American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-08-15

DisorgdRized Communications
st,uction belongs exclusively 10 Con
1ress- Guarantees Of Sec,9ity for the
Future Necessary The Rebel States
not entitled to Representations ts Con-
gress.
The following is the report Of the Com
inittee on Reconstruction, submitted in
the House and Senate of the 9Th inst
The joint committee of the two hOus-
es of Congress, appointed under the con
current resolution of December l3, 1860,
with direction "to inquire into the condi-
ton Of the States which formed the SO.
called Confederate States of America, and
report whether they or any of thsm are
entitled to be represented in either house
of Congress, with leave to report by bill
or otherwise" ask leave to report:
That they have attended to the duty
assigned them assiduously as other duties
would permit, and now submit to Con
gress as the result of their deliberations
a resolution aud two bills, of which they
recommend the adoption.
Before proceeding to set forth in de-
tail their reasons for the conclusion to
which, after great deliberation, your COM
mittee have arrived, they beg leave to
advert, briefly, to the course of proceed
ings they found it necessary to adopt,and
to explain the reasons therefor.
The resolution under which your COM
mittee was appointed directed them 20 in
auire into the condition of the Confed-
crate States, and report whether they
were entitled to representation in Con-
gress. 1t is obvious that such an inves'
tigation, covering so large an extent Of
territory, and involving so many import
ant considerations, must necessarily re-
quire no trihing labor, and consume a
very considerable amount of time. 1t
must embrace the condition in which
those Sta tes were left at the close of the
war; the measures which have been ia.
ken toward the organization of civil gov
ernment, and the disposition Of the pco-
pie toward the United States; in word,
their fitness to take an active part in the
administration of national affairs.
As to the condition at the close of the
rebellion, the evidence is open to all, and
admits of no dispute. They were in a
state of utter exhaustion. Having pro-
tracted their struggle against Federal
authority until all hope of successful! re-
sistauce aa ceased, and laid down their
arms only because there was no longer
any power to use them, the people of
those States we're left bankrupt in their
public finance, and sho,n of the private
wealth which had before given them
power and snfuence. They were also
necessarily in astate of complete anarchy,
without governments, except by the per-
mission of those who had been success.
full in the war. The Presi dent of the
United States, in the proclaim ations un.
der which he appointed provisional gov
ernors, and in his various communications
to them, has, in exact terms, recognized
the fact that the people of those States
were, when the rebellion was crushed
"deprived of all civil government, and
must proceed to organize anew" In this
conversation with Mr.. Stearns, Of Mas
sachusntts, certified By himself, President
johnson said "The State institutions are
prostrated, laid out on the ground, and they
must be taken up aud adapted to the
progress of events"
Finding the Southern States in this
condition, and Congress having failed to
provide for the contingency, his duty was
obvious. As President of the United
States he had no power, except to exc
cute the laws of the land as Chief Mag
istrate. These laws gave him no author
ity over the subject of reorganization, but
by the Constitution he was Commander
in Chief of the army and the navy of the
United States. These Confederates en-
braced portion of the people of the
Union who had been ina state of revolt but
had been reduced to obedience by force
of arms. They were in an abnormal
condition, without civil government, with
out commercial conn ections, without ma
tional or international relations, aud sub
ject only to martial law BY withdraw
ing Misrepresentation in Congress, by
renouncing the privilege of representa-
tion, by organizing a separate govern
men t, and by levying war against the
United States, they destroyed their State
constitution in respect to the vital prin.
ciple which connected their respective
States with the Union, and severed their
federal relations; and nothing of those
constitutions was left of which the Uni
ted States were bound to take notice.
For fo,,x 49, IoJ n n f.ato <xoxv