aims shall be held illegal and void.

"SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."

The President was requested to send the Amendment to the several
States for ratification.

On the 22d of June, President Johnson sent a message to Congress
informing them that the Secretary of State had transmitted to the
Governors of the several States certified copies of the proposed
amendment. "These steps," said the President, "are to be considered as
purely ministerial, and in no sense whatever committing the Executive
to an approval of the recommendation of the amendment." It seemed to
the President a serious objection to the proposition "that the joint
resolution was not submitted by the two houses for the approval of the
President, and that of the thirty-six States which constitute the
Union, eleven are excluded from representation."

The President having no power under the Constitution to veto a joint
resolution submitting a constitutional amendment to the people, this
voluntary expression of opinion could not have been designed to have
an influence upon the action of Congress. The document could have been
designed by its author only as an argument with the State Legislatures
against the ratification of the Constitutional Amendment, and as a
notice to the Southern people that they were badly treated.

The President's message was received by Congress without comment, and
referred to the Committee on Reconstruction.

CHAPTER XIX.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION.

An important State Paper -- Work of the Committee --
Difficulty of obtaining information -- Theory of the
President -- Taxation and Representation -- Disposition and
doings of the Southern People -- Conclusion of the Committee
-- Practical Recommendations.

On the 8th of June, the day on which the constitutional amendment
passed the Senate, the report of the joint Committee on Reconstruction
was presented to Congress. This important State paper had been looked
for with great interest and no little anxiety by the people in all
parts of the country. It was drawn up with marked ability, and was
destined to have a most important bearing upon public opinion in
reference to the great subject which, in all its bearings, it brought
to the view of Congress and the country.

The committee having had unrivalled opportunities for obtaining
information,