OF THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OF THE

UNITED STATES:

BEING THE

FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS;

BEGUN AND HELD

AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON,

JULY 4, 1861,

IN THE EIGHTY-SIXTH YEAR OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES.

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

1861.

LIBRAR

OF THE

LELAND STANFORD

UNIVERSITY.

A. 1996

JOURNAL

OF

་་

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

BEGUN and held at the Capitol, in the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, on Thursday, the fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one; being the First Session of the THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS held under the Constitution of the Government of the United States, and in the eighty-sixth year of the Independence of said States.

On which day, being the day fixed by proclamation of the President of the United States, of the 15th of April, 1861, for the meeting of Congress, which said proclamation is in the words following, to wit:

By the President of the United States.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed.

The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our national Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every

event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress.

Senators and representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective chambers, at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, [L. S.] and of the independence of the United States the eightyfifth.

By the PRESIDENT:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

John W. Forney, Clerk of the last House of Representatives, having called the House to order, proceeded to call the roll of members by States, when the following named members answered to their names, viz:

John N. Goodwin.
Charles W. Walton.
Samuel C. Fessenden.
Anson P. Morrill.
John H. Rice.

Frederick A. Pike.

Gilman Marston.
Edward H. Rollins.
Thomas M. Edwards.

E. P. Walton.

Justin S. Morrill.
Portus Baxter.

Thomas D. Eliot.
James Buffinton.

Benjamin F. Thomas.
Alexander H. Rice.

William Appleton.
John B. Alley.