CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1867). 



123 



sword and the right of conquest, 224; the bill 

 is simply in the nature of an article of war, 

 224 ; if constitutional government is struck 

 down, it matters little whether there is impar- 

 tial suffrage or manhood suffrage, 224 ; what 

 are we doing ? 224 ; the Southern people will 

 prefer military government to universal suf- 

 frage, 225 ; difference of opinion as to the con- 

 dition in which the States are placed in conse- 

 quence of rebellion, 225 ; recognition of the 

 Executive and Judicial Departments of the 

 Government, 226; facts, 226; what is pro- 

 posed by the bill without amendment, 226 ; a 

 confession to the world that our institutions 

 are a failure, 227; objections to the amend- 

 ment, 227 ; other objections, 228 ; I shall not 

 vote to degrade suffrage, 228 ; what is this 

 measure ? 228 ; its features, 228 ; powers of 

 the commanders, 229 ; the bill is an open con- 

 fession that republican government is a failure, 

 229 ; amendment suggested, 229. 



Motion to strike out all after the first word 

 of the preamble, and insert a new bill, 229 ; 

 the new bill, 229 ; amendments offered, 230 ; 

 the principle of the bill is contained in the first 

 two lines, 231 ; its features, 231 ; the rebellion 

 has swept away all the civil governments in 

 the Southern States, 231 ; States organized by 

 the former President, 232 ; the grounds upon 

 which this bill is put for justification are not 

 correct, 232 ; what is the signification of the 

 first line of the preamble ? 233 ; what is meant 

 by legal State governments ? 233 ; not govern- 

 ments in the sense of the Constitution, 233 ; 

 amendment agreed to, 233 ; bill passed, 233. 



In the House, the question on concurring in 

 the amendments of the Senate considered, 233 ; 

 it proposes to reconstruct the State govern- 

 ments through the agency of disloyal men, 234 ; 

 it contains every thing but protection, 234; 

 we take the management from the General of 

 the Army and put it in the hands of the Presi- 

 dent, 234 ; why so anxious to proclaim univer- 

 sal amnesty ? 235 ; pass this bill, you open the 

 flood-gates of misery, 235 ; what does it de- 

 mand of the Southern people? 235; details, 

 235 ; puts the bayonet to the breast of every 

 rebel in the South, 236 ; most wicked and 

 abominable measure, 236 ; abrogates the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, 237 ; House re- 

 fuse to concur with the Senate, 237. 



In the Senate, a motion to insist considered, 

 237 ; what will be the result of a conference ? 



237; if you set aside a conference, you set 

 aside every just and beneficent measure of pro- 

 tection, 238 ; such a bill as we want cannot 

 become a law at this session, 238 ; the question 

 is a radical elementary principle, which cannot 

 be abandoned under the report of a conference 

 committee, 238 ; how are we to compromise ? 

 239; a pocket veto to be avoided, 239; the 

 bill is horridly defective, 240 ; its good feat- 

 ures, 240 ; its defects, 240 ; it places the ballot 

 for the first time in the hands of the whole ne- 

 gro population of the Southern States, 240 ; it 

 cripples the negro by no restriction, 241 ; we 

 want neither black nor white oligarchies, 241 ; 

 Senate amendments, as amended, concurred 

 in, 241. 



In the Senate, the amendments of the House 

 considered, 242 ; do. concurred in, 243 ; bill 

 returned by the President with objections, and 

 passed, 243 ; acts passed at this session, 244. 



Objections of the President to the army ap- 

 propriation bill, 244 ; deprives the President 

 of constitutional functions as Commander-in- 

 Chief , 244 ; change of time for the meeting of 

 Congress, 244 ; close of the second session of 

 Thirty-ninth Congress, 244. 



First session of Fortieth Congress convened, 

 244 ; list of members, 244 ; motion to elect a 

 Speaker, 245 ; sixteen absent States, 245 ; not 

 a legal constitutional Congress, 245; protest 

 of members, 245 ; choice of Speaker, 246. 



In the Senate, resolutions relative to recon- 

 struction, 246. 



In the House, resolution relative to recon- 

 struction, also to continuing the investigation 

 of the charges against the President, offered, 

 246 ; a bill to provide for a more efficient gov- 

 ernment in the Southern States reported, 247; 

 its features, 247 ; passed, 248. 



In the Senate, a substitute adopted for the 

 House bill, 248 ; passed, 249. 



In the House, amendment of the Senate 

 amended and concurred in, 249 ; Senate refuse 

 to concur, 250; conference, 250; report, 250; 

 agreed to, 250 ; bill vetoed, 250 ; passed, 250 ; 

 bill relative to confiscation reported, 250 ; post- 

 poned, 251 ; recess taken, 251. 



Second meeting of Congress, 251 ; members 

 present, 251, 252 ; resolutions .offered, 252 ; 

 further supplement to the Eeconstruction Act 

 reported, 252; the bill, 252; amended and 

 passed, 253. 



In the Senate, House bill amended by a sub- 



