le thereof, and it comes into
activity when the local government ceases to exist. It can be questioned
only in the name of the local government; but since this government has
disappeared in the Rebel States, the jurisdiction of Congress is
uninterrupted there. The whole broad Rebel region is _tabula rasa_, or
"a clean slate," where Congress, under the Constitution of the United
States, may write the laws. In adopting this principle, I follow the
authority of the Supreme Court of the United States in determining the
jurisdiction of Congress over the Territories. Here are the words of
Chief-Justice Marshall:--

"Perhaps the power of governing a territory belonging to the United
States, which has not, by becoming a State, acquired the means of
self-government, _may result necessarily from the facts that it is not
within the jurisdiction of any particular State_ and is within the power
and jurisdiction of the United States. The right to govern may be the
natural consequence of the right to acquire territory."[27]

If the right to govern may be the natural consequence of the right to
acquire territory, surely, and by much stronger reason, this right must
be the natural consequence of the sovereignty of the United States
wherever there is no local government.

Secondly. This jurisdiction may also be derived from the _Rights of
War_, which surely are not less abundant for Congress than for the
President. If the President, disregarding the pretension of State
Rights, can appoint military governors within the Rebel States, to serve
a temporary purpose, who can doubt that Congress can exercise a similar
jurisdiction? That of the President is derived from the war-powers; but
these are not sealed to Congress. If it be asked where in the
Constitution such powers are bestowed upon Congress, I reply, that they
will be found precisely where the President now finds his powers. But it
is clear that the powers to "declare war," to "suppress insurrections,"
and to "support armies," are all ample for this purpose. It is Congress
that conquers; and the same authority that conquers must govern. Nor is
this authority derived from any strained construction; but it springs
from the very heart of the Constitution. It is among those powers,
latent in peace, which war and insurrection call into being, but which
are as intrinsically constitutional as any other power.

Even if not conceded to the President, these powers must be conceded to
Congre