SWINGING ROUND THE CIRCLE. PRESIDENT JOHNSON ENDEAVORS TO ENLIGHTEN THE PEOPLE.
[24]. This and the following chapters are furnished by the author of Woman’s Work in the Civil War, History of the Civil War, Men of Our Day, etc.
CHAPTER LXXXIII.
RECONSTRUCTION.
Condition of the Republican and Democratic Parties in Congress in December, 1866.—The District of Columbia Elective Franchise Bill passed: Its Provisions.—Mr. Johnson vetoes it, but it is passed over the Veto.—Territorial Franchise Bill passed.—Admission of Nebraska as a State, with the Elective Franchise Proviso.—Difficulties in Maturing satisfactorily the Reconstruction Act.—The Provisions of the House Bill.—It is materially changed in the Senate.—Further Modification in the House Provisions of the Bill as finally passed.—Necessity for the Tenure of Office Act: Its Provisions.—Effect of the Passage of the District of Columbia Franchise Bill on Tennessee.—Decision of the Supreme Court of Tennessee.—The First Supplementary Reconstruction Act of the Fortieth Congress.—It is vetoed, and re-passed: Its Provisions.—Arrangement for the Call of a Summer Session.—Mr. Stanbery’s Exposition of the Reconstruction Acts.—The Summer Session of 1867.—The Second Supplementary Reconstruction Act: Its Provisions.—Appropriations for Carrying out the Reconstruction Acts.—The President’s Communication.—The Resolution of the House in Reply.—Sharp Talk.—The Completion of Congressional Legislation on the Subject in 1867.—Condition of the Desolated States in 1867.
The elections of the Autumn of 1866 had greatly strengthened and encouraged the Republican majority in Congress, and when the members of the Thirty-ninth Congress met in their second session in December, 1866, they were resolved to complete their work of reconstruction, so far as it was possible to do so, and to pass the necessary bills over the President’s veto. The minority (Democrats) were weak in numbers in both houses, but they numbered several men of very considerable ability, and they had been reënforced by the defection from the Republicans of Messrs. Cowan, Doolittle, Dixon, and Norton in the Senate, and Mr. Raymond, and two or three others, on some questions, in the House. Their losses by death and by the unseating of several members whose seats were contested, however, gave them really very little more available strength than in the previous session, while the Republicans were united and thoroughly in earnest.
The first measure adopted during the session, having a bearing on the question of reconstruction, was the bill regulating the elective franchise in the District of Columbia. This was a measure of great importance, as, the District of Columbia being under the exclusive government of Congress, the action of that body in regard to conferring the suffrage and other privileges of citizenship upon the negro there, would indicate distinctly what Congress would require from the Rebel States as conditions precedent to their admission into the Union. Its provisions were as follows: Sec. 1 confers the elective franchise on male citizens of the United States, twenty-one years old and upward without distinction on account of race or color, who shall have resided in the District one year next preceding any election therein, excepting paupers, persons under guardianship, those convicted of any infamous crime or offense, and those who may have voluntarily given aid and comfort to the Rebels in the late Rebellion. Sec. 2 provides that any person whose duty it shall be to receive votes at any election within the District of Columbia, who shall reject the vote of any person entitled to vote under this act, shall be liable to an action of tort by the person injured, and on indictment and conviction, to a fine not exceeding $5,000, or to imprisonment not exceeding one year in the jail of the District, or both. Sec. 3 provides that any one willfully disturbing an elector in the exercise of such franchise shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $1,000, or an imprisonment not exceeding thirty days in the jail of the District, or both. Sec. 4 makes it the duty of criminal courts in the District to give this act in special charge to the grand jury at the common circuit of each term of the court. Secs. 5 and 6. The voting lists are to be prepared by the mayors and aldermen of the cities of Washington and Georgetown on and before the first day of March in each year, and are to be posted in public places ten days before the annual election. The remaining four sections give other prescriptions as to the manner in which the election shall be held.
This bill passed the Senate December 14, 1866, by a vote of 32 yeas to 13 nays; and the House by 128 yeas to 46 nays. Mr. Johnson vetoed it in a very elaborate message, on the 7th of January, 1867; and the same day the Senate passed it again over the veto, by yeas 29, nays 10; and the next day, the House followed their example by yeas 113, nays 38.
On the 14th of January, 1867, a bill was sent to the President, which had previously passed both houses of Congress by a large majority, which provided that from and after its passage there should be no denial of the elective franchise in any of the territories of the United States, now, or hereafter to be organized, to any citizen thereof, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and all acts or parts of acts, either of Congress or the legislative assemblies of said territories, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are declared null and void.
This bill, not being returned by the President within ten days, became a law on the 24th of January, 1867.