Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/31

 ANDREW JOHNSON 13 taking place in his sentiments, and this was at tributed to the influence of Sec. Seward, who was popularly supposed to perpetuate the humane spirit of the dead president. Those who had fears of too great severity now anticipated too great leniency. After the amnesty proclamation, the fundamental and irreconcilable difference between President Johnson and the party that had elevated him to power became more apparent. The constitution made no provision for the readmission of a state that had withdrawn from the Union, and Mr. Johnson, as a state-rights Democrat, held that the southern states had never been out of the Union; that the leaders were solely responsible ; that as soon as the seceded states applied for readmission under such a form of government as complied with the requirements of the constitution, the Federal gov ernment had no power to refuse them admission, or to make any conditions upon subjects over which the constitution had not expressly given congress jurisdiction. The Republican leaders held that the action of the seceded states had deprived them of their rights as members of the Union; that in any event they were conquered, and as such at the mercy of the conqueror ; and that, at best, they stood in the cate gory of territories seeking admission to the Union, in which case congress could admit or reject them at will. The particular question that brought on