chise, or of any other rights, on account of color or race, but all persons should be equal before the law; and the Legislature of the State, by a solemn public act, should declare the assent of the State to this fundamental condition.

The amendment was rejected.-Yeas 4, nays 34. On the motion of Mr. Doolittle the preamble to the resolution of the House was stricken out.-Yeas 29, nays 11. The question was then taken on the proposition to substitute the resolution of the Judiciary Committee for the resolution of the House, and it was not agreed to.-Yeas 11, nays 31.

The question then recurred on the resolution of the House, providing that the State of Tennessee is hereby restored to her former proper practical relations to the Union, and is again entitled to be represented by Senators and Representatives in Congress, duly elected and qualified, upon their taking the oaths of office required by existing laws.

Mr. Trumbull moved to strike out all after the word "Union," and Mr. Pomeroy moved to strike out all after the word "Congress." The amendment to the amendment was agreed to, and the amendment adopted.-Yeas 25, nays 18. Mr. Sherman moved to insert as a preamble: "Whereas the State of Tennessee has in good faith, by the action of her people, now placed herself in obedience to and in harmony with the Constitution, laws, and authority of the United States: Therefore." But it was lost.-Yeas 13, nays 31.

Mr. Trumbull offered the preamble reported by the Judiciary Committee as it had been modified by the Committee of the whole in the Senate. Mr. Sprague moved to amend the amendment, by inserting in lieu of it the preamble of the House; it was lost.-Yeas 20, nays 24. Mr. Trumbull's amendment was then adopted.-Yeas 23, nays 20. Mr. Yates moved to so amend the resolution as to require the Senators and Representatives to possess the qualifications required by the Constitutional amendment proposed by the 39th Congress-rejected.-Yeas jected. Yeas 9, nays 33. Mr. Nye proposed to amend so as to declare that, "The people of Tennessee have organized a government which is in allegiance to the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and have given satisfactory evidence of their purpose and ability to maintain the same, and the same requiring the sanction of Congress to its validity, it is hereby ratified;" but it was rejected. Mr. Doolittle moved to amend by declaring that Tennessee was restored to her practical relations and entitled to representation.-Yeas 5, nays

25.

Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Cowan and Mr. Nesmith would vote for the resolution, although opposed to the preamble. Mr. Brown declared there was no national safety in this procedure. On motion of Mr. Buckalew the yeas and nays were ordered on the passage of the resolution, and it passed.Yeas 28, nays 4. Yeas,-Messrs. Anthony, Chan

dler, Clark, Conness, Cowan, Creswell, Doolittle, Edmunds, Foster, Hendricks, Howard, Howe, Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, Nye, Poland, Pomeroy, Sprague, Stewart, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson and Yates-28. Nays,-Messrs. Brown, Buckalew,McDougall and Sumner-4. Mr. Conness then suggested to Mr. Trumbull to amend the title so as to declare it to be "a resolution to restore Tennessee to her practical relations to the Government." Mr. Wilson suggested that the title be "A Joint Resolution restoring Tennessee to her proper practical relations to the Union." Mr. Pomeroy proposed to strike out the words "proper" and "practical," and Mr. Wilson agreed to the modification; and that title was assented to by Mr. Trumbull and agreed to by the Senate.

On the 22d the House agreed to the Senate amendment to the House resolution. On the preamble Mr. Eldridge demanded the yeas and nays, and they were ordered and the amendment was agreed to.-Yeas 93, nays 26. So the Joint Resolution for restoring Tennessee to her relations to the Union was passed. On the 24th the President sent a message to the House notifying that body that he had signed the resolution while he disagreed to the mode of procedure in the case. The credentials of the gentlemen claiming seats as Representatives from Tennessee, were then referred to the Committee on Elections.-Yeas 90, nays 28. On the same day Mr. Dawes of Massachusetts, chair

man of the Committee on Elections, reported that the Committee had been instructed to report that the credentials of Nathaniel G. Taylor, for the first district of Tennessee; Horace Maynard, for the second district; William B. Stokes, for the third district; Edmund Cooper, for the fourth district; William D. Campbell, for the fifth district; Samuel L. Arnold, for the 6th district; Isaac R. Hawkins, for the seventh district; and John W. Leftwich, for the eighth district, were in conformity with the law and that those several gentlemen be sworn in as members of the House from Tennessee. The report of the Committee was agreed to and that State was restored to her relations to the Union. Her Republican members of Congress had given assurances that her present Legislature would immediately give suffrage without distinction of color, and those assurances and other evidences ensured the passage of the Joint Resolution. The Legislature hastened to redeem the pledges made, and Tennessee was the first of the slave States to give suffrage to the negro race.

CHAPTER XV.

RESTORING THE REBEL STATES TO FULL POLITICAL RIGHTS.

Mr. Stevens' report from the Joint Committee on Reconstruction.—Mr. Boutwell gave notice of an amendment.-Mr. Wilson's amendment.-Mr. Stevens' amendment.-Mr. Ashley's substitute for Mr. Stevens' amendment. Remarks of Mr. Stevens, Mr. Baker, Mr. Grinnell.-Speech of Mr. Eldridge, Mr. Scofield.-Remarks of Mr. Dodge.-Mr. Raymond's speech. Speech of Mr, Shellabarger.-Mr. Shellabarger's substitute.— Mr. Bingham's motion.

On the 30th of April, 1866, Mr. Stevens of Pennsylvania reported from the Joint Committee on Reconstruction a bill for restoring to the insurrectionary States their full political rights. The bill provided that whenever the constitutional amendment should become a part of the Constitution, and any rebel State should have ratified it, and formed its constitution and laws in conformity to its provisions, the Senators and Representatives of such State should be admitted on taking the oaths, and that any part of the direct tax unpaid might be assumed by it and its payment postponed for a period not exceeding ten years. On the 1st of May Mr. Boutwell of Massachusetts, a member of the Recon