CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



143 



to tho views advanced by Mr. Stevens, in which 

 3. Raymond, of New York, Spalding and 



Hlallabarger, of Ohio, and others, delivered 

 .cs, which there is not space here to no- 



In the Rouse, on December 18th, Mr. Price, 

 of I..\va, cil'.T.d the following resolution, which 

 tVrri.-(l to the joint Committee on Recon- 

 struction : 



-cat, policy, propriety, and duty, all require 

 that the Representatives of a free and loyal constitu- 

 ency should, at the opening of the first Congress after 

 the suppression of the rebellion, see that, in the re- 

 organization and readmission of the States recently 

 in arms against the Government, no possible safe- 

 guard be left unprovided which will prevent in the 

 future a recurrence of the troubles of the past ; and 

 whereas an attempt to assume the rebel debt in some 

 shape, and to repudiate the national debt in some 

 manner, and also to pay for the slaves who have been 

 made free, are among the possibilities of the future ; 

 and whereas the most effectual way of preventing 

 either or all of these would be so to amend the Con- 

 stitution of the United States as to preclude for all 

 time to come any chance of either of these results : 

 Therefore, 



Be it resolved, That, in the opinion of this House, 

 the Constitution of the United States should be so 

 amended, and that no State which has recently been 

 in rebellion against the General Government ought 

 to bo entitled to a representation in Congress until 

 such State, by its Legislature or other properly con- 

 stituted authority, has adopted said amendment. 



Mr. Tngersoll, of Illinois, offered the following 

 resolution, which was agreed to : 



Resolved, That the Committee on the Militia are 

 hereby instructed to inquire into the expediency of 

 providing, by law, for the equitable distribution of 

 the surplus arms of the United States among the 

 several States which have never been in rebellion. 



Mr. Thornton, of Illinois, offered the follow- 

 ing, which was laid on the table : 



Whereas, at the first movement toward independ- 

 ence, the Congress of the United States instructed 

 the several States to institute governments of their 

 lown, and left each State to decide for itself the con- 

 ditions for ths enjoyment of the elective franchise ; 

 and whereas during the period of the Confederacy 

 there continued to exist a very great diversity in the 

 qualifications of electors in the several States ; and 

 whereas the Constitution of the United States recog- 

 nizes these diversities when it enjoins that in the 

 choice of members of the House of Representatives 

 the electors in each State shall have the qualifica- 

 tions requisite for the electors of the most numerous 

 branch of the State Legislature ; and whereas, after 

 the formation of the Constitution, it remained, as be- 

 fore, the uniform usage of each State to enlarge the 

 body of its electors according to its own judgment ; 

 and whereas so fixed was the reservation iu the 

 habits of the people, and so unquestioned has been 

 the interpretation of the Constitution, that during the 

 civil war the late President never harbored the pur- 

 pose, certainly never avowed the purpose, of disre- 

 garding it: Therefore, 



Resolved, That any extension of the elective fran- 

 chise to persons in the States, either by act of the 

 President or of Congress, would be an assumption of 

 power which nothing iu the Constitution of the 

 United States would warrant, and that to avoid every 

 danger of conflict, the settlement of this question 

 should be referred to the several States. 



Mr. Stillwell, of Indiana, offered the follow- 

 ing, which was also referred to the Committee 

 on Reconstruction : 



Whereat, the war for the preservation of the Union 

 and the Constitution is now over, the abtturd doctrine 

 of secession, and its counterpart, insurrection and 

 re lu-llidii, have been put down by the strong ann of 

 . eminent, peace and union being the object, 

 and that having !'>-n obtained: Therefore, 



Resolved, That the people who hare been in rebel- 

 lion against the Government, and who hare submit* 

 ted to the laws of the United States, adopted a re- 

 publican form of government, repealed the ordinance 

 of secession, passed the constitutional amendment 

 forever prohibiting slavery, repudiated the rebel war 

 debt, and passed laws protecting the freedman in his 

 liberty, the representatives of that people elected to 

 Congress having received their certificates of elec- 

 tion from their respective Governors should be re- 

 ceived as members of the Thirty-ninth Congress, 

 when they shall take the oath prescribed by Congress, 

 known as the test oath, without any unnecessary 

 delay. 



'Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, by unanimous consent, 

 introduced a bill "to enable the loyal citizens 

 of the United States residing in States whose 

 constitutional governments were usurped or 

 overthrown by the recent rebellion, after ac- 

 cepting certain conditions prescribed by the 

 United States in Congress assembled, to form 

 a constitution and State government for each 

 of said States preparatory to resuming as 

 States their constitutional relations to the 

 national Government," which was read a first 

 and second time, and referred to the joint Com- 

 mittee on Reconstruction, and ordered to be 

 printed. 



In the House, on December 19th, Mr. "Wilson, 

 of Iowa, from the Committee on the Judiciary, 

 reported the following joint resolution, with an 

 amendment to the Constitution : 



Resolved fry the House of Representatives of the United 

 States (the Senate concurring), That the following 

 amendment to the Constitution of the United States 

 be, and the same hereby is, proposed to the Legisla- 

 tures of the several States for ratification, namely : 



ARTICLE . No tax, duty, or impost shall be laid, 

 nor Rhall any appropriation of money be made, by 

 either the United States, or any one of the States 

 thereof, for the purpose of paying, either in whole or 

 in part, any debt, contract, or liability whatsoever, 

 incurred, made, or suffered by any one or more of 

 the States, or the people thereof, for the purpose of 

 aiding rebellion against the Constitution and laws of 

 the United States. 



The amendment reported by the committee 

 was as follows : 



Se it resolved by the Senate and House of Repre- 

 sentatives of the United States in Congress assembled 

 (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), That the 

 following article be proposed to the Legislatures of 

 the several States as an amendment to the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States, which, when ratified by 

 three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid to 

 all intents and purposes as a part of said Constitu- 

 tion, namely : 



ARTICLE . No tax, duty, or impost shall be laid, 

 nor shall any appropriation of money be made, by 

 either the United States, or any one of the State? 

 thereof, for the purpose cf paying, either in whole or 

 in part, any debt, contract, or liability whatsoever 

 incurred, made, or suffered by any one or more of 

 the States, or the people thereof, for the purpose 

 of aiding rebellion against the Constitution and lawe 

 of the United States. 



The resolution was passed by the following 

 vote: 



