possibility of his undertaking to overcome the Constitution of the United States by a resolution of the two Houses. That is the proposition pending, to overcome the plain letter of the Constitution of the United States by a resolution of the two Houses. There is a crime known to criminal law as obtaining property by false pretences; and it is said, I believe, in that law, that if you pretend as to an afterfact, it is not a technical false pretence. If the swearing is as to a past fact, then the person charged, on the charges being proven, may be condemned and punished. It has struck me that it may be a grave question now, whether falsely swearing as to what one has done is perjury, while falsely swearing as to what one will do, is not. It has been the practice of our Government ever since it was instituted to swear all the State officers to support the Constitution of the State and the Constitution of the United States, and I suppose every gentleman on this floor has taken that oath many times. Falsely swearing as to what you will do, perhaps may not be technical perjury; but permit me to say that when gentlemen undertake to violate the Constitution which they have sworn to support, and dare to say that because what they propose to do is right they dare to violate their oaths, it is one of the technical ways of avoiding just conclusions, which has been condemned by all just men, and will be condemned above."

Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, closed the debate, saying: "Now, sir, it will be observed that the resolution does not declare that neither body shall have the right to admit members until Congress has made a declaration upon the subject. There is nothing said about the right in any way or in any terms. It is precisely what I designated it to be the other day, a mere legislative declaration of our opinion and determination that, until Congress has declared the State (whichever one it may be that is before ns) to be in a condition to be represented here, neither body will act upon the credentials of members.

"It will be noticed, and I say this in answer to what has been said by the honorable Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Dixon) as well as the honorable Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Doolittle), that in no way does the resolution touch the question, as commonly understood, of the elections, qualifications, and returns of memers. It leaves that matter precisely where it found it. It does not undertake to judge on the subject or to investigate it; and, in accordance with that idea, all the credentials which have been laid before the body, instead of being sent to the committee, have been simply laid on the table.

"Now, Senators inquire, why will you deprive yourselves of the power to do certain things? The question of the admission of a member is in the hands of a majority of the body. The majority can control it always. It can do as it pleases with reference to it. If a majority of this body thinks that it is advisable

that Congress should first settle the question of the condition of the States, whether the States have placed themselves in a condition to send members here, they have the unquestionable power to lay those credentials on the table, and to keep them there until that question has been determined to their satisfaction. The Senate having that power to lay these credentials on the table and keep them there, is it a great stretch of power, is it going beyond their jurisdiction, to say that we will not take them from the table for it is the majority that is to determine the question of qualifications and every thing else—until both branches have come to the conclusion that they shall be taken from the table in each branch and be acted upon? It is nothing but a legislative declaration of the course we intend to pursue with reference to the credentials that have been laid on our table, and I should like to inquire of anybody whether we have not the perfect right to do it? Even after we have done it, after we have made that legislative declaration-which I deem it important to make, because I think the power of Congress over the question of the condition of these States has been questioned-we, as a Senate, I concede, can, in spite of this legislative declaration, at any moment take them from the table and act upon them without asking the consent of the House of Representatives, and the House can, on its own side, in spite of this resolution, if passed, take the credentials of those claiming to be members of that House from its table and act upon them if it pleases. There is no question about that; and therefore this resolution is precisely what I described it to be-nothing in the world but a legislative declaration that we do not deem it advisable, and do not mean, and do not intend, to act upon the question of the admission of individuals who come here claiming seats, until Congress, both branches, shall have investigated and settled the question of the condition of the States.

Now, sir, for one I am free to say if matters should go so far as to show that either House was acting unreasonably, wilfully, from temper, unjustly, so as to produce improper delay, I should conclude that it was time to reverse this action so far as this body was concerned.

"The ground on which I put this resolution originally-and Congress can at any time pass a law to the same effect if it pleases-was simply that we owed it to ourselves that this matter should be properly investigated, should be investigated by both branches, should be investigated in such a manner as to enable us to come to a conclusion which should be satisfactory, and that it had better be done by a joint committee of both branches; because it would be a very serious matter if one branch were to come to one conclusion and admit members, and the other branch were to come to the opposite conclusion and refuse to admit members. Under the circumstances by which we are surrounded, I have thought that Congress, by the concurrence of both branches, should first settle the

question which lies at the foundation, whether the States were in a condition and had the right as well as the power (if you choose to admit that) to send members here."

The question was taken on the resolution, and it was adopted by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Cragin, Creswell, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, and Yates-29.

NAYS-Messrs. Buckalew, Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Guthrie, Hendricks, Johnson, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Morgan, Nesmith, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, Stewart, Stockton, and Van Winkle

-18.

ABSENT-Messrs. Foot, Howard, and Wright-3.

In the House, on February 26th, Mr. McClurg, of Missouri, offered the following resolu tion, which was referred to the joint Committee on Reconstruction-yeas 102, nays 27.

Whereas, it is the opinion of this House, that the continued contumacy in the seceding States renders it necessary to exercise congressional legislation in order to give the loyal citizens of those States protection in their natural and personal rights enumerated in the Constitution of the United States, and, in addition thereto, makes it necessary to keep on foot a large standing army to secure the present enjoyment of those rights, to maintain the authority of the national Government, and to keep the peace; and whereas the country is already heavily burdened by a war debt incurred to defend the nationality against an infamous rebellion, and it is neither just nor politic to inflict this vast additional expense on the peaceful industry of the nation: Therefore,

Resolved, That it be referred to the joint committee of fifteen of the Senate and House to ascertain whether such contumacy be clearly manifest, and if so to inquire into the expediency of levying contributions on the disloyal inhabitants of such seceding States, to defray the extraordinary expenses that will otherwise be imposed on the General Government; and that said committee be instructed to report by bill or otherwise.

Mr. Bingham, from the joint committee, reported the following:

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 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 threefourths of the said Legislatures, shall be valid as part of said Constitution, namely:

ARTICLE. The Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper to secure to the citizens of each State all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States, and to all persons in the several States equal protection in the rights of life, liberty, and property.

Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, on March 5th, offered the following:

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Constitution of the United States confers on Congress ample power for the protection of the emancipated slaves and freedmen in the States recently in rebellion.

Resolved, That in behalf of the loyal American people, the Congress of the United States pledge full and complete protection to all loyal men, irrespective of race or color, residing in the States recently in rebel

on, and especially to the soldiers and sailors who served in the Union army and navy, and to this end shall seem sufficient, before recognizing any of the the Congress will demand such guaranties as to them new State governments which now are or which hereafter may be organized, either under the order and direction of the President or by an independent movement of the loyal people in any such State. Resolved, That the Union party of the nation, represented in Congress, earnestly desire that all States recently in rebellion shall, at the earliest moment consistent with the safety of the national Union, be restored to all the privileges, rights, and dignities of the States of the American Union which have not been in rebellion, and that so soon as constitutional State governments are organized therein, which shall secure, by constitutional provisions, the rights of all loyal men, without regard to race or color, and when the people of such States shall have elected men of undoubted loyalty as Senators and Representatives, the Congress of the United States will recognize such government as the constitutional government of such State.

Resolved, That in addition to the foregoing, Congress will also demand, as a condition to the complete restoration of any reorganized State, the entire exemption of every citizen from liability to taxation for payment of the rebel debt, or reimbursement either of expenditure incurred by State or local auby the emancipation of slaves. thorities, in aid of the rebellion, or for loss incurred

On April 30th, Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania from the joint committee, reported as follows: A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constiration of the United States.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Represent atives of the United States of America in Congran assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following article be proposed to the Legis

latures 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 as part of the Constitution, namely:

ARTICLE. Sec. 1. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or imtas nities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the

laws.

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But whenever in any State the elective franchise shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of male citizens shall bear to the whole number of such male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age.

Sec. 3. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Congress, and for electors for President and Vice-President of the United States.

Sec. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of insurrection or of war against the United States, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary

service or labor.

sequent day. At the same time Mr. Stevens further reported, as follows:

A bill to provide for restoring the States lately in insurrection to their full political rights. Whereas, it is expedient that the States lately in insurrection should, at the earliest day consistent with the future peace and safety of the Union, be restored to full participation in all political rights: 41 and whereas the Congress did, by joint resolution, propose for ratification to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, an article in the following words, to wit:

!

ARTICLE Sec. 1. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

S. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But whenever, in any State, the elective franchise shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such State shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age.

Sec. 3. Until the 4th day of July, in the year 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Conress, and for electors for President and Vice-President of the United States.

Sec. 4. Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of insurrection or of war against the United States, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor.

Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this

article.

Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representstire of the United States of America in Congress abled, That whenever the above-recited amendtest shall have become part of the Constitution of the United States, and any State lately in insurrecton shall have ratified the same, and shall have modifed its constitution and laws in conformity therewith, the Senators and Representatives from such State, if found duly elected and qualified, may, after having taken the required oaths of office, be admitted into Congress as such.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That when any State lately in insurrection shall have ratified the foregoing amendment to the Constitution, any part of the direct tax under the act of August 5, 1861, which may remain due and unpaid in such State may be assumed and paid by such State; and the Fayment thereof, upon proper assurances from such State to be given to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, may be postponed for a period not exceeding ten years from and after the passage of

tus act.

Its consideration was postponed to a subent day. At the same time Mr. Stevens farther reported, as follows:

A bill declaring certain persons ineligible to office under the

Government of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represent sires of the United States of America in Congress

assembled, That no person shall be eligible to any

office under the Government of the United States who is included in any of the following classes, namely:

1. The President and Vice-President of the Confederate States of America, so called, and the heads of departments thereof.

2. Those who in other countries acted as agents of the Confederate States of America, so called.

3. Heads of Departments of the United States, officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, and all persons educated at the Military or Naval Academy of the United States, judges of the courts of the United States, and members of either House of the Thirty-sixth Congress of the United States who gave aid or comfort to the late rebellion. 4. Those who acted as officers of the Confederate States of America, so called, above the grade of colonel in the army or master in the navy, and any one who, as Governor of either of the so-called Confederate States, gave aid or comfort to the rebellion.

5. Those who have treated officers or soldiers or sailors of the army or navy of the United States, captured during the late war, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war.

Its consideration was also postponed to a subsequent day.

In the House, the consideration of the joint resolution for the amendment of the Constitution came up for consideration on March 8th. Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said: "I beg gentlemen to consider the magnitude of the task which was imposed upon the committee. They were expected to suggest a plan for rebuilding a shattered nation-a nation which though not dissevered was yet shaken and riven by the gigantic and persistent efforts of six million able and ardent men; of bitter rebels striving through four years of bloody war. It cannot be denied that this terrible struggle sprang from the vicious principles incorporated into the institutions of our country. Our fathers had been compelled to postpone the principles of their great Declaration, and wait for their full establishment till a more propitious time. That time ought to be present now. But the public mind has been educated in error for a century. How difficult in a day to unlearn it! In rebuilding, it is necessary to clear away the rotten and defective portions of the old foundations, and to sink deep and found the repaired edifice upon the firm foundation of eternal justice. If, perchance, the accumulated quicksands render it impossible to reach in every part so firm a basis, then it becomes our duty to drive build. It would not be wise to prevent the deep and solid the substituted piles on which to raising of the structure because some corner of it might be founded upon materials subject to the inevitable laws of mortal decay. It were better to shelter the household and trust to the advancing progress of a higher morality and a purer and more intelligent principle to underpin the defective corner.

"I would not for a moment inculcate the idea of surrendering a principle vital to justice. But if full justice could not be obtained at once, I would not refuse to do what is possible. The commander of an army who should find his

enemy intrenched on impregnable heights would act unwisely if he insisted on marching his troops full in the face of a destructive fire merely to show his courage. Would it not be better to flank the works and march round and round and besiege, and thus secure the surrender of the enemy, though it might cost time? The former course would show valor and folly; the latter moral and physical courage, as well as prudence and wisdom.

"This proposition is not all that the committee desired. It falls far short of my wishes, but it fulfils my hopes. I believe it is all that can be obtained in the present state of public opinion. Not only Congress but the several States are to be consulted. Upon a careful survey of the whole ground, we did not believe that nineteen of the loyal States could be induced to ratify any proposition more stringent than this. I say nineteen, for I utterly repudiate and scorn the idea that any State not acting in the Union is to be counted on the question of ratification. It is absurd to suppose that any more than three-fourths of the States that propose the amendment are required to make it valid; that States not here are to be counted as present. Believing, then, that this is the best proposition that can be made effectual, I accept it. I shall not be driven by clamor or denunciation to throw away a great good because it is not perfect. I will take all I can get in the cause of humanity, and leave it to be perfected by better men in better times. It may be that that time will not come while I am here to enjoy the glorious triumph; but that it will come is as certain as that there is a just God.

"The House should remember the great labor which the committee had to perform. They were charged to inquire into the condition of eleven States of great extent of territory. They sought, often in vain, to procure their organic laws and statutes. They took the evidence of every class and condition of witness, from the rebel vice-president and the commander-inchief of their armies down to the humblest freedman. The sub-committees who were charged with that duty-of whom I was not one, and can therefore speak freely-exhibited a degree of patience and diligence which was never excelled. Considering their other duties, the mass of evidence taken may be well considered extraordinary. It must be remembered, also, that three months since, and more, the committee reported and the House adopted a proposed amendment fixing the basis of representation in such way as would surely have secured the enfranchisement of every citizen at no distant period. That, together with the amendment repudiating the rebel debt, which we also passed, would have gone far to curb the rebellious spirit of secession, and to have given to the oppressed race their rights. It went to the other end of the Capitol, and was there mortally wounded in the house of its friends.

"After having received the careful examination and approbation of the committee, and

having received the united Republican vote of one hundred and twenty Representatives of the people, it was denounced as 'utterly reprehensible' and 'unpardonable; to be encountered as a public enemy; ''positively endangering the peace of the country, and covering its name with dishonor.' 'A wickedness on a larger scale than the crime against Kansas or the fugitive slave law; gross, foul, outrageous; an incredible injustice against the whole African race;' with every other vulgar epithet which polished cultivation could command. It was slaughtered by a puerile and pedantic criticism, by a perversion of philological definition which, if when I taught school a lad who had studied Lindley Murray had assumed, I would have expelled him from the institution as unfit to waste education upon. But it is dead, and unless this (less efficient, I admit) shall pass, its death has postponed the protec tion of the colored race perhaps for ages. I confess my mortification at its defeat. I grieved especially because it almost closed the door of hope for the amelioration of the condition of the freedmen. But men in pursuit of justice must never despair. Let us again try and see whether we cannot devise some way to overcome the united forces of self-righteous Republicans and unrighteous copperheads. It will not do for those who for thirty years have fought the beasts at Ephesus to be frightened by the fangs of modern catamounts.

"Let us now refer to the provisions of the proposed amendment.

"The first section prohibits the States from abridging the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, or unlawfully depriving them of life, liberty, or property, or of denying to any person within their jurisdiction the 'equal' protection of the laws.

"I can hardly believe that any person can be found who will not admit that every one of these provisions is just. They are all asserted, in some form or other, in our DECLARATION Or organic law. But the Constitution limits only the action of Congress, and is not a limitation on the States. This amendment supplies that defect, and allows Congress to correct the unjust legislation of the States, so far that the law which operates upon one man shall operate equally upon all. Whatever law punishes a white man for a crime shall punish the black man precisely in the same way and to the same degree. Whatever law protects the white man shall afford ‘equal' protection to the black man. Whatever means of redress is afforded to one shall be afforded to all. Whatever law allows the white man to testify in court shall allow the man of color to do the same. are great advantages over their present codes. Now different degrees of punishment flicted, not on account of the magnitude of the crime, but according to the color of the skin. Now color disqualifies a man from testifying in courts, or being tried in the same way as white men. I need not enumerate these partial and

These

are in

oppressive laws. Unless the Constitution should restrain them, those States will all, I fear, keep up this discrimination, and crush to death the hated freedmen. Some answer, 'Your civil rights bill secures the same things.' That is partly true, but a law is repealable by a majority. And I need hardly say that the first time that the South with their copperhead allies obtain the command of Congress it will be repealed. The veto of the President and their votes on the bill are conclusive evidence of that. And yet I am amazed and alarmed at the impatience of certain well-meaning Republicans at the exclusion of the rebel States until the Constitution shall be so amended as to restrain their despotic desires. This amendment once adopted cannot be annulled without two-thirds of Congress. That they will hardly get. And yet certain of our distinguished friends propose to admit State after State before this becomes a part of the Constitution. What madness! Is their judgment misled by their kindness; or are they unconsciously drifting into the haven of power at the other end of the avenue? I do not suspect it, but others will.

"The second section I consider the most important in the article. It fixes the basis of representation in Congress. If any State shall exclude any of her adult male citizens from the elective franchise, or abridge that right, she shall forfeit her right to representation in the same proportion. The effect of this provision will be either to compel the States to grant universal suffrage or so to shear them of their power as to keep them forever in a hopeless minority in the national Government, both legislative and executive. If they do not enfranchise the freedmen, it would give to the rebel States but thirty-seven Representatives. Thus shorn of their power, they would soon become restive. Southern pride would not long brook a hopeless minority. True it will take two, three, possibly five years before they conquer their prejudices sufficiently to allow their late slaves to become their equals at the polls. That short delay would not be injurious. In the mean time the freedmen would become more enlightened, and more fit to discharge the high duties of their new condition. In that time, too, the loyal Congress could mature their laws and so amend the Constitution as to secure the rights of every human being, and render disunion impossible. Heaven forbid that the Southern States, or any one of them, should be represented on this floor until such muniments of freedom are built high and firm! Against our will they have been absent for four bloody years; against our will they must not come back until we are ready to receive them. Do not tell me that there are loyal representatives waiting for admission-until their States are loyal they can have no standing here. They would merely misrepresent their constituents.

"I admit that this article is not as good as the one we sent to death in the Senate. In my judgment, we shall not approach the measure

of justice until we have given every adult freedman a homestead on the land where he was born and toiled and suffered. Forty acres of land and a hut would be more valuable to him than the immediate right to vote. Unless we give them this we shall receive the censure of mankind and the curse of Heaven. That article referred to provided that if one of the injured race was excluded the State should forfeit the right to have any of them represented. That would have hastened their full enfranchisement. This section allows the States to discriminate among the same class, and receive proportionate credit in representation. This I dislike. But it is a short step forward. The large stride which we in vain proposed, is dead; the murderers must answer to the suffering race. I would not have been the perpetrator. A load of misery must sit heavy on their souls.

"The third section may encounter more difference of opinion here. Among the people I believe it will be the most popular of all the provisions; it prohibits rebels from voting for members of Congress and electors of President until 1870. My only objection to it is that it is too lenient. I know that there is a morbid sensibility, sometimes called mercy, which affects a few of all classes, from the priest to the clown, which has more sympathy for the murderer on the gallows than for his victim. I hope I have a heart as capable of feeling for human woe as others. I have long since wished that capital punishment were abolished. But I never dreamed that all punishment could be dispensed with in human society. Anarchy, treason, and violence would reign triumphant. Here is the mildest of all punishments ever inflicted on traitors. I might not consent to the extreme severity denounced upon them by a provisional governor of Tennessee-I mean the late lamented Andrew Johnson of blessed memory--but I would have increased the severity of this section. I would be glad to see it extended to 1876, and to include all State and municipal as well as national elections. In my judgment we do not sufficiently protect the loyal men of the rebel States from the vindictive persecutions of their victorious rebel neighbors. Still I will move no amendment, nor vote for any, lest the whole fabric should tumble to pieces.

"I need say nothing of the fourth section, for none dare object to it who is not himself a rebel. To the friend of justice, the friend of the Union, of the perpetuity of liberty, and the final triumph of the rights of man and their extension to every human being, let me say, sacrifice as we have done your peculiar views, and instead of vainly insisting upon the instantaneous operation of all that is right accept what is possible, and all these things shall be added unto you.'

"I move to recommit the joint resolution to the Committee on Reconstruction."

Mr. Blaine, of Maine, arose to inquire if those to whom pardons had been granted by the