And lastly: That disloyal sentiments, opinions or sympathies, or anything said or written which fell short of an incitement to others to engage in rebellion, did not disfranchise or disqualify from voting.
Some other instructions were given which were concurred in by the entire Cabinet, Mr. Stanton included, but the recital of them is not essential to this narrative. It must be added, however, that the President's view of the relation of the military commanders to the "State" governments created under his direction and with his aid was one which gave these governments a more independent and permanent character than the language of the Reconstruction Acts seemed to warrant.
When, then, the instructions of June 20th to the generals became known,
The Congressional interpretation
of the Reconstruction Acts.
It declared that the true intent and meaning of these Acts was that the civil governments then existing in the "rebel States" of Virginia, North Carolina, etc., were not legal "State governments," and that, if thereafter they should be allowed to continue to exist at all, they must be subject in all respects to the will of the military commanders of the respective districts, and to the paramount authority of Congress; and it provided that the generals in command of the respective districts might suspend or remove any person from any office under these illegal and pretended governments, and detail or appoint some other person to discharge the duties and exercise the powers said to pertain to such office. The acts of the district commanders in regard to these things were made subject to the disapproval of the General of the army, but not to that of the President, and stood until so disapproved. The same powers in regard to these matters were vested, by this bill, in the General of the army as in the district commanders, but were not accorded by it to the President; and it was made the duty of the General of the army and the district commanders to remove from such pretended offices "all persons who were disloyal to the United States, or who used their official influence in any manner to hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct the due and proper administration of the Reconstruction Acts."
The bill, furthermore, provided that the boards of registration should have the power, and that it should be their duty, to ascertain the fact as to whether a person applying for registration as a voter was entitled to registration under the Reconstruction Acts, and to refuse registration, if in their judgment he was not, and that the fact that he was willing to take the oath prescribed in the Reconstruction Acts, or had taken it, was not conclusive upon the registration boards in making their inquiries and forming their decisions. And it, finally, declared that the true intent and meaning of the oath prescribed in the Reconstruction Acts for persons who had held office under a "State" government or membership in a "State" legislature, before the rebellion, was that whether such persons were holding such positions at the time of the commencement of the rebellion or at some time prior to the same, and whether they had taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States or not, they were disqualified from registration and were disfranchised, if, after holding such positions, they had "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof"; and it gave to the commanders of the districts the power to extend, in their discretion, the time for completing the original registration of the voters, as provided for in the Reconstruction Acts, to October 1st following, and to the boards of registration the power, and imposed upon them the duty, to revise, during the first five of the last fourteen days before any election under the Reconstruction Acts, the registration lists and to strike off any name from said lists which, in their judgment, ought not to be there, and to add any name, which, in their judgment, ought to be there, and required them to disregard any Executive pardon or amnesty as relieving the disability of any person for registration, if such person had committed any act which without such pardon or amnesty would disqualify him.
This bill, it will be readily seen, was a wholesale repudiation of all the instructions given by the President to the generals in command of the districts from which, in the Cabinet council, Mr. Stanton had dissented. The President immediately realized this, of course, and it increased his distrust of Stanton immensely. From that moment forward he regarded him as the spy of Congress upon all his official acts, and he was resolved to remove him upon the first opportunity, that is, so soon as Congress should adjourn.
The bill passed the Houses on the 13th of July, was presented to the President for his signature on the 14th, and on the 19th he returned it