“Having, by this treasonable withdrawal from Congress, and by flagrant rebellion and war, forfeited all civil and political rights and privileges under the Federal Constitution, they can only be restored thereto by the permission and authority of that constitutional power against which they rebelled, and by which they were subdued.”[167]
Here was the power of Congress asserted,—but very tardily, and after original denial.
A calm observer has recently recorded his regret that the Resolutions were not adopted at once, and consistently acted upon. After saying that “the mover was overwhelmed with a tornado of denunciation and abuse,” and that the opposition “rendered any satisfactory reconstruction as nearly impracticable as can well be imagined,” the writer proceeds:—
“Time has fully vindicated the wisdom of Mr. Sumner’s course, and many of the Senators against the measure now admit their mistake,—while every man who comes here from the South says that their present miserable condition grows out of that great error.
“To the Democratic party the rejection of the Resolutions was a God-send. It made the continued existence of the Democratic party possible.”[168]
Such is the first chapter of Reconstruction.