CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



i'<|uc>nt tiny. At tho same time Mr. Stevens 

 further ivportcd, as follows: 



A bill to provide for restoring tho States Intcly in insurrection 

 to tbflr toll political right*. 



Whereat, it is expedient that the States lately in 

 insurrection should, nt the earliest day consistent 

 with the future peace and safety of the Union, be 

 restored to full participation in all political rights : 

 and whereas the Congress did, by joint resolution, 

 propose for ratification to the Legislatures of the 

 an amendment to the Constitution 

 nt' the I niu-tl States, an article in the following words, 

 to wit: 



AI-.TICLK . See. 1. No State shall make or enforce 

 uny l:i\v which shall abridge the privileges or immu- 

 nities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any 

 Shite deprive any person of life, liberty, or property 

 without due process of law; nor deny to any person 

 within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the 

 laws. 



See. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among 

 the several States which maybe included within this 

 Union, according to their respective numbers, count- 

 ing the whole number of persons in each State, ex- 

 cluding Indians not taxed. But whenever, in any 

 State, the elective franchise shall be denied to any 

 portion of its male citizens not less than twenty-one 

 years of age, or in any way abridged except for par- 

 ticipation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of 

 representation in such State shall be reduced in the 

 proportion which the number of such male citizens 

 shall bear to the whole number of male citizens not 

 less than twenty-one years of age. 



See. 8. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1870, 

 all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insur- 

 rection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded 

 from the right to vote for Representatives in Con- 

 gress, and for electors for President and Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the United States. 



Sec. 4. Neither the United States nor any State 

 shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already 

 incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid 

 of insurrection or of war against the United States, 

 or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary 

 service or labor. 



Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, 

 by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this 

 article. 



Now, therefore, 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Jfepresent- 

 olivet of the United States of America in Congress 

 assembled, That whenever the above-recited amend- 

 ment shall have become part of the Constitution of 

 the United States, and any State lately in insurrec- 

 tion shall have ratified the same, and sh'all have modi- 

 fied its constitution and laws in conformity therewith, 

 the Senators and Representatives from such State, if 

 found duly elected and qualified, may, after having 

 taken the required oaths of office, be admitted into 

 Congress as such. 



Sec. 2. And be it further enacted. That when any 

 State lately in insurrection shall have ratified the 

 foregoing amendment to the Constitution, any part 

 of the direct tax under the act of August 5, 1801, 

 which may remain due ^nd unpaid in such State 

 may be assumed and paid by such State ; and tho 

 payment thereof, upon proper assurances from such 

 State to be given to the Secretary of the Treasury of 

 the United States, may be postponed for a period not 

 exceeding ten years from and after tho passage of 

 this act. 



Its consideration was postponed to a sub- 

 sequent day. At the sarao time Mr. Stevens 

 further reported, as follows: 



A bill declaring certain persons ineligible to office under the 



Government of tho United States. 

 Jj'e it enacted by the Senate and House of Kepresent- 

 ttttifs of the United States of America in Congress 



assembled. That no person shall be eligible to toy 

 oilicc under tln> Government of the Lnited State* 

 who is included in any of the following classes, 

 namely : 



1. The President and Vice-President of the Confed- 

 erate States of America, so called, and the beads of 

 departments thereof. 



'_'. Those who in other countries acted as agents of 

 the Confederate States of America, so called. 



8. Heads of Departments of the United States, 

 officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, 

 and all persons educated at the Military or Naval 

 Academy of the United States, judges of the courts 

 of the Lnited States, and members of either House 

 of tho Thirty-sixth Congress of the United States 

 who gave aid or comfort to the late rebellion. 



4. Those who acted as officers of the Confederate 

 States of America, so called, above tho grade of 

 colonel in the army or master in the navy, and any 

 one who, as Governor of either of the so-called 

 Confederate States, gave aid or comfort to the 

 rebellion. 



6. Those who have treated officers or soldiers or 

 sailors of the army or navy of the United States, 

 captured during the late war, otherwise than lawfully 

 as prisoners ofwar. 



Its consideration was also postponed to a sub- 

 sequent day. 



In the House, the consideration of the joint 

 resolution for the amendment of the Constitu- 

 tion came up for consideration on March 8th. 

 Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said : " I beg 

 gentlemen to consider the magnitude of the 

 task which was imposed upon the committee. 

 They were expected to suggest a plan for re- 

 building a shattered nation a nation which 

 though not dissevered was yet shaken and riven 

 by the gigantic and persistent efforts of six mil- 

 lion able and ardent men ; of bitter rebels 

 striving through four years of bloody war. It 

 cannot be denied that this terrible struggle 

 sprang from the vicious principles incorporated 

 into the institutions of our country. Our fathers 

 had been compelled to postpone the principles 

 of their great Declaration, and wait for their 

 full establishment till a more propitious time. 

 That time ought to be present now. But the 

 public mind has been educated in error for a 

 century. How difficult in a day to unlearn it ! 

 In rebuilding, it is necessary to clear away the 

 rotten and defective portions of , the old founda- 

 tions, and to sink deep and found the repaired 

 edifice upon the firm foundation of eternal jus- 

 t it (.'. If, perchance, the accumulated quicksands 

 render it impossible to reach in every part so 

 firm a basis, then it becomes our duty to drive 

 deep and solid the substituted piles on which to 

 build. It would not be wise to prevent tho 

 raising of tho structure because some corner 

 of it might be founded upon materials subject 

 to the inevitable laws of mortal decay. It 

 were better to shelter the household and trust 

 to the advancing progress of a higher morality 

 and a purer and more intelligent principle to 

 underpin the defective corner. 



" I would not for a moment inculcate the idea 

 of surrendering a principle vital to justice. But 

 if full justice could not be obtained at once, I 

 would not refuse to do what LJ possible. Tho 

 commander of an army who should find hi* 



