The Reconstruction Acts
Articles of War Against the American People,
Usurpation of States Rights
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.
And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power
knowledge gives. A popular government without popular information or the means of
acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both.
– James Madison, August 4, 1822.
We stand here in the midst of a
controversy of heritage vs. hate. The Confederate Naval Jack being in the center
of these two opposed sides.
In this "diverse" society there should be no room for
hatred of anyone's culture. Conversely there should be no room for hate organizations
based upon hating a peaceful and productive segment of our society.
What divides these two different camps of thought? – KNOWLEDGE.
The Knowledge tends to be eroded into, more precisely ‘selective knowledge.’ ‘Selective
knowledge’ is ignorance of the whole situation. This is a great disservice unless the
people have all the facts upon which they can make knowledgeable decisions. Acting off
of ‘selective knowledge’ makes us nothing more than a political pawn being told how to
act – solely based upon our own ignorance.
Would the other camp of this heritage vs. hate controversy share
your belief if they had your "selected facts" concerning this issue? Or,
would you maintain your same belief if you had all the knowledge?
The wise store up knowledge (Proverbs 10:14) and fools hate
knowledge (Proverbs 1:22).
Are both sides pawns of a political nature, being played against
each other because both sides don't have enough information in order to make a sound
judgement - or at least a judgement based upon the whole truth?
In America, knowledge of facts without a true Christian belief is
dangerous. Knowledge in the hands of evil or immoral individuals is the most dangerous
weapon on earth.
I make this presentation of facts, in order to enlarge your
knowledge and information concerning your heritage. Not just Southern Heritage,
but American heritage. Because Southern heritage –is- American heritage!
What happened in the South between 1858 and 1868 is what formed the America we live
in today. It is what created the modern Federal Government which has no intention of
staying within its Constitutional confines.
Modern America’s problems today stem from violations of the
Constitution by the Representatives of the Northern states of the 39th
Congress, the reconstruction Congress. I am here to tell you that the 39th
Congress was driven by evil and immoral people intent upon seeing that their will and
not the dictates of the Constitution was their ultimate goal. Here in the year 2000
we can see and feel the results of those violations. But we don’t have the knowledge
to correct this problem. It's not taught in school.
What are the modern problems of America?
- Unaccountable Government, running helter skelter and defiantly
secretive and unaccountable to the people. The people can ask them questions and they
receive no answers.
- The welfare state
- The socialist state
- The loss of the 10th Amendment and the 9th
Amendment
- All states seem to be mere puppets of Washington and not the
several sovereign states as originally designed by our founders.
The take-back of America begins with knowledge. So, let's start that
take-back now. Let's learn the knowledge it takes to take it back.
We are told that Reconstruction was the most troubling peacetime
period in our history. But in fact, it wasn't peacetime! It was a war against the
Constitution, our individual rights as state citizens and, states rights! And it
is being waged at this second.
We all see evidence of Reconstruction today – the Reconstructed
American union. Where are states rights today? Is there any evidence that the Federal
Government has any intention of strictly adhering to the 9th and 10th
Amendments? They were erased without authority by reconstruction. Who believes that
we still have them even though they are still enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
All of America's problems can be directly traced to
unconstitutional Acts of the 39th Congress relating to reconstruction.
So, let's start at the beginning; In order to understand
the criminality of Reconstruction as it relates to being the "logical
conclusion to the war" let's look at the official object of the war. What the
people and the soldiers were originally told the object for which they were fighting
for. The object which dictated the orders of the Army in the field. The object that
tells the military their lawful objectives, which in turn dictates to them,
objects which when completed, draw the war to a close.
The object of the war as stated by both houses of Congress in July
1861 was:
"… that this war is not prosecuted
upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for the purpose of conquest or
subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or
established institutions of those States, … and to preserve the Union, with all the
dignity, equality, and rights of the several states unimpaired; that as soon as these
objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.
What did reconstruction do?
To see what reconstruction did let's look at
the opinion of the Attorney General, President Andrew Johnson’s vetoes, the writings of
James G. Blaine the radical Republican Representative from Maine and the democratic
party platforms of some of the northern states.
It has to be mentioned at this time that these Acts were passed in
times of peace. Remember, in peacetime Congress is bound by the Constitution. They have
no authority to implement the laws of war in times of peace.
The insurrection ended by Proclamation April 2, 1866. (No. 1,
14 Stat.811.)The Reconstruction Acts were set up by 2 preceding Acts from 1866.
- Refugee and Freedmen Bureau Act July 16, 1866. (ch. 200, 14 Stat.173.)
- Civil Rights Act. April 9, 1866. (ch. 31, 14 Stat 27.)
Let's look at these Acts which
set up reconstruction and see what they are about. Were they Unconstitutional? What
does Unconstitutional mean?
Unconstitutional Act - defined
– an unconstitutional act is not a
law. It confers no rights. It imposes no duties. It affords no protection.
It creates no office. It is in legal contemplation as inoperative as though
it had never been passed. Therefore an unconstitutional act purporting to create an
office gives no validity to the acts of a person acting under color of its authority.
Norton v. Shelby County, 6 S.Ct. 1121. An "unconstitutional act" constitutes
a protection to no one who has acted under it, and no one can be punished for having
refused obedience to it before the decision was made. A legislative act in conflict
with the Constitution is not only illegal or voidable, but absolutely void. It is as
if never enacted, and no subsequent change of the Constitution removing the restriction
could validate it or breathe into it the breath of life. In re Rahrer, 43 F. 556, 558,
10 L.R.A.444.
President Andrew Johnson tells us that there are
several important issues immediately at hand concerning these Acts. We want to look
at them from a Constitutional point of view. Did Congress have specifically enumerated
Constitutional authority to enact these laws?
Civil Rights Bill
Now let's start getting politically incorrect.
I am about to raise the dander of those who fear history and are stuck in politicalcorrectness.
Let's review the Civil Rights Bill that
was passed over the Presidents veto.
President Johnson tells us that there are several important issues
immediately at hand. We want to look at this from a Constitutional point of view. Did
Congress have specifically enumerated Constitutional authority to enact these laws?
Remember this law is still on the books as USC Title 42 sections 1982,
1987 and 1988.
- Creates the "federal United States citizen"
- Subjugates state Courts to federal will. (Do you understand
that?)
- In the words of President Johnson; "It establishes for
the security of the colored race safeguards which go infinitely beyond any that the
General Government had ever provided for the white race. In
fact, the distinction of race and color is by the bill made to operate in favor of the
colored and against the white race."
- It was an "absorption and assumption of power by the
General Government which, if acquiesced in, must sap and destroy our federative system
of limited powers and break down the barriers which preserve the rights of the
States."- It destroys "States Rights"
Veto-Civil Rights Bill
Passed April 9, 1866 –after peace Proclamation
of April 2, 1866
I believe that Blacks don't need Civil Rights! - They need freedom!
Their subjugation means white subjugation. The Black/White issue must be squarely faced.
We begin with President Andrew Johnson's Words in his veto of
the Civil Rights Bill:
"I regret that the bill, which has passed
both Houses of Congress, entitled "An act to protect all persons in the United
States in their civil rights and furnish the means of their vindication,"
contains provisions which I can not approve consistently with
my sense of duty to the whole people and my obligations to the Constitution of the
United States."
• Look for the infamous "federal
United States citizen" and see if it is truly a different kind of citizenship and
see if it applies only to Blacks. A lot of people think that it solely relates to Blacks.
"By the first section of the bill all persons
born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed,
are declared to be citizens of the United States. This provision comprehends the Chinese
of the Pacific States, Indians subject to taxation, the people called gypsies, as well as
the entire race designated as blacks, people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and persons of
African blood. Every individual of these races born in the United States is by the bill
made a citizen of the United States. It does not purport to declare or confer any other
right of citizenship than Federal citizenship.[Article I, Sect. 8 cl. 17 citizenship]
It does not purport to give these classes of persons any status as citizens of States…
The power to confer the right of State citizenship is just as exclusively with the several
States as the power to confer the right of Federal citizenship is with Congress."
[Another part of the bill is recited
as follows;]
"In other words, when a State judge, acting upon
a question involving a conflict between a State law and a Federal law, and bound, according
to his own judgment and responsibility, to give an impartial decision between the two, comes
to the conclusion that the State law is valid and the Federal law is invalid, he must not
follow the dictates of his own judgment, at the peril of fine and imprisonment. The legislative
department of the Government of the United States thus takes from the judicial department
of the States the sacred and exclusive duty of judicial decision, and converts the State
judge into a mere ministerial officer, bound to decide according to the will of Congress."
- [Do we have a change in state
judges being bound by federal laws which conflict with state laws? Yes! The Federal
government is beginning to encroach upon the judicial branch of the states- as a permanent
condition.]
- The Pandora's Box of federal encroachment into the States is opening
wider. The federal demons are coming out.
- All this and we haven't even started reconstruction.
Andrew Johnson goes on;
"In all our history, in all our experience as a people living under
Federal and State law, no such system as that contemplated by the details of this bill has
ever before been proposed or adopted. They establish for the security of the colored race
safeguards which go infinitely beyond any that the General Government has ever provided for
the white race. In fact, the distinction of race and color is by the bill made to operate
in favor of the colored and against the white race. [Remember
who is speaking here- The President of the United
States!]They interfere with the
municipal legislation of the States, with the relations existing exclusively between a State
and its citizens - an absorption and assumption of power by the General Government which,
if acquiesced in, must sap and destroy our federative system of limited powers and
break down the barriers which preserve the rights of the States.
[ Remember this- He's stating that this will destroy
states rights.] It is another step, or rather stride, toward
centralization and the concentration of all legislative powers in the National
Government. The tendency of the bill must be to resuscitate the spirit of
rebellion …"
REFUGEE AND FREEDMAN BUREAU ACT
- This bill makes an
extraordinary military measure designed to suppress a formidable
rebellion, a permanent
branch of the public administration, with its powers greatly enlarged."
(Note: It was changed to a two year enactment and extended in 1868.)
- It establishes a permanent military jurisdiction over all
parts of the United States containing refugees and freedmen- this is a permanent
peacetime measure.
- It appoints
a Federal agent to carry out the new federal jurisdiction, in every county and
parish where Freedmen are.
- Creates the Welfare state.
- It creates federal public education.
- It makes blacks political pawns.
These are direct quotes
from Andrew Johnson's Veto of this Act:
"The bill proposes to establish by
authority of Congress military jurisdiction over all parts of the United
States containing refugees and freedmen." [In
times of peace]
"…the bill itself, should it become a law, will have no
limitation in point of time, but will form a part of the permanent legislation
of the country." [Makes military jurisdiction
permanent]
"Offenses that may be committed by individuals should not
work a forfeiture of the rights of whole communities."
[The rights of the community are
forfeited.]
"In time of war it was eminently proper that we should
provide for those who were passing suddenly from a condition of bondage to a state
of freedom. But this bill proposes to make the Freedman's Bureau, established by
the act of 1865 as one of many great and extraordinary military measures to suppress
a formidable rebellion, a permanent branch of the public administration, with
its powers greatly
enlarged."[Notice
what it just said; an "extraordinary military measures to suppress a
formidable rebellion" becomes "a permanent branch of the public
administration, with its powers greatly enlarged." -Permanent! War
measures being made permanent!]
- Let's see if we can spot the origin
of the American Welfare state in the following quote from President Johnson’s
veto;
"The third section of the bill authorizes
a general and unlimited grant of support to the destitute and suffering refugees and
freedmen, their wives and children. Succeeding sections make provision for the rent
or purchase of landed estates for freedmen, and for the erection for their benefit
of suitable buildings for asylums and schools, the expenses to be defrayed from
the Treasury of the whole people. The Congress of the United States has never
heretofore thought itself empowered to establish asylums beyond the limits of the
District of Columbia, except for the benefit of our disabled soldiers and sailors.
It has never founded schools for any class of our own people, not even for the
orphans of those who have fallen in the defense of the Union, but has left the care
of education to the much more competent and efficient control of the States, of
communities, of private associations, and of individuals. It has never deemed
itself authorized to expend the public money for the rent or purchase of homes for
the thousands, not to say millions, of the white race who are honestly toiling from
day to day for their subsistence. A system for the support of indigent persons in
the United States was never contemplated by the authors of the Constitution; nor
can any good reason be advanced why, as a permanent establishment,
it should be founded for one class or color of our people more than another.
Pending the war many refugees and freedmen received support from the Government,
but it was never intended that they should thenceforth be fed, clothed, educated,
and sheltered by the United States. The idea on which the slaves were assisted to
freedom was that on becoming free they would be a self-sustaining population. Any
legislation that shall imply that they are not expected to attain a self-sustaining
condition must have a tendency injurious alike to their character and their prospects."
"The appointment of an agent for every county and
parish will create an immense patronage, and the expense of the numerous
officers and their clerks, to be appointed by the President, will be great in the
beginning, with a tendency steadily to increase."
"In this connection the query presents itself whether the
system proposed by the bill will not, when put into complete operation, practically
transfer the entire care, support, and control of 4,000,000 emancipated slaves to
agents, overseers, or taskmasters, (DOES THIS MAKE THEM
FREE –OR SIMPLY TRANSFER OWNERSHIP?) who, appointed at
Washington, are to be located in every county and parish throughout the
United States containing freedmen and refugees. Such a system would inevitably
tend to a concentration of power in the executive which would enable him, if so
disposed, to control the action of this numerous class and use them for the
attainment of his own political ends."
[The
use of blacks as political pawns. Blacks were not freed- they were just transferred
to their Federal Master. To whose benefit is this? The blacks or the Federal
Government? Are blacks still used as political pawns? The 39th
Congress is successfully recruiting
½ of the southern population (the freed slaves) to be their political allies.
Are they still political pawns? – Can everyone say "Heritage vs. Hate."
Are we their pawns also?]
In general the Refugee and
Freedmen's Bureau Act, and the Civil Rights Act. opens the Pandora's box of federal
authority outside of their 10 square mile and into the several states. The result
is the destruction of "limited Federal government," "states
rights" "state sovereignty," and self government by the people,
which is replaced by the creation of a centralized national government.
- All of
this happened almost a year before Reconstruction.
Now let's review the Presidents Veto of the Reconstruction Acts.
Veto of the Act of March 2, 1867
- The President explains what
events must take place under the Reconstruction plan;
"These events are,
- first, the selection of delegates to a State convention by an
election at which negroes (note:
The newly created United States citizen
included; "Chinese
of the Pacific States, Indians subject to taxation, the people called gypsies, as well
as the entire race designated as blacks, people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and
persons of African blood." ) shall be allowed to vote;
- second, the formation of a State constitution by the convention
so chosen;
- third, the insertion into the State constitution of a provision
which will secure the right of voting at all elections to negroes
(Chinese of the Pacific States, Indians subject to
taxation, the people called gypsies, as well as the entire race designated as blacks,
people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and persons of African blood.)
and to such white men as may not be disfranchised for rebellion or felony;
- fourth, the submission of the constitution for ratification to
negroes and white men not disfranchised, and its actual ratification by their vote;
- fifth, the submission of the State constitution to Congress
for examination and approval, and the actual approval of it by that body;
- sixth, the adoption of a certain amendment[14th ]
to the Federal Constitution by a vote of the legislature elected under the new
constitution;
- seventh, the adoption of said amendment by a sufficient number
of other States to make it a part of the Constitution of the United States. All these
conditions must be fulfilled before the people of any of these States can be relieved
from the bondage of military domination;"
"I submit to Congress whether this measure is not in its whole
character, scope, and object without precedent and without authority, in palpable
conflict with the plainest provisions of the Constitution, and utterly destructive
to those great principles of liberty and humanity for which our ancestors on both
sides of the Atlantic have shed so much blood and expended so much treasure."
"Our victories subjected the insurgents to legal obedience,
not to the yoke of an arbitrary despotism."
"Invasion, insurrection, rebellion, and domestic violence were
anticipated when the Government was framed, and the means of repelling and suppressing
them were wisely provided for in the Constitution; but it was not thought necessary to
declare that the States in which they might occur should be expelled from the Union.
Rebellions, which were invariably suppressed, occurred prior to that out of which these
questions grow; but the States continued to exist and the Union remained unbroken.
In Massachusetts, in Pennsylvania, in Rhode Island, and in New York, at different
periods in our history, violent and armed opposition to the United States was carried
on; but the relations of those States with the Federal Government were not supposed to
be interrupted or changed thereby after the rebellious portions of their population
were defeated and put down. It is true that in these earlier cases there was no formal
expression of a determination to withdraw from the Union, but it is also true that in
the Southern States the ordinances of secession were treated by all the friends of the
Union as mere nullities and are now acknowledged to be so by the States themselves. If
we admit that they had any force or validity or that they did in fact take the States
in which they were passed out of the Union, we sweep from under our feet all the grounds
upon which we stand in justifying the use of Federal force to maintain the integrity of
the Government."
– Remember that 360,000 Northern Soldiers died on
the "grounds" "… that
this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for the purpose of
conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights
or established institutions of those States, … and to preserve the Union, with all the
dignity, equality, and rights of the several states unimpaired; that as soon as these
objects are accomplished the war ought to cease."
Yet the Reconstruction Acts dishonor the cause for which they died.
The result is that they were merely political pawns duped into enforcing the political
will of the Radical Republicans to destroy the founding principals of our nation and
the Constitution.
"This is a bill passed by Congress in time of peace.
There is not in any one of the States brought under its operation either war or
insurrection."
"Let us pause here to consider, upon this question of
constitutional law and the power of Congress, a recent decision of the Supreme Court
of the United States in ex parte Milligan."
"I will first quote from the opinion of the majority of the
court:
Martial law can not arise from a
threatened invasion. The necessity must be actual and present, the invasion real,
such as effectually closes the courts and deposes the civil administration."
"We see that martial law comes in only
when actual war closes the courts and deposes the civil authority; but this bill,
in time of peace, makes martial law operate as though we were in actual war, and
becomes the cause instead of the consequence of the abrogation of civil
authority."
Do we see the very real articles of war
coming into play here? Congress is enacting laws in open opposition to the laws of peace.
And they are making them permanent! We see that we are in a permanent war until we get
educated and mobilized in a direction that "will most likely effect our safety and
Happiness."
Andrew Johnson goes on;
"I now quote from the opinion of the minority of the court,
delivered by Chief Justice Chase:"
"We by no means assert that Congress
can establish and apply the laws of war where no war has been declared or exists.
Where peace exists, the laws of peace must prevail."
"This is sufficiently explicit. Peace
exists in all the territory to which this bill applies. It asserts a power in Congress,
in time of peace, to set aside the laws of peace and to substitute the laws of war."
"The purpose and object of the bill—the general intent
which pervades it from beginning to end—is to change the entire structure and character
of the State governments and to compel them by force to the adoption of organic laws and
regulations which they are unwilling to accept if left to themselves."
"The bill also denies the legality of the governments of ten of
the States which participated in the ratification of the [13th] amendment to
the Federal Constitution abolishing slavery forever within the jurisdiction of the
United States and practically excludes them from the Union. If this assumption of
the bill be correct, their concurrence can not be considered as having been legally
given, and the important fact is made to appear that the consent of three-fourths of
the States—the requisite number— has not been constitutionally obtained to the
ratification of that amendment, thus leaving the question of slavery where it stood
before the amendment was officially declared to have become a part of the Constitution."
"It is a part of our public history which can never be
forgotten that both Houses of Congress, in July, 1861, declared in the form of
a solemn resolution that the war was and should be carried on for no purpose of
subjugation, but solely to enforce the Constitution and laws, and that when
this was yielded by the parties in rebellion the contest should cease, with the
constitutional rights of the States and of individuals unimpaired. This resolution
was adopted and sent forth to the world unanimously by the Senate and with only two
dissenting voices in the House. It was accepted by the friends of the Union in the
South as well as in the North as expressing honestly and truly the object of the war.
On the faith of it many thousands of persons in both sections gave their lives and
their fortunes to the cause. To repudiate it now by refusing to the States and to
the individuals within them the rights which the Constitution and laws of the Union
would secure to them is a breach of our plighted honor for which I can imagine no
excuse and to which I can not voluntarily become a party."
Veto of the Act of March 23, 1867
Concerning those authorized to vote in the newly reconstructed
states;
"…the male citizens of said State 21 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."
"Without these provisions no constitution which can be framed
in any one of the ten States will be of any avail with Congress. This, then, is the
test of what the constitution of a State of this Union must contain to make it
republican. Measured by such a standard, how few of the States now composing the Union
have republican constitutions! If in the exercise of the constitutional guaranty that
Congress shall secure to every State a republican form of government universal suffrage
for blacks (Chinese of the Pacific States, Indians
subject to taxation, the people called gypsies, as well as the entire race designated as
blacks, people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and persons of African blood. )
as well as whites is a sine qua
non,[That which without, the thing cannot
be] the work of reconstruction may as well begin in Ohio
as in Virginia, in Pennsylvania as in North Carolina."
President Johnson is clearly showing us that Congress is creating
states that are not equal to the other states. Congress is going to force them into
"re-entering" the Union not on an equal footing with the other states.
Congress is also creating a state within the jurisdiction of an existing state in
open violation of Art. IV, Section 3 cl.1 of the US Constitution.
Veto of the Act of July 19, 1867
These are a few of the direct quotes from
President Andrew Johnson's vetoes of this Act.
"The veto of the original bill of the 2d of March was based on
two distinct grounds—the interference of Congress in matters strictly appertaining to
the reserved powers of the States and the establishment of military tribunals for the
trial of citizens in time of peace."
"Another ground on which these reconstruction acts are attempted
to be sustained is this: That these ten States are conquered territory; that the
constitutional relation in which they stood as States toward the Federal Government
prior to the rebellion has given place to a new relation; that their territory is a
conquered country and their citizens a conquered people, and that in this new relation
Congress can govern them by military power."
"A title by conquest stands on clear ground; it is a new title
acquired by war."
Remember that the object of the "Civil
War" was not for any object of conquest. These Acts are clearly a new war against
the American people. President Johnson clearly tells us that the principals upon which
these Acts are based are War Principals. And they are still in place today.
"There is not a foot of the land in any one
of these ten States which the United States holds by conquest,"
"We have not conquered these places, but have simply
"repossessed" them"
"From first to last, during the rebellion and since, the title
of each of these States to the lands and public buildings owned by them has never been
disturbed,"
[ i.e. The South Carolina State Capitol
Building. If you will claim your Capitol Building as the Citizens of South Carolina,
and take it away from the "United States citizens residing in South Carolina"
then, and only then, can you dictate what flag flies at either the top or bottom of its
flag pole.]
"The remedy must come from the people
themselves. They know what it is and how it is to be applied…With abiding confidence
in their patriotism, wisdom, and integrity, I am still hopeful of the future, and
that in the end the rod of despotism will be broken, the armed heel of power lifted from
the necks of the people, and the principles of a violated Constitution preserved."
Unconstitutional Act – Read this again
– an unconstitutional act is not a law.
It confers no rights. It imposes no duties. It affords no protection. It creates no
office. It is in legal contemplation as inoperative as though it had never been passed.
Therefore an unconstitutional act purporting to create an office gives no validity to
the acts of a person acting under color of its authority. Norton v. Shelby County,
6 S.Ct. 1121. An "unconstitutional act" constitutes a protection to no one
who has acted under it, and no one can be punished for having refused obedience to it
before the decision was made. A legislative act in conflict with the Constitution is
not only illegal or voidable, but absolutely void. It is as if never enacted, and no
subsequent change of the Constitution removing the restriction could validate it or
breathe into it the breath of life. In re Rahrer, 43 F. 556, 558, 10 L.R.A.444.
With this understanding, were the States
of South Carolina, North Carolina Georgia etc. as they now operate, created
unconstitutionally? If so do they lawfully exist? Is the State of South Carolina going
to maintain their war of oppression and subjugation on those who exercise their right
to lawful and constitutional government again? YES!!! Because these Acts of
Congress are PERMANENT ATRICLES OF WAR designed to take away our liberties and freedoms.
And they are working extremely well.
According to the President of the United States, the Reconstruction Acts;
- Created new states based upon universal negro
(Chinese of the Pacific States, Indians subject to
taxation, the people called gypsies, as well as the entire race designated as blacks,
people of color, negroes, mulattoes, and persons of African blood.)
suffrage and not on an equal footing with their sister states.
- Are Bills passed in times of peace
- There had been insurrections before and it had never led to
disfranchisement or state nullification
- In quoting from the Supreme Court he states;
"Martial law can not arise from a threatened invasion.
The necessity must be actual and present, the invasion real, such as effectually closes
the courts and deposes the civil administration." Yet he
states that this Act of Congress imposes martial law in times of peace. In direct
opposition of the Supreme Court.
- "The purpose and object of the
bill—the general intent which pervades it from beginning to end—is to change the
entire structure and character of the State governments."
- The bill denies the legality of the governments of ten of the
States and annuls them without Constitutional authority.
- "Another ground on which these
reconstruction acts are attempted to be sustained is this: That these ten States are
conquered territory and a title by conquest stands on clear ground; it is a new
title acquired by war."
*
The Reconstruction Acts are clearly articles of war against the Constitution of the
United States of America. They are articles of war against the American People, their
Rights and States rights. They were put in place and enforced not by
Constitutional processes or methods, but instead by political coercion and force fore
the sole reason that they had a majority to override vetoes and pass legislation that
expressed the will of Congress and Not the dictates of the Constitution.
WHO BELIEVES IN THE 10th AMENDMENT- States Rights?
TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS
BY
JAMES G. BLAINE
Radical Republican representative of Maine
"The Southern men who had defiantly rejected the Fourteenth
Amendment, and had with confidence relied upon the power of President Johnson to
vindicate their position, now discovered their mistake, and were reluctantly but
completely convinced that the only road to representation in Congress for their
States was through submission to the conditions imposed by the Acts of Reconstruction,
— conditions far more exacting than those which had been required by the preceding
Congress and which they had so unwisely refused to accept." (Tennessee did
accept and was not reconstructed - Reconstruction was vindictiveness to the other
states. All states were reconstructed by the passage of the 15th Amendment
in 1870)
"The cause of this solicitude (concern) among Northern people
was the novel experiment in the South of allowing loyal men regardless of race
or color to share in the suffrage and to participate in the administration of the
Government. Under any less authoritative mandate than that which is conveyed in
a military order with the requisite force behind it, [ at the end of a
bayonet]the Southern communities would never have accepted or submitted to the
conditions thus imposed. But the sympathy which their condition under other
circumstances might have evoked in the North, was stifled by the pertinent
consideration that they had refused other forms of Reconstruction, and had
wilfully drawn upon themselves all that was unwelcome in the one now about
to be enforced. It was to be noted moreover that the feature which was most
unwelcome — impartial suffrage —was the one especially founded upon justice,
abstract as well as practical."
* What he is saying here is that
those in rebellion and their posterity would never have self government again –
This violates the Constitution – Treason shall not work corruption of blood.
All of you, and your children, whose forefathers fought and signed the Dec. of
Independence and the Constitution, are forever subjugated to the federal will,
because of your "rebellion"
Concerning the Reconstructed State
Constitutional Conventions dictated by the Reconstruction Acts;
"All were ordained in the
spirit of liberty, all prohibited the existence of any form of slavery,[This
is a moot point - slavery was abolished two years earlier by the 13th
Amendment] and all heartily recognized the supreme sovereignty of the National
Government as having been indisputably established by the overthrow of the Rebellion
which was undertaken to confirm the adverse theory of State-rights."
"He (President Johnson) had neither concealed nor abated his
utter hostility to the policy of Congress, — a form of hostility that grew in rancor
in proportion as he had been thwarted and rendered powerless by the enactment of the
laws over his veto"
"His message was laden with every form of attack which
ingenuity could devise to throw discredit upon Congress, and if possible to affright
the people by the dismal consequences destined in his judgment to follow the flagrant
violation of the Constitution which he saw in the Reconstruction policy. He appealed
to the people on the ground of patriotism, public safety, and personal interest. He
pictured anew the advantage and the grandeur of having the old Union fully restored;
he warned the people of the danger of sowing the seeds of another rebellion by
allowing continued maltreatment of the Southern people; and he appealed to the
commercial and financial interests of the country by pointing out how every form
of property was endangered by the chaotic condition of affairs to which, in his
belief, the policy of Congress was steadily tending. Beyond these considerations
he endeavored to arouse among the people all possible prejudice against negro
suffrage. He declared that "of all the dangers which our Nation has yet
encountered, none are equal to those which must result from the success of the
effort now making to Africanize [one] half of our country "We must not,
delude ourselves. It will require a strong standing army, and probably more
than two hundred millions per annum, to maintain the supremacy of negro governments
after they are established,"
"The argument of the President…fell upon unlistening ears,
making no impression whatever upon Congress and very little upon the country."
"The bills admitting these States to representation did not
secure Executive approval. On the 20th of June (1868) the President sent
a message to the House of Representatives with his objections to the Arkansas bill."
"The approval of this bill, would
be an admission on the part of the Executive that the Act for the more efficient
government of the rebel States, passed March 2, 1867, and the Act supplementary
thereto, were proper and constitutional."
I
"[U]ndertake at this time to re-open the discussion
upon the grave Constitutional question involved in the Reconstruction Acts."
He declared that "the bill assumes authority over
States ‘which has never been delegated to Congress," and
"imposes conditions which are in derogation of equal rights."
"It assumes authority over six States
of the Union which has never been delegated to Congress, or is even warranted by
previous unconstitutional legislation upon the subject of restoration. It imposes
conditions which are in derogation of the equal rights of the States, and is
founded upon a theory which is subversive of the fundamental principles of the
Government."
Mr. Blain continues: "The vetoes did
not evoke long debate in either House, and both bills were promptly passed over
the objections of the President by a party vote."
"As the vicious theory of State-rights had been
constantly at enmity with the true spirit of Nationality, the Organic Law of the
Republic should be so amended that no standing-room for th[at] heresy would be left"
"Of the representatives on the floor of the Fortieth
Congress from the eight States lately in rebellion, only two were Democrats. The
senators were unanimously Republican. Of the aggregate number about one-half
were natives of the South"
The states are no longer for
"state Citizens" but instead represent anyone born in the United
States who is subject to Congress.
"The first section of the Constitutional
amendment which includes these invaluable provisions is in fact a new charter of
liberty to the citizens of the United States; is the utter destruction of the
pestilent heresy of State-rights, which constantly menaced the prosperity and
even the existence of the Republic;"
*On this new national (federal)
Citizenship
"Its opening section settled all conflicts
and contradictions on this question by a comprehensive declaration which defined
National citizenship and gave to it precedence of the citizenship of a State.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein
they reside." These pregnant words distinctly reversed the origin and
character of American citizenship."
(Note: What was so wrong
with the origin or character of American citizenship that it had to be reversed?)
"The consequences that flowed from this
radical change in the basis of citizenship were numerous and weighty."
"To Congress is committed the authority to enforce every
provision of the Fourteenth Amendment."
Official Opinion of the Attorney-
General on Reconstruction.
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, June 12, 1867.
"Congress was not satisfied with the organic law, or
constitution, under which this civil government was established. That constitution
was to be changed in only one particular to make it acceptable to Congress, and that
was in the matter of the elective franchise. The purpose, the sole object of this
act is to effect that change, and to effect it by the agency of the people of the
State…"
"I find no authority anywhere in this act for the removal
by the military commander of the proper officers of a State either executive or
judicial, or the appointment of persons to their places. Nothing short of an express
grant of power would justify the removal or the appointment of such an officer,
There is no such grant expressed or even implied. On the contrary, the act clearly
enough forbids it. Their regular State officials, duly elected and qualified, are
entitled to hold their offices. They, too, have rights which the military commander
is bound to protect, not authorized to destroy"
"When peace and order do prevail it is not allowable to
displace the civil officers and appoint others in their places under any idea that
the military commander can better perform his duties and carry out the general
purposes of the act by the agency of civil officers of his own choice rather than
by the lawful incumbents"
"In one of these districts the Governor of a State has been
deposed under a threat of military force, and another person called a Governor has
been appointed by the military commander to fill his place, thus presenting the strange
spectacle of an official intrusted with the chief power to execute the laws of the State
whose authority is not recognized by the laws he is called upon to execute"
"If these military edicts are allowed to remain even during the
brief time in which this provisional military government may be in power, the seeds will
be sown for such a future harvest of litigation as has never been inflicted upon any
other people."
"This act, passed in a time of peace, when all the courts, State
and Federal, are in the undisturbed exercise of their jurisdiction, authorizes, at the
discretion of a military officer, the seizure, trial, and condemnation of the citizen"
WHO ARE ENTITLED TO REGISTRATION.
"The applicant for registration must be a citizen of the State
and of the United States"
What did the Democratic parties of
some of the Northern States Say about Reconstruction?
CONNECTICUT.
The regular Democratic Convention assembled at Hartford on February 6th,
and nominated for Governor, James E. English, and for Lieutenant-Governor, Ephraim H. Hyde.
A series of twelve resolutions was adopted as the platform of the party, of which those relating
Resolved, That those lately in insurrection
against the Federal Government having laid down their arms, and fully resumed their duties as
citizens of the United States, there is no obstacle in the way of the harmonious working of our
republican institutions, save the factious course of a mutilated Congress, who have
inaugurated a new revolution, and are determined to rule the country, in violation of
the Constitution, and to establish their wild and fanatical will as a substitute for
the Union framed by the Fathers of the Republic.
Resolved, That the only way in which peace and concord can be
reestablished, is by conforming to the requirements of the Constitution, and defeating
the Radical party, who spurn its provisions, and imperil the Union by their mad and
seditious course.
MAINE.
The Democratic State Convention met at Portland,
June 25th. Eben F. Pillsbury was unanimously nominated for Governor, and the
following resolutions were adopted:
Resolved,…3.That our last Congress was without precedent in
its utter disregard of the Constitution, and the rights of the people under it; all
conservative pledges which, during the war, were made by both branches of Congress by
the President and his Cabinet, and by our leading generals, were cast aside and
disregarded, and the voice of the people, speaking through the minority, was stifled on
questions of the most momentous interest, and which overturned the fundamental principles
of republican government.
The Democratic National Convention of 1868
During the Democratic National Convention of
1868 comes the following;
The Democrats had uniformly maintained that the
right of suffrage was a question which came within the political power of the States
and did not belong to the National jurisdiction. They denied that the States had in
any degree, even by rebellion, forfeited their prerogatives or changed their relations.
They insisted that nothing remained but to recognize them as restored to their old
position. In framing the present platform they re-affirmed this doctrine, under
the declaration that "any attempt of Congress, on any pretext whatever, to deprive
any State of its right (to regulate suffrage), or interfere with its exercise, is a
flagrant usurpation of power, which cannot find any warrant in the Constitution."
This broad assertion was designed to deny even the right of Congress to make impartial
suffrage in the revised constitutions a condition precedent to the re-admission of the
rebellious States to representation. But the Platform did not stop here. With a bolder
sweep it declared "that we regard the Reconstruction Acts of
Congress as usurpations, unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void."
And;
In a speech at Charleston, within two weeks from the adjournment
of the Convention, General Wade Hampton of South Carolina recounted the circumstances
which attended its ("that we regard the
Reconstruction Acts of Congress as usurpations, unconstitutional, revolutionary, and
void.") insertion in the platform, and proudly claimed it as his own
plank. He was himself a member of the Committee on Resolutions, and took an active
part in its deliberations. All the members, he said, agreed that the control of suffrage
belonged to the States; but General Hampton himself contended that the vital question
turned on what were the States. In order that there might be no room for
dispute he proposed that the platform should specifically say "the States as they
were before 1865." To this however some of the members objected as impolitic
and calculated to raise distrust, and it was accordingly dropped. General Hampton then
proposed to insert the declaration that the "Reconstruction Acts are
unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void;" and the manner in which this
suggestion was received is given by General Hampton himself: "When I presented
that proposition every member, and the warmest were from the North, came forward and
pledged themselves to carry it out." He further reported to his people that the
Democratic leaders declared their "willingness to give us every thing we could
desire… Help them once to regain the power, and
then they would do their utmost to relieve the Southern States and restore to us the
Union and the Constitution as it had existed before the war."
So what is the
common consensus of what reconstruction was about?
- It abolished states of the American union.
- It created new states, without Constitutional delegation of
authority, comprised of a Congressionally created class of citizen, not free but
subject to Congress.
- Said citizens are protected by federal agencies created in
all counties and parishes of the several states.
- Said citizens have far more protection than state citizens.
- The Reconstruction Acts rid this nation of the pestilent
heresy called "States Rights" without nullification of the 9th
or 10th Amendments.
- The Reconstruction Acts were unquestionably UNCONSTITUTIONAL-
therefore, as an operation of law, they created no office. The State of North Carolina
is not a lawful entity which can demand your allegiance or obedience. They don't exist in law.
You have no obligation to obey a government which has no standing
in law. To do otherwise is to accept their unlawful control and usurpations as legitimate.
Do you obey the fundamental laws of this nation? Or do you obey
criminals and usurpers.
Do you participate in and sanction the Government created by reconstruction?
Do you consent to or acquiesce to laws and policies implemented by a
government at odds with the Constitution of the United States? ie. Gun control laws,
gun registration, welfare, affirmative action, public education, etc..
If you are committed to restoring your rights you must take serious
your obligation to the Constitution of the US. You do not give aid and comfort to usurpers
and those intent upon waging war on our rights. Otherwise you commit treason.
But, you feel stuck. You don't know what to do. You must learn the truth
and work towards becoming UN-Reconstructed. This is how we can free our Nation.
We must work towards regaining lawful government. We must do this through
gaining Knowledge and stop being led by our noses by those who wish to manipulate us through
our own ignorance.
To paraphrase the author of Uncommon
Sense, - when confronted with a bully, you have a choice of 3 options, 1) submit,
2) argue, or 3) fight. In that context, what will you choose to do, relating to the
unconstitutional Federal will?
THE ANSWER IS FOR YOU TO DECIDE!
Prepared and presented by John Ainsworth, Founder of T.I.G.E.R.
Mr. Ainsworth can be contacted by e-mail at
tigerja@bellsouth.net
or by phone at 704-532-9363
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