vide for the more efficient government of the residents of the State or strangers. Yet these rebel States,' passed March 2, 1867, and to facil-persons are to exercise most important duties, and itate restoration," and now return it to the House of Representatives, with my objections.* are vested with unlimited discretion. They are to decide what names shall be placed upon the register, and from their decision there is to be no appeal. They are to superintend the elections, and to decide all questions which may arise. They are to have the custody of the ballots, and to make returns of the persons elected. Whatever frauds or errors they may commit must pass without redress. All that is left for the com elections, open the same, and ascertain who are chosen "according to the returns of the officers who conducted said elections." By such means, and with this sort of agency, are the conventions of delegates to be constituted. As the delegates are to speak for the people, common justice would seem to require that they should have authority from the people themselves. No convention so constituted will in any sense represent the wishes of the inhabitants of these States; for, under the all-embracing exceptions of these laws, by a construction which the uncertainty of the clause as to disfranchisement leaves open to the board of officers, the great body of the people may be excluded from the polls, and from all opportunity of expressing their own wishes, or voting for delegates who will faithfully reflect their sentiments. This bill provides for elections in the ten States brought under the operation of the original act to which it is supplementary. Its details are principally directed to the elections for the formation of the State constitutions, but by the sixth section of the bill "all elections" in these States occurring while the original act remains in force are brought within its purview. Remanding general is to receive the returns of the ferring to the details, it will be found that, first of all, there is to be a registration of the voters. No one whose name has not been admitted on the list is to be allowed to vote at any of these elections. To ascertain who is entitled to registration, reference is made necessary, by the express language of the supplement, to the original act and to the pending bill. The fifth section of the original act provides, as to voters, that they shall be "male citizens of the State, twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident of said State for one year." This is the general qualification, followed, however, by many exceptions. No one can be registered, according to the original act, "who may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion," a provision which left undetermined the question as to what amounted to disfranchisement, and whether, without a judicial sentence, the act itself produced that effect. This supplemental bill superadds an oath, to be taken by every person before his name can be admitted upon the registration, that he has "not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States." It thus imposes upon every person the necessity and responsibility of deciding for himself, under the peril of punishment by a military commission, if he makes a mistake, what works disfranchisement by participation in rebellion, and what amounts to such participation. Almost every man-the negro as well as the white--above twenty-one years of age, who was resident in these ten States, during the rebellion, voluntarily or in voluntarily, at some time and in some way, did participate in resistance to the lawful authority of the General Government. The question with the citizen to whom this oath is to be proposed must be a fearful one; for while the bill does not declare that perjury may be assigned for such false swearing, nor fix any penalty for the offense, we must not forget that martial law prevails; that every person is answerable to a military commission, without previous presentment by a grand jury for any charge that may be made against him; and that the supreme authority of the military commander determines the question as to what is an offense, and what is to be the measure of punishment. The fourth section of the bill provides "that the commanding general of each district shall appoint as many boards of registration as may be necessary, consisting of three loyal officers or persons." The only qualification stated for these officers is that they must be "loyal." They may be persons in the military service or civilians, *For copy of the bill vetoed, see chap. xviii. I do not deem it necessary further to investigate the details of this bill. No consideration could induce me to give my approval to such an election law for any purpose, and especially for the great purpose of framing the constitution of a State. If ever the American citizen should be left to the free exercise of his own judgment, it is when he is engaged in the work of forming the fundamental law under which he is to live. That work is his work, and it cannot properly be taken out of his hands. All this legislation proceeds upon the contrary assumption that the people of each of these States shall have no constitution, except such as may be arbitrarily dictated by Congress and formed under the restraint of military rule. A plain statement of facts makes this evident. In all these States there are existing constitutions, formed in the accustomed way by the people. Congress, however, declares that these constitutions are not "loyal and republican," and requires the people to form them anew. What then, in the opinion of Congress, is necessary to make the constitution of a State "loyal and republican?" The original act answers the question. It is universal negro suffrage-a question which the Federal Constitution leaves to the States themselves. All this legislative machinery of martial law, military coercion, and political disfranchisement is avowedly for that purpose, and none other. The existing constitutions of the ten States conform to the acknowledged standards of loyalty and republicanism. Indeed, if there are degrees in republican forms of government, their constitutions are more republican now than when these States-four of which were members of the original thirteenfirst became members of the Union. Congress does not now demand that a single provision of their constitutions be changed, ex cept such as confine suffrage to the white population. It is apparent, therefore, that these provisions do not conform to the standard of republicanism which Congress seeks to establish. That there may be no mistake, it is only necessary that reference should be made to the original act, which declares "such constitution shall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates." What class of persons is here meant clearly appears in the same section. That is to say, the male citizens of said State, twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident in said State for one year previous to the day of such election." Without these provisions no constitution which can be framed in any one of the ten States will be of any avail with Congress. This, then, is the test of what the constitution of a State of this Union must contain to make it republican. Measured by such a standard, how few of the States now composing the Union have republican constitutions! If, in the exercise of the constitutional guaranty that Congress shall secure to every State a republican form of government, universal suffrage for blacks as well as whites is a sine qua non, the work of reconstruction may as well begin in Ohio as in Virginia, in Pennsylvania as in North Carolina. reconciliation; then, when the people sought once more our friendship and protection, I considered it our duty generously to meet them in the spirit of charity and forgiveness, and to conquer them even more effectually by the magnanimity of the nation than by the force of its arms. I yet believe that if the policy of reconciliation then inaugurated, and which contemplated an early restoration of these people to all their political rights, had received the support of Congress, every one of these ten States, and all their people, would at this moment be fast anchored in the Union, and the great work which gave the war all its sanction, and made it just and holy, would have been accomplished. Then, over all the vast and fruitful regions of the Sonth peace and its blessing would have prevailed, while now millions are deprived of rights guarantied by the Constitution to every citizen, and, after nearly two years of legislation, find themselves placed under an absolute military despotism." "A military republic-a Government formed on mock elections and supported daily by the sword," was nearly a quarter of a century since pronounced by Daniel Webster, when speaking of the South American States, as a "movement indeed, but a retrograde and disastrous movement from the regular and oldfashioned monarchical systems," and he added: "If men would enjoy the blessings of republican governWhen I contemplate the millions of our fellow-ment, they must govern themselves by reason, by mutual citizens of the South, with no alternative left but counsel and consultation, by a sense and feeling of general interest, and by the acquiescence of the minority in the will to impose upon themselves this fearful and untried of the majority, properly expressed; and, above all, the mili experiment of complete negro enfranchisement, tary must be kept, according to the language of our bill of and white disfranchisement it may be almost as rights, in strict subordination to the civil authority. Whereever this lesson is not both learned and practised, there can complete, or submit indefinitely to the rigor of be no political freedom. Absurd, preposterous is it, a scoff martial law, without a single attribute of free- and a satire on free forms of constitutional liberty, for forms men, deprived of all the sacred guaranties of our right of suffrage to be exercised at the point of the sword.” of government to be prescribed by military leaders, and the Federal Constitution, and threatened with even worse wrongs, if any worse are possible, it seems to me their condition is the most deplorable to which any people can be reduced. It is true that they have been engaged in rebellion, and that, their object being a separation of the States and a dissolution of the Union, there was an obligation resting upon every loyal citizen to treat them as enemies, and to wage war against their cause. Inflexibly opposed to any movement imperil ing the integrity of the Government, I did not hesitate to urge the adoption of all measures necessary for the suppression of the insurrection. After a long and terrible struggle, the efforts of the Government were triumphantly successful, and the people of the South, submitting to the stern arbitrament, yielded forever the issues of the contest. Hostilities terminated soon after it became my duty to assume the responsibilities of the Chief Executive officer of the Republic, and I at once endeavored to repress and control the passions which our civil strife had engendered, and no longer regarding these erring millions as enemies, again acknowledged them as our friends and our countrymen The war had accomplished its objects. The nation was saved, and that seminal principle of mischief which, from the birth of the Government, had gradually but inevitably brought on the rebellion, was totally eradicated. Then, it seemed to me, was the auspicious time to commence the work of I confidently believe that a time will come when these States will again occupy their true positions in the Union. The barriers which now seem so obstinate must yield to the force of an enlightened and just public opinion, and sooner or later unconstitutional and oppressive legislation will be effaced from our statute-books. God that the errors of the past may be forgotten, When this shall have been consummated, I pray and prosperous people, and that at last, after the and that once more we shall be a happy, united bitter and eventful experience through which the nation has passed, we shall all come to know that our only safety is in the preservation of our Federal Constitution, and in according to every American citizen and to every State the rights which that Constitution secures. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, March, 23, 1867. IN HOUSE. YEAS-Messrs. Archer, Barnes, Boyer, Brooks, Burr, El- Wood-26. NAYS-Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. Ashley, ham, Blaine, Blair, Boutwell, Broomall, Buckland, Butler, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Beaman, Bing ke, Churchill, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, March 19-It passed without division. Same day-The SENATE re-passed it-yeas 40, nays 7, as follow: YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, Chandler, Cattell, Cole, Whereupon the PRESIDENT of the Senate declared the bill to be a law. Message accompanying the Approval of a Bill relating to Reconstruction, March 30, 1867. Same day-The HOUSE re-passed it-yeas 114, To the House of Representatives: nays 25, as follow: YEAS-Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Delos R. Ashley, In giving my approval to the "Joint resolution providing for the expenses of carrying James M Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Beaman, Benja into full effect an act entitled 'An act to provide min, Benton, Blaine, Blair, Boutwell, Broomall, Buckland, for the more efficient government of the rebel Butler, Cake, Churchill, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, States,'" I am moved to do so for the following Cobb, Coburn, Cook, Cornell, Covode, Cullom, Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, Eckley, Eggleston, Ela, Farnsworth, Ferriss, reason: The seventh section of the act suppleFerry, Fields, Finney, Garfield, Gravely, Halsey, Hamilton, mentary to the act "for the more efficient govHayes. Hill, Hooper, Hopkins, Chester D. Hubbard, Hulburd, ernment of the rebel States" provides that all Hunter, Ingersoll, Judd, Julian, Kelley, Kelsey, Ketcham, Kitchen, Koontz, Laflin, William Lawrence, Lincoln, Loan, expenses incurred under or by virtue of that act Logan, Longhridge, Mallory, Marvin, McCarthy, McClurg, shall be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury Mercur, Miller, Moore, Morrell, Myers, Newcomb, O'Neill, not otherwise appropriated. This provision is Orth, Paine, Perham, Peters, Pile, Plants, Poland, Polsley, Robertson, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, Selye, Shanks, Shella wholly unlimited as to the amount to be expendbarger, Smith, Spalding, Aaron F. Stevens, Thaddeus Ste-ed, whereas the resolution now before me limits vens, Stewart, Taffe, Thomas, Trowbridge, Twichell, Upson, Wyck, Ward, Cadwalader C. Washburn, Henry D. Washburn, Welker, Thomas Williams, William Williams, James F. Wilson, John T. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, Woodbridge-114. NAYS-Messrs Barnes, Boyer, Brooks, Burr, Chanter, Eldridge, Fox, Getz, Glossbrenner, Haight, Holman, Humphrey, Marshall, Morrissey, Mungen, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Pruyn, Randall, Robinson, Ross, Tuber, Van Auken, Van Trump-25. Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Van the appropriation to $500,000. I consider this limitation as a very necessary check against unlimited expenditures and liabilities. Yielding to that consideration, I feel bound to approve this resolution, without modifying in any manner my objections heretofore stated against the original and supplementary acts. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, March 30, 1867. Secretary of the Treasury-HUGH MCCULLOCH, of Indiana. Secretary of War-EDWIN M. STANTON, of Ohio. Secretary of the Navy-GIDEON WELLES, of Connecticut. Postmaster General-ALEXANDER W. RANDALL, of Wisconsin, vice WILLIAM DENNISON, of Ohio, resigned July 11, 1866. Secretary of the Interior-ORVILLE H. BROWNING, of Illinois, vice JAMES HARLAN, of Iowa, resigned September 30, 1866. Attorney General-HENRY STANBERY, of Kentucky, vice JAMES SPEED, of Kentucky, resigned July 16, 1866. THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. Second Session, December 3, 1866-March 2, 1867. The following changes took place from the list at the First Session, as printed on pages 107 and 108 of the Manual for 1866: SENATE. New Hampshire-George G. Fogg, vice Daniel Kansas-Edmund G. Ross, (qualified July 25, Kentucky-Elijah Hise, vice Henry Grider, deceased; Lovell H. Rousseau elected to fill the vacancy caused by his resignation July 20, 1866; Andrew H. Ward, vice Green Clay Smith, resigned. Tennessee-Nathaniel G. Taylor, Horace Maynard, William B. Stokes, Edmund Cooper, William B. Campbell, Samuel M. Arnell, Isaac R. Hawkins, John W. Leftwich. (Messrs. Campbell, Arnell, and Hawkins qualified December 3, 1866, the others July 24 and 25, 1866.) Nebraska-Thomas M. Marquette, (qualified March 2, 1867.) CLAIMANTS FROM THE INSURRECTIONARY STATES -THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS. In SENATE, same as at first session, except James B. Campbell, of South Carolina, vice John L. Manning, resigned; and David G. Burnett and O. M. Roberts, of Texas, recently chosen. In HOUSE, J. McCaleb Wiley, of Alabama, vice George C. Freeman, deceased; and James P. Hambleton, of Georgia, vice W. T. Wofford; TEXAS-George W. Chilton, Benj. H. Epperson, A. M. Branch, C. Herbert. (Mr. Branch and Mr. Herbert were Representatives in the Rebel Congress.) FORTIETH CONGRESS. First Session, March 4-30, 1867. BENJAMIN F. WADE, of Ohio, President of the Senate, and acting Vice President. John W. Forney, of Pennsylvania, Secretary. Maine-Lot M. Morrill, William Pitt Fessen den. Illinois-Richard Yates, Lyman Trumbull. Missouri-John B. Henderson, Charles D. Drake. Michigan Zachariah Chandler, Jacob M. Howard. Iowa-James W. Grimes, James Harlan. Wisconsin-James R. Doolittle, Timothy O. Howe. roy Kansas-Edmund G. Ross, Samuel C. Pome West Virginia-Peter G. Van Winkle, Waitman T. Willev. Nevada-William M. Stewart, James W. Nye. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Rhode Island-(Not elected.) New York-Stephen Taber, Demas Barnes, Wil- Pennsylvania-Samuel J. Randall, Charles Ohio-Benjamin Eggleston, Rutherford B. Hayes, Robert C Schenck, William Lawrence, *Members qualified-the first two, March 18, 1867, the last, March 20, William Mungen, Reader W. Clarke, Samuel Indiana-William E. Niblack, Michael C. Kerr, Baker, Green B. Raum, John A. Logan. Missouri-William A. Pile, Carman A. Newcomb, Thomas E. Noell, Joseph J. Gravely, Joseph W. McClurg, Robert T. Van Horn, Benjamin F. Loan, John F. Benjamin, George W. An derson. Michigan-Fernando C. Beaman, Charles Upson, * vice George S. Houston; John T. Jones, and IN SENATE--John A. Winston, of Alabama, Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas, vice William of Louisiana, vice Henry Boyce; Mathias A. D. Snow, and Elisha Baxter; G. Williamson, Manley, of North Carolina, vice John Pool. (Of these, Mr. Winston and Mr. Williamson served in the rebel army, the former as colonel of a regiment, the latter as major on General Polk's staff; Mr. Garland was in all the Rebel Congresses.) *Seat declared vacant by the Legislature. 1866, December 3-Mr. ELIOT introduced a bill, under a suspension of the rules, to repeal the thirteenth section of the act of July 17, 1862, which thirteenth section is in these words: "That the President is hereby authorized, at any time hereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion, in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at such time, and on such conditions, as he may deem expedient for the public welfare." The bill passed--yeas 112, nays 29. The NAYS were: Messrs. Ancona, Boyer, Campbell, Chanler, Dawson, Eldridge, Glossbrenner, Hale, Aaron Harding, Hise, Kerr, Le Blond, Leftwich, Marshall, Niblack, Nicholson, Noell, Phelps, Samuel J. Randall. Ritter, Rogers, Rousseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Stillwell, Nathaniel G. Taylor, Nelson Taylor, Trimble, Andrew H. Ward. 1867, January 7-The SENATE passed it-yeas 27, nays 7, as follow: with his objections, within ten days after presentation to him. Representation of Rebel States. 1866, December 11--A bill passed, of which this is the chief section: "That before the first meeting of the next Congress, and of every subsequent Congress, the Clerk of the next preceding House of Representatives shall make a roll of the representatives elect, and place thereon the names of all persons claiming seats as representatives elect from States which were represented in the next preceding Congress, an of such persons only, and whose credentials show that they were regularly elected in accordance with the laws of their States respectively, or the laws of the United States." The vote was-yeas 124, nays 31, as follow: Ashley, James M. Ashley, Baker, Baldwin, Barker, Baxter, YEAS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Anderson, Arnell, Delos R Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, BoutReader, Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Conkling, Cook, well, Brandegee, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Bundy,. Cullom, Darling, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dixon,. Donnelly, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Garfield, Grinnell, Hale, Abner C. Harding, Hart, Hayes, Henderson, Higby, Hill, Holmes, Hooper, Chester D. Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kasson, Kelley, Kelso, Ketcham, Koontz, Kuydendall, Laflin, Latham, George V. Lawrence. William Lawrence, Longyear, Lynch, Marston, Marvin, Maynard, McClurg, McIndoe, McKee, McRner, Mercur, Miller, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, O'Neill, Orth, Paine,. Patterson, Perham, Pike, Plants, Pomeroy, Price, William Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck. Scofield, Shellabarger, Sloan, H. Randall, Raymond, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice,. Spalding, Starr, Stevens, Stokes, Thayer, Francis Thomas, YEAS-Messrs. Cattell, Chandler, Conness, Cragin, Cres-Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulbur A, NAYS-Messrs. Dixon, Doolittle, Hendricks, Johnson, Norton, Patterson, Saulsbury—7. NOTE--This bill became a law by reason of the failure of the President to sign, or return it |