The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-01-30

By the first section we declared that
all men born upon our soil were citi-
zens 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 where
class or. race of men were ex-
cluded from the right ofsufrage they
should not be counted in the base
of representation-an obvious justice
that no reasonable man for a mo-
ment could deny; that if 100000 of
people down South were to have. no
suffrage, the men living in their
midst and surrounding them, and de-
priving them of all political rights,
should not have members of Congress
on their account, I say the justice of
the second clause has never been sue
cessfully impugned by any argument,
/ care not how ingenious 1t may be.
What was the third clause? 1t was
that the leaders of the South. those
men who had once taken an official
oath to support the Constitution of
the United States, and had after
ward committed perjury by 60
ing into the rebellion, should be made
ineligible to any Office under the Gov
eminent Of the United States, or of
State. It was very small disfran-
chisement. It was intended to with
hold power from those leaders by
whose fundamentally we bad lost
nearly half million lives and untold
treasure. The justice of that disfran-
chisement could not be dispr0ved.
And what was the fourth clause of
the amendment? That this Govern
ment should never assume 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 az we'll as in the South.
How could any man oppose that
amendment unless he was In
favor of this Government assum-
ing 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 per-
haps hereafter to be regarded as vital
amendment. they were committing
themselves in principle, as they had
been before by declaration, to the
doctrine that this Government was
bound to pay for the slaves, and that
it was Just and right that we should
assume and pay the rebel debt. This
amendment, as have before said, was
rejected, and. whenCongress assembled
in December, 1866, they were confront
ed by the fact that every proposition
80 aov~oror,1ca haI hoap ro;oota1 Z.
every halfway measure had been
spurned by the rebels themselves, and
they had nothing left to do but to be-
gin the work of reconstruction them
selves; and in February, 1867, Con-
gress for the first time entered
upon the execution of the guaran-
tee provided for in the Constitu-
ton by the passage of the first re-
construction law. A supplementary
bill was found necessary In March,
another one in July, and / believe
another is found necessary at this
time; but the power is with Con-
gress. Whatever it shall deem neces-
sary, whether it be in the way of col
ored suffrage, whether it be in the
way of military power-Whatever
Congress shall deem necessary Ia the
execution of this guarantee is con-
elusive upon the courts, upon every
State, and upon the people of this
nation. Sir, when Congress entered
upon this work it had become appar-
ent to all men that loyal repu blican
State governments could not be erect
ed 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 leav-
ing the suffrage with the white
men, and by leaving with the
white people of the South the ques-
ton as to when the colored people
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 Govern
ment more bitterly than ever; when
it was found that they prosecuted the
loyal men, both white and black, In
their midst; when it was found that
northern men who had gone down there
were driven out by social tyranny, by
thousand annoyances, by the inse-
curity of life and property, then it be-
came apparent to all men Of intelli-
gence 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 continually by military
power, or we must use such ma
chinery upon such a new basis as
would enable loyal republican State
Governments to be raised up; and In
the last resort, and [ will say Congress
waited long, the nation waited long.
experience had to come to the rescue
of reason before the thing was done