Year: 1868

the Constitution has provided that Con
gress shall pass all laws necessary tn OK
ecute all the powers which the Constitu-
ton has conferred upon the United States.
This has been so frequently decided by
the supreme Court of the United States
so clearly has it been announced by Chief
Justice Gardner especially in the Rhode
Island case, as 1t is called, reported in the
seventh of Howard, where he distinctly
lays down the doctrine that il is the prov-
ince of Congress, and Congress alone, to
determine whether the form of govern.
ment is republican. 1t must also have the
power to say whether there is q govern
ment there at all, because without so doing
it cannot determine whether particular
form of government is republican or not
and that this duty rests upon Congress
and when 1t acts in the premises its de-
cision is binding upon every part of the
Government, and cannot be questioned in
court This doctrine is so clearly and
fully decided that there Is no necessity of
argument beyond referring you to those
decisions. In two or three cases
they have been before the Supreme
Court, and have been settled beyond dis.
pute, and upon those three grounds that
have mentioned first-that the power is
clearly in the Congress of the United
States, and is not conferred specifically
upon any other department; secondly
the power In Congress to admit new State
Governments covers this State, and au-
thorizes Congress to organize a govern
ment for the purpose of being admitted 1;
and thirdly, the duty which the Constitu-
tion imposes upon Congress to take care
that at all times there shall he republican



that ground alone the power is clearly de-
ducible-from these three facts from
these three separate and independent
sources, we derive the power of Congress
to organize State Governments for the re-
bellious States which were left at the end
of the war without any form of govern
ment whatever. have proposed this even
ing to confine myself strictly to discus
sion of the Constitutional power of Con-
gress, and shall leave it for another occa-
sion, perhaps at Galena, on Friday even
ing, to discuss the other independent uues-
ton, ofhow wisely and how well Congress
has exercised that Constitutional power.
This is distinct subieot-too full to be
spoken of here tonight under the cireum-
stances, and at the foot of speech. l
shall leave the subject of reconstruction,
then, with this imperfect discussion of the
Constitutional power of Congress. That
is the only issue which the Democratic
platform makes upon the subject. They
do not question the details of their acts.
They struck the death blow to the system
by saying that the whole proceedings are
unconstitutional, and therefore void. If l
have succeeded in convincing you that
Congress has the Constitutional power,
my object has been accomplished, and that
was all intended to do when l came upon
the platform.


EXTRACT FROM GOV oGIEsBY SPEECH.


There is another part of the trouble.
There is another part of the record that
we are responsible for, say the Democrats.
We had not enough money to carry out
the war. We issued oCr bonds and sold
them to our people, and sold them in for
eign countries where they were willing
and able to buy them. We sold them be-
cause we had to do it. 1t was terrible
burden. 1t was a terrible necessity. Yet
we had to do it. We had to pay the sol
diers We had to pay the current expenses
of the war. We threw them upon the
market But there was no one to buy
them. The specie banks were suspended.
Like brave and sensible men, under the





the National Treasury notes. We issued
the greenbacks. You have received them,
and made them legal tender. We have,
as it were, given our promissory notes
put them in circulation to make gold and
silver, and have thus become responsible
for them-tor our good faith and good
character. We said to the citizens we will
be responsible for these greenbacks-we
will pay them back in gold at par at the
earliest practicable day. But we cannot
pay them now The bondholders said, put
them in circulation among the people. But
II you expect to pay them in National cur
rency, you must say how much you are
going to issue-how many millions paya-
BILE to bearer. We replied through our
American Congress. We said that we
would pay our debts We said to the
people of Europe, to the people North and
South, we will issue $450,0O0,00O and
pledge ourselves to issue no more. They
said, very we'll. The soldiers said, all
right. We do not go to war to fight for
money-to fight for the glory of the thing
but to fight for a distressed country-to
fight for liberty. If the public had not
/ done any more, we would have been salts
fed, and the soldier would not have grum-
bled.


We gave this currency to the country,
based upon our honor pledged to redeem
IT out of the Treasury l believe at New
York city, whenever we will be able to dc
so, In gold and silver. We never said we
would redeem one greenback with another
! Laughter We never promised the men
of the country that thing 1t was deceit
and dishonesty of which the Republican
party would not be guilty. We stand
I raSnOnQibIn fnF auarNy no olr
was issued through the war, and we meant
to be responsible. We must be honest tC
succeed. There is too much intelligence, toe
much patriotism, too many reasoning
thoughtful men, to be misled by the deceit
and dishonesty at this age of the world
I Let us stand upon our record. The bonds
/ put out to bear interest in gold will be
paid in gold, and the bonds that are to
bear interest in currency draw interest in
/ currency. We have given our faith tc
/ that. Now, if it was not for suspicion
in the public mind that we were about tc
/ depart from our integrity, we all know
/ that the four hundred and fifty or ten
/ hundred and fifty millions of greenbacks
and bonds would sell higher in the New
York, the London and Frankfort markets
than they do to-day. We are responsible
for the whole action of the National Con
| gress, and it is our duty to come before
the country and account for it / will
! but tell you what we are responsible for
if you will listen to me. When the soldiers
came back from the war we had to pay
them millions of back pay. What did We
dos We levied taxes upon everything in
| the United States, almost-that we did
] Laughter We were determined that
the soldier should be paid, and that Tho
rebellion should be put down, and we
were determined that we were the meI
that would do it. LApplause When VIZ
found these golden principles written upor
our hearts, we early found them written il
the Constitution of the United States
Very well. We then went to work u
provide pensions for every manned anC
wounded soldier-for every woman wht
/ had lost her huEband in fha Vvar- foi