Emancipation! Enfranchisement! Reconstruction! * LEGISLATIVE RECORD OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DURING AND SINCE THE WAR, PUBLISHED BY THE UNION REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE, WASHINGTON, D. C. A brief record of what has been done in Congress since the slaveholding Democracy begun their causeless rebellion is herewith presented. So much misrepresentation is made that an outline of measures submit¬ ted, and of the dates and votes on and by which they were adopted, could not be otherwise than serviceable to all. Every honest, fair-minded man will perceive at once the nature of the struggle. The record herewith offered cannot be more fitly illus¬ trated than by a quotation from a speech of Alexander II. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice President of the so-called Confederacy, made at Savannah, Ga., March 21, 1801, for the purpose of announcing to the world the reasons held by the Southern leaders for inaugurating their formidable revolu¬ tionary attempt. It was intended as a sol¬ emn argument for Southern opinion and * for the full vindication of their Democratic action. As such it is a fitting contrast to Republican action. Mr. Stephens declares of Mr. Jefferson that “the prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were, that the enslave¬ ment of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in prin¬ ciple, socially, morally, and politically. * * These ideas were funda¬ mentally wrong. * * * * Our new Government (the Confederacy) is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas. Its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, sub¬ ordination to the superior, is hi3 natural and normal condition.” To this declaration, with its accompany¬ ing horrors of terrible war, the starvation of thousands in rebel prisons, the filling of the land, North and South, with graves and mourning households, the terrible tax¬ ation superinduced by the cost of suppress¬ ing this Democratic and slavehol-ding JH&sJlion, is presented what the Republican ’ party has done in the vindication of its principles and in necessary defence of the Republic against Democratic treason. THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Special session July 4, 18G1, Senator Trumbull, reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee, July 20, 1801, a bill confiscating property used in aid of the rebellion. The Senator of¬ fered an additional section, setting free slaves employed by their masters in aid of armed insurrection. Many were employed to build military works, J:c. An exciting debate ensued. All U.c Democratic Senators opposed it. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, who had been that party’s candidate for President the year before against Mr. Lincoln, denounced the proposition as the beginning of a series of measures sure to lead “to a general con¬ fiscation of all property and a loosing of all bonds .” When the bill passed the Senate, July 22, every Democrat voted against, every Republican for. The bill passed the House of Representatives, after a similar debate, August 3, (every Democrat voting “no,”) and was signed by Mr. Lincoln and became law on the 6th of August, 1861. On the 25th day of February, 1362, at the first regular session of the Thirty-Sev¬ enth Congress, an additional article of war, forbidding and punishing the return of fu¬ gitives by either naval or military officers, passed the House. On the 10th of March it passed the Senate. On the loth it was approved by the President. It was opposed by the Democrats in every stage of its pro¬ gress. Senator Wilson, (Republican,) on the 4th of December, 1861, introduced a reso¬ lution looking toward the emancipation of all slaves in the District of Columbia. Oil the 24th of February, 1862, lie offered a bill providing for this grand result. It passed the Senate, April 3. Every Repub¬ lican voted for, every Democrat against it. 9 , The owners were to be compensated out of the Treasury according to an award to be made by commissioners appointed for the purpose. It passed the House on the 11th of April, and was signed by President Lin¬ coln, April 16, 1862. By this act tehee thousand persons were made free. On the 6th of March, 1862, President Lincoln, by special message, recommended Congress to pass a joint resolution, offering on the part of the United States to co¬ operate with any State desiring to gradu¬ ally abolish slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid in support of the action. On the 10th of March Mr. Roscoe Conk- ling (Republican) offered a joint resolu¬ tion covering the ground suggested by Mr. Lincoln. After a stormy debate, in which all the Democrats opposed its passage, and the policy of emancipation it sustained, it passed the House on the 11th of March by a vote of 89 for, all Republican, and 31 against, all Democrats. It passed the Senate after long debate, April 2, alljout one Democrat (Garrett Davis, Kentucky) voting against it. Tne President signed it April 10, 1862. On the 24tli of March, 1862, Mr. Arnold, (Republican,) of Illinois, introduced into the House a bill prohibiting slavery forever in any of the Territories of the United States. On the 8th day of May Mr. Love- joy, of Illinois, reported the measure from committee to the House. On the 12th day of May it passed, 83 Republicans voting “aye” and 50 Democrats voting “no.” It was taken up in the Senate on the 15th of May. On the Otli of Jnne it was discussed, amended, and passed by a vote of 22 yeas to 10 nays, every Democrat present voting in the minority. It was passed by the House on the 17tli of June, approved by Mr. Lincoln, and thus made law, June 19, 1862. By this act half of the area of the United States was secured forever to free¬ dom. Mr. Pomeroy, of Kansas, on the 16th of July, 1861, introduced into the Senate a bill setting forth that, as slavery caused the rebellion, then forcing a life and death struggle on the nation, therefore slavery should be declared abolished in all States in arms against the Govern¬ ment. This was the first anti-slavery measure offered by the Republicans in Con¬ gress. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee. Various propositions grew out of the discussion. The debate over them lasted from December, 1861, to July, 1862. The delay was wholly caused by Democratic opposition. Finally, a bill originally offered by Senatoi Clark, New Hampshire, passed the Sen¬ ate, June 23. it went to the House, was amended, again referred to a committee of conference, and finally passed the House July 11, 1862, by a vote of 82 Republicans to 42 Democrats. On the 12th the Senate passed it by a party vote of 27 Republicans to 12 Democrats. On the 17th of July it received the approval of Mr. Lincoln and became a law. This enactment provided that all slaves of persons aiding the rebellion comiDg within our lines, or deserted by their mas¬ ters and coming within our control, and all slaves found in places occupied by the rebel armies and captured by our troops, should be deemed captives of war, and be forever made free; also, that slaves should not be surrendered; that any person in the military or naval service so surrendering them should be punished. Prior to the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President, March 4, 1861, the Govern¬ ment was controlled in the interests of slavery. The United States was at the time the only civilized government refus¬ ing to recognize the national existence of the Republics of Liberia and Hayti, solely because the people thereof were persons of African descent. On the 4th of March, 1862, Senator Charles Sumner reported a bill for the establishment of .diplomatic relations with the countries named. It passed the Sen¬ ate April 24,1862—all the Democrats voting “no.” During their discussion, Demo¬ cratic Senators indulged in ridicule at the idea of seeing a man of color recognized in a diplomatic capacity. The bill passed the House June 3, 1862, and became a law by the approval of Mr. Lin¬ coln on the 5th of the same month. On the 9th of April, 1862, Senator Grimes, of Iowa, introduced a bill pro¬ viding that ten per cent, of the taxes col¬ lected from the colored residents of the , District of Columbia should he set aside for the education of colored children in the District. It was stated that the amount of taxable property belonging to colored persons in the District was valued at $650,000. On this a tax of $36,000 was paid. The school ten per cent, would be $3,600. It appeared that under the slave¬ holding municipal rule the taxes paid by colored persons were used to educate white children only. Until the 1st ot June, 1868, when the Republicans elected the Mayor of Washington, the Democratic city authori¬ ties had in every way resisted the payment to the colored schools of the amount au¬ thorized by Congress to be so paid, and a large amount yet remains due the school funds. On the 8th of May, Senator Wilson, (Rep.,) Massachusetts, offered au addi¬ tional section, providing for the abolition of all ordinances, laws, &c., which within the District made odious discretions against the colored people. The laws thus to be repealed were made under the sys¬ tem of slavery, and were very oppressive iu their character. The bill, as amended, passed the Senate May 9, by a vote of 29 o O Republicans to 7 Democrats. It passed the House on the 15th, and became a law by Mr. Lincoln’s approval May 17, 1862. On the 23d of June, Mr. Lovejoy, of Illi¬ nois, offered a hill in the House for the ( s- tablishment of a Board of Trustees to take charge of the colored schools of the Dis¬ trict, and to whom the pro rata of taxes w’as to be paid. The object was to ensure the establishment of the schools, as the Democratic city government refused to put them in operation. This bill became a law, against the opposition of all the Dem¬ ocrats in Congress, on the 11th of July, 1862. Under Democratic misrule the American flag was openly used to cover the infamous African slave trade—a traffic so inhuman that the framers of the Constitution inserted a provision for its early cessation. They thus expressed their abhorrence of a traffic at a time when its practice was recognized by all commercial nations. As soon as the Republicans obtained power they set at work to enforce treaties made for its sup¬ pression. On the 12th of June, 1862, Senator Sum¬ ner reported a bill for that purpose. It provided for judges and arbitrators to be appointed at points suitable for making de¬ cisions with relation to vessels captured as slavers. The only speech made in the Senate against it was by Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware—a Democrat. Four Democrats voted “nay.” The bill passed the House on the 7th of July, and was approved by Mr. Lincoln on the 11th of July, 1862. An additional bill was passed by both houses and became a law on the 17th of July, 1862, Mr. Lincoln enforced the law of nations with regard to this traffic by the trial as a pirate of one Gordon, captured while engag¬ ed in the African slave trade. This w T as in marked contrast to the action of Demo¬ cratic Executives. A prominent Southern Democrat, one Captain Lamar, of Savan¬ nah, Ga., openly violated the laws, and, in 1859 or 1869, landed a cargo of native Afri¬ cans on the coast of Georgia, who were immediately sold as slaves. Lamar is re¬ cognized as a leading Democrat, and, of course, was an active rebel. On the 12th of July, 1862, Senator Wil¬ son, as chairman of Committee on Mili¬ tary Affairs, reported to the Senate a bill for the organization of the militia, and to suppress insurrection. Under its provisions the President was to be au¬ thorized to receive colored men into military service, for the purpose of con¬ structing intrenchments, or other labor, or any military service for which they might be found competent. When so enrolled, the man, his mother, wife, and children were to be forever declared free. The de¬ bate over the bill was long and earnest. The Democrats fought it at every stage. The bill passed the Senate on the 15th of July, by a vote of 28 yeas and 9 nays, all but one of the latter being Democrats. It pass¬ ed the House on the 16th, and became a law, by approval of Mr. Lincoln, on the 17tli of July, 1862. The first authorized military organiza¬ tion of colored men was made under this law. Senator James II. Lane, of Kansas, acting as Commissioner of Recruiting, un¬ der authority of the War Department, raised one regiment of colored men, mus¬ tered in as volunteer infantry. This or¬ ganization was begun on the 4th of Au¬ gust. It fought the first engagement with rebels in which colored men served, Octo 1 her 26, 1862, nine weeks before the pro¬ clamation of emancipation was issued by Mr. Lincoln. This regiment was mustered out of service, November, 1865. On the 22d clay of September, 1862, Presi¬ dent Abraham Lincoln issued a proclama¬ tion, announcing that on the first day of January, 1863, he should issue another pro¬ clamation declaring free all persons held as slaves within such States and districts as should be therein named. In accordance with the terms of this pre¬ fatory instrument, Abraham Lincoln, on the first day of January, 1863, did issue a proclamation of emancipation, declaring all slaves free forever within the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, excepting only certain designated portions of Louis¬ iana and Virginia occupied by our troops, and in which the slaves had become prac¬ tically free. By this act over three millions of persons were from chattels made men and women in the eye of the law. The same proclamation also authorized the enlist¬ ment of colored men into the army and navy. On the 17th of February, 1863, Senator Wilson introduced a bill to incorporate an institution for the education of colored youths, to be located in the District of Co¬ lumbia. Even this measure met with great opposition from the Democrats, one of them declaring he could not “see any good reason why the Government of the United States should enter upon the scheme of educating negroes.” The bill passed the Senate, February 27, by a vote of 27 ayes to 9 noes, the latter being all Democrats. It passed the House on the 2d of March, and was approved next day by Mr. Lin¬ coln. In the second session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, February 10, 1864, a bill enroll¬ ing all able-bodied persons for military purposes was amended by striking out one of its sections and inserting in substance “ that all able-bodied male persons of Afri¬ can descent between the ages of twenty and forty-five, whether citizens or not, shall be enrolled and made a part of the na- 4 tional forces; and, when enrolled and drafted into the service, his master shall be entitled to receive three hundred dollars, and the drafted man shall be free.” It was modified so as to provide only for payment to loyal masters, and afterwards by re¬ ducing the bounty paid to one hundred dollars. Afterwards the Thirty-Ninth Con¬ gress suspended the payment of all sack bounties, January 14, 1867. The vote stood in the House 107 Republicans to 86 Democrats. The enrolment bill as passed made all colored men liable to draft, and, if a slave at the time, made himself and family free. A movement for the appropriation of money to compensate the border States for the emancipation of their slaves was be¬ gun by Senator Wilson, March 7, 1862. Several propositions followed, and a long discussion ensued, terminating in the Sen¬ ate by the passage of a bill granting ten million dollars as compensation to Mis¬ souri for such emancipation, February 12, 1863. The bill was lost by the dilatory motion of the Democrats in the House at the close of the session. Hon. James M. Ashley, (Rep.,) of Ohio, introduced into the Thirty-Eighth Con¬ gress, December 14, 1863, an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, declaring slavery forever abolished. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee, and it was favorably reported to the House. Senator Henderson, of Missouri, on the 11th of January, 1864, introduced a simi¬ lar proposition, it was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is the amendment finally adopted, and now known as Article Fourteen of the Constitu¬ tion. Amendments and substitutes were offered by Mr. Sumner and other Senators. The discussion continued; Democratic Sena¬ tors resisting fi.s passage at every stage, from the date of introduction until the 8th of April, 1864. The vote stood 38 ayes to 6 noes, only one Democrat (Senator Nes¬ mith, of Oregon,) voting in the affirmative. Debate on the amendment begun in the House on the 31st of May, 1864, and it was rejected, then reconsidered on the 5th of December following, and finally passed the House, alter au exciting debate on Tues¬ day, January 27, 1865, by a vote of 119 yeas to 57 nays, the latter being all Demo¬ crats. Three Democrats only voted for this beneficial act. The amendment, as finally incorporated into the Constitution as article fourteen, is as follows: Sec 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servi¬ tude, except as a punishment lor crime, whereof the party shill hive been duly cou.iited, shall exist within the United States, or any place sub¬ ject to their jurisd ction Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce : this ar iclo by appropriate legislation. The infamous fugitive slave act of 1850 i was early attacked by the Republican parly, ! after slavery flung down the gauntlet by acts of treason. Senator Iloive, of Wiscon¬ sin, introduced, December 26, the first proposition to repeal that odious act. It was detained in committee and reported back adversely, February 11, 1863. Mr. Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, Senator Wilson, of Mass., Thaddeus Stevens, of . Penna., and Mr. Julian, of Indiana, intro¬ duced propositions to repeal this law in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. On the 8th of February, 1864, Mr. Sumner introduced a bill to repeal the law named. It was re¬ ferred to a special committee. The House bills introduced by Messrs. Ashley, Ste¬ vens, and Julian were referred to the Ju¬ diciary Committee. Mr. Morris, (Republi¬ can,) of New York, on the 6th of June, re¬ ported a bill from the committee. It passed on the 13th of June, 1864. The vote stood —82 yeas, and 57 nays. No Democrat voted for the repeal. On the 23d of June the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 27 Republi¬ cans to 12 Democrats and Conservatives. It was approved by Mr. Lincoln June 28, 1861. On the 11th of June, 1864, a bill finally passed and became a law by which the pay, &c., of the colored soldier was made equal in all respects to that of the white soldier. The inequalities hitherto existing were owing to the strenuous opposition of Democratsin Congress to every measure equalizing the pay and bounties. The attempt to pass a law organizing the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Aban doned Lands, better known in current history as the ‘'Freedmen’s Bureau,” be guu iu the Senate January 12,1863, by Mr. Wilson presenting a memorial from Massa¬ chusetts, praying the establishment of a bureau of emancipation. A bill for that purpose was introduced into the House by Mr. Eliot, of Massachusetts, on the 19th of January. This passed the House on the 24th of February. In the Senate it was re¬ ferred to Mr. Sumner’s select committee on slavery, by whom a substitute was reported on the 12th of April. It passed the Senate June 28, went to the House, was postponed till the next session, and passed early in 1865. Bills were introduced during the regular session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress by which tfce use of the District of Columbi. jail as a place of confinement for slaves, fugitive or otherwise, was forbidden. Presi¬ dent Lincoln, by Executive order dated January 25, 1862, directed the suppression of the abuses complained of. On the 2d of July, 1862, a bill declaring that no person’s testimony shall be ex¬ cluded by any United States court, on account of their color or former condition, became law by approval of the President. It was bitterly opposed by the Democrats. The same law contained a provision pro¬ hibiting the coast-wise inter-State slave 5 trade. The Democrats opposed this also. Before the war, colored men were for¬ bidden to contract for or carry United States mails. Mr. Sumner moved in the Senate, March 18, 1802, to remove all such restrictions. The Democrats opposed it and voted against the measure. It finally passed, after hitter opposition, in 18G4. Through the exertions of Mr. Sumner, a nill prohibiting distinctions on account of race or color in the public conveyances of the District was passed, after considerable Democratic opposition, and became law on tho 21st, of June, 1863. Another of the series of measures ren¬ dered necessary by the attitude of the Southern Democracy toward the loyal peo¬ ple, black and white, in their midst was proposed by Senator Wilson. It provided for the disbandment of the so-called State militia organized under the governments instituted by Mr. Johnson’s plan of restora¬ tion. This armed force was used chiefly to coerce the colored people, and enforce Jaws which practically made them serfs or slaves of society. In the latter portion of the second session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, introduced and carried through two measures intended to make effective the anti slavery amendment, and to prevent the evasion of the civil rights law. In the first instance, a system of appren¬ ticeship for colored children had grown up in former slave States, by which they were virtually made slavesagain. Thousands of co’ored children, in Maryland and Ken¬ tucky especially, were thus illegally bound to servitude. In other cases the so-called Southern State Legislatures, restored under Mr. Johnson’s policy, had provided nu¬ merous offences, the penalty of which was public sale for the offender. Sales were made of colored paupers, so-called, and by the system inaugurated purposely made vagrants, in order to sell in the man¬ ner alluded to. These same Legislatures had passed liws by which whipping and similar punishments were to be inflicted on negroes. These were all prohibited under heavy penalties. In the discussion the Democrats opposed both measures on the ground that they interfered with the “re¬ served rights” of the States. They voted against them on the same ground. Their idea of States rights is the right to whip, : r :nd, oppress, and enslave the poor. The Republican policy is that of protection to ad+-yeus 80, nays 7, the latter be¬ ing Demo -rats. On the 25th of June, 1863, after consid¬ erable debate and vigorous Democratic op¬ position, culminating in a Presidential veto, Congress passed a bill with the same conditions as in the case of Arkansas, ad¬ mitting to rep .esentation the reconstructed States of Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. The vote on final passage in the House stood—107 Republicans for, and 31 Demo¬ crats against,; in the Senate, 35 t^ 8, the former Republicans all, and the latter Democrats. During the same session a bill prohibit¬ ing the counting of the Electoral College votes of the three States—Virginia, Missis¬ sippi, and Texas—still i.nv< presented, was passed against the strenuous opposition of the Democracy and of Mr. Johnson. In his veto message, the lat»er declared that the new governments recognized by Con¬ gress were revolutionary in character. So the issue stands. Congress has, un¬ der its reconstruction policy, reorganized and recognized eight out of eleven States, entirely unrepresented when armed rebel¬ lion closed, and then as President Johnson declared, “deprived of all civil govern¬ ment.” The governments thus reorgan¬ ized by Congress in the exercise of its con¬ stitutional duty under section four of arti¬ cle four of the Federal Constitution, that “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government,” are assailed by the platform of one of the great parties—the Democracy—as “unconstitutional, revolu¬ tionary, null and void” in character. These governments, thus opposed, estab¬ lish civil and political equality for all men; provide for the establishment of common schools, open to all; for equality of taxa¬ tion; for the security of the homestead and of the poor man’s labor by a lien on property. They recognize freedom of the press, free discussion, and liberty of con¬ science. They maintain the paramount allegiance of a citizen to the Union; they recognize the sacred obligation incurred in the national debt, and they have aceepted fundamental conditions which forbid the future disfranchisement of men on account of color or race. The success of the Republican party by the election of their Presidential nominees, General U. S. Grant and Honorable Schuyler Colfax, will insure the success of the first beneficent policy. The prayer of the loyal millions—“Let us have peace” — will be an accomplished fact. The elec¬ tion of the Democratic candidates, Horatio Seymour and Francis P. B’air , J/\, will insure the temporary triumph.of oppression and the permanent inauguration of anarchy and war: Choose ye, wnicn you will, on, people of America ! Tiie work of the Republican party is before you. The record is complete. Liberty its desire, equality its wish, protection TO ALL FOR ALL RIGHTS ITS DESIGN, AND AMELIORATION AND PROGRESS ITS SURE RESULT. C/momcle Hm.