Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/855

* BECONSTRTICTION. 755 BECONSTBTTCTION. the State itself, but of fombiuations of disloyal persons who had unlawfully subverted the loyal State governments. The States, therefore, con- tinued to exist as members of the Union, though they were out of their 'proper jiraetieal rela- tions' with it. According to this view the prob- lem of reconstruction consisted simply in placing the loyal element in the seceded States in con- trol of the State governments which had been subverted by the disloyal element. Furthermore, President Lincoln regarded the problem as one devolving upon the Executive rather than upon Congress — for the work of creating a loyal element necessarily involved the exercise of the pardoning power, which alone was vested in the President — and the support by the military arm of the loyal governments so established. Thirdly, there was the Congressional view, which held that recon- struction was a legislative problem ; that as a result of rebellion the Southern States were 'de- prived of all civil government,' and that all de facto governments set up during the war were illegal. This view has been called the 'for- feited rights' theory. Tlie States continued to exist, but as disorganized communities subject to the paramount authority of the United States. In pursuance of this view Congi-ess passed an act in July, 18(i4, which was fathered bj- Henrj' Win- ter Davis in the House and Benjamin F. Wade in the Senate, and which provided a remedy for the defects of the Presidential scheme as understood by the supporters of the Congres- sional view. The view embodied in this measure differed from that of President Lin- coln, first, in regarding the problem of re- construction as a legislative problem ; second, in requiring the loyalty of a majority of the adult white males of the State for the basis of the reconstructed government instead of the loyal- ty of one-tenth, as required by President Lincoln's plan; thirdly, in requiring the abolition of slav- ery as the starting point in the process of recon- struction. President Lincoln refused to sign the bill before the expiration of the session, thus in- directly defeating it. A fourth view was the so-called State suicide theory of Charles Sumner, enunciated by him in a series of resolutions of- fered in the Senate in 1862. The gist of these resolutions was that the attempt of a State to secede from the Union, involving as it did an at- tempt to exclude the Constitution of the United States from the territory of the State, was, if successfully sustained by force, equivalent to a practical forfeiture by the State of all rights under the Constitution. It involved, further- more, the immediate extinction of the State sovereignty and its reduction to the position of a Territory under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Government of the United State-s. Finally, there was the view ably expounded by Tliaddeus Stevens, and popularly called the conquered prov- ince theory, according to which rebellion against the national authority by a State of the Union not only put an end "to its existence as a State, but even forfeited its rights as a Territory un- der the Constitution. The inhabitants of such a community were remanded to the status of an unorganized province owned by the National Gov- ernment and subject to its dominion without the restraint of constitiitional limitations. The ad- vocates of this theory appealed to the actual facts of the case to show that at the close of hostilities the Southern States were in the condition of de- pendent provinces subject to the absolute do- minion of the conqueror. Of the several theories advanced, that held by President Lincoln was the first to receive atten- tion. Early in 18li2, large portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee having been recovered by the Federal armies, the President appointed 'military governors' in those districts with some- what vague and undefined powers. In general they «<ere to take the initiative in the movement to reestablish civil governments and prepare the way for representation in Congress. In his third annual message of December 8, 1863, the Presi- dent announced a more definite and systematic plan of reconstruction, to which was appended a proclamation of amnesty offering a full and complete pardon to all who would take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder, as well as all acts of Congress passed during the war, and all proclamations of the President, with ref- erence to the slaves. From the benefits of the amnesty were excluded certain classes of men who had held high military or civil offices under the Confederate Government or who had left the service of the United States to engage in the re- bellion. He then proposed to restore the State governments in the seceded States to the am- nestied class by declaring that whenever a num- ber of persons not less than one-tenth of those who had cast votes in such State at the Presi- dential election in 1860 had taken the oath, if they were qualified voters by the State law in force at the time of secession, and had reestab- lished a State government republican in form, such government should be recognized by the Executive as the true Government of the State. He said, however, that whether members sent to Congress from any State so reconstructed should be admitted to their seats rested exchisively with the two Houses. The proclamation did not apply to Virginia, both the President and Con- gress having from the first recognized the loyal Pierpont Government at Alexandria as the true Government ; nor did it apply to ilissouri and Kentucky. 'Ten per cent.' governments, so called, were accordingly established in Louisiana and Arkansas in the following year. Rejiresentatives were also elected to Congress, but when the new members from the reconstructed States appeared with their credentials neither House would admit them to seats. In Tennessee the President's ])lan of reconstruction was put into operation early in 1865. Representatives were chosen to Congress, but they were refused admission to their seats in December, 1865. In the meantime Congress had assumed the right to take in hand the matter of reconstruction, and had passed the Wade-Davis Bill, to which reference has already been made. In February, 1865. it also passed a resolution which prohibited the counting of any electoral votes for President or Vice-President in the elec- tion of 1864 from States which had passed se- cession ordinances. The refusal of the President to sign the Wade-Davis measure, and his proc- lamation in regard to the subject in which he stated his objections to the setting aside of the constitutions and governments in Louisiana and Arkansas, made a breach between the President and Congress inevitalile. After the assassination of President Lincoln, President Johnson took up the policy of his predecessor without material change, and on