o a final
test on the Senate amendments on the 13th of June and concurred in all
of them by a single vote--_ayes_ 120, _noes_ 32. The work of Congress
in securing the Fourteenth Amendment was thus made complete.

The Constitutional amendment not requiring the assent of the President
(for the good reason that the two-thirds of each House which can
override a veto are here required in advance), was submitted to the
Senate without delay. The notification to the States was dated June
16th. Connecticut was the first to assent to the amendment.--her
Legislature being in session and her ratification made complete on the
30th,--precisely a fortnight from the date of submission. New
Hampshire followed on the 7th of July. The third State was Tennessee.
Her Legislature ratified the amendment on the 19th of July, by a vote
of 58 to 17, counting both branches. Many of the States would
doubtless have held extra sessions of their Legislatures to expedite
the adoption of the amendment if such a course had been considered
desirable by the leading members of Congress. It was deemed best,
however, to leave the question open to discussion and deliberation, in
order that the provisions of the amendment, in all their length and
breadth, should be completely understood by the people before the
formal assent of the States should be urged. The three States named
were the only ones which ratified the amendment before Congress
adjourned.(3)

When the Reconstruction Committee reported the Fourteenth Amendment,
they reported with it a bill declaring that "whenever said amendment
shall become a part of the Constitution of the United States, and
any State lately in insurrection shall have ratified the same and shall
have modified its constitution and laws in conformity therewith," such
State should be admitted to representation. There had been during the
entire session of Congress a disposition to make an exception in favor
of the State of Tennessee. She had of her own motion elected her loyal
governor, and now for a year and a half the administration of the State
was in a comparative degree orderly and regular. When telegraphic
intelligence of the action of the Tennessee Legislature reached the
Capitol Mr. Bingham of Ohio moved a joint resolution, reciting in
effect by preamble, that as the "State of Tennessee has in good faith
ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, and has also shown to the
satisfaction of Congress, by a proper spirit of o