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.