Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-02-06

guarantee, how 1t shall be executed, and
what means may be employed for that pur
pose. The Constitution does not define the
means. 1t does not say how the guaranteed
shall be executed. All that is left Il
the determination of Congress. AS 10 the
particular character of the means that mus
be employed, that, lake it, will depend
upon the peculiar circumstances of each
case; and the extent Of the power will de
pend upon the other question as to what
may be required for the purpose of main.
tanning or guaranteeing loyal republican
form of government in each State. USE
the word "loyal," although 1t is not used Ia
the Constitution, because loyalty is an in.
herring qualification not only in regard t1
persons who are to fill public offices, but III
regard to State governments, and we have
no right to recognize a State government
that is not loyal to the Government of the
United States. Now, sir, as to the use ni
means TINT are not prescribed in the Consti-
tuition, l call the attention of the Senate tt
the eighteenth clause of section eight of the
first article of the Constitution Of the United
States, which declares that -
'The Congress shall have power to make
all laws which shall be necessary and proper
for carrying into execution the foregoing
powers and all other powers vested l,y this
Constitution in the Government of the
United States or any department or officer
thereof"
Here is a declaration of what would other
wise be u general principle anyhow that
Congress shall have the power to pass all
laws necessary to carry into execution all
powers that are vested in the Government
under the Government under the Constitu-
ton. AS Congress has the power to guar
l ANITA ~ tnt,,
ment in each State, it has the right to use
purpose. As before remarked, the char
acter of the means will depend upon the
character of the case. In one case it may
be the use of an army; in another case
| perhaps it may be simply presenting 4
question to the courts, and having it tested
in that way; in another case it may go to
the very foundation of the Government
itself. And now PROFOUND this ploposi-
tion; that if Congress, after deiberation,
after long and bloody experience, shall come
to the conclusion that loyal republican State
| government cannot he erected and maintain
ed in the rebel States upon the basis of the
white population, 1t has right to rise up and
| make voters of class of men who had no
| right to vote under The State laws. This is
simply the use of the necessary means in
the execution OF the guarantee. II we have
found after repeated trials that loyal Repub-
llcan State ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS that
shall answer the purpose that such govern
ments are intended to answer--cannotb be sue
cessfully founded upon the basis of the white
| population, because the great majority of that
population are disloyal, then Congress has
right to raise up a new loyal voting popu-
| lation for the purpose of establishing these
governments in the execution of the guar
at,ta .s,,ly yasr Ia a.
clear that it is not necessary to elaborate it,
We are not required to ind in the Constitu-
tion particular, grant of power for this pur-
| pose; but we find general grant of power
| and we find also another grant of power, au-
thorizing us to use whatever means may be
| necessary to execute the first; and find that
| the Supreme Court of the United States has
said that the judgment of Congress upon
this question shall be conclusive that it
cannot be reviewed by the courts that it is
| purely political matter and therefore the
| determination of Congress, that raising up
colored men to the right of suffrage is
means necessary to the execution of that
power, is determination which cannot be
! reviewed by the courts, and is conclusive
upon the people of this country
| The President of the United States, as
suming that he had the power TO execute
this guarantee, and basng his proclamation
upon ii, went forward in the work of recon-
| struction II was understood ut that time
| 1t was so announced, if not by himself, at
least formally by the Secretary OF State, MIR.
| Seward-that the governments which he
would erect during the vacation of Congress
were to be erected as provisional only that
his plan of reconstruction, and the work
that was to be done under ii, would be sub
| mtted to Congress for its approval or disap-
nrnua1 al tha cnscifp If In INF
had adhered to that determination, believe
that all would have been well, and that the
present state Of things would not exist. But,
sir, the Executive undertook finally to exc
cutive the guarantee himself without CO.
operation of Congress. He appointed pro-
visional governors. giving to them unlimited
power until such time as the new State gov
ernments should be erected. He prescribed
| in his proclamation who should exercise the
| right of suffrage in the election of delegates.
And allow me for one moment to refer to
that. He says in his proclamation
"No person shall be qualified as an cleo
tor, or shall be eligible as member of such
convention, unless he shall have previously
taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty as
set forth in the Presidents proclamation of
May 20, A. D., 1866
which was issued on the same day and was
| part of the same transaction
And is u voter qualified as prescribed by the
| Constitution and laws of the State Of North
Carolina in force Immediately before the Goth
day of May, A. D., 1861"
| The persons having the right to vote must
have the right to vote by the laws of the
State, and must in addition to that, have
taken the oath of amnesty. The President
disfranchised in voting for delegates to the
conventions from two hundred and fifty
thousand to three hundred thousand men.
His disfranchisement was far greater than
that which has been done by Congress. In
| the proclamation of amnesty he s,Ns:
"'rhe following classes Of persons are cx-
cepted from the benefits of this proclama-
tom
He then announced fourteen classes of
persons
81. All who are or shall have been pre-
tended civil or diplomatic officers, or other
wise domestic or foreign agents, of the pre-
tended confederate governments"
|
| "I3 All persons who have voluntarily
participated in said rebellion, and the esti-
mated value of whose taxable property is
over twenty thousand dollars"
| And twelve other classes, estimated to
number at the least two hundred and fifty
| thousand or three hundie ed thousand men,
| while the disfranchisement that has been
created by Congress does not extend per-
haps to more than forty-five thousand or
| fifty thousand persons at the furthest. These
provisional governors, under the authority
of the President, were 10 call conventions
they were to hold the elections. and they
were to count the votes; they were TO ex-
ercise all the powers that are beiug exercised
by the military commanders under the re-
construction acts of Congress. After those
constitutions were formed the President
went forward and accepted them as being
loyal and republican in their character. He
authorized the voters under them to proceed
to elect Legislatures, members of Congress,
and the Legislatures to elect Senators TO
take their seats in this body. In other
words, the President launched those State
governments into full life and activity with
out consultation with or cooperation on the
part of Congress.
Now, sir, when it is claimed that these
governments are legal, let il be remembered
that they took their origin under proceed
ing instituted by the President of the United
States in the execution of this guarantee,
when it now stands confessed that he could