RECONSTRUCTION.
Condition of the Republican and Democratic Parties in Congress in
December, 1866.—The District of Columbia Elective Franchise Bill
passed: Its Provisions.—Mr. Johnson vetoes it, but it is passed
over the Veto.—Territorial Franchise Bill passed.—Admission
of Nebraska as a State, with the Elective Franchise
Proviso.—Difficulties in Maturing satisfactorily the
Reconstruction Act.—The Provisions of the House Bill.—It is
materially changed in the Senate.—Further Modification in the
House Provisions of the Bill as finally passed.—Necessity for the
Tenure of Office Act: Its Provisions.—Effect of the Passage of the
District of Columbia Franchise Bill on Tennessee.—Decision of the
Supreme Court of Tennessee.—The First Supplementary Reconstruction
Act of the Fortieth Congress.—It is vetoed, and re-passed: Its
Provisions.—Arrangement for the Call of a Summer Session.—Mr.
Stanbery’s Exposition of the Reconstruction Acts.—The Summer
Session of 1867.—The Second Supplementary Reconstruction Act: Its
Provisions.—Appropriations for Carrying out the Reconstruction
Acts.—The President’s Communication.—The Resolution of the House
in Reply.—Sharp Talk.—The Completion of Congressional Legislation
on the Subject in 1867.—Condition of the Desolated States in 1867.
The elections of the Autumn of 1866 had greatly strengthened and
encouraged the Republican majority in Congress, and when the members of
the Thirty-ninth Congress met in their second session in December, 1866,
they were resolved to complete their work of reconstruction, so far as
it was possible to do so, and to pass the necessary bills over the
President’s veto. The minority (Democrats) were weak in numbers in both
houses, but they numbered several men of very considerable ability, and
they had been reënforced by the defection from the Republicans of
Messrs. Cowan, Doolittle, Dixon, and Norton in the Senate, and Mr.
Raymond, and two or three others, on some questions, in the House. Their
losses by death and by the unseating of several members whose seats were
contested, however, gave them really very little more available strength
than in the previous session, while the Republicans were united and
thoroughly in earnest.
The first measure adopted during the session, having a bearing on the
question of reconstruction, was the bill regulating the elective
franchise in the District of Columbia. This was a measure of great
importance, as, the District of Columbia being under the exclusive
government of Congress, the action of that body in regard to conferring
the suffrage and other privileges of citizenship upon the negro there,
would indicate distinctly what Congress would require from the Rebel
States as conditions precedent to their admission into the Union. Its
provisions were as follows: Sec. 1 confers the elective franchise on
male citizens of the United States, twenty-one years old and upward
without distinction on account of race or color, who shall have resided
in the District one year next preceding any election therein, excepting
paupers, persons under guardianship, those convicted of any infamous
crime or offense, and those who may have voluntarily given aid and
comfort to the Rebels in the late Rebellion. Sec. 2 provides that any
person whose duty it shall be to receive votes at any election within
the District of Columbia, who shall reject the vote of any person
entitled to vote under this act, shall be liable to an action of tort by
the person injured, and on indictment and conviction, to a fine not
exceeding $5,000, or to imprisonment not exceeding one year in the jail
of the District, or both. Sec. 3 provides that any one willfully
disturbing an elector in the exercise of such franchise shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor, and on conviction, shall be liable to a fine not
exceeding $1,000, or an imprisonment not exceeding thirty days in the
jail of the District, or both. Sec. 4 makes it the duty of criminal
courts in the District to give this act in special charge to the grand
jury at the common circuit of each term of the court. Secs. 5 and 6. The
voting lists are to be prepared by the mayors and aldermen of the cities
of Washington and Georgetown on and before the first day of March in
each year, and are to be posted in public places ten days before the
annual election. The remaining four sections give other prescriptions as
to the manner in which the election shall be held.
This bill passed the Senate December 14, 1866, by a vote of 32 yeas to
13 nays; and the House by 128 yeas to 46 nays. Mr. Johnson vetoed it in
a very elaborate message, on the 7th of January, 1867; and the same day
the Senate passed it again over the veto, by yeas 29, nays 10; and the
next day, the House followed their example by yeas 113, nays 38.
On the 14th of January, 1867, a bill was sent to the President, which
had previously passed both houses of Congress by a large majority, which
provided that from and after its passage there should be no denial of
the elective franchise in any of the territories of the United States,
now, or hereafter to be organized, to any citizen thereof, on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and all acts or parts
of acts, either of Congress or the legislative assemblies of said
territories, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are declared
null and void.
This bill, not being returned by the President within ten days, became a
law on the 24th of January, 1867.
The next measure was the admission of Nebraska as a State, with the
condition that the new State should by a solemn act assent to the
provision that there should be no denial within the State of the
elective franchise, or of any other right to any person, by reason of
race or color, excepting Indians not taxed. This was vetoed by the
President, but passed over his veto, February 9.
The question of reconstruction proper, as applied to the States lately
in insurrection, was one of greater difficulty. Several bills were
presented in both houses, and very considerable differences of opinion
evidently existed among the Republican members. So serious were these at
one time as to make it doubtful whether any measure which would be
generally satisfactory could be passed during the session. A bill at
length passed the House, for abrogating the existing provisional
governments in the Rebel States, and establishing military rule there,
dividing the whole Southern territory into five military districts, and
conferring upon the General-in-chief the power of appointing the
commanders of these districts. This bill was materially modified, or
rather, another bill, combining with it reconstruction measures, and
placing the appointing power in the hands of the President, was
presented in the Senate, by Senator Sherman of Ohio, which passed that
body. To this the House disagreed, and voted to adhere to its original
bill. After some time, however, the House receded, and added some
important amendments to Sherman’s bill, which was then passed by both
houses; the vote in the House being 128 yeas to 46 nays, and that in the
Senate, 35 yeas to 7 nays.
This measure was one of such importance that we deem it necessary to
give the text of it in full. It is as follows:—
“AN ACT to provide efficient Government for the Insurrectionary
States.
“_Whereas_, No legal State governments or adequate protection for
life or property now exist in the Rebel States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 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, etc._, That said Rebel States shall be divided into
military districts, and made subject to the military authority of
the United States, as hereinafter mentioned; 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 Louisiana and Texas the Fifth District.
“SECTION 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.
“SECTION 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 try offenders, or, when in his judgment it
may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to
organize military committees 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.
“SECTION 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 may conflict with its provisions.
_Provided_, That no sentence of death under this act shall be
carried into execution without the approval of the President.
“SECTION 5. When the people of any one of said Rebel States shall
have formed a constitution and 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,
21 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 14, and when said article shall have
become 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 oath 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.
“SECTION 6. Until the people of the said Rebel States shall by law
be admitted to representation to the Congress of the United States,
all civil governments that may exist therein shall be deemed
provisional only, and shall be in all respects subject to the
paramount authority of the United States, at any time to abolish,
modify, control, and supersede the same, and in all elections to any
office under such provisional governments all persons shall be
entitled to vote under the provisions of the fifth section of this
act. And no person shall be eligible to any office under such
provisional governments who would be disqualified from holding
office under the provisions of the third article of said
Constitutional Amendment.”
This act completes the reconstruction measures properly so called, of
the Thirty-ninth Congress. One other bill, passed by that Congress, at
its second session, demands notice in this connection, from its purpose,
and its subsequent bearing on the question of impeachment. The due and
active enforcement of the reconstruction measures passed by Congress
over the President’s veto, depended in a great degree upon the Secretary
of War. It was known that Mr. Johnson would not be remarkably zealous in
compelling obedience to them, though it was not known, till some months
later, that he would counsel their violation, on the ground of his
belief or impression that they were unconstitutional. But of the
fidelity and loyalty of Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, the
Republicans in Congress had no question, and their only apprehension was
that Mr. Johnson would discharge him from his cabinet, and place in the
department some supple tool of his own, whose whole effort would be to
nullify these measures which they regarded as so important. There were
others, too, in administrative positions, especially in connection with
the Freedmen’s Bureau, who were liable to removal for no other offense
than that of an honest effort to administer the laws in letter and
spirit.
To prevent the exercise of this arbitrary power by the President, the
Tenure of Office Act was matured, and passed the Senate February 18,
1867, by yeas 22, nays 10; and the House, February 19, by yeas 112, nays
41. It was as follows:—
“AN ACT regulating the Tenure of certain Civil Offices.
“_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America 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.
“SECTION 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 the 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.
“SECTION 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.
“SECTION 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.
“SECTION 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.
“SECTION 6. That every removal, appointment, or employment made,
had, or exercised, contrary to the provisions of this act, and the
making, signing, sealing, countersigning, 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.
“SECTION 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.
“SECTION 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 his
Department.
“SECTION 9. That no money shall be paid or received from the
Treasury, or paid or received from or retained 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 to 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
trial 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.”
The action of Congress in bestowing the franchise, without distinction
of race or color, on the inhabitants of the District of Columbia,
speedily exerted an influence in other sections. On the 6th of February,
1867, the lower branch of the Tennessee Legislature passed a bill
striking the word “white” from the franchise law of the State, by yeas
38, nays 25. On the 18th of February the State Senate concurred, by yeas
14, nays 7. On the 21st of March, the Supreme Court of the State
unanimously sustained the constitutionality of the franchise law as thus
amended, and in August following, the negroes, for the first time,
exercised the franchise, at the election for governor.
In the passage of the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867, the
Republicans of the Thirty-ninth Congress had not fully come up to the
positions which it was their duty to occupy.
The bill too was somewhat loosely drawn, and some supplementary
legislation was necessary to give it force and efficacy. It was,
perhaps, the best that could be done under the circumstances, for they
were embarrassed by the diversity of opinions on many of the details of
reconstruction, among the Republicans themselves, and by the fact, that
any very stringent measure could not be passed over the veto which was
sure to come. The Fortieth Congress, which was called together by the
officers of its predecessor on the 4th of March, 1867, was fresh from
the people, and stronger and more positive in its convictions. One of
the measures taken up at its short session of March, 1867, was a
supplementary Reconstruction Act, which passed both houses on the 19th
of March. This was vetoed March 23, and the same day passed over the
veto; in the House by 114 yeas to 25 nays, and in the Senate by 40 yeas
to 7 nays.
The following are the main provisions of this act:—
“Before September 1, 1867, 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 2, 1867, 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. 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 1860, 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 1860, to be apportioned as aforesaid. SEC. 3. At said election
the registered voters of each State shall vote for or against a
convention to form a constitution therefor under this act. 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. 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 days 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 convention 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. 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 2, 1862, entitled ‘An Act to prescribe an Oath
of Office:’ _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.”
Mr. Johnson promised to carry out this act faithfully, but the
Republican leaders had seen so often how little dependence was to be
placed upon his pledges, that they did not think it prudent to adjourn
without making provision for the calling of a Summer Session, should it
prove to be necessary.
The event proved that this was a wise and needful precaution. In direct
contradiction to his promises, Congress had hardly adjourned before Mr.
Johnson procured from his Attorney-General, Mr. Stanbery, a series of
opinions in regard to the Reconstruction Acts, in which, with a lawyer’s
ingenuity, they were wrested from their plain and obvious meaning, and
explained to be merely measures of military police, of no particular
importance. The first of these opinions, bearing date May 24, the
President had forwarded to the various military commanders, accompanied
with a note calling their attention to it. It was his obvious intention,
though he was too disingenuous to say so distinctly, that it should be
regarded as mandatory; and by this device he hoped to annul the
Reconstruction Acts.
This artful trick rendered it necessary to summon Congress to meet on
the 4th of July, 1867, and they promptly passed another supplementary
Reconstruction Act, in terms so plain and unmistakable that even the
Attorney-General could not subvert its meaning, and the execution of the
act was conferred on the General-in-chief and the commanders of the
military districts, instead of the President. This act was passed July
13, in the Senate by a vote of 31 to 6; in the House by 111 to 23. Mr.
Johnson vetoed it (of course) on the 19th of July, and it was at once
passed over the veto; in the Senate by a vote of 30 to 6, in the House
by 100 to 22. The bill was as follows:—
“SEC. 1. That it 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
the act supplementary thereto, passed the 23d 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 until disapproved, 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 or person holding or exercising, or professing to hold
or exercise, any civil or military office or 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
approval 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 detaching, 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 persons 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 ground of such refusal or such striking from the
list: _Provided_, that no person shall be disqualified as a member
of any board of registration by reason of race or color.
“SEC. 6. That the true intent and meaning of the oath presented in
said supplementary act is (among other things), that no person who
has been a member of the legislature of any State, or who has 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
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 for completing the original registration
provided for in any act may, in the discretion of the commander of
any district, be extended to the 1st day of October, 1867; and the
board 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 each registry the names of all
persons who at that time possess the qualifications required by said
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 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 commander, shall be required
to take and subscribe to the oath of office prescribed by law for
the officers of the United States.
“SEC. 9. That no district commander or member of the board of
registration, or any officer or appointee acting under them, shall
be bound in his action by any opinion of any civil officer of the
United States.
“SEC. 10. 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. 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.”
A bill was also passed appropriating $1,675,000 to carry out the
Reconstruction Acts, which was vetoed, and passed over the veto; in the
Senate by 32 to 4, and in the House by 100 to 24. The Senate passed a
bill, 25 to 5, providing that in the District of Columbia no person
should be disqualified for holding office on account of race or color.
The President sent in a communication, stating that the annual cost of
maintaining State Governments in the ten States was $14,000,000, and if
the General Government undertook to manage them it would be greater;
also that if it abolished the present State Governments, it would be
liable for their debts, amounting to at least $100,000,000. The House
passed a resolution, 100 to 18, declaring this communication “at war
with the principles of international law, a deliberate stab at the
national credit, abhorrent to every sentiment of loyalty, and well
pleasing only to the vanquished traitors by whose agency alone the
governments of said States were overthrown and destroyed.”
Such was the legislation on the subject of reconstruction during the
year 1867. We shall see in our next chapter what was done by the
military authorities and the people of the desolated States, during the
year, to carry out these measures.
With a glance at the condition of these States early in the year, we
close our present chapter. The winter of 1866–67 was one of great and
widely extended suffering. The crops had been short, and of inferior
quality, and for want of help many of them had not been fully gathered.
In some sections there was actual starvation. Over $500,000 had been
raised in the Northern States and distributed mostly in breadstuffs to
those who were most in need. Congress, in March, authorized the
distribution of aid to a limited extent through the Freedmen’s Bureau.
In April, 65,000 persons received rations daily through the Freedmen’s
Bureau, in Alabama alone, and 20,000 more were on the verge of distress.
There was also prevalent a deplorable state of lawlessness. Bands of
armed men, ruffians, mostly bushwhackers, formerly connected with the
Rebel army, roamed through many districts, plundering and burning
property, and destroying the lives of loyal men, white and black, often
under circumstances of peculiar atrocity. Some parts of the South, and
especially Kentucky, Middle and Western Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas,
seemed given over to anarchy.