find that another rebellion was commenced, having its origin in the radical Congress.

*

*

*

*

"So much for the New Orleans riot. And there was the cause and the origin of the blood that was shed; and every drop of blood that was shed is upon their skirts and they are responsible for it. I could test this thing a little closer, but will not do it here to-night. But when you talk about the causes and consequences that resulted from proceedings of that kind, perhaps, as I have been introduced here, and you have provoked questions of this kind, though it does not provoke me, I will tell you a few wholesome things that have been done by this radical Congress in connection with New Orleans and the extension of the elective franchise.

"I know that I have been traduced and abused. I know it has come in advance of me here as elsewhere that I have attempted to exercise an arbitrary power in resisting laws that were intended to be forced upon the government; that I had exercised that power; that I had abandoned the party that elected me, and that I was a traitor, because I exercised the veto power in attempting and did arrest for a time a bill that was called a 'Freedman's Bureau' bill; yes, that I was a traitor. And I have been traduced, I have been slandered, I have been maligned, I have been called Judas Iscariot, and all that. Now, my countrymen here to-night, it is very easy to indulge in epithets; it is easy to call a man Judas, and cry out traitor; but when he is called upon to give arguments and facts he is very often found wanting. Judas Iscariot - Judas. There was a Judas, and he was one of the twelve apostles. Oh yes, the twelve apostles had a Christ. The twelve apostles had a Christ, and he never could have had a Judas unless he had had twelve apostles. If I have played the Judas, who has been my Christ that I have played the Judas with? Was it Thad. Stevens? Was it Wendell Phillips? Was it Charles Sumner? These are the men that stop and compare themselves with the Saviour; and everybody that differs with them in opinion, and to try to stay and arrest their diabolical and nefarious policy, is to be denounced as a Judas."

"Well, let me say to you, if you will stand by me in this action, if you will stand by me in trying to give the people a fair chance --soldiers and citizens to participate in these offices, God being willing, I will kick them out. I will kick them out just as fast as I can.

"Let me say to you, in concluding, that what I have said I intended to say. I was not provoked into this, and I care not for their menaces, the taunts, and the jeers. I care not for threats. I do not intend to be bullied by my enemies nor overawed by my friends. But God willing, with your help, I will veto their measures whenever any of them come to me."

Which said utterances, declarations, threats, and harangues, highly censurable in any, are peculiarly indecent and unbecoming in the Chief Magistrate of the United States, by means whereof said Andrew Johnson has brought the high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule, and disgrace, to the great scandal of all good citizens . . .

[Agreed to, 88 to 44, 57 not voting.]

ARTICLE XI. That said Andrew Johnson,

unmindful

of the high duties of his office and of his oath of office, and in disregard of the Constitution and laws of the United States, did . . . on the 18th day of August, 1866, at the city of Washington, by public speech, declare and affirm, in substance, that the thirtyninth Congress of the United States was not a Congress of the United States authorized by the Constitution to exercise legislative power under the same; but, on the contrary, was a Congress of only part of the States, thereby denying and intending to deny that the legislation of said Congress was valid or obligatory upon him, the said Andrew Johnson, except in so far as he saw fit to approve the same, and also thereby denying and intending to deny the power of the said thirty-ninth Congress to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States; and in pursuance of said declaration, the said Andrew Johnson, . . . afterward, to wit, on the 21st day of February, 1868, at the city of Washington, . . . did unlawfully and in disregard of the requirements of the Constitution, that he should take care that the laws be faithfully executed, attempt to prevent the execution of . . . [the Tenure of Office Act]..., by unlawfully devising and contriving, and attempting to devise and contrive, means by which he should

...

prevent Edwin M. Stanton from forthwith resuming the functions of the office of Secretary for the Department of War, notwithstanding the refusal of the Senate to concur in the suspension theretofore made by said Andrew Johnson of said Edwin M. Stanton from said office of Secretary for the Department of War, and also by further unlawfully devising and contriving and attempting to devise and contrive means then and there to prevent the execution of . . . [the Army Appropriation Act of March 2, 1867]. . ., and also to prevent the execution of [the Reconstruction Act

of March 2, 1867] .

[Agreed to, 109 to 32, 48 not voting.]

No. 156. Fourth Reconstruction Act

March 11, 1868

A BILL "to facilitate the restoration of the late rebel States" was introduced in the House December 5, 1867, by Ashley of Ohio, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. On the 18th the bill was withdrawn in favor of a bill of similar purport, substantially identical with the act as passed, brought forward by Thaddeus Stevens. The latter bill passed the House the same day by a vote of 104 to 37, 47 not voting. The bill was not at once considered in the Senate. The rejection, February 4, 1868, of the proposed constitution of Alabama, however, when "the registered voters refrained from voting upon the question of ratification in sufficient numbers to reduce the vote to several thousand less than half the registration," hastened action. A substitute for the House bill was reported February 17, and on the 26th was agreed to, the vote being 28 to 6. The House, by a vote of 96 to 32, 61 not voting, concurred. March 11 the bill became law by the ten days rule.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV., 41. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The text of Ashley's bill is in the Globe, December 18, House proceedings. On elections in the Southern States see House Exec. Doc. 291, 40th Cong., 1st Sess.; annual report of the Secretary of War, 1868.

An Act to amend the Act. [of March 23, 1867] . . .

Be it enacted.

.

That hereafter any election authorized by the act [of March 23, 1867] . . ., shall be decided by a majority of the votes actually cast; and at the election in which the question

of the adoption or rejection of any constitution is submitted, any person duly registered in the State may vote in the election district where he offers to vote when he has resided therein for ten days next preceding such election, upon presentation of his certificate of registration, his affidavit, or other satisfactory evidence, under such regulations as the district commanders may prescribe.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the constitutional convention of any of the States mentioned in the acts to which this is amendatory may provide that at the time of voting upon the ratification of the constitution the registered voters may vote also for members of the House of Representatives of the United States, and for all elective officers provided for by the said constitution; and the same election officers who shall make the return of the votes cast on the ratification or rejection of the constitution, shall enumerate and certify the votes cast for members of Congress.

No. 157. Act admitting Arkansas to Representation in Congress

June 22, 1868

UNDER Lincoln's proclamation of December 8, 1863 [No. 137], Arkansas formed a State government, but its representatives were refused admittance by Congress, and the joint resolution of February 8, 1865 [No. 140], included the State in the list of those whose electoral votes should not be counted. The reconstruction government was, however, recognized by President Johnson, and the State was counted in the list of those whose legislatures had ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. The first reconstruction act of March 2, 1867 [No. 149], placed Arkansas in the fourth military division, and the rehabilitation of the State proceeded under the military government. The narrow majority in favor of the ratification of the State constitution, March 13, 1868, led to the introduction of a bill to admit Arkansas to representation in Congress. The bill was reported in the House May 7, by Thaddeus Stevens, from the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, and passed the next day by a vote of 110 to 32, 48 not voting. In the Senate an amendment prohibiting the abridgment of the elective franchise, etc., on account of race or color was agreed to, June 1, by a vote of 26 to 14, and the bill passed, the final vote being 34 to 8. The House refused to concur, and the bill received its final form from a conference committee. The report of the committee was agreed to by

the Senate June 6, and by the House June 8. On the 20th the bill was vetoed by President Johnson, but was passed over the veto, in the House the same day by a vote of 111 to 31, 48 not voting, and in the Senate June 22, by a vote of 30 to 7. Senators from the State qualified June 23, and Representatives June 24.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XV., 72. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 40th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. On the election in Arkansas see House Exec. Doc. 278; on the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, House Misc. Doc. 118, ibid.

AN ACT to admit the State of Arkansas to representation in Congress.

WHEREAS the people of Arkansas, in pursuance of the provisions of an act entitled "An act for the more efficient government of the rebel States," passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and the acts supplementary thereto, have framed and adopted a constitution of State government, which is republican, and the legislature of said State has duly ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen: Therefore,

Be it enacted . . ., That the State of Arkansas is entitled and admitted to representation in Congress as one of the States of the Union upon the following fundamental condition: That the constitution of Arkansas shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote who are entitled to vote by the constitution herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted, under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said State: Provided, That any alteration of said constitution prospective in its effect may be made in regard to the time and place of residence of voters.