CONGRESS, U. S. 



the encouragement of industry, and the welfare of so- 

 ciety, and will in every way discharge the duties of a 

 just, merciful, and paternal government. 



Subsequently Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, sub- 

 mitted the following on the same subject: 



1. Besolved, That the Constitution of the United 

 States is the fundamental law of the Government, and 

 the powers established and granted, and as pointed 

 out and vested by it, the limitations and restrictions 

 which it imposes upon the legislative, executive, and 

 judicial departments, and the States, and the rights, 

 privileges, and liberties which it assures to the people 

 of the United States and the States, respectively, are 

 fixed, permanent, and immutable through all the phases 

 of peace and war, until changed by the power and 

 in the mode prescribed by the Constitution itself; and 

 they cannot be abrogated, restricted, enlarged, or dif- 

 ferently apportioned or vested, by any other power or 

 in any other mode. 



2. Resolved, That between the Government and the 

 citizen, the obligation of protection and obedience form 

 mutual rights and obligations ; and to enable every cit- 

 izen to perform bis obligations of obedience and loy- 

 alty to the Government, it should give him reasonable 

 protection and security in such performance ; and when 

 the Government fails in that respect, for it to hold the 

 citizen to be criminal in not performing the duties of 

 loyalty and obedience, would be unjust, inhuman, and 

 an outrage upon this age of Christian civilization. 



3. Besolved, That if any powers of the Constitution 

 or Government of the United States, or of the States, 

 or any rights, privileges, immunities, and liberties of 

 the people of the United States, or of the States, are 

 or may hereafter be suspended by the existence of this 

 war, or by any promulgation of martial law, or by the 

 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, immediately 

 upon the termination of the war, sucn powers, rights, 

 privileges, immunities, and liberties would be resumed, 

 and would have force and effect as though they had 

 not been suspended. 



4. Besolved, That the duty of the Congress to guar- 

 anty to every State a republican form of government, 

 to protect each of them against invasion, and, on the 

 application of the Legislature or Executive thereof, 

 against domestic violence ; and to enforce the authority, 

 Constitution, and laws of the United States in all the 

 States, are constitutional obligations which abide all 

 times and circumstances. 



5. Besolved, That no State can, by any vote of seces- 

 sion, or by rebellion against the authority, Constitution, 

 and laws of the United States, or by any other act, ab- 

 dicate her rights and obligations under that Constitu- 

 tion or those laws, or absolve her people from their 

 obedience to them, or the United States from their ob- 

 ligation to guaranty to such State a republican form of 

 government, and to protect her people by causing the 

 due enforcement within her territories of the authority, 

 Constitution, and laws of the United States. 



6. Besolved, That there cannot be any forfeiture or 

 confiscation of the rights of person or property of any 

 citizen of the United States who is loyal and obedient 

 to the authority, Constitution, and laws thereof; or of 

 any person whatsoever, unless for acts which the law 

 has previously declared to be criminal, and for the 

 punishment of which it has provided such forfeiture 

 or confiscation. 



7. Besolved, That it is the duty of the United States 

 to subdue and punish- the existing rebellion, by force 

 of arms and civil trials, in the shortest possible time, 

 and with the least cost to the people, but so decisively 

 and thoroughly as to impress upon the present and fu- 

 ture generations as a great truth that rebellion, except 

 for grievous oppression of Government, will bring upon 

 the rebels incomparably more of evil than obedience to 

 the Constitution and the laws. 



8. Besolved, That the United States Government 

 should march their armies into all the insurgent States 

 and promptly put down the military power which they 

 have arrayed against it, and give protection and secu- 



rity to the loyal men thereof, to enable them to recon- 

 struct their legitimate State governments, and bring 

 them and the people back to the Union and to obedi- 

 ence and duty, under the Constitution and the laws of 

 the United States, bearing the sword in one hand and 

 the olive branch in the other; and whilst inflicting on 

 the guilty leaders condign and exemplary punishment, 

 granting amnesty and oblivion to the comparatively 

 innocent masses. And if'the people of any State can- 

 not or will not reconstruct their State government and 

 return to loyalty and duty, Congress snould provide a 

 government for such State as a territory of the United 

 States, securing to the people thereof their appropriate 

 constitutional rights. 



No special debate took place on the first se- 

 ries of these resolutions. They did not meet 

 with favor either in Congress or among the 

 people. 



In the House, on the 10th of March, the fol- 

 lowing resolution was introduced by Mr. R. 

 Conkling. The resolution was recommended 

 by the President in his Message to Congress on 

 the 6th of March. (See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.) 



Besolved^ by the Senate and House of Btpresentatives 

 of the United States in Congress assembled, That the 

 United States ought to cooperate with any State which 

 may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to 

 such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in 

 its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, 

 public and private, produced by such change of system. 



A motion was made to postpone the consid- 

 eration of the resolution, which was lost. Mr. 

 Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then took the floor. He 

 asked : " "Where, sir, do you find the power 

 in the Constitution to appropriate the money 

 of the people to carry out the purposes of this 

 resolution ? I made the same pertinent inquiry 

 yesterday, and the response was that it was to 

 be found in the preamble of the Constitution of 

 the United States, in the words ' to provide for 

 the general welfare.' It was alleged that it 

 was competent for the legislative department 

 of the Government, under these words in the 

 preamble of the Constitution, ' to provide for 

 the general welfare,' to do anything and every- 

 thing which could be considered as promotive 

 of the general welfare. I have spent some 

 time in the practice of my profession ; I have 

 spent some portion of my life in the public 

 service, especially in the halls of legislation, 

 national and State, yet in all my life I have 

 never before heard any lawyer or statesman 

 claim the right or the power under the recitals 

 in the preamble of the Constitution which is 

 now so boldly asserted. Never before this 

 present Congress have I heard that any such 

 power was delegated under the phrase in the 

 preamble in the Constitution, ' provide for the 

 general welfare.' Under this pretence of power, 

 Congress might think that it would be advan- 

 cing the interests of the General Government to 

 dot the whole country over with turnpikes, 

 railroads, and bridges, or with schools and col- 

 leges, or to do anything or everything that a 

 legislative body, unrestrained by a constitution, 

 may do for the benefit of the people. I thought 

 that this idea of a general-welfare power had 

 long since been exploded by our statesmen and 



