Year: 1866

sthas no person shall be deprived Of life. liberty
I and property without due process Of law
Ii does not appear that lands to which this sec
| ton refers may not be owned by minors OF per-
sons Of unscund mind or BY those who have been


faithful to all their obligations citizens of the
United States; If any portion Of the land is held
by such persons il is not competent for any author
| ity to deprive them Of IT, II. the other hand.


it be found that the property Is liable 10 confsea
| ton even then it cannot be appropriated 70 pub


lie purposes until by due process OF law It shall
| have been declared forfeited TO- the Government.
There are still further objections to the bill.
the grounds of seriously affecting the class of per
| sons to whom il is designed TO bring relief. It
will tend 20 keep the mind of the freedman In n
state of uncertain expectation and restiessness.
| while to those among whom he lives Il will be
\ source Of constant and vague apprehension. Un-
| doubtedly the freedman should be protected, but
| he should be protected by the civil authorities.
especially b. all the constitutional power Of the


conrts Of the United States and OF the states. His


condition is not so exposed as may at first DC I'M
agined. He Is IN a portion OF the country Wncre
/ his labor cannot well be spared


The demand for mis- services from planters. from
those who are constructing or repairing railroads..
or from capitalists in his vicinity or from other
| States, will enable him to ccramand almost his
| own terms He also possesses q perfect right 70


change his place 81 abode ana y. therefore, a ne
Of life suitable TO his desires, or proper remune


ration for his labor he can move TO another. where


e ae sfa pdaced y s w


wants and interests, will do what is necessary and
proper to retain within its borders all the labor
| that is needed for the development of its re-
sources. The laws that regulate supply and de-
mand will maintain their force, and the wages of


the aborer will be regulated thereby. There Is no
danger that the great demand for labor will not
operate in favor of the laborer; neither is saii-
cient consideration given 20 the ability of the
freedmen to protect and take care of themselves
1t is no more than justice to them to believe
that as they have received their freedom with
moderation and forbearance, they will distin-
guish themselves by their industry and they feel


and show the world that in their condition of free
dom they are self-sustaining and capable of se-
ecting their places OF abode, of insisting for
themselves, for proper remuneration. and Of es-
tabishing and maintaining their own asylums and
schools. 1t is earnestly hoped that instead of
wasting away, they will BY their own efforts,
tablsh for themselves condition of resPectahli-
ity and prosperity. Ii IL certain they attain
to that condition only through their own merits
and exertlons.
In this connection the question presents itself
whether the system proposed by the bill will not,
when put into complete operation, practically
transfer the entire care support and control of
four millions of emancipated slaves to agents.
oyerseers or taskmasters, who, appointed at
Washington. are TO be located in every county


and parish in the United States containing freed


men and refugees, such an asylum as would iney-


itably tend to such concentration of power in


the Executive, which would enable him. If so dis
posed, to control the action OF numerous class,


and use them for the attainment OF his own polit-


I cannot but add onother very grave objection


to this bill The Constitution imperatiyely de-


clareS, IN connection Win tuAaLiQn, tutt cacH


State shall have at lsast one Representative and


fixes the rule for the number to which. in future


times each State shall be entitled 1t also pro-
yides that the Senate of the United States shall


be composed of two Senators from each State and


sdds. with peculiar force that no State without is


consent shall be deprived OF Its suffrage III the


South.


The original act was necessarily passed in the


absence of the States chiefly to be affected. be-
cause their. people were then contumaeiousy en-


gagged in the rebellion. Some, at least, OF the


States are attending Congress BY loyal represent


atives, soliciting the allowance of the Consttu-


tional right of Representations. At the time, how


ever, of the consideration and passing of the bill


there no Senator or Representative in Cen


gross from the eleven States which are TO be


mainly effected 6y its Eroy,slens s The iast that


the country is an additional reason why they


should have representatives of their own in Con-


gress to explain their conditions, and especially


accusations and assist, by their local knowledge,


in the perfecting of measures Immediately Affect


ing themselves, while the liberty of deliberation


would then be free, and Congress would have full


power to decide according TO its Judgments there


could then be no objection urged that the States


mostly interested had not been permitted TO be


heard.


The principle is firmly fixed in the minds of the


American people that there can be no taxation


without representation. Great burdens now


demand that they shall be borne without mur-


muir when they are voted by majority of all the
representatives of the people. would net inter


fere with the unquestonable right OF Congress, to
judge, each House for ITSELF of the elections re-


turns. and qualifc stions of its own members; but


that authority cannot be construed as including
the right to put out in time of peace, any State
from representatives to which it Is entitled by the


Constitution. At present ali the people of the


United States are included,those who were most
faithful during the war; not less than others. The
State of Tennessee, for instance, whose authorl-
ties engaged in the rebellion, restored to all
her Constitutional relations to the Union by tn
patriotism and energy of her injured and out
ragged people before the war was brought to u
termination they had placed themselves


in relations with the General Government;
and had also established u State Goyern-
ment of their own; and, as they were not in
cluded in the emancipation proclamation, they
by their own action haye amended their Constf-
tuition TO abolish slavery within the limits of
their State. know no reason why the State of
Tennessee, for example, should not fully ENJOY her
Constitutional relations to the United States. The
President of the United States stands towards the
country in a somewhat different attitude from that
Of any members Of m Copgress chosen from q single
people of all the States eleven States are not now
represented in Congress. and it would seem to be
his duty on all proper occasions 10 presen. their
difference be opinion in the community, and lndi-
yiduals may be guilty Of transaction OF tne law, |
but these do not constitute valid objections 1
against the right of State to representation.


1t would in nowise interfere with the discretion |
of Congress with regard to the qualification of |
members, but hold il my duty to recommend to |
you in the interests of peace aud in the interests
of the Union, the admission of every State to its
share of the public Legislature, when, however



may have been, it presents ITSELF not only in an
attitude of loyalty and harmony, but in the per-
sons of representatives, whose loyalty caunot be
questioned. Under the existing constituted or
legal test it is plain that an indefinite Perman
ent exclusion of any part of the country from re-
presentation, must be attended bya spirit OF dis
quiet and complaint. 1t is unwise and dangerous
to pursue a course of measures which Will unite |
any large section of the country against another
section, no matter how much the latter may pre-


The course of immigration, the development of
industry and business, and natural causes will
raise up at the South, as devoted to the Union as
excluded from Congress; II, IN permanent
statue they are declared not to be in full Consti
tutional relations to the country. They may
and sentiments against the Government under the
political education of the American people. The
idea is inherent and ineradcable but the con-
sent of the majority of the whole pSople is neces-
sary to insure willing acquiesence IN legisla-
ton. The bill under consideration refers to GER
tain of the States as though they had not been
fully restored to the United States. and, If they
have not let Us at act together to insure that
desirable end at the earliest possible moment


1t is hardly necessary for me to inform Congress
that, in my own Judgment, most of these States
so far at least as depends npen their own actions
have already been fully restored and are entitled
to enjoy their Constitutional rights members of
the Union reasoning from the Constitution aitself
and from the actual situation of the country,
feel not only entitled but bound TO assume that
with the Federal Courts restored in the several
States and in the full exercise OF their functions.
the rights and interests Of all classes of people,
with the aid Of military in case OF resistance 70
the law, will be essentially protected against un-
constitutional Infringement and violation.


Should this expectation unhappily fail, which
do not anticipate, then the Executive is armed
with the power conferred by the act of March,
1865, establishing Freedmens Bureau and
hereafter, as heretofore, he can employ the land
and naval forces of the country to suppress insur
rection. and to overcome instructions to the laws.


return the bill to the Senate. in earnest hope |
that measure involving questions and interests
so important to the country, will not become
law. unless upon deliberate consideration OF the
people it shall receive the sanction of an en-
iightened public judgment.


lSienea A. JOHNSON