Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-02-07

l claim peace, or declare the political
/ condition of those States, until he shall
/ first have been thereunto authorized by
an act of Congress.
I, therefore, Mr.. President, take the
/ proposition as cOncIusivelY established,
I both by reason and authOritV, that this
clause of the Constitution can be exeeu-
ted only by Congress; and taking thai
as esta blished, i now proceed to consid-
er what are the powers of Congress in
It shall be executed, and what means
may be employed for that purpose. The
Constitution does not define the means.
It does not say how the guarantee shall
be executed. All that is left to the de-
termination Of Congress- AS to the par
ticular character Of the means that must
he emploYed, that, take it, viii de-
pend dpou the peculiar circumstances OF
each case; and the extent of the power
viii depend upon the other Questionas to
what may be required for the purpose
of maintaining or guaranteeing g loyal
republics form of government in each
State. I use the word loyal, although
is not used in the Constitution, because
LOYALTY is an inhering qualification not
only in regard to persons who are to I'LL
public offices, but IN regard to State
Governments, and we have no right to
recognize a State Government that is
not IoyaI to the Government Of the Uni
means that are not prescribed IN the
Constitution, call the attention of the
Senate to the eighteenth clause of sec
tfon eight of the first article of the Con-
stitution of the United States, which de
elares that
ssThe Congress shall have power to
make all laws which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into execution
the FOREGOING powers and all other pow
ers vested by this Constitution in the
Government of the United States or any
department or officer thereOf.P
Here is a declaration Of what would
otherwise be a general principle any
how, that Congress shall have the pow
er to pass all laws necessary 10 carry
into execution all powers that are Yes-
ted in the Government under the Con-
stitution. AS Congress has the power
to guarantee or maintain loyal repub-
Ifcan government in each State, it has
the right to use whatever means may
be necessary for that purpose. AS L be-
fore remarked, the character of the
means VIII 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 a question
to the courts, and having il tested in
that way lin another case it may 20 the
very foundation of the Government it.
self. And now PROFOUND this PROPOSE
ton; that Congress, after deliberation, af-
ter long and bloody experience, shall
come to the conclusion that loyal repub-
fedand maintained in the rebel States
upon the basis Of the white population,
il has a right 10 raise up and make Yo-
ters 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 guarantees. If
we have found after repeated trials that
io1ff
Governments that shall ausWerth pur-
pose that such governments are inten-
ded to answer can not be successfully
founded upon the basis of the whitespop-
ulation, because the majority of that
population are disloyal, then Congress
has a right to raise up a new loyal voting
population for the purpose Of establish
ing these Governments in the execution
ofthe guarantee. I think, sir, this propo-
sitiOn is so clear that it lis not necessary
TO elaborate it. We are required to find
in the Constitution a particular grant
of power, and we ind also another
grant of power authorizing us to use
whatever means may be necessary. to
execute the first; aud we find that the
Supreme Court of the United States has
said that the Judgment Of Congress up
on this question shall be eoncIusiVe
that it can not De reviewed by the courts,
that is a purely political matter and
-
that raising up colored men to the right
of suffrage is a means necessary to the
execution Of that power, is a determina-
ton which can not be reviewed by the
courts, and is conclusive upon the peo-
pie of this country.
THE PRESIDENTS RECONSTRUCTION
WORK.
The President of the United States.
assuming that he had the power to ez-
cute the guarantee, and basing his proc
lamatiOn upon it, went toward in the
work of reconstruction. 1t was under
stood at that time-it was so announced, /,
if not by himself, at least formally by
the Secretary Of State, Mr.. 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 it,
would be submitted to Congress for its
approval or disapprOvaI at the next ses-
thet determination, I believe that all
would have been well, and that the
present state of things would not exist.
But, sir, the Executive undertook final
lY to execute the guarantee himself
without the cooperation Of Congress.
He appointed provisional Governors,
giving to them unlimited power until
such time as the new State Govern
ments shall be erected. He prescribed,
in his proclamation, who should exer-
else she right Of suffrage in the election
Ofdelegates. And allow me, for one
moment, to refer to that. He says in
his proclamation;
HNo person shall be qualified as an
eIector, or shall be eligible as mem
Der of such Convention, unless he shall
have previously taken and subCribed
the oath of amnesty, as set forth in the
Presidents proclamation of May 20, A.
D. 1869
which was issued on the day, and was
a part Of the same transaction
"And is a voter qualified as prescrib-
ed by the Constitution and laws of the
State of North Carolina in force i'm
mediately before the 10th 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. In the proc
lamation of amnesty he says;
"The following classes of persons are
excepted from the benefits Of this proc
iamation'-
He then announced fourteen classes of
persons
81. All who are or shall have been
pretended civil or diplomatic officers, or
otherwise domestic or foreign agents,
Of the. pretended confederate govern
ment"
'sl3- All persons who have voluntari-
ly participated in said rebellion, and
the estimated value of whose taxable
property is over twenty thousand dol
lars.i'
And twelve other classes, estimated
to number at the least two hundred and
fifty thousand or three hundred thous-
and men, while the disfranchisement
that has been created by Congress does
not extend perhaps to more than forty
Eve thousand or fifty thousand persons
atthe furthest. These provisional Cover
nors, under the authority of the Presi-
dent, 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 Recommendation acts Of Con-
gress. After those constitutions were
formed the President went forward
and accepted them as being loyal and
republican in their character. Heauth-