Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-02-05

/ visional Governors, giving them unliu- I
tied power until such time as the new
State Governments shall be erected. |
He prescribed, in his proclamation,
who should exercise the right of suf |
frage in the election of delegates. And |
allow me for one moment to refer to |
that. BE says in his proclamation:
mo person shall be qualified as an
elector, or shall be eligible as a 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 90, A. |
D. 1867
which was issued on the same day, and !
was part of the same transaction
"And is a voter qualified as prescribed
by the Constitution and laws of the
State of North Carolina in force imme-
diately before the Goth 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
Acknowledgement was far greater than
that which has been done by Congress. /
In the proclamation of amnesty he
says:
"The following classes of persons are
excepted from the benefits ofthis proc
| lamation0-
He then announced fourteen classes of
persons
q. All who are or shall have been
pretended civil or diplomatic officers,
or otherwise domestic or foreign agents,
of the pretended confederate govern
ment."
"lS. All persons who voluntarily
participated in said rebellion, and the
estimated value of whose taxable prop
erty is over twenty thousand dollars.1'
And twelve other classes, estimated
to number at the least two hunred
and fifty thousand or three hundred
thousand men, while the disfranchise-
ment that has been created by Con-
gress does not extend perhaps to more
than forty-fVe thousand or fifty thou
sand persons at the fartherest. These
provisional governors, under the au-
thority of the President, were to call
Conventions they were to hold the
elections, and they were to count the
votes; they were to exercise all the
powers that are being exercised by the
military commanders under the Recon
struction acts of Congress. After those
constitutions were formed the Presi-
denb went forward and accepted them
as being loyal and republican in their
character He authorized the voters
under them to proceed to elect Legisla-
lures, 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 without consultation with or
cooperation On the part of Congress.
Now, sir, when It is claimed that
these Governments are legal, let it be
remembered that they took their ORR
gin under a proceeding instituted by
/ the President of the United States IN
the execution Of this guarantee, when
it now stands confessed that he could
not execute the guarantee. But even
if he had the power, let it be further
borne in mind that those constitutions
were formed by Conventions that were
elected by less than one third Of the
white voters in the States at that time;
that the Conventions were elected by a
small minority even of the white voters,
and that those constitutions thus form
ed by a very small minority have never
been submitted to the people of those
States for ratification. They are no
more the constitutions of those States
| to-day than the constitutions formed
| by the Conventions now in session
would be If we were to proclaim them
to be the constitutions of those States
without first having submitted them to
the people for ratification. How can
1t be pretended for a moment, even ad-
mitting that that the President had
the power to start forward in the work
Of reconstruction, that those State Gov
ernments are legally formed by a small
minority, never ratified by the people,
the people never having a chance to
vote for them. They stand as mere ar
bitrary constitutions, established not
by the people of the several States, but
simply by force of executive power.
And, sir, if we shall admit those
States to representation on this floor
and in the other House under those
constitutions, when the thing shall
have got beyond our keeping and they
are fully restored to their political
rights, they will then rise up and de
clare that those constitutions are not
binding upon them, that they never
made them; and they will throw them
off, and with them will go those pro-
visions which were Incorporated there
in, declaring that slavery should never
be restored and that their war debt
was repudiated. Those provisions were
put into those constitutions, but they
have never been sanctioned by the
people of those States, and they will
cast them out as not being their act |
and deed as soon as they shall have |
been restored TO political power in this |
Government. Therefore, say that |
even if concedes that the President had |
the power, which he had not, to start |
forward in the execution of this guar |
antee, there can still be no pretense |
that those Governments are legal and
dNhAOAAACAs aAA kAas nc aAC DOAA4 " |
recognize them.
The President of the United States,
in his proclamation, declared that those |
Governments were to be formed only |
by the loyal people of those States /;
and beg leave to call the attention of
the Senate to that clause in his procla
nation of reconstruction. He says:
"And with authority to exercise,
within the limits Of said State, all the
powers necessary and proper to enable
such loyal people of the State of North
Carolina to restore said State to its con-
stitutional relations with the Federal
Government
Again, speaking Of the Army:
"And they are enjoined to abstain
from in any way hindering. impeding
or discouraging the loyal people from
the organization of State Government /
as herein authorized"
Now, sir, so far from those State Coy
ernments having been organized by the 4
loyal people, they were organized BY the |
disloyal; every Office passed into the hands |
of rebel; the Union men had no part
nor lot in those Governments and so far
from answering the purpose for which
governments are intended, they failed to
extend protection TO the loyal men, either
white or black The loyal men were muir
dered with impunity; and 1 will thank
any Senator upon this floor 10 point to a
single case in any of the Iebel States
where a rebel has been tried and brought
to punishment by the civil authority for