During the latter years of General Grant's Presidency there had been
some suggestion of his election for a third term. The proposition,
however, did not meet with favor. Several State Conventions passed
resolutions declaring as a matter of principle that two terms should
be the limit for any President. General Grant himself discountenanced
the movement and eventually ended it for the canvass of 1876 by writing
a public letter announcing that he was not and would not be a candidate.
As the election of 1880 approached, the project was revived with every
evidence of a more deliberate design and a more determined and
persistent effort on the part of its chief promoters. General Grant
had just finished a memorable tour around the world, and had everywhere
been received with signal tributes of respect and admiration from the
rulers and people of foreign lands. The honors of all countries had
stimulated the pride of his own country. He returned to the Pacific
shore and traversed the whole continent with the welcome and acclaim of
the people whom he had so greatly served in war and peace. In the
flush of this popular enthusiasm some of the foremost men of the
Republican party united in a movement to make General Grant the
Republican candidate for President. A combination which included
Senators Conkling, Cameron and Logan, with their dominant personal
influence and political force, and which aimed at the consolidation of
the three great States of New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois,
presented a formidable front.
The leaders of the movement had to a certain extent misapprehended
public opinion. With all the respect and affection for the illustrious
commander of the Union armies, there was a deep and earnest feeling
against a third term. This sentiment was not personal to General
Grant. The contentions which had marked his Presidential career had
died away. The errors charged against him had been well-nigh
forgotten, and the real merits and achievements of his Administration
were better appreciated than at an earlier period. His absence from
the country for three years had softened whatever asperities had grown
out of political of factional differences, and had quickened anew the
grateful sense of his inestimable services in the war. There was no
fear that General Grant would abuse a trust, however frequently or
however long he might be invested with it. But the limit of two terms
had become an unwritten part of the code of the Republic, and the
people felt that to disregard the principle might entail dangers which
they would not care to risk. They believed that the example of
Washington if now reinforced by the example of Grant would determine
the question for the future, and assure a regular and orderly change of
rulers, which is the strongest guarantee against the approach of tyranny.
While it was altogether probable that the feeling among the people
against a third term would be stimulated by other aspirants to the
Presidency, it was altogether impossible that they could cause the
feeling. The interesting question at issue was whether the precedents
of the Government should be discredited. The National Convention was
to meet in June, but as early as February State Conventions were called
in Pennsylvania and New York to choose delegates, with the intention
of securing unanimity in favor of General Grant's nomination. The
rights of Congressional districts to select their own delegates had
been indirectly affirmed in the National Convention of 1876, when the
Unit Rule was overridden and the right of each individual delegate to
cast his own vote was established. But against this authoritative
monition the design now was to have the States vote as a unit, and
accordingly the Conventions in both the great States adopted
instructions to that effect. The opposition to this course was very
strong, the resolutions being carried in Pennsylvania by a majority of
only twenty, while in New York, in a total vote of three hundred and
ninety-seven, the majority was but thirty-eight. The delegations of
both States included men who were known to be opposed to General
Grant's nomination and who represented districts avowedly in accord
with that view, but it was hoped by the leaders that the assumption
of the State Conventions to pass instructions might control individual
judgment.
The action of the Pennsylvania and New York Conventions increased the
public agitation. A strong conviction that their proceedings had been
precipitated and did not reflect the true judgment of the Republican
masses was rapidly developed in both States. In New York the
_Tribune_, the _Albany Journal_, the _Utica Herald_ and other
influential papers led an earnest protest and opposition. In
Pennsylvania the _Philadelphia Press_, through the zeal of its chief
proprietor, Mr. Calvin Wells, a leading iron-manufacturer of Pittsburg,
seconded by other strong journals, gave voice to the decided and
growing public feeling against acquiescing in any attempt to prevent a
perfectly free representation. In the North-West the _Chicago
Tribune_, and in the middle West the _Cincinnati Commercial_, not only
resisted the mode of electing delegates in the large States but
directly and vigorously assailed the policy of presenting General Grant
for a third term. In the midst of this popular discussion came
explicit declarations from individual delegates in both States that
they would not be bound by any unit rule and should represent the will
of their immediate constituencies. William H. Roberson was the first
in New York to make public announcement of this purpose, and James
McManes of Philadelphia led the movement in Pennsylvania. The
opposition spread to other States that had not yet held their
conventions, in many of which the prevailing methods of party action
permitted more freedom.
One of the last States to act was Illinois, and her Convention became
the arena of a stormy contest. The majority in that body assumed
authority to elect all the National delegates without regard to the
voice or vote of Congressional districts; and after a long and
stubborn struggle it named a complete delegation, overriding in nine
of the districts the duly accredited choice of a clear majority of the
undisputed local representatives in each district. This proceeding
was justified on the one hand as only the exercise of the supreme
power of the State Convention, and condemned on the other as trampling
on the right of district representation; and thus the issue in its
most distinct form was brought before the National Tribunal for
settlement.
A large concourse of delegates and other active Republicans gathered in
Chicago in advance of the time appointed for the National Convention.
The assemblage is memorable in political annals for its large number of
able men, for its brilliant displays of oratory, for its long duration,
and for its arduous struggle. From the United States Senate came Mr.
Conkling, General Logan, George F. Hoar, J. Donald Cameron, Preston B.
Plumb, William Pitt Kellogg, and Blanche K. Bruce. Of the men soon to
enter the Senate were Benjamin H. Harrison of Indiana, Eugene Hale and
William P. Frye of Maine, William J. Sewall of New Jersey, Omar D.
Conger of Michigan, Dwight M. Sabin of Minnesota, and Philetus Sawyer
of Wisconsin. General Garfield, who already held his commission as
senator-elect, led the Ohio delegation, with Governor Foster and
Ex-Governor Dennison among his colleagues. Five of General Grant's
Cabinet Ministers were on the roll of the Convention,--Mr. Boutwell
of Massachusetts, Mr. Creswell of Maryland, Mr. George H. Williams of
Oregon, Mr. Edwards Pierrepont of New York, and Mr. Cameron (already
named with the senators). Among other delegates of distinction were
Chester A. Arthur of New York, Henry C. Robinson of Connecticut,
Governor Martin of Kansas, General Beaver and Colonel Quay of
Pennsylvania, William Walter Phelps of New Jersey, William E. Chandler
of New Hampshire, Emory A. Storrs of Illinois, Governor Warmoth of
Louisiana, Governor Henderson and J. S. Clarkson of Iowa, President
Seelye and Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. Probably no other
Convention since that which nominated Mr. Clay in 1844 has contained
a larger number of eminent public men.
The two men who from the first especially attracted observation were
Mr. Conkling and General Garfield. By intellectual force, by ardent
zeal and earnest advocacy, and by common recognition, Mr. Conkling was
the master spirit and became the acknowledged leader of those who
desired the nomination of General Grant. General Garfield bore little
part in the management, and was not there to represent the main body
of those who opposed General Grant's candidacy. But the anti-Grant
delegates, though divided as to candidates, naturally made common
cause, and in the parliamentary contests of the Convention the
personal and intellectual ascendency of General Garfield made him,
though in a less active and aggressive sense, the recognized leader of
the opposition. Around the two chiefs clustered the loyalty and the
expectations which are always associated with leadership, and the
appearance of each, day by day towering above his fellows, was the
signal for an outburst of applause from friends and followers.
The preliminary meeting of the National Committee portended serious
trouble. The organization was adverse to the sentiment of the
majority, and there was some fear that in the heat of contest the
just bounds of authority might be overstepped. Happily the points in
dispute were satisfactorily adjusted through frank conference and a
common understanding. Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, in whose fairness
and ability both sides had full confidence, was accepted by common
consent for temporary chairman, and the Convention was organized
without any conflict. In calling the vast assembly to order as
chairman of the National Committee, Senator Cameron bespoke a friendly
spirit; and the speech of Senator Hoar, on taking the chair, was a
compact and forcible contrast of the career and record of the two
great parties of the country. With the appointment of the committees
necessary to complete the organization, the first day of the Convention
closed.
The delegations from the respective States named their own members of
the several committees, and their composition and votes upon these
questions indicated the division of the States upon the main issue.
In the Committee on Credentials Mr. Conger, supported by the anti-Grant
members, was chosen chairman by a vote of 29 to 11 for Mr. Tracy of
New York. In the Committee on Permanent Organization, Senator Hoar had
31 votes for permanent President, against 9 for Mr. Creswell of
Maryland. The Committee on Rules made General Garfield chairman. It
was known that apart from the balloting for President, the great
struggle would come in the Committee on Credentials, and upon its
report when made to the Convention. The Committee had several contests
to deal with besides the important Illinois case. The examination of
these cases consumed two days, and meanwhile the Convention could do
little beyond completing the formalities. It converted the temporary
into the permanent organization, and on the evening of the second day,
the Committee on Credentials being still at work, Mr. Henderson of
Iowa moved that the Committee on Rules be requested to report. An
extended and spirited debate ensued, the one side contending for
immediate action and the other for delay. General Sharpe of New York
offered a substitute that the Committee on Credentials be ordered to
report. The substitute was lost by 318 _ayes_ to 406 _noes_, and the
vote was regarded as a measurably fair test of the relative strength
of the Grant and anti-Grant forces. On the call of the roll the full
vote of Alabama was announced for the substitute. One of the delegates
protested that he desired his vote recorded against it, and the
President of the Convention so ordered. This decision broke at the
outset any attempt to enforce the Unit Rule and affirmed the absolute
right of the individual delegate to cast his vote at his own pleasure
and upon his own responsibility. It was accepted without appeal, and
thus the law of Republican Conventions was established. The substitute
being defeated, the original motion was laid upon the table, and the
Convention adjourned until the next day.
At the opening of the third day Mr. Conkling offered a resolution that
"as the sense of the Convention every member is bound in honor to
support its nominee, whoever the nominee may be; and that no man should
hold a seat here who is not ready to so agree." On a call of the roll
the resolution was adopted with but three dissenting votes, which came
from West Virginia. Thereupon Mr. Conkling offered a resolution,
declaring in effect that the delegates who voted that they would not
obey the action of the majority "have forfeited their votes in the
Convention." Mr. Campbell, editor of the _Wheeling Intelligencer_, the
most prominent of the three who had voted no, defended their action.
He expected to support the nominee of the Convention, but would not
agree in advance that whatever it might do should have his endorsement.
The discussion was becoming very animated, when General Garfield, in
an unimpassioned speech, recalled the Convention to the real question
and warned delegates against committing an error. He said that those
who voted in the negative had indicated their purpose to support the
candidates, but did not think it wise to pass the resolution. "Are
they," he asked, "to be disfranchised because they thought it was not
the time to make such an expression? That is the question and that is
the whole question. We come here as Republicans and we are entitled
to take part in the proceedings of this Convention; and as one of our
rights we can vote on every resolution, _aye_ or _no_. We are
responsible for those votes to our constituents, and to them alone.
There never was a convention, there never can be a convention, of
which I am one delegate, equal in rights to every other delegate, that
shall bind my vote against my will on any question whatever." General
Garfield insisted that the delegates had acted within their rights, and
appealed to Mr. Conkling to withdraw his resolution, which he finally
consented to do. This brief and earnest speech made a deep impression
upon the Convention.
The report on contested States was now presented by Senator Conger, and
led to a debate and a struggle lasting through the larger part of two
days. The Committee had examined cases involving the seats of fifty
delegates and alternates. After eliminating those about which there
could be no reasonable dispute and upon which a unanimous conclusion
was reached, the final issue involved three delegates from Alabama,
eighteen from Illinois, two from West Virginia, and four from Kansas.
In all of these cases the decision rested upon the principle of
district representation. The majority of the committee accepted that
principle as the established law of Republican Conventions, and
reported in favor of the delegates chosen under it. The minority of
the Committee, representing fourteen States and led by Mr. Tracy of
New York, reported against the delegates elected on the district plan,
and sustained the authority of the State Conventions to overrule the
choice of the district representatives. The issue of district
representation was thus clearly and sharply presented. The first case
in order was that of Alabama, and after full debate a motion to
substitute the report of the minority for that of the majority was
defeated, the _ayes_ being 306, the _noes_ 449. The Convention thus
re-affirmed the cardinal doctrine of district representation. The
case of Illinois, which had excited more interest than all others, next
came up. The discussion was prolonged and animated, and the result
was not reached until nearly two o'clock in the morning. Nine
districts were at stake, but the vote was taken on each separately,
and the delegates chosen in the districts were admitted by a vote of
387 to 353. In the cases of West Virginia and Kansas there was some
dispute as to the facts, but they were decided upon the same principle
according to the best understanding of the Convention.
The report of the Committee on Rules, which had already been submitted
by General Garfield, was now taken up. The proposed rules embraced
simply verbal changes from those of 1876, and only one change of
substance. This was an addition to rule eight, relating to cases where
the vote of a State is divided. The old rule prescribed that where the
vote was divided the chairman of the delegation should announce the
number of votes cast for any candidate or for or against any
proposition. The Committee reported in favor of adding the following:
"but if exception is taken by any delegate to the correctness of such
announcement by the chairman of his delegation, the President of the
Convention shall direct the roll of members of such delegation to be
called, and the result shall be recorded in accordance with the votes
individually given." This amendment was designed to protect the vote
of the individual delegate. It was a final blow at the Unit Rule, and
aimed to reduce the precedents and decisions of former conventions to
plain and unambiguous language.
The minority of the Committee, representing eleven States, reported
against any change of rule. As soon, however, as the two reports
were submitted to the Convention, and before they were discussed,
General Sharpe of New York, who led the minority, moved that the
Convention proceed at once to ballot for candidates for President and
Vice-President. This was urged upon the plea of saving time, and
upon the ground that nothing else remained to be done, but General
Garfield pointed out, with his habitual clearness, that such action
would leave the Convention without any regulations to determine the
method of procedure or to decide controversies. Under the influence
of his forcible argument General Sharpe's proposition was lost by a
vote of 479 to 276. The rules, as reported by the majority, were then
adopted, with an amendment that "the National Committee shall prescribe
the method or methods for the election of delegates to the National
Convention to be held in 1884, provided that nothing in the method
or rules so prescribed shall be construed to prevent the several
districts of the United States from selecting their own delegates to
the National Convention." The overthrow of the Unit Rule and the
establishment of district representation were thus finally secured.
Mr. Pierrepont of New York reported the platform. It recounted the
achievements of the party and re-affirmed its accepted principles.
No one issue was treated as overmastering. Protection, which became
the controlling question of the campaign, was presented only by
repeating the avowal of 1876. The restriction of Chinese immigration
was approved. The Democratic party was charged with sustaining
fraudulent elections, with unseating members of Congress who had been
lawfully chosen, with viciously attaching partisan legislation to
Appropriation Bills, and with seeking to obliterate the sacred
memories of the war. "The solid South," it was declared, "must be
divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot; and all honest opinions
must there find free expression." The platform, as reported, was
silent on the subject of Civil-Service Reform; and Mr. Barker of
Massachusetts offered an amendment "that the Republican party adopts
the declaration of President Hayes, that the reform in the civil
service shall be thorough, radical, and complete, and to that end
demands the co-operation of the Legislative with the Executive Departments
of the Government." The amendment was carried, and the platform adopted.
It was now late Saturday afternoon, and the Convention had already
extended through four days. The session of Saturday evening, devoted
to the presentation of Presidential candidates, was dramatic and
stirring. The vast Exposition Hall was packed with ten thousand
interested and eager observers. The contending partisans were alert
for every advantage and enthusiastic in every demonstration.--Mr.
Blaine was first placed in nomination by Mr. Joy of Michigan, seconded
by Mr. Pixley of California and Mr. Frye of Maine.--When Mr. Conkling
rose to present the name of General Grant, the vast audience gave him
an enthusiastic welcome; and his powerful and eloquent speech was
followed by prolonged and generous applause.--As General Garfield moved
forward to nominate John Sherman, he was the object of general and
hearty admiration. His dignified bearing, his commanding ability, his
persuasive eloquence, and his manifest spirit of fairness had made a
profound impression on the Convention. His present speech deepened
that feeling. It was a dispassionate appeal from the swelling tumult
of the moment "to the calm level of public opinion."--The name
of Senator Edmunds was presented by Mr. Frederick Billings of
Vermont.--Elihu B. Washburne was presented by Mr. Cassoday of Wisconsin,
and William Windom by Mr. Drake of Minnesota. The speakers had not
been the only actors of the evening. The audience took full part.
The scenes of tumultuous and prolonged applause when the two leading
candidates were named has never been equaled in any similar assemblage.
It was nearly midnight of Saturday when the Convention adjourned.
With the opening of Monday's session the voting began. The first
ballot gave Grant 304, Blaine 284, Sherman 93, Edmunds 34, Washburne
30, Windom 10, Garfield 1. Twenty-seven ballots followed without
material change, when the Convention adjourned until the next day.
On Tuesday morning the twenty-ninth ballot exhibited no variation,
except that Massachusetts transferred the majority of its votes from
Edmunds to Sherman, reducing the former to 12 and raising the latter
to 116. On the thirtieth ballot Sherman advanced to 120 and Windom
fell to 4. The next three ballots were substantially the same. On
the thirty-fourth ballot Wisconsin cast 16 votes for General Garfield,
and the great body of delegates at once saw that the result was
foreshadowed. On the thirty-fifth ballot Indiana, following Wisconsin,
cast 27 votes for Garfield, and scattering votes carried his aggregate
to 50. The culmination was now reached. As the thirty-sixth ballot
opened, the delegations which had been voting for Blaine and Sherman
changed to Garfield. The banners of the States were caught up and
massed in a waving circle around the head of the predestined and now
chosen candidate. The scene of enthusiasm and exultation long delayed
the final announcement, which gave Garfield 399 votes, Grant 306,
Blaine 42, Washburne 5, Sherman 3. The nomination was immediately
made unanimous on motion of Mr. Conkling. For Vice-President Elihu B.
Washburne, Marshall Jewell, Thomas Settle, Horace Maynard, Chester A.
Arthur, and Edmund J. Davis were placed in nomination, and General
Arthur was chosen on the first ballot by a vote of 468 to 193 for Mr.
Washburne and some scattering votes for other candidates.
The result of the Convention was generally accepted as a happy issue
of the long contest. The nomination of General Garfield was unexpected
but it was not unwelcome. It was not an escape from the clash of
positive purposes by a resort to a negative and feeble expedient.
General Garfield was neither an unknown nor an untried man. For twenty
years he had been prominent in the public service, both civil and
military, and for ten years he had ranked among the foremost Republican
leaders. No statesman of the times surpassed him in thorough
acquaintance with the principles of free government, in knowledge of
the legislative and administrative history of our own country, and in
intelligent grasp of the great questions still at issue. In eloquence,
culture, and resources he had few peers. His ascendency in the
Convention was so marked as to turn all eyes towards him. His
conspicuous part in the debates of Congress, his numerous popular
addresses, had made him familiar to all the people. He represented the
liberal and progressive spirit of Republicanism without being visionary
and impractical, and his nomination was accepted as placing the party
on advanced ground.
General Arthur was a graduate of Union College and a member of the
New-York bar. He was prominently connected with Governor Morgan's
Administration during the war and gained great credit for the manner in
which he discharged his important duties as Quartermaster-General of
the State. He subsequently held for several years the responsible
and influential position of Collector of Customs for the port of New
York. During the period of his service he collected and paid into
the Treasury more than a thousand millions of dollars in gold coin. He
had wide acquaintance with the public men of the country and had long
enjoyed personal popularity. As a citizen of New York and a
conspicuous advocate of President Grant's nomination his selection
met with general favor.
The Democratic Convention met at Cincinnati on the 22d of June (1880).
The preliminary canvass and discussion had not indicated a prevailing
choice. The only definite policy anywhere suggested was that the
position of the Democratic party demanded the renomination of Mr.
Tilden for the Presidency, and that a failure to present him as a
candidate would be equivalent to withdrawing the allegation and
argument of the Electoral fraud. But to this plan the forcible answer
was made that the discreditable attempts of Mr. Tilden's immediate
circle upon the returning boards of the disputed States had compromised
his candidacy and injured his party; and on this ground a strong
opposition was made to his nomination. Mr. Tilden himself settled
the question by writing and extended and ingenious letter a few days
before the Convention, declining to be a candidate. Their immediate
choice being unavailable, his New-York followers made a strenuous
effort to control the nomination, first for Henry B. Payne of Ohio,
and next for Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania. The candidates were
numerous, but the leading places were held by General Hancock and
Senator Bayard.
The Convention was promptly organized with Judge Hoadly of Ohio as
temporary chairman, and Senator Stevenson of Kentucky as permanent
President. A ballot was reached on the second day. The South was
almost evenly divided between Bayard and Hancock. New England
preferred Hancock to Bayard. The West showed no preponderance for
either, and was broken among many candidates. New York was solidly
for Payne, but made little impression because Payne's own State of
Ohio stood for Senator Thurman. Judge Field of California and
William R. Morrison of Illinois had the support of their own States,
with a few scattering votes. The multiplicity of candidates indicated
the lack of a definite sentiment and a clear policy. The first ballot
gave Hancock 171, Bayard 153½, Payne 81, Thurman 68½, Field 65,
Morrison 62, Hendricks 49½, Tilden 38, with a few votes to minor
candidates. On this test the Convention adjourned for the day, and
during the night combinations already inaugurated were fully completed,
by which Hancock's nomination was made certain. The next day opened
with the announcement that New York had withdrawn Payne and fixed
upon Randall as its choice, but it was too late. The second roll-call
ended without a decision, but before the result was declared Wisconsin
changed to Hancock. This was followed by a similar move from New
Jersey, and immediately State after State joined in his support until
he had 705 votes,--leaving of the whole Convention but 30 for Hendricks
and 2 for Bayard. William H. English of Indiana, who had served in
Congress during Mr. Buchanan's administration, was nominated for
Vice-President. The platform, in marked contrast with the elaborate
document of the preceding campaign, was a compact and energetic
statement of the Democratic creed. It embodied a fatal declaration in
favor _of a tariff for revenue only_, made vehement utterance on the
alleged election fraud of 1876, demanded honest money of coin or paper
convertible into coin, and gave a strong pledge against permitting
Chinese immigration.
General Hancock's nomination was greeted with heartiness amounting to
enthusiasm. He had received a military education at West Point; he had
been brevetted in the Mexican war for gallant conduct at Contreras
and Cherubusco. In the war for the Union he had acquired high rank as
a commander. He distinguished himself throughout the Peninsular
campaign and at Antietam. He added to his fame on the decisive field
of Gettysburg. He was with Grant during most of the campaign which was
crowned with final triumph at Appomattox, and bore a conspicuous part
on its bloody fields. Brave, gallant, and patriotic, a true soldier
and a chivalrous gentleman, he was a worthy representative of that
faithful and honorable class of "War Democrats," who in the time of the
Nation's peril stood for the flag and for the integrity of their
country. There were many of that type, who allowed no political
differences to restrain them from doing their full share towards the
preservation of the Union; and no duty is more grateful than that of
recognizing their loyal services. General Hancock was at their head,
and no partisan distinctions or subsequent political differences can
diminish the respect in which he is deservedly held by every loyal
lover of the Union of the States.
The campaign did not open altogether auspiciously for the Republicans.
The September election for Governor and members of the Legislature in
Maine had resulted adversely. The Republican party in that State,
owing to a large defection on the greenback issue and a coalition of
all its opponents, had been defeated in 1878 by more than 13,000
majority. In 1879 the lost ground was in large part regained, but the
party, while electing the Legislature, was again outnumbered on the
popular vote. In 1880 the re-action in favor of the Republicans had
not begun in any State as early as September. The issue on the
Protective tariff had not yet been debated, and Maine, though giving
a majority of 6,000 in the Presidential election, lost the Governorship
in September by 164 votes. As a victory had been confidently expected
by the country at large, the failure to secure it had a depressing
effect upon the Republican party.
The discouragement however was but for a day. Re-action speedily came,
and the party was spurred to greater efforts. There was also a change
in the issues presented, and from that time the industrial question
monopolized public attention. The necessity of special exertion in
the October States led to a very earnest and spirited canvass in Ohio
and Indiana. The Democratic declaration in favor of a tariff for
revenue only was turned with tremendous force against that party. A
marked feature of what may be termed the October campaign was the visit
of General Grant to Ohio and Indiana, accompanied by Senator Conkling.
The speeches of the two undoubtedly exerted a strong influence, and
aided in large part to carry those States for the Republicans.
From this day forward the contest was regarded as very close, but with
the chances inclining in favor of the Republicans. In the hope of
counteracting the effect of the argument for a Protective Tariff in
winning the industrial element of the country to Republican support,
the Democratic managers concocted one of the most detestable and
wicked devices ever conceived in political warfare. A letter,
purporting to have been written by General Garfield, and designed to
represent him as approving Chinese immigration to compete with home
labor, was cunningly forged. This so-called "Morey letter," in which
the handwriting and signature of the Republican candidate were imitated
with some skill, was lithographed and spread broadcast about two weeks
before the election.
General Garfield promptly branded the letter as a forgery and the
evidences of its character were speedily made clear. Nevertheless
active Democratic leaders continued to assert its genuineness, and
Mr. Abram S. Hewitt was conspicuous in giving the weight of his name to
this calumny, until the force of the accumulating proof constrained
him to admit in a public speech, that the text of the letter was
spurious, while still maintaining, against General Garfield's solemn
denial, that the signature was genuine. The prompt action of General
Garfield and his friends did much to render this crafty and dangerous
trick abortive, but there was not sufficient time to destroy altogether
the effect of its instant and wide dissemination. The forgery cost
General Garfield the electoral votes of New Jersey and Nevada and five
of the six votes of California. He carried every other Northern State,
while General Hancock carried every Southern State. The final result
gave to Garfield 214 electoral votes against 155 for Hancock.
The salient and most serious fact of the Presidential election was the
absolute consolidation of the Electoral vote of the South; not merely
of the eleven States that composed the Confederacy, but of the five
others in which slaves were held at the beginning of the civil
struggle. The leading Democrats of the South had been steadily
aiming at this result from the moment that they found themselves
compelled by the fortunes of war to remain citizens of the United
States. The Reconstruction laws had held them in check in 1868; the
re-action against Mr. Greeley had destroyed Southern unity in 1872;
it had been assumed with boastful confidence, but at the last
miscarried, in 1876; and now, in 1880, it was finally and fully
accomplished. The result betokened thenceforth a struggle within the
Union far more radical than that which had been carried on from the
formation of the Constitution until the secession of the South.
During the first half of this century Southern statesmen had demanded
and secured equality of representation in the Senate. Its loss in
1850 was among the causes which led them to revolt against National
authority. But even the equality of representation was for a section
and not for a party, and its existence did not prevent the free play
of contests on other issues. Partisan divisions in the South upon
tariff, upon bank, upon internal improvement, between Whig on the one
side and Democrat on the other, were as marked as in the North.
Southern men of all parties would unite against the admission of a
Northern State until a Southern State was ready to offset its vote in
the Senate, but they never sought to compel unity of opinion
throughout all Southern States upon partisan candidates or upon public
measures. The evident policy in the South since the close of the civil
war has been, therefore, of a more engrossing and more serious
character. It comprehends nothing less than the absolute consolidation
of sixteen States,--not by liberty of speech, or public discussion,
or freedom of suffrage, but by a tyranny of opinion which threatens
timid dissentients with social ostracism and suppresses the bolder
form of opposition by force.
The struggle which this policy invites, nay which it enforces, is as
much a moral as a political struggle. It is not a contention over
measures. It is a contest for equal rights under the Constitution, for
simple justice between citizens of the same Republic. Nor is the
struggle hopeless. Re-action will come in the South itself. The
passion and prejudice which influence men who were defeated in the
war cannot be transmitted to succeeding generations. Principle will
re-assert itself; local and state interest will command a change.
The signs even now are hopeful. The personal relations between men of
the South and men of the North are more amicable than they have been
for sixty years. Diversity of employment, the spirit of industrial
enterprise, the unification of financial interests, will tend more and
more to assimilate the populations, more and more to enforce an
agreement, if not as to measures, yet assuredly as to methods. No man
in the North, valuing the freedom for which a great war was waged,
desires to control the vote of a single individual in the South. He
only desires that every individual in the South, as in the North, shall
control his own vote, and when that is done the result, whatever it may
be, will always be cheerfully accepted. Contention between sections,
divided by a fixed line, is the most undesirable form of political
controversy. It is also the most illogical. But consolidation on one
side leads naturally and always to consolidation on the other side.
The growth of the country will ultimately effect an adjustment, but
the reason of men should not wait for the mere power of numbers to
settle questions which properly belong in the domain of reason alone.
Nor do the Southern leaders seem ever to have correctly estimated the
political force that is to come from the predestined increase of
numbers. Aside from the vast growth of population in the new States
and Territories of the North-West, the increase of the colored race in
the South must arrest attention. In the lifetime of those now living,
that class of the population will reach the enormous aggregate of five
and twenty millions. As this increase continues, no policy could
possibly be devised so fatal to Southern prosperity as that which
Southern leaders have pursued since the close of the war. Ceasing to
be a slave the colored man must be a citizen. He cannot be permanently
held in a condition between the two. He cannot be remanded to slavery.
His numbers will ultimately command what should now be yielded on the
ground of simple justice and wise policy.
The twenty years between 1861 and 1881 are memorable in the history of
the Congress of the United States. Senators and Representatives were
called upon to deal with new problems from the hour in which they were
summoned by President Lincoln to provide for the exigencies of a great
war. They confronted enormous difficulties at every step; and if they
had failed in their duty, if they had not comprehended the gravity and
peril of the situation, if they had faltered in courage, or had been
obscured in vision, the Union of the States might have been lost, the
progress of civilization on the American Continent checked for
generations. With the National arms triumphant, with the Union of the
States made strong, the American people, in the quiet of domestic
peace, in the enjoyment of wide-spread prosperity, should not forget
the dangers and sacrifices which secured to them their great blessings.
--The first demand of war is money. So great was the amount required
that Congress provided and the Executive expended a larger sum in each
year of the civil struggle than the total revenues of the Government
had been for the seventy-two years elapsing between the inauguration
of Washington and the inauguration of Lincoln.
--When the power of the Nation was challenged, the Army was so small
as scarcely to provide an efficient guard for the residence of the
Chief Magistrate against a hostile movement of the disloyal population
that surrounded him. Congress provided for the assembling of a host
that grew in magnitude until it surpassed in numbers the largest
military force ever put in the field by a European power.
--A domestic institution whose existence had menaced the peace of the
country for forty years, and now threatened the National life, was
either to receive renewed strength by another compromise, or was to
be utterly overthrown and destroyed. Congress had the foresight, the
philanthropy, the courage to choose the latter course, and to
transform four millions of slaves into four millions of citizens.
--Triumphant in the struggle of arms, Congress had the statesmanship
and persistence to bind up in the Organic Law of the Republic the
rights which victory had secured, and to provide against the recurrence
of a rebellion which imperiled the existence of free institutions.
The action of Congress and the spirit that inspired it were but the
action and spirit of the loyal people. A common danger awakened them
to a sense of their aggregate strength, and that awakening proved to be
the beginning of a new progress. Prolonged peace and quiet in a
country, even of our large resources, had engendered the habit of
caution, of economy, of extreme conservatism. The dominance of the
State-rights' school had created in the minds of the people a distrust
of the power of the General Government,--a fact which no doubt was
taken into the calculations of those who revolted against its
authority. As an illustration of the weakness of administration under
their lead, it may be recalled that during the years of Mr. Buchanan's
Presidency,--and indeed during a part of the Presidency of Franklin
Pierce,--the project of a Pacific Railroad had been considered, and
year after year abandoned, because of the argument, first, that the
National Government had no power to contribute to its construction;
and, second, that the hundred millions of dollars required to complete
it was a sum beyond the power of the Government to expend. In contrast
with the chronic irresolution and timidity which delayed an enterprise
that would strengthen the bonds of the Union, the administration of Mr.
Lincoln, in the midst of gigantic outlays for the war, authorized the
building of the Pacific Railroad, and successfully used the Government
credit to complete it in less time than the State-rights' leaders had
been abortively debating the question in Congress.
--It is difficult to estimate the progress of the people of the United
States in intelligence and in wealth since the close of the civil
struggle. When evidence is so voluminous it is not easy to select a
unit of comparison that shall succinctly present the truth. Perhaps
the extension of postal facilities is the most significant measure of
the intellectual activity of a people. From the formation of the
National Government in 1879 to the beginning of the war in 1861, the
total receipts from postages amounted to $182,000,000. From 1861 to
1881 the total receipts from postages amounted to $433,000,000. But
even these figures do not exhibit the full contrast of the popular
use of the post-office for transmission of papers and letters,--because
the larger part of the former period was on the basis of high postage.
--Comparison in industrial development are so numerous as not to be
readily and compactly stated. Economists consider that the material
advance of a people is measured more accurately by the consumption of
iron than by any other single article. Assuming this to be a test, the
progress of the American people in wealth is beyond precedent. The
production and use of iron between the years 1861 and 1881 were many
fold greater than during the entire preceding century.
--The increased ratio in the construction of railroads gives some
conception of the progress of wealth. The miles of rail in 1861 within
the United States were 31,286, while in 1881 they were 103,334. It is
no exaggeration to say that the construction and repair of railway
lines in the twenty years preceding 1881 involved an expenditure of
money larger than the total National debt at the close of the war.
--Nor have these twenty years been distinguished only by the
acquisition of wealth. No period of history had been more marked by
generous expenditure for worthy ends. The provision made for those
who suffered in the civil war has perhaps no parallel at home or
abroad. The comparative poverty of the country after the close of
the Revolutionary war may account for the inadequate assistance to
those who had suffered in the struggle for independence. The same
cause, though in less degree, existed after the war of 1812. The
pensions paid to the sufferers in both wars, including those of the
Mexican war (when the country had made great advance in wealth),
amounted in all, from 1789 to 1861, to the sum of $80,000,000; whereas
from 1861 to 1881 the sum of $516,000,000 was paid to those who had
claim upon the bounty, rather upon the justice, of the Government.
--The twenty years form indeed an incomparable era in the history of
the United States. Despite the loss of life on the part of both North
and South the Republic steadily gained in population for the entire
period, at the rate of nearly a million each year; and each year there
was added to the permanent wealth of the people $1,500,000,000;--a fact
made all the more surprising when it is remembered that they were at
the same time burdened with the interest on the National debt, of which
they discharged more than eleven hundred millions of dollars of the
principal within the period named.
Such progress is not only unprecedented but phenomenal. It could not
have been made except under wise laws, honestly and impartially
administered. It could not have been made except under an industrial
system which stimulated enterprise, quickened capital, assured to labor
its just reward. It could not have been made under the narrowing
policy which assumes the sovereignty of the _State_. It required the
broad measures, the expanding functions, which belong to a free
_Nation_. Not simply to the leading statesmen of the Senate and the
House, but to Congress as a whole, in its aggregate wisdom,--always
greater than the wisdom of any one man,--credit and honor are due; due
for intelligence, for courage, for zeal in the service of an endangered
but now triumphant and prosperous Republic.
During the twenty years, the representatives serving in the House
exceeded fifteen hundred in number. As an illustration of the rapidity
of changes in elective officers where suffrage is absolutely free, each
succeeding House in the ten Congresses, with a single exception,
contained a majority of new members. Only one representative in all
this number served continuously from 1861 to 1881,--the Honorable
William D. Kelley, eminent in his advocacy of the Protective system,
steadily growing throughout the entire period in the respect of his
associates and in the confidence of the constituency that has so
frequently honored him. In the Senate the ratio of change, owing to
the longer term of office, has been less; but, even in that more
conservative body, rotation in membership has been rapid. In the
twenty years nearly two hundred and fifty senators occupied seats in
the chamber. Of the whole number, Henry B. Anthony of Rhode Island,
warmly remembered by both political parties, was the only senator whose
service was unbroken from the opening to the close of the period. Two
others were in Congress for the whole time, but not continuously in
either House. Justin S. Morrill served six years in the House and
fourteen in the Senate; Henry L. Dawes served fourteen years in the
House and six in the Senate. For the entire period both were
consistent upholders of Republican ideas and Republican politics.--James
A. Garfield who was a member of the House for eighteen of the twenty
years was, in November, 1880, by a singular concurrence of circumstances
placed in an official position altogether without precedent. He was at
the same time Representative in Congress, Senator-elect from the State
of Ohio, President-elect of the United States.
The National Government has in these twenty years proved its
strength in war, its conservatism in peace. The self-restraint which
the citizens of the Republic exhibited in the hour of need, the great
burdens which they bore under the inspiration of patriotic duty, the
public order which they maintained by their instinctive obedience to
the command of law, all attest the good government of a self-governing
people. Full liberty to criticise the acts of persons in official
station, free agitation of all political questions, frequent elections
that give opportunity for prompt settlement of all issues, tend to
insure popular content and public safety. No Government of modern
times has encountered the dangers that beset the United States, or
achieved the triumphs wherewith the Nation is crowned.
The assassination of two Presidents, one inaugurated at the beginning,
the other at the close of this period, while a cause of profound
National grief, reflects no dishonor upon popular government. The
murder of Lincoln was the maddened and aimless blow of an expiring
rebellion. The murder of Garfield was the fatuous impulse of a
debauched conscience if not a disordered brain. Neither crime had its
origin in the political institutions or its growth in the social
organization of the country. Both crimes received the execration of
all parties and all sections. In the universal horror which they
inspired, in the majestic supremacy of law, which they failed to
disturb, may be read the strongest proof of the stability of a
Government which is founded upon the rights, fortified by the
intelligence, inwrought with the virtues of the people. For as it was
said of old, wisdom and knowledge shall be stability, and the work of
righteousness shall be peace!
ADDENDUM.
Hon. Galusha A. Grow, who filled the important post of Chairman of the
Committee on Territories in the Thirty-sixth Congress, criticises the
statements made on pages 269-272 of Volume I. The anomaly was there
pointed out that the men who had been most active in condemning Mr.
Webster for consenting to the organization of the Territories of New
Mexico and Utah in 1850 without a prohibition of slavery, consented in
1861 to the organization of the Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and
Nevada without a prohibition. Mr. Grow as a zealous anti-slavery man
writes in defense of the course adopted in 1861. The wisdom of the
course was not criticised. Its consistency only was challenged. After
giving a history of the various steps in organizing the three
Territories in 1861, and of the great need, by reason of the pressure
of thousands of emigrants, of providing a government therefor, and
the impracticability of passing a Territorial bill with an anti-slavery
proviso, Mr. Grow, in a letter to the author, says,--
"The Republican party, about to be entrusted for the first time with
the administration of the Government, must show, in addition to sound
principles, that it possessed sufficient practical statesmanship to
solve wisely any question relative to the development of the material
resources of the country, or it would prove itself incompetent to the
trust imposed by the people.
"There was this difference in the condition of the public affairs,
then, from what it was when Mr. Webster made his celebrated speech of
March 7th. The great battle between Freedom and Slavery for supremacy
in the Territories had been fought and won in Kansas, and the people
had elected a Chief Magistrate on Freedom's side, so that the
influences of National Administration would no longer be wielded for
the extension of human bondage. Besides, Kansas, a free State, and
New Mexico, a Territory already organized, would lie between these new
Territories and slave institutions, so that by no possibility could
they in the ordinary course of events become slave States.
"On the 7th of March, 1850, when Mr. Webster from the Senate chamber
appealed to the North to 'conquer its prejudices' and rely on the laws
of God and Nature to prevent the extension of the institution of human
bondage, the two great forces of Liberty and Slavery were in deadly and
irrepressible conflict,--with all the powers of the Government on the
side of Slavery. That struggle reached its last peaceable stage in the
triumph of Freedom in Kansas and the election of Lincoln to the
Presidency."
Mr. Grow mistakes the relative positions of the slavery question in
1850 and 1861. When Mr. Webster was willing to waive the anti-slavery
clause in the bill organizing the Territories of New Mexico and Utah,
all the Territories to the North were already protected from slavery
by the general prohibition of the Missouri Compromise in 1820, and by
the specific prohibition in the Oregon bill of 1848. To Mr. Webster's
view, in 1850 Kansas was as secure against the introduction of slavery
as it was to Mr. Grow's view in 1861 after Mr. Lincoln was chosen
President and the Free State men had won their victory on the soil of
the Territory. Mr. Webster saw before him therefore a long procession
of States in the North-West whose free institutions were assured by the
absolute inhibition of Slavery. He was in the midst of a heated and
hated controversy over two Territories adapted only to mining and
grazing and never likely to attract slave labor. Neither he nor any
other person at that time imagined the possibility of repealing the
Missouri Compromise; and therefore when all the territory north of
36° 30' was secured by a prohibition as absolute as Congress could make
it, Mr. Webster did not consider it necessary to wage a bitter contest
and possibly endanger the Union of the States merely to secure a
prohibition of slavery in two Territories where he believed the
institution could not go. Precisely in the same way Mr. Grow did not
believe that slavery would go into Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada, and
he was therefore willing to waive the anti-slavery clause rather than
add to the danger of disunion by insisting on it.
The same motives that inspired Mr. Webster in 1850, inspired Mr.
Seward, Mr. Wade, and Mr. Grow in 1861. It is seldom that history so
exactly repeats itself; but the mention of the coincidence was not
designed as a criticism, much less a condemnation of the course of the
statesmen who wisely and bravely met their responsibilities in 1861.
It was simply a protest against the injustice that had been visited
upon Mr. Webster for a like patriotic course in 1850.
If the Southern agitators had resorted to secession and brought on
civil war in 1850 the efforts of Mr. Webster to avert the calamity
would have received unstinted praise from all classes in the North.
If no secession had been attempted and no civil war had followed in
1861, and the South remaining in the Union had resumed the old course
for the rights of Slavery in the Territories, Mr. Seward, Mr. Grow and
their associates would have received unlimited censure as "dough faces"
who had yielded to Southern threats and consented to organize three
Territories without an anti-slavery proviso. In each instance the
subsequent course of events determined the popularity of unpopularity
of similar acts performed with similar motives,--acts altogether
honorable, motives altogether patriotic in both cases.
OMISSION.
The names of the distinguished counsel on both sides who appeared
before the International Tribunal at Geneva in 1871, were accidentally
omitted from the foot-note on page 408, Volume II. Sir Roundell
Palmer, afterwards Lord Chancellor (known as Lord Selborne), was sole
counsel for the British cause, but was assisted throughout the
hearing by Professor Montague Bernard and by Mr. Cohen. The American
counsel, as eminent as could be selected from the American bar, were
William M. Evarts, Caleb Cushing, and Morrison R. Waite.
NOTE.--An error of statement occurs on page 72, Volume I., in regard
to the action of the Whig caucus for Speaker in December, 1847. Mr.
Winthrop was chosen after Mr. Vinton had declined, and was warmly
supported by Mr. Vinton. The error came from an incorrect account
of the caucus in a newspaper of that time.
The translation of the cipher telegrams sent and received by Democratic
committees in the Presidential campaign of 1876, is credited on page
500, Volume II., to Mr. William M. Grosvenor. Equal credit should be
given to Mr. J. R. G. Hassard. Both gentlemen belonged to the
editorial staff of the _New-York Tribune_. Their joint work cannot be
too highly praised.
ERRATA.
[Omitted: all from Vol. I]
THE APPENDICES.
APPENDIX A.
RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS.
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE MORE EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT OF THE REBEL STATES.
_Whereas_ no legal State government or adequate protection for life or
property now exist 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, &c.,_ 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 Texas the fifth
district.
SEC. 2. 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. 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. 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. 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 oaths 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. That until the people of said rebel States shall be by law
admitted to representation in the Congress of the United States, any
civil governments 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 any such
provisional governments who would be disqualified from holding office
under the provisions of the third article of said constitutional
amendment.
SUPPLEMENTARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF FORTIETH CONGRESS.
AN ACT SUPPLEMENTARY TO AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE
MORE EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT OF THE REBEL STATES," PASSED MARCH SECOND,
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN, AND TO FACILITATE RESTORATION.
_Be it enacted, &c._, That before the first day of September, eighteen
hundred and sixty-seven, the commanding general in each district
defined by an act entitled, "An act to provide for the more efficient
government of the rebel States," passed March second, eighteen hundred
and sixty-seven, shall cause a registration to be made of the male
citizens of the United States, twenty-one years of age and upwards,
resident in each county or parish in the State or States included in
his district, which registration shall include only those persons who
are qualified to vote for delegates by the act aforesaid, and who shall
have taken and subscribed the following oath or affirmation: "I, ----,
do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) in the presence of Almighty God, that I
am a citizen of the State of ----; that I have resided in said State
for ---- months next preceding this day, and now reside in the county
of ----, or the parish of ----, in said State, (as the case may be;)
that I am twenty-one years old; that I have not been disfranchised for
participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States,
nor for felony committed against the laws of any State or of the United
States; that I have never been a member of any State legislature, nor
held any executive or judicial office in any State and afterwards
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or
given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I have never taken
an oath as a member of Congress of the United States, or as an officer
of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as
an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the
Constitution of the United States, and afterwards engaged in
insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid or
comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the
Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the
best of my ability, encourage others so to do, so help me God;" which
oath or affirmation may be administered by any registering officer.
SEC. 2. That after the completion of the registration hereby provided
for in any State, at such time and places therein as the commanding
general shall appoint and direct, of which at least thirty days' public
notice shall be given, an election shall be held of delegates to a
convention for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil
government for such State loyal to the Union, said convention in each
State, except Virginia, to consist of the same number of members as the
most numerous branch of the State legislature of such State in the year
eighteen hundred and sixty, to be apportioned among the several
districts, counties, or parishes of such State by the commanding
general, giving to each representation in the ratio of voters
registered as aforesaid, as nearly as may be. The convention in
Virginia shall consist of the same number of members as represented
the territory now constituting Virginia in the most numerous branch of
the legislature of said State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty,
to be apportioned as aforesaid.
SEC. 3. That at said election the registered voters of each State
shall vote for or against a convention to form a constitution therefor
under this act. Those voting in favor of such a convention shall have
written or printed on the ballots by which they vote for delegates, as
aforesaid, the words "For a convention," and those voting against such
a convention shall have written or printed on such ballots the words
"Against a convention." The person appointed to superintend said
election, and to make return of the votes given thereat, as herein
provided, shall count and make return of the votes given for and
against a convention; and the commanding general to whom the same
shall have been returned shall ascertain and declare the total vote in
each State for and against a convention. If a majority of the votes
given on that question shall be for a convention, then such convention
shall be held as hereinafter provided; but if a majority of said votes
shall be against a convention, then no such convention shall be held
under this act: _Provided_, That such convention shall not be held
unless a majority of all such registered voters shall have voted on the
question of holding such convention.
SEC. 4. That the commanding general of each district shall appoint as
many boards of registration as may be necessary, consisting of three
loyal officers or persons, to make and complete the registration,
superintend the election, and make return to him of the votes, lists
of voters, and of the persons elected as delegates by a plurality of
the votes cast at said election; and upon receiving said returns he
shall open the same, ascertain the persons elected as delegates
according to the returns of the officers who conducted said election,
and make proclamation thereof; and if a majority of the votes given on
that question shall be for a convention, the commanding general, within
sixty day from the date of election, shall notify the delegates to
assemble in convention, at a time and place to be mentioned in the
notification, and said convention, when organized, shall proceed to
frame a constitution and civil government according to the provisions
of this act and the act to which it is supplementary; and when the
same shall have been so framed, said constitution shall be submitted
by the commissioner for ratification to the persons registered under
the provisions of this act at an election to be conducted by the
officers or persons appointed or to be appointed by the commanding
general, as hereinbefore provided, and to be held after the expiration
of thirty days from the date of notice thereof, to be given by said
convention; and the returns thereof shall be made to the commanding
general of the district.
SEC. 5. That if, according to said returns, the constitution shall be
ratified by a majority of the votes of the registered electors
qualified as herein specified, cast at said election, (at least one
half of all the registered voters voting upon the question of such
ratification,) the president of the convention shall transmit a copy
of the same, duly certified, to the President of the United States,
who shall forthwith transmit the same to Congress, if then in session,
and if not in session, then immediately upon its next assembling; and
if it shall, moreover, appear to Congress that the election was one at
which all the registered and qualified electors in the state had an
opportunity to vote freely and without restraint, fear, or the
influence of fraud, and if the Congress shall be satisfied that such
constitution meets the approval of a majority of all the qualified
electors in the State, and if the said constitution shall be declared
by Congress to be in conformity with the provisions of the act to
which this is supplementary, and the other provisions of said act shall
have been complied with, and the said constitution shall be approved
by Congress, the State shall be declared entitled to representation,
and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted therefrom as therein
provided.
SEC. 6. That all elections in the States mentioned in the said "Act
to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,"
shall, during the operation of said act, be by ballot; and all officers
making the said registration of voters and conducting said elections
shall, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, take and
subscribe the oath prescribed by the act approved July second, eighteen
hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of
office:"(1) _Provided_, That if any person shall knowingly and falsely
take and subscribe any oath in this act prescribed, such person so
offending and being thereof duly convicted, shall be subject to the
pains, penalties, and disabilities which by law are provided for the
punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury.
SEC. 7. That all expenses incurred by the several commanding generals,
or by virtue of any orders issued, or appointments made, by them, under
or by virtue of this act, shall be paid out of any moneys in the
treasury not otherwise appropriated.
SEC. 8. That the convention for each State shall prescribe the fees,
salary, and compensation to be paid to all delegates and other officers
and agents herein authorized or necessary to carry into effect the
purposes of this act not herein otherwise provided for, and shall
provide for the levy and collection of such taxes on the property in
such State as may be necessary to pay the same.
SEC. 9. That the word article, in the sixth section of the act to
which this is supplementary, shall be construed to mean section.
SUPPLEMENTARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF JULY 19, 1867.
AN ACT SUPPLEMENTARY TO AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE MORE
EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT OF THE REBEL STATES," PASSED ON THE SECOND DAY
OF MARCH, 1867, AND THE ACT SUPPLEMENTARY THERETO, PASSED ON THE 23D
DAY OF MARCH, 1867.
_Be it enacted, &c._, That is hereby declared to have been the true
intent and meaning of the act of the 2d day of March, 1867, entitled
"An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
States," and of the act supplementary thereto, passed on the 23d day
of March, 1867, that the governments then existing in the rebel
States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, were not
legal State governments, and that thereafter said governments, if
continued, were to be continued subject in all respects to the
military commanders of the respective districts, and to the paramount
authority of Congress.
SEC. 2. That the commander of any district named in said act shall
have power, subject to the disapproval of the General of the army of
the United States, and to have effect till disapproval, whenever in
the opinion of such commander the proper administration of said act
shall require it, to suspend or remove from office, or from the
performance of official duties and the exercise of official powers,
any officer of person holding or exercising, or professing to hold or
exercise, any civil or military office of duty in such district under
any power, election, appointment, or authority derived from, or
granted by, or claimed under, any so-called State or the government
thereof, or any municipal or other division thereof; and upon such
suspension or removal such commander, subject to the disapproval of
the General as aforesaid, shall have power to provide from time to
time for the performance of the said duties of such officer or person
so suspended or removed, by the detail of some competent officer or
soldier of the army, or by the appointment of some other person to
perform the same, and to fill vacancies occasioned by death,
resignation, or otherwise.
SEC. 3. That the General of the army of the United States shall be
invested with all the powers of suspension, removal, appointment, and
detail granted in the preceding section to district commanders.
SEC. 4. That the acts of the officers of the army already done in
removing in said districts persons exercising the functions of civil
officers, and appointing others in their stead, are hereby confirmed:
_Provided_, That any person heretofore or hereafter appointed by any
district commander to exercise the functions of any civil office, may
be removed either by the military officer in command of the district,
or by the General of the army. And it shall be the duty of such
commander to remove from office, as aforesaid, all persons who are
disloyal to the Government of the United States, or who use their
official influence in any manner to hinder, delay, prevent, or
obstruct the due and proper administration of this act and the acts
to which it is supplementary.
SEC. 5. That the boards of registration provided for in the act
entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to provide
for the more efficient government of the rebel States,' passed March
2, 1867, and to facilitate restoration," passed March 23, 1867, shall
have power, and it shall be their duty, before allowing the
registration of any person, to ascertain, upon such facts or
information as they can obtain, whether such person is entitled to
be registered under said act, and the oath required by said act
shall not be conclusive on such question, and no person shall be
registered unless such board shall decide that he is entitled thereto;
and such board shall also have power to examine, under oath, (to be
administered by any member of such board,) any one touching the
qualification of any person claiming registration; but in every case of
refusal by the board to register an applicant, and in every case of
striking his name from the list as hereinafter provided, the board
shall make a note or memorandum which shall be returned with the
registration list to the commanding general of the district, setting
forth the grounds of such refusal or such striking from the list:
_Provided_, That no person shall be disqualified as member of any
board of registration by reason of race or color.
SEC. 6. That the true intent and meaning of the oath prescribed in
said supplementary act is, (among other things,) that no person who has
been a member of the Legislature of any State, or who had held any
executive or judicial office in any State, whether he has taken an
oath to support the Constitution of the United States or not, and
whether he was holding such office at the commencement of the
rebellion, or had held it before, and who has afterwards engaged in
insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid
or comfort to the enemies thereof, is entitled to be registered or to
vote; and the words "executive or judicial office in any State" in said
oath mentioned shall be construed to include all civil offices created
by law for the administration of any general law of a State, or for
the administration of justice.
SEC. 7. That the time of completing the original registration provided
for in this act may, in the discretion of the commander of any
district, be extended to the 1st day of October, 1867; and the boards
of registration shall have power, and it shall be their duty,
commencing fourteen days prior to any election under said act, and upon
reasonable public notice of the time and place thereof, to revise, for
a period of five days, the registration lists, and, upon being
satisfied that any person not entitled thereto has been registered,
to strike the name of such person from the list, and such person
shall not be allowed to vote. And such board shall also, during the
same period, add to such registry the names of all persons who at that
time possess the qualifications required by the same act who have not
been already registered; and no person shall, at any time, be entitled
to be registered or to vote, by reason of any executive pardon or
amnesty, for any act or thing which, without such pardon or amnesty,
would disqualify him from registration or voting.
SEC. 8. That section four of said last-named act shall be construed
to authorize the commanding general named therein, whenever he shall
deem it needful, to remove any member of a board of registration and
to appoint another in his stead, and to fill any vacancy in such board.
SEC. 9. That all members of said boards of registration, and all
persons hereafter elected or appointed to office in said military
districts, under any so-called State or municipal authority, or by
detail or appointment of the district commanders, shall be required
to take and to subscribe the oath of office prescribed by law for
officers of the United States.
SEC. 10. That no district commander or member of the board of
registration, or any of the officers or appointees acting under them,
shall be bound in his action by any opinion of any civil officer of
the United States.
SEC. 11. That all the provisions of this act and of the acts to which
this is supplementary shall be construed liberally, to the end that all
the intents thereof may be fully and perfectly carried out.
AMENDATORY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF MARCH 11, 1868.
AN ACT TO AMEND THE ACT PASSED MARCH 23, 1867, ENTITLED "AN ACT
SUPPLEMENTARY TO 'AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE MORE EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT
OF THE REBEL STATES,' PASSED MARCH 2, 1867, AND TO FACILITATE THEIR
RESTORATION."
_Be it enacted, &c._, That hereafter any election authorized by the act
passed March 23, 1867, entitled "An act supplementary to 'An act to
provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,' passed
March 2, 1867, and to facilitate their restoration," shall be decided
by a majority of the votes actually cast; and at the election in
which the question of the adoption or rejection of any constitution is
submitted, any person duly registered in the State may vote in the
election district where he offers to vote when he has resided therein
for ten days next preceding such election, upon presentation of his
certificate of registration, his affidavit, or other satisfactory
evidence, under such regulations as the district commanders may
prescribe.
SEC. 2. That the constitutional convention of any of the States
mentioned in the acts to which this is amendatory may provide that at
the time of voting upon the ratification of the constitution, the
registered voters may vote also for members of the House of
Representatives of the United States, and for all elective officers
provided for by the said constitution; and the same election officers,
who shall make the return of the votes cast on the ratification or
rejection of the constitution, shall enumerate and certify the votes
cast for members of Congress.
[(1) This act is in these words:--
_Be it enacted, &c._, That hereafter every person elected or appointed
to any office of honor or profit under the Government of the United
States either in the civil, military, or naval departments of the
public service, excepting the President of the United States, shall,
before entering upon the duties of such office, and before being
entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments thereof, take and
subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I, A. B., do solemnly
swear (or affirm), that I have never voluntarily borne arms against
the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have
voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to
persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have never sought
nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office
whatever, under any authority or pretended authority, in hostility to
the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any
pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the
United States, hostile or inimical thereto; and I do further swear
(or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will
support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against
all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without
any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and
faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to
enter; so help me God;" which said oath, so taken and signed, shall be
preserved among the files of the Court, House of Congress, or
Department to which the said office may appertain. And any person who
shall falsely take the said oath shall be guilty of perjury, and on
conviction, in addition to the penalties now prescribed for that
offense, shall be deprived of his office, and rendered incapable
forever after, of holding any office or place under the United States.]
APPENDIX B.
AN ACT REGULATING THE TENURE OF CERTAIN CIVIL OFFICES.
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of American in Congress assembled,_ That every person holding
any civil office to which he has been appointed by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, and every person who shall hereafter be
appointed to any such office, and shall become duly qualified to act
therein, is, and shall be, entitled to hold such office until a
successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified,
except as herein otherwise provided: _Provided_, That the Secretaries
of State, of the Treasury, of War, of the Navy, and of the Interior,
the Postmaster General, and the Attorney General shall hold their
offices respectively for and during the term of the President by whom
they may have been appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to
removal by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
SEC. 2. That when any officer appointed as aforesaid, excepting judges
of the United States courts, shall, during the recess of the Senate, be
shown, by evidence satisfactory to the President, to be guilty of
misconduct in office, or crime, or for any reason shall become
incapable or legally disqualified to perform its duties, in such case,
and in no other, the President may suspend such officer, and designate
some suitable person to perform temporarily the duties of such office
until the next meeting of the Senate, and until the case shall be
acted upon by the Senate; and such person, so designated, shall take
the oaths and give the bonds required by law to be taken and given
by the person duly appointed to fill such office; and in such case it
shall be the duty of the President, within twenty days after the first
day of such next meeting of the Senate, to report to the Senate such
suspension, with the evidence and reasons for his action in the case
and the name of the person so designated to perform the duties of such
office. And if the Senate shall concur in such suspension, and advise
and consent to the removal of such officer, they shall so certify to
the President, who may thereupon remove such officer, and, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint another person to such
office. But if the Senate shall refuse to concur in such suspension,
such officer so suspended shall forthwith resume the functions of his
office, and the powers of the person so performing its duties in his
stead shall cease, and the official salary and emoluments of such
officer shall, during such suspension, belong to the person so
performing its duties thereof, and not to the officer so suspended:
_Provided, however,_ That the President, in case he shall become
satisfied that such suspension was made on insufficient grounds, shall
be authorized, at any time before reporting such suspension to the
Senate as above provided, to revoke such suspension and reinstate
such officer in the performance of the duties of his office.
SEC. 3. That the President shall have power to fill all vacancies
which may happen during the recess of the Senate, by reason of death
or resignation, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end
of their next session thereafter. And if no appointment, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, shall be made to such office so
vacant or temporarily filled as aforesaid during such next session of
the Senate, such office shall remain in abeyance without any salary,
fees, or emoluments attached thereto, until the same shall be filled
by appointment thereto, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate; and during such time all the powers and duties belonging to
such office shall be exercised by such other officer as may by law
exercise such powers and duties in case of a vacancy in such office.
SEC. 4. That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to
extend the term of any office the duration of which is limited by law.
SEC. 5. That if any person shall, contrary to the provisions of this
act, accept any appointment to or employment in any office, or shall
hold or exercise, or attempt to hold or exercise, any such office or
employment, he shall be deemed, and is hereby declared to be, guilty
of a high misdemeanor, and, upon trial and conviction thereof, he
shall be punished therefor by a fine not exceeding ten thousand
dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both said
punishments, in the discretion of the court.
SEC. 6. That every removal, appointment, or employment made, had, or
exercised, contrary to the provisions of this act, and the making,
signing, sealing, counter-signing, or issuing of any commission or
letter of authority for or in respect to any such appointment or
employment, shall be deemed, and are hereby declared to be, high
misdemeanors, and, upon trial and conviction thereof, every person
guilty thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand
dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both said
punishments, in the discretion of the court: _Provided_, That the
President shall have power to make out and deliver, after the
adjournment of the Senate, commissions for all officers whose
appointment shall have been advised and consented to by the Senate.
SEC. 7. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Senate, at
the close of each session thereof, to deliver to the Secretary of the
Treasury, and to each of his assistants, and to each of the Auditors,
and to each of the Comptrollers in the Treasury, and to the Treasurer,
and to the Register of the Treasury, a full and complete list, duly
certified, of all persons who shall have been nominated to and rejected
by the Senate during such session, and a like list of all the offices
to which nominations shall have been made and not confirmed and filled
at such session.
SEC. 8. That whenever the President shall, without the advice and
consent of the Senate, designate, authorize, or employ any person to
perform the duties of any office, he shall forthwith notify the
Secretary of the Treasury thereof, and it shall be the duty of the
Secretary of the Treasury thereupon to communicate such notice to all
the proper accounting and disbursing officers of the Government.
SEC. 9. That no money shall be paid or received from the Treasury,
or paid or received out of any public moneys or funds of the United
States, whether in the Treasury or not, to or by or for the benefit of
any person appointed to or authorized to act in or holding or
exercising the duties or functions of any office contrary to the
provisions of this act; nor shall any claim, account, voucher, order,
certificate, warrant, or other instrument providing for or relating to
such payment, receipt, or retention, be presented, passed, allowed,
approved, certified, or paid by any officer of the United States, or
by any person exercising the functions or performing the duties of
any office or place of trust under the United States, for or in respect
such office, or the exercising or performing the functions or duties
thereof; and every person who shall violate any of the provisions of
this section shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and, upon
trail and conviction thereof, shall be punished therefor by a fine
not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding
ten years, or both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
AN ACT TO AMEND "AN ACT REGULATING THE TENURE OF CERTAIN CIVIL OFFICES."
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of American in Congress assembled,_ That the first and second
sections of an act entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain
civil offices," passed March 2, 1867, be, and the same are, hereby
repealed, and in lieu of said repealed sections the following are
hereby enacted:
That every person holding any civil office to which has been or
hereafter may be appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, and who shall have become duly qualified to act therein, shall
be entitled to hold such office during the term for which he shall
have been appointed, unless sooner removed by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, or by the appointment, with the like advice and
consent, of a successor in his place, except as herein otherwise
provided.
SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted,_ That during any recess of the
Senate the President is hereby empowered, in his discretion, to
suspend any civil officer appointed by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, except judges of the United States courts, until the
end of the next session of the Senate, and to designate some suitable
person, subject to be removed in his discretion by the designation of
another, to perform the duties of such suspended officer in the
meantime; and such person so designated shall take the oaths and give
the bonds required by law to be taken and given by the suspended
officer, and shall, during the time he performs his duties, be entitled
to the salary and emoluments of such office, no part of which shall
belong to the officer suspended; and it shall be the duty of the
President within thirty days after the commencement of each session of
the Senate, except for any office which in his opinion ought not to be
filled, to nominate persons to fill all vacancies in office which
existed at the meeting of the Senate, whether temporarily filled or
not, and also in the place of all officers suspended; and if the
Senate during such session shall refuse to advise and consent to an
appointment in the place of any suspended officer, then, and not
otherwise, the President shall nominate another person as soon as
practicable to said session of the Senate for said office.
SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted,_ That section three of the act to
which this is an amendment be amended by inserting after the word
"resignation," in line three of said section, the following: "or
expiration of term of office."
APPENDIX C.
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT VOTED UPON BY THE SENATE.
ARTICLE XI.