116 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1866). 



In the Senate, the bill to enlarge the powers 

 of the Freedmen's Bureau considered, 205 ; a 

 practical measure for the benefit of the freed- 

 men, 205; some determined to sacrifice the 

 Union and the Constitution unless they can 

 achieve the right of suffrage for the negro, 205 ; 

 not necessary to call in the aid of the black 

 man to the government of this country, 205 ; 

 this was not a part of the verdict of the war, 

 206; nature and provisions of this bill, 206; 

 claimed under the second section of the amend- 

 ment that Congress may do any thing necessary 

 in its judgment to secure to the negro all civil 

 rights that are secured to white persons, 206 ; 

 not intended to make the bureau a permanent 

 institution, 207 ; object to bring the attention 

 of Congress to something practical, 207; it 

 carries with it a police power objectionable in 

 the States, 207 ; the dangerous powers intrusted 

 to this bureau, 207; a magnificent bill for a 

 presidential election, 207 ; expenses of the bill, 

 207; land, provisions, medicines furnished to 

 the negroes, 208 ; bill intended to meet an in- 

 evitable result of the war, 208; there may 

 have been some cases during the war when the 

 provisions of the Constitution were violated, 

 perhaps necessarily, 209 ; whether we call it a 

 war power or some other power, the power 

 must necessarily exist, 209 ; the foundation of 

 the bill, 209 ; we must meet it under some 

 power, 210; objections to the bill, 210; bill 

 passed, 210. 



In the House, a substitute for the Senate 

 bill passed, 210. In the Senate, reported back 

 from the committee, 211; the Senate's bill 

 with a few exceptions, 211 ; report concurred 

 in and bill passed in Senate, 211 ; veto of the 

 President, 211 ; considered in the Senate, 211 

 bill failed to pass, 211. 



In the House, a new bill introduced and 

 passed, 211. 



In the Senate, the bill considered and amend- 

 ments adopted, 211 ; limitation of number of 

 officers and their pay proposed, 211 ; approved 

 and bill passed, 212. 



In the House, the amendments of the Senate 

 not concurred in, 212 ; conference committee 

 appointed in each House, 212 ; report of com- 

 mittee concurred in by the Senate, 212 ; report 

 in the House explained, 212; details of the 

 amendments, 212 ; report concurred in by the 

 House, 213; veto of the President, 213; bill 

 repassed by the House, 214 ; do. by Senate, 214. 



In the House, a bill relative to the respon- 

 sibility of officers considered, 215; object to 

 relieve all persons acting under military 

 authority from responsibility when sued for 

 acts done, 215 ; an order from a military 

 officer a defence, 215 ; State courts have held 

 an order from the President to be necessary, 

 215; character of the evidence, 215; removal 

 of the action, 215; similar provision in the 

 Force bill of 1833, 215 ; other features of the 

 bill, 215 ; bill wholly in the interest of one of 

 the litigant parties, 216 ; the plaintiff may have 

 just cause of action, 216 ; contrary to the funda- 

 mental provisions of the Government, 216; 

 legalizes as proof what is unknown to the 

 laws, 217 ; bill passed, 217. 



In the Senate, amendment moved to the 

 bill, 217; there are limits beyond which it is 

 not only unsafe but unwise to go, 217; act of 

 1863, 218; a precedent for this class of legis- 

 lation, 218; the term "martial law," 218; 

 object of this bill, 218 ; the bill only simple 

 justice, 219; amendment lost, 219; moved to 

 strike out, 219; your act proposes to punish 

 in damages for an honest judicial opinion, 219 ; 

 he utters words in defiance of the authority of 

 the United States, 219; this transfer of causes 

 not contemplated in the Constitution, 219; 

 extraordinary provisions of this bill, 220 ; are 

 State judges to be punished for an error of 

 judgment? 220; cases in which State courts 

 have refused to transfer, 220; many cases, 

 220 ; how did it happen there was any prece- 

 dent for this thing? 221 ; the section contains 

 a sound principle, 221 ; is there any thing in 

 this statute contrary to the Constitution ? 222 ; 

 motion lost, bill passed, 222 ; House non-con- 

 curs, 222; conference committees appointed, 

 222 ; bill passed, 222. 



In the House, credentials of persons from 

 Tennessee presented, 223 ; a question of order, 

 223 ; reference to Committee of Fifteen moved, 

 223 ; withdrawn, 223 ; joint resolution to re-, 

 store Tennessee offered, 223 ; two reasons 

 against it, 223 ; Tennessee is as republican as 

 Massachusetts, 223 ; resolution passed, 224 ; 

 resolution amended in the Senate, 224 ; agreed 

 to by the House, 224 ; resolution passed, 224 ; 

 message of the President approving the same, 

 224; members sworn in, 225. 



In the Senate, a report on the protest of 

 members of the New Jersey Legislature, 225 ; 

 the report, 226; amendment moved to the 



