The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-29
FIN Old Cine lUar Settlement.
Two Political Theories Put to the Test at the Close of
the Civil War.

riouS than are those which are pre-
! sented in the islands which have been
/ gained from Spain. Those problems
! were more serious than these because
I that war lasted many times longer
I than this one, many times more men
/ participated in il, the destruction
! which it wrought was much greater,
( the passions which it excited were
more intense, and it was a civil war,
which usually presents greater dlfll-
culties in the settlement than foreign
wars occasion. The war referred TO,
of course, was that of 1S61-5. The fact
that those questions were settled ulti-
mately should show the country that
the obstacles which viii present them
selves in the United StateSS new pos
sessions, Which are trivial in the COM
parison, can readily be suT1nounted.
Some of the terms of the adjustment
were harsh-much harsher probably,
than they would have been had Lin
coin lived-but, it must be remembered
the passion and prejgdiceS which In
cited them We're unavoidable in the re-
lations between two communities
which has just finished a destructive
four years war against each other and
which had been on the point of war for
many years previous. Moreover, all
these harsher features, through nom
enforcement, removal by congress and
annulment by the supreme court, have,
since been eliminated. The story Of
that settlement has an especial interest
at the present time.
AppomattoX, which ended the civil
war. overthrow the cOnfederacy and
subVerted the governments of the IL
states comprising that regime, brought
more perpleXing problems to the ma
tional government than even that con-
flict presented. Were the states as en-
titles destroyed? If not, how were they
to be treated2 What process should
be adopted to restore them TO their old
relations to the Union? These questions
received many sorts of answers. Pres
ident Lincoln's answer was given in his
proclamation of Dec g. 1853, when, in
the language of his annual message of
the same date TO congress, he was look
ing ito the present and future, and
with reference to a resumption of the
national authority within the states
wherein that authority has been sus-
pended" In this proclamation pardon
was offered to all confederates Except
a small specified number of their mill
tary leaders, who would make oath to
henceforth support the constitution of
the United States. 1t further set forth
that whenever in any of the confeder-
ate states a number of persons not less
than tenth of the votes cast in such
state in 1860, having taken this oath.
election laws of the state existing i'm
mediately before the sO-called act of
secession, and excluding all others,
shall re-eStabliSh a state government,
which shall be republican. and in no
wise contravening said oath, such shall
be recognized as the true government
of the state by the president
Lincolns plan of dealing with the
confederate states, as here outlined,
was the first complete and practical
scheme of reconstruction formulated by
anybody in authority Several distinct
i've theories of the status of the confed-
crate states had previously been stated
in congress, however. a resolution in
PRODUCED in the house on July %, 1851
by John J. Crittenden, which passed
both branches with a close approach to
declared, as the sense OF !
that this war is not waged |
upon our part in any spirit of oppres-
sion, nor for any purpose of conquest
or subjugation, nor purpose of over |
throwing or interfering with the rights !
or established institutions of those !
states, but to defend and maintain the
supremacy of the constitution. and to |
preserve the Union with all the dignity, |
equality and rights of the several /
states impaired. and that as soon as |
these objects are accomplished the war |
ought to cease.
i
of the states which was here shown |
by all parties at the outset of the war |
began to disappear gradually among /
The Republicans as the war progressed, !
but i was entertained to the end by |
the Democrats in congress, except as
it had to be modified to meet the con-
dition of emancipation proclaimed by |
Lincoln on Jan. l. 1853 Lincoln's the
cry assumed, of CO Sc, the continued |
existence Of the sta -. This .orinciole
was affirmed IN the case of Texas VS..
" hite. in the December term of the
supreme court in 1868, in which Chief
Justice Chase read the courts decis-
on. which declared that the constitu-
ion. IN al IT'S provisions, looks to an
Ddestructible union Of indeStructible
states Under Lincoln's theory the
states were never out of the Union
put through the. illegal acts of their
officials their old relations to the I'm
on had been interru9ted, and it was
Lineolm's object to re-establiSh these
citations on the most lenient terms
practicable This, in substance, was
lac. presidential theory, as proposed by
lincoln. and as adopted, with such
raIiations IS the changing conditions
,eemed to him to demand, by Johnson,
Who went to the presidency on April
), 1865. at Lincoln's death.
The Democratic theory, as enunciat-
d by Pendleton, Holman, Voorhees,,
Tallandigham and others. in both
branches of congress. was likewise that
he states, as political entities, were #
lct destroyed by insurrection; that
hey had never left the Union, but that
heir officers were committing illegal
IctS. for which they could be punished.
[ differed from the presidential the
ny, however. in asserting that When
yer those officers resumed their du-
les. or other officers were put in their
places who would offer to perform the
luties imposed by the constitution and
tatuteS of the United States, the states
hculd be re-established in their old
without having to comply
With any other conditions, whether
rescribed by president or congress.
The Democratic theory was reStora-
ion. The presidents and all other the
ries We're reconstruction. Summers,
teVens'. the Davis Wade and the con-
were the other distinctive
heories on which reconstruction should ,
e based. Summers theory was put
onward in a series of resolutions ore ,
cnted in the senate on Feb. Il, 1862,
hitch We're never pressed for adoption,
ut which were published in all the
rominent papers of the north and
Tidely discussed. Summers theory was
hat by attempting to -seeede the states
ommitted suicide. they relapsing into !
territory; consequently, that slavery,
hich rests on state law, was abolish
q, and that congress duty was to set
p republican form of government in
hat territory, granting protection to
II its inhabitants, without distinction
{ color or class. Stevens theory, z
-hich was not formulated in any reso- c
Ition or measure. but was outlined in S
Deeches from 1861 onward, was that. l
no he /