Year: 1868

had long been recognized by every


department of the Government until


the Dred Scott decision was made in


1857. The second section provided


that where class or race of men were


excluded from the right of suffrage


they should not be counted in the


basis of reprcsentation-an iobyious
justice that no reasonable man for A


moment could deny that il four mil


lion 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 ConSress


on their account. ! say the Justice Of


the second clause has never been sue


cesstully impugned by any argument,


| care not how ingenious it 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 aftcrward


committed perjury by going into the


rebellion, should be made ineligible to


any office under the Government of


the United States or ofa State. 1t


was very small disfranchisement. 1t


was intended to withhold power from


those leaders by whose instrumcntality


we had lost nearly half Il million HIVES
and untold treasure. The Justice of
that disiranchscment could not be dis


proved. And what was the fourth
clause OF the amendment? That this
government should never assume nor


pay any part Of the rebel debt, that it
it should never pay the rebels for
their slaves. This was bitterly OBJ
posed in the North as well as in the
South. How could any man oppose
that amendment unless he wasFin
favor OF this Government assuming a
portion orall 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 perhaps hereafter to be
regarded as vital amendment they
were committing themselves in prin-
ciple, as they had been before by de-
claration, 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 when Congress
assemblsi in. December, 1866, they
were confronted by the fact that every
proposition of compromise had been
rejected every, halfway measure had
been spurned by the rebels themselves.
and they had nothing left to do but to
begin the work of reconstruction
themselves; and in February, 1867, |
Congress for the first time entered
upon the execution Of the guarantee
provided for in the Constitution by
the passage of the first reconstruction |
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 Congress. Whatever it shall
deem necessary, whether it be in the
way of colored suffrage, whether it be
in the way Of military power-what-
ever Congress shall deem necessary in
the execution of this guarantee is con-
elusive upon the courts, upon every
State, and upon the people of this ma
ton. ....


Sir, when Congress entered upon
this work it had become apparent to
all men that loyal republican State
governments could not be erected 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 leaving
the suffrage with the white men, and
by leaving with the white people of
the South the question 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 Government 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 an
noyances, by the insecurity of life and
property, then it became apparent to
all men ofintelligence that reconstruc-
tion 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 con-
tinually by military power, or we must
use such machinery upon such a new
basis as would enable loyal republican
State governments to be. raised up;
and in the last resort-and i will say
Congress waited long, the nation wait
ed long, experience had to come to the
rescue of reason before the thing was
done-in the last resort, and as the
last thing to be done, Congress deter
mined to dig through all the rubbish,
dig through the soil and the shifting
sands, and 80 down to the eternal rock,
and there, upon the basis Of the ever
lasting principle of equal and exact
justice to all men, we have planted the
column Of reconstruction and, sir, it
will arise slowly but surely, and "the
gates of hell shall not prevail against
it." Whatever dangers we apprehcnd
from the introduction of the right of