their substance, impeding their culture, and impair ing their happiness; and whereas the class rule and aristocratic element of slaveholding which found a place in our Republic has proved itself, in like manner, hurtful to our people, by degrading labor and prohibiting popular education in a large section of the country; by striving to rend our Union in fragments; by causing the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots to flow, and by compelling the people to impose on themselves a debt of European magnitude in defence of liberty, nationality, and civilization on this continent: Therefore

Resolved (as the sense of this House), That once for all we should have done with class rule and aristocracy as a privileged power before the law in this nation, no matter where or in what form they may appear; and that, in restoring the normal relations of the States lately in rebellion, it is the high and sacred duty of the Representatives of the people to proceed upon the true, as distinguished from the false, democratic principle, and to realize and secure the largest attainable liberty to the whole people of the Republic, irrespective of class or race.

On the same day, on a motion to refer the President's message to the respective committees in the House, Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, expressed his views on the state of the country. After advancing reasons to prove it to be the duty of Congress to "create States and declare when they are entitled to be represented," he said:

"It is obvious from all this that the first duty of Congress is to pass a law declaring the condition of these outside or defunct States, and providing proper civil governments for them. Since the conquest they have been governed by martial law. Military rule is necessarily despotic, and ought not to exist longer than is absolutely necessary. As there are no symptoms that the people of these provinces will be prepared to participate in constitutional government for some years, I know of no arrangement so proper for them as territorial governments. There they can learn the principles of freedom, and eat the fruit of foul rebellion. Under such governments, while electing members to the Territorial Legislatures, they will necessarily mingle with those to whom Congress shall extend the right of suffrage. In Territories, Congress fixes the qualifications of electors; and I know of no better place nor better occasion for the conquered rebels and the conqueror to practise justice to all men, and accustom themselves to make and to obey equal laws.

"As these fallen rebels cannot at their option reenter the heaven which they have disturbed, the garden of Eden which they have deserted, and flaming swords are set at the gates to secure their exclusion, it becomes important to the welfare of the nation to inquire when the doors shall be reopened for their admission.

"According to my judgment they ought never to be recognized as capable of acting in the Union, or of being counted as valid States, until the Constitution shall have been so amended as to make it what its framers intended; and so as to secure perpetual ascendency to the party of the Union; and so as to render our

republican government firm and stable forever. The first of those amendments is to change the basis of representation among the States from Federal numbers to actual voters. Now all the colored freemen in the slave States, and threefifths of the slaves, are represented, though none of them have votes. The States have

nineteen representatives of colored slaves. If the slaves are now free then they can add, for the other two-fifths thirteen more, making the slave representationtion thirty-two. I suppose the free blacks in those States will give at least five more, making the representation of nonvoting people of color about thirty-seven. The whole number of representatives now from the slave States is seventy. Add the other twofifths and it will be eighty-three.

"If the amendment prevails, and those States withhold the right of suffrage from persons of color, it will deduct about thirty-seven, leaving them but forty-six. With the basis unchanged, the eighty-three Southern members, with the Democrats that will in the best times be elected from the North, will always give them a majority in Congress and in the electoral college. They will at the very first election take possession of the White House and the halls of Congress. I need not depict the ruin that would follow. Assumption of the rebel debt or repudiation of the Federal debt would be sure to follow. The oppression of the freedmen; the reamendment of their State constitutions, and the reëstablishment of slavery would be the inevitable result. That they would scorn and disregard their present constitutions, forced upon them in the midst of martial law, would be both natural and just. No one who has any regard for freedom of elections can look upon those governments, forced upon them in duress, with any favor. If they should grant the right of suffrage to persons of color, I think there would always be Union white men enough in the South, aided by the blacks, to divide the representation, and thus continue the Republican ascendency. If they should refuse to thus alter their election laws, it would reduce the representatives of the late slave States to about forty-five, and render them powerless for evil. It is plain that this amendment must be consummated before the defunct States are admitted to be capable of State action, or it never

can be.

"The proposed amendment to allow Congress to lay a duty on exports is precisely in the same situation. Its importance cannot well be overstated. It is very obvious that for many years the South will not pay much under our internal revenue laws. The only article on which we can raise any considerable amount is cotton. It will be grown largely at once. With ten cents a pound export duty it would be furnished cheaper to foreign markets than they could obtain it from any other part of the world. The late war has shown that. Two million bales exported, at five hundred pounds to the bale, would yield $100,000,000. This

seems to be the chief revenue we shall ever derive from the South. Besides, it would be a protection to that amount to our domestic manufactures. Other proposed amendments-to make all laws uniform; to prohibit the assumption of the rebel debt-are of vital importance, and the only thing that can prevent the combined forces of copperheads and secessionists from legislating against the interests of the Union whenever they may obtain an accidental majority.

"But this is not all that we ought to do before these inveterate rebels are invited to participate in our legislation. We have turned, or are about to turn, loose four million slaves without a hut to shelter them, or a cent in their pockets. The infernal laws of slavery have prevented them from acquiring an education, understanding the commonest laws of contract, or of managing the ordinary business of life. This Congress is bound to provide for them until they can take care of themselves. If we do not furnish them with homesteads, and hedge them around with protective laws; if we leave them to the legislation of their late masters, we had better have left them in bondage. Their condition would be worse than that of our prisoners at Andersonville. If we fail in this great duty now, when we have the power, we shall deserve and receive the execration of history and of all future ages.

"Two things are of vital importance: "1. So to establish a principle that none of the rebel States shall be counted in any of the amendments of the Constitution until they are duly admitted into the family of States by the law-making power of their conqueror. For more than six months the amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery has been ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States that acted on its passage by Congress, and which had Legislatures, or which were States capable of acting, or required to act, on the question.

"I take no account of the aggregation of whitewashed rebels, who, without any legal authority, have assembled in the capitals of the late rebel States and simulated legislative bodies. Nor do I regard with any respect the cunning by-play into which they deluded the Secretary of State by frequent telegraphic announcements that 'South Carolina had adopted the amendment;' Alabama has adopted the amendment, being the twenty-seventh State,' etc. This was intended to delude the people, and accustomed Congress to hear repeated the names of these extinct States as if they were alive; when, in truth, they have now no more existence than the revolted cities of Latium, two-thirds of whose people were colonized and their property confiscated, and their right of citizenship withdrawn by conquering and avenging Rome.

"2. It is equally important to the stability of this Republic that it should now be solemnly decided what power can revive recreate and

reinstate these provinces into the family of States, and invest them with the rights of American citizens. It is time that Congress should assert its sovereignty, and assume something of the dignity of the Roman senate. It is fortunate that the President invites Congress to take this manly attitude. After stating, with great frankness, in his able message his theory, which, however, is found to be impracticable, and which I believe very few now consider tenable, he refers the whole matter to the judgment of Congress. If Congress should fail firmly and wisely to discharge that high duty, it is not the fault of the President.

"This Congress owes it to its own character to set the seal of reprobation upon a doctrine which is becoming too fashionable, and unless rebuked will be the recognized principle of our Government. Governor Perry and other provisional governors and orators proclaim that 'this is the white man's Government.' The whole copperhead party, pandering to the lowest prejudices of the ignorant, repeat the cuckoo cry, 'This is the white man's Government.' Demagogues of all parties, even some high in authority, gravely shout, This is the white man's Government.' What is implied by this? That one race of men are to have the exclusive right forever to rule this nation, and to exercise all acts of sovereignty, while all other races and nations and colors are to be their subjects, and have no voice in making the laws and choosing the rulers by whom they are to be governed. Wherein does this differ from slavery except in degree? Does not this contradict all the distinctive principles of the Declaration of Independence? When the great and good men promulgated that instrument, and pledged their lives and sacred honors to defend it, it was supposed to form an epoch in civil government. Before that time it was held that the right to rule was vested in families, dynasties, or races, not because of superior intelligence or virtue, but because of a divine right to enjoy exclusive privileges.

"Mr. Chairman, I trust the Republican party will not be alarmed at what I am saying. I do not profess to speak their sentiments, nor must they be held responsible for them. I speak for myself, and take the responsibility, and will settle with my intelligent constituents.

"This is not a white man's Government,' in the exclusive sense in which it is used. To say so is political blasphemy, for it violates the fundamental principles of our gospel of liberty. This is man's Government; the Government of all men alike; not that all men will have equal power and sway within it. Accidental circumstances, natural and acquired endowment and ability, will vary their fortunes. But equal rights to all the privileges of the Government is innate in every immortal being, no matter what the shape or color of the tabernacle which it inhabits."

An extended debate followed in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, relative

Whereas, policy, propriety, and duty, all require that the Representatives of a free and loyal constituency should, at the opening of the first Congress after the suppression of the rebellion, see that, in the reorganization and readmission of the States recently in arms against the Government, no possible safeguard be left unprovided which will prevent in the future a recurrence of the troubles of the past; and whereas an attempt to assume the rebel debt in some shape, and to repudiate the national debt in some manner, and also to pay for the slaves who have been made free, are among the possibilities of the future; and whereas the most effectual way of preventing either or all of these would be so to amend the Constitution of the United States as to preclude for all time to come any chance of either of these results: Therefore, Be it resolved, That, in the opinion of this House,

the Constitution of the United States should be so amended, and that no State which has recently been in rebellion against the General Government ought to be entitled to a representation in Congress until such State, by its Legislature or other properly constituted authority, has adopted said amendment.

Mr. Ingersoll, of Illinois, offered the following resolution, which was agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on the Militia are hereby instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing, by law, for the equitable distribution of the surplus arms of the United States among the several States which have never been in rebellion.

Mr. Thornton, of Illinois, offered the following, which was laid on the table:

Whereas, at the first movement toward independence, the Congress of the United States instructed the several States to institute governments of their own, and left each State to decide for itself the conditions for the enjoyment of the elective franchise; and whereas during the period of the Confederacy there continued to exist a very great diversity in the qualifications of electors in the several States; and whereas the Constitution of the United States recogLizes these diversities when it enjoins that in the choice of members of the House of Representatives the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for the electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature; and whereas, after the formation of the Constitution, it remained, as before, the uniform usage of each State to enlarge the body of its electors according to its own judgment; and whereas so fixed was the reservation in the habits of the people, and so unquestioned has been the interpretation of the Constitution, that during the civil war the late President never harbored the purpose, certainly never avowed the purpose, of disregarding it: Therefore,

Resolved, That any extension of the elective franchise to persons in the States, either by act of the President or of Congress, would be an assumption of power which nothing in the Constitution of the United States would warrant, and that to avoid every danger of conflict, the settlement of this question should be referred to the several States.

Mr. Stillwell, of Indiana, offered the following, which was also referred to the Committee on Reconstruction:

Whereas, the war for the preservation of the Union and the Constitution is now over, the absurd doctrine rebellion, have been put down by the strong arm of of secession, and its counterpart, insurrection and the Government, peace and union being the object, and that having been obtained: Therefore,

lion against the Government, and who have submitResolved, That the people who have been in rebelted to the laws of the United States, adopted a republican form of government, repealed the ordinance of secession, passed the constitutional amendment forever prohibiting slavery, repudiated the rebel war debt, and passed laws protecting the freedman in his liberty, the representatives of that people elected to Congress having received their certificates of election from their respective Governors should be received as members of the Thirty-ninth Congress, when they shall take the oath prescribed by Congress, known as the test oath, without any unnecessary delay.

Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill "to enable the loyal citizens of the United States residing in States whose constitutional governments were usurped or overthrown by the recent rebellion, after accepting certain conditions prescribed by the United States in Congress assembled, to form a constitution and State government for each of said States preparatory to resuming as States their constitutional relations to the national Government," which was read a first and second time, and referred to the joint Committee on Reconstruction, and ordered to be

printed.

In the House, on December 19th, Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, from the Committee on the Judiciary, reported the following joint resolution, with an amendment to the Constitution:

Resolved by the House of Representatives of the United States (the Senate concurring), That the following

amendment to the Constitution of the United States be, and the same hereby is, proposed to the Legisla tures of the several States for ratification, namely:

ARTICLE. No tax, duty, or impost shall be laid, nor shall any appropriation of money be made, by either the United States, or any one of the States thereof, for the purpose of paying, either in whole or in part, any debt, contract, or liability whatsoever, incurred, made, or suffered by any one or more of the States, or the people thereof, for the purpose of aiding rebellion against the Constitution and laws of the United States.

The amendment reported by the committee was as follows:

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Repre sentatives of the United States in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of said Constitution, namely:

ARTICLE -. No tax, duty, or impost shall be laid, nor shall any appropriation of money be made, by either the United States, or any one of the States thereof, for the purpose of paying, either in whole or in part, any debt, contract, or liability whatsoever, incurred, made, or suffered by any one or more of the States, or the people thereof, for the purpose of aiding rebellion against the Constitution and laws of the United States.

The resolution was passed by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Anderson, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barker, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blow, Boutwell, Boyer, Brandagee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Chanler, Reader W. Clark, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Darling, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, Farns worth, Farquhar, Ferry, Finck, Garfield, Grinnell, Griswold, Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, Hogan, Holmes, Hooper, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Demas Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Johnson, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Kerr, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, Latham, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marshall, Marston, Marvin, McClurg, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Morrill, Moulton, Myers, Newell, Niblack, Noell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, Phelps, Pike, Plants, Price, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, William H. Randall, Raymond, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Ross, Rousseau, Sawyer, Schenck, Schofield, Shellabarger, Sitgreaves, Sloan, Smith, Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Stillwell, Strouse, Tabor, Taylor, Thayer, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Thornton, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Voorhees, Ward, Warner, Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Welker, Wentworth, Whaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Wright-150.

NAYS-Messrs. Brooks, Denison, Eldridge, Grider, Aaron Harding, McCullough, Nicholson, Ritter, Rogers, Shanklin, and Trimble-11.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Ancona, Delos R. Ashley, Bergen, Blaine, Culver, Davis, Dawson, Glossbrenner, Goodyear, Harris, Edwin N. Hubbell, James Humphrey, James M. Humphrey, Jones, Le Blond, McIndoe, Moorhead, Morris, Pomeroy, Winfield, and Woodbridge-21.

In the House, on January 8th, Mr. Williams, of Pennsylvania, offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That in order to the maintenance of the national authority and the protection of the loyal citizens of the seceding States, it is the sense of this House that the military forces of the Government should not be withdrawn from those States until the two Houses of Congress shall have ascertained and declared their further presence there no longer neces

sary.

It was agreed to by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Ames, Anderson, Delos R. Ashley, Baker, Banks, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Boutwell, Brandagee, Bromwell, Broomall, Bundy, Reader W. Clark, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Defrees, Deming, Donnelly, Driggs, Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marvin, McClurg, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Plants, Price, Alexander H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schofield, Shellabarger, Spalding, Stevens, Thayer, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Elihu B. Washburne, Welker, Williams, Stephen F. Wilson, and Windom-94.

NAYS-Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Davis, Dawson, Delano, Denison, Eldridge, Glossbrenner, Grider, Aaron Harding, Hogan, Edwin N. Hubbell, James M. Humphrey, Kerr, Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Sam

uel J. Randall, Raymond, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Smith, Stillwell, Strouse, Tabor, Taylor, Voorhees, Winfield, Woodbridge, and Wright-37.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Alley, Allison, James M. Ashley, Baldwin, Barker, Blow, Buckland, Culver, Darling, Dawes, Dixon, Dumont, Eckley, Finck, Goodyear, Griswold, Hale, Harris, Hotchkiss, Demas Hubbard, James Humphrey, Ingersoll, Johnson, Jones, Kasson, George V. Lawrence, Marston, McCullough, McIndoe, Newell, Perham, Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Radford, William H. Randall, John H. Rice, Rousseau, Schenck, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Sloan, Starr, Francis Thomas, John L. Thomas, Thornton, Trimble, Wentworth, Whaley, and James F. Wilson-51.

On January 9th, Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania, submitted the following resolution, which was referred to the Reconstruction Committee:

Resolved, 1. That the termination of the recent civil war has left the inhabitants of the territory reclaimed from the late usurpation in the condition of a conquered people, and without political rights. of master and slave among them is destroyed, and 2. That as a legitimate consequence, the relation that it is not within the province of civil law ever to revive it.

ple must be fixed by the supreme power of the con3. That the future political condition of these peoqueror; and that the effect of amnesty proclamations and pardons is to relieve individuals from punishment from crime, not to confer upon them political rights.

that these people shall remain in their present unorganized condition longer than is necessary for their own good and the good of the country.

4. That it is not the interest of the Government

5. That Congress should confer upon them the necessary power to form their own State governments and local institutions, but that this cannot be done until the rights of those among them, of whatever caste or color, who remained always true to their allegiance, are effectually protected and guaranteed.

6. That it is the paramount duty of the Government to guard the interests of all within the conquered territory who rendered no willing aid or comfort to the public enemy; and if this cannot otherwise be done, Congress should organize State gov ernments composed of these alone, and forever exclude from all political power the active and willing participants in the late usurpation.

On the same day, Mr. Voorhees, of Indiana, called up the following resolutions offered some days previous, and considered by the House:

Resolved, That the message of the President of the United States, delivered at the opening of the present Congress, is regarded by this body as an able, judicious, and patriotic state paper.

Resolved, That the principles therein advocated for the restoration of the Union are the safest and most practicable that can now be applied to our disordered domestic affairs.

Resolved, That no States or number of States confederated together can in any manner sunder their connection with the Federal Union, except by a total subversion of our present system of govern ment; and that the President in enunciating this doctrine in his late message has but given expression to the sentiments of all those who deny the right or power of a State to secede.

Resolved, That the President is entitled to the thanks of Congress and the country for his faithful, wise, and successful efforts to restore civil govern ment, law, and order to those States whose citizens were lately in insurrection against the Federal authority; and we hereby pledge ourselves to aid, assist, and uphold him in his policy which he has

Mr. Voorhees followed in support of his resolutions, and Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, replied, and moved their reference to the joint Committee on Reconstruction, which was ordered by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Boutwell, Brandagee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy, Reader W. Clark, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, Cullom, Davis, Dawes, Defrees, Deming, Donnelly, Driggs, Eggleston, Eliot, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Asabel W, Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Kuykendall, Laflin, Latham, William Lawrence, Loan, Longyear, Lynch, Marvin, McClurg, McKee, McRuer, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, Myers, Newell, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, Phelps, Pike, Plants, Price, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schofield, Shellabarger, Smith, Spalding, Stevens, Stillwell, Thayer, John L. Thomas, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Warner, Elihu B. Washburne, Wm. B. Washburn, Welker, Williams, Stephen F. Wilson, and Windom -107.

NAYS-Messrs. Ancona, Bergen, Boyer, Brooks, Chanler, Darling, Dawson, Denison, Eldridge, Glossbrenner, Grider, Aaron Harding, Hogan, James M. Humphrey, Kerr, L.e Blond, Marshall, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, Raymond, Ritter, Rogers, Ross, Strouse, Tabor, Taylor, Voorhees, Winfield, and Wright-32.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Alley, Delos R. Ashley, Barker, Blow, Culver, Delano, Dixon, Dumont, Eckley, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Finck, Goodyear, Griswold, Harris, Hotchkiss, Demas Hubbard, Edwin N. Hubbell, James Humphrey, Johnson, Jones, Kasson, George V. Lawrence, Marston, McCullough, McIndoe, Pomeroy, William H. Randall, Rousseau, Schenck, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Sloan, Starr, Francis Thomas, Thornton, Trimble, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Wentworth, Whaley, James F. Wilson, and Woodbridge-43.

On January 10th, Mr. Davis, of New York, offered the following resolution, which was laid

over:

Resolved, That this House cherish the most entire confidence in the patriotism and policy of the President of the United States, and in his desire to restore the Union on the basis of permanent prosperity and peace, and that the cooperation of this House is pledged to him in support of the general policy of reconstruction inaugurated by him in the modes authorized by the Constitution, and consistent with the security of republican institutions.

On January 16th, Mr. Conkling, of New York, asked the unanimous consent of the House to offer the following resolution, which was objected to:

Resolved, That in reestablishing Federal relationships with the communities lately in rebellion, so as to permit them again to participate in administering the General Government, the following are necessary and proper requirements, and ought to be secured by such measures as will render them as far as possible immutable:

1. The absolute renunciation of all the pretensions and evasions of secession as a doctrine and as a practice.

2. The repudiation both by the State and by the

VOL. VI.-10

gations, including State and municipal liabilities contracted or assumed in aid of the late rebellion, and including also all claims by or on behalf of those who were in the military or naval service of the insurgents for bounty, pay, or pensions, and all claims by persons not loyal to the United States for damages or losses suffered by reason of the rebellion, and for advances made in its aid.

3. The assurance of human rights to all persons within their borders, regardless of race, creed, or color, and the adoption of such provisions against barbarism, disorder, and oppression, as will relieve the General Government from the necessity of standing guard over any portion of our country to protect the people from domestic violence and outrage. 4. The impartial distribution of political power among all sections of the country, so that four million people shall no longer be represented in Congress in the interest of sectional aggrandizement, and, at the same time, be excluded from political privileges and rights.

5. The election of Senators and Representatives in truth loyal to the United States, and never ringleaders in the late revolt, nor guilty of dastardly betrayals which preceded the war or of atrocities which

war cannot extenuate.

On the 22d, Mr. Grider, of Kentucky, offered the following resolutions, which were referred to the joint Committee on Reconstruction:

Resolved, That the United States Government grants the power peaceably, or if necessary by arms, "to enforce the laws, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion; "but the General Government cannot by any action whatever destroy itself nor the State governments; nor can the State governments destroy either, or legally disturb the harmony of the whole. All the grants and powers under the Constitution are conservative, none destructive; wherefore all the States have been and are always in the Union.

Resolved, That when the United States Government suppressed the insurrection it only vindicated its constitutional power and preexisting rights, and no more; and the rights and powers of the Federal and State Governments are all remitted back, and assume the same condition and relations sustained before the insurrection, and (except so far as altered or amended) remain unimpaired and in full force and virtue.

Resolved, That the law of Congress apportioning representatives to the several States (including the insurrectionary States) under the census of 1860, is constitutional and valid, and that members of Congress from all the States, regularly elected under said law, are entitled forthwith to their seats upon taking the oath of office to support the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, That as a generous kindness and cordial forgiveness consistent with right, now peace exists, are the highest attributes of our nature, and as we must have "one Government, one Constitution, and one people," the glory, protection, and safety of all

cherishing these feelings, we say it is untimely, unjust, and impolitic to insist upon amendments to the Constitution to operate upon all until all are represented in the House and Senate.

Resolved, That it is illogical and unconstitutional to hold that States are in the Union to vote for constitutional amendments, and yet not entitled to representation in Congress.

Resolved, That to tax any State by Congress, and to refuse to the people representation, is contrary to the first principles of the American Government, and is inconsistent with the constitutional and equal rights of all the people.

On January 22d, Mr. Stevens, from the joint