332 



CONGKESS, U. S. 



of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its 

 duty to the whole country ; that this war is not waged 

 on our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any 

 purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of 

 overthrowing or interfering with the rights or estab- 

 lished institutions of those States, but to defend and 

 maintain the suprempcy of the Constitution, and to 

 preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and 

 rights of the several States unimpaired ; that as soon 

 as these objects are accomplished the war ought to 

 cease. 



A motion to lay it on the table was lost 

 yeas, 52; nays, 114. Under the rules it was 

 laid over, and was not called up again. 



On the 17th, Mr. Edgerton, of Indiana, of- 

 fered the following resolution : 



Whereas the proclamations of the President of 

 January ], 1863, and December 8, 1863, in relation to 

 emancipation, impose conditions of pardons and am- 

 nesty to the persons who have participated in the 

 existing rebellion, as well as conditions precedent to 

 the establishment and recognition of State govern- 

 ment in the States to which said proclamations apply, 

 which, in the judgment of a large number of faithful 

 citizens, have a tendency to give to the rebellion 

 "the advantage of a changed issue," and "to re- 

 invigorate the otherwise declining insurrection in 

 the South," and to prolong the war; and whereas 

 this House cannot but regard with anxiety the un- 

 precedented and extraordinary claims and assump- 

 tion of high prerogative by the President in said 

 proclamations, especially in view of the fact that the 

 President, in his inaugural address of the 4th day 

 of March, 1861, declared, "I have no purpose direct- 

 ly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of 

 slavery in the States where it exists ; I believe I have 

 no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so ; 

 therefore, 



Resolved, As the judgment of this House, that the 

 maintenance inviolate of the constitutional powers of 

 Congress, and the rights of the States, and especially 

 the right of each State to order and control its own 

 domestic institutions according to its own judgment 

 exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on 

 which the perfection and endurance of our political 

 fabric of Federal union depends ; and we denounce, 

 as among the gravest of crimes, the invasion or oc- 

 cupation, by armed force, of any State, under the 

 pretext or for the purpose of coercing the people 

 thereof to modify or abrogate any of their laws or 

 domestic institutions that are consistent with the 

 Constitution of the United States ; and we affirm the 

 principle declared in this resolution to be a law, alike 

 to the President and the people of the United States. 



It was laid on the table by the following 

 vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, 

 Arnold, Ashley, John D. Baldwin, Beaman, Blaine, 

 Blow, Biutwell, Boyd, Brandegee, Broomall, Wil- 

 liam G Brown, Ambrose W. Clark, Freeman Clarke, 

 Cobb, G t, Creswell, Henrv Winter Davis, Thomas 

 T. Davis, Dawes, Deming, Dixon, Driggs, Dumont, 

 Eliot, Farnsworth, Fenton, Frank, Garfield, Gooch, 

 Grinnell, Hale, Higby, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel 

 W. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Hulburd, Julian, 

 Kasson, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Orlando Kel- 

 logg, Loan, Longyear, Lovejoy, Marvin, McBride, 

 McClurg, Mclndoe, Samuel F. Miller, Moorhead, 

 Merrill, Daniel Morris, Amos Myers, Leonard Myers, 

 Norton, Charles O'Neill, Orth, Patterson, Perham, 

 Pike, Pomeroy, Price, William H. Randall, Alex- 

 ander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Edward H. Rollins, 

 Schenck, Scofield, Shannon, Sloan, Smith, Smithers, 

 Spalding, Stevens, Thayer, Tracy, Van Valkenburgh, 

 Elihu B. Washburne, 'William B. Washburn Wha- 

 ler, Williams, Wilder, Wilson, Windom, and Wood- 

 bridge 90. 



NATS Messrs. James C. Allen, Aucona, Augustus 

 C, Baldwin, Bliss, Brocks, James S. Brown, Cox, 

 Cravens, Dawson, Dennison, Eden, Edgerton, El- 

 dridge, Finck, Ganson, Grider, Griswold, Hall, 

 Harding, Harrington, Charles M. Harris, Herrick, 

 Holman, William Johnson, Kernan, King, Knapp, 

 Law, Lazear, Le Blond, Long, Mallory, Marcy, Mc- 

 Dowell, McKinney, Middleton, William H. Miller, 

 James R. Morris, Morrison, Nelson, Noble, John 

 O'Neill, Pendleton, Perry, Radford, Samuel J. Ran- 

 dall, Robinson, Rogers, James S. Rollins, Ross, 

 Scott, John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Stiles, 

 Strouse, Stuart, Sweat, Voorhees, Wadsworth, Ward, 

 Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Win- 

 field, Fernando Wood, and Yeaman 66. 



On the 17th of January, Mr. Eogers, of New 

 Jersey, offered the following resolution on the 

 prosecution of the war : 



Betofoed. That as our country and the existence 

 of the old Union are imperilled by a rebellion against 

 the wisest and best Government ever devised by man, 

 we are for the most united, determined, and vigorous 

 prosecution of the war for the purpose of enforcing 

 the Constitution of the United States, and the laws 

 made in pursuance thereof, in all parts of the United 

 States ; but at the same time we are for adding to 

 force the power of conciliation and compromise so 

 far as is consistent with an honorable and lasting 

 peace, and founded solely upon a restoration of the 

 Union under the Constitution, and in no event to 

 agree to or countenance a dissolution of the Union ; 

 and that we believe the appointment of commission- 

 ers upon the part of the Federal Government, to 

 meet commissioners similarly appointed by the in- 

 surgent States, to convene in some suitable place, 

 for the purpose of considering whether any, and if 

 any, what plan may be adopted consistent with the 

 honor and dignity of the nation, and based upon a 

 restoration of the whole Union, by which the present 

 war may be brought to a close, and the lives, limbs, 

 and health of the gallant officers and soldiers of the 

 Union preserved, and the liberties of the people 

 maintained, is not inconsistent with the honor and 

 dignity of the Federal Government, but, as an indi- 

 cation of the spirit which animates the adhering 

 States, would, in any event, tend to strengthen us in 

 the opinion of other nations and the loyal people of 

 the insurgent States; and hoping, as we sincerely do, 

 that the people of the Southern States would recipro- 

 cate the peaceful indications thus evinced, and be- 

 lieving, as we do, that, under the blessings of God, 

 great benefits would arise from such conference, W3 

 most earnestly recommend such conference to the 

 consideration of the President and Senate of the 

 United States, and request their cooperation therein, 

 and hope that the President will appoint commis- 

 sioners for that purpose. 



Resolved, That the people of the several States 

 now in rebellion against the Government of the 

 United States, -whenever they shall desire to return 

 to the Union and obey the Constitution of the United 

 States, and laws made in pursuance thereof, have a 

 right under and by virtue of the said Constitution to 

 reorganize their respective State governments with 

 all their domestic institutions as they were before the 

 war, and to elect Representatives to the Congress of 

 the United States, and be represented in the Union 

 with all the rights of the people of the several States, 

 and without any conditions precedent except that of 

 being liable to be punished according to the Consti- 

 tution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, as their 

 laws and acts of secession are unconstitutional and 

 void. 



They were laid on the table yeas, 78 ; nays, 

 42. 



Mr. Myers, of Pennsylvania, offered the fol- 

 lowing, which were referred to the Special 

 Committee on Eeconstruction : 



