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 READMISSION OF THE REBELLIOUS STATES AND THE MEMBERS THEREOF. 
 
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 V^^at-E^s-^*-^' 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 
 HON. E. PUMONT, OF INDIANA, 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 17, 186G. 
 
 The House, as in Committee of the AVhole on the 
 Ftate of the Union, having under consideration the 
 President's annual message — 
 Mr. DUMONTsaid: 
 
 Mr. Speaker: As many suppose that the 
 powers of Congress to deal with the rebel 
 States according to their demerits, and the 
 deeds done in the body depend upon the 
 question whether a State can go out of the 
 Union or forfeit by crime the rights apper- 
 taining to a loyal State, I propose at the begin- 
 ning of my remarks to occupy a brief period 
 with these inquiries. It is quite clear that 
 South Carolina, for example, since her rebel- 
 lion has not been in the Union in the sense 
 that Indiana is in the Union, or out of the 
 Union in the sense that Yucatan or Ecuador is. 
 Whether her condition has been and is terri- 
 torial, colonial, provincial, or what not, is im- 
 material, provided any of these conditions would 
 place her under the jurisdiction and control of 
 Congress until again invested with the rights 
 she has forfeited. Wiien so reinstated. Con- 
 gress of course has no powel'S except such as 
 she has over loyal States under the Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 Under the Con.stitution powers not delegated 
 to the Government are reserved to the States, 
 and that is why a hostile and rebellious State 
 has no business to participate in the Govern- 
 ment of the Union. As well might we confide 
 our blessed religion and the sacred Book upon 
 which it is founded, the Christian's guide and 
 compass, bulwark and hope, to the keeping of 
 a set of shameless and blatant infidels. We do 
 not confide the lamb to the wolf. I have heard 
 the question asked: is not a State and a State 
 organization one and the same thing as truly 
 as man's body and his physical organization are 
 one and the same, so that the State organiza- 
 tion being destroyed the. State itself is destroyed? 
 Those wlio entertain this theory call it being 
 out of the Union, though the territory of the 
 State and the people are still subject to the 
 jurisdiction of the Federal Government. 
 
 When the principles of life depart we say the 
 man is dead, and when dead we say he has 
 gone to another world, though the body is still 
 present with us ; and why may we not say of 
 a State, when its government has been over- 
 thrown, its living principles subverted, gone to 
 
 flinders and broken to fragments, that it is out 
 of the Union"? We may not say it, we are told, 
 because the soil of the State is still here, the 
 people are still here, and the two constitute the 
 State. Might it not as well be said that the 
 man has not gone to another world because 
 his body is still here and he has left his farm 
 and his children behind him'.' Who can name 
 the author that has laid down the doctrine of 
 the perpetuity of a State like that of the im- 
 mortality of the soul ■? Does not the history of 
 the world prove such a doctrine is false'/ Do 
 not the experience of man and all that has 
 been said and written teach a different lesson'? 
 
 " The cloud-capped towers, the gorfrcous palaces. 
 The solemn temples, the great plobe itself. 
 Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve. 
 And, like this insubstantial pageant faded. 
 Leave not a wreck behind." 
 
 "The grass withers and the flowers fade, the 
 word of our God alone endureth forever. ' ' The 
 republic of to-day is the despotism of to-mor- 
 row. The pages of history are rife with the 
 rise, decline, and fall of States and empires, 
 fabrics which have crumbled before the cor- 
 roding tooth of time. The formation of a State 
 is of man ; all that is of man is perishable. 
 Within my short recollection one oi the rebel 
 States has passed through various mutations. 
 It was first one of the States of the republic 
 of Mexico, then by a successful revolution it 
 became itself an independent republic; then 
 by treaty of annexation it became one of the 
 United States of America ; and running its ped- 
 igree back and tracing its lineage the other way, 
 in the ascending line, we find it was once a part 
 of Spain ; and before the Spanish conquest, 
 and in tlie djiys of the Montezumas, a part, per- 
 haps, of the Aztec republic. I think it l)clonged 
 once to France and was part of Louisiana, pur- 
 chased by the United States with tliat territory 
 and again traded off to Spain, and what it is 
 now God only knows. I once saw a couplet, 
 supposed to be written by an emigrant totlioso 
 parts : 
 
 "When every other land rejects us. 
 We pack our kit and go to Texas. 
 
 I presume if tlie author of this piece of sub- 
 limity has not been hung, or met some such 
 untimely fate, he might be able to solve the 
 question. I think, in the case of Texas at least, 
 
^^^''^ 90 
 
 ETUS 
 
 ^ 
 
 we must hold that a State cannot go out. at 
 least cannot go out for good, and bid us a final 
 and everlasting farewell, though it may be au- 
 dacious enough to go a whoring after strange 
 gods for a time. We cannot afl'ord to lose 
 Texas ; it cost too much money. It cost us 
 $10.UUO,000 at the beginning, not counting the 
 cost of the Mexican war nor the money and 
 blood expended in whipping her out of her 
 recent rebellion. They are a jolly set of boys 
 down in I'exas; at least they were a few years 
 ago, when I was among them on a temporary 
 visit. To illustrate: 1 was at a hotel in the 
 town of Gonzales ; I think it was in the year of 
 grace, that is, A. D. 18G0. It was at a time 
 when wonderful tales were told in regard to 
 Indian barbarities. While there a well-dressed 
 and good-looking gentleman, who was called 
 captain, cameinandsaid that twenty white fam- 
 ilies, men, women, and children. hadl)cen mur- 
 dered, a day or two before, at a point some forty 
 or fifty miles distant, by the Camanche Indians, 
 and that he was raising a company of brave and 
 determined men to go in pursuit. There was 
 at the time quite a crowd in the room to whom 
 he related what I have repeated. 
 
 " Now," says one of the group, using a good 
 deal of profanity that I will not repeat, lest it 
 should grate harshly on ears polite, "you don't 
 come that giralfe over this crowd. Don't we 
 know what you' re after? It's plunder, horses, 
 anything that you can steal and confiscate. I 
 think we'll all join your company and go 
 snooks; yes, we're all in, every last one of us. 
 To the victors l)elong the spiles. We'll name 
 our company ' the Forty Thieves.' I think 1 see 
 us all a comin back to the white settlements, 
 every feller a Icadin of a boss and breaking 
 down with plunder, but nary Injun scalp. John 
 A. Murrill, that old thief and counterfeiter, is 
 dead. He used to kidnap niggers; and now 
 the devil has kidnapped him. If he had not 
 gone up the spout, he should be our chaplain ; 
 we'll be mighty apt to need praying for afore 
 we get back. We must hunt up a chaplain ; a 
 company of brave and determined men witliout 
 one might become demoralized." At this point 
 the laugh came in, in which the whole crowd, 
 the captain included, participated ; but I no- 
 ticed that he was stung, that tlie arrow had 
 sped to its oljject, that he at least did not rel- 
 isli the joke ; but I heard no more of the e.x- 
 
 fyedilioii. The massacre was of course all a 
 iibriralion — all a humbug; the Indian.? had 
 killed ri<jbo(iy. 
 
 1 thought this a good piece of badinage, bat- 
 ing the profanity and levity. It broki; up an 
 expediti(»n that had, I a[iprehcnd, but little 
 relish of salvation in it, and I was tht-ri'fore 
 inclined to make some allowance for the hard 
 words. UneleToby, you recollect, Mr, .'Speaker, 
 Bwore too, and yet we are told by the pious 
 and ••xcniplary Sti'rne that becauscr it was in 
 a good cauHc and with good intentions, on u fit 
 OccaBiuii, and under Kufticient provocation, that 
 the accusing sfiiril that flew up to heuven'K 
 chancery with the oath blushed an he gave it 
 
 in ; and that the recording angel, as he wrote 
 it down, dropped a tear upon the word and 
 blotted it out forever. 
 
 We must hold on to Texas, I think, Mr. 
 Speaker. They were, at the time of Avhich I 
 speak, a set of free and easy, gay and festive 
 boys, I confess; still, I kind o' liked them, and 
 think that under the benign and chastening 
 influences of free institutions, free schools, free ^ 
 Bibles, and freedom, they will be good and use- ^r 
 ful citizens after awhile. We must, by all means, 
 hold on to tliemin a kind of probationary state 
 Tor a time, and take them in as full members 
 when the signs in the zodiac are right. 
 
 It is a poor plan, Mr. Speaker, to digress 
 from an argument to tell a story. It breaks 
 the thread of a discourse. I have almost for- 
 gotten at what point of my argument I stepp^ 
 aside for that foolish purpose. I believe I was 
 talking about .States going out, and saying that 
 some say it can be done, some that it cannot, 
 while still others say that while we are not 
 compelled to treat a rebel State as out of the 
 Union, yet we are at liberty to do so by the 
 right of conquest if we see proper, keep them 
 out as long as we please, and readmit them as 
 soon as we please. On these various jioints I 
 heard an argument the other day between gen- ^M 
 tlemen of conflicting political tenets, and as it 
 lets in a little daylight on the subject I will 
 repeat it. It ran thus : says one, " The South 
 said they had gone out. You said they had 
 not and could not, and now you say they did, 
 and cannot come in." The other replied, 
 "You said that war was disunion. The war 
 came, the most terrible and bloody on record. 
 You passed ordinances of .secession, struck 
 down the flag, trampled it under foot, and now 
 you say there has been no disunion. \\ e did 
 not say you could not go out — that would have 
 been foolish — we said you coald^iot legally go 
 out ; nor do we say you cannot come baik, but 
 we do say that as you went out contrary to law, 
 in violation of your allegiance, and for the most 
 wicked jjurposes, stamping the dust from your 
 feet as you left, and have put the I'luon to the 
 painful necessity tif whipping treason out of you, A 
 you cannot come in until you are in\itcd, and 
 you will not be invited until Congress is satis- 
 lied that the hostility that proinjited you to the 
 deed of wiekcMlness has been eradicated. The 
 Union will not trifle about the thing. Going 
 out and coming in costs too much. I f wc keep 
 you out in the cohl awhile it may teach you 
 sense enougli to stay in when you get in, and 
 conduct yourselves decently and civillv when 
 in." 
 
 Mr. Speaker, many suppose this question so 
 profound that it is somewhat presumptuous for 
 the .-jmall fry to pitch in. 1 ]tropos(> to live 
 up to my |>rivilege9. I have heard otir minis- 
 ter say that is what all good ('hristiaiis ought to 
 do, and if so, it will not hurt a sinner. It may 
 be that the quostion is deeper than plummet 
 ever Bonndeii. Init I do not believe it. It does 
 not seem so to mo. 
 
 Yet I may be in the condition of the lunatic. 
 
*Tiay be the one who is laboring under the de- 
 lusion and not those who regard the subject as 
 jS so profound. And for aught I know they may 
 111 have the majority on me. " What are you doing 
 ^ here?" said a visitor to a hmatlc. ''I thought," 
 replied he. "everybody mad ; evcrj'body thought 
 me mad ; they had the majority on me, and here 
 I am confined in a mad-hou.'5e." 
 
 It seems to.me that disunion is to be disuni- 
 ft^ ted; the ligaments that bind together broken, 
 andlamnot prepu'cd tosay that in point of fact 
 it may not be d"ne, though it be contrary to 
 law. Let us not confound the right with the 
 fact, and conclude that because a man has not 
 the right to do a thing he cannot in fitct do it. 
 Would to God it were so ; crime would be wiped 
 out and our wicked and sinful world would be- 
 come a paradise. But we know it is not so ; 
 -.-that the legal prohibition does not always pre- 
 vent the crime. Keej') these ideas, the right 
 and the fact, separate and there is no confu- 
 sion. Nor does it follow that because a lig- 
 ament maybe broken it cannot be mended; 
 because it may be cut asunder it cannot be re- 
 united. It may be mended, and I hold it the 
 duty of Congress to hasten slowly and unite 
 the dissevered ties — to do it as soon as it may 
 be done with prudence and safety — but I want 
 *^ no rush or indecent haste in the matter. 
 
 " Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." 
 
 It is easy to manifest more mock magna- 
 nimity than wisdom ; to exhibit more courage 
 than conduct. Prudence is sometimes the bet- 
 ter part of valor. It is of prime im)')ortance 
 that what we do in the premises may be dene 
 in such way that it will stand the test of time, 
 redound to the welfare and happiness of man, 
 the perpetuity of our blessed Union, and the 
 glory of God. 
 
 But I am not quite through with this knotty 
 point about which I have been talking. I do 
 not want to run it into the ground, but would 
 pursue it yet a little further. It is certainly 
 geographically true that >South Carolina, after 
 she went out of the Union, so to speak, was pre- 
 cisely where she was before she went out ; and 
 M after she came back into the Union, was pre- 
 cisely where she was before she came back. 
 She is where she always was : that is to say, 
 when she went out of the Union she did not 
 pick herself up bodyaceously, walk off, and lo- 
 cate in some distant part of the earth or in some 
 other hemisphere. 
 
 In seeking for South Carolina at any time, 
 during the war or since, you would iind her 
 located just where she was before the war, be 
 tween the very same parallels of latitude and 
 longitude. The soil of South Carolina was 
 within the exterior lines of the Union before 
 the war, and as there has been no land-slide 
 down in that region, and as a State cannot pick 
 itself up and walk off like a land terrapin, nor 
 be located like a land-warrant on the best va- 
 cant land that can be found, I presume South 
 Carolina is .still within the limits of the Union, 
 and has never been out. la this respect, then, 
 
 it is certainly true that a State cannot go out 
 of the Union. It is also manifestly true that a 
 State cannot go out of the Union in such way 
 as to release herself from her duties and obli- 
 gations. There is no such thing as legal s^^ces- 
 sion any more than there is such a tiling as legal 
 I larceny or pious villainy. An individual may 
 forfeit the 'rights belonging to an honest man 
 by crime, but 1 apprehend he cannot sanctify 
 crime by committing it, release himself from 
 his duties and obligations, nor discharge himself 
 from liability to punishment ; and so a State 
 may by rebellion forfeit the rights appertaining 
 to a loyal State, but cannot by crime release 
 herself at her own option from' her duties and 
 obligations, nor avoid the penalties that follow 
 the footsteps of the tran.=;gressor. The rule that 
 the way of the transgressor is hard is God's 
 law of the universe, as inexorable as the de- 
 crees of fate, and as steadfast as the everlasting 
 hills. It applies to States and individuals. 
 None is above or below it. It is, I repeat, 
 strictly true that a State cannot go out of the 
 Union in such way as to release herself from 
 her duties and obligations, provided the Gov- 
 ernment sees proper to enforce them. It is the 
 rights of the Government that remain unim- 
 paired, not the rights of the rebelling States ; 
 their rights are not rights at all ; only such 
 privileges as the conqueror may see proper to 
 accord as a boon. 
 
 Before these States rebelled they were apart 
 of the Government, but the moment they rai.se 
 their parricidal hand against it they of course 
 cease to be any part of it. It is absurd to say 
 that a Government mil or can resist itself and 
 be its own antagonist. A .State must keep step 
 to the music of the Union, or it is, as Mr. Lin- 
 coln said, "out of practical relations to the 
 Union," and in a governing sense no part of 
 the Union. The hand that is raised against it 
 is alien to it. The elements of a Government 
 must be in harmony, but antagonisms do not 
 harmonize. In a Government of the people the 
 State that would ruin, destroy, and pull down 
 the rest, and is guilty of the attempt, ceases 
 ipso fudo with the hostile act to be any part 
 of the governing element. It may have been 
 one of the sovereigns, but is, when it lifts a 
 hostile hand, but a malefactor. 
 
 If it is not so, we surely have ^'ithin our- 
 selves the seeds of dissolution ; if it is not so, 
 the Union is already gone, the death-rattle 
 already in her throat. It will not be long be- 
 fore a Government hostile to itself, composed 
 of antagonisms, becomes a felo de se. A des- 
 ]iotisin would be a better government, for a 
 despotism is a unit, and is not guilty of self- 
 destruction. And when, pray, does a State 
 whose power has thus departed again become 
 part of the Government ? As .soon as she 
 ceases to strike, or at such time thereafter as 
 the parent Government may deem it safe to 
 permit? Not as soon as she ceases to strike, 
 for she may still be hostile; not at her own 
 option, for she may desire to become again 
 part of the Government iu order to destroy it, 
 
 CQ fyf4- 
 
to accomplish by insidious and stealthy means 
 what she failed to accomplish by arms. I think 
 the only answer is, "At such time as the Gov- 
 ernment deems it safe to permit, and by legis- 
 lation so declare," and not. before. Any other 
 conclusion would lead to the absurdity that a 
 State may fight the Federal Government to-day, 
 be a part of the Federal Government to-mor- 
 row, and allied and consorting with its ene- 
 mies, striking at its vitals, and doing all in its 
 power to overturn and subvert it the next day. 
 
 What name but anarchy, rampant and fla- 
 grant anarchy, over which the fallen spirits 
 and incarnate devils might hold a jubilee, 
 would j-ou give to such a state of affairs as 
 this? A little hell in the family all the time! 
 Oh, what a glorious Government that would be ! 
 Freedom's soil beneath our feet! And free- 
 dom's banner streaming oer us! The home 
 of the free, and the hope of the brave! 
 
 Mexico, poor, distracted, \infortunate Mex- 
 ico, might gaze upon us and consider herself 
 in a happy condition I But this is a digression. 
 It is plain to my mind that there >s not as much 
 real as seeming difference between those who 
 assert that a .State cannot go out of the Union 
 and those who contend that a State can. 
 
 Who will dare question the power of Congress 
 to inquire before admitting the rebel States into 
 Congress whether they are proper custodians 
 of the civil rights of the people, and lit to be 
 trusted as part of the governing power of the 
 country — not only fit to, govern themselves, 
 but to help govern the rest of the nation ; 
 whether communities yet turbulent, yet wedded 
 to inequality and wrong, injustice and oppres- 
 sion, sliall be admitted to equal participation 
 on the floors of Congress, or kept in a state of 
 prol)atiun, for the benefit of their education, 
 until they are. in some degree at least, toned 
 down and mollified? i 
 
 If their object in getting into Congress is not 
 to preserve and perpetuate the Union, but to 
 disrupt and destroy it, to play into the hands 
 of some hostile Power, is it not the duty of Con- 
 gre.-s to ki-ep them out? Would they in that 
 case be fit to help us govern the nation and rule 
 till' land? Would it not be confiding (he lamb 
 to the tender mercies of the wolf? Wcare told 
 that when the wicked rule the nations mourn. 
 How long wHlu Government stand ruled by those 
 hoiStile to its principles, and who would rejoice 
 to see it subverted? Do we intrust the navi- 
 gution of a shi]) to those who W(Mild gladly 
 e.vciti? the crew t(jinuti?iyor scuttle thevessel? ; 
 And if it is not cirtuinly known wiiether that is 1 
 tlicir dispositiun or not, is it not wise to wait ' 
 and fioe? We know that such were at one lime , 
 tlieirfeeling.'i. Let us be sure they are not still i 
 before we give thom the helm. Jt is said that 
 they have laid down their arms, subuiitlcd to ' 
 tli<- (Jovernm«nt, and relying alone upon their i 
 prayers and lli('ir tiars, now humbly and jtriii- 
 tcnily beg to lie pcrniiltfd to nsuine their alle- , 
 giance, come back into the L'liion, and be good 
 oiti/'Ons. 
 
 That is uuu way of otatiug it, but let it Lu 
 
 borne in mind and never forgotten, that in a 
 Government like ours a State in the Union is 
 part of the ruling and governing principle. 
 When that is kept in mind it will appear that 
 the request is not so humble after all ; that it is 
 a demand to come in and help us rule and gov- 
 ern the nation, to come in and aid in making 
 the laws ; to come and take their seats on the 
 supreme bench and participate in expounding 
 the laws they hate and detest ; to go into the 
 Cabinet and aid in executing the laws that they 
 but yesterday set at defiance and trampled un- 
 der foot : to help us safely keep our treasure, 
 which they would be glad to see applied to the 
 payment of the confederate debt or sunk in the 
 bottom of the ocean; to help possess our forts, 
 dock-yards, and arsenals, and navigate our 
 Navy, all of which they would be glad to see 
 enveloped in flames and reduced to ashes ; and 
 above all help command our Army that has so 
 recently given them such a terrible flogging ; 
 in short, to be clothed with all the privileges 
 and powers they lost by their rebellion. There 
 is not, I tell you. so much sackcloth and ashes 
 about this thing, nor as great a flood of pen- 
 itential tears as might at first blush appear. 
 Admitting them back into the Union, it is plain, 
 is conferring upon them power, putting weap- 
 ons, and deadly weapons at that, into their 
 hands, and they know it. 
 
 Why not gratify them at once? At what 
 more auspicious time could they be reinstated 
 on the supreme bench than when their leader 
 is being tried, or ought to be tried, for treason, 
 the validity of confiscation laws adjudicated, 
 the new condition of our freedmen settled, and 
 prize cases under the blockade determined? 
 A rogue feels secure when the judge who tries 
 him is one of his gang and a good share of the 
 jury his accomplices. Would it not be a nice 
 thing just at this time to dilute, adulterate, and 
 debauch our Supreme Court by such an acces- 
 sion ; and above all, would it not be perfectly 
 charming to invite these people to send their 
 Senators and Representatives to Congress to 
 unite with their northern allies in involving us 
 in a foreign war, in repudiating the national 
 debt, or addin" the confederate debt to it, in 
 repealing the laws granting pensions to our 
 living di.saliled soldiers, and to the widows and 
 orphan children of those who are dead, and 
 perchance to insert the names of their own 
 traitors on our pension rolls, and tax our peo- 
 ple to jiay them ? 
 
 How long had Pcirpoint inhaled the atmos- 
 phere of Kiclunond before he had the assurance 
 to come to Washington and declare in profane 
 and indecent language that the South would 
 never consent to be tu.xed to aid in the ]iayuieDt 
 of the national debt? 1 would not do him in- 
 justice, but such is the report. If Mr. Clarke, 
 our able Comptroller of the Currency, could 
 with (lillicully silence his clamor, may \ve not 
 expect to hear a great deal of that kind of tjilk 
 when the Senate and House are full of recon- 
 structed rel)els and their northern allies? Do 
 we want to make such sluug potential and give 
 
 U V 
 
 
 rvj 
 
it vitality and power so that it may bud and 
 blossom and ripen into legislation, so that our 
 victories may prove like Billy's cake, which was 
 sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly? I do 
 not, I freely confess, and I shall vote against 
 it until I am satisfied that the apprehended 
 dangers have passed away or been provided 
 against by adequate guarantees. 
 
 It is said that we must not be too distrustful, 
 ^ that a word of a sort is enough among gentle- 
 W men; that we must take these folks at their 
 word, must take their promises to be faithful 
 to the Union without any other guarantees. It 
 seems to me to be too slender a reliance. What 
 if they break their promises? Who will be in 
 danger then? It is easy to leap into a pit, but 
 to get out, there's the rub. 
 
 "In this the task, the mighty labor lies." 
 
 There is a bear story that touches remotely 
 on the folly of incurring too much risk. The 
 story is nothing, but the lesson it teaches is 
 good. This is the story : two American citi- 
 zens of African descent, named Cato and 
 Sambo, started on a bear hunt. They got upon 
 the trail of a bear and followed her back track 
 until they saw that she had emerged from the 
 trunk of a hollow and prostrate tree. They con- 
 W eluded at once that her cubs were probably in the 
 tree, and it was agreed that Cato should go in 
 and bring them out, that Sambo should stand 
 sentinel to keep the old bear at bay in case she 
 made her appearance, ^'cry soon after Cato 
 had gone in the old bear did come, and outflank- 
 ing the sentinel darted into the hole. SamI)o 
 seeing there was mischief ahead unless some- 
 thing was done quickly, seized her by the tail 
 witli a terrible grip, and braced himself back 
 at an angle of forty-five degrees. Cato, ap- 
 prehensive that something was wrong, but not 
 knowing what, called out, '' Hello, Saml)o! 
 What darky de hole?" I call attention to the 
 sublime reply given by this unlettered African, 
 this dark-skinned child of a downtrodden race. 
 Words are powerless to express the thing bet- 
 ter: " If tail holt break, Cato, you'll damn 
 soon find out what darky de hole." 
 '^ I leave the lesson taught by this story to those 
 
 "^ who have wit enough to divine it. 
 
 What harm can the rebel States do, provided 
 their people are still hostile to the Union, if 
 *"" they should now be released from all restraint 
 and taken back into.full fellowship? What con- 
 trol have we of them now that would in that 
 case be lost? What conditions-precedent can 
 we now demand and exact that we could not 
 then? What securities and guarantees is it 
 now in our power to obtain that would in that 
 case be beyond our reach? Under the Con- 
 stitution all powers not delegated to the Federal 
 Government are reserved to the States. With 
 the reserved power belonging to a State the 
 Federal Government has no right to inter- 
 meddle. In these regards a State that has re- 
 mained loyal and forfeited none of her fran- 
 chises may claim immunity from interference, 
 and if her rights are invaded may politely tell 
 the parent Government to attend to her own 
 
 business; people sometimes get rich by it. It 
 is not so with the Territories. Congress has 
 legislated and may legislate for them, or may 
 grant legislative powers to the people, in which 
 ease their legislation may immediately go into 
 effect, or may be made to depend for its va- 
 lidity upon the consent and sanction of Con- 
 gress. Congress has frequently annulled the 
 acts of Territorial Assemblies. Congress has 
 frequently legislated and may legislate directly 
 for a Territory without the intervention of any 
 Territorial Assembly at all. 
 
 Congress has almost uniformly specified the 
 conditions upon which a Territory might become 
 a State and be admitted into the Union. Con- 
 gress has always taken upon itself the privilege 
 to scan closely the constitution of a State ap- 
 plying for admission, to determine whether its 
 provisions were republican, to the end if they 
 were found not to be the State might be re- 
 jected. The Governor, secretary of state, 
 judges, and many of the officers of a Territory 
 are appointed by the President; but he has 
 no such power in a State. It is easy to see that 
 the powers of the President and of Congress 
 are almost unlimited in a Territory up to the 
 time when it becomes a State of the. Union, 
 and that tiien they are confined within very 
 narrow bounds. If it is desirable tliat Con- 
 gress or the President should exercise author- 
 ity, impose terms, annex conditions, or take 
 jurisdiction, it Is as important that it should be 
 done while it constitutionally may be done, as 
 to strike when the iron is hot or to make hay 
 while the sun shines. He who fails to control 
 his child when he legally may will not be apt 
 to control him when he legally may not. lie 
 who parts with his property without taking se- 
 curity at the time he may demand it, will not 
 be likely to get security after the property has 
 passed beyond his reach and the purchaser 
 become insolvent. To wait till a State is 
 admitted before demanding guarantees, that 
 she may set us at defiance, is worse folly than 
 locking the stable after the horse is gone, or 
 sending for the doctor after the patient is dead. 
 But it is said that the rebel States are not Ter- 
 ritories. Well, they may not be, but do they 
 not bear a nearer resemblance to a Territory 
 than to a State of the Union? Wo shall see in 
 the sequel, when the manner in which our Presi- 
 dent has dealt with them is brought up in mar- 
 tial array. 
 
 In this connection it will be borne in mind 
 that our President is a Democrat, a strict con- 
 structionist, a State-rigiits man in the just and 
 reasonable interpretation of that term, and 
 would be guilty ot no usurpation of power. The 
 law- making power is the highest and most sacred 
 attribute of a State. A State that cannot make 
 and unmake its own laws within constitutional 
 limits without the interterence of outsiders is 
 no State at all. A law of one of the Stat(>s of 
 the Union not in contlietwith the Constitution 
 can only be annulled or repealed by the power 
 that made it, and President Johnson would 
 sooner cut off his right arm than to issue a 
 proclamation declaring Indiana or Pennsyb-a- 
 
6 
 
 nia to be in a state of dissolution, without con- 
 stitution or laws, and commanding the people 
 to meet in convention, make a new constitution, 
 and reinaugurate civil govornnent. "'That's 
 his style" of giving the rebel States a bit of his 
 mind, and letting them know his opinion and 
 telling them what he wants them to do. Look 
 at his North Carolina proclamation, wherein he 
 tells the people they are deprived of all civil 
 government, and goes on and intimates to them 
 what to do. It is as the gentleman from Ohio 
 [Mr. Shkllabakger] said, a carefully prepared 
 state paper, issued under the attest of the Sec- 
 retary of State, and the language of which has 
 been seven times repeated in tiiat many differ- 
 ent proclamations, as applied to that many dif- 
 ferent States. 
 
 I will not read the body of these proclama- 
 tions, but this is the preamble: 
 
 " Whereas the rebellion which has been wased by 
 a portion of the people of the United States ajjuinst 
 tlie properly constituted authorities of the Govern- 
 ment thereof, in the most violent and revolting form, 
 butwho.se organized and armed forces havenowbccn 
 almost entirely overcome, has, in its revolutionary 
 progress, deprived the people of the State of North 
 Carolina of all civil goverumont." 
 
 Is this the stuff the Union is made of? States 
 deprived of all civil government ! States with- 
 out government! I thought a State, to be in 
 the Union must not only have a government, 
 but a republican government, at that. That is 
 my reading of the Constitution. Have I read 
 it to so little purpose as to be mi.staken? Is 
 not the Federal Union bound to guaranty to 
 all the States a republican government? If so, 
 how can a State without any kind of govern- 
 ment be a part of the Federal Union? It is a 
 solecism I am ashamed to combat in the hear- 
 ing of reasoning men. 
 
 Under the Constitution, the States of the 
 Union, elect their own Governors. There is 
 no such thing in that in.strument as a provis- 
 ional governor ; the tf-rmcannotbe found, much 
 less the power. Still I am not doubling the 
 war power in a revolted State. But would not 
 a President have a happy time in appointing a 
 Governor for Pennsylvania or Indiana? And 
 why may he not appoint a Governor for In- 
 diana as well as for South Carolina or Mis- 
 sissippi? Because the Constitution is in force 
 in the former, and has been overthrown in the 
 hitler; the former is a State of tlie Union, 
 the latter disorganized comnumities within the 
 territorial limits of the United States. The 
 powers that approjiriately belong to a State of 
 the Union ure no boon ; they are absolute 
 rights, subject only to forfeiture for crime. 
 Within, the powers that pertain to States of 
 the Union, they legislate according to their 
 own will and pleasure. 
 
 Th(! history of our Government from its 
 foundation ulfurds not a single instance of out- 
 ■ide dictation. Jt is sacred and liallowed 
 eruund, subject to no profanatinn from the 
 Pro-.idenlduwn to the humblest citizen. There 
 n«'Ver*wa« a moment when the people would 
 not have regarded Fuch a thing, if sul)mitfcd 
 to, an the deatlfknell of liberty. If ottomptod 
 
 to-day a storm of indignation would sweep 
 the land before which no mortal man could 
 stand. And yet our God-fearing, law-abiding, 
 and power-distrusting President quietly goes 
 down, so to speak, into Dixie, and says to this 
 gallant and noble race of men, these lords of 
 creation, who bow the knee to nonq, but God, 
 and whose motto he knows to be, death before 
 di.shonor, that they have by the war been de- 
 prived of all civil government; that their laws 
 and constitutions have all been overthrown, 
 are null and void and of no effect, and that 
 they have no government. He tells the Gov- 
 ernors elected by the people to stand aside, 
 that a Governor cannot live longer than the 
 government, and he hurls them aside as uncere- 
 moniously as a boy slings a hen from her nest 
 that attempts to sit without eggs, and without 
 half as much resistance. And he appoints what 
 have been called, appropriately enough, provis- 
 ional governors, and having thus dispo.sed of 
 their Governors and appointed his own, in- 
 structs them to disregard all existing State laws 
 and constitutions and to begin de novo, call 
 conventions and make new ones ; reconstruct 
 from the ground up. 
 
 Nay, I am proud to say that he does not stop 
 at that, that he does not hesitate to tell them 
 in unmistakable language what laws and or- 
 dinances it would be agreeable to him if they 
 would adopt ; it would increase their chances of 
 being admitted into Congress, and of being per- 
 mitted to take their places in the Government 
 of the country. The very recital of the condi- 
 tions-precedent by him at various times laid 
 down — and he never laid down one that was 
 not right in the sight of God and man — gladdens 
 the heart, and is enough to make an honest 
 man, a patriot, fatten on the short ribs, though 
 they would in the palmy d.nys of the chivalry of 
 the land have evolced a tempest. ''They must 
 repeal their ordinances of secession ; they must 
 repudiate the confederate debt ; they must adopt 
 a consilitulion of freedom and ratify the con- 
 stitutional amendment abolishing slavery : the)' 
 must secure the freedom of the slave by just 
 laws, permit him to testify as a witness, and when 
 wronged or doing wrong to sue and he sued.'* 
 And when all this and perhaps more tlijit I do 
 not recollect is done, they then mjiy stand some 
 chance of getting into the Union. Far be it 
 from mo to complain of this dictation, as the 
 Democrats used to style it.« I think it was all 
 right. If there is any comjilaint to lie made 
 against the President it is that he did not go 
 quite far enough ; but God bless him for what 
 he did do, and lead him onward in the pathway 
 of wisdom and justice. Let us not be acrimo- 
 nious or speak as though we had slaked our 
 thirst at the fountains of bitterness. He has 
 been faithful in the past, and he will not, I feel 
 sure, be faithless now. 
 
 In this way the President has accompli.shed 
 much that nniy be happily consummated by Con- 
 gress ; bufidisgui-'c ita.syou may, itwas because 
 these ."states iiad not the control of their own 
 affairs that lie has been enabled to accomplish 
 any of these things. But for this he would 
 
r 
 
 \ 
 
 have had no propelling power. They would 
 have snapped their fingers in liis teeth and 
 laughed him to scorn. As it is, they have sub- 
 mitted to the drawing of eye-teeth, hut have 
 Btill been unable to stifle the agonized groans. 
 The good we have already accomplLshea could 
 not have been attained, would have been utterly 
 beyond our reach, had these States before that 
 time been admitted back into the Union in such 
 way as to stand as if they had never rebelled. 
 All the world knows that in that case they would 
 have made no concessions. Our strength and 
 their weakness lay in the fact that they had for- 
 feited their rights as members of the Union, 
 and that that forfeiture had not yet been re- 
 mitted. But for that we would have been scorn- 
 fully told that they had no favors to ask at our 
 hands. We are indel:)ted to this "forfeiture," 
 hanging over them as a rod of terror, for every 
 inch of ground we have gained, and I would 
 still keep them out awhile in the belief that 
 they may possibly be stimulated to do right by 
 the hope of thereby getting in. Much good has 
 been accomplished, but as I think much that is 
 desirable 3'et remains unaccomplished, I for one 
 ■ am not willing yet to let up. It would be but to 
 slumber in the lap of Delilah to wake up shorn 
 of our strength, and to find ourselves bound 
 hand and foot and in the hands of the Philis- 
 tines. 
 
 If these States were back in the Union, or 
 under no disabilities, how could we put them 
 upon terms? Is it within the province of Con- 
 gress or the Executive to search the legislation 
 of the loyal States, and if anything shall be 
 found that is wrong, not fit to be there, to coerce 
 its repeal? What manner of coercion could be 
 resorted to ? Who is wise enough to tell how 
 the thing could bo accomplished? We all know 
 that it could not be accomplished, and that any 
 such attempt would be justly regarded as an 
 act of usurpation. Why? Because these States 
 are in the Union. They have incurred no for- 
 feitures; they are under no disabilities; they 
 are in no sense in a territorial condition ; and 
 within their appropriate sphere they are wholly 
 independent of Congress and the Executive. 
 Is it to be wondered that the rebel States want 
 to place themselves in a condition wherein they 
 will be equally independent of control, and in 
 the mean time to make as few concessions as 
 possible, so that when reinstated and in a con- 
 dition to defy the Government they will not 
 find that they are bereft of power? And is it 
 to be wondered that those who know what it 
 has cost to put down this rebellion demur and 
 think that this thing should not be liastily done ; 
 that the world was not made in a day ; that there 
 is luck in leisure, and that we .should plod our 
 way carefully, hasten slowly, and know of a 
 truth before any rebel State"^is rebaptized into 
 the Union that the s(!eds of treason have been 
 fully eradicated, and that she has given all rea- 
 sonable' and necessary guarantees for her future 
 good behavior? 
 
 iSomo gentlemen seem to be anxious to hear 
 within this Hall the crack of the plantation whip 
 and to have a manifestation of plantation man- 
 
 ners as in days of other years; and as sure as God 
 lives they will be abundantly gratified if the policy 
 of letting in the rebel States without guarantees 
 shall prevail. I am opposed to it. It will prove 
 unwise, ruinous, ana disastrous ; and I stand 
 here to raise my voice against it. What we may 
 do cannot be undone ; let us not, therefore, be 
 guilty of the folly of him who marries in a hurry 
 and repents at leisure. A mistake in the mat- 
 ter is iatal ; let, therefore, what we have suf- 
 fered in the past illuminate our pathway in the 
 present. I entertain no feeling of revenge 
 against this deluded people. I would exact 
 nothing with a mere view to humiliation. I would 
 do nothing that is merely vexatious. I would 
 exact no condition-precedent that I did not 
 regard vital to the full fruition of our victory 
 and the future safety of the Union. Vengeance 
 belongs not to man. In the hands of Him to 
 whom alone it belongs let it be left. 
 
 Related to these questions and connected 
 with these inquiries is another, whether a person 
 may renounce and abjure his citizenship, though 
 it may not be in the power of a State to "'go 
 out." Men are now knocking at the doors of 
 Congress for admission as members of this 
 body who not only renounced and abjured all 
 allegiance and fidelity to the Government of 
 the United States, but who took an oath of al- 
 legiance to a hostile power and united with that 
 hostile government to overthrow the Union, 
 and whose hands are still crimson and whose 
 garments are .still soaking and reeking with the 
 blood shed in the wicked attempt, and we are 
 told that Congress is actingbadly and violating 
 the Constitution in keeping them out, and telling 
 th^ to wait yet a little while. Of course these 
 remarks do not apply to all who now demand 
 admission. I am happy to say that Tennessee 
 has sent a different class of men, and it may be 
 that there is here and there on© from some 
 other State who comes here with clean hands. 
 I am for admitting Tennessee on reasonable 
 terms of compliance, and shall be for admitting 
 other States from time to time who can come 
 with as equitable a claim as Tennessee, and 
 which, if they do not come up to the full stand- 
 ard at the time of applying, will submit to rea- 
 sonable terms. I am for letting every tub stand 
 on its own bottom, every State on its own mer- 
 its, and do not hold to the belief at all that the 
 admission of a State that comes with just claims 
 is any concession to a State still remaining 
 contumacious. The States come in separately ; 
 they bade us good- by separately and must come 
 back separately. I am not only for discrimi- 
 nating between the States, but between the men 
 who come here for admission. 
 
 If a State is simple enough to send a man 
 here who cannot take the iron-clad oath that 
 you and I and all of us had to take, Mr. Speaker, 
 he shall not come in by my vote, no matter 
 what State he comes from. The Tennessee 
 members can, I am informed, take that oath. 
 It is my happiness to be personally acquainted 
 with three of them, and to know that to An- 
 drew .lohnson and to such as them— to their 
 lasting honor be it .spoken— are we indebted for 
 
8 
 
 ■what we find commendable in the State of 
 Tennessee. Steadfast and true they and he 
 stood by the Union in its darkest hour. These 
 men took me by the hand and stood by me 
 when I marched into Tennessee, when I had 
 command of their capital, and I am glad that 
 Tennessee stands in such an attitude that I can 
 now take them by the hand. 
 
 How diffevent the claim of those who so 
 recently renounced and abjured all allegiance 
 to the Union. The Constitution of the United 
 States declares that no person shall be a Rep- 
 resentative wlio has not been seven years, and 
 no person a Senator who has not been nine 
 years, a citizen of the United States. These 
 words do not mean at some time in their lives 
 a citizen of the United States for the length of 
 time indicated, but they mean a citizen of the 
 United States for that length of time immedi- 
 ately preceding and up to the time the seat is 
 claiinf'd. What could mortal man do to re- 
 nounce his citizenship that these men have not 
 done? In what way could they incur that for- 
 feiture if the way adopted is inadequate? ^ye 
 are bringing men into our court-houses daily 
 and permitting them by oath to renounce alle- 
 giance to the Government wherein they were 
 born. Can allegiance be renounced, or is this 
 all mockery? 
 
 And when we admit these foreigners to the 
 rights of citizenship, on taking the oath of alle- 
 giance to us and renouncing it as to all other 
 potentates and Powers, ana especially the po- 
 tentate and Power that claimed his allegiance, 
 we do not institute any inquiry whether the 
 particular Government renounced was legiti- 
 mate or illegitimate — a Government in Uw or 
 only a Government in fact — before accepting 
 the oath and openin<» our doors, but we take 
 the more sensible view, that if the applicant 
 for the rights of citizenship has rendered trib- 
 ute to and thought himself a citizen of another 
 Government, de jure or de facto, that is enough 
 to justify us in requiring the oath, and as little 
 Bccurily as any Government, no matter how 
 liheral. ought to demand. We have been pur- 
 suing this policy for seventy or eighty years. 
 It is rather late in the day to say now that a 
 citizen cannot expatriate himself. If lie cannot 
 we have been plundering otlier nations of their 
 Bubjecfuin a remorseless manner duritig all ibis 
 time, and have a mountain of guilt upon our 
 shoulders. 
 
 The reimon of a law is its life-blood, ns well 
 as ft clue to its inteqiretation. Why wen' tlie 
 clauses to whicli I have referred inserted in tiio 
 Constitution? Was it that foreigji, unfriendly, 
 and huslile elements miy:lit In; ke|)t out of our 
 legislative halls, and the lawmaking busimss 
 confined to frienils? Was it that we i>reterred 
 the genuine to the spurious iinti bogu.s? Was 
 that tin; object in renuiring tlie seven and the 
 nine-year citizenship? Who can see any other? 
 And are wo not violating the R])irit, intent, and 
 
 meaning of these clauses by admitting those 
 who have so lately given every evidence of the 
 most deadly hostility and undying hate? 
 
 We are taught that some who persecuted the 
 Christians, stoned the prophets, and drank the 
 blood of the saints, afterward became flaming 
 evangelists : but Ave have no such miraculous 
 conversions nowadays, and the atoning grace of 
 the blessed Redeemer furnishes the only ex- 
 ception to the general rule, that we may judge 
 what a man is by what he recently was ; and if 
 so, what signifies the oath as to what these 
 men will do or will not do in the future? Do 
 we turn tran.sgressorsloose uponthecommunity 
 upon oaths for the future, or do we punish thein 
 for the past ? Our fathers framed these clauses 
 jirescribing the length of citizenship, to give 
 Congress the right to look to the antecedents 
 of an applicant as to citizenship, because they 
 believed that the best test of friendship ; not that 
 it was by any means infallible, but the best 
 general rule that could be adopted to secure 
 the purity of the body and the safety of the 
 Commonwealth. It was for that reason that 
 time was made as of the essence of the con- 
 tract, as the lawyers would phrase it. Seven 
 years a citizen at any time will not till the bill, 
 will not come up to the requirements of the 
 Constitution. It must be immediately preced- 
 ing and up to the time when admission is de- 
 manded. If he is not at that time a citizen, 
 and been such continuously without a moment's 
 intermission, he is but an intruder. He who 
 for an instant ceases to be a citizen is as if he 
 never had been a citizen. He is again at the 
 starting point. All will know, of course, that 
 the Constitution in using the term citizen uses 
 it in its legal meaning, and not as synonymous 
 with inhabitant or resident. He who becomes 
 a citizen and lives seven years thereafter in the 
 United States, then goes to another Govern- 
 ment, and whether a Government in law or 
 only in fact is immaterial, and there on oath 
 renounces his allegiance to us and swears 
 fealty to his new sovereign, is not upon after- 
 ward returning to the United States a citizen 
 thereof, nor eligible to a seat in Congress, 
 though he has, in point of fact, at some time 
 in his life been for seven years a citizen of the 
 United States. And yet everybody knows that 
 it woulil lie safer to take him iu fo iiistuiili than 
 a bloody-handed traitor. Now, if I am riglit, 
 how long hiive these candidates fvom South 
 Caroliinv, ft»r instance, been citizens of the Uni- 
 ted States? Seven years? Nay, hardly that 
 many weeks. And as all the clauses in the Con- 
 stitution are to me alike sacred until amended 
 or repealed, I must say to these States that 
 before they can git into Congress by my consent 
 tliey must not only as iStafes come up to all 
 reasonable re([uirements, but must send raim 
 here wlio are loyal, can tak(> the iron-clad oath, 
 and on the score of citizenship come up to the 
 constitutional standard. I am done. 
 
 Printed at t>if> ConfreMionnl Qlobo OfHoo. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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