Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-02-05
WHOLE NO. 267s

amendment, then their stats Goy1ofnD,msnt,
would be accepted. But that ansndmsnf
was rejected, contemptuousIy rejected.
The Southern people, counsefed and in
splred by the Democracy Of the North,
rejected that amendment. They were told
that they were not bound to submit to any
conditions whatever; that they had for
felted 10 right by rebellion. Why, s.r,
what did we propose by this amendment?
By the first section we declared that all
men born upon our soil were citizens Of
the United States-s thing that had long
been recognized by every department Of
this Government until the Dred Scott de-
cission was made in 1857. The second
section provided that where class or race
Of men were excluded from the right Of
suffrage they should not be counted in the
OASIS OF representation-an obvious Justice
that no reasonable man for a moment
could deny; that if four million people
down South were to have no s7frage, the
men hVlng In their midst and surrounding
them, and depriving them Of all political
rights, should not have members Of Con-
gress on their account I say the justies
of the second clause has never bean sue
eessfully impugned BY any argument,
care not how ingenious it may be. What
was the third clause? 1t was that the
leaders Of the South, those men who had
once teAen an official 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 the
United States, or Of State. It was
very small Acknowledgement It was in-
tO nuIF hal1 49, 1aoaA
ers BY whose iustrumentality we had lost
nearly half q million lives and untold
treasure The Justice of that disfranchtss-
ment could not be disproyed- And what
was the fourth clause Of the amendmsnt?
That this Government should never as
sumo and pay any part of the rebel debt;
that it should never pay the rebels for their.
slaves This was bitterly opposed in the
North as well as in the South. How could
any man oppose that amendment unless be
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 them
selves in principle, as they had been be-
fore by declaration, to the doctrine that
this Government was bound TO pay for the
slaves, and that it was just and right taat
we should assume and pay the rebel debt.
This amendment, as have before said,
was rejected, and when Congressi Assem-
bled In December, 1866, they were con-
fronted by the fact that every proposition
of compromise had been rejected every
halfway measure had been spurned by
the rebels themselves, and they had moth
ing to do but to begin the work of recon
struetion themselves and in February,
1867, Congress for the first time entered
upon the execution Of the guarantee pro-
vlded for in the Constitution by the pas-
sage OF. the first Reconstruction law. A
supplementary bill was found necessary IN
March, another one in Juty, and believe
another is found necessary at this tina
but the power is with Congress. What
ever 1t shall deem necessary, whether It
be in the way Of eologed suffrage, whether
it be in the way Of military power-Whst-
ever Congress shall deem necessary in the
execution Of this guarantse is conclusive
upon the courts, upon every State, and
upon the people Of this nation
Sir, when Congress entered upon this
work, 1t had become apparent to all men
that loyal republican State Governments
could not be erected and maintained upon
the basis of the white population. We
had tried them. Congress had attempted
the work of reconstruction through the
Constitutional amendment by leaving the
suffrage with the white men, and By leaY-
ing with the white people Of the South
/ the question IS to when the colored peo-
pie should exercise the right Of suffrage,
If ever; but when it was found that those
white men were as rebellious as ever, that
they hated this Government more bitterly
than ever; when it was found that they
persecuted the loyal men, both white and
black, In their midst; when IL was found
that Northern men who had gone down
there were driven out by social tyranny,
by thousand annoyanees, by the iEseeU-
rity of life and property, then it became
apparent to an men Of intelligence that
reconstruction could not take place upon
the basis of the white population, and
something else must be done.
Now, sir, what was there left to Do
Either we must hold these people continu-
ally by military power, or We must use
such machinery upon such new basis a.
would enable loyal republican State Gov
ernments to be raised up; and in the last
resort, and l will say Congress waited
long, the nation waited long, experiences
had to come to the rescue of reason be-
fore the thing was done-in the last resort,
and as the last thing to be done, Congress
determined to dig through all the rubbish,
dig through the soil and the shifting sands,
and go down to the eternal rock, and
there, upon the basis of the everlasting
principle Of equal and exact justice to al
men, we have planted the column Of re-
construction; and, sir, it viii arise slowly
but surely, and f'tte gates Of he'll shall
not prevail against it" Whatever dan
gers we apprehend from the introduction
of the right Of suffrage eff seven hundred
thousand men, just emerged from slavery,
were put aside in the presence of 3 greater
danger. Why, sir, let me say frankly to
my friend from Wisconsin, that I ap-
preached universal colored suffrage in the
South reluctantly. Not because adhered
to the miserable dogma that this was the
white mans Government, but because
entertained fears about at once intrusting
large body of men Just from slavery, to
whom education had been denied by law,
to whom the marriage relation had been
denied, who had been made the basest and
most abject slaves, with political power.
And as the Senator has referred to speech
WHICH L MhQt IN 1u4l1uA 4CoOs AAAOM
me to show the principle that then actu-
ated me, for in that speech said;
"In regard to the question Of admit
ting the freedmen Of the Southern States
TO vote, while admit the equal rights Of
all men, and that in time all men will
have the right to vote without distinction
of color or race, yet believe tnst in the
case Of four million of slaves Just freed
from bondage, there should be period of
probation and preparation before they are
brought to the exercise of political power.
Such was my feeling at that time, Tor It
had not then been determined BY the
bloody experience Of the last two years
that we could not reconstruct upon the
basis of the white population, and such
was the opinion Of great majority OF the
people of the North; and it was not until
a year and half after thst time that Con-
gress came to the conclusion that there
was no way left but to resort to colored
suffrage and suffrage to all men except
those who were disqualified by the COM
mission of high crimes and misdemean-
ors-
Mr.. President, we hear much said in the
course of this debate, and through the
press, abe=t The violation OF the Constitu-
ton. 1t is said that in the reconstruction
measures of Congress we have gone out
side of the Constitution, snd the remark
of some distinguished statesman Of the
Republican party is quoted TO that effect
Sir if antv 1aQdinU Rapuh hlfoan hos aver