126 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



proceedings of any convention composed of delegates 

 chosen by men recently in arms against the Union, 

 and excluding men who perilled their lives in its de- 

 fence ; unless its proceedings have been first ap- 

 proved by those hereby declared to be entitled to 

 participate therein. 



2. Resolved,, That the Constitution of the United 

 States being supreme over State laws and State con- 

 stitutions in respect of these matters upon which it 

 speaks, and the duty being now imposed by it on 

 Congress to legislate for the establishment of govern- 

 ment in such States respectively, it is hereby de- 

 clared that no supposed State law or State constitu- 

 tion can be set up as an impediment to the national 

 power in the discharge of this duty. 



3. Resolved,, That since, also, it has become the 

 duty of Congress to determine what is a republican 

 form of government, it is hereby declared that no 

 government of a State recently in rebellion can be ac- 

 cepted as republican, where large masses of citizens 

 who have been always loyal to the United States are 

 excluded from the elective franchise, and especially 

 where the wounded soldier of the Union, with all 

 his kindred and race, and also the kindred of others 

 whose bones whiten the battle-fields where they died 

 for their country, are thrust away from the polls to 

 give place to the very men by whose hands wounds 

 and death were inflicted ; more particularly where, 

 as in some of those States, the result would be to dis- 

 franchise the majority of the citizens who were al- 

 ways loyal, and give to the oligarchical minority 

 recently engaged in carrying on the rebellion the 

 power to oppress the loyal majority, even to the 

 extent of driving them from their homes and depriv- 

 ing them of all opportunity of livelihood. 



4. Resolved,, That in all those cases where, by 

 reason of rebellion, there is a lapse in the State gov- 

 ernment, and it becomes the duty of Congress to 

 provide a government for the State, no government 

 can be accepted as " a republican form of govern- 

 ment " where a large proportion of native-born citi- 

 zens, charged with no crime and no failure of duty, 

 is left wholly unrepresented, although compelled to 

 pay taxes ; and especially where a particular race is 

 singled out and denied all representation, although 

 compelled to pay taxes ; more especially where such 

 race constitutes the majority of the citizens, and 

 where the enfranchised minority has forfeited its 

 rights by rebellion ; and more especially still where, 

 by such exclusion, the oligarchical enemies of the 

 Republic can practically compel it to break faith 

 with national soldiers and national creditors to 

 whose generosity it was indebted during a period of 

 peril. 



In the House, on the 4th, the members were 

 called to order by the Clerk, Edward McPher- 

 eon. During the call of the roll, Mr. Maynard, 

 of Tennessee, arose to speak, when the Clerk 

 declined to have any interruption of the call. 



Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, moved that the 

 House proceed to the election of Speaker. 



Mr. Brooks, of New York, in opposition to 

 the motion, said : " Mr. Clerk, I hope that mo- 

 tion will not prevail until it be settled who are 

 members of this House whether the honorable 

 gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Maynard), hold- 

 ing in his hand, I presume, the certificate of 

 the Governor of that State, is entitled to be 

 heard on his credentials or not. I trust that 

 we shall not proceed to any revolutionary step 

 like that without at least hearing from the hon- 

 orable gentleman from Tennessee. For if Ten- 

 nessee is not in the Union, and has not been in 

 the Union, and is not a loyal State, and the 



people of Tennessee are aliens and foreigners 

 to this Union, by what right does the President 

 of the United States usurp his place in the 

 "White House and in the capital of the country 

 when an alien, as he must be, a foreigner, and 

 not from a State in the Union ? 



" I trust there will not be such rapidity pf 

 motion as that proposed. I trust that the hon- 

 orable gentleman from Tennessee will -be per- 

 mitted to be heard. For, if a precedent can be 

 established by the Clerk, and he can make a 

 rule to exclude members from the floor of this 

 House by his mere arbitrary will, this then ceases 

 to be a Congress, and the Clerk of the House, 

 but a servant of the House, is omnipotent over 

 its organization. Is not the State of Tennessee 

 in the Union ? 



"And then there is a State of Virginia which 

 the Clerk has not read ; I mean the old State of 

 Virginia, and not Western Virginia the State 

 over which Governor Pierpoint presides, over 

 which he has presided, and to which position 

 he was elected during the war, whose loyalty 

 no man doubts, and who is as much the Gov- 

 ernor of that State as the Governor of Penn- 

 sylvania is Governor of the State of Penn- 

 sylvania. By what right has the Virginia dele- 

 gation been excluded by the Clerk of the 

 House ? I wish the Clerk would tell me. He 

 has given no reason for such exclusion, and I 

 should be happy to yield the floor for a moment 

 to enable him to state why both Tennessee and 

 Virginia have been excluded from the list he 

 has made." 



The Clerk : " With the consent of the gentle- 

 man I will state that if it be the desire of the 

 House to have my reasons, I will give them ; 

 but I have not felt justified or called upon to 

 give any reasons ; I have acted in accordance 

 with my views of duty, and I am willing to let 

 the record stand." 



Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said : " It is 

 not necessary. We know all." 



Mr. Brooks continued " I know that it is 

 known to all in one quarter, but that it is not 

 known to many in other quarters in this House, 

 why this exclusion has been made. The State 

 of Louisiana was here upon the floor of the 

 House last year, by the admission of gentlemen 

 from that State. The record is in the Congres- 

 sional Globe ; and now Louisiana is excluded. 

 A Republican House, a Republican majority, 

 permitted two members from Louisiana upon 

 the floor of this House to vote for its Speaker ; 

 and now the Clerk of the House assumes the 

 responsibility of excluding the State of 'Louisi- 

 ana. Why this subversion of all precedents, as 

 well as this overthrow of all Jaw ?" 



Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, said : " The gen- 

 tleman from New York will understand that 

 the Clerk of the last House of Representatives 

 put the names of those two gentlemen from 

 Louisiana upon the roll, and they did, in fact, 

 vote for Speaker; but afterward the House 

 refused to permit them to be sworn in as mem- 

 bers." 



