CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



133 



us; and we provided that those several 



ii.1 bo admitted to representation in 



when their Legislatures, which h:ul 



il in pursuance of their constitu- 



-liinild liave ratified the fourtecntli ;n - 



<\' tlu- amendments to the Constitution, 

 ami \\hrii, in addition thereto, they should givo 

 : heir consent to certain fundamental conditons 



iiii-d in the act As to Georgia, it was 

 KM| that her Legislature should also give 



'iisent to the condition imposed upon the 



[>y the act nullifying certain provisions 



constitution in regard to the bringing of 



suits. Wo provided that certain provisions of 



.institution of Georgia in regard to the 

 bringing of suits should be void, and that her 



lature should assent to that before she 

 .-hould be entitled to representation. And that 

 was the only exception we made which took 

 the case of Georgia in any way out of the 

 general rule as to the other States named in the 

 title of the act. All those States were admit- 

 ted to representation in both Houses of Con- 

 gress, in pursuance of that law, except Georgia, 

 c'tniirress passed no new law declaring them 

 entitled to representation, because this act to 

 which I have referred of itself declared that 

 they were entitled to representation when their 

 Legislature should do certain things. 



" The Representatives from Georgia were ad- 

 mitted to the House of Representatives. So 

 far Georgia was treated precisely like the other 

 States named in this act. And no new act of 

 Congress was passed declaring any one of them 

 entitled to representation, because, as I said 

 before, that declaration was already contained 

 in the act of June, 1868. Mr. Davves, at that 

 time chairman of the Committee of Elections, 

 reported a resolution declaring that the mem- 

 bers presenting themselves here from the State 

 of Georgia were entitled to their seats. That 

 resolution was adopted by the House, and the 

 members were sworn in, and served during the 

 Fortieth Congress. The Legislature of Georgia 

 had been duly organized at that time. 



"The proclamation which it was made the 

 duty of the President to issue when Georgia 

 should ratify the fourteenth amendment was 

 duly issued by the President. We were told by 

 the President and Secretary of State that that 

 fourteenth amendment had become part of the 

 Constitution of the United States ; and among 

 the States which had ratified it, thus making 

 it a part of the Constitution, was the State of 

 Georgia. I was about to say that the Legisla- 

 ture of Georgia was duly organized, and very 

 little exception was taken to its organization 

 at that time. But afterward the colored mem- 

 bers of the Legislature wore expelled wrong- 

 fully and unlawfully, so that, when the Sena- 

 tors-elect from the State of Georgia presented 

 their credentials to the Senate, the Senate was 

 un willing to go further in admitting represent- 

 atives from that State because of this expul- 

 sion of the colored members, and what was 

 regarded by many as the revolutionary act of 



t hat Legislature. I have had put in my hand the 

 message of the President of the United States 

 to Congress at the opening of the present 

 session. Ho says, in speaking of the recon- 

 structed States : 



Seven States which passed ordinances of secession 

 have been fully restored to their places in the Union. 

 The eighth, Georgia, held an election ut which she 

 ratified her constitution, republican in form, elected 

 a Governor, members of Congress, a State Legisla- 

 ture, and all other officers required. The Governor 

 was duly installed, and the Legislature met and per- 

 formed all the acts then required of them by the re- 

 construction acts of Congress. 



" She performed all the acts required of her 

 by the reconstruction acts of Congress! He 

 goes on : 



Subsequently, however, in violation of the consti- 

 tution which they had just ratified, as since decided 

 by the Supreme Court of. the State, they unseated the 

 colored members of the Legislature and admitted to 

 seats some members who are disqualified by the third 

 clause of the fourteenth amendment to the Consti- 

 tution, an article which they themselves had con- 

 tributed to ratify. Under these circumstances I 

 would submit to you whether it would not bo wise, 

 without delay, to enact a law authorizing the Govern- 

 or of Georgia 



"Not the 'provisional Governor,' but the 

 Governor of Georgia 



to convene the members originally elected to the 

 Legislature, etc. 



"All the State officers elected in pursuance 

 of the constitution of the State were duly in- 

 augurated and installed, and the affairs of the 

 State were turned over to the civil authorities 

 of the State by General Meade. 



" The Senate, as I was saying, hesitated about 

 admitting the Senators from Georgia, and their 

 credentials were referred to the Committee on 

 the Judiciary. The majority of that com- 

 mittee made report. There was a minority 

 report made by Senator Trumbull, of Illinois, 

 and I believe it was concurred in by another 

 member of the committee. The majority re- 

 port, made by Senator Stewart, of Nevada, 

 declared that in the opinion of that committee 

 the State was not then entitled to be repre- 

 sented. They carefully put in the word ' now,' 

 and reported a resolution that 'Mr.. Hill is not 

 now entitled to his seat in the Senate.' Why ? 

 Because they held that the Legislature which 

 had been duly elected and duly organized had, 

 after that organization, committed a revolution- 

 ary act, and therefore the State ought not then 

 to be represented in Congress. That report, 

 however, was never acted upon by the Senate. 

 It was nothing but the report of a committee, 

 and if the gentleman from Massachusetts is 

 going to pin his faith" to a report, and that not 

 a unanimous report, of a committee of the Sen- 

 ate, I would respectfully refer him to the unani- 

 mous report made the day before yesterday 

 by the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, 

 through Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, wherein 

 they say that no more legislation is necessary 

 in the case of Georgia. 



" Now, Mr. Speaker, for my own part I do 



