American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-08-29

lhat lhey mlSht pursue tnelr bloody deeds
and may gloat as much as they are min
ded to owith their iendi hness upon Unior
white men and Union black men through.
out the land
lie goes further than that, for ht
organizes these State Governments, OF
FPretends to organize them, though con
tend that he had No. authority for it. He
did 1t, and iuasmuch as a part of it wa:
recognized by the Congress of the Uni
ted States, afterward, we have no right
to complain of it, and are WILLING
to admit tn at probably twas we'll enough
irasmuch as it has gone so far. At least
the Congress of the United States were
willing to accept such portions as they
thought to be correct and right | think
in their Judgment they did the best they
could, and in my judgment it was the
best that could be done at that time un-
der the circ umstances.
We find, however, the Presid ent of the
United States going on in the same line
and In the same ma nner that he had fol
lowed out with General Sherman, until
finally and at last he says to the contrary
that the people of the Southern States
are entitled to be represented in the Con-
gress of the United States He saws to
the Congress of the United, States, -
"These people have elected their Repre-
sentatives to Congress, and you must ad.
NIT them" He says to the people of the
United States, "These people are as much
entitled to their rights under the Con
stitution as you are;" and he says to you
and me, "Tnese people are loyal people,
these people are doing no wong" He
says they are guilty of no crime. They
have been guilty ofa crime; but now they
are loyal and entitled to the same rights,
civil aud political, as you and | are en-.
titled to, and they must be represented
in the Congress of the United States
But he says that they must send loyal
men; and you must admit these loyal men
Then they send such men as Orr, of
South Carolina, one of the rebel Repre-
sentatives in the Confederate Congress.
They put in as Governor of Mississippi
such man as those | mentioned while
ago, one who lad been a leader of the
rebel armies. They sent no man to Con.
gress from those nine States that had not
been in the rebel Congress, or in full
sympathy with the rebel army and the
rebellion during this war; and vet Mr.
johnson says that these Representatives
must be admitted into the Congress of
the United States.
Now, my fellow citizens, that is the
issue that he presents to the country
We take the opposite ground. We take
issue with Mr.. johnson and his Copper
head allies, and we say to him, "Sir, you
are President, we will acknowledge; you
have been made so not by our choice, but
yet you are so; but although you are Pres
ldent, you are not the judge and jury
too of this question. (Apphuse.) The
people OF this country have somewhat to
say in the settlement of these questions.
But you, sir, as President, have a duty
to perform, and when you go outside of
that we will let you know that we make
Presidents and unmake them too"
We take issue with him, as / remark
ed. We say this, that traitors have for
feitcd their rights, and we intend to say
when we get ready as to whether they
shall have these rights returned to them
or not. (Applause). We intend to de-
eide these questions for ourselves, in our
own way, and VIC do not propose that the
President and his rebel associates shall
decide them for US. (Applause) We
maintain this to be the correct principle.
We say to Mr. johnson "Sir, your the
ory is not correct. Your doctrine of tax
alton without representation is correct
in one sense, but not when it applies to
these people. They withdrew their rep
rese ntation from the Congress of the Uni
ted States without our consent, but by
their own, and when they come back it
shall be by our consent and their own
too"
We say TO this President and his al
lies, We fought this war upon the the.
ory | have stated, that this Union could
not be dissolved that the loyal people
Of the United States intended to main
tain the Constitution and the Union !;
they intended to put down this rebellion,
and, having put it down, they intend that
these men who have committed treason
against the Governmet shall be placed in
that position, political and civil, in this
country, that the Constitution and the
laws Of the land place them in-thlt is,
that they have forfeited their rights, and
these rights shall remain forfeited until
we, the people, Of :he United States.
shall determine what rights shall be cast
upon them again.
In forfciting these rights they forfeit
ed the right of representation, the same
as any other right that they had. Hav
ing forfeited that right, and the majority
of the people OF those States having COM
mitted treason, thereby forfeiting their
rights, civil and political-forieited their
hives, too, if we were minded to take
them from them-they are not entitled
to be represented at all in the Congress
of the United States unless we deierm-
inc the fact first and say whether they
shall
The theory of the President is well
enough, when he says loyal men must be
Representatives in Congress. That is
right. But when he esks himself the
question who are to elect these loyal men,
how are they to be elected, by whom,
and in what manner, he had better ask
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