Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-04-26
2lst of Dec. 1865, for the Christmas


As soon as he arrived home, Mr.. Blaine
in communication with certain OF his
friends, pointed ont the fatal effect OF
the proposed constitutional amendment to
New England. where the voting population
was so much less in proportion to the
whole people than in the Western and
newer States. His mind was engrossed
with the subject, and before leaving for
Washington. or ere yet the holidays had
expired, in another interview he stated to
them that he had devised an amendment
which would cure the trouble, which would
ward off the danger of increased repre-
tation of Southern rebels. without at the
same time sacrificing the just representa-
tive strength of New England and the
older States, and he read to them the draft
of that which afterwards became so widely
known as the blaine Amendment" On
submitting the proposition, Mr. Blaine
supported it in speech, which was pub
lished. in the language of the Advertiser,
'in every republican newspaper in the
land" Indeed so able, and so effective
was Mr.. Blaine's argument against basing
representation on the voting population,
p, that no one ever preached that proposition
again. His resolution was at once re-
| ferred to the Joint Committee on Recon-
struction, of which Senator Fessenden was
chairman, it received the sanction of that
committee, and it was substantially and
finally incorporated into the Constitution
as the Fourteenth Amendment. and there
by forever associates the name of Blaine"
with most important change in the Or
ganic law of the land.
But we suppose in defeating the pro-
posed amendment of the roting basis. and
in devising an amendment which secured
at once the rights of the Freedmen of the
South and preserved intact the represen-
tive strength of New England, Mr.. Blaine
exhibited no wisdom" did nothing ''for
his State or country" and "exerted no in
fiuence on the course of legislation" Will
the Advertiser please tell us what would
have been wisdom under the circum-
stances, and in what way Mr.. Blaine could
have served his State or countrv9 We
pause for a reply.
| On the Fourteenth Amendment being
adopted by Tennessee, Congress imme-
diately admitted her to representation and
then adjourned. The exciting canvass of
1866 Immediately followed, in which the
blaine Amendment" was before the peo-
pie of the United States as the leading
topic, and the result was the triumphant
vindication of the congressional policy and
the total rout of the democratic party
and its Johnson cohorts. Had the other
rebel States followed the example of Ten
nessee, they would undoubtedly have all
been admitted on the same terms, but
under the delusive promises and preten-
sions of the Northern Democracy they re-
jected the proffier. When Congress as
sembled in Dec 1866, reconstruction was
still incomplete, and the very first speech
made after the session opened was by MI.
Blaine, who declared that the South, hav-
ing declined to accept the Fourteenth
Amendment as the basis of reconstruc-
ton. Congress was no longer bound by
it, but should now demand universal suf-
frage as the condition precedent.
This was the first speech in either branch
of Congress distinctly making this de-
mand. Shortly afterwards Thaddeus
Stevens reported from the Reconstruction
Committee the famous bill placing the
Rebel States under military government,
with no provision whatever for their ad-
mission to representation whereupon
Mr.. Blaine moved another amendment,
which became almost equally famous with
the one to which we have referred, and
equally identified with his own name.
1t was in these words -
"SEc. -. And be II further enacted, That
when the constitutional amendment proposed
as article fourteen by the Thirty ninth Con-
gress shall have become part of the Consti-
tuition of the United States by the ratification
of three fourths Of the States now represented
In Congress, ana when any one OF the late so
called confederate States shall have given its
assent to the same and concerned its consttu-
ton and laws thereto in all respects; and
when it shall have provided by its constitution
that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed
equally and impartiaily by all male citizens of
the United States, twenty-one years old and
upward, without regard to race, color, or pre-
vious condition of servitude, except such as
may be DISTINGUISHED for participating in the
late rebellon and when said constitution
| shall have been submitted to the voters of said
State, as thus defined, for ratification or re-
lection; and when the constitution if ratified
by the popular vote shall have been submitted
to Congress for examination and approval
said State shall, fits constitution be approved
by Congress, be declared entitled to represen-
tation in Congress, and Senators and Repre-
sentatives shall be admitted therefrom on
their taking the oath prescribed by law, and
then and thereafter the preceding sections of
this bill shall be imperative in said State"
After prolonged and exciting discus
sion in both branches of Congress, this
second blaine Amendment" was adopted
and is almost rerbatim the 9Th section of