t something of its significance
by the abolition of slavery, but was still stimulated by partisan
considerations and was invariable hostile to the admission of a
Republican State. The most bitter prejudices could not blind Mr.
Johnson or the Southern leaders to the inevitable growth of free
commonwealths in the North-West, but it seemed to be an object with
both to keep them from participation in the government of the Union so
long as possible, and to accomplish this end by every expedient that
could be adopted.

An Act in relation to the President's power to grant pardon and
amnesty, passed at this session, was more important in its spirit than
in its results. By the thirteenth section of the Confiscation Act of
July 17, 1862, the President was authorized, at any time, by
proclamation, "to extend to any persons who may have participated in
the existing rebellion in any state or part thereof, pardon and
amnesty." Under a suspension of the rules, the House of
Representatives, by a vote of one hundred and twelve to twenty-nine,
repealed this section on the first day of the session (December 3,
1866). There was anxiety on the part of many, under the lead of Mr.
Chandler of Michigan, to repeal it so promptly in the Senate, but it
was referred to the Judiciary Committee and passed after discussion.
Mr. Chandler said, "It is a notorious fact, as notorious as the records
of a court, that pardons have been for sale around this town, for sale
by women--by more than one woman. The records of your court in the
District of Columbia show this. Any senator who desires this
disgraceful business to go on, of course desired that this clause shall
remain."

The repeal of the clause, however, would not take from the President
his constitutional power of pardoning, but in the judgment of Mr.
Trumbull, who had charge of the bill in the Senate, it took from him
the power to pardon by proclamation and confined him to his right of
issuing individual pardons. The difference between pardon and amnesty
was defined by Mr. Trumbull. Pardon is an act of mercy extended to
an individual. It must be by deed. It must be pleaded. According to
Chief Justice Marshall, it is essential to its validity that it be
delivered to the person pardoned. But an amnesty is a general pardon
by proclamation. Mr. Trumbull thought the repeal would be a "valuable
expression of opinion on the part of Congress that general pardons and
restoration of property