CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



ttfl 



The proposition offered by Mr. Brown, as a 

 Mi!tituu- fr the bill, I will now read ; and I 

 invite the attention of Senators to the di-linrt 

 assertion of tho very doctrine that is proclaimed 

 in tliis resolution: 



That when the inhabitants of any State hare been 

 1 in a state of insurrection against the United 

 by proclamation of the President, by force and 

 virtue of the act entitled "An act to provide for the 

 collection of duties on imports, and for other pur- 

 poses," approved July 13, 1861, they shall be, and 

 ivly declared to be, incapable of casting any 

 vote for electors of President or Vice-President of 

 the United States, or of electing Senators or Rep- 

 resentatives in Congress, until said insurrection m 

 said State is suppressed or abandoned, and said in- 

 habitants hove returned to their obedience to the 

 : nuicnt of the United States. 



" Then mark these words : 



nor until such return to obedience shall be declared 

 by proclamation of the President, issued by virtue of 

 an act of Congress, hereafter to be passed, author- 

 izing the same. 



" This proposition was introduced in antago- 

 nism to the proposition then hcfore the Senate, 

 as a substitute for it, to cover the whole ground, 

 and I am told was framed by our fellow-Sen- 

 ator now dead, Judge Collamer. After debate 

 it was adopted as a substitute, by the close vote 

 of 17 yeas to 16 nays. Among the yeas were 

 every Democratic member of this Senate and 

 some of the Republicans. All the nays were 

 Union Senators, friends of the original bill, in- 

 cluding many classed as radicals. I give the 

 vote in full : 



YEAS Messrs. Brown, Carlile, Cowan, Davis, 

 Doolittle, Grimes, Henderson, Hendricks, Johnson, 

 Lane of Indiana, McDougall, Powell, Richardson, 

 Riddle, Saulsbury, Trumbull, and Van Winkle 17. 



NATS Messrs. Chandler, Clark, Conness, Hale, 

 Harlan, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy, 

 Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Wade, Wilkin- 

 son, and Wilson 16. 



" It may be said that these gentlemen voted 

 for this proposition for the purpose of defeating 

 a more offensive one : and if the vote rested 

 here that would be a reasonable explanation. 

 But in order to point the significance of this 

 vote, tho honorable Senator from Illinois, the 

 chairman of the Judiciary Committee (Mr. 

 Trumbull), called attention to the importance 

 of the question, and said he wanted a definite 

 vote upon this proposition by itself. He stated 

 its importance, the effect of the principle in- 

 volved, and asked for the yeas and nays on tho 

 passage of the bill as amended, in order, as he 

 said, to ascertain the judgment of tho Senate 

 upon this distinct proposition. The bill then 

 contained nothing but what I have read to you, 

 and the vote was taken by yeas and nays, and 

 stood as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Brown, Chandler, Conness, Doo- 

 little, Grimes, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Johnson, 

 Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Morgan, 

 Pomeroy, Ramsey, Riddle, Sherman, Sprague, Sum- 

 ner, Ten Eyck ? Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Wil- 

 kinson, and Wilson 26. 



NATS Messrs. Davis, Powell, and Saulsbury 3. 



" So that by this deliberate vote, after de- 



bate, after the attention of the Senate bad been 

 called to the importance of the proposition by 

 the judicial organ of this body, at a time when 

 there waa no excitement and no party feeling 

 here on this proposition, the doctrine we are 

 discussing was asserted by an almost unanimous 

 vote of tho Senate. It seems to me that with 

 this declaration of the opinion of the Senate 

 la fore us, made when it was not influenced by 

 party feeling or party excitement, we ought not 

 to doubt the correctness of the pending reso- 

 lution, not near so strong in its tenor or lan- 

 guage. It ought not to be resisted by any one 

 who thus committed the Senate to that propo- 

 sition against a measure that would have or- 

 ganized a system to reconstruct the seceding 

 States. 



" But, Mr. President, I need not depend upon 

 the vote of the Senate or upon the authorities, 

 because I think, if you test this proposition by 

 the simplest principles of constitutional law, 

 there can appear no doubt that Congress has 

 the sole and exclusive power over this subject. 

 Tho Constitution of the United States gives to 

 the President of the United States no legislative 

 power except as a part of the law-making pow- 

 er. He is an executive officer, with no legis- 

 lative power except that which he exercises in 

 connection with us. The Constitution of the 

 United States confers upon Congress not only 

 the power to raise and support armies, to ap- 

 propriate money therefor, and to provide and 

 maintain a navy, but 



To make rules for the government and regulation 

 of the land and naval forces. 



" And among the residuary powers conferred 

 upon Congress is that important one-r- 



To make all laws which shall be necessary and 

 proper for carrying into execution the foregoing 

 powers, and all other powers vested by this Consti- 

 tution in the Government of the United States, or in 

 any department or officer thereof. 



" Therefore, where a power is conferred 

 upon the President, and the legislative power 

 is necessary in order to carry that power into 

 effect, Congress alone possesses the power to 

 arm the Executive with the necessary author- 

 ity to execute the laws. Upon Congress alone 

 rests all the residuary powers ; and therefore it 

 is that the power of Congress follows our flag 

 wherever it floats. Our flag may go round the 

 world, to South America, to Italy, to China; 

 it may go into any foreign country as it did in 

 Mexico; it may go into the Southern States 

 subduing a rebellion, and wherever it goes the 

 legislative power of Congress goes with it. It 

 regulates and governs the army, and the Presi- 

 dent has nothing to do but to execute the will 

 of Congress and the Constitution of the United 

 States. 



" It seems, therefore, testing it by reason, that 

 this power must rest in Congress. The doc- 

 trine is very strongly stated by Story, in his 

 Commentaries on the Constitution, in very 

 much the language I have used ; and he says, 

 in speaking of the powers of Congress, that 



