In the Senate, February 8, 1864, the following resolutions,
submitted by Mr. Sumner, were read and ordered to be printed.
Resolutions defining the character of the national contest, and
protesting against any premature restoration of Rebel States,
without proper guaranties and safeguards against Slavery and
for the protection of Freedmen.
RESOLVED, That, in determining the duties of the National Government,
it is of first importance that we should see and understand the real
character of the contest forced upon the United States, for failure
to appreciate this contest must end in failure of those proper
efforts essential to the reëstablishment of unity and concord; that,
recognizing the contest in its real character, as it must be recorded
by history, it is apparent that it is not an ordinary rebellion or an
ordinary war, but that it is absolutely without precedent, differing
from every other rebellion and every other war, inasmuch as it is an
audacious attempt, for the first time in history, to found a wicked
power on the corner-stone of Slavery; and that such an attempt, having
this single object,--whether regarded as rebellion or war,--is so
completely penetrated and absorbed, so entirely filled and possessed
by Slavery, that it can be regarded as nothing else than the huge
impersonation of this crime, at once rebel and belligerent, or, in
other words, as _Slavery in arms_.
2. That, recognizing the identity of the Rebellion and Slavery, so
that each is to the other as another self, it becomes plain that the
Rebellion cannot be crushed without crushing Slavery, as Slavery cannot
be crushed without crushing the Rebellion; that every forbearance
to the one is forbearance to the other, and every blow at the one
is a blow at the other; that all who tolerate Slavery tolerate the
Rebellion, and all who strike at Slavery strike at the Rebellion; and
that, therefore, it is our supreme duty, in which all other present
duties are contained, to take care that the barbarism of Slavery,
in which alone the Rebellion has its origin and life, is so utterly
trampled out that it can never spring up again anywhere in the Rebel
and belligerent region; for, leaving this duty undone, nothing is done,
and all our blood and treasure are lavished in vain.
3. That, in dealing with the Rebel War, the National Government is
invested with two classes of rights,--one the _Rights of Sovereignty_,
inherent and indefeasible everywhere within the national limits, and
the other the _Rights of War_, or belligerent rights, superinduced by
the nature and extent of the contest; that, by virtue of the Rights of
Sovereignty, the Rebel and belligerent region is now subject to the
nation as its only rightful government, bound under the Constitution
to all the duties of sovereignty, and by special mandate bound also
to guaranty to every State a republican form of government, and to
protect it against invasion; that, by virtue of the Rights of War, this
same region is subject to all the conditions and incidents of war,
according to the established usages of Christian nations, out of which
is derived the familiar maxim of public duty, “Indemnity for the past
and security for the future.”
4. That, in seeking restoration of the States to their proper places
as members of the Republic, so that every State shall enjoy again its
constitutional functions, and every star on the national flag shall
represent a State in reality as well as in name, care must be taken
that the Rebellion is not allowed, through any negligence or mistaken
concession, to retain the least foothold for future activity, or the
least germ of future life; that, whether proceeding by the exercise
of sovereign rights or of belligerent rights, the same precautions
must be exacted against future peril; that, therefore, any system
of “Reconstruction” must be rejected which does not provide by
irreversible guaranties against the continued existence or possible
revival of Slavery, and that such guaranties can be primarily obtained
only through the agency of the National Government, which to this end
must assert a temporary supremacy, military or civil, throughout the
Rebel and belligerent region, of sufficient duration to stamp upon this
region the character of Freedom.
5. That, in the exercise of this essential supremacy of the nation,
a solemn duty is cast upon Congress to see that no Rebel State is
prematurely restored to its constitutional functions until within
its borders all proper safeguards are established, so that loyal
citizens, including the new-made freedmen, cannot at any time be
molested by evil-disposed persons, and especially that no man there
may be made a slave; that this solemn duty belongs to Congress under
the Constitution, whether in the exercise of Rights of Sovereignty
or Rights of War, and that in its performance that system of
“Reconstruction” will be best, howsoever named, which promises most
surely to accomplish the desired end, so that Slavery, which is the
synonym of the Rebellion, shall absolutely cease throughout the
whole Rebel and belligerent region, and the land it has maddened,
impoverished, and degraded shall become safe, fertile, and glorious
from assured Emancipation.
6. That, in the process of “Reconstruction,” it is not enough to secure
the death of Slavery throughout the Rebel and belligerent region
only; that experience testifies against Slavery wherever it exists,
not only as crime against humanity, but as disturber of the public
peace and spoiler of the public liberties, including liberty of the
press, liberty of speech, and liberty of travel and transit; that, in
the progress of civilization, it has become incompatible with good
government, and especially with that “republican form of government”
which the United States are bound to guaranty to every State; that from
the outbreak of this Rebel war, even in States professing loyalty, it
has been an open check upon patriotic duty and an open accessory to
the Rebellion, so as to be a source of unquestionable weakness to the
national cause; that the defiant pretensions of the master claiming
control of his slave are in direct conflict with paramount rights of
the nation; and that, therefore, it is the further duty of Congress, in
the exercise of its double powers under the Constitution, as guardian
of the national safety, to take all needful steps for the extinction
of Slavery, even in States professing loyalty, so that this crime
against humanity, this disturber of the public peace, and this spoiler
of the public liberties shall no longer exist anywhere to menace the
general harmony, that civilization may be no longer shocked, that the
constitutional guaranty of a republican form of government to every
State may be fulfilled, that the Rebellion may be deprived of the
traitorous aid and comfort Slavery has instinctively volunteered, and
that the master claiming an unnatural property in human flesh may no
longer defy the nation.
7. That, in addition to the guaranties stipulated by Congress, and
as the cap-stone to its work of restoration and reconciliation,
the Constitution itself must be so amended as to prohibit Slavery
everywhere within the limits of the Republic; that such prohibition,
leaving all personal claims, whether of slave or master, to the
legislation of Congress and of the States, will be a sacred and
inviolable guaranty, representing the collective will of the people of
the United States, and placing Universal Emancipation under sanction of
the Constitution, so that Freedom shall be engraved on every foot of
the national soil and be woven into every star of the national flag,
while it elevates and inspires our whole national existence, and the
Constitution, so often invoked for Slavery, but at last in harmony
with the Declaration of Independence, will become, according to the
aspirations of its founders, sublime guardian of the inalienable right
of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness:
all of which must be done in the name of the Union, in duty to
humanity, and for the sake of permanent peace.