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I
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN PRESIDENT JOHNSON
AND CONGRESS OVER RECONSTRUCTION
_STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW_
EDITED BY
THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Volume VIII] [Number 1
THE STRUGGLE
BETWEEN
PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND CONGRESS
OVER RECONSTRUCTION
BY CHARLES ERNEST CHADSEY, Ph.D.
NEW YORK
1896
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I. THEORIES PRIOR TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.
1. The Problem 7
2. Common Belief at Opening of Hostilities: The Crittenden
Resolution 8
3. The Democratic Theory 10
4. Lincoln: The Development of his Theory 14
5. The Congressional Policy 18
CHAPTER II. JOHNSON'S THEORY: THE EXPERIMENT AND ITS RESULTS.
1. Conditions at Accession of Johnson 28
2. Lincoln _vs._ Johnson 28
3. Johnson's views before Accession 29
4. Speeches in the Spring after his Accession 30
5. Secret of his Attitude 32
6. Development of his Theory 34
7. Attitude towards Enfranchisement of the Negro 41
8. Legislative Action in the South 42
9. The Defense of the South 46
10. Effect of the Attitude of the South upon the North 47
CHAPTER III. ATTITUDE OF CONGRESS TOWARDS THE EXPERIMENT:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONGRESSIONAL THEORY.
1. Attitude of Parties towards the Administration at
Beginning of the Session 49
2. Opening Scenes in Congress 50
3. The Annual Message: Debate on Reconstruction 55
4. The Freedmen's Bureau 59
5. Johnson's Indiscreet Speeches in February, 1866 65
6. Civil Rights; Other Bills 68
7. Report of Committee on Reconstruction 73
8. Authorized Measures of First Session 80
CHAPTER IV. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1866.
1. Crisis in the Cabinet 87
2. The New Orleans Riots 88
3. Administration Conventions 91
4. Anti-Administration Conventions 98
5. The Fall Elections 103
6. Action on the XIV Amendment 104
CHAPTER V. THE CONGRESSIONAL THEORY FULLY DEVELOPED.
1. The Second Session Convenes; The Annual Message 107
2. First Reconstruction Bill 109
3. First Supplementary Bill 117
4. Second Supplementary Bill 122
5. State Conventions 124
6. Third Supplementary Bill 125
7. Ratification of Constitutions 125
8. Acts Re-admitting States to Representation in Congress 125
CHAPTER VI. THE IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT.
1. Why Congress Wished to Impeach 127
2. What is an Impeachable Offense 128
3. The Opening Attack 129
4. The Work of the Judiciary Committee 131
5. The Attack Fails 132
6. The Limitation of Presidential Powers 133
7. The Tenure-of-Office Act 134
8. Struggle with Secretary Stanton 135
9. Articles of Impeachment 138
10. Attitude of Conservative Republicans 140
11. Conclusion 141
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND CONGRESS OVER RECONSTRUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
THEORIES OF RECONSTRUCTION PRIOR TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.
1. The war of the rebellion afforded opportunity for the people of the
United States to obtain a far clearer conception of the powers and
limitations of the federal constitution than had previously been possible,
and settled beyond possibility of further debate some of the most
important questions which had arisen since its interpretation as an
"instrument of evidence" had begun. Yet when General Johnston had
surrendered his army on April 26, 1865, virtually bringing the war to a
close, the country found that one great constitutional question, a
question of the highest practical importance, still remained unsolved; and
for several years the best energies of our statesmen were occupied with
its solution. Eleven of the States had for four years been in armed
insurrection, but now, through superior force, they lay helpless at the
feet of the Union. Under these circumstances, what was their
constitutional relation to the federal government?
Previous to the passage of the ordinance of secession by the convention of
South Carolina in 1860, the nation never had been called upon to determine
the status of a State which declared its relation to the federal
government severed. Certainly if a State could establish its independence
by war, the question, so far as such State was concerned, would have no
significance; but as such a conclusion of the difficulty could not be
considered for an instant, the status of the seceded State, both before
and after the cessation of hostilities, immediately became an important
subject of discussion. The gradual evolution of popular sentiment, from
the belief that the dignity of a State should not be tampered with, to the
belief that by an act of secession a State divested itself of all its
rights and privileges as a State, and reverted to the condition of a
Territory, forms an interesting chapter in the history of the unwritten
constitution of the United States.
2. When the 37th Congress met on July 4, 1861, in pursuance of Lincoln's
proclamation, the war had not been in progress long enough to show to the
country the extreme gravity of the situation and the wideness of the gap
which had arisen between the Southern States and the rest of the Union.
The common belief was that unprincipled agitators, who represented only a
small minority of the legal voters in the insurrectionary States, had
obtained temporary control over the governments of these States, and were
waging a war against the Union, in which they were unsupported by the
majority; and that the latter would joyfully resume control of their
governments as soon as the opportunity should be given them, which it was
confidently believed would soon happen. That is, the war was to be carried
on, not against the States which claimed to have seceded, but against a
certain element of the Southern population.
The extreme solicitude felt by Congress for the proper preservation of the
sovereign privileges of these States is shown by the practical unanimity
with which a resolution submitted by Mr. Crittenden, on July 22, was
carried, there being only two dissenting voices.[1] It declared the sense
of the House to be that[2] "this war is not waged upon our part in any
spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor
purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of
the Constitution and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality
and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these
objects are accomplished the war ought to cease." Three days later, Andrew
Johnson, then a Senator from Tennessee, submitted the same resolution in
the Senate,[3] where it was also carried with practical unanimity,
although the discussion indicated a confused idea as to its exact
significance.
But few months passed by before this staunch confidence in the rights of
the States began to be shaken; a feeling of doubt had arisen which had not
as yet resolved itself into a definite change of attitude, yet which was
sufficient to prevent the re-endorsement of Mr. Crittenden's resolution,
introduced by Mr. Holman, December 4, 1861, and tabled by a vote of 71 to
65.[4]
A series of resolutions introduced in the Senate by Mr. Davis of Kentucky,
on February 13, 1862,[5] while preserving in the main the principles then
in vogue, assumed a somewhat broader tone and expressed very clearly the
belief of a large element of the thoughtful classes. Affirming the
permanency of the privileges of the people of the United States, it denied
the criminality of the citizen who does not perform "his duties of loyalty
and obedience, when the government fails to give him protection and
security," and declared that the powers of the nation and State in the
State are simply in suspension during a period of insurrection, and should
be resumed, unimpaired, when the insurrection ceases. Here also was
affirmed, in unmistakable terms, the inability of the State to secede, and
the consequent obligation of the United States to preserve in these States
republican forms of government. The guilty leaders should be punished, but
the masses should receive amnesty; and immediately following the important
admission was made that "if the people of any State cannot or will not
reconstruct their state government, and return to loyalty and duty,
Congress should provide a government for such State as a territory of the
United States, securing to the people thereof their appropriate
constitutional rights."
Here, in connection with the positive statement that a State cannot
secede, and the implication that the insurrectionary citizen may be upheld
in his actions, was a clear expression of so-called extra-constitutional
powers in treating incorrigible States as territories. It would be
interesting to know how these resolutions were viewed by the Senate, but
they were laid on the table and never taken up for discussion.
3. During the opening days of the 3d Session of the 37th Congress, the
question of the right to interfere with the States as States, was brought
fairly before the House by a series of resolutions in which the policy of
the extreme wing of the Democratic party was expressed.[6] In them it is
declared that "the Union _as it was_, must be restored and maintained, one
and indivisible."[7] When this declaration is examined, with the
President's preliminary proclamation of emancipation in mind, the
significance of the three italicised words can be seen. The resolutions,
after quoting the substance of the Crittenden resolution, further declared
that "whoever shall pervert or attempt to pervert the same to a war of
conquest or subjugation, or for the overthrowing or interfering with the
rights or established institutions of any of the States, and to abolish
slavery therein, or for the purpose of destroying or impairing the
dignity, equality, or rights of any of the States, will be guilty of a
flagrant breach of public faith and of a high crime against the
Constitution and the Union." The same guilt was declared to attach to all
who should "propose by federal authority, to extinguish any of the States
of the Union, or to declare any of them extinguished, and to establish
territorial governments within the same."
These resolutions, which were an open attack upon the presidential policy,
were tabled by a vote of 79 to 50, a party vote. This fact is of
significance as an evidence of the growing feeling in the House, that the
sovereign rights of the States might be too highly considered, and that
decided discipline of some kind might be found a measure of necessity. It
began to be doubted whether in some of these States there could be found a
sufficient number of loyal citizens to carry on the government without
modifications of the old constitution and laws. At the same time the small
majority by which the resolutions were tabled shows that the old idea
still exercised a powerful influence in the House.
On December 14, 1863, resolutions were introduced by Mr. Finck,[8] and
others two days later by Mr. Rollins,[9] which were very similar to the
Crittenden resolution, and were introduced merely as expressions of the
Democratic policy, since the Republican majority was too pronounced to
permit their adoption.
From the beginning of the war, the policy of the Democratic party in the
North was to bring about some agreement between the North and the South,
by compromises and concessions, and should the issue finally be determined
in favor of the Union even by dint of superior strength, to restore the
Southern States to their former condition. In short, the theory held
almost unanimously by Congress at the opening of the 37th Congress, was
retained as the Democratic theory,[10] while the Republicans gradually
modified their opinions, and with the progress of events developed a
theory different from both the Democratic and the presidential theory.
Even after the proclamation of emancipation had come to be recognized as
one of the natural results of the war, the policy of the Democratic party
was unchanged except as necessarily modified by emancipation, and in the
House, on February 8, 1864, Jacob B. Blair submitted resolutions[11] in
which it was stated that "every State which has ever been, is still a
State in the Union, and that when this rebellion shall have been put down,
each of the so-called seceding States will have the same rights,
privileges, and immunities under the Constitution as any one of the loyal
States, except so far as the holding of African slaves in bondage is
affected by the President's proclamation." These resolutions also
repudiated "the doctrine advanced by some, that the so-called seceding
States have ceased to be States of and in the Union, and have become
territories thereof, or stand in the relation of foreign powers at war
therewith."
But besides political declarations, the Democratic theory found other ways
of expression in Congress. From the very commencement of the war, many of
the leaders of the party were confident that hostilities could be brought
to an end and peaceful relations restored by a convention of States, and
several attempts were made to induce Congress to consider favorably some
such plan.[12] As early as July 15, 1861, only eleven days after the
convening of the extra session of Congress, Benjamin Wood introduced a
resolution in the House,[13] which recommended that the governors of the
several States "convene their legislatures for the purpose of calling an
election to select two delegates from each Congressional district, to meet
in general convention at Louisville, in Kentucky, on the first Monday in
September next; the purpose of the said convention to be to devise
measures for the restoration of peace to our country."
Again at the opening of the second session on December 4, 1861, joint
resolutions were introduced by Mr. Saulsbury, in the Senate,[14] to
appoint Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Roger B. Taney, Edward Everett,
Geo. M. Dallas, Thomas Ewing, Horace Binney, Reverdy Johnson, John J.
Crittenden, George E. Pugh, and R. W. Thompson, "commissioners on the part
of Congress, to confer with a like number of commissioners to be appointed
by the States" in rebellion, "for the preservation of the Union and the
maintenance of the Constitution." The resolutions also provided that when
the several States should have appointed their commissioners, hostilities
should cease, "and not be renewed unless said commission shall be unable
to agree," or "agreement shall be rejected either by Congress or by the
aforesaid States."
One year later, December 2, 1862, a third attempt[15] was made by Mr.
Davis, who submitted a joint resolution in the Senate (S. 104), proposing
a convention from all the States to devise means for the reconstruction of
the Union, and on May 30, 1864, Mr. Lazear submitted in the House,
resolutions which were to authorize the President to "adopt or agree upon
some plan upon which the decision of the great body of the people north
and south may be secured upon the question of calling a convention
composed of delegates from all the States, to which shall be referred the
settlement of all questions now dividing the southern States from the rest
of the Union, with a view to the restoration of the several States to the
places they were intended to occupy in the Union."
During the later years of the war, after hope of success had begun to die
out, some of the Southern States looked very favorably upon the plan; but
nothing approximating such a convention resulted.[16]
4. At the beginning of his term of office, President Lincoln held the then
prevailing belief in the supremacy of the States in all matters not
directly under federal control, and as a matter of course believed that at
the cessation of hostilities each State should immediately resume its old
relations to the government, its local matters untouched by the central
administration.[17] But the ability of Lincoln to modify his own beliefs
on any subject as his experience widened was never better manifested than
on this very question, and had he lived to control the administration
through the period of reconstruction, it is not unreasonable to suppose
that his attitude would have undergone still greater change. As the
magnitude of the struggle became more apparent, he began to deliberate
upon the advisability of striking at the root of the evil, despite the
blow it struck at state liberty, and the two proclamations of September
22, 1862, and January 1, 1863,[18] mark the basis of the executive plan of
reconstruction. The Pierpoint government of Virginia had been recognized
in 1861, but its recognition was in harmony with the early attitude of
Congress towards the States, and involved no questions which could show a
distinct executive policy.
In 1862, after the capture of New Orleans, a military governor of
Louisiana was appointed, many persons in the vicinity of New Orleans were
enrolled as citizens of the United States, and two districts elected
representatives to Congress, under the provisions of the old state
constitution.[19] In this case there was a distinct development of the
executive policy. Here was a military governor, appointed by the President
and so an instrument of the Executive, interfering with the civil
government of the State, controlling elections, deciding what districts
were entitled to elections, and fixing the date of election. This was very
different from simple restoration, with its theory that the national
government must in no way interfere with the State governments. And when
the two members elect, Messrs. Flanders and Hahn, presented themselves for
admission into the House of Representatives, the Democrats, consistently
with their belief in restoration, which up to that time had met with no
serious opposition, opposed their admission strongly. In the discussion
which arose, Mr. Voorhees well expressed the difference in theory between
the Democratic view and that which was ultimately to be adopted. The
problem was stated by him as follows:[20] "If the Southern Confederacy is
a foreign power, an independent nationality to-day, and you have conquered
back the territory of Louisiana, you may then substitute a new system of
laws in the place of the laws of that State. You may then supplant her
civil institutions by institutions made anew for her by the proper
authority of this _Government_--not by the executive, but by the
_legislative_ branch of the Government, assisted by the Executive simply
to the extent of signing his name to the bills of legislation." "But if
the theory we have been proceeding upon here, that this Union is unbroken;
that no States have sundered the bonds that bind us together; that no
successful disunion has yet taken place--if that theory is still to
prevail in these halls, then this can not be done. You are as much bound
to uphold the laws of Louisiana in all their extent and in all their
parts, as you are to uphold the laws of Pennsylvania or New York, or any
other State whose civil policy has not been disturbed."
The strong appeal to remain true to the theory first maintained by
Congress, did not succeed in shutting the Louisianians out, and for one
month, February to March, 1863, they were recognized as members. The later
refusal to admit members from insurrectionary States was due, not to a
supposed inconsistency with restoration proper, but to dislike of the
presidential policy.
And now with emancipation still another element entered into the question,
and in the future reconstruction, Congress was of necessity forced to
follow to a certain extent a new path laid out by the President. A State
after January, 1863, in order to resume its former relations, must at
least make one change in its institutions, and perfect restoration could
no longer be considered. True, a large minority opposed the emancipation
policy of the President, and their discontent took expression in
resolutions such as Mr. Conway introduced into the House on December 15,
1862, in which he says that "the seceded States can only be put down, if
at all, by being regarded as out of constitutional relations with the
Union," implying, of course, the inability of the President to extinguish
their local institutions. But such resolutions were never considered,
while resolutions endorsing the policy of the President were agreed
to.[21]
The next step in the development of the President's policy was the
formation of a definite program, which States wishing to be restored to
equal rights with the loyal States should follow. This plan of
reconstruction, called by him at a later period the "Louisiana plan," was
officially announced by the proclamation of December 8, 1863, and the
annual message to Congress of the same date defended the stand taken.[22]
This proclamation granted amnesty to all citizens (excepting certain
specified classes[23]) who would take an oath to support the
Constitution, as well as all acts of Congress and proclamations of the
President relating to slaves; and declared that whenever one-tenth of the
voters of any insurrectionary State should take the oath, and re-establish
their state government, "which shall be republican, and in no wise
contravening said oath," that government would be recognized as the true
government of the State and would receive the protection guaranteed to the
States. But all questions concerning admission to Congress would, in
accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, rest entirely with the
respective houses of Congress. The questions of negro suffrage and federal
supervision of the freedmen were not touched, and no provision was made to
ensure good faith in reconstruction, beyond the mere oath exacted, and the
general oversight of the President.
5. Under the provisions of the proclamation, three States, Louisiana,
Arkansas, and Tennessee,[24] set up new governments, which were recognized
by the President as true governments.[25] Congress, however, was by no
means satisfied with this lenient way of treating the humbled States. The
feeling that the executive was encroaching upon the legislative power
added strength to the discontent. Many thought that if the presidential
policy, without modification, were carried out, the reconstructed States
would speedily revert to the control of the very element against whom the
war had been waged. The House, by a strict party vote,[26] authorized the
appointment of a select committee of nine, to consider that portion of
the President's message relating to reconstruction, with authority to
report by bill or otherwise. Henry Winter Davis was appointed chairman.
Resolutions were submitted by Mr. Williams on March 14, 1864, which were
backed by a sentiment in Congress that was of great significance. Congress
began to feel its way towards a distinctive policy, which had heretofore
been supported by only a few, who were considered as holding extremely
wild and untenable views. These resolutions stated that although the local
laws were subverted, and the functions of the civil authorities suspended
in the States under armed occupation, "as soon as the rebellion is
suppressed in any of the revolting States," the President should
communicate the fact to _Congress_, "in order that it may take the proper
measures for the reorganization of the civil governments and the
re-establishment of the civil functionaries therein, and prescribe such
terms as it may deem wise and proper and consistent with the public safety
for the readmission of those districts as States of this Union." The
exclusive right of the legislative power "to say upon what terms those
territories shall be allowed to return to the Union," was also asserted.
The issue between Congress and the President took more definite form
through the Davis-Wade bill of 1864.[27] This bill had been drafted during
the latter part of 1863 by the select committee of nine, but it did not
come before the House for consideration till March 22, 1864.
The objections of those who supported this bill to the Presidential plan,
are clearly expressed in the speech of H. Winter Davis, in support of his
measure. He says[28] that it (the Presidential plan), "proposed no
guardianship of the United States over the reorganization of the
governments, no law to prescribe who shall vote, no civil functionaries to
see that the law is faithfully executed, no supervising authority to
control and judge of the elections. But if, in any manner, by the
toleration of martial law lately proclaimed the fundamental law, under the
dictation of any military authority, or under the prescriptions of a
provost marshal, something in the form of a government shall be presented,
represented to rest on the votes of one-tenth of the population, the
President will recognize that, provided it does not _contravene_ the
proclamation of freedom and the laws of Congress; and to secure that, an
oath is exacted." This government "may be recognized by the military power
and may not be recognized by the civil power, so that it would have a
doubtful existence, half civil and half military, neither a temporary
government by law of Congress, nor a state government, something as
unknown to the Constitution as the rebel government that refuses to
recognize it."
In place of this method of organization, which Mr. Davis justly thought so
wretchedly loose, he proposed that the President should appoint
provisional governors over these States, whose first duty should be to
enroll the white citizens, through duly appointed United States marshals.
Then when a majority of these citizens should have taken the oath of
allegiance, they should be permitted to hold a State convention for the
purpose of forming a constitution under which the government might be
re-established. But all Confederate office-holders and those voluntarily
bearing arms against the United States were to be ineligible as delegates
to the convention. The bill further provided that the constitution should
"repudiate the rebel debt, abolish slavery, and prohibit the higher
military and civil officers from voting for or serving as governors or
members of the legislature." When these conditions should have been
fulfilled, and the assent of Congress to the recognition of the new
government obtained, the President should be notified, and should then
officially recognize the government by proclamation, after which senators
and representatives would be admitted to Congress.[29]
In the speech mentioned above, Mr. Davis claimed that "the bill challenges
the support of all who consider slavery the cause of the rebellion, and
that in it the embers of rebellion will always smoulder; of those who
think that freedom and permanent peace are inseparable, and who are
determined, so far as their constitutional authority will allow them, to
secure these fruits by adequate legislation."
But in this plan there was no attempt to introduce negro suffrage. The
only question of importance seemed to be: "How can we ensure the
subservience of these States to the federal constitution?" The supporters
of the Davis plan insisted that "the rebel States must be governed by
Congress till they submit and form a state government under the
Constitution"; otherwise "Congress must recognize state governments which
do not recognize either Congress or the Constitution of the United States;
or there must be an entire absence of all government in the rebel States;
and that is anarchy." It was absurd, the argument continued, to recognize
a government which did not recognize the Constitution; and "to accept the
alternative of anarchy as the constitutional condition of a State is to
assert the failure of the Constitution and the end of republican
government. Until, therefore, Congress recognize a state government,
organized under its auspices, there is no government in the rebel States
except the authority of Congress." From this it logically followed that in
the absence of all State government it was the duty of Congress to
"administer civil government until the people shall, under its guidance,
submit to the Constitution of the United States," and reorganize
government under whatever conditions Congress might require.
These arguments appealed to sentiments which were becoming very popular in
Congress. The theory that a State by seceding ceased to exist as a State
was gradually gaining ground, and the Davis plan, by which the central
government was to control the State as a territory, though for so limited
a time, rapidly gained supporters.
Mr. Fernando Beaman, of Michigan, who also considered that the seceded
States had ceased to exist, said in an extended speech favoring the
adoption of this bill:[30] "As a people without government or organization
are in a state of anarchy, their efforts to establish law and order must
be more or less impeded by caprice, by divided counsels, and by the want
of forms, regulations, and methods. The passage of this bill is the
establishment of incipient civil government, and provides at once rules,
regulations and system, with the proper officials to carry them into
execution."
Although the bill was avowedly drawn up to provide what the presidential
plan failed to provide, a method of reconstruction so thorough that those
elements which had produced the discord could no longer influence the
state governments, it itself furnished no means to prevent any of these
States from so amending their constitutions, after their senators and
representatives had received recognition, that the very conditions of
readmittance might be rendered nugatory.
But the bill seemed to the majority in Congress to offer a more practical
plan than any yet proposed, and it passed the House May 4, by a vote of 73
to 59; the Senate, two months later, adopted it by a majority of four. But
it failed to become a law by the adjournment of Congress before it
received the President's signature.[31]
The President, in justification of his neglect to sign the bill, issued a
proclamation on July 8.[32] This stated that while he was unprepared "to
be inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration," and also
"unprepared to declare that the free State constitutions and governments
already adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisiana, shall be set
aside and held for naught, thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal
citizens who have set up the same as to further effort," nevertheless he
was "fully satisfied with the system for restoration contained in the
bill, as one very proper plan for the loyal people of any State choosing
to adopt it," and that in such case when the people "shall have
sufficiently returned to their obedience to the Constitution and laws of
the United States," military governors would be appointed, "with
directions to proceed according to the bill."
This attempt to modify the presidential plan virtually ended for the time
the efforts of Congress towards the development of a distinctive theory,
and the war thus closed with no well defined plan in operation, except
that of President Lincoln, which was not well sustained by Congress. Only
one thing seemed to be definitely decided. That was, that the seceded
States, in whatever light they might be considered, were incapacitated
from participating in presidential elections. A joint resolution to this
effect was passed in 1865,[33] and in accordance with its provisions the
electoral vote of Louisiana was ruled out.
Two men in the Republican party wielded the chief power in influencing
that party to adopt the theory of reconstruction which was finally to
prevail as the congressional theory.[34] One was Thaddeus Stevens of
Pennsylvania, and the other Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts. The latter
was a recognized leader of the Senate, and his views concerning the mutual
relations of the States in rebellion and the federal government were
clearly expressed in a series of resolutions which he submitted February
11, 1862. These resolutions, although never brought forward for
consideration, were printed, and coming from so influential a man had
considerable influence in shaping the general attitude of Congress towards
the question, and affected to some extent its future policy. They[35] were
nine in number, with a well-worded preamble which put forward as a premise
that "the extensive territory, thus usurped by these pretended
governments, and organized into a hostile confederacy, belongs to the
United States, as an inseparable part thereof, under the sanction of the
Constitution, to be held in trust for the inhabitants in the present and
future generations, * * * The Constitution, which is the supreme law of
the land, cannot be displaced in its rightful operation within this
territory, but must ever continue the supreme law thereof."
The first resolution declares that a vote of secession is void as against
the Constitution, "and when sustained by force it becomes a practical
_abdication_ by the State of all rights under the Constitution, while the
treason which it involves still further works an instant _forfeiture_ of
all those functions and powers essential to the continued existence of the
State as a body politic, so that from that time forward, the territory
falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress as other territory, and
the State being, according to the language of the law, _felo de se_,
ceases to exist."
The second resolution denies the constitutional existence of the
Confederate States. The third and fourth declare that the termination of a
State terminates its peculiar local institutions, therefore slavery ceases
to exist; and the fifth, sixth and seventh declare it necessary not to
recognize or tolerate slavery. The eighth declares the obligation of the
United States to protect all inhabitants, "without distinction of color or
class." The ninth declares that Congress, in pursuance of the duties cast
upon it by the total extinction of the States and by the constitutional
obligation that the "United States shall guarantee to every State in this
Union a republican form of government,"[36] "will assume complete
jurisdiction of such vacated territory where such unconstitutional and
illegal things have been attempted, and will proceed to establish therein
republican forms of government under the Constitution; and in execution of
this trust will provide carefully for the protection of all the
inhabitants thereof, for the security of families, the organization of
labor, the encouragement of industry, and the welfare of society, and will
in every way discharge the duties of a just, merciful, and paternal
government."
Thaddeus Stevens, although recognized as one of the foremost men of the
Republican party, advocated from the very commencement of hostilities
views of so radical a nature, that he was looked upon by many as a
fanatic. His influence accordingly worked in a different way from
Sumner's. At no time did he consolidate his views into a series of
resolutions, but upon every occasion where the subject could be touched
upon, no matter how indirectly the topic might refer to it, he would state
his theory of the relation of the seceded States to the Union.
Persistently and consistently he advocated it; and he took pleasure in
considering himself as in advance of his party, a prophet, pointing out
the only right road, confident that sooner or later his party would see
the wisdom of his policy and adopt it. Throughout those tempestuous years,
his undaunted faith in the infallibility of his plan served to keep it
constantly in mind, and attracted to him a constantly increasing number of
followers, until at the beginning of the 39th Congress he obtained
control, and became the recognized leader of his party in all matters
relating to the Southern States. Though the plan of reconstruction as
finally adopted contained many modifications, it was to a great extent the
logical outgrowth of the Stevens theory. His whole theory rested upon the
simple premise that wherever there is resistance to the Constitution, and
that resistance cannot be overthrown without appeal to violent methods,
there the Constitution is theoretically as well as practically suspended.
As long as such resistance continues, the Constitution remains suspended,
and only the law-making and war-making power is able to determine when
resistance has ceased. Consequently the federal government would have the
undisputed right to treat the South as a conquered territory until there
should be no question as to the safety of granting greater privileges.
Those States had ceased to be States, consequently the "guarantee clause"
had no application. Congress had unrestricted power over them, as simple
territories of the federal government. On May 2, 1864, during the
discussion of the bill to guarantee republican forms of government to the
rebellious States, he declared that the rebellious States "were entitled
to no rights under the Constitution and laws, which as to them were
abrogated; that they could invoke the aid of neither in their behalf; that
they could claim to be treated during the war as belligerents according to
the laws of war and the law of nations; that they could claim no other
rights than a foreign nation with whom we might be at war; and that they
were subject to all the liabilities of such foreign belligerent," and that
"the property of the morally and politically guilty should be taken for
public use."[37]