ssumed that they assented to the amendment, but that they were
not prepared to give it positive support. This list comprised
Jesse Lazear of Pennsylvania, John F. McKinney and Francis C. Le
Blond of Ohio, Daniel W. Voorhees and James F. McDowell of Indiana,
George Middleton and A. J. Rogers of New Jersey, and Daniel Marcy
of New Hampshire. The members of the Democratic party who gave
their votes for the amendment, and thus secured its passage by the
Thirty-eighth Congress, were James E. English of Connecticut, Anson
Herrick, William Radford, Homer A. Nelson, John B. Steele and John
Ganson of New York, A. H. Coffroth and Archibald McAllister of
Pennsylvania, Wells A. Hutchins of Ohio, and Augustus C. Baldwin
of Michigan. Mr. Nelson had not voted at the first session, but
all the others are recorded against the proposition. With the aid
of these eleven, the vote was 119 yeas to 56 nays--more than the
constitutional two-thirds. When the announcement was made, the
Speaker became powerless to preserve order. The members upon the
Republican side sprang upon their seats cheering, shouting, and
waving hands, hats, and canes, while the spectators upon the floor
and in the galleries joined heartily in the demonstration. Upon
the restoration of order Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois rose and said,
"Mr. Speaker, in honor of this immortal and sublime event, I move
that this House do now adjourn." The Speaker declared the motion
carried, but Mr. Harris of Maryland demanded the ayes and noes,
and the House adjourned by a vote of 121 to 24.

The great act of Liberation, so far as Congress could control it,
was complete. The amendment was at once submitted to the States,
and by official proclamation of December 18, 1865,--less than eleven
months after Congress had spoken,--the Secretary of State announced
that it had been ratified by the Legislatures of twenty-seven States
and was a part of the Constitution. The result was attained by
the united action of one party and the aid of a minority of the
other party. The co-operation of the Democratic members had gained
for the cause of emancipation a whole year. The action was of
transcendent importance,--lofty in conception, masterful in execution.
Slavery in the United States was dead. To succeeding and not
distant generations its existence in a Republic, for three-quarters
of a century, will be an increasing marvel.

THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT