INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



783 



unless the first section be adopted, 151 ; bill passed, 

 151. 



In the Senate, the bill considered, 151 ; motion to 

 refer to the Judiciary Committee with instructions, 

 151 ; it is assumed that it is the intention of Congress 

 to place the governments of the South under negro 

 control, 152 ; how many whites disfranchised, 152 ; 

 the issue here is the same as that which prevails 

 throughout the country, 153 ; at the end of the war, 

 the rebel States were without State governments 

 of any kind, 153 ; the Constitution declares that the 

 United States shall guarantee to every State in this 

 Union a republican form of government, 153; the 

 jurisdiction of the United States attached when the 

 war closed, 153 ; what constitutes the Government of 

 the United States ? 154 ; a law of Congress becomes 

 the execution of the guarantee, and is the act of the 

 Government, 154 ; a decision of the Supreme Court, 

 154 ; this clause of the Constitution can only be exe- 

 cuted by Congress, 154 ; power of Congress to pass 

 laws, 155 ; the Fourteenth Constitutional Amend- 

 ment, 155 ; proceedings of Congress, 155 ; what was 

 there left to do ? 156. 



Impossible to invoke the aid of this clause of the 

 Constitution for the support of these measures, un- 

 less you interpolate into the clause a word not to be 

 found in it, 156 ; object of the convention to preserve 

 the republican form then existing, 156; what was 

 the condition of each of the States ? 157 ; views of Mr. 

 Madison, 157 ; it was not thought there was included 

 in this particular clause any power to interfere with 

 the government of a State, 157 ; what is loyalty ? 157 ; 

 views of the power of the Constitution in former 

 days, 158; can New York be brought under that 

 clause ? 158 ; the doctrine of secession forever ended, 

 159 ; other clauses of the Constitution, 159 ; what is 

 the bill on the table ? 159 ; motion to amend, lost, 160 ; 

 committee report to strike out and insert a new bill, 

 160 ; agreed to, 160 ; amendment concurred in by the 

 House, 160. 



In the House, a motion to suspend the rules for the 

 Committee on Reconstruction to make a report, 160 ; 

 carried, 160 ; bill to admit certain Southern States re- 

 ported, 160 ; report of the minority, 161 ; a bill to 

 elect a President, 161 ; why violate the Constitution ? 

 162; the bill presents few immediate practical re- 

 sults, 162 ; object of the bill, 162 ; what objection, 

 162; the issue which underlies this legislation, 162; 

 the first proposition involved, 163 ; next, the appor- 

 tionment of representation, 163 ; inviolability of the 

 national debt, 163 ; is this a bill which we ought to 

 pass ? 163 ; acting outside of the Constitution, 164 ; 

 where are the powers granted which it is sought to 

 assume ? 164 ; the Constitution requires a preexisting 

 government to be guaranteed, 164 ; no power for this 

 bill in the Constitution, 164 ; the first section in di- 

 rect conflict with more than one provision of the Con- 

 stitution, 165 ; meaning of the word guarantee, 165 ; 

 the whole subject of observation, of inquiry, of judg- 

 ment, is open to the United States, which means Con- 

 gress, with the President cooperating, 166 ; no diffi- 

 culty as to the constitutionality of our acts, 166 ; the 

 matter of reconstruction is put into the hands of the 

 General of the Army, 166 ; amendments reported and 

 agreed to, 166 ; further amendment offered, 166 ; dis- 

 cussed, 167; rejected, 167; bill passed, 168. 



In the House, a bill for the admission of Alabama 

 reported, 168; amendment offered, 168; agreed to, 

 168 ; bill passed, 169. 



In the House, a bill for the admission of Arkansas 



reported, 169 ; bill passed, 169 ; amendment offered in 

 the Senate, 169 ; Congress has the sole, exclusive, and 

 discretionary power over the admission of States, 

 169 ; what is it to admit a State ? 170 ; merely admis- 

 sion to a participation in the Government, 170 ; all 

 States out are equally new States on their application 

 for admission, 170 ; has not Congress a right to say 

 when and how the Southern States shall be admitted 1 

 171 ; to impose this condition on Arkansas is said to 

 deprive her of equality, 171 ; gross mistake or perver- 

 sion ia all this talk about the equality of the States, 

 171. 



The condition is that the right of suffrage shall not 

 be changed after admission of the State, 171 ; the 

 Government could not exist without an absolute 

 equality in the States, 172 ; representation is founded 

 on the idea of equality, 172 ; the General Government 

 cannot interfere with the franchise in the States 

 already in the Union, 172 ; the exercise of this power, 

 therefore, would destroy the equality of the States, 

 172; if the power to impose a restriction on admis- 

 sion exists, why cannot other restrictions be imposed, 

 173; error of the other side, 173; amendment agreed 

 to, 173 ; other amendments offered and rejected, 173 ; 

 bills passed, 174. 



Veto of President Johnson, 174 ; bill passed over 

 the veto, 175 ; protest of the Democratic members, 175. 



In the House, a bill to admit North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, consid- 

 ered, 176 ; what is the particular question, 176 ; they 

 are republican in form, and we require they should 

 remain so, 176; amendments offered, 177; adopted, 

 177 ; bill passed, 177. 



In the Senate, the bill reported excluding Alabama 

 and adding Florida, 178 ; hope we shall not exclude 

 Alabama, 178 ; the vote on her constitution was taken 

 at an unpropitious season, 178 ; we ought not to take 

 advantage of our own mistake, not to say blunder, 

 178 ; Alabama complied with every stipulation save 

 one, shall they be excluded on account of their inabil- 

 ity to comply with that ? 178 ; Alabama reinserted, 

 179; other amendments offered and rejected, 179; 

 amendment to strike out the whole of the House bill 

 and insert another, adopted, 179 ; other amendments 

 offered, 179; what is this bill ? 179; to sanction a re- 

 organization of the Southern States upon two prin- 

 ciples, 180 ; the two principles, 180 ; what else is at- 

 tempted by these bills, 180 ; what is the object ? 180 ; 

 bill passed, 181 ; do. in the House, 181. 



In the House, motion to reconsider the vote refer- 

 ring the bill to guarantee to the several States of the 

 Union a republican form of government, 181 ; provi- 

 sions of the sections, 181 ; the franchise in certain 

 States limited to certain races, 182 ; no difference that 

 the ruling class constitute the majority, 182 ; the cause 

 of universal suffrage is the cause of the great laboring 

 masses of the community, 182 ; this bill proposes the 

 subversion of the fundamental law of every State that 

 does not tolerate negro suffrage, 182 ; from the first, the 

 right of suffrage was the conceded right of the States, 

 183 ; the bill proposes the Federal Government shall 

 overturn the suffrage in the States, and force negro 

 suffrage upon them, 183 ; this is a grave question, 183 ; 

 what was that great right our fathers discovered, 184 ; 

 we propose to go to universal and impartial suffrage, as 

 the only foundation upon which the Government can 

 stand, 184; the laws then intended to be universal 

 must now be made universal, 184 ; the passage of this 

 bill at this hour would be the death-knell of our hopes 

 as a political party in the approaching presidential 



