CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



199 



" The fourth section provides that the Presi- 

 dent may submit the constitution of the State of 

 Texas, at such time as he may deem fit for the 

 public service, to a vote of the registered voters, 

 who at the same time may vote for State offi- 

 cers and members of Congress. 



" The sixth section provides that in the 

 mean time the military commander, with the 

 approval of the President, may suspend any 

 obnoxious, oppressive, and unjust laws. This 

 last provision is principally levelled against the 

 unjust poll-tax in Mississippi, and two or three 

 laws kindred thereto as to the collection of 

 debts. I myself am of opinion that the dis- 

 trict commander under the reconstruction act 

 may have that power now ; but as there has 

 been doubt raised with regard to it, and as 

 the district commanders have expressed their 

 doubts, the committee have reported this pro- 

 vision. 



"That, in a word, is all the bill. It allows 

 the President in these States, when he deems 

 it best for the public service, to submit the 

 constitutions which have been heretofore pre- 

 pared to a vote of the people, but it provides 

 that there shall be no vote in any of the States 

 except when he so directs ; and when he sub- 

 mits the constitution they vote in all these 

 States for State officers and members of Con- 

 gress, and all unjust and oppressive laws may 

 be suspended, until the Legislatures can act 

 upon them." 



Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, moved to amend the 

 bill, by adding at the end of the first section 

 the following : 



'Such vote to be taken either upon each of said pro- 

 visions alone or in connection with the other pro- 

 visions of said Constitution, as the President may di- 

 rect 

 which was agreed to. 



Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, moved to 

 amend section three by inserting after the 

 words " provisions of the same " the words 

 " as provided in the first section of this act," 

 which was agreed to. 



The bill was then passed, by the following 

 vote: 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ambler, Armstrong, Ar- 

 nell, Axtell, Bailey, Banks, Beaman, Beatty, Beck, 

 Bingham, Blair, Boles, Bowen, Brooks, Buffinton, 

 Burdett, Benjamin F. Butler, Eoderick E. Butler, 

 Calkin, Cessna, Churchill, Clarke, Amasa Cobb, 

 Clinton L. Cobb, Coburn, Cook, Conger, Crebs, 

 Cullom, Davis, Dawes, Deweese, Dickey, Dickinson, 

 Dixon, Dockery, Donley, Duvall, Ela, Farnsworth, 

 Ferriss, Ferry, Finkelburg, Fisher, Fitch, Garfield, 

 Gilfillan, Hale, Hawley, Hay, Heaton, Hill, Hoar, 

 Hoge, Hopkins, Hotchkiss, IngersoIL Jenckes, Al- 

 exander H. Jones, Judd, Julian, Kelley, Kelsey, 

 Ketcham, Knapp, Laflin, Lash, Lawrence, Logan, 

 Loughridge, Lynch, McCarthy, McCormick, Mc- 

 Crary, McGrew, "William Moore, Morgan, Daniel J. 

 Morrell. Samuel P. Merrill, Negley, O'Neill, Orth, 

 Packard, Packer, Paine, Palmer, Phelps, Poland, 

 Pomeroy, Prosser, Boots, Sandford, Sawyer, Schenck, 

 Scofield, Shanks, Sheldon, Slocum, John A. Smith, 

 William J. Smith, William Smyth, Stevens, Steven- 

 eon, Stokes, Stoughton, Strickland, Tanner, Tillman, 

 Townsend, Tyner, Upson, Ward, Cadwalader C. 

 Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, Wheeler, 



Whittemore, Wilkinson, Willard, Williams, John T. 

 Wilson, Winans, Witcher, and Woodward 125. 



NATS Messrs. Adams, Archer. Biggs, Bird, Burr, 

 Cleveland, Eldridge, Getz, Golladay, Haldeman, 

 Hamill, Holman, Thomas L. Jones, Kerr, Knott, 

 McNeely, Moffet, Niblack, Potter ? Kandall, Eeeves, 

 Sweeney, Trimble, Wells, and Winchester 25. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Ames, Asper, Benjamin, 



j.j.<*w 1^.1110^ j.j.uag -uLw^ozii WAIJ.J.OV/JJ.J j-n.ua o-Liai i j HJLU v 



ham, Maynard, Mercur, Eliakim H. Moore, Jesse H. 

 Moore, Morrissey, Mungen, Peters, Eeading, Eice, 

 Eogers, Sargent, Schumaker, Joseph S. Smith, 

 Worthington C. Smith, Stiles, Stone, Strader, 

 Swann, Taffe, Twichell, Van Auken, Van Horn, Van 

 Trump, Voorhees, Eugene M. Wilson, and Wood 

 47. 



In the Senate, on April 9th, Mr. Morton, of 

 Indiana, offered the following amendment to 

 the preceding bill : 



And le it furtlier enacted, That, before the States of 

 Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, ^ shall be admitted 

 to representation in Congress, their several Legisla- 

 tures which may "be hereafter lawfully organized 

 shall ratify the fifteenth article which has been pro- 

 posed by Congress to the several States as an amend- 

 ment to the Constitution of the United States. 



Mr. Morton said : " So far as I am concerned, 

 I would rather see this bill fail than to pass 

 without this amendment attached to it. I 

 would rather see the whole matter go over 

 until the ne^t session of Congress. I will 

 speak frankly here on the subject. I know 

 what the expectation of the opposing party is. 

 They know the prejudice that has existed in 

 the Western States in regard to negro suf- 

 frage, and I know that the Democratic party 

 desire to keep this question open as an element 

 of political success in the elections of 1870 and 

 of 1872. Look at what has taken place in the 

 State of Indiana. The Democratic party in the 

 State of Indiana, for the purpose of preventing 

 the Legislature, which has a large majority of 

 Republicans in both Houses, from ratifying the 

 amendment, and to keep it as an open question, 

 broke up the Legislature by every man of them 

 resigning. That Legislature was called to- 

 gether again yesterday, and I am advised that, 

 the very moment the amendment is presented, 

 the Democratic members will again resign. 

 They have made the calculation that without 

 the votes of Virginia, of Texas, and of Missis- 

 sippi, the amendment cannot be ratified unless 

 it receives the vote of Indiana. Indiana they 

 regard, therefore, as the pivotal State upon 

 which the ratification of the amendment is to 

 turn ; but if it shall be ratified by these three 

 unreconstructed States, it will then become a 

 part of the Constitution without the vote of 

 Indiana, and the revolutionary measure that 

 has been adopted in the State of Indiana will 

 not be successful after all. 



"Now, sir, if we shall make the ratification 

 of the fifteenth article a condition of the recon- 

 struction of these States just as we did the rati- 

 fication of the fourteenth article, these States 

 will accept it at once, they will ratify it with- 

 out a moment's delay, and then it will become 



