so that while the allegiance of every inhabitant of this territory, without distinction of color or class, is due to the United States, and cannot in any way be defeated by the action of any pretended Government, or by any pretence of property or claim to service, the corresponding obligation of protection is at the same time due by the United States to every such inhabitant, without distinction of color or class; and it follows that inhabitants held as slaves, whose paramount allegiance is due to the United States, may justly look to the national Government for protection. 9. That the duty directly cast upon Congress by the extinction of the States is reinforced by the positive prohibition of the Constitution that no State shall enter into any Confederation," or "without the consent of Congress keep troops or ships-of-war in time of peace, or enter into any agreement or compact with another State," or 66 grant letters of marque and reprisal," or coin money," or "emit bills of credit," or "without the consent of Congress lay any duties on imports or exports," all of which have been done by these pretended Governments, and also by the positive injunction of the Constitution, addressed to the nation, that "the United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government," and that in pursuance of this duty cast upon Congress, and further enjoined by the Constitution, Congress will assume complete jurisdiction of such vacated territory where such unconstitutional and illegal things have been attempted, and will proceed to establish therein republican forms of government under the Constitution; and in the execution of this trust will provide carefully for the protection of all the inhabitants thereof; for the security of families, the organization of labor, the encouragement of industry, and the welfare of society, and will in every way discharge the duties of a just, merciful and paternal Government.1 Sumner, as already noticed, having confidence in the ultimate triumph of the national cause, began early in the war to reflect on the subject of reorganization. As might have been expected from his previous career, his opinion of the changes that would result from rebellion inclined him at the outset to adopt the views of the less extreme antislavery men. Notwithstanding this fact, however, his scheme of reconstruction, because of its radical and comprehensive character, caused something of a sensation when introduced in the Senate, and disturbed the repose of many conservative 1 McPherson's Pol. Hist., pp. 322-323. patriots outside. By leading Republicans it was promptly disavowed as the policy of their party. These resolutions, though never adopted or even formally discussed by Congress, colored somewhat the final work of reconstruction. An account of the extent and the manner in which they influenced the legislative plan belongs properly to a consideration of the acts of March, 1867. What appeared to be a public necessity had by that time brought many members of his party fully abreast of Mr. Sumner. The interval had been employed in various ways to keep his peculiar theory before the public. A private letter to Francis Lieber, dated March 29, 1862, shows that Sumner's view of the measures essential to restoration had not been modified by the discussions of a month. "Assuming," he says, "that our military success is complete, and that the rebel armies are scattered, what next? Unless I am mistaken, the most difficult thing of all, namely, the reorganization. How shall it be done, — by what process? What power shall set a-going the old governments? Will the people cooperate enough to constitute self-government? I have positive opinions here. If successful in war, we shall have then before us the alternative: (1) Separation; or (2) subjugation of these ^ States with emancipation. I do not see any escape. Diplomatists here and abroad think it will be separation. I think the latter, under my resolutions or something like." 1 By a distinguished Confederate officer Sumner has been described as a statesman who seemed over-educated, and who had retained without having digested his learning; by an ad2 mirer of his own party as wanting in tact and practical wisdom as a legislator. Though it must be admitted that a grain of truth forms the basis of these criticisms, yet the letter to his 'Memoir of Charles Sumner by E. L. Pierce, Vol. IV. pp. 74-75. • General Richard Taylor in Destruction and Reconstruction, p. 245. 'Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. II. p. 114. friend Dr. Lieber shows no lack of insight into the events and tendencies of the times. Without anticipating a subsequent portion of this narrative it may be observed here that if his vision did not pierce the remote future, his knowledge and experience enabled him to see as much of coming events as the most gifted of his contemporaries. Writing a year later, July 21, 1863, to Hon. John Bright, one of our few friends in England, he remarked that "so great a revolution cannot come to a close at once." J The defeat of General Lee at Gettysburg a few weeks earlier suggested the thought that the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia would have precipitated on Congress the entire question of reconstruction, and time was an essential element in the development of Sumner's most cherished plans. Not only in his private correspondence and in the discussion of every conceivable measure before Congress did he endeavor to enforce his theory of State status, but he also published in a leading periodical an elaboration and defence of his opinions. For many reasons the undelivered speech forming the basis of his article in the Atlantic Monthly for October, 1863, is of remarkable interest. It reveals the mental habits of one of the most useful and influential characters then in public life; the statesman is really thinking aloud. He appears, for instance, to have been much impressed by the fact that, under the Commonwealth, Cromwell partitioned his country into military districts of which Sumner remarked that there were precisely eleven, just the number of States in rebellion. One view is enforced by an appropriate passage from Cicero, while of Edmund Burke it is asserted that had he lived during the Civil War his eloquence would have blasted Southern leaders for their folly and madness in entering upon a career of rebellion. All who are familiar with the debates of that period must have observed that Sumner 'Memoir of Sumner by E. L. Pierce, Vol. IV. p. 143. was considerably influenced by the authority of great names, and in consequence sometimes exposed himself to rebuke from men who, though in many respects inferior, had studied the questions of the day in the light of their own times. It is not intended, however, to trace the origin of the doctrine of State suicide or even to suggest all the arguments upon which he relied for its support, the purpose of these remarks being rather to show on what principles its essential propositions were based. This, it is believed, cannot be better done than by explaining the resolutions in his own language. In the Atlantic Monthly he wrote: "It is sometimes said that the States themselves committed suicide, so that as States they ceased to exist, leaving their whole jurisdiction open to the occupation of the United States under the Constitution. This assumption is founded on the fact that, whatever may be the existing governments in these States, they are in no respect constitutional, and since the State itself is known by the government, with which its life is intertwined, it must cease to exist constitutionally when its government no longer exists constitutionally." Nobody has He acknowledges the difficulty of defining the entity which we call a State. "Among us," says Mr. Sumner, "the term is most known as the technical name for one of the political societies which compose our Union. suggested, I presume, that any 'State' of our Union has, through rebellion, ceased to exist as a civil society, or even as a political community. It is only as a State of the Union, armed with State rights, or at least as a local government, which annually renews itself, as the snake its skin, that it can be called in question. But it is vain to challenge for the technical State," or for the annual government, that immortality which belongs to civil society. The one is an artificial body, the other is a natural body; and while the first, overwhelmed by insurrection or war, may change or die, the latter can change or die only with the extinction of the community itself, whatever may be its name or its form." Phillimore is quoted in support of the proposition that a "State," even in a broader signification, may lose its life. That author says: "A state, like an individual, may die," and, among the various ways in which this may occur, adds, "by its submission and the donation of itself to another country." "But in the case of our Rebel States," resumes Mr. Sumner," there has been a plain submission and donation of themselves,-effective, at least, to break the continuity of government, if not to destroy that immortality which has been claimed. Nor can it make any difference, in breaking this continuity, that the submission and donation, constituting a species of attornment, were to enemies at home rather than to enemies abroad,— to Jefferson Davis rather than to Louis Napoleon. The thread is snapped in one case as much as in the other. "But a change of form in the actual government may be equally effective. Cicero speaks of a change so complete as 'to leave no image of a state behind.' But this is precisely what has been done throughout the whole Rebel region: there is no image of a constitutional State left behind." The first resolution of the series quoted declares "That any vote of secession or other act by which any State may undertake to put an end to the supremacy of the Constitution within its territory is inoperative and void against the Constitution, and when sustained by force it becomes a practical abdication by the State of all its rights under the Constitution." Perhaps Mr. Sumner in the essay failed to strengthen his original statement of this proposition, which he believed was upheld by the historic example of England, at the Revolution of 1688, when, on the flight of James II. and the abandonment of his kingly duties, the two Houses of Parliament |