The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1867-03-07
Abstract of the Reconstruction Veto Mes


giving the leading points in the precise
words of the document:
The bill places all the people of the ten
States therein named under the absolute do
mination of military rulers, and the pream-
bic declares that there exists in those States
no legal government and adequate protec-
ton to life or property, and asserts the ne
cessity of enforcing peace and good order
within their limits. 1t is true, as matter
of fact, and it is not denied that the States
in question have each of them an actual
Government, with all the powers, Execu-
tive, Judicial, and Legislative, which prop
erly belong to free State. They are or
sunizcl like the other States of the Union,
and like them they make, administer and
execute the laws which concern their do
mestic affairs. To pronounce the supreme
law making power of an old established
State illegal, is to say that law itself is I'M
lawful. The provisions which these Gov
ernments have made for the preservation
of order, the suppression of crime, and the
redress of private injuries, are in principle
and substance the same as those wticb pre-
vaU IN the Northern States, and in other civ
ilized countries, They certainly have not
succeeded in preventing the commission of
all crime But, that these people are main
tanning local governments for themselves
which habitually defeat the object of all
government and render life and property
insecure, is in itself utterly improbable, and
the averment of the bill to that effect is not
supported by any evidence which has come
to my knowledge. The mass of the South
ern people and those who control their acts,
while they entertain diUerSe UjeaoS on cues
tjonS of Federal policy, are completely uni
ted in the effort to reorganize their society
on the basis of peace, and restore material
prosperity as rapidly and completely as their
circumstances permit. The bill would, how
ever, seem to show upon its face that the es-
Enlistment Of peace and good order is not
it's real object.
The fifth section declares that the pre-
ceeding sections shall cease to operate in
any State where certain events have hap
pened. These are:
l. The selection of delegates to State
Convention, at an election in which negroes
shall be allowed to vote.
2. The formation of State Constitution
by the Convention so formed.
g. The insertion into such Constitution Of
a provision which will secure the right of
voting at all elections of all negroes, and
such white men as may not be DISTINGUISHED
by rebellion or felony
4. The submission of the Constitution or
its ratification to negroes and whites not
DISTINGUISHED.
5. The submission of the Constitution to
Congress for examination and actual ap-
prevail Of it by Congress.
6. The adoption of certain amendments
tie the Constitution by the Legislature cleo
ted by the Convention.
7. The adoption of said amendment by a
sufficient number of other Sta ties to make it
part of the Constitution of the United
States.
All these provisions must be filled before
any of these States can be freed from the
bondage of military dominion. Then when
they are fulfilled, the pains and penalties of
the bill are to cease, no matter whether there
be peace and order or not, without reference
TO security of life or property.
The power given to the commanding off
Ger over all the people of each State is that
of an absolute monarch. His mere will is
to tuke the place of all Ian. The law of the
States is the only rule applicable to the
subject placed under his control, and that is
completely displaced by the clause which
declares all interference of the State author
ity to be null and void. 1t places at his
free disposal, all the lands and goods IN his
district He may distribute them, without
let or hindrance, to whom he pleases, being
bound by no State law, and there being no
other law to gulate the subject, he may
MAKE A CRIMINAL CODE OF HIS OWN, and he
can make it as bloody as any recorded in
history, or he can reserve the privilege of &C.
ting upon the impulse of his private pas
sons in each case that arises. He is BOUND
BY NO RULES OF EVIDENCE. There is, indeed
no provision by which he is authorized or
required to take evidence at all. Every
thing is a crime which he chooses to call SO.
and all persons are condemned whom he pro-
nounces guilty. He is not bound to make
any report or keep any record of his pro.
, ceedings. He may arrest his victims wher
ever he may find them, without warrant,
accusation or proof of probable cause. If
he gives them trial before he inflicts the
punishment, he gives it of his grace and
mercy, not because he is commanded so
to do.
1t is plain that the authority here gi
to the military officer amounts to ABSOLUTE
DEsPoTIsM; but to make it still more UNEN-
DURABLE, the bill provides that it NAV be
delegated to as many subordnates as he
chooses to appoint, for it declares he shall
punish or cause to be punished.
1t reduces the whole population of the
ten States, all persons, of every color, sex
and condition, and every stranger within
their limits, to the most abject and degrad-
ing slavery,
come now to question which is, if DOS
sible, still more important: Have we the
power to establish and carry into execution
a measure like this? | answer, certainly
not, if we dsFive our authority from the
Consti tuition, and if we are bound bv the
limitations it imposes. Some persons as
sumo that the success of our arms in crush
ing the opposition which was made in some
States to the execution of Federal laws. re-
duced these States, and the people, the in
nocent as well as the guilty, to a condition
of vassalage, and gives us a power over
them which the Constitution does not be-
stow or define or limit.
There is not in any one of the States
brought under its operation, either war or
instruction. The laws of the State and of
the Federal Government are in undisturbed
and harmonious operation.
1t is not even recited that any sort of war
or instruction is threatened
Let us pause here to consider upon this
question of constitutional law, and the pow
er of Congress, in the present decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States in Ex
PARrE Milligan. martial law cannot arise
from threatened THE NECESSITY MUST BE
ACTUAL AND PRESENT; the invasion al,such
Us to effectually close the courts and depose
the civil authorities" We see that mar.
tial law comes in only when actual war
closes the courts and deposes civil authority
But this bill, in time Of peace, makes mar
tial law operate as though we were in actual
war, and becomes the cause instead of the
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