History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States Part 39

The report thus sets forth the conduct naturally expected of the Southern people, as contrasted with their actual doings:

"They should exhibit in their acts something more than unwilling submission to an unavoidable necessity--a feeling, if not cheerful, certainly not offensive and defiant, and should evince an entire repudiation of all hostility to the General Government by an acceptance of such just and favorable conditions as that Government should think the public safety demands. Has this been done? Let us look at the facts shown by the evidence taken by the committee.

Hardly had the war closed before the people of these insurrectionary States come forward and hastily claim as a right the privilege of partic.i.p.ating at once in that Government which they had for four years been fighting to overthrow.

"Allowed and encouraged by the Executive to organize State governments, they at once place in power leading rebels, unrepentant and unpardoned, excluding with contempt those who had manifested an attachment to the Union, and preferring, in many instances, those who had rendered themselves the most obnoxious. In the face of the law requiring an oath which would necessarily exclude all such men from Federal office, they elect, with very few exceptions, as Senators and Representatives in Congress, men who had actively partic.i.p.ated in the rebellion, insultingly denouncing the law as unconst.i.tutional.

"It is only necessary to instance the election to the Senate of the late Vice President of the Confederacy--a man who, against his own declared convictions, had lent all the weight of his acknowledged ability and of his influence as a most prominent public man to the cause of the rebellion, and who, unpardoned rebel as he is, with that oath staring him in the face, had the a.s.surance to lay his credentials on the table of the Senate. Other rebels of scarcely less note or notoriety were selected from other quarters. Professing no repentance, glorying apparently in the crime they had committed, avowing still, as the uncontradicted testimony of Mr. Stephens and many others proves, an adherence to the pernicious doctrines of secession, and declaring that they yielded only to necessity, they insist with unanimous voice upon their rights as States, and proclaim they will submit to no conditions whatever preliminary to their resumption of power under that Const.i.tution which they still claim the right to repudiate."

Finally the report thus presented the "conclusion of the committee:"

"That the so-called Confederate States are not at present ent.i.tled to representation in the Congress of the United States; that before allowing such representation, adequate security for future peace and safety should be required; that this can only be found in such changes of the organic law as shall determine the civil rights and privileges of all citizens in all parts of the republic, shall place representation on an equitable basis, shall fix a stigma upon treason, and protect the loyal people against future claims for the expenses incurred in support of rebellion and for manumitted slaves, together with an express grant of power in Congress to enforce these provisions. To this end they have offered a joint resolution for amending the Const.i.tution of the United States, and two several bills designed to carry the same into effect."

The pa.s.sage of the Const.i.tutional Amendment by more than the necessary majority has been related. One of the bills to which reference is made in the above report--declaring certain officials of the so-called Confederate States ineligible to any office under the Government of the United States--was placed in the amendment in lieu of the disfranchising clause. The other bill provided for "the restoration of the States lately in insurrection to their full rights" so soon as they should have ratified the proposed amendment. This bill was defeated in the House by a vote of 75 to 48. Congress thus refused to pledge itself in advance to make the amendment the sole test of the readmission of rebel States. Congress, however, clearly indicated a disposition to restore those States "at the earliest day consistent with the future peace and safety of the Union." The report and doings of the Committee of Fifteen, although by many impatiently criticised as dilatory, resulted, before the end of the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, in the reconstruction of one of the States lately in rebellion.

CHAPTER XX.

RESTORATION OF TENNESSEE.

a.s.sembling of the Tennessee Legislature -- Ratification of the Const.i.tutional Amendment -- Restoration of Tennessee proposed in Congress -- The Government of Tennessee not Republican -- Protest against the Preamble -- Pa.s.sage in the House -- New Preamble proposed -- The President's Opinion deprecated and disregarded -- Pa.s.sage in the Senate -- The President's Approval and Protest -- Admission of Tennessee Members -- Mr. Patterson's Case.

The most important practical step in the work of reconstruction taken by the Thirty-ninth Congress was the restoration of Tennessee to her relations to the Union. Of all the recently rebellious States, Tennessee was the first to give a favorable response to the overtures of Congress by ratifying the Const.i.tutional Amendment.

Immediately on the reception of the circular of the Secretary of State containing the proposed amendment, Governor Brownlow issued a proclamation summoning the Legislature of Tennessee to a.s.semble at Nashville on the 4th of July.

There are eighty-four seats in the lower branch of the Legislature of Tennessee. By the State Const.i.tution, two-thirds of the seats are required to be full to const.i.tute a quorum. The presence of fifty-six members seemed essential for the legal transaction of business. Every effort was made to prevent the a.s.sembling of the required number. The powerful influence of the President himself was thrown in opposition to ratification.

On the day of the a.s.sembling of the Legislature but fifty-two members voluntarily appeared. Two additional members were secured by arrest, so that the number nominally in attendance was fifty-four, and thus it remained for several days. It was ascertained that deaths and resignations had reduced the number of actual members to seventy-two, and a Union caucus determined to declare that fifty-four members should const.i.tute a quorum. Two more Union members opportunely arrived, swelling the number present in the Capitol to fifty-six.

Neither persuasion nor compulsion availed to induce the two "Conservative members" to occupy their seats, and the house was driven to the expedient of considering the members who were under arrest and confined in a committee room, as present in their places. This having been decided, the const.i.tutional amendment was immediately ratified.

Governor Brownlow immediately sent the following telegraphic dispatch to Was.h.i.+ngton:

"NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, _Thursday_, July 19--12 M.

"_To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C._

My compliments to the President. We have carried the Const.i.tutional Amendment in the House. Vote, 43 to 18; two of his tools refusing to vote.

W. G. BROWNLOW."

On the 19th of July, the very day on which Tennessee voted to ratify the amendment, and immediately after the news was received in Was.h.i.+ngton, Mr. Bingham, in the House of Representatives, moved to reconsider a motion by which a joint resolution relating to the restoration of Tennessee had been referred to the Committee on Reconstruction.

This joint resolution having been drawn up in the early part of the session, was not adapted to the altered condition of affairs resulting from the pa.s.sage of the const.i.tutional amendment in Congress. The motion to reconsider having pa.s.sed, Mr. Bingham proposed the following subst.i.tute:

"Joint resolution declaring Tennessee again ent.i.tled to Senators and Representatives in Congress.

_Whereas_, The State of Tennessee has in good faith ratified the article of amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress to the Legislatures of the several States, and has also shown, to the satisfaction of Congress, by a proper spirit of obedience in the body of her people, her return to her due allegiance to the Government, laws, and authority of the United States: Therefore,

_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_, That the State of Tennessee is hereby restored to her former, proper, practical relation to the Union, and again ent.i.tled to be represented by Senators and Representatives in Congress, duly elected and qualified, upon their taking the oaths of office required by existing laws."

On the following day, this joint resolution was the regular order, and gave rise to a brief discussion.

Mr. Boutwell desired to offer an amendment providing that Tennessee should have representation in Congress whenever, in addition to having ratified the const.i.tutional amendment, it should establish an "equal and just system of suffrage." Mr. Boutwell, although opposed to the joint resolution before the House, had no "technical" objections to the immediate restoration of Tennessee. "I am not troubled," said he, "by the informalities apparent in the proceedings of the Tennessee Legislature upon the question of ratifying the const.i.tutional amendment. It received the votes of a majority of the members of a full house, and when the proper officers shall have made the customary certificate, and filed it in the Department of State, it is not easy to see how any legal objection can be raised, even if two-thirds of the members were not present, although that proportion is a quorum according to the const.i.tution of the State."

Mr. Boutwell declared that his objections to the pending measure were vital and fundamental. The government of Tennessee was not republican in form, since under its const.i.tution more than eighty thousand male citizens were deprived of the right of suffrage. The enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the freedmen of Tennessee should be the beginning of the great work of reconstruction upon a republican basis. "We surrender the rights of four million people," said Mr. Boutwell in concluding his remarks; "we surrender the cause of justice; we imperil the peace and endanger the prosperity of the country; we degrade ourselves as a great party which has controlled the government in the most trying times in the history of the world."

Mr. Higby thought that Tennessee should not be admitted without a restriction that she should not be allowed any more representation than that to which she would be ent.i.tled were the const.i.tutional amendment in full operation and effect.

Mr. Bingham advocated at considerable length the immediate restoration of Tennessee. "Inasmuch," said he, "as Tennessee has conformed to all our requirements; inasmuch as she has, by a majority of her whole legislature in each house, ratified the amendment in good faith; inasmuch as she has of her own voluntary will conformed her const.i.tution and laws to the Const.i.tution and laws of the United States; inasmuch as she has by her fundamental law forever prohibited the a.s.sumption or payment of the rebel debt, or the enslavement of men; inasmuch as she has by her own const.i.tution declared that rebels shall not exercise any of the political power of the State or vote at elections; and thereby given the American people a.s.surance of her determination to stand by this great measure of security for the future of the Republic, Tennessee is as much ent.i.tled to be represented here as any State in the Union."

Mr. Finck, Mr. Eldridge, and other Democrats favored the resolution, while they protested against and "spit on" the preamble.

The question having been taken, the joint resolution pa.s.sed the House, one hundred and twenty-five voting in the affirmative, and twelve in the negative. These last were the following: Messrs. Alley, Benjamin, Boutwell, Eliot, Higby, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Loan, McClurg, Paine, and Williams.

The announcement of the pa.s.sage of the joint resolution was greeted with demonstrations of applause on the floor and in the galleries.

On the day succeeding this action in the House, the joint resolution came up for consideration in the Senate. After a considerable discussion, the resolution as it pa.s.sed the House was adopted by the Senate.

In place of the preamble which was pa.s.sed by the House, Mr. Trumbull proposed the following subst.i.tute:

"_Whereas_, In the year 1861, the government of the State of Tennessee was seized upon and taken possession of by persons in hostility to the United States, and the inhabitants of said State, in pursuance of an act of Congress were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States; and whereas said State government can only be restored to its former political relations in the Union by the consent of the law-making power of the United States; and whereas the people of said State did on the 22d of February, 1865, by a large popular vote adopt and ratify a const.i.tution of government whereby slavery was abolished, and all ordinances and laws of secession and debts contracted under the same were declared void; and whereas a State government has been organized under said const.i.tution which has ratified the amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States abolis.h.i.+ng slavery, also the amendment proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and has done other acts proclaiming and denoting loyalty: Therefore."

Mr. Sherman opposed the subst.i.tution of this preamble. "These political dogmas," said he, "can not receive the sanction of the President; and to insert them will only create delay, and postpone the admission of Tennessee."

"I pay no regard," said Mr. Wade, "to all that has been said here in relation to the President probably vetoing your bill, for any thing he may do, in my judgment, is entirely out of order on this floor. Sir, in olden times it was totally inadmissible in the British Parliament for any member to allude to any opinion that the king might entertain on any thing before the body; and much more, sir, ought an American Congress never to permit any member to allude to the opinion that the Executive may have upon any subject under consideration. He has his duty to perform, and we ours; and we have no right whatever under the Const.i.tution to be biased by any opinion that he may entertain on any subject. Therefore, sir, I believe that it is, or ought to be, out of order to allude to any such thing here. Let the President do what he conceives to be his duty, and let us do ours, without being biased in any way whatever by what it may be supposed he will do."

Mr. Brown entered his disclaimer. "Republicanism," said he, "means nothing if it means not impartial, universal suffrage. Republicanism is a mockery and a lie if it can a.s.sume to administer this government in the name of freedom, and yet sanction, as this act will, the disfranchis.e.m.e.nt of a large, if not the largest, part of the loyal population of the rebel States on the pretext of color and race."

The question being taken on the pa.s.sage of the preamble as subst.i.tuted by the Senate, together with the resolution of the House, resulted in twenty-eight Senators voting in the affirmative, and four in the negative. The latter were Messrs. Brown, Buckalew, McDougal, and Sumner.

The House concurred in the amendment of the Senate, without discussion, and the joint resolution went to the President for his approval.

On the 24th of July, the President, not thinking it expedient to risk a veto, signed the joint resolution, and at the same time sent to the House his protest against the opinions presented in the preamble.

After having given his objections to the preamble and resolution at considerable length, the President said: "I have, notwithstanding the anomalous character of this proceeding, affixed my signature to the resolution. [General applause and laughter.] My approval, however, is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of the right of Congress to pa.s.s laws preliminary to the admission of duly-qualified representatives from any of the States. [Great laughter.] Neither is it to be considered as committing me to all the statements made in the preamble, [renewed laughter,] some of which are, in my opinion, without foundation in fact, especially the a.s.sertion that the State of Tennessee has ratified the amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress." [Laughter.]

After the reading of the President's Message, Mr. Stevens said: "Inasmuch as the joint resolution has become a law by the entire and cordial approval of the President, [laughter,] I am joint committee on reconstruction to ask that that committee be discharged from the further consideration of the credentials of the members elect from the State of Tennessee, and to move that the same be referred to the Committee of Elections of this House."

This motion was pa.s.sed. At a later hour of the same day's session, Mr.

Dawes, of the Committee on Elections, having permission to report, said that the credentials of the eight Representatives elect from Tennessee had been examined, and were found in conformity with law. He moved, therefore, that the gentlemen be sworn in as members of the House from the State of Tennessee.

Horace Maynard and other gentlemen from Tennessee then went forward amid applause, and took the oath of office.

On the day following, Joseph S. Fowler was sworn in, and took his seat as a Senator from Tennessee.

The next day Mr. Fowler presented the credentials of David T.

Patterson as a Senator elect from Tennessee. A motion was made that these credentials be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, with instructions to inquire into the qualifications of Mr. Patterson.