had not
been submitted to the people for ratification. Congress also maintained
that only the law-making power could of right determine the conditions
of re-admission to the Union, and judge whether or not those conditions
had been fulfilled.

But the consideration which outweighed all others in favor of the
congressional procedure was the alarming temper and acts of the South
itself. The Carolinas and Georgia had simply repealed the ordinance of
secession instead of declaring it null and void. The reconstructed
legislatures pensioned Confederate soldiers and their families.
"Notorious and unpardoned rebels" were elected as state officers and to
Congress.

Worse than this, nearly all the southern States passed laws which went
far toward reducing the blacks again to slavery. In Virginia, if a negro
broke his labor-contract, the employer could pursue him and compel him
to work an extra month, with chain and ball if necessary. In Mississippi
negro children who were orphans, or whose parents did not support them,
were to be apprenticed till they became of age. Their masters could
inflict upon them "moderate corporal punishment," and re-capture such as
ran away. In South Carolina any negro engaging in business had to pay
one hundred dollars yearly as a license. Mechanics were fined ten
dollars each a year for prosecuting their trades. No negro could settle
in the State without giving bonds for his good behavior and support. In
Louisiana a farm laborer was required to make a year's contract; if he
failed to work out the time, he could be punished by forced labor upon
public works. Not all the new southern legislation was of this savage
character, and this itself must be viewed in the light of the fact that
the negroes, trained in irresponsibility, were inclined to idleness and
theft. But it was nevertheless unjust. In some sections only the
interposition of the military and of the Freedman's Bureau made life
tolerable to the blacks.

[1866]

As an offset to the above dangerous acts and tendencies, Congress, in
the spring of 1866, passed the Fourteenth Amendment [footnote: Declared
in force July 28, 1868, having been ratified by three-fourths of the
States] and submitted it to the States for ratification. It was meant to
insure to negroes in every State all the rights of citizens and the
equal protection of the laws. If and so long as negroes were in any
State forbidden to vote, it reduced that State's representation in