The Struggle Between President Johnson And Congress Over Reconstruction Part 1

The Struggle between President Johnson and Congress over Reconstruction.

by Charles Ernest Chadsey.

CHAPTER I.

THEORIES OF RECONSTRUCTION PRIOR TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.

1. The war of the rebellion afforded opportunity for the people of the United States to obtain a far clearer conception of the powers and limitations of the federal const.i.tution than had previously been possible, and settled beyond possibility of further debate some of the most important questions which had arisen since its interpretation as an "instrument of evidence" had begun. Yet when General Johnston had surrendered his army on April 26, 1865, virtually bringing the war to a close, the country found that one great const.i.tutional question, a question of the highest practical importance, still remained unsolved; and for several years the best energies of our statesmen were occupied with its solution. Eleven of the States had for four years been in armed insurrection, but now, through superior force, they lay helpless at the feet of the Union. Under these circ.u.mstances, what was their const.i.tutional relation to the federal government?

Previous to the pa.s.sage of the ordinance of secession by the convention of South Carolina in 1860, the nation never had been called upon to determine the status of a State which declared its relation to the federal government severed. Certainly if a State could establish its independence by war, the question, so far as such State was concerned, would have no significance; but as such a conclusion of the difficulty could not be considered for an instant, the status of the seceded State, both before and after the cessation of hostilities, immediately became an important subject of discussion. The gradual evolution of popular sentiment, from the belief that the dignity of a State should not be tampered with, to the belief that by an act of secession a State divested itself of all its rights and privileges as a State, and reverted to the condition of a Territory, forms an interesting chapter in the history of the unwritten const.i.tution of the United States.

2. When the 37th Congress met on July 4, 1861, in pursuance of Lincoln's proclamation, the war had not been in progress long enough to show to the country the extreme gravity of the situation and the wideness of the gap which had arisen between the Southern States and the rest of the Union.

The common belief was that unprincipled agitators, who represented only a small minority of the legal voters in the insurrectionary States, had obtained temporary control over the governments of these States, and were waging a war against the Union, in which they were unsupported by the majority; and that the latter would joyfully resume control of their governments as soon as the opportunity should be given them, which it was confidently believed would soon happen. That is, the war was to be carried on, not against the States which claimed to have seceded, but against a certain element of the Southern population.

The extreme solicitude felt by Congress for the proper preservation of the sovereign privileges of these States is shown by the practical unanimity with which a resolution submitted by Mr. Crittenden, on July 22, was carried, there being only two dissenting voices.[1] It declared the sense of the House to be that[2] "this war is not waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established inst.i.tutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Const.i.tution and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease." Three days later, Andrew Johnson, then a Senator from Tennessee, submitted the same resolution in the Senate,[3] where it was also carried with practical unanimity, although the discussion indicated a confused idea as to its exact significance.

But few months pa.s.sed by before this staunch confidence in the rights of the States began to be shaken; a feeling of doubt had arisen which had not as yet resolved itself into a definite change of att.i.tude, yet which was sufficient to prevent the re-endors.e.m.e.nt of Mr. Crittenden's resolution, introduced by Mr. Holman, December 4, 1861, and tabled by a vote of 71 to 65.[4]

A series of resolutions introduced in the Senate by Mr. Davis of Kentucky, on February 13, 1862,[5] while preserving in the main the principles then in vogue, a.s.sumed a somewhat broader tone and expressed very clearly the belief of a large element of the thoughtful cla.s.ses. Affirming the permanency of the privileges of the people of the United States, it denied the criminality of the citizen who does not perform "his duties of loyalty and obedience, when the government fails to give him protection and security," and declared that the powers of the nation and State in the State are simply in suspension during a period of insurrection, and should be resumed, unimpaired, when the insurrection ceases. Here also was affirmed, in unmistakable terms, the inability of the State to secede, and the consequent obligation of the United States to preserve in these States republican forms of government. The guilty leaders should be punished, but the ma.s.ses should receive amnesty; and immediately following the important admission was made that "if the people of any State cannot or will not reconstruct their state government, and return to loyalty and duty, Congress should provide a government for such State as a territory of the United States, securing to the people thereof their appropriate const.i.tutional rights."

Here, in connection with the positive statement that a State cannot secede, and the implication that the insurrectionary citizen may be upheld in his actions, was a clear expression of so-called extra-const.i.tutional powers in treating incorrigible States as territories. It would be interesting to know how these resolutions were viewed by the Senate, but they were laid on the table and never taken up for discussion.

3. During the opening days of the 3d Session of the 37th Congress, the question of the right to interfere with the States as States, was brought fairly before the House by a series of resolutions in which the policy of the extreme wing of the Democratic party was expressed.[6] In them it is declared that "the Union _as it was_, must be restored and maintained, one and indivisible."[7] When this declaration is examined, with the President's preliminary proclamation of emanc.i.p.ation in mind, the significance of the three italicised words can be seen. The resolutions, after quoting the substance of the Crittenden resolution, further declared that "whoever shall pervert or attempt to pervert the same to a war of conquest or subjugation, or for the overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established inst.i.tutions of any of the States, and to abolish slavery therein, or for the purpose of destroying or impairing the dignity, equality, or rights of any of the States, will be guilty of a flagrant breach of public faith and of a high crime against the Const.i.tution and the Union." The same guilt was declared to attach to all who should "propose by federal authority, to extinguish any of the States of the Union, or to declare any of them extinguished, and to establish territorial governments within the same."

These resolutions, which were an open attack upon the presidential policy, were tabled by a vote of 79 to 50, a party vote. This fact is of significance as an evidence of the growing feeling in the House, that the sovereign rights of the States might be too highly considered, and that decided discipline of some kind might be found a measure of necessity. It began to be doubted whether in some of these States there could be found a sufficient number of loyal citizens to carry on the government without modifications of the old const.i.tution and laws. At the same time the small majority by which the resolutions were tabled shows that the old idea still exercised a powerful influence in the House.

On December 14, 1863, resolutions were introduced by Mr. Finck,[8] and others two days later by Mr. Rollins,[9] which were very similar to the Crittenden resolution, and were introduced merely as expressions of the Democratic policy, since the Republican majority was too p.r.o.nounced to permit their adoption.

From the beginning of the war, the policy of the Democratic party in the North was to bring about some agreement between the North and the South, by compromises and concessions, and should the issue finally be determined in favor of the Union even by dint of superior strength, to restore the Southern States to their former condition. In short, the theory held almost unanimously by Congress at the opening of the 37th Congress, was retained as the Democratic theory,[10] while the Republicans gradually modified their opinions, and with the progress of events developed a theory different from both the Democratic and the presidential theory.

Even after the proclamation of emanc.i.p.ation had come to be recognized as one of the natural results of the war, the policy of the Democratic party was unchanged except as necessarily modified by emanc.i.p.ation, and in the House, on February 8, 1864, Jacob B. Blair submitted resolutions[11] in which it was stated that "every State which has ever been, is still a State in the Union, and that when this rebellion shall have been put down, each of the so-called seceding States will have the same rights, privileges, and immunities under the Const.i.tution as any one of the loyal States, except so far as the holding of African slaves in bondage is affected by the President's proclamation." These resolutions also repudiated "the doctrine advanced by some, that the so-called seceding States have ceased to be States of and in the Union, and have become territories thereof, or stand in the relation of foreign powers at war therewith."

But besides political declarations, the Democratic theory found other ways of expression in Congress. From the very commencement of the war, many of the leaders of the party were confident that hostilities could be brought to an end and peaceful relations restored by a convention of States, and several attempts were made to induce Congress to consider favorably some such plan.[12] As early as July 15, 1861, only eleven days after the convening of the extra session of Congress, Benjamin Wood introduced a resolution in the House,[13] which recommended that the governors of the several States "convene their legislatures for the purpose of calling an election to select two delegates from each Congressional district, to meet in general convention at Louisville, in Kentucky, on the first Monday in September next; the purpose of the said convention to be to devise measures for the restoration of peace to our country."

Again at the opening of the second session on December 4, 1861, joint resolutions were introduced by Mr. Saulsbury, in the Senate,[14] to appoint Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Roger B. Taney, Edward Everett, Geo. M. Dallas, Thomas Ewing, Horace Binney, Reverdy Johnson, John J.

Crittenden, George E. Pugh, and R. W. Thompson, "commissioners on the part of Congress, to confer with a like number of commissioners to be appointed by the States" in rebellion, "for the preservation of the Union and the maintenance of the Const.i.tution." The resolutions also provided that when the several States should have appointed their commissioners, hostilities should cease, "and not be renewed unless said commission shall be unable to agree," or "agreement shall be rejected either by Congress or by the aforesaid States."

One year later, December 2, 1862, a third attempt[15] was made by Mr.

Davis, who submitted a joint resolution in the Senate (S. 104), proposing a convention from all the States to devise means for the reconstruction of the Union, and on May 30, 1864, Mr. Lazear submitted in the House, resolutions which were to authorize the President to "adopt or agree upon some plan upon which the decision of the great body of the people north and south may be secured upon the question of calling a convention composed of delegates from all the States, to which shall be referred the settlement of all questions now dividing the southern States from the rest of the Union, with a view to the restoration of the several States to the places they were intended to occupy in the Union."

During the later years of the war, after hope of success had begun to die out, some of the Southern States looked very favorably upon the plan; but nothing approximating such a convention resulted.[16]

4. At the beginning of his term of office, President Lincoln held the then prevailing belief in the supremacy of the States in all matters not directly under federal control, and as a matter of course believed that at the cessation of hostilities each State should immediately resume its old relations to the government, its local matters untouched by the central administration.[17] But the ability of Lincoln to modify his own beliefs on any subject as his experience widened was never better manifested than on this very question, and had he lived to control the administration through the period of reconstruction, it is not unreasonable to suppose that his att.i.tude would have undergone still greater change. As the magnitude of the struggle became more apparent, he began to deliberate upon the advisability of striking at the root of the evil, despite the blow it struck at state liberty, and the two proclamations of September 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863,[18] mark the basis of the executive plan of reconstruction. The Pierpoint government of Virginia had been recognized in 1861, but its recognition was in harmony with the early att.i.tude of Congress towards the States, and involved no questions which could show a distinct executive policy.

In 1862, after the capture of New Orleans, a military governor of Louisiana was appointed, many persons in the vicinity of New Orleans were enrolled as citizens of the United States, and two districts elected representatives to Congress, under the provisions of the old state const.i.tution.[19] In this case there was a distinct development of the executive policy. Here was a military governor, appointed by the President and so an instrument of the Executive, interfering with the civil government of the State, controlling elections, deciding what districts were ent.i.tled to elections, and fixing the date of election. This was very different from simple restoration, with its theory that the national government must in no way interfere with the State governments. And when the two members elect, Messrs. Flanders and Hahn, presented themselves for admission into the House of Representatives, the Democrats, consistently with their belief in restoration, which up to that time had met with no serious opposition, opposed their admission strongly. In the discussion which arose, Mr. Voorhees well expressed the difference in theory between the Democratic view and that which was ultimately to be adopted. The problem was stated by him as follows:[20] "If the Southern Confederacy is a foreign power, an independent nationality to-day, and you have conquered back the territory of Louisiana, you may then subst.i.tute a new system of laws in the place of the laws of that State. You may then supplant her civil inst.i.tutions by inst.i.tutions made anew for her by the proper authority of this _Government_--not by the executive, but by the _legislative_ branch of the Government, a.s.sisted by the Executive simply to the extent of signing his name to the bills of legislation." "But if the theory we have been proceeding upon here, that this Union is unbroken; that no States have sundered the bonds that bind us together; that no successful disunion has yet taken place--if that theory is still to prevail in these halls, then this can not be done. You are as much bound to uphold the laws of Louisiana in all their extent and in all their parts, as you are to uphold the laws of Pennsylvania or New York, or any other State whose civil policy has not been disturbed."

The strong appeal to remain true to the theory first maintained by Congress, did not succeed in shutting the Louisianians out, and for one month, February to March, 1863, they were recognized as members. The later refusal to admit members from insurrectionary States was due, not to a supposed inconsistency with restoration proper, but to dislike of the presidential policy.

And now with emanc.i.p.ation still another element entered into the question, and in the future reconstruction, Congress was of necessity forced to follow to a certain extent a new path laid out by the President. A State after January, 1863, in order to resume its former relations, must at least make one change in its inst.i.tutions, and perfect restoration could no longer be considered. True, a large minority opposed the emanc.i.p.ation policy of the President, and their discontent took expression in resolutions such as Mr. Conway introduced into the House on December 15, 1862, in which he says that "the seceded States can only be put down, if at all, by being regarded as out of const.i.tutional relations with the Union," implying, of course, the inability of the President to extinguish their local inst.i.tutions. But such resolutions were never considered, while resolutions endorsing the policy of the President were agreed to.[21]

The next step in the development of the President's policy was the formation of a definite program, which States wis.h.i.+ng to be restored to equal rights with the loyal States should follow. This plan of reconstruction, called by him at a later period the "Louisiana plan," was officially announced by the proclamation of December 8, 1863, and the annual message to Congress of the same date defended the stand taken.[22]

This proclamation granted amnesty to all citizens (excepting certain specified cla.s.ses[23]) who would take an oath to support the Const.i.tution, as well as all acts of Congress and proclamations of the President relating to slaves; and declared that whenever one-tenth of the voters of any insurrectionary State should take the oath, and re-establish their state government, "which shall be republican, and in no wise contravening said oath," that government would be recognized as the true government of the State and would receive the protection guaranteed to the States. But all questions concerning admission to Congress would, in accordance with the provisions of the Const.i.tution, rest entirely with the respective houses of Congress. The questions of negro suffrage and federal supervision of the freedmen were not touched, and no provision was made to ensure good faith in reconstruction, beyond the mere oath exacted, and the general oversight of the President.

5. Under the provisions of the proclamation, three States, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee,[24] set up new governments, which were recognized by the President as true governments.[25] Congress, however, was by no means satisfied with this lenient way of treating the humbled States. The feeling that the executive was encroaching upon the legislative power added strength to the discontent. Many thought that if the presidential policy, without modification, were carried out, the reconstructed States would speedily revert to the control of the very element against whom the war had been waged. The House, by a strict party vote,[26] authorized the appointment of a select committee of nine, to consider that portion of the President's message relating to reconstruction, with authority to report by bill or otherwise. Henry Winter Davis was appointed chairman.

Resolutions were submitted by Mr. Williams on March 14, 1864, which were backed by a sentiment in Congress that was of great significance. Congress began to feel its way towards a distinctive policy, which had heretofore been supported by only a few, who were considered as holding extremely wild and untenable views. These resolutions stated that although the local laws were subverted, and the functions of the civil authorities suspended in the States under armed occupation, "as soon as the rebellion is suppressed in any of the revolting States," the President should communicate the fact to _Congress_, "in order that it may take the proper measures for the reorganization of the civil governments and the re-establishment of the civil functionaries therein, and prescribe such terms as it may deem wise and proper and consistent with the public safety for the readmission of those districts as States of this Union." The exclusive right of the legislative power "to say upon what terms those territories shall be allowed to return to the Union," was also a.s.serted.

The issue between Congress and the President took more definite form through the Davis-Wade bill of 1864.[27] This bill had been drafted during the latter part of 1863 by the select committee of nine, but it did not come before the House for consideration till March 22, 1864.

The objections of those who supported this bill to the Presidential plan, are clearly expressed in the speech of H. Winter Davis, in support of his measure. He says[28] that it (the Presidential plan), "proposed no guardians.h.i.+p of the United States over the reorganization of the governments, no law to prescribe who shall vote, no civil functionaries to see that the law is faithfully executed, no supervising authority to control and judge of the elections. But if, in any manner, by the toleration of martial law lately proclaimed the fundamental law, under the dictation of any military authority, or under the prescriptions of a provost marshal, something in the form of a government shall be presented, represented to rest on the votes of one-tenth of the population, the President will recognize that, provided it does not _contravene_ the proclamation of freedom and the laws of Congress; and to secure that, an oath is exacted." This government "may be recognized by the military power and may not be recognized by the civil power, so that it would have a doubtful existence, half civil and half military, neither a temporary government by law of Congress, nor a state government, something as unknown to the Const.i.tution as the rebel government that refuses to recognize it."

In place of this method of organization, which Mr. Davis justly thought so wretchedly loose, he proposed that the President should appoint provisional governors over these States, whose first duty should be to enroll the white citizens, through duly appointed United States marshals.

Then when a majority of these citizens should have taken the oath of allegiance, they should be permitted to hold a State convention for the purpose of forming a const.i.tution under which the government might be re-established. But all Confederate office-holders and those voluntarily bearing arms against the United States were to be ineligible as delegates to the convention. The bill further provided that the const.i.tution should "repudiate the rebel debt, abolish slavery, and prohibit the higher military and civil officers from voting for or serving as governors or members of the legislature." When these conditions should have been fulfilled, and the a.s.sent of Congress to the recognition of the new government obtained, the President should be notified, and should then officially recognize the government by proclamation, after which senators and representatives would be admitted to Congress.[29]

In the speech mentioned above, Mr. Davis claimed that "the bill challenges the support of all who consider slavery the cause of the rebellion, and that in it the embers of rebellion will always smoulder; of those who think that freedom and permanent peace are inseparable, and who are determined, so far as their const.i.tutional authority will allow them, to secure these fruits by adequate legislation."

But in this plan there was no attempt to introduce negro suffrage. The only question of importance seemed to be: "How can we ensure the subservience of these States to the federal const.i.tution?" The supporters of the Davis plan insisted that "the rebel States must be governed by Congress till they submit and form a state government under the Const.i.tution"; otherwise "Congress must recognize state governments which do not recognize either Congress or the Const.i.tution of the United States; or there must be an entire absence of all government in the rebel States; and that is anarchy." It was absurd, the argument continued, to recognize a government which did not recognize the Const.i.tution; and "to accept the alternative of anarchy as the const.i.tutional condition of a State is to a.s.sert the failure of the Const.i.tution and the end of republican government. Until, therefore, Congress recognize a state government, organized under its auspices, there is no government in the rebel States except the authority of Congress." From this it logically followed that in the absence of all State government it was the duty of Congress to "administer civil government until the people shall, under its guidance, submit to the Const.i.tution of the United States," and reorganize government under whatever conditions Congress might require.

These arguments appealed to sentiments which were becoming very popular in Congress. The theory that a State by seceding ceased to exist as a State was gradually gaining ground, and the Davis plan, by which the central government was to control the State as a territory, though for so limited a time, rapidly gained supporters.

Mr. Fernando Beaman, of Michigan, who also considered that the seceded States had ceased to exist, said in an extended speech favoring the adoption of this bill:[30] "As a people without government or organization are in a state of anarchy, their efforts to establish law and order must be more or less impeded by caprice, by divided counsels, and by the want of forms, regulations, and methods. The pa.s.sage of this bill is the establishment of incipient civil government, and provides at once rules, regulations and system, with the proper officials to carry them into execution."

Although the bill was avowedly drawn up to provide what the presidential plan failed to provide, a method of reconstruction so thorough that those elements which had produced the discord could no longer influence the state governments, it itself furnished no means to prevent any of these States from so amending their const.i.tutions, after their senators and representatives had received recognition, that the very conditions of readmittance might be rendered nugatory.

But the bill seemed to the majority in Congress to offer a more practical plan than any yet proposed, and it pa.s.sed the House May 4, by a vote of 73 to 59; the Senate, two months later, adopted it by a majority of four. But it failed to become a law by the adjournment of Congress before it received the President's signature.[31]

The President, in justification of his neglect to sign the bill, issued a proclamation on July 8.[32] This stated that while he was unprepared "to be inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration," and also "unprepared to declare that the free State const.i.tutions and governments already adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisiana, shall be set aside and held for naught, thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up the same as to further effort," nevertheless he was "fully satisfied with the system for restoration contained in the bill, as one very proper plan for the loyal people of any State choosing to adopt it," and that in such case when the people "shall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the Const.i.tution and laws of the United States," military governors would be appointed, "with directions to proceed according to the bill."

This attempt to modify the presidential plan virtually ended for the time the efforts of Congress towards the development of a distinctive theory, and the war thus closed with no well defined plan in operation, except that of President Lincoln, which was not well sustained by Congress. Only one thing seemed to be definitely decided. That was, that the seceded States, in whatever light they might be considered, were incapacitated from partic.i.p.ating in presidential elections. A joint resolution to this effect was pa.s.sed in 1865,[33] and in accordance with its provisions the electoral vote of Louisiana was ruled out.

Two men in the Republican party wielded the chief power in influencing that party to adopt the theory of reconstruction which was finally to prevail as the congressional theory.[34] One was Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, and the other Charles Sumner, of Ma.s.sachusetts. The latter was a recognized leader of the Senate, and his views concerning the mutual relations of the States in rebellion and the federal government were clearly expressed in a series of resolutions which he submitted February 11, 1862. These resolutions, although never brought forward for consideration, were printed, and coming from so influential a man had considerable influence in shaping the general att.i.tude of Congress towards the question, and affected to some extent its future policy. They[35] were nine in number, with a well-worded preamble which put forward as a premise that "the extensive territory, thus usurped by these pretended governments, and organized into a hostile confederacy, belongs to the United States, as an inseparable part thereof, under the sanction of the Const.i.tution, to be held in trust for the inhabitants in the present and future generations, * * * The Const.i.tution, which is the supreme law of the land, cannot be displaced in its rightful operation within this territory, but must ever continue the supreme law thereof."

The first resolution declares that a vote of secession is void as against the Const.i.tution, "and when sustained by force it becomes a practical _abdication_ by the State of all rights under the Const.i.tution, while the treason which it involves still further works an instant _forfeiture_ of all those functions and powers essential to the continued existence of the State as a body politic, so that from that time forward, the territory falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress as other territory, and the State being, according to the language of the law, _felo de se_, ceases to exist."

The second resolution denies the const.i.tutional existence of the Confederate States. The third and fourth declare that the termination of a State terminates its peculiar local inst.i.tutions, therefore slavery ceases to exist; and the fifth, sixth and seventh declare it necessary not to recognize or tolerate slavery. The eighth declares the obligation of the United States to protect all inhabitants, "without distinction of color or cla.s.s." The ninth declares that Congress, in pursuance of the duties cast upon it by the total extinction of the States and by the const.i.tutional obligation that the "United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government,"[36] "will a.s.sume complete jurisdiction of such vacated territory where such unconst.i.tutional and illegal things have been attempted, and will proceed to establish therein republican forms of government under the Const.i.tution; and in execution of this trust will provide carefully for the protection of all the inhabitants thereof, for the security of families, the organization of labor, the encouragement of industry, and the welfare of society, and will in every way discharge the duties of a just, merciful, and paternal government."

Thaddeus Stevens, although recognized as one of the foremost men of the Republican party, advocated from the very commencement of hostilities views of so radical a nature, that he was looked upon by many as a fanatic. His influence accordingly worked in a different way from Sumner's. At no time did he consolidate his views into a series of resolutions, but upon every occasion where the subject could be touched upon, no matter how indirectly the topic might refer to it, he would state his theory of the relation of the seceded States to the Union.

Persistently and consistently he advocated it; and he took pleasure in considering himself as in advance of his party, a prophet, pointing out the only right road, confident that sooner or later his party would see the wisdom of his policy and adopt it. Throughout those tempestuous years, his undaunted faith in the infallibility of his plan served to keep it constantly in mind, and attracted to him a constantly increasing number of followers, until at the beginning of the 39th Congress he obtained control, and became the recognized leader of his party in all matters relating to the Southern States. Though the plan of reconstruction as finally adopted contained many modifications, it was to a great extent the logical outgrowth of the Stevens theory. His whole theory rested upon the simple premise that wherever there is resistance to the Const.i.tution, and that resistance cannot be overthrown without appeal to violent methods, there the Const.i.tution is theoretically as well as practically suspended.

As long as such resistance continues, the Const.i.tution remains suspended, and only the law-making and war-making power is able to determine when resistance has ceased. Consequently the federal government would have the undisputed right to treat the South as a conquered territory until there should be no question as to the safety of granting greater privileges.

Those States had ceased to be States, consequently the "guarantee clause"

had no application. Congress had unrestricted power over them, as simple territories of the federal government. On May 2, 1864, during the discussion of the bill to guarantee republican forms of government to the rebellious States, he declared that the rebellious States "were ent.i.tled to no rights under the Const.i.tution and laws, which as to them were abrogated; that they could invoke the aid of neither in their behalf; that they could claim to be treated during the war as belligerents according to the laws of war and the law of nations; that they could claim no other rights than a foreign nation with whom we might be at war; and that they were subject to all the liabilities of such foreign belligerent," and that "the property of the morally and politically guilty should be taken for public use."[37]

CHAPTER II.