Year: 1868

i ted. Those provisions were put into those
! constitutions, but they have never been
| sanctioned by the people of those States,
and they will cast them out as. not being
their act and deed as soon as they shall
have been restored to political power in this
Government. Therefore, say that even If
he comedies that the President had the pow
er, which he has not, ostart forward In the
execution OF this guarantee, there can still
be no pretenSe that those governments are
legal and authorized aud that we are bound
to recognize them.


The President Of the United States, in his
proclamation, declared that those govern
ments were to be formed only by the loyal
people of those States; and [ beg leave to
| callth attention of the Senate to that clause
| Ill his proclamation of reconstruction. He
says:


And with authority to exercise, within the
limits OF said State, all the powers necessary and
proper to enable such loyal people of the State of
North Carolina TO restore said State to its con
stitutcnal relations with the Federal Government ,


Again speaking Of the army:


And they are enjoined to abstain from in any
way hindering impnding or discouraging the
loyal people from the organization Of State gov
ernment as herein authorized"


Now, sir so TAR from those State govern


ments having been organized by the loyal
| people, they are organized by the dlsloyai;
every Office passed into the hands OF reb-
| el, the Union men had Lo part or lot IN
those governments /; aud so far from answer
! ing the purpose FOR which governments are
intended they failed to extend protection to
! the loyal men, either white or black The
| loyal men were murdered with impunity ;
and | Will thank any SeOator upon this floor
| 70 point to single case IN any of the rebel
| States where rebel has been tried and


brought to punishment by the civil authori-


ty for the murder of Union man. Not one
case [ am told can be found. Those govern
nIents utterly failed in answering the pur-
| pose of civil governments; and not only
| that, but they returned the colored people


to a condition of quasi slavery they made
them the slaves of society instead Of being,
as they were before, the slaves of indvidu-
| ais Under various forms Of vagrant laws,


they deprived them OF the rights of free
men, and placed them under the power and
control of their rebel masters, who We're fill
! ed with hatred aud revenge.


/ But, Mr.. Preident, time passed on. Con
t gress assembled in December, 1865. For q


time it paused 1t did not at once aunu
| those governments. 1t hesltated. At last,
| in 1864, the constitutional amendment, the
| fourteenth article, was brought forward as


a basis of settlement and reconstruction; and


there was "a tacit understanding, though it


was not embraced in any law or resolution,
| that If the Southern people should ratify
| aad agree to that amendment, then their
| State governments would be accepted. But
! that amendment WAS rejected, coatemptu-
otisiy rejected. The Southern people, coun-
seled and inspired by the Democracy of the


North, rejected that amendment. They
were told that they were not bound to sub
NIT to amy conditions whatever; that they
had forfeited no rights by rebellion. Why,
sir, what did we propose by this amend


ment? By the first section we declared that
! all men born upon our soil are citizens OF
! the United States-a thing that had long
been recognized by every department Of the
| Government until the Dred Scott decision
was made in 1857 The second section pro-
vided that where class or race of men were
| excluded from the right OF suffrage they
should not be counted IN the basis of repre-
sentation-an obvious justice that no rea-
sonable man for moment could deny that
| if fur million people down South were to
have no suffrage, the men living III their
midst and surrounding them, and depriv-
ing them of all political rights, should not
have members of Congress on their account


. say the justice Of the second clause has
never been successfully impugned by any
argument, | care not how ingenious 1t may





| that the leaders Of the South those men
who had once taken an official oath TO sup
port the Constitution of the u. States, and
had afterward committed perjury by going
into the rebellion, should be made ineligible
to any Office under the Government OF the
United States or Of a State. 1t was very
small disfranchisement. 1t was intended to
withhold power from those leaders by whose
instrumentality we had lost nearly half a
million lives and untold treasure. The JUS
tice Of that disfranchisement could not be
disproyed. 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 should never pay the
rebels for their slaves. This was bitterly
opposed in the North as well as in the South.
How could any man oppose that amendment
unless he was in favor of this Government
assuming portion or all 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
perbaps hereafter to be regarded as vital
mendment they were committing themselves
in principle, as they had been before by dec
laration, to the doctrine that this Govern
ment was bound to pay for the slaves and
that i was just aud right that we should as
sumo and pay the rebel debt.


This amendment, as have before said
was rejected, and when Congress assembled
in December 1866, they were confronted by
| the fact that every proposition OF eompro-
mise 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, Con
gress for the first time entered upon the ex


ecution of the guarantee provided for IN the