CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



147 



oath or affirmation : " that this simple requirement 

 was never intended to change the character of the 

 Senate as a political body, and cannot have anv such 

 operation ; and therefore, Senators, whether before or 

 alter the supplementary oath, are equally responsible 

 to the people for their votes, it being the constitu- 

 tional right of the people at all times to sit in judg- 

 ment on their representatives. 



In the Senate, on December 4th, Mr. "Wilson, 

 of Massachusetts, asked, and by unanimous 

 consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill 

 to amend an act entitled " An act to provide 

 for the more efficient government of the rebel 

 States," passed March 2, 1867, and the several 

 acts amendatory thereto; which was read 

 twice by its title. 



He said : "I will simply say that this bill is 

 to change that provision of the law which re- 

 quires that a majority of all the registered 

 voters should vote at an election in order to 

 effect a result, and to provide that a majority 

 of all the votes actually cast shall determine 

 the result. The effect of the present provision 

 has been precisely what I supposed it would 

 be when we passed the original act, and what 

 I and others then predicted. I propose to 

 change the law so that a majority of the votes 

 cast shall determine the result in adopting the 

 constitutions that have been formed. I move 

 that the bill be printed and referred to the 

 Committee on the Judiciary." 



The motion was agreed to. 



On December 10th, Mr. Doolittle, of Wis- 

 consin, offered an amendment to the bill. He 

 said : " The bill to which the amendment which 

 I now present is proposed was introduced by 

 the honorable Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. 

 Wilson). I wish to have this amendment re- 

 ferred to. the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

 printed. It is very short, but it contains a very 

 important proposition." 



"In making this motion to refer, I desire 

 simply to state that the bill introduced by the 

 Senator from Massachusetts is probably one of 

 the most important bills which has been pre- 

 sented at the present session, and it is perhaps 

 the most important bill that will come before 

 Congress for consideration at the present ses- 

 sion : a bill to amend the acts of reconstruc- 

 tion as they are applicable to the States of the 

 South. The proposition offered by the Sen- 

 ator from Massachusetts is a very important 

 one, providing that the constitutions to be 

 adopted in those States shall be adopted, not 

 by a majority of the registered voters, but by 

 a majority of the actual voters. To that bill I 

 propose an amendment in the shape of a pro- 

 viso, providing tht the persons who do not 

 possess the qualifications required by the laws 

 and constitutions of the several States previ- 

 ous to the rebellion, in order to be permitted 

 to vote at any election for the ratification of a 

 constitution or of officers under it, shall be 

 possessed of one of the following qualifica- 

 tions: first, shall have served in the Army 

 of the United States for the period of one 



year or more ; or second, shall be possessed 

 of sufficient education to enable him to read 

 the Constitution of the United States, and 

 to subscribe his name to an oath to support 

 the same ; or third, shall be possessed of a free- 

 hold estate, in his own right or the right of his 

 wife, of the value of $250. 



" Mr. President, if the measure of the Sena- 

 tor from Massachusetts is to be pressed upon 

 the consideration of Congress, as I have no 

 doubt it is, this proviso is a very important 

 one to be adopted, which possibly might 

 bring peace to that distracted country if 

 Congress should be disposed to adopt it. 

 I shall not now go into the considera- 

 tion of the question, but I simply state 

 that I believe the bill offered by him is very 

 important. It anticipates a fact which is un- 

 doubtedly likely to occur, that the constitu- 

 tions being formed are not to be adopted 

 by a majority of the registered voters. It is 

 opening the question anew, and as a matter of 

 course when that question is reopened it is all- 

 important that Congress should take a position 

 which the people of the country will be able 

 to sustain. I move that my proposed amend- 

 ment be printed." 



The President pro tempore : " That order will 

 be made, if there be no objection." 



Mr. Wilson: "Before the matter passes 

 from the Senate I wish simply to say that the 

 amendment I moved to the law, by the bill 

 referred to by the Senator from Wisconsin, 

 was merely to strike out that very strange pro- 

 vision we put into the law requiring a majority 

 of all the voters registered to vote at the elec- 

 tions. I thought then it was a provision which 

 must operate against the friends of reconstruc- 

 tion, and it looked at one time as though it 

 would be fatal to immediate reconstruction in 

 some of the States. There are, however, nine 

 States that have voted for conventions and 

 have elected their delegates. 



"I am -satisfied that every thing pertaining 

 to reconstruction has gone on exceedingly well, 

 far better than any member of either House 

 had a right to expect ; that the elections have 

 been fair and orderly, as much so as in the 

 other States ; that as a general rule the con- 

 ventions are conducting themselves quite as 

 well as other conventions do, and I have 

 undoubting faith that they will make good con- 

 stitutions, and that those constitutions will be 

 adopted, whether we pass the amendatory bill 

 introduced by me or not. It is possible that 

 in one or two of the States the friends of 

 reconstruction may fail, but I doubt whether 

 they will fail in any." 



Mr. Davis: "If it was my theory of morals 

 that evil should be done that good might come 

 of it, I would want the bill to which the Sena- 

 ators have referred to pass. The great issue, 

 and the greatest issue that has ever been be- 

 fore the people of the United States, is now 

 looming up in all of its grand proportions, and 

 that is, whether the Government of the United 



