CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



131 



In (lie House, on December fitli, Mr. Ilii 

 nf Ohio, intrn.Iii.vd a joint resolution providing 

 i :itiu-iidiiu-iit i>f t lie Constitution of the 

 ! S!:it.-- l.y iv|>ea!in:r the, clause forbid- 

 ding th>> laying of taxes or duties on articles 

 exported from any State; which was read a first 

 and second time, and referred to the Committee 

 on tin- Judiciary. Also a joint resolution provid- 

 ing tor an amendment to the Constitution of the 

 I Stntcs forbidding tho payment or as- 

 sumption by tho United States or by any State 

 of any debt which has been or may hereafter 

 bo contracted in aid of any rebellion against tho 

 Vnited States; which was read a first and second 

 and ordered to be referred to the Com- 

 e on the Judiciary. Also a joint resolution 

 to amend tho Constitution of the United States 



: o empower Congress to pass all nec< 

 and proper laws to secure to all persons in 

 e'.cry State of the Union equal protection in 

 tiieir rights, life, liberty, and property; which 

 was read a first and second time, and ordered to 

 be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

 Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, offered the fol- 

 lowing resolutions, which were laid over: 



Resolved, (as the sense of this House), That, as all 

 i,3>i powers of government are derived from the con- 

 sent of the governed, that cannot be regarded as a 

 just Government which denies to a large portion of 

 its citizens, who share both its pecuniary and mil- 

 itary burdens, the right to express cither their con- 

 sent or dissent to the laws which subject them to 

 taxation and to military duty, and which refuses them 

 full protection in the enjoyment of their inalienable 

 riirlits. 



'Resolved, That in imposing taxes upon the people 

 of the United States, none are excepted therefrom on 

 account of color ; so, too, in the laws enacted by Con- 

 tor enrolling and drafting into the military ser- 

 vice of the Government those liable to military duty, 

 no exemption because of color has been allowed ; and 

 while we have rewarded the foreigner, who is igno- 

 rant of our language and institutions, and who has 

 bntjust landed upon our shores, with the right of 

 citizenship for a brief service in the armies of the 

 United States, good faith, as well as impartial jus- 

 tice, demand or this Government that it secure to 

 the colored soldiers of the Union their equal rights 

 and privileges as citizens of the United States. 



Resolved, That we agree with the President of the 

 United States that " mercy without justice is a 

 crime ; " and the admitting of rebels and traitors, upon 

 whose hands the blood of slain patriots has scarcely 

 dried, and upon whose hearts is the damning crime 

 of starving to death loyal men taken as prisoners in 

 battle, to the rights of citizenship and of suffrage, 

 while we deny those rights to the loval black man, 

 who fought for the Union, and who fed and protected 

 our starving soldiers, is a lit illustration of that 

 truism. 



In the Senate, on December llth, Mr. Cowan, 

 of Pennsylvania, offered tho following resolu- 

 tion, which was laid over : 



Resolved, That the President of the Uniied States 

 be, and is hereby, requested to furnish to tho Senate 

 information of the state of that portion of the Union 

 lately in rebellion ; whether the rebellion has been 

 suppressed and the United States put again in pos- 

 session of the States in which it existed ; whether 

 the United States courts are restored, post-offices re- 

 established, and the revenues collected ; and also 

 whether the people of those States have reorganized 



their State government*, and whether they are rield- 

 dii'iico to the laws and Government of tho 

 L nitcd States. 



Tho resolution was adopted on tho next day, 

 anil the rre>iiient made tho following answer: 



WASHINGTON, D. C., December 18, 185. 

 To the Senate of the Un\ted titatet : 



In reply to the resolution adopted by the Senate on 

 the 12th instant, I have the honor to state that the 

 rebellion waged by a portion of the people against 

 the properly-constituted authorities of the Govern- 

 ment of the United States has been suppressed; that 

 the United States are in possession of every State in 

 which the insurrection existed ; and that, as far as 

 could be done, tho courts of the United States have 

 been restored, post-offices reestablished, and steps 

 taken to put into effective operation the revenue laws 

 of the country. 



As the result of the measures instituted by the 

 Executive, with the view of inducing a resumption 

 of the functions of the States comprehended in the 

 inquiry of the Senate, the people in North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Loui.-i- 

 ana, Arkansas, and Tennessee, have reorganized their 

 respective State governments, and "are yielding 

 obedience to the laws and Government of the United 

 States," with more willingness and greater promp- 

 titude than under the circumstances could reasonably 

 have been anticipated. The proposed amendment to 

 the Constitution, providing for the abolition of slave- 

 ry forever within the limits of the country, has been 

 ratified by each one of those States, with the excep- 

 tion of Mississippi, from which no official information 

 has yet been received ; and in nearly all of them 

 measures have been adopted or are now pending, to 

 confer upon freedmen rights and privileges which are 

 essential to their comfort, protection, and security. 

 In Florida and Texas the people are making com- 

 mendable progress in restoring their State govern- 

 ments, and no doubt is entertained that they will at 

 an early period be in a condition to resume all of 

 their practical relations to the Federal Government. 



In " that portion of the Union lately in rebellion," 

 the aspect of affairs is more promising than, in view 

 of all the circumstances, could well nave been ex- 

 pected. The people throughout the entire South 

 evince a laudable desire to renew their allegiance to 

 the Government, and to repair the devastations of 

 war by a prompt and cheerful return to peaceful pur- 

 suits. An abiding faith is entertained that their 

 actions will conform to their professions, and that, in 

 acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution 

 and the laws of the United States, their loyalty will 

 be unreservedly given to the Government, whose 

 leniency they cannot fail to appreciate, and whose 

 fostering care will soon restore them to a condition 

 of prosperity. 



It is true that in some of the States the demorali- 

 zing effects of war are to be seen in occasional disor- 

 ders ; but these are local in character, not frequent 

 in occurrence, and are rapidly disappearing as the 

 authority of civil law is extended and sustained. 

 Perplexing questions were naturally to be expected 

 from the great and sudden change in the relations 

 between the two races ; but systems are gradually 

 developing themselves under which the Ireedman 

 will receive the protection to which he is justly en- 

 titled, and by means of his labor make himself a 

 useful and independent member of the community in 

 which he has his home. From all the information in 

 my possession, and from that which I have recently 

 derived from the most reliable authority, I am in- 

 duced to cherish the belief that sectional animosity 

 is surely and rapidly merging itself into a spirit of 

 nationality, and that representation, connected with 

 a properly-adjusted system of taxation, will result in 

 a harmonious restoration of the relations of the States 

 to the national Union. 



The report of Carl Schurz is herewith transmitted 



