Speech of Hon. Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, in the Senate of the United States, Thursday, February 8, 1866 (Classic Reprint)
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| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Lane, Henry Smith) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Speech of Hon. Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, in the Senate of the United States, Thursday, February 8, 1866 We have been at war for four years. The war has temporarily ceased; at least, there is no conflict of arms; and the question now is, who have triumphed, the Government of the United states or the rebels in arms? If you establish the proposition that the people of the United States have triumphed, they, exercising the rights of war over a conquered populatian, have a right to dictate and fix the terms of restoration, and establish the relations which should exist hereafter between these rebel States, so-called, and the Government of the United States. It seems to me that counsel has been darkened on this subject in the statement of the question. A portion of the people and of the Senate believe that these States are yet in the Union; another portion believe that these States arc yet out of the Union; and the difficulty of dealing with that question is that both are right and both are wrong. Territorially these States are in the Union; the communities in these rebel States are in the Union; their citizens are citizens of these United States. Our national boundaries are fixed by treaties with Great Britain, Spain, France, and Mexico, and all the territory comprised within these boundaries belongs to the United States; every citizen is a citizen of the United States. But the practical question is, whether these citizens are now, at this time, in such a relation to the Government of the United States as to be entitled to participate in the legislation of the Republic. I take the ground that although, territorially, they are in the Union, although the Government by rebellion has lost no single power that it ever had to enforce the laws, to compel obedience, to appoint postmasters, judges, and marshals, to collect the revenue, and to carry on all the machinery of the General Government, these rebel States have abdicated and forfeited every right; they are no longer to be recognized as a governing power under the Constitution of the United States. But we are told that the action of the Executive Department has from the beginning recognized them as States, and that Congress has by various acts recognized their existence as States. I shall now proceed to show how President Lincoln and President Johnson have regarded these rebel States. But before proceeding to that question, let me say a word on another point. We are asked now to recognize as existing State governments the present organizations in the rebel States. If we can recognize any State organizations there at all, it must be under one of three constitutions. For instance, the constitution of the State of North Carolina prior to 1861, the beginning of the rebellion, required the election of a Governor, the election of State officers, and fixed the qualification of voters. The people of North Carolina in their sovereign capacity met and overthrew, annihilated and subverted, the constitution existing prior to 1861, and ordained another constitution for the State of North Carolina. Then we cannot recognize the constitution existing prior to 1861. Can we recognize the constitution formed by the rebel authorities in 1861 ?Clearly not. They repudiated the authority of the United States, and formed their institutions in accordance with the constitution of the rebel confederacy; and that act was null and void. We cannot, therefore, recognize the State of North Carolina as existing under the constitution prior to 1861, or under the rebel constitution that subverted it. Then the simple question comes back, can we recognize the present constitution of North Carolina as republican in form and as a voluntary emanation from the people of North Carolina, who alone have a right to form their constitution? If the present State organization, under their existing constitution, cannot be recognized, then clearly no constitution
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