soliciting the allowance of the constitutional right for representation.  At the time, however, of the consideration and the passing of this bill there was no Senator or Representative in Congress from the eleven States which are to be mainly affected by its provisions.  The very fact that reports were and are made against the good disposition of the people of that portion of the country is an additional reason why they need and should have representatives of their own in Congress to explain their condition, reply to accusations, and assist by their local knowledge in the perfecting of measures immediately affecting themselves.  While the liberty of deliberation would then be free and Congress would have full power to decide according to its judgment, there could be no objection urged that the States most interested had not been permitted to be heard.  The principle is firmly fixed in the minds of the American people that there should be no taxation without representation.  Great burdens have now to be borne by all the country, and we may best demand that they shall be borne without murmur when they are voted by a majority of the representatives of all the people.  I would not interfere with the unquestionable right of Congress to judge, each House for itself, “of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members;” but that authority can not be construed as including the right to shut out in time of peace any State from the representation to which it is entitled by the Constitution.  At present all the people of eleven States are excluded—­those who were most faithful during the war not less than others.  The State of Tennessee, for instance, whose authorities engaged in rebellion, was restored to all her constitutional relations to the Union by the patriotism and energy of her injured and betrayed people.  Before the war was brought to a termination they had placed themselves in relations with the General Government, had established a State government of their own, and, as they were not included in the emancipation proclamation, they by their own act had amended their constitution so as to abolish slavery within the limits of their State.  I know no reason why the State of Tennessee, for example, should not fully enjoy “all her constitutional relations to the United States.”

The President of the United States stands toward the country in a somewhat different attitude from that of any member of Congress.  Each member of Congress is chosen from a single district or State; the President is chosen by the people of all the States.  As eleven States are not at this time represented in either branch of Congress, it would seem to be his duty on all proper occasions to present their just claims to Congress.  There always will be differences of opinion in the community, and individuals may be guilty of transgressions of the law, but these do not constitute valid objections against the right of a State to representation.  I would in no wise