300 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, opposed the bill, 

 saying : " That bill will involve an expense to 

 this Government of millions upon millions of dol- 

 lars, and put these freedmen, as they are called, 

 in a state of peonage. I do not think a more 

 offensive bill has been presented to this Congress, 

 or one that requires greater deliberation and 

 more mature consideration. It will create a 

 multitude of office-holders. It will send them 

 upon these States as the locusts were sent upon 

 Egypt, and they will be quite as destructive to 

 the people there. In my judgment, this report 

 ought to lie upon the table to enable Senators 

 to look at it, and then, to-morrow morning, if 

 the Senate be full and they choose to pass it, 

 very well." 



Mr. Howard, of Michigan, said : " Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I cannot vote in favor of this report of the 

 Committee of Conference. It places this whole 

 subject in the control and under the superin- 

 tendence of the Secretary of War. It becomes 

 a sort of appendage to the War Department ; 

 and the government, if there shall be any thing 

 in the shape of government, established among 

 the negro population, will be a sort of military 

 government. For one, I am not in favor of 

 extending that peculiar jurisdiction any further 

 than is required by absolute necessity, and I do 

 not think it is required by necessity to be ex- 

 tended among the blacks. The report is full 

 of imperfections. It is wanting in specification 

 of the powers and authorities given to the com- 

 missioners and other officers who are required 

 to act under it. It is a loosely-drawn statute, 

 one which, in my opinion, is capable of great 

 abuse, furnishing perpetual occasion for con- 

 struction and interpretation ; wanting in cer- 

 tainty and in precision in all points ; and, sir, 

 rather than vote for such a bill as that, anxious 

 as I am to establish a good and salutary system 

 over the freedrnen, I prefer to have none at all." 



The report was agreed to in the Senate. 



The House agreed to it, after having refused 

 to lay on the table, by the following vote : 



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

 Bliss, Brooks, Coffroth, Cor. Dawson, Denison, Eden, 

 Edgerton, Eldridge, English, Finck, Ganson, Grider, 

 Harding, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Harris, 

 Herrick, Holman, Philip Johnson, Kalbfleisch, Ker- 

 nan, Knapp, Law, Le Blond, Long, Marcy, McAllis- 

 ter, McKinney, William H. Miller, James R. Morris, 

 Morrison, Nelson, Odell, John O'Neill, Pendleton, 

 Pruyn, Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, Ross, 

 Scott, John B. Steele, Stiles, Strouse, Stuart, Town- 

 send, Voorhees, Wheeler, Chilton A. White, and 

 Yeaman 52. 



NATS Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Arnold, Ash- 

 ley, John D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Blaine, Blow, 

 Boutwell, Brandegee, Broomall, Ambrose W. Clark, 

 Freeman Clarke, Cobb, Cole, Henry Winter Davis, 

 Thomas T. Davis, Dawes, Doming, Eliot, Farnsworth, 

 Frank, Garfield, Gooch, Grinnelt Higby, Hotchkiss, 

 Asahel W. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Hulburd, 

 Ingersoll, Kasson, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Or- 

 lando Kellogg, Knox, L'ittlejohn, Loan, Longvear, 

 Marvin, McBnde, McClurg, Moorhead, Morrill, "Dan- 

 iel Morris, Amos Mvers, Leonard Myers, Norton, 

 Charles O'Neill, Orth," Patterson, Perham, Pike.Price, 

 John H. Rice, Edward H. Rollins, James S. Rollins, 

 Bchenck, Scofield, Shannon, Sloan, Spalding, Thay- 



er, Thomas, Tracy, Upson, Van Valkenburgh, Elihu 

 B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Whaler, Wil- 

 liams, Wilder, Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge 

 77. 



The regular session of Congress closed on 

 March 4th by an adjournment sine die. The 

 acts respecting the National Currency, the Fi- 

 nances of the Government, and direct Taxation, 

 are stated elsewhere in this volume. 



In the Senate, on March 4th, at 12 M., the 

 Vice-Presideut, Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, and the 

 Vice-President elect, Hon. Andrew Johnson, 

 entered the chamber, accompanied by Mr. 

 Doolittle, one of the committee of arrangements. 

 Mr. Johnson was conducted to a seat to the 

 right of the chair of the Vice-President. 



For some time the Senate chamber had been 

 crowded with those distinguished persons to 

 whom admission was accorded as witnesses of the 

 inauguration ceremonies. The judges of the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States, a large attend- 

 ance of ambassadors from foreign governments, 

 officers of the Army and Navy, with innumerable 

 others, and lastly, the members of the House of 

 Representatives, with their Speaker and Ser- 

 geant-at-Arms at their head, entered and were 

 conducted to the seats prepared for them, the 

 Speaker, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, being seated to 

 the left of the Vice-President. 



The Vice-President then, in a few words, ad- 

 dressed the Senate for the last time, and said : 

 " Is the Vice-President elect now ready to take 

 and subscribe the oath of office ? " 



The Vice-President elect (Hon. Andrew 

 Johnson, of Tennessee), " I am. [Then turning 

 to the Senate he said :] Senators : I am here to- 

 day as the chosen Vice-President of the United 

 States, and as such, by constitutional provision, 

 I am made the presiding officer of this body. I 

 therefore present myself here in obedience to the 

 high behests of the American people to discharge 

 a constitutional duty, and not presumptuously to 

 thrust myself in a position so exalted. May I 

 at this moment it may not be irrelevant to the 

 occasion advert to the workings of our institu- 

 tions under the Constitution which our fathers 

 framed and Washington approved, as exhibited 

 by the position in which I stand before the Amer- 

 ican Senate, in the sight of the American people ? 

 Deem me not vain or arrogant ; yet I should be 

 less than man, if, under such circumstances, I 

 were not proud of being an American citizen, for 

 to-day, one who claims no high descent, one who 

 comes from the ranks of the people, stands, by 1 

 choice of a free constituency, in the second plac 

 in this Government. There may be those 

 whom such things are not pleasing, but those who 

 have labored for the consummation of a free Gov- 

 ernment, will appreciate and cherish institution: 

 which exclude none, however obscure his origin, 

 from places of trust and distinction. The people, 

 in short, are the source of all power. You, Sen- 

 ators, you who constitute the bench of the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States, are but the 

 creatures of the American people ; your exalta- 



