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CHAPTER VI.

UNITED STATES.

Resolution passed by Reconstruction Committee-Resolutions of the Virginian Legislature-Speech of the President in reply to a deputation from Virginia-His speech at Washington-Resolution passed by Congress as to representation of “Insurgent States"-Re-admission of Tennessee into the Union-Freedmen's Bureau Bill passed, but vetoed by the President-Veto on the Civil Rights' Bill-It passes notwithstanding-New State of Colorado admitted into the Union-Message of the President as to Reconstruction Amendment-Neutrality Bill-Riot in New Orleans - Conventions at Philadelphia-The President refuses to recognize a blockade of the ports of Mexico-Progress of the President through the Northern and Western States-Violent denunciations of the President-His Speech at New York-General Election-President's Message to Congress: Topics:-Reconstruction; Finance; Navy; Foreign Relations; Atlantic Telegraph; Mexico; Claims against Great Britain; Fenianism: Conclusion.

THE important question of the re-admission of the Southern States which had seceded during the late war, into the Union, was referred by the House of Representatives to a Reconstruction Committee, which, at the end of January, reported to the House the following resolution:

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following Article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by threefourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid as a part of the Constitution.

"Article.-Representation and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within the Union, according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed; provided that whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged. in any State on account of race or colour, all persons of such race or colour shall be excluded from the basis of representation."

According to the original Constitution of the United States the slave-holding States were entitled to Representatives in Congress in proportion to their population, and in reckoning the numbers, the slaves, who of course had no votes, were counted as five to three; that is, five blacks were reckoned as three whites, so that each slave-holding State was entitled to as many representatives as it would have supposing that three-fifths of its black population had been whites'. As our readers know, the House of Representatives

The effect of the change proposed by the Reconstruction Committee upon the representation of the Southern States will appear from the following table, which

is constituted anew after each census on the basis of population. Thus Ohio has 19 members, Pennsylvania 24, New York 31. In this enumeration the coloured population of the South used to be counted as equivalent to three-fifths of their number: thus 100 black men would count as 60, and the State received representatives on the whole number thus made up.

After an animated debate the House of Representatives adopted, in substance, the amendment to the Constitution proposed by the Reconstruction Committee by a majority of 120 to 46 votes, but the provision for the apportionment of direct taxation was struck out. The Senate also adopted the amendment. The President, however, was strongly opposed to it, and wished to preserve the right of representation to the Southern States on its old basis. The result of this was a conflict between him and Congress, which lasted throughout the whole year, and was maintained with a degree of violence and animosity, which at one time threatened to involve the country in civil war. At a later period another clause was added by the Reconstruction Committee to their amendment of the Constitution, which deprived "all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort," of the right to vote for Representatives in Congress until the 4th of July, 1870. In other words, they proposed to disfranchise the Southern States for a period of four years. They also reported a Bill which declared ineligible to hold any Federal office, the President, Vice-President, and foreign agents of the Confederacy, all Confederate officers above the rank of Colonel in the Army and Master in the Navy, Governors of States, Confederate judicial and civil officers, and persons educated at the national military and naval academies who favoured the rebellion, and all who unlawfully treated Federal prisoners of war.

Of course the Southern States strongly supported the views of

shows the numbers of the white and black population, and the number of members to which each State is now entitled, and the number to which it would be entitled if the blacks were excluded from computation.

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the President; and to show their feelings on the subject, we will quote the following series of resolutions which were passed by the Legislature of Virginia early in February :

1. Resolved by the General Assembly of Virginia,-That the people of this Commonwealth and their representatives here assembled cordially approve the policy pursued by Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, in the reorganization of the Union. We accept the result of the late contest, and do not desire to renew what has been so conclusively determined, nor do we mean to permit any one subject to our control to attempt its renewal or to violate any of our obligations to the United States' Government. We mean to co-operate in the wise, firm, and just policy adopted by the President, with all the energy and power we can devote to that object.

"2. That the above declaration expresses the sentiments and purposes of all our people, and we denounce the efforts of those who represent our views and intentions to be different as cruel and criminal assaults on our character and our interests. It is one of the misfortunes of our present political condition that we have among us persons whose interests are temporarily promoted by such false representations; but we rely on the intelligence and integrity of those who wield the power of the United States' Government for our safeguard against such malign influences.

"3. That involuntary servitude, except for crime, is abolished, and ought not to be re-established, and that the negro race among us should be treated with justice, humanity, and good faith, and every means that the wisdom of the Legislature can devise should be used to make them useful and intelligent members of society.

"4. That Virginia will not voluntarily consent to change the adjustment of political power as fixed by the Constitution of the United States; and to constrain her to do so in her present prostrate and helpless condition, with no voice in the councils of the nation, would be an unjustifiable breach of faith; and that her earnest thanks are due to the President for the firm stand he has taken against amendments of the Constitution forced through in the present condition of affairs."

A Committee of the Virginian Chambers having proceeded to Washington to report their resolutions to the President, he said to them,

"The Southern people are entitled to be represented in Congress if they send loyal men. I feel that the day is not distant-I speak confidingly in reference to the great mass of the American people -when they will determine that this Union shall be made whole, and the great right of representation in the councils of the nation be acknowledged. Gentlemen, that is a fundamental principle. 'No taxation without representation' was one of the principles which carried us through the Revolution. This great principle will hold good yet; and if we but perform our duty, if we but comply with the spirit of the resolutions presented to me to-day,

the American people will maintain and sustain the great doctrines upon which the Government was inaugurated. It can be done, and it will be done; and I think that if the effort be fairly and fully made, with forbearance and with prudence, and with discretion and wisdom, the end is not very far distant. It seems to me apparent that from every consideration the best policy which could be adopted at present would be a restoration of these States and of the Government upon correct principles. We have some foreign difficulties, but the moment it can be announced that the Union of the States is again complete, that we have resumed our career of prosperity and greatness, at that very instant, almost all our foreign difficulties will be settled, for there is no power upon the earth which will care to have a controversy or a rupture with the Government of the United States under such circumstances. . . I do not intend to say any thing personal, but you know as well as I do that at the beginning, and, indeed, before the beginning, of the recent gigantic struggle between the different sections of the country, there were extreme men South and there were extreme men North. I might make use of a homely figure (which is sometimes as good as any other, even in the illustration of great and important questions), and say that it has been hammer at one end of the line and anvil at the other, and this great Government, the best the world ever saw, was kept upon the anvil and hammered before the rebellion, and it has been hammered since the rebellion; and there seems to be a disposition to continue the hammering until the Government shall be destroyed. I have opposed that system always, and I oppose it now. The Government, in the assertion of its powers and in the maintenance of the principles of the Constitution, has taken hold of one extreme, and with the strong arm of physical power has put down the rebellion. Now, as we swing around the circle of the Union with a fixed and unalterable determination to stand by it, if we find the counterpart or the duplicate of the same spirit that played to this feeling and these persons in the South, this other extreme which stands in the way must get out of it, and the Government must stand unshaken and unmoved on its basis. The Government must be preserved."

In February a public meeting was held in Washington in support of the President's policy, and after resolutions had been passed the crowd went to the White House, where they were addressed by him in an excited speech, in which he said:—

"I have found treason at the South, and now, when I turn to the other end of the line, I find men still opposing the restoration of the Union. I regard them, as President or citizen, as being equally opposed to the fundamental principles of this Government, and believe they are as much labouring to prevent or destroy them as were those who fought against us. Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, and others of the same stripe, are among them. They may vituperate, traduce, slander me-that does not affect me. I do not intend to be overawed by friends, nor bullied

by enemies. It has been said in high places if such usurpation had been exercised two centuries ago, it would have cost a certain individual his head. The usurpation I have been guilty of has been that of standing between the people and the encroachments of power. In connexion with this subject, the same gentleman explained that we were standing in the midst of earthquakes; he trembled and could not yield. Yes, there is an earthquake coming; there is a ground swell of popular judgment and indignation. When I am beheaded, I want the people to witness it. I do not want it done by innuendoes and indirect remarks in high places, to be suggested to men having assassination breeding in their bosoms. Others explain that this Presidential obstacle must be gotten out of the way. What is that, if I may make use of a strong term, but inciting assassination? Are those who want to destroy our institutions and change the character of our Government not satisfied with the blood already shed? They have not the honour or the courage to obtain their ends otherwise than by assassins' hands. I know they are willing to wound, but they fear to strike. If my blood is to be shed because I vindicate the Union and the preservation of the Government in its purity, let it be shed; but let the opponents of the Government remember that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church. The Union will grow and continue to increase in strength and power, though it may be cemented and cleansed with blood."

In the beginning of March a joint resolution was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, to the effect that no Representatives or Senators should be admitted to Congress from any of the lately "insurgent" States, until Congress should have declared such States entitled to representation.

But the chief objection felt to the Constitutional Amendment was not to the suffrage clause, but to that which disqualified for office all who had any share in the rebellion. It was evident that this was the abolition of self-government in the Southern States for a generation. Every man of education and position in the whole South took part in the rebellion, and these were deprived of the power of serving their country during their lives, although they had sincerely and loyally returned to their allegiance to the Union.

The only Southern State which, during this year, Congress agreed to admit into the Union was Tennessee, and that only on the following conditions, which were to be ratified by the State Legislature:

She was to maintain her existing Constitution, exclude rebels from suffrage and office for a certain time, ignore the "rebel" debt, and make no payment for emancipated slaves. Ultimately the State Legislature adopted the terms imposed by Congress, and Tennessee was formally re-admitted into the Union.

By a vote of 100 to 37 the House of Representatives refused to receive a communication from the Governor of North Carolina,

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