CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1866). 



113 



and recognition of the Confederate debt, 

 148. 



Resolutions on the object of the war, the 

 necessity of maintaining the suspension of the 

 habeas corpus, and the military occupation of 

 the Southern States, 149 ; adopted, 149. 



In the Senate, amendment of the Constitu- 

 tion relative to the apportionment of repre- 

 sentation considered, 149; nothing less than 

 another compromise of human rights, 149 ; 

 counter proposition offered, 149 ; in vain 

 to expect the return of the Southern States 

 to the Union until that security for the 

 future found in the equal rights of all, whether 

 in the court-room or ballot-box, was obtained, 

 149 ; necessity and duty of exercising the juris- 

 diction of Congress, 149; impartial suffrage 

 asked, 150 ; the ballot equally necessary to the 

 freedmen and to the Republic, 150; amend- 

 ment proposed, 150; views of the committee 

 in recommending the joint resolution, 150; 

 various plans of reconstruction considered, 

 151 ; upon what principle does this proposition 

 rest, 151 ; on a political policy, 151 ; the amend- 

 ment presents an alternative to each State, 152 ; 

 negro and Asiatic suffrage must be adopted, or 

 a State will be stripped of a portion of its 

 power under the Constitution, 152 ; a question 

 of incalculable importance, 152 ; opens the 

 whole vast subject of reconstruction, 152 ; 

 most important proposition ever brought be- 

 fore Congress, 153; eloquence of Chatham 

 and Brougham, 153 ; argument for rejection 

 examined, 153; what shall be done, 154; re- 

 ply to objections, 154 ; amendments offered, 

 154 ; adopted, 154. 



In the House, concurrent resolution from 

 reconstruction committee to admit no Senator 

 or Representative until Congress declares the 

 right of the State to representation, 155 ; 

 minority report, 155 ; resolution adopted, 155. 



In the Senate, concurrent resolution re- 

 ceived from the House, 155 ; explanation, 

 155 ; further explanation, 156 ; statements of 

 the President relative to an irresponsible di- 

 rectory, 156 ; further examination of the Presi- 

 dent's remarks, 157 ; legislative power granted 

 to the committee, 157; nobody but Congress 

 the right to settle the preliminary question 

 whether the States are entitled to have repre- 

 sentatives here or not, 157 ; reason why com- 

 mittee proposed this proposition, 158; resolu- 

 tion important, in order that Congress may 

 8 



assert distinctly its own rights and its own 

 powers, 158; where are we? 158; are we 

 confined merely to a question of papers ? 159 ; 

 the President has spoken unguardedly, 159 ; 

 what are the consequences of successful war ? 

 159 ; Vattel, 159 ; the consequences of civil 

 war precisely the same, 159 ; does our form of 

 government change in any way the nature and 

 inevitable legal consequences of a civil war? 

 160 ; the Constitution has not specifically pro- 

 vided for a civil war, 160 ; it never contem- 

 plated civil war, 160 ; a State may be utterly 

 extinguished and swept out of existence by 

 civil war, 160 ; a State may forfeit its status, 

 160 ; the great abuse that these States were not 

 admitted to representation while the Govern- 

 ment was going on to tax them, 161 ; not been 

 together ninety days when we are called upon 

 to admit Senators and Representatives, 161; 

 by civil war they lost all rights, 161 ; as soon 

 as it can be done safely, these States should be 

 reestablished in the Union, 162 ; meaning of 

 the resolution, 162 ; it asserts that with Con- 

 gress alone rests the duty of defining when a 

 State once declared to be in insur Action, shall 

 be admitted to representation, 162 ; the "Wade- 

 Davis bill, 162 ; other propositions, 163 ; test 

 the proposition by the simplest principles of 

 constitutional law, 163 ; the power must vest 

 in Congress, 163 ; the bare assertion of this 

 power does not tend to promote the object 

 stated in the resolution, 164 ; the real difficulty 

 in this whole matter has been the unfortunate 

 failure of the executive and legislative branches 

 of the Government to agree upon some plan 

 of reconstruction, 164 ; a proper law passed at 

 the end of the last session would have pre- 

 vented all controversy, 164 ; Lincoln regretted 

 he had not accepted the Wade-Davis bill, 165 ; 

 having failed to do our constitutional duty, 

 have we a right now to arraign Andrew John- 

 son for following out a plan which in his judg- 

 ment he deemed best? 165 ; what is the con- 

 dition of these States? 165 ; what is the legal 

 result of a State being in insurrection? 165; 

 the steps adopted by President Johnson in his 

 plan of reconstruction, 166 ; with a single stroke 

 he swept away the whole superstructure of the 

 rebellion, 166 ; the first element of his plan, 

 166 ; agencies and organs which the plan was 

 to go on, 166 ; full and ample protection to 

 the freedmen enforced, 167 ; what are the ob- 

 jections to this policy? 167; the principal, 



