Year: 1868

provided for in this clause of the Consti tuition Is placed in Congress, and nowhere else; and therefore the necessary reading of the Constitution is placed in Congress and nowhere else; and therefore the ne cessary reading of the Constitution is con 6rmed by the highest judicial authority which we have.

 MT. JOHNSON you read from the opinion delivered by the Chief Justice? Mr. MORTON N-Yes, Sir: the opinion de livered by Chief Justice Fancy. He de, cides that this power is rot judicial; that 1t is one of the high powers conferred up on Congress; that it is not subject to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, because it is political in it's nature. It is sa distinct enunciation of the doctrine that this guarantee is not to be executed by the President or by the Supreme Court, but by the Congress of the Uni ted States, in the form of law to be passed by that body and to be submitted to the President for his approval; and. should he disapprove, it may become a law by being passed by two thirds majority over his head. Now l will call the atten- tion of my friend from Wisconsin to some other authority. AS he has been pleased to refer to former speech of mine to show that am not quite consistent, will refer to Q vote given by him in 1864 on a very important provision. On the 1st of July, 1864, the Senate having under considern- tion, as in Committee of the Whole, '' a bill to guarantee to certain States whose governments have been usurped or over thrown 8 republican form of government, '' MT. Brown of Missouri offered an amend ment to strike out all the bill after the o1a 4~ IL >.L.l which will ask tlte Secretary to read The Secretary read as follows:

 ''That when the inhabitants of any State have been declared in state of instruction against the United States by proclamation of the Presi- dent by force and virtue of the act entitled An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes approved July l3, 1861, they shall be, and are hereby declared to be, incapable of casting any vote for electors oi President or Vice President of the United States or of electng Senators or Representatives in Con- gross until said nsurrection in said State is SUD- pressed or abandoned, and said inhabitants have returned to their obedience to the Government ot the United States and until such return to obedi- ence shall be declared by proclamation of the President, issued by virtue of an act of Congress- hereafter to be passed, authorizing the same'

 Mir. MoRToN.-The Honorable Senator from Wisconsin voted for that in Commit tee of the Whole and on it's final passage l call attention to the conclusion of the amendment, which declares that they shall be-

 Incapable of casting any vote for electors o1 President or Vice President of the United States of electing Senators or Representatives in Con, grCss until said instruction is suppressed or aban doned, and said inhabitants have returned to theil obedience to the Government of the United States and until such return and obedience shall be de clared by proclamation of the President, issued by virtue o an act ofCongress hereafter to be passed authorizing the same"

 Recognizing that state of war shall be regarded as continuing until it shall be de clared no longer to exist, by the President, in virtue of an act of Congress to hereaf. ter passed. am glad to find by looking at the vote that the distinguished Senator from Maryland, (NIr. Johnson,) voted fol this proposition, and thus recognized the doctrine for which l am now contending that the power to execute the guarantee is vested in Congress alone, and that it is fo1 Congress alone to determine the status and condition of those States, and that the President has no power to proclaim peace or to declare the political condition of those States until he shall have first been there, unto authorized by an act of Congress. l therefore, MT President, take the proposi- tion as conclusively established. both by reason and authority, that this clause oi the Constitution can be executed only by Congress.

 We are not required to find in the Con- stitution particular grant of power for this purpose, but we find general grant of power, and we find also another grant of power authorizing us to use whatever means may be necessary to execute the first and we find that the Supreme Court of the United States has said that the judgment of Congress upon this question shall be conclusive, that 1t cannot be reviewed by the Courts, that it is a purely political mat ter; and, therefore the determination of of Congress, that raising up colored men to the right of suffrage Is 8 means necessa- ry to the execution of that power is a de- termination which cannot be reviewed by the Courts, and is conclusive upon the peo- pie of this country The President of the United States, assuming that he had the power to this guarantee, and basing his proclamation upon it, went forward in the work of reconstruction. It was under stood at that time-it was so announced, if not by himself, at least formally by the Secretary of State, MT. Seward-that the Governments which he would erect during the vacation of Congress were to be erect GU us pfOF1SlOuil Ouly, Gllat HIS IIlau Ci re- construction and the work that was to be done under 1t would be submitted to Con- gress for it's approval or disapproval at the next session. If the President had adher- ed to that determination believe that all would have been we'll, and that the present state of things would not exist. But, Sir, the Executive undertook finally to execute the guarantee himself without the cooper atlon of Congress. He appointed provi- sional governors, giving to them unlimited power until such time as the new State governments should be erected. He pres, cribed in his proclamation who should ex. ercise the right of suffrage in the election of delegates And allow me for one mo ment to refer to that. He says in his proc lamation:

 'sNo person ahall be qualified as an elector, ol shall be eligible as member of such convention unless he shall have previously taken and subscrb ed the oath of amnesty, as set forth in the Pres l dents proclamation of May 29, A. D. 1885,"

 which was issued on the same day and was l part of the same transaction

 s'And is voter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State!of North Caroh na in force immediately before the 20th day ot May, A. D. 1661."

 The persons having the right to vote must have the right to vote by the laws o1 the State, and must, in addition to that, have taken the oath of amnesty. The Pres ident disfranchised in voting for delegates to the conventions from 25O, ,0O0 to 3O0,00C men. His disfranchisementw was far great