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Title: History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

Author: Wiliam H. Barnes

Release Date: February 13, 2008 [EBook #24596]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS ***

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[Illustration: Hon. Schuyler Colfax.]

HISTORY

OF THE

THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS

OF THE

UNITED STATES.

               By WILLIAM H. BARNES, A.M.,
              AUTHOR OF "THE BODY POLITIC."

WITH PORTRAITS.

                        NEW YORK:
             HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
                327 TO 335 PEARL STREET.
                          1868.

    Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
                    WILLIAM H. BARNES,
  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
              for the District of Columbia.

PREFACE.

The history of the Thirty-Ninth Congress is a sequel to that of the Rebellion. This having been overthrown, it remained for Congress to administer upon its effects. It depended upon the decisions of Congress whether the expected results of our victories should be realized or lost.

Now that the work of the Thirty-Ninth Congress stands forth complete, people naturally desire to know something of the manner in which the rough material was shaped into order, and the workmanship by which the whole was "fitly joined together." It can not be said of this fabric of legislation that it went up without "the sound of the hammer." The rap of the gavel was often heard enforcing order or limiting the length of speeches.

Discussion is the process by which legislation is achieved; hence no history of legislation would be complete without presenting the progress of debate preparatory to the adoption of important measures. The explanation of what our legislators did is found in what they said. Debates, as presented in the following pages, are by necessity much abridged. No attempt has been made to give a summary or synopsis of speeches. That which seemed to be the most striking or characteristic passage in a speech is given, in the words of the orator.

Many things said and done in the Thirty-Ninth Congress, of great importance to the nation, are by necessity omitted. The reader, in forming his opinion of Congressional character and ability, will bear in mind that those who speak most frequently are not always the most useful legislators. Men from whom no quotation is made, and to whom no measure is attributed in the following pages, may be among the foremost in watchfulness for their constituents, and faithfulness to the country.

If it should seem that one subject — the negro question — occupied too much of the time and attention of Congress, it must be borne in mind that this subject was thrust upon Congress and the country by the issue of the Rebellion, and must be definitely and finally settled before the nation can be at rest. "Unsettled questions have no pity on the repose of mankind."

No attempt has been made to present a journal of Congressional proceedings, giving a detail of what was said and done from day to day in the Senate and the House. There was always some great national question under consideration in one or the other House, forming an uninterrupted series of discussions and transactions. To present these in review is to give a history of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, since they distinguish it from all its predecessors, and make it historical.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.—Opening Scenes.

(Page 13-21.)

     Momentous Events of the Vacation — Opening of the Senate —
     Mr. Wade — Mr. Sumner — Mr. Wilson — Mr. Harris — Edward
     McPherson — As Clerk of the preceding Congress, he calls
     the House to order — Interruption of Roll-call by Mr.
     Maynard — Remarks by Mr. Brooks — His Colloquy with Mr.
     Stevens — Mr. Colfax elected Speaker — His Inaugural
     Address — The Test Oath.

CHAPTER II.—Locations of the Members and Cast of the Committees.

(Page 22-32.)

Importance of surroundings — Members sometimes referred to by their seats — Senator Andrew Johnson — Seating of the Senators — Drawing in the House — The Senate Chamber as seen from the Gallery — Distinguished Senators — The House of Representatives — Some prominent characters — Importance of Committees — Difficulty in their appointment — Important Senate Committees — Committees of the House.

CHAPTER III.—Formation of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction.

(Page 33-49.)

     Lack of Excitement — Cause — The Resolution — Dilatory
     Motions — Yeas and Nays — Proposed Amendments in the
     Senate — Debate in the Senate — Mr. Howard — Mr. Anthony
     — Mr. Doolittle — Mr. Fessenden — Mr. Saulsbury — Mr.
     Hendricks — Mr. Trumbull — Mr. Guthrie — Passage of the
     Resolution in the Senate — Yeas and Nays — Remarks of Mr.
     Stevens on the Amendment of the Senate — Concurrence of the
     House — The Committee appointed.

CHAPTER IV.—Suffrage in the District of Columbia.

(Page 50-94.)

     Duty of Congress to Legislate for the District of Columbia
     — Suffrage Bill introduced into the House — Speech by Mr.
     Wilson — Mr. Boyer — Mr. Schofield — Mr. Kelly — Mr.
     Rogers — Mr. Farnsworth — Mr. Davis — Mr. Chanler — Mr.
     Bingham — Mr. Grinnell — Mr. Kasson — Mr. Julian — Mr.
     Thomas — Mr. Darling — Mr. Hale's Amendment — Mr. Thayer
     — Mr. Van