that control to oppress and put under ban those who have never swerved from their fidelity to the Union. Congress, therefore, wisely in my judgment, declined to treat the states which had confederated in their treason against the Government, as rightfully entitled to immediate representation in the national legislature, or to be released from the control of the federal authority; and this decision was evidently in agreement with the opinions of a large majority of the people who had heartily sustained the Government in its contest with the rebellion. To the reading and thinking people of the nation, who judge by facts and results rather than by the refinements of argument, the riots at Memphis and New Orleans have furnished the most complete and startling evidence of the inherent error of the executive scheme, and have written its condemnation in characters of blood. In those riots peaceable citizens, with circumstances of savage atrocity, were cruelly murdered by a mob, incited and led by local officials, and inspired by an illiberal and intense prejudice against an inoffensive race, and by a vengeful hatred of those who dared to claim equal political and civil rights for all men; and these outbreaks have furnished melancholy proof of the danger of committing unrestrained political and civil power to men recently rebels, and are significant commentaries upon that reorganization of which they were the legitimate fruits. Congress, however, did not insist upon its constitutional right to inaugurate the work of reorganizing the governments of the states which had confederated in rebellion, nor did it surrender that right, but in its legislative action it manifested a willingness to suffer the work of the Executive to remain undisturbed, so far as it could do so with due respect to the dignity and safety of the republic, and with a proper regard to the security and protection of the property, liberty and lives of all the people of the United States. After a laborious and extended session and a patient comparison of views, both Houses of Congress agreed, by the necessary two-thirds vote, to propose to the legislatures of the several states the following amendment to the federal Constitution : AMENDMENT. ARTICLE XIV. SEC. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. 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. SEC. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. SEC. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. SEC. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Soon after this proposed amendment was adopted, it was ratified by the legislature of Tennessee, and immediately thereupon the senators and representatives previously chosen by that state, upon taking the oaths prescribed by law, were admitted to seats in the respective Houses of Congress. Texas is the only other state confederated in the rebellion, that has acted upon this amendment. There it was rejected, the legislature directing the committee having it in charge to return it to the Secretary of State. Every other state-except Oregon, whose legislature first ratified and then rejected it—which stood by the Government during the rebellion, whose legislature has been in session since the amendment was proposed, has ratified it; and there is good reason to confidently anticipate that it will be ratified by the number of states necessary to make it a part of the federal Constitution. While this amendment does not contain a single proposition which the Executive has not, either in his speeches or official communications, approved, its only danger of defeat -a danger now happily small-arises from his hostility to its ratification. The issue presented to the people this fall has been and will be this policy of Congress, as contrasted with that of the Executive Department of the Government. The former puts such safeguards about the restoration of the states lately confederated in rebellion to an equal participation in the 'Government with the states which always remained true to the flag, as shall secure to the original Union men of the South equal rights and impartial liberty, while it stamps upon treason the indelible mark of the people's condemnation. The latter restores to civil and political power the men who plotted the rebellion and fought it through to its bitter end, leaying to their unappeased and unrelenting hate a minority of whites so small as to be helpless, and the entire colored race, to whom liberty has been given, and its peaceable and full enjoyment guaranteed. The elections already held have resulted in the triumphant approval of the Congressional policy; and there is no reasonable doubt that the elections yet to be held will pronounce as unmistakably in favor of the constitutional amendment. Vermont, as is her wont when called to any good work, led the way with a grand emphasis in the popular approval of Congress. Yet, decisive as her declaration was at the polls, the State would have welcomed, with still greater enthusiasm and with a more triumphant majority, such a reorganization of the rebellious communities, as would have given to the people, white and black, the equal civil and political rights secured to the people of this State by our Bill of Rights and Constitution, and under which peace, order, civilization, education, contentment, Christianity and liberty have shed their benign and blessed influence alike upcn every home and household in our beloved Commonwealth. I invoke upon you, and your labors, the blessing of that God who has hitherto so graciously led and upheld us as a State and people. EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, Montpelier, Oct. 12, 1866. S PAUL DILLINGHAM. Mr. Walker, of Ludlow, offered the following resolution : Resolved, That the message of the Governor be ordered to lie upon the table, and that the Clerk be directed to procure the printing of one thousand copies of the same for the use of the General Assembly; Which was read and adopted. Mr. Miner offered the following joint resolution : Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, That so much of the Governor's message as relates to the amendment proposed by Congress to the Constitution of the United States, be referred to a joint committee, to consist of three senators, appointed by the President of the Senate, and five members of the House, appointed by the Speaker; Which was read, and adopted on the part of the House. Mr. White, of Windsor, offered the following resolution : Resolved, That so much of the Governor's message as relates to the finances of the State be referred to the Committee of Ways and Means; Which was read and adopted. Mr. Dunn offered the following resolution : Resolved, That so much of the Governor's message as relates to State Normal Schools, be referred to a select committee to consist of one member from each county in the State; Which was read and adopted. On motion of Mr. Clark, of Poultney, the House adjourned. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1866. Reading of the Scriptures and prayer by the Chaplain. Journal of yesterday read and approved. A message from his Excellency, the Governor, by Mr. Gay, Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs, as follows: MR. SPEAKER: I am directed by the Governor to deliver to the House of Representatives a communication in writing, with an accompanying document. The Speaker laid before the House a communication from his Excellency, the Governor, as follows: STATE OF VERMONT, Executive Chamber, Montpelier, Oct. 13, 1866. Š To the Speaker of the House of Representatives: SIR: I take great pleasure in transmitting herewith to the House of Representatives, for the use of the General Assembly, a communication from Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, covering an attested copy of a resolution of Congress, proposing to the legislatures of the several states an amendment to the Constitution of the United States. PAUL DILLINGHAM. Which communication, on motion of Mr. Miner, was Mr. Rounds, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following report : To the House of Representatives now in session: The Committee on Rules respectfully report the following as the rules of the House for the present session, and recommend their adoption. WILLIAM ROUNDS, for Committee. RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SEC. 1. The House shall meet every day (Sundays excepted), at ten o'clock in the morning, and at two o'clock in the afternoon, unless otherwise specially ordered. |