160 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



crushed the rebellion. But if he were Wash- 

 ington himself I would not intrust to him such 

 power as you propose to intrust to him by one 

 of the sections of the hill upon the table the 

 power to arrest, the power to imprison, the 

 power to execute, the power to disregard all 

 the securities of the rights of the people of the 

 South, which it was the object of the Consti- 

 tution expressly to provide against. 



" If that clause stood alone, if it was the only 

 constitution of the Government which we have, 

 if such a thing could be supposed, in my judg- 

 ment it would not authorize any such interpre- 

 tation ; but when it is found in a constitution 

 which contains special and positive guarantees 

 intended to "be limitations upon the power of 

 Congress, it is warring with any rule of con- 

 struction with which I am acquainted to sup- 

 pose that it can be used so as entirely to disre- 

 gard all the restrictions upon the power of Con- 

 gress. May Congress pass laws, now that the 

 war is over, providing for the attainder of the 

 people of the South ? May it pass laws making 

 matters criminal which were not criminal be- 

 fore, when they were perpetrated; in other 

 words, ex post facto laws? He might as well 

 claim it; and yet, as the Senate know, Con- 

 gress is restrained from passing acts of that 

 description in very positive terms." 



The motion of Mr. Doolittle was lost by the 

 following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Dixon, Doolittle, Hendricks 3. 



NATS Messrs. Buckalew, Chandler, Cole, Conk- 

 ling, Corbett, Cragin, Davis, Drake, Ferry, Fowler, 

 Harlan, Henderson, Howe, Morgan, Morrill of Me., 

 Morrill of Vt., Nye, Patterson of N. H., Pomeroy, 

 Eamsey. Eoss, Sherman, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, 

 Tipton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, 

 Williams, Wilson, and Yates 33. 



The Judiciary Committee, to whom the bill 

 of the House was referred, reported in favor 

 of striking out all after the enacting clause, and 

 inserting the following : 



That hereafter any election authorized by the act, 

 passed March 23, 1867, entitled " An act supplement- 

 ary to an act to provide for the more efficient govern- 

 ment of the rebel States, passed March 2, 1867, and 

 to facilitate restoration," snail be decided by a ma- 

 jority of the votes actually cast ; and, at the election 

 in which the question of tne adoption or rejection of 

 any constitution is submitted, any person duly regis- 

 tered in the State may vote in the election district 

 where he offers to vote, when he has resided therein 

 for ten days next preceding such election^ upon pre- 

 sentation of his certificate of registration, his affidavit, 

 or other_ satisfactory evidence, under such regulations 

 as the district commanders may prescribe. 



SEO. 2. And be it further enacted, That the consti- 

 tutional convention of any of the States mentioned 

 in the acts to which this is amendatory may provide 

 that, at the time of voting upon the ratification of the 

 constitution, the registered voters may vote also for 

 members of the House of Eepresentatives of the Uni- 

 ted States and for all elective officers provided for by 

 the said constitution ; and the same election officers 

 who shall make the return of the votes cast on the 

 ratification or rejection of the constitution shall enu- 

 merate and certify the votes cast for members of 

 Congress. 



The report was agreed to, and the bill passed 

 by the following vote 



YEAS Messrs. Cameron, Chandler, Cole, Conk- 

 ling, Corbett, Cragin, Ferry, Harlan, Howe. Morrill 

 of Me., Morrill of Vt., Nye, Patterson of N. H., 

 Pomeroy, Eamsey, Eoss, Sherman, Stewart, Sumner, 

 Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Wil- 

 ley, Williams, Wilson, and Yates 28. 



NAYS Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Doolittle, Hen- 

 dricks, Patterson of Tenn., and Saulsbury 6. 



ABSENT Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Cattell, Con- 

 ness, Dixon, Drake, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fowler, 

 Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Guthrie, Henderson, How- 

 ard, Johnson, Morgan, Morton, Norton, and Sprague 



In the House, on February 26th, the amend- 

 ment of the Senate was concurred in by the 

 following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Arnell, Delos E. 

 Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, 

 Beaman, Bingham, Elaine, Blair, Boutwell, Brom- 

 well, Broomall, Buckland, Butler, Gary, Churchill, 

 Eeader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Cornell, 

 Covode, Cullom, Dixon, Dodge, Dnggs, Eckley, Eg- 

 gleston, Eliot, Ferriss, Ferry, Fields, Gravely, Gris- 

 wold, Harding, Hill, Hooper, Hopkins, Hunter, 

 Jenckes, Judd, Julian, Kelsey, Ketchara, Koontz, 

 Laflln, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Lin- 

 coln, Logan, Loughridge, Lynch, Marvin, McCarthy, 

 McClurg, Mercur, Moore, Moorhead, Morrell, Mul- 

 lins, Myers, Newcomb, O'Neill, Orth, Payne, Per- 

 ham, Peters, Polsley, Price, Eaum, Sawyer, Schenck, 

 Scofield, Starkweather, Aaron F. Stevens, Thaddeua 

 Stevens, Stokes, Taffe, Taylor, Thomas, John Trim- 

 ble, Trowbridge, Twichell, Upson, van Aernam, 

 Burt Van Horn, Eobert T. Van Horn, Van'Wyck, 

 Ward, Cadwalader C. Washburn, Elihu B. Wash- 

 burne, William B. Washburn, James F. Wilson, and 

 John T. Wilson 96. 



NATS Messrs. Adams, Axtell, Barnes, Barnum, 

 Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Fox, Getz, Glossbrenner, 

 Golladay, Grover, Holman, Hotchkiss, Johnson, 

 Kerr, Knott, Loan, Marshall, McCprmick, Morgan, 

 Niblack, Pruyn, Eandall, Eoss, Sitgreaves, Stone, 

 Lawrence S. Trimble, Van Auken, Van Trump, 

 Thomas Williams, and Woodward 32. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Anderson, Archer, Bailey, 

 Beatty, Beck, Benjamin, Benton, Burr, Cake, Co- 

 burn, Cook, Dawes, Donnelly, Ela.Eldridge, Farns- 

 worth, Finney, Garfield, Haight, Halsey, Hawkins, 

 Higby, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, 

 Eichard D. Hubbard, Hulburd, Humphrey, Ingersoll, 

 Jones, Kelley, Kitchen, Mallory, Maynard, McCul- 

 lough, Miller, Morrissey, Mungen, Nicholson, Nunn, 

 Phelps, Pike, Pile, Plants, Poland, Pomeroy, Eob- 

 ertson, Eobinson, Selye, Shanks, Shellabarger, 

 Smith, Spalding, Stewart^ Taber, Henry D. Wash- 

 burn, Welker, William Williams, Stephen F. Wilson, 

 Windorn, Wood, and Woodbridge 61. 



In the House, on January 13th, Mr. Bing- 

 ham, of Ohio, moved to suspend the rules, to 

 make a report from the Committee on Eecon- 

 struction. The motion having been passed, 

 Mr. Bingham reported the following bill: 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled, That in Virginia, North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,- Louisiana, 

 Texas, Florida, and Arkansas there are no civil State 

 governments republican in form, and that the so-called 

 civil governments in said States, respectively, shall 

 not be recognized as valid or legal State governments 

 either by the executive or judicial power or authority 

 of the United States. 



SEO. 2. And be it further enacted, That for the 

 speedy enforcement of the act entitled " An act to 

 provide for the more efficient government of the rebel 

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

 supplementary thereto, the General of the Army of 



