CHAPTERVRECOGNITION BY CONGRESSTheRadical leaders in Tennessee naturally expected that the readmission of the Representatives to their seats in Congress would immediately follow the restoration of the State government. Therefore, upon the assembling of the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, the full delegation from Tennessee was present on the floor, ready to answer to their names. When Mr. Edward McPherson, the clerk of the House, omitted the name of Tennessee along with the other Southern States from the preliminary roll-call, Mr. Horace Maynard created a dramatic scene by waving aloft his certificate of election, and demanding recognition. In the discussion which followed the roll-call, the cause of Mr. Maynard was championed by Mr. Brooks, the leader of the Democratic minority. “If Mr. Maynard,” he said, “is not a loyal man, and is not from a State in this Union, what man, then, is loyal? In the darkest and most doubtful period of the war, when an exile from his own State, I heard his eloquent voice on the banks of the St. Lawrence rousing the people of my State to discharge their duties to their country.” The action of Mr. McPherson was upheld by a vote of the House.This refusal to seat the Tennessee Representatives arose, partly on account of the failure to distinguish between the loyal government in Tennessee, and the so-called Johnson governments, but chiefly because the Republican leaders wished to delay action until a complete reconstruction policy could be mapped out. The Representatives continued, however, to press the claims of the State for recognition before the “Joint Committee of Fifteen,” to which was referred all measures affecting the status of the Southern States.This Committee was just on the point of yielding, when the veto of the Freedman Bureau Bill occurred. The day after the veto, Mr. Stevens brought before the House, from the Committee of Fifteen, a “concurrent resolution concerning the insurrectionary States,” as follows: “Be it resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that in order to close agitation upon a question which seems likely to disturb the action of the Government, as well as to quiet the uncertainty which is agitating the minds of the people of the eleven States which have been declared to be in insurrection, no Senator or Representative shall be admitted to either branch of Congress, from any of the said States until Congress shall have declared such State entitled to such representation.” A strong effort was made to exempt Tennessee from the provisions of the Resolution. Mr. Grider, a member of the Committee of Fifteen, offered, to that effect, a minority report as follows: “The minority of the Committee on Reconstruction, on the part of the House, beg leave to report that said committee have caused an inquiry to be made as to the condition and loyalty of Tennessee. There has been a large amount of evidence taken, a part of it conducing to show that at some localities occasionally there have been some irregularities and disaffection, yet the main direction and weight of the testimony are ample and conclusive to show that a great body of the people in said State are not only loyal and willing, but anxious to have and maintain amicable, sincere, and patriotic relations with the General Government. Such being the state of facts, we offer the following resolution, to wit:“Resolved, That the State of Tennessee is entitled to representation in the Thirty-ninth Congress, and the representatives elected from and by said State are hereby admitted to take their seats therein upon being qualified by oath according to law.”In speaking in opposition to this minority resolution, Mr. Stevens said: “I think I may say without impropriety, that until yesterday there was an investigation into the condition of Tennessee, to see whether by act of Congress we could admit that State to a condition of representation here, and admit its members to seats here, but since yesterday there has arisen a state of things which the committee deem puts it out of their power to proceed further without surrendering a great principle, without the loss of all their dignity, without surrendering the rights of this body to the usurpation of another power.” The “Concurrent Resolution,” introduced by Mr. Stevens, was carried without amendment, so the readmission of Tennessee was again postponed indefinitely.Two months later, however, its readmission was foreshadowed in a speech by Mr. Bingham on the Fourteenth Amendment. “I trust,” he said, “that this amendment will pass this House, that the day will soon come when Tennessee—loyal Tennessee—loyal in the very heart of the rebellion, her mountains and plains blasted by the very ravagers of war and stained with blood of her faithful children fallen in the great struggle for the maintenance of the Union, having already conformed her constitution and laws to every provision of this amendment, will at once, upon its submission by Congress, irrevocably ratify it, and be, without further delay, represented in Congress by her loyal Representatives and Senators. Let that great example be set by Tennessee, and it will be worth a hundred thousand votes to the loyal people in the free North.”The suggestion contained in this speech was promptly acted upon by the Radical government in Tennessee. On the 19th of June, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified by the Legislature. Mr. Brownlow immediately sent the following telegram to Washington:“Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, July 18.ToHon. E. M. Stanton,Sec.of War,Washington, D. C.“My compliments to the President. We have carried the Constitutional Amendment in the House. Vote 43 to 18; two of his tools refusing to vote.“W. G. Brownlow.”On the same day the news of this ratification was received, Mr. Bingham introduced into the House the following resolution:“Joint resolution declaring Tennessee again entitled to Senators and Representatives in Congress.“Whereas, The State of Tennessee has in good faith ratified the article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress to the Legislatures of the several States, and has also shown, to the satisfaction of Congress, by the proper spirti of obedience in the body of her people, her return to her due allegiance to the Government, laws, and authority of the United States; therefore,Be it resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Tennessee is hereby restored to her former proper practical relation in the Union, and again entitled to be represented by Senators and Representatives in Congress, duly elected and qualified, upon their taking the oaths of office required by existing laws.“In urging the immediate adoption of the resolution, Mr. Bingham declared that: “Inasmuch as Tennessee has conformed to all our requirements; inasmuch as she has, by a majority of her whole Legislature in each House, ratified the amendment in good faith; inasmuch as she has of her own voluntary will conformed her constitution and laws to the Constitution and Laws of the United States; inasmuch as she has by her fundamental law forever prohibited the assumption or payment of the rebel debt, or the enslavement of men; inasmuch as she has by her own constitution declared that rebels shall not exercise any of the political power of the State or vote at elections; and thereby giving the American people assurance of her determination to stand by this great measure of security for the future of the Republic, Tennessee is as much entitled to be represented here as any other State of the Union.”The resolution was opposed by a few members on the ground that Tennessee had not, as yet, conferred the suffrage upon the negro. Mr. Boutwell offered an amendment providing that Tennessee should not be readmitted until it had established an “equal and just system of suffrage.”On June 20th the resolution passed the House, one hundred and twenty-five voting in the affirmative, and twelve in the negative. On the succeeding day, it came up for consideration in the Senate. Mr. Trumbull proposed, in the place of the preamble which had been framed by Mr. Bingham and passed by the House, the following substitute:“Whereas, In the year 1861, the government of the State of Tennessee was seized upon and taken possession of by persons in hostility to the United States, and the inhabitants of said State in pursuance of an act of Congress were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States, and whereas said State government can be restored to its former political relations in the Union only by the consent of the law-making power of the United States; and whereas the people of said State did on the22dof February, 1865, by a large and popular vote adopt and ratify a constitution of government whereby slavery was abolished, and all ordinances and laws of secession and debts contracted under the same were declared void; and whereas a State government has been organized under said Constitution, which has ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery, also the amendment proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and has done other acts proclaiming and denoting loyalty; Therefore, etc.”Mr. Sherman opposed the substitution of this preamble on the ground that it would probably cause the President to veto the resolution. “These political dogmas,” he said, “cannot receive the sanction of the President, and to insert them will only create delay, and postpone the admission of Tennessee.”After a considerable discussion, the question being taken on the passage of the preamble as substituted by the Senate, together with the resolution of the House, resulted in twenty-eight votes in the affirmative, and four in the negative. The House promptly agreed to the amendment of the Senate, and the joint resolution was sent to the President for his approval.The President approved the joint resolution, but sent a message to the House which was in the nature of a protest against the opinions expressed in the preamble. After giving at length his objections to the preamble, the President said:“Earnestly desiring to remove every cause of further delay, whether real or imaginary, on the part of Congress to the admission to their seats of loyal Senators and Representatives from the State of Tennessee, I have, notwithstanding the anomalous character of this proceeding, affixed my signature to the resolution. My approval, however, is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of the right of Congress to pass laws, preliminary to the admission of duly qualified representatives from any of the States. Neither is it to be construed as committing me to all the statements made in the preamble, some of which are, in my opinion, without foundation in fact, especially the assertion that the State of Tennessee has ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress. No official notice of such ratification has been received by the Executive, or filed in the Department of State; on the contrary, unofficial information from most reliable sources, induces the belief that the amendment has not yet been constitutionally sanctioned by the Legislature of Tennessee. The right of each House, under the Constitution, to judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members is undoubted, and my approval or disapproval of the resolution could not in the slightest degree increase or diminish the authority in this respect conferred upon the two branches of Congress.”
TheRadical leaders in Tennessee naturally expected that the readmission of the Representatives to their seats in Congress would immediately follow the restoration of the State government. Therefore, upon the assembling of the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, the full delegation from Tennessee was present on the floor, ready to answer to their names. When Mr. Edward McPherson, the clerk of the House, omitted the name of Tennessee along with the other Southern States from the preliminary roll-call, Mr. Horace Maynard created a dramatic scene by waving aloft his certificate of election, and demanding recognition. In the discussion which followed the roll-call, the cause of Mr. Maynard was championed by Mr. Brooks, the leader of the Democratic minority. “If Mr. Maynard,” he said, “is not a loyal man, and is not from a State in this Union, what man, then, is loyal? In the darkest and most doubtful period of the war, when an exile from his own State, I heard his eloquent voice on the banks of the St. Lawrence rousing the people of my State to discharge their duties to their country.” The action of Mr. McPherson was upheld by a vote of the House.
This refusal to seat the Tennessee Representatives arose, partly on account of the failure to distinguish between the loyal government in Tennessee, and the so-called Johnson governments, but chiefly because the Republican leaders wished to delay action until a complete reconstruction policy could be mapped out. The Representatives continued, however, to press the claims of the State for recognition before the “Joint Committee of Fifteen,” to which was referred all measures affecting the status of the Southern States.
This Committee was just on the point of yielding, when the veto of the Freedman Bureau Bill occurred. The day after the veto, Mr. Stevens brought before the House, from the Committee of Fifteen, a “concurrent resolution concerning the insurrectionary States,” as follows: “Be it resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that in order to close agitation upon a question which seems likely to disturb the action of the Government, as well as to quiet the uncertainty which is agitating the minds of the people of the eleven States which have been declared to be in insurrection, no Senator or Representative shall be admitted to either branch of Congress, from any of the said States until Congress shall have declared such State entitled to such representation.” A strong effort was made to exempt Tennessee from the provisions of the Resolution. Mr. Grider, a member of the Committee of Fifteen, offered, to that effect, a minority report as follows: “The minority of the Committee on Reconstruction, on the part of the House, beg leave to report that said committee have caused an inquiry to be made as to the condition and loyalty of Tennessee. There has been a large amount of evidence taken, a part of it conducing to show that at some localities occasionally there have been some irregularities and disaffection, yet the main direction and weight of the testimony are ample and conclusive to show that a great body of the people in said State are not only loyal and willing, but anxious to have and maintain amicable, sincere, and patriotic relations with the General Government. Such being the state of facts, we offer the following resolution, to wit:
“Resolved, That the State of Tennessee is entitled to representation in the Thirty-ninth Congress, and the representatives elected from and by said State are hereby admitted to take their seats therein upon being qualified by oath according to law.”
In speaking in opposition to this minority resolution, Mr. Stevens said: “I think I may say without impropriety, that until yesterday there was an investigation into the condition of Tennessee, to see whether by act of Congress we could admit that State to a condition of representation here, and admit its members to seats here, but since yesterday there has arisen a state of things which the committee deem puts it out of their power to proceed further without surrendering a great principle, without the loss of all their dignity, without surrendering the rights of this body to the usurpation of another power.” The “Concurrent Resolution,” introduced by Mr. Stevens, was carried without amendment, so the readmission of Tennessee was again postponed indefinitely.
Two months later, however, its readmission was foreshadowed in a speech by Mr. Bingham on the Fourteenth Amendment. “I trust,” he said, “that this amendment will pass this House, that the day will soon come when Tennessee—loyal Tennessee—loyal in the very heart of the rebellion, her mountains and plains blasted by the very ravagers of war and stained with blood of her faithful children fallen in the great struggle for the maintenance of the Union, having already conformed her constitution and laws to every provision of this amendment, will at once, upon its submission by Congress, irrevocably ratify it, and be, without further delay, represented in Congress by her loyal Representatives and Senators. Let that great example be set by Tennessee, and it will be worth a hundred thousand votes to the loyal people in the free North.”
The suggestion contained in this speech was promptly acted upon by the Radical government in Tennessee. On the 19th of June, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified by the Legislature. Mr. Brownlow immediately sent the following telegram to Washington:
“Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, July 18.
ToHon. E. M. Stanton,Sec.of War,
Washington, D. C.
“My compliments to the President. We have carried the Constitutional Amendment in the House. Vote 43 to 18; two of his tools refusing to vote.
“W. G. Brownlow.”
On the same day the news of this ratification was received, Mr. Bingham introduced into the House the following resolution:
“Joint resolution declaring Tennessee again entitled to Senators and Representatives in Congress.
“Whereas, The State of Tennessee has in good faith ratified the article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress to the Legislatures of the several States, and has also shown, to the satisfaction of Congress, by the proper spirti of obedience in the body of her people, her return to her due allegiance to the Government, laws, and authority of the United States; therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Tennessee is hereby restored to her former proper practical relation in the Union, and again entitled to be represented by Senators and Representatives in Congress, duly elected and qualified, upon their taking the oaths of office required by existing laws.“
In urging the immediate adoption of the resolution, Mr. Bingham declared that: “Inasmuch as Tennessee has conformed to all our requirements; inasmuch as she has, by a majority of her whole Legislature in each House, ratified the amendment in good faith; inasmuch as she has of her own voluntary will conformed her constitution and laws to the Constitution and Laws of the United States; inasmuch as she has by her fundamental law forever prohibited the assumption or payment of the rebel debt, or the enslavement of men; inasmuch as she has by her own constitution declared that rebels shall not exercise any of the political power of the State or vote at elections; and thereby giving the American people assurance of her determination to stand by this great measure of security for the future of the Republic, Tennessee is as much entitled to be represented here as any other State of the Union.”
The resolution was opposed by a few members on the ground that Tennessee had not, as yet, conferred the suffrage upon the negro. Mr. Boutwell offered an amendment providing that Tennessee should not be readmitted until it had established an “equal and just system of suffrage.”
On June 20th the resolution passed the House, one hundred and twenty-five voting in the affirmative, and twelve in the negative. On the succeeding day, it came up for consideration in the Senate. Mr. Trumbull proposed, in the place of the preamble which had been framed by Mr. Bingham and passed by the House, the following substitute:
“Whereas, In the year 1861, the government of the State of Tennessee was seized upon and taken possession of by persons in hostility to the United States, and the inhabitants of said State in pursuance of an act of Congress were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States, and whereas said State government can be restored to its former political relations in the Union only by the consent of the law-making power of the United States; and whereas the people of said State did on the22dof February, 1865, by a large and popular vote adopt and ratify a constitution of government whereby slavery was abolished, and all ordinances and laws of secession and debts contracted under the same were declared void; and whereas a State government has been organized under said Constitution, which has ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery, also the amendment proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and has done other acts proclaiming and denoting loyalty; Therefore, etc.”
Mr. Sherman opposed the substitution of this preamble on the ground that it would probably cause the President to veto the resolution. “These political dogmas,” he said, “cannot receive the sanction of the President, and to insert them will only create delay, and postpone the admission of Tennessee.”
After a considerable discussion, the question being taken on the passage of the preamble as substituted by the Senate, together with the resolution of the House, resulted in twenty-eight votes in the affirmative, and four in the negative. The House promptly agreed to the amendment of the Senate, and the joint resolution was sent to the President for his approval.
The President approved the joint resolution, but sent a message to the House which was in the nature of a protest against the opinions expressed in the preamble. After giving at length his objections to the preamble, the President said:
“Earnestly desiring to remove every cause of further delay, whether real or imaginary, on the part of Congress to the admission to their seats of loyal Senators and Representatives from the State of Tennessee, I have, notwithstanding the anomalous character of this proceeding, affixed my signature to the resolution. My approval, however, is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of the right of Congress to pass laws, preliminary to the admission of duly qualified representatives from any of the States. Neither is it to be construed as committing me to all the statements made in the preamble, some of which are, in my opinion, without foundation in fact, especially the assertion that the State of Tennessee has ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress. No official notice of such ratification has been received by the Executive, or filed in the Department of State; on the contrary, unofficial information from most reliable sources, induces the belief that the amendment has not yet been constitutionally sanctioned by the Legislature of Tennessee. The right of each House, under the Constitution, to judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members is undoubted, and my approval or disapproval of the resolution could not in the slightest degree increase or diminish the authority in this respect conferred upon the two branches of Congress.”