Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That, in the States lately declared in rebellion against the United States, the President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint for each a provisional governor, with pay and emoluments not exceeding those of a brigadier-general of volunteers, who shall be charged with the civil administration of such State, until a State government therein shall be recognized as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the provisional governor of each of such States shall direct the marshal of the United States, as speedily as may be, to name a sufficient number of deputies, and to enroll all male citizens of the United States resident in the State in their respective counties, and to request each one to take the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and the oath to maintain a republican form of government, and in his enrolment to designate those who take and those who refuse to take the oaths, which rolls shall be forthwith returned to the provisional governor; and if the persons taking the oaths shall amount to a majority of the persons enrolled in the State, he shall by proclamation invite the loyal people of the State to elect delegates to a convention charged to declare the will of the people of the State relative to the reëstablishment of a State government, subject to and in conformity with the Constitution of the United States.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the oath to maintain a republican form of government shall be as follows: “I do hereby swear (or affirm) that I will at all times hereafter use my best endeavors to maintain a republican form of government in the State of which I am an inhabitant, and in the Union of the United States; that I will at all times recognize the indissoluble unity of the Republic, and will always discountenance and resist any endeavor to break away or secede from the Union; that I will give my influence and vote at all times to strengthen and sustain the national credit; that I will always discountenance and resist any attempt, directly or indirectly, to repudiate or postpone, in any part or in any way, either the debt contracted by the United States in subduing the late rebellion or the obligation assumed to the Union soldiers; that I will always discountenance and resist any laws making any distinction of race or color; and that in all ways I will strive to maintain a State government completely loyal to the Union, where all men shall enjoy equal protection and equal rights.”[8]

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall consist of as many members as both Houses of the last constitutional State Legislature, apportioned by the provisional governor among the counties, parishes, or districts of the State, in proportion to the population returned as electors by the marshal, in compliance with the provisions of this Act. The provisional governor shall by proclamation declare the number of delegates to be elected by each county, parish, or election district; name a day of election, not less than thirty days thereafter; designate the places of voting in each county, parish, or district, conforming, as nearly as may be convenient, to the places used in the State elections next preceding the Rebellion; appoint one or more commissioners to hold the election at each place of voting; and provide an adequate force to keep the peace during the election.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the delegates shall be elected by the loyal male citizens of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, and resident at the time in the county, parish, or district in which they shall offer to vote, and enrolled as aforesaid, or absent in the military service of the United States, and who shall take and subscribe the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form contained in the Act of Congress of July 2, 1862, and the before recited oath to maintain a republican form of government; and all such citizens of the United States who are in the military service of the United States shall vote at the head-quarters of their respective commands, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the provisional governor for the taking and return of their votes; but no person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, State or otherwise, under the Rebel usurpation, or who has voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall vote or be eligible as delegate at such election.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners, or either of them, shall hold the election in conformity with this Act, and, so far as may be consistent therewith, shall proceed in the manner used in the State prior to the Rebellion. The oath of allegiance and the oath to maintain a republican form of government shall be taken and subscribed on the poll-book by every voter in the form above prescribed; but every person known by or proved to the commissioners to have held or exercised any office, civil or military, State or otherwise, under the Rebel usurpation, or to have voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall be excluded, though he offer to take the oath; and in case any person who shall have borne arms against the United States shall offer to vote, he shall be deemed to have borne arms voluntarily, unless he shall prove the contrary by the testimony of a qualified voter. The poll-book showing the name and oath of each voter shall be returned to the provisional governor by the commissioners of election, or the one acting, and the provisional governor shall canvass such returns, and declare the person having the highest number of votes elected.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the provisional governor shall by proclamation convene the delegates duly elected, at the capital of the State, on a day not more than three months after the election, giving at least thirty days’ notice of such day. In case the capital shall in his judgment be unfit, he shall in his proclamation appoint another place. He shall preside over the deliberations of the convention, and administer to each delegate, before taking his seat in the convention, the oath of allegiance to the United States, and the oath to maintain a republican form of government, in the form above prescribed.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall declare, on behalf of the people of the State, their submission to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and shall adopt the following provisions, hereby prescribed by the United States in the execution of the constitutional duty to guaranty a republican form of government to every State, and incorporate them in the Constitution of the State, that is to say:—

First. No person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial and military offices below the grade of colonel, State or otherwise, under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a member of the legislature or governor.

Secondly. Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons is guarantied in such State.

Thirdly. No debt, State or otherwise, created by or under the sanction of the usurping power, shall be recognized or paid by the State.

Fourthly. No person shall enter upon any office within the gift of the people of this State, until he has first taken the oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the oath to maintain a republican form of government. And the Constitution shall prescribe forms for these oaths substantially in accordance with the forms herein provided.

Fifthly. There shall be no distinction among the inhabitants of this State founded on race, former condition, or color. Every such inhabitant shall be entitled to all the privileges before the law enjoyed by the most favored class of such inhabitants.

Sixthly. These provisions shall be perpetual, not to be abolished or changed hereafter.

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That, when the convention shall have adopted those provisions, it shall proceed to reëstablish a republican form of government, and ordain a constitution containing those provisions, which, when adopted, the convention shall by ordinance provide for submitting to the people of the State entitled to vote under this law, at an election to be held in the manner prescribed by the act for the election of delegates, but at a time and place named by the convention, at which election the electors described above, and none others, shall vote directly for or against such constitution and form of State government. And the returns of such election shall be made to the provisional governor, who shall canvass the same in the presence of the electors, and if a majority of the votes cast shall be for the constitution and form of government, he shall certify the same, with a copy thereof, to the President of the United States, who, after obtaining the assent of Congress, shall by proclamation recognize the government so established, and none other, as the constitutional government of the State; and from the date of such recognition, and after its legislature shall have ratified the Amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery and prohibiting involuntary servitude, and not before, Senators and Representatives, and Electors for President and Vice-President, may be elected in such State, according to the laws of the State and of the United States.

Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That, if the convention shall refuse to reëstablish the State government on the foregoing conditions, the provisional governor shall declare it dissolved; but it shall be the duty of the President, whenever he shall have reason to believe that a sufficient number of the people of the State entitled to vote under this Act, in number not less than a majority of those enrolled as aforesaid, are willing to reëstablish a State government on the foregoing conditions, to direct the provisional governor to order another election of delegates to a convention for the purpose and in the manner prescribed in this Act, and to proceed in all respects as herein before provided, either to dissolve the convention, or to certify the State government reëstablished by it to the President.

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That, until the United States shall have recognized a republican form of State government, the provisional governor in each of such States shall see that this Act, and the laws of the United States, and the laws of the State in force when the State government was overthrown by the Rebellion, are faithfully executed within the State; but no law or usage contrary to any of the provisions herein directed to be inserted in the constitution of the State shall be recognized or enforced by any court or officer in such State, and such provisions shall be regarded as already incorporated into the law of the State; and the laws for the trial and punishment of white persons shall extend to all persons, and jurors shall have the qualifications of voters under this law for delegates to the convention. The President shall appoint such officers, provided for by the laws of the State when its government was overthrown, as he may find necessary to the civil administration of the State, all which officers shall be entitled to receive the fees and emoluments provided by the State laws for such officers. And he may permit, when he deems it expedient, elections to be made of such officers by the people entitled to vote according to the provisions of this Act; such officers to have the qualifications required for voters under this Act, and to hold their offices subject to removal by him. And all such officers, whether appointed by the President or elected by the people, shall, before entering on the duties of their offices, take the oaths to support the Constitution of the United States, and to maintain a republican form of government.

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That, until the recognition of a State government as aforesaid, the provisional governor shall, under such regulations as he may prescribe, cause to be assessed, levied, and collected, for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and every year thereafter, the taxes provided by the laws of such State to be levied during the fiscal year preceding the overthrow of the State government thereof, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the State, as nearly as may be; and the officers appointed as aforesaid are vested with all powers of levying and collecting such taxes, by distress or sale, as were vested in any officers or tribunal of the State government for those purposes. The proceeds of such taxes shall be accounted for to the provisional governor, and be by him applied to the expenses of the administration of the laws in such State, subject to the direction of the President; and the surplus shall be deposited in the treasury of the United States to the credit of such State, to be paid to the State upon an appropriation therefor, to be made when a republican form of government shall be recognized therein by the United States.

ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ABOLISHING SLAVERY.

And whereas, at the time when such Amendment was submitted, as well as since, there were sundry States which, by reason of rebellion, were without Legislatures, so that, while the submission was made in due constitutional form to “the Legislatures of the several States,” in obedience both to the letter and spirit of the provision of the Constitution authorizing Amendments, it was not, as it could not be, made to all the States, there being a less number of Legislatures of States than there were States;

And whereas, since the Constitution expressly authorizes Amendments to be made, any construction which would render the making of them at times impossible must violate both its letter and its spirit;

And whereas, to require the ratification by States without Legislatures as well as by “the Legislatures of the States,” in order to be valid, would put it in the power of long-continued rebellion to suspend not only the peace of the nation, but its Constitution also;

And whereas the count of States in rebellion enables such States by silence to vote against the Constitutional Amendment, thus giving to their silence the same effect as a vote;

And whereas, from the terms of the Constitution and the nature of the case, it belongs to the two Houses of Congress to determine when such ratification is complete;

And whereas more than three fourths of the Legislatures to which the proposition was made have ratified such Amendment: Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That the Amendment abolishing Slavery has become and is part of the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, That, notwithstanding the foregoing resolution, yet, considering the great public interest which attaches to this question, the Legislatures which have not ratified the Amendment be permitted to express their concurrence by the usual form of ratification, to be returned in the usual manner.

Resolved, That no one of the States, to the Legislatures of which such Amendment could not be submitted, by reason of rebellion against the United States and having no Legislatures, be permitted to resume its relations, and have its Legislature acknowledged and its Senators and Representatives admitted, until its Legislature has first ratified such Amendment in recognition of the accomplished fact.

FIVE CONDITIONS OF RECONSTRUCTION.

3. The rejection of the Rebel debt, and at the same time the adoption, in just proportion, of the national debt and the national obligations to Union soldiers, with solemn pledges never to join in any measure, direct or indirect, for their repudiation, or in any way tending to impair the national credit.

4. The organization of an educational system for the equal benefit of all, without distinction of race or color.

5. The choice of citizens for office, whether State or National, of constant and undoubted loyalty, whose conduct and conversation shall give assurance of peace and reconciliation.

Resolved, That to provide these essential safeguards, without which the national security and the national faith will be imperilled, States cannot be precipitated back to political power and independence; but they must wait until these conditions are in all respects fulfilled.

RIGHTS OF LOYAL CITIZENS, AND A REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT.

1. Resolved, That, whenever a convention is called in any such State for the organization of a government, the following persons have a right to be represented therein, namely: the citizens of the State who have taken no part in the Rebellion, especially all those whose exclusion from the ballot enabled others to carry the State into the Rebellion, and still more especially those who became soldiers in the armies of the Union, and by valor on the battle-field helped turn the tide of war, making the Union triumphant; and Congress must refuse to sanction the proceedings of any convention composed of delegates chosen by men recently in arms against the Union, and excluding men who perilled life in its defence, unless its proceedings have been first approved by those entitled to participate therein, as hereby declared.

2. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, being supreme over State laws and State constitutions on those matters upon which it speaks, and the duty being now imposed by it on Congress to legislate for the establishment of government in the States where government is overthrown, it is hereby declared that no supposed State law or State constitution can be set up as an impediment to the national power in the discharge of its duty.

3. Resolved, That, since also it has become the duty of Congress to determine what is a republican form of government, it is hereby declared that no government of a State recently in rebellion can be accepted as republican, where large masses of citizens always loyal to the United States are excluded from the elective franchise, and especially where wounded soldiers of the Union, with kindred and race, and also the kindred of others whose bones whiten battle-fields on which they died for country, are thrust from the polls to make place for the men by whose hands came wounds and death; more particularly where, as in some of those States, the result would be to disfranchise the majority of citizens always loyal, and give to the oligarchical minority recently engaged in rebellion power to oppress the loyal majority, even to the extent of driving them from home, and depriving them of all opportunity of livelihood.

4. Resolved, That, where, by reason of rebellion, there is a lapse in the State government, and it becomes the duty of Congress to provide a government, none can be accepted as “a republican form of government,” where numerous native-born citizens, charged with no crime and no failure of duty, and compelled to pay taxes, are left wholly unrepresented; and especially where a particular race is singled out and denied representation, although compelled to pay taxes; more especially where such race constitutes the majority of the citizens, and the enfranchised minority has for the time forfeited its rights by rebellion; and more especially still, where by such exclusion the oligarchical enemies of the Republic can practically compel it to break faith with national soldiers and national creditors, to whose generosity it was indebted during a period of peril.

THE LATE SENATOR COLLAMER.

When he came into the Senate, it was after long and various experience as lawyer, judge, representative in the other House, member of the Cabinet, and then again as judge, in all which characters he had been single, pure, honest, faithful, and laborious. Though little of a traveller, he had seen much. He had also read much, and he had done much. But all the results of observation, study, and action had so passed into his nature as to become part of himself. If he expressed an opinion, even on law, it seemed to come from himself, and not from books. He was the authority. And yet he was fond of books, whether in his own profession or in other departments of study.

His fidelity assumed the form of accuracy in all that he said or did. He spoke accurately, and he was especially accurate with his pen. Perhaps nobody was apter in the style or language of legislation. He was an expert draughtsman, although, without doubt, too professional for a taste not exclusively professional,—indulging in traditional phrases, and those favorite superfluities of the lawyer, “said” and “aforesaid.” The great Act of July 13, 1861,[9] which gave to the war for the suppression of the Rebellion its first Congressional sanction, and invested the President with new powers, was drawn by him. It was he that set in place the great ban, not yet lifted, by which the Rebel States were shut out from the communion of the Union. This is a landmark in our history, and it might properly be known by the name of its author, as “Collamer’s statute.”

All who ever sat with him in the committee-room will long remember the carefulness with which he gave his counsels, and the completeness with which he explained them. Perhaps his wisdom and facility in business were nowhere more manifest. I seize this occasion to confess most gratefully my own personal obligations to him in this interesting relation.

The same character which appeared in the committee-room showed itself in conversation, enlivened by constant humor. He, too, had his “little story” for illustration; but in this respect he differed from the late President as one of his own Vermont mountains differs from an outstretched laughing prairie of the West. In manner he was Socratic. The curious observer, fond of tracing resemblances, might fancy that in the form of his head, and even of his person, he was not unlike the received image of Socrates, while his colloquial powers might again recall Socrates, as pictured by the affectionate Xenophon, “handling all who conversed with him just as he pleased.” He had also the same antique simplicity, and I doubt not he would have followed the wise man of Athens barefoot in the waters of the Ilissus. I would not push the resemblance too far, and I use it only for illustration, not for parallel; and yet, as I bring to mind our departed friend, he seems to assume this classical figure. Call him, then, if you please, the Green Mountain Socrates.

Debate, except on the highest occasions, is only conversation in public. With him it was conversation always. He spoke as he conversed, with the same pith and humor, and with the same facility. But his facility did not tempt him. In this gilded amphitheatre,[10] where the speaker is sacrificed to the galleries, as of old the gladiator was offered up to make a Roman holiday, he declined all display, and simply conversed; and such was the desire to hear him, that we gathered near to catch his words. He was not a frequent speaker, and he never spoke except when he had something to say; nor did he speak for effect abroad, but only for effect in the debate. Of course, he was too honest and too considerate of the Senate to speak without the preparation of reflection and study. Though at times earnest, he was never bitter. He never dropped into the debate any poisoned ingredients.

Sometimes he spoke with much effect, especially on law, or finance, or business. On the great question which for a generation overshadowed all others, and finally wrapped the country in the “living cloud of war,” he was sincerely antislavery, but with certain shortcomings which in this impartial tribute ought not to be concealed. His lenity toward our monster enemy showed itself unconsciously when he spoke of malignant Rebels as “those Southern gentlemen who had seceded,” and then again, when, at an earlier date, he spoke of “two civilizations”; but he bore kindly the reply, that civilization was only on one side. And yet on two occasions in this Chamber he strove for the Right very bravely, so that his position became historic. One of these was many years ago, shortly after he came into the Senate; the other was only last year. The historian and the biographer will describe these scenes. One of them is the fit subject of Art.

The earliest of these occasions was when, under the influence of the President of that day, backed by Jefferson Davis in the Cabinet, an illegal government was set up in a distant Territory, which, in defiance of the people there, proceeded to institute an infamous Black Code borrowed from Slavery. The President countenanced the illegal government, and smiled upon the Black Code. The representatives of Slavery in both Houses of Congress, with their Northern allies, indifferent to human rights, and greedy only of political power, sustained the President in his disregard of a fundamental principle of the Declaration of Independence, that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The contest was unequal. On one side was a struggling people, insulted and despoiled of their rights; on the other side was the President, with all the vast powers of the Republic, with patronage less than now, but very prevailing, and with a great political party yielding an unhesitating support. The contest reached this Chamber. Naturally it came before the Committee on Territories, where happily the good cause was represented by Jacob Collamer, of Vermont. The interest increased with each day; and when the Committee reported, a scene ensued without example among us.

The reports of committees are usually handed in and ordered to be printed; but now, at the impassioned call of a Senator from South Carolina,[11] the report of the Committee, whitewashing incredible outrages, was read by the Chairman at the desk of the Secretary of the Senate. The Chairman left his seat for this purpose, and stood face to face with the Senate.[12] For two hours the apology for that usurpation which had fastened a Black Code upon an inoffensive people sounded in this Chamber, while the partisans of Slavery gloated over the seeming triumph. There was a hush of silence, and there was sadness also with some, who saw clearly the unpardonable turpitude of the sacrifice. Mr. Collamer followed with a minority report, signed by himself alone, which he read at the desk of the Secretary, standing face to face with the Senate. Jesse D. Bright was at the time our President, but he had installed in the chair on that momentous occasion none other than that most determined artificer of treason and drill-sergeant of the Rebellion, John Slidell, who sat behind, like Mephistopheles looking over the shoulder of Truth,[13] while the patriot Senator, standing before, gravely unfolded the enormities that had been perpetrated. Few then present now remain; but none then present can fail to recall the scene. The report which Mr. Collamer read belongs to the history of the country. But the scene comes clearly within the domain of Art. In the long life of our departed friend it was his brightest and most glorious moment,—beyond anything of honor or power, whether in the cabinet or on the bench. For what is office, compared to the priceless opportunity, nobly employed, of standing as a buttress for human rights?

The other signal occasion, when he showed much of the same character, and was surely inspired by the same sentiment, was during the last year, when the illustrious President, who now reposes in immortality, undertook, in disregard of Congress, and solely by executive power, to institute civil governments throughout that region of the Union where civil governments had been overthrown,—imitating, in the agencies he employed, the Cromwellian system of ruling by “major-generals.” The case of distant and oppressed Kansas was revived. Who can forget the awakened leonine energy of the aged Senator, when, contrary to his custom, he interrupted another in debate to declare his judgment against the power of the President to institute permanent civil governments “to last beyond the war”?[14] The dividing line was clear. The President might exercise a temporary military power, but Congress must lay the foundations of permanent peace. This simple principle was, of course, only the corollary of that rule of Jefferson, which has become one of the commonplaces of our political system, asserting “the supremacy of the civil over the military authority.”[15] The eggs of crocodiles can produce only crocodiles; and it is not easy to see how eggs laid by military power can be hatched into an American State.

This interjected judgment was afterward developed in a speech, which for sententious wisdom and solid sense is, perhaps, the best he ever delivered. It is not long, but, like the Roman sword, it is effective from its very shortness. He spoke with the authority of years, but he spoke also with another peculiar authority; for it was he who drew the Act of Congress which placed the Rebel States under the ban.[16] Positively, earnestly, and most persuasively, he insisted that Congress should not abdicate its control of this question. His conclusion was repeated again and again. It was for Congress, he said, to say when that state of things existed which would entitle the Rebel States to perform their functions as integral parts of the Union. It was for Congress to decide this question, and not for the President, except so far as the President unites in an Act of Congress by his signature. And he asked, “When will and when ought Congress to admit these States as being in their normal condition?” To which he answers: “It is not enough that they stop their hostility and are repentant. They should present fruits meet for repentance. They should furnish to us, by their actions, some evidence that the condition of loyalty and obedience is their true condition again, and Congress must pass upon it; otherwise we have no securities.… And I insist that the President, making peace with them, if you please, by surceasing military operations, does not alter their status, until Congress passes upon it.” Then, again, filled with the thought, he exclaims, “The great and essential thing now to insist upon is, that Congress shall do nothing which can in any way create a doubt about our power over the subject.” And still pleading against executive interference, he says: “I believe, that, when reëstablishing the condition of peace with that people, Congress, representing the United States, has power, in ending this war, as any other war, to get some security for the future. It would be a strange thing, if it were not true that this nation, in ending a civil as well as a foreign war, could close it and make peace by obtaining, if not indemnity for the past, at least some security for future peace.”[17] This was among the last utterances of our patriot Senator. It is his dying legacy to his country. Let all, from President to citizen, heed its words. The aspiration so often expressed to-day, that he were now alive to take part in the restoration of the Rebel States, is fulfilled. He lives in his declared opinions, echoed from the tomb.

Say not that I err, because here at his funeral, seeking to do him honor, I exhibit him bravely standing front to front with executive power wielded by a President instigated by Jefferson Davis, and then again bravely standing front to front with executive power wielded by the gentle hand of Abraham Lincoln. In the first case it was to save an outraged people; in the other it was to vindicate the powers of the people of the United States in Congress assembled to provide guaranties and safeguards against the wickedness and perjury which had deluged his beloved country with blood. Say not that I err, because now, at his funeral, anxious that his best actions should not be forgotten, I commemorate this championship. He is dead, but the good he has done cannot die. And hereafter faithful Senators, struggling with executive power, will catch a new inspiration from his example. A bishop of the Church tells us that “all is not over, while there is a man left to reprove error and bear testimony to the truth; and a man who does it with becoming spirit may stop a prince or senate when in full career, and recover the day.”[18] Where this spirit has been shown, where an honored associate has earned this title to fame, I insist that it shall be made known.

“WHITEWASHING” BY THE PRESIDENT.

MR. SUMNER. It is a very important document. The Senate will remember, that, when the report was made on the condition of Kansas, every word of it was read at the desk.[19] Now the question before the country is immeasurably more important than that of Kansas. We have a message from the President which is like the whitewashing message of Franklin Pierce with regard to the enormities in Kansas. Such is its parallel. I think the Senate had better at least listen to the opening of Major-General Schurz’s report.