Chapter XVII: The Freedmen's Bureau and CIVIL Rights Bills

Trumbull introduces two bills to protect the freedmen in the
states--Provisions of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill--Trumbull
contends that the Thirteenth Amendment authorized Congress to
abolish the incidents and disabilities of slavery--The
Freedmen's Bureau Bill passed by Congress and vetoed by the
President--The Senate fails to pass it over the veto--Struggle
in the Senate to obtain a two-thirds majority--Senator Stockton
(Democrat), of New Jersey, unseated--Trumbull's Civil Rights
Bill taken up--It does not deal with the right of
suffrage--Debate in the Senate on the constitutional
question--Bill passes Senate--Is opposed in the House by
Bingham, of Ohio--Is vetoed by the President--Exciting scene in
Senate when the bill is passed over the veto--Trumbull takes
the lead in the campaign of 1866 and is reelected to the
Senate--The Civil Rights Act in the courts--An echo from the
State of Georgia 257

CHAPTER XVIII

THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT

The Joint Committee on Reconstruction reports the Fourteenth
Amendment of the Constitution--It holds that the seceding states
cannot be restored to their former places in the Union by the
executive alone--Tennessee admitted to the Union by
Congress--The Arm-in-Arm Convention at Philadelphia--President
Johnson's unfortunate speech following that event--The Southern
States refuse to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment--This refusal
gives increased power to the radicals in the North 281

CHAPTER XIX

CROSSING THE RUBICON

Decision of the Supreme Court in the Milligan case--It declares
all trials of civilians by military commissions unlawful--It
implies that Andrew Johnson's policy was preferable to that of
Congress--All the members of the Cabinet support the President's
policy--Stanton, however, secretly confers with the radicals to
undermine the President--Sumner and Stevens become the leaders
in Congress and pass bills annulling state governments in the
South--The Conservatives follow reluctantly, believing that the
negroes cannot be protected unless they have the right to
vote--Remarkable series of Reconstruction Acts passed in 1867
and 1868--The case of Georgia--Trumbull overthrows Governor
Bullock and his senatorial supporters 288