the constitution before it becomes valid, be, and the same is hereby, so far modified that a majority of the votes cast at the election for the ratification or rejection of the constitution shall be considered as valid, and as affirming or rejecting the constitution.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the several States which may be reconstructed under the act of March 2, 1867, and its supplements, may, at the time of voting upon the ratification of the constitution, vote also for members of Congress, who shall be entitled to take their seats in the next session of Congress after their several States shall have been admitted into the Union; and, until a new apportionment, the election for said members shall be according to the districts as they existed in 1858 and 1859, except when otherwise provided for; and the same elective officers who make the return of the votes cast on the ratification or rejection of the constitution shall enumerate and certify the votes cast for the members of Congress, and give certificates of election to those having the largest number of votes and whom they may deem entitled thereto.

SEO. 3. And be it further enacted, That, until a new apportionment shall be made of Representatives, South Carolina shall be entitled to six Representatives, two of whom shall be elected by general ticket; North Carolina, eight Representatives, one of whom shall be elected by general ticket; Georgia, eight Representatives, one of whom shall be elected by general ticket; Florida shall have one Representative; Alabama eight, two of whom shall be elected by general ticket; Mississippi six, one of whom shall be elected by general ticket; Louisiana six, one of whom shall be elected by general ticket; Texas five, one of whom shall be elected by general ticket; Arkansas three; and Virginia

Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said: "Sir, here is a bill which we have been petitioned to pass before the vacation, and it is the simplest thing in the world. The bill has been printed and is on our files, and every gentleman has had a fair opportunity of reading it and understanding it. It is simple enough, and I can explain it in five minutes so that no man can misunderstand it.

"In the first place, it restores the majority principle in voting on the constitution of the reconstructed States. In the second place, it provides for the election of Representatives in Congress by those States at the same time the constitutions are voted on, and provides further that when the constitutions are ratified and declared valid, and these States are declared entitled to representation, those Representatives so elected shall be admitted into this House upon taking the legal oath, and not before.

"Well, now, sir, that is the whole of my bill, except that which my friend from Ohio (Mr. Bingham) proposes to strike out. And here, by-the-by, let me modify my substitute by putting the number of Representatives from Virginia at eight. The third section leaves the apportionment as it was in 1860, only adding the additional number to which the States are entitled in consequence of the liberation of the negroes and the consequent change in the basis of representation. If any gentleman objects to that, he can vote to strike out that section. For my own part, I think the States are entitled to the proposed representation here.

"Now, sir, that is the whole bill. I do not know if there is any thing in it to which any gentleman can object; I cannot perceive it myself."

Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, said: "Mr. Speaker, I find no objection to the first and second sections of the bill reported by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stevens), from the Committee on Reconstruction. The first section, as the gentleman has very well said, simply restores the majority principle to the States lately in insurrection. The House will remember that I made an endeavor, when the Reconstruction Bill was being pressed upon this House, to exclude from it the terms which now embarrass the people in their action. This first section, therefore, is to put into the law that which I sought to have placed in it in the first place the right of the majority voting to determine the result. That I believe to be the general if not the universal rule in the several States of the Union.

"The second section may be deemed by many gentlemen to be altogether unnecessary, for it may be held that the people of the late insurrectionary States, in the event of their ratifying forms of constitutional government, have the right, under the Constitution and existing laws, to proceed to the election of Representatives in Congress in accordance with the provisions of the existing law apportioning Representatives among the several States of the Union. The second section, therefore, is only in aid of the law, and those who desire to see those States speedily represented in Congress cannot well object to it.

"The third section which the gentleman reports is that which I desire to have stricken from this bill, as violative alike of the spirit of the Constitution and of the existing legislation of Congress. The Congress of the United States, in the apportionment of Representatives among the several States of this Union, is limited, in my judgment, to each decennial period after the first census taken under the Constitution. That is my first objection to the third section of this bill. I do not recognize the power implied by the proposed legislation in this third section, in every succeeding Congress, after the apportionment of representation in the mode prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, to change the basis of that apportionment. With me that objection would be all-sufficient to control the vote which I shall give on the pending motion to strike the third section from this bill; and, if that motion fails, to control as well the vote which I shall give against the bill with that section in it: Under no conceivable circumstances will I consent to record my vote in favor of this bill with that section retained, either in the interest of the insurrectionary States or of the States not in insurrection."

Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania: "If the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Bingham) will allow me one moment, I would like to say that I do not

want to insist on any thing which may interfere with the passage of the bill. I withdraw the third section."

Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, said: "The object of this bill is to facilitate reconstruction and restoration. The first section, as the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stevens) has already told the House, restores the principle of majorities in elections, which should never have been departed from in the original legislation of Congress upon this subject.

"Now, I will say this much to the House, that in all probability, unless the first section of this bill is enacted into law, the constitutions adopted by the several States in the South will not be ratified by the people, if there is required to vote for their ratification a majority of all the voters registered. It is undoubtedly known to the members of this House that a great many of the voters in these unreconstructed States have changed their residences since they were registered. Poor men are constantly being hired to go here or there to work upon plantations or in other places, thus losing their residences.

"Then, too, as will be readily seen, every vote that is not polled upon the ratification of the constitution counts against it. It therefore seems to me to be not at all likely that a majority of all the voters registered will be polled in favor of these constitutions.

"The second section provides that, at the same time the people in the States lately in insurrection vote upon the question of the ratification or rejection of their constitutions, they shall also vote for Representatives in Congress. The object of that section is to facilitate the representation of those States in Congress, so that they may not be kept out after these States shall have been reconstructed, and their constitutions duly ratified and adopted, until another election is held for members of Congress, but that, as soon as any one of these States shall have been declared by Congress to be entitled to representation, their members, who may be standing at the doors of the House of Representatives, may take their seats as such Representatives."

Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, demanded the previous question, which was seconded, and the substitute agreed to. He then demanded the previous question on the passage of the bill, and it was passed by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Arnell, Delos R. Ashley, James M. Ashley, Bailey, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Beaman, Benjamin, Bingham, Broomall, Buckland, Cary, Churchill, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Coburn, Cook, Covode, Cullom, Dawes, Dixon, Donnelly, Driggs, Eckley, Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferriss, Fields, Garfield, Griswold, Halsey, Harding, Hawkins, Higby, Hooper, Hopkins, Chester D. Hubbard, Hulburd, Hunter, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Judd, Julian, Kelley, Ketcham, Koontz, Laflin, William Lawrence, Loan, Logan, Loughridge, Lynch, Mallory, Maynard, McCarthy, McClurg, Mercur, Moore, Moorhead, Morrell, Mul lins, Myers, Nunn, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Perham, Peters, Pike, Pile, Poland, Price, Robertson, Saw

104.

yer, Schenck, Scofield, Shanks, Smith, Spalding, Starkweather, Aaron F. Stevens, Thaddeus Stevens, Stewart, Stokes, Taylor, Thomas, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Robert T. Van Horn, Ward, Cadwalader C. Washburn, Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Welker, William Williams, John T. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, and WindomBarnum, Beck, Boyer, Brooks, Burr, Eldridge, Fox, NAYS-Messrs. Adams, Archer, Axtell, Barnes, Getts, Glossbrenner, Golladay, Grover, Holman, Hotchkiss, Richard D. Hubbard, Johnson, Jones, Kerr, Knott, Marshall, McCormick, Morgan, MunRoss, Taber, Van Auken, Van Trump, Wood, and gen, Niblack, Nicholson, Phelps, Pruyn, Randall, Woodward-37.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Benton, Blaine, Blair, Boutwell, Bromwell, Butler, Cake, Chanler, Cornell, Dodge, Eggleston, Ela, Ferry Finney, Gravely, phrey, Kelsey, Kitchen, George V. Lawrence, LinHaight, Hamilton, Hill, Asahel W. Hubbard, Humcoln, Marvin, McCullough, Miller, Morrissey, Newcomb, Plants, Polsley, Pomeroy, Raum, Robinson, Selye, Shellabarger, Sitgreaves, Stone, Taffe, Trimble, Trowbridge, Twichell, Van Wyck, Henry D. Washburn, Thomas Williams, James F. Wilson, and Woodbridge-47.

In the Senate, on January 22d, the bill of the House was considered:

Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, moved to refer the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary, with the following instructions:

That, the said committee be instructed in said bill, having reference to the question of reconstruction, or in any other bill which may be reported by them so called, in any of the States not represented in the present Congress, to insert the following proviso:

Provided, nevertheless, That upon an election for the ratification of any constitution, or of officers under the same, previous to its adoption in any State, no persons not having the qualifications of an elector under the constitution and laws of such State previous to the late rebellion shall be allowed to vote, unless he shall possess one of the following qualifications, namely:

1. He shall have served as a soldier in the Federal

Army for one year or more.

2. He shall have sufficient education to read the Constitution of the United States, and to subscribe his name to an oath to support the same; or,

8. He shall be seized, in his own right or in the right of his wife, of a freehold to the value of $250.

Mr. Doolittle said: "Mr. President, the question presented in the instructions proposed by me is, whether Congress is still resolved to subject the white people of the Southern States to the dominion of the negro race at the point. of the bayonet, or whether Congress, in deference to the recently expressed will of the American people, will now so far modify their policy as to leave the governments in those States in the hands of the white race and of the more civilized portion of the blacks? That is the naked question. Strip it of all useless verbiage and specious arguments about sustaining loyal men and punishing rebels, it is nothing more nor less than this: shall the General of the Army put the negro in power over the white race in all the States of the South and keep him there? That purpose is boldly avowed by some, and that will be the effect of this Radical reconstruction now as it stands, or as it will stand if this bill shall become a law. On

the other hand, the amendment which I offer, if adopted, would leave the governments in those States where they belong, and where they ought always to remain-in the hands of our own race-while, at the same time, it would allow the right of suffrage to all those negroes who have any claim to it by reason of intelligence or patriotic services or estate subject to taxation, namely:

"1. To those who have served in the Federal Army:

"2. To those who have sufficient education to read the Constitution of the United States and to subscribe their names to an oath to support the same; or

3. To those who have acquired and hold real property to the value of $250.

"But the question may be asked, why not apply the same tests to the white men of the South? The answer is plain and twofold. First, by the constitutions and laws of those States the right of suffrage is already secured to them, and we have no rightful power to take it away. To do so would trample under our feet one of the most sacred rights reserved to the States. It is by extending suffrage to the negroes that Congress is overturning the constitutions of those States. In my opinion, this is a usurpation, which its advocates justify upon the ground of necessity alone. I neither admit the power nor the necessity; but, granting both, no reason can be given, and no necessity but that of party ascendency can be urged, for going any further in this revolutionary work than to admit to suffrage the classes of negroes named in this amendment.

"The second answer is, that white men have for centuries been accustomed to vote. They have borne all the responsibilities and discharged all the duties of freemen among freemen; and it is a very different thing to take away from a freeman a privilege long exercised by him and by his ancestors, from what it is to confer one never before enjoyed upon ignorant, half-civilized Africans just released from slavery. Three generations back many of them were cannibals and savages of the lowest type of human kind. The only civilization they have is that which they have received during their slavery in America.

"To confer this great privilege upon the more enlightened negroes might tend to elevate the mass in the end. But to confer it now upon their ignorant hordes can only degrade the ballot and the republican institutions which rest upon it."

Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, in reply, said: "A great portion of the Senator's argument is based upon the assumption that there is an intention on the part of Congress to place the governments of the South under negro control. The answer to this is, it is not true in point of fact; it is a false assumption; and of course the whole argument based upon it falls. What is the truth? Why, sir, in all the Southern States to which the Reconstruction Act applies,

In

with the exception of Mississippi and South Carolina, the white population largely preponderates. In the State of Alabama, in 1860, the date of the last census, there were five hundred and twenty-six thousand whites, in round numbers, and only four hundred and thirtyfive thousand slaves, and two thousand six hundred and ninety free colored people. There were nearly one hundred thousand more whites than blacks in Alabama. In Arkansas the whites predominated nearly three to one. Florida a large majority of the population were whites. In Georgia there are one hundred thousand more whites than blacks. In North Carolina the white population preponderates nearly two to one. In Texas more than two to one. In Virginia more than two to one. Now, sir, what becomes of this assertion that there is an attempt to place the governments in the rebel States in the hands of negroes? If you will look at the registration you will find more whites than blacks registered in most of the States; but if the whites have not registered whose fault is it? The fault of the Senator from Wisconsin, and just such speeches as he has made to-day, to prevent the white population from taking part in this work of reconstruction.

"But, the Senator says, you have disfranchised the whites. How many? Why, sir, only those who led in the rebellion have been disfranchised. The number is comparatively small. But he says it embraces the brains and talent of the South. Is it true that the brains and the talent of the white population of the great State of Virginia, amounting to nearly a million, were all concentrated in the few persons who held office in that State prior to the rebellion? All of us who,know any thing about Southern society and Southern politics know that offices run in families in that section and always have. Men once in office there frequently hold office for life. We all know that when a member was sent to the House of Representatives or to this body from any of the Southern States in former years he was very likely to be continued as long as he lived or was willing to come. They were not in the habit of changing their officers in that section as we are in the North, and hence the disqualifying clause affects but few. And who are they that are disqualified? Why, sir, they are the leaders of the rebellion. Senator had the frankness to tell us that the people of the South were not in favor of rebellion; that a majority of the white people of the South were opposed to it. How, then, came they to go into rebellion? says they afterward united in it. How did that happen? Why, sir, they were forced into it by these very leaders, according to his statement, whom he now seeks to place again in power. They are the last men to be intrusted with authority after having, as he would have us understand, overawed and forced an unwilling people into rebellion.

The

He

"There is, then, no truth in the allegation that there is any attempt to place the Southern States under negro supremacy; and if the white people of those States are subjected to any such supremacy, it is because they chose it. They have in nearly every one of those States a majority of votes. In all the conventions which have been held, with the exception of perhaps South Carolina, a large majority of the members have been white. So that this accusation of the Senator not being true in point of fact, there is no need of replying to the horrid condition of affairs which he has painted as resulting from negro supremacy."

Mr. Morton, of Indiana, said: "The issue here to-day is the same which prevails throughout the country, and which will be the issue of this canvass, and perhaps for years to come. To repeat what I have had occasion to say elsewhere, it is between two paramount ideas, each struggling for the supremacy. One is, that the war to suppress the rebellion was right and just on our part; that the rebels forfeited their civil and political rights, and can only be restored to them upon such conditions as the nation may prescribe for its future safety and prosperity. The other idea is, that the rebellion was not sinful, but was right; that those engaged in it forfeited no rights, civil or political, and have a right to take charge of their State governments, and be restored to their representation in Congress, just as if there had been no rebellion and nothing had occurred. The immediate issue before the Senate now is between the existing State governments, established under the policy of the President of the United States in the rebel States, and the plan of reconstruction presented by Congress.

"When a surveyor first enters a new territory, he endeavors to ascertain the exact latitude and longitude of a given spot, and from that can safely begin his survey; and so I will endeavor to ascertain a proposition in this debate, upon which both parties are agreed, and start from that proposition. That proposition is, that at the end of the war, in the spring of 1865, the rebel States were without State governments of any kind. The loyal State governments existing at the beginning of the war had been overturned by the rebels; the rebel State governments erected during the war had been overturned by our armies, and at the end of the war there were no governments of any kind existing in those States. This fact was recognized distinctly by the President of the United States, in his proclamation, under which the work of reconstruction was commenced in North Carolina in 1865, to which I beg leave to refer. The others were mere copies of this proclamation. In that proclamation, he says:

And whereas the rebellion which has been waged by a portion of the people of the United States against the properly constituted authorities of the Govern

ment thereof, in the most violent and revolting form, but whose organized and armed forces have now been almost entirely overcome, has in its revolutionary Carolina of all civil government. progress deprived the people of the State of North

"Here the President must be allowed to speak for his party, and I shall accept this as a proposition agreed upon on both sides: that at the end of the war there were no governments of any kind existing in those States.

"The fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution declares that 'the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government.' This provision contains a vast, undefined power that has never yet been ascertained-a great supervisory power given to the United States to enable them to keep the States in their orbits, to preserve them from anarchy, revolution, and rebellion. The measure of power thus conferred upon the Government of the United States can only be determined by that which is requisite to guarantee or maintain in each State a legal and republican form of government. Whatever power, therefore, may be necessary to enable the Government of the United States thus to maintain in each State a republican form of government is conveyed by this provision.

"Now, Mr. President, when the war ended and these States were found without governments of any kind, the jurisdiction of the United States under this provision of the Constitution, at once attached; the power to reorganize State governments, to use the common word, to reconstruct, to maintain and guarantee republican State governments in those States, at once attached under this provision. Upon this proposition there is also a concurrence of the two parties. The President has distinctly recognized the application of this clause of the Constitution. He has recognized the fact that its jurisdiction attached when those States were found without republican State governments, and he himself claimed to act under this clause of the Constitution.

"It is true he recites in his proclamation that he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States; but at the same time he puts his plan of reconstruction, not upon the exercise of the military power which is called to its aid, but on the execution of the guarantee provided by the clause of the Constitution to which I have referred. He appoints a Governor for North Carolina and for these other States, the office being civil in its character, but military in its effects. This Governor has all the power of one of the district commanders, and, in fact, far greater power than was conferred upon General Pope or General Sheridan, or any general in command of a district; for it is further provided:

That the military commander of the department, and all officers and persons in the military and naval service, aid and assist the said provisional governor in carrying into effect this proclamation.

"We are, then, agreed upon the second prop