306 



CONGKESS, U. S. 



this subject which the gentleman from Ohio 

 and the advocates of this bill seem to me to 

 have entirely overlooked. The existence of 

 the institution of slavery in a State or any other 

 domestic institution, does not make the govern- 

 ment republican or anti-republican in form. 

 It is not a governmental power that recognizes 

 the existence of any particular institution in a 

 State. It is derived from the legislative power, 

 from the law-making power. 



"Mr. President, the Senate will bear in mind 

 that the bill now under consideration, in those 

 provisions to which I have already invited the 

 attention of the body, is not and cannot be 

 claimed to be a war measure. I think it im- 

 portant that this fact shall be kept in view in 

 order to confine the discussion, if we can, to 

 those propositions and considerations that nat- 

 urally arise upon these particular provisions of 

 the bill. Indeed, its title would indicate that 

 its authors did not predicate any claim for sup- 

 port upon any such ground. It is not claimed 

 that the bill is to aid the Government of the 

 United States in the existing struggle. It is 

 not pretended that it will contribute in the 

 slightest degree to the success of our arms and 

 the assertion of Federal authority within the 

 States named ; but it is, as I have before re- 

 marked, purely a revolutionary measure, and 

 just as much as our power is greater than the 

 power of the rebellion, to that extent does it 

 more successfully accomplish the same end 

 which the rebellion was inaugurated to accom- 

 plish, to wit, the overthrow of the State gov- 

 ernments. 



" Now, sir, it is a fact familiar to every one 

 nt all acquainted with our history, that this 

 Government, the Government of the United 

 States, in the name of which it is sought to 

 perpetrate this injustice upon the States, ema- 

 nated itself from the States. The States existed 

 prior to the Government of the United States. 

 The Government of the United States is the 

 creature of the States, emanating directly from 

 them, and the greatest good expected to be ac- 

 complished by the States in the formation of 

 this Government was to protect them in the 

 enjoyment and possession of their own rights 

 of self-government within their respective lim- 

 its. That was the chief object for the forma- 

 tion of the Government. Then how can it be 

 supposed that this Government, emanating, as 

 I have said before, from the States, can send 

 down to the States a governor for them and 

 prescribe for them their form of government ? 

 This assumption of power alone, if there 

 were no other considerations involved in the 

 measure, is sufficient, it seems to me, to stamp 

 the absurdity of the proposition. 



" But, sir, it goes further. It is a declaration 

 to these States that they are never to be re- 

 ceived into the Union, that all the benefits of 

 the Union which they aided in creating and 

 forming are to be denied them, their State gov- 

 ernments are permitted to be overthrown, the 

 only question being whether they shall be over- 



thrown by traitors in arms or whether they 

 shall be overthrown by a Government of their 

 own creation which they formed for the pur- 

 pose of protecting them in the enjoyment of 

 their own State governments and the right of 

 self-government. Thus, sir, it declares to the 

 people of these States, that are admitted to be 

 States by the chairman of the committee that 

 reported the bill, and who advocated it to-day ; 

 it says to them in the form of law and to the 

 extent that this Congress has the power to 

 commit the loyal people of the adhering States, 

 commits the loyal people of the United States 

 to the declaration that the States now in the 

 power of those who inaugurated this rebellion 

 are never to enjoy Federal rights without a 

 surrender of their local sovereignty. 



" It does more, Mr. President ; it is a declara- 

 tion as plain as you can make it to the people of 

 this country and to the civilized world that, 

 so far as the powers of the Government of the 

 United States can be wielded by those to whom 

 its administration is at the present time in- 

 trusted, the Union that the Constitution formed 

 shall never again be enjoyed by the people. It 

 is a declaration that the effort for the restora- 

 tion of the Union is to be abandoned, that the 

 time has now arrived when it becomes us to 

 give up the 'old Union,' as some gentlemen 

 have styled it, and to enter upon the new work 

 of reconstruction. If that be so, how can you 

 attempt to maintain your consistency, by the 

 military power of this Government to compel 

 a minority of the States of the Union contain- 

 ing a minority of the population of the Union 

 to submit to the reconstruction of the Union? 

 To do this we must discard all the obligations 

 of the Constitution. It cannot be disguised 

 that such will be the effect of this bill." 



The amendment was adopted yeas, 17; 

 nays, 16. 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, then offered 

 the following amendment : 



And be it further enacted, That the proclamation of 

 emancipation issued by the President of the United 

 States on the 1st day o'f January, 1863, so far as the 

 same declares that the slaves in certain designated 

 States and portions of States thenceforward should 

 be free, is hereby adopted and enacted as a statute 

 of the United States, and as a rule and article for the 

 government of the military and naval forces thereof. 



It was lost by the following vote : 

 YEAS Messrs. Chandler, Conness, Lane of Kansas, 

 Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sumner, Wade, 

 Wilkinson, and Wilson 11. 



NATS Messrs. Brown, Carlile, Davis, Doolittle, 

 Grimes, Hale, Harris, Henderson, Hendricks, John- 

 son, Lane of Indiana, McDougall, Powell, Richard- 

 son, Riddle, Saulsbury, Sherman, Sprague, Ten 

 Eyck, Trumbull, and Van Winkle 21. 



ABSENT Messrs. Anthony, Buckalew, Clark, Col- 

 lamer, Cowan, Dixon, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Hard- 

 ing, Harlan, Hicks, Howard, Howe, Nesmith, Willey, 

 and Wright 17. 



The bill passed by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Brown, Chandler, Conness, Doolit- 



tie, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, John- 



son, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, 



Morgan, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Riddle, Sherman, 



