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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



" Mr. President, there is another provision in 

 this resolution as it stands. It not only takes 

 from the Senate all power to act over this sub- 

 ject until this committee shall report and Con- 

 gress shall take final action, but it declares that 

 we shall refer every paper to the committee 

 without debate. Yes, sir, the Senate of the 

 United States is to be led like a lamb to the 

 slaughter, bound hand and foot, shorn of its 

 constitutional power, and gagged, dumb, like 

 the sheep brought to the block ! Is this the 

 condition to which the Senator from Michigan 

 proposes to reduce the Senate of the United 

 States by insisting upon such a provision as that 

 contained in the resolution as it comes from the 

 House of Representatives ? 



" Mr. President, there is still a graver objec- 

 tion to this resolution as it stands. The pro- 

 vision that, ' until such report shall have been 

 made and finally acted on by Congress, no mem- 

 ber shall be received into either House from 

 any of the so-called Confederate States,' is a 

 provision which, by law, excludes those eleven 

 States from their representation in the Union. 

 Sir, pass that resolution as it stands, and let it 

 receive the signature of the President, and you 

 have accomplished what the rebellion could not 

 accomplish, what the sacrifice of half a million 

 men could not accomplish in warring against 

 this Government you have dissolved the Union 

 by act of Congress. Sir, are we prepared to 

 sanction that ? I trust never. 



" The Senator from Michigan talks about the 

 status of these States. He may very properly 

 raise the question whether they have any Legis- 

 latures that are capable of electing Senators to 

 this body. That is a question of fact to be con- 

 sidered ; but as to whether they are States, and 

 States still within the Union, notwithstanding 

 their civil form of government has been over- 

 turned by the rebellion and their Legislatures 

 have been disorganized that they are still 

 States in this Union is the most sacred truth 

 and the dearest truth to every American heart, 

 and it will be maintained by the American 

 people against all opposition, come from what 

 quarter it may. Sir, the flag that now floats 

 on the top of this Capitol bears thirty-six stars. 

 Every star represents a State in this Union. I 

 ask the Senator from Michigan, does that flag, 

 as it floats there, speak the nation's truth to 

 our people and to the world, or is it a hypo- 

 critical, flaunting lie ? That flag has been borne 

 at the head of our conquering legions through 

 the whole South, planted at Vicksburg, planted 

 at Columbia, Savannah, Charleston, Sumter ; 

 the same old flag which came down before the 

 rebellion at Sumter was raised up again, and it 

 still bore the same glorious stars ; ' not a star 

 obscured,' not one. 



" These people have been disorganized in 

 their civil governments in consequence of the 

 war ; the rebels overturned civil government in 

 the first place, and we entered with our armies 

 and captured the rebellion ; but did that de- 

 stroy the States? Not at all. We entered the 



States to save them, not to destroy them. Oul 

 constitutional duty is to save them, and save 

 every one of them, and not to destroy them. 

 The guaranty in the Constitution is a guaranty 

 to the States, and to every one of the States, 

 and the obligation that rests upon us is to guar- 

 antee to South Carolina a republican form of 

 government as a State in this Union, and not 

 as a Territory. The doctrine of the territorial 

 condition of these States, that they are mere 

 conquered, subjugated territories, as if we had 

 conquered Canada or Mexico, will not stand 

 argument for a moment. It is utterly at war 

 with the ground on which we stand and have 

 stood from the beginning. The ground we 

 occupied was this : that no State nor the peo- 

 ple of any State had any power to withdraw 

 from the Union. They could not do it peace- 

 fully ; they undertook to do it by arms ; we 

 crushed the attempt ; we trampled their armies 

 under our feet; we captured the rebellion; the 

 States are ours ; and we entered them to save, 

 and not to destroy." 



Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, said: "I have said 

 I was in favor of this resolution when I first 

 read it, for the reason that it looked to a pur- 

 pose which I approve calm and deliberate 

 consideration before action ; but when I came 

 to read it over more carefully and hear the 

 opinions of others, I came to the conclusion, 

 for the reasons that have been given by my 

 honorable friend from Rhode Island, that the 

 resolution perhaps went a little too far. It was 

 important to have a committee by which this 

 subject should be investigated, composed of 

 members of the two Houses, for the reason, 

 among others, that it is very important that 

 the two Houses should act in harmony, that 

 one House should not take action that would 

 be at variance with the action of the other, and 

 that, after investigation of the subject, it would 

 result, as I believe, from the constitution of 

 Congress, that the two Houses would act in 

 harmony, on the same principles, and with the 

 same views, and neither would act hastily. 

 Therefore the committee was important, and a 

 committee that should be carefully chosen, as I 

 said before, and deliberate well and advise well ; 

 and I did not conceive that a little delay, that 

 a few weeks' time, or even a few months' time, 

 if necessary, given to that subject, would bo 

 misspent. We had better spend a little time 

 now than take a step to be repented of in all 

 our after-lives and in all the future life of the 

 Republic. 



"The points to which attention has been 

 called by the honorable mover of the amend- 

 ment are precisely those to which I objected. 

 While I approved the committee, I did not 

 think, in the first place, that we should change 

 the order of proceeding and the long-tried rules 

 of the Senate, especially the one with regard to 

 debate. It has always been open here on every 

 subject. Every Senator was at liberty to speak 

 as much and as long as he pleased within the 

 rules of order upon every subject opened to de- 



