104 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1864.) 



which slavery can rest or find the least sup- 

 port, 263 ; do you think the Southern people 

 will yield if you adopt this amendment? 264; 

 amend the Constitution so as to lay your hand 

 on the property interest of New England, she 

 would be in revolution to-morrow, 264 ; if the 

 men who are to pass this amendment were in- 

 terested in the property, there is not one of 

 them but would oppose it, 264; the power of 

 amendment as now proposed to be exercised 

 would invest the amending power with a fac- 

 ulty of % destroying and revolutionizing the 

 whole Government, 264; resolution passed, 

 265 ; what number of Senators is required to 

 pass this amendment ? 265. 



In the House, the resolution considered, 

 265 ; can three-fourths of the States change 

 the condition of the other States? 265 ; this is 

 a wide departure from its spirit, 265; many 

 objections to this amendment, 265; further 

 debate, 265 ; resolution passed, 266. 



In the House, a bill to aid the President in 

 executing .the emancipation proclamation of- 

 fered and referred, 266. 



In the House, a proposition to repeal the 

 commutation clause of the enrolment act con- 

 sidered, 266 ; the emancipation proclamation 

 was issued independent of the meeting of State 

 Governors at Altoona, 266 ; when was the is- 

 suing of the proclamation determined on ? 267 ; 

 what was the contingency on the happening 

 of which the proclamation was issued? 267; 

 note, letter of Owen Love joy on the time of is- 

 suing the emancipation proclamation, 267. 



In the Senate, the bill to promote enlist- 

 ments considered, 267; moved to strike out 

 the section giving freedom to the mother, wife, 

 and children of negro soldiers, 267 ; the sec- 

 tion clearly unconstitutional, 268; no power 

 in Congress to pass such a law, 268 ; the pres- 

 ent law, 268; if Congress has the power by 

 the mere fact of a slave serving for an hour, or 

 two hours, or a day, to emancipate all his rela- 

 tives, has it not also the power to-day to pass 

 a law emancipating the slaves of Kentucky and 

 Missouri, upon the ground that slavery stands 

 in the way of peace ? 269 ; a question of the 

 emancipation of the whole negro race of the 

 country, 269 ; can we emancipate them either 

 as a punishment of rebels, or a reward for 

 military services? 269 ; the existence of an in- 

 surrection will not justify interference with 

 slavery, 269 ; every department of the Govern- 



ment has settled the character of the present 

 struggle, 269 ; we are obliged to wage the war 

 according to the laws of war, 270 ; the Consti- 

 tution furnishes no guide for treating public 

 enemies, 270 ; you must treat them as enemies, 

 270 ; what are our rights over them under the 

 laws of war ? 270 ; the record of history on the 

 arming and emancipation of slaves, 270; is 

 there any thing in the Constitution that forbids 

 us from employing free negroes or slaves? 271 ; 

 on the subject of emancipation ready now to 

 go as far as any one, 271 ; positions assumed, 

 271 ; authority of J. Q. Adams, 271 ; to the 

 Constitution and not to the laws of war we 

 must look for all power which we can right- 

 fully exercise, 271 ; such assumptions give to 

 the rebellion a position it never could have at- 

 tained, 272 ; the whole scope and plan of the 

 powers of the Government is to operate upon 

 individuals and not States, 272 ; what are the 

 war powers of the General Government ? 272 ; 

 they are contained in the Constitution, 272; 

 the principle established by the foundation of 

 this Government was, that a union of States 

 having different interests and local institutions 

 could be formed for purposes of common de- 

 fence, 272 ; exert this power whioh is proposed 

 to be exercised, and you declare that after sev- 

 enty years of trial the principle has proven to 

 be a failure, 272 ; we have never as a Congress 

 recognized the Confederate States as a belliger- 

 ent power, 272; Congress has no power in 

 time of war that it has not in time of peace, 

 273 ; why has this civil war been permitted to 

 linger so long ? 273 ; other amendments offered, 

 274; the General Government has no higher 

 right to interfere with property in slaves than 

 it has in lands or horses, or any other subject 

 of property, 274; it will not do to say there 

 can be no property in slaves there ought to 

 be no compensation for them, 275 ; suspension 

 of the bill, 275. 



In the House, a resolution to amend the 

 joint resolution explanatory of the act to sup- 

 press insurrection, etc., considered, 275 ; the 

 proposition is to substitute for the language of 

 the resolution of 1862 the language of the 

 Constitution, 275 ; it leaves the whole matter 

 of forfeiture in fee or confiscation for life to 

 the courts, 275 ; meaning of the action of the 

 President and Congress in 1862, 275, 276 ; ex- 

 pediency of the measure, 276 ; the whole ques- 

 tion of our power to punish treason rests upon 



