142 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



1861, voluntarily, and in disregard of their 

 official oath to support the Constitution, or- 



nized and aided rebellion. On the contrary, 

 elieve the public interests would be pro- 

 moted by the rejection of that proposition. 



"But, sir, in my judgment, the country is 

 prepared to relieve, as far as consistent with 

 the public peace and the public interests, all 

 persons from the disabilities imposed by the 

 fourteenth article of amendments. I ask the 

 House to consider the spirit in which the 

 American people adopted that amendment, 

 and that they adopted it with a unanimity 

 never manifested for any other measure from 

 the foundation of this Government. 



" As nearly as I can ascertain, there are about 

 twenty thousand men scattered throughout this 

 country who are under the disability of the 

 fourteenth amendment, the majority of whom, 

 I undertake to say, all things considered, are 

 as guiltless of their country's blood as we our- 

 selves are. It is a very easy thing for a man 

 to say that it is a great shame, a great dis- 

 honor, a great crime to violate an oath, con- 

 trary to its spirit as well as its letter, in aid of 

 an unjust, an unnatural, and unrighteous re- 

 bellion. But let gentlemen, before they pro- 

 nounce that judgment, be just and consider 

 the circumstances and the surroundings of 

 these men, and apply to the case the time- 

 honored rule of the common law which is 

 the common-sense and the common judgment 

 of mankind the world over that what a man 

 does by coercion he is not responsible for, and 

 is not guilty in that behalf, either before God 

 or man. That is the condition^ as I have before 

 said, of the majority of the persons who, 

 anterior to the organization of this revolt, in 

 the earlier days of the republic, held office, 

 and in their old age yielded to that cruel ne- 

 cessity which made them, in seeming at least, 

 agree and consent to the overthrow of the 

 Union and of the Constitution." 



On December 21st Mr. Butler, of Massa- 

 chusetts, moved to postpone the further con- 

 sideration of the bill and the amendments to 

 January llth. The motion was carried by 

 the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ambler, Armstrong, Ar- 

 nell, Asper, Atwood, Beaman, Beatty, Benjamin, 

 Bennett, Benton, Bovyen, George M. Brooks, Buffin- 

 ton, Burdett. Benjamin F. Butler, Cessna, Churchill, 

 Sidney Clarke, Arnasa Cobb. Clinton L. Cobb, Co- 

 burn, Conger, Cowles, Cullom, Dickey, Joseph 

 Dixon, Donley, Duyal, Ela, Ferriss, Ferry. Fisher, 

 Gillillan, Hale, Hamilton, Harris, Hawkins, Hawley, 

 Hoge, Holmes, Hooper. Ingersoll, Alexander II. 

 Jones, Judd, Julian, Kelley, Kelsey, Ketcham, 

 Kriapp, Lawrence, Maynard. McCrary, McGrew. 

 Mercur, Eliakim H. Moore, William Moore, Daniel 

 J. Morrell, Samuel P. Morrill, Myers, Negley, O'Neill, 

 Orth, Packard, Packer, Paine, Palmer, Peck, Phelps, 

 Pomeroy, Porter, Prosser, Rainey, Sanford, Sawyer, 

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

 William J. Smith, Starkweather. Stevens, Stokes, 

 Stoughton, Strickland. Strong, Taffe, Tanner, Tavlor, 

 Townsend, Twichell,Tyner, Upson, Van Horn, Wal- 

 lace, Cadwalader C. Washburn, Welker. Wilkinson, 

 Willard, Williams, John T. Wilson, and Wolf 102. 



NAYS Messrs. Archer, Axtell, Ayer, Bailey, Bar- 

 num, Barry, Beck, Biggs, Bingham, Bird, Booker, 

 Boyd, Buckley, Burchard, Burr, Calkin, William T. 

 Clark, Cleveland, Cook, Cox, Crebs, Degener, Dick- 



* " T-V i 4>. -Ai*T*ii"Y-T:i * .1 



inson, Dockery, Dox 



JUOUJJj J.-'VV/J^tAT. J-*V 



Finkelnburg, Fitch 



mill, 



asL. 



:. Duke, Eldridge, Farnsworth, 

 UIHUUIK, x-ii/uu. Getz, Griswold, Haldeman, Ha- 

 Hay, Heflin, Holman, Jenckes, Johnson. Thpm- 

 ua j. Jones, Knott, Laflin, Lewis, Lynch, Manning, 

 Marshall, May ham, McCormick, McKee, McKenzie, 

 McNeely, Milnes, Jesse H. Moore, Morgan, Morris- 

 sey, Mungen, Niblack, Peters, Platt, Potter, Reeves, 

 Rice, Rogers, Sargent, Schumaker, Lionel A. Shel- 

 don, Sherrod, Shober, Joseph S. Smith, Stiles, Stone, 

 Strader, Swann, Tillman, Trimble, Van Auken, Van 

 Trump, Voorhees, Wells, Whitmore, Eugene M. 

 Wilson, Winans. Winchester, and Wood 84. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Adams, Ames, Banks, Blair, 

 Boles, James Brooks, Buck, Roderick R. Butler, 

 Cake, Conner, Covode, Darrall, Dawes, Nathan F. 

 Dixon, Dyer, Fox, Garneld, Gibson, Haight, Hamble- 

 ton, Hays, Hill, Hoar. Hotchkiss. Kellogg, Kerr, 

 Lash, Logan, Loughridge, McCarthy, Morey.Mor- 

 phis, Newsham, Perce, Poland, Randall, Roots, 

 Schenck, Slocum, Wortnington C. Smith, Steven- 

 eon, Sweeney, Sypher,Van Wyck, Ward, William B. 

 Washburn, Wheeler, Witcher, and Woodward 49. 



The bill was not further considered during 

 the session. 



In the House, on January 31st, Mr. Butler, 

 of Massachusetts, said : " I am instructed by 

 the Committee on Reconstruction to report 

 back Senate bill No. 218, "prescribing an oath 

 of office to be taken by persons who partici- 

 pated in the late rebellion, but who are not 

 disqualified from holding office by the four- 

 teenth amendment of the Constitution of the 

 United States, and recommend its passage." 



The bill was read. It provided that when any 

 person, who is not rendered ineligible to office 

 by the provisions of the fourteenth amend- 

 ment to the Constitution, shall be elected or 

 appointed to any office of honor or trust under 

 the Government of the United States, and shall 

 not be able, on account of his participation in 

 the late rebellion, to take the oath prescribed 

 in the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, 

 the said person shall, in lieu of said oath, be- 

 fore entering upon the duties of the said office, 

 take and subscribe the oath prescribed in an 

 act of Congress entitled "An act prescribing 

 an oath of office to be taken by persons from 

 whom legal disabilities shall have been re- 

 moved," approved July 11, 1868. 



Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, said : " I wish to 

 call the attention of the House to what this bill 

 is. It in effect repeals the act of 1862 prescrib- 

 ing an oath of office; that is to say, it relieves 

 every man from the necessity of taking it who 

 cannot take it, and leaves those who can take 

 it with a safe conscience to take it as before. It 

 is one of those measures that go fundamentally 

 and radically to the whole system of policy 

 that we have adopted with reference to what 

 is called by the general name of " reconstruc- 

 tion," and I trust that it will not be passed in 

 this hasty and summary manner. This is a bill 

 which has been lying until this morning upon 

 the Speaker's table, and a bill that will effect 



