268 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



ing; and all laws and parts of laws inconsistent 

 herewith are hereby repealed. 



He said : " Mr. President, this section of the 

 bill, to my mind, is clearly and palpably uncon- 

 stitutional. I should like the chairman of the 

 Military Committee, who reported the bill, to 

 point me to the clause of the Constitution 

 which authorizes the passage of such a section 

 as this. I believe it has heretofore been ad- 

 mitted on all hands, by all political organiza- 

 tions of thia country, with very few exceptions, 

 that the institution of African slavery in the 

 States where it exists is a matter of local con- 

 cernment that cannot be interfered with by the 

 action of the Federal Government. Now, this 

 section proposes that if a man of African de- 

 scent shall be enlisted in the Army or join the 

 Army of the United States, not only he him- 

 self but also his mother, his wife, and his chil- 

 dren, shall all be free in consequence of that 

 act, any law or usage or custom to the contrary 

 notwithstanding. "Well, sir, suppose that a 

 slave belonging to a rebel in the State of Mis- 

 sissippi, if you please, or any other State, were 

 to enlist into the Army, and he should have 

 children or a mother or a wife, who were the 

 slaves of loyal men in adhering and loyal 

 States, under this provision they would be free, 

 provided this law could have any efficacy 

 whatever. There is certainly no power in this 

 Congress to pass any such law. It is depriv- 

 ing loyal men of loyal States of their property 

 by the legislative enactment of this Congress." 



Mr. Henderson, of Missouri, said: "I move 

 to amend the section by striking out the words 

 ' his mother, and his wife and children,' in the 

 fifth line; and after the word 'notwithstand- 

 ing,' in the seventh line, to insert, ' and his 

 mother, his wife and children shall also be free, 

 provided that by the laws of any State they 

 owe service or labor to any person or persons 

 wh/ have given aid or comfort to the existing 

 rebellion against the Government since July 

 17, 1662.'" 



Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, said: "I believe the 

 amendment proposed by the Senator from Mis- 

 souri is substantially the law as it stands to- 

 day. Any person of African descent now held 

 in bondage, and whose service is claimed by a 

 person in rebellion, or who has furnished aid 

 and comfort to the rebellion, if he enlists into 

 the service of the United States becomes a 

 free man. The proposition in the third section 

 of this bill is to extend that existing law so as 

 to set free any colored person, whether he be- 

 longs to a loyal citizen or to a disloyal citizen, 

 if he shall enlist into the service of the United 

 States, and shall remain in the service for the 

 period of three years." 



Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, asked : " "With- 

 out compensation to the owner ? " 



Mr. Grimes replied: "That is a question 

 which is not provided for in this bill, but which 

 will undoubtedly come up hereafter. If the 

 Government sets free a person to whom some 

 one has a legitimate and legal claim, recog- 



nized as such by the Government, unquestion- 

 ably he would be entitled to pay. The reason 

 why I shall vote for this section is, that I am 

 exceedingly anxious to pass a law by which it 

 shall be declared that if a man who has perilled 

 his life for me and for the institutions of my 

 country at Port Hudson I care not what kind 

 of a claim may be set up to his service or who 

 may set it up is claimed by any one, that 

 claim shall not be regarded. I am unwilling 

 that after he has thus perilled his life and 

 been wounded in my defence, he shall bo 

 taken off to slavery by any person or under 

 any sort of institution. I think that such a 

 proposition as this will meet the approval and 

 commendation of the country, and I rejoice 

 that the Senator from Massachusetts and the 

 Committee on. Military Affairs have given us 

 an opportunity to record our votes in favor of 

 it." 



Mr. "Wilkinson, of Minnesota, said: "There 

 is no necessity for the adoption of the amend- 

 ment offered by the Senator from Missouri. 

 The thirteenth section of the act of July 17, 

 1862, ' to amend the act calling forth the mili- 

 tia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress 

 insurrections, and repel invasions, approved 

 February 28, 1795, and the acts amendatory 

 thereof, and for other purposes,' contains the 

 following proviso : 



Provided, That the mother, wife, and children of 

 such man or boy of African descent shall not be 

 made free by the operation of this act except where 

 such mother, wife, or children owe service or labor 

 to some person who, during the present rebellion, 

 has borne arms against the United States, or adhered 

 to their enemies by giving them aid and comfort. 



" That is the law as it now stands ; and if 

 the Senator from Missouri wishes to carry out 

 the purpose or to retain this provision of the 

 existing law, all he has to do is to oppose this 

 section entirely. I think, Mr. President, that 

 the clause I have just read is the most disgrace- 

 ful legislstion of the Congress which passed that 

 law. It is a disgrace to the nation to pass such 

 a law, and I am very much rejoiced that the 

 Committee on Military Affairs have introduced 

 this bill wiping it out. What are the facts ? 

 "We muster a man into the service of the United 

 States and free him if he serves in the armies 

 of the Union to put down this rebellion, but we 

 suffer his mother, his wife, and his children to 

 remain in slavery. "What is freedom worth to 

 a man who has served in the armies of the 

 Union to put down this rebellion, if you take 

 his family away from him and keep them in 

 slavery? " 



Mr. Henderson: "Mr. President, the prop- 

 osition contained in the third section of this 

 bill is, that when a slave, or one who is held 

 as a slave under the laws of one of the 

 States, shall be mustered into the service of 

 the United States, the relatives of that slave 

 shall all be free. I ask the Senator from Min- 

 nesota, and the Senator from Iowa, who have 

 advocated this proposition, and I desire them 



