Year: 1868

grant parQOnS ana reprleVeS He may
receive ambassadors and other foreign
ministers he may commission officers
of the United States when properly ap
pointed, and he shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed. These are
the powers which are vested in the Presi-
dent, Independent of Congress and co
operation with Congress. Now, it is
manifest that none of these powers in
clude that Of reconstructing State
government, and when Andrew johnson
undertook to do SO he committed q usur
patton upon the rights of the people and
upon the Constitution of the United
States, which could have brought mon
arch of England to the block. There
was no pretense or color Of law in his
whole proceedings. He called constitu-
tional conventions to frame governments,
declared the qualification of voters, and
the qualifications of those who should
be elected to the conventions But sup
pose those voted who were rot qualified
suppose those came to the conven
tions who were not entitled to seats un-
der his proclamation-what was the con :
sequence? He could not punish, for
this simple reason that he could not
make law. His whole proceedings were
unauthorized, and necessarily and con-
sequently void. But as to the power Of
the President, need not push step
further or discuss it at length, because
the Democrats themselves concede he
has no power, and as far as discussion
of this question as part of our plat
form is concerned, it is sufficient to rest
it there They admit this point.


The question then recurs, where is the
power Of the General Government to
frame governments in the rebel States
And in the first place. the general propo
sition may be laid down that if the
power is in the Government of the
United States at ALL and is not conferred
by express words upon the President or
some other officer of the Government,
then it is surely vested in Congress; be-
cause the Constitution provides that
Congress shall have the power to make
all laws necessary and proper to carry
into execu ion the power conferred upon
Congress and all other powers conferred
upon the United States, or any depart
ment or officer thereof; consequently, if
the power Of framing these State gov
ernmerts reposes in the General Govern
nent, and not in the people Of Georgia,
and, as it is conceded, every man can
settle the question for himself, by thirty
minutes reading, that the Constitution
does not locate this power in the Presi-
dent, or any other specific officer, or in
the courts; then it follows, necessarily,
that this power of the Government is to
be exercised through the power Of Con
gress to make laws to carry that power
into execution.


But do not propose to rest here upon
this mere general proposition, although
it is entirely conclusive. There are other
provisions of the Constitution and other
distinct grounds upon which this power
may be safely rested


4H0 SOHStitUtlOu pTONlucS VIbt AOu
gress may admit new States. Now,
what is the meaning of admitting a new
State, and what is a State, to be admit
ted Half the confusion that the pub
lie labor under regarding this subject
has arisen from the fact that the word
State in the Constitution is used with
various meanings. Sometimes it is used
in geographical sense and sometimes
in political sense. For instance, when
the Constitution provides that any man
who commits crime shall be tried in
the State where it was committed, it
means geographical State, called the
State of New York, or of Georgia, DC
When it says State may be party to
any suit in the Supreme Court of the
United States, it means State govern
ment, or a corporation which is created
for that purpose. Take, for instance,
Illinois. In geographical sense, Illi-
nois was always in the Union; her soil
was always Federal dominion; her peo
pie were always citizens of the United
States. But the State of Illinois, which
was admitted into the Union by an act
of Congress, means the corporation or
State government which was organized
by the people for that purpose.


Therefore, when the Constitution says
that Congress shall provide for the ad
mission of 'snew States," it means s'new
State governments.


The Democrats say, ssThis is conced-
ed, but Georgia is not new State
Georgia was one of the original thirteen,
one of the old States, and clearly that
provision of the Constitution does not
apply to your case.


DIT fr:a IL h o-pl,. 4