THE POWERS OF CONGRESS 
 Constitutionality of its Acts on Reconstruction 
 
 .ARMING TENDENCY OF THE SEYMOUR DEMOCRACY, 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 ION. MATT. It CARPENTER 
 
 AT CHICAGO. ILL., AUGUST 12th, 1868. 
 
 GTGN.D.C, 
 
 CHA1EMAN, L-ADIE3 AXD G 
 
 IEN : Tne occurrence of the Pn-siucnti-.il 
 impaign ciiis out the Americ. a ^eoulc 
 examination of the principle- uud 
 Le measures which have m-i.rkeu the ad- 
 limstratlon for tho preceding term. An- 
 [her Presidential election is on foot 
 lother gathering of the American people 
 mi Maine to California, from the lakes 
 [the Gulf, which may now be aeci: in the 
 lited States, for the same purpose. The 
 ;Ue practical question is whether we 
 jail support General Grant or Governor 
 lymour for President of the United States; 
 (ries of "Grant ! Grant !"] and this ques- 
 >n we are to settle, not as mea-worship- 
 or parasites, but by reason and judg- 
 it, and as American citizens, conscious 
 [the responsibilities which rest upon us 
 ! this great choice. Glorious as Grant is 
 his past record, if he stood to-day I do 
 ft say with the party, but upon a plat- 
 and principles detrimental to t 
 
 
 
 throw a! It . .gedto 
 
 encourage uud comfort rebellion, or whai 
 
 ; or, if wecoulO 
 
 >:lAy imagine such a transformation, i , 
 Governor Seymour sLood to-day on ;i plat 
 form which would secure us the fruits of 
 our victory, and which would give to us 
 lasting and permanent tranquillity, then 
 there is no doubt that the American people 
 would, as they have f t s i x years-, 
 
 through all the trials and bloodshed of the 
 war, support the pria.^les which are em 
 bodied in ti-c-i:- .,1 dear jis their 
 life, [great cheers,] although, it would pro- 
 bably be equally difficult for them to deter- 
 mine whether they would say that the p* 
 triotic Grant had left their ranks, or that 
 the unpatriotic Seymour had left their 
 standard. But, by examining the platform 
 upon which these respective candidates 
 stand, it will be found that each is truo to 
 ~ vP?i2*pt$ .Which; ^l^racterized him 
 
during the Avar. It will be found that 
 Grant is struggling now to secure the fruits 
 of the victories which he won, and that 
 Seymour is to-d:iy endeavoring, as far as 
 it is still possible to do, to thwart the object 
 which the Government had in suppressing 
 the rebellion to secure to the rebels, as 
 much as possible, what they have lost by 
 the result of this contest, and is pursuing 
 precisely the same line of policy to-day that 
 ho intrigued for during the war. 
 
 THE DECLARATIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC 
 PLATFORM. 
 
 Tin two political parties "have made 
 un," as the lawyers would say, "the issues, 
 and sent them down to the country for 
 trial." One convention in Chicago and 
 the other in New York have not only se 
 lected their candidates, their standard-bear 
 ers, but they have promulgated their plat 
 forms, or their principles. There is no 
 doubt that boili parties nrj seriously in 
 dead earnest i:i th>.: issues which they have 
 made. W<- little light as to the 
 
 plat form uf the Democratic Coin 
 from the speech which was made by W.ale 
 Hampton af urn to his constitu 
 
 ents lie, sa} -, thai he was on the Coin- 
 on R-j-o/utions. He says that he 
 had prepared a set for himself, but found 
 that they couldn t 1)3 adopted. He listened 
 to those which had been prepared by others, 
 and the Democrats on that committee came 
 around him and assured him that they were 
 witli him, to the utmost of his wishes; that 
 they would do all in their power to give the 
 South back " iho Constitution as it was " 
 before the war, and he contented himself 
 with simply moving an amendment to one 
 resolution which declared the governments 
 of the States, which had been reconstructed 
 under the auspices and patronage of Con 
 gress, to be unconstitutional, revolutionary, 
 and void. He says this announcement was 
 met with enthusiastic cheers by the com 
 mittee, and the Democrats plqdged 
 selves to him that they would go to tluo ut 
 most of their declaration. What, is the 
 utmost of that declaration? We hear sa 
 much said about what is constitutional and 
 unconstitutional that we arc in danger of 
 losing all the significance of that declaration 
 of the Democratic party. If those govern 
 ments which are now existing in the ten 
 reconstructed States, of the South ar,e .un 
 
 constitutional and void, and if these Demo 
 crats mean to carry tint declaration into 
 pracfu- -.1 operation, the result is that these 
 governments are to be swept away. Another 
 revolution is to sweep over the South ; 
 anarchy and bloodshed, and another four 
 years of wasting and ruin, is to follow as 
 the result of that revolution accomplished 
 in the South. But the Democrats have 
 cloaked this matter under the plausible pre 
 text that these acts of Congress are uncon 
 stitutional, and the Republican party, ia its 
 convention has espoused and adopted and 
 promised to support the reconstruction 
 policy of Congress. The Democrats have 
 appealed to the reverence our people feel 
 for the sicred instrument, the Constitution, 
 to elo:ik and cover their design of revolu 
 tion again in the South, and thus it throws 
 upou us the burden of vindicating 
 nstuutionality of the reconstruction 
 v of Congress. Now, I am aware how 
 : r, and how uninteresting .it is to dis 
 cus 3 such a question i:i a popular audience 
 like this, in the open air, amid the thunder- 
 in -t and confusion : ty like 
 Chicago. I know how easy it is for a pub 
 lic speaker to spend his apportioned thirty 
 nfinu os or hour in cracking jokes which 
 will create a good fueling in the crowd and 
 read upon the speaker. But the misery of 
 our Republican speakers i^ that the mem 
 bers of the Republican party all have heads 
 on them. [Laughter and applause. A 
 voice "Bully ! that s so! 1 ] They all 
 tbink, and read,, and reason, [a voice 
 "Thai s the difference,"] and they demand 
 of any speaker who is to occupy fifteen 
 minutes of their time that he shall discuss 
 some principle, shall come to some doc 
 trine ia the issues of the war. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONALITY OP THE ACTION OF 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 The only real issue made by the parties; 
 the only doctrinal difference in the two 
 rms which arises to anything like 
 importance, is that which relates 
 to the constitutionality of the reconstruc- 
 1 ion policy of Congress. This little squab 
 ble about paying off our debts this little 
 ion of universal suffrage, and a fjew 
 other tilings, very important themselves, 
 are questions which relate to the adminis 
 tration of the Government after you have 
 got a government to be administered. But 
 

 the gr ;> ri-H S above, thdt - 
 
 involves p-Ai^o and war, whL-h tour 
 life of I!, jjs our c: 
 
 ;is one people under the Coustitv. 
 ailed Stales; and I propose: 
 
 :inir, because I havo been requested Jo 
 id because I think it important in 
 itself, to discuss for a short time, as -well as 
 I a:n able, under all the difficulties of 
 situation, the question of the constihV .: 
 ulity of these reconstruction laws. I can 
 not make such an argument funcy nor 
 amusing-, InU I will try to state clearly and 
 distinctly the grounds upon which we de 
 fend that legislation. To do this we must 
 inquire into the facts of the case. What 
 la the situation of the things to which Con 
 gress was compelled to apply its reconstruc 
 tion policy ? But, to save words, let us 
 take the State of Georgia as illustrating 
 the whole principle, for what is true of one 
 State is of course true of two or three out 
 of all. Georgia was one of the original 
 thirteen States, and entered this Union by 
 adopting a constitution. She had a State 
 government organized in harmony with 
 the Constitution of the United States, un 
 der a State constitution which required all 
 fcer officers to swear to support the Consti 
 tution of the United States. That govern 
 ment continued in existence, as we all 
 know, down to 18GO or 1881, when the ma 
 jority of her people, having determined to j 
 throw off their allegiance to the Govern- ; 
 ment of the United States, and levy war, if 
 need be, to make that declaration good, | 
 and to make Georgia an independent na 
 tion, organized a new State government in j 
 Georgia, and that government went into 
 practical operation, and was supported bv 
 the people during the entire continuance 
 of the war. Now, if those leaders, af-ei- 
 they determined to levy this war, had called 
 a convention and framed a new State gov 
 ernment, with new officers, and had levie- 
 war upon the old State government of 
 Georgia and supplanted it, aijd the a had 
 entered into the Southern confederacy and 
 levied war upon the United States, thero 
 would be no difference of opinion in this 
 assertion that the government which had 
 come to exist by that proceeding in Georgia 
 was no government in the Union of tho 
 United States. And yet, in a legal, consti 
 tutional sense, the people of Georgia did 
 what was precisely equivalent to this. Thry 
 called M constitutional convention, and 
 they took the old constitutional Stitc gov 
 ernment, changing it in every essential par 
 ticular which was essential to its exist 
 as a State ^ovorucieut. Instead of requir 
 ing its officers to swear to support the (. 
 stitution of the United States, they require 
 them to swear to overthrow that Constitu 
 tion. They severed in every particular 
 every cord aad bond which bound them as 
 a State or community to the Constitution 
 and Uuiou of the Uni ted States. By so 
 
 hey created, in loyal conU-mphtion, 
 a new" government, as much as ihr-y would 
 in the case which I have supposed of their 
 calling a convention and framing a new 
 government with new officers. The gov 
 ernment which they created by taking the 
 old constitution and moulding it to their 
 views, was no government which ha 
 in the Union from the adoption of the Con 
 stitution. It was no constitutional govern 
 ment in any sense, but only an or 
 tion in deadly antagonism to the Constitu 
 tion of the United States, and under that 
 constitution the people of Georgia organ 
 ized and gave their voluntary allegiance 
 to that State government, went into the 
 Southern confederacy and levied war upon 
 tho United States. 
 
 THK SOUTHERN STATE GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 "Well, after a while, the war came out 
 just as every man who believes God sits on 
 His throne, and prefers truth to falsehood, 
 justice to injustice, liberty to slavery, 
 might have predicted it would come out. 
 It came out with the triumph of all good 
 things over all bad things. [Loud ap 
 plause.] And our armies swept every 
 thing before them, and demolished every 
 citadel and stronghold of treason and re 
 bellion, and they" planted our flag in old 
 and time-honored places after sweeping 
 away the rebel armies, and after sweeping 
 the rebel States they swept away every 
 thing that was part and parcel of rebellion, 
 every instrumentality, every agency, and 
 every means by which traitors had sought 
 to levy war upon th? Government; and 
 these revolutionary S r ate governments 
 were the principal agency for tha 1 ", war. 
 Now, theii, what was the consequence ? 
 They had had a government in the Union 
 from the organization of the Union down 
 to 18GO. Tney had destroyed that. They 
 had set up in its place a revolutionary, 
 illegal, unconstitutional government, which 
 ha. I been in existent until Grant swept 
 .away. Then they will be without 
 any State government whatever. The old 
 government they had destroyed, ami the 
 new government we h id destroyed. They 
 wore without any government. [ A; ; 
 2sow, what was their condition ? The soil 
 of Georgia was still a p ivc of the dominion 
 of the United States; t io people of ( 
 were sMll citizen* of the United 
 They hvl thrown off no part of the duty 
 waich hoy o\vl fo t!u; Union. The 
 Union 1i . l hx br forfeij,e<l no part of its 
 powjr <nv:- :!! an. Tbny - "I fur 
 
 ther, so many sju ire 1 ^ ( > many 
 
 Ami-rlcm citizens, wiMiont :i local ,<y 
 
 Xo\v, i-.iinifes ly, tiis first step afu.T 
 r ended was for some one to estab 
 lish a lo?al gi)\-ernnvr 
 
 us to the ques.ion wao shall do that? 
 The Demo, \ : >The people of the 
 
 Sl.i f e e^all i-o ir." T.u Democrat .s.iy 
 
that the people of Georgia bad got their 
 baud iu in making governments; they had 
 experimented upon the subject [derisive 
 laughter;] they had a peculiar and special 
 knowledge. [Laughter.] They had de 
 molished the old Union State governments, 
 and they had created a revolutionary gov 
 ernment; they had seen that go to the wall; 
 hey had built a Southern Confederacy, 
 and over tk.it they flung out its flaunting 
 nig in rivalry with the Star-splangled Ban 
 ner of America; and they should form this 
 -State government for Georgia. 
 
 THE TWO THEORIES OF SECESSION. 
 
 Now, there are two theories, one or I lie 
 other of which must be true. The Southern 
 theory of the situation is that the edict of 
 secession passed by Georgia, took her out 
 of the Union and out of the limits ot our 
 Federal dominions. Upon this theory, when 
 we conquered that State her soil and her 
 3 were as subject to the absolute will 
 
 conqueror a"s would be the soil and 
 
 on conquered Mexico or any other 
 foreign power subdued by our army. If this 
 ;vas their condition, then it wasnot for them 
 
 whether they would have a State gov 
 ernment or not; it was not for them to say 
 whether they would ever belong to the 
 Union or not as an independent State. It 
 v/as for us to say. It was for the conqueror 
 to dictaie terms to the conquered not for 
 
 ,:quercd to dictate terms to the con 
 queror. ["You are right,"] Then, upon 
 i. j(\r theory, Georgia had no more right to 
 Sitate government, to come back 
 into the Union, thun the people of Mexico 
 had a right to demand admission into the 
 Union when Scott planted his standard on 
 the hulls of the Montezumas. Again, the 
 other theory is the Northern theory is 
 (he constiUr.iomil theory is that the ordi 
 nance of eecch- a nullity; that it- 
 was no protection U the rebels of 
 the South; and, although we chose, as 
 we had a right to do, to exercise as 
 against them belligerent rights the rights 
 and power of a sovereign over his 
 rebel citizens yet they acquired by the 
 ordinance of secession no privilege and 710 
 protection. "What is the result of that doc- 
 irine? The result of that doctrine is that 
 when the war ended they were so many 
 subdued and conquered traitors, taken in 
 .he crime, taken with, the blood upon their 
 garments. [Sensation.] Thoy have forfeited 
 lift , liberty, property, civil government, 
 and everything that belongs to a man. 
 [Great applause; cries of "That s so !" 
 You have got ii 1"] Upon this theory, very 
 clearly, the people of Georgia had no right 
 to form a government and say it had a 
 right to conic; back into the Union. Now, 
 I don t care which theory the Democrats 
 take for the purposes of this argument, be 
 cause either one cu;s their own throat from 
 car to ear. [Great applause and laughter. ] 
 
 There is, then, an end to this pretext, that 
 
 Georgia could settle this question. Rebels 
 
 may say when war shall be^in, where it 
 
 shall begin, how it shall begin, howi f , shall 
 
 be managed; but the Government must say 
 
 | how it shall end, [cheers,] ami what snail 
 
 ; be the condition of the conquered. ["That s 
 
 the idea. 1 Applause.] It is about H 
 
 I after hundreds and thousands of lives have 
 
 1 been facriflccd after we have baptized and 
 
 ! fertilized that : !on<! 
 
 of the land i 
 
 had the courage and the nerve, and 
 
 good sense, to stand up and talk the truth 
 
 i this subject. [Sensation, applause, 
 
 i Vipers. ] It is clear, then, that Georgia 
 
 could not reconstruct u government with- 
 
 . . r :nt. Now, tlio only party 
 
 i the Government of the United 
 
 They, as i could 
 
 Tiie General Government must 
 
 i POWER TO F.ESTORE TITS STATE GOVERN- 
 
 MEI-iTS. 
 
 And, then, we come to consider the fur 
 ther question: How? By what depart 
 ment, and through what department and 
 agency shall the United States act to the 
 end of establishing these State governments? 
 ATA! this brings "us to the only question 
 upon which nny of the departments of the 
 Government have ever held different opin 
 ions. The Supreme Court of the United 
 States, the President of the United States, 
 the Congress of the United States, have nil 
 concurred in saying that tlio result of the 
 IS to leave Georgia without any civil 
 government, and that the pooplc of Geor 
 gia wers powlerless as a government in the 
 place of the one which they bad destroyed. 
 The Supreme Court of the United States 
 decided what necessarily leads to this con 
 clusion, in the prize cases decided in 180:3, 
 when they decided that the people of Geor 
 gia, without reference to their private con 
 duct, were to bo regarded as public ene 
 mies, but, although they were to bo regarded 
 
 i as public Syuemies, they were not the less 
 traitors to the Government of the United 
 
 j States. 
 
 ASSUMPTION BY MR. JOIIKSOOT. 
 
 Andrew Johnson had taken up this sub 
 ject, and treated it with- the fullness and 
 the wisdom that is peculiar to himself, lie 
 had said, in his proclamation, which he 
 issued immediately after the surrender of 
 Lee and Johnson, that this rebellion had, 
 in its progress, swept away all civil gov 
 ernment in the rebel Slates", and that the 
 Government of the United States owed it 
 as a duty to that section of the country to 
 establish local State governments there, 
 and he, Andrew Jonnson, (being the 
 United States, ) undertook to do it. And 
 he did it "in a horn." [Cries of "And 
 he Oid it with a horn."] Yes, Doth. I 
 accept the amendment. He did it both 
 
The President of the United States 
 as such, dearly had no authority over the 
 
 . Our people, when they framed 
 our Government, were jealous of the ex 
 ecutive power that is, the kingly power, 
 hers were Englishmen. They 
 11 the contests that had 
 of England with blood 
 iu the struggle to wrest rights 
 and principles from the Crown and 
 deposit them for sife use and 
 
 xerci-e wi h the Parliament of 
 England, and when they framed our Con 
 stitution they determined to limit and cir 
 cumscribe and bind down this e, 
 Broaching Executive power within very 
 narrow" limits. There is no danger of op 
 pression of the people by Congress. The 
 danger is always of oppression and usurpa 
 tion coming from that power which is cen 
 tralized in one man s bosom. There is no 
 danger that Congress, rent asunder as it is, 
 and must ever be, by cliques and factions, 
 will ever consent to oppress the people, be 
 cause they can never agree among them 
 selves which clique shall be the oppressors. 
 ?rlr. Fess?nden will have his little circle of 
 friends ; Judge Trumbull will have his ; 
 Judge Howe will have his. And so there 
 are a dozen cliques in the Senate, and the 
 danger is that they won t bo able to get to 
 gether and do sonic things that ought to be 
 done some tinre. [Great laughter and ap- - 
 
 . ] ITot so with the President of the 
 United That great rash act of his 
 
 which brought on his impeachment the 
 removal of Fhc Secretary of War, for no of 
 fence except for differing from him in opin 
 ion, and diiTermg from him in this particular, 
 that tho Secretary of War thought fit to act 
 according to his own convictions, accord 
 ing to the Constitution, and with the party 
 and with the friend-3 who placed him in 
 power that rash act of the Presi 
 dent of the United States was the 
 result of no deliberation with anybody. 
 No Cabinet officer knew anything about it. 
 Nc-ithcr Scward nor his chum, Randall, 
 ever dreamed that the thing was to be done. 
 It was the result of a consultation between 
 Andrew Johnson and his demijohn alone, 
 [great applause and laughter,] and, when 
 the purpose was formed, it was executed by 
 an order written at his own table at night. 
 No oth T man had to be got to sign it, no 
 other ambitious clique had to be conciliated. 
 [Applause.] This I have alluded to only 
 to il!ustrat> the fact and the theory that 
 five-lorn is in no danger of overthrow from 
 a Congress, or a Parliament, or any other 
 multitudinous deliberative body. It is 
 always in danger of encroachment and 
 overthro.w from power which is consoli 
 dated and may be exercised upon the volition 
 of a single man. So our fathers, when they 
 framed the Constitution, laid upon that 
 ofiice the iirmest and the strongest bond. 
 The President of the United States shall be 
 
 the Commander in-Chief of the army and 
 
 a;ivy;he may grant pardons and reprieves;he 
 may receive ambassadors and other foreign 
 ministers; ho may comrnis-i <n officers of 
 the United States when properly appointed, 
 
 and he shall take care that thy laws be 
 
 faithfully executed. Those ace the powers 
 
 which are vested in the President, indepen- 
 
 ; dent of Congress and cooperation with 
 
 | Congress. Now, it is manifest tha!; none 
 
 i of these powers include that of reconstruct- 
 
 j ing a State government, and when Andrew 
 
 rtook t > ; ; itted 
 
 and upon the Co 
 
 mon- 
 
 ,:nd to the ; ;;ere 
 
 no pretence or col.-r . , his 
 
 whole proceedings. He -titu- 
 
 ti:mal convention to fram.} governnn 
 
 : a- ion of - , and the 
 ifiC-ilions oftboso who sinniM he elected 
 But suppose those voters 
 who were not qualified suppose tho?e came 
 mven^on who wer<3 not entitled to 
 r his proclamation what was 
 the coi: t He could not- punish, for 
 
 :i that ho could not make 
 law. His whoje proceedings were unau 
 thorized, and necessarily and consequently 
 void. But as to the power of the President, 
 I need not j/ush a stop further or discuss it 
 at length, because the Democrats them 
 selves ; and as far 
 as a discussion of this question as a part of 
 our platform is concerned, it is sufficient to 
 rest it there. Tbx-y admit this point. 
 
 THE POWF/TIS OP COXGPvE.-S. 
 
 The question then recurs, where is the 
 power of the General Government to frame 
 | governments in these rebel States ? And, 
 in the first place, the general proposition 
 may be laid down, that if the power is in 
 the Government of the United States at all, 
 and is not conferred by express words upon 
 the President, or some other officer of the 
 Government, then it is surely vested in 
 Congress; because the Constitution pro 
 vides that Congress shall have the power to 
 make all laws necessary and proper to carry 
 into execution the power conferred upon 
 Congress, and all other powers conferred 
 upon the United States, or any department 
 or officer thereof; consequently, if the 
 power of framing these State governments 
 reposes in the General Government, and not 
 in the people of Georgia, and, as it is con 
 ceded, every man can settle the question 
 for himself for thirty minutes reading, that. 
 the Constitution does not locate this power 
 in the President, or any other specific ofli- 
 j cer, or in the courts, then it follows neces- 
 ! sadly that this power of the Government is 
 j to be exercised through the power of Con 
 gress, to make laws to carry that power 
 : into execution. But I do not propose to 
 rest here upon this mere general pro- 
 
6 
 
 position, although it is entirely conclu 
 sive. There are other provisions of the Con- 
 
 stiUU r- -Mstinct grounds upon 
 
 which . i ly rested. 
 
 The Constitution provides that Congress 
 
 IC3." NOW, V 
 
 the in- ling a "new State," 
 
 :leto be admitted? Half 
 the confusion that the public labor under 
 rding this subject h; iVom the 
 
 fact that tbG word "State 1 in the Constitu 
 tion is used with various meanings. Somo- 
 timrs i;. is u. ;;d in a geographic \] < : 
 and sometimes in a political sense. For 
 insiiiiKe, when the Constitution provides 
 that any man who commits a crime shall 
 he tried in the "State" where it was com- | 
 milted, it means a geographical State, called 
 the State of New York, or of Georgia, &G. 
 When it says a "State" may he a party to 
 any sui: ii t:: j Supreme Court of the 
 United Sites, it means a u State govern 
 ment," or a corporation, which is created 
 for that purpose. Take, for instance, Illi 
 nois. In a geographical sense, Illinois 
 was ill ways in the Union; her soil was 
 always Federal dominion; her people were 
 always citifcen s of the United States. But 
 the State of Illinois, which was admitted 
 into the Union by an act of Congress, 
 means the corporation or State government 
 which was organizsd by the people for 
 that purpose. Therefore, when the Con 
 stitution says that Congress shall provide 
 for the;v]missionof "new States," it means 
 "new State governments." 
 
 WHAT IS A NEW STATE ? 
 
 The Democrats say, "Tnis is conceded, j 
 but Georgia is not a new State. Georgia was 
 one ot the original thirteen, one of the old 
 States, and clearly that provision of the i 
 Constitution does not apply to your case." 
 Bur, my friend, I have already saiil that to j 
 admit a State means to admit a State gov- | 
 eminent, and when the rebels of the South i 
 destroyed the State government which had 
 leen in the Union, and put in its place a | 
 rebel State government which never was j 
 in the Union, and when the armies of the 
 United States swept that way and lelt 
 Georgia without any government what- 
 ever, then, when a goverment shall be 
 organized there, to be admitted again into j 
 the Union aad to be restored to the Fed 
 eral rights, that government thus formed 
 i.s u new government, as much as though 
 the people of Georgia had never had a gov- | 
 eminent whatever. What difference can 
 it make, for instance, with this power ot 
 Congress to admit a State government and 
 to frame a government, whether the people ! 
 who are to be admitted have once had a 
 government which they have destroyed, 
 or whether they never had a government. 
 For instance, we have west of the 11 jcky 
 mountain 3 so many square miles of ter- ! 
 ritory, and so many citizens of the ; 
 United States born in the country. : 
 
 We say, "Those people are our peo 
 ple, that soil is our soil, and they are 
 titled to our protection." The Gov:-. 
 meat of the United States establish-- 
 Territorial government there and p 
 them until such time ;>* they como to 
 proper condition to be admit! \tc, 
 
 in full communion, into the Unio : i. Now, 
 this power and jurisdiction cf --to , 
 
 do this^thiug grows our, of this fact, simj * 
 
 that if our citizens are dwe! i: . 
 pact community upon our goii. lo 
 
 cal government, (it is of no i 
 how that state of things is brought about 
 whether it is because they moved there and 
 never had a government, or because they 
 have been th -re and once Jnd a govern- J 
 ment and destroyed it;) if they are our 
 people, dwelling upon our territory, and 
 have no government, the United States is 
 bound to put a civil government there. 
 
 [A.t this point the grand torchlight pro 
 cession filed into the square, aad the 
 speaker suspended his remarks for a few 
 moments, resuming as follows:] 
 
 I have forgotten precisely where I was 
 addressing the world before the rest of 
 mankind came in; but I believe I had got 
 through with saying what I proposed to in 
 reference to the power of Congress to ad 
 mit new States; and claimed that that cov 
 ered the entire ground, an. I gave Congress 
 the constitutional power to reconstruct a 
 State government lor Georgia. 
 
 A REPUBLICAN FOKM OF GOVKESMENT. 
 
 Suppose, for the sake of argument, that 
 we admit what the Democrats claim, th-it 
 Georgia never was out of the Union, and 
 that her territory and people remaining in 
 the Union as we conceded they always 
 did, because they could not get out that 
 therefore sue is to be regarded as a Stato of 
 the Union. The Constitution provides that 
 the United States shall guarantee to every 
 fctate & republican form of government. 
 Now, if Georgia was not a State of the 
 Union she was a State without any gov 
 ernment whatever; consequently she had 
 no republican form of Slate government; 
 and Congress was called upon iu its ca 
 pacity of legislating and executing that 
 power to take the proper steps to put a re 
 publican form of State government in | 
 Georgia. This guarantee of the Consiitu- 4 
 tion was intended to secure to the Union 
 a republican State government for such 
 State, without reference to the wishes of 
 fie people of a particular State. If New 
 York, for instance, to-niorrow should call 
 a convention, and change her form of gov 
 ernment from a republican to a monarchical 
 govern nicnt, it would be the duty of Congress 
 to interfere, because the Constitution makes 
 it the duty of the United States to see to 
 it that there is a republican form of govern 
 ment for them in New York ; and if h- 
 should call a convention to abolish tlie form 
 i of government, and resolve herseJf ;j ac^. 
 
into her original condition, so much soil, 
 an.! *;> mr.iy people without 1 any govern 
 ment whaLvcr, Congress, in this case, 
 would be compelled to take particular steps 
 to put a State government there for the 
 State of New York, be<::>uso the Constitu 
 tion has imposed this duty upon the Gefitc- 
 r.<l Government ; and the Constitution has 
 provided that Congress sha 1 ! pass all laws 
 nece-sary to execute all the powers which 
 
 \ the Constitution has conferred upon the 
 lied States. This has been so frequently 
 decided by the Supreme Court of the United 
 States so clearly has it been announced by 
 Chief Justice Gardner, especially in the 
 Rhode Island case, as it is called, reported 
 in the 7th of Howard, where he distinctly 
 
 v lays down the doctrine that it is the pro 
 vince of Coftgress, and Congress alone, to 
 determine whether the form of government 
 is republican. It must also have the power 
 to say whether there is a government there 
 at all, because without so doing it cannot de 
 termine whether a particular form of govern 
 ment is republican or not and that this 
 duty rests upon Congress and when it acts 
 in the premises its decision is binding upon 
 every part of the Government, and cannot 
 bo questioned in court. This doctrine is so 
 clearly and fully decided that there is no 
 necessity of argument beyond referring you 
 to those decisions. In two or three cases 
 they have been before the Supreme Court, 
 and have been settled beyond dispute, and 
 upon these three grounds that I have men 
 tioned; first, that the power is clearly ia 
 the Congress of the United States, and is 
 not conferred specifically upon any other 
 department; secondly, the power in Con 
 gress to admit new State governments 
 covers this State, and authorizes Congress 
 to organize a government for the purpose 
 of being admitted; and thirdly, the duty 
 which the Constitution imposes upon Con 
 gress to take care that at all times there 
 shall be a republican Stats govern- 
 
 * nient for each State from tha4 ground 
 lone the power is clearly neduci ole 
 from these three facts from these 
 three separate sources we derive the 
 power of Congress to organize State gov 
 ernments for the rebellious States, which 
 were left at the end of the war without form 
 of government whatever. I have proposed 
 | this evening to confine myself strictly to the 
 constitutional power of Congress, and shall 
 leave for another occasion, perhaps at 
 Galena, on Friday evening, to discuss the 
 other independent question, of how wisely 
 and how well Congress has exercised that 
 constitutional power. This is a distinct 
 subjL-c: tuo full to be spoken of here to - 
 nignt uuder the circumstances, and at the 
 foot of a speech. I shall leave the subject 
 of reconstruction, then, with this imper 
 fect discussion of the constitutional power 
 of Congress. That is the only issue which 
 the Democratic platform makes on the sub 
 
 ject. They cTo not q nestio dls of 
 
 their acts. They struck tin death blow to 
 the system by saying that the whole pro 
 ceedings are unconstitutional, am"! therefore 
 void. If I have succeeded in convincing 
 you that Congress has the constitutional 
 power, my object has been accomplished, 
 and that was all I intended to do when I 
 came upon the platform. 
 
 A CONCLUDING WORD TO THE FENIANS. 
 
 I have been invited to como here to Chi 
 cago and address the Republican Fenian 
 Club of this State. As the camptigu is 
 thickening at home, and I. shall pr<. 
 be detained there until November, and it 
 is doubtful whether I shall have the oppor 
 tunity of coming here again, I shall say a 
 few words to the Fcnhns. I am not as 
 drunk as Blair was when he said, Tinne- 
 gans, I am with you," [laughter,] but I 
 have a few words which I wish to 
 you on the subject of Fenian?, and upon 
 several of your duties as Fenians to the 
 Government of the United States Xow, 
 it is too late in the day, it is too far ad 
 vanced in the history of the world, for any 
 man or set of men to hope to accomplish 
 great results, unless they h-ive some theory, 
 some philosophy of the subject which can 
 stand an examination and be countenanced 
 by the world. What is the philosophy of 
 Feniauism? Suppose a Fenian w<r 
 to-night here why Ireland should 1 
 and why Irishmen should govern Ireland. 
 lie could not give any other answer to that 
 11 tlr.m to say that every nation 
 should be free, and that the freemen of 
 every nation should control its destiny. 
 That is the philosophy of Fenian- 
 ism, it it has any philosophy. That 
 is the corner-stone of the claim which 
 1 makes to-day for an independent 
 government for Ireland. Now, the ques 
 tion is, what can any Irishman do in the 
 United States to further that end, which is 
 so near his heart? and if I were to give him 
 a word of caution to-night, without charg 
 ing him one cent for the advice, I would 
 tell him not to make a raid upon Canada. 
 The only result of that would be to put Pat 
 in jail, and not free Ireland. There is, 
 nevertheless, much that he may accomplish. 
 He may accomplish it by framing a public 
 sentiment for the world with that great party 
 in the United States to-day which is pledged 
 in all its policy and all its measures to ad 
 vance and faithfully apply the doctrines of 
 the Declaration of Independence. Such 
 has become the intercourse of the world, 
 by means of the telegraph, that the senti 
 ment of one nation is known and felt in 
 another. The voice of tha nation is heard 
 all round the globe. If you can unite here 
 with that party and give it an ascendency; 
 if you can strengthen its hands; if you 
 caii contribute to make the Declaration 
 of Independence a practical fact; then 
 
you have done what a man may do, and 
 till that a man may do, to form the public 
 sentiment of the world; and when the 
 public sentiment of the world is formed 
 then you will see its practical fruits being 
 bomc all over the world. It a mean, dirty 
 scallawag comes into a community to live, 
 one or two things always follows ; he either 
 has to reform and conform to the condition 
 of things around him, or he hate to leave. 
 Xow nations are assuming toward each 
 ether precisely that relation, and the opin 
 ion of one nation upon the others is grov/- 
 ing to be precisely what the opinion of one 
 individual is upon another. Join your 
 hands, then, and join your voices with the 
 party in the United States which is pledged 
 to sec every man free. There are certain 
 principles to be ruled by if you are to reach 
 any practical results. If you want to have 
 fualigut in Chicago you must consent to 
 have sunlight in Springfield. If you 
 want to be ftee yourself you must 
 consent that every one shall be .free. 
 If j ou want to see Ireland free } ou 
 must consent that England shall be free, and 
 Germany free, and France free, and every 
 other nation as free as yourselves are here 
 in the United States. If you would exer 
 cise this power, as citizens of the United 
 States, in shaping public sentiment, you 
 
 must act practically in the things you 
 reach; you must make liberty a practicj 
 fact all around you; and whether the 
 is a German or a Frenchman, an Euglisl 
 man or a Yankee, an Indian or ; 
 wnfetever his rights are before the < 
 must respect them. In this way : 
 doing something for the <)ov, - -; 
 over the world. You are ; 
 voices to the chorus of the nation : 
 be heard far over the ocean, in t 
 hold and in every dungt 
 [Great applause.] That is your pi 
 that is your duty, good, hone: t 1 
 [Loud applause," and cries of "Go on. 1 
 It is one thing for you t <:.ay \oii *;re wii 
 ing for me to go on, and another f 
 have the strength. I nm in very much tl 
 condition that General Cuss was iu whc 
 he was invited to dkcuss the 0=1 1. 
 improvements there ia too nuicli noii] 
 and confusion. I cannot talk dosvn tb| 
 whole tumultuous multitude. I 
 answer these rockets. I cannot, i:\ 
 words, talk down all creation. Tb 
 tude is too great for the speaker, and I al 
 completely exhausted, and you will have 
 excuse me. 
 
 The speaker retired amid great applauj 
 and cheers. 
 
 Chronicle Print. 
 
Gay lord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 PAT. JAN. 21, i90fa 
 
 YC 51397 
 
 DAY 
 
 is book is due on the last date 
 the date to 
 
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