CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



-ive than it was stated to be by tlio Senator 

 from Ohio (Mr. Sherman), in his remarks Tho 



amendment excludes from the right of suffrage, 

 in the election of members of the constitutional 

 (inventions ;tll those persons who arc excluded 

 from the right of holding office under the con- 

 stitution.-il amendment proposed by ConL'tvss 

 at the last session. \o\v, I presume that, in- 

 stead of there being but six thousand persons 

 .led from tlie right of holding office under 

 nited States, or under particular States, 

 by (lie language of tho constitutional amend- 

 IIH !)', the number is more likely sixty thou- 

 sand, or perhaps still more. The exclusion in- 

 cludes observe, not only officers of the United 

 States but officers of the several States; it in- 

 cludes per-ons who may have served in the 

 State Legislatures ; it includes all judicial offi- 

 cers of the States ; it includes all State magis- 

 t rates, all State constables, no matter at what 

 time they niay have been selected for the duties 

 of their offices, por how humble those offices 

 may have been. This constitutional amend- 

 ment casts a net over the Southern States, 

 and sweeps within its fold all the local officers 

 who may have held office under the sever- 

 itos at any period of time, be it forty or 

 fifty years ago. Taking the whole mass of 

 those persons, the number must be very great ; 

 and instead of being six thousand, as the Sena- 

 tor from Ohio supposes, the number must be 

 ten times as grout, or more. It will include 

 every person of special intelligence, of peculiar 

 qualifications for the discharge of public duties 

 throughout that whole country every man now 

 alive who has ever been chosen, even to a local 

 neighborhood office, so humble as magistrate or 

 constable, during .the last half century. 



" Now, what does tho first amendment from 

 the House do ? It proposes to disfranchise all 

 these persons from the right of voting, and 

 from tho right of voting at an election the most 

 important that can be conceived with reference 

 to their interests, tho formation of governments 

 for themselves, to endure for all future time, or 

 until the same power which establishes them 

 shall modify or amend them. Instead of being 

 an insignificant provision, a matter of little mo- 

 ment, it is a very important amendment; it is 

 most sweeping and prescriptive in its charac- 

 ter, and one to which the Senate ought not to 

 agree. 



" Tliis second amendment informs us that 

 this bill is not a finality, is not a settlement, is 

 not an adjustment of this subject of national 

 difficulty and dispute. AVe are informed by it, 

 that after these governments are set up pursu- 

 ant to the extraordinary provisions of the bill, 

 they are to have no validity or force as State 

 governments ; they are to be subject still to our 

 will and to our pleasure; we are to bo bound 

 by nothing. After they are set up, by a mere 

 breath we may sweep them away. 



1 say, then, that instead of this being a 

 measure of reconstruction, it is simply a step in 

 the course of aggressive and violent. measures 



against the Southern section of tho country, 

 which has been pursued by Cm. 

 time when tho war came to a conclu-ion in 

 lwi',5. 1'as, this bill, and no matter what take* 

 place under it, the general subject of recon- 

 struction is still before us ; wo are bound to noth- 

 ing which has been done, and next session 

 measures in advance of this will be introduced 

 and pressed. And why not ? Why not pressed 

 and passed as well as this? Upon the very 

 face of this enactment you say that Congress is 

 bound to nothing which may take place under 

 it; you say that these constitutions, however 

 strictly they may conform to the regulations 

 you prescribe in this bill, shall not bo valid and 

 effectual unless in your sovereign pleasure you 

 choose to approve them hereafter. Tho House 

 of Representatives says, in this second amend- 

 ment which it sends to us, that all that shall be 

 done is to be subject to the pleasure of Con- 

 gress ; we are to be bound, and the public 

 faith is to be bound, by nothing contained in 

 this legislation." 



The House amendments were concurred in 

 by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Brown, Cattell, Chandler, Conness, 

 Cragin, Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fogg, Fos- 

 ter, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Harris, Henderson, How- 

 ard, Howe, Johnson, Kirkwood, Lane, Morgan, Mor- 

 rill, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sherman, 

 Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, 

 Willey, Williams, Wilson, and Yates 35. 



NATS Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Hen- 

 dricks, Nesmith, Patterson, and Saulsbury 7. 



ABSENT Messrs. Anthony, Dixon, Doolittle, 

 Grimes, Guthrie, McDougall, Norton, Nye, Riddle, 

 and Sprague 10. 



On March 2d, the President returned the bill 

 to the House, with his objections (see PUBLIC 

 DOCUMENTS). It was then reconsidered by the 

 House and passed yeas 135, nays 48. 



In the Senate, on March 2d, the message, 

 with the bill, was considered, and the bill was 

 passed by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Cattell, Chandler, Con- 

 ness, Cragin, Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fogg, 

 Foster, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Harris, Hen- 

 derson, Howard, Howe, Johnson, Kirkwood, Lane, 

 Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, 

 Ross, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trum- 

 bull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, 

 and Yates 88. 



NATS Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, 

 Doolittle, Hendricks, Nesmith, Norton, Patterson, 

 and Saulsbury 10. 



ABSENT Messrs. Brown, Guthrie, McDougall, and 

 Riddle 4. 



The second session of the Thirty-ninth Con- 

 gress closed on March 4th, 1867. Numerous 

 acts of importance were passed, some of which 

 were as follows: An act to regulate the elec- 

 tive franchise in the Territories; which pro- 

 vides that hereafter there shall be no denial of 

 the elective franchise in any Territory on ac- 

 count of race, color, or previous condition of 

 servitude. An act to establish a department 

 of education, for the purpose of collecting such 



