US Presidency
1866

Among other reasons recited in the preamble for the declaration contained in the resolution is the ratification by the State government of Tennessee of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery, also the amendment proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress. if, as is also declared in the preamble, said State government can only be restored to its former political relations in the Union by the consent of the lawmaking power of the United States, it would really seem to follow that the joint resolution which at this late day has received the sanction of Congress should have been passed, approved, and placed on the statute books before any amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the legislature of Tennessee for ratification.