exist in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

sition of

amendment as

it came from
the Judiciary

committee of

the Senate.

It will be advantageous in our further consideration of this article to recall briefly the reasons for these divergencies. The language used by the The propoJudiciary Committee corresponds almost exactly with the wording of the ordinance of the Northwest Territory of 1787; and it is entirely evident that the Judiciary Committee had that act in mind when it reported the article. Mr. Henderson's proposition was that slavery or involuntary servitude should not exist in the United States. He well understood that it did not require a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery from those parts of the country where "States" had not been formed. He knew that Congress could do that. The Judiciary Committee, however, did not think it wise or necessary to "make two bites of a cherry." They preferred to make their prohibition apply to the whole country. They knew that the phrase United States was capable of being interpreted to mean only that part of the country where "States" existed, and they preferred and intended to make their prohibition of slavery extend to the whole country. From abundant caution they used the words United States, with the additional words "any place subject to their jurisdiction," in order to cover all territory over which the flag of the Union should fly in sovereign power.

The second section, giving to Congress special power to enforce this article, seems, at first, unnecessary, because according to the last paragraph of Section 8, Article I., of the Constitution, Congress is vested with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper to carry into execution all the powers vested by the Con

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stitution in any department or officer of the Government. This abolition of slavery was, however, a restriction on the "States." It laid a new limitation upon their powers, and hence it was thought that Section 8 of Article I. might not apply in the execution of such a provision against the "States." But if we regard the provision from the point of view of the rights of an individual to his freedom against any "State" law to the contrary, then we must see that the amendment does invest the United States courts with the power to impose the restriction in behalf of the individual seeking deliverance from the attempt of a "State" to enslave him or to continue his enslavement. And once the power vested in the courts to do this the general provision of Article I., Section 8, will certainly apply. The resolution offered by the Judiciary Committee passed the Senate by the requisite majority on the 8th of April, 1864.

The House draft.

During this same period, Mr. William Windom, of Minnesota, offered in the House of Representatives a resolution upon the subject in the identical words of the Senate's resolution. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee of the House, February 15, 1864. While it lay in the room of the Committee, Mr. Stevens offered a substitute for it, which read: "Slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, is forever prohibited in the United States and all its Territories." This is another bit of evidence for the proposition that what was meant by the words or any place subject to their jurisdiction" in Mr. Trumbull's resolution was all parts of the country not enjoying "State" government in local matters.

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The Senate resolution was sent into the House on the

f

31st of May, and was there lost on June 15th, having received a large majority, indeed, in Rejection of its favor, but not a two-thirds majority. draft in the

the Senate's

Reconsideration of the

Senate's meas

re

in the House, and its

Foreseeing the failure of the resolution at House. that juncture, Mr. J. M. Ashley, of Ohio, voted against the measure, although a stanch friend of it. His purpose was of course to be able to move, at some future and more propitious time, a reconsideration of the subject. He did not, however, feel that that time had arrived until after the election and the military victories of the autumn of 1864 had manifested the temper of the voters on the question of abolition and demonstrated the power of the Union to carry such a measure into execution. On the 31st of January, 1865, Mr. Ashley moved a reconsideration of the Senate resolution lost in the House on the 15th of the preceding June. Reconsideration was immediately voted, and the Senate resolution was then carried by the requisite two-thirds majority. final passage. The proposed amendment was then sent to the President, who signed it, February 1st, 1865. Whereupon the Senate immediately passed another resolution, declaring that it was through an inadvertency that the measure had been sent to the President for his signature, that asking the President of the United States to sign a proposed constitutional amendment was an error, was without precedent in the practice of the Government, and that the President's approval should not be communicated to the House. A concurrent resolution was then passed by the two Houses authorizing the President to submit the proposed article of amendment to the "States" for ratification. The Secretary of State immediately sent it to the legislatures of all the "States which could be reached by him, and during the summer and autumn to the legislatures of all the "States;"

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and the new legislature of Tennessee ratified it on the 5th of April, 1865, that is, more than a week before Lincoln's death.

Such was the condition of things when the assassin's bullet ended the life of the great and good President and brought the Vice-President, Mr. Johnson, into the office.

CHAPTER III

PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION AND HIS PROCEEDINGS IN REALIZATION OF IT

The Character of Mr. Johnson-The Radical Nature of Johnson's First Views on Reconstruction-The Retention of Lincoln's Cabinet by Mr. Johnson and the Modification of Johnson's Views by Mr. Seward's Arguments-Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation of May 29th, 1865-The Excepted Classes-The Effect of these Exceptions-The President's Plan-The Realization of it-The Administering of the Oath-Reconstruction in North Carolina-The Identity of Johnson's Plan with that of Lincoln -Reconstruction in Mississippi-Reconstruction in Georgia— Reconstruction in Alabama, South Carolina and Florida-Reconstruction in Virginia-Reconstruction in Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee-The Constitutional Conventions of 1865The Form of the Work Done in these Conventions, and its Substance-The Erection of "State" Governments and the Election of Members of Congress-The Orders of the President Putting the Civil Government of the United States into Operation Everywhere-The President's First Annual Message.

MR. JOHNSON was a man who rose from very low estate through his own efforts. He was a man of considerable intellectual power and of great will power. The charac

Johnson.

He was somewhat vain of his success and ter of Mr. somewhat piqued by the social neglect which he had suffered at the hands of the "old families." He was intensely loyal to the Union, and could regard secession and rebellion only as treason. Having suffered so much for his loyalty, he was somewhat moved by considerations of revenge. He was profoundly stirred by

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