Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1868-02-27
SPEECH ON RECONSTRUCTION,
Delivered by Hon. T. w. T1Pror in
the United States Senate February l9th,
1890

the United States Senate February 18th
1868:
Mr.. TIPTON. Mr.. President, in the year 1854 a
bill passed the Congress Of the United States t
organize the Territory of Nebraska. Before tho
passage Of that organic sct if necessity had re-
quired, military prov isiOnal government might
have been instituted unit such time as Cong ress
should permanently organ ize civil govern :
The limitation Of such q temporary government
was fttingly described by Secretary Seward to
Governor Sharkey, Of Mississippi, July o. 1854
"The government Of the State will be provisiOna
only until the civil authorities shall be restored with
| the approval Of Congress"
In that organic act for the oIgani zation of Ne
braska it was provided that the right of suffrage
States and such had Jared their intentions to
become citizens, and who were white males over
twenty-one years of age. subsequently Congress
passed an act to enable the Territory to adOpl a
constitution and apply for admission O State
That application fol State was made at the Last
session of the thirty ninth Congress. But before
adopting the constitution of Nebraska, as slavery
| had been abolished and society was no longer di-
vided between citizens and slaves, an act had be.
come law affirming that in the Territory of Ne
braska there should be no distinction account of
color in the exercise Of the elective franchise. It
was claimed that the fourteenth amendment to the
Constitution, declaring all persons born in the
country citizens made 1t proper to open up to equal
| rights all the Government domain. This was re-
garded unaYOidably necessary, inasmuch as it is
made the duty of Congress to guaranty to every
| State IN the Union q republican form OF govern
ment; and State could not be republican in which
any class of the citizens we're excluded from the
ba llOt-bOx. But inasmuch as the organic act lin
tied suffrage, having passed before all persons born
in the country declared citizens, and Congress
ing supreme power over the Territories, when
Nebraska presented a restricted constitute Con-
gress clai med the right to make its adoption de-
pend upon the fundam entail condition that there
should be no distinction account of color in ex-
ercising the elective franchise.
But, suppOsing that Nebraska had sent up two
conflicting constitutions. Then she would have
been met at the very Threshold with the decision Of
the United States Court in the case Of Luther Us
Borden, 9TH Howard, as follows.
'sUnder this fourth section, fourth article Of the
United States it rests with Congress TO decide what
government is the established one in State. For al
can government, Congress must necessarily decide
what government is established in the State before il
determine whether 1t Is republican not. And
its decision is binding upon every other department
the Government, aud could not be questioned in ju
diciSl tribunal"
But, as no such conflict arose, Congress had only
to decide upon the republicanism of the constitu
top, and hence Nebraska is to- day State in the
American Union, in which all citizens of the U. S
are charged with equal duties and are admitted tC
equal privileges and blessings. On that basis an
proud to be one of her Representatives., and wi II OF
every other State entering tho Union demand the
same provision.
| What tn en- was the condition Of the ten seeded
| States when General Grant received the sword o
| General Lee Or, for example, what was the con
| ditiOn of South Carolina? In 1851 she had with
| drawn from the Government Of the United States
her Senators and Representatives had levied wal
upon the Goyernm ent and wsged it for four years
She had been represented in a confederacy Of States
unknown to and antagOnistie to the Government
of the United States. That eonfederacy had beer
blotted from the face Of the earth its armies sur
rendered and sl its officers civil and military, va
Gated No confederate officer had been bound t.
the Government Of the United States by an oath O
Office but his allegiance ha been pledged agains
! it. The true condition of all her people, withOu
scarcely an exception, was that assigned them il
the most expressive and truthful language of tht
President of the United States:
"I say the traitor has ceased to be Citizen and II
Joining the rebellion has become public enemy"
And so she was conquered public enemy, with
no more show of loyal, legal State government
than the adventures the frontier before the
ganic act passed for Nebraska.
How, then, could she be restored again to her
place in the Union? She might be held under
military rule restrained by provisional govern
ment, which should in ali respects conform to the
will of the cOnquering power till such times as Con-
gress shall pass act to enable the people to form
a State government, or till such form of govern
meut as might be improyised for the occasion
| should be received, examined, and adopted by
Congress. If Congress Y lunteered form of ter
ritOrial government the whole question Of who
should participate in elections and in holding Off
| ces would be for their decision. And when the
| State thus reconstructed from the fragments of a
T ebel organization should present a constitution
for the adoption Of Congress, | would proceed upon
the assumption that all persons born in the United
States are citizens Of the same, and entitled to
equal rights regardless of race or color and if
| md for vhO had zed
but who had already fought under the flag of the
| Union, would consider him citizen, and feel
honOred in legsla ing him into the full posses ion
| of every American privilege. And if | found q
race of men from whose sweat and blood the lOrdly
estates Of Carolina had been amased, and on whose
brows had never fallen the light Of freedOm-a
class who were true and loyal when the spray was
over them and treason the certain path to favor
and influence would enfrsnchise them without
| precedent, amend constitutions, and enact law in
their faver In a word, would prefer loyalty over
treason, and not allow any rebel element to enter
| into that elementary organization.
! To the loyal people would accord just the same
constitution my constituents have so lately re-
ceived from Congress; and from the disloyai with
/ hold only that which 1 would withhold from reb-
/ ell of Nebraska who might have levied war against
| his State and government. Instead Of defying in
| tellegence l would decide that the most ignorant
man in all the land who was loyal and true was
dearer to the heart of the nation than the polished
/
If the question of investing the sol iier with the
elective franchise could have been settled the
| field of battle just after Of those celebrated
charges in which color made no distinction and all
| blOOds mingled then the intelligence and property
| qualifca tion would have gone down, dOwn did
the rebel lines before the combined power Of loyal
men Of high and low degree.
If the fsngs Of slavery had not originally pierced
! the Constitution, then, in the first days Of the
Union, when citizens were sent out 70 claim do
miniOn the unpeOpled Territories Of the na-
tiOn, it would have been to establish and support
government through the ballOt-box irrespective O
color. And then those governments once admitted
as States, it would have been to organize theil
militia and bear arms, irrespective of color il
paying taxes and erecting churches and school
houses in building bridges and roads, in reclaim
| ing the wilderness and crowding the rivers with
commerce, it would have been on the basis Of man.
hood, the power Of muscle, and dominion Of will.
Mr.. President, in the opening Of this discussion
4 the Senator from Wisconsin declared:
sTtfSavery eiferent thing to take away from free
man privilege long exercised BY him and By his an
cestors from what IL confer one never before en-
joyed upon Ignorant half civilized Africans, Just
! leased from slavery"
Sir, aver that we did not rob these white rebels
of the South Of any privilege we captured them
as public enemies after they had abandoned every
! rriviIege under our Constitution. The Senator
/ himself admits, and quote lis own language:
ssFor their criminal acts We would have the lega
right to try and convict and sentence TO imprisonment
| aad TO death"
/ But. instead Of punishment and death, we COM
menee to remit them back again to their original
standing, and at once reclothe them with all for
feted rights excepting, in few instances that oi
voting while this instance the prohibition is not
1 final but temporary.
Again, the Senator charges that it is an atrOOOui