The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-07-26


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Bile, has unfolded to me a new and yerv
strange chapter in the congressional his.
tory of the constitutional amendment
abolishing slavery in the United States.
L will telf you the tale as it MAS told to
me-. If it prove too long for this letter
will conclude it hereafter.
It will be remembered by your readers
that favorable action, on this great
amendment, was had during the last ses.
sion OF the 3Sth congress. During the
first session of the same Congress the
house had considered a resolution
submitting to the legislature of the sever.
al States proposition to adopt article l3
of the amendmentsfof the constitution of
the Uaitsd Stateawsh declares that
neither slavery norinvoluntary servit1de,
except as a punishment for crime, whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or
any place subject to their jurisdiction,
and that Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate legis.
latioa. But on the 18th day of June.
1864, the house rejected the resolution By.
vote of IS yeas, 66 nays not voting 2i.
Hall the absentees had voted for the
resolution the result would have been
116 yeas and IS nays, and the resolution
would have failed for want of the reouis.
ite majority oftwo.thirds.
The friends of the measure decided to
make o vigorous effort to push il through.
the national legislature during the last
session of the 3Sth congress- An accu.
rate canvass of the house showed that the
vote would probably stand, yeas LII,
nays 62; not voting, (democrats).
This would not secure the passage of the
resolution. 1t would therefore be neces
sary to; induce two more democrats to
vote for the resolution, and also to induce
one more democrat. to be absent
from the final roll call, and, at
the same time, to secure . every
republican vote. The vote would then
stand yeas 1l9, nays SO, not voting 5,
and the resolution would be adopted.
The .narrative-of my informant pro-.
ceeded as follows:
The committee Of elections Of the
house OF representatives in the 39th con-
gress consisted Of nine membess-seyen
republicans and two democrats. In one
OF the contested cases referred to the com
mittee BY the house, at the open
ing OF the tlrst session OF the
39thCo Congress, the committee was in
structed to ascertain and report which
party to, the contest held the prima tacae
title to the seat in dispute, without pre-
judice to the right of either party to
maintain his title on the trial of the case
on its merits. For convenience | will
name the parties to this contest, Living.
ston and Bingham. When the commit.
! tee came to vote on the prinaa tac;is case,
i FIVE of the nine members were in favor
i of Livingston. the democratic claimant,
/ and four ia favor of his repub.
lslican competitor. OF the msio.ity
three were republicans and two
were democrats. All who voted in the
minority were republicans. Accordingly
/ the report, presented by the committee
/ to the house was favorable to the demo.
crat. but the views of the minority were
1 favorable TO the republican. The case
was hotly contested ia the house. AT
lslenptt the Representative vho had charge
IF The caas nn the mart. If the minoritv
ended h;s sneech and took hiaS seat I
will cell lis name Brown. because it was
not Brown. on the principle "luc,ls a mon
lucendo.''
The seat Of the republican leader,
Thaddeus Stevens. was next to that 81
Brown. AS Brown sat down Mr. Stevens
said TO him: s'Well, Brown, Ishall vote
with Won: ,,1l1s but they'il bent Won. There's
4 an ,nndertow here That Won aon't sae. y
:. uThat nndertnw is Inst what + want In
see ;, replied Brown. II have been con.
scious, all day, that we were working
against hidden influences, which could
not understand
"Well, said Mr.. Stevens, "I'll tell you
the whole story. You will remember
that the emancipation amendment was
passed during the last session of the 38th
congress. The representatives to the
39t6 congress were elected before that
amendment was passed. Those represen.
tatiyes were elected in November, 1864
The resolution was adopted in January
1866. During the last session of congress
the republicans discovered that demo,
cratic votes were needed to carry the
resolution. Some of them made a trade
with Livingston. Dick Adams of Hi.
nois II chAnge the nams) managed the
business for the republicans. He prom:
ised this democrat, Livingston, that il
! he would vote for the emancipation
amendment, during the last session Of
the 38th congress, which he would have
done anyhow, his prin.a tacie title to the
contested sea. il the S9th congress should
be maintained. But ! was not party
to that agreement, and III be ID
lsif I'll vote for bin"
Ny informant assures ms that up te
/ the moment when Mr.. Stevens explained
1 what he called the "nndertow" IN the
case he had been inclined to expect 8
than Livingstone, and the republicans
nas .n,s aHlust tbe ,ea. svo ond
uPya tha .1ash nh dan nr. Feh,narv nor 1855 AT;v,
3u sn1 saoa;nsd % 90 uotau snd @ P;n,ha =,
lngsego iese.ssa :s Sse' 40 NJ @ PIE asM
oniy 20 flos, Eos tJa ~ nnto ~.
says Iha. tlU,c .ug usy =, snas so.o ~ W.
Il QOuS0, ID alCOO, Ut u0t6I lCdIucO dUJ