he United States. It follows either
that this assumption of power is wholly unauthorized by the Constitution
or that the States so excluded from voting were out of the Union by
reason of the rebellion, and have never been legitimately restored.
Being fully satisfied that they were never out of the Union, and that
their relations thereto have been legally and constitutionally restored,
I am forced to the conclusion that the joint resolution, which deprives
them of the right to have their votes for President and Vice-President
received and counted, is in conflict with the Constitution, and that
Congress has no more power to reject their votes than those of the
States which have been uniformly loyal to the Federal Union.

It is worthy of remark that if the States whose inhabitants were
recently in rebellion were legally and constitutionally organized and
restored to their rights prior to the 4th of March, 1867, as I am
satisfied they were, the only legitimate authority under which the
election for President and Vice-President can be held therein must be
derived from the governments instituted before that period. It clearly
follows that all the State governments organized in those States under
act of Congress for that purpose, and under military control, are
illegitimate and of no validity whatever; and in that view the votes
cast in those States for President and Vice-President, in pursuance
of acts passed since the 4th of March, 1867, and in obedience to the
so-called reconstruction acts of Congress, can not be legally received
and counted, while the only votes in those States that can be legally
cast and counted will be those cast in pursuance of the laws in force in
the several States prior to the legislation by Congress upon the subject
of reconstruction.

I can not refrain from directing your special attention to the
declaration contained in the joint resolution, that "none of the
States whose inhabitants were lately in rebellion shall be entitled to
representation in the electoral college," etc. If it is meant by this
declaration that no State is to be allowed to vote for President and
Vice-President _all_ of whose inhabitants were engaged in the late
rebellion, it is apparent that no one of the States will be excluded
from voting, since it is well known that in every Southern State there
were many inhabitants who not only did not participate in the rebellion,
but who actually took part in the suppression, or refrai