CONGKESS, U. S. 



283 



Then all would have shared alike in the perils 

 and glories of the war. Every family would 

 have been represented in the field, and every 

 soldier would have had sympathy and support 

 from his friends at home. The passage of this 

 bill will give evidence to the rebels that the 

 nation is summoning all its energies to the con- 

 flict, and it will be proof to foreign nations that 

 we are preparing to meet promptly any inter- 

 meddling in our domestic strife. The Govern- 

 ment has a right in war to command the ser- 

 vices of its citizens, whom it protects in war as 

 well as in peace. We, as legislators, must not 

 shrink from the discharge of our high respon- 

 sibility. This Congress will be memorable in 

 the annals of our country and the history of 

 the world. ' The fiery trials through which 

 we are passing will light us down in honor or 

 dishonor to the latest generation.' If we can- 

 not ' escape history,' let us make our record 

 right, and display that patriotism, wisdom, and 

 energy which history cannot fail to commend." 



Mr. WicklifFe, of Kentucky, next took the 

 floor in opposition to the bill, saying: "We 

 have in this country, under our Constitution 

 and system of government, but two classes of 

 military men one the regular army, and the 

 other the militia. Volunteer soldiers are mil- 

 itia. You have a regular army, and then you 

 have a volunteer army, which is composed of 

 the militia. This bill proposes to give you an 

 army of conscripts ; and I should like to know 

 what then becomes of the militia which belongs 

 to the several States of this Union. 



" Now, sir, let us see what power this Gov- 

 ernment has over the militia of the States. 

 Here is the power granted to Congress by the 

 Constitution : 



To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining 

 the militia, and for governing such part of them as 

 may be employed in the service of the United States. 



" I do not care how they are brought into 

 the service of the United States, whether they 

 volunteer or are drafted ; when you have got 

 the soldier, you must treat him as a militiaman 

 under the Constitution. But the clause goes 

 on thus : 



Reserving to the States, respectively, the appoint- 

 ment of the officers, and the authority of training the 

 militia according to the discipline prescribed by Con- 

 gress. 



" When you call the militia into the service, 

 who is to appoint their officers, under the Con- 

 stitution ? Why, sir, such was the feeling upon 

 this question, that in 1812 some of the States 

 Massachusetts, I know, was one took the 

 ground that they had not only the right to or- 

 ganize their militia and officer them, but that 

 the Government of the United States had no 

 right to march them outside the limits of the 

 State for the defence of this Union in the con- 

 test then waging with Great Britain. 



" Now, I beg the advocates of this bill to 

 look at its provisions. The provost-marshals 

 are to enroll the militia in every State and dis- 

 trict, all the able-bodied men between the ages 



of eighteen and forty-five. These men are sub- 

 ject to be called from their homes, unorgan- 

 ized even into companies. They are to be 

 taken by the order of the President and driven 

 to the army like cattle or mules to market. I 

 ask you whether you are prepared to say to 

 the people, to the fathers and mothers, the 

 wives and relatives of the men whom you thus 

 enroll, that you will take them in this way 

 from their homes, without even giving them 

 the poor privilege of electing their company 

 officers." 



Mr. Thomas, of Massachusetts : " The gen- 

 tleman from Kentucky has adverted just now 

 to the power to organize the militia. I ask 

 the gentleman from Kentucky what limitation 

 he finds in the Constitution on the power ' to 

 raise and support armies? ' and whether there 

 is anything in the Constitution to require that 

 an army raised by the Government of the 

 United States shall be raised by voluntary en- 

 listment, as distinguished from the conscrip- 

 tion? What is the limitation of that power to 

 call out the citizens in defence of the Govern- 

 . ment, and against a foreign enemy ? " 



Mr. Wickliffe : "I answer that question by 

 saying that the power of Congress to raise an 

 army, a regular army, is unlimited." 



Mr. Thomas, of Massachusetts : "What lim- 

 itation has the regular army ? " 



Mr. WicklifFe : " None in number"." 



Mr. Thomas, of Massachusetts : " What lim- 

 itation in quality ? " 



Mr. WicklifFe : " None in quality. The laws, 

 however, have prescribed the qualifications for 

 a man in the army as well as in the militia." 



Mr. Thomas, of Massachusetts: "I under- 

 stand that a practice has been observed by the 

 Government heretofore in regard to enlisting 

 men in the army ; but does that interfere with 

 the constitutional power of the National Gov- 

 ernment to raise armies? " 



Mr. Wickliffe : " Sir, the contemporaneous ex- 

 position of the Constitution ought to have some 

 weight with a jurist of such eminence as the 

 gentleman from Massachusetts. The interpre- 

 tation of the powers of the Government under 

 that Constitution as adopted, explained, and 

 acted upon since 1789 down to the present day, 

 is not to be disregarded by those who have any 

 regard for the men that have passed before us, 

 and who are presumed to have understood the 

 intention and purpose of that instrument which 

 they themselves made or assisted in making. 

 Kefer to the first legislation -under Washing- 

 ton's Administration, and see what he thought 

 and what Congress thought was the meaning 

 of the clause in the Constitution in regard to 

 organizing the army of the United States. 



"Has Congress, ever since the adoption of 

 the Constitution, left it to the executive to set- , 

 tie what should be the strength of the military 

 force of the United States ? And is Congress 

 now prepared, when authorizing the raising of 

 an army, to surrender the right of fixing the 

 number of that army, and to leave it to the dis- 



