|
HarpWeek Commentary: After Congress adjourned in
early June, President Johnsons Attorney General Henry Stanbery issued an opinion
that weakened the power of the Reconstruction Act to control voting registration. In
addition, he denied the power of the commanding generals in the military districts to
remove civilian officials. Stanton and Grant disagreed, but Johnson backed Stanbery.Congress reconvened in July, concerned about
Johnsons undermining the Reconstruction Act. It passed a third Reconstruction Bill
over Johnsons veto which specifically reversed Stanberys interpretations.
Although impeachment was again discussed, Congress adjourned on July 20 without taking
action. |
|
HOW LONG?
John Hampden and his friends
found at last that Charles I. was a liar. Some veracity is essential to human affairs, but
Charles showed that he had no perception of honor or good faith. Whether he signed a
paper, or pledged his work, or swore a solemn oath, his conduct was the same. The moment
he thought that he could safely forswear himself he did not hesitate at the meanest
falsehood. And when he had fully proved his unexceptional falsity the Parliamentary
leaders resolved not to trust him again, and to seek some surer foundation of English
liberty than the word of a common perjurer.
Andrew Johnson, without the same
duplicity as the English King, is guilty of the same weakness. When Charles assented to
the Petition of Right he concealed his hostility to it, and it was supposed to be a final
pacification because it was believed that he would execute it in its own spirit. When the
President received the Military bill he did not pretend to like it, but when, despite his
opposition, it became a law, he was bound to execute it according to its clear intention.
He began in that spirit. He appointed military commanders who were acceptable to those who
had made the law, and who were very sure to execute it as they meant it. The result was an
instant cessation of the tumult of feeling in the Southern States, a general and happy
conviction every where of a speedy return of the normal condition of the country, the
reviving of trade, the resumption of industry, and universal pacification. And as a
consequence of this agreeable prospect, and this truce of party contention, there was a
reaction of feeling in favor of the President, and a general willingness that the project
of impeachment should be no further discussed.
But it is beginning to be evident that
the President, like the King, is his own worst enemy. It seems impossible for him to learn
from experience. A formalist and a doctrinaire, he can not comprehend that he is the chief
magistrate of the most practical people in the world, and that their minds are made up to
a certain course which he can no more resist than he could resist the blow of a
trip-hammer. To interpose technical objections to a law of which the intention is written
with a sunbeam, to invite an Attorney-General who has declared his hostility to the law to
interpret it so as to secure the power of those whose power it is the known design of the
law to overthrow, is to go very far toward outraging the public patience beyond endurance,
and to persuade the loyal people of the United States that their policy of reconstruction
is impracticable as long as Mr. Johnson is their chief executive officer.
The Military bill, as every body knows,
was meant to submit the Southern States directly to the national authority, until they
were reorganized according to its provision. The existing civil officers were to be
respected, unless they interfered with the working of the military system. Then, of
course, they were to be superseded. There was to be no excuse for a conflict. The civil
authorities were not to be equal or co-ordinate with the military, each paralyzing the
other. Nor were the limits of each sharply defined, that they should be scrupulously
respected. Such an attempt would be utter folly in a community radically disorganized by
war. In a word, the plain intent of the bill was to make the military authority supreme
and the civil subordinate. If there were any difficulty of interpretation there were but
two evident courses? either the Legislature must be asked to explain its intention, or, in
the absence of the Legislature, the law must be interpreted in the spirit of its
well-known design.
The Attorney-General has
given an interpretation of the law which is intended to defeat its purpose. It is intended
to procure the restoration of Wells as Governor of Louisiana; of Abel as Judge; of Monroe
as Mayor of New Orleans; and Withers as Mayor of Mobile. If the President acts upon the
Attorney-Generals opinion he will break faith with the country. But that he may
clearly understand what the country means, Congress should assemble on the first of July
and declare its own purpose in the reconstruction law. The President should himself desire
it. Then, when the wish of the country has been indicated, should he still seek to pervert
the law to its own overthrow, he will compel every truly conservative citizen to ask
whether it is not his manifest intention in the grave crisis to baffle the national will
and to prolong the perilous position of the country.
Articles Related to Overt
Obstruction of Congress:
Congress
February 2, 1867, page 67
February 16, 1867, page 99
March 16, 1867, page 163
How Long?
June 29, 1867, page 402
Reconstruction and Obstruction
July 6, 1867, page 418
The Summer Session
July 6, 1867, page 418
The Fortieth Congress
July 17, 1867, page 467
Thanks to the District Commanders
July 27, 1867, page 467
Impeachment Postponed
July 27, 1867, page 467
A Desperate Man
August 13, 1867, page 546
The Secretary of War
August 24, 1867, page 530
Samson Agonistes at Washington (cartoon)
August 24, 1867, page 544
The Stanton Imbroglio (illustrated satire)
August 24, 1867, page 542
Secretary Grant
August 31, 1867, page 546
Southern Reconstruction
August 31, 1867, page 547
The Political Situation
September 7, 1867, page 562
General Thomas
September 7, 1867, page 563
Southern Reconstruction
September 7, 1867, page 563
The General and the President
September 14, 1867, page 578
General Sickles Also
September 14, 1867, page 579
Southern Reconstruction
September 21, 1867, page 595
The Presidents Intentions
September 28, 1867, page 610
Impeachment
October 5, 1867, page 626
The Main Question
October 5, 1867, pages 626-627
Suspension during Impeachment
October 19, 1867, page 658
"Disregarding" The Law
November 2, 1867, page 691
Impeachment
December 14, 1867, page 786
General Grants Testimony
December 14, 1867, page 786
The Presidents Message
December 14, 1867, page 787
General Grants Letter
January 1, 1868, page 2
Secretary Stantons Restoration
January 25, 1868, page 51
Reconstruction Measures
January 25, 1868, page 51
The President, Mr. Stanton and General Grant
February 1, 1868, page 66
Romeo (Seward) to Mercutio (Johnson) (cartoon)
February 1, 1868, page 76
The War Office
February 1, 1868, page 77
Secretarys Room in the War Department (illus)
February 1, 1868, page 77
The New Reconstruction Bill
February 8, 1868, page 83
|
|