THREE SOURCES OF CONGRESSIONAL POWER.

If we loot at the origin of this power in Congress, we shall find that it comes from three distinct fountains, any one of which is ample to supply it.  Three fountains, generous and hospitable, will be found in the Constitution ready for this occasion.

First.  From the necessity of the case, ex necessitate rei, Congress must have jurisdiction over every portion of the United States where there is no other government; and since in the present case there is no other government, the whole region falls within the jurisdiction of Congress.  This jurisdiction is incident, if you please, to that guardianship and eminent domain which belong to the United States with regard to all its territory and the people 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.