YEAS—Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Conness, Cragin,
Creswell, Edmunds, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Harris,
Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Lane of
Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey,
Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Sumner, Trumbull, Wade, Willey,
Williams, Wilson, and Yates—33.
NAYS—Messrs. Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Guthrie, Hendricks,
Johnson, McDougall, Norton, Riddle, Saulsbury, and Van
Winkle—11.
On the 13th of June, the joint resolution, having been modified in the Senate, reäppeared in the House for the concurrence of that branch of Congress. There was a short discussion of the measure as amended in the Senate. Messrs. Rogers, Finck, and Harding spoke against the resolution, and Messrs. Spalding, Henderson, and Stevens in its favor.
"The first proposition," said Mr. Rogers, "was tame in iniquity, injustice, and violation of fundamental liberty to the one before us."
"I say," said Mr. Finck, "it is an outrage upon the people of those States who were compelled to give their aid and assistance in the rebellion. You propose to inflict upon these people a punishment not known to the law in existence at the time any offense may have been committed, but after the offense has been committed."
"Let me tell you," said Mr. Harding, "you are preparing for revolutions after revolutions. I warn you there will be no peace in this country until each State be allowed to control its own citizens. If you take that from them, what care I for the splendid machinery of a national government?"
Mr. Stevens briefly addressed the House before the final vote was taken. He had just risen from a sick-bed, and ridden to the Capitol at the peril of his life. During the quarter of an hour which he occupied in speaking, the solemnity was such as is seldom seen in that assembly. Members left their seats, and gathered closely around the venerable man to hear his brave and solemn words. From his youth he had hoped to see our institutions freed from every vestige of human oppression, of inequality of rights, of the recognized degradation of the poor and the superior caste of the rich. But that bright dream had vanished. "I find," said he, "that we shall be obliged to be content with patching up the worst portions of the ancient edifice, and leaving it in many of its parts to be swept through by the tempests, the frosts, and the storms of despotism."
It might be inquired why, with his opinions, he accepted so imperfect a proposition. "Because," said he, "I live among men, and not among angels; among men as intelligent, as determined, and as independent as myself, who, not agreeing with me, do not choose to yield their opinions to mine." With an enfeebled voice, yet with a courageous air, he charged the responsibility for that day's patchwork upon the Executive. "With his cordial assistance," said Mr. Stevens, "the rebel States might have been made model republics, and this nation an empire of universal freedom; but he preferred 'restoration' to 'reconstruction.'"
The question was taken, and the joint resolution passed the House by a vote of over three-fourths—120 yeas to 32 nays. From the necessary absence of many members, the vote was not full, yet the relative majority in favor of this measure was greater than in the former vote.
The following is the Constitutional Amendment as it passed both Houses of Congress: