an opportunity to carry out the doctrine which the Senator from Massachusetts has so often and so eloquently proclaimed here, 'Give me the ballot and I will be satisfied; the ballot is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega of the whole theory of reconstruction.' How long did we hear him declaim about the ballot at the last session? Now he has the opportunity to give the ballot to every male negro above the age of twenty-one years and to put him on a footing of equality with his former master.

"Here is a bill that cripples him by no restriction, that requires no educational qualification, that does not tie his hands on account of past ignorance, but gives him that great power which the Senator has so often demanded for him. The Senator is not satisfied when this is done by the unanimous vote of his political friends in the Senate, every voice concurring; and that, too, when it is supported by military law, backed by the proposition that until the people of these States shall themselves arm the negro with political power they shall not be represented here. The Senator says that is not sufficient. Although in many Southern States the negroes are in the majority, and if they have the intelligence and the vigor and the firmness of the white man they can vote down the white men; the Senator says he is not satisfied with that. Now, what is asked? What was asked in the House of Representatives? That we shall disfranchise the white population and leave only the negroes and the few loyal white people there are in the Southern States to vote. If that is the proposition, let us meet it boldly and manfully. Sir, the people of Ohio I know do not demand such a proposition. All they ask is that the negro shall be protected in all his natural rights, and as the highest means of protection, that he shall be secured the ballot. And, sir, no proposition can ever pass this Congress, and no bill can ever be sanctioned by the American people which will disfranchise the white population of the Southern States with very few exceptions, and place the power of ten States in the hands of ignorant, emancipated freedmen. We want neither black nor white oligarchies.

"This bill does not proclaim universal amnesty except as to voting. On the contrary, it requires these States to adopt a constitutional amendment by which the leading men disable themselves from holding office. Six thousand or perhaps ten thousand of the leading men of the South are embraced in the restriction of the constitutional amendment, and are forever excluded from holding office, until two-thirds of both Houses of Congress relieve them from that restriction. Is not that enough? Is it not enough that they are humiliated, conquered, their pride broken, their property lost, hundreds and thousands of their best and bravest buried under their soil, their institutions gone, they themselves deprived of the right to hold office, and placed in political power on the

VOL. VII.-16

same footing with their former slaves? Is not that enough? I say it is, and a generous people will not demand more."

The motion to consider the amendments was agreed to.

In the House, on the 19th and 20th the Senate amendments were considered.

The pending question was, upon seconding the call for the previous question, upon the motion of Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, to agree to the amendments of the Senate, with the following amendment added thereto :

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 a convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States; nor shall any such person vote for members of such convention.

SEC. --

The call for the previous question was not seconded, and Mr. Shellabarger moved to add the following to the amendment of Mr. Wilson: And be it further enacted, That until the people of said rebel States shall be 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 And in all elections to any supersede the same. 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 government who shall be disqualified from holding office under the provisions of the third article of said constitutional amendment.

The motion was agreed to.

The Senate amendments, as amended, were then concurred in by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, Arnell, Delos R. Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Brandagee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dodge, Donnelly, Dumont, Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Grinnell, Griswold, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Koontz, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marvin, Maynard, McClurg, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, McIndoe, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, Pike, Plants, Pomeroy, Price, Raymond, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Shellabarger, Sloan, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Stokes, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Hamilton Ward, Warner, Henry D. WashWhaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. burn, Willliam B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge--126.

NAYS-Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Campbell, Chanler, Cooper, Dawson, Denison, Eldridge, Finck, Hise, Edwin N. Hubbell, James R. Hubbell, HumGlossbrenner, Goodyear, Aaron Harding, Hawkins, phrey, Hunter, Kerr, Kuykendall, Le Blond, Leftwich, Marshall, McCullough, Niblack, Nicholson,

In the Senate, on the same day, the amendments of the House were considered.

Mr. Williams, of Oregon, moved that the Senate concur in the amendments of the House. Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: "The first clause of the addition to the fifth section is a proper one, I think. It simply applies the constitutional amendment in fixing the qualifications of delegates to a convention. I think there is no great objection to that. I do not think it wise to prevent the persons excepted from voting at the election; but it is a small matter, and I am not disposed to stand upon a difference in regard to it. The recital in the last section is merely a repetition of what is contained in the preamble, and therefore certainly no one of those who voted for the preamble can object to it. It simply declares that the existing State governments in the rebel States are provisional. That is precisely the theory upon which the preamble is founded. I therefore certainly shall not object to the amendment on that ground. The only material objection I would have, would be to that clause which disfranchises ten or fifteen thousand leading rebels from voting at the elections; but for one I am perfectly willing to agree to the amendment."

Mr. Grimes: "Only at one election." Mr. Sherman: "It does not prevent them from voting on the ratification of the constitution. I shall therefore vote for the amendment."

Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, said: "I differ from the Senator from Ohio, when he characterizes that as a small matter. It is a great

matter.

"I should not say another word on. this bill but for the singular speech of the Senator from Ohio yesterday. He made what I may call an assault on me, because I required in this very bill the amendments which the House have now made; and yet he is going to support them. Very well; I am glad that the Senator from Ohio has seen light; but I hope that he will revise his speech of yesterday. The Senator shakes his head. What did I ask for? What did I criticise in this bill? It was that it provided no safeguards against the rebels. I did not say how many rebels I would exclude. I only said you must exclude some of them, more or less. You do not exclude any. That is what I said yesterday, and I brought down upon me the cataract of speech which we all enjoyed from the Senator from Ohio, who protested with all the ardor of his nature, and he invoked the State of Ohio behind him to oppose the proposition of the Senator from Massachu

setts. And now, if I understand the Senator from Ohio, he is ready to place himself side by side with the Senator from Massachusetts in support of that amendment which has come from the House. I am glad that the Senator is so disposed. I am glad that he sees light. Live and learn!' To-morrow I hope to be able to welcome the Senator to some other height."

Mr. Cowan: "Excelsior!"

Mr. Sumner: "Excelsior!' as my friend from Pennsylvania says, and I hope it may be applicable to him also."

Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: "This great measure is in advance, far in advance of any position heretofore taken by the Congress of the United States. The pending amendments of the House of Representatives improve the measure, and I am grateful to the Representatives of the people for this action. I thank the House and the country, well thank it, too, for this distinct declaration that these rebel State governments are mere provisional governments, and that the freedmen shall possess and exercise the right of suffrage while these State governments remain provisional governments. I am especially grateful to the Democratic members of the House, who unwittingly contributed to this glorious declaration.

66

By this grand act we assure protection to loyal men, to the enfranchised millions menaced by lawless bands; we proclaim as the will of the nation, from whose verdict there is no appeal, that the people of the rebel States, ere their representatives shall occupy seats in these Chambers, shall accept the constitutional amendment, modify their own constitution and laws in accordance with its provisions, and secure equal and impartial suffrage to all men, without distinction of color or race. The enactment of this measure settles forever in America the great contest for the enfranchisement of the emancipated bondman. Tennessee, admitted at the last session, has gloriously redeemed the pledges made by her loyal representatives, and her loyal governor. She has given, by a great act of justice, suffrage to her freedmen, and assured the triumph of patriotism, freedom, and justice in the years to come. When the act shall become the law of the land, as it will become the law of the land in spite of opposition here or elsewhere, three million freedmen will be clothed with the full right of suffrage, never to be taken from them. The passage of this great measure forever puts at rest the distrust and apprehension of cautious or timid friends, who feared that the nation might shrink from demanding of the States lately in rebellion the acceptance of manhood suffrage, as an indispensable condition of restoration to their practical relations."

Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, said: "Mr. President, I am of opinion that the exclusion from the right of suffrage, under the first clause of the House amendment, is much more exten

sive than it was stated to be by the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Sherman), in his remarks. The amendment excludes from the right of suffrage, in the election of members of the constitutional conventions, all those persons who are excluded from the right of holding office under the constitutional amendment proposed by Congress at the last session. Now, I presume that, instead of there being but six thousand persons excluded from the right of holding office under the United States, or under particular States, by the language of the constitutional amendment, the number is more likely sixty thousand, or perhaps still more. The exclusion includes, observe, not only officers of the United States, but officers of the several States; it includes persons who may have served in the State Legislatures; it includes all judicial officers of the States; it includes all State magistrates, all State constables, no matter at what time they may have been selected for the duties of their offices, nor how humble those offices may have been. This constitutional amendment casts a net over the Southern States, and sweeps within its fold all the local officers who may have held office under the several States at any period of time, be it forty or fifty years ago. Taking the whole mass of those persons, the number must be very great; and instead of being six thousand, as the Senator from Ohio supposes, the number must be ten times as great, or more. It will include every person of special intelligence, of peculiar qualifications for the discharge of public duties throughout that whole country-every man now alive who has ever been chosen, even to a local neighborhood office, so humble as magistrate or constable, during the last half century.

"Now, what does the first amendment from the House do? It proposes to disfranchise all these persons from the right of voting, and from the right of voting at an election the most important that can be conceived with reference to their interests, the formation of governments for themselves, to endure for all future time, or until the same power which establishes them shall modify or amend them. Instead of being an insignificant provision, a matter of little moment, it is a very important amendment; it is most sweeping and proscriptive in its character, and one to which the Senate ought not to agree.

"This second amendment informs us that this bill is not a finality, is not a settlement, is not an adjustment of this subject of national difficulty and dispute. We are informed by it, that after these governments are set up pursuant to the extraordinary provisions of the bill, they are to have no validity or force as State governments; they are to be subject still to our will and to our pleasure; we are to be bound by nothing. After they are set up, by a mere breath we may sweep them away.

"I say, then, that instead of this being a measure of reconstruction, it is simply a step in the course of aggressive and violent measures

against the Southern section of the country, which has been pursued by Congress from the time when the war came to a conclusion in 1865. Pass this bill, and no matter what takes place under it, the general subject of reconstruction is still before us; we are bound to nothing which has been done, and next session measures in advance of this will be introduced and pressed. And why not? Why not pressed and passed as well as this? Upon the very face of this enactment you say that Congress is bound to nothing which may take place under it; you say that these constitutions, however strictly they may conform to the regulations you prescribe in this bill, shall not be valid and effectual unless in your sovereign pleasure you choose to approve them hereafter. The House of Representatives says, in this second amendment which it sends to us, that all that shall be done is to be subject to the pleasure of Congress; we are to be bound, and the public faith is to be bound, by nothing contained in this legislation."

The House amendments were concurred in by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Brown, Cattell, Chandler, Conness, Cragin, Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fogg, Foster, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Kirkwood, Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sherman, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, and Yates-35.

NAYS-Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Hendricks, Nesmith, Patterson, and Saulsbury-7. ABSENT - Messrs. Anthony, Dixon, Doolittle, Grimes, Guthrie, McDougall, Norton, Nye, Riddle, and Sprague-10.

On March 2d, the President returned the bill DOCUMENTS). It was then reconsidered by the to the House, with his objections (see PUBLIO House and passed-yeas 135, nays 48.

In the Senate, on March 2d, the message, with the bill, was considered, and the bill was passed by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Cattell, Chandler, ConFoster, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Harris, Henness, Cragin, Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fogg, derson, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Kirkwood, Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, and Yates-38.

NAYS-Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Hendricks, Nesmith, Norton, Patterson, and Saulsbury-10.

ABSENT-Messrs. Brown, Guthrie, McDougall, and

Riddle-4.

The second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress closed on March 4th, 1867. Numerous acts of importance were passed, some of which were as follows: An act to regulate the elective franchise in the Territories; which provides that hereafter there shall be no denial of the elective franchise in any Territory on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. An act to establish a department of education, for the purpose of collecting such

facts and statistics as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country. An act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States. An act to abolish and forever prohibit the system of peonage in the Territory of New Mexico and other parts of the United States. The acts relating to the finances of the Government and to the Army and Navy are stated under those titles respectively.

In the last moments of the session, the President signed and returned under protest the act making appropriations for the support of the Army for the ensuing year. The objectionable provisions, the President said, "were contained in the second section, which in certain cases virtually deprives the President of his constitutional functions as Commander-in-chief of the Army; and in the sixth section, which denies to ten States of this Union their constitutional right to protect themselves in any emergency by means of their own militia."

These sections were as follows:

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the headquarters of the General of the Army of the United States shall be at the city of Washington, and all orders and instructions relating to military operations, issued by the President or Secretary of War, shall be issued through the General of the Army, and in case of his inability, through the next in rank. The General of the Army shall not be removed, suspended, or relieved from command, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at said headquarters, except at his own request, without the previous approval of the Senate; and any orders or instructions relating to military operations, issued contrary to the requirements of this section, shall be null and void; and any officer who shall issue orders or instructions contrary to the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor in office; and any officer of the Army who shall transmit, convey, or obey any orders or instructions so issued, contrary to the provisions of this section, knowing that such orders were so issued, shall be liable to imprisonment for not less than two nor more than twenty years, upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all militia forces now organized or in service in either of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, be forthwith disbanded, and that the further organization, arming, or calling into service of the said militia forces, or any part thereof, is hereby prohibited under any circumstances whatever, until the same shall be authorized by Congress.

After a brief debate, an act was passed, entitled "An act to fix the time for the regular meetings of Congress." It is as follows:

That in addition to the present regular times of meeting of Congress, there shall be a meeting of the Fortieth Congress of the United States, and of each succeeding Congress thereafter, at twelve o'clock meridian, on the fourth day of March, the day on which the term begins for which the Congress is

elected, except that, when the fourth of March occurs on Sunday, then the meeting shall take place at the same hour on the next succeeding day. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no person who was a member of the previous Congress shall receive any compensation as mileage for going to or returning from the additional session provided for by the foregoing section.

Approved, January 22, 1867.

Another act was also passed, "to regulate the duties of the Clerk of the House of Repre sentatives, in preparing for the organization of the House, and for other purposes." The first section was as follows:

That before the first meeting of the next Congress, and of every subsequent Congress, the Clerk of the next preceding House of Representatives shall make a roll of the Representatives elect, and place thereon the names of all persons claiming seats as Representatives elect from States which were represented in the next preceding Congress, and of such persons only, and whose credentials show that they were regularly elected in accordance with the laws of their States respectively, or the laws of the United States.

In the House the following members answered to their

names:

I observe in calling the roll there are sixteen absent States, six of which have been called by the Clerk, but have no representation upon the floor of this House, and ten of which, although upon the list, have not been called by the Clerk.

"Mr. Clerk, twenty States are about to proceed to the organization of this House in the midst of a crisis, ay, in the midst of a revolution -civil I hope it is to be-the very gravest it has ever been the fortune, or the misfortune of our country rather, to pass through. Of the

Frederick A. Pike, John A. Peters,

New Hampshire-No credentials presented.

Vermont-Frederick E. Woodbridge, Worthington C. Smith, Luke S. Poland.

Massachusetts-Thomas D. Eliot, Oakes Ames, Ginery Twitchell, Samuel Hooper, Benjamin F. Butler, Nathaniel P. Banks, George S. Boutwell, John D. Baldwin, William B. Washburn, Henry L. Dawes,

Rhode Island-No credentials presented.
Connecticut-No credentials presented.

New York-Stephen Taber, Demas Barnes, William E. Robinson, John Fox, John Morrissey, Thomas E. Stewart, John W. Chanler, James Brooks, Fernando Wood, William H. Robertson, Charles H. Van Wyck, John H. Ketcham, Thomas Cornell, John V. L. Pruyn, John A. Griswold, Orange Ferris, Calvin T. Hulburd, James M. Marvin, William C. Fields, Addison H. Laflin, John C. Churchill, Dennis McCarthy, Theodore M. Pomeroy, William H. Kelsey, William S. Lincoln, Hamilton Ward, Lewis Selye, Burt Van Horn, James M. Humphrey, Henry Van Aernam.

New Jersey-William Moore, Charles Haight, Charles Sitgreaves, John Hill, George A. Halsey.

Pennsylvania-Charles O'Neill, Leonard Myers, William D. Kelley, Caleb N. Taylor, Benjamin M. Boyer, John M. Broomall, J. Lawrence Getz, Thaddeus Stevens, Henry L. Cake, Daniel M. Van Auken, Charles Denison, Ulysses Mercur, George F. Miller, Adam J. Glossbrenner, William H. Koontz, Daniel J. Morrill, Stephen F. Wilson, Glenni W. Scofield, Darwin A. Finney, John Covode, James K. Moorhead, Thomas Williams, George V. Lawrence.

Delaware-John A. Nicholson.

Maryland-Hiram McCullough, Stevenson Archer, Chas. E. Phelps, Francis Thomas, Frederick Stone.

Ohio-Benjamin Eggleston, Rutherford B. Hayes, Robert C. Schenck, William Lawrence, William Mungen, Reader W. Clarke, Samuel Shellabarger, Cornelius S. Hamilton, Ralph P. Buckland, James M. Ashley, John T. Wilson, Philadelph Van Tromp, George W. Morgan, Martin Welker, Tobias A. Plants, John A. Bingham, Ephraim R. Eckley, Rufus P. Spalding, James A. Garfield.

Kentucky-No credentials presented.
Tennessee-No credentials presented.

Indiana-William E. Niblack, Michael C. Kerr, Morton C. Hunter, William S. Holman, George W. Julian, John Coburn, Henry D. Washburn, Godlove S. Orth, Schuyler Colfax, William Williams, John P. C. Shanks.

Illinois-Norman B. Judd, John F. Farnsworth, Abner C. Harding, Ebon C. Ingersoll, Burton C. Cook, Henry P. H. Bromwell, Shelby M. Cullom, Lewis W. Ross, Albert G. Burr, Samuel S. Marshall, Jehu Baker, Green B. Raum, John A. Logan.

Missouri-William A. Pile, Carman A. Newcomb, Thomas E. Noell, Joseph J. Gravely, Joseph W. McClurg, Robert T. Van Horn, Benjamin F. Loan, John F. Benjamin, George W. Anderson.

Michigan-Fernando C. Beaman, Charles Upson, Austin Blair, Thomas W. Ferry, Rowland E. Trowbridge, John F. Driggs.

Iowa-James F. Wilson, Hiram Price, William B. Allison, William Loughridge, Granville M. Dodge, Asahel W. Hubbard.

Wisconsin-Halbert E. Paine, Benjamin F. Hopkins, Amasa Cobb, Charles A. Eldridge, Philetus Sawyer, C. C. Washburn.

California-No credentials presented.

Minnesota-William Windom, Ignatius Donnelly.
Kansas-Sidney Clarke.

West Virginia-Chester D. Hubbard, Bethuel M. Kitchen, Daniel Polsley.

Nevada-Delos R. Ashley.

Nebraska-No credentials presented.

The following members failed to answer to their names: Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois; Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania; and Rufus Mallory, of Oregon.

thirteen original States which framed the Constitution of the United States, the work of our fathers-seven of these original thirteen have no Representatives upon the floor of this House.

"My attention has been called to the fact that there are precedents which authorize not alone this extra, but this very extraordinary convocation of the Congress of the United States, but there are no precedents in our political history which justify the assembling and organization of this House while so large a number of States are absent, and with so short a notice given to the absent States, with the power and right to be represented here.

"Sir, there are those who believe this is not as thus assembled a legal, constitutional Congress. I am not lawyer enough to pronounce an opinion upon that point. I do not believe it to be a de jure Congress, nor that this is a de jure Government created by this Congress; but I recognize it as a de facto Congress, if not de jure, and therefore I obey its authority as I would the authority of a de facto government if I were under the dominion of the Turk, the Tartar, the Comanche, the Ojibway, or the Potawattomie. I respect authority wherever it may be presented. I bow to the omnipotence of force, and entertaining these views, which are concurred in by those who act with me on party questions, we bow, but while we bow, we have prepared a solemn protest against any fur-. ther revolutionary action upon the part of this House until a full Congress is assembled.

"And now, Mr. Clerk, I will proceed to read the protest, which, in due time, I shall ask to have entered upon the Journal of the House, against any further action of this House of Representatives until an organization can be properly and legally effected:

Whereas, it appears by the record just read that the following States, seventeen in number, are not now represented upon the floor of this House; the States of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, California, Arkansas, and Nebraska-States entitled by the act of Congress of March 4th, 1862, and subsequent acts, to a representation in Congress as follows, namely: New Hampshire, three Representatives; Rhode Island, two Representatives: Connecticut, four Representatives; Virginia, eight Representatives; North Carolina, seven Representatives; South Carolina, four Representatives; Georgia, seven Representatives; Florida, one Representative; Alabama, six Represent