pted and installed in Arkansas and
Louisiana shall be set aside and held for naught, thereby repelling
and discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up the same as to
further effort, or to declare a constitutional competency in Congress
to abolish slavery in states, I am at the same time sincerely hoping
and expecting that a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery
throughout the nation may be adopted."

He added his reasons for not approving the Wade-Davis bill. He
did not entirely disapprove of it, but said it was one of numerous
plans which might be adopted. Mr. Sumner stated, on the floor of
the Senate, that he had had an interview with President Lincoln
immediately after the publication of that proclamation, and it was
the subject of very minute and protracted conversation, in the
course of which, after discussing the details, Mr. Lincoln expressed
his regret that he had not approved the bill. I have always thought
that Mr. Lincoln made a serious mistake in defeating a measure,
which, if adopted, would have averted many if not all the difficulties
that subsequently arose in the reconstruction of the rebel states.

The next and closing session of that Congress neglected to provide
for the reorganization of these states, and, thus, when Mr. Johnson
became President, there was no provision of law to guide him in
the necessary process of reconstruction. Thus, by the disagreement
between Congress and President Lincoln, which commenced two years
before the close of the war, there was no law upon the statute book
to guide either the President or the people of the southern states
in their effort to get back into the Union. It became imperative
during the long period before the meeting of Congress that President
Johnson should, in the absence of legislation, formulate some plan
for the reconstruction of these states. He did adopt substantially
the plan proposed and acted upon by Mr. Lincoln. After this long
lapse of time I am convinced that Mr. Johnson's scheme of reconstruction
was wise and judicious. It was unfortunate that it had not the
sanction of Congress and that events soon brought the President
and Congress into hostility. Who doubts that if there had been a
law upon the statute book by which the people of the southern states
could have been guided in their effort to come back into the Union,
they would have cheerfully followed it, although the conditions
had been hard? In the absence of law both