CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



257 



admit, on the same basis and under the same in- 

 fluences, Representatives from every State from 

 Texas to Virginia ; the common council at Alex- 

 andria which has just sent two Senators to the 

 other House and has ratified the amendment to 

 the Constitution abolishing slavery in all the rest 

 of Virginia, where none of them dare put his 

 portly person would be entitled to send ten 

 Representatives here and two Senators to speak 

 for the indomitable ' Old Dominion.' If the rebel 

 representatives are not here in December next, 

 you will have here servile tools of the Executive 

 who will embarrass your legislation, humble your 

 Congress, degrade the name of republican gov- 

 ernment for two years, and then the natural ma- 

 jority of the South, rising indignantly against 

 that humiliating insult, will swamp you here 

 with rebel representatives and be your masters. 

 These are their alternatives, and there is no mid- 

 dle ground. 



" To meet that state of the case, the honorable 

 gentleman, who so ably heads the Judiciary 

 Committee (Mr. Wilson), has proposed a decla- 

 ratory resolution, and that is all a declaratory 

 resolution, with no provisions of law to execute 

 it, with no power to arrest the flood at our door, 

 a very bubble born amid the hubbub of the 

 waters and floating with the flood that Sena- 

 tors and Representatives shall not be received 

 from any State heretofore declared in rebellion 

 until a joint act or resolution of Congress shall 

 have declared that they have organized a new 

 government." 



The motion was then made to lay the bill and 

 amendments on the table, which passed by the 

 following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. James C. Allen, Ancpna, Anderson, 

 Baily, Augustus C. Baldwin, Blair, Bliss, Boyd, Will- 

 iam G. Brown, Clay, Cobb, Cofl'roth, Cox, Cravens, 

 Thomas T. Davis, Dawes, Dawson, Denison, Eckley, 

 Eden, Edgerton, Eldridge, English, Finck, Ganson, 

 Gooch, Grider, Griswold, Hale, Hall, Harding, Har- 

 rington, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Harris, Her- 

 rick, Holman, Hulburd, Hutchins, Julian, Kalbfleisch, 

 Kernan, King, Knapp, Law, Lazear, Le Blond, Little- 

 John, Long, Mallory, Marcy, Marvin, McAllister, 

 McKinney, William H. Miller, James R. Morris, Mor- 

 rison, Nelson, Noble, Odell, Pendleton, Pike, Ppm- 

 eroy, Pruyn, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William 

 H. Randall, Alexander H. Rice, Rogers, James S. 

 Rollins, Ross, Smith, John B. Steele, William G. 

 Steele, Stevens, Stiles, Strouse, Stuart, Sweat, 

 Thomas, Townsend, Tracy, Van Valkenburgh, Wads- 

 worth, William B. Washburn, Webster, Whaley, 

 Wheeler, Joseph W. White, Winfield, Fernando 

 Wood, and Yeaman 91. 



NATS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Arnold, Ashley, John 

 D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, 

 Brandegee, Broomall, Ambrose W. Clark, Cole, Henry 

 Winter Davis, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Du- 

 mont, Eliot, Farnsworth, Garfield, Grinnell, Higby, 

 Hooper, Asahel W. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, In- 

 gersoll, Jenckes, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Or- 

 lando Kellogg, Knox, Loan, Longyear, McBride, 

 McCIurg, Samuel F. Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Daniel 

 Morris, Amos Myers, Leonard Myers, Norton, Charles 

 O'Neill, Orth, Patterson, Perhani, Price, John H. 

 Rice, Edward H. Rollins, Schenck, Scofield, Shannon, 

 Sloan, Smithers, Starr, Thayer ? Upson, Williams, 

 Wilson, Woodbridge and Worthington 64. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. William J. Allen, Alley, 

 Brooks, James S. Brown, Chanler, Freeman Clark, 

 VOL. v. 17 A 



Creswell, Frank, Hotchkiss, Philip Johnson William 

 Johnson, Kasson, McDowall, Mclndoe, Middleton, 

 John O'Neill, Perry, Robinson, Scott, Spalding, Voor- 

 hees, Ward, Elihu B. Washburne, Chitton A. White, 

 Wilder, Windoin, and Benjamin Wood 2Y. 



On Feb. 22d, Mr. "Wilson, from the Committee 

 on the Judiciary, reported back the House bill 

 to establish the supremacy of the Constitution 

 in the insurrectionary States, with the following 

 substitute : 



Be it enacted by the Senate and, House of Represent- 

 atives of the United States of America in Conqrest 

 assembled, That neither the people nor the Legislature 

 of any State, the people of which were declared to be 

 in insurrection against the United States by the proc- 

 lamation of the President, dated August 16, 1S61, 

 shall hereafter elect Representatives or Senators to 

 the Congress of the United States until the President, 

 by proclamation, shall have declared that armed hos- 

 tility to the Government of the United States within 

 such State has ceased; nor until the people of such 

 State shall have adopted a constitution of government 

 not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the 

 United States ; nor until, by a law of Congress, such 

 State shall have been declared to be entitled to rep- 

 resentation in the Congress of the United States of 

 America. 



Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, moved an amendment, 

 consisting of the bill previously laid on the 

 table, with a few alterations. He said : 



" I want a record made on this question. I do 

 not expect to pass this bill now. At the next 

 session, when a new Congress fresh from the 

 people shall have assembled, with the nation and 

 its Representatives far in advance of the present 

 Congress, I hope to pass even a better bill. Sir, 

 I know that the loyal people of this country will 

 never be guilty of the infamy of inviting the loyal 

 blacks to unite with them in fighting our battles, 

 and after our triumph a triumph which we 

 never could have achieved but for their gener- 

 ous cooperation and aid deny these loyal blacks 

 political rights while consenting that pardoned 

 but unrepentant white rebels shall again be 

 clothed with the entire political power of these 

 States. 



" Failing to- secure the adoption of the amend- 

 ment as printed, I desire, as a practical man, to 

 secure the next best thing, and that is, the dec- 

 laration here, on the part of the Congress of the 

 United States, that the people of no rebel State 

 shall hold a convention and frame a constitution 

 which does not contain in it a provision securing 

 the civil rights of these people. And even if the 

 word ' white ' is not stricken out of the fifth 

 section I secure by the provision of the seventh 

 section to every colored citizen of the United 

 States, who now is or who has been in the mili- 

 tary or naval service of the United States, the 

 right to vote first for delegates to a convention, 

 and then upon the constitution which that con- 

 vention may adopt and submit to the people for 

 their ratification or rejection. 



The bill and amendments were then laid on 

 the table, by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. James C. Allen, Ancona, Anderson, 

 Baily, Blair, Bliss, Brooks, William G. Brown, Ciiaii- 

 ler, Clay, Cobb, Cox, Cravens, Dawes, Dawson, Deni- 

 son, Eden, Edgerton, Eldridge, English, Finck, Gan 



