dred millions per annum, to maintain the
supremacy of negro governments after they are established,--a sum
thus thrown away which would, if properly used, form a sinking-fund
large enough to pay the whole National debt in less than fifteen years."

The argument of the President however was not merely a twice-told tale.
It had been repeated many times and though never more artfully stated
than now, it fell upon unlistening ears, making no impression whatever
upon Congress and very little upon the country. The process of
Reconstruction went on, and its first fruit was the presentation of a
constitution from Arkansas, framed in exact accordance with the
requirements prescribed by Congress, and accompanied by proof that the
State had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. A
bill was introduced in the House by Mr. Stevens, on the 7th of May
(1868), to admit the State of Arkansas to representation in Congress.
The question of Reconstruction had been debated so elaborately and for
so long a period of time that there was little disposition now to open
the subject afresh, and with far less resistance than had been
anticipated the Arkansas bill was passed in both branches, and the
State declared entitled to all those rights in the Union which she,
with her sisters in rebellion, had so flippantly thrown aside in 1861.
A fundamental condition was attached to the admission, declaring "that
the Constitution of Arkansas shall never be so amended or changed as
to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the
right to vote, who are entitled to vote by the Constitution herein
recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies
at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws
equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said State."

The Act re-admitting Arkansas to the right of representation was
followed immediately by one of the same general scope with respect to
the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia,
Alabama, and Florida. The same fundamental condition already cited
as imposed on Arkansas was imposed on all these States, and the further
condition was exacted from Georgia that certain provisions in her
Constitution should be a solemn Act of her Legislature be declared null
and void. The provision to be thus annulled related to the collection
of debts, and their spirit and intent may be inferred from the opening
declaration tha