“I cannot sleep another night till I have thanked you
from the bottom of my heart for your bill resolving
Rebeldom into Territorial relations again. Of all measures
ever introduced into Congress, nothing so completely meets
the case of the present exigency of our country’s history,
and _nothing but this_ can make the confederacy of the
whole land stand in safety a single year. We may continue
to win battles, but, so long as the ruins of Slavery exist
in the body politic, we shall stand on a volcano.”
But the most important commentary on the Resolutions is found
in the measures of Reconstruction subsequently adopted, all of
which stand on the power of Congress over the Rebel States,
which they positively assert, including especially the power
and duty to guaranty a republican form of government.
The Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, drawn up
by its Chairman, Mr. Fessenden, asserted that the Rebel States
“having voluntarily renounced the right to representation, and
disqualified themselves by crime from participating in the
Government, the burden now rests upon them, before claiming to
be reinstated in their former condition, to show that they are
qualified to resume Federal relations.” It then laid down the
rule:--
“Having, by this treasonable withdrawal from Congress,
and by flagrant rebellion and war, forfeited all civil
and political rights and privileges under the Federal
Constitution, they can only be restored thereto by the
permission and authority of that constitutional power
against which they rebelled, and by which they were
subdued.”[167]
Here was the power of Congress asserted,--but very tardily, and
after original denial.
* * * * *
A calm observer has recently recorded his regret that the
Resolutions were not adopted at once, and consistently
acted upon. After saying that “the mover was overwhelmed
with a tornado of denunciation and abuse,” and that the
opposition “rendered any satisfactory reconstruction as nearly
impracticable as can well be imagined,” the writer proceeds:--
“Time has fully vindicated the wisdom of Mr. Sumner’s
course, and many of the Senators against the measure now
admit their mistake,--while every man who comes here from
the South says that their present miserable condition grows
out of that great error.
“To the Democratic party the rejection of the Resolutions
was a God-send. It made the continued existence of the
Democratic party possible.”[168]
Such is the first chapter of Reconstruction.