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Preparing for Reconstruction Following the End of Fighting The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States What it says: Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. What it means: In 1863, based on his war powers (see Article II, Section 2), President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves held within any designated state and part of a state in rebellion against the United States. The Proclamation provided “all persons held as slaves… are, and henceforth shall be free….” Because the Proclamation did not address slaves held in Northern states, there were questions about its validity. Following the end of the fighting on February 1, 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment and forwarded it to the states, It was ratified on December 18, 1865. The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of three Reconstruction era amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth) that eliminated slavery, guaranteed due process, equal protection and voting rights to all Americans. By its adoption, Congress intended the Thirteenth Amendment to take the question of emancipation away from politics. The Supreme Court found in In Re Slaughter-House Cases, that the “word servitude is of larger meaning than slavery… and the obvious purpose was to forbid all shades and conditions of African slavery.” Although some may have questioned whether persons other than African Americans could share in the amendment’s protection, the Court held that the amendment “forbids any other kind of slavery, now or hereafter. If Mexican peonage [the practice of forcing someone to work against one’s will to pay off a debt] or the Chinese coolie labor system shall develop slavery of the Mexican or Chinese race within our territory, this amendment may safely be trusted to make it void.” In more recent cases, the Supreme Court has defined involuntary servitude broadly to forbid work forced by the use or threat of physical restraint or injury or through law. But the Supreme Court has rejected claims that define mandatory community service, taxation, and the draft as involuntary servitude. Ref.: The Founding Fathers and Justicelearning.org The March Toward Reconstruction On April 4, 1864 President Lincoln began to draw plans for Thirteenth Amendment and Reconstruction. When submitted to the House of Representatives in June of 1864. Lincoln wanted have some action in early 1865, before the newly elected members of the election of 1864 took office. In January of 1865 the subject was again raised. In the interim some Democrats changed their votes. On the morning of January 31st, 1865 a vote was taken and the 1 measure passed by a 119 to 56 margin. In celebration the Congress adjourned for the remainder of the day. New Jersey, Kentucky and Delaware did not ratify the amendment at the time. Later Tennessee and Louisiana voted to ratify the amendment. It took the votes of former Confederate states to provide the 3/4s needed for approval. Kentucky remained a holdout until Before the official ratification of the Amendment there were early signs of change. On November 1st, 1864 Maryland voted to abolish slavery. On January 11, 1865 Missouri also abolished slavery. On March 3rd of that year all wives and children of black soldiers who were serving with the U.S.C.T. were freed. Also, in that year the first social event that hosted blacks in the White House was held. The repeal of a 1810 law forbidding blacks to carry the mail was enacted. Many other “Black Laws” were repealed during the period and in a landmark occasion John Rock was admitted as a lawyer to appear before the Supreme Court. One of the ‘Black Laws” repealed now gave Black people the right to testify in federal courts. John Rock (1825 - 1866) The first African American to be admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, was a teacher, a physician, a lawyer, and a freedom-fighter. With a burning desire to learn, John Rock was destined to become one of the most educated people of his day. He was born of free parents in Salem, New Jersey on October 13, 1825, in a time when few whites finished grammar school and it was illegal in many states for African Americans to learn to read. He was a studious child, and even though his parents were of modest means, they encouraged him and provided for his formal education. In 1844, at the age of 19, he had completed sufficient schooling to become a teacher. Teaching in a one-room school in Salem, his work was impressive, and the praise given him by veteran teachers caught the attention of two local doctors. In 1848, they loaned Rock their books so he could study dentistry. A tireless worker, he would teach school for six hours, tutor private students for two hours, and then study dentistry for eight hours each day. In 1850, Rock opened a dental office in Philadelphia and a year later won a silver medal for his work. In 1852, he began attending lectures at the American Medical College and, at the age of 27, was one of the first African Americans to receive a medical degree. Devoted to the abolitionist cause, Rock was known for his inspiring public speeches, but 2 he found himself increasingly frustrated by the laws of his day. In 1860, he gave up his medical practice and moved to Boston to study law. His decision to become a lawyer occurred soon after one of the most infamous rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, known as the Dred Scott decision. Dred Scott (1795?-1858) was a slave who had sued for his liberty after spending four years with his master in a territory where slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The resulting decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 7, 1857, declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, essentially denying that African Americans have any rights and sanctioning their continued oppression. As a legal scholar, Rock distinguished himself and was sponsored by a white lawyer before the Superior Court of Massachusetts in Boston on September 14, 1861. He passed his examinations with ease and was admitted the same day to practice in all the courts of Massachusetts. He soon opened an office in Boston and became a justice of the peace. As the Civil War began in 1861, Rock intensified his efforts to fight for racial equality. In his speeches, he demanded the same “equal opportunities and equal rights our brave men are fighting for.” He successfully lobbied Congress to get equal pay for black troops. The first African American to be received on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rock was on his way home to Boston when he was arrested at the Washington, D.C. railroad station for not having the pass that blacks were often required to carry. The incident allegedly prompted U.S. Representative James Abram Garfield, who later became president, to abolish the use of passes for black people. In 1864, Rock wrote to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts requesting his help in becoming admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Senator Sumner replied that nothing could be done as long as Roger B. Taney, who wrote the Dred Scott decision, was still chief justice. When Taney died, Lincoln replaced him with an abolitionist, Salmon P. Chase. On February 1, 1865, Congress approved the 13th Amendment ending slavery. Soon afterwards, Rock was ushered into the U.S. Supreme Court and took the oath admitting him to that court. A reporter for the New York Times dramatically described the scene as the African American lawyer stood, in the monarchial power of recognized American Manhood and American Citizenship, within the bar of the court which had [just eight years earlier] solemnly pronounced that black men had no rights which white men were bound to respect; stood there a recognized member of it, professionally the brother of the distinguished counselors on its long rolls, in rights their equal, in the standing which rank gives their peer. By Jupiter, the sight was grand. John Rock died on December 3, 1866, just a few months before Congress would pass the Civil Rights Act of 1867, the first law to embody the rights for which he had struggled so long. A Freemason, he was buried with full Masonic honors at the age of 41. 3 Acknowledgements: Permission to use the above image of John Rock was granted by: Photographs and Prints Division Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The New York Public Library Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations This image first appeared in Harpers Weekly, February 25, 1864, p. 124. Photo of John H. Rock. Wood engravings. [photographer credit: Richards, Philadelphia] This story about John Rock is based on an article by Richard L. Nygaard, a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The article appeared originally in the journal Experience and was reprinted in the ABA publication Law Day Stories. Other sources include Black Facts Online and the National Park Service Boston African American National Historic Site. In the Confederate South In the Confederate South a great deal of discussion was taking place as to whether or not blacks should be allowed to serve in the Army. Early in the war in 1861 a number of blacks offered to serve with the Confederates but were turned down. However, on January 2, 1864 Major General Patrick Cleburne nicknamed “The Stonewall Jackson of the West” (One of the most brilliant episodes of the Atlanta campaign of 1864 was Cleburne's victory at Pickett's mill over Howard's corps of Sherman's army. In the awful carnage at Franklin, November 30, 1864, Cleburne, the "Stonewall Jackson of the West," gave his last battle order. Within twenty paces of the Union line, pierced by three wounds, he fell, and on the battlefield expired. His death was a disheartening blow to the army of Tennessee, and was mourned throughout the whole South.) proposed that blacks be allowed to enlist in the Confederate Army. This set off a discussion within the halls of the Confederacy. General’s Robert E. Lee had recommended this to Jefferson Davis in 1861 and General Richard S. Ewell had made the suggestion in July 1862. (After serving at First Bull Run he commanded a division under Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign where he complained bitterly about being left in the dark about plans. Jackson's style of leadership was to prove the undoing of Ewell once Jackson was gone. Ewell fought through the Seven Days and at Cedar Mountain before being severely wounded and losing a leg at Groveton, in the beginning of the battle of 2nd Bull Run. After a long recovery, he returned to duty in May 1863 and was promoted to command part of Jackson's old corps. At 2nd Winchester he won a stunning victory and for a moment it looked like a second Stonewall had come. However, at Gettysburg he failed to take advantage of the situation on the evening of the first day when given discretionary orders by Lee. He required exact instructions, unlike his predecessor. After serving through the fall campaigns he fought at the Wilderness where the same problem developed. At Spotsylvania one of his divisions was all but destroyed. After the actions along the North Anna he was forced to temporarily relinquish command due to illness but Lee made it permanent. He was given command in Richmond and was captured at Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865, during the retreat to Appomattox. After his release from Fort Warren in July "Old Baldy" retired to a farm near Spring Hill, 4 Tennessee, where he died on January 25, 1872. He is buried in the Old City Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.) During the period of discussion Alabama recommended the enlistment of blacks. On November 7, 1864 Confederate President Jeff Davis recommended “limited emancipation” of those slaves who fought with the Confederate Army and General Order No, 14 was issued on March 23, 1865 authorizing the enlistment of slaves. Although now General of The Confederate Army, Robert E. Lee suggested that such service should result in emancipation. It was not promised. ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, Richmond, Va., March 23, 1865. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 14. I. The following act of Congress and regulations are published for the information and direction of all concerned: AN ACT to increase the military force of the Confederate States. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That, in order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their independence, and preserve their institutions, the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of slaves, the services of such number of able-bodied negro men as he may deem expedient, for and during the war, to perform military service in whatever capacity he may direct. SEC 2. That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the said slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the President may appoint. SEC 3. That while employed in the service the said troops shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are allowed to other troops in the same branch of the service. SEC 4. That if, under the previous sections of this act, the President shall not be able to raise a sufficient number of troops to prosecute the war successfully and maintain the sovereignty of the States and the independence of the Confederate States, then he is hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it expedient, for her quota of 300,000 troops, in addition to those subject to military service under existing laws, or so many thereof as the President may deem necessary to be raised from such classes of the population, irrespective of color, in each State, as the proper authorities thereof may determine: Provided, That not more than twenty-five per cent. of the male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, in any State, shall be called for under the provisions of this act. 5 SEC 5. That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation which the said slaves shall bear toward their owners, except by consent of the owners and of the States in which they may reside, and in pursuance of the laws thereof. Approved March 13, 1865. II. The recruiting service under this act will be conducted under the supervision of the Adjutant and Inspector General, according to the regulations for the recruiting service of the Regular Army, in so far as they are applicable, and except when special directions may be given by the War Department. III. There will be assigned or appointed for each State an officer who will be charged with the collection, enrollment, and disposition of all the recruits that may be obtained under the first section of this act. One or more general depots will be established in each State and announced in orders, and a suitable number of officers will be detailed for duty in the staff departments at the depots. There will be assigned at each general depot a quartermaster, commissary, and surgeon, and the headquarters of the superintendent will be at the principal depot in the State. The proper officers to aid the superintendent in enlisting, mustering, and organizing the recruits will be assigned by orders from this office or by the General-in-Chief. IV. The enlistment of colored persons under this act will be made upon printed forms, to be furnished for the purpose, similar to those established for the regular service. They will be executed in duplicate, one copy to be returned to this office for file. No slave will be accepted as a recruit unless with his own consent and with the approbation of his master by a written instrument conferring, as far as he may, the rights of a freedman, and which will be filed with the superintendent. The enlistments will be made for the war, and the effect of the enlistment will be to place the slave in the military service conformably to this act. The recruits will be organized at the camps in squads and companies, and will be subject to the order of the General-in-Chief under the second section of this act. V. The superintendent in each State will cause a report to be made on the first Monday of every month showing the expenses of the previous month, the number of recruits at the various depots in the State, the number that has been sent away, and the destination of each. His report will show the names of all the slaves recruited, with their age, description, and the names of their masters. One copy will be sent to the Generalin-Chief and one to the adjutant and Inspector General. VI. The appointment of officers to the companies to be formed of the recruits aforesaid will be made by the President. VII. To facilitate the raising of volunteer companies, officers recruiting therefor are authorized to muster their men into service as soon as enrolled. As soon as enrolled and mustered, the men will be sent, with descriptive lists, to the depots of rendezvous, at which they will be instructed until assigned for service in the field. When the 6 organization of any company remains incomplete at the expiration of the time specified for its organization, the companies or detachments already mustered into service will be assigned to other organizations at the discretion of the General-in-Chief. VIII. It is not the intention of the President to grant any authority for raising regiments or brigades. The only organizations to be perfected at the depots or camps of instructions are those of companies and (in exceptional cases where the slaves are of one estate) of battalions consisting of four companies, and the only authority to be issued will be for the raising of companies or the aforesaid special battalions of four companies. All larger organizations will be left for future action as experience may determine. IX. All officers who may be employed in the recruiting service, under the provisions of this act, or who may be appointed to the command of troops raised under it, or who may hold any staff appointment in connection with them, are enjoined to a provident, considerate, and humane attention to whatever concerns the health, comfort, instruction, and discipline of those troops, and to the uniform observance of kindness, forbearance, and indulgence to their treatment of them, and especially that they will protect them from injustice and oppression. By order: S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General. Ref: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compendium of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols. (Washington, 1880-1901), ser. 4, vol. 3, pp. 116162. Early Reconstruction (Wartime Reconstruction) The question of whom or what group would control reconstruction arose as the forces of the North began to meet with success on the battlefields. What would be involved? What acts would be taken by the North to be granted to the South? Lincoln wanted to control the process through presidential proclamations, pardons and Executive Orders. Congress wanted to control the process through legislation. During the summer of 1863, President Lincoln began to formulate plans and those plans were presented in December of that year. The Power of Presidential Pardon was the basis of his plan. The executive authority is given to the president of the United States by Article II of the Constitution to carry out the duties of the office. Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution provides that the "executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States," making the president the head of the Executive Branch of the federal government. Sections 2 and 3 enumerate specific 7 powers granted to the president, which include the authority to appoint judges, ambassadors, and other high-ranking government officials; Veto legislation; call Congress into special session; grant pardons; issue proclamations and orders; administer the law; and serve as commander in chief of the armed forces. Article II gives the president authority to recommend measures for congressional consideration. Pursuant to this authority, presidents submit budgets, propose bills, and recommend other action to be taken by Congress. Under the powers of this Article Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction 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 offences 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 well-established 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 re-inaugurate 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 8 property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take 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 Confederate 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 of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, 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 re-establish a state government which shall be republican, and in nowise contravening 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 guaranty 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 cannot 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 9 a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National Executive. 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 reëstablished 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 eighth day of December, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. Ref.: U.S., Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol. 13 (Boston, 1866), pp. 737-39. Brief Explanation: Swear allegiance to the United States – full pardon Swear to accept all laws of the United States re: slavery and emancipation; offered to general population. High level civilian officials and high level military officers not covered by this amnesty. Would go into effect when 10% (based on the 1863 population) accepted the Proclamation. At such time the State could establish a government. States would be allowed to establish labor laws. Confiscated property except slaves would be returned to their owners. 10 The plan applied immediately to areas under Union Military control in December 1863. Large parts of Louisiana and Arkansas, key areas of Virginia and Mississippi, and most of Tennessee, qualified. Under the proclamation there would be some states who would be immediate losers, but Lincoln hoped that many members of the old Whig Party would accept the program. The Radical Republicans were not happy with this proclamation. They wanted a better deal for the freed people, suggesting that they should be given land. They also opposed the general leniency for the general population and wanted the percentage raised above the 10% level. According to them the South was guilty of treason and should be more severely punished in the areas of property holdings and political rights. That would include a better deal for slaves and harsher punishment for slave owners. They thought the South should be recast in the image of the free-labor North. The Debate The Republican Party debated the topic of Reconstruction for the rest of the war, focusing on whether the executive or the legislative branch of government would control the process. Lincoln insisted that the Confederate states had not really left the Union, because the Union was indissoluble. They were temporarily under the control of bad leaders. Reconstruction meant merely allowing loyal white southerners to reassert control. Most Republicans in Congress opposed Lincoln’s wish to allow Confederates back into the Union simply by taking the oath of allegiance. Their argument was that: Only men who had been Unionists all along should have leadership in the South. The seceding states had forfeited their constitutional rights. Thaddeus Stevens (Elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1859, until his death; chairman, Committee on Ways and Means (Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses), Committee on Appropriations (Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses); chairman of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1868 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Andrew Johnson, President of the United States; died in Washington, D.C., on August 11, 1868; interment in Shreiner’s Cemetery, Lancaster, Pa.) felt that the South should be treated as conquered provinces, Charles Sumner (elected to the United States Senate in 1851 as a Free Soiler; reelected as a Republican in 1857, 1863, and 1869 and served from April 24, 1851, until his death; in response to his “Crime Against Kansas” speech, was assaulted by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina on May 22, 1856, while in his seat in the Senate, and was absent on account of injuries received until December 1859; chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations (Thirty-seventh through Forty-first Congresses), Committee on Privileges and Elections (Fortysecond Congress); removed as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in 1871 as a result of differences with President Ulysses S. Grant over policy in Santo Domingo; died in Washington, D.C., March 11, 1874; lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, March 13, 1874; interment in Mount Auburn 11 Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.) thought the states of the South were now Federal territories. (Both Stevens and Sumner were considered Radicals.) Other Republicans though thought the Southern states should be made to guarantee civil and political rights for freed people since it was this group that was the most loyal segment of the southern populace. Lincoln appointed military governors in four occupied states: Louisiana – Col. G.F. Shepley Military Governor June 10, 1862 – 1865. Shepley was previously a member of the 12th Maine Infantry which was part of General Butler’s Army. The following Letter to Shepley written by President Lincoln advises against the allowance of “carpetbaggers.” (car·pet·bag·ger / ˈkärpitˌbagər/ • n. derog. a political candidate who seeks election in an area where they have no local connections. ∎ hist. (in the U.S.) a person from the northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from Reconstruction. ∎ a person perceived as an unscrupulous opportunist.) Ref. The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | Date: 2008 Lincoln’s Letter to Governor Shepley TO GOVERNOR SHEPLEY. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 21, 1982 HON. G. F. SHEPLEY. DEAR SIR:--Dr. Kennedy, bearer of this, has some apprehension that Federal officers not citizens of Louisiana may be set up as candidates for Congress in that State. In my view there could be no possible object in such an election. We do not particularly need members of Congress from there to enable us to get along with legislation here. What we do want is the conclusive evidence that respectable citizens of Louisiana are willing to be members of Congress and to swear support to the Constitution, and that other respectable citizens there are willing to vote for them and send them. To send a parcel of Northern men here as representatives, elected, as would be understood (and perhaps really so), at the point of the bayonet, would be disgusting and outrageous; and were I a member of Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such man to a seat. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN, Source: The Project Gutenberg eBook, Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865, by Abraham Lincoln, Edited by Merwin Roe 12 Tennessee – Andrew Johnson. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed Andrew Johnson as military governor of Tennessee. Johnson ruled with a firm hand silencing sources of anti-Union sentiment. Johnson held the military governorship of Tennessee until 1864. Preparing for the presidential election, foreseeing an imminent end to the war, and preparing for a re-unification of the nation, President Lincoln urged the Republican Party's leadership to drop his previous vice-president, Hannibal Hamlin, an ardent abolitionist from Maine, in favor of Johnson, a Southerner and a Democrat. President Lincoln defeated General George McClellan in the 1864 election, and Johnson became vice-president of the United States of America. Ref. Information Services Branch of the State Library of North Carolina. Arkansas – John S. Phelps. Appointed by President Lincoln in July 1862 as Military Governor of Arkansas; resumed the practice of his profession in Springfield; unsuccessful Democratic candidate in 1868 for Governor of Missouri; Governor of Missouri 1877-1881; resumed the practice of his profession; died in St. Louis, Mo., November 20, 1886; interment in Hazelwood Cemetery, Springfield, Mo. Ref. Biographical Directory of United States Congress Virginia - John Potts Slough was an American politician, lawyer, Union general and Chief Justice of New Mexico. He is famous for commanding the Union forces at the Battle of Glorieta Pass. During the administration of President Johnson, General Slough became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the New Mexico Territory. While in that position he was killed in what the courts ruled as a self-defense killing. The two sides clash in 1864 over the policy for Louisiana President Lincoln accepted a state government and constitution that abolished slavery but failed to provide a strong guarantee for freed slaves’ rights. The Radicals wanted a Constitutional Convention first and the Conservatives wanted an election first and then a constitutional convention. The Radicals condemned the results in Louisiana as typical of what Lincoln’s conciliatory approach would yield, particularly because no radical Unionists had a voice in government. Lincoln backed moderates that gave blacks minimum guarantees, such as black soldiers would have the right to vote. The proposal was not accepted by Congress. On September 1864, ten percent of the population voted to abolish slavery and a school system was established. The Republican Congress refused the results of the 1864 election and refused to seat the representatives from Louisiana and Arkansas. Congress came forth with the Wade-Davis Bill of July 2,1864. 13 Transcript of Wade-Davis Bill (1864) A Bill to guarantee to certain States whose Governments have been usurped or overthrown a Republican Form of Government. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in the states declared in rebellion against the United States, the President shall, by and with the advice and con- sent of the Senate, appoint for each a provisiona1 governor, whose pay and emoluments shall not exceed that of a brigadier-general of volunteers, who shall be charged with the civil administration of such state until a state government therein shall be recognized as hereinafter provided. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in any such state, and the people thereof shall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the constitution and the laws of the United States, the provisional governor shall direct the marshal of the United States, as speedily as may be, to name a sufficient number of deputies, and to enroll all white male citizens of the United States, resident in the state in their respective counties, and to request each one to take the oath to support the constitution of the United States, and in his enrolment to designate those who take and those who refuse to take that oath, which rolls shall be forthwith returned to the provisional governor; and if the persons taking that oath shall amount to a majority of the persons enrolled in the state, he shall, by proclamation, invite the loyal people of the state to elect delegates to a convention charged to declare the will of the people of the state relative to the reestablish- ment of a state government subject to, and in conformity with, the constitution of the United States. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall consist of as many members as both houses of the last constitutional state legislature, apportioned by the provisional governor among the counties, parishes, or districts of the state, in proportion to the white population, returned as electors, by the marshal, in compliance with the provisions of this act. The provisional governor shall, by proclamation, declare the number of delegates to be elected by each county, parish, or election district; name a day of election not less than thirty days thereafter; designate the places of voting in each county, parish, or district, conforming as nearly as may be convenient to the places used in the state elections next preceding the rebellion; appoint one or more commissioners to hold the election at each place of voting, and provide an adequate force to keep the peace during the election. SEC.4. And be it further enacted, That the delegates shall be elected by the loyal white male citizens of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, and resident at the time in the county, parish, or district in which they shall offer to vote, and enrolled as aforesaid, or absent in the military service of the United States, and who shal1 take and subscribe the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form contained in the act of congress of July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-two; and all such citizens of the United States who are in the military service of the United States shall vote at the headquarters of their respective commands, under such regulations as may be prescribed by 14 the pro-visional governor for the taking and return of their votes; but no person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, state or confederate, under the rebel usurpation, or who has voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall vote, or be eligible to be elected as delegate, at such election. SEC.5. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or either of them, shall hold the election in conformity with this act, and, so far as may be consistent therewith, shall proceed in the manner used in the state prior to the rebellion. The oath of allegiance shall be taken and subscribed on the poll-book by every voter in the form above prescribed, but every person known by or proved to, the commissioners to have held or exercised any office, civil or military, state or confederate, under the rebel usurpation, or to have voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall be excluded, though he offer to take the oath ; and in case any person who shall have borne arms against the United States shall offer to vote he shall be deemed to have borne arms voluntarily unless he shall prove the contrary by the testimony of a qualified voter. The poll-book, showing the name and oath of each voter, shall be returned to the provisional governor by the commissioners of election or the one acting, and the provisional governor shall canvass such returns, and declare the person having the highest number of votes elected. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisional governor shall, by proclamation, convene the delegates elected as aforesaid, at the capital of the state, on a day not more than three months after the election, giving at least thirty days' notice of such day. In case the said capital shall in his judgment be unfit, he shall in his proclamation appoint another place. He shall preside over the deliberations of the convention, and administer to each delegate, before taking his seat in the convention, the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form above prescribed. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall declare, on behalf of the people of the state, their submission to the constitution and laws of the United States, and shall adopt the following provisions, hereby prescribed by the United States in the execution of the constitutional duty to guarantee a republican form of government to every state, and incorporate them in the constitution of the state, that is to say: First. No person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel, state or confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a member of the legislature, or governor. Second. Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons is guaranteed in said state. Third. No debt, state or confederate, created by or under the sanction of the usurping power, shall be recognized or paid by the state. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That when the convention shall have adopted those provisions, it shaII proceed to re-establish a republican form of government, and ordain a constitution containing those provisions, which, when adopted the convention shall by ordinance provide for submitting to the people of the state, entitled to vote under this law, at an election to be held in the manner prescribed by the act for the election of 15 delegates; but at a time and place named by the convention, at which election the said electors, and none others, shall vote directly for or against such constitution and form of state government, and the returns of said election shall be made to the provisional governor, who shall canvass the same in the presence of the electors, and if a majority of the votes cast shall be for the constitution and form of government, he shall certify the same, with a copy thereof, to the President of the United .States, who, after obtaining the assent of congress, shall, by proclamation, recognize the government so established, and none other, as the constitutional government of the state, and from the date of such recognition, and not before, Senators and Representatives, and electors for President and Vice President may be elected in such state, according to the laws of the state and of the United States. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That if the convention shall refuse to reestablish the state government on the conditions aforesaid, the provisional governor shall declare it dissolved; but it shall be the duty of the President, whenever he shall have reason to believe that a sufficient number of the people of the state entitled to vote under this act, in number not less than a majority of those enrolled, as aforesaid, are willing to reestablish a state government on the conditions aforesaid, to direct the provisional governor to order another election of delegates to a convention for the purpose and in the manner prescribed in this act, and to proceed in all respects as hereinbefore provided, either to dissolve the convention, or to certify the state government reestablished by it to the President. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That, until the United States shall have recognized a republican form of state government, the provisional governor in each of said states shall see that this act, and the laws of the United States, and the laws of the state in force when the state government was overthrown by the rebellion, are faithfully executed within the state ; but no law or usage whereby any person was heretofore held in involuntary servitude shall be recognized or enforced by any court or officer in such state, and the laws for the trial and punishment of white persons shall extend to all persons, and jurors shall have the qualifications of voters under this law for delegates to the convention. The President shall appoint such officers provided for by the laws of the state when its government was overthrown as he may find necessary to the civil administration of the slate, all which officers shall be entitled to receive the fees and emoluments provided by the state laws for such officers. SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That until the recognition of a state government as aforesaid, the provisional governor shall, under such regulations as he may prescribe, cause to be assessed, levied, and collected, for the year eighteen hundred and sixtyfour, and every year thereafter, the taxes provided by the laws of such state to be levied during the fiscal year preceding the overthrow of the state government thereof, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the state, as nearly as may be ; and the officers appointed, as aforesaid, are vested with all powers of levying and collecting such taxes, by distress or sale, as were vested in any officers or tribunal of the state government aforesaid for those purposes. The proceeds of such taxes shall be accounted for to the provisional governor, and be by him applied to the expenses of the administration of the 16 laws in such state, subject to the direction of the President, and the surplus shall be deposited in the treasury of the United States to the credit of such state, to be paid to the state upon an appropriation therefor, to be made when a republican form of government shall be recognized therein by the United States. SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, that all persons held to involuntary servitude or labor in the states aforesaid are hereby emancipated and discharged therefrom, and they and their posterity shall be forever free. And if any such persons or their posterity shall be restrained of liberty, under pretence of any claim to such service or labor, the courts of the United States shall, on habeas corpus, discharge them. SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That if any person declared free by this act, or any law of the United States, or any proclamation of the President, be restrained of liberty, with intent to be held in or reduced to involuntary servitude or labor, the person convicted before a court of competent jurisdiction of such act shall be punished by fine of not less than fifteen hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not less than five nor more than twenty years. SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That every person who shall hereafter hold or exercise any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel, in the rebel service, state or con- federate, is hereby declared not to be a citizen of the United States. Ref. www.ourdocuments.gov Brief Interpretation: It required that 50 percent of the citizens enrolled as voters in a state seeking to form a new loyal government take the oath of allegiance (an “ironclad” oath of past loyalty). It mandated that the states write new constitutions before setting up a loyal state government. It provided stronger safeguards for feed people’s rights but did not grant the franchise to black men. It provided for political liability for anyone who had borne arms against the United States. The framers Benjamin Franklin Wade a Radical Republican form Ohio he chaired the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. He urged Lincoln to dismiss General George B. McClellan, and called for the emancipation of all slaves. He co-authored the Wade-Davis Bill and the Wade-Davis Manifesto that attacked Lincoln’s action relating to Reconstruction Representative Henry W. Davis of Maryland was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress. He was elected as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Thirty-eighth Congress); co-sponsor of the Wade-Davis bill of 1864; was not a candidate for re-nomination in 1864; died in Baltimore, Md., on December 30, 1865; interment in Greenmount Cemetery. 17 Lincoln considered the Bill to harsh and allowed it to expire by using a “pocket veto.” A Pocket Veto is when the President fails to sign a bill within the 10 days allowed by the Constitution. Congress must be in adjournment in order for a pocket veto to take effect. If Congress is in session and the president fails to sign the bill, it becomes law without his signature. President Lincoln’s reply to the Wade-Davis Bill: BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A PROCLAMATION: WHEREAS, at the late session, congress passed a bill to "guarantee to certain states, whose governments have been usurped or overthrown, a republican form of government, " a copy of which is hereunto annexed; And whereas the said bill was presented to the President of the United States for his approval less than one hour before the sine die adjournment of said session, and was not signed by him; And whereas the said bill contains, among other things, a plan for restoring the states in rebellion to their proper practical relation in the Union, which plan expresses the sense of congress upon that subject, and which plan it is now thought fit to lay before the people for their consideration ; Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known, that, while I am (as I was in December last, when by proclamation I propounded a plan for restoration) unprepared by a formal approval of this bill, to be inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration; and, while I am also unprepared to declare that the free state constitutions and governments already adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisiana shall be set aside and held for nought, thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up the same as to further effort, or to declare a constitutional competency in congress to abolish slavery in states, but am at the same time sincerely hoping and expecting that a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery throughout the nation may be adopted, nevertheless I am truly satisfied with the system for restoration contained in the bill as one very proper plan for the loyal people of any state choosing to adopt it, and that I am, and at all times shall be, prepared to give the executive aid and assistance to any such people, so soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in any such state, and the people thereof shall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the constitution and the laws of the United States, in which cases military governors will be appointed, with directions to proceed according to the bill. 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 this eighth day of July, in the year of our [L S.] Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 18 By the President : WILLIAH H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. The Wade-Davis Manifesto, August 5, 1864 We have read without surprise, but not without indignation, the Proclamation of the President of the 8th of July. . The President, by preventing this bill from becoming a law, holds the electoral votes of the Rebel States at the dictation of his personal ambition. If those votes turn the balance in his favor, is it to be supposed that his competitor, defeated by such means will acquiesce? If the Rebel majority assert their supremacy in those States, and send votes which elect an `enemy of the Government, will we not repel his claims? And is not that civil war for the Presidency, inaugurated by the votes of Rebel States? Seriously impressed with these dangers, Congress, "the proper constitutional authority," formally declared that there are no State Governments in the Rebel States, and provided for their erection at a proper time; and both the Senate and the House of Representatives rejected the Senators and Representatives chosen under the authority of what the President calls the Free Constitution and Government of Arkansas. The President's proclamation "holds for naught" this judgment, and discards the authority of the Supreme Court, and strides headlong toward the anarchy his Proclamation of the 8th of December inaugurated. If electors for President be allowed to be chosen in either of those States, a sinister light will be cast on the motives which induced the President to "hold for naught" the will of Congress rather than his Government in Louisiana and Arkansas. That judgment of Congress which the President defies was the exercise of an authority exclusively vested in Congress by the Constitution to determine what is the established Government in a State, and in its own nature and by the highest judicial authority binding on all other departments of the Government. . A more studied outrage on the legislative authority of the people has never been perpetrated. Congress passed a bill; the President refused to approve it, and then by proclamation puts as much of it in force as he sees fit, and proposes to execute those parts by officers unknown to the laws of the United States and not subject to the confirmation of the Senate! 19 The bill directed the appointment of Provisional Governors by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The President, after defeating the law, proposes to appoint without law, and without the advice and consent of the Senate, Military Governors for the Rebel States! He has already exercised this dictatorial usurpation in Louisiana, and he defeated the bill to prevent its limitation. . The President has greatly presumed on the forbearance which the supporters of his Administration have so long practiced, in view of the arduous conflict in which we are engaged, and the reckless ferocity of our political opponents. But he must understand that our support is of a cause and not of a man; that the authority of Congress is paramount and must be respected; that the whole body of the Union men of Congress will not submit to be impeached by him of rash and unconstitutional legislation; and if he wishes our support, he must confine himself to his executive duties-to obey and execute, not make the laws-to suppress by arms armed Rebellion, and leave political reorganization to Congress. If the supporters of the Government fail to insist on this, they become responsible for the usurpations which they fail to rebuke, and are justly liable to the indignation of the people whose rights and security, committed to their keeping, they sacrifice. Let them consider the remedy for these usurpations, and, having found it, fearlessly execute it. Unsuccessfully, the Radicals maneuvered to deny Lincoln the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1864. Despite mutterings against his leadership, Lincoln, renominated on the Union (Republican) ticket in 1864, defeated Gen. George B. McClellan. Although a separate ticket headed by the radical Frémont withdrew before the election in 1864, the cleavage within the party between radicals and moderates widened as the war progressed. Radicals such as Benjamin F. Wade, Henry W. Davis, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Edwin M. Stanton advocated a punitive policy for the South, while Lincoln and the moderates were inclined to leniency. The division was made complete when, after Lincoln's assassination, his successor, Andrew Johnson, adopted a moderate program of Reconstruction. Johnson, a Jacksonian Democrat from Tennessee, had been added to the ticket in 1864 to strengthen the idea of a Union party. Ultimately his policies and attempts to implement them antagonized his supporters among the moderate Republicans and paved the way for the triumph of the radicals in the congressional elections of 1866. The height of radical power was reached in 1868 with the impeachment of Johnson, which was defeated by only a onevote margin. 20 Lincoln and Congress Toward the End of the War President Lincoln and the Congress did enjoy better relations on the issue of Reconstruction toward the end of the war. Lincoln’s 10 percent governments were functioning in two states and he promised to accept legislation similar to the WadeDavis Bill for future states if Congress would accept the two 10 percent plan governments. A short-lived compromise broke down when Congress proved unable to agree on the new legislation. On April 11, 1865, only three days before his assassination, Lincoln made a speech in which he mentioned he would soon make a new announcement regarding Reconstruction. Lincoln’s Last Speech – The Speech on Reconstruction Speech on Reconstruction Washington, D.C. We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoicing, be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled out with others. I myself, was near the front, and had the high pleasure of transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for plan or execution, is mine. To Gen. Grant, his skillful officers, and brave men, all belongs. The gallant Navy stood ready, but was not in reach to take active part. By these recent successes the re-inauguration of the national authority -- reconstruction -- which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty. Unlike the case of a war between independent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with. No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man. We simply I must begin with, and mould from, disorganized and discordant elements. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to the mode, manner, and means of reconstruction. As a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I can not properly offer an answer. In spite of this precaution, however, it comes to my knowledge that I am much censured for some 21 supposed agency in setting up, and seeking to sustain, the new State Government of Louisiana. In this I have done just so much as, and no more than, the public knows. In the Annual Message of Dec. 1863 and accompanying Proclamation, I presented a plan of reconstruction (as the phrase goes) which, I promised, if adopted by any State, should be acceptable to, and sustained by, the Executive government of the nation. I distinctly stated that this was not the only plan which might possibly be acceptable; and I also distinctly protested that the Executive claimed no right to say when, or whether members should be admitted to seats in Congress from such States. This plan was, in advance, submitted to the then Cabinet, and distinctly approved by every member of it. One of them suggested that I should then, and in that connection, apply the Emancipation Proclamation to the theretofore excepted parts of Virginia and Louisiana; that I should drop the suggestion about apprenticeship for freed-people, and that I should omit the protest against my own power, in regard to the admission of members to Congress; but even he approved every part and parcel of the plan which has since been employed or touched by the action of Louisiana. The new constitution of Louisiana, declaring emancipation for the whole State, practically applies the Proclamation to the part previously excepted. It does not adopt apprenticeship for freedpeople; and it is silent, as it could not well be otherwise, about the admission of members to Congress. So that, as it applies to Louisiana, every member of the Cabinet fully approved the plan. The Message went to Congress, and I received many commendations of the plan, written and verbal; and not a single objection to it, from any professed emancipationist, came to my knowledge, until after the news reached Washington that the people of Louisiana had begun to move in accordance with it. From about July 1862, I had corresponded with different persons, supposed to be interested, seeking a reconstruction of a State government for Louisiana. When the Message of 1863, with the plan before mentioned, reached New-Orleans, Gen. Banks wrote me that he was confident the people, with his military co-operation, would reconstruct, substantially on that plan. I wrote him, and some of them to try it; they tried it, and the result is known. Such only has been my agency in getting up the Louisiana government. As to sustaining it, my promise is out, as before stated. But, as bad promises are better broken than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise, and break it, whenever I shall be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the public interest. But I have not yet been so convinced. I have been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able one, in which the writer expresses regret that my mind has not seemed to be definitely fixed on the question whether the seceded States, so called, are in the Union or out of it. It would perhaps, add astonishment to his regret, were he to learn that since I have found professed Union men endeavoring to make that question, I have purposely forborne any public expression upon it. As appears to me that question has not been, nor yet is, a practically material one, and that any discussion of it, while it thus remains practically immaterial, could have no effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our friends. As yet, whatever it may hereafter become, that question is bad, as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing at all -- a merely pernicious abstraction. 22 We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation with the Union; and that the sole object of the government, civil and military, in regard to those States is to again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe it is not only possible, but in fact, easier, to do this, without deciding, or even considering, whether these states have even been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between these states and the Union; and each forever after, innocently indulge his own opinion whether, in doing the acts, he brought the States from without, into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which the new Louisiana government rests, would be more satisfactory to all, if it contained fifty, thirty, or even twenty thousand, instead of only about twelve thousand, as it does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is "Will it be wiser to take it as it is, and help to improve it; or to reject, and disperse it?" "Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union soon by sustaining, or by discarding her new State Government?" Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave-state of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held elections, organized a State government, adopted a free-state constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the colored man. Their Legislature has already voted to ratify the constitutional amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout the nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully committed to the Union, and to perpetual freedom in the state -- committed to the very things, and nearly all the things the nation wants -- and they ask the nations recognition, and it's assistance to make good their committal. Now, if we reject, and spurn them, we do our utmost to disorganize and disperse them. We in effect say to the white men "You are worthless, or worse -- we will neither help you, nor be helped by you." To the blacks we say "This cup of liberty which these, your old masters, hold to your lips, we will dash from you, and leave you to the chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents in some vague and undefined when, where, and how." If this course, discouraging and paralyzing both white and black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana into proper practical relations with the Union, I have, so far, been unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we recognize, and sustain the new government of Louisiana the converse of all this is made true. We encourage the hearts, and nerve the arms of the twelve thousand to adhere to their work, and argue for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it, and grow it, and ripen it to a complete success. The colored man too, in seeing all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and energy, and daring, to the same end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps toward it, than by running backward over them? Concede 23 that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it? Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of the proposed amendment to the national constitution. To meet this proposition, it has been argued that no more than three fourths of those States which have not attempted secession are necessary to validly ratify the amendment. I do not commit myself against this, further than to say that such a ratification would be questionable, and sure to be persistently questioned; while a ratification by three fourths of all the States would be unquestioned and unquestionable. I repeat the question. "Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Government? What has been said of Louisiana will apply generally to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each state; and such important and sudden changes occur in the same state; and, withal, so new and unprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive, and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such exclusive, and inflexible plan, would surely become a new entanglement. Important principles may, and must, be inflexible. In the present "situation" as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act, when satisfied that action will be proper. April 11, 1865 24