THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS.
The President's treatment of the South -- First Annual
Message -- Mr. Sumner's Criticism -- The President
triumphant -- He damages his Cause -- Humor of Mr. Stevens
-- Vetoes overridden -- The Question submitted to the People
-- Their Verdict -- Summary of Vetoes -- Impeachment --
Charges by Mr. Ashley -- Report of the Committee.
The Thirty-ninth Congress is remarkable for having run its entire
career with the constant opposition of the Executive obstructing its
progress. In all representative governments, a contest between the
executive and the legislative branches of the government has sooner or
later arisen, which has invariably ended in the defeat of the former.
The hopelessness of the contest on the part of the executive, and the
pertinacity with which it has been waged, have given it a mock-heroic
character.
During the months which intervened between the death of Abraham
Lincoln and the assembling of Congress, Andrew Johnson had ample time
to preöccupy the field and intrench himself against what he termed a
coördinate branch "hanging on the verge of the Government."
In June, 1865, delegates from the South were first admitted to private
interviews with the President. On the 17th of June he issued his
proclamation providing for the restoration of civil government in
Georgia and Alabama, in which he excludes negroes from the category of
loyal citizens entitled to vote. The President soon after proceeded to
appoint provisional governors for the Southern States--a step which
was viewed with joy by the late rebels, and sorrow by the Union men of
the North. The character of these appointments may be seen in a
sentiment uttered by Governor Perry soon after his elevation to
office: "There is not now in the Southern States," said he, "any one
who feels more bitterly the humiliation and degradation of going back
into the Union than I do." Governor Perry saved himself from dismissal
by assuring the people that the death of Mr. Lincoln was no loss to
the South, while he had every hope that Mr. Johnson, an old
slaveholding Democrat, would be an advantage.
In Alabama, under the provisional government established by Mr.
Johnson, the convention prohibited negroes from testifying in the
courts. Rebels throughout the South at once began to make their
arrangements for taking part in the government. In November, Governor
Perry made a public demand that when Congress met the Clerk of the
House should place on the roll the names of Representatives from the
rebel States.
When South Carolina hesitated to adopt the Constitutional Amendment
abolishing slavery, President Johnson assured the Governor that the
clause giving Congress the power to enforce it by appropriate
legislation really limited congressional control over the negro
question. After this assurance, South Carolina accepted the
Constitutional Amendment.
In August and September, 1865, Democratic conventions indorsed the
President's policy, and Democratic papers began to praise him.
Republicans were unwilling to believe that they had been deserted, and
hoped that after the assembling of Congress all differences would
disappear.
The message of the President, read at the opening of the Thirty-ninth
Congress, placed him in direct opposition to the leaders of the
Republican party, and at variance with his own policy. "A concession
of the elective franchise," said he, "to the freedmen, by act of the
President of the United States, must have been extended to all colored
men, wherever found, and must have established a change of suffrage in
the Northern, Middle, and Western States, not less than in the
Southern and Southwestern."
Every one could see that the President possessed as much power to
admit the black man to the right of suffrage in the rebel States as to
appoint provisional governors over them.
While Congress was in session, and actually employed in legislating
for the restoration of the rebel States, Mr. Johnson substantially
declared that Congress had no control over the subject, by removing
the provisional governor of Alabama, and handing the State Government
over to the officers elected by the people.
The Senate having requested information from the President as to the
condition of the rebel States, the President, on the 20th of December,
sent in a message which Mr. Sumner characterized as an attempt to
"whitewash" the unhappy condition of the rebel States. The message of
the President was accompanied by reports from General Grant and
General Schurz, in which Congress found evidence that the late rebels
had little sense of national obligation, and were chiefly anxious to
regain political power, and compensate themselves for the loss of
slavery by keeping the negroes in abject servitude.
The passage of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, by a large majority in
Congress, and its veto by the President, presents the next phase in
the contest. To Republicans the most alarming feature in the Veto
Message was the evidence it gave that the President was ready at once
to give to traitors who had fought fiercely for four years to destroy
the Union an equal voice with loyal men in determining the terms of
its reconstruction.
In this instance the President prevailed. The bill failed to pass over
the veto, from the fact that six Senators--Dixon, Doolittle, Morgan,
Norton, Stewart, and Van Winkle--who had voted for the bill, now sided
with the President. This was the first and last triumph of the
President.
Two days after, on the 22d of February, the President greatly damaged
his cause by denouncing a Senator and a Representative, and using the
slang of the stump against the Secretary of the Senate in the midst of
an uproarious Washington mob. The people were mortified that the
Executive of the nation should have committed so serious an
indiscretion.
The incident received notice in Congress in a humorous speech of
Thaddeus Stevens, who declared that the alleged speech could never
have been delivered; that it was "a part of the cunning contrivance of
the copperhead party, who have been persecuting our President;" that
it was "one of the grandest hoaxes ever perpetrated."
Congress, now aware that it must achieve its greatest works of
legislation over the obstructing veto of the President, moved forward
with caution and deliberation. Every measure was well weighed and
carefully matured, since, in order to win its way to the favor of a
triumphant majority in Congress and the country, it must be as free as
possible from all objectionable features.
Impartial suffrage, as provided in the District of Columbia Suffrage
Bill, being a subject upon which the people had not yet spoken, the
Senate determined that it would be better not to risk the uncertainty
of passing the measure over the inevitable veto until the people
should have an opportunity of speaking at the ballot-box.
The President applied his veto to the Civil Rights Bill and the second
Freedmen's Bureau Bill, but a majority of more than the requisite
two-thirds placed these measures among the laws of the land. In the
House of Representatives, Mr. Raymond was the only Republican member
who voted to sustain the veto of the Civil Rights Bill. The temptation
to be friends of the President, in order to aid him in the
distribution of patronage, was very great with members of Congress,
and the wonder is that so many were able to reject it all, and adhere
to principles against which the Executive brought to bear all his
power of opposition.
On the adjournment of Congress in July, at the close of the first
session, the contest was still continued, though in another arena.
Members of Congress went to their several districts, submitted their
doings to their constituents, and took counsel of the people. The
President also traversed the States from the Atlantic to the
Mississippi. He made numerous speeches, and endeavored to popularize
his policy.
The people gave their verdict at the ballot-box in favor of Congress.
The reëlection of Congress was the rejection of the President. The
ruin of the President's fortunes was shared by his followers. No
gentleman ever entered the House of Representatives with more _eclat_
than that with which Mr. Raymond took his seat as a member of the
Thirty-ninth Congress, but his constituents did not see proper to
elect him for a second term. Delano and Stillwell, of the West, were
left at home. Cowan, in the Senate, elected six years before as a
Republican, was superseded, and Doolittle was instructed by his
Legislature to resign.
The message of the President at the opening of the second session
displayed no disposition to yield to the people or to Congress. He
declared to a State delegation that waited on him that he was too old
to learn.
One of the first acts of Congress after reässembling was to accept the
sanction of the people for impartial suffrage, and pass the District
Suffrage Bill over the President's veto. The President deemed it due
to his consistency to return bills, with his "objections thereto in
writing," to the very last. Among the last doings of the Thirty-ninth
Congress was the passage of the Tenure-of-office Bill and the Military
Reconstruction Bill over vetoes. In humiliating contrast with the
circumstances one year before, when the veto of the Freedmen's Bureau
Bill prevailed, the veto of the Military Reconstruction Bill had but
ten supporters in the Senate.
The following is a complete list of the bills vetoed by the President
during the Thirty-ninth Congress, and of the bills which were passed
over the veto, and those which became laws without the President's
signature:
FIRST SESSION.--To enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's
Bureau; vetoed February 19, 1866.
To protect all persons in the United States in their civil
rights, and furnish the means of their vindication; vetoed;
and passed, April 9, 1866, over veto.
For the admission of the State of Colorado into the Union;
vetoed May, 1866.
To enable the Montana and New York Iron Mining and
Manufacturing Company to purchase a certain amount of the
public lands not now in market; vetoed June, 1866.
To continue in force and to amend an act entitled "an act to
establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees,
and for other purposes;" vetoed; passed, July 16, 1866, over
veto.
For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union;
not signed; failed through the adjournment of Congress.
* * * * *
SECOND SESSION.--To regulate the elective franchise in the
District of Columbia; vetoed; passed, January 8, 1867, over
veto.
To admit the State of Colorado into the Union; vetoed
January 18, 1867.
For the admission of the State of Nebraska into the Union;
vetoed; passed, February 9, 1867, over veto.
To provide for the more efficient government of the
insurrectionary States; vetoed; passed, March 2, 1867, over
veto.
To regulate the tenure of office; vetoed; passed, March 2,
1867, over veto.
* * * * *
_Bills which became laws without the President's signature,
the constitutional limit of ten days having expired without
their return:_
To repeal section 13 of "an act to suppress insurrection, to
punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the
property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July
17, 1862; became a law January 22, 1867.
To regulate the franchise in the Territories of the United
States; became a law January 31, 1867.
To regulate the duties of the Clerk of the House of
Representatives, in preparing for the organization of the
House, and for other purposes; became a law February 20,
1867.
To declare the sense of an act entitled "an act to restrict
the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims, and to provide for
the payment of certain demands for quartermasters' stores
and subsistence supplies furnished to the army of the United
States;" became a law February 22; 1867.
* * * * *
RECAPITULATION.--Vetoes, 10; pocket vetoes, 1; laws passed
over vetoes, 6; vetoes sustained, 4; became laws without
signature, 4.
As President Johnson proceeded in his career of opposition to the
legislative branch of the Government, the conviction fastened upon the
minds of some that he was guilty of crimes rendering him liable to
impeachment. On the 7th of January, 1867, Hon. James M. Ashley, of
Ohio, brought before the House of Representatives articles of
impeachment, as follows:
"I do impeach Andrew Johnson, Vice-President and acting
President of the United States, of high crimes and
misdemeanors.
"I charge him with a usurpation of power and violation of
law:
"In that he has corruptly used the appointing power;
"In that he has corruptly used the pardoning power;
"In that he has corruptly used the veto power;
"In that he has corruptly disposed of public property of the
United States;
"In that he has corruptly interfered in elections, and
committed acts which, in contemplation of the Constitution,
are high crimes and misdemeanors; Therefore,
"_Be it resolved_, That the Committee on the Judiciary be,
and they are hereby, authorized to inquire into the official
conduct of Andrew Johnson, Vice-President of the United
States, discharging the powers and duties of the office of
President of the United States, and to report to this House
whether, in their opinion, the said Andrew Johnson, while in
said office, has been guilty of acts which are designed or
calculated to overthrow, subvert, or corrupt the Government
of the United States, or any department or office thereof;
and whether the said Andrew Johnson has been guilty of any
act, or has conspired with others to do acts, which, in
contemplation of the Constitution, are high crimes and
misdemeanors, requiring the interposition of the
constitutional power of this House; and that said committee
have power to send for persons and papers, and to administer
the customary oath to witnesses."
This resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and eight to
thirty-eight.
[Illustration: Hon. James M. Ashley.]
Near the close of the session, the Committee on the Judiciary, having
in charge the question of impeachment, made a report. The condition in
which the subject was left by the Thirty-ninth Congress will be seen
from the following extract:
"The duty imposed upon the committee by this action of the
House was of the highest and gravest character. No
committee, during the entire history of the Government, has
ever been charged with a more important trust. The
responsibility which it imposed was of oppressive weight and
of most unpleasant nature. Gladly would the committee have
escaped from the arduous labor imposed upon it by the
resolution of the House; but once imposed, prompt,
deliberate, and faithful action, with a view to correct
results, became its duty, and to this end it has directed
its efforts.
"Soon after the adoption of the resolution by the House, the
Hon. James M. Ashley communicated to the committee, in
support of his charges against the President of the United
States, such facts as were in his possession, and the
investigation was proceeded with, and has been continued
almost without a day's interruption. A large number of
witnesses have been examined, many documents collected, and
every thing done which could be done to reach a conclusion
of the case. But the investigation covers a broad field,
embraces many novel, interesting, and important questions,
and involves a multitude of facts, while most of the
witnesses are distant from the capital, owing to which, the
committee, in view of the magnitude of the interests
involved in its action, has not been able to conclude its
labors, and is not, therefore, prepared to submit a definite
and final report. If the investigation had even approached
completeness, the committee would not feel authorized to
present the result to the House at this late period of the
session, unless the charge had been so entirely negatived as
to admit of no discussion, which, in the opinion of the
committee, is not the case. Certainly, no affirmative report
could be properly considered in the expiring hours of this
Congress.
"The committee, not having fully investigated all the
charges preferred against the President of the United
States, it is deemed inexpedient to submit any conclusion
beyond the statement that sufficient testimony has been
brought to its notice to justify and demand a further
prosecution of the investigation.
"The testimony which the committee has taken will pass into
the custody of the Clerk of the House, and can go into the
hands of such committee as may be charged with the duty of
bringing this investigation to a close, so that the labor
expended upon it may not have been in vain.
"The committee regrets its inability definitely to dispose
of the important subject committed to its charge, and
presents this report for its own justification, and for the
additional purpose of notifying the succeeding Congress of
the incompleteness of its labors, and that they should be
completed."
With the acceptance of this report, the impeachment was at an end so
far as the action of the Thirty-ninth Congress was concerned. The
subject was handed over to the consideration of the Fortieth Congress.