196 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



the joint resolution, excluding from the Elec- 

 toral College votes of States lately in rebellion, 

 which shall not have been reorganized, has be- 

 come a law, notwithstanding the objections of 

 the President." 



In the Senate, on January 31st, the resolution 

 of the Legislature of Ohio, withdrawing its 

 assent to the fourteenth article of amendment to 

 the Constitution, was presented. 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: "Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I cannot allow these resolutions to be en- 

 tered upon the Journal of the Senate, without 

 making some remarks upon them. They do 

 not speak the voice of the people of Ohio. Of 

 that I am entirely convinced. The people of 

 Ohio, a little more than one year ago, passed 

 on the amendment of the Constitution of the 

 United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth 

 Congress, and adopted it by a popular majority 

 of about forty-three thousand, electing fifteen 

 Republican members of Congress out of nine- 

 teen. In the canvass there was a unanimity 

 of sentiment in regard to the constitutional 

 amendment that scarcely ever occurs on a po- 

 litical question. The people of Ohio have 

 never reconsidered that judgment. The reso- 

 lutions now read are the voice of a partisan 

 majority in the General Assembly of Ohio, 

 elected by a minority of the people of Ohio, 

 on an issue totally different and disconnected 

 from the constitutional amendment. Their 

 proceeding is in violation of the expressed wish 

 of the people of Ohio, who do not desire to 

 rescind their assent to the amendment. These 

 resolutions may not be a usurpation of author- 

 ity, perhaps, but they are contrary to the only 

 vote ever cast in Ohio when the subject was 

 discussed or considered." 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, said : " The 

 resolutions from the Legislature of Ohio are so 

 important in character, and so without any pre- 

 cedent I believe in our history, that I think they 

 justify remark even by a Senator who has not 

 the honor of any special association with the 

 State. 



" It seems to me very clear that the authors 

 of these resolutions have accomplished nothing 

 except to exhibit their own blind prej udices. 

 By the Constitution of the United States a 

 State may give its assent to a constitutional 

 amendment. There is no provision for any 

 withdrawal of such assent when once given. 

 The assent of the State once given is final. A 

 State, I do not hesitate to say, can no more 

 withdraw such assent than it can withdraw 

 from the Union ; and on the latter proposition 

 I believe there is now a universal accord. But 

 happily, sir, the extraordinary effort of an ac- 

 cidental Legislature is absolutely impotent. The 

 amendment in question is already a part of the 

 Constitution of the United States, and in full 

 vigor, even without the assent of Ohio." 



Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, said : " Mr. Pres- 

 ident, if the honorable member from Massa- 



chusetts is right in saying that the amend- 

 ment has been adopted by the necessary 

 number of States, it will, of course, result in 

 the proposition that no one State which has 

 assented to. it can withdraw that assent. The 

 honorable member is not now to be for the 

 first time informed that that is a question about 

 which there are differences of opinion ; and 

 whether the opinion which he pronounces is 

 right or wrong depends upon the proposition 

 which has been more or less discussed in the 

 present debate whether the ten Southern 

 States are not now States, and have not been 

 States, throughout the war. If they are States 

 within the meaning of the Constitution, then 

 the amendment has not been adopted. 



"Now, upon the other question, supposing 

 the amendment not to have been adopted, I 

 state, subject to be corrected if I am in error, 

 what my present impression is. The Consti- 

 tution provides that propositions for amend- 

 ments of it may be submitted to the States, 

 and that when they are assented to by three- 

 fourths of the States they shall become a part 

 of the Constitution. Now, whether, before the 

 assent of three-fourths, it is not in the power 

 of any one of the States or all of the States 

 assenting to withdraw that assent, is a ques- 

 tion upon which I am not to be understood as 

 now expressing any decided opinion ; but my 

 impression is that they can withdraw ; for, if 

 not, it would remain forever binding upon the 

 States assenting, and when the proposition 

 should be renewed at any subsequent period, 

 or when the States who had not assented, eight 

 or ten or fifteen years after the time, when 

 there was an absence of that assent necessary 

 to give validity to the amendment, they would 

 have no right to reconsider their action. 



" As I say, that is my first impression. Now, 

 I look upon what the States do preliminary to 

 a decision of a majority which, when made, 

 makes the amendment proposed a part of the 

 Constitution, as a mere promise or undertaking 

 that each will assent when the others are ready 

 to assent, but that the day after the assent is 

 given, or at any period subsequent to the giv- 

 ing of the assent, if the State assenting thinks 

 that it has made a mistake, and that the Con- 

 stitution should not be amended in the way 

 proposed, it may withdraw its assent." 



The resolution was referred to the Judiciary 

 Committee. 



In the House, on March 30th, Mr. Washburne, 

 of Illinois, offered the following resolution : 



Resolved, That the resolution of the Legislature of 

 the State of New Jersey, purporting to withdraw the 

 assent of said State to the constitutional amendment 

 known as the fourteenth amendment, be returned by 

 the Speaker of the House to the gentleman who pre- 

 sented it, for the reason that the same is disrespectful 

 to the House and scandalous in character, and that 

 its title only shall be referred to in the Journal of the 

 House and in the Congressional Globe. 



The rules were suspended, yeas 80, nays I7 t 

 and the resolution was adopted. 



