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.