of this bill
we turn our backs on our policy of the last two years, and by a single
stride proceed to put all that portion of the country under exclusively
military control. . . . For one, I prefer to stand by the overtures
we have made to these people, as conditions of their again
participating in the government of the country. We have already placed
before them conditions which the civilized world has indorsed as
liberal, magnanimous, and just. I regret exceedingly that those very
liberal terms have not been accepted by the South, but I prefer giving
those people every opportunity to exhibit a spirit of obedience and
loyalty."

--Mr. Henry J. Raymond opposed the bill in a vigorous speech. "Because
we cannot devise any thing of a civil nature adequate to the
emergency," said he, "it is urged that we must fly to the most violent
measure the ingenuity of man could devise. Let me remind gentlemen
that this has been the history of popular governments everywhere, the
reason of their downfall, their decadence, and their death."

--Mr. Garfield indicated his support of the measure if it could be
amended. "But," said he, "I call attention to the fact that from the
collapse of the Rebellion to the present hour, Congress has undertaken
to restore the States lately in rebellion by co-operation with their
people, and that our efforts in that direction have proven a complete
and disastrous failure." Alluding to the fact that the Fourteenth
Amendment had been submitted as the basis of reconstruction, Mr.
Garfield continued, "The constitutional amendment did not come up to
the full height of the great occasion. It did not meet all I desired
in the way of guarantees to liberty, but if the rebel States had
adopted it as Tennessee did, I should have felt bound to let them in
on the same terms prescribed for Tennessee. I have been in favor of
waiting to give them full time to deliberate and to act. They have
deliberated. They have acted. The last one of the sinful ten has at
last, with contempt and scorn, flung back in our teeth the magnanimous
offer of a generous nation. It is now our turn to act. They would
not co-operate with us in building what they destroyed. We must remove
the rubbish, and build from the bottom. . . . But there are some words
which I want stricken out of this bill, and some limitations which I
wish added, and I shall at least ask that they be considered."

--Mr. Kasson objected that the bill was to