CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



155 



this matter; I simply asked those questions 

 fur information. I desired to know what 

 tlu-ory \vus entertained by these Senators; 

 u liether, if these conditions Bhould subse- 

 quently In- violated by Virginia, in their opin- 

 ion Virginia would cease thereby to bo a State 

 of the Union, or if her right to be a State 

 would thereby bo extinguished ; and, if so, 

 what proceedings could be had to declare a 

 forfeiture of her franchise as a State of the 

 Union. Suppose her position in the Union is 

 not lost by violating one of those conditions, 

 then the question would come up on a given 

 amendment of the constitution of Virginia 

 before the courts as to its validity. Does any 

 lawyer in this body suppose that any court, 

 State or Federal, would hold a State constitu- 

 tion void because it conflicted, not with the 

 Constitution of the United States, but with an 

 act of Congress? " 



Mr. Sumner : " If, allow me to nsk my friend, 

 that act of Congress be a compact ? " 



Mr. Carpenter: "If that act of Congress 

 be a compact, then the Senator from Massa- 

 chusetts goes mto the arms of John C. Cal- 

 houn on the theory of this Union. We had 

 the discussion of whether this Union was based 

 in compact or cemented and crystallized in law, 

 thirty years ago." 



Mr. Sumner : " I think my friend does not 

 understand me." 

 Mr. Carpenter: " Very likely." 

 Mr. Sumner : " If the fundamental condition 

 is a compact between Congress and the State. 

 That is my question." 



Mr. Carpenter: "To that I have a short 

 reply, that I do not think there can be any com- 

 pact between Congress and a State. There 

 may be a compact between the United States 

 and a State ; but I deny that the relation of 

 any State to this Union can in any sense be 

 regarded as a relation based upon a compact. 

 This is a government. The powers of the 

 Federal Union are based upon the solid foun- 

 dation of the Constitution, not upon the terms 

 of a contract, no matter how high may be the 

 contracting parties. The latter theory of this 

 amendment and this question, of the Senator 

 brings us right up to it if I understand it, 

 just leads into that very danger out of which 

 we have emerged only through the blood and 

 terror of a four-years war. I want, so far as 

 I am concerned, to have done with the talk 

 about compacts which regulate the rights of a 

 State in this Union, and I desire, so far as my 

 vote goes, to admit States and let them be 

 States and hold them responsible as States, 

 and compel them to obey the Federal Consti- 

 tution as States, or I propose to have nothing 

 to do with them in that capacity, to remand 

 them to the condition of Territories or hold 

 them in military subjection. Let us have one 

 thing or the other." 



Without taking a vote on the amendment 

 of Mr. Drake, a motion was made by Mr. 

 Stewart, of Nevada, to lay aside the joint res- 



olution, in order to take un a bill from tho 

 House for tho admission of Virginia. 



It was agreed to by tho following vote: 



YEAS Me*nrs. Abbott, Bayard, Carpenter, Ca- 

 erlv ; Cole.Conkling, Corbett, David. Ferry, Fowler, 

 Hamilton, McCreery, Norton, Nye, Patterson, Sauls- 

 bury, Scott, Stewart, Stockton, Tlpton, Truinbull, 

 Vickers, Warner, Willey, and Williams 25. 



NATS Messrs. Anthony, Boreman, Buckingham, 

 Cameron, Drake, Edmunds, Fenton, Harm, Tflow- 

 ard, Howe, McDonald, Morrill of Muim-, M-.rrill <>f 

 Vermont, Morton, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Rice, Kobert- 

 BOD, Scuurz, Spencer, Sumner, Thayer, and Wil- 

 Bon 28. 



ABSENT Messrs. Browrilow, Cattoll, Chandler, 

 Cragin. Gilbert, Hamlin, Harlan, Kellogg, Oshorn, 

 Pool, Pratt, Ross, Sawyer, Sherman, Sprague, Thur- 

 Jiian, and Vates 17. 



In the House, on January llth, Mr. Farns- 

 worth, of Illinois, from the Reconstruction 

 Committee, reported a bill for the admission 

 of Virginia to representation in Congress. 



The bill was as follows: 



Whereas the people of Virginia have adopted a 

 constitution republican in form, and by its provi- 

 sions assuring the equality of right in nil citizens of 

 the United States before tho law ; and whereas tho 

 Congress of the United States have received assur- 

 ances and are assured that the people of Virginia, 

 and especially those heretofore in insurrection 

 against the United States, have renounced all claims 

 or any right of secession in a State, and that they 

 are now well disposed to the Government of tho 

 United States and will support and defend the Con- 

 stitution thereof, and will carry out, in letter and 

 spiritj the provisions and requirements of the Con- 

 stitution submitted under the reconstruction acts of 

 Congress and ratified by tho people of Virginia : 

 Therefore, 



Be it enacted, etc., That the State of Virginia is 

 entitled to representation in Congress as a State of 

 the Union, under the constitution ratified on the 6th 

 day of July, 1869, upon the following fundamental 

 conditions : 



First. That no person shall hold any office, civil or 

 military, in said State who shall not have taken and 

 subscribed one of the following oaths or affirmations, 

 namely: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 

 have never taken an oath as a member of Congress 

 or as an officer of the United States, or as a member 

 of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judi- 

 cial officer of any. State, to support the Constitution 

 of the United States and thereafter engaged in in- 

 surrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid 

 or comfort to the enemies thereof;" or, "I do sol- 

 emnly swear (or affirm) that I have been relieved 

 from disability by an act of Congress, as provided for 

 by the third section of the fourteenth article of tho 

 amendments of the Constitution of the United 

 States." 



Second. That the constitution of said State shall 

 never be so amended or changed as to deprive any 

 citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the 

 right to vote or hold office in said State who are en- 

 titled to vote or hold office by said constitution, ex- 

 cept as a punishment for such* crimes as are now fel- 

 onies at common law, whereof they shall have been 

 duly convicted under laws equally applicable to all 

 the inhabitants of said State, or to prevent any per- 

 son, on account of race, color, or previous condition 

 of servitude, from serving as a juror or participating 

 equally in tho school fund or school privileges pro- 

 vided for in said constitution : Provided, That any 

 alteration of said constitution, equally applicable to 

 all the voters of said State, may be made with regard 

 to the time and place of residence of said voters. 



Third. That all persons, who shall, at the tune when 



