He served nine years in the +State Legislature and six years in the Kentucky Senate. He +subsequently took an active part in the banking business, and was +President of the Nashville and Louisville Railroad. He was President +of the Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1851. In 1853 he became +Secretary of the Treasury under President Pierce. He was a delegate to +the Chicago Convention of 1864. In 1865 he was elected United States +Senator from Kentucky for the term ending in 1871.--46, 134, 160, 210, +214. + +ROBERT S. HALE was born, in Chelsea, Vermont, September 24, 1822, and +graduated at the University of Vermont in 1842. He settled for the +practice of law at Elizabethtown, New York. He subsequently held the +position of Judge of Essex County, Regent of the University of New +York, and Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Orange Ferris.--82, 372. + +_AARON HARDING_ was born in Greene County, Kentucky. He was admitted +to the bar in 1833. He was elected to the Kentucky Legislature in +1840. In 1861 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the +Thirty-Seventh Congress and was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and +Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _J. +Proctor Knott_.--361, 462. + +ABNER C. HARDING was born in East Hampton, Connecticut, February 10, +1807. He practiced law in the State of New York, and subsequently in +Illinois. He was for many years engaged extensively in farming and +railroad management. In 1848 he was a member of the Illinois +Constitutional Convention, and subsequently of the Legislature. In +1862 he enlisted as a private in the Eighty-Third Illinois Infantry, +and became its Colonel. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier +General. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.--522. + +_BENJAMIN G. HARRIS_ was born in Maryland, December 13, 1806. He was +for a time a student of Yale College, and afterwards studied at the +Cambridge Law School. He returned to his native State and engaged in +the practice of law and agriculture. He served for several years in +the Maryland House of Delegates. In 1863, and again in 1865, he was +elected a Representative to Congress from Maryland. In May, 1865, he +was arrested and tried by court-martial for violating the Fifty-Sixth +Article of War, and was declared guilty; but the President ordered the +sentence of the court to be remitted in full. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by _Frederick Stone_. + +IRA HARRIS was born in Charleston, New York, May 31, 1802. He +graduated at Union College in 1824, and soon after entered upon the +practice of law in Albany, and for many years devoted attention +exclusively to his profession. In 1844 he was elected to the New York +Legislature, and served two terms. In 1846 he was a delegate to the +State Constitutional Convention, and was the same year elected to the +State Senate. In 1847 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, and +held the office twelve years. In 1861 he was elected a Senator in +Congress from New York for the term ending in 1867, when he was +succeeded by Roscoe Conkling. + +ROSWELL HART was born in Rochester, New York, in 1821. He graduated at +Yale College in 1843, and was admitted to the bar in 1847, but entered +immediately upon mercantile pursuits. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is Lewis Selye. + +ISAAC R. HAWKINS was born in Maury County, Tennessee, May 16, 1818. He +was engaged in agricultural pursuits until twenty-two years of age, +when he commenced the study of law. In 1843 he settled, for the +practice of law, in Huntington, Tennessee, where he now resides. He +served as a Lieutenant in the Mexican War. In 1860 he was elected to +the Legislature of Tennessee. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress +of 1861, and in the spring and summer of that year was actively +engaged in making speeches throughout his State against secession. In +September, 1862, he entered the army as Lieutenant-Colonel of the +Seventh Tennessee Cavalry. In 1864 he was captured by the enemy at +Union City, Tennessee, and was imprisoned at Mobile and Macon. He was +one of the fifty officers placed by the rebels under fire of the +Federal force off Charleston. Having been exchanged, he commanded the +cavalry force in Western Kentucky until the close of the war. In +August, 1865, he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822. He +graduated at Kenyon College, and subsequently at the Cambridge Law +School. He was City Solicitor for Cincinnati from 1858 to 1861. He +went into the army at the opening of the war as Major of the +Twenty-Third Ohio Volunteers, and reached the rank of Brigadier +General. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was, in 1866, re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress, but having been elected Governor of Ohio in 1867, he +resigned his seat in Congress, and was succeeded by Samuel F. Carey. + +JAMES H. D. HENDERSON was born in Livingston County, Kentucky, July +23, 1810. In 1817 he removed with his parents to Missouri, and learned +the printing business in Jefferson City. He subsequently published a +weekly newspaper at Bowling Green, Missouri. At the age of twenty-five +he entered the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and +after preaching for a time in Missouri, he accepted the pastoral +charge of a congregation in Pennsylvania. Having held this position +eight years, he resigned in 1851, and soon after emigrated to Oregon. +There he engaged in agricultural pursuits, but was active in preaching +and lecturing against slavery, intemperance, gambling, and other +popular vices. He was elected to the office of Superintendent of +Common Schools for Oregon. In 1864 he was elected the Representative +from Oregon to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded by Rufus +Mallory. + +JOHN B. HENDERSON was born in Virginia, November 16, 1826, and at ten +years of age removed with his parents to Missouri. He taught school as +a means of support while attaining an academical education. He studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He was subsequently twice +elected to the Missouri Legislature. In 1856 he was a Democratic +Presidential Elector, and was a delegate to the Charleston Convention +of 1860. On the expulsion of Trusten Polk from the United States +Senate, he was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1863 he was elected +for the full term, ending in 1869.--161, 377, 382, 386, 388, 461, 530, +531, 533, 534, 559. + +_THOMAS A. HENDRICKS_ was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, September 7, +1819. He was educated at South Hanover College. He studied law at +Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and settled in Indiana for the practice of +his profession. In 1848 he served in the State Legislature, and was a +prominent member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850. In +1851 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana, and +served two terms. In 1855 he was appointed Commissioner of the General +Land Office, and held that office until his resignation in 1859. In +1860 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Indiana, and was +defeated by Henry S. Lane. In 1863 he was elected United States +Senator from Indiana, for the term ending in 1869.--28, 108, 136, 211, +218, 296, 306, 395, 432, 455, 459, 460, 491, 498, 531, 532, 533, 535, +548. + +WILLIAM HIGBY was born in Essex County, New York, August 18, 1813. He +graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, and practiced law in +New York until 1850, when he removed to California. Three years after +he was elected District Attorney of Cavaleras County, and held the +office until 1859. He was subsequently a member of the State Senate. +In 1863 he was elected a Representative from California to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was successively re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--356, 357, 358, 510, 575. + +RALPH HILL was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, October 12, 1827, and +was left in early life entirely dependent upon his own exertions. +After taking an academical course of study, he attended the New York +State and National Law School at Ballston Spa, where he graduated to +the degree of LL.B., in 1851. In the following year he settled in the +practice of his profession at Columbus, Indiana. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. +His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Morton C. Hunter.--356. + +_ELIJAH HISE_ was born in Pennsylvania, and removed in early life to +Lexington, Kentucky. Having studied law, he established himself in +Russellville, Kentucky, for the practice of his profession. He served +as member of the State Legislature and a Judge of the Superior Court +of Kentucky. He was long regarded as one of the moat eloquent and +effective political speakers of Kentucky. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. In May, +1867, he was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, and a few days after +committed suicide, alleging the gloomy political prospects of the +country as a reason for the act. His successor in the Fortieth +Congress is Jacob S. Galladay.--511, 521. + +PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK was born in New Lebanon, New York, November 30, +1831. Having graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1855, he +studied law, and emigrated to Nebraska Territory in 1857. In 1861 he +was appointed by President Lincoln Marshal of the Territory, and held +this office until his election as a Delegate from Nebraska to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. + +_JOHN HOGAN_ was born in Ireland, January 2, 1805, and came with his +father to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1817. He was apprenticed to a +shoemaker, and obtained the rudiments of education in the Asbury +Sunday School. In 1826 he removed to Illinois, where he engaged in +mercantile pursuits. In 1836 he was a member of the State Legislature, +in 1838 Commissioner of the Board of Public Works, and in 1841 +Register of the Land Office by appointment of President Harrison. He +removed to St. Louis, and engaged in mercantile pursuits and banking. +In 1857 he was appointed by President Buchanan Postmaster at St. +Louis. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to Congress from +Missouri, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by William A. +Pile. + +_E. D. HOLBROOK_ was born in Elyria, Ohio, in 1836. Having received a +common-school education, he studied law, and emigrated to Idaho. In +1864 he was elected the Delegate from that Territory to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +SIDNEY T. HOLMES was born in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, New +York, in 1815. He received an academical education, and after having +spent five years in civil engineering, studied law, and entered upon +the practice of his profession in 1841. In 1851 he was elected Judge +and Surrogate for Madison County, and held the office until 1864, when +he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is John C. Churchill. + +SAMUEL HOOPER was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, February 3, 1808. +Having received a commercial education, he established himself as +merchant in Boston. He has long been a partner in the commercial house +of William Appleton & Co. In 1851 he was elected to the Massachusetts +House of Representatives, and in 1857 to the State Senate. In 1861 he +was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of William +Appleton. He has been re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, +and Fortieth Congresses.--30. + +GILES W. HOTCHKISS is a member of the bar in Binghamton, New York. In +1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by William S. Lincoln.--523, 538. + +JACOB M. HOWARD was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, July 10, 1805, and +graduated at Williams College in 1830. Having taught in an academy and +studied law in Massachusetts, he removed to Michigan in 1832. In 1838 +he was a member of the State Legislature, and in 1841 was elected a +Representative in Congress from Michigan. He subsequently served for +six years as Attorney General of the State. In 1862 he was elected to +a vacancy in the United States Senate, and in 1865 he was re-elected +for the term ending in 1871.--36, 196, 398, 423, 453, 455, 530. + +TIMOTHY O. HOWE was born in Livermore, Maine, February 7, 1816. Having +received an academical education at the Readfield Seminary, he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was elected to the +Legislature of Maine in 1845, and in the same year removed to Green +Bay, Wisconsin. Five years after he was elected a Circuit Judge, and +held the office until his resignation in 1855. In 1861 he was elected +a Senator in Congress from Wisconsin, and was re-elected in +1867.--421, 459. + +ASAHEL W. HUBBARD was born in Haddam, Connecticut, January 18, 1819. +In 1838 he removed to Indiana, and engaged in school-teaching. He +entered upon the profession of law in 1841, and was in 1847 elected to +the Indiana Legislature, in which he served three terms. He removed to +Iowa in 1857, and was soon after elected Judge of the Fourth Judicial +District of that State. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Iowa to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +CHESTER D. HUBBARD was born in Hamden, Connecticut, November 25, 1814. +In the following year he was removed to Pennsylvania, and thence to +Wheeling, Virginia, in 1819. Having graduated at Wesleyan University, +Connecticut, in 1840, he returned to Wheeling, and engaged actively in +business pursuits. In 1852 he was elected to the lower House of the +Virginia Legislature. He was a delegate to the Richmond Convention +which passed the ordinance of secession, and opposed that movement +with so much ardor that he was expelled from the Convention. He was a +member of the Wheeling Convention which organized the restored +government of Virginia, and after the formation of the new State of +West Virginia, was elected to the State Senate. He was elected a +Representative from West Virginia to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +DEMAS HUBBARD was born in Winfield, New York, January 17, 1806. Having +received an academic education he gave his attention to farming and +the practice of law. He was for many years a member and Chairman of +the Board of Supervisors of Chenango County, and from 1838 to 1840 was +a member of the New York Legislature. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is William C. Fields. + +JOHN H. HUBBARD was born in Salisbury, Connecticut, in 1805. He was +brought up a farmer and received a common-school education. He was +admitted to the bar in 1826. He was five years Prosecuting Attorney +for Litchfield County, and two terms a member of the State Senate. In +the spring of 1863 he was elected a Representative from Connecticut to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1865. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _William H. Barnum_.--148. + +_EDWIN N. HUBBELL_ was born in Coxsackie, New York, August 13, 1813. +Having received an academical education, he gave his attention to +manufacturing and farming, and held for some time the office of County +Supervisor. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New York to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress +by Thomas Cornell. + +JAMES R. HUBBELL was born in Delaware County, Ohio, in 1824. Having +received a common-school education, he studied and practiced the +profession of law. He served four terms in the House of +Representatives of Ohio, of which he was twice the Speaker. In 1856 he +was a Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress, by Cornelius S. Hamilton, deceased. + +CALVIN T. HULBURD was born in Stockholm, New York, June 5, 1809. After +having graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and studied law at +Yale College, he engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1842 he was +elected to the Legislature of New York, and was twice re-elected. In +1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +JAMES HUMPHREY was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, October 9, 1811, +and in 1831 graduated at Amherst College, of which his father, Rev. +Heman Humphrey, was President. After having been principal of an +academy in Connecticut, he studied law, and commenced the practice of +his profession in Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained only one +year. In 1838 he removed to the City of New York for the practice of +the law. In 1859 he was elected a member of Congress, and served one +term. After remaining in private life a few years, he was elected a +member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but died before its close, on the +16th June, 1866.--570. + +_JAMES M. HUMPHREY_ was born in Erie County, New York, September 21, +1819. He received a common-school education and studied law. From 1857 +to 1859 he was District Attorney at Buffalo. He was a member of the +State Senate from 1862 to 1865, when he was elected a Representative +from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the +Fortieth. + +_JOHN W. HUNTER_, a banker of Brooklyn, New York, was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress to fill the +vacancy occasioned by the death of James Humphrey. He took his seat +December 4, 1866. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _William +E. Robinson_.--515. + +EBEN C. INGERSOLL was born in Oneida County, New York, December 12, +1831. He removed with his father to Illinois in 1843. Having received +an academical education at Paducah, Kentucky, he studied law, and +located in Peoria, Illinois, for the practice of his profession. In +1856 he was elected to the Illinois Legislature. He served as Colonel +of Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War. On the death of Owen Lovejoy, +March 25, 1864, he was elected a Representative from Illinois for the +remainder of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--521. + +THOMAS A. JENCKES was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1818. +Having graduated at Brown University in 1838, he entered upon the +profession of law. In 1863 he was elected a Representative from Rhode +Island to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 320, 332, 340, 554. + +_PHILIP JOHNSON_ was born in Warren County, New Jersey January 17, +1818, and removed to Pennsylvania in 1839. He was educated at +Lafayette College, and having studied law, he was admitted to the bar +in 1848. He was two years a member of the State Legislature, and was +Chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1857. In 1860 he was +elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress, and was subsequently twice re-elected. He died before the +expiration of the term for which he was elected as a member of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress.--90, 570. + +_REVERDY JOHNSON_ was born in Annapolis, Maryland, May 21, 1796. He +was educated at St. John's College, in his native town, and studied +law with his father. The first office which he held was that of State +Attorney. In 1817 he removed to Baltimore for the practice of his +profession, and was three years after appointed Chief Commissioner of +Insolvent Debtors. In 1821 he was elected to the Senate of Maryland, +and was re-elected for a second term. In 1845 he was elected a Senator +in Congress from Maryland, but resigned in 1849 to accept the position +of Attorney General, to which he had been appointed by President +Taylor. Subsequently he devoted many years to the uninterrupted +practice of his profession. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of +1861, and was in the following year elected a United States Senator +from Maryland for the term ending in 1869.--24, 36, 96, 136, 163, 198, +203, 264, 270, 271, 384, 427, 454, 455, 461, 492, 528, 532, 533, 534, +547. + +_MORGAN JONES_ was born in New York City, February 26, 1832, and was +educated at the school of St. James' Church. He adopted the business +of a plumber, which he conducted in the City of New York. He served as +a City Councilman for several years, and was subsequently elected a +member of the Board of Aldermen, of which he was made President. In +1864 he was elected a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _John Fox_. + +GEORGE W. JULIAN was born in Wayne County, Indiana, May 5, 1817. After +spending three years as school-teacher, he studied law, and commenced +the practice of the profession in 1840. In 1845 he was a member of the +State Legislature. Having become an earnest advocate of anti-slavery +principles, he attended the Buffalo Convention of 1848, which +nominated Van Buren and Adams, and subsequently, as a candidate for +Presidential Elector on their ticket made a laborious canvass of his +district. In 1849 he was Representative in Congress from Indiana. In +1852 he was a candidate for Vice-President of the United States on the +ticket with John P. Hale. In 1860 he was re-elected Representative in +Congress, and has since been a member of the Thirty-Eighth, +Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 74, 364, 516, 553, 554. + +JOHN A. KASSON was born near Burlington, Vermont, January 11, 1822. +Having graduated at the University of Vermont, he studied law in +Massachusetts, and practiced the profession for a time in St. Louis, +Missouri. In 1857 he removed to Iowa, and was appointed a Commissioner +to report upon the condition of the Executive Departments of Iowa. In +1861 he was appointed Assistant Postmaster-General, but resigned the +position in the following year, when he was elected a Representative +to Congress from Iowa. He was re-elected in 1864 to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Grenville M. +Dodge.--72, 363, 525. + +WILLIAM D. KELLEY was born in Philadelphia in the spring of 1814. He +was left an orphan when very young, dependent for support and +education wholly upon his own resources. Having been errand-boy in a +book-store, and copy-reader in a printing-office, in his fourteenth +year he apprenticed himself in a jewelry establishment. Having learned +his trade, he removed to Boston, where he remained four years working +at his trade, and giving, meanwhile, considerable time to reading and +study. Returning to Philadelphia, he studied law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1841. From 1846 for a period of ten years he held the +office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia. In 1856, +on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he left the Democratic +party, and became the Republican candidate for Congress, but was +defeated. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Republican +Convention, and was, in the fall of the same year, elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and +was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth +Congresses.--51, 58, 79, 348, 349, 438, 526. + +JOHN R. KELSO was born in Franklin County, Ohio, March 23, 1831. At +the age of nine years he removed with his parents to North-western +Missouri, then a wilderness. After surmounting great obstacles he +succeeded in obtaining an education, and graduated at Pleasant Ridge +College in 1858. He soon after became principal of an academy at +Buffalo, Missouri. On the breaking out of the rebellion he was the +first in his county to volunteer in defense of the Union, and +immediately took the field as captain of a company of daring and +enterprising men. With his company he was detailed to hunt the +bushwhackers, who, from their hiding-places, were committing the most +atrocious outrages upon the loyal people. His name became a terror to +the rebels and guerrillas of the Southwest. He took part in over sixty +fierce conflicts, and in personal encounter killed twenty-six armed +rebels with his own hand. At the close of his service in the war he +was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He declined renomination, and resumed his profession of +teaching in Springfield, Missouri. His successor in the Fortieth +Congress is Joseph J. Gravelly. + +_MICHAEL C. KERR_ was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania, March 15, +1827. He was left an orphan at the age of twelve years, and through +his own exertions obtained an academical education. He taught school +for a time, and, in 1851, graduated in the Law Department of the +University of Louisville, and soon after located in New Albany, +Indiana. In 1856 he was elected to the Legislature of Indiana, and +served two terms. In 1862 he was elected reporter of the decisions of +the Supreme Court, and held the office two years, publishing five +volumes of reports. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from +Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress.--147, 236, 362, 510. + +JOHN H. KETCHAM was born in Dover, New York, December 21, 1831. Having +received an academical education, he devoted his attention to +agricultural pursuits. In 1856 and 1857 he was a member of the New +York House of Representatives, and of the State Senate in 1860 and +1861. He entered the military service in 1862 as Colonel of the One +Hundred and Fiftieth New York Regiment, and became a Brigadier General +by brevet. He resigned his position in the army in March, 1865, having +been elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--31. + +SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD was born in Hartford County, Maryland, December 20, +1813, and received an academical education in Washington. Having +removed to Ohio he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. +He was four years Prosecuting Attorney for Richland County, and was a +member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1850. Having removed +to Iowa, he was elected to the State Senate in 1856. He was Governor +of Iowa from 1860 to 1864, and, in January, 1866, he was elected a +United States Senator from Iowa for the unexpired term of James +Harlan, ending in 1867, at which date he was succeeded by his +predecessor, who was re-elected.--487. + +WILLIAM H. KOONTZ, a lawyer by profession, was elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He +successfully contested the seat taken by Alexander H. Coffroth, and +was admitted near the close of the first session. He was, in 1866, +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--508. + +ANDREW J. KUYKENDALL was born in Gallatin County, Illinois, March 3, +1815, and became a lawyer. From 1842 to 1846 he was a member of the +Illinois House of Representatives, and was, from 1850 to 1852, a +member of the State Senate. He was Major of the Thirty-First Illinois +Infantry, but resigned on account of ill health in the early part of +the war. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to Congress from +Illinois, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Green B. +Raum. + +ADDISON H. LAFLIN was born in Lee, Massachusetts, October 24, 1823. He +graduated at Williams College in 1843. He afterward settled in +Herkimer County, New York, and became engaged extensively in the +manufacture of paper. In 1857 he was elected State Senator. In 1864 he +was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1866. + +HENRY S. LANE was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, February 24, +1811. After having obtained an academical education, he studied law, +and removed to Indiana, where he engaged in the practice of his +profession. In 1837 he was elected to the Indiana Legislature. In 1840 +he was elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana. He served +under General Taylor in the Mexican War as Lieutenant-Colonel of +Volunteers. He was President of the first Republican National +Convention which met in Philadelphia, July 4, 1856. In 1861 he was +elected Governor of Indiana, but resigned the office two days after +his inauguration to accept the position of Senator in Congress, to +which he was elected for the term ending in 1867. He was succeeded by +Oliver P. Morton.--213, 381, 383, 499, 532. + +JAMES H. LANE was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, June 22, 1814. He +served as a soldier through the Mexican War, and soon after his return +in 1849 was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana. He was an active +Democratic politician, and as such was elected a Representative in +Congress from Indiana in 1853. Soon after the close of his +Congressional term, he went to Kansas, where he actively aided in the +work of erecting a Free-State Government. He was President of the +Topeka and the Leavenworth Constitutional Conventions, and was elected +by the people Major General of the Free-State Troops. On the admission +of Kansas into the Union, he was elected a Senator in Congress from +that State. Soon after the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was +appointed by President Lincoln a Brigadier General of Volunteers. He +was a member of the Baltimore Convention of 1864. In 1865 he was +re-elected by the Legislature of Kansas a Senator in Congress. On the +1st of July, 1866, while at Fort Leavenworth on leave of absence from +the Senate on account of ill-health, he committed suicide.--171, 201, +279, 284, 285, 457, 569. + +GEORGE R. LATHAM was born in Prince William County, Virginia, March 9, +1832. He engaged in teaching school, and while in that employment +studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. During the +Presidential Campaign of 1860, he edited a paper in Grafton, Virginia. +At the breaking out of the Rebellion, he entered the army as Captain, +and became Colonel of the Second Virginia Volunteers. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from West Virginia to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Bethuel M. +Kitchen. + +GEORGE V. LAWRENCE, whose father, Joseph Lawrence, was a member of +Congress, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1818. He +received a liberal education at Washington College, and engaged in +agricultural pursuits. He was in 1844 elected a member of the +Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and was three times re-elected. +He served five terms in the State Senate, of which, during his last +term of service, he was the Presiding Officer. In 1864 he was elected +a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +was re-elected in 1866. + +WILLIAM LAWRENCE was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, June 26, 1819. He +graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, in 1838, and subsequently taught +school in McConnellsville. In 1840 he graduated in the Law Department +of Cincinnati College. In 1841 he located in Bellefontaine, Ohio, for +the practice of law. In 1842 he was appointed Commissioner of +Bankrupts for Logan County. In 1845 he was elected Prosecuting +Attorney, and in the same year became proprietor of the "Logan +Gazette," of which he was two years the editor. In 1846 he was elected +a Representative in the Legislature, and was re-elected in the +following year. In 1849 and 1850 he was a member of the Ohio Senate, +and again in 1854, having in the interval held the office of Reporter +for the Supreme Court. He was the originator of many legislative acts +of great importance to the State, among the rest one relating to land +titles, known as "Lawrence's Law," and the _Ohio Free Banking Law_, +similar in some respects to the existing National Banking Law. In 1854 +he was one of the signers to a call for a State Convention in +opposition to the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill." In 1856 he was elected a +Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1861 was re-elected for a +term of five years. In 1862 he had command as Colonel of the +Eighty-Fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers for three months. In +September, 1863, President Lincoln gave him the commission of Judge of +the U. S. District Court of Florida, which he declined. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +in 1866 he was re-elected.--343, 345, 520. + +_FRANCIS C. Le BLOND_ was born in Ohio, and became a lawyer. In 1851 +and in 1853 he was elected to the State Legislature and served as +Speaker. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in +the Fortieth Congress is _William Mungen_.--243, 306, 519, 538, 547. + +JOHN W. LEFTWICH was born in Bedford County, Virginia, September 7, +1826. He removed with his parents to Tennessee in 1834, and was +occupied in farm work in summer, and attending school in winter, until +twenty years of age. He served as a private in the Mexican War, and on +his return attended the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, +where he graduated in 1850. He practiced medicine in Middle Tennessee +two years, and then removed to Memphis, where he was occupied with +mercantile pursuits until the breaking out of the war. Being loyal to +the Union, he found it necessary after the battle of Fort Donaldson to +cross the Federal lines. After the occupation of Memphis by the +Federal forces in June, 1862, he returned to find that his personal +property had been confiscated by the rebels. He resumed business, +however, and was elected President of the Memphis Chamber of Commerce +on its reörganization. He was elected a Representative from Tennessee +to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, to which, with his colleagues, he was +admitted in July, 1866. He was nominated for re-election by the +"Conservative Party," and was defeated by David A. Nunn. + +BENJAMIN F. LOAN was born in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, in 1819. In 1838 +he removed to Missouri and engaged in the practice of law. At the +breaking out of the rebellion he entered the army, and was appointed +Brigadier General. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Missouri to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +JOHN W. LONGYEAR was born in Shandaken, Ulster County, New York, +October 22, 1820. Having acquired an academical education, he removed +to Michigan in 1844. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in +1846. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in +the Fortieth Congress is Austin Blair.--447. + +JOHN LYNCH was born in Portland, Maine, February 15, 1825. After +receiving an academical education he entered upon mercantile pursuits +in his native city. After serving two years in the State Legislature +he was, in 1864, elected a Representative from Maine to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +_SAMUEL S. MARSHALL_ was born in Illinois, and was educated at +Cumberland College, Kentucky. He devoted himself to the practice of +law in Illinois, and was elected to the State Legislature in 1846. He +served two years as State Attorney, and, in 1851, was elected a Judge +of the Circuit Court, and held the office until 1854, when he was +elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Fourth Congress +and was re-elected in 1856. He was a delegate to the Chicago +Democratic Convention of 1864, and was the same year elected, a +Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected in +1866.--148, 352. + +GILMAN MARSTON was born in Orford, New Hampshire. In 1837 he graduated +at Dartmouth College, and in 1840 at the Dane Law School. He commenced +the practice of law in the following year, in 1845 he was elected to +the New Hampshire Legislature, and served four years. In 1859 he was +elected a Representative from New Hampshire to the Thirty-Sixth +Congress, and was re-elected in 1861. In June, 1861, he was appointed +Colonel of the Second Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, and in +1863 was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He participated in +many battles, and on the fall of Richmond retired from the army. Early +in 1865 he was re-elected a Representative in Congress from New +Hampshire. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Jacob H. +Ela.--31. + +JAMES M. MARVIN was born in Ballston, New York, February 27, 1809. He +spent his boyhood on a farm, and received an academical education. +When not in public life he has been occupied in managing a large +estate. In 1846 he was elected to the Legislature of New York, and +subsequently held, for three terms, the office of County Supervisor. +In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +HORACE MAYNARD was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, August 30, +1814. He graduated at Amherst College in 1838. Soon after, he removed +to Tennessee, and was appointed Professor of Mathematics in the +University of East Tennessee. While holding this position he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He was a Presidential +Elector in 1852, and in 1856 was elected a Representative from +Tennessee to the Thirty-Fifth Congress, and was twice re-elected. He +was in Washington as a member of the Thirty-Seventh Congress when the +rebels took possession of Tennessee. His property was confiscated, and +his family was driven from their home in East Tennessee. He was a +delegate to the Baltimore Republican Convention of 1864, and was the +same year re-elected a Representative from Tennessee to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was admitted to his seat in July, 1866. He +was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--17, 434, 478, 480, 506, 527. + +JOSEPH W. McCLURG was born in St. Louis County, Missouri, February 22, +1818, and was educated at Miami University, Ohio. He subsequently +spent two years as a teacher in Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1841 he +went to Texas, where he was admitted to the bar, and became Clerk of a +Circuit Court. In 1844 he settled in Missouri as a merchant. At the +outbreak of the civil war he suffered severe losses at the hands of +rebels, and abandoning his business he served for a time as Colonel of +Cavalry. He was a member of the Missouri State Convention of 1862, and +was in that year elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864 and 1866. + +_HIRAM McCULLOUGH_ was born in Cecil County, Maryland, September 20, +1813. He was educated at the Elkton Academy, studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1838. From 1845 to 1851 he was a member of the +Maryland Senate. In 1852 he was appointed by the Legislature one of +the codifiers of the laws of Maryland, and aided in making the present +code of that State. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from +Maryland to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +JAMES A. McDOUGALL was born at Bethlehem, New York, November 19, 1817, +and was educated at the Albany Grammar School. He assisted in the +survey of the first railroad ever built in this country. In 1837 he +removed to Illinois and engaged in the practice of law. In 1842 he was +chosen Attorney General of Illinois, and two years after was +re-elected. In 1849 he originated and accompanied an exploring +expedition to the far West. He soon after emigrated to California, and +in 1850 was elected Attorney General of that State. From 1853 to 1855 +he served as a Representative in Congress from California. In 1861 he +was elected United States Senator for California for the term ending +with the expiration of the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He died in Albany, +New York, in the summer of 1867.--136, 137, 163, 277, 287, 432, 461, +533, 535. + +WALTER D. McINDOE was born in Scotland, March 30, 1819. He emigrated +to New York City in his fifteenth year, and was a clerk in that city, +and afterwards in Charleston and St. Louis. He subsequently settled in +Wis-' cousin, and engaged in the lumber trade. In 1850 he was a member +of the Wisconsin Legislature, and was twice re-elected. In 1856, and +in 1860, he was a Presidential Elector. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Wisconsin to fill a vacancy in the Thirty-Seventh +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth +Congresses. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Cadwalader C. +Washburn. + +SAMUEL McKEE was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, November 4, +1833. In 1858 he graduated at the Miami University, Ohio, and +afterwards at the Cincinnati Law School in 1858. He subsequently +practiced law until 1862, when he entered the Union army as Captain of +the Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry. He was thirteen months a prisoner in +Libby Prison. In 1865 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress.--152, 361, 441. + +DONALD McRUER was born in Maine in 1826. He received an academical +education, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Removing to California, +he settled in San Francisco. He held for some time the office of +Harbor Commissioner for that State. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from California to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was +succeeded by _Samuel B. Axtell_ in the Fortieth Congress. + +ULYSSES MERCUR was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1818. He +graduated at Jefferson College, in 1842, and was admitted to the bar +in the following year. In 1861 he was elected President Judge of the +Thirteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, for a term of ten years, +but resigned in 1864 when he was elected a Representative from +Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. In 1866 he was re-elected +to the Fortieth Congress. + +GEORGE F. MILLER was born in Chilisquaque, Northumberland County, +Pennsylvania, September 5, 1809. Having obtained an academical +education, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He was +for several years Secretary of the Lewisburg University. He took an +active interest in local politics, but frequently declined nominations +for County and State offices. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in +1866.--443, 510. + +JAMES K. MOORHEAD was born in Pennsylvania, in 1806. He spent his +youth on a farm and as an apprentice to a tanner. He was a contractor +for building the Susquehanna branch of the Pennsylvania Canal, on +which he originated a passenger packet line. In 1836 he removed to +Pittsburg, where he became President of a company for the improvement +of the navigation of the Monongahela, and subsequently was President +of several telegraph companies. In 1859 he was re-elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Sixth Congress from Pennsylvania, and has +been re-elected to every succeeding Congress, including the +Fortieth.--31. + +EDWIN D. MORGAN was born in Washington, Massachusetts, February 8, +1811. At the age of seventeen he became a clerk, and three years later +a partner in a wholesale grocery house in Hartford, Connecticut. In +1836 he settled in New York City, and embarked extensively in +mercantile pursuits. In 1849 he was chosen an Alderman of the city, +and soon after was elected a member of the State Senate, in which he +served two terms. Since 1856 he has been Chairman of the National +Republican Committee. In 1858 he was elected Governor of New York, and +re-elected in 1860. During his administration, 223,000 troops were +sent into the field from New York. Governor Morgan was appointed by +President Lincoln a Major General of Volunteers. In 1863 he was +elected United States Senator from New York for the term ending in +1869. + +JUSTIN S. MORRILL was born in Strafford, Vermont, April 14, 1810. He +received an academical education, and subsequently gave his attention +to mercantile and agricultural pursuits. In 1854 he was elected a +Representative from Vermont to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. In 1867 he became a United +States Senator from Vermont for the term ending in 1873, succeeding +Luke P. Poland, who became the successor of Mr. Morrill as a +Representative in the Fortieth Congress.--17, 19, 29, 555. + +LOT M. MORRILL was born at Belgrade, Maine, in 1815. He studied at +Waterville College, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. In 1854 he +was a member of the Maine Legislature, and in 1856 he was President of +the State Senate. In 1858 he was elected Governor of Maine, and was +twice re-elected. In 1861 he was elected United States Senator from +Maine for the unexpired term of Vice-President Hamlin. In 1863 he was +re-elected to the Senate for the term ending in 1869.--28, 204, 205, +207, 408, 484, 485, 489, 530. + +DANIEL MORRIS was born in Seneca County, New York, January 4, 1812. He +was bred a farmer, taught school for a time, and finally became a +lawyer. Having been District Attorney for Yates County, and member of +the State Legislature, he was in 1862 elected a Representative from +New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and in 1864 was re-elected. +His successor in the Fortieth Congress is William H. Kelsey. + +SAMUEL W. MOULTON was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, January 20, +1822. Having acquired a common-school education, at the age of twenty +he emigrated to the West, and spent a year at Covington, Kentucky, +where he commenced the study of law. He subsequently went to +Mississippi, where he taught school, and continued the study of law. +In 1845 he settled in Illinois, and soon after commenced the practice +of law. In 1852 he was elected to the Legislature of Illinois, and was +continuously re-elected until 1859. He was the author of the +Free-School System of Illinois. He held the position of Chairman of +the Board of Education for a number of years. He was a candidate for +Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket in 1856. On the breaking +out of the Rebellion he joined the Republican party, and was in 1863 +elected President of the Union League of Illinois. In 1864 he was +elected Representative from the State at large to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded by John A. Logan in the Fortieth +Congress.--149. + +LEONARD MYERS was born in Attleborough, Pennsylvania, November 13, +1827. Having entered the profession of law, and settled in +Philadelphia, he became Solicitor for two municipal districts in that +city. He digested the ordinances for the consolidation of the city, +and has translated several works from the French. In 1862 he was +elected a member of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to +the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +_JAMES W. NESMITH_ was born in Washington County, Maine, July 23, +1820. When quite young, he removed to New Hampshire, emigrated to Ohio +in 1838, subsequently spent some time in Missouri, and finally settled +in Oregon in 1843. In 1853 he was appointed United States Marshal for +Oregon. In 1857 he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for +Oregon and Washington Territories. In 1861 he became United States +Senator from Oregon for the term ending in 1867, when he was succeeded +by Henry W. Corbett. + +WILLIAM A. NEWELL is a native of Ohio, and a graduate of Rutger's +College. He studied medicine, and took up his residence in Allentown, +New Jersey. He was a member of Congress from that State from 1847 to +1851. In 1856 he was elected Governor of New Jersey, and held the +office till 1860. He was again elected a Representative to Congress in +1864, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _Charles Haight_. + +_WILLIAM E. NIBLACK_ was born in Dubois County, Indiana, May 19, 1822, +and spent his early life on a farm. He attended the Indiana University +at intervals during three years, and afterwards devoted some time to +surveying and civil engineering. In 1845 he commenced the practice of +law, and in 1849 he was elected a Representative in the State +Legislature. In the following year he was elected to the State Senate. +In January, 1854, he was appointed Judge of the Third Judicial +Circuit, to fill a vacancy, and was, in the following fall, elected to +the office for the term of six years. In 1857 he was elected a +Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Fifth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1859. After the close of the Thirty-Sixth Congress he +served one term in the State Legislature. In 1864 he was again elected +a Representative in Congress from Indiana, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress.--526. + +_JOHN A. NICHOLSON_ was born in Laurel, Delaware, November 17, 1827. +Having graduated at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, he studied law, +and settled in Dover, Delaware, where he was admitted to the bar in +1850. In 1865 he entered Congress as a Representative from Delaware, +and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--361. + +THOMAS E. NOELL was born in Perryville, Missouri, April 3, 1839. He +was admitted to the bar at nineteen years of age, and practiced until +1861, when he was appointed a Military Commissioner for the arrest of +disloyal persons. He subsequently went into the ranks of the State +militia, and reached the rank of Major. In 1862 he was appointed a +Captain in the Nineteenth Regiment of Regular United States Infantry. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +DANIEL S. NORTON was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, April 12, 1829. After +being educated at Kenyon College, he served in the Mexican War. He +subsequently went to California, and thence to Nicaragua, where he +spent a year. Returning to Ohio, he studied law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1852. He emigrated to Minnesota in 1855, and was, two years +after, elected to the State Senate, to which he was three times +re-elected. In 1865 he was elected a Senator in Congress from +Minnesota for the term ending in 1871. + +JAMES W. NYE was born in Madison County, New York, June 10, 1815, and +entered the profession of law. In 1861 he was appointed by President +Lincoln Governor of Nevada Territory. He held this office until the +admission of Nevada into the Union, when he was elected a Senator from +the new State for the term ending in 1871.--425, 457. + +CHARLES O'NEILL was born in Philadelphia, March 21, 1821. Having +graduated at Dickinson College, and studied law, he was admitted to +the bar in 1843. He served five years in the House of Representatives +and Senate of Pennsylvania. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress. In 1865 he entered upon his second term in +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +GODLOVE S. ORTH was born near Lebanon, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1817. +He was educated at the Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. In 1839 he +was admitted to the bar, and removed to Indiana, locating in +Lafayette. In 1843 he was elected to the Indiana Senate, and served +six years. A part of the time he was President of that body. In 1848 +he was a Whig candidate for Presidential Elector. In 1861 he was a +member of the "Peace Congress." In 1862, Indiana being threatened with +a sudden invasion, the Governor made a call for volunteers to meet the +emergency. Mr. Orth immediately responded with two hundred men, who +elected him their Captain. He was placed in command of the U. S. Ram +"Horner," which cruised the Ohio river, and did much to restore and +maintain quiet along its shores. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--336. + +HALBERT E. PAINE was born at Chardon, Ohio, February 4, 1826. Having +graduated at the Western Reserve College in 1845, he studied law, and +located in Cleveland. In 1857 he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He +entered the army in 1861 as Colonel of the Fourth Wisconsin Regiment, +and soon rose to the rank of Brigadier General. He lost a leg in June, +1863, at the last assault on Port Hudson. Resigning his commission in +1865, he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress +from Wisconsin, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--504, +506. + +_DAVID T. PATTERSON_ was born at Cedar Creek, Green County, Tennessee, +February 28, 1819. He was educated at Meadow Creek Academy and +Greenville College. He followed for some time the business of a +paper-maker, but gave attention to the study of law, and was admitted +to the bar in 1841, and practiced in Greenville. Here he married a +daughter of Andrew Johnson. In 1854 he was elected Judge of the First +Judicial Circuit of Tennessee. In May, 1865, he was elected a United +States Senator from Tennessee for the term ending in 1869. After a +protracted consideration and discussion of his case, he was sworn in +near the close of the first session of the Thirty-Ninth +Congress.--478, 482. + +JAMES W. PATTERSON was born in Hanniker, New Hampshire, July 2, 1823. +He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1848. He was Professor of +Mathematics in Dartmouth College from 1854 to 1859, and was then +transferred to the chair of Astronomy and Meteorology. He was four +years Secretary of the Board of Education of New Hampshire, and in +1862 he was a member of the State Legislature. He was elected a +Representative from New Hampshire to the Thirty-Eighth and +Thirty-Ninth Congresses. At the expiration of the latter Congress he +became United States Senator from Vermont for the term ending in 1873. + +SIDNEY PERHAM was born in Woodstock, Maine, March 27, 1819. Until his +thirty-fourth year he was a farmer and a teacher. In 1852 he was +elected a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and served two +years. In 1855 he was a member of the Maine Legislature, and +officiated as Speaker. In 1856 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1858 +he was elected Clerk of a County Court, which position he held until +1862, when he was elected a Representative from Maine to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +CHARLES E. PHELPS was born in Guilford, Vermont, May 1, 1833. Having +graduated at Princeton College in 1853, he came to the Maryland bar in +1855. In 1862 he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Maryland +Volunteers, and was discharged, on account of wounds, in 1864. He was +elected a Representative from Maryland to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and was re-elected in 1866.--156. + +FREDERICK A. PIKE was born in Calais, Maine, where he now resides. He +adopted the profession of law, and served some time as Attorney for +the County. He was several years a member, and during one term +Speaker, of the Maine House of Representatives. In 1862 he was elected +a Representative from Maine to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth +Congresses.--348, 503, 504, 519, 553. + +TOBIAS A. PLANTS was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, March 17, +1811. After teaching school for several years, he studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1841. Having settled in Ohio, he served in the +State Legislature from 1858 to 1861. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1866.--509. + +LUKE P. POLAND was born in Westford, Vermont, November 1, 1815. Having +received an academical education he studied law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1836. In 1839 and 1840 he was Register of Probate for +Lamoille County. In 1843 he was a member of the State Constitutional +Convention, and in the following year was elected Prosecuting Attorney +for his County. In 1848 he was elected by the Legislature one of the +Judges of the Supreme Court of Vermont. This position he continued to +hold by annual elections until November, 1865, when he was appointed +to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate occasioned by the +death of Judge Collamer. His term of service in the Senate closing +March 4, 1867, he took his seat as a Representative from Vermont in +the Fortieth Congress.--28, 459. + +SAMUEL C. POMEROY was born in Southampton, Massachusetts, January 3, +1816. He entered Amherst College in 1836, and in 1838 went to Monroe +County, New York, where he resided four years. He returned to his +native town in 1842, and having espoused the Anti-Slavery cause, he +labored zealously to advance its principles. Annually for eight years +he ran on the Anti-Slavery ticket for the Massachusetts Legislature, +without success, until 1852, when he was elected over both Whigs and +Democrats. In 1854 he aided in organizing the New England Emigrant Aid +Society, and was its financial agent, and the same year he conducted a +colony to Kansas. He was a member of the Territorial Defense +Committee, and was active in his efforts to protect the settlers from +the border ruffians. During the famine in Kansas, he was Chairman of +the Relief Committee. He was a delegate to the Republican National +Conventions of 1856 and 1860. In 1861 he was elected a Senator in +Congress from Kansas, and was re-elected in 1867 for the term ending +in 1873.--404, 487, 495. + +THEODORE M. POMEROY was born in Cayuga, New York, December 31, 1824. +He graduated at Hamilton College, and adopted the profession of law. +From 1850 to 1856 he was District Attorney for his native county, and +in 1857 was a member of the New York Legislature. In 1860 he was +elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, +and has been re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and +Fortieth Congresses.--30. + +HIRAM PRICE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, January 10, +1814. Removing to Iowa, he settled in the City of Davenport, and was +made President of the State Bank of Iowa. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--30. + +_WILLIAM RADFORD_ was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, June 24, 1814. +He settled in New York City in 1829, and engaged in mercantile +pursuits. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by William H. Robertson. + +ALEXANDER RAMSAY was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, September 8, +1815. In 1841 he was elected Clerk of the Pennsylvania House of +Representatives. From 1843 to 1847 he was a Representative in Congress +from Pennsylvania. In 1849 he was appointed, by President Taylor, the +first Territorial Governor of Minnesota, and held the office until +1853. During his term of office, he negotiated some important Indian +treaties. From 1858 to 1862 he held the office of Governor of the +State of Minnesota. In 1863 he was elected a United States Senator +from Minnesota for the term ending in 1869. + +_SAMUEL J. RANDALL_ was born in Philadelphia, in 1828. He was for many +years engaged in mercantile pursuits. He served four years in the +Philadelphia City Council and one term in the State Senate. In 1862 he +was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--79, 444. + +WILLIAM H. RANDALL was born in Kentucky. He studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1835. Having held the office of Clerk of the +Circuit Court for a number of years, he was, in 1862, elected a +Representative to Congress from Kentucky, and was re-elected in 1864. +His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _George M. Adams_. + +HENRY J. RAYMOND was born in Lima, New York, January 24, 1820. He was +brought up on a farm, and became teacher in a district school when +sixteen years of age. In 1840 he graduated at the University of +Vermont, and soon after went to New York City, where, in 1841, he +became managing editor of the "New York Tribune." He subsequently +became the leading editor of the "New York Courier and Enquirer." In +1849 he was elected to the New York Legislature, and having been +re-elected, was made Speaker of the House. In 1851 he established the +"New York Times." He was subsequently elected Lieutenant-Governor of +New York, and was again a member of the General Assembly. In 1864 he +was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Thomas E. +Stewart.--31, 155, 234, 314, 317, 328, 364, 370, 372, 439, 440, 512, +524, 525, 564. + +ALEXANDER H. RICE was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in August, 1818. +He graduated at Union College in 1844, and subsequently engaged in the +manufacture of paper. In 1853 he was elected a member and President of +the City Council of Boston. In 1856 and 1857 he was Mayor of Boston. +In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by Ginery Twitchell. + +JOHN H. RICE was born in Mount Vernon, Maine, February 5, 1816. Having +been successively sheriff, lumberman, and lawyer, he was, in 1852, +elected State Attorney of Maine. He held this office until 1860, when +he was elected a Representative from Maine to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth +Congresses. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by John A. +Peters. + +_GEORGE REED RIDDLE_ was born in New Castle, Delaware, in 1817. He was +educated at Delaware College. Devoting himself to civil engineering, +he was occupied for some years in locating and constructing canals and +railroads. He afterwards studied law, and was admitted to the Delaware +bar in 1848. In 1850 he was chosen a Representative in Congress from +Delaware, and was re-elected in 1852. In 1864 he was elected a United +States Senator for the term ending in 1869, and died in Washington, +March, 1867. + +_BURWELL C. RITTER_ was born in Kentucky, January 10, 1810. He has +devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. In 1843, and again in 1850, +he was a member of the State Legislature. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. _John Young +Brown_ was elected as his successor in the Fortieth Congress.--149. + +_ANDREW J. ROGERS_ was born in Hamburg, New Jersey, July 1, 1828. He +spent his youth as an assistant in a hotel and in a country store. He +studied law while engaged in school-teaching, and was admitted to the +bar in 1852. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New Jersey +to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and in 1864 was re-elected. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by John Hill.--59, 222, 306, 325, +447, 462, 520, 553. + +EDWARD H. ROLLINS was born in Rollingford, New Hampshire, October 3, +1824. Having received an academical education, he taught school for +some time, and subsequently engaged in mercantile pursuits. From 1855 +to 1857 he was a member of the New Hampshire Legislature, and during +two years was Speaker of the House. In 1856 he was Chairman of the +State Republican Committee. In 1860 he was elected a Representative +from New Hampshire to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was re-elected +to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is Aaron F. Stevens. + +EDMUND G. ROSS was born in Wisconsin. He learned the art of printing, +and became an editor. In 1856 he removed to Kansas, and took an active +part in the affairs of the territory. He was a member of the Kansas +Constitutional Convention of 1858. From that time until 1861 he was a +member of the State Legislature. He served in a Kansas regiment during +the rebellion, and reached the rank of Major. He subsequently became +editor of the "Lawrence Tribune." In July, 1866, he was appointed a +Senator in Congress from Kansas for the unexpired term of James H. +Lane, deceased. + +_LEWIS W. ROSS_ was born in Seneca County, New York, December 8, 1812. +He was removed in boyhood to Illinois. He was educated at Illinois +College, and adopted the profession of law. He was elected to the +State Legislature in 1840 and 1844. He was a Democratic Presidential +Elector in 1848, and a delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore +Conventions of 1860. In 1861 he was a member of the State +Constitutional Convention, and in the following year was elected a +Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--513. + +_LOVELL H. ROUSSEAU_ was born in Stanford, Kentucky, August 4, 1818. +He studied law, and removed to Indiana in 1841. He was three years a +member of the Indiana House of Representatives, and three years a +member of the State Senate. He served as a Captain in the Mexican War, +and on his return settled in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1860 he was +elected to the Senate of Kentucky, and after serving through the +stormy session of 1861 he resigned, to raise a regiment for the war. +In June, 1861, he was commissioned a Colonel, and in October of the +same year was made a Brigadier General. In October of the following +year he was promoted to the rank of Major General for his gallantry in +the battles of Shiloh and Stone River. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. At the +close of his Congressional term he was commissioned a Brigadier +General in the Regular Army, and assigned to the command of the newly +acquired possessions of the United States in the North-west.--31, 151, +572, 573, 574. + +_WILLARD SAULSBURY_ was born in Kent County, Delaware, June 2, 1820. +He was educated at Delaware College and Dickinson College. Having +studied law, he was admitted to the bar in 1845. In 1850 he was +appointed Attorney General of Delaware, and held the office five +years. In 1859 he was elected a United States Senator from Delaware, +and was re-elected in 1865 for the term ending in 1871.--24, 44, 124, +127, 136, 192, 219, 287, 306, 405, 456, 458, 496, 531, 534, 548. + +PHILETUS SAWYER was born in Whiting, Addison County, Vermont. After +receiving a common-school and business education, he removed to +Wisconsin and engaged in the lumber trade. In 1857 and 1861 he was +elected to the Wisconsin Legislature. He served as Mayor of Oshkosh in +1863 and 1864. In the latter year he was elected a Representative from +Wisconsin to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +ROBERT C. SCHENCK was born in Franklin, Ohio, October 4, 1809. He +graduated at Miami University in 1827. He studied law under Thomas +Corwin, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. He was elected to the +Ohio Legislature in 1841, and served two terms. In 1842 he was elected +a Representative from Ohio to the Twenty-Eighth Congress, and served +four successive terms. At the close of Thirty-First Congress, in 1851, +he was appointed by President Fillmore Minister to Brazil, and +negotiated several important treaties with South American Governments. +After his return in 1853, he became largely interested in railroad +enterprises, and was President of a line from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to +the Mississippi. At the breaking out of the rebellion he offered his +services to the Government, and was commissioned a Brigadier General, +May 17, 1861. He was in numerous engagements, including both the Bull +Run battles, where he displayed much skill and bravery. He was +promoted to the rank of Major General in August, 1862, and was +assigned to the command of the Middle Department, including Baltimore, +Maryland, in which he rendered efficient service to the country. +Having, been re-elected to Congress, he resigned his commission in +December, 1863, and took his seat in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He +was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 352, +353, 354, 366, 439, 537, 552. + +GLENNI W. SCOFIELD was born in Chautauque County, March 11, 1817. He +graduated at Hamilton College in 1840, and removed to Warren, +Pennsylvania, where he was admitted to the bar in 1843. In 1850 and +1851 he was a Representative in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and from +1857 to 1859 was a State Senator. In 1861 he was appointed President +Judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District of the State. In 1865 he was +elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--56, 508. + +_GEORGE S. SHANKLIN_ was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky. He +engaged in the practice of law, and in agricultural affairs. He was +several years a member of the Kentucky Legislature, and was +Commonwealth's Attorney of a Judicial District. He was a member of the +Philadelphia Convention of 1856 which nominated Fillmore. In 1865 he +was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _James B. +Beck_.--151, 440, 552. + +SAMUEL SHELLABARGER was born in Clark County, Ohio, December 10, 1817. +He graduated at the Miami University in 1841. He studied law, and +having been admitted to the bar practiced in the city of Springfield, +Ohio. In 1852 and 1853 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature. In +1860 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--156, 231, 238, 345, 444, 512, 522. + +JOHN SHERMAN was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823. He studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He was a delegate to the +Whig Conventions of 1848 and 1852. In 1854 he was elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth, and Thirty-Seventh +Congresses. In the memorable contest for the Speakership of the House +which occurred in 1859 he was the Republican candidate, and through a +long series of ballotings lacked but one or two votes of an election. +On the resignation of Senator Chase in 1861, he was elected a Senator +in Congress from Ohio, and in 1866 he was re-elected for the term +ending in 1873.--27, 98, 161, 420, 422, 454, 460, 476, 500, 501, 534, +535, 541. + +_CHARLES SITGREAVES_ was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1803. +He adopted the profession of law and settled in New Jersey. In 1831 +and 1833 he was a member of the New Jersey Assembly. In 1834 and 1835 +he was member and President of the Legislative Council. From 1852 to +1854 he served in the State Senate. He subsequently held the positions +of Mayor of Phillipsburg, President of the Belvidere and Delaware +Railroad Company, and Trustee of the State Normal School. In 1864 he +was elected a Representative from New Jersey to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +ITHAMAR C. SLOAN was born in Madison County, New York. He adopted the +profession of law, and removed to Wisconsin in 1854. In 1858 and 1860 +he was elected District Attorney of Rock County. In 1862 he was +elected a Representative from Wisconsin to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, +and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in +the Fortieth Congress by Benjamin F. Hopkins.--334, 335. + +GREEN CLAY SMITH was born in Richmond, Kentucky, July 2, 1830. He +graduated at Transylvania College in 1849, and in the Law Department +of the same institution in 1852. He served in the Mexican War as +Second Lieutenant, and at the breaking out of the rebellion was +commissioned to command the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry. In 1862 he was +appointed a Brigadier General, and subsequently reached the rank of +Major General. After participating in numerous battles, he resigned +his military commission in December, 1863, to take his seat as a +Representative from Kentucky in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was +re-elected a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but before the +expiration of his term he was appointed by the President Governor of +the Territory of Montana.--439. + +RUFUS P. SPALDING was born at West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, +Massachusetts, May 3, 1798. He entered Yale College in 1813, and +graduated in 1817. After studying law he emigrated to Cincinnati, +Ohio, where he remained one year, and then went to Arkansas. Having +spent a year and a half in that State he returned to Ohio, and +practiced his profession successively in Warren, Ravenna, and Akron, +and finally at Cleveland, where he now resides. In 1839 he was elected +to the Ohio Legislature. He was re-elected in 1841, and made Speaker +of the House. In 1849 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court of +Ohio. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses.--319, 443, 508. + +WILLIAM SPRAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, September 11, +1830. He was educated chiefly at the Irving Institute, Tarrytown, New +York. He subsequently spent several years in the counting-room of his +uncle, upon whose death he came into possession of one of the largest +manufacturing interests in the country. In 1861 he was elected +Governor of Rhode Island. He entered with zeal into the national cause +at the breaking out of the rebellion, and was with the Rhode Island +Volunteers at the first battle of Bull Run. In 1862 he was elected a +Senator in Congress from Rhode Island for the term ending in +1869.--27, 494. + +JOHN F. STARR was born in Philadelphia in 1818. He removed to New +Jersey in 1844, and engaged in business pursuits. In 1863 he was +elected a Representative from New Jersey to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. +He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by William Moore. + +THADDEUS STEVENS was born in Caledonia County, Vermont, April 4, 1793. +He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1814, and in the same year +removed to Pennsylvania. While teaching in an academy he studied law, +and in 1816 was admitted to the bar in the County of Adams. In 1833 he +was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and served four terms, +rendering signal service to the State by originating the school-system +of Pennsylvania. He early espoused the cause of anti-slavery, and +became an earnest advocate of equal rights. In 1836 he was elected a +member of the Convention to revise the State Constitution, and refused +to append his name to the amended instrument, because it restricted +suffrage on account of color. In 1838 he was appointed a Canal +Commissioner. In 1842 he removed to Lancaster, where he now resides. +In 1848 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the +Thirty-First Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Second, +Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and +Fortieth Congresses.--18, 24, 29, 34, 48, 156, 308, 325, 333, 336, +357, 366, 417, 418, 435, 436, 449, 463, 478, 502, 503, 504, 513, 514, +518, 524, 528, 535, 536, 547, 555, 557, 563, 575. + +WILLIAM M. STEWART was born in Wayne County, New York, August 9, 1827, +and removed with his father to Ohio in 1835. He entered Yale College +in 1848, where he remained eighteen months. He then went to California +and spent two years in the mining business. In 1852 he commenced +studying law, and was soon after elected District Attorney for the +County of Nevada. In 1854 he was appointed to perform the duties of +Attorney General of California, and subsequently practiced law in +Nevada City and Downieville. In 1860 he removed to that part of Utah +territory which is now Nevada, and served in the Territorial +Legislature of the following year. He was a member of the +Constitutional Convention of 1863. He was soon after elected a United +States Senator from the new State of Nevada for the term ending in +1869.--28, 100, 107, 202, 275, 427, 435, 454, 456, 459, 530. + +THOMAS N. STILWELL was born in Butler County, Ohio, August 29, 1830. +He was educated at Miami University and Farmer's College. He studied +law, and, removing to Indiana in 1852, he was admitted to the bar, and +practiced until 1855, when he engaged in banking. In 1856 he was a +Representative in the Indiana Legislature. He raised a regiment of +volunteers for the war, and served some time as Quartermaster. In 1864 +he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by John P. C. +Shanks. He was appointed by President Johnson United States Minister +to Venezuela.--564. + +_JOHN P. STOCKTON_ was born in Princeton, New Jersey, August 2, 1825. +His father and grandfather were United States Senators, and his +great-grandfather was one of the signers of the Declaration of +Independence. He graduated at Princeton College in 1843, and, having +studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849. He was appointed by the +Legislature of New Jersey to revise the laws of the State. As reporter +in chancery, he published three volumes of Reports, which bear his +name. In 1858 he was appointed by President Buchanan Minister Resident +to Rome. In 1865 he appeared in Congress as a Senator from New Jersey. +The question of his right to the seat underwent long discussion, and +at length was decided against him on the 27th of March, 1866.--568. + +WILLIAM B. STOKES was born in Chatham County, North Carolina, +September 9, 1814. His father was killed by an accident while +emigrating to Tennessee in 1818. He enjoyed but few advantages of +early education, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. In 1849 +he was elected a Representative in the Tennessee Legislature, and was +re-elected in 1851. He was elected to the State Senate in 1855. In +1859 he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress. At the close of his Congressional term he took +a bold stand and made numerous speeches against secession in +Tennessee. In 1862 he recruited and commanded a regiment of cavalry, +which saw much hard fighting and did valuable service. At the close of +the war he was brevetted Brigadier General. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +admitted in July, 1866. He was re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress.--480, 536. + +_MYER STROUSE_ was born in Germany, December 16, 1825. He came with +his father to America in 1832, and settled in Pottsville, +Pennsylvania. Having received an academical education, he studied law. +From 1848 to 1852 he edited the "North American Farmer," in +Philadelphia, and subsequently devoted himself to the practice of law. +In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, +and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is +Henry L. Cake.--444. + +CHARLES SUMNER was born in Boston, January 6, 1811. He graduated at +Harvard College in 1830, spent three years in the Cambridge Law +School, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. For three years he edited +the "American Jurist," and was subsequently Reporter of the United +States Circuit Court. He published several volumes of Reports, and has +devoted much attention to literary pursuits. He published in 1850 two +volumes of "Orations;" in 1853 a work on "White Slavery in the Barbary +States;" and in 1856 a volume of "Speeches and Addresses." In 1851 he +was elected a United States Senator from Massachusetts. In 1856 he was +assaulted in the Senate Chamber by Preston S. Brooks, of South +Carolina, and so seriously injured that he sought restoration by a +temporary absence in Europe. Just before his departure he was elected +to the Senate for a second term, and in 1863 was re-elected for a +third term ending in 1869.--15, 26, 28, 99, 108, 373, 374, 380, 386, +392, 406, 413, 435, 453, 483, 499, 540, 541, 563, 571. + +_STEPHEN TABER_, whose father, Thomas Taber, was a Member of Congress, +was born in Dover, Dutchess County, New York. Having received an +academical education, he devoted himself to agriculture in Queens +County, on Long Island. In 1860 and 1861 he was elected to the State +Legislature. In 1863 he was elected a Representative to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +NATHANIEL G. TAYLOR was born in Carter County, Tennessee, December 29, +1819, and graduated at Princeton College in 1840. He studied law and +was admitted to the bar in 1843, but subsequently became a minister in +the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1852 he was a Presidential +Elector, and in 1854 was elected a Representative in Congress from +Tennessee. In 1865 he was re-elected a Representative in the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was admitted to his seat in July, 1866. R. +R. Butler was elected as his successor in the Fortieth Congress.--480. + +_NELSON TAYLOR_ was born in South Norwalk, Connecticut, June 8, 1821. +He served through the Mexican War as Captain in the First Regiment of +New York Volunteers. He subsequently went to California, and was +elected a member of the State Senate in 1849. In 1853 he was elected +Sheriff of San Joaquin County, California. In 1861 he entered the +military service as Colonel of the Seventy-Second Regiment of New York +Volunteers, and became a Brigadier General. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is _John Morrissey_. + +M. RUSSELL THAYER was born in Petersburg, Virginia, January 27, 1819, +and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1840. He studied +law, and having been admitted to the bar in 1842, he located in +Philadelphia. In 1862 he was elected a Representative in the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is Caleb N. Taylor--83, 225, 438, +522, 538. + +FRANCIS THOMAS was born in Frederick County, Maryland, February 3, +1799. He was educated at St. John's College, Annapolis. He studied +law, and was admitted to practice at Frederick in 1820. He was elected +to the Maryland Legislature in 1822, 1827, and 1829, when he was +chosen Speaker. In 1831 he was elected a Representative in Congress, +and served for ten consecutive years. In 1841 he declined a +renomination for Congress. In the fall of that year he was elected +Governor of Maryland, and served until January, 1845. In 1848 he +supported Van Buren and Adams on the Buffalo Anti-Slavery platform. In +1850 he was a member of the Maryland Constitutional Convention. At the +breaking out of the Rebellion he raised a brigade of 3,000 volunteers +for the military service. In March, 1863, he originated and assisted +in securing popular approval of a measure which resulted in the +emancipation of all the slaves of Maryland. He was re-elected a +Representative from Maryland to the Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. + +JOHN L. THOMAS, Jr., was born in Baltimore, May 20, 1835, and was +educated at the Alleghany County Academy. He studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1856. He was appointed Solicitor for the City +of Baltimore in 1861, and held the office two years. In 1863 he was +elected State Attorney for Maryland, and in 1864 he served as a +delegate to the State Constitutional Convention. In 1865 he was +elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress to fill a +vacancy occasioned by the resignation of E. H. Webster. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _Stephenson Archer_. + +_ANTHONY THORNTON_ was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, November 19, +1814. He graduated at the Miami University, and having studied law, he +settled in Illinois. He was a member of the Illinois Constitutional +Conventions of 1847 and 1862. In 1850 he was a member of the State +Legislature. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is +_Albert G. Burr_.--228. + +_LAWRENCE S. TRIMBLE_ was born in Fleming, Kentucky, August 26, 1825. +He received an academical education, and entered the profession of +law. In 1851 and 1852 he was a member of the Kentucky Legislature. +From 1856 to 1860 he was Judge of the Equity and Criminal Court of the +First Judicial District of the State. He was subsequently for five +years President of the New Orleans and Ohio Railroad Company. In 1865 +he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--152, 342, 511. + +ROWLAND E. TROWBRIDGE was born in Elmira, New York, June 18, 1821, and +when a child removed to Michigan with his parents, who were among the +first settlers that penetrated the wilderness back of the old French +settlements. He graduated at Kenyon College, and engaged in the +business of farming. In 1856 and 1858 he was elected a member of the +Michigan Senate. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from Michigan +to the Thirty-Seventh Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth +and Fortieth Congresses. + +LYMAN TRUMBULL was born in Colchester, Connecticut, in 1813. He +entered the profession of law, and removed to Illinois. He was a +member of the State Legislature in 1840, and was Secretary of State in +1841 and 1842. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois from +1848 to 1853. In 1854 he was elected a Representative for Illinois to +the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was soon after elected a Senator in +Congress for the term commencing in 1855. He was re-elected in 1861, +and again in 1867.--22, 28, 45, 98, 104, 105, 108, 120, 136, 158, 162, +171, 188, 190, 199, 209, 216, 253, 269, 424, 457, 476, 540. + +CHARLES UPSON was born in Southington, Hartford County, Connecticut, +March 19, 1821. He received an academical education, and at the age of +sixteen he commenced teaching school, in which he was employed during +the winters of seven years. He attended the law school of Yale College +for some time, and in 1845 removed to Michigan. In 1848 he was elected +County Clerk, and in 1852 Prosecuting Attorney for St. Joseph County. +In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1860 he was elected +Attorney General of Michigan, and declined a renomination. In 1862 he +was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses. + +HENRY VAN AERNAM was born in Marcellus, New York, March 11, 1819. +After receiving an academical education and graduating at a medical +college, he settled as a physician and surgeon in Franklinville, New +York. In 1858 he was a member of the State Legislature. In 1862 he +entered the army as surgeon of the One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth New +York Regiment. He resigned this position in 1864, and was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +BURT VAN HORN was born in Newfane, Niagara County, New York, October +28, 1823, and was educated at the Madison University. He was elected +to the New York Legislature in 1858, and served three terms. In 1860 +he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--87, 527. + +ROBERT T. VAN HORN was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, May 19, +1824. After serving an apprenticeship in a printing-office, he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He subsequently published a +newspaper two years in Pomeroy, Ohio. In 1855 he emigrated to Kansas +City, Missouri, where he established a newspaper which is now the +"Daily Journal of Commerce." In 1861 he was elected Mayor of Kansas +City. He was in the military service as Major and Lieutenant-Colonel +from 1861 to 1864. He was wounded and taken prisoner at Lexington, +Missouri, and after his exchange saw much active service in Tennessee. +While still in the army, he was elected a member of the Missouri +Senate, and in 1864 he was elected a Representative from Missouri to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +PETER G. VAN WINKLE was born in the City of New York, September 7, +1808, and removed to Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1835. He was a +member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, and of the +Wheeling Convention of 1861. He aided in forming the Constitution of +West Virginia in 1862. He became a member of the Legislature of that +State at its organization, and in November, 1863, he was elected a +United States Senator from West Virginia for the term ending in +1869.--194, 459. + +_DANIEL W. VOORHEES_ was born in Fountain County, Indiana, September +26, 1828. He graduated at the Indiana Asbury University in 1849, and +commenced the practice of law in 1851. He held the office of United +States District Attorney for three years, by appointment of President +Buchanan. In 1860 he was elected a Representative to Congress from +Indiana, and re-elected in 1862. He appeared in December, 1865, as a +member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but remained only a short time, +his seat having been successfully contested by Henry D. +Washburn.--568. + +BENJAMIN F. WADE was born in Feeding Hills Parish, Massachusetts, +October 27, 1800. He received a common-school education, and was +employed for some time in teaching. At the age of twenty-one he +removed to Ohio and engaged in agriculture. He subsequently studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. Thereafter he successively +held the offices of Justice of the Peace, Prosecuting Attorney for +Ashtabula County, State Senator, and Judge of the Circuit Court. In +1851 he was elected a United States Senator from Ohio, and has been +twice re-elected, his third term ending in 1869. In March, 1867, he +was elected President, _pro tempore_, of the Senate, and thus became +acting Vice-President of the United States--15, 28, 50, 276, 279, 283, +428, 454, 477, 490, 576. + +_ANDREW H. WARD_ is a lawyer by profession, and a resident of +Cynthiana, Kentucky. He was a Representative from the Sixth District +of Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is _Thomas L. Jones_.--509. + +HAMILTON WARD was born in Salisbury, New York, July 3, 1829. He worked +on a farm until nineteen years of age, and was favored with but few +facilities for acquiring education. In 1848 he began the study of law, +and was admitted to the bar in 1851. In 1856 he was elected District +Attorney for Alleghany County, and was re-elected in 1862. At an early +period of the war he was appointed by the Governor a member of the +Senatorial Military Committee, and in that capacity aided in raising +several regiments of volunteers for the army. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1866.--306, 361. + +SAMUEL L. WARNER was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1829. He +received an academical education, and having studied law at the Yale +and Harvard Law Schools, was admitted to the bar in 1853. He was soon +after appointed Executive Secretary of State. In 1857 he was a member +of the Connecticut Legislature. In 1860 he was a delegate and a +Secretary of the Baltimore Convention. In 1861 he was elected Mayor of +Middletown, and served two terms. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Connecticut to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is _Julius Hotchkiss_.--507. + +ELLIHU B. WASHBURN was born in Livermore, Maine, September 23 1816. +After serving an apprenticeship in the printing-office of the +"Kennebec Journal," he studied law at Harvard University. He +subsequently removed to Illinois, and settled in Galena. In 1852 he +was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Third +Congress. He has been elected to every succeeding Congress including +the Fortieth, and has been longer in continuous service than any other +member of the House.--30. + +HENRY D. WASHBURN was born in Windsor, Vermont, March 28, 1832. In his +youth he served one year as an apprentice to the tanner's trade, and +subsequently was employed as a school-teacher. In 1853 he graduated at +the New York State and National Law School, and settled in Newport, +Indiana. In 1854 he was appointed Auditor of Vermillion County, and in +1856 was elected to the same position. In 1861 he raised a company of +volunteers, of which he was elected Captain. He was soon after made +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighteenth Indiana Infantry, and was +commissioned Colonel June, 1862. He saw much active service, and was +breveted a Major General July 26, 1865. He contested the seat held by +D. W. Voorhees as a Representative from Indiana, and was declared by +the Committee on Elections to be entitled to the place. He was +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--568. + +WILLIAM B. WASHBURN was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, January 31, +1820. He graduated at Yale College in 1844, and subsequently engaged +in the business of manufacturing. In 1850 he was a Senator, and in +1854 a Representative, in the Legislature of Massachusetts. He was +subsequently President of Greenfield Bank. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to +the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +MARTIN WELKER was born in Knox County, Ohio, April 25, 1819. When a +farmer's boy and a clerk in a store, he applied himself diligently to +study, and without the aid of schools obtained a liberal education. At +the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1840. In 1851 he was elected Judge of the Court of Common +Pleas for the Sixth District of Ohio, and served five years. In 1857 +he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, and served one term, +declining a renomination. At the beginning of the war he served three +months as a staff officer with the rank of Major, and was then +appointed Judge Advocate General of the State. In 1862 he was +Assistant Adjutant General of Ohio, and Superintendent of the draft. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +JOHN WENTWORTH, grandson of a member of the Continental Congress of +1778, was born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, March 5, 1815. He graduated +at Dartmouth College, and completed a course of legal study in Harvard +University. In 1836 he removed to Illinois, and settled in Chicago. He +conducted the "Chicago Democrat," as editor and proprietor, for +twenty-five years. In 1837 he became a member of the Board of +Education, and occupied that position many years. In 1842 he was +elected a Representative from Illinois to the Twenty-Eighth Congress, +and subsequently served in the Twenty-Ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-First, +and Thirty-Second Congresses. In 1857 and 1860 he was Mayor of +Chicago, and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of +1861. In 1864 a Representative in Congress for his sixth term. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is Norman B. Judd. In 1867 the +degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College.--18, 556, +557. + +KELLIAN V. WHALEY was born in Onondaga County, New York, May 6, 1821. +When quite young he removed with his father to Ohio, where he was +favored with few educational advantages. At the age of twenty-one he +settled in Western Virginia, and engaged in the lumber and mercantile +business. He was an active opponent of secession in 1860, and as such +was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Seventh Congress. He acted +as an Aid to Governor Pierpont in organizing regiments, and was in +command in the battle of Guandotte, when he was taken prisoner, in +November, 1861. He made his escape from his captors, however, and was +soon able to take his seat in Congress. He was reëlected to the +Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is Daniel Polsley. + +WAITMAN T. WILLEY was born on Buffalo Creek, Monongalia County, +Virginia, October 18, 1811. He graduated at Madison College in 1831, +and was admitted to the bar. From 1841 to 1855 he was Clerk of the +Courts of Monongalia County and the Judicial Circuit. He was a member +of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850. He was a delegate +to the Richmond Convention held in the winter of 1860-61. In 1861 he +was a member of the Wheeling Constitutional Convention. In 1863 he was +elected a Senator in Congress from West Virginia, and has since been +re-elected for the term commencing in 1865 and ending in 1871. In 1863 +he received the degree of LL.D. from Alleghany College of +Pennsylvania.--458, 485, 486, 496. + +GEORGE H. WILLIAMS was born in Columbia County, New York, March 23, +1823. He received an academical education, and studied law. +Immediately after being admitted to the bar in 1844 he removed to +Iowa. In 1847 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of +Iowa. In 1852 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1853 he was appointed +by President Pierce Chief Justice of the Territory of Oregon, and was +re-appointed by President Buchanan in 1857. He was a member of the +Convention which framed the Constitution of Oregon. In 1864 he was +elected a United States Senator from Oregon for the term ending in +1871.--393, 488, 516, 517, 529, 531, 539, 540, 559. + +THOMAS WILLIAMS was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, +Pennsylvania, August 28, 1806. He graduated at Dickinson College in +1825, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1828, and settled +in Pittsburg. From 1838 to 1841 he was member of the State Senate. In +1860 he was a Representative in the State Legislature. In 1862 he was +elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses. + +HENRY WILSON was born in Farmington, New Hampshire, February 16, 1812. +His parents were in very humble circumstances, and at ten years of age +he was apprenticed to a farmer till he was twenty-one. On attaining +his majority, he went to Natick, Massachusetts, where he learned the +trade of shoemaking, and worked at the business nearly three years. He +then secured an academical education, and, after teaching school a +short time, engaged in shoe-manufacturing, which he continued for +several years. In 1841 and 1842 he was a Senator, and in 1844, 1845, +1856, and 1850, a Representative, in the Legislature of Massachusetts. +In 1851 and 1852 he was re-elected a member of the State Senate, of +which he was President. In 1855 he was elected a United States Senator +from Massachusetts to succeed Edward Everett, and in 1859 was +re-elected for the full term. In the recess of Congress in the summer +of 1861, he raised the Twenty-Second Regiment of Massachusetts +Volunteers, of which he was commissioned Colonel. He subsequently +served on General McClellan's staff, until the meeting of Congress in +December. During the war he occupied the arduous and responsible +position in the Senate of Chairman of the Committee of Military +Affairs. At the opening of the Thirty-Ninth Congress he entered upon +his third Senatorial term, which will end in 1871.--15, 95, 97, 101, +135, 214, 402, 410, 431, 435, 437, 487, 491, 498, 530, 531, 532. + +JAMES F. WILSON was born in Newark, Ohio, October 19, 1828. He entered +upon the profession of law, and removed to Iowa in 1853. In 1856 he +was elected a member of the Iowa Constitutional Convention. In 1857 he +was elected a Representative, and in 1859 a Senator, in the State +Legislature. In 1861 he was President of the Iowa Senate. In that year +he was elected a Representative from Iowa to fill a vacancy in the +Thirty-Seventh Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, +Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 51, 230, 237, 239, 288, +294, 325, 536. + +STEPHEN F. WILSON was born at Columbia, Pennsylvania, September 4, +1821. He received his education at Wellsboro' Academy, where he +subsequently engaged for a short time in teaching. He finally became a +lawyer, and was, in 1863, elected a State Senator. In 1864 he was +chosen a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +WILLIAM WINDOM was born in Belmont County, Ohio, May 10, 1827. He +received an academical education, and studied law. He was admitted to +the bar in 1850, and was soon after elected Prosecuting Attorney for +Knox County, Ohio. In 1853 he removed to Minnesota, and settled in +Winona. In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Minnesota to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--229. + +_CHARLES H. WINFIELD_ was born in Orange County, New York, April 22, +1822. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. From 1850 +to 1856 he was District Attorney for Orange County. He was elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress from New York, and was in +1864 re-elected for a second term. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by Charles H. Van Wyck.--20, 515. + +FREDERICK E. WOODBRIDGE was born in Vergennes, Vermont, August 29, +1818. He graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, and was +admitted to the bar in 1842. He served three years as a +Representative, and two years as a Senator, in the Vermont +Legislature. He subsequently served three years as Auditor of State. +In 1863 he was elected a Representative from Vermont to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +_EDWIN R. V. WRIGHT_ was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, January 2, 1812. +He learned the trade of a printer, and in 1835 edited and published +the "Jersey Blue." He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in +1839. He was elected to the State Senate in 1843. He subsequently held +for five years the office of District Attorney for Hudson County. In +1859 he was the Democratic Candidate for Governor of New Jersey, and +was defeated by a small majority. He was elected a Representative from +New Jersey to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by George A. Halsey.--363. + +_WILLIAM WRIGHT_ was born in Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, in +1791. In 1823 he removed to Newark, New Jersey, and held the office of +Mayor of that city for a number of years. He was a Representative in +Congress four years, commencing in 1843. In 1853 he was elected United +States Senator for the term ending in 1859. In 1863 he was again +elected to the Senate for the term ending in 1869. He died before the +expiration of the term for which he was elected.--276, 569. + +RICHARD YATES was born in Warsaw, Kentucky, in 1818. Having studied +one year at the Miami University, Ohio, he removed to Illinois, and +graduated at Illinois College in 1838. He studied at the Law School of +Lexington, Kentucky, and having been admitted to the bar, he settled +in Jacksonville, Illinois. In 1842 he was elected to the State +Legislature, and served until 1850. In 1851 he was elected a +Representative in Congress from Illinois, and served two terms. He was +subsequently President of a railroad for several years. In 1861 he was +elected Governor of Illinois for the term of four years. During his +administration, 258,000 troops were raised in Illinois and sent to the +field. He was not only active in his State in promoting the success of +the national cause, but he frequently encouraged the regiments of +Illinois by his presence with them in the camp and on the field. In +1865 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Illinois for the term +ending in 1871.--28, 272, 398, 400, 461, 462, 484, 491. + + + + +ANALYTICAL INDEX + + + ABANDONED Lands, restored to rebel owners, 143. + + ADAMS, J. Q., Expenses of his Administration, 111. + + ADMISSION of Southern Representatives proposed, 279. + + AGRICULTURE, Senate Committee on, 27, 31. + + ALABAMA, Black Code of, 146. + + ALHAMBRA, the betrayal of, 65. + + ALLEGIANCE and Protection reciprocal, 257. + + AMALGAMATION, not an effect of Negro Suffrage, 75. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, effect of, 196; + confers Civil Rights, 210; + the Civil Rights Bill, a sequel to, 225; + a warrant for the Civil Rights Bill, 229; + confers citizenship, 273. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, of Basis of Representation, 324; + explained by Mr. Stevens, 325; + failure in passage, 416. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, for Negro Suffrage proposed, 377; + advocated, 387; + voted down, 415. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, for Reconstruction, proposed, 435; + final passage, 463; + ratified by numerous legislatures, 505; + then and now, 512. + + AMENDMENTS, Constitutional, needed, 312. + + AMENDMENT to Freedmen's Bureau Bill, proposed by Mr. Cowan, 136; + rejected, 136; + to title of the bill, 136; + proposed in the Senate, 296. + + AMENDMENT to Civil Rights Bill by Mr. Hendricks, 218; + by Mr. Saulsbury, 219. + + AMENDMENT, the power of, exhausted, 349. + + AMENDMENTS, a complicity of, 363. + + AMENDMENT, a crablike, 375. + + AMERICAN Citizenship, what it amounts to, 257. + + ANCIENT Governments, exceptional in their liberty, 206. + + ANDERSONVILLE, rebel atrocities at, 101. + + ANTHRACITE not suitable material for a Corinthian column, 56. + + APPEAL of Mr. Saulsbury, 534. + + APPEAL to the people against Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 152. + + APPROPRIATION, the Committee on, 29. + + ARMY, bill to fix the peace footing of, 553. + + ART, in the capital, 571. + + ASSAULT upon Mr. Grinnell by Mr. Rousseau, 573. + + ATTORNEY General on the trial of Jefferson Davis, 123. + + "AUTHORITY and Power" of the Government, distinction between, 445. + + + BALLOT-BOX to be purified by the angel element, 487, 492; + a high court of errors, 497. + + BALLOT, the negro's best protection, 162; + the great guarantee, 376; + the source of safety for the freedman--eloquent extract, 399; + dangerous in the hands of the ignorant, 497. + + BANCROFT, his eulogy on President Lincoln, 570. + + BANKING and Currency, Committee on, 30. + + BANKRUPTCY, Committee on, 31. + + BANKRUPT LAW, its difference from former acts, 554. + + BANNER of Freedom, and the banner of the Democracy, 80. + + BARABBAS and the Saviour, 380. + + BASIS of Representation, necessity of changing the, 312; + proposed amendment of, 324; + explained, 325; + involves taxation without representation, 326; + effects Negro Suffrage, 327; + reasons which commend it, 331; + bearing on the various States, 332; + would allow property qualification, 332; + amendment proposed by Mr. Orth, 337; + how settled in 1787, 338; + its rejection predicted, 338; + how its provisions may be avoided, 339; + construed as an attack on the President, 343; + facts and figures concerning, 344; + objections, 346, 347; + great opposition to the proposition, 350; + its injustice to the African, 352; + benefit to the Republican party only, 362; + multiplicity of amendments, 363; + passage in the House, 371; + before the Senate, 374; + "not an improvement," 375; + what it will accomplish, 381; + colored men against it, 392; + a party measure, 395; + summary of objections, 402; + an "abortion," 406; + ten objections, 407; + good effects of, 411; + failure to pass the Senate, 416; + regret of Mr. Stevens at its death, 436. + + BENEVOLENT features of the Freedmen's Bureau, 179. + + BERKELEY'S Metaphysics, 310. + + BIRTH confers citizenship, 305. + + BLAINE'S Amendment, 527; + combined with Bingham's, 528; + proposed in the Senate, 529. + + BLACK-LAWS of Southern States, substance of, 147; + Mississippi and South Carolina, 191; + recently passed, 214. + + BLACK skin a badge of loyalty, 53. + + BLOOD asked for, 396; + Chandler's explanation, 397. + + BOUNTY, additional, bill to grant, 552. + + BOYHOOD of Mr. Saulsbury, 193. + + "BREAD and Butter Brigade," 521. + + BROWNLOW, Governor, his proclamation, 473; + his despatch to the Secretary of War, 475; + his loyalty and firmness, 480. + + BROWN, Senator, of Mississippi, his opposition to the education + of the blacks, 388. + + BUCHANAN, President, his veto of the Homestead bill, 255; + his views of secession, 442. + + "BY-PLAY" of the Rebel States with Secretary Seward, 313. + + + CAPITOL, the, character and situation of, 571. + + CASPAR HAUSERS, four millions of, 329. + + CATO on the Immortality of the Soul, 377. + + CAUCASIANS, none save, have become citizens, 199. + + CELTIC race distinct from ours, 360. + + CENSURE of Mr. Hunter, 515; + of Mr. Chanler, 571. + + CENTRALIZATION deprecated, 229, 237, 266. + + CHAIRMANSHIP of Committees, New England's preponderance in, 401. + + CHARITIES not to be given by Congress,148. + + CHEROKEES naturalized, 233. + + CHICAGO Convention of 1860, its doctrine, 60. + + CHILDREN rescued from the burning house, 390. + + CHINESE, Civil Rights Bill makes, citizens, 246, 255. + + CHOCTAW Indians naturalized, 233. + + CHURCHES, colored, in the District of Columbia, 59. + + CITIZENSHIP conferred upon the people of Texas, 199. + + CITIZENSHIP conferred by U. S. Government, 239; + includes State citizenship, 253; + does not confer State citizenship, 271. + + CITIZEN, what constitutes a, 201. + + CIVIL Rights denied to negroes in Indiana, 117,131; + all departments of the Government designed to secure, 221; + denial of makes men slaves, 224. + + CIVIL Rights Bill foreshadowed, 98; + introduced, 188; + its provisions, 189; + necessity for it, 190; + a dangerous measure, 192; + object of it, 210; + odious military features, 211; + opposed, 216; + explained and defended, 217; + have been in the law thirty years, 218; + bill passes in the Senate, 219; + before the House, 220; + recommitted, 233; + its beneficence towards Southern rebels, 233; + interferes with State rights, 222, 236; + amendment proposed by Mr. Bingham, 237; + rejected, 242; + argued as unconstitutional, 237, + reply, 239; + passes the House, 243; + odious title proposed, 243; + as amended, passes the Senate, 244; + vetoed by the President, 246; + veto answered, 253; + passes over the veto, 288, 289; + the form in which it became a law, 290; + propriety of placing it in the Constitution, 438. + + COLFAX, Schuyler, elected Speaker of the House, 20; + vote of thanks to, 576. + + COLLOQUY between Chanler and Bingham, 67; + Davis and Trumbull, 136, 199; + Clark and Davis, 201; + Brooks and Stevens, 336; + Higby and Hill, 356; + Dixon and Trumbull, 424; + Doolittle, Nye, and Lane, 457; + Ashley, Conkling, and Stevens, 513; + Doolittle and Wilson, 531; + on specie payments, Stevens, Wentworth, and Garfield, 556. + + COLLAR the President's, charge of wearing repelled, 284. + + COLOR of a citizen not inquired into in our early history, 51; + should not be regarded in our laws, 53; + indefiniteness of the term, 360. + + COLORADO, reason of the non-admission of, 559. + + COMMERCE, Committee on, 27, 30. + + COMMISSIONER of Freedmen's Bureau, 140. + + COMMITTEES, the importance of, in legislation, 25; + difficulty of selecting, 26. + + COMMITTEE on Reconstruction, 49; + report of, 466; + difficulty of obtaining information by, 467; + conclusion of, 471. + + COMPOUND Interest Notes, attempt to redeem, 558. + + COMPROMISE of Moral Principles opposed, 374. + + CONCERT of action desired, 37. + + CONFEDERATION, the old, and the Constitution, 316. + + CONFISCATION discarded by civilized nations, 320. + + CONGRESS, no danger to be feared from usurpation by, 501; + as described by President Johnson, 561; + salutary effect of vetoes upon, 563. + + CONNECTICUT, the voice of on negro suffrage, 394. + + CONSERVATISM the worst word in the language, 101. + + CONSERVATIVES represented by Mr. Raymond, 314. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Amendment, what laws may be passed under, 118. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Amendments, how they should be made; advice of + Mr. Saulsbury, 405. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Amendments in the interests of slavery once + popular, 405. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Authority of the President and General Grant, 124. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Convention of 1787, 338. + + CONSTITUTION, the, powers it confers, 122; + violation of, an oft-repeated argument, 149; + to be destroyed by the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 148; + unreconcilable with military rule, 176; + caused to bleed, 193; + does not exclude negroes from citizenship, 203; + against State Sovereignty, 319; + more liberal before the Rebellion, 327; + may be legally amended, 357; + as estimated by its makers, 278; + not necessary to re-enact it, 380. + + CONTRAST between whites and blacks under Kentucky law, 154. + + COTTON, export duty on proposed, 312. + + "COUNTER PROPOSITION" by Mr. Sumner, 373, 379, 382; + rejected, 415. + + COURTESY of Senator Wade, as described by Mr. McDougall, 282. + + COWAN, Edgar, his radicalism, 489; his seriousness, 490. + + + DAVIS, Garrett, his programme for the President, 430, 432; + struck "dumb," 209; + his ability to "hang on," 533. + + DAVIS, Jefferson, why not tried, 123; + acted "under color of law," 260; + not a traitor if rebel States are treated as foreign powers, 317; + his proclamation, 480. + + DEAD STATES described, 308; + impossible, 316. + + DEATH-KNELL of Liberty: passage of Reconstruction Bill, 547. + + DEATHS of Senators, 569; + of Representatives, 570. + + DEBATES of the Senate and House, difference, 452. + + DEBATE, right of in the Senate, 38. + + DEBT, accumulated burden of the public, 147; + rebel, how inherited by the United States, 317; + must be repudiated, 319. + + DEFEAT, the lesson of, 416. + + DEFIANCE of the majority by Garrett Davis, 244. + + DEFILEMENT of the Constitution, 407; + answer to the charge, 410. + + DELAWARE, the last slaveholding State, 127. + + DELAY needful, 382. + + DELAYS of the Senate, protest against, 394; + benefits of, 453. + + DESPOTISM, establishment of, in the South, 531. + + DEMOCRACY, leader of the, confusion concerning, 306. + + DEMOCRATIC ascendency, dangers attending, 312. + + DEMOCRATIC party against the Government, 399; + policy of, traversed, 442. + + DEMOCRATS, their new discovery, 358; + how they caused the passage of the Reconstruction Amendment, 451; + hunting up negro voters, 498. + + DEVELOPMENT always slow, 64. + + DISFRANCHISEMENT of negroes by whites, 365, 376; + opposed, 387; + of rebels advocated, 443. + + DISSOLUTION of the Union in the passage of the Freedmen's Bureau + Bill, 160. + + DISUNION, threat of, 161. + + DISTRICT of Columbia, Committee on, 28; + under the special care of Congress, 50; + number and character of rebels in, 77. + + DISTRICT of Columbia, bill to extend suffrage in, introduced, 51; + motion to postpone, 82; + amendments proposed, 82; + and rejected, 93; + passage in the House, 93; + called up in the Senate, 483; + reason for its occupying so much attention, 485; + why it was not passed before, 491; + its passage, 499; + veto, 500; + passage over the veto, 501; + why it was so long deferred, 564, 565. + + DOG, injustice to a, 509. + + DOOLITTLE, his position on the Civil Rights Bill, 285; + "a fortunate politician," 459; + the savior of his party, 469. + + DREAM of Thaddeus Stevens vanished, 463. + + DRED Scott Decision against civil rights, 198, 264. + + DU PONT, Admiral, his mention of the negro pilot, 71. + + + EARTHQUAKE predicted, 447. + + EDUCATION, the Committee on, 30. + + EDUCATION of Freedmen, provision for, 145 + + EDUCATION, an uncertain test, 62; + should be made a test, 63; + of colored children, a scene in the old Senate, 389; + Bureau of, 553. + + EDUCATOR, the best, the ballot is, 399. + + ELECTIVE franchise, a means of elevation, 57; + the only proper test for its exercise, 61; + its abridgment not authorized by the Amendment of + Representation, 358; + the President's view of his power over, 562. + + EMANCIPATION, its effect upon rights, 328. + + ENFRANCHISEMENT to be a gradual work, 354; + how to bring about, 411; + not disfranchisement, the question in reconstruction, 506. + + ENGLAND, her paper money and specie payments, 556. + + EPOCH in the history of the country, 204. + + EQUALITY, political, a "fiendish doctrine," 61. + + EQUALITY does not exist, 195. + + EQUAL Rights, the blessings of, 377. + + EXCITEMENT, the Senate not unfitted for business by, 421. + + EXCLUSION from citizenship, a right, 195. + + EXECUTIVE obstruction, of Congress, 560. + + EXECUTIVE patronage, evils of, 559. + + EXPENSE of Freedmen's Bureau, 110; + objections to answered, 128; + for one year, 145, 147, 100; + as presented by the President, 180. + + EXPULSION of Garrett Davis prayed for, 572. + + + FEMALE Suffrage advocated, 487. + + FEMALES not a political element, 345. + + FINANCE, the Committee on, 27; + the subject of, 555. + + FISKE, General, his statement, 182. + + FLAG, the American, 40. + + FLOWERS of rhetoric, from a Senator's speech, 413. + + FOOT, Solomon his death, 569. + + FOREIGN MINISTERS, penalty for proceeding against, 259, 267, 270. + + FOREIGN population, their representatives in Congress, 369, 379. + + FOREIGN Relations, Chairman of Committee on, 26. + + FOREIGNERS not discriminated against in the Civil Rights Bill, 254. + + FOSTER, L. S., as President of the Senate, 23; + retirement from the office, 576. + + FREEDMEN, their necessities and numbers, 95; + Committee on, 31, 95; + Senator Wilson's bill to protect, 95; + objections to, 98; + laid over, 103. + + FREEDMEN'S BUREAU, a bill to enlarge introduced in the Senate, 105; + its provisions, 105; + its expense, 111; + its military feature, 112; + for the negro, against the white man, 119; + not designed to be permanent, 121; + establishment of schools, 130; + passes the Senate, 136; + brought up in the House, 138; + passage, 157; + "a dissolution of the Union," 160; + its bounty to the whites, 163; + veto of, 164. + + FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL, the second reported, its provisions, 295; + passage in the House, 295; + in the Senate, 296; + form as it became a law, 298; + veto of, 302; + passage over the veto, 306; + the bill and the veto, 563. + + FREEDOM elevates the colored race, 85. + + FRIENDSHIP for the negro, Mr. Cowan's, 135. + + FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW, its provisions employed in the Civil Rights + Bill, 190, 192; + its re-enactment in the Civil Rights Bill opposed, 212; + and advocated, 213; + used for a good end, 216. + + + GARBLING, an example of, 572. + + GENERAL Government supreme to confer citizenship, 239. + + GENEROSITY towards rebels, McDougall's illustrated, 461. + + GEORGIA, her avoidance of the Civil Rights Bill, 275; + possessory titles of freedmen to lands in, 108. + + GERMAN woman, a slave, 349. + + GOVERNMENT, all departments of the, designed to secure + civil rights, 221. + + GOVERNMENT, the need of the South, 516. + + GRANT, General, on the Freedmen's Bureau, 119; + his order to protect officers from civil prosecution, 123; + his order setting aside black laws, 215; + his report, 563. + + GREATNESS of America, 360. + + GROUND-SWELL, danger of, after the war, 62. + + GYPSIES, their birth and citizenship, 246, 255. + + + HABEAS Corpus, restored to loyal States, 123; + its suspension an evidence that the war had not closed, 177. + + HAPPINESS of statesmen who died before recent legislation, 194. + + HAYTI, her blow for liberty, 69. + + HIGHWAYMAN, his weapons restored, 122. + + HOMES for Freedmen, the purchase of, 115. + + HOMESTEAD Bill, Southern, 553. + + HOUSE of Representatives, scene at the opening of, 16. + + HOWARD, General, placed at the head of the Freedmen's Bureau, 139; + his operations, 142. + + HUNGARY, why revolutionary, 383. + + + IGNORANCE among colored people rapidly disappearing, 54; + the nation chargeable with, 62; + in the South, 146. + + IMPEACHMENT proposed, 566; + report of Committee on, 567. + + INDIANA, negro suffrage not necessary in as in the South, 77; + liable to be placed under the jurisdiction of Freedmen's Bureau, 110; + military rule in, 112; + civil-rights denied to negroes in, 117; + marriage in, 131; + not in rebellion, 125. + + INDIANA and Massachusetts, prejudice against color and against + ignorance, 337. + + INDIANS, appropriations voted to feed and clothe, 120; + excluded from civil rights, 201; + becoming extinct, 410. + + INDICTMENT substituted for Writ of Error, 274. + + INDIVIDUALS, not States, commit treason, and are punished, 316. + + INDUSTRIAL interests promoted by negro suffrage, 494. + + INTELLIGENCE should be required of the negro voter, 73, 81. + + IOWA, zeal and patriotism of her colored people, 73; + vote on negro suffrage in, 74. + + IRELAND, cause of her troubles, 383. + + + JAMAICA, insurrection in, cause of, 75. + + JEFFERSON as quoted by President Johnson, 500. + + JESUS CHRIST, the spirit of, 223, 224. + + JOHNSON, Andrew, becomes President, 13; + his amnesty proclamation, 14; + how the odium against would be shared by Congress, 519; + "the late lamented Governor," 437. + + JOHNSON, Senator, Andrew, his reply to Buchanan's veto, 255, 264. + + JOHNSON, Doctor, and the leg of mutton, 406. + + "JOHNSONIAN, new converts," 439. + + JUDICIAL authority under Freedmen's Bureau, 130. + + JUDICIAL Department, the only hope, 512. + + JUDICIARY Committee of the Senate described, 28; + of the House, 31; + subjects properly referred to it, 38; + report on impeachment, 567. + + JURY Trial not given under martial law, 175. + + JUSTICE should be done to white and black, 119. + + + KANSAS, her protest against the denial of rights, 89; + in 1856, 90; + surrendered to the machinations of slave masters, 99. + + KENTUCKY, Union party in, 152; + necessity for Freedmen's Bureau in, advocated and opposed, 134; + members from, their opposition to the Freedmen's Bureau, 149; + her opposition to the Government, 153; + laws of, relating to whites and blacks, 154; + during the war, 211; + will submit, 343; + the United States, an appendage to, 362. + + KILLING an official, opinion as to when it should be done, 151. + + "KING can do no wrong," a bad maxim, 260. + + KOH-I-NOOR of blackness, 407. + + + LADIES, their supposed opinions on female suffrage, 492. + + LAERTES, his language endorsed, 529. + + LANDS not taken from owners by Freedmen's Bureau, 182. + + LANE, James H., his suicide, 569. + + LAW, "under color of," explained, 258, 260. + + LAWS in Kentucky for whites and blacks, 211. + + LAWYER "abating the statesman," 208. + + LEADER, of the democracy, confusion concerning, 306; + of the House, 575. + + LEE acted "under color of law," 260. + + LEGISLATURE of Tennessee, Constitutional Amendment in, 473. + + LEGISLATURES do not constitute States, 327. + + LEGISLATIVE power, danger of its abuse, 500. + + LIGHT from the House not needed in the Senate, 44. + + LINCOLN, Abraham, his assassination, 13; + how he closed a chasm, 230; + his language, 323; + his death "no loss to the South," 562; + celebration of his birthday, 570. + + LION, the prostrate, 71. + + LOAN Bill, the, 558. + + LOYALISTS, Southern, never lost their right of representation, 427. + + LOYALTY impossible if States are foreign powers, 317. + + + "MALE," the word should not be placed in the Constitution, 370. + + MANHOOD of the negro race recognized, 91. + + MANUFACTURERS, Senate Committee on, 27; House, 31. + + MARIUS upon the ruins of Carthage, 287. + + MARSHALL, Chief Justice, decision pronounced by, 253. + + MARYLAND, necessity for Freedmen's Bureau in, 135. + + MASSACHUSETTS, her law of suffrage, 63; + her character, 74; + her example not to be quoted, 92; + crimes are perpetrated in, 97; + prejudice against ignorance in, 336; + Senator Sumner advised to leave, 336. + + MAYOR of Washington, his remonstrance against negro suffrage, 486. + + MCCLELLAN'S proclamation against the slaves, 67. + + MCCULLOCH, circumstances under which he should receive great + credit, 558. + + MCDOUGALL, his habits and talents, 277. + + MCPHERSON, Edward, Clerk of the House, 16; + his conduct in the organization, 17; + strictures on, 431. + + MEMORIAL from colored men, 393. + + METAPHYSICAL argument for female suffrage, 493. + + MILITARY affairs, Committee on, 31. + + MILITARY feature of the Civil Rights Bill opposed, 216; + explained and defended, 217; + has been the law 30 years, 218; + nothing unusual, 225. + + MILITARY governments in the South, colloquy concerning, 530. + + MILITARY protection of Freedmen's Bureau opposed, 112; + explained and advocated, 126, 172. + + MILITARY Reconstruction Bill, discussion of a previous + proposition, 502; + the measure proposed, 516; + its form, 517; + explained, 518; + danger in not providing for civil governments, 523; + a police bill only, 528; + Blaine's amendment of, 527; + passes the House, 529; + Sherman's amendment, 534; + passes the Senate, 535; + amended in the House, 541; + final passage, 524; + vetoed; passes over the veto, 547, 548; + final form, 548. + + MILITARY should not supersede civil authority, 524. + + MILL, John Stuart, in favor of female suffrage, 488. + + MISSISSIPPI, black code of, 146; + distinctions in against blacks, 191; + numbers of whites and negroes in, 334. + + MISSOURI injured by making voters the basis of representation, 366. + + MONOPOLY, Southern, of human rights, 376. + + MONTGOMERY Convention committed treason "under color of law," 261. + + MURDER, being unlawful, can not be committed, 310; + answer, 315. + + + NAME, ability to read and write the, as a qualification for + voting, 496. + + NAPOLEON not liable to execution if taken in war, 317. + + NATIVE-BORN persons not subjects for naturalization, 200, 201; + the position opposed, 203; + advocated, 208. + + NATURALIZATION Act as constituted by Congress, 203; + may be changed, 204; + its nature, 232. + + NATURALIZATION of races, authorities, instances, 233, 238, 254. + + NEBRASKA admitted into the Union, 559. + + NEGRO brigade, charge of at Port Hudson, 71. + + NEGRO, Cuvier's definition of, enlarged, 484. + + NEGRO competition not to be feared, 229. + + NEGRO equality does not exist in nature, 144. + + NEGRO race, a mine or a buttress, 86; dying out, 408; answer, 409. + + NEGROES have no history of civilization, 55; + content with their situation, 55; + their wealth in Washington, 58; + should have citizenship, but not suffrage, 63; + their inferiority, 67; + became soldiers under discouraging circumstances, 70; + their property and patriotism, 71; + of Iowa, their patriotism, 73; + danger in the influence of politicians over, 79; + elevated by freedom, 85; + their manhood recognized, 91; + laws against them in the South, 147; + prejudice against in the South, 161; + citizens before the Constitution in North Carolina, 200; + in New Hampshire, 201; + allowed to compete for the Presidency, 222, 229; + our allies, should not be deserted, 234; + their services in the war, and subsequent wrongs, 282; + competent to vote, 387; + eligible to the highest offices, 387; + their heroic deeds, 391; + their enfranchisement should be gradual, 393; + enormities practiced against, 504. + + NEGRO suffrage, evil effects of, 60; + would humble the white laborer, 65; + chronology of in several States, 73; + a necessity for the South, 76; + retributive justice to rebels, 77; + best obtained by indirect means, 412; + history of the legislation for, 483; + course of Mr. Yates on, 484; + passage over the veto, 501. + + NEUTRALITY in Kentucky, 152. + + NEW ENGLAND, undue preponderance of in the Senate, 401; + answer, 403; + her happiness in not being despised, 413. + + NEW ENGLAND Senators not silent during the war, 402. + + NEW HAMPSHIRE, negroes citizens in, 201. + + NEW YORK and Mississippi, inequality in their representation, 329; + not affected by change in the basis of representation, 332. + + NEW YORK Times, editorial in the, 444. + + NORTH CAROLINA, negroes citizens in before the Constitution, 200; + legislation of, concerning white slaves, 349. + + NORTH and South, statesmen of the, 384. + + NORTH, the political, what constitutes, 57. + + + OBJECT of the war, 44. + + OFFICE, ineligibility to, as a punishment, 458. + + OLIGARCHY, the power of, should be ended, 350. + + + PACIFIC Railroad, Committee on, 30. + + PAINS and penalties of not holding office, 458. + + PANEGYRIC on Union and rebel dead, 364; + answered, 370. + + PARLIAMENT and the King, 477. + + PARTISAN controversy, 442. + + PARTY for enfranchisement, how to be raised up, 411. + + PARTY man, Mr. Hendricks not suspected to be, 412. + + PATENT medicine in the Senate, 162. + + PATTERSON, Senator of Tennessee, case of, 478; + admitted to a seat, 482. + + PENALTY essential to effectiveness of law, 259; + is not permission, 414. + + PENNSYLVANIA does not need the Freedmen's Bureau, 133; + against negro citizenship, 195. + + PEOPLE, "the sacred," constitute the States, 327; + their verdict for Congress, 564. + + PERRY, Governor, his disloyalty, 562. + + PERSIAN Mythology--Gods of Light and Darkness, 277. + + PHYSICAL endurance, a question of, 419. + + POLICY of Congress shown in legislation for the District of + Columbia, 50; + of the President, 423. + + POLITICAL existence alone entitles to representation, 330; + faith maintained in "the worst of times." 532; + rights not conferred by Civil Rights Bill, 256; + society in the South must be changed, 445. + + PRECIPITATE action deprecated, 382. + + PREJUDICE of the Southern people against the negro, 161. + + PRESENT time contrasted with 1787, 338. + + PRESIDENT'S right to say who constitute Congress, 431. + + PRESIDENCY, negroes allowed to compete for, 222, 229. + + PRESIDENT Johnson, duty of Congress to sustain, 41; + Congress not to be bound by his opinion, 42; + reluctance of Congress to break with, 94; + described as whitewashing, 99; + not a "summer soldier," 100; + his character as a witness vindicated, 101; + restores the habeas corpus, 123; + views on good faith to freedmen, 131; + policy of restoring lands to rebel owners, 143; + veto of Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 164; + answered by Mr. Trumbull, 171; + veto of the Civil Rights Bill, 245; + his controversy with Congress, 262; + harmony desirable, 269; + his dictation to Congress opposed, 276; + defended by Mr. Lane, of Kansas, 280; + wearing his collar, 181; + as Moses of the negroes, 282; + not infallible, 283; + his defection and its effect, 294; + his invitation to Congress, 314; + the Constitutional Amendment construed as an attack upon, 343; + speaks through an "unusual conduit," 366; + effect of his dictation, 372; + effect of his speech, 419; + description of, 423; + effect of his opposition to reconstruction, 451; + his patriotic duty, 459; + eulogy on, 460; + charged with responsibility for the state of the country, 463; + taking "ministerial steps," 464; + his influence in Tennessee, 473; + his protest against a preamble, 477; + veto of the Suffrage Bill, 500; + his usurpations, 508; + how long he governed the South, 519; + his greatness, 520; + hope for harmony with, 524; + hope only in the removal of, 526; + his course rendering military reconstruction necessary, 527; + how he executed the law for two years, 536; + his terms towards Congress, 561; + his 22d February speech, 563; + before the people, 564; + his vetoes, impeachment proposed, 566; + resolution complimentary to, 571. + + PRESIDENT of the Senate, the office vacated and assumed, 576. + + PRIVILEGES and immunities of a Member of Congress, 575. + + PROGRESS, in six years,--a scene in the Senate, 389. + + PROGRESS, the tide of, cannot be stayed, 400. + + PROPERTY qualification may be restored in South Carolina, 332. + + PROSPECTS, brilliant, before the country, 394. + + PUBLIC justice slow, but sure, 287. + + PUBLIC Lands, Committee on, 30. + + PUNISHMENT and reward, Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Sumner, 413. + + PUNISHMENT of the Southern States, 395. + + + QUALIFICATION of Members decided upon by each House separately, 39. + + + RACES, differences in, cannot be obliterated, 56; + diversity of opinion concerning, 360. + + RADICAL bull taken by the horns, 314. + + RADICAL and Conservative policy contrasted, 320; + different in details, not in essence, 322. + + RADICALISM, no danger of shipwreck from, 462. + + RADICAL majority, its ranks strengthened, 294. + + RADICAL principles indestructible, 428. + + RADICALS, their purpose to be rational, 489. + + RAIL-SPLITTER and tailor-boy, 400. + + READING and writing as a qualification for voting, 487; + Mr. Dixon's proposition, 495; + lost, 499. + + REAM, Miss Minnie, her commission to make a statue of Lincoln, 470. + + REBELLION, its surviving strength, 527. + + REBELS, their hatred of the negro, 76; + retributive justice to, 77; + what is expected of them, 133; + authority should not be restored to, 122; + should be trusted, 223, 386; + their confidence to be won, 228; + not to be conciliated by the sacrifice of the freedmen, 231; + not to be deprived of citizenship, 233; + called "the nation's dead," 364; + reply, 370; + sufficiently punished, should be reädmitted, 429; + instructions to, 426; + proposition to disfranchise, 436; + opposed, 438; + the number who would be disfranchised, 440; + their disfranchisement passes the House, 450; + rejected in the Senate, 455; + the most guilty, 448; + in Congress, six years ago, 449; + generosity towards, illustrated, 461; + their conduct gives justice to the negro, 516. + + REBEL States, their status, 37, 41, 45; + facts respecting, 46; + cannot destroy the Union, 145; + their treatment of the negro, 153; + their lack of representation no obstacle to legislation, 185; + should not deprive loyal States of the power to legislate, 254; + laws of, oppressive to freedmen, 261; + how their absence affects legislation, 268; + dead, 308; + how restored, 309; + how they lost their existence, 321; + never out of the Union, 314; + how should be treated, 318; + bill to restore to political rights introduced, 502; + Mr. Stevens' labor upon it, 528. + + REBEL war, novel theory of, 509. + + RECONSTRUCTION, as begun by President Johnson, 14; + resolution to appoint a committee on, 34, 48; + committee on, 49; + their appointment, how regarded, 307; + first report of committee on, 324; + committee on, denounced, 441; + its consummation eloquently portrayed, 448; + Report on, 466; + three modes of, 503; + character of the committee on, 513; + styled "Maelstrom Committee," 519. + + RECONSTRUCTION Amendment proposed, 435; + denounced as revolutionary, 437; + passage in the House, 450; + influence of the Democrats in passing, 451; + length of debate on, in the Senate, 453; + amendments and substitutes proposed, 454, 455; + "stupendous mercy," 461; + passage, 462, 463; + its form, 463; + transmitted to the States, 465. + + REEL in the bottle, 415. + + REFUGEES, their stories, 523. + + RELIGION, appealed to, 458. + + REMARKABLE combination of Senators, 415. + + REPRESENTATION, Constitutional Amendment concerning, proposed, 324. + + REPRESENTATION, modes of, considered, 330; + the old rule of, arbitrary, 344; + of Southern States, resolution concerning, 417; + passage, 433; + "straw in a storm," 422; + "useless, yet mischievous," 432. + + REPRESENTATIVES, seats of, 25. + + REPRIMAND of Mr. Rosseau, 574. + + REPUBLIC, American idea of, historical summary, 375; + its overthrow lamented, 507. + + REPUBLICANISM, its meaning, 477. + + REPUBLICAN Government denied to the District of Columbia, 90; + how guaranteed, 311; + what constitutes, 356; + inconsistent with denial of right of suffrage, 340; + opinion of the fathers concerning, 385. + + REPUBLICAN Party, its success or failure, 88; + Rousseau's remark upon, 151; + its responsibility, 306; + declared by Mr. Stevens not responsible for his opinions, 308; + its demands, 323; + its negro capital, 361; + alone benefited by change in Basis of Representation, 362; + how it may retain power, 395; + history and triumph of, 429; + its "scheme," 442; + its position defined, 443; + its desire, 510. + + REVOLUTION, a Constitutional and peaceful, 206; + produced by Civil Rights Bill, 287, 288. + + "RICH man's war, and poor man's fight," 446. + + RIGHTS, danger of denying, 88; + of voting essential to the enjoyment of other rights, 92; + as affected by emancipation, 328. + + ROUSSEAU and Grinnell, affair of, 151, 572. + + ROME, her treatment of conquered Latium, 314; + her noble "bloods" lost, 338; + she rebukes America, 392. + + RUSSIA, an example of, 99; + Czar of, his example cited, 155. + + + SAVIOUR of the world found his followers among the poor, 88. + + SARSAPARILLA and the ballot, 163. + + SCHOOLS for freedmen should be provided by Government, 130; + of colored people in the District of Columbia, 59. + + SCHURZ, General, evidence of his report, 76, 563. + + SCOTT, General, his death, 459; + funeral and statue, 570. + + SECESSION, Ordinance of, a nullity, 314. + + SELF government, a right, 61. + + SELF preservation, a right of the nation, 522. + + SEATS, selection of, 23, 24. + + SENATE, opening scenes in, 14; + supposed division of, 431; + its proper business and mischievous business, 460. + + SENATOR, the Greek, and the Sparrow, 93. + + SENATORS not legislators for their own States alone, 186; + republican, as they appeared after a caucus, 456. + + SERAPIS, destruction of the statue of, 145. + + SEWARD, Secretary, his despatch to Minister Adams, 71; + and the nobleman's dog, 509; + defended, 512. + + SHERMAN, General, his order assigning lands to freedmen, 114, 128. + + SHERMAN'S Amendment to the Military Reconstruction Bill, 534. + + SLAVE, the, under American law, 197. + + SLAVEHOLDER, the last in America, 127. + + SLAVES have supported themselves and their masters, 70. + + SLAVERY, its evil influence, 87; + dead, 102; + its destruction, 145; + abolition of, duty consequent upon, 188; + voted perpetual by Congress, 230; + right of U. S. to prohibit, 319; + not confined to the African race, 348, 349. + + SMALL, the negro pilot, 71. + + SOUTH, what constitutes the, 57. + + SOUTH CAROLINA attempts to keep the slave in bondage, 96; + her laws against the negro, 146; + her representation to be reduced, 331; + and Wisconsin, inequality in representation, 334; + her numbers of whites and negroes, 334; + how she may evade the Constitutional Amendment, 341; + President Johnson's advice to, 562. + + SOUTHERN people, their kind feeling towards negroes, 227; + a majority opposed to secession, 446; + their disposition, 470; + advised to strike for liberty, 494. + + SOUTHERN States, number of illiterate persons in, 146; + in a better condition than to be expected, 109; + their representatives should be admitted, 355; + the numbers disfranchised by them, 365; + an appeal to their love of power, 369; + anti-republican, 376; + punishment of, 395; + not kept out by New England jealousy, 403; + their losses in the war, 408; + revolution relating to, 417; + their relation to the Union unchanged, 427. + + SOVEREIGNTIES, divided, essential to the existence of the nation, 267. + + SPEAKER of the House, his influence upon legislation, 576. + + SPECIE payments, when to be reached, 556. + + STARS of heaven and the constellation of the States, 144. + + STATE of the country, unparalleled, 178. + + STATESMANSHIP the rule of, 539; + what constitutes, 532. + + STATESMEN of the North and South, 384. + + STATE sovereignty, the doctrine destroyed, 319. + + STATES rights defined, 228; + Civil Rights Bill endangers, 222, 236; + answered, 240. + + STATES reserved the right to confer citizenship, 265; + the number recognized by the President, 335; + South and North, their ratio of representation compared, 344. + + STATISTICS of Freedmen's Bureau, 154, 182. + + STATUTES declaring what the law is, common, 254. + + STEWART'S proposition for universal suffrage, 435. + + ST. DOMINGO, insurrection in, without a parallel, 68. + + STOCKBRIDGE Indians naturalized, 233. + + STORY, Justice, as quoted by President Johnson, 500. + + SUBJECTS, who are, how made citizens, 232. + + SUFFRAGE in the District of Columbia, bill extending, 51; + the first act in a political drama, 54; + not prematurely proposed, 91. + + SUFFRAGE limited by the influence of slavery, 52; + negro to be effected by Constitutional Amendment, 327; + the proper basis of representation, 335; + the right of, Congress may regulate, 364; + negro or rebel? 383; + impartial, advocated by Mr. Yates, 398; + by Mr. Pomeroy, 404; + female, advocated and opposed, 488; + advocated by Mr. Wade, 490; + rejected, 495; + its true base, 495. + + SUN obscured by Congressional acts, 337. + + SUPPLEMENTARY Reconstruction Bill, 550. + + SYMPATHIZERS, Northern, with rebellion, 78. + + + TACTICS, Parliamentary, 418. + + TARIFF, subject of the, 554; bill, 555. + + TAXATION without representation opposed, 326, 333; + proposed exemption of unrepresented negroes from, 386; + the principle of, announced, 555. + + TEARS for the slave, 192. + + TEMPTATION to be friends of the President, 564. + + TENNESSEE, efforts of members to gain admission, 17; + effect of veto of Freedmen's Bureau on the admission of, 418; + right of Congress to inquire into the loyalty of, 424; + her reädmission anticipated, 448; + first to ratify the Constitutional Amendment, 473; + resolution for restoring representation to, 474; + its passage, 476. + + TENURE of office, bill to regulate, 559. + + TERMS of surrender to be fixed by the President, 319. + + TERRITORIAL Government proper for rebel States, 312. + + TERRITORIES, democratic doctrine on, fruits of, 442. + + TEST Oath, 21; + should be modified, 47; + resolution to modify the, 480; + opposed by Mr. Stokes, 480; + by Mr. Conkling; laid on the table, 481. + + TEXAS, citizenship conferred on the people by legislation, 198; + negroes in, unaware of their freedom, 393. + + TIME proper for amending the Constitution, 345, 352, 355. + + TOOMBS and his gang make a "hell of legislation," 449. + + TOWNSEND'S Sarsaparilla, and suffrage, 530. + + TRANQUILLITY impossible while rights are denied a portion of the + people, 486. + + TREASON, charge, of resented, 284. + + TRIBUNES of Borne, their "veto," 278. + + TROUBLE with the negro, how ended, 390. + + TRUMBULL, Senator, his visit to the President, 262, 283. + + + UNION Party of 1861, its policy on slavery, 342; + its position defined, 443. + + UNION to be dissolved by act of Congress, 40; + under the Constitution and old confederation, 316; + means of having a prosperous, 461. + + UNIVERSAL suffrage, its sure triumph, 400. + + + "VENOMOUS fight," a, 419. + + VERBAL details, criticism on, deprecated, 520. + + VETO, of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 165; + bill fails to pass over, in the Senate, 187; + Mr. Raymond desirous of avoiding, 235; + of Civil Rights Bill, 246; + efforts of Congress to avoid, 262; + appeal of Senator Andrew Johnson against, 264; + power of the Executive, 278; + of the second Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 302; + of the District of Columbia Suffrage Bill, 500; + of Military Reconstruction Bill, 542; + of Tenure of Office Bill, 560 + + VETOES, summary of, 565. + + VIRGINIA, her legislation concerning citizenship, 349. + + VIRGINIANS, probable effect of negro suffrage upon, 498. + + VOTE on appointment of Reconstruction Committee, 35, 48; + on Negro Suffrage, 93; + on Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 136, 157, 187; + on Civil Rights Bill, 219, 243; + on veto of Civil Rights Bill, 288, 289; + on Reconstruction Amendment, 450; + on Basis of Representation, 371, 416; + on Military Reconstruction Bill, 535. + + VOTES of disfranchised persons in the Electoral College, 329. + + VOTERS, objections to, as basis of representation, 351. + + VOTERS, qualifications of, under the Military Reconstruction Bill, 550. + + VOTING, the mode of in Joint Committees, 39. + + VOTING, the right of, not correlative with the duty to bear arms, 493; + population in States, old and new, 335. + + + WADE accused of secession sentiments, 428. + + WAR, effects of the, 62; + opinions of General Grant and the Attorney General on its + termination, 123; + results of the, 209. + + WAR of races, how produced, 75; how avoided, 383. + + WAR power of the Freedmen's Bureau, 125. + + WAR, the only remaining means of preserving civil liberty, 519; + difficulty of raising soldiers for such a, 521. + + WASHINGTON City thriftless under the rule of slavery, 52; + schools and churches of colored population in, 59; + negroes in, their property and patriotism, 71; + its situation, 571. + + WASHINGTON, George, on alterations of the Constitution, 358. + + WAYS and Means, Committee on, 29. + + WELFARE, public, subserved by passage of Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 149. + + WHIPPING negroes to disfranchise them, 504. + + "WHITE-MAN'S Government," this is not exclusively, 57, 61; + the idea opposed, 207; + eloquent passage concerning, 391; + answer to, 396. + + "WHITE," mistake of Colorado in using the word, 559. + + WHITE people, civilized governments intended for, 60; + sometimes vote wrong, 79; + never legally slaves, 370; + not discriminated against, 258; + recipients of bounty of Freedmen's Bureau, 163; + General Fiske's statement, 182. + + WHITE population to be crowded out by blacks, 150. + + WHITE soldiers did more than black, 66. + + "WHITEWASHING," charged against the President, 99, 563. + + WISCONSIN, instructions to the Senators of, 286; + and South Carolina, their unequal representation, 334; + her declaration on negro suffrage, 394; + radicals of, Doolittle against the, 533. + + WOMEN, crusade against, deprecated, 370. + + + YOUNG gentlemen in Congress, suggestions to, 529. + + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress +of the United States, by Wiliam H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States + +Author: Wiliam H. Barnes + +Release Date: February 13, 2008 [EBook #24596] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Christine P. Travers and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all +other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling +has been maintained. + +In some cases, part of the illustration's captions were illegible.] + + + + +[Illustration: Hon. Schuyler Colfax.] + + + + + HISTORY + + OF THE + + THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS + + OF THE + + UNITED STATES. + + + + By WILLIAM H. BARNES, A.M., + AUTHOR OF "THE BODY POLITIC." + + + + _WITH PORTRAITS._ + + + + + NEW YORK: + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + 327 TO 335 PEARL STREET. + 1868. + + + + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by + WILLIAM H. BARNES, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States + for the District of Columbia. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The history of the Thirty-Ninth Congress is a sequel to that of the +Rebellion. This having been overthrown, it remained for Congress to +administer upon its effects. It depended upon the decisions of +Congress whether the expected results of our victories should be +realized or lost. + +Now that the work of the Thirty-Ninth Congress stands forth complete, +people naturally desire to know something of the manner in which the +rough material was shaped into order, and the workmanship by which the +whole was "fitly joined together." It can not be said of this fabric +of legislation that it went up without "the sound of the hammer." The +rap of the gavel was often heard enforcing order or limiting the +length of speeches. + +Discussion is the process by which legislation is achieved; hence no +history of legislation would be complete without presenting the +progress of debate preparatory to the adoption of important measures. +The explanation of what our legislators did is found in what they +said. Debates, as presented in the following pages, are by necessity +much abridged. No attempt has been made to give a summary or synopsis +of speeches. That which seemed to be the most striking or +characteristic passage in a speech is given, in the words of the +orator. + +Many things said and done in the Thirty-Ninth Congress, of great +importance to the nation, are by necessity omitted. The reader, in +forming his opinion of Congressional character and ability, will bear +in mind that those who speak most frequently are not always the most +useful legislators. Men from whom no quotation is made, and to whom no +measure is attributed in the following pages, may be among the +foremost in watchfulness for their constituents, and faithfulness to +the country. + +If it should seem that one subject -- the negro question -- occupied +too much of the time and attention of Congress, it must be borne in +mind that this subject was thrust upon Congress and the country by the +issue of the Rebellion, and must be definitely and finally settled +before the nation can be at rest. "Unsettled questions have no pity on +the repose of mankind." + +No attempt has been made to present a journal of Congressional +proceedings, giving a detail of what was said and done from day to day +in the Senate and the House. There was always some great national +question under consideration in one or the other House, forming an +uninterrupted series of discussions and transactions. To present these +in review is to give a history of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, since +they distinguish it from all its predecessors, and make it historical. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I.--Opening Scenes. + + (Page 13-21.) + + Momentous Events of the Vacation -- Opening of the Senate -- + Mr. Wade -- Mr. Sumner -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. Harris -- Edward + McPherson -- As Clerk of the preceding Congress, he calls + the House to order -- Interruption of Roll-call by Mr. + Maynard -- Remarks by Mr. Brooks -- His Colloquy with Mr. + Stevens -- Mr. Colfax elected Speaker -- His Inaugural + Address -- The Test Oath. + + + CHAPTER II.--Locations of the Members and Cast of the Committees. + + (Page 22-32.) + + Importance of surroundings -- Members sometimes referred to + by their seats -- Senator Andrew Johnson -- Seating of the + Senators -- Drawing in the House -- The Senate Chamber as + seen from the Gallery -- Distinguished Senators -- The House + of Representatives -- Some prominent characters -- + Importance of Committees -- Difficulty in their appointment + -- Important Senate Committees -- Committees of the House. + + + CHAPTER III.--Formation of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. + + (Page 33-49.) + + Lack of Excitement -- Cause -- The Resolution -- Dilatory + Motions -- Yeas and Nays -- Proposed Amendments in the + Senate -- Debate in the Senate -- Mr. Howard -- Mr. Anthony + -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. + Hendricks -- Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Guthrie -- Passage of the + Resolution in the Senate -- Yeas and Nays -- Remarks of Mr. + Stevens on the Amendment of the Senate -- Concurrence of the + House -- The Committee appointed. + + + CHAPTER IV.--Suffrage in the District of Columbia. + + (Page 50-94.) + + Duty of Congress to Legislate for the District of Columbia + -- Suffrage Bill introduced into the House -- Speech by Mr. + Wilson -- Mr. Boyer -- Mr. Schofield -- Mr. Kelly -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Farnsworth -- Mr. Davis -- Mr. Chanler -- Mr. + Bingham -- Mr. Grinnell -- Mr. Kasson -- Mr. Julian -- Mr. + Thomas -- Mr. Darling -- Mr. Hale's Amendment -- Mr. Thayer + -- Mr. Van Horn -- Mr. Clarke -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. + Boutwell. + + + CHAPTER V.--The Freedmen. + + (Page 95-103.) + + Necessities of the Freedmen -- Committee in the House -- + Early Movement by the Senate in behalf of Freedmen -- + Senator Wilson's Bill -- Occasion for it -- Mr. Cowan Moves + its reference -- Mr. Reverdy Johnson advises deliberation -- + A Question of time With Mr. Sherman -- Mr. Trumbull promises + a more efficient Bill -- Mr. Sumner presents proof of the + bad condition of affairs in the South -- Mr. Cowan and Mr. + Stewart produce the President as a Witness for the Defense + -- Mr. Wilson on the Testimony -- "Conservatism" -- The Bill + absorbed in greater measures. + + + CHAPTER VI.--The Freedmen's Bureau Bill in the Senate. + + (Page 104-137.) + + The Bill introduced and referred to Judiciary Committee -- + Its provisions -- Argument of Mr. Hendricks against it -- + Reply of Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Cowan's Amendment -- Mr. + Guthrie wishes to relieve Kentucky from the operation of the + bill -- Mr. Creswell desires that Maryland may enjoy the + benefits of the bill -- Mr. Cowan's Gratitude to God and + Friendship for the Negro -- Remarks by Mr. Wilson -- "The + short gentleman's long speech" -- Yeas and Nays -- Insulting + title. + + + CHAPTER VII.--The Freedmen's Bureau Bill in the House. + + (Page 138-157.) + + The Bill Reported To the House -- Mr. Eliot's Speech -- + History -- Mr. Dawson Vs. the Negro -- Mr. Garfield -- The + Idol Broken -- Mr. Taylor Counts the Cost -- Mr. Donnelly's + Amendment -- Mr. Kerr -- Mr. Marshall On White Slavery -- + Mr. Hubbard -- Mr. Moulton -- Opposition From Kentucky -- + Mr. Ritter -- Mr. Rosseau's Threat -- Mr. Shanklin's Gloomy + Prospect -- Mr. Trimble's Appeal -- Mr. Mckee an Exceptional + Kentuckian -- Mr. Grinnell on Kentucky -- The Example of + Russia -- Mr. Phelps -- Mr. Shellabarger's Amendment -- Mr. + Chanler -- Mr. Stevens' Amendments -- Mr. Eliot Closes the + Discussion -- Passage of The Bill -- Yeas and Nays. + + + CHAPTER VIII.--The Senate and the Veto Message. + + (Page 158-187.) + + Mr. Trumbull on the Amendments of the House -- Mr. Guthrie + exhibits feeling -- Mr. Sherman's deliberate Conclusion -- + Mr. Henderson's sovereign remedy -- Mr. Trumbull on patent + medicines -- Mr. Mcdougall a white Man -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson on the power to pass the Bill -- Concurrence of the + House -- The Veto Message -- Mr. Lane, of Kansas -- His + efforts for delay -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Trumbull's + reply to the President -- The Question taken -- Yeas and + Nays -- Failure of passage. + + + CHAPTER IX.--The Civil Rights Bill in the Senate. + + (Page 188-219.) + + Duty of Congress consequent upon the Abolition of Slavery -- + Civil Rights Bill introduced -- Reference to Judiciary + Committee -- Before the Senate -- Speech By Mr. Trumbull -- + Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. van Winkle -- Mr. Cowan -- Mr. Howard + -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Davis -- Conversations with Mr. + Trumbull and Mr. Clark -- Reply of Mr. Johnson -- Remarks by + Mr. Morrill -- Mr. Davis "wound Up" -- Mr. Guthrie's Speech + -- Mr. Hendricks -- Reply of Mr. Lane -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. + Trumbull's closing remarks -- Yeas And Nays on the passage + of the Bill. + + + CHAPTER X.--The Civil Rights Bill in the House of Representatives. + + (Page 220-244.) + + The Bill referred to the Judiciary Committee and reported + back -- Speech by the Chairman of the Committee -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Cook -- Mr. Thayer -- Mr. Eldridge -- Mr. + Thornton -- Mr. Windom -- Mr. Shellabarger -- Mr. Broomall + -- Mr. Raymond -- Mr. Delano -- Mr. Kerr -- Amendment by Mr. + Bingham -- His Speech -- Reply by his Colleague -- + Discussion closed by Mr. Wilson -- Yeas and Nays on the + passage of the Bill -- Mr. Le Blond's proposed title -- + Amendments of the House accepted by the Senate. + + + CHAPTER XI.--The Civil Rights Bill and the Veto. + + (Page 245-293.) + + Doubts as to the President's Decision -- Suspense ended -- + The Veto Message -- Mr. Trumbull's Answer -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson defends the Message -- Rejoinder -- Remarks of Mr. + Yates -- Mr. Cowan appeals to the Country -- Mr. Stewart + shows how States may make the Law a Nullity -- Mr. Wade -- + Mr. McDougall on Persian Mythology -- Mr. J. H. Lane defends + the President -- Mr. Wade -- The President's Collar -- Mr. + Brown -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Saulsbury + -- Yeas And Nays in the Senate -- Vote in the House -- The + Civil Rights Bill becomes a Law. + + + CHAPTER XII.--The Second Freedmen's Bureau Bill becomes a Law. + + (Page 294-306.) + + The Discovery of the Majority -- The Senate Bill -- The + House Bill -- Its Provisions -- Passage of the Bill -- + Amendment and Passage in the Senate -- Committee of + Conference -- The Amendments as Accepted -- The Bill as + Passed -- The Veto -- The Proposition of a Democrat accepted + -- Confusion in Leadership -- Passage of the Bill over The + Veto -- It Becomes a Law. + + + CHAPTER XIII.--First Words on Reconstruction. + + (Page 307-323.) + + Responsibility of the Republican Party -- Its Power and + Position -- Initiatory Step -- Mr. Stevens speaks for + himself -- Condition of the Rebel States -- Constitutional + Authority under which Congress should act -- Estoppel -- + What Constitutes Congress -- The First Duty -- Basis of + Representation -- Duty on exports -- Two Important + Principles -- Mr. Raymond's Theory -- Rebel States still in + the Union -- Consequences of the Radical Theory -- + Conditions to be required -- State Sovereignty -- Rebel Debt + -- Prohibition of Slavery -- Two Policies contrasted -- + Reply of Mr. Jenckes -- Difference in Terms, not in + Substance -- Logic of the Conservatives leads to the Results + of the Radicals. + + + CHAPTER XIV.--The Basis of Representation in the House. + + (Page 324-372.) + + First work of the Joint Committee -- The Joint Resolution + proposing a Constitutional Amendment -- Mr. Stevens' reasons + for speedy action -- Protracted Discussion Commenced -- + Objections to the Bill by Mr. Rogers -- Defense by Mr. + Conkling -- Two other Modes -- How States might Evade the + Law -- Not a Finality -- Wisconsin and South Carolina -- + Amendment for Female Suffrage proposed -- Orth on Indiana + and Massachusetts -- Obscuration of the Sun -- More Radical + Remedy desired -- A Kentuckian gratified -- Citations from + the Census -- Premium for Treason -- White Slaves -- Power + to amend well-nigh exhausted -- Objections to the Suffrage + Basis -- "Race" and "Color" ambiguous -- Condition of the + Question -- Recommitted -- Final Passage. + + + CHAPTER XV.--The Basis of Representation in the Senate. + + (Page 373-414.) + + The Joint Resolution goes to the Senate -- + Counter-proposition by Mr. Sumner -- He Speaks Five Hours -- + Mr. Henderson's Amendment -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Henry S. + Lane -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Henderson -- Mr. Clark's + Historical Statements -- Fred. Douglass' Memorial -- Mr. + Williams -- Mr. Hendricks -- Mr. Chandler's "blood-letting + Letter" -- Proposition of Mr. Yates -- His Speech -- Mr. + Buckalew against New England -- Mr. Pomeroy -- Mr. Sumner's + second Speech -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Morrill -- Mr. + Fessenden meets Objections -- Final Vote -- The Amendment + defeated. + + + CHAPTER XVI.--Representation of the Southern States. + + (Page 417-433.) + + Concurrent Resolution -- A "Venomous Fight" -- Passage in + the House -- The Resolution in the Senate -- "A Political + Wrangle" deprecated -- Importance of the Question -- "A + Straw in a Storm" -- Policy of the President -- Conversation + between two Senators -- Mr. Nye's Advice to Rebels -- "A + Dangerous Power" -- "Was Mr. Wade once a Secessionist?" -- + Garrett Davis' Programme for the President -- "Useless yet + Mischievous" -- The Great Question Settled. + + + CHAPTER XVII.--The Reconstruction Amendment in the House. + + (Page 434-451.) + + A Constitutional Amendment proposed and postponed -- + Proposition by Mr. Stewart -- The Reconstruction Amendment + -- Death of its Predecessor lamented -- Opposition to the + Disfranchisement of Rebels -- "The Unrepentent Thirty-three" + -- Nine-tenths Reduced to One-twelfth -- Advice to Congress + -- The Committee denounced -- Democratic and Republican + Policy compared -- Authority without Power -- A Variety of + Opinions -- An Earthquake predicted -- The Joint Resolution + passes the House. + + + CHAPTER XVIII.--The Reconstruction Amendment in the Senate. + + (Page 452-455.) + + Difference between Discussions in the House and in the + Senate -- Mr. Sumner proposes to postpone -- Mr. Howard + takes Charge of the Amendment -- Substitutes proposed -- The + Republicans in Council -- The Disfranchising Clause stricken + out -- Humorous Account by Mr. Hendricks -- The Pain and + Penalties of not holding Office -- A Senator's Piety + appealed to -- Howe vs. Doolittle -- Marketable Principles + -- Praise of the President -- Mr. McDougall's Charity -- + Vote of the Senate -- Concurrence in the House. + + + CHAPTER XIX.--Report of the Committee on Reconstruction. + + (Page 466-472.) + + An important State Paper -- Work of the Committee -- + Difficulty of obtaining information -- Theory of the + President -- Taxation and Representation -- Disposition and + doings of the Southern People -- Conclusion of the Committee + -- Practical Recommendations. + + + CHAPTER XX.--Restoration of Tennessee. + + (Page 473-482.) + + Assembling of the Tennessee Legislature -- Ratification of + the Constitutional Amendment -- Restoration of Tennessee + proposed in Congress -- The Government of Tennessee not + Republican -- Protest against the Preamble -- Passage in the + House -- New Preamble proposed -- The President's Opinion + deprecated and disregarded -- Passage in the Senate -- The + President's Approval and Protest -- Admission of Tennessee + Members -- Mr. Patterson's Case. + + + CHAPTER XXI.--Negro Suffrage. + + (Page 483-501.) + + Review of the preceding action -- Efforts of Mr. Yates for + Unrestricted Suffrage -- Davis's Amendment to Cuvier -- The + "Propitious Hour" -- The Mayor's Remonstrance -- Mr. + Willey's Amendment -- Mr. Cowan's Amendment for Female + Suffrage -- Attempt to out-radical the Radicals -- Opinions + for and against Female Suffrage -- Reading and Writing as a + Qualification -- Passage of the Bill -- Objections of the + President -- Two Senators on the Opinions of the People -- + The Suffrage Bill becomes a Law. + + + CHAPTER XXII.--The Military Reconstruction Act. + + (Page 502-551.) + + Proposition by Mr. Stevens -- "Piratical Governments" not to + be recognized -- The Military Feature introduced -- Mr. + Schofield's Dog -- The Only Hope of Mr. Hise -- Conversation + concerning the Reconstruction Committee -- Censure of a + Member -- A Military Bill Reported -- War Predicted -- The + "Blaine Amendment" -- Bill passes the House -- In the Senate + -- Proposition to Amend -- Mr. McDougall desires Liberty of + Speech -- Mr. Doolittle pleads for the Life of the Republic + -- Mr. Sherman's Amendment -- Passage in the Senate -- + Discussion and Non-concurrence in the House -- The Senate + unyielding -- Qualified Concurrence of the House -- The Veto + -- "The Funeral of the Nation" -- The Act -- Supplementary + Legislation. + + + CHAPTER XXIII.--Other Important Acts. + + (Page 552-560.) + + Equalizing Bounties -- The Army -- The Department of + Education -- Southern Homesteads -- The Bankrupt Law -- The + Tariff -- Reduction of Taxes -- Contracting the Currency -- + Issue of Three Per Cents. -- Nebraska and Colorado -- Tenure + of Office. + + + CHAPTER XXIV.--The President and Congress. + + (Page 561-567.) + + The President's treatment of the South -- First Annual + Message -- Mr. Sumner's Criticism -- The President + triumphant -- He damages his Cause -- Humor of Mr. Stevens + -- Vetoes Overridden -- The Question submitted to the People + -- Their Verdict -- Summary of Vetoes -- Impeachment -- + Charges by Mr. Ashley -- Report of the Committee. + + + CHAPTER XXV.--Personal. + + (Page 568-576.) + + Contested Seats -- Mr. Stockton votes for Himself -- New + Jersey's Loss of two Senators -- Losses of Vermont -- + Suicide of James H. Lane -- Death in the House -- General + Scott -- Lincoln's Eulogy and Statue -- Mr. Sumner on Fine + Arts in the Capitol -- Censure of Mr. Chanler -- Petition + for the Expulsion of Garret Davis -- Grinnell assaulted by + Rousseau -- The Action of the House -- Leader of the House. + + + Biographical Sketches 577 + + + + +LIST OF PORTRAITS. + + PAGE + 1.--Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Frontispiece. + + 2.--Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, 29 + + 3.--Hon. William D. Kelley, 59 + + 4.--Hon. Sidney Clarke, 89 + + 5.--Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, 109 + + 6.--Hon. Henry Wilson, 135 + + 7.--Hon. Samuel C. Pomeroy, 171 + + 8.--Hon. Reverdy Johnson, 203 + + 9.--Hon. James F. Wilson, 239 + + 10.--Hon. William M. Stewart, 275 + + 11.--Hon. Ebon C. Ingersoll, 307 + + 12.--Hon. Robert C. Schenck, 353 + + 13.--Hon. Richard Yates, 399 + + 14.--Hon. Edwin D. Morgan, 453 + + 15.--Hon. William B. Stokes, 481 + + 16.--Hon. George H. Williams, 517 + + 17.--Hon. John Conness, 541 + + 18.--Hon. James M. Ashley, 567 + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +By HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX, + +SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + + +The Congress that has just passed away has written a record that will +be long remembered by the poor and friendless, whom it did not forget. +Misrepresented or misunderstood by those who denounced it as enemies, +harshly and unjustly criticised by some who should have been its +friends, it proved itself more faithful to human progress and liberty +than any of its predecessors. The outraged and oppressed found in +these congressional halls champions and friends. Its key-note of +policy was protection to the downtrodden. It quailed not before the +mightiest, and neglected not the obscurest. It lifted the slave, whom +the nation had freed, to the full stature of manhood. It placed on our +statute-book the Civil Rights Bill as our nation's magna charta, +grander than all the enactments that honor the American code; and in +all the region whose civil governments had been destroyed by a +vanquished rebellion, it declared as a guarantee of defense to the +weakest that the freeman's hand should wield the freeman's ballot; and +that none but loyal men should govern a land which loyal sacrifices +had saved. Taught by inspiration that new wine could not be safely put +in old bottles, it proclaimed that there could be no safe or loyal +reconstruction on a foundation of unrepentant treason and disloyalty. + +The first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress proposed, as their plan +of Reconstruction, a Constitutional Amendment. It was a bond of public +justice and public safety combined, to be embodied in our national +Constitution, to show to our posterity that patriotism is a virtue and +rebellion is a crime. These terms were more magnanimous than were ever +offered in any country under like circumstances. They were kind, they +were forbearing, they were less than we had a right to demand; but in +our anxiety, in our desire to close up this question, we made the +proposition. How was it received? They trampled upon it, they spat +upon it, they repudiated it, and said they would have nothing to do +with it. They were determined to have more power after the rebellion +than they had before. + +When this proposition was repudiated, we came together again, at the +second session of the same Congress, to devise some other plan of +reconstruction in place of the proffer that had been spurned. We put +the basis of our reconstruction, first, upon every loyal man in the +South, and then we gave the ballot also to every man who had only been +a traitor. The persons we excluded, for the present, from suffrage in +the South, were not the thousands who struggled in the rebel army, not +the millions who had given their adhesion to it, but only those men +who had sworn allegiance to the Constitution and then added to treason +the crime of perjury. + +Though we demand no indemnity for the past, no banishment, no +confiscations, no penalties for the offended law, there is one thing +we do demand, there is one thing we have the power to demand, and that +is security for the future, and that we intend to have, not only in +legislation, but imbedded in the imperishable bulwarks of our national +Constitution, against which the waves of secession may dash in future +but in vain. We intend to have those States reconstructed on such +enduring corner-stones that posterity shall realize that our fallen +heroes have not died in vain. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OPENING SCENES. + + Momentous Events of the Vacation -- Opening of the Senate -- + Mr. Wade -- Mr. Sumner -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. Harris -- Edward + McPherson -- As Clerk of the preceding Congress, he calls + the House to order -- Interruption of Roll-call by Mr. + Maynard -- Remarks by Mr. Brooks -- His Colloquy with Mr. + Stevens -- Mr. Colfax elected Speaker -- His Inaugural + Address -- The Test Oath. + + +The Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States, convened in the +Capitol at Washington on the fourth of December, 1865. Since the +adjournment of the Thirty-eighth Congress, events of the greatest +moment had transpired--events which invested its successor with +responsibilities unparalleled in the history of any preceding +legislative body. + +Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, had been +slain by the hand of the assassin. The crime had filled the land with +horror. The loss of its illustrious victim had veiled the nation in +unaffected grief. + +By this great national calamity, Andrew Johnson, who on the fourth of +March preceding had taken his seat simply to preside over the +deliberations of the Senate, became President of the United States. + +Meanwhile the civil war, which had been waged with such terrible +violence and bloodshed for four years preceding, came to a sudden +termination. The rebel armies, under Generals Lee and Johnston, had +surrendered to the victorious soldiers of the United States, who in +their generosity had granted to the vanquished terms so mild and easy +as to excite universal surprise. + +Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, and some other leaders in the +rebellion, had been captured and held for a time as State prisoners; +but, at length, all save the "President of the Confederate States" +were released on parole, and finally pardoned by the President. + +The President had issued a proclamation granting amnesty and pardon to +"all who directly or indirectly participated in the rebellion, with +restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves," on +condition of their subscribing to a prescribed oath. By the provisions +of this proclamation, fourteen classes of persons were excepted from +the benefits of the amnesty offered therein, and yet "any person +belonging to the excepted classes" was encouraged to make special +application to the President for pardon, to whom clemency, it was +declared, would "be liberally extended." In compliance with this +invitation, multitudes had obtained certificates of pardon from the +President, some of whom were at once elected by the Southern people, +to represent them, as Senators and Representatives, in the +Thirty-ninth Congress. + +The President had further carried on the work of reconstruction by +appointing Provisional Governors for many of the States lately in +rebellion. He had recognized and entered into communication with the +Legislatures of these States, prescribing certain terms on which they +might secure representation in Congress, and recognition of "all their +rights under the Constitution." + +By these and many other events which had transpired since the +expiration of the preceding Congress, the legislation pertaining to +reconstruction had become a work of vast complexity, involving +principles more profound, and questions more difficult, than ever +before presented for the consideration and solution of men assembled +in a legislative capacity. + +At twelve o'clock on the day designated in the Constitution for the +meeting of Congress, the Senate assembled, and was called to order by +Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, President pro tempore. Senators from +twenty-five States were in their seats, and answered to their names. +Rev. E. H. Gray, Chaplain of the Senate, invoked the blessing of +Almighty God upon Congress, and prayed "that all their deliberations +and enactments might be such as to secure the Divine approval, and +insure the unanimous acquiescence of the people, and command the +respect of the nations of the earth." + +Soon after the preliminary formalities of opening the Senate had +transpired, Benjamin F. Wade, Senator from Ohio, inaugurated the +labors of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and significantly foreshadowed +one of its most memorable acts by introducing "a bill to regulate the +elective franchise in the District of Columbia." + +The Senate signified its willingness to enter at once upon active duty +by giving unanimous consent to Mr. Sumner, Senator from Massachusetts, +to introduce a number of important bills. The measures thus brought +before the Senate were clearly indicative of the line of policy which +Congress would pursue. The bills introduced were designed "to carry +out the principles of a republican form of government in the District +of Columbia;" "to present an oath to maintain a republican form of +government in the rebel States;" "to enforce the amendment to the +Constitution abolishing slavery;" "to enforce the guarantee of a +republican form of government in certain States where governments have +been usurped or overthrown." + +Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, was not behind his distinguished +colleague in his readiness to enter upon the most laborious +legislation of the session. He introduced "a bill to maintain the +freedom of the inhabitants in the States declared in insurrection by +the proclamation of the President on the first of July, 1862." + +Senator Harris, of New York, long known as one of the ablest jurists +of his State, and recently an eminent member of the Senate's Judiciary +Committee, directed attention to his favorite field of legislative +labor by introducing "a bill to reoerganize the Judiciary of the United +States." + +While the Senate was thus actively entering upon the labors of the +session, a somewhat different scene was transpiring in the other end +of the Capitol. + +Long before the hour for the assembling of Congress, the halls, the +galleries, and corridors of the House of Representatives were thronged +with such crowds as had never before been seen at the opening of a +session. The absorbing interest felt throughout the entire country in +the great questions to be decided by Congress had drawn great numbers +to the Capitol from every quarter of the Union. Eligible positions, +usually held in reserve for certain privileged or official persons, +and rarely occupied by a spectator, were now filled to their utmost +capacity. The Diplomatic Gallery was occupied by many unskilled in the +mysteries of diplomacy; the Reporters' Gallery held many listeners and +lookers on who had no connection with newspapers, save as readers. The +"floor" was held not only by the "members," who made the hall vocal +with their greetings and congratulations, but by a great crowd of +pages, office-seekers, office-holders, and unambitious citizens, who +thronged over the new carpet and among the desks. + +The hour having arrived for the assembling of Congress, Edward +McPherson, Clerk of the last House of Representatives, brought down +the gavel on the Speaker's desk, and called the House to order. The +members found their seats, and the crowd surged back up the aisles, +and stood in a compact mass in the rear of the last row of desks. + +Edward McPherson, who at that moment occupied the most prominent and +responsible place in the nation, had come to his position through a +series of steps, which afforded the country an opportunity of knowing +his material and capacity. A graduate of Pennsylvania College in 1848, +editor, author, twice a Congressman, and Clerk of the House of +Representatives in the Thirty-eighth Congress, he had given evidence +that he was reliable. Having shown himself a thoroughly conscientious +man in the performance of all his public duties, the great interests +of the nation were safe in his hands. + +The country had been greatly concerned to know how the Clerk would +make up the Roll of the House, and whether the names of members elect +from the late rebellious States would be called at the opening of the +session. If this should be done, the first step would be gained by the +Representatives of those States toward holding seats in Congress to +which the majority at the North considered them not entitled. It had +even been intimated that the color of constitutionality which they +would gain from recognition by the Clerk would be used to justify an +assertion of their claims by force. What the Clerk would do, as master +of the rolls and presiding officer of the House, was not long in +doubt. + +The Clerk proceeded to call the roll of Representatives elect, while +the subordinates at the desk took note of the responses. He called the +names of Congressmen from the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, +Massachusetts, and so forth, in a certain order which had been +customary time immemorial in naming the States. In this order +Tennessee had place after Kentucky and before Indiana. When the name +of the last Representative from Kentucky had been called, the decisive +moment arrived. The delegation from Tennessee were on the floor, ready +to answer to their names. The Clerk passed over Tennessee and went +direct to Indiana. As soon as the first member from Indiana had +responded, there arose a tall, black-haired, dark-faced figure, that +every body recognized as Horace Maynard, of Tennessee. He shook his +certificate of election at the Clerk, and began to speak, but the +gavel came down with a sharp rap, and a firm, decided voice was heard +from the desk, "The Clerk declines to have any interruption during the +call of the roll." The roll-call then proceeded without further +interference to the end. When, at last, the Clerk had finished his +list of Representatives and Territorial Delegates, Mr. Maynard once +more arose. "The Clerk can not be interrupted while ascertaining +whether a quorum is present," says the presiding officer. The count of +the assistants having been completed, the Clerk announced, "One +hundred and seventy-six members having answered to their names, a +quorum is present." Mr. Morrill immediately moved that the House +proceed to the election of Speaker. "Before that motion is put," said +Mr. Maynard, again arising. The Clerk was ready for the emergency, and +before Mr. Maynard could complete his sentence, he uttered the +imperative and conclusive words, "The Clerk can not recognize as +entitled to the floor any gentleman whose name is not on this roll." A +buzz of approbation greeted the discreet ruling of the Clerk. The +difficult point was passed, and the whole subject of the admission of +Southern Representatives was handed over intact, to be deliberately +considered after the House should be fully organized for business. + +Mr. Morrill, in moving to proceed to the election of a Speaker, had +forgotten or neglected to demand the previous question, and thus cut +off debate. Mr. James Brooks, most plausible in address, and most +ready in talk on the side of the minority, saw the point left +unguarded by his opponents, and resolved to enter. Born in Maine, now +a citizen of New York, and editor of the "Express," Mr. Brooks was in +Congress for the fourth time a champion of what he deemed the rights +of the South, and not in accordance with the prevailing sentiments in +his native and adopted States. + +Mr. Brooks obtained the floor, and desired to amend the motion. He +thought the roll should be completed before proceeding to the election +of Speaker. "I trust," said he, "that we shall not proceed to any +revolutionary, any step like that, without at least hearing from the +honorable gentleman from Tennessee. If Tennessee is not in the Union, +by what right does the President of the United States usurp his place +in the White House when an alien and a foreigner, and not from a State +in the Union?" + +At this stage, a man of mark--five times a Representative in Congress, +but now twelve years away from the capital and a new member--John +Wentworth, of Chicago--elevated his tall and massive form, and with a +stentorian voice called Mr. Brooks to order. The Clerk having fairly +decided that gentleman entitled to the floor on the question of +proceeding to the election of a Speaker, Mr. Wentworth sat down, and +Mr. Brooks in resuming his remarks improved his chance to administer +rebuke in a manner which provoked some mirth. "When the honorable +gentleman from Illinois is better acquainted with me in this House," +said Mr. Brooks, "he will learn that I always proceed in order, and +never deviate from the rules." Mr. Brooks then returned to his +championship of Mr. Maynard: "If he is not a loyal man, and is not +from a State in this Union, what man, then, is loyal? In the darkest +and most doubtful period of the war, when an exile from his own State, +I heard his eloquent voice on the banks of the St. Lawrence arousing +the people of my own State to discharge their duties to the country." + +Mr. Brooks joined Virginia with Tennessee, and asked the Clerk to give +his reasons for excluding the names of Representatives from these +States from the roll. The Clerk replied that he had acted in +accordance with his views of duty, and was willing to let the record +stand; if it was the desire of the House to have his reasons, he would +give them. + +"It is not necessary," said Thaddeus Stevens; "we know all." + +"I know," replied Mr. Brooks, "that it is known to all in one quarter, +but that it is not known to many in other quarters in this House, why +this exclusion has been made. I should know but little, if I had not +the record before me of the resolution adopted by the Republican +majority of this House, that Tennessee, Louisiana, and Virginia were +to be excluded, and excluded without debate. Why without debate? Are +gentlemen afraid to face debate? Are their reasons of such a character +that they dare not present them to the country, and have to resort to +the extraordinary step of sideway legislation, in a private caucus, to +enact a joint resolution to be forced upon this House without debate, +confirming that there are no reasons whatever to support this position +except their absolute power, and authority, and control over this +House? If the gentleman from Pennsylvania would but inform me at what +period he intends to press this resolution, I would be happy to be +informed." + +"I propose to present it at the proper time," was the response of Mr. +Stevens, provoking laughter and applause. + +Mr. Brooks replied: "Talleyrand said that language was given to man to +conceal ideas, and we all know the gentleman's ingenuity in the use of +language. The proper time! When will that be?" Mr. Brooks then +proceeded at some length to answer this question. He supposed the +proper time would be as soon as the House was organized, and before +the President's message could be heard and considered, that the action +of the House might silence the Executive, and nullify the exposition +which he might make, and become a _quasi_ condemnation of the action +of the President of the United States. + +Mr. Brooks was at length ready to close, and sought to yield the floor +to a Democratic member. The Republicans, however, were ready to meet +the emergency, and objected to the floor being yielded in such a way +as would cause delay without furthering the business of organizing the +House. Points of order were raised, and efforts made to entangle the +Clerk, but in vain. His rulings were prompt, decisive, and effectual. +The moment a Republican fairly held the floor, the previous question +was moved, the initial contest was over, and the House proceeded to +elect a Speaker. + +A stoop-shouldered, studious-looking gentleman, now for the sixth +successive term a member of Congress--Justin S. Morrill, of +Vermont--arose and nominated Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana. On the other +side of the house, a gentleman from New York portly in his person, now +entering on his second Congressional term--Charles H. Winfield--nominated +James Brooks, of New York. Four members took their seats behind the +Clerk to act as tellers. The responses were at length all given, and +the numbers noted. Mr. Morrill, one of the tellers, announced the +result--"Mr. Colfax, one hundred and thirty-nine; Mr. Brooks, +thirty-six." The Clerk formally announced the result, and stepped +aside; his work as presiding officer of the Thirty-ninth Congress was +at an end. + +In the place thus made vacant appeared the man but a moment before +elected to the position by the largest political majority ever given +to a Speaker of the House. A well-proportioned figure of medium size, +a pleasing countenance often radiant with smiles, a style of movement +quick and restless, yet calm and self-possessed, were characteristic +of him upon whom all eyes were turned. In the past a printer and +editor in Indiana, now in Congress for the sixth term and elected +Speaker the second time, SCHUYLER COLFAX stood to take the oath of +office, and enter upon the discharge of most difficult and responsible +duties. He said: + +"Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The reaessembling of +Congress, marking as it does the procession of our national history, +is always regarded with interest by the people for whom it is to +legislate. But it is not unsafe to say that millions more than ever +before, North, South, East, and West, are looking to the Congress +which opens its session to-day with an earnestness and solicitude +unequaled on similar occasions in the past. The Thirty-eighth Congress +closed its constitutional existence with the storm-cloud of war still +lowering over us, and after nine months' absence, Congress resumes its +legislative authority in these council halls, rejoicing that from +shore to shore in our land there is peace. + +"Its duties are as obvious as the sun's pathway in the heavens. +Representing in its two branches the States and the people, its first +and highest obligation is to guarantee to every State a republican +form of government. The rebellion having overthrown constitutional +State governments in many States, it is yours to mature and enact +legislation which, with the concurrence of the Executive, shall +establish them anew on such a basis of enduring justice as will +guarantee all necessary safeguards to the people, and afford what our +Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, proclaims is the chief +object of government--protection to all men in their inalienable +rights. The world should witness, in this great work, the most +inflexible fidelity, the most earnest devotion to the principles of +liberty and humanity, the truest patriotism and the wisest +statesmanship. + +"Heroic men, by hundreds of thousands, have died that the Republic +might live. The emblems of mourning have darkened White House and +cabin alike; but the fires of civil war have melted every fetter in +the land, and proved the funeral pyre of slavery. It is for you, +Representatives, to do your work as faithfully and as well as did the +fearless saviors of the Union in their more dangerous arena of duty. +Then we may hope to see the vacant and once abandoned seats around us +gradually filling up, until this hall shall contain Representatives +from every State and district; their hearts devoted to the Union for +which they are to legislate, jealous of its honor, proud of its glory, +watchful of its rights, and hostile to its enemies. And the stars on +our banner, that paled when the States they represented arrayed +themselves in arms against the nation, will shine with a more +brilliant light of loyalty than ever before." + +Mr. Colfax having finished his address, took the following oath, which +stood as the most serious obstacle in the way of many elected to +Congress from the Southern States: + + "I do solemnly swear that I have never voluntarily borne + arms against the United States since I have been a citizen + thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, + counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed + hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted + nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office + whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in + hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a + voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, + power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or + inimical thereto. And I do further swear that, to the best + of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the + Constitution of the United States against all enemies, + foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and + allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, + without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and + that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the + office on which I am about to enter. So help me God!" + +The subordinate officers were then elected by resolution, and the +House of Representatives being organized, was ready to enter upon its +work. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOCATIONS OF THE MEMBERS AND CAST OF THE COMMITTEES. + + Importance of surroundings -- Members sometimes referred to + by their seats -- Senator Andrew Johnson -- Seating of the + Senators -- Drawing in the House -- The Senate-chamber as + seen from the Gallery -- Distinguished Senators -- The House + of Representatives -- Some prominent characters -- + Importance of Committees -- Difficulty in their appointment + -- Important Senate Committees -- Committees of the House. + + +The localities and surroundings of men have an influence on their +actions and opinions. A matter which, to the casual observer, seems so +unimportant as the selection and arrangement of the seats of Senators +and Representatives, has its influence upon the legislation of the +country. Ever since parties have had an existence, it has been +considered of vital moment that those of one political faith in a +deliberative body should occupy, as nearly as possible, the same +locality. + +It is sometimes of service to a reader, in attempting to understand +the reported proceedings of Congress, to know the localities of the +members. Each seat has a sort of history of its own, and becomes in +some way identified with its occupant. Members are frequently alluded +to in connection with the seats they occupy. Sometimes it happens +that, years after a man has gone from Congress, it is convenient and +suggestive to refer to him by his old place in the chamber. As an +illustration, Mr. Trumbull, in his speech on the veto of the Civil +Rights Bill, desiring to quote Andrew Johnson, Senator, against Andrew +Johnson, President, referred to "a speech delivered in this body by a +Senator occupying, I think, the seat now occupied across the chamber +by my friend from Oregon (Mr. Williams)." + +A necessary and important part of the adjustment of the machinery, at +the opening of each Congress, is the selection of seats. As the +Senators serve for six years, and many of them have been reelected +more than once, there are comparatively few changes made at the +opening of any Congress. The old members generally choose to retain +their accustomed seats, and the small number that come in as new +Senators choose among the vacant seats, as convenience or caprice may +dictate. + +In the House of Representatives the formality of drawing for seats is +necessary. That this may be conveniently and fairly done, at the +appointed time all the members retire to the antechambers, leaving the +seats all unoccupied. The Clerk draws at random from a receptacle +containing the names of all the members. As the members are called, +one by one, they go in and occupy such seats as they may choose. The +unlucky member whose name last turns up has little room for choice, +and must be content to spend his Congressional days far from the +Speaker, on the remote circumference, or to the right or left extreme. + +There are in the Senate-chamber seventy seats, in three tiers of +semi-circular arrangement. If all the old Southern States were +represented by Senators on the floor, the seats would be more than +full. As it was in the Thirty-ninth Congress, there were a number of +vacant desks, all of them situated to the right and left of the +presiding officer. + +In a division of political parties nearly equal, the main aisle from +the southern entrance would be the separating line. As it was, the +Republican Senators occupied not only the eastern half of the chamber, +but many of them were seated on the other side, the comparatively few +Democratic Senators sitting still further to the west. + +Seated in the gallery, the spectator has a favorable position to +survey the grand historic scene which passes below. His eye is +naturally first attracted to the chair which is constitutionally the +seat of the second dignitary in the land--the Vice-President of the +United States. That office, however, has no incumbent, since he who +took oath a few months before to perform its duties was called to +occupy a higher place, made vacant by a most atrocious crime. The +event, however, cost the Senate little loss of dignity, since the +chair is filled by a President _pro tempore_ of great ability and +excellence--Lafayette S. Foster, Senator from Connecticut. + +The eye of the spectator naturally seeks out Charles Sumner, who sits +away on the outer tier of seats, toward the south-east corner of the +chamber; and near him, on the left, are seen the late Governors, now +Senators, Morgan and Yates, of New York and Illinois. Immediately in +front of them, on the middle tier of seats, is an assemblage of old +and distinguished Senators--Trumbull, Wilson, Wade, and Fessenden. To +the right of the Vice-President's chair, and in the row of seats +neares this desk, sits the venerable and learned lawyer, Reverdy +Johnson, of Maryland. Just in his rear sits the youthful Sprague, of +Rhode Island, to whose right is seen Sherman, of Ohio. To the rear of +these Senators, in the outer segment of seats, sits, or perhaps +stands, Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, the most garrulous of old men, +continually out of temper with the majority, yet all the time marked +by what he calls his "usual courtesy." To the left of Davis, beyond +Nesmith, of Oregon, and the other and more silent Senator from +Kentucky, sits Saulsbury, of Delaware, unless he should be traversing +the carpeted space in the rear of his seat, like a sentinel of the +Senate. + +Far different is the sight presented to the spectator who looks down +from the galleries of the House of Representatives. The immense area +below is supplied with two hundred and fifty-three seats, with desks +arranged in semi-circular rows, having a point in front of the +Speaker's desk as a focus. On the right of the spectator, as he looks +from the gallery in front of the Speaker, is the Republican side of +the House. But this prosperous organization has grown so rapidly since +its birth, ten years ago, that it has overstepped all old and +traditional party limitations. One-half of the House is not sufficient +to afford its representatives adequate accommodations. Republican +members have passed over the main aisle, and occupy half of the +Democratic side, having pressed the thin ranks of their opponents to +the extreme left. + +As the spectator scans the House, his eye will rest on Thaddeus +Stevens, whose brown wig and Roman cast of countenance mark the +veteran of the House. He sits in the right place for a leader of the +Republicans, about half-way back from the Speaker's desk, on the +diagonal line which divides the western side of the House, where he +can readily catch the Speaker's eye, and be easily heard by all his +friends. Immediately in his rear is his successor in the chairmanship +of the Committee of Ways and Means--Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. To the +right, across the aisle, is Elihu B. Washburn, of Illinois, the oldest +member in continuous service in the House; and to his rear is Henry J. +Raymond, of the Times. To the right, and partly in the rear of Mr. +Stevens, are a number of noteworthy men: among them are General +Schenck, General Garfield, and "Long John" Wentworth, of Chicago. Far +around to the right, and much nearer, the Speaker's desk, is seen a +man distinguished in civil and military history, who once occupied the +Speaker's chair--General Banks, of Massachusetts. In physical contrast +with him, sits--in the adjoining desk, a tall, dark, bearded +Californian--General John Bidwell, a new member of the House. On the +opposite side of the House, among the Democrats, is the seat of John +A. Bingham, who now returns to Congress after an absence of one term, +whom his friends describe as the "best-natured and crossest-looking +man in the House." James Brooks, most plausible and best-natured of +Democrats, notwithstanding the inroads of the Republicans, sturdily +keeps his seat near the main aisle. His seat, however, he is destined +to lose before many months in favor of a contestant, who will occupy +the other side of the chamber. + +In looking down upon so large an assemblage, a large part of which is +so distant, the eye of the spectator will weary in the attempt to +discover and recognize individuals, however familiar, amidst the busy +throng. + +In preparing for the work of legislation, a matter of more importance +than the arrangement of the seats is the cast of the committees. Most +of the labor of legislative bodies is done by committees. As it is +impossible for any one Congressman to give that minute and particular +attention to all the numerous interests demanding legislation, +essential to a wise determination as to what bills should be +presented, and how they should be drawn in every case, the various +subjects are parceled out among those whose opportunities, interests, +or inclinations have led them to give particular attention to the +matters committed to their charge. The perfection of legislation on +particular subjects depends not more on the wisdom of the entire body +of legislators than on the good sense of the committees that +deliberate upon them. Much of the efficiency and success of the +legislative acts of Congress will depend upon the structure of the +committees that do the laborious work of preparing business for the +body. Tracing the stream of legislative enactment still nearer to its +source, it will be found that the work of a committee takes a decided +tinge from the character of its chairman. + +It consequently becomes a matter of great interest to the country, at +the opening of each Congress, to know who constitute the committees. +One of the most arduous and responsible duties of the Speaker of the +House of Representatives is the selection of committees and filling +their chairmanships. Fitness and special adaptation are supposed to +constitute the rule by which choice is made. Many elements, however, +enter into the work which are not a part of this philosophy. It is +impossible that the presiding officer should know unerringly who is +absolutely the fittest man for any position, and if he possessed such +superhuman knowledge he would still be trammeled by long-established +rules of precedence and promotion. There is often a regular gradation +by which men arrive at positions which is not in direct ratio to their +fitness for their places. + +Notwithstanding all the errors which were unavoidable elements in the +work, committees were never better constituted than those of the +Thirty-ninth Congress. + +The Senate being comparatively small in numbers, and, moreover, by +usage, doing most of the details of this business in caucus, the +announcement of the committees in this body was made on Wednesday, the +third day of the session. On the other hand, the size of the House, +the large proportion of new and unknown members appearing every term, +the number and magnitude of the committees, and the fact that the duty +of appointment devolved upon the Speaker, combined to render the +reading out of committeemen in the latter body impossible before the +following Monday, one week after the assembling of Congress. + +Of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Charles Sumner was +appointed chairman. This is a very important committee, being the +direct channel of communication between the State Department and the +Senate. It being the constitutional duty of the Senate to pass upon +all treaties, and to decide upon qualifications of all persons +nominated by the Executive to represent the United States in foreign +countries, the labors of this committee are arduous and responsible. +The chairmanship of this committee was filled by a Senator of most +eminent fitness and ability. His literary culture, and attainments as +a scholar, his general legal ability and familiarity with the laws of +nations, his residence abroad for several years, and his long +membership in the Senate, now of fourteen years' duration, all marked +him as wisely chosen for his important position. + +On account of the immense National debt accumulated in the war, and +the complication of the financial affairs of the nation, the Committee +on Finance has an important bearing upon the interests of the country, +unknown until recent years. William P. Fessenden was the Senator +chosen chairman of this committee. His success in his private +business, his appointment, in 1864, as the head of the Treasury +Department, and his service in the Senate since 1853 as member of the +Finance Committee, and since 1859 as its chairman, all indicated the +propriety of his continuance in this position. Second on the list of +this committee stood Senator Sherman, of Ohio, who has been described +as "_au fait_ on National Banks, fond of figures, and in love with +finances." + +The Committee on Commerce was constituted with Senator Chandler, of +Michigan, as its chairman. Himself most successful in commercial life, +in which he had attained distinction before coming to the Senate, and +representing a State having a greater extent of coast and better +facilities for commerce than any other inland community in the world, +Senator Chandler was eminently suitable as head of the Committee on +Commerce. His associates being selected from Maine, New York, Vermont, +Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oregon, left unrepresented no important +commercial interest in the nation. + +The Committee on Manufactures was headed by William Sprague, Senator +from Rhode Island, a State having the largest capital invested, and +most persons employed in manufactures, in proportion to population, of +any in the Union. Senator Sprague himself having been educated in the +counting-room of a manufacturing establishment, and having control of +one of the largest manufacturing interests in the country, was the +appropriate person for such a position. + +The agricultural States of Ohio, Kansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and +Kentucky furnished the members of the Committee on Agriculture, with +Senator Sherman at its head. + +Of the Committee on the Judiciary, a Senator has given a description. +In a speech delivered in the Senate, December 12, 1865, Mr. Doolittle, +of Wisconsin, said: "From its very organization the Senate designs to +make that committee its constitutional adviser--not that its opinions +are to be conclusive or controlling on the vote of any member of this +body, like the opinion of the bench of Judges in the House of Lords; +but its members are chosen in consideration of their high professional +ability, their long experience, and well-known standing as jurists, in +order that their report upon constitutional questions may be entitled +to the highest consideration. And, sir, if you look into the +organization of the Judiciary Committee appointed by the Senate at the +present session, what is it? There is the Senator from Illinois, [Mr. +Trumbull], for years Judge of the Supreme Court of that State before +he entered this body, who, for ten years and more, has been a +faithful, laborious, distinguished member of that committee, and for +the last four years its chairman. And there sits my honorable friend +from New York [Mr. Harris], for twenty years before he came here known +and distinguished among the able jurists and judges of that great +State. And there is the honorable Senator from Vermont [Mr. Poland]. +He has, it is true, just entered this body, but his reputation as a +jurist preceded his coming, and he comes here to fill the place in +this chamber, and is put upon this Judiciary Committee to fill the +place of him of whom I will say, without disparagement to any, that he +was the ablest jurist of us all--the late distinguished Senator from +Vermont [Mr. Collamer]. And there is the Senator from New Hampshire +[Mr. Clark], from the far East, and the Senator from Nevada [Mr. +Stewart], from the Pacific coast, and the Senator from Indiana [Mr. +Hendricks], from the central region, each of whom stands eminent in +the profession in the State which he represents, and all of whom are +recognized here among the ablest jurists of this body." + +Some of the great political questions destined to engage the attention +of the Thirty-ninth Congress invested the _Committee on the District +of Columbia_ with a national interest, although its duties pertained +chiefly to the local concerns of the immediate neighborhood of the +capital. Its chairman, Mr. Morrill, of Maine, as well as its members, +among whom were Wade, Sumner, and Yates, gave it character and +ability, and afforded assurance that the great questions involved +would be calmly met and honestly answered. + +[Illustration: Thaddeus Stevens, representative from Pennsylvania.] + +In the House of Representatives, the _Committee of Ways and Means_ has +ever been regarded of first importance, and its chairman has been +considered leader of the House. Its duties, though of a somewhat +miscellaneous character, relate chiefly to devising the ways and means +of raising revenue. The fact that the Constitution provides that "all +bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of +Representatives," gives the Committee of Ways and Means a sort of +preeminence over all other committees, whether of the Senate or the +House. + +The work of the Committee of Ways and Means, as it had existed before +the Thirty-ninth Congress, was, at the opening of this session, +divided among three committees; one retaining the old name and still +remaining the leading committee, a second on _Appropriations_, and a +third on _Banking and Currency_. + +Of the new Committee of Ways and Means, Justin S. Morrill, of Vermont, +was appointed chairman--a Representative of ten years' experience in +the House, who had seen several years of service on the same +committee. While his abilities and habits, as a student and a thinker, +well adapted him for the work of conducting his committee by wise +deliberation to useful measures, yet they were not characteristics +fitting him with readiest tact and most resolute will to "handle the +House." + +Thaddeus Stevens, the old chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, +was appointed the head of the new Committee on Appropriations. His +vigilance and integrity admirably fitted him for this position, while +his age made it desirable that he should be relieved of the arduous +labors of the Committee of Ways and Means. Of this committee he had +been chairman in the two preceding Congresses, and had filled a large +space in the public eye as leader of the House. His age--over seventy +years--gave him the respect of members the majority of whom were born +after he graduated at college--the more especially as these advanced +years were not attended with any perceptible abatement of the +intellectual vivacity or fire of youth. The evident honesty and +patriotism with which he advanced over prostrate theories and policies +toward the great ends at which he aimed, secured him multitudes of +friends, while these same qualities contributed to make him many +enemies. The timid became bold and the resolute were made stronger in +seeing the bravery with which he maintained his principles. He had a +habit of going straight to the issue, and a rugged manner of +presenting his opinions, coupled with a cool assurance, which, one of +his unfriendly critics once declared, "sometimes rose almost to the +sublime." He alone, of all the members of the Pennsylvania Convention, +in 1836, refused to sign the new State Constitution, because it robbed +the negro of his vote. It was a fitting reward that he, in 1866, +should stand in the United States House of Representatives, at the +head of a majority of more than one hundred, declaring that the +oppressed race should enjoy rights so long denied. + +The Committee on Banking and Currency had as chairman Theodore M. +Pomeroy, of New York, who had served four years in Congress. Perhaps +its most important member was Samuel Hooper, a Boston merchant and +financier, who, from the outset of his Congressional career, now +entering upon the third term, had been on the Committee of Ways and +Means, of which he still remained a member, the only Representative +retaining connection with the old committee and holding a place in one +of the new offshoots from it. + +Hiram Price, of Iowa, was appointed chairman of the Committee on the +Pacific Railroad. The Speaker of the House, in his recent visit to the +Pacific coast, had been impressed with the importance of this work, +and wisely chose as members of this committee Representatives from +Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York, Missouri, Kansas, +California, and Oregon. + +A committee of much importance to Congress and the country--that of +Commerce--had for its chairman Elihu B. Washburn, of Illinois, who had +been in the previous Congress the oldest member in continuous service, +and hence was styled "Father of the House." + +The Committee on Elections subsequently lost some of its importance in +the public estimation by the creation of a special committee to +consider subjects of reconstruction and the admission of Southern +members; yet the interests confided to it demanded ability, which it +had in its chairman, Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, as well as in +the Representatives that constituted its membership. + +The legislation relative to our vast unoccupied domain, having to pass +through the Committee on Public Lands, renders this committee one of +much importance. The honesty and ability of its chairman, George W. +Julian, of Indiana, together with his long experience in Congress, +gave to the recommendations of this committee great character and +weight. + +Of the Committee on the Judiciary, James F. Wilson, of Iowa, was +appointed for the second time as chairman. George S. Boutwell, of +Massachusetts, and other Representatives of ability, were appointed as +members of this committee. Since the duty devolved upon it of taking +testimony in regard to the impeachment of the President, this +committee attracted public attention to a degree never known before. + +The interests of manufactures were not likely to suffer in the hands +of a committee in which the first place was held by James K. Moorhead, +tanner's apprentice, and pioneer of cotton manufactures in +Pennsylvania, and the second by Oakes Ames, a leading manufacturer of +Massachusetts. + +Agriculture--the most gigantic material interest in America--was +intrusted to a committee having John Bidwell, of California, as its +chairman, and members chosen from Iowa, Indiana, Vermont, Ohio, +Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. + +The chairmanship of the Committee on Military Affairs was bestowed +upon a major-general of volunteers from Ohio, Robert C. Schenck; while +membership on the committee was given to a Connecticut colonel, Henry +C. Deming; a New Hampshire brigadier-general, Gilman Marston; a +Kentucky major-general, Lovell H. Rousseau; a New York Colonel, John +H. Ketchum, and four civilians. + +Nathaniel P. Banks, Henry J. Raymond, and other men of much ability, +were appointed on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. + +Special committees were appointed on the important subjects of +Bankruptcy and the Freedmen. Of the committee on the former, Thomas A. +Jenckes was appointed chairman. Thomas D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, was +made chairman of the Committee on the Freedmen. + +Many other committees were appointed whose labors were arduous and +necessary to our legislation, yet, as they had to do with subjects of +no great general interest, they need not be named. + +There was another committee, however, of great importance whose +members were not yet designated. The resolution by which it should be +created, was yet to pass through the ordeal of discussion. The process +by which this committee was created will be described in the following +chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FORMATION OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION. + + Lack of Excitement -- Cause -- The Resolution -- Dilatory + Motions -- Yeas and Nays -- Proposed Amendments in the + Senate -- Debate in the Senate -- Mr. Howard -- Mr. Anthony + -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. + Hendricks -- Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Guthrie -- Passage of the + Resolution in the Senate -- Yeas and Nays -- Remarks of Mr. + Stevens on the Amendments of the Senate -- Concurrence of + the House -- The Committee appointed. + + +Since it was known throughout the country that members-elect from +Tennessee and other States recently in rebellion would appear at +Washington on the opening of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and demand +recognition of their right to represent their constituents, all eyes +were turned to observe the action which would be taken on the subject. +It was anticipated that the question would be sprung at once, and that +a season of storm and excitement would ensue, unparalleled in the +political history of the nation. Since the American people are +exceedingly fond of excitements and sensations, the expectation of +trouble in Congress drew immense numbers to its galleries on the first +day of the session. Lovers of sensation were doomed to disappointment. +Correspondents and reporters for the press, who were prepared to +furnish for the newspapers descriptions of an opening of Congress +"dangerously boisterous," were compelled to describe it as +"exceptionally quiet." + +The cause of this unexpected state of things was the fact that the +majority had previously come to the wise conclusion that it would not +be well to pass upon the admission of Southern members in open session +and amid the confusion of organization. As there was so much +difference of opinion concerning the _status_ of the communities +recently in rebellion, and such a variety of considerations must be +regarded in reaching wise conclusions, it was deemed advisable that +the whole subject should be calmly and deliberately investigated by a +select number of able and patriotic men from both Houses of Congress. + +Accordingly, on the first day of the session, soon after the House was +organized, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens offered the following important +RESOLUTION: + + "_Resolved_, by the Senate and House of Representatives in + Congress assembled, that a joint committee of fifteen + members shall be appointed, nine of whom shall be members of + the House, and six members of the Senate, who shall inquire + into the condition of the States which formed the so-called + Confederate States of America, and report whether they or + any of them are entitled to be represented in either House + of Congress, with leave to report at any time by bill or + otherwise; and until such report shall have been made, and + finally acted upon by Congress, no member shall be received + into either House from any of the said so-called Confederate + States; and all papers relating to the representation of the + said States shall be referred to the said committee without + debate." + +To avoid the delay occasioned by a protracted debate, Mr. Stevens +called the previous question. The minority perceived the impossibility +of preventing the final passage of the resolution, yet deemed it their +duty to put it off as far as possible by their only available +means--"dilatory motions." They first objected to the introduction of +the resolution, under the rule that unanimous consent must be given to +permit a resolution to come before the House without notice given on a +previous day. To meet this difficulty, Mr. Stevens moved to suspend +the rules to enable him to introduce the resolution. On this motion +the yeas and nays were demanded. To suspend the rules under such +circumstances required a two-thirds' vote, which was given--one +hundred and twenty-nine voting for, and thirty-five against the +motion. The rules having been suspended, the resolution was regularly +before the House. A motion was then made to lay the resolution on the +table, and the yeas and nays demanded. Thirty-seven were in favor of +the motion, and one hundred and thirty-three against it. Before a call +for the previous question is available to cut off debate, it must, by +the rules of the House, be seconded by one-fifth of the members +present. This having been done, the vote was taken by yeas and nays on +the concurrent resolution submitted by Mr. Stevens. One hundred and +thirty-three voted in favor of the resolution, and thirty-six against +it, while thirteen were reported as "not voting." As this vote was on +an important measure, and is significant as marking with considerable +accuracy the political complexion of the House of Representatives, it +should be given in detail. + +The following are the names of those who voted "Yea:" + + Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Baker, Baldwin, + Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, + Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, + Bundy, Reader W. Clark, Sidney Clark, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, + Cullom, Culver, Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, + Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, + Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, + Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, + Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, John H. + Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, James R. + Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, + Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketchum, Kuykendall, Laflin, + Latham, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, + Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, + McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, + Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orthe, Paine, Patterson, Perham, + Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Price, William H. Randall, Raymond, + Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, + Scofield, Shellabarger, Smith, Spaulding, Starr, Stevens, + Stilwell, Thayer, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van + Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu + B. Washburne, Welker, Wentworth, Whaley, Williams, James F. + Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge. + +The following members voted "Nay:" + + Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Dawson, + Denison, Eldridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Grider, + Aaron Harding, Hogan, James M. Humphrey, Johnson, Kerr, Le + Blond, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Radford, + Samuel J. Randall, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Shanklin, + Sitgreaves, Strouse, Tabor, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, + Winfield, and Wright. + +The following are reported as "not voting:" + + Messrs. Delos R. Ashley, James M. Ashley, Blaine, Farquhar, + Harris, Edwin N. Hubbell, Jones, Marshall, Plants, Rousseau, + Sloan, Francis Thomas, Voorhees, and William B. Washburn. + +Thus the resolution passed the House. The immense size of this body +required that, by stringent rule, debate should have limitation, and +even sometimes be cut off altogether by the operation of previous +question. This arrangement enabled skillful and resolute leaders to +carry through this measure within an hour's time, whereas, in the +Senate, a body of less than one-third the size, it passed after a +delay of several days, and at the end of a discussion of considerable +length. + +On the day following the passage of the resolution in the House of +Representatives, it was read in the Senate. Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, +objecting to its being considered on the day of its reception, under a +regulation of the Senate it was postponed. + +After the lapse of a week, on Tuesday, December 12, the resolution was +taken up for consideration in the Senate. Mr. Anthony moved to amend +the enacting clause so as to change it from a joint resolution to a +concurrent resolution, since, under its original shape, it would +require the President's approval. + +This amendment having been made, Mr. Anthony moved to further amend +the resolution by striking out all after the word "otherwise." The +following are the words proposed to be stricken out: + + "And until such report shall have been made and finally + acted on by Congress, no member shall be received into + either house from any of the said so-called Confederate + States; and all papers relating to the representation of + said States shall be referred to the said committee without + debate." + +Mr. Howard, of Michigan, preferred the resolution as it came from the +House of Representatives. "It contains within itself a pledge on the +part of the two houses, that until the report of this important +committee shall have been presented, we will not reaedmit any of the +rebel States, either by the recognition of their Senators or their +Representatives. I think the country expects nothing less than this at +our hands. I think that portion of the loyal people of the United +States who have sacrificed so much of blood and treasure in the +prosecution of the war, and who secured to us the signal victory which +we have achieved over the rebellion, have a right to at least this +assurance at our hands, that neither house of Congress will recognize +as States any one of the rebel States until the event to which I have +alluded. + +"Sir, what is the present position and _status_ of the rebel States? +In my judgment they are simply conquered communities, subjugated by +the arms of the United States; communities in which the right of +self-government does not now exist. Why? Because they have been for +the last four years hostile, to the most surprising unanimity hostile, +to the authority of the United States, and have, during that period, +been waging a bloody war against that authority. They are simply +conquered communities, and we hold them, as we know well, as the world +knows to-day, not by their own free will and consent as members of the +Union, but solely by virtue of our military power, which is executed +to that effect throughout the length and breadth of the rebel States. +There is in those States no rightful authority, according to my view, +at this time, but that of the United States; and every political act, +every governmental act exercised within their limits, must necessarily +be exercised and performed under the sanction and by the will of the +conqueror. + +"In short, sir, they are not to-day loyal States; their population are +not willing to-day, if we are rightly informed, to perform peaceably, +quietly, and efficiently the duties which pertain to the population of +a State in the Union and of the Union; and for one I can not consent +to recognize them, even indirectly, as entitled to be represented in +either house of Congress at this time. The time has not yet come, in +my judgment, to do this. I think that, under present circumstances, it +is due to the country that we should give them the assurance that we +will not thus hastily reaedmit to seats in the legislative bodies here +the representatives of constituencies who are still hostile to the +authority of the United States. I think that such constituencies are +not entitled to be represented here." + +Mr. Anthony, of Rhode Island, said: "The amendment was proposed from +no opposition to what I understand to be the purpose of the words +stricken out. That purpose I understand to be that both houses shall +act in concert in any measures which they may take for the +reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion. I think that that +object is eminently desirable, and not only that the two houses shall +act in concert, but that Congress shall act in concert with the +Executive; that all branches of the Government shall approach this +great question in a spirit of comprehensive patriotism, with +confidence in each other, with a conciliatory temper toward each +other, and that each branch of the Government will be ready, if +necessary, to concede something of their own views in order to meet +the views of those who are equally charged with the responsibility of +public affairs. + +"The words proposed to be stricken out refer to the joint committee of +the two houses of Congress matters which the Constitution confides to +each house separately. Each house is made, by the Constitution, the +judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own +members. + +"There is one other reason why I move this amendment, and that is, +that the resolution provides that papers shall be referred to this +committee without debate. This is contrary to the practice of the +Senate. The House of Representatives has found it necessary, for the +orderly transaction of its business, to put limitations upon debate, +hence the previous question and the hour rule; but the Senate has +always resisted every proposition of this kind, and submitted to any +inconvenience rather than check free discussion. Senators around me, +who were here in the minority, felt that the right of debate was a +very precious one to them at that time, and, as it was not taken from +them, they are not disposed to take it from the minority now. + +"The purpose of all that is stricken out can be effected by the +separate action of the two houses, if they shall so elect. The House +of Representatives, having passed this resolution by a great vote, +will undoubtedly adopt, in a separate resolution, what is here +stricken out; and, except so far as relates to the restriction upon +debate, I shall, if this amendment be adopted and the resolution +passed, offer a resolution substantially declaring it to be the +opinion of the Senate that, until this committee reports--presuming +that it will report in a reasonable time--no action should be taken +upon the representation of the States lately in rebellion." + +Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, said: "All of these great questions, +concerning reconstruction, pacification, and restoration of civil +government in the Southern States, representation in this body, or any +thing which concerns of Federal relations with the several States, +ought to be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Such has been +the practice of this Government from the beginning. Great questions of +constitutional law, questions concerning the relations of the Union to +the States and the States to the Union, and above all, and without any +exception, all questions relating to representation in this body, to +its membership, have always been referred to the Judiciary Committee. + +"There is nothing in the history of the Senate, there is nothing in +the constitution of this committee, which would send these great +constitutional questions for advisement and consideration to any other +committee than the Committee on the Judiciary. To place their +consideration in the hands of a committee which is beyond the control +of the Senate, is to distrust ourselves; and to vote to send their +consideration to any other committee, is equivalent to a vote of want +of confidence in the Judiciary Committee. + +"I object to this resolution, because, upon these great questions +which are to go to the joint committee, the Senate does not stand upon +an equality with the House. This resolution provides that, of the +joint committee of fifteen, nine shall be appointed by the House of +Representatives, six only by the Senate, giving to the House portion +of the committee a majority of three. We all know that in joint +committees the members vote, not as the representatives of the two +houses, but _per capita_. The vote of a member of the committee from +the House weighs precisely the same as the vote of a member of the +committee from the Senate; so that, to all intents and purposes, if we +pass this concurrent resolution, which we can not repeal but by the +concurrence of the other house, we place the consideration of these +grave questions in the hands of a committee which we can not control, +and in which we have no equal voice. + +"Under the Constitution, upon all subjects of legislation but one, the +two houses are equal and cooerdinate branches of Congress. That one +relates to their representation in the bodies, to their membership, +that which constitutes their existence, which is essential to their +life and their independence. That is confided to each house, and to +each house alone, to act for itself. It judges for itself upon the +elections, returns, and qualifications of its members. It judges, it +admits, it punishes, it expels. It can not share that responsibility +with any other department of the Government. It can no more share it +with the other house than it can share it with the Supreme Court or +with the President. It is a matter over which its jurisdiction is +exclusive of every other jurisdiction. It is a matter in which its +decisions, right or wrong, are absolute and without appeal. In my +opinion the Senate of the United States can not give to a committee +beyond its control this question of the representation in this body, +without a loss of its self-respect, its dignity, its independence; +without an abandonment of its constitutional duty and a surrender of +its constitutional powers. + +"There is another provision in this resolution, as it stands, that we +shall refer every paper to the committee without debate. Yes, sir, the +Senate of the United States is to be led like a lamb to the slaughter, +bound hand and foot, shorn of its constitutional power, and gagged, +dumb; like the sheep brought to the block! Is this the condition to +which the Senator from Michigan proposes to reduce the Senate of the +United States by insisting upon such a provision as that contained in +the resolution as it comes from the House of Representatives? + +"There is a still graver objection to this resolution as it stands. +The provision that 'until such report shall have been made and finally +acted on by Congress, no member shall be received into either house +from any of the so-called Confederate States,' is a provision which, +by law, excludes those eleven States from their representation in the +Union. Sir, pass that resolution as it stands, and let it receive the +signature of the President, and you have accomplished what the +rebellion could not accomplish, what the sacrifice of half a million +men could not accomplish in warring against this Government--you have +dissolved the Union by act of Congress. Sir, are we prepared to +sanction that? I trust never. + +"The Senator from Michigan talks about the _status_ of these States. +He may very properly raise the question whether they have any +Legislatures that are capable of electing Senators to this body. That +is a question of fact to be considered; but as to whether they are +States, and States still within the Union, notwithstanding their civil +form of government has been overturned by the rebellion, and their +Legislatures have been disorganized, that they are still States in +this Union is the most sacred truth and the dearest truth to every +American heart, and it will be maintained by the American people +against all opposition, come from what quarter it may. Sir, the flag +that now floats on the top of this Capitol bears thirty-six stars. +Every star represents a State in this Union. I ask the Senator from +Michigan, does that flag, as it floats there, speak the nation's truth +to our people and to the world, or is it a hypocritical, flaunting +lie? That flag has been borne at the head of our conquering legions +through the whole South, planted at Vicksburg, planted at Columbia, +Savannah, Charleston, Sumter; the same old flag which came down before +the rebellion at Sumter was raised up again, and it still bore the +same glorious stars; 'not a star obscured,' not one. + +"These people have been disorganized in their civil governments in +consequence of the war; the rebels overturned civil government in the +first place, and we entered with our armies and captured the +rebellion; but did that destroy the States? Not at all. We entered the +States to save them, not to destroy them. The guarantee of the +Constitution is a guarantee to the States, and to every one of the +States, and the obligation that rests upon us is to guarantee to South +Carolina a republican form of government as a State in this Union, and +not as a Territory. No State nor the people of any State had any power +to withdraw from the Union. They could not do it peacefully; they +undertook to do it by arms. We crushed the attempt; we trampled their +armies under our feet; we captured the rebellion; the States are ours; +and we entered them to save, and not to destroy. + +"The Constitution of the United States requires the President, from +time to time, to give to Congress information of the state of the +Union. Who has any right to presume that the President will not +furnish the information which his constitutional duty requires? He has +at his control all the agencies which are necessary. There is the able +Cabinet who surround him, with all the officers appointed under them: +the post-masters under the Post-office Department, the treasury agents +under the Treasury Department, and almost two hundred thousand men +under the control of the War Department, in every part of this +'disaffected' region, who can bring to the President information from +every quarter of all the transactions that exist there. That the +President of the United States will be sustained, in the views which +he takes in his message, by the people of this country, is as certain +as the revolutions of the earth; and it is our duty to act +harmoniously with him, to sustain him, to hold up his hands, to +strengthen his heart, to speak to him words of faith, friendship, and +courage. + +"I know that in all these Southern States there are a thousand things +to give us pain, sometimes alarm, but notwithstanding the bad +appearance which from time to time presents itself in the midst of +that boiling caldron of passion and excitement which the war has left +still raging there, the real progress which we have made has been most +wonderful. I am one of those who look forward with hope, for I believe +God reigns and rules in the affairs of mankind. I look beyond the +excitement of the hour and all the outbreaking passion which sometimes +shows itself in the South, which leads them to make enactments in +their Legislatures which are disgraceful to themselves, and can never +be sanctioned by the people of this country, and also in spite of all +the excitement of the North, I behold the future full of confidence +and hope. We have only to come up like men, and stand as the real +friends of the country and the Administration, and give to the policy +of the President a fair and substantial trial, and all will be well." + +Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, then remarked: "When this resolution was +first promulgated in the newspapers as having been agreed upon, I +approved it because I sympathized with its object and purpose. I did +not examine it particularly; but, looking simply at what it was +designed for, it met my approbation simply for this reason: that this +question of the reaedmission of these Confederate States, so called, +and all the questions connected with that subject, I conceived to be +of infinite importance, requiring calm and serious consideration, and +I believe that the appointment of a committee, carefully selected by +the two houses, to take that subject into consideration, was not only +wise in itself, but an imperative duty resting upon the +representatives of the people in the two branches of Congress. For +myself, I was not prepared to act upon that question at once. I am not +one of those who pin their faith upon any body, however eminent in +position, or conceive themselves obliged, on a question of great +national importance, to follow out any body's opinions simply because +he is in a position to make those opinions, perhaps, somewhat more +imperative than any other citizen of the republic. Talk about the +Administration! Sir, we are a part of the Administration, and a very +important part of it. I have no idea of abandoning the prerogatives, +the rights, and the duties of my position in favor of any body, +however that person or any number of persons may desire it. In saying +this, I am not about to express an opinion upon the subject any +further than I have expressed it, and that is, that in questions of +such infinite importance as this, involving the integrity and welfare +of the republic in all future time, we are solemnly bound, and our +constituents will demand of us that we examine them with care and +fidelity, and act on our own convictions and not upon the convictions +of others. + +"I do not agree with the honorable Senator from Wisconsin, that by +passing a simple resolution raising a committee of our own body, and +referring to it certain papers, if we conclude to do so, we are +infringing upon the rights of any body or making an intimation with +regard to any policy that the President may have seen fit to adopt and +recommend to the country. Sir, I trust there are no such things as +exclusive friends of the President among us, or gentlemen who desire +to be so considered. I have as much respect for the President of the +United States probably as any man. I acted with him long, and I might +express the favorable opinions which I entertain of him here, if they +would not be out of place and in bad taste in this body. That I am +disposed and ready to support him to the best of my ability, as every +gentleman around me is, in good faith and with kind feeling in all +that he may desire that is consistent with my views of duty to the +country, giving him credit for intentions as good as mine, and with +ability far greater, I am ready to asseverate. + +"But, sir, I do not agree with the doctrine, and I desire to enter my +dissent to it now and here, that, because a certain line of policy has +been adopted by one branch of the Government, or certain views are +entertained by one branch of the Government, therefore, for that +reason alone and none other, that is to be tried, even if it is +against my judgment; and I do not say that it is or is not. That is a +question to be considered. I have a great respect, not for myself, +perhaps, but for the position which I hold as a Senator of the United +States; and no measure of Government, no policy of the President, or +of the head of a department, shall pass me while I am a Senator, if I +know it, until I have examined it and given my assent to it; not on +account of the source from which it emanates, but on account of its +own intrinsic merits, and because I believe it will result in the good +of my country. That is my duty as a Senator, and I fear no +misconstruction at home on this subject or any other. + +"Now, therefore, sir, I hope that, laying aside all these matters, +which are entirely foreign, we shall act upon this resolution simply +as a matter of business. No one has a right to complain of it that we +raise a committee for certain purposes of our own when we judge it to +be necessary. It is an imputation upon nobody; it is an insult to +nobody; it is not any thing which any sensible man could ever find +fault with, or be disposed to do so. It is our judgment, our +deliberate judgment, our friendly judgment--a course of action adopted +from regard to the good of the community, and that good of the +community comprehends the good of every individual in it." + +Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, said: "This resolution is very +objectionable to my mind. It is for the appointment of a committee of +the two houses to determine and to report upon what? The right of +representation of eleven States in this body. What determines the +rights of those States to representation here? Is it the views of the +members of the House of Representatives? Do we stand in need of any +light, however bright it may be, that may come from that distinguished +quarter? Are we going to ask them to illuminate us by wisdom, and +report the fact to us whether those States are entitled to +representation on this floor? + +"Mr. President, on the first day of your assemblage after the battle +of Manassas, you and they declared, by joint resolution, that the +object for which the war was waged was for no purpose of conquest or +subjugation, but it was to preserve the union of the States, and to +maintain the rights, dignity, and equality of the several States +unimpaired. While that war was being waged there was no action, either +of this house or of the House of Representatives, declaring that, when +it was over, the existence of those States should be ignored, or their +right to representation in Congress denied. Throughout the whole +contest the battle-cry was 'the preservation of the Union' and 'the +Union of the States.' If there was a voice then raised that those +States had ceased to have an existence in this body, it was so feeble +as to be passed by and totally disregarded. + +"Sir, suppose this committee should report that those States are not +entitled to representation in this body, are you bound by their +action? Is there not a higher law, the supreme law of the land, which +says if they be States that they shall each be entitled to two +Senators on this floor? And shall a report of a joint committee of the +two houses override and overrule the fundamental law of the land? Sir, +it is dangerous as a precedent, and I protest against it as an humble +member of this body. If they be not States, then the object avowed for +which the war was waged was false." + +Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, said: "I shall vote against this resolution +because it refers to a joint committee a subject which, according to +my judgment, belongs exclusively to the Senate. I know that the +resolution no longer provides in express terms that the Senate, +pending the continuance of the investigation of this committee, will +not consider the question of credentials from these States, but in +effect it amounts to that. The question is to be referred to the +committee, and according to usage, and it would seem to be the very +purpose of reference that the body shall not consider the subject +while the question is before them. I could not vote for a resolution +that refers to a joint committee a subject that this body alone can +decide. If there are credentials presented here, this body must decide +the question whether the person presenting the credentials is entitled +to a seat; and how can this body be influenced by any committee other +than a committee that it shall raise itself?" + +Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, then followed: "If I understood the +resolution as the Senator from Indiana does, I should certainly vote +with him; but I do not so understand it. It is simply a resolution +that a joint committee be raised to inquire into the condition of the +States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and +to report whether they or any of them are entitled to be represented +in either House of Congress, with leave to report at any time by bill +or otherwise. It is true, as the Senator says, that after having +raised this committee, the Senate will not be likely to take action in +regard to the admission of the Senators from any of these States until +the committee shall have had a reasonable time at least to act and +report; but it is very desirable that we should have joint action upon +this subject. It would produce a very awkward and undesirable state of +things if the House of Representatives were to admit members from one +of the lately rebellious States, and the Senate were to refuse to +receive Senators from the same State. + +"We all know that the State organizations in certain States of the +Union have been usurped and overthrown. This is a fact of which we +must officially take notice. There was a time when the Senator from +Indiana, as well as myself, would not have thought of receiving a +Senator from the Legislature, or what purported to be the Legislature, +of South Carolina. When the people of that State, by their +Representatives, undertook to withdraw from the Union and set up an +independent government in that State, in hostility to the Union, when +the body acting as a Legislature there was avowedly acting against +this Government, neither he nor I would have received Representatives +from it. That was a usurpation which, by force of arms, we have put +down. Now the question arises, Has a State government since been +inaugurated there entitled to representation? Is not that a fair +subject of inquiry? Ought we not to be satisfied upon that point? We +do not make such an inquiry in reference to members that come from +States which have never undertaken to deny their allegiance to the +Government of the United States. Having once been admitted as States, +they continue so until by some positive act they throw off their +allegiance, and assume an attitude of hostility to the Government, and +make war upon it; and while in that condition, I know we should all +object that they, of course, could not be represented in the Congress +of the United States. Now, is it not a proper subject for inquiry to +ascertain whether they have assumed a position in harmony with the +Government? and is it not proper that that inquiry should be made the +subject of joint action?" + +Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, wished to ask the friends of this resolution +if it was contemplated that this committee should take evidence, and +report that evidence to the two houses. "If," said he, "they are only +to take what is open to every member of the Senate, the fact that the +rebellion has been suppressed; the fact that the President of the +United States has appointed officers to collect the taxes, and, in +some instances, judges and other officers; that he has sent the +post-office into all the States; that there have been found enough +individuals loyal to the country to accept the offices; the fact that +the President has issued his proclamation to all these States, +appointing Provisional Governors; that they have all elected +conventions; that the conventions have rescinded the ordinances of +secession; that most of them have amended their constitutions and +abolished slavery, and the Legislatures of some of them have passed +the amendment to the Constitution on the subject of slavery--if they +are only to take these facts, which are open and clear to us all, I +can see no necessity for such a committee. My principal objection to +the resolution is, that this committee can give us no information +which we do not now possess, coupled with the fact that the loyal +conservative men of the United States, North, South, East, and West, +do most earnestly desire that we shall so act that there shall be no +longer a doubt that we are the United States of America, in full +accord and harmony with each other. + +"I know it has been said that the President had no authority to do +these things. I read the Constitution and the laws of this country +differently. He is to 'take care that the laws be faithfully +executed;' he is to suppress insurrection and rebellion. The power is +put in his hands, and I do not see why, when he marches into a rebel +State, he has not authority to put down a rebel government and put up +a government that is friendly to the United States, and in accordance +with it. I do not see why he can not do that while the war goes on, +and I do not see why he may not do it after the war is over. The +people in those States lie at the mercy of the nation. I see no +usurpation in what he has done, and if the work is well done, I, for +one, am ready to accept it. Are we to send out a commission to see +what the men whom he has appointed have done? It is said that they are +not to be relied on; that they have been guilty of treason, and we +will not trust them. I hope that no such ideas will prevail here. I +think this will be a cold shock to the warm feelings of the nation for +restoration, for equal privileges and equal rights. They were in +insurrection. We have suppressed that insurrection. They are now +States of the Union; and if they come here according to the laws of +the States, they are entitled, in my judgment, to representation, and +we have no right to refuse it. They are in a minority, and they would +be in a minority even if they meant now what they felt when they +raised their arms against the Government; but they do not, and of +those whom they will send here to represent them, nineteen out of +twenty will be just as loyal as any of us--even some of those who took +up arms against us. + +"I really hope to see some one move a modification of the test oath, +so that those who have repented of their disloyalty may not be +excluded, for I really believe that a great many of those who took up +arms honestly and wished to carry out the doctrines of secession, and +who have succumbed under the force of our arms and the great force of +public opinion, can be trusted a great deal more than those who did +not fight at all. + +"To conclude, gentlemen, I see no great harm in this resolution except +the procrastination that will result from it, and that will give us +nothing but what we have before us." + +The question being taken, the resolution, as amended, passed the +Senate, thirty-three voting in the affirmative and eleven in the +negative. The following are the names of those who voted for the +resolution: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Creswell, + Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Howard, Howe, Lane + of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Norton, Nye, + Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, + Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, and + Yates. + +The following Senators voted against the resolution: + + Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Guthrie, + Hendricks, Johnson, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and Wright. + +Five Senators were absent: Messrs. Cragin, Davis, Henderson, +McDougall, and Nesmith. + +On the day succeeding the adoption of the concurrent resolution by the +Senate, the amendments of that body came before the House of +Representatives. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens moved that the House concur in +the amendments of the Senate. He said: "The Senate took what to them +appeared to be the proper view of their prerogatives, and, though they +did not seem to differ with us as to the main object, the mode of +getting at it with them was essential, and they very properly put the +resolution in the shape they considered right. They have changed the +form of the resolution so as not to require the assent of the +President; and they have also considered that each house should +determine for itself as to the reference of papers, by its own action +at the time. To this I see no objection, and, while moving to concur, +I will say now, that when it is in order I shall move, or some other +gentleman will move when his State is called, a resolution precisely +similar, or very nearly similar, to the provision which the Senate has +stricken out, only applicable to the House alone." + +The House then concurred in the amendments of the Senate, so the +resolution passed in the following form: + + "_Resolved_, by the House of Representatives (the Senate + concurring), That a joint committee of fifteen members shall + be appointed, nine of whom shall be members of the House, + and six members of the Senate, who shall inquire into the + condition of the States which formed the so-called + Confederate States of America, and report whether they, or + any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house + of Congress, with leave to report at any time, by bill or + otherwise." + +A resolution subsequently passed the House, "That all papers offered +relative to the representation of the late so-called Confederate +States of America, shall be referred to the joint committee of fifteen +without debate, and no members shall be admitted from either of said +so-called States until Congress shall declare such States entitled to +representation." + +On the fourteenth of December the Speaker announced the names of the +committee on the part of the House. They were: Thaddeus Stevens, Elihu +B. Washburn, Justin S. Morrill, Henry Grider, John A. Bingham, Roscoe +Conkling, George S. Boutwell, Henry T. Blow, and Andrew J. Rogers. + +On the twenty-first of December the following gentlemen were announced +as members of the committee on the part of the Senate: William Pitt +Fessenden, James W. Grimes, Ira Harris, Jacob M. Howard, Reverdy +Johnson, and George H. Williams. + +Thus, before the adjournment of Congress for the holidays, the Joint +Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction had been appointed and +empowered to proceed with investigations of the utmost importance to +the country. Hated by the late insurgents of the South, who expected +little leniency at its hands; opposed by politicians at the North, who +viewed it as an obstacle in the way of their designs, and even +misrepresented by the President himself, who stigmatized it as a +"Central Directory," this committee went forward in the discharge of +its important duties, without fear or favor, having a marked influence +upon the doings of Congress and the destinies of the country. + +Meanwhile other important measures were enlisting the attention of +Congress, and were proceeding, by the slow but steady steps of +parliamentary progress, to their final consummation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SUFFRAGE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. + + Duty of Congress to legislate for the District of Columbia + -- Suffrage Bill introduced into the House -- Speech by Mr. + Wilson -- Mr. Boyer -- Mr. Schofield -- Mr. Kelley -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Farnsworth -- Mr. Davis -- Mr. Chanler -- Mr. + Bingham -- Mr. Grinnell -- Mr. Kasson -- Mr. Julian -- Mr. + Thomas -- Mr. Darling -- Mr. Hale's amendment -- Mr. Thayer + -- Mr. Van Horn -- Mr. Clarke -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. + Boutwell. + + +Whatever differences of opinion may exist as to the authority of +Congress to legislate for States loyal or disloyal, or for +Territories, there is entire unanimity as to the power and duty of +Congress to enact laws for the District of Columbia. Here there is no +countercurrent of "reserved rights" or "State sovereignty" opposed to +the authority of Congress. + +Congress being responsible for the legislation of the District of +Columbia, we naturally look in that direction for an exhibition in +miniature of the policy of the national legislature on questions +relating to the interests of the nation at large. If slavery +flourished and the slave-market existed in the capital, it was because +a majority of the people of the United States were willing. So soon as +the nation became anti-slavery, the "peculiar institution" could no +longer exist in the District of Columbia, although it might still +survive in other localities. + +The General Government having become completely disenthralled from the +dominion of slavery, and a wide-spread opinion prevailing at the North +that all loyal men should enjoy the right of suffrage, the members of +the Thirty-ninth Congress convened with a sense of duty impelling them +to begin the great work of political reform at the capital itself. +Hence Mr. Wade, as we have seen, on the first day of the session, +introduced "Senate bill Number One," designed, as its title declared, +"to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia." In +the House of Representatives, on the second day of the session, Mr. +Kelley introduced "a bill extending the right of suffrage in the +District of Columbia." This bill was referred to the Judiciary +Committee. + +In the House of Representatives, on the 18th of December, Mr. Wilson, +chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, reported a bill extending +the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia. The bill provided +that from all laws and parts of laws prescribing the qualification of +electors for any office in the District of Columbia, the word "white" +should be stricken out; also, that from and after the passage of the +bill, no person should be disqualified from voting at any election +held in the District of Columbia on account of color; also, that all +acts of Congress, and all laws of the State of Maryland in force in +the District of Columbia, and all ordinances of the cities of +Washington and Georgetown inconsistent with the provisions of the +bill, should be repealed and annulled. + +This bill was made the special order for Wednesday the 10th of +January. + +Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, whose duty it was, as chairman of the Judiciary +Committee, to report the bill, opened the discussion by speaking as +follows in favor of the measure: + +"Can we excuse ourselves in continuing a limitation on the right of +suffrage in the capital of the republic that has no justification in +reason, justice, or in the principles on which we profess to have +based our entire political system? Upon this question there seems to +have been but little difference of opinion among the men who laid the +foundation and built the superstructure of this Government. In those +days no limitation was placed upon the enjoyment of the defensive +rights of the citizen, including the right of suffrage, on account of +the color of the skin, except in the State of South Carolina. All of +the other States participating in the formation of the Government of +the United States had some limitation, based on sex, or age, or +property placed upon the right of suffrage; but none of them so far +forgot the spirit of our Constitution, the great words of the +Declaration of Independence, or the genius of our institutions, as to +inquire into the color of a citizen before allowing him the great +defensive right of the ballot. It is true, that as the republic moved +off in its grand course among the nations a change occurred in the +minds and practices of the people of a majority of the States. The +love of liberty, because of its own great self, and not because of its +application to men of a particular color, lost its sensitive character +and active vitality. The moral sense of the people became dormant +through the malign influence of that tolerated enemy to all social and +governmental virtue, human slavery. The public conscience slumbered, +its eyes closed with dollars and its ears stuffed with cotton. When +these things succeeded the active justice, abounding mercy, and love +of human rights of the earlier days, State after State fell into the +dark line of South Carolinian oppression, and adopted her +anti-republican limitation of the right of suffrage. A few States +stood firm and kept their faith, and to-day, when compared with the +bruised and peeled and oppression-cursed State of South Carolina, +stand forth as shining examples of the great rewards that are poured +upon the heads of the just. Massachusetts and South Carolina, the one +true, the other false to the faith and ideas of the early life of the +nation, should teach us how safe it is to do right, and how dangerous +it is to do wrong; how much safer it is to do justice than it is to +practice oppression. + +"But, sir, not the States alone fell into this grievous error. The +General Government took its stand upon the side of injustice, and +apostatized from the true faith of the nation, by depriving a portion +of its citizens of the political right of self-defense, the use of the +ballot. What good has come to us from this apostasy? Take the history +of the municipal government of this city, and what is there in its +pages to make an American feel proud of the results of this departure +from the principles of true democracy? Is there a worse governed city +in all the republic? Where in all the country was there to be found +such evidences of thriftless dependence as in this city before the +cold breath of the North swept down here during the rebellion and +imparted a little of 'Yankee' vigor to its business and population? +Where within the bounds of professed fidelity to the Government was +true loyalty at a lower ebb, and sympathy with the rebellion at higher +flood; freedom more hated, and emancipation more roundly denounced; +white troops harder to raise, and black ones more heartily despised; +Union victories more coldly received, and reverses productive of less +despondency, than right among that portion of the voting population +and its adjuncts which control the local elections in this District? +With what complaisance the social elements of this capital fostered +the brood of traitors who rushed hence to the service of the rebellion +in 1861! Are these fruits of our errors pleasing? + +"I would not be vindictive, I would be just. I do not want to +legislate against the white citizen for the purpose of advancing the +interests of the colored citizen. It is best to guard against all such +legislation. Let the laws which we pass here be of such pure +republican character, that no person can tell from the reading of them +what color is stamped upon the faces of the citizens of the United +States. Let us have no class legislation, no class privileges. Let our +laws be just and uniform in their operation. This is the smooth sea +upon which our ship of state may sail; all others are tempestuous and +uncertain. + +"And now, Mr. Speaker, who are the persons upon whom this bill will +operate, if we shall place it upon the statute-book of the nation? +They are citizens of the United States and residents of the District +of Columbia. It is true that many of them have black faces, but that +is God's work, and he is wiser than we. Some of them have faces marked +by colors uncertain; that is not God's fault. Those who hate black men +most intensely can tell more than all others about this mixture of +colors. But, mixed or black, they are citizens of this republic, and +they have been, and are to-day, true and loyal to their Government; +and this is vastly more than many of their contemners can claim for +themselves. In this District a white skin was not the badge of loyalty +while a black skin was. No traitor breathed the air of this capital +wearing a black skin. Through all the gradations of traitors, from +Wirz to Jeff. Davis, criminal eyes beamed from white faces. Through +all phases of treason, from the bold stroke of Lee upon the +battle-field to the unnatural sympathy of those who lived within this +District, but hated the sight of their country's flag, runs the blood +which courses only under a white surface. While white men were fleeing +from this city to join their fortunes with the rebel cause, the +returning wave brought black faces in their stead. White enemies went +out, black friends came in. As true as truth itself were these poor +men to the cause of this imperiled nation. Wherever we have trusted +them, they have been true. Why will we not deal justly by them? Why +shall we not, in this District, where the first effective legislative +blow fell upon slavery, declare that these suffering, patient, devoted +friends of the republic shall have the power to protect their own +rights by their own ballots? Is it because they are ignorant? Sir, we +are estopped from that plea. It comes too late. We did not make this +inquiry in regard to the white voter. It is only when we see a man +with a dark skin that we think of ignorance. Let us not stand on this +now in relation to this District. The fact itself is rapidly passing +away, for there is no other part of the population of the District so +diligent in the acquisition of knowledge as the colored portion. In +spite of the difficulties placed in their pathway to knowledge by the +white residents, the colored people, adults and children, are pressing +steadily on. + +"Taken as a class, they surely show themselves possessed of enough of +the leaven of thrift, education, morality, and religion to render it +safe for us to make the experiment of impartial suffrage here. Let us +make the trial. A failure can work no great harm, for to us belongs +the power to make any change which the future may show to be +necessary. How can we tell whether success or failure shall be the +fruit of a practical application of the principles upon which our +institutions rest, unless we put them to a fair test? Give every man a +fair chance to show how well he can discharge the duties of fully +recognized citizenship. This is the way to solve the problem, and in +no other way can it be determined. That success will attend the +experiment I do not doubt. Others believe the result will prove quite +the reverse. Who is right and who wrong can be ascertained only by +putting the two opinions to a practical test. The passage of this bill +will furnish this test, and to that end I ask for it the favorable +consideration of this house." + +Mr. Boyer, of Pennsylvania, said: "The design of this bill is to +inaugurate here, upon this most conspicuous stage, the first act of +the new political drama which is intended to culminate in the complete +political equality of the races and the establishment of negro +suffrage throughout the States. Constitutional amendments with this +view have been already introduced at both ends of the Capitol. The +object of the leaders of this movement is no longer concealed; and if +there is any thing in their action to admire, it is the candor, +courage, and ability with which they press their cause. The agitation +is to go on until the question has been settled by the country, and it +may as well be met here upon the threshold. The monstrous proposition +is nothing less than the absorption into the body politic of the +nation of a colored population equal to one-sixth of all the +inhabitants of the country, as the census reports will show. Four +millions of the population so to be amalgamated have been just set +free from a servitude, the debasing influences of which have many a +time been vividly depicted in the anti-slavery speeches of the very +men who are the most prominent champions of this new political +gospel. + +"The argument in favor of the American negro's right to vote must be +measured by his capacity to understand and his ability to use such +right for the promotion of the public good. And that is the very +matter in dispute. But the point does not turn simply upon the +inferiority of the negro race; for differences without inferiority may +unfit one race for political or social assimilation with another, and +render their fusion in the same government incompatible with the +general welfare. It is, as I conceive, upon these principles that we +must settle the question whether this is a white man's government. + +"The negro has no history of civilization. From the earliest ages of +recorded time he has ever been a savage or a slave. He has populated +with teeming millions the vast extent of a continent, but in no +portion of it has he ever emerged from barbarism, and in no age or +country has he ever established any other stable government than a +despotism. But he is the most obedient and happy of slaves. + +"Of all men, the negroes themselves are best contented with their +situation. They are not the prime movers in the agitations which +concern them. An examination of the tables of the last census will +demonstrate that they do not attach much importance to political +rights. It will be found that the free people of color are most +numerous in some of those States which accord them the fewest +political privileges; and in those States which have granted them the +right of suffrage they seem to see but few attractions. In Maryland +there were, in 1860, 83,942 free people of color; in Pennsylvania, +56,949; in Ohio, 36,673. In neither of those States were they voters. +In the State of New York, where they could not vote except under a +property qualification, which excluded the most of them, they numbered +49,005. But in Massachusetts, where they did then and do now vote, +there were but 9,602. And in all New England, (except Connecticut, +where they are not allowed to vote,) there were at the last census but +16,084. If the American negro, in his desire and capacity for +self-government, bore any resemblance to the Caucasian, he would +distinguish himself by emigration; and, spurning the soil which had +enslaved his race, he would seek equality and independence in a more +congenial clime. But the spirit of independence and hardy manhood +which brought the Puritans to the shores of a New England wilderness +he lacks. He will not even go to Massachusetts now, although, instead +of a stormy ocean, his barrier is only an imaginary State line, and +instead of a howling wilderness, he is invited to a land resounding +with the myriad voices of the industrial arts, and instead of painted +savages with uplifted tomahawks, he has reason to expect a crowd of +male and female philanthropists, with beaming faces and outstretched +hands, to welcome him and call him brother. There will he find +lecturers to prove his equality, and statesmen to claim him as an +associate ruler in the land. If he cares for these things, or is fit +for them, why does he linger outside upon the very borders of his +political Eden? Why does he not enter into it--avoiding Connecticut in +his route--and take possession? The fact is, that the fine political +theories set up in his behalf are not in accordance with the natural +instinct of the negro, which, in this particular, is truer than the +philosophy of his white advisers. + +"They are but superficial thinkers who imagine that the organic +differences of races can be obliterated by the education of the +schools. The qualities of races are perpetuated by descent, and are +the result of historical influences reaching far back into the +generations of the past. An educated negro is a negro still. The +cunning of the chisel of a Canova could not make an enduring +Corinthian column out of a block of anthracite; not because of its +color, but on account of the structure of its substance. He might +indeed, with infinite pains, give it the form, but he could not impart +to it the strength and adhesion of particles required to enable it to +brave the elements, and the temple it was made to support would soon +crumble into ruin." + +Mr. Schofield, of Pennsylvania, said: "The cheapest elevator and best +moralizer for an oppressed and degraded class is to inspire them with +self-respect, with the belief in the possibility of their elevation. +Bestow the elective franchise upon the colored population of this +District, and you awaken the hope and ambition of the whole race +throughout the country. Hitherto punishment has been the only +incentive to sobriety and industry furnished these people by American +law. They were kept too low to feel disgrace, and reward was +inconsistent with the theory of 'service owed.' Let us try now the +persuasive power of wages and protection. If colored suffrage is still +considered an experiment, this District is a good place in which to +try it. The same objections do not exist here that are urged on behalf +of some of the States. No constitutional question intervenes. Here, at +least, Congress is supreme. The law can be passed, and if it is found +to be bad, a majority can repeal it. The colored race is too small in +numbers here to endanger the supremacy of the white people, but large +and loyal enough to counteract to some extent disloyal proclivities. + +"Both the precept and practice of our fathers refute the allegation +that this is exclusively a white man's government. If we can not now +consent to so slight a recognition, as proposed by this bill, of the +great underlying theory of our Government, as declared and practiced +by our fathers, we are thrown back upon that new and monstrous +doctrine, that the five millions of our colored population, and their +posterity forever, have no rights that a white man is bound to +respect. + +"Who pronounces this crushing sentence? The political South. And what +is this South? The Southern master and his Northern minion. Have these +people wronged the South? Have they filled it with violence, outrage, +and murder? No, sir; they are remarkably gentle, patient, and +respectful. Have they despoiled its wealth or diminished its grandeur? +No, sir; their unpaid toil has made the material South. They removed +the forests, cleared the fields, built the dwellings, churches, +colleges, cities, highways, railroads, and canals. Why, then, does the +South hate and persecute these people? Because it has wronged them. +Injustice always hates its victim. They are forced to look to the +North for justice. And what is the North? Not the latitude of frosts; +not New England and the States that border on the lakes, the +Mississippi, and the Pacific. The geographical is lost in the +political meaning of the word. The North, in a political sense, means +justice, liberty, and union, and in the order in which I have named +them. Jefferson defined this 'North' when he wrote 'all men are +created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable +rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' +This North has no geographical boundaries. It embraces the friends of +freedom in every quarter of this great republic. Many of its bravest +champions hail from the geographical South. The North, that did not +fear the slave power in its prime, in the day of its political +strength and patronage, when it commanded alike the nation and the +mob, and for the same cruel purpose, will not be intimidated by its +expiring maledictions around this capital. The North must pass this +bill to vindicate its sincerity and its courage. The slave power has +already learned that the North is terrible in war, and forgiving and +gentle in peace; let its crushed and mangled victims learn from the +passage of this bill, that the justice of the North, unlimited by +lines of latitude, unlimited by color or race, slumbereth not." + +Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, followed: "In preparing to begin the work +of reconstructing the grandest of human governments, shattered for a +time by treason, and in endeavoring to ascertain what we should do, +and how and when it should be done, I have consulted no popular +impulse. Groping my way through the murky political atmosphere that +has prevailed for more than thirty years, I have seated myself at the +feet of the fathers of our country, that I might, as far as my +suggestions would go, make them in accordance with the principles of +those who constructed our Government. I can make no suggestion for the +improvement of the primary principles or general structure of our +Government, and I would heal its wounds so carefully that it should +descend to posterity unstained and unmarred as it came, under the +guidance of Providence, from the hands of those who fashioned it. + +[Illustration: Hon. William D. Kelley, representative from +Pennsylvania.] + +"For whom do we ask this legislation? In 1860, according to the +census, there were fourteen thousand three hundred and sixteen colored +people in this District, and we ask this legislation for the male +adults of that number. Are they in rags and filth and degradation? The +tax-books of the District will tell you that they pay taxes on +$1,250,000 worth of real estate, held within the limits of this +District. On one block, on which they pay taxes on fifty odd thousand +dollars, there are but two colored freeholders who have not bought +themselves out of slavery. One of them has bought as many as eight +persons beside himself--a wife and seven children. Coming to freedom +in manhood, mortgaged for a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars as his +own price, he has earned and carried to the Southern robber thousands +of dollars, the price extorted for his wife and children, and is now a +freeholder in this District. They have twenty-one churches, which they +own, and which they maintain at an annual cost of over twenty thousand +dollars. Their communing members number over forty-three hundred. In +their twenty-two Sunday-schools they gather on each Sabbath over three +thousand American children of African descent. They maintain, sir, to +the infamous disgrace of the American Congress and people, +thirty-three day schools, eight of which are maintained exclusively by +contributions from colored citizens of the District; the remainder by +their contributions, eked out by contributions from the generous +people of the North; and every dollar of their million and a quarter +dollars of real estate and personal property is taxed for schools to +educate the children of the white people of the District, the fathers +of many of those children having been absent during the war fighting +for the Confederacy and against our constitutional flag. Who shall +reproach them with being poor and ignorant while Congress, which has +exclusive jurisdiction over the District, has, till last year, robbed +them day by day, and barred the door of the public school against +them? Such reproach does not lie in the white man's mouth; at any +rate, no member of the Democratic party ought to utter it." + +The debate was continued on the day following. Mr. Rogers, of New +Jersey, having obtained the floor, addressed the House for two hours. +He said: "I hold that there never has been, in the legislation of the +United States, a bill which involved so momentous consequences as that +now under consideration, because nowhere in the history of this +country, from the time that the first reins of party strife were drawn +over the land, was any political party ever known to advocate the +doctrine now advocated by a portion of the party on the other side of +this House, except within the last year, and during the heat and +strife of battle in the land. The wisdom of ages for more than five +thousand years, and the most enlightened governments that ever existed +upon the face of the earth, have handed down to us that grand +principle that all governments of a civilized character have been and +were intended especially for the benefit of white men and white women, +and not for those who belong to the negro, Indian, or mulatto race. + +"It is the high prerogative which the political system of this country +has given to the masses, rich and poor, to exercise the right of +suffrage and declare, according to the honest convictions of their +hearts, who shall be the officers to rule over them. There is no +privilege so high, there is no right so grand. It lies at the very +foundation of this Government; and when you introduce into the social +system of this country the right of the African race to compete at the +ballot-box with the intelligent white citizens of this country, you +are disturbing and embittering the whole social system; you rend the +bonds of a common political faith; you break up commercial intercourse +and the free interchanges of trade, and you degrade the people of this +country before the eyes of the envious monarchs of Europe, and fill +our history with a record of degradation and shame. + +"Why, then, should we attempt at this time to inflict the system of +negro suffrage upon those who happen to be so unfortunate as to reside +in the District of Columbia? This city bears the name of George +Washington, the father of our country; and as it was founded by him, +so I wish to hand it down to those who shall come after us, preserving +that principle which declares that the sovereignty is in the white +people of the country, for whose benefit this Government was +established. I am not ready to believe that those men who have laid +down their lives in the battles of the late revolution, who came from +their homes like the torrents that sweep over their native hills and +mountains, those men who gathered round the sacred precincts of the +tomb of Washington to uphold and perpetuate our proud heritage of +liberty, intended to inflict upon the people of this District, or of +this land, the monstrous doctrine of political equality of the negro +race with the white at the ballot-box. + +"No such dogma as this was ever announced by the Republican party in +their platforms. When that party met at Chicago, in 1860, they took +pains to enunciate the great principle of self-government which +underlies the institutions of this country, that each State has the +right to control its own domestic policy according to its own judgment +exclusively. I ask the gentlemen on the other side of the house to +allow the people of the District of Columbia to exercise the same +great right of self-government, to determine by their votes at the +ballot-box whether they desire to inaugurate a system of political +equality with the colored people of the District. + +"Self-government was the great principle which impelled our fathers to +protest against the powers of King George. That was the principle +which led the brave army of George Washington across the ice of the +river Delaware. It was the principle which struck a successful blow +against despotism, and planted liberty upon this continent. It was the +principle that our fathers claimed the Parliament of England had no +right to invade, and drove the colonies into rebellion, because laws +were passed without their consent by a Parliament in which they were +unrepresented. + +"I am here to-day to plead for the white people of this District, upon +the same grounds taken by our fathers to the English Parliament, in +favor of self-government and the right of the people of the District +to be heard upon this all-important question. Although we may have a +legal yet we have no moral right, according to the immutable +principles of justice, and according to the declaration of Holy Writ, +that we should do unto others as we would they should do unto us, to +inflict upon the people of this District this fiendish doctrine of +political equality with a race that God Almighty never intended should +stand upon an equal footing with the white man and woman in social or +civil life." + +Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, replied: "He [Mr. Rogers] says this is a +white man's Government. 'A white man's Government!' Why, sir, did not +the Congress of the United States pass a law for enrolling into the +service of the United States the black man as well as the white man? +Did not we tax the black man as well as the white man? Does he not +contribute his money as well as his blood for the protection and +defense of the Government? O, yes; and now, when the black man comes +hobbling home upon his crutches and his wooden limbs, maimed for life, +bleeding, crushed, wounded, is he to be told by the people who called +him into the service of the Government, 'This is a white man's +Government; you have nothing to do with it?' Shame! I say, eternal +shame upon such a doctrine, and upon the men who advocate it! + +"What should be the test as to the right to exercise the elective +franchise? I contend that the only question to be asked should be, 'Is +he a man?' The test should be that of manhood, not that of color, or +races, or class. Is he endowed with conscience and reason? Is he an +immortal being? If these questions are answered in the affirmative, he +has the same right to protection that we all enjoy. + +"I am in favor, Mr. Speaker, of making suffrage equal and universal. I +believe that greater wisdom is concentrated in the decisions of the +ballot-box when all citizens of a certain age vote than when only a +part vote. If you apply a test founded on education or intelligence, +where will you stop? One man will say that the voter should be able to +read the Constitution and to write his name; another, that he should +be acquainted with the history of the United States; another will +demand a still higher degree of education and intelligence, until you +will establish an aristocracy of wisdom, which is one of the worst +kinds of aristocracy. Sir, the men who formed this Government, who +believed in the rights of human nature, and designed the Government to +protect them, believed, I think, as I do, that when suffrage is made +universal, you concentrate in the ballot-box a larger amount of wisdom +than when you exclude a portion of the citizens from the right of +suffrage. + +"I grant, sir, that many of the colored men whom I would enfranchise +are poor and ignorant, but we have made them so. We have oppressed +them by our laws. We have stolen them from their cradles and consigned +them to helpless slavery. The shackles are now knocked from their +limbs, and they emerge from the house of bondage and stand forth as +men. Let us now take the next grand step, a step which must commend +itself to our judgment and consciences. Let us clothe these men with +the rights of freemen, and give them the power to protect their +rights. + +"Sir, as I have already remarked, we have passed through a fiery +ordeal. There are but few homes within our land that are not made +desolate by the loss of a son or a father. The widow and the orphan +meet us wherever we turn. The maimed and crippled soldiers of the +republic are every-where seen. Many fair fields have become +cemeteries, where molder the remains of the noble men who have laid +down their lives in defense of our Government. We thought that we had +attained the crisis of our troubles during the progress of the war. +But it has been said that the ground-swell of the ocean after the +storm is often more dangerous to the mariner than the tempest itself; +and I am inclined to think that this is true in reference to the +present posture of our national affairs. The storm has apparently +subsided; but, sir, if we fail to do our duty now as a nation--and +that duty is so simple that a child can understand it; no elaborate +argument need enforce it, as no sophistry can conceal it; it is simply +to give to one man the same rights that we give to another--if we fail +now in this our plain duty as a nation, then the ship of state is in +more peril from this ground-swell on which we are riding than it was +during the fierce tempest of war. I trust that this Congress will have +the firmness and wisdom to guide the old ship safely into the haven of +peace and security. This we can do by fixing our eyes upon the guiding +star of our fathers--the equal rights of all men." + +The discussion was resumed on the following day, January 12, by Mr. +Davis, of New York: "Republican government can never rest safely, it +can never rest peacefully, upon any foundation save that of the +intelligence and virtue of its subjects. No government, republican in +form, was ever prosperous where its people were ignorant and debased. +And in this Government, where our fathers paid so much attention to +intelligence, to the cultivation of virtue, and to all considerations +which should surround and guard the foundations of the republic, I am +sure that we would do dishonor to their memory by conferring the +franchise upon men unfitted to receive it and unworthy to exercise it. + +"I am perfectly aware that in many States we have given the elective +franchise to the white man who is debased and ignorant. I regret it, +because I think that intelligence ought always, either as to the black +or the white man, to be made a test of suffrage. And I glory in the +principles that have been established by Massachusetts, which +prescribes, not that a man should have money in his purse, but that he +should have in his head a cultivated brain, the ability to read the +Constitution of his country, and intelligence to understand his rights +as a citizen. + +"I have never been one of those who believed that the black man had +'no rights that the white man was bound to respect.' I believe that +the black man in this country is entitled to citizenship, and, by +virtue of that citizenship, is entitled to protection, to the full +power of this Government, wherever he may be found on the face of +God's earth; that he has a right to demand that the shield of this +Government shall be held over him, and that its powers shall be +exerted on his behalf to the same extent as if he were the proudest +grandee of the land. But, sir, citizenship is one thing, and the right +of suffrage is another and a different thing; and in circumstances +such as exist around us, I am unwilling that general, universal, +unrestricted suffrage should be granted to the black men of this +District, as is proposed by the bill under consideration. + +"This whole subject is within the power of Congress, and if we grant +restricted privilege to-day, we can extend the exercise of that +privilege to-morrow. Public sentiment on this, as on a great many +subjects, is a matter of slow growth and development. That is the +history of the world. Development upon all great subjects is slow. The +development of the globe itself has required countless ages before it +was prepared for the introduction of man upon it. And take the +progress of the human race through the historic age--kingdoms and +empires, systems of social polity, systems of religion, systems of +science, have been of no rapid growth, but long centuries intervened +between their origin and their overthrow. + +"The Creator placed man on earth, not for the perfection of the +individual, but the race; and therefore he locked up the mysteries of +his power in the bosom of the earth and in the depths of the heavens, +rendering them invisible to mankind. He made man study those secrets, +those mysteries, in order that his genius might be cultivated, his +views enlarged, his intellect matured, so that he might gradually rise +in the scale of being, and finally attain the full perfection for +which his Creator designed him. + +"Thus governments, political systems, and political rights have been +the subjects of study and improvement; changes adapted to the advance +of society are made; experiments are tried, based upon reason and upon +judgment, and those are safest which in their gradual introduction +avoid unnecessary violence and convulsion. + +"I submit, sir, whether it be wise for us now so suddenly to alter so +entirely the political _status_ of so great a number of the citizens +of this District, in conferring upon them indiscriminately the right +of franchise." + +Mr. Chanler, of New York, then addressed the House: + +"If, sir, it should ever be your good fortune to visit romantic old +Spain, and to enter the fortress and palace of Alhambra, the fairest +monument of Moorish grandeur and skill, as this Capitol is the pride +of American architecture, you may see cut in stone a hand holding a +key, surmounting the horse-shoe arch of the main gateway. They are the +three types of strength, speed, and secresy, the boast of a now fallen +Saracen race, sons of that sea of sand, the desert, who carried the +glory of Islam to furthest Gades. In an evil hour of civil strife and +bitter hatred of faction, the Alhambra was betrayed to Spain, 'to feed +fat an ancient grudge' between political chiefs. The stronghold of the +race, with the palace, the sacred courts of justice, and all the rare +works of art--the gardens of unrivaled splendor--all that was their +own of majesty, strength, and beauty, became the trophies of another. + +"The legend of the Saracen exile tells the story of penitence and +shame; and to the last moment of his sad life he sighs in the sultry +desert for the fair home of his ancestors, the gorgeous Alhambra. We, +too, are descended from a race of conquerors, who crossed the ocean to +establish the glory of civil and religious liberty, and secure freedom +to themselves and their posterity. To-day we are assembled in the +Alhambra of America; here is our citadel; here our courts of highest +resort; around these halls cluster the proudest associations of the +American people; they seem almost sacred in their eyes. No hostile +foot of foreign foe or domestic traitor has trodden them in triumph. +Above it floats the flag, the emblem of our Union. That Union is the +emblem of the triumphs of the white race. That race rules by the +ballot. Shall we surrender the ballot, the emblem of our sovereignty; +the flag, the emblem of our Union; the Union, the emblem of our +national glory, that they may become the badges of our weakness and +the trophies of another race? Never, sir! never, never! + +"Shall the white laborer bow his free, independent, and honored brow +to the level of the negro just set free from slavery, and, by yielding +the entrance to this great citadel of our nation, surrender the +mastery of his race over the Representatives of the people, the +Senate, and Supreme Court of this Union? Then, sir, the white +workingman's sovereignty would begin to cease to be. + +"Then the most democratic majesty of American liberty would be humbled +in the little dust which was lately raised by a brief campaign of two +hundred thousand negro troops, and even they led by white officers, +while millions of white soldiers held the field in victory by their +own strength and valor. Deny it if ye dare! Sir, I know that this is a +white man's Government, and I believe the white workingman has the +manhood which shall preserve it to his latest posterity, pure and +strong, in 'justice tempered with mercy.' + +"There may be a legend hereafter telling of the exile of +Representatives now on this floor, who, in the hour of party spite, +betrayed the dominion of their race here, and the stronghold of their +people's liberty, to a servile and foreign race." + +Near the close of Mr. Chanler's remarks, his time having been extended +by courtesy of the House, a forensic passage at arms occurred between +that gentleman and Mr. Bingham, of Ohio. Mr. Chanler had said: "I deny +that any obligation rests against this Government to do any thing more +for the negro than has already been done. 'On what meats doth this +Caesar feed that he has grown so great?' The white soldier did as much +work as he, fought as well, died as bravely, suffered in hospitals and +in the field as well as he. More than this, the white soldier fought +to liberate the slave, and did do it. The white soldier did more: he +fought to preserve institutions and rights endeared to him by every +hallowed association; to overthrow the rebellion of his brother +against their Commonwealth and glorious Union; to preserve the +sovereignty of the people against the conspiracy of a slave +aristocracy, if you will; to maintain the fabric of the Government +built by their fathers for them and their race in every country of +kindred men who, downtrodden and disenfranchised, look to this country +as a sure refuge. The white soldier fought as a volunteer, as a +responsible, free, and resolute citizen, knowing for what he fought, +and generously letting the slave share with him the honor, and +bestowing on him more than his share of the profits of the white man's +victory over his equal and the negro's master. + +"We are willing that the negro should have every protection which the +law can throw around him, but there is a majesty which 'hedges in a +king.' That he ought not to have until he shows himself 'every inch a +king.' + + "'Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.' + + "'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have + greatness thrust upon them.' + +"We are opposed to thrusting honor on the negro. He is to-day, as a +race, as dependent on the power and skill of the white race for +protection as when he was first brought from Africa. Not one act of +theirs has proved the capacity of the black race for self-government. +They have neither literature, arts, nor arms, as a race. They have +never, during all the changes of dynasties or revolution of States, +risen higher than to be the helpers of the contending parties. They +have had the same opportunity as the Indian to secure their +independence of the white race, but have never systematically even +attempted it on this continent, although they have been educated with +equal care, and in the same schools as the white man. Their race has +been subject to the white man, and has submitted to the yoke." + +Mr. Bingham.--"I understood the gentleman to say, that the colored +race had failed to strike for their rights during the late rebellion. +I wish to remind the gentleman of the fact, which ought to bring a +blush to the cheek of every American citizen, that at the beginning of +this great struggle, a distinguished general, who, I have no doubt, +received the political support of the gentleman himself for the +Presidency, and who, then at the head of an American army within the +Commonwealth of Virginia, issued his proclamation, as general in +command of the army, notifying the insurgents in arms against the +Constitution that, if their slaves rose in revolt for their liberty, +he, Major-General McClellan, by the whole force of the army at his +command, would crush them with an iron hand. Yet the gentleman gets up +here to-day, after a record of that sort, to cast censure upon this +people because they did not strike for their liberties against the +combined armies of the republic and the armies of treason!" + +Mr. Chanler.--"My honorable friend from Ohio may have made a good +point against General McClellan, but he has made none against me. I +admit that they have made successful insurrections, but my argument +was not to the effect that the negro race was not capable of the +bloodiest deeds. I avoided entering into that question. I asserted +that they had made successful insurrection; that they had held the +white race under their heel in Hayti and St. Domingo. I would only +say, with regard to this question of race, that I assert there is no +record of the black race having proved its capacity for +self-government as a race; that they have never struck a blow for +freedom, and maintained their freedom and independence as individuals +when free. I appeal to history, and to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. +Bingham], and I speak as a student of history, and the representative +of a race whose proudest boast is that their capacity for +self-government is the only charter of their liberty. I assail no +race; I assail no man. I have taken the greatest pains to prove that +the inalienable rights of the black man are as sacred to me as those +inalienable rights I have received from my God. If the gentleman +misunderstood me, I hope he will accept this explanation. If I have +not met his question, I will now yield the floor to him to continue." + +Mr. Bingham.--"And I continue thus far, that the gentleman's speech +certainly has relation to the rights of the black man within the +Republic of the United States. What he may say of their history +outside of the jurisdiction of this country, it is not very important +for me to take notice of. But inasmuch as the gentleman has seen fit, +in his response to what I said, to refer to the testimony of history, +I will bear witness now, by the authority of history, that this very +race of which he speaks is the only race now existing upon this planet +that ever hewed their way out of the prison-house of chattel slavery +to the sunlight of personal liberty by their own unaided arm. So much +for that part of the gentleman's argument as relates to history." + +Mr. Chanler.--"Does the gentleman allude now to what has been done in +other lands than this? I ask the question because he says he does not +like me to go outside of the jurisdiction of this country, and I +therefore ask him not to go too far into Africa." + +Mr. Bingham.--"I am not in Africa. I refer to what the gentleman +referred to himself. The insurrection in St. Domingo, I say, stands +without a parallel in the history of any race now living on this +earth, and I challenge the gentleman to refute that statement from +history." + +Mr. Chanler.--"That is admitted." + +Mr. Bingham.--"That is admitted. Then I want to know, with a fact like +that conceded, what sort of logic, what sort of force, what sort of +reason, what sort of justice is there in the remark of the gentleman +made here in a deliberative assembly touching the question of the +personal enfranchisement of the black race, when he says in the +statement here, right in the face of that fact, that they only are +entitled to their liberty who strike the blow for and maintain their +liberty? They did strike the blow in Hayti, and did maintain their +liberty there. They struck such a blow for liberty there as no other +race of men under like circumstances ever before struck, now +represented by any organized community upon this planet; and that the +gentleman conceded. And yet this sort of argument is to be adduced +here as reason why these people in the District of Columbia should not +receive the consideration of this House, and be protected in their +rights as men. If the gentleman's remark is not adduced for that +purpose, then it is altogether foreign to our inquiry. If the +gentleman can assign any other reason for the introduction of any such +argument as that, I should like to hear him." + +Mr. Chanler.--"I merely wish to say, in reply to the gentleman, that I +have read history a little further back. I remember when the British +fleet and the British army held out a similar threat to the white race +of this country. The proclamation of General McClellan did keep down +the negroes; and this fact proves what I assert--that they are a race +to be kept under. No race capable of achieving its liberty by its own +efforts, would have listened for one moment to the paper threats of +all the generals in the world. The negroes listened to McClellan, and +they shrank behind the bush. They are bushmen in Africa. They are a +dependent race, unwilling--I assert it from the record of +history--unwilling to assert their independence at the risk of their +lives. By their own efforts they never have attained, and I firmly +believe they never will attain, their liberty." + +Mr. Bingham replied: "I desire to say to the gentleman from New York, +when he talks of being a 'student of history,' that before the +tribunal of history the facts are not against me nor against the +colored race. I beg leave to say to the gentleman that these people +have borne themselves as bravely, as well, and, I may add, as wisely +during the great contest just closed, as any people to whom he can +point, situated in like circumstances, at any period of the world's +history. They were in chains when the rebellion broke out. They +constituted but one-sixth of the whole body of the people. By the +terms of the Constitution of the United States, if they lifted a hand +in the assertion of their right to freedom, they were liable that +moment to be crushed by the combined power of the Republic, called +out, in pursuance of the very letter of the Constitution, 'to suppress +insurrection.' Yet, notwithstanding the fact that their whole living +generation and the generations before them, running back two +centuries, had been enslaved and brutalized, reduced to the sad and +miserable condition of chattels, which, for want of a better name, we +call a 'slave'--an article of merchandise, a thing of trade, with no +acknowledged rights in the present, and denied even the hope of a +heritage in the great hereafter--yet, sir, the moment that the word +'Liberty' ran along your ranks, the moment that the word +'Emancipation' was emblazoned upon your banners, those men who, with +their ancestors, had been enslaved through five generations, rose as +one man to stand by this republic, the last hope of oppressed humanity +upon the earth, until they numbered one hundred and seventy-five +thousand arrayed in arms under your banners, doing firmly, +unshrinkingly, and defiantly their full share in securing the final +victory of our arms. I have said this much in defense of men who had +the manhood, in the hour of the nation's trial, to strike for the flag +and the unity of the republic in the tempest of the great conflict, +and to stand, where brave men only could stand, on the field of poised +battle, where the earthquake and the fire led the charge. Sir, I am +not mistaken; and the record of history to which I have referred does +not, as the gentleman affirms it does, make against me." + +Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, in reply to Mr. Chanler, said: "He [Mr. +Chanler] proceeds to say that they are now, as a class, dependent as +when they were brought from their native wilds in Africa. Sir, I +believe if the gentleman were master of all languages, if he were to +attempt to put into a sentence the quintessence, the high-wines, and +sublimation of an untruth, he could not have more concentrated his +language into a libel. + +"What is the fact, sir? It is perfectly notorious that these four +million slaves have not only taken care of themselves amid all the +ingenious impediments which tyrants could impose, but they have borne +upon their stalwart shoulders their masters, millions of people, for a +century. Why, sir, it seemed as impossible for a man to swim the +Atlantic with Mount Atlas upon his back, or make harmonious base to +the thunders of heaven. But these men have achieved the world's +wonder--coming out from the tortures of slavery, from the +prison-house, untainted with dishonor or crime, and out of the war +free, noble, brave, and more worthy of their friends, always true to +the flag. + +"Mr. Speaker, it was in fable that a man pointed a lion to the picture +which represented the king of the forest prostrate, with a man's foot +on his neck, and asked what he thought of that. The reply was, 'Lions +have no painters.' For days the unblushing apostles of sham Democracy +have in this House drawn pictures of the ignorance and degradation of +the people of color in the District of Columbia. Had the subjects of +their wanton defamation had a Representative here, there would have +been a different coloring to the picture, and I would gladly leave +their defense to the Representatives of classes who have by hundreds +darkened these galleries with their sable countenances, waiting for +days to hear the decisive vote which announces that their freedom is +not a mockery. + +"Who are they to whom this bill proposes to give suffrage? They are +twenty thousand people, owning twenty-one churches, maintaining +thirty-three day schools, and paying taxes on more than one and a +quarter million dollars' worth of real property. Thirty per cent. of +their number were slaves; but the census does not show that there is a +Democratic congressional district in the Union where a larger +proportion of its population are found attendant at the churches or in +the schools. + +"They did not follow the example of their pale-faced neighbors, to the +number of thousands, crossing the line to join in the rebellion; but +three thousand and more of their number went into the Union army, +nearly one thousand of whom, as soldiers, fell by disease and battle +in the room of those who wept on Northern soil for rebel defeats, and +now decry the manhood and withhold just rights from our true national +defenders. + +"In the South they were our friends. In the language of an official +dispatch of Secretary Seward to Minister Adams, 'Every-where the +American general receives his most useful and reliable information +from the negro, who hails his coming as the harbinger of freedom.' Not +one, but many, of our generals have proclaimed that the negro has +gained by the bayonet the ballot. Admiral Du Pont made mention of the +negro pilot Small, who brought out the steamer Planter, mounting a +rifled and siege gun, from Charleston, as a prize to us, under the +very guns of the enemy. He brought us the first trophy from Fort +Sumter, and information more valuable than the prize. + +"The celebrated charge of the negro brigade at the conflict at Port +Hudson has passed into history. The position of the colored people in +the State of Iowa reflects lasting honor on their loyalty, and our +brave white soldiers would not have me withhold the facts. In the +State there were between nine hundred and a thousand people of their +class subject to military duty. Of that number more than seven hundred +entered the army. They put to blush the patriotism of the dominant +race in all Democratic districts. Seven-tenths of a class, without the +inducement of commissions as lieutenants, captains, colonels, +commissaries, or quartermasters, braving the hate and vengeance of +rebels, rushing into the deadly imminent breach in the darkest hour of +our struggle! Where is the parallel to this? They had no flag; it was +a mockery. There was no pledge of political franchise. Does history +cite us to a country where so large a per cent. of the population went +forth for the national defense? It was not under the Caesars; and +Harold, in the defense of Britain, left behind him a larger per cent. +of the stalwart and the strong. They were more eager to maintain the +national honor than the zealots to rescue Jerusalem from the +profanation of infidels. Not Frank or Hun, nor Huguenot or Roundhead, +or mountaineer, Hungarian, or Pole, exceeded their sacrifices made +when tardily accepted. And this is the race now asking our favor. + +"Mr. Speaker, it will be one of the most joyful occasions of my life +to give expression to my gratitude by voting a ballot to those who +owed us so little, yet have aided us so faithfully and well. My +conscience approves it as a humane act to the millions who for +centuries have groaned under a terrible realization that on the side +of the oppressor there is power. + +"My purpose is not to leave that heritage of shame to my children, +that I forgot those whose blood fed our rivers and crimsoned the sea, +and left them outcasts in the 'land of the free,' preferring white +treason to sable loyalty. I rather vote death the penalty for the +chief traitor, all honor and reward for our soldiery, and a ballot, +safety, and justice for the poor." + +On the 15th of January the discussion was continued by Mr. Kasson, of +Iowa, who said: "Much has been said in this debate about the gallantry +of the negro troops, and about the number of negro troops in the war. +Gentlemen have declared here so broadly that we were indebted to them +for our victories as to actually convey the impression that they won +nearly all the victories accomplished by the armies of the United +States, and that to them are we indebted for the salvation of our +country and our triumph over the rebellion. + +"I do not agree with them in the extent of their praise, nor the +grounds upon which it has been placed. One gentleman, I think it was +the gentleman from Pennsylvania, speaks of our debt to the negroes, +because they have fought our battles for us. This is a falsification +of the condition of the negroes, and of the history of the country in +this particular. _Those negroes fought for their liberty_, which was +involved in the preservation of the Union of the States. They fought +with us to accomplish the maintenance of the integrity of the country, +which carried with it the liberty of their own race; and what would +have been said of the negroes if they had not, under such +circumstances, come forward and united with us? While I yield to the +negro troops the credit of having exhibited bravery and manhood when +put to the test, I do not yield to them the exclusive or chief credit +of having won the victory for the Government of my country in +preserving this Union. Let us not, under false assertions of fact, +send out to the country and the world from this floor the declaration +that the white race of this country are wanting in the gallantry, the +devotion, and the patriotism which ultimately secured for our armies +triumph, and for our nation perpetuity. + +"Unless intelligence exists in this country, unless schools are +supported and education diffused throughout the country, our +institutions are not safe, and either anarchy or despotism will be the +result; and when you propose substantially to introduce at once +three-quarters of a million or a million of voters, the great mass of +whom are ignorant and unable to tell when the ballot they vote is +right side up, then I protest against such an alarming infusion of +ignorance into the ballot-box, into that sacred palladium, as we have +always called it, of the liberties of our country. Let us introduce +them by fit degrees. Let them come in as fast as they are fit, and +their numbers will not shock the character of our institutions. + +"I turn for a single moment to call attention to the philanthropy of +the proposition. If you introduce all without regard to qualification, +without their being able to read or write, and thus to understand the +questions on which they are to decide, what would be the effect? You +will take away from them the strongest incentive to learn to read or +write. As a race, it is not accustomed to position and property; it +has no homesteads, it has no stake in the country; and unless they are +required to be intelligent, and qualified to understand something +about our institutions and our laws, and the questions which are +submitted to the people from time to time, you say then to them, 'No +matter whether or not you make progress in civilization or education, +you shall have all the rights of citizenship,' and in that way you +take away from them all special motive to education and improvement. +On the contrary, if the ability to read and write and understand the +ballot is made the qualification on the part of these people to +exercise the right of voting, the remaining portion will see that +color is not exclusion. They would all aspire to the qualification +itself as preliminary to the act. You can submit no motive to that +race so powerful for the purpose of developing in them the education +and intelligence required. + +"I say, therefore, on whatever grounds you put it, whether you regard +the safety of our institutions or the light of philanthropy, you +should insist on qualifications substantially the same as those +required in the State of Massachusetts. And let me say that, taking +the State of Massachusetts as an example of the result of general +intelligence and qualified suffrage, and a careful guardianship of the +ballot-box, I know of no more illustrious example in this or any other +country of its importance. + +"With a credit that surpasses that of the United States, with a +history that is surpassed by no State in the Union, with wealth that +is almost fabulous in proportion to its population, with a prosperity +almost unknown in the history of the world, that State stands before +us to-day in all her dignity, strength, wealth, intelligence, and +virtue. And if we, by adopting similar principles in other States, can +secure such results, we certainly have an inducement to consider well +how far this condition is to be attributed to her diffused education, +and to the provisions of her constitution." + +At the close of Mr. Kasson's speech, a colloquy occurred between him +and his colleague, Mr. Price, eliciting the fact that the question of +negro suffrage in Iowa had been squarely before the people of that +State in the late fall election, and their vote had been in favor of +the measure by a majority of sixteen thousand. + +Mr. Julian, of Indiana, having obtained the floor near the hour of +adjournment, made his argument on the following day, when the +consideration of the question was resumed. In answer to the objection +that negro voting would "lead to the amalgamation of the races or +social equality," he said: "On this subject there is nothing left to +conjecture, and no ground for alarm. Negro suffrage has been very +extensively tried in this country, and we are able to appeal to facts. +Negroes had the right to vote in all the Colonies save one, under the +Articles of Confederation. They voted, I believe, generally, on the +question of adopting the Constitution of the United States. They have +voted ever since in New York and the New England States, save +Connecticut, in which the practice was discontinued in 1818. They +voted in New Jersey till the year 1840; in Virginia and Maryland till +1833; in Pennsylvania till 1838; in Delaware till 1831; and in North +Carolina and Tennessee till 1836. I have never understood that in all +this experience of negro suffrage the amalgamation of the races was +the result. I think these evils are not at all complained of to this +day in New England and New York, where negro suffrage is still +practiced and recognized by law." + +In answer to the argument that a "war of races" might ensue, Mr. +Julian said: "Sir, a war of races in this country can only be the +result of denying to the negro his rights, just as such wars have been +caused elsewhere; and the late troubles in Jamaica should teach us, if +any lesson can, the duty of dealing justly with our millions of +freedmen. Like causes must produce like results. English law made the +slaves of Jamaica free, but England failed to enact other laws making +their freedom a blessing. The old spirit of domination never died in +the slave-master, but was only maddened by emancipation. For thirty +years no measures were adopted tending to protect or educate the +freedmen. At length, and quite recently, the colonial authorities +passed a whipping act, then a law of eviction for people of color, +then a law imposing heavy impost duties, bearing most grievously upon +them, and finally a law providing for the importation of coolies, thus +taxing the freedmen for the very purpose of taking the bread out of +the mouths of their own children! I believe it turns out, after all, +that these outraged people even then did not rise up against the local +government; but the white ruffians of the island, goaded on by their +own unchecked rapacity, and availing themselves of the infernal +pretext of a black insurrection, perpetrated deeds of rapine and +vengeance that find no parallel anywhere, save in the acts of their +natural allies, the late slave-breeding rebels, against our flag. Sir, +is there no warning here against the policy of leaving our freedmen to +the tender mercies of their old masters? Are the white rebels of this +District any better than the Jamaica villains to whom I have referred? +The late report of General Schurz gives evidence of some important +facts which will doubtless apply here. The mass of the white people in +the South, he says, are totally destitute of any national feeling. The +same bigoted sectionalism that swayed them prior to the war is almost +universal. Nor have they any feeling of the enormity of treason as a +crime. To them it is not odious, as very naturally it would not be, +under the policy which foregoes the punishment of traitors, and gives +so many of them the chief places of power in the South. And their +hatred of the negro to-day is as intense and scathing and as universal +as before the war. I believe it to be even more so. The proposition to +educate him and elevate his condition is every-where met with contempt +and scorn. They acknowledge that slavery, as it once existed, is +overthrown; but the continued inferiority and subordination of the +colored race, under some form of vassalage or serfdom, is regarded by +them as certain. Sir, they have no thought of any thing else; and if +the ballot shall be withheld from the freedmen after the withdrawal of +military power, the most revolting forms of oppression and outrage +will be practiced, resulting, at last, in that very war of races which +is foolishly apprehended as the effect of giving the negro his +rights." + +A serious question confronted Mr. Julian, namely: How could +Representatives from States which negroes by constitutional provision +are forbidden to enter, be expected, to vote for negro suffrage in +this District? He said: "In seeking to meet this difficulty, several +considerations must be borne in mind. In the first place, the demand +for negro suffrage in this District rests not alone upon the general +ground of right, of democratic equality, but upon peculiar reasons +superinduced by the late war, which make it an immediate practical +issue, involving not merely the welfare of the colored man, but the +safety of society itself. If civil government is to be revived at all +in the South, it is perfectly self-evident that the loyal men there +must vote; but the loyal men are the negroes and the disloyal are the +whites. To put back the governing power into the hands of the very men +who brought on the war, and exclude those who have proved themselves +the true friends of the country, would be utterly suicidal and +atrociously unjust. Negro suffrage in the districts lately in revolt +is thus a present political necessity, dictated by the selfishness of +the white loyalist as well as his sense of justice. But in our Western +States, in which the negro population is relatively small, and the +prevailing sentiment of their white people is loyal, no such emergency +exists. Society will not be endangered by the temporary postponement +of the right of negro suffrage till public opinion shall render it +practicable, and leaving the question of suffrage in the loyal States +to be decided by them on its merits. If Indiana had gone out of her +proper place in the Union, and her loyal population had been found too +weak to force her back into it without negro bullets and bayonets, and +if, after thus coercing her again into her constitutional orbit, her +loyalists had been found unable to hold her there without negro +ballots, the question of negro suffrage in Indiana would most +obviously have been very different from the comparatively abstract one +which it now is. It would, it is true, have involved the question of +justice to the negroes of Indiana, but the transcendently broader and +more vital question of national salvation also. Let me add further, +that should Congress pass this bill, and should the ballot be given to +the negroes in the sunny South generally, those in our Northern and +Western States, many of them at least, may return to their native land +and its kindlier skies, and thus quiet the nerves of conservative +gentlemen who dread too close a proximity to those whose skins, owing +to some providential oversight, were somehow or other not stamped with +the true orthodox luster. + +"The ballot should be given to the negroes as a matter of justice to +them. It should likewise be done as a matter of _retributive_ justice +to the slaveholders and rebels. According to the best information I +can obtain, a very large majority of the white people of this District +have been rebels in heart during the war, and are rebels in heart +still. That contempt for the negro and scorn of free industry, which +constituted the mainspring of the rebellion, cropped out here during +the war in every form that was possible, under the immediate shadow of +the central Government. Meaner rebels than many in this District could +scarcely have been found in the whole land. They have not been +punished. The halter has been cheated out of their necks. I am very +sorry to say that under what seems to be a false mercy, a misapplied +humanity, the guiltiest rebels of the war have thus far been allowed +to escape justice. I have no desire to censure the authorities of the +Government for this fact. I hope they have some valid excuse for their +action. This question of punishment I know is a difficult one. The +work of punishment is so vast that it naturally palsies the will to +enter upon it. It never can be thoroughly done on this side of the +grave. And were it practicable to punish adequately all the most +active and guilty rebels, justice would still remain unsatisfied. Far +guiltier men than they are the rebel sympathizers of the loyal States, +who coolly stood by and encouraged their friends in the South in their +work of national rapine and murder, and while they were ever ready to +go joyfully into the service of the devil, were too cowardly to wear +his uniform and carry his weapons in open day. But Congress in this +District has the power to punish by ballot, and there will be a +beautiful, poetic justice in the exercise of this power. Sir, let it +be applied. The rebels here will recoil from it with horror. Some of +the worst of them, sooner than submit to black suffrage, will +doubtless leave the District, and thus render it an unspeakable +service. To be voted down and governed by Yankee and negro ballots +will seem to them an intolerable grievance, and this is among the +excellent reasons why I am in favor of it. If neither hanging nor +exile can be extemporized for the entertainment of our domestic +rebels, let us require them at least to make their bed on negro +ballots during the remainder of their unworthy lives. Of course they +will not relish it, but that will be their own peculiar concern. Their +darling institution must be charged with all the consequences of the +war. They sowed the wind, and, if required, must reap the whirlwind. +Retribution follows wrong-doing, and this law must work out its +results. Rebels and their sympathizers, I am sure, will fare as well +under negro suffrage as they deserve, and I desire to leave them, as +far as practicable, in the hands of their colored brethren. Nor shall +I stop to inquire very critically whether the negroes are _fit_ to +vote. As between themselves and white rebels, who deserve to be hung, +they are eminently fit. I would not have them more so. Will you, Mr. +Speaker, will even my conservative and Democratic friends, be +particularly nice or fastidious in the choice of a man to vote down a +_rebel_? Shall we insist upon a perfectly finished gentleman and +scholar to vote down the traitors and white trash of this District, +who have recently signalized themselves by mobbing unoffending +negroes? Sir, almost any body, it seems to me, will answer the +purpose. I do not pretend that the colored men here, should they get +the ballot, will not sometimes abuse it. They will undoubtedly make +mistakes. In some cases they may even vote on the side of their old +masters. But I feel pretty safe in saying that even white men, +perfectly free from all _suspicion_ of negro blood, have sometimes +voted on the wrong side. Sir, I appeal to gentlemen on this floor, and +especially to my Democratic friends, to say whether they can not call +to mind instances in which white men have voted wrong? Indeed, it +rather strikes me that white voting, ignorant, depraved, party-ridden, +_Democratic_ white voting, had a good deal to do in hatching into life +the rebellion itself, and that no results of negro voting are likely +to be much worse." + +After an hour occupied by Mr. Randall and Mr. Kelley, both of +Pennsylvania, in a colloquial discussion of the history and present +position of their State upon the subject of negro suffrage, Mr. +Thomas, of Maryland, addressed the House. After setting forth the +injustice the passage of the bill would work toward the people of his +State, he said: + +"If I believed that the matter of suffrage was the only mode to help +the negro in his elevation, and the only safeguard to his protection, +or guarantee to his rights, I would be willing to give it to him now, +subject to proper qualifications and restrictions. But I am honest in +my conviction that, uneducated and ignorant as he is, a slave from his +birth, and subject to the will and caprice of his master, with none of +the exalted ideas of what that privilege means, and with but a faint +conception of the true position he now occupies, the negro is not the +proper subject to have conferred upon him this right. I believe if it +is given to him, that in localities where his is the majority vote, +parties will spring up, each one bidding higher than the other for his +ballot, and that in the end the negro-voting element will be +controlled by a few evil and wicked politicians, and as something to +be bought and sold as freely as an article of merchandise. I am +satisfied of another fact, from my experience of the Southern negro, +that if they are ever allowed to vote, the shrewd politician of the +South, who has been formerly his master, will exert more influence +over his vote than all the exhortations from Beecher or Cheever. + +"It is a notorious fact that the Southern planter maintained his +political influence over the poor white man of the South, because the +poor white man was dependent on him for his living and support. And +you will find, when it is too late, that the Southern planter will +maintain the same political influence over the poor, uneducated, +ignorant, and dependent African, even to a greater extent than he +formerly exercised over what used to be called the 'poor white trash.' + +"Mr. Speaker, let us not, because we have the majority here to-day, +pass upon measures which, if we were evenly divided, we would hesitate +to pass. Let us not, because we are called radicals, strike at the +roots of society, and of the great social and political systems that +have existed for over a century, and attempt to do in a day, without +any preparation, what, to do well and safely, will require years of +patience on the part of the freedmen, and earnest, honest exertions to +elevate, improve, and educate on our part. Let us look at this +question as statesmen, not as partisans. Let us not suppose that the +parties of to-day will have a perpetual existence, and that because +the negro, freed and emancipated by us, would naturally vote on the +side of his deliverer to-day, that it is any guarantee, when new +parties are formed and a competition arises, that the whole or the +major part of his vote will be cast on the right side. White men and +black men are liable to the same infirmities. + +"Let us rather, sir, rejoice at what has been already done for him, +and be content to watch his future. Let us help to elevate and improve +him, not only in education, but in morals. Let us see to it that he is +not only protected in all his rights of person and of property, but +let us insist that the amplest guarantees shall be given. Let us wait +until the great problem the African is now working out has been +finished, and we find that he thoroughly comprehends and will not +abuse what he has got, before we attempt to confer other privileges, +which, when once granted, can never be taken from him. Sir, let it not +be forgotten that 'revolutions never go backward;' and if you ever +confer this right on the negro, and find it will not work well, that +you have been too hasty, that you should have waited awhile longer, +you will find it is too late, and that, once having possessed it, they +will not part with it except with their lives." + +On the 17th of January the debate was resumed by Mr. Darling, of New +York, who remarked: + +"What public necessity exists for the passage of this bill at this +time? There are no benefits which the colored people of this District +could attain by the exercise of the right of suffrage that Congress +could not bestow. Our right and power to legislate for this District +are unquestioned, and instead of wasting days and weeks over a +question which is exciting bitter feeling among our own people, had we +not better give our attention to matters of great national interest +which so urgently demand speedy action on our part? Let us pass laws +for the education of the people of this District, and fit them +ultimately to receive the elective franchise; or, if any thing is +required to satisfy the intense desire, manifested by some gentlemen +of this House, to bestow the franchise on those not now possessed of +it, give it to every soldier who served in the Union Army and was +honorably discharged, whether old or young, rich or poor, native or +foreign-born, white or black, and show to the world that the American +people, recognizing the services and sufferings of their brave +defenders, give them, as a recognition, the highest and best gift of +American citizenship. + +"If I know myself, I know that no unjust or unmanly prejudice warps my +judgment or controls my action on any matter of legislation affecting +the colored race on this continent. I believe in their equality of +rights before the law with the dominant race. I believe in their +rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And yet I +believe that, before we confer upon them the political right of +suffrage, as contemplated by the bill now under consideration, we +should seek to elevate their social condition, and lift them up from +the depths of degradation and ignorance in which many of them are left +by the receding waves of the sea of rebellion. There are many strong +objections to conferring upon the colored men of this District the +gift of unqualified suffrage without any qualification based on +intelligence. The large preponderance which they possess numerically +will inevitably lead to mischievous results. Neither would I entirely +disregard the views of the people of this District, many of whom I +know to be sound, loyal Union men. + +"But I do not wish to see the Union party take any step in this +direction from which they may desire hereafter to recede. Let us first +rather seek to enlighten this people, and educate them to know the +value of the great gift of liberty which has been bestowed upon them; +teach them to know that to labor is for their best interests; teach +them to learn and lead virtuous and industrious lives, in order to +make themselves respected, and encourage them to act as becomes +freemen. Then they will vote intelligently, and not be subject to the +control of designing men, who would seek to use them for the +attainment of their own selfish ends. + +"Now, Mr. Speaker, in conclusion I desire to say that, as no election +will take place in this District until next June, there can be no +reason for special haste in the passage of this bill, and that there +is a proposition before this House, which seems to be received with +very general favor, to create a commission for the government of this +city; and, in order to give an opportunity to mature a bill for that +purpose, and have it presented for the consideration of this House, I +move the postponement of the pending bill until the first Tuesday in +April next." + +At a previous stage of the discussion of this measure, Mr. Hale had +proposed amendments to the bill. These amendments were now the subject +under discussion. They were in the following words: + + "Amend the motion to recommit by adding to that motion an + instruction to the committee to amend the bill so as to + extend the right of suffrage in the District of Columbia to + all persons coming within either of the following classes, + irrespective of caste or color, but subject only to existing + provisions and qualifications other than those founded on + caste or color, to wit: + + "1. Those who can read the Constitution of the United + States. + + "2. Those who are assessed for and pay taxes on real or + personal property within the District. + + "3. Those who have served in and been honorably discharged + from the military or naval service of the United States. + + "And to restrict such right of suffrage to the classes above + named, and to include proper provisions excluding from the + right of suffrage those who have borne arms against the + United States during the late rebellion, or given aid and + comfort to said rebellion." + +At the close of Mr. Darling's remarks, in which he had moved to +postpone the whole subject, Mr. Hale, of New York, having argued at +considerable length in favor of the several clauses of his proposed +amendment, remarked: "Of the details of my amendment I am by no means +tenacious. I do not expect to bring every member of the House, or even +every member on this side of the House, to concur in all my own views. +I desire simply to put my measures fairly before the House, and to +advocate them as I best can. I am ready and willing to yield my own +preferences in matters of detail to their better judgment. More than +that, I shall not follow the example that has been set by some on this +side of the House who oppose my amendment, and who claim to be the +peculiar friends of negro suffrage, by proclaiming that I will adhere +to the doctrine of qualified suffrage, and will join our political +enemies, the Democrats, in voting down every thing else. No, sir; for +one, and I say it with entire frankness, I prefer a restricted and +qualified suffrage substantially upon the basis that I have proposed. +If the voice of this House be otherwise--if the sentiment of this +Congress be that it is more desirable that universal suffrage should +be extended to all within this District, then, for one, I say most +decidedly I am for it rather than to leave the matter in its present +condition, or to disfranchise the black race in this District." + +Mr. Thayer, of Pennsylvania, spoke as follows: "The proposition +contained in this bill is a new proposition. It contemplates a change +which will be a landmark in the history of this country--a landmark +which, if it is set up, will be regarded by the present and future +generations of men who are to inhabit this continent with pride and +satisfaction, or deplored as one of the gravest errors in the history +of legislation. The bill, if it shall become a law, will be, like the +law to amend the Constitution by abolishing slavery, the deep +foot-print of an advancing civilization, or the conspicuous monument +of an unwise and pernicious experiment. + +"Much has been said, on the part of those who oppose the bill, on the +subject of its injustice to the white inhabitants of the District of +Columbia. Indeed, the argument on that side of the question is, when +divested of all that is immaterial, meretricious, and extravagant, +reduced almost entirely to that single position. Abstract this from +the excited declamation to which you have listened, and what is left +is but the old revolting argument in favor of slavery, and a selfish +appeal to prejudice and ignorance. It is insisted that a majority of +the white voters of the District are opposed to the contemplated law, +that they have recently given a public expression of their opinion +against it, and that for that reason it would be unjust and oppressive +in Congress to pass this law. In my judgment, this is a question not +concerning alone the wishes and prejudices of the seven thousand +voters who dwell in this District, but involving, it may be, the +honor, the justice, the good faith, and the magnanimity of the great +nation which makes this little spot the central seat of its empire and +its power. + +"If it concerns the honor of the United States that a certain class of +its people, in a portion of its territory subject to its exclusive +jurisdiction and control, shall, in consideration of the change which +has taken place in its condition, and of the fidelity which it has +exhibited in the midst of great and severe trials, be elevated +somewhat above the political degradation which has hitherto been its +lot, shall the United States be prevented from the accomplishment of +that great and generous purpose by the handful of voters who +temporarily encamp under the shadow of the Capitol? It may be that the +determination of a question of so much importance as this belongs +rather to the people of the United States, through their +Representatives in Congress assembled, than to the present qualified +voters of this District. Sir, the field of inquiry is much wider than +the District of Columbia, and the problem to be solved one in which +not they alone are interested. When Congress determined that the time +had come when slavery should be abolished in this District, and the +capital of the nation should no longer be disgraced by its presence, +did it pause in the great work of justice to which it laid its hand to +hear from the mayor of Washington, or to inquire whether the masters +would vote for it? It is not difficult to conjecture what the fate of +that great measure would have been had its adoption or rejection +depended upon the voters of this District. + +"Shall we be told, sir, that if the Representatives of the people of +twenty-five States are of the opinion that the laws and institutions +which exist in the seat of Government of the United States ought to be +changed, that they are not to be changed because a majority of the +voters who reside here do not desire that change? Will any man say +that the voices of these seven thousand voters are to outweigh the +voices of all the constituencies of the United States in the capital +of their country? I dismiss this objection, therefore, as totally +destitute of reason or weight. It is based upon a fallacy so feeble +that it is dissipated by the bare touch of the Constitution to it. + +"Whatever is the duty of the United States to do, that is for their +interest to do. The two great facts written in history by the iron +hand of the late war are, first, that the Union is indissoluble, and +second, that human slavery is here forever abolished. From these two +facts consequences corresponding in importance with the facts +themselves must result: from the former, a more vigorous and powerful +nationality; from the latter, the elevation and improvement of the +race liberated by the war from bondage, as well as a higher and more +advanced civilization in the region where the change has taken place. +It is impossible to say that the African race occupies to-day the same +position in American affairs and counts no more in weight than it did +before the rebellion. You can not strike the fetters from the limbs of +four million men and leave them such as you found them. As wide as is +the interval between a freeman and a slave, so wide is the difference +between the African race before the rebellion and after the rebellion. +You can not keep to its ancient level a race which has been released +from servitude any more than you can keep back the ocean with your +hand after you have thrown down the sea-wall which restrained its +impatient tides. Freedom is every-where in history the herald of +progress. It is written in the annals of all nations. It is a law of +the human race. Ignorance, idleness, brutality--these belong to +slavery; they are her natural offspring and allies, and the gentleman +from New York, [Mr. Chanler,] who consumed so much time in +demonstrating the comparative inferiority of the black race, answered +his own argument when he reminded us that the Constitution recognized +the negro only as a slave, and gave us the strongest reason why we +should now begin to recognize him as a freeman. Sir, I do not doubt +that the negro race is inferior to our own. That is not the question. +You do not advance an inch in the argument after you have proved that +premise of your case. You must show that they are not only inferior, +but that they are so ignorant and degraded that they can not be safely +intrusted with the smallest conceivable part of political power and +responsibility, and that this is the case not on the plantations of +Alabama and Mississippi, but here in the District of Columbia. Nay, +you must not only prove that this is the general character of this +population here, but that this condition is so universal and +unexceptional that you can not allow them to take this first step in +freedom, although it may be hedged about with qualifications and +conditions; for which of you who have opposed this measure on the +ground of race has proposed to give the benefit of it to such as may +be found worthy? Not one of you. And this shows that your objection is +founded really on a prejudice, although it assumes the dignity and +proportions of an argument. The real question, sir, is, can we afford +to be just--nay, if you please, generous--to a race whose shame has +been washed out in the consuming fires of war, and which now stands +erect and equal before the law with our own? Shall we give hope and +encouragement to that race beginning, as it does now for the first +time, its career of freedom, by erecting here in the capital of the +republic a banner inscribed with the sacred legend of the elder days, +'All men are born free and equal?' or shall we unfurl in its stead +that other banner, with a strange device, around which the dissolving +remnants of the Democratic party in this hall are called upon to +rally, inscribed with no great sentiment of justice or generosity, but +bearing upon its folds the miserable appeal of the demagogue, 'This is +a white man's Government?' When you inaugurate your newly-discovered +political principle, do not forget to invite the colored troops; beat +the assembly; call out the remnants of the one hundred and eighty +thousand men who marched with steady step through the flames and +carnage of war, and many of whom bear upon their bodies the honorable +scars received in that unparalleled struggle and in your defense, and +as you send your banner down the line, say to them, 'This is the +reward of a generous country for the wounds you have received and the +sufferings you have endured.' + +"Shall we follow the great law to which I have referred--the law that +liberty is progress--and conform our policy to the spirit of that +great law? or shall we, governed by unreasonable and selfish +prejudices, initiate a policy which will make this race our hereditary +enemy, a mine beneath instead of a buttress to the edifice which you +are endeavoring to repair? Sir, I do not hesitate to say that, in my +opinion, it were better to follow where conscience and justice point, +leaving results to a higher Power, than to shrink from an issue which +it is the clear intention of Providence we shall face, or to be driven +from our true course by the chimeras which the excited imaginations of +political partisans have conjured up, or by the misty ghosts of +long-buried errors." + +Mr. Van Horn, of New York, while willing to accept the bill as +originally presented, preferred it as modified by Mr. Hale's +amendments. In his speech he charged those who had opposed the bill as +laboring in the interest of slavery. + +"They seem to have forgotten," he said, "in their advocacy of slavery, +that we have passed through a fierce war, begun by slavery, waged +against the Government by slavery, and solely in its interest to more +thoroughly establish itself upon the Western Continent, and crush out +the best interests of freedom and humanity; and that this war, guided +on our part by the omnipotent arm of the Invisible, made bare in our +behalf, has resulted in a most complete overthrow of this great wrong; +and by the almost omnipotent voice of the republic, as now expressed +in its fundamental law, it has no right to live, much less entitled to +the right of burial, and should have no mourners in the land or going +about the streets. Such speeches as those of the gentlemen from New +Jersey, [Mr. Rogers,] and from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Boyer,] and my +colleague and friend, [Mr. Chanler,] who represents, with myself, in +part, the Empire State, carry us back to the days and scenes before +the war, when slavery ruled supreme, not only throughout the land, by +and through its hold upon power, which the people in an evil hour had +given it, but here in these halls of legislation, where liberty and +its high and noble ends ought to have been secured by just and equal +laws, and the great and paramount object of our system of government +carried out and fully developed. They seem to forget that liberty and +good government have been on trial during these five years last past +of war and blood, and that they have succeeded in the mighty struggle. +They forget that Providence, in a thousand ways, during this fierce +conflict, has given us evidence of his favor, and led us out of the +land of bondage into a purer and higher state of freedom, where +slavery, as an institution among us, is no more. Why do they labor so +long and so ardently to resurrect again into life this foul and +loathsome thing? Why can not they forget their former love and +attachments in this direction, and no longer cling with such undying +grasp to this dead carcass, which, by its corruptions and rottenness, +has well nigh heretofore poisoned them to the death? Why not awake to +the new order of things, and accept the results which God has worked +out in our recent struggle, and not raise the weak arm of flesh to +render null and void what has thus been done, and thus attempt to turn +back the flow of life which is overspreading all, and penetrating +every part of the body politic with its noble purposes and exalted +hopes?" + +Thursday, January 18, was the last day of the discussion of this +important measure in the House of Representatives. When the subject +was in order, Mr. Clarke, of Kansas, "as the only Representative upon +the floor of a State whose whole history had been a continual protest +against political injustice and wrong," after having advocated the +bill by arguments drawn from the history of the country and the record +of the negro race, remarked as follows: "This cry of poverty and +ignorance is not new. I remember that those who first followed the Son +of man, the Savior of the world, were not the learned rabbis, not the +enlightened scholar, not the rich man or the pious Pharisee. They were +the poor and needy, the peasant and the fisherman. I remember, also, +that the more learned the slaveholder, the greater the rebel. I +remember that no black skin covered so false a heart or misdirected +brain, that when the radiant banner of our nationality was near or +before him, he did not understand its meaning, and remained loyal to +its demands. The man capable of taking care of himself, of wife and +children, and, in addition to his unrequited toil, to hold up his +oppressor, must have intelligence enough, in the long run, to wield +the highest means of protection we can give. + +"But, sir, it is for our benefit, as well as for the benefit of the +proscribed class, that I vote for and support impartial manhood +suffrage in this District. We can not afford, as a nation, to keep any +class ignorant or oppress the weak. We must establish here republican +government. That which wrongs one man, in the end recoils on the many. +Sir, if we accept, as the Republican party of the Union, our true +position and our duty, we shall nobly win. If we are false and +recreant, we shall miserably fail. Let us have faith in the people and +the grand logic of a mighty revolution, and dare to do right. Class +legislation will be the inevitable result of class power; and what +would follow, so far as the colored race are concerned, let the recent +tragedy of Jamaica answer. + +[Illustration: Hon. Sidney Clarke.] + +"The principles involved in the arguments put forth on the other side +of the House are not alone destructive to the rights of the +defenseless, intelligent, and patriotic colored men of this District, +but they militate with a double effect and stronger purpose against +the poor whites of the North and of the South, against the German, the +Irishman, and the poor and oppressed of every race, who come to our +shores to escape the oppression of despotic governments, and to seek +the protection of a Government the true theory of which reposes in +every citizen a portion of its sovereign power. Against this attempt +to deny or abridge in any way the rights of the weak, the poor, and +the defenseless, and to transfer the governing power of the nation to +the favored classes, to the rich and the powerful, and thus change the +very purpose and principles of our republican system, I protest in the +name of constitutional freedom, and in behalf of equal rights and +equal laws. + +"I protest against this stealthy innovation upon popular rights, in +the name of the toiling millions of the land; and I warn the House and +the country of the untold mischief and disaster which must come to +distract and divide the republic in the future, if we follow the +pernicious and destructive doctrines founded upon either the +prejudices of class, caste, wealth, or power. I protest in the name of +a constituency whose early history was a sublime and persistent +struggle against the prejudices of pampered and arrogant ruffianism at +home, and the worse than ruffian spirit of the Administrations of +Pierce and Buchanan, and the Democratic traitors who at that time +constituted a majority of this House, and were engaged in preparing +the nation for its harvest of blood. We must go back to the spirit and +purposes of the founders of our Government. We must accept the grand +logic of the mighty revolution from which we are now emerging. We must +repudiate, now and forever, these assaults upon the masses of the +people and upon the fundamental principles of popular rights. I accept +in their full force and effect the principles of the Declaration of +Independence, and by constitutional amendment and law of Congress I +would stamp them with irrevocable power upon the political escutcheon +of the new and regenerated republic. I would avoid the mistakes of the +past, and I would spurn that cringing timidity by which, through all +history, liberty has been sacrificed and humanity betrayed. + +"Sir, I hesitate not to say that if we do not gather up, in the +process of national reconstruction, the enduring safeguards of future +peace, we shall be false to our history and unmindful of the grand +responsibilities now devolving upon us. The establishment of impartial +suffrage in this District will be a fitting commencement of the work. +It will be hailed by the friends of freedom every-where as a return to +a policy of national justice too long delayed. In behalf of the State +I have the honor to represent, and upon whose soil this contest for a +larger liberty and a nobler nationality was first submitted to the +arbitrament of arms, I hail this measure with feelings of satisfaction +and pride. It is the legitimate result of the courage and fidelity of +the hardy pioneers of Kansas in 1856, who dared to face the +blandishment of power and the arrogance and brutality of slavery when +compromisers trembled, and Northern sycophants of an oligarchic +despotism, then, as now, scowled and fretted at the progress of free +principles." + +Mr. Johnson, of Pennsylvania, after having adduced a variety of +arguments against the bill, finally said: "Sir, we hear a tremendous +outcry in this House in favor of popular government and about the +guarantee of the Constitution of the United States to the several +States that they shall have republican governments. How are the poor +people of this District to have a republican form of government if +gentlemen who have come to this city, perhaps for the first time in +their lives, undertake to control them as absolutely and arbitrarily +as Louis Napoleon controls France or Maximilian Mexico? Gentlemen ask, +What right have they to hold an election and express their sentiments? +What right have they to hold such an election? Surely they ought to +have the right to petition, for their rulers are generally arbitrary +enough. + +"Mr. Speaker, it seems to me ridiculously inconsistent for gentlemen +upon this floor to prate so much about a republican form of +government, and rise here and offer resolution after resolution about +the Monroe doctrine and the downtrodden Mexicans, while they force +upon the people of this District a government not of their own choice, +because the voter in a popular government is a governor himself. But, +sir, this is only part of a grand plan. Gentlemen who dare not go +before their white constituents and urge that a negro shall have a +vote in their own States, come here and undertake to thrust negro +suffrage upon the people here. Gentlemen whose States have repudiated +the idea of giving the elective franchise to negroes, come here and +are willing to give the suffrage to negroes here, as if they intended +to make this little District of Columbia a sort of negro Eden; as if +they intended to say to the negroes of Virginia and Maryland and +Delaware, 'You have no right to vote in these States, but if you will +go to Washington you can vote there.' I imagine I can see them +swarming up from different sections of the country to this city and +inquiring where the polls are. Agents, men and women, such as there +are at work in this city, will no doubt be at work in these States, +telling them to pack their knapsacks and march to Washington, for on +such a day there is to be an election, and there they will have the +glorious privilege of the white man. Sir, all this doctrine is +destructive of the American system of government, which recognizes the +right of no man to participate in it unless he is a citizen, which +secures to the citizen his voice in the control and management of the +Government, and prevents those not citizens from standing in the way +of the exercise of his just rights. + +"This Government does not belong to any race so that it can be +divested or disposed of. The present age have no right to terminate +it. It is ours to enjoy and administer, and to transmit to posterity +unimpaired as we received it from the fathers." + +Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, then addressed the House: "When we +emancipated the black people, we not only relieved ourselves from the +institution of slavery, we not only conferred upon them freedom, but +we did more, we recognized their manhood, which, by the old +Constitution and the general policy and usage of the country, had +been, from the organization of the Government until the Emancipation +Proclamation, denied to all of the enslaved colored people. As a +consequence of the recognition of their manhood, certain results +follow in accordance with the principles of this Government, and they +who believe in this Government are, by necessity, forced to accept +those results as a consequence of the policy of emancipation which +they have inaugurated and for which they are responsible. + +"But to say now, having given freedom to them, that they shall not +enjoy the essential rights and privileges of men, is to abandon the +principle of the proclamation of emancipation, and tacitly to admit +that the whole emancipation policy is erroneous. + +"It has been suggested that it is premature to demand immediate action +upon the question of negro suffrage in the District of Columbia. I am +not personally responsible for the presence of the bill at the present +time, but I am responsible for the observation that there never has +been a day during a session of Congress since the Emancipation +Proclamation, ay, since the negroes of this District were emancipated, +when it was not the duty of the Government, which, by the +Constitution, is intrusted with exclusive jurisdiction in this +District, to confer upon the men of this District, without distinction +of race or color, the rights and privileges of men. And, therefore, +there can be nothing premature in this measure, and I can not see how +any one who supports the Emancipation Proclamation, which is a +recognition of the manhood of the whole colored people of this +country, can hesitate as to his duty; and while I make no suggestion +as to the duty of other men, I have a clear perception of my own. And, +first, we are bound to treat the colored people of this District, in +regard to the matter of voting, precisely as we treat white people. +And I do not hesitate to express the opinion that if the question here +to-day were whether any qualification should be imposed upon white +voters in this District, if they alone were concerned, this House +would not, ay, not ten men upon this floor would, consider whether any +qualifications should be imposed or not. + +"Reading and writing, or reading, as a qualification, is demanded, and +an appeal is made to the example of Massachusetts. I wish gentlemen +who now appeal to Massachusetts would often appeal to her in other +matters where I can more conscientiously approve her policy. But it is +a different proposition in Massachusetts as a practical measure. When, +ten years ago, this qualification was imposed upon the people of +Massachusetts, it excluded no person who was then a voter. For two +centuries we have had in Massachusetts a system of public instruction +open to the children of the whole people without money and without +price. Therefore all the people there had had opportunities for +education. Now, why should the example of such a state be quoted to +justify refusing suffrage to men who have been denied the privilege of +education, and whom it has been a crime to teach? Is there no +difference? + +"We are to answer for our treatment of the colored people of this +country, and it will prove in the end impracticable to secure to men +of color civil rights unless the persons who claim those rights are +fortified by the political right of voting. With the right of voting, +every thing that a man ought to have or enjoy of civil rights comes to +him. Without the right to vote, he is secure in nothing. I can not +consent, after all the guards and safeguards which may be prepared for +the defense of the colored men in the enjoyment of their rights--I can +not consent that they shall be deprived of the right to protect +themselves. One hundred and eighty-six thousand of them have been in +the army of the United States. They have stood in the place of our +sons and brothers and friends. They have fallen in defense of the +country. They have earned the right to share in the Government; and if +you deny them the elective franchise, I know not how they are to be +protected. Otherwise you furnish the protection which is given to the +lamb when he is commended to the wolf. + +"There is an ancient history that a sparrow pursued by a hawk took +refuge in the chief assembly of Athens, in the bosom of a member of +that illustrious body, and that the senator in anger hurled it +violently from him. It fell to the ground dead, and such was the +horror and indignation of that ancient but not Christianized body--men +living in the light of nature, of reason--that they immediately +expelled the brutal Areopagite from his seat, and from the association +of humane legislators. + +"What will be said of us, not by Christian, but by heathen nations +even, if, after accepting the blood and sacrifices of these men, we +hurl them from us and allow them to be the victims of those who have +tyrannized over them for centuries? I know of no crime that exceeds +this; I know of none that is its parallel; and if this country is true +to itself, it will rise in the majesty of its strength and maintain a +policy, here and every-where, by which the rights of the colored +people shall be secured through their own power--in peace, the ballot; +in war, the bayonet. + +"It is a maxim of another language, which we may well apply to +ourselves, that where the voting register ends the military roster of +rebellion begins; and if you leave these four million people to the +care and custody of the men who have inaugurated and carried on this +rebellion, then you treasure up for untold years the elements of +social and civil war, which must not only desolate and paralyze the +South, but shake this Government to its very foundation." + +Soon after the close of Mr. Boutwell's speech, Mr. Darling's motion to +postpone and Mr. Hale's motion to amend having been rejected, a vote +was taken on the bill as reported by the committee. The bill passed by +a vote of one hundred and sixteen in the affirmative--fifty-four +voting in the negative. + +The friends of the measure having received evidence that it would not +meet with Executive approval, and not supposing that a vote of +two-thirds could be secured for its passage over the President's veto, +determined not to urge it immediately through the Senate. + +There was great reluctance on the part of many Senators and members of +the House to come to an open rupture with the President. They desired +to defer the day of final and irreconcilable difference between +Congress and the Executive. If the subject of negro suffrage in the +District of Columbia was kept in abeyance for a time, it was hoped +that the President's approval might meanwhile be secured to certain +great measures for protecting the helpless and maintaining the civil +rights of citizens. To accomplish these important ends, the suffrage +bill was deferred many months. The will of the majority in Congress +relating to this subject did not become a law until after the opening +of the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE FREEDMEN. + + Necessities of the Freedmen -- Committee in the House -- + Early movement by the Senate in behalf of Freedmen -- + Senator Wilson's Bill -- Occasion for it -- Mr. Cowan moves + its reference -- Mr. Reverdy Johnson advises deliberation -- + A question of time with Mr. Sherman -- Mr. Trumbull promises + a more efficient bill -- Mr. Sumner presents proof of the + bad condition of affairs in the South -- Mr. Cowan and Mr. + Stewart produce the President as a witness for the defense + -- Mr. Wilson on the testimony -- "Conservatism" -- The bill + absorbed in greater measures. + + +The necessities of three millions and a half of persons made free as a +result of the rebellion demanded early and efficient legislation at +the hands of the Thirty-ninth Congress. In vain did the Proclamation +of Emancipation break their shackles, and the constitutional amendment +declare them free, if Congress should not "enforce" these important +acts by "appropriate legislation." + +The House of Representatives signified its view of the importance of +this subject by constituting an able Committee "on Freedmen," with +Thomas D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, as its chairman. The Senate, +however, was first to take decided steps toward the protection and +relief of freedmen. We have seen that on the first day of the session +Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill "to maintain the +freedom of the inhabitants in the States declared in insurrection and +rebellion by the proclamation of the President of the 1st of July, +1862," of which the following is a copy: + + _Be it enacted, etc._, That all laws, statutes, acts, + ordinances, rules and regulations, of any description + whatsoever, heretofore in force or held valid in any of the + States which were declared to be in insurrection and + rebellion by the proclamation of the President of the 1st of + July, 1862, whereby or wherein any inequality of civil + rights and immunities among the inhabitants of said States + is recognized, authorized, established, or maintained, by + reason or in consequence of any distinctions or differences + of color, race, or descent, or by reason or in consequence + of a previous condition or status of slavery or involuntary + servitude of such inhabitants, be, and are hereby, declared + null and void; and it shall be unlawful to institute, make, + ordain, or establish, in any of the aforesaid States + declared to be in insurrection and rebellion, any such law, + statute, act, ordinance, rule, or regulation, or to enforce, + or to attempt to enforce, the same. + + SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who + shall violate either of the provisions of this act shall be + deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a + fine of not less than $500 nor exceeding $10,000, and by + imprisonment not less than six months nor exceeding five + years; and it shall be the duty of the President to enforce + the provisions of this act. + +On the 13th of December, Mr. Wilson called up his bill, which the +Senate proceeded to consider as in Committee of the Whole. The author +of the bill presented reasons why it should become a law: "A bill is +pending before the Legislature of South Carolina making these freedmen +servants, providing that the persons for whom they labor shall be +their masters; that the relation between them shall be the relation of +master and servant. The bill, as originally reported, provided that +the freedmen might be educated, but that provision has already been +stricken out, and the bill now lies over waiting for events here. That +bill makes the colored people of South Carolina serfs, a degraded +class, the slaves of society. It is far better to be the slave of one +man than to be the slave of arbitrary law. There is no doubt of the +fact that in a great portion of those States the high hopes, the +confidence, and the joy expressed last spring by the freedmen, have +passed away; that silence and sorrow pervade that section of the +country, and that they are becoming distrustful and discontented. God +grant that the high-raised expectations of these loyal and deserted +people may not be blasted. God forbid that we should violate our +plighted faith." + +Mr. Cowan moved the reference of the bill to the Committee on the +Judiciary, but its author was unwilling that it should be so referred, +since it was highly important that action should be had upon it before +the holidays. + +Mr. Johnson said that the bill gave rise to grave questions on which +it was very desirable that the deliberation of the Senate should be +very calmly advised. He objected on the ground of its indefiniteness: +"There are no particular laws designated in the bill to be repealed. +All laws existing before these States got into a condition of +insurrection, by which any difference or inequality is created or +established, are to be repealed. What is to be the effect of that +repeal upon such laws as they exist? In some of those States, by the +constitution or by the laws, (and the constitution is equally a law,) +persons of the African race are excluded from certain political +privileges. Are they to be repealed, and at once, by force of that +repeal, are they to be placed exactly upon the same footing in regard +to all political privileges with that which belongs to the other class +of citizens? Very many of those laws are laws passed under the police +power, which has always been conceded as a power belonging to the +States--laws supposed to have been necessary in order to protect the +States themselves from insurrection. Are they to be repealed +absolutely? + +"No man feels more anxious certainly than I do that the rights +incident to the condition of freedom, which is now as I personally am +glad to believe, the condition of the black race, should not be +violated; but I do not know that there is any more pressing need for +extraordinary legislation to prevent outrages upon that class, by any +thing which is occurring in the Southern States, than there is for +preventing outrages in the loyal States. Crimes are being perpetrated +every day in the very justly-esteemed State from which the honorable +member comes. Hardly a paper fails to give us an account of some most +atrocious and horrible crime. Murders shock the sense of that +community and the sense of the United States very often; and it is not +peculiar to Massachusetts. Moral by her education, and loving freedom +and hating injustice as much as the people of any other State, she yet +is unable to prevent a violation of every principle of human rights, +but we are not for that reason to legislate for her." + +Mr. Wilson replied: "The Senator from Maryland says that cruelties and +great crimes are committed in all sections of the country. I know it; +but we have not cruel and inhuman laws to be enforced. Sir, armed men +are traversing portions of the rebel States to-day enforcing these +black laws upon men whom we have made free, and to whom we stand +pledged before man and God to maintain their freedom. A few months ago +these freedmen were joyous, hopeful, confident. To-day they are +distrustful, silent, and sad, and this condition has grown out of the +wrongs and cruelties and oppressions that have been perpetrated upon +them." + +Mr. Sherman said: "I believe it is the duty of Congress to give to the +freedmen of the Southern States ample protection in all their natural +rights. With me it is a question simply of time and manner. I submit +to the Senator of Massachusetts whether this is the time for the +introduction of this bill. I believe it would be wiser to postpone all +action upon this subject until the proclamation of the Secretary of +State shall announce that the constitutional amendment is a part of +the supreme law of the land. When that is done, there will then be, in +my judgment, no doubt of the power of Congress to pass this bill, and +to make it definite and general in its terms. + +"Then, as I have said, it is a question of manner. When this question +comes to be legislated upon by Congress, I do not wish it to be left +to the uncertain and ambiguous language of this bill. I think that the +rights which we desire to secure to the freedmen of the South should +be distinctly specified. + +"The language of this bill is not sufficiently definite and distinct +to inform the people of the United States of precisely the character +of rights intended to be secured by it to the freedmen of the Southern +States. The bill in its terms applies only to those States which were +declared to be in insurrection; and the same criticism would apply to +this part of it that I have already made, that it is not general in +its terms." + +Mr. Trumbull made some remarks of great significance, as foreshadowing +important measures soon to occupy the attention of Congress and the +country: + +"I hold that under that second section Congress will have the +authority, when the constitutional amendment is adopted, not only to +pass the bill of the Senator from Massachusetts, but a bill that will +be much more efficient to protect the freedman in his rights. We may, +if deemed advisable, continue the Freedman's Bureau, clothe it with +additional powers, and, if necessary, back it up with a military +force, to see that the rights of the men made free by the first clause +of the constitutional amendment are protected. And, sir, when the +constitutional amendment shall have been adopted, if the information +from the South be that the men whose liberties are secured by it are +deprived of the privilege to go and come when they please, to buy and +sell when they please, to make contracts and enforce contracts, I give +notice that, if no one else does, I shall introduce a bill, and urge +its passage through Congress, that will secure to those men every one +of these rights; they would not be freemen without them. It is idle to +say that a man is free who can not go and come at pleasure, who can +not buy and sell, who can not enforce his rights. These are rights +which the first clause of the constitutional amendment meant to secure +to all." + +On a subsequent day, December 20, 1865, when this subject was again +before the Senate, Mr. Sumner spoke in its favor. Referring to the +message of the President on the "Condition of the Southern States," +the Senator said: + +"When I think of what occurred yesterday in this chamber; when I call +to mind the attempt to whitewash the unhappy condition of the rebel +States, and to throw the mantle of official oblivion over sickening +and heart-rending outrages, where human rights are sacrificed and +rebel barbarism receives a new letter of license, I feel that I ought +to speak of nothing else. I stood here years ago, in the days of +Kansas, when a small community was surrendered to the machinations of +slave-masters. I now stand here again, when, alas! an immense region, +with millions of people, has been surrendered to the machinations of +slave-masters. Sir, it is the duty of Congress to arrest this fatal +fury. Congress must dare to be brave; it must dare to be just." + +After having quoted copiously from the great Russian act by which the +freedom given to the serfs by the Emperor's proclamation "was +secured," and having emphasized them as examples for American +legislation, Mr. Sumner said: + +"My colleague is clearly right in introducing his bill and pressing it +to a vote. The argument for it is irresistible. It is essential to +complete emancipation. Without it emancipation will be only _half +done_. It is our duty to see that it is wholly done. Slavery must be +abolished not in form only, but in substance, so that there shall be +no black code; but all shall be equal before the law." + +He then read extracts from letters and documents, showing the hostile +sentiments of the people, and the unhappy condition of the colored +population in nearly all of the rebel States, and closed by saying: "I +bring this plain story to a close. I regret that I have been +constrained to present it. I wish it were otherwise. But I should have +failed in duty had I failed to speak. Not in anger, not in vengeance, +not in harshness have I spoken; but solemnly, carefully, and for the +sake of my country and humanity, that peace and reconciliation may +again prevail. I have spoken especially for the loyal citizens who are +now trodden down by rebel power. You have before you the actual +condition of the rebel States. You have heard the terrible testimony. +The blood curdles at the thought of such enormities, and especially at +the thought that the poor freedmen, to whom we owe protection, are +left to the unrestrained will of such a people smarting with defeat, +and ready to wreak vengeance upon these representatives of a true +loyalty. In the name of God let us protect them. Insist upon +guarantees. Pass the bill now under consideration; pass any bill; but +do not let this crying injustice rage any longer. An avenging God can +not sleep while such things find countenance. If you are not ready to +be the Moses of an oppressed people, do not become its Pharaoh." + +Mr. Cowan rebuked the Senator from Massachusetts for applying the term +"whitewash" to the message of the President. He then charged Mr. +Sumner with reading from "anonymous letter-writers, from cotton +agents, and people of that kind," and placed against them "the +testimony of the President of the United States, not a summer soldier, +or a sunshine patriot, who was a Union man, and who was in favor of +the Union at a time and in a place when there was some merit in it." +He then proceeded to read extracts from the President's message and +General Grant's report. + +On a subsequent day, Mr. Stewart, of Nevada, made a speech in +opposition to the positions assumed by Mr. Sumner. He declared his +opinion that "if the great mass of the people of the South are capable +of the atrocities attributed to them by the anonymous witnesses +paraded before this Senate, then a union of these States is +impossible; then hundreds and thousands of the bravest and best of our +land have fallen to no purpose; then every house, from the gulf to the +lakes, is draped in mourning without an object; then three thousand +millions of indebtedness hangs like a pall upon the pride and +prosperity of the people, only to admonish us that the war was wicked, +useless, and cruel." + +After making the remark, "In judging of testimony upon ordinary +subjects, we take into consideration not only the facts stated, but +the character and standing of the witness, his means of information, +and last, but not least, his appearance upon the stand," Mr. Stewart +thus spoke in behalf of the principal witness relied upon in the +defense of the South: "In this great cause, the Senate properly called +upon the chief Executive of the nation for information. Was he a +witness whose character and standing before the country would entitle +his testimony to consideration? Let the voice of a great people, who +have indorsed his patriotism and administration, answer. Were his +means of information such as to entitle him to speak advisedly upon +this subject? Let the machinery of the Government, that collects facts +from every department, civil and military, upon the table of the +Executive, answer. Was not his appearance before the public, in +communicating this testimony to the Senate and the country such as to +remove all grounds of suspicion? Let the exalted tone, bold and +fearless statement, pure and patriotic spirit of both his messages be +his best vindication." + +The Senator's remarks were principally directed in opposition to the +policy of regarding the rebel States as "conquered territories." He +finally remarked: "I wish to be distinctly understood as not opposing +the passage of the bill. I am in favor of legislation on this subject, +and such legislation as shall secure the freedom of those who were +formerly slaves, and their equality before the law; and I maintain +that it can be fully secured without holding the Southern States in +territorial subjugation." + +Mr. Wilson replied: "The Senator who has just addressed us questions +the testimony adduced here by my colleague yesterday. He might as well +question the massacre at Fort Pillow, and the cruelties perpetrated at +Andersonville, where eighty-three per cent, of the men who entered the +hospitals died--Andersonville, where more American soldiers lie buried +than fell throughout the Mexican war; where more American soldiers lie +buried than were killed in battle of British soldiers in Wellington's +four great battles in Spain, and at Waterloo, Alma, Inkermann, and +Sebastopol. The Senator might as well question the atrocities of +sacked Lawrence and other atrocities committed during the war. If he +will go into the Freedman's Bureau, and examine and study the official +records of officers who, for five or six months, have taken testimony +and have large volumes of sworn facts; if he will go into the office +of General Holt, and read the reports there, his heart and soul will +be made sick at the wrongs man does to his fellow-man." + +The Senator, in the course of his remarks, took occasion to express +his opinion of "conservatism:" "Progress is to be made only by +fidelity to the great cause by which we have stood during the past +four years of bloody war. For twenty-five years we had a conflict of +ideas, of words, of thoughts--words and thoughts stronger than +cannon-balls. We have had four years of bloody conflict. Slavery, +every thing that belongs or pertains to it, lies prostrate before us +to-day, and the foot of a regenerated nation is upon it. There let it +lie forever. I hope no words or thoughts of a reactionary character +are to be uttered in either house of Congress. I hope nothing is to be +uttered here in the name of 'conservatism,' the worst word in the +English language. If there is a word in the English language that +means treachery, servility, and cowardice, it is that word +'conservative.' It ought never hereafter to be on the lips of an +American statesman. For twenty years it has stood in America the +synonym of meanness and baseness. I have studied somewhat carefully +the political history of the country during the last fifteen or twenty +years, and I have always noticed that when I heard a man prate about +being a conservative and about conservatism, he was about to do some +mean thing. [Laughter.] I never knew it to fail; in fact, it is about +the first word a man utters when he begins to retreat." + +Mr. Wilson declared his motives in proposing this bill, and yet +cheerfully acquiesced in its probable fate: "Having read hundreds of +pages of records and of testimony, enough to make the heart and soul +sick, I proposed this bill as a measure of humanity. I desired, before +we entered on the great questions of public policy, that we should +pass a simple bill annulling these cruel laws; that we should do it +early, and then proceed calmly with our legislation. That was my +motive for bringing this bill into the Senate so early in the session. +Many of the difficulties occurring in the rebel States, between white +men and black men, between the old masters and the freedmen, grow out +of these laws. They are executed in various parts of the States; the +military arrest their execution frequently, and the agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau set them aside; and this keeps up a continual +conflict. If these obnoxious State laws were promptly annulled, it +would contribute much to the restoration of good feeling and harmony, +relieve public officers from immense labors, and the freedmen from +suffering and sorrow; and this is the opinion of the most experienced +men engaged in the Freedmen's Bureau. I have had an opportunity to +consult with and to communicate with many of the agents of the Bureau, +with teachers, officers, and persons who understand the state of +affairs in those States. + +"But, sir, it is apparent now that the bill is not to pass at present; +that it must go over for the holidays at any rate. The constitutional +amendment has been adopted, and I have introduced a bill this morning +based upon that amendment, which has been referred to the committee of +which the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Trumbull] is chairman. This bill +will go over; possibly it will not be acted upon at all. We shall +probably enter on the discussion of the broader question of annulling +all the black laws in the country, and putting these people under the +protection of humane, equal, and just laws." + +The presentiment of the author of the bill was realized. The bill +never saw the light as a law of the land. Nor was it needful that it +should. It contributed to swell the volume of other and more sweeping +measures. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL IN THE SENATE. + + The bill introduced and referred to Judiciary Committee -- + Its provisions -- Argument of Mr. Hendricks against it -- + Reply of Mr. Trumbull -- Mr. Cowan's amendment -- Mr. + Guthrie wishes to relieve Kentucky from the operation of the + bill -- Mr. Creswell desires that Maryland may enjoy the + benefits of the bill -- Mr. Cowan's gratitude to God and + friendship for the negro -- Remarks by Mr. Wilson -- "The + short gentleman's long speech" -- Yeas and nays -- Insulting + title. + + +On the 19th of December Mr. Trumbull gave notice that "on some early +day" he would "introduce a bill to enlarge the powers of the +Freedmen's Bureau so as to secure freedom to all persons within the +United States, and protect every individual in the full enjoyment of +the rights of person and property, and furnish him with means for +their vindication." Of the introduction of this measure, he said it +would be done "in view of the adoption of the constitutional amendment +abolishing slavery. I have never doubted that, on the adoption of that +amendment, it would be competent for Congress to protect every person +in the United States in all the rights of person and property +belonging to a free citizen; and to secure these rights is the object +of the bill which I propose to introduce. I think it important that +action should be taken on this subject at an early day, for the +purpose of quieting apprehensions in the minds of many friends of +freedom, lest by local legislation or a prevailing public sentiment in +some of the States, persons of the African race should continue to be +oppressed, and, in fact, deprived of their freedom; and for the +purpose, also, of showing to those among whom slavery has heretofore +existed, that unless by local legislation they provide for the real +freedom of their former slaves, the Federal Government will, by virtue +of its own authority, see that they are fully protected." + +On the 5th of January, 1866, the first day of the session of Congress +after the holidays, Mr. Trumbull obtained leave to introduce a bill +"to enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau." The bill was read +twice by its title, and as it contained provisions relating to the +exercise of judicial functions by the officers and agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau, under certain circumstances, in the late insurgent +States, it was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. + +On the 11th of January Mr. Trumbull reported the bill from the +Judiciary Committee, to whom it had been referred, with some +amendments of a verbal character. On the following day these +amendments were considered by the Senate, in Committee of the Whole, +and adopted. The consideration of the bill as amended was deferred to +a subsequent day. + +The bill provided that "the act to establish a Bureau for the relief +of Freedmen and Refugees, approved March 3, 1865, shall continue until +otherwise provided for by law, and shall extend to refugees and +freedmen in all parts of the United States. The President is to be +authorized to divide the section of country containing such refugees +and freedmen into districts, each containing one or more States, not +to exceed twelve in number, and by and with the advice and consent of +the Senate, to appoint an assistant commissioner for each district, +who shall give like bond, receive the same compensation, and perform +the same duties prescribed by this act and the act to which it is an +amendment. The bureau may, in the discretion of the President, be +placed under a commissioner and assistant commissioners, to be +detailed from the army, in which event each officer so assigned to +duty is to serve without increase of pay or allowances. + +"The commissioner, with the approval of the President, is to divide +each district into a number of sub-districts, not to exceed the number +of counties or parishes in each State, and to assign to each +sub-district at least one agent, either a citizen, officer of the +army, or enlisted man, who, if an officer, is to serve without +additional compensation or allowance, and if a citizen or enlisted +man, is to receive a salary not exceeding $1,500 per annum. Each +assistant commissioner may employ not exceeding six clerks, one of the +third class and five of the first class, and each agent of a +sub-district may employ two clerks of the first class. The President +of the United States, through the War Department and the commissioner, +is to extend military jurisdiction and protection over all employes, +agents, and officers of the bureau, and the Secretary of War may +direct such issues of provisions, clothing, fuel, and other supplies, +including medical stores and transportation, and afford such aid, +medical or otherwise, as he may deem needful for the immediate and +temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and +freedmen, their wives and children, under such rules and regulations +as he may direct. + +"It is also provided that the President may, for settlement in the +manner prescribed by section four of the act to which this is an +amendment, reserve from sale or settlement, under the homestead or +preemption laws, public lands in Florida, Mississippi, and Arkansas, +not to exceed three million acres of good land in all, the rental +named in that section to be determined in such manner as the +commissioner shall by regulation prescribe. It proposes to confirm and +make valid the possessory titles granted in pursuance of Major-General +Sherman's special field order, dated at Savannah, January 16, 1865. +The commissioner, under the direction of the President, is to be +empowered to purchase or rent such tracts of land in the several +districts as may be necessary to provide for the indigent refugees and +freedmen dependent upon the Government for support; also to purchase +sites and buildings for schools and asylums, to be held as United +States property until the refugees or freedmen shall purchase the +same, or they shall be otherwise disposed of by the commissioner. + +"Whenever in any State or district in which the ordinary course of +judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and +wherein, in consequence of any State or local law, ordinance, police +or other regulation, custom, or prejudice, any of the civil rights or +immunities belonging to white persons (including the right to make and +enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, +purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, +and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the +security of person and estate), are refused or denied to negroes, +mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or any other persons, on account of +race, color, or any previous condition of slavery or involuntary +servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall +have been duly convicted, or wherein they or any of them are subjected +to any other or different punishment, pains, or penalties, for the +commission of any act or offense, than are prescribed for white +persons committing like acts or offenses, it is to be the duty of the +President of the United States, through the commissioner, to extend +military protection and jurisdiction over all cases affecting such +persons so discriminated against. + +"Any person who, under color of any State or local law, ordinance, +police, or other regulation or custom, shall, in any State or district +in which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been +interrupted by the rebellion, subject, or cause to be subjected, any +negro, mulatto, freedman, refugee, or other person, on account of race +or color, or any previous condition of slavery or involuntary +servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall +have been duly convicted, or for any other cause, to the deprivation +of any civil right secured to white persons, or to any other or +different punishment than white persons are subject to for the +commission of like acts or offenses, is to be deemed guilty of a +misdemeanor, and be punished by fine not exceeding $1,000 or +imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. It is to be the duty of +the officers and agents of this bureau to take jurisdiction of and +hear and determine all offenses committed against this provision; and +also of all cases affecting negroes, mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or +other persons who are discriminated against in any of the particulars +mentioned in this act, under such rules and regulations as the +President of the United States, through the War Department, may +prescribe. This jurisdiction is to cease and determine whenever the +discrimination on account of which it is conferred ceases, and is in +no event to be exercised in any State in which the ordinary course of +judicial proceedings has not been interrupted by the rebellion, nor in +any such State after it shall have been fully restored in all its +constitutional relations to the United States, and the courts of the +State and of the United States within its limits are not disturbed or +stopped in the peaceable course of justice." + +Other business occupying the attention of the Senate, the +consideration of the Freedman's Bureau Bill was not practically +entered upon until the 18th of January. On that day, Mr. Stewart made +a speech ostensibly on this bill, but really on the question of +reconstruction and negro suffrage, in reply to remarks by Mr. Wade on +those subjects. + +Mr. Trumbull moved as an amendment to the bill that occupants on land +under General Sherman's special field order, dated at Savannah, +January 16, 1865; should be confirmed in their possessions for the +period of three years from the date of said order, and no person +should be disturbed in said possession during the said three years +unless a settlement should be made with said occupant by the owner +satisfactory to the commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. + +Mr. Trumbull explained the circumstances under which the freedmen had +obtained possessory titles to lands in Georgia, and urged the +propriety of their being confirmed by Congress for three years. He +said: + +"I should be glad to go further. I would be glad, if we could, to +secure to these people, upon any just principle, the fee of this land; +but I do not see with what propriety we could except this particular +tract of country out of all the other lands in the South, and +appropriate it in fee to these parties. I think, having gone upon the +land in good faith under the protection of the Government, we may +protect them there for a reasonable time; and the opinion of the +committee was that three years would be a reasonable time." + +On the following day, Mr. Hendricks presented his objections to the +bill in a speech of considerable length. He was followed by Mr. +Trumbull in reply. As both were members of the Judiciary Committee +from which the bill was reported, and both had carefully considered +the reasons for and against the measure, their arguments are given at +length. + +[Illustration: Hon. T. A. Hendricks, Senator from Indiana.] + +Mr. Hendricks said: "At the last session of Congress the original law +creating that bureau was passed. We were then in the midst of the war; +very considerable territory had been brought within the control of the +Union troops and armies, and within the scope of that territory, it +was said, there were many freedmen who must be protected by a bill of +that sort; and it was mainly upon that argument that the bill was +enacted. The Senate was very reluctant to enact the law creating the +bureau as it now exists. There was so much hesitancy on the part of +the Senate, that by a very large vote it refused to agree to the bill +reported by the Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumner,] from a +committee of conference, and I believe the honorable Senator from +Illinois, [Mr. Trumbull,] who introduced this bill, himself voted +against that bill; and why? That bill simply undertook to define the +powers and duties of the Freedmen's Bureau and its agents, and the +Senate would not agree to confer the powers that that bill upon its +face seemed to confer, and it was voted down; and then the law as it +now stands was enacted in general terms. There was very little gained, +indeed, by the Senate refusing to pass the first bill and enacting the +latter, for under the law as it passed, the Freedmen's Bureau assumed +very nearly all the jurisdiction and to exercise all the powers +contemplated in the bill reported by the Senator from Massachusetts. + +"Now, sir, it is important to note very carefully the enlargement of +the powers of this bureau proposed by this bill; and in the first +place, it proposes to make the bureau permanent. The last Congress +would not agree to this. The bill that the Senate voted down did not +limit the duration of the bureau, and it was voted down, and the bill +that the Senate agreed to provided that the bureau should continue +during the war and only for one year after its termination. That was +the judgment of the Senate at the last session. What has occurred +since to change the judgment of the Senate in this important matter? +What change in the condition of the country induces the Senate now to +say that this shall be a permanent bureau or department of the +Government, when at the last session it said it should cease to exist +within one year after the conclusion of the war? Why, sir, it seems to +me that the country is now, and especially the Southern States are now +in better condition than the Senate had reason to expect when the law +was enacted. Civil government has been restored in almost all the +Southern States; the courts are restored in many of them; in many +localities they are exercising their jurisdiction within their +particular localities without let or hinderance; and why, I ask +Senators, shall we make this bureau a perpetual and permanent +institution of the Government when we refused to do it at the last +session? + +"I ask Senators, in the first place, if they are now, with the most +satisfactory information that is before the body, willing to do that +which they refused to do at the last session of Congress? We refused +to pass the law when it proposed to establish a permanent department. +Shall we now, when the war is over, when the States are returning to +their places in the Union, when the citizens are returning to their +allegiance, when peace and quiet, to a very large extent, prevail over +that country, when the courts are reestablished; is the Senate now, +with this information before it, willing to make this a permanent +bureau and department of the Government? + +"The next proposition of the bill is, that it shall not be confined +any longer to the Southern States, but that it shall have a government +over the States of the North as well as of the South. The old law +allowed the President to appoint a commissioner for each of the States +that had been declared to be in rebellion--one for each of the eleven +seceding States, not to exceed ten in all. This bill provides that the +jurisdiction of the bureau shall extend wherever, within the limits of +the United States, refugees or freedmen have gone. Indiana has not +been a State in insurrection, and yet there are thousands of refugees +and freedmen who have gone into that State within the last three +years. This bureau is to become a governing power over the State of +Indiana according to the provisions of the bill. Indiana, that +provides for her own paupers, Indiana, that provides for the +government of her own people, may, under the provisions of this bill, +be placed under a government that our fathers never contemplated--a +government that must be most distasteful to freemen. + +"I know it may be said that the bureau will not probably be extended +to the Northern States. If it is not intended to be extended to those +States, why amend the old law so as to give this power? When the old +law limited the jurisdiction of this bureau to the States that had +been declared in insurrection, is it not enough that the bureau should +have included one State, the State of Kentucky, over which it had no +rightful original jurisdiction? And must we now amend it so as to +place all the States of the Union within the power of this +irresponsible sub-government? This is one objection that I have to the +bill, and the next is the expense that it must necessarily impose upon +the people. We are asked by the Freedmen's Bureau in its estimates to +appropriate $11,745,050; nearly twelve million dollars for the support +of this bureau and to carry on its operations during the coming year. +I will read what he says: + + "'It is estimated that the amount required for the + expenditures of the bureau for the fiscal year commencing + January, 1866, will be $11,745,050. The sum is requisite for + the following purposes: + + Salaries of assistant and sub-assistant commissioners $147,500 + Salaries of clerks 82,800 + Stationery and printing 63,000 + Quarters and fuel 15,000 + Clothing for distribution 1,750,000 + Commissary stores 4,106,250 + Medical department 500,000 + Transportation 1,980,000 + School superintendents 21,000 + Sites for school-houses and asylums 3,000,000 + Telegraphing 18,000 + +Making in all the sum which I have mentioned. The old system under +this law, that was before the commissioner when he made this estimate, +requires an expenditure to carry on its operations of nearly twelve +million dollars, and that to protect, as it is called, and to govern +four millions of the people of the United States--within a few +millions of the entire cost of the Government under Mr. Adams's +administration, when the population of the States had gone up to many +millions. How is it that a department that has but a partial +jurisdiction over the people shall cost almost as much for the +management of four million people as it cost to manage the whole +Government, for its army, its navy, its legislative and judicial +departments, in former years? My learned friend from Kentucky suggests +that the expenses under John Quincy Adams's administration were about +thirteen million dollars. What was the population of the United States +at that time I am not prepared to state, but it was far above four +millions. Now, to manage four million people is to cost the people of +the United States, under the law as it stands, nearly as much as it +cost the people to manage the whole affairs of the Government under +the administration of Mr. John Quincy Adams. + +"I hear Senators speak very frequently of the necessity of economy and +retrenchment. Is this a specimen, increasing the number of officers +almost without limit, and increasing the expenditures? I think one +might be safe in saying that, if this bill passes, we can not expect +to get through a year with less than $20,000,000 of an expenditure for +this bureau. But that is a mere opinion; for no man can tell until we +have the number of officers that are to be appointed under the bill +prescribed in the bill itself, and this section leaves the largest +discretion to the bureau in the appointment of officers. I appeal to +Senators to know whether, at this time, when we ought to adopt a +system of retrenchment and reform, they are willing to pass a bill +which will so largely increase the public expenditures. + +"Then, sir, when this army of officers has been organized, the bill +provides: 'And the President of the United States, through the War +Department and the commissioner, shall extend military jurisdiction +and protection over all employes, agents, and officers of this +bureau.' + +"Will some Senator be good enough to tell me what that means? If +Indiana be declared a State within which are found refugees and +freedmen, who have escaped from the Southern States, and if Indiana +has a commissioner appointed to her, and if in each county of Indiana +there be a sub-commissioner at a salary of $1,500 a year, with two +clerks with a salary of $1,200 each, and then the War Department +throws over this little army of office-holders in the State of Indiana +its protection, what does that mean? The people of Indiana have been +ground hard under military authority and power within the last three +or four years, but it was borne because it was hoped that when the war +would be closed the military power would be withdrawn from the State. +Under this bill it may be established permanently upon the people by a +body of men protected by the military power of the Government. An +officer is appointed to the State of Indiana to regulate the contracts +which are made between the white people and the colored people of that +State, and because he holds this office, not military in its +character, involving no military act whatever, the military throws +over him its iron shield of protection. What does that mean? If this +officer shall do a great wrong and outrage to one of the people, and +the wronged citizen appeals to the court for his redress and brings +his suit for damages, does the protecting shield of the War Department +prevent the prosecution of that suit and the recovery of a judgment? +What is the protection that is thrown over this army of +office-holders? Let it be explained. + +"It may be said that this is a part of the military department. That +will depend not so much upon what we call them in the law as what are +the duties imposed upon these sub-agents. It is a little difficult to +tell. They are to protect the freedmen; they are to protect refugees; +they are to buy asylums and school-houses; they are to establish +schools; they are to see to the contracts that are made between white +men and colored men. I want to know of the chairman of the committee +that reported this bill, in what respect these duties are military in +their character? I can understand one thing, that it may be regarded +as a war upon the liberties of the people, but I am not able to see in +what respect the duties of these officers otherwise are military. But +this protection is to be thrown over them. I will not occupy longer +time upon that subject. + +"The third section of the bill changes the letter of the law in two +respects: first, 'That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of +provisions, clothing, fuel, and other supplies, including medical +stores and transportation,' etc. Those last words, 'medical stores and +transportation,' make the change in the law that is proposed in this +bill. But, sir, in point of fact it makes no change in the law; for if +you will turn to the report of the commissioner of this bureau, it +will be found that the bureau, during the past six months, has been +furnishing medical supplies and transportation. A very large item in +the expenditures estimated for is transportation. But I wish to ask of +the Senator who framed this bill why we shall now provide for the +transportation of freedmen and refugees. During the war, a very large +number of refugees came from the Southern States into the North; but +the Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, in his report, says that +those refugees have mainly returned, and but few remain now to be +carried back from the North to the South, or who desire to be. Then +why do we provide in this bill for transportation? Is it simply to +give the bureau the power to transport refugees and freedmen from one +locality to another at its pleasure? The necessity of carrying them +from one section of the country to another has passed away. Is it +intended by this bill that the bureau shall expend the people's money +in carrying the colored people from one locality in a Southern State +to another locality? I ask the Senator from Illinois, when he comes to +explain his bill, to tell us just what is the force and purpose of +this provision. + +"The fourth resolution, as amended, provides for the setting apart of +three million acres of the public lands in the States of Florida, +Mississippi, and Arkansas for homes for the colored people. I believe +that is the only provision of the bill in which I concur. I concur in +what was said by some Senator yesterday, that it is desirable, if we +ever expect to do any thing substantially for the colored people, to +encourage them to obtain homes, and I am willing to vote for a +reasonable appropriation of the public lands for that purpose. I shall +not, therefore, occupy time in discussing that section. + +"The fifth section, as amended by the proposition before the Senate, +proposes to confirm the possessory right of the colored people upon +these lands for three years from the date of that order, or about two +years from this time. I like the amendment better than the original +bill; for the original bill left it entirely uncertain what was +confirmed, and of course it is better that we should say one year, or +three years, or ten years, than to leave it entirely indefinite for +what period we do confirm the possession. I have no doubt that General +Sherman had the power, as a military commander, at the time, to set +apart the abandoned lands along the coast as a place in which to leave +the colored people then surrounding his army; but that General Sherman +during the war, or that Congress after the war, except by a proceeding +for confiscation, can take the land permanently from one person and +give it to another, I do not admit; nor did General Sherman undertake +to do that. In express terms, he said that they should have the right +of possession; for what length of time he did not say, for the reason +that he could not say. It was a military possession that he conferred, +and that possession would last only during the continuance of the +military occupation, and no longer. If General Sherman, by his General +Order No. 15, placed the colored people upon the lands along the coast +of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, for a temporary purpose, what +was the extent of the possessory right which he could confer? He did +not undertake to give a title for any defined period, but simply the +right of possession. It is fair to construe his order as meaning only +what he could do, giving the right of possession during military +occupancy. Now, sir, the President informs us that the rebellion is +suppressed; that the war is over; that military law no longer governs +in that country; but that peace is restored, and that civil law shall +now govern. What, then, is the law upon the subject? A right of +possession is given by the commanding general to certain persons +within that region of country; peace follows, and with peace comes +back the right of the real owners to the possession. This possession +that the General undertook to give, according to law, could not last +longer than the military occupancy. When peace comes, the right of the +owners return with it. Then how is it that Congress can undertake to +say that the property that belongs to A, B, and C, upon the islands +and sea-coast of the South, shall, for two years from this date, not +belong to them, but shall belong to certain colored people? I want to +know upon what principle of law Congress can take the property of one +man and give it to another. + +"I know very well what may be done in the courts by a proceeding for +confiscation. I am not discussing that question. If there has been any +property confiscated and disposed of under proceedings of +confiscation, I do not question the title here. That is purely a +judicial question. But, sir, I deny that Congress can legislate the +property of one man into the possession of another. If this section is +to pass, I prefer that this confirmation shall be for three years +rather than leave it in the uncertain state in which General Sherman's +order left it. + +"The sixth section provides, 'That the commissioners shall, under the +direction of the President, procure in the name of the United States, +by grant or purchase, such lands within the districts aforesaid as may +be required for refugees and freedmen dependent on the Government for +support; and he shall provide, or cause to be erected, suitable +buildings for asylums and schools.' Upon what principle can you +authorize the Government of the United States to buy lands for the +poor people in any State of the Union? They may be very meritorious; +their cases may appeal with great force to our sympathies; it may +almost appear necessary to prevent suffering that we should buy a home +for each poor person in the country; but where is the power of the +General Government to do this thing? Is it true that by this +revolution the persons and property of the people have been brought +within the jurisdiction of Congress, and taken from without the +control and jurisdiction of the States? I have understood heretofore +that it has never been disputed that the duty to provide for the poor, +the insane, the blind, and all who are dependent upon society, rests +upon the States, and that the power does not belong to the General +Government. What has occurred, then, in this war that has changed the +relation of the people to the General Government to so great an extent +that Congress may become the purchasers of homes for them? If we can +go so far, I know of no limit to the powers of Congress. Here is a +proposition to buy a home for each dependent freeman and refugee. The +section is not quite as strong as it might have been. It would have +been stronger, I think, in the present state of public sentiment, if +the word 'refugee' had been left out, and if it had been only for the +freedmen, because it does not seem to be so popular now to buy a home +for a white man as to buy one for a colored man. But this bill +authorizes the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau to buy homes for +white people and for black people only upon the ground that they are +dependent. If this be the law now, there has come about a startling +change in the relation of the States and of the people to the General +Government. I shall be very happy to hear from the learned head of the +Judiciary Committee upon what principle it is that in any one single +case you may buy a home for any man, whether he be rich or poor. The +General Government may buy land when it is necessary for the exercise +of any of its powers; but outside of that, it seems to me, there is no +power within the Constitution allowing it. + +"The most remarkable sections of the bill, however, are the seventh +and eighth, and to those sections I will ask the very careful +attention of Senators; for I think if we can pass those two sections, +and make them a law, then indeed this Government can do any thing. It +will be useless to speak any longer of limitations upon the powers of +the General Government; it will be idle to speak of the reserved power +of the States; State rights and State power will have passed away if +we can do what is proposed in the seventh and eighth sections of this +bill. We propose, first, to legislate against the effects of 'local +law, ordinance, police, or other regulation;' then against 'custom,' +and lastly, against 'prejudice,' and to provide that 'if any of the +civil rights or immunities belonging to white persons' are denied to +any person because of color, then that person shall be taken under the +military protection of the Government. I do not know whether that will +be understood to extend to Indiana or not. That will be a very nice +point for the bureau to decide, I presume, after the enactment of the +law. The section limits its operation to 'any State or district in +which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted +by the rebellion.' It will be a little difficult to say whether in the +State of Indiana and Ohio the ordinary course of judicial proceeding +has or has not been interrupted. We had some war in Indiana; we had a +very great raid through that State and some fighting; and I presume +that in some cases the proceedings of the courts were interrupted and +the courts were unable to go on with their business, so that it might +be said that even in some of the Northern States this provision of the +bill would be applicable. Suppose that it were applicable to the State +of Indiana, then every man in that State, who attempted to execute the +constitution and laws of the State, would be liable for a violation of +the law. We do not allow to colored people there many civil rights and +immunities which are enjoyed by the white people. It became the policy +of the State in 1852 to prohibit the immigration of colored people +into that State. I am not going to discuss the question whether that +was a wise policy or not. At the time it received the approval of my +judgment. Under that constitutional provision, and the laws enacted in +pursuance of it, a colored man coming into the State since 1852 can +not acquire a title to real estate, can not make certain contracts, +and no negro man is allowed to intermarry with a white woman. These +are civil rights that are denied, and yet this bill proposes, if they +are still denied in any State whose courts have been interrupted by +the rebellion, the military protection of the Government shall be +extended over the person who is thus denied such civil rights or +immunities. + +"The next section of the bill provides punishments where any of these +things are done, where any right is denied to a colored man which +under State law is allowed to a white man. The language is very vague, +and it is very difficult to say what this section will mean. If it has +as broad a construction as is attempted to be given to the second +section of the constitutional amendment, I would not undertake to +guess what it means. Any man who shall deny to any colored man any +civil rights secured to white persons, shall be liable to be taken +before the officers of this bureau and to be punished according to the +provisions of this section. In the first place, now that peace is +restored, now that there is no war, now that men are no longer under +military rule, but are under civil rule, I want to know how such a +court can be organized; how it is that the citizen may be arrested +without indictment, and may be brought before the officers of this +bureau and tried without a jury, tried without the forms which the +Constitution requires. + +"But sir, this section is most objectionable in regard to the offense +that it defines. If any portion of the law ought to be certain, it is +that which defines crime and prescribes the punishment. What is meant +by this general expression, 'the deprivation of any civil right +secured to white persons?' The agent in one State may construe it to +mean one thing, and the agent in another State another thing. It is +broad and comprehensive--'the deprivation of any civil right secured +to white persons.' That act of deprivation is the crime that is to be +punished. Take the case that I have just referred to. Suppose a +minister, when called upon, should refuse to solemnize a marriage +between a colored man and a white woman because the law of the State +forbade it, would he then, refusing to recognize a civil right which +is enjoyed by white persons, be liable to this punishment? + +"My judgment is that, under the second section of the constitutional +amendment, we may pass such a law as will secure the freedom declared +in the first section, but that we can not go beyond that limitation. +If a man has been, by this provision of the Constitution, made free +from his master, and that master undertakes to make him a slave again, +we may pass such laws as are sufficient in our judgment to prevent +that act; but if the Legislature of the State denies to the citizen as +he is now called, the freedman, equal privileges with the white man, I +want to know if that Legislature, and each member of that Legislature, +is responsible to the penalties prescribed in this bill? It is not an +act of the old master; it is an act of the State government, which +defines and regulates the civil rights of the people. + +"I regard it as very dangerous legislation. It proposes to establish a +government within a government--not a republic within a republic, but +a cruel despotism within a republic. In times of peace, in communities +that are quiet and orderly, and obedient to law, it is proposed to +establish a government not responsible to the people, the officers of +which are not selected by the people, the officers of which need not +be of the people governed--a government more cruel, more despotic, +more dangerous to the liberties of the people than that against which +our forefathers fought in the Revolution. There is nothing that these +men may not do, under this bill, to oppress the people. + +"Sir, if we establish courts in the Southern States, we ought to +establish courts that will be on both sides, or on neither side; but +the doctrine now is, that if a man is appointed, either to an +executive or a judicial office, in any locality where there are +colored people, he must be on the side of the negro. I have not heard, +since Congress met, that any colored man has done a wrong in this +country for many years; and I have scarcely heard that any white man +coming in contact with colored people has done right for a number of +years. Every body is expected to take sides for the colored man +against the white man. If I have to take sides, it will be with the +men of my own color and my own race; but I do not wish to do that. +Toward these people I hope that the legislation of Congress, within +the constitutional powers of Congress, will be just and fair--just to +them and just to the white people among whom they live; that it will +promote harmony among the people, and not discord; that it will +restore labor to its channels, and bring about again in those States a +condition of prosperity and happiness. Do we not all desire that? If +we do, is it well for us to inflame our passions and the passions of +the people of the North, so that their judgments shall not be equal +upon the questions between these races? It is all very well for us to +have sympathy for the poor and the unfortunate, but both sides call +for our sympathy in the South. The master, who, by his wickedness and +folly, has involved himself in the troubles that now beset him, has +returned, abandoning his rebellion, and has bent down upon his humble +knees and asked the forgiveness of the Government, and to be restored +again as a citizen. Can a man go further than that? He has been in +many cases pardoned by the Executive. He stands again as a citizen of +the country. + +"What relation do we desire that the people of the North shall sustain +toward these people of the South--one of harmony and accord, or of +strife and ill will? Do we want to restore commerce and trade with +them, that we shall prosper thereby as well as they, or do we wish +permanent strife and division? I want this to be a Union in form, +under the Constitution of the United States, and, in fact, by the +harmony of the people of the North and of the South. I believe, as +General Grant says, that this bureau, especially with the enlarged +powers that we propose to confer upon it, will not be an instrument of +concord and harmony, but will be one of discord and strife in that +section of the country. It can not do good, but, in my judgment, will +do much harm." + +Following immediately upon the close of the above argument, Mr. +Trumbull thus addressed the senate: "Mr. President, I feel it +incumbent on me to reply to some of the arguments presented by the +Senator from Indiana against this bill. Many of the positions he has +assumed will be found, upon examination, to have no foundation in +fact. He has argued against provisions not contained in the bill, and +he has argued also as if he were entirely forgetful of the condition +of the country and of the great war through which we have passed. + +"Now, sir, what was the object of the Freedmen's Bureau, and why was +it established? It was established to look after a large class of +people who, as the results of the war, had been thrown upon the hands +of the Government, and must have perished but for its fostering care +and protection. Does the Senator mean to deny the power of this +Government to protect people under such circumstances? The Senator +must often have voted for appropriations to protect other classes of +people under like circumstances. Whenever, in the history of the +Government, there has been thrown upon it a helpless population, which +must starve and die but for its care, the Government has never failed +to provide for them. At this very session, within the last thirty +days, both houses of Congress have voted half a million dollars to +feed and clothe people during the present winter. Who were they? Many +of them were Indians who had joined the rebellion, and had slain loyal +people of the country. Yes, sir, we appropriated money to feed Indians +who had been fighting against us. We did not hear the Senator's voice +in opposition to that appropriation. What were the facts? It was +stated by our Indian agents that the Indian tribes west of Arkansas, a +part of whom had joined the rebel armies and some the Union armies, +had been driven from their country; that their property had been +destroyed; and now, the conflict of arms having ceased, they had +nothing to live upon during the winter; that they would encroach upon +the white settlements; that unless provision was made for them, they +would rob, plunder, and murder the inhabitants nearest them; and +Congress was called upon to appropriate money to buy them food and +clothing, and we did it. We did it for rebels and traitors. Were we +not bound to do it? + +"Now, sir, we have thrown upon us four million people who have toiled +all their lives for others; who, unlike the Indians, had no property +at the beginning of the rebellion; who were never permitted to own any +thing, never permitted to eat the bread their own hands had earned; +many of whom are without support, in the midst of a prejudiced and +hostile population who have been struggling to overthrow the +Government. These four million people, made free by the acts of war +and the constitutional amendment, have been, wherever they could, +loyal and true to the Union; and the Senator seriously asks, What +authority have we to appropriate money to take care of them? What +would he do with them? Would he allow them to starve and die? Would he +turn them over to the mercy of the men who, through their whole lives, +have had their earnings, to be enslaved again? It is not the first +time that money has been appropriated to take care of the destitute +and suffering African. For years it has been the law that whenever +persons of African descent were brought to our shores with the +intention of reducing them to slavery, the Government should, if +possible, rescue and restore them to their native land; and we have +appropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars for this object. Can any +body deny the right to do it? Sir, humanity as well as the +constitutional obligation to suppress the slave trade required it. So +now the people relieved by our act from the control of masters who +supplied their wants that they might have their services, have a right +to rely upon us for assistance till they can have time to provide for +themselves. + +"This Freedmen's Bureau is not intended as a permanent institution; it +is only designed to aid these helpless, ignorant, and unprotected +people until they can provide for and take care of themselves. The +authority to do this, so far as legislative sanction can give it, is +to be found in the action of a previous Congress which established the +bureau; but, if it were a new question, the authority for establishing +such a bureau, in my judgment, is given by the Constitution itself; +and as the Senator's whole argument goes upon the idea of peace, and +that all the consequences of the war have ceased, I shall be pardoned, +I trust, if I refer to those provisions of the Constitution which, in +my judgment, authorize the exercise of this military jurisdiction; for +this bureau is a part of the military establishment not simply during +the conflict of arms, but until peace shall be firmly established and +the civil tribunals of the country shall be restored with an assurance +that they may peacefully enforce the laws without opposition. + +"The Constitution of the United States declares that Congress shall +have authority 'to declare war and make rules concerning captures on +land and water,' 'to raise and support armies,' 'to provide and +maintain a navy,' 'to make rules for the government and regulation of +the land and naval forces,' 'to provide for calling forth the militia +to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection, and repel +invasion,' and 'to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper +for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.' It also declares +that 'the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the +privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States,' and that +'the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a +republican form of government.' Under the exercise of these powers, +the Government has gone through a four years' conflict. It has +succeeded in putting down armed resistance to its authority. But did +the military power which was exercised to put down this armed +resistance cease the moment the rebel armies were dispersed? Has the +Government no authority to bring to punishment the authors of this +rebellion after the conflict of arms has ceased? no authority to hold +as prisoners, if necessary, all who have been captured with arms in +their hands? Can it be that, the moment the rebel armies are +dispersed, the military authority ceases, and they are to be turned +loose to arm and organize again for another conflict against the +Union? Why, sir, it would not be more preposterous on the part of the +traveler, after having, at the peril of his life, succeeded in +disarming a highwayman by whom he was assailed, to immediately turn +round and restore to the robber his weapons with which to make a new +assault. + +"And yet this is what some gentlemen would have this nation do with +the worse than robbers who have assailed its life. They propose, the +rebel armies being overcome, that the rebels themselves shall be +instantly clothed with all the authority they possessed before the +conflict, and that the inhabitants of States who for more than four +years have carried on an organized war against the Government shall at +once be invested with all the powers they had at its commencement to +organize and begin it anew; nay, more, they insist that, without any +action of the Government, it is the right of the inhabitants of the +rebellious States, on laying down their arms, to resume their former +positions in the Union, with all the rights they possessed when they +began the war. If such are the consequences of this struggle, it is +the first conflict in the history of the world, between either +individuals or nations, from which such results have followed. What +man, after being despoiled of much of his substance, his children +slain, his own life periled, and his body bleeding from many wounds, +ever restored the authors of such calamities, when within his power, +to the rights they possessed before the conflict without taking some +security for the future. + +"Sir, the war powers of the Government do not cease with the +dispersion of the rebel armies; they are to be continued and exercised +until the civil authority of the Government can be established firmly +and upon a sure foundation, not again to be disturbed or interfered +with. And such, sir, is the understanding of the Government. None of +the departments of the Government understand that its military +authority has ceased to operate over the rebellious States. It is but +a short time since the President of the United States issued a +proclamation restoring the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ in +the loyal States; but did he restore it in the rebellious States? +Certainly not. What authority has he to suspend the privilege of that +writ anywhere, except in pursuance of the constitutional provision +allowing the writ to be suspended 'when in cases of rebellion or +invasion the public safety may require it?' Then the President +understands that the public safety in the insurrectionary States still +requires its suspension. + +"The Attorney-General, when asked, a few days ago, why Jefferson Davis +was not put upon trial, told you that, 'though active hostilities have +ceased, a state of war still exists over the territory in rebellion,' +so that it could not be properly done. General Grant, in an order +issued within a few days--which I commend to the especial +consideration of the Senator from Indiana, for it contains many of the +provisions of the bill under consideration--an order issued with the +approbation of the Executive, for such an order, I apprehend, could +not have been issued without his approbation--directs 'military +division and department commanders, whose commands embrace or are +composed of any of the late rebellious States, and who have not +already done so, will at once issue and enforce orders protecting from +prosecution or suits in the State, or municipal courts of such State, +all officers and soldiers of the armies of the United States, and all +persons thereto attached, or in anywise thereto belonging; subject to +military authority, charged with offenses for acts done in their +military capacity, or pursuant to orders from proper military +authority; and to protect from suit or prosecution all loyal citizens +or persons charged with offenses done against the rebel forces, +directly or indirectly, during the existence of the rebellion; and all +persons, their agents and employes, charged with the occupancy of +abandoned lands or plantations, or the possession or custody of any +kind of property whatever, who occupied, used, possessed, or +controlled the same, pursuant to the order of the President, or any of +the civil or military departments of the Government, and to protect +them from any penalties or damages that may have been or may be +pronounced or adjudged in said courts in any of such cases; and also +protecting colored persons from prosecutions, in any of said States, +charged with offenses for which white persons are not prosecuted or +punished in the same manner and degree.'" + +Mr. Saulsbury having asked whether the Senator believed that General +Grant or the President had any constitutional authority to make such +an order as that, Mr. Trumbull replied: "I am very glad the Senator +from Delaware has asked the question. I answer, he had most ample and +complete authority. I indorse the order and every word of it. It would +be monstrous if the officers and soldiers of the army and loyal +citizens were to be subjected to suits and prosecutions for acts done +in saving the republic, and that, too, at the hands of the very men +who sought its destruction. Why, had not the Lieutenant-General +authority to issue the order? Have not the civil tribunals in all the +region of country to which order applies been expelled by armed rebels +and traitors? Has not the power of the Government been overthrown +there? Is it yet reestablished? Some steps have been taken toward +reestablishing it under the authority of the military, and in no other +way. If any of the State governments recently set up in the rebellious +States were to undertake to embarrass military operations, I have no +doubt they would at once be set aside by order of the Lieutenant-General, +in pursuance of directions from the Executive. These governments which +have been set up act by permission of the military. They are made use +of, to some extent, to preserve peace and order and enforce civil +rights between parties; and, so far as they act in harmony with the +Constitution and laws of the United States and the orders of the +military commanders, they are permitted to exercise authority; but +until those States shall be restored in all their constitutional +relations to the Union, they ought not to be permitted to exercise +authority in any other way. + +"I desire the Senator from Indiana to understand that it is under this +war power that the authority of the Freedmen's Bureau is to be +exercised. I do not claim that its officers can try persons for +offenses without juries in States where the civil tribunals have not +been interrupted by the rebellion. The Senator from Indiana argues +against this bill as if it was applicable to that State. Some of its +provisions are, but most of them are not, unless the State of Indiana +has been in rebellion against the Government; and I know too many of +the brave men who have gone from that State to maintain the integrity +of the Union and put down the rebellion to cast any such imputation +upon her. She is a loyal and a patriotic State; her civil government +has never been usurped or overthrown by traitors, and the provisions +of the seventh and eighth sections of the bill to which the Senator +alludes can not, by their very terms, have any application to the +State of Indiana. Let me read the concluding sentence of the eighth +section: + + "'The jurisdiction conferred by this section on the officers + and agents of this bureau to cease and determine whenever, + the discrimination on account of which it is conferred + ceases, and in no event to be exercised in any State in + which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has not + been interrupted by the rebellion, nor in any such State + after said State shall have been fully restored in all its + constitutional relations to the United States, and the + courts of the State and of the United States within, the + same are not disturbed or stopped in the peaceable course of + justice.' + +"Will the Senator from Indiana admit for a moment that the courts in +his State are now disturbed or stopped in the peaceable course of +justice? If they were ever so disturbed, they are not now. Will the +Senator admit that the State of Indiana does not have and exercise all +its constitutional rights as one of the States of this Union? The +judicial authority conferred by this bill applies to no State, not +even to South Carolina, after it shall have been restored in all its +constitutional rights. + +"There is no provision in the bill for the exercise of judicial +authority except in the eighth section. Rights are declared in the +seventh, but the mode of protecting them is provided in the eighth +section, and the eighth section then declares explicitly that the +jurisdiction that is conferred shall be exercised only in States which +do not possess full constitutional rights as parts of the Union. +Indiana has at all times had all the constitutional rights pertaining +to any State, has them now, and therefore the officers and agents of +this bureau can take no jurisdiction of any case in the State of +Indiana. It will be another question, which I will answer, and may as +well answer now, perhaps, as to what is meant by 'military +protection.' + +"The second section declares that 'the President of the United States, +through the War Department and the commissioner, shall extend military +jurisdiction and protection over all employes, agents, and officers of +this bureau.' He wants to know the effect of that in Indiana. This +bureau is a part of the military establishment. The effect of that in +Indiana is precisely the same as in every other State, and under it +the officers and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau will occupy the same +position as do the officers and soldiers of the United States Army. +What is that? While they are subject to the Rules and Articles of War, +if they chance to be in Indiana and violate her laws, they are held +amenable the same as any other person. The officer or soldier in the +State of Indiana who commits a murder or other offense upon a citizen +of Indiana, is liable to be indicted, tried, and punished, just as if +he were a civilian. When the sheriff goes with the process to arrest +the soldier or officer who has committed the offense, the military +authorities surrender him up to be tried and punished according to the +laws of the State. It has always been done, unless in time of war when +the courts were interrupted. The jurisdiction and 'protection' that is +extended over these officers and agents is for the purpose of making +them subject to the Rules and Articles of War. It is necessary for +this reason: in the rebellious States civil authority is not yet fully +restored. There would be no other way of punishing them, of holding +them to accountability, of governing and controlling them, in many +portions of the country; and it is because of the condition of the +rebellious States, and their still being under military authority, +that it is necessary to put these officers and agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau under the control of the military power. + +"The Senator says the original law only embraced within its provisions +the refugees in the rebellious States; and now this bill is extended +to all the States, and he wants to know the reason. I will tell him. +When the original bill was passed, slavery existed in Tennessee, +Kentucky, Delaware, and in various other States. Since that time, by +the constitutional amendment, it has been every-where abolished." + +Mr. Saulsbury, aroused by the mention of his own State, interrupted +the speaker: "I say, as one of the representatives of Delaware on this +floor, that she had the proud and noble character of being the first +to enter the Federal Union under a Constitution formed by equals. She +has been the very last to obey a mandate, legislative or executive, +for abolishing slavery. She has been the last slaveholding State, +thank God, in America, and I am one of the last slaveholders in +America." + +Mr. Trumbull continued: "Well, Mr. President, I do not see +particularly what the declaration of the Senator from Delaware has to +do with the question I am discussing. His State may have been the last +to become free, but I presume that the State of Delaware, old as she +is, being the first to adopt the Constitution, and noble as she is, +will submit to the Constitution of the United States, which declares +that there shall be no slavery within its jurisdiction." [Applause in +the galleries.] + +"It is necessary, Mr. President, to extend the Freedmen's Bureau +beyond the rebel States in order to take in the State of Delaware, +[laughter,] the loyal State of Delaware, I am happy to say, which did +not engage in this wicked rebellion; and it is necessary to protect +the freedmen in that State as well as elsewhere; and that is the +reason for extending the Freedmen's Bureau beyond the limits of the +rebellious States. + +"Now, the Senator from Indiana says it extends all over the United +States. Well, by its terms it does, though practically it can have +little if any operation outside of the late slaveholding States. If +freedmen should congregate in large numbers at Cairo, Illinois, or at +Evansville, Indiana, and become a charge upon the people of those +States, the Freedmen's Bureau would have a right to extend its +jurisdiction over them, provide for their wants, secure for them +employment, and place them in situations where they could provide for +themselves; and would the State of Illinois or the State of Indiana +object to that? The provisions of the bill which would interfere with +the laws of Indiana can have no operation there. + +"Again, the Senator objects very much to the expense of this bureau. +Why, sir, as I have once or twice before said, it is a part of the +military establishment. I believe nearly all its officers at the +present time are military officers, and by the provisions of the +pending bill they are to receive no additional compensation when +performing duties in the Freedmen's Bureau. The bill declares that the +'bureau may, in the discretion of the President, be placed under a +commissioner and assistant commissioners, to be detailed from the +army, in which event each officer so assigned to duty shall serve +without increase of pay or allowances.' + +"I shall necessarily, Mr. President, in following the Senator from +Indiana, speak somewhat in a desultory manner; but I prefer to do so +because I would rather meet the objections made directly than by any +general speech. I will, therefore, take up his next objection, which +is to the fifth section of the bill. That section proposes to confirm +for three years the possessory titles granted by General Sherman. The +Senator from Indiana admits that General Sherman had authority, when +at the head of the army at Savannah, and these people were flocking +around him and dependent upon him for support, to put them upon the +abandoned lands; but he says that authority to put them there and +maintain them there ceased with peace. Well, sir, a sufficient answer +to that would be that peace has not yet come; the effects of war are +not yet ended; the people of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, +and Florida, where these lands are situated, are yet subject to +military control. But I deny that if peace had come the authority of +the Government to protect these people in their possessions would +cease the moment it was declared. What are the facts? The owners of +these plantations had abandoned them and entered the rebel army. They +were contending against the army which General Sherman then commanded. +Numerous colored people had flocked around General Sherman's army. It +was necessary that he should supply them to save them from starvation. +His commissariat was short. Here was this abandoned country, owned by +men arrayed in arms against the Government. He, it is admitted, had +authority to put these followers of his army upon these lands, and +authorize them to go to work and gain a subsistence if they could. +They went on the lands to the number of forty or fifty thousand, +commenced work, have made improvements; and now will the Senator from +Indiana tell me that upon any principle of justice, humanity, or law, +if peace had come when these laborers had a crop half gathered, the +Government of the United States, having rightfully placed them in +possession, and pledged its faith to protect them there for an +uncertain period, could immediately have turned them off and put in +possession those traitor owners who had abandoned their homes to fight +against the Government? + +"The Government having placed these people rightfully upon these +lands, and they having expended their labor upon them, they had a +right to be protected in their possessions, for some length of time +after peace, on the principle of equity. That is all we propose to do +by this bill. The committee thought it would not be more than a +reasonable protection to allow them to remain for three years, they +having been put upon these lands destitute, without any implements of +husbandry, without cattle, horses, or any thing else with which to +cultivate the land, and having, up to the present time, been able to +raise very little at the expense of great labor. Perhaps the Senator +thinks they ought not to remain so long. I will not dispute whether +they shall go off at the end of one year or two years. The committee +propose two years more. The order was dated in January, 1865, and we +propose three years from that time, which will expire in January, +1868, or about two years from this time. + +"On account of that provision of the bill, the Senator asks me the +question whether the Government of the United States has the right, in +a time of peace, to take property from one man and give it to another. +I say no. Of course the Government of the United States has no +authority, in a time of peace, by a legislative act, to say that the +farm of the Senator from Indiana shall be given to the Senator from +Ohio; I contend for no such principle. But following that up, the +Senator wants to know by what authority you buy land or provide +school-houses for these refugees. Have we not been providing +school-houses for years? Is there a session of Congress when acts are +not passed giving away public lands for the benefit of schools? But +that does not come out of the Treasury, the Senator from Indiana will +probably answer. But how did you get the land to give away? Did you +not buy it of the Indians? Are you not appropriating, every session of +Congress, money by the million to extinguish the Indian title--money +collected off his constituents and mine by taxation? We buy the land +and then we give the land away for schools. Will the Senator tell me +how that differs from giving the money? Does it make any difference +whether we buy the land from the Indians and give it for the benefit +of schools, or whether we buy it from some rebel and give--no, sir, +use--it for the benefit of schools, with a view ultimately of selling +it for at least its cost? I believe I would rather buy from the +Indian; but still, if the traitor is to be permitted to have a title, +we will buy it from him if we can purchase cheaper. + +"Sir, it is a matter of economy to do this. The cheapest way by which +you can save this race from starvation and destruction is to educate +them. They will then soon become self-sustaining. The report of the +Freedmen's Bureau shows that to-day more than seventy thousand black +children are being taught in the schools which have been established +in the South. We shall not long have to support any of these blacks +out of the public Treasury if we educate and furnish them land upon +which they can make a living for themselves. This is a very different +thing from taking the land of A and giving it to B by an act of +Congress. + +"But the Senator is most alarmed at those sections of this bill which +confer judicial authority upon the officers and agents of the +Freedmen's Bureau. He says if this authority can be exercised there is +an end to all the reserved rights of the States, and this Government +may do any thing. Not at all, sir. The authority, as I have already +shown, to be exercised under the seventh and eighth sections, is a +military authority, to be exerted only in regions of country where the +civil tribunals are overthrown, and not there after they are restored. +It is the same authority that we have been exercising all the time in +the rebellious States; it is the same authority by virtue of which +General Grant issued the order which I have just read. Here is a +perfect and complete answer to the objection that is made to the +seventh and eighth sections. + +"But, says the Senator from Indiana, we have laws in Indiana +prohibiting black people from marrying whites, and are you going to +disregard these laws? Are our laws enacted for the purpose of +preventing amalgamation to be disregarded, and is a man to be punished +because he undertakes to enforce them? I beg the Senator from Indiana +to read the bill. One of its objects is to secure the same civil +rights and subject to the same punishments persons of all races and +colors. How does this interfere with the law of Indiana preventing +marriages between whites and blacks? Are not both races treated alike +by the law of Indiana? Does not the law make it just as much a crime +for a white man to marry a black woman as for a black woman to marry a +white man, and _vice versa_? I presume there is no discrimination in +this respect, and therefore your law forbidding marriages between +whites and blacks operates alike on both races. This bill does not +interfere with it. If the negro is denied the right to marry a white +person, the white person is equally denied the right to marry the +negro. I see no discrimination against either in this respect that +does not apply to both. Make the penalty the same on all classes of +people for the same offense, and then no one can complain. + +"My object in bringing forward these bills was to bring to the +attention of Congress something that was practical, something upon +which I hoped we all could agree. I have said nothing in these bills +which are pending, and which have been recommended by the Committee on +the Judiciary--and I speak of both of them because they have both been +alluded to in this discussion--about the political rights of the +negro. On that subject it is known that there are differences of +opinion, but I trust there are no differences of opinion among the +friends of the constitutional amendment, among those who are for real +freedom to the black man, as to his being entitled to equality in +civil rights. If that is not going as far as some gentlemen would +desire, I say to them it is a step in the right direction. Let us go +that far, and, going that far, we have the cooeperation of the +Executive Department; for the President has told us 'Good faith +requires the security of the freedmen in their liberty and their +property, their right to labor, and their right to claim the just +return of their labor.' + +"Such, sir, is the language of the President of the United States in +his annual message; and who in this chamber that is in favor of the +freedom of the slave is not in favor of giving him equal and exact +justice before the law? Sir, we can go along hand in hand together to +the consummation of this great object of securing to every human being +within the jurisdiction of the republic equal rights before the law, +and I preferred to seek for points of agreement between all the +departments of Government, rather than to hunt for points of +divergence. I have not said any thing in my remarks about +reconstruction. I have not attempted to discuss the question whether +these States are in the Union or out of the Union, and so much has +been said upon that subject that I am almost ready to exclaim with one +of old, 'I know not whether they are in the body or out of the body; +God knoweth.' It is enough for me to know that the State organizations +in several States of the Union have been usurped and overthrown, and +that up to the present time no State organization has been inaugurated +in either of them which the various departments of Government, or any +department of the Government, has recognized as placing the States in +full possession of all the constitutional rights pertaining to States +in full communion with the Union. + +"The Executive has not recognized any one, for he still continues to +exercise military jurisdiction and to suspend the privilege of the +writ of _habeas corpus_ in all of them. Congress has not recognized +any of them, as we all know; and until Congress and the Executive do +recognize them, let us make use of the Freedmen's Bureau, already +established, to protect the colored race in their rights; and when +these States shall be admitted, and the authority of the Freedmen's +Bureau as a court shall cease and determine, as it must when civil +authority is fully restored, let us provide, then, by other laws, for +protecting all people in their equal civil rights before the law. If +we can pass such measures, they receive executive sanction, and it +shall be understood that it is the policy of the Government that the +rights of the colored men are to be protected by the States if they +will, but by the Federal Government if they will not; that at all +hazards, and under all circumstances, there shall be impartiality +among all classes in civil rights throughout the land. If we can do +this, much of the apprehension and anxiety now existing in the loyal +States will be allayed, and a great obstacle to an early restoration +of the insurgent States to their constitutional relations in the Union +will be removed. + +"If the people in the rebellious States can be made to understand that +it is the fixed and determined policy of the Government that the +colored people shall be protected in their civil rights, they +themselves will adopt the necessary measures to protect them; and that +will dispense with the Freedmen's Bureau and all other Federal +legislation for their protection. The design of these bills is not, as +the Senator from Indiana would have us believe, to consolidate all +power in the Federal Government, or to interfere with the domestic +regulations of any of the States, except so far as to carry out a +constitutional provision which is the supreme law of the land. If the +States will not do it, then it is incumbent on Congress to do it. But +if the States will do it, then the Freedmen's Bureau will be removed, +and the authority proposed to be given by the other bill will have no +operation. + +"Sir, I trust there may be no occasion long to exercise the authority +conferred by this bill. I hope that the people of the rebellious +States themselves will conform to the existing condition of things. I +do not expect them to change all their opinions and prejudices. I do +not expect them to rejoice that they have been discomfited. But they +acknowledge that the war is over; they agree that they can no longer +contend in arms against the Government; they say they are willing to +submit to its authority; they say in their State conventions that +slavery shall no more exist among them. With the abolition of slavery +should go all the badges of servitude which have been enacted for its +maintenance and support. Let them all be abolished. Let the people of +the rebellious States now be as zealous and as active in the passage +of laws and the inauguration of measures to elevate, develop, and +improve the negro as they have hitherto been to enslave and degrade +him. Let them do justice and deal fairly with loyal Union men in their +midst, and henceforth be themselves loyal, and this Congress will not +have adjourned till the States whose inhabitants have been engaged in +the rebellion will be restored, to their former position in the Union, +and we shall all be moving on in harmony together." + +On the day following the discussion above given, Mr. Cowan moved to +amend the first section of the bill so that its operation would be +limited to such States "as have lately been in rebellion." In +supporting his amendment, Mr. Cowan remarked: "I have no idea of +having this system extended over Pennsylvania. I think that as to the +freedmen who make their appearance there, she will be able to take +care of them and provide as well for them as any bureau which can be +created here. I wish to confine the operation of this institution to +the States which have been lately in rebellion." + +To this Mr. Trumbull replied: "The Senator from Pennsylvania will see +that the effect of that would be to exclude from the operation of the +bureau the State of Kentucky and the State of Delaware, where the +slaves have been emancipated by the constitutional amendment. The +operation of the bureau will undoubtedly be chiefly confined to the +States where slavery existed; but it is a fact which may not be known +to the Senator from Pennsylvania, that during this war large numbers +of slaves have fled to the Northern States bordering on the +slaveholding territory. + +"It is not supposed that the bill will have any effect in the State of +Pennsylvania or in the State of Illinois, unless it might, perhaps, be +at Cairo, where there has been a large number of these refugees +congregated, without any means of support; they followed the army +there at different times. + +"The provision of the bill in regard to holding courts, and some other +provisions, are confined entirely to the rebellious States, and will +have no operation in any State which was not in insurrection against +this Government. I make this explanation to the Senator from +Pennsylvania, and I think he will see the necessity of the bureau +going into Kentucky and some of the other States, as much as into any +of the Southern rebellious States." + +Mr. Guthrie was opposed to the extension of the bill to his State. He +said: "I should like to know the peculiar reasons why this bill is to +be extended to the State of Kentucky. She has never been in rebellion. +Though she has been overrun by rebel armies, and her fields laid +waste, she has always had her full quota in the Union armies, and the +blood of her sons has marked the fields whereon they have fought. +Kentucky does not want and does not ask this relief. The freedmen in +Kentucky are a part of our population; and where the old, and lame, +and halt, and blind, and infants require care and attention they +obtain it from the counties. Our whole organization for the support of +the poor, through the agencies of the magistrates in the several +counties, is complete." + +[Illustration: Hon. Henry Wilson.] + +On the other hand, Mr. Creswell, of Maryland, saw a necessity for the +operation of the bill in his State. He said: "I have received, within +the last two or three weeks, letters from gentlemen of the highest +respectability in my State, asserting that combinations of returned +rebel soldiers have been formed for the express purpose of +persecuting, beating most cruelly, and in some cases actually +murdering the returned colored soldiers of the republic. In certain +sections of my State, the civil law affords no remedy at all. It is +impossible there to enforce against these people so violating the law +the penalties which the law has prescribed for these offenses. It is, +therefore, necessary, in my opinion, that this bill shall extend over +the State of Maryland." + +Mr. Cowan, in the course of a speech on the bill, said: "Thank God! we +are now rid of slavery; that is now gone." He also said: "Let the +friends of the negro, and I am one, be satisfied to treat him as he is +treated in Pennsylvania; as he is treated in Ohio; as he is treated +every-where where people have maintained their sanity upon the +question." + +Mr. Wilson said: "The Senator from Pennsylvania tells us that he is +the friend of the negro. What, sir, he the friend of the negro! Why, +sir, there has hardly been a proposition before the Senate of the +United States for the last five years, looking to the emancipation of +the negro and the protection of his rights, that the Senator from +Pennsylvania has not sturdily opposed. He has hardly ever uttered a +word upon this floor the tendency of which was not to degrade and to +belittle a weak and struggling race. He comes here to-day and thanks +God that they are free, when his vote and his voice for five years, +with hardly an exception, have been against making them free. He +thanks God, sir, that your work and mine, our work which has saved a +country and emancipated a race, is secured; while from the word 'go,' +to this time, he has made himself the champion of 'how not to do it.' +If there be a man on the floor of the American Senate who has tortured +the Constitution of the country to find powers to arrest the voice of +this nation which was endeavoring to make a race free, the Senator +from Pennsylvania is the man; and now he comes here and thanks God +that a work which he has done his best to arrest, and which we have +carried, is accomplished. I tell him to-day that we shall carry these +other measures, whether he thanks God for them or not, whether he +opposes them or not." [Laughter and applause in the galleries.] + +After an extended discussion, the Senate refused, by a vote of +thirty-three against eleven, to adopt the amendment proposed by Mr. +Cowan. + +The bill was further discussed during three successive days, Messrs. +Saulsbury, Hendricks, Johnson, McDougall, and Davis speaking against +the measure, and Messrs. Fessenden, Creswell, and Trumbull in favor of +it. Mr. Garrett Davis addressed the Senate more than once on the +subject, and on the last day of the discussion made a very long +speech, which was answered by Mr. Trumbull. The Senator from Illinois, +at the conclusion of his speech, remarked: + +"What I have now said embraces, I believe, all the points of the long +gentleman's speech except the sound and fury, and that I will not +undertake to reply to." + +"You mean the short gentleman's long speech," interposed some Senator. + +"Did I say short?" asked Mr. Trumbull. "If so, it was a great mistake +to speak of any thing connected with the Senator from Kentucky as +short." [Laughter.] + +"It is long enough to reach you," responded Mr. Davis. + +The vote was soon after taken on the passage of the bill, with the +following result: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, + Cragin, Creswell, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, + Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of + Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Norton, Nye, + Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, + Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Williams, Wilson, and Yates--37. + + NAYS--Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Guthrie, Hendricks, Johnson, + McDougall, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and Wright--10. + + ABSENT--Messrs. Cowan, Nesmith, and Willey--3. + +The bill having passed, the question came up as to its title, which it +was proposed to leave as reported by the committee: "A bill to enlarge +the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau." + +Mr. Davis moved to amend the title by substituting for it, "A bill to +appropriate a portion of the public land in some of the Southern +States and to authorize the United States Government to purchase lands +to supply farms and build houses upon them for the freed negroes; to +promote strife and conflict between the white and black races; and to +invest the Freedmen's Bureau with unconstitutional powers to aid and +assist the blacks, and to introduce military power to prevent the +commissioner and other officers of said bureau from being restrained +or held responsible in civil courts for their illegal acts in +rendering such aid and assistance to the blacks, and for other +purposes." + +The President _pro tempore_ pronounced the amendment "not in order, +inconsistent with the character of the bill, derogatory to the Senate, +a reproach to its members." + +Mr. McDougall declared the proposed amendment "an insult to the action +of the Senate." + +The unfortunate proposition was quietly abandoned by its author, and +passed over without further notice by the Senate. By unanimous +consent, the title of the bill remained as first reported. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL IN THE HOUSE. + + The Bill reported to the House -- Mr. Eliot's Speech -- + History -- Mr. Dawson vs. the Negro -- Mr. Garfield -- The + Idol Broken -- Mr. Taylor counts the Cost -- Mr. Donnelly's + Amendment -- Mr. Kerr -- Mr. Marshall on White Slavery -- + Mr. Hubbard -- Mr. Moulton -- Opposition from Kentucky -- + Mr. Ritter -- Mr. Rousseau's Threat -- Mr. Shanklin's Gloomy + Prospect -- Mr. Trimble's Appeal -- Mr. Mckee an exceptional + Kentuckian -- Mr. Grinnell on Kentucky -- the Example of + Russia -- Mr. Phelps -- Mr. Shellabarger's Amendment -- Mr. + Chanler -- Mr. Stevens' Amendments -- Mr. Eliot closes the + Discussion -- Passage of the Bill -- Yeas and Nays. + + +On the day succeeding the passage of the bill in the Senate, it was +sent to the House of Representatives, and by them referred to the +Select Committee on the Freedmen. + +On the 30th of January, Mr. Eliot, Chairman of this committee, +reported the bill to the House with amendments, mainly verbal +alterations. + +In a speech, advocating the passage of the bill, Mr. Eliot presented +something of the history of legislation for the freedmen. He said: "On +the 3d day of last March the bill establishing a Freedmen's Bureau +became a law. It was novel legislation, without precedent in the +history of any nation, rendered necessary by the rebellion of eleven +slave States and the consequent liberation from slavery of four +million persons whose unpaid labor had enriched the lands and +impoverished the hearts of their relentless masters. + +"At an early day, when the fortunes of war had shown alternate +triumphs and defeats to loyal arms, and the timid feared and the +disloyal hoped, it was my grateful office to introduce the first bill +creating a bureau of emancipation. It was during the Thirty-seventh +Congress. But, although the select committee to which the bill was +referred was induced to agree that it should be reported to the House, +it so happened that the distinguished Chairman, Judge White, of +Indiana, did not succeed in reporting it for our action. At the +beginning of the Thirty-eighth Congress it was again presented, and +very soon was reported back to the House under the title of 'A bill to +establish a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs.' It was fully debated and +passed by the House. The vote was sixty-nine in favor, and sixty-seven +against the bill; but of the sixty-seven who opposed it, fifty-six had +been counted against it, because of their political affinities. On the +1st of March, 1864, the bill went to the Senate. It came back to the +House on the 30th of June, four days before the adjournment of +Congress. To my great regret, the Senate had passed an amendment in +the nature of a substitute, attaching this bureau to the Treasury +Department; but it was too late to take action upon it then, and the +bill was postponed until December. At that time the House +non-concurred with the Senate, and a committee of conference was +chosen. The managers of the two houses could not agree as to whether +the War Department or the Treasury should manage the affairs of the +bureau. They therefore agreed upon a bill creating an independent +department neither attached to the War nor Treasury, but communicating +directly with the President, and resting for its support upon the arm +of the War Department. That bill was also passed by the House but was +defeated in the Senate. Another Conference Committee was chosen, and +that committee, whose chairman in the House was the distinguished +gentleman from Ohio, then and now at the head of the Military +Committee, agreed upon a bill attaching the bureau to the War +Department, and embracing refugees as well as freedmen in its terms. +That bill is now the law. + +"The law was approved on the 3d of March, 1865. Nine months have not +yet elapsed since its organization. The order from the War Department +under which the bureau was organized bears date on the 12th of May, +1865. General Howard, who was then in command of the Department of +Tennessee, was assigned as commissioner of the bureau. The bill became +a law so late in the session that it was impossible for Congress to +legislate any appropriation for its support. It was necessary, +therefore, that the management of it should be placed in the hands of +military officers, and fortunately the provisions of the bill +permitted that to be done. General Howard was, as I stated, in command +of the Department of Tennessee, when he was detailed to this duty. But +on the 15th of May, that is to say, within three days after the order +appointing him, was issued, he assumed the duties of his office. + +"In the course of a few days, the commissioner of the bureau announced +more particularly the policy which he designed to pursue. The whole +supervision of the care of freedmen and of all lands which the law +placed under the charge of the bureau was to be intrusted to assistant +commissioners. + +"Before a month had expired, head-quarters had been established for +assistant commissioners at Richmond, Raleigh, Beaufort, Montgomery, +Nashville, St. Louis, Vicksburg, New Orleans, and Jacksonville, and +very shortly afterward assistant commissioners were designated for +those posts of duty. They were required to possess themselves, as soon +as practicable, with the duties incident to their offices, to quicken +in every way they could and to direct the industry of the freedmen. +Notice was given that the relief establishments which had been created +by law under the operations of the War Department should be +discontinued as soon as they could be consistently with the comfort +and proper protection of the freedmen, and that every effort should be +made--and I call the attention of gentlemen to the fact that that +policy has been pursued throughout--that every effort should be made +to render the freedmen, at an early day, self-supporting. The supplies +that had been furnished by the Government were only to be continued so +long as the actual wants of the freedmen seemed to require it. At that +time there were all over the country refugees who were seeking their +homes, and they were notified that, under the care of the bureau, they +would be protected from abuse, and directed in their efforts to secure +transportation and proper facilities for reaching home. + +"Wherever there had been interruption of civil law, it was found +impossible that the rights of freedmen could be asserted in the +courts; and where there were no courts before which their rights could +be brought for adjudication, military tribunals, provost-marshals' +courts, were established, for the purpose of determining upon +questions arising between freedmen or between freedmen and other +parties; and that, also, has been continued to this day. + +"The commissioners were instructed to permit the freedmen to select +their own employers and to choose their own kind of service. All +agreements were ordered to be free and mutual, and not to be +compulsory. The old system that had prevailed of overseer labor was +ordered to be repudiated by the commissioners who had charge of the +laborers, and I believe there has been no time since the organization +of the bureau when there have not been reports made to head-quarters +at Washington of all labor contracts; and wherever any provisions had +been inserted, by inadvertence or otherwise, that seemed unjustly to +operate against the freedmen, they have been stricken out by direction +of the commissioner here. + +"In the course of the next month, action was taken by the commissioner +respecting a provision of the law as it was passed in March, +authorizing the Secretary of War to make issues of clothing and +provisions, and the assistant commissioners were required carefully to +ascertain whatever might be needed under that provision of the law, +and to make periodical reports as to the demands made upon the +Government through the bureau. Directions were given by the +commissioner to his assistant commissioners to make repeated reports +to him upon all the various subjects which had come under his +charge--with regard to the number of freedmen, where they were, +whether in camps or in colonies, or whether they were employed upon +Government works, and stating, if they obtained supplies, how they +were furnished, whether by donations or whether procured by purchase. +Reports were also required as to all lands which had been put under +the care of the bureau; and statements were called for showing +descriptions of the lands, whether, in the language of the law, +'abandoned' or 'confiscated,' so that the bureau here could have full +and complete information of all action of its agents throughout these +States, and upon examination it could be determined where any specific +lands which were under the charge of the bureau came from, and how +they were derived. + +"In the course of the summer, it became necessary to issue additional +instructions. The commissioner found that his way was beset with +difficulties; he was walking upon unknown ground; he was testing here +and there questions involved in doubt. It was hardly possible at once +and by one order to designate all that it would be needful for him to +do, and, therefore, different instructions were issued from time to +time from his office. The assistant commissioners were called upon +thoroughly to examine, either by themselves or their agents, the +respective districts allotted to them, to make inquiry as to the +character of the freedmen under their charge, their ability to labor, +their disposition to labor, and the circumstances under which they +were placed, so that the aid, the care, and the protection which the +law contemplated might be afforded to them as quickly and as +economically as possible. + +"The commissioner continually repeated his injunctions to his +assistants to be sure that no compulsory or unpaid labor was +tolerated, and that both the moral and intellectual condition of the +freedmen should be improved as systematically and as quickly as +practicable. + +"When the bureau was first organized, indeed when it was first urged +upon the attention of this House, it was stated and it was believed +that the bureau would very shortly be self-sustaining. That was the +idea from the beginning. And when it was stated here in debate that +the bureau would probably be self-sustaining, it was supposed that +from the lands abandoned, confiscated, sold, and the lands of the +United States, which by the provisions of the bill had been placed +under the care of the commissioner, these freedmen would be given an +opportunity to earn substantially enough for the conduct of the +bureau. And I have no doubt at all that such would have been the case +had the original expectation been carried out. + +"There were large tracts of land in Virginia and the other rebel +States which were clearly applicable to this purpose. There was the +source of supply--the lands and the labor. There were laborers enough, +and there was rich land enough. At a very early day the abandoned +lands were turned over to the care of the commissioners, and I +supposed, and probably we all supposed, that the lands which in the +language of the law were known as 'abandoned lands,' and those which +were in the possession of the United States, would be appropriated to +the uses of these freedmen. Within a week after the commissioner +assumed the duties of his office, he found it necessary to issue an +order substantially like this: Whereas, large amounts of lands in the +State of Virginia and in other States have been abandoned, and are now +in the possession of the freedmen, and are now under cultivation by +them; and, whereas, the owners of those lands are now calling for +their restoration, so as to deprive the freedmen of the results of +their industry, it is ordered that the abandoned lands now under +cultivation be retained by the freedmen until the growing crops can be +secured, unless full and just compensation can be made them for their +labor and its products. + +"'The above order'--this is the part about which it appeared that some +difference of judgment existed between the Executive and the +commissioner of the bureau--'the above order will not be construed so +as to relieve disloyal persons from the consequences of their +disloyalty; and the application for the restoration of their lands by +this class of persons will in no case be entertained by any military +authority.' + +"It was found, not a great while afterward, that the views which the +President entertained as to his duty were somewhat in conflict with +the provisions of this order; for it was held by the President that +persons who had brought themselves within the range of his pardon and +had secured it, and who had taken or did afterward take the amnesty +oath, would be entitled, as one of the results of the pardon and of +their position after the oath had been taken, to a restoration of +their lands which had been assigned to freedmen. In consequence of +this, an order was subsequently issued, well known as circular No. 15. +And under the operation of that circular, on its appearing +satisfactorily to any assistant commissioner that any property under +his control is not 'abandoned,' as defined in the law, and that the +United States have acquired no perfect right to it, it is to be +restored and the fact reported to the commissioner. 'Abandoned' lands +were to be restored to the owners pardoned by the President, by the +assistant commissioners, to whom applications for such restoration +were to be forwarded; and each application was to be accompanied by +the pardon of the President and by a copy of the oath of amnesty +prescribed in the President's proclamation, and also by a proof of +title to the land. It must be obvious that the effect of this must +have been to transfer from the care of the bureau to the owners very +large portions of the land which had been relied upon for the support +of the freedmen. Within a few weeks from the date of that order, no +less than $800,000 worth of property in New Orleans was transferred, +and about one third of the whole property in North Carolina in +possession of the bureau was given up; and the officer having charge +of the land department reports that before the end of the year, in all +probability, there will be under the charge of the commissioner +little, if any, of the lands originally designed for the support of +these freedmen. + +"It is obvious, if these lands are to be taken, that other lands must +be provided, or the freedmen will become a dead weight upon the +Treasury, and the bill under consideration assigns other lands, in the +place of those thus taken, from the unoccupied public lands of the +United States." + +On the following day, Mr. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, obtained the floor +in opposition to the bill. His speech was not devoted to a discussion +of the bill in question, but was occupied entirely with general +political and social topics. The following extract indicates the tenor +of the speech: + +"Negro equality does not exist in nature. The African is without a +history. He has never shown himself capable of self-government by the +creation of a single independent State possessing the attributes which +challenge the respect of others. The past is silent of any negro +people who possessed military and civil organization, who cultivated +the arts at home, or conducted a regular commerce with their +neighbors. No African general has marched south of the desert, from +the waters of the Nile to the Niger and Senegal, to unite by conquest +the scattered territories of barbarous tribes into one great and +homogeneous kingdom. No Moses, Solon, Lycurgus, or Alfred has left +them a code of wise and salutary laws. They have had no builder of +cities; they have no representatives in the arts, in science, or in +literature; they have been without even a monument, an alphabet, or a +hieroglyphic." + +On the other hand, Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, among the friends of the +measure, delivered a speech "on the Freedmen's Bureau Bill," in which +the topic discussed was "Restoration of the Rebel States." In the +course of his remarks Mr. Garfield said: + +"Let the stars of heaven illustrate our constellation of States. When +God launched the planets upon their celestial pathway, he bound them +all by the resistless power of attraction to the central sun, around +which they revolved in their appointed orbits. Each may be swept by +storms, may be riven by lightnings, may be rocked by earthquakes, may +be devastated by all the terrestrial forces and overwhelmed in ruin, +but far away in the everlasting depths, the sovereign sun holds the +turbulent planet in its place. This earth may be overwhelmed until the +high hills are covered by the sea; it may tremble with earthquakes +miles below the soil, but it must still revolve in its appointed +orbit. So Alabama may overwhelm all her municipal institutions in +ruin, but she can not annul the omnipotent decrees of the sovereign +people of the Union. She must be held forever in her orbit of +obedience and duty." + +After having quoted Gibbon's narrative of the destruction of the +colossal statue of Serapis by Theophilus, Mr. Garfield said: "So +slavery sat in our national Capitol. Its huge bulk filled the temple +of our liberty, touching it from side to side. Mr. Lincoln, on the 1st +of January, 1863, struck it on the cheek, and the faithless and +unbelieving among us expected to see the fabric of our institutions +dissolve into chaos because their idol had fallen. He struck it again; +Congress and the States repeated the blow, and its unsightly carcass +lies rotting in our streets. The sun shines in the heavens brighter +than before. Let us remove the carcass and leave not a vestige of the +monster. We shall never have done that until we have dared to come up +to the spirit of the Pilgrim covenant of 1620, and declare that all +men shall be consulted in regard to the disposition of their lives, +liberty, and property. The Pilgrim fathers proceeded on the doctrine +that every man was supposed to know best what he wanted, and had the +right to a voice in the disposition of himself." + +Mr. Taylor, of New York, opposed the bill principally on the ground of +the expense involved in its execution. After having presented many +columns of figures, Mr. Taylor arrived at this conclusion: "The cost +or proximate cost of the bureau for one year, confining its operation +to the hitherto slave States, will be $25,251,600. That it is intended +to put the bureau in full operation in every county and parish of the +hitherto slave States, including Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and +Missouri, I have not the least doubt, nor have I any doubt but that it +is intended to extend it into parts of some of the border States." + +Mr. Donnelly moved to amend the bill by inserting the provision that +"the commissioner may provide a common-school education for all +refugees and freedmen who shall apply therefor." He advocated +education as an efficient means of restoration for the South. He +presented ample tables of statistics, and summed up the results in +their bearing upon his argument as follows: + +"The whole United States, with a population of 27,000,000, contains +834,106 illiterate persons, and of these 545,177 are found in the +Southern States with a population of 12,000,000. In other words, the +entire populous North contains but 288,923, while the sparsely-settled +South contains 545,177." + +As an argument for the passage of the bill, he answered the question, +"What has the South done for the black man since the close of the +rebellion?" + +"In South Carolina it is provided that all male negroes between two +and twenty, and all females between two and eighteen, shall be bound +out to some 'master.' The adult negro is compelled to enter into +contract with a master, and the district judge, not the laborer, is to +fix the value of the labor. If he thinks the compensation too small +and will not work, he is a vagrant, and can be hired out for a term of +service at a rate again to be fixed by the judge. If a hired negro +leaves his employer he forfeits his wages for the whole year. + +"The black code of Mississippi provides that no negro shall own or +hire lands in the State; that he shall not sue nor testify in court +against a white man; that he must be employed by a master before the +second Monday in January, or he will be bound out--in other words, +sold into slavery; that if he runs away the master may recover him, +and deduct the expenses out of his wages; and that if another man +employs him he will be liable to an action for damages. It is true, +the President has directed General Thomas to disregard this code; but +the moment the military force is withdrawn from the State that order +will be of no effect. + +"The black code of Alabama provides that if a negro who has contracted +to labor fails to do so, he shall be punished with damages; and if he +runs away he shall be punished as a vagrant, which probably means that +he shall be sold to the highest bidder for a term of years; and that +any person who entices him to leave his master, as by the offer of +better wages, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be sent to +jail for six months; and further, that these regulations include all +persons of negro blood to the third generation, though one parent in +each generation shall be pure white; that is, down to the man who has +but one eighth negro blood in his veins." + +After quoting the black codes of other States, the speaker thus +epitomized their substance: "All this means simply the reestablishment +of slavery. + +"1. He shall work at a rate of wages to be fixed by a county judge or +a Legislature made up of white masters, or by combinations of white +masters, and not in any case by himself. + +"2. He shall not leave that master to enter service with another. If +he does he is pursued as a fugitive, charged with the expenses of his +recapture, and made to labor for an additional period, while the white +man who induced him to leave is sent to jail. + +"3. His children are taken from him and sold into virtual slavery. + +"4. If he refuses to work, he is sold to the highest bidder for a term +of months or years, and becomes, in fact, a slave. + +"5. He can not better his condition; there is no future for him; he +shall not own property; he shall not superintend the education of his +children; neither will the State educate them. + +"6. If he is wronged, he has no remedy; for the courts are closed +against him." + +Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, addressed the House on the subject of +reconstruction, maintaining, by extended arguments and quotations from +learned authorities, that the rebel States were still in the Union. He +concluded his speech by opposing the bill under consideration on the +ground of its expense: "It involves the creation of a small army of +agents and commissioners, whose jurisdiction and control shall pervade +the whole country, shall extend into every State, into every +congressional district, into every county, into every township and +city of this broad Union; provided, only, that they can find some +freedmen or refugees upon whom to exercise their jurisdiction. I +submit that, before a measure of this kind should be adopted, we +should reflect most carefully upon what we are doing. We should +remember that this country is now almost crushed into the very earth +with its accumulated burden of public debt, of State debts, of county +debts, of city debts, of township debts, of individual debts. We +should bear in mind that we may impose upon the people of this +country, by this kind of latitudinarian and most dangerous +legislation, a burden that is too heavy to be borne, and against which +the day may come when the people, as one man, will feel themselves +called upon to protest in such a manner as forever to overthrow that +kind of legislation, and condemn to merited reproach those who favor +it." + +On a subsequent day of the discussion, Mr. Marshall, of Illinois, +spoke against the bill. He put much stress upon an objection to which +nearly all the opponents of the bill had referred, namely, that +Congress had no warrant in the Constitution for passing such a +measure. He said: "Instead of this being called a bill for the +protection of freedmen and refugees, it ought to be called a bill for +the purpose of destroying the Constitution of the United States, and +subjecting the people thereof to military power and domination. That +would be a much more appropriate title." + +Mr. Marshall was opposed to bestowing any thing in charity. "I deny," +said he, "that this Federal Government has any authority to become the +common almoner of the charities of the people. I deny that there is +any authority in the Federal Constitution to authorize us to put our +hands into their pockets and take therefrom a part of their hard +earnings in order to distribute them as charity. I deny that the +Federal Government was established for any such purpose, or that there +is any authority or warrant in the Constitution for the measures which +are proposed in this most extraordinary bill." + +He viewed with horror the slavery which the head of the War Department +could impose upon the people by virtue of the provisions of this bill. +"He is to send his military satraps," said Mr. Marshall, "into every +county and district of these States; and they may enslave and put down +the entire white people of the country by virtue of this law." He saw +in the bill power "to rob the people by unjust taxation; to take the +hard earnings from the white people of the West, who, unless wiser +counsels prevail, will themselves soon be reduced to worse than +Egyptian bondage. I demand to be informed here upon this floor by what +power you put your hands into their pockets and drag from them their +money to carry out the purposes of this measure." + +Mr. Hubbard, of Connecticut, made a short speech in reply to the +speaker last quoted. He said: "The gentleman from Illinois, some +twenty times in the course of his eloquent speech this morning, called +upon some one to tell him where Congress gets the power to enact such +a law as this. In the first place, I commend to him to read the second +section of the article of the immortal amendment of the Constitution, +giving to Congress power to pass all appropriate laws and make all +appropriate legislation for the purpose of carrying out its +provisions. I commend to his careful study the spirit of the second +section of that immortal amendment, and I think, if he will study it +with a willingness to be convinced, he will see that it has given to +this Congress full power in the premises. Moreover, sir, I read in the +Constitution that Congress has been at all times charged with the duty +of providing for the public welfare; and if Congress shall deem that +the public welfare requires this enactment, it is the sworn duty of +every member to give the bill his support. + +"Sir, there is an old maxim of law in which I have very considerable +faith, that regard must be had to the public welfare; and this maxim +is said to be the highest law. It is the law of the Constitution, and +in the light of that Constitution as amended I find ample power for +the enactment of this law. It is the duty of Congress to exercise its +power in such a time as this, in a time of public peril; and I hope +that nobody on this side of the House will be so craven as to want +courage to come up to the question and give his vote for the bill. It +is necessary to provide for the public welfare." + +Mr. Moulton, of Illinois, spoke in favor of the bill. Of the +oft-repeated objection that "this bill is in violation of the +Constitution of the United States," he said: "This is the very +argument that we have heard from the other side of this chamber for +the last five years with reference to every single measure that has +been proposed to this House for the prosecution of the war for the +Union. No measure has been passed for the benefit of the country, for +the prosecution of this war, for the defense of your rights and mine, +but has been assailed by gentlemen on the opposite side of this House +with the argument that the whole thing was unconstitutional." + +He then proceeded to set forth at length the authority of Congress to +pass such a bill. + +Very strenuous opposition to the passage of the bill was made by most +of the members from Kentucky. Mr. Ritter, of that State, uttered his +earnest protest at considerable length against the measure. He +presented his views of the "grand purposes and designs of those who +introduced this bill." In his opinion they intended "to commence a +colony in each one of the five States above named, which is ultimately +to drive out the entire white population of those States and fill +their places with the negro race." And whether this is the design or +not, it is certain, in my judgment, to have this effect. And they +could not have devised a more effectual scheme for that purpose. + +"Sir, it is not to be expected that the two races will live +contentedly where there are large numbers of the colored people living +near to neighborhoods settled with white persons. Experience has +proved to many of us that wherever large numbers of colored people +live, that the white people living within five or ten miles of the +place become sufferers to a very large extent. Now, sir, if this +should be the case (as I have no doubt it will) in the States in which +you propose to establish these people, the whites and blacks will +disagree to such an extent that, when people find that the colored +people are permanently established, they will be compelled, in self +defense, to seek a home somewhere else. No doubt, Mr. Speaker, but +that those who prepared this bill saw that the difficulties and +disagreements to which I have just alluded would arise, and hence they +require that military jurisdiction and protection shall be extended, +so as to give safety in their movements; and if the white inhabitants +become dissatisfied, the commissioner is prepared with authority by +this bill to buy them out and put the negroes upon the land." + +He thus presented his calculation of the cost of carrying out the bill +as an argument against it: "In 1822 the ordinary expenses of the +Government were $9,827,643, and in 1823 the expenses amounted to the +sum of $9,784,154. Now, sir, who could have thought at that day that +in the comparatively short time of forty-three years it would require +the sum of even $12,000,000 to fix up a machinery alone for the +benefit of three or four million negroes, and more especially, sir, +when it is understood that in 1820 we had a population, including +white and colored, of 9,633,545. Mr. Speaker, how long will it be at +this rate--when we take into consideration the fact that our +Government proper, besides this little bureau machine, is now costing +us hundreds of millions of dollars--how long, sir, will it be before +we have to call in the services of Mr. Kennedy, of census notoriety, +to estimate the amount of the debt we owe?" + +Mr. Rousseau, of Kentucky, in defining his position, said: "I am not a +Republican; I was a Whig and a Union man, and belong to the Union +party, and I am sorry to say that the Union party and the Republican +party are not always convertible terms." + +Mr. Rousseau urged, against the Freedmen's Bureau Bill the wrongs and +oppressions which its abuses heaped upon the people of the South. In +the course of his speech Mr. Rousseau quoted what he had said on one +occasion to an official of the Freedmen's Bureau: "I said to him, 'if +you intend to arrest white people on the _ex parte_ statements of +negroes, and hold them to suit your convenience for trial, and fine +and imprison them, then I say that I oppose you; and if you should so +arrest and punish me, I would kill you when you set me at liberty; and +I think that you would do the same to a man who would treat you in +that way, if you are the man I think you are, and the man you ought to +be to fill your position here.'" + +This extract has considerable importance as being the occasion of an +unfortunate personal difficulty between Mr. Rousseau and Mr. Grinnell, +of Iowa, narrated in a subsequent chapter. The latter portion of Mr. +Rousseau's speech was devoted to the subject of reconstruction. He was +followed by Mr. Shanklin, of Kentucky. He characterized the Freedmen's +Bureau as a "gigantic monster." He declared that "the effect of this +measure upon the negro population will be to paralyze their energy, +destroy their industry, and make them paupers and vagabonds." He saw +"revolution and ruin" in prospect. "I affirm," said he, "that in +legislating for those States, or without allowing them any +representation in these halls, you are violating one of the cardinal +principles of republican government; you are tearing down the main +pillar upon which our whole fabric of Government rests; you are sowing +broadcast the seeds of revolution and ruin. Mr. Speaker, if the object +of gentlemen here is to restore harmony and peace and prosperity +throughout the Union, why do they adopt measures thus insulting, +tyrannical, and oppressive in their character? Is this the way to +restore harmony and peace and prosperity? How can you expect to gain +the respect and affection of those people by heaping upon them insult +and injustice? If they have the spirit of their ancestors, you may +crush them, you may slay them, but you can never cause them to love +you or respect you; and they ought not while you force upon them +measures which are only intended to degrade them." + +Mr. Trimble, of Kentucky, viewed the question in a similar light to +that in which it was regarded by his colleague. "I hold," said he, +"this bill is in open and plain violation of that provision of the +Constitution. There exists no power in this Government to deprive a +citizen of the United States of his property, to take away the hard +earnings of his own industry and bestow them upon this class of +citizens. The only way you can take property in South Carolina, +Georgia, or any other State, is to take that property under the +Constitution of the United States and the laws passed in pursuance +thereof." + +He closed his speech with the following appeal: "I appeal to my +friends who love this Union, who love it for all the memories of the +past, who love it because it has protected them and theirs; I appeal +to them to pause and reflect before they press this measure upon these +people; for I tell you that, in my judgment, the effects of the +provisions of this bill to us as a nation will not be told in our +lifetimes. If legislation of this character is to be pressed here, I +awfully fear hope will sink within us. Our love for this Union and +desire for its restoration will be greatly weakened and estranged." + +Mr. McKee alone, of all the Representatives from Kentucky, was +favorable to the bill. The opponents of the measure had spoken of it +as a "monstrous usurpation." "We have heard that talk," said Mr. +McKee, "for more than four years here. What bill has been introduced +into and passed by Congress since this war began that this same party +has not been accustomed to denounce as a monstrous usurpation of +power? When the President of the United States issued his call for +troops they cried out, 'A monstrous usurpation of power.' When he sent +a requisition to the Governor of my own State, what was the response? +'Not a man, not a dollar, to prosecute this wicked war against our +Southern brethren.' And the Union party, God help them! in Kentucky, +indorsed the sentiment at that day. I did not belong to that part of +the Union party; I never belonged to that 'neutrality concern.' I +never put in my oar to help propel that ship which was in favor of +thundering forth with its cannon against the North and the South +alike. I never belonged to that party which said, 'We will stand as a +wall of fire against either side.' I thank God I never stood upon but +one side, and that was the side of my country, against treason, +against oppression, against wrong in all its forms." + +In arguing the necessity for some such legislation as that provided in +this bill, Mr. McKee asked, "Has any Southern State given the freedmen +'their full rights and full protection?' Is there a solitary State of +those that have been in rebellion, (and I include my own State with +the rest, because, although she has never been, by proclamation, +declared a State in rebellion, I think she has been one of the most +rebellious of the whole crew,) is there a single one of these States +that has passed laws to give the freedmen full protection? In vain we +wait an affirmative response. Until these States have done so, says +this high authority, the Freedmen's Bureau is a necessity. This is to +my mind a sufficient answer to the arguments of gentlemen on the other +side. In none of those States has the black man a law to protect him +in his rights, either of person or property. He can sue in a court of +justice in my State, but he can command no testimony in his +prosecution or defense unless the witness be a white man. We have one +code for the white man, another for the black. Is this justice? Where +is your court of justice in any Southern State where the black man can +secure protection? Again there is no response." + +Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa, a member of the committee that had reported +this bill, took the floor in its favor. Much having been said by +Representatives of Kentucky in reference to that State, Mr. Grinnell +remarked: "I can not forget, when I hear these extravagant claims set +up here, that her Governor, in the first year of the rebellion, +refused to honor the call for troops made by the President of the +United States in our darkest hour; nor can I forget that when her +soldiers wished to organize regiments they were obliged to cross the +Ohio River into the State of Indiana, that they might organize them +free from the interference of the power of Kentucky neutrality. That +is a fact in history, and I can not overlook it, when gentlemen here +arraign the President of the United States because he has seen fit to +suspend the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ in the State of +Kentucky." + +"Let us see," said Mr. Grinnell, in a subsequent part of his speech, +"what are the laws of Kentucky which are so just and honorable and +equitable. The white man in Kentucky can testify in the courts; the +black man can testify against himself. The white man can vote; the +black man can not. The white man, if he commits an offense, is tried +by a jury of his peers; the black man is tried by his enlightened, +unprejudiced superiors. The rape of a negro woman by a white man is no +offense; the rape of a white woman by a negro man is punishable by +death, and the Governor of the State can not commute. + +"A white man may come into Kentucky when he pleases; the free negro +who comes there is a felon, though a discharged soldier, and wounded +in our battles. A white man in Kentucky may keep a gun; if a black man +buys a gun he forfeits it, and pays a fine of five dollars if +presuming to keep in his possession a musket which he has carried +through the war. Arson of public buildings, if committed by a white +man, is punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of +from seven to twenty-one years; if committed by a black man, the +punishment is death. Arson of a warehouse, etc., when committed by a +white man, is punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to +six years; when committed by a negro, the penalty is death. + +"If a white man is guilty of insurrection or rebellion, he is punished +by being called 'chivalrous.' I instance the rebel General Forest, who +murdered white men at Fort Pillow, and is reputed the most popular man +South. If a negro rebels, or conspires to rebel, he is punished with +death. These are specimens." + +Referring to the benefits conferred by the Freedmen's Bureau upon +Kentucky, Mr. Grinnell remarked: "As it is asserted that this +Freedmen's Bureau is a partial, unnecessary, speculating affair, I +wish to call attention to the fact that in the State of Kentucky, +during the last five months, more white refugees than freedmen, in the +proportion of seven and one-fourth to one, have received rations at +the hands of the Government; that this bureau has kept in schools in +the State of Kentucky fourteen thousand black people." + +In further illustration of the work accomplished by this +instrumentality, he said: "This bureau is in charge of 800,000 acres +of land and 1,500 pieces of town property. It has issued more than +600,000 rations to refugees, and 3,500,000 to freedmen. It has treated +2,500 refugees in hospitals, and decently buried 227 of them. It has +treated 45,000 freedmen, and made the graves for 6,000 of the number. +Transportation has been furnished to 1,700 refugees and 1,900 +freedmen. In the schools there are 80,000 people that have been +instructed by this bureau. And now it is proposed to leave all these +children of misfortune to the tender mercies of a people of whom it is +true by the Spanish maxim, 'Since I have wronged you I have hated +you.' I never can. Our authority to take care of them is founded in +the Constitution; else it is not worthy to be our great charter. It +gives authority to feed Indian tribes, though our enemies, and a just +interpretation can not restrain us in clothing and feeding unfortunate +friends. In providing schools, we can turn to the same authority which +led to the gift of millions of acres of the public domain for the +purpose of establishing agricultural colleges in this country." + +He referred to Russia for example of what should be done in such an +emergency: "We should be worse than barbarians to leave these people +where they are, landless, poor, unprotected; and I commend to +gentlemen who still cling to the delusion that all is well, to take +lessons of the Czar of the Russias, who, when he enfranchised his +people, gave them lands and school-houses, and invited school-masters +from all the world to come there and instruct them. Let us hush our +national songs; rather gird on sack-cloth, if wanting in moral courage +to reap the fruits of our war by being just and considerate to those +who look up to us for temporary counsel and protection. Care and +education are cheaper for the nation than neglect, and nothing is +plainer in the counsels of heaven or the world's history." + +An allusion made by Mr. Grinnell to the speech of Mr. Rosseau, +provoked the personal assault to be described hereafter. + +Mr. Raymond having the floor for a personal explanation, took occasion +to make the following remarks in reference to the bill: "I have no +apprehensions as to the practical workings of this law. So far as I +have been able to collect information from all quarters--and I have +taken some pains to do so--I find that this law, like most other laws +on our statute books, works well where it is well administered. The +practical operations of this bureau will depend upon the character of +the agents into whose hands its management is intrusted. I certainly +have no apprehension in this respect. I do not for one moment fear +that the agents who will be appointed to carry this law into execution +will not use the powers conferred upon them for the furtherance of the +great object which we all have in view--the reconciliation, the +protection, the security of all classes of those who are now our +fellow-citizens in the Southern States." + +Mr. Phelps, of Maryland, made a speech indorsing the principle of the +bill, but objecting to some of its details. His objections were +removed by the presentation and acceptance of the following amendment +by Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio: "No person shall be deemed destitute, +suffering, or dependent upon the Government for support, within the +meaning of this act, who, being able to find employment, could, by +proper industry and exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering and +dependence." + +Mr. Chanler made a long speech in opposition to the bill. He gave +particular attention to the speech of Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, who +had advocated education as a necessity for the South. "The malignant +party spirit and sectional hate," said Mr. Chanler, "that runs through +this whole statement, needs no illustration." After presenting +voluminous extracts from speeches, letters, and public documents, Mr. +Chanler summed up his objections to the bill in the following words: +"Our people are not willing to live under military rule. + +"This bureau is under military rule. It proposes to perpetuate and +strengthen itself by the present bill. + +"It founds an '_imperium in imperio_' to protect black labor against +white labor. + +"It excludes the foreign immigrant from the lands given to the +native-born negro. + +"It subjects the white native-born citizen to the ignominy of +surrendering his patrimony, his self-respect, and his right to labor +into the hands of negroes, idle, ignorant, and misled by fanatic, +selfish speculators." + +Mr. Stevens desired to amend the bill by striking out the limitation +to three years given the possessory titles conferred by General +Sherman, and rendering them perpetual. This amendment the House were +unwilling to accept. Mr. Stevens further proposed to strike out the +proviso "unless as punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have +been duly convicted," giving as a reason for this amendment, "I know +that men are convicted of assault and battery, and sentenced to +slavery down there. I have authentic evidence of that fact in several +letters, and, therefore, I propose to strike out those words." + +This amendment was adopted. Another important amendment proposed by +the committee was the limitation of the operation of the bill to +States in which the writ of _habeas corpus_ was suspended on the 1st +of February, 1866. Mr. Eliot closed the debate by answering some +objections to the bill, and presenting some official documents proving +the beneficent results of the bureau, especially in the State of +Kentucky. + +On the 6th of February the question was taken, and the bill passed by +the following vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. + Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, + Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, + Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, Bundy, Reader W. + Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, + Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, + Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, + Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, + Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, + Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. + Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, + James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, + Kelso, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, Latham, George V. + Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, + Marvin, McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, + Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, + Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, Phelps, Pike, Plants, + Pomeroy, Price, William H. Randall, Raymond, Alexander H. + Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, + Shellabarger, Smith, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Stilwell, + Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, + Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, + Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, + Whaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, + Windom, and Woodbridge.--136. + + NAYS--Messrs. Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Dawson, Eldridge, + Finck, Glossbrenner, Grider, Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, + Edwin N. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, Kerr, Le Blond, + Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Samuel J. + Randall, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, + Sitgreaves, Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, and + Wright--33. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Buckland, Culver, + Denison, Goodyear, Hulburd, Johnson, Jones, Radford, Sloan, + Voorhees, and Winfield--13. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SENATE AND THE VETO MESSAGE. + + Mr. Trumbull on the amendments of the House -- Mr. Guthrie + exhibits feeling -- Mr. Sherman's deliberate conclusion -- + Mr. Henderson's sovereign remedy -- Mr. Trumbull on patent + medicines -- Mr. McDougall a white man -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson on the power to pass the bill -- Concurrence of the + House -- the Veto Message -- Mr. Lane, of Kansas -- His + efforts for delay -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Trumbull's + reply to the President -- The question taken -- Yeas and + Nays -- Failure of passage. + + +On the 7th of February the amendments of the House to the Freedmen's +Bureau Bill were presented to the Senate, and referred to the +Committee on the Judiciary. + +On the following day Mr. Trumbull, chairman of this committee, +reported certain amendments to the amendments made by the House of +Representatives. Mr. Trumbull said: "The House of Representatives have +adopted a substitute for the whole bill, but it is the Senate bill +_verbatim_, with a few exceptions, which I will endeavor to point out. +The title of the bill has been changed, to begin with. It was called +as it passed the Senate 'A bill to enlarge the powers of the +Freedmen's Bureau.' The House has amended the title so as to make it +read, 'A bill to amend an act entitled "An act to establish a Bureau +for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees," and for other purposes.' Of +course, there is no importance in that. + +"The first amendment which the House has made, and the most important +one, will be found to commence in the eighth line of the first +section. The House has inserted words limiting the operation of the +Freedmen's Bureau to those sections of country within which the writ +of _habeas corpus_ was suspended on the 1st day of February, 1866. As +the bill passed the Senate, it will be remembered that it extended to +refugees and freedmen in all parts of the United States, and the +President was authorized to divide the section of country containing +such refugees and freedmen into districts. The House amend that so as +to authorize the President to divide the section of country within +which the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ was suspended on +the 1st day of February, 1866, containing such refugees and freedmen, +into districts. The writ of _habeas corpus_ on the 1st day of February +last was suspended in the late rebellious States, including Kentucky, +and in none other. The writ of _habeas corpus_ was restored by the +President's proclamation in Maryland, in Delaware, and in Missouri, +all of which have been slaveholding States. + +"As the bill passed the Senate, it will be observed it only extended +to refugees and freedmen in the United States, wherever they might be, +and the President was authorized to divide the region of country +containing such refugees and freedmen, and it had no operation except +in States where there were refugees and freedmen. The House has +limited it so that it will not have operation in Maryland, or +Delaware, or Missouri, or any of the Northern States." + +After Mr. Trumbull had stated the other and less important amendments +made by the House, the Senate proceeded to consider the amendments +proposed by the Judiciary Committee, the first of which was to strike +out the words "within which the privileges of the writ of _habeas +corpus_ was suspended on the 1st day of February, 1866." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "I wish to say upon that point that the bill as it +passed the Senate can have no operation except in regions of country +where there are refugees and freedmen. It is confined to those +districts of country, and it could not have operation in most of the +loyal States. But it is desirable, as I am informed, and it was so +stated by one of the Senators from Maryland, that the operations of +this bill should be extended to Maryland. It may be necessary that it +should be extended to Missouri, and possibly to Delaware. I trust not; +but the authority to extend it there ought to exist, if there should +be occasion for it. The only objection I have to limiting the +operation of the bill to the late slaveholding States is, that I think +it bad legislation, when we are endeavoring to break down +discrimination and distinction, to pass a law which is to operate in +one State of the Union and not in another. I would rather that the law +should be general, although I am fully aware that there is nothing for +the law to operate upon in most of the States of the Union. I do not +feel quite willing to vote upon Kentucky, for instance, a law that I +am not willing to have applicable to the State of Illinois, if such a +state of facts exists as that the law can operate in Illinois. I +prefer, therefore, to have the bill in the shape in which it passed +the Senate, and such was the opinion of the Committee on the +Judiciary." + +Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, spoke with much feeling upon the bearings of +the bureau upon his State: "You will have to acknowledge these States +or you will have to do worse. The passage of this system of bills is a +dissolution of the Union, and you can not help it. It will be +impossible for you to carry on this Government under any such system. +When the Union is not to be restored, when there is nothing of that +feeling to make the people endure, do you suppose they will endure +forever? Do you suppose this bill will attach the people in these +eleven States more thoroughly to the Union than they felt when they +reoerganized their State governments, passed laws manumitting their +slaves, electing their Legislatures, and doing all that was indicated +as necessary to be done? Do you suppose that there will ever come a +time, under this bill, that they will desire to become members of this +Union once more? I see in this bill exactly how Kentucky is tolerated +here; for as to having part in this legislation, when she is charged +openly with being ruled at home by rebels, our counsels can be of no +good here; but still we are not to be driven from the Union, and from +raising our voice in favor of it, and raising it in favor of +conciliation and confidence from one section to the other. Gentlemen +do not get these doctrines of hatred and vengeance from the Gospel. +These are not the doctrines taught by the Savior of the world. While +you cry for justice to the African, you are not slow to commit wrong +and outrage on the white race. + +"Sir, there were rebels in all the States, and will be again if you +drive these people to desperation. The Senator from Massachusetts, if +I understood his language aright, threatened us with war or worse if +we did not yield to his suggestions, and the Senator from Indiana +intimated very strongly the same thing. You have strength enough to +carry these measures, if it is the sentiment of the nation; but we are +not a people to be alarmed by words or threats." + +Mr. Sherman had been, as he said, "during this whole debate, rather a +spectator than a participant." Not desiring to commit himself too +hastily, he had reserved his opinion that he might act and vote +understandingly, without feeling, or prejudice, or passion. It was +after full reflection that he voted for the bill so harshly +characterized by the Senator from Kentucky, who had evinced a degree +of feeling entirely uncalled for. Mr. Sherman said further: "I look +upon the Freedman's Bureau Bill as simply a temporary protection to +the freedmen in the Southern States. We are bound by every +consideration of honor, by every obligation that can rest on any +people, to protect the freedmen from the rebels of the Southern +States; ay, sir, and to protect them from the loyal men of the +Southern States. We know that, on account of the prejudices instilled +by the system of slavery pervading all parts of the Southern States, +the Southern people will not do justice to the freedmen of those +States. We know that in the course of the war the freedmen have been +emancipated; that they have aided us in this conflict; and, therefore, +we are bound, by every consideration of honor, faith, and of public +morals, to protect and maintain all the essential incidents of freedom +to them. I have no doubt that in doing this we shall encounter the +prejudices not only of rebels, but of loyal men; but still the +obligation and guarantee is none the less binding on us. We must +maintain their freedom, and with it all the incidents and all the +rights of freedom." + +Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, like the Senator from Ohio, had hitherto +taken no part in the discussion. He was opposed to the limitations +placed upon the bill by the House of Representatives. "I would not +have voted for it if it had not been carried to my own State; and if +this amendment of the House of Representatives is to be adopted, I +will not vote for the bill. I want the bill to be made general. If it +is to be made special, if it is to be applied to Kentucky only, I +appreciate the feeling that drove my friend from Kentucky to make the +most unfortunate remark that has been made upon the floor of the +Senate since 1861. I sincerely hope, for the good of the country, that +the distinguished Senator may see fit to take back what he said a few +moments ago. + +"Sir, we have had enough of disunion. I hope that no Senator in the +future will rise upon this floor and talk, under any circumstances +whatever, of another war of rebellion against the constituted +authorities of this country. My God! are we again to pass through the +scenes of blood through which we have passed for the last four years? +Are we to have this war repeated? No Freedmen's Bureau Bill, no bill +for the protection of the rights of any body, shall ever drive me to +dream of such a thing." + +Mr. Henderson thought a better protection for the negro than the +Freedmen's Bureau would be the ballot. He said: "I live in a State +that was a slaveholding State until last January a year ago. I have +been a slaveholder all my life until the day when the ordinance of +emancipation was passed in my State. I advocated it, and have +advocated emancipation for the last four years, at least since this +war commenced. Do you want to know how to protect the freedmen of the +Southern States? This bill is useless for that purpose. It is not the +intention of the honorable Senators on this floor from Northern +States, who favor this bill, to send military men to plunder the good +people of Kentucky. It is an attempt to enforce this moral and +religious sentiment of the people of the Northern States. Sir, these +freedmen will be protected. The decree of Almighty God has gone forth, +as it went forth in favor of their freedom originally, that they shall +be endowed with all the rights that belong to other men. Will you +protect them? Give them the ballot, Mr. President, and then they are +protected." + +In reference to the remarks by Mr. Henderson, Mr. Trumbull said: "The +zeal of my friend from Missouri seems to have run away with him. +Having come from being a slaveholder to the position of advocating +universal negro suffrage as the sovereign remedy for every thing, he +manifests a degree of zeal which I have only seen equaled, I confess, +by some of the discoverers of patent medicines who have found a grand +specific to cure all diseases! Why, he says this bureau is of no +account; give the negro the ballot, and that will stop him from +starving; that will feed him; that will educate him! You have got on +your hands to-day one hundred thousand feeble indigent, infirm colored +population that would starve and die if relief were not afforded; and +the Senator from Missouri tells you, 'This is all nonsense; give them +the right of suffrage, and that is all they want.' This to feed the +hungry and clothe the naked! He has voted for these bills; but if you +will only just give the right of suffrage, you do not want to take +care of any starving man, any orphan child, any destitute and feeble +person that can not take care of himself! It is the most sovereign +remedy that I have heard of since the days of Townsend's +Sarsaparilla." + +Referring to the feeling manifested by Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Trumbull said: +" God forbid that I should put a degradation on the people of +Kentucky. I never thought of such a thing. I would sooner cut off my +right hand than do such a thing. What is it that so excites and +inflames the mind of the Senator from Kentucky that he talks about the +degradation that is to be put upon her, the plunder of her people, the +injustice that is to be done her inhabitants? Why, sir, a bill to help +the people of Kentucky to take care of the destitute negroes, made +free without any property whatever, without the means of support, left +to starve and to die unless somebody cares for them; and we propose in +the Congress of the United States to help to do it. Is that a +degradation? Is that an injustice? Is that the way to rob a people?" + +Mr. McDougall having subsequently obtained the floor, made the remark: +"I, being a white man, say for the white men and white women that they +will take care of themselves. This bill was not made for white women +or white men, or white men and women's children." + +This brought out the following statistical statement from Mr. +Trumbull: "I have before me the official report, which shows the +consolidated number of rations issued in the different districts and +States during the month of June, July, August, September, and October, +1865. In June there were issued to refugees three hundred and thirteen +thousand six hundred and twenty-seven rations, and thirty six thousand +one hundred and eighty-one to freedmen. In August, in Kentucky and +Tennessee, there were issued to refugees eighty-seven thousand one +hundred and eighty rations, and to freedmen eighty-seven thousand one +hundred and ninety-five--almost an equality." + +Mr. Johnson, of Maryland remarked: "The object of the bill is a very +correct one; these people should be taken care of; and as it is +equally applicable to the whites and to the blacks, and the whites in +many of the States requiring as much protection as the blacks, I would +very willingly vote for the bill if I thought we had the power to pass +it; but on the question of power I have no disposition now or perhaps +at any time in the present stage of the bill to trouble the Senate." + +The bill soon after passed the Senate as amended in the House, and +reaemended in the Senate, by a vote of twenty-nine to seven. + +On the following day, the amendments of the Senate were concurred in +by the House without debate, and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill was ready +to be submitted to the Executive. + +Ten day's after the final passage of the bill, the President sent to +the Senate a message, "with his objection thereto in writing." + +The Senate immediately suspended other business to hear the VETO +MESSAGE, which was read by the Secretary, as follows: + + "_To the Senate of the United States:_ + + "I have examined with care the bill which originated in the + Senate, and has been passed by the two houses of Congress, + to amend an act entitled 'An act to establish a Bureau for + the relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' and for other + purposes. Having, with much regret, come to the conclusion + that it would not be consistent with the public welfare to + give my approval to the measure, I return the bill to the + Senate with my objections to its becoming a law. + + "I might call to mind, in advance of these objections, that + there is no immediate necessity for the proposed measure. + The act to establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and + Refugees, which was approved in the month of March last, has + not yet expired. It was thought stringent and extensive + enough for the purpose in view in time of war. Before it + ceases to have effect, further experience may assist to + guide us to a wise conclusion as to the policy to be adopted + in time of peace. + + "I share with Congress the strongest desire to secure to the + freedmen the full enjoyment of their freedom and property, + and their entire independence and equality in making + contracts for their labor; but the bill before me contains + provisions which, in my opinion, are not warranted by the + Constitution, and are not well suited to accomplish the end + in view. + + "The bill proposes to establish by authority of Congress, + military jurisdiction over all parts of the United States + containing refugees and freedmen. It would, by its very + nature, apply with most force to those parts of the United + States in which the freedmen most abound; and it expressly + extends the existing temporary jurisdiction of the + Freedmen's Bureau, with greatly enlarged powers, over those + States 'in which the ordinary course of judicial proceeding, + has been interrupted by the rebellion.' The source from + which this military jurisdiction is to emanate is none other + than the President of the United States, acting through the + War Department and the commissioner of the Freedmen's + Bureau. The agents to carry out this military jurisdiction + are to be selected either from the army or from civil life; + the country is to be divided into districts and + sub-districts; and the number of salaried agents to be + employed may be equal to the number of counties or parishes + in all the United States where freedmen and refugees are to + be found. + + "The subjects over which this military jurisdiction is to + extend in every part of the United States include protection + to 'all employes, agents, and officers of this bureau in the + exercise of the duties imposed' upon them by the bill. In + eleven States it is further to extend over all cases + affecting freedmen and refugees discriminated against' by + local law, custom, or prejudice.' In those eleven States the + bill subjects any white person who may be charged with + depriving a freedman of 'any civil rights or immunities + belonging to white persons' to imprisonment or fine, or + both, without, however, defining the 'civil rights and + immunities' which are thus to be secured to the freedmen by + military law. This military jurisdiction also extends to all + questions that may arise respecting contracts. The agent who + is thus to exercise the office of a military judge may be a + stranger, entirely ignorant of the laws of the place, and + exposed to the errors of judgment to which all men are + liable. The exercise of power, over which there is no legal + supervision, by so vast a number of agents as is + contemplated by the bill, must, by the very nature of man, + be attended by acts of caprice, injustice, and passion. + + "The trials, having their origin under this bill, are to + take place without the intervention of a jury, and without + any fixed rules of law or evidence. The rules on which + offenses are to be 'heard and determined' by the numerous + agents, are such rules and regulations as the President, + through the War Department, shall prescribe. No previous + presentment is required, nor any indictment charging the + commission of a crime against the laws; but the trial must + proceed on charges and specifications. The punishment will + be, not what the law declares, but such as a court-martial + may think proper; and from these arbitrary tribunals there + lies no appeal, no writ of error to any of the courts in + which the Constitution of the United States vests + exclusively the judicial power of the country. + + "While the territory and the classes of actions and offenses + that are made subject to this measure are so extensive, the + bill itself, should it become a law, will have no limitation + in point of time, but will form a part of the permanent + legislation of the country. I can not reconcile a system of + military jurisdiction of this kind with the words of the + Constitution, which declare that 'no person shall be held to + answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless upon + a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases + arising in the land and naval forces, or in the militia when + in actual service in time of war or public danger;' and that + 'in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the + right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of + the State or district wherein the crime shall have been + committed.' The safeguards which the experience and wisdom + of ages taught our fathers to establish as securities for + the protection of the innocent, the punishment of the + guilty, and the equal administration of justice, are to be + set aside, and for the sake of a more vigorous interposition + in behalf of justice, we are to take the risk of the many + acts of injustice that would necessarily follow from an + almost countless number of agents established in every + parish or county in nearly a third of the States of the + Union, over whose decisions there is to be no supervision or + control by the Federal courts. The power that would be thus + placed in the hands of the President is such as in time of + peace certainly ought never to be intrusted to any one man. + + "If it be asked whether the creation of such a tribunal + within a State is warranted as a measure of war, the + question immediately presents itself whether we are still + engaged in war. Let us not unnecessarily disturb the + commerce and credit and industry of the country by declaring + to the American people and to the world, that the United + States are still in a condition of civil war. At present + there is no part of our country in which the authority of + the United States is disputed. Offenses that may be + committed by individuals should not work a forfeiture of the + rights of whole communities. The country has returned, or is + returning, to a state of peace and industry, and the + rebellion is in fact at an end. The measure, therefore, + seems to be as inconsistent with the actual condition of the + country as it is at variance with the Constitution of the + United States. + + "If, passing from general considerations, we examine the + bill in detail, it is open to weighty objections. + + "In time of war it was eminently proper, that we should + provide for those who were passing suddenly from a condition + of bondage to a state of freedom. But this bill proposes to + make the Freedmen's Bureau, established by the act of 1865 + as one of many great and extraordinary military measures to + suppress a formidable rebellion, a permanent branch of the + public administration, with its powers greatly enlarged. I + have no reason to suppose, and I do not understand it to be + alleged, that the act of March, 1865, has proved deficient + for the purpose for which it was passed, although at that + time, and for a considerable period thereafter, the + Government of the United States remained unacknowledged in + most of the States whose inhabitants had been involved in + the rebellion. The institution of slavery, for the military + destruction of which the Freedmen's Bureau was called into + existence as an auxiliary, has been already effectually and + finally abrogated throughout the whole country by an + amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and + practically its eradication has received the assent and + concurrence of most of those States in which it at any time + had an existence. I am not, therefore, able to discern, in + the condition of the country, any thing to justify an + apprehension that the powers and agencies of the Freedmen's + Bureau, which were effective for the protection of freedmen + and refugees during the actual continuance of hostilities + and of African servitude, will now, in a time of peace and + after the abolition of slavery, prove inadequate to the same + proper ends. If I am correct in these views, there can be no + necessity for the enlargement of the powers of the bureau, + for which provision is made in the bill. + + "The third section of the bill authorizes a general and + unlimited grant of support to the destitute and suffering + refugees and freedmen, their wives and children. Succeeding + sections make provision for the rent or purchase of landed + estates for freedmen, and for the erection for their benefit + of suitable buildings for asylums and schools, the expenses + to be defrayed from the Treasury of the whole people. The + Congress of the United States has never heretofore thought + itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the limits of + the District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our + disabled soldiers and sailors. It has never founded schools + for any class of our own people, not even for the orphans of + those who have fallen in the defense of the Union; but has + left the care of education to the much more competent and + efficient control of the States, of communities, of private + associations, and of individuals. It has never deemed itself + authorized to expend the public money for the rent or + purchase of homes for the thousands, not to say millions, of + the white race, who are honestly toiling from day to day for + their subsistence. A system for the support of indigent + persons in the United States was never contemplated by the + authors of the Constitution, nor can any good reason be + advanced why, as a permanent establishment, it should be + founded for one class or color of our people more than + another. Pending the war, many refugees and freedmen + received support from the Government, but it was never + intended that they should thenceforth be fed, clothed, + educated, and sheltered by the United States. The idea on + which the slaves were assisted to freedom was that, on + becoming free, they would be a self-sustaining population. + Any legislation that shall imply that they are not expected + to attain a self-sustaining condition must have a tendency + injurious alike to their character and their prospects. + + "The appointment of an agent for every county and parish + will create an immense patronage; and the expense of the + numerous officers and their clerks, to be appointed by the + President, will be great in the beginning, with a tendency + steadily to increase. The appropriations asked by the + Freedmen's Bureau, as now established, for the year 1866, + amount to $11,745,000. It may be safely estimated that the + cost to be incurred under the pending bill will require + double that amount--more than the entire sum expended in any + one year under the administration of the second Adams. If + the presence of agents in every parish and county is to be + considered as a war measure, opposition, or even resistance, + might be provoked, so that, to give effect to their + jurisdiction, troops would have to be stationed within reach + of every one of them, and thus a large standing force be + rendered necessary. Large appropriations would therefore be + re-required to sustain and enforce military jurisdiction in + every county or parish from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. + The condition of our fiscal affairs is encouraging, but, in + order to sustain the present measure of public confidence, + it is necessary that we practice not merely customary + economy, but, as far as possible, severe retrenchment. + + "In addition to the objections already stated, the fifth + section of the bill proposes to take away land from its + former owners without any legal proceedings being first had, + contrary to that provision of the Constitution which + declares that no person shall 'be deprived of life, liberty, + or property, without due process of law.' It does not appear + that a part of the lands to which this section refers may + not be owned by minors or persons of unsound mind, or by + those who have been faithful to all their obligations as + citizens of the United States. If any portion of the land is + held by such persons, it is not competent for any authority + to deprive them of it. If, on the other hand, it be found + that the property is liable to confiscation, even then it + can not be appropriated to public purposes until, by due + process of law, it shall have been declared forfeited to the + Government. + + "There is still further objection to the bill on grounds + seriously affecting the class of persons to whom it is + designed to bring relief; it will tend to keep the mind of + the freedman in a state of uncertain expectation and + restlessness, while to those among whom he lives it will be + a source of constant and vague apprehension. + + "Undoubtedly the freedman should be protected, but he should + be protected by the civil authorities, especially by the + exercise of all the constitutional powers of the courts of + the United States and of the States. His condition is not so + exposed as may at first be imagined. He is in a portion of + the country where his labor can not well be spared. + Competition for his services from planters, from those who + are constructing or repairing railroads, and from + capitalists in his vicinage or from other States, will + enable him to command almost his own terms. He also + possesses a perfect right to change his place of abode; and + if, therefore, he does not find in one community or State a + mode of life suited to his desires, or proper remuneration + for his labor, he can move to another, where that labor is + more esteemed and better rewarded. In truth, however, each + State, induced by its own wants and interests, will do what + is necessary and proper to retain within its borders all the + labor that is needed for the development of its resources. + The laws that regulate supply and demand will maintain their + force, and the wages of the laborer will be regulated + thereby. There is no danger that the exceedingly great + demand for labor will not operate in favor of the laborer. + + "Neither is sufficient consideration given to the ability of + the freedmen to protect and take care of themselves. It is + no more than justice to them to believe that, as they have + received their freedom with moderation and forbearance, so + they will distinguish themselves by their industry and + thrifty and soon show the world that, in a condition of + freedom, they are self-sustaining, capable of selecting + their own employment and their own places of abode, of + insisting for themselves on a proper remuneration, and of + establishing and maintaining their own asylums and schools. + It is earnestly hoped that, instead of wasting away, they + will, by their own efforts, establish for themselves a + condition of respect, ability, and prosperity. It is certain + that they can attain to that condition only through their + own merits and exertions. + + "In this connection the query presents itself, whether the + system proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete + operation, practically transfer the entire care, support, + and control of four million emancipated slaves to agents, + overseers, or taskmasters, who, appointed at Washington, are + to be located in every county and parish throughout the + United States containing freedmen and refugees? Such a + system would inevitably tend to a concentration of power in + the Executive which would enable him, if so disposed, to + control the action of this numerous class and use them for + the attainment of his own political ends. + + "I can not but add another very grave objection to this + bill: The Constitution imperatively declares, in connection + with taxation, that each State shall have at least one + Representative, and fixes the rule for the number to which, + in future times, each State shall be entitled. It also + provides that the Senate of the United States shall be + composed of two Senators from each State, and adds, with + peculiar force, 'that no State, without its consent, shall + be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.'. The + original act was necessarily passed in the absence of the + States chiefly to be affected, because their people were + then contumaciously engaged in the rebellion. Now the case + is changed, and some, at least, of those States are + attending Congress by loyal Representatives, soliciting the + allowance of the constitutional right of representation. At + the time, however, of the consideration and the passing of + this bill, there was no Senator or Representative in + Congress from the eleven States which are to be mainly + affected by its provisions. The very fact that reports were + and are made against the good disposition of the people of + that portion of the country is an additional reason why they + need, and should have, Representatives of their own in + Congress to explain their condition, reply to accusations, + and assist, by their local knowledge, in the perfecting of + measures immediately affecting themselves. While the liberty + of deliberation would then be free, and Congress would have + full power to decide according to its judgment, there could + be no objection urged that the States most interested had + not been permitted to be heard. The principle is firmly + fixed in the minds of the American people that there should + be no taxation without representation. + + "Great burdens have now to be borne by all the country, and + we may best demand that they shall be borne without murmur + when they are voted by a majority of the Representatives of + all the people. I would not interfere with the + unquestionable right of Congress to judge, each house for + itself, 'of the elections, returns, and qualifications of + its own members,' but that authority can not be construed as + including the right to shut out, in time of peace, any State + from the representation to which it is entitled by the + Constitution. At present, all the people of eleven States + are excluded--those who were most faithful during the war + not less than others. The State of Tennessee, for instance, + whose authorities engaged in rebellion, was restored to all + her constitutional relations to the Union by the patriotism + and energy of her injured and betrayed people. Before the + war was brought to a termination, they had placed themselves + in relation with the General Government, had established a + State government of their own; as they were not included in + the Emancipation Proclamation, they, by their own act, had + amended their Constitution so as to abolish slavery within + the limits of their State. I know no reason why the State of + Tennessee, for example, should not fully enjoy 'all her + constitutional relations to the United States.' + + "The President of the United States stands toward the + country in a somewhat different attitude from that of any + member of Congress. Each member of Congress is chosen from a + single district or State; the President is chosen by the + people of all the States. As eleven are not at this time + represented in either branch of Congress, it would seem to + be his duty, on all proper occasions, to present their just + claims to Congress. There always will be differences of + opinion in the community, and individuals may be guilty of + transgressions of the law; but these do not constitute valid + objections against the right of a State to representation. I + would in nowise interfere with the discretion of Congress + with regard to the qualifications of members; but I hold it + my duty to recommend to you, in the interests of peace and, + in the interests of union, the admission of every State to + its share in public legislation when, however insubordinate, + insurgent, or rebellious its people may have been, it + presents itself, not only in an attitude of loyalty and + harmony, but in the persons of Representatives whose loyalty + can not be questioned under any existing constitutional or + legal test. + + "It is plain that an indefinite or permanent exclusion of + any part of the country from representation must be attended + by a spirit of disquiet and complaint. It is unwise and + dangerous to pursue a course of measures which will unite a + very large section of the country against another section of + the country, however much the latter may preponderate. The + course of emigration, the development of industry and + business, and natural causes will raise up at the South men + as devoted to the Union as those of any other part of the + land. But if they are all excluded from Congress--if, in a + permanent statute, they are declared not to be in full + constitutional relations to the country--they may think they + have cause to become a unit in feeling and sentiment against + the Government. Under the political education of the + American people, the idea is inherent and ineradicable that + the consent of the majority of the whole people is necessary + to secure a willing acquiescence in legislation. + + "The bill under consideration refers to certain of the + States as though they had hot 'been fully restored in all + their constitutional relations to the United States.' If + they have not, let us at once act together to secure that + desirable end at the earliest possible moment It is hardly + necessary for me to inform Congress that, in my own + judgment, most of these States, so far, at least, as depends + upon their own action, have already been fully restored, + and"are to be deemed as entitled to enjoy their + constitutional rights as members of the Union. Reasoning + from the Constitution itself, and from the actual situation + of the country, I feel not only entitled but bound to assume + that, with the Federal courts restored, and those of the + several States in the full exercise of their functions, the + rights and interests of all classes of the people will, with + the aid of the military in cases of resistance to the laws, + be essentially protected against unconstitutional + infringement or violation. Should this expectation unhappily + fail--which I do not anticipate--then the Executive is + already fully armed with the powers conferred by the act of + March, 1865, establishing the Freedmen's Bureau, and + hereafter, as heretofore, he can employ the land and naval + forces of the country to suppress insurrection or to + overcome obstructions to the laws. + + "In accordance with the Constitution, I return the bill to + the Senate, in the earnest hope that a measure involving + questions and interests so important to the country will not + become a law unless, upon deliberate consideration by the + people, it shall receive the sanction of an enlightened + public judgment. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON." + +[Illustration: Hon. S. C. Pomeroy.] + +The majority of the Senate was in favor of proceeding immediately to +the consideration of the message, and to have a vote as to whether the +bill should be passed, "the objections of the President to the +contrary notwithstanding." To this Mr. Lane, of Kansas, was opposed. +He said: "There are several Senators absent, and I think it but just +to them that they should have an opportunity to be present when the +vote is taken on this bill. I can not consent, so long as I can +postpone this question by the rules of the Senate, to have a vote upon +it to-night." Mr. Lane accordingly made four successive motions to +adjourn, in each of which he called for the yeas and nays. Finally, +the motion for adjournment having been made for the fifth time, it was +carried, with the understanding that the bill should be the pending +question at one o'clock on the following day. + +On that day, February 20th, the bill and the message came duly before +the Senate. Mr. Davis obtained the floor, and made a long speech in +opposition to the bill and in favor of the Veto Message. He expressed +his aversion to the bill, and the objects sought to be attained under +it in very emphatic terms, but added nothing to the arguments which +had already been adduced. + +Mr. Trumbull replied to the objections urged against the bill in the +President's Message. The President said, "The bill, should it become a +law will have no limitation in point of time, but will form a part of +the permanent legislation of the country." + +"The object of the bill," replied Mr. Trumbull, "was to continue in +existence the Freedmen's Bureau--not as a permanent institution. Any +such intent was disavowed during the discussion of the bill. It is +true, no time is expressly limited in the bill itself when it shall +cease to operate, nor is it customary to insert such a clause in a +law; but it is declared that the bill shall operate until otherwise +provided by law. It is known that the Congress of the United States +assembles every year, and no one supposed that this bill was to +establish a bureau to be ingrafted upon the country as a permanent +institution; far from it. Nor is it a bill that is intended to go into +the States and take control of the domestic affairs of the States." + +"There is no immediate necessity for the proposed measure," said the +President; "the act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen +and Refugees, which was approved in the month of March last, has not +yet expired. It was thought stringent and extensive enough for the +purpose in view in time of war." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "By the terms of the act, it was to continue +'during the present war of rebellion and for one year thereafter.' +Now, when did the war of rebellion cease? So far as the conflict of +arms is concerned, we all admit that the war of rebellion ceased when +the last rebel army laid down its arms, and that was some time in the +month of May, when the rebel army in Texas surrendered to the Union +forces. I do not hold that the consequences of the war are over. I do +not understand that peace is restored with all its consequences. We +have not yet escaped from the evils inflicted by the war. Peace and +harmony are not yet restored, but the war of rebellion is over, and +this bureau must expire in May next, according to the terms of the act +that was passed on the 3d of March, 1865, and according to the views +of the President as expressed in his Veto Message." + +"The bill," said the President, "proposes to establish by authority of +Congress, military jurisdiction over all parts of the United States +containing refugees and freedmen." + +"I would like to know," said Mr. Trumbull, "where in that bill is any +provision extending military jurisdiction over all parts of the United +States containing refugees and freedmen? The bill contains no such +clause. It is a misapprehension of the bill. The clause of the bill +upon that subject is this: + + "'And the President of the United States, through the War + Department and the commissioner, shall extend military + jurisdiction and protection over all employes, agents, and + officers of this bureau in the exercise of the duties + imposed or authorized by this act or the act to which this + is additional.' + +"Is not the difference manifest to every body between a bill that +extends military jurisdiction over the officers and employes of the +bureau and a bill which should extend military jurisdiction over all +parts of the United States containing refugees and freedmen? This bill +makes the Freedmen's Bureau a part of the War Department. It makes its +officers and agents amenable to the Rules and Articles of War. But +does that extend jurisdiction over the whole country where they are? +How do they differ from any other portion of the army of the United +States? The army of the United States, as every one knows, is governed +by the Rules and Articles of War, wherever it may be, whether in +Indiana or in Florida, and all persons in the army and a part of the +military establishment are subject to these Rules and Articles of War; +but did any body ever suppose that the whole country where they were +was under military jurisdiction? If a company of soldiers are +stationed at one of the forts in New York harbor, the officers and +soldiers of that company are subject to military jurisdiction; but was +it ever supposed that the people of the State of New York were thereby +placed under military jurisdiction? It is an entire misapprehension of +the provisions of the bill. It extends military jurisdiction nowhere; +it merely places under jurisdiction the persons belonging to the +Freedmen's Bureau who, nearly all of them, are now under military +jurisdiction." + +"The country," objected the President, "is to be divided into +districts and sub-districts, and the number of salaried agents to be +employed may be equal to the number of counties or parishes in all the +States where freedmen and refugees are to be found." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "A single officer need not be employed other +than those we now have. I have already stated that it is in the power +and discretion of the President to detail from the army officers to +perform all the duties of the Freedmen's Bureau, and, in case they are +detailed, the bill provides that they shall serve without any +additional compensation or allowance. But, sir, is it necessary, or +was it ever contemplated, that there should be an officer or agent of +the Freedmen's Bureau in every county and every parish where refugees +and freedmen are to be found? By no means. What is the bill upon that +subject? Does it make it imperative upon the President to appoint an +agent in each county and parish? It authorizes him 'when the same +shall be necessary for the operations of the bureau;' not otherwise. +He has no authority, under the bill, to appoint a single agent unless +it is necessary for the operations of the bureau, and then he can only +appoint so many as may be needed. Sir, it never entered the mind, I +venture to say, of a single advocate of this bill, that the President +of the United States would so abuse the authority intrusted to him as +to station an agent in every county in these States; but it was +apprehended that there might be localities in some of these States +where the prejudice and hostility of the white population and the +former masters were such toward the negroes that it would be necessary +to have an agent in every county in that locality for their +protection; and, in order to give the President the necessary +discretion where this should be requisite, the bill authorized, when +it was necessary for the operations of the bureau, the appointment of +an agent in each county or parish. In order to vest the President with +sufficient power in some localities, it was necessary, legislating by +general law, to give him much larger power than would be necessary in +other localities. + +"Sir, the country is not to be divided, I undertake to say, into +districts and sub-districts unless the President of the United States +finds it necessary to do so for the protection of these people; and if +the law should be abused in that respect, it would be because he +abused the discretion vested in him by Congress, and not because the +law required it. It makes no such requirement." + +"This military jurisdiction," said the President, "also extends to all +questions that may arise respecting contracts." + +"So far," replied Mr. Trumbull, "from extending this military +jurisdiction over all questions arising concerning contracts, and so +far from extending military jurisdiction anywhere, it is expressly +provided, by the very terms of the bill, that no such jurisdiction +shall be exercised except where the President himself has established, +and is maintaining military jurisdiction, which he is now doing in +eleven States; and the very moment that he ceases to maintain military +jurisdiction, that very moment the military jurisdiction conferred +over freedmen by this act ceases and terminates. + +"Sir, the whole jurisdiction to try and dispose of cases by the +officers and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau is expressly limited to +the time when these States shall be restored to their constitutional +relations, and when the courts of the United States and of the States +are not interrupted nor interfered with in the peaceable course of +justice. So far, then, from the bill establishing a military +jurisdiction, upon which the Senator from Kentucky and other Senators +have so much harped, it confers no jurisdiction to try cases one +moment after the courts are restored, and are no longer interrupted in +the peaceable administration of justice. Let me ask by what authority +is it that military tribunals are sitting to-day at Alexandria, +Virginia? By what authority is it that the writ of _habeas corpus_ is +suspended to-day in eleven States, when the Constitution of the United +States says that the writ shall not be suspended except when, in cases +of rebellion and invasion, the public safety may require it. By what +authority does the President of the United States object to the +exercise of military jurisdiction by that part of the army charged +with the execution of the provisions of the Freedmen's Bureau when he +exercises that military jurisdiction himself by other portions of the +army? But a few days since a military commission was sitting in +Alexandria, trying persons charged with crimes--and they are held all +over the South--and yet that part of the army connected with the +Freedmen's Bureau can not exercise any such authority because it is +unconstitutional--unconstitutional to do by virtue of a law of +Congress what is done without any law! + +"Where does the Executive get the power? The Executive is but the +Commander-in-chief of the armies, made so by the Constitution; but he +can not raise an army or a single soldier, he can not appoint a single +officer, without the consent of Congress. He can not make any rules +and regulations for the government of the army without our permission. +The Constitution of the United States declares, in so many words, that +Congress shall have power 'to make rules for the government and +regulation of the land and naval forces' of the United States. Can it +be that that department of the Government, vested in express terms by +the Constitution itself with authority to make rules for the +government and regulation of the land and naval forces, has no +authority to direct that portion of the land and naval forces employed +in the Freedmen's Bureau to exercise this jurisdiction instead of +department commanders? Sir, it is competent for Congress to declare +that no department commanders shall exercise any such authority; it is +competent for Congress to declare that a court-martial shall never +sit, that a military commission shall never be held, and the President +is as much bound to obey it as the humblest citizen in the land." + +The President said: "The trials having their origin under this bill +are to take place without the intervention of a jury, and without any +fixed rules of law or evidence." + +"Do not all military trials take place in that way," asked Mr. +Trumbull. "Did any body ever hear of the presentment of a grand jury +in a case where a court-martial set for the trial of a military +offense, or the trial of a person charged with any offense cognizable +before it? This Freedmen's Bureau Bill confers no authority to do this +except in those regions of country where military authority prevails, +where martial law is established, where persons exercising civil +authority act in subordination to the military power, and where the +moment they transcend the proper limits as fixed by military orders, +they are liable to be arrested and punished without the intervention +of a grand jury, or without the right of appeal to any of the judicial +tribunals of the country. I would as soon think of an appeal from the +decision of the military tribunal that sat in the city of Washington, +and condemned to death the murderers of our late President, to the +judicial tribunals of the country! Where military authority bears +sway, where the courts are overborne, is it not an absurdity to say +that you must have a presentment of a grand jury, and a trial in a +court." + +"I can not reconcile a system of military jurisdiction of this kind +with the words of the Constitution," said the President. + +"If you can not reconcile a system of military jurisdiction of this +kind with the words of the Constitution, why have you been exercising +it," asked Mr. Trumbull. "Why have you been organizing courts-martial +and military commissions all over the South, trying offenders, and +punishing some of them with death? Why have you authorized the present +Freedmen's Bureau to hold bureau courts all through the South? This +has all been done by your permission, and is being done to-day. Then, +sir, if you are still in the exercise of this power now, if you have +been exercising it from the day you became President of the United +States, how is it that you can not reconcile a system of jurisdiction +of this kind with the words of the Constitution? + +"Sir, does it detract from the President's authority to have the +sanction of law? I want to give that sanction. I do not object to the +exercise of this military authority of the President in the rebellious +States. I believe it is constitutional and legitimate and necessary; +but I believe Congress has authority to regulate it. I believe +Congress has authority to direct that this military jurisdiction shall +be exercised by that branch of the army known as the Freedmen's +Bureau, as well as by any other branch of the army." + +"The rebellion is at an end," said the President. "The measure, +therefore, seems to be as inconsistent with the actual condition of +the country as it is at variance with the Constitution of the United +States." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "If the rebellion is at an end, will anybody +tell me by what authority the President of the United States suspends +the writ of _habeas corpus_ in those States where it existed. The act +of Congress of March, 1863, authorized the President of the United +States to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ during the present +rebellion. He says it is at an end. By what authority, then, does he +suspend the writ? By his own declaration, let him stand or fall. If it +is competent to suspend the writ, if it is competent for military +tribunals to sit all through the South, and entertain military +jurisdiction, this bill, which does not continue military +jurisdiction, does not establish military jurisdiction, but only +authorizes the officers of this bureau, while military jurisdiction +prevails, to take charge of that particular class of cases affecting +the refugee or freedman where he is discriminated against, can not be +obnoxious to any constitutional objection." + +"This bill," said the President, "proposes to make the Freedmen's +Bureau, established by the act of 1865, as one of many great and +extraordinary military measures to suppress a formidable rebellion, a +permanent branch of the public administration, with its powers greatly +enlarged." + +"This is a mistake," replied Mr. Trumbull; "it is not intended, I +apprehend, by any body, certainly not by me, to make it a permanent +branch of the public administration; and I am quite sure that the +powers of the bureau are not, by the amendatory bill, greatly +enlarged. A careful examination of the amendment will show that it is +in some respects a restriction on the powers already exercised." + +"The third section of the bill," the President objected, "authorizes a +general and unlimited grant of support to the destitute and suffering +refugees and freedmen, their wives and children." + +"What is the third section of the bill," asked Mr. Trumbull, "which +the President says contains such an unlimited grant of support to the +destitute and suffering refugees, their wives and children? I will +read that third section: + + "'That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of + provisions, clothing, fuel, including medical stores and + transportation, and afford such aid, medical or otherwise, + as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary + shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and + freedmen, their wives and children, under such rules and + regulations as he may direct: _Provided_, That no person + shall be deemed "destitute," "suffering," or "dependent upon + the Government for support," within the meaning of this act, + who, being able to find employment, could, by proper + industry and exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or + dependence.' + +"Does the President object to this bill on the ground that it +authorizes medical aid to be furnished the sick? Or does he object to +it because of the proviso which limits its operation, and declares +that nobody shall be deemed destitute and suffering under the +provisions of the act who is able, by proper industry and exertion, to +avoid such destitution? Why, sir, it is a limitation on the present +existing law. Does that look much like taking care of four million of +people--a provision that expressly limits the operations of this act +to those only who can not find employment? A statement of the fact is +all that is necessary to meet this statement in the Veto Message." + +"The Congress of the United States," said the President, "has never +heretofore thought itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the +limits of the District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our +disabled soldiers and sailors. It has never founded schools for any +class of our own people. It has never deemed itself authorized to +expend the public money for the rent or purchase of homes for the +thousands, not to say millions of the white race who are honestly +toiling from day to day for their subsistence." + +"The answer to that is this," said Mr. Trumbull: "We never before were +in such a state as now"; never before in the history of this +Government did eleven States of the Union combine together to +overthrow and destroy the Union; never before in the history of this +Government have we had a four years' civil war; never before in the +history of this Government have nearly four million people been +emancipated from the most abject and degrading slavery ever imposed +upon human beings; never before has the occasion arisen when it was +necessary to provide for such large numbers of people thrown upon the +bounty of the Government unprotected and unprovided for. But, sir, +wherever the necessity did exist the Government has acted. We have +voted hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars, and are doing it +from year to year, to take care of and provide for the destitute and +suffering Indians. We appropriated, years ago, hundreds of thousands +of dollars to take care of and feed the savage African who was landed +upon our coast by slavers. We provided by law that whenever savages +from Africa should be brought to our shores, or whenever they should +be captured on board of slavers, the President of the United States +should make provision for their maintenance and support, for five +years, on the coast of Africa. He was authorized by law to appoint +agents to go to Africa to provide means to feed them, and we paid the +money to do it. And yet, sir, can we not provide for these Africans +who have been held in bondage all their lives, who have never been +permitted to earn one dollar for themselves, who, by the great +Constitutional Amendment declaring freedom throughout the land, have +been discharged from bondage to their masters, who had hitherto +provided for their necessities in consideration of their services? Can +we not provide for these destitute persons of our own land on the same +principle that we provide for the Indians, that we provide for the +savage African?" + +"But," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the President says we have never +rented lands for the white race, we have never purchased lands for +them. What do we propose to do by this bill? This authorizes, if the +President thinks proper to do it--it is in his discretion--the +purchase or renting of lands on which to place these indigent people; +but before any land can be purchased or rented, before any contract +can be made on the subject, there must be an appropriation made by +Congress. This bill contains no appropriation. If the President is +opposed to the rent or purchase of land, and Congress passes a bill +appropriating money for that purpose, let him veto it if he thinks it +unconstitutional; but there is nothing unconstitutional in this bill. +This bill does not purchase any land; but it prevents even a contract +on the subject until another law shall be passed appropriating the +money for that purpose. + +"But, sir, what is the objection to it if it did appropriate the +money? I have already undertaken to show, and I think I have shown, +that it was the duty of the United States, as an independent nation, +as one of the powers of the earth, whenever there came into its +possession an unprotected class of people, who must suffer and perish +but for its care, to provide for and take care of them. When an army +is marching through an enemy's country, and poor and destitute persons +are found within its lines who must die by starvation if they are not +fed from the supplies of the army, will any body show me the +constitutional provision or the act of Congress that authorizes the +general commanding to open his commissariat and feed the starving +multitude? And has it not been done by every one of your commanders +all through the South? Whenever a starving human being, man, woman, or +child, no matter whether black or white, rebel or loyal, came within +the lines of the army, to perish and die unless fed from our supplies, +there has never been an officer in our service, and, thank God! there +has not been, who did not relieve the sufferer. If you want to know +where the constitutional power to do this is, and where the law is, I +answer, it is in that common humanity that belongs to every man fit to +bear the name, and it is in that power that belongs to us as a +Christian nation, carrying on war upon civilized principles. + +"If we had the right then to feed those people as we did, have we not +the right to take care of them in the cheapest way we can? If, when +General Sherman was passing through Georgia, he found the lands +abandoned; if their able-bodied owners had entered the rebel army to +fight against us; if the women and children had fled and left the land +a waste, and he had, as is the fact, thousands of persons hanging upon +his army dependent upon him for supplies; if it was believed that it +would be cheaper to support these people upon these lands than to buy +provisions to feed them, might we not do so? May we not resort to +whatever means is most judicious to protect from starvation that +multitude which common humanity requires us to feed? + +"Nor, sir, is it true that no provision has been made by Congress for +the education of white people. We have given all through the new +States one section of land in every township for the benefit of common +schools. We have donated hundreds of thousands of acres of land to all +the States for the establishment of colleges and seminaries of +learning. How did we get this land? It was purchased by our money, and +then we gave it away for purposes of education. The same right exists +now to provide for these people, and it is not simply for the black +people, but for the white refugees as well as the black, that this +bill provides." + +Said the President: "The appropriations asked by the Freedmen's +Bureau, as now established, for the year 1866, amounts to $11,745,000. +It may be safely estimated that the cost to be incurred under the +pending bill will require double that amount." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "A far larger sum, in proportion to the number +that were thrown upon our hands, was expended before the creation of +the Freedmen's Bureau, in feeding and taking care of refugees and +freedmen, than since the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau. Since +that time, the authority of the Government has been extended over all +the rebellious States, and we have had a larger number of refugees and +freedmen to provide for, but in proportion to the number I have no +doubt that the expense is less now than it was before the +establishment of the bureau." + +"The query again presents itself," said the President, "whether the +system proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete +operation, practically transfer the entire care, support, and control +of four million emancipated slaves to agents, overseers, or +taskmasters, who, appointed at Washington, are to be located in every +county and parish throughout the United States containing freedmen and +refugees." + +"I scarcely know how to reply to that most extravagant statement," +said Mr. Trumbull. "I have already shown that it would be a great +abuse of the power conferred by this bill to station an agent in every +county. I have already stated that but a small proportion of the +freedmen are aided by the Freedmen's Bureau. In this official document +the President has sent to Congress the exaggerated statement that it +is a question whether this bureau would not bring under its control +the four million emancipated slaves. The census of 1860 shows that +there never were four million slaves in all the United States, if you +counted every man, woman, and child, and we know that the number has +not increased during the war. But, sir, what will be thought when I +show, as I shall directly show by official figures, that, so far from +providing for four million emancipated slaves, the Freedmen's Bureau +never yet provided for a hundred thousand, and, as restricted by the +proviso to the third section of the present bill, it could never be +extended, under it, to a larger number. Is it not most extraordinary +that a bill should be returned with the veto from the President on the +ground that it provides for four million people, when, restricted in +its operations as it is, and having been in operation since March +last, it has never had under its control a hundred thousand? I have +here an official statement from the Freedmen's Bureau, which I beg +leave to read in this connection: + + "'The greatest number of persons to whom rations were + issued, including the Commissary Department, the bureau + issues to persons without the army, is one hundred and + forty-eight thousand one hundred and twenty.' + +"Who are they? I said there were not a hundred thousand freedmen +provided for by the bureau. + + "'Whites, 57,369; colored, 90,607; Indians, 133. The + greatest number by the bureau was 49,932, in September. The + total number for December was 17,025.' + +"That sounds a little different from four millions. Seventeen thousand +and twenty-five were all that were provided for by the Freedmen's +Bureau in the month of December last, the number getting less and less +every month. Why? Because, by the kind and judicious management of +that bureau, places of employment were found for these refugees and +freedmen. When the freedmen were discharged from their masters' +plantations they were assisted to find places of work elsewhere. + +"The President says," continued Mr. Trumbull, "that Congress never +thought of making these provisions for the white people. Let us see +what provisions have been made for the white people. Major-General +Fisk, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of +Tennessee, in his testimony given before the Reconstruction Committee, +said: + + "'During the last year, the rations issued to white people + in Tennessee have been much in excess of those issued to + freedmen. When I took charge of my district the Government + was feeding twenty-five thousand people; in round numbers, + about seventeen thousand five hundred white persons and + seven thousand blacks. The month preceding the establishment + of the Freedmen's Bureau, for rations alone for that class + of people the sum of $97,000 was paid. My first efforts were + to reduce the number of those beneficiaries of the + Government, to withhold the rations, and make the people + self-supporting as far as possible; and in the course of + four months I reduced the monthly expenses from $97,000 to + $5,000.' + +"In addition to the objections already stated," said the President, +"the fifth section of this bill proposes to take away land from its +former owners, without any legal proceedings first had." + +"I regret," said Mr. Trumbull, "that a statement like that should +inadvertently (for it must have been inadvertent) have found a place +in this Veto Message. The fifth section of the bill does not propose +to take away lands from any body. I will read it, and we shall see +what it is: + + "'That the occupants of land under Major-General Sherman's + special field order, dated at Savannah, January 16, 1865, + are hereby confirmed in their possession.' + +"Is not this a different thing from taking away land from any body? Do +you take a thing away from another person when you have it in your +possession already? This fifth section, so far from taking land from +any body, provides simply for protecting the occupants of the land for +three years from the 16th of January, 1865, a little less than two +years from this time. If the section does any thing, it simply +prevents the restoration of this property to its former owners within +that period, except upon terms to be entered into, satisfactory to the +commissioner, between the occupant and the former owner. This is all +there is of it. It is a very different thing from taking away land +from its former owners." + +"Undoubtedly," said the President, "the freedmen should be protected +by the civil authorities, especially by the exercise of all the +constitutional powers of the courts of the United States and of the +States." + +"Let us see," replied Mr. Trumbull, "how they are protected by the +civil authority." After having read from documents setting forth laws +in reference to freedmen in force in Texas and Mississippi, Mr. +Trumbull continued: "I have here a number of communications of a +similar character, showing that, by the laws in some of the Southern +States, a pass system still exists, and that the negro really has no +protection afforded him either by the civil authorities or judicial +tribunals of the State. I have letters showing the same thing in the +State of Maryland, from persons whose character is vouched for as +reliable. Under this state of things, the President tells us that the +freedman should be protected 'by the exercise of all the +constitutional powers of the courts of the United States and of the +States!'" + +"He also possesses," said the President, referring to the freedman, "a +perfect right to change his place of abode; and if, therefore, he does +not find in one community or State a mode of life suited to his +desires, or proper remuneration for his labor, he can move to another +where that labor is more esteemed and better rewarded." + +"Then, sir," said Mr. Trumbull, "is there no necessity for some +supervising care of these people? Are they to be coldly told that they +have a perfect right to change their place of abode, when, if they are +caught in a strange neighborhood without a pass, they are liable to be +whipped? when combinations exist against them that they shall not be +permitted to hire unless to their former master? Are these people, +knowing nothing of geography, knowing not where to go, having never in +their lives been ten miles from the place where they were born, these +old women and young children, these feeble persons who are turned off +because they can no longer work, to be told to go and seek employment +elsewhere? and is the Government of the United States, which has made +them free, to stand by and do nothing to save and protect them? Are +they to be left to the mercy of such legislation as that of +Mississippi, to such laws as exist in Texas, to such practices as are +tolerated in Maryland and in Kentucky? Sir, I think some protection is +necessary for them, and that was the object of this bureau. It was not +intended, and such is not its effect, to interfere with the ordinary +administration of justice in any State, not even during the rebellion. +The moment that any State does justice and abolishes all +discrimination between whites and blacks in civil rights, the judicial +functions of the Freedmen's Bureau cease. + +"But," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the President, most strangely of all, +dwells upon the unconstitutionality of this act, without ever having +alluded to that provision of the Constitution which its advocates +claim gives the authority to pass it. Is it not most extraordinary +that the President of the United States returns a bill which has +passed Congress, with his objections to it, alleging it to be +unconstitutional, and makes no allusion whatever in his whole message +to that provision of the Constitution which, in the opinion of its +supporters, clearly gives the authority to pass it? And what is that? +The second clause of the constitutional amendment, which declares that +Congress shall have authority by appropriate legislation to enforce +the article, which declares that there shall be neither slavery nor +involuntary servitude throughout the United States. If legislation be +necessary to protect the former slaves against State laws, which allow +them to be whipped if found away from home without a pass, has not +Congress, under the second clause of the amendment, authority to +provide it? What kind of freedom is that which the Constitution of the +United States guarantees to a man that does not protect him from the +lash if he is caught away from home without a pass? And how can we sit +here and discharge the constitutional obligation that is upon us to +pass the appropriate legislation to protect every man in the land in +his freedom, when we know such laws are being passed in the South, if +we do nothing to prevent their enforcement? Sir, so far from the bill +being unconstitutional, I should feel that I had failed in my +constitutional duty if I did not propose some measure that would +protect these people in their freedom. And yet this clause of the +Constitution seems to have escaped entirely the observation of the +President. + +"The President objects to this bill because it was passed in the +absence of representation from the rebellious States. If that +objection be valid, all our legislation affecting those States is +wrong, and has been wrong from the beginning. When the rebellion broke +out, in the first year of the war, we passed a law for collecting a +direct tax, and we assessed that tax upon all the rebellious States. +According to the theory of the President, that was all wrong, because +taxation and representation did not go together. Those States were not +represented. Then, according to this argument, (I will not read all of +it,) we were bound to have received their Representatives, or else not +legislate for and tax them. He insists they were States in the Union +all the time, and according to the Constitution, each State is +entitled to at least one Representative. + +"If the argument that Congress can not legislate for States +unrepresented is good now, it was good during the conflict of arms, +for none of the States whose governments were usurped are yet relieved +from military control. If we have no right to legislate for those +States now, we had no right to impose the direct tax upon them. We had +no right to pass any of our laws that affected them. We had no right +to raise an army to march into the rebellious States while they were +not represented in the Congress of the United States. We had no right +to pass a law declaring these States in rebellion. Why? The rebels +were not here to be represented in the American Senate. We had no +right to pass a law authorizing the President to issue a proclamation +discontinuing all intercourse with the people of those rebellious +States; and why? Because they were not represented here. We had no +right to blockade their coast. Why? They were not represented here. +They are States, says the President, and each State is entitled to two +Senators, and to at least one Representative. Suppose the State of +South Carolina had sent to Congress, during the war, a Representative; +had Congress nothing to do but to admit him, if found qualified? Must +he be received because he comes from a State, and a State can not go +out of the Union? Why, sir, is any thing more necessary than to state +this proposition to show its absolute absurdity?" + +The President said: "The President of the United States stands toward +the country in a somewhat different attitude from that of any member +of Congress. Each member of Congress is chosen from a single district +or State; the President is chosen by the people of all the States. As +eleven States are not at this time represented in either branch of +Congress, it would seem to be his duty, on all proper occasions, to +present their just claims to Congress." + +"If it would not be disrespectful," said Mr. Trumbull, "I should like +to inquire how many votes the President got in those eleven States. +Sir, he is no more the representative of those eleven States than I +am, except as he holds a higher position. I came here as a +Representative chosen by the State of Illinois; but I came here to +legislate, not simply for the State of Illinois, but for the United +States of America, and for South Carolina as well as Illinois. I deny +that we are simply the Representatives of the districts and States +which send us here, or that we are governed by such narrow views that +we can not legislate for the whole country; and we are as much the +Representatives, and, in this particular instance, receive as much of +the support of those eleven States as did the President himself." + +Mr. Trumbull finally remarked: "The President believes this bill +unconstitutional; I believe it constitutional. He believes that it +will involve great expense; I believe it will save expense. He +believes that the freedmen will be protected without it; I believe he +will be tyrannized over, abused, and virtually reenslaved, without +some legislation by the nation for his protection. He believes it +unwise; I believe it to be politic." + +Without further debate, the vote was taken on the question, "Shall the +bill pass, the objections of the President of the United States +notwithstanding?" The Senators voted as follows: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, + Cragin, Creswell, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, + Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Lane of + Kansas, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, + Sprague, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Williams, Wilson, and + Yates--30. + + NAYS--Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, + Guthrie, Hendricks, Johnson, McDougall, Morgan, Nesmith, + Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stewart, Stockton, Van Winkle, + and Willey--18. + + ABSENT--Messrs. Foot and Wright--2. + +The President _pro tempore_ then announced, "On this question the yeas +are thirty and the nays are eighteen. Two-thirds of the members +present not having voted for the bill, it is not a law." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL IN THE SENATE. + + Duty of Congress consequent upon the Abolition of Slavery -- + Civil Rights Bill introduced -- Reference to Judiciary + Committee -- Before the Senate -- Speech by Mr. Trumbull -- + Mr. Saulsbury -- Mr. van Winkle -- Mr. Cowan -- Mr. Howard + -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Davis -- Conversations with Mr. + Trumbull and Mr. Clark -- Reply of Mr. Johnson -- Remarks by + Mr. Morrill -- Mr. Davis "wound up" -- Mr. Guthrie's Speech + -- Mr. Hendricks -- Reply of Mr. Lane -- Mr. Wilson -- Mr. + Trumbull's closing remarks -- Yeas and Nays on the passage + of the Bill. + + +The preceding Congress having proposed an amendment to the +Constitution by which slavery should be abolished, and this amendment +having been "ratified by three-fourths of the several States," four +millions of the inhabitants of the United States were transformed from +slaves into freemen. To leave them with their shackles broken off, +unprotected, in a new and undefined position, would have been a sin +against them only surpassed in enormity by the original crime of their +enslavement. + +As provided in the amendment itself, it devolved upon Congress "to +enforce this article by appropriate legislation." The Thirty-ninth +Congress assembled, realizing that it devolved upon them to define the +extent of the rights, privileges, and duties of the freedmen. That +body was not slow in meeting the full measure of its responsibility. + +Immediately on the reaessembling of Congress after the holidays, +January 5, 1866, Mr. Trumbull, in pursuance of previous notice, +introduced a bill "to protect all persons in the United States in +their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication." This +bill, having been read twice, was referred to the Committee on the +Judiciary. + +It was highly appropriate that this bill, involving the relations of +millions of the inhabitants of the United States to the Government, +should be referred to this able committee, selected from among the men +of most distinguished legal ability in the Senate. Its members were +chosen in consideration of their high professional ability, their long +experience, and exalted standing as jurists. They are the legal +advisers of the Senate, whose report upon constitutional questions is +entitled to the highest consideration. + +To such a committee the Senate appropriately referred the Civil Rights +Bill, and the nation could safely trust in their hands the great +interests therein involved. + +The bill declares that "there shall be no discrimination in civil +rights or immunities among the inhabitants of any State or Territory +of the United States on account of race, color, or previous condition +of slavery; but the inhabitants, of every race and color, without +regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, +except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been +duly convicted, shall have the same right to make and enforce +contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, +purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, +and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the +security of person and property, and shall be subject to like +punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, +ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. Any +person who, under cover of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or +custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any +State or Territory to the deprivation of any right secured or +protected by the act, or to different punishment, pains, or penalties, +on account of such person having at any time been held in a condition +of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime +whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason of his +color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of white persons, +is to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, to be +punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding +one year, or both, in the discretion of the court." + +Other provisions of the bill relate to the courts which shall have +jurisdiction of cases which arise under the act, and the means to be +employed in its enforcement. + +That no question might arise as to the constitutionality of the law, +all the provisions which relate to the enforcement of the act were +borrowed from the celebrated Fugitive Slave Law, enacted in 1850. It +was a happy thought to compel the enemies of the negro themselves, as +judges, to pronounce in favor of the constitutionality of this +ordinance. It is an admirable illustration of the progress of the age, +that the very instruments which were used a few years before to rivet +tighter the chains of the slave, should be employed to break those +very chains to fragments. It shall forever stand forth to the honor of +American legislation that it attained to more than poetic justice in +using the very means once employed to repress and crush the negro for +his defense and elevation. + +Within less than a week after the reference of this bill to the +Judiciary Committee, it was reported back, with no alteration save a +few verbal amendments. On account of pressure of other business, it +did not come up for formal consideration and discussion in the Senate +until the 29th of January. On that day Mr. Trumbull, having called up +the bill for the consideration of the Senate, said: + +"I regard the bill to which the attention of the Senate is now called, +as the most important measure that has been under its consideration +since the adoption of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. +That amendment declared that all persons in the United States should +be free. This measure is intended to give effect to that declaration, +and secure to all persons within the United States practical freedom. +There is very little importance in the general declaration of abstract +truths and principles unless they can be carried into effect, unless +the persons who are to be affected by them have some means of availing +themselves of their benefits. Of what avail was the immortal +declaration 'that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by +their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are +life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' and 'that to secure +these rights governments are instituted among men,' to the millions of +the African race in this country who were ground down and degraded, +and subjected to a slavery more intolerable and cruel than the world +ever before knew? Of what avail was it to the citizen of +Massachusetts, who, a few years ago, went to South Carolina to enforce +a constitutional right in court, that the Constitution of the United +States declared that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to +all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States? +And of what avail will it now be that the Constitution of the United +States has declared that slavery shall not exist, if in the late +slaveholding States laws are to be enacted and enforced depriving +persons of African descent of privileges which are essential to +freemen? + +"It is the intention of this bill to secure those rights. The laws in +the slaveholding States have made a distinction against persons of +African descent on account of their color, whether free or slave. I +have before me the statutes of Mississippi. They provide that if any +colored person, any free negro or mulatto, shall come into that State +for the purpose of residing there, he shall be sold into slavery for +life. If any person of African descent residing in that State travels +from one county to another without having a pass or a certificate of +his freedom, he is liable to be committed to jail, and to be dealt +with as a person who is in the State without authority. Other +provisions of the statute prohibit any negro or mulatto from having +firearms; and one provision of the statute declares that for +'exercising the functions of a minister of the Gospel, free negroes +and mulattoes, on conviction, may be punished by any number of lashes +not exceeding thirty-nine, on the bare back, and shall pay the costs." +Other provisions of the statute of Mississippi prohibit a free negro +or mulatto from keeping a house of entertainment, and subject him to +trial before two justices of the peace and five slaveholders for +violating the provisions of this law. The statutes of South Carolina +make it a highly penal offense for any person, white or colored, to +teach slaves; and similar provisions are to be found running through +all the statutes of the late slaveholding States. + +"When the constitutional amendment was adopted and slavery abolished, +all these statutes became null and void, because they were all passed +in aid of slavery, for the purpose of maintaining and supporting it. +Since the abolition of slavery, the Legislatures which have assembled +in the insurrectionary States have passed laws relating to the +freedmen, and in nearly all the States they have discriminated against +them. They deny them certain rights, subject them to severe penalties, +and still impose upon them the very restrictions which were imposed +upon them in consequence of the existence of slavery, and before it +was abolished. The purpose of the bill under consideration is to +destroy all these discriminations, and to carry into effect the +constitutional amendment." + +After having stated somewhat at length the grounds upon which he +placed this bill, Mr. Trumbull closed by saying: "Most of the +provisions of this bill are copied from the late Fugitive Slave Act, +adopted in 1850 for the purpose of returning fugitives from slavery +into slavery again. The act that was passed at that time for the +purpose of punishing persons who should aid negroes to escape to +freedom is now to be applied by the provisions of this bill to the +punishment of those who shall undertake to keep them in slavery. +Surely we have the authority to enact a law as efficient in the +interests of freedom, now that freedom prevails throughout the +country, as we had in the interest of slavery when it prevailed in a +portion of the country." + +Mr. Saulsbury took an entirely different view of the subject under +consideration: "I regard this bill," he said, "as one of the most +dangerous that was ever introduced into the Senate of the United +States, or to which the attention of the American people was ever +invited. During the last four or five years, I have sat in this +chamber and witnessed the introduction of bills into this body which I +thought obnoxious to many very grave and serious constitutional +objections; but I have never, since I have been a member of the body, +seen a bill so fraught with danger, so full of mischief, as the bill +now under consideration. + +"I shall not follow the honorable Senator into a consideration of the +manner in which slaves were treated in the Southern States, nor the +privileges that have been denied to them by the laws of the States. I +think the time for shedding tears over the poor slave has well nigh +passed in this country. The tears which the honest white people of +this country have been made to shed from the oppressive acts of this +Government, in its various departments, during the last four years, +call more loudly for my sympathies than those tears which have been +shedding and dropping and dropping for the last twenty years in +reference to the poor, oppressed slave--dropping from the eyes of +strong-minded women and weak-minded men, until, becoming a mighty +flood, they have swept away, in their resistless force, every trace of +constitutional liberty in this country. + +"I suppose it is a foregone conclusion that this measure, as one of a +series of measures, is to be passed through this Congress regardless +of all consequences. But the day that the President of the United +States places his approval and signature to that Freedmen's Bureau +Bill, and to this bill, he will have signed two acts more dangerous to +the liberty of his countrymen, more disastrous to the citizens of this +country, than all the acts which have been passed from the foundation +of the Government to the present hour; and if we on this side of the +chamber manifest anxiety and interest in reference to these bills, and +the questions involved in them, it is because, having known this +population all our lives, knowing them in one hour of our infancy +better than you gentlemen have known them all your lives, we feel +compelled, by a sense of duty, earnestly and importunately, it may be, +to appeal to the judgment of the American Senate, and to reach, if +possible, the judgment of the great mass of the American people, and +invoke their attention to the awful consequences involved in measures +of this character. Sir, stop, stop! the mangled, bleeding body of the +Constitution of your country lies in your path; you are treading upon +its bleeding body when you pass these laws." + +After having argued at considerable length that this bill would be a +most unconstitutional interference on the part of the Federal +Government with "the powers of the States under the Federal +Constitution," the Senator from Delaware thus concluded: + +"Sir, from early boyhood I was taught to love and revere the Federal +Union and those who made it. In early childhood I read the words of +the Father of his country, in which he exhorted the people to cling to +the union of these States as the palladium of liberty, and my young +heart bounded with joy in reading the burning words of lofty +patriotism. I was taught in infancy to admire, as far as the infant +mind could admire, our free system of government, Federal and State; +and I heard the old men say that the wit of man never devised a better +or more lovely system of government. When I arrived at that age when I +could study and reflect for myself, the teachings of childhood were +approved by the judgment of the man. + +"I have seen how under this Union we had become great in the eyes of +all nations; and I see now, notwithstanding the horrible afflictions +of war, if we can have wisdom in council and sincere purpose to +subserve the good of the whole people of the United States, though +much that was dear to us has been blasted as by the pestilence that +walketh in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noonday, how +we might, in the providence of God, resume our former position among +the nations of the earth, and command the respect of the whole +civilized world. But, sir, to-day, in viewing and in considering this +bill, the thought has occurred to me, how happy were the founders of +our Federal system of government, that they had been taken from the +council chambers of this nation and from among their fellow-men before +bills of this character were seriously presented for legislative +consideration. Happily for them, they sleep their last sleep, and-- + + "'How sleep the brave who sink to rest, + By all their country's wishes blest! + When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, + Returns to deck their hallowed mold, + She there shall dress a sweeter sod + Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. + + "'By fairy hands their knell is rung; + By forms unseen their dirge is sung; + There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, + To bless the turf that wraps their clay; + And Freedom shall henceforth repair + And dwell a weeping hermit there.'" + +On the following day, Mr. Van Winkle, of West Virginia, addressed the +Senate on the merits of the bill. He thought that the objects sought +could only be attained through an amendment to the Constitution. He +moreover said: + +"We hear a great deal about the sentence from the Declaration of +Independence, that 'all men are created equal.' I am willing to admit +that all men are created equal; but how are they equal? Can a citizen +of France, for instance, by going into England, be entitled to all the +rights of a citizen of that country, or by coming into this country +acquire all the rights of an American, unless he is naturalized? Can a +citizen of our country, by going into any other, become entitled to +the rights of a citizen there? If not, it may be said that they are +not equal. I believe that the division of men into separate +communities, and their living in society and association with their +fellows, as they do, are both divine institutions, and that, +consequently, the authors of the Declaration of Independence could +have meant nothing more than that the rights of citizens of any +community are equal to the rights of all other citizens of that +community. Whenever all communities are conducted in accordance with +these principles, these very conditions of their prosperous existence, +then all mankind will be equal, each enjoying his equality in his own +community, and not till then. Therefore, I assert that there is no +right that can be exercised by any community of society more perfect +than that of excluding from citizenship or membership those who are +objectionable. If a little society is formed for a benevolent, +literary, or any other purpose, the members immediately exercise, and +claim the right to exercise, that right; they determine who shall come +into their community. We have the right to determine who shall be +members of our community; and much as has been said here about what +God has done, and about our obligations to the Almighty in reference +to this matter, I do not see where it comes in that we are bound to +receive into our community those whose minglings with us might be +detrimental to our interests. I do not believe that a superior race is +bound to receive among it those of an inferior race, if the mingling +of them can only tend to the detriment of the mass. I do not mean +strict miscegenation, but I mean the mingling of two races in society, +associating from time to time with each other." + +Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, spoke against the bill. He said: "The +identical question came up in my State--the question whether the negro +was a citizen, and whether he possessed political power in that +State--and it was there decided that he was not one of the original +corporators, that he was not one of the freemen who originally +possessed political power, and that they had never, by any enactment +or by any act of theirs, admitted him into a participation of that +power, except so far as to tax him for the support of Government. And, +Mr. President, I think it a most important question, and particularly +a most important question for the Pacific coast, and those States +which lie upon it, as to whether this door shall now be thrown open to +the Asiatic population. If it be, there is an end to republican +government there, because it is very well ascertained that those +people have no appreciation of that form of government; it seems to be +obnoxious to their very nature; they seem to be incapable either of +understanding it or of carrying it out; and I can not consent to say +that California, or Oregon, or Colorado, or Nevada, or any of those +States, shall be given over to an irruption of Chinese. I, for my +part, protest against it. + +"There is a great deal more in this bill that is exceedingly +objectionable. It is the first time, I think, in the history of +civilized legislation, that a judicial officer has been held up and +subjected to a criminal punishment for that which may have been a +conscientious discharge of his duty. It is, I say, the first case that +I know of, in the legislation of modern and civilized nations, where a +bill of indictment is to take the place of a writ of error, and where +a mistake is to be tortured into a crime. + +"I may state that I have another objection to this bill at the present +time; and that is, that the people of several States in the Union are +not represented here, and yet this law is mainly to operate upon those +people. I think it would be at least decent, respectful, if we desire +to maintain and support this Government on the broad foundation upon +which it was laid--namely, the consent of the governed--that we should +wait, at any rate, until the people upon whom it is to operate have a +voice in these halls." + +Mr. Cowan then proceeded in a somewhat "devious course," as it was +characterized by another Senator, to make remarks upon the subject of +reconstruction. Many questions and remarks were interposed by other +Senators, giving the discussion an exceedingly colloquial style. + +At length, Mr. Howard, of Michigan, having obtained the floor, spoke +in favor of the bill. He said: "If I understand correctly the +interpretation given by several Senators to the constitutional +amendment abolishing slavery, it is this: that the sole effect of it +is to cut and sever the mere legal ligament by which the person and +the service of the slave was attached to his master, and that beyond +this particular office the amendment does not go; that it can have no +effect whatever upon the condition of the emancipated black in any +other respect. In other words, they hold that it relieves him from his +so-called legal obligation to render his personal service to his +master without compensation, and there leaves him, totally, +irretrievably, and without any power on the part of Congress to look +after his well-being from the moment of this mockery of emancipation. +Sir, such was not the intention of the friends of this amendment at +the time of its initiation here, and at the time of its adoption; and +I undertake to say that it is not the construction which is given to +it by the bar throughout the country, and much less by the +liberty-loving people. + +"But let us look more closely at this narrow construction. Where does +it leave us? We are told that the amendment simply relieves the slave +from the obligation to render service to his master. What is a slave +in contemplation of American law, in contemplation of the laws of all +the slave States? We know full well; the history of two hundred years +teaches us that he had no rights, nor nothing which he could call his +own. He had not the right to become a husband or a father in the eye +of the law; he had no child; he was not at liberty to indulge the +natural affections of the human heart for children, for wife, or even +for friend. He owned no property, because the law prohibited him. He +could not take real or personal estate either by sale, by grant, or by +descent or inheritance. He did not own the bread he earned and ate. He +stood upon the face of the earth completely isolated from the society +in which he happened to be. He was nothing but a chattel, subject to +the will of his owner, and unprotected in his rights by the law of the +State where he happened to live. His rights, did I say? No, sir, I use +inappropriate language. He had no rights; he was an animal; he was +property, a chattel. The Almighty, according to the ideas of the +times, had made him to be property, a Chattel, and not a man. + +"Now, sir, it is not denied that this relation of servitude between +the former negro slave and his master was actually severed by this +amendment. But the absurd construction now forced upon it leaves him +without family, without property, without the implements of husbandry, +and even without the right to acquire or use any instrumentalities of +carrying on the industry of which he may be capable; it leaves him +without friend or support, and even without the clothes to cover his +nakedness. He is a waif upon the current of time; he has nothing that +belongs to him on the face of the earth, except solely his naked +person. And here, in this State, we are called upon to abandon the +poor creature whom we have emancipated. We are coolly told that he has +no right beyond this, and we are told that under this amendment the +power of the State within whose limits he happens to be is not at all +restrained in respect to him, and that the State, through its +Legislature, may at any time declare him to be a vagrant, and as such +commit him to jail, or assign him to uncompensated service." + +Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, made a speech, in which he expressed himself +as in favor of conferring citizenship upon the negro, and yet unable +to vote for this bill from the opinion he entertained on "the question +of power." He referred to the Dred Scott and other decisions, and +showed their bearing upon the legislation now proposed. He said: "I +have been exceedingly anxious individually that there should be some +definition which will rid this class of our people from that +objection. If the Supreme Court decision is a binding one, and will be +followed in the future, this law which we are now about to pass will +be held, of course, to be of no avail, as far as it professes to +define what citizenship is, because it gives the rights of citizenship +to all persons without distinction of color, and, of course, embraces +Africans or descendants of Africans." + +He referred to a precedent when Congress had conferred the rights of +citizenship: "The citizens of Texas, who, of course, were aliens, it +has never been doubted became citizens of the United States by the +annexation of Texas; and that was not done by treaty, it was done by +legislation. If the power was in Congress by legislation to make +citizens of all the inhabitants of the State of Texas, why is it not +in the power of Congress to make citizens by legislation of all who +are inhabitants of the United States, and who are not citizens? That +is what this bill does, or what it proposes to do. There are within +the United States millions of people who are not citizens, according +to the view of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ought they to +be citizens? I think they ought. I think it is an anomaly that says +there shall not be the rights of citizenship to any of the inhabitants +of any State of the United States. + +"While they were slaves, it was a very different question; but now, +when slavery is terminated, and by terminating it you have got rid of +the only obstacle in the way of citizenship, two questions arise: +First, whether that fact itself does not make them citizens? Before +they were not citizens, because of slavery, and only because of +slavery. Slavery abolished, why are they not just as much citizens as +they would have been if slavery had never existed? My opinion is that +they become citizens, and I hold that opinion so strongly that I +should consider it unnecessary to legislate on the subject at all, as +far as that class is concerned, but for the ruling of the Supreme +Court to which I have adverted." + +Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, spoke against the propriety and +constitutionality of making all negroes citizens of the United States. +He said: "There never was a colony before the Declaration of +Independence, and there never was a State after the Declaration of +Independence, up to the time of the adoption of the Constitution, so +far as I have been able to learn by the slight historical examination +which I have given to the subject, that ever made or attempted to make +any other person than a person who belonged to one of the +nationalities of Europe a citizen. I invoke the chairman of the +committee to give me an instance, to point to any history or any +memento, where a negro, although that negro was born in America, was +ever made a citizen of either of the States of the United States +before the adoption of this Constitution. The whole material out of +which citizens were made previous to the adoption of the present +Constitution was from the European nationalities, from the Caucasian +race, if I may use the term. I deny that a single citizen was ever +made by one of the States out of the negro race. I deny that a single +citizen was ever made by one of the States out of the Mongolian race. +I controvert that a single citizen was ever made by one of the States +out of the Chinese race, out of the Hindoos, or out of any other race +of people but the Caucasian race of Europe. + +"I come, then, to this position: that whenever the States, after the +Declaration of Independence and before the present Constitution was +adopted, legislated in relation to citizenship, or acted in their +governments in relation to citizenship, the subject of that +legislation or that action was the Caucasian race of Europe; that none +of the inferior races of any kind were intended to be embraced or were +embraced by this work of Government in manufacturing citizens." + +Mr. Trumbull inquired, "Will the Senator from Kentucky allow me to ask +him if he means to assert that negroes were not citizens of any of +these colonies before the adoption of the Constitution?" + +"I say they were not," said Mr. Davis. + +"Does the Senator wish any authority to show that they were?" asked +Mr. Trumbull. + +"When I get through," said Mr. Davis, "you can answer me." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "I understood the Senator to challenge me to +produce any proof on that point, and I thought he would like to have +it in his speech. I can assert to him that by a solemn decision of the +Supreme Court of North Carolina, they were citizens before the +adoption of the Constitution." + +"If the honorable Senator will allow me," said Mr. Davis, "I will get +along with my remarks." + +"I think you will get along better," replied Mr. Trumbull, "by not +being exposed in your statements." + +"The honorable Senator is full of conceit, but I have seen less +conceit with a great deal more brains," said Mr. Davis, who then +proceeded "to throw up" what he termed "the main buttress for the +defense of the positions" that he took. + +"My main position," said he, "is, that no native-born person of the +United States, of any race or color, can be admitted a citizen of the +United States by Congress under the power conferred in relation to +naturalization by the Constitution upon Congress." + +After reading some authorities, the Senator proceeded to say: "A grave +hallucination in this day is to claim all power; and a minor error is +that every thing which passion, or interest, or party power, or any +selfish claims may represent to the judgment or imagination of +gentlemen who belong to strong parties, to be necessary or useful for +the good and the domination of such parties, is seized upon in +defiance of a fair construction of language, in outrage of the plain +meaning of the Constitution. That is not the rule by which our +Constitution is to be interpreted. It is not the rule by which it is +to be administered. On the contrary, if the able, honorable, and +clear-headed Senator from Illinois would do himself and his country +the justice to place himself in the position of the framers of the +Constitution; if he would look all around on the circumstances and +connections of that day, on the purposes of those men not only in +relation to forming a more perfect Union, but also in relation to +securing the blessings of life, liberty, and property to themselves +and their posterity forever; if the honorable Senator would construe +the Constitution according to the light, the sacred and bright light +which such surrounding circumstances would throw upon his intellect, +it seems to me that he would at once abandon this abominable bill, and +would also ask to withdraw its twin sister from the other House that +both might be smothered here together upon the altar of the +Constitution and of patriotism." + +At the close of Mr. Davis' speech, much debate and conversation ensued +among various Senators upon a proposed amendment by Mr. Lane, of +Kansas, by which Indians "under tribal authority" should be excluded +from the benefits conferred by this bill. After this question was +disposed of, Mr. Davis was drawn out in another speech by what seemed +to him to be the necessity of defending some positions which he had +assumed. He said: + +"I still reiterate the position that the negro is not a citizen here +according to the essential fundamental principles of our system; but +whether he be a citizen or not, he is not a foreigner, and no man, +white or black, or red or mixed, can be made a citizen by +naturalization unless he is a foreigner." + +Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, interposed: "I wish the Senator from +Kentucky would tell us what constitutes a citizen under the +Constitution." + +"A foreigner is not a citizen in the fullest sense of the word at +all," said Mr. Davis. + +"The Senator is now telling us," said Mr. Clark, "who is not a +citizen, but my question is, What constitutes a citizen?" + +"I leave that to the exercise of your own ingenuity," replied Mr. +Davis. + +"That is it," said Mr. Clark. "Washington is dead; Marshall is dead; +Story is dead; I hoped the Senator from Kentucky would have +enlightened us. He says a negro is not a citizen, and a negro is not a +foreigner and can not be made a citizen. He says that a person who +might be and was a citizen before the Constitution, is not a citizen +since the Constitution was adopted. What right was taken away from him +by the Constitution that disqualifies him from being a citizen? The +free negroes in my State, before the Constitution was adopted, were +citizens." + +Mr. Davis, having admitted that free negroes were citizens before the +Constitution in New Hampshire, Mr. Clark said: + +"I desired that the Senator should tell me what, in his opinion, +constituted a citizen under the Constitution." + +Mr. Davis replied: "I will answer the honorable Senator. We sometimes +answer a positive question by declaring what a thing is not. Now, the +honorable Senator asks me what a citizen is. It is easier to answer +what it is not than what it is, and I say that a negro is not a +citizen." + +"Well, that is a lucid definition," said Mr. Clark. + +"Sufficient for the subject," said Mr. Davis. + +"That is begging the question," Mr. Clark replied. "I wanted to find +why a negro was not a citizen, if the gentleman would tell me. If he +would lay down his definition, I wanted to see whether the negro did +not comply with it and conform to it, so as to be a citizen; but he +insists that he is not a citizen." + +"I will answer that question, if the honorable Senator will permit +me," said Mr. Davis. "Government is a political partnership. No +persons but the partners who formed the partnership are parties to the +government. Here is a government formed by the white man alone. The +negro was excluded from the formation of our political partnership; he +had nothing to do with it; he had nothing to do in its formation." + +"Is it a close corporation, so that new partners can not be added?" +asked Mr. Stewart, of Nevada. + +"Yes, sir," said Mr. Davis; "it is a close white corporation. You may +bring all of Europe, but none of Asia and none of Africa into our +partnership." + +"Let us see," said Mr. Clark, "how that may be. Take the gentleman's +own ground that government is a partnership, and those who did not +enter into it and take an active part in it can not be citizens. Is a +woman a citizen under our Constitution?" + +"Not to vote," said Mr. Davis. + +"I did not ask about voting," said Mr. Clark. "The gentleman said +awhile ago that voting did not constitute citizenship. I want to know +if she is a citizen. Can she not sue and be sued, contract, and +exercise the rights of a citizen?" + +"So can a free negro," said Mr. Davis. + +"Then, if a free negro can do all that," said Mr. Clark; "why is he +not a citizen?" + +"Because he is no part of the governing power; that is the reason," +Mr. Davis replied. + +"I deny that," said Mr. Clark, "because in some of the States he is a +part of the governing power. The Senator only begs the question; it +only comes back to this, that a nigger is a nigger." [Laughter.] + +"That is the whole of it," said Mr. Davis. + +[Illustration: Hon. Reverdy Johnson.] + +"That is the whole of the gentleman's logic," said Mr. Clark. + +In answer to the statement insisted on by Mr. Davis, "You can not make +a citizen of any body that is not a foreigner," Mr. Johnson said: + +"That would be an extraordinary condition for the country to be in. +Here are four million negroes. They are not foreigners, because they +were born in the United States. They have no foreign allegiance to +renounce, because they owed no foreign allegiance. Their allegiance, +whatever it was, was an allegiance to the Government of the United +States alone. They can not come, therefore, under the naturalizing +clause; they can not come, of course, under the statutes passed in +pursuance of the power conferred upon Congress by that clause; but +does it follow from that that you can not make them citizens; that the +Congress of the United States, vested with the whole legislative power +belonging to the Government, having within the limits of the United +States four million people anxious to become citizens, and when you +are anxious to make them citizens, have no power to make them +citizens? It seems to me that to state the question is to answer it. + +"The honorable member reads the Constitution as if it said that none +but white men should become citizens of the United States; but it says +no such thing, and never intended, in my judgment, to say any such +thing. If it had designed to exclude from all participation in the +rights of citizenship certain men on account of color, and to have +confined, at all times thereafter, citizenship to the white race, it +is but fair to presume, looking to the character of the men who framed +the Constitution, that they would have put that object beyond all +possible doubt; they would have said that no man should be a citizen +of the United States except a white man, or rather would have +negatived the right of the negro to become a citizen by saying that +Congress might pass uniform rules upon the subject of the +naturalization of white immigrants and nobody else; but that they did +not do. They left it to Congress. Congress, in the exercise of their +discretion, have thought proper to insert the term 'white' in the +naturalization act; but they may strike it out, and if it should be +stricken out, I do not think any lawyer, except my friend from +Kentucky, would deny that a black man could be naturalized, and by +naturalization become a citizen of the United States. + +"But to go back to the point from which the questions of my honorable +friend from Kentucky caused me to digress, we have now within the +United States four million colored people, the descendants of +Africans, whose ancestors were brought into the United States as +chattels. It was because of that condition that they were considered +as not entitled to the rights of citizenship. We have put an end to +that condition. We have said that at all times hereafter men of any +color that nature may think proper to impress upon the human frame, +shall, if within the United States, be free, and not property. Then, +we have four million colored people who are now as free as we are; and +the only question is, whether, being free, they can not be clothed +with the rights of citizenship. The honorable member from Kentucky +says no, because the naturalization clause does not include them. I +have attempted to answer that. He says no, because the act passed in +pursuance of that clause does not include them. I have answered that +by saying that that act in that particular may be changed." + +On the following day, February 1st, the discussion of the bill was +resumed by Mr. Morrill, of Maine. He said of the bill: "It marks an +epoch in the history of this country, and from this time forward the +legislation takes a fresh and a new departure. Sir, to-day is the only +hour since this Government began when it was possible to have enacted +it. Such has been the situation of politics in this country, nay, sir, +such have been the provisions of the fundamental law of this country, +that such legislation hitherto has never been possible. There has been +no time since the foundation of the Government when an American +Congress could by possibility have enacted such a law, or with +propriety have made such a declaration. What is this declaration? All +persons born in this country are citizens. That never was so before. +Although I have said that by the fundamental principles of American +law all persons were entitled to be citizens by birth, we all know +that there was an exceptional condition in the Government of the +country which provided for an exception to this general rule. Here +were four million slaves in this country that were not citizens, not +citizens by the general policy of the country, not citizens on account +of their condition of servitude; up to this hour they could not have +been treated by us as citizens; so long as that provision in the +Constitution which recognized this exceptional condition remained the +fundamental law of the country, such a declaration as this would not +have been legal, could not have been enacted by Congress. I hail it, +therefore, as a declaration which typifies a grand fundamental change +in the politics of the country, and which change justifies the +declaration now. + +"The honorable Senator from Kentucky has vexed himself somewhat, I +think, with the problem of the naturalization of American citizens. As +he reads it, only foreigners can be naturalized, or, in other words, +can become citizens; and upon his assumption, four million men and +women in this country are outside not only of naturalization, not only +of citizenship, but outside of the possibility of citizenship. Sir, he +has forgotten the grand principle both of nature and nations, both of +law and politics, that birth gives citizenship of itself. This is the +fundamental principle running through all modern politics both in this +country and in Europe. Every-where, where the principles of law have +been recognized at all, birth by its inherent energy and force gives +citizenship. Therefore the founders of this Government made no +provision--of course they made none--for the naturalization of +natural-born citizens. The Constitution speaks of 'natural-born,' and +speaks of them as citizens in contradistinction from those who are +alien to us. Therefore, sir, this amendment, although it is a grand +enunciation, although it is a lofty and sublime declaration, has no +force or efficiency as an enactment. I hail it and accept it simply as +a declaration. + +"The honorable Senator from Kentucky, when he criticises the methods +of naturalization, and rules out, for want of power, four million +people, forgets this general process of nations and of nature by which +every man, by his birth, is entitled to citizenship, and that upon the +general principle that he owes allegiance to the country of his birth, +and that country owes him protection. That is the foundation, as I +understand it, of all citizenship, and these are the essential +elements of citizenship: allegiance on the one side, and protection on +the other." + +In reply to statements made by Mr. Davis, Mr. Morrill remarked: "The +Senator from Kentucky denounces as a usurpation this measure, and +particularly this amendment, this declaration. He says it is not +within the principles of the Constitution. That it is extraordinary I +admit. That the measure is not ordinary is most clear. There is no +parallel, I have already said, for it in the history of this country; +there is no parallel for it in the history of any country. No nation, +from the foundation of government, has ever undertaken to make a +legislative declaration so broad. Why? Because no nation hitherto has +ever cherished a liberty so universal. The ancient republics were all +exceptional in their liberty; they all had excepted classes, subjected +classes, which were not the subject of government, and, therefore, +they could not so legislate. That it is extraordinary and without a +parallel in the history of this Government, or of any other, does not +affect the character of the declaration itself. + +"The Senator from Kentucky tells us that the proposition is +revolutionary, and he thinks that is an objection. I freely concede +that it is revolutionary. I admit that this species of legislation is +absolutely revolutionary. But are we not in the midst of revolution? +Is the Senator from Kentucky utterly oblivious to the grand results of +four years of war? Are we not in the midst of a civil and political +revolution which has changed the fundamental principles of our +Government in some respects? Sir, is it no revolution that you have +changed the entire system of servitude in this country? Is it no +revolution that now you can no longer talk of two systems of +civilization in this country? Four short years back, I remember to +have listened to eloquent speeches in this chamber, in which we were +told that there was a grand antagonism in our institutions; that there +were two civilizations; that there was a civilization based on +servitude, and that it was antagonistic to the free institutions of +the country. Where is that? Gone forever. That result is a revolution +grander and sublimer in its consequences than the world has witnessed +hitherto. + +"I accept, then, what the Senator from Kentucky thinks so obnoxious. +We are in the midst of revolution. We have revolutionized this +Constitution of ours to that extent; and every substantial change in +the fundamental constitution of a country is a revolution. Why, sir, +the Constitution even provides for revolutionizing itself. Nay, more, +it contemplates it; contemplates that in the changing phases of life, +civil and political, changes in the fundamental law will become +necessary; and is it needful for me to advert to the facts and events +of the last four or five years to justify the declaration that +revolution here is not only radical and thorough, but the result of +the events of the last four years? Of course, I mean to contend in all +I say that the revolution of which I speak should be peaceful, as on +the part of the Government here it has been peaceful. It grows out, to +be sure, of an assault upon our institutions by those whose purpose it +was to overthrow the Government; but, on the part of the Government, +it has been peaceful, it has been within the forms of the +Constitution; but it is a revolution nevertheless. + +"But the honorable Senator from Kentucky insists that it is a +usurpation. Not so, sir. Although it is a revolution radical, as I +contend, it was not a usurpation. It was not a usurpation, because it +took place within the provisions contemplated in the Constitution. +More than that, it was a change precisely in harmony with the general +principles of the Government. This great change which has been wrought +in our institutions was in harmony with the fundamental principles of +the Government. The change which has been made has destroyed that +which was exceptional in our institutions; and the action of the +Government in regard to it was provoked by the enemies of the +Government. The opportunity was afforded, and the change which has +been wrought was in harmony with the fundamental principles of the +Government." + +The Senator from Maine opposed the theory that this is a Government +exclusively for white men. He remarked: "It is said that this +amendment raises the general question of the antagonism of the races, +which, we are told, is a well-established fact. It is said that no +rational man, no intelligent legislator or statesman, should ever act +without reference to that grand historical fact; and the Senator from +Pennsylvania, [Mr. Cowan,] on a former occasion, asserted that this +Government, that American society, had been established here upon the +principle of the exclusion, as he termed it, of the inferior and the +barbarian races. Mr. President, I deny that proposition as a +historical fact. There is nothing more inaccurate. No proposition +could possibly be made here or anywhere else more inaccurate than to +say that American society, either civil or political, was formed in +the interest of any race or class. Sir, the history of the country +does not bear out the statement of the honorable Senator from +Pennsylvania. Was not America said to be the land of refuge? Has it +not been, since the earliest period, held up as an asylum for the +oppressed of all nations? Hither, allow me to ask, have not all the +peoples of the nations of the earth come for an asylum and for refuge? +All the nations of the earth, and all the varieties of the races of +the nations of the earth, have gathered here. In the early settlements +of the country, the Irish, the French, the Swede, the Turk, the +Italian, the Moor, and so I might enumerate all the races, and all the +variety of races, came here; and it is a fundamental mistake to +suppose that settlement was begun here in the interests of any class, +or condition, or race, or interest. This Western Continent was looked +to as an asylum for the oppressed of all nations and of all races. +Hither all nations and all races have come. Here, sir, upon the grand +plane of republican democratic liberty, they have undertaken to work +out the great problem of man's capacity for self-government without +stint or limit." + +Mr. Davis then made another speech in opposition to the bill. When the +hour for adjournment had arrived, and Mr. Johnson interrupted him with +a proposition that "the bill be passed over for to-day," Mr. Davis +said, "I am wound up, and am obliged to run down." The Senate, +however, adjourned at a late hour, and resumed the hearing of Mr. +Davis on the following day. + +In alluding to Mr. Johnson's strictures on his assertion that Congress +had no power to confer the right of citizenship on "the native born +negro," Mr. Davis said: "The honorable Senator, [Mr. Johnson,] as I +said the other day, is one of the ablest lawyers, and, I believe, the +ablest living lawyer in the land. I have seen gentlemen sometimes so +much the lawyer that they had to abate some of the statesman +[laughter]; and I am not certain, I would not say it was so--I will +not arrogate to myself to say so--but sometimes a suspicion flashes +across my mind that that is precisely the predicament of my honorable +friend. + +"I maintain that a negro can not be made a citizen by Congress; he can +not be made a citizen by any naturalization laws, because the +naturalization laws apply to foreigners alone. No man can shake the +legal truth of that position. They apply to foreigners alone; and a +negro, an Indian, or any other person born within the United States, +not being a foreigner, can not be naturalized; therefore they can not +be made citizens by the uniform rule established by Congress under the +Constitution, and there is no other rule. Congress has no power, as I +said before, to naturalize a citizen. They could not be made citizens +by treaty. If they are made so at all, it is by their birth, and the +locality of their birth, and the general operation and effect of our +Constitution. If they are so made citizens, that question is a +judicial question, not a legislative question. Congress has no power +to enlarge or extend any of the provisions of the Constitution which +bear upon the birth or citizenship of negroes or Indians born in the +United States. + +"If there was any despot in Europe or in the world that wanted a +master architect in framing and putting together a despotic and +oppressive law, I would, if my slight voice could reach him, by all +means say to him, Seek the laboratory of the Senator from Illinois. If +he has not proved himself an adept in this kind of legislation, +unconstitutional, unjust, oppressive, iniquitous, unwise, impolitic, +calculated to keep forever a severance of the Union, to exclude from +all their constitutional rights, privileges, and powers under the +Government eleven States of the Union--if he has not devised such a +measure as that, I have not reason enough to comprehend it." + +Mr. Davis closed his speech by saying: "Was it for these fruits and +these laws that we went into this war? Was it for these fruits and +these laws and these oppressions that two million and a quarter of men +were ordered into the field? Was it that the American people might +enjoy these as the fruits of the triumphant close of this war, that +hundreds of thousands of them have been mutilated on the battle-field +and by the diseases of the camp, and that a debt of four or five +thousand million dollars has been left upon the country? If these are +to be the results of the war, better that not a single man had been +marshaled in the field nor a single star worn by one of our officers. +These military gentlemen think they have a right to command and +control every-where. They do it. They think they have a right to do it +here, and we are sheep in the hands of our shearers. We are dumb." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "I will occupy a few moments of the attention of +the Senate, after this long harangue of the Senator from Kentucky, +which he closed by declaring that we are dumb in the presence of +military power. If he has satisfied the Senate that he is dumb, I +presume he has satisfied the Senate of all the other positions he has +taken; and the others are about as absurd as that declaration. He +denounces this bill as 'outrageous,' 'most monstrous,' 'abominable,' +'oppressive,' 'iniquitous,' 'unconstitutional,' 'void.' + +"Now, what is this bill that is obnoxious to such terrible epithets? +It is a bill providing that all people shall have equal rights. Is not +that abominable? Is not that iniquitous? Is not that monstrous? Is not +that terrible on white men? [Laughter.] When was such legislation as +this ever thought of for white men? + +"Sir, this bill applies to white men as well as black men. It declares +that all men in the United States shall be entitled to the same civil +rights, the right to the fruit of their own labor, the right to make +contracts, the right to buy and sell, and enjoy liberty and happiness; +and that is abominable and iniquitous and unconstitutional! Could any +thing be more monstrous or more abominable than for a member of the +Senate to rise in his place and denounce with such epithets as these a +bill, the only object of which is to secure equal rights to all the +citizens of the country--a bill that protects a white man just as much +as a black man? With what consistency and with what face can a Senator +in his place here say to the Senate and the country, that this is a +bill for the benefit of the black men exclusively, when there is no +such distinction in it, and when the very object of the bill is to +break down all discrimination between black men and white men?" + +Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky, said: "My doctrine is that slavery exists no +longer in this country; that it is impossible to exist in the face of +that provision; and with slavery fell the laws of all the States +providing for slavery, every one of them. I do not see what benefit +can arise from repealing them by this bill, because, if they are not +repealed by the Constitution as amended, this bill could not repeal +them. I hope that all the States in which slavery formerly existed +will accept that constitutional provision in good faith. I myself +accept it in good faith. Believing that all the laws authorizing +slavery have fallen, I have advised the people of Kentucky, and I +would advise all the States, to put these Africans upon the same +footing that the whites are in relation to civil rights. They have all +the rights that were formerly accorded to the free colored population +in all the States just as fully this day as they will have after this +bill has passed, and they will continue to have them. + +"Now, to the States belong the government of their own population, and +those within their borders, upon all subjects. We, in Kentucky, +prescribe punishment for those who violate the laws; we prescribe it +for the white population; we prescribe it for the free African +population, and we prescribe it for the slave population. All the laws +prescribing punishment for slaves fell with slavery, and they were +subject afterward only to the penalties which were inflicted upon the +free colored population, they then being free. Slaves, for many +offenses, were punished far less than the free colored people. No +slave was sent to the penitentiary and punished for stealing, or any +thing of that kind, whereas a free person was. But all these States +will now, of course, remodel their laws upon the subject of offenses. +I would advise that there should be but one code for all persons, +black as well as white; that there shall be one general rule for the +punishment of crime in the different States. But, sir, the States must +have time to act on the subject; and yet we are here preparing laws +and penalties, and proposing to carry them into execution by military +authority, before the States have had time to legislate, and even +before some of their Legislatures have had time to convene. + +"Kentucky has had her share of talking here, and, sir, she has had her +share of suffering during the war. At one time she was invaded by +three armies of the rebellion; all but seven or eight counties of the +State, at one time, were occupied by its armies, and her whole +territory devastated by guerrillas. We have suffered in this war. We +have borne it as best we could. We feel it intensely that now, at the +end of the war, we should be subjected to a military despotism, our +houses liable to be entered at any time when our families are at rest, +by military men who can arrest and send to prison without warrant, and +we are obliged to go, and we are obliged to pay any fines they may +impose. I do not believe that you will lose any thing if you pause +before passing such legislation as this, and establishing these +military despotisms, for we do not know where they are to end." + +Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, had proposed to strike out the last clause +of the bill, which provided that "such part of the land and naval +forces of the United States, or of the militia," as should be +necessary, might be employed to prevent the violation, and enforce the +due execution of this act. The Senator from Indiana opposed the bill +on the ground that it employed the machinery of the Fugitive Slave +Law, and that it was to be enforced by the military authority of the +United States. He said: + +"This bill is a wasp; its sting is in its tail. Sir, what is this +bill? It provides, in the first place, that the civil rights of all +men, without regard to color, shall be equal; and, in the second +place, that if any man shall violate that principle by his conduct, he +shall be responsible to the court; that he may be prosecuted +criminally and punished for the crime, or he may be sued in a civil +action and damages recovered by the party wronged. Is not that broad +enough? Do Senators want to go further than this? To recognize the +civil rights of the colored people as equal to the civil rights of the +white people, I understand to be as far as Senators desire to go; in +the language of the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Sumner], to place +all men upon an equality before the law; and that is proposed in +regard to their civil rights." + +In reference to the reenactment of the odious features of the Fugitive +Slave Law in this bill, Mr. Hendricks said: "I recollect how the blood +of the people was made to run cold within them when it was said that +the white man was required to run after the fugitive slave; that the +law of 1850 made you and me, my brother Senators, slave-catchers; that +the _posse comitatus_ could be called to execute a writ of the law, +for the recovery of a runaway slave, under the provisions of the +Constitution of the United States; and the whole country was agitated +because of it. Now slavery is gone; the negro is to be established +upon a platform of civil equality with the white man. That is the +proposition. But we do not stop there; we are to reenact a law that +nearly all of you said was wicked and wrong; and for what purpose? Not +to pursue the negro any longer; not for the purpose of catching him; +not for the purpose of catching the great criminals of the land; but +for the purpose of placing it in the power of any deputy marshal in +any county of the country to call upon you and me, and all the body of +the people, to pursue some white man who is running for his liberty, +because some negro has charged him with denying to him equal civil +rights with the white man. I thought, sir, that that frame-work was +enough; I thought, when you placed under the command of the marshal, +in every county of the land, all the body of the people, and put every +one upon the track of the fleeing white man, that that was enough; but +it is not. For the purpose of the enforcement of this law, the +President is authorized to appoint somebody who is to have the command +of the military and naval forces of the United States--for what +purpose? To prevent a violation of this law, and to execute it. + +"You clothe the marshals under this bill with all the powers that were +given to the marshals under the Fugitive Slave Law. That was regarded +as too arbitrary in its provisions, and you repealed it. You said it +should not stand upon the statute-book any longer; that no man, white +or black, should be pursued under the provisions of that law. Now, you +reenact it, and you claim it as a merit and an ornament to the +legislation of the country; and you add an army of officers and clothe +them with the power to call upon any body and every body to pursue the +running white man. That is not enough, but you must have the military +to be called in, at the pleasure of whom? Such a person as the +President may authorize to call out the military forces. Where it +shall be, and to whom this power shall be given, we do not know." + +Mr. Lane, of Indiana, replied to the argument of his colleague. He +said: "It is true that many of the provisions of this bill, changed in +their purpose and object, are almost identical with the provisions of +the Fugitive Slave Law, and they are denounced by my colleague in +their present application; but I have not heard any denunciation from +my colleague, or from any of those associated with him, of the +provisions of that Fugitive Slave Law which was enacted in the +interest of slavery, and for purposes of oppression, and which was an +unworthy, cowardly, disgraceful concession to Southern opinion by +Northern politicians. I have suffered no suitable opportunity to +escape me to denounce the monstrous character of that Fugitive Slave +Act of 1850. All these provisions were odious and disgraceful in my +opinion, when applied in the interest of slavery, when the object was +to strike down the rights of man. But here the purpose is changed. +These provisions are in the interest of freemen and of freedom, and +what was odious in the one case becomes highly meritorious in the +other. It is an instance of poetic justice and of apt retribution that +God has caused the wrath of man to praise Him. I stand by every +provision of this bill, drawn as it is from that most iniquitous +fountain, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. + +"Then my colleague asks, Why do you invoke the power of the military +to enforce these laws? And he says that constables, and sheriffs, and +marshals, when they have process to serve, have a right to call upon +the _posse comitatus_, the body of the whole people, to enforce their +writs. Here is a justice of the peace in South Carolina or Georgia, or +a county court, or a circuit court, that is called upon to execute +this law. They appoint their own marshal, their deputy marshal, or +their constable, and he calls upon the _posse comitatus_. Neither the +judge, nor the jury, nor the officer, as we believe, is willing to +execute the law. He may call upon the people, the body of the whole +people, a body of rebels steeped in treason and rebellion to their +lips, and they are to execute it; and the gentleman seems wonderfully +astonished that we should call upon the military power. We should not +legislate at all if we believed the State courts could or would +honestly carry out the provisions of the constitutional amendment; but +because we believe they will not do that, we give the Federal officers +jurisdiction. + +"But what harm is to result from it? Who is to be oppressed? What +white man fleeing, in the language of my colleague, pursued by these +harpies of the law, is in danger of having his rights stricken down? +What does the bill provide? It places all men upon an equality, and +unless the white man violates the law, he is in no danger. It takes no +rights from any white man. It simply places others on the same +platform upon which he stands; and if he would invoke the power of +local prejudice to override the laws of the country, this is no +Government unless the military may be called in to enforce the order +of the civil courts and obedience to the laws of the country." + +Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said, in answer to some objections to +the bill urged by Mr. Guthrie: "The Senator tells us that the +emancipated men ought to have their civil rights, that the black codes +fell with slavery; but the Senator forgets that at least six of the +reoerganized States in their new Legislatures have passed laws wholly +incompatible with the freedom of these freedmen; and so atrocious are +the provisions of these laws, and so persistently are they carried +into effect by the local authorities, that General Thomas, in +Mississippi, General Swayne, in Alabama, General Sickles, in South +Carolina, and General Terry, in Virginia, have issued positive orders, +forbidding the execution of the black laws that have just been passed. + +"So unjust, so wicked, so incompatible are these new black laws of the +rebel States, made in defiance of the expressed will of the nation, +that Lieutenant-general Grant has been forced to issue that order, +which sets aside the black laws of all these rebellious States against +the freedmen, and allows no law to be enforced against them that is +not enforced equally against white men. This order, issued by General +Grant, will be respected, obeyed, and enforced in the rebel States +with the military power of the nation. Southern legislators and people +must learn, if they are compelled to learn by the bayonets of the Army +of the United States, that the civil rights of the freedmen must be +and shall be respected; that these freedmen are as free as their late +masters; that they shall live under the same laws, be tried for their +violation in the same manner, and if found guilty, punished in the +same manner and degree. + +"This measure is called for, because these reconstructed Legislatures, +in defiance of the rights of the freedmen, and the will of the nation, +embodied in the amendment to the Constitution, have enacted laws +nearly as iniquitous as the old slave codes that darkened the +legislation of other days. The needs of more than four million colored +men imperatively call for its enactment. The Constitution authorizes +and the national will demands it. By a series of legislative acts, by +executive proclamations, by military orders, and by the adoption of +the amendment to the Constitution by the people of the United States, +the gigantic system of human slavery that darkened the land, +controlled the policy, and swayed the destinies of the republic has +forever perished. Step by step we have marched right on from one +victory to another, with the music of broken fetters ringing in our +ears. None of the series of acts in this beneficent legislation of +Congress, none of the proclamations of the Executive, none of these +military orders, protecting rights secured by law, will ever be +revoked or amended by the voice of the American people. There is now + + "'No slave beneath that starry flag, + The emblem of the free.' + +"By the will of the nation freedom and free institutions for all, +chains and fetters for none, are forever incorporated in the +fundamental law of regenerated and united America. Slave codes and +auction blocks, chains and fetters and blood-hounds, are things of the +past, and the chattel stands forth a man, with the rights and the +powers of the freemen. For the better security of these new-born civil +rights we are now about to pass the greatest and the grandest act in +this series of acts that have emancipated a race and disinthralled a +nation. It will pass, it will go upon the statute-book of the republic +by the voice of the American people, and there it will remain. From +the verdict of Congress in favor of this great measure, no appeal will +ever be entertained by the people of the United States." + +Mr. Cowan spoke again, and denounced the section of the bill which +provided for its enforcement by the military. He said: "There it is; +words can not make it plainer; reason can not elucidate it; no +language can strengthen it or weaken it, one way or the other. There +is the question whether a military man, educated in a military school, +accustomed to supreme command, unaccustomed to the administration of +civil law among a free people, is to be intrusted with these appellate +jurisdiction over the courts of the country; whether he can in any +way, whether he ought in any way, to be intrusted with such a power. +I, for my part, will never agree to it; and I should feel myself +recreant to every duty that I owed to myself, to my country, to my +country's history, and I may say to the race which has been for +hundreds and thousands of years endeavoring to attain to something +like constitutional liberty, if I did not resist this and all similar +projects." + +Mr. Trumbull answered some objections to the bill. "The Senator from +Indiana [Mr. Hendricks] objects to the bill because he says that the +same provisions which were enacted in the old Fugitive Slave Law are +incorporated into this, and that it has been heralded to the country +that it was a great achievement to do this; and he insists that if +those provisions of law were odious and wicked and wrong which +provided for punishing men for aiding the slave to escape, therefore +they must be wicked and wrong now when they are employed for the +punishing a man who undertakes to put a person into slavery. Sir, that +does not follow at all. A law may be iniquitous and unjust and wrong +which undertakes to punish another for doing an innocent act, which +would be righteous and just and proper to punish a man for doing a +wicked act. We have upon our statute-books a law punishing a man who +commits murder, because the commission of murder is a high crime, and +the party who does it forfeits his right to live; but would it be just +to apply the law which punishes a person for committing murder to an +innocent person who had killed another accidentally, without malice? +That is the difference. It is the difference between right and wrong, +between good and evil. True, the features of the Fugitive Slave Law +were abominable when they were used for the purpose of punishing, not +negroes, as the Senator from Indiana says, but white men. The Fugitive +Slave Law was enacted for the purpose of punishing white men who aided +to give the natural gift of liberty to those who were enslaved. Now, +sir, we propose to use the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law for +the purpose of punishing those who deny freedom, not those who seek to +aid persons to escape to freedom. The difference was too clearly +pointed out by the colleague of the Senator [Mr. Lane] to justify me +in taking further time in alluding to it. + +"But the Senator objects to this bill because it authorizes the +calling in of the military; and he asserts that it is the only law in +which the military is brought in to enforce it. The Senator from +Pennsylvania [Mr. Cowan] follows this up with a half hour's speech, +denouncing this law as obnoxious to the objection that it is a +military law, that it is taking the trial of persons for offenses out +of the hands of the courts and placing them under the military--a +monstrous proposition, he says. Is that so? What is the law? + +"It is a court bill; it is to be executed through the courts, and in +no other way. But does the Senator mean to say it is a military bill +because the military may be called in, in aid of the execution of the +law through the courts? Does the Senator from Pennsylvania--I should +like his attention, and that of the Senator from Indiana, too--deny +the authority to call in the military in aid of the execution of the +law through the courts? + +"Let me read a clause from the Constitution, which seems to have been +forgotten by the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from +Indiana. The Senator from Pennsylvania, who has denounced this law, +has been living under just such a law for thirty years, and it seems +never found it out. What says the Constitution? 'Congress shall have +power to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of +the Union.' + +"Then, can not the militia prevent persons from violating the law? +They are authorized by the Constitution to be called out for, the +purpose of executing the law, and here we have a law that is to be +carried into execution, and when you find persons combined together to +prevent its execution, you can not do any thing with them! Suppose +that the county authorities in Muscogee County, Georgia, combine +together to deny civil rights to every colored man in that county. +For the purpose of preventing it, before they have done any act, I say +the militia may be called out to prevent them from committing an act. +We are not required to wait until the act is committed before any +thing can be done. That was the doctrine which led to this rebellion, +that we had no authority to do any thing till the conflict of arms +came. I believed then, in 1860, that we had authority; and if it had +been properly exercised, if the men who were threatening rebellion, +who were in this chamber defying the authority of the Government, had +been arrested for treason--of which, in my judgment, by setting on +foot armed expeditions against the country, they were guilty--and if +they had been tried and punished and executed for the crime, I doubt +whether this great rebellion would ever have taken place. + +"There is another statute to which I beg leave to call the attention +of the Senator from Pennsylvania, and under which he has lived for +thirty years without ever having known it; and his rights have been +fully protected. I wish to call attention to a section from which the +tenth section of the bill under consideration, at which the Senator +from Indiana is so horrified, is copied word for word, and letter for +letter. The act of March 10, 1836, 'supplementary to an act entitled +"An act in addition to the act for the punishment of certain crimes +against the United States, and to repeal the acts therein mentioned," +approved 20th of April, 1818,' contains the very section that is in +this bill, word for word. It did not horrify the country; it did not +destroy all the liberties of the people; it did not consolidate all +the powers of the Constitution in the Federal Government; it did not +overthrow the courts, and it has existed now for thirty years!" + +The question was first taken on the amendment offered by Mr. +Hendricks, to strike out the tenth section of the bill. The vote +resulted yeas, twelve; nays, thirty-four. + +At this stage of the proceedings, Mr. Saulsbury moved to amend the +bill by adding in the first section of the bill after the words "civil +rights," the words, "except the right to vote in the States." He +desired that if the Senate did not wish to confer the right of +suffrage by this bill, they should say so. The question being taken on +Mr. Saulsbury's amendment, the vote resulted seven in the affirmative +and thirty-nine in the negative. + +The vote was finally taken on the passage of the bill, which resulted +thirty-three in the affirmative and twelve in the negative. The +following Senators voted in favor of the bill: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Connor, Cragin, + Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Harris, Henderson, Howard, + Howe, Kirkwood, Henry S. Lane, James H. Lane, Morgan, + Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, + Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, + and Yates--33. + +The following voted against the bill, namely: + + Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Guthrie, Hendricks, + McDougall, Nesmith, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stockton, and + Van Winkle--12. + +Five Senators were absent, to wit: + + Messrs. Creswell, Doolittle, Grimes, Johnson, and Wright--5. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + + The Bill referred to the Judiciary Committee and reported + back -- Speech by the Chairman of the Committee -- Mr. + Rogers -- Mr. Cook -- Mr. Thayer -- Mr. Eldridge -- Mr. + Thornton -- Mr. Windom -- Mr. Shellabarger -- Mr. Broomall + -- Mr. Raymond -- Mr. Delano -- Mr. Kerr -- Amendment by Mr. + Bingham -- His Speech -- Reply by his Colleague -- + Discussion closed by Mr. Wilson -- Yeas and Nays on the + Passage of the Bill -- Mr. Le Blond's proposed title -- + Amendments of the House accepted by the Senate. + + +On the 5th of February, four days after the passage of the Civil Rights +Bill in the Senate, it came before the House of Representatives, and +having been read a first and second time, was referred to the +Committee on the Judiciary. On the 1st of March, the Chairman of the +Judiciary Committee, Mr. Wilson, brought the bill again before the +House, proposing some verbal amendments which were adopted. He then +made a motion to recommit the bill, pending which, he made a speech on +the merits of the measure. He referred to many definitions, judicial +decisions, opinions, and precedents, under which negroes were entitled +to the rights of American citizenship. In reference to the results of +his researches, he said: + +"Precedents, both judicial and legislative, are found in sharp +conflict concerning them. The line which divides these precedents is +generally found to be the same which separates the early from the +later days of the republic. The further the Government drifted from +the old moorings of equality and human rights, the more numerous +became judicial and legislative utterances in conflict with some of +the leading features of this bill." + +He argued that the section of the bill providing for its enforcement +by the military arm was necessary, in order "to fortify the +declaratory portions of this bill with such sanctions as will render +it effective." In conclusion he said: + +"Can not protection be rendered to the citizen in the mode prescribed +by the measure we now have under consideration? If not, a perpetual +state of constructive war would be a great blessing to very many +American citizens. If a suspension of martial law and a restoration of +the ordinary forms of civil law are to result in a subjection of our +people to the outrages under the operation of State laws and municipal +ordinances which these orders now prevent, then it were better to +continue the present state of affairs forever. But such is not the +case; we may provide by law for the same ample protection through the +civil courts that now depends on the orders of our military +commanders; and I will never consent to any other construction of our +Constitution, for that would be the elevation of the military above +the civil power. + +"Before our Constitution was formed, the great fundamental rights +which I have mentioned belonged to every person who became a member of +our great national family. No one surrendered a jot or tittle of these +rights by consenting to the formation of the Government. The entire +machinery of Government, as organized by the Constitution, was +designed, among other things, to secure a more perfect enjoyment of +these rights. A legislative department was created, that laws +necessary and proper to this end might be enacted; a judicial +department was erected to expound and administer the laws; an +executive department was formed for the purpose of enforcing and +seeing to the execution of these laws; and these several departments +of Government possess the power to enact, administer, and enforce the +laws 'necessary and proper' to secure those rights which existed +anterior to the ordination of the Constitution. Any other view of the +powers of this Government dwarfs it, and renders it a failure in its +most important office. + +"Upon this broad principle I rest my justification of this bill. I +assert that we possess the power to do those things which governments +are organized to do; that we may protect a citizen of the United +States against a violation of his rights by the law of a single State; +that by our laws and our courts we may intervene to maintain the proud +character of American citizenship; that this power permeates our whole +system, is a part of it, without which the States can run riot over +every fundamental right belonging to citizens of the United States; +that the right to exercise this power depends upon no express +delegation, but runs with the rights it is designed to protect; that +we possess the same latitude in respect to the selection of means +through which to exercise this power that belongs to us when a power +rests upon express delegation; and that the decisions which support +the latter maintain the former. And here, sir, I leave the bill to the +consideration of the House." + +Mr. Rogers, of New Jersey, followed with an argument against the bill, +because it interfered with "States' Rights." Under its provisions, +Congress would "enter the domain of a State and interfere with its +internal police, statutes, and domestic regulations." He said: + +"This act of legislation would destroy the foundations of the +Government as they were laid and established by our fathers, who +reserved to the States certain privileges and immunities which ought +sacredly to be preserved to them. + +"If you had attempted to do it in the days of those who were living at +the time the Constitution was made, after the birth of that noble +instrument, the spirit of the heroes of the Revolution and the ghosts +of the departed who laid down their lives in defense of the liberty of +this country and of the rights of the States, would have come forth as +witnesses against the deadly infliction, and the destruction of the +fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the States in violation of +the Constitution, and the breaking down of the ties that bind the +States, and the violation of the rights and liberties of the white men +and white women of America. + +"If you pass this bill, you will allow the negroes of this country to +compete for the high office of President of the United States. Because +if they are citizens at all, they come within the meaning and letter +of the Constitution of the United States, which allows all +natural-born citizens to become candidates for the Presidency, and to +exercise the duties of that office if elected. + +"I am afraid of degrading this Government; I am afraid of danger to +constitutional liberty; I am alarmed at the stupendous strides which +this Congress is trying to initiate; and I appeal in behalf of my +country, in behalf of those that are to come after us, of generations +yet unborn, as well as those now living, that conservative men on the +other side should rally to the standard of sovereign and independent +States, and blot out this idea which is inculcating itself here, that +all the powers of the States must be taken away, and the power of the +Czar of Russia or the Emperor of France must be lodged in the Federal +Government. + +"I ask you to stand by the law of the country, and to regulate these +Federal and State systems upon the grand principles upon which they +were intended to be regulated, that we may hand down to those who are +to come after us this bright jewel of civil liberty unimpaired; and I +say that the Congress or the men who will strip the people of these +rights will be handed down to perdition for allowing this bright and +beautiful heritage of civil liberty embodied in the powers and +sovereign jurisdiction of the States to pass away from us. + +"I am willing to trust brave men--men who have shown as much bravery +as those who were engaged on battle-fields against the armed legions +of the North; because I believe that even when they were fighting +against the flag, of their country, the great mass of those people +were moved by high and conscientious convictions of duty. And in the +spirit of Christianity, in the spirit which Jesus Christ exercised +when he gave up his own life as a propitiation for a fallen world, I +would say to those Southern men, Come here in the Halls of Congress, +and participate with us in passing laws which, if constitutionally +carried into effect, will control the interests and destinies of four +millions people, mostly living within the limits of your States." + +Mr. Cook, of Illinois, replied: "Mr. Speaker, in listening to the very +eloquent remarks of the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Rogers], I have +been astonished to find that in his apprehension this bill is designed +to deprive somebody, in some State of this Union, of some right which +he has heretofore enjoyed. I am only sorry that he was not specific +enough; that he did not inform us what rights are to be taken away. He +has denounced this bill as dangerous to liberty, as calculated in its +tendency at least to destroy the liberties of this country. I have +examined this bill with some care, and, so far as I have been able to +understand it, I have found nothing in any provision of it which tends +in any way to take from any man, white or black, a single right he +enjoys under the Constitution and laws of the United States. + +"I would have been glad if he would have told us in what manner the +white men of this country would have been placed in a worse condition +than they are now, if this becomes the law. This general denunciation +and general assault of the bill, without pointing out one single thing +which is to deprive one single man of any right he enjoys under the +Government, seems to me not entitled to much weight. + +"When those rights which are enumerated in this bill are denied to any +class of men, on account of race or color, when they are subject to a +system of vagrant laws which sells them into slavery or involuntary +servitude, which operates upon them as upon no other part of the +community, they are not secured in the rights of freedom. If a man can +be sold, the man is a slave. If he is nominally freed by the amendment +to the Constitution, he has nothing in the world he can call his own; +he has simply the labor of his hands on which he can depend. Any +combination of men in his neighborhood can prevent him from having any +chance to support himself by his labor. They can pass a law that a man +not supporting himself by labor shall be deemed a vagrant, and that a +vagrant shall be sold. If this is the freedom we gave the men who have +been fighting for us and in defense of the Government, if this is all +we have secured them, the President had far better never have issued +the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the country had far better never +have adopted the great ordinance of freedom. + +"Does any man in this House believe that these people can be safely +left in these States without the aid of Federal legislation or +military power? Does any one believe that their freedom can be +preserved without this aid? If any man does so believe, he is +strangely blind to the history of the past year; strangely blind to +the enactments passed by Legislatures touching these freedmen. And I +shuddered as I heard the honorable gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. +Rogers] claiming that he was speaking and thinking in the spirit which +animated the Savior of mankind when he made atonement for our race; +that it was in that spirit he was acting when he was striving to have +these people left utterly defenseless in the hands of men who were +proving, day by day, month by month, that they desire to oppress them, +for they had been made free against their consent. Every act of +legislation, every expression of opinion on their part, proves that +these people would be again enslaved if they were not protected by the +military arm of the Federal Government; without that they would be +slaves to-day. And I submit, with all deference, that it is any thing +but the spirit which the gentleman claims to have exercised, which +prompted the argument he has made. + +"For myself, I trust that this bill will be passed, because I consider +it the most appropriate means to secure the end desired, and that +these people will be protected. I trust that we will say to them, +Because upon our call you aided us to suppress this rebellion, because +the honor and faith of the nation were pledged for your protection, we +will maintain your freedom, and redeem that pledge." + +On the following day, the House of Representatives resumed the +consideration of this bill. A speech was made by Mr. Thayer, of +Pennsylvania. He said: + +"This bill is the just sequel to, and the proper completion of, that +great measure of national redress which opened the dungeon-doors of +four million human beings. Without this, in my judgment, that great +act of justice will be paralyzed and made useless. With this, it will +have practical effect, life, vigor, and enforcement. It has been the +fashion of gentlemen, holding a certain set of opinions, in this House +to characterize that great measure to which I have referred as a +revolutionary measure. + +"Sir, it was a revolutionary measure. It was one of the greatest, one +of the most humane, one of the most beneficial revolutions which ever +characterized the history of a free State; but it was a revolution +which, though initiated by the conflict of arms and rendered necessary +as a measure of war against the public enemy, was accomplished within +and under the provisions of the Constitution of the United States. It +was a revolution for the relief of human nature, a revolution which +gave life, liberty, and hope to millions whose condition, until then, +appeared to be one of hopeless despair. It was a revolution of which +no freeman need be ashamed, of which every man who assisted in it +will, I am sure, in the future be proud, and which will illumine with +a great glory the history of this country. + +"There is nothing in this bill in respect to the employment of +military force that is not already in the Constitution of the United +States. The power here conferred is expressly given by that +instrument, and has been exercised upon the most stupendous scale in +the suppression of the rebellion. What is this bill? I hope gentlemen, +even on the opposite side of the House, will not suffer their minds to +be influenced by any such vague, loose, and groundless denunciations +as these which have proceeded from the gentleman from New Jersey. The +bill, after extending these fundamental immunities of citizenship to +all classes of people in the United States, simply provides means for +the enforcement of these rights and immunities. How? Not by military +force, not through the instrumentality of military commanders, not +through any military machinery whatever, but through the quiet, +dignified, firm, and constitutional forms of judicial procedure. The +bill seeks to enforce these rights in the same manner and with the +same sanctions under and by which other laws of the United States are +enforced. It imposes duties upon the judicial tribunals of the country +which require the enforcement of these rights. It provides for the +administration of laws to protect these rights. It provides for the +execution of laws to enforce them. Is there any thing appalling in +that? Is that a military despotism? Sir, it is a strange abuse of +language to say that a military despotism is established by wholesome +and equal laws. Yet the gentleman declaimed by the hour, in vague and +idle terms, against this bill, which has not a single offensive, +oppressive, unjust, unusual, or tyrannical feature in it. These civil +rights and immunities which are to be secured, and which no man can +conscientiously say ought to be denied, are to be enforced through the +ordinary instrumentalities of courts of justice. + +"While engaged in this great work of restoration, it concerns our +honor that we forget not those who are unable to help themselves; who, +whatever may have been the misery and wretchedness of their former +condition, were on our side in the great struggle which has closed, +and whose rights we can not disregard or neglect without violating the +most sacred obligations of duty and of honor. To us they look for +protection against the wrongs with which they are threatened. To us +alone can they appeal in their helplessness for succor and defense. To +us they hold out to-day their supplicating hands, asking for +protection for themselves and their posterity. We can not disregard +this appeal, and stand acquitted before the country and the world of +basely abandoning to a miserable fate those who have a right to demand +the protection of your flag and the immunities guaranteed to every +freeman by your Constitution." + +Mr. Eldridge, of Wisconsin, opposed the bill, in a speech of which the +following are the concluding remarks: + +"I had hoped that this subject would be allowed to rest. Gentlemen +refer us to individual cases of wrong perpetrated upon the freedmen of +the South as an argument why we should extend the Federal authority +into the different States to control the action of the citizens +thereof. But, I ask, has not the South submitted to the altered state +of things there, to the late amendment of the Constitution, to the +loss of their slave property, with a cheerfulness and grace that we +did not expect? Have they not acquiesced more willingly than we dared +to hope? Then why not trust them? Why not meet them with frankness and +kindness? Why not encourage them with trust and confidence? + +"I deprecate all these measures because of the implication they carry +upon their face, that the people who have heretofore owned slaves +intend to do them wrong. I do not believe it. So far as my knowledge +goes, and so far as my information extends, I believe that the people +who have held the freedmen slaves will treat them with more kindness, +with more leniency, than those of the North who make such loud +professions of love and affection for them, and are so anxious to pass +these bills. They know their nature; they know their wants; they know +their habits; they have been brought up together, and have none of the +prejudices and unkind feelings which many in the North would have, +toward them. + +"I do not credit all these stories about the general feeling of +hostility in the South toward the negro. So far as I have heard +opinions expressed upon that subject, and I have conversed with many +persons from that section of the country, they do not blame the negro +for any thing that has happened. As a general thing, he was faithful +to them and their interests until the army reached the place and took +him from them. He has supported their wives and children in the +absence of the husbands and fathers in the armies of the South. He has +done for them what no one else could have done. They recognize his +general good feeling toward them, and are inclined to reciprocate that +feeling toward him. + +"I believe that is the general feeling of the Southern people to-day. +The cases of ill-treatment are exceptional cases. They are like the +cases which have occurred in the Northern States where the unfortunate +have been thrown upon our charity. Take for instance the stories of +the cruel treatment of the insane in the State of Massachusetts. They +may have been barbarously confined in the loathsome dens, as stated in +particular instances, but is that any evidence of the general ill-will +of the people of the State of Massachusetts toward the insane? Is that +any reason why the Federal arm should be extended to Massachusetts to +control and protect the insane there? + +"It has also been said that certain paupers in certain States have +been badly used--paupers, too, who were whites. Is that any reason why +we should extend the arm of the Federal Government to those States to +protect the poor who are thrown upon the charities of the people +there? + +"Sir, we must yield to the altered state of things in this country. We +must trust the people; it is our duty to do so; we can not do +otherwise. And the sooner we place ourselves in a position where we +can win the confidence of our late enemies, where our counsels will be +heeded, where our advice may be regarded, the sooner will the people +of the whole country be fully reconciled to each other and their +changed relationship; the sooner will all the inhabitants of our +country be in the possession of all the rights and immunities +essential to their prosperity and happiness." + +Mr. Thornton, of Illinois, feared there was "something hidden, +something more than appears in the language" of the bill. He feared "a +design to confer the right of suffrage upon the negro," and urged that +a proviso should be accepted "restricting the meaning of the words +'civil rights and immunities.'" He remarked further: "The most serious +objection that I have to this bill is, that it is an interference with +the rights of the South. It was remarked by my friend from Wisconsin +that it has often been intimated on this floor, and throughout the +country, that whenever a man talks about either the Constitution or +the rights of the States, he is either a traitor or a sympathizer with +treason. I do not assume that the States are sovereign. They are +subordinate to the Federal Government. Sovereignty in this country is +in the people, but the States have certain rights, and those rights +are absolutely necessary to the maintenance of our system of +government. What are those rights? The right to determine and fix the +legal _status_ of the inhabitants of the respective States; the local +powers of self-government; the power to regulate all the relations +that exist between husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and +ward; all the fireside and home rights, which are nearer and dearer to +us than all others. + +"Sir, this is but a stepping-stone to a centralization of the +Government and the overthrow of the local powers of the States. +Whenever that is consummated, then farewell to the beauty, strength, +and power of this Government. There is nothing left but absolute, +despotic, central power. It lives no longer but as a naked despotism. +There is nothing left to admire and to cherish." + +Mr. Windom, of Minnesota, next obtained the floor. Referring to the +speech of Mr. Rogers, he said: "I wish to make another extract from +the speech of the gentleman from New Jersey. He said, 'If you pass +this bill, you will allow negroes to compete for the high office of +the President of the United States.' You will actually allow them to +compete for the Presidency of the United States! As for this fear +which haunts the gentleman from New Jersey, if there is a negro in the +country who is so far above all the white men of the country that only +four millions of his own race can elect him President of the United +States over twenty-six millions of white people, I think we ought to +encourage such talent in the country. + +"Sir, the gentleman has far less confidence in the white race than I +have, if he is so timid in regard to negro competition. Does he really +suppose that black men are so far superior to white men that four +millions of them can elect a President of their own race against the +wishes of thirty millions of ours? Ever since I knew any thing of the +party to which the gentleman belongs, it has entertained this same +morbid fear of negro competition; and sometimes I have thought that if +we were to contemplate the subject from their stand-point we would +have more charity than we do for this timidity and nervous dread which +haunts them. I beg leave, however, to assure the gentleman that there +is not the slightest danger of electing a black President, and that he +need never vote for one, unless he thinks him better fitted for the +office than a white man." + +With more direct reference to the merits of the question, Mr. Windom +said: "Our warrant for the passage of this bill is found in the genius +and spirit of our institutions; but not in these alone. Fortunately, +the great amendment which broke the shackles from every slave in the +land contains an express provision that 'Congress shall have power to +enforce this article by appropriate legislation.' + +"When this amendment was acted upon, it was well understood, as it is +now, that although the body of slavery might be destroyed, its spirit +would still live in the hearts of those who have sacrificed so much +for its preservation, and that if the freedmen were left to the tender +mercy of their former masters, to whose heartless selfishness has been +superadded a malignant desire for vengeance upon the negro for having +aided us in crushing the rebellion, his condition would be more +intolerable than it was before the war. And hence the broad grant of +power was made to enable Congress to enforce the spirit as well as the +letter of the amendment. Now, sir, in what way is it proposed to +enforce it? By denying to any one man a single right or privilege +which he could otherwise constitutionally or properly enjoy? No. By +conferring on any one person or class of persons a single right or +immunity which every other person may not possess? By no means. Does +it give to the loyal negro any preference over the recent would-be +assassins of the nation? Not at all. It merely declares that hereafter +there shall be no discrimination in civil rights or immunities among +the citizens of any State or territory of the United States on account +of race, color, or previous condition of slavery, and that every +person, except such as are excluded by reason of crime, shall have the +same right to enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give +evidence, to inherit, purchase, sell, hold, and convey real and +personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and +proceedings for the security of person and property, and shall be +subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other. + +"We know, and the whole world knows, that when in the hour of our +extremity we called upon the black race to did us, we promised them +not liberty only, but all that that word liberty implies. All remember +how unwilling we were to do any thing which would inure to the benefit +of the negro. I recall with shame the fact that when, five years ago, +the so-called Democracy--now Egyptians--were here in this capital, in +the White House, in the Senate, and on this floor, plotting the +destruction of the Government, and we were asked to appease them by +sacrificing the negro, two-thirds of both houses voted to rivet his +chains upon him so long as the republic should endure. A widening +chasm yawned between the free and slave States, and we looked wildly +around for that wherewith it might be closed. In our extremity we +seized upon the negro, bound and helpless, and tried to cast him in. +But an overruling Providence heard the cries of the oppressed, and +hurled his oppressors into that chasm by hundreds of thousands, until +the whole land was filled with mourning, yet still the chasm yawned. +In our anguish and terror, we felt that the whole nation would be +speedily ingulfed in one common ruin. It was then that the great +emancipator and savior of his country, Abraham Lincoln, saw the danger +and the remedy, and seizing four million bloody shackles, he wrenched +them from their victims, and standing with these broken manacles in +his hands upraised toward heaven, he invoked the blessing of the God +of the oppressed, and cast them into the fiery chasm. That offering +was accepted, and the chasm closed. + +"When the reports from Port Hudson and Fort Wagner thrilled all loyal +hearts by the recital of the heroic deeds of the black soldier, we +were not reminded that if the negro were permitted to enjoy the same +rights under the Government his valor helped to save that are +possessed by the perjured traitors who sought its destruction, it +would 'lead to a war of races.' O no! Then we were in peril, and felt +grateful even to the negro, who stood between us and our enemies. Then +our only hope of safety was in the brave hearts and strong arms of the +soldier at the front. Now, since by the combined efforts of our brave +soldiers, white and black, the military power of the South has been +overthrown, and her Representatives are as eager to resume their +places on this floor as five years ago they were to quit them for a +place in the rebel army, we are told that, having been victorious, it +becomes a great nation like ours to be magnanimous. I answer, it is +far more becoming to be just. I am willing to carry my magnanimity to +the verge of justice, but not one step beyond. I will go with him who +goes furthest in acts of generosity toward our former enemies, unless +those acts will be prejudicial to our friends. But when you advise me +to sacrifice those who have stood by us during the war, in order to +conciliate unrepentant rebels, whose hearts still burn with +ill-suppressed hatred to the Government, I scorn your counsel." + +Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio, said: "I agree with the gentleman on the +other side of the House, that this bill can not be passed under that +clause of the Constitution which provides that Congress may pass +uniform rules of naturalization. Under that clause it is my opinion +that the act of naturalization must not only be the act of the +Government, but also the act of the individual alien, by which he +renounces his former allegiance and accepts the new one. And that +proposition and distinction will be found, I think, in all judicious +arguments upon the subject. + +"There is another class of persons well recognized, not only in our +constitutional history, but also by the laws of nations, who are not +foreigners, who occupy an intermediate position, and that intermediate +position is defined by the laws of nations by the word 'subjects.' +Subjects are all persons who, being born in a given country, and under +a given government, do not owe an allegiance to any other government. + +"To that class in this country, according to the decisions of our +courts hitherto, belong American Indians and slaves, and, according to +the Dred Scott decision, persons of African descent whose ancestors +were slaves. All these were subjects by every principle of +international as well as of settled constitutional law in this +country. + +"Now, then, to that class belong the persons who are naturalized by +this bill. If they were not, indeed, citizens hitherto, they were at +least subjects of this Government, by reason of their birth, and by +reason of the fact that they owed no foreign allegiance. + +"That brings me to the next remark, and it is this: that these +subjects, not owing any foreign allegiance, no individual act of +theirs is required in order to their naturalization, because they owe +no foreign allegiance to be renounced by their individual acts, and +because, moreover, being domiciled in our own country, and continuing +here to reside, it is the individual election of each member of the +tribe, or race, or class, to accept our nationality; therefore, no +additional individual act is required in order to his citizenship. + +"That being proved, it is competent for the nationality, or for the +government, wherever that subject may reside, to naturalize that class +of persons by treaty or by general law, as is proposed by the +amendment of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Raymond]. It is the act +of the sovereign alone that is requisite to the naturalization of that +class of persons, and it may be done either by a single act +naturalizing entire races of men, or by adopting the heads of families +out of those races, or it may be done to any extent, greater or less, +that may please the sovereign. For this proposition, I refer gentlemen +who desire to examine this subject to the authorities that may be +found collected in any judicious work on public law, and they will +find them very fully collected, certainly, in the notes to Wheaton. + +"Now, then, what power may do that act of naturalization, and how may +it be exercised? That is also answered by these same authorities. It +may be done in this country either by an act of Congress, or it may be +done by treaty. It has been done again and again and again in both +ways in this country. It was done once in the case of the Choctaw +Indians, as you will find in the Statutes-at-Large, where, in case the +heads of families desired to remain and not to remove to the West, it +was provided by the treaty of September 27, 1830, that those families +should be naturalized as a class. + +"Then, again, it was done in the other way, by an act of Congress, in +the case cited by my learned friend from Iowa [Mr. Wilson], in the +case of the Stockbridge Indians. + +"It was done again, as you may remember, in the case of the Cherokees, +in December, 1835. There again a class was naturalized by treaty." + +Some amendments having been proposed, the bill was recommitted to the +Committee on the Judiciary, with the understanding that it should be +returned for consideration on Thursday of the following week. + +Accordingly, on that day, March 8, the consideration of the bill being +resumed, Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania, addressed the House, He viewed +the bill as beneficent in its provisions, since it made no +discriminations against the Southern rebels, but granted them, as well +as the negro, the rights of citizenship. + +"A question might naturally arise whether we ought again to trust +those who have once betrayed us; whether we ought to give them the +benefits of a compact they have once repudiated. Yet the spirit of +forgiveness is so inherent in the American bosom, that no party in the +country proposes to withhold from these people the advantages of +citizenship; and this is saying much. With a debt that may require +centuries to pay; with so many living and mutilated witnesses of the +horrors of war; with so many saddened homes, so many of the widowed +and fatherless pleading for justice, for retribution, if not revenge, +it speaks well for the cause of Christian civilization in America that +no party in the country proposes to deprive the authors of such +immeasurable calamity of the advantages of citizenship. + +"But the election must be made. Some public legislative act is +necessary to show the world that those who have forfeited all claims +upon the Government are not to be held to the strict rigor of the law +of their own invoking, the decision of the tribunal of their own +choosing; that they are to be welcomed back as the prodigal son, +whenever they are ready to return as the prodigal son. + +"The act under consideration makes that election. Its terms embrace +the late rebels, and it gives them the rights, privileges, and +immunities of citizens of the United States, though it does not +propose to exempt them from punishment for their past crimes. + +"I might consent that the glorious deeds of the last five years should +be blotted from the country's history; that the trophies won on a +hundred battle-fields, the sublime visible evidences of the heroic +devotion of America's citizen soldiery, should be burned on the altar +of reconstruction. I might consent that the cemetery at Gettysburg +should be razed to the ground; that its soil should be submitted to +the plow, and that the lamentation of the bereaved should give place +to the lowing of cattle. But there is a point beyond which I will +neither be forced nor persuaded. I will never consent that the +Government shall desert its allies in the South, and surrender their +rights and interests to the enemy, and in this I will make no +distinction of caste or color, either among friends or foes." + +Mr. Raymond, of New York, was impressed with the importance of the +measure. "Whether we consider it by itself, simply as a proposed +statute, or in its bearings upon the general question of the +restoration of peace and harmony to the Union, I regard it as one of +the most important bills ever presented to this House for its action, +worthy, in every respect, to enlist the coolest and the calmest +judgment of every member whose vote must be recorded upon it." + +He was in favor of the first part of the bill, which declares "who +shall be citizens of the United States, and declares that all shall be +citizens without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of +servitude, who are, have been, or shall be born within the limits and +jurisdiction of the United States. + +"Now, sir, assuming, as I do, without any further argument, that +Congress has the power of admitting to citizenship this great class of +persons just set free by the amendment to the Constitution of the +United States abolishing slavery, I suppose I need not dwell here on +the great importance to that class of persons of having this boon +conferred upon them. + +"We have already conferred upon them the great, inestimable, priceless +boon of personal liberty. I can not for one moment yield to what seems +to be a general disposition to disparage the freedom we have given +them. I think the fact that we have conferred upon four million people +that personal liberty and freedom from servitude from this time +forward for evermore, is one of the highest and most beneficent acts +ever performed by any Government toward so large a class of its +people. + +"Having gone thus far, I desire to go on by successive steps still +further, and to elevate them in all respects, so far as their +faculties will allow and our power will permit us to do, to an +equality with the other persons and races in this country. I desire, +as the next step in the process of elevating that race, to give them +the rights of citizenship, or to declare by solemn statute that they +are citizens of the United States, and thus secure to them whatever +rights, immunities, privileges, and powers belong as of right to all +citizens of the United States. I hope no one will be prepared or +inclined to say this is a trifling boon. If we do so estimate this +great privilege, I fear we are scarcely in the frame of mind to act +upon the great questions coming before us from day to day here. I, for +one, am not prepared or inclined to disparage American citizenship as +a personal qualification belonging to myself, or as conferred upon any +of our fellow-citizens." + +Mr. Raymond expressed doubts as to the constitutionality of that part +of the bill "that provides for that class of persons thus made +citizens protection against anticipated inequality of legislation in +the several States." + +In this direction he was desirous of avoiding a veto. He said: +"Moreover, on grounds of expediency, upon which I will not dwell, I +desire myself, and I should feel much relieved if I thought the House +fully and heartily shared my anxiety, not to pass here any bill which +shall be intercepted on its way to the statute-book by well-grounded +complaints of unconstitutionality on the part of any other department +of the Government." + +Mr. Delano, of Ohio, followed, expressing doubts as to the +constitutionality of the measure. He considered it a serious +infringement of the rights of the States. He said: "Now, sir, should +this bill be passed, that law of the State might be overthrown by the +power of Congress. In my opinion, if we adopt the principle of this +bill, we declare, in effect, that Congress has authority to go into +the States and manage and legislate with regard to all the personal +rights of the citizen--rights of life, liberty, and property. You +render this Government no longer a Government of limited powers; you +concentrate and consolidate here an extent of authority which will +swallow up all or nearly all of the rights of the States with respect +to the property, the liberties, and the lives of its citizens." + +He added, near the close of his address: "I am not to be understood as +denying the power of this Government, especially that great war power +which, when evoked, has no limit except as it is limited by necessity +and the laws of civilized warfare. But, sir, in time of peace I would +not and I can not stand here and attempt the exercise of powers by +this General Government, which, if carried out with all the logical +consequences that follow their assumption, will, in my opinion, +endanger the liberties of the country." + +Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, maintained the theory that the States should +settle questions of citizenship as relating to those within their +borders; that "the privileges and immunities of citizenship in the +States are required to be attained, if at all, _according to the laws +or Constitutions of the States_, and never in _defiance_ of them." To +sustain this theory, he read from a number of authorities, and finally +remarked: + +"This bill rests upon a theory utterly inconsistent with, and in +direct hostility to, every one of these authorities. It asserts the +right of Congress to regulate the laws which shall govern in the +acquisition and ownership of property in the States, and to determine +who may go there and purchase and hold property, and to protect such +persons in the enjoyment of it. The right of the State to regulate its +own internal and domestic affairs, to select its own local policy, and +make and administer its own laws, for the protection and welfare of +its own citizens, is denied. If Congress can declare what rights and +privileges shall be enjoyed in the States by the people of one class, +it can, by the same kind of reasoning, determine what shall be enjoyed +by every class. If it can say who may go into and settle in and +acquire property in a State, it can also say who shall not. If it can +determine who may testify and sue in the courts of a State, it may +equally determine who shall not. If it can order the transfer of suits +from the State to the Federal courts, where citizens of the same State +alone are parties, in such cases as may arise under this bill, it can, +by parity of logic, dispense with State courts entirely. Congress, in +short, may erect a great centralized, consolidated despotism in this +capital. And such is the rapid tendency of such legislation as this +bill proposes." + +On the succeeding day, March 9th, Mr. Wilson having demanded the +previous question, on the motion to recommit, was entitled to the +floor, but yielded portions of his time to Mr. Bingham and Mr. +Shellabarger. + +The former had moved to amend the motion to recommit, by adding +instructions "to strike out of the first section the words, 'and there +shall be no discrimination in civil rights or immunities among +citizens of the United States, in any State or Territory of the United +States, on account of race, color, or previous condition of slavery,' +and insert in the thirteenth line of the first section, after the word +'right,' the words, 'in every State and Territory of the United +States.' Also, to strike out all parts of said bill which are penal, +and which authorize criminal proceedings, and in lieu thereof to give +to all citizens injured by denial or violation of any of the other +rights secured or protected by said act, an action in the United +States courts with double costs in all cases of recovery, without +regard to the amount of damages; and also to secure to such persons +the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_." + +Mr. Bingham said: "And, first, I beg gentlemen to consider that I do +not oppose any legislation which is authorized by the Constitution of +my country to enforce in its letter and its spirit the bill of rights +as embodied in that Constitution. I know that the enforcement of the +bill of rights is the want of the republic. I know if it had been +enforced in good faith in every State of the Union, the calamities, +and conflicts, and crimes, and sacrifices of the past five years would +have been impossible. + +"But I feel that I am justified in saying, in view of the text of the +Constitution of my country, in view of all its past interpretations, +in view of the manifest and declared intent of the men who framed it, +the enforcement of the Bill of Rights, touching the life, liberty, and +property of every citizen of the republic, within every organized +State of the Union, is of the reserved powers of the States, to be +enforced by State tribunals and by State officials, acting under the +solemn obligations of an oath imposed upon them by the Constitution of +the United States. Who can doubt this conclusion who considers the +words of the Constitution, 'the powers not delegated to the United +States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are +reserved to the States respectively, or to the people?' The +Constitution does not delegate to the United States the power to +punish offenses against the life, liberty, or property of the citizen +in the States, nor does it prohibit that power to the States, but +leaves it as the reserved power of the States, to be by them +exercised. The prohibitions of power by the Constitution to the States +are express prohibitions, as that no State shall enter into any +treaty, etc., or emit bills of credit, or pass any bill of attainder, +etc. The Constitution does not prohibit States from the enactment of +laws for the general government of the people within their respective +limits. + +"The law in every State should be just; it should be no respecter of +persons. It is otherwise now, and it has been otherwise for many years +in many of the States of the Union. I should remedy that, not by +arbitrary assumption of power, but by amending the Constitution of the +United States, expressly prohibiting the States from any such abuse of +power in the future. You propose to make it a penal offense for the +judges of the States to obey the Constitution and laws of their +States, and for their obedience thereto to punish them by fine and +imprisonment as felons. I deny your power to do this. You can not make +an official act, done under color of law, and without criminal intent, +and from a sense of public duty, a crime." + +[Illustration: James F. Wilson.] + +Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio said: "I do not understand that there is now +any serious doubt anywhere as to our power to admit by law to the +rights of American citizenship entire classes or races who were born +and continue to reside in our territory or in territory we acquire. I +stated, the other day, some of the cases in which we naturalized +races, tribes, and communities in mass, and by single exercises of +national sovereignty. This we did by the treaty of April 30, 1800, by +which we acquired Louisiana; also in the treaty of 1819, by which we +acquired Florida; also in the treaty of 1848, by which we acquired +part of Mexico; also by the resolution of March 1, 1845, annexing +Texas, and the act of December 29, same year, admitting Texas into the +Union, we made all the people not slaves citizens; also by the treaty +of September 27, 1830, we admitted to citizens certain heads of +families of Choctaws; also by the treaty of December 29, 1855, we did +the same as to the Cherokees; also by the act of March 3, 1843, we +admitted to full citizenship the Stockbridge tribe of Indians." +Referring to the first section which his colleague had proposed to +amend, he said: "Self-evidently this is the whole effect of this first +section. It secures, not to all citizens, but to all races as races +who are citizens, equality of protection in those enumerated civil +rights which the States may deem proper to confer upon any races. Now, +sir, can this Government do this? Can it prevent one race of free +citizens from being by State laws deprived as a race of all the civil +rights for the securement of which his Government was created, and +which are the only considerations the Government renders to him for +the Federal allegiance which he renders? It does seem to me that that +Government which has the exclusive right to confer citizenship, and +which is entitled to demand service and allegiance, which is supreme +over that due to any State, may--nay, must--protect those citizens in +those rights which are fairly conducive and appropriate and necessary +to the attainment of his 'protection' as a citizen. And I think those +rights to contract, sue, testify, inherit, etc., which this bill says +the races shall hold as races in equality, are of that class which are +fairly conducive and necessary as means to the constitutional end; +to-wit, the protection of the rights of person and property of a +citizen. It has been found impossible to settle or define what are all +the indispensable rights of American citizenship. But it is perfectly +well settled what are some of these, and without which there is no +citizenship, either in this or any other Government. Two of these are +the right of petition and the right of protection in such property as +it is lawful for that particular citizen to own." + +The debate was closed by Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Judiciary +Committee. He said: "This bill, sir, has met with opposition in both +houses on the same ground that, in times gone by, before this land was +drenched in blood by the slaveholders' rebellion, was urged by those +who controlled the destinies of the southern portion of the country, +and those who adhered to their fortunes in the North, for the purpose +of riveting the chains of slavery and converting this republic into a +great slave nation. The arguments which have been urged against this +bill in both houses are but counterparts of the arguments used in +opposition to the authority the Government sought to exercise in +controlling and preventing the spread of slavery. + +"Citizens of the United States, as such, are entitled to certain +rights, and, being entitled to those rights, it is the duty of the +Government to protect citizens in the perfect enjoyment of them. The +citizen is entitled to life, liberty, and the right to property. The +gentleman from Ohio tells us, in the protection of these rights, the +citizen must depend upon the 'honest purpose of the several States,' +and that the General Government can not interpose its strong right arm +to defend the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and in +possession of property. In other words, if the States of this Union, +in their 'honest purpose,' like the honesty of purpose manifested by +the Southern States in times past, should deprive the citizen, without +due process of law, of life, liberty, and property, the General +Government, which can draw the citizen by the strong bond of +allegiance to the battle-field, has no power to intervene and set +aside a State law, and give the citizen protection under the laws of +Congress in the courts of the United States; that at the mercy of the +States lie all the rights of the citizens of the United States; that +while it was deemed necessary to constitute a great Government to +render secure the rights of the people, the framers of the Government +turned over to the States the power to deprive the citizen of those +things for the security of which the Government was framed. In other +words, the little State of Delaware has a hand stronger than the +United States; that revolted South Carolina may put under lock and key +the great fundamental rights belonging to the citizen, and we must be +dumb; that our legislative power can not be exercised; that our courts +must be closed to the appeal of our citizens. That is the doctrine +this House of Representatives, representing a great free people, just +emerged from a terrible war for the maintenance of American liberty, +is asked to adopt. + +"The gentleman from Ohio tells the House that civil rights involve all +the rights that citizens have under the Government; that in the term +are embraced those rights which belong to the citizen of the United +States as such, and those which belong to a citizen of a State as +such; and that this bill is not intended merely to enforce equality of +rights, so far as they relate to citizens of the United States, but +invades the States to enforce equality of rights in respect to those +things which properly and rightfully depend on State regulations and +laws. My friend is too sound a lawyer, is too well versed in the +Constitution of his country, to indorse that proposition on calm and +deliberate consideration. He knows, as every man knows, that this bill +refers to those rights which belong to men as citizens of the United +States and none other; and when he talks of setting aside the school +laws, and jury laws, and franchise laws of the States, by the bill now +under consideration, he steps beyond what he must know to be the rule +of construction which must apply here, and, as the result of which +this bill can only relate to matters within the control of Congress." + +Comparing Mr. Bingham's proposed amendment with the original bill, Mr. +Wilson said: "What difference in principle is there between saying +that the citizen shall be protected by the legislative power of the +United States in his rights by civil remedy and declaring that he +shall be protected by penal enactments against those who interfere +with his rights? There is no difference in the principle involved. If +we may adopt the gentleman's mode, we may also select the mode +provided in this bill. There is a difference in regard to the expense +of protection; there is also a difference as to the effectiveness of +the two modes. Beyond this, nothing. This bill proposes that the +humblest citizen shall have full and ample protection at the cost of +the Government, whose duty it is to protect him. The amendment of the +gentleman recognizes the principle involved, but it says that the +citizen despoiled of his rights, instead of being properly protected +by the Government, must press his own way through the courts and pay +the bills attendant thereon. This may do for the rich, but to the +poor, who need protection, it is mockery. The highest obligation which +the Government owes to the citizen, in return for the allegiance +exacted of him, is to secure him in the protection of his rights. +Under the amendment of the gentleman, the citizen can only receive +that protection in the form of a few dollars in the way of damages, if +he shall be so fortunate as to recover a verdict against a solvent +wrong-doer. This is called protection. This is what we are asked to do +in the way of enforcing the bill of rights. Dollars are weighed +against the right of life, liberty, and property. The verdict of a +jury is to cover all wrongs and discharge the obligations of the +Government to its citizens. + +"Sir, I can not see the justice of that doctrine. I assert that it is +the duty of the Government of the United States to provide proper +protection and to pay the costs attendant on it. We have gone out with +the strong arm of the Government and drawn from their homes, all over +this land, in obedience to the bond of allegiance which the Government +holds on the citizen, hundreds of thousands of men to the +battle-field; and yet, while we may exercise this extraordinary power, +the gentleman claims that we can not extend the protecting hand of the +Government to these men who have been battling for the life of the +nation, but can only send them, at their own cost, to juries for +verdicts of a few dollars in compensation for the most flagrant wrong +to their most sacred rights. Let those support that doctrine who will, +I can not." + +At the conclusion of Mr. Wilson's speech, Mr. Eldridge, of Wisconsin, +moved to lay the whole subject on the table. This motion was +rejected--yeas, 32; nays, 118. + +The House then rejected Mr. Bingham's proposed amendment, and +recommitted the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. + +On the 13th of March the bill was reported back from the committee +with some amendments, one of which was to strike out in section one +the following words: + + "Without distinction of color, and there shall be no + discrimination in civil rights, or immunities among citizens + of the United States in any State or Territory of the United + States on account of race, color, or previous condition of + slavery." + +The words were omitted to satisfy some who feared that it might be +held by the courts that the right of suffrage was conferred thereby. + +Another amendment proposed was the addition of a section to the bill, +to-wit: + + "_And be it further enacted_, That upon all questions of law + arising in any case under the provisions of this act, a + final appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United + States." + +Other amendments proposed and adopted were chiefly of a verbal +character. + +The main question was finally taken, and the bill passed by the +following vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, James M. + Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Baxter, Beaman, Bidwell, + Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, + Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis, + Dawes, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, + Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, + Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, + Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John + H. Hubbard, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, + Julian, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, George + V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, + Marston, Marvin, McClurg, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, + Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, + Paine, Perham, Pike, Plants, Price, Alexander H. Rice, + Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, Sloan, Spalding, + Starr, Stevens, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, + Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Ward, Warner, + Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, + Whaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, + Windom, and Woodbridge--111. + + NAYS--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Bingham, Boyer, Brooks, + Coffroth, Dawson, Denison, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Grider, + Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, Jones, Kerr, + Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, McCullough, Nicholson, Phelps, + Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, Ritter, + Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, Taber, + Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, and Winfield--38. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Delos R. Ashley, Barker, Benjamin, + Brandegee, Chanler, Reader W. Clarke, Culver, Defrees, + Eckley, Eggleston, Eldridge, Finck, Griswold, Hale, + Henderson, Hotchkiss, James R. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, + Johnson, Kasson, McIndoe, McKee, Niblack, Noell, Patterson, + Pomeroy, Raymond, John H. Rice, Rollins, Stilwell, Strouse, + Robert T. Van Horn, Henry D. Washburn, and Wright--34. + +It is an illustration of the opinion which the minority entertained of +the bill to the last, that after it had finally passed, and the +previous question had been moved on the adoption of the title, Mr. Le +Blond moved to amend the title of the bill by making it read, "A bill +to abrogate the rights and break down the judicial system of the +States." + +On the 15th of March the amendments made by the House came before the +Senate for adoption in that body. While these were under consideration +by the Senate, Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, made two motions to amend, +which were rejected. He then moved to lay the bill on the table, and +was proceeding to make a speech, when he was informed that his motion +was not debatable. He then withdrew his motion to lay on the table, +and moved to postpone the bill until the first Monday of December +following. Finding that the last amendment proposed by the House of +Representatives was before the Senate, and that his motion could not +be entertained, he proceeded to make a speech on the question before +the Senate. He asserted that "Congress has no authority or +jurisdiction whatever" over the subject of legislation which the bill +contains. He closed his remarks with the following words: "I +therefore, on the grounds that I have stated, oppose this bill. I know +that they weigh nothing with the dominant power here. What care I for +that? What care I for the manner in which my suggestions may be +received by the majority? Nothing--less than nothing, if possible. I +am performing my duty according to my sense of that duty; and in +despite of all opposition, of frowns or scoffs, or of any other +opposition, come in what form it may, I will stand up to the last hour +of my service in this chamber, and will, endeavor, as best I can, to +perform my duty whatever may betide me." + +The amendments of the House were agreed to, and the CIVIL RIGHTS BILL +wanted only Executive approval to become a law of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, AND THE VETO. + + Doubts as to the President's Decision -- Suspense ended -- + The Veto Message -- Mr. Trumbull's Answer -- Mr. Reverdy + Johnson defends the Message -- Rejoinder -- Remarks of Mr. + Yates -- Mr. Cowan appeals to the Country -- Mr. Stewart + shows how States may make the Law a Nullity -- Mr. Wade -- + Mr. McDougall on Persian Mythology -- Mr. J. H. Lane defends + the President -- Mr. Wade -- The President's Collar -- Mr. + Brown -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Garrett Davis -- Mr. Saulsbury + -- Yeas and Nays in the Senate -- Vote in the House -- The + Civil Rights Bill becomes a Law. + + +The Civil Rights Bill having finally passed through Congress, on the +15th of March, by the concurrence of the Senate in the amendments of +the House, was submitted to the President for his approval. Much +anxiety was felt throughout the country to know what would be the fate +of the bill at the hands of the Executive. Some thought it incredible +that a President of the United States would veto so plain a +declaration of rights, essential to the very existence of a large +class of inhabitants. Others were confident that Mr. Johnson's +approval would not be given to a bill interfering, as they thought, so +flagrantly with the rights of the States under the Constitution. + +All doubts were dispelled, on the 27th of March, by the appearance of +the President's Secretary on the floor of the Senate, who said, in +formal phrase: "Mr. President, I am directed by the President of the +United States to return to the Senate, in which house it originated, +the bill entitled 'An act to protect all persons in the United States +in their civil rights, and to furnish the means of their vindication,' +with his objections thereto in writing." + +The Secretary of the Senate then read the message, which was heard +with profound attention by the Senators, and a large assembly which +thronged the galleries, drawn thither in anticipation of the +President's veto message. + + "_To the Senate of the United States:_ + + "I regret that the bill which has passed both houses of + Congress, entitled 'An act to protect all persons in the + United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means + for their vindication,' contains provisions which I can not + approve, consistently with my sense of duty to the whole + people and my obligations to the Constitution of the United + States. I am therefore constrained to return it to the + Senate, the house in which it originated, with my objections + to its becoming a law. + + "By the first section of the bill, all persons born in the + United States, and not subject to any foreign power, + excluding Indians not taxed, are declared to be citizens of + the United States. This provision comprehends the Chinese of + the Pacific States, Indians subject to taxation, the people + called Gypsies, as well as the entire race designated as + blacks, people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and persons of + African blood. Every individual of those races, born in the + United States, is by the bill made a citizen of the United + States. It does not purport to declare or confer any other + right of citizenship than Federal citizenship. It does not + purport to give these classes of persons any _status_ as + citizens of States, except that which may result from their + _status_ as citizens of the United States. The power to + confer the right of State citizenship is just as exclusively + with the several States as the power to confer the right of + Federal citizenship is with Congress. + + "The right of Federal citizenship thus to be conferred on + the several excepted races before mentioned is now, for the + first time, proposed to be given by law. If, as is claimed + by many, all persons who are native-born, already are, by + virtue of the Constitution, citizens of the United States, + the passage of the pending bill can not be necessary to make + them such. If, on the other hand, such persons are not + citizens, as may be assumed from the proposed legislation to + make them such, the grave question presents itself, whether, + when eleven of the thirty-six States are unrepresented in + Congress, at this time it is sound policy to make our entire + colored population and all other excepted classes citizens + of the United States? Four millions of them have just + emerged from slavery into freedom. Can it be reasonably + supposed that they possess the requisite qualifications to + entitle them to all the privileges and immunities of + citizens of the United States? Have the people of the + several States expressed such a conviction? It may also be + asked whether it is necessary that they should be declared + citizens in order that they may be secured in the enjoyment + of civil rights? Those rights proposed to be conferred by + the bill are, by Federal as well as by State laws, secured + to all domiciled aliens and foreigners even before the + completion of the process of naturalization, and it may + safely be assumed that the same enactments are sufficient to + give like protection and benefits to those for whom this + bill provides special legislation. Besides, the policy of + the Government, from its origin to the present time, seems + to have been that persons who are strangers to and + unfamiliar with our institutions and our laws should pass + through a certain probation, at the end of which, before + attaining the coveted prize, they must give evidence of + their fitness to receive and to exercise the rights of + citizens as contemplated by the Constitution of the United + States. + + "The bill, in effect, proposes a discrimination against + large numbers of intelligent, worthy, and patriotic + foreigners, and in favor of the negro, to whom, after long + years of bondage, the avenues to freedom and intelligence + have now been suddenly opened. He must, of necessity, from + his previous unfortunate condition of servitude, be less + informed as to the nature and character of our institutions + than he who, coming from abroad, has to some extent at + least, familiarized himself with the principles of a + Government to which he voluntarily intrusts 'life, liberty, + and the pursuit of happiness.' Yet it is now proposed by a + single legislative enactment to confer the rights of + citizens upon all persons of African descent, born within + the extended limits of the United States, while persons of + foreign birth, who make our land their home, must undergo a + probation of five years, and can only then become citizens + upon proof that they are of 'good moral character, attached + to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, + and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the + same.' + + "The first section of the bill also contains an enumeration + of the rights to be enjoyed by these classes, so made + citizens, 'in every State and Territory in the United, + States.' These rights are, 'To make and enforce contracts, + to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, + lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property,' + and to have 'full and equal benefit of all laws and + proceedings for the security of persons and property as is + enjoyed by white citizens.' So, too, they are made subject + to the same punishment, pains, and penalties in common with + white citizens, and to none others. Thus a perfect equality + of the white and black races is attempted to be fixed by + Federal law, in every State of the Union, over the vast + field of State jurisdiction covered by these enumerated + rights. In no one of these can any State ever exercise any + power of discrimination between the different races. + + "In the exercise of State policy over matters exclusively + affecting the people of each State, it has frequently been + thought expedient to discriminate between the two races. By + the statutes of some of the States, Northern as well as + Southern, it is enacted, for instance, that no white person + shall intermarry with a negro or mulatto. Chancellor Kent + says, speaking of the blacks, that 'marriages between them + and whites are forbidden in some of the States where slavery + does not exist, and they are prohibited in all the + slaveholding States, and when not absolutely contrary to + law, they are revolting, and regarded as an offense against + public decorum.' + + "I do not say this bill repeals State laws on the subject of + marriage between the two races, for as the whites are + forbidden to intermarry with the blacks, the blacks can only + make such contracts as the whites themselves are allowed to + make, and therefore can not, under this bill, enter into the + marriage contract with the whites. I cite this + discrimination, however, as an instance of the State policy + as to discrimination, and to inquire whether, if Congress + can abrogate all State laws of discrimination between the + two races in the matter of real estate, of suits, and of + contracts generally, Congress may not also repeal the State + laws as to the contract of marriage between the two races? + Hitherto every subject embraced in the enumeration of rights + contained in this bill has been considered as exclusively + belonging to the States. They all relate to the internal + policy and economy of the respective States. They are + matters which in each State concern the domestic condition + of its people, varying in each according to its own peculiar + circumstances, and the safety and well-being of its own + citizens. I do not mean to say that upon all these subjects + there are not Federal restraints, as, for instance, in the + State power of legislation over contracts, there is a + Federal limitation that no State shall pass a law impairing + the obligations of contracts; and as to crimes, that no + State shall pass an _ex post facto_ law; and as to money, + that no State shall make any thing but gold and silver a + legal tender. But where can we find a Federal prohibition + against the power of any State to discriminate, as do most + of them, between aliens and citizens, between artificial + persons called corporations and natural persons, in the + right to hold real estate? + + "If it be granted that Congress can repeal all State laws + discriminating between whites and blacks, in the subjects + covered by this bill, why, it may be asked, may not Congress + repeal in the same way all State laws discriminating between + the two races on the subject of suffrage and office? If + Congress can declare by law who shall hold lands, who shall + testify, who shall have capacity to make a contract in a + State, then Congress can by law also declare who, without + regard to color or race, shall have the right to sit as a + juror or as a judge, to hold any office, and, finally, to + vote, 'in every State and Territory of the United States.' + As respects the Territories, they come within the power of + Congress, for, as to them, the law-making power is the + Federal power; but as to the States, no similar provisions + exist, vesting in Congress the power 'to make rules and + regulations' for them. + + "The object of the second section of the bill is to afford + discriminating protection to colored persons in the full + enjoyment of all the rights secured to them by the preceding + section. It declares 'that any person who, under color of + any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall + subject, or cause to be subjected, any inhabitant of any + State or Territory to the deprivation of any right secured + or protected by this act, or to different punishment, pains, + or penalties on account of such person having at one time + been held in a condition of slavery or involuntary + servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the + party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason of his + color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of + white persons, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, + on conviction, shall be punished by fine not exceeding + $1,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, + in the discretion of the court.' This section seems to be + designed to apply to some existing or future law of a State + or Territory which may conflict with the provisions of the + bill now under consideration. It provides for counteracting + such forbidden legislation by imposing fine and imprisonment + upon the legislators who may pass such conflicting laws, or + upon the officers or agents who shall put, or attempt to + put, them into execution. It means an official offense, not + a common crime committed against law upon the persons or + property of the black race. Such an act may deprive the + black man of his property, but not of the right to hold + property. It means a deprivation of the right itself, either + by the State Judiciary or the State Legislature. It is + therefore assumed that, under this section, members of State + Legislatures who should vote for laws conflicting with the + provisions of the bill; that judges of the State courts who + should render judgments in antagonism with its terms; and + that marshals and sheriffs, who should, as ministerial + officers, execute processes, sanctioned by State laws and + issued by State judges, in execution of their judgments, + could be brought before other tribunals, and there subjected + to fine and imprisonment for the performance of the duties + which such State laws might impose. + + "The legislation thus proposed invades the judicial power of + the State. It says to every State court or judge, If you + decide that this act is unconstitutional; if you refuse, + under the prohibition of a State law, to allow a negro to + testify; if you hold that over such a subject-matter the + State law is paramount, and 'under color' of a State law + refuse the exercise of the right to the negro, your error of + judgment, however conscientious, shall subject you to fine + and imprisonment. I do not apprehend that the conflicting + legislation which the bill seems to contemplate is so likely + to occur as to render it necessary at this time to adopt a + measure of such doubtful constitutionality. + + "In the next place, this provision of the bill seems to be + unnecessary, as adequate judicial remedies could be adopted + to secure the desired end without invading the immunities of + legislators, always important to be preserved in the + interest of public liberty; without assailing the + independence of the judiciary, always essential to the + preservation of individual rights; and without impairing the + efficiency of ministerial officers, always necessary for the + maintenance of public peace and order. The remedy proposed + by this section seems to be, in this respect, not only + anomalous, but unconstitutional; for the Constitution + guarantees nothing with certainty, if it does not insure to + the several States the right of making and executing laws in + regard to all matters arising within their jurisdiction, + subject only to the restriction that, in cases of conflict + with the Constitution and constitutional laws of the United + States, the latter should be held to be the supreme law of + the land. + + "The third section gives the district courts of the United + States exclusive 'cognizance of all crimes and offenses + committed against the provisions of this act,' and + concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts of the + United States of all civil and criminal cases 'affecting + persons who are denied or can not enforce in the courts or + judicial tribunals of the State or locality where they may + be any of the rights secured to them by the first section.' + The construction which I have given to the second section is + strengthened by this third section, for it makes clear what + kind of denial or deprivation of the rights secured by the + first section was in contemplation. It is a denial or + deprivation of such rights 'in the courts or judicial + tribunals of the State.' It stands, therefore, clear of + doubt, that the offense and the penalties provided in the + second section are intended for the State judge, who, in the + clear exercise of his function as a judge, not acting + ministerially, but judicially, shall decide contrary to this + Federal law. In other words, when a State judge, acting upon + a question involving a conflict between a State law and a + Federal law, and bound, according to his own judgment and + responsibility, to give an impartial decision between the + two, comes to the conclusion that the State law is valid and + the Federal law is invalid, he must not follow the dictates + of his own judgment, at the peril of fine and imprisonment. + The legislative department of the Government of the United + States thus takes from the judicial department of the States + the sacred and exclusive duty of judicial decision, and + converts the State judge into a mere ministerial officer, + bound to decree according to the will of Congress. + + "It is clear that, in States which deny to persons whose + rights are secured by the first section of the bill any one + of those rights, all criminal and civil cases affecting them + will, by the provisions of the third section, come under the + exclusive cognizance of the Federal tribunals. It follows + that if, in any State which denies to a colored person any + one of all those rights, that person should commit a crime + against the laws of the State--murder, arson, rape, or any + other crime--all protection and punishment through the + courts of the State are taken away, and he can only be tried + and punished in the Federal courts. How is the criminal to + be tried? If the offense is provided for and punished by + Federal law, that law, and not the State law, is to govern. + + "It is only when the offense does not happen to be within + the purview of the Federal law that the Federal courts are + to try and punish him under any other law; then resort is to + be had to 'the common law, as modified and changed' by State + legislation, 'so far as the same is not inconsistent with + the Constitution and laws of the United States.' So that + over this vast domain of criminal jurisprudence, provided by + each State for the protection of its own citizens, and for + the punishment of all persons who violate its criminal laws, + Federal law, wherever it can be made to apply, displaces + State law. + + "The question here naturally arises, from what source + Congress derives the power to transfer to Federal tribunals + certain classes of cases embraced in this section. The + Constitution expressly declares that the judicial power of + the United States 'shall extend to all cases in law and + equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the + United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, + under their authority; to all cases affecting embassadors, + other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of + admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to + which the United States shall be a party; to controversies + between two or more States, between a State and citizens of + another State, between citizens of different States, between + citizens of the same State claiming land under grants of + different States, and between a State, or the citizens + thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.' + + "Here the judicial power of the United States is expressly + set forth and defined; and the act of September 24, 1789, + establishing the judicial courts of the United States, in + conferring upon the Federal courts jurisdiction over cases + originating in State tribunals, is careful to confine them + to the classes enumerated in the above recited clause of the + Constitution. This section of the bill undoubtedly + comprehends case, and authorizes the exercise of powers that + are not, by the Constitution, within the jurisdiction of the + courts of the United States. To transfer them to those + courts would be an exercise of authority well calculated to + excite distrust and alarm on the part of all the States; for + the bill applies alike to all of them--as well to those that + have as to those that have not been engaged in rebellion. + + "It may be assumed that this authority is incident to the + power granted to Congress by the Constitution, as recently + amended, to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the article + declaring that 'neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, + except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall + have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United + States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.' It can + not, however, be justly claimed that, with a view to the + enforcement of this article of the Constitution, there is, + at present, any necessity for the exercise of all the powers + which this bill confers. + + "Slavery has been abolished, and, at present, nowhere exists + within the jurisdiction of the United States; nor has there + been, nor is it likely there will be, any attempt to revive + it by the people of the States. If, however, any such + attempt shall be made, it will then become the duty of the + General Government to exercise any and all incidental powers + necessary and proper to maintain inviolate this great + constitutional law of freedom. + + "The fourth section of the bill provides that officers and + agents of the Freedmen's Bureau shall be empowered to make + arrests, and also that other officers may be specially + commissioned for that purpose by the President of the United + States. It also authorizes circuit courts of the United + States and the superior courts of the Territories to + appoint, without limitation, commissioners, who are to be + charged with the performance of _quasi_ judicial duties. The + fifth section empowers the commissioners so to be selected + by the courts to appoint, in writing, under their hands, one + or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute + warrants and other processes described by the bill. These + numerous official agents are made to constitute a sort of + police, in addition to the military, and are authorized to + summon a _posse comitatus_ and even to call to their aid + such portion of the land and naval forces of the United + States, or of the militia, 'as may be necessary to the + performance of the duty with which they are charged.' + + "This extraordinary power is to be conferred upon agents + irresponsible to the Government and to the people, to whose + number the discretion of the commissioners is the only + limit, and in whose hands such authority might be made a + terrible engine of wrong, oppression, and fraud. The general + statutes regulating the land and naval forces of the United + States, the militia, and the execution of the laws, are + believed to be adequate for every emergency which can occur + in time of peace. If it should prove otherwise, Congress + can, at any time, amend those laws in such manner as, while + subserving the public welfare, not to jeopard the rights, + interests, and liberties of the people. + + "The seventh section provides that a fee of ten dollars + shall be paid to each commissioner in every case brought + before him, and a fee of five dollars to his deputy, or + deputies, 'for each person he or they may arrest and take + before any such commissioner,' 'with such other fees as may + be deemed reasonable by such commissioner,' 'in general for + performing such other duties as may be required in the + premises.' All these fees are to be 'paid out of the + Treasury of the United States,' whether there is a + conviction or not; but, in case of conviction, they are to + be recoverable from the defendant. It seems to me that, + under the influence of such temptations, bad men might + convert any law, however beneficent, into an instrument of + persecution and fraud. + + "By the eighth section of the bill, the United States + courts, which sit only in one place for white citizens, must + migrate, with the marshal and district attorney (and + necessarily with the clerk, although he is not mentioned), + to any part of the district, upon the order of the + President, and there hold a court 'for the purpose of the + more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged with a + violation of this act;' and there the judge and the officers + of the court must remain, upon the order of the President, + 'for the time therein designated.' + + "The ninth section authorizes the 'President, or such person + as he may empower for that purpose, to employ such part of + the land and naval forces of the United States, or of the + militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the violation and + enforce the due execution of this act.' This language seems + to imply a permanent military force, that is to be always at + hand, and whose only business is to be the enforcement of + this measure over the vast region where it is intended to + operate. + + "I do not propose to consider the policy of this bill. To me + the details of the bill seem fraught with evil. The white + race and the black race of the South have hitherto lived + together under the relation of master and slave--capital + owning labor. Now, suddenly, that relation is changed, and, + as to the ownership, capital and labor are divorced. They + stand, now, each master of itself. In this new relation, one + being necessary to the other, there will be a new + adjustment, which both are deeply interested in making + harmonious. Each has equal power in settling the terms, and, + if left to the laws that regulate capital and labor, it is + confidently believed that they will satisfactorily work out + the problem. Capital, it is true, has more intelligence; but + labor is never so ignorant as not to understand its own + interests, not to know its own value, and not to see that + capital must pay that value. This bill frustrates this + adjustment. It intervenes between capital and labor, and + attempts to settle questions of political economy through + the agency of numerous officials, whose interest it will be + to foment discord between the two races; for, as the breach + widens, their employment will continue, and when it is + closed, their occupation will terminate. + + "In all our history, in all our experience as a people + living under Federal and State law, no such system as that + contemplated by the details of this bill has ever before + been proposed or adopted. They establish, for the security + of the colored race, safeguards which go infinitely beyond + any that the General Government has ever provided for the + white race. In fact, the distinction of race and color is, + by the bill, made to operate in favor of the colored and + against the white race. They interfere with the municipal + legislation of the States, with the relations existing + exclusively between a State and its citizens, or between + inhabitants of the same State--an absorption and assumption + of power by the General Government which, if acquiesced in, + must sap and destroy our federative system of limited + powers, and break down the barriers which preserve the + rights of the States. It is another step, or rather stride, + to centralization and the concentration of all legislative + power in the National Government. The tendency of the bill + must be to resuscitate the spirit of rebellion, and to + arrest the progress of those influences which are more + closely drawing around the States the bonds of union and + peace. + + "My lamented predecessor, in his proclamation of the 1st of + January, 1863, ordered and declared that all persons held as + slaves within certain States and parts of States therein + designated, were and thenceforward should be free; and, + further, that the Executive Government of the United States, + including the military and naval authorities thereof, would + recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons. This + guarantee has been rendered especially obligatory and sacred + by the amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery + throughout the United States. I, therefore, fully recognize + the obligation to protect and defend that class of our + people whenever and wherever it shall become necessary, and + to the full extent compatible with the Constitution of the + United States. + + "Entertaining these sentiments, it only remains for me to + say that I will cheerfully cooeperate with Congress in any + measure that may be necessary for the protection of the + civil rights of the freedmen, as well as those of all other + classes of persons throughout the United States, by judicial + process under equal and impartial laws, in conformity with + the provisions of the Federal Constitution. + + "I now return the bill to the Senate, and regret that, in + considering the bills and joint resolutions--forty-two in + number--which have been thus far submitted for my approval, + I am compelled to withhold my assent from a second measure + that has received the sanction of both houses of Congress. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON. + + "WASHINGTON, D. C., _March_ 27, 1866." + +The death and funeral obsequies of Senator Foot prevented the Senate +from proceeding to the consideration of the President's veto message +for more than a week after it was read. On the 4th of April the Civil +Rights Bill came up to be reconsidered, the question being, "Shall the +bill pass, the objections of the President notwithstanding." + +It devolved upon Mr. Trumbull, the author of the bill, to answer the +objections of the President. In answer to the President's position +that the bill conferred only Federal citizenship, and did not give any +_status_ as citizens of States, Mr. Trumbull said: "Is it true that +when a person becomes a citizen of the United States he is not also a +citizen of every State where he may happen to be? On this point I will +refer to a decision pronounced by the Supreme Court of the United +States, delivered by Chief-Justice Marshall, the most eminent jurist +who ever sat upon an American bench. In the case of Gassies _vs._ +Ballon, reported in 6 Peters, the Chief-Justice, in delivering the +opinion of the court, says: + + "'The defendant in error is alleged in the proceedings to be + a citizen of the United Stated States, naturalized in + Louisiana, and residing there. This is equivalent to an + averment that he is a citizen of that State. _A citizen of + the United States residing in any State of the Union is a + citizen of that State._'" + +The message declared "that the right of Federal citizenship is now for +the first time proposed to be given by law." "This," said Mr. +Trumbull, "is not a misapprehension of the law, but a mistake in fact, +as will appear by references to which I shall call the attention of +the Senate." Mr. Trumbull then referred to the "collective +naturalization" of citizens of Louisiana, Texas, and Cherokees, +Choctaw, and Stockbridge Indians. + +To the remark in the message that "if, as many claim, native-born +persons are already citizens of the United States, this bill can not +be necessary to make them such," Mr. Trumbull replied: "An act +declaring what the law is, is one of the most common of acts known by +legislative bodies. When there is any question as to what the law is, +and for greater certainty, it is the most common thing in the world to +pass a statute declaring it." + +To the objection that eleven States were unrepresented, the Senator +replied: "This is a standing objection in all the veto messages, yet +the President has signed some forty bills. If there is any thing in +this objection, no bill can pass Congress till the States are +represented here. Sir, whose fault is it that eleven States are not +represented? By what fault of theirs is it that twenty-five loyal +States which have stood by this Union and by the Constitution are to +be deprived of their right to legislate? If the reason assigned is a +good one now, it has been a good one all the time for the last five +years. If the fact that some States have rebelled against the +Government is to take from the Government the right to legislate, then +the criminal is to take advantage of his crime; the innocent are to be +punished for the guilty. + +"But the President tells us that 'the bill, in effect, proposes a +discrimination against large numbers of intelligent, worthy, and +patriotic foreigners, and in favor of the negro.' Is that true? What +is the bill? It declares that there shall be no distinction in civil +rights between any other race or color and the white race. It declares +that there shall be no different punishment inflicted on a colored man +in consequence of his color than that which is inflicted on a white +man for the same offense. Is that a discrimination in favor of the +negro and against the foreigner--a bill the only effect of which is to +preserve equality of rights? + +"But perhaps it may be replied to this that the bill proposes to make +a citizen of every person born in the United States, and, therefore, +it discriminates in that respect against the foreigner. Not so; +foreigners are all upon the same footing, whether black or white. The +white child who is born in the United States a citizen is not to be +presumed at its birth to be the equal intellectually with the worthy, +intelligent, and patriotic foreigner who emigrates to this country. +And, as is suggested by a Senator behind me, even the infant child of +a foreigner born in this land is a citizen of the United States long +before his father. Is this, therefore, a discrimination against +foreigners? + +"The President also has an objection to the making citizens of Chinese +and Gypsies. I am told that but few Chinese are born in this country, +and where the Gypsies are born, I never knew. [Laughter.] Like Topsy, +it is questionable, whether they were born at all, but 'just come.' +[Laughter.] + +"But, sir, perhaps the best answer to this objection that the bill +proposes to make citizens of Chinese and Gypsies, and this reference +to the foreigners, is to be found in a speech delivered in this body +by a Senator occupying, I think, the seat now occupied across the +chamber by my friend from Oregon, [Mr. Williams,] less than six years +ago, in reply to a message sent to this body by Mr. Buchanan, the then +President of the United States, returning, with his objections, what +was known as the Homestead Bill. On that occasion the Senator to whom +I allude said: + + "'But this idea about "poor foreigners," somehow or other, + bewilders and haunts the imagination of a great many. * * * * * + + "'I am constrained to say that I look upon this objection to + the bill as a mere quibble on the part of the President, and + as being hard-pressed for some excuse in withholding his + approval of the measure; and his allusion to foreigners in + this connection looks to me more like the _ad captandum_ of + the mere politician or demagogue, than a grave and sound + reason to be offered by the President of the United States + in a veto message upon so important a measure as the + Homestead Bill.' + +"That was the language of Senator Andrew Johnson, now President of the +United States. [Laughter.] That is probably the best answer to this +objection, though I should hardly have ventured to use such harsh +language in reference to the President as to accuse him of quibbling +and of demagoguery, and of playing the mere politician in sending a +veto message to the Congress of the United States." + +The President had urged an objection that if Congress could confer +civil rights upon persons without regard to color or race, it might +also confer upon them political rights, and among them that of +suffrage. In reply to this, Mr. Trumbull referred to the policy of the +President himself in undertaking to "reoerganize State governments in +the disloyal States." He "claimed and exercised the power to protect +colored persons in their civil rights," and yet, when "urged to allow +loyal blacks to vote," he held that "he had no power; it was +unconstitutional." + +"But, sir," continued Mr. Trumbull, "the granting of civil rights does +not and never did, in this country, carry with it rights, or, more +properly speaking, political privileges. A man may be a citizen in +this country without a right to vote or without a right to hold +office. The right to vote and hold office in the States depends upon +the legislation of the various States; the right to hold certain +offices under the Federal Government depends upon the Constitution of +the United States. The President must be a natural-born citizen, and a +Senator or Representative must be a citizen of the United States for a +certain number of years before he is eligible to a seat either in this +or the other House of Congress; so that the fact of being a citizen +does not necessarily qualify a person for an office, nor does it +necessarily authorize him to vote. Women are citizens; children are +citizens; but they do not exercise the elective franchise by virtue of +their citizenship. Foreigners, as is stated by the President in this +message, before they are naturalized are protected in the rights +enumerated in this bill, but because they possess those rights in +most, if not all, the States, that carries with it no right to vote. + +"But, sir, what rights do citizens of the United States have? To be a +citizen of the United States carries with it some rights, and what are +they? They are those inherent, fundamental rights which belong to free +citizens or free men in all countries, such as the rights enumerated +in this bill, and they belong to them in all the States of the Union. +The right of American citizenship means something. It does not mean, +in the case of a foreigner, that when he is naturalized he is to be +left entirely to the mercy of State legislation. He has a right, when +duly naturalized, to go into any State of the Union, and to reside +there, and the United States Government will protect him in that +right. It will protect a citizen of the United States, not only in one +of the States of the Union, but it will protect him in foreign lands. + +"Every person residing in the United States is entitled to the +protection of that law by the Federal Government, because the Federal +Government has jurisdiction of such questions. American citizenship +would be little worth if it did not carry protection with it. + +"How is it that every person born in these United States owes +allegiance to the Government? Every thing that he is or has, his +property and his life, may be taken by the Government of the United +States in its defense, or to maintain the honor of the nation. And can +it be that our ancestors struggled through a long war and set up this +Government, and that the people of our day have struggled through +another war, with all its sacrifices and all its desolation, to +maintain it, and at last that we have got a Government which is +all-powerful to command the obedience of the citizen, but has no power +to afford him protection? Is that all that this boasted American +citizenship amounts to? Go tell it, sir, to the father whose son was +starved at Andersonville; or the widow whose husband was slain at +Mission Ridge; or the little boy who leads his sightless father +through the streets of your city, made blind by the winds and the sand +of the Southern coast; or the thousand other mangled heroes to be seen +on every side, that this Government, in defense of which the son and +the husband fell, the father lost his eyes, and the others were +crippled, had the right to call these persons to its defense, but has +no right to protect the survivors or their friends in any right +whatever in any of the States. Sir, it can not be. Such is not the +meaning of our Constitution. Such is not the meaning of American +citizenship. This Government, which would go to war to protect its +meanest--I will not say citizen--inhabitant, if you please, in any +foreign land, whose rights were unjustly encroached upon, has +certainly some power to protect its own citizens in their own country. +Allegiance and protection are reciprocal rights." + +To the President's objection to the second section of the bill, that +it discriminated in favor of colored persons, Mr. Trumbull replied: +"It says, in effect, that no one shall subject a colored person to a +different punishment than that inflicted on a white person for the +same offense. Does that discriminate in favor of the colored person? +Why, sir, the very object and effect of the section is to prevent +discrimination, and language, it seems to me, could not more plainly +express that object and effect. It may be said that it is for the +benefit of the black man, because he is now, in some instances, +discriminated against by State laws; but that is the case with all +remedial statutes. They are for the relief of the persons who need the +relief, not for the relief of those who have the right already; and +when those needing the relief obtain it, they stand upon the precise +footing of those who do not need the benefit of the law." + +The President had further objected to this section, that "it provides +for counteracting such forbidden legislation by imposing fine and +imprisonment upon the legislators who may pass such conflicting laws." + +"Let us see," said Mr. Trumbull, "if that is the language or the +proper construction of the section. I will read again the first lines +of it. It declares 'that any person who, under color of any law, +ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or cause to be +subjected, etc., * * * shall be punished,' etc. + +"Who is to be punished? Is the law to be punished? Are the men who +make the law to be punished? Is that the language of the bill? Not at +all. If any person, 'under color of any law,' shall subject another to +the deprivation of a right to which he is entitled, he is to be +punished. Who? The person who, under the color of the law, does the +act, not the men who made the law. In some communities in the South a +custom prevails by which different punishment is inflicted upon the +blacks from that meted out to whites for the same offense. Does this +section propose to punish the community where the custom prevails? or +is it to punish the person who, under color of the custom, deprives +the party of his right? It is a manifest perversion of the meaning of +the section to assert any thing else. + +"But it is said that under this provision judges of the courts and +ministerial officers who are engaged in execution of any such statutes +may be punished, and that is made an objection to this bill. I admit +that a ministerial officer or a judge, if he acts corruptly or +viciously in the execution or under color of an illegal act, may be +and ought to be punished; but if he acted innocently, the judge would +not be punished. Sir, what is a crime? It is a violation of some +public law, to constitute which there must be an act, and a vicious +will in doing the act; or, according to the definition in some of the +law-books, to constitute a crime there must be a violation of a public +law, in the commission of which there must be a union or joint +operation of act and intent, or criminal negligence; and a judge who +acted innocently, and not viciously or oppressively, would never be +convicted under this act. But, sir, if he acted knowingly, viciously, +or oppressively, in disregard of a law of the United States, I repeat, +he ought to be punished, and it is no anomaly to prescribe a +punishment in such a case. Very soon after the organization of this +Government, in the first years of its existence, the Congress of the +United States provided for punishing officers who, under color of +State law, violated the laws of the United States." + +Mr. Trumbull then read from an act of Congress passed in 1790, +providing for the punishment of certain offenses against foreign +ministers, and said: "By this provision all officers executing any +process in violation of the laws of the United States are to be +subject to a much longer imprisonment than is provided by this bill. + +"But, sir, there is another answer, in my judgment, more conclusive, +to all these objections to this second section, which is the vital +part of the bill. Without it, it would scarcely be worth the paper on +which the bill is written. A law without a penalty, without a +sanction, is of little value to any body. What good does it do for the +Legislature to say, 'Do this, and forbear to do that,' if no +consequence is to follow the act of disobedience? This is the vitality +of the bill. What is the objection that is made to it, and which seems +even to have staggered some friends of the measure? It is because it +reads in the first section that any person who, 'under color of law,' +shall commit these offenses, shall be subject to the penalties of the +law. Suppose those words had been left out, and the bill read, 'any +person who shall subject any inhabitant of a State to different +punishment by reason of his color shall be punished,' would there have +been any objection to the bill then? That is the way most criminal +laws read. That is the way the law punishing conspiracies against the +Government reads. If two or more persons conspire together to +overthrow the Government, or by force to resist its authority, they +are liable to indictment, and, upon conviction, to imprisonment in the +penitentiary and to heavy fine. Would the fact that the persons +engaged in the conspiracy were judges or governors or ministerial +officers, acting under color of any statute or custom, screen them +from punishment? Surely not. + +"The words 'under color of law' were inserted as words of limitation, +and not for the purpose of punishing persons who would not have been +subject to punishment under the act if they had been omitted. If an +offense is committed against a colored person simply because he is +colored, in a State where the law affords him the same protection as +if he were white, this act neither has nor was intended to have any +thing to do with his case, because he has adequate remedies in the +State courts; but if he is discriminated against, under color of State +laws, because he is colored, then it becomes necessary to interfere +for his protection. + +"The assumption that State judges and other officials are not to be +held responsible for violations of United States laws when done under +color of State statutes or customs is akin to the maxim of the English +law that the king can do no wrong. It places officials above the law; +it is the very doctrine out of which the rebellion was hatched. + +"Every thing that was done by that wicked effort to overturn our +Government was done under color of law. The rebels insisted that they +had a right to secede; they passed ordinances of secession, they set +up State governments, and all that they did was under color of law. +And if parties committing these high crimes are to go free because +they acted under color of law, why is not Jeff Davis and every other +rebel chief discharged at once? Why did this country put forth all its +resources of men and money to put down the rebellion against the +authority of the Government except it had a right to do so, even as +against those who were acting under color of law? Lee, with his rebel +hordes, thundering upon the outskirts of this very city, was acting +under color of law; every judge who has held a court in the Southern +States for the last four years, and has tried and convicted of treason +men guilty of no other offense than loyalty to the Union, acted under +color of law. + +"Sir, if we had authority by the use of the army and the war power to +put down rebels acting under color of law, I put the question to every +lawyer, if we had not authority to do that through the courts and the +judicial tribunals if it had been practicable? Suppose it had been +practicable, through the marshals, to arrest the Legislature which +convened at Montgomery, and undertook to take the State of Alabama out +of the Union and set up a government in hostility thereto, ought it +not to have been done? Was not that a conspiracy against this +Government? When the Legislature assembled at Montgomery in 1861, and +resolved that the connection between Alabama and the United States was +dissolved, and when its members took steps to maintain that +declaration; when the same thing was done in South Carolina, and +courts were organized to carry out the scheme, will any body tell me +it would not have been competent, had it been practicable, for the +United States courts in those States to have issued process for the +arrest of every one of those legislators, governors, judges, and all. +And, sir, had this been done, and it had turned out upon trial that +any of the parties arrested had been engaged in armed hostility +against the United States, as some of them had been when, with arms in +their hands, they seized the arsenals and other public property of the +United States, would they not have been found guilty of treason and +hung for treason? and would the fact that they had acted under color +of law have afforded them any protection?" + +The President, in his Veto Message, had said, "I do not apprehend that +the conflicting legislation which the bill seems to contemplate is so +likely to occur as to render it necessary, at this time, to adopt a +measure of such doubtful constitutionality." + +"That statement," replied Mr. Trumbull, "makes it necessary that I +should advert to the facts and show whether there is any likelihood of +such conflicting legislation; and my testimony comes from the +President himself, or those acting under his authority." + +After having referred to legislative enactments of several of the +Southern States very oppressive to the colored people, Mr. Trumbull +remarked: "Now, sir, what becomes of this declaration that there is no +necessity for any measure of this kind? Here are the laws of Texas, of +Mississippi, of Virginia, to which I have referred; and laws equally +oppressive exist in some of the other States. Is there no necessity to +protect a freedman when he is liable to be whipped if caught away from +home? no necessity to protect a freedman in his rights when he is not +permitted to hold or lease a piece of ground in a State? no necessity +to protect a freedman in his rights, who will be reduced to a slavery +worse than that from which he has been emancipated if a law is +permitted to be carried into effect? Sir, these orders emanate and +this information comes from officers acting by presidential authority, +and yet the President tells us there is no danger of conflicting +legislation." + +After having answered other objections of the President, Mr. Trumbull +said: "I have now gone through this Veto Message, replying with what +patience I could command to its various objections to the bill. Would +that I could stop here, that there was no occasion to go further; but +justice to myself, justice to the State whose representative I am, +justice to the people of the whole country, in legislation for whose +behalf I am called to participate, justice to the Constitution I am +sworn to support, justice to the rights of American citizenship it +secures, and to human liberty, now imperiled, require me to go +further. Gladly would I refrain speaking of the spirit of this +message, of the dangerous doctrines it promulgates, of the +inconsistencies and contradictions of its author, of his encroachments +upon the constitutional rights of Congress, of his assumption of +unwarranted powers, which, if persevered in and not checked by the +people, must eventually lead to a subversion of the Government and the +destruction of liberty. + +"Congress, in the passage of the bill under consideration, sought no +controversy with the President. So far from it, the bill was proposed +with a view to carry out what were supposed to be the views of the +President, and was submitted to him before its introduction in the +Senate. I am not about to relate private declarations of the +President, but it is right that the American people should know that +the controversy which exists between him and Congress in reference to +this measure is of his own seeking. Soon after Congress met, it became +apparent that there was a difference of opinion between the President +and some members of Congress in regard to the condition of the +rebellious States and the rights to be secured to freedmen. + +"The President, in his annual message, had denied the constitutional +power of the General Government to extend the elective franchise to +negroes, but he was equally decided in the assertion of the right of +every man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This was his +language: + + "'But while I have no doubt that now, after the close of the + war, it is not competent for the General Government to + extend the elective franchise in the several States, it is + equally clear that good faith requires the security of the + freedmen in their liberty and their property.' + +"There were some members of Congress who expressed the opinion that in +the reoerganization of the rebellious States the right of suffrage +should be extended to the colored man, though this was not the +prevailing sentiment of Congress. All were anxious for a +reoerganization of the rebellious States, and their admission to full +participation in the Federal Government as soon as these relations +could be restored with safety to all concerned. Feeling the importance +of harmonious action between the different departments of the +Government, and an anxious desire to sustain the President, for whom I +had always entertained the highest respect, I had frequent interviews +with him during the early part of the session. Without mentioning any +thing said by him, I may with propriety state that, acting from the +considerations I have stated, and believing that the passage of a law +by Congress, securing equality in civil rights to freedmen and all +other inhabitants of the United States, when denied by State +authorities, would do much to relieve anxiety in the North, to induce +the Southern States to secure these rights by their own action, and +thereby remove many of the obstacles to an early reconstruction, I +prepared the bill substantially as it is now returned with the +President's objections. After the bill was introduced and printed, a +copy was furnished him, and at a subsequent period, when it was +reported that he was hesitating about signing the Freedmen's Bureau +Bill, he was informed of the condition of the Civil Rights Bill then +pending in the House, and a hope expressed that if he had objections +to any of its provisions he would make them known to its friends, that +they might be remedied, if not destructive of the measure; that there +was believed to be no disposition on the part of Congress, and +certainly none on my part, to have bills presented to him which he +could not approve. He never indicated to me, nor, so far as I know, to +any of its friends, the least objection to any of the provisions of +the bill till after its passage. And how could he, consistently with +himself? The bill was framed, as was supposed, in entire harmony with +his views, and certainly in harmony with what he was then and has +since been doing in protecting freedmen in their civil rights all +through the rebellious States. It was strictly limited to the +protection of the civil rights belonging to every freeman, the +birthright of every American citizen, and carefully avoided conferring +or interfering with political rights or privileges of any kind. + +* * * * "If the bill now before us, and which goes no further than to +secure civil rights to the freedman, can not be passed, then the +constitutional amendment proclaiming freedom to all the inhabitants of +the land is a cheat and a delusion. + +"I can not better conclude what I have to say than in the language of +Mr. Johnson on the occasion of the veto of the Homestead Bill, when, +after stating that the fact that the President was inconsistent and +changed his opinion with reference to a great measure and a great +principle, is no reason why a Senator or Representative, who has acted +understandingly, should change his opinion. He said: + + "'I hope the Senate and House of Representatives, who have + sanctioned this bill by more than a two-thirds majority, + will, according to the Constitution, exercise their + privilege and power, and let the bill become a law of the + land, according to the high behest of the American people.'" + +On the next day, April 5th, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, made a speech +sustaining the Veto Message. He argued that negroes were not citizens +of the United States by reason of their birth in the United States, +and that Congress had no authority by law to declare them such. To +sustain his position, he made quotations from the opinion of the +minority in the Dred Scott case, as rendered by Mr. Justice Curtis. He +then proceeded to reply to some of Mr. Trumbull's arguments against +the Veto Message: "The honorable member from Illinois disposes of the +President's objection to the first section of this bill by saying that +it is merely declaratory. I know it is competent for any legislative +body, on a question where difference of opinions exist in relation to +any legal proposition, to remove them by declaratory legislation; but +that is not the purpose of this bill. It professes to be passed in the +exercise of a positive and absolute power to change the law--not to +declare what the law was in order to remove doubts, but to make the +law. It assumes, or otherwise there would be no occasion for it, that +birth alone does not confer citizenship; and assuming that no +citizenship would exist in consequence of birth alone, it declares +that birth alone, in spite of State constitution and State laws, shall +confer citizenship. Now, with all deference to the opinion of the +honorable Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, that seems to me +to be a proposition as clearly erroneous as any proposition can be in +relation to constitutional law. The States were sovereign before the +Constitution was adopted; and the Constitution not only, according to +its very terms, does not profess to confer upon the Government of the +United States all governmental power, but as far as Congress is +concerned, professes to confer upon that department of the Government +only the particular delegated powers there enumerated; but so anxious +were the framers of that instrument and the great men of that day, to +whom the subsequent organization of this Government was left, that +although they had no doubt as to the principle that only the delegated +powers were granted, (and the debates in the Convention itself as well +as the debates in the conventions of the several States, when the +Constitution was before them for adoption or rejection, all went upon +the theory that no powers were conferred except such as were expressly +granted, or as were reasonably implied to be as necessary to carry out +the powers expressly granted,) by the tenth amendment adopted recently +after the Constitution went into operation, and recommended by the +men, many of whom were the framers of the Constitution itself, that +the powers not delegated by the Constitution, and not denied to the +States by the same instrument, were to be considered reserved to the +States respectively, or to the people. + +"Standing, therefore, as well upon the nature of the Government +itself, as a Government of enumerated powers specially delegated, as +upon the express provision that every thing not granted was to be +considered as remaining with the States unless the Constitution +contained some particular prohibition of any power before belonging to +the States, what doubt can there be that if a State possessed the +power to declare who should be her citizens before the Constitution +was adopted that power remains now as absolute and as conclusive as it +was when the Constitution was adopted? The bill, therefore, changes +the whole theory of the Government. + +"The President, then, I think, is right. I go further than he does. He +expresses a doubt whether Congress has the power; I affirm, with all +deference to the better judgment of the majority of the Senate who +voted for the bill, and to that of the honorable Chairman of the +Committee on the Judiciary, that it is perfectly clear that no such +power exists in Congress as the one attempted to be exercised by the +first section. I hold, with Mr. Justice Curtis--and his opinion to +this day has never been questioned--that citizenship of the United +States consequent upon birth in a State is to depend upon the fact +whether the constitution and laws of the State make the party so born +a citizen of the State. + +"But that is not all. This first section has another provision. Not +satisfied with making the parties citizens and clothing them with all +the rights belonging to white citizens by the laws of the States, it +says that they 'shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and +penalties, and to none other.' That invades the jurisdiction of the +States over their criminal code. Congress assumes to define a crime, +and defining a crime gives to its own courts exclusive jurisdiction +over the crime and the party charged with its perpetration. It strikes +at the criminal code of the States. The result, therefore, of the +three provisions in this section is, that contrary to State +constitutions and State laws, it converts a man that is not a citizen +of a State into a citizen of the State; it gives him all the rights +that belong to a citizen of the State; and it provides that his +punishment shall only be such as the State laws impose upon white +citizens. Where is the authority to do that? If it exists, it is still +more obvious that the result is an entire annihilation of the power of +the States. It seems to be the fashion of the hour--I do not know that +my honorable friend from Illinois goes to that extent--to hold to the +doctrine that the sooner every thing is vested in the Government of +the United States the better for the country. It is a perilous +delusion. If such a proposition had been supposed to be found any +where in the Constitution of the United States, it never would have +been adopted by the people; and if it is assumed, or if it is +considered as constitutionally existing by virtue of some power not +before known, the Government will not last half a century. I have not +time to read from the writings of Mr. Madison and Mr. Hamilton and the +decisions of the Supreme Court on the question. + +"But you, Mr. President, know very well that consolidation of power in +the Government of the United States was looked upon as certain ruin to +republican institutions. In the first place, it would be sure to +result in anarchy; and in the second place, in order to be saved from +the horrors of anarchy, we should be compelled to take refuge in +despotic power, and the days of constitutional liberty would soon be +numbered. The doubt then was, and the doubt now should be more firmly +settled in the public mind, that a country as extensive as that of the +United States can not exist except by means of divided sovereignties; +one sovereignty having charge of all external matters, or matters +between the States to which the powers of the States are inadequate; +the other sovereignties having power over all internal matters to the +management of which they are adequate. Despotism would soon be our +fate, preceded by anarchy; the military chieftain instead of being +looked upon, as he should be by every republican, with alarm and +concern, would be hailed as a savior, in order to save us from the +horrors of disorganization. + +"The honorable member referred to the act of 1790, but it relates +entirely to different subjects, and all the statutes to which he +adverted are statutes of the same description. What is the +twenty-sixth section of the act of 1790 to which he referred? The +preceding section provided that no one should sue a foreign minister, +and the section to which my friend referred particularly, said that if +a party did sue a foreign minister he should be liable to be punished. +Certainly; but why? Because the Government of the United States was +vested with the exclusive authority in all cases depending upon the +law of nations; and the law of nations saving from responsibility +embassadors accredited to the United States, for civil debts, he who +attempted to interfere offended against the Government, and he +offended in relation to a subject exclusively committed to the General +Government. The power, therefore, which Congress exerted in the +particular legislation to which the honorable member reverted is just +the power which they exert when they provide for the punishment of any +man who counterfeits the currency of the United States, or forges its +paper, or forges its bonds, or interferes with the administration of +the Post-office Department. These are all powers incidental to the +possession of the express power, and in the case to which he adverted +the express power was one necessarily belonging to the Government, +because it was a power belonging to and regulated by the law of +nations, and not by any municipal regulation. + +"The honorable member from Illinois tells us that the President's +objection, that there are eleven States not now represented, is +entitled to no consideration whatever. The honorable member seems to +suppose that the President adverted to the fact that there were eleven +States not represented as showing that Congress possessed no +constitutional authority to legislate upon the subject, supposing that +they would have had the authority if those States were represented. +That is not the view taken by the President; it is an entire +misapprehension of the doctrine of the President. He says no such +thing, and he intimates no such thing. But assuming, what in another +part of the message he denies, that the authority might be considered +as existing, he submits as a question of policy whether it is right to +change the whole domestic economy of those eleven States, in the +absence of any representation upon this floor from them. My honorable +friend asks whose fault it is that they are not represented. Why are +they not here? He says their hands are reeking with the blood of loyal +men; that they are unable to take the oath which a statute that he +assumes to be constitutional has provided; and he would have the +country and the Senate to believe that that is the reason why they are +not here. Is that the fact, Mr. President? These States are organized, +and how organized? What have they done? They have abolished slavery by +an astonishing unanimity; they have abolished nearly all the +distinctions which antecedently existed between the two races. They +have permitted the negroes to sue, they have permitted them to +testify; they have not yet permitted them to vote. + +"Why are they not received? Because, in the judgment of the Senate, +before the States can be considered as restored, Congressional +legislation on the subject is necessary. Whose fault is it that there +has not been Congressional legislation? Is it the fault of the eleven +States? Certainly not; it is our own fault. And why is it that we are +in point of fact delaying their admission, whether it is to be +considered as a fault or not? Because we want to inquire into the +condition of these States. Why, in the name of Heaven! how long have +we been here? We came here early in December, and this is the month of +April; and here we may remain until July, or, as rumor has it, until +next December; and shall we be satisfied within that time that +Congressional legislation may be safely adopted? + +"I have a word or two more to say. My honorable friend from Illinois, +as it seemed to me--his nature is impulsive, and perhaps he was +carried further than he intended--seemed to intimate that the +President of the United States had not acted sincerely in this matter; +that his usurpation was a clear one, and that he was to be censured +for that usurpation. What has he done? He has vetoed this bill. He had +a constitutional right to do so. Not only that; if he believed that +the effect of the bill would be that which he states in his Veto +Message, he was not only authorized but bound to veto it. His oath is +to 'preserve' as well as to 'protect and defend' the Constitution of +the United States; and believing, as he does, and in that opinion I +concur, that this bill assails the Constitution of the United States, +he would have been false to his plighted faith if he had not returned +it with his objections. + +"He desires--and who does not?--that the Union shall be restored as it +originally existed. He has a policy which he thinks is best calculated +to effect it. He may be mistaken, but he is honest. Congress may +differ with him. I hope they will agree sooner or later, because I +believe, as I believe in my existence, that the condition in which the +country now is can not remain without producing troubles that may +shake our reputation, not only in our own eyes, but in the eyes of the +civilized world. Let the day come when we shall be again together, and +then, forgetting the past, hailing the present, and looking forward to +the future, we shall remember, if we remember the past at all, for the +exhibition of valor and gallantry displayed on both sides, and find in +it, when we become one, a guarantee that in the future no foreign +hostilities are to be dreaded, and that no civil discord need be +apprehended." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "The opinion of Judge Curtis, from which the +Senator read, was the opinion of a dissenting judge, entitled to very +great credit on account of the learning and ability of that judge, but +it was not the opinion of the court, and an examination of the entire +opinion, which is very lengthy, would perhaps not sustain the precise +principles the Senator from Maryland laid down. But, sir, I have +another authority which I think of equal weight with that of Judge +Curtis--not pronounced in a judicial tribunal it is true, but by one +of the most eminent members of the bar in this nation; I may say by a +gentleman who stands at the head of the bar in America at this +time--an opinion pronounced, too, in the exercise of official duties; +and I propose to read a few sentences from that opinion, for it is to +be found reported in the Congressional Globe containing the +proceedings of this body less than ninety days ago. This is the +language: + + "'While they [negroes] were slaves, it was a very different + question; but now, when slavery is terminated, and by + terminating it you have got rid of the only obstacle in the + way of citizenship, two questions arise: first, Whether that + fact itself does not make them citizens? Before they were + not citizens, because of slavery, and only because of + slavery. Slavery abolished, why are they not just as much + citizens as they would have been had slavery never existed? + My opinion is that they become citizens, and I hold that + opinion so strongly that I should consider it unnecessary to + legislate on the subject at all, as far as that class is + concerned, but for the ruling of the Supreme Court, to which + I have adverted.' + +"Sir, that opinion was held by the honorable Senator from Maryland who +made this speech to-day. He holds the opinion so strongly now that +slavery is abolished, which was the only obstacle in the way of their +being citizens, that he would want no legislation on the subject but +for the Dred Scott decision! What further did the Senator from +Maryland say less than ninety days ago? It is possible, doubtless--it +is not only possible but it is certainly true--that the Senator from +Maryland, by reading the conclusive arguments of the Veto Message in +regard to Chinese and Gypsies, has discovered that he was in error +ninety days ago. I by no means mean to impute any wrong motive to the +Senator from Maryland, but simply to ask that he will pardon me if I +have not been able to see the conclusive reasoning of the Veto +Message." + +After quoting still further from Mr. Johnson's speech, made on a +previous occasion, Mr. Trumbull said: "But as I am up, I will refer to +one other point to which the Senator alluded, and that is in regard to +the quotation which I made yesterday from the statute of 1790. I +quoted that statute for the purpose of showing that the provisions in +the bill under consideration, which it was insisted allowed the +punishment of ministerial officers and judges who should act in +obedience to State laws and under color of State laws, were not +anomalous. I read a statute of 1790 to show that the Congress of the +United States, at that day, provided for punishing both judges and +officers who acted under color of State law in defiance of a law of +the United States. How does the Senator answer that? He says that was +on a different subject; the law of 1790 provided for punishing judges +and officers who did an act in violation of the international law, +jurisdiction over which is conferred upon the nation. Let me ask the +Senator from Maryland, if the bill under discussion does not provide +for the punishment of persons who violate a right secured by the +Constitution of the United States? Is a right which a citizen holds by +virtue of the Constitution of his country less sacred than a right +which he holds by virtue of international law?" + +Mr. Johnson replied as follows: "It is singular, in my estimation, how +a gentleman with a mind as clear as Mr. Trumbull's, with a +perspicacity that is a little surprising, could have fallen into the +error of supposing that there is any inconsistency between the +doctrine contained in the speech to which he has adverted and the one +which I have maintained to-day. What I said then I say now, that as +far as the United States are concerned, all persons born within the +limits of the United States are to be considered as citizens, and that +without reference to the color or the race; and after the abolition of +slavery the negro would stand precisely in the condition of the white +man. But the honorable member can hardly fail, I think--certainly he +can not when I call his attention to it--to perceive that that has +nothing to do with the question now before the Senate. His bill makes +them citizens of the United States because of birth, and gives them +certain rights within the States." + +Mr. Fessenden asked: "Were not your remarks made on this very question +in this bill?" + +"No," replied Mr. Johnson; "on another bill." He continued: "What I +maintain is this--and I have never doubted it, because I entertained +the same opinion when I made those remarks that I entertain now--that +citizenship of the United States, in consequence of birth, does not +make a party a citizen of the State in which he is born unless the +Constitution and laws of the State recognize him as a citizen. Now, +what does this bill propose? All born within the United States are to +be considered citizens of the United States, and as such shall have in +every State all the rights that belong to any body else in the State +as far as the particular subjects stated in the bill are concerned. +Now, I did suppose, and I shall continue to suppose, it to be clear, +unless I am met with the almost paramount authority of the Chairman of +the Judiciary Committee, that citizenship, by way of birth, conferred +on the party as far as he and the United States were concerned, is not +a citizenship which entitles him to the privilege of citizenship +within the State where he is born; if it be true, and I submit that it +is true beyond all doubt, that over the question of State citizenship +the authority of the State Government is supreme. + +"Now, the honorable member is confounding the _status_ of a citizen of +the United States and the _status_ of a citizen of the United States +who as such is a citizen of the State of his residence. Maintaining, +as I do, that there is no authority to make any body a citizen of the +United States so as to convert him thereby into a citizen of a State, +there is no authority in the Constitution for this particular bill, +which says that because he is a citizen of the United States he is to +be considered a citizen of any State in which he may be at any time +with reference to the rights conferred by this bill." + +Mr. Trumbull replied: "I desire simply to remark that the speech from +which I quoted, made by the Senator from Maryland, was made upon this +very bill. It was in reference to this bill that he was speaking when +he laid down the proposition that every person born in the United +States since the abolition of slavery was a citizen of the United +States, and if there was any doubt about it, it was proper for us to +declare them so, and not only proper, but our duty to do so; and to +make the matter specific, the honorable Senator voted for this +proposition, which I will now read, on the yeas and nays: + + "'All persons born in the United States, and not subject to + any foreign Power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby + declared to be citizens of the United States, without + distinction of color.' + +"Upon the adoption of that proposition as an amendment, it not being +in the bill as originally introduced, the Senator from Maryland, with +thirty others, voted in the affirmative. So we have his high authority +for saying that all persons born in the United States, and not subject +to any foreign Power, are citizens of the United States, exactly as it +appears in this bill." + +"Mr. Yates, of Illinois, remarked: "I remember very well that the +Senator from Maryland offered an amendment to the Freedmen's Bureau +Bill to this effect: to strike out the words 'without distinction of +color.' The Freedmen's Bureau Bill applied legislation by Congress to +the freedmen in the States and to the condition of the freedmen in the +States. It was legislation that affected the freedmen in the +rebellious States. If I remember aright the Senator from Maryland +moved to strike out the words 'without distinction of color' in one +section of that bill, and for that motion he gave this reason: +because, under the Constitution of the United States, as amended, +abolishing slavery in all the States and Territories of the United +States, the freedmen occupied precisely the same position with any +other citizen of the United States in any State or Territory. I +understood him as taking the broad position, which I have maintained, +and which Republican Senators have maintained, and which I think the +country maintains, that under the Constitution, as amended, the +freedman occupies precisely the same position as any man born in any +State or Territory of the United States; and that was the object, if I +understood the Senator from Maryland, of his moving to amend the +Freedmen's Bureau Bill by striking out the words 'without distinction +of color.' + +"I recognize the authority of the decisions quoted by the Senator from +Maryland before the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution. The +States had the power over the question of slavery in the States before +the amendment to the Constitution; but by the amendment to the +Constitution, in which the States have concurred, the freedman becomes +a free man, entitled to the same rights and privileges as any other +citizen of the United States." + +Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, spoke in favor of the veto, premising that +his words, "if they are not to convince any body in the Senate, may go +to the country and be reflected on there." Mr. Cowan said he was quite +willing that all the people of this country should enjoy the rights +conferred upon them by this bill. But, supposing the bill had all the +merit in the world, it would not be effective to attain the ends hoped +for by its friends; and apart from that, its provisions were +exceedingly dangerous. It gave married women and minors the right to +make and enforce contracts. The grammatical structure of a portion of +the bill was such as to enable a corrupt, passionate, or prejudiced +judge to take advantage of it in order to widen the jurisdiction of +the United States courts, and drag into them all the business which +had heretofore occupied the State courts. This would be enough in this +nineteenth century to make a man tremble for the fate of +constitutional government. "If," said Mr. Cowan, "we had undoubted +authority to pass this bill, under the circumstances I would not vote +for it, on account of its objectionable phraseology, its dubious +language, and the mischief which might attend upon a large and liberal +construction of it in the District and Circuit Courts of the United +States." The trouble and expense of obtaining justice in the United +States courts, but one, or at most two existing in any of the Southern +States, would debar the African from applying to them for redress. +"Your remedy," said the Senator, "is delusive; your remedy is no +remedy at all; and to hold it up to the world as a remedy is a gross +fraud, however pious it may be. It is no remedy to the poor debtor +that you prosecute his judge, and threaten him with fine and +imprisonment. It is no remedy to the poor man with a small claim that +you locate a court one or two hundred miles away from him which is so +expensive in its administration of justice that he can not enter +there. + +[Illustration: WM. M. Stewart, Senator from Nevada.] + +"There is another provision of the bill, which, notwithstanding the +act of Congress relied upon by the honorable Senator from Illinois, I +think is unquestionably anomalous, and to me not only anomalous, but +atrocious; and that is, the substitution of an indictment for the writ +of error. What has been the law of these United States heretofore? +When an act of Congress came in contact with a State law, and the +judge of a State court decided that the law of Congress was +unconstitutional, there was an appeal given to the debated party to +the Supreme Court of the United States in order to determine the +constitutionality of the law. But, sir, who, until the last few +months, ever heard of making the judge a criminal because he decided +against the constitutionality of a law of the United States? One would +think we were being transported back to the dark ages of the world +when a man is to be accused and perhaps convicted of a crime who has +done nothing more than honestly and conscientiously discharged his +duty. I know that the persons of embassadors are sacred, and I know +that it is a very high offense against the law of nations, which no +civil judge of any court could justify, to invade this sacred right of +the embassador, but every body knows that that is an exceptional case. +Every body knows that in all times and at all ages the judge was +punishable who did not respect the person of an embassador. But that +is not this case. That analogy will not help the third section of this +bill. It is openly avowed upon the floor of the Senate of the United +States, in the year of our Lord 1866, in the full blaze and light of +the nineteenth century, that the indictment is to be a substitute for +the writ of error, and it is justified because a judge ought to be +indicted who violates the sacred person of an embassador! What potency +there must be in the recent amendment of the Constitution which has +foisted the negro and set him upon the same platform as the envoy +extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain or of all +the Russias to the United States of America, and made him as sacred as +an embassador, and the judge who decides against him is to be punished +as a criminal!" + +Mr. Stewart showed that States might easily avoid all the annoying +operations of this bill which were feared by its opponents: "When I +reflect how very easy it is for the States to avoid the operation of +this bill, how very little they have to do to avoid the operation of +the bill entirely, I think that it is robbed of its coercive features, +and I think no one has any reason to complain because Congress has +exercised a power, which it must be conceded it has, when it has +exercised it in a manner which leaves it so easy for the States to +avoid the operation of this bill. If passed to-day, it has no +operation in the State of Georgia; it is impossible to commit a crime +under this bill in the State of Georgia; and the other States can +place themselves in the same position so easily that I do not believe +they ought to complain." + +He then read the second section of an act passed in Georgia, precisely +similar to the first section of the Civil Eights Bill. Nothing could +be done in Georgia under "color of law," which would subject officers +to the penalties provided by the Civil Rights Bill. "It being so +easily avoided by being complied with, by doing a simple act of +justice, by carrying out the spirit of the constitutional amendment, I +can not give my consent to defeat a bill the purpose of which is good, +the operation of which is so innocent, and may be so easily avoided." + +The Republican Senators were desirous of bringing the bill to a final +vote on this evening, but on account of the illness of Senator Wright, +of New Jersey, it was proposed by Democratic members to appoint some +hour on the following day when the vote should be taken in order that +they might have a full vote. + +Mr. Wade, of Ohio, said: "If this was a question in the ordinary +course of legislation, I certainly would not object to the proposition +which the gentlemen on the other side make; but I view it as one of +the greatest and most fundamental questions that has ever come before +this body for settlement, and I look upon it as having bearings +altogether beyond the question on this bill. The bill is, undoubtedly, +a very good one. There is no constitutional objection to it; there has +been no objection to it raised that creates a doubt in the mind of any +mortal man; but, nevertheless, we are at issue with the President of +the United States upon a question peculiarly our own. The President of +the United States has no more power under the Constitution to +interpose his authority here, to prescribe the principle upon which +these States should be admitted to this Union, than any man of this +body has out of it. The Constitution makes him the executive of the +laws that we make, and there it leaves him; and what is our condition? +We who are to judge of the forms of government under which States +shall exist; we, who are the only power that is charged with this +great question, are to be somehow or other wheedled out of it by the +President by reason of the authority that he sets up. + +"Sir, we can not abandon it unless we yield to a principle that will +unhinge and unsettle the balances of the Constitution itself. If the +President of the United States can interpose his authority upon a +question of this character, and can compel Congress to succumb to his +dictation, he is an emperor, a despot, and not a President of the +United States. Because I believe the great question of congressional +power and authority is at stake here, I yield to no importunities of +the other side. I feel myself justified in taking every advantage +which the Almighty has put into my hands to defend the power and +authority of this body, of which I claim to be a part. I will not +yield to these appeals of comity on a question like this; but I will +tell the President and every body else that, if God Almighty has +stricken one member so that he can not be here to uphold the dictation +of a despot, I thank him for his interposition, and I will take +advantage of it if I can." + +Mr. McDougall, of California, replied to Mr. Wade. This wayward +Senator from California has wide notoriety from his unhappy habits of +intemperance. He has been described by a writer unfriendly to his +politics as "the most brilliant man in the Senate; a man so +wonderfully rich, that though he seeks to beggar himself in talents +and opportunities, he has left a patrimony large enough to outdazzle +most of his colleagues." He frequently would enter the Senate-chamber +in a condition of apparent stupor, unable to walk straight; and after +listening a few moments to what was going on, has arisen and spoken +upon the pending question in words of great beauty and force. + +On this occasion Mr. McDougall is described as having been in a worse +condition than usual. His words were muttered rather than spoken, so +that only those immediately about him could hear; and yet his remarks +were termed by one of his auditors as "one of the neatest little +speeches ever heard in the Senate." His remarks were as follows: "The +Senator from Ohio is in the habit of appealing to his God in +vindication of his judgment and conduct; it is a common thing for him +to do so; but in view of the present demonstration, it may well be +asked who and what is his God. In the old Persian mythology there was +an Ormudz and an Ahriman--a god of light and beauty, and a god of +darkness and death. The god of light sent the sun to shine, and gentle +showers to fructify the fields; the god of darkness sent the tornado, +and the tempest, and the thunder, scathing with pestilence the +nations. And in old Chaldean times men came to worship Ahriman, the +god of darkness, the god of pestilence and famine; and his priests +became multitudinous; they swarmed the land; and when men prayed then +their offerings were, 'We will not sow a field of grain, we will not +dig a well, we will not plant a tree.' These were the offerings to the +dark spirit of evil, until a prophet came who redeemed that ancient +land; but he did it after crucifixion, like our great Master. + +"The followers of Ahriman always appealed to the same spirit +manifested by the Senator from Ohio. Death is to be one of his angels +now to redeem the Constitution and the laws, and to establish liberty. +Sickness, suffering, evil, are to be his angels; and he thanks the +Almighty, his Almighty, that sickness, danger, and evil are about! It +may be a good god for him in this world; but if there is any truth in +what we learn about the orders of religion in this Christian world, +his faith will not help him when he shall ascend up and ask entrance +at the crystal doors. If there can be evil expressed in high places +that communicates evil thoughts, that communicates evil teachings, +that demoralizes the youth, who receive impressions as does the wax, +it is by such lessons as the Senator from Ohio now teaches by word of +mouth as Senator in this Senate hall. + +"Sir, the President of the United States is a constitutional officer, +clothed with high power, and clothed with the very power which he has +exercised in this instance; and those who conferred upon him these +powers were men such as Madison, and Jay, and Hamilton, and Morris, +and Washington, and a host of worthies; men who, I think, knew as much +about the laws of government, and how they should be rightly balanced, +as any of the wisest who now sit here in council. It is the duty of +the President of the United States to stand as defender of the +Constitution in his place as the conservator of the rights of the +people, as tribune of the people, as it was in old Rome when the +people did choose their tribunes to go into the senate-chamber among +the aristocracy of Rome, and when they passed laws injurious to the +Roman people, to stand and say, 'I forbid it.' + +"That is the veto power, incorporated wisely by our fathers in the +Constitution, conferred upon the President of the United States, and +to be treated with consideration; and no appeal of the Senator to his +God can change the Constitution or the rights of the President of the +United States, or can prevent a just consideration of the dignity of +this Senate body by persons who have just consideration, who feel that +they are Senators. + +"It is a strange thing, an exceedingly strange thing, that when a few +Senators in the city of Washington, ill at their houses, give +assurance that they can be here to act upon a great public question on +the day following this, we should hear a piece of declamation, the +Senator appealing to his God, and saying, with an _Io triumphe_ air, +'Well or ill, God has made them ill.' Sir, the god of desolation, the +god of darkness, the god of evil is his god. I never expected to hear +such objections raised among honorable men; and men to be Senators +should be honorable men. I never expected to hear such things in this +hall; and I rose simply to say that such sentiments were to be +condemned, and must receive my condemnation, now and here; and if it +amounts to a rebuke, I trust it may be a rebuke." + +The Senate adjourned, with the understanding that the vote should be +taken on the following day. In the morning hour on that day, as the +States were called for the purpose of giving Senators an opportunity +of introducing petitions or resolutions, Mr. Lane, of Kansas, +presented a joint resolution providing for admitting Senators and +Representatives from the States lately in insurrection. This bill, +emanating from a Republican Senator, who professed to have framed it +as an embodiment of the President's policy, was evidently designed to +have an influence upon the action of the Senate upon the Civil Rights +Bill. It proposed that Senators and Representatives from the late +rebellious States should be admitted into Congress whenever it should +appear that they had annulled their ordinances of secession, ratified +the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, repudiated all rebel +debts, recognized the debts of the United States, and extended the +elective franchise to all male persons of color residing in the State, +over twenty-one years of age, who can read and write, and who own real +estate valued at not less than two hundred and fifty dollars. + +As a reason for introducing this measure, Mr. Lane, of Kansas, +remarked: "I have been laboring for months to harmonize the President +of the United States with the majority on the floor of Congress. I +thought yesterday that there was a hope of securing such a result. It +did seem that some of the members of this body were disposed to +harmonize with the President. I proposed to go very far yesterday to +secure that harmony. But while pursuing this course, we were awakened +by one of the most vindictive assaults ever made upon any official, by +either friend or opponent, from the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Wade]--an +assault upon my personal friend, a man who for two years sat side by +side with me here, whom I learned to respect and admire for his pluck, +his ability, and integrity, and to love for his manly virtues; a man +whom I originally selected as the candidate of the Republican party +for the second office within the gift of that party; a man whom I +urged on the Republican convention at Baltimore as their candidate; a +man whose election I did my utmost to secure against the efforts of +the Senator from Ohio. In the most critical moment of that political +campaign, an assault was made on our presidential candidate in the +same spirit evinced by him yesterday in his attack upon the President. +I defended the candidate of the Republican party against that assault, +and I defend the President of the Republican party against the assault +of yesterday. + +"'A despot!' 'A dictator!' In what? In seeking to reconstruct the +rebellious States in violation of the wishes of the Congress of the +United States? When Mr. Johnson took his seat in the presidential +chair, I ask you, sir, what had Congress done? The people of the +United States had done this: Mr. Lincoln had marked out the policy of +reconstruction, since adopted by Mr. Johnson, and the people of the +United States, the party to which the Senator from Ohio and myself +belong, indorsed by triumphant majorities that very reconstruction +policy. A despot for proposing, in violation of the wishes of the +Congress of the United States, to reconstruct the insurrectionary +States upon the theory expressed in that joint resolution annulling +the ordinances of secession, ratifying the amendment to the +Constitution abolishing slavery, repudiating the Confederate debt, +indorsing the national debt, and extending suffrage to all colored men +who can read the Constitution of the United States and sign their +names, and to all colored men owning and paying taxes upon $250 worth +of property! + +"Mr. President, I am not as conversant with the constituency of the +Senator from Ohio as he is, but I venture the assertion that outside +of New England there is not a single Northern State in this Union but +will by a majority vote to indorse the policy of reconstruction +advised by President Johnson and expressed in that joint resolution. +You can not carry before the people of this country suffrage to the +unqualified black man. You can not find a State in this Union outside +of New England, in my judgment, that will indorse that policy. +Restrict it to a qualification clause, as the President of the United +States recommends, and you can carry the Republican Union party +every-where, and with unanimity. + +"The President of the United States 'a despot' for exercising a +constitutional right in vetoing a bill passed by Congress! Mr. +President, had the Senator from Ohio occupied the position which is +occupied by President Johnson, in my judgment, he would have vetoed +the Civil Rights Bill. 'A despot!' What is the exercise of the veto +power? It amounts merely to a vote to reconsider, with the lights +given in his reasons for the veto. When before has the exercise of a +constitutional right justified a political friend of the President of +the United States in denouncing that President as a despot and a +dictator? He has been and is now, in my judgment, as anxious to +harmonize the difficulties in the Union party as any Senator upon this +floor. If he was met in the same spirit, that party would be reunited +and this Union would be restored. His advances are met by insult; his +advances are met by denunciation from the leader of the Republican +party upon this floor in language without a parallel. Mr. President, +so far as I am concerned, I propose to-day and hereafter to take my +position alongside the President of the Republican party, and stand +there unflinchingly so long as he remains faithful to the principles +of that party, defending him against the Senator from Ohio as I +defended his predecessor against the same Senator." + +Mr. Lane then expressed his desire that his proposition should lie +upon the table and be printed. An order having been entered to that +effect, Mr. Wade addressed the Senate. He remarked: "It is said I made +an attack on the President of the United States. As a Senator upon +this floor, I care no more about the opinions of the President of the +United States than I do about those of any respectable Senator upon +this floor, or any Senator on this floor. Who is your President, that +every man must bow to his opinion? Why, sir, we all know him; he is no +stranger to this body. We have measured him; we know his height, his +depth, his length, his breadth, his capacity, and all about him. Do +you set him up as a paragon and declare here on the floor of this +Senate that you are going to make us all bow down before him? Is that +the idea? You [to Mr. Lane, of Kansas,] are going to be his apologist +and defender in whatever he may propose to do! Is that the +understanding of the Senator from Kansas? + +"I do not believe that his constituents will be quite satisfied with +so broad a declaration, that he is to wear any man's collar, and +follow him wherever he may go. Did I use harsh language toward the +President yesterday? All that I said I stand by to-day and forever. +What was the question upon which I made those observations, and what +has been the opinion of the President heretofore? what has been his +action since? Here are three million people, our friends, friends to +the Government, who generously came forward in its difficulty, and +helped us throughout the war, sacrificed their blood and their lives +to maintain the issue on our side, and who were faithful beyond all +men that were ever faithful before, to us during the whole of the +difficulty, every-where assisting our brave soldiers in the field, +laying down their lives to maintain our principles, and ministering in +every way to the misfortunes of our brave men whenever they fell into +the hands of those worse than savages with whom we were warring; and +now these men are laboring, are under one of the most frightful +despotisms that ever settled down upon the heads of mankind. Three +million people are exposed to the outrages, the insolence, the murder +of those worse than savages, their former masters, murdered as we hear +every day, oppressed every-where, their rights taken away, their +manhood trampled under foot; and Congress, under the Constitution of +the United States, endeavors to extend to them some little protection, +and how are we met here? Every attempt of your Moses has been to +trample them down worse, and to throw every obstruction in the way of +any relief that could be proposed by Congress. He has from all +appearances become their inveterate and relentless foe, making violent +war upon any member of Congress who dares raise his voice or give his +vote in favor of any measure having for its object the amelioration of +the condition of these poor people. Talk to me about the President +being their friend! When did it ever happen before that a great +measure of relief to suffering humanity on as broad a scale as this +was met by the stern veto of the President of the United States, and +without being able when he undertakes to make his obstruction to our +measures to designate a single clause of the Constitution that he +pretends has been violated. + +"Yesterday what was the issue? I was charged with great cruelty on +this floor, because I was unwilling to wait for recruits to be brought +in here for the purpose of overthrowing the ground we had taken upon +this important question whether these poor people shall have relief or +not. Now, I wish to say that I am willing to extend courtesy to our +old associates on this floor under other circumstances; but when you +extend this kind of courtesy to them, the result is death and +destruction to three million people, trampled under the feet of their +former masters. My courtesy is extended to those poor men, and I would +not wait a moment that their enemies may be brought in here in order +to prevent our doing any thing for their relief, joining with the +President, who is determined, if we may judge by his acts, that no +measure having for its object any relief shall be extended to them. + +"Did you hear the fact stated here the other day, that bills were +drawn with a view to escape the anathemas of your President, and were +exhibited to him, and he asked 'if he had any objection to them to +look them over well, because if we can, consistent with the object +aimed at, make them clear of any objection you may have, we will do +it?' + +"I said, sir, that he seemed to have meditated a controversy with +Congress from the beginning, and he has. He has treated our majorities +as hostile to the people; two thirds of both branches of Congress have +been treated by him as mere factionists, disunionists, enemies to the +country, bent upon its destruction, bargaining with the enemy to +destroy the Government. This is the way the President has treated +Congress, and every bill they have passed, which promised any relief +to the men whom we are bound to protect, has been trampled under the +Executive heel; and even when members of this body did what I say they +ought not to have done--for I do not approve of my brother Trumbull's +going up to the President, when he has a measure pending here as a +Senator, to ask the President, in the first place, whether he will +approve of it or not; even when he was asked if he objected to this +measure, and made no objection, he still undertakes to veto it. + +"If Congress should recede from the position they have taken to claim +jurisdiction over this great question of reaedmitting these States, +from that hour they surrender all the power that the Constitution +places in their hands and that they were sworn to support, and they +are the mere slaves of an accidental Executive; of a man who formerly +associated with us upon this floor; who was no more infallible than +the rest of us poor mortals; and yet the moment, by death or accident, +he is placed in the executive chair, it would seem as if some Senators +believed him to be endowed with superhuman wisdom, and ought to be +invested with all the powers of this Government; that Congress ought +to get on their knees before him, and take his insults and his +dictation without resentment and without even an attempt to resist. +Some States may send such instrumentalities here, but God knows some +will not; and I pity those that do, for they would hold their freedom +on a very uncertain tenure. + +"Some gentlemen may be patient under the charge of treason, perhaps +the more so because treason is becoming popular in this day; but, sir, +I am a little too old-fashioned to be charged by the executive branch +of this Government as a traitor on the floor of Congress, and not +resent it. I do not care whether he be King or President that +insinuates that I am a disunionist or traitor, standing upon the same +infamous platform with the traitors of the South; I will not take it +from any mortal man, high or low, without repelling the charge. If any +man here is tame enough to do it, he is too tame to be the Senator of +a proud-spirited people, conscious of their own freedom. I claim to be +their representative, and they will censure me if they do not like my +doctrine. + +"And now, Mr. President, I wish to make an appeal to those great, +patriotic statesmen on this floor, who, by their love of principle, by +their unswerving honesty, unseduced by the blandishments of executive +power, unawed by threats of violence, stand here to defend the rights +of the people upon this floor, and will stand here forever. I say to +you Senators, we, the majority who are stigmatized as traitors, are +the only barrier to-day between this nation and anarchy and despotism. +If we give way, the hope of this nation is lost by the recreancy--yea, +sir, I will say the treachery--of a man who betrayed our confidence, +got into power, and has gone into the camp of the enemy, and joined +those who never breathed a breath of principle in common with us." + +Mr. Lane replied: "I stated that the party to which I belong nominated +the present President of the United States and elected him, and that +as long as he fought within our lines and remained in our party, I +would endeavor to defend him upon this floor against all unjust +assaults. After making that statement, the Senator from Ohio, +forgetting the position he occupies, has suggested that I have taken +upon myself the collar of the President of the United States. I hurl +the suggestion in the teeth of the Senator from Ohio as unworthy a +Senator. I wear a collar! The pro-slavery party of the United States, +backed by a Democratic Administration, sustained and supported by the +army of the United States, could not fasten a collar upon the handful +of Kansas squatters of whom I had the honor to be the leader. The +gallant fight made in this Senate-chamber by the Senator from Ohio, +aided by the Senators from Massachusetts and other Senators, would +have been of but little avail had it not been for that other fight +that was made upon the prairies of Kansas under the lead of your +humble speaker. I wear a collar! Indicted for treason by a pro-slavery +grand jury, hunted from State to State by a writ founded upon that +indictment for treason, and $100,000 offered for my head! Jim Lane +wear a collar! Wherever he is known, that charge will be denounced as +false by both friends and enemies." + +Mr. Brown, of Missouri, made a short speech, in which he set forth the +position of Mr. Lane, of Kansas, on questions previously before the +Senate, showing their inconsistency with some of his recent remarks. + +Mr. Doolittle next delivered a speech, in the course of which he +called attention to a bill which he had drawn "to provide appropriate +legislation to enforce article thirteen of the Amendments to the +Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States." His object in +presenting this bill was to "avoid the objections raised by men not +only in this body, but in the other house, and the objections raised +by the President of the United States, to the bill now pending." + +He endeavored to explain his position and changes of opinion upon the +Civil Rights: "While this measure was upon its passage, I took no part +in its discussion except upon a single point in relation to the Indian +tribes. The bill passed, and the final vote was taken when I was not +present in the Senate; but it was not under such circumstances that, +had I been here, I should not have voted for the bill. I have no doubt +that if I had been present I should have voted for it. My attention +was not drawn very earnestly to the consideration of all the +provisions of this bill until the bill had passed from Senate and had +gone to the House of Representatives, when the speeches of Mr. +Bingham, of Ohio, and of Mr. Delano, of Ohio, both able and +distinguished lawyers of that State, arrested my attention and called +me very carefully to the consideration of the great questions which +are involved in the bill. The bill was passed by the House of +Representatives; it went to the President. From the fact that it was +not signed and returned to this body at once, and from all I heard, I +became satisfied that, at least, if the bill was not to be returned +with objections, it was being withheld for most earnest and serious +consideration by the Executive. + +"Then, Mr. President, it was, in view of all that had occurred, what +had been said by gentlemen in whom I had the utmost--I may say +unbounded--confidence, that I began to look into this measure and to +study it for myself. It is not my purpose now to go into a discussion +of the provisions of this bill any further than to say that there are +provisions in it upon which the judgments of the best patriots, the +best jurists, the most earnest men disagree. There are men, in whom I +have entire confidence, who maintain that all its provisions are +within the purview of the Constitution; there are others in whom I +have confidence, and equal confidence, who maintain directly the +contrary; and this has brought me seriously to consider whether there +be no common ground upon which friends can stand and stand together. +Sir, I may have failed to find it; but if I have, it is not because I +have not most earnestly sought for it with some days of study and most +earnest reflection. I have endeavored to put upon paper what I believe +would carry this constitutional provision into effect and yet would be +a common ground on which we could unite without violating the +conscientious convictions of any." + +In concluding his remarks, Mr. Doolittle referred to instructions +received by him from the Legislature of Wisconsin: "Mr. President, I +have received, in connection with my colleague, a telegraphic dispatch +from the Governor of the State of Wisconsin, which I have no doubt is +correct, although I have not seen the resolution which is said to have +been passed by the Legislature, in which it is stated that the +Legislature has passed a resolution instructing the Senators in +Congress from Wisconsin to vote for the passage of the Senate bill +commonly known as the Civil Rights Bill, the veto of the President to +the contrary notwithstanding. I have already stated, from my +stand-point, the reasons why, in my judgment, I can not do it; I have +stated them freely and frankly, and, as a matter of course, I expect +to abide the consequences. I know that it has sometimes been said to +me, by those, too, in whom I would have confidence, that for me, under +circumstances like these, not to follow the instructions of the +Legislature of my State, would be to terminate my political life. Sir, +be it so. I never held or aspired to any other office politically than +the one I now hold; and God knows, if I know my own heart, if I can +see this Union restored after this gigantic war which has put down the +rebellion, and to which I have lent my support, I shall be satisfied. +I do not desire to remain in political life beyond that hour. There is +nothing in that which will have the slightest influence whatever upon +me. The duty which I owe to myself, the duty which I owe to the +country, the duty which I owe to the union of these States, and the +preservation of the rights of the States, and the duty which I owe to +the great Republican party, which I would still desire to save, +prompts me to pursue the course which I now do." + +Mr. Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, addressed the Senate in a long speech, +of which the following is the closing paragraph: "Public justice is +often slow, but generally sure. Think you that the people will look on +with folded arms and stolid indifference and see you subvert their +Constitution and liberties, and on their ruins erect a grinding +despotism. No; erelong they will rise up with earthquake force and +fling you from power and place. I commend to your serious meditation +these words: 'Go tell Sylla that you saw Caius Marius sitting upon the +ruins of Carthage!'" + +Mr. Saulsbury thought a revolution would result from the passage of +this bill: "In my judgment the passage of this bill is the +inauguration of revolution--bloodless, as yet, but the attempt to +execute it by the machinery and in the mode provided in the bill will +lead to revolution in blood. It is well that the American people +should take warning in time and set their house in order, but it is +utterly impossible that the people of this country will patiently +entertain and submit to this great wrong. I do not say this because I +want a revolution; Heaven knows we have had enough of bloodshed; we +have had enough of strife; there has been enough of mourning in every +household; there are too many new-made graves on which the grass has +not yet grown for any one to wish to see the renewal of strife; but, +sir, attempt to execute this act within the limits of the States of +this Union, and, in my judgment, this country will again be plunged +into all the horrors of civil war." + +Mr. McDougall said: "I agree with the Senator from Delaware that this +measure is revolutionary in its character. The majority glory in their +giant power, but they ought to understand that it is tyrannous to +exercise that power like a giant. A revolution now is moving onward; +it has its center in the North-east. A spirit has been radiating out +from there for years past as revolutionary as the spirit that went out +from Charleston, South Carolina, and perhaps its consequences will be +equally fatal, for when that revolutionary struggle comes it will not +be a war between the North and its power and the slaveholding +population of the South; it will be among the North men themselves, +they who have lived under the shadows of great oaks, and seen the tall +pine-trees bend." + +At the conclusion of the remarks by the Senator from California, the +vote was taken, with the following result; + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, + Cragin, Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, + Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, + Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, + Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Williams, + Wilson, and Yates--33. + + NAYS--Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Guthrie, + Hendricks, Johnson, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Nesmith, + Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, Van Winkle, and Wright--15. + + ABSENT--Mr. Dixon. + +The President _pro tempore_ then made formal announcement of the +result: "The yeas being 33 and the nays 15, the bill has passed the +Senate by the requisite constitutional majority, notwithstanding the +objection of the President to the contrary." + +On the 9th of April, 1866, three days after the passage of the bill in +the Senate, the House of Representatives proceeded to its +consideration. The bill and the President's Veto Message having been +read, Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, demanded the previous question on the +passage of the bill, the objections of the President to the contrary +notwithstanding, and gave his reasons for so doing: "Mr. Speaker, the +debate which occurred on this bill occupied two weeks of the time of +this House. Some forty speeches were made, and the debate was not +brought to a close until all had been heard who expressed a desire to +speak upon the bill. At the close of that debate, the bill was passed +by more than two-thirds of this House. It has been returned to us with +the objections of the President to its becoming a law. I do not +propose to reoepen the discussion of this measure; I am disposed to +leave the close of this debate to the President by the message which +has just been read. I ask the friends of this great measure to answer +the argument and statements of that message by their votes." + +The vote was finally taken on the question, "Shall this bill pass, +notwithstanding the objections of the President?" The following is the +record of the vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Delos R. Ashley, James M. + Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, + Benjamin, Bidwell, Boutwell, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, + Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, + Colfax, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis, Dawes, + Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Dodge, Donnelly, Eckley, + Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, + Grinnell, Griswold, Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, + Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. + Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. + Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Jenckes, + Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, + William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, + McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, + Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, + Paine, Patterson, Perham, Pike, Plants, Pomeroy, Price, + Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, + Scofield, Shellabarger, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Thayer, + Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van + Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Elihu B. + Washburne, Henry D. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, + Wentworth, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and + Woodbridge--122. + + NAYS--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Coffroth, Dawson, + Dennison, Eldridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Aaron Harding, + Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, Latham, + Le Blond, Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, + Phelps, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, + Raymond, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, + Sitgreaves, Smith, Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, + Trimble, Whaley, Winfield, and Wright--41. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Ames, Anderson, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, + Chanler, Culver, Driggs, Dumont, Goodyear, Grider, Demas + Hubbard, Johnson, Jones, Julian, Kerr, Kuykendall, Sloan, + Stilwell, Warner, and Williams--21. + +The Speaker then made the following announcement: "The yeas are 122, +and the nays 41. Two-thirds of the House having, upon this +reconsideration, agreed to the passage of the bill, and it being +certified officially that a similar majority of the Senate, in which +the bill originated, also agreed to its passage, I do, therefore, by +the authority of the Constitution of the United States, declare that +this bill, entitled 'An act to protect all persons in the United +States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their +vindication,' has become a law." + +This announcement was followed by prolonged applause on the floor of +the House and among the throng of spectators in the galleries. + +The following is the form in which the great measure so long pending +became a law of the land: + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + all persons born in the United States and not subject to any + foreign Power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby + declared to be citizens of the United States; and such + citizens of every race and color, without regard to any + previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, + except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall + have been duly convicted, shall have the same right in every + State and Territory in the United States to make and enforce + contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to + inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and + personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws + and proceedings for the security of person and property as + is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like + punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any + law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the + contrary notwithstanding. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who, + under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or + custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected, any + inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of + any right secured or protected by this act, or to different + punishment, pains, or penalties on account of such person + having at any time been held in a condition of slavery or + involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime + whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or by + reason of his color or race, than is prescribed for the + punishment of white persons, shall be deemed guilty of a + misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be punished by a fine + not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding one + year, or both, in the discretion of the court. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the district + courts of the United States, within their respective + districts, shall have, exclusively of the courts of the + several States, cognizance of all crimes and offenses + committed against the provisions of this act, and also, + concurrently with the circuit courts of the United States, + of all causes, civil and criminal, affecting persons who are + denied or can not enforce in the courts or judicial + tribunals of the State or locality where they may be, any of + the rights secured to them by the first section of this act; + and if any suit or prosecution, civil or criminal, has been + or shall be commenced in any State court against any such + person, for any cause whatsoever, or against any officer, + civil or military, or other person, for any arrest or + imprisonment, trespasses or wrongs, done or committed by + virtue or under color of authority derived from this act or + the act establishing a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and + Refugees, and all acts amendatory thereof, or for refusing + to do any act upon the ground that it would be inconsistent + with this act, such defendant shall have the right to remove + such cause for trial to the proper district or circuit court + in the manner prescribed by the 'Act relating to _habeas + corpus_ and regulating judicial proceedings in certain + cases,' approved March 3, 1863, and all acts amendatory + thereof. The jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters + hereby conferred on the district and circuit courts of the + United States shall be exercised and enforced in conformity + with the laws of the United States, so far as such laws are + suitable to carry the same into effect; but in all cases + where such laws are not adapted to the object, or are + deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable + remedies and punish offenses against law, the common law, as + modified and changed by the constitution and statutes of the + States wherein the court having jurisdiction of the cause, + civil or criminal, is held, so far as the same is not + inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United + States, shall be extended to and govern said courts in the + trial and disposition of such cause, and, if of a criminal + nature, in the infliction of punishment on the party found + guilty. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the district + attorneys, marshals, and deputy-marshals of the United + States, the commissioners appointed by the circuit and + territorial courts of the United States, with powers of + arresting, imprisoning, or bailing offenders against the + laws of the United States, the officers and agents of the + Freedmen's Bureau, and every other officer who may be + specially empowered by the President of the United States, + shall be, and they are hereby, specially authorized and + required, at the expense of the United States, to institute + proceedings against all and every person who shall violate + the provisions of this act, and cause him or them to be + arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may be, for + trial before such court of the United States, or territorial + court, as by this act has cognizance of the offense. And + with a view to affording reasonable protection to all + persons in their constitutional rights of equality before + the law, without distinction of race or color, or previous + condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a + punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly + convicted, and to the prompt discharge of the duties of this + act, it shall be the duty of the circuit courts of the + United States and the superior courts of the Territories of + the United States, from time to time, to increase the number + of commissioners, so as to afford a speedy and convenient + means for the arrest and examination of persons charged with + a violation of this act. And such commissioners are hereby + authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the + powers and duties conferred on them by this act, and the + same duties with regard to offenses created by this act, as + they are authorized by law to exercise with regard to other + offenses against the laws of the United States. + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of all marshals and deputy-marshals to obey and execute + all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of + this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or + deputy-marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other + process when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently + to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be + fined in the sum of $1,000, to the use of the person upon + whom the accused is alleged to have committed the offense. + And the better to enable the said commissioners to execute + their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with + the Constitution of the United States and the requirements + of this act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, + within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing, + under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from + time to time, to execute all such warrants and other process + as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their + respective duties; and the persons so appointed to execute + any warrant or process as aforesaid, shall have authority to + summon and call to their aid the bystanders or the _posse + comitatus_ of the proper county, or such portion of the land + and naval forces of the United States, or the militia, as + may be necessary to the performance of the duty with which + they are charged, and to insure a faithful observance of the + clause of the Constitution which prohibits slavery, in + conformity with the provisions of this act; and said + warrants shall run and be executed by said officers anywhere + in the State or Territory within which they are issued. + + "SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who + shall knowingly and willfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent + any officer, or other person, charged with the execution of + any warrant or process issued under the provisions of this + act, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him or + them, from arresting any person for whose apprehension such + warrant or process may have been issued, or shall rescue or + attempt to rescue such person from the custody of the + officer, other person or persons, or those lawfully + assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested pursuant to the + authority herein given and declared, or who shall aid, abet, + or assist any person so arrested as aforesaid, directly or + indirectly, to escape from the custody of the officer or + other person legally authorized as aforesaid, or shall + harbor or conceal any person for whose arrest a warrant or + process shall have been issued as aforesaid, so as to + prevent his discovery and arrest after notice or knowledge + of the fact that a warrant has been issued for the + apprehension of such person, shall, for either of said + offenses, be subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000, and + imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and + conviction before the district court of the United States + for the district in which said offense may have been + committed, or before the proper court of criminal + jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized + Territories of the United States. + + "SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That the district + attorneys, the marshals, the deputies, and the clerks of the + said district and territorial courts shall be paid for their + services the like fees as may be allowed to them for similar + services in other cases; and in all cases where the + proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled + to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each + case, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and + examination. The person or persons authorized to execute the + process to be issued by such commissioners for the arrest of + offenders against the provisions of this act, shall be + entitled to a fee of five dollars for each person he or they + may arrest and take before any such commissioner as + aforesaid, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable + by such commissioner for such other additional services as + may be necessarily performed by him or them, such as + attending at the examination, keeping the prisoner in + custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his + detention, and until the final determination of such + commissioner, and in general for performing such other + duties as may be required in the premises; such fees to be + made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the + officers of the courts of justice within the proper district + or county, as near as may be practicable, and paid out of + the Treasury of the United States on the certificate of the + judge of the district within which the arrest is made, and + to be recoverable from the defendant as part of the judgment + in case of conviction. + + "SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That whenever the + President of the United States shall have reason to believe + that offenses have been or are likely to be committed + against the provisions of this act within any judicial + district, it shall be lawful for him, in his discretion, to + direct the judge, marshal, and district attorney of such + district to attend at such place within the district, and + for such time as he may designate, for the purpose of the + more speedy arrest and trial of persons charged with a + violation of this act; and it shall be the duty of every + judge or other officer, when any such requisition shall be + received by him, to attend at the place, and for the time + therein designated. + + "SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be + lawful for the President of the United States, or such + person as he may empower for that purpose, to employ such + part of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of + the militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the violation + and enforce the due execution of this act. + + "SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That upon all + questions of law arising in any cause under the provisions + of this act a final appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court + of the United States." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE SECOND FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL BECOMES A LAW. + + The Discovery of the Majority -- The Senate Bill -- The + House Bill -- Its Provisions -- Passage of the Bill -- + Amendment and Passage in the Senate -- Committee of + Conference -- The Amendments as Accepted -- The Bill as + Passed -- The Veto -- The Proposition of a Democrat Accepted + -- Confusion in Leadership -- Passage of the Bill over the + Veto -- It Becomes a Law. + + +Congress having succeeded in placing the Civil Rights Bill in the +statute-book in spite of Executive opposition, was not disposed to +allow other legislation which was regarded as important to go by +default. The disposition of the President, now plainly apparent, to +oppose all legislation which the party that had elevated him to office +might consider appropriate to the condition of the rebel States, the +majority in Congress discovered that, if they would make progress in +the work before them, they must be content to do without Executive +approval. The defection of the President from the principles of the +party which had elected him, so far from dividing and destroying that +party, had rather given it consolidation and strength. After the veto +of the Civil Rights Bill, a very few members of the Senate and House +of Representatives who had been elected as Republicans adhered to the +President, but the most of those who had wavered stepped forward into +the ranks of the "Radicals," as they were called, and a firm and +invincible "two-thirds" moved forward to consummate legislation which +they deemed essential to the interests of the nation. + +So fully convinced were the majority that some effective legislation +for the freedmen should be consummated, that two days after the final +vote in which the former bill failed to pass over the veto, Senator +Wilson introduced a bill "to continue in force the Bureau for the +relief of Freedmen and Refugees," which was read twice and referred to +the Committee on Military Affairs. + +The bill, however, which subsequently became a law, originated in the +House of Representatives. In that branch of Congress was a Special +Committee on the Freedmen, who were able to give more immediate and +continuous attention to that class of people than could committees +such as those of the Judiciary and Military Affairs, having many other +subjects to consider. + +The Committee on the Freedmen, having given much time and attention to +the perfection of a measure to meet the necessities of the case, on +the 22d of May reported through their chairman, Mr. Eliot, "A bill to +continue in force and amend an act entitled 'an act to establish a +Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees, and for other +purposes.'" + +This bill provided for keeping in force the Freedmen's Bureau then in +existence for two years longer. Some of the features to which the +President had objected in his veto of the former bill had been +modified and in part removed. In providing for the education of +freedmen, the commissioner was restricted to cooperating so far with +the charitable people of the country as to furnish rooms for +school-houses and protection to teachers. The freedmen's courts were +to be kept in existence till State legislation should conform itself +to the Civil Rights Bill, and the disturbed relations of the States to +the Union were restored. The President was required to reserve from +sale public lands, not exceeding in all one million of acres, in +Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, to be assigned +in parcels of forty acres and less to loyal refugees and freedmen. + +One week after the introduction of the bill, its consideration was +resumed. The question was taken without debate, and the bill passed by +a vote of ninety-six in favor and thirty-two against the measure. +Fifty-five members failed to vote. + +On the day following, May 30th, the clerk of the House conveyed the +bill to the Senate. It was there referred to the Committee on Military +Affairs, as that committee already had before them seven bills +relating to the same subject. Nearly a fortnight subsequently, the +committee reported back to the Senate the House bill with certain +amendments. The report of the committee, and the amendments proposed +therein, could not be considered in the Senate until the lapse of +another fortnight. On the 26th of June, the amendments devised by the +committee were read in the Senate and adopted. Mr. Davis made a number +of attempts to have the bill laid on the table or deferred to a +subsequent day, but without success. Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Buckalew +made ineffectual attempts to amend the bill by proposing to strike out +important sections. + +The Senate indulged in but little discussion of the bill or the +amendments. The bill as amended finally passed the Senate by a vote of +twenty-six for and six against the measure. The bill then went to the +House for the concurrence of that body in the amendments passed by the +Senate. + +The Committee on the Freedmen made a report, which was adopted by the +House, to non-concur in the amendments of the Senate. A Committee of +Conference was appointed on the part of the Senate and the House. +They, after consultation, made a report by which the Senate +amendments, with some modifications, were adopted. + +Mr. Eliot, Chairman of the Committee on the Freedmen, and of the +Committee of Conference on the part of the House, at the request of a +member, thus explained the amendments proposed by the Senate: "The +first amendment which the Senate made to the bill, as it was passed by +the House, was simply an enlargement of one of the sections of the +House bill, which provided that the volunteer medical officers engaged +in the medical department of the bureau might be continued, inasmuch +as it was expected that the medical force of the regular army would be +speedily reduced to the minimum, and in that case all the regular +officers would be wanted in the service. It was therefore thought +right that there should be some force connected with the Bureau of +Refugees and Freedmen. The Senate enlarged the provisions of the House +bill by providing that officers of the volunteer service now on duty +might be continued as assistant commissioners and other officers, and +that the Secretary of War might fill vacancies until other officers +could be detailed from the regular army. That is the substance of the +first material amendment. + +"The next amendment strikes out a portion of one of the sections of +the House bill, which related to the officers who serve as medical +officers of the bureau, because it was provided for in the amendment +to which I have just referred. + +"The next amendment strikes out from the House bill the section which +set apart, reserved from sale, a million acres of land in the Gulf +States. It may perhaps be recollected that when the bill was reported +from the committee, I stated that, in case the bill which the House +had then passed, and which was known as the Homestead Bill, and which +was then before the Senate, should become a law, this section of the +bill would not be wanted. The bill referred to has become a law, and +this section five, providing for that reservation, has, therefore, +been stricken from the bill. + +"The next amendment made by the Senate was to strike out a section of +the House bill which simply provided that upon application for +restoration by the former owners of the land assigned under General +Sherman's field order, the application should not be complied with. +That section is stricken out and another substituted for it, which +provides that certain lands which are now owned by the United States, +having been purchased by the United States under tax commissioners' +sales, shall be assigned in lots of twenty acres to freedmen who have +had allotments under General Sherman's field order, at the price for +which the lands were purchased by the United States; and not only that +those freedmen should have such allotments, but that other freedmen +who had had lots assigned to them under General Sherman's field order, +and who may have become dispossessed of their land, should have +assignments made to them of these lands belonging to the United +States. I think the justice of that provision will strike every one. +And it will be perhaps a merit in the eyes of many that it does not +call upon the Treasury for the expenditure of any money. In the bill +which was passed by the House, it will be recollected that there was a +provision under which there should be purchased by the commissioner of +the bureau enough public lands to be substituted for the lands at +first assigned to freedmen. Instead of that, provision is made by +which they can have property belonging to the United States which has +come into its possession under tax sales, and where the titles have +been made perfect by lapse of time. + +"The next amendment of the Senate provides that certain lands which +were purchased by the United States at tax sales, and which are now +held by the United States, should be sold at prices not less than ten +dollars an acre, and that the proceeds should be invested for the +support of schools, without distinction of color or race, on the +islands in the parishes of St. Helena and St. Luke. That is all the +provision which was made for education. + +"The only other material amendment made by the Senate gives to the +commissioner of the bureau power to take property of the late +Confederate States, held by them or in trust for them, and which is +now in charge of the commissioner of the bureau, to take that property +and devote it to educational purposes. The amendment further provides +that when the bureau shall cease to by the Senate and House of +Representatives of the United States of America in exist, such of the +late so-called Confederate States as shall have made provision for +education, without regard to color, should have the balance of money +remaining on hand, to be divided among them in proportion to their +population." + +The vote followed soon after the remarks of Mr. Eliot, and the bill, +as amended, passed the House of Representatives. + +The following is the bill as it went to the President for his +approval: + + "AN ACT to continue in force and to amend 'An Act to + establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' + and for other purposes. + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + the act to establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and + refugees, approved March third, eighteen hundred and + sixty-five, shall continue in force for the term of two + years from and after the passage of this act. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That the supervision + and care of said bureau shall extend to all loyal refugees + and freedmen, so far as the same shall be necessary, to + enable them, as speedily as practicable, to become + self-supporting citizens of the United States, and to aid + them in making the freedom conferred by proclamation of the + commander-in-chief, by emancipation under the laws of + States, and by constitutional amendment, available to them + and beneficial to the republic. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the President + shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, + appoint two assistant commissioners, in addition to those + authorized by the act to which this is an amendment, who + shall give like bonds and receive the same annual salaries + provided in said act; and each of the assistant + commissioners of the bureau shall have charge of one + district containing such refugees or freedmen, to be + assigned him by the commissioner, with the approval of the + President. And the commissioner shall, under the direction + of the President, and so far as the same shall be, in his + judgment, necessary for the efficient and economical + administration of the affairs of the bureau, appoint such + agents, clerks, and assistants as may be required for the + proper conduct of the bureau. Military officers or enlisted + men may be detailed for service and assigned to duty under + this act; and the President may, if, in his judgment, safe + and judicious so to do, detail from the army all the + officers and agents of this bureau; but no officer so + assigned shall have increase of pay or allowances. Each + agent or clerk, not heretofore authorized by law, not being + a military officer, shall have an annual salary of not less + than five hundred dollars, nor more than twelve hundred + dollars, according to the service required of him. And it + shall be the duty of the commissioner, when it can be done + consistently with public interest, to appoint, as assistant + commissioners, agents, and clerks, such men as have proved + their loyalty by faithful service in the armies of the Union + during the rebellion. And all persons appointed to service + under this act, and the act to which this is an amendment, + shall be so far deemed in the military service of the United + States as to be under the military jurisdiction and entitled + to the military protection of the Government while in + discharge of the duties of their office. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That officers of the + Veteran Reserve Corps or of the volunteer service, now on + duty in the Freedmen's Bureau as assistant commissioners, + agents, medical officers, or in other capacities, whose + regiments or corps have been or may hereafter be mustered + out of service, may be retained upon such duty as officers + of said bureau, with the same compensation as is now + provided by law for their respective grades; and the + Secretary of War shall have power to fill vacancies until + other officers can be detailed in their places without + detriment to the public service. + + "SEC. 5. _And he it further enacted_, That the second + section of the act to which this is an amendment shall be + deemed to authorize the Secretary of War to issue such + medical stores or other supplies, and transportation, and + afford such medical or other aid as may be needful for the + purposes named in said section: _Provided_, That no person + shall be deemed 'destitute,' 'suffering,' or 'dependent upon + the Government for support,' within the meaning of this act, + who is able to find employment, and could, by proper + industry or exertion, avoid such destitution, suffering, or + dependence. + + "SEC. 6. Whereas, by the provisions of an act approved + February sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, entitled + 'An act to amend an act entitled "An act for the collection + of direct taxes in insurrectionary districts within the + United States, and for other purposes," approved June + seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,' certain lands in + the parishes of Saint Helena and Saint Luke, South Carolina, + were bid in by the United States at public tax sales, and, + by the limitation of said act, the time of redemption of + said lands has expired; and whereas, in accordance with + instructions issued by President Lincoln on the sixteenth + day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, to the + United States direct tax commissioners for South Carolina, + certain lands bid in by the United States in the parish of + Saint Helena, in said State, were in part sold by the said + tax commissioners to 'heads of families of the African + race,' in parcels of not more than twenty acres to each + purchaser; and whereas, under the said instructions, the + said tax commissioners did also set apart as 'school-farms' + certain parcels of land in said parish, numbered in their + plats from one to sixty-three inclusive, making an aggregate + of six thousand acres, more or less: _Therefore, be it + further enacted_, That the sales made to 'heads of families + of the African race,' under the instructions of President + Lincoln to the United States direct tax commissioners for + South Carolina, of date of September sixteenth, eighteen + hundred and sixty-three, are hereby confirmed and + established; and all leases which have been made to such + 'heads of families' by said direct tax commissioners shall + be changed into certificates of sale in all cases wherein + the lease provides for such substitution; and all the lands + now remaining unsold, which come within the same + designation, being eight thousand acres, more or less, shall + be disposed of according to said instructions. + + "SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That all other lands + bid in by the United States at tax sales, being thirty-eight + thousand acres, more or less, and now in the hands of the + said tax commissioners as the property of the United States, + in the parishes of Saint Helena and Saint Luke, excepting + the 'school-farms,' as specified in the preceding section, + and so much as may be necessary for military and naval + purposes at Hilton Head, Bay Point, and Land's End, and + excepting also the city of Port Royal, on Saint Helena + island, and the town of Beaufort, shall be disposed of in + parcels of twenty acres, at one dollar and fifty cents per + acre, to such persons, and to such only, as have acquired + and are now occupying lands under and agreeably to the + provisions of General Sherman's special field order, dated + at Savannah, Georgia, January sixteenth, eighteen hundred + and sixty-five; and the remaining lands, if any, shall be + disposed of, in like manner, to such persons as had acquired + lands agreeably to the said order of General Sherman, but + who have been dispossessed by the restoration of the same to + former owners: _Provided_, That the lands sold in compliance + with the provisions of this and the preceding section shall + not be alienated by their purchasers within six years from + and after the passage of this act. + + "SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That the + 'school-farms' in the parish of Saint Helena, South + Carolina, shall be sold, subject to any leases of the same, + by the said tax commissioners, at public auction, on or + before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and + sixty-seven, at not less than ten dollars per acre; and the + lots in the city of Port Royal, as laid down by the said tax + commissioners, and the lots and houses in the town of + Beaufort, which are still held in like manner, shall be sold + at public auction; and the proceeds of said sales, after + paying expenses of the surveys and sales, shall be invested + in United States bonds, the interest of which shall be + appropriated, under the direction of the commissioner, to + the support of schools, without distinction of color or + race, on the islands in the parishes of Saint Helena and + Saint Luke. + + "SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That the assistant + commissioners for South Carolina and Georgia are hereby + authorized to examine the claims to lands in their + respective States which are claimed under the provisions of + General Sherman's special field order, and to give each + person having a valid claim a warrant upon the direct tax + commissioners for South Carolina for twenty acres of land; + and the said direct tax commissioners shall issue to every + person, or to his or her heirs, but in no case to any + assigns, presenting such warrant, a lease of twenty acres of + land, as provided for in section seven, for the term of six + years; but, at any time thereafter, upon the payment of a + sum not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per acre, the + person holding such lease shall be entitled to a certificate + of sale of said tract of twenty acres from the direct tax + commissioner or such officer as may be authorized to issue + the same; but no warrant shall be held valid longer than two + years after the issue of the same. + + "SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That the direct tax + commissioners for South Carolina are hereby authorized and + required, at the earliest day practicable, to survey the + lands designated in section seven into lots of twenty acres + each, with proper metes and bounds distinctly marked, so + that the several tracts shall be convenient in form, and, as + near as practicable, have an average of fertility and + woodland; and the expense of such surveys shall be paid from + the proceeds of sales of said lands, or, if sooner required, + out of any moneys received for other lands on these islands, + sold by the United States for taxes, and now in the hands of + the direct tax commissioners. + + "SEC. 11. _And be it further enacted_, That restoration of + the lands now occupied by persons under General Sherman's + special field order, dated at Savannah, Georgia, January + sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, shall not be + made until after the crops of the present year shall have + been gathered by the occupants of said lands, nor until a + fair compensation shall have been made to them by the former + owners of said lands, or their legal representatives, for + all improvements or betterments erected or constructed + thereon, and after due notice of the same being done shall + have been given by the assistant commissioner. + + "SEC. 12. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioner + shall have power to seize, hold, use, lease, or sell, all + buildings and tenements, and any lands appertaining to the + same, or otherwise, held under claim or title by the late + so-called Confederate States, and any buildings or lands + held in trust for the same by any person or persons, and to + use the same or appropriate the proceeds derived therefrom + to the education of the freed people; and whenever the + bureau shall cease to exist, such of the late so-called + Confederate States as shall have made provision for the + education of their citizens, without distinction of color, + shall receive the sum remaining unexpended of such sales or + rentals, which shall be distributed among said States for + educational purposes in proportion to their population. + + "SEC. 13. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioner + of this bureau shall at all times cooeperate with private + benevolent associations of citizens in aid of freedmen, and + with agents and teachers, duly accredited and appointed by + them, and shall hire or provide by lease buildings for + purposes of education whenever such associations shall, + without cost to the Government, provide suitable teachers + and means of instruction; and he shall furnish protection as + may be required for the safe conduct of such schools. + + "SEC. 14. _And be it further enacted_, That in every State + or district where the ordinary course of judicial + proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until + the same shall be fully restored, and in every State or + district whose constitutional relations to the Government + have been practically discontinued by the rebellion, and + until such State shall have been restored in such relations, + and shall be duly represented in the Congress of the United + States, the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be + parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, + sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to + have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings + concerning personal liberty, personal security, and the + acquisition, enjoyment, and disposition of estate, real and + personal, including the constitutional right to bear arms, + shall be secured to and enjoyed by all the citizens of such + State or district, without respect to race or color, or + previous condition of slavery. And whenever in either of + said States or districts the ordinary course of judicial + proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and until + the same shall be fully restored, and until such State shall + have been restored in its constitutional relations to the + Government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of + the United States, the President, shall, through the + commissioner and the officers of the bureau, and under such + rules and regulations as the President, through the + Secretary of War, shall prescribe, extend military + protection and have military jurisdiction over all cases and + questions concerning the free enjoyment of such immunities + and rights; and no penalty or punishment for any violation + of law shall be imposed or permitted because of race or + color, or previous condition of slavery, other or greater + than the penalty or punishment to which white persons may be + liable by law for the like offense. But the jurisdiction + conferred by this section upon the officers of the bureau + shall not exist in any State where the ordinary course of + judicial proceedings has not been interrupted by the + rebellion, and shall cease in every State when the courts of + the State and the United States are not disturbed in the + peaceable course of justice, and after such State shall be + fully restored in its constitutional relations to the + Government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of + the United States. + + "SEC. 15. _And be it further enacted_, That the officers, + agents, and employees of this bureau, before entering upon + the duties of their office, shall take the oath prescribed + in the first section of the act to which this is an + amendment; and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with + the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. + +On the 16th of July the President returned the bill to the House of +Representatives, in which it originated, with his "objections thereto" +in writing. The following is + + THE VETO MESSAGE. + + "_To the House of Representatives:_ + + "A careful examination of the bill passed by the two houses + of Congress, entitled 'An act to continue in force and to + amend "An act to establish a bureau for the relief of + freedmen and refugees," and for other purposes,' has + convinced me that the legislation which it proposes would + not be consistent with the welfare of the country, and that + it falls clearly within the reasons assigned in my message + of the 19th of February last, returning without my signature + a similar measure which originated in the Senate. It is not + my purpose to repeat the objections which I then urged. They + are yet fresh in your recollection, and can be readily + examined as a part of the records of one branch of the + National Legislature. Adhering to the principles set forth + in that message, I now reaeffirm them, and the line of policy + therein indicated. + + "The only ground upon which this kind of legislation can be + justified is that of the war-making power. The act of which + this bill was intended as amendatory was passed during the + existence of the war. By its own provisions, it is to + terminate within one year from the cessation of hostilities + and the declaration of peace. It is therefore yet in + existence, and it is likely that it will continue in force + as long as the freedmen may require the benefit of its + provisions. It will certainly remain in operation as a law + until some months subsequent to the meeting of the next + session of Congress, when, if experience shall make evident + the necessity of additional legislation, the two houses will + have ample time to mature and pass the requisite measures. + In the mean time the questions arise, Why should this war + measure be continued beyond the period designated in the + original act? and why, in time of peace, should military + tribunals be created to continue until each 'State shall be + fully restored in its constitutional relations to the + Government, and shall be duly represented in the Congress of + the United States?' It was manifest with respect to the act + approved March 3, 1865, that prudence and wisdom alike + required that jurisdiction over all cases concerning the + free enjoyment of the immunities and rights of citizenship, + as well as the protection of person and property, should be + conferred upon some tribunal in every State or district + where the ordinary course of judicial proceeding was + interrupted by the rebellion, and until the same should be + fully restored. At that time, therefore, an urgent necessity + existed for the passage of some such law. Now, however, war + has substantially ceased; the ordinary course of judicial + proceedings is no longer interrupted; the courts, both State + and Federal, are in full, complete, and successful + operation, and through them every person, regardless of race + or color, is entitled to and can be heard. The protection + granted to the white citizen is already conferred by law + upon the freedman; strong and stringent guards, by way of + penalties and punishments, are thrown around his person and + property, and it is believed that ample protection will be + afforded him by due process of law, without resort to the + dangerous expedient of 'military tribunals,' now that the + war has been brought to a close. The necessity no longer + existing for such tribunals, which had their origin in the + war, grave objections to their continuance must present + themselves to the minds of all reflecting and dispassionate + men. Independently of the danger in representative republics + of conferring upon the military, in time of peace, + extraordinary powers--so carefully guarded against by the + patriots and statesmen of the earlier days of the republic, + so frequently the ruin of governments founded upon the same + free principle, and subversive of the rights and liberties + of the citizen--the question of practical economy earnestly + commends itself to the consideration of the law-making + power. With an immense debt already burdening the incomes of + the industrial and laboring classes, a due regard for their + interests, so inseparably connected with the welfare of the + country, should prompt us to rigid economy and retrenchment, + and influence us to abstain from all legislation that would + unnecessarily increase the public indebtedness. Tested by + this rule of sound political wisdom, I can see no reason for + the establishment of the 'military jurisdiction' conferred + upon the officials of the bureau by the fourteenth section + of the bill. + + "By the laws of the United States, and of the different + States, competent courts, Federal and State, have been + established, and are now in full practical operation. By + means of these civil tribunals ample redress is afforded for + all private wrongs, whether to the person or to the property + of the citizen, without denial or unnecessary delay. They + are open to all, without regard to color or race. I feel + well assured that it will be better to trust the rights, + privileges, and immunities of the citizens to tribunals thus + established, and presided over by competent and impartial + judges, bound by fixed rules of law and evidence, and where + the rights of trial by jury is guaranteed and secured, than + to the caprice and judgment of an officer of the bureau, + who, it is possible, may be entirely ignorant of the + principles that underlie the just administration of the law. + There is danger, too, that conflict of jurisdiction will + frequently arise between the civil courts and these military + tribunals, each having concurrent jurisdiction over the + person and the cause of action--the one judicature + administered and controlled by civil law, the other by the + military. How is the conflict to be settled, and who is to + determine between the two tribunals when it arises? In my + opinion it is wise to guard against such conflict by leaving + to the courts and juries the protection of all civil rights + and the redress of all civil grievances. + + "The fact can not be denied that since the actual cessation + of hostilities many acts of violence--such, perhaps, as had + never been witnessed in their previous history--have + occurred in the States involved in the recent rebellion. I + believe, however, that public sentiment will sustain me in + the assertion that such deeds of wrong are not confined to + any particular State or section, but are manifested over the + entire country--demonstrating that the cause that produced + them does not depend upon any particular locality, but is + the result of the agitation and derangement incident to a + long and bloody civil war. While the prevalence of such + disorders must be greatly deplored, their occasional and + temporary occurrence would seem to furnish no necessity for + the extension of the bureau beyond the period fixed in the + original act. Besides the objections which I have thus + briefly stated, I may urge upon your consideration the + additional reason that recent developments in regard to the + practical operations of the bureau, in many of the States, + show that in numerous instances it is used by its agents as + a means of promoting their individual advantage, and that + the freedmen are employed for the advancement of the + personal ends of the officers instead of their own + improvement and welfare--thus confirming the fears + originally entertained by many that the continuation of such + a bureau for any unnecessary length of time would inevitably + result in fraud, corruption, and oppression. + + "It is proper to state that in cases of this character + investigations have been promptly ordered, and the offender + punished, whenever his guilt has been satisfactorily + established. As another reason against the necessity of the + legislation contemplated by this measure, reference may be + had to the 'Civil Rights Bill,' now a law of the land, and + which will be faithfully executed as long as it shall remain + unrepealed, and may not be declared unconstitutional by + courts of competent jurisdiction. By that act, it is enacted + 'that all persons born in the United States, and not subject + to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are + hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and + such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to + any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, + except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall + have been duly convicted, shall have the same right in every + State and Territory of the United States, to make and + enforce contracts, to sue, to be parties, and give evidence, + to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and + personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws + and proceedings for the security of person and property, as + is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like + punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any + law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the + contrary notwithstanding.' + + "By the provisions of the act full protection is afforded, + through the district courts of the United States, to all + persons injured, and whose privileges, as they are declared, + are in any way impaired, and heavy penalties are denounced + against the person who willfully violates the law. I need + not state that that law did not receive my approval, yet its + remedies are far preferable to those proposed in the present + bill--the one being civil and the other military. + + "By the sixth section of the bill herewith returned, certain + proceedings by which the lands in the 'parishes of St. + Helena and St. Luke, South Carolina,' were sold and bid in, + and afterward disposed of by the tax commissioners, are + ratified and confirmed. By the seventh, eighth, ninth, + tenth, and eleventh sections, provisions by law are made for + the disposal of the lands thus acquired to a particular + class of citizens. While the quieting of titles is deemed + very important and desirable, the discrimination made in the + bill seems objectionable, as does also the attempt to confer + upon the commissioners judicial powers, by which citizens of + the United States are to be deprived of their property in a + mode contrary to that provision of the Constitution which + declares that no person 'shall be deprived of life, liberty, + or property, without due process of law.' As a general + principle, such legislation is unsafe, unwise, partial, and + unconstitutional. It may deprive persons of their property + who are equally deserving objects of the nation's bounty, as + those whom, by this legislation, Congress seeks to benefit. + The title to the land thus to be proportioned out to a + favored class of citizens must depend upon the regularity of + the tax sale under the law as it existed at the time of the + sale, and no subsequent legislation can give validity to the + rights thus acquired against the original claimants. The + attention of Congress is therefore invited to a more mature + consideration of the measures proposed in these sections of + the bill. + + "In conclusion, I again urge upon Congress the danger of + class legislation, so well calculated to keep the public + mind in a state of uncertain expectation, disquiet, and + restlessness, and to encourage interested hopes and fears + that the National Government will continue to furnish to + classes of citizens, in the several States, means for + support and maintenance, regardless of whether they pursue a + life of indolence or labor, and regardless, also, of the + constitutional limitations of the national authority in + times of peace and tranquillity. + + "The bill is herewith returned to the House of + Representatives, in which it originated, for its final + action. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON. + + "WASHINGTON, D. C., _July_ 16, 1866." + +As soon as the reading of this document had been completed, a motion +was passed that it should be laid on the table and printed. Notice was +given that it would be called up for the action of the House on the +following day. Mr. Le Blond, a Democrat, suggested that it would be +too long to wait until to-morrow to pass it over the veto, and without +debate. The sooner action was taken, the more apparent would be the +bad _animus_. + +"I have no objection," said Mr. Eliot, taking him at his word. Others +said, "There is no objection," whereupon the vote was reconsidered by +which the matter was postponed. + +The motion to reconsider the postponement was carried, and the +previous question called, "Shall this bill become a law, the +objections of the President to the contrary notwithstanding?" + +"I do not see why we need be in such a hurry," said Mr. Rogers. + +"One of your own side suggested that the vote better be taken now," +replied Mr. Ashley. + +"Well, he was not in earnest, of course," said Mr. Rogers, creating +some mirth by the remark. + +"I hope the gentleman will make no objection," said Mr. Le Blond, +addressing his remark to Mr. Rogers. + +Mr. Ward suggested that "the Democrats should choose their leader, and +not confuse us in this way." + +Without further parley, the vote was one hundred and four in the +affirmative, thirty-three in the negative, and forty-five "not +voting." The Speaker then announced, "Two-thirds having voted in the +affirmative, the bill has, notwithstanding the objections of the +President, again passed." + +The Clerk of the House of Representatives immediately announced the +action of that body to the Senate. Other business was at once laid +aside, and the Veto Message was read in the Senate. + +Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Saulsbury then addressed the Senate in support +of the position of the President. The question being taken, +thirty-three voted for and twelve against the bill. Thereupon the +President _pro tempore_ announced, "Two-thirds of this body have +passed the bill, and it having been certified that two-thirds of the +House of Representatives have voted for this bill, I now pronounce +that this bill has become a law." + +[Illustration: Hon. Eben C. Ingersoll, Representative from Illinois.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FIRST WORDS ON RECONSTRUCTION. + + Responsibility of the Republican Party -- Its Power and + Position -- Initiatory Step -- Mr. Stevens steaks for + Himself -- Condition of the Rebel States -- Constitutional + Authority under which Congress should act -- Estoppel -- + What constitutes Congress -- The First Duty -- Basis of + Representation -- Duty on Exports -- Two important + Principles -- Mr. Raymond's Theory -- Rebel States still in + the Union -- Consequences of the Radical Theory -- + Conditions to be Required -- State Sovereignty -- Rebel Debt + -- Prohibition of Slavery -- Two Policies contrasted -- + Reply of Mr. Jenckes -- Difference in Terms, not in + Substance -- Logic of the Conservatives leads to the Results + of the Radicals. + + +Having traced the progress through Congress of the great measures +relating to civil rights and protection of the freedmen, it is now +proper to go back to an earlier period in this legislative history, +and trace what was said and done upon a subject which, more than any +other, awakened the interest and solicitude of the American +people--the subject of _Reconstruction_. + +The Republican party had a majority of more than one hundred in the +House, and after all its losses, retained more than two thirds of the +Senate. As a consequence of this great preponderance of power, the +party possessing it was justly held responsible for the manner in +which the country should pass the important political crisis +consequent upon the termination of the war in the overthrow of the +rebellion. + +It became an important question for members of the Republican party in +Congress to determine among themselves what line of policy they should +pursue. + +The appointment of the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction, +was every-where regarded by the constituents of the majority as a most +happy initiatory step. The whole country listened with eagerness to +hear what words would be spoken in Congress to give some clue to the +course the committee would recommend. Words of no uncertain +significance and weight were uttered at an early period in the +session. + +On the 18th of December, a fortnight after the opening of the session, +Mr. Stevens announced his opinions on reconstruction with great +boldness and distinctness. At the same time, seeing himself much in +advance of many of his party, and fearing lest his opinions might +alarm the less resolute, he declared: "I do not profess to speak their +sentiments, nor must they be held responsible for them." + +Mr. Stevens opened his speech with remarks on the condition of the +rebel States. He said: "The President assumes, what no one doubts, +that the late rebel States have lost their constitutional relations to +the Union, and are incapable of representation in Congress, except by +permission of the Government. It matters but little, with this +admission, whether you call them States out of the Union, and now +conquered territories, or assert that because the Constitution forbids +them to do what they did do, that they are, therefore, only dead as to +all national and political action, and will remain so until the +Government shall breathe into them the breath of life anew and permit +them to occupy their former position. In other words, that they are +not out of the Union, but are only dead carcasses lying within the +Union. In either case, it is very plain that it requires the action of +Congress to enable them to form a State government and send +Representatives to Congress. Nobody, I believe, pretends that with +their old constitutions and frames of government they can be permitted +to claim their old rights under the Constitution. They have torn their +constitutional States into atoms, and built on their foundations +fabrics of a totally different character. Dead men can not raise +themselves. Dead States can not restore their own existence 'as it +was.' Whose especial duty is it to do it? In whom does the +Constitution place the power? Not in the judicial branch of +Government, for it only adjudicates and does not prescribe laws. Not +in the Executive, for he only executes and can not make laws. Not in +the commander-in-chief of the armies, for he can only hold them under +military rule until the sovereign legislative power of the conqueror +shall give them law. + +"There is fortunately no difficulty in solving the question. There are +two provisions in the Constitution, under one of which the case must +fall. The fourth article says: 'New States may be admitted by the +Congress into this Union.' In my judgment, this is the controlling +provision in this case. Unless the law of nations is a dead letter, +the late war between two acknowledged belligerents severed their +original compacts, and broke all the ties that bound them together. +The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the +conqueror. They must come in as new States or remain as conquered +provinces. Congress--the Senate and House of Representatives, with the +concurrence of the President--is the only power that can act in the +matter. But suppose, as some dreaming theorists imagine, that these +States have never been out of the Union, but have only destroyed their +State governments so as to be incapable of political action, then the +fourth section of the fourth article applies, which says, 'The United +States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form +of government.' Who is the United States? Not the judiciary; not the +President; but the sovereign power of the people, exercised through +their Representatives in Congress, with the concurrence of the +Executive. It means the political Government--the concurrent action of +both branches of Congress and the Executive. The separate action of +each amounts to nothing either in admitting new States or guaranteeing +republican governments to lapsed or outlawed States. Whence springs +the preposterous idea that either the President, or the Senate, or the +House of Representatives, acting separately, can determine the right +of States to send members or Senators to the Congress of the Union?" + +Mr. Stevens then cited authorities to prove that "if the so-called +Confederate States of America were an independent belligerent, and +were so acknowledged by the United States and by Europe, or had +assumed and maintained an attitude which entitled them to be +considered and treated as a belligerent, then, during such time, they +were precisely in the condition of a foreign nation with whom we were +at war; nor need their independence as a nation be acknowledged by us +to produce that effect." + +Having read from a number of authorities to support his position, Mr. +Stevens continued: "After such clear and repeated decisions, it is +something worse than ridiculous to hear men of respectable standing +attempting to nullify the law of nations, and declare the Supreme +Court of the United States in error, because, as the Constitution +forbids it, the States could not go out of the Union in fact. A +respectable gentleman was lately reciting this argument, when he +suddenly stopped and said: 'Did you hear of that atrocious murder +committed in our town? A rebel deliberately murdered a Government +official.' The person addressed said, 'I think you are mistaken.' 'How +so? I saw it myself.' 'You are wrong; no murder was or could be +committed, for the law forbids it.' + +"The theory that the rebel States, for four years a separate power and +without representation in Congress, were all the time here in the +Union, is a good deal less ingenious and respectable than the +metaphysics of Berkeley, which proved that neither the world nor any +human being was in existence. If this theory were simply ridiculous it +could be forgiven; but its effect is deeply injurious to the stability +of the nation. I can not doubt that the late Confederate States are +out of the Union to all intents and purposes for which the conqueror +may choose so to consider them." + +Mr. Stevens further maintained that the rebel States should be +adjudged out of the Union on the ground of estoppel. "They are +estopped," said he, "both by matter of record and matter _in pais_. +One of the first resolutions passed by seceded South Carolina in +January, 1861, is as follows: + + "_Resolved, unanimously_, That the separation of South + Carolina from the Federal Union is final, and she has no + further interest in the Constitution of the United States; + and that the only appropriate negotiations between her and + the Federal Government are as to their mutual relations as + foreign States." + +"Similar resolutions appear upon all their State and Confederate +Government records. The speeches of their members of Congress, their +generals and executive officers, and the answers of their Government +to our shameful suings for peace, went upon the defiant ground that no +terms would be offered or received except upon the prior +acknowledgment of the entire and permanent independence of the +Confederate States. After this, to deny that we have a right to treat +them as a conquered belligerent, severed from the Union in fact, is +not argument but mockery. Whether it be our interest to do so is the +only question hereafter and more deliberately to be considered. + +"But suppose these powerful but now subdued belligerents, instead of +being out of the Union, are merely destroyed, and are now lying about, +a dead corpse, or with animation so suspended as to be incapable of +action, and wholly unable to heal themselves by any unaided movements +of their own. Then they may fall under the provision of the +Constitution which says, "the United States shall guarantee to every +State in the Union a republican form of government." Under that power, +can the judiciary, or the President, or the commander-in-chief of the +army, or the Senate or House of Representatives, acting separately, +restore them to life and reaedmit them into the Union? I insist that if +each acted separately, though the action of each was identical with +all the others, it would amount to nothing. Nothing but the joint +action of the two houses of Congress and the concurrence of the +President could do it. If the Senate admitted their Senators, and the +House their members, it would have no effect on the future action of +Congress. The Fortieth Congress might reject both. Such is the ragged +record of Congress for the last four years." + +He cited a decision of the Supreme Court to show that "it rests with +Congress to decide what government is the established one in a State," +and then remarked: "But Congress does not mean the Senate, or the +House of Representatives, and President, all acting severally. Their +joint action constitutes Congress. Hence a law of Congress must be +passed before any new State can be admitted or any dead ones revived. +Until then, no member can be lawfully admitted into either house. +Hence, it appears with how little knowledge of constitutional law each +branch is urged to admit members separately from these destroyed +States. The provision that "each house shall be the judge of the +elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members," has not +the most distant bearing on this question. Congress must create States +and declare when they are entitled to be represented. Then each house +must judge whether the members presenting themselves from a recognized +State possesses the requisite qualifications of age, residence, and +citizenship, and whether the election and returns are according to +law. The houses separately can judge of nothing else. + +"It is obvious from all this, that the first duty of Congress is to +pass a law declaring the condition of these outside or defunct States, +and providing proper civil government for them. Since the conquest, +they have been governed by martial law. Military rule is necessarily +despotic, and ought not to exist longer than is absolutely necessary. +As there are no symptoms that the people of these provinces will be +prepared to participate in constitutional government for some years, I +know of no arrangement so proper for them as territorial government. +There they can learn the principles of freedom and eat the fruit of +foul rebellion. Under such governments, while electing members to the +territorial legislatures, they will necessarily mingle with those to +whom Congress shall extend the right of suffrage. In territories +Congress fixes the qualifications of electors, and I know of no better +place nor better occasion for the conquered rebels and the conqueror +to practice justice to all men and accustom themselves to make and +obey equal laws." + +Mr. Stevens proceeded to specify amendments to the Constitution which +should be made before the late rebel States "would be capable of +acting in the Union." The first of those amendments would be to change +the basis of representation among the States from federal numbers to +actual voters. After explaining the operation of this amendment, he +depicted the consequences of reaedmitting the Southern States without +this guarantee. "With the basis unchanged," said he, "the eighty-three +Southern members, with the Democrats that will in the best of times be +elected from the North, will always give them the majority in Congress +and in the Electoral College. They will, at the very first election, +take possession of the White House and the halls of Congress. I need +not depict the ruin that would follow. Assumption of the rebel debt or +repudiation of the Federal debt would be sure to follow; the +oppression of the freedmen, the reaemendment of their State +constitutions, and the reestablishment of slavery would be the +inevitable result." + +Mr. Stevens thus set forth the importance of a proposed amendment to +allow Congress to lay a duty on exports: "Its importance can not well +be overstated. It is very obvious that for many years the South will +not pay much under our internal revenue laws. The only article on +which we can raise any considerable amount is cotton. It will be grown +largely at once. With ten cents a pound export duty, it would be +furnished cheaper to foreign markets than they could obtain it from +any other part of the world. The late war has shown that. Two million +bales exported, at five hundred pounds to the bale, would yield +$100,000,000. This seems to be the chief revenue we shall ever derive +from the South. Besides, it would be a protection to that amount to +our domestic manufactures. Other proposed amendments--to make all laws +uniform, to prohibit the assumption of the rebel debt--are of vital +importance, and the only thing that can prevent the combined forces of +copper-heads and secessionists from legislating against the interests +of the Union whenever they may obtain an accidental majority. + +"But this is not all that we ought to do before these inveterate +rebels are invited to participate in our legislation. We have turned, +or are about to turn, loose four million slaves, without a hut to +shelter them or a cent in their pockets. The infernal laws of slavery +have prevented them from acquiring an education, understanding the +commonest laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary business of +life. This Congress is bound to provide for them until they can take +care of themselves. If we do not furnish them with homesteads, and +hedge them around with protective laws; if we leave them to the +legislation of their late masters, we had better have left them in +bondage. Their condition would be worse than that of our prisoners at +Andersonville. If we fail in this great duty now, when we have the +power, we shall deserve and receive the execration of history and of +all future ages. + +"Two things are of vital importance: 1. So to establish a principle +that none of the rebel States shall be counted in any of the +amendments of the Constitution until they are duly admitted into the +family of States by the law-making power of their conqueror. For more +than six months the amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery +has been ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States +that acted on its passage by Congress, and which had Legislatures, or +which were States capable of acting, or required to act, on the +question. + +"I take no account of the aggregation of whitewashed rebels, who, +without any legal authority, have assembled in the capitals of the +late rebel States and simulated legislative bodies. Nor do I regard +with any respect the cunning by-play into which they deluded the +Secretary of State by frequent telegraphic announcements that 'South +Carolina had adopted the amendment,' 'Alabama has adopted the +amendment, being the twenty-seventh State,' etc. This was intended to +delude the people and accustom Congress to hear repeated the names of +these extinct States as if they were alive, when, in truth, they have +now no more existence than the revolted cities of Latium, two-thirds +of whose people were colonized, and their property confiscated, and +their rights of citizenship withdrawn by conquering and avenging +Rome." + +A second thing of vital importance to the stability of this republic, +Mr. Stevens asserted to be "that it should now be solemnly decided +what power can revive, recreate, and reinstate these provinces into +the family of States, and invest them with the rights of American +citizens. It is time that Congress should assert its sovereignty, and +assume something of the dignity of a Roman senate. It is fortunate +that the President invites Congress to take this manly attitude. After +stating, with great frankness, in his able message, his theory--which, +however, is found to be impracticable, and which, I believe, very few +now consider tenable--he refers the whole matter to the judgment of +Congress. If Congress should fail firmly and wisely to discharge that +high duty, it is not the fault of the President." + +Mr. Stevens closed his speech by setting the seal of reprobation upon +a doctrine which is becoming too fashionable, that "this is a white +man's Government." He uttered a severe rebuke to those who thus +"mislead and miseducate the public mind." + +There were some Republicans in Congress who disagreed with Mr. Stevens +in his theory of the condition of the late rebel States, yet no one +ventured immediately, to use a contemporary expression, "to take the +Radical bull by the horns." + +At length, three days afterward, Mr. Raymond, as a representative of +the "Conservatives," ventured a reply. He thus set forth his theory as +in opposition to that of Mr. Stevens: "I can not believe that these +States have ever been out of the Union, or that they are now out of +the Union. I can not believe that they ever have been, or are now, in +any sense a separate power. If they were, sir, how and when did they +become so? They were once States of this Union--that every one +concedes; bound to the Union and made members of the Union by the +Constitution of the United States. If they ever went out of the Union, +it was at some specific time and by some specific act. Was it by the +ordinance of secession? I think we all agree that an ordinance of +secession passed by any State of this Union is simply a nullity, +because it encounters in its practical operation the Constitution of +the United States, which is the supreme law of the land. It could have +no legal, actual force or validity. It could not operate to effect any +actual change in the relations of the States adopting it to the +National Government, still less to accomplish the removal of that +State from the sovereign jurisdiction of the Constitution of the +United States. + +"Well, sir, did the resolutions of these States, the declarations of +their officials, the speeches of members of their Legislatures, or the +utterances of their press accomplish the result? Certainly not. They +could not possibly work any change whatever in the relations of these +States to the General Government. All their ordinances and all their +resolutions were simply declarations of a purpose to secede. Their +secession, if it ever took place, certainly could not date from the +time when their intention to secede was first announced. After +declaring that intention, they proceeded to carry it into effect. How? +By war. By sustaining their purpose by arms against the force which +the United States brought to bear against it. Did they sustain it? +Were their arms victorious? If they were, then their secession was an +accomplished fact; if not, it was nothing more than an abortive +attempt, a purpose unfulfilled. This, then, is simply a question of +fact, and we all know what the fact is. They did not succeed. They +failed to maintain their ground by force of arms; in other words, they +failed to secede. + +"But the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] insists that they +did secede, and that this fact is not in the least affected by the +other fact that the Constitution forbids secession. He says that the +law forbids murder, but that murders are, nevertheless, committed. But +there is no analogy between the two cases. If secession had been +accomplished; if these States had gone out, and overcome the armies +that tried to prevent their going out, then the prohibition of the +Constitution could not have altered the fact. In the case of murder +the man is killed, and murder is thus committed in spite of the law. +The fact of killing is essential to the committal of the crime, and +the fact of going out is essential to secession. But in this case +there was no such fact. I think I need not argue any further the +position that the rebel States have never for one moment, by any +ordinances of secession, or by any successful war, carried themselves +beyond the rightful jurisdiction of the Constitution of the United +States. They have interrupted for a time the practical enforcement and +exercise of that jurisdiction; they rendered it impossible for a time +for this Government to enforce obedience to its laws; but there has +never been an hour when this Government, or this Congress, or this +House, or the gentleman from Pennsylvania himself, ever conceded that +those States were beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution and laws +of the United States." + +Referring to the citation of authorities made by Mr. Stevens, Mr. +Raymond maintained that they did not lend the "slightest countenance +to the inference which was drawn from them." + +In reply to the theory maintained by Mr. Stevens, that States +forfeited their State existence by the fact of rebellion, Mr. Raymond +said: "I do not see how there can be any such forfeiture involved or +implied. The individual citizens of those States went into the +rebellion. They thereby incurred certain penalties under the laws and +Constitution of the United States. What the States did was to endeavor +to interpose their State authority between the individuals in +rebellion and the Government of the United States, which assumed, and +which would carry out the assumption, to declare those individuals +traitors for their acts. The individuals in the States who were in +rebellion, it seems to me, were the only parties who, under the +Constitution and laws of the United States, could incur the penalties +of treason. I know of no law, I know of nothing in the Constitution of +the United States, I know of nothing in any recognized or established +code of international law, which can punish a State as a State for any +act it may perform. It is certain that our Constitution assumes +nothing of the kind. It does not deal with States, except in one or +two instances, such as elections of members of Congress and the +election of electors of President and Vice-President. + +"Indeed, the main feature which distinguishes the Union under the +Constitution from the old Confederation is this: that whereas the old +Confederation did deal with States directly, making requisitions upon +them for supplies and relying upon them for the execution of its laws, +the Constitution of the United States, in order to form a more perfect +Union, made its laws binding on the individual citizens of the several +States, whether living in one State or in another. Congress, as the +legislative branch of this Government, enacts a law which shall be +operative upon every individual within its jurisdiction. It is binding +upon each individual citizen, and if he resists it by force, he is +guilty of a crime, and is punished accordingly, any thing in the +constitution or laws of his State to the contrary notwithstanding. But +the States themselves are not touched by the laws of the United States +or by the Constitution of the United States. A State can not be +indicted; a State can not be tried; a State can not be hung for +treason. The individuals in a State may be so tried and hung, but the +State as an organization, as an organic member of the Union, still +exists, whether its individual citizens commit treason or not." + +Mr. Raymond subsequently cited some of the consequences which he +thought must follow the acceptance of the position assumed by Mr. +Stevens. "If," said Mr. Raymond, "as he asserts, we have been waging +war with an independent Power, with a separate nation, I can not see +how we can talk of treason in connection with our recent conflict, or +demand the execution of Davis or any body else as a traitor. Certainly +if we were at war with any other foreign Power, we should not talk of +the treason of those who were opposed to us in the field. If we were +engaged in a war with France, and should take as prisoner the Emperor +Napoleon, certainly we could not talk of him as a traitor or as liable +to execution. I think that by adopting any such assumption as that of +the honorable gentleman, we surrender the whole idea of treason and +the punishment of traitors. I think, moreover, that we accept, +virtually and practically, the doctrine of State sovereignty, the +right of a State to withdraw from the Union, and to break up the Union +at its own will and pleasure. + +"Another of the consequences of this doctrine, as it seems to me, +would be our inability to talk of loyal men in the South. Loyal to +what? Loyal to a foreign, independent Power, as the United States +would become under those circumstances? Certainly not. Simply disloyal +to their own Government, and deserters, or whatever you may choose to +call them, from that to which they would owe allegiance, to a foreign +and independent State. + +"Now, there is another consequence of the doctrine which I shall not +dwell upon, but simply suggest. If that confederacy was an independent +Power, a separate nation, it had the right to contract debts; and we, +having overthrown and conquered that independent Power, according to +the theory of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, would become the +successors, the inheritors, of its debts and assets, and we must pay +them." + +Mr. Raymond set forth his theory of the conditions and relations of +the late rebel States in the following language: "I certainly do not +think these States are to be dealt with by us as provinces--as simply +so much territory--held to us by no other ties than those of conquest. +I think we are to deal with them as States having State governments, +still subject to the jurisdiction of the Constitution and laws of the +United States, still under the constitutional control of the National +Government; and that in our dealings with them we are to be guided and +governed, not simply by our sovereign will and pleasure as conquerors, +but by the restrictions and limitations of the Constitution of the +United States, precisely as we are restrained and limited in our +dealings with all other States of the American Union." + +In answer to the question how we are to deal with the late rebel +States, Mr. Raymond remarked: "I think we have a full and perfect +right to require certain conditions in the nature of guarantees for +the future, and that right rests, primarily and technically, on the +surrender we may and must require at their hands. The rebellion has +been defeated. A defeat always implies a surrender, and, in a +political sense, a surrender implies more than the transfer of the +arms used on the field of battle. It implies, in the case of civil +war, a surrender of the principles and doctrines, of all the weapons +and agencies, by which the war has been carried on. The military +surrender was made on the field of battle, to our generals, as the +agents and representatives of the Commander-in-chief of the armies of +the United States. + +"Now, there must be at the end of the war, a similar surrender on the +political field of controversy. That surrender is due as an act of +justice from the defeated party to the victorious party. It is due, +also, and we have a right to exact it, as a guarantee for the future. +Why do we demand the surrender of their arms by the vanquished in +every battle? We do it that they may not renew the contest. Why do we +seek, in this and all similar cases, a surrender of the principles for +which they fought? It is that they may never again be made the basis +of controversy and rebellion against the Government of the United +States. + +"Now, what are those principles which should be thus surrendered? The +principle of State sovereignty is one of them. It was the corner-stone +of the rebellion--at once its animating spirit and its fundamental +basis. Deeply ingrained as it was in the Southern heart, it must be +surrendered. The ordinances in which it was embodied must not only be +repealed, the principle itself must be abandoned, and the ordinances, +so far as this war is concerned, be declared null and void, and that +declaration must be embodied in their fundamental constitutions." + +The speech was here interrupted by Mr. Bingham, who insisted that the +adoption of the principle in the State constitutions would not be +sufficient guarantee. Adoption in the Constitution of the United +States was essential to its permanent effective force. + +Mr. Raymond thought the Constitution of the United States as plain as +possible in its declaration against the doctrine of State sovereignty. +If any more explicit denial could be got into the Constitution, he +would favor it. + +"Another thing," said Mr. Raymond, "to be surrendered by the defeated +rebellion is the obligation to pay the rebel war debt. We have the +right to require this repudiation of their debt, because the money +represented by that debt was one of the weapons with which they +carried on the war against the Government of the United States. + +"There is another thing which we have the right to require, and that +is the prohibition of slavery. We have the right to require them to do +this, not only in their State constitutions, but in the Constitution +of the United States. And we have required it, and it has been +conceded. They have also conceded that Congress may make such laws as +may be requisite to carry that prohibition into effect, which includes +such legislation as may be required to secure for them protection of +their civil and personal rights--their 'right to life, liberty, and +the pursuit of happiness.'" + +Mr. Spalding having inquired whether there was any limit to the right +to make these requisitions, except the good judgment of Congress, Mr. +Raymond answered: + +"My impression is that these requisitions are made as a part of the +terms of surrender which we have a right to demand at the hands of the +defeated insurgents, and that it belongs, therefore, to the President, +as Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, to +make them, and to fix the limit, as to what they shall embrace." + +By way of setting forth the opinions of the "Radicals" in as strong a +light as possible, Mr. Raymond said: "It may be for the welfare of +this nation that we shall cherish toward the millions of our people +lately in rebellion feelings of hatred and distrust; that we shall +nurse the bitterness their infamous treason has naturally and justly +engendered, and make that the basis of our future dealings with them. +Possibly we may best teach them the lessons of liberty, by visiting +upon them the worst excesses of despotism. Possibly they may best +learn to practice justice toward others, to admire and emulate our +republican institutions, by suffering at our hands the absolute rule +we denounce in others. It may be best for us and for them that we +discard, in all our dealings with them, all the obligations and +requirements of the Constitution, and assert as the only law for them +the unrestrained will of conquerors and masters." + +In contrast with this, he placed what he supposed to be a different +policy: "I would exact from them, or impose upon them through the +constitutional legislation of Congress, and by enlarging and +extending, if necessary, the scope and powers of the Freedmen's +Bureau, proper care and protection for the helpless and friendless +freedmen, so lately their slaves. I would exercise a rigid scrutiny +into the character and loyalty of the men whom they may send to +Congress, before I allowed them to participate in the high prerogative +of legislating for the nation. But I would seek to allay rather than +stimulate the animosities and hatred, however just they may be, to +which the war has given rise. But for our own sake as well as for +theirs, I would not visit upon them a policy of confiscation which has +been discarded in the policy and practical conduct of every civilized +nation on the face of the globe." + +Mr. Raymond having closed his speech, it was moved that the Committee +of the Whole should rise, but the motion was withdrawn to allow Mr. +Jenckes, of Rhode Island, five minutes for reply. He said: "The +gentleman states, and properly, that every act or ordinance of +secession was a nullity. Undoubtedly it was. Upon that question of law +we do not disagree. But he seems to me to overlook entirely what was +the state of facts from the time of the passage of the ordinances of +secession until the time of the surrender of Lee's army. During that +period what were the relations which all that territory--I will not +use the term States, but all that territory--between the Potomac and +the Rio Grande sustained to the Government of the United States? Who +could see States there for any purpose for which legislation was +required by the Constitution of the United States? + +"At the time of the passage of the ordinance of secession, States were +organized there, in existence, in action, known to the Constitution +and the constitutional authorities under it. But were they loyal? Did +they obey the Constitution of the United States? This is a question +that needs no answer other than that which is conveyed to every mind +by the recollection of the last four years of war, with their +expenditure of treasure and blood. Those States were not destroyed, in +the technical language of the law--they simply died out. As their +Governors passed out of office, as the terms of their legislatures +expired, who knew those facts? None but themselves. And yet, behind +this grand cordon of armies, stretching from here to the Rio Grande, +there were States in existence, organized as States, but States in +rebellion, occupying the territory belonging to the people of the +United States. They were not acting in concert with this Government, +but against it. That, Mr. Chairman, is a matter of fact. My eyes are +not dimmed or blinded by the parchment upon which constitutions or +laws are written. I, like the men who carried the bayonets and planted +the cannon, recognize the fact that was before us during all this +time. There was a state of rebellion. There were in that part of our +territory no States known to our Constitution or the laws that we +enact, or the officers whose duty it is to enforce those laws. + +"I recognize, too, the next fact. Bear in mind, I am simply stating +now what I conceive to be the facts. The question as to what may be +the law can be reserved for discussion on another occasion. I +recognize fully the duties of the Executive. And it was the duty of +the President of the United States, as the head of the civil and +military power of this great republic--not 'empire;' God forbid that +this country should ever be so designated with applause or even with +toleration--to beat down armed opposition to it, whether it came from +a foreign power or from domestic insurrection. That was the duty of +the President, and he recognized it; and it was not the duty of any +one in this Congress to gainsay it. It was written on the face of the +Constitution that the President was to see that the laws should be +faithfully executed, and the power of this republic maintained, and he +did so. + +"The next fact--the fact which seems to me to be the one most +pertinent for consideration now--is that the military power which was +opposed to this Government has been destroyed. It was the duty of the +Executive to see that this was done, and to report to the Congress of +the United States that it has been done. But what then? Then there +comes the third question of fact, intimately connected with the last, +and hardly separable from it, because it requires the immediate action +of the Executive and of Congress. All the power that existed in the +shape of Confederated States behind rebel bayonets and fortifications +has fallen to the earth. The territory which these States in rebellion +occupied was the property of the people of the United States, and +never could be taken from us. I hold it to be a question of public +law, worthy of consideration by the representatives of the American +people, by the President and the Administration generally, to +ascertain what existed in the shape of civil constitutions and laws +behind the military government that has been overthrown. I hesitate +not to say, here or elsewhere, that the Executive of this Government +has done his duty in this matter. All conquering nations, when they +overcome a rebellious people by overthrowing their military power, +look, as did the Government of Great Britain when it had overcome the +mutiny in India, to see what government of a civil kind has existed or +may exist from custom among the people who are conquered. I see no +reason in this view to discriminate between the argument of the +gentleman from Pennsylvania and the argument of the gentleman from New +York. It seems to me, that if they will look at the particular +questions which are now before us, and which require our action, the +differences would be in terms and not in substance." + +The people of the predominant party generally acquiesced in the +opinion of Mr. Jenckes, as expressed in the conclusion of his remarks +as above presented. They conceived that the difference between the +various views of the whole question was "one of details and not of +essence." The question of reconstruction was purely practical. All +shades of opinion in the Republican party blended in this: that the +States in question were not to be restored until satisfactory pledges +were given to the United States. All speculation or attempt at +argument in reference to their abstract condition was consequently +superfluous--"a pernicious abstraction," in the language of Mr. +Lincoln. + +If some were not prepared to accept the deductions of Mr. Stevens, yet +accepting the logic of Mr. Raymond, they would be carried almost as +far. The latter held that the citizens of those States were defeated +insurgents who must submit to any conditions of surrender imposed by +the victorious commander. Certain concessions could be rightfully +demanded as parts of their surrender and conditions of their +restoration. Their acquiescence had been required in a constitutional +amendment affecting the great social and industrial interests of +Southern society. After this none could deny the right, whatever might +be the expediency, of requiring their assent to other amendments +bearing upon the political structure of the Southern States. + +Some of the predominant party were willing to stop short in their +demands upon the rebel States with requiring acceptance of the +emancipation amendment, repudiation of the rebel debt, legal +protection of freedmen, and revocation of the ordinances of secession. +The majority, however, were disposed to go still further, and demand +other conditions and guarantees which should become a part of the +fundamental law of the land. This was the practical work of +reconstruction for which the Joint Committee of Fifteen was preparing +the way, and upon which Congress was soon to enter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BASIS OF REPRESENTATION--IN THE HOUSE. + + First work of the Joint Committee -- The joint resolution + proposing a constitutional amendment -- Mr. Stevens' reasons + for speedy action -- Protracted discussion commenced -- + Objections to the bill by Mr. Rogers -- Defense by Mr. + Conkling -- Two other modes -- How States might evade the + Law -- Not a finality -- Wisconsin and South Carolina -- + Amendment for Female Suffrage proposed -- Orth on Indiana + and Massachusetts -- Obscuration of the sun -- More Radical + remedy desired -- A Kentuckian gratified -- Citations from + the Census -- Premium for Treason -- White Slaves -- Power + to amend well-nigh exhausted -- Objections to the Suffrage + Basis -- "Race" and "Color" ambiguous -- Condition of the + Question -- Recommitted -- Final passage. + + +Although the Joint Committee of Fifteen were assiduous in their +attention to the work assigned them, it was not until the 22d of +January, 1866, that they were ready to make a partial report and +recommend a practical measure for the consideration of Congress. + +On that day Mr. Fessenden, of the Senate, and Mr. Stevens, of the +House of Representatives, brought before those bodies respectively a +partial report from the committee, recommending the passage of the +following joint resolution: + + _Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the + United States of America in Congress assembled_, (two-thirds + of both houses concurring,) That the following article be + proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an + amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, + when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, + shall be valid as part of said Constitution, namely: + + ARTICLE--. Representatives and direct taxes shall be + apportioned among the several States which may be included + within this Union according to their respective numbers, + counting the whole number of persons in each State, + excluding Indians not taxed: _Provided_, That whenever the + elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State + on account of race or color, all persons of such race or + color shall be excluded from the basis of representation. + +In the Senate this subject was laid over, and was not reached for +several days, as the Freedmen's Bureau Bill was then under discussion. + +The subject was pressed upon the attention of the House for immediate +action. Mr. Stevens had no intention to make a speech, since the +question had been under consideration by every member for the last six +weeks. He remarked, however: "There are twenty-two States whose +Legislatures are now in session, some of which will adjourn within two +or three weeks. It is very desirable, if this amendment is to be +adopted, that it should go forth to be acted upon by the Legislatures +now in session. It proposes to change the present basis of +representation to a representation upon all persons, with the proviso +that wherever any State excludes a particular class of persons from +the elective franchise, that State to that extent shall not be +entitled to be represented in Congress. It does not deny to the States +the right to regulate the elective franchise as they please; but it +does say to a State, 'If you exclude from the right of suffrage +Frenchmen, Irishmen, or any particular class of people, none of that +class of persons shall be counted in fixing your representation in +this House. You may allow them to vote or not, as you please; but if +you do allow them to vote, they will be counted and represented here; +while if you do not allow them to vote, no one shall be authorized to +represent them here; they shall be excluded from the basis of +representation.'" + +As indicative of the apparent harmony of sentiments prevailing on the +question, Mr. Wilson said that the Committee on the Judiciary had +determined to report a proposition substantially identical with that +offered by Mr. Stevens. + +It was deemed important to have the joint resolution passed as soon as +possible, that it might go before the State Legislatures then in +session for their ratification before their adjournment. The member +who had the measure in charge desired, after one or two speeches on +either side, to have the question put to vote, and have the resolution +passed before the sun went down. Such action, however, seemed to the +House too hasty, and a discussion of the measure was entered upon, +which ran through many days. + +Mr. Rogers, a member of the committee, offered a minority report, and +addressed the House in opposition to the proposed amendment of the +Constitution. He thus presented his view of the object of the measure +proposed: "It appears to have in its body, in its soul, and in its +life only one great object and aim; that is, to debase and degrade the +white race, and to place upon a higher footing than the white men are +placed, under the Constitution, this African race. It is a proposition +to change the organic law of the land with regard to one of the +fundamental principles which was laid down by our fathers at the +formation of the Constitution as an axiom of civil and political +liberty, that taxation and representation should always go together. +If gentlemen will examine this proposed amendment of the Constitution, +they will see that it is in violation of that great doctrine which was +proclaimed by the fathers of the republic when they enunciated the +Declaration of Independence, and protested against the tyranny and +despotism of England, because she attempted to tax the people of the +colonies without allowing them representation in the councils of the +kingdom. The amendment now under consideration proposes the very same +identical thing that the Parliament of England proposed when it +attempted to inflict upon the American colonies taxation without +allowing the people of the colonies to have representatives in the +Parliament of England to represent them upon the question whether they +should be taxed by the mother country or not. + +"The first objection I have to the passage of this joint resolution +is, that it is violative of the main principle upon which the +Revolutionary War was conducted, and which induced our fathers to +enter the harbors of Boston and New York and throw the tea into the +water. Because the British people attempted to inflict taxation upon +them with regard to that tea, and refused to allow them representation +in the Parliament of England, our fathers rebelled against their +mother country. What has come over the fortunes and happiness of the +people of this country that the great principle of the Constitution +should now be violated, that principle for which our fathers spilt +their blood to sustain, the great axiom of American liberty, that +taxation never should be imposed upon a people unless that people have +a corresponding representation? If this amendment to the Constitution +should be carried into effect, it will prevent any State, North or +South, from allowing qualified suffrage to its colored population, +except upon forfeiture of representation; and if qualified suffrage +should be allowed to the colored population of any State in this +Union, on account of race of color, and but one single negro should be +deprived of his vote by failure to meet the requirements of the +qualification imposed, that State would be denied representation for +the whole of that colored population--men, women, and children. + +"More than that: this bill attempts, in an indirect manner, to have +passed upon, by the Legislatures of the different States, a question +which the party in power dare not boldly and openly meet before the +people of this country, because there can be but one object lying at +the foundation of this bill--an object which has been explained and +expatiated upon in this House--and that object, as I have said, is, +through the Federal power, to force the States to adopt unqualified +negro suffrage, by holding over them the penalty of being deprived of +representation according to population. + +"But I object to this joint resolution upon another ground--upon the +same ground that I objected to the passage of the Negro Suffrage Bill +for the District of Columbia--without consulting the people. It has +been said in this country that all power emanates from the people. And +I say that to submit this grave question to the consideration and +decision of partisan Legislatures in the different States--Legislatures +which were elected without any regard to this question--is violative +of the great principles which lie at the foundations of the liberties +of this country; that no organic law, affecting the whole people, +should be passed before submitting it to the people for their +ratification or rejection. Now this joint resolution proposes simply +to submit this amendment for ratification to the Legislatures of the +different States. The Legislatures are not the States; the +Legislatures are not the people in their sovereign capacity; +Legislatures are not the source from which all power emanates. But the +people, the _sacred people_, in the exercise of their sovereign power, +either at the ballot-box or in conventions, are the only true and +proper forum to which such grave and serious questions should be +submitted. + +"I maintain that the Constitution of the United States, as it now +exists, is not as liberal toward the Southern States, now that slavery +has been abolished, as it was before the abolition of slavery. Why, +sir, in the days of the past, under our Constitution, the Southern +States have been allowed a representation for a population that was +not classed as citizens or people; they were allowed a representation +for people who had no political _status_ in the State; persons who +were not entitled even to exercise the right of coming into a court of +civil justice as a plaintiff or defendant in the prosecution or +defense of a suit. + +"Now, after the raging fires of war have swept from the domain of +every State in the South the pernicious institution of slavery; after +the result has been that every slave has received his freedom; after +the slaves have gained more by the success of this war than any other +class of people in the United States, white men, men who are the +representatives of the white race, come here proposing to compel the +States, on pain of being deprived of a portion of their +representation, to allow all the negroes within their limits to vote, +without regard to qualification or any thing else, while under the +same provision the State may, by its organic law, impose +qualifications and conditions upon the exercise of the right of +suffrage by the white population. The proposed amendment to the +Constitution undertakes to consolidate the power in the Federal +Government. It throws out a menace to the States, and the inevitable +result of the passage would be to induce every State in the Union to +adopt unqualified negro suffrage, so as not to deprive them of the +great and inestimable right of representation for that class of +population in the halls of the legislation of the United States." + +Mr. Conkling, also a member of the Reconstruction Committee, made an +argument in favor, of the proposed amendment: "Emancipation vitalizes +only natural rights, not political rights. Enfranchisement alone +carries with it political rights, and these emancipated millions are +no more enfranchised now than when they were slaves. They never had +political power. Their masters had a fraction of power as masters. But +there are no masters now. There are no slaves now. The whole +relationship in which the power originated and existed is gone. Does +this fraction of power still survive? If it does, what shall become of +it? Where is it to go? + +"We are told the blacks are unfit to wield even a fraction of power, +and must not have it. That answers the whole question. If the answer +be true, it is the end of controversy. There is no place, logically, +for this power to go, save to the blacks; if they are unfit to have +it, the power would not exist. It is a power astray, without a +rightful owner. It should be resumed by the whole nation at once. It +should not exist; it does not exist. This fractional power is +extinct. + +"A moral earthquake has turned fractions into units, and units into +ciphers. If a black man counts at all now, he counts five-fifths of a +man, not three-fifths. Revolutions have no such fractions in their +arithmetic; war and humanity join hands to blot them out. Four +millions, therefore, and not three-fifths of four millions, are to be +reckoned in here now, and all these four millions are, and are to be, +we are told, unfit for political existence. + +"Did the framers of the Constitution ever dream of this? Never, very +clearly. Our fathers trusted to gradual and voluntary emancipation, +which would go hand in hand with education and enfranchisement. They +never peered into the bloody epoch when four million fetters would be +at once melted off in the fires of war. They never saw such a vision +as we see. Four millions, each a Caspar Hauser, long shut up in +darkness, and suddenly led out into the full flash of noon, and each, +we are told, too blind to walk, politically. No one foresaw such an +event, and so no provision was made for it. The three-fifths rule gave +the slaveholding States, over and above all their just representation, +eighteen Representatives beside, by the enumeration of 1860. + +"The new situation will enable those States, when relationships are +resumed, to claim twenty-eight Representatives beside their just +proportion. Twenty-eight votes to be cast here and in the Electoral +College for those held not fit to sit as jurors, not fit to testify in +court, not fit to be plaintiff in a suit, not fit to approach the +ballot-box! Twenty-eight votes to be more or less controlled by those +who once betrayed the Government, and for those so destitute, we are +assured, of intelligent instinct as not to be fit for free agency! + +"Shall all this be? Shall four million beings count four millions, in +managing the affairs of the nation, who are pronounced by their +fellow-beings unfit to participate in administering government in the +States where they live, or in their counties, towns, or precincts; who +are pronounced unworthy of the least and most paltry part in local +political affairs? Shall one hundred and twenty-seven thousand white +people in New York cast but one vote in this House, and have none but +one voice here, while the same number of white people in Mississippi +have three votes and three voices? Shall the death of slavery add +two-fifths to the entire power which slavery had when slavery was +living? Shall one white man have as much share in the Government as +three other white men merely because he lives where blacks outnumber +whites two to one? Shall this inequality exist, and exist only in +favor of those who without cause drenched the land with blood and +covered it with mourning? Shall such be the reward of those who did +the foulest and guiltiest act which crimsons the annals of recorded +time? No, sir; not if I can help it." + +Two other modes of meeting the case had been considered by the +committee, namely: _First_, To make the basis of representation in +Congress and the Electoral College consist of sufficiently qualified +voters alone; _Second_, To deprive the States of the power to +disqualify or discriminate politically on account of race or color. + +After presenting some reasons why the committee saw proper to +recommend neither of these plans, Mr. Conkling further argued in favor +of the proposed amendment: "It contains but one condition, and that +rests upon a principle already imbedded in the Constitution, and as +old as free government itself. That principle I affirmed in the +beginning; namely, that representation does not belong to those who +have not political existence, but to those who have. The object of the +amendment is to enforce this truth. It therefore provides that +whenever any State finds within its borders a race of beings unfit for +political existence, that race shall not be represented in the Federal +Government. Every State will be left free to extend or withhold the +elective franchise on such terms as it pleases, and this without +losing any thing in representation if the terms are impartial as to +all. Qualifications of voters may be required of any kind--qualifications +of intelligence, of property, or of any sort whatever, and yet no loss +of representation shall thereby be suffered. But whenever in any +State, and so long as a race can be found which is so low, so bad, so +ignorant, so stupid, that it is deemed necessary to exclude men from +the right to vote merely because they belong to that race, in that +case the race shall likewise be excluded from the sum of Federal power +to which the State is entitled. If a race is so vile or worthless that +to belong to it is alone cause of exclusion from political action, the +race is not to be counted here in Congress." + +Mr. Conkling maintained that the pending proposition commended itself +for many reasons. "_First._ It provides for representation coextensive +with taxation. I say it provides for this; it does not certainly +secure it, but it enables every State to secure it. It does not, +therefore, as the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Rogers] insists, +violate the rule that representation should go with taxation. If a +race in any State is kept unfit to vote, and fit only to drudge, the +wealth created by its work ought to be taxed. Those who profit by such +a system, or such a condition of things, ought to be taxed for it. Let +them build churches and school-houses, and found newspapers, as New +York and other States have done, and educate their people till they +are fit to vote. 'Fair play,' 'A fair day's wages for a fair day's +work,' 'Live and let live'--these mottoes, if blazoned over the +institutions of a State, will insure it against being cursed for any +length of time with inhabitants so worthless that they are fit only +for beasts of burden. I have said that the amendment provides for +representation going hand in hand with taxation. That is its first +feature. + +"_Second._ It brings into the basis both sexes and all ages, and so it +counteracts and avoids, as far as possible, the casual and +geographical inequalities of population. + +"_Third._ It puts every State on an equal footing in the requirement +prescribed. + +"_Fourth._ It leaves every State unfettered to enumerate all its +people for representation or not, just as it pleases. + +"Thus every State has the sole control, free from all interference, of +its own interests and concerns. No other State, nor the General +Government, can molest the people of any State on the subject, or even +inquire into their acts or their reasons, but all the States have +equal rights. If New York chooses to count her black population as +political persons, she can do so. If she does not choose to do so, the +matter is her own, and her rights can not be challenged. So of South +Carolina. But South Carolina shall not say, 'True, we have less than +three hundred thousand "persons" in this State, politically speaking, +yet we will have, in governing the country, the power of seven hundred +thousand persons.' + +"The amendment is common to all States and equal for all; its +operation will, of course, be practically only in the South. No +Northern State will lose by it, whether the Southern States extend +suffrage to blacks or not. Even New York, in her great population, has +so few blacks that she could exclude them all from enumeration and it +would make no difference in her representation. If the amendment is +adopted, and suffrage remains confined as it is now, taking the census +of 1860 as the foundation of the calculation, and the number of +Representatives as it then stood, the gains and losses would be these: +Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, +Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maine would gain one Representative +each, and New York would gain three; Alabama, Kentucky, North +Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee would each lose one; Georgia, +Louisiana, and Virginia would each lose two, and Mississippi would +lose three." + +On the following day, January 23d, the proposed joint resolution came +up in the regular order of business. + +Mr. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, feared that a construction might be put +upon the bill which would be fatal to its efficiency for the purposes +had in view by its friends. He said: "It says nothing about the +qualification of property. Suppose this amendment is adopted by +three-fourths of the States, and becomes a part of the fundamental law +of the land, and after its adoption the State of South Carolina should +reinstate the constitution of 1790, striking out the word 'white' and +reestablishing the property qualification of fifty acres of land, or +town lots, or the payment of a tax, there would then be no +discrimination of color in the State of South Carolina, yet the number +of electors would not be enlarged five hundred, and the basis of +representation would be exactly as it is, with the addition of +two-fifths of the enfranchised freedmen. A Representative to this +House would be reelected by the same voting constituency as now, +perhaps with the addition of five hundred black men in the State. If +it bears this construction, and I believe it does, I shall vote +against it. + +"If any of the States should establish property qualification based +upon lands, then the same oligarchy would be enthroned on the whole +basis of representation, entitled to a larger number of +Representatives than now in this House, and elected by a slightly +enlarged number of qualified electors, giving power more firmly to +that very aristocracy we have sought to overthrow." + +A number of queries were propounded, several amendments proposed, and +a considerable desire for discussion expressed, until Mr. Stevens, +much disappointed at the reception the measure met in the House, +withdrew the demand for the previous question, and left the subject +open for unlimited debate. + +Mr. Blaine, of Maine, addressed the House, detailing some objections +to the measure. He said: "While I shall vote for the proposition, I +shall do so with some reluctance unless it is amended, and I do not +regret, therefore, that the previous question was not sustained. I am +egotistic enough to believe that the phraseology of the original +resolution, as introduced by me, was better than that employed in the +pending amendment. The phrase 'civil or political rights or +privileges,' which I employed, is broader and more comprehensive than +the term 'elective franchise,' for I fear, with the gentleman from +Illinois, [Mr. Farnsworth,] that under the latter phrase the most +vicious evasions might be practiced. As that gentleman has well said, +they might make suffrage depend on ownership of fifty acres of land, +and then prohibit any negro holding real estate; but no such mockery +as this could be perpetrated under the provisions of the amendment as +I originally submitted it." + +In relation to taxation, Mr. Blaine remarked: "Now, I contend that +ordinary fair play--and certainly we can afford fair play where it +does not cost any thing--calls for this, namely, that if we exclude +them from the basis of representation they should be excluded from the +basis of taxation. Ever since this Government was founded, taxation +and representation have always gone hand in hand. If we shall exclude +the principle in this amendment, we will be accused of a narrow, +illiberal, mean-spirited, and money-grasping policy. More than that, +we do not gain any thing by it. What kind of taxation, is distributed +according to representation? Direct taxation. Now, we do not have any +direct taxation. There has been but twenty millions of direct taxation +levied for the last fifty years. That tax was levied in 1861, and was +not collected, but distributed among the States and held in the +Treasury Department as an offset to the war claims of the States; so +that, as a matter of fact, we are putting an offensive discrimination +in this proposition and gaining nothing by it except obloquy." + +Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, said: "It follows, as a logical +conclusion, that if men have no voice in the National Government, +other men should not sit in this hall pretending to represent them. +And it is equally clear that an oppressed race should not lend power +to their oppressors, to be used in their name and for their +destruction. It is a mockery to say that a man's agent shall be his +enemy, and shall be appointed without his consent and against his +desire, and by other enemies. + +"In fact, I can not see how any Northern man can vote against this +measure, unless he wishes to perpetuate an injustice to his section, +because the effect of it will clearly be to increase the +representation of the North and decrease that of the South; and this, +too, upon a basis of undoubted justice. It means simply that those who +do not take part in the Government shall not be represented in the +Government." + +Mr. Donnelly did not, however, regard the proposed amendment as "a +grand panacea for all the ills that affect the nation." He would vote +for the law, "not as a finality, but as a partial step as one of a +series of necessary laws." Said he, "When we vote for this measure, it +must be because we think it right and necessary, not that it may +furnish us with an excuse for failing to do all other right and +necessary things expected of us by the people. We must take direct, +not sidelong measures. We must make laws, not arguments. We must +enforce, not induce. + +"To pass this law and then hope that South Carolina, moved by the hope +of future power, would do justice to the negro, is absurd. She has +291,300 whites and 412,406 negroes. To pass such a law would be for +the governing power to divest itself of the government and hand it +over to a subject and despised caste, and that, too, for a faint hope +of some future advantage that might never be realized under the most +favorable circumstances, and certainly could never be realized by the +aspiring class abdicating and relinquishing power. The same is true, +more or less, of all the South. In Mississippi there are 353,901 +whites, and 436,631 negroes; and in all the States the negro vote +would be large enough to turn the scale against the disloyal party." + +Mr. Sloan, of Wisconsin, thus presented the practical workings of the +"Constitution as it is:" "Look at the practical operation of the +question we are discussing to-day. In the State I represent there are +eight hundred thousand free white people loyal to the Constitution, +who have done their whole duty in sustaining their Government during +this terrible war. The bones of our soldiers are moldering in the soil +of every rebel State. They have stood around our flag in the deadly +hail of every battle of the war. The State of Wisconsin has six +Representatives on this floor. South Carolina has three hundred +thousand white inhabitants, disloyal, who have done all in their power +to overthrow and destroy the Government, and yet, sir, under the +Constitution as it now stands, the three hundred thousand disloyal +white inhabitants of South Carolina will exercise as much political +power in the Government as the eight hundred thousand loyal people of +the State of Wisconsin." + +Mr. Sloan called attention to a proposition which he had submitted to +the preceding Congress, providing that the right of representation +should be based upon the right of suffrage--upon the numbers allowed +the right to vote in the respective States. + +In answer to a supposed objection to this plan, that "there might be +some inequality in the representation of the respective States," he +said: "We all know that the young men of the old States go out in +large numbers to settle in the new States and Territories, while the +women and children do not emigrate to so great an extent, and hence +there would be a larger number of voters in the new States in +proportion to population than in the old. And yet this is a +consideration which, in my judgment, ought not to weigh a hair with +any member on this floor. It would be only a temporary inequality. In +the rapidly increasing settlement and in the natural increase of +population of our new States, that inequality would very soon be +entirely swept away. I believe the difference to-day between +Massachusetts and Wisconsin would be very slight, if any, so rapid has +been the increase of our population and the settlement of our State. +We are now proposing to adopt an amendment to the Constitution which +we expect to stand for all time, and any temporary inequality which +could continue but for a few years ought not to have any weight." + +Mr. Brooks, of New York, thought that Mr. Stevens would better "at the +start have named what are States of this Union. The opinion of the +honorable gentleman himself, that there are no States in this Union +but those that are now represented upon this floor, I know full well; +but he knows as well that the President of the United States +recognizes thirty-six States of this Union, and that it is necessary +to obtain the consent of three-fourths of those thirty-six States, +which number it is not possible to obtain. He knows very well that if +his amendment should be adopted by the Legislatures of States enough, +in his judgment, to carry it, before it could pass the tribunal of the +Executive chamber it would be obliged to receive the assent of +twenty-seven States in order to become an amendment to the +Constitution." + +Mr. Brooks, in the course of his speech, presented a petition from +certain ladies of New York, asking an amendment of the Constitution, +prohibiting the several States from disfranchising any of their +citizens on the ground of sex. He then proposed to amend the joint +resolution by inserting the words "or sex" after the word "color," so +that it would read, "_Provided_, That whenever the elective franchise +shall be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or color +or sex, all persons of such race or color or sex shall be excluded +from the basis of representation." + +"Is the gentleman in favor of that amendment?" asked Mr. Stevens. + +"I am," replied Mr. Brooks, "if negroes are allowed to vote." + +"That does not answer my question," said Mr. Stevens. + +"I suggested that I would move it at a convenient time," said Mr. +Brooks. + +"Is the gentleman in favor of his own amendment?" Mr. Stevens again +asked. + +"I am in favor of my own color in preference to any other color, and I +prefer the white women of my country to the negro," was the response +of Mr. Brooks, which was followed by applause in the galleries. + +Mr. Orth, of Indiana, obtained the floor for the purpose of offering +an amendment, which he prefaced with the following remarks: "My +position is that the true principle of representation in Congress is +that voters alone should form the basis, and that each voter should +have equal political weight in our Government; that the voter in +Massachusetts should have the same but no greater power than the voter +in Indiana; and that the voter in Indiana should have the same power, +but no greater, than the voter in the State of South Carolina. The +gentleman from Maine, however, states that the census tables will show +that by the amendment which I desire to offer at this time you will +curtail the representative power of the State of Massachusetts. And +why? Because he has shown by his figures that although Massachusetts +has a male population of 529,244, her voting population is only +175,487, being a percentage of twenty-nine, while Indiana, with a +white male population of 693,469, has a voting population of 280,655, +being about forty per cent. Why is this difference? Is it because our +voting population is so much greater in proportion than the voting +population of Massachusetts? Not at all. The difference arises from +the fact that the State of Massachusetts has seen fit to exclude a +portion of her citizens from the ballot-box. Indiana has done the same +thing. Indiana has excluded one class of citizens; Massachusetts has +excluded another class. Indiana has seen fit, for reasons best known +to herself, to exclude the colored population from the right of +suffrage; Massachusetts, on the contrary, has seen fit to exclude from +the ballot-box those of her citizens who can not read or write. While +we in Indiana are governed by a prejudice of color, the people of +Massachusetts, I might say, are governed by a prejudice as regards +ignorance. But here is the difference: under the amendment that I +propose, while Indiana excludes the black man from the right to +participate in the decisions of the ballot-box, she does not ask that +the black man shall be represented on this floor. On the contrary, +while Massachusetts excludes black and white persons who can not read +and write, she yet asks that that population excluded from the ballot +shall have representation on this floor. I regard this as wrong in +theory, wrong in principle, and injurious to the State which I have +the honor to represent, giving to Massachusetts a power upon this +floor of which my State is deprived. Why? Because the exclusion which +drives from the ballot-box in Massachusetts a large portion of her +citizens, yet admits them to representative power on this floor." + +Mr. Orth's amendment proposed that Representatives should "be +apportioned among the several States according to the number of male +citizens over twenty-one years of age, having the qualifications +requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State +Legislature." There being objection to the reception of this amendment +under the rules of the House, it could not be considered. + +Mr. Chanler, of New York, alluding to Mr. Stevens' desire to have the +joint resolution passed on the day of its introduction, before the sun +went down, said: "Sir, this measure, if passed, will tend to obscure +the sun from which the liberties of this country derive their +nourishment and life, the brilliant orb, the Constitution, whose light +has spread itself to the farthest ends of the earth. The vital +principle of that Constitution, the soul of its being, is that balance +of power between the States which insures individual liberty to every +citizen of each State, and harmony among all the States of the Union. + +"I affirm, sir, that the discussion of this subject in the +Constitutional Convention of 1787 was conducted in a spirit worthy of +a great people, and resulted in the noble instrument under whose +authority we now live. That era furnishes us a sad comparison with the +present epoch, when it may well be said that our Rome has 'lost the +breed of noble bloods,' and when, so far as the agitation of these +fanatical and partisan questions is concerned, reason seems to have +'fled to brutish beasts.' How differently and with what wise +moderation did the framers of the Constitution act! No narrow and +fanatical partisanship marks their opinions or their acts." + +After reading an extract from Curtis' History of the Constitution, Mr. +Chanler, contrasting former legislation with the present on the +subject of suffrage, said: "From the above historical statement, it +will be found that the framers of the Constitution considered the +question of suffrage of so vital importance in fixing the balance of +power between the States, that it was, after full discussion in +Congress by the whole body, referred to a select committee of one from +each State, again reported and fully discussed, and then referred to a +committee of five, whose thorough examination of the subject gave rise +to new difficulties, and caused the matter to be referred to another +committee of one member from each State. All differences were +compromised in a spirit of patriotism and justice. How different is +all this from the hasty partisan legislation on this very suffrage +question by the present Congress! + +"A caucus met before Congress organized, and chalked out a line of +policy and action for the Republican party on the floor of Congress. +The whole matter of reconstruction was referred to a grinding +committee, whose dictation should govern Congress in every measure +brought before it for consideration. Is this wise, just, or +reasonable? I hold that this resolution is too narrow to be of use and +too weak to last. It will totter to an untimely grave, and hobble, a +feeble and contemptible instrument, from this Congress to every State +Legislature to which it may be submitted, to be rejected for its +feebleness in a time like this, amid the overwhelming issues which +agitate this country." + +Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, remarked: "It is necessary, it seems to +me, that whatever constitutional provision we may make should be made +clear, manifest, certain. If possible, we should make it enforce +itself, so that by no cunningly-devised scheme or shift can they +nullify it. It seems to me that the resolution reported by the joint +Committee on Reconstruction is not so clear as it ought to be; I am +afraid that it will be worthless. A State may enact that a man shall +not exercise the elective franchise except he can read and write, +making that law apply equally to the whites and blacks, and then may +also enact that a black man shall not learn to read and write, exclude +him from their schools, and make it a penal offense to instruct or to +teach him, and thus prevent his qualifying to exercise the elective +franchise according to the State law. And they may do in regard to the +elective franchise just what they are doing now in regard to slavery. +They may provide that no man shall exercise the elective franchise who +has been guilty of a crime, and then they may denounce these men as +guilty of a crime for every little, imaginary, petty offense. They may +declare that no man shall exercise the right of voting who has not a +regular business or occupation by which he may obtain a livelihood, +and then they may declare that the black man has no settled occupation +and no business. It seems to me, therefore, necessary that we should, +by some provision in this amendment, settle this beyond a +peradventure, so that none of these shifts or devices may defeat the +purpose of the enactment." + +Mr. Farnsworth was in favor of more radical remedies: "I protest here +that I will not accept any such constitutional amendment as this as a +substitute for that full measure of justice which it is our duty to +mete out. I will not promise that hereafter I will not propose, and +vote for, and advocate with whatever power I possess, a measure which +will give to all the people of the States that which is their due. By +no vote of mine shall there be incorporated in the Constitution a +provision which shall, even by implication, declare that a State may +disfranchise any portion of its citizens on account of race or color. +We have no right to give our countenance to any such injustice. All +provisions in reference to representation which are based upon any +other principle than that of the people of this country, who are the +subjects of government, have the right to vote and to be represented, +are false in principle. Such a measure may, perhaps, answer for a +temporary expedient, but it will not do as a fundamental rule to be +embodied in the Constitution for the people of this country to live +by. I deny that a State has the right to disfranchise a majority or +even a minority of its citizens because of class or race. And I say +that that provision of the Constitution which makes it the duty of the +General Government to 'guarantee to every State in this Union a +republican form of government' ought to be taken into consideration by +this Congress and enforced. Does a State that denies the elective +franchise to one-half of its citizens possess a republican form of +government? Where a large portion of the citizens of a State--the men +who are required to pay taxes and perform military duty, to contribute +their money and their strength in support of the Government--are +denied the elective franchise, is that a republican form of +government? I say that it is a libel upon republicanism; it is not a +republican form of government; it is neither republican in form nor in +substance." + +Mr. Baker, of Illinois, although anxious to have an amendment of the +Constitution "achieving the general purpose of supplying a more just +basis of representation," saw points of objection to the proposition +before the House, some of which had been raised by previous speakers. +He said: "I am reluctant to indorse an amendment to the Constitution +framed in this day of growing liberty, framed by the party of +progress, intended to make representative power in this Government +correspond with the quantum of political justice on which it is based, +and yet which leaves any State in the Union perfectly free to narrow +her suffrage to any extent she pleases, imposing proprietary and other +disqualifying tests, and still strengthening her aristocratic power in +the Government by the full count of her disfranchised people, provided +only she steers clear of a test based on race or color." + +Mr. Jenckes was desirous of having a more just and comprehensive +enactment than the one proposed: "In my judgment," said he, "justice +requires that the qualification of electors for members of this House +and for electors of President and Vice-President of the United +States--in other words, for the two popular branches of this great +Government--should be defined in the fundamental law. Upon this point +let me quote the words of Madison, written in his mature years to a +distinguished son of the republic seeking advice from him. He says: +'The right of suffrage, the rule of apportioning representation, and +the mode of appointing to and removing from office, are fundamentals +in a free government, and ought to be fixed by the Constitution.' + +"Certainly, sir, it is less difficult, in a Congress composed of less +than three hundred men, to agree to a proposition which will meet the +views of the whole country on this question of suffrage than to adopt +a proposition which, when submitted to and adopted by the requisite +number of States, must be carried into effect by as many Legislatures +as there are States, and in a different manner by each, and which, in +being carried into effect, must be acted upon by as many thousands of +men in State conventions and Legislatures as there are hundreds in +this Congress. + +"There is no equality, and there can be no equality, in the proposed +amendment. It seems to me, therefore, if we undertake to amend the +fundamental law at all in this respect, we ought to agree upon what +should be the qualification of voters for members of this House, +embodying them in the proposed amendments to submit to the +Legislatures of the States. Then there would be a definite +proposition; and that, I believe, if it emanated from this House, +would have substantial equality and justice--would have the elements +of equality and uniformity, and be enforced without difficulty in +every State of the Union." + +Referring to a mode which might be adopted for evading the legitimate +results of the proposed amendment, Mr. Jenckes remarked: "I was +alluding to another one. Some of the Southern States, up to the +breaking out of the war, had constitutions which prescribed a property +qualification. Suppose this amendment were adopted, and the State of +South Carolina chose to annul the Constitution recently proclaimed and +to go back to that of 1790, and that the word 'white' should be +stricken out of it, I desire to ask how many freedmen, how many +persons of African descent, can be found who own in fee fifty acres of +land or a town lot, or who have paid a tax of three shillings +sterling. As far as I can ascertain from the statistics, there would +not be, if that constitution were restored and the word 'white' +omitted, over five hundred additional qualified voters in that State. + +"Ever since the adoption of the Constitution of 1790 down to the time +of firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina was in practical relation to +this Government as a State of this Union. She had been considered as +having a republican form of government, and that which we had +guaranteed as such for many years we would be bound to guarantee to +her hereafter. Stronger than ever this oligarchy would be enthroned +upon their old seat of power, not upheld merely by slaves beneath it, +but by the power of the General Government above and around it. She +might make any of the discriminations which I have suggested, of age, +of residence, of previous servitude, and of ignorance or poverty." + +Mr. Trimble, of Kentucky, was "exceedingly gratified at the +disposition manifested among the party in opposition here, by reason +of their own differences of opinion, to allow an opportunity to us to +present our objections to the measure now under consideration. This +subject of amending the Constitution under which we have lived so +long, so happily, and so prosperously, is one of great moment; and +while I have some confidence in the ability and capacity of some of +the friends on the opposite side to make a constitution, yet I prefer +the Constitution as made by our fathers eighty years ago. + +"In my opinion, the amendment proposed is in violation of the reserved +rights of the people of the States under that instrument. The object +and purpose of this resolution is to enfranchise a million men in this +country whom no political party in this country ever had the boldness +to propose the enfranchisement of prior to the present session of +Congress. I remember that, in 1860 and 1861, the party known in this +country as the Union party took the ground, from one end of the +country to the other, that neither Congress nor the people of the +States had the power, under the Constitution of the United States, to +interfere with slavery in the States where it existed; much less, sir, +did they claim the power not only to destroy it, but to strike down +the provisions of the Constitution that protected me and my +constituents in our right to our property. Sir, there was an amendment +submitted then for the purpose of peace, for the purpose of restoring +peace and quiet throughout the country. It met, at the time, my hearty +support, and I regret, from the bottom of my heart, that the people, +North, South, East, and West, did not agree to that proposition, and +make it part and parcel of the Constitution. I refer to the amendment +proposed in 1861, declaring that Congress should never thereafter +interfere with the question of slavery in the States. + +"Sir, it is a well-established principle that no one should be +permitted to take advantage of his own wrong. If the party in power +have succeeded in freeing the slaves of the South, ought they not, at +least, to allow the Southern States to enjoy the increased +representation to which, according to the rule established by the +Constitution, they are now entitled? Or, if the Northern States +sincerely desire that the negroes of the South shall vote and shall be +represented in Congress, let them transport those negroes to the North +and take them under their guardianship; they are welcome to them. + +"I believe that the people of Kentucky, whom I in part represent, and +I have no doubt the people of the whole South, will submit in good +faith to the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. While they +may believe that the amendment is revolutionary and unjust, in +violation of the rights of Kentucky and the South, still the Southern +States, having in a way yielded up this question, for representation +and peace, they will stand by the Constitution as amended." + +Finally, Mr. Trimble presented the following argument against the +measure: "This proposition is a direct attack upon the President of +the United States; it is a direct attack upon the doctrines and +principles taught by that distinguished man now holding the +presidential chair. This amendment is in violation, in my judgment, of +every principle that that man has held from his boyhood up to the +present hour. Sir, the President of the United States does not believe +that the Congress of the United States has the right, or that the +people have the right, to strike down the inalienable right of the +States to settle for themselves who shall be clothed with that high +privilege--suffrage." + +The subject being resumed on the following day, January 24th, Mr. +Lawrence, of Ohio, addressed the House, premising his remarks by a +motion that the resolution and amendments be recommitted to the +Committee on Reconstruction, "with instructions to report an amendment +to the Constitution which shall, first, apportion direct taxes among +the States according to property in each; and which shall, second, +apportion Representatives among the States on the basis of adult male +voters who may be citizens of the United States." + +He argued that "the rule which gave representation to three-fifths of +the slave population was wrong in principle, and unjust in practical +results. It was purely arbitrary, the result of compromise, and not of +fixed political principles, or of any standard of abstract justice. If +slavery was a just element of political strength, I know of no rule +which could properly divide it into 'fractional quantities;' if it was +not a just element of political strength, I know of no rule which +could properly give it 'fractional power.' + +"The basis of representation was unjust in practical results, because +it gave to chattel slavery political power--a power accorded to no +other species of property--thus making what the slave States regarded +as wealth an element of political strength." + +After having given a statistical table showing how representation was +apportioned among the several States having free and slave population, +Mr. Lawrence deduced the following facts: "New Hampshire, with a white +population of 325,579, has but three Representatives, while Louisiana, +with a white population of 357,629, had five. California, with a white +population of 323,177, has but three Representatives, while +Mississippi, with a similar population of 353,901, had five. In South +Carolina 72,847 white persons had one Representative, while the ratio +of representation is one for 127,000 persons. + +"Under this mode of apportionment, the late slave States had eighteen +Representatives, by the census of 1860, more than their just share, if +based on free population. The whole political power of Ohio was +counterbalanced by slave representation. It was equal to two-thirds of +all the representation from New England. In South Carolina 14,569 +votes carried as much political power as 25,400 in the free States." + +Freedom having been given to the slaves, "the effect will be, so soon +as lawful State Governments are created in the rebel States, to +largely increase their representation in Congress and the Electoral +College. The slave population, by the census of 1860, was 3,950,531. +Three-fifths of this, or 2,370,318, has heretofore entered into the +basis of representation. Now, the additional 1,580,213 is to be added +to that basis. This will give ten additional Representatives to the +late slave States--in all twenty-eight more than their just proportion +upon a basis excluding the late slaves. If this injustice can be +tolerated and perpetuated, and the late rebel States shall soon be +admitted to representation, they will enjoy as the reward of their +perfidy and treason an increased political power. This will reward +traitors with a liberal premium for treason." + +As to the proper time for amending the Constitution, Mr. Lawrence +said: "But if ever there could be a time for making fundamental changes +in our organic law, and ingrafting on it irreversible guarantees, that +time is now. The events of the past four years demonstrate their +necessity, and our security for the future imperatively demands them +at our hands. The great events which have transpired, and the altered +circumstances that surround us, admonish us that we will be recreant +to our trusts if we fail to inscribe justice on the Constitution, and +fortify it against the encroachments of treason, so that it shall be +eternal. One of the elements of our past misfortunes, and which gave +power for evil to the enemies who assailed us in this temple, was +unequal and unjust representation--political power wielded by a +dominant class, augmented by concessions on behalf of a disfranchised +and servile race, insultingly declared almost in the very citadel of +national justice as having no rights which a white man was bound to +respect. By this amendment we strike down the iniquity of one class +wielding political power for another, and arrogant because in the +exercise of unjust power." + +Maintaining that representation should be based upon suffrage, Mr. +Lawrence said: "The reason which conclusively justifies it is, that a +people declared by law, if in fact unprepared for suffrage, should not +be represented as an element of power by those interested in forever +keeping them unprepared. But children never can be qualified and +competent depositaries of political power, and, therefore, should not +enter into the basis of representation. It never has been deemed +necessary for the protection of females that they should be regarded +as an element of political power, and hence they should not be an +element of representation. If the necessity shall come, or if our +sense of justice should so change as to enfranchise adult females, it +will be time enough then to make them a basis of representation." + +Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio, though having "fifteen times as much +respect for the opinions of the Committee on Reconstruction" as for +his own, yet suggested the following as objections to their report: + +"1. It contemplates and provides for, and in that way, taken by +itself, authorizes the States to wholly disfranchise entire races of +its people, and that, too, whether that race be white or black, Saxon, +Celtic, or Caucasian, and without regard to their numbers or +proportion to the entire population of the State. + +"2. It is a declaration made in the Constitution of the only great and +free republic in the world, that it is permissible and right to deny +to the races of men all their political rights, and that it is +permissible to make them the hewers of wood and drawers of water, the +mud-sills of society, provided only you do not ask to have these +disfranchised races represented in that Government, provided you +wholly ignore them in the State. The moral teaching of the clause +offends the free and just spirit of the age, violates the foundation +principles of our own Government, and is intrinsically wrong. + +"3. The clause, by being inserted into the Constitution, and being +made the companion of its other clauses, thereby construes and gives +new meanings to those other clauses; and it thus lets down and spoils +the free spirit and sense of the Constitution. Associated with that +clause relating to the States being 'republican,' it makes it read +thus: 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union +a republican form of government;' provided, however, that a government +shall be deemed to be republican when whole races of its people are +wholly disfranchised, unrepresented, and ignored. + +"4. The report of the committee imposes no adequate restraint upon +this disfranchisement of races and creation of oligarchies in the +States, because after a race is disfranchised in a State it gives to +one vote cast in such State by the ruling race just the same power as +a vote has in a State where no one is disfranchised. + +"5. These words of the amendment, to-wit, 'denied or abridged on +account of color,' admit of dangerous construction, and also of an +evasion of the avowed intent of the committee. Thus, for example, the +African race may, in fact, be disfranchised in the States, and yet +enumerated as part of the basis of representation, by means of a +provision disfranchising all who were slaves, or all whose ancestors +were slaves. + +"6. The pending proposition of the committee is a radical departure +from the principles of representative republican government, in this, +that it does not provide for nor secure the absolute political +equality of the people, or, relatively, of the States. It does not +secure to each vote throughout the Government absolute equality in its +governing force. It, for example, permits twenty-five thousand votes +in New York city to elect two members of Congress, provided one-half +of its population should happen to be foreigners unnaturalized, and +not electors of the State, whom the law deems unfit to vote; whereas, +twenty-five thousand votes in Ohio would elect but one member of +Congress, provided her citizens were all Americans instead of +foreigners." + +Mr. Eliot submitted an amendment to the effect that population should +be the basis of representation, and that "the elective franchise shall +not be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or color." +He stated the following grounds of objection to the resolution offered +by the committee: "First, the amendment as it is now reported from the +committee is objectionable, to my mind, because it admits by +implication that a State has the right to disfranchise large masses of +its citizens. No man can show that in that Constitution which the +fathers made, and under which we have lived, the right is recognized +in any State to disfranchise large masses of its citizens because of +race. And I do not want now, at this day, that the Congress of the +United States, for the purpose of effecting a practical good, shall +put into the Constitution of the land any language which would seem to +recognize that right. + +"The next objection I have to the amendment is this: that it enables a +State, consistently with its provisions, by making the right to vote +depend upon a property qualification, to exclude large classes of men +of both races. A State may legislate in such a way as to be, in fact, +an oligarchy, and not a republican State. South Carolina may legislate +so as to provide that no man shall have the right to vote unless he +possesses an annual income of $1,000, and holds real estate to the +amount of five hundred acres. Every one sees that that would exclude +multitudes of all classes of citizens, making the State no longer +republican, but oligarchical. Yet gentlemen say that under the +Constitution Congress is bound to see to it that each State shall have +a republican form of government. + +"The third objection I have to this amendment is, that it controls by +implication that power; because, while the Constitution now says that +Congress shall guarantee to every State a republican form of +government, this amendment, as reported by the committee, admits by +implication that, although a State may so legislate as to exclude +these multitudes of men, not on account of race or color, but on +account of property, yet, nevertheless, she would have a republican +form of government, and that Congress will not and ought not to +interfere." + +Mr. Pike, of Maine, had, on the assembling of Congress after the +holidays, offered a resolution, expressing the idea contained in the +report of the committee, but on reflection had come to the conclusion +that the resolution would not accomplish the purpose desired. He +stated his reasons for changing his opinion. He thought that the +provisions of the proposed amendment might be evaded. "Suppose," said +he, "this constitutional amendment in full force, and a State should +provide that the right of suffrage should not be exercised by any +person who had been a slave, or who was the descendant of a slave, +whatever his race or color. I submit that it is a serious matter of +doubt whether or not that simple provision would not be sufficient to +defeat this constitutional amendment which we here so laboriously +enact and submit to the States." + +Mr. Conkling thought that this criticism could have no practical +importance, from the fact that the proposed amendment was to operate +in this country, where one race, and only one, has been held in +servitude. + +Mr. Pike replied: "In no State in the South has slavery been confined +to any one race. So far as I am acquainted with their statutes, in no +State has slavery been confined to the African race. I know of no +slave statute, and I have examined the matter with some care, which +says that Africans alone shall be slaves. So much for race. As to +color, it was a common thing throughout the whole South to advertise +runaway slaves as having light hair and blue eyes, and all the +indications of the Caucasian race, and 'passing themselves off for +white men.' I say further to the honorable gentleman from New York, +that well-authenticated instances exist in every slave State where men +of Caucasian descent, of Anglo-Saxon blood, have been confined in +slavery, and they and their posterity held as slaves; so that not only +free blacks were found every-where, but white slaves also abounded." + +Mr. Kelley, who next addressed the House, also brought proof to +controvert the "hasty assertion" that but one race had been enslaved: +"The assertion that white persons have been sold into slavery does not +depend on common report, but is proven by the reports of the superior +courts of almost every Southern State. One poor German woman, who had +arrived in our country at thirteen years of age, was released from +slavery by the Supreme Court of Louisiana, but not until she had +become the mother of three mulatto children, her owner having mated +her with one of his darker slaves. Toward the close of the last +century, the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided that American Indians +could be reduced to and legally held in slavery. And so long ago as +1741 white slave women were so common in North Carolina, that the +Legislature passed a law dooming to slavery the child of every 'white +servant woman' born of an Indian father." + +Mr. Kelley thought that the enforcement of this long-dormant power of +the Constitution would be for the benefit not merely of the poor, the +ignorant, and the weak, but also of the wise, "the strong, and the +wealthy of our country." "There is now pending," said he, "before the +Legislature of regenerated and, as gentlemen would have us believe, +reconstructed Virginia, a bill to require five years' residence on the +part of citizens of other States who may invest their capital and +settle within the sacred limits of the Old Dominion before they can +acquire citizenship. If they may pass a limitation of five years, why +may they not pass a limitation of fifty? Why will not any limitation +that comes within the ordinary duration of human life be admissible?" + +Mr. Bromwell, obtaining the floor, inquired whether the question was +in such condition that any amendment or substitute could be offered. +The Speaker replied: "Six amendments are pending now. The only one +that could be offered would be to amend the amendment of the gentleman +from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] which was, to add the word 'therein' +in the fifteenth line. No other amendment would be in order now, the +whole legislative power to amend being exhausted." + +Mr. Bromwell had desired to offer an amendment which, in his opinion, +would obviate many of the objections to pending joint resolution, and +the amendments thereto; but the way not being open for this, he +addressed the House in a brief speech. He said: "When this amendment +was introduced, on last Monday morning, the differences of opinion +which have been developed in reference to the principles of the +amendment were not anticipated. But to-day we see that it has, so far, +not an advocate upon this floor. Such may be the result with every +amendment which may be presented. It is difficult to see, among all +the amendments which are now pending, any one of them, or any +combination of them, that will meet the desire of the majority, not to +say two-thirds of this House. I apprehend that the members of this +House desire to act so as to secure the support of a proper majority +here. I apprehend, also, that they desire to make this amendment such +that it will meet with the sanction of a sufficient number of the +States of the Union to make it effectual. Now, sir, it is in vain for +this Congress to launch an amendment which shall die on the road +through the Legislatures." + +Notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of all the plans proposed, +Mr. Bromwell was heartily in favor of modifying the basis of +representation. "I think," said he, "seventy years is long enough for +fifteen, twenty, or thirty Representatives to sit here and make laws +to apply to Northern people, with no constituencies behind them. I +think it has been seen long enough that a large number of persons +called property, made property by the laws of the States, shall give +to the oligarchs of those particular districts of country the right to +outvote the independent men of the North, of the free States, where +some approximation has been made to securing God-given rights to all +inhabitants. I think that it is wrong that the further a State recedes +from common right and common justice the more power the oligarchy +which controls it shall grasp in their hands; and I desire that this +amendment shall be made so that it shall bear down upon that abuse +with the crushing power of three-fourths of the legislatures of the +Union." + +After the House had heard so many objectors to the basis of +representation, as proposed by the committee, Mr. Cook, of Illinois, +took the floor in favor of the measure. He said: "We have now, as I +believe, the golden opportunity to remedy this evil which will never +come again to the men of this generation. The system of slavery has +fallen. The States whose representation was increased by it have, with +two or three exceptions, destroyed their loyal and legal State +governments, and now seek reconstruction. The adoption of this +amendment by the States lately in rebellion should be one of the +guarantees to be insisted upon as a condition precedent to their +taking equal authority and rank in the Union with the loyal States." + +To the proposition that the basis of representation should be voters +only, Mr. Cook presented the following objections: + +"1. It is difficult to enumerate voters accurately; their +qualifications are fixed by State laws. We can not send Federal +officers into every State to adjudicate, in disputed cases, the rights +of those claiming to be voters under the State laws, as we should have +to do. + +"2. It would not be just; the voters of the country are unequally +distributed. The old States have fewer, the new States more, voters +according to the white population. In other words, there is a greater +proportion of women and children in the old States. These should be +and are represented. They are represented, in the true sense of that +word, by their fathers and brothers. The man who represents them does +so really and practically, and not by legal fiction, like the man who +represents 'three-fifths of all other persons.' + +"3. It takes from the basis of representation all unnaturalized +foreigners. I do not wish to discuss the question whether this would +be judicious or not, but I do not want a measure of this almost +supreme importance loaded down with these questions, and its passage +jeopardized by the incorporation of provisions which, would render it +so liable to attack and misrepresentation." + +Mr. Cook referred as follows to some objections urged against the +basis of representation proposed by the Reconstruction Committee: "It +is said that the Southern States may impose a property qualification, +and so exclude the negroes, not on account of race or color, but for +want of a property qualification, or that they might provide for a +qualification of intelligence, and so disfranchise the negroes because +they could not read or write, and still enumerate them. To do this +they must first repeal all the laws now denying suffrage to negroes; +and, second, provide qualifications which will disfranchise half their +white voters; two things neither of which will, in any human +probability, occur. And in the event that it was possible that both +these measures should be adopted, and all the blacks and half the +whites disqualified, it would become a grave question whether the +provision of the Constitution which requires the United States to +guarantee to each State a republican form of government would not +authorize the Government to rectify so gross a wrong. There is no +measure to which fanciful objections may not be urged; but I believe +this to be the least objectionable of any measure which has been +suggested to meet this evil. But above all, I am well persuaded that +it is the only measure that can meet the approval of three-fourths of +the States; consequently, that this is the only practical measure +before the House." + +Mr. Marshall, of Illinois, declared the proposition, as reported by +the committee, to be "wholly untenable, is monstrous, absurd, damnable +in its provisions, a greater wrong and outrage on the black race than +any thing that has ever been advocated by others." + +He thus set forth the measure in the light of injustice to the negro: +"The gentlemen who report it profess to be, and doubtless are, the +peculiar advocates of the African race. I wish to ask them upon what +principle of justice, upon what principle of free government, they +have provided that if, after this amendment is adopted, South +Carolina, Mississippi, or any other State shall adopt a provision that +all white men over twenty-one years of age shall be voters, and all +black men who have two hundred dollars' worth of property, and if +there shall be ten thousand legal black voters in such State, upon +what principle will you place in the Constitution of the United States +a provision which would deprive these ten thousand legal black voters +of any representation upon the floor of Congress, or of being +considered in the basis of representation? And I wish to ask the +honorable gentleman who reported this amendment if that is not the +effect and result of the amendment reported from the committee." + +In reference to the time and place of inaugurating constitutional +amendments, Mr. Marshall used the following language: "If any +amendments are necessary to the Constitution of our country, this is +not the time, and more especially is this not the place, to inaugurate +such amendments. I believe, notwithstanding the conceded wisdom, +ability, and virtue of this House, that the fathers who framed our +glorious Constitution were wiser, better, and nobler than we are; yet +every day we have offered here some dozen or twenty proposed +amendments to the Constitution, offered as if we were discussing +resolutions in a town meeting." + +[Illustration: Robert C. Schenck.] + +Among the propositions before the House relating to this subject, was +an amendment proposed by Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, providing that +representation should be based upon "the number of male citizens of +the United States over twenty-one years of age, having the +qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of +the State legislature." + +Mr. Schenck addressed the House, and thus gave a history of his own +connection with the measure: "At a very early day in this session, I +was one of those disposed to ask the attention of Congress to the +subject, to propose in proper form the submission of the question to +the Legislatures of the several States. On the first day of the +session, on the 4th of December last, as soon as the House was +organized, I gave notice that I would on the next, or some succeeding +day, introduce a proposition to amend the Constitution. On the ensuing +day I did accordingly present a joint resolution. It stands as House +Resolution No. 1 of the session. + +"In that I propose representation hereafter shall be based upon +suffrage. I propose that representation shall be apportioned among the +several States of the Union according to the number of voters having +qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of +the Legislature of the State where they reside, following in this the +language of the Constitution; these voters, however, to be further +limited in their descriptions and definitions as being male citizens +of the United States over twenty-one years of age. Now, whether the +proposition be a good one or not; whether the limitation be such as +should commend itself to the masses of our people, I will not for the +present inquire. I will only remark they have seemed to me to embrace +as many qualifications as we ought to include when we are going to lay +down a new organic law on this subject." + +An objection urged by Mr. Schenck against the plan proposed by the +committee was, that it failed to offer inducements for a gradual +enfranchisement of the negro. He said: "Now, sir, I am not one of +those who entertain Utopian ideas in relation, not merely to the +progress, but to the immediate change of sentiment, opinions, and +practice among the people of those States that have so lately been +slave States, and so recently in rebellion. I believe that, like all +other people, their growth toward good and right and free institutions +must necessarily be gradual; and if we pass the amendment which I have +proposed, or any thing similar to it, and say to them, 'You shall have +representation proportioned to the portion of your population to which +you extend this inestimable franchise,' my belief is that they will +not, on the next day after it becomes a part of the organic law of the +United States, at once enfranchise all the negroes in their midst. I +am not sure that they ought to do it; but we are dealing with the +matter now as it presents itself as a practical question. What will +they probably do? My belief is, that if you persuade them to do right, +if you hold out to them an inducement for letting their negroes vote, +and striking out these disqualifications and putting all upon the +basis of manhood, they will probably begin, after the amendment +becomes part of the organic law, by extending this right to those who +have acquired certain property; perhaps they will also extend it, +after awhile, to those who have certain qualifications of education. +However they may proceed, whether rapidly or slowly, it will be a work +of progress and a work of time. But by this amendment you would say to +them, 'We do not want you to enter upon any such gradual bringing up +of these people to the level plain of right to be enjoyed by them +equally with others of other races in your midst.' We say to them, +'You may enfranchise one-third or one-fourth of your people who are +black and deprived of the privilege of voting by introducing the +qualification of property, up to which one-third or one-fourth may +come; you may introduce a qualification of education, up to which a +number of them may come; but that will all be of no value; so long as +there is any denial or any abridgement of the right to vote of a +single man on account of his race or color, you shall have no part of +the population of that race or color counted to measure to you your +share of representation.' + +"Now, I will not go into the abstract question whether they ought to +enfranchise the negroes at once or not; I will not go into the +question of how soon they ought to do it as a matter of expediency; I +say that, in all human probability, when they come to enfranchise, if +they do it at all, this portion of their population, they will do it +gradually; yet, by this amendment, as it comes from the committee, you +say that they shall not be represented for any part of it at all till +they completely enfranchise them and put them on the same footing with +the white population." + +In conclusion, Mr. Schenck remarked: "New England, if she should even +lose a vote, or two votes, or a fraction of a vote, can not afford, +any more than Ohio or Indiana, or any other of those States can, +having these particular objections to the scheme, to let the +opportunity go by now and not introduce a general amendment which will +remedy the one great evil under which we are all laboring together. I +hold that Ohio must give up her objections on account of her negro +population; that the North-western States must give up their +objections on account of the fact that they are permitting persons to +vote who are not yet citizens of the United States. Those persons +would have to wait, 'to tarry at Jericho until their beards are +grown,' I hold that New England must give up her objections; and, if +we are to amend the organic law at all, we must do it by uniting upon +a common principle, a common sympathy, a common feeling, at least on +this side of the House, upon which the entire responsibility is +thrown, acting harmoniously, and adopting such an amendment to the +organic law as shall be entirely democratic and fair in all its scope +and action upon all the people of the States of this Union." + +The discussion was continued on the day following, Mr. Eldridge, of +Wisconsin, having the floor for the first speech. After having +expressed his satisfaction that the sun was allowed to go down on the +deliberations upon this resolution, he confessed himself opposed to +the amendment of the Constitution. He said: "I believe that this is +not the time for its amendment, and I believe, further, that there are +other States than those represented upon this floor which are entitled +to deliberate with us on that question, and to that point I shall +mainly address the remarks which I have to make at this time." + +He made a protracted speech on the general subject of reconstruction. +At the close of his remarks, he said: "It would much more comport with +the dignity and sense of justice of the American Congress to let the +legally elected members from the Southern States be admitted, and +participate in the proceedings and debates, especially in matters of +so great importance as a change in our organic law. Let us have a +representation for our whole country. Wherever the American flag +floats, from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico--wherever the +Star-spangled Banner waves--that is our country. And let us legislate +as Americans, as Representatives of our whole country, in a spirit of +justice, liberality, and patriotism, and we will again have one +country." + +Mr. Higby, of California, was opposed to the joint resolution from the +fact that the proviso in the proposed amendment is in conflict with +that portion of the Constitution which requires that "the United +States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form +of government." "I say it," said he, "without fear or favor, that that +amendment will allow any State government in its organization to +exclude one-half of its population from the right of suffrage; and I +say such State governments will not be republican in form." + +In a conversation which ensued with some members, Mr. Higby maintained +that no State excluding any class of citizens on account of race or +color was republican in form. "I do not believe," said he, "there is a +single State in the Union, except it may be one of the New England +States, which is an exception to that general rule." + +Mr. Hill, of Indiana, asked whether the gentleman would favor the +House with his opinion as to what would be a republican form of +government. + +Mr. Higby was sorry that the gentleman had lived to his time of life, +and obtained a position as the Representative of a large constituency, +without finding out what a republican form of government is. "I will +ask the gentleman," said he, "if he thinks that those States that have +excluded and disfranchised more than half of their native population +have a republican form of government?" + +"In my opinion," said Mr. Hill, "when the framers of the Constitution +placed in that instrument the declaration or the provision that the +Government of the United States would guarantee to each State a +republican form of government, they spoke with reference to such +governments as then existed, and such as those same framers recognized +for a long time afterward as republican governments." + +"Well, that is a very good answer," said Mr. Higby. "It is an answer +from a stand-point seventy-five years ago. I speak from the +stand-point of the present time." + +Mr. Higby desired that the joint resolution should go back to the +committee. He said: "I do not wish it disposed of here, to be voted +down. I want, if it is possible, that it shall be so framed that it +shall receive the full constitutional majority required, and be a +proposition that shall operate with full force in all those States +that now have a great population excluded from the rights of +citizenship." + +"If the gentleman proposes," said Mr. Stevens, "to send it back to the +committee without instructions, I would ask him what we are to do. +There are not quite as many views upon this floor as there are +members; but the number lacks very little of it. And how are we to +gather up all those views spread through all this discussion, and +accommodate all, when each view would now probably receive from one to +three votes in its favor?" + +"I have only this to say," replied Mr. Higby: "with my views of the +Constitution, I never can vote for this proposition with this proviso +in its present language. I say that it gives a power to the States to +make governments that are not republican in form." + +"I say to my friend," said Mr. Stevens, "that if I thought, that by +any fair construction of language, such an interpretation could be +given as he gives, I would vote against it myself; but I do not +believe there is any thing in that objection." + +Mr. Bingham took the floor in favor of the proposed joint resolution. +In "giving this and other amendments to the Constitution my support," +said he, "I do not subject myself to the gratuitous imputation of a +want of reverence either for the Constitution or its illustrious +founders. I beg leave, at all events, to say, with all possible +respect for that gentleman, that I do not recognize the right of any +man upon this floor, who was a representative of that party which +denied the right to defend the Constitution of his country by arms +against armed rebellion, to become my accuser. + +"In seeking to amend, not to mar, the Constitution of the United +States, we ought to have regard to every express or implied limitation +upon our power imposed by that great instrument. When gentlemen object +to amending the Constitution, when they talk sneeringly about +tinkering with the Constitution, they do not remember that it is one +of the express provisions of that instrument that Congress shall have +power to propose amendments to the Legislatures of the several States. +Do gentlemen mean, by the logic to which we have listened for the past +five days on this subject of our right to amend, that we are not to +add any thing to the Constitution, and that we are to take nothing +from it? I prefer to follow, in this supreme hour of the nation's +trial, the lead of a wiser and nobler spirit, who, by common consent, +was called, while he lived, 'the Father of his Country,' and, now that +he is dead, is still reverenced as 'the Father of his Country,' and to +be hailed, I trust, by the millions of the future who are to people +this land of ours as 'the Father of his Country.' In his Farewell +Address, his last official utterance, Washington used these +significant words, which I repeat to-day for the consideration of +gentlemen: "The basis of our political systems is the right of the +people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.' We +propose, sir, simply to act in accordance with this suggestion of +Washington. We propose, in presenting these amendments, to alter, in +so far as the changed condition of the country requires, the +fundamental law, in order to secure the safety of the republic and +furnish better guarantees in the future for the rights of each and +all. + +"The question that underlies this controversy is this: whether we will +stand by the Constitution in its original intent and spirit, or, like +cravens, abandon it. I assert it here to-day, without fear of +contradiction, that the amendment pending before this House is an +amendment conforming exactly to the spirit of the Constitution, and +according to the declared intent of its framers. + +"My friend from California [Mr. Higby] has informed us that there are +one hundred thousand more free colored citizens of the United States +in the State of Mississippi to-day than there are of white citizens; +that there are one hundred thousand more free colored citizens of the +United States in South Carolina than there are of white citizens; and +then we are gravely told that we must not press this amendment, +because we are abandoning the Constitution and the intent of our +fathers. That is a new discovery, one for which the Democracy ought to +take out letters patent, that it was ever intended that a minority of +free citizens should disfranchise the majority of free male citizens, +of full age, in any State of the Union! For myself, I will never +consent to it." + +In answer to the objection that the proviso in the proposed amendment +seemed to acknowledge the right to deny or abridge the elective +franchise on account of race or color, Mr. Bingham said: "I beg the +gentleman to consider that a grant of power by implication can not be +raised by a law which only imposes a penalty, and nothing but a +penalty, for a non-performance of a duty or the violation of a right. +Within the last hundred years, in no country where the common law +obtains, I venture to say, has any implication of a grant of power +ever been held to be raised by such a law, and especially an implied +power, to do an act expressly prohibited by the same law. The +guarantee of your Constitution, that the people shall elect their +Representatives in the several States, can not be set aside or +impaired by inserting in your Constitution, as a penalty for +disregarding it, the provision that the majority of a State that +denies the equal rights of the minority shall suffer a loss of +political power. + +"I have endeavored to show that the words of the Constitution, the +people of 'the States shall choose their Representatives,' is an +express guarantee that a majority of the free male citizens of the +United States in every State of this Union, being of full age, shall +have the political power subject to the equal right of suffrage in the +minority of free male citizens of full age. There is a further +guarantee in the Constitution of a republican form of government to +every State, which I take to mean that the majority of the free male +citizens in every State shall have the political power. I submit to my +friend that this proviso is nothing but a penalty for a violation on +the part of the people of any State of the political right or +franchise guaranteed by the Constitution to their free male +fellow-citizens of full age. + +"The guarantee in the first article of the second section of the +Constitution, rightly interpreted, is, as I claim, this: that the +majority of the male citizens of the United States, of full age, in +each State, shall forever exercise the political power of the State +with this limitation: that they shall never by caste legislation +impose disabilities upon one class of free male citizens to the denial +or abridgement of equal rights. The further provision is, that the +United States shall guarantee to each State a republican form of +government, which means that the majority of male citizens, of full +age, in each State, shall govern, not, however, in violation of the +Constitution of the United States or of the rights of the minority." + +In closing his address, Mr. Bingham said: "I pray gentlemen to +consider long before they reject this proviso. It may not be the best +that the wisest head in this House can conceive of, but I ask +gentlemen to consider that the rule of statesmanship is to take the +best attainable essential good which is at our command. The reason why +I support the proposed amendment is, that I believe it essential and +attainable. I do not dare to say that it could not be improved. I do +dare to say that it is in aid of the existing grants and guarantees of +the Constitution of my country, that it is simply a penalty to be +inflicted upon the States for a specific disregard in the future of +those wise and just and humane grants 'to the people' to elect their +Representatives and maintain a republican government in each State. + +"Mr. Speaker, the republic is great; it is great in its domain, equal +in extent to continental Europe, abounding in productions of every +zone, broad enough and fertile enough to furnish bread and homes to +three hundred million freemen. The republic is great in the +intelligence, thrift, industry, energy, virtue, and valor of its +unconquered and unconquerable children, and great in its matchless, +wise, and beneficent Constitution. I pray the Congress of the United +States to propose to the people all needful amendments to the +Constitution, that by their sovereign act they may crown the republic +for all time with the greatness of justice." + +Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania, presented an objection to the +resolution which had not been alluded to by any gentleman on the +floor. He said: "The resolution provides that whenever the elective +franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State, on account of race +or color, all persons of such race or color shall be excluded from the +basis of representation. Now, there is a great deal of indefiniteness +in both those terms, 'race' and 'color.' + +"What is a race of men? Writers upon the subject of races differ very +materially on this point. Some of them would make four or five races; +others fifteen; and one, whom I might name, seems inclined not to +limit the number short of a thousand. I myself am inclined to think +that the Celtic race is a distinct one from ours. I think that any +gentleman who has studied this subject attentively will at least have +doubts whether or not the race that appears to have inhabited Europe +in the early historic period, and has been partly dispossessed there +by ours, is not a distinct race from ours. + +"Again: the word 'color' is exceedingly indefinite. If we had a +constitutional standard of color, that of sole-leather, for example, +by which to test the State laws upon this subject, there might be less +danger in incorporating this provision in the Constitution. But the +term 'color' is nowhere defined in the Constitution or the law. We +apply the term to persons who are of African descent, whether their +color is whiter or darker than ours. Every one who is familiar with +the ethnological condition of things here in the United States, and +who sees the general mixing up of colors, particularly in the +Democratic portion of the country--I allude to that portion south of +Mason and Dixon's line--must say with me that the word 'color' has no +very distinct meaning when applied to the different peoples of the +United States of America." + +Two Representatives from New York--Mr. Davis and Mr. Ward--expressed +opinions favorable to a modification of the basis of representation, +and yet were opposed to the details of the proposition before the +House. + +Mr. Nicholson, of Delaware, in emphatic terms, denounced the acts of a +majority of the House in attempting to amend the Constitution. "If +they shall finally triumph," said he, "in the mad schemes in which +they are engaged, they will succeed in converting that heretofore +sacred instrument, reverenced and obeyed till the present dominant +party came into power, from a bond of union to a galling yoke of +oppression--a thing to be loathed and despised." + +The discussion was still much protracted. Many members had an +opportunity of presenting their views and opinions without adding much +to the arguments for or against the measure. The power of debate, as +well as "the power of amendment," seemed to have exhausted itself, and +yet gentlemen, continued to swell the volume of both through several +days. + +On Friday, January 26th, Mr. Harding, of Kentucky, made a violent +political speech, ostensibly in opposition to the measure before the +House. The following is an extract from his remarks: + +"The Republican party have manufactured a large amount of capital out +of the negro question. First they began with caution, now they draw on +it as if they thought it as inexhaustible as were the widow's barrel +of meal and cruse of oil. The fact that the negro question has +continued so long has been owing to the great care with which the +Republican party has managed it." + +Mr. McKee, of Kentucky, followed. Referring to his colleague who had +preceded him, he said: "I regret extremely that he has pursued the +same line of policy that gentlemen belonging to the same political +party have pursued ever since the idea took possession of the +Government that the negro was to be a freeman. His whole speech has +been made up of the negro and nothing else. + +"I would like it if the amendment could go a little beyond what it +does. I would like so to amend the Constitution that no man who had +raised his hand against the flag should ever be allowed to participate +in any of the affairs of this Government. But it is not probable that +we can go that far. Let us go just as far as we can. + +"Gentlemen say that they are not willing to vote for an amendment that +strikes off a part of the representation of the States; they are not +willing to vote for an amendment that lessens Kentucky's +representation upon this floor. The whole course of my colleague's +remarks on this point is as the course of his party--and I may say of +the loyal party in Kentucky--has been through a great part of the war, +that Kentucky is the nation, and the United States a secondary +appendage to her." + +Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, did not desire to be heard at length upon the +main question before the House, but upon some questions incidentally +connected with it. He then proceeded to discuss the question whether +Congress has "the power so to regulate the suffrage as to give the +right of suffrage to every male citizen of the country of twenty-one +years of age." "I propose now," said he, "for a few moments, to +examine this question with a somewhat extensive reference to the +history of the Constitution in this connection, and if possible to +arrive at a conclusion whether the honorable gentleman from +Pennsylvania has given greater attention to the history of this +question than the President, and whether the conclusion which he has +reached is a safer one for the country, or more in harmony with the +history and true intent of the Constitution, than that of the +President." + +Near the close of his remarks, referring to the measure before the +House, Mr. Kerr remarked: "I can see but one single clear result that +will follow from this amendment if it is adopted by the people of this +country, and that is an effect that will inure not to the advantage of +the nation, nor of any State in the Union, nor of any class or race of +men in any State; but it will inure solely to the benefit and +advantage of the Republican party. In my judgment, the only persons +who will gain by this provision will be the now dominant party in this +country. They will thereby increase their power; they will thereby +degrade the South; they will reduce her representation here, and +relatively increase their own representation; they will confirm the +sectional supremacy of the North in the legislation and administration +of the Government. They may thus compel the South to become suppliants +at their feet for justice, and it may be for mercy." + +Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, and Mr. Wright, of New Jersey, made extended +remarks, avowedly in opposition to the measure, but dwelling, for the +greater portion of their time, upon subjects remotely connected with +the resolution before the House. + +Discussion was resumed in the House on Monday, January 29th. The +question having become much complicated by the numerous propositions +to amend, the Speaker, by request of Mr. Conkling, stated the exact +position of the subject before the House, and the various questions +pending. The Speaker said: "The committee having reported this joint +resolution, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] moved to +amend by inserting the word 'therein' after the words 'all persons,' +in the last clause of the proposed amendment to the Constitution. + +"Pending that motion, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kelley] +moved an entirely new proposition in the nature of a substitute for +the joint resolution reported from the joint committee, proposing an +amendment to the Constitution differing from the one reported from the +committee. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Baker] also submitted for +his colleague [Mr. Ingersoll] a proposition in the nature of a +substitute for the one reported from the committee, as an amendment to +the amendment. + +"Pending those two propositions, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. +Lawrence] moved to recommit the joint resolution to the joint +committee with certain instructions. The gentleman from Massachusetts +[Mr. Eliot] moved to amend the instructions, and the gentleman from +Ohio [Mr. Schenck] moved to amend the amendment. + +"The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Le Blond] also moved to commit the whole +subject to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union. The +first question will, therefore, be upon the motion to commit to the +Committee of the Whole, as that committee is higher in rank than the +joint Committee on Reconstruction. + +"Next after that will be the various motions to recommit with +instructions. If all those propositions should fail, then the motion +of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] being for the +purpose of perfecting the original proposition, will come up for +consideration. Then propositions in the nature of substitutes will +come up for consideration; first the amendment to the amendment, +proposed by the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. Baker,] and next the +substitute amendment of the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kelley]." + +Mr. Raymond, of New York, made a speech three hours in length, in +opposition to the proposed amendment to the Constitution. He discussed +the general questions of reconstruction, affirming that the Southern +States had resumed their functions of self-government in the Union, +that they did not change their constitutional relations by making war, +and that Congress should admit their Representatives by districts, +receiving only loyal men as members. + +The closing words of Mr. Raymond's speech excited great sensation and +surprise. They were as follows: "The gigantic contest is at an end. +The courage and devotion on either side which made it so terrible and +so long, no longer owe a divided duty, but have become the common +property of the American name, the priceless possession of the +American Republic through all time to come. The dead of the contending +hosts sleep beneath the soil of a common country, and under one common +flag. Their hostilities are hushed, and they are the dead of the +nation forever more. The victor may well exult in the victory he has +achieved. Let it be our task, as it will be our highest glory, to make +the vanquished, and their posterity to the latest generation, rejoice +in their defeat." + +Mr. Julian could not accept heartily the proposition reported by the +joint committee. He thus presented what he considered a preferable +plan: "Under the constitutional injunction upon the United States to +guarantee a republican form of government to every State, I believe +the power already exists in the nation to regulate the right of +suffrage. It can only exercise this power through Congress; and +Congress, of course, must decide what is a republican form of +government, and when the national authority shall interpose against +State action for the purpose of executing the constitutional +guarantee. No one will deny the authority of Congress to decide that +if a State should disfranchise one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of +her citizens, such State would cease to be republican, and might be +required to accept a different rule of suffrage. If Congress could +intervene in such a case, it could obviously intervene in any other +case in which it might deem it necessary or proper. It certainly might +decide that the disfranchisement by a State of a whole race of people +within her borders is inconsistent with a republican form of +government, and in their behalf, and in the execution of its own +authority and duty, restore them to their equal right with others to +the franchise. It might decide, for example, that in North Carolina, +where 631,000 citizens disfranchise 331,000, the government is not +republican, and should be made so by extending the franchise. It might +do the same in Virginia, where 719,000 citizens disfranchise 533,000; +in Alabama, where 596,000 citizens disfranchise 437,000; in Georgia, +where 591,000 citizens disfranchise 465,000; in Louisiana, where +357,000 citizens disfranchise 350,000; in Mississippi, where 353,000 +citizens disfranchise 436,000; and in South Carolina, where only +291,000 citizens disfranchise 411,000. Can any man who reverences the +Constitution deny either the authority or the duty of Congress to do +all this in the execution of the guarantee named? Or if the 411,000 +negroes in South Carolina were to organize a government, and +disfranchise her 291,000 white citizens, would any body doubt the +authority of Congress to pronounce such government anti-republican, +and secure the ballot equally to white and black citizens as the +remedy? Or if a State should prescribe as a qualification for the +ballot such an ownership of property, real or personal, as would +disfranchise the great body of her people, could not Congress most +undoubtedly interfere? So of an educational test, which might fix the +standard of knowledge so high as to place the governing power in the +hands of a select few. The power in all such cases is a reserved one +in Congress, to be exercised according to its own judgment, with no +accountability to any tribunal save the people; and without such power +the nation would be at the mercy of as many oligarchies as there are +States. It is true that the power of Congress to guarantee republican +governments in the States through its intervention with the question +of suffrage has not hitherto been exercised, but this certainly does +not disprove the existence of such power, nor the expediency of its +exercise now, under an additional and independent constitutional +grant, and when a fit occasion for it has come through the madness of +treason. Why temporize by adopting half-way measures and a policy of +indirection? The shortest distance between two given points is a +straight line. Let us follow it in so important a work as amending the +Constitution. + +"How do you know that the broad proposition I advocate will fail in +Congress or before the people? These are revolutionary days. Whole +generations of common time are now crowded into the span of a few +years. Life was never before so grand and blessed an opportunity. The +man mistakes his reckoning who judges either the present or the future +by any political almanac of bygone years. Growth, development, +progress are the expressive watchwords of the hour. Who can remember +the marvelous events of the past four years, necessitated by the late +war, and then predict the failure of further measures, woven into the +same fabric, and born of the same inevitable logic?" + +On Monday, January 30th, the proposed constitutional amendment was +recommitted to the joint Committee on Reconstruction. On the following +day Mr. Stevens reported back the joint resolution, with an amendment +striking out the words "and direct taxes," so as to fix simply the +basis of representation in Congress upon population, excluding those +races or colors to which the franchise is denied or abridged. + +Mr. Schenck offered a substitute making "male citizens of the United +States over twenty-one years" the basis of representation. Mr. Schenck +occupied a few minutes in advocating his proposition. + +On the other hand, Mr. Benjamin, of Missouri, objected to the +substitute as greatly to the detriment of Missouri, since it would +reduce her representation in Congress from nine to four, because she +has endeavored to place the Government in loyal hands by +disfranchising the rebel element of that State. In doing this, she had +disfranchised one-half her voters. + +The previous question having been called, Mr. Stevens made the closing +speech of the protracted discussion. In the opening of his speech, Mr. +Stevens said: "It is true we have been informed by high authority, at +the other end of the avenue, introduced through an unusual conduit, +that no amendment is necessary to the Constitution as our fathers made +it, and that it is better to let it stand as it is. Now, sir, I think +very differently, myself, for one individual. I believe there is +intrusted to this Congress a high duty, no less important and no less +fraught with the weal or woe of future ages than was intrusted to the +august body that made the Declaration of Independence. I believe now, +if we omit to exercise that high duty, or abuse it, we shall be held +to account by future generations of America, and by the whole +civilized world that is in favor of freedom, and that our names will +go down to posterity with some applause or with black condemnation if +we do not treat the subject thoroughly, honestly, and justly in +reference to every human being on this continent." + +That the above paragraph may be understood, it will be necessary to +state that the President of the United States himself had taken part +in the discussion of the measure pending before Congress. The "unusual +conduit" was the telegraph and the press--the means by which his +opinions were given to Congress and the public. The President's +opinions were expressed in the following paper, as read by the Clerk +of the House, at the request of several members: + + "The following is the substance of a conversation which took + place yesterday between the President and a distinguished + Senator, as telegraphed North by the agent of the Associated + Press: + + "The President said that he doubted the propriety at this + time of making further amendments to the Constitution. One + great amendment had already been made, by which slavery had + forever been abolished within the limits of the United + States, and a national guarantee thus given that the + institution should never exist in the land. Propositions to + amend the Constitution were becoming as numerous as + preambles and resolutions at town meetings called to + consider the most ordinary questions connected with the + administration of local affairs. All this, in his opinion, + had a tendency to diminish the dignity and prestige attached + to the Constitution of the country, and to lessen the + respect and confidence of the people in their great charter + of freedom. If, however, amendments are to be made to the + Constitution, changing the basis of representation and + taxation, (and he did not deem them at all necessary at the + present time,) he knew of none better than a simple + proposition, embraced in a few lines, making in each State + the number of qualified voters the basis of representation, + and the value of property the basis of direct taxation. Such + a proposition could be embraced in the following terms: + + "'Representatives shall be apportioned among the several + States which may be included within this Union according to + the number of qualified voters in each State. + + "'Direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States + which may be included within this Union according to the + value of all taxable property in each State.' + + "An amendment of this kind would, in his opinion, place the + basis of representation and direct taxation upon correct + principles. The qualified voters were, for the most part, + men who were subject to draft and enlistment when it was + necessary to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, and quell + domestic violence and insurrection. They risk their lives, + shed their blood, and peril their all to uphold the + Government, and give protection, security, and value to + property. It seemed but just that property should compensate + for the benefits thus conferred by defraying the expenses + incident to its protection and enjoyment. + + "Such an amendment, the President also suggested, would + remove from Congress all issues in reference to the + political equality of the races. It would leave the States + to determine absolutely the qualifications of their own + voters with regard to color; and thus the number of + Representatives to which they would be entitled in Congress + would depend upon the number upon whom they conferred the + right of suffrage. + + "The President, in this connection, expressed the opinion + that the agitation of the negro-franchise question in the + District of Columbia, at this time was the mere + entering-wedge to the agitation of the question throughout + the States, and was ill-timed, uncalled for, and calculated + to do great harm. He believed that it would engender enmity, + contention, and strife between the two races, and lead to a + war between"them which would result in great injury to both, + and the certain extermination of the negro population. + Precedence, he thought, should be given to more important + and urgent matters, legislation upon which was essential for + the restoration of the Union, the peace of the country, and + the prosperity of the people." + +"This," said Mr. Stevens, "I take to be an authorized utterance of one +at the other end of the avenue. I have no doubt that this is the +proclamation, the command of the President of the United States, made +and put forth by authority in advance, and at a time when this +Congress was legislating on this very question; made, in my judgment, +in violation of the privileges of this House; made in such a way that +centuries ago, had it been made to Parliament by a British king, it +would have cost him his head. But, sir, we pass that by; we are +tolerant of usurpation in this tolerant Government of ours." + +In answer to those who contended that Congress should regulate the +right of suffrage in the States, Mr. Stevens said: "If you should take +away the right which now is and always has been exercised by the +States, by fixing the qualifications of their electors, instead of +getting nineteen States, which is necessary to ratify this amendment, +you might possibly get five. I venture to say you could not get five +in this Union. And that is an answer, in the opinion of the committee, +to all that has been said on this subject. But it grants no right. It +says, however, to the State of South Carolina and other slave States, +True, we leave where it has been left for eighty years the right to +fix the elective franchise, but you must not abuse it; if you do, the +Constitution will impose upon you a penalty, and will continue to +inflict it until you shall have corrected your actions. + +"Now, any man who knows any thing about the condition of aspiration +and ambition for power which exists in the slave States, knows that +one of their chief objects is to rule this country. It was to ruin it +if they could not rule it. They have not been able to ruin it, and now +their great ambition will be to rule it. If a State abuses the +elective franchise, and takes it from those who are the only loyal +people there, the Constitution says to such a State, You shall lose +power in the halls of the nation, and you shall remain where you are, +a shriveled and dried-up nonentity instead of being the lords of +creation, as you have been, so far as America is concerned, for years +past. + +"Now, sir, I say no more strong inducement could ever beheld out to +them; no more severe punishment could ever be inflicted upon them as +States. If they exclude the colored population, they will lose at +least thirty-five Representatives in this hall; if they adopt it, they +will have eighty-three votes." + +Mr. Stevens urged several objections to the proposition of Mr. +Schenck. He said: "If I have been rightly informed as to the number, +there are from fifteen to twenty Representatives in the Northern +States founded upon those who are not citizens of the United States. +In New York I think there are three or four Representatives founded +upon the foreign population--three certainly. And so it is in +Wisconsin, Iowa, and other Northern States. There are fifteen or +twenty Northern Representatives that would be lost by that amendment +and given to the South whenever they grant the elective franchise to +the negro. + +"Now, sir, while I have not any particular regard for any foreigner +who goes against me, yet I do not think it would be wise to put into +the Constitution or send to the people a proposition to amend the +Constitution which would take such Representatives from those States, +and which, therefore, they will never adopt. + +"But I have another objection to the amendment of my friend from Ohio. +His proposition is to apportion representation according to the male +citizens of the States. Why has he put in the word 'male?' It was +never in the Constitution of the United States before. Why make a +crusade against women in the Constitution of the nation? [Laughter.] +Is my friend as much afraid of their rivalry as the gentlemen on the +other side of the House are afraid of the rivalry of the negro? +[Laughter.] I do not think we ought to disfigure the Constitution with +such a provision. I find that every unmarried man is opposed to the +proposition. Whether married men have particular reason for dreading +interference from that quarter I know not. [Laughter.] I certainly +shall never vote to insert the word 'male' or the word 'white' in the +national Constitution. Let these things be attended to by the +States." + +In answer to the objection that the amendment proposed by the +committee "might be evaded by saying that no man who had ever been a +slave should vote, and that would not be disfranchisement on account +of race or color," Mr. Stevens said: "Sir, no man in America ever was +or ever could be a slave if he was a white man. I know white men have +been held in bondage contrary to law. But there never was a court in +the United States, in a slave State or a free State, that has not +admitted that if one held as a slave could prove himself to be white, +he was that instant free. And, therefore, such an exclusion, on +account of previous condition of slavery, must be an exclusion on +account of race or color. Therefore that objection falls to the +ground." + +In reply to the closing paragraph of Mr. Raymond's speech, Mr. Stevens +said: "I could not but admire (an admiration mingled with wonder) the +amiability of temper, the tenderness of heart, the generosity of +feeling which must have prompted some of the closing sentences of the +excellent and able speech delivered by the gentleman on last Monday. +His words were these: + + "'The gigantic contest is at an end. The courage and + devotion on either side, which made it so terrible and so + long, no longer owe a divided duty, but have become the + common property of the American name, the priceless + possession of the American Republic, through all time to + come. The dead of the contending hosts sleep beneath the + soil of a common country, under their common flag. Their + hostilities are hushed, and they are the dead of the nation + for evermore.' + +"Sir, much more than amiable, much more than religious, must be the +sentiment that would prompt any man to say that 'the courage and +devotion' which so long withstood our arms, prolonging the terrible +conflict of war, and sacrificing the lives of thousands of loyal men, +are hereafter to be the common boast of the nation, 'the priceless +possession of the American Republic through all time to come;' that it +is the pride of our country so many infamous rebels were so ferocious +in their murders. + +"Sir, we are to consider these dead on both sides as the dead of the +nation, the common dead! And so, I suppose, we are to raise monuments +beside the monuments to Reynolds and others, to be erected in the +cemetery on the battle-field of Gettysburg. We must there build high +the monumental marble for men like Barksdale, whom I have seen in this +hall draw their bowie-knives on the Representatives of the people; men +who died upon the battle-field of Gettysburg in arms against the +Government, and where they now lie buried in ditches, 'unwept, +unhonored, and unsung!' They are, I suppose, to be raised and put into +the fore-front ranks of the nation, and we are to call them through +all time as the dead of the nation! Sir, was there ever blasphemy +before like this? Who was it burnt the temple of Ephesus? Who was it +imitated the thunder of Jove? All that was poor compared with this +blasphemy. I say, if the loyal dead, who are thus associated with the +traitors who murdered them, put by the gentleman on the same footing +with them, are to be treated as the 'common dead of the nation'--I +say, sir, if they could have heard the gentleman, they would have +broken the cerements of the tomb, and stalked forth and haunted him +until his eye-balls were seared." + +The question was first taken on the substitute offered by Mr. Schenck, +which was rejected by a vote of one hundred and thirty-one to +twenty-nine. + +The question was then taken on agreeing to the joint resolution as +modified by the committee, and it was decided in the affirmative by +the following vote: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, James M. + Ashley, Baker, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, + Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, + Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. Clarke, + Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis, + Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Eckley, + Eggleston, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, + Griswold, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Hill, Holmes, + Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, + Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, + James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, + Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William + Lawrence, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, McClurg, + McIndoe, McKee, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, + Moulton, Myers, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, + Pike, Plants, Pomeroy, Price, Alexander H. Rice, John H. + Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, + Sloan, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Stilwell, Thayer, Francis + Thomas, John L. Thomas, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, + Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu B. Washburne, + William B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, Williams, James F. + Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge--120. + + NAYS--Messrs. Baldwin, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, + Dawson, Dennison, Eldridge, Eliot, Finck, Grider, Hale, + Aaron Harding, Harris, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, James M. + Humphrey, Jenckes, Johnson, Kerr, Latham, Le Blond, + Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Phelps, + Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, Raymond, Ritter, + Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, Strouse, + Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, Voorhees, Whaley, and + Wright--46. + + NOT VOTING--Messrs. Ancona, Delos R. Ashley, Culver, Driggs, + Dumont, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Henderson, Higby, Jones, + Loan, McRuer, Newell, Radford, Trowbridge, and Winfield--16. + +Two-thirds having voted in the affirmative, the Speaker declared the +joint resolution adopted. + +The strong vote by which this measure was passed, after so general an +expression of dissent from it, excited some surprise. Many gentlemen +evidently surrendered their individual preferences for the sake of +unanimity. They believed that this was the best measure calculated to +secure just representation, which would pass the ordeal of Congress +and three-fourths of the States. They accepted the "rule of +statesmanship," to "take the best attainable, essential good which is +at our command." + +A disposition to rebuke supposed Executive dictation had some effect +to produce an unexpected unanimity in favor of the measure. One Rhode +Island and two Massachusetts members insisted on national negro +suffrage, and voted against the amendments. Mr. Raymond and Mr. Hale, +of New York, were the only Republicans who voted against the measure +in accordance with the President's opinions. Of the border slave State +members, ten voted for the amendment and sixteen against it. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE BASIS OF-REPRESENTATION--IN THE SENATE. + + The Joint Resolution goes to the Senate -- + Counter-proposition by Mr. Sumner -- He Speaks Five Hours -- + Mr. Henderson's Amendment -- Mr. Fessenden -- Mr. Henry S. + Lane -- Mr. Johnson -- Mr. Henderson -- Mr. Clark's + Historical Statements -- Fred. Douglass' Memorial -- Mr. + Williams -- Mr. Hendricks -- Mr. Chandler's "Blood-letting + Letter" -- Proposition of Mr. Yates -- His Speech -- Mr. + Buckalew against New England -- Mr. Pomeroy -- Mr. Sumner's + Second Speech -- Mr. Doolittle -- Mr. Morrill -- Mr. + Fessenden meets Objections -- Final Vote -- The Amendment + Defeated. + + +The joint resolution, providing for amending the basis of +representation, having passed the House of Representatives on the last +day of January, 1866, the action of that body was communicated to the +Senate. The Civil Rights Bill at that time occupying the attention of +the Senate, Mr. Fessenden gave notice that unless something should +occur to render that course unwise, he would ask that the +consideration of the proposed constitutional amendment should be taken +up on the following Monday, February 5th. + +On the second of February, Mr. Sumner gave notice of his intention to +move a joint resolution as a counter-proposition to the proposed +constitutional amendment. Mr. Sumner's resolution was as follows: + + _Whereas_, it is provided in the Constitution that the + United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a + republican form of government; and whereas, by reason of the + failure of certain States to maintain Governments which + Congress can recognize, it has become the duty of the United + States, standing in the place of guarantor, where the + principal has made a lapse, to secure to such States, + according to the requirement of the guarantee, governments + republican in form; and whereas, further, it is provided in + a recent constitutional amendment, that Congress may + 'enforce' the prohibition of slavery by 'appropriate + legislation,' and it is important to this end that all + relics of slavery should be removed, including all + distinction of rights on account of color; now, therefore, + to carry out the guarantee of a republican form of + government, and to enforce the prohibition of slavery. + + "_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + in all States lately declared to be in rebellion there shall + be no oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, or monopoly invested + with peculiar privileges or powers, and there shall be no + denial of rights, civil or political, on account of color or + race; but all persons shall be equal before the law, whether + in the court-room or at the ballot-box; and this statute, + made in pursuance of the Constitution, shall be the supreme + law of the land, any thing in the constitution or laws of + any such State to the contrary notwithstanding." + +According to notice given by the Chairman of the joint Committee on +Reconstruction on the part of the Senate, the proposed constitutional +amendment came up for consideration on the fifth of February. + +Mr. Sumner addressed the Senate in opposition to the measure. His +speech was five hours in length, and occupied parts of the sessions of +two days in its delivery. Mr. Sumner argued that the proposed +amendment would introduce "discord and defilement into the +Constitution," by admitting that rights could be "denied or abridged +on account of race or color," and that by its adoption Congress would +prove derelict to its constitutional duty to guarantee a republican +form of government to each State, and that having already legislated +to protect the colored race in civil rights, it is bound to secure to +them political rights also. + +Concerning the Committee on Reconstruction and their proposition, Mr. +Sumner said: "Knowing, as I do, the eminent character of the +committee, its intelligence, its patriotism, and the moral instincts +by which it is moved, I am at a loss to understand the origin of a +proposition which seems to me nothing else than another compromise of +human rights, as if the country had not already paid enough in costly +treasure and more costly blood for such compromises in the past. I had +hoped that the day of compromise with wrong had passed forever. Ample +experience shows that it is the least practical mode of settling +questions involving moral principles. A moral principle can not be +compromised." + +He thought the proposed change in the Constitution could not properly +be called an amendment. "For some time we have been carefully +expunging from the statute-book the word 'white,' and now it is +proposed to insert in the Constitution itself a distinction of color. +An amendment, according to the dictionaries, is 'an improvement'--'a +change for the better.' Surely the present proposition is an amendment +which, like the crab, goes backward." + +This measure would not accomplish the results desired by its authors. +"If by this," said he, "you expect to induce the recent slave-master +to confer the right of suffrage without distinction of color, you will +find the proposition a delusion and a snare. He will do no such thing. +Even the bribe you offer will not tempt him. If, on the other hand, +you expect to accomplish a reduction of his political power, it is +more than doubtful if you will succeed, while the means you employ are +unworthy of our country. There are tricks and evasions possible, and +the cunning slave-master will drive his coach and six through your +amendment, stuffed with all his Representatives." + +Drawing toward the close of his speech, Mr. Sumner gave the following +review of his remarks that had preceded: "We have seen the origin of +the controversy which led to the revolution, when Otis, with such wise +hardihood, insisted upon equal rights, and then giving practical +effect to the lofty demand, sounded the battle-cry that 'Taxation +without Representation is Tyranny.' We have followed this controversy +in its anxious stages, where these principles were constantly asserted +and constantly denied, until it broke forth in battle; we have seen +these principles adopted as the very frontlet of the republic, when it +assumed its place in the family of nations, and then again when it +ordained its Constitution; we have seen them avowed and illustrated in +memorable words by the greatest authorities of the time; lastly, we +have seen them embodied in public acts of the States collectively and +individually; and now, out of this concurring, cumulative, and +unimpeachable testimony, constituting a speaking aggregation +absolutely without precedent, I offer you the American definition of a +republican form of government. It is in vain that you cite +philosophers or publicists, or the examples of former history. Against +these I put the early and constant postulates of the fathers, the +corporate declarations of the fathers, the avowed opinions of the +fathers, and the public acts of the fathers, all with one voice +proclaiming, first, that all men are equal in rights, and, secondly, +that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the +governed; and here is the American idea of a republic, which must be +adopted in the interpretation of the National Constitution. You can +not reject it. As well reject the Decalogue in determining moral +duties, or as well reject the multiplication table in determining a +question of arithmetic." + +Maintaining that "the rebel States are not republican governments," +Mr. Sumner said: "Begin with Tennessee, which disfranchises 283,079 +citizens, being more than a quarter of its whole 'people.' Thus +violating a distinctive principle of republican government, how can +this State be recognized as republican? This question is easier asked +than answered. But Tennessee is the least offensive on the list. There +is Virginia, which disfranchises 549,019 citizens, being more than a +third of its whole 'people.' There is Alabama, which disfranchises +436,030 citizens, being nearly one half of its whole 'people.' There +is Louisiana, which disfranchises 350,546 citizens, being one half of +its whole 'people.' There is Mississippi, which disfranchises 437,404 +citizens, being much more than one half of its whole 'people.' And +there is South Carolina, which disfranchises 412,408 citizens, being +nearly two-thirds of its whole 'people.' A republic is a pyramid +standing on the broad mass of the people as a base; but here is a +pyramid balanced on its point. To call such a government 'republican' +is a mockery of sense and decency. A monarch, 'surrounded by +republican institutions,' which at one time was the boast of France, +would be less offensive to correct principles, and give more security +to human rights." + +Of the Southern system of government he said: "It is essentially a +monopoly, in a country which sets its face against all monopolies as +unequal and immoral. If any monopoly deserves unhesitating judgment, +it must be that which absorbs the rights of others and engrosses +political power. How vain it is to condemn the petty monopolies of +commerce, and then allow this vast, all-embracing monopoly of human +rights." + +Mr. Sumner maintained that the ballot was the great guarantee--"the +only sufficient guarantee--being in itself peacemaker, reconciler, +schoolmaster, and protector." The result of conferring suffrage upon +the negro will be, "The master will recognize the new citizen. The +slave will stand with tranquil self-respect in the presence of the +master. Brute force disappears. Distrust is at an end. The master is +no longer a tyrant. The freedman is no longer a dependent. The ballot +comes to him in his depression, and says, 'Use me and be elevated.' It +comes to him in his passion, and says, 'Use me and do not fight.' It +comes to him in his daily thoughts, filling him with the strength and +glory of manhood." + +Most beneficent results, it was thought, would flow from such +legislation as that advocated by Mr. Sumner. "I see clearly," said he, +"that there is nothing in the compass of mortal power so important to +them in every respect, morally, politically, and economically--that +there is nothing with such certain promise to them of beneficent +results--that there is nothing so sure to make their land smile with +industry and fertility as the decree of equal rights which I now +invoke. Let the decree go forth to cover them with blessings, sure to +descend upon their children in successive generations. They have given +us war; we give them peace. They have raged against us in the name of +slavery; we send them back the benediction of justice for all. They +menace hate; we offer in return all the sacred charities of country +together with oblivion of the past. This is our 'Measure for Measure.' +This is our retaliation. This is our only revenge." + +The following was the closing paragraph of Mr. Sumner's speech: "The +Roman Cato, after declaring his belief in the immortality of the soul, +added, that if this were an error, it was an error which he loved. And +now, declaring my belief in liberty and equality as the God-given +birthright of all men, let me say, in the same spirit, if this be an +error, it is an error which I love; if this be a fault, it is a fault +which I shall be slow to renounce; if this be an illusion, it is an +illusion which I pray may wrap the world in its angelic arms." + +On the seventh of February, the subject being again before the Senate, +Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, moved to strike out the constitutional +amendment proposed by the committee and insert the following: + + "ARTICLE 14. No State, in prescribing the qualifications + requisite for electors therein, shall discriminate against + any person on account of color or race." + +Mr. Fessenden made a speech in favor of the report of the committee, +and in reply to Mr. Sumner. Referring to the subject of constitutional +amendments, Mr. Fessenden said: "Something has been said, also, on +different occasions, with reference to a disposition that is said to +prevail now to amend the Constitution, and the forbearance of Congress +has been invoked with regard to that venerable and great instrument. I +believe that I have as much veneration for the Constitution as most +men, and I believe that I have as high an opinion of its wisdom; but, +sir, I probably have no better opinion of it than those who made it, +and it did not seem to them, as we learn from its very provisions, +that it was so perfect that no amendment whatever could be made that +would be, in the language of the Senator from Massachusetts, an +improvement. Why, sir, they provided themselves, as we all know, in +the original instrument, for its amendment. They, in the very earliest +days of our history, amended it themselves." + +The result of retaining the "Constitution as it is" would be this: +"The continuance of precisely the same rule, and the fostering of a +feeling which the honorable Senator from Massachusetts has well proven +to be contrary to the very foundation principles of a republican +government. There can be no question that such would be the result; +and we should have in a portion of the States all the people +represented and all the people acting, and in another portion of the +States all the people represented and but a portion of the people only +exercising political rights and retaining them in their own hands. +Such has been the case, and such, judging of human nature as it is, we +have a right to suppose will continue to be the case." + +The measure proposed by the committee was not entirely satisfactory to +Mr. Fessenden. "I am free to confess," said he, "that could I +legislate upon that subject, although I can see difficulties that +would arise from it, yet trusting to time to soften them, and being +desirous, if I can, to put into the Constitution a principle that +commends itself to the consideration of every enlightened mind at +once, I would prefer something of that sort, a distinct proposition +that all provisions in the constitution or laws of any State making +any distinction in civil or political rights, or privileges, or +immunities whatever, should be held unconstitutional, inoperative, and +void, or words to that effect. I would like that much better; and I +take it there are not many Senators within the sound of my voice who +would not very much prefer it; but, after all, the committee did not +recommend a provision of that description, and I stand here as the +organ of the committee, approving what they have done, and not +disposed to urge my own peculiar views, if I have any, against theirs, +or to rely exclusively on my own judgment so far as to denounce what +honorable and true men, of better judgments than myself, have thought +best to recommend, and in which I unite and agree with them." + +After having given objections to limiting the basis of representation +to voters, Mr. Fessenden remarked: "And if you extend it to citizens, +or narrow it to citizens, you make it worse so far as many of the +States are concerned; for my honorable friends from the Pacific coast, +where there is a large number of foreigners, would hardly be willing +to have them cut off; and they have no benefit of political power in +the legislation of the country arising from the number of those +foreigners who make a portion of their population. The difficulty is, +that you meet with troubles of this kind every-where the moment you +depart from the principle of basing representation upon population and +population alone. You meet with inequalities, with difficulties, with +troubles, either in one section of the country or the other, and you +are inevitably thrown back upon the original principle of the +Constitution. + +"It will be noticed that the amendment which we have thus presented +has one good quality: it preserves the original basis of +representation; it leaves that matter precisely where the Constitution +placed it in the first instance; it makes no changes in that respect; +it violates no prejudice; it violates no feeling. Every State is +represented according to its population with this distinction: that if +a State says that it has a portion, a class, which is not fit to be +represented--and it is for the State to decide--it shall not be +represented; that is all. It has another good point: it is equal in +its operation; all persons in every State are to be counted; nobody is +to be rejected. With the very trifling exception fixed by the original +Constitution, all races, colors, nations, languages, and denominations +form the basis. + +"But, sir, the great excellence of it--and I think it is an +excellence--is, that it accomplishes indirectly what we may not have +the power to accomplish directly. If we can not put into the +Constitution, owing to existing prejudices and existing institutions, +an entire exclusion of all class distinctions, the next question is, +can we accomplish that work in any other way?" + +Concerning the "counter-proposition" of Mr. Sumner, the speaker said: +"It is, in one sense, like a very small dipper with a very long +handle; for the preamble is very much more diffuse than the proposed +enactment itself. I looked to see what came next. I supposed that +after that preamble we should have some adequate machinery provided +for the enforcement and security of these rights; that we should have +the matter put to the courts, and if the courts could not accomplish +it, that we should have the aid of the military power, thus shocking +the sensibilities of my honorable friend from Indiana [Mr. Hendricks] +again. I do not know what good it does to merely provide by law that +the provisions of the Constitution shall be enforced, without saying +how, in what manner, by what machinery, in what way, to what extent, +or how it is to be accomplished. Why reenact the Constitution of the +United States and put it in a bill? What do you accomplish by it? How +is that a remedy? It is simply as if it read in this way: Whereas, it +is provided in the Constitution that the United States shall guarantee +to every State in the Union a republican form of government, therefore +we declare that there shall be a republican form of government and +nothing else." + +Mr. Sumner had said, in his speech in opposition to the proposed +amendment, "Above all, do not copy the example of Pontius Pilate, who +surrendered the Savior of the world, in whom he found no fault at all, +to be scourged and crucified, while he set at large Barabbas, of whom +the Gospel says, in simple words, 'Now, Barabbas was a robber.'" + +To this Mr. Fessenden responded: "Is it a 'mean compromise'--for so it +is denominated--that the Committee of Fifteen and the House of +Representatives, when they passed it, placed themselves in the +situation of Pontius Pilate, with the negro for the Savior of the +world and the people of the United States for Barabbas, as designated +by the honorable Senator. Why, sir, I expected to hear him in the next +breath go further than that, and say that with the Constitution of the +United States and the constitutions of the States the negro had been +crucified, and that now, by the amendment of the Constitution, the +stone had been rolled away from the door of the sepulcher, and he had +ascended to sit on the throne of the Almighty and judge the world! One +would have been, permit me to say with all respect, in as good taste +as the other." + +In conclusion, Mr. Fessenden said: "I wish to say, in closing, that I +commend this joint resolution to the careful consideration of the +Senate. It is all that we could desire; it is all that our +constituents could wish. It does not accomplish, as it stands now, +all, perhaps, that it might accomplish; but it is an important step in +the right direction. It gives the sanction of Congress, in so many +words, to an important, leading, effective idea. It opens a way by +which the Southern mind--to speak of it as the Southern mind--may be +led to that which is right and just. I have hopes, great hopes, of +those who were recently Confederates; and I believe that now that they +have been taught that they can not do evil, to all the extent that +they might desire, with impunity, and when their attention is turned +of necessity in the right direction, the road will seem so pleasant to +their feet, or, at any rate, will seem so agreeable to their love of +power, that they will be willing to walk in the direction that we have +pointed. If they do, what is accomplished? In process of time, under +this constitutional amendment, if it should be adopted, they are led +to enlarge their franchise. That necessarily will lead them to +consider how much further they can go, what is necessary in order to +fit their people for its exercise, thus leading to education, thus +leading to a greater degree of civilization, thus bringing up an +oppressed and downtrodden race to an equality, if capable of an +equality--and I hope it may be--with their white brethren, children of +the same Father. + +"And, sir, if this is done, some of us may hope to live--I probably +may not, but the honorable Senator from Massachusetts may--to see the +time when, by their own act, and under the effect of an enlightened +study of their own interests, all men may be placed upon the same +broad constitutional level, enjoying the same rights, and seeking +happiness in the same way and under the same advantages; and that is +all that we could ask." + +On the following day, the discussion was continued by Mr. Lane, of +Indiana, who addressed the Senate in a speech of two hours' duration. +Mr. Lane seldom occupied the time of the Senate by speech-making, but +when he felt it his duty to speak, none upon the floor attracted more +marked attention, both from the importance of his matter and the +impressiveness of his manner. + +Much of Mr. Lane's speech, on this occasion, was devoted to the +general subject of reconstruction, since he regarded the pending +measure as one of a series looking to the ultimate restoration of the +late rebel States. He was opposed to undue haste in this important +work. He said: "The danger is of precipitate action. Delay is now what +we need. The infant in its tiny fingers plays to-day with a handful of +acorns, but two hundred years hence, by the efflux of time, those +acorns are the mighty material out of which navies are built, the +monarch of the forest, defying the shock of the storm and the +whirlwind. Time is a mighty agent in all these affairs, and we should +appeal to time. We are not ready yet for a restoration upon rebel +votes; we are not ready yet for a restoration upon colored votes; but, +thank God! we are willing and able to wait. We have the Government, we +have the Constitution of the United States, we have the army and the +navy, the vast moral and material power of the republic. We can +enforce the laws in all the rebel States, and we can keep the peace +until such time as they may be restored with safety to them and safety +to us." + +Of the measure proposed by the committee, Mr. Lane remarked: "This +amendment, as I have already endeavored to show, will do away with +much of the irregularity now existing, and which would exist under a +different state of things, the blacks being all free. So far as the +amendment goes, I approve of it, and I think I shall vote for it, but +with a distinct understanding that it is not all that we are required +to do, that it is not the only amendment to the Constitution that +Congress is required to make." + +Mr. Lane expressed his opinion of Mr. Summer's "counter-proposition" +in the following language: "It is a noble declaration, but a simple +declaration, a paper bullet that kills no one, and fixes and maintains +the rights of no one." + +Of Mr. Henderson's proposition, he said: "It is a simple amendment to +the Constitution of the United States, that no one shall be excluded +from the exercise of the right of suffrage on account of race or +color. That begins at the right point. The only objection to it is, +that its operation can not be immediate, and in the mean time the +rebels may be permitted to vote, and its adoption by the various State +Legislatures is exceedingly doubtful. I should not doubt, however, +that we might secure its adoption by three-fourths of the loyal States +who have never seceded; and I believe that whenever that question is +presented, the Supreme Court of the United States will determine that +a ratification by that number of States is a constitutional approval +of an amendment so as to make it the supreme law of the land. I have +no doubt about it. + +"If the rebel States are to be organized immediately, the only +question is whether the right of suffrage shall be given to rebel +white men or loyal black men. The amendment of the Senator from +Missouri meets that issue squarely in the face. Whatsoever I desire to +do I will not do by indirection. I trust I shall always be brave +enough to do whatsoever I think my duty requires, directly and not by +indirection." + +Mr. Lane, with several other Western Senators, had been counted as +opposed to negro suffrage, hence his advocacy of the principle gave +much strength to those who desired to take a position in advance of +the proposition of the committee. + +In reply to an oft-reiterated argument that a war of races would +result from allowing suffrage to the negro, Mr. Lane remarked: "If you +wish to avoid a war of races, how can that be accomplished? By doing +right; by fixing your plan of reconstruction upon the indestructible +basis of truth and justice. What lesson is taught by history? The +grand lesson is taught there that rebellions and insurrections have +grown out of real or supposed wrong and oppression. A war of races! +And you are told to look to the history of Ireland, and to the history +of Hungary. Why is it that revolution and insurrection are always +ready to break out in Hungary? Because, forsooth, the iron rule of +Austria has stricken down the natural rights of the masses. It is a +protest of humanity against tyranny, oppression, that produces +rebellion and revolution. So in the bloody history of the Irish +insurrections. Suppose the English Parliament had given equal rights +to the Irish, had enfranchised the Catholics in Ireland in the reign +of Henry VIII, long ere this peace and harmony would have prevailed +between England and Ireland. But the very fact that a vast portion of +a people are disfranchised sows the seeds of continual and +ever-recurring revolution and insurrection. It can not be otherwise. +These insurrections and revolutions, which are but the protest of our +common humanity against wrong, are one of the scourges in the hands of +Providence to compel men to do justice and to observe the right. It is +the law of Providence, written upon every page of history, that God's +vengeance follows man's wrong and oppression, and it will always be +so. If you wish to avoid a war of races, if you wish to produce +harmony and peace among these people, you must enfranchise them all." + +On the following day, February 9th, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, occupied +the time devoted by the Senate to a consideration of this question +with a speech against the proposed amendment of the Constitution. Mr. +Johnson said that when the Constitution was framed there was no such +objection to compromising as now existed in the minds of some +Senators. "The framers of the Constitution came to the conclusion that +the good of the country demanded that there should be a compromise, +and they proposed, as a compromise, the provision as it now stands; +and that is, that, for the purposes of representation, a person held +in slavery, or in involuntary servitude, shall be esteemed +three-fifths of a man and two-fifths property; and they established +the same rule in relation to taxation. They very wisely concluded +that, as it was all-important that some general rule should be +adopted, this was the best rule, because promising more than any other +rule to arrive at a just result of ascertaining the number of +Representatives and ascertaining the quota of taxation." + +Mr. Johnson did not think that the North needed such a provision as +this amendment to render her able to cope with Southern statesmanship +in Congress: "Are not the North and the statesmen of the North equal +to the South and the statesmen of the South on all subjects that may +come before the councils of the nation? What is there, looking to the +history of the two sections in the past, which would lead us to +believe that the North is inferior to the South in any thing of +intellectual improvement or of statesmanship? You have proved--and I +thank God you have proved--that if listening to evil counsels, +rendered effective, perhaps, by your own misjudged legislation, and by +the ill-advised course of your own population, exhibited through the +press and the pulpit, a portion of the South involved the country in a +war, the magnitude of which no language can describe--you have proved +yourselves, adequate to the duty of defeating, them in their mad and, +as far as the letter of the Constitution is concerned, their +traitorous purpose. And now, having proved your physical manhood, do +you doubt your intellectual manhood? Mr. President, in the presence in +which I speak, I am restrained from speaking comparatively of the +Senate as it is and the Senate as it has been; but I can say this, +with as much sincerity as man ever spoke, that there is nothing to be +found in the free States calculated to disparage them properly in the +estimation of the wise and the good. They are able to conduct the +Government, and they will not be the less able because they have the +advice and the counsels of their Southern brethren." + +In answer to the position that the Southern States were not possessed +of a republican form of government, Mr. Johnson remarked: "Did our +fathers consider that any one of the thirteen States who finally came +under the provisions of that Constitution, and have ever since +constituted a part of the nation, were not living under republican +forms of government? The honorable member will pardon me for saying +that to suppose it is to disparage the memory of those great and good +men. There was not a State in the Union when the Constitution was +adopted that was republican, if the honorable member's definition of a +republican government is the one now to be relied upon. A property +qualification was required in all at that time. Negroes were not +allowed to vote, although free, in most of the States. In the Southern +States the mass of the negroes were slaves, and, of course, were not +entitled to vote. If the absence of the universal right of suffrage +proves that the Government is not republican, then there was not a +republican government within the limits of the United States when the +Constitution was adopted; and yet the very object of the clause to +guarantee a republican government--and the honorable member's +citations prove it--was to prevent the existing governments from being +changed by revolution. It was to preserve the existing governments; +and yet the honorable member would have the Senate and the country +believe that, in the judgment of the men who framed the Constitution, +there was not a republican form of government in existence. + +"The definition of the honorable member places his charge of +antirepublicanism as against the present forms of constitution upon +the ground of the right to vote. I suppose the black man has no more +natural right to vote than the white man. It is the exclusion from the +right that affects the judgment of the honorable member from +Massachusetts. Voting, according to him, is a right derived from God; +it is in every man inalienable; and its denial, therefore, is +inconsistent and incompatible with the true object of a free +government. If it be such a right, it is not less a right in the white +man than in the black man; it is not less a right in the Indian than +in the white man or the black man; it is not less a right in the +female portion of our population than in the male portion. Then the +honorable member from Massachusetts is living in an anti-republican +government, and he ought not to stay there a moment if he can find any +government which would be a government according to his theory. None +has existed since the world commenced, and it is not at all likely +that any will exist in all time to come; but if there is any such +government to be found on the face of the earth, let him leave +Massachusetts, let him hug that angelic delusion which he hopes will +encircle the whole world, and go somewhere, where he can indulge it +without seeing before him every day conclusive evidence that no such +illusion exists at home. Leave Massachusetts, I beg the honorable +member, just as soon as you can, or you will never be supremely +happy." + +In conclusion, Mr. Johnson remarked, referring to the recent rebels: +"Let us take them to our bosom, trust them, and as I believe in my +existence, you will never have occasion to regret it. You will, if the +event occurs, look back to your participation in it in future time +with unmingled delight, because you will be able to date from it a +prosperity and a national fame of which the world furnishes no +example; and you will be able to date from, it the absence of all +cause of differences which can hereafter exist, which will keep us +together as one people, looking to one destiny, and anxious to achieve +one renown." + +On Tuesday, February 13th, the Senate resumed the consideration of the +Basis of Representation. Mr. Summer proposed to amend the proviso +recommended by the committee--"all persons therein of such race or +color shall be excluded from the basis of representation"--by adding +the words "and they shall be exempt from taxation of all kinds." + +Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, occupied the attention of the Senate, +during a considerable part of this and the following day, in a speech +against the proposition of the Committee of Fifteen, which he +considered a compromise, surrendering the rights of the negro out of +the hands of the General Government into the hands of States not fit +to be intrusted with them. In favor of his own amendment prohibiting +the States from disfranchising citizens on the ground of color, Mr. +Henderson said: "I propose to make the State governments republican in +fact, as they are in theory. The States now have the power and do +exclude the negroes for no other reason than that of color. If the +negro is equally competent and equally devoted to the Government as +the Celt, the Saxon, or the Englishman; why should he not vote? If he +pays his taxes, works the roads, repels foreign invasion with his +musket, assists in suppressing insurrections, fells the forest, tills +the soil, builds cities, and erects churches, what more shall he do to +give him the simple right of saying he must be only equal in these +burdens, and not oppressed? My proposition is put in the least +offensive form. It respects the traditionary right of the States to +prescribe the qualifications of voters. It does not require that the +ignorant and unlettered negro shall vote. Its words are simply that +'no State, in prescribing the qualifications requisite for electors +therein, shall discriminate against any person on account of color or +race.' The States may yet prescribe an educational or property test; +but any such test shall apply to white and black alike. If the black +man be excluded because he is uneducated, the uneducated white man +must be excluded too. If a property test be adopted for the negro, as +in New York, the same test must apply to the white man. It reaches all +the States, and not a few only, in its operation. I confess that, so +far as I am personally concerned, I would go still further and put +other limitations on the power of the States in regard to suffrage; +but Senators have expressed so much distrust that even this +proposition can not succeed, I have concluded to present it in a form +the least objectionable in which I could frame it. It will be observed +that this amendment, if adopted, will not prevent the State +Legislatures from fixing official qualifications. They may prevent a +negro from holding any office whatever under the State organization. +It is a singular fact, however, that to-day, under the Federal +Constitution, a negro may be elected President, United States Senator, +or a member of the lower branch of Congress. In that instrument no +qualification for office is prescribed which rejects the negro. The +white man, not native born, may not be President, but the native-born +African may be. The States, however, may, in this respect, +notwithstanding this amendment, do what the Federal Constitution never +did." + +Mr. Henderson closed his speech with the following words: "The reasons +in favor of my proposition are inseparably connected with all I have +said. I need not repeat them. Every consideration of peace demands it. +It must be done to remove the relics of the rebellion; it must be done +to pluck out political disease from the body politic, and restore the +elementary principles of our Government; it must be done to preserve +peace in the States and harmony in our Federal system; it must be done +to assure the happiness and prosperity of the Southern people +themselves; it must be done to establish in our institutions the +principles of universal justice; it must be done to secure the +strongest possible guarantees against future wars; it must be done in +obedience to that golden rule which insists upon doing to others what +we would that others should do unto us; it must be done if we would +obey the moral law that teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves; +in fine, it must be done to purify, strengthen, and perpetuate a +Government in which are now fondly centered the best hopes of +mankind." + +Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, addressed the Senate on the pending +measure. He made the following interesting historical statements: "As +the traveler who has passed a difficult road, when he comes to some +high hill looks back to see the difficulties which he has passed, I +turn back, and I ask the Senator to turn back, to consider what +occurred, as I say, about six years ago. In the session of 1859-60, in +the old Senate-chamber, a bill was brought into the Senate of the +United States by the then Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Brown], who +was chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, a place +which my friend from Maine [Mr. Morrill] now so worthily fills--a bill +in aid of the education of the children of this District. The bill +proposed to grant certain fines and forfeitures to the use of the +schools, and also proposed to tax the people ten cents on every +hundred dollars of the property in this District for the purpose of +educating the children. That bill proposed to tax the white man and +the black man alike; and fearing that the property of the black man +would be taxed to educate the child of the white man, I proposed an +amendment to the bill, that the tax collected from the black man +should go to educate the black man's child. + +"There was also a further provision of the bill, that if the District +raised a certain amount of money for the education of the children, +the Government of the United States would appropriate a like amount +from the Treasury. If, for instance, you raised $20,000 by taxes on +the people in the District, the Government should pay $20,000 more, to +be added to it for the education of the children of the District. I +moved the amendment that no child whose father paid any portion of +that tax for the education of the children should be excluded from the +benefit of it, be he white or black; but that there might be no +inconvenience felt, I agreed to an amendment that the black child +should not be put into the same school with the white child, but that +they should be educated in different schools to be provided for them; +but if the black man paid for educating the children of the District, +his child should be educated. There was at once an outcry, 'Why, this +is social equality of the two races; this is political equality;' and +they would not consent that the black child should be educated, even +with the money of the black father. That amendment was declared to be +carried in the Senate of the United States, and after declaring it was +carried, the Senate adjourned, and after the adjournment, the chairman +of that committee, Mr. Brown, appealed to me personally if I would not +withdraw it. I said to him, 'No, I would never withdraw it; if you tax +the black man, the black man should have a part of the money that you +raise from him to educate his child.' + +"After some days, the bill came up again in the Senate of the United +States, and the Senator from Mississippi, the chairman of the +Committee on the District of Columbia, got up and in open Senate +appealed to me, 'Will the Senator from New Hampshire withdraw that +amendment?' 'Never, Mr. President.' 'Then,' said the Senator from +Mississippi, 'I will lay the bill aside, and will not ask the Senate +to pass it;' and so the whole scheme failed, because they would not +consent that the money of the black man should educate his own child, +and they could not vote it to educate a white child. + +"Now I turn back to that time six years ago, and I mark the road that +we have come along. I mark where we struck the chains from the black +man in this same District, whose child you could not educate six years +ago; I mark, in this Senate, at this very session, that we have passed +a bill in aid of the Freedmen's Bureau to secure to him his rights in +this District; I mark that all through this nation we have stricken +off the chains of the slave and secured to the slave his rights +elsewhere in the Union; and we have now come to the height of the +hill, and are considering whether we will not enfranchise those very +black men through all the country." + +In favor of granting political rights to the negro, Mr. Clark made the +following remarks: "Mr. President, the question of the negro has +troubled the nation long. His condition as a slave troubled you; and +his condition as a freedman troubles you. Are you sick, heart-sick of +this trouble? and do you inquire when will it end? I will tell you. +When you have given him equal rights, equal privileges, and equal +security with other citizens; when you have opened the way for him to +be a man, then will you have rendered exact justice which can alone +insure stability and content. + +"Sir, if I ever did hold that this Government was made or belonged +exclusively to the white man, I should now be ashamed to avow it, or +to claim for it so narrow an application. The black man has made too +many sacrifices to preserve it, and endangered his life too often in +its defense to be excluded from it. The common sentiment of gratitude +should open its doors to him, if not political justice and equality. + +"Mr. President, my house once took fire in the night-time; my two +little boys were asleep in it, when I and their mother were away. The +neighbors rushed into it, saved the children, and extinguished the +flames. When I reached it, breathless and exhausted, the first +exclamation was, 'Your children are safe.' Can you tell me how mean a +man I should have been, and what execration I should have deserved, if +the next time those neighbors came to my house I had kicked them out +of it? Tell me, then, I pray you, why two hundred thousand black men, +most of whom volunteered to fight your battles, who rushed in to save +the burning house of your Government, should not be permitted to +participate in that Government which they helped to preserve? When you +enlisted and mustered these men, when your adjutant-general went +South, and gathered them to the recruiting-office, and persuaded them +to join your ranks, did he, or any one, tell them this was the white +man's Government? When they came to the rendezvous, did you point to +the sign over the door, 'Black men wanted to defend the white man's +Government?' When you put upon them the uniform of the United States, +did you say, 'Don't disgrace it; this is the white man's Government?' +When they toiled on the march, in the mud, the rain, and the snow, and +when they fell out of the ranks from sheer weariness, did you cheer +them on with the encouragement that 'this is the white man's +Government?' + +"When they stood on picket on the cold, stormy night to guard you +against surprise, did you creep up and warm their congealing blood +with an infusion of the white man's Government? When, with a wild +hurrah, on the 'double-quick,' they rushed upon the enemy's guns, and +bore your flag where men fell fastest and war made its wildest havoc, +where explosion after explosion sent their mangled bodies and severed +limbs flying through the air, and they fell on glacis, ditch, and +scarp and counterscarp, did you caution them against such bravery, and +remind them that 'this was the white man's Government?' And when the +struggle was over, and many had fought 'their last battle,' and you +gathered the dead for burial, did you exclaim, 'Poor fools! how +cheated! this is the white man's Government?' No, no, sir; you +beckoned them on by the guerdon of freedom, the blessings of an equal +and just Government, and a 'good time coming.' + +"'White man's Government, 'do you say? Go to Fort Pillow; stand upon +its ramparts and in its trenches, and recall the horrid butchery of +the black man there because he had joined you against rebellion, and +then say, if you will, 'This is the white man's Government.' Go to +Wagner. Follow in the track of the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth, as they +went to the terrible assault, with the guns flashing and roaring in +the darkness. Mark how unflinchingly they received the pelting iron +hail into their bosoms, and how they breasted the foe! See how nobly +they supported, and how heroically they fell with their devoted +leader; count the dead; pick up the severed limbs; number the wounds; +measure the blood spilled; and remember why and wherefore and in whose +cause the negro thus fought and suffered, and then say, if you can, +'This is the white man's Government.' Go to Port Hudson, go to +Richmond, go to Petersburg, go anywhere and every-where--to every +battle-field where the negro fought, where danger was greatest and +death surest--and tell me, if you can, that 'this is the white man's +Government.' And then go to Salisbury and Columbia and Andersonville, +and as you shudder at the ineffable miseries of those dens, and think +of those who ran the dead-line, and were not shot, but escaped to the +woods and were concealed and fed and piloted by the black men, and +never once betrayed, but often enabled to escape and return to their +friends, and then tell me if 'this is a white man's Government.' + +"In ancient Rome, when one not a citizen deserved well of the +republic, he was rewarded by the rights of citizenship, but we deny +them, and here in America--not in the Confederate States of America, +where, attempting to found a government upon slavery and the +subjection of one race to another, it would have been fitting, if +anywhere, but in the United States of America, the cardinal principle +of whose Government is the equality of all men. After these black men +have so nobly fought to maintain the one and overthrow the other, when +they ask us for the necessary right of suffrage to protect themselves +against the rebels they have fought, and with whom they are compelled +to live, we coolly reply, 'This is the white man's Government.' Nay, +more, and worse, we have refused it to them, and allowed it to their +and our worst enemies, the rebels. Sir, from the dim and shadowy +aisles of the past, there comes a cry of 'Shame! shame!' and pagan +Rome rebukes Christian America. + +"But not chiefly, Mr. President, do I advocate this right of the black +man to vote because he has fought the battles of the republic and +helped to preserve the Union, but because he is a citizen and a +man--one of the people, one of the governed--upon whose consent, if +the Declaration of Independence is correct, the just powers of the +Government rest; an intelligent being, of whom and for whom God will +have an account of us, individually and as a nation; whose blood is +one with ours, whose destinies are intermingled and run with ours, +whose life takes hold on immortality with ours, and because this right +is necessary to develop his manhood, elevate his race, and secure for +it a better civilization and a more enlightened and purer +Christianity." + +On the 15th of February, Mr. Sumner presented a memorial from George +T. Downing, Frederick Douglass, and other colored citizens of the +United States, protesting against the pending constitutional amendment +as introducing, for the first time, into the Constitution a grant to +disfranchise men on the ground of race or color. In laying this +memorial before the Senate, Mr. Sumner said: "I do not know that I +have at any time presented a memorial which was entitled to more +respectful consideration than this, from the character of its +immediate signers and from the vast multitudes they represent. I hope +I shall not depart from the proper province of presenting it if I +express my entire adhesion to all that it says, and if I take this +occasion to entreat the Senate, if they will not hearken to arguments +against the pending proposition, that they will at least hearken to +the voice of these memorialists, representing the colored race of our +country." + +Mr. Williams, of Oregon, argued in favor of the resolution reported by +the committee as the best measure before the Senate. He was for +proceeding slowly in the work of reconstruction. In his opinion, +neither the negro nor his master was now fit to vote. Upon this point +he said: "It seems to me there can be little doubt that at this +particular time the negroes of the rebel States are unfit to exercise +the elective franchise. I have recently conversed with two officers of +the Federal army from Texas, who told me that there, in the interior +and agricultural portions of the State, the negroes do not yet know +that they are free; and one of the officers told me that he personally +communicated to several negroes for the first time the fact of their +freedom. Emancipation may be known in the towns and cities throughout +the South, but the probabilities are that in the agricultural portions +of that country the negroes have no knowledge that they are free, or +only vague conceptions of their rights and duties as freemen. Sir, +give these men a little time; give them a chance to learn that they +are free; give them a chance to acquire some knowledge of their rights +as freemen; give them a chance to learn that they are independent and +can act for themselves; give them a chance to divest themselves of +that feeling of entire dependence for subsistence and the sustenance +of their families upon the landholders of the South, to which they +have been so long accustomed; give them a little time to shake the +manacles off of their minds that have just been stricken from their +hands, and I will go with the honorable Senator from Massachusetts to +give them the right of suffrage. And I will here express the hope that +the day is not far distant when every man born upon American soil, +within the pale of civilization, may defend his manhood and his rights +as a freeman by that most effective ballot which + + "'Executes the freeman's will + As lightning does the will of God.'" + +Concerning the amendment proposed by Mr. Henderson, Mr. Williams said: +"All the impassioned declamation and all the vehement assertions of +the honorable Senator do not change or affect the evidence before our +eyes that the people of these United States are not prepared to +surrender to Congress the absolute right to determine as to the +qualifications of voters in the respective States, or to adopt the +proposition that all persons, without distinction of race or color, +shall enjoy political rights and privileges equal to those now +possessed by the white people of the country. Sir, some of the States +have lately spoken upon that subject. Wisconsin and Connecticut, +Northern, loyal, and Republican States, have recently declared that +they would not allow the negroes within their own borders political +rights; and is it probable that of the thirty-six States, more than +six, at the most, would at this time adopt the constitutional +amendment proposed by the gentleman?" + +Notwithstanding the temporary darkness of the political sky, Mr. +Williams saw brilliant prospects before the country. "This nation," +said he, "is to live and not die. God has written it among the shining +decrees of destiny. Inspired by this hope and animated by this faith, +we will take this country through all its present troubles and perils +to the promised land of perfect unity and peace, where freedom, +equality, and justice, the triune and tutelar deity of the American +Republic, will rule with righteousness a nation 'whose walls shall be +salvation and whose gates praise.'" + +At the close of this speech, the Senate being about to proceed to a +vote upon the pending amendment, it was proposed to defer action and +adjourn the question over to the following day, for the purpose of +affording an opportunity for speeches by Senators who were not +prepared to proceed immediately. Mr. Fessenden, who had the measure in +charge, protested against the delays of the Senate. "This subject," +said he, "has dragged along now for nearly two weeks. If members +desire to address the Senate, they must be prepared to go on and do so +without a postponement from day to day for the purpose of allowing +every gentleman to make his speech in the morning, and then adjourning +early every evening. We shall never get through in that way. I give +notice to gentlemen that I shall begin to be a little more +quarrelsome--I do not know that it will do any good--after to-day." + +On the day following, Mr. Hendricks delivered a speech of considerable +length in opposition to the constitutional amendment. After having +maintained that the proposition did not rest the right of +representation upon population, nor upon property, nor upon voters, +Mr. Hendricks inquired: "Upon what principle do Senators propose to +adopt this amendment to the Constitution? I can understand it if you +say that the States shall be represented in the House of +Representatives upon their population; I can understand it if you say +that they shall be represented upon their voters; but when you say +that one State shall have the benefit of its non-voting population and +another State shall not, I can not understand the principle of equity +and justice which governs you in that measure. Sir, if it does not +stand upon a principle, upon what does it rest? It rests upon a +political policy. A committee that had its birth in a party caucus +brings it before this body, and does not conceal the fact that it is +for party purposes. This measure, if you ever allow the Southern +States to be represented in the House of Representatives, will bring +them back shorn of fifteen or twenty Representatives; it will bring +them back so shorn in their representation that the Republican party +can control this country forever; and if you cut off from fifteen to +thirty votes for President of the United States in the States that +will not vote for a Republican candidate, it may be that you can elect +a Republican candidate in 1868." + +Mr. Hendricks thought that "this proposition was designed to +accomplish three objects: first, to perpetuate the rule and power of a +political party; in the second place, it is a proposition the tendency +of which is to place agriculture under the control and power of +manufactures and commerce forever; and, in the third place, it is +intended, I believe, as a punishment upon the Southern States." + +In reference to changing the basis of representation as a punishment +for the Southern States, Mr. Hendricks said: "Now that the war is +over; now that the Southern people have laid down their arms; now that +they have sought to come again fully and entirely into the Union; now +that they have pledged their honors and their fortunes to be true to +the Union and to the flag; now that they have done all that can be +done by a conquered people, is it right, after a war has been fought +out, for us to take from them their political equality in this Union +for the purpose of punishment? The Senator from Maine, the chairman of +the committee, says that the right to control the suffrage is with the +States, but if the States do not choose to do right in respect to it, +we propose to punish them. You do not punish New York for not letting +the foreigner vote until he resides there a certain period. You do not +punish Indiana because she will not allow a foreigner to vote until he +has been in the country a year. These States are not to be punished +because they regulate the elective franchise according to their +sovereign pleasures; but if any other States see fit to deny the right +of voting to a class that is peculiarly guarded and taken care of +here, then they are to be punished." + +Referring to the speech of the Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. +Hendricks asked: "Had the white men of this country a right to +establish a Government, and thereby a political community? If so, they +had a right to say who should be members of that political community. +They had a right to exclude the colored man if they saw fit. Sir, I +say, in the language of the lamented Douglas, and in the language of +President Johnson, this is the white man's Government, made by the +white man for the white man. I am not ashamed to stand behind such +distinguished men in maintaining a sentiment like that. Nor was my +judgment on the subject changed the day before yesterday by the +lamentations of the Senator from New Hampshire, [Mr. Clark,] sounding +through this body like the wailing of the winds in the dark forest, +'that it is a horrible thing for a man to say that this is a white +man's Government.' + +"Mr. President, there is a great deal said about the part the colored +soldiers have taken in putting down this rebellion--a great deal more +than there is any occasion for, or there is any support for in fact or +history. This rebellion was put down by the white soldiers of this +country." + +Criticising sentiments toward the South, expressed by Senators, Mr. +Hendricks said: "We hear a good deal said about blood now. Yesterday +the Senator from Oregon [Mr. Williams] criticised the President for +his leniency toward the South. A few days ago, the Senator from Ohio +[Mr. Wade] made a severe criticism on the President for his leniency, +and my colleague asks for blood. Mr. President, this war commenced +with blood; nay, blood was demanded before the war. When the good men +and the patriotic, North and South, representing the yearning hearts +of the people at home, came here, in the winter and spring of 1861, in +a peace congress, if possible to avoid this dreadful war, right then +the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] announced to his Governor and +the country that this Union was scarcely worth preserving without some +blood-letting. His cry before the war was for blood. Allow me to say +that when the Senator's name is forgotten because of any thing he says +or does in this body, in future time it will be borne down upon the +pages of history as the author of the terrible sentiment that the +Union of the people that our fathers had cemented by the blood of the +Revolution and by the love of the people; that that Union, resting +upon compromise and concession, resting upon the doctrine of equality +to all sections of the country; that that Union which brought us so +much greatness and power in the three-quarters of a century of our +life; that that Union that had brought us so much prosperity and +greatness, until we were the mightiest and proudest nation on God's +footstool; that that grand Union was not worth preserving unless we +had some blood-letting!" + +Mr. Chandler, of Michigan, replied: "The Senator from Indiana has +arraigned me upon an old indictment for having written a certain +letter in 1861. It is not the first time that I have been arraigned on +that indictment of 'blood-letting.' I was first arraigned for it upon +this floor by the traitor John C. Breckinridge; and I answered the +traitor John C. Breckinridge; and after I gave him his answer, he went +out into the rebel ranks and fought against our flag. I was arraigned +by another Senator from Kentucky and by other traitors upon this +floor. I expect to be arraigned again. I wrote the letter, and I stand +by the letter; and what was in it? What was the position of the +country when that letter was written? The Democratic party, as an +organization, had arrayed itself against this Government--a Democratic +traitor in the presidential chair, and a Democratic traitor in every +department of this Government; Democratic traitors preaching treason +upon this floor, and preaching treason in the hall of the other house; +Democratic traitors in your army and in your navy; Democratic traitors +controlling every branch of this Government. Your flag was fired upon, +and there was no response. The Democratic party had ordained that this +Government should be overthrown; and I, a Senator from the State of +Michigan, wrote to the Governor of that State, 'Unless you are +prepared to shed blood for the preservation of this great Government, +the Government is overthrown.' That is all there was to that letter. +That I said, and that I say again; and I tell that Senator if he is +prepared to go down in history with the Democratic traitors who then +cooeperated with him, I am prepared to go down on that 'blood-letting' +letter, and I stand by the record as then made." [Applause in the +galleries.] + +On the 19th of February, Mr. Howard, of Michigan, offered an amendment +providing that the right of suffrage should be enjoyed by all persons +of African descent belonging to the following classes: those who have +been in the military service of the United States, those who can read +and write, and those who possess $250 worth of property. + +Mr. Yates, of Illinois, addressed the Senate for three hours on the +pending amendment of the Constitution. On the 29th of January +preceding, Mr. Yates had proposed a bill providing that no State or +Territory should make any distinction between citizens on account of +race, or color, or condition; and that all citizens, without +distinction of race, color, or condition should be protected in the +enjoyment and exercise of all their civil and political rights, +including the right of suffrage. + +This bill Mr. Yates made the basis of his argument. His reason for +preferring a bill to a constitutional amendment was presented as +follows: "There is only one way of salvation for the country. Your +amendments to the Constitution of the United States can not be +adopted. If we have not the power now under the Constitution of the +United States to secure full freedom, then, sir, we shall not have it, +and there is no salvation whatever for the country. Let not freedom +die in the house, and by the hands of her friends." + +[Illustration: Hon. Richard Yates.] + +Mr. Yates maintained that the constitutional amendment abolishing +slavery gave to Congress power to legislate to the full extent of the +measure proposed by him. "Let gentlemen come forward," said he, "and +meet the issue like men. Let them come forward and do what they have +by the Constitution the clear power to do, and that is a _sine qua +non_ in order to carry into effect the constitutional prohibition of +slavery. As for me, I would rather face the music and meet the +responsibility like a man, and send to the people of the State of +Illinois the boon of universal suffrage, and of a full and complete +emancipation, than meet the taunt of Northern demagogues that I would +force suffrage upon North Carolina, and Tennessee, and Delaware, while +I had not the courage to prescribe it for our own free States. Sir, it +will be the crime of the century if now, having the power, as we +clearly have, we lack the nerve to do the work that is given us to +do. + +"Let me say to my Republican friends, you are too late. You have gone +too far to recede now. Four million people, one-seventh of your whole +population, you have set free. Will you start back appalled at the +enchantment your own wand has called up? The sequences of your own +teachings are upon you. As for me, I start not back appalled when +universal suffrage confronts me. When the bloody ghost of slavery +rises, I say, 'Shake your gory locks at me; I did it.' I accept the +situation. I fight not against the logic of events or the decrees of +Providence. I expected it, sir, and I meet it half way. I am for +universal suffrage. I bid it 'All hail!' 'All hail!' + +"Four million people set free! What will protect them? The ballot. +What alone will give us a peaceful and harmonious South? The ballot to +all. What will quench the fires of discord, give us back all the +States, a restored Union, and make us one people? The ballot, and that +alone. Is there no other way? None other under the sun. There is no +other salvation. + +"The ballot will lead the freedman over the Red Sea of our troubles. +It will be the brazen serpent, upon which he can look and live. It +will be his pillar of cloud by day, and his pillar of fire by night. +It will lead him to Pisgah's shining height, and across Jordan's +stormy waves, to Canaan's fair and happy land. Sir, the ballot is the +freedman's Moses. So far as man is concerned, I might say that Mr. +Lincoln was the Moses of the freedmen; but whoever shall be the truest +friend of human freedom, whoever shall write his name highest upon the +horizon of public vision as the friend of human liberty, that man--and +I hope it may be the present President of the United States--will be +the Joshua to lead the people into the land of deliverance." + +Mr. Yates maintained that for the exercise of the right of suffrage +there should be no test of intelligence, wealth, rank or race. To +bring the people up to the proper standard, the ballot itself was "the +greatest educator." He said: "Let a man have an interest in the +Government, a voice as to the men and measures by which his taxes, his +property, his life, and his reputation shall be determined, and there +will be a stimulus to education for that man. + +"As the elective franchise has been extended in this country, we have +seen education become more universal. Look throughout all our Northern +States at our schools and colleges, our academies of learning, our +associations, the pulpit, the press, and the numerous agencies for the +promotion of intelligence, all the inevitable offspring of our free +institutions. Here is the high training which inspires the eloquence +of the Senate, the wisdom of the cabinet, the address of the +diplomatist, and which has developed and brought to light that +intelligent and energetic mind which has elevated the character and +contributed to the prosperity of the country. It is the ballot which +is the stimulus to improvement, which fires the heart of youthful +ambition, which stimulates honorable aspiration, which penetrates the +thick shades of the forest, and takes the poor rail-splitter by the +hand and points him to the shining height of human achievement, or +which goes into the log hut of the tailor boy and opens to him the +avenue of the presidential mansion." + +Mr. Yates then declared his confidence in the triumph of the principle +of universal suffrage: "It is my conscientious conviction that if +every Senator on this floor, and every Representative in the other +House, and the President of the United States, should, with united +voices, attempt to oppose this grand consummation of universal +equality, they will fail. It is too late for that. You may go to the +head-waters of the Mississippi and turn off the little rivulets, but +you can not go to the mouth, after it has collected its waters from a +thousand rivers, and with accumulated volume is pouring its foaming +waters into the Gulf, and say, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no +further.' + +"It is too late to change the tide of human progress. The enlightened +convictions of the masses, wrought by the thorough discussions of +thirty years, and consecrated by the baptism of precious blood, can +not now be changed. The hand of a higher power than man's is in this +revolution, and it will not move backward. It is of no use to fight +against destiny. God, not man, created men equal. Deep laid in the +solid foundations of God's eternal throne, the principle of equality +is established, indestructible and immortal. + +"Senators, sixty centuries of the past are looking down upon you. All +the centuries of the future are calling upon you. Liberty, struggling +amid the rise and wrecks of empires in the past, and yet to struggle +for life in all the nations of the world, conjures you to seize this +great opportunity which the providence of Almighty God has placed in +your hands to bless the world and make your names immortal, to carry +to full and triumphant consummation the great work begun by your +fathers, and thus lay permanently, solidly, and immovably, the +cap-stone upon the pyramid of human liberty." + +On the 21st of February, the proposed amendment being again before the +Senate, Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, delivered an elaborate speech +in opposition to the measure. He had previously refrained from +speech-making, supposing that "while the passions of the country were +inflamed by the war, reason could not be heard." He regretted that +questions pertaining to the war still occupied the attention of +Congress to the exclusion of those connected with economy, revenue, +finance, ordinary legislation, and the administration of +justice--questions which require intelligence, investigation, labor, +and the habits of the student. As an argument against changing the +basis of representation as it existed, Mr. Buckalew gave statistical +details, showing the various ratios of representation in the Senate, +as possessed respectively by the East, West and South. He maintained +that New England had too great a preponderance of power in the Senate, +both, as to membership and the chairmanships of committees, "While," +said he, "the population of the East is less than one-seventh of the +population of the States represented in the Senate, she has the +chairmanships of one-third of the committees. The chairmanship of a +committee is a position of much influence and power. The several +distinguished gentlemen holding that position have virtual control +over the transaction of business, both in committee and in the +Senate." + +Mr. Buckalew thus presented the effect of restoration of +representation to the Southern States upon the relative position of +New England: "Twenty-two Senators from the Southern States and two +from Colorado--being double the number of those from the East--would +reduce the importance of the latter in the Senate and remit her back +to the condition in which she stood in her relations to the Union +before the war. True, she would even then possess much more than her +proportion of weight in the Senate, regard being had to her +population, but she would no longer dominate or control the Government +of the United States." + +Mr. Buckalew argued at some length that representation should continue +to be based upon population. He thought that the two-fifths added to +the representative population in the South by the abolition of slavery +would be counterbalanced by the mortality of the slave population +since the outbreak of the war. He then presented the following +objections to "any propositions of amendments at this time by +Congress:" + +"1. Eleven States are unrepresented in the Senate and House. They are +not heard in debate which may affect their interests and welfare in +all future time. + +"2. Any amendment made at this time will be a partisan amendment. + +"3. The members of this Congress were not chosen with reference to the +subject of constitutional amendment. + +"4. Whatever amendments are now proposed by Congress are to be +submitted to Legislatures, and not to popular conventions in the +States; and most of those Legislatures are to be the ones now in +session. + +"5. In submitting amendments at this time, we invite a dispute upon +the question of the degree of legislative assent necessary to their +adoption. If ratified by the Legislatures of less than three-fourths +of all the States, their validity will be denied, and their +enforcement resisted." + +Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, replied to Mr. Buckalew's imputations +against New England. "The Senator gave us to understand that he had +not wasted reason, thought, and culture upon the stormy passions +engendered by the war, but now, when reason had resumed her empire, he +had come forth to instruct his country. + +"The Senators from New England, unlike the Senator from Pennsylvania, +remained not silent during the great civil war through which the +nation has passed. They have spoken; they have spoken for the unity of +their country and the freedom of all men. They have spoken for their +country, their whole country, and for the rights of all its people of +every race. Their past is secure, and the imputations of the Senator +from Pennsylvania will pass harmless by them. + +"When the Constitution was formed, New England had eight of the +twenty-six Senators--nearly one-third of the body; now she has twelve +of the seventy-two Senators--one-sixth of the body. Her power is +diminishing in this body and will continue to diminish. When the +Constitution was adopted, quite as great inequalities existed among +the States as now. The illustrious statesmen who framed the +Constitution knew and recognized that fact; they based the Senate upon +the States, and upon the equality of the States. They were so +determined in that policy of equal State representation in the Senate +that they provided that the Constitution should never be amended in +that respect without the consent of every State. + +"The Senator suggests that the Senators from New England are actuated +by local interests and love of power in their action regarding the +admission of the Representatives of the rebel States. Nothing can be +more unjust to those Senators. It is without the shadow of fairness or +justice, or the semblance of truth. I can say before God that I am +actuated by no local interests, no love of power, in opposing the +immediate and unconditional admission of the rebel States into these +chambers; and I know my associates from New England too well to +believe for a moment that they are actuated by interest or the love of +power. Thousands of millions of money have been expended, and hundreds +of thousands of brave men have bled for the unity and liberty of the +republic. I desire--my associates from New England desire--to see +these vacant chairs filled at an early day by the Representatives of +the States that rebelled and rushed into civil war. We will welcome +them here; but before they come it is of vital importance to the +country, to the people of all sections, to the interests of all, that +all disturbing questions should be forever adjusted, and so adjusted +as never again to disturb the unity and peace of the country. It is +now the time to settle forever all matters that can cause estrangement +and sectional agitations and divisions in the future. Nothing should +be left to bring dissensions, and, it may be, civil war again upon our +country. The blood poured out to suppress the rebellion must not be +shed in vain." + +Prominent Republican Senators bringing earnest opposition to bear +against the proposed constitutional amendment, and a sentiment +evidently gaining ground that it did not meet the requirements of the +case, caused its friends to urge it with less zeal than had at first +characterized them. Meanwhile, other important propositions coming up +from the Committee of Fifteen, which occupied the attention of the +Senate, as detailed in a subsequent chapter, the subject of changing +the basis of representation was allowed to lie over for nearly a +fortnight. + +On the 5th of March, the subject being resumed, Mr. Pomeroy addressed +the Senate. He feared that the nation was not ready to adopt a +constitutional amendment such as the necessities of the country +required. "This nation," said he, "although severely disciplined, has +not yet reached the point of giving to all men their rights by a +suffrage amendment; three-fourths of the States are not ready. And any +patchwork, any 'step toward it' (as said the chairman of the +committee) which does not reach it, I fear to take, because but one +opportunity will ever be afforded us to step at all; and lost +opportunities are seldom repeated." + +Mr. Pomeroy did not think the case was without remedy, however, since +"the last constitutional amendment embraced all, gave the most ample +powers, even if they did not exist before; for, after having secured +the freedom of all men wherever the old flag floats, it provided that +Congress might 'secure' the same by 'appropriate legislation.' + +"What more could it have said? And who are better judges of +appropriate legislation than the very men who first passed the +amendment and provided for this very case? + +"Sir, what is 'appropriate legislation' on the subject, namely, +securing the freedom of all men? It can be nothing less than throwing +about all men the essential safeguards of the Constitution. The 'right +to bear arms' is not plainer taught or more efficient than the right +to carry ballots. And if appropriate legislation will secure the one, +so can it also the other. And if both are necessary, and provided for +in the Constitution as now amended, why, then, let us close the +question of congressional legislation. + +"Let us not take counsel of our own fears, but of our hopes; not of +our enemies, but of our friends. By all the memories which cluster +about the pathway in which we have been led; by all the sacrifices, +suffering, blood, and tears of the conflict; by all the hopes of a +freed country and a disenthralled race; yea, as a legacy for mankind, +let us now secure a free representative republic, based upon impartial +suffrage and that human equality made clear in the Declaration of +Independence. To this entertainment let us invite our countrymen and +all nations, committing our work, when done, to the verdict of +posterity and the blessing of Almighty God." + +On the day following, Mr. Saulsbury took the floor. His speech, +ostensibly against the pending measure, was a palliation of the +conduct of the Southern States, and a plea for their right of being +admitted to representation in Congress. All that the Senator said +directly upon the subject under discussion was contained in the +following paragraph: + +"Now, suppose your constitutional amendment passes. If it passes, it +ought to meet with the respect of some body. If this constitutional +amendment shall be presented to the States who are now represented in +Congress, and shall be adopted by simply three-fourths of those +States, is there any body that will have the least respect for it? +Then suppose you could go with the bayonet--which I think now, under +the brighter dawn of a better day which we begin to realize, you are +not going to have the liberty to do--suppose you were to go with the +bayonet and present it to the other eleven States, and they, acting +under duress, not as free agents and as free men, could get some +people in their section so miserable and poor in spirit and craven in +soul as to vote to adopt in their Legislatures such an amendment, +would it command the respect of any body in this land? Not at all. +Open your doors, sir; admit the Representatives of the Southern States +to seats in this body; require no miserable degrading oath of them; +administer to them the very oath that you first took when you entered +this body, and the only oath that the Constitution of the United +States requires, and the only oath which Congress has any right to +exact, an oath to support the Constitution of the United States; and +then, if you think your Constitution is defective, if you think it +needs further amendment, or if you have not sufficiently exhausted +your bowels of mercy and love and kindness toward your sable friends +whose shadows darken this gallery every day, submit your amendments to +the States represented in the Congress of the United States; and if +they choose, acting freely as citizens of their States, to agree to +your amendments, it will command the respect of themselves, but still +it will not command mine. I should despise a people who would +voluntarily assume so degrading a position." + +On the 7th of March, Mr. Sumner occupied the attention of the Senate +for three hours, with a second speech in opposition to the proposed +constitutional amendment. He used very strong language to express his +abhorrence of the proposition: "It reminds me of that leg of mutton +served for dinner on the road from London to Oxford, which Dr. +Johnson, with characteristic energy, described 'as bad as bad could +be, ill-fed, ill-killed, ill-kept, and ill-dressed.' So this +compromise--I adopt the saying of an eminent friend, who insists that +it can not be called an 'amendment,' but rather a 'detriment' to the +Constitution--is as bad as bad can be; and even for its avowed purpose +it is uncertain, loose, cracked, and rickety. Regarding it as a +proposition from Congress to meet the unparalleled exigencies of the +present hour, it is no better than the 'muscipular abortion' sent into +the world by the 'parturient mountain.' But it is only when we look at +the chance of good from it that this proposition is 'muscipular.' +Regarding it in every other aspect it is infinite, inasmuch as it +makes the Constitution a well-spring of insupportable thralldom, and +once more lifts the sluices of blood destined to run until it comes to +the horse's bridle. Adopt it, and you will put millions of +fellow-citizens under the ban of excommunication; you will hand them +over to a new anathema maranatha; you will declare that they have no +political rights 'which white men are bound to respect,' thus +repeating in a new form that abomination which has blackened the name +of Taney. Adopt it, and you will stimulate anew the war of race upon +race. Slavery itself was a war of race upon race, and this is only a +new form of this terrible war. The proposition is as hardy as it is +gigantic; for it takes no account of the moral sense of mankind, which +is the same as if in rearing a monument we took no account of the law +of gravitation. It is the paragon and masterpiece of ingratitude, +showing more than any other act of history what is so often charged +and we so fondly deny, that republics are ungrateful. The freedmen ask +for bread, and you send them a stone. With piteous voice they ask for +protection. You thrust them back unprotected into the cruel den of +their former masters. Such an attempt, thus bad as bad can be, thus +abortive for all good, thus perilous, thus pregnant with a war of race +upon race, thus shocking to the moral sense, and thus treacherous to +those whom we are bound to protect, can not be otherwise than +shameful. Adopt it, and you will cover the country with dishonor. +Adopt it, and you will fix a stigma upon the very name of republic. As +to the imagination, there are mountains of light, so are there +mountains of darkness; and this is one of them. It is the very +Koh-i-noor of blackness. Adopt this proposition, and you will be +little better than the foul Harpies who defiled the feast that was +spread. The Constitution is the feast spread for our country, and you +are now hurrying to drop into its text a political obscenity, and to +spread on its page a disgusting ordure, + + "'Defiling all you find, + And parting leave a loathsome stench behind.'" + +Having presented his objections to the pending proposition, at great +length, he summed them up as follows: "You have seen, first, how this +proposition carries into the Constitution itself the idea of +Inequality of Rights, thus defiling that unspotted text; secondly, how +it is an express sanction of the acknowledged tyranny of taxation +without representation; thirdly, how it is a concession to State +Rights at a moment when we are recovering from a terrible war waged +against us in the name of State Rights; fourthly, how it is the +constitutional recognition of an oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, and +monopoly founded on color; fifthly, how it petrifies in the +Constitution the wretched pretensions of a white man's government; +sixthly, how it assumes what is false in constitutional law, that +color can be a 'qualification' for an elector; seventhly, how it +positively ties the hands of Congress in fixing the meaning of a +republican government, so that, under the guarantee clause, it will be +constrained to recognize an oligarchy, aristocracy, caste, and +monopoly founded on color, together with the tyranny of taxation +without representation, as not inconsistent with such a government; +eighthly, how it positively ties the hands of Congress in completing +and consummating the abolition of slavery according to the second +clause of the constitutional amendment, so that it can not, for this +purpose, interfere with the denial of the elective franchise on +account of color; ninthly, how it installs recent rebels in permanent +power over loyal citizens; and, tenthly, how it shows forth, in +unmistakable character, as a compromise of human rights, the most +immoral, indecent, and utterly shameful of any in our history. All +this you have seen, with pain and sorrow, I trust. Who that is moved +to sympathy for his fellow-man can listen to the story without +indignation? Who that has not lost the power of reason can fail to see +the cruel wrong?" + +Mr. Doolittle mentioned some facts which he thought would prove the +apprehension of an increase of the basis of representation in the +South to be without foundation. "The destruction of the population," +said he, "both white and black, during the civil war, has been most +enormous. Of the white population, there were in those States in 1860, +of white males over twenty years of age, about one million six hundred +thousand. Nearly one-third of that white population over twenty years +of age has perished. The actual destruction of the black population +since 1860 has been at least twenty-five per cent. of the whole +population. The population of the South has been so destroyed and +wasted and enfeebled in consequence of this war, that I do not for +one, I confess, feel those apprehensions which some entertain that, if +they are admitted to representation under the Constitution just as it +stands, they will have any increase of Representatives. My opinion is, +that after the next census their representation will be diminished +unless emigration from the North or from Europe shall fill up their +population and increase it so as to entitle it to an increased +representation." + +Mr. Doolittle argued that the amendment was capable of being evaded by +a State disposed to disfranchise colored men: "I do not see," said he, +"that there is any thing in the resolution which would prevent South +Carolina or any other State from passing a law that any person who was +born free, or whose ancestors were free, should exercise the elective +franchise, and none others. That would exclude the whole of the +colored population, and yet would leave the State to have its full +representation. There is nothing which would prevent the State of +South Carolina or any other State from saying that only those persons +who had served in the military service, and their descendants, should +exercise the elective franchise. That would exclude the colored +population, and the Union population, too, if they refused to serve in +the army." + +Mr. Doolittle closed his remarks by advocating an amendment basing +representation upon actual voters under State laws. + +Mr. Morrill, of Maine, addressed the Senate in support of the +proposition to amend the Constitution. He said: "Some amendment is +rendered absolutely necessary, unless the American Constitution is to +give to the nation the expression of utterly contradictory sentiments, +saying involuntary servitude no longer exists, in one portion of it; +in another, bearing on its front in marked contrast, that three-fifths +only of the 'other persons' are to still constitute the basis of +representation." + +He recalled a time not far remote when amendments of the Constitution +were adopted by those who now oppose any alteration of the fundamental +law: "I do not forget," said he, "that within the last five years a +class of statesmen and politicians, who now resist all propositions +for an amendment of the Constitution, here and elsewhere urged and +demanded amendments of the Constitution of the nation. What were the +circumstances then? Several States threatened to dissolve this Union; +several States had taken an attitude hostile to the Government of the +country. They demanded the extension, the protection, and the +perpetuation of slavery; and upon that question the country was +divided. Then amendments to the Constitution were proposed without +number here, elsewhere, and every-where. Amendments to the +Constitution seemed to be the order of the day. To what end, and for +what purpose? To increase the power in the hands of the few who +wielded the political power in those States, and who were demanding +it. + +Referring to an argument presented by the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. +Morrill remarked: "But yesterday we had an additional reason given why +this amendment should not be adopted; and that was that it was wholly +unnecessary, because, it was said, by the events which were +transpiring in the country in regard to the recent slave population, +there need be no apprehension of excess of representation based on the +whole 'numbers' instead of three-fifths, from the important fact that +they were passing away. If I gather the force of that argument, it is +this: we are to base no legislation and no action upon the idea that +this race, recently slave, now free, is part and parcel of the +American people, the object of our care, solicitude, and protection. +They are passing away--dying; let them be represented as slaves now, +and let them never enter into the basis hereafter of the +representative system. Sir, that is the old argument--an argument +worthy of another period than this. Our people have been an inexorable +people, in some respects, in regard to the races that have been within +their power. In the march of our civilization across the continent, +the iron heel of that civilization has rested upon the Indian, and he +is passing away. We seem to contemplate the probable extinction of the +Indians from our limits with composure. He is a nomad; he is a savage; +he is a barbarian; he is not within our morals or our code of law; he +is not within the pale of the Constitution, but flits upon the verge +of it, outside our protection, the subject of our caprices, and +sometimes, I think, of our avarice. And, now, if any consequence is to +be attached to the remark of the honorable Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. +Doolittle] yesterday, this 'inferior race' is not to be the subject of +our solicitude. They, too, are passing away; it is not worth while to +change your Constitution in regard to them. Let them be represented as +two-fifths slaves on the old basis until they shall have perished, and +then your Constitution will need no amendment. The laws of a fearful +antagonism of superior and inferior races are expected to accomplish +what, if American statesmanship does not incite, it contemplates with +apparent satisfaction." + +Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, profoundly regretted to see indications +that the amendment was doomed to defeat. He said: "My heart, my +conscience, and my judgment approve of this amendment, and I support +it without qualification or reservation. I approve of the purpose for +which it is introduced. I approve it because I believe it would sweep +the loyal States by an immense majority; that no public man could +stand before the people of the loyal States in opposition to it, or +oppose it with any force whatever. I approve it because I believe if +it were put in the Constitution every black man in America, before +five years could pass, would be enfranchised and weaponed with the +ballot for the protection of life, liberty, and property." + +Referring to the opposition brought to bear against the measure by his +colleague, Mr. Wilson said: "We are also told that it is immoral and +indecent, an offense to reason and to conscience. Sir, this measure +came into Congress with the sanction of the Committee on +Reconstruction, composed as it is of men of individual honor and +personal character, and as true to the cause of the colored race as +any other men here or elsewhere. It comes to the Senate by an +overwhelming vote of the House of Representatives. It is sustained by +ninety-nine out of every hundred of the public journals that brought +the present Administration into power, and were it submitted to the +American people, it would, I am quite sure, be sustained by men in the +loyal States who believe that the soldier who fought the battles of +the republic is the equal of the traitor who fought against the +country. I see no compromise in it, no surrender in it, no defilement +of the Constitution in it, no implication that can be drawn from it +against the rights or interests of the colored race. On the contrary, +I believe the black men, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, would go +for it and rejoice to see it adopted." + +Mr. Wilson described the results that would follow the adoption of +this amendment. "Being incorporated in the Constitution, the practical +effect would be this, and only this: it would raise up a party in +every one of these States immediately in favor of the enfranchisement +of the colored race. That party might be animated and influenced by +the love of power, by pride, and by ambition. These men might begin +the contest, for they would not like to yield the power of their +States in Congress; they might begin the battle animated by no high +and lofty motives; but as soon as the discussion commenced, it would +address itself to the reason, to the heart, and to the conscience of +the people. The advocates of negro enfranchisement would themselves +speedily grow up to believe in the justice, equity, and right of +giving the ballot to the black men. There would be discussion on every +square mile of the rebel States. Appeals would be made to their pride, +to their ambition, to their justice, to their love of fair play, to +their equity; all the interests and passions, and all the loftier +motives that can sway, control, and influence men, would impel them to +action. They would cooeperate with the friends of freedom throughout +the country; would seek their counsel and aid. They would be the left +wing of the great army of freedom, of elevation, and improvement in +the country. We would give them our influence, our voices, and our aid +in fighting the battle of enfranchisement. They would have the support +and the prayers of the poor black men of the South; and before five +years had passed away, there would not be a rebel State that did not +enfranchise the bondman." + +Referring to the policy of "enlightened Christian States," in refusing +the right of suffrage to the negro, Mr. Wilson said: "After all the +fidelity and heroic conduct of these men, prejudice, party spirit, and +conservatism, and all that is base and mean on earth, combine to deny +the right of suffrage to the brave soldier of the republic. God alone +can forgive such meanness; humanity can not. After what has taken +place, is taking place, I can not hope that the constitutional +amendment proposed by the Senator from Missouri will receive a +majority of three-fourths of the votes of the States. I, therefore, +can not risk the cause of an emancipated race upon it. In the present +condition of the nation we must aim at practical results, not to +establish political theories, however beautiful and alluring they may +be." + +It was the understanding of the Senate that the discussion would close +and the vote would be taken on the 9th of March. On that day Mr. +Fessenden took the floor in reply to objections urged by those who had +previously spoken. In reply to the objection that the advocates of +this measure were wrong in attempting to accomplish by indirection +that which they could not accomplish directly, Mr. Fessenden said: "If +negro suffrage can be secured by the indirect action of an amendment +of the Constitution which appeals to the interest of those who have +hitherto been and who are yet probably the ruling class among whom +this large population is situated, and with whom they live, it will be +far better than to run the risk of all the difficulties that might +arise from a forcible imposition, which would create ill-feeling, +generate discord, and produce, perhaps undying animosities." + +To the objection urged by Mr. Hendricks, that it was intended for a +party purpose, Mr. Fessenden replied: "Has he any right to attack the +motives of those who support it? Must it necessarily be attended with +benefit to a particular party? If so, it is necessarily attended with +injury to another party, of which the honorable Senator is a prominent +member; and it would as well become me to say that his opposition to +it is for party purposes and for party objects as it became him to say +that its introduction and its support were intended for party +purposes. It is well known here and out of this Senate that the +honorable Senator from Indiana is a gentleman who never, in any of his +addresses here, says any thing that is in the slightest degree +calculated to effect a party purpose, and has so little of that party +feeling which presses itself upon other men as to be hardly suspected +of being a party man at all." [Laughter.] + +Mr. Fessenden thus replied to the objections of two opponents of the +measure: "The Senator [Mr. Hendricks] objected to this measure upon +another ground, and that was, that in one sense it was intended as a +punishment, and that was wrong; and in another sense it was what he +called a bribe, a reward, and that was wrong. If he considers it a +punishment, he differs very much from his leading associate on this +question, the honorable Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Sumner,] for +he does not consider it a punishment at all. The Senator from +Massachusetts says there is nothing punitive in it. On the contrary, +it is a reward to these States; it is conferring power upon them; it +is strengthening power in the hands of the whites of the South, and +only oppressing the colored race. Behold how doctors disagree! They +operate upon the same patient, and are operating at the same time, +with different remedies and in different directions. + +"Suppose it is a punishment, and suppose it is a bribe, a reward; it +does not differ very much from the principle upon which all criminal +legislation is founded, to say the least of it. We punish men when +they do wrong. I never heard that it was an objection to legislation +that it punished those who perpetrate a wrong. I never heard that it +was an objection to legislation that it held out rewards to those who +did right." + +Referring to Mr. Buckalew's argument, Mr. Fessenden remarked: "Eight +out of sixteen pages of his speech were devoted to abuse of New +England, and to showing that New England had too much power, and that +it ought to be abridged in some way. "He closed those remarks by +saying (for which I was very much obliged to him) that he did not +despise New England. We are happy to know it. I will say to him that +New England does not despise him that I am aware of. [Laughter.] I am +not aware that it is really affected in any degree by the elaborate +attack of eight pages which he delivered against New England on that +occasion, and which he thought were views so important that he could +not be justified if he failed to give them utterance." + +Of Mr. Sumner's part in the debate, Mr. Fessenden said: "On this +subject I think he has occupied about eight or nine hours of the time +of the Senate, and on the last occasion, while saying that principles +were to be considered, he has undertaken to designate the character of +this proposed amendment. I have already stated who the men were who +were in favor of it. What does the Senator call it? I have chosen a +few, and but a few, flowers of rhetoric from the speech of the +honorable Senator: 'Compromise of human rights,' 'violating the +national faith,' 'dishonoring the name of there public,' 'bad mutton,' +'new muscipular abortion,' 'a new anathema maranatha,' 'abomination,' +'paragon and masterpiece of ingratitude,' 'abortive for all good,' +'shocking to the moral sense,' 'the very Koh-i-noor of blackness,' +'essential uncleanliness,' 'disgusting ordure,' 'loathsome stench;' +and the men who support it, if they pass it, will be 'Harpies,' +'Pontius Pilate, with Judas Iscariot on his back.' + +"The Senator from Massachusetts makes several points against this +proposition, to which my answer is the same. His first point is, that +it recognizes 'the idea of inequality of rights founded on race or +color.' I deny _in toto_ the correctness, or even the plausibility, to +a man of sense, any point that he has raised on the subject. There is +not one of them that is tenable; and more than that, there is not one +of them but what is just as tenable against the proposition he is in +favor of to found representation on voters as this. What lawyer in the +world ever heard that a denial is an admission? What lawyer ever heard +that a penalty is a permission? By this proposition, we say simply +this: 'If, in the exercise of the power that you have under the +Constitution, you make an inequality of rights, then you are to suffer +such and such consequences.' What sane man could ever pretend that +that was saying, 'Make an inequality of rights and we will sanction +it?' We do not deny--nobody can deny--that the power may be thus +exercised. What we say by this amendment is, 'If you attempt to +exercise it in this wrongful way, you create an inequality of rights; +and if you do create an inequality of rights'--not we, but you--'if +you undertake to do it under the power which exists in the +Constitution, then the consequence follows that you are punished by a +loss of representation.' That is all that is in it." + +Having replied to the most of Mr. Sumner's objections in order, Mr. +Fessenden said: "The last point of the Senator is, that this +proposition is 'a compromise of human rights, the most immoral, +indecent, and utterly shameful in our history.' + +"Mr. President, I stand rebuked, but I do not feel so bad as I might. +The Committee of Fifteen, the friends and associates of the honorable +Senator, stand rebuked. More than two-thirds of the House of +Representatives and a large majority of this body, all the political +friends and associates of the Senator, stand charged with proposing a +compromise of human rights the most immoral, indecent, and shameful in +our history! All I can say with regard to that is, that neither on its +face, in its effect, nor in its intention is it any compromise. None +such was dreamed of." + +Mr. Fessenden thus described the remarkable combination of Senators +opposing the amendment: "I can not close, however, without saying how +amusing seems to me the character of the opposition to this joint +resolution. That opposition is composed of men of all shades of +opinion. The Democrats on the other side of the House oppose it +because they say it is unjust to the Southern States; my honorable +friends who have been some time with us are opposed to it because--I +do not know why, except that the President is opposed to it, and I +believe that is the ground; my honorable friend from Massachusetts +objects because it is unjust to the negro. Why, sir, just imagine all +the gentlemen opposed to this resolution met in caucus together, and +looking around at each other, would there not be a smile on all their +faces to see what company they had fallen into? I think Senators would +be surprised to find themselves there, and, like the countryman +looking at the reel in the bottle, they would consider how the devil +they did get there. [Laughter.] It would be a very strange meeting; +and yet they are all against this proposition." + +After a running debate between several Senators, the vote was taken +upon the substitute proposed by Mr. Henderson as a constitutional +amendment, viz.: "No State, in prescribing the qualifications +requisite for electors therein, shall discriminate against any person +on account of color or race." The amendment was lost--yeas, 10; nays, +37. The question was then taken on Mr. Sumner's substitute, which was +simply a joint resolution providing 'there shall be no oligarchy, +aristocracy, caste, or monopoly invested with peculiar privileges, and +no denial of rights, civil or political, on account of color or race, +anywhere within the United States." This resolution was lost--yeas, 8; +nays, 39. The vote was then taken on the amendment proposed by Mr. +Yates, providing that no State shall make or enforce any distinction +between citizens of the United States on account of race or color, and +that all citizens shall hereafter be protected in the exercise of all +civil and political rights, including the right of suffrage. This +amendment was lost--yeas, 7; nays, 38. The vote was then taken upon +the original amendment as reported by the joint Committee of Fifteen. +The following was the result: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Cragin, + Creswell, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Howe, Kirkwood, + Lane of Indiana, McDougall, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, + Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Trumbull, Wade, Williams, and + Wilson--25. + + NAYS--Messrs. Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, + Doolittle, Guthrie, Henderson, Hendricks, Johnson, Lane of + Kansas, Nesmith, Norton, Pomeroy, Riddle, Saulsbury, + Stewart, Stockton, Sumner, Van Winkle, Willey, and + Yates--22. + + ABSENT--Messrs. Foot, Howard, and Wright--3. + +Two thirds of the Senators not having voted for the joint resolution, +it was lost. The defeat of the proposed constitutional amendment was +accomplished by the combination of five "Radical" Senators with six +"Conservatives," elected as Republicans, whose vote, added to the +regular Democratic strength, prevented its adoption by the required +constitutional majority of two-thirds. + +The advocates of constitutional reform, though foiled in this attempt, +were not disheartened. Their defeat taught them the important lesson +that pet measures and favorite theories must be abandoned or modified +in order to secure the adoption of some constitutional amendment to +obviate difficulties of which all felt and acknowledged the existence. + +Meanwhile other measures, designed to lead to the great end of +reconstruction, were demanding and receiving the consideration of +Congress. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. + + Concurrent Resolution -- A "Venomous Fight" -- Passage in + the House -- The Resolution in the Senate -- "A Political + Wrangle" Deprecated -- Importance of the Question -- "A + Straw in a Storm" -- Policy of the President -- Conversation + between two Senators -- Mr. Nye's Advice to Rebels -- "A + Dangerous Power" -- "Was Mr. Wade once a Secessionist?" -- + Garrett Davis' Programme for the President -- "Useless yet + Mischievous" -- The Great Question Settled. + + +It was understood when the Committee of Fifteen introduced the joint +resolution proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the basis +of representation, that this was only one of a series of measures +which they thought essential to the work of reconstruction, and which +they designed to propose at a proper time. + +In pursuance of this plan, on the 20th of February, the day after the +veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, and while the amendment of the +basis of reconstruction was pending in the Senate, Mr. Stevens brought +before the House, from the Committee of Fifteen, a "Concurrent +Resolution concerning the Insurrectionary States," as follows: + + "_Be it resolved by the House of Representatives_, (the + Senate concurring,) That in order to close agitation upon a + question which seems likely to disturb the action of the + Government, as well as to quiet the uncertainty which is + agitating the minds of the people of the eleven States which + have been declared to be in insurrection, no Senator or + Representative shall be admitted into either branch of + Congress from any of said States until Congress shall have + declared such State entitled to such representation." + +After the reading of this resolution, Mr. Grider, of Kentucky, a +member of the Committee of Fifteen, offered the following minority +report: + + "The minority of the Committee on Reconstruction, on the + part of the House, beg leave to report that said committee + have directed an inquiry to be made as to the condition and + loyalty of the State of Tennessee. There has been a large + amount of evidence taken, some part of it conducing to show + that at some localities occasionally there have been some + irregularities and temporary disaffection; yet the main + direction and weight of the testimony are ample and + conclusive to show that the great body of the people in said + State are not only loyal and willing, but anxious, to have + and maintain amicable, sincere, and patriotic relations with + the General Government. Such being the state of the facts, + and inasmuch as under the census of 1860 Congress passed a + law which was approved in 1863, fixing the ratio and + apportioning to Tennessee and all the other States + representation; and inasmuch as Tennessee, disavowing + insurrectionary purposes or disloyalty, has, under the laws + and organic law of said State, regularly elected her members + and Senators to the Congress of the United States, in + conformity to the laws and Constitution of the United + States, and said members are here asking admission; and + inasmuch as the House by the Constitution is the 'judge of + the election, returns, and qualification of its members,' + considering these facts and principles, we offer the + following resolution, to-wit: + + "_Resolved_, That the State of Tennessee is entitled to + representation in the Thirty-ninth Congress, and the + Representatives elected from and by said State are hereby + admitted to take their seats therein upon being qualified by + oath according to law." + +Mr. Stevens then said: "Having heard an ingenious speech upon that +side of the question, and not intending to make any speech upon this +side, as I hope our friends all understand a question which has +agitated not this body only, but other portions of the community, I +propose to ask for the question. I think I may say without +impropriety, that until yesterday there was an earnest investigation +into the condition of Tennessee, to see whether by act of Congress we +could admit that State to a condition of representation here, and +admit its members to seats here; but since yesterday there has arisen +a state of things which the committee deem puts it out of their power +to proceed further without surrendering a great principle; without the +loss of all their dignity; without surrendering the rights of this +body to the usurpation of another power. I call the previous +question." + +Strenuous efforts were made by the Democratic minority to defeat the +proposed joint resolution by means of "dilatory motions." Repeated +motions were made to adjourn, to excuse certain members from voting, +and to call the House, on all of which the yeas and nays were called. +This "parliamentary tactics" consumed many hours. The minority seemed +resolved to make the passage of the resolution a question of physical +endurance. In reply to a proposition of Mr. Eldridge, of the minority, +that they would allow business to proceed if debate should be allowed, +Mr. Stevens said: "It is simply the return of the rebels of 1861. I +sat thirty-eight hours under this kind of a fight once, and I have no +objections to a little of it now. I am ready to sit for forty hours." + +Late in the evening, a member of the minority proposed that the House +should take a recess for an hour, that the door-keeper might have the +hall fitted up as a dormitory. From indications, he thought such +accommodations would be necessary. At length, Mr. Eldridge said: "We +know our weakness and the strength and power of the numbers of the +majority. We have not had the assistance which we expected from the +other side of the House in our effort to obtain the privilege of +debating the resolution. We know perfectly well that it has become a +question of physical endurance. We know perfectly well that we can not +stand out against the overpowering majority of this House any great +length of time. We know if the majority will it, the resolution will +pass without debate. We have done all we could. We therefore yield to +that power, and throw the responsibility of this most extraordinary, +this most revolutionary measure, upon the majority of the House." + +To this Mr. Stevens answered: "The gentlemen accept their situation +just as Jeff. Davis did his--because they can not help it. [Laughter.] +I confess, sir, for so small a number, they have made a most venomous +fight." + +The vote was then taken upon the concurrent resolution, which passed +the House--yeas, 109; nays, 40. + +The hopes which had arisen in the minds of the minority that a +considerable number of Republicans would permanently separate +themselves from the party that elected them, and adhere to the policy +and fortunes of the President, were disappointed. The imprudence of +the President himself, in making his unfortunate speech of the 22d of +February, tended to unite the Republicans in Congress against his +policy, and render fruitless the efforts of his new Democratic friends +in his favor. + +On the 23d of February, Mr. Fessenden proposed that the pending +constitutional amendment should give way, to enable the Senate to +consider the concurrent resolution passed by the House concerning the +representation of the Southern States. + +Mr. Sherman thought it would be better and wiser to allow this matter +to lie over for a few days. He thought it best not to press this +"declaration of political opinion" while the public mind and Senators +themselves were more or less affected by surrounding circumstances. "I +think," said he, "that we ought not to postpone all the important +business now pending in Congress for the purpose of getting into a +political wrangle with the President." + +Mr. Fessenden replied: "The Senator from Ohio says we are getting up a +political wrangle with the President of the United States. When the +President of the United States tells Congress that it is transcending +its proper limits of authority, that it has nothing to do in the way +of judgment upon the great question of reconstructing the rebel +States, and Congress assumes to express its own sense upon that +question, I think it is hardly a proper term to apply to such a state +of things. I am not aware that there has been any effort anywhere to +get up a political wrangle or engage in a political wrangle with the +President. Certainly I have not. No man has ever heard me speak of him +except in terms of respect, in my place here and elsewhere. + +"I am not sensible myself of any excitement that would prevent my +speaking upon this question precisely in the style which I deem it +deserves. I am not carried away by passion. I have reflected, and I am +ready to express my opinion upon the great question at issue; and the +Senator will allow me to say that, in my judgment, the sooner the +judgment of Congress is expressed, the better. + +"He talks about important business to be done by this Congress. Sir, +is there any thing more important than to settle the question whether +the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States have +or have not something to say in relation to the condition of the late +Confederate States, and whether it is proper to admit Senators and +Representatives from them? If the President is right in his +assumption--for the assumption is a very clear one--that we have +nothing to say, we ought to admit these men at once, if they come here +with proper credentials, and not keep them waiting outside the door." + +Mr. Sherman said: "In my judgment, the events that transpired +yesterday are too fresh in the mind of every Senator not to have had +some influence upon him, and I think it as well to allow the influence +of those events to pass away. I do not wish now myself, nor do I wish +any Senator here, to reply to what was said yesterday by the President +of the United States. I would prefer that the Senate of the United +States, the only legislative body which can deliberate fully and +freely without any limitation on the right of debate, should +deliberate, reflect, and act calmly after the excitement of the events +of the last two or three days has passed off." + +Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, remarked: "If there be passion and excitement +in the country at this present time, I do not hold myself as an +individual responsible for any share of it; and I am here to say that +if I know myself--and if I do not know myself nobody about me knows +me--I am as competent to consider this particular question to-day as I +was the day before yesterday or last week, and, so far as my judgment +informs me, quite as competent to consider it as I expect to be next +week or the week after. And when the Senator from Ohio asks me to vote +against proceeding to the consideration of any measure, either because +I distrust my own fitness to consider it, or distrust the fitness of +my associates about me, I must respectfully decline, not because I +care particularly whether we take up this measure to-day or another +day, but because I ask the Senate to vindicate their own course as +individual men, and to say that they are not to be swept from the seat +of judgment by what is said, or can be said, by the first magistrate +of the nation, or by the lowest and the last magistrate of the +nation." + +The Senate, by a vote of 26 to 19, agreed to proceed to consider the +concurrent resolution proposed by the Committee of Fifteen, which had +already passed the House of Representatives. + +Mr. Fessenden advocated the resolution in a speech of considerable +length. He presented extracts from the President's speech of the day +before, in which he had arrayed himself against the right of Congress +to decide whether a rebel State is in condition to be represented. + +Mr. Fessenden considered the pending resolution as "transcending in +importance the question of the amendment of the Constitution, which +had been under discussion for several days." He deemed the resolution +necessary now, "in order that Congress may assert distinctly its own +rights and its own powers; in order that there may be no mistake +anywhere, in the mind of the Executive or in the minds of the people +of this country; that Congress, under the circumstances of this case, +with this attempted limitation of its powers with regard to its own +organization, is prepared to say to the Executive and to the country, +respectfully but firmly, over this subject they have, and they mean to +exercise, the most full and plenary jurisdiction. We will judge for +ourselves, not only upon credentials and the character of men and the +position of men, but upon the position of the States which sent those +men here. In other words, to use the language of the President again, +when the question is to be decided, whether they obey the +Constitution, whether they have a fitting constitution of their own, +whether they are loyal, whether they are prepared to obey the laws as +a preliminary, as the President says it is, to their admission, we +will say whether those preliminary requirements have been complied +with, and not he, and nobody but ourselves." + +Mr. Fessenden made an extended argument on the subject of +reconstruction, affirming that while the people of the rebel States +had not passed from under the jurisdiction of the United States +Government, yet having no existence as States with rights in the Union +and rights to representation in Congress. "My judgment is," said he, +"that we hold the power over the whole subject in our hands, that it +is our duty to hold it in our hands, and to regard it as a matter of +the most intense interest to the whole people, involving the good of +the whole people, calling for our most careful consideration, and to +be adjudged without passion, without temper, without any of that +feeling which may be supposed to have arisen out of the unexampled +state of things through which we have passed." + +On the 26th of February, Mr. Sherman addressed the Senate on the +pending concurrent resolution. He approved the principle but doubted +the expediency of now reaeffirming it. "I regard it," said he, "as a +mere straw in a storm, thrown in at an inopportune moment; the mere +assertion of a naked right which has never yet been disputed, and +never can be successfully; a mere assertion of a right that we have +over and over again asserted. My idea is that the true way to assert +this power is to exercise it, and that it was only necessary for +Congress to exercise that power in order to meet all these complicated +difficulties." + +Mr. Sherman regarded the President's speech as humiliating and +unworthy of his high office. A part of the speech he characterized as +"the product of resentment, hatched by anger and passion, and hurled, +without reflection, at those he believed wished to badger and insult +him." + +Mr. Sherman favored the prompt restoration of Tennessee. "I think our +first duty," said he, "is at once to prepare a mode and manner by +which she may be admitted into the Union upon such terms and +conditions as will make her way back the way of pleasantness and +peace." + +Of the general question of reconstruction he said: "If I had any power +in arranging a plan, I would mark the line as broad and deep between +the loyal people who stood at our side and the rebels who fought +against us as between heaven and hell." + +"How can you do it?" asked Mr. Howard. + +"Whenever loyal men," replied Mr. Sherman, "present a State +organization, complying with such terms and conditions and tests of +loyalty as you may prescribe, and will send here loyal Representatives, +I would admit them; and whenever rebels send or come here, I would +reject them." + +"I fear the storm," said Mr. Sherman, near the conclusion of his +speech. "I fear struggles and contentions in these eleven States, +unless there is some mode by which the local power of those States may +be put in loyal hands, and by which their voices may be heard here in +council and in command, in deliberation and debate, as of old. They +will come back here shorn of their undue political power, humbled in +their pride, with a consciousness that one man bred under free +institutions is as good, at least, as a man bred under slave +institutions. I want to see the loyal people in the South, if they are +few, trusted; if they are many, give them power. Prescribe your +conditions, but let them come back into the Union upon such terms as +you may prescribe. Open the door for them. I hope we may see harmony +restored in this great Union of ours; that all these States and all +these Territories may be here in council for the common good, and that +at as speedy a moment as is consistent with the public safety." + +Mr. Dixon addressed the Senate in opposition to the concurrent +resolution, and in favor of the policy of the President. "It is my +belief," said he, "that what is known as the policy of the President +for the restoration of the late seceded States in this Government is +the correct policy. I believe it is the only safe policy." Having been +requested to state that policy, Mr. Dixon said: "It contemplates a +careful, cautious, discriminating admission of a loyal representation +from loyal States and districts in the appropriate House of Congress, +by the separate action of each, every case to be considered by itself +and decided on its own merits. It recognizes the right of every loyal +State and district to be represented by loyal men in Congress. It +draws the true line of distinction between traitors and true men. It +furnishes to the States lately in rebellion the strongest possible +inducement to loyalty and fidelity to the Government. It 'makes +treason odious,' by showing that while the traitor and the rebel are +excluded from Congress, the loyal and the faithful are cordially +received. It recognizes and rewards loyalty wherever it is found, and +distinguishes, as it ought, between a Horace Maynard and a Jefferson +Davis." + +Of the purpose expressed in this resolution to "close agitation," Mr. +Dixon said: "The vast business interests of this country are eagerly +intent on this question. The people of this country are mutually +attracted, the North and the South, and they must sooner or later act +together. Whatever Congress may do, this question will not cease to be +agitated. Adjourn, if you see fit, without settling this question; +leave it as it is; admit no member from Tennessee; and when you go +through the States next fall which hold their elections for Congress, +see whether agitation has ceased. Sir, a word of caution may not be +unfit on that subject." + +Mr. Dixon maintained that the Senate would surrender its independence +by resolving that Senators should not be admitted from rebel States +until Congress should have declared them entitled to such +representation. "Upon the question of credentials," said he, "this +whole question is before the Senate; and it is for us to consider on +that question whether the member presenting himself here for admission +is a traitor or whether he is true to his country." + +"Suppose," said Mr. Trumbull, "that in a time of peace the Legislature +of Tennessee is disloyal, and swears allegiance to the Emperor +Maximilian, does the Senator deny the authority of Congress to inquire +into the character of that Legislature?" + +"I do," replied Mr. Dixon. "It is for the Senate, and not for +Congress, to make the inquiry if a Senator from Tennessee in the +supposed case presents himself." + +Mr. Trumbull said: "He denies the authority of Congress to decide +whether the constituency is traitorous or loyal!" + +"That is another point," said Mr. Dixon. + +"That is the very one I put," said Mr. Trumbull. "If all the members +of the Legislature of Tennessee swear allegiance to the Emperor +Maximilian, and send a Senator here, I want to know if Congress has a +right to inquire into the character of that Legislature?" + +"I will answer that by asking another question," said Mr. Dixon. +"Suppose that was the case, that the Emperor Maximilian had entire +control of the State of Tennessee, and a person claiming a right so to +do should come here and offer himself as a member of the Senate, and +should be received here; that, in judging of the qualifications, +returns, and elections of the member, the Senate decided that he was a +Senator, has Congress any thing to do with the question? I ask him if +the House of Representatives can interfere? Is there an appeal to +Congress or any other tribunal? I ask him if that man is not a Senator +in spite of the world?" + +"If," replied Mr. Trumbull, "the Senator means to ask me if the Senate +has not the physical power to admit any body, elected or not, I admit +they have the same right to do it that twelve jurymen would have, +against the sworn and uncontradicted testimony of a hundred witnesses, +to bring in a verdict directly against the evidence and perjure +themselves. I suppose we have the physical power to commit perjury +here, when we have sworn to support the Constitution. We might admit a +man here from Pennsylvania Avenue, elected by nobody, as a member of +this Senate; but we would commit perjury in doing it, and have no +right to do it." + +Mr. Trumbull made an extended reply, which assumed somewhat the form +of a conversation, in which Mr. Dixon and other Senators participated. +Mr. Trumbull claimed that it required the concurrent action of both +houses of Congress to recognize any government in States where +rebellion had overthrown it. + +On the 28th of February, the concurrent resolution still pending, Mr. +Nye, of Nevada, advocated its passage. He opposed the present +admission of any member from the seceding States. "We are told," said +he, "by the apologists of these men who are being elected on their +merits as rebels, to the exclusion of Union men, that 'we must not +expect too much of them.' I fully accede to this idea. A class that +during its whole political life has aimed at a monopoly of wealth, a +monopoly of labor, and a monopoly of political power; that engaged in +the attempt at revolution in order to establish more fully and to +perpetuate such monopoly; that, failing in this, has become more +bitter by disappointment, should have time; and, sir, I am decidedly +in favor of giving them all the time necessary for the most +substantial improvement. I would say to these men, 'Go home! Go back +and labor as industriously to disabuse the minds of your +constituencies as you labored to mislead and impose upon them. Tell +them that the Union Government always was and never can be any thing +else than a just Government. Tell them that the Constitution has +become the acknowledged sovereign, and that it presides in both houses +of Congress. Inform them, while you are about it, that the rebel +sympathizers and apologists in the North can do them no good; that +they are acting as much out of time and propriety now as they did in +the time of the war, when their encouragement only prolonged the +conflict and added to Southern disaster. You may say to your +constituencies that the majority in Congress is very tenacious on the +subject of the Union war debt; that it is determined to keep faith +with the national creditors; that it is bent on adopting and throwing +around it all the safeguards and precautions possible; and that your +admission just now, and your alliance with Northern sympathizers, +would not be propitious in raising the value of our public securities. +While you are conferring with your constituents, you may as well +repeat to them the common political axiom that Representatives are +elected to represent their constituents, and that it is not believed +at the seat of Government that a disloyal constituency would make such +a mistake as to send loyal Representatives to Congress. In short, you +may as well say to your people that, as Congress represents the +loyalty of the nation, South as well as North, and has much important +work on hand, some of it requiring a two-thirds majority, it is not +deemed wholly prudent to part with that majority out of mere comity to +men from whom no assistance could be expected. Finally, by way of +closing the suggestive instructions, you may give your constituents to +understand that, as you went out of Congress rebel end foremost, you +will not probably get into those vacant seats over yonder except that +you come back Union end foremost." + +Mr. Stewart, of Nevada, held opinions of the pending question +different from those maintained by his colleague. He thought "the +power to suspend the right of a State to representation might imply a +dangerous power, and might imply a right to suspend it for any reason +that Congress might see fit. The power to suspend the right of a State +to be represented might hereafter be a terrible precedent." "There is +no provision in the Constitution," said Mr. Stewart, "conferring such +a power upon Congress. No authority of the kind is expressed in that +instrument, nor can I find any place where it is implied." In another +portion of his speech, which was very long, and occupied part of the +session of the succeeding day, Mr. Stewart remarked: "In the darkest +time of the rebellion, I deny that the right to represent Tennessee in +this hall by those who were loyal ever was for a moment suspended, but +their power to obey the law, their power to represent it was prevented +by treason. They were overpowered, and they were denied the right of +representation, not by Congress, not by the Government. This war was +to maintain for them that right which rebellion had sought to take +away from them, and had for a time suspended the harmonious relations +of the State to the General Government; and it will be too much to +admit that this Government has ever been in such a fix that the people +thereof were really not entitled to the protection of the +Constitution, and because they were denied it this war was brought on, +this war was prosecuted." + +Mr. Johnson opposed the resolution in a protracted speech in which he +reviewed the entire subject of reconstruction. Of the condition and +rights of the Southern States he said: "They are as much States as +they were when the insurrection was inaugurated, and their relation to +their sister States, and their consequent relation to the Government +of the United States, is the same relation in which they stood to both +when the insurrection was inaugurated. That would seem to follow +logically as a necessary result, and if that is a necessary result, +does it not also follow that they are entitled to representation in +this chamber? Whether they can present persons who can take their +seats, because they have individually committed crimes against the +United States is another question; but I speak now of the right +itself." + +Mr. Johnson argued that holding secession sentiments a few years ago +was no evidence of present disloyalty, and cited in proof of this +proposition a newspaper article purporting to give secession +resolutions drawn up by Mr. Wade, and passed at a meeting held at +Cleveland in 1859, which was presided over by Joshua E. Giddings. + +This called forth an answer from Mr. Wade, who said: "The Senator from +Maryland called me in question for having been present at a meeting +which he affirmed was held in Cleveland some seven years ago by +persons called 'Sons of Liberty,' and he alleged that I there +consented to certain resolutions that were passed which favored the +doctrine of secession, and that I was chairman of the committee which +reported them. Sir, the charge is a total forgery so far as I am +concerned. I never was at any such meeting of the Sons of Liberty or +any other sons. I never uttered such a sentiment in my life; I am not +one of those who have or have had much association with gentlemen +holding to secession principles. My associations have all been the +other way. During the war that secession made my counsels were against +it. I was for war to the death against the principle of secession, +while many other gentlemen in my eye were either participants in or +apologists for that sentiment. I am perfectly aware that a war is +made--and I am willing to meet it anywhere--upon what are called +Radicals of the country, and I am one of them. In olden times I was +here in the Senate called an Abolitionist, but they have changed the +name since. They have all got to be Abolitionists now, and they have +changed my name to 'Radical.' + +"Mr. President, in the history of mankind, so far as I have read or +know it, there never has been a time when parties were so organized on +radical principles of justice and right. The party with whom I act +appeal to no expediency, to none of your political policies; we dig +down to the granite of eternal truth, and there we stand, and they who +assail us have to assail the great principles of the Almighty, for our +principles are chained to his throne, and are as indestructible as the +Almighty himself. I want no warfare with any body; but if you will +make war upon such principles as we have adopted, it is the worse for +you. You can not prevail. + +"I have been in these political warfares for a long time; I claim to +be an old soldier in them. I stood in this Senate when there were not +five men with me to support me, and then I rose here and told those +who were inveighing like demons against the principles that they +called abolitionism, that I was an Abolitionist. To-day you are all +Abolitionists, not voluntarily, but by compulsion. I have wondered a +great deal why men did not learn more about these things than they +seem to do. Our principles are assailed now with just the same +virulence that they used to be when we were in a small minority. I do +not hold that they have triumphed thus far because of any superior +capacity on our part. Certainly not. Why is it, then, that we, from +the smallest of all beginnings, have conquered the prejudices of the +people and conquered the predominant party of this country which had +stood completely dominating the whole nation for more than forty +years? Why is it that we have conquered you, and now are triumphant +here in this Senate and almost by two-thirds in both branches, with +the whole nation at our backs? What miracle has wrought this change? +None other than the great consoling fact that justice, liberty, and +right are destined among the American people to succeed, and the gates +of hell can not prevail against them, although they are trying at this +particular time very hard to do it." [Laughter.] + +On the 2d of March, the last day of the debate, Mr. Cowan first +claimed the attention of the Senate in a speech two hours in length. +He argued "that for any guilty part taken by the people in the late +war, that the sufferings and losses they endured in that war were the +natural and sufficient punishment; that after it they remain purged, +and ought to be reaedmitted to all their constitutional rights at once. +That it is due to the dignity of the United States as a great nation, +if she punishes the actual traitors who incited the rebellion, that it +be done solemnly and according to the strictest form of law, in open +courts, where the prisoners may have counsel and witnesses, so that +they may make their defense, if they have any. That according to the +Constitution and laws all the States are still in the Union; that +secession ordinances could not repeal the one, nor war set aside the +other; that they are neither dead by forfeiture or _felo de se_, but +are now in full and perfect existence, with all their municipal +machinery in full play. That the proposition of the Committee of +Fifteen to amend the Constitution is fundamental and revolutionary, +and destructive of the freedom of the States and the liberties of the +people; that it is a threat to deprive them of their rights by +compelling them either to admit negroes to the right of suffrage or to +give up a share of their representation, which is theirs by law and +the last amendment to the Constitution. That the resolution now before +us from the same committee is also revolutionary and destructive, +being an attempt to suspend the Constitution and laws in regard to +representation in Congress over eleven States of the Union until +Congress shall see fit to restore them. It is a declaration on the +part of the members of the present House and Senate, that having the +means of keeping these States from being represented here, they are +going to do so as long as they please; that no one of these measures +can be justified as a punishment for the rebellion; that the +Constitution forbids them as bills of pains and penalties, and as _ex +post facto_ in their character." + +Mr. Garret Davis, in the course of a speech in opposition to the +resolution, suggested a summary solution of the present difficulties: +"There is," said he, "a provision in the Constitution which requires +the President to communicate to the two houses of Congress information +as to the state of the Union, and to recommend to them such measures +"as he shall deem proper and expedient. What does this necessarily +impose upon him? He has to ascertain what men compose the two houses +of Congress. It is his right, it is his constitutional function, to +ascertain who constitute the two houses of Congress. The members of +the Senate who are in favor of the admission of the Southern Senators +could get into a conclave with those Southern Senators any day, and +they would constitute a majority of the Senate. The President of the +United States has the constitutional option--it is his function, it +his power, it is his right--and I would advise him to exercise it, to +ascertain, where there are two different bodies of men both claiming +to be the Senate, which is the true Senate. If the Southern members +and those who are for admitting them to their seats constitute a +majority of the whole Senate, the President has a right--and, by the +Eternal! he ought to exercise that right forthwith, to-morrow, or any +day--to recognize the Opposition in this body and the Southern +members, the majority of the whole body, as the true Senate. And then +what would become of you gentlemen? Oh, if the lion of the Hermitage, +and that great statesman, the sage of Ashland, were here in the seat +of power, how soon would they settle this question! They would say to, +and they would inspire those to whom they spoke, 'You Southern men are +kept out of your seats by violence, by revolution, against the +Constitution, against right; the Union is dissolved, the Government is +brought to an end by keeping the Senators from eleven States out of +their seats when the Constitution expressly states that every State +shall have two Senators.' + +"There is no plainer principle of constitutional law than that the +President has the right to ascertain and decide what body of men is +the Senate and what the House of Representatives when there are two +bodies of men claiming to be each. It is his right to do so, and the +people of America will sustain him in the noble and manly and +patriotic performance of his duty in determining the identity of the +true House. It ought to have been done at the beginning of this +session. When a petty clerk took upon himself to read the list of the +Representatives of the people of the United States, and to keep the +Representatives of eleven States out of their seats, the Constitution +guaranteeing to them those seats for the benefit of their constituents +and country, that subordinate never ought to have been tolerated for +one day in the perpetration of so great an outrage. Whenever Andrew +Johnson chooses to exercise his high function, his constitutional +right of saying to the Southern Senators, 'Get together with the +Democrats and the Conservatives of the Senate, and if you constitute a +majority, I will recognize you as the Senate of the United States,' +what then will become of you gentlemen? You will quietly come in and +form a part of that Senate." + +Mr. Doolittle opposed the passage of the resolution. Referring to the +plan proposed by Mr. Davis, he said: "If such a thing should +happen--which God in his mercy, I hope, will always prevent--that the +Senate should be divided, and one portion should go into one room, and +another into another, each claiming to be the Senate, I suppose the +House of Representatives could direct its clerk to go to one body and +not go to the other, and I do not know but the President of the United +States would have the power, in case of such a division, to send his +private secretary with messages to one body and not send them to the +other. Perhaps that might occur; but it is one of those cases that are +not to be supposed or to be tolerated." + +Mr. Wilson advocated the resolution: "The nation," said he, "is +divided into two classes; that the one class imperiously demands the +immediate and unconditional admission into these halls of legislation +of the rebellious States, _rebel end foremost_; that the other class +seeks their admission into Congress, at an early day, _loyal end +foremost_. He would hear, too, the blended voices of unrepentant +rebels and rebel sympathizers and apologists mingling in full chorus, +not for the restoration of a broken Union, for the unity and +indivisibility of the republic has been assured on bloody fields of +victory, but for the restoration to these vacant chairs of the +'natural leaders' of the South." + +Referring to Mr. Davis' programme for the President's interference +with the Senate, Mr. Wilson said: "Sir, there was a time when a +Senator who should have said what we have recently heard on this floor +would have sunk into his seat under the withering rebuke of his +associates. No Senator or Representative has a right to tell us what +the Executive will do. The President acts upon his own responsibility. +We are Senators, this is the Senate of the United States, and it +becomes us to maintain the rights and the dignity of the Senate of the +United States. The people demand that their Senators and +Representatives shall enact the needed measures to restore, at the +earliest possible day, the complete practical relations of the seceded +States to the National Government, and protect the rights and +liberties of all the people, without regard to color, race, or +descent." + +Mr. Fessenden, having the resolution in charge, made a second speech, +in which he answered objections which had been urged, and defended the +Committee of Fifteen against imputations of a disposition to delay the +work of reconstruction. + +Mr. McDougal took occasion to say a few words against the resolution. +He said: "I would not dare to vote for this proposition, because I +have some regard for the great Judge who lives above. The question +pending now, as practically useless as it will be as rule, is yet +mischievous. It is in the way of teaching bad precedents, false law, +unsound loyalty. These things are like the worms that eat into the +majestic oaks which are used to build vessels to ride the sea, and +decay their strength, so that they fall down and make wrecks of +navies." + +Mr. Hendricks had moved to amend the resolution by inserting the words +"inhabitants of" after the word "States." This amendment was rejected. +The Senate then proceeded to take the vote on the concurrent +resolution, which was passed--yeas, 29; nays, 18. + +Thus the opinion of Congress was established, by a large majority, +that the two houses should act conjointly upon the whole question of +the representation of States, and that this question was entirely +independent, of the Executive. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT--IN THE HOUSE. + + A Constitutional Amendment Proposed and Postponed -- + Proposition by Mr. Stewart -- The Reconstruction Amendment + -- Death of its Predecessor Lamented -- Opposition to the + Disfranchisement of Rebels -- "The Unrepentent Thirty-three" + -- Nine-tenths Reduced to One-twelfth -- Advice to Congress + -- The Committee Denounced -- Democratic and Republican + Policy Compared -- Authority without Power -- A Variety of + Opinions -- An Earthquake Predicted -- The Joint Resolution + Passes the House. + + +While the joint resolution proposing a modification of the basis of +representation was the subject of consideration in the Senate, a +constitutional amendment relating to the rights of citizens was made +the topic of brief discussion in the House. It had been previously +introduced and referred to the Committee of Fifteen. From this +committee it was reported back by Mr. Bingham. It was proposed in the +following form: + + "ARTICLE--. That Congress shall have power to make all laws + which shall be necessary and proper to secure to the + citizens of each State all privileges and immunities of + citizens in the several States, and to all persons in the + several States equal protection in the rights of life, + liberty, and property." + +This proposition was introduced on the 26th of February, and was +debated during the sessions of three successive days. + +Many members of the legal profession saw in the final clause a +dangerous centralization of power. It was considered objectionable as +seeming to authorize the General Government to interfere with local +laws on the subject of property, the legal rights of women, and other +matters hitherto considered wholly within the domain of State +legislation; hence the Republican majority unanimously voted to +postpone the amendment until April. + +After this postponement, and the failure of the amendment relating to +the basis of representation to pass the Senate, the subject of +reconstruction was in the hands of the Committee of Fifteen until the +30th of April. + +Individuals had, from time to time, introduced propositions on the +subject, which were referred to the appropriate committee. The one +which attracted most attention and excited greatest interest was a +proposition in the Senate, by Mr. Stewart, of Nevada. This was in +favor of a joint resolution providing that each of the States lately +in rebellion shall be recognized as having resumed its relations with +the Government, and its Representatives shall be admitted to Congress +whenever it shall have amended its Constitution so as to provide-- + + "1. There shall be no distinction in civil rights among its + citizens by reason of race or color or previous condition of + servitude; 2. That all debts incurred in aid of the + rebellion shall be repudiated; 3. That all claim for + compensation for liberated slaves shall be relinquished; and + 4. That the elective franchise be extended to all persons on + the same terms, irrespective of race, color, or previous + condition, provided that none be disfranchised who were + qualified voters in 1860; and that upon these conditions + being ratified by a majority of the present voting + population of each State, (including all qualified to vote + in 1860,) a general amnesty shall be proclaimed as to all + who engaged in the rebellion." + +This proposition had peculiar significance, since it emanated from a +gentleman who, though elected as a Republican, had ever since the veto +of the Freedmen's Bureau acted with the Conservatives. Mr. Sumner, +"with open arms," welcomed the Senator from Nevada as "a new convert +to the necessity of negro suffrage." Mr. Wilson was thankful to the +author of this proposition for placing the whole question "on the +basis of universal liberty, universal justice, universal suffrage, and +universal amnesty." The resolution was referred to the Committee of +Fifteen, with whom Mr. Wilson had no doubt it would receive "serious +consideration." + +On the 30th of April, Mr. Stevens reported from the Committee of +Fifteen a joint resolution providing for the passage of the following +amendment to the Constitution: + + "ARTICLE--. + + "SEC. 1. "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall + abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the + United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of + life; liberty, or property without due process of law; nor + deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal + protection of the laws. + + "SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the + several States which may be included within this Union + according to their respective numbers, counting the whole + number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not + taxed. But whenever in any State the elective franchise + shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens not less + than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged, except + for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of + representation in such State shall be reduced in the + proportion which the number of male citizens shall bear to + the whole number of such male citizens not less than + twenty-one years of age. + + "SEC. 3. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1870, all + persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, + giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right + to vote for Representatives in Congress and for electors for + President and Vice-President of the United States. + + "SEC. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall + assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or + which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of insurrection or + of war against the United States, or any claim for + compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor. + + "SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by + appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." + +This proposed amendment to the Constitution was accompanied by two +bills, one of which provided that when any State lately in +insurrection should have ratified the amendment, its Senators and +Representatives, if found duly elected and qualified, should be +admitted as members of Congress. The other bill declared the high +ex-officials of the late Confederacy ineligible to any office under +the Government of the United States. + +The proposed constitutional amendment was by a vote of the House made +the special order for Tuesday, the 8th of May. On that day Mr. Stevens +occupied the attention of the House with a brief argument in favor of +the amendment. Referring to the death in the Senate of the amendment +previously proposed, Mr. Stevens said: "But it is dead, and unless +this (less efficient, I admit) shall pass, its death has postponed the +protection of the colored race perhaps for ages. I confess my +mortification at its defeat. I grieved especially because it almost +closed the door of hope for the amelioration of the condition of the +freedmen. But men in pursuit of justice must never despair. Let us +again try and see whether we can not devise some way to overcome the +united forces of self-righteous Republicans and unrighteous +Copper-heads. It will not do for those who for thirty years have +fought the beasts at Ephesus to be frightened by the fangs of modern +catamounts." + +Of the present proposition, Mr. Stevens said: "It is not all that the +committee desired. It falls far short of my wishes, but it fulfills my +hopes. I believe it is all that can be obtained in the present state +of public opinion. Not only Congress, but the several States are to be +consulted. Upon a careful survey of the whole ground, we did not +believe that nineteen of the loyal States could be induced to ratify +any proposition more stringent than this." + +Referring to the section prohibiting rebels from voting until 1870, +Mr. Stevens said: "My only objection to it is that it is too lenient. +Here is the mildest of all punishments ever inflicted on traitors. I +might not consent to the extreme severity denounced upon them by a +provisional governor of Tennessee--I mean the late lamented Andrew +Johnson of blessed memory--but I would have increased the severity of +this section." + +Mr. Blaine called attention to the fact that most of the persons whom +the third section of the amendment was designed to disfranchise, had +their political rights restored to them by the Amnesty Proclamation, +or had been pardoned by the President. + +Mr. Finck opposed the proposition in a speech of which the following +are extracts: "Stripped of all disguises, this measure is a mere +scheme to deny representation to eleven States; to prevent +indefinitely a complete restoration of the Union, and perpetuate the +power of a sectional and dangerous party. + +"Sir, the whole scheme is revolutionary, and a most shallow pretext +for an excuse to exclude the vote of eleven States in the next +Presidential election. You can not exact conditions in this way from +any State in the Union; no more from Georgia than from Massachusetts. +They are each equal States in the Union, held together by the same +Constitution, neither being the superior of the other in their +relation to the Federal Government as States." + +Commenting on the first section, designed to insert a recognition of +civil rights in the Constitution, Mr. Finck said: "If it is necessary +to adopt it in order to confer upon Congress power over the matters +contained in it, then the Civil Rights Bill, which the President +vetoed, was passed without authority, and is clearly unconstitutional." + +To this inference, Mr. Garfield replied: "I am glad to see this first +section here, which proposes to hold over every American citizen +without regard to color, the protecting shield of law. The gentleman +who has just taken his seat undertakes to show that because we propose +to vote for this section, we therefore acknowledge that the Civil +Rights Bill was unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Bill is now a part +of the law of the land. But every gentleman knows it will cease to be +a part of the law whenever the sad moment arrives when that +gentleman's party comes into power. It is precisely for that reason +that we propose to lift that great and good law above the reach of +political strife, beyond the reach of the plots and machinations of +any party, and fix it in the serene sky, in the eternal firmament of +the Constitution, where no storm of passion can shake it, and no cloud +can obscure it. For this reason, and not because I believe the Civil +Rights Bill unconstitutional, I am glad to see that first section +here." + +Mr. Garfield opposed the section disfranchising rebels as "the only +proposition in this resolution that is not bottomed clearly and +plainly upon principle--principle that will stand the test of +centuries, and be as true a thousand years hence as it is to-day." + +Mr. Thayer, while favoring the proposed amendment in all other +particulars, was opposed to the third section. "I think," said he, +"that it imperils the whole measure under consideration. What will +continue to be the condition of the country if you adopt this feature +of the proposed plan? Continual distraction, continued agitation, +continued bickerings, continued opposition to the law, and it will be +well for the country if a new insurrection shall not spring from its +bosom." + +Mr. Boyer denounced the proposition as "an ingenious scheme to keep +out the Southern States, and to prevent the restoration of the Union +until after the next Presidential election." + +Mr. Kelley, if he "could have controlled the report of the Committee +of Fifteen, would have proposed to give the right of suffrage to every +loyal man in the country." He advocated the amendment, however, in all +its provisions. He especially defended the third section. "This +measure," said he, "does not propose to punish them; on the contrary, +it is an act of amnesty, and proposes, after four years, to reinvest +them with all their rights, which they do not possess at this time +because of their crime." + +The passage of the resolution was next advocated by Mr. Schenck. +Referring to the third section, he denied the principle advanced by +Mr. Garfield that there was any thing inconsistent or wrong in making +it an exclusion for a term of years instead of exclusion altogether. +"If there be any thing in that argument," said he, "in case of crime, +you must either not sentence a man to the penitentiary at all, or else +incarcerate him for the term of his natural life. Or, to compare it to +another thing, which perhaps better illustrates the principle +involved, when a foreigner arrives upon our shores we should not say +to him, 'At the end of five years, when you have familiarized yourself +with our institutions, and become attached to them, we will allow you +to become a citizen, and admit you to all the franchises we enjoy,' +but we should require that he be naturalized the moment he touches our +soil, or else excluded from the rights of citizenship forever." + +Mr. Schenck thought the loyal and true people throughout the land were +"full ready to declare that those who have proved traitors, and have +raised their parricidal hands against the life of the country, who +have attempted to strike down our Government and destroy its +institutions, should be the very last to be trusted to take any share +in preserving, conducting, and carrying on that Government and +maintaining those institutions." + +Mr. Smith opposed the resolution in a speech which, if it added +nothing to the arguments, contributed, by its good humored +personalities and its harmless extravagancies, to the amusement of the +auditors. + +On the following day, May 9th, the consideration of the subject was +resumed, and Mr. Broomall addressed the House in favor of the +resolution. He began by counting the votes that would probably be cast +against the amendment. "It would meet the opposition," said he, "of +the unrepentant thirty-three of this body. It was also to be expected +that the six Johnsonian new converts to Democracy would oppose and +vote against this measure, commencing with the gentleman from New +York, [Mr. Raymond,] who, I believe, has the disease in the most +virulent form, thence down to the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. +Smith,] who preceded me on this question, and who has the mildest and +most amiable type of the infection. Upon them, too, arguments are +useless. There must, then, be thirty-nine votes against the measure, +and I want there to be no more." + +To the objection urged against the third section of the proposed +amendment, that it would disfranchise nine-tenths of all the voters of +the South, Mr. Broomall replied: "This is a grand mistake. There were +in 1860 one million one hundred and twenty thousand voters in those +eleven States. We may take seven hundred and fifty thousand as the +number of individuals in the South who rendered aid and comfort to the +enemy, not counting the comparatively few though powerful leaders who +rendered aid and comfort outside of the army. But, sir, we do not +propose to disfranchise even these seven hundred and fifty thousand. +Supposing two hundred and fifty thousand of the rebel army were lost, +we have five hundred thousand actual voters in the South to be +disfranchised by this measure, if they come within the meaning of it. +But do they come within the meaning of this provision? Why, sir, it +does not embrace the unwilling conscripts; it does not embrace the men +who were compelled to serve in the army. It would be fair to say three +hundred thousand of these people belonged to the unwilling class, who +were forced into the army by rigid conscription laws and the various +contrivances of the leading rebels. This will leave two hundred +thousand; and I say now it is utterly impossible, in my opinion, that +the number of people in the South who can be operated upon by this +provision should exceed two hundred thousand, if, indeed, it should +reach the one half of that number. Is this nine-tenths of the voters +of the South? Why, it is about one in every twelve." + +Mr. Shanklin opposed the amendment as intended "to disfranchise the +people of the Southern States who have gone into this rebellion, until +the party in power could fasten and rivet the chains of oppression for +all time to come, and hedge themselves in power, that they may rule +and control those people at will." + +Mr. Shanklin closed his speech with the following advice to Congress: +"Discharge your joint Committee on Reconstruction; abolish your +Freedmen's Bureau; repeal your Civil Rights Bill, and admit all the +delegates from the seceded States to their seats in Congress, who have +been elected according to the laws of the country and possess the +constitutional qualification, and all will be well." + +Mr. Raymond spoke in favor of the amendment, except the +disfranchisement clause. He had opposed the Civil Rights Bill on the +ground of want of constitutional power in Congress to pass it. He +favored the first section of this amendment, since it gave the +previous acts of Congress a constitutional basis. + +In answer to Mr. Broomall's "ingenious argument," Mr. Raymond said: +"It seems to me idle to enter into such calculations, which depend on +a series of estimates, each one of which can not be any thing more +than a wild and random guess. I take it that we all know perfectly +well that the great masses of the Southern people 'voluntarily adhered +to the insurrection;' not at the outset not as being originally in +favor of it, but during its progress, sooner or later, they +voluntarily gave in their adhesion to it, and gave it aid and comfort. +They did not all join the army. They did not go into the field, but +they did, at different times, from various motives and in various +ways, give it aid and comfort. That would exclude the great body of +the people of those States under this amendment from exercising the +right of suffrage." + +Mr. Raymond asserted that all that was offered to the rebel +legislatures of the Southern States, in return for the concessions +required of them, was "the right to be represented on this floor, +provided they will also consent not to vote for the men who are to +represent them! The very price by which we seek to induce their assent +to these amendments we snatch away from their hands the moment that +assent is secured. Is there any man here who can so far delude himself +as to suppose for a moment that the people of the Southern States will +accede to any such scheme as this? There is not one chance in ten +thousand of their doing it." + +Mr. McKee advocated the amendment. He thought that opposition to its +third section was a rebuke to those States which had passed laws +disfranchising rebels. To obviate all objections to this section, +however, he proposed a substitute forever excluding "all persons who +voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection" from holding "any office +under the Government of the United States." + +Mr. Eldridge did not intend "to make an argument on the merits of the +joint resolution." His remarks were mostly in derogation of the +committee by whom the measure was recommended. "The committee," said +he, "report no facts whatever, and give us no conclusion. They simply +report amendments to the Constitution. Was that the purpose for which +the committee was organized? Was it to change the fundamental law of +the land under which we of the loyal States assembled here? Was that +the duty with which the committee was charged? Were they to inquire +and report an entire change of the fundamental law of the nation which +would destroy the States and create an empire? I say they were charged +with no such duty. The resolution can not fairly be construed as +giving to the committee any such power, any such jurisdiction. The +committee stands resisting the restoration of this Union, and I hope +that no further business will be referred to it. It has rendered +itself unworthy of the high duty with which it was charged." + +Mr. Eldridge asserted: "The whole scheme is in the interest of party +alone, to preserve and perpetuate the party idea of this Republican +disunion party." + +The debate thus entering "the domain of partisan controversy," Mr. +Boutwell, in a speech which followed, undertook to show how the +proposition before the House "traverses the policy of the Democratic +party with reference to the reconstruction of the Government." Mr. +Boutwell described the policy of the Democratic party, "which," said +he, "they laid down as early as 1856 in the platform made at +Cincinnati, wherein they declared substantially that it was the right +of a Territory to be admitted into this Union with such institutions +as it chose to establish, not even by implication admitting that the +representatives of the existing Government had any right to canvass +those institutions, or to consider the right of the Territory to be +recognized as a State. + +"Now, sir, from that doctrine, which probably had its origin in the +resolutions of 1798, the whole of their policy to this day has +legitimately followed. First, we saw its results in the doctrine of +Mr. Buchanan, announced in 1860, that, while the Constitution did not +provide for or authorize the secession of a State from this Union, +there was no power in the existing Government to compel a State to +remain in the Union against its own judgment. Following that doctrine, +they come legitimately to the conclusion of to-day, in which they are +supported, as I understand, by the President of the United States upon +the one side, and, as I know, by the testimony of Alexander H. +Stephens, late Vice-President of the so-called Confederacy, upon the +other. That doctrine, is that these eleven States have to-day, each +for itself, an existing and unquestionable right of representation in +the Government of this country, and that it is a continuous right +which has not been interrupted by any of the events of the war." + +On the other hand, Mr. Boutwell thus defined the position of "the +Union party," which, he said, "stands unitedly upon two propositions. +The first is equality of representation, about which there is no +difference of opinion. The second is, that there shall be a loyal +people in each applicant State before any Representative from that +State is admitted in Congress. And there is a third: a vast majority +of the Republican party, soon to be the controlling and entire force +of that party, demand suffrage for our friends, for those who have +stood by us in our days of tribulation. And for myself, with the +right, of course, to change my opinion, I believe in the +Constitutional power of the Government to-day to extend the elective +franchise to every loyal male citizen of the republic." + +Mr. Spalding favored the amendment, including the third section, to +which exception had been taken by some of his friends. He asked, "Is +it exceptionable? Is it objectionable? If it be so, it is, in my +judgment, for the reason that the duration of the period of incapacity +is not extended more widely. I take my stand here, that it is +necessary to ingraft into that enduring instrument called the +Constitution of the United States something which shall admonish this +rebellious people, and all who shall come after them, that treason +against the Government is odious; that it carries with it some +penalty, some disqualification; and the only one which we seek to +attach by this amendment is a disqualification in voting--not for +their State and county and town officers, but for members of Congress, +who are to be the law-makers, and for the Executive of the United +States, this disqualification to operate for the short period of four +years." + +Mr. Miller advocated all the sections of the proposed amendment except +the third. Of this he said: "Though it seems just on its face, I doubt +the propriety of embodying it with the other amendments, as it may +retard, if not endanger, the ratification of the amendment in regard +to representation, and we can not afford to endanger in any manner a +matter of such vital importance to the country." + +Mr. Eliot had voted against the former amendment, which was passed by +the House and rejected by the Senate. The present proposed amendment, +while it was not all he could ask, was not open to the objections +which then controlled his vote. In advocating the third section, he +said: "It is clear, upon adjudged law, that the States lately in +rebellion, and the inhabitants of those States, by force of the civil +war, and of the Union triumph in that war, so far have lost their +rights to take part in the Government of the Union that some action on +the part of Congress is required to restore those rights. Pardon and +amnesty given by the President can not restore them. Those men can not +vote for President or for Representatives in Congress until, in some +way, Congress has so acted as to restore their power. The question, +then, is very simple: Shall national power be at once conferred on +those who have striven, by all means open to them, to destroy the +nation's life? Shall our enemies and the enemies of the Government, as +soon as they have been defeated in war, help to direct and to control +the public policy of the Government--and that, too, while those men, +hostile themselves, keep from all exercise of political power the only +true and loyal friends whom we have had, during these four years of +war, within these Southern States?" + +It had been argued against the third section that it could not be +enforced, that it would be inoperative. To this objection Mr. +Shellabarger replied: "It will not require standing armies. You can +have registry laws. Upon this registry list you may place the names of +men who are to be disqualified, and you may also have the names of all +who are qualified to vote under the law. There they will stand, there +they will be, to be referred to by your Government in the execution of +its laws. And when it comes to this House or to the Senate to +determine whether a man is duly elected, you can resort to the +ordinary process applicable to a trial in a contested election case in +either body, as to whether he has been elected by the men who were +entitled to elect him." + +Thursday, May 10th, was the last day of this discussion in the House. +Mr. Randall first took the floor and spoke in opposition to the joint +resolution. To the friends of the measure he said: "It is intended to +secure what you most wish: an entire disagreement to the whole scheme +by the eleven Southern States, and a continued omission of +representation on this floor." + +Mr. Strouse, in opposing the amendment, occupied most of his time in +reading an editorial from the New York Times, which he characterized +as "sound, patriotic, statesmanlike, and just." + +Mr. Strouse expressed, as his own opinion, "that the States are, and +never ceased to be, in law and in fact, constituent parts of our +Union. If I am correct in this opinion, what necessity exists for +these amendments of the Constitution? Let the States be represented in +the Senate and House by men who can conscientiously qualify as +members; and after that, when we have a full Congress, with the whole +country represented, let any amendment that may be required be +proposed, and let those most interested have an opportunity to +participate in the debates and deliberations of matters of so much +moment to every citizen." + +Mr. Banks regarded the pending amendment as the most important +question which could be presented to the House or to the country. "It +is my belief," said he, "that reoerganization of governments in the +insurgent States can be secured only by measures which will work a +change in the basis of political society. Any thing that leaves the +basis of political society in the Southern States untouched, leaves +the enemy in condition to renew the war at his pleasure, and gives him +absolute power to destroy the Government whenever he chooses. + +"There are two methods by which the change I propose can be made: one +by extending the elective franchise to the negro, the other by +restrictions upon the political power of those heretofore invested +with the elective franchise--a part of whom are loyal and a part of +whom are disloyal, a part of whom are friends and a part of whom are +enemies. + +"I have no doubt that the Government of the United States has +authority to extend the elective franchise to the colored population +of the insurgent States, but I do not think it has the power. The +distinction I make between authority and power is this: We have, in +the nature of our Government, the right to do it; but the public +opinion of the country is such at this precise moment as to make it +impossible we should do it. The situation of opinion in these States +compels us to look to other means to protect the Government against +the enemy. + +"I approve of the proposition which disfranchises the enemies of the +country. I think it right in principle. I think it necessary at this +time. If I had any opinion to express, I should say to the gentlemen +of the House that it is impossible to organize a government in the +insurgent States, and have the enemies of the country in possession of +political power, in whole or in part, in local governments or in +representation here. + +"An enemy to the Government, a man who avows himself an enemy of its +policy and measures, who has made war against the Government, would +not seem to have any absolute right to share political power equally +with other men who have never been otherwise than friends of the +Government. + +"A pardon does not confer or restore political power. A general act of +amnesty differs from an individual pardon only in the fact that it +applies to a class of offenders who can not be individually described. +It secures immunity from punishment or prosecution by obliterating all +remembrance of the offense; but it confers or restores no one to +political power. + +"There is no justification for the opinion so strongly expressed, that +this measure will fail because the rebel States will not consent to +the disfranchisement of any portion of their own people. The +proposition is for the loyal States to determine upon what terms they +will restore to the Union the insurgent States. It is not necessary +that they should participate in our deliberations upon this subject, +and wholly without reason that they should have the power to defeat +it. It is a matter of congratulation that they have not this power. We +have the requisite number of States without them. + +"I do not believe that there is a State in this Union where at least a +clear majority of the people were not from the beginning opposed to +the war; and could you remove from the control of public opinion one +or two thousand in each of these States, so as to let up from the +foundations of political society the mass of common people, you would +have a population in all these States as loyal and true to the +Government as the people of any portion of the East or West. + +"The people knew that it was the rich man's war and the poor man's +fight. The legislation of the insurgent States exempted, to a great +degree, the rich men and their sons, on account of the possession of +property, while it forced, at the point of the bayonet, and oftentimes +at the cost of life, the masses of the people to maintain their cause. +There is nothing in the whole war more atrocious than the cruel +measures taken by the rebel leaders to force the people who had no +interest in it, and were averse to sharing its dishonor and peril." + +Mr. Banks remarked of the amendment: "It will produce the exact result +which we desire: the immediate restoration of the governments of the +States to the Union, the recognition of the loyal people, and the +disfranchisement of the implacable and unchangeable public enemies of +the Union, and the creation of State governments upon the sound and +enduring basis of common interest and common affection." + +Mr. Eckley advocated the joint resolution, citing a number of +historical and political precedents in favor of its provisions. Of the +disfranchising clause, he said: "The only objection I have to the +proposition is, that it does not go far enough. I would disfranchise +them forever. They have no right, founded in justice, to participate +in the administration of the Government or exercise political power. +If they receive protection in their persons and property, are +permitted to share in the nation's bounties, and live in security +under the broad aegis of the nation's flag, it is far more than the +nation owes them." + +Mr. Longyear favored the amendment, but disliked the third section, of +which he said: "Let us then reject this dead weight, and not load down +good provisions, absolutely essential provisions, by this, which, +however good in and of itself, can not be enforced. I regard this +provision, if adopted, both worthless and harmless, and, therefore, I +shall vote for the proposed amendment as a whole, whether this be +rejected or retained." + +Mr. Beaman held a similar opinion. He said: "We very well know that +such a provision would be entirely inoperative, because electors for +President and Vice-President can be appointed by the Legislatures, +according to a practice that has always obtained in South Carolina. +The provision does not extend to the election of Senators, and, +consequently, it can operate only to affect the election of members of +this House, and that only for a period of four years." + +Mr. Rogers denounced the proposed amendment in emphatic terms. He +said: "The first section of this programme of disunion is the most +dangerous to liberty. It saps the foundation of the Government; it +destroys the elementary principles of the States; it consolidates +every thing into one imperial despotism; it annihilates all the rights +which lie at the foundation of the union of the States, and which have +characterized this Government and made it prosperous and great during +the long period of its existence. It will result in a revolution worse +than that through which we have just passed; it will rock the earth +like the throes of an earthquake, until its tragedy will summon the +inhabitants of the world to witness its dreadful shock. + +"In the third section, you undertake," said Mr. Rogers, "to enunciate +a doctrine that will, if carried out, disfranchise seven or eight +million people, and that will put them in a worse condition than the +serfs of Russia or the downtrodden people of Poland and Hungary, until +the year 1870." + +Mr. Farnsworth advocated the amendment, but did not regard the third +section as of any practical value. It did not provide punishment +adequate to the guilt of the various offenders. "There is a large +class of men," said he, "both in the North and South, equally--yea, +and more--guilty than thousands of the misguided men who will be +disfranchised by this provision, who will not be affected by it. I +allude to those politicians and others at the South, who, keeping +themselves out of danger, set on the ignorant and brave to fight for +what they were told by these rascals were 'their rights;' and to other +politicians, editors, 'copper-heads' in the North, some of whom were +and are members of Congress, who encouraged them and discouraged our +soldiers." + +Mr. Bingham spoke in favor of the amendment. He preferred that the +disfranchising clause should be embodied in an act of Congress. "I +trust," said he, "that this amendment, with or without the third +section, will pass this House, that the day may soon come when +Tennessee--loyal Tennessee--loyal in the very heart of the rebellion, +her mountains and plains blasted by the ravages of war and stained +with the blood of her faithful children fallen in the great struggle +for the maintenance of the Union, having already conformed her +constitution and laws to every provision of this amendment, will at +once, upon its submission by Congress, irrevocably ratify it, and be, +without further delay, represented in Congress by her loyal +Representatives and Senators. + +"Let that great example be set by Tennessee, and it will be worth a +hundred thousand votes to the loyal people in the free North. Let this +be done, and it will be hailed as the harbinger of that day for which +all good men pray, when the fallen pillars of the republic shall be +restored without violence or the noise of words or the sound of the +hammer, each to its original place in the sacred temple of our +national liberties, thereby giving assurance to all the world that, +for the defense of the republic, it was not in vain that a million and +a half of men, the very elect of the earth, rushed to arms; that the +republic still lives, and will live for evermore, the sanctuary of an +inviolable justice, the refuge of liberty, and the imperishable +monument of the nation's dead, from the humblest soldier who perished +on the march, or went down amid the thunder and tempest of the dread +conflict, up through all the shining roll of heroes and patriots and +martyrs to the incorruptible and immortal Commander-in-chief, who fell +by an assassin's hand in the capital, and thus died that his country +might live." + +The hour having arrived when, by understanding of the House, the +discussion should close, Mr. Stevens closed the debate with a short +speech. "I am glad," said he, "to see great unanimity among the Union +friends in this House on all the provisions of this joint resolution +except the third one. I am not very much gratified to see any division +among our friends on that which I consider the vital proposition of +them all. Without that, it amounts to nothing. I do not care the snap +of my finger whether it be passed or not if that be stricken out. I +should be sorry to find that that provision was stricken out, because, +before any portion of this can be put into operation, there will be, +if not a Herod, a worse than Herod elsewhere to obstruct our actions. +That side of the house will be filled with yelling secessionists and +hissing copper-heads. Give us the third section or give us nothing. Do +not balk us with the pretense of an amendment which throws the Union +into the hands of the enemy before it becomes consolidated. Do not, I +pray you, admit those who have slaughtered half a million of our +countrymen until their clothes are dried, and until they are reclad. I +do not wish to sit side by side with men whose garments smell of the +blood of my kindred. Gentlemen seem to forget the scenes that were +enacted here years ago. Many of you were not here. But my friend from +Ohio [Mr. Garfield] ought to have kept up his reading enough to have +been familiar with the history of those days, when the men that you +propose to admit occupied the other side of the House; when the mighty +Toombs, with his shaggy locks, headed a gang who, with shouts of +defiance on this floor, rendered this a hell of legislation. + +"Ah, sir, it was but six years ago when they were here, just before +they went out to join the armies of Catiline, just before they left +this hall. Those of you who were here then will remember the scene in +which every Southern member, encouraged by their allies, came forth in +one yelling body because a speech for freedom was being made here; +when weapons were drawn, and Barksdale's bowie-knife gleamed before +our eyes. Would you have these men back again so soon to reenact those +scenes? Wait until I am gone, I pray you. I want not to go through, it +again. It will be but a short time for my colleague to wait. I hope he +will not put us to that test." + +At the close of his remarks, Mr. Stevens moved the previous question. + +Mr. Garfield hoped that it would be voted down, that he might have an +opportunity to offer a substitute for the third section, forever +excluding the persons therein specified "from holding any office of +trust or profit under the Government of the United States." + +Nevertheless, the previous question was sustained, and a vote was +taken on the joint resolution proposing the constitutional amendment +as it came from the committee. The following are the yeas and nays: + + YEAS--Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. + Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, + Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, + Boutwell, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. + Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, + Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, + Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, + Farnsworth, Perry, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, Abner C. + Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Holmes, Hooper, + Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas + Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, James Humphrey, + Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, + Kuykendall, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, + Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, + McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, + Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, + Pike, Plants, Price, William H. Randall, Raymond, Alexander + H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, + Shellabarger, Spalding, Stevens, Stilwell, Thayer, Francis + Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt + Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu B. + Washburne, Henry D. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, + Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, + Woodbridge, and the Speaker--128. + + NAYS--Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Chanler, Coffroth, + Dawson, Eldridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Grider, + Aaron Harding, Harris, Kerr, Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, + McCullough, Niblack, Phelps, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, + Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Rosseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, + Strouse, Taber, Taylor, Thornton, Trimble, Whaley, Winfield, + and Wright--37. + +Applause on the floor and in the galleries greeted the announcement +that two-thirds of the House having voted in the affirmative the joint +resolution was passed. + +The heavy majority by which this measure passed the House indicated an +effect of the President's steady opposition, the opposite of what was +anticipated. The amendment secured two votes which were cast against +the Civil Rights Bill, while it lost no vote which that measure +received. + +It is remarkable that the joint resolution should have been carried +with such unanimity when so many Republicans had expressed +dissatisfaction with the third section. This is accounted for, +however, by the pressure of the previous question, in which fifteen +Democrats joined forces with the radical Republicans to force the +undivided issue upon the House. A large minority of the Republican +members were thus prevented from voting against the clause +disfranchising the late rebels until 1870. + +In the Senate, as will be seen, the amendment assumed a shape more in +accordance with their wishes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT--IN THE SENATE. + + Difference between Discussions in the House and in the + Senate -- Mr. Sumner proposes to postpone -- Mr. Howard + takes Charge of the Amendment -- Substitutes proposed -- The + Republicans in Council -- The Disfranchising Clause stricken + out -- Humorous Account by Mr. Hendricks -- The Pain and + Penalties of not holding Office -- A Senator's Piety + appealed to -- Howe vs. Doolittle -- Marketable Principles + -- Praise of the President -- Mr. Mcdougall's Charity -- + Vote of the Senate -- Concurrence in the House. + + +The joint resolution providing for amendments to the Constitution in +relation to the rights of citizens, the basis of representation, the +disfranchisement of rebels, and the rejection of the rebel debt, +having passed the House of Representatives on the 10th of May, awaited +only similar action of the Senate to prepare it to go before the +several State Legislatures for final consideration. A fortnight had +elapsed before it was taken up by the Senate. That body was much +behind the House of Representatives in the business of the session. +Notwithstanding the great size of the latter, it was accustomed to +dispatch business with much greater rapidity than the Senate. The hour +rule, limiting the length of speeches, and the previous question +putting a boundary upon debate, being part of the machinery of the +House, caused legislation to go on to final completion, which would +otherwise have been swallowed up and lost in interminable talk. + +The Senate, consisting of a smaller number, did not realize the need +of such restrictions. Senators sometimes indulged themselves in +speeches of such length as, if permitted in the House, would have +proved an insurmountable obstacle to legislation. + +[Illustration: Hon. E. O. Morgan, Senator from New York.] + +The contrast between the discussions in the two houses of Congress was +never more marked than in connection with the amendment relating to +reconstruction. In this case the members of the House by special rule +limited themselves to half an hour in the delivery of their speeches, +which were consequently marked by great pertinency and condensation. +In the Senate the speeches were in some instances limited only by the +physical ability of the speakers to proceed. In one instance--the case +of Garrett Davis--a speech was prolonged four hours, occupying all +that part of the day devoted to the discussion. The limits of a volume +would be inadequate for giving more than a mere outline of a +discussion conducted upon such principles, and protracted through a +period of more than two weeks. + +The joint resolution was taken up by the Senate on the 23d of May. Mr. +Sumner preferred that the consideration of the question should be +deferred until the first of July. "We were able," said he, "to have a +better proposition at the end of April than we had at the end of +March, and I believe we shall be able to accept a better proposition +just as the weeks proceed. It is one of the greatest questions that +has ever been presented in the history of our country or of any +country. It should be approached carefully and solemnly, and with the +assurance we have before us all the testimony, all the facts, every +thing that by any possibility can shed any light upon it." + +The Senate proceeded, however, to the consideration of the joint +resolution. Owing to the ill-health of Mr. Fessenden, who, as Chairman +of the joint Committee on Reconstruction, would probably have taken +charge of the measure, Mr. Howard opened the discussion and conducted +the resolution in its passage through the Senate. He addressed the +Senate in favor of all the sections of the proposed amendment except +the third. "It is due to myself," said he, "to say that I did not +favor this section of the amendment in the committee. I do not +believe, if adopted, it will be of any practical benefit to the +country." + +Mr. Clark offered a substitute for the third section--the +disfranchising clause--the following amendment, which, with slight +modifications, was ultimately adopted: + + "That no person shall be a Senator or Representative in + Congress, or permitted to hold any office under the + Government of the United States, who, having previously + taken an oath to support the Constitution thereof, shall + have voluntarily engaged in any insurrection or rebellion + against the United States, or given aid or comfort thereto." + +Mr. Wade offered a substitute for the whole bill, providing that no +State shall abridge the rights of any person born within the United +States, and that no class of persons, as to whose right to suffrage +discrimination shall be made by any State except on the ground of +intelligence, property, or rebellion, shall be included in the basis +of representation. "I do not suppose," said Mr. Wade, "that if I had +been on the committee I could have drawn up a proposition so good as +this is that they have brought forward; and yet it seems to me, having +the benefit of what they have done, that looking it over, reflecting +upon it, seeing all its weak points, if it have any, I could, without +having the ability of that committee, suggest amendments that would be +beneficial." + +Referring to the third section of the joint resolution, Mr. Wade +remarked: "I am for excluding those who took any leading part in the +rebellion from exercising any political power here or elsewhere now +and forever; but as that clause does not seem to effect that purpose, +and will probably effect nothing at all, I do not think it is of any +consequence that it should have a place in the measure." + +On the 24th of May, Mr. Stewart spoke three hours on the +constitutional amendment. He advocated the extension to the States +lately engaged in rebellion of all civil and political rights on +condition of their extending impartial suffrage to all their people. +He announced his policy as that of "protection for the Union and the +friends of the Union, and mercy to a fallen foe. Mercy pleaded +generous amnesty; justice demanded impartial suffrage. I proposed +pardon for the rebels and the ballot for the blacks." Of the Committee +on Reconstruction, Mr. Stewart said: "I realize the difficulties which +they have been called upon to encounter. They have acted a noble part +in their efforts to harmonize conflicting opinions. I rejoice in the +manner in which the report is presented, and the liberal spirit +manifested by the committee toward those who are anxious to aid in the +perfection of their plan." + +Mr. Johnson moved to strike out the third section, without offering a +substitute. + +Mr. Sherman offered a substitute for the second and third sections, +apportioning representation according to the number of male citizens +qualified to vote by State laws, and apportioning direct taxes +according to the value of real and personal property. + +The constitutional amendment was not again brought up for +consideration in the Senate until Tuesday, May 29th. The several days +during which the discussion was suspended in the Senate were not +fruitless in their effect upon the pending measure. The amendment was +carefully considered by the majority in special meetings, when such +amendations and improvements were agreed upon as would harmonize the +action of the Republicans in the Senate. + +The first action of the Senate, when the subject was resumed, was to +vote upon Mr. Johnson's motion to strike out the third section, which +was passed unanimously--yeas, 43; nays, 0. + +Mr. Howard, acting for the committee, then offered a series of +amendments to the joint resolution under consideration. The first of +these provided for the insertion as a part of section one, the +following clause: + + "All persons born in the United States, and subject to the + jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and + of the States wherein they reside." + +Another modification moved by Mr. Howard was the insertion, in place +of the third section already stricken out, a clause disabling certain +classes of rebels from holding federal offices. This amendment was +substantially the same as that previously proposed by Mr. Clark. + +It was proposed to amend section four, which, as passed by the House, +simply repudiated the rebel debt, by inserting the following clause: + + "The obligations of the United States incurred in + suppressing insurrection, or in defense of the Union, or for + payment of bounties or pensions incident thereto, shall + remain inviolate." + +Such were the amendments to the pending measure which the majority saw +proper to propose. + +At a subsequent period of the debate, Mr. Hendricks, in a speech +against the joint resolution, gave his view of the manner in which +these amendments were devised. Being spoken, in good humor, by one +whom a fellow-Senator once declared to be "the best-natured man in the +Senate," and having, withal, a certain appropriateness to this point, +his remarks are here presented: + +"For three days the Senate-chamber was silent, but the discussions +were transferred to another room of the Capitol, with closed doors and +darkened windows, where party leaders might safely contend for a +political and party policy. When Senators returned to their seats, I +was curious to observe who had won and who lost in the party lottery. +The dark brow of the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Clark] was +lighted with a gleam of pleasure. His proposed substitute for the +third section was the marked feature of the measure. But upon the +lofty brow of the Senator from Nevada [Mr. Stewart] there rested a +cloud of disappointment and grief. His bantling, which he had named +universal amnesty and universal suffrage, which he had so often +dressed and undressed in the presence of the Senate, the darling +offspring of his brain, was dead; it had died in the caucus; and it +was left to the sad Senator only to hope that it might not be his +last. Upon the serene countenance of the Senator from Maine, the +Chairman of the Fifteen, there rested the composure of the highest +satisfaction; a plausible political platform had been devised, and +there was yet hope for his party." + +On the 30th of May, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, +proceeded in the consideration of the constitutional amendment. The +several clauses were taken up separately and in order. + +Mr. Doolittle was desirous of amending the first section, relating to +the rights of citizens, by inserting a clause excepting from its +operation "Indians not taxed." His proposition was rejected. + +"The Committee of Fifteen," said Mr. Doolittle, referring to the Civil +Rights Bill, "fearing that this declaration by Congress was without +validity unless a constitutional amendment should be brought forward +to enforce it, have thought proper to report this amendment." + +"I want to say to the honorable Senator," Mr. Fessenden replied, "that +he is drawing entirely upon his imagination. There is not one word of +correctness in all that he is saying; not a particle; not a scintilla; +not the beginning of truth." + +The first and second sections of the amendment were accepted in +Committee of the Whole, with little further attempt at alteration. + +The third section, cutting off late Confederate officials from +eligibility to Federal offices, provoked repeated attempts to modify +and emasculate it. Among them was a motion by Mr. Saulsbury to amend +the final clause by adding that the President, by the exercise of the +pardoning power, may remove the disability. + +It augured the final success of the entire amendment in the Senate, +that the numerous propositions to amend, made by those unfavorable to +the measure, were voted down by majorities of more than three-fourths. + +Mr. Doolittle, speaking in opposition to the third section, said that +it was putting a new punishment upon all persons embraced within its +provisions. "If," said he, "by a constitutional amendment, you impose +a new punishment upon offenders who are guilty of crime already, you +wipe out the old punishment as to them. Now, I do not propose to wipe +out the penalties that these men have incurred by their treason +against the Government. I would punish a sufficient number of them to +make treason odious." + +"How many would you like to hang?" asked Mr. Nye. + +"You stated the other day that five or six would be enough to hang," +replied Mr. Doolittle. + +"Do you acquiesce in that?" asked Mr. Nye. + +"I think I ought to be satisfied," replied Mr. Doolittle, "if you are +satisfied with five or six. + +"The insertion of this section," said Mr. Doolittle, continuing his +remarks, "tends to prevent the adoption of the amendment by a +sufficient number of States to ratify it. What States to be affected +by this amendment will ratify it?" + +"Four will accept that part of it," said Mr. James H. Lane. + +"What four?" asked Mr. Doolittle. + +"Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana," replied Mr. Lane. "I +saw some gentlemen on Monday from Tennessee, who told me that this +particular clause would be the most popular thing that could be +tendered. And the very men that you want to hang ought to accept it +joyfully in lieu of their hanging." [Laughter.] + +"I do not know who those particular gentlemen were," said Mr. +Doolittle. "Were they the gentlemen that deserved hanging or not?" + +"They were Conservatives from Tennessee," replied Mr. Lane. + +"I deem this section as the adoption of a new punishment as to the +persons who are embraced within its provisions," said Mr. Doolittle. + +"They seem to have peculiar notions in Wisconsin in regard to +officers," said Mr. Trumbull; "and the Senator who has just taken his +seat regards it as a punishment that a man can not hold an office. +Why, sir, how many suffering people there must be in this land! He +says this is a bill of pains and penalties because certain persons can +not hold office; and he even seems to think it would be preferable, in +some instances, to be hanged. He wants to know of the Senator from +Ohio if such persons are to be excepted. This clause, I suppose, will +not embrace those who are to be hanged. When hung, they will cease to +suffer the pains and penalties of being kept out of office. + +"Who ever heard of such a proposition as that laid down by the Senator +from Wisconsin, that a bill excluding men from office is a bill of +pains, and penalties, and punishment? The Constitution of the United +States declares that no one but a native born citizen of the United +States shall be President of the United States. Does, then, every +person living in this land who does not happen to have been born +within its jurisdiction undergo pains, and penalties, and punishment +all his life because by the Constitution he is ineligible to the +Presidency? This is the Senator's position." + +Mr. Willey spoke in favor of the pending clause of the joint +resolution. "I hope," said he, "that we shall hear no more outcry +about the injustice, the inhumanity, and the want of Christian spirit +in thus incorporating into our Constitution precautionary measures +that will forever prohibit these unfaithful men from again having any +part in the Government." + +"The honorable Senator," remarked Mr. Davis in reply, "is a professor +of the Christian religion, a follower of the lowly and humble +Redeemer; but it seems to me that he forgot all the spirit of his +Christian charity and faith in the tenor of the remarks which he +made." + +"This cry for blood and vengeance," exclaimed Mr. Saulsbury, "can not +last forever. The eternal God who sits above, whose essence is love, +and whose chief attribute is mercy, says to all his creatures, whether +in the open daylight or in the silent hours of the night, 'Be +charitable; be merciful.'" + +Mr. Doolittle proposed two amendments to section three: the first to +limit its application to those who "_voluntarily_ engaged in +rebellion," and the second to except those "who have duly received +amnesty and pardon." + +These propositions were both rejected by large majorities, only ten +Senators voting for them. The third section, as proposed by Mr. +Howard, was then adopted by a vote of thirty against ten. + +The death of General Scott having been the occasion of an adjournment +of Congress, the consideration of the constitutional amendment was not +resumed until the 4th of June. Mr. Hendricks moved to amend by +including in the basis of representation in the Southern States +three-fifths of the freedmen. Mr. Van Winkle offered an amendment +providing that no person not excluded from office by the terms of the +third section shall be liable to any disability or penalty for treason +after a term of years. Both of these propositions were rejected by the +Senate. + +On the 5th of June, Mr. Poland, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Howe addressed +the Senate in favor of the constitutional amendment. Mr. Poland did +not expect to be able to say any thing after six months' discussion of +this subject. He took more hopeful views of the President's +tractability than many others. "Although these propositions," said he, +"may not, in all respects, correspond with the views of the President, +I believe he will feel it to be his patriotic duty to acquiesce in the +plan proposed, and give his powerful influence and support to procure +their adoption." + +"While it is not the plan that I would have adopted," said Mr. +Stewart, "still it is the best that I can get, and contains many +excellent provisions." + +"I shall vote for the Constitutional amendment," said Mr. Howe, +"regretfully, but not reluctantly. I shall vote for it regretfully, +because it does not meet the emergency as I hoped the emergency would +be met; but I shall not vote for it reluctantly, because it seems to +me just now to be the only way in which the emergency can be met at +all." + +An issue of some personal interest arose between Mr. Howe and his +colleague, Mr. Doolittle, which led them somewhat aside from the +regular channel of discussion. + +"He has been a most fortunate politician," said Mr. Howe, "always to +happen to have just those convictions which bore the highest price in +the market." + +"That I ever intended in the slightest degree," replied Mr. Doolittle, +"to swerve in my political action for the sake of offices or the price +of offices in the market, is a statement wholly without foundation." + +Mr. Howe had said in substance that in 1848 Mr. Doolittle was acting +with the Free Democratic party in New York, which was stronger than +the Democratic party in that State. In 1852, when he left the Free +Democratic party, and acted with the Democratic party in Wisconsin, +the Democratic party was in the majority in that State. He did not +leave the Democratic party and join the Republican party in 1854, but +only in 1856, and then Wisconsin was no longer a Democratic State. + +Mr. Doolittle, after having given a detailed account of his previous +political career, remarked: "During the last six months, in the State +of Wisconsin, no man has struggled harder than I have struggled to +save the Union party, to save it to its platform, to save it to its +principles, to save it to its supremacy. For six months, from one end +of Wisconsin to the other--ay, from Boston to St. Paul--by every one +of a certain class of newspapers I have been denounced as a traitor to +the Union party because I saved it from defeat. Sir, it is not the +first time in the history of the world that men have turned in to +crucify their savior." + +On the same day, June 6th, Messrs. Hendricks, Sherman, Cowan, and +others having participated in the discussion, the Senate voted on +another amendment offered by Mr. Doolittle, apportioning +Representatives, after the census of 1870, according to the number of +legal voters in each State by the laws thereof. This proposition was +rejected--yeas, 7; nays, 31. + +On the 7th of June, Mr. Garrett Davis occupied the entire time devoted +to the constitutional amendment in opposing that measure, denouncing +Congress, and praising the President. "There is a very great state of +backwardness," said he, "in both houses of Congress in relation to the +transaction of the legitimate, proper, and useful portion of the +public business; but as to the business that is of an illegitimate and +mischievous character, and that is calculated to produce results +deleterious to the present and the future of the whole country, there +has been a good deal, much too much, of progress made." + +Of President Johnson Mr. Davis said: "He seems to be the man for the +occasion; and his ability, resources, courage, and patriotism have +developed to meet its great demands. If this ark which holds the +rights and liberties of the American people is to be rescued and +saved, he will be one of the chief instruments in the great work, and +his glory and fame will be deathless." + +On the 8th of June, the last day of the discussion, the constitutional +amendment was opposed by Messrs. Johnson, McDougall, and Hendricks, +and defended by Messrs. Henderson, Yates, and Howard. + +"Let us bring back the South," said Mr. Johnson, in closing his +remarks, "so as to enable her to remove the desolation which has gone +through her borders, restore her industry, attend to her products, +instead of keeping her in a state of subjection without the slightest +necessity. Peace once existing throughout the land, the restoration of +all rights brought about, the Union will be at once in more prosperous +existence than it ever was; and throughout the tide of time, as I +believe, nothing in the future will ever cause us to dream of +dissolution, or of subjecting any part, through the powerful +instrumentality of any other part, to any dishonoring humiliation." + +"I went down once on the Mississippi," remarked Mr. McDougall, "at the +opening of the war. I met a general of the Confederate army, and I +took him by the hand and took him to my state-room, on board of my +gun-boat. Said he, 'General,' throwing his arms around me, 'how hard +it is that you and I have to fight.' That was the generosity of a +combatant. I repeated to him, 'It is hard,' and he and I drank a +bottle of wine or two--just as like as not. [Laughter.] This thing of +bearing malice is one of the wickedest sins that men can bear under +their clothes." + +Speaking of the third section, which had encountered great opposition, +as inflicting undue punishment upon prominent rebels, Mr. Henderson +said: "If this provision be all, it will be an act of the most +stupendous mercy that ever mantled the crimes of rebellion." + +"Let us suppose a case," said Mr. Yates. "Here is a man--Winder, or +Dick Turner, or some other notorious character. He has been the cause +of the death of that boy of yours. He has shot at him from behind an +ambuscade, or he has starved him to death in the Andersonville prison, +or he has made him lie at Belle Isle, subject to disease and death +from the miasma by which he was surrounded. When he is upon trial and +the question is, 'Sir, are you guilty, or are you not guilty?' and he +raises his blood-stained hands, deep-dyed in innocent and patriotic +blood, the Senator from Pennsylvania rises and says, 'For God's sake! +do not deprive him of the right to go to the legislature.' The idea is +that if a man has forfeited his life, it is too great a punishment to +deprive him of the privilege of holding office." + +Speaking of radicalism, Mr. Yates remarked: "My fear is not that this +Congress will be too radical; I am not afraid of this Congress being +shipwrecked upon any proposition of radicalism; but I fear from timid +and cowardly conservatism which will not risk a great people to take +their destiny in their own hands, and to settle this great question +upon the principles of equality, justice, and liberality. That is my +fear." + +Mr. Doolittle moved that the several sections of the amendment be +submitted to the States as separate articles. This motion was +rejected--yeas, 11; nays, 33. + +The vote was finally taken upon the adoption of the constitutional +amendment as a whole. It passed the Senate by a majority of more than +two-thirds, as follows: + + YEAS--Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Cragin, + Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, + Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Lane of + Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, + Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, + Williams, Wilson, and Yates--33. + + NAYS--Messrs. Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Guthrie, Hendricks, + Johnson, McDougall, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, and Van + Winkle--11. + +On the 13th of June, the joint resolution, having been modified in the +Senate, reaeppeared in the House for the concurrence of that branch of +Congress. There was a short discussion of the measure as amended in +the Senate. Messrs. Rogers, Finck, and Harding spoke against the +resolution, and Messrs. Spalding, Henderson, and Stevens in its favor. + +"The first proposition," said Mr. Rogers, "was tame in iniquity, +injustice, and violation of fundamental liberty to the one before us." + +"I say," said Mr. Finck, "it is an outrage upon the people of those +States who were compelled to give their aid and assistance in the +rebellion. You propose to inflict upon these people a punishment not +known to the law in existence at the time any offense may have been +committed, but after the offense has been committed." + +"Let me tell you," said Mr. Harding, "you are preparing for +revolutions after revolutions. I warn you there will be no peace in +this country until each State be allowed to control its own citizens. +If you take that from them, what care I for the splendid machinery of +a national government?" + +Mr. Stevens briefly addressed the House before the final vote was +taken. He had just risen from a sick-bed, and ridden to the Capitol at +the peril of his life. During the quarter of an hour which he occupied +in speaking, the solemnity was such as is seldom seen in that +assembly. Members left their seats, and gathered closely around the +venerable man to hear his brave and solemn words. From his youth he +had hoped to see our institutions freed from every vestige of human +oppression, of inequality of rights, of the recognized degradation of +the poor and the superior caste of the rich. But that bright dream had +vanished. "I find," said he, "that we shall be obliged to be content +with patching up the worst portions of the ancient edifice, and +leaving it in many of its parts to be swept through by the tempests, +the frosts, and the storms of despotism." + +It might be inquired why, with his opinions, he accepted so imperfect +a proposition. "Because," said he, "I live among men, and not among +angels; among men as intelligent, as determined, and as independent as +myself, who, not agreeing with me, do not choose to yield their +opinions to mine." With an enfeebled voice, yet with a courageous air, +he charged the responsibility for that day's patchwork upon the +Executive. "With his cordial assistance," said Mr. Stevens, "the rebel +States might have been made model republics, and this nation an empire +of universal freedom; but he preferred 'restoration' to +'reconstruction.'" + +The question was taken, and the joint resolution passed the House by a +vote of over three-fourths--120 yeas to 32 nays. From the necessary +absence of many members, the vote was not full, yet the relative +majority in favor of this measure was greater than in the former vote. + +The following is the Constitutional Amendment as it passed both Houses +of Congress: + + "ARTICLE--. + + "SEC. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United + States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are + citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they + reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall + abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the + United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of + life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor + deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal + protection of the laws. + + "SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the + several States according to their respective numbers, + counting the whole number of persons in each State, + excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at + any election for the choice of electors for President and + Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in + Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or + the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of + the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years + of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way + abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other + crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced + in the proportion which the number of such male citizens + shall bear to the whole number of such male citizens + twenty-one years of age in such State. + + "SEC. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in + Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or + hold any office, civil or military, under the United States + or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as + a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, + or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive + or judicial officer of any State, to support the + Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in + insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or + comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote + of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. + + "SEC. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United + States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for + payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing + insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But + neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay + any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or + rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the + loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, + obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. + + "SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by + appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." + +The President was requested to send the Amendment to the several +States for ratification. + +On the 22d of June, President Johnson sent a message to Congress +informing them that the Secretary of State had transmitted to the +Governors of the several States certified copies of the proposed +amendment. "These steps," said the President, "are to be considered as +purely ministerial, and in no sense whatever committing the Executive +to an approval of the recommendation of the amendment." It seemed to +the President a serious objection to the proposition "that the joint +resolution was not submitted by the two houses for the approval of the +President, and that of the thirty-six States which constitute the +Union, eleven are excluded from representation." + +The President having no power under the Constitution to veto a joint +resolution submitting a constitutional amendment to the people, this +voluntary expression of opinion could not have been designed to have +an influence upon the action of Congress. The document could have been +designed by its author only as an argument with the State Legislatures +against the ratification of the Constitutional Amendment, and as a +notice to the Southern people that they were badly treated. + +The President's message was received by Congress without comment, and +referred to the Committee on Reconstruction. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION. + + An important State Paper -- Work of the Committee -- + Difficulty of obtaining information -- Theory of the + President -- Taxation and Representation -- Disposition and + doings of the Southern People -- Conclusion of the Committee + -- Practical Recommendations. + + +On the 8th of June, the day on which the constitutional amendment +passed the Senate, the report of the joint Committee on Reconstruction +was presented to Congress. This important State paper had been looked +for with great interest and no little anxiety by the people in all +parts of the country. It was drawn up with marked ability, and was +destined to have a most important bearing upon public opinion in +reference to the great subject which, in all its bearings, it brought +to the view of Congress and the country. + +The committee having had unrivalled opportunities for obtaining +information, their conclusions commanded the respect of those who +differed from them, and obtained the almost unanimous approval of the +party which carried the war to a successful close. + +Referring to the nature of the work which was required of them, the +committee said: + + "Such an investigation, covering so large an extent of + territory, and involving so many important considerations, + must necessarily require no trifling labor, and consume a + very considerable amount of time. It must embrace the + condition in which those States were left at the close of + the war; the measures which have been taken toward the + reoerganization of civil government, and the disposition of + the people toward the United States--in a word, their + fitness to take an active part in the administration of + national affairs." + +The first step to be taken by the committee, that of obtaining +required information, and the difficulties attending it, were thus set +forth: + + "A call was made on the President for the information in his + possession as to what had been done, in order that Congress + might judge for itself as to the grounds of belief expressed + by him in the fitness of States recently in rebellion to + participate fully in the conduct of national affairs. This + information was not immediately communicated. When the + response was finally made, some six weeks after your + committee had been in actual session, it was found that the + evidence upon which the President seemed to have based his + suggestions was incomplete and unsatisfactory. Authenticated + copies of the constitutions and ordinances adopted by the + conventions in three of the States had been submitted; + extracts from newspapers furnished scanty information as to + the action of one other State, and nothing appears to have + been communicated as to the remainder. There was no evidence + of the loyalty of those who participated in these + conventions, and in one State alone was any proposition made + to submit the action of the convention to the final judgment + of the people. + + "Failing to obtain the desired information, and left to + grope for light wherever it might be found, your committee + did not deem it either advisable or safe to adopt, without + further examination, the suggestions of the President, more + especially as he had not deemed it expedient to remove the + military force, to suspend martial law, or to restore the + writ of habeas corpus, but still thought it necessary to + exercise over the people of the rebellious States his + military power and jurisdiction. This conclusion derived + greater force from the fact, undisputed, that in all those + States, except Tennessee, and, perhaps, Arkansas, the + elections which were held for State officers and members of + Congress had resulted almost universally in the defeat of + candidates who had been true to the Union, and in the + election of notorious and unpardoned rebels--men who could + not take the prescribed oath of office, and who made no + secret of their hostility to the Government and the people + of the United States. + + "Under these circumstances, any thing like hasty action + would have been as dangerous as it was obviously unwise. It + appeared to your committee that but one course remained, + viz.: to investigate carefully and thoroughly the state of + feeling and opinion existing among the people of these + States; to ascertain how far their pretended loyalty could + be relied upon, and thence to infer whether it would be safe + to admit them at once to a full participation in the + Government they had fought for four years to destroy. It was + an equally important inquiry whether their restoration to + their former relations with the United States should only be + granted upon certain conditions and guarantees, which would + effectually secure the nation against a recurrence of evils + so disastrous as those from which it had escaped at so + enormous a sacrifice." + +The theory of the President, and those who demanded the immediate +admission of Southern Senators and Representatives, was stated in the +report to amount to this: + + "That, inasmuch as the lately insurgent States had no legal + right to separate themselves from the Union, they still + retain their positions as States, and, consequently, the + people thereof have a right to immediate representation in + Congress, without the imposition of any conditions whatever; + and, further, that until such admission, Congress has no + right to tax them for the support of the Government. It has + even been contended that, until such admission, all + legislation affecting their interests is, if not + unconstitutional, at least unjustifiable and oppressive. + + "It is moreover contended that, from the moment when + rebellion lays down its arms, and actual hostilities cease, + all political rights of rebellious communities are at once + restored; that because the people of a State of the Union + were once an organized community within the Union, they + necessarily so remain, and their right to be represented in + Congress at any and all times, and to participate in the + government of the country under all circumstances, admits of + neither question nor dispute. If this is indeed true, then + is the Government of the United States powerless for its own + protection, and flagrant rebellion, carried to the extreme + of civil war, is a pastime which any State may play at, not + only certain that it can lose nothing, in any event, but may + be the gainer by defeat. If rebellion succeeds, it + accomplishes its purpose and destroys the Government. If it + fails, the war has been barren of results, and the battle + may be fought out in the legislative halls of the country. + Treason defeated in the field has only to take possession of + Congress and the Cabinet." + +The committee in this report asserted: + + "It is more than idle, it is a mockery to contend that a + people who have thrown off their allegiance, destroyed the + local government which bound their States to the Union as + members thereof, defied its authority, refused to execute + its laws, and abrogated every provision which gave them + political rights within the Union, still retain through all + the perfect and entire right to resume at their own will and + pleasure all their privileges within the Union, and + especially to participate in its government and control the + conduct of its affairs. To admit such a principle for one + moment would be to declare that treason is always master and + loyalty a blunder." + +To a favorite argument of the advocates of immediate restoration of +the rebel States, the report presented the following reply: + + "That taxation should be only with the consent of the + people, through their own representatives, is a cardinal + principle of all free governments; but it is not true that + taxation and representation must go together under all + circumstances and at every moment of time. The people of the + District of Columbia and of the Territories are taxed, + although not represented in Congress. If it be true that the + people of the so-called Confederate States have no right to + throw off the authority of the United States, it is equally + true that they are bound at all times to share the burdens + of Government. They can not, either legally or equitably, + refuse to bear their just proportion of these burdens by + voluntarily abdicating their rights and privileges as States + of the Union, and refusing to be represented in the councils + of the nation, much less by rebellion against national + authority and levying war. To hold that by so doing they + could escape taxation, would be to offer a premium for + insurrection--to reward instead of punishing treason." + +Upon the important subject of representation, which had occupied much +of the attention of the committee and much of the time of Congress, +the report held the following words: + + "The increase of representation, necessarily resulting from + the abolition of slavery, was considered the most important + element in the questions arising out of the changed + condition of affairs, and the necessity for some fundamental + action in this regard seemed imperative. It appeared to your + committee that the rights of these persons, by whom the + basis of representation had been thus increased, should be + recognized by the General Government. While slaves they were + not considered as having any rights, civil or political. It + did not seem just or proper that all the political + advantages derived from their becoming free should be + confined to their former masters, who had fought against the + Union, and withheld from themselves, who had always been + loyal. Slavery, by building up a ruling and dominant class, + had produced a spirit of oligarchy adverse to republican + institutions, which finally inaugurated civil war. The + tendency of continuing the domination of such a class, by + leaving it in the exclusive possession of political power, + would be to encourage the same spirit and lead to a similar + result. Doubts were entertained whether Congress had power, + even under the amended Constitution, to prescribe the + qualifications of voters in a State, or could act directly + on the subject. It was doubtful in the opinion of your + committee whether the States would consent to surrender a + power they had always exercised, and to which they were + attached. As the best, not the only method of surmounting + all difficulty, and as eminently just and proper in itself, + your committee comes to the conclusion that political power + should be possessed in all the States exactly in proportion + as the right of suffrage should be granted without + distinction of color or race. This, it was thought, would + leave the whole question with the people of each State, + holding out to all the advantages of increased political + power as an inducement to allow all to participate in its + exercise. Such a proposition would be in its nature gentle + and persuasive, and would tend, it was hoped, at no distant + day, to an equal participation of all, without distinction, + in all the rights and privileges of citizenship, thus + affording a full and adequate protection to all classes of + citizens, since we would have, through the ballot-box, the + power of self-protection. + + "Holding these views, your committee prepared an amendment + to the Constitution to carry out this idea, and submitted + the same to Congress. Unfortunately, as we think, it did not + receive the necessary constitutional support in the Senate, + and, therefore, could not be proposed for adoption by the + States. The principle involved in that amendment is, + however, believed to be sound, and your committee have again + proposed it in another form, hoping that it may receive the + approbation of Congress." + +The action of the people of the insurrectionary States, and their +responses to the President's appeals, as showing their degree of +preparation for immediate admission into Congress, was thus set forth +in the report: + + "So far as the disposition of the people of the + insurrectionary States and the probability of their adopting + measures conforming to the changed condition of affairs can + be inferred, from the papers submitted by the President as + the basis of his action, the prospects are far from + encouraging. It appears quite clear that the anti-slavery + amendments, both to the State and Federal Constitutions, + were adopted with reluctance by the bodies which did adopt + them; and in some States they have been either passed by in + silence or rejected. The language of all the provisions and + ordinances of the States on the subject amounts to nothing + more than an unwilling admission of an unwelcome truth. As + to the ordinance of secession, it is in some cases declared + 'null and void,' and in others simply 'repealed,' and in no + case is a refutation of this deadly heresy considered worthy + of a place in the new constitutions. + + "If, as the President assumes, these insurrectionary States + were, at the close of the war, wholly without State + governments, it would seem that before being admitted to + participate in the direction of public affairs, such + governments should be regularly organized. Long usage has + established, and numerous statutes have pointed out, the + mode in which this should be done. A convention to frame a + form of government should be assembled under competent + authority. Ordinarily this authority emanates from Congress; + but under the peculiar circumstances, your committee is not + disposed to criticise the President's action in assuming the + power exercised by him in this regard. + + "The convention, when assembled, should frame a constitution + of government, which should be submitted to the people for + adoption. If adopted, a Legislature should be convened to + pass the laws necessary to carry it into effect. When a + State thus organized claims representation in Congress, the + election of Representatives should be provided for by law, + in accordance with the laws of Congress regulating + representation, and the proof, that the action taken has + been in conformity to law, should be submitted to Congress. + + "In no case have these essential preliminary steps been + taken. The conventions assembled seem to have assumed that + the Constitution which had been repudiated and overthrown, + was still in existence, and operative to constitute the + States members of the Union, and to have contented + themselves with such amendments as they were informed were + requisite in order to insure their return to an immediate + participation in the Government of the United States. And + without waiting to ascertain whether the people they + represented would adopt even the proposed amendments, they + at once called elections of Representatives to Congress in + nearly all instances before an Executive had been chosen to + issue certificates of election under the State laws, and + such elections as were held were ordered by the conventions. + In one instance, at least, the writs of election were signed + by the provisional governor. Glaring irregularities and + unwarranted assumptions of power are manifest in several + cases, particularly in South Carolina, where the convention, + although disbanded by the provisional governor on the ground + that it was a revolutionary body, assumed to district the + State." + +The report thus sets forth the conduct naturally expected of the +Southern people, as contrasted with their actual doings: + + "They should exhibit in their acts something more than + unwilling submission to an unavoidable necessity--a feeling, + if not cheerful, certainly not offensive and defiant, and + should evince an entire repudiation of all hostility to the + General Government by an acceptance of such just and + favorable conditions as that Government should think the + public safety demands. Has this been done? Let us look at + the facts shown by the evidence taken by the committee. + Hardly had the war closed before the people of these + insurrectionary States come forward and hastily claim as a + right the privilege of participating at once in that + Government which they had for four years been fighting to + overthrow. + + "Allowed and encouraged by the Executive to organize State + governments, they at once place in power leading rebels, + unrepentant and unpardoned, excluding with contempt those + who had manifested an attachment to the Union, and + preferring, in many instances, those who had rendered + themselves the most obnoxious. In the face of the law + requiring an oath which would necessarily exclude all such + men from Federal office, they elect, with very few + exceptions, as Senators and Representatives in Congress, men + who had actively participated in the rebellion, insultingly + denouncing the law as unconstitutional. + + "It is only necessary to instance the election to the Senate + of the late Vice President of the Confederacy--a man who, + against his own declared convictions, had lent all the + weight of his acknowledged ability and of his influence as a + most prominent public man to the cause of the rebellion, and + who, unpardoned rebel as he is, with that oath staring him + in the face, had the assurance to lay his credentials on the + table of the Senate. Other rebels of scarcely less note or + notoriety were selected from other quarters. Professing no + repentance, glorying apparently in the crime they had + committed, avowing still, as the uncontradicted testimony of + Mr. Stephens and many others proves, an adherence to the + pernicious doctrines of secession, and declaring that they + yielded only to necessity, they insist with unanimous voice + upon their rights as States, and proclaim they will submit + to no conditions whatever preliminary to their resumption of + power under that Constitution which they still claim the + right to repudiate." + +Finally the report thus presented the "conclusion of the committee:" + + "That the so-called Confederate States are not at present + entitled to representation in the Congress of the United + States; that before allowing such representation, adequate + security for future peace and safety should be required; + that this can only be found in such changes of the organic + law as shall determine the civil rights and privileges of + all citizens in all parts of the republic, shall place + representation on an equitable basis, shall fix a stigma + upon treason, and protect the loyal people against future + claims for the expenses incurred in support of rebellion and + for manumitted slaves, together with an express grant of + power in Congress to enforce these provisions. To this end + they have offered a joint resolution for amending the + Constitution of the United States, and two several bills + designed to carry the same into effect." + +The passage of the Constitutional Amendment by more than the necessary +majority has been related. One of the bills to which reference is made +in the above report--declaring certain officials of the so-called +Confederate States ineligible to any office under the Government of +the United States--was placed in the amendment in lieu of the +disfranchising clause. The other bill provided for "the restoration of +the States lately in insurrection to their full rights" so soon as +they should have ratified the proposed amendment. This bill was +defeated in the House by a vote of 75 to 48. Congress thus refused to +pledge itself in advance to make the amendment the sole test of the +reaedmission of rebel States. Congress, however, clearly indicated a +disposition to restore those States "at the earliest day consistent +with the future peace and safety of the Union." The report and doings +of the Committee of Fifteen, although by many impatiently criticised +as dilatory, resulted, before the end of the first session of the +Thirty-ninth Congress, in the reconstruction of one of the States +lately in rebellion. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE. + + Assembling of the Tennessee Legislature -- Ratification of + the Constitutional Amendment -- Restoration of Tennessee + proposed in Congress -- The Government of Tennessee not + Republican -- Protest against the Preamble -- Passage in the + House -- New Preamble proposed -- The President's Opinion + deprecated and disregarded -- Passage in the Senate -- The + President's Approval and Protest -- Admission of Tennessee + Members -- Mr. Patterson's Case. + + +The most important practical step in the work of reconstruction taken +by the Thirty-ninth Congress was the restoration of Tennessee to her +relations to the Union. Of all the recently rebellious States, +Tennessee was the first to give a favorable response to the overtures +of Congress by ratifying the Constitutional Amendment. + +Immediately on the reception of the circular of the Secretary of State +containing the proposed amendment, Governor Brownlow issued a +proclamation summoning the Legislature of Tennessee to assemble at +Nashville on the 4th of July. + +There are eighty-four seats in the lower branch of the Legislature of +Tennessee. By the State Constitution, two-thirds of the seats are +required to be full to constitute a quorum. The presence of fifty-six +members seemed essential for the legal transaction of business. Every +effort was made to prevent the assembling of the required number. The +powerful influence of the President himself was thrown in opposition +to ratification. + +On the day of the assembling of the Legislature but fifty-two members +voluntarily appeared. Two additional members were secured by arrest, +so that the number nominally in attendance was fifty-four, and thus it +remained for several days. It was ascertained that deaths and +resignations had reduced the number of actual members to seventy-two, +and a Union caucus determined to declare that fifty-four members +should constitute a quorum. Two more Union members opportunely +arrived, swelling the number present in the Capitol to fifty-six. +Neither persuasion nor compulsion availed to induce the two +"Conservative members" to occupy their seats, and the house was driven +to the expedient of considering the members who were under arrest and +confined in a committee room, as present in their places. This having +been decided, the constitutional amendment was immediately ratified. +Governor Brownlow immediately sent the following telegraphic dispatch +to Washington: + + "NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, _Thursday_, July 19--12 M. + + "_To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C._ + + My compliments to the President. We have carried the + Constitutional Amendment in the House. Vote, 43 to 18; two + of his tools refusing to vote. + + W. G. BROWNLOW." + +On the 19th of July, the very day on which Tennessee voted to ratify +the amendment, and immediately after the news was received in +Washington, Mr. Bingham, in the House of Representatives, moved to +reconsider a motion by which a joint resolution relating to the +restoration of Tennessee had been referred to the Committee on +Reconstruction. + +This joint resolution having been drawn up in the early part of the +session, was not adapted to the altered condition of affairs resulting +from the passage of the constitutional amendment in Congress. The +motion to reconsider having passed, Mr. Bingham proposed the following +substitute: + + "Joint resolution declaring Tennessee again entitled to + Senators and Representatives in Congress. + + _Whereas_, The State of Tennessee has in good faith ratified + the article of amendment to the Constitution of the United + States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress to the + Legislatures of the several States, and has also shown, to + the satisfaction of Congress, by a proper spirit of + obedience in the body of her people, her return to her due + allegiance to the Government, laws, and authority of the + United States: Therefore, + + _Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + the State of Tennessee is hereby restored to her former, + proper, practical relation to the Union, and again entitled + to be represented by Senators and Representatives in + Congress, duly elected and qualified, upon their taking the + oaths of office required by existing laws." + +On the following day, this joint resolution was the regular order, and +gave rise to a brief discussion. + +Mr. Boutwell desired to offer an amendment providing that Tennessee +should have representation in Congress whenever, in addition to having +ratified the constitutional amendment, it should establish an "equal +and just system of suffrage." Mr. Boutwell, although opposed to the +joint resolution before the House, had no "technical" objections to +the immediate restoration of Tennessee. "I am not troubled," said he, +"by the informalities apparent in the proceedings of the Tennessee +Legislature upon the question of ratifying the constitutional +amendment. It received the votes of a majority of the members of a +full house, and when the proper officers shall have made the customary +certificate, and filed it in the Department of State, it is not easy +to see how any legal objection can be raised, even if two-thirds of +the members were not present, although that proportion is a quorum +according to the constitution of the State." + +Mr. Boutwell declared that his objections to the pending measure were +vital and fundamental. The government of Tennessee was not republican +in form, since under its constitution more than eighty thousand male +citizens were deprived of the right of suffrage. The enfranchisement +of the freedmen of Tennessee should be the beginning of the great work +of reconstruction upon a republican basis. "We surrender the rights of +four million people," said Mr. Boutwell in concluding his remarks; "we +surrender the cause of justice; we imperil the peace and endanger the +prosperity of the country; we degrade ourselves as a great party which +has controlled the government in the most trying times in the history +of the world." + +Mr. Higby thought that Tennessee should not be admitted without a +restriction that she should not be allowed any more representation +than that to which she would be entitled were the constitutional +amendment in full operation and effect. + +Mr. Bingham advocated at considerable length the immediate restoration +of Tennessee. "Inasmuch," said he, "as Tennessee has conformed to all +our requirements; inasmuch as she has, by a majority of her whole +legislature in each house, ratified the amendment in good faith; +inasmuch as she has of her own voluntary will conformed her +constitution and laws to the Constitution and laws of the United +States; inasmuch as she has by her fundamental law forever prohibited +the assumption or payment of the rebel debt, or the enslavement of +men; inasmuch as she has by her own constitution declared that rebels +shall not exercise any of the political power of the State or vote at +elections; and thereby given the American people assurance of her +determination to stand by this great measure of security for the +future of the Republic, Tennessee is as much entitled to be +represented here as any State in the Union." + +Mr. Finck, Mr. Eldridge, and other Democrats favored the resolution, +while they protested against and "spit on" the preamble. + +The question having been taken, the joint resolution passed the House, +one hundred and twenty-five voting in the affirmative, and twelve in +the negative. These last were the following: Messrs. Alley, Benjamin, +Boutwell, Eliot, Higby, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Loan, McClurg, Paine, +and Williams. + +The announcement of the passage of the joint resolution was greeted +with demonstrations of applause on the floor and in the galleries. + +On the day succeeding this action in the House, the joint resolution +came up for consideration in the Senate. After a considerable +discussion, the resolution as it passed the House was adopted by the +Senate. + +In place of the preamble which was passed by the House, Mr. Trumbull +proposed the following substitute: + + "_Whereas_, In the year 1861, the government of the State of + Tennessee was seized upon and taken possession of by persons + in hostility to the United States, and the inhabitants of + said State, in pursuance of an act of Congress were declared + to be in a state of insurrection against the United States; + and whereas said State government can only be restored to + its former political relations in the Union by the consent + of the law-making power of the United States; and whereas + the people of said State did on the 22d of February, 1865, + by a large popular vote adopt and ratify a constitution of + government whereby slavery was abolished, and all ordinances + and laws of secession and debts contracted under the same + were declared void; and whereas a State government has been + organized under said constitution which has ratified the + amendment to the Constitution of the United States + abolishing slavery, also the amendment proposed by the + Thirty-ninth Congress, and has done other acts proclaiming + and denoting loyalty: Therefore." + +Mr. Sherman opposed the substitution of this preamble. "These +political dogmas," said he, "can not receive the sanction of the +President; and to insert them will only create delay, and postpone the +admission of Tennessee." + +"I pay no regard," said Mr. Wade, "to all that has been said here in +relation to the President probably vetoing your bill, for any thing he +may do, in my judgment, is entirely out of order on this floor. Sir, +in olden times it was totally inadmissible in the British Parliament +for any member to allude to any opinion that the king might entertain +on any thing before the body; and much more, sir, ought an American +Congress never to permit any member to allude to the opinion that the +Executive may have upon any subject under consideration. He has his +duty to perform, and we ours; and we have no right whatever under the +Constitution to be biased by any opinion that he may entertain on any +subject. Therefore, sir, I believe that it is, or ought to be, out of +order to allude to any such thing here. Let the President do what he +conceives to be his duty, and let us do ours, without being biased in +any way whatever by what it may be supposed he will do." + +Mr. Brown entered his disclaimer. "Republicanism," said he, "means +nothing if it means not impartial, universal suffrage. Republicanism +is a mockery and a lie if it can assume to administer this government +in the name of freedom, and yet sanction, as this act will, the +disfranchisement of a large, if not the largest, part of the loyal +population of the rebel States on the pretext of color and race." + +The question being taken on the passage of the preamble as substituted +by the Senate, together with the resolution of the House, resulted in +twenty-eight Senators voting in the affirmative, and four in the +negative. The latter were Messrs. Brown, Buckalew, McDougal, and +Sumner. + +The House concurred in the amendment of the Senate, without +discussion, and the joint resolution went to the President for his +approval. + +On the 24th of July, the President, not thinking it expedient to risk +a veto, signed the joint resolution, and at the same time sent to the +House his protest against the opinions presented in the preamble. +After having given his objections to the preamble and resolution at +considerable length, the President said: "I have, notwithstanding the +anomalous character of this proceeding, affixed my signature to the +resolution. [General applause and laughter.] My approval, however, is +not to be construed as an acknowledgment of the right of Congress to +pass laws preliminary to the admission of duly-qualified +representatives from any of the States. [Great laughter.] Neither is +it to be considered as committing me to all the statements made in the +preamble, [renewed laughter,] some of which are, in my opinion, +without foundation in fact, especially the assertion that the State of +Tennessee has ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United +States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress." [Laughter.] + +After the reading of the President's Message, Mr. Stevens said: +"Inasmuch as the joint resolution has become a law by the entire and +cordial approval of the President, [laughter,] I am joint committee on +reconstruction to ask that that committee be discharged from the +further consideration of the credentials of the members elect from the +State of Tennessee, and to move that the same be referred to the +Committee of Elections of this House." + +This motion was passed. At a later hour of the same day's session, Mr. +Dawes, of the Committee on Elections, having permission to report, +said that the credentials of the eight Representatives elect from +Tennessee had been examined, and were found in conformity with law. He +moved, therefore, that the gentlemen be sworn in as members of the +House from the State of Tennessee. + +Horace Maynard and other gentlemen from Tennessee then went forward +amid applause, and took the oath of office. + +On the day following, Joseph S. Fowler was sworn in, and took his seat +as a Senator from Tennessee. + +The next day Mr. Fowler presented the credentials of David T. +Patterson as a Senator elect from Tennessee. A motion was made that +these credentials be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, with +instructions to inquire into the qualifications of Mr. Patterson. + +The circumstances in this case were peculiar. Mr. Patterson had been +elected circuit judge by the people of East Tennessee in 1854. His +term of office expired in 1862, after Tennessee had passed the +ordinance of secession and became a member of the Southern +Confederacy. He was a firm, avowed, and influential Union man, and in +the exercise of the duties of his office did much to protect the +interests of loyal men. Persons who were opposed to secession, which +with lawless violence was sweeping over the State, felt the importance +of having the offices filled by Union men. Mr. Patterson was urged to +again become a candidate for judge. He reluctantly consented, and was +elected by a large majority over a rebel candidate. Governor Harris +sent his commission, with peremptory orders that he should immediately +take the oath to support the Southern Confederacy. Judge Patterson +delayed and hesitated, and consulted other Union men as to the proper +course to be pursued. They advised and urged him to take the oath. By +so doing he could afford protection, to some extent, to Union men, +against acts of lawless violence on the part of rebels. He was advised +that, if he did not accept the office, it would be filled by a rebel, +and the people would be oppressed by the civil as well as the military +power of the rebels. He yielded to these arguments and this advice, +and took the oath prescribed by the Legislature, which in substance +was that he would support the Constitution of Tennessee and the +Constitution of the Confederate States. He declared at the time that +he owed no allegiance to the Confederate Government, and did not +consider that part of the oath as binding him at all. + +Judge Patterson held a few terms of court in counties when he could +organize grand juries of Union men, and did something toward +preserving peace and order in the community. He aided the Union people +and the Union cause in every possible way, and thus became amenable to +the hostility of the secessionists, who subjected him to great +difficulty and danger. He was several times arrested, and held for +some time in custody. At times he was obliged to conceal himself for +safety. He spent many nights in out-buildings and in the woods to +avoid the vengeance of the rebels. + +In September, 1863, the United States forces under General Burnside +having taken possession of Knoxville, Mr. Patterson succeeded, with +his family, in making his escape to Knoxville, and did not return to +his home until after the close of the rebellion. + +The Committee on the Judiciary having taken into consideration the +above and other palliating circumstances, proposed a resolution that +Mr. Patterson "is duly qualified and entitled to hold a seat in the +Senate." On motion of Mr. Clark this resolution was amended to read, +"that, upon taking the oaths required by the Constitution and the +laws, he be admitted to a seat in the Senate." + +It was, however, thought better by the Senate to pass a joint +resolution that in the case of Mr. Patterson there should be omitted +from the test oath the following words: "That I have neither sought, +nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office +whatever under any authority, or pretended authority, in hostility to +the United States." This joint resolution having passed the Senate, +was immediately sent to the House of Representatives, then in session, +and at once came up before that body for consideration. The resolution +was eloquently advocated by Messrs. Maynard and Taylor, and opposed by +Mr. Stokes, all of Tennessee. + +"On the night of the 22d of February last," said Mr. Stokes, "I +delivered a speech in Nashville, and there and then declared, if +admitted as a member of this House, I would freeze to my seat before I +would vote to repeal the test oath. [Long-continued applause on the +floor and in the galleries.] I have made the same declaration in many +speeches since then. + +"Sir, I regard the test oath passed by the United States Congress as +the salvation of the Union men of the South as well as of the North. I +regard it as sacred as the flaming sword which the Creator placed in +the tree of life to guard it, forbidding any one from partaking of the +fruit thereof who was not pure in heart. Sir, this is no light +question. Repeal the test oath and you permit men to come into +Congress and take seats who have taken an oath to the Confederate +Government, and who have aided and assisted in carrying out its +administration and laws. That is what we are now asked to do. Look +back to the 14th of August, 1861, the memorable day of the +proclamation issued by Jefferson Davis, ordering every man within the +lines of the confederacy who still held allegiance to the Federal +Government to leave within forty-eight hours. That order compelled +many to seek for hiding-places who could not take the oath of +allegiance to the Confederate Government. When the rebel authorities +said to our noble Governor of Tennessee, 'We will throw wide open the +prison doors and let you out, if you will swear allegiance to our +government,' what was his reply? 'You may sever my head from my body, +but I will never take the oath to the Confederate Government.'" + +[Illustration: W. B. Stokes, Representative from Tennessee.] + +Mr. Conkling said: "I should be recreant to candor were I to attempt +to conceal my amazement at the scene now passing before us. Only eight +short days ago and eleven States were silent and absent here, because +they had participated in guilty rebellion, and because they were not +in fit condition to share in the government and control of this +country. Seven short days ago we found one of these States with +loyalty so far retrieved, one State so far void of present offenses, +that the ban was withdrawn from her, and she again was placed on an +equal footing with the most favored States in the Union. The doors +were instantly thrown open to her Senators and Representatives, the +whole case was disposed of, and the nation approved the act. Here the +matter should have rested; here it should have been left forever +undisturbed. But no; before one week has made its round, we are called +upon to stultify ourselves, to wound the interests of the nation, to +surrender the position held by the loyal people of the country almost +unanimously, and the exigency is that a particular citizen of +Tennessee seeks to effect his entrance to the Senate of the United +States without being qualified like every other man who is permitted +to enter there. + +"We are asked to drive a ploughshare over the very foundation of our +position; to break down and destroy the bulwark by which we may secure +the results of a great war and a great history, by which we may +preserve from defilement this place, where alone in our organism the +people never lose their supremacy, except by the recreancy of their +Representatives; a bulwark without which we may not save our +Government from disintegration and disgrace. If we do this act, it +will be a precedent which will carry fatality in its train. From +Jefferson Davis to the meanest tool of despotism and treason, every +rebel may come here, and we shall have no reason to assign against his +admission, except the arbitrary reason of numbers." + +Mr. Conkling closed by moving that the joint resolution be laid on the +table, which was carried by a vote of eighty-eight to thirty-one. + +During the same day's session--which was protracted until seven +o'clock of Saturday morning, July 28th--the same subject came up again +in the Senate, on the passage of the resolution to admit Mr. Patterson +to a seat in the Senate upon his taking the oaths required by the +Constitution and laws. After some discussion, the resolution passed, +twenty-one voting in the affirmative and eleven in the negative. + +Mr. Patterson went forward to the desk, and the prescribed oaths +having been administered, he took his seat in the Senate. Thus, on the +last day of the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Tennessee +was fully reconstructed in her representation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +NEGRO SUFFRAGE. + + Review of the Preceding Action -- Efforts of Mr. Yates for + Unrestricted Suffrage -- Davis's Amendment to Cuvier -- The + "Propitious Hour" -- The Mayor's Remonstrance -- Mr. + Willey's Amendment -- Mr. Cowan's Amendment for Female + Suffrage -- Attempt to Out-radical the Radicals -- Opinions + for and against Female Suffrage -- Reading and Writing as a + Qualification -- Passage of the Bill -- Objections of the + President -- Two Senators on the Opinions of the People -- + The Suffrage Bill becomes a Law. + + +On the reaessembling of the Thirty-ninth Congress for the second +session, December 3d, 1866, immediately after the preliminaries of +opening had transpired, Mr. Sumner called up business which had been +introduced on the first day of the preceding session--a year +before--which still remained unfinished--the subject of suffrage in +the District of Columbia. In so doing, the Senator from Massachusetts +said: "It will be remembered that it was introduced on the first day +of the last session; that it was the subject of repeated discussions +in this chamber; that it was more than once referred to the Committee +on the District of Columbia, by whose chairman it was reported back to +the Senate. At several different stages of the discussion it was +supposed that we were about to reach a final vote. The country +expected that vote. It was not had. It ought to have been had. And +now, sir, I think that the best way is for the Senate in this very +first hour of its coming together to put that bill on its passage. It +has been thoroughly debated. Every Senator here has made up his mind +on the question. There is nothing more to be said on either side. So +far as I am concerned, I am perfectly willing that the vote shall be +taken without one further word of discussion; but I do think that the +Senate ought not to allow the bill to be postponed. We ought to seize +this first occasion to put the bill on its passage. The country +expects it; the country will rejoice and be grateful if you will +signalize this first day of your coming together by this beautiful and +generous act." + +Objection being raised to the immediate consideration of the subject, +it was decided that it must be deferred under a rule of the Senate +until after the expiration of six days from the commencement of the +session. + +It is proper here to present a brief record of the proceedings upon +the subject during the preceding session. The passage of a bill in the +House of Representatives, and the discussion upon the subject in that +body are given in a preceding chapter. This bill, as Mr. Morrill +subsequently said in the Senate, was not an election bill, and +conferred no right of voting upon any person beyond what he had +before. It was a mere declaration of a right to vote. As such, the +bill was favorably received by the Senate Committee to whom it was +referred, and was by them reported back with favor, but was never put +upon its passage. + +Meanwhile the Senate Committee had under consideration a bill of their +own, which they reported on the 10th of January. This bill provided +for restricted suffrage, requiring the qualification to read and +write. Mr. Yates, an original and uncompromising advocate of universal +suffrage was opposed to this restriction. He was a member of the +Committee on the District of Columbia, but had been prevented from +being present in its deliberations when it was resolved to report the +bill as then before the Senate. Fearing that the bill might pass the +Senate with the objectionable restrictions, Mr. Yates moved that it be +recommitted, which was done. + +At a meeting of the committee called to reconsider the bill, Mr. Yates +argued at length and with earnestness against disfranchisement on the +ground of inability to read and write. The committee reversed their +former decision, and reported the bill substantially in the form in +which it subsequently became a law. The bill being before the Senate +on the 16th of January, 1866, Mr. Garrett Davis opposed it in a speech +of great length. He made use of every argument and referred to every +authority within his reach to prove the inferiority of the negro race. +After giving Cuvier's definition of the "negro," the Senator remarked: +"The great naturalist might have added as other distinctive +characteristics of the negro; first, that his skin exhales perpetually +a peculiar pungent and disagreeable odor; second, that 'the hollow of +his foot makes a hole in the ground.'" The Senator drew a fearful +picture of the schemes of Massachusetts to use the negro voters, whom +it was her policy to create in the South. + +This subject did not again come up in the Senate until after the lapse +of several months. On the 27th of June it was "disentombed" from what +many supposed was its final resting place. Mr. Morrill proposed as an +amendment that the elective franchise should be restricted to persons +who could read and write. This was rejected; fifteen voting in the +affirmative, and nineteen in the negative. + +Mr. Willey opposed the bill before the Senate in a speech of +considerable length. He advocated the bestowal of a qualified and +restricted suffrage upon the colored people of the District. His chief +objection to the measure before the Senate was that it was untimely. +"Any thing not essential in itself," said he, "or very material to the +welfare of the nation, or a considerable part of the nation, if it is +calculated to complicate our difficulties, or inflame party passions +or sectional animosities, had better be left, it appears to me, to a +more propitious hour." + +The "propitious hour" hoped for by the Senator, did not come around +until after the opening of the second session. The subject did not +again seriously occupy the attention of the Senate, with the exception +of Mr. Sumner's effort to have it taken up on the first day of the +session, until the 10th day of December, 1866. + +On that day, Mr. Morrill, who, as Chairman of the Committee on the +District of Columbia, had the bill in charge, introduced the subject +with a speech of considerable length. "This measure," said he, "not +only regulates the elective franchise in this District, but it extends +and enlarges it. The principal feature of the bill is that it embraces +the colored citizens of the District of Columbia. In this particular +it is novel, and in this particular it is important. In this +particular it may be said to be inaugurating a policy not only +strictly for the District of Columbia, but in some sense for the +country at large. In this respect it is, I suppose, that this bill has +received so large a share of the public attention during the last +session and the recess of the Congress of the United States." + +Mr. Morrill called attention to the remonstrance of the Mayor of +Washington, who had informed the Senate that in an election held for +the purpose of ascertaining the sentiments of the voters of the city +upon the subject, some six thousand five hundred were opposed to the +extension of the elective franchise, while only thirty or forty were +in favor of it. + +"These six or seven thousand voters," said Mr. Morrill, "are only one +in thirty at most of the people of this District, and it is very +difficult to understand how there could be more significance or +probative force attached to these six or seven thousand votes than to +an equal number of voices independent of the ballot, under the +circumstances. This is a matter affecting the capital of the nation, +one in which the American people have an interest, as indirectly, at +least, touching the country at large. What the National Congress +pronounce here as a matter of right or expediency, or both, touching a +question of popular rights, may have an influence elsewhere for good +or for evil. We can not well justify the denial of the right of +suffrage to colored citizens on the protest of the voters of the +corporation of Washington. We may not think fit to grant it simply on +the prayer of the petitioners. Our action should rest on some +recognized general principle, which, applied to the capital of the +nation, would be equally just applied to any of the political +communities of which the nation is composed." + +In closing his speech, Mr. Morrill remarked: "In a nation of professed +freemen, whose political axioms are those of universal liberty and +human rights, no public tranquillity is possible while these rights +are denied to portions of the American people. We have taken into the +bosom of the Republic the diverse elements of the nationalities of +Europe, and are attempting to mold them into national harmony and +unity, and are still inviting other millions to come to us. Let us not +despair that the same mighty energies and regenerating forces will be +able to assign a docile and not untractable race its appropriate place +in our system." + +Mr. Willey's amendment, proposed when the subject was last considered +in the previous session, six months before, being now the pending +question, its author addressed the Senate in favor of some +restrictions upon the exercise of the elective franchise. "There ought +to be some obligation," said he, "either in our fundamental laws in +the States, or somewhere, by some means requiring the people to +educate themselves; and if this can be accomplished by disqualifying +those who are not educated for the exercise of the right of suffrage, +thus stimulating them to acquire a reasonable degree of education, +that of itself, it seems to me, would be a public blessing." + +"I am against this qualification of reading and writing," said Mr. +Wilson; "I never did believe in it. I do not believe in it now. I +voted against it in my own State, and I intend to vote against it +here. There was a time when I would have taken it, because I did not +know that we could get any thing more in this contest; but I think the +great victory of manhood suffrage is about achieved in this country." + +"Reading and writing, as a qualification for voting," said Mr. +Pomeroy, "might be entertained in a State where all the people were +allowed to go to school and learn to read and write; but it seems to +me monstrous to apply it to a class of persons in this community who +were legislated away from school, to whom every avenue of learning was +shut up by law." + +Some discussion was elicited by a proposition made by Mr. Anthony to +attach to Mr. Willey's amendment a provision excluding from the right +to vote all "who in any way voluntarily gave aid and comfort to the +rebels during the late rebellion." + +This was opposed by Mr. Wilson. "We better not meddle with that matter +of disfranchisement," said he. "There are but few of these persons +here, so the prohibition will practically not amount to any thing. As +we are to accomplish a great object, to establish universal suffrage, +we should let alone all propositions excluding a few men here. +Disfranchisement will create more feeling and more bitterness than +enfranchisement." + +Mr. Willey's amendment was finally so much "amended" that he could not +support it himself, and it received but one affirmative vote, that of +Mr. Kirkwood. + +Mr. Cowan proposed to amend the bill by striking out the word "male" +before the word "person," that females might enjoy the elective +franchise. "I propose to extend this privilege," said he, "not only to +males, but to females as well; and I should like to hear even the most +astute and learned Senator upon this floor give any better, reason for +the exclusion of females from the right of suffrage than there is for +the exclusion of negroes. + +"If you want to widen the franchise so as to purify your ballot-box, +throw the virtue of the country into it; throw the temperance of the +country into it; throw the purity of the country into it; throw the +angel element--if I may so express myself--into it. [Laughter.] Let +there be as little diabolism as possible, but as much of the divinity +as you can get." + +The discussion being resumed on the following day, Mr. Anthony +advocated Mr. Cowan's amendment. "I suppose," said he, "that the +Senator from Pennsylvania introduced this amendment rather as a satire +upon the bill itself, or if he had any serious intention, it was only +a mischievous one to injure the bill. But it will not probably have +that effect, for I suppose nobody will vote for it except the Senator +himself, who can hardly avoid it, and I, who shall vote for it because +it accords with a conclusion to which I have been brought by +considerable study upon the subject of suffrage." + +After having answered objections against female suffrage, Mr. Anthony +remarked in conclusion: "I should not have introduced this question; +but as it has been introduced, and I intend to vote for the amendment, +I desire to declare here that I shall vote for it in all seriousness, +because I think it is right. The discussion of this subject is not +confined to visionary enthusiasts. It is now attracting the attention +of some of the best thinkers in the world, both in this country and in +Europe; and one of the very best of them all, John Stuart Mill, in a +most elaborate and able paper, has declared his conviction of the +right and justice of female suffrage. The time has not come for it, +but the time is coming. It is coming with the progress of civilization +and the general amelioration of the race, and the triumph of truth, +and justice, and equal rights." + +Mr. Williams opposed the pending amendment. "To extend the right of +suffrage to the negroes in this country," said he, "I think is +necessary for their protection; but to extend the right of suffrage to +women, in my judgment, is not necessary for their protection. Wide as +the poles apart are the conditions of these two classes of persons. +The sons defend and protect the reputation and rights of their +mothers; husbands defend and protect the reputation and rights of +their wives; brothers defend and protect the reputation and rights of +their sisters; and to honor, cherish, and love the women of this +country is the pride and the glory of its sons. + +"When the women of this country come to be sailors and soldiers; when +they come to navigate the ocean and to follow the plow; when they love +to be jostled and crowded by all sorts of men in the thoroughfares of +trade and business; when they love the treachery and the turmoil of +politics; when they love the dissoluteness of the camp, and the smoke +of the thunder, and the blood of battle better than they love the +affections and enjoyments of home and family, then it will be time to +talk about making the women voters; but until that time, the question +is not fairly before the country." + +Mr. Cowan defended his amendment and his position. "When the time +comes," said he, "I am a Radical, too, along with my fellow Senators +here. By what warrant do they suppose that I am not interested in the +progress of the race? If the thing is to be bettered, I want to better +it." + +Mr. Morrill replied to the speech of Mr. Cowan. "Does any suppose," +said Mr. Morrill, "that he is at all in earnest or sincere in a single +sentiment he has uttered on this subject? I do not imagine he believes +that any one here is idle enough for a moment to suppose so. If it is +true, as he intimates, that he is desirous of becoming a Radical, I am +not clear that I should not be willing to accept his service, although +there is a good deal to be repented of before he can be taken into +full confidence. [Laughter.] + +"When a man has seen the error of his ways and confesses it, what more +is there to be done except to receive him seventy and seven times? +Now, if this is an indication that the honorable Senator means to +out-radical the Radicals, 'Come on, Macduff,' nobody will object, +provided you can show us you are sincere. That is the point. If it is +mischief you are at, you will have a hard time to get ahead. While we +are radical we mean to be rational. While we intend to give every male +citizen of the United States the rights common to all, we do not +intend to be forced by our enemies into a position so ridiculous and +absurd as to be broken down utterly on that question, and who ever +comes here in the guise of a Radical and undertakes to practice that +probably will not make much by the motion. I am not surprised that +those of our friends who went out from us and have been feeding on the +husks desire to get in ahead; but I am surprised at the indiscretion +and the want of common sense exercised in making so profound a plunge +at once! If these gentlemen desire to be taken into companionship and +restored to good standing, I am the first man to reach out the hand +and say, 'Welcome back again, so that you are repentant and +regenerated;' but, sir, I am the last man to allow that you shall +indorse what you call Radicalism for the purpose of breaking down +measures which we propose!" + +"He alleges," replied Mr. Cowan, "that I am not serious in the +amendment I have moved; that I am not in earnest about it. How does he +know? By what warrant does he undertake to say that a brother Senator +here is not serious, not in earnest? I should like to know by what +warrant he undertakes to do that. He says I do not look serious. I +have not perhaps been trained in the same vinegar and persimmon +school, [laughter;] I have not been doctrinated into the same solemn +nasal twang which may characterize the gentleman, and which may be +considered to be the evidence of seriousness and earnestness. I +generally speak as a man, and as a good-natured man, I think. I hope I +entertain no malice toward any body. But the honorable Senator thinks +that I want to become a Radical. Why, sir, common charity ought to +have taught the honorable Senator better than that. I think no such +imputation, even on the part of the most virulent opponent that I +have, can with any justice be laid to my door. I have never yielded to +his radicalism; I have never truckled to it. Whether it be right or +wrong, I have never bowed the knee to it. From the very word 'go' I +have been a Conservative; I have endeavored to save all in our +institutions that I thought worth saving." + +Mr. Wade had introduced the original bill, and had put it upon the +most liberal principle of franchise. "The question of female +suffrage," said he, "had not then been much agitated, and I knew the +community had not thought sufficiently upon it to be ready to +introduce it as an element in our political system. While I am aware +of that fact, I think it will puzzle any gentleman to draw a line of +demarcation between the right of the male and the female on this +subject. Both are liable to all the laws you pass; their property, +their persons, and their lives are affected by the laws. Why, then, +should not the females have a right to participate in their +construction as well as the male part of the community? There is no +argument that I can conceive or that I have yet heard that makes any +discrimination between the two on the question of right. + +"I shall give a vote on this amendment that will be deemed an +unpopular vote, but I am not frightened by that. I have been +accustomed to give such votes all my life almost, but I believe they +have been given in the cause of human liberty and right and in the way +of the advancing intelligence of our age; and whenever the landmark +has been set up the community have marched up to it. I think I am +advocating now the same kind of a principle, and I have no doubt that +sooner or later it will become a fixed fact, and the community will +think it just as absurd to exclude females from the ballot-box as +males." + +Mr. Yates opposed the pending amendment, deeming it a mere attempt on +the part of the Senator from Pennsylvania to embarrass this question. +"Logically," said he, "there are no reasons in my mind which would not +permit women to vote as well as men, according to the theory of our +government. But that question, as to whether ladies shall vote or not, +is not at issue now. I confess that I am for universal suffrage, and +when the time comes, I am for suffrage by females as well as males." + +"While I will vote now," said Mr. Wilson, "or at any time, for woman +suffrage as a distinct, separate measure, I am unalterably opposed to +connecting that question with the pending question of negro suffrage. +The question of negro suffrage is now an imperative necessity; a +necessity that the negro should possess it for his own protection; a +necessity that he should possess it that the nation may preserve its +power, its strength, and its unity." + +"Why was the consideration of this measure discontinued at the last +session, and the bill not allowed to pass the Senate?" asked Mr. +Hendricks. + +"The bill passed the House of Representatives early in the session," +replied Mr. Wilson. "It came to the Senate early in December. That +Senator, I think, knows very well that we had not the power to pass it +for the first five or six months of the session; that is, we had not +the power to make it a law. We could not have carried it against the +opposition of the President of the United States, and we had +assurances of gentlemen who were in intimate relations with him that +his signature would not be obtained. It would not have been wise for +us to pass the bill if it was to encounter a veto, unless we were able +to pass it over that veto. The wise course was to bide our time until +we had that power, and that power came before the close of the +session, but it came in the time of great pressure, when other +questions were crowding upon us, and it was thought best by those who +were advocating it, especially as the chairman of the committee, the +Senator from Maine, [Mr. Morrill,] was out of the Senate for many days +on account of illness, to let the bill go over until this December." + +Mr. Johnson opposed the pending amendment. "I think if it was +submitted to the ladies," said he--"I mean the ladies in the true +acceptation of the term--of the United States, the privilege would not +only not be asked for, but would be rejected. I do not think the +ladies of the United States would agree to enter into a canvass and +undergo what is often the degradation of seeking to vote, particularly +in the cities, getting up to the polls, crowded out and crowded in. I +rather think they would feel it, instead of a privilege, a dishonor." + +Mr. Johnson was unwilling to vote for the amendment with a view to +defeat the bill. "I have lived to be too old," said he, "and have +become too well satisfied of what I think is my duty to the country to +give any vote which I do not believe, if it should be supported by the +votes of a sufficient number to carry the measure into operation, +would redound to the interests and safety and honor of the country." + +"The women of America," said Mr. Frelinghuysen, "vote by faithful and +true representatives, their husbands, their brothers, their sons; and +no true man will go to the polls and deposit his ballot without +remembering the true and loving constituency that he has at home. More +than that, sir, ninety-nine out of a hundred, I believe nine hundred +and ninety-nine out of a thousand, of the women in America do not want +the privilege of voting in any other manner than that which I have +stated. In both these regards there is a vast difference between the +situation of the colored citizens and the women of America. + +"The learned and eloquent Senator from Pennsylvania said yesterday +with great beauty that he wanted to cast the angel element into the +suffrage system of America. Sir, it seems to me, that it would be +ruthlessly tearing the angel element from the homes of America; and +the homes of the people of America are infinitely more valuable than +any suffrage system. It will be a sorry day for this country when +those vestal fires of piety and love are put out." + +On the next day, December 12th, the discussion being resumed, Mr. +Brown advocated the amendment. "I stand," said he, "for universal +suffrage, and as a matter of fundamental principle do not recognize +the right of society to limit it on any ground of race, color, or sex. +I will go further and say that I recognize the right of franchise as +being intrinsically a natural right; and I do not believe that society +is authorized to impose any limitation upon it that does not spring +out of the necessities of the social state itself." + +Believing "that the metaphysical always controls the practical in all +the affairs of life," Mr. Brown gave the "abstract grounds" upon which +he deemed the right of woman to the elective franchise rested. Coming +finally to the more practical bearings of the subject, he answered the +objection, that "if women are entitled to the rights of franchise, +they would correspondingly come under the obligation to bear arms." +"Are there not large classes," he asked, "even among men in this +country, who are exempt from service in our armies for physical +incapacity and for other reasons? And if exemptions which appertain to +males may be recognized as valid, why not similar exemptions for like +reasons when applied to females? Does it not prove that there is +nothing in the argument so far as it involves the question of right? +There are Quakers and other religious sects; there are ministers of +the Gospel; persons having conscientious scruples; indeed, all men +over a certain age who under the laws of many of the States are +released from service of that character. Indeed, it is the boast of +this republic that ours is a volunteer military establishment. Hence I +say there is nothing in the position that because she may not be +physically qualified for service in your army, therefore you have the +right to deny her the franchise on the score of sex." + +In closing an extended speech, Mr. Brown remarked: "Even though I +recognize the impolicy of coupling these two measures in this manner +and at this time, I shall yet record my vote in the affirmative as an +earnest indication of my belief in the principle, and my faith in the +future." + +Mr. Davis made another protracted speech against both the amendment +and the original bill. "The great God," said he, "who created all the +races, and in every race gave to man woman, never intended that woman +should take part in national government among any people, or that the +negro, the lowest, should ever have cooerdinate and equal power with +the highest, the white race, in any government, national or +domestic." + +In conclusion, Mr. Davis advised the late rebels to "resist this +great, this most foul, cruel, and dishonoring enslavement. Men of the +South, exhaust every peaceful means of redress, and when your +oppressions become unendurable, and it is demonstrated that there is +no other hope, then strike for your liberty, and strike as did your +fathers in 1776, and as did the Hollanders and Zealanders, led by +William the Silent, to break their chains, forged by the tyrants of +Spain." + +"When it is necessary," said Mr. Sprague, "that woman shall vote for +the support of liberty and equality, I shall be ready to cast my vote +in their favor. The black man's vote is necessary to this at this +time. Do not prostrate all the industrial interests of the North by a +policy of conciliation and of inaction. Delays are dangerous, +criminal. When you shall have established, firmly and fearlessly, +governments at the South friendly to the republic; when you shall have +ceased from receiving terms and propositions from the leaders of the +rebellion as to their reconstruction; when you shall have promptly +acted in the interest of liberty, prosperity will light upon the +industries of your people, and panics, commercial and mercantile +revolutions, will be placed afar off; and never, sir, until that time +shall have arrived. And as an humble advocate of all industrial +interests of the free people of the North, white and black, and as an +humble representative of these interests, I urge prompt action to-day, +to-morrow, and every day until the work has been completed. Let no +obstacle stand in the way now, no matter what it may be. You will save +your people from poverty and free principles from a more desperate +combat than they have yet witnessed. Ridicule may be used in this +chamber, calumny may prevail through the country, and murder may be a +common occurrence South to those who stand firmly thus and who +advocate such measures. Let it be so; for greater will be the crowning +glory of those who are not found wanting in the day of victory. Let +us, then, press to the vote; one glorious step taken, then we may take +others in the same direction." + +"The objection," said Mr. Buckalew, "which I have to a large extension +of suffrage in this country, whether by Federal or State power, is +this: that thereby you will corrupt and degrade elections, and +probably lead to their complete abrogation hereafter. By pouring into +the ballot-boxes of the country a large mass of ignorant votes, and +votes subjected to pecuniary or social influence, you will corrupt and +degrade your elections and lay the foundation for their ultimate +destruction." + +"After giving some considerable reflection to the subject of +suffrage," said Mr. Doolittle, "I have arrived at the conclusion that +the true base or foundation upon which to rest suffrage in any +republican community is upon the family, the head of the family; +because in civilized society the family is the unit, not the +individual." + +Mr. Pomeroy was in favor of the bill without the proposed amendment. +"I do not want to weigh it down," said he, "with any thing else. There +are other measures that I would be glad to support in their proper +place and time; but this is a great measure of itself. Since I have +been a member of the Senate, there was a law in this District +authorizing the selling of these people. To have traveled in six years +from the auction-block to the ballot with these people is an immense +stride, and if we can carry this measure alone, of itself, we should +be contented for the present." + +The vote being taken on Mr. Cowan's amendment conferring the elective +franchise upon women, the result was yeas, nine; nays, thirty-seven. +The following are the names of those who voted in the affirmative: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Foster, Nesmith, + Patterson, Riddle, and Wade. + +Mr. Dixon then moved to amend the bill by adding a proviso: + + "That no person who has not heretofore voted in this + District shall be permitted to vote unless he shall be able, + at the time of offering to vote, to read and also write his + own name." + +"I would deny to no man," said Mr. Dixon, "the right of voting solely +on account of his color; but I doubt the propriety of permitting any +man to vote, whatever his race or color, who has not at least that +proof of intelligence which the ability to read and write furnishes." + +"What is the test?" asked Mr. Saulsbury. "A person who can read and +write. Is it his name, or only read and write?" + +"His name," said one. + +"Read and write his name!" continued Mr. Saulsbury. "A wonderful +amount of education to qualify a man for the discharge of the high +office and trust of voting! Great knowledge of the system of +government under which we live does this impart to the voter!" + +"If this were really an intelligence qualification," said Mr. Cowan, +"I do not know what I might say; but of the fact that the ability of a +man merely to write his own name and read it, is intelligence, I am +not informed. To write a man's name is simply a mechanical operation. +It may be taught to any body, even people of the most limited +capacity, in twenty minutes; and to read it afterward certainly would +not be very difficult." + +"I understand the amendment to include," said Mr. Willey, "the +qualification of reading generally, and also of writing his name; two +tests, one the reading generally, and the other the writing his own +name." + +"Where is its precision?" asked Mr. Cowan; "where is it to end, and +who shall determine its limits? I will put the case of a board +belonging to the dominant party, and suppose they have the statute +amended by my honorable friend from Connecticut before them, and a +colored man comes forward and proposes to vote. They put to him the +question, 'Can you write your name and read?' 'Oh, yes.' 'Well, let us +see you try it.' He then writes his name and he reads it; and he is +admitted if he is understood to belong to that party. But suppose, as +has recently happened, that this dark man should come to the +conclusion to vote on the other side, and it were known that he meant +to vote on the other side, what kind of a chance would he have? Then +the man of the dominant party, who desires to carry the election, +says, 'You shall not only write your name and read it, but you must +read generally. I have read the senatorial debates upon this question, +and the honorable Senator from West Virginia, who originated this +amendment, was of opinion that a man should read generally. Now, sir, +read generally, if you please.' 'Well,' says he, 'what shall I read?' +Read a section of the _Novum Organum_, or some other most difficult +and abstruse thing, or a few sections from Okie's Physiology." + +On the 13th of December, the last day of the discussion, Mr. Anthony +occupied the chair during a portion of the session, and Mr. Foster +took the floor in favor of the amendment proposed by his colleague. +"The honorable Senator from Pennsylvania," said he, "from the manner +in which he treats this subject, I should think, was now fresh from +his reading of 'Much A-do about Nothing,' and was quoting Mr. Justice +Dogberry, who said, 'To be a well-favored man is the gift of fortune, +but to read and write comes by nature.' The Senator from Pennsylvania +and others seem inclined to say, 'Away with writing and reading till +there is need of such vanity.' I believe that the idea of admitting +men to the elective franchise who can neither read nor write is going +backward and downward. + +"Who are the men who come forward to deposit their ballots in the +ballot-boxes? They are the people of this country, to whom all +questions must ultimately go for examination and correction. They +correct the mistakes which we make, and which Congress makes, and +which the Supreme Court makes. The electors at the ballot-boxes are +the grand court of errors for the country. Now, sir, these Senators +propose to allow men who can not read and write to correct our +mistakes, to become members of this high court of errors. + +"The honorable Senator from Massachusetts says he wants to put the +ballot into the hands of the black man for his protection. If he can +not read the ballot, what kind of protection is it to him? A Written +or printed slip of paper is put into the hands of a man, black or +white, and if he can not read it, what is it to him? What does he know +about it? What can he do with it? How can he protect himself by it? As +well might the honorable Senator from Massachusetts put in the hands +of a child who knew nothing of firearms a loaded pistol, with which to +protect himself against his enemies. The child would be much more +likely to endanger himself and his friends by the pistol than to +protect himself. A perfectly ignorant man who can not read his ballot +is much more likely to use it to his own detriment, and to the +detriment of the country, than he is to use it for the benefit of +either." + +"The argument in favor of making the right to vote universal," said +Mr. Frelinghuysen, in making a second speech upon the question, "is +that the ballot itself is a great education; that by its encouraging +the citizen, by its inspiring him, it adds dignity to his character, +and makes him strive to acquire learning. Secondly, that if the voting +depended on learning, no inducement is extended to communities +unfavorable to the right of voting in the colored man to give him the +opportunity to learn; they would rather embarrass him, to prevent his +making the acquisition, unless they were in favor of his voting; while +if voting is universal, communities, for their own security, for their +own protection, will be driven to establish common schools, so that +the voter shall become intelligent." + +Pursuing a similar line of thought, Mr. Wilson said: "Allow the black +men to vote without this qualification and they will demand education, +the school-houses will rise, school-teachers will be employed, these +people will attend the schools, and the cause of education will be +carried forward in this District with more rapidity than at any other +period in its history. Give the negro the right of suffrage, and +before a year passes round, you will see these men, who voted that +they should not have the right to vote, running after them, and +inquiring after the health of their wives and children. I do not think +the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Davis] will be examining their pelvis +or shins, or making speeches about the formation of their lips, or the +angle of their foreheads on the floor of the Senate. You will then see +the Democracy, with the keen scent that always distinguishes that +party, on the hunt after the votes of these black men, [laughter;] and +if they treat them better than the Republicans do, they will probably +get their votes, and I hope they will. + +"And it will be just so down in these rebel States. Give the negroes +of Virginia the right to vote, and you will find Wise and Letcher and +the whole tribe of the secessionists undertaking to prove that from +the landing at Jamestown in 1620 the first families of the Old +Dominion have always been the champions and the special friends of the +negroes of Old Virginia, and that there is a great deal of kindred +between them, [laughter;] that they are relations, brethren; that the +same red blood courses in the veins of many of them. They will +establish all these things, perhaps by affidavits. [Laughter.] And I +say to you, sir, they will have a good opportunity to get a good many +of their votes, for in these respects they have the advantage of us +poor Republicans." + +Of the pending amendment, Mr. Hendricks said: "I propose to vote for +it, not because I am in favor, as a general proposition, of an +intelligence qualification for the right to vote, but because in this +particular instance, I think it to be proper to prescribe it." + +"I shall vote," said Mr. Lane, "to enfranchise the colored residents +of this District because I believe it is right, just, and proper; +because I believe it is in accordance with those two grand central +truths around which cluster every hope for redeemed humanity, the +common fatherhood of God above us and the brotherhood of universal +mankind." + +"The bill for Impartial Suffrage in the District of Columbia," said +Mr. Sumner, "concerns directly some twenty thousand colored persons, +whom it will lift to the adamantine platform of equal rights. If it +were regarded simply in its bearings on the District it would be +difficult to exaggerate its value; but when it is regarded as an +example to the whole country under the sanction of Congress, its value +is infinite. It is in the latter character that it becomes a pillar of +fire to illumine the footsteps of millions. What we do here will be +done in the disorganized States. Therefore, we must be careful that +what we do here is best for the disorganized States. + +"When I am asked to open the suffrage to women, or when I am asked to +establish an educational standard, I can not on the present bill +simply because the controlling necessity under which we act will not +allow it. By a singular Providence we are now constrained to this +measure of enfranchisement for the sake of peace, security, and +reconciliation, so that loyal persons, white or black, may be +protected and that the Republic may live. Here in the District of +Columbia we begin the real work of reconstruction by which the Union +will be consolidated forever." + +The question was taken upon Mr. Dixon's amendment, which was lost; +eleven voting for, and thirty-four against the proposition. The vote +was then taken upon the bill to regulate the elective franchise in the +District of Columbia. It passed the Senate, thirty-two voting in the +affirmative, and thirteen in the negative. + +On the following day, December 14th, the bill came before the House of +Representatives and passed without discussion; one hundred and +eighteen voting in the affirmative, and forty-six in the negative. + +On the 7th of January, the President returned the bill to the Senate +with his objections. The Veto Message was immediately read by the +Secretary of the Senate. + +The President's first objection to the bill was that it was not in +accordance with the wishes of the people to whom it was to apply, they +having "solemnly and with such unanimity" protested against it. + +It seemed to the President that Congress sustained a relation to the +inhabitants of the District of Columbia analogous to that of a +legislature to the people of a State, and "should have a like respect +for the will and interests of its inhabitants." + +Without actually bringing the charge of unconstitutionality against +this measure, the President declared "that Congress is bound to +observe the letter and spirit of the Constitution, as well in the +enactment of local laws for the Seat of Government, as in legislation +common to the entire Union." + +The Civil Rights Bill having become a law, it was, in the opinion of +the President, a sufficient protection for the negro. "It can not be +urged," said he, "that the proposed extension of suffrage in the +District of Columbia is necessary to enable persons of color to +protect either their interests or their rights." + +The President argued that the negroes were unfitted for the exercise +of the elective franchise, and "can not be expected correctly to +comprehend the duties and responsibilities which pertain to suffrage. +It follows, therefore, that in admitting to the ballot-box a new class +of voters not qualified for the exercise of the elective franchise, we +weaken our system of government instead of adding to its strength and +durability. It may be safely assumed that no political truth is better +established than that such indiscriminate and all-embracing extension +of popular suffrage must end at last in its destruction." + +The President occupied a considerable portion of his Message with a +warning to the people against the dangers of the abuse of legislative +power. He quoted from Judge Story that the legislative branch may +absorb all the powers of the government. He quoted also the language +of Mr. Jefferson that one hundred and seventy tyrants are more +dangerous than one tyrant. + +The statements of the President in opposition to the bill were +characterized by Mr. Sherman as "but a _resume_ of the arguments +already adduced in the Senate," hence but little effort was made by +the friends of the measure to reply. + +Mr. Sherman, in noticing the President's statements in regard to the +danger of invasions by Congress of the just powers of the executive +and judicial departments, said, "I do not think that there is any +occasion for such a warning, because I am not aware that in this bill +Congress has ever assumed any doubtful power. The power of Congress +over this District is without limit, and, therefore, in prescribing +who shall vote for mayor and city council of this city it can not be +claimed that we usurp power or exercise a doubtful power. + +"There can be but little danger from Congress; for our acts are but +the reflection of the will of the people. The recent acts of Congress +at the last session, those acts upon which the President and Congress +separated, were submitted to the people, and they decided in favor of +Congress. Unless, therefore, there is an inherent danger from a +republican government, resting solely upon the will of the people, +there is no occasion for the warning of the President. Unless the +judgment of one man is better than the combined judgment of a great +majority, he should have respected their decision, and not continue a +controversy in which our common constituency have decided that he was +wrong." + +The last speech, before taking the vote, was made by Mr. Doolittle. +"Men speak," said he, "of universal negro suffrage as having been +spoken in favor of in the late election. There is not a State in this +Union, outside of New England, which would vote in favor of universal +negro suffrage. When gentlemen tell me that the people of the whole +North, by any thing that transpired in the late election, have decided +in favor of universal, unqualified negro suffrage, they assume that +for which there is no foundation whatever." + +The question being taken whether the bill should pass over the +President's veto, the Senate decided in the affirmative by a vote of +twenty-nine yeas to ten nays. + +The next day, January 8th, the bill was passed over the veto by the +House of Representatives, without debate, by a vote of one hundred and +thirteen yeas to thirty-eight nays. The Speaker then declared that +notwithstanding the objections of the President of the United States, +the act to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia +had become a law. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT. + + Proposition by Mr. Stevens -- "Piratical Governments" not to + be Recognized -- The Military Feature Introduced -- Mr. + Schofield's Dog -- The Only Hope of Mr. Hise -- Conversation + Concerning the Reconstruction Committee -- Censure of a + Member -- A Military Bill Reported -- War Predicted -- The + "Blaine Amendment" -- Bill Passes the House -- In the Senate + -- Proposition to Amend -- Mr. Mcdougall Desires Liberty of + Speech -- Mr. Doolittle Pleads for the Life of the Republic + -- Mr. Sherman's Amendment -- Passage in the Senate -- + Discussion and Non-concurrence in the House -- The Senate + Unyielding -- Qualified Concurrence of the House -- The Veto + -- "The Funeral of the Nation" -- The Act -- Supplementary + Legislation. + + +Soon after the passage of the bill extending the elective franchise in +the District of Columbia, Congress was occupied in devising and +discussing a practical and efficient measure for the reconstruction of +the rebel States. The germ of the great "Act for the more efficient +government of the rebel States" is to be found in the previous session +of Congress in a proposition made by Mr. Stevens on the 28th of May +"to enable the States lately in rebellion to regain their privileges +in the Union." + +The Constitutional Amendment had been eliminated in the Senate of +features which Mr. Stevens regarded as of great importance. There was +an indisposition on the part of the House to declaring by an act of +Congress that the rebel States should be restored on the sole +condition of their accepting and ratifying the Constitutional +Amendment. The bill proposed by Mr. Stevens was designed by its author +as a plan of restoration to take the place of the proposition which +accompanied the Constitutional Amendment. This bill recognized the _de +facto_ State governments at the South as valid "for municipal +purposes." It required the President to issue a proclamation within +six months calling conventions to form legitimate State constitutions, +which should be ratified by the people. All male citizens above +twenty-one years of age should be voters, and should be eligible to +membership in these constitutional conventions. All persons who held +office under the "government called the Confederate States of +America," or swore allegiance thereto, were declared to have forfeited +their citizenship, and were required to be naturalized as foreigners +before being allowed to vote. All citizens should be placed upon an +equal footing in the reoerganized States. + +On the 28th of July, the last day of the session, Mr. Stevens brought +this bill to the notice of the House, without demanding any action +upon it. He made a solemn and affecting appeal to the House, and +insisted upon it as the great duty of Congress to give all loyal men, +white and black, the means of self-protection. "In this, perhaps my +final action," said he, "on this great question, upon careful review, +I can see nothing in my political course, especially in regard to +human freedom, which I could wish to have expurged or changed." + +On the 19th of December, 1866, a few days after the reaessembling of +Congress for the second session, Mr. Stevens called up his bill for +the purpose of amending it and putting it in proper shape for the +consideration of Congress after the holidays. + +On the 3d of January, 1867, Mr. Stevens addressed the House in favor +of his plan of reconstruction. "This bill," said he, "is designed to +enable loyal men, so far as I could discriminate them in these States, +to form governments which shall be in loyal hands, and may protect +them from outrages." + +As an amendment to this bill, Mr. Ashley, chairman of the Committee on +Territories, offered a substitute which was intended to establish +provisional governments in the rebel States. + +Mr. Pike brought in review before the House three modes of dealing +with the rebel States which had been proposed for the consideration +and decision of Congress. The first was the immediate admission of the +States into a full participation in the Government, treating them as +if they had never been in rebellion. The second was "the let-alone +policy, which would merely refuse them representation until they had +adopted the constitutional amendments." The third mode was "the +immediate action by Congress in superseding the governments of those +States set up by the President in 1865, and establishing in their +place governments founded upon loyalty and universal suffrage." The +policy last mentioned was advocated by Mr. Pike. "It has got to be +time for action," said he, "if we are to fulfill the reasonable +expectations of the country during the life of this Congress." + +On the 7th of January Mr. Stevens proposed to amend his bill by +inserting a provision that no person should be disfranchised as a +punishment for any crime other than insurrection or treason. He gave +as a reason for proposing this amendment that in North Carolina, and +other States where punishment at the whipping-post deprives the person +of the right to vote, they were every day whipping negroes for trivial +offenses. He had heard of one county where the authorities had whipped +every adult negro they knew of. + +On the 8th of January a speech was made by Mr. Broomall advocating the +passage of the bill before the House. "Can the negro in the South +preserve his civil rights without political ones?" he asked. "Let the +convention riot of New Orleans answer; let the terrible three days in +Memphis answer. In the latter city three hundred negroes, who had +periled their lives in the service of their country, and still wore +its uniform, were compelled to look on while the officers of the law, +elected by white men, set their dwellings in flames and fired upon +their wives and children as they escaped from the doors and windows. +Their churches and school-houses were burned because they were their +churches and school-houses. Yet no arrest, no conviction, no +punishment awaits the perpetrators of these deeds, who walk in open +day and boast of their enormities, because, forsooth, this is a white +man's Government." + +On the 16th of January the discussion was resumed. Mr. Paine first +addressed the House. He opposed the second section of the bill, which +recognized the _de facto_ governments of the rebel States as valid for +municipal purposes. "I am surprised," said he, "that the gentleman +from Pennsylvania should be ready, voluntarily, to assume this burden +of responsibility for the anarchy of murder, robbery, and arson which +reigns in these so-called _de facto_ governments. He may be able to +get this fearful burden upon his back; but if he does, I warn him of +the danger that the sands of his life will all run out before he will +be able to shake it off. He will have these piratical governments on +his hands voluntarily recognized as valid for municipal purposes until +duly altered. He will have gratuitously become a copartner in the +guilt which hitherto has rested upon the souls of Andrew Johnson and +his Northern and Southern satellites, but which thenceforth will rest +on his soul also until he can contrive duly to alter these +governments. And so it will happen that the great Union party to which +he belongs, and to which I belong, will become implicated, for how +long a time God only knows, in this unspeakable iniquity which daily +and hourly cries to Heaven from every rood of rebel soil for vengeance +on these monsters." + +Mr. Bingham moved to refer the two bills--that of Mr. Stevens and that +of Mr. Ashley--to the Committee on Reconstruction. He opposed these +bills as "a substantial denial of the right of the great people who +saved this republic by arms to save it by fundamental law." He +advocated the propriety of making the proposed Constitutional +Amendment the basis of reconstruction. It had already received the +ratification of the Legislatures representing not less than twelve +millions of the people of this nation. The fact that all the rebel +States which had considered the amendment in their Legislatures had +rejected it did not invalidate this mode of reconstruction. "Those +insurrectionary States," said he, "have no power whatever as States of +this Union, and can not lawfully restrain, for a single moment, that +great body of freemen who cover this continent from ocean to ocean, +now organized States of the Union and represented here, in their fixed +purpose and undoubted legal right to incorporate the amendment into +the Constitution of the United States." + +Mr. Bingham maintained that Congress has the power, without +restriction by the Executive or the Supreme Court, to "propose +amendments to the Constitutions, and to decide finally the question of +the ratification thereof, as well as to legislate for the nation." "I +look upon both these bills," said Mr. Bingham, "as a manifest +departure from the spirit and intent of our Constitutional Amendment. +I look upon it as an attempt to take away from the people of the +States lately in rebellion that protection which you have attempted to +secure to them by your Constitutional Amendment." + +Mr. Dawson, in a speech of an hour's duration, maintained the +doctrine, which he announced as that which had given shape to +presidential policy, "that the attempt at secession having been +suppressed by the physical power of the Government, the States, whose +authority was usurped by the parties to the movement, have never, at +any time, been out of the Union; and that having once expressed their +acquiescence in the result of the contest and renewed their allegiance +to the Union, they are, at the same time, restored to all the rights +and duties of the adhering States." + +On the other hand, the policy of Congress, in the opinion of Mr. +Dawson, was "a shameless outrage upon justice and every conservative +principle,"--a "usurpation of Federal powers and a violation of State +rights." + +Mr. Maynard gave expression to his opinions by asking the significant +question, "Whether the men who went into the rebellion did not by +connecting themselves with a foreign government, by every act of which +they were capable, denude themselves of their citizenship--whether +they are not to be held and taken by this Government now as men +denuded of their citizenship, having no rights as citizens except such +as the legislative power of this Government may choose to confer upon +them? In other words, is not the question on our part one of +enfranchisement, not of disfranchisement?" + +On the 17th of January, Mr. Baker addressed the House in favor of +referring the pending bill to the Committee on Reconstruction. He was +opposed to the use of the term "Government," without qualification or +restriction, as applied to the lately revolted States. He opposed the +second section, as causing the _de facto_ governments to become valid +for municipal purposes long before the scheme of reconstruction +contemplated by the bill is effectuated. "To recognize them in +advance," said he, "would be to incur the danger of further +embarrassing the whole subject by the illogical consequences of our +own illogical procedure." + +At this stage Mr. Stevens arose and modified his substitute by +withdrawing the second section, which contained the provision objected +to by Mr. Baker as well as by his "ardent friend" Mr. Paine. Mr. Baker +objected to that feature of the bill which provided that none should +be deprived of the right to vote as a punishment for any crime save +insurrection or treason. "The penitentiaries of these States," said +he, "might disgorge their inmates upon the polls under the operation +of this bill." + +Mr. Grinnell was opposed to sending the question to the Committee on +Reconstruction. He did not think it the most modest proposition in the +world for Mr. Bingham to urge the reference to his committee of a +great question which, the House generally desired to consider. "Let us +have no delay," said he, "no recommitment, rather the earliest action +upon this bill, as the requirement of the people who have saved the +country, what the suffering implore, what justice demands, and what I +believe God will approve." + +"It is to my mind most clear," said Mr. Donnelly, in a speech upon the +pending question, "that slavery having ceased to exist, the slaves +became citizens; being citizens they are a part of the people, and +being a part of the people no organization deserves a moment's +consideration at our hands which attempts to ignore them." + +Of the Southern States as under rebel rule, Mr. Donnelly remarked: +"The whites are to make the laws, execute the laws, interpret the +laws, and write the history of their own deeds; but below them; under +them, there is to be a vast population--a majority of the whole +people--seething and writhing in a condition of suffering, darkness, +and wretchedness unparalleled in the world. And this is to be an +American State! This is to be a component part of the great, humane, +Christian republic of the world." + +"It is hard," said Mr. Eldridge, in a speech against the bill, "sad to +stand silently by and see the republic overthrown. It is indeed +appalling to those accustomed from early childhood to revere and love +the Constitution, to feel that it is in the keeping of those having +the power and determination to destroy it. With the passage of this +bill must die every hope and vestige of the government of the +Constitution. It is indeed the final breaking up and dissolution of +the union of the States by the usurpation and revolutionary act of +Congress." + +"Your work of restoration," said Mr. Warner, "will never commence +until the Congress of the United States assumes to be one of the +departments of the General Government. It will never commence until +you have declared, in the language of the Supreme Court, that the +Executive, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, 'can not +exercise a civil function.'" + +"In less than two brief years of office," said Mr. Warner, speaking of +the President, "he has exercised more questionable powers, assumed +more doubtful constitutional functions, obliterated more +constitutional barriers, and interposed more corrupt schemes to the +expression of the popular sentiment or will of the people than all +other Executives since the existence of the Government." + +Mr. Spalding feared that the bill, should it become a law, would be +found defective in not affording any protection to that loyal class of +the inhabitants of those communities upon whom the elective franchise +was conferred. "These colored men," said he, "who are now recognized +by the Government as possessing the rights of freemen, are to be in +jeopardy of being shot down like so many dogs when they attempt to +visit the polls." He then offered an amendment, which was accepted by +Mr. Stevens, by which a section was added to the bill suspending the +writ of _habeas corpus_ in the ten rebel States, and placing them +under martial law until they should be admitted to representation in +Congress under the provisions of the bill. In this section thus +introduced may be seen the origin of that feature which, in an +enlarged and extended form, gave character to the important measure +ultimately adopted by Congress, which is popularly known as the +"Military Reconstruction Bill." + +The discussion was continued by Mr. Koontz. "It is a solemn, +imperative duty," said he, "that this nation owes to its colored +people to protect them against their own and the nation's foes. It +would be a burning, lasting disgrace to the nation were it to hand +them over to their enemies. I know of no way in which this protection +can be better given than by extending to them the elective franchise. +Place the ballot in the hands of the black man and you give him that +which insures him respect as well as protection." + +Mr. Scofield maintained that the ratification of the Constitutional +Amendment by three-fourths of the loyal States was all that was +necessary. "Twenty-three of the twenty-six States elected Legislatures +instructed to adopt it. Very soon these twenty-three States, having a +population in 1860 of twenty-one million five hundred thousand, and +not less than twenty-seven millions now, will send to a perfidious +Secretary the official evidence of the people's will. Delaware, +Maryland, and Kentucky alone give a negative answer. Who, then, stands +in the way? One old man who is charged by law with the duty of +proclaiming the adoption of the amendment, but who has determined to +incorporate into the Union the _debris_ of the late Confederacy--he +stands in the way." + +"The Secretary is clever in work of this kind. An English nobleman was +at one time exhibiting his kennel to an American friend, and passing +by many of his showiest bloods, they came upon one that seemed nearly +used up. 'This,' said the nobleman, 'is the most valuable animal in +the pack, although he is old, lame, blind, and deaf.' 'How is that?' +inquired the visitor. The nobleman explained: 'His education was good, +to begin with, and his wonderful sense of smell is still unimpaired. +We only take him out to catch the scent, and put the puppies on the +track, and then return him to the kennel.' Do not suppose that I +intend any comparison between the Secretary of State and that veteran +hunter. Such a comparison would be neither dignified nor truthful, +because the Englishman went on to say, 'I have owned that dog for +thirteen years, and, hard as he looks, he never bit the hand that fed +him nor barked on a false trail.'" + +The laughter and applause which followed, were checked by the +Speaker's gavel, which Mr. Schofield mistook for a notice to quit. +"Has my time expired?" asked he. "It has not," replied the Speaker. +"The Chair called you to order," said Mr. Stevens, in his seat, "for +doing injustice to the dog." + +Mr. Ward, who next addressed the House, presented a novel theory of +the rebel war. "The people of the South," said he, "did not make war +upon our republican form of government, nor seek to destroy it; they +only sought to make two republics out of one. They are now, and have +been all the time, as much attached to our system of free republican +government as those who abuse them for disloyalty." + +Mr. Ward presented his view of the state of things which would result +from the passage of the pending bill. "These negro judges," said he, +"will sit and hold this election backed by the United States army. +That is rather an elevated position for the new-made freedman; the +_habeas corpus_ suspended, martial law proclaimed, the army at the +back of the negro conducting an election to reconstruct States." + +Mr. Plants addressed the House in favor of the pending bill. Of the +reception given by the rebels to the proposed constitutional +amendment, he said: "They have not only refused to accept the more +than generous terms proposed, but have rejected them with contumely, +and with the haughty and insulting bravado of assumed superiority +demand that the nation shall submit to such terms as they shall +dictate." + +Mr. Miller, while advocating the pending measure, favored its +reference to the Committee on Reconstruction. He gave a detailed +account of the Constitutional Amendment, and its progress toward +ratification among the Legislatures. He showed that the progress of +reconstruction was delayed through fault of the rebels themselves. "It +is not the desire of the great Republican party," said he, "to retard +the restoration of those ten States to full political rights, but on +the contrary they are anxious for a speedy adjustment, in order to +secure adequate protection to all classes and conditions of men +residing therein, and at the same time afford ample security to the +United States Government against any future refractory course that +might be pursued on the part of those States." + +On the 21st of January the discussion was resumed by Mr. Kerr in a +speech against the bill. He quoted extensively from judicial decisions +and opinions to show that the rebel States were still entitled to +their original rights in the Union. "The undisguised and most +unrighteous purpose of all this kind of legislation," said he, "is to +usurp powers over those States that can find no warrant except in the +fierce will of the dominant party in this Congress. It is alike at war +with every principle of good and free government, and with the highest +dictates of humanity and national fraternity." + +Mr. Higby was in favor of the pending bill, and opposed its reference +to the Committee on Reconstruction. He preferred that it should be +retained in the House, where it could be changed, matured, and finally +passed. He contended that the rebel States should not come into the +Union under any milder conditions than those imposed upon Territories +recently passed upon in Congress. "Impartial suffrage," said he, "is +required of each of those Territories as a condition precedent to +their becoming States; and shall South Carolina, upon this basis of +reconstruction, become a part of this Union upon different terms and +principles entirely from those implied by the votes we have just +given?" + +Mr. Trimble denounced the pending legislation in violent terms. "By +this act," said he, "you dissolve their connection with the Government +of the United States, blot them out of existence as freemen, and +degrade them to the condition of negro commonwealths. We have this +monstrous proposition: to declare martial law in ten States of this +Union; and in making this declaration, we, in my judgment, step upon +the mangled ruins of the Constitution; for the Constitution plainly +gives this power neither to the executive nor the legislative +department of the Government." + +Mr. Dodge, although a Republican, and in favor of "protecting the best +interests of the colored man," could not vote for either of the +propositions before the House. "The result of the passage of this +bill," said he, "if it shall become operative, will be to disfranchise +nearly the entire white population of the Southern States, and at the +same time enfranchise the colored people and give them the virtual +control in the proposed organization of the new State governments." + +Mr. Dodge was particularly opposed to the military feature proposed by +Mr. Spalding. "This is not likely," said he, "in the nature of things, +to bring about an early reoerganization of the South. The commercial, +the manufacturing, and the agricultural interests of this country, as +they look at this matter, will see in it a continuance of taxation +necessary to support this military array sent to these ten States." + +"This bill, if executed," said Mr. Hise, in the course of a speech +against the measure, "will in effect establish corrupt and despotic +local governments for all those States, and place in all the offices +the most ignorant, degraded, and corrupt portion of their population, +who would rule and ruin without honesty or skill the actual +property-holders and native inhabitants, making insecure life, +liberty, and property, and still holding those States in their Federal +relations subject to the most rapacious, fierce, and unrelenting +despotism that ever existed, that of a vindictive and hostile party +majority of a Congress in which they have no voice or representation, +and by which irresponsible majority they would be mercilessly +oppressed for that very reason; and this will be continued, I fear, +until the country shall again be precipitated into civil war." + +Since the "beneficent conservative power" of the President was +overcome by two-thirds of Congress, Mr. Hise could see safety for the +nation in but one direction. "Our only hope," said he, "of the +preservation of a free government is in the judicial department of the +government, and in the decisions of the Supreme Court pronouncing your +acts unconstitutional and void." + +Mr. Raymond preferred the Constitutional Amendment as the basis of +reconstruction, and blamed the party in power for abandoning that +policy. "Last year," said he, "that man was untrue to his party +obligations who did not stand by it; this year the man is declared to +be faithless to his party who does." + +Having spoken at considerable length against the pending measure, Mr. +Raymond said: "For these reasons, sir, reasons of policy and of +authority, I do not think we ought to pass this bill. I do not believe +it would be at all effective in securing the objects at which we aim, +or that it would conduce in the slightest degree to promote peace and +secure equal rights among the people upon whom it is to take effect. +And I can not help believing that it contains provisions directly at +war with specific and peremptory prohibitions of the Constitution." + +Mr. Raymond defended the Secretary of State against the accusations of +Mr. Schofield. Mr. Seward was not "a perfidious old man," but one +"venerable, not more for age than for the signal services to his +country and the cause of freedom every-where, by which his long and +laborious life, devoted wholly, from early manhood, to the public +service, has been made illustrious." The Secretary of State acted +under law. If Congress expected him to act under the theory that +three-fourths of the loyal States were sufficient for the ratification +of the Constitutional Amendment, they should pass a law to that +effect. + +"The man," said Mr. Shellabarger, "who is now the acting President of +the United States, once said to me, in speaking of a bill like the one +now before the House, that it was a measure to dissolve the Union. +That proposition has been so often repeated by members upon the other +side of this hall, that I have thought the House would probably pardon +me if I should attempt to condense into a few sentences a suggestion +or two in regard to that declaration, repeated so often and worn out +so thoroughly as it is." + +Mr. Shellabarger maintained the right of governments to withhold from +those who discard all the obligations pertaining to their citizenship +the powers and rights which come alone from performing these +obligations. "This identical principle," said he, "was asserted at the +origin of your Government in the legislation of every one of the +States of the Confederation; was repeated and reenacted by three, at +least, of the first Congresses under the Constitution, and has been +virtually reenacted by being kept in force by every subsequent +Congress which ever met under the Constitution." + +"I see such diversity of opinion on this side of the House," said Mr. +Stevens, "upon any question of reconstruction, that, if I do not +change my mind, I shall to-morrow relieve the House from any question +upon the merits of this bill by moving to lay it on the table." + +On the 26th of January the discussion was renewed. Mr. Ross, +considering the argument on the constitutionality of the measure +exhausted, endeavored to show that the bill was "in clear conflict +with the action of the party in power during the entire progress of +the war, and in conflict with the clearly-expressed opinions of the +Executive of the nation, the Supreme Court, and the Congress of the +United States." + +Mr. Ashley withdrew his amendment to Mr. Stevens' bill that the House +might, in Committee of the Whole, have an opportunity to perfect the +bill so as to send it to the Senate within two or three days. + +"I ask the gentleman," said Mr. Conkling, "to state his objection to +having a subject like this committed to a committee which has now no +work upon its hands, and which has a right to report at any time." + +"The Committee on Reconstruction," replied Mr. Ashley, "have held no +meetings during this entire session up to this hour. Several bills +proposed by gentlemen have been referred to that committee during this +session, upon which they have taken no action. If the committee ever +gets together again--which I doubt, as it is a large committee, +composed of both branches of Congress--I have but little hope of their +being able to agree. The chairman of the committee on the part of the +Senate, as is well known, is absorbed in his efforts to perfect the +financial measures of the country, and I fear that if this bill goes +to that committee it will go to its grave, and that it will not, +during the life of the Thirty-ninth Congress, see the light. If I were +opposed to these bills, I would vote to send them to that committee as +sending them to their tomb." + +"There is no difficulty," responded Mr. Conkling, "in having prompt +consideration of any thing which may be sent to the committee. It was +created originally solely to deal with this subject. It was, at first, +broken into four sub-committees, that the work of gathering evidence +might be more advantageously and speedily carried on. It became one +committee, usually working together, only during a few weeks +immediately preceding the bringing forward of its ultimate +propositions. It would not be decorous for me to praise the committee +or the work it did, but I may say with propriety that if it ever was a +good committee, if it ever should have been created and composed as it +was, it is a good committee now--better than it ever was before; +better, because more familiar with this subject, because its members, +having now become acquainted with each other's views, and having +become accustomed to act with each other, and having studied the whole +subject committed to them, can proceed with much more hope of good +results than ever before. Having a right to report at any time, and +being led, on the part of this House, by the distinguished gentleman +from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens], I see no reason why it can not +consider and digest wisely and promptly whatever may be referred to it +and make report." + +"We are now considering a report from that very committee," said Mr. +Stevens. "That committee made a report, and I have offered a +substitute for the bill which they reported. If the gentleman thinks +the report of that committee is best, then let him vote against my +substitute. But why send this subject back again to the committee? The +gentleman knows as well as I do how many different opinions there are +in that committee; some of us believe in one thing, and some of us in +another; some of us are very critical, and some of us are not. The +idea that we can consider any thing in that committee, constituted as +it is, in less than a fortnight, it seems to me is wholly out of the +question; and as we have only about some twenty working days in which +to mature this bill in both branches of Congress, if we send this +subject to that committee and let it take its time to consider it, and +then have it reported here and considered again, I certainly need not +say to gentlemen that that would be an end of the matter, at least for +this session." + +"The gentleman from Pennsylvania concurred in that report," replied +Mr. Conkling. "He had his full share in molding it and making it +precisely what it was. He supported it then; now he offers a +substitute for it. Why? Because the time which has elapsed since then, +and the events which have transpired, have modified, he thinks, the +exigencies of the case. Is not that as applicable to the judgment of +the committee as to his own? Is it not proper that it should have the +opportunity of acting for once in the light of all the facts and +circumstances as they are to day?" + +"Two or three bills on this subject," said Mr. Stevens, "have been +referred during this session to that committee. Why has not the +committee acted on them?" + +"If I were the chairman of the committee on the part of this House," +replied Mr. Conkling, "I should be able to answer that question, +because then I could tell why I had not called the committee together. +But as I am only a subordinate member of the committee, whose business +it is to come when I am called, and never to call others, I am +entirely unable to give the information for which the gentleman +inquires." + +"If I could have any assurance," said Mr. Ashley, "that this committee +would be able to report promptly a bill upon which this House could +probably agree, I would not hesitate a single moment to vote for the +reference of this measure to that committee; but, believing that they +will be unable to agree, I shall vote against a recommitment." + +In describing the character of the opposition arrayed against the +Congressional plan of reconstruction, Mr. Ashley used the following +emphatic language: "Why, sir, the assumption, the brazen-faced +assumption of men who during the entire war were in open or secret +alliance with the rebels, coming here now and joining hands with the +apostate at the other end of the avenue, who is the leader, the +recognized leader of a counter-revolution--a negative rebellion, as I +said awhile ago--passes comprehension." + +"If intended to apply to us," said Mr. Winfield, speaking for the +Democratic members, "it is a base and unfounded slander." + +"So far as I am concerned, it is a base lie," said Mr. Hunter. For +using these words, "condemned by gentlemen every-where, as well as by +parliamentary law," the House passed a vote of censure on Mr. Hunter, +and he was required to go forward and receive a public reprimand from +the Speaker. + +On the 28th of January, the House having resumed the consideration of +the bill to restore to the rebel States their full political rights, +Mr. Julian expressed his belief that the time had come for action, and +that having the great subject before them, they should proceed +earnestly, and with little delay, to mature some measure which would +meet the demand of the people. "Let us tolerate no further +procrastination," said he; "and while we justly hold the President +responsible for the trouble and mal-administration which now curse the +South and disturb the peace of the country, let us remember that the +national odium already perpetually linked with the name of Andrew +Johnson will be shared by us if we fail in the great duty which is now +brought to our doors." + +Mr. Julian differed with many others in his opinion of the real wants +of the rebel States. "What these regions need," said he, "above all +things, is not an easy and quick return to their forfeited rights in +the Union, but _government_, the strong arm of power, outstretched +from the central authority here in Washington, making it safe for the +freedmen of the South, safe for her loyal white men, safe for +emigrants from the Old World and from the Northern States to go and +dwell there; safe for Northern capital and labor, Northern energy and +enterprise, and Northern ideas to set up their habitation in peace, +and thus found a Christian civilization and a living democracy amid +the ruins of the past." + +"It would seem," said Mr. Cullom, "that the men who have been +struggling so hard to destroy this country were and still are the +instruments, however wicked, by which we are driven to give the black +man justice, whether we will or no. + +"By the unholy persistence of rebels slavery was at last overthrown. +Their contempt of the Constitutional Amendment, now before the +country, will place in the hands of every colored man of the South the +ballot." + +The bill before the House was referred to the Committee on +Reconstruction by a vote of eighty-eight to sixty-five. + +On the 4th of February, Mr. Williams, of Oregon, introduced into the +Senate "A bill to provide for the more efficient government of the +insurrectionary States," which was referred to the Committee on +Reconstruction. + +[Illustration: Geo. H. Williams, Senator from Oregon.] + +This bill, having been considered by the Committee, was adopted by +them, and was reported by their chairman to the House, on the 6th of +February, in the following form: + + "_Whereas_, the pretended State Governments of the late + so-called Confederate States of Virginia, North Carolina, + South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, + Florida, Texas, and Arkansas were set up without the + authority of Congress and without the sanction of the + people; and _whereas_ said pretended governments afford no + adequate protection for life or property, but countenance + and encourage lawlessness and crime; and _whereas_ it is + necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in + said so-called States until loyal and Republican State + Governments can be legally established: Therefore, + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + said so-called States shall be divided into military + districts and made subject to the military authority of the + United States, as hereinafter prescribed; and for that + purpose Virgina shall constitute the first district, North + Carolina and South Carolina the second district, Georgia, + Alabama, and Florida the third district, Mississippi and + Arkansas the fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas the + fifth district. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of the General of the army to assign to the command of + each of said districts an officer of the regular army not + below the rank of brigadier general, and to detail a + sufficient force to enable such officer to perform his + duties and enforce his authority within the district to + which he is assigned. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of each officer assigned, as aforesaid, to protect all + persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress + insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or + cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and + criminals; and to this end he may allow civil tribunals to + take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or when in his + judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders he + shall have power to organize military commissions or + tribunals for that purpose, any thing in the constitution + and laws of the so-called States to the contrary + notwithstanding; and all legislative or judicial proceedings + or processes to prevent the trial or proceedings of such + tribunals, and all interference by said pretended State + governments with the exercise of military authority under + this act shall be void and of no effect. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That courts and + judicial officers of the United States shall not issue writs + of _habeas corpus_ in behalf of persons in military custody + unless some commissioned officer on duty in the district + wherein the person is detained shall indorse upon said + petition a statement certifying upon honor that he has + knowledge or information as to the cause and circumstances + of the alleged detention, and that he believes the same to + be rightful; and further, that he believes that the indorsed + petition is preferred in good faith and in furtherance of + justice, and not to hinder or delay the punishment of crime. + All persons put under military arrest, by virtue of this + act, shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel + or unusual punishment shall be inflicted. + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That no sentence of + any military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, + affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall be + executed until it is approved by the officer in command of + the district; and the laws and regulations for the + government of the army shall not be affected by this act, + except in so far as they conflict with its provisions." + +Mr. Stevens, having been remonstrated with by a Democratic member for +expressing a wish to bring the question to vote without a prolonged +debate, replied: "I am very willing that the debate which has been +going on here for three weeks shall all be read over by the gentleman +whenever he can take time to read it." "On behalf of the American +people," said the same member, "I ask more time for debate." "I will +see what the American people think of it in the morning. If they are +generally for a prolongation of the debate, of course I will go with +them. But I will wait until then, in order to ascertain what the +people want." + +On the following day, February 7th, Mr. Stevens introduced the +discussion with a brief speech. "This bill provides," said he, that +"the ten disorganized States shall be divided into five military +districts, and that the commander of the army shall take charge of +them through his lieutenants as governors, or you may call them +commandants if you choose, not below the grade of brigadiers, who +shall have the general supervision of the peace, quiet, and the +protection of the people, loyal and disloyal, who reside within those +precincts; and that to do so he may use, as the law of nations would +authorize him to do, the legal tribunals where-ever he may deem them +competent; but they are to be considered of no validity _per se_, of +no intrinsic force, no force in consequence of their origin, the +question being wholly within the power of the conqueror, and to remain +until that conqueror shall permanently supply their place with +something else. I will say, in brief, that is the whole bill. It does +not need much examination. One night's rest after its reading is +enough to digest it." + +"Of all the various plans," said Mr. Brandegee, "which have been +discussed in this hall for the past two years, to my mind it seems the +plainest, the most appropriate, the freest from constitutional +objection, and the best calculated to accomplish the master aims of +reconstruction. + +"It begins the work of reconstruction at the right end, and employs +the right tools for its accomplishment. It begins at the point where +Grant left off the work, at Appomattox Court-house, and it holds those +revolted communities in the grasp of war until the rebellion shall +have laid down its spirit, as two years ago it formally laid down its +arms." + +Mr. Le Blond characterized the Committee on Reconstruction as "the +maelstrom committee, which swallows up every thing that is good and +gives out every thing that is evil." + +"There is nothing left," said he, in the conclusion of his speech, +"but quiet submission to your tyranny, or a resort to arms on the part +of the American people to defend themselves. + +"I do not desire war; but as one American citizen, I do prefer war to +cowardly submission and total destruction of the fundamental +principles of our Government. In my honest conviction, nothing but the +strong arm of the American people, wielded upon the bloody +battle-field, will ever restore civil liberty to the American people +again." + +"Is it possible," said Mr. Finck, "that in this Congress we can find +men bold enough and bad enough to conspire against the right of trial +by jury, the great privilege of _habeas corpus_; men who are willing +to reverse the axiom that the military should be subordinate to the +civil power, and to establish the abhorred doctrine resisted by the +brave and free men of every age, that the military should be superior +to the civil authority?" + +"It does not seem to me," said Mr. Pike, "that the change proposed to +be made by this bill in the management of the Southern States is so +violent as gentlemen on the other side would have us suppose. They +seem to believe that now the people of those States govern themselves; +but the truth is, since the suppression of the rebellion, that is, +since the surrender of the rebel armies in 1865, the government of +those States have been virtually in the hands of the President of the +United States. + +"This bill does not transfer the government of those States from the +people to the officers of the army, but only from the President to +those officers." + +Mr. Farnsworth, who next addressed the House, gave numerous +authenticated instances of outrages and murders perpetrated by rebels +upon Union soldiers and citizens. "It is no longer a question of +doubt," said he, "it can not be denied that the loyal men, the Union +soldiers and the freedmen in these disorganized and disloyal States +are not protected. They are murdered with impunity; they are despoiled +of their goods and their property; they are banished, scattered, +driven from the country." + +Mr. Rogers denounced the pending bill in most emphatic language. "You +will carry this conflict on," said he, "until you bring about a war +that will shake this country as with the throes of an earthquake; a +war that will cause the whole civilized world to witness our dreadful +shock and fill nature with agony in all her parts, with which the one +we have passed through is not at all to be compared." + +He eulogized President Johnson in the highest terms. "Free +government," said he, "brought him from a poor boy to as great a man +as ever lived, and he deserves as much credit as Washington and will +yet receive it. He will not submit to have the citadel of liberty +invaded and destroyed without using the civil and military powers to +prevent it. He will maintain the Constitution, sir, even to the +spilling of blood." + +Mr. Bingham proposed to amend the bill to make it accord with his +theory by substituting the phrase "the said States" for the words +"so-called States." He also proposed some limitation of the extent to +which the _habeas corpus_ should be suspended. "When these men," said +he, "shall have fulfilled their obligations" and when the great people +themselves shall have put, by their own rightful authority, into the +fundamental law the sublime decree, the nation's will, that no State +shall deny to any mortal man the equal protection of the laws--not of +the laws of South Carolina alone, but of the laws national and State, +and above all, sir, of the great law, the Constitution of our own +country, which is the supreme law of the land, from Georgia to Oregon, +and from Maine to Florida--then, sir, by assenting thereto those +States may be restored at once. To that end, sir, I labor and for that +I strive." + +"Unless the population of these States," said Mr. Lawrence, "is to be +left to the merciless rule of the rebels, who employ the color of +authority they exercise under illegal but _de facto_ State governments +to oppress all who are loyal without furnishing them any protection +against murder and all the wrongs that rebels can inflict on loyal +men, we can not, dare not refuse to pass this bill." + +Since, however, the bill did not propose any "plan of reoerganizing +State governments in the late rebel States," Mr. Lawrence read +amendments which he desired to introduce at the proper time, providing +that the laws of the District of Columbia, "not locally inapplicable," +should be in force in the rebel territory and that the United States +courts should have jurisdiction. + +Mr. Hise declared this a "stupid, cruel, unwise, and unconstitutional +measure." "If I had not been prepared," said he, "by other measures +hitherto adopted and others hitherto introduced into this House, I +should not have been less startled at the introduction of this than if +I had received the sudden intelligence that the ten States enumerated +in this bill had been sunk by some great convulsion of nature and +submerged under an oceanic deluge." + +"This is not, strictly speaking, a measure of reconstruction," said +Mr. Ingersoll, "but a measure looking simply to the enforcement of +order. It seems to me clear, then, that, not only under the laws of +war and under the laws of nations, but under the express authority of +the Constitution itself, Congress possesses the rightful authority to +establish military governments, as proposed by the bill under +consideration." + +Referring to Mr. Le Blond's anticipated war, Mr. Ingersoll said: "I +desire to ask the gentleman where he is going to get his soldiers to +make war upon the Government and the Congress of the United States? +You will hardly find them in the rebel States. They have had enough of +war; they have been thoroughly whipped, and do not desire to be +whipped again. You will not get them from the loyal people of the +Northern or Southern States. If you get any at all, you may drum up a +few recruits from the Democratic ranks, but in the present weak and +shattered condition of that party you would hardly be able to raise a +very formidable army, and I tell the gentleman if the party decreases +in the same ratio in the coming year as it has in the last, the whole +party together would not form a respectable _corps d'armee_." + +"How about the bread and butter brigade?" interposed a member. + +"I did not think of that heroic and patriotic band," replied Mr. +Ingersoll, "but I do not apprehend much danger from that source; it +would be a bloodless conflict; we would have no use either for the +sword or musket; all that would be necessary to make a conquest over +them would be found in the commissary department. Order out the bread +and butter and peace would be restored." + +Mr. Shanklin warned the House of the danger of establishing military +governments in the South. "You may be in the plenitude of power +to-day," he said, in conclusion, "and you may be ousted to-morrow. And +I hope, if you do not cease these outrages upon the people of the +country, such as you propose here, such as are attempting to be +inflicted by your Freedmen's Bureau and your Civil Rights Bills, that +the time will not be long before that army which the gentleman from +Illinois [Mr. Ingersoll] seemed to think could not be raised--an army +armed with ballots, and not with bayonet--will march to the polls and +hurl the advocates of this and its kindred measures out of their +places, and fill them with men who appreciate more highly and justly +the rights of citizens and of freemen, with statesmen whose minds can +grasp our whole country and its rights and its wants, and whose hearts +are in sympathy with the noble, the brave, and the just, whether they +live in the sunny South or the ice-bound regions of the North." + +"I hail this measure," said Mr. Thayer, "as interrupting this baleful +calm, which, if not disturbed by a proper exercise of legislative +power upon this subject, may be succeeded by disaster and collision. +It furnishes at least an initial point from which we can start in the +consideration and adjustment of the great question of reconstruction. +I regard this as a measure which lays the grasp of Congress upon this +great question--a grasp which is to hold on to it until it shall be +finally settled. I regard it as a measure which is to take that great +question out of that sea of embarrassment and sluggish inactivity in +which, through the course which the President has thought proper to +pursue, it now rests." + +"For our neglect," said Mr. Harding, of Illinois, "to exert the +military power of the Government, we are responsible for the blood and +suffering which disgrace this republic. Let us go back, then, or +rather let us come up to where we were before, and exercise +jurisdiction over the territory conquered from the rebels, which +jurisdiction the President has given up to those rebels, to the great +suffering and injury of the Government and of loyal people." + +"Let it be remembered all the time," said Mr. Shellabarger, "that your +country has a right to its life, and that the powers of your +Government are given for its preservation. Let it be remembered that +one portion of your republic has fallen into a state of rebellion, and +is still in a state of war against your Government, and that the +powers of the Government are to be exercised for the purposes of the +protection and the defense of the loyal, and the disloyal too, in that +part of the republic; and that, for the purpose of that defense, you +are authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of _habeas +corpus_, and to exercise such extraordinary powers as are necessary to +the preservation of the great life of the nation. Let these things be +remembered; and then let it also be remembered that the law-making +power of the Government not only controls the President, but controls +the purposes and the ends and the objects of war, and, of course, the +movements of the armies that are to be employed in war. Let these +things be remembered, and it seems to me that all the difficulties +with which it is sought to surround this measure will at once +disappear." + +"What carried our elections overwhelmingly?" asked Mr. Hotchkiss. "It +was the story of the Southern refugees told to the people of the North +and the West. They told us they demanded protection. They enlisted the +sympathy of Northern soldiers by telling that the very guerrillas who +hung upon the skirts of our army during the war were now murdering +Southern soldiers who fought on the Union side, and murdering peaceful +citizens, murdering black men who were our allies. We promised the +people if we were indorsed we would come back here and protect them, +and yet not a step has been taken." + +Mr. Griswold regretted to vote against a measure proposed by those +whom he believed to "have at heart the best interest of the whole +country." "It seems to me," said he, "that the provisions of this bill +will lead us into greater danger than is justified by the evils we +seek to correct. It is, Mr. Speaker, a tremendous stride that we +propose to make by this bill to subject to military control ten +million people who have once been partners of this common country, and +who are to be united with us in its future trials and fortunes. This +bill proposes to place all the rights of life, liberty, and happiness +exclusively in the control of a mere military captain. This bill +contains no provisions for the establishment in the future of civil +governments there; it simply provides that for an indefinite period in +the future a purely military power shall have exclusive control and +jurisdiction there. That is, therefore, to me, another and a very +serious objection to this bill." + +"There is a necessity," said Mr. Raymond, "for some measure of +protection to the people of the Southern States. I think it is clear +that life, liberty, and property are not properly guarded by law, are +not safe throughout those Southern States. They are not properly +protected by the courts and judicial tribunals of those States; they +are not properly protected by the civil authorities that are in +possession of political power in those States." + +Of the pending bill, he said: "It is a simple abnegation of all +attempts for the time to protect the people in the Southern States by +the ordinary exercise of civil authority. It hands over all authority +in those States to officers of the army of the United States, and +clothes them as officers of the army with complete, absolute, +unrestricted power to administer the affairs of those States according +to their sovereign will and pleasure. In my opinion there has not +occurred an emergency which justifies a resort to this extreme remedy. +The military force ought to follow the civil authority, and not lead +it, not take its place, not supersede it." + +"We must compel obedience to the Union," said Mr. Garfield, "and +demand protection for its humblest citizen wherever the flag floats. +We must so exert the power of the nation that it shall be deemed both +safe and honorable to have been loyal in the midst of treason. We must +see to it that the frightful carnival of blood now raging in the +South, shall continue no longer. The time has come when we must lay +the heavy hand of military authority upon these rebel communities and +hold them in its grasp till their madness is past." + +Mr. Stevens having expressed a wish to have an immediate vote, Mr. +Banks remarked: "I believe that a day or two devoted to a discussion +of this subject of the reconstruction of the Government will bring us +to a solution in which the two houses of Congress will agree, in which +the people of this country will sustain us, and in which the President +of the United States will give us his support." + +"I have not the advantage," replied Mr. Stevens, "of the secret +negotiations which the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. +Banks] has, and from which he seems to expect such perfect harmony +between the President and the Congress of the United States--within a +few days. If I had that advantage, I do not know what effect it might +have upon me. Not having it, I can not, of course, act upon it." + +"In the remarks which I made," said Mr. Banks, "I made no allusion to +any negotiations with the President. I have had no negotiations with +the President of the United States, nor do I know his opinions, and in +the vote which I shall give upon this question, neither the gentleman +from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] nor any other man has the right to +assume that I accept the policy of the Executive in the smallest +particular. I hope for a change of his position; I think that it is +not impossible. At all events, I think it is something which is worth +our while to try for." + +The previous question was moved by Mr. Stevens; but a majority +refusing to second the motion, the discussion was continued. + +Mr. Kasson denied the existence of a right in Congress "to establish a +military government over people who have been in insurrection." He +proposed as a substitute for the pending measure "A bill to establish +an additional article of war for the more complete suppression of the +insurrection against the United States." This provided for a division +of the rebel territory into military districts, as did the original +bill, and authorized commanders to declare martial law wherever it +should be necessary for the "complete suppression of violence and +disorder." + +Mr. Ashley moved an amendment providing for the restoration to loyal +owners of property confiscated by the rebel government, and providing +that military government should cease so soon as the people of the +rebel States should adopt State constitutions securing to all citizens +equal protection of the laws, including the right of the elective +franchise, and should ratify the proposed amendment to the +Constitution. + +Mr. Raymond thought that, on account of the great diversity of +opinion, the whole subject should be referred to a select committee, +who should be instructed to report within three or four days a bill +which should "provide temporarily for the protection of rights and the +preservation of the peace in the States lately in rebellion, and also +for the speedy admission of those States to their relations in the +Union upon the basis of the Constitutional Amendment." Thus he hoped a +result could be reached which "would command the support of Congress +and of the country, and the approval, or at least the assent, of the +Executive." + +Mr. Boutwell remarked that previous propositions having been referred +to the Committee on Reconstruction, they had agreed upon the bill +before the House with a unanimity which no other report had ever +obtained, nor had any bill submitted by that committee ever been so +carefully considered as this. "To-day," said he, "there are eight +millions and more of people, occupying six hundred and thirty thousand +square miles of the territory of this country, who are writhing under +cruelties nameless in their character--injustice such as has not been +permitted to exist in any other country in modern times; and all this +because in this capital there sits enthroned a man who, so far as the +executive department is concerned, guides the destinies of the +republic in the interest of rebels; and because, also, in those ten +former States rebellion itself, inspired by the executive department +of this Government, wields all authority, and is the embodiment of law +and power every-where. Until in the South this obstacle to +reconstruction is removed, there can be no effectual step taken toward +the reoerganization of the Government." + +"A well man needs no remedies," said Mr. Niblack, in a speech against +the bill; "it is only when he is sick that you can require him to +submit to medicinal applications. A country at peace does not need and +ought not to allow martial law and other summary remedies incident to +a state of war. The highest and dearest interests of this country are +made subordinate to party exigencies and to special and particular +interests. No wonder, then, that trade languishes and commerce +declines." + +On the 12th of February, Mr. Bingham proposed an amendment making the +restoration of the rebel States conditional upon their adoption of the +Constitutional Amendment, and imposing upon them, meanwhile, the +military government provided by the pending bill. + +Mr. Kelley advocated the bill as reported from the committee. "This," +said he, "is little more than a mere police bill. The necessity for it +arises from the perfidy of the President of the United States. Had he +been true to the duties of his high office and his public and repeated +pledges, there would have been no necessity for considering such a +bill." + +"Throughout the region of the unreconstructed States," said Mr. +Maynard, "the animating, life-giving principle of the rebellion is as +thoroughly in possession of the country and of all the political power +there to-day as it ever has been since the first gun was fired upon +Fort Sumter. The rebellion is alive. It is strong--strong in the +number of its votaries, strong in its social influences, strong in its +political power, strong in the belief that the executive department of +this Government is in sympathy and community of purpose with them, +strong in the belief that the controlling majority of the supreme +judiciary of the land is with them in legal opinion, strong in the +belief that the controversy in this body between impracticable zeal +and incorrigible timidity will prevent any thing of importance being +accomplished or any legislation matured." + +"It is," said Mr. Allison, "because of the interference of the +President of the United States with the military law which exists in +those States that this bill is rendered necessary. In my judgment, if +we had to-day an Executive who was desirous of enforcing the laws of +the United States to protect loyal men in those States, instead of +defending the rebel element, this bill would not be needed." + +Mr. Blaine submitted an amendment providing that any one of the "late +so-called Confederate States" might be restored to representation and +relieved of military rule when, in addition to having accepted the +Constitutional Amendment, it should have conferred the elective +franchise impartially upon all male citizens over twenty-one years of +age. + +Mr. Blaine maintained that the people in the elections of 1866 had +declared in favor of "universal, or, at least, impartial suffrage as +the basis of restoration." + +On the 13th of February the discussion was continued. "That the spirit +of rebellion still lives," said Mr. Van Horn, of New York, "and now +thrives in the South no sane man can deny; that the determination +exists to make their rebellion honorable and the loyalty of the South +a lasting disgrace and a permanent badge of dishonor is equally true +and can not be denied. The leaders of the rebellion, being in power in +all the ten States unreconstructed, still defy the authority of the +United States to a great extent, and deny the-power of the loyal +millions of the country, who have saved our nation's life against +their treason and rebellion, to prescribe terms of settlement of this +great controversy, and deny also that they have lost any rights they +had before the war or committed any treason against the Government." + +The measure before the House, as it came from the Committee on +Reconstruction, "was not intended as a reconstruction bill," according +to the interpretation of Mr. Stevens. "It was intended simply as a +police bill to protect the loyal men from anarchy and murder, until +this Congress, taking a little more time, can suit gentlemen in a bill +for the admission of all those rebel States upon the basis of civil +government." + +The various amendments proposed were designed by their authors to add +a plan of reconstruction to the pending bill. Of these Mr. Boutwell +remarked: "Without examining into the details of the amendments, I +have this to say, that any general proposition for the restoration of +these States to the Union upon any basis not set forth in an act of +Congress is fraught with the greatest danger to future peace and +prosperity of the republic." + +The amendments of Mr. Bingham and Mr. Blaine were finally combined by +their authors. The combination made an amendment providing that the +"States lately in insurrection" should be restored and relieved of +military rule upon their ratification of the Constitutional Amendment +and adoption of impartial suffrage. In order to "disentangle what +seemed so much entangled," it was moved that the bill be recommitted +to the Judiciary Committee, with instructions to report back +immediately the amendment of Messrs. Blaine and Bingham. + +Mr. Stevens then addressed the House, premising that in his state of +health a few words must suffice. He felt a moral depression in viewing +the condition of the party responsible for the doings of Congress. +"For the last few months," said he, "Congress has been sitting here, +and while the South has been bleeding at every pore, Congress has done +nothing to protect the loyal people there, white or black, either in +their persons, in their liberty, or in their property." + +Of his previous bill, which had been consigned to its tomb in being +referred to the Committee on Reconstruction, Mr. Stevens said: "I +thought it was a good bill; I had labored upon it in conjunction with +several committees of loyal men from the South for four months; I had +altered and realtered it, written and rewritten it four several times, +and found that it met the approbation of numerous societies and +meetings in all the Southern States. It was, therefore, not altogether +my fault if it was not so good a bill as might be found; but I did +think that, after all, it was uncivil, unjust, indecent not to attempt +to amend it and make it better, to see whether we could do something +to enable our friends in the Southern States to establish institutions +according to the principles of republican government." + +Mr. Stevens deprecated a disposition among his friends to be +hypercritical in relation to mere verbal details. "If I might presume +upon my age," said he, "without claiming any of the wisdom of Nestor, +I would suggest to the young gentlemen around me that the deeds of +this burning crisis, of this solemn day, of this thrilling moment, +will cast their shadows far into the future and will make their +impress upon the annals of our history, and that we shall appear upon +the bright pages of that history just in so far as we cordially, +without guile, without bickering, without small criticisms, lend our +aid to promote the great cause of humanity and universal liberty." + +The question being taken on the motion to refer to the Committee on +the Judiciary, it was decided in the negative--yeas, 69; nays, 94. The +question was then taken on the passage of the bill. It passed the +House--one hundred and nine voting in the affirmative, and fifty-five +in the negative. + +"I wish to inquire, Mr. Speaker," said Mr. Stevens, "if it is in order +for me now to say that we indorse the language of good old Laertes, +that Heaven rules as yet, and there are gods above." + +At the evening session of the Senate on the same day, the bill "to +provide for the more efficient government of the insurrectionary +States" was announced as having passed the House, and at once received +its first reading. Mr. Williams gave notice of his intention to +propose an amendment, but on the following day, when the Senate +proceeded to consider the subject, he said that being impressed with +the necessity of the passage of the bill, and fearing that any +amendment might endanger if not defeat it, he had concluded not to +present his amendment. + +Mr. Johnson said that the adoption of the amendment would make the +bill much less objectionable to him, although he could not vote for it +even if amended. He then offered the amendment, which was +substantially the same as that proposed by Messrs. Bingham and Blaine +in the House of Representatives. + +Mr. Stewart regretted that the Senator from Oregon had changed his +mind in regard to this amendment. "The military bill without that," +said he, "is an acknowledgment that, after two years of discussion and +earnest thought, we are unable to reconstruct, and are compelled to +turn the matter over to the military. It seems to me that the people +of the United States want and demand something more than a military +government for the South." + +Several Senators thought Mr. Stewart was unnecessarily troubled about +military governments in the South. "Are we," asked Mr. Morrill, "who +have stood here for five long, bloody years, and witnessed the +exercise of military power over these rebel States, to be frightened +now by a declaration of that sort? That is not the temper in which I +find myself to-day. I have got so accustomed, if you please, to the +exercise of this authority----" + +"That is the trouble," said Mr. Stewart. + +"That has not been our trouble that we have exercised power," said Mr. +Morrill; "that has been the salvation of the nation. The trouble has +been from the hesitation to exercise authority when authority was +required." + +Mr. Wilson thought that the wisest course would be to pass the bill +just as it came from the House. If it was to be amended at all, he +would propose an amendment that all citizens should "equally possess +the right to pursue all lawful avocations and receive the equal +benefits of the public schools." + +"I think the amendments," said Mr. Howard, "entirely incompatible with +the scheme and provisions of the bill itself, and that gentlemen will +discover that incompatibility on looking into it." + +Mr. Henderson thought that the remedy proposed by him long before +would be found the only cure for the ills of the nation. "I offered," +said he, "twelve months ago, a proposition, as a constitutional +amendment, that was to give political rights to the negroes. Some +Senators said it was a humbug, that it was Jacob Townsend's +Sarsaparilla, or some thing to that effect, that it would amount to +nothing. Now, I will ask what other protection can you give to a Union +man in the Southern States than the ballot?" + +Since the bill must be passed both Houses and go to the President by +the following Tuesday, in order to give Congress time to pass it over +his veto, Mr. Williams, who had the bill in charge, was desirous of +having it passed upon in the Senate on the evening of the day of this +discussion, February 15th. Several Senators protested against this as +unreasonable haste. "It is extraordinary," said Mr. Doolittle, "that a +bill of this kind, that proposes to establish a military despotism +over eight million people and a country larger than England, France, +and Spain combined, is to be pressed to a vote in this Senate the +first day it is taken up for consideration." + +"If the measure will not bear argument," said Mr. Hendricks, "then let +it be passed in the dark hours of the night. I think it is becoming, +when despotism is established in this free land, that the best blood +that ever ran in mortal veins was shed to make free, that that +despotism shall be established when the sun does not shed its bright +light upon the earth. It is a work for darkness and not for light." + +"He talks about establishing a despotism," said Mr. Henderson, "and +gets into a perfect fret about it. Why, sir, the Southern States have +presented nothing but a despotism for the last six years. During the +rebel rule it was a despotism, the veriest despotism ever established +upon earth; and since the rebel rule ceased, the President of the +United States certainly has governed the Southern States without ever +consulting Congress on the subject." + +The Senate held an evening session for the consideration of this bill. +Mr. Hendricks proposed to modify the pending amendment so as to +provide for impartial rather than universal suffrage. He thought that +States should be allowed to limit suffrage. Mr. Saulsbury would not +vote for this amendment because he was unwilling to "touch, taste, or +handle the unclean thing." On the other hand, Mr. Davis could vote for +it because he preferred a "little unclean thing" to "a big one." Mr. +Hendricks finally withdrew his amendment. + +Mr. Doolittle hoped that the majority would seriously weigh this +question because on it might depend whether the people of the South +would accept the Constitutional Amendment, and accept the proposition +necessary to get rid of military despotism. + +"Make them," said Mr. Wilson. + +"I ask," said Mr. Doolittle, "if that is the true language of a +statesman, to say to a people who have been educated in the largest +liberty, a people in whose veins the Anglo-Saxon blood is flowing, +which for a thousand years has been fighting against despotism of +every form, 'You must accept this position at the point of the +bayonet, or forever live with the bayonet at your throats?' Is that +the way to make peace?" + +"I think it is statesmanship," replied Mr. Wilson, "to settle this +question of reconstruction upon the solid basis of the perfect +equality of rights and privileges among citizens of the United States. +Colored men are citizens, and they have just as much right as this +race whose blood has been fighting against oppression for a thousand +years, as he says, and any settlement of this civil war upon any other +basis than perfect equality of rights and privileges among citizens of +the United States is not statesmanship; it is mere trifling; only +keeping open questions for future controversy. Nothing is settled +unless it is settled upon the basis of justice." + +"I shall vote for this amendment," said Mr. Lane, "believing that it +is necessary to make a perfect system for the restoration of the +lately rebellious States." + +"The amendment," said Mr. Johnson, "is objectionable to me only upon +the ground that it denies to those States the right of coming into the +Union entitled to representation until they extend the suffrage, +because I believe the right of suffrage is a matter with which the +Congress of the United States has no concern." + +"I know perfectly well," said Mr. Buckalew, "that a vote for this +amendment, although given under circumstances which do not commit me +to the proposition as a final one, will be misunderstood and +perverted. It will be said throughout the country of each of those who +stand in the position in which I stand, that we have departed, to some +extent at least, from that position which we have hitherto maintained, +and maintained against all the influences of the time, against the +pressure of circumstances which have swept many from our side and +carried them into the large and swollen camp of the majority. Sir, I +for one am ambitious of being known as one among that number of men +who have kept their faith, who have followed their convictions, who +have obeyed the dictation of duty in the worst of times, who did not +bend when the storm beat hardest and strongest against them, but kept +their honor unsullied, their faith intact, their self-respect unbroken +and entire." + +"My object is," said Mr. Henderson, when proposing to modify the +pending amendment, "to secure the franchise, and after that is +secured, to go forward and establish civil governments in the Southern +States." + +Extended arguments against the measure were made by Mr. Johnson and +Mr. Hendricks. At twelve o'clock the minority desired to adjourn, and +the friends of the measure would have been willing to do so could an +understanding have been had as to an hour on the following day when +the vote would be taken. + +Mr. McDougall would submit to no such-limitation upon free speech. "I +do not expect myself," said he, "to speak at any great length, but yet +if upon careful consideration I should choose to do so, or if +possessing the recollections of past times and memories and reasons +and considerations that yet lay in my hidden memories I shall choose +to talk for a longer period, I shall claim the right to do so." + +"I am anxious to give my views on this subject," said Mr. Davis. "I do +not feel able to give them at this late hour of the night; still, I +believe I could hang on for three or four hours if I was disposed to +do so, [laughter,] but I believe that to-morrow I should not occupy +more than at the farthest two hours of the time of the Senate." + +Numerous amendments were proposed, much discursive talk was indulged +in, and many motions to adjourn were voted down. At length, three +o'clock of Saturday morning, February 16th, having arrived, an +adjournment was brought about by means of a very long amendment +proposed by Mr. Henderson as a substitute for the entire bill. This +opening up a new discussion, the friends of the pending bill saw the +impossibility of coming to a speedy vote, and consented to an +adjournment. + +On the reaessembling of the Senate on Saturday, February 16th, Mr. +Doolittle delivered a very long speech in opposition to the bill, and +in vindication of his political course which had been called in +question by the "Radicals of Wisconsin." "I rise," said he, "to plead +for what I believe to be the life of the republic, and for that spirit +which gives it life. I stand here, also, to answer for myself; +because, foreseeing and resisting from the beginning what I knew must +follow as the logical consequences of the adoption of certain +fundamental heresies originating in Massachusetts, and of which the +honorable Senator upon my right [Mr. Sumner] is the advocate and +champion, I have been for more than eighteen months denounced in my +State by many of my former political associates and friends." + +At the evening session of the Senate, Mr. Saulsbury and Mr. Davis +delivered extended speeches against the measure. "I appeal to you, +sir," said Mr. Saulsbury; "I appeal to those who exercise political +power in this country now, by all the memories that cluster around the +glorious past; by the recollection of the noble deeds and heroic +sufferings of our ancestors, for you and for me, for your posterity +and for my posterity; by all the bright realizations which might be +ours in this present hour; by all the bright future and all the +glories which are in that immediate future, stop your aggressions upon +the Constitution of your country." + +The vote having been taken on the amendment proposed by Mr. Johnson +and the substitute of Mr. Henderson, they were both rejected. + +Mr. Sherman then offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute, +the preamble of which declared that "No legal State governments or +adequate protection for life or property now exist in the rebel +States." It retained the military feature of the original bill, with +the modification that the President, instead of the General of the +army, should appoint district commanders. The most important part of +the amendment was a plan of reconstruction, which added a new section +to the bill in the following form: + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That when the people + of any one of said rebel States shall have formed a + Constitution of government in conformity with the + Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by + a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of + said State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever + race, color, or previous condition of servitude, who have + been resident in said State for one year previous to the day + of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for + participation in the rebellion, or for felony at common law, + and when such Constitution shall provide that the elective + franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the + qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates, and + when such Constitution shall be ratified by a majority of + the persons voting on the question of ratification who are + qualified as electors of delegates, and when such + Constitution shall have been submitted to Congress for + examination and approval, and Congress shall have appointed + the same, and when said State, by a vote of its Legislature + elected under said Constitution, shall have adopted the + amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed + by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, + and when said article shall have become a part of the + Constitution of the United States, said State shall be + declared entitled to representation in Congress, and + Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom on + their taking the oath prescribed by law, and then and + thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be + inoperative in said State." + +Mr. Sherman made a brief speech in explanation of the bill. "All there +is material in the bill," said he, "is in the first two lines of the +preamble and the fifth section, in my judgment. The first two lines +may lay the foundation, by adopting the proclamation issued first to +North Carolina, that the rebellion had swept away all the civil +governments in the Southern States; and the fifth section points out +the mode by which the people of those States, in their own manner, +without any limitations or restrictions by Congress, may get back to +full representation in Congress." + +After numerous propositions to amend, and speeches against the bill by +Messrs. Hendricks, Cowan, Buckalew and McDougall, the Senate reached a +vote upon the bill at six o'clock on Sunday morning. Twenty-nine voted +in the affirmative, namely: + + Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Cattell, Chandler, Conness, Cragin, + Creswell, Fogg, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Howard, Howe, + Kirkwood, Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, + Ross, Sherman, Stewart, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, + Williams, Wilson, and Yates. + +Ten voted in the negative, to-wit: + + Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Hendricks, + McDougall, Nesmith, Norton, Patterson, and Saulsbury. + +The Senate amended the title of the bill by substituting the word +"rebel" for "insurrectionary." Thus passed in the Senate the great +measure entitled "A bill to provide for the more efficient government +of the rebel States." + +On Monday, February 18th, the bill, as amended, came before the House. +Mr. Stevens moved that the amendments of the Senate be non-concurred +in, and that the House ask a Committee of Conference. + +Mr. Boutwell opposed the amendment. "If I did not believe," said he, +"that this bill, in the form in which it now comes to us from the +Senate, was fraught with great and permanent danger to the country, I +would not attempt to resist further its passage." + +He objected to the bill on the ground that it proposed to reconstruct +the rebel State governments at once, through the agency of disloyal +men, and that it gave additional power to the President when he had +failed to use the vast power which he already possessed in behalf of +loyalty and justice. + +Mr. Stokes saw in the bill the principle of universal amnesty and +universal suffrage. "I would rather have nothing," said he, "if these +governments are reconstructed in a way that will place the rebels over +Union men." + +"Now, what has the Senate done?" Mr. Stevens asked. "Sent back to us +an amendment which contains every thing else but protection. It has +sent us back a bill which raises the whole question in dispute as to +the best mode of reconstructing these States by distant and future +pledges which this Congress has no authority to make and no power to +execute. What power has this Congress to say to a future Congress, +When the Southern States have done certain things, you shall admit +them, and receive their members into this House?" + +"Our friends," said he, in another part of his remarks, "who love this +bill, love it now because the President is to execute it, as he has +executed every law for the last two years, by the murder of Union men, +and by despising Congress and flinging into our teeth all that we seek +to have done." + +Mr. Stevens thought that in two hours a Committee of Conference could +frame a bill and report it to the House free from all these +difficulties--free from all this extraneous matter--which would +protect every loyal man in the Southern States, and do no injustice to +the disloyal. + +Mr. Blaine supported the bill as it came from the Senate. "Congress," +said he, "no more guarantees, under this bill, the right of any rebel +in any State to vote than did Congress guarantee to the rebels in +Tennessee the right to vote." + +"Although this bill," said Mr. Wilson of Iowa, "does not attain all I +desire to accomplish, it does embrace much upon which I have insisted. +It reaches far beyond any thing which the most sanguine of us hoped +for a year ago. It secures equal suffrage to all loyal men; it sets +aside the pretended governments which now abuse power in the rebel +States; it insists on the ratification of the Constitutional +Amendment, under the operation of which all the rebels who now occupy +official position in the States affected by this bill will be rendered +ineligible to office, State or national; it presents an affirmative +policy, on the part of Congress, hostile to that of the President; it +demonstrates the ability of Congress to agree upon a given line of +future action; and, finally, it reserves to Congress jurisdiction over +the whole case when the people of any Southern disorganized State may +present a Constitution and ask for admission to this body as a part of +the governing power of the nation. There is too much of good in this +to be rejected. I will vote to concur in the amendment of the Senate." + +Mr. Bingham maintained that in the bill, as it passed the House, they +had voted as extensive powers to the President as were conferred upon +him by the bill as amended by the Senate. The former bill provided +that the General in command of the army should detail army officers; +but all officers of the army are under command of the Commander-in-chief +as constituted by the supreme law of the land. "For myself," said he, +"I had rather that my right hand should forget its cunning, and that +my tongue should cleave to the roof of my mouth, than to find myself +here so false to my own convictions, and so false to the high trust +committed to me by that people who sent me here as to vote against +this bill." + +"This bill," said Mr. Farnsworth, "provides a platform ten steps in +advance of the platform upon which we went to the people last fall. We +then only expected the ratification of the amendment to the +Constitution proposed by Congress at its last session, and the +formation of Constitutions, republican in form, which should give the +people there the right to send loyal men here as Senators and +Representatives. But by this bill we extend impartial suffrage to the +black man--universal suffrage." + +"I am one of those who believe we ought to do something," said Mr. +Schenck. "I believe we ought to declare to these rebel States, as we +do by this bill, that they shall be put under martial law, and held by +the strong hand to keep the peace until they have complied with +whatever conditions are imposed upon them. But while we do this, I +think it equally important to announce to them, to announce to the +country, to announce to our constituents as the completion of the +whole platform upon which we go before the nation, the terms which we +require of them." + +Mr. Garfield favored the Senate amendment. "There are some gentlemen," +said he, "who live among the eagles on the high mountain peaks, beyond +the limit of perpetual frost, and they see the lineaments in the face +of freedom so much clearer than I do, whenever any measure comes here +that seems almost to grasp our purpose, they rise and tell us it is +all poor and mean and a surrender of liberty." + +"These terms embrace, in my judgment," said Mr. Thayer, "every +guarantee, every safeguard, and every check which it is proper for us +to demand or apply. Upon these foundations we can safely build, for by +them we retain the final control of the question in our own hands." + +Mr. Hotchkiss opposed the bill as amended. "If you allow this bill to +go into operation as it now stands," said he, "without making any +amendment of its provisions, and permit these elections to be held, as +they must necessarily be held under this bill, under the authority, +control, and regulation of the rebel governments in those States, +there will be no security whatever, and you will have the elections in +New Orleans held under the control of Mayor Monroe and the mob which +he used to such fell purpose last summer. That is the entertainment to +which this bill invites us. + +"I regard this as a flank movement," said Mr. Bromwell, "by which is +to be brought about that darling scheme of certain politicians--universal +amnesty and universal suffrage. Whether it end in universal suffrage +or not, one thing is certain, it is universal amnesty." + +"It would be emphatically," said Mr. Donnelly, "a government of +rebels. I say a government of rebels, because although the amendment +which has reached us from the Senate contains the words, 'Except such +as may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion,' that +disfranchisement has to come from the rebels themselves, and surely +there is no man upon this floor weak enough to suppose that they will +so disfranchise themselves." + +Mr. Le Blond opposed both bills. Of the one before the House, he said: +"This bill is quite as infamous, quite as absurd, as the bill that the +distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] who is +Chairman of the Committee on Reconstruction, contends for and hangs so +tenaciously to. It confers all the powers that that bill gives; it +confers all the powers that the most radical could claim +consistently." + +"I shall content myself," said Mr. Eldridge, "with denouncing this +measure as most wicked and abominable. It contains all that is +vicious, all that is mischievous in any and all of the propositions +which have come either from the Committee on Reconstruction or from +any gentleman upon the other side of the House." + +"If you do not take this bill," said Mr. Delano, "although in all its +parts it does not suit you, what are you likely to give the American +people? Nothing. I will not return to my constituents admitting that I +have failed to try to do something in this great trial of the nation. +It is not for rebels that I legislate; it is not for the right of +those who have sought to destroy this Government that I extend mercy; +but it is for the liberties, rights, and welfare of my country, for +all parts of it." + +"If this bill be passed," said Mr. Banks, "in my belief there will be +no loyal party known and no loyal voice heard in any of these States, +from Virginia to Texas." + +Many members subsequently presented arguments and opinions for and +against the bill, in speeches limited to fifteen minutes in length. +This occupied a session protracted until near midnight. + +On the following morning, February 19th, a vote was taken, and the +House refused to concur in the amendments of the Senate, and asked a +Committee of Conference. + +The action of the House having been announced in the Senate, that body +immediately proceeded to consider a motion made by Mr. Williams, that +they insist on their amendment and agree to the conference. The +proposition to give the subject into the hands of a Committee of +Conference was opposed by many Senators, who thought a question of so +much importance should be deliberated upon in a full Senate. If such a +committee were appointed, their report could only be adopted or +rejected without modification or amendment. They would only have the +power which they possess over a nomination by the President--power to +reject a nominee without naming another. + +"The result arrived at by the Senate in reference to this bill," said +Mr. Conness, "was after the most mature consideration that was ever +given to any proposition that came before this body, resulting in an +unanimity, at least on this side of the chamber, unparalleled in +legislative proceedings--a result hailed by the country at large, +demanded by the most intelligent and powerful of the American press, +alike acceptable to the industrial and commercial interests of the +country, which suffer from a continual disorganization of the country +affecting its vital industries." + +"The fact that it is a very important bill," said Mr. Williams, "only +makes it the more necessary, as it seems to me, to adopt the usual +practice in such cases"--that of appointing a Committee of Conference. + +Mr. Sumner favored the appointment of such a committee. The Senate had +made its best endeavor, the House had refused to concur, and now to +ask that body to vote upon the question again without a Committee of +Conference would kill the bill. In such a case there could be no hope +during the session for any just and beneficent measure either of +protection or reconstruction. + +Mr. Fessenden had taken no part in the debate upon the bill when it +was on its passage. A majority of his political friends having +determined that the measure which passed the Senate was the best that +could be accomplished, he had deemed it his duty not to present his +individual objections to the bill. "I would have very much preferred," +said he, "the Military Bill, as it was called, pure and simple, +without having any thing else upon it, and leaving to other +legislation, if it was judged expedient, what else might be done." + +Mr. Trumbull had not before said a word in reference to this bill. He +never regarded the Military Bill as it came from the House of +Representatives as of the slightest importance. Section fourteenth, of +the Freedmen's Bureau Bill conferred all the powers given in the +Military Bill. If these had not been used for the protection of the +loyal people of the South, would the reiteration of the statute be to +any purpose? Yet Mr. Trumbull thought the amendment put upon the bill +by the Senate contained every guarantee that had ever been asked for +by any one. He was unwilling that a great question like this, open in +all its parts, should be submitted to a Committee of Conference. + +[Illustration: Hon. John Conness, Senator from California.] + +The vote was finally taken, after a prolonged discussion. The Senate +insisted on its amendment, and refused to appoint a Committee of +Conference. + +The bill having gone back to the House of Representatives, they +resolved by a vote of one hundred and twenty-six to forty-six to +recede from their disagreement to the amendment of the Senate, and to +concur in the same with amendments, providing that no person excluded +from holding office by the recently proposed Constitutional Amendment +should be eligible for membership in the convention to frame a +constitution for any of the rebel States, nor should any such person +be allowed to vote for members of such convention. Another amendment +proposed by the House was the addition of a section (sixth) to the +bill providing that until the rebel States should be admitted to +representation in Congress, any civil governments existing therein +should be deemed provisional only, and subject to the paramount +authority of the United States, who may at any time abolish, modify, +control, or supersede them. + +This qualified concurrence on the part of the House having been +announced in the Senate, that body proceeded immediately to consider +the question of acquiescence. + +Mr. Sherman said that his only objection to the amendment of the House +was, that it disfranchised ten or fifteen thousand leading rebels from +voting at the elections, yet he was willing to agree to the amendment. + +Mr. Sumner congratulated Mr. Sherman on the advanced step he had +taken. "To-morrow," said Mr. Sumner, "I hope to welcome the Senator to +some other height." + +Mr. Sherman was unwilling to admit that he had come to Mr. Sumner's +stand-point. He was willing to accept the bill, although it excluded a +few thousand rebels from voting, yet "I would rather have them all +vote," said he, "white and black, under the stringent restrictions of +this bill, and let the governments of the Southern States that are +about now to rise upon the permanent foundation of universal liberty +and universal equality, stand upon the consent of the governed, white +and black, former slaves and former masters." + +Then followed an extended discussion of the question as to whether the +Senate should agree to the amendments proposed by the House. Mr. +Doolittle proposed and advocated an amendment providing that nothing +in the bill should be construed to disfranchise persons who have +received pardon and amnesty. This amendment was rejected--yeas, 8; +nays, 33. + +The vote was then taken upon the final passage of the bill as amended +by the House; it passed the Senate--yeas, 35; nays, 7. + +The Bill "to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel +States," having thus passed both houses of Congress on the 20th of +February, it was immediately submitted to the President for his +approval. + +On the second of March the President returned the bill to the House, +in which it originated, with his objections, which were so grave that +he hoped a statement of them might "have some influence on the minds +of the patriotic and enlightened men with whom the decision must +ultimately rest." + +The Veto Message was immediately read by the clerk of the House of +Representatives. The following extracts present the President's +principal objections to the measure: + + "The bill places all the people of the ten States therein + named under the absolute domination of military rulers. * * * + + "It is not denied that the States in question have each of + them an actual government, with all the powers, executive, + judicial, and legislative which properly belong to a free + State. They are organized like the other States of the + Union, and like them they make, administer, and execute the + laws which concern their domestic affairs. An existing _de + facto_ government, exercising such functions as these, is + itself the law of the State upon all matters within its + jurisdiction. To pronounce the supreme law-making power of + an established State illegal is to say that law itself is + unlawful. * * * + + "The military rule which it establishes is plainly to be + used, not for any purpose of order or for the prevention of + crime, but solely as a means of coercing the people into the + adoption of principles and measures to which it is known + that they are opposed, and upon which they have an + undeniable right to exercise their own judgment. + + "I submit to Congress whether this measure is not, in its + whole character, scope, and object, without precedent and + without authority, in palpable conflict with the plainest + provisions of the Constitution, and utterly destructive to + those great principles of liberty and humanity for which our + ancestors on both sides of the Atlantic have shed so much + blood and expended so much treasure. + + * * * * * + + "The power thus given to the commanding officer over all the + people of each district is that of an absolute monarch. His + mere will is to take the place of all law. The law of the + States is now the only rule applicable to the subjects + placed under his control, and that is completely displaced + by the clause which declares all interference of State + authority to be null and void. He alone is permitted to + determine what are rights of person or property, and he may + protect them in such way as in his discretion may seem + proper. It places at his free disposal all the lands and + goods in his district, and he may distribute them without + let or hinderance to whom he pleases. Being bound by no + State law, and there being no other law to regulate the + subject, he may make a criminal code of his own; and he can + make it as bloody as any recorded in history, or he can + reserve the privilege of acting upon the impulse of his + private passions in each case that arises. He is bound by no + rules of evidence; there is indeed no provision by which he + is authorized or required to take any evidence at all. Every + thing is a crime which he chooses to call so, and all + persons are condemned whom he pronounces to be guilty. He is + not bound to keep any record or make any report of his + proceedings. He may arrest his victims wherever he finds + them, without warrant, accusation, or proof of probable + cause. If he gives them a trial before he inflicts the + punishment, he gives it of his grace and mercy, not because + he is commanded so to do. + + * * * * * + + "Cruel or unusual punishment is not to be inflicted, but who + is to decide what is cruel and what is unusual? * * * Each + officer may define cruelty according to his own temper, and + if it is not usual, he will make it usual. Corporal + punishment, imprisonment, the gag, the ball and chain, and + the almost insupportable forms of torture invented for + military punishment lie within the range of choice. The + sentence of a commission is not to be executed without being + approved by the commander, if it affects life or liberty, + and a sentence of death must be approved by the President. + This applies to cases in which there has been a trial and + sentence. I take it to be clear, under this bill, that the + military commander may condemn to death without even the + form of a trial by a military commission, so that the life + of the condemned may depend upon the will of two men instead + of one. + + "It is plain that the authority here given to the military + officer amounts to absolute despotism. + + * * * * * + + "I come now to a question which is, if possible, still more + important. Have we the power to establish and carry into + execution a measure like this? I answer certainly not, if we + derive our authority from the Constitution, and if we are + bound by the limitations which it imposes. This proposition + is perfectly clear; that no branch of the Federal + Government, executive, legislative, or judicial, can have + any just powers except those which it derives through and + exercises under the organic law of the Union. Outside of the + Constitution we have no legal authority more than private + citizens, and within it we have only so much as that + instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our + function and applies to all subjects. It protects not only + the citizens of States which are within the Union, but it + shields every human being who comes or is brought under our + jurisdiction. "We have no right to do in one place more than + in another that which the Constitution says we shall not do + at all. If, therefore, the Southern States were in truth out + of the Union, we could not treat their people in a way which + the fundamental law forbids. * * * + + "If an insurrection should take place in one of our States + against the authority of the State government, and end in + the overthrowing of those who planned it, would they take + away the rights of all the people of the counties where it + was favored by a part or a majority of the population? Could + they for such a reason be wholly outlawed and deprived of + their representation in the Legislature? I have always + contended that the Government of the United States was + sovereign within its constitutional sphere; that it executed + its laws like the States themselves, by applying its + coercive power directly to individuals; and that it could + put down insurrection with the same effect as a State and no + other. The opposite doctrine is the worst heresy of those + who advocated secession, and can not be agreed to without + admitting that heresy to be right. + + * * * * * + + "This is a bill passed by Congress in time of peace. There + is not in any one of the States brought under its operation + either war or insurrection. The laws of the States and of + the Federal Government are all in undisturbed and harmonious + operation. The courts, State and Federal, are open and in + the full exercise of their proper authority. Over every + State comprised in these five military districts life, + liberty, and property are secured by State laws and Federal + laws, and the national Constitution is every-where enforced + and every-were obeyed. + + * * * * * + + "Actual war, foreign invasion, domestic insurrection--none + of these appear, and none of these in fact exist. It is not + even recited that any sort of war or insurrection is + threatened." + +"Upon this question of constitutional law and the power of Congress," +the President gave quotations from "a recent decision of the Supreme +Court _ex parte_ Milligan." Having commented upon this opinion, the +President proceeded with his objections: + + "I need not say to the Representatives of the American + people that their Constitution forbids the exercise of + judicial power in any way but one; that is, by the ordained + and established courts. It is equally well known that, in + all criminal cases, a trial by jury is made indispensable by + the express words of that instrument. I will not enlarge on + the inestimable value of the right thus secured to every + freeman, or speak of the danger to public liberty, in all + parts of the country, which must ensue from a denial of it + anywhere, or upon any pretense. * * * + + "The United States are bound to guaranty to each State a + republican form of government Can it be pretended that this + obligation is not palpably broken if we carry out a measure + like this, which wipes away every vestige of republican + government in ten States, and put the life, property, + liberty and honor of all the people in each of them under + the domination of a single person clothed with unlimited + authority. + + * * * * * + + "The purpose and object of the bill--the general intent + which pervades it from beginning to end--is to change the + entire structure and character of the State governments, and + to compel them by force to the adoption of organic laws and + regulations which they are unwilling to accept if left to + themselves. The negroes have not asked for the privilege of + voting; the vast majority of them have no idea what it + means. This bill not only thrusts it into their hands, but + compels them, as well as the whites, to use it in a + particular way. If they do not form a Constitution with + prescribed articles in it, and afterward elect a Legislature + which will act upon certain measures in a prescribed way, + neither blacks nor whites can be relieved from the slavery + which the bill imposes upon them. Without pausing here to + consider the policy or impolicy of Africanizing the Southern + part of our territory, I would simply ask the attention of + Congress to that manifest, well-known, and + universally-acknowledged rule of constitutional law which + declares that the Federal Government has no jurisdiction, + authority, or power to regulate such subjects for any State. + To force the right of suffrage out of the hands of the white + people and into the hands of the negroes is an arbitrary + violation of this principle. + + "This bill imposes martial law at once, and its operations + will begin so soon as the General and his troops can be put + in place. The dread alternative between its harsh rule and + compliance with the terms of this measure is not suspended, + nor are the people afforded any time for free deliberation. + The bill says to them, Take martial law first, then + deliberate. + + * * * * * + + "The bill also denies the legality of the governments of ten + of the States which participated in the ratification of the + amendment to the Federal Constitution abolishing slavery + forever within the jurisdiction of the United States, and + practically excludes them from the Union. * * * + + "That the measure proposed by this bill does violate the + Constitution in the particulars mentioned, and in many other + ways which I forbear to enumerate is too clear to admit of + the least doubt. + + * * * * * + + "I am thoroughly convinced that any settlement, or + compromise, or plan of action which is inconsistent with the + principles of the Constitution, will not only be unavailing, + but mischievous; that it will but multiply the present evils + instead of removing them. The Constitution, in its whole + integrity and vigor, throughout the length and breadth of + the land, is the best of all compromises. Besides, our duty + does not, in my judgment, leave us a choice between that and + any other. I believe that it contains the remedy that is so + much needed, and that if the cooerdinate branches of the + Government would unite upon its provisions, they would be + found broad enough and strong enough to sustain, in time of + peace, the nation which they bore safely through the ordeal + of a protracted civil war. Among the most sacred guarantees + of that instrument are those which declare that 'each State + shall have at least one Representative,' and that 'no State, + without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage + in the Senate.' Each house is made the 'judge of the + elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members,' + and may, 'with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a + member.'" + + * * * * * + + "And is it not far better that the work of restoration + should be accomplished by simple compliance with the plain + requirements of the Constitution, than by a recourse to + measures which, in effect, destroy the States, and threaten + the subversion of the General Government? All that is + necessary to settle this simple but important question, + without further agitation or delay, is a willingness, on the + part of all, to sustain the Constitution, and carry its + provisions into practical operation. If to-morrow either + branch of Congress would declare that, upon the presentation + of their credentials, members constitutionally elected, and + loyal to the General Government, would be admitted to seats + in Congress, while all others would be excluded, and their + places remain vacant until the selection by the people of + loyal and qualified persons; and if, at the same time, + assurance were given that this policy would be continued + until all the States were represented in Congress, it would + send a thrill of joy throughout the entire land, as + indicating the inauguration of a system which must speedily + bring tranquillity to the public mind. + + "While we are legislating upon subjects which are of great + importance to the whole people, and which must affect all + parts of the country, not only during the life of the + present generation, but for ages to come, we should remember + that all men are entitled at least to a hearing in the + councils which decide upon the destiny of themselves and + their children. At present ten States are denied + representation, and when the Fortieth Congress assembles, on + the fourth day of the present month, sixteen States will be + without a voice in the House of Representatives. This grave + fact, with the important questions before us, should induce + us to pause in a course of legislation, which, looking + solely to the attainment of political ends, fails to + consider the rights it transgresses, the law which it + violates, or the institutions which it imperils. + + "ANDREW JOHNSON." + +After the reading of the message, the question came up, "Shall the +bill pass, the objections of the President to the contrary +notwithstanding?" + +Mr. Eldridge declared that it would be the duty of the minority, if it +were within their physical power, to defeat the bill. "But we are +conscious," said he, "that no effort of ours can prevent its passage, +and the consequent accomplishment of a dissolution of the Union, and +the overthrow and abandonment of our constitution of government. We +can only, in the name of the Constitution, in the name of the +republic, in the name of all we hold dear on earth, earnestly, +solemnly protest against this action of this Congress." + +Mr. Le Blond said that "the passage of this bill would be the +death-knell of republican liberty upon this continent." He declared +his willingness, if a sufficient number on his side of the House would +stand by him, to resist to the utmost extremity of physical exhaustion +the passage of this bill, which would "strike a death-blow to this +Government." + +Mr. Stevens would not be discourteous to those who were opposed to +this bill: "I am aware," said he, "of the melancholy feelings with +which they are approaching this funeral of the nation." He was +unwilling, however, to lose the opportunity to pass the bill at once, +and send it to the Senate, that the House might proceed to other +matters. + +The vote was taken, and the House passed the bill over the President's +veto--yeas, 135; nays, 48. The announcement of this result was +followed by great applause on the floor and in the galleries. + +The immense numbers that had assembled in the galleries of the House +to witness these proceedings went immediately to the other end of the +Capitol to see the reception which the Veto Message would receive in +the Senate. The consideration of the subject, however, was deferred +until the evening session. + +The Veto Message having been read in the Senate by the Secretary, the +pending question at once became whether the bill should pass +notwithstanding the objections of the President? + +Mr. Johnson advocated the passage of the bill over the veto. "It +contains," said he, speaking of the President's message, "some legal +propositions which are unsound, and many errors of reasoning. I lament +the course he has thought it his duty to pursue, because I see that it +may result in continued turmoil and peril, not only to the South, but +to the entire country. I see before me a distressed, a desolated +country, and in the measure before you I think I see the means through +which it may be rescued and restored erelong to prosperity and a +healthful condition, and the free institutions of our country +preserved." + +In reply to a charge of inconsistency brought against him by Mr. +Buckalew, Mr. Johnson said: "Consistency in a public man can never +properly be esteemed a virtue when he becomes satisfied that it will +operate to the prejudice of his country. The pride of opinion, which +more or less belongs to us all, becomes, in my judgment, in a public +man, a crime when it is indulged at the sacrifice or hazard of the +public safety." He urged upon the people of the South their acceptance +of the terms proposed by Congress. In view of the probability these +overtures should be rejected, harsher measures would be resorted to. + +Mr. Saulsbury expressed his admiration for the wisdom of the President +in "vetoing the most iniquitous bill that ever was presented to the +Federal Congress." "I hope," said he, "that there may be no man within +the limits of these ten States who will participate in his own +disgrace, degradation, and ruin: let them maintain their honor. If +there be wrath in the vials of the Almighty, if there be arrows of +vengeance in his quiver, such iniquity and injustice can not finally +prove successful." + +Mr. Hendricks disagreed with the Senator from Delaware that the people +of the South, at once and without consideration, must turn their backs +upon the proposition now made them in order to maintain their honor. +He hoped they would bring to the consideration of the subject the +coolest judgment and the highest patriotism. He was still opposed to +the bill; he approved of the President's veto. His judgment against +the measure had been "fortified and strengthened by that able +document." + +The discussion of the question was continued by Messrs. Buckalew, +Dixon, and Davis, who spoke against the bill. The friends of the +measure were content to let the subject go without a further word from +them, save the solemn and final declaration of their votes. + +The question being taken, the bill was passed over the veto by a vote +of almost four-fifths. Thirty-eight Senators voted for the bill in its +final passage, and but ten were found willing to stand by the +President and his veto. + +The bill whose progress through Congress has thus been traced became a +law of the land in the following form: + + "AN ACT to provide for the more efficient government of the + rebel States + + "_Whereas_, no legal State governments or adequate + protection for life or property now exists in the rebel + States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, + Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and + Arkansas; and _whereas_ it is necessary that peace and good + order should be enforced in said States until loyal and + republican State governments can be legally established: + therefore, + + "_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives + of the United States of America in Congress assembled_, That + said rebel States shall be divided into military districts + and made subject to the military authority of the United + States, as hereinafter prescribed; and for that purpose + Virginia shall constitute the first district, North Carolina + and South Carolina the second district, Georgia, Alabama, + and Florida the third district, Mississippi and Arkansas the + fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas the fifth + district. + + "SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of the President to assign to the command of each of + said districts an officer of the army not below the rank of + brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient military force + to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his + authority within the district to which he is assigned. + + "SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be the + duty of each officer assigned, as aforesaid, to protect all + persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress + insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or + cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and + criminals; and to this end he may allow local civil + tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or + when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of + offenders he shall have power to organize military + commissions or tribunals for that purpose, and all + interference, under color of State authority, with the + exercise of military authority under this act shall be null + and void. + + "SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That all persons put + under military arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried + without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual + punishment shall be inflicted, and no sentence of any + military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting + the life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until + it is approved by the officer in command of the district; + and the laws and regulations for the government of the army + shall not be affected by this act, except in so far as they + conflict with its provisions: _Provided_, That no sentence + of death under the provisions of this act shall be carried + into effect without the approval of the President. + + "SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That when the people + of any one of said rebel States shall have formed a + constitution of government in conformity with the + Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by + a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of + said State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever + race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident + in said State for one year previous to the day of such + election, except such as may be disfranchised for + participation in the rebellion or for felony at common law, + and when such constitution shall provide that the elective + franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the + qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates, and + when such Constitution shall be ratified by a majority of + the persons voting on the question of ratification who are + qualified as electors for delegates, and when such + constitution shall have been submitted to Congress for + examination and approval, and Congress shall have approved + the same, and when said State, by a vote of its Legislature + elected under said constitution, shall have adopted the + amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed + by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen, + and when said article shall have become a part of the + Constitution of the United States, said State shall be + declared entitled to representation in Congress, and + Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom on + their taking the oath prescribed by law, and then and + thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be + inoperative in said State: _Provided_, That no person + excluded from the privilege of holding office by said + proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, + shall be eligible to election as a member of the convention + to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States, nor + shall any such person vote for members of such convention. + + "SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That, until the people + of said rebel States shall be by law admitted to + representation in the Congress of the United States, any + civil government which may exist therein shall be deemed + provisional only, and in all respects subject to the + paramount authority of the United States at any time to + abolish, modify, control, or supersede the same; and in all + elections to any office under such provisional governments + all persons shall be entitled to vote, and none others, who + are entitled to vote under the provisions of the fifth + section of this act; and no person shall be eligible to any + office under such provisional governments who would be + disqualified from holding office under the provisions of the + third article of said Constitutional Amendment." + +The friends of this measure were dissatisfied with it on the ground of +its incompleteness in not containing provisions for carrying it into +effect in accordance with the purpose of its framers. This record +would be incomplete without a statement of what was done to perfect +the measure in the succeeding Congress. The Fortieth Congress, meeting +on the 4th of March, immediately upon the close of its predecessor, +proceeded without delay to perfect and pass over the President's veto +a bill supplementary to the act to provide for the more efficient +government of the rebel States. By this act it was provided that the +commanding general of each district should cause a registration to be +made of the male citizens twenty-one years of age in his district, +qualified to vote under the former act. In order to be registered as a +voter under this act, a person is required to swear that he has not +been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war +against the United States, nor for felony; that he has never been a +member of any State Legislature, nor held any executive or judicial +office in any State and afterward engaged in insurrection or rebellion +against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies +thereof; that he has never taken an oath as a member of Congress of +the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an +executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the +Constitution of the United States, and afterward engaged in +insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or +comfort to the enemies thereof, and that he will faithfully support +the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and encourage +others to do so. + +Persons thus qualified shall vote at elections held for the purpose of +selecting delegates to the conventions for framing constitutions for +the States. + +A majority of voters so qualified shall determine whether +constitutional conventions shall be held in the several States, and +shall vote for delegates who shall be as numerous as the members of +the most numerous branch of the Legislature of such State in the year +1860. This convention having framed a constitution, it shall be +submitted to the people, and if ratified by a majority of the +qualified voters, it shall be forthwith transmitted to Congress. If +this constitution is satisfactory to Congress, and found to be in +accordance with the provisions of the act of which this is +supplementary, the State shall be declared entitled to representation. +All elections are required to be by ballot, and all officers acting +under the provisions of this act are required to take the test oath. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +OTHER IMPORTANT ACTS. + + Equalizing Bounties -- The Army -- The Department of + Education -- Southern Homesteads -- The Bankrupt Law -- The + Tariff -- Reduction of Taxes -- Contracting the Currency -- + Issue of Three Per Cents. -- Nebraska and Colorado -- Tenure + of Office. + + +The great national measures, whose progress through Congress has been +given in detail, occupied the attention of that body continuously, +from the first days of its existence to the closing hours of its last +session. No day passed which was not rendered important by something +said or done upon questions which concern not only the nation, but +humanity, and which are of interest not only for the present, but for +all time to come. While these great measures were passing through +Congress, making it memorable, and absorbing the public attention, +there was a constant undercurrent of patient, laborious legislation +upon subjects of less interest to the public, but of real importance +to the country. + +One of the first duties devolving upon the Thirty-ninth Congress was +the great work of disbanding the vast volunteer army which had +suppressed the rebellion, saved the country, and earned the undying +gratitude of the nation. The soldiers of the republic were to be paid +for their distinguished services, their reasonable demands for +equalization of bounty were to be met, and a suitable number retained +in the service for the necessities of the nation on a "peace footing." +Near the close of the first session, a bill to equalize soldiers' +bounties, introduced by Mr. Schenck of Ohio, passed the House by a +nearly unanimous vote, but was lost in the Senate. Subsequently, the +Senate attached to the Civil Appropriation Bill a provision for paying +additional bounty, differing materially from the bill which passed the +House. This being in such shape that it could not be easily detached, +became a law. + +During the first session, Congress passed the "Act to increase and fix +the military peace establishment of the United States." By this law +the regular army consists of five regiments of artillery, ten +regiments of cavalry, and forty-five regiments of infantry. It +acknowledged the services and claims of the volunteer officers and men +who served in the recent war by providing that a large proportion of +the commissions in the new service should be conferred upon them. At +the same time the standard of attainment and talent was not lowered, +since the law provided for such an examination as must exclude the +unqualified and relieve the army from some who unworthily held +commissions. + +The important fact that general intelligence is one of the greatest +safeguards of the nation was fully recognized by the Thirty-ninth +Congress. Of this they gave permanent proof in establishing a Bureau +of Education. Early in the first session, Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, +introduced a resolution instructing the joint Committee on +Reconstruction to inquire into the expediency of establishing a +National Bureau of Education "to enforce education, without regard to +color." The necessity for such a measure was set forth in the preamble +to arise from the fact that "republican institutions can find +permanent safety only upon the basis of the universal intelligence of +the people," and that "the great disasters which have afflicted the +nation and desolated one-half its territory are traceable in a great +degree to the absence of common schools and general education among +the people of lately rebellious States." This resolution passed the +House by a large majority. + +This subject was subsequently referred to an able select committee, of +which Mr. Garfield was chairman. On the 5th of June he reported a bill +to establish a Department of Education. The measure was supported by +Messrs. Donnelly, Garfield, Banks, and Boutwell, and opposed by +Messrs. Pike, Rogers, and Randall. The bill passed the House on the +19th of June and went to the Senate, where it was referred to the +Committee on the Judiciary. The bill went over, in the press of +business, to the second session, and passed the Senate on the 28th of +February, 1867. + +A measure indirectly connected with the subject of reconstruction, +destined to have an important influence upon the future of Southern +society, was introduced by Mr. Julian on the 7th of February, 1866. +This was a bill for the disposal of the public lands for homesteads to +actual settlers, without distinction of color, in the States of +Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida, providing that +the quantity of land selected by any one person should be eighty +acres, and not one hundred and sixty acres, as provided in the +Homestead Bill of 1862. The necessity of this measure, as shown by Mr. +Julian, arose from the abolition of slavery and the demands of free +labor. It was designed to cut off land speculation in the Southern +country. "Without some provision of this kind," said Mr. Julian, +"rebel speculators now hovering over the whole of that region, and +hunting up the best portion of it, and the holders of Agricultural +College scrip can come down upon it at one fell swoop and cheat the +actual settler, whether white or black, out of his rights, or even the +possibility of a home in that region, driving the whole of them to +some of our Western Territories or to starvation itself." + +The bill was finally passed in the House on the 28th of February, +1867, with an amendment excluding from the benefit of the act persons +who have borne arms against the United States, or given aid and +comfort to its enemies. + +A work of legislation of much importance, destined to have beneficent +effect upon the business interests of the country, was the passage of +the Bankrupt Law, which was finally enacted near the close of the +Thirty-ninth Congress. The Bankrupt Bill passed the House of +Representatives as early as May, 1866, but the Senate objecting to the +entire principle of the bill, it was postponed till December. On the +reaessembling of Congress for the second session, the consideration of +the Bankrupt Bill was resumed, and after much opposition in the +Senate, it finally received the support of a decisive majority in that +body of all shades of politics. The perfection and final passage of +this measure were among the last acts of the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +The Bankrupt Law of 1800 was enacted in the interest of creditors, and +that of 1841 for the benefit of debtors. The law of 1867 was framed +with a view to protect the interests of both parties. The passage of +this important law is due mainly to the energy and perseverance of +Thomas A. Jenckes, of Rhode Island. + +The subject of the tariff occupied, first and last, a considerable +share of the time and attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. In the +early part of the first session numerous petitions poured in upon +Congress in favor of a protective tariff. In June and July the subject +was discussed, and a Tariff Bill passed the House by a vote of +ninety-four to fifty-three. The friends of protection said of this +bill that though not perfect, it was "a decided improvement on the +tariff in existence." The bill, on its introduction to the Senate was +postponed till December. + +There was soon after introduced into the House a revised Tariff Bill, +entitled a bill "to protect the revenue." Gradually many of the +features which the advocates of protection regarded as most important, +were eliminated from the bill. This was passed in the Senate on the +24th of July, with amendments in which the House was unwilling to +concur. A Committee of Conference was appointed, who made a report +which was accepted by both Houses of Congress. The bill greatly +modified and "enfeebled" as its original friends regarded it, finally +passed on the day before the close of the first session. + +The subject of diminishing taxation, as far as consistent with the +obligations of the nation to its creditors, early enlisted and +occupied the attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress. The principle +upon which Congress acted was announced by the distinguished chairman +of the Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Morrill, to be "_The abolition +or speedy reduction of all taxes which tend to check development, and +the retention of all those which like the income tax fall chiefly on +realized wealth._" + +In the midst of many conflicting interests, and in the face of +remonstrances, protests, and prayers from every trade and profession, +Congress proceeded to work out the difficult question. As a result of +most patient and careful investigation, Congress found itself able to +reduce to the extent of one hundred millions of dollars per annum, the +taxation resting upon the shoulders of the American people. + +On the subject of finance and the national currency great diversity of +opinion existed among leading members of the Thirty-ninth Congress. +Unanimity prevailed upon the opinion that the currency should sooner +or later be subjected to suitable contraction, but there was diversity +of sentiment as to the ways and means by which this result should be +achieved without involving the country in commercial and financial +disaster. + +"I am for specie payments," remarked Mr. Stevens, on one occasion, +"when we can arrive at them without crushing the community to death. I +am for arriving at specie payments, and still allowing the business of +the country to go on and thrive, and the people engaged in business to +pay the taxes which you impose on them. I say that there is not a man +in the community who would not as soon have one dollar in greenbacks +as one dollar in gold. No one expects to be paid in gold until a +general resumption by the banks of specie payment; nobody now knows +any other currency than greenbacks, and, therefore, I am in favor of +keeping that currency. In my judgment, we have not more circulation +now than the expanded business of the country requires. + +"This war has given an immense impulse to every thing. Whence this +precipitation? We have barely got out of the war against the rebels +before we have a war made upon the business community, upon the +manufacturing interests, and upon all others." + +"When this great Republican party was made up," said Mr. Wentworth, +"we, who were originally Democrats, took up a cross, and it was a +great cross. [Laughter.] We were told that if we went into that thing, +we should have to lay down at the feet of the irresponsible +paper-money men. Now, I want to know of the gentleman distinctly, +whether, if he could, he would resume specie payments to-morrow?" + +"If," replied Mr. Stevens, "I could have specie payment to-morrow, +without deranging the business of the country, I would. If it would +derange the business of the country to return to specie payment at +once, I would postpone it a little. I voted for the Legal-tender Bill; +and I am glad I did so, for the country would not have survived +without it." + +"Would you compromise on a year?" asked Mr. Wentworth. + +"No, sir; nor on two years," replied Mr. Stevens. "England did not +resume specie payment the year after the wars with France. The Bank of +England issued paper money, but the Government had L14,000,000 in the +stock of that bank to give it security, and the Government prevented +it from resuming specie payment until it thought it best. Now, when +that great war of twenty-five years was over, did England attempt, in +1814 and 1815, to return to specie payment? They had afloat but +L20,000,000, or $100,000,000, and they began with their one-pound +notes. In a few years they took their two-pound notes; afterward they +took their five-pound notes. But they never resumed full specie +payment until the latter part of the year 1822. Does my friend from +Illinois expect me to be wiser than the great men of England?" + +"Does my friend from Pennsylvania deny," asked Mr. Garfield, "that in +1819 the law for resuming specie payment was passed, to go into effect +gradually at first, and completely in 1823, and that the full +resumption of specie payment actually took place early in the Spring +of 1821--only about a year and three-quarters from the passage of the +law?" + +"Yes," answered Mr. Stevens, "except in very large sums. The law +authorized them to go on until the first of January, 1823." + +"But they resumed in 1821, about a year and three-quarters earlier," +said Mr. Garfield. + +"About a year earlier," said Mr. Stevens. "But the law did not pass +until four years after the war. Do gentlemen here expect, when +England, with almost all the commerce of the world at her command, was +unable to resume specie payments for eight years after the conclusion +of her wars, and then did it by such gradual legislation that there +should be no shock to the business of the country--do gentlemen expect +that we are to put it into the power of one man to compel the +resumption of specie payments in a single year?" + +"I want to know," said Mr. Wentworth, "if the power, and the +patronage, and the influence of the great Republican party, so called, +is to be used to deprive us of our natural standard of value. Now, I +wish, while we go together, to be perfectly honest. Nobody respects +the talents of my friend from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens] more than I +do. He knows more than all of us put together. [Laughter.] I want him +to state to the House, fairly and candidly, whether, if we follow him, +he will lead us to specie payment; or whether, if he could, he would." + +"I will say to my friend," replied Mr. Stevens, "that in this case I +do not act as a member of the Republican party." + +"I have followed the gentlemen," said Mr. Wentworth, "because I +supposed him to be a Republican leader." + +"If I believed," said Mr. Stevens, "that we could resume specie +payments in a month without crushing the interests of the country, +without injuring the laborer, without breaking down the manufacturer, +without oppressing the people, without decreasing the revenues of the +Government; if I had the power, I would order every bank in the +country, State and national, and the Government also, to resume specie +payment." + +"Suppose McCulloch could do that," said Mr. Wentworth, "and give all +our boys their money at par." + +"If he could do it, I would give him great credit," said Mr. Stevens. + +"I believe he can," said Mr. Wentworth. + +"My friend is large," said Mr. Stevens, "and has faith like two grains +of mustard-seed." + +Plans were devised, and ultimately carried through Congress, by which +the great volume of paper currency should be gradually reduced at a +certain fixed rate, so that the people might know how to calculate the +future, and be enabled to provide against a commercial crash. + +The first measure designed to accomplish this result was popularly +called the Loan Bill, which was amendatory of an act "to provide ways +and means to support the Government." When first considered, in March, +1866, it was defeated in the House. It was soon after brought up again +in a modified form, and passed both the House and Senate by large +majorities. The act provided that the Secretary of the Treasury might +receive treasury notes, or "other obligations issued under any act of +Congress," in exchange for bonds. The contraction of the currency was +restricted and limited by the provision that not more than ten +millions of dollars might be retired and canceled within six months +from the passage of the act, and thereafter not more than four +millions of dollars in any one month. + +A financial problem of great importance presented itself for solution +in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. A large amount of +compound-interest notes, weighed down with accrued interest, had +ceased to float as currency, and lay in the vaults of the banks and +the coffers of capitalists, awaiting redemption. The question arose as +to how they should be redeemed, and the nation saved the payment of +the immense amounts of interest which must accumulate in course of +time. The House of Representatives proposed to pass an act authorizing +and directing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue legal-tender +notes, without interest, not exceeding $100,000,000, in place of the +compound-interest bearing notes. + +To this proposition the Senate would not accede, and passed a +substitute which the House would not accept. A Committee of Conference +reported a modification of the Senate's substitute, which finally +became a law, providing that, for the purpose of redeeming and +retiring compound-interest notes, the Secretary of the Treasury should +issue temporary loan certificates, to the amount of $50,000,000, at a +rate of interest not exceeding three per cent. per annum. + +While the greater share of the attention of the Thirty-ninth Congress +was occupied with efforts to reconstruct the eleven States which had +forfeited their rights by rebellion, the Territories of Colorado and +Nebraska applied for admission to the Union. Congress voted to admit +both, but the President obstructed their entrance with his vetoes. +Congress, on reconsideration, admitted Nebraska, the objections of the +President to the contrary notwithstanding. Colorado was not so +fortunate, since her people had been so unwise as to prejudice their +cause by restricting the enjoyment of political rights by ingrafting +the word "white" into their fundamental law. By this mistake they +forfeited the favor of the "Radicals," who refused to champion their +cause against the President. Incidental to this, Congress ordained +that political rights should not be restricted in the Territories on +account of race or color. + +The manifest evils of unrestricted Executive patronage--the bane of +American politics--early enlisted the efforts of the Thirty-ninth +Congress to provide a remedy. A bill to regulate appointments to and +removals from office was introduced by Mr. Henderson into the Senate +near the close of the first session, and referred to the Committee on +the Judiciary, but never saw the light as an act of Congress. + +The President's power of removal and appointment having been +unsparingly used during the recess of Congress, the country became +convinced that a remedy should be applied which would be effectual for +time to come. On the first day of the second session, Mr. Williams +brought before the Senate a bill to "regulate the tenure of offices," +which was subsequently referred to the joint Committee on +Retrenchment. On the 10th of December Mr. Edmunds, chairman of this +committee, reported the bill to the Senate, with amendments. In +bringing forward the measure, Mr. Edmunds asserted that they were +acting in no spirit of hostility to any party or administration +whatever, but for "the true republican interest of the country under +all administrations, and under the domination of all parties in the +growth before the nation in the future." After grave consideration and +protracted discussion in both houses of Congress, the bill was passed +near the close of the session. On the 2d of March the bill encountered +the veto of the President, who saw in the measure serious interference +with the ability of the Executive to keep his oath to preserve, +protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. The bill +was immediately passed over the veto without debate. + +The act thus passed provides that officers appointed by and with the +advice and consent of the Senate shall hold their offices until their +successors are in like manner appointed and qualified. Members of the +Cabinet hold their offices during the term of the President by whom +they are appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal +by consent of the Senate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. + + The President's treatment of the South -- First Annual + Message -- Mr. Sumner's Criticism -- The President + triumphant -- He damages his Cause -- Humor of Mr. Stevens + -- Vetoes overridden -- The Question submitted to the People + -- Their Verdict -- Summary of Vetoes -- Impeachment -- + Charges by Mr. Ashley -- Report of the Committee. + + +The Thirty-ninth Congress is remarkable for having run its entire +career with the constant opposition of the Executive obstructing its +progress. In all representative governments, a contest between the +executive and the legislative branches of the government has sooner or +later arisen, which has invariably ended in the defeat of the former. +The hopelessness of the contest on the part of the executive, and the +pertinacity with which it has been waged, have given it a mock-heroic +character. + +During the months which intervened between the death of Abraham +Lincoln and the assembling of Congress, Andrew Johnson had ample time +to preoeccupy the field and intrench himself against what he termed a +cooerdinate branch "hanging on the verge of the Government." + +In June, 1865, delegates from the South were first admitted to private +interviews with the President. On the 17th of June he issued his +proclamation providing for the restoration of civil government in +Georgia and Alabama, in which he excludes negroes from the category of +loyal citizens entitled to vote. The President soon after proceeded to +appoint provisional governors for the Southern States--a step which +was viewed with joy by the late rebels, and sorrow by the Union men of +the North. The character of these appointments may be seen in a +sentiment uttered by Governor Perry soon after his elevation to +office: "There is not now in the Southern States," said he, "any one +who feels more bitterly the humiliation and degradation of going back +into the Union than I do." Governor Perry saved himself from dismissal +by assuring the people that the death of Mr. Lincoln was no loss to +the South, while he had every hope that Mr. Johnson, an old +slaveholding Democrat, would be an advantage. + +In Alabama, under the provisional government established by Mr. +Johnson, the convention prohibited negroes from testifying in the +courts. Rebels throughout the South at once began to make their +arrangements for taking part in the government. In November, Governor +Perry made a public demand that when Congress met the Clerk of the +House should place on the roll the names of Representatives from the +rebel States. + +When South Carolina hesitated to adopt the Constitutional Amendment +abolishing slavery, President Johnson assured the Governor that the +clause giving Congress the power to enforce it by appropriate +legislation really limited congressional control over the negro +question. After this assurance, South Carolina accepted the +Constitutional Amendment. + +In August and September, 1865, Democratic conventions indorsed the +President's policy, and Democratic papers began to praise him. +Republicans were unwilling to believe that they had been deserted, and +hoped that after the assembling of Congress all differences would +disappear. + +The message of the President, read at the opening of the Thirty-ninth +Congress, placed him in direct opposition to the leaders of the +Republican party, and at variance with his own policy. "A concession +of the elective franchise," said he, "to the freedmen, by act of the +President of the United States, must have been extended to all colored +men, wherever found, and must have established a change of suffrage in +the Northern, Middle, and Western States, not less than in the +Southern and Southwestern." + +Every one could see that the President possessed as much power to +admit the black man to the right of suffrage in the rebel States as to +appoint provisional governors over them. + +While Congress was in session, and actually employed in legislating +for the restoration of the rebel States, Mr. Johnson substantially +declared that Congress had no control over the subject, by removing +the provisional governor of Alabama, and handing the State Government +over to the officers elected by the people. + +The Senate having requested information from the President as to the +condition of the rebel States, the President, on the 20th of December, +sent in a message which Mr. Sumner characterized as an attempt to +"whitewash" the unhappy condition of the rebel States. The message of +the President was accompanied by reports from General Grant and +General Schurz, in which Congress found evidence that the late rebels +had little sense of national obligation, and were chiefly anxious to +regain political power, and compensate themselves for the loss of +slavery by keeping the negroes in abject servitude. + +The passage of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, by a large majority in +Congress, and its veto by the President, presents the next phase in +the contest. To Republicans the most alarming feature in the Veto +Message was the evidence it gave that the President was ready at once +to give to traitors who had fought fiercely for four years to destroy +the Union an equal voice with loyal men in determining the terms of +its reconstruction. + +In this instance the President prevailed. The bill failed to pass over +the veto, from the fact that six Senators--Dixon, Doolittle, Morgan, +Norton, Stewart, and Van Winkle--who had voted for the bill, now sided +with the President. This was the first and last triumph of the +President. + +Two days after, on the 22d of February, the President greatly damaged +his cause by denouncing a Senator and a Representative, and using the +slang of the stump against the Secretary of the Senate in the midst of +an uproarious Washington mob. The people were mortified that the +Executive of the nation should have committed so serious an +indiscretion. + +The incident received notice in Congress in a humorous speech of +Thaddeus Stevens, who declared that the alleged speech could never +have been delivered; that it was "a part of the cunning contrivance of +the copperhead party, who have been persecuting our President;" that +it was "one of the grandest hoaxes ever perpetrated." + +Congress, now aware that it must achieve its greatest works of +legislation over the obstructing veto of the President, moved forward +with caution and deliberation. Every measure was well weighed and +carefully matured, since, in order to win its way to the favor of a +triumphant majority in Congress and the country, it must be as free as +possible from all objectionable features. + +Impartial suffrage, as provided in the District of Columbia Suffrage +Bill, being a subject upon which the people had not yet spoken, the +Senate determined that it would be better not to risk the uncertainty +of passing the measure over the inevitable veto until the people +should have an opportunity of speaking at the ballot-box. + +The President applied his veto to the Civil Rights Bill and the second +Freedmen's Bureau Bill, but a majority of more than the requisite +two-thirds placed these measures among the laws of the land. In the +House of Representatives, Mr. Raymond was the only Republican member +who voted to sustain the veto of the Civil Rights Bill. The temptation +to be friends of the President, in order to aid him in the +distribution of patronage, was very great with members of Congress, +and the wonder is that so many were able to reject it all, and adhere +to principles against which the Executive brought to bear all his +power of opposition. + +On the adjournment of Congress in July, at the close of the first +session, the contest was still continued, though in another arena. +Members of Congress went to their several districts, submitted their +doings to their constituents, and took counsel of the people. The +President also traversed the States from the Atlantic to the +Mississippi. He made numerous speeches, and endeavored to popularize +his policy. + +The people gave their verdict at the ballot-box in favor of Congress. +The reelection of Congress was the rejection of the President. The +ruin of the President's fortunes was shared by his followers. No +gentleman ever entered the House of Representatives with more _eclat_ +than that with which Mr. Raymond took his seat as a member of the +Thirty-ninth Congress, but his constituents did not see proper to +elect him for a second term. Delano and Stillwell, of the West, were +left at home. Cowan, in the Senate, elected six years before as a +Republican, was superseded, and Doolittle was instructed by his +Legislature to resign. + +The message of the President at the opening of the second session +displayed no disposition to yield to the people or to Congress. He +declared to a State delegation that waited on him that he was too old +to learn. + +One of the first acts of Congress after reaessembling was to accept the +sanction of the people for impartial suffrage, and pass the District +Suffrage Bill over the President's veto. The President deemed it due +to his consistency to return bills, with his "objections thereto in +writing," to the very last. Among the last doings of the Thirty-ninth +Congress was the passage of the Tenure-of-office Bill and the Military +Reconstruction Bill over vetoes. In humiliating contrast with the +circumstances one year before, when the veto of the Freedmen's Bureau +Bill prevailed, the veto of the Military Reconstruction Bill had but +ten supporters in the Senate. + +The following is a complete list of the bills vetoed by the President +during the Thirty-ninth Congress, and of the bills which were passed +over the veto, and those which became laws without the President's +signature: + + FIRST SESSION.--To enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's + Bureau; vetoed February 19, 1866. + + To protect all persons in the United States in their civil + rights, and furnish the means of their vindication; vetoed; + and passed, April 9, 1866, over veto. + + For the admission of the State of Colorado into the Union; + vetoed May, 1866. + + To enable the Montana and New York Iron Mining and + Manufacturing Company to purchase a certain amount of the + public lands not now in market; vetoed June, 1866. + + To continue in force and to amend an act entitled "an act to + establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees, + and for other purposes;" vetoed; passed, July 16, 1866, over + veto. + + For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union; + not signed; failed through the adjournment of Congress. + + * * * * * + + SECOND SESSION.--To regulate the elective franchise in the + District of Columbia; vetoed; passed, January 8, 1867, over + veto. + + To admit the State of Colorado into the Union; vetoed + January 18, 1867. + + For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union; + vetoed; passed, February 9, 1867, over veto. + + To provide for the more efficient government of the + insurrectionary States; vetoed; passed, March 2, 1867, over + veto. + + To regulate the tenure of office; vetoed; passed, March 2, + 1867, over veto. + + * * * * * + + _Bills which became laws without the President's signature, + the constitutional limit of ten days having expired without + their return:_ + + To repeal section 13 of "an act to suppress insurrection, to + punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the + property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July + 17, 1862; became a law January 22, 1867. + + To regulate the franchise in the Territories of the United + States; became a law January 31, 1867. + + To regulate the duties of the Clerk of the House of + Representatives, in preparing for the organization of the + House, and for other purposes; became a law February 20, + 1867. + + To declare the sense of an act entitled "an act to restrict + the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims, and to provide for + the payment of certain demands for quartermasters' stores + and subsistence supplies furnished to the army of the United + States;" became a law February 22; 1867. + + * * * * * + + RECAPITULATION.--Vetoes, 10; pocket vetoes, 1; laws passed + over vetoes, 6; vetoes sustained, 4; became laws without + signature, 4. + +As President Johnson proceeded in his career of opposition to the +legislative branch of the Government, the conviction fastened upon the +minds of some that he was guilty of crimes rendering him liable to +impeachment. On the 7th of January, 1867, Hon. James M. Ashley, of +Ohio, brought before the House of Representatives articles of +impeachment, as follows: + + "I do impeach Andrew Johnson, Vice-President and acting + President of the United States, of high crimes and + misdemeanors. + + "I charge him with a usurpation of power and violation of + law: + + "In that he has corruptly used the appointing power; + + "In that he has corruptly used the pardoning power; + + "In that he has corruptly used the veto power; + + "In that he has corruptly disposed of public property of the + United States; + + "In that he has corruptly interfered in elections, and + committed acts which, in contemplation of the Constitution, + are high crimes and misdemeanors; Therefore, + + "_Be it resolved_, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, + and they are hereby, authorized to inquire into the official + conduct of Andrew Johnson, Vice-President of the United + States, discharging the powers and duties of the office of + President of the United States, and to report to this House + whether, in their opinion, the said Andrew Johnson, while in + said office, has been guilty of acts which are designed or + calculated to overthrow, subvert, or corrupt the Government + of the United States, or any department or office thereof; + and whether the said Andrew Johnson has been guilty of any + act, or has conspired with others to do acts, which, in + contemplation of the Constitution, are high crimes and + misdemeanors, requiring the interposition of the + constitutional power of this House; and that said committee + have power to send for persons and papers, and to administer + the customary oath to witnesses." + +This resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and eight to +thirty-eight. + +[Illustration: Hon. James M. Ashley.] + +Near the close of the session, the Committee on the Judiciary, having +in charge the question of impeachment, made a report. The condition in +which the subject was left by the Thirty-ninth Congress will be seen +from the following extract: + + "The duty imposed upon the committee by this action of the + House was of the highest and gravest character. No + committee, during the entire history of the Government, has + ever been charged with a more important trust. The + responsibility which it imposed was of oppressive weight and + of most unpleasant nature. Gladly would the committee have + escaped from the arduous labor imposed upon it by the + resolution of the House; but once imposed, prompt, + deliberate, and faithful action, with a view to correct + results, became its duty, and to this end it has directed + its efforts. + + "Soon after the adoption of the resolution by the House, the + Hon. James M. Ashley communicated to the committee, in + support of his charges against the President of the United + States, such facts as were in his possession, and the + investigation was proceeded with, and has been continued + almost without a day's interruption. A large number of + witnesses have been examined, many documents collected, and + every thing done which could be done to reach a conclusion + of the case. But the investigation covers a broad field, + embraces many novel, interesting, and important questions, + and involves a multitude of facts, while most of the + witnesses are distant from the capital, owing to which, the + committee, in view of the magnitude of the interests + involved in its action, has not been able to conclude its + labors, and is not, therefore, prepared to submit a definite + and final report. If the investigation had even approached + completeness, the committee would not feel authorized to + present the result to the House at this late period of the + session, unless the charge had been so entirely negatived as + to admit of no discussion, which, in the opinion of the + committee, is not the case. Certainly, no affirmative report + could be properly considered in the expiring hours of this + Congress. + + "The committee, not having fully investigated all the + charges preferred against the President of the United + States, it is deemed inexpedient to submit any conclusion + beyond the statement that sufficient testimony has been + brought to its notice to justify and demand a further + prosecution of the investigation. + + "The testimony which the committee has taken will pass into + the custody of the Clerk of the House, and can go into the + hands of such committee as may be charged with the duty of + bringing this investigation to a close, so that the labor + expended upon it may not have been in vain. + + "The committee regrets its inability definitely to dispose + of the important subject committed to its charge, and + presents this report for its own justification, and for the + additional purpose of notifying the succeeding Congress of + the incompleteness of its labors, and that they should be + completed." + +With the acceptance of this report, the impeachment was at an end so +far as the action of the Thirty-ninth Congress was concerned. The +subject was handed over to the consideration of the Fortieth Congress. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +PERSONAL. + + Contested Seats -- Mr. Stockton votes for Himself -- New + Jersey's loss of two Senators -- Losses of Vermont -- + Suicide of James H. Lane -- Death in the House -- General + Scott -- Lincoln's Eulogy and Statue -- Mr. Sumner on Fine + Arts in the Capitol -- Censure of Mr. Chanler -- Petition + for the expulsion of Garret Davis -- Grinnell assaulted by + Rousseau -- The Action of the House -- Leader of the House. + + +Matters of interest relating to the members of the Thirty-ninth +Congress remain to be noticed. Some names of members appear in the +opening scenes of Congress which were substituted by others before the +close. This was occasioned partly through successful contests for +seats by persons who, after an investigation of their claims, were +declared to have been legally elected, but failed, through fraud or +mistake, to receive their credentials. The right of Mr. Voorhees, of +Indiana, to a seat in the Thirty-ninth Congress was contested by Henry +D. Washburn. The testimony in this case was laid before the Committee +on Elections early in the session, and after patient hearing of the +parties and careful consideration of the subject, the committee +reported in favor of Mr. Washburn and unseated Mr. Voorhees. + +The seat in Congress taken at the opening of the session by James +Brooks, of New York, was decided by the committee, after consideration +of the claims of the contestant, to belong to William E. Dodge, a +merchant of New York city. + +The right of John P. Stockton, of New Jersey, to a seat in the Senate +having been disputed on account of irregularity in his election, the +Senate came to a vote on the question, after considerable discussion, +on the 23d of March, 1866. Mr. Stockton was declared entitled to his +place by the close vote of 22 to 21, he giving the decisive vote in +favor of himself. There arose a very exciting debate as to the right +of a Senator to vote for himself under such circumstances. Mr. +Stockton finally yielded to the arguments against his right to sit in +judgment on his own case, and he was unseated March 27th by a vote of +22 to 21. For a time the seat thus vacated, to which New Jersey was +entitled in the Senate, remained unoccupied on account of the refusal +of the Republican Speaker of the New Jersey Senate to give his vote in +favor of the nominee of the Union caucus, Mr. Cattell. On account of +the nearly equal balance of the parties, the choice was long deferred, +but eventually made in favor of Mr. Cattell. The other seat held by +New Jersey in the Senate was practically vacant for a considerable +time on account of the illness of its incumbent, Mr. William Wright, +who consequently resigned and eventually died before the expiration of +the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +Other seats in Congress were vacated by death. Of all the States, +Vermont suffered most severely in this respect. A part of the +proceedings of the Thirty-ninth Congress consists of funeral addresses +and eulogies upon Judge Collamer, a distinguished Senator from +Vermont, whose term of service, had he lived, would have expired with +the close of this Congress. He died, lamented by the nation, on the +8th of November, 1865. One who took a prominent part in the funeral +obsequies of Mr. Collamer was Solomon Foot, the surviving Senator from +Vermont. A man termed, from his length of service, "the father of the +Senate," long its presiding officer, of purest morals, incorruptible +integrity, and faithful industry, he died universally lamented on the +28th of March, 1866. Mr. Foot's death created a profound impression, +since it exhibited, in a most remarkable manner, the effect of +Christianity in affording its possessor a happy close of life. + +The death of another Senator stands forth in striking contrast with +that of Mr. Foot. On the first of July, 1866, Senator James H. Lane +shot himself at Leavenworth, Kansas. While on his way home from +Washington, when at St. Louis, he had intimated a determination to +commit suicide. His friends watched him closely, and obtained +possession of his pocket-knife lest he might use it for the fatal +purpose. Mr. Lane having reached Leavenworth, two of his friends +invited him to ride with them on Sabbath afternoon. After getting into +the carriage, he expressed a desire to return to his room for his +cane, refusing to allow any one to go for him. Mr. Lane having +returned with his cane, they drove to the heights overlooking the +city. He entered cheerfully into the conversation, remarking upon the +beauty of the city and landscape. On returning, they had to pass +through a gate that separated two fields. One of the gentlemen +alighted to open the gate. At the same time Mr. Lane stepped down from +the carriage, and, passing around behind it, said, "Good-by, +gentlemen," and instantly discharged a pistol with its muzzle in his +mouth. The ball passed out at the top of his head, near the center of +the skull, producing a fatal wound. The unhappy man lingered for a few +days in a state of unconsciousness and died. Thus ended the stirring, +troubled life of one who as a politician had occupied no +inconsiderable space in the public eye. + +A number of seats in the House of Representatives were vacated by +death. James Humphrey, an able and honored member from New York, died +in Brooklyn on the 16th of June, 1866. During the second session of +the Thirty-ninth Congress, two members of the House of Representatives +were removed by death--Philip Johnson, of Pennsylvania, in his third +term of Congressional service, and Henry Grider, of Kentucky, a +veteran member, who, having served in Congress from 1843 to 1847, was +more recently a member of the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, and +Thirty-ninth Congresses. + +Congress was called upon to pay funeral honors to others than its +members. The death of General Scott, so long the illustrious chief of +the military establishment of the nation, was regarded with due +solemnity and honor by Congress, who deputized a large committee to +attend the funeral obsequies at West Point. An equestrian statue of +the distinguished General was voted by Congress to adorn the public +grounds of the national capital. + +The name of Abraham Lincoln, the nation's martyred President, was +always pronounced with profoundest respect and sincerest gratitude in +the halls of Congress. His birthday, February 12th, was celebrated by +the adjournment of Congress, and such an assembly as the hall of +Representatives has rarely witnessed, to hear a eulogy pronounced by +Mr. Bancroft, the American historian. An appropriation of ten thousand +dollars was made to pay a young artist, Miss Minnie Ream, to model a +statue of Abraham Lincoln. This proposition elicited an animated +discussion, and was the occasion of a most interesting address by Mr. +Sumner on Art in the Capitol. "Surely this edifice," said he, "so +beautiful and interesting, should not be opened to the experiments of +untried talent. Only the finished artists should be invited to its +ornamentation. + +"Sir, I doubt if you consider enough the character of this edifice in +which we are now assembled. Possessing the advantage of an +incomparable situation, it is one of the first-class structures in the +world. Surrounded by an amphitheater of hills, with the Potomac at its +feet, it resembles the capitol in Rome, surrounded by the Alban hills, +with the Tiber at its feet. But the situation is grander than that of +the Roman capitol. The edifice itself is worthy of the situation. It +has beauty of form and sublimity in proportions, even if it lacks +originality in conception. In itself it is a work of art. It ought not +to receive in the way of ornamentation any thing which is not a work +of art. Unhappily this rule has not always prevailed, or there would +not be so few pictures and marbles about us worthy of the place they +occupy. But bad pictures and ordinary marbles should warn us against +adding to their number." + +Perhaps no Congress in the history of the country presents fewer +disagreeable incidents of a personal nature than this. The Democrats +in Congress being in such a small minority as to be unable to _do_ any +thing effectual either to impede or advance legislation, could only +present their vain protests in words. Chafing under the difficulties +they encountered, it is not surprising that at times they used +language so ill-timed and unparliamentary as to call forth the censure +of the House. + +On one occasion, Mr. Chanler, of New York, submitted a resolution +"that the independent, patriotic, and constitutional course of the +President of the United States, in seeking to protect, by the veto +power, the rights of the people of this Union against the wicked and +revolutionary acts of a few malignant and mischievous men meets with +the approval of this House, and deserves the cordial support of all +loyal citizens of the United States." + +For introducing this resolution, the House voted to censure Mr. +Chanler as having "attempted a gross insult to the House." + +Before the vote was taken, Mr. Chanler said: "If by my defiance I +could drive your party from this hall, I would do so; if by my vote I +could crush you, I would do so, and put the whole party, with your +leader, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Stevens], into that +political hell surrounded by bayonets referred to by him in his +argument on Thursday last." + +In the Senate a petition was presented from citizens of New York +praying that Garret Davis be expelled from the Senate, and, "with +other traitors, held to answer to the law for his crime, since he +stood in the attitude of an avowed enemy of the Government"--since he +had made the declaration in reference to the Civil Rights Bill "that +if the bill should become a law, he should feel compelled to regard +himself as an enemy of the Government, and to work for its overthrow." + +"It is true," replied Mr. Davis, "that I used in substance the words +that are imputed to me in that petition; but, as a part of their +context, I used a great many more. As an example of garbling, the +petition reminds me of a specimen that I heard when I was a young man. +It was to this effect: 'The Bible teaches "that there is no God."' +When those words were read in connection with the context, the passage +read in about these terms: 'The fool hath said in his heart that there +is no God.' That specimen of the Bible was about as fair as this +garbled statement is of what I said upon the matter to which it +refers." + +The most serious subject coming up for the censure of the House was an +assault made by Mr. Rousseau, of Kentucky, upon Mr. Grinnell, of Iowa. +In many of its features this incident resembles the "affairs" of a +personal character which were of frequent occurrence when Southern +members were in Congress before the war. In February, 1866, Mr. +Rousseau, in the course of a speech on the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, +made the remark, "If you intend to arrest white people on the _ex +parte_ statement of negroes, and hold them to suit your convenience +for trial, and fine and imprison them, then I say that I oppose you; +and if you should so arrest and punish me, I would kill you when you +set me at liberty." + +To this Mr. Grinnell replied, "I care not whether the gentleman was +four years in the war on the Union side or four years on the other +side, but I say that he degraded his State and uttered a sentiment I +thought unworthy of an American officer when he said that he would do +such an act on the complaint of a negro against him." + +To this Mr. Rousseau, on the following day, replied: "I pronounce the +assertion that I have degraded my State and uttered a sentiment +unworthy an American officer to be false, a vile slander, and unworthy +to be uttered by any gentleman upon this floor." + +Some months after this, Mr. Rousseau, in a public speech delivered in +New York city, denounced Mr. Grinnell as a "pitiable politician from +Iowa." In a speech made in the House on the 11th of June, Mr. Rousseau +said of Mr. Grinnell: "I do not suppose that any member of this House +believed a word he said. When a member can so far depart from what +every body believes he ought to know and does know is the truth, it is +a degradation, not to his State, but to himself." + +"When any man," replied Mr. Grinnell--"I care not whether he stands +six feet high, whether he wears buff and carries the air of a certain +bird that has a more than usual extremity of tail, wanting in the +other extremity--says that he would not believe what I utter, I will +say that I was never born to stand under an imputation of that sort. + +"The gentleman begins courting sympathy by sustaining the President of +the United States preparatory to his assault upon me. Now, sir, if he +is a defender of the President of the United States, all I have to say +is, God save the President from such an incoherent, brainless +defender, equal in valor in civil and in military life. His military +record--who has read it? In what volume of history is it found?" + +Mr. Rousseau determined to resent the insult which he conceived to be +offered him in this speech by inflicting a bodily chastisement upon +Mr. Grinnell. On the morning of June 14th, Mr. Rousseau informed a +military friend of his purpose of flogging Mr. Grinnell. The person so +informed procured a pistol and waited in the capitol until the close +of the day's session, in order to be present at the flogging and see +"fair play." Two other friends of Mr. Rousseau, also armed with +pistols, happened to be present when the scene transpired. While Mr. +Grinnell was passing from the House through the east portico of the +capitol, he was met by Mr. Rousseau, who, in an excited manner, said, +"I have waited four days for an apology for words spoken here upon +this floor." + +"What of that?" asked Mr. Grinnell. + +"I will teach you what of that," said Mr. Rousseau, who then proceeded +to strike Mr. Grinnell about the head and shoulders with a rattan, +stopping occasionally to lecture him, and saying, "Now, you d----d +puppy and poltroon, look at yourself." + +After receiving half a dozen blows, Mr. Grinnell exclaimed, "I don't +want to hurt you." + +"I don't expect you to hurt me, you d----d scoundrel," said Mr. +Rousseau, "but you tried to injure me upon the floor of the House. And +now look at yourself; whipped here; whipped like a dog, disgraced and +degraded! Where are your one hundred and twenty-seven thousand +constituents now?" + +A committee was appointed to investigate this disgraceful affair. In +just one month after the transaction, a report was presented, signed +by Messrs. Spalding, Banks, and Thayer, stating the facts in the case, +and recommending the expulsion of Mr. Rousseau. They also proposed a +resolution to express disapproval of the reflections made by Mr. +Grinnell upon the character of Mr. Rousseau. The "views of the +minority" were also presented by Messrs. Raymond and Hogan. They +recommended that the punishment of Mr. Rousseau should be a public +reprimand by the Speaker. After protracted discussion, the House came +to a final decision. The motion to expel, requiring two-thirds, failed +by a few votes. The motion by which the Speaker was directed to +publicly reprimand Mr. Rousseau was carried by a vote of 89 to 30. +There were not enough in favor of the motion to disapprove of Mr. +Grinnell's remarks to call the ayes and noes. Mr. Rousseau endeavored +to evade the execution of the sentence by sending his resignation to +the Governor of Kentucky. The House declared that a member could not +dissolve his connection with the body under such circumstances, +without its consent. On the 21st of July, the execution of the order +was of the House having been demanded, Mr. Rousseau appeared at the +bar, when the Speaker said, "General Rousseau, the House of +Representatives have declared you guilty of a violation of its rights +and privileges in a premeditated personal assault upon a member for +words spoken in debate. This condemnation they have placed on their +journal, and have ordered that you shall be publicly reprimanded by +the Speaker at the bar of the House. No words of mine can add to the +force of this order, in obedience to which I now pronounce upon you +its reprimand." + +Early in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, an +interesting case came up relating to the privileges and immunities of +a member of Congress. Charles V. Culver, Representative of the +Twentieth District of Pennsylvania, having been engaged very +extensively in banking, made a failure in business. In June, 1866, +during the session of Congress, one of his creditors caused his arrest +upon a contract for the return of certain bonds and notes alleged to +have been lent to him, charging that the debt incurred thereby was +fraudulently contracted by Culver. In default of required security, +Mr. Culver was committed to jail, where he remained until the 18th of +December. Mr. Culver claimed his immunity as a member of Congress, +under the clause of the Constitution which provides that Senators and +Representatives "shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and +breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance +at the sessions of their respective houses, and in going to and +returning from the same." The judge decided that the offense fell +under the constitutional exception, and was to be regarded as a +"breach of the peace." From this remarkable decision an appeal was +made to the House of Representatives itself, as "the highest court of +the nation, and depository of its supreme authority." The case was +referred to the Judiciary Committee, who reported a resolution, +unanimously adopted by the House, directing the Speaker to issue his +warrant to the Sergeant-at-Arms, commanding him to deliver forthwith +Charles V. Culver from the custody of the sheriff and jailor of +Venango County, and make return to the House of the warrant, and the +manner in which he may have executed the same. The Sergeant-at-Arms +proceeded immediately to execute the order of the House, and in a +short time the Speaker announced that Mr. Culver was unrestrained in +his seat as a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress. + +Among the numerous distinguished men who constituted the Thirty-ninth +Congress, no one towered so conspicuously above the rest as to be +universally recognized and followed as the "leader." This title has +been frequently applied to Thaddeus Stevens. He was in many respects +the most prominent figure in the Thirty-ninth Congress. His age, his +long fidelity to the principles of the Republican party, his +uncompromising spirit, and his force of character made him a +conspicuous and influential member of the House, but did not cause him +to be generally recognized or implicitly followed as a leader. + +In so large a legislative body, composed of so many men of independent +thought and action, acknowledging no parliamentary leader, it is +remarkable that the wheels of legislation should run so smoothly, and +that after all the disagreement in discussion, great results should be +at last so harmoniously wrought out. This is partly due to the +patriotic spirit which pervaded the minds of its members, inducing +them to lay aside minor differences of opinion for the good of that +common country for which their constituents had lately made such +tremendous sacrifice. The result is also owing to the parliamentary +ability and tact of him who sat patiently and faithfully as Speaker of +the House. Deprived by his position of opportunity of taking part in +the discussions, which his genius and experience fitted him to +illustrate, he nevertheless did much to direct the current of +legislation which flowed smoothly or turbidly before him. The +resolution of thanks to the Speaker, moved by a member of the +minority, and passed unanimously by the House, was no unmeaning +compliment, but was an honor fairly earned and justly paid. + +The labor of presiding over the Senate--a much lighter task, owing to +the smaller number which composed the body--was faithfully performed +by Mr. Foster. His remarks to the Senate on retiring from the chair as +President _pro tempore_, and closing a career of twelve years as a +member of the body, were most beautiful and impressive. + +Benjamin F. Wade, "a Senator from Ohio," having been duly elected +President _pro tempore_ of the Senate, took the "iron-clad oath" and +assumed his seat as acting Vice-President of the United States without +ostentation or remark. + +At twelve o'clock noon of March 4, 1867, the Thirty-ninth Congress +closed its existence, handing over its great enactments to the +country, and its unfinished business to its successor, which +immediately came into life. + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. + +(The numbers appended to the following sketches refer to preceding +pages of the book.) + +[The names of Republicans are printed in ROMAN; of Democrats in +_ITALICS_.] + + +JOHN B. ALLEY was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, January 7, 1817. Having +learned the art of shoemaking, he devoted himself to the shoe and +leather trade. After having served several years in the City Council +of Lynn, he was chosen a member of the Governor's Council in 1851. He +was a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1852, and of the State +Constitutional Convention held in the following year. In 1858 he was +elected a Representative in Congress from Massachusetts. He entered +upon his fourth Congressional term in 1865 as a member of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress; and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by +General Butler. + +WILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Wayne County, Ohio, March 2, 1829. He +was educated at Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, and at Western +Reserve College, Ohio. From 1851 to 1857 he practiced law in Ohio, and +subsequently settled in Dubuque, Iowa. He was a member of the Chicago +Convention of 1860. As a member of the Governor's staff; in 1861, he +rendered efficient service in raising troops for the war. In 1862 he +was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Eighth Congress, from Ohio. +He was re-elected in 1864, and again in 1866.--527. + +OAKES AMES was born in Easton, Massachusetts, January 10, 1804. He has +devoted most of his life to the business of manufacturing, taking but +little public part in politics. Having served for two years as a +member of the Executive Council of his State, he was, in 1862, 1864, +and 1866, elected a Representative in Congress, from Massachusetts.--31. + +_SYDENHAM E. ANCONA_ was born in Warwick, Pennsylvania, November 20, +1824. Removing to Berks County, he was, for a number of years, +connected with the Reading Railroad Company. In 1860 he was elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Seventh Congress from Pennsylvania, and +was subsequently returned to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth +Congresses. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _J. Lawrence +Getz_. + +GEORGE W. ANDERSON was born in Tennessee, May 22, 1832. Having +received a liberal education, he adopted the profession of law. In +1853 he settled in Missouri, where he soon after became editor of the +"North-East Missourian." In 1858 he was elected to the State +Legislature. In 1862 he was chosen a State Senator, and served as such +until he was elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +HENRY B. ANTHONY was born of Quaker ancestry, at Coventry, Rhode +Island, April 1, 1815. He graduated at Brown University in 1833. He +became editor of the "Providence Journal" in 1838. He was chosen +Governor of Rhode Island in 1849, and served two terms. In 1859 he was +elected a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, and was subsequently +re-elected for a second term, which ends in 1871.--36, 37, 487, 488, +497. + +SAMUEL M. ARNELL was born in Maury County, Tennessee, May 3, 1834. He +studied at Amherst College, Massachusetts, and adopted the profession +of law, which he practiced in Columbia, Tennessee. In April, 1865, he +was elected a member of the Legislature of Tennessee, and in the +following August was elected a Representative in Congress. The +Tennessee delegation not being admitted at the opening of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, he continued to hold his seat in the +Legislature. He was the author of the Franchise Law, which became a +part of the Constitution of Tennessee, and of the Civil Rights Bill of +Tennessee. He took his seat as a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress +at the opening of its second session, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress. + +DELOS R. ASHLEY studied and practiced the profession of law in Monroe, +Michigan. In 1849 he removed to California, where he was elected +District Attorney in 1851. He was elected to the Assembly in 1854, and +to the State Senate in 1856. He subsequently held the office of +Treasurer of State. Having removed to Nevada in 1864, he was elected +the Representative from that State to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +JAMES M. ASHLEY was born in Pennsylvania, November 14, 1824. He spent +several years of his early life in a printing-office, and was some +time a clerk on Ohio and Mississippi steamboats. He studied law, and +was admitted to the bar in 1849, but immediately engaged in the +business of boat-building. He subsequently went into the wholesale +drug business in Toledo. In 1858 he was elected a Representative from +Ohio to the Thirty-Sixth Congress, and has been a member of every +succeeding Congress, including the Fortieth.--306, 503, 513, 515, 525, +566. + +JEHU BAKER was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, November 4, 1822. He +received a good education, and entered the profession of law. Having +settled in Illinois, he was, in 1864, elected a Representative from +that State to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in +1866.--340,560. + +JOHN D. BALDWIN was born in North Stonington, Connecticut, September +28, 1810. He graduated at Yale College. Having studied law, and gone +through a course of theological studies, he published a volume of +poems, and became connected with the press, first in Hartford, and +then in Boston, where he was editor of the "Daily Commonwealth." He +subsequently became proprietor of the "Worcester Spy." In 1860 he was +a delegate to the Chicago Convention. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative in Congress from Massachusetts, and was re-elected in +1864 and 1866. + +NATHANIEL P. BANKS was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, January 30, +1816. His parents, being poor, could afford him no advantages of +education save those of the common school. He was editor of a +newspaper first in Waltham and then in Lowell. He studied law, but did +not practice. In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature. He served in +both Houses, and officiated part of the time as Speaker. He was +President of the Convention, held in 1853, for revising the +Constitution of Massachusetts. From 1853 to 1857 he was a +Representative in Congress. During his second term in Congress he held +the office of Speaker of the House, with unsurpassed acceptability and +success. In 1857 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held +the office for three successive terms. During the late rebellion he +served as a Major-General of Volunteers. In 1865 he was elected a +member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.--25, +31, 445, 524, 525, 539, 553. + +ABRAHAM A. BARKER was born in Lovell, Maine, March 30, 1816. He +received a common-school education, and engaged in agricultural +pursuits. He was an early and earnest advocate of temperance and +anti-slavery. In 1854 he removed to Pennsylvania, and entered upon the +lumber business and mercantile pursuits. In 1860 he was a delegate to +the Chicago Convention. In 1864 he was elected to represent the +Seventeenth District of Pennsylvania in the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He +was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Daniel J. Morrell. + +PORTUS BAXTER was born in Brownington, Vermont. He received a liberal +education, and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits. In +1852 and 1856 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1860 he was elected a +Representative from Vermont to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Worthington C. Smith. + +FERNANDO C. BEAMAN was born in Chester, Vermont, June 28, 1814, and +was removed in boyhood to New York. He received an English education +at the Franklin County Academy, and studied law in Rochester. In 1838 +he removed to Michigan, and engaged in the practice of his profession. +He served six years as Prosecuting Attorney for the county of Lenawee, +and four years as Judge of Probate. In 1856 he was a Presidential +Elector. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the +Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was successively re-elected to the +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--447. + +JOHN F. BENJAMIN was born in Cicero, New York, January 23, 1817. After +having spent three years in Texas, he settled in Missouri, in 1848, +and engaged in the practice of law. He was a member of the Missouri +Legislature in 1851 and 1852, and was a Presidential Elector in 1856. +He entered the Missouri Cavalry as a private, in 1861, and by a series +of promotions reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He resigned to +accept the appointment of Provost-Marshal for the Eighth District of +Missouri. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention of 1864, and +was the same year elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and in 1866 was re-elected.--366. + +_TEUNIS G. BERGEN_ was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 6. 1806, He +received an academical education at Flatbush, and engaged in surveying +and horticulture. He served the town of New Utrecht as supervisor for +twenty-three years. He was a member of the State Constitutional +Convention of 1846. In 1860 he was a member of the Democratic +Conventions of Charleston and Baltimore. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. At the +close of his Congressional term he was elected a member of the New +York Constitutional Convention of 1867. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by _Demas Barnes_. + +JOHN BIDWELL was born in Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 5, 1819. In +1829 he removed with his father to Erie, Pennsylvania, and two years +after to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where, through his own exertions he +obtained an academical education. In 1838 he taught school in Darke +County, Ohio, and subsequently taught two years in Missouri. In 1841 +he emigrated to California, one of the first adventurers on the wild +overland route. At the breaking out of the war with Mexico, he entered +the service of the United States as a private, and reached the rank of +Major. He was among the first who discovered gold on Feather River in +1848. In 1849 he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention, +and to the Senate of the first Legislature of California. In 1860 he +was a delegate to the Charleston Convention, and refused to sanction +the secession movement there made. In 1863 he was appointed Brigadier +General of California militia, when it was necessary to organize in +order to preserve the peace of the State. In 1864 he was a member of +the Baltimore Convention, which renominated Lincoln. The same year he +was elected a Representative from California to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was not a candidate for re-election to Congress, since +nearly all the papers in the State had hoisted his name as candidate +for Governor. He failed, however, to receive the nomination for that +office by the Republican Convention. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by _James A. Johnson_.--31. + +JOHN A. BINGHAM was born in Pennsylvania in 1815. Having received an +academical education, and spending two years in a printing-office, he +entered Franklin College, in Ohio, but owing to ill-health, did not +prosecute his studies to graduation. He was admitted to the bar in +1840, and from 1845 to 1849 he was Prosecuting Attorney for the county +of Tuscarawas. In 1854 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to +the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Fifth, +Thirty-Sixth, and Thirty-Seventh Congresses. In 1864 he was appointed +a Judge-Advocate in the Army, and Solicitor of the Court of Claims. He +was Assistant Judge-Advocate in the trial of the Assassination +Conspirators, in May, 1865. In 1865 he took his seat for his fifth +term of service in Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress--25, 67, 237, 285, 319, 357, 434, 448, 474, 475, 505, 520, +526, 537. + +JAMES G. BLAINE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1830. +After graduating at Washington College, 1847, he removed to Maine and +became editor of the "Kennebec Journal," and "Portland Advertiser". He +was four years a member of the Maine Legislature, and served two years +as Speaker of the House. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Maine to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was successively re-elected +to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--333, 437, 527, 528, 536. + +HENRY T. BLOW was born in Southampton county, Virginia, July 15, 1817. +In 1830 he removed to Missouri, and goon after graduated at the St. +Louis University. He engaged extensively in the drug and lead +business. He served four years in the Senate of Missouri. In 1861 he +was appointed by President Lincoln Minister to Venezuela, but resigned +the position before the expiration of a year. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by Carman A. Newcomb. + +GEORGE S. BOUTWELL was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, January 28, +1818, and removed to Groton in 1835. He was engaged in mercantile +business as clerk and proprietor for several years, and subsequently +entered the profession of the law. From 1842 to 1850 he was a member +of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1849 and 1850 he was +Bank Commissioner. In 1851 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, +and served two terms. He was a member of the Massachusetts +Constitutional Convention of 1853. He was eleven years a member and +Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and ten years a +member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College. He was appointed +Commissioner of the Internal Revenue, in July, 1862, and organized the +Revenue system. In 1863 he took his seat as a Representative in +Congress from Massachusetts, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth +and Fortieth Congresses. He is the author of a "Manual of the School +System, and School Laws of Massachusetts," "Educational Topics and +Institutions," "A Manual of the Revenue System," and a volume just +published, entitled "Speeches on Reconstruction."--31, 91, 442, 475, +526, 528, 536, 553. + +_BENJAMIN M. BOYER_ was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, +January 22, 1823. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and +adopted the profession of law. In 1848 he was elected District +Attorney for the county of Montgomery. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--54, 438. + +ALLEN A. BRADFORD was born in Friendship, Maine, July 23, 1815. In +1841 he emigrated to Missouri, where he was admitted to the bar in +1843. He held the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court of Atchinson +County, and subsequently removed to Iowa, where he was appointed Judge +of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. Resigning this office in 1855, he went +to Nebraska, and became a member of the Legislative Council. Having, +in 1860, settled in Colorado, he was appointed Judge of the Supreme +Court for that territory, and held this office until he was elected a +delegate to the Thirty-Ninth Congress from Colorado. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by George M. Chilcott. + +AUGUSTUS BRANDEGEE was born in New London, Conn., July 15, 1828. He +graduated at Yale College in 1849, and at the Yale Law School in 1851. +From 1854 to 1861 he served in the Connecticut Legislature, of which +he was Speaker in the latter year. He was a Presidential Elector in +1861, and was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress +from Connecticut in 1863, and was re-elected in 1865. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by Henry H. Starkweather. + +HENRY H. P. BROMWELL was born in Baltimore, Maryland, August 26, 1823. +Having spent seven years of his boyhood in Ohio, he went to Illinois +in 1836, and came to the bar in 1853. He was subsequently an editor, +Judge of a County Court, and Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and in 1866 was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--349, 538. + +_JAMES BROOKS_ was born in Portland, Maine, November 10, 1810. When +eleven years old he became a clerk in a store. At sixteen he was a +school-teacher, and at twenty-one graduated at Waterville College. +After several years spent in traveling and writing letters for the +press, he was, in 1835, elected to the Legislature of Maine. In 1836 +he established the "New York Daily Express," of which he has since +been chief editor. In 1847 he was elected to the General Assembly of +New York. In 1849 and again in 1851 he was elected a Representative in +Congress. In 1863 he was returned to Congress. In December, 1865, he +took his place as a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but held it +only until the 6th of April following, his seat having been +successfully contested by William E. Dodge. In 1866 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Fortieth Congress.--17, 20, 25, +335, 336, 568. + +JOHN M. BROOMALL was born in Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania, in 1816. +Having received a common-school education, he devoted himself to legal +studies and pursuits. In 1861 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1862 +he was elected to represent the Seventh Pennsylvania District in +Congress. Two years later was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--223, 360, 439, 504. + +B. GRATZ BROWN is grandson of John Brown, who was United States +Senator from Kentucky in 1805. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, May +28, 1826. Having graduated at Yale College and studied law, he settled +at St. Louis, Mo., where he edited the "Missouri Democrat," from 1854 +to 1859, and was a member of the State Legislature. He raised a +regiment at the breaking out of the war, which he commanded during its +term of service. He was among the foremost champions of freedom in +Missouri, and was elected a Senator in Congress from that State for +the term commencing in 1863 and ending in 1867. He was succeeded by +Charles D. Drake.--285, 477, 493. + +_CHARLES R. BUCKALEW_ was born in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, +December 28, 1821. He was admitted to practice law in 1843, and was +elected Prosecuting Attorney for his native county in 1845. In 1850 he +was elected a Senator in the State Legislature, which office he held +for a series of years. In 1854 he was a Commissioner to exchange the +ratifications of a treaty with Paraguay. He was a Presidential Elector +in 1856, and Chairman of the State Democratic Committee in 1857. He +was appointed by President Buchanan Minister to Equador in 1858, and +held the position until 1861. He was, in 1863, elected United States +Senator from Pennsylvania for the term ending 1869.--296, 401, 413, +494, 532, 535, 547, 548. + +RALPH P. BUCKLAND was born in Leyden, Massachusetts, January 20, 1812, +and was removed by his parents to Ohio in the same year. From 1831 to +1834 he was clerk in a large cotton commission house in New Orleans. +Returning to Ohio, he took an academical course of study at Kenyon +College. Having studied law, he was admitted to the bar in 1837. He +was a member of the Philadelphia Whig Convention of 1848. In 1855 and +1857 was elected to the Senate of Ohio. In 1861 he was appointed +Colonel of the Seventy-Second Ohio Infantry, and commanded a brigade +in the battle of Shiloh. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier +General, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg. He was +subsequently assigned to the command of the District of Memphis, and +defeated Forrest in his attack on that city. At the close of the war +he was brevetted a Major General of Volunteers. In 1864, while absent +in the field, he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +HEZEKIAH S. BUNDY was born in Marietta County, Ohio, August 15, 1817. +Having been left an orphan when a mere boy, and the support of the +family devolving upon him, his opportunities for attaining an +education were limited. From 1835 to 1846 he was engaged in mercantile +pursuits, and subsequently turned his attention to farming and the +furnace business. Meanwhile he studied law, and was admitted to the +bar in 1850. He served two terms in the House of Representatives of +Ohio, and was, in 1855, elected State Senator. In 1860 he was a +Presidential Elector, and in 1864 he was elected a Representative from +Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by John T. Wilson. + +_WALTER A. BURLEIGH_ was the Delegate from Dakota Territory in the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He received a common-school education, studied +medicine, and practiced his profession for a number of years. He was +subsequently appointed an Indian Agent, and removed to the West. Soon +after the organization of the Territory of Dakota he was elected to +represent its interests in Congress, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress. + +WILLIAM B. CAMPBELL was born in Tennessee, and served as Captain of +mounted Volunteers in the Florida War. He served for some time in the +State Legislature, and was a Representative in Congress from 1837 to +1843. He commanded the first regiment of Tennessee Volunteers in the +Mexican War, and at its close he was elected a Circuit Judge. From +1851 to 1853 he was Governor of Tennessee. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but was +not admitted until July, 1866. He died of disease of the heart at his +residence in Lebanon, Tennessee, August 19, 1867. + +ALEXANDER G. CATTELL was born in Salem, New Jersey, in 1816. He +received a commercial education, and began his business-life, as a +clerk, at the age of thirteen. Before reaching his majority he had +advanced to the head of a large and flourishing business. In 1840 he +was elected to the General Assembly of New Jersey, and in 1844 he was +a member of the Convention called to frame a new Constitution for that +State. He subsequently became the head of the extensive mercantile +house of A. G. Cattell & Co., of Philadelphia. During a residence of +nine years in that city he was several times elected to the City +Council, and was President of the Corn Exchange Association, which, +largely through his exertions, recruited and equipped two and a half +regiments for service in the late war. Having resumed his residence in +New Jersey, he was, in 1866, elected a Senator in Congress from that +State.--569. + +ZACHARIAH CHANDLER was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, December 10, +1813. He received an academical education, and removed to Michigan, +where he engaged extensively in mercantile pursuits and in banking. In +1851 he held the office of Mayor of Detroit. In 1852 he was an +unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Michigan. He entered the United +States Senate, during the Thirty-Fifth Congress, as the successor of +General Cass. In 1863 he was re-elected to the Senate for the term +ending in 1869.--27, 397. + +_JOHN W. CHANLER_ was born in the City of New York in 1826. In 1859 +and 1860 he was a member of the General Assembly of New York. In 1862 +he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--64, 156, 337, 338, 571. + +J. FRANCISCO CHAVES was born in New Mexico in 1833. He studied +medicine in New York, and subsequently devoted several years to +mercantile pursuits and cattle-raising. In 1861 he entered the +military service as Major of the First New Mexico Infantry, and after +seeing much active service was mustered out as Lieutenant-Colonel. In +1865 he was elected a Delegate from New Mexico to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. + +DANIEL CLARK was born in Stratham, New Hampshire, October 24, 1809. He +graduated at Dartmouth College in 1834, and was admitted to the bar in +1837. From 1842 to 1857 he was repeatedly a member of the New +Hampshire Legislature. In 1857 he was elected a Senator in Congress +from New Hampshire, and in 1861 he was re-elected for the term ending +in 1867. At the close of the first session of the Thirty-Ninth +Congress he resigned his seat in the Senate, having been appointed U. +S. District Judge for New Hampshire.--28, 201, 202, 388, 453, 455, +456, 479. + +READER W. CLARKE was born in Bethel, Clermont County, Ohio, May 18, +1812. He learned the art of printing, but subsequently studied law, +and was admitted to the bar in 1836. In 1840 and 1841 he was a member +of the Ohio Legislature. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention +of 1844, and was a Presidential Elector in the same year. For six +years succeeding 1846 he held the office of Clerk of the Courts of +Clermont County. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention of 1860. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +SIDNEY CLARKE was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, October 16, +1831. He adopted the profession of an editor, and published the +"Southbridge Press." He emigrated to Kansas in 1858, and settled in +Lawrence. In 1862 he was a member of the Kansas Legislature. He served +during the rebellion as Captain of Volunteers, and Assistant Provost +Marshal General for Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota. In 1864 he +was elected the Representative from Kansas to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth.--88. + +AMASA COBB was born in Crawford County, Illinois, September 27, 1823. +He emigrated to Wisconsin Territory in 1842, and engaged in the +lead-mining business. He served as a private in the Mexican War, and +at the close of this service he commenced the practice of law. He +served as District Attorney, State Senator, and Adjutant-General of +Wisconsin. He was subsequently a member of the State Legislature, and +was chosen Speaker. He was Colonel of the Fifth Wisconsin Regiment in +the war, and was elected a Representative from Wisconsin to the +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. + +_ALEXANDER H. COFFROTH_ was born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, May 18, +1828. He commenced the practice of law in 1851. He was a delegate to +the Charleston Convention in 1860, and was elected a Representative to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He appeared as a member of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, but his seat was successfully contested by +William H. Koontz. + +SCHUYLER COLFAX was born in New York City, March 23, 1823. He became a +printer, and settled in Indiana, 1836. He was for many years editor +and publisher of the "South Bend Register." In 1850 he was a member of +the Indiana Constitutional Convention. He was a delegate and secretary +of the Whig National Conventions of 1848 and 1852. He was elected a +Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and has +been a member by re-election of each succeeding Congress. He was +elected Speaker of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to +the same office in the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--12, 20, +289, 306, 363, 501, 574, 576. + +ROSCOE CONKLING, son of Alfred Conkling, a member of the Seventeenth +Congress, was born at Albany, in 1828. Having entered the profession +of law, he successively held the offices of District Attorney for +Oneida County and Mayor of Utica. In 1859 he took his seat as a member +of the Thirty-Sixth Congress from New York, and remained a +Representative in Congress by successive re-elections until the 4th of +March, 1867, when he entered the United States Senate as the successor +of Ira Harris.--328, 330, 348, 363, 481, 513, 514. + +JOHN CONNESS was born in Ireland in 1822, and came to America when +thirteen years of age. He was an early emigrant to California, where +he engaged in mercantile and mining pursuits. In 1852 he was elected +to the State Legislature, and served in that capacity for a series of +years. In 1863 he was elected United States Senator from California +for the term ending in 1869.--540. + +BURTON C. COOK was born in Monroe County, New York, May 11, 1819. He +received a collegiate education, and entered upon the profession of +law in Illinois. After serving as State Attorney for six years, he was +elected to the State Senate in 1852, and was a member of that body +until 1860. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress.--223, 350, 351. + +_EDMUND COOPER_ was born in Maury County, Tennessee. He graduated at +the Harvard Law School, and entered upon the practice of law at +Columbia, and afterwards at Shelbyville, Tennessee. He has served in +the Tennessee Legislature, and was a member of the Constitutional +Convention of 1865. In August, 1865, he was elected a Representative +from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but was not admitted +until near the close of the first session. While waiting at Washington +to be admitted to Congress, he acted as Private Secretary to President +Johnson. In November, 1867, he was appointed by the President to act +as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. + +EDGAR COWAN was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, September +19, 1815. He graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, in 1839. Having been +at different times clerk, boat-builder, schoolmaster, and student of +medicine, he studied law and practiced the profession until 1861, when +he was elected United States Senator from Pennsylvania for the term +ending 1867. He was succeeded by Simon Cameron.--96, 100, 133, 135, +195, 216, 273, 429, 460, 487, 489, 496, 535, 564. + +AARON H. CRAGIN was born in Weston, Vermont, February 3, 1821. He +studied law in Albany, New York, and in 1847 removed to Lebanon, New +Hampshire, where he practiced his profession. From 1852 to 1855 he was +a member of the New Hampshire Legislature. He was a Representative +from New Hampshire in the Thirty-Fifth and Thirty-Sixth Congresses. In +1865 he entered the Senate of the United States for the term ending in +1871. + +JOHN A. J. CRESWELL was born in Port Deposit, Maryland, November 18, +1828. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1848, and was admitted to +the bar in 1850. He was successively a member of the Maryland House of +Delegates, Assistant Adjutant-General for the State and a +Representative in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. In 1865 he was chosen a +United States Senator for the unexpired term of T. H. Hicks, +deceased.--134, 136. + +SHELBY M. CULLOM was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, November 27, +1829, and was removed to Illinois, when scarcely a year old, by his +parents, who settled in Tazewell County. He spent two years as a +student at the Mount Morris Seminary. Having studied law, he entered +upon the practice of his profession in Springfield, and was +immediately elected City Attorney. In 1856 he was elected to the State +Legislature, and was re-elected in 1860, and chosen Speaker of the +House. In 1856 was a Fillmore Elector for the State at large. In 1864 +he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. In 1866 he was re-elected by more than double his former +majority.--516. + +CHARLES V. CULVER was born in Logan, Ohio, September 6, 1830. Having +settled in Western Pennsylvania, he engaged in business pursuits, and +especially in banking. He was largely concerned in railroads and other +public enterprises. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from the +Twentieth District of Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He +was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Darwin A. Finney.--575. + +WILLIAM A. DARLING was born in Newark, New Jersey, December 17, 1817. +He shortly after settled in New York City, where he received a +commercial education, and devoted himself to the wholesale business. +He became a Director of the Mercantile Library Association, and served +eleven years as officer and private of the Seventh Regiment, National +Guard. From 1847 to 1854 he was Deputy Receiver of Taxes for New York +City. In 1860 he was a Presidential Elector, and in 1863 and 1864 was +President of the Union and Republican Organization of New York City. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was nominated for the Fortieth Congress, and +was defeated by _Fernando Wood_ by 1600 majority, in a District giving +Hoffman (Dem.) for Governor nearly 6000 majority.--81. + +_GARRETT DAVIS_ was born at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, September 10, +1801. Having received an English and classical education, he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1823. With his professional labors +he joined a considerable attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1833 +he was elected to the Legislature, and was twice re-elected. He was a +member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1839. From the latter +year to 1847 he was in Congress, representing the District in which +Henry Clay resided, of whom he was a warm personal and political +friend. In 1861 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Kentucky, +and was re-elected in 1867.--24, 136, 171, 199, 208, 243, 287, 296, +430, 458, 460, 484, 493, 498, 531, 533, 534, 548, 572. + +THOMAS T. DAVIS was born in Middlebury, Vermont, August 22, 1810. +Having removed to the State of New York, he graduated at Hamilton +College in 1831, and was admitted to the bar in Syracuse in 1833. He +has devoted much attention to business relating to railroads, +manufactures, and mining. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Dennis +McCarthy.--63, 361. + +HENRY L. DAWES was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, October 30, +1816. Having graduated at Yale College in 1839, he engaged +successively in school-teaching, editing a newspaper, and practicing +law. From 1848 to 1853 he was a member of the Legislature of +Massachusetts. In 1853 he was chosen District Attorney for the Western +District of the State, and held the office until 1856, when he was +elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-Fifth +Congress. He has been a member of every subsequent Congress, including +the Fortieth.--30, 478. + +_JOHN L. DAWSON_ was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, February 7, +1813. He was educated at Washington College, adopted the profession of +law, and was, in 1845, appointed by President Polk United States +Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Since 1844 he has +been a member of most of the Democratic National Conventions. In 1850 +he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Second Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Third, in which he served as Chairman of the +Committee on Agriculture, and was the author of the Homestead Bill +which passed in 1854. In 1855 he was appointed by President Pierce +Governor of Kansas, but declined the office. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and +was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by John Covode.--144, 505. + +JOSEPH H. DEFREES was born in White County, Tennessee, May 13, 1812. +When eight years old he removed to Piqua, Ohio, and a few years after, +he entered a printing-office, in which he obtained the most of his +early education. In 1831 he established a newspaper in South Bend, +Indiana, and two years after removed to Goshen, where he engaged in +mercantile pursuits. In 1836 he was elected Sheriff of Elkhart County. +In 1849 he was elected to the House of Representatives of Indiana, and +in 1850 to the State Senate. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is William Williams. + +COLUMBUS DELANO was born in Shoreham, Vermont, in 1809. When eight +years old he removed to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he studied law and +was admitted to the bar in 1831. In 1844 he was elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Twenty-Ninth Congress. In 1860 he was +a delegate to the Chicago Convention. In 1861 he was appointed +Commissary General of Ohio. Two years after he was a member of the +Ohio Legislature. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Baltimore +Republican Convention, and was in the same year elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor +in the Fortieth Congress is _George W. Morgan_.--236, 285 539, 564. + +HENRY C. DEMING was born in Connecticut. He graduated at Yale College +in 1836, and at the Harvard Law School in 1838. He had been a member +of the Lower House and Senate of Connecticut, and for six years Mayor +of Hartford, when in 1861 he went into the war as Colonel of the +Twelfth Connecticut Regiment. He participated in the capture of New +Orleans, and was Mayor of that city until 1868, when he returned to +his native State, and was soon after elected a Representative in the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1865, He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by _Richard D. Hubbard_.--31. + +CHARLES DENISON was born in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, January 23, +1818. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1839, and entered the +profession of law. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in +1864. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _George W. +Woodward_. + +ARTHUR A. DENNY was born in Indiana, in 1822, and removed in boyhood +to Illinois. In 1851 he removed to Washington Territory, and was a +member of the Territorial Legislature from 1853 to 1861. He was four +years Register of the Land Office at Olympia, and was subsequently +elected a Delegate from Washington Territory to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was succeeded by Alvan Flanders in the Fortieth Congress. + +JAMES DIXON was born in Enfield, Connecticut, in 1814. He graduated at +Williams College in 1834, and soon after entered upon the practice of +law. In 1837 he was elected to the Legislature of Connecticut, and was +twice reelected. He was a Representative in Congress from Connecticut +from 1845 to 1849. In the latter year he was elected to the State +Senate. He was elected United States Senator from Connecticut in 1857, +and was re-elected in 1863.--423, 425, 495, 548. + +NATHAN F. DIXON, son of a Senator of the same name, was born in +Westerly, Rhode Island, May 1, 1812, and graduated at Brown University +in 1833. After attending the Law Schools at New Haven and Cambridge, +he was admitted to the bar in 1837. From 1840 to 1849 he was a member +of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, and after having served in +the Thirty-First Congress, was again elected to the Legislature. In +1863 he was elected a Representative from Rhode Island to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and entered upon his second Congressional term +in 1865. He was in 1866 re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +WILLIAM E. DODGE was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 4, 1805. +Early in life he went to New York City, where he engaged actively, in +business. He has been forty years at the head of one of the most +extensive manufacturing and importing establishments in the country. +He was many years President of the National Temperance Society, and +has long been a prominent promoter of benevolent enterprises in New +York City. Having established his right to the seat held by _James +Brooks_, he was admitted a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress in the +spring of 1866. He was succeeded by _James Brooks_ in the Fortieth +Congress.--511, 568. + +IGNATIUS DONNELLY was born in Philadelphia, November 3, 1831, and was +educated at the Central High School of his native city. He studied law +and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He emigrated to Minnesota in +1857, and two years after was elected Lieutenant Governor of that +State, and held the office two terms. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Minnesota to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--145,156, 333, +507, 238, 553. + +JAMES R. DOOLITTLE was born in Hampton, New York, January 3, 1815. He +graduated at Geneva College in 1834, became a lawyer, and for several +years held the office of District Attorney for Wyoming County. In 1851 +he removed to Wisconsin, and two years after was elected Judge of the +First Judicial Circuit of that State. In 1857 he was elected a United +States Senator from Wisconsin, and in 1863 was re-elected for the term +ending in 1869.--28, 38, 285, 408, 431, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 462, +495, 501, 531, 532, 533, 541, 564. + +JOHN F. DRIGGS was born in Kinderhook, New York, March 8, 1813. He +served an apprenticeship in the sash and door-making business, and +soon after set up as a master mechanic in New York City. He took no +part in politics until 1844, when he assisted in the reform movement +by which James Harper was elected Mayor of New York. He was soon after +appointed Superintendent of Blackwell's Island Penitentiary. In 1856 +he removed to East Saginaw, Michigan, and was two years after elected +President of that town. In 1859 he was elected to the Michigan +Legislature. Two years after he was appointed Register at the Land +Office for the Saginaw District, and held the office until his +election as a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress in 1862. He was returned by increased majorities to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +EBENEZER DUMONT was born in Vevay, Indiana, November 23, 1814. He was +educated at the Indiana University, and adopted the profession of law. +In 1838 he was elected a member of the Indiana Legislature, and from +1839 to 1845 held the office of County Treasurer. He served in the +Mexican War as a Lieutenant Colonel, and was subsequently a member of +the State Legislature, a Presidential Elector, and President of the +State Bank. At the breaking out of the rebellion, he was appointed +Colonel of the Seventh Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and fought in +the battle of Philippi, in West Virginia. Having been promoted to the +rank of Brigadier General, he commanded a brigade at the battle of +Murfreesboro. He was subsequently assigned to the military command of +Nashville, and from that place led an expedition against John Morgan, +capturing nearly all of his command. In 1862, while yet in the army, +he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in the Fortieth +Congress is John Coburn. + +EPHRAIM R. ECKLEY was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, December 9, +1812, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. From 1843 to 1853 he served +in the House of Representatives and in the Senate of Ohio. In the +Civil War he was Colonel of the Twenty-Sixth and Eightieth Regiments +of Ohio Volunteers. He fought in several battles, and at Corinth +commanded a brigade. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio +to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth +and Fortieth.--447. + +GEORGE F. EDMUNDS was born in Richmond, Vermont, February 1, 1828, and +was admitted to the bar in 1849. In 1854 he entered the Vermont +Legislature, and served three years as Speaker. In 1861 and 1862 he +served in the State Senate, and was the Presiding Officer of that +body. He was appointed to the vacancy in the United States Senate +occasioned by the death of Solomon Foot, and entered upon the duties +of that position in April, 1866.--559, 560. + +BENJAMIN EGGLESTON was born in Corinth, New York, January 3, 1816. He +removed to Ohio in 1831, and gave his attention to commercial +pursuits. He has been identified with many important public +enterprises. He was for many years Chairman of the Board of Public +Works of Cincinnati, and President of the City Council. He was for +some years a member of the State Legislature. In 1860 he was a +delegate to the Chicago Convention, and was a Presidential Elector in +the election of that year. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +_CHARLES A. ELDRIDGE_ was born at Bridport, Vermont, February 27, +1821. He removed to the State of New York, where he was admitted to +the bar in 1846. In 1848 he removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and +served in the Senate of that State in 1854 and 1855. In 1862 he was +elected a Representative from Wisconsin to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, +and was returned to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--226, +242, 355, 419, 441, 476, 507, 539, 546. + +THOMAS D. ELIOT was born in Boston, March 20, 1808. Having graduated +at Columbia College, Washington, in 1825, he settled as a lawyer in +New Bedford. Having served in both branches of the Massachusetts +Legislature, he first entered Congress in 1855 for an unexpired term. +In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress, and has been returned to every succeeding +Congress, including the Fortieth.--31, 95, 138, 157 295, 296, 306, +347, 443. + +JOHN F. FARNSWORTH was born of New England parentage, in Eaton, Lower +Canada, March 27, 1820, but was early removed to the Territory of +Michigan. In 1843 he settled in St. Charles, Illinois, and entered +upon the practice of law. In 1846 he left the Democratic Party with +which he had acted, and joined the "Liberty Party." In 1856 and again +in 1858 he was elected to Congress, from what was then known as the +Chicago District. In 1861 he raised the Eighth Illinois Cavalry +Regiment, of which he was Colonel until his promotion to the rank of +Brigadier General. The severe service in which he was engaged in the +Peninsular Campaign brought on a disability which necessitated his +resignation. In the fall of 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Illinois to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864 and +1866, on both occasions receiving the largest majorities given by any +district in the United States.--61, 333, 339, 448, 519, 537. + +JOHN H. FARQUHAR was born in Frederick County, Maryland, December 20, +1818. With his widowed mother he removed to Indiana in 1833, and was +employed as civil engineer upon some of the earliest public +improvements of the State. In 1841 he was elected Secretary of the +Indiana Senate. In 1843 he was Chief Clerk of the Indiana House of +Representatives, and was the same year admitted to the bar in +Brookfield. In 1844 he was a delegate to the National Convention which +nominated Henry Clay. In 1852 he was candidate for Presidential +Elector on the Scott ticket, and in 1860 on the Lincoln ticket. In +1861 he was commissioned a Captain in the Nineteenth United States +Infantry, and was detailed as mustering and disbursing officer for +Indiana. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was succeeded by _William S. Holman_ in the +Fortieth Congress. + +THOMAS W. FERRY was born in Mackinac, Michigan, June 1, 1827. He has +been occupied extensively in the lumber trade and in banking. In 1850 +he was elected to the House of Representatives of Michigan, and in +1856 to the State Senate. For eight years he was an efficient member +of the Republican State Committee, and was a delegate and a +Vice-President of the Chicago Convention of 1860. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and was re-elected in 1866. + +WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, October +16, 1806. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1823, and in 1827 entered +upon the practice of law in Portland, Maine. In 1832 he was a delegate +to the Convention which nominated Henry Clay. In the same year he was +elected to the Maine Legislature, and again in 1840. In 1841 he was +elected a Representative in Congress, and declined a re-election. In +1845, 1846, and 1853 he served his fellow citizens in the State +Legislature. In 1853 he was elected a United States Senator from +Maine, and was re-elected in 1859. Upon the resignation of Mr. Chase +as Secretary of the Treasury, in July, 1864, he was appointed to that +office. On the 4th of March following he resigned his seat in the +Cabinet, and re-entered the United States Senate, to which he had been +elected for the term ending in 1871. In the Senate he has held the +important positions of Chairman of the Finance Committee and of the +Joint Committee on Reconstruction. He has received the degree of LL.D. +from Bowdoin College and Harvard University--27, 42, 136, 271, 224, +373, 377, 380, 394, 412, 419, 431, 432, 453, 456, 540. + +_WILLIAM E. FINCH_ was born in Ohio in 1822, and at the age of +twenty-one was admitted to the bar. In 1851 he was elected to the +State Senate. In the following year he was a delegate to the +Convention which nominated General Scott for President. In 1861 he was +again elected a State Senator. In 1862 he was elected a Representative +from Ohio to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded by _Philadelph Van Trump_ in the +Fortieth Congress.--437, 462, 476, 519. + +GEORGE G. FOGG was a newspaper editor, of New Hampshire, until his +appointment by President Lincoln as United States Minister Resident +for Switzerland. He made a considerable fortune while there by +investing his salary in United States Securities when they were very +low in Europe. At the opening of the second session of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress he took his seat in the Senate, having been +appointed to fill the unexpired term of Daniel Clark, which closed on +the 4th of March, 1867. He was succeeded by James W. Patterson. + +SOLOMON FOOT was born in Cornwall, Vermont, November 19, 1802, and +graduated at Middlebury College in 1826. Having occupied some years in +teaching, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. He was +for many years a member of the State Legislature of Vermont, and State +Attorney. From 1843 to 1847 he was a Representative in Congress. In +1851 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Vermont, was re-elected +in 1857, and again in 1863. For several years he held the office of +President _pro tem._ of the Senate. He died in Washington, March 28, +1866.--253, 269. + +LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER, a lineal descendant of Miles Standish, was born +in Franklin, Connecticut, November 22, 1806. In 1828 he graduated at +Brown University, which honored him with the degree of LL.D. in 1850. +He was admitted to the bar in 1831. He was six times a member of the +Connecticut Legislature, and two years Mayor of the city of Norwich. +In 1855 he was elected a United States Senator for Connecticut, and +was re-elected in 1862. He was chosen President _pro tem._ of the +Senate at the extra session in 1865, and by the elevation of Andrew +Johnson to the Presidency became Acting Vice-President of the United +State. His service of twelve years in the Senate closed March 4, 1887, +when he was succeeded by Orris S. Ferry.--23, 137, 187, 288, 306, 497, +576. + +JOSEPH S. FOWLER was born near Steubenville, Ohio. He was left +dependent on his own resources when very young, but by energy and +perseverance succeeded in attaining a thorough collegiate education. +Having adopted the profession of teaching, he was elected to a college +Professorship of Mathematics in Tennessee. He was subsequently for +some years at the head of a flourishing seminary of learning near +Nashville. He was conspicuous for his staunch loyalty, and when the +State Government passed out of the hands of the rebels he was elected +to the important office of Comptroller of Tennessee. In 1865 he was +elected a Senator in Congress from Tennessee, but with his colleagues +was not admitted to a seat until near the close of the first session +of the Thirty-Ninth Congress.--478. + +FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN was born at Millstone, New Jersey, August +4, 1817. His grandfather, of the same name, was a member of the +Continental Congress, and was a United States Senator from 1793 to +1796. Young Frederick having been left an orphan at an early age was +adopted and reared by his uncle, Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen. He +graduated at Rutgers College, and studied law. He was appointed +Attorney General of New Jersey in 1861, and was re-appointed in 1866. +On the 24th of January, 1867, he took his seat as a United States +Senator from New Jersey having been elected for the unexpired term of +_William Wright_, deceased, which will end March 4, 1869.--492, 497. + +JAMES A. GARFIELD was born in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November +19, 1831. He graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1856, +and was for some years principal of a flourishing Seminary of learning +at Hiram, Ohio. In 1859 and 1860 he was a member of the Ohio Senate. +In 1861 he entered the army as Colonel of the Forty-Second Regiment of +Ohio Volunteers, and in the following year was commissioned a +Brigadier General. He served as Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans. +He fought at the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and Chicamauga. For +gallant service in the last named battle he was promoted to the rank +of Major General. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses.--144, 438, 450, 524, 540, 538, 553, 557. + +_ADAM J. GLOSSBRENNER_ was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, August 31, +1810. He was apprenticed at an early age to the printing-business. +When seventeen years of age he journeyed westward, and became foreman +in the office of the "Ohio Monitor," and afterwards of the "Western +Telegraph." In 1829 he returned to Pennsylvania and settled in York, +and there published the "York Gazette." In 1849 he was elected +Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives for the Thirty-First +Congress, and held the same office through the four following +Congressional terms. In 1861 he was private secretary to President +Buchanan. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress. + +_CHARLES GOODYEAR_ was born in Schoharie County, New York, April 26, +1805. He graduated at Union College in 1824, and entered upon the +practice of law in 1827. In 1839 he was elected to the New York +Legislature, and in 1841 was appointed First Judge of Schoharie +County. In 1845 he was elected a Representative to the Twenty-Ninth +Congress, and twenty years after was elected to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. During the interval he devoted his attention to the business +of banking. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _John V. L. +Pruyn_. + +_HENRY GRIDER_ was born in Kentucky, July 16, 1796. He was a private +in the last war with England. He subsequently divided his attention +between agriculture and law. In 1827 and 1831 he was elected to the +Legislature of Kentucky, and in 1833 to the State Senate. As early as +1843 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Kentucky and +held the position until 1847. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He died before the +expiration of the last term for which he was elected.--417, 570. + +JAMES W. GRIMES was born in Deering, New Hampshire, October 16, 1816. +He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1836, and soon after removed to +Iowa, where he was, in 1838, elected to the first Territorial +Legislature. From 1854 to 1858 he was Governor of Iowa. In 1859 he was +elected a Senator in Congress, and was in 1865 elected for a second +term, which will end in 1871. In 1865 he received the degree of LL.D. +from Iowa College. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of 1861. +For a number of years he has been Chairman of the Committee on Naval +Affairs. + +JOSIAH B. GRINNELL was born in New Haven, Vermont, December 22, 1821. +He received a collegiate and theological education. In 1855, he went +to Iowa, where he turned his attention to farming, and became the most +extensive wool-grower in the State. He was four years a member of the +Iowa Senate, and two years a special agent for the General Post +Office. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was +succeeded by William Loughridge in the Fortieth Congress.--70, 153, +507, 572, 573, 574. + +JOHN A. GRISWOLD was born in Rensselaer County, New York, in 1822. He +has been engaged in the iron trade and business of banking. He was +once Mayor of the City of Troy. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, was +re-elected in 1864, and again in 1866.--523. + +_JAMES GUTHRIE_ was born near Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1795. Having +spent some years in trading with New Orleans as the owner of +flatboats, he settled in Louisville as a lawyer, at the age of +twenty-five. He was at one time shot by a political opponent, and was +in consequence laid up for three years. He served nine years in the +State Legislature and six years in the Kentucky Senate. He +subsequently took an active part in the banking business, and was +President of the Nashville and Louisville Railroad. He was President +of the Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1851. In 1853 he became +Secretary of the Treasury under President Pierce. He was a delegate to +the Chicago Convention of 1864. In 1865 he was elected United States +Senator from Kentucky for the term ending in 1871.--46, 134, 160, 210, +214. + +ROBERT S. HALE was born, in Chelsea, Vermont, September 24, 1822, and +graduated at the University of Vermont in 1842. He settled for the +practice of law at Elizabethtown, New York. He subsequently held the +position of Judge of Essex County, Regent of the University of New +York, and Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Orange Ferris.--82, 372. + +_AARON HARDING_ was born in Greene County, Kentucky. He was admitted +to the bar in 1833. He was elected to the Kentucky Legislature in +1840. In 1861 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the +Thirty-Seventh Congress and was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and +Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _J. +Proctor Knott_.--361, 462. + +ABNER C. HARDING was born in East Hampton, Connecticut, February 10, +1807. He practiced law in the State of New York, and subsequently in +Illinois. He was for many years engaged extensively in farming and +railroad management. In 1848 he was a member of the Illinois +Constitutional Convention, and subsequently of the Legislature. In +1862 he enlisted as a private in the Eighty-Third Illinois Infantry, +and became its Colonel. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier +General. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.--522. + +_BENJAMIN G. HARRIS_ was born in Maryland, December 13, 1806. He was +for a time a student of Yale College, and afterwards studied at the +Cambridge Law School. He returned to his native State and engaged in +the practice of law and agriculture. He served for several years in +the Maryland House of Delegates. In 1863, and again in 1865, he was +elected a Representative to Congress from Maryland. In May, 1865, he +was arrested and tried by court-martial for violating the Fifty-Sixth +Article of War, and was declared guilty; but the President ordered the +sentence of the court to be remitted in full. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by _Frederick Stone_. + +IRA HARRIS was born in Charleston, New York, May 31, 1802. He +graduated at Union College in 1824, and soon after entered upon the +practice of law in Albany, and for many years devoted attention +exclusively to his profession. In 1844 he was elected to the New York +Legislature, and served two terms. In 1846 he was a delegate to the +State Constitutional Convention, and was the same year elected to the +State Senate. In 1847 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, and +held the office twelve years. In 1861 he was elected a Senator in +Congress from New York for the term ending in 1867, when he was +succeeded by Roscoe Conkling. + +ROSWELL HART was born in Rochester, New York, in 1821. He graduated at +Yale College in 1843, and was admitted to the bar in 1847, but entered +immediately upon mercantile pursuits. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is Lewis Selye. + +ISAAC R. HAWKINS was born in Maury County, Tennessee, May 16, 1818. He +was engaged in agricultural pursuits until twenty-two years of age, +when he commenced the study of law. In 1843 he settled, for the +practice of law, in Huntington, Tennessee, where he now resides. He +served as a Lieutenant in the Mexican War. In 1860 he was elected to +the Legislature of Tennessee. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress +of 1861, and in the spring and summer of that year was actively +engaged in making speeches throughout his State against secession. In +September, 1862, he entered the army as Lieutenant-Colonel of the +Seventh Tennessee Cavalry. In 1864 he was captured by the enemy at +Union City, Tennessee, and was imprisoned at Mobile and Macon. He was +one of the fifty officers placed by the rebels under fire of the +Federal force off Charleston. Having been exchanged, he commanded the +cavalry force in Western Kentucky until the close of the war. In +August, 1865, he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822. He +graduated at Kenyon College, and subsequently at the Cambridge Law +School. He was City Solicitor for Cincinnati from 1858 to 1861. He +went into the army at the opening of the war as Major of the +Twenty-Third Ohio Volunteers, and reached the rank of Brigadier +General. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was, in 1866, re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress, but having been elected Governor of Ohio in 1867, he +resigned his seat in Congress, and was succeeded by Samuel F. Carey. + +JAMES H. D. HENDERSON was born in Livingston County, Kentucky, July +23, 1810. In 1817 he removed with his parents to Missouri, and learned +the printing business in Jefferson City. He subsequently published a +weekly newspaper at Bowling Green, Missouri. At the age of twenty-five +he entered the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and +after preaching for a time in Missouri, he accepted the pastoral +charge of a congregation in Pennsylvania. Having held this position +eight years, he resigned in 1851, and soon after emigrated to Oregon. +There he engaged in agricultural pursuits, but was active in preaching +and lecturing against slavery, intemperance, gambling, and other +popular vices. He was elected to the office of Superintendent of +Common Schools for Oregon. In 1864 he was elected the Representative +from Oregon to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded by Rufus +Mallory. + +JOHN B. HENDERSON was born in Virginia, November 16, 1826, and at ten +years of age removed with his parents to Missouri. He taught school as +a means of support while attaining an academical education. He studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He was subsequently twice +elected to the Missouri Legislature. In 1856 he was a Democratic +Presidential Elector, and was a delegate to the Charleston Convention +of 1860. On the expulsion of Trusten Polk from the United States +Senate, he was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1863 he was elected +for the full term, ending in 1869.--161, 377, 382, 386, 388, 461, 530, +531, 533, 534, 559. + +_THOMAS A. HENDRICKS_ was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, September 7, +1819. He was educated at South Hanover College. He studied law at +Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and settled in Indiana for the practice of +his profession. In 1848 he served in the State Legislature, and was a +prominent member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850. In +1851 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana, and +served two terms. In 1855 he was appointed Commissioner of the General +Land Office, and held that office until his resignation in 1859. In +1860 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Indiana, and was +defeated by Henry S. Lane. In 1863 he was elected United States +Senator from Indiana, for the term ending in 1869.--28, 108, 136, 211, +218, 296, 306, 395, 432, 455, 459, 460, 491, 498, 531, 532, 533, 535, +548. + +WILLIAM HIGBY was born in Essex County, New York, August 18, 1813. He +graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, and practiced law in +New York until 1850, when he removed to California. Three years after +he was elected District Attorney of Cavaleras County, and held the +office until 1859. He was subsequently a member of the State Senate. +In 1863 he was elected a Representative from California to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was successively re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--356, 357, 358, 510, 575. + +RALPH HILL was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, October 12, 1827, and +was left in early life entirely dependent upon his own exertions. +After taking an academical course of study, he attended the New York +State and National Law School at Ballston Spa, where he graduated to +the degree of LL.B., in 1851. In the following year he settled in the +practice of his profession at Columbus, Indiana. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. +His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Morton C. Hunter.--356. + +_ELIJAH HISE_ was born in Pennsylvania, and removed in early life to +Lexington, Kentucky. Having studied law, he established himself in +Russellville, Kentucky, for the practice of his profession. He served +as member of the State Legislature and a Judge of the Superior Court +of Kentucky. He was long regarded as one of the moat eloquent and +effective political speakers of Kentucky. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. In May, +1867, he was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, and a few days after +committed suicide, alleging the gloomy political prospects of the +country as a reason for the act. His successor in the Fortieth +Congress is Jacob S. Galladay.--511, 521. + +PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK was born in New Lebanon, New York, November 30, +1831. Having graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1855, he +studied law, and emigrated to Nebraska Territory in 1857. In 1861 he +was appointed by President Lincoln Marshal of the Territory, and held +this office until his election as a Delegate from Nebraska to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress. + +_JOHN HOGAN_ was born in Ireland, January 2, 1805, and came with his +father to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1817. He was apprenticed to a +shoemaker, and obtained the rudiments of education in the Asbury +Sunday School. In 1826 he removed to Illinois, where he engaged in +mercantile pursuits. In 1836 he was a member of the State Legislature, +in 1838 Commissioner of the Board of Public Works, and in 1841 +Register of the Land Office by appointment of President Harrison. He +removed to St. Louis, and engaged in mercantile pursuits and banking. +In 1857 he was appointed by President Buchanan Postmaster at St. +Louis. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to Congress from +Missouri, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by William A. +Pile. + +_E. D. HOLBROOK_ was born in Elyria, Ohio, in 1836. Having received a +common-school education, he studied law, and emigrated to Idaho. In +1864 he was elected the Delegate from that Territory to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +SIDNEY T. HOLMES was born in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, New +York, in 1815. He received an academical education, and after having +spent five years in civil engineering, studied law, and entered upon +the practice of his profession in 1841. In 1851 he was elected Judge +and Surrogate for Madison County, and held the office until 1864, when +he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is John C. Churchill. + +SAMUEL HOOPER was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, February 3, 1808. +Having received a commercial education, he established himself as +merchant in Boston. He has long been a partner in the commercial house +of William Appleton & Co. In 1851 he was elected to the Massachusetts +House of Representatives, and in 1857 to the State Senate. In 1861 he +was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of William +Appleton. He has been re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, +and Fortieth Congresses.--30. + +GILES W. HOTCHKISS is a member of the bar in Binghamton, New York. In +1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by William S. Lincoln.--523, 538. + +JACOB M. HOWARD was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, July 10, 1805, and +graduated at Williams College in 1830. Having taught in an academy and +studied law in Massachusetts, he removed to Michigan in 1832. In 1838 +he was a member of the State Legislature, and in 1841 was elected a +Representative in Congress from Michigan. He subsequently served for +six years as Attorney General of the State. In 1862 he was elected to +a vacancy in the United States Senate, and in 1865 he was re-elected +for the term ending in 1871.--36, 196, 398, 423, 453, 455, 530. + +TIMOTHY O. HOWE was born in Livermore, Maine, February 7, 1816. Having +received an academical education at the Readfield Seminary, he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was elected to the +Legislature of Maine in 1845, and in the same year removed to Green +Bay, Wisconsin. Five years after he was elected a Circuit Judge, and +held the office until his resignation in 1855. In 1861 he was elected +a Senator in Congress from Wisconsin, and was re-elected in +1867.--421, 459. + +ASAHEL W. HUBBARD was born in Haddam, Connecticut, January 18, 1819. +In 1838 he removed to Indiana, and engaged in school-teaching. He +entered upon the profession of law in 1841, and was in 1847 elected to +the Indiana Legislature, in which he served three terms. He removed to +Iowa in 1857, and was soon after elected Judge of the Fourth Judicial +District of that State. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Iowa to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +CHESTER D. HUBBARD was born in Hamden, Connecticut, November 25, 1814. +In the following year he was removed to Pennsylvania, and thence to +Wheeling, Virginia, in 1819. Having graduated at Wesleyan University, +Connecticut, in 1840, he returned to Wheeling, and engaged actively in +business pursuits. In 1852 he was elected to the lower House of the +Virginia Legislature. He was a delegate to the Richmond Convention +which passed the ordinance of secession, and opposed that movement +with so much ardor that he was expelled from the Convention. He was a +member of the Wheeling Convention which organized the restored +government of Virginia, and after the formation of the new State of +West Virginia, was elected to the State Senate. He was elected a +Representative from West Virginia to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +DEMAS HUBBARD was born in Winfield, New York, January 17, 1806. Having +received an academic education he gave his attention to farming and +the practice of law. He was for many years a member and Chairman of +the Board of Supervisors of Chenango County, and from 1838 to 1840 was +a member of the New York Legislature. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is William C. Fields. + +JOHN H. HUBBARD was born in Salisbury, Connecticut, in 1805. He was +brought up a farmer and received a common-school education. He was +admitted to the bar in 1826. He was five years Prosecuting Attorney +for Litchfield County, and two terms a member of the State Senate. In +the spring of 1863 he was elected a Representative from Connecticut to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1865. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _William H. Barnum_.--148. + +_EDWIN N. HUBBELL_ was born in Coxsackie, New York, August 13, 1813. +Having received an academical education, he gave his attention to +manufacturing and farming, and held for some time the office of County +Supervisor. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New York to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress +by Thomas Cornell. + +JAMES R. HUBBELL was born in Delaware County, Ohio, in 1824. Having +received a common-school education, he studied and practiced the +profession of law. He served four terms in the House of +Representatives of Ohio, of which he was twice the Speaker. In 1856 he +was a Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress, by Cornelius S. Hamilton, deceased. + +CALVIN T. HULBURD was born in Stockholm, New York, June 5, 1809. After +having graduated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and studied law at +Yale College, he engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1842 he was +elected to the Legislature of New York, and was twice re-elected. In +1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +JAMES HUMPHREY was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, October 9, 1811, +and in 1831 graduated at Amherst College, of which his father, Rev. +Heman Humphrey, was President. After having been principal of an +academy in Connecticut, he studied law, and commenced the practice of +his profession in Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained only one +year. In 1838 he removed to the City of New York for the practice of +the law. In 1859 he was elected a member of Congress, and served one +term. After remaining in private life a few years, he was elected a +member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but died before its close, on the +16th June, 1866.--570. + +_JAMES M. HUMPHREY_ was born in Erie County, New York, September 21, +1819. He received a common-school education and studied law. From 1857 +to 1859 he was District Attorney at Buffalo. He was a member of the +State Senate from 1862 to 1865, when he was elected a Representative +from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the +Fortieth. + +_JOHN W. HUNTER_, a banker of Brooklyn, New York, was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress to fill the +vacancy occasioned by the death of James Humphrey. He took his seat +December 4, 1866. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _William +E. Robinson_.--515. + +EBEN C. INGERSOLL was born in Oneida County, New York, December 12, +1831. He removed with his father to Illinois in 1843. Having received +an academical education at Paducah, Kentucky, he studied law, and +located in Peoria, Illinois, for the practice of his profession. In +1856 he was elected to the Illinois Legislature. He served as Colonel +of Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War. On the death of Owen Lovejoy, +March 25, 1864, he was elected a Representative from Illinois for the +remainder of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--521. + +THOMAS A. JENCKES was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1818. +Having graduated at Brown University in 1838, he entered upon the +profession of law. In 1863 he was elected a Representative from Rhode +Island to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 320, 332, 340, 554. + +_PHILIP JOHNSON_ was born in Warren County, New Jersey January 17, +1818, and removed to Pennsylvania in 1839. He was educated at +Lafayette College, and having studied law, he was admitted to the bar +in 1848. He was two years a member of the State Legislature, and was +Chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1857. In 1860 he was +elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress, and was subsequently twice re-elected. He died before the +expiration of the term for which he was elected as a member of the +Thirty-Ninth Congress.--90, 570. + +_REVERDY JOHNSON_ was born in Annapolis, Maryland, May 21, 1796. He +was educated at St. John's College, in his native town, and studied +law with his father. The first office which he held was that of State +Attorney. In 1817 he removed to Baltimore for the practice of his +profession, and was three years after appointed Chief Commissioner of +Insolvent Debtors. In 1821 he was elected to the Senate of Maryland, +and was re-elected for a second term. In 1845 he was elected a Senator +in Congress from Maryland, but resigned in 1849 to accept the position +of Attorney General, to which he had been appointed by President +Taylor. Subsequently he devoted many years to the uninterrupted +practice of his profession. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of +1861, and was in the following year elected a United States Senator +from Maryland for the term ending in 1869.--24, 36, 96, 136, 163, 198, +203, 264, 270, 271, 384, 427, 454, 455, 461, 492, 528, 532, 533, 534, +547. + +_MORGAN JONES_ was born in New York City, February 26, 1832, and was +educated at the school of St. James' Church. He adopted the business +of a plumber, which he conducted in the City of New York. He served as +a City Councilman for several years, and was subsequently elected a +member of the Board of Aldermen, of which he was made President. In +1864 he was elected a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _John Fox_. + +GEORGE W. JULIAN was born in Wayne County, Indiana, May 5, 1817. After +spending three years as school-teacher, he studied law, and commenced +the practice of the profession in 1840. In 1845 he was a member of the +State Legislature. Having become an earnest advocate of anti-slavery +principles, he attended the Buffalo Convention of 1848, which +nominated Van Buren and Adams, and subsequently, as a candidate for +Presidential Elector on their ticket made a laborious canvass of his +district. In 1849 he was Representative in Congress from Indiana. In +1852 he was a candidate for Vice-President of the United States on the +ticket with John P. Hale. In 1860 he was re-elected Representative in +Congress, and has since been a member of the Thirty-Eighth, +Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 74, 364, 516, 553, 554. + +JOHN A. KASSON was born near Burlington, Vermont, January 11, 1822. +Having graduated at the University of Vermont, he studied law in +Massachusetts, and practiced the profession for a time in St. Louis, +Missouri. In 1857 he removed to Iowa, and was appointed a Commissioner +to report upon the condition of the Executive Departments of Iowa. In +1861 he was appointed Assistant Postmaster-General, but resigned the +position in the following year, when he was elected a Representative +to Congress from Iowa. He was re-elected in 1864 to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Grenville M. +Dodge.--72, 363, 525. + +WILLIAM D. KELLEY was born in Philadelphia in the spring of 1814. He +was left an orphan when very young, dependent for support and +education wholly upon his own resources. Having been errand-boy in a +book-store, and copy-reader in a printing-office, in his fourteenth +year he apprenticed himself in a jewelry establishment. Having learned +his trade, he removed to Boston, where he remained four years working +at his trade, and giving, meanwhile, considerable time to reading and +study. Returning to Philadelphia, he studied law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1841. From 1846 for a period of ten years he held the +office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia. In 1856, +on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he left the Democratic +party, and became the Republican candidate for Congress, but was +defeated. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Republican +Convention, and was, in the fall of the same year, elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and +was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth +Congresses.--51, 58, 79, 348, 349, 438, 526. + +JOHN R. KELSO was born in Franklin County, Ohio, March 23, 1831. At +the age of nine years he removed with his parents to North-western +Missouri, then a wilderness. After surmounting great obstacles he +succeeded in obtaining an education, and graduated at Pleasant Ridge +College in 1858. He soon after became principal of an academy at +Buffalo, Missouri. On the breaking out of the rebellion he was the +first in his county to volunteer in defense of the Union, and +immediately took the field as captain of a company of daring and +enterprising men. With his company he was detailed to hunt the +bushwhackers, who, from their hiding-places, were committing the most +atrocious outrages upon the loyal people. His name became a terror to +the rebels and guerrillas of the Southwest. He took part in over sixty +fierce conflicts, and in personal encounter killed twenty-six armed +rebels with his own hand. At the close of his service in the war he +was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He declined renomination, and resumed his profession of +teaching in Springfield, Missouri. His successor in the Fortieth +Congress is Joseph J. Gravelly. + +_MICHAEL C. KERR_ was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania, March 15, +1827. He was left an orphan at the age of twelve years, and through +his own exertions obtained an academical education. He taught school +for a time, and, in 1851, graduated in the Law Department of the +University of Louisville, and soon after located in New Albany, +Indiana. In 1856 he was elected to the Legislature of Indiana, and +served two terms. In 1862 he was elected reporter of the decisions of +the Supreme Court, and held the office two years, publishing five +volumes of reports. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from +Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress.--147, 236, 362, 510. + +JOHN H. KETCHAM was born in Dover, New York, December 21, 1831. Having +received an academical education, he devoted his attention to +agricultural pursuits. In 1856 and 1857 he was a member of the New +York House of Representatives, and of the State Senate in 1860 and +1861. He entered the military service in 1862 as Colonel of the One +Hundred and Fiftieth New York Regiment, and became a Brigadier General +by brevet. He resigned his position in the army in March, 1865, having +been elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--31. + +SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD was born in Hartford County, Maryland, December 20, +1813, and received an academical education in Washington. Having +removed to Ohio he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. +He was four years Prosecuting Attorney for Richland County, and was a +member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1850. Having removed +to Iowa, he was elected to the State Senate in 1856. He was Governor +of Iowa from 1860 to 1864, and, in January, 1866, he was elected a +United States Senator from Iowa for the unexpired term of James +Harlan, ending in 1867, at which date he was succeeded by his +predecessor, who was re-elected.--487. + +WILLIAM H. KOONTZ, a lawyer by profession, was elected a +Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He +successfully contested the seat taken by Alexander H. Coffroth, and +was admitted near the close of the first session. He was, in 1866, +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--508. + +ANDREW J. KUYKENDALL was born in Gallatin County, Illinois, March 3, +1815, and became a lawyer. From 1842 to 1846 he was a member of the +Illinois House of Representatives, and was, from 1850 to 1852, a +member of the State Senate. He was Major of the Thirty-First Illinois +Infantry, but resigned on account of ill health in the early part of +the war. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to Congress from +Illinois, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Green B. +Raum. + +ADDISON H. LAFLIN was born in Lee, Massachusetts, October 24, 1823. He +graduated at Williams College in 1843. He afterward settled in +Herkimer County, New York, and became engaged extensively in the +manufacture of paper. In 1857 he was elected State Senator. In 1864 he +was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1866. + +HENRY S. LANE was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, February 24, +1811. After having obtained an academical education, he studied law, +and removed to Indiana, where he engaged in the practice of his +profession. In 1837 he was elected to the Indiana Legislature. In 1840 +he was elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana. He served +under General Taylor in the Mexican War as Lieutenant-Colonel of +Volunteers. He was President of the first Republican National +Convention which met in Philadelphia, July 4, 1856. In 1861 he was +elected Governor of Indiana, but resigned the office two days after +his inauguration to accept the position of Senator in Congress, to +which he was elected for the term ending in 1867. He was succeeded by +Oliver P. Morton.--213, 381, 383, 499, 532. + +JAMES H. LANE was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, June 22, 1814. He +served as a soldier through the Mexican War, and soon after his return +in 1849 was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana. He was an active +Democratic politician, and as such was elected a Representative in +Congress from Indiana in 1853. Soon after the close of his +Congressional term, he went to Kansas, where he actively aided in the +work of erecting a Free-State Government. He was President of the +Topeka and the Leavenworth Constitutional Conventions, and was elected +by the people Major General of the Free-State Troops. On the admission +of Kansas into the Union, he was elected a Senator in Congress from +that State. Soon after the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was +appointed by President Lincoln a Brigadier General of Volunteers. He +was a member of the Baltimore Convention of 1864. In 1865 he was +re-elected by the Legislature of Kansas a Senator in Congress. On the +1st of July, 1866, while at Fort Leavenworth on leave of absence from +the Senate on account of ill-health, he committed suicide.--171, 201, +279, 284, 285, 457, 569. + +GEORGE R. LATHAM was born in Prince William County, Virginia, March 9, +1832. He engaged in teaching school, and while in that employment +studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. During the +Presidential Campaign of 1860, he edited a paper in Grafton, Virginia. +At the breaking out of the Rebellion, he entered the army as Captain, +and became Colonel of the Second Virginia Volunteers. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from West Virginia to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Bethuel M. +Kitchen. + +GEORGE V. LAWRENCE, whose father, Joseph Lawrence, was a member of +Congress, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1818. He +received a liberal education at Washington College, and engaged in +agricultural pursuits. He was in 1844 elected a member of the +Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and was three times re-elected. +He served five terms in the State Senate, of which, during his last +term of service, he was the Presiding Officer. In 1864 he was elected +a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +was re-elected in 1866. + +WILLIAM LAWRENCE was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, June 26, 1819. He +graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, in 1838, and subsequently taught +school in McConnellsville. In 1840 he graduated in the Law Department +of Cincinnati College. In 1841 he located in Bellefontaine, Ohio, for +the practice of law. In 1842 he was appointed Commissioner of +Bankrupts for Logan County. In 1845 he was elected Prosecuting +Attorney, and in the same year became proprietor of the "Logan +Gazette," of which he was two years the editor. In 1846 he was elected +a Representative in the Legislature, and was re-elected in the +following year. In 1849 and 1850 he was a member of the Ohio Senate, +and again in 1854, having in the interval held the office of Reporter +for the Supreme Court. He was the originator of many legislative acts +of great importance to the State, among the rest one relating to land +titles, known as "Lawrence's Law," and the _Ohio Free Banking Law_, +similar in some respects to the existing National Banking Law. In 1854 +he was one of the signers to a call for a State Convention in +opposition to the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill." In 1856 he was elected a +Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1861 was re-elected for a +term of five years. In 1862 he had command as Colonel of the +Eighty-Fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers for three months. In +September, 1863, President Lincoln gave him the commission of Judge of +the U. S. District Court of Florida, which he declined. In 1864 he was +elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and +in 1866 he was re-elected.--343, 345, 520. + +_FRANCIS C. Le BLOND_ was born in Ohio, and became a lawyer. In 1851 +and in 1853 he was elected to the State Legislature and served as +Speaker. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in +the Fortieth Congress is _William Mungen_.--243, 306, 519, 538, 547. + +JOHN W. LEFTWICH was born in Bedford County, Virginia, September 7, +1826. He removed with his parents to Tennessee in 1834, and was +occupied in farm work in summer, and attending school in winter, until +twenty years of age. He served as a private in the Mexican War, and on +his return attended the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, +where he graduated in 1850. He practiced medicine in Middle Tennessee +two years, and then removed to Memphis, where he was occupied with +mercantile pursuits until the breaking out of the war. Being loyal to +the Union, he found it necessary after the battle of Fort Donaldson to +cross the Federal lines. After the occupation of Memphis by the +Federal forces in June, 1862, he returned to find that his personal +property had been confiscated by the rebels. He resumed business, +however, and was elected President of the Memphis Chamber of Commerce +on its reoerganization. He was elected a Representative from Tennessee +to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, to which, with his colleagues, he was +admitted in July, 1866. He was nominated for re-election by the +"Conservative Party," and was defeated by David A. Nunn. + +BENJAMIN F. LOAN was born in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, in 1819. In 1838 +he removed to Missouri and engaged in the practice of law. At the +breaking out of the rebellion he entered the army, and was appointed +Brigadier General. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from +Missouri to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the +Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +JOHN W. LONGYEAR was born in Shandaken, Ulster County, New York, +October 22, 1820. Having acquired an academical education, he removed +to Michigan in 1844. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in +1846. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in +the Fortieth Congress is Austin Blair.--447. + +JOHN LYNCH was born in Portland, Maine, February 15, 1825. After +receiving an academical education he entered upon mercantile pursuits +in his native city. After serving two years in the State Legislature +he was, in 1864, elected a Representative from Maine to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +_SAMUEL S. MARSHALL_ was born in Illinois, and was educated at +Cumberland College, Kentucky. He devoted himself to the practice of +law in Illinois, and was elected to the State Legislature in 1846. He +served two years as State Attorney, and, in 1851, was elected a Judge +of the Circuit Court, and held the office until 1854, when he was +elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Fourth Congress +and was re-elected in 1856. He was a delegate to the Chicago +Democratic Convention of 1864, and was the same year elected, a +Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected in +1866.--148, 352. + +GILMAN MARSTON was born in Orford, New Hampshire. In 1837 he graduated +at Dartmouth College, and in 1840 at the Dane Law School. He commenced +the practice of law in the following year, in 1845 he was elected to +the New Hampshire Legislature, and served four years. In 1859 he was +elected a Representative from New Hampshire to the Thirty-Sixth +Congress, and was re-elected in 1861. In June, 1861, he was appointed +Colonel of the Second Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, and in +1863 was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He participated in +many battles, and on the fall of Richmond retired from the army. Early +in 1865 he was re-elected a Representative in Congress from New +Hampshire. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Jacob H. +Ela.--31. + +JAMES M. MARVIN was born in Ballston, New York, February 27, 1809. He +spent his boyhood on a farm, and received an academical education. +When not in public life he has been occupied in managing a large +estate. In 1846 he was elected to the Legislature of New York, and +subsequently held, for three terms, the office of County Supervisor. +In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +HORACE MAYNARD was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, August 30, +1814. He graduated at Amherst College in 1838. Soon after, he removed +to Tennessee, and was appointed Professor of Mathematics in the +University of East Tennessee. While holding this position he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He was a Presidential +Elector in 1852, and in 1856 was elected a Representative from +Tennessee to the Thirty-Fifth Congress, and was twice re-elected. He +was in Washington as a member of the Thirty-Seventh Congress when the +rebels took possession of Tennessee. His property was confiscated, and +his family was driven from their home in East Tennessee. He was a +delegate to the Baltimore Republican Convention of 1864, and was the +same year re-elected a Representative from Tennessee to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was admitted to his seat in July, 1866. He +was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--17, 434, 478, 480, 506, 527. + +JOSEPH W. McCLURG was born in St. Louis County, Missouri, February 22, +1818, and was educated at Miami University, Ohio. He subsequently +spent two years as a teacher in Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1841 he +went to Texas, where he was admitted to the bar, and became Clerk of a +Circuit Court. In 1844 he settled in Missouri as a merchant. At the +outbreak of the civil war he suffered severe losses at the hands of +rebels, and abandoning his business he served for a time as Colonel of +Cavalry. He was a member of the Missouri State Convention of 1862, and +was in that year elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864 and 1866. + +_HIRAM McCULLOUGH_ was born in Cecil County, Maryland, September 20, +1813. He was educated at the Elkton Academy, studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1838. From 1845 to 1851 he was a member of the +Maryland Senate. In 1852 he was appointed by the Legislature one of +the codifiers of the laws of Maryland, and aided in making the present +code of that State. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from +Maryland to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +JAMES A. McDOUGALL was born at Bethlehem, New York, November 19, 1817, +and was educated at the Albany Grammar School. He assisted in the +survey of the first railroad ever built in this country. In 1837 he +removed to Illinois and engaged in the practice of law. In 1842 he was +chosen Attorney General of Illinois, and two years after was +re-elected. In 1849 he originated and accompanied an exploring +expedition to the far West. He soon after emigrated to California, and +in 1850 was elected Attorney General of that State. From 1853 to 1855 +he served as a Representative in Congress from California. In 1861 he +was elected United States Senator for California for the term ending +with the expiration of the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He died in Albany, +New York, in the summer of 1867.--136, 137, 163, 277, 287, 432, 461, +533, 535. + +WALTER D. McINDOE was born in Scotland, March 30, 1819. He emigrated +to New York City in his fifteenth year, and was a clerk in that city, +and afterwards in Charleston and St. Louis. He subsequently settled in +Wis-' cousin, and engaged in the lumber trade. In 1850 he was a member +of the Wisconsin Legislature, and was twice re-elected. In 1856, and +in 1860, he was a Presidential Elector. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Wisconsin to fill a vacancy in the Thirty-Seventh +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth +Congresses. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Cadwalader C. +Washburn. + +SAMUEL McKEE was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, November 4, +1833. In 1858 he graduated at the Miami University, Ohio, and +afterwards at the Cincinnati Law School in 1858. He subsequently +practiced law until 1862, when he entered the Union army as Captain of +the Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry. He was thirteen months a prisoner in +Libby Prison. In 1865 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress.--152, 361, 441. + +DONALD McRUER was born in Maine in 1826. He received an academical +education, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Removing to California, +he settled in San Francisco. He held for some time the office of +Harbor Commissioner for that State. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from California to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was +succeeded by _Samuel B. Axtell_ in the Fortieth Congress. + +ULYSSES MERCUR was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1818. He +graduated at Jefferson College, in 1842, and was admitted to the bar +in the following year. In 1861 he was elected President Judge of the +Thirteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, for a term of ten years, +but resigned in 1864 when he was elected a Representative from +Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. In 1866 he was re-elected +to the Fortieth Congress. + +GEORGE F. MILLER was born in Chilisquaque, Northumberland County, +Pennsylvania, September 5, 1809. Having obtained an academical +education, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He was +for several years Secretary of the Lewisburg University. He took an +active interest in local politics, but frequently declined nominations +for County and State offices. In 1864 he was elected a Representative +from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in +1866.--443, 510. + +JAMES K. MOORHEAD was born in Pennsylvania, in 1806. He spent his +youth on a farm and as an apprentice to a tanner. He was a contractor +for building the Susquehanna branch of the Pennsylvania Canal, on +which he originated a passenger packet line. In 1836 he removed to +Pittsburg, where he became President of a company for the improvement +of the navigation of the Monongahela, and subsequently was President +of several telegraph companies. In 1859 he was re-elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Sixth Congress from Pennsylvania, and has +been re-elected to every succeeding Congress, including the +Fortieth.--31. + +EDWIN D. MORGAN was born in Washington, Massachusetts, February 8, +1811. At the age of seventeen he became a clerk, and three years later +a partner in a wholesale grocery house in Hartford, Connecticut. In +1836 he settled in New York City, and embarked extensively in +mercantile pursuits. In 1849 he was chosen an Alderman of the city, +and soon after was elected a member of the State Senate, in which he +served two terms. Since 1856 he has been Chairman of the National +Republican Committee. In 1858 he was elected Governor of New York, and +re-elected in 1860. During his administration, 223,000 troops were +sent into the field from New York. Governor Morgan was appointed by +President Lincoln a Major General of Volunteers. In 1863 he was +elected United States Senator from New York for the term ending in +1869. + +JUSTIN S. MORRILL was born in Strafford, Vermont, April 14, 1810. He +received an academical education, and subsequently gave his attention +to mercantile and agricultural pursuits. In 1854 he was elected a +Representative from Vermont to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. In 1867 he became a United +States Senator from Vermont for the term ending in 1873, succeeding +Luke P. Poland, who became the successor of Mr. Morrill as a +Representative in the Fortieth Congress.--17, 19, 29, 555. + +LOT M. MORRILL was born at Belgrade, Maine, in 1815. He studied at +Waterville College, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. In 1854 he +was a member of the Maine Legislature, and in 1856 he was President of +the State Senate. In 1858 he was elected Governor of Maine, and was +twice re-elected. In 1861 he was elected United States Senator from +Maine for the unexpired term of Vice-President Hamlin. In 1863 he was +re-elected to the Senate for the term ending in 1869.--28, 204, 205, +207, 408, 484, 485, 489, 530. + +DANIEL MORRIS was born in Seneca County, New York, January 4, 1812. He +was bred a farmer, taught school for a time, and finally became a +lawyer. Having been District Attorney for Yates County, and member of +the State Legislature, he was in 1862 elected a Representative from +New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and in 1864 was re-elected. +His successor in the Fortieth Congress is William H. Kelsey. + +SAMUEL W. MOULTON was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, January 20, +1822. Having acquired a common-school education, at the age of twenty +he emigrated to the West, and spent a year at Covington, Kentucky, +where he commenced the study of law. He subsequently went to +Mississippi, where he taught school, and continued the study of law. +In 1845 he settled in Illinois, and soon after commenced the practice +of law. In 1852 he was elected to the Legislature of Illinois, and was +continuously re-elected until 1859. He was the author of the +Free-School System of Illinois. He held the position of Chairman of +the Board of Education for a number of years. He was a candidate for +Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket in 1856. On the breaking +out of the Rebellion he joined the Republican party, and was in 1863 +elected President of the Union League of Illinois. In 1864 he was +elected Representative from the State at large to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded by John A. Logan in the Fortieth +Congress.--149. + +LEONARD MYERS was born in Attleborough, Pennsylvania, November 13, +1827. Having entered the profession of law, and settled in +Philadelphia, he became Solicitor for two municipal districts in that +city. He digested the ordinances for the consolidation of the city, +and has translated several works from the French. In 1862 he was +elected a member of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to +the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +_JAMES W. NESMITH_ was born in Washington County, Maine, July 23, +1820. When quite young, he removed to New Hampshire, emigrated to Ohio +in 1838, subsequently spent some time in Missouri, and finally settled +in Oregon in 1843. In 1853 he was appointed United States Marshal for +Oregon. In 1857 he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for +Oregon and Washington Territories. In 1861 he became United States +Senator from Oregon for the term ending in 1867, when he was succeeded +by Henry W. Corbett. + +WILLIAM A. NEWELL is a native of Ohio, and a graduate of Rutger's +College. He studied medicine, and took up his residence in Allentown, +New Jersey. He was a member of Congress from that State from 1847 to +1851. In 1856 he was elected Governor of New Jersey, and held the +office till 1860. He was again elected a Representative to Congress in +1864, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _Charles Haight_. + +_WILLIAM E. NIBLACK_ was born in Dubois County, Indiana, May 19, 1822, +and spent his early life on a farm. He attended the Indiana University +at intervals during three years, and afterwards devoted some time to +surveying and civil engineering. In 1845 he commenced the practice of +law, and in 1849 he was elected a Representative in the State +Legislature. In the following year he was elected to the State Senate. +In January, 1854, he was appointed Judge of the Third Judicial +Circuit, to fill a vacancy, and was, in the following fall, elected to +the office for the term of six years. In 1857 he was elected a +Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Fifth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1859. After the close of the Thirty-Sixth Congress he +served one term in the State Legislature. In 1864 he was again elected +a Representative in Congress from Indiana, and was re-elected to the +Fortieth Congress.--526. + +_JOHN A. NICHOLSON_ was born in Laurel, Delaware, November 17, 1827. +Having graduated at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, he studied law, +and settled in Dover, Delaware, where he was admitted to the bar in +1850. In 1865 he entered Congress as a Representative from Delaware, +and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--361. + +THOMAS E. NOELL was born in Perryville, Missouri, April 3, 1839. He +was admitted to the bar at nineteen years of age, and practiced until +1861, when he was appointed a Military Commissioner for the arrest of +disloyal persons. He subsequently went into the ranks of the State +militia, and reached the rank of Major. In 1862 he was appointed a +Captain in the Nineteenth Regiment of Regular United States Infantry. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Missouri to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +DANIEL S. NORTON was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, April 12, 1829. After +being educated at Kenyon College, he served in the Mexican War. He +subsequently went to California, and thence to Nicaragua, where he +spent a year. Returning to Ohio, he studied law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1852. He emigrated to Minnesota in 1855, and was, two years +after, elected to the State Senate, to which he was three times +re-elected. In 1865 he was elected a Senator in Congress from +Minnesota for the term ending in 1871. + +JAMES W. NYE was born in Madison County, New York, June 10, 1815, and +entered the profession of law. In 1861 he was appointed by President +Lincoln Governor of Nevada Territory. He held this office until the +admission of Nevada into the Union, when he was elected a Senator from +the new State for the term ending in 1871.--425, 457. + +CHARLES O'NEILL was born in Philadelphia, March 21, 1821. Having +graduated at Dickinson College, and studied law, he was admitted to +the bar in 1843. He served five years in the House of Representatives +and Senate of Pennsylvania. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to +the Thirty-Eighth Congress. In 1865 he entered upon his second term in +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +GODLOVE S. ORTH was born near Lebanon, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1817. +He was educated at the Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. In 1839 he +was admitted to the bar, and removed to Indiana, locating in +Lafayette. In 1843 he was elected to the Indiana Senate, and served +six years. A part of the time he was President of that body. In 1848 +he was a Whig candidate for Presidential Elector. In 1861 he was a +member of the "Peace Congress." In 1862, Indiana being threatened with +a sudden invasion, the Governor made a call for volunteers to meet the +emergency. Mr. Orth immediately responded with two hundred men, who +elected him their Captain. He was placed in command of the U. S. Ram +"Horner," which cruised the Ohio river, and did much to restore and +maintain quiet along its shores. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--336. + +HALBERT E. PAINE was born at Chardon, Ohio, February 4, 1826. Having +graduated at the Western Reserve College in 1845, he studied law, and +located in Cleveland. In 1857 he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He +entered the army in 1861 as Colonel of the Fourth Wisconsin Regiment, +and soon rose to the rank of Brigadier General. He lost a leg in June, +1863, at the last assault on Port Hudson. Resigning his commission in +1865, he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress +from Wisconsin, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--504, +506. + +_DAVID T. PATTERSON_ was born at Cedar Creek, Green County, Tennessee, +February 28, 1819. He was educated at Meadow Creek Academy and +Greenville College. He followed for some time the business of a +paper-maker, but gave attention to the study of law, and was admitted +to the bar in 1841, and practiced in Greenville. Here he married a +daughter of Andrew Johnson. In 1854 he was elected Judge of the First +Judicial Circuit of Tennessee. In May, 1865, he was elected a United +States Senator from Tennessee for the term ending in 1869. After a +protracted consideration and discussion of his case, he was sworn in +near the close of the first session of the Thirty-Ninth +Congress.--478, 482. + +JAMES W. PATTERSON was born in Hanniker, New Hampshire, July 2, 1823. +He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1848. He was Professor of +Mathematics in Dartmouth College from 1854 to 1859, and was then +transferred to the chair of Astronomy and Meteorology. He was four +years Secretary of the Board of Education of New Hampshire, and in +1862 he was a member of the State Legislature. He was elected a +Representative from New Hampshire to the Thirty-Eighth and +Thirty-Ninth Congresses. At the expiration of the latter Congress he +became United States Senator from Vermont for the term ending in 1873. + +SIDNEY PERHAM was born in Woodstock, Maine, March 27, 1819. Until his +thirty-fourth year he was a farmer and a teacher. In 1852 he was +elected a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and served two +years. In 1855 he was a member of the Maine Legislature, and +officiated as Speaker. In 1856 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1858 +he was elected Clerk of a County Court, which position he held until +1862, when he was elected a Representative from Maine to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +CHARLES E. PHELPS was born in Guilford, Vermont, May 1, 1833. Having +graduated at Princeton College in 1853, he came to the Maryland bar in +1855. In 1862 he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Maryland +Volunteers, and was discharged, on account of wounds, in 1864. He was +elected a Representative from Maryland to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, +and was re-elected in 1866.--156. + +FREDERICK A. PIKE was born in Calais, Maine, where he now resides. He +adopted the profession of law, and served some time as Attorney for +the County. He was several years a member, and during one term +Speaker, of the Maine House of Representatives. In 1862 he was elected +a Representative from Maine to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth +Congresses.--348, 503, 504, 519, 553. + +TOBIAS A. PLANTS was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, March 17, +1811. After teaching school for several years, he studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1841. Having settled in Ohio, he served in the +State Legislature from 1858 to 1861. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1866.--509. + +LUKE P. POLAND was born in Westford, Vermont, November 1, 1815. Having +received an academical education he studied law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1836. In 1839 and 1840 he was Register of Probate for +Lamoille County. In 1843 he was a member of the State Constitutional +Convention, and in the following year was elected Prosecuting Attorney +for his County. In 1848 he was elected by the Legislature one of the +Judges of the Supreme Court of Vermont. This position he continued to +hold by annual elections until November, 1865, when he was appointed +to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate occasioned by the +death of Judge Collamer. His term of service in the Senate closing +March 4, 1867, he took his seat as a Representative from Vermont in +the Fortieth Congress.--28, 459. + +SAMUEL C. POMEROY was born in Southampton, Massachusetts, January 3, +1816. He entered Amherst College in 1836, and in 1838 went to Monroe +County, New York, where he resided four years. He returned to his +native town in 1842, and having espoused the Anti-Slavery cause, he +labored zealously to advance its principles. Annually for eight years +he ran on the Anti-Slavery ticket for the Massachusetts Legislature, +without success, until 1852, when he was elected over both Whigs and +Democrats. In 1854 he aided in organizing the New England Emigrant Aid +Society, and was its financial agent, and the same year he conducted a +colony to Kansas. He was a member of the Territorial Defense +Committee, and was active in his efforts to protect the settlers from +the border ruffians. During the famine in Kansas, he was Chairman of +the Relief Committee. He was a delegate to the Republican National +Conventions of 1856 and 1860. In 1861 he was elected a Senator in +Congress from Kansas, and was re-elected in 1867 for the term ending +in 1873.--404, 487, 495. + +THEODORE M. POMEROY was born in Cayuga, New York, December 31, 1824. +He graduated at Hamilton College, and adopted the profession of law. +From 1850 to 1856 he was District Attorney for his native county, and +in 1857 was a member of the New York Legislature. In 1860 he was +elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, +and has been re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and +Fortieth Congresses.--30. + +HIRAM PRICE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, January 10, +1814. Removing to Iowa, he settled in the City of Davenport, and was +made President of the State Bank of Iowa. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--30. + +_WILLIAM RADFORD_ was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, June 24, 1814. +He settled in New York City in 1829, and engaged in mercantile +pursuits. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. He was succeeded +in the Fortieth Congress by William H. Robertson. + +ALEXANDER RAMSAY was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, September 8, +1815. In 1841 he was elected Clerk of the Pennsylvania House of +Representatives. From 1843 to 1847 he was a Representative in Congress +from Pennsylvania. In 1849 he was appointed, by President Taylor, the +first Territorial Governor of Minnesota, and held the office until +1853. During his term of office, he negotiated some important Indian +treaties. From 1858 to 1862 he held the office of Governor of the +State of Minnesota. In 1863 he was elected a United States Senator +from Minnesota for the term ending in 1869. + +_SAMUEL J. RANDALL_ was born in Philadelphia, in 1828. He was for many +years engaged in mercantile pursuits. He served four years in the +Philadelphia City Council and one term in the State Senate. In 1862 he +was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--79, 444. + +WILLIAM H. RANDALL was born in Kentucky. He studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1835. Having held the office of Clerk of the +Circuit Court for a number of years, he was, in 1862, elected a +Representative to Congress from Kentucky, and was re-elected in 1864. +His successor in the Fortieth Congress is _George M. Adams_. + +HENRY J. RAYMOND was born in Lima, New York, January 24, 1820. He was +brought up on a farm, and became teacher in a district school when +sixteen years of age. In 1840 he graduated at the University of +Vermont, and soon after went to New York City, where, in 1841, he +became managing editor of the "New York Tribune." He subsequently +became the leading editor of the "New York Courier and Enquirer." In +1849 he was elected to the New York Legislature, and having been +re-elected, was made Speaker of the House. In 1851 he established the +"New York Times." He was subsequently elected Lieutenant-Governor of +New York, and was again a member of the General Assembly. In 1864 he +was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Thomas E. +Stewart.--31, 155, 234, 314, 317, 328, 364, 370, 372, 439, 440, 512, +524, 525, 564. + +ALEXANDER H. RICE was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in August, 1818. +He graduated at Union College in 1844, and subsequently engaged in the +manufacture of paper. In 1853 he was elected a member and President of +the City Council of Boston. In 1856 and 1857 he was Mayor of Boston. +In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by Ginery Twitchell. + +JOHN H. RICE was born in Mount Vernon, Maine, February 5, 1816. Having +been successively sheriff, lumberman, and lawyer, he was, in 1852, +elected State Attorney of Maine. He held this office until 1860, when +he was elected a Representative from Maine to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth +Congresses. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by John A. +Peters. + +_GEORGE REED RIDDLE_ was born in New Castle, Delaware, in 1817. He was +educated at Delaware College. Devoting himself to civil engineering, +he was occupied for some years in locating and constructing canals and +railroads. He afterwards studied law, and was admitted to the Delaware +bar in 1848. In 1850 he was chosen a Representative in Congress from +Delaware, and was re-elected in 1852. In 1864 he was elected a United +States Senator for the term ending in 1869, and died in Washington, +March, 1867. + +_BURWELL C. RITTER_ was born in Kentucky, January 10, 1810. He has +devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. In 1843, and again in 1850, +he was a member of the State Legislature. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. _John Young +Brown_ was elected as his successor in the Fortieth Congress.--149. + +_ANDREW J. ROGERS_ was born in Hamburg, New Jersey, July 1, 1828. He +spent his youth as an assistant in a hotel and in a country store. He +studied law while engaged in school-teaching, and was admitted to the +bar in 1852. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New Jersey +to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and in 1864 was re-elected. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by John Hill.--59, 222, 306, 325, +447, 462, 520, 553. + +EDWARD H. ROLLINS was born in Rollingford, New Hampshire, October 3, +1824. Having received an academical education, he taught school for +some time, and subsequently engaged in mercantile pursuits. From 1855 +to 1857 he was a member of the New Hampshire Legislature, and during +two years was Speaker of the House. In 1856 he was Chairman of the +State Republican Committee. In 1860 he was elected a Representative +from New Hampshire to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was re-elected +to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is Aaron F. Stevens. + +EDMUND G. ROSS was born in Wisconsin. He learned the art of printing, +and became an editor. In 1856 he removed to Kansas, and took an active +part in the affairs of the territory. He was a member of the Kansas +Constitutional Convention of 1858. From that time until 1861 he was a +member of the State Legislature. He served in a Kansas regiment during +the rebellion, and reached the rank of Major. He subsequently became +editor of the "Lawrence Tribune." In July, 1866, he was appointed a +Senator in Congress from Kansas for the unexpired term of James H. +Lane, deceased. + +_LEWIS W. ROSS_ was born in Seneca County, New York, December 8, 1812. +He was removed in boyhood to Illinois. He was educated at Illinois +College, and adopted the profession of law. He was elected to the +State Legislature in 1840 and 1844. He was a Democratic Presidential +Elector in 1848, and a delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore +Conventions of 1860. In 1861 he was a member of the State +Constitutional Convention, and in the following year was elected a +Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was +re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--513. + +_LOVELL H. ROUSSEAU_ was born in Stanford, Kentucky, August 4, 1818. +He studied law, and removed to Indiana in 1841. He was three years a +member of the Indiana House of Representatives, and three years a +member of the State Senate. He served as a Captain in the Mexican War, +and on his return settled in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1860 he was +elected to the Senate of Kentucky, and after serving through the +stormy session of 1861 he resigned, to raise a regiment for the war. +In June, 1861, he was commissioned a Colonel, and in October of the +same year was made a Brigadier General. In October of the following +year he was promoted to the rank of Major General for his gallantry in +the battles of Shiloh and Stone River. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. At the +close of his Congressional term he was commissioned a Brigadier +General in the Regular Army, and assigned to the command of the newly +acquired possessions of the United States in the North-west.--31, 151, +572, 573, 574. + +_WILLARD SAULSBURY_ was born in Kent County, Delaware, June 2, 1820. +He was educated at Delaware College and Dickinson College. Having +studied law, he was admitted to the bar in 1845. In 1850 he was +appointed Attorney General of Delaware, and held the office five +years. In 1859 he was elected a United States Senator from Delaware, +and was re-elected in 1865 for the term ending in 1871.--24, 44, 124, +127, 136, 192, 219, 287, 306, 405, 456, 458, 496, 531, 534, 548. + +PHILETUS SAWYER was born in Whiting, Addison County, Vermont. After +receiving a common-school and business education, he removed to +Wisconsin and engaged in the lumber trade. In 1857 and 1861 he was +elected to the Wisconsin Legislature. He served as Mayor of Oshkosh in +1863 and 1864. In the latter year he was elected a Representative from +Wisconsin to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +ROBERT C. SCHENCK was born in Franklin, Ohio, October 4, 1809. He +graduated at Miami University in 1827. He studied law under Thomas +Corwin, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. He was elected to the +Ohio Legislature in 1841, and served two terms. In 1842 he was elected +a Representative from Ohio to the Twenty-Eighth Congress, and served +four successive terms. At the close of Thirty-First Congress, in 1851, +he was appointed by President Fillmore Minister to Brazil, and +negotiated several important treaties with South American Governments. +After his return in 1853, he became largely interested in railroad +enterprises, and was President of a line from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to +the Mississippi. At the breaking out of the rebellion he offered his +services to the Government, and was commissioned a Brigadier General, +May 17, 1861. He was in numerous engagements, including both the Bull +Run battles, where he displayed much skill and bravery. He was +promoted to the rank of Major General in August, 1862, and was +assigned to the command of the Middle Department, including Baltimore, +Maryland, in which he rendered efficient service to the country. +Having, been re-elected to Congress, he resigned his commission in +December, 1863, and took his seat in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He +was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 352, +353, 354, 366, 439, 537, 552. + +GLENNI W. SCOFIELD was born in Chautauque County, March 11, 1817. He +graduated at Hamilton College in 1840, and removed to Warren, +Pennsylvania, where he was admitted to the bar in 1843. In 1850 and +1851 he was a Representative in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and from +1857 to 1859 was a State Senator. In 1861 he was appointed President +Judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District of the State. In 1865 he was +elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--56, 508. + +_GEORGE S. SHANKLIN_ was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky. He +engaged in the practice of law, and in agricultural affairs. He was +several years a member of the Kentucky Legislature, and was +Commonwealth's Attorney of a Judicial District. He was a member of the +Philadelphia Convention of 1856 which nominated Fillmore. In 1865 he +was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _James B. +Beck_.--151, 440, 552. + +SAMUEL SHELLABARGER was born in Clark County, Ohio, December 10, 1817. +He graduated at the Miami University in 1841. He studied law, and +having been admitted to the bar practiced in the city of Springfield, +Ohio. In 1852 and 1853 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature. In +1860 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--156, 231, 238, 345, 444, 512, 522. + +JOHN SHERMAN was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823. He studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He was a delegate to the +Whig Conventions of 1848 and 1852. In 1854 he was elected a +Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth, and Thirty-Seventh +Congresses. In the memorable contest for the Speakership of the House +which occurred in 1859 he was the Republican candidate, and through a +long series of ballotings lacked but one or two votes of an election. +On the resignation of Senator Chase in 1861, he was elected a Senator +in Congress from Ohio, and in 1866 he was re-elected for the term +ending in 1873.--27, 98, 161, 420, 422, 454, 460, 476, 500, 501, 534, +535, 541. + +_CHARLES SITGREAVES_ was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1803. +He adopted the profession of law and settled in New Jersey. In 1831 +and 1833 he was a member of the New Jersey Assembly. In 1834 and 1835 +he was member and President of the Legislative Council. From 1852 to +1854 he served in the State Senate. He subsequently held the positions +of Mayor of Phillipsburg, President of the Belvidere and Delaware +Railroad Company, and Trustee of the State Normal School. In 1864 he +was elected a Representative from New Jersey to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +ITHAMAR C. SLOAN was born in Madison County, New York. He adopted the +profession of law, and removed to Wisconsin in 1854. In 1858 and 1860 +he was elected District Attorney of Rock County. In 1862 he was +elected a Representative from Wisconsin to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, +and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in +the Fortieth Congress by Benjamin F. Hopkins.--334, 335. + +GREEN CLAY SMITH was born in Richmond, Kentucky, July 2, 1830. He +graduated at Transylvania College in 1849, and in the Law Department +of the same institution in 1852. He served in the Mexican War as +Second Lieutenant, and at the breaking out of the rebellion was +commissioned to command the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry. In 1862 he was +appointed a Brigadier General, and subsequently reached the rank of +Major General. After participating in numerous battles, he resigned +his military commission in December, 1863, to take his seat as a +Representative from Kentucky in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was +re-elected a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but before the +expiration of his term he was appointed by the President Governor of +the Territory of Montana.--439. + +RUFUS P. SPALDING was born at West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, +Massachusetts, May 3, 1798. He entered Yale College in 1813, and +graduated in 1817. After studying law he emigrated to Cincinnati, +Ohio, where he remained one year, and then went to Arkansas. Having +spent a year and a half in that State he returned to Ohio, and +practiced his profession successively in Warren, Ravenna, and Akron, +and finally at Cleveland, where he now resides. In 1839 he was elected +to the Ohio Legislature. He was re-elected in 1841, and made Speaker +of the House. In 1849 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court of +Ohio. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses.--319, 443, 508. + +WILLIAM SPRAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, September 11, +1830. He was educated chiefly at the Irving Institute, Tarrytown, New +York. He subsequently spent several years in the counting-room of his +uncle, upon whose death he came into possession of one of the largest +manufacturing interests in the country. In 1861 he was elected +Governor of Rhode Island. He entered with zeal into the national cause +at the breaking out of the rebellion, and was with the Rhode Island +Volunteers at the first battle of Bull Run. In 1862 he was elected a +Senator in Congress from Rhode Island for the term ending in +1869.--27, 494. + +JOHN F. STARR was born in Philadelphia in 1818. He removed to New +Jersey in 1844, and engaged in business pursuits. In 1863 he was +elected a Representative from New Jersey to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. +He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by William Moore. + +THADDEUS STEVENS was born in Caledonia County, Vermont, April 4, 1793. +He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1814, and in the same year +removed to Pennsylvania. While teaching in an academy he studied law, +and in 1816 was admitted to the bar in the County of Adams. In 1833 he +was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and served four terms, +rendering signal service to the State by originating the school-system +of Pennsylvania. He early espoused the cause of anti-slavery, and +became an earnest advocate of equal rights. In 1836 he was elected a +member of the Convention to revise the State Constitution, and refused +to append his name to the amended instrument, because it restricted +suffrage on account of color. In 1838 he was appointed a Canal +Commissioner. In 1842 he removed to Lancaster, where he now resides. +In 1848 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the +Thirty-First Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Second, +Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and +Fortieth Congresses.--18, 24, 29, 34, 48, 156, 308, 325, 333, 336, +357, 366, 417, 418, 435, 436, 449, 463, 478, 502, 503, 504, 513, 514, +518, 524, 528, 535, 536, 547, 555, 557, 563, 575. + +WILLIAM M. STEWART was born in Wayne County, New York, August 9, 1827, +and removed with his father to Ohio in 1835. He entered Yale College +in 1848, where he remained eighteen months. He then went to California +and spent two years in the mining business. In 1852 he commenced +studying law, and was soon after elected District Attorney for the +County of Nevada. In 1854 he was appointed to perform the duties of +Attorney General of California, and subsequently practiced law in +Nevada City and Downieville. In 1860 he removed to that part of Utah +territory which is now Nevada, and served in the Territorial +Legislature of the following year. He was a member of the +Constitutional Convention of 1863. He was soon after elected a United +States Senator from the new State of Nevada for the term ending in +1869.--28, 100, 107, 202, 275, 427, 435, 454, 456, 459, 530. + +THOMAS N. STILWELL was born in Butler County, Ohio, August 29, 1830. +He was educated at Miami University and Farmer's College. He studied +law, and, removing to Indiana in 1852, he was admitted to the bar, and +practiced until 1855, when he engaged in banking. In 1856 he was a +Representative in the Indiana Legislature. He raised a regiment of +volunteers for the war, and served some time as Quartermaster. In 1864 +he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by John P. C. +Shanks. He was appointed by President Johnson United States Minister +to Venezuela.--564. + +_JOHN P. STOCKTON_ was born in Princeton, New Jersey, August 2, 1825. +His father and grandfather were United States Senators, and his +great-grandfather was one of the signers of the Declaration of +Independence. He graduated at Princeton College in 1843, and, having +studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849. He was appointed by the +Legislature of New Jersey to revise the laws of the State. As reporter +in chancery, he published three volumes of Reports, which bear his +name. In 1858 he was appointed by President Buchanan Minister Resident +to Rome. In 1865 he appeared in Congress as a Senator from New Jersey. +The question of his right to the seat underwent long discussion, and +at length was decided against him on the 27th of March, 1866.--568. + +WILLIAM B. STOKES was born in Chatham County, North Carolina, +September 9, 1814. His father was killed by an accident while +emigrating to Tennessee in 1818. He enjoyed but few advantages of +early education, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. In 1849 +he was elected a Representative in the Tennessee Legislature, and was +re-elected in 1851. He was elected to the State Senate in 1855. In +1859 he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress. At the close of his Congressional term he took +a bold stand and made numerous speeches against secession in +Tennessee. In 1862 he recruited and commanded a regiment of cavalry, +which saw much hard fighting and did valuable service. At the close of +the war he was brevetted Brigadier General. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +admitted in July, 1866. He was re-elected to the Fortieth +Congress.--480, 536. + +_MYER STROUSE_ was born in Germany, December 16, 1825. He came with +his father to America in 1832, and settled in Pottsville, +Pennsylvania. Having received an academical education, he studied law. +From 1848 to 1852 he edited the "North American Farmer," in +Philadelphia, and subsequently devoted himself to the practice of law. +In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, +and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is +Henry L. Cake.--444. + +CHARLES SUMNER was born in Boston, January 6, 1811. He graduated at +Harvard College in 1830, spent three years in the Cambridge Law +School, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. For three years he edited +the "American Jurist," and was subsequently Reporter of the United +States Circuit Court. He published several volumes of Reports, and has +devoted much attention to literary pursuits. He published in 1850 two +volumes of "Orations;" in 1853 a work on "White Slavery in the Barbary +States;" and in 1856 a volume of "Speeches and Addresses." In 1851 he +was elected a United States Senator from Massachusetts. In 1856 he was +assaulted in the Senate Chamber by Preston S. Brooks, of South +Carolina, and so seriously injured that he sought restoration by a +temporary absence in Europe. Just before his departure he was elected +to the Senate for a second term, and in 1863 was re-elected for a +third term ending in 1869.--15, 26, 28, 99, 108, 373, 374, 380, 386, +392, 406, 413, 435, 453, 483, 499, 540, 541, 563, 571. + +_STEPHEN TABER_, whose father, Thomas Taber, was a Member of Congress, +was born in Dover, Dutchess County, New York. Having received an +academical education, he devoted himself to agriculture in Queens +County, on Long Island. In 1860 and 1861 he was elected to the State +Legislature. In 1863 he was elected a Representative to the +Thirty-Ninth Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +NATHANIEL G. TAYLOR was born in Carter County, Tennessee, December 29, +1819, and graduated at Princeton College in 1840. He studied law and +was admitted to the bar in 1843, but subsequently became a minister in +the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1852 he was a Presidential +Elector, and in 1854 was elected a Representative in Congress from +Tennessee. In 1865 he was re-elected a Representative in the +Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was admitted to his seat in July, 1866. R. +R. Butler was elected as his successor in the Fortieth Congress.--480. + +_NELSON TAYLOR_ was born in South Norwalk, Connecticut, June 8, 1821. +He served through the Mexican War as Captain in the First Regiment of +New York Volunteers. He subsequently went to California, and was +elected a member of the State Senate in 1849. In 1853 he was elected +Sheriff of San Joaquin County, California. In 1861 he entered the +military service as Colonel of the Seventy-Second Regiment of New York +Volunteers, and became a Brigadier General. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is _John Morrissey_. + +M. RUSSELL THAYER was born in Petersburg, Virginia, January 27, 1819, +and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1840. He studied +law, and having been admitted to the bar in 1842, he located in +Philadelphia. In 1862 he was elected a Representative in the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is Caleb N. Taylor--83, 225, 438, +522, 538. + +FRANCIS THOMAS was born in Frederick County, Maryland, February 3, +1799. He was educated at St. John's College, Annapolis. He studied +law, and was admitted to practice at Frederick in 1820. He was elected +to the Maryland Legislature in 1822, 1827, and 1829, when he was +chosen Speaker. In 1831 he was elected a Representative in Congress, +and served for ten consecutive years. In 1841 he declined a +renomination for Congress. In the fall of that year he was elected +Governor of Maryland, and served until January, 1845. In 1848 he +supported Van Buren and Adams on the Buffalo Anti-Slavery platform. In +1850 he was a member of the Maryland Constitutional Convention. At the +breaking out of the Rebellion he raised a brigade of 3,000 volunteers +for the military service. In March, 1863, he originated and assisted +in securing popular approval of a measure which resulted in the +emancipation of all the slaves of Maryland. He was re-elected a +Representative from Maryland to the Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. + +JOHN L. THOMAS, Jr., was born in Baltimore, May 20, 1835, and was +educated at the Alleghany County Academy. He studied law, and was +admitted to the bar in 1856. He was appointed Solicitor for the City +of Baltimore in 1861, and held the office two years. In 1863 he was +elected State Attorney for Maryland, and in 1864 he served as a +delegate to the State Constitutional Convention. In 1865 he was +elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress to fill a +vacancy occasioned by the resignation of E. H. Webster. He was +succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by _Stephenson Archer_. + +_ANTHONY THORNTON_ was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, November 19, +1814. He graduated at the Miami University, and having studied law, he +settled in Illinois. He was a member of the Illinois Constitutional +Conventions of 1847 and 1862. In 1850 he was a member of the State +Legislature. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is +_Albert G. Burr_.--228. + +_LAWRENCE S. TRIMBLE_ was born in Fleming, Kentucky, August 26, 1825. +He received an academical education, and entered the profession of +law. In 1851 and 1852 he was a member of the Kentucky Legislature. +From 1856 to 1860 he was Judge of the Equity and Criminal Court of the +First Judicial District of the State. He was subsequently for five +years President of the New Orleans and Ohio Railroad Company. In 1865 +he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--152, 342, 511. + +ROWLAND E. TROWBRIDGE was born in Elmira, New York, June 18, 1821, and +when a child removed to Michigan with his parents, who were among the +first settlers that penetrated the wilderness back of the old French +settlements. He graduated at Kenyon College, and engaged in the +business of farming. In 1856 and 1858 he was elected a member of the +Michigan Senate. In 1860 he was elected a Representative from Michigan +to the Thirty-Seventh Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth +and Fortieth Congresses. + +LYMAN TRUMBULL was born in Colchester, Connecticut, in 1813. He +entered the profession of law, and removed to Illinois. He was a +member of the State Legislature in 1840, and was Secretary of State in +1841 and 1842. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois from +1848 to 1853. In 1854 he was elected a Representative for Illinois to +the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was soon after elected a Senator in +Congress for the term commencing in 1855. He was re-elected in 1861, +and again in 1867.--22, 28, 45, 98, 104, 105, 108, 120, 136, 158, 162, +171, 188, 190, 199, 209, 216, 253, 269, 424, 457, 476, 540. + +CHARLES UPSON was born in Southington, Hartford County, Connecticut, +March 19, 1821. He received an academical education, and at the age of +sixteen he commenced teaching school, in which he was employed during +the winters of seven years. He attended the law school of Yale College +for some time, and in 1845 removed to Michigan. In 1848 he was elected +County Clerk, and in 1852 Prosecuting Attorney for St. Joseph County. +In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1860 he was elected +Attorney General of Michigan, and declined a renomination. In 1862 he +was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses. + +HENRY VAN AERNAM was born in Marcellus, New York, March 11, 1819. +After receiving an academical education and graduating at a medical +college, he settled as a physician and surgeon in Franklinville, New +York. In 1858 he was a member of the State Legislature. In 1862 he +entered the army as surgeon of the One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth New +York Regiment. He resigned this position in 1864, and was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +BURT VAN HORN was born in Newfane, Niagara County, New York, October +28, 1823, and was educated at the Madison University. He was elected +to the New York Legislature in 1858, and served three terms. In 1860 +he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Seventh +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses.--87, 527. + +ROBERT T. VAN HORN was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, May 19, +1824. After serving an apprenticeship in a printing-office, he studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He subsequently published a +newspaper two years in Pomeroy, Ohio. In 1855 he emigrated to Kansas +City, Missouri, where he established a newspaper which is now the +"Daily Journal of Commerce." In 1861 he was elected Mayor of Kansas +City. He was in the military service as Major and Lieutenant-Colonel +from 1861 to 1864. He was wounded and taken prisoner at Lexington, +Missouri, and after his exchange saw much active service in Tennessee. +While still in the army, he was elected a member of the Missouri +Senate, and in 1864 he was elected a Representative from Missouri to +the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866. + +PETER G. VAN WINKLE was born in the City of New York, September 7, +1808, and removed to Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1835. He was a +member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, and of the +Wheeling Convention of 1861. He aided in forming the Constitution of +West Virginia in 1862. He became a member of the Legislature of that +State at its organization, and in November, 1863, he was elected a +United States Senator from West Virginia for the term ending in +1869.--194, 459. + +_DANIEL W. VOORHEES_ was born in Fountain County, Indiana, September +26, 1828. He graduated at the Indiana Asbury University in 1849, and +commenced the practice of law in 1851. He held the office of United +States District Attorney for three years, by appointment of President +Buchanan. In 1860 he was elected a Representative to Congress from +Indiana, and re-elected in 1862. He appeared in December, 1865, as a +member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but remained only a short time, +his seat having been successfully contested by Henry D. +Washburn.--568. + +BENJAMIN F. WADE was born in Feeding Hills Parish, Massachusetts, +October 27, 1800. He received a common-school education, and was +employed for some time in teaching. At the age of twenty-one he +removed to Ohio and engaged in agriculture. He subsequently studied +law, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. Thereafter he successively +held the offices of Justice of the Peace, Prosecuting Attorney for +Ashtabula County, State Senator, and Judge of the Circuit Court. In +1851 he was elected a United States Senator from Ohio, and has been +twice re-elected, his third term ending in 1869. In March, 1867, he +was elected President, _pro tempore_, of the Senate, and thus became +acting Vice-President of the United States--15, 28, 50, 276, 279, 283, +428, 454, 477, 490, 576. + +_ANDREW H. WARD_ is a lawyer by profession, and a resident of +Cynthiana, Kentucky. He was a Representative from the Sixth District +of Kentucky to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is _Thomas L. Jones_.--509. + +HAMILTON WARD was born in Salisbury, New York, July 3, 1829. He worked +on a farm until nineteen years of age, and was favored with but few +facilities for acquiring education. In 1848 he began the study of law, +and was admitted to the bar in 1851. In 1856 he was elected District +Attorney for Alleghany County, and was re-elected in 1862. At an early +period of the war he was appointed by the Governor a member of the +Senatorial Military Committee, and in that capacity aided in raising +several regiments of volunteers for the army. In 1864 he was elected a +Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was +re-elected in 1866.--306, 361. + +SAMUEL L. WARNER was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1829. He +received an academical education, and having studied law at the Yale +and Harvard Law Schools, was admitted to the bar in 1853. He was soon +after appointed Executive Secretary of State. In 1857 he was a member +of the Connecticut Legislature. In 1860 he was a delegate and a +Secretary of the Baltimore Convention. In 1861 he was elected Mayor of +Middletown, and served two terms. In 1865 he was elected a +Representative from Connecticut to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is _Julius Hotchkiss_.--507. + +ELLIHU B. WASHBURN was born in Livermore, Maine, September 23 1816. +After serving an apprenticeship in the printing-office of the +"Kennebec Journal," he studied law at Harvard University. He +subsequently removed to Illinois, and settled in Galena. In 1852 he +was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Third +Congress. He has been elected to every succeeding Congress including +the Fortieth, and has been longer in continuous service than any other +member of the House.--30. + +HENRY D. WASHBURN was born in Windsor, Vermont, March 28, 1832. In his +youth he served one year as an apprentice to the tanner's trade, and +subsequently was employed as a school-teacher. In 1853 he graduated at +the New York State and National Law School, and settled in Newport, +Indiana. In 1854 he was appointed Auditor of Vermillion County, and in +1856 was elected to the same position. In 1861 he raised a company of +volunteers, of which he was elected Captain. He was soon after made +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighteenth Indiana Infantry, and was +commissioned Colonel June, 1862. He saw much active service, and was +breveted a Major General July 26, 1865. He contested the seat held by +D. W. Voorhees as a Representative from Indiana, and was declared by +the Committee on Elections to be entitled to the place. He was +re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.--568. + +WILLIAM B. WASHBURN was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, January 31, +1820. He graduated at Yale College in 1844, and subsequently engaged +in the business of manufacturing. In 1850 he was a Senator, and in +1854 a Representative, in the Legislature of Massachusetts. He was +subsequently President of Greenfield Bank. In 1862 he was elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to +the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses. + +MARTIN WELKER was born in Knox County, Ohio, April 25, 1819. When a +farmer's boy and a clerk in a store, he applied himself diligently to +study, and without the aid of schools obtained a liberal education. At +the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law, and was admitted to +the bar in 1840. In 1851 he was elected Judge of the Court of Common +Pleas for the Sixth District of Ohio, and served five years. In 1857 +he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, and served one term, +declining a renomination. At the beginning of the war he served three +months as a staff officer with the rank of Major, and was then +appointed Judge Advocate General of the State. In 1862 he was +Assistant Adjutant General of Ohio, and Superintendent of the draft. +In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +JOHN WENTWORTH, grandson of a member of the Continental Congress of +1778, was born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, March 5, 1815. He graduated +at Dartmouth College, and completed a course of legal study in Harvard +University. In 1836 he removed to Illinois, and settled in Chicago. He +conducted the "Chicago Democrat," as editor and proprietor, for +twenty-five years. In 1837 he became a member of the Board of +Education, and occupied that position many years. In 1842 he was +elected a Representative from Illinois to the Twenty-Eighth Congress, +and subsequently served in the Twenty-Ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-First, +and Thirty-Second Congresses. In 1857 and 1860 he was Mayor of +Chicago, and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of +1861. In 1864 a Representative in Congress for his sixth term. His +successor in the Fortieth Congress is Norman B. Judd. In 1867 the +degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College.--18, 556, +557. + +KELLIAN V. WHALEY was born in Onondaga County, New York, May 6, 1821. +When quite young he removed with his father to Ohio, where he was +favored with few educational advantages. At the age of twenty-one he +settled in Western Virginia, and engaged in the lumber and mercantile +business. He was an active opponent of secession in 1860, and as such +was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Seventh Congress. He acted +as an Aid to Governor Pierpont in organizing regiments, and was in +command in the battle of Guandotte, when he was taken prisoner, in +November, 1861. He made his escape from his captors, however, and was +soon able to take his seat in Congress. He was reelected to the +Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the +Fortieth Congress is Daniel Polsley. + +WAITMAN T. WILLEY was born on Buffalo Creek, Monongalia County, +Virginia, October 18, 1811. He graduated at Madison College in 1831, +and was admitted to the bar. From 1841 to 1855 he was Clerk of the +Courts of Monongalia County and the Judicial Circuit. He was a member +of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850. He was a delegate +to the Richmond Convention held in the winter of 1860-61. In 1861 he +was a member of the Wheeling Constitutional Convention. In 1863 he was +elected a Senator in Congress from West Virginia, and has since been +re-elected for the term commencing in 1865 and ending in 1871. In 1863 +he received the degree of LL.D. from Alleghany College of +Pennsylvania.--458, 485, 486, 496. + +GEORGE H. WILLIAMS was born in Columbia County, New York, March 23, +1823. He received an academical education, and studied law. +Immediately after being admitted to the bar in 1844 he removed to +Iowa. In 1847 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of +Iowa. In 1852 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1853 he was appointed +by President Pierce Chief Justice of the Territory of Oregon, and was +re-appointed by President Buchanan in 1857. He was a member of the +Convention which framed the Constitution of Oregon. In 1864 he was +elected a United States Senator from Oregon for the term ending in +1871.--393, 488, 516, 517, 529, 531, 539, 540, 559. + +THOMAS WILLIAMS was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, +Pennsylvania, August 28, 1806. He graduated at Dickinson College in +1825, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1828, and settled +in Pittsburg. From 1838 to 1841 he was member of the State Senate. In +1860 he was a Representative in the State Legislature. In 1862 he was +elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth +Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth +Congresses. + +HENRY WILSON was born in Farmington, New Hampshire, February 16, 1812. +His parents were in very humble circumstances, and at ten years of age +he was apprenticed to a farmer till he was twenty-one. On attaining +his majority, he went to Natick, Massachusetts, where he learned the +trade of shoemaking, and worked at the business nearly three years. He +then secured an academical education, and, after teaching school a +short time, engaged in shoe-manufacturing, which he continued for +several years. In 1841 and 1842 he was a Senator, and in 1844, 1845, +1856, and 1850, a Representative, in the Legislature of Massachusetts. +In 1851 and 1852 he was re-elected a member of the State Senate, of +which he was President. In 1855 he was elected a United States Senator +from Massachusetts to succeed Edward Everett, and in 1859 was +re-elected for the full term. In the recess of Congress in the summer +of 1861, he raised the Twenty-Second Regiment of Massachusetts +Volunteers, of which he was commissioned Colonel. He subsequently +served on General McClellan's staff, until the meeting of Congress in +December. During the war he occupied the arduous and responsible +position in the Senate of Chairman of the Committee of Military +Affairs. At the opening of the Thirty-Ninth Congress he entered upon +his third Senatorial term, which will end in 1871.--15, 95, 97, 101, +135, 214, 402, 410, 431, 435, 437, 487, 491, 498, 530, 531, 532. + +JAMES F. WILSON was born in Newark, Ohio, October 19, 1828. He entered +upon the profession of law, and removed to Iowa in 1853. In 1856 he +was elected a member of the Iowa Constitutional Convention. In 1857 he +was elected a Representative, and in 1859 a Senator, in the State +Legislature. In 1861 he was President of the Iowa Senate. In that year +he was elected a Representative from Iowa to fill a vacancy in the +Thirty-Seventh Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, +Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--31, 51, 230, 237, 239, 288, +294, 325, 536. + +STEPHEN F. WILSON was born at Columbia, Pennsylvania, September 4, +1821. He received his education at Wellsboro' Academy, where he +subsequently engaged for a short time in teaching. He finally became a +lawyer, and was, in 1863, elected a State Senator. In 1864 he was +chosen a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth +Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress. + +WILLIAM WINDOM was born in Belmont County, Ohio, May 10, 1827. He +received an academical education, and studied law. He was admitted to +the bar in 1850, and was soon after elected Prosecuting Attorney for +Knox County, Ohio. In 1853 he removed to Minnesota, and settled in +Winona. In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Minnesota to the +Thirty-Sixth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Seventh, +Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.--229. + +_CHARLES H. WINFIELD_ was born in Orange County, New York, April 22, +1822. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. From 1850 +to 1856 he was District Attorney for Orange County. He was elected a +Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress from New York, and was in +1864 re-elected for a second term. He was succeeded in the Fortieth +Congress by Charles H. Van Wyck.--20, 515. + +FREDERICK E. WOODBRIDGE was born in Vergennes, Vermont, August 29, +1818. He graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, and was +admitted to the bar in 1842. He served three years as a +Representative, and two years as a Senator, in the Vermont +Legislature. He subsequently served three years as Auditor of State. +In 1863 he was elected a Representative from Vermont to the +Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and +Fortieth Congresses. + +_EDWIN R. V. WRIGHT_ was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, January 2, 1812. +He learned the trade of a printer, and in 1835 edited and published +the "Jersey Blue." He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in +1839. He was elected to the State Senate in 1843. He subsequently held +for five years the office of District Attorney for Hudson County. In +1859 he was the Democratic Candidate for Governor of New Jersey, and +was defeated by a small majority. He was elected a Representative from +New Jersey to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was succeeded in the +Fortieth Congress by George A. Halsey.--363. + +_WILLIAM WRIGHT_ was born in Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, in +1791. In 1823 he removed to Newark, New Jersey, and held the office of +Mayor of that city for a number of years. He was a Representative in +Congress four years, commencing in 1843. In 1853 he was elected United +States Senator for the term ending in 1859. In 1863 he was again +elected to the Senate for the term ending in 1869. He died before the +expiration of the term for which he was elected.--276, 569. + +RICHARD YATES was born in Warsaw, Kentucky, in 1818. Having studied +one year at the Miami University, Ohio, he removed to Illinois, and +graduated at Illinois College in 1838. He studied at the Law School of +Lexington, Kentucky, and having been admitted to the bar, he settled +in Jacksonville, Illinois. In 1842 he was elected to the State +Legislature, and served until 1850. In 1851 he was elected a +Representative in Congress from Illinois, and served two terms. He was +subsequently President of a railroad for several years. In 1861 he was +elected Governor of Illinois for the term of four years. During his +administration, 258,000 troops were raised in Illinois and sent to the +field. He was not only active in his State in promoting the success of +the national cause, but he frequently encouraged the regiments of +Illinois by his presence with them in the camp and on the field. In +1865 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Illinois for the term +ending in 1871.--28, 272, 398, 400, 461, 462, 484, 491. + + + + +ANALYTICAL INDEX + + + ABANDONED Lands, restored to rebel owners, 143. + + ADAMS, J. Q., Expenses of his Administration, 111. + + ADMISSION of Southern Representatives proposed, 279. + + AGRICULTURE, Senate Committee on, 27, 31. + + ALABAMA, Black Code of, 146. + + ALHAMBRA, the betrayal of, 65. + + ALLEGIANCE and Protection reciprocal, 257. + + AMALGAMATION, not an effect of Negro Suffrage, 75. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, effect of, 196; + confers Civil Rights, 210; + the Civil Rights Bill, a sequel to, 225; + a warrant for the Civil Rights Bill, 229; + confers citizenship, 273. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, of Basis of Representation, 324; + explained by Mr. Stevens, 325; + failure in passage, 416. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, for Negro Suffrage proposed, 377; + advocated, 387; + voted down, 415. + + AMENDMENT, Constitutional, for Reconstruction, proposed, 435; + final passage, 463; + ratified by numerous legislatures, 505; + then and now, 512. + + AMENDMENTS, Constitutional, needed, 312. + + AMENDMENT to Freedmen's Bureau Bill, proposed by Mr. Cowan, 136; + rejected, 136; + to title of the bill, 136; + proposed in the Senate, 296. + + AMENDMENT to Civil Rights Bill by Mr. Hendricks, 218; + by Mr. Saulsbury, 219. + + AMENDMENT, the power of, exhausted, 349. + + AMENDMENTS, a complicity of, 363. + + AMENDMENT, a crablike, 375. + + AMERICAN Citizenship, what it amounts to, 257. + + ANCIENT Governments, exceptional in their liberty, 206. + + ANDERSONVILLE, rebel atrocities at, 101. + + ANTHRACITE not suitable material for a Corinthian column, 56. + + APPEAL of Mr. Saulsbury, 534. + + APPEAL to the people against Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 152. + + APPROPRIATION, the Committee on, 29. + + ARMY, bill to fix the peace footing of, 553. + + ART, in the capital, 571. + + ASSAULT upon Mr. Grinnell by Mr. Rousseau, 573. + + ATTORNEY General on the trial of Jefferson Davis, 123. + + "AUTHORITY and Power" of the Government, distinction between, 445. + + + BALLOT-BOX to be purified by the angel element, 487, 492; + a high court of errors, 497. + + BALLOT, the negro's best protection, 162; + the great guarantee, 376; + the source of safety for the freedman--eloquent extract, 399; + dangerous in the hands of the ignorant, 497. + + BANCROFT, his eulogy on President Lincoln, 570. + + BANKING and Currency, Committee on, 30. + + BANKRUPTCY, Committee on, 31. + + BANKRUPT LAW, its difference from former acts, 554. + + BANNER of Freedom, and the banner of the Democracy, 80. + + BARABBAS and the Saviour, 380. + + BASIS of Representation, necessity of changing the, 312; + proposed amendment of, 324; + explained, 325; + involves taxation without representation, 326; + effects Negro Suffrage, 327; + reasons which commend it, 331; + bearing on the various States, 332; + would allow property qualification, 332; + amendment proposed by Mr. Orth, 337; + how settled in 1787, 338; + its rejection predicted, 338; + how its provisions may be avoided, 339; + construed as an attack on the President, 343; + facts and figures concerning, 344; + objections, 346, 347; + great opposition to the proposition, 350; + its injustice to the African, 352; + benefit to the Republican party only, 362; + multiplicity of amendments, 363; + passage in the House, 371; + before the Senate, 374; + "not an improvement," 375; + what it will accomplish, 381; + colored men against it, 392; + a party measure, 395; + summary of objections, 402; + an "abortion," 406; + ten objections, 407; + good effects of, 411; + failure to pass the Senate, 416; + regret of Mr. Stevens at its death, 436. + + BENEVOLENT features of the Freedmen's Bureau, 179. + + BERKELEY'S Metaphysics, 310. + + BIRTH confers citizenship, 305. + + BLAINE'S Amendment, 527; + combined with Bingham's, 528; + proposed in the Senate, 529. + + BLACK-LAWS of Southern States, substance of, 147; + Mississippi and South Carolina, 191; + recently passed, 214. + + BLACK skin a badge of loyalty, 53. + + BLOOD asked for, 396; + Chandler's explanation, 397. + + BOUNTY, additional, bill to grant, 552. + + BOYHOOD of Mr. Saulsbury, 193. + + "BREAD and Butter Brigade," 521. + + BROWNLOW, Governor, his proclamation, 473; + his despatch to the Secretary of War, 475; + his loyalty and firmness, 480. + + BROWN, Senator, of Mississippi, his opposition to the education + of the blacks, 388. + + BUCHANAN, President, his veto of the Homestead bill, 255; + his views of secession, 442. + + "BY-PLAY" of the Rebel States with Secretary Seward, 313. + + + CAPITOL, the, character and situation of, 571. + + CASPAR HAUSERS, four millions of, 329. + + CATO on the Immortality of the Soul, 377. + + CAUCASIANS, none save, have become citizens, 199. + + CELTIC race distinct from ours, 360. + + CENSURE of Mr. Hunter, 515; + of Mr. Chanler, 571. + + CENTRALIZATION deprecated, 229, 237, 266. + + CHAIRMANSHIP of Committees, New England's preponderance in, 401. + + CHARITIES not to be given by Congress,148. + + CHEROKEES naturalized, 233. + + CHICAGO Convention of 1860, its doctrine, 60. + + CHILDREN rescued from the burning house, 390. + + CHINESE, Civil Rights Bill makes, citizens, 246, 255. + + CHOCTAW Indians naturalized, 233. + + CHURCHES, colored, in the District of Columbia, 59. + + CITIZENSHIP conferred upon the people of Texas, 199. + + CITIZENSHIP conferred by U. S. Government, 239; + includes State citizenship, 253; + does not confer State citizenship, 271. + + CITIZEN, what constitutes a, 201. + + CIVIL Rights denied to negroes in Indiana, 117,131; + all departments of the Government designed to secure, 221; + denial of makes men slaves, 224. + + CIVIL Rights Bill foreshadowed, 98; + introduced, 188; + its provisions, 189; + necessity for it, 190; + a dangerous measure, 192; + object of it, 210; + odious military features, 211; + opposed, 216; + explained and defended, 217; + have been in the law thirty years, 218; + bill passes in the Senate, 219; + before the House, 220; + recommitted, 233; + its beneficence towards Southern rebels, 233; + interferes with State rights, 222, 236; + amendment proposed by Mr. Bingham, 237; + rejected, 242; + argued as unconstitutional, 237, + reply, 239; + passes the House, 243; + odious title proposed, 243; + as amended, passes the Senate, 244; + vetoed by the President, 246; + veto answered, 253; + passes over the veto, 288, 289; + the form in which it became a law, 290; + propriety of placing it in the Constitution, 438. + + COLFAX, Schuyler, elected Speaker of the House, 20; + vote of thanks to, 576. + + COLLOQUY between Chanler and Bingham, 67; + Davis and Trumbull, 136, 199; + Clark and Davis, 201; + Brooks and Stevens, 336; + Higby and Hill, 356; + Dixon and Trumbull, 424; + Doolittle, Nye, and Lane, 457; + Ashley, Conkling, and Stevens, 513; + Doolittle and Wilson, 531; + on specie payments, Stevens, Wentworth, and Garfield, 556. + + COLLAR the President's, charge of wearing repelled, 284. + + COLOR of a citizen not inquired into in our early history, 51; + should not be regarded in our laws, 53; + indefiniteness of the term, 360. + + COLORADO, reason of the non-admission of, 559. + + COMMERCE, Committee on, 27, 30. + + COMMISSIONER of Freedmen's Bureau, 140. + + COMMITTEES, the importance of, in legislation, 25; + difficulty of selecting, 26. + + COMMITTEE on Reconstruction, 49; + report of, 466; + difficulty of obtaining information by, 467; + conclusion of, 471. + + COMPOUND Interest Notes, attempt to redeem, 558. + + COMPROMISE of Moral Principles opposed, 374. + + CONCERT of action desired, 37. + + CONFEDERATION, the old, and the Constitution, 316. + + CONFISCATION discarded by civilized nations, 320. + + CONGRESS, no danger to be feared from usurpation by, 501; + as described by President Johnson, 561; + salutary effect of vetoes upon, 563. + + CONNECTICUT, the voice of on negro suffrage, 394. + + CONSERVATISM the worst word in the language, 101. + + CONSERVATIVES represented by Mr. Raymond, 314. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Amendment, what laws may be passed under, 118. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Amendments, how they should be made; advice of + Mr. Saulsbury, 405. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Amendments in the interests of slavery once + popular, 405. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Authority of the President and General Grant, 124. + + CONSTITUTIONAL Convention of 1787, 338. + + CONSTITUTION, the, powers it confers, 122; + violation of, an oft-repeated argument, 149; + to be destroyed by the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 148; + unreconcilable with military rule, 176; + caused to bleed, 193; + does not exclude negroes from citizenship, 203; + against State Sovereignty, 319; + more liberal before the Rebellion, 327; + may be legally amended, 357; + as estimated by its makers, 278; + not necessary to re-enact it, 380. + + CONTRAST between whites and blacks under Kentucky law, 154. + + COTTON, export duty on proposed, 312. + + "COUNTER PROPOSITION" by Mr. Sumner, 373, 379, 382; + rejected, 415. + + COURTESY of Senator Wade, as described by Mr. McDougall, 282. + + COWAN, Edgar, his radicalism, 489; his seriousness, 490. + + + DAVIS, Garrett, his programme for the President, 430, 432; + struck "dumb," 209; + his ability to "hang on," 533. + + DAVIS, Jefferson, why not tried, 123; + acted "under color of law," 260; + not a traitor if rebel States are treated as foreign powers, 317; + his proclamation, 480. + + DEAD STATES described, 308; + impossible, 316. + + DEATH-KNELL of Liberty: passage of Reconstruction Bill, 547. + + DEATHS of Senators, 569; + of Representatives, 570. + + DEBATES of the Senate and House, difference, 452. + + DEBATE, right of in the Senate, 38. + + DEBT, accumulated burden of the public, 147; + rebel, how inherited by the United States, 317; + must be repudiated, 319. + + DEFEAT, the lesson of, 416. + + DEFIANCE of the majority by Garrett Davis, 244. + + DEFILEMENT of the Constitution, 407; + answer to the charge, 410. + + DELAWARE, the last slaveholding State, 127. + + DELAY needful, 382. + + DELAYS of the Senate, protest against, 394; + benefits of, 453. + + DESPOTISM, establishment of, in the South, 531. + + DEMOCRACY, leader of the, confusion concerning, 306. + + DEMOCRATIC ascendency, dangers attending, 312. + + DEMOCRATIC party against the Government, 399; + policy of, traversed, 442. + + DEMOCRATS, their new discovery, 358; + how they caused the passage of the Reconstruction Amendment, 451; + hunting up negro voters, 498. + + DEVELOPMENT always slow, 64. + + DISFRANCHISEMENT of negroes by whites, 365, 376; + opposed, 387; + of rebels advocated, 443. + + DISSOLUTION of the Union in the passage of the Freedmen's Bureau + Bill, 160. + + DISUNION, threat of, 161. + + DISTRICT of Columbia, Committee on, 28; + under the special care of Congress, 50; + number and character of rebels in, 77. + + DISTRICT of Columbia, bill to extend suffrage in, introduced, 51; + motion to postpone, 82; + amendments proposed, 82; + and rejected, 93; + passage in the House, 93; + called up in the Senate, 483; + reason for its occupying so much attention, 485; + why it was not passed before, 491; + its passage, 499; + veto, 500; + passage over the veto, 501; + why it was so long deferred, 564, 565. + + DOG, injustice to a, 509. + + DOOLITTLE, his position on the Civil Rights Bill, 285; + "a fortunate politician," 459; + the savior of his party, 469. + + DREAM of Thaddeus Stevens vanished, 463. + + DRED Scott Decision against civil rights, 198, 264. + + DU PONT, Admiral, his mention of the negro pilot, 71. + + + EARTHQUAKE predicted, 447. + + EDUCATION, the Committee on, 30. + + EDUCATION of Freedmen, provision for, 145 + + EDUCATION, an uncertain test, 62; + should be made a test, 63; + of colored children, a scene in the old Senate, 389; + Bureau of, 553. + + EDUCATOR, the best, the ballot is, 399. + + ELECTIVE franchise, a means of elevation, 57; + the only proper test for its exercise, 61; + its abridgment not authorized by the Amendment of + Representation, 358; + the President's view of his power over, 562. + + EMANCIPATION, its effect upon rights, 328. + + ENFRANCHISEMENT to be a gradual work, 354; + how to bring about, 411; + not disfranchisement, the question in reconstruction, 506. + + ENGLAND, her paper money and specie payments, 556. + + EPOCH in the history of the country, 204. + + EQUALITY, political, a "fiendish doctrine," 61. + + EQUALITY does not exist, 195. + + EQUAL Rights, the blessings of, 377. + + EXCITEMENT, the Senate not unfitted for business by, 421. + + EXCLUSION from citizenship, a right, 195. + + EXECUTIVE obstruction, of Congress, 560. + + EXECUTIVE patronage, evils of, 559. + + EXPENSE of Freedmen's Bureau, 110; + objections to answered, 128; + for one year, 145, 147, 100; + as presented by the President, 180. + + EXPULSION of Garrett Davis prayed for, 572. + + + FEMALE Suffrage advocated, 487. + + FEMALES not a political element, 345. + + FINANCE, the Committee on, 27; + the subject of, 555. + + FISKE, General, his statement, 182. + + FLAG, the American, 40. + + FLOWERS of rhetoric, from a Senator's speech, 413. + + FOOT, Solomon his death, 569. + + FOREIGN MINISTERS, penalty for proceeding against, 259, 267, 270. + + FOREIGN population, their representatives in Congress, 369, 379. + + FOREIGN Relations, Chairman of Committee on, 26. + + FOREIGNERS not discriminated against in the Civil Rights Bill, 254. + + FOSTER, L. S., as President of the Senate, 23; + retirement from the office, 576. + + FREEDMEN, their necessities and numbers, 95; + Committee on, 31, 95; + Senator Wilson's bill to protect, 95; + objections to, 98; + laid over, 103. + + FREEDMEN'S BUREAU, a bill to enlarge introduced in the Senate, 105; + its provisions, 105; + its expense, 111; + its military feature, 112; + for the negro, against the white man, 119; + not designed to be permanent, 121; + establishment of schools, 130; + passes the Senate, 136; + brought up in the House, 138; + passage, 157; + "a dissolution of the Union," 160; + its bounty to the whites, 163; + veto of, 164. + + FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL, the second reported, its provisions, 295; + passage in the House, 295; + in the Senate, 296; + form as it became a law, 298; + veto of, 302; + passage over the veto, 306; + the bill and the veto, 563. + + FREEDOM elevates the colored race, 85. + + FRIENDSHIP for the negro, Mr. Cowan's, 135. + + FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW, its provisions employed in the Civil Rights + Bill, 190, 192; + its re-enactment in the Civil Rights Bill opposed, 212; + and advocated, 213; + used for a good end, 216. + + + GARBLING, an example of, 572. + + GENERAL Government supreme to confer citizenship, 239. + + GENEROSITY towards rebels, McDougall's illustrated, 461. + + GEORGIA, her avoidance of the Civil Rights Bill, 275; + possessory titles of freedmen to lands in, 108. + + GERMAN woman, a slave, 349. + + GOVERNMENT, all departments of the, designed to secure + civil rights, 221. + + GOVERNMENT, the need of the South, 516. + + GRANT, General, on the Freedmen's Bureau, 119; + his order to protect officers from civil prosecution, 123; + his order setting aside black laws, 215; + his report, 563. + + GREATNESS of America, 360. + + GROUND-SWELL, danger of, after the war, 62. + + GYPSIES, their birth and citizenship, 246, 255. + + + HABEAS Corpus, restored to loyal States, 123; + its suspension an evidence that the war had not closed, 177. + + HAPPINESS of statesmen who died before recent legislation, 194. + + HAYTI, her blow for liberty, 69. + + HIGHWAYMAN, his weapons restored, 122. + + HOMES for Freedmen, the purchase of, 115. + + HOMESTEAD Bill, Southern, 553. + + HOUSE of Representatives, scene at the opening of, 16. + + HOWARD, General, placed at the head of the Freedmen's Bureau, 139; + his operations, 142. + + HUNGARY, why revolutionary, 383. + + + IGNORANCE among colored people rapidly disappearing, 54; + the nation chargeable with, 62; + in the South, 146. + + IMPEACHMENT proposed, 566; + report of Committee on, 567. + + INDIANA, negro suffrage not necessary in as in the South, 77; + liable to be placed under the jurisdiction of Freedmen's Bureau, 110; + military rule in, 112; + civil-rights denied to negroes in, 117; + marriage in, 131; + not in rebellion, 125. + + INDIANA and Massachusetts, prejudice against color and against + ignorance, 337. + + INDIANS, appropriations voted to feed and clothe, 120; + excluded from civil rights, 201; + becoming extinct, 410. + + INDICTMENT substituted for Writ of Error, 274. + + INDIVIDUALS, not States, commit treason, and are punished, 316. + + INDUSTRIAL interests promoted by negro suffrage, 494. + + INTELLIGENCE should be required of the negro voter, 73, 81. + + IOWA, zeal and patriotism of her colored people, 73; + vote on negro suffrage in, 74. + + IRELAND, cause of her troubles, 383. + + + JAMAICA, insurrection in, cause of, 75. + + JEFFERSON as quoted by President Johnson, 500. + + JESUS CHRIST, the spirit of, 223, 224. + + JOHNSON, Andrew, becomes President, 13; + his amnesty proclamation, 14; + how the odium against would be shared by Congress, 519; + "the late lamented Governor," 437. + + JOHNSON, Senator, Andrew, his reply to Buchanan's veto, 255, 264. + + JOHNSON, Doctor, and the leg of mutton, 406. + + "JOHNSONIAN, new converts," 439. + + JUDICIAL authority under Freedmen's Bureau, 130. + + JUDICIAL Department, the only hope, 512. + + JUDICIARY Committee of the Senate described, 28; + of the House, 31; + subjects properly referred to it, 38; + report on impeachment, 567. + + JURY Trial not given under martial law, 175. + + JUSTICE should be done to white and black, 119. + + + KANSAS, her protest against the denial of rights, 89; + in 1856, 90; + surrendered to the machinations of slave masters, 99. + + KENTUCKY, Union party in, 152; + necessity for Freedmen's Bureau in, advocated and opposed, 134; + members from, their opposition to the Freedmen's Bureau, 149; + her opposition to the Government, 153; + laws of, relating to whites and blacks, 154; + during the war, 211; + will submit, 343; + the United States, an appendage to, 362. + + KILLING an official, opinion as to when it should be done, 151. + + "KING can do no wrong," a bad maxim, 260. + + KOH-I-NOOR of blackness, 407. + + + LADIES, their supposed opinions on female suffrage, 492. + + LAERTES, his language endorsed, 529. + + LANDS not taken from owners by Freedmen's Bureau, 182. + + LANE, James H., his suicide, 569. + + LAW, "under color of," explained, 258, 260. + + LAWS in Kentucky for whites and blacks, 211. + + LAWYER "abating the statesman," 208. + + LEADER, of the democracy, confusion concerning, 306; + of the House, 575. + + LEE acted "under color of law," 260. + + LEGISLATURE of Tennessee, Constitutional Amendment in, 473. + + LEGISLATURES do not constitute States, 327. + + LEGISLATIVE power, danger of its abuse, 500. + + LIGHT from the House not needed in the Senate, 44. + + LINCOLN, Abraham, his assassination, 13; + how he closed a chasm, 230; + his language, 323; + his death "no loss to the South," 562; + celebration of his birthday, 570. + + LION, the prostrate, 71. + + LOAN Bill, the, 558. + + LOYALISTS, Southern, never lost their right of representation, 427. + + LOYALTY impossible if States are foreign powers, 317. + + + "MALE," the word should not be placed in the Constitution, 370. + + MANHOOD of the negro race recognized, 91. + + MANUFACTURERS, Senate Committee on, 27; House, 31. + + MARIUS upon the ruins of Carthage, 287. + + MARSHALL, Chief Justice, decision pronounced by, 253. + + MARYLAND, necessity for Freedmen's Bureau in, 135. + + MASSACHUSETTS, her law of suffrage, 63; + her character, 74; + her example not to be quoted, 92; + crimes are perpetrated in, 97; + prejudice against ignorance in, 336; + Senator Sumner advised to leave, 336. + + MAYOR of Washington, his remonstrance against negro suffrage, 486. + + MCCLELLAN'S proclamation against the slaves, 67. + + MCCULLOCH, circumstances under which he should receive great + credit, 558. + + MCDOUGALL, his habits and talents, 277. + + MCPHERSON, Edward, Clerk of the House, 16; + his conduct in the organization, 17; + strictures on, 431. + + MEMORIAL from colored men, 393. + + METAPHYSICAL argument for female suffrage, 493. + + MILITARY affairs, Committee on, 31. + + MILITARY feature of the Civil Rights Bill opposed, 216; + explained and defended, 217; + has been the law 30 years, 218; + nothing unusual, 225. + + MILITARY governments in the South, colloquy concerning, 530. + + MILITARY protection of Freedmen's Bureau opposed, 112; + explained and advocated, 126, 172. + + MILITARY Reconstruction Bill, discussion of a previous + proposition, 502; + the measure proposed, 516; + its form, 517; + explained, 518; + danger in not providing for civil governments, 523; + a police bill only, 528; + Blaine's amendment of, 527; + passes the House, 529; + Sherman's amendment, 534; + passes the Senate, 535; + amended in the House, 541; + final passage, 524; + vetoed; passes over the veto, 547, 548; + final form, 548. + + MILITARY should not supersede civil authority, 524. + + MILL, John Stuart, in favor of female suffrage, 488. + + MISSISSIPPI, black code of, 146; + distinctions in against blacks, 191; + numbers of whites and negroes in, 334. + + MISSOURI injured by making voters the basis of representation, 366. + + MONOPOLY, Southern, of human rights, 376. + + MONTGOMERY Convention committed treason "under color of law," 261. + + MURDER, being unlawful, can not be committed, 310; + answer, 315. + + + NAME, ability to read and write the, as a qualification for + voting, 496. + + NAPOLEON not liable to execution if taken in war, 317. + + NATIVE-BORN persons not subjects for naturalization, 200, 201; + the position opposed, 203; + advocated, 208. + + NATURALIZATION Act as constituted by Congress, 203; + may be changed, 204; + its nature, 232. + + NATURALIZATION of races, authorities, instances, 233, 238, 254. + + NEBRASKA admitted into the Union, 559. + + NEGRO brigade, charge of at Port Hudson, 71. + + NEGRO, Cuvier's definition of, enlarged, 484. + + NEGRO competition not to be feared, 229. + + NEGRO equality does not exist in nature, 144. + + NEGRO race, a mine or a buttress, 86; dying out, 408; answer, 409. + + NEGROES have no history of civilization, 55; + content with their situation, 55; + their wealth in Washington, 58; + should have citizenship, but not suffrage, 63; + their inferiority, 67; + became soldiers under discouraging circumstances, 70; + their property and patriotism, 71; + of Iowa, their patriotism, 73; + danger in the influence of politicians over, 79; + elevated by freedom, 85; + their manhood recognized, 91; + laws against them in the South, 147; + prejudice against in the South, 161; + citizens before the Constitution in North Carolina, 200; + in New Hampshire, 201; + allowed to compete for the Presidency, 222, 229; + our allies, should not be deserted, 234; + their services in the war, and subsequent wrongs, 282; + competent to vote, 387; + eligible to the highest offices, 387; + their heroic deeds, 391; + their enfranchisement should be gradual, 393; + enormities practiced against, 504. + + NEGRO suffrage, evil effects of, 60; + would humble the white laborer, 65; + chronology of in several States, 73; + a necessity for the South, 76; + retributive justice to rebels, 77; + best obtained by indirect means, 412; + history of the legislation for, 483; + course of Mr. Yates on, 484; + passage over the veto, 501. + + NEUTRALITY in Kentucky, 152. + + NEW ENGLAND, undue preponderance of in the Senate, 401; + answer, 403; + her happiness in not being despised, 413. + + NEW ENGLAND Senators not silent during the war, 402. + + NEW HAMPSHIRE, negroes citizens in, 201. + + NEW YORK and Mississippi, inequality in their representation, 329; + not affected by change in the basis of representation, 332. + + NEW YORK Times, editorial in the, 444. + + NORTH CAROLINA, negroes citizens in before the Constitution, 200; + legislation of, concerning white slaves, 349. + + NORTH and South, statesmen of the, 384. + + NORTH, the political, what constitutes, 57. + + + OBJECT of the war, 44. + + OFFICE, ineligibility to, as a punishment, 458. + + OLIGARCHY, the power of, should be ended, 350. + + + PACIFIC Railroad, Committee on, 30. + + PAINS and penalties of not holding office, 458. + + PANEGYRIC on Union and rebel dead, 364; + answered, 370. + + PARLIAMENT and the King, 477. + + PARTISAN controversy, 442. + + PARTY for enfranchisement, how to be raised up, 411. + + PARTY man, Mr. Hendricks not suspected to be, 412. + + PATENT medicine in the Senate, 162. + + PATTERSON, Senator of Tennessee, case of, 478; + admitted to a seat, 482. + + PENALTY essential to effectiveness of law, 259; + is not permission, 414. + + PENNSYLVANIA does not need the Freedmen's Bureau, 133; + against negro citizenship, 195. + + PEOPLE, "the sacred," constitute the States, 327; + their verdict for Congress, 564. + + PERRY, Governor, his disloyalty, 562. + + PERSIAN Mythology--Gods of Light and Darkness, 277. + + PHYSICAL endurance, a question of, 419. + + POLICY of Congress shown in legislation for the District of + Columbia, 50; + of the President, 423. + + POLITICAL existence alone entitles to representation, 330; + faith maintained in "the worst of times." 532; + rights not conferred by Civil Rights Bill, 256; + society in the South must be changed, 445. + + PRECIPITATE action deprecated, 382. + + PREJUDICE of the Southern people against the negro, 161. + + PRESENT time contrasted with 1787, 338. + + PRESIDENT'S right to say who constitute Congress, 431. + + PRESIDENCY, negroes allowed to compete for, 222, 229. + + PRESIDENT Johnson, duty of Congress to sustain, 41; + Congress not to be bound by his opinion, 42; + reluctance of Congress to break with, 94; + described as whitewashing, 99; + not a "summer soldier," 100; + his character as a witness vindicated, 101; + restores the habeas corpus, 123; + views on good faith to freedmen, 131; + policy of restoring lands to rebel owners, 143; + veto of Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 164; + answered by Mr. Trumbull, 171; + veto of the Civil Rights Bill, 245; + his controversy with Congress, 262; + harmony desirable, 269; + his dictation to Congress opposed, 276; + defended by Mr. Lane, of Kansas, 280; + wearing his collar, 181; + as Moses of the negroes, 282; + not infallible, 283; + his defection and its effect, 294; + his invitation to Congress, 314; + the Constitutional Amendment construed as an attack upon, 343; + speaks through an "unusual conduit," 366; + effect of his dictation, 372; + effect of his speech, 419; + description of, 423; + effect of his opposition to reconstruction, 451; + his patriotic duty, 459; + eulogy on, 460; + charged with responsibility for the state of the country, 463; + taking "ministerial steps," 464; + his influence in Tennessee, 473; + his protest against a preamble, 477; + veto of the Suffrage Bill, 500; + his usurpations, 508; + how long he governed the South, 519; + his greatness, 520; + hope for harmony with, 524; + hope only in the removal of, 526; + his course rendering military reconstruction necessary, 527; + how he executed the law for two years, 536; + his terms towards Congress, 561; + his 22d February speech, 563; + before the people, 564; + his vetoes, impeachment proposed, 566; + resolution complimentary to, 571. + + PRESIDENT of the Senate, the office vacated and assumed, 576. + + PRIVILEGES and immunities of a Member of Congress, 575. + + PROGRESS, in six years,--a scene in the Senate, 389. + + PROGRESS, the tide of, cannot be stayed, 400. + + PROPERTY qualification may be restored in South Carolina, 332. + + PROSPECTS, brilliant, before the country, 394. + + PUBLIC justice slow, but sure, 287. + + PUBLIC Lands, Committee on, 30. + + PUNISHMENT and reward, Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Sumner, 413. + + PUNISHMENT of the Southern States, 395. + + + QUALIFICATION of Members decided upon by each House separately, 39. + + + RACES, differences in, cannot be obliterated, 56; + diversity of opinion concerning, 360. + + RADICAL bull taken by the horns, 314. + + RADICAL and Conservative policy contrasted, 320; + different in details, not in essence, 322. + + RADICALISM, no danger of shipwreck from, 462. + + RADICAL majority, its ranks strengthened, 294. + + RADICAL principles indestructible, 428. + + RADICALS, their purpose to be rational, 489. + + RAIL-SPLITTER and tailor-boy, 400. + + READING and writing as a qualification for voting, 487; + Mr. Dixon's proposition, 495; + lost, 499. + + REAM, Miss Minnie, her commission to make a statue of Lincoln, 470. + + REBELLION, its surviving strength, 527. + + REBELS, their hatred of the negro, 76; + retributive justice to, 77; + what is expected of them, 133; + authority should not be restored to, 122; + should be trusted, 223, 386; + their confidence to be won, 228; + not to be conciliated by the sacrifice of the freedmen, 231; + not to be deprived of citizenship, 233; + called "the nation's dead," 364; + reply, 370; + sufficiently punished, should be reaedmitted, 429; + instructions to, 426; + proposition to disfranchise, 436; + opposed, 438; + the number who would be disfranchised, 440; + their disfranchisement passes the House, 450; + rejected in the Senate, 455; + the most guilty, 448; + in Congress, six years ago, 449; + generosity towards, illustrated, 461; + their conduct gives justice to the negro, 516. + + REBEL States, their status, 37, 41, 45; + facts respecting, 46; + cannot destroy the Union, 145; + their treatment of the negro, 153; + their lack of representation no obstacle to legislation, 185; + should not deprive loyal States of the power to legislate, 254; + laws of, oppressive to freedmen, 261; + how their absence affects legislation, 268; + dead, 308; + how restored, 309; + how they lost their existence, 321; + never out of the Union, 314; + how should be treated, 318; + bill to restore to political rights introduced, 502; + Mr. Stevens' labor upon it, 528. + + REBEL war, novel theory of, 509. + + RECONSTRUCTION, as begun by President Johnson, 14; + resolution to appoint a committee on, 34, 48; + committee on, 49; + their appointment, how regarded, 307; + first report of committee on, 324; + committee on, denounced, 441; + its consummation eloquently portrayed, 448; + Report on, 466; + three modes of, 503; + character of the committee on, 513; + styled "Maelstrom Committee," 519. + + RECONSTRUCTION Amendment proposed, 435; + denounced as revolutionary, 437; + passage in the House, 450; + influence of the Democrats in passing, 451; + length of debate on, in the Senate, 453; + amendments and substitutes proposed, 454, 455; + "stupendous mercy," 461; + passage, 462, 463; + its form, 463; + transmitted to the States, 465. + + REEL in the bottle, 415. + + REFUGEES, their stories, 523. + + RELIGION, appealed to, 458. + + REMARKABLE combination of Senators, 415. + + REPRESENTATION, Constitutional Amendment concerning, proposed, 324. + + REPRESENTATION, modes of, considered, 330; + the old rule of, arbitrary, 344; + of Southern States, resolution concerning, 417; + passage, 433; + "straw in a storm," 422; + "useless, yet mischievous," 432. + + REPRESENTATIVES, seats of, 25. + + REPRIMAND of Mr. Rosseau, 574. + + REPUBLIC, American idea of, historical summary, 375; + its overthrow lamented, 507. + + REPUBLICANISM, its meaning, 477. + + REPUBLICAN Government denied to the District of Columbia, 90; + how guaranteed, 311; + what constitutes, 356; + inconsistent with denial of right of suffrage, 340; + opinion of the fathers concerning, 385. + + REPUBLICAN Party, its success or failure, 88; + Rousseau's remark upon, 151; + its responsibility, 306; + declared by Mr. Stevens not responsible for his opinions, 308; + its demands, 323; + its negro capital, 361; + alone benefited by change in Basis of Representation, 362; + how it may retain power, 395; + history and triumph of, 429; + its "scheme," 442; + its position defined, 443; + its desire, 510. + + REVOLUTION, a Constitutional and peaceful, 206; + produced by Civil Rights Bill, 287, 288. + + "RICH man's war, and poor man's fight," 446. + + RIGHTS, danger of denying, 88; + of voting essential to the enjoyment of other rights, 92; + as affected by emancipation, 328. + + ROUSSEAU and Grinnell, affair of, 151, 572. + + ROME, her treatment of conquered Latium, 314; + her noble "bloods" lost, 338; + she rebukes America, 392. + + RUSSIA, an example of, 99; + Czar of, his example cited, 155. + + + SAVIOUR of the world found his followers among the poor, 88. + + SARSAPARILLA and the ballot, 163. + + SCHOOLS for freedmen should be provided by Government, 130; + of colored people in the District of Columbia, 59. + + SCHURZ, General, evidence of his report, 76, 563. + + SCOTT, General, his death, 459; + funeral and statue, 570. + + SECESSION, Ordinance of, a nullity, 314. + + SELF government, a right, 61. + + SELF preservation, a right of the nation, 522. + + SEATS, selection of, 23, 24. + + SENATE, opening scenes in, 14; + supposed division of, 431; + its proper business and mischievous business, 460. + + SENATOR, the Greek, and the Sparrow, 93. + + SENATORS not legislators for their own States alone, 186; + republican, as they appeared after a caucus, 456. + + SERAPIS, destruction of the statue of, 145. + + SEWARD, Secretary, his despatch to Minister Adams, 71; + and the nobleman's dog, 509; + defended, 512. + + SHERMAN, General, his order assigning lands to freedmen, 114, 128. + + SHERMAN'S Amendment to the Military Reconstruction Bill, 534. + + SLAVE, the, under American law, 197. + + SLAVEHOLDER, the last in America, 127. + + SLAVES have supported themselves and their masters, 70. + + SLAVERY, its evil influence, 87; + dead, 102; + its destruction, 145; + abolition of, duty consequent upon, 188; + voted perpetual by Congress, 230; + right of U. S. to prohibit, 319; + not confined to the African race, 348, 349. + + SMALL, the negro pilot, 71. + + SOUTH, what constitutes the, 57. + + SOUTH CAROLINA attempts to keep the slave in bondage, 96; + her laws against the negro, 146; + her representation to be reduced, 331; + and Wisconsin, inequality in representation, 334; + her numbers of whites and negroes, 334; + how she may evade the Constitutional Amendment, 341; + President Johnson's advice to, 562. + + SOUTHERN people, their kind feeling towards negroes, 227; + a majority opposed to secession, 446; + their disposition, 470; + advised to strike for liberty, 494. + + SOUTHERN States, number of illiterate persons in, 146; + in a better condition than to be expected, 109; + their representatives should be admitted, 355; + the numbers disfranchised by them, 365; + an appeal to their love of power, 369; + anti-republican, 376; + punishment of, 395; + not kept out by New England jealousy, 403; + their losses in the war, 408; + revolution relating to, 417; + their relation to the Union unchanged, 427. + + SOVEREIGNTIES, divided, essential to the existence of the nation, 267. + + SPEAKER of the House, his influence upon legislation, 576. + + SPECIE payments, when to be reached, 556. + + STARS of heaven and the constellation of the States, 144. + + STATE of the country, unparalleled, 178. + + STATESMANSHIP the rule of, 539; + what constitutes, 532. + + STATESMEN of the North and South, 384. + + STATE sovereignty, the doctrine destroyed, 319. + + STATES rights defined, 228; + Civil Rights Bill endangers, 222, 236; + answered, 240. + + STATES reserved the right to confer citizenship, 265; + the number recognized by the President, 335; + South and North, their ratio of representation compared, 344. + + STATISTICS of Freedmen's Bureau, 154, 182. + + STATUTES declaring what the law is, common, 254. + + STEWART'S proposition for universal suffrage, 435. + + ST. DOMINGO, insurrection in, without a parallel, 68. + + STOCKBRIDGE Indians naturalized, 233. + + STORY, Justice, as quoted by President Johnson, 500. + + SUBJECTS, who are, how made citizens, 232. + + SUFFRAGE in the District of Columbia, bill extending, 51; + the first act in a political drama, 54; + not prematurely proposed, 91. + + SUFFRAGE limited by the influence of slavery, 52; + negro to be effected by Constitutional Amendment, 327; + the proper basis of representation, 335; + the right of, Congress may regulate, 364; + negro or rebel? 383; + impartial, advocated by Mr. Yates, 398; + by Mr. Pomeroy, 404; + female, advocated and opposed, 488; + advocated by Mr. Wade, 490; + rejected, 495; + its true base, 495. + + SUN obscured by Congressional acts, 337. + + SUPPLEMENTARY Reconstruction Bill, 550. + + SYMPATHIZERS, Northern, with rebellion, 78. + + + TACTICS, Parliamentary, 418. + + TARIFF, subject of the, 554; bill, 555. + + TAXATION without representation opposed, 326, 333; + proposed exemption of unrepresented negroes from, 386; + the principle of, announced, 555. + + TEARS for the slave, 192. + + TEMPTATION to be friends of the President, 564. + + TENNESSEE, efforts of members to gain admission, 17; + effect of veto of Freedmen's Bureau on the admission of, 418; + right of Congress to inquire into the loyalty of, 424; + her reaedmission anticipated, 448; + first to ratify the Constitutional Amendment, 473; + resolution for restoring representation to, 474; + its passage, 476. + + TENURE of office, bill to regulate, 559. + + TERMS of surrender to be fixed by the President, 319. + + TERRITORIAL Government proper for rebel States, 312. + + TERRITORIES, democratic doctrine on, fruits of, 442. + + TEST Oath, 21; + should be modified, 47; + resolution to modify the, 480; + opposed by Mr. Stokes, 480; + by Mr. Conkling; laid on the table, 481. + + TEXAS, citizenship conferred on the people by legislation, 198; + negroes in, unaware of their freedom, 393. + + TIME proper for amending the Constitution, 345, 352, 355. + + TOOMBS and his gang make a "hell of legislation," 449. + + TOWNSEND'S Sarsaparilla, and suffrage, 530. + + TRANQUILLITY impossible while rights are denied a portion of the + people, 486. + + TREASON, charge, of resented, 284. + + TRIBUNES of Borne, their "veto," 278. + + TROUBLE with the negro, how ended, 390. + + TRUMBULL, Senator, his visit to the President, 262, 283. + + + UNION Party of 1861, its policy on slavery, 342; + its position defined, 443. + + UNION to be dissolved by act of Congress, 40; + under the Constitution and old confederation, 316; + means of having a prosperous, 461. + + UNIVERSAL suffrage, its sure triumph, 400. + + + "VENOMOUS fight," a, 419. + + VERBAL details, criticism on, deprecated, 520. + + VETO, of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 165; + bill fails to pass over, in the Senate, 187; + Mr. Raymond desirous of avoiding, 235; + of Civil Rights Bill, 246; + efforts of Congress to avoid, 262; + appeal of Senator Andrew Johnson against, 264; + power of the Executive, 278; + of the second Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 302; + of the District of Columbia Suffrage Bill, 500; + of Military Reconstruction Bill, 542; + of Tenure of Office Bill, 560 + + VETOES, summary of, 565. + + VIRGINIA, her legislation concerning citizenship, 349. + + VIRGINIANS, probable effect of negro suffrage upon, 498. + + VOTE on appointment of Reconstruction Committee, 35, 48; + on Negro Suffrage, 93; + on Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 136, 157, 187; + on Civil Rights Bill, 219, 243; + on veto of Civil Rights Bill, 288, 289; + on Reconstruction Amendment, 450; + on Basis of Representation, 371, 416; + on Military Reconstruction Bill, 535. + + VOTES of disfranchised persons in the Electoral College, 329. + + VOTERS, objections to, as basis of representation, 351. + + VOTERS, qualifications of, under the Military Reconstruction Bill, 550. + + VOTING, the mode of in Joint Committees, 39. + + VOTING, the right of, not correlative with the duty to bear arms, 493; + population in States, old and new, 335. + + + WADE accused of secession sentiments, 428. + + WAR, effects of the, 62; + opinions of General Grant and the Attorney General on its + termination, 123; + results of the, 209. + + WAR of races, how produced, 75; how avoided, 383. + + WAR power of the Freedmen's Bureau, 125. + + WAR, the only remaining means of preserving civil liberty, 519; + difficulty of raising soldiers for such a, 521. + + WASHINGTON City thriftless under the rule of slavery, 52; + schools and churches of colored population in, 59; + negroes in, their property and patriotism, 71; + its situation, 571. + + WASHINGTON, George, on alterations of the Constitution, 358. + + WAYS and Means, Committee on, 29. + + WELFARE, public, subserved by passage of Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 149. + + WHIPPING negroes to disfranchise them, 504. + + "WHITE-MAN'S Government," this is not exclusively, 57, 61; + the idea opposed, 207; + eloquent passage concerning, 391; + answer to, 396. + + "WHITE," mistake of Colorado in using the word, 559. + + WHITE people, civilized governments intended for, 60; + sometimes vote wrong, 79; + never legally slaves, 370; + not discriminated against, 258; + recipients of bounty of Freedmen's Bureau, 163; + General Fiske's statement, 182. + + WHITE population to be crowded out by blacks, 150. + + WHITE soldiers did more than black, 66. + + "WHITEWASHING," charged against the President, 99, 563. + + WISCONSIN, instructions to the Senators of, 286; + and South Carolina, their unequal representation, 334; + her declaration on negro suffrage, 394; + radicals of, Doolittle against the, 533. + + WOMEN, crusade against, deprecated, 370. + + + YOUNG gentlemen in Congress, suggestions to, 529. + + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress +of the United States, by Wiliam H. 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