s thirty-six. The assent of three-fourths of that number
was required to amend the Constitution. Twenty-seven States voted
through their Legislatures in favor of the Amendment--precisely
the requisite number. But of these, nine had been in rebellion
and had not at the time been restored to the enjoyment of their
rights as States in the Union. They had not been re-admitted to
representation either in the House or the Senate. The majority of
these States were not considered to be entitled to representation
in Congress for three years after they had given their formal assent
to the Thirteenth Amendment. The question as to whether they could
give valid assent to an amendment to the Constitution was one which
might possibly be raised. If they were not in condition to enjoy
representation in Congress, it might be asked how they could be in
condition to perform a much higher function. If they could not
participate in the enactment of Statute Law, how could they
participate in the far weightier duty of framing the Organic Law
of the Republic?

If the same judges who pronounced the Dred Scott decision had been
still on the Bench, serious trouble might have arisen. But there
had been a radical change in the Judicial Department, not simply
in the _personnel_ of the judges but in the views they entertained
touching the functions, powers, and duties of the Federal Government.
It fell to Mr. Lincoln's lot to appoint a majority of the judges
and thus practically to constitute a new Court. Washington, the
elder Adams, and Jackson were the only Presidents before him who
had appointed a Chief Justice, and when he nominated Mr. Chase,
there had been only one other chief justice named for sixty-three
years. He appointed as associate justices Noah Swayne of Ohio,
Samuel F. Miller of Iowa, David Davis of Illinois, all in 1862,
and Stephen J. Field of California the year following. Mr. Lincoln's
sound judgment was apparent in this as in other great duties.
There are single judges in our history who, in point of learning,
rank higher in the estimation of the legal profession, but perhaps
never a majority of the court who were superior in all the qualities
which adorn the Judicial character.

THE JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT.

Considering that the tenure is for life, it seemed as if an
extraordinary number of Judicial appointments fell to one President.
But as the eminence which fits a m