140 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



The motion was agreed to ; and the Senate, 

 as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to 

 consider the bill for the removal of legal and 

 political disabilities imposed by the third sec- 

 tion of the fourteenth article of amendments 

 to the Constitution of the United States. The 

 bill proposed to remove all legal and political 

 disabilities imposed by the third section of 

 the fourteenth article of amendments to the 

 Constitution of the United States on persons 

 therein mentioned, because of their having 

 engaged in insurrection or rebellion against 

 the United States, or given aid or comfort to 

 the enemies thereof, with the exception of 

 persons included in either of the following 

 classes, namely: first, members of the Con- 

 gress of the United States who withdrew 

 therefrom and aided the rebellion; second, 

 officers of the Army or Navy of the United 

 States who, being above the age of twenty- 

 one years, left said Army or Navy and aided 

 the rebellion ; third, members of State con- 

 ventions which adopted pretended ordinances 

 of secession, who voted for the adoption of 

 such ordinances. Before any person can be 

 entitled to the benefit of the act he shall, 

 within the district where he resides, before a 

 clerk of some court of the United States or a 

 United States commissioner, take and sub- 

 scribe an oath or affirmation to support the 

 Constitution of the United States and to bear 

 true faith and allegiance to the same, which 

 oath or affirmation must be forwarded by the 

 officer to the Secretary of State of the United 

 States, who shall cause a list of all persons 

 complying with the provisions of the act to be 

 laid before Congress at the opening of each 

 session thereof; and the officer before whom 

 such oath or affirmation is made is to give to 

 the person taking it a certificate of the fact 

 under such forms and regulations as the Sec- 

 retary of State may prescribe. 



Mr. Robertson said : " Mr. President, the 

 interest of the country demands the passage 

 of this bill. I do not propose to make any 

 speech on the subject, as I stated rny views 

 upon it at the last session ; but, sir, the pas- 

 sage of this bill will give the Republican party 

 more strength in the South than any thing 

 that has been done since the war ended. I 

 ask the friends of the bill to show their alle- 

 giance to it by their votes and not by their 

 speeches." 



Mr. Buckingham, of Connecticut, said : 

 " Mr. President, the bill for the removal of 

 legal and political disabilities now under con- 

 sideration proposes to open a door through 

 which the great mass of disloyal men may 

 enter and again participate in the administra- 

 tion of the Government which they endeav- 

 ored to destroy. 



"My views of the course which should now 

 be pursued are in some measure changed by 

 the action which Congress has already taken 

 upon this subject. In relieving men of their 

 political disabilities Congress does not appear 



to have been governed by any well-established 

 principles, but by the wishes of the personal 

 friends of the guilty. We have relieved so 

 many that the Government is charged with 

 injustice in not extending the favor to others 

 who are no more guilty. There is some 

 ground for this charge. When a large num- 

 ber are selected from a class to be the recipi- 

 ents of governmental clemency, others of that 

 clasjs make a strong plea for like consideration, 

 and, unless there are special reasons, reasons 

 which are apparent and which clearly make it 

 right to bestow the favor upon the persons 

 selected, you cannot erase from the minds of 

 men the conviction that the Government has 

 exercised the pardoning power with parti- 

 ality. 



" We are now in circumstances which, in 

 my judgment, render it necessary to extend 

 relief much further than would have been 

 justifiable a short time since a necessity 

 forced upon us by the overflowing and super- 

 abundant sympathy of generous conquerors 

 for misguided public enemies. This necessity 

 induces me to favor the bill under considera- 

 tion, but if it shall be materially changed I 

 shall not vote for it. It proposes to relieve 

 the mass of rebels, whom I would now wel- 

 come to every right, to every privilege, to 

 every position. I would receive them either 

 with or without repentance, but with the 

 hope (a hope based upon desire rather than 

 upon conviction) that their release from mer- 

 ited punishment and their full restoration to 

 all the rights of citizenship will inspire their 

 hearts with loyalty to the Government and 

 cause them to be truly the friends and sup- 

 porters of republican liberty. 



" But here I enter a caveat to stay further 

 proceedings. I do it now because some of the 

 friends of this measure have expressed a desire 

 that relief should be universal, and regard this 

 bill as an important step toward securing that 

 result." 



Mr. Morton, of Indiana, said: "Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I oifer the following amendment, to come 

 in at the end of the eleventh line of the first 

 page of the bill:" 



And provided further. That this act shall not "be 

 construed to relate back to and validate the election 

 or appointment of any person to the position of 

 Senator o* [Representative in Congress, or to any 

 office, civil or military, under the United States, or 

 under any State, which person was at the time of 

 such election or appointment ineligible to the posi- 

 tion to which he may have been so elected or ap- 

 pointed. 



Mr. Stewart, of Nevada, said: "I am aware 

 of the argument against the removal of dis- 

 abilities. I am aware of the fact that many 

 of those who are now laboring under disabili- 

 ties are not good citizens of the United States. 

 I am admonished by the report of my worthy 

 friend from Pennsylvania (Mr. Scott) that 

 many of those persons who are still laboring 

 under disabilities, and are to be benefited by 

 this bill, have no claim upon this Government 



