Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-02-07
NO 46

~ ~ - Ne-
were to proclaim them to be the consti-
/ tutions of those States without first haY-
/ ing submitted them 20 the people for
ratification. How can il be pretens
ded for moment, even admitting that
the President had the power to start
forward in the work of reconstruction,
that those State Governments are legal
! ly formed by a small minority, never
ratified by the peOle never having had
a chance to vote for them. They stand
as mere arbitrary constitutions, esbab-
/ lished not by the people Of the several
States, but simply by force Of executive
/ power. 49, s--
And sir,zIf= we shall admit those
States to representation on this floor
and in the other House under those con-
hstitutions, when the thing shall have
got beyond our keeping and they are full
! ly restored to their political rights, they
| will then rise up and declare that those
| constitutions are not binding upon them
/ that they never made them ana they
viii throw them of, and with them will
i 20 those provisions which were 1ucors
/ Porated therein, declaring that slavery
/ should never be restored and that their
I war debt was rePudiated, Those pro-
/ visions were put into those eanstitu-
tions, hut they have never been sane
toned by the people Of those States, and
4 p
their act and deed as so IN as they shall
have been restored to political power
/ in this Government. Therefore { say
that even if be cOncedes that the Presi-
dent had the power, which he had not
! to start forward in the execution Of this
| guarantee, there can still be no Pretense
I that those Governments arc legal and
/ authorized, and that we are sound to re-
+ eQgnize them.
I The President of the Uuited States, in
i his proclamation, declared that those
Governments were to be formed only by
/ the loyal people of those States and I
/ beg leave to call the attention OF the
/ Senate to that clause in his prOclama-
tiOn Of reconstruction. He says;
/ "And with auth ority to exercise,
4 within the limits Of said State, all the
I powers. necessary and proper TO enable
| such loyal people Of the State Of North
/ Carolina to restore said State to its con-
stitutiCnal relations with the Federal
/ Government"
Again, speaking OF the Army:
"Anc they are enjoyed TO abstain
! from in any wsy hInderingi impeding
4 or discouraging the loyal people from
/ the organization of a State Government
/ as herein authorized"
/ Now, sir, so far from those State Gov
ernments having been orga nized by the
| loyal people, they were organized by
the dislOYal every Office passed into
the hands Of a rebel the Union men
had no part nor lot in those Govern
ments and 80 far from answering the
| purpose for which governments are IN
/ tended they failed to extend protection
/ to the loyal men, either white. or black
/ The loyal men were murdered with in-
punity and I will thank any Senator
upon this floor to point to single case
/ IA any of the rebel States where a rebel
| has been tried and brought to punish
ment by the civil authority for the muir
] ~. 80 fwnr Hn1ar NHHN H
+ am told, can be found. Those Govern
ments utterly failed in answering the
purpOse Of civil governments and not
only that, but they returned the cOlored
/ DeOple to a condition of quasi slavery /;
4 thev made them the slaves of society,
instead of being, as they were before,
1 the slaves of individuals. Under var
/ ious forms of Vagrant laws, they de-
priVed them of the rights of freemeu,
and placed them under the power and
/ control of their rebel masters, who we're
/ flied with hatred and revenge.
COURSE OF CONGRESS TOWARD IT.
But. Mr.. President, time passed on
/ Congress assembled in December, 1865.
For a time it paused. 1t did not at once
annul those governments. 1t hesitated.
At last, ia 1866, the constitutional
amendment, the fourteenth article.
brought forward as a basis of setCle-
ment and reconstruction; and there was
a tacit understanding though it was
/ not embraced in any law or resolution,
/ that if the Southern people Should rati-
1 fy and agree to that amendment then
/ their State Governments would be ac-
I cepted.- But that amendment was re-
4 iected, eOntemptuously rejected. The
lSouthern people counseled and inspired
/ by the Democracy of the North, reject
ed hat amendment. They were told
that they were not bound to submit to
. saa. - Il H. s.
| forfeited no rights by rebellion Why,
/ sir, what did we propose by this amend
ment2 BY the first section we declared
that all men born upon our soil were
! citizens Of the United States-a thing
/ that had long been recognized by every
/ department of this Government until
/ the bred Scott decision was made in
/ 1857. The second section provided that
1 where class or race Of men were eX-
cluded from the right of suffrage they
should not be counted IN the basis Of
representation obvious justice that
no reasonable man for a moment could
deny that four million people down
South were to have no suffrage, the men
/ living in their midst and surrounding
them, and depriving them Of all pOlit-
ical rights, should not have members
/ of CONGRESS on their account. say the
| Justice of the second clause had never
been successfully impugned by any arr
gIlment, / care not how ingenious il
| may be. What was the third clause
/ Tt was that the leaders of the South,
those men who had once taken an OFF,
/ cial oath to support the Constitution of
the United States and had afterward
committed perjury by going into the
| rebellion, should be made ineligible to
any Office under the Government of She
United States or Of State. It was in-
j tended to withhold power from those
| ] leaders by whose instrumeutality we
Z "a
and untold treasure. The Justice Of
| that disfranChisment could not be dis
/ proved. And what was the fourth
clause of the amendment That this
! Government should never assume ana
/ pay any part of the rebel debt; ; that 1t
should never pay the rebels TOR their
slaves. This was bitterly opposed in
[ the North as well as in the South. How
can any man oppose that anendmentun
/ less he was in favor OF this Government
( assuming a portion or all of the rebel
debt and in favor of paying the rebels
/ for their slaves When the Democratic
party North and South opposed that
/ most important and perhaps hereafter
/ to be regarded as vital amendment,
! they were committing themselves in
priciple, as they had been before by de-
| claration, to the doctrine that this Gov
/ ernment was bound to pay for the
| slaves, and that it was just and right
I that we should assume and pay the reb-
| eL debt
/ This amendment, as have before
| said, was rejected, and when Congress
/ assent bled in December, 1866, they were
I confronted by the fact that every propo-
! sitiuu or compromise had been rejected,
| every hallway measure had been spurn-
4 ed by the rebels themselves, and they
had nothing to do but TO begin the
work of reconstruction themselves and
/ in February, 1867, Congress for the first
/ time entered upon the execution Of the
/ guarantee provided for in the Constitu-
/ tlon by the passage of the first Recon-
struction law. a supplementary bill
was found necessary in March, another
/ in July, and believe another is found
/ necessary at this time; but the power
I is with Congress. Whatever Il shall
| deem necessary, whether 1t be In the
/ way Of cOlored suffrage, whether it be
/ in the way of military pOwer-what-
/ ever Congress shall deem necessary in
/ the execution of this guarantee is con-
elusive upon the courts, upon every
State, and upon the people of this ma