THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS
The Thirty-ninth Congress has been as fiercely denounced as any
legislative body in history. From the President of the United States down to the smallest
Copperhead cur, its enemies have constantly snarled or growled or snapped, while its
friends have been often impatient and complaining, forgetting how necessarily and wisely
slow the action of such a body at such a time ought to be.The first thing that strikes the observer of this Congress is that
it had no proper leader, while it had many noted and able men. There was no conspicuous
figure like Henry Clay or Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, by his age, his long
fidelity to the principles of the dominant party, his uncompromising spirit, his distinct
purpose, and a certain personal force, was the most prominent member of the House. But Mr.
Stevens seldom carried his points. A true leader must command the general confidence of
his followers, but this Mr. Stevens never did. There was no doubt of his sincerity, as
there was none of his purpose; but there was a doubt of his general good sense and of the
sagacity of his judgment. His tongue was remorseless; his sarcasm stung like hail; but he
is no leader who exasperates instead of conciliating a faltering follower. The general
direction of Mr. Stevens was that of the House and of the country, and upon the great
questions all moved together? not always, however, without a protest from
him. Hearty, genial, of an undaunted spirit, and of the sharpest speech, Mr. Stevens will
be always one of the memorable figures of this Congress, and always honored for his sturdy
loyalty to the great cause. Nothing is more comical than the portraits drawn of him
by rebel letter-writers, who saw in him the Robespierre of the time. Mr. Stevens is as
like Robespierre as the city of Washington to-day is like old Paris. He is just as much
Robespierre as the present situation of the country is a reign of terror.
Turning from its men to its acts, the
great monuments of the Thirty-ninth Congress are seen to be the Civil Rights bill, the
pending Constitutional Amendment, the District Suffrage bill, and the Reconstruction bill.
They are the most important acts of legislation in our history, with the sole exception of
the Emancipation Amendment; for they provide for the equal rights of all citizens of the
United States, complete the work of emancipation, and secure the results of the war. These
laws were the fruit of careful investigation and wise deliberation. Their inspiration was
the wish and conviction of the people, which, as we understand it, no Congress ever more
truly represented than this. They are not imperiled by transcending in the least the
popular sentiment. The plain danger of a Congress at a time like the last two years is
emotional legislation. It is in peril of enacting hasty, crude laws, which return to
plague their supporters. But this misfortune has been avoided. The very conditions of the
situation, which seemed so threatening, have been propitious. The certainty of a veto upon
every wise and humane measure of reconstruction has forced Congress to be wary and to
frame only such laws as should be sure of the two-thirds vote. It has marched, therefore,
even-paced with the people, and they have approved what the President vetoed.
Lastly, the Thirty-ninth Congress will be
always memorable for its contest with the President. In all Parliamentary governments at
some time this contest has developed itself and the Executive has been conquered. But
while in other countries the contest has been often fearful, in ours it has been simply
ludicrous. The President, supported by the Secretary of State, undertook to
absorb the most essential function of the supreme power of Congress, and to sustain and
vindicate their extraordinary action ? which was sheer usurpation ? by destroying the
great party which had victoriously finished the war, and forming a new one composed
of the late rebels, their Northern allies, and the camp followers of the loyal host.
Doubtless it was the Executive intention, if a clear majority of a Congress had not been
elected by the Union party, to recognize a body composed of rebels and Northern
Copperheads as the Congress of the United States, and doubtless, also, many weak persons
supported the Philadelphia movement in the hope of avoiding trouble by yielding to the
maker of trouble. For a moment, and for moment only, the plot seemed threatening; then it
utterly miscarried, amidst the mingled indignation and contempt of the loyal people which
it proposed to betray. The political ruin of the chief conspirators was more sudden and
total than has ever been known. Congress was triumphantly sustained. When it assembled it
appeared that, while the Democratic party tactically supported the Executive against the
Union party, they cared for him as little; and the President, who was elected by a vast
and hearty majority, and who had one of the few great opportunities in history, has no
Congressional supporters whatever but a few political hermaphrodites whose names will
scarcely survive the session.
The virtual re-election of Congress was
the sentence of the President. He has not yielded indeed, for a mind which could be blind
to so great an opportunity would not be likely to see a smaller one. But his persistence
has been of true service to the country, not only in the way we have already mentioned,
but by compelling the people to understand more exactly the precise structure of the
Government and the relation of its parts. The victory of Congress culminates in the
perception which is now universal that the supreme power of every Government must be
lodged somewhere, and that our Constitution gives it to Congress.
We trust that the Fortieth Congress will
be worthy of its predecessor.
Articles Related to Military Reconstruction:
News Items
January 19, 1867, page 35
Impeachment
January 26, 1867, page 50
Congress and
Impeachment
February 16, 1867, page 98
The Probability of
Impeachment
February 23, 1867, page 114
The Louisiana Bill
March 2, 1867, page 130
Reconstruction
March 9, 1867, page 146
The Thirty-Ninth
Congress
March 9, 1867, page 146
The Veto of the Reconstruction Bill
March 16, 1867, page 162
The Fortieth Congress
March 30, 1867, page 195
The Fortieth Congress
April 6, 1867, page 211
Sprats and Vetoes
April 6, 1867, page 210
Adjournment of Congress
April 13, 1867, page 226
Prometheus Bound
March 2, 1867, page 137
The Result
March 30, 1867, page 194
The Southern Commanders
April 6, 1867, page 218
The Debate upon Impeachment
March 23, 1867, page 178
We Accept the Situation (cartoon)
April 13, 1867, page 240
The Big Thing (cartoon)
April 20, 1867, page 256
The End of Impeachment
June 22, 1867, page 386
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