CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



143 



the entire abrogation of the present oath of 

 office prescribed in the act of 1862." 



Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, said: "The 

 scope of the bill is exactly this : what is 

 known as the 'test-oath,' or the 'iron-clad 

 oath, 7 cannot be taken by any man who took 

 part in the rebellion, and the object of the 

 bill is to allow any man who took part in 

 the rebellion, but who is not disqualified by 

 the fourteenth article of the amendments to 

 the Constitution, to take an oath precisely as 

 though his disabilities were removed ; that is, 

 an oath to support the Constitution, such an 

 oath as we hear frequently at our desk. So 

 that the effect of the bill is to repeal the test- 

 oath for every man who took part in the rebel- 

 lion, but who has not been disqualified by the 

 fourteenth article of amendment. 



"That is the entire scope of the bill; and, 

 when the House understands that, they will be 

 able to vote understandingly upon it. Its pur- 

 pose is, to enable men who have no disabilities 

 to take the oath of office prescribed for men 

 whose disabilities have been removed." 



Mr. Beck, of Kentucky, said: "Gentlemen 

 will see, by referring to volume seventy-eight 

 of the Congressional Globe, page 2894, under 

 date of April 22, 1870, that this bill passed the 

 Senate, I believe, on the report of Mr. Trum- 

 bull, the chairman of the Committee on the 

 Judiciary of that body. I believe it passed 

 that body unanimously. 



"Another thing: all the persons whom this 

 bill proposes to relieve from taking the test- 

 oath can now hold office in their respective 

 States. It does not increase that class at all. 

 It only provides that persons not disqualified 

 under the fourteenth article of amendments to 

 the Constitution of the United States from 

 holding office may take the form of oath pre- 

 scribed by this bill." 



Mr. Morey, of Louisiana, said: " While I am 

 in favor of this bill, there is one thing in it 

 which strikes me as rather peculiar. It is, 

 that we should prescribe a simple oath to sup- 

 port the Constitution to those who were en- 

 gaged in the rebellion, and continue to require 

 the test-oath of everybody who was not engaged 

 in the rebellion. I think the bill should specify 

 that all those disqualified under the fourteenth 

 article of amendments to the Constitution of 

 the United States shall not hold office, and that 

 everybody else shall simply take an oath to 

 support the Constitution of the United States." 



Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, said : " That is, 

 to repeal the test -oath." 



Mr. Morey : " Yes ; in other words, to re- 

 peal the test-oath. It seems to me to be rather 

 a peculiar state of affairs, that the loyal people 

 should be obliged to take the test-oath, while 

 all those who were engaged in the rebellion 

 should take a simple oath to support the Con- 

 stitution of the United States. It would be 

 more simple to pass a bill repealing the test- 

 oath entirely, and then leave all those disquali- 

 fied from holding office under the fourteenth 



article of amendments to the Constitution to 

 continue under their disabilities." 



Mr. Farnsworth : " I concur in the remarks 

 just made by the gentleman from Louisiana 

 (Mr. Morey). There is no necessity of the 

 test-oath to prevent from holding office those 

 who are disqualified under the fourteenth arti- 

 cle of amendments to the Constitution of the 

 United States, for they cannot hold office by 

 taking any sort of oath. Then, where is the 

 necessity of continuing the test-oath at all? 

 We propose by this bill to repeal the test-oath 

 so far as those are concerned who were in the 

 rebellion, but are not excluded from office by 

 the fourteenth article of amendments to the 

 Constitution, while we continue it in reference 

 to ourselves and all others who were never 

 engaged in the rebellion, and require them to 

 take an oath a yard long before they can hold 

 office. It prevents this absurdity and incon- 

 gruity of requiring a man to swear simply be- 

 cause he can swear. I would rather carry out 

 the scriptural injunction to ' swear not at all.' " 



Mr. Porter, of Virginia, said: "This bill, 

 which a majority of those present at the meet- 

 ing have directed the chairman to report to 

 the House, is virtually a repeal of the test- 

 oath. The gentleman from Louisiana, while 

 he favors the bill, yet would like it better if it 

 did not require that loyal men must continue 

 to take the oath, whereas those who partici- 

 pated in the rebellion are not to take it if this 

 bill passes, but are to be permitted to take the 

 modified oath. That is nothing new, for prac- 

 .tically disabilities have generally been placed 

 upon loyal men in the South instead of upon 

 those to whom they should more properly ap- 

 ply. The passage of such a bill as this will 

 result in opening the doors of Congress to men 

 who are now disqualified from occupying seats 

 here or in the Senate. It will also throw open 

 the whole field of appointments to Federal 

 positions to men who are now excluded by the 

 test-oath. 



" Are we prepared to take this step? Are 

 we prepared to take this leap in the dark ? We 

 know not what the future may have in store 

 for our country. We know not what political 

 changes may occur within the next two years ; 

 and the question is, whether this House is 

 ready to agree with the Senate in declaring 

 that all these appointments shall be thrown 

 open to men who carried on the rebellion, who 

 made a gigantic effort to destroy this Govern- 

 ment. 



"I am in favor, Mr. Speaker, of opening the 

 doors to the enemies of the country when I 

 can see the doors open to loyal men." 



Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, said : " Mr. Speaker, I 

 would have preferred if the Senate bill had pro- 

 vided simply for the repeal of what is known as 

 the ' iron-clad ' oath of 1862, and for the reason 

 that the oath was, in my judgment, supersed- 

 ed by the provision of the fourteenth article of 

 amendments to the Constitution, and from the 

 day of the adoption of that amendment should 



