126 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1868). 



Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment, 155 ; 

 proceedings of Congress, 155 ; what was there 

 left to do? 156. 



Impossible to invoke the aid of this clause of 

 the Constitution for the support of these meas- 

 ures, unless you interpolate into the clause a 

 word not to be found in it, 156; object of the 

 convention to preserve the republican form 

 then existing, 156 ; what was the condition of 

 each of the States ? 157 ; views of Mr. Madi- 

 son, 157; it was not thought there was in- 

 cluded in this particular clause any power to 

 interfere with the government of a State, 157 ; 

 what is loyalty? 157; views of the power of 

 the Constitution in former days, 158 ; can New 

 York be brought under that clause ? 158 ; the 

 doctrine of secession forever ended, 159 ; other 

 clauses of the Constitution, 159 ; what is the 

 bill on the table ? 159 ; motion to amend, lost, 

 160 ; committee report to strike out and insert 

 a new bill, 160; agreed to, 160; amendment 

 concurred in by the House, 160. 



In the House, a motion to suspend the rules 

 for the Committee on Reconstruction to make 

 a report, 160; carried, 160; bill to admit cer- 

 tain Southern States reported, 160 ; report of 

 the minority, 161 ; a bill to elect a President, 

 161; why violate the Constitution? 162; the 

 bill presents few immediate practical results, 

 162; object of the bill, 162; what objection, 

 162 ; the issue which underlies this legislation, 

 162 ; the first proposition involved, 163 ; next, 

 the apportionment of representation, 163; in- 

 violability of the national debt, 163 ; is this a 

 bill which we ought to pass ? 163 ; acting out- 

 side of the Constitution, 164 ; where are the 

 powers granted which it is sought to assume ? 

 164; the Constitution requires a preexisting 

 government to be guaranteed, 164; no power 

 for this bill in the Constitution, 164; the first 

 section in direct conflict with more than one 

 provision of the Constitution, 165 ; meaning of 

 the word guarantee, 165 ; the whole subject of 

 observation, of inquiry, of judgment, is open 

 to the United States, which means Congress, 

 with the President cooperating, 166 ; no diffi- 

 culty as to the constitutionality of our acts, 

 166; the matter of reconstruction is put into 

 the hands of the General of the Army, 166 ; 

 amendments reported and agreed to, 166 ; fur- 

 ther amendment offered, 166; discussed, 167; 

 rejected, 167; bill passed, 168. 



In the House, a bill for the admission of Ala- 



bama reported, 163 ; amendment offered, 168 ; 

 agreed to, 168; bill passed, 169. 



In the House, a bill for the admission of Ar- 

 kansas reported* 169; bill passed, 169 ; amend- 

 ment offered in the Senate, 169 ; Congress has 

 the sole, exclusive, and discretionary power over 

 the admission of States, 169 ; what is it to admit 

 a State? 170; merely admission to a partici- 

 pation in the Government, 170 ; all States out 

 are equally new States on their application for 

 admission, 170 ; has not Congress a right to say 

 when and how the Southern States shall be ad- 

 mitted? 171; to impose this condition on Ar- 

 kansas is said to deprive her of equality, 171 ; 

 gross mistake or perversion in all this talk 

 about the equality of the States, 171. 



The condition is that the right of suffrage 

 shall not be changed after admission of the 

 State, 171 ; the Government could not exist 

 without an absolute equality in the States, 172 ; 

 representation is founded on the idea of equal- 

 ity, 172 ; the General Government cannot in- 

 terfere with the franchise in the States already 

 in the Union, 172 ; the exercise of this power, 

 therefore, would destroy the equality of the 

 States, 172 ; if the power to impose a restric- 

 tion on admission exists, why cannot other re- 

 strictions be imposed, 173; error of the other 

 side, 173 ; amendment agreed to, 173 ; other 

 amendments offered and rejected, 173 ; bills 

 passed, 174. 



Veto of President Johnson, 174; bill passed 

 over the veto, 175; protest of the Democratic 

 members, 175. 



In the House, a bill to admit North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Lou- 

 isiana, considered, 176 ; what is the particular 

 question? 176; they are republican inform, 

 and we require they should remain so, 176; 

 amendments offered, 177; adopted, 177; bill 

 passed, 177. 



In the Senate, the bill reported excluding 

 Alabama and adding Florida, 178; hope we 

 shall not exclude Alabama, 178;. the vote on 

 her constitution was taken at an unpropitious 

 season, 178 ; we ought not to take advantage 

 of our own mistake, not to say blunder, 178; 

 Alabama complied with every stipulation save 

 one, shall they be excluded on account of their 

 inability to comply with that? 178; Alabama 

 reinserted, 179 ; other amendments offered and 

 rejected, 179; amendment to strike out the 

 whole of the House bill and insert another, 



