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SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. THOMAS N. STILWELL, 
 
 OF INDIANA, 
 
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 EECONSTRUCTION; 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 5, 1866. 
 
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 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 
 
 1866. 
 

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 RECONSTRUCTION. 
 
 Tho House being in the Committee of the Whole 
 on the state of the Union — 
 
 Mr. STILWELLsaid: 
 
 Mr. Chairman: From the 14th da}' of April, 
 1861, when the American flag was fired on at 
 Fort Sumter, until the surrender of General 
 Lee and his whole army to General Grant, 
 April 9, 18G5, the people of eleven of the States 
 of this Union were in armed rebellion against 
 ihe national Government. 
 
 It was the proclaimed object of these people 
 to cut the threads of national life, and sever the 
 bonds of political Union. 
 
 It was the proclaimed object of the national 
 Government to maintain its rightful authority 
 over these States ; to execute its laws and pro- 
 tect its flag over every foo^M^is widely ex- 
 tended territory ; to mark|^^^H|ish rebellion 
 as a flagrant crime ; andt^^TOg back the de- 
 luded masses to a Union which for nearly eighty 
 yeai4 had spread over them the maVtle of peace 
 and prosperity. 
 
 THE ISSUE. 
 
 That the public mind might be clearly in- 
 formed of the issue involved : that no one might 
 enter tho army on either side under misappre- 
 hension ; that when the battle was ended, and 
 peace again restored, there should be no doubt 
 or cavil in regard to the objects of the war. 
 Congress, speaking in the name of the nation, 
 passed, on the 23d of July, ISfil, by a nearly 
 unanimous vote, the following resolution : 
 
 '_' That this war is not prosecuted upon our part in 
 any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of con- 
 quest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or 
 
 interfering with the rights or established institutions 
 of those States, but to defend and maintain the suprem- 
 acy of tho Constitution and all laws made in pursu- 
 anco_ thereof, and to preserve the Union with all the 
 dignity, equality, and rights of the several States un- 
 impaired ; that as soon as these objects are accom- 
 plished the war ought to cease." 
 
 ITS OBLIGATIOXS. 
 
 There is not in the whole history of legisla- 
 tion an act of greater solemnity, or a contract 
 more binding. Am I wrong in calling it a con- 
 tract? Did it not pledge the national faith to 
 every one in arms, that when he should capit- 
 ulate, the rights of his State and of self-govern- 
 ment should be preserved to his children and 
 kindred, even though he might sufler the pen- 
 alties of the law? 
 
 Did it not pledge the national faith to every 
 Union man in the southern States, that, if he 
 would stand fast to the Government, all his' 
 rights should be protected, and when peace 
 should come, be fully restored to him? Did 
 it not pledge the national faith to every man 
 who enlisted in the service of his country, 
 that no love of power, no lust of conquest, 
 no military subjugation, should enter into the 
 purposes of tho war, but that it was waged 
 merely to preserve, not to destroy Government? 
 
 Have not those in tho southern States who 
 have been true to their allegiance amid ilie 
 most bitter persecutions known in the annals of 
 history, who have seen their dwellings burned 
 and their fields desolated, and who have fled to 
 their mountains for refuge, and raised the flag 
 on their summits, no claim to the fulfillment of 
 this pledge? Have those at the North, who 
 rushed to the battle-field to preserve natioual 
 
unity and restore national fraternity, no right 
 to insist on the fulfillment of this pledge, with- 
 out which they would have remained at home ? 
 Has not the nation itself a right to demand on 
 this floor, and everywhere, that its plighted 
 faith and its sacred honor, which have survived 
 the storm of revolution, shall not perish in the 
 halls of its own Capitol ? 
 
 It is said, I know, that one Congress is not 
 bound by the acts of a previous Congress, and 
 that what was done in 1861 is not binding in 
 18G6. Can this be so? Is the pledge of the 
 national faith to pay money more binding than 
 when it was made to preserve Government and 
 protect liberty ? Is the millionaire, who stays 
 at home and lends his money, a more favored 
 creditor of the nation than he who shoulders his 
 musket and goes to the field under the solemn 
 pledge that State institutions should survive the 
 shock of battle ? National faith is essential to 
 national life. It is the cementing bond of Union, 
 the noblest attribute of government, and the 
 virtue nearest allied to the great source of om- 
 niscient wisdom and justice. 
 
 This resolution adopted in the first year of 
 President Lincoln's administration, shaped his 
 policy and was the guide of his public life. All 
 his acts had reference to it ; under it he declared 
 that to save the Union, (that is, to preserve the 
 States,) was the first and great di^ty. To this 
 everything was made subservient. If it could 
 be done by protecting slavery, then slavery was 
 to be protected. If it could best be done by 
 destroying slavery, then slavery was to be de- 
 stroyed. Hence, his administration was sim- 
 ple, straightforward, and consistent; and it is 
 a matter of record that this policy received the 
 unanimous support of his Cabinet. 
 
 His address to the people of Washington on 
 the loth of April, 1865, the last public act of 
 his life, v/as the most studied, comprehensive, 
 and perfect of the many papers wliich he has 
 left for the instruction of posterity. It re- 
 capitulated all the principles laid down in the 
 resolution, and gave to it a practical and tan- 
 gible form. The system was perfect in all its 
 parts, and complete in all its details. The time 
 for practical application had come, and that 
 application was about to be made by him, when 
 the hand of the assassin deprived the nation 
 of its head, the Constitution of its wisest de- 
 
 fender, and the State governments of their 
 truest friend. 
 
 By the action of our institutions the respon- 
 sible duty of carrying out these measures de- 
 volved on the Vice President, Andrew Johnson. 
 Here a wide field of ambition was opened to the 
 new President. Armies were to be employed 
 or disbanded; old States proscribed, or new 
 ones brought into existence ; the policy of the. 
 old Administration was to be continued, or a 
 new policy adopted ; and we all remember how 
 the nation held its breath while these questions 
 were under advisement. 
 
 At length the decree came forth that the 
 jjolicy of Abraham Lincoln was to be continued. 
 That the resolution of July 23, 1861, which had 
 formed the platform of the war, was also to be 
 the platform of peace ; and that those who had 
 l^inned their faith on the solemn declaration ot 
 Congress, were not to be disappointed. 
 
 The South immediately showed signs ot 
 national life. Industry, apparently dead, began 
 to revive; confidence, which had been lost, re- 
 turned with a bold step; and hope, which was 
 about to expire, was again lighted up in the 
 hearts of the people. The North felt that their 
 labors had not been in vain; that they were 
 again to have a whole country, a united coun- 
 try, and that the blood which had been shed on 
 many battle-fields would- but cement and pre- 
 serve our Union. 
 
 Congress had laid down the rule. President 
 Lincoln had interpreted it, and President John- 
 son accepted the interpretation and followed it. 
 How earnestly he has labored to carry forward 
 this great work; how many great difficulties 
 have been interposed both North and South, to 
 its final accomplishment ; how party strife has 
 at last come in unbidden, even in the hour of 
 the nation's greatest peril, to thwart the holy 
 purposes of union and fraternity, I need not 
 stop to say. That the matured jjlans of Pres- 
 ident Lincoln, faithfully carried out by President 
 Johnson, will finally be accepted by the Amer- 
 ican people, is my firm belief and earnest hope. 
 
 COXGRKSS. 
 
 Since the opening of the session of Congress 
 many new theories of reconstruction have been 
 put forward. For the past four years the in- 
 genuity of the legal profession has employed 
 itself in demonstrating that the Union of the 
 
5 
 
 States is indissoluble ; that the Constitution has 
 conferred no power either on the Supreme 
 Court, on Congress, on the several States, or 
 on the people of the States to break the bonds 
 of its authority and release the people from 
 their allegiance. Wo had supposed this to be 
 a political axiom. After four years of bitter 
 strife we had hoped that the bond of our Union, 
 after it had been bathed in the blood of a half 
 uiillion of patriots, would never again be called 
 in question. But, Mr. Chairman, in this we are 
 mistaken. 
 
 The argument of the gifted and eloquent gen- 
 tleman from Ohio, [Mr. Shellabakger,] deliv- 
 ered in this Hall on the 8th of January, goes to 
 prove that there is a power within the Govern- 
 ment which can destroy it, and that that power 
 has been successfully exerted. He has labored 
 to prove that a noble Union of thirty-six States 
 has been shattered in pieces, and that eleven 
 of those States, broken and dismembered, are 
 now drifting on the billows of revolution like 
 the hulks of a fleet disabled and scattered by 
 the storm. And, sir, by what train of argu- 
 ment has he reached a conclusion so opposed 
 to the national in.stinct and the convictions of 
 the public judgment. 
 
 He has searched the law of nations to find 
 the definition of a State, as it lives in the family 
 of nations — an independent sovereignty, co- 
 equal, existing under certain conditions, and 
 possessing certain attributes, and then, sir, has 
 appliedthatdefinitiontothe States of our Union 
 —the States of a constitutional Government, 
 m which each derives its characteristics and its 
 attributes not from the law of nations, but from 
 a written Constitution defining and limiting the 
 powers of each and all, and marking with accu- 
 racy their joint and several duties and their 
 mutual relations. His whole argument, based 
 on his definition of a State, therefore falls to the 
 ground, for the argument can apply only to what 
 is covered by the definition, and hence is entirely 
 inapplicable to States as they exist under our 
 form of government. 
 
 ADMISSION OF STATES AND TREASON. 
 
 The gentleman from Ohio has bestowed much 
 learning and lal)or on the question of admitting 
 States into the Union, and has pointed out very 
 clearly the antecedent conditions of such admis- 
 sion. But, sir, does all this show that the rights 
 
 which are conferred by admission can be for- 
 feited afterward? Does it show that a State can 
 go out of the Union as well as into it? 
 
 "Treason aprainst the United States shall consist in 
 levying war against them, or in adhering to their ene- 
 mies, giving them aid and comfort." — Constitution, 
 art. 3, sec. 3. 
 
 Does this apply to individuals or to States ? 
 The next paragraph answers the question : 
 
 " No person shall be convicted of treason unless on 
 the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
 or on confession in open court." 
 
 Now, sir, the Constitution gives no definition 
 of treason as applied to a State. It is the trea- 
 son of the individual which the Constitution de- 
 fines and for which it prescribes a punishment. 
 This, sir, is both the letter and the spirit of the 
 instrument. In neither a paragraph or a line 
 of that instrument is there any allusion to the 
 expulsion or punishment of a State. The per- 
 son or indi'S'idual is alone referred to, and the 
 State, as such, is in nowise held responsible. 
 The Government has retained, in its own hands, 
 the power and right to punish treason. Having 
 done this, would it be just to hold a State re- 
 sponsible when its citizens commit treason. (]an 
 Congress impose such responsibility? 
 
 WHAT THE CONSTITUTION GUARANTIE.S. 
 
 "The United States shall guaranty to every State 
 in this Union a republican form of government, and 
 shall protect cacli of them against inv.asion, and on 
 application of the Legislature, or of the Executive, 
 (when the Legislature cannot bo convened,) against 
 domestic violence." — Constitution, art, 4, sec. i. 
 
 Now, sir, what does this article of the Con- 
 stitution guaranty ? A republican form of gov- 
 ernment. To whom does it guaranty it? To 
 every State in this Union. Does it guaranty it 
 toStatesoutof the Union? Certainly not. This 
 power, therefore, can only be exercised by Con- 
 gress over States in the Union, and not over 
 States out of it. In fact, sir, the Constitution 
 never contemplated the case of a State going otf t . 
 or being out, of the Union. Gentlemen on thi< 
 floor have labored, with much astuteness and 
 learning, to show how a State may go out of 
 the Union ; and that, under their way, elovcn 
 of the States have actually gone out. 
 
 I beg leave to remind those gentlemen, with 
 great respect, that although the mode is some- 
 what novel, the principle itself is not new. It I> 
 the same principle which firSt appeared in the 
 celebrated resolutions of 17!)8, which was re- 
 vived under the name of nullification by John C. 
 
6 
 
 Calhoun in 1830, and culminated in secession in 
 1861. It is the same vicious principle which 
 has seduced the hearts of a portion of our peo- 
 ple from their allegiance to government, which 
 has trampled on our flag, which has bathed our 
 land in blood and filled our honles with mourn- 
 ing. I had hoped, sir, that four years of war, 
 and such a war, had wiped out forever from 
 the public mind every thought of nullification, 
 secession, and disunion, and that we had 
 emerged from the bloody contest with but one 
 national ]3ulsation, that the States "are one 
 and inseparable, now and forever." 
 
 The gentleman from Ohio has been at great 
 pains to show that the Government has a right 
 to treat every individual of a State that has been 
 in rebellion as a public enemy ; that is, adjudge 
 him guilty of treason and deprive him of cit- 
 izenship, while the Constitution expressly pro- 
 vides that "no person shall be convicted of 
 treason unless on the testimony of two wit- 
 nesses to the same overt act, or on confession 
 in open court." 
 
 What, Mr. Chairman, would be the practical 
 operation of this new doctrine of constructive 
 treason ; of declaring that whenever by fraud 
 or violence a State government should be inter- 
 rupted or overthrown the whole people within 
 its borders, as a body, should be treated as pub- 
 lic enemies and beyond the protection of the 
 General Government. Would it aot at once 
 transfer the allegiance of every citizen from the 
 national to the State government, and effect- 
 ually destroy our entire system? AYhen the 
 storms of tumult and civil discord should rage, 
 would the affrighted citizen fly to the flag of his 
 country only to be told that his State had re- 
 belled and that he himself was a traitor? What 
 nerved the arms and inspired the hearts of so 
 many true patriots in the South during the 
 recent struggle? It was the conviction that 
 citizenship could only be lost by individual acts 
 and not forfeited by the acts of others. It was 
 the conviction that the air they breathed was 
 the atmosphere of the whole nation, and that 
 when the storm had passed it would again be 
 pure, invigorating, and peaceful. 
 
 I know of no people, in any age or country, 
 who adhered to their allegiance with greater 
 fidelity, met danger with more determined bra- 
 very, who offered up their lives more cheer- 
 
 fully, and bore the flag of their country through 
 fiercer storms than the Union men of the South. 
 Andrew Johnson, in a speech to the people of 
 Knoxville, thus describes their condition: 
 
 "My countrymen! my heavt yearns toward you, 
 and I am one of you. I have climbed yonder moun- 
 tains, rock-ribbed and glowing in sunshine, in whose 
 gorges, in whose caverns your sons, hunted like beasts, 
 have fallen to rise no more. I do not speak of. these 
 things to draw your tears.. It is not the time for tears. 
 but for blows. I speak of them that I may lit your 
 arms for unconquerable fight. And I speak of them 
 because the mountain seems to talk to me. My house 
 is among the mountains, and, though it is not far 
 away, I cannot go to it. It is the place where I met 
 and loved her who is the mother of my children. Do 
 Inotlovethemountains? And if liberty is to expire, 
 if freedom is to be destroyed, if my country in all ita 
 length and breadth is to tremble beneath the oppres- 
 sor's tread, let the flag, the dear old flag, the last flag, 
 be planted on yon rocky heights, and upon it let 
 there be this inscription: 'Here is the end of all 
 that is dear to the heart and sacred to tlie memory of 
 manl'" 
 
 The doctrine of the gentleman from Ohio 
 treats these men as public enemies, and deems 
 them to have forfeited their political rights. 
 And indeed, sir, his doctrine has received some 
 sanction from the action of the House itself. 
 The time, however, must come, and that soon, 
 when we shall be brought face to face on all these 
 great questions. We must decide whether those 
 who were members of Congress during the most 
 critical period of the rebellion, (including the 
 President himself, ) who went home and encount- 
 ered all its furies, and have come back with 
 certificates of election, are to be admitted, or 
 are to be shot down, as rebels, at the door of 
 the Capitol, not by the bullets of the enemy, 
 but by the votes of Congress. 
 
 WHEN REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD BE ADMITTED. 
 
 Immediately after the military surrender of 
 the rebel armies, the Presidenthad to accept the v 
 civil surrender of the people. The session of 
 Congress had just terminated, and they would 
 not reassemble uiitil December. The Cabinet 
 the legal advisers of Mr. Lincoln, were at their 
 posts, and the President solicited their coun- 
 sel and aid. All that Congress had asked, as 
 conditions precedent to reconstruction, was the 
 adoption oftheconstitutionalamendmentswhich 
 they had passed. I think it must be admitted 
 that after these had been accepted, in good 
 faith, no subsequent conditions could justly be 
 imposed. The President, however, acting in 
 the true spirit that had governed his predeces- 
 sors, went even beyond what he or Congress 
 had asked, and suggested to the southern peo- 
 
pie that they would best promote the common 
 interests of nil by adding to the conditions which 
 Congress had prescribed the utter repudiation 
 oi' the confederate debt in all its forms, and a 
 full guarantee to the African race of entire 
 ©quality with the whites in all matters affect- 
 ing personal liberty and civil rights. 
 
 My sentiments on these matters are fally 
 >«iatcd in the following resolution which I had 
 the honor of presenting to this Ilouse on the 
 l!»th day of December: 
 
 " Jtesoivcd, That when the people who have liecn in 
 rfliellion jigainst the (lorcrnmont have submitted to 
 tlie hiws (it the United State?, adopted a rcpublicau 
 I'oriu of government, rei)ealcd the ordinance of seces- 
 riion, passed the constitutional amendment forever 
 abolishinjc slavery, repudiated the rebel war debt, and 
 ))assed laws protecting the freedman in his liberty; 
 the representatives of those people elected to Con- 
 gress, and having received their cerlificates of election 
 fiDUi their respective Governors, should be received 
 as members of the Thirty-Ninth Congress when they 
 >:liall take the oath prescribed by the last Congress, 
 known as the test oath, without delay." 
 
 Under such conditions, when they are com- 
 ]>Hed with in good faith, Mr. Chairman, I am 
 ready to vote for the admission immediately of 
 all loyal men who come here and take the pre- 
 scribed oath that "they have never voluntarily 
 assisted in the rebellion." What power, sir, 
 l!a.s aright to exclude such representatives? If 
 the rights of one man cannot be taken away by 
 the misconduct of another, the loyal citizens of 
 every State of this Union have an equal right 
 to be represented here. And when, sir, the 
 subject has been fully considered, I feel that 
 that right will be cheerfully and speedily ac- 
 corded. 
 
 OUR FOREICy RELATIONS. 
 
 Are there not, Mr. Chairman, strong motives 
 arising out of our foreign relations, that should 
 urge us to harmony, fraternity, and union ? 
 Without these we can never be great, we can 
 never be strong. No sooner had the echo of 
 the first gun (ired at Sumter reached the Brit- 
 ish isle, than the old lion shook the dew-drops 
 from his mane and began to growl. During the 
 entire struggle, a rumbling sound ran through 
 the entire British empire, indicating a wish to 
 titrike us if the happy moment should arrive. 
 Privateers were fitted out under the very eye of 
 the Government to prey upon our commerce ; 
 insulting paragraplis appeared in all their pub- 
 lic journals : protection and sympathy were 
 extended to rebels by public meetings and on I 
 all public occasions, and we were indebted for | 
 
 the preservation of peace to our great strength 
 and the bravery of our troops in the field. 
 France, our ancient ally, and who went with 
 us, side by side, through the Revolution, also 
 sought to profit by our misfortunes, and sent 
 an army to Mexico to overturn a sister repub- 
 lic and establish there a monarchy, in direct 
 hostility to the policy of our Government, pro- 
 claimed to the world forty years ago and fol- 
 lowed implicitly by every Administration to the 
 present time. Now, sir, with a knowledge of 
 these facts, indicating a settled purpose abroad 
 to profit by our divisions at home, is it wise to 
 foment civil discord and divide in interest and 
 sentiment this great nation, which should be 
 bound together by all the ties which can unite 
 a people ? 
 
 OUR FIKANCES. 
 
 The finances of a nation are alike the evidences 
 of its greatness and the foundations of its power. 
 No subject engages so earnestly the attention 
 of a statesman as how to make labor most use- 
 ful and productive. The southern States are 
 capable of producing at the present moment, 
 by a rightly adjusted system of labor, four mil- 
 lion bales of cotton per annum, which at pres- 
 ent prices would be worth $800,000,000; add 
 to this $100,000,000 for rice and tobacco, and 
 we have an annual amount, at present prices, 
 for three articles alone, of one third of our 
 entire national debt. Now, Mr. Chairman, in- 
 stead of bringing these people back into the 
 Union, encouraging and developing their in- 
 dustry, making them again a part of the Gov- 
 ernment and obliging them to contribute their 
 full share in the payment of the national debt, 
 there are gentlemen on this floor who would 
 expend $50,000,000 annually for the poor grat- 
 ification of keeping them out of the Union for 
 four years longer. AVe have been fighting for 
 four years to bring them back into the Union. 
 And how, sir, is this $50,000,000 to be fur- 
 nished? It is to be collected by the tax-gath- 
 erer from the honest laborer of the North. Is 
 it worth while to sacrifice so much for passion 
 and Resentment? Is it not better to calm sec- 
 tional strife, to heal the wounds of the nation, 
 to absorb in the current of a healthy public 
 sentiment the disloyalty which yet bursts from 
 a few hearts as the mighty river carries the little 
 rills which issue from the mountain side? 
 
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE. 
 
 Ill regard to the subject of the elective fran- 
 chise, I agree with the President in his message, 
 
 which says : 
 
 "When, at the first movement toward independ- 
 ence, tlie Cousress of the United States instructed the 
 several States to institute governments of their own, 
 they left eaeli State to decide for itself the conditions 
 for the enjoyment of the elective franchise." 
 
 I heartily concur in the above, and believe 
 that the regulation of the elective franchise in 
 all the States, and the qualifications of electors 
 belong to the States each for itself, and are sub- 
 jects in which Congress, under the Constitution, 
 has no right to interfere ; the policy of the Presi- 
 dent on this, as well as on many other subjects, 
 was to preserve the Government as he found it, | 
 and not to make a new one, the Constitution of i 
 tlie United States having referred the matter of 
 suffrage to the States, and invested them with 
 tJie exclusive power over it, and it was not com- 
 petent for the President to interfere with a pre- 
 rogative so expressly conferred uponthem, and 
 80 long exercised by them. 
 
 I will not, Mr. Chairman, pursue this subject 
 further. I rejoice in the great good which the 
 recent contest has produced. I hope we may 
 reap all its legitimate fruits. I hope it will make 
 us a great and united people, with one language, 
 one heart, one destiny. I rejoice, sir, that the 
 African race has risen to the condition of free- 
 dom. In the dispensations of Providence the 
 nation laid its hands on the bowed captives 
 and they sprang to the dignity of freedom. It 
 
 touched their sightless eyes and they opened to 
 the morning light of perpetual liberty. At the 
 beginning of the contest they appeared to bo 
 the orphans of Providence ; at its close they are 
 the wards of the Republic. Under Providence', 
 the guiding legislation of Congress, and the wis- 
 dom and justice of those whom they live among, 
 they are now to go forward to their final destiny. 
 Starting as men, with perfect equality before the 
 law, they will soon become an important part 
 of the body politic. Time will wear away pre- 
 judice and soon reconcile all parties to the ne.v 
 condition of things. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, lamhopefulofthefuture. The 
 Constitution, as it stands, is the bond of perfect 
 union and the guarantee of innumerable bless- 
 ings to this people. Under it we have grown to 
 be a great and powerful nation. It seems to me 
 to embrace within its ample folds every State 
 and every individual of each State, whether he 
 be rebel or loyal ; and that it has full power to 
 punish the one and protect the other. I hojx;. 
 sir, that in settling the grave question before us 
 we shall keep ourselves v.'ithin the bounds ol 
 this great charter of our liberties, and that lio 
 considerations of party ad-Aintage or political 
 power will swerve us from the line of duty at a 
 moment so critical. If this be so the future 
 presents no difficulties. The eleven eclipsed 
 stars will pass from under the shadows which now 
 obscure them, and return to the pure light of a 
 restored and happy Union. 
 
i