278 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



and difficult one, upon which I myself have not 

 made up ray opinion, although I have read and 

 thought a great deal about it, I submit whether, 

 under the circumstances, the best disposition is 

 not to leave the question to be settled by the 

 next Congress. Under the circumstances, there- 

 fore, I feel it my duty to submit a motion that 

 the credentials do lie upon the table. 



The motion prevailed, by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Buckalaw, Chan- 

 dler, Clark, Collamer, Conness, Cowan, Davis, Doo- 

 little, Farwell, Foster, Hale, Harlan, Howard, Howe, 

 Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Powell, Ramsey, Sherman, 

 Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wil- 

 kinson, and Wilson 29. 



NAYS Messrs. Dixon, Hendricks, Johnson, Lane 

 of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Nesmith, 

 Pomeroy. Richardson, Saulsbury, Van Winkle, Wil- 

 ley, and Wright 13. . 



ABSENT Messrs. Carlile, Foot, Grimes, Harding, 

 Harris, Henderson, Riddle, and Stewart 8. 



In the Senate, on Feb. 23d, the joint resolu- 

 tion recognizing the government of the State 

 of Louisiana, was considered. The resolution 

 was as follows : 



Resolved, That the United States do hereby recog- 

 nize the government of the State of Louisiana, in- 

 augurated under and by the convention which as- 

 sembled on th.e 6th day of April, A.D. 1864, at the city 

 of New Orleans, as the legitimate government of said 

 State, entitled to the guaranty and all other rights 

 of a State government under the Constitution of the 

 United States. 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, moved to strike 

 out all after the enacting clause, and insert the 

 following : 



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, 1861, 

 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. 



This amendment was rejected by the follow- 

 ing vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Brown, Conness, Grimes, Howard, 

 Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, and Wade 8. 



NAYS Messrs. Anthonv, Buckalew, Carlile, Col- 

 lamer, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Farwell, Foster, 

 Hale, Harlan, Harris, Hendricks, Johnson, Lane of 

 Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, 

 Nye, Pomeroy, Powell, Ramsey, Richardson, Riddle, 

 Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Willey, and Wright 29. 



ABSENT Messrs. Chandler, Clark, Davis, Foot, 

 Harding, Henderson, Howe, McDougall, Saulsbury, 

 Sherman, Van Winkle, and Wilkinson 12. 



Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, in opposition to the 

 resolution, said : " The resolution under con- 

 sideration proposes to recognize, as the legiti- 

 mate State government of Louisiana, the gov- 

 ernment formed by the convention that assem- 

 bled in New Orleans on the 6th day of April, 

 1864. In order to come to a just and correct 



conclusion upon the question at issue, we must 

 be informed of the action of the people of Lou- 

 isiana, of the President of the United States, 

 and of the military, in connection with this sub 

 ject. 



" Senators, before they can vote for this res- 

 olution, must maintain the doctrine contained 

 in the President's proclamation of the 8th of 

 December, 1863, when he proposed that one- 

 tenth of the loyal voters of a State who would 

 comply with the conditions set forth in his 

 proclamation, should form a State government. 

 They must further maintain, that the President 

 of the United States, of his own volition, has 

 power by decretal order to alter the constitution 

 of a State. They must maintain further, that 

 the President of the United States has the power 

 to prescribe the qualifications of voters, and 

 the qualifications of candidates for office in the 

 States. They must further believe not only 

 that the President possesses those powers, but 

 that Major-General Banks possessed those pow- 

 ers in the State of Louisiana by virtue of his 

 office as major-general of the army commanding 

 in that district. 



" Mr. President, I ask those who are in favor 

 of this resolution, to tell me from whence the 

 President of the United States derives the power 

 to prescribe the qualifications of voters for the 

 people of Louisiana. Whence does he derive 

 the power to prescribe the qualifications for 

 office ? And yet all these things he does. Why, 

 sir, he tells you plainly and distinctly in that 

 proclamation, that none shall be qualified voters 

 except those who take the oath prescribed in 

 that proclamation. I can recognize no govern- 

 ment as legitimate that has such a rotten foun- 

 dation. Senators who vote for it, must admit 

 that the President possesses these high powers 

 of sovereignty. I have heretofore thought, and 

 now maintain, that there is no power on earth 

 that can lawfully form a constitution for the 

 people of any State in this Union, save and ex- 

 cept the sovereign people themselves. It is one 

 of the highest acts of the sovereignty of the 

 people to proclaim their fundamental law ; but 

 here in this pretended government of Louisiana, 

 the Chief Executive of the United States under- 

 takes to prescribe the qualifications of voters and 

 to amend the constitution of Louisiana. When 

 he prescribes the qualifications of voters, he 

 amends the constitution of the State ; for, under 

 the constitution of that State as it existed be- 

 fore the rebellion, the qualifications of voters was 

 prescribed in that instrument. The President's 

 proclamation is the basis of the whole proceed- 

 ing, and those who vote for this resolution in- 

 dorse that proclamation. 



" The sole object I had in view when I 

 rose to address the Senate was to show, not 

 from any outside testimony, but from the proc- 

 lamations of the President, from the procla- 

 mations and orders of General Banks, and from 

 the records before us, that this government 

 was not formed by the free will of the people 

 of Louisiana, that not one-tenth of the voters 



