The Final Report of the Reconstruction Committee
On the 8th of June Mr. Fessenden laid before the Senate the final report of the
Reconstruction Committee.According to this report the Confederate States, at the close of
the war, were in utter exhaustion and without governments. The President had no power
except to execute the laws of the land as Chief Magistrate. The laws gave him no authority
over the subject of reorganization. By the Constitution he was Commander-in-chief of the
army and navy. It was his duty, under the law of nations and the army regulations, to
restore order, to preserve property, and to protect the people against violence from any
quarter, until provision should be made for their government. He might, as President,
assemble Congress, and submit the whole matter to the law-making power, or he might
continue military supervision and control until Congress should assemble on its regularly
appointed day. As to the Governors appointed by the President it could not be contended
that they possessed or could exercise any but military authority. They had no power to
organize civil Governments, nor to exercise any authority except that which inhered in
their persons under their commissions; neither had the President, as Commander-in-chief,
any other than military power. But he was in exclusive possession of the military
authority. It was for him to decide how far he would exercise it, when and on what terms
he would withdraw it. He might, perhaps, permit the people to assemble and to initiate
local governments, and to execute such local laws as they might choose to form, not
inconsistent with nor in opposition to the laws of the United States, and, satisfied they
might safely be left to themselves, he might withdraw the military force altogether and
have the people of any or all of these States to govern themselves without his
interference.
The Committee maintain no portion of the
people of the country, whether in a State or Territory, have the right, while remaining on
its soil, to withdraw from or reject the authority of the United States. They say it is
quite evident, from all the facts, and, indeed, from the whole mass of testimony submitted
by the President, that in no instance was any regard paid to any other consideration than
obtaining immediate admission to Congress under the barren form of an election, in which
no precautions were taken to secure regularity of proceedings or the assent of the people.
No Constitution has been legally adopted, except, perhaps, in the State of Tennessee, and
such elections as were held were without authority of law. The Committee are accordingly
forced to the conclusion that the States referred to have not placed themselves in a
condition to claim representation in Congress, unless all the rules which have since the
foundation of the Government been deemed essential in such cases shall be disregarded.
While it appears that nearly all are willing to submit, at least for the time being, to
Federal authority, it is equally clear that the ruling motive is a desire to obtain the
advantages which will be derived from a representation in Congress. Officers of the Union
army on duty, and Northern men who go South to engage in business, are generally detested
and proscribed. Southern men who adhered to the Union are bitterly hated and heartlessly
persecuted.
From the time these Confederate States
thus withdrew from their representation in Congress and levied war against the United
States, the great mass of their people became and were insurgents and traitors, and all of
them assumed and occupied the political, legal, and practical relation of enemies of the
United States. They persisted in their hostility until they were utterly defeated. The
burden now rests upon them, before claiming to be reinstated in their power, conditions to
show that they are qualified to resume Federal relations. In order to do this they must
prove that they have re-established with the consent of the peoples republican forms of
government, in harmony with the Constitution and laws of the United States, that all
hostile purposes have ceased, and should give adequate guarantees against future treason
and rebellion, which will prove satisfactory to the Government against which they
rebelled, and by whose arms they were subdued. They have forfeited all civil and political
rights under the Federal Constitution, and can only be restored thereto by the permission
and authority of that constitutional power against which they rebelled, and by which they
were subdued.
The question then before Congress is,
whether these conquered enemies shall at their own pleasure participate in Congressional
legislation, without acceding to such conditions as, in the opinion of Congress, the
security of the country and its institutions demand. This would be only a transference of
the conflict from the fields of battle to the halls of legislation.
The conclusion of the Committee,
therefore, is, that the so-called Confederate States are not at present entitled to
representation in the Congress of the United States; that before allowing such
representation, adequate security for future peace and safety should be requested; that
this can only be found in such changes of the organic laws as shall determine the civil
rights and privileges of the citizens in all parts of the Republic, shall base
representation on an equitable basis, shall fix a stigma upon treason, and protect the
loyal people against future claims for the expenses incurred in support of the rebellion,
and for manumitted slaves, together with an express grant of power in Congress to enforce
these provisions. To this end, they offer a joint resolution for amending the Constitution
of the United States, and the two several bills designated to carry the same into effect.
Articles Relating to Johnson's First Vetoes:
A Long Step
Forward
January 27, 1866, page 50
Congress
February 10, 1866, page 83
Education of the
Freedmen
February 10, 1866, page 83
The Veto Message
March 3, 1866, page 130
The Freedmens
Bureau
March 10, 1866, page 146
The Presidents Speech
March 10, 1866, page 147
The Political
Situation
April 14, 1866, page 226
The Civil Rights
Bill
April 14, 1866, page 226
The Civil Rights
Bill
April 21, 1866, page 243
The Congressional
Plan of Reorganization
May 12, 1866, page 290
The Trial of the
Government
May 26, 1866, page 322
Making Treason
Odious
June 2, 1866, page 338
The Final Report of
the Reconstruction Committee
June 23, 1866, page 387
The Report of the
Congressional Committee
June 23, 1866, page 386
The Case Stated
August 4, 1866, page 482
|
|