ent to act,--a gigantic practical bull and
absurdity, which met Mr. Johnson as the first logical consequence of his
fundamental maxim. He accordingly was forced to go to work as if no
principle hampered him. He assumed, at the start, the most radical and
important of all State rights; that is, from a mixed _population_ of
black and white freemen he selected a certain number, whose
distinguishing mark was color; and these persons were, after they had
taken an extra-constitutional oath, constituted by him the _people_ of
each of the seceded States. A provisional governor, nominated by
himself, directed this people, constituted such by himself, to elect
delegates to a convention which was to pass ordinances dictated by
himself. In this, he may have simply accepted the condition of things;
he may have done the best with the materials he had to work with; still
he plainly did not deal with South Carolina, Mississippi, and the rest,
as if they were States that "had never been out of the Union," and
entitled to any of the rights enjoyed by Pennsylvania or New York. But
the hybrid States, which are thus purely his own creations, he now
presents, in a veto message, to the Senate of the United States as the
equals of the States it represents; informs that body that he is
constitutionally the President of the States he has made, as well as the
President of the States which have not enjoyed the advantage of his
formative hand; and unmistakably hints that Congress, unless it admits
the representatives of the States he has reconstructed, is not a
complete and competent legislative body for the whole Union,--is, in
plain words, a _Rump_. The President, to be sure, qualifies his
suggestion by asking for the admission only of loyal men, who can take
the oaths. But is it not plain that Congress, if it admits Senators and
Representatives, admits the States from which they come? The
Constitution says that "the Senate of the United States shall be
composed of two Senators from each _State_"; that "the House of
Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by
the people of the several _States_." Now let us suppose that some of the
South Carolina members are admitted on the President's plan, and that
others are rejected. What is the result? Is not South Carolina in the
Union? Can a fraction of the State be in, and another fraction out, by
the terms of the United States Constitution? Are not the "loyal men" in
for their