As yet, we must remember, the Thirteenth Amendment had not been proclaimed as adopted, in fact had not been adopted, on the basis of the calculations of Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, the officer who alone could proclaim adoption; and the abolition of slavery rested upon the military power of the President, and on the acts of the "States" themselves, the first of which is temporary as to its effects, and the second of which might be reversed by the "States" at pleasure.
The Northern Republicans professed to see in this new legislation at the South the virtual re-enslavement of the negroes. This was an
The view taken of this
legislation by the
Republicans.
This legislation from
the point of view of
natural justice.
The law of vagrancy was severer. But it is easy to see that a reasonable execution of that law had as much help as harm in it for the former slave. It would have preserved him against idleness, drunkenness, and thievery, although it did curtail largely his liberty of action. It was, undeniably, the third act, which came so near to the re-enactment of the old slave code in regard to crimes and misdemeanors committed by negroes, that gave the greatest offence. Almost every act, word, or gesture of the negro, not consonant with good taste and good manners, as well as good morals, was made a crime or misdemeanor, for which he could first be fined by the magistrates, and then consigned to a condition almost of slavery for an indefinite time, if he could not pay the fine. There is no question that the "States" of the Union had at that moment the power under the Constitution of the United States to do these things. At that time the determination of the criminal law, both as to the definition of crime, the fixing of penalties, and the fashioning of procedure, was almost entirely a function of the "States," and there was no provision in the Constitution of the United States which required the "States" to treat their own inhabitants with equality in regard to their civil rights and obligations.
Under these circumstances it is not at all surprising that the Republicans of the North strongly felt that the freedom of the negro had not yet been sufficiently guaranteed to render the acknowledgment of the resumption of "State"-powers by the communities so lately in rebellion against the United States for the upholding of negro slavery safe and wise.
It was certainly natural, and it was just and right, that the party in power in Congress should have considered it their duty to so amend the
Correctness of
the Republican
position.