Year: 1864

may AcOts


The House having under consideration til,
bill to guarantee to certain States who's,


governments have been usurped or over


thrown republican form of government


Mr.. PENDLETON said:


Mr.. SPEAKER: | avail myself of the in


diligence granted me by the House to Ell


force quite at length the views which deem


pertinent to this debate. The details O


this bill require examination as well as it!


general policy. 1t provides that in all the


States whose governments are usurped OF


overthrown by persons in rebellion the Pres


ident shall appoint military governor


whose pay and emouments shall be those o.


brigadier general; that SO soon as this


governor is satisfied that the people of the


State shall have sufficiently returned tC


their obedience to the Constitution and laws


of the United States" he shall cause an


enrolment to be made Of the white male


citizens resident in their respective counties


by the marshal and his deputies, who shall


tender to each one the oath to support the


Constitution. If one tenth part of the per-


sons enrolled in each county shall take this


oath, he shall by proclamation ''invite the


loyal people of the State to elect delegates


to convention" He shall then divide the


State into election districts assign to each


its number of delegates, designate the day
and the place for holding the election, ap-
point commissioners to superintend the vot-
ing, and proride an adequate force to keep
the peace. The bill prescribes the qualifica-
ton Of electors. They must be loyal, white
male citizens of the United States resident
in the county, enrolled as aforesaid and
must have taken the oath prescribed by the
act Of 1862; and no person who has held any
office, civil or military, State or confederate
under the rebel usurpation, or who has vol
unfairly borne arms against the L. States
shall be entitled to vote for or to be elected
as delegate. The oath shall be taken by
every person before he shall be allowed to
vote, and his vote shall be excluded if the
commissioners, Notwithstanding his oath,
shall believe that he has held any such Office
or voluntarily borne arms The returns of
election shall be made to the governor who
shall canvass them, declare the result CON
vene the delegates, administer to each of
them the said oath, and preside over their
The bill then provides that
the convention shall declare:


First. That no person who has held or ex-
ercised any office, civil or military, State or
under the usurping power shall
vote for or be a member of the Legislature
or Governor.


Second. That involuntary seryitude is for
ever prohibited, and the freedom of all par
ties is guaranteed i'll said State.


THIRD. No debt, State or confederate, crea-
ted by or under the sanction of the usurping
power shall be recognized or paid by the
State.


And having done so it shall proceed to
establish a State constitution which shall
,mbody these provisions, and which shall
DC submitted for ratification to the electors
who chose the delegates If the constitu-
ion shall be ratified by them it shall be GER
ified to the President, who shall, with the
assent of Congress, by proclamation recog-
lize the State government and constitution
rs the constitutional government Of such
State, and from and after such recognition
Senators, and electors for
President and Vice President may be elected
n such State according to the laws of the
State and of the United States.


If the convention refuse to make the re-
luired declaration the governor shall dis
olive it, but a new convention may at any
ime afterwards be ordered by him under the
dvice Of the President.


The governor shall see that the laws of the
United States, and the laws of the State in
orce when the State government was over
brown, shall be faithfully executed; he
hall assess and collect the same amount of
axes as was provided for by the State in the
ear preceding its secession; and shall apply
he money so collected to the expenses of his
administration, and shall pay over the bal
tn hn l,.no, nf /
he President shall appoint such officers as
7ere provided for in the State constitution,
nut neither they nor the governor shall re-
ognize or regard any law or custom where
y any person was held to involuntary SER
itude in the State.


The bill then provides that involuntary
ervitude is forever abolished in all the
tates in rebellion, that persons held in bon
age are set free, that they shall be discharg-
d by hdbeas corpus, and that to restrain
hem of their liberty shall be punishable by
ne and imprisonment; and by the last sec
ion it is enacted that any person who, after
IS passage, shall hold any Office, civil or
Military, State or confederate, i'll the rebel |
ervice shall not be citizen of the United
tates.


These are the provisions of this bill. The
entleman from Maryland Mr. Davis face
ously entities it "a bill to guaranty to GER
lin States whose governments have been
surped Or overthrown republican form of
oyernment.


At last the mask has been thrown off. At
Ist the .pretenses have all been laid aside.
hree years of war have done the work, and
lie purposes and objects of the Republican
arty have been at last acknowledged. This
i'll is the consummation of its statesman
nip, the fruit of its experience, the demon
ration of its purposes. The gentleman
ON Maryland introduced it !; it is under
ood to be distasteful to some of his party
lends; but it is a party measure; it will be
Dted for by every member of the Republi-
m organization; it defines their ideas of
nion; it interprets their construction of
lie Constitution. AS such aacept it. We
ave had double dealing, hypocrisy, and
aud for the last three years. We have had
Use professions, false names and double
ID, taxes collected, battles fought, under
le pretence that the war was for the Union,
le old Union, the Union Of the Constitu-
on. These were the catchwords for the
atriotic people. In the secret council
1ambers of the party they were sneered at
devices with which to ensnare the inno-
mt, to deceive the ignorant, to coax the OBJ
mate: They were to be discarded as soon
] in+he heat of war, in the evaporation of
assion, in the exuItation of victory, or in
lie bitterness of defeat and disaster and OPP
ression, it would be safe to divulge the
-eat conspiracy against the Union, the CON
confederation, the principles of
zee government.


That time has come. The veil is drawn
vide, We see clearly The party in pos
ssion of the powers of the Government is
1t seeks to use those powers


destroy the Government, to change its
rm, to change its spirit. It seeks under
le forms of law to make new Govern
ent, new Union, to engraft upon it new