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Re-inhabited The Republic for the United States of America by Jean Hallahan Hertler with David Carl Hertler II. The CORPORATE UNITED STATES Posing as Government and it’s Counterfeit Constitution Chapter Thirteen Reconstruction – “The Second Civil War” We now continue forward to the period after the Civil War known as the Reconstruction Era.796 The Civil War prevailed from April 12, 1861 to that precise date four years later, April 12, 1865. In considering the profound opening and close of the War Between the States as well as the length of time being precisely four years, it is equally profound in considering the Hebrew meaning of the number “four,” which relates to the word “door.”797 A door had been left open to the curses of disobedience in breaking covenant with the God of the universe and His Law of Nature where all men are created equal. The nation’s birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence had been violated, it’s social covenant and operating document, The Constitution for the United States of America, which was derived from Almighty God’s covenant with man, had been “misinterpreted” and manipulated in the cause of the “Great Rebellion.” The Land of Liberty was stained with the blood of the black slaves and bathed in blood resulting from war of “the House divided” while struggling to end that original sin of America.798 All of that blood on the land cries out to the Creator. 799 James Madison, known as the Father of the Constitution,800 had emphasized America’s social covenant with God as the Constitution: 796 Wikipedia, Reconstruction Era, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era (accessed 11/29/2014) Hebrew4Christians.com, The Letter Dalet, http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/AlephBet/Dalet/dalet.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 798 Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library, The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln2.asp (accessed 11/29/2014) 799 Numbers 35:33 800 The Heritage Foundation, Colleen Sheehan, PhD, James Madison: Father of the Constitution, April 8, 2013, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/james-madison-father-of-the-constitution (accessed 11/29/2014) 797 166 "The government has only such powers as the people delegate to it through a social covenant, the Constitution which is derived from God's Covenant with man. This derivation [origin] limits the power of the process of law and the powers of government. This covenant cannot be contravened [broken] as it is 'the law of nature and of nature's God.' " 801 Drawing a parallel to Proverbs 25:11, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver,” Lincoln described the Declaration of Independence as an “apple of gold,” and the Constitution as the “frame of silver” around it when he said, “The assertion of that principle, at that time, was the word, ‘fitly spoken’ which has proved an ‘apple of gold’ to us. The Union, and the Constitution, are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it. The picture was made, not to conceal, or destroy the apple; but to adorn, and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple—not the apple for the picture.”802 The Constitution acts to guard the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. As the embodiment of the Declaration’s principles, the Constitution created a frame of government with a clear objective. The Constitution is not a collection of compromises, or an empty vessel whose meaning can be redefined to fit the needs of the time; it is the embodiment of an eternal, undisputable truth. Abraham Lincoln defended the Union and sought to defeat the Confederate insurrection because he held that the principles of the Declaration and Constitution were inviolable. In his speeches and in his statecraft, Lincoln aimed to demonstrate803 that self-government is not doomed to either be so strong that it overwhelms the rights of the people or so weak that it is incapable of surviving.804 Having put President Lincoln out of the way, Great Deception was then crafted in darkness through secrets in the Reconstruction Era which brought about an illusion where the American people, along with their posterity through the generations, were deceived into bondage of a new type of citizenship by means of a central (growing-out-of-control) Federal Government which became an oligarchic (government by the few) Democracy where Citizens became “subjects” – and slavery became manifest to ALL. There was an appearance of patriotic American pride, flag-waving, and patriotic songsinging on the surface, however, things were not as they appeared to be… or were told. Isaiah 29:15 ~ Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel [plans] from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Psalms 44:21 ~ 801 Eustace Mullins, The Rape of Justice, (Staunton: National Commission for Justice Reform, 1989 ) p. 54, 55 Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4, Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, c. January, 1861, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln4/1:264?rgn=div1;view=fulltext (accessed 11/29/2014) 803 Hillsdale College, Assistant Professor of Politics, Kevin Portteus, Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution, Abraham Lincoln and the Constitution, https://online.hillsdale.edu/document.doc?id=279 (accessed 11/29/2014) 804 MillerCenter.org, July 4th Message to Congress (July 4, 1861), Abraham Lincoln, http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-3508 (accessed 12/19/2014) 802 167 Would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Luke 8:17 ~ For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Ecclesiastes 12:14 ~ For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. We will recall that Howell Cobb of Georgia, a member of Albert Pike’s805 Scottish Rite Supreme Council (of 33)806 in March, 1860 while serving as Buchanan’s Secretary of the Treasury807 had stated: “There is, perhaps, no solution of the great problem of reconciling the interests of labor and capital, so as to protect each from the encroachments and oppressions of the other, so simple as slavery. By making the laborer himself capital, the conflict ceases and the interests become identical.”808 Where on the surface it was thought that there was a conflict going on only between free and slave labor, Cobb went beyond and further defined the issue from a financial and ownership standpoint of being between capital and labor. Cobb inferred that the only way to overpower the conflict being experienced on the issue of slavery was narrowed to actually being one between money and workforce, with the solution in making slaves of ALL LABORERS everywhere. A “new, improved system” of slavery was being born. “…chattel slavery could not compete in efficiency with white labor… more money could be made from the white laborer, for whom no responsibility of shelter, clothing, food and attendance had to be assumed than from the Negro slave, whose sickness, disability or death entailed direct financial loss.”809 As the love of money is the root of all evil,810 there is also the lust for power and the ultimate plan of the Jesuits and their Freemasons in their “Counter-Reformation.”811 The plan incorporates the secret 805 NWOToday.com, Albert Pike and the Scottish Rite, http://www.nwotoday.com/the-new-world-ordershistory/freemasonry-global-level-illumination/albert-pike-and-the-scottish-rites (accessed 11/29/2014) 806 Warren Getler, Bob Brewer, Rebel Gold: One Man's Quest to Crack the Code Behind the Secret Treasure of the Confederacy, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), p. 58 807 Anton Chaitkin, The Scottish Rite's KKK Project, from the speech delivered by Mr. Chaitkin at the Labor Day weekend conference of the Schiller Institute in suburban Washington, D.C, http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/scottishriteproject.htm (accessed 11/29/2014) 808 John Smith Dye, The Adder’s Den; or Secrets of the Great Conspiracy to Overthrow Liberty in America (New York, John Smith Dye, 1864), p. 123 809 Gustavus Myers, History of the Great American Fortunes, Vol. I, (Chicago, Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1911), p. 41 810 1 Timothy 6:10 811 Wikipedia, Counter-Reformation,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Reformation (accessed 11/29/2014) 168 societies working in unison so their master the Pope of Rome will receive universal worship, ruling from Solomon’s rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem.812 The Reconstruction Era covers the transformation of the Southern States with the reconstruction of State and society from 1863 to 1877, AS WELL AS THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY AS CITIZENSHIP WAS FEDERALIZED813 THROUGH THE UNLAWFUL Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This is also the Era in which the Republic was shoved aside and left dormant while a Democracy was formed and the government was usurped. The American people were tricked into the jurisdiction of this foreign Corporate Democracy. It is of utmost importance to comprehend what had transpired in this Great Conspiracy as well as what the difference is between a Republic and a Democracy. With understanding we will see how the nation shifted from being a Republic in covenant with the God of the universe to being a Democracy ruled by Satan and his sons. One represents the Kingdom of Light, the other the Kingdom of Darkness. Prior to the Civil War, the United States was referred to as a plural noun: “These United States,” which was an association of State governments in alliance for their common good under a federal branch that supervised their interactions but RARELY, if ever, interfered in their laws or social practices. Ever since the American Revolution and its uprising against the English monarchy, King George III, a suspicion of centralized “shadow” authority had existed in America. Yet the attempted secession of the Southern States remarkably prompted a reevaluation of the balance of power in government and suddenly the Federal authorities were viewed by many as the best refuge for the most oppressed and impoverished citizens. These United States became the United States.814 During Reconstruction, the Federal Government determined the conditions that would return the surrendered Southern States back into the Union. In this era, “the Union was preserved; however, the Republic was not.”815 It is imperative that we hold this very fact in mind as we proceed forward in viewing the American Republic’s story in the Light of truth. We will recall that it was when the Southern States’ governments refused to comply with the Constitution that President Lincoln was forced to respond as Constitutional law had provided. It was when President Lincoln convened Congress under the authority of the Executive branch while Congress was lacking a lawful quorum (a rump) and unable to lawfully operate in representative government under Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution, along with instituting Martial Law and the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, that the law form was temporarily set aside. During a time of insurrection and domestic violence, President Lincoln had no other recourse but to give a directive of enforcing Martial Law under circumstances presented by those guilty of committing disloyal practices as well as suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus. Proclaiming these directives were essential and 812 NWOToday.com, Freemasonry and King Solomon’s Temple, http://www.nwotoday.com/the-new-world-ordershistory/freemasonry-global-level-illumination/builders-of-king-solomons-temple (accessed 11/29/2014) 813 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/ (accessed October 29, 2014) 814 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Summary & Analysis" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/summary.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 815 President James Buchanan Geiger, The Republic for the United States of America, 2014. 169 necessary in order to preserve the Union and maintain governance under the spirit of the Constitution. Otherwise known as “color of law,” or giving appearance of law while the republican form of governance was temporarily set aside and an interim governance or law form functioned in its place. By perpetuity, the Constitution still remained as “the law of the land.” However, the legislative body was lacking and could not lawfully function under the Constitution. The Executive branch still had the lawful authority to function, and did so in order to fulfill the obligation of the government to do the business of the People. Color of law was to have been used in the interim ONLY until the People of the Southern States could reestablish LOYAL State governments in Union and then elect Congressional officers that would represent them and who would operate lawfully under the Constitution. This oversight and obligation fell squarely on the Executive branch. Lincoln’s mandate to the “interim Executive Congress” was very strict and limited and could not be binding on the People or the de jure (lawful) government. In the American Republic the whole sovereignty rests with the People and is exercised through their Representatives in Congress assembled. In order for laws to be binding they must have the consent of the American people through their representatives as Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution guarantees to EVERY State in the Union a representative form of governance.816 Anything contrary would be “repugnant” to the Constitution.817 Lincoln acted unilaterally based solely on his duty to preserve the Union. He did not have a lawful Congress to appeal to in order to get the consent of the People for these changes, so the only mandate he could give this temporary administrative body (rump Congress) was to maintain the business of the government so the Union would not collapse. Administration and enforcement is the ONLY authority that the Executive branch has. The rump “interim Executive Congress” was NOT a Congress of the People and the States. By Constitutional law, the Federal Government had to be returned to the People as soon as the insurrection and domestic violence was put down. President Lincoln was fully aware of Constitutional law, operated within the law, and made provision to see that Constitutional law was followed and accomplished. He understood that color of law was to have been used in the interim ONLY until the People could elect a Congress that would operate lawfully under the Constitution. He referred to this color of law interim government as “the Executive Government” in his September 22, 1862 Presidential Proclamation described as “Declaring the Objectives of the War Including Emancipation of Slaves in 816 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Article 4, Section 4" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/constitution/article-4-section-4.html (accessed October 29, 2014). 817 Marbury v. Madison, 1803, “A law repugnant to the Constitution is void.” With these words, Chief Justice John Marshall established the Supreme Court’s role in the new government. Hereafter, the Court was recognized as having the power to review all acts of Congress where constitutionality was at issue, and judge whether they abide by the Constitution. 170 Rebellious States on January 1, 1863.”818 He also twice made reference to “the Executive Government” in his January 1, 1863 President Proclamation known as “The Emancipation Proclamation.”819 We have previously demonstrated by historical fact documented with evidence that IT WAS PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S INTENTION FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES TO BE RESTORED IN THE UNION WITH THE SAME STATUS WITH WHICH THEY HAD “SO-CALLED”820 SECEDED OR LEFT THE UNION.821 His Presidential Proclamation, known as his 10 Percent Plan, was his Reconstruction Plan. It was proclaimed by executive authority that ex-Confederates and disloyal Citizens were disqualified from voting or from holding office. This was a logical and wise precedent for reestablishing loyal State governments. Near the end of the Civil War, as Commander-in-Chief, President Lincoln had articulated his commanding order to the leading Union Military Generals to carry out a complete reconciliation with the South and its citizens offering the South the most generous terms in what would come to be known as the River Queen Doctrine.822 President Lincoln displayed diplomacy while at the same time taking steps of compliance in Constitutional law. In the light of the truthful American Republic’s history, there can be no doubt in comprehending that the goals of restoring the Republic with the reconciled States in Union was a major contributing factor to the “Great Conspiracy” of Lincoln’s assassination by nefarious “cunning, ambitious, unprincipled men.823 Understanding the love of money as the root of all evil824 as well as the means to control and enslave, we understand that Lincoln’s money policy825 and Constitutional-issued Greenbacks by the U.S. Treasury had resulted in giving “the people of this Republic the greatest blessing they ever had—their own paper money to pay their own debts.”826 Indeed, this was another major contributing factor in his assassination.827 818 Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 93 - Declaring the Objectives of the War Including Emancipation of Slaves in Rebellious States on January 1, 1863," September 22, 1862. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69782 (accessed 11/1/2014) 819 National Archives & Records Administration, The Emancipation Proclamation, http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/transcript.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 820 Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 108 - Amnesty and Reconstruction," December 8, 1863. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69987 (accessed 10/15/2014) 821 Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 93 - Declaring the Objectives of the War Including Emancipation of Slaves in Rebellious States on January 1, 1863," September 22, 1862. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69782 (accessed 10/15/2014) 822 ed. The Hillsdale College History Faculty, American Heritage A Reader, V Sectionalism and Civil War, (Hillsdale: Hillsdale College Press, 2011) , p. 371 823 EarlyAmerica.com, George Washington’s Farewell Address to the People of the United States, September 17, 1796, point 18, http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/farewell/text.html (accessed 11/1/2014) 824 1 Timothy 6:20 825 Abraham Lincoln, Senate document no. 23, page 91, 1865 as cited from Michael Rowbotham, The Grip of Death: A Study of Modern Money, Debt Servitude, and Destructive Economics (Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1998), pages 220221 at http://economics.arawakcity.org/node/179 (accessed 11/29/2014) 826 Dr. R. E. Search, “Lincoln: Money Martyred,” (Seattle: Lincoln Publishing Company, 1935) p. 46 827 Ibid., p. 47-48 171 President Lincoln was assassinated just a few days after the Civil War had ended and before he was able to follow through with his Reconstruction Plan. The Southern States would have reestablished their LOYAL State governments in Union, elections would have been held in the Southern States to fill the vacant Congressional seats so they would have Federal representation, and which would also return Congress to being a lawful deliberative body under the Constitution. There was a SERIOUS CHANGE made in Lincoln’s honorable and Constitutional Reconstruction Plan after he was put away. Coming into compliance with Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution was DIVERTED and instead, in 1866, one year after the war, elections for members of the 40th United States Congress went forth in the NORTH ONLY. High-level Freemason former Vice President and now succeeding President, Andrew Johnson, revoked and annulled the Writ of Habeas Corpus in the North, however, CONTINUED THE SUSPENSION of the Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Southern States, the District of Columbia, and the southwest Territory.828 In this chapter as well as the next, we will cover some key points of this Era in effort to project a picture of the Great Struggle that occurred while seeking to finally achieve Liberty for ALL as proclaimed in America’s founding document which is also a covenant with the Creator. In further, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was to be guarded for ALL in that sacred covenant with “Nature’s God,” as outlined and enumerated in the government’s operating document, the Constitution for the United States of America, which was carefully written under Divine inspiration significantly based on God’s law and Biblical principles. This is what was intended in a republican form of government and in finally ending slavery, as the Founding Fathers had presumed would eventually come to fruition. With various pieces like that of a puzzle put together to form a picture, visible for this period of time will be depicted shades of darkness representing what “cunning, ambitious, unprincipled men”829 had done in darkness through secrets and lies of deception to usurp dominion and secretly enslave ALL of the American people. The picture will also depict what some well-intentioned statesmen had inadvertently830 done in desperation while seeking to outmaneuver the “cunning, ambitious, unprincipled men” in great effort to secure Liberty for ALL. In the end, we will step back with chin-inhand while studying a glimpse of the greater picture and recognize the counterfeit with a better understanding of how “the Union was preserved; however, the Republic was not.”831 The Union victory created some of the most far-reaching transformations as reflected by the amendments to the Constitution. The first twelve amendments, which had been ratified before the war, had all served to limit government power. Those after the Civil War, in particular the (nonoriginal and unlawful) Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery, and the revolutionary 828 Andrew Johnson: "Proclamation 148 - Revoking the Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Except in Certain States and Territories," December 1, 1865. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72046 (accessed 10/15/2014) 829 EarlyAmerica.com, George Washington’s Farewell Address to the People of the United States, September 17, 1796, point 18, http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/farewell/text.html (accessed 11/1/2014) 830 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/ (accessed October 29, 2014). 831 President James Buchanan Geiger, The Republic for the United States of America, 2014 172 (unlawful) Fourteenth Amendment which granted citizenship and guaranteed civil rights to all those born in the United States, marked unprecedented expansions of federal power.832 In review of Reconstruction up to this point, starting in March 1862, in an effort to prevent reconstruction by the “Radicals” in Congress, President Lincoln appointed provisional Military Governors to reestablish loyal Union governments in Southern States that were captured by the Union Army. Although those States would not be recognized by the “Radicals” until a much later period of time and with prescribed conditions to the Radicals’ satisfaction, appointing Military Governors kept the administration of Reconstruction under Presidential control in his executive duties under the Constitution, rather than that of the increasingly unsympathetic Radical Congress.833 On March 3, 1862, Lincoln appointed staunch Democrat Senator Andrew Johnson,834 as Military Governor with the rank of Brigadier General in his home State of Tennessee. On May 26, 1862, Lincoln appointed Edward Stanly835 as Military Governor of the coastal region of North Carolina with the rank of Brigadier General. Stanly resigned almost a year later after angering Lincoln by closing two schools for black children in New Bern. It is also reported that Stanly was in a dispute with President Lincoln over the Emancipation Proclamation. After Brigadier General George F. Sheply836 was appointed as Military Governor of Louisiana in May 1862, Sheply sent two anti-slavery representatives, Benjamin Flanders837 and Michael Hahn,838 elected in December 1862, to the House of Representatives which had come to accept them and then voted in favor to seat them. In July 1862, Lincoln appointed Colonel John S. Phelps839 as Military Governor of Arkansas, though he resigned not long after due to poor health. This selection of men from a variety of backgrounds represents both Northerners and Southerners, as well as both Republicans and Democrats. The picture entails the Chief Executive thoughtfully selecting representation from amongst a mix as he sought harmony and prudence in the overwhelmingly difficult task of putting the Union back together. In late 1863, President Lincoln issued a Presidential Proclamation toward amnesty (pardon/forgiveness) and reconstruction on behalf of the rebellious States, which came to be known as his “10 Percent Plan.” Union forces were advancing into the South after a couple of critical victories in battle and the Federal Government turned its attention to a plan that would resurrect the Union and ensure the loyalty of the former Confederacy. Any rebel State would be enabled to form a loyal State Union government if a number equal to ten percent of its white males who had voted in 1860 took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution and the Union and had received a presidential pardon. Participants were required to swear 832 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) p. 478 Wikipedia, Reconstruction Era, Military governors installed, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era (accessed 11/29/2014) 834 Wikipedia, Andrew Johnson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson (accessed 11/29/2014) 835 Wikipedia, Edward Stanly, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Stanly (accessed 11/29/2014) 836 Wikipedia, George Foster Shepley (Maine and Louisiana), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Foster_Shepley_(Maine_and_Louisiana) (accessed 11/29/2014) 837 Wikipedia, Benjamin Flanders, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Flanders (accessed 11/29/2014) 838 Wikipedia, Michael Hahn, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hahn (accessed 11/29/2014) 839 Wikipedia, John S. Phelps, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._Phelps (accessed 11/29/2014) 833 173 their support for laws and proclamations that addressed emancipation of slaves. Excluded from the pardon were high-ranking members of the Confederacy.840 On December 8, 1863, President Lincoln issued Presidential Proclamation 108 - Amnesty and Reconstruction:841 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Whereas in and by the Constitution of the United States it is provided that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment;" and Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State governments of several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons have committed and are now guilty Of treason against the United States; and Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part thereof pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare; and Whereas the Congressional declaration for limited and conditional pardon accords with wellestablished judicial exposition of the pardoning power; and Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of the United States has issued several proclamations with provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves; and Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States and to reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their respective States: Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly or by implication participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take 840 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/ (accessed October 29, 2014). 841 Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 108 - Amnesty and Reconstruction," December 8, 1863. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69987 (accessed 11/29/2014) 174 and subscribe an oath and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate, and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit: I,_________,do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress or by decision of the Supreme Court: and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God. The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are all who are or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Government; all who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; all who are or shall have been military or naval officers of said so-called Confederate Government above the rank of colonel in the army or of lieutenant in the navy; all who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the rebellion; all who resigned commissions in the Army or Navy of the United States and afterwards aided the rebellion; and all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen, or in any other capacity. And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such State at the Presidential election of the year A. D. 1860, each having taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the State existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall reestablish a State government which shall be republican and in nowise contravening [breaking or violating] said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that "the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasion, and on application of the legislature, or the executive (when the legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence." And I do further proclaim, declare. and make known that any provision which may be adopted by such State government in relation to the freed people of such State which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National Executive. 175 And it is suggested as not improper that in constructing a loyal State government in any State the name of the State, the boundary, the subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws as before the rebellion be maintained, subject only to the modifications made necessary. by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if any, not contravening said conditions and which may be deemed expedient by those framing the new State government. To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this proclamation, so far as it relates to State governments, has no reference to States wherein loyal State governments have all the while been maintained. And for the same reason it may be proper to further say that whether members sent to Congress from any State shall be admitted to seats constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent with the Executive. And, still further, that this proclamation is intended to present the people of the States wherein the national authority has been suspended and loyal State governments have been subverted a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal State governments may be reestablished within said States or in any of them; and while the mode presented is the best the Executive can suggest, with his present impressions, it must not be understood that no other possible mode would be acceptable. Given under my hand at the city of Washington, the 8th day of December, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary, of State. It is noteworthy that President Lincoln used the words, “so-called act of secession.” He understood the Law of Perpetuity and that once a State entered the Union with their State constitution approved and accepted by Congress, the State could not lawfully leave, or secede, from the Union. Also noteworthy is Lincoln’s effort to be in compliance with Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution by working toward reestablishing LOYAL State governments for the Southern States and bringing them back into the Union of States as well as providing protection to the people of those States from invasion or domestic violence. He sincerely sought Constitutional protection and benefits for the people of the South as well as the North. His effort was reasonable in directing loyal, qualified Citizens of those States by appropriate oath to reestablish their State governments in a manner loyal to the Constitution as well as swear allegiance to be law-abiding inclusive of any Congressional legislation pertaining to the liberation of slaves. President Lincoln displayed diplomacy while also following constitutional law (specifically Article 1, Section 5, Clause 1) by acknowledging that it was up to the 176 respective Houses of Congress in validating the qualifications of and in admitting members sent to Congress from any State and not to him as the Executive. Lincoln was adamant in carrying out a complete reconciliation with the South and its Citizens in very generous terms. The Nation had been devastated and war-torn for four very long and hard years. The number of sons and husbands killed in war were 360,000 Union soldiers and 260,000 Confederate soldiers. The wounds and scars of the souls of their loved ones left behind was exponentially greater in number amidst the Nation’s population of about 35 million at that time.842 President Lincoln understood the need to move quickly – and wisely – in directing the Nation toward healing and reconciliation. His Ten Percent Plan was a foundational start toward resolving large issues. Major challenges that had to be addressed included:843 How the South, physically devastated by war and socially revolutionized by emancipation, would be rebuilt. How the liberated slaves would fare as free men and women. How the Southern States would be reintegrated into the Union. Who would direct the process of Reconstruction: the President, the (interim Executive) Congress, or the Southern States themselves. There were other questions that clamored for answers like what should be done with the captured Confederate ringleaders, all of whom were liable to charges of treason. Jefferson Davis844 who was the President of the Confederate States (and formerly had a several year service as a U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, had previously been a U.S. Secretary of War) was imprisoned in 1865 for two years, never brought to trial, (a violation of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution which guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial845) and then pardoned by President Johnson in December, 1868. The factors that play into understanding the whole scenario is nothing short of tremendous. In this man’s situation, it is reported that after two years of imprisonment he was released on $100,000 bond of which a contributor was Gerrit Smith,846 a member of The Secret Six. The Secret Six were a group of wealthy and/or influential northern men who held strong conviction toward abolition.847 So we see emotions, convictions, and opinions were wide and varied at this tremendous time of upheaval. One issue up and coming was the struggle that the four million slaves that had been suddenly emancipated were faced with: the question, “How free is free?” It was a question that turned out to be 842 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Statistics" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/statistics.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 843 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) p. 479 844 Wikipedia, Jefferson Davis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis (accessed 11/29/2014) 845 Cornell University Law School, Legal Information Institute, U.S. Constitution, Sixth Amendment, http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_amendment (accessed 11/29/2014) 846 Wikipedia, Gerrit Smith, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrit_Smith (accessed 11/29/2014) 847 Wikipedia, The Secret Six, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Six (accessed 11/1/2014) 177 an extremely difficult and complex one. Was freedom simply the absence of bondage, or did it mean the right to obtain an education, receive healthcare, negotiate wages, to vote, and to own land?848 The “interim Executive Congress” was not in agreement with Lincoln’s Reconstruction policies as they felt Lincoln was too lenient with the Southern rebels and feared the restoration of the planter aristocracy to power along with possible re-enslavement of the black people.849 During the war, the Radical Republicans often opposed Lincoln in his selection of Generals as well as his efforts to bring States back into the Union. The radicals of Lincoln’s party – Charles Sumner,850 Benjamin Wade,851 George Julian,852 and Thaddeus Stevens853 held disdain for Lincoln from the beginning and had attempted to usurp his power wherever and whenever possible.854 The Radicals were men of principles. Before the war they had been the strongest Republicans opposing the expansion of slavery. During the war they were the first to call for arming of black troops and for issuing emancipation. They were supporting the rights of black people long before there was any conceivable political benefit to be gained.855 The Radical Republicans proposed an alternative to Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan. The Wade-Davis Bill856 of 1864 was a Bill proposed for the reconstruction of the South written by two Radical Republicans, the aforementioned Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis857 of Maryland. In contrast to President Lincoln's more lenient Ten Percent Plan, the Wade-Davis Bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate States contingent on a majority in each Southern State to take the “Ironclad oath”858 to the effect they had never supported the Confederacy. The Wade-Davis Bill passed both houses of Congress on July 2, 1864, and was handed to President Lincoln less than an hour before the adjournment of the session sine die. Lincoln responded with a “pocket veto”859 and therefore the Bill never took effect. It was Lincoln’s objective to mend the Union by carrying out his Ten Percent Plan. As eloquently expressed in his Presidential Proclamation of July 8, 1864, Lincoln believed it would be too difficult to repair all the ties within the Union if the Wade-Davis Bill was implemented.860 The Radical Republicans retaliated and refused to seat delegates from 848 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Summary & Analysis" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/summary.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 849 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) p. 485 850 Wikipedia, Charles Sumner, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner (accessed 11/29/2014) 851 Wikipedia, Benjamin Wade, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wade (accessed 11/29/2014) 852 Wikipedia, George Washington Julian, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Julian (accessed 11/29/2014) 853 Wikipedia, Thaddeus Stevens, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_Stevens (accessed 11/29/2014) 854 ed. The Hillsdale College History Faculty, American Heritage A Reader, V Sectionalism and Civil War, (Hillsdale: Hillsdale College Press, 2011) , p. 371 855 Pbs.org, American Experience, Reconstruction The Second Civil War, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/filmmore/pt.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 856 Wikipedia, Wade-Davis Bill, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Davis_Bill (accessed 11/29/2014) 857 Wikipedia, Henry Winter Davis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Winter_Davis (accessed 11/29/2014) 858 Wikipedia, Ironclad oath, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_oath (accessed 11/29/2014) 859 Wikipedia, Pocket veto, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_veto (accessed 11/29/2014) 860 Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 115 - Concerning a Bill "To Guarantee to Certain States, Whose Governments Have Been Usurped or Overthrown, a Republican Form of Government," and Concerning Reconstruction," July 8, 178 Louisiana after that State had reorganized its government in accordance with Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan.861 The Radicals criticized Lincoln’s leniency. Their goal of reconstruction was to readmit the Southern States into the Union on terms that were acceptable to the North. That meant full political and civil equality for black Americans and denying political rights to white proslavery leaders of the Secession movement. The Radicals wanted to insure that the newly freed black men and women were protected and given their rights as Americans.862 Just five days after the surrender of the Confederate forces President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 and died the next day. Succeeding Abraham Lincoln as President was then Freemason Vice President Andrew Johnson.863 Johnson continued the part of Commander-in-Chief of Military Rule as he moved forward with his own Reconstruction policy. Southerners anxiously waited for the first seven weeks of Johnson’s presidency to hear what he would mandate before allowing them back into the Union. At the time many white Southerners, including the leadership of the Confederacy, expected and would have accepted relatively harsh policies. It soon became clear that Andrew Johnson wanted a speedy, lenient restoration of the Union with as little change made to the Constitution as possible. The rebel States were encouraged to quickly form new governments with no interference from the Federal Government. The President’s leniency surprised many in the North while Southerners responded with relief.864 Johnson laid out only minimal requirements. The Southerners were required to admit that they lost the war, the war was over, and slavery and secession were dead. Johnson was harder on the planter aristocracy in that he insisted that wealthy plantation owners and Confederate leaders personally approach him and beg for clemency. That set the tone in eliminating the planter class from leadership of Southern politics as a pardon was necessary in order to vote, hold office, as well as to get their property back if it’s been seized by the Federal Government. Johnson had been raised in poverty and held no sympathy for the wealthy plantation owners. He identified with poor white southerners. Before the war, they had far outnumbered the slave owners. Now, Johnson was anxious to protect poor whites from what they perceived as a new threat. With freedom of the black people, it meant that they would have to compete with this new element for livelihood, for social position, and political power. Johnson’s aim was to bring the white South and the white North back together. The black people were 1864. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69995 (accessed 10/15/2014) 861 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) p. 486 862 Pbs.org, Richard Wormser, Jim Crow Stories, Reconstruction 1865-77, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_reconstruct.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 863 Eric Jon Phelps, Vatican Assassins, (Eric Jon Phelps, PO Box 306, Newmanstown, PA 17073) (2001), p. 359, 391, 352, 418 864 Pbs.org, American Experience, Reconstruction The Second Civil War, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/filmmore/pt.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 179 not a consideration in Johnson’s vision of the postwar South. He felt their place was in the labor force without rights to land or much of anything else.865 Johnson’s disrespect for the freedmen infuriated many in Washington, and none more than U.S. Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania. Stevens had been an aggressive abolitionist long before the war. With the Republican Party he led that small, vocal faction known as the Radicals.866 Let it be emphasized again that Congress remained a rump “interim Executive Congress,” NOT a LAWFUL deliberative body under the Constitution while there remained vacant seats for States and the people of them who were not represented. The only business this temporary administrative body (rump Congress) could perform was to maintain the business of the government so the Union would not collapse. The Federal Government was under color of law in this interim period UNTIL the People of the Southern States could reestablish LOYAL State governments in Union and then elect Congressional officers that would represent them and who would operate lawfully under the Constitution. In regards to any legislation, in order for laws to be binding they must have the consent of the American people through their representatives as Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution guarantees to EVERY State in the Union a representative form of governance.867 Anything else, or contrary, would be repugnant to the Constitution.868 By constitutional law, the Federal Government had to be returned to the People as soon as the insurrection was put down. The “interim Executive Congress” ran on high-adrenaline in this juncture of time. Having come through the devastation of war in which many of the statesmen had served in active military duty as officers, they also were in upheaval in the assassination of the Commander-in-Chief, still dealt with Southern hostilities as some Southern States attempted to return rebel Confederate treasonous officers to Congress, and had a new President they felt was too lenient with the Southern States. An extreme addto in the mix was that President Johnson began showing a change in heart where he actually aided the unrepentant former Confederate “traitors.” Where historians have marked Johnson’s change of heart as “mysterious,”869 in light of the knowledge of Johnson’s involvement in Freemasonry as well as being quickly installed in the high-level Scottish degrees870 and acclaimed by Masons to be the first President to become a Scottish Rite Mason,871 Johnson’s change of heart is no longer a mystery. 865 Ibid. Ibid. 867 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Article 4, Section 4" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/constitution/article-4-section-4.html (accessed October 29, 2014). 868 Marbury v. Madison, 1803, “A law repugnant to the Constitution is void.” With these words, Chief Justice John Marshall established the Supreme Court’s role in the new government. Hereafter, the Court was recognized as having the power to review all acts of Congress where constitutionality was at issue, and judge whether they abide by the Constitution. 869 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Summary & Analysis" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/summary.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 870 H. Paul Jeffers, Freemasons: A History and Exploration of the World’s Oldest Secret Society, (New York: Citadel Press Books Kensington Publishing Corp., 2005), p. 105 871 37th Masonic District, The Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, Andrew Johnson, http://www.pagrandlodge.org/district37/D37_Presidents/D37-AJohnson.php (accessed November 17, 2014) 866 180 Aiding the unrepentant treasonous Freemason Confederate ringleaders would NOT achieve LOYAL State governments in returning to the Union. The Union was yet in disrepair, there were the issues of civil rights for the newly freedmen in which the new President didn’t care about. Then consider Congress’ serious concern in being limited in Congressional powers while they were yet a temporary administrative body, not a lawful deliberative body under the Constitution. Likewise, hanging over their heads was the dreaded thought that the Southern men who would fill those vacant seats in the Halls of Congress and also hold in their hands the balance of legislative power872 that could very well be the tipping of a second insurrection and fate of the Republic… We can sense their frustration while discerning their fears. They were desperate. The story grows with drama as we continue to piece together documented facts displayed as evidence and thought-provokingly not fully told in history textbooks… Let’s look at a few items on the history timeline. In January, 1865 General William Sherman issued Special Field Order 15 which set aside confiscated plantation land along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia for black families to settle in 40-acre plots. By June that year, 40,000 freedmen and women were living on the land given to them with seed and farming necessities provided by the Freedmen’s Bureau. In March, 1865 the Freedmen’s Bureau had been established within the War Department as an agency to smooth the transition from slavery to freedom. The Bureau built schools for the former slaves and fed and clothed war refugees, black and white. The Bureau’s agents had military authority to settle labor disputes and conflicts between former slaves and masters. Congress had chartered the Freedmen’s Savings Bank. In April, 1865 the Confederate Army surrendered and a few days later President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded. Andrew Johnson became the seventeenth President. On May 29, 1865 Johnson announced his own plan of Presidential Reconstruction in a Presidential Proclamation “Granting Amnesty to Participants in Rebellion, with Certain exceptions.”873 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Whereas the President of the United States, on the 8th day of December, A. D. 1863, and on the 26th day of March, A. D. 1864, did, with the object to suppress the existing rebellion, to induce all persons to return to their loyalty, and to restore the authority of the United States, issue proclamations offering amnesty and pardon to certain persons who had, directly or by implication, participated in the said rebellion; and 872 Loyal Publication Society, The Conditions of Reconstruction; in a Letter from Robert Dale Owen to the Secretary of State, August 27, 1863, (New York: Wm. C. Bryant & Co, Printers 1863), p. 3, https://archive.org/details/conditionsofrec00owen (accessed 11/5/2014) 873 Andrew Johnson: "Proclamation 134 - Granting Amnesty to Participants in the Rebellion, with Certain Exceptions," May 29, 1865. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72392 (accessed 10/15/2014) 181 Whereas many persons who had so engaged in said rebellion have, since the issuance of said proclamations, failed or neglected to take the benefits offered thereby; and Whereas many persons who have been justly deprived of all claim to amnesty and pardon thereunder by reason of their participation, directly or by implication, in said rebellion and continued hostility to the Government of the United States since the date of said proclamations now desire to apply for and obtain amnesty and pardon. To the end, therefore, that the authority of the Government of the United States may be restored and that peace, order, and freedom may be established, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do proclaim and declare that I hereby grant to all persons who have, directly or indirectly, participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves and except in cases where legal proceedings under the laws of the United States providing for the confiscation of property of persons engaged in rebellion have been instituted; but upon the condition, nevertheless, that every such person shall take and subscribe the following oath (or affirmation) and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate, and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit: I,_________,do solemnly swear (or affirm, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder, and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God. The following classes of persons are excepted from the benefits of this proclamation: First. All who are or shall have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers or otherwise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Confederate government. Second. All who left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion. Third. All who shall have been military or naval officers of said pretended Confederate government above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy. Fourth. All who left seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebellion. Fifth. All who resigned or tendered resignations of their commissions in the Army or Navy of the United States to evade duty in resisting the rebellion. Sixth. All who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war persons found in the United States service as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities. Seventh. All persons who have been or are absentees from the United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion. 182 Eighth. All military and naval officers in the rebel service who were educated by the Government in the Military Academy at West Point or the United States Naval Academy. Ninth. All persons who held the pretended offices of governors of States in insurrection against the United States. Tenth. All persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of the United States and passed beyond the Federal military lines into the pretended Confederate States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion. Eleventh. All persons who have been engaged in the destruction of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas and all persons who have made raids into the United States from Canada or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States upon the lakes and rivers that separate the British Provinces from the United States. Twelfth. All persons who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confinement or custody, or under bonds of the civil, military, or naval authorities or agents of the United States as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offenses of any kind, either before or after conviction. Thirteenth. All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion and the estimated value of whose taxable property is over $20,000. Fourteenth. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty as prescribed in the President's proclamation of December 8, A. D. 1863, or an oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States since the date of said proclamation and who have not thenceforward kept and maintained the same inviolate. Provided, That special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, and such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States. The Secretary of State will establish rules and regulations for administering and recording the said amnesty oath, so as to insure its benefit to the people and guard the Government against fraud. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, the 29th day of May, A. D. 1865, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President: 183 WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. The “interim Executive Congress,” as well as Citizenry, was furious with Johnson in his Reconstruction plan. The land that had been confiscated from Confederate plantation owners and given to the former slaves, “freedmen” which had been worked and planted by these people – the land, a means to take care of themselves – who were never paid wages for their labor throughout their tenure as slaves and had nowhere to go when emancipated was now returned to the treasonous, unrepentant Confederate plantation aristocracy by this Presidential Proclamation of amnesty. Johnson took full advantage while Congress was in recess and passed out pardons by the thousands.874 By September of 1865 hundreds of Presidential pardons were being issued in a single day to where special clerks had to be hired to keep up with the paperwork.875 Soon after there was scandal and outrage when President Johnson’s limited pardon policy had been violated and abandoned as evidenced and displayed in Southern States electing former Confederate officers to both State Legislatures and Congressional seats. On the first day of the congressional season, December 4, 1865, the Republicans in Congress banged shut the door in the face of the newly elected Southern delegations. More than sixty former Confederates arrived to take their seats in Congress, including four generals, four colonels and six Confederate cabinet officers.876 To add insult to injury there was Alexander Stephens, the former vice president of the Confederacy and who was still under indictment for treason.877 Public offices were overrun with the wealthy plantation owners, the former Slave Power who reestablished white supremacy and refused to extend the vote to black men. Perhaps one way of looking at it is that in seeking able representatives, the voters of the Southern States had turned instinctively to their experienced statesmen. It was a natural but costly blunder in that most of the Southern leaders were tainted by active association with the “Lost Cause.”878 Another viewpoint is that there was a nestled control of power amongst a select (oligarchic) group who manipulated precisely who would be sent to Congress. Congress had the delegated right to refuse the Southern delegates per Article 1, Section 5, Clause 1 of the Constitution: Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may 874 University of Virginia Miller Center, Andrew Johnson, http://millercenter.org/president/johnson/essays/biography/print (accessed 11/29/2014) 875 Pbs.org, American Experience, Reconstruction The Second Civil War, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/filmmore/pt.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 876 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Summary & Analysis" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/summary.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 877 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) p. 488 878 Wikipedia, Lost Cause of the Confederacy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cause_of_the_Confederacy (accessed 11/29/2014) 184 adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.879 Shmoop University, Inc., is a credible academic resource written by educators and experts from America's top universities, including Stanford, Harvard, and UC Berkeley.880 The Shmoop Editorial Team explains Article 1, Section 5, Clause 1: “This clause has two separate and seemingly unrelated parts. First, the House and the Senate are given the power to judge the qualifications of their own members. In the case of a disputed Senate election, for example, in which both candidates claim to have won the vote, it is ultimately up to the Senate itself to decide which candidate gets the seat. Second, a majority of either chamber's membership is required to be present to constitute a quorum. Congress can continue to conduct business with less than a quorum present, but any member can then issue a "quorum call," requiring either that a majority of the members actually show up or that the house takes a temporary adjournment.”881 The second point is also very important to bear in mind with regard to the subject of “quorum” in the houses of Congress. It was very clear that high-level Freemason President Johnson experienced a change of heart when he began showing support for white supremacy in the South and favored pro-Union Southern political leaders who had aided the Confederacy once war had been declared.882 Johnson’s change of heart also alienated Congress.883 Let us be reminded as stated in the previous chapter that on April 22, 1866 President Johnson pardoned fellow Freemason and Grand Master Mason Albert Pike who had been found guilty of treason and imprisoned. Quite interesting is that President Johnson met with Pike the very next day at the White House.884 Johnson received the (high-level) Scottish Rite degrees of Freemasonry at the White House in 1867.885 By November, 1865 Southern legislatures began drafting “Black Codes” in attempt to restore slavery in a more subtle form while also reestablishing white supremacy. These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting the freedom of the black American “freedmen” by compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt. President Johnson was supportive of the Southerners in this endeavor. 879 University of Chicago Press and the Liberty Fund, The Founders Constitution, Article 1, Section 5, Clauses 1, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/a1_5.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 880 Shmoop University, Inc., How to Cite Shmoop, http://www.shmoop.com/help/cite-shmoop/ 881 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Article 1, Section 5" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/constitution/article-1-section-5.html (accessed November 20, 2014). 882 Pbs.org, Richard Wormser, Jim Crow Stories, Reconstruction 1865-77, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_reconstruct.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 883 Ibid. 884 ThreeWorldWars.com, Who Was Albert Pike?, http://www.threeworldwars.com/albert-pike.htm (accessed 9/2/2014) 885 H. Paul Jeffers, Freemasons: A History and Exploration of the World’s Oldest Secret Society, (New York: Citadel Press Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., 2005), p. 105 185 On December 1, 1865, President Johnson had issued a Presidential Proclamation886 that revoked and annulled the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus,”887 in the Northern States as had previously been proclaimed by President Lincoln in ALL of the States; however, President Johnson “excepted” (excluded or omitted) the Southern States, the District of Columbia, and southwest Territory. The suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus continued in those areas of the country. Throughout the Reconstruction Era the law form moved further away from returning to a republican form of government and steadily toward a Democracy. The Southern States were NOT ABLE to reestablish State governments in republican form, nor did they have representation in Congress as “laws” were passed by a rump Congress, a VIOLATION of Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution. On December 6, 1865, President Johnson then announced that the rebellious States had satisfied his conditions and that in his view the Union was now restored.888 He declared the reconstruction process complete. Infuriated at his ignorance in many regards, Radical Republicans in Congress refused to recognize new governments in Southern States. Johnson continued the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Southern States and yet began pulling Union Army troops in the South from the one million Union soldiers the previous May down to where there were only 152,000. Southern towns and cities began to experience a large influx of freedmen. The black populations of the ten largest cities in the South doubled over the next five years.889 Bearing in mind Johnson’s support of white supremacy in the South and favoring pro-Union Southern political leaders who had aided the Confederacy once war had been declared,890 it adds to the intrigue in learning that certain high-level Freemasons were used to stifle the capture of John H. Surratt, coconspirator to the assassination of President Lincoln. One of them was President Andrew Johnson, and another avid Freemason, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. 891 With the knowledge that Surratt was in Liverpool, England, Stanton’s War Department refused to make the least attempt to arrest him. A few weeks later President Johnson revoked the reward for the arrest of Surratt, greatly increasing the assassin’s chances to escape.892 Secretly, Johnson served the Jesuits by working with his Masonic brethren who protected Lincoln’s assassin in obedience to their master, Grand Master Mason Albert 886 Andrew Johnson: "Proclamation 148 - Revoking the Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Except in Certain States and Territories," December 1, 1865. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72046 (accessed 11/29/2014) 887 Abraham Lincoln: "Proclamation 94 - Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus," September 24, 1862. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69783 (accessed 11/29/2014) 888 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) p. 488 889 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Timeline of Important Dates" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/timeline.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 890 Pbs.org, Richard Wormser, Jim Crow Stories, Reconstruction 1865-77, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_reconstruct.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 891 Steven Hager, Is Simon Wolf a key to the Lincoln assassination?, http://stevenhager420.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/is-simon-wolf-a-key-to-the-lincoln-assassination/ (accessed 11/29/2014) 892 Eric Jon Phelps, Vatican Assassins, (Eric Jon Phelps, PO Box 306, Newmanstown, PA 17073) (2001), p. 359, 391, 359 186 Pike.893 As previously stated, Pike is “credited” on the website of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry world headquarters at Washington, D.C. with a revival of the organization during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War.894 On December 13, 1865, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction was established after both houses of Congress agreed to establish a joint committee of 15 members – nine from the House of Representatives and six from the Senate.895 It was created “to inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and report whether they or any of them are entitled to be represented in either house of Congress…”896 This committee divided into four subcommittees to hear testimony and gather evidence pertaining to the situation and status in each of the four Military Districts in the South. On December 18, 1865 the (non-original) Thirteenth Amendment897 was (unlawfully) ratified by both houses of the rump “interim Executive Congress” and which prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude. At this same time a terrorist group was formed primarily composed of Confederate Army veterans organized to intimidate blacks and other ethnic and religious minorities. They were referred to as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The group first met in Pulaski, Tennessee. The KKK is the first of many secret terrorist organizations who were organized in the South for the purpose of reestablishing white authority.898 There is no question that Masonry was an influence in the Klan’s structure after the Civil War.899 In February, 1866 a black delegation led by Frederick Douglass met with President Johnson at the White House to advocate black suffrage. The President expressed his opposition and the meeting ended in controversy.900 This same month Johnson vetoed a Bill (later repassed) extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau. 893 Ibid., p. 352 The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Supreme Council, 33o Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., Grand Staircase, http://scottishrite.org/headquarters/virtual-tour/grand-staircase/ (accessed 9/25/2014) 895 Wikipedia, United States Congress Joint Committee on Reconstruction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress_Joint_Committee_on_Reconstruction (accessed 11/29/2014) 896 TheUSConstitution.org, Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction., http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/briefs/Report_of_the_Joint_Committee_on_Reconstruction.pdf (accessed 11/29/2014) 897 Wikipedia, Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution (accessed 11/29/2014) 898 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Timeline of Important Dates" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/timeline.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 899 H. Paul Jeffers, Freemasons: A History and Exploration of the World’s Oldest Secret Society, (New York: Citadel Press Books Kensington Publishing Corp., 2005), p. 106 900 TheUSConstitution.org, Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction., http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/briefs/Report_of_the_Joint_Committee_on_Reconstruction.pdf (accessed 11/29/2014) 894 187 On April 9, 1866 the “interim Executive Congress” passed the Civil Rights Bill over President Johnson’s veto the previous month.901 Johnson objected to the Bill stating that black people did not deserve to become Citizens, and if they were given Citizenship it would discriminate against the white race. Johnson had also expressed concern that both the Civil Rights Bill and the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill would centralize power at the Federal level, thus depriving States of the authority to govern their own affairs. Where this is viewed as a typical prewar States’ Rights philosophy, we now understand another aspect of concern of the centralized Federal powers (big government) created in this Era.902 In May 1866 there were three days of racial violence rages in Memphis, Tennessee where white mobs destroyed hundreds of homes, churches, and schools in the black community. Five black women were raped, at least 46 black people most of whom were Union veterans were killed and more than 70 were wounded. Two whites also died in the riots. 903 On June 20, 1866 the Joint Committee on Reconstruction issued a Report which was signed by twelve of its Republican members. The Report was widely circulated and the American people were provided the means to view the facts which placed a serious challenge on the integrity of President Johnson and his views, as well as surmise the investigated conclusions arrived at by the Congressional Committee.904 Also in June, 1866, Republicans in Congress proposed the Fourteenth Amendment to rivet the principles of the Civil Rights Bill into the Constitution. They feared that the Southerners might one day gain control of Congress and repeal the Civil Rights law that the Southerners hated. The (interim Executive) Congress sent the Amendment to the States who gave a sweeping positive response. The Republicans agreed that no State should be welcomed back into the Union without first ratifying the (unlawful) Fourteenth Amendment. President Johnson advised the Southern States to reject it. 905 In July, 1866 Tennessee was the first former Confederate State to be readmitted to the Union. Around that same time the New Orleans Massacre, also known as the New Orleans Race Riot, occurred. While the riot was typical of numerous racial conflicts in this Era, this incident had special significance. It spurred national opposition to the more than moderate Reconstruction policies of President Johnson and propelled a far more reaching Congressional Reconstruction in 1867. 906 The riot took place as black and white delegates attended the Louisiana Constitutional Convention. The Convention had reconvened because the Louisiana State Legislature had recently passed the Black Codes and refused to extend voting rights to black men. The mayor, who had headed city government 901 Pbs.org, American Experience, Reconstruction The Second Civil War, The 1866 Civil Rights Act, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/activism/ps_1866.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 902 Ibid. 903 Digital History, America’s Reconstruction, People and Politics After the Civil War, The Meaning of Freedom, Black and White Responses to the End of Slavery, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/section2/section2_33.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 904 TheUSConstitution.org, Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction., http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/briefs/Report_of_the_Joint_Committee_on_Reconstruction.pdf (accessed 11/29/2014) 905 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) p. 489 906 BlackPast.org, New Orleans Massacre, http://www.blackpast.org/aah/new-orleans-massacre-1866 (accessed 11/29/2014) 188 before the Civil War and had been an active supporter of the Confederacy, was reinstated as acting mayor. As a delegation of 130 black New Orleans residents marched behind the U.S. flag toward the Convention, the mayor led an organized mob of ex-Confederates, white supremacists, and members of the New Orleans police to block their way. With intention to prevent the delegates from meeting, the mayor claimed their intent was to put down any unrest that may come from the Convention. Having reached the Convention, the police and white mob members attacked the delegates. It was an enflamed mess to where by the end of the massacre; at least 200 black Union war veterans were killed including 40 delegates at the Convention. Altogether 238 people were killed and 46 were wounded.907 Because of the riots and violence, angry Northerners were compelled to help the Republican Party take control of both houses of Congress in the elections (in the North only) of 1866. In that same month, July, 1866 both houses of (the interim Executive) Congress passed a Bill to extend the Freedmen’s Bureau in response to the Southern Black Codes, the terrorism of the KKK, as well as other groups who were taking guns away from freedmen. President Johnson vetoed the Bill which increased hostility between him and the Radical Republicans; Congress overrode the veto. The Freedmen's Bureau Bill provided many additional rights to ex-slaves, including the distribution of land, schools for their children, and military courts to ensure these rights. The Freedmen's Bureau Act made provision for ex-slaves to be entitled to "any of the civil rights or immunities belonging to white persons, including the right to...inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property, and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and estate, including the constitutional right of bearing arms."908 During this time of severe upheaval in the South, President Johnson further demobilized Union army troops to where there were only 38,000 by autumn. More than half of the troops stationed in areas such as Louisiana were black.909 President Johnson ignored Constitutional law and specifically Article IV Section 4 in guaranteeing every State in the Union protection against domestic violence. The battle between President Johnson and the (interim executive) Congress grew until the Congressional elections of 1866 (in the North only), when the Radicals gained House majority and took control of policy, removed former Confederates from power, and began to liberate the freedmen. We again point out that this was not a Constitutional Congress, or a lawful deliberative body under the Constitution. Likewise, we see desperate Congressional members who were well aware of a high-level Freemason as President and Commander-in-Chief, were intimately apprised of the evils of Freemasonry as well as their agenda in infiltrating the government at all levels. They were also well aware of a new and substantially ornate Freemason Temple being built in the Nation’s capital, like an in-your-face statement of intentions. They also fully understood that if the Freemason Confederate 907 Ibid. Wikipedia, Freedmen’s Bureau bills, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedmen's_Bureau_bills (accessed 11/29/2014) 909 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Reconstruction Timeline of Important Dates" Shmoop University, Inc. 11 November 2008. http://www.shmoop.com/reconstruction/timeline.html (accessed November 5, 2014). 908 189 rebels were to fill Congressional vacant seats, they would lose the legislative balance of power “to the devil.” The Radicals were still opposed to rapid restoration of the Southern States and wanted to keep them out as long as possible while applying federal power to bring about a drastic social and economic transformation in the South. Moderate Republicans in Congress were more in-tune with the timehonored principles of States’ Rights and self-government. They preferred policies that restrained the States from abridging Citizens’ rights rather than those that directly involved Federal Government in individual lives. Both schools of thought influenced actual policies adopted. By 1867, both groups came to agree on the necessity to enfranchise black voters even if it took federal troops to do it.910 The result of the 1866 elections was significant in the early Reconstruction Era as high-level Freemason President Andrew Johnson battled in bitter dispute over the conditions of Reconstruction with the hardline anti-slavery (and former Anti-Masonic Party911) Congressmen within the “Radicals” of the Republican Party. Because Johnson was the only Southern Senator that stayed seated in Congress and supported the Union during the Civil War, it was thought that Andrew Johnson was a Radical when he became president in 1865. He displayed a very apparent change of heart and he soon became their leading opponent. Johnson held partiality toward his Freemason brethren a/k/a/ Confederate plantation owners/white aristocracy in the South while Radical Republicans wanted to continue the military occupation of the South in order to force the Southern States to give the newly freed slaves civil rights along with the right to vote. Because Republicans had attained the House majority (assuming themselves to be a lawful Congress or deliberative body in the midst of the desperate struggle to save the Union), enough seats were captured to override Johnson's vetoes. Understanding that the Congressional elections of 1866 (in the North only) enabled the Radical Republicans to dominate the Congress, let’s take a look at who some of them were as well as some background. U.S. Senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874) of Massachusetts 912 was an academic lawyer and a powerful orator. Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and one of the most influential leaders of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the Civil War while working to destroy the Confederacy, abolish slavery, and at the same time keep on good terms with Europe. During Reconstruction, he worked to minimize the power of the exConfederates while he sought to guarantee equal rights to the freedmen. Earlier in Sumner’s political career he had been a Whig, Free Soiler, and a Democrat, and finally had gained fame as a Republican. He devoted immense effort toward the destruction of the Slave Power, the efforts of slave owners to take control of the Federal Government which would ensure the continuation and expansion of slavery. In 1856, (Democratic) South Carolina U.S. Representative Preston Brooks nearly killed Sumner on the Senate floor while beating Sumner with his cane two days after Sumner delivered an intense anti-slavery speech called "The Crime 910 Kennedy, Cohen, Baily, The American Pageant Volume I: To 1877, (Boston, Wadsworth, 2010) pp. 491-492 Wikipedia, Anti-Masonic Party, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Masonic_Party (accessed 11/29/2014) 912 Wikipedia, Charles Sumner, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner (accessed 11/29/2014) 911 190 Against Kansas." In the speech, Sumner described Brooks’ cousin, U.S. Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina, as a pimp for slavery. During the war Sumner was a leader of the Radical Republican faction that criticized President Lincoln for being too lenient on the Southern States. An accomplished statesman, he specialized in foreign affairs and worked closely with President Lincoln to prevent the British and the French from intervening on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Sumner's expertise and energy made him a powerful chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. As the chief Radical leader in the Senate during Reconstruction, Sumner worked hard to provide equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen on the grounds that "consent of the governed" was a basic principle of American republicanism, and to block ex-Confederates from power so they would not reverse the North's victory in the Civil War. Sumner teamed with the House of Representatives leader Thaddeus Stevens and battled President Andrew Johnson's reconstruction plans while seeking to impose a Radical program on the South. U.S. Representative Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) of Pennsylvania913 was one of the most influential leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against black people, Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the Civil War, he was instrumental in making provision for the war's financing. Stevens was born in poverty in rural Vermont, with one leg crippled by a clubfoot. On top of these challenges, his alcoholic father had abandoned his family. As a young man he moved to Pennsylvania and quickly became a successful lawyer. Finding an interest in municipal affairs, Stevens then entered politics. He became a strong advocate of free public education while serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He joined the Whig Party, and was elected to Congress in 1848. He was not popular because of his activities in opposition to slavery, therefore he did not seek reelection in 1852. After a brief alliance with the Know-Nothing Party, Stevens joined the newly formed Republican Party, and was elected to Congress again in 1858. Along with fellow Radicals such as Senator Charles Sumner, he opposed the expansion of slavery and other Southern States’ views. Stevens pushed for emancipation throughout the war and vocalized frustration related to President Lincoln’s lenience toward Southern States. He guided the government's financial legislation as chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. As the war progressed towards a Union victory, Stevens held that the freedmen should be provided for through the confiscation of planation owners’ land. Moderate Republicans were not always supportive of Stevens’ views. Stevens held conflict with President Johnson, who sought rapid restoration of the seceded States without guarantees for freedmen. The difference in views caused an ongoing battle between Johnson and Congress, with Stevens leading the Radical Republicans. After the 1866 election (in the North only) empowered Republicans in the (interim executive) Congress, the Radicals took control of Reconstruction away from Johnson. Stevens' last great battle was to secure articles of 913 Wikipedia, Thaddeus Stevens, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_Stevens (accessed 11/29/2014) 191 impeachment in the House against Johnson, though the Senate’s decision was one vote short of convicting the President. Stevens's first political cause was Anti-Masonry, which became widespread in 1826 after the disappearance and murder of William Morgan, a former Freemason in Upstate New York; former fellow Freemasons assassinated Morgan because of his publishing a book revealing the order's secret rites. Stevens had been told by fellow attorney (and future president) James Buchanan that he could advance politically if he joined Freemasonry. Some historians may speculate that a reason Stevens may have opposed Freemasonry as well as politicians who were Masons, was because Freeasonry barred "cripples" from joining and Stevens was born with a club foot. Stevens took to Anti-Masonry with enthusiasm, and remained loyal to it even after most others had dropped the cause. By 1829, Anti-Masonry had evolved into a political party that proved popular. Stevens quickly became prominent in the movement, attending the party's first two national conventions in 1830 and 1831. In September 1833, Stevens was elected to a one-year term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as an Anti-Mason, and once in Harrisburg sought to have the body establish a committee to investigate Freemasonry. Stevens gained attention far beyond Pennsylvania for his oratory against Masonry, and also quickly became expert in legislative maneuvers. In 1835, a split among the Democrats put the Anti-Masons in control of the legislature. Granted subpoena powers, Stevens summoned leading state politicians who were Freemasons, including Governor George Wolf. The witnesses invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and when Stevens verbally abused one of them, it created a backlash that caused his own party to end the investigation. The quarrel cost Stevens reelection in 1836, and the issue of Anti-Masonry died in Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, STEVENS REMAINED AN OPPONENT OF FREEMASONRY FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. The subject of the Anti-Masonic Party and how it came into being, as well as a wonderful revelation into the spiritual heartbeat of America that brought about the Second Great Awakening will be presented in the Light of truth and come together like pieces of a puzzle. We will see a physical manifestation of two spiritual kingdoms clash on earth – the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of Hell. We will recall that just as Almighty God has a people, Lucifer/Satan has a people. While all that pertains to Heaven operates in the Light, all that pertains to Hell operates in darkness and deception while crafting its evil deeds. John 8:44 ESV ~ You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 192 John 3:20 ~ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. When the people of Almighty God proclaim the sovereignty of God and expose the people of Lucifer/Satan as well as their deeds done in darkness, the principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places are brought into the Light and pulled down from power. Ephesians 6:12 ~ For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 5:11 (AMP) ~ Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them. Then a move of God’s Holy Spirit is released on the earth, the veil914 to the spiritual is pulled back allowing men to have eyes to see. What is seen is enough to cause them to repent, return to Almighty God, and Heaven moves on earth while the Supreme Judge of the world destroys His peoples’ enemies. 2 Corinthians 3: 14-18 ~ But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 ~ Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. John 8:32 ESV ~ And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 914 2 Corinthians 3:16 193 Romans 2:16 ~ On that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Just as the early Americans proclaimed “No king by King Jesus,”915 when declaration is made and voice given to the Word of God, who is the son of God, Jesus,916 the angels respond917 in all places of His dominion. When the Name of the Lord is sanctified amongst a repentant people who acknowledge and call upon Him,918 He will respond and do great and mighty things.919 As we consider the facts of this chapter along with the next, let us view the pieces of the puzzle in the Light of truth, see how they fit together, and understand the picture. We will be amazed as our minds are enlightened with a greater picture that pertains to the Truth in where we are today. Where truth seems stranger than fiction,920 it is reality as well as the key to Liberty921 and America’s prophetic destiny. We continue… The Anti-Masonic Party,922 also known as the Anti-Masonic Movement, was started in 1826 to protest the official cover-up of the murder of William Morgan,923 a defecting Freemason in western New York. Anti-masonry became the nation's first powerful “third party.” Anti-masons held that Freemasonry was a dangerous and powerful secret society that privileged its members legally, politically, and economically over all non-members by controlling government at all levels. Anti-masons called on constituents to restore Constitutional self-government by being resolved in voting-out Freemasons from elected office and seeking to have State laws passed that would declare the fraternity to be illegal. The movement spread like wild-fire as Anti-masons provided a credible explanation why government seemed unresponsive to popular demands. Freemasonry was exposed as having infiltrated the republican form of governance at all levels and sought control acting like an “oligarchic shadow government.” It expanded by rewarding its members with government positions and other (unconstitutional) benefits. The Anti-Masonic Party was founded on the fundamental principle that no man, or group of men, was above the law.924 As negative views of Freemasonry among the public began to diminish in the late 1830s, most members of the Anti-Masonic Party joined the Whigs, the party most in line with its views on other issues. 915 Cushing Strout, The New Heavens and the New Earth, (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), p. 59 John 1:14 917 Psalm 103:20 918 Ezekiel 43:7-9 919 Jeremiah 33:3 920 The Phrase Finder, The meaning and origin of the expression: Truth is stranger than fiction, http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/truth-is-stranger-than-fiction.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 921 John 8:32 922 Wikipedia, Anti-Masonic Party, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Masonic_Party (accessed 11/29/2014) 923 Wikipedia, William Morgan (anti-Mason), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morgan_(antiMason)#Book_on_Freemasonry (accessed 11/29/2014) 924 Northern Illinois University Libraries, Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, Michael F. Holt, Ph.D., The Antimasonic Party, http://dig.lib.niu.edu/message/ps-antimasonic.html (accessed 11/29/2014) 916 194 Although lasting only a decade, the Anti-Masonic Party introduced important innovations to American politics, such as nominating conventions and the adoption of party platforms.925 Just a few more of some of the leading members of the Radical Republicans:926 U.S. Senate president pro tempore Benjamin Wade (1800-1878) of Ohio 927 was a U.S. Senator during Civil War reconstruction known for his leading role among the Radical Republicans. Senator Wade was a Whig before the Republican Party had been formed. Had the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868 led to a conviction at trial in the Senate, he would have become the 18th President of the United States. U.S. Representative George Julian (1817-1899) of Indiana928 was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer and writer who served in Congress from Indiana. He was one of the leading opponents of slavery in politics before the war, had been a Whig before becoming the Free Soil Party's candidate for vice president in 1852, and a noted Radical Republican during the Civil War and Reconstruction. U.S. Representative John Armor Bingham (1815- 1900) of Ohio929 had been judge advocate in the trial of the President Lincoln’s assassinators and a prosecutor in the impeachment trials of Andrew Johnson. He was also the principal framer of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Rep. Bingham was a member of the Opposition Party930 which was made-up of former Whigs and Know-Nothing Party members, before he became a member of the Republican Party. U.S. Representative Henry Winter Davis (1817-1865) of Maryland931 Early held strong antislavery views, though by inheritance he was himself a slave holder. He began political life as a Whig. After the Whig Party disintegrated, he became a member of the Know Nothing Party, and served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1855 to 1861. By his independent course in Congress he won the respect and esteem of all political groups. Davis was a Radical Republican and bitter opponent of Lincoln's plan for the Reconstruction of the Southern States, which he thought too lenient. In viewing the birth year of the individuals, one could reason that Rep. Thaddeus Stevens was the only one of age and in politics in the era of the Anti-Masonic Party. By the time the others came along the Anti-Masonic Party had dissolved and its members absorbed into the Whig Party. 925 Wikipedia, Anti-Masonic Party, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Masonic_Party (accessed 11/29/2014) Wikipedia, Radical Republican, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Republican (accessed 11/29/2014) 927 Wikipedia, Benjamin Wade, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wade (accessed 11/29/2014) 928 Wikipedia, George Washington Julian, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Julian (accessed 11/29/2014) 929 Wikipedia, John Bingham, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bingham (accessed 11/29/2014) 930 Wikipedia, Opposition Party (United States), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_Party_(United_States) (accessed 11/29/2014) 931 Wikipedia, Henry Winter Davis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Winter_Davis (accessed 11/29/2014) 926 195 It serves us well to also mention that Secretary of State William H. Seward under President Abraham Lincoln and then succeeding President Andrew Johnson was part of the Anti-Masonic Party before becoming a Whig and then a Republican. We will remember the traumatic assassination attempt on his life at the same time as the assassination of President Lincoln. A Tree is Known By Its Fruit For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. ~ Luke 6:43-45 196