Reconstruction
Acts
Go to: 1867-03-02, 1867-03-23,
1867-07-19, 1868-03-11
(1)
1867-03-02
RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS
From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political
revolution of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, pp. 681-682.
An Act to provide for the more efficient government
of the rebel states.
Whereas no legal State governments or adequate protection
for life or property now exist in the rebel States of Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana,
Florida, Texas, and Arkansas; and whereas it is necessary that peace
and good order should be enforced in said States until loyal and
republican State governments can be legally established: Therefore
Be it enacted, &c., That said rebel States shall be
divided into military districts and made subject to the military
authority of the United States, as hereinafter prescribed, and for
that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district; North
Carolina and South Carolina the second district; Georgia, Alabama,
and Florida the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth
district; and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district.
Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the
President to assign to the command of each of said districts an officer
of the army, not below the rank of brigadier-general, and to detail
a sufficient military force to enable such officer to perform his
duties and enforce his authority within the district to which he is
assigned.
Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of each officer assigned as aforesaid
to protect all persons in their rights of person and property, to
suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or
cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals,
and to this end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction
of and to try offenders, or, when in his judgment it may be necessary
for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to organize military
commissions or tribunals for that purpose; and all interference
under color of State authority with the exercise of military authority
under this act shall be null and void.
Sec. 4. That all persons put under military arrest by virtue of
this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel
or unusual punishment shall be inflicted; and no sentence of any
military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting the
life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is approved
by the officer in command of the district, and the laws and regulations
for the government of the army shall not be affected by this act,
except in so far as they conflict with its provisions: Provided,
That no sentence of death under the provisions of this act shall
be carried into effect without the approval of the President.
Sec. 5. That when the people of any one of said rebel States shall
have formed a constitution of government in conformity with the
Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by a convention
of delegates elected by the male citizens of said State twenty-one
years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition,
who have been resident in said State for one year previous to the
day of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for participation
in the rebellion, or for felony at common law, and when such constitution
shall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all
such persons as have the qualifications herein stated for electors
of delegates, and when such constitution shall be ratified by a
majority of the persons voting on the question of ratification who
are qualified as electors for delegates, and when such constitution
shall have been submitted to Congress for examination and approval,
and Congress shall have approved the same, and when said State,
by a vote of its legislature elected under said constitution, shall
have adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the United States,
proposed by the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen,
and when said article shall have become a part of the Constitution
of the United States, said State shall be declared entitled to representation
in Congress, and Senators and Representatives shall be admitted
therefrom on their taking the oaths prescribed by law, and then
and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be inoperative
in said State: Provided, That no person excluded from the
privilege of holding office by said proposed amendment to the Constitution
of the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of
the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States,
nor shall any such person vote for members of such convention.
Sec. 6. That until the people of said rebel states shall be by
law admitted to representation in the Congress of the United States,
any civil governments which may exist therein shall be deemed provisional
only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of
the United States at any time to abolish, modify, control, or supersede
the same; and in all elections to any office under such provisional
governments all persons shall be entitled to vote, and none others,
who are entitled to vote under the provisions of the fifth section
of this act; and no person shall be eligible to any office under
any such provisional governments who would be disqualified from
holding office under the provisions of the third article
of said constitutional amendment.
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(2)
1867-03-23
SUPPLEMENTARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF FORTIETH CONGRESS
From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political
revolution of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, pp. 682-685.
An Act supplementary to an act entitled "An act to
provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states,"
passed March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to facilitate
restoration.
Be it enacted, &c., That before the first day of September,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, the commanding general in each
district defined by an act entitled "An Act to provide for the more
efficient government of the rebel States," passed March second,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, shall cause a registration to
be made of the male citizens of the United States, twenty-one years
of age and upwards, resident in each county or parish in the State
or States included in his district, which registration shall include
only those persons who are qualified to vote for delegates by the
act aforesaid, and who shall have taken and subscribed the following
oath or affirmation: "I, _____, do solemnly swear, (or affirm,)
in the presence of Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the State
of _____; that I have resided in said State for _____ months next
preceding this day, and now reside in the county of _____, or the
parish of _____, in said State, (as the case may be;) that I am
twenty-one years old; that I have not been disfranchised for participation
in any rebellion or civil war against the United States, nor for
felony committed against the laws of any State or of the United
States; that I have never been a member of any State legislature,
nor held any executive or judicial office in any State and afterwards
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States,
or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I have never
taken an oath as a member of Congress of the United States, or as
an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature,
or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support
the Constitution of the United States, and afterwards engaged in
insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid
or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support
the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will,
to the best of my ability, encourage others so to do, so help me
God;" which oath or affirmation may be administered by any registering
officer.
Sec. 2. That after the completion of the registration hereby provided
for in any State, at such time and places therein as the commanding
general shall appoint and direct, of which at least thirty days'
public notice shall be given, an election shall be held of delegates
to a convention for the purpose of establishing a constitution and
civil government for such state loyal to the Union, said convention
in each State, except Virginia, to consist of the same number of
members as the most numerous branch of the State legislature of
such State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be apportioned
among the several districts, counties, or parishes of such State
by the commanding general, giving to each representation in the
ratio of voters registered as aforesaid, as nearly as may be. The
convention in Virginia shall consist of the same number of members
as represented the territory now constituting Virginia in the most
numerous branch of the legislature of said State in the year eighteen
hundred and sixty, to be apportioned as aforesaid.
Sec. 3. That at said election the registered voters of each State
shall vote for or against a convention to form a constitution therefor
under this act. Those voting in favor of such a convention shall
have written or printed on the ballots by which they vote for delegates,
as aforesaid, the words "For a convention," and those voting against
such a convention shall have written or printed on such ballots
the words "Against a convention." The person appointed to superintend
said election, and to make return of the votes given thereat, as
herein provided, shall count and make return of the votes given
for and against a convention; and the commanding general to whom
the same shall have been returned shall ascertain and declare the
total vote in each State for and against a convention. If a majority
of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention, then
such convention shall be held as hereinafter provided; but if a
majority of said votes shall be against a convention, then no such
convention shall be held under this act: Provided, That
such convention shall not be held unless a majority of all such
registered voters shall have voted on the question of holding such
convention.
Sec. 4. That the commanding general of each district shall appoint
as many boards of registration as may be necessary, consisting of
three loyal officers or persons, to make and complete the registration,
superintend the election, and make return to him of the votes, lists
of voters, and of the persons elected as delegates by a plurality
of the votes cast at said election; and upon receiving said returns
he shall open the same, ascertain the persons elected as delegates
according to the returns of the officers who conducted said election,
and make proclamation thereof; and if a majority of the votes given
on that question shall be for a convention, the commanding general,
within sixty days from the date of election, shall notify the delegates
to assemble in convention, at a time and place to be mentioned in
the notification, and said convention, when organized, shall proceed
to frame a constitution and civil government according to the provisions
of this act and the act to which is it supplementary; and when the
same shall have been so framed, said constitution shall be submitted
by the convention for ratification to the persons registered under
the provisions of this act at an election to be conducted by the
officers or persons appointed or to be appointed by the commanding
general, as hereinbefore provided, and to be held after the expiration
of thirty days from the date of notice thereof, to be given by said
convention; and the returns thereof shall be made to the commanding
general of the district.
Sec. 5. That if, according to said returns, the constitution shall
be ratified by a majority of the votes of the registered electors
qualified as herein specified, cast at said election, (at least
one half of all the registered voters voting upon the question of
such ratification,) the president of the convention shall transmit
a copy of the same, duly certified, to the President of the United
States, who shall forthwith transmit the same to Congress, if then
in session, and if not in session, then immediately upon its next
assembling; and if it shall, moreover, appear to Congress that the
election was one at which all the registered and qualified electors
in the State had an opportunity to vote freely and without restraint,
fear, or the influence of fraud, and if the Congress shall be satisfied
that such constitution meets the approval of a majority of all the
qualified electors in the State, and if the said constitution shall
be declared by Congress to be in conformity with the provisions
of the act to which this is supplementary, and
the other provisions of said act shall have been complied with,
and the said constitution shall be approved by Congress, the State
shall be declared entitled to representation, and Senators and Representatives
shall be admitted therefrom as therein provided.
Sec. 6. That all elections in the States mentioned in the said
"Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States,"
shall, during the operation of said act, be by ballot; and all officers
making the said registration of voters and conducting said elections
shall, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, take
and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,
entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office:" Provided,
That if any person shall knowingly and falsely take and subscribe
any oath in this act prescribed, such person so offending and being
thereof duly convicted, shall be subject to the pains, penalties,
and disabilities which by law are provided for the punishment of
the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury.
Sec. 7. That all expenses incurred by the several commanding generals,
or by virtue of any orders issued, or appointments made, by them,
under or by virtue of this act, shall be paid out of any moneys
in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 8. That the convention for each State shall prescribe the
fees, salary, and compensation to be paid to all delegates and other
officers and agents herein authorized or necessary to carry into
effect the purposes of this act not herein otherwise provided for,
and shall provide for the levy and collection of such taxes on the
property in such State as may be necessary to pay the same.
Sec. 9. That the word article, in the sixth
section of the act to which this is supplementary, shall be construed
to mean section.
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(3)
1867-07-19
SUPPLEMENTARY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF JULY 19, 1867
From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political
revolution of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, pp. 685-687.
Be it enacted, &c., That it is hereby declared to
have been the true intent and meaning of the act of the 2d day of
March, 1867, entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient
government of the rebel States," and of the act supplementary thereto,
passed on the 23d day of March, 1867, that the governments then
existing in the rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas,
and Arkansas, were not legal State governments; and that thereafter
said governments, if continued, were to be continued subject in
all respects to the military commanders of the respective districts,
and to the paramount authority of Congress.
Sec. 2. That the commander of any district named
in said act shall have power, subject to the disapproval of the
General of the army of the United States, and to have effect till
disapproved, whenever in the opinion of such commander the proper
administration of said act shall require it, to suspend or remove
from office, or from the performance of official duties and the
exercise of official powers, any officer or person holding or exercising,
or professing to hold or exercise, any civil or military office
or duty in such district under any power, election, appointment,
or authority derived from, or granted by, or claimed under, any
so-called State or the government thereof, or any municipal or other
division thereof; and upon such suspension or removal such commander,
subject to the disapproval of the General as aforesaid, shall have
power to provide from time to time for the performance of the said
duties of such officer or person so suspended or removed, by the
detail of some competent officer or soldier of the army, or by the
appointment of some other person to perform the same, and to fill
vacancies occasioned by death, resignation, or otherwise.
Sec. 3. That the General of the army of the United States shall
be invested with all the powers of suspension, removal, appointment,
and detail granted in the preceding section to district commanders.
Sec. 4. That the acts of the officers of the army already done
in removing in said districts persons exercising the functions of
civil officers, and appointing others in their stead, are hereby
confirmed: Provided, That any person heretofore or hereafter
appointed by any district commander to exercise the functions of
any civil office, may be removed either by the military officer
in command of the district, or by the General of the army. And it
shall be the duty of such commander to remove from office, as aforesaid,
all persons who are disloyal to the Government of the United States,
or who use their official influence in any manner to hinder, delay,
prevent, or obstruct the due and proper administration of this act
and the acts to which it is supplementary.
Sec. 5. That the boards of registration provided
for in the act entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled
'An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
States,' passed March 2, 1867, and to facilitate restoration," passed
March 23, 1867, shall have power, and it shall be their duty, before
allowing the registration of any person, to ascertain, upon such
facts or information as they can obtain, whether such person is
entitled to be registered under said act, and the oath required
by said act shall not be conclusive on such question, and no person
shall be registered unless such board shall decide that he is entitled
thereto; and such board shall also have power to examine, under
oath, (to be administered by any member of such board,) any one
touching the qualification of any person claiming registration;
but in every case of refusal by the board to register an applicant,
and in every case of striking his name from the list as hereinafter
provided, the board shall make a note or memorandum, which shall
be returned with the registration list to the commanding general
of the district, setting forth the grounds of such refusal or such
striking from the list: Provided, That no person shall
be disqualified as member of any board of registration by reason
of race or color.
Sec. 6. That the true intent and meaning of the oath prescribed in said supplementary act is, (among other things,)
that no person who has been a member of the Legislature of any State,
or who has held any executive or judicial office in any State, whether
he has taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States
or not, and whether he was holding such office at the commencement
of the rebellion, or had held it before, and who has afterwards
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States,
or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, is entitled to be
registered or to vote; and the words "executive or judicial office
in any State" in said oath mentioned shall be construed to include
all civil offices created by law for the administration of any general
law of a State, or for the administration of justice.
Sec. 7. That the time for completing the original registration provided for in said act may, in the discretion of
the commander of any district, be extended to the 1st day of October,
1867; and the boards of registration shall have power, and it shall
be their duty, commencing fourteen days prior to any election under
said act, and upon reasonable public notice of the time and place
thereof, to revise, for a period of five days, the registration
lists, and, upon being satisfied that any person not entitled thereto
has been registered, to strike the name of such person from the
list, and such person shall not be allowed to vote. And such board
shall also, during the same period, add to such registry the names
of all persons who at that time possess the qualifications required
by said act who have not been already registered; and no person
shall, at any time, be entitled to be registered or to vote, by
reason of any executive pardon or amnesty, for any act or thing
which, without such pardon or amnesty, would disqualify him from
registration or voting.
Sec. 8. That section four of said last-named
act shall be construed to authorize the commanding general named
therein, whenever he shall deem it needful, to remove any member
of a board of registration and to appoint another in his stead,
and to fill any vacancy in such board.
Sec. 9. That all members of said boards of registration, and all
persons hereafter elected or appointed to office in said military
districts, under any so-called State or municipal authority, or
by detail or appointment of the district commanders, shall be required
to take and to subscribe the oath of office
prescribed by law for officers of the United States.
Sec. 10. That no district commander or member of the board of registration,
or any of the officers or appointees acting under them, shall be
bound in his action by any opinion of any civil officer of the United States.
Sec. 11. That all the provisions of this act and of the acts to
which this is supplementary shall be construed liberally, to the
end that all the intents thereof may be fully and perfectly carried
out.
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(4)
1868-03-11
AMENDATORY RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF MARCH 11, 1868
Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield.
With a review of the events which led to the political
revolution of 1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. II, p. 687.
Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter any election authorized
by the act passed March 23, 1867, entitled "An Act supplementary
to 'An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
states,' passed March 2, 1867, and to facilitate their restoration,"
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. 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 returns of the votes cast on the ratification
or rejection of the constitution, shall enumerate and certify the
votes cast for members of Congress.
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An
act to prescribe an oath of office, July 2, 1862
Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter every person elected
or appointed to any office of honor or profit under the Government
of the United States either in the civil, military, or naval departments
of the public service, excepting the President of the United States,
shall, before entering upon the duties of such office, and before
being entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments thereof,
take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I, A B, do
solemnly swear (or affirm), that I have never voluntarily borne
arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof;
that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement
to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have never
sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any
office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority, in
hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary
support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution
within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto; and I do
further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and
ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United
States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation
freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and
that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office
on which I am about to enter; so help me God;" which said oath,
so taken and signed, shall be preserved among the files of the Court,
House of Congress, or Department to which the said office may appertain.
And any person who shall falsely take the said oath shall be guilty
of perjury, and on conviction, in addition to the penalties now
prescribed for that offense, shall be deprived of his office, and
rendered incapable forever after, of holding any office or place
under the United States.
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From Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield. With
a review of the events which led to the political revolution of
1860, by James G. Blaine. Vol. I, pp. 603-605.
Opinion
of Judge Black, November 20, 1860
The Tenth chapter of this volume having been given to the press
in advance of formal publication, many inquiries have been received
in regard to the text of Judge Black's opinion of November 20, 1860,
referred to on pp. 231, 232. The opinion was submitted to the President
by Judge Black as Attorney-General. So much of the opinion as includes
the points which are specially controverted and criticised is here
given — about one-half of the entire document. It is as follows:—
. . . "I come now to the point in your letter which is probably
of the greatest practical importance. By the Act of 1807 you may
employ such parts of the land and naval forces as you may judge
necessary for the purpose of causing the laws to be duly executed,
in all cases where it is lawful to use the militia for the same
purpose. By the Act of 1795 the militia may be called forth 'whenever
the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution
thereof obstructed, in any State by combinations too powerful to
be suppressed by the ordinary course of Judicial proceedings, or
by the power vested in the marshals.' This imposes upon the President
the sole responsibility of deciding whether the exigency has arisen
which requires the use of military force, and in proportion to the
magnitude of that responsibility will be his care not to overstep
the limits of his legal and just authority.
"The laws referred to in the Act of 1795 are manifestly those which
are administered by the judges, and executed by the ministerial
officers of the courts for the punishment of crime against the United
States, for the protection of rights claimed under the Federal Constitution
and laws, and for the enforcement of such obligations as come within
the cognizance of the Federal Judiciary. To compel obedience to
these laws, the courts have authority to punish all who obstruct
their regular administration, and the marshals and their deputies
have the same powers as sheriffs and their deputies in the several
States in executing the laws of the States. These are the ordinary
means provided for the execution of the laws; and the whole spirit
of our system is opposed to the employment of any other, except
in cases of extreme necessity arising out of great and unusual combinations
against them. Their agency must continue to be used until their
incapacity to cope with the power opposed to them shall be plainly
demonstrated. It is only upon clear evidence to that effect that
a military force can be called into the field. Even then its operations
must be purely defensive. It can suppress only such combinations
as are found directly opposing the laws and obstructing the execution
thereof. It can do no more than what might and ought to be done
by a civil posse, if a civil posse could be raised large enough
to meet the same opposition. On such occasions, especially, the
military power must be kept in strict subordination to the civil
authority, since it is only in aid of the latter that the former
can act at all.
"But what if the feeling in any State against the United States
should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves
(including judges, district attorneys, and marshals) would be reached
by the same influences, and resign their places? Of course, the
first step would be to appoint others in their stead, if others
could be got to serve. But in such an event, it is more than probable
that great difficulty would be found in filling the offices. We
can easily conceive how it might become altogether impossible. We
are therefore obliged to consider what can be done in case we have
no courts to issue judicial process, and no ministerial officers
to execute it. In that event troops would certainly be out of place,
and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the courts
and marshals, there must be courts and marshals to be aided. Without
the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the
civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter
what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its
command. Under such circumstances to send a military force into
any State, with orders to act against the people, would be simply
making war upon them.
"The existing laws put and keep the Federal Government strictly
on the defensive. You can use force only to repel an assault on
the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their
duty. If the means given you to collect the revenue and execute
the other laws be insufficient for that purpose, Congress may extend
and make them more effectual to those ends.
"If one of the States should declare her independence, your action
cannot depend on the rightfulness of the cause upon which such declaration
is based. Whether the retirement of the State from the Union be
the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution, or a revolutionary
movement, it is certain that you have not in either case the authority
to recognize her independence or to absolve her from her Federal
obligations. Congress, or the other States in Convention assembled,
must take such measures as may be necessary and proper. In such
an event, I see no course for you but to go straight onward in the
path you have hitherto trodden — that is, execute the laws
to the extent of the defensive means placed in your hands, and act
generally upon the assumption that the present constitutional relations
between the States and the Federal Gevernment continue to exist,
until a new code of things shall be established either by law or
force.
"Whether Congress has the constitutional right to make war against
one or more States, and require the Executive of the Federal Government
to carry it on by means of force to be drawn from the other States,
is a question for Congress itself to consider. It must be admitted
that no such power is expressly given; nor are there any words in
the Constitution which imply it. Among the powers enumerated in
Article 1, Section 8, is that 'to declare war, grant letters of
marque and reprisal, and to make rules concerning captures on land
and water.' This certainly means nothing more than the power to
commence and carry on hostilities against the foreign enemies of
the nation. Another clause in the same section gives Congress the
power 'to provide for calling forth the militia,' and to use them
within the limits of the State. But this power is so restricted
by the words which immediately follow that it can be exercised only
for one of the following purposes:
- To execute the laws of the Union; that is, to aid the Federal
officers in the performance of their regular duties.
- To suppress insurrections against the State; but this is confined
by Article 4, Section 4, to cases in which the State herself shall
apply for assistance against her own people.
- To repel the invasion of a State by enemies who come from abroad
to assail her in her own territory.
All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize
an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the
peace, and not to plunge them into civil war. Our forefathers do not
seem to have thought that war was calculated 'to form a more perfect
Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for
the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.' There was undoubtedly
a strong and universal conviction among the men who framed and ratified
the Constitution, that military force would not only be useless, but
pernicious, as a means of holding the States together.
"If it be true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general
hostilities carried on by the Central Government against a State,
then it seems to follow that an attempt to do so would be ipso
facto an expulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated
as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly.
And if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally
putting strife and enmity and armed hostility between different
sections of the country, instead of the domestic tranquillity which
the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be
absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any portion of the people
bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest
like that?
"The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its
whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression
upon its property or its officers cannot by denied. But this is
a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people
for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce
an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.
The States are colleagues of one another, and if some of them shall
conquer the rest, and hold them as subjugated provinces, it would
totally destroy the whole theory upon which they are now connected.
"If this view of the subject be correct, as I think it is, then
the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall
arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond
that of merely protecting the General Government in the exercise
of its proper constitutional functions.
"I am, very respectfully, yours, etc.,
"J. S. BLACK."
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