138 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



ever, before this took place their State govern- 

 ment was inaugurated in pursuance of the act 

 of June 25, 1868. Military rule was with- 

 drawn on the 22d of July, 1868, and in conse- 

 quence certain members elected in Georgia 

 were admitted by th.e lower House of Congress 

 to seats in that body. But the Legislature of 

 Georgia, having not complied with the third 

 condition imposed on them, the ejection of 

 members disqualified by the fourteenth amend- 

 ment, but having, on the contrary, ejected loyal 

 men from their body, the Senate of the United 

 States refused admission to their Senators. 

 The reconstruction of the State of Georgia was 

 therefore incomplete. 



"In consequence of this, Congress passed the 

 act of December 22, 1869. The Legislature 

 of Georgia having committed a revolutionary 

 act, had to be reorganized. The act of the 22d 

 of December, 1869, was remarkable and im- 

 portant for two circumstances : first, for what 

 it did provide, and secondly, for what it did 

 not provide. It provided for compliance with 

 the third condition precedent to admission ; 

 that is to say, that the Legislature of Georgia 

 should expel the members who had no right 

 to sit there in pursuance of the third section 

 of the fourteenth constitutional amendment, 

 and it provided for the admission of those who 

 had been illegally expelled ; but it did not pro- 

 vide for the reenactment of those acts by 

 which the first two fundamental conditions 

 had been complied with ; that is to say, it did 

 not provide for a ^ratification of the four- 

 teenth amendment and for a reexpurgation 

 of the objectionable provisions of the consti- 

 tution of Georgia. 



"The act of 22d December, 1869, therefore, 

 neither directly nor by implication questioned 

 the validity of the ratification of the fourteenth 

 amendment or of the expurgation of the con- 

 stitution of Georgia, both of which acts had 

 been performed in July, 1868. It may be well 

 assumed that therefore the act of December 

 22, 1869, confirmed the validity of these acts, 

 in the opinion at least of the Congress of the 

 United States. "Will it be hazardous to assume 

 that, in confirming the validity of the acts per- 

 formed by the Legislature of 1868, the legality 

 of the existence of that Legislature was recog- 

 nized likewise ? The act of the 22d December, 

 1869, imposed a new fundamental condition 

 upon Georgia. That was the ratification of 

 the fifteenth amendment. This fundamental 

 condition, too, has been complied with. And 

 now look at the attitude in which that State 

 stands before us. 



"All obligations precedent imposed upon 

 Georgia by the Congress of the United States 

 have been satisfactorily discharged. First, the 

 fourteenth amendment was ratified; secondly, 

 the constitution of Georgia was expurgated, 

 and both these acts were performed in July, 

 1868; thirdly, the loyal members who had 

 been expelled were readmitted, and members 

 disqualified by the third section of the four- 



teenth constitutional amendment were ex- 

 pelled; and fourthly, the fifteenth constitu- 

 tional amendment has been ratified. Both 

 these latter acts were performed in February, 

 18VO. Now this State stands before us claim- 

 ing admission on account of these conditions 

 precedent complied with by their Legislature, 

 partly in July, 1868, and partly in February, 

 1870 ; and so this bill, for which the Senator 

 from Indiana says he is going to vote, affirms. 

 It says : 



Whereas the people of Georgia have framed and 

 adopted a constitution of State government which 

 is republican ; and whereas the Legislature of Geor- 

 gia elected under said constitution has ratified the 

 fourteenth 



Which was done in July, 1868 

 and the fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of 

 the United States ; and whereas the performance of 

 these several acts in good faith is a condition prece- 

 dent to the representation of the State in Congress ; 

 Therefore, etc. 



"If we admit Georgia on that ground, as 

 the preamble to this bill recites, then we em- 

 phatically admit also the validity of the acts 

 in consequence of which we are to admit 

 Georgia." 



Mr. Morton : " I think my friend overlooks 

 the fact that this Legislature, on the same day 

 that it ratified the fifteenth amendment, ratified 

 the fourteenth amendment also, as if it had 

 never been acted on by the pretended Legisla- 

 ture of 1868. That is the fact." 



Mr. Schurz : "I think I shall be able to 

 show that the ratification of the fifteenth amend- 

 ment falls under the same head with the rati- 

 fication of the fourteenth amendment ; and I 

 would at the same time ask the Senator, inas- 

 much as we insisted upon the expurgation of 

 the constitution of Georgia, which act was per- 

 formed in 1868 and not reperformed now, are 

 we going to admit the State without it's having 

 fulfilled that fundamental condition ? Are we 

 going to be satisfied with that? But if we are 

 satisfied with that, we are satisfied with an act 

 performed in 1868 and not repeated since. 

 Therefore, if we accept that condition as satis- 

 factorily complied with, I do not see how there 

 is any ground to stand on but that we must 

 necessarily recognize the Legislature which 

 performed the act complying with that con- 

 dition. 



" It may be said, therefore, that the Legis- 

 lature was elected, and all that was done by it 

 was done by virtue and under the sanction of a 

 State constitution, and not otherwise. _ That 

 State constitution defined the term of life of 

 the Legislature, making it two years for the 

 House of Eepresentatives and four years for the 

 Senators, one-half to be elected biennially, 

 repeat, the State Legislature as such could find 

 no condition of existence at all outside of the 

 State constitution, for without the State con- 

 stitution it certainly would not have been a 

 State Legislature. The Legislature com- 

 menced in 1868, and, according to the consti- 

 tution, providing for biennial elections, it must 



