CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1868). 



125 



steps, and that they may do it in this country, 

 and yet be tolerated, 139. 



Call this question what we may, it is appar- 

 ent the leaders of this Congress are prepared 

 to take the final plunge into the sea of revolu- 

 tion, 139. 



What has been the act of the President, is 

 the question, 139 ; look at the evidence, and 

 then read the law, 140 ; what are the relations 

 of the President to the members of his Cabi- 

 net? 140; can the country hold him responsi- 

 ble, and yet render him powerless, by filling 

 the high offices of his department with persons 

 hostile to the success of his administration? 

 140 ; the whole is a question of construction, 

 141. 



The safety of the country, the cause of good 

 government, the preservation of constitutional 

 right and of public liberty, depend upon the 

 prompt impeachment of the President, 141 ; 

 nearly every department of the Government 

 has become demoralized and corrupt to an ex- 

 tent which can find no parallel in the history 

 of any country, in any age, 141 ; confronted 

 as we are by this state of things, so threaten- 

 ing to our national existence, can there be any 

 patriotic man who does not call upon Congress 

 sternly to do its whole duty, and purge this 

 capitol of the crimes which defile the nation ? 

 142. 



Your right to impeach is denied, 142 ; this 

 House is not composed as the Constitution re- 

 quires, 142; neither is the Senate composed 

 of two Senators from each State, 142; you 

 have no right to do it, 142 ; who believes this 

 is a movement of the lovers of the Constitu- 

 tion ? 142 ; why is Stanton so anxious to hold 

 his office ? 142 ; can the Government exist 

 with warring departments ? 143. 



A grave subject, 143 ; the charges few and 

 distinct, 143 ; what are the official misdemean- 

 ors of Andrew Johnson disclosed by the evi- 

 dence? 143 ; his oath of office, 143 ; the animus 

 with which this law was violated, 143 ; issuing 

 the commission to Thomas, if it stood alone, 

 would be an undeniable misdemeanor, 144; 

 shall prove he was guilty of misprision of brib- 

 ery, 144; the final disposition of the Southern 

 States belonged to Congress, 144; resolution 

 adopted, 145 ; a committee appointed to draft 

 articles, 145 ; impeachment laid before the 

 Senate, 145; message referred, 146; resolu- 

 tion of instructions to committee on rules, 



146 ; resolutions on the constitutional respon- 

 sibility of Senators for their votes, 146. (See 

 Impeachment.) 



In the Senate, a bill introduced to amend 

 the " act to provide for the more efficient gov- 

 ernment of the rebel States," 14T; to change 

 the provision that requires a majority of all 

 the registered votes, 147 ; amendment offered, 

 147; requiring certain qualifications of those 

 who were not voters before the war, 147; the 

 greatest issue ever before the people of the 

 United States is now looming up that is, 

 whether this shall be a white man's govern- 

 ment, or a negro government, 147, 148 ; it is 

 said that a great sin has been committed by 

 conferring the franchise upon the negro, 148 ; 

 the charge repudiated that Congress has at- 

 tempted to set up a negro government, 148 ; 

 subject referred, 149. 



In the House, a motion to refer the Presi- 

 dent's message, and accompanying documents 

 relative to reconstruction, to a committee of 

 nine, 149 ; passed, 149 ; the committee, 149 ; 

 resolutions relative to reconstruction, 149; a 

 bill to facilitate, etc., offered, 149; the bill 

 explained, 150; first section restores the ma- 

 jority principle, 150 ; the second aids the ex- 

 isting law, 150; the third leaves the appor- 

 tionment of representatives as it was in 1860, 

 150 ; third section withdrawn, 151 ; constitu- 

 tions will not be ratified unless the first section 

 be adopted, 151 ; bill passed, 151. 



In the Senate, the bill considered, 151 ; mo- 

 tion to refer to the Judiciary Committee with 

 instructions, 151 ; it is assumed that it is the 

 intention of Congress to place the governments 

 of the South under negro control, 152 ; how 

 many whites disfranchised, 152 ; the issue here 

 is the same as that which prevails throughout 

 the country, 153 ; at the end of the war, the 

 rebel States were without State governments 

 of any kind, 153; the Constitution declares 

 that the United States shall guarantee to every 

 State in this Union a republican form of gov- 

 ernment, 153 ; the jurisdiction of the United 

 States attached when the war closed, 153 ; 

 what constitutes the Government of the United 

 States ? 154 ; a law of Congress becomes the 

 execution of the guarantee, and is the act of 

 the Government, 154; a decision of the Su- 

 preme Court, 154 ; this clause of the Constitu- 

 tion can only be executed by Congress, 154; 

 power of Congress to pass laws, 155 ; the 



