THE LIFE OF 
 
 REVERDY 
 JOHNSON 
 
 BERNARD C. STEIN 
 
 
Life of 
 Reverdy Johnson 
 
 By BERNARD C. STEINER, PH.D., LL.B. 
 
 Librarian of the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT 
 
 THE NORMAN, REMINGTON CO. 
 BALTIMORE 
 

 COPYRIGHT 1914 BY 
 
 THE NORMAN, REMINGTON CO 
 PuBtrsHED SEPTEMBER. ion 
 
 COMPOSED AND PRINTED AT THE 
 
 WAVERLY PRESS 
 Br THE WILLIAMS & WILKINS CoMPANt 
 BALTIMORE, U. S. A. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 After the argument of his first case in the Supreme Court 
 in 1806, another Maryland lawyer (Luther Martin was the 
 first), William Pinkney, stepped to the front, where he remained 
 until his death in 1822 the undisputed head of the American 
 Bar (Warren, History of American Bar, p. 259). 
 
 William Pinkney remained the undisputed head of the Bar, 
 until his death in 1822. Thereafter Daniel Webster over 
 shadowed all others in the importance of cases argued and in 
 the mastery of the great principles of constitutional law (op. 
 cit., p. 368). 
 
 William Wirt of Maryland continued in constant and vigor 
 ous practise until his death in 1834, and his place at the Bar 
 was taken by Reverdy Johnson, who, for many years after 
 Webster s death, was regarded as the leading American lawyer 
 (op. cit., p. 411). 
 
 The paragraphs which have just been quoted show the 
 esteem in which the subject of this biography is held as 
 a lawyer. His eminence is by no means confined to 
 practice at the bar. Entering politics, he was elected to 
 the United States Senate as a Whig, and, though he 
 supported the loose construction and protective princi 
 ples of his party, he broke from it as to the Mexican War. 
 In Taylor s cabinet he served as attorney general. At 
 the break up of the Whig party, he became a follower of 
 Douglas. A Border State Union man, his efforts were 
 notable in 1861 to prevent the secession of his state. 
 While serving a second term in the United States Senate, 
 his mediating position was an important one. He was 
 thoroughly loyal, yet sympathized with the Southern peo 
 ple and, in the difficult period of reconstruction, he did 
 much towards ameliorating conditions. But for him 
 
 iii 
 
 308707 
 
IV PREFACE 
 
 Andrew Johnson would have been convicted, when 
 impeached. Sent to England as United States minister, 
 he negotiated the Johnson-Clarendon treaty, which, 
 though rejected, was the basis of the arrangement under 
 which the difficulties with Great Britain were finally 
 adjusted. The life of a man whose career was so impor 
 tant is worthy of being written. The author s especial 
 attention was drawn thereto, when he was asked to pre 
 pare a sketch of Johnson for the series of Great American 
 Lawyers, edited by Professor William Draper Lewis. 
 So much interesting material was then collected that it 
 has now been worked up into this extended biography. 
 Great assistance has been found in the valuable collec 
 tions of the Maryland Historical Society. The frontis 
 piece is a reproduction of the photograph of Johnson best 
 liked by his family. Especial thanks are due to Clayton 
 C. Hall, Esq., who married Mr. Johnson s granddaughter, 
 for his interest and criticism. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Early Life and Legal Practice (1796-1845) i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Senator, Attorney-General, Lawyer (1845-1860) 22 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Struggle in Maryland to Preserve the Union (1860-1862) 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Service in the Senate during the War (1863-1865) 61 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 The Thirty-Ninth Congress and Reconstruction (1865-1867) 118 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 The Impeachment Session (1867-1868) 198 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 Minister to England (1868-1869) 233 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Last Years and Death (1869-1876) 259 
 
 Index 273 
 
CHAPTER I 
 EARLY LIFE AND LEGAL PRACTICE (1796-1845) 
 
 The influence of the lawyer has been great in all parts 
 of the United States, and in no state has it been greater 
 than in Maryland. Men of eminent ability have shed 
 lustre on the bar in Maryland for two centuries, from 
 the time that Andrew Hamilton, who became the first 
 American with a continental legal reputation, prepared 
 a revision of the Provincial statutes, while he was a 
 member of the General Assembly in I7I5. 1 From that 
 time onward, the roll of legal worthies is a long and 
 honored one, bearing such names as those of the Dulanys, 
 of Chase, of Paca, of Martin, of Pinkney, and of Taney. 
 With the very first of these in ability and reputation, 
 stands the name of Reverdy Johnson, who was esteemed 
 by other members of his profession so highly that for 
 a number of years before his death he was considered 
 the leader of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. 2 He was not alone a lawyer, but also was inter 
 ested in governmental affairs, as so many attorneys- 
 at-law have been, and became an important figure in 
 National politics during the latter portion of his life. 
 At the time of the Civil War, he took the side of the 
 Union and like another eminent member of the Balti 
 more bar, Henry Winter Davis, rendered noteworthy 
 public service to the country. 3 
 
 1 See Vol. 20, Penn. Mag. of Hist., October, 1896, and Report of American 
 Hist. Ass. for 1899, p. 229. 
 
 2 See N. Sergeant s Public Men and Events. 
 
 3 This biography is elaborated from a sketch, written for W. D. Lewis s 
 Great American Lawyers and appearing in Vol. IV of that work at page 409. 
 
2 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Reverdy Johnson was the son of John Johnson and 
 of Deborah, the daughter of Reverdy Ghieselen. The 
 maternal grandfather was of Huguenot ancestry, had 
 been commissioner of the Land Office of Maryland and 
 was associated with the Rev. Thomas Bacon in the prep 
 aration of that remarkable compilation of the laws of 
 Maryland, which was the finest production of the press 
 of the English colonies in America. John Johnson was 
 a lawyer, 4 who served the State as member of both 
 houses of the legislature, as attorney general, as judge 
 of the Court of Appeals, and as chancellor. In this 
 last office, he was followed by an older son, John John 
 son, Jr. With such relatives, Reverdy Johnson natu 
 rally thought of law as his life work. 
 
 He was born at Annapolis 5 on May 21, 1796, and grew 
 up at the Capital of Maryland, being educated at St. 
 John s College there, until he was sixteen. He then 
 began reading law with his father and, completing his 
 studies in the office of Judge - - Stephen, was admitted 
 to the bar in 1816, at the age of twenty. While a stu 
 dent, during the British alarms of 1814, he served for 
 a time as a private in the 22nd regiment of Maryland 
 militia. 6 
 
 After being admitted to the practice of law, Johnson 
 
 4 See the Bowies and their Kin, p. 162. 
 
 5 Other accounts of his life are found in Richardson and Bennett s Baltimore, 
 86 Eclectic Magazine 502 (with steel engraving) by W. H. Bidwell, 3 Green Bag 
 317 (with portrait) by E. L. Didier, and 20 Harper s Weekly 165 (with picture) 
 i Forum (Bench and Bar Review), 367 (1874) with engraving, 10 Cent. L. J. 
 1 06 (1876). An engraving of his portrait, at the time he was attorney-gen 
 eral, is found in 5 Am. Rev. 549, (June 1849). Alexander Randall, Esq., in 
 the remarks he made at the memorial meeting of the Md. Court of Appeals 
 on February n, 1876, said of Johnson: "He was the friend of my childhood 
 and lived under my father s roof." 43 Md. Repts. 
 
 6 A pay warrant is extant dated August 13, 1814, signed by Nicholas Brewer, 
 to pay Johnson for his services $2.78, at the rate of $0.26 a day. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 3 
 
 settled at Upper Marlborough, the county seat of Prince 
 George s County, where the little brick building, in 
 which was his office, is still standing. It is said that 
 he was so discouraged by his first speech in the court 
 there that he would have abandoned the law, but for 
 the encouragement of Judge Edmund Key of the Prince 
 George s Court. 7 Persevering in the profession, he soon 
 displayed such ability that he was appointed by the 
 Attorney-General of Maryland his deputy for the judicial 
 district. In a little more than a year from beginning 
 practice, Johnson removed to Baltimore, so as to have 
 a wider field, 8 and continued in active practice at the 
 bar of that city until his death, nearly sixty years later. 
 Two years after removing to Baltimore, on November 
 1 6, 1819, he married Mary Mackall Bowie, who bore 
 him fifteen children and with whom he lived happily 
 for over forty years, until her death. She was the 
 daughter of Thomas Contee and Mary Mackall Bowie 
 and the grand-daughter of Governor Robert Bowie. 
 
 Johnson s legal career soon proved one of great bril 
 liancy and success, because of the vigor of his intellect 
 
 7 Bowies and their Kin. 
 
 8 He told Mr. Edward Higgins that, when he established himself in Balti 
 more, he had not the means to furnish his residence in the manner he wished 
 and arranged with the leading cabinet maker in the City to furnish it and 
 receive payment from time to time, as would be convenient for Johnson, who 
 would pay interest on the indebtedness in the meantime. From Mr. Higgins 
 also comes the following anecdote: When a young man he was engaged in the 
 trial of a case in nisi prius and was associated with Luther Martin. On the 
 other side in the array of counsel appeared a man of unusual force in the trial 
 of a cause, Walter Dorsey. The case consumed a number of days, during which 
 there were a number of "animated" tilts between counsel. Mr. Martin brought 
 into court every morning and carried away in the afternoon, a quire or more 
 of cap paper. So far as Mr. Johnson observed, Mr. Martin made but one entry 
 on the paper and it seemed to be very brief, and he had the curiosity to see 
 what it was. A little while before Mr. Martin addressed the jury the oppor 
 tunity came, and he read as folio ws : "Scold Wat Dorsey." 
 
4 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 and the determination of his character. His quickness 
 of mind, his remarkable memory, his unbroken cheer 
 fulness, his power of repartee, his uniform courtesy and 
 urbanity, his cogent and resistless arguments, his deep 
 and impressive voice, 9 his tact and skill in the manage 
 ment of causes, his lucidly and logically arranged dis 
 course, delivered to court or jury; all these united to 
 make him a powerful advocate and give him a great 
 reputation as a nisi prius lawyer. His skill in the cross 
 examination of witnesses was so great that "his con 
 temporaries agreed that, in this line, he stood abso 
 lutely without an equal." With such mental equipment, 
 Johnson soon made his way among the able men at the 
 Baltimore bar and Robert Goodloe Harper, then one 
 of its leaders, is reported to have said: "There is that 
 young man, Reverdy Johnson, sir, he is very clever. He 
 may lead them all yet." He was soon appointed chief 
 commissioner of insolvent debtors and his experience in 
 this post proved valuable to him in later years, when 
 he had a part in the framing of the national bankruptcy 
 law. Edwin Higgins, Esq., of the Baltimore Bar, who 
 was associated with Johnson during the later years of 
 his life, furnished some interesting memoranda concern 
 ing him as a lawyer: 
 
 Mr. Johnson while nearly an octogenarian, retained to the 
 last his remarkable vigor of intellect. His power of analysis 
 and his reasoning faculties, supported by robustness of expres 
 sion, commanded attention and carried conviction 
 
 If I were asked to name the foundation of his fame as the 
 Nestor of the American Bar, I would declare it to be his untir 
 ing, persistent preparation for the trial of causes committed 
 to his professional care. 
 
 9 When he twitted Henry Winter Davis for taking notes, Davis retorted 
 "Yes, Mr. Johnson, but you will please remember that unlike the lion in the 
 play, I have something more to do than to roar." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 5 
 
 Over and over again, he required me to read the authorities, 
 while he would bid me, from time to time, to pause, listen to 
 his running criticism of assent or dissent. He studied the case 
 in hand thoroughly and when the contest came he was pre 
 pared He was fair to the witness who he 
 
 believed was truthful but unrelenting in the interest of his 
 client, in the cross examination of one, who he thought had 
 not told the whole truth, and arraigned the latter by a sifting 
 analysis of his testimony before the jury. 
 
 Mr. Johnson s favorite position in addressing a jury was 
 immediately in front; often with the left hand in his trousers 
 pocket. When he became aroused in argument he would with 
 draw it and then, uplifting his right arm, would use it vigorously 
 with partially open hand to emphasize his argument. I always 
 felt when he had argued his case, not that he had exhausted 
 his resources, but had taken a few dippersful from an inex 
 haustible well. No young man, if he was attentive in the con 
 sultation, could be associated with Mr. Johnson, in the prep 
 aration of a cause for trial without becoming ready for it. 
 I recall a mass meeting of the Bar held in the old 
 Superior Court Room for the purpose of bringing about some 
 reforms, over which meeting Mr. Johnson presided. After 
 several addresses, Mr. Johnson called Mr. John H. B. Latrobe 
 to the chair, came down to the trial table and made one of the 
 most pleasing and profitable discourses it has been my good 
 fortune to hear. It showed his appreciation of the importance 
 of the study of the principles of law. He knew that the suc 
 cess in trying of a cause depends upon the mastering of the 
 principles; and the application of them in the practice of the 
 profession is essential in the making of a great lawyer. Mr. 
 Johnson said: "You may ask me who was the greatest lawyer 
 with whom I have been brought in contact, I answer, William 
 Pinkney, by all odds. It is true he had but few cases every 
 year, but they were cases. He made himself master of them 
 in every possible way." 
 
 In the trial of a case in which I was associated with Mr. 
 Johnson, the counsel for the opposite side, had, as Mr. Johnson 
 
6 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 believed, stepped aside from the discussion of the evidence 
 to arraign his client, and incidentally, to reflect, as it were, 
 upon Mr. Johnson. When his turn came, Mr. Johnson said: 
 " Sometimes when a lawyer has a poor case he resorts to 
 traducing the witnesses on the opposite side and if he has a 
 very bad case he will go further, he will blackguard his brother 
 on the other side." 
 
 Mr. Johnson was retained by the B. & O. R. R. Co. in a very 
 important matter with the understanding that, if suit was 
 brought, he should receive $5,000 for services. Instead of one, 
 two suits were brought. Mr. Johnson appeared in both for 
 the company and was successful in each. Mr. Johnson claimed 
 $5000 in each case, the Company refused to pay the $10,000 
 and Mr. Johnson brought suit; the case was removed to Ellicott 
 City. Mr. S. Teackle Wallis appeared for Mr. Johnson. At 
 the trial, after Mr. Wallis had made a masterly argument 
 before the jury, and counsel for the Company was addressing 
 it, it dawned upon Mr. Wallis that it would be the courteous 
 thing to ask Mr. Johnson, if he would not prefer to make the 
 closing argument himself. It so happened, that just about 
 this time something was said by the counsel for the Railroad 
 to stir the old warrior s blood and he replied with some anima 
 tion "By the by, Teackle, I believe I will." He did not spare 
 the other side and the jury gave him a verdict for the full 
 amount of claim. 
 
 Great lawyers are proverbially poor penmen. Mr. Johnson 
 was not an exception to the rule. Mr. Johnson was asked for 
 an opinion in writing, relative to the title of a parcel of land 
 which a land improvement association wished to buy. He 
 gave it in his own hand-writing, covering several pages of 
 letter paper, advising the corporation not to accept the title 
 and at the same time sent a bill for $500. The committee in 
 charge of the matter were unable to read the opinion and also 
 thought the fee was too much, and appointed one of their 
 number to go up to see Mr. Johnson and get him to read the 
 opinion and also to ask him to make a deduction in his bill. 
 The gentleman returned and reported that he had to explain 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 7 
 
 the case to Mr. Johnson again when the latter readily deci 
 phered the hieroglyphics and declined to reduce his fee, say 
 ing that it was not too much, that he had just charged the 
 Union Bank a fee of $3,000 for an opinion which had not re 
 quired much more of his time. My informant added the $500 
 paid for the opinion turned out an excellent investment, for the 
 corporation followed it, and the sequel showed it was saved 
 from very much trouble and loss. 
 
 Judge J. Upshur Dennis, of Baltimore, considered that 
 Johnson s strength was as a "nisi prius" lawyer and that 
 he was best suited for the work of the trial table. 10 
 
 It was a treat to see him fence with a bright but hostile 
 witness how he would joke with him and provoke repartee, 
 out of which Mr. Johnson was pretty sure to get something 
 on his own side of the case before he got through, either from 
 the witness himself, or by his own replies intended for the 
 jury; for of the jury he never lost sight, from the time the case 
 was called, until the verdict was announced. No answer of 
 the witness, no matter how unexpected, ever seemed to dis 
 concert him ; he acted as if it was the very thing he was look 
 ing for and would make some suggestion or give some inter 
 pretation, which would make it seem that the answer was really 
 in his favor. 
 
 Judge Dennis also spoke of 
 
 his imposing appearance, his manners and a certain original 
 way of saying and doing things, which from others would have 
 fallen flat, but from him always counted. He spoke slowly, 
 in a full strong voice, deliberately, and even at the climax of 
 his argument, was seldom ever loud, or at all passionate only 
 more grave and dignified and with more pronounced emphasis. 
 He was the very embodiment of good nature, as I knew him 
 
 10 These extracts are taken from a paper read by Judge Dennis before the 
 Maryland State Bar Association in 1905 and published in the Association s 
 Proceedings for that year. 
 
8 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 at the trial table and elsewhere full of humor, full of fun, even 
 jocose when the occasion permitted. While he was not witty 
 in the strict sense of the word, yet he was fond of repartee 
 and seldom came off second best. The sharp shafts of his 
 opponent s wit or sarcasm evoked his laughter and apparent 
 enjoyment of the thrust, even at his own expense, as heartily 
 as that of any of the audience, while he was sure to come 
 back with some blunt, broadly humorous retort that rarely 
 failed to turn the laugh upon his adversary. 11 
 
 Johnson entered the field of politics, when he accepted 
 an election to the membership of the Senate of Mary 
 land to fill a vacancy caused by General John Strieker s 
 declining an election. The Senate was then composed 
 
 11 Hon. Charles E. Phelps in 1906 gave me the following interesting anecdote 
 of Johnson: "Many years ago, I happened to be present in the Court Room 
 during the trial of an important will case, in which Mr. Johnson was the lead 
 ing counsel on one side and Mr. Wm. Norris on the other. The contest had 
 been in progress many days and some friction had developed. On this occa 
 sion, Mr. Norris took the floor, immediately after the noon recess, and deemed 
 it his duty, solemnly, to call the attention of the Court to what he complained of 
 as irregular conduct (I am not quite sure he did not use the word unprofes 
 sional) of his learned brother, in approaching familiarly gentlemen of the jury 
 during recess and cultivating them individually. I was one of those who, hav 
 ing seen this going on, from day to day, felt that the protest of Mr. Norris was 
 called for and that the conduct of Mr. Johnson was a very bad example to 
 the younger members of the profession." 
 
 "At this distance of time, some half century, I shall not undertake to repro 
 duce the few but telling words of Mr. Johnson s triumphant reply, sarcastic, 
 withering in fact, but perfectly good-humored. He expressed innocent sur 
 prise, he was not indignant but hurt, that the zeal of advocacy could go so far 
 as to impute unworthy motives to the open conduct of a professional brother, 
 who might ask a personal friend on the jury as to the health of his sick wife, 
 or even go so far as to borrow his newspaper, or who should have so poor an 
 opinion of the integrity of those high-toned gentlemen who composed this 
 jury, as to imagine, for a moment, that any one of them was capable of being 
 corrupted by these commonplace, ordinary courtesies of civilized life." 
 
 "It was Mr. Johnson s easy and assured manner, even more than his matter 
 that closed the incident, and left him master of the situation. I do not remem- 
 be: what notice, if any, was taken of it by the Court, but my recollection is 
 that, after that episode, Mr. Johnson was rather less communicative with 
 jurors." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 9 
 
 of fifteen members, who were chosen for a term of five 
 years by an electoral college elected by the voters of 
 the State. Vacancies occurring in the Senate were filled 
 for the remainder of the term by the vote of the remain 
 ing members. The Republican party, with which John 
 son was affiliated in his early life, had secured a majority 
 in the electoral college of 1821 and had elected a Senate 
 entirely composed of the members of that party. He 
 served throughout the term, from his election on Decem 
 ber 10, 1821, and was reflected in 1826, but resigned on 
 March 8, 1828, owing to the pressure of his professional 
 engagements. 
 
 His desire to improve the administration of the law 
 led him to introduce and, unsuccessfully, to urge the pas 
 sage of a bill to enable parties to a law suit to testify 
 therein and he aided in the accomplishment of certain 
 measures of internal improvement, delaying his resig 
 nation, in order to aid in the accomplishment of several 
 such measures. The vacancy caused by his resignation 
 was filled on January 2, 1829. 
 
 His complaisance is shown in two letters, both signed 
 by Isaac McKim and Johnson and dated February 13, 
 1822, recommending to the Governor s attention two dif 
 ferent men, who were candidates for appointment as 
 attorney general of Maryland. 12 It should be stated, 
 however, that one man is recommended for appoint 
 ment, and testimony is given merely to the legal abilities 
 of the other. 
 
 Through his advocacy of a broad construction of the 
 Federal Constitution, he became a member of the Whig 
 party at its organization, but he remained out of politi 
 cal life for seventeen years from the time of his resig 
 nation of his position in the State Senate. 
 
 * Md. Hist. Mag., vol. 6, p. 42. 
 
IO REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 In 1821, he became associated with Thomas Harris, 
 Clerk of the Maryland Court of Appeals, in the com 
 pilation of a series of reports of the cases decided in that 
 Court, which series is known, from the names of the com 
 pilers, as Harris and Johnson s reports. Seven volumes 
 were issued, the last one appearing in 1827, and they 
 covered the Court s decisions for the years from 1800 
 to 1826. 
 
 During the early years of Johnson s practice, he grew 
 to know with some intimacy and greatly to admire 
 Roger B. Taney, then practicing law in Frederick. They 
 met in 1815, when Johnson was admitted to practice 
 in the Court of Appeals and, in the years before Taney 
 entered Jackson s Cabinet, they often conversed about 
 the Bank of the United States, on which occasions Taney 
 assured Johnson that if he were in the Cabinet, he 
 should feel it to be his duty to remove the public money 
 from the bank. After Taney s death, at a meeting of 
 the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, on Decem 
 ber 6, 1864, Johnson gave this Chief Justice this praise: 
 
 It was my good fortune to have his confidence and friend 
 ship, almost from the first, and greatly did I profit by it. Often 
 his associate, and often his opponent, I had constant oppor 
 tunities of judging of his legal learning, of his ability in its use, 
 and the fair and elevated ground upon which he ever acted. 
 In neither relation is it possible to exaggerate his excellence. 
 
 At this period, Johnson s practice was growing rap 
 idly. 13 In 1827, he pleaded his first case in the United 
 
 13 On August i, 1868, on the eve of departing for England, Johnson wrote 
 Rev. Thomas McCormick, thanking him for an engraving of Luther Martin 
 and stating: "It was my good fortune to know him personally and to have 
 argued several cases with him, and to have had in him a constant and valued 
 friend." Johnson s opinion of the elder lawyer, expressed in this letter, is 
 worthy of being remembered: "Whether Mr. Martin s character be estimated 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON II 
 
 States Supreme Court, the important one of Brown v. 
 Maryland 14 in which he was one of the lawyers for the 
 State, and in which the important doctrines of the "orig 
 inal package" and the "police power" first appeared. 
 About the same time, he became one of the first counsel 
 for the newly chartered Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
 of which corporation he was one of the legal advisers 
 for nearly half a century. 15 His success was so great 
 that, in 1831, fifteen years after he had been admitted 
 to the bar and when he was thirty-five years of age, 
 he had an income of nearly $11,000 and, for each of 
 several years thereafter, he received about the same 
 amount. He had friendly relations with such other law 
 yers as J. V. L. McMahon, the historian and author of 
 the charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 
 
 Among his associates was Evan Poultney, who was 
 prominent in local financial circles, and who induced 
 him, in September, 1831, to become a director of the 
 Bank of Maryland, of which Poultney was president, Ji 
 Later, Johnson became one of the organizers of an insur- 
 
 by his steady patriotism during the Revolution, or by his services in the Coun 
 cils of the State, or in the Convention which framed the Constitution, or as a 
 lawyer, it stands as high as that of any man who lived during the same period." 
 
 14 Taney was with him. Wm. Meredith and Wirt were the opposing attor 
 neys. 12 Wheaton 419. His first case in the Maryland Court of Appeals was 
 Biays v. Marine Bank 4 Harris & Johnson 338. 
 
 16 Among the papers showing Johnson s usefulness to the railroad is his 
 opinion on the dividend, sent from Washington on January 23, 1847, to Louis 
 McLane, the President, which opinion was printed on March 6, as Document 
 
 5 of the Maryland House of Delegates at the December Session of 1846. John 
 son approved the conduct of the railroad, in using the net earnings for im 
 provements and giving bonds and one per cent in cash to holders of fifty shares 
 and upwards of stock, but cash alone to those holding less than fifty shares. 
 He was one of the counsel for the road in the early great case of Chesapeake 
 
 6 Ohio Canal v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad reported in 4 Gill v. Johnson. 
 Daniel Webster was with him and A. C. Magruder and Walter Jones opposed 
 them. 
 
12 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 ance company, in which the same persons were inter- 
 g ested as in the bank. Engrossed in legal affairs, Johnson 
 paid little attention to the affairs of the bank and can 
 not be acquitted of the charge of serving as a dummy 
 director. In 1834, tne bank failed and its funds were 
 shown to have been used for speculative purposes. Three 
 trustees were appointed, and McMahon and Johnson 
 were named as their counsel. The trustees fell out, two 
 of them disagreeing with the third. Ugly charges of 
 fraud were made on both sides, and a war of pamphlets 
 followed between the former president of the bank and 
 the majority of the trustees. Considerable delay oc 
 curred, and a great deal of litigation hindered the depos 
 itors from receiving any part of their claims. A suit 
 brought by the bank s trustees against a person asso 
 ciated with the former president was removed from 
 Baltimore to Bel Air and tried there in May and June, 
 1835. An array of able counsel was engaged on either 
 side and considerable latitude was allowed in the recep 
 tion of evidence, with the result that Johnson was con 
 clusively cleared from any wrong-doing in connection 
 with the bank. Johnson s own argument in summing 
 up was said by a fellow attorney to have scourged the 
 defendant naked, for three days, until even his adver 
 saries were moved to compassionate him." 
 
 In Baltimore, however, many were led to believe that 
 Johnson and the trustees were responsible for the failure 
 to settle the bank s affairs promptly and, on the evening 
 of August 7, while Johnson was with his family at 
 Annapolis, whither he had gone on professional business, 
 a mob gathered and broke some of the windows of his 
 house. The mayor, who had been a director of the 
 broken bank, was inefficient. On Friday, the 8th, more 
 damage was done, after a meeting of the bank s credi- 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 13 
 
 tors had demanded that the trustees turn over the insti 
 tution s books to them. On Saturday, anonymous in 
 flammatory placards were scattered throughout the city 
 and, on that night, a number of the citizens, called 
 together by the mayor, some armed with round sticks 
 and so called the " rolling pin guards" and others with 
 muskets, met the mob, but the weakness of the city 
 authorities finally left the lawless elements of the popu 
 lation in control of the situation and on Saturday night 
 and Sunday, the houses of Johnson and the trustees 
 were plundered and destroyed by fire. On Monday, 
 the veteran, General Samuel Smith, was induced to place 
 himself at the head of those citizens who wished order 
 restored, the mayor resigned, and the mob was dis 
 persed without calling upon Federal troops. Johnson 
 went from Annapolis to Bel Air, whence he and his asso 
 ciates were soon invited to return to Baltimore and were 
 promised the protection of the First Company of Inde 
 pendent Volunteers. He came back, rebuilt his house on 
 Monument Square, bought William Wirt s law library 
 of four or five thousand volumes to take the place of 
 the one he had lost, 16 and, on petition to the General 
 Assembly, was allowed in 1839, nearly $41,000 indem 
 nity, on the ground that this loss had occurred through 
 failure of the civil authorities to protect his property. 
 Just after the riots on August 17 Johnson wrote from 
 Baltimore to a friend, L. P. W. Balch, Esq., who was 
 then practicing law in Frederick City, in reply to a 
 note of sympathy 17 and said: 
 
 In the midst of all my troubles, tears have never come from 
 me, until reading your most kind letter. There is something 
 
 16 Many of the books in this library were burned in the Baltimore fire of 1904. 
 
 17 Balch endorsed the reply, "Reverdy Johnson s letter when his house was 
 im ruins." 
 
14 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 so touching in a heartfelt sympathy, that I was overwhelmed 
 by it. What I have lost in property is to me, comparatively, 
 of no value. I would at any moment cheerfully sacrifice all 
 to stand unimpeached before my fellow citizens, and I must 
 hope that, so far, I do retain, with a large portion of them, my 
 reputation for integrity unimpaired. I am entirely unable to 
 say how deeply sensible I feel for your kindness. My heart 
 is too full to suffer me to describe my feelings. Any effort to 
 do so would be more than useless. There is only one thing 
 more that you can do to make me, if possible, still more warmly 
 grateful to you than I am already. My professional character 
 is better known to my brethren than to any other class of the 
 community. And an expression of opinion from your hand 
 would be most highly gratifying to me. 
 
 I suggest it with diffidence and feel that you duly appreciate 
 my motive. 18 
 
 In answer to a similar letter, McMahon wrote John 
 son that: 
 
 I have always found you a man in whose abilities and integrity 
 I could repose full confidence; that I have never had occasion 
 to falter in that admiration of your talents and character which 
 
 18 This letter was printed by Mr. T. W. Balch in his Balch Genealogica at 
 p. 213. As Johnson destroyed his papers, according to the recollections o( 
 his son, the late Reverdy Johnson, Jr., very few manuscripts remain which 
 give information as to the life of our subject. The account of Johnson s con 
 nection with the bank and the riots is based upon the study of the following 
 authorities: 3 Scharf, History of Maryland, 176; Scharf, Baltimore City and 
 County 778; Scharf, Chron. of Baltimore, 474; The Memorial of Reverdy John 
 son of the City of Baltimore to the Legislature of Maryland with appendix 
 1840, pp. 46; Memorial of Reverdy Johnson praying indemnity for the destruc 
 tion of his property in the City of Baltimore by a mob in August, 1835, to the 
 Legislature of Maryland, Annapolis 1836, pp. 18; Evan Poultney, Brief Expo 
 sition of the Matters Relating to the Bank of Maryland, p. 86; Poultney, An 
 Appeal to the Creditors of the Bank of Maryland and the Public Generally, 
 1835; Memorial to the Legislature of Maryland by John B. Morris, 1836, pp. 
 21 ; Extracts from the Correspondence and Minutes of the Trustees of the Bank 
 of Maryland published by J. B. Morris and R. W. Gill, two of the Trustees, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 15 
 
 has grown up from a long and intimate acquaintance; and that, 
 whatever others may say, I claim, what I hope I shall long 
 enjoy, the privilege of calling you my friend. 
 
 Johnson s busy professional career was seriously af 
 fected by an accident which occurred in i842. 19 One 
 of his friends had challenged a man, who had struck him, 
 to fight a duel, and the challenger had come to Johnson s 
 house to elude the officer who had a warrant of arrest 
 against him. Whilst his friend was his guest, Johnson 
 practiced with a duelling pistol. A bullet from the pis 
 tol rebounded from a hickory sapling at which he aimed 
 and struck his left eye, so injuring it that he lost the 
 sight of that eye. This was probably the cause of his 
 later portraits being always in profile. In the course 
 of time, the other eye failed through sympathetic action 
 and he became nearly blind. Judge Dennis says: 
 
 "He could not walk the streets, or even a room with furniture 
 in it, without the guiding assistance of some one, and was not 
 able to recognize features at all;" but he "gained a remarkable 
 skill in distinguishing voices and delighted to show friends to 
 the last that he could find on the shelves of his library any book 
 
 having relation, principally, to their intercourse with Poultney, Ellicott & Co. 
 and Evan Poultney, 1835, pp. 64; Anonymous, To the creditors of the Bank 
 of Maryland, pp. 7; Anonymous, Final Reply to the Libels of Evan Poultney, 
 late President of the Bank of Maryland and a further examination of the Causes 
 of the Failure of that Institution, 1835, pp. 146; The Report and Testimony 
 taken before the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Delegates of 
 Maryland to which was referred the Memorials of John B. Morris, Reverdy 
 Johnson and others, praying indemnity for losses sustained by reason of the 
 riots in Baltimore in the month of August, 1835, pp. 77; Reply to a Pamphlet, 
 entitled a brief exposition of matters relating to the Bank of Maryland, pp. 
 59; State of Md. v. Bank of Md. 6 G. & J. 205; Union Bank of Tenn. v. Ellicott, 
 6 G. & J. 364; Campbell v. Poultney. 6 G. & J. 94; Bank of Md. v. Ruff. 7 G. 
 & J. 448. 
 
 19 2 N. Sergeant s Public Men and Events. In 1832, Samuel Houston sent 
 Johnson with a challenge to Stansberry on account of language used by the 
 latter on the floor of the House of Representatives. 16 S. W. Hist Quar. 124. 
 
1 6 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 he wished, from the lettering on the back. Great as was his 
 calamity, he was undaunted by it, had the newspapers read 
 to him for important events and, as he had been always cour 
 teous to others, found a return of that courtesy in the eager 
 ness with which his juniors at the trial table gladly found his 
 references in the books. 20 
 
 His blindness was the less of a misfortune to him, in 
 that he was not in the habit of citing many authorities. 
 Never a bookish lawyer, he devoted himself chiefly to 
 evolving rules applicable to the particular case from the 
 fundamental principles of the law. His limitations of 
 sight prevented him from being a profound student of 
 reports of textbooks in general, but he knew the Feder 
 alist, and the Commentaries of Kent and Story on the 
 Constitution, as well as the reports of the United States 
 Supreme Court, so thoroughly that he had a wonderful 
 fluency of reference to them, and his remembrance of 
 events in American History was so great that his power 
 as a constitutional lawyer was scarcely affected. Judge 
 Charles E. Phelps tells an anecdote showing that John 
 son could even jest as to his blindness: 
 
 There had been a temperance meeting in Baltimore a few 
 evenings before Johnson met Judge Hugh Lennox Bond, and 
 Judge Bond, referring to it, remarked: "Mr. Johnson, I was 
 very glad to see you on the platform at our temperance meet 
 ing the other night." 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Johnson, "and I had you in my eye, Judge." 
 
 "Which eye, Mr. Johnson?" 
 
 "Why, which one do you suppose? The only one that can 
 see." 
 
 "He was a thorough master of the underlying prin 
 ciples," says Judge Dennis, "and his powerful intellect 
 
 20 Vide Forney s remarks in Proceedings of Bench and Bar after Johnson s 
 death. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 17 
 
 and extraordinary gift of common sense built upon these 
 foundation stones a structure that was difficult for any 
 attack to shatter." For example, the case of Bayne v. 
 the National Banks, tried in the United States Circuit 
 Court in Baltimore, before Chief Justice Chase and 
 District Judge Giles, involved a very large amount of 
 money and the correct interpretation of the national 
 banking law. 21 Against Johnson was Judge B.enjamin 
 R. Curtis of Boston, Johnson s great rival at the bar, 
 yet in the speech he made then, which still seemed to 
 Judge Dennis many years afterwards, " the greatest law 
 argument" he ever heard, he referred to only one author 
 ity, "and few that heard him, after he had argued out 
 his case on principle, thought that he needed the sup 
 port of even that one citation." Not only did he cite 
 very few authorities, but he was equally sparing of 
 quotations and allusions to persons and events in history 
 outside of the national history of the United States. In 
 all his speeches, I have come across hardly half a dozen 
 quotations and these, singularly enough, are all of verses 
 of poetry of very little merit. Unfriendly critics com 
 mented on this lack of display of literary attainments 
 and said they would not go to court to hear him speak, 
 as they "had no desire to hear a man whose vocabulary 
 consisted of six hundred words;" but the men, who went 
 to hear him, listened to a forceful and well chosen vocab 
 ulary, powerfully used and adequate to carry conviction 
 of the cause argued. He had a little trick of repeating 
 a noun with each of several adjectives by which he 
 wished to modify it and certain words of Latin origin 
 were favorites with him ; as for example, he said termina 
 tion instead of end. But there were few mannerisms in 
 his straightforward and direct discourse. 
 
 21 This case is not reported. 
 
1 8 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 He never bore malice, and when an altercation in 
 the Criminal Court, in which he often practiced, led in 
 June, 1843, to a challenge to a duel between him and 
 George R. Richardson, another attorney, a prompt 
 arrest of Johnson by warrant and a day or two s reflec 
 tion brought him to shake hands with his antagonist in 
 open court and to a complete reconciliation which lasted 
 until death. 22 
 
 The most complete description, which I have found 
 of Johnson s personal appearance in his prime is given 
 by Judge Dennis: 
 
 He was of medium height, round bodied, solidly, almost 
 sturdily, built, just such a physical mould as indicated perfect 
 health, capacity for work and endurance, without the risk of 
 a breakdown, of all the toils and strains of the most active life 
 at the trial table. He was cursed with neither nerves nor 
 liver, but was the robust embodiment of mens sana in corpore 
 sano. His features were strong; his forehead of great height, 
 fulness, and breadth; while the back of his head was shaped 
 like a barrel and seemed to bulge out all around, as if indi 
 cating holding capacity. But the dome of his head was its 
 most striking feature, so lofty, so symmetrically rounded, that 
 it seemed to tower above all others, as the dome of St. Peter s 
 minimizes all other designs. 
 
 Shortly after 1840, Johnson visited Europe and spent 
 some time in London, during which he attended the 
 House of Commons for a week, in order to hear the 
 debates. 23 He served as a delegate to the national Whig 
 Convention in Baltimore in December, 1839 and, at a 
 critical moment, read a letter from John M. Clayton 
 of Delaware, declining to allow his name to be used as 
 a candidate for the Vice- Presidency, which declination 
 
 22 Scharf, Baltimore City and County, 713. 
 
 23 Speech in Senate of March 4, 1847. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 19 
 
 led to the nomination of Tyler. 24 After Harrison s inau 
 guration, on March 21, 1841 he wrote to Francis Granger, 
 the Postmaster General, recommending Richard Swann, 
 who had long been a zealous Whig, for the postmaster- 
 ship of Annapolis. 25 Johnson would rather keep the in 
 cumbent in office, but knew that his conduct in the 
 presidential campaign brought him under the general 
 rule for removals, which rule is right in general. The 
 Maryland Senators had recommended another man, but 
 one of the Senators lived on the Eastern Shore and the 
 other on the lower extremity of the Western Shore, and 
 neither knew anything about Annapolis, where two-thirds 
 of the people wished Swann s appointment. Johnson him 
 self knew the people of that city well, "being one of them 
 for years and always in constant association with them." 
 In the presidential campaign of 1844, he took an active 
 part, serving as delegate to the Whig nominating con 
 vention in Baltimore, and presenting the report of the 
 committee on the platform. He also addressed, together 
 with Webster and other leaders, a vast concourse at 
 a popular ratification meeting 26 at Canton, in the suburbs 
 of Baltimore. 27 A few months thereafter, the Maryland 
 
 24 Thurlow Weed, Autobiography, Vol. I, p. 482, and Vol. II, p. 77. 
 
 25 After Tyler became President, Johnson wrote J. J. Crittenden on August 
 30, 1841 (i Colemans Crittenden 160) that Alexander Hamilton of New York, 
 an intimate friend of Tyler, had visited Baltimore to see Judge Upshur and 
 Mr. Maher, and that the impression was that Hamilton had been sent to sound 
 them as to a new cabinet, in which Maher should succeed Crittenden. If 
 Johnson s suspicion be correct, he cannot speak of the attempt, "without 
 using terms of the President that should not be applied to him except in the 
 last emergency." 
 
 26 See Granger Papers in Library of Congress. Scharf, Chron. of Balto., 511. 
 An interesting letter to Van Buren written September 29, 1840 is printed 
 in the Md. Hist. Mag. for September, 1914. 
 
 27 Mr. Higgins relates that Johnson, in the course of his speech, having 
 drawn the contrast in public service between Clay and Polk, exclaimed: "My 
 fellow citizens, who is James K. Polk?" After it was "definitedly settled that 
 Mr. Polk was elected President," one evening, a crowd gathered in front of 
 
20 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 legislature elected him to the United States Senate, 
 where Hon. James Alfred Pearce, his colleague presented 
 his credentials on February 4, and where he was sworn 
 in as a member on March 4, i845. 28 
 
 Johnson s residence and began to cry, "My fellow citizens, who is James K. 
 Polk?" Finally, Mr. Johnson appeared on his portico, with hat in hand and 
 bowed to his audience. When all were silent, he said: "My fellow citizens, 
 James K. Polk is the President-elect of the United States. Good night." He 
 then retired and the assemblage dispersed in good humor. 
 
 28 Through the courtesy of Mr. Louis H. Dielman, executive secretary of 
 the Peabody Institute, we are able to quote from the autobiography of John 
 P. Kennedy (II, 127, 1845), a passage which throws some light on this election: 
 
 "Merrick s term of service in the Senate being limited to the 4th of March, 
 1845, it became the duty of the Legislature last winter to make an election 
 of his successor. The most active candidate for this appointment was Reverdy 
 Johnson, who has been working for it for the last six years. He and his 
 friends have been personally excessively industrious in attempting to obtain 
 it. And as soon as the Legislature met they were on the spot using all the 
 customary means to promote his success. His extreme unpopularity in the 
 State was in a great degree counteracted by the assiduity of those who took 
 his case in hand. There were other candidates spoken of Cost Johnson, Wm. 
 Price, Genl. Chapman and others besides myself. 
 
 Holding it to be a matter which deeply concerns my own character and 
 my desire to preserve the utmost personal independence as well as self respect, 
 I not only refused to take any steps directly in my own behalf, but also in 
 directly to engage the services of friends. I was content that the question, 
 so far as I was concerned, should rest upon the uninfluenced suffrage of the 
 Legislature. Early in the session it was found that Reverdy Johnson had not 
 a sufficient force to secure his nomination in a caucus. By management there 
 fore a caucus was postponed. The Whigs had a large majority in the Legis 
 lature, and continued efforts were made to bring a sufficient number into Mr. 
 R. J. s interest. Cost Johnson, who was a member of the Legislature, told 
 me after the session was over, that finally it was ascertained that Reverdy s 
 party had grown strong enough to secure the nomination. Before this was 
 done Cost made a proposition to withdraw his name and recommended that 
 all his friends should unite upon me. It became apparent at that period that 
 I would have got the nomination. This induced a concentrated and vigorous 
 effort against me, which by means of such appliances as are unhappily too 
 common in Legislative bodies, had its effect to secure a majority of two in 
 favour of R. Johnson in the caucus. This being discovered to be the condi 
 tion of things, the caucus was held and upon the first ballot Johnson obtained 
 38 votes, 37 being sufficient for the vote. If the nomination had not sue- 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 21 
 
 ceeded on this first ballot, Cost Johnson tells me I would have received a 
 large majority on the second. Reverdy Johnson thus obtained the nomina 
 tion and was elected. He is a man of talents, a very earnest Whig and will 
 make an efficient Senator though I have no reason to suppose he will ever 
 become eminent in that body. He is a pretty good lawyer, with some very 
 striking defects even in that character; but he is very far from being a good 
 speaker, or an effective debater, and he is singularly deficient in all accom 
 plishments which might render him either a conspicuous or a useful statesman. 
 What redeems him however from many deficiencies, is a pleasant and attrac 
 tive good fellowship, which I think will make him popular with his party in 
 the Senate. We have made in his appointment a most profitable exchange 
 from Merrick." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 SENATOR, ATTORNEY-GENERAL, LAWYER (1845-1860) 
 
 Johnson began his national career, when he was nearly 
 fifty years old and at the beginning of the Mexican 
 War. His first activity 1 in the Senate occurred in the 
 session which began in December, 1845, and he quickly 
 showed himself the peer of such great men as Clay and 
 Calhoun. Johnson resided in the same house with the 
 latter for two sessions, and receiving much of Calhoun s 
 confidence, frequently heard him in private argument, 
 with "wonderful acuteness," defend nullification on con 
 st tutional grounds. Johnson never told him that he did 
 not take that view, "but could see no more constitu 
 tional warrant" for nullification than for secession, which 
 Calhoun carefully distinguished and which he "repudi 
 ated, as wholly indefensible as a constitutional remedy." 
 Both men agreed that secession could be placed "on no 
 other ground than that of revolution." 2 
 
 The first important speech made by Johnson on March 
 n, 1846, was upon the Oregon question. 3 In it, his 
 eloquence and sarcasm were directed to an attack upon 
 the administration. He defended a compromise on the 
 line of 49, moved that England be notified of an abro- 
 
 1 He presented petitions on December 29, and introduced, on the 3oth, a 
 resolution, adopted on the next day, asking the Committee on Military Affairs 
 to inquire whether for purposes of defence the United States ought not to 
 subscribe to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 
 
 2 S. S. Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation 101, extract from letter 
 of Johnson to Edward Everett, June 24, 1861. 
 
 3 He had spoken on preemption of public lands on January 13, and on a 
 bill giving recompense for a ship confiscated during the war of 1812, on Feb 
 ruary 4, and had made inquiry as to the policy of the administration in refer 
 ence to Oregon on February 26. 
 
 22 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 23 
 
 gation of the previous joint occupation of the Oregon 
 country, and favored peace, as the Christian attitude. 4 
 Two months later, however, 5 he broke from his party, 
 declared that he believed that a state of war existed 
 between Mexico and the United States, and that the 
 territory of the United States had been invaded. He 
 would have voted against the annexation of Texas, but 
 did not think that his country was the aggressor in the 
 war. He uttered these views, not only on the floor of 
 the Senate, but also in a public meeting in Monument 
 Square in Baltimore on May 23. He showed his loose 
 construction views, by advocating action in emergencies 
 when the constitution was silent. 7 In the latter part 
 of June, a resolution, introduced by Johnson, passed the 
 Senate, calling on the Secretary of War to report whether 
 any individual had been authorized to raise volunteers. 
 President Polk sent for Johnson and had a frank con 
 ference with him on the evening of July 6, reading him 
 copies of the papers showing the plans of a campaign 
 into California. Polk said that the publication of these 
 papers " would probably defeat our objects and be most 
 prejudicial to public interest," as exciting the "jealousy 
 of England and France." Johnson agreed with Polk 
 as to this and said he " regretted that he had not known 
 more on the subject, before he moved the resolution." 
 He further advised that the call be not answered and 
 said that, "if any thing was said about it in the Senate, 
 he would take pleasure in stating that he had seen the 
 papers and deemed it improper that the call should be 
 
 4 Vide speech also of April 16. 
 
 5 On May 5 and May 12, he had spoken on preemption claims, and on June 
 29 he spoke in opposition to selling public lands at too low a price. 
 
 8 Scharf, Chron. of Baltimore 516. 
 
 7 Vide speech of June 5, Webster denied the right to take such action as 
 that of Gen. Grimes, whom Johnson defended for calling for troops in May. 
 
24 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 answered." 8 Johnson was not called on to make this 
 statement, however. His only other speech on the Mexi 
 can question at that session was one of some length, 
 delivered on August 5, in which he "ably advocated" 
 Ben ton s motion on an indemnity. 9 
 
 During July, he was active in the discussion of the 
 tariff bill. 10 He opposed the lowering of protective du 
 ties and on the i8th, in a speech of three hours length, 
 maintained that the bill would not bring in enough rev 
 enue. He denied that the citizen paid the tax, pointed 
 to the prosperity which had followed the tariff of 1842, 
 and maintained that Polk had carried Pennsylvania 
 through a promise to support it. If the Federal Govern 
 ment has no power to lay protective duties, the States 
 are industrially yet colonies, nor had there been a pro 
 test against the rightfulness of such duties from 1789 
 to 1822. Johnson served on the Finance Committee and, 
 both in the committee and on the floor of the house, 
 protested against a hasty consideration of the bill. 11 
 
 At the next session of Congress, on January 7, 1847, 
 he advocated successfully the printing of memorials from 
 Louisiana, criticising its representatives as unfaithful 
 to the State s interests because of their votes on the 
 tariff bill. On March 4, speaking on reporting by con- 
 
 8 2 Folk s Diary 13. 
 
 9 The speech is not extant. 
 
 10 The only other subjects on which he spoke in the latter part of the ses 
 sion were the issue of treasury notes which he advocated on July 16, to avoid 
 transportation of specie, the purchase of the toll bridges over the East Branch 
 of the Potomac by the United States, which he successfully advocated on 
 August 3, and the act disaffirming the laws of the territories of Iowa and 
 Wisconsin granting banking privileges, which act he opposed in an elaborate 
 argument on August 6. 
 
 11 Vide speech of July 6, and motion of July 28, to commit the bill to a 
 select committee on raw materials, on which motion there was a tie vote, where 
 upon the vice president cast a negative vote. On July 27, Johnson also spoke 
 on frauds on the revenue of the United States in the tariff bill. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 25 
 
 tract, he contrasted the reports of the debates in the 
 Senate with those in the House of Commons, to the 
 disadvantage of the former. He opposed, on January 
 19, a limitation on sale or devise for seven years of 
 bounty lands, speaking in behalf of Maryland soldiers 
 who might not wish to emigrate, and urging that it was 
 better to run the risk that speculators should secure the 
 land than that it should be eaten up by several years 
 taxes. In carrying on the war, he urged active meas 
 ures, and, on January 22, 12 decried the use of militia, 
 who choose their own officers, as the " least efficient, 
 the most dangerous and expensive course," only suit 
 able for a " sudden crisis." So that the Mexicans, who 
 had invaded our soil, might speedily be brought to terms, 
 he favored large increase of the army, and the levying 
 of additional taxes on tea, coffee, etc. 13 On February 
 6, he spoke again on the Mexican stituation. Polk 
 asked an appropriation of two million dollars, to enable 
 him to conclude a treaty of peace and Cass, as chair 
 man of the Committee on Foreign Relations, recom 
 mended that the amount be increased to three millions, 
 and proposed a preamble to the measure setting forth 
 the character of the war. Johnson felt that the war 
 was just, but as a pacifier, he objected to a statement, to 
 which "many high minded men in the Senate" could 
 not agree, and which would drive these " brother Sena 
 tors" to vote against the bill, or to vote that a war was 
 just, which they believed "illegally brought" on the 
 country. He also felt that, as the reasons for going 
 into a war have nothing to do with a declaration of 
 peace, Cass s preamble needlessly increased the impedi- 
 
 12 Johnson s speeches of January 22, sent to Annapolis, and February 9, 
 were revised by him and appear in the appendix to the Globe, as did that of 
 July 19, 1846. 
 
 ls As a good Whig, he wished the repeal of the subtreasury act. 
 
26 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 ments to peace, by insulting the public opinion of Mexico, 
 declaring her a causeless aggressor. The bill also showed 
 the "white feather," by proposing to buy a peace, while 
 "a nation engaged in a war just or unjust is in a 
 condition in which every consideration demands that 
 it should be brought to a successful and honorable ter 
 mination." He was emphatic in his attack on the ad 
 ministration for inefficiency in its military policy and 
 for its permitting Santa Anna to return to Mexico, as 
 well as for its "project of terminating the war by dis 
 membering a sister republic, which plan is so revolt 
 ing to my moral sense, to all my notions of propriety, 
 honor and justice, that I would see my arms sink palsied 
 to my side rather than to agree to it." The president 
 brought on the war and if he refused to treat, or to 
 conduct the war, as Congress wished, that body might 
 give an opinion, which, if Polk rejects, will make him 
 "liable to impeachment." The Democrats say that if 
 the war goes on we may annex all Mexico and already 
 it is proposed to acquire a territory equal to the original 
 thirteen states. War would never have been approved 
 by Congress had the object been stated " to get territory, 
 not to vindicate the natural rights, not to drive, off 
 supposed or alleged invaders of our soil, not to protect 
 our sister State of Texas, .... but in order 
 to pay our own citizens the debts due them by Mexico, 
 . and in order to obtain New Mexico and 
 California." His astute mind foresaw that the ques 
 tions likely to "arise on the admission of any new 
 territory" might "cause the Union to totter to its very 
 foundations." We have enough land and the South 
 is in no danger, with the country s existing limits, but 
 the "only way to keep back the northern conscience as 
 to slavery" is to refuse to admit new territory. Already 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 2J 
 
 the legislature of New York had adopted resolves that 
 the North West Ordinance as to slavery should be ex 
 tended into any annexed territory and an Alabama Sen 
 ator had said that such extension was in "derogation 
 of the United States Constitution" and "at war with 
 the rights of slave States." Johnson, cheerfully, 
 would vote for the prosecution of the war, but would 
 "blush for my country, if she persisted in exactions 
 upon a feeble and impoverished foe, which the world 
 would justly anathematize as rapine and plunder." He 
 felt that annexation of the proposed territory would be 
 followed by "one of two things: civil war with all its 
 inconceivable horrors, or disruption of the Union and 
 a violated Constitution." The strong and prescient 
 words of this speech were followed by another address, 
 delivered on March i, upon the Wilmot Proviso, against 
 the establishment of slavery in the territory proposed 
 to be annexed. 14 Johnson opposed the measure on con 
 stitutional grounds, since, by the "Spirit of the Con 
 stitution," the States are to be equal in all respects, 
 and, consequently, the citizens of slave States should 
 not be prohibited by Congress from settling with their 
 slaves in acquired territory. If slavery could be pro 
 hibited, in a manner binding on the States formed from 
 new territory, so it could be established there perma 
 nently. "I can vote for neither," said Johnson, for he 
 was not a proslavery man, adding: "I believe and have 
 ever believed since I was capable of thought, that 
 slavery is a great affliction to any country where it 
 prevails and, so believing, I can never vote for any 
 measure calculated to enlarge its area, or to render more 
 
 14 In April 1873, Johnson, whom Henry Wilson describes as "an eminent 
 lawyer, and statesman of recognized ability and large experience," wrote him 
 that he would have voted against the Wilmot Proviso, had opportunity been 
 given. "Rise and Fall of Slave Power" Vol. II p. 17. Vol. Ill p. 440. 
 
28 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 permanent its duration. In some latitudes and for 
 some agricultural staples, slave labor may be, for the 
 master, the most valuable species of labor, though this 
 I greatly doubt. In others, and particularly in my own 
 State, I am convinced that it is the very dearest species 
 of labor and, in all, as far as natural wealth and power 
 and happiness are concerned, I am persuaded, it admits 
 of no comparison with the labor of freemen and above 
 all, disguise it as we may, if the laws of population shall 
 not be changed by Providence, or man s nature shall 
 not be changed, it is an institution, sooner or later, 
 pregnant with fearful peril." So believing, he had early 
 emancipated the slaves, whom he had inherited from 
 his father, and did not agree with the South Carolinians 
 in claiming that there was a "conservative influence of 
 slavery on our free political institutions." Yet he 
 showed the nervous sensitiveness on the negro question 
 always displayed in the South, attributed much of the 
 strength of the proslavery sentiment, especially in 
 Maryland, to the efforts of political abolitionists and 
 insisted that the North must leave the question to be 
 settled by southern men exclusively. 
 
 When Congress met in December, 1847, Johnson s posi 
 tion was established as one of the leading members of 
 the Senate. In his first speech on December 30, he 
 asked for the number of those who died of disease and 
 who were killed in Mexico, maintaining that the great 
 mortality which had prevailed was due to the lack of 
 the same degree of discipline among volunteers as among 
 regular troops and, therefore, urging that the regular 
 army be increased, rather than that more volunteers 
 be raised. On January 10, 1848, he began an important 
 speech on the ten regiment bill, which he concluded with 
 an eloquent peroration on the following day. Johnson 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 2Q 
 
 had come into the Senate, "differing with the adminis 
 tration on almost every subject of our public civil policy" 
 and his experience in that body had "more and more 
 strengthened and confirmed" the differences between 
 him and the Democratic party, on all questions but the 
 war. "I believe," he said, "they misapprehend the true 
 policy of the country and fundamentally err upon great 
 and vital points of constitutional power." It is inter 
 esting to observe that he spoke of the conditions in the 
 civil service as bad, because "bred in the corruption of 
 the motto of the political freebooter that the spoils 
 belong to the victor." He discussed the Texan question 15 
 from 1834 an d defended our claim to the Rio Grande 
 as a boundary, maintaining that the war was just and 
 honorable and that the United States had a just cause 
 for war. They were right in striking the first blow in 
 self-defense, because of the hostile acts of Mexico in 
 mustering an army and marching "with the avowed pur 
 pose of taking forcible possession" of the disputed terri 
 tory. After a vigorous description of the horrors of war 
 and our wickedness in waging war, if it be not a just 
 one, he said that, though the nation had given Polk 
 all the power he wanted and there have been great vic 
 tories, yet there is no peace. Deluded with the idea 
 "that peace was to be obtained without the effusion of 
 blood," Folk s "ostentatious" vigor had given Taylor 
 and Scott such small forces that they could not properly 
 follow up their victories. 16 War should be carried on 
 in the heart of Mexico, till that country agreed to terms 
 of peace, by which we may obtain "vindication of our 
 
 15 On June 30, he said we should adopt a treaty instead of resolves of an 
 nexation. 
 
 16 The administration had relied too much on volunteers, forgetting that 
 " the expense of a regular force is much less and their efficiency infinitely greater, 
 above all that the sacrifice of human life is less." 
 
3O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 violated honor and indemnity for our heretofore violated 
 rights," but not a dollar should be spent to "annihilate 
 the nationally of Mexico, or forcibly to dismember 
 her territory." He proposed confiscation of Mexican 
 revenues to pay the United States army and advocated 
 a treaty, placing the Rio Grande as a boundary. "If 
 there be any national crime more crying and enormous in 
 the opinion of all Christendom," said Johnson, "it is 
 the forcible dismemberment of the territory of a weaker 
 nation." Annexation was also sure to lead to the dis 
 cussion of slavery, a "subject which no Southern man 
 on this floor, when he can avoid it, desires to discuss." 
 "The Southern States owe it to themselves, one and all 
 of them, to stand on their own rights, to vindicate their 
 own equality and, exclusively at their own time and 
 without the interference of others, to meddle in their own 
 way with this peculiar institution," interference with 
 which may lead to "deadly conflict or amicable sepa 
 ration." 17 
 
 Although he attacked the administration, he opposed 
 on April 28 a bill appointing a board to investigate 
 Californian claims, because it named the members of the 
 board and did not leave the appointment to the Presi 
 dent. Johnson felt no alarm from the "tendency of the 
 times to curtail the legislative and enlarge the executive 
 power." Both power of appointment and of veto must 
 be placed in the hands of the President. The United 
 States could not have existed but for the veto power. 
 "What more than anything else prevents the successful 
 
 17 On May 8, Johnson spoke, urging delay in the question of Yucatan and 
 on June 30, he defended a bill for the relief of men who had contracted with 
 Texas to build war vessels. The United States were bound by honor and 
 justice to pay them. On July 7, he spoke on extra allowance to paymasters 
 and on the claims of citizens, many of whom were Marylanders, against Mexico. 
 On August n, he spoke on Mexican claims. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 31 
 
 assaults of popular passion upon the guarantees of the 
 constitution, except the knowledge that there exists in 
 the government one man who can stop it until the ques 
 tion is submitted to the sober good sense, better thought, 
 and matured consideration of the people?" Yet John 
 son, on May 12, bitterly opposed the quasi-usurpation 
 of Tyler, in vetoing the bank bill, and of Polk, who 
 could not be reflected, in vetoing the river and harbor 
 bill and the French spoliation bill. Would the Demo 
 cratic senators, to whom the executive lash had been 
 applied, have selected Polk for the presidency as the 
 convention, that "political excrescence" did? Why had 
 not he sent in the nominations for positions in the army? 18 
 The fact that Jackson had induced the Senate to ex 
 punge its resolution censuring him showed the "over 
 shadowing influence and power of a President." 19 
 
 He eulogized Taney for his diligence, character, and 
 industry, on April 18, when urging legislation to prevent 
 delay in hearing cases by the United States Supreme 
 Court. The judges of this court are old and should 
 be so, for young men are rash, but their age makes 
 them feebler. He praised them for the Herculean labor 
 they perform and had heard them praised in England. 
 Johnson opposed the election of Judges by the people. 
 It was a "system productive of nothing but unmixed 
 mischief" to have candidates nominees of a political 
 convention. Judges will then strive for reelection, while 
 a man once upon the bench should never again go into 
 politics. In this speech, Johnson showed his love for 
 the nation, by saying: "Loss of freedom is alone to be 
 compared to the loss of the Union, nor, indeed, can 
 freedom be lost, if the Union is in good faith preserved." 
 
 18 Vide speech of May 9. 
 
 19 Vide speech of May 10. 
 
32 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 The bill for the organization of the territory of Oregon 
 brought Johnson several times to the floor of the Senate. 
 On June 23, he objected to the prohibition of slavery 
 therein, whether the settlers wish it or not. On July 
 10, he felt the overshadowing importance of the presi 
 dential election, 20 and regretted that the slavery ques 
 tion could not have been postponed. Events showed 
 the growth of moral degeneracy through the Southern 
 section." The annexation of Texas and the bungling 
 of the Mexican war caused "our present mournful con 
 dition," and, although he hoped that good sense would 
 avert disaster, he felt that "the array of State against 
 State and citizen against citizen was a spectacle which 
 he regarded as ominous of fatal results to the Union." 
 "If these signs continue to increase, the separation of 
 the States is inevitable." "When the day shall come, 
 when the whole northern territory of the United States 
 shall be admitted as States and be represented" in the 
 Senate, Johnson "was aware that slavery would no 
 longer be permitted to exist in the South." He attacked 
 Van Buren and his policy of slave restriction and found 
 in the Constitution no power of prohibiting slavery in 
 the territories. He wished, from his heart, "that no 
 African had ever been brought to this country, but that 
 our land was exclusively peopled by freemen." Though 
 "slavery was a great evil," it was a "domestic institu 
 tion, in some respects mutually advantageous" both to 
 slave and to master. Maryland had found that, through 
 the instigation of Northern men evils came from manu 
 mitting slaves and had restricted the right to emanci 
 pate. Northern men had also supplied the South with 
 
 20 On July 3, speaking on the adjournment of Congress, he attacked the 
 sketches of General Cass sent out by the Democrats, one for the north and the 
 other for the south. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 33 
 
 slaves, and part of the responsibility for the evils of 
 slavery rested on them. Compromise now should settle 
 this "agitating question, at once and forever," or it 
 would be "settled by blood or separation." Yet there 
 was a "greater evil than disunion and that was self 
 degradation." The Northern men must not "cast on the 
 South a conviction" that they regarded Southern men 
 as inferior to themselves. In a third speech, on July 
 26, upon the Oregon bill, Johnson suggested a reference 
 of the slavery question to the Supreme Court, as the 
 only amicable way of adjusting a question which "threat 
 ened the honor and interests of the South." With con 
 siderable heat, he claimed that northern men had in 
 sulted Southerners in this debate and the men of the 
 South would rather yield their lives, than "do the bid 
 ding of the North," but would bow to the Supreme 
 Court, whose decision would be acquiesced in by all. 
 The South was willing to abide by the law and there 
 would "not be found, in the whole Southern bar, a 
 lawyer who would not give, gratuitously, his services to 
 a black man to free him from slavery, while there was a 
 reasonable ground for the application." The Northern 
 States had only recently abolished slavery and Con 
 necticut had scarcely become a free State, while neither 
 that State, New York, nor New Jersey allowed negroes 
 to vote. The Free State men should have offered to 
 extend the Missouri Compromise line. 21 
 
 Johnson s only other action of note at this session 
 was the presentation of a memorial, on April n, for 
 an appropriation for the establishment of institutions 
 for instruction in science, engineering, agriculture and 
 mechanics. He urged the favorable consideration of 
 this request and maintained its constitutionality. 
 
 21 On August 10, he spoke for a fourth time on the bill, to the same purpose. 
 
34 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 At the session of 1848 and 1849, Johnson s activity 
 was less important 22 and, on March 9, he sent in his 
 resignation of his senatorship, as he had been appointed 
 Attorney-General by President Taylor. 
 
 When Zachary Taylor was elected president in 1848, 
 a bill was pending for the establishment of the Depart 
 ment of the Interior, and certain senators were induced 
 to vote for it and thus secure its passage upon repre 
 sentations made them that, if a new secretaryship were 
 created, Taylor would be able to find a place among 
 his heads of departments for Reverdy Johnson, 23 for 
 whom they had a deep admiration. 24 Johnson held the 
 position of attorney-general until Taylor s death, in the 
 summer of 1850. His opinions are of little interest. 25 
 
 In general he believed in following the doctrine of 
 
 22 On December 18, he opposed allowing the Secretary of the Navy and the 
 Postmaster General to have full power to contract with the Panama railroad, 
 because of the danger of exorbitant rates. On January 18 and 24, he attacked 
 a bill to make Captain Percival pay the expense of a naturalist, who was em 
 ployed without authority on an exploring expedition, since the naturalist had 
 brought home minerals, which the United States holds, and rare seeds which 
 had been distributed throughout the country by members of Congress. On 
 January 26, he again spoke favoring the payment of Texan debts for building 
 men of war. Texas can not now lay import duties, and her lands may not be 
 worth anything for years, while the United States took over the vessels. On 
 March 4, he opposed a bill extending the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus 
 to the territory of California on the ground that the bill was not necessary, 
 since the extension of the laws of the United States to the territory will cover 
 the ground. 
 
 23 See remarks of H. S. Foote in Proceedings of Bench and Bar after Johnson s 
 death. 
 
 24 Wm. H. Seward (2 Seward s Seward 103) wrote to Thurlow Weed on 
 March 4, that Johnson for Attorney-General "is very well." On February 
 28, 1847, Seward had written Weed from Washington (2 Seward s Seward 38) 
 that Johnson sought to know whether New York would be content to let 
 Mangum, a slave holder, be Vice President. Johnson seemed to Seward to 
 favor McLean. 
 
 25 Opinions of the Attorney-General, pp. 1993-2092. 7 Exec. Docs., 3ist 
 Cong. 2nd Sess. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 35 
 
 stare decisis with reference to the opinions of his prede 
 cessors, though he decided differently from them, when 
 he saw good cause to do so. His most interesting deci 
 sion, especially in view of his later diplomatic career, 
 is one against allowing the purchase and fitting out in 
 New York of a steamer by the German government, 
 as an act contrary to the neutrality law, inasmuch as 
 the ulterior purpose of Germany was to use the vessel 
 in the war against Denmark. In many respects, John 
 son was admirably adapted to be attorney general and 
 it may be regretted that he had not greater opportunity 
 to distinguish himself in that office. Judge Dennis 
 rightly says his highest fame will always rest "upon his 
 achievements as a constitutional lawyer." He early 
 constructed for himself a system of constitutional inter 
 pretation, to which he held with marvellous consistency 
 throughout the shifting scenes of his life, and so wide 
 was the extent of his exposition of the Federal Constitu 
 tion that it would be possible to construct almost a 
 complete commentary on that great document from his 
 published speeches and addresses. 
 
 Crawford, the Secretary of War, had been attorney 
 for the Galphin claim against the Federal government 
 and received half of the award, and, as Johnson said 
 the law of 1848 allowed interest, Crawford received 
 $94,000. This produced a scandal. Crawford said that 
 he never told Meredith, the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 nor Johnson, of his connection with the case, but merely 
 urged a prompt decision, and Johnson said that he had 
 no knowledge of Crawford s interest. The papers in 
 the case showed the interest, so Johnson confessed to 
 a cursory examination of the matter. A resolution was 
 introduced into the House of Representatives, disap 
 proving of Johnson s action, and Taylor discussed with 
 
36 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Thurlow Weed replacing all three cabinet officers by 
 others, but the President s death put an end to the 
 difficulty. 26 
 
 After retiring from the attorney generalship, Johnson 
 returned to the active practice of the law and, for a 
 decade, but fleeting glimpses are caught of him. In 
 1850, he opposed Edwin M. Stan ton as attorney in the 
 well-known Wheeling Bridge Case. 27 He had previously 
 argued with John B. Henderson against Henry D. Gilpin, 
 the case in which the Woodsworth planing machine 
 patent of 1828 was involved, 28 and the case of Waring 
 v. Clarke, in which he found J. J. Crittenden against 
 him and which foreshadowed the later decisions as to 
 admiralty jurisdiction. 29 In 1854, ne was associated 
 with Thaddeus Stevens in securing a decision in favor 
 of the validity of the McCormick reaper patent, 30 and 
 two years later, he took part in a second suit between 
 the same parties, having Abraham Lincoln and E. M. 
 Dickerson as his associates and Edwin M. Stan ton as 
 one of his opponents. 31 The case was first tried in the 
 Circuit Court in Ohio before Judge McLean, and, being 
 appealed to the Supreme Court, was heard there in i857. 32 
 
 26 See i Rhodes U. S. 202-204, J Weed Autobiography 589 (on p. 587 Weed 
 wrote that he went to Washington when Taylor was inaugurated and "called 
 upon the Attorney-General, Reverdy Johnson, with whom I had long been 
 intimate who received me so coldly that I did not even sit down." This is an 
 unusual statement, for Johnson was usually very genial). 
 
 27 Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Co., 9 Howard 649. On 
 May 28 and 29, 1851, he argued in the United States Circuit Court in New 
 York in a case concerning the property of the Methodist Church. 
 
 28 4 How. 646. 
 
 29 (1847) 5 How. 341. 
 
 30 Seymour v. McCormick 16. How. 480. 
 
 31 George Harding was with Stanton in the Circuit Court and Henry R. 
 Selden and P. H. Watson were also against Johnson in the Supreme Court. 
 Seymour v. McCormick 19 How. 96, appeal from 6 McLean 529. 
 
 32 Dickerson, in the Proceedings of the Bench and Bar after Johnson s death, 
 referred to this case argued, by Johnson, when he "was in the maturity of his 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 37 
 
 In 1855, he was engaged with J. M. Campbell in the 
 important cases of Williams v. Gibbs and Gooding v. 
 Oliver. 33 In 1854, he was employed, together with Lord 
 Cairns, as counsel in London to argue a claim before 
 the Joint English and American commission established 
 under the treaty of i854, 34 an d while there he received 
 much attention from public men and from members of 
 the English bar. Shortly after his return from England, 
 he became one of the counsel for the defense in the great 
 Dred Scott case before the Federal Supreme Court. 35 
 Johnson illustrated a conspicuous characteristic of his 
 character, by entering this case without any fees. The 
 other counsel upon both sides also served without fees 
 in this case. This was not an isolated instance of John 
 son s serving without remuneration. Although he was 
 said to receive larger fees than any other member of 
 the American bar, when either his sense of justice or 
 the presence of some nice constitutional or legal point 
 was noticed in the case, he frequently volunteered his 
 services and kept up this generous practice until the 
 last days of his life. The Dred Scott case was heard 
 twice, and Senator Gey er of Missouri, a native of Mary 
 land, was with Johnson at both hearings. Against them 
 was Montgomery Blair, with whom George Ticknor 
 Curtis was joined at the second hearing, on December 
 1 8, 1856. Years afterwards, when Johnson was dead, 
 Curtis said: 36 
 
 strength and with a reputation secured and safe," and said that Andrew John 
 son was concerned in the case also. 
 
 33 17 Howard 239 & 274. He was for appellees and secured a reversal of the 
 Court below. The case arose out of a claim for fitting out of an expedition 
 about 1816 to attempt to secure Mexican independence. 
 
 34 86 Eclectic 502. 
 
 35 Vide 2 Nicholay & Hay s Lincoln 64. 
 
 36 In remarks published in Proceedings of Bench and Bar after Johnson s 
 death. 
 
38 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 "It was the forcible presentation of the southern view of 
 our Constitution, in respect to the relation to slavery to the 
 territories and of the territories to the nation, that contributed 
 more than anything else to bring about the decision that was 
 made in this case. I believe that he held those opinions with 
 entire sincerity; at any rate, he enforced them with great power. 
 Those who were opposed to him (and I happened to be one of 
 them) felt the force of his arguments and foresaw what their 
 effect would be on a majority of the Court." 
 
 In his defense of the Court, and particularly of Chief 
 Justice Taney, 37 for this decision, Johnson was always 
 most emphatic, 38 and the only time in his senatorial 
 service during the Civil War Period, when he lost con 
 trol of himself and made a bitter personal attack upon 
 his antagonists was in defence of his friend, the Chief 
 Justice, of whom after his death it was proposed to 
 provide a bust by federal appropriation. 39 
 
 37 For example in a letter to a public meeting at Baltimore on March 6 
 1858, Tyler s Taney, p 385. In this letter, which is also printed in B. R. 
 Curtis s Life 237, Johnson pleaded that, if McLean and Curtis gave separate 
 opinions, so should all other judges. 
 
 f 38 3 Scharf Md. 309. On October 13, 1864, Johnson spoke at a meeting 
 of the Bench and Bar of Baltimore upon the occasion of Taney s death and 
 defended him as historically right in saying a negro had no rights, etc. We 
 saw in Taney, Johnson said, "everything that characterized a good and hu 
 mane citizen We knew him to be humane, to be charitable, 
 
 to be a Christian gentleman." See also Tyler s Taney, pp. 492, 496. 
 
 39 2 Rhodes U. S. 255 & 269. Ex-Senator Bradbury told Rhodes that north 
 ern Democrats in 1857 said that Johnson induced Taney to give the "political" 
 decision. Pike wrote to the Tribune of Johnson that "no man is so intimate 
 with and no man possesses so much influence over the Chief Justice as he," 
 and Rhodes says that Johnson s social relations with Taney were such that his 
 views could be enforced in private conversation, but gives no proof that this 
 was done. Judge Brewer (98 Atlantic Monthly 590) relates a story of Johnson 
 showing another side of his character, to the effect that once, when "employed 
 to defend parties in South Carolina, charged with cruelty to negroes," he "was 
 so shocked by the revelations of the character of his clients that, in the midst 
 of the trial, he abandoned the case and left it to the care of junior counsel." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 39 
 
 He possessed a marvellous power of making and keep 
 ing friends in both political camps, and, when Brooks 
 assaulted Charles Sumner, sent promptly a message of 
 "kindest remembrance" to the latter, asking concerning 
 his condition and expressing the " highest regard for 
 him as a friend, though differing with him on the excit 
 ing question of the day. 40 When Mr. Justice B. R. 
 Curtis, one of the minority in the Dred Scott decision, 
 resigned from the bench of the Supreme Court in 1857, 
 Johnson wrote him twice, expressing his regret 41 and 
 adding that: "It would much increase the true con 
 cern of losing you to the bench, if I thought that I was 
 not often to meet you. It is in all sincerity that I 
 assure you that much of the gratification I have had in 
 attending the Supreme Court, was that you were of 
 it." 42 At the break-up of the Whig party, in 1854, John 
 son affiliated himself with the Democrats, 43 and, in 1856, 
 he is said to have made an eloquent address in favor 
 of the election of Buchanan to the Presidency. 44 
 
 Although absent from a dinner at the Maryland Insti 
 tute, on September 18, 1855, given in celebration of the 
 anniversary of the adoption of the constitution of the 
 United States, Johnson sent a letter to be read on that 
 occasion, eulogizing the constitution thus: 
 
 "The good and great men, who framed it, saw that without 
 that, or some equivalent government, the useful union of the 
 
 40 3 Pierce s Sumner 496. 
 
 41 From Saratoga N. Y. on September 1 1 and from Baltimore on September 22. 
 42 1 B. R. Curtis s Life pp. 260 & 261. The social side of Johnson s nature 
 
 is also shown from the fact that, on February 17, 1859, he acted as one of the 
 managers from the citizens of Washington at a ball to celebrate the peace of 
 1815 with Great Britain. 2 Seward s Seward 358. 
 
 43 Without fully identifying himself with them. 
 
 44 See Forney s remarks in Proceedings of Bench and Bar after Johnson s 
 death. 
 
40 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 United States could not be preserved, or the prosperity and 
 power inseparable from such a Union attained. The result of 
 their deliberations, conducted as these were, with a pure patriot 
 ism and an enlightened spirit, has made us what we are, a 
 happy, a free, and a great nation." 
 
 He opposed the Know Nothing party, then growing 
 in strength, and, arguing in behalf of religious freedom, 
 said that Taney was a proof that the Roman Catholic 
 Church is not dangerous to American freedom. The 
 rules of naturalization may be too lax, but to exclude 
 naturalized citizens from office is a clear violation of 
 the constitution and carries with it national dishonor. 45 
 In the Democratic party, he was never fully at home, 
 and, after the close of the Civil War, he said: "I never 
 really was a Democrat," but, while he was in the ranks 
 of that party, he followed Douglas and was an advocate 
 of popular or squatter sovereignty. 46 We have seen him 
 expressing views of that character in the Senatorial 
 debates at the close of the Mexican War and he devel 
 oped the same views in a pamphlet, which he wrote in 
 i85Q. 47 This pamphlet was issued in anticipation of the 
 Democratic presidential convention at Charleston to urge 
 the readoption of the platform of 1856. If the party 
 abandon popular sovereignty, it will be a stain on its 
 good name, will cause the people to cease to trust it, 
 and even may lead to "calamity .... beyond 
 remedy, perpetual and fatal." John Brown and Seward 
 had shown the need of democratic harmony to prevent 
 
 45 James Raymond "Political" p. 326. 
 
 46 Howell Cobb wrote Buchanan on August 4, 1856, that it was expected that 
 Johnson would "be out" in a letter, supporting the Democratic ticket. Corre 
 spondence of Toombs, Stephens & Cobb 2 Am. Hist. Ass. Kept. 191 1, p. 379. 
 
 47 Remarks on Popular Sovereignty, as maintained and denied respectively 
 by Judge Douglas and Attorney General Black by a Southern Citizen." Vide 
 2 Am. Hist. Ass. Rept. 1911, 448. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 4! 
 
 the extinction of slavery. Johnson denied that the 
 Supreme Court had touched upon the matter at all in 
 the Dred Scott decision, which he vigorously defends, 
 and, with great adroitness and acumen, pressed the point 
 that the decision had merely denied the right of Congress 
 to restrict slavery in the territories of the United States. 
 The question as to the right of territorial inhabitants 
 to regulate, or restrict it, had not been touched, and, as 
 laws concerning slavery were different in the several 
 slave States, there must be some authority to frame local 
 regulations, or hopeless confusion would result. Slavery 
 is a creature of "positive law" and was not named in 
 the Constitution, because the " owners of such property 
 were not then so sensitive as they are now," when the 
 "assaults" hurled at them by a "body of frenzied or 
 knavish citizens" of the Northern States, had deter 
 mined them to maintain and vindicate the institution 
 upon social, moral, religious, and political grounds." 
 Unless there was power in the territorial legislature, 
 however, to exclude slavery, it might be made per 
 petual against the wishes of the people. 
 
 In the turbulent local politics of Baltimore, Johnson 
 took his part. He joined a committee of citizens to 
 urge the governor not to call out the military forces 
 on election day in i857. 48 In 1860, the new law, pro 
 viding that the police force of the City should be taken 
 from under the control of the municipal authorities and 
 placed under commissioners appointed by the State gov 
 ernment, came before the Court of Appeals for decision 
 as to its constitutionality. Johnson, with other eminent 
 lawyers, 49 defended the law. In their argument and in 
 
 48 3 Scharf, Md. 260, p. 276. In November 1859 he sat on one occasion in 
 the City Reform Committee. 
 
 49 Scharf, Chron. of Balto. 575. S. Teackle Wallis, J. M. Campbell and W. 
 H. Norris. 
 
42 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 the opinion of the Court, the whole- relation of munici 
 palities to the State was elaborately set forth. 50 Of 
 other important cases before the Courts we catch 
 glimpses, and find him defending a Naval Officer before 
 a court of inquiry, 51 winning an important case in refer 
 ence to Arkansas swamp lands, and gaining great famil 
 iarity with government land grants in the northwest 
 and in California. 
 
 Though he became a communicant church member 
 late in life, Johnson was a deeply religious man, and, 
 in a trip to San Francisco in 1860, he was induced to 
 deliver an address on October 18, at the dedication of 
 the Church of the Advent, upon the "Influence of 
 Christianity on the Individual and Social Condition of 
 Man." The address was printed in pamphlet form, 62 
 and shows a profound confidence in the authenticity 
 and truth of the Scriptures, the power of Christ s life, 
 and the complete triumph of Christianity in the future. 
 The power of the United States to assist in the progress 
 of religion is " manifestly dependent .... on 
 our remaining a united people." 
 
 60 A. H. Garland in His Experiences in the Supreme Court of the U. S., p. 5, 
 states that, on December 26, 1860, Johnson proposed his name for admission 
 to the bar of that Court. After the admission, Garland four times rose to 
 visit the Senate, but Johnson asked him to stay and hear the speeches. Finally, 
 Johnson took him to the Senate and procured him a good seat. Garland also 
 tells a story of Johnson s berating a man who had recently published one of 
 Johnson s letters showing that he had been inconsistent. "Make him produce 
 the original letter," said Badger, who was present. "Why?" asked John 
 son. Badger replied: "No one on earth can read it but yourself and you can 
 read it to suit yourself." 
 
 51 In 1857, Captain W. K. Latimer. 
 
 52 San Francisco 1860, pp. 18. He went there by way of Panama. See 
 Md. Hist. Mag. for September, 1914. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE STRUGGLE IN MARYLAND TO PRESERVE THE UNION 
 
 In the presidential campaign of 1860, Johnson natu 
 rally supported Douglas. From Washington on May 
 19, he wrote to the Chairman of a Douglas Meeting to 
 be held in New York three days later, approving of the 
 action of the New York delegates at Charleston and 
 urging the defeat of Lincoln, who is reeking with the 
 grossest heresies of political abolitionism," and the sup 
 port of popular sovereignty. Johnson had argued the 
 Dred Scott case twice, as the friend of the South, and 
 firmly asserted that squatter sovereignty was not only 
 not decided by the court, but was neither argued, nor 
 in any way presented for decision. He "never sup 
 posed that there existed in any part of the civilized 
 world a government where slavery existed, in which 
 there was not somewhere authority to abolish it." A 
 few days later, Johnson delivered a stirring address at 
 a Douglas meeting in Faneuil Hall, Boston, in which 
 he said that the Democratic party was now the only 
 national one, since the Whig party no longer existed. 1 
 Speaking in that place sacred to liberty and to union, 
 he said that slavery was the "sole cause of peril 
 . disturbing the fraternal feeling which our 
 fathers entertained." He held slavery to be a local 
 institution, with which Congress should not interfere, 
 
 1 Speech of the Hon. Reverdy Johnson of Maryland delivered before the 
 political friends of Hon. Stephen A. Douglas at a meeting in Faneuil Hall, 
 Boston, on Thursday, June 7, 1860, to which is added the letter of the Hon. 
 Reverdy Johnson to the Chairman of the Douglas Meeting in New York on 
 the 22nd of May, 1860. Baltimore 1860, pp. 16. 
 
 43 
 
44 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 and considered that the Kansas Nebraska bill is praise 
 worthy and constitutional, while secession is traitorous. 2 
 After Lincoln s election and the secession of South 
 Carolina, Johnson, without a moment s hesitation, took 
 his place among the foremost advocates of union and 
 opponents of secession. This position he never left. 
 At the close of the war, he stated that he never had 
 referred to the Confederates but as "traitors, rebels or 
 insurrectionists." No man could have been fiercer than 
 he in his denunciation of that "mischievous heresy of 
 secession." In December, 1860, in concluding his argu 
 ment in an important case in the Supreme Court, he 
 said:* "This may be the last time this court will sit 
 in peaceful judgment on the Constitution, as acknowl 
 edged and obeyed by all." He hoped heaven would 
 avert this calamity, but, if it should come, he felt that 
 the record of the court was secure. On January 10, 
 1 86 1, a meeting of the friends of the Union was held 
 in the large hall of the Maryland Institute, on which 
 occasion, Johnson delivered the principal address, a long 
 and eloquent oration, breathing the spirit of fervent 
 loyalty to the Union. 4 The argument made here was 
 expressed by him on other occasions in different forms, 
 but the substance ever remained the same. In his char 
 acteristically long sentences, he discussed the history of 
 our union of States, which carried on the revolutionary 
 war and which the fathers intended to be perpetual. 
 
 2 John A. Cobb, a son of Howell Cobb, wrote from the Gilmor House, Balti 
 more on June 20, 1860 (2 Am. Hist. Ass. Rept., 1911, p. 483), that the Brecken- 
 ridge "speakers speak from the balcony of that hotel, the Douglasites from 
 Reverdy Johnson s house which is just above, where George Saunders is keep 
 ing open house and Douglas men can stay gratis." 
 
 3 2 Moore s Rebellion Record Document 274. 
 
 4 Proceedings and Speeches, Baltimore 1861, pp. 20. Johnson s speech is 
 also reported in 2 Moore s Rebellion Record 133. J. C. Legrand published a 
 reply. Important letters of this period from Johnson to Van Buren are pub 
 lished in Md. Hist. Mag. for September, 1914. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 45 
 
 Under the Confederation, a league of States existed, 
 lacking means to enforce what powers were committed 
 to it, even more than it lacked adequacy in the grant 
 of powers. In the Constitution there was made a grant 
 of sufficient powers and of means to enforce them. 
 Under the power to repress insurrection, the President 
 may prevent secession. South Carolina, "that gallant 
 state of vast pretentions but little power, though, appar 
 ently in her own conceit, able to meet the world in arms," 
 is venturing to act upon the same fancy as in 1830 
 when Webster defeated Hayne in the constitutional 
 debate, and is perpetrating treason. "The offending 
 citizen cannot rely, as a defence, on State power. His 
 responsibility is to the United States alone. His alle 
 giance, his paramount allegiance, out of which the respon 
 sibility springs as to all these powers, is to that govern 
 ment alone. His State cannot legally protect him, or 
 stand in his place. Her prior sovereignty as to this 
 was extinguished by the act of the people, in adopting 
 the Constitution, never again to be resumed under that 
 instrument." The Constitution is not "fatally impo 
 tent." through lack of coercive power. "It is true, it 
 contains no power to declare war against a State, but 
 it has every power for the execution of the laws and the 
 enforcement of their penalties. It goes against the indi 
 vidual offender. It makes no appeal to the State power 
 to protect it. For that end, it is self-sustaining, it is 
 its own protector. If the State places herself between 
 the United States and the offending citizen and attempts 
 to shield him by force of arms, it is she who declares 
 war upon the United States, not the United States upon 
 her. In such a contingency, the force used by the latter 
 and which they have a clear right to use is not in attack 
 but in defense, not war but the rightful vindication of 
 
46 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 rights against unjustifiable and illegal assault." The 
 Federal government does not coerce the State, but the 
 State s citizens and whether one or all of these must 
 be punished, makes no difference in the legal position 
 of the national authorities. Lincoln is impotent for 
 harm and so there was no present excuse for secession. 
 South Carolina gets more from the Union than she 
 gives to it and would be weak out of it. The Border 
 States should get together and induce the adoption of 
 amendments to the Constitution, safeguarding the South 
 against the danger of attack from Northern abolitionists. 
 In his glowing peroration, he urged the reinforcement 
 and defense of Fort Sumter at all hazards. 
 
 Shortly after this meeting, Governor Hicks appointed 
 Johnson one of five delegates from Maryland to the 
 Peace Congress at Washington. 5 In that Congress, he 
 was "conspicuous by his earnest and eloquent efforts 
 to avert the threatening calamities of civil war by meas 
 ures of conciliation" 6 and served on a committee of one 
 from each State to report what they "deem right, neces 
 sary and proper to restore harmony and preserve the 
 Union," in which committee he advocated earnestly the 
 proposed compromise amendments to the Constitution, 
 in the hope that they would be satisfactory to the South. 7 
 
 When the Committee reported favoring an establish 
 ment of slavery in all territory south of 36 30 , and Curtis 
 expressed the fear that all future acquired lands would 
 be south of that parallel, Johnson, on February 16, 
 
 6 The others were A. W. Bradford, Wm. T. Goldsborough, J. W. Crisfield 
 and J. D. Roman. 3 Scharf s Md. 380. On February 21, Johnson, being ill, 
 sent a proxy to Bradford. 
 
 6 86 Eclectic 502. 
 
 7 Henry Watterson, in Cosmopolitan for March 1909 at p. 364, wrote that 
 Johnson and Bell, at the time of Lincoln s inauguration, believed that there 
 would be no war and that the troubles would be tided over. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 47 
 
 moved to insert the word "present" before the word 
 territory, and added that he thought that "no territory 
 will be acquired hereafter without great unanimity." 
 As he was physically unable to speak, he asked that the 
 discussion be deferred. 8 
 
 On the next day 9 Johnson said, "There ought to be 
 no ambiguity in a Constitutional provision," and so his 
 amendment was wise, although the doctrine of the Dred 
 Scott case would probably confine the application of the 
 unamended proposition to existing territory. Johnson 
 held that the Supreme Court said that "territories" 
 meant those existing when the Constitution was formed, 
 and, while he thought the decision was wrong, he admitted 
 that it was binding. He objected to inserting the 
 word "future," as it would be odious to put words into 
 the Constitution "which should go forth to the world 
 as an indication that this government proposes to acquire 
 new territory." If the Constitution had said "any," 
 Taney would have been obliged to decide differently. 
 The South had been beaten in the election and "we 
 ought to acquiesce in the decision of the majority of the 
 Convention and limit the amendment to "present terri 
 tory." The question should be settled, "fairly recog 
 nizing and acknowledging the rights of all," so that the 
 Slave States "may remain brethren forever with the 
 free States." We have now a "territory extensive 
 enough to sustain two hundred millions of people, em 
 bracing almost every climate, fruitful in almost every 
 species of production, rich in all the elements of national 
 wealth, and governed by a Constitution that has raised 
 
 8 L. E. Chittenden s Report of the Debates and Proceedings of the Confer 
 ence Convention for Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United 
 States, p. 72. 
 
 9 Chittenden s report 82. 
 
48 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 us to an elevation of grandeur that the world has never 
 before witnessed." We should not separate on account 
 of territory which we have not and do not want. If the 
 amendment passes, it will be difficult to annex territory, 
 since annexation can only come by treaty approved by 
 four-fifths of the Senate. 10 
 
 When Roger S. Baldwin of Connecticut objected to 
 the method advocated for proposing amendments, John 
 son and Collamer replied that Congress may and should 
 propose amendments, when asked by any State or con 
 siderable section of the Union. Johnson stated that the 
 delegates "came on Virginia s invitation, who saw that 
 the country was going to ruin." "The circumstances 
 affecting the condition of the South which aroused her 
 to that frenzy which falls on every patriotic mind when 
 it witnesses a country going to destruction," led her to 
 invite all the " States to join in obtaining a suitable 
 adjustment. Something must be done. Our credit is 
 gone." Steps must be taken "quickly or the new Pres 
 ident will have only States north of Mason and Dixon s 
 line to govern, if he is to govern in peace." "I think 
 there is no right of secession," but there is a "higher 
 right," that of revolution, used when nine States adopted 
 the Constitution. Seddon retorted: "they used the 
 right of secession," and Johnson, disturbed from his 
 usual serenity, answered: "I won t dispute about terms. 
 In all such discussions, Heaven save me from a Virginia 
 politician." Madison, in the Federalist, had said, how 
 ever, that if one section of the Union refused to recog 
 nize and protect the rights of another part, the latter 
 had the right to go out. Some of the Southern States 
 had already gone out. Does the North wish "us" to go 
 
 10 Johnson would have preferred a two-thirds vote, in which a majority from 
 both free and slave States should be included. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 49 
 
 out? If not, he entreated the Northern delegates to 
 grant us "what we are willing to stand upon." "At 
 least, this will save the rest of the States to yourselves 
 and to us" and settle the question of slave extension by 
 dividing the territory. By this proposal, the South 
 gives up rights under the Dred Scott decision and it is 
 not certain that all territories south of the Missouri 
 Compromise line will become Slave States. If nothing 
 is done in the Convention, war must come. 
 
 After an absence of several days on account of illness, 
 Johnson voted on February 23, in the minority of the 
 Maryland delegation with Mr. Crisfield, against Seddon s 
 proposition that appointments to office south of 36 30 
 be made on the recommendation of a majority of the 
 Senators from the Slave States, those north of that 
 parallel on the recommendation of the Senators from 
 the free States. 11 On the same day, he spoke again 
 on the acquisition of territory, which he thought the 
 Dred Scott decision held was only possible as a pre 
 liminary to Statehood. He succeeded in inducing the 
 Convention to add to the amendment that territory could 
 only be acquired by treaty, a provision that it might 
 also be acquired without treaty by discovery and for 
 naval and commercial depots and transit routes. 12 
 
 On February 27, just before the final adjournment of 
 the Convention, Johnson offered a resolution that the 
 passage of secession ordinances is an "event deeply to 
 be deplored" and expressing the "earnest hope" that 
 the seceding States may "soon see cause to resume their 
 honored places in this confederacy of States. Yet to 
 the end that such return may be facilitated and from 
 the conviction that the Union, being formed by the assent 
 
 11 Chittenden, p. 334. 
 
 12 Chittenden, p. 340. 
 
5O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 of the people of the respective States and being com 
 patible only with freedom and the republican institutions 
 guaranteed to each, cannot and ought not to be main 
 tained by force, we deprecate any effort by the Federal 
 Government to coerce, in any form, the said States to 
 reunion or submission, as tending to irreparable breach 
 and leading to incalculable ills, and we earnestly invoke 
 the abstinence from all counsels or measures of com 
 pulsion towards them." 13 It was far too late for such 
 an attempt at irenical settlement of the difficulties: in a 
 week, Abraham Lincoln would be inaugurated as Presi 
 dent, in a few weeks more both parties would invoke 
 the fierce arbitrament of war. Yet the Peace Confer 
 ence was not wholly fruitless, for it showed the country 
 that peace was an impossible goal to reach except through 
 war. 
 
 Johnson had always favored moderate measures 14 and 
 had opposed the hanging of John Brown. The day for 
 compromise, however, was past. Fort Sumter fell and 
 the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment fought the mob in 
 the Baltimore Streets. With a delegation of prominent 
 Baltimoreans, 15 Johnson came to Lincoln to learn if he 
 meditated invasion of the South, and though the con 
 tents of Lincoln s confidential answer of April 24, that 
 he intended merely to protect the capital, 16 were speedily 
 transmitted to the Confederate authorities, through 
 Johnson s incautiousness, yet relations of cordial sup- 
 
 13 Chittenden, p. 449. 
 
 14 On July 29, 1861, S. S. Cox proposed that a peace commission of seven 
 citizens be appointed, nominating on it Johnson with Edward Everett, Franklin 
 B. Pierce, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Thomas Ewing and James 
 Guthrie. Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation, 314. 
 
 16 Johnson, "a lawyer and statesman of fame and influence both at home 
 and abroad." 4 Nicolay and Hay s Lincoln, 164. 
 
 16 Johnson replied to Lincoln s letter: "In a word, all that your note sug 
 gests would be my purpose, were I intrusted with your high office." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 5! 
 
 port of Lincoln by Johnson were established for the 
 time. This led Lincoln to request Johnson to answer 
 Taney s opinion in Ex parte Merryman, as to the right 
 of the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. 
 Johnson, for once, differed with Taney and wrote a 
 reply to him, in which, with great perspicacity, the con 
 stitutionality of Lincoln s act is defended. 17 The duty 
 of the President to suppress revolt and to cause the 
 laws to be executed required him to use every legitimate 
 means. Of the character and extent of the means 
 needed to enforce the laws, Lincoln is to decide for 
 himself, subject to his responsibility to the people and 
 to Congress. The power to suspend the writ of habeas 
 corpus is not a legislative one, and if the Constitution 
 had intended to have left the power to Congress, it 
 would have done so expressly. A state of quasi-war 
 exists, the power in question is essentially a military 
 one and, " under the Constitution of the United States, 
 it is clear that, although the power to declare war is 
 vested solely in Congress, the conduct of the war is 
 solely with the President." Johnson always laid em 
 phasis upon the fact that, though the Congressional 
 powers are enumerated in the Constitution, the Execu 
 tive power, which is vested in the President, is nowhere 
 limited, and so, by fair implication, may be considered 
 to cover the means necessary, faithfully, to carry out 
 the laws. If the President may not suspend the writ, 
 he is made subordinate, not only "to the Supreme Court 
 and to every one of its justices, but also to every civil 
 functionary of Federal, or State government, who has 
 the right to issue the writ of habeas corpus, and the power 
 of the President to suppress insurrection would be ren 
 dered ineffective. "In Maryland, for instance, where 
 
 17 Reprinted in 2 Moore s Rebellion Record, Docs. p. 185. 
 
52 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 it is believed disaffection to the Government, to a cer 
 tain extent, prevails, and sympathy for the rebels is 
 entertained," the writ of habeas corpus may be "exer 
 cised so as seriously to disconcert the successful progress 
 of our army," unless the fact be recognized that, in time 
 of war, these civil guarantees have no place. Lincoln 
 was serving the people faithfully, "with all the ability 
 he possesses in the crisis of the government," and John 
 son hoped that, when he retires from the Presidency, 
 he may leave the people in the "peaceful and happy 
 enjoyment of an unbroken Union." 
 
 On May 7, Johnson addressed the Brengle Home 
 Guard, a Union Military Company of Frederick, on 
 the occasion of the presentation to them in the court 
 house yard of a flag by a number of ladies of that town. 18 
 On May 8, he wrote S. P. Chase from Frederick, using 
 a Union envelope, as the only one he could find in the 
 town, and telling him that "the Union sentiment gets 
 stronger and stronger," 19 and on June 24 he wrote Everett, 
 answering a letter of the i8th and authorizing Everett 
 to say that his speech in Frederick was conclusive as 
 to the position of Calhoun against secession. 20 In that 
 speech, he hailed with joy in "this existing crisis" "every 
 indication of a national patriotic spirit." He spoke as 
 to Maryland s duty and interest. The State has ever 
 been loyal and, "if we continue true to patriotic duty, 
 no ordinance of secession, direct or indirect, open or 
 covered, will ever be adopted by those in authority, 
 or, if madly adopted, be tolerated by the people. To 
 this steadfast attachment to the Union, we are not only 
 
 18 1 Moore s Rebellion Record, Int. 60, Docs. 199. 
 
 19 3 Rhodes U. S. 388 & 389. He believed that troops could now pass 
 through Baltimore without resistance and that it would be " mischievous" to 
 have more than one company of "U. S. soldiers in the city". Hicks agreed 
 with him. 2 Am. Hist. Ass. Rept., 1902, 497 (Chase Papers). 
 
 20 1 Moore s Rebellion Rec. Int. 44. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 53 
 
 bound by gratitude to the noble ancestry, by whose 
 patriotic wisdom it was bequeathed to us and by the 
 unappreciable blessings the bequest has conferred upon 
 us, but by the assurance, which the most solid interest 
 can hardly fail to feel, that its destruction would not 
 only and at once deprive us of all these, but precipitate 
 us into irretrievable ruin. In this ruin all would more 
 or less participate, but our geographical position would 
 make it to us immediate and total." He apologized 
 for the recent tumults in Baltimore and asserted that, 
 in " every true Maryland bosom, there is a devoted 
 attachment to the national emblem. The man who is 
 dead to its influence is in mind a fool, or in heart a 
 traitor." The Federal government had given no "cause 
 for resistance to its rightful authority," and, since peace 
 ful disseverance of the States is impossible, the powers 
 which the executive exercised, when "rebellion began 
 to muster its armies of pestilence," were clearly consti 
 tutional. If Lincoln had meditated any illegal acts, the 
 "friends of constitutional rights were numerous enough 
 in Congress" to have thwarted them; but the Southern 
 Congressmen, "madly desecrating" the name of Calhoun, 
 "rudely shot from their spheres and, under the utterly 
 ridiculous claim of constitutional right," advised State 
 secession. If Maryland should join these "mad and 
 wicked men," who must fail in their attempt, our State 
 would be the battle-field. Interest and patriotic duty 
 join to retain the State in the Union. When the first 
 gun was fired, "without cause," on the "noble garrison" 
 of Fort Sumter, the secessionists caused "every man 
 able to bear arms to rush to the support of the govern 
 ment." Where in the past the South could count its 
 friends by thousands and hundreds of thousands, not 
 one is now to be found. The cry is "The Government 
 must be sustained, the flag must be vindicated." With 
 
54 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 such strong stirring sentences, in the town in which the 
 legislature was convened in special session, Johnson 
 cheered the Unionists and summoned the wavering to 
 the side of the Nation. 
 
 Though Johnson insisted on the guilt of the secession 
 ists and asserted that a conspiracy of designing leaders 
 had deceived the people of the South, when it came to 
 a question of the cases of individuals, he ceaselessly 
 exerted himself to free from imprisonment persons sus 
 pected of disloyalty, especially those living in Maryland, 
 making his efforts sometimes with and sometimes with 
 out pay. 21 Benjamin F. Butler, who commanded in 
 Maryland during a part of 1861, never forgave him for 
 this action, 22 and, indeed, it affords a curious glimpse of 
 contemporary standards of public morals, when we find 
 in the following years that Johnson publicly justified, 
 on the floor of the United States Senate, his practice 
 of taking fees, after he became senator, to induce the 
 federal government to free his clients suspected of 
 disloyalty. 23 
 
 21 Series 2 War of Rebellion Record i p. 628. Johnson and John P. Kennedy, 
 on July 4, 1861, called on Lincoln and recommended that Howard be released. 
 Tuckerman s Kennedy, p. 318. From Cumberland on October 12, Johnson 
 wrote urging the release of Henry May, op. cit. vol. 2, p. 800. On September 
 17, Camerson wrote Seward that in order to gratify Johnson he is willing to 
 permit Winans to go free (vol. i, p. 682). On September 27, he wrote the 
 Department of State that C. J. M. Gwinn, his son-in-law, was perfectly loyal 
 (vol. 2, p. 304). On November 12, Johnson recommended the release of 
 Maryland prisoners except the Mayor and police commissioners ( vol. i, p. 
 704), on November 25, we are told that Johnson has the case of A. A. Lynch 
 on hand (vol. i, pp. 710, 714), and, on November 27, General Dix wrote that 
 he thought Johnson s list of those to be released was not discriminating 
 (vol. i, p. 712). In December, he was interested in the case of W. H. 
 Winder (vol. 2, p. 736), and on January 24, 1862, he recommended the release 
 of T. J. Claggett (vol i, p. 731). 
 
 22 Butler s Book, p. 234, calls Johnson "the rank and bitter secessionist and 
 worse than others, because he concealed it." 
 
 23 See also manuscript letters of Lawrence Sangster in 1861, in Library of 
 Congress, attacking "Reverence" Johnson for securing releases for "rabid seces 
 sionists," who had the necessary fee. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 55 
 
 Johnson s mediation is also shown by his proposing, 
 on August 22, 24 that the boats between Baltimore and 
 Southern Maryland be permitted to renew their trips 
 to carry freight and not passengers, so as to enable 
 loyal people to send their produce to the Baltimore 
 markets. 25 
 
 Johnson s kindness of heart was shown in a letter he 
 wrote Judah P. Benjamin on September 26, 1861, in 
 which he asked him to send a full brief in a case in 
 which both great lawyers were engaged in the Supreme 
 Court, on receipt of which brief Johnson, though dif 
 fering from Benjamin, "totally, on the questions grow 
 ing out of the deplorable crisis," wrote that he would 
 try to get Benjamin his fee. 26 
 
 During the war, Johnson also appeared as counsel for 
 army 27 officers who were tried by court martial, General 
 Fitz John Porter being his best known client. 28 Johnson 
 had known Porter before being made his counsel and 
 maintained that the charges against him were malicious 
 and his defense was unanswerable. The association of 
 lawyer and client had added to Johnson s previous es 
 teem for Porter, "the closer and ever stronger ties of 
 personal friendship," and had caused him to regard the 
 
 24 Series i. War of Rebellion Record vol. 5, p. 598. 
 26 In March 1862, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 759. 
 
 26 Series 2, War of Rebellion Record vol. 2, pp. 476-477, Benjamin in his 
 reply stated that Mrs. Johnson had seemed, "with a woman s true instinct," 
 to feel the approach of the war. 
 
 27 Col. Miles 6 Moore s Rebellion Rec. p. 21, January i, 1862. Col. Kerri 
 gan 3 Moore s Rebellion Rec. p. 109, December 10, 1861. 
 
 28 A Reply to the Review of Judge Advocate General Holt of the Proceed 
 ings, Findings and Sentence of the General Court Martial in the Case of Major- 
 General Fitz John Porter and a Vindication of that Officer by Reverdy Johnson, 
 1863, in a New York edition, pp. 56, and three Baltimore editions, pp. 88. 
 An anonymous "Reply to the Hon. Reverdy Johnson s Attack on the Adminis 
 tration" appeared 1863, Baltimore p. 19, vide 37th Cong. 3rd Sess. Ex. Doc. 
 71, the record of the trial, and Series i War of the Rebellion Record, vol. 17 
 and vol. 12, part 3, p. 824. 
 
56 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 officer, as a "brave soldier, a true patriot, and a noble 
 man." 29 
 
 On September 12, 1861, the Union men of Baltimore 
 County nominated Johnson as a candidate for the House 
 of Delegates and he was elected as one of the Union 
 majority of the Legislature, after an exciting campaign 
 in which, because of his professional duties, he made 
 only one speech, but that a noteworthy one at Calverton, 
 on November 4. In that speech, he vehemently at 
 tacked the secessionists, in Maryland and in the South, 
 who were responsible for this " cruel, and unprovoked 
 rebellion." He said of these conspirators to destroy the 
 Union that before any aggression, "they threw aside the 
 mask, cast aside allegiance, and avowed themselves 
 rebels and traitors." The notion that State sovereignty 
 was paramount to the general Government was "not 
 only obscure in principle and impracticable in practice," 
 but was also in direct conflict with the Constitution. 
 Johnson praised Governor Hicks and General McClellan 
 and blamed the late legislature. Of course, there can 
 be no coercion of a State, but the powers of the National 
 government are ample under the Constitution to coerce 
 individuals. With great forcefulness, he insisted that 
 the war was waged, not to subjugate the South, but to 
 "vindicate the Constitution and laws and maintain the 
 existence of the government," to "suppress the insur- 
 
 29 In an eloquent peroration, Johnson wrote that the object of the rebellion, 
 "even ostentatiously and shamelessly avowed, is not to vindicate and maintain 
 freedom, nor even to rescue human slavery, as it at present exists in some of 
 the States, from the hazard of a possible early overthrow, but to extend and 
 perpetuate it through all time." Gettysburg had been fought and Johnson 
 felt sure that the fate of the rebellion was already sealed and that "the very 
 leader of the conspiring band, for years the plotter of the treason," is losing 
 heart. "In the beginning of his wicked career," Jefferson Davis "ridiculed 
 the power of the loyal States. Now he stands conscience stricken and 
 appalled." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 57 
 
 rection, force the citizen to return to his duty, and restore 
 him to the unequalled benefits of the Union." "We 
 must remain faithful to duty and to honor and must 
 "avoid, as we would pestilence or famine, all communion 
 with treason," and victory will be the final result. The 
 House of Delegates, in which Johnson served, was one 
 of marked ability, containing such men as John A. J. 
 Creswell, Thomas S. Alexander, Thomas King Carroll, 
 R. Stockett Matthews, J. V. L. Findlay, and John S. 
 Berry. In it Johnson introduced his favorite bill, allow 
 ing parties to testify in cases before the courts. He 
 submitted vigorous resolves on February 26, "on the 
 subject of the course the State will pursue in the pres 
 ent rebellion," in which resolves an indignant denial is 
 made of the statement, as an "unfounded and gross 
 calumny," that Maryland is, at heart, really with the 
 South, and an ardent loyalty is expressed to the federal 
 government. 30 On March 5, 1862, the legislature elected 
 Johnson to the United States Senate, by a vote of 56 
 to 28. In the caucus the contest had been a spirited 
 and very close one, between Johnson and William Price 
 of Western Maryland, who represented the moderate 
 men and Henry Winter Davis, who represented the 
 more radical element. 31 When Thomas S. Alexander, 
 the great chancery lawyer, heard of the nomination, he 
 said: "Slavery has received the worst blow that it has 
 ever yet met." Johnson s senatorial service, the great 
 est and most essential one which he rendered his country, 
 did not begin until December, 1863, though his colleague, 
 Governor Hicks, presented his credentials on February 3. 
 
 10 4 Moore s Rebellion Rec. 140 
 
 31 Johnson was nominated in the caucus by one vote and after it, J. V. L. 
 Findlay attempted to carry on the fight, by having Thomas S. Alexander run 
 as an independent candidate in the open house. Letter of J. L. V. Findlay 
 of May 2, 1906. 
 
58 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 In June, 1862, Johnson was sent to New Orleans by 
 Lincoln, as a special agent of the State Department, 
 "to investigate and report upon the complaints made by 
 foreign consuls against the late military proceedings." 32 
 General Butler had seized certain property of the con 
 suls and of other foreign subjects and there was con 
 siderable complaint concerning the legality of these 
 seizures. 33 Johnson arrived in New Orleans early in 
 July 34 and, after a careful investigation of the matter, 
 ordered a great part of the seized property to be re 
 stored. 35 On September 19, Butler wrote Seward: "An 
 other such commissioner as Mr. Johnson sent to New 
 Orleans would render the city untenable. The town got 
 itself into such a state, while Mr. Johnson was here, 
 that he confessed to me he could hardly sleep for nerv 
 ousness, from fear of a rising, and hurried away, hardly 
 completing his work, as soon as he heard Bull Run was 
 to be attacked. The result of his mission here has 
 caused it to be understood that I am not supported by 
 the government and that I am soon to be relieved." 
 
 Johnson s friendliness for Southerners is shown by the 
 facts that, on June 23, in New York, he was given a 
 permit to visit Soule at Fort Lafayette, 36 and that on 
 
 32 Seward to Johnson, June 10, Series 3 Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion, 
 vol. 2 p. 239., 5 Rhodes U. S. 277 gives an account of the mission. Johnson s 
 report is in 37th Cong. 3rd Sess., Exec. Doc. 16.; vide Series i War of Rebel 
 lion Record, vol. 15, p. 474. Stanton to Butler, June 10, 1862. 
 
 33 The Annual Cyclopedia for 1862, page 650, discusses Johnson s dealings 
 with the Dutch consul, vide Butler s Book pp. 522 and 525 for his account. 
 Parton s "Butler in New Orleans," p. 356, said that Johnson was sent to comply 
 with the demands of foreign powers, if it could be done without concessions 
 too humiliating, and that he associated almost exclusively with secessionists 
 in Louisiana, vide also pp. 364 to 377, 380, 385, 387, 389, 391, 470, 472. 
 
 34 Series i Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion, vol. 15, p. 493. On June 23, he 
 was in New York and (Series 3, vol. 2, p. 213) on July 10, he was in New Orleans. 
 
 35 Series 3 Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion, vol. 2, p. 572. 
 
 36 Series 2 Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion, vol. 4, p. 55 and 86. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 59 
 
 September 13, A. Walker, a prisoner on Ship Island, writ 
 ing Jefferson Davis and attacking Butler, said that 
 Johnson at New Orleans manifested "some sympathy 
 for our wronged people and some disgust for the excesses 
 and villainies" of Butler. 
 
 Butler also conferred with Johnson with reference to 
 the shipment of cotton and sugar, but was disgusted 
 with the position of the commissioner in this matter 
 also. 38 Butler was anxious to have the commerce of the 
 port of New Orleans reestablished and Johnson wished 
 to cooperate in this object, but they seem not to have 
 accomplished anything. 39 As soon as he arrived at New 
 Orleans Johnson showed his distaste for military rule, 
 and, after consultation with Butler, Gov. Shepley of 
 Louisiana was sent to Washington by Butler, while 
 Johnson wrote Lincoln expressing the fear that General 
 Phelps was crushing union feeling in the State. 40 Lincoln 
 replied, disagreeing with Johnson s fears, and continued: 
 "You remember telling me, the day after the Baltimore 
 mob in April, 1861, that it would crush all union feeling 
 in Maryland for me to attempt bringing troops over 
 Maryland soil to Washington. I brought the troops, 
 notwithstanding, and yet there was union feeling enough 
 left to elect a legislature the next autumn, which in turn 
 elected a very excellent Union United States Senator. 41 
 I am a patient man, always willing to forgive on the 
 Christian terms of repentance and also to give ample 
 time for repentance, still I must save this government, 
 if possible. What I cannot do, of course I will not do, 
 
 87 Series 2 Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion., Vol. 4, p. 880. 
 
 38 Vide Series 3, Off Recs. of War of Rebellion, Vol. 2, pp. 239 and 284. 
 
 39 Series 3, Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion, Vol. 2, p. 264. 
 
 40 Series i, Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion, Vol. 15, p. 521 and series 3, Vol. 
 i, PP- 53, 528. 
 
 41 Johnson himself. 
 
6O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 but it may as well be understood, once for all, that I 
 shall not surrender this game, leaving any available 
 card unplayed." 42 
 
 42 In an elaborate letter to the National Intelligencer of December 2, 1862, 
 Johnson refuted the charges made by a New Orleans Journal, reflecting on his 
 conduct in that city, 6 Moore s Rebellion Record 21. An interesting proof of 
 Johnson s reputation is found in a remark by Gen. Wm. T. Sherman, in a letter 
 to Gen. H. W. H. Peck, in which the former consents to the publication of a 
 letter he has written, if Johnson or some other fit person mould it in such 
 shape as not to compromise him. Off. Recs. of War of Rebellion, series i, vol. 
 30, part i, p. 235. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 SERVICE IN THE SENATE DURING THE WAR (1863-65) 
 
 On Johnson s return to Congress, he took a position, 
 at once, at the head of the Conservative Union men 
 and advocated the prosecution of the war and the 
 restoration theory of reconstruction. He was easily the 
 equal of any man on the floor of the Senate, and the 
 superior of most of them in the discussion of constitu 
 tional questions, and constitutional questions were des 
 tined to occupy the time of the body during most of 
 Johnson s term. In repartee, he was quick, his memory 
 was so sure that he could easily refute careless state 
 ments; his acuteness was so great that he saw the real 
 point at issue and aimed directly at it, or, if he thought 
 that he might throw his antagonists off the true scent, 
 he " wandered" into discussion of themes more or less 
 closely related. His relations to all the members were 
 friendly and in debate he was most courteous. How 
 ever emphatic his words might be in characterizing the 
 policy of his opponents on the hustings, in the Senate 
 his urbanity was almost unperturbed. How much the 
 country owes to his conciliatory disposition during those 
 eventful years can scarcely be measured. He was no 
 extremist and was ever willing to sink his own views 
 as to the expediency, or even as to the constitutionality, 
 of measures, if thereby, he could lead the majority to 
 some greatly desired end. His conduct was that of a 
 statesman, not of a politician and, at times, though 
 he opposed a bill, he would suggest amendments to 
 it, so as to render it less objectionable. With Sumner, 
 his conflicts were almost of daily occurrence and, on 
 
 61 
 
62 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 constitutional points, he invariably worsted him, while 
 he was constantly parrying Sumner s thrusts and driving 
 counter ones home. With Fessenden, he sparred on 
 terms of full equality, and that too much forgotten great 
 man, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, was the only senator, 
 who, in my judgment, ever came out victor in a conflict 
 with Johnson. 
 
 Let us summarize his position on the many important 
 questions which came before him, and then study it 
 in more detail in this and the following chapters. He 
 opposed the voluntary enlistment of Indians and favored 
 that of negroes, while expressing the wish that enough 
 white men might have been found as troops to have 
 ended the war. Slaves, as persons, could be legally 
 enlisted, but did not become free on enlistment. They 
 should be freed, with compensation to loyal masters, 
 because of enlistment. The families of slaves, how 
 ever, should not be liberated by the slaves enlistment; 
 partly because this would be unjust to masters, partly 
 because it interfered with State s rights, and partly 
 because the demoralization caused by slavery had made 
 it impossible to find the families in many cases. 
 
 He insisted on Maryland s loyalty and was quick 
 to protest against any high-handed acts of the Federal 
 government in that State. He insisted that the Rebel 
 lion was to be put down not under the war power, which 
 referred to foreign relations, but under that to suppress 
 insurrection. It was true that, from the great extent 
 of insurrection, it had become necessary to concede 
 privileges of belligerency to the Confederates and it 
 was questionable as to whether this concession did not 
 take away the right to punish them for high treason, 
 to the penalties of which crime they would otherwise 
 have been liable. When the insurrection is put down, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 63 
 
 the power to suppress it is at an end. The States have 
 never been out of the Union and, consequently, need 
 not to be brought back. At the conclusion of a civil 
 war, amnesty should be given, and the States should 
 be encouraged to reestablish their governments as soon 
 as possible, on the basis of present, not of past, loyalty 
 to the United States. By these new governments repre 
 sentatives to Congress should be chosen, to be accepted 
 or rejected, according to their individual qualifications, 
 and not because they come from States whose citizens 
 have lately been in rebellion. If the South is willing 
 to return, the mass of the people must be pardoned; 
 for, if all are punished, no inhabitants would be left 
 but the former slaves. Though he thought the war 
 should be ended, when the South was willing to submit, he 
 was willing to destroy slavery by constitutional change. 
 He voted for the Thirteenth Amendment, and said: 
 "I thank God, as a compensation for the blood, the 
 treasure and agony, which have been brought into our 
 households," the war "has stricken, now and forever, 
 this institution from its place among our States." Elaine 
 wrote 1 that Johnson, who "had long been eminent at 
 the bar of the Supreme Court" and who "had stood 
 firmly by the Union .... added largely to 
 the ability and learning" of the Senate. 
 
 We find scattered references to Johnson during 1863. 
 Thus, on July 4, he wrote Dr. W. H. Hammond about 
 improving conditions at Fort Delaware, where a number 
 of prisoners were confined, 2 and, on October 22, he weni 
 with Governor Bradford to confer with Lincoln on Mary 
 land matters. 3 The Federal administration interfered 
 
 1 1 Twenty years in Congress, 502. 
 Series 2, Off. Recs., Vol. 6, p. 80. 
 1 Series 3, Off. Recs., Vol. 3, p. 967. 
 
64 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 considerably in the Congressional elections held that 
 year in Maryland and from Washington, on November 
 23, Johnson sent Bradford an opinion that he must 
 proclaim those as Members of Congress, who were 
 elected on the face of the returns, as the proclamation 
 was a ministerial function and the Governor had no 
 corrective power, although the election had been "not 
 by the free choice, but under the duress of military 
 violence and in the utter disregard of the rights and 
 honor of a loyal State." 4 This interference in Maryland 
 elections may well have contributed to Johnson s break 
 ing with Lincoln, soon after the session of Congress 
 began. In the presidential campaign of 1864, Johnson 
 supported McClellan with zeal and, in his behalf, de 
 livered a stirring address in Brooklyn on October 21,* 
 in which speech, while professing as much abhorrence 
 as ever for the claim of the right to secede, he eloquently 
 stated that Lincoln s war policy had been a failure. 
 The question was whether liberty was to survive and 
 the nation to be restored with the preservation of our 
 form of constitutional government. The "rebellion, in 
 the beginning, was without justification or excuse and 
 Lincoln s policy was right, until he issued the emanci 
 pation proclamation. "Military necessity" was a dan 
 gerous plea, which had led to "shameless interference" 
 with elections in Maryland and Kentucky. "No one 
 dislikes slavery more than I do," he continued, but 
 although the war had given slavery a death blow, there 
 was no rightfulness in Lincoln s demand that slavery be 
 abolished as a condition of peace. The army and navy 
 had failed, although McClellan, Porter, Sheridan, and 
 Farragut had done nobly. Lincoln had shown his "utter 
 
 4 Md. Publ. Docs. 1864. 
 
 5 Speech before the Brooklyn McClellan Central Association, 1864, pp. 16. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 65 
 
 unfitness for the presidency," and sought reelection by 
 most unscrupulous and unexampled abuse of patronage 
 and power." The Davis- Wade plan for reconstruction 
 was commended and attention was drawn to the fact 
 that the Confederate States had failed to receive recog 
 nition by foreign powers. The "rebel government," 
 Johnson said, "still stands alone among the family of 
 nations." "No single one, small or great, will admit 
 it to fellowship. Cotton, the rebels find, is not king. 
 Nor in this age of the world can mere material wealth 
 ever be king." 6 
 
 In 1864, a Constitutional Convention was held in 
 Maryland and a constitution abolishing slavery was 
 submitted for ratification to the people. The Conven 
 tion prescribed an oath of loyalty to be taken by all 
 voters and Johnson gave an opinion, on October 7, that 
 this requirement was unconstitutional and that the 
 Convention had usurped powers, but there was no 
 remedy, and that the people who can do so may take 
 the oath and vote upon the Constitution, which after 
 the election was declared adopted by a small majority. 7 
 In the Senate, on December 18, 1863, Johnson had ob 
 jected to a similar oath, as prescribed for officers of the 
 United States, and, in the debate upon that oath, he 
 developed an elaborate argument in defense of the prop- 
 osition that Members of Congress are not officers. 
 
 Johnson s first appearance on the floor of the Senate 
 occurred on the day previous. John P. Hale had risen 
 
 6 It is interesting to see among the lesser activities of Johnson during this 
 year, the receipt in April of a fee of $1,000 to get Maddox, a blockade runner, 
 clear. Series i, Off. Recs., vol. 60, p. 33. On March 10, Series i, Off. Recs. 
 vol. 43, pp. 27, 122, Johnson showed his friendliness to Meade in writing to 
 ask the latter, if Johnson was not right in denying certain allegations as to 
 Meade s conduct at Gettysburg. 
 
 7 Opinion, etc., 1864, pp. 6. 
 
66 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 to a question of privilege, having been attacked by a 
 newspaper for receiving a fee for getting a client out 
 of the old Capitol prison, and said that, before he kept 
 the money, having an exceeding jealousy" of his repu 
 tation as a Senator, he went for advice to Johnson, who 
 held a "very high social position and a high professional 
 position." Johnson had said there was "not the least 
 objection in the world" and added that, "as to this 
 matter you are asking me about, I am doing it every 
 week." Johnson then rose to corroborate Hale s state 
 ment and said that there was no more reason for a 
 member of either House of Congress to avoid appearing 
 in military cases than in those before ordinary criminal 
 courts. 8 
 
 On the question of taking an oath, Johnson spoke thrice. 
 Senator Bayard of Delaware had refused to take it and 
 Johnson argued that it was unnecessary for him to do 
 so. On January 2, Johnson said that he had taken the 
 oath under protest, because he was unwilling to have 
 it conjectured, on any ground, however feeble, "that I 
 was not loyal as he must be who takes that oath." 
 The oath was also bad since it was provided in an ex post 
 facto law and since it disqualified a man from office with 
 out conviction of crime. In the debate, Johnson dis 
 cussed the theories of war and of reconstruction. He held 
 that Sumner s argument was "not only unconstitutional 
 but most mischievous," in holding that the war, "which 
 is now covering the land with blood in one section and 
 carrying agony in another, has dissolved perpetually 
 the ties which bound us of the loyal States to the States 
 in rebellion," so that the latter are "out of the Union 
 as States" and are "territory, subject to the unlimited 
 
 1 On February 10, 1864, he spoke again on this subject and stated, as he had 
 previously, that he was willing to plead without fee. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 67 
 
 will of Congress and to come back only at such time 
 and upon such terms" as Congress may fix. 9 The war 
 was waged "to restore the authority of the Government" 
 and "the end is the suppression of the rebellion." When 
 this is accomplished, the war power is at an end and the 
 submission of the people of a State brings her back into 
 the Union. The powers of the government are "exerted 
 not as against States, but as against citizens." "There 
 is not one man in a thousand in the South, who has 
 not fallen into the vortex of this rebellion. Some men 
 of hardy character, stubborn virtue, inflexible firmness, 
 a loyalty that quailed before nothing, have been able 
 to drag out a miserable existence, cheered only by the 
 consciousness that they were doing right under the 
 oppression and outrages to which they have been sub 
 jected in the rebel States;" but, "for the most part, 
 firmness has yielded, association has had its influence. 
 You must not exile, exterminate, or enslave the men 
 who submit." 10 He had confidence in the speedy close 
 of the war and that "there will arise, in all its original 
 power, that love of the Union, that reverence for our 
 forefathers, that pride in our common glory, that desire 
 to share in the achievements, which we have won to 
 gether in the past, to bring them back again to act with 
 us as brethren, brethren in heart as well as in deed." 
 
 On January 25, in his third speech on the subject, 
 Johnson 11 again maintained that a Senator was not a 
 
 9 He denied that the Prize Cases were authority against him. The Supreme 
 Court there really said that the property was an enemy s and the fact that 
 he was a traitor, "because he owed allegiance to the United States," was no 
 defence. 
 
 10 Johnson added that "I have thought slavery wrong, since I was capable 
 of thinking," and immoral, shocking "the heart of every freeman, which beats 
 true to the inspiration of the goddess of liberty." 
 
 11 At this time, he read Sumner a delicious lecture on the " very positive way" 
 in which he expressed his opinions. 
 
68 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 civil officer. He is "not an officer under the govern 
 ment, but above the government. He does not derive 
 his authority from the government, but from the crea 
 tors of the government. His commission comes from 
 his State. 12 We should look at the matter from the 
 point of view of the country, but should not let our 
 patriotism run wild. The act of 1862, providing the 
 oath of which Johnson complained, does not include 
 State legislatures, and judges and no oath can be forced 
 on them, yet without it, what security is there against 
 another rebellion? This should not be a war of subju 
 gation. Johnson was willing to go as far as was neces 
 sary to put down the rebellion, but only in a constitu 
 tional way. He favored restoration. "If the South is 
 willing to return I do not mean the leaders, if captured, 
 they should be tried and convicted and execution should 
 follow to a large extent, but you cannot try and con 
 vict four or five or six million people," and, if you could, 
 you would have only the slaves left in the South. 13 
 
 A resolution had been introduced for the expulsion 
 of another Border State Senator, Garrett Davis of Ken 
 tucky, and Johnson came to his defense also. 14 Davis 
 had introduced resolutions on January 5, censuring the 
 president. On January 26, Johnson denied that the 
 resolutions were treasonable and said he wished neither 
 to offend Kentucky, nor limit the right to criticise the 
 conduct of the executive. He referred to famous past 
 opponents of administration, both in England and in 
 America, such as Burke, who rejoiced that the colonists 
 resisted. In a remarkably strong speech, he defended 
 
 12 He referred to the Blount Case on January 21, he referred also to the case 
 of Smith in Burr s time. 
 
 13 On March 14, he spoke on the power to require an oath of loyalty from 
 citizens who transferred property and said this was often done in Louisiana 
 to avoid confiscation. 
 
 14 On January u, he spoke in favor of prompt action in the matter. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 69 
 
 Davis, who had been for years an opponent of the 
 extension of slave territory and had gone with his 
 nephews a hundred miles to beat back the rebel invaders 
 of Kentucky. Johnson would not vote for the resolves, 
 but held their criticism of the President not more cen 
 surable than that indulged in by such a New England 
 senator as Hale. 15 Johnson felt that the administration 
 was justly censurable for making the Southern people 
 desperate. " In my judgment, the ultra measures, which 
 now seem to be the favorite measures of the govern 
 ment, that is to say the measures of destroying slavery 
 in the States, of enforcing the confiscation laws, of dis 
 tributing the lands among the loyal soldiers, or among 
 blacks, do more to keep alive the rebellion, than any 
 one cause or perhaps all causes combined." On Janu 
 ary 28, he spoke again on the subject and claimed the 
 liberty to denounce the executive in the strongest terms, 
 if necessary. On that day, through the vigorous oppo 
 sition of Davis s friends, the resolution of expulsion was 
 withdrawn. 16 
 
 The enrollment bill took much of Johnson s thought 
 during January, 17 and the enlistment of negroes was dis 
 cussed by him in a speech delivered on the twelfth and 
 fourteenth. Free negroes were already enrolled in Mary 
 land and slaves, as "persons," might be enrolled, 18 but 
 as they were also "property" their masters should be 
 
 15 Johnson referred to his own support of Lincoln in 1861 and claimed that 
 Luther v. Borden had shown that treason can be committed against a State 
 and, therefore, that the President could even commit treason against Kentucky! 
 
 16 Davis attacked Wilson of Massachusetts on February 1 7 and Johnson 
 poured oil on the troubled waters, calling to mind Wilson s previous attack 
 on Davis. 
 
 17 On January 7, he suggested the requirement of a month or more of resi 
 dence and spoke of the difficulty as to sailors plying between two States. 
 
 18 They could be tried for treason, if they had done "as the white men in 
 the Southern States have done I do not mean all the Southern States 
 thank God, I am not obliged to say so." 
 
7O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 paid for their services. In Maryland, the enlisting 
 officer tells all slaves they are free and enlists all he 
 can of them. Johnson protests against such conduct, 
 although, he adds, "that the State will be benefitted 
 by the effect of it in the end, I have no doubt." If 
 necessary 19 he does not object to calling on slaves to 
 assist in putting down the rebellion, which had become 
 so much more formidable than at first was thought, 
 and which "proper exertion, proper skill in the field, 
 proper foresight on the part of the Executive, proper 
 legislation on the part of Congress, would have quelled 
 previous to this time." He wished the white men alone 
 had done the work of conquest, and believed that the 
 South had done its utmost and that we need no longer 
 to raise more men. Johnson thought that he had better 
 information than most persons at the North and that 
 Louisiana and Mississippi were "utterly exhausted in 
 everything but zeal and intrepidity of a portion of 
 their population." The deluded masses of the South 
 erners will continue to fight, while nature survives, but 
 Lincoln s recent proclamation, though far from such as 
 would be proper, is already doing a great deal to restore 
 union feeling. The speech ended with a panegyric on 
 the Union and a hope that the Southerners may return 
 to the Union and "restore their States, by means of 
 free labor, to a State of prosperity and power that they 
 never in the past attained." 20 Henry Wilson said in 
 the debate, that the Maryland elections had been car 
 ried on the issue of the enlistment of slaves and that the 
 people had preferred that the blacks should go rather 
 than themselves. Johnson came at once to the defence 
 
 "With his jealousy for Congress power, he states that of the necessity 
 "Congress must judge in the first instance and the Executive afterward." 
 10 On the i sth Johnson spoke on certain of the details of the enrollment bin. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 71 
 
 of the State and, on the sixteenth, said that, on the 
 Eastern Shore, many thought that the national govern 
 ment had no right to enlist blacks and that they would 
 be ineffective compared with white troops. Johnson 
 agreed with the latter contention, though he believed 
 negroes could become good soldiers after a year or two of 
 training. He maintained that the result of the Eastern 
 Shore election was due to the interference of the mili 
 tary, without proper authority, to prevent any one from 
 voting, unless he took the oath prescribed by the mili 
 tary commander, and to arrest any one whom they 
 thought to be disloyal. Some men were arrested miles 
 from the polls. Men of "stern and rigid loyalty" were 
 arrested, because they were obnoxious through their 
 opposition to immediate emancipation without com 
 pensation to masters, and were thrown into the old 
 slave prison in Baltimore. When discharged, they were 
 returned to Chestertown by a steamer, which also bore 
 a private letter directing the officer in command of the 
 troops there, who had gone to repeat the outrage else 
 where, to release two of the men and detain the rest 
 until after the election. As a result, Creswell, whom 
 Johnson respected, was elected and owed his seat in 
 the House to "as great an outrage as ever was perpe 
 trated upon freemen." Harlan of Iowa defended the 
 acts of the military and said that, within the last three 
 years, the Federal Government had one hundred thou 
 sand men in arms to protect Maryland, since she was 
 unable to protect the purity of her elections and the 
 civil rights of her own people. Johnson denied the 
 truth of this and asserted that the "ultra loyal" Mary 
 land legislature was as devoted to the Union as that of 
 Iowa and that the Iowa troops were not superior to 
 Mary landers. In April, 1861, Baltimore was "crazy" 
 
72 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 with "a sudden outbreak, not premeditated at all, con 
 fined to a very few. Every city has a combustible 
 population and, whenever any particular cause of ex 
 citement is started, a few wicked men can get up a 
 mob," but " there is not now within the limits of this 
 great land, a State in which loyalty beats stronger or 
 more universally than it beats within the hearts of the 
 sons of Maryland, 21 and, if the time shall come when it 
 shall become necessary to call to the aid of the United 
 States every man within her limits, to save the Republic, 
 there is not one of them who will be permitted to remain 
 in her borders who hesitates for a moment to come to 
 the standard of the United States." Johnson opposed 
 the raising of men for a hundred days, but was earnest 
 in desiring to attain the " object which we all have so 
 much at heart, the driving of the rebel authorities from 
 Richmond." 
 
 On January 28, he voted in favor of freeing slaves 
 when enrolled, but expressed himself as opposed to free 
 ing the mother, wife, or children of soldiers without 
 compensation, as to do so would interfere with State s 
 rights, it having always been conceded until 1861 that 
 slavery was a State institution. A sense of justice 
 should require that these slaves be paid for, as had been 
 done for slaves when freed in the District of Columbia. 
 Otherwise, Maryland will suffer and, "whatever dis 
 affection there may be among certain citizens of Mary 
 land," the State has, "from the first of this rebellion, 
 been true to her constitutional duty. Her laws have 
 never been silent," nor has the conduct of her officers 
 been "other than that of perfect loyalty." Her institu- 
 
 21 On April 4, Johnson stated that General Lew Wallace would probably not 
 interfere in the elections in Maryland, having received satisfactory assurances 
 from Governor Bradford. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 73 
 
 tions should not be interfered with, more than those of 
 other States. "We have thought, we are about to 
 change our opinion as I think, that it was very mate 
 rial to the industry of Maryland that she should have 
 the right to have compulsory labor." The United States 
 may interfere with this institution, only on the ground 
 of " military necessity," since "the armies of the rebels 
 will continue to be supported," if "this labor is left 
 undisturbed." So this compulsory labor has been de 
 clared to be at an end in the rebellious States. Johnson 
 never apologized for slavery, though many yet believed 
 the institution to be of divine origin, but said, "I doubt 
 very much if any member of the Senate is more anxious 
 to have the country composed entirely of free men and 
 women than I am." "There is in every government," 
 he continued, "what may be called a higher law and 
 that exists . . . to go outside of the constitu 
 
 tion and adopt measures that may be found to be abso 
 lutely necessary to preserve the life of the Nation. 
 If the life of the American people depends 
 upon the transcending any of the particular powers of 
 the government, I would transcend them," but that is 
 not now the case. 22 When Senator Grimes of Iowa said 
 that he had heard that slaves would not enlist, because 
 they feared to leave their families in slavery, Johnson 
 at once retorted that it was necessary to go out of 
 Maryland to learn about it and stated that a "man, 
 who was able to bear arms and whom the military 
 authority of the United States wished to bear arms, has, 
 whether he willed or not, been compelled to bear arms." 
 When Grimes gave the recruiting officer in Maryland 
 
 "Later in the speech he said: "I would not suffer the heritage, which is 
 ours, to be lost by insisting on a strict and literal enforcement of constitutional 
 restriction." 
 
74 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 as his authority, Johnson delivered a panegyric upon 
 Massachusetts, but alleged that there was more diffi 
 culty in getting men there than in Maryland, for the 
 former State asked leave to go out of its borders and 
 get slaves to fill her quota. He even challenged Massa 
 chusetts to show as many enlistments of new soldiers 
 in the past year, as the four thousand slaves enlisted 
 in Maryland in that year. 
 
 It would often be difficult to prove slave relationships, 
 and a slave enlisted in South Carolina might have a 
 wife and children in Maryland, for 
 
 it is one of the vices and the horrible vices of the institution, 
 one that has shocked me from infancy to the present hour, 
 that the whole marital relation is disregarded. They are made 
 to be, practically and by education, forgetful or ignorant of 
 that relation. When I say they are educated, I mean to say 
 they are kept in absolute ignorance and, out of that, immorality 
 of every description arises, and among the other immoralities 
 is that the connubial relation does not exist. 
 
 In some States, marriage was even prohibited to 
 slaves and, in Maryland, it could occur only with the 
 master s consent "They lived together, but were never 
 man and wife, except in the sight of heaven. You must 
 recognize as marriage what is not" and thus violate the 
 Constitution, for marriage is a State controlled institu 
 tion, or must pass an ineffective law. 
 
 Slavery "must expire" when the heart is "humanized," 
 and in Maryland now no slave would bring ten dollars, 
 except as his hire; but the destruction of the institution 
 came not from the influence of those Northern men 
 "who desired to do away with it," but from "retributive 
 justice, which visited crime in God s providence." The 
 men who were here, preaching treason from their desks 
 and telegraphing to their minions to seize government 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 75 
 
 property, and who tried to seduce military officers, they 
 have done it." Turning to the Republican Senators, 
 Johnson told them that the Southern leaders 
 
 did not believe you would resist. You are free, and you are 
 brave because you are free, and, as I have told them over 
 and over again, let the day come when, in their madness, they 
 should throw down the gage of battle to the free States of the 
 Union and the day of their domestic institution will have 
 
 ended I thank God that, as a compensation 
 
 for the blood, the treasure, and the agony, which have been 
 brought into our households and into yours, it has stricken, 
 now and forever, this institution from its place among our 
 States. 
 
 Yet 23 Johnson was careful not to use harsh epithets 
 concerning preceding generations of men and reminded 
 the Senate that Washington held slaves until his death. 
 
 The question of the enlistment of slaves came up 
 again on February 14, when Johnson complained, as 
 together with Governor Bradford he had already done 
 to Lincoln, that the recruiting officers in Maryland took 
 slaves, without the consent of or compensation to the 
 owners and without draft or conscription. He believed 
 that the majority of Maryland slaveholders would have 
 been willing to let their slaves be taken, provided a 
 reasonable compensation were made and saw no differ 
 ence between giving a bounty to a white volunteer or 
 to a negro s owner. On the twenty-fifth, he spoke again 
 on the same subject and took occasion to criticise the 
 waste and fraud of public officials, though he was not 
 afraid of lack of financial ability to win the combat, if 
 resources were husbanded. The Maryland loyal slave 
 holders 
 
 23 In speech on February 9. 
 
76 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 are much more wedded to the Union than they are wedded to 
 any of their local institutions and, especially, more than they 
 are wedded to that particular institution, which, I now thank 
 God, as they do, very many of them, is about to expire in 
 Maryland. 24 
 
 When the passage of an act was urged by Andrew of 
 Massachusetts to pay $13, instead of $10 a month to 
 negro troops, on the ground that they were promised 
 the larger amount, Johnson promptly responded that a 
 public agent may not bind the government wrongfully, 
 and that the true question is whether the soldiers are 
 properly entitled to more. Certainly, the Maryland 
 regiments had no such assurance and there is no obliga 
 tion to give them extra pay. In this debate, Johnson s 
 power of repartee was clearly shown, when he stated 
 that he had confidence in Andrew s integrity, though 
 "perhaps he is a little wild upon a particular subject." 
 Sumner interrupted with: "Wise, the Senator meant," 
 and Johnson instantly replied: "Wild, I said. He may 
 be a little wise. I think he is certainly wild." Again 
 it was said that Massachusetts had offered to pay the 
 extra amount, but the soldiers insisted on taking it 
 from the United States, Johnson said, "They are gentle 
 men of extraordinary sensibility." And when Grimes 
 said their officers persuaded them, Johnson replied: 
 "They are docile and easily persuaded, they believe 
 almost anything." 
 
 On February 26, the bill allowing negroes to be em 
 ployed in mail service and the testimony of colored men 
 to be received in all cases in the Federal courts came 
 up for discussion. Johnson said that he preferred "that 
 
 24 On March 10, Johnson said that the enlisted slave "had, as against the 
 United States, a right to freedom, which it would be dishonorable" to refuse, 
 but that the proper compensation for them to the master was a judicial ques 
 tion, $300 being not enough for some slaves and too much for others. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 77 
 
 all questions, depending on human testimony, should 
 rather be questions of credibility than questions of com 
 petency," and that he had urged this view upon the 
 Maryland legislature in 1862, but that he objected to 
 slaves testifying. "It is useless to deny that there has 
 been in Maryland, and to a certain extent there exists 
 now, a very strong sympathy with the South," and this 
 law will make matters worse, while it will not hasten 
 the end of the war. He felt that the North s prosperity 
 was due chiefly to the absence of slavery there. The 
 utmost the law should allow was that all free men might 
 testify the slaves lacked the needful moral and intel 
 lectual education. 
 
 When it was proposed to permit black men to vote 
 in Montana, Johnson objected 25 that those "who have 
 been slaves from infancy are not intelligent enough at 
 once to exercise the right of suffrage," and yet enough 
 of such men might go to Montana to control the terri 
 tory. The debate led to a reference to the Dred Scott 
 case and Sumner expressed the hope that Congress 
 would proceed without "respect to a decision, which 
 has already disgraced the country." 26 Johnson admitted 
 that he had always doubted whether the part of the 
 decision as to the unconstitutionality of the Missouri 
 compromise were not extrajudicial, but took occasion 
 to praise Chief Justice Taney and the Supreme Court 
 and to attack Sumner for conceit. Johnson said that 
 Clay had told him, that after Taney had been five 
 years on the bench, he apologized to Taney for his 
 opposition to his confirmation and continued: 
 
 It was my good fortune to be with the present Chief Justice 
 and opposed to him while at the bar and almost every day for 
 
 * On March 30. 
 56 On March 31. 
 
78 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 years, and for consummate ability in his profession, for unsullied 
 integrity in all the relations of life, while he graced and honored 
 our bar, there was no man in the government and no man in 
 any government, acquainted with his character, who would 
 think himself at all disparaged by having Taney considered, 
 in the judgment of the men who knew him, his equal. 
 
 On April 5, when the Thirteenth Amendment was 
 under debate, 27 Johnson discussed whether it was right 
 and whether the consequences would be "such as to 
 render it inexpedient, because inhuman in other par 
 ticulars, to do what is right." To manumit at once 
 nearly four million slaves, w r ho have been in bondage 
 always and have been kept in almost absolute igno 
 rance, is an event to which the world s history affords 
 no parallel. The fathers of the Republic thought slav 
 ery sinful and evil and that it would, at sometime, come 
 to an end, but that the union could not be formed with 
 out recognizing it. 
 
 I am satisfied and have always been that, sooner or later, 
 the present condition was inevitable. 
 
 I never doubted that the day must come, when human slavery 
 would be terminated by a conclusive effort on the part of the 
 bondsmen, unless that other and better reason and influence 
 which might bring it about should be successful the mild, 
 though powerful, influences of that higher and elevated morality 
 which the Christian religion teaches. 
 
 He agreed with Jefferson, that, in a contest between 
 slave and master, the God of justice could not help the 
 
 27 White s Life of Lyman Trumbull, at page 227, states that "the most im 
 pressive speech made in either branch of Congress was that of Senator Reverdy 
 Johnson of Maryland. The fact that he represented a slave holding State 
 could not fail to add force to any argument he might make in support of the 
 measure, but the argument itself, both in its moral and its legal aspects, was of 
 surpassing merit. It deserves a high place in the annals of senatorial eloquence." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 79 
 
 latter. "A prosperous and permanent peace can never 
 be secured, if the institution is permitted to survive," 
 yet it can only be destroyed by constitutional amend 
 ment. The doctrine of the Prize Cases did not termi 
 nate civil obligations and Lincoln can not free the 
 slaves of the enemy, where he has not physical power 
 to attain that result. The Southerners are "both rebels 
 and enemies," though many Union men in the South 
 only obey de facto governments. The proclamation of 
 amnesty, requiring that those who accepted it should 
 also accept the emancipation proclamation, only affected 
 persons within the Union lines antecedently to the proc 
 lamation, and it would be futile to pass a law freeing 
 slaves within the enemies lines, even though Congress 
 possessed the war power, under which J. Q. Adams in 
 1836 thought slavery might be abolished. Slaves com 
 ing to the Union lines may be made free by the emanci 
 pation proclamation, but the courts will not hold others 
 to be free. The Constitution gives no authority for 
 national intervention with slavery in a State at peace, 
 so that slaves may continue to exist in Maryland. Yet 
 the Nation ought to terminate "that institution which 
 deals with humanity as property, which claims to shackle 
 the mind, the soul, and the body, which brings to the 
 level of the brute, a portion of the race of men. Slavery 
 is not of divine origin and the negroes, who long for 
 freedom, have been kept in ignorance, because, if they 
 had knowledge, "they would be free men or die in the 
 attempt." Johnson once believed that slavery and free 
 government might go on for ages and abolition would 
 be peaceful ; but now, owing to "misjudging philanthropy 
 in one section and to a traitorous purpose in another, 
 that time, in my view, is passed, and we must terminate 
 slavery. When that is done the wit of man will, as I 
 
8O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 think, be unable to devise any other topic upon which 
 we can be involved in a fraternal strife." 
 
 In this speech, he discussed the question of sover 
 eignty and said that "there never was a greater political 
 heresy" than Calhoun s, in saying "that the only sover 
 eignty was that which belonged to the States." 
 
 The States, in the first place, were never disunited. As one 
 they declared independence. As one, they fought and con 
 quered the independence so declared. As one. in order to make 
 that independence fruitful of all the blessings which they antici 
 pated from it, they made the Constitution of the United 
 
 States There was no absolute sovereignty, that 
 
 is to say there was no sovereignty coextensive with the whole 
 scope of political power, belonging to the government of either, 
 but each was invested with a portion of the sovereignty, which 
 the people might create, and each, therefore, within the extent 
 of the portion allowed it, was to the extent of that portion 
 supreme. 
 
 The Union is irrevocable, except when "that other and 
 paramount right, never recognized by constitutions of 
 government, comes into existence .... the 
 right of revolution." 
 
 Somewhat later, on April 19, he opposed the repeal of 
 the fugitive slave act of 1793, whose rightfulness no 
 one doubted at its passage and whose constitutionality 
 the courts maintained. The act of 1850, though con 
 stitutional, was objectionable and may be repealed, but 
 it must be remembered that the Constitution itself is 
 a fugitive slave act and the practical effect of the repeal 
 of the law of 1793 "may create unpleasant feeling in 
 that part of the South which is sectionally loyal, and 
 among many in that part of the South who, though 
 sectionally disloyal, are themselves loyal." Sumner 
 entered into an argument with him and said the cleca- 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 8 1 
 
 logue abolished slavery. "Then leave the question to 
 the courts," Johnson replied, and taunted Massachusetts 
 with her position in 1812 and with suffering her "love 
 of freedom to boil over." She thus "enabled these 
 traitors to fan into treason the public mind of the South." 
 Johnson desired the destruction of slavery by constitu 
 tional amendment, and urged united action to "put 
 down this vile, wicked, and wholly unjustifiable rebel 
 lion." 28 On June 24, when discussing Sumner s bill to 
 prohibit the coastwise interstate slave trade, Johnson 
 urged the propriety of the act under the commercial 
 power of Congress. 29 A day later he denied that the 
 two races cannot live together, as the free blacks did 
 with whites in the past, to satisfy demands for labor. 
 Though social and political equality, as the history of 
 the North shows is impossible, freedmen can and do 
 live in peace with their former masters and the laws 
 requiring emancipated slaves to leave some States are 
 recent. 
 
 Although Johnson had come to be an opponent of 
 Lincoln, 30 yet he was tenacious for the preservation of 
 
 28 On June 22, Johnson and Sumner again came into conflict over this bill, 
 when the former moved a postponement, to let Davis, who was ill, be heard 
 upon it. Sumner urged going on to perfect the bill, which Johnson remarked, 
 being merely a repealing act, was already perfect. 
 
 29 Collamer, in this discussion, got the better of Johnson in a neat repartee. 
 The former stated that the courts had said that a man could import and sell 
 goods, in spite of any State law. When Johnson replied that the decision 
 referred to goods in the original package, Collamer reported: "Well, I take it, 
 that is the way negroes are generally sold." In the same discussion, Johnson 
 and Sumner had another sparring match, in which the latter said that Johnson 
 is always "willing to interpret the constitution for slavery. I interpret for 
 freedom." Johnson shortly afterwards said that the word person included 
 slaves, as is conceded by every lawyer, unless Sumner " claims to be one, after 
 having been out of practice more years that I should dare to mention." 
 
 30 For example on June 25, he said Lincoln had "seduced" Congress to 
 appoint a commissioner of navigation. 
 
82 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 the President s powers and, when the bill for the appoint 
 ment of a lieutenant-general was under discussion, ex 
 pressed doubts as to whether the bill did not go too far 
 and deprive the President of his power to remove the 
 officer and wished Grant s name, which had been rec 
 ommended in the bill, stricken out, as it was a bad 
 precedent. He praised Grant and thought Lincoln, 
 though he had done his best, yet had been largely re 
 sponsible for the errors of other officers through his 
 interference. It was no disparagement of Grant to 
 remove his name and the clause of recommendation, 
 which had no legal operation, may put the President 
 and the Senate at loggerheads. If Grant is so excel 
 lent, the President cannot help appointing him and the 
 recommendation really disparages Grant, by suggesting 
 that another might be appointed. In a later speech 31 
 Johnson said the bill was also a reflection on General 
 Halleck, whom Johnson knew intimately and in whose 
 society he had spent months. After talking over with 
 Halleck all the subjects connected with the war and 
 visiting his office daily, he felt in agreement with Gen 
 eral Scott that Halleck was "as fit, if not more fit, to 
 discharge the duties of the place that he holds than any 
 other man." 52 On March 2, Johnson defended McClellan 
 and Meade and the Army of the Potomac, which had 
 twice saved Washington, and said that assaults on officers 
 "are exceedingly inappropriate and impolitic," though, 
 in the same speech, he censured Lincoln and criticised 
 mildly Hooker and Burnside. 33 
 
 81 On February 24. 
 
 32 Johnson admitted that Halleck was no Chesterfieldian, but claimed that 
 the failures of the Army of the Potomac, which body he praised, were due to 
 others, more than to Halleck. 
 
 33 On Union military matters, we find Johnson, on May 2, objecting to the 
 payment of the hundred days Western volunteers, on the ground that the 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 83 
 
 Over a month later, in speaking on the Fort Pillow 
 massacre, 34 Johnson asked why no reinforcements had 
 been sent thither. 
 
 We feel indignant at this Vandalic outrage, which never 
 could have been perpetrated, I think, in this age of the world, 
 even by cannibals, with more ferocity than is stated to have 
 
 attended this particular outrage There is now 
 
 in part of this rebel soldiery .... who have been 
 frenzied into madness and become worse than savages, a dis 
 position which has none of the restraints of civilized warfare 
 and it is time, high time, since the United States in my judg 
 ment, in the exercise of a power with which they are clearly 
 invested, have thought proper to enlist into their army Africans, 
 that these rebellious foes of ours should learn that, upon the 
 field of battle, in the eye of justice and in the opinion of the 
 United States, the life of a soldier under our flag is as dear as 
 the life of any rebel and that nothing will satisfy the honor of 
 the one and satisfy the demands of the other, if the horrid 
 alternative should be left to us, but life for life. It will never 
 do that we should suffer our soldiers to be treated with the 
 barbarity, the inhumanity, the savage barbarity with which 
 it is said they have been treated upon this occasion. 
 
 On May 21, Johnson showed his tenderness of heart, 
 by moving an executive session, so that a mortally 
 
 President had not bound Congress by calling them out and that, if the period 
 counts from enlistment, not from muster, the government got but little good 
 from them. On the next day, in reference to the same bill, he said a motion 
 to reconsider it, made within two days of its passage, will keep it from being 
 sent to the Executive. In reference to the cases of Generals Schenck and 
 Blair, he said, on May 16, that the unbroken precedent of both army and 
 navy was to cancel resignations and consider officers to be in the service again, 
 if the officers and the President so desired. Johnson instanced the case of 
 Captain Buchanan (then Admiral Buchanan in the Confederate navy) with 
 whom Johnson "had been very intimate" and of whom "he had a very high 
 opinion," who resigned the command of the Navy Yard at Washington and 
 was later reinstated therein. 
 34 On April 16. 
 
84 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 wounded officer who had been promoted, might be con 
 firmed before he died. On June 8, he objected to allow 
 ing commutation for men drafted into the army although 
 he stated that he was willing to vote to enlarge the 
 amount from $300 to $500 or $600. 
 
 He felt 35 that it was perilous to keep men so long a 
 time as three years in the service, as they get attached 
 to it and unfit for all else and yet there was no author 
 ity by law, in Johnson s opinion, to call out troops for 
 a less period. Raw men seemed to him practically as 
 brave as veterans and, if the power is properly wielded 
 by Grant, as is probable, and the rebellion is terminated 
 at all, it will end in one or two years, so a draft for 
 three years is too long. 
 
 Johnson also opposed 36 compelling Indians to enlist, 
 as they had been granted " virtual independence" and 
 it was "inconsistent with our policy to force them to 
 come to our aid." It was shameful that we had to 
 enlist Africans to aid us and would be a worse shame 
 to "drag in the Indians." They may volunteer, as 
 foreigners do, but the world s judgment would hold it 
 hazardous to bring into the field men who fight with 
 the tomahawk, though that weapon is "not a bit 
 worse than the weapon the Confederates are using, the 
 bowie knife." In drafting Indians, savages can not be 
 distinguished from those civilized. 
 
 The question of punishing guerrillas came up on June 
 1 6, and Johnson said, that, in the legal and constitu 
 tional sense, if the war was at an end, the courts would 
 not permit a commission from any branch of the Con 
 federate government "issued by a co-conspirator and 
 a co-traitor" to serve as a defense against homicide. 
 
 36 On June 23. 
 36 On June 20. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 85 
 
 But as we must not have retaliation during the war, 
 the Confederates must be recognized as having a govern 
 ment in fact, to be dealt with as legally established and 
 entitled to the exchange of prisoners. The bill to pun 
 ish guerrillas, as it does not define them, may lead to 
 retaliation and wrongfully takes power from the civil 
 authority of loyal States, by providing for the trial of 
 the offenses anywhere. 37 When gunboat contractors 
 claimed relief, 38 Johnson favored interference to prevent 
 their ruin and urged that "a great government, when 
 dealing with citizens, will never be influenced by those 
 nice and strictly legal principles which govern contracts 
 between man and man." On the same day, he pressed 
 on the Senate the importance of proper remuneration 
 to Ericsson for his Monitor, by which great boon we 
 were placed in position to defy the navies of the world. 39 
 He was distinctly a Border State Union man and, 
 when Saulsbury of Delaware offered an amendment 
 to a "bill dealing with the rebel States" that all white 
 persons in loyal States be protected, Johnson met this 
 manifestation of "copperheadism," by opposing the 
 resolution, as it merely affirmed the constitution which 
 cannot be made more valid. If there is not such pro 
 tection, it is the executive s fault and if he will not obey 
 the constitution, he will not obey the act. The amend 
 ment further was not germane to the bill. 
 
 The Constitution of the United States, in the States in 
 rebellion, is only so far in force as is consistent with the state 
 of war which exists between the United States and the States 
 in rebellion. The trial by jury and all personal guarantees 
 
 37 On June 30, he again spoke on the danger of retaliation. 
 
 38 On June 22. 
 
 39 He referred to the great joy, because of the victory over the Merrimac, 
 which he had seen while a member of the State legislature, at Annapolis. 
 
86 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 that the Constitution provides for a state of peace are neces 
 sarily at an end, for the time, in a state of war between the 
 United States and the people. 
 
 Reconstruction had already begun and men from 
 Arkansas were knocking at the doors of the Senate 
 for admission. An extended debate took place between 
 Johnson and Sumner, on June 13, over a motion to 
 refer the question of their admission to the judiciary 
 committee. Sumner said the seceding States were out 
 of the Union and, therefore, their citizens were alien 
 enemies, and Johnson s quick rejoinder was that then 
 Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was an alien enemy and 
 could not be elected vice-president. The fact was, 
 however, that Tennessee was a State, as much as ever. 
 Sumner replied that the territory was in the Union and 
 Johnson quickly said: "I did not suppose the land had 
 gone out or seceded" and that Sumner, whose industry 
 he praised, had voted for the confirmation and payment 
 of federal officers in Arkansas. Johnson questioned 
 Lincoln s reconstruction policy. The President had no 
 right to say who shall be Senator, and his proclamation 
 for the restoration of State government, when one- 
 tenth of the voters have qualified as loyal, ought to be 
 carefully considered. Referring to William Pinkney s 
 great speech on the Missouri Compromise, Johnson said 
 that a State can come into the Union only as an equal. 
 Massachusetts could reestablish slavery, if she thought 
 proper to do so, and, if Arkansas could not do so, she 
 would not be equal. 40 "I trust in God, the Union is 
 destined to last forever, but it cannot last, when once 
 it is understood that each State in the Union is not the 
 equal of every other." If the seceded States are in 
 
 40 1 regret that Johnson cited the baseless slander that Massachusetts sold 
 her slaves to the South. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 87 
 
 the Union, they have a right to choose presidential 
 electors and if the election hinges on them and Lincoln 
 wins through their votes, "I can almost hear, by antici 
 pation, the mutterings of the thunder." Sumner said 
 that Johnson agreed with him that the States were not 
 entitled to vote and Johnson replied that he always 
 tried to agree with Sumner, but seldom succeeded, for 
 the difference between them was 
 
 as wide as the poles. I consider the war now being carried 
 on against the citizens of those States, as being carried on 
 against them individually, that each man is just as much a 
 citizen of the United States in these States now, as is each man 
 in the loyal States: but as those men, for the most part, are 
 now in arms against the United States, trying to destroy the 
 United States, they are not to be represented in the electoral 
 college, because they are criminals, traitors, whom it is the 
 duty of the United States to prosecute as such and to punish 
 as such. 
 
 If they are pardoned, reorganize their State govern 
 ments and come here, "they have the right to come, 
 but, until they do that, they are the enemies of the 
 United States." He was hopeful of success and added: 
 " I think I see but I am sanguine, I think I see that the 
 time is comparatively near at hand, when" the rebellion 
 "will be put down. I do not believe . . . it is 
 
 in the providence of God, that this nation is to die. I 
 believe it will survive and be the purer and greater for 
 the trial through which it was passed." 
 
 Johnson was interested in the Military Academy, 41 
 complained of reexaminations given by the influence of 
 Congressmen, and thought that the President should 
 appoint cadets and midshipmen from the States in rebel 
 lion, where there are no congressmen, if such pupils 
 
 41 On March n and 14. 
 
88 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 could be found. The Naval Academy had been re 
 moved in 1 86 1 temporarily to Newport and, on April 12, 
 he urged its return to Annapolis. At the time of its 
 removal, the State of Maryland "was in a condition of 
 great disquiet. It is unpleasant for me to recollect how 
 deep the feeling of hostility towards the United States, 
 on the part of a portion of the people of Maryland, at 
 that time was and serious apprehensions were enter 
 tained that the Academy would be taken possession of 
 by mob violence, by traitorous machinations, and held 
 as against the Government." After the removal, Gen 
 eral Butler seized the grounds and Secretary Stan ton 
 would not give them up, although most of the naval 
 officers wished to return. The War Department could 
 get along without the grounds and should not stand 
 in the way of the school, for the hospitals now placed 
 there can be located elsewhere and Maryland 
 
 has not only spoken, so as to satisfy the whole world that she 
 is loyal to the Government and to the Union, but that she is 
 loyal to the cause of human freedom, that she has made up 
 her mind that the last badge of servitude, as far as her limits 
 are concerned, shall be terminated; that her soil shall only 
 be trod by the feet of freemen, without regard to complexion 
 or to race She desires to be and to remain for 
 ever, a State of a Union, in which there shall be not other 
 servitude than the servitude which belongs to an honest and 
 patriotic obedience to the laws. 42 
 
 Financial matters received Johnson s attention. He 
 objected 43 to raising the tax on whiskey already distilled, 
 
 42 Maryland s Constitutional Convention was just about drafting a constitu 
 tion which abolished slavery. While Johnson seems not to have spoken again 
 on the Naval Academy question, his letters of Dec. 5, 1865, and March 16, 
 1866, to Governors Bradford and Swann printed in 9 Md. Hist. Mag., pp. 
 68, 69, show that his interest in the subject continued. 
 
 43 On February 4. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 89 
 
 as unfair 44 and, when the deficiency bill came up for 
 consideration, on February 12, he remarked that Con 
 gress could not accurately approximate the amount the 
 government will need and that a standing committee 
 would not help matters. When an appropriation is ex 
 hausted, a department must act on its responsibility, 
 trusting that Congress will ratify the act. All that a 
 committee could do, would be to see that moneys appro 
 priated are not squandered. It could not say, for exam 
 ple, to officers, you pay too much for hay, or compel 
 the Executive to carry on war where it wished. On the 
 other hand, Congress is not obliged to appropriate what 
 a department asks and may examine its estimates. 
 
 Johnson favored the disposal, for the purchase of 
 supplies, of the gold in the treasury not needed for inter 
 est on the debt. The distrust in the power of the 
 country to meet its engagements was the cause of the 
 premium on gold. The debt increases fast and bears 
 higher interest than that of England. It has a bad 
 influence for the nation to buy its own notes at a depre 
 ciated value. Extravagance and the great profits of 
 contractors should be diminished. He defended Chase s 
 relations with Jay Cooke and advocated higher taxes, 
 as a means for reviving credit. 
 
 Johnson refused to support the bill prohibiting specu 
 lation in gold, for he felt it could not be passed under the 
 powers to regulate the coinage, to borrow money, or to 
 regulate commerce. It is not depreciation of coin, but 
 of paper, of which there is complaint and the United 
 States has no jurisdiction over contracts, by which it 
 may prevent gambling in gold or in any thing else, or 
 
 44 On March i , he opposed the policy of the Secretary of the Treasury to 
 issue 5/20 bonds for excess subscriptions and on April 16, he showed watch 
 fulness in the discussion of the appropriation bill. 
 
9O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 over buying and selling for exchange. The bill allowed 
 selling of gold in praesente which destroyed its efficiency. 
 Currency problems rest on fundamental laws and the 
 true causes of the bad state of the currency were infla 
 tion and a war of a " magnitude greater than ever before 
 shocked humanity." The true remedy was "additional 
 and adequate taxation." Victory will cause the debt 
 to be "considered trivial," compared with the Nation s 
 present and future resources. 45 
 
 He objected also, on April 28, to taxing goods in bond 
 at a higher rate, as an act of bad faith. Prices had 
 much increased, and the gold bill had had only a tem 
 porary effect, as he had prophesied. The present tariff 
 brought in enough to pay the debt, principal and inter 
 est, in gold and the proposed temporary measure pro 
 vided that a man, who now had gold in a bonded ware 
 house, should pay 50 per cent increase while he, who 
 imported goods after the bill went into effect, paid only 
 30 per cent increase. Johnson held that there was a 
 contract between the government and the importer that 
 he may take out goods from bond, on paying the amount 
 of duty levied at the time of warehousing. 
 
 When Johnson objected to exempting national bank 
 stock from taxation, 46 as hard upon Maryland, and un 
 necessary, since national banks would probably super 
 sede State banks and should be able to pay both National 
 and State taxes, Chandler of New Hampshire said: 
 "Some men have the Constitution on the brain." John 
 son at once took fire: 
 
 We have sworn not to violate it. I too favor a liberal con 
 struction. If the Constitution leaves the State the right to 
 tax and we take it away, we sin against the Constitution. The 
 
 45 Vide, speech of April 16 also. 
 
 46 On April 27. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 91 
 
 States must not be bankrupted, but their cordial support must 
 be given the National Government; for, only by perfect accord 
 between the loyal States and Nation, can the expenses of the 
 war be met. 
 
 On April 29, he spoke to the same point and distin 
 guished the Maryland tax on a franchise of a bank, as 
 in the McCulloh case, 47 from the right to tax the prop 
 erty of citizens invested in the stock of the bank and 
 insisted that the case of Brown v. Maryland, in which 
 he had been counsel, confirmed this view. Sumner 
 asked whether this would not permit the State to tax the 
 stock indirectly, though it could not tax it directly, and 
 Johnson replied that it could tax the bank s real estate. 
 
 He felt that the banks could not resume specie pay 
 ments 48 until the United States should withdraw the 
 legal tender notes. "So long as the rebellion lasts," 
 there can be no return of specie paying currency. John 
 son 49 was unable to see that Congress had power to fix 
 the sum of the circulation, nor that to do so would be 
 useful. He questioned the constitutionality of the legal 
 tender notes, especially as to past debts; though he 
 should have voted for the bill to issue them, feeling that 
 there was a reasonable doubt in the matter. He hoped 
 that the Judges would uphold their constitutionality. 
 
 Except for the tax on State banks, he approved the 
 National Bank Act as a whole, and thought the want 
 of a uniform currency throughout the country had been 
 a crying evil, when there was no United States Bank. 50 
 
 47 Johnson had been present at the argument of this case. 
 
 48 On May 2. 
 
 49 Speech on May 9. 
 
 50 On May 10, he opposed an enforcement of stockholder s liability, except 
 when the assets have been ascertained to be too small. On June 4, he said the 
 National Banks ought to make monthly returns, but may well pay the tax 
 semi-annually. 
 
92 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 As to the income tax, Johnson advocated exemption of 
 small incomes and no increased percentage for the richer 
 man. 51 In the debate on the internal revenue bill 52 he 
 held that the federal government should not license a 
 trade prohibited by the laws of a State and said that 
 the States had exclusive control over lotteries. 53 He 
 held 54 that the taxing power of the Nation was exclu 
 sively to raise revenue, except as to protecting manu 
 facturers, and that in protecting them it may prohibit. 
 It is true, however, that the motive of Congress in 
 passing a law can not be inquired into in a judicial pro 
 ceeding. He objected to a tax on State Bank circula 
 tion and held that such paper was not " bills of credit." 
 He had no doubt that the United States could pay its 
 debts and that the Nation s honor would be saved and 
 felt that: 
 
 We are just as much bound to adhere to the Constitution as 
 the Courts and we are just as much violating the Constitution 
 of the United States, if we do in the execution of the particular 
 power, what that power was not granted to accomplish, as the 
 courts would be if they sanctioned it. 55 
 
 51 On May 27. 
 
 52 On May 25 and 27. 
 
 53 On the liquor question, Fessenden advocated a liquor tax, as men will 
 sell liquor any way and without a tax the government will lose revenue, 
 Johnson (vide on June 2 and 4) said that a steam boat, passing through a canal, 
 pays toll and should receive credit for these tolls on the gross receipt tax. It 
 throws a favorable light on Johnson s conception of legal ethics to find him 
 saying that he would not draw a deed for a man without a color of title. 
 
 64 On June i. 
 
 55 On June 2, he spoke concerning the duty on quicksilver and the tax on 
 express companies and opposed taxation of savings bank depositors. He 
 referred to the taxation in Maryland of mortgages and of savings bank franchises. 
 On June 6, he said that, when they had a stamp act in Maryland, they found 
 that the stamp was rarely put on papers while they remained in the hands 
 of the original parties, but only when there was a contest. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 93 
 
 He feared that the internal revenue bill would not 
 bring in as much revenue as was expected, and opposed 
 taxing some articles 10 per cent and others 5 per cent. 
 Especially 56 he objected to a specific tax on tobacco, as 
 a discrimination in favor of Connecticut, as against 
 Kentucky and Maryland, whose industry has been hurt 
 terribly by the war, because the " Southern States, who, 
 false to duty and false to honor, have left us," had taken 
 away the chief market. He felt there was no want of 
 patriotism in the Senate 57 but that the delays in the 
 passage of the revenue bill were due to the House. 
 The rise in the price of gold did not surprise him, as 
 it was not an article of commerce nor was used as money, 
 but he believed that the success of the Union arms and 
 the determination to meet the country s demands by 
 taxation will lead in the end to satisfactory results. 58 
 He opposed an ad valorem tax on tea, 59 because of the 
 difficulty in appraising it, and an import tax on railroad 
 iron, as manufacturers engaged to supply the govern 
 ment can not make it, and all the railroad iron is bought 
 abroad by such a corporation as the Baltimore and Ohio 
 railroad, which is "comparatively a rich company. 
 Notwithstanding the inroads upon this road made by 
 the rebels, it has been doing an immense business and 
 has been able to pay 6 per cent, besides reconstructing 
 the railway, because of the peculiar loyalty of the 
 road and the condition of the country, in other respects, 
 which has increased, in some measure, the business." He 
 felt 60 that the object of the proposed tariff was more to 
 raise a revenue than to give protection. A time when citi 
 zens suffered was a bad one to raise the duties, so as to 
 
 55 On June 6. 57 On June 3. 
 
 is On June 6, he spoke on warehousing, etc. 
 
 * 9 On June 16. 60 On June 17. 
 
94 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 prohibit or raise the price of foreign articles. Manufac 
 turers were probably never more prosperous than under 
 the existing tariff and, if the people find it difficult to 
 meet current expenses, they also will not be able con 
 veniently to meet the government s calls. 61 
 
 In the affairs of the District of Columbia he took a 
 peculiar interest, differentiating it from the territories. 62 
 When Saulsbury opposed allowing negroes to ride on 
 the Washington street railway cars, Johnson said:. 
 
 If a black man proposes to ride in a first class car upon any 
 of the railroads, where there is no State statute preventing it, 
 
 he has just as much right to be transported 
 
 upon that car as a white man. There is no more right to 
 exclude a black man from a car designed for the transportation 
 of white persons than there is a right to refuse to transport in 
 a car designed for black persons, white men. 
 
 He thought too much time was spent in discussing 
 - the negro question. Public judgment opposed political 
 and social equality. Negroes should have all the rights 
 necessary to enable them to protect life and property; 
 but, "when we come to the questions of political rights 
 and social enjoyment, there are other considerations 
 that enter into such inquiries." Prejudice must then 
 be considered. Some negroes have as much intellect 
 as white men, but it would not be wise to have them 
 in the Senate. 63 "I should have no objection to ride 
 
 61 On June 10, he advocated payment for feeding the Winnebago Indians 
 which had been done without warrant by the Interior Department and, on June 
 15, he supported an appropriation to pay Schoolcraft for copies of his Indian 
 book. 
 
 62 On February 17, he advocated paying part of the expense of its jail and 
 its penitentiary prisoners to Maryland instead of to Albany. On May 24 
 he opposed registration of voters in Washington on election day. Registration 
 should be limited to an earlier date. 
 
 63 He referred to Banneker, the negro mathematician and said that he did 
 not eat with white men. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 95 
 
 in a car with them, provided they were clean, and I 
 have just as much object on to sitting along side of a 
 dirty white man as to sitt ng along side of a dirty black 
 man." He admitted, however, that ladies objected. 
 Slaves, he added, were as a rule kindly treated, yet 
 Johnson was glad that slavery is coming to an end, and, 
 with Washington, he thought that it hurt the value of 
 good land about the Chesapeake. Sumner well said 
 of this address that Johnson, with "nimbleness of 
 speech," had ranged "over a very extensive field." 
 
 Later in the Session, the question of running street 
 cars on Sunday came up and Willey of West Virginia 
 said it would be contrary to the laws of God. Johnson 
 replied that "it is the duty of every man to go to church 
 and worship God according to his own conscience, and, 
 if in the particular locality in which he happens to be, 
 he can not get to church without extraneous help, there 
 ought to be some mode in which he would be able to 
 get to church." He cited the case of a coachman and 
 horses in the country, and referred to the local condi 
 tions of this "city of magnificent distances." It is often 
 difficult to understand scriptural injunctions and "we 
 may make our conduct conform to their general spirit, 
 but a literal construction would be inconsistent with 
 the purpose which the Maker of the world intended to 
 effect." Johnson further did not believe in preventing 
 a working man from going to the country on Sunday. 
 He had been a very hard and "incessant laboring man" 
 and had found that, when he had "the promise of a 
 Sunday with the privilege of going out, unaffected by 
 the cares of office and engagements of my profession, 
 I was the better physically, as well as morally." 
 
 Johnson knew many parts of the country 64 and was 
 
 E.g. Key West. April n, 1864. 
 
96 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 especially interested in western land questions. 65 He felt 
 that the public lands should be saved to help pay the 
 enormous public debts, which it would require a "patri 
 otic effort to meet," and he feared to permit the Western 
 States to absorb these lands, of which the Atlantic 
 States had received no share. 66 As subsidies were given 
 western railroads, Johnson asked 67 why none were given 
 for ships and favored one for mail service to Brazil, 
 since the South American trade was formerly great and 
 he felt "that our country is somewhat in dishonor, from 
 the fact that it has no ocean line of steamers." 68 
 
 When there was a debate as to what constituted a 
 constitutional quorum of the Senate, 69 Johnson said that, 
 in his opinion, it was a majority of the senators elected. 
 The House of Representatives is composed of members 
 chosen, not of members which the States have a right 
 to chose. The right to compel absent members to come 
 to the session shows that only chosen persons were 
 counted. It was properly held that the requirement for 
 two-thirds vote of the Senate on a constitutional amend- 
 
 65 On March 7, he defended a land grant to Lake Superior and Mississippi 
 Railroad, by whose projectors he had been consulted. On March 28, he spoke 
 on California land titles, especially that of the famous quicksilver mine and 
 said that all such cases should go to the courts. On April 15, he favored con 
 firming the title to lands in Minnesota of one Ford, who was a bonafide pur 
 chaser of a fradulent land warrant. On April 30, he spoke on the San Ramon 
 land grant in California. On May 20, he spoke on the Pacific Railroad and its 
 receiving the right of eminent domain, saying that it was fair to reduce the 
 damages to private owners by the beneficial effect of the road, as was done in 
 assessing benefits and damages, when streets are opened in Baltimore. On 
 June 7, he spoke on a land grant in New Mexico and on June u, on Juan 
 Miranda s claim. 
 
 66 See debate on Military Road in Wisconsin on June 15. 
 
 67 On May 20. 
 
 68 On June 18, he spoke, urging that the government keep its contract as 
 to the Overland Mail. 
 
 "On May 4. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 97 
 
 ment was fulfilled on March 2, 1861, when twenty- 
 four voted aye and twelve voted no, although twenty- 
 four was not two-thirds of the entire Senate. The 
 Government must go on and the South is kept by itself 
 alone from electing senators. The Union stands upon 
 the strength of the loyal States, and if the South left 
 the Union, would still stand, represented in her remain 
 ing States. The Constitution does not require every 
 State entering the Union to remain there forever, that 
 the Union may continue. Garrett Davis retorted that 
 the courts may disagree with Johnson, who brightly 
 replied: " That may be. They have often done so, very 
 much to the disappointment of my clients." 
 
 On May 10, he spoke in favor of a bill, of which he 
 had charge, concerning proceedings in criminal cases, 
 in which the United States were allowed peremptory 
 challenge in trials for treason and said that he had acted 
 as prosecutor, and more often in the defense, and felt 
 it a gross injustice that the government had not pre 
 viously possessed such privileges. He favored permit 
 ting the accused person to waive a jury trial, a practice 
 which had been found to work well in Maryland. 70 
 
 70 Miscellaneous speeches of his are those: on March 8, defending General 
 Curtis, whom he had known in the Peace Conference, from charges of cotton 
 speculation; on March 15, objecting to the appointment of twenty-five consular 
 pupils at a salary of $1,000 each and favoring the appointment of a minister 
 plenipotentiary instead of a minister resident at Brussels, since the King of 
 Belgium had been very friendly and had sent a plenipotentiary; on April 8, 
 urging that Illinois be required to cede jurisdiction over the site of the Rock 
 Island arsenal and stating that eminent domain is in the United States as inci 
 dental to other powers; on June 7, advocating the printing in the Congressional 
 Globe only what is said in Congress; and on June 18, moving adjournment, 
 when Trumbull and Fessenden had engaged in a heated argument and saying: 
 "We are all of us, more or less, at times, under the control of impulses and 
 we have, all of us, at times, uttered, in a moment of excitement, what we 
 afterwards, upon cooler reflection, much regret." 
 
98 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 When Congress assembled in December, 1864, it was 
 evident that the fall of the Confederacy was close at 
 hand. Johnson s first speech of the session was deliv 
 ered on December 18, upon the defense of the Northern 
 frontier, where the St. Alban s raid had recently occurred. 
 He believed that the governments of Canada and of 
 Great Britain would try to observe neutrality and that, 
 doubtless, under the law of nations, if such raids con 
 tinue and the raiders cannot be arrested in the United 
 States, they may be pursued into the adjoining foreign 
 territory. 71 The judge who released the St. Alban s 
 raiders acted wrongly and it is proper that we should 
 prevent the repetition of such acts, or vindicate our 
 selves against such "acts of piratical warfare, thieving 
 and murder." It is interesting to notice that Johnson 
 expressed himself as approving of the surrender of Mason 
 and Slidell and as thinking that the act of July, 1861, 
 and the prize cases showed that Great Britain did not 
 act too speedily in recognizing the rebels as belligerents. 71 
 
 He was as eager as ever that the war should be ended 
 successfully and favored immediate action, 73 without 
 reference to a committee, on a resolution of thanks to 
 General Sherman. 
 
 Not only was the campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta 
 most unrivalled for the gallantry and skill displayed and its 
 successful termination, but the progress of the march from 
 Atlanta through Georgia, a distance of three hundred miles, 
 with an army of fifty or sixty thousand men, without losing 
 a man hardly, and finally capturing the city of Savannah, 
 without firing a gun, will, in the history of military affairs 
 
 71 "I believe that right is just as firmly settled as any other question can be 
 settled by the law of nations." 
 
 72 On January 5, he protested against including a provision for brevet rank 
 in a bill to naturalize foreigners in the army. 
 
 73 On January 6, 1865. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 99 
 
 the world over, be considered, not only as without example, 
 but as an achievement that the imagination of man in advance 
 hardly thought to be possible. 
 
 The brilliant and successful termination of the Georgia 
 campaign seemed to "have brought about very strong 
 grounds for believing that it will contribute very largely 
 in putting an end to the rebellion." 
 
 He reiterated his position 74 against manumitting the 
 families of slaves who enlisted in the army. He had 
 been so anxious to abolish slavery that he voted against 
 referring the Thirteenth Amendment to the Judiciary 
 Committee and he did not wish the families to remain 
 in slavery, but thought it not in the power of Congress 
 to free them by act. He had never doubted the power 
 to raise negro armies; for, "whether he was slave or 
 free," the negro "held the relation of citizen, owing an 
 allegiance to the United States" and so was subject to 
 a call to arms. There had been no difficulty in obtain 
 ing black soldiers in Maryland, by voluntary or com 
 pulsory enlistment, and they had already shown them 
 selves "gallant and efficient." Congress had no power 
 to destroy slavery in loyal States. In reply to Wade s 
 desire that the war be continued for thirty years, if 
 necessary, till slavery was entirely abolished, Johnson 
 said, "I dislike the institution just as much as he does 
 or can. I think it is attended with the most dire of 
 evils, that it is disadvantageous to the master and keeps 
 the slave in a condition in which no man should be 
 placed, demoralizes him, renders him incapable of know 
 ing what moral duty is, debars him of the privilege of 
 ascertaining what Christian duty is, closes the Bible to 
 him and closes every variety of knowledge, from neces- 
 
 74 On January 9. 
 
100 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 sity." Yet he would terminate the war at once, if he 
 could, believing that "in the retributive justice of heaven, 
 the institution is mortally wounded now," for the South, 
 "must have seen what an element of weakness it is in 
 war." Suggestions are already made there to abolish it 
 and thus obtain foreign assistance. Johnson does not 
 wish to see the "Union dissevered, the work of our 
 fathers gone, our former glory never again to be repeated, 
 and (as is certain to be the result) every ten or fifteen 
 or twenty years, a war between the conterminous 
 countries." He agreed with Lincoln in hoping for peace. 
 There is a step beyond which "loyalty would become 
 barbarity. The South, God knows, has suffered enough. 
 They have invited it. The people now, as we have 
 every reason to believe, see that they have been misled 
 through the arts, wickedness, and insin 
 cerity of the madmen by whom the rebellion was inaugu 
 rated." It is time to hold out the olive branch and 
 make the Nation, "potentially, one of the greatest powers 
 upon the face of the habitable globe." He believed that 
 abolition of slavery, by constitutional enactment, would 
 not be an impediment to a successful peace, but that 
 such a step would "tend to strengthen the government 
 and greatly increase the chances of an early restoration 
 of the Union." He had no doubt of the result, if we 
 are true to ourselves and wish the country "peopled 
 by freemen alone." As to the leaders of the South, 
 "if Toombs, Davis, and the others should come here, 
 they ought to be indicted for treason instead of being 
 admitted" to Congress. 75 
 
 Johnson s clear views as to the war powers of the 
 President were shown 76 in the debate on naval forces 
 
 76 Wade significantly said: "If they will throw down their arms, we will 
 govern them, until they do right." 
 76 On January 18. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON IOI 
 
 on the Great Lakes. It was proposed by the com 
 mittee, unanimously, that the treaty of 1817 with Great 
 Britain, limiting such forces, be terminated and the 
 question arose whether the President had authority to 
 give such notice, antecedent to Congressional action. 
 Johnson maintained that he had the authority, for for 
 eign nations know only the Executive and have a right 
 to suppose that what he does in behalf of the United 
 States he does under some proper authority." He cited 
 Hamilton s Pacificus Letters and said that England, 
 doubtless, thought that Lincoln had the right to issue 
 his proclamation of the preceding 23rd of November 
 and so replied that putting an end to the treaty was not 
 considered an unfriendly act. Congress may confirm 
 his act by subsequent ratification. Davis of Kentucky 
 asked whether war would date from a President s proc 
 lamation, if he should declare it and Congress ratify his 
 act three weeks later, and Johnson answered affirma 
 tively, adding that war is an existing fact, a " prosecu 
 tion of some supposed right by force," and the Presi 
 dent s right to carry on war against invasion, without 
 an antecedent act of Congress, is clear, although his 
 act needs Congressional ratification. In the Prize Cases, 
 the court admitted that every belligerent act existed 
 after July 13, 1861, but the rebels had declared war 
 before that day. 
 
 He opposed strongly retaliation on rebel prisoners for 
 the ill treatment of the Union soldiers held prisoners, 77 
 except in future cases and then, without allowing cruelty, 
 as it would deprive us of the support of the God of 
 justice." Success in such a contest would be infamy. 
 Retaliation should be limited at the point of cruelty, 
 as Lieber provided. To burn prisoners, even if the 
 Confederates did so, would be inexcusable, though such 
 
 77 On January 26, 27, 28. 
 
102 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 conduct found a defender in the heat of debate. Ex 
 change of prisoners had been brought about between 
 nations by Christianity and Johnson thought we ought 
 to negotiate for exchange, leaving "the rebel govern 
 ment, if they have resorted to the enormities stated in 
 this resolution, as I have no doubt they have, to the 
 judgment of the civilized world, which will pronounce 
 a judgment of infamy against all who are concerned in 
 them." If Lincoln had refused to exchange prisoners, 
 on the "ground that the enemy would not deliver the 
 Africans whom they have taken in battle, while they 
 were willing to exchange" white soldiers, or because an 
 exchange "would inure more to the benefit of the enemy, 
 he has perpetrated a high crime against the soldiers." 
 "The black is in no worse condition by rescuing the 
 white," but is better off, for such rescue replenishes the 
 Federal army. As a general rule Congress had the 
 power over the exchange and treatment of prisoners ; but 
 the President, without legislation, might retaliate to the 
 extent of the law of nations and even commanding 
 officers had certain powers of retaliation, as Washing 
 ton s and Jackson s acts showed. If the rebels refuse 
 to exchange black soldiers, Johnson advocated keeping 
 Confederate prisoners, man for man, so as not to aban 
 don the negroes, but he would also keep the obligation 
 to our white soldiers. He "would go as far as any 
 Senator in protecting any black man, who might be 
 enlisted into the service of the United States and shoul 
 dered his musket to protect the rights of the United 
 States." 78 
 
 78 On February 6, he opposed diminution of punishment for one who en 
 listed an insane person. On February 7, he opposed a graded tax on incomes, 
 to pay bounties, as making a distinction between rich and poor and as being 
 "class legislation, .... always mischievous and .... defec 
 tive in principle." On February 18, he spoke in reference to paying the Illinois 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 03 
 
 Late in the session, 79 he spoke in opposition to the 
 bill creating the Freedmen s Bureau, as it made no 
 provision for white refugees 80 nor for trial by jury in 
 certain cases and was unconstitutional in declaring that 
 certain officers shall be deemed to be in the military 
 service of the United States, so as to "be liable to trial 
 by courts martial." 
 
 On the questions especially dealing with the Border 
 States, he spoke several times at this session. He ob 
 jected to the seizure, incarceration, and punishment of 
 any citizen without a trial and protested against the 
 misconduct of subordinates, who arrested the Lieuten 
 ant-Go vernor and a presidential elector in Kentucky, 
 and of the military, who, seeming to think they are not 
 bound to obey State or National laws, had disregarded 
 in Maryland the statute providing that persons not 
 liable to military control should be turned over to a 
 civil tribunal. 81 "It may be .... that, upon 
 the ground of military necessity, in the beginning of 
 
 Central Railroad for transporting troops. On February 24, he advocated 
 fortification of ports, especially of San Francisco, as we might get into a foreign 
 war and our experience with Forts Fisher and Sumter showed that iron clad 
 vessels can not take all forts. 
 
 79 On February 22. 
 
 80 He showed resentment, when Sumner appealed to him to be just. 
 
 81 For example, at the election on the adoption of the new Constitution in 
 Caroline County, a Union man took the oaths but was refused a vote and when 
 he sued the election officers, he was thrown into jail in Baltimore. The elec 
 tion gave a majority to the Democrats in the legislature and one timid mem 
 ber from a county was threatened with arrest, if he did not resign and did so. 
 In Somerset County, a Democrat, who received a majority of over three hundred 
 votes, also received a polite letter from Major General Lew Wallace, asking 
 him whether he thought it well to take his seat in the legislature, as he had 
 raised a rebel flag on his premises in 1861. He denied this, was arrested, 
 taken to Baltimore, thrown into an old slave prison without bed clothing to 
 lie upon and was sent South on the next day. Appeal was made to Lincoln, 
 who telegraphed that no action be taken against the man, but was answered 
 that he had already been sent South. Johnson expressed confidence in Lincoln. 
 
IO4 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 this dreadful war, aiming as it did at the very life of 
 the nation, these arrests were unavoidable; but, thank 
 God, it is not so now, thank God, it seems now to be 
 approaching its end and the end will be the restoration 
 of the Union." In suppressing the rebellion, the rights 
 of the loyal citizen should be preserved. 82 
 
 In spite of his action in behalf of suspected persons, 
 Johnson s vigor in supporting the Union led him, 83 in 
 speaking to a motion asking Lincoln for information as 
 to a peace mission to Richmond, to refer to "the rebel 
 authorities, for speaking on the floor of the Senate, I 
 have called them nothing but rebels and shall continue 
 to call them so, until they prove themselves able to 
 establish their independence." At times, he would even 
 yield to the opinion of more radical Senators, as when 
 he voted yea, following Sumner s lead, on a bill for an 
 ironclad oath to be taken by lawyers, though he thought 
 it unnecessary to prescribe the oath for them alone and 
 not for men of other professions. So too, together with 
 Lyman Trumbull, he supported Lincoln s reconstruc 
 tion policy in Louisiana. 84 The Committee on the Judi 
 ciary thought that the new State government could not 
 be recognized except by act of Congress, and that the 
 Executive had no power to "bring the State back under 
 the Constitution." They also objected to the institu 
 tion of the constitutional proceedings by the military 
 authorities. This, Johnson admitted to be a bad prece 
 dent; but, no "matter how the proceedings w r ere insti 
 tuted, if, in point of fact, the people of the State did 
 act voluntarily and were competent to act under the 
 
 " ? So on February 8, he said postmasters ought not be allowed to break 
 seals and take anything whatever out of the mails. 
 i3 On January 31. 
 
 5 Rhodes U. S. 56. 
 
RE VERB Y JOHNSON 1 05 
 
 original constitution and were authorized to act by being 
 loyal at the time they did act, it is the duty of the 
 Government of the United States to receive them back." 
 Only 14,000 voted of the 51,000 voting population, but 
 no loyal man was excluded from voting. So many 
 Louisianians had volunteered in the rebel army that 
 those who voted might easily be a majority of the 
 active voters. In a long and able speech, Johnson dis 
 cussed the relation of the loyal citizens of Louisiana to 
 the Nation, after the act of secession. They did not 
 cease to be citizens of the United States, but were en 
 titled to protection and had forfeited no rights. They 
 were kept by force from expressing their opinion, but, 
 when protected, should be allowed to vote. If the 
 ordinance of secession did not carry the State out of the 
 Union, the loyal people should exercise the sovereign 
 authority belonging to the State. There is no other 
 way for them to come back, the United States cannot 
 interfere with the State suffrage laws, even in the Wes 
 tern States, which admitted to the polls inhabitants not 
 yet citizens. "If coming together, the loyal men" did 
 an act which they would have been authorized to do, 
 provided they had come forward voluntarily, we ought 
 to receive their act, though done under military author 
 ity. Maryland had adopted a constitution manumitting 
 slaves, of which no man in Maryland seriously questions 
 the obligation, but it was adopted by the exclusion of 
 a good many entitled to vote. A State has several 
 meanings, and one of them certainly is the people. 
 Sumner said the States should be governed as Prov 
 inces. What then becomes of the loyal citizens? 
 
 It is the American doctrine that the people have a right, as 
 against the government, to meet and establish a government 
 for themselves. If it is not in accordance with the Consti- 
 
IO6 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 tution, Congress need not accept it, but, when a State is ad 
 mitted on an equality with other States, it has a right to change 
 its constitution and a seceded State is not equal to Massachu 
 setts, if the former may not come back without negro suffrage. 
 
 Sumner asked, if Ohio could repeal the Ordinance of 
 1787, and Johnson replied in the affirmative that Ohio 
 could enslave her fellowmen as well as Massachusetts. 
 Sumner hotly answered that "Massachusetts cannot do 
 an act of injustice," and Johnson retorted that she had 
 done so and instanced her giving the vote, which pre 
 vented the abolition of the foreign slave trade before 
 1808. Henderson remarked that the education clause 
 of the Massachusetts constitution would prevent most of 
 the negroes from voting in Louisiana and Johnson con 
 tinued: "If Massachusetts had such negroes, lost in 
 ignorance, divested more or less of moral sense, because 
 of the horrid condition, in which they have been kept, 
 knowing not what the laws of God require, because they 
 have been kept in a state of ignorance," Massachusetts 
 would exclude them from suffrage. Maryland had just 
 emancipated one-third of its population. To give the 
 freedmen the vote would place Maryland in the hands 
 of an ignorant population. The traitorous rebels are 
 organizing negro troops, shall these vote, or be treated 
 as the disloyal whites? By the new constitution of 
 Louisiana, slaves are legally emancipated. If the pend 
 ing resolve does not pass, their freedom will depend on 
 the presidential proclamation, whose operation beyond 
 our lines is more than doubtful. 
 
 Sumner then inquired, whether Johnson questioned 
 the affirmation by the Supreme Court of the validity of 
 the proclamation over all the Slave States. Johnson 
 crossed the aisle to answer and, with more than usual 
 loudness of voice, said that he did doubt it, but that, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON IO/ 
 
 Southern man as he was, he wished slavery destroyed 
 and then the authority of the Union would never be 
 destroyed. 85 The great difference between the Confed 
 eration and the Constitution was the want of an author 
 ity under the former to make its powers efficient and 
 to act on the individual citizen, instead of on the State. 
 Reconstruction should be accomplished quickly and the 
 negroes, suddenly emancipated, should not vote now. 
 If they are given the suffrage, "the whole of that vote 
 will for years be in the hands of a few white men." 86 
 
 On the last day of the Session, when a proposition 
 was made to punish the Southern sympathizers known 
 as copperheads, by military tribunal, Johnson asked 
 whether this was not a violation of the Fifth Amendment 
 to the Constitution. The treatment of a spy in a loyal 
 State was an exception. The filling of the military 
 prisons in Baltimore with prisoners not notified of their 
 offense is wrong, while to say "that every citizen of the 
 United States is to be dragged before a military tribunal 
 is to say that our fathers fought during the Revolution 
 in vain." 
 
 Though Johnson had opposed Lincoln s reelection, he 
 gave him the benefit of the presumption that he would 
 not keep in the service any one unnecessarily and felt 
 that it would be indecorous to overrule his determina 
 tion. 87 Upon the counting of the electoral votes, he 
 said that 88 he thought Congress had power to legislate 
 
 86 During this speech, he had a colloquy with Sumner on Washington s 
 position and that of the members of the Convention of 1787 as to the "con 
 solidation of the Union." 
 
 88 The sovereignty of the State in subjects left to it, such as marriage, is 
 still its own though limited, see McCulloch v. Maryland and Marshall v. 
 Lewis. 
 
 87 In the debate on dropping unemployed generals from the rolls on January 
 6. 
 
 88 On February 2. 
 
IO8 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 in prohibition of the counting of votes from States in 
 rebellion. Congress had not provided a way of decid 
 ing contested elections, but has the power to do so. 
 The Vice- President cannot exclude any votes. The 
 "efforts of those rebellious citizens to take those several 
 States out of the Union are legally imperfect," but have 
 put the States "in a state of rebellion" and "at war 
 with the United States." These States cannot vote, 
 as those citizens of Maine cofuld not who were under 
 British power in 1812. Probably, if all the inhabitants 
 of those States threw down their arms, and admitted 
 their allegiance to the United States, the States would 
 be entitled to seats in the Senate, but that is not the 
 present question. Having "got rid of the disturbing 
 element of slavery," the prospect was good for the 
 "perpetuity of the Union." In a second speech 89 John 
 son said that, though the act of 1861 did not name the 
 rebel States, they are named in the presidential proc 
 lamation thereunder and, therefore, have no right to 
 choose electors. By like proclamation, Lincoln can say 
 the rebellion is terminated and the States, which have 
 never been out of the Union in a constitutional sense, 
 then cease to be in rebellion, without waiting for Con 
 gressional action. If, at election time, rebellion should 
 have been terminated and the authority of the Constitu 
 tion reinstated, the States are entitled to representation 
 in Electoral College or Congress. "The moment the 
 hostility ceases, then the commercial intercourse begins 
 again and, that beginning, the State is back in the Union 
 for all purposes." A war may terminate before a treaty 
 of peace is made. "Congress has no constitutional 
 right to carry on a war against States, but may suppress 
 insurrection which amounts to war." If the South is 
 
 "On February 3. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 09 
 
 willing to come back and abide by the decision of the 
 majority as to slavery, it would be murder for the 
 President to authorize another man to be shot. The 
 terrible, most pestilent, destructive heresy" of secession 
 was most earnestly entertained by many Southerners, 
 who thought they were right. Even Lincoln himself, 
 when a Congressman, had seemed to entertain it. The 
 Southerners had "been made to see that the resolution 
 of the country is so perfect, the devotion to the Union 
 is so absolute, that happen what will, we of the loyal 
 States mean to prosecute the war to the end, until the 
 insurrection is put down, which has no other foundation, 
 in point of law, than the assumed right of secession." 
 The President has the power to pardon and it is proper 
 he should, when such men come to him saying they 
 sinned: as A. H. Stephens, who denounced secession and 
 predicted its evils; Hunter, who never was party to it; 
 or Justice Campbell, who, in the Supreme Court, 
 "thought it the vilest heresy that ever entered into the 
 imagination of man, but was carried away by circum 
 stances surrounding him." 90 However, 91 when Lincoln 
 signed a resolve as to representation in the electoral 
 college, with a denial of the right to such legislative 
 power in Congress, Johnson differed with him and said 
 that Lincoln was wrong in point of law and 92 that he 
 had no right to read Congress a lecture. Keen to defend 
 the right of Congress, 93 he said that it was also a mis- 
 
 90 On February 4, he replied to Collamer of Rhode Island, showing that 
 Madison in the Federal Convention was an authority against war being made 
 upon a State. On February 6, the Senate voted to count the electoral votes, 
 but the House would not, so the vote failed. 
 
 91 On February 9. 
 
 92 He reflected on Congress, as he did in his comment on the Davis- Wade 
 bill. 
 
 9S On February 7. 
 
IIO REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 take for Lincoln to sign the Thirteenth Amendment, for 
 the "object of the constitutional provision on the sub 
 ject is simply to initiate a mode, by which the people 
 shall decide whether there shall be an amendment to 
 the Constitution or not." The two-third vote needed 
 to pass the amendment is the same as that required to 
 pass a bill over the presidential veto and it is "evident 
 that what was intended to be submitted to the Presi 
 dent was a question, which was to be passed upon by 
 more votes than were necessary, before it was sub 
 mitted." Previous practice and an opinion of the Su 
 preme Court in 1794 confirmed his opinion. 94 
 
 Financial measures did not cause him to make a long 
 speech at this Session, 95 but he spoke several times upon 
 the internal revenue bill, opposing a tax on State bank 
 notes 96 and a graded tax on incomes to pay bounties. 97 
 He opposed a tax on sales, as one which fell ultimately 
 on the consumer and which was odious, because a govern 
 ment officer would have to go monthly into each busi 
 ness house. 98 
 
 He favored, however, 99 a tax on book publishing, as 
 a tax not on knowledge, but on business. On law books, 
 
 94 On March 3, he said that an answer of the Assistant Secretary of Navy 
 to a Senatorial request was out of place, again showing his zeal for the privilege 
 of the body. 
 
 95 On December 21, Johnson said that the principle of the proposed internal 
 revenue act was altogether wrong and that a man should be given time to 
 straighten out the whiskey tax. On March 2, he remarked that fertilizers should 
 not be taxed too heavily, for such tax falls on the agriculturists. On February 
 28, he said that the difference between the nominal and the market value of 
 gold should be considered as income and as a proper profit, but that a man who 
 kept the gold should not be taxed on the inflated value. 
 
 96 On March i . 
 
 97 The poor man had no right to say to the rich, pay me for entering the 
 army. On February 7. 
 
 * 8 On March i . 
 "On February 27. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON III 
 
 "it comes first out of the lawyers; but, perhaps, it comes 
 out of the client. If the client does not pay it in advance, 
 the client who comes next pays it. I speak from some 
 little experience." So long as American consumers are 
 taxed by an import tax on imported books, it is not 
 unjust to make an American manufacturer pay for the 
 privilege. 100 
 
 On January 19, Johnson delivered a long legal speech 
 on a bill to regulate commerce among the States. Pre 
 viously, it had been admitted that the State had exclu 
 sive control over internal commerce, but Johnson thought 
 this bill limited it. The power to establish post roads 
 meant only to designate existing roads, not to build 
 new ones. When, in 1800, the Cumberland road was 
 begun to be built from the proceeds of the sales of 
 public lands, it was claimed that Congress could appro 
 priate money for any purpose material to the common 
 defense and the general welfare. Monroe, however, was 
 right in his veto of a road bill in 1822, saying that it 
 was not an independent power. The only guarantee 
 against an abuse of the appropriating power was the 
 appeal to the people, which also guarded against abuse 
 of the taxing power. 101 Judge McLean denied Congres 
 sional power to construct the Rock Island bridge over 
 navigable water. The proposed bill alters franchises of 
 railroads and denies the State the power to make roads 
 as she pleases, since it permits the railroads to carry 
 
 100 He doubted as to whether bonds and notes (on March i) issued under 
 the new loan bill would not innate the currency and lower the standard of value 
 still more. On advocating a bill for repayment of $2,000 to H. A. Bingham, 
 a paymaster, who had to pay the government that amount which had dis 
 appeared while in his custody, Johnson said, on January 19, "Very few men 
 think of counting their money. I am one of the reckless ones and I never think 
 of it, though I do not know that I have ever been taken in." 
 
 101 He quoted a number of decisions. 
 
112 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 troops, freight, etc. Maryland is a quasi-corporator of the 
 Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
 and this measure involves a "principle which is destruc 
 tive of the sovereignty" of the States. If the courts 
 support it, the authority of the States is submitted to 
 the unlimited power of Congress. 
 
 We are sent here to take care, among others, of the rights 
 of our States. Our oath to support the Constitution of the 
 United States is not merely to execute all the powers which 
 it confers, but to abstain from exerting any powers which it does 
 not confer, .... in order to protect the inherent, and 
 original, and undelegated powers which belonged to the 
 States before the Constitution was adopted. 102 
 
 When the Senators from Nevada appeared, Johnson 
 advocated their admission and that of their State, al 
 though they had been elected in advance of the admis 
 sion of the State into the Union, following the precedent 
 of the first Senators of Missouri, Michigan and Cali 
 fornia. 103 
 
 In discussing the legislative appropriation bill, the 
 question of the amendment of money bills came up 
 and Johnson advocated the Senate s using its utmost 
 power, referring to the precedent of 1856. Sumner re 
 plied that this precedent was of no value, for the men 
 who made it were rebels. Johnson replied : " They were 
 able men and one of them, Brodhead, was a friend of 
 mine, who labored for the Union and, in professional 
 
 102 On District of Columbia matters, he spoke to advocate the grant of a 
 wharf privilege to a ferry company (on January 17). The bed of the river is 
 the property of individual owners, who hold riparian land; but, on navigable 
 streams, no one has a right to go to the thread of the stream, without consent 
 of the sovereign. Similar wharf privilege was given in Baltimore. He opposed, 
 in vain, the visitation of the institution of the Sisters of Mercy by public offi 
 cials (on February n.). 
 
 108 On February i. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 113 
 
 ability, was Sumner s equal. He was a Democrat always 
 and a pure patriot." Sumner could only respond: "I 
 shall not follow Reverdy Johnson." 104 
 
 Johnson s devotion to friends was also shown, on 
 February 23, in his defence of Taney, when a bust of 
 the Chief Justice was proposed to be placed in the 
 Supreme Court. Reference to this defence of Taney s 
 "great ability and moral worth" has been elsewhere 
 made. Johnson lost his temper and became personal 
 in his discussion of the Dred Scott decision, which came 
 into the debate. 105 Elaine wrote 106 that Johnson s de 
 fense of Taney showed "that amplitude and readiness, 
 which Mr. Johnson displayed in every discussion involv 
 ing legal principles." 
 
 On February 15, Johnson announced that his colleague 
 from Maryland had died on the I3th at 7 a.m. He had 
 been paralyzed on the day before and lay speechless 
 but conscious, nearly to the end. Governor Hicks, "a 
 title by which he is best known and will be ever grate 
 fully remembered, not only by Maryland but by the 
 Nation," was eulogized by Johnson as a Christian, 
 beloved by his friends, "ever courteous, kind, and atten 
 tive," possessing "the esteem and confidence of us all, 
 endowed with a sound judgment and animated by a 
 fervent patriotism." 107 As Governor, "his responsi- 
 
 104 On February 10. 
 
 106 Trumbull, McDougall, Carlile favored the motion and Sumner, Hale, 
 Wilson, Wade opposed it. Five days later, Johnson in the debate on the cotton 
 drawback was asked to speak louder and said that objection was sometimes 
 made that he spoke too loud. 
 
 106 Twenty years in Congress 135. 
 
 107 Thomas Holliday Hicks was born in Dorchester County, September 2, 
 1798, one of a large family with limited means. After studying in the common 
 schools, he helped his father on the farm. Entering public life as a constable 
 in 1824, he next became sheriff and then opened a store at Vienna. He was 
 a member of the Electoral College for the State Senate in 1836 and "evinced 
 
114 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 bility was such as to task his firmness and his judgment 
 and to test his patriotism. They proved equal to this 
 emergency." The people of the State, for a time, forgot 
 
 the paramount duty, which they owed to the General Govern 
 ment .... In this interval of temporary forgetful- 
 ness, an excitement amounting to madness threatened the 
 State with a fraternal war and with driving her into the rebel 
 lion, that would have made her soil the battleground of the 
 strife which has deluged every seceding State in blood and 
 would certainly have involved her in ruin. Against every 
 effort that ignorance or ambition could essay to effect the 
 insane and wicked purpose, Governor Hicks interposed the 
 whole power of his office and succeeded in defeating it. Nor 
 was this accomplished without personal peril. In April, 1861, 
 when the blood of the loyal soldiers of Massachusetts was 
 treasonably shed in the streets of our chief city and its power 
 for some days was wielded by men who for the most part 
 were resolved on rushing the State into rebellion, it was obvious, 
 to those who witnessed the scenes of the day and moved among 
 the parties who engaged in them, that Governor Hicks was an 
 object of such intense animosity, that his safety was not as 
 sured In these trying moments, the Governor 
 
 was true to his duty. Throughout his term of office, he devoted 
 himself with untiring industry and an ever watchful patriotism, 
 by every legal means, to crush out the spirit of secession and 
 to retain the State in her allegiance to the Union and he suc 
 ceeded. When he ceased to be her Governor, she was loyal 
 in all the departments of her government and the people, by 
 a voice approaching unanimity, proclaimed their fixed resolve 
 to stand by the Union, not only as a matter of almost holy 
 duty, but as indispensable to their safety and prosperity and 
 
 an inherent love of law and order." He then served in the Governor s Council, 
 as Member of the House of Delegates, as Register of Wills in his County, and 
 as member of the Constitutional Convention in 1850. He was chosen Governor 
 on the Know Nothing ticket in 1859 and, at the conclusion of his term, became 
 United States Senator. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 115 
 
 so she and they have been ever since. It is not going too far 
 to declare that this result is in a great measure to be referred 
 to the conduct of Governor Hicks. 108 
 
 When Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson served as 
 one of the pallbearers 109 on the part of the Senate, but 
 a month later, on May 13, he appeared without com 
 pensation as one of the counsel for Mrs. Surratt, who 
 was tried by military commission for complicity in the 
 murder of the President. He had never seen Mrs. 
 Surratt until the day before his appearance for her, but 
 said he felt it was due to the legal profession that she 
 should not go undefended. 110 His appearance was ob 
 jected to, on the ground that he did "not recognize the 
 moral obligation of an oath that is designed as a test of 
 loyalty." Johnson repudiated the charge, which was 
 based on his letter with reference to the Maryland elec 
 tions of 1864. Although allowed to appear, he was 
 present only at rare intervals throughout the trial and 
 sent in his final written argument to be read by his 
 junior associate, denying the jurisdiction of the Court 
 and asserting the illegality of military commissions in 
 the United States. He did not seek immunity for any- 
 
 108 Senator Hale added that Hicks was second to none on the proud roll of 
 fame, "of those by whose clear sagacity, unshaken firmness, and patriotic 
 devotion to duty in a great crisis of our country s history, her integrity was 
 preserved and her ultimate triumph secured." Hale had served on the Naval 
 Affairs Committee with Hicks and had "never met a more kind, genial and 
 courteous gentleman." He preferred to have his own people abolish slavery 
 and was an antislavery man. Willey of West Virginia voiced the gratitude of 
 his State and said: "I never knew a man whose simplicity and singleness of 
 purpose, whose evident sincerity, purity and unselfishness of aim to promote 
 the honor and welfare of his country, commanded more of my confidence and 
 
 respect He ever appeared to forget himself in the higher and 
 
 holier purpose of securing the public good." 
 
 109 War of Rebellion Off. Recs. Serial 97, Ser. i, Vol. 46, pt. 3, p. 807. 
 
 110 Vide DeWitt Judicial Murder of Mrs. Surratt, pp. 41, 73, 85, and T, 
 M. Harris s Assassination of Lincoln, pp. 107, in, 327. 
 
Il6 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 one guilty of the "horrid crimes," but claimed that the 
 trial should proceed before the civil courts. 111 
 
 In his argument, Johnson declared that he believed 
 the evidence against Mrs. Surratt was suspicious and 
 that she was innocent of the assassination, which "in 
 the black catalogue of offences .... will for 
 ever be esteemed the darkest and deepest ever committed 
 by sinful man." For such a commission to have juris 
 diction, a military offence must be made to appear, the 
 offender must be subject to military law, and the mili 
 tary law must provide for trial and punishment by a 
 military tribunal. These circumstances were not found 
 here and the commission could not be justified as an 
 incident of the war power, for the creation of a court 
 is a legislative function and the President cannot sus 
 pend courts, as he can the writ of habeas corpus. The 
 case is not military treason, as the accused were not, in 
 the belligerent sense, enemies. The "continuance of 
 our government does not depend on the lives of any 
 or all of its public servants" and the "folly of the mad 
 man and the fiend" in killing Lincoln will not destroy the 
 nation. In England, persons who tried to assassinate 
 the monarch have been tried by the civil tribunals. 112 
 
 Following out a similar line of argument, Johnson 
 appeared before the Supreme Court in Ex parte Milligan 
 and there won his case. He also acted with Matthew 
 Carpenter and A. H. Garland, at the request of the 
 latter, in Ex parte Garland, in which case the ex post 
 facto oath was declared unconstitutional. 113 In July 
 1865, Garland, who had been admitted to the Supreme 
 Court on Johnson s motion in 1860, came to Washington 
 
 111 His argument was printed at Baltimore in pamphlet form in 1865, pp. 31. 
 
 112 H. L. Bond and Peckham of N. Y. were against him. 
 118 Vide Garland s Experiences in the Supreme Court. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 117 
 
 and procured a pardon, in which application he was 
 seconded by the "efforts of my constant and steady 
 friend" Johnson, the "big hearted, large brained and 
 generous man and friend." During that visit to the 
 national capital, Garland formed the idea of asking to 
 be admitted to practice, notwithstanding the test oath, 
 and Johnson gladly aided him without any fee, 114 being 
 interested in the case both from its constitutional aspect 
 and from his friendship for the younger man. B. R. 
 Curtis expressed himself as satisfied of the soundness of 
 Johnson s argument against the test oath 115 and added, 
 "certainly, it is put with great clearness and force before 
 the Court." About the same time, Johnson, with Mont 
 gomery Blair and David Dudley Field, was successful 
 in the Supreme Court in defending a Roman Catholic 
 priest, named Cummings, who had preached in Missouri, 
 without taking the iron clad oath. 116 
 
 114 Speed and Stansberry were the opposing lawyers. 
 115 1 B. R. Curtis Life 370, July 8, 1866. 
 "Vide Cox, Three Decades 251. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS AND RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 (1865-67) 
 
 In this great Congress, Johnson s career was most 
 conspicuous. Sitting on the right of the Vice-President s 
 Chair and in the row of seats nearest his desk, Johnson 
 was one of the most prominent figures in the house. 1 
 He was "perhaps the most eminent lawyer in a body, 
 where legal ability always commands much respect, 2 
 and he showed that his mind had lost none of its force 
 and power, though he was now about seventy years of 
 age. He was the oldest member of the body, in years, 
 if not in service, and his conciliatory disposition and 
 friendly relations with all the members did much to in 
 crease the efficiency of his leadership of the minority. 
 Hon. George H. Williams of Oregon, one of the last sur 
 vivors of the Senators who served with Johnson, wrote 
 thus of him on May 9, 1906: 
 
 1 was admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States on the motion of Mr. Reverdy Johnson and was 
 with him in the Senate. Mr. Johnson was an exceedingly 
 amiable and accomplished gentleman, a lawyer observing the 
 dignity of the Senate and the civilities of social intercourse. 
 He was a great lawyer and had a remarkable and accurate 
 knowledge of the decisions of the Courts at his command. He 
 was a frequent speaker in the Senate and a ready debater 
 
 1 W. H. Barnes, History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, p. 24. An engraving 
 of Johnson is opposite p. 203. 
 
 2 W. G. Brown, Thirty-ninth Congress, 97 Atlantic Monthly 466. At p. 
 473, Brown writes "So long as the discussion concerned itself with theory," 
 Johnson "could hold his own with Fessenden and Trumbull. He could more 
 than hold his own with Sumner, who was never strong on legal questions." 
 
 118 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 19 
 
 upon almost all the questions that arose in that body. He 
 was a Democrat and I was a Republican and, consequently, 
 we did not agree upon most of the subjects growing out of 
 the Reconstruction policy of Congress and other party ques 
 tions, but there was nothing in these differences to disturb our 
 personal relations. I had an impression of Mr. Johnson that 
 he was not a man of very strong convictions and that he could 
 speak with equal readiness and facility upon one side of a 
 question, as upon the other, and that he was not very particu 
 lar as to which side he espoused. I may have misjudged him 
 in this respect, but such was my impression. He was particu 
 larly at home upon all constitutional and legal questions and 
 always brought learning, ability, and skill to the discussion 
 of such questions. He was quite blind, while he was in the 
 Senate and had to depend largely upon his memory, which was 
 evidently a storehouse full of the learning of the law. 
 
 On reconstruction, Johnson s policy consistently fav 
 ored restoration of the Southern States with amnesty 
 to their citizens. He cited the proceedings of all depart 
 ments of the government during the war and of the judi 
 cial and executive departments later, as proving that 
 States were not out of the Union. The citizens dis 
 loyalty could not carry the States with them and, at 
 the moment when resistance was abandoned, the author 
 ity of the United States was reinstated. When the 
 Fourteenth Amendment was presented, Johnson op 
 posed it, although he favored certain provisions in it, 
 as he thought there ought to be a constitutional defini 
 tion of citizenship in the United States and believed that 
 negroes would be citizens, but for the decision in the Dred 
 Scott case. He held that the phrase, "All men are cre 
 ated equal," included negroes, but that only a juristic 
 equality was meant and that political and social equality 
 should be excluded. He believed in the possibilities 
 of the negro, but opposed granting him the suffrage, at 
 
I2O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 present, or the deprivation of representation from the 
 Southern States, on the ground that negroes did not 
 vote there. He believed negroes should be counted in for 
 representative purposes, as women were. Suffrage, he 
 thought, was not an inalienable right, but a privilege, 
 which, the government may grant or withhold. Leave 
 the black man without suffrage, " until he can raise 
 himself to the elevation of the white race, as I think he 
 may, and then, if possible, change your organic law." 
 
 Johnson favored Andrew Johnson s 3 presidential plan 
 of reconstruction, but was not closely connected with the 
 President, nor was a blind follower of him. He was the 
 only representative of the minority in the Senate in 
 the Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction and, as 
 the leader of that minority in the Senate, had to defend 
 several of the President s vetoes. The power of removal 
 by the President was vigorously upheld by Johnson and 
 he especially emphasized the folly of requiring the Presi 
 dent to keep in office, as heads of departments, men 
 who no longer had his confidence. 
 
 On December 12, Johnson was appointed one of the 
 six members of the joint committee on reconstruction 
 on the part of the Senate. During the first week of (he 
 Session, Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts introduced a bill 
 for the protection of freedmen 4 and Johnson replied to 
 him, asking that the bill be referred to a committee. 
 The bill proposed to repeal laws by which any difference 
 or inequality was created between races. Does this 
 affect police laws? If the Southern States are in the 
 
 3 On April 24, 1865, Reverdy Johnson wrote Andrew Johnson: "It will be 
 my pleasure, as I think it will be my duty, to afford your administration, as I 
 anticipate it will be, all the support in my power (Century Magazine, January, 
 1913, Vol. 85, p. 423). 
 
 4 In a debate on pension laws on April 13 and May 18, he referred to the 
 difficulty of ascertaining who was a negro s wife. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 121 
 
 Union, they may pass such laws. Is there a more press 
 ing need to prevent outrages on blacks in the South than 
 in the loyal States? Crimes are committed even in 
 Massachusetts. He was glad that the blacks were free 
 and took the occasion to express his "very decided opin 
 ion," which he had always held, that the Southern States 
 are in the Union "and that they never could have been 
 placed out of the Union, without the consent of their sis 
 ter States. The insurrection terminated, the authority 
 of the government was thereby reinstated; eo instanti 
 they were invested with all the rights belonging to them 
 individually, I mean as States." The "sole authority" 
 for the Congressional acts of the war period was the 
 authority to "suppress insurrection." He praised An 
 drew Johnson s message, which took the same view. 
 Having conversed with many of the rebel leaders, he 
 found "they are now as anxious to return, as in their in 
 sanity they were anxious to leave us." 
 
 For the care of the freedmen, the Freedmen s Bureau 
 had been established on March 3, 1865, and, as it was found 
 that the original act did not go far enough, Trumbull 
 introduced, from the judiciary committee, a supplemen 
 tary act to enlarge the powers of the Bureau. Johnson at 
 once suggested delay and, on January 23, expressed 
 himself as anxious to provide for the freedmen, but as 
 doubtful of the power of Congress, especially as to the 
 proposal to authorize the Bureau to go into the States 
 and buy lands for the freedmen. The United States can 
 buy lands for the arsenals, etc., but not for this purpose. 
 Slavery having been abolished, the negroes stand on the 
 same footing as the whites and, if there be authority to 
 provide for the black, it is because he is a citizen, and so 
 we may clothe and educate all citizens, though the project 
 of a national university had been set aside because of 
 
122 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 supposed lack of power. The nation cannot buy lands 
 for philanthropic purposes. He had no partisan objection 
 and thanked God that the rebellion had been suppressed 
 as he had desired, but he must keep within the Con 
 stitution. Suppose that part of the Eastern Shore were 
 bought up for this purpose. "Do you believe that 
 Maryland would be satisfied to have that portion of 
 our State, one of the fairest portions upon the face of 
 the globe, capable of producing almost an unlimited 
 amount, not only of the necessaries, but of the luxuries 
 of life, put into the hands of the blacks exclusively?" 
 Trouble would surely follow, though Johnson believed 
 negroes were as safe in Maryland as in Massachusetts. 
 
 Heaven knows, I have no prejudice against the race. Brought 
 up among them, associating with them in boyhood and since, 
 giving to them and receiving from them acts of kindness, I 
 have no possible prejudice against them, but still I know that 
 nature has made them so distinct from our race that, with the 
 mass of mankind, there will be and perhaps must be more or 
 less of prejudice, more or less of unwillingness on the part of 
 
 the whites to be associated with the blacks I 
 
 believe that they are capable of as much a high civilization as 
 the white race. I have seen as much native talent exhibited 
 in the black race as I have seen exhibited in the white race 
 and I believe .... they will ere long become valuable 
 citizens of the country. 
 
 He felt that " slave labor cannot .... com 
 pete with free labor." Creswell, Johnson s radical col 
 league, spoke of outrages on the Eastern Shore for the 
 purpose of driving refugees and freedmen from Maryland, 
 alleging that juries were summoned by rebel sheriffs 
 and were composed mostly of the very worst rebels. 
 Johnson replied, in tone of apology, claiming that the 
 outrages are exceptions and saying that he "once took 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 123 
 
 an active part in a movement to prevent the exiling of 
 free blacks from Maryland" and so had a right to speak. 
 It was largely through Creswell s insistence that the 
 bill originally drafted for the States in rebellion was 
 amended to extend to the whole Union; 5 but Johnson, 
 insisting that there was no more need of applying the 
 law in Maryland than in Massachusetts, read from 
 Governor Swann s speech, refusing to endorse Creswell, 
 and from letters written by members of the Maryland 
 Senate, stating that a man was killed in a drunken broil 
 in Worcester County who, Creswell said, had been ruth 
 lessly murdered by a rebel soldier. 
 
 The cognate civil rights bill, also introduced by 
 Trumbull, was opposed by Johnson, as beyond the power 
 of Congress, although he patriotically tried to amend it 
 to make it as free from objections as possible. The 
 bill proposed to define citizenship. Johnson went out 
 of his way to say that, since the Dred Scott decision, a 
 person of African descent was not a citizen ; for, on that 
 point, the opinion dealt with an essential matter, even 
 though what was said of the Missouri Compromise might 
 be obiter. If it were not for the ruling of the Supreme 
 Court, he should hold that the negroes were citizens, even 
 when slavery existed. Johnson was anxious to get a good 
 constitutional definition of citizenship and also to pro 
 tect the colored race in all proper rights, but this bill 
 proposed to sweep away the police power. An act made 
 obnoxious to the whole community, like the fugitive 
 slave law, is of no practical importance, because it is a 
 dead letter. Some States forbade intermarriage of 
 negroes and whites and this law would destroy all State 
 power in the matter. What will be the standing of In 
 dians, who are wards of the United States? Lane of 
 
 5 February S. 
 
124 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Kansas said that Indians in his State had already taken 
 allotments of lands. Johnson admitted that those who had 
 separated themselves from their tribes ought to be citi 
 zens, but if their citizenship does not date from birth, 
 it does not come from buying land, but will require 
 Congressional legislation. Congress may admit to citi 
 zenship foreign subjects in annexed territories and has 
 done so. It is " an anomaly that says there shall not be 
 the rights of citizenship to any of the inhabitants of any 
 State." Trumbull had used the word "inhabitant" 
 in the bill, 6 and Johnson pointed out that he had made it 
 thus impossible for any State "to draw any distinction 
 between citizens, who have been there from birth, or 
 have been residents for a long time, and him who comes 
 into the State now for the first time as a foreigner. He 
 becomes at once an inhabitant. If he comes from Eng 
 land, or from any of the countries of the world, he be 
 comes that moment an inhabitant; and if this bill is to 
 pass in the shape it stands, he can buy, he can sell, he 
 can hold, he can inherit and be inherited from, and possess 
 all the rights of a native born citizen," without being 
 naturalized. Johnson held that the phrase, "all men 
 are created equal," covered negroes, for it was idle to 
 deny that a negro is a person, in many respects the same 
 as a white, though his intellectual capacity may be less. 7 
 He moved to strike out, "without distinction of color," 
 from the definition of citizenship in the bill, as he was anx 
 ious to do away with all questions involving rights which 
 may be supposed to exist in one race and not in the other. 
 The bill was passed and vetoed by President Johnson. 
 In the debate which preceded the passage of the bill over 
 the veto, Johnson delivered an important speech on 
 
 6 Vide 2 Elaine 174. 
 
 7 On February i . 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 125 
 
 April 5. He defended warmly the veto power, which 
 was given to guard the executive department, the States, 
 and the citizens against encroachments by the legisla 
 tive department and against inexpedient and ill-con 
 sidered legislation. The President has a right to veto 
 a bill on the grounds of expediency, as well as of consti 
 tutionality, as Madison said in the Federalist, although 
 the Whigs had held otherwise in Jackson s times. An 
 drew Johnson in 1860 had merely said that, when a bill 
 was passed by a large majority, great caution was neces 
 sary in vetoing it. This was not a declaratory act, but 
 one which changed the whole theory of government. 
 The bill struck at all the reserved rights of the States. 
 If Congress can so legislate as to blacks, the same may 
 be done as to whites and the States are virtually abolished. 
 
 It is the business of the general government to protect the 
 citizens of the United States, where that protection cannot be 
 obtained through the instrumentality of the States, but where 
 the rights of the citizens of the United States are given by State 
 laws over subjects intrusted exclusively to State legislation, 
 it is the exclusive business of the State to protect them. 
 
 This law, which invaded the jurisdiction of the States 
 over their criminal code, is based on the " perilous de 
 lusion" that "the sooner everything is vested in the 
 government of the United States, the better for the coun 
 try/ Under this theory, the government will not last 
 half a century, for anarchy and then despotic power would 
 result. The only constitutional authority for Congress to 
 confer citizenship is found in the naturalization clause, 
 which was designed to remove disabilities arising from 
 the fact of alienage. The bill wrongfully attempts to 
 make all persons born in the United States citizens there 
 of and of the State wherein they reside, but the true view 
 
126 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 is that every free person born in a State, who is a 
 citizen of that State, is also a citizen of the United 
 States, that is to say, birth plus State citizenship 
 equals federal citizenship. The States exclusively pos 
 sess the power to say what persons shall be citizens. 
 "A country as extensive as that of the United States 
 cannot exist, except by means of divided sover 
 eignties." " Removal of the disabilities under the nat 
 uralization laws did not create the party a citizen of 
 any one State. Congress can only accomplish its pur 
 pose by constitutional amendment. The bill provided 
 that any judge who shall hold this law unconstitutional 
 and a State law to be in force, in spite of this law, shall 
 be punished and thus "usurps a power, inconsistent 
 with the independence and integrity of the State judi 
 ciary." The President is correct in saying that it is 
 not right to change the whole domestic economy of 
 eleven States, as this bill does, in the absence of their 
 representatives. It is not their fault that they are not 
 here. They have organized and await Congressional leg 
 islation. The executive and the judiciary depart 
 ments recognize these States. "We alone stand in the 
 way of a complete restoration." Irrespective of party 
 considerations, what can harm us from their presence. 
 The rights of black men are as safe in the South as in the 
 North. Many disloyal men can be found in Illinois, 
 if disloyalty is proven by want of confidence in Congress. 
 Indeed Lincoln himself advocated secession in 1848. 
 Andrew Johnson s career, as held by Trumbull, "a 
 gentleman who stands at the head of the bar in America 
 at this time, "has been thoroughly loyal and not inconsist 
 ent. 
 
 On January n, Johnson replied to Senator T. O. 
 Howe of Wisconsin upon the subject of the Provisional 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 27 
 
 Governments of the Southern States. 8 S. S. Cox 9 was 
 much impressed by this speech of the "sturdy and fervid 
 Mary lander," "with venerable English form" and "ex 
 pressive mouth." The "cunning of fence and the cour 
 age of conviction of the Marylander were resistless" and 
 "his elocution, albeit trained in the solemn hush and 
 seclusiveness of the Supreme Court, was loud, orotund 
 and defiant." Howe had maintained that the war had 
 reduced the seceding States to the condition of terri 
 tories and Johnson reiterated, in his reply, his old posi 
 tion that the nation can not war upon a State, but can 
 suppress insurrection. 
 
 It was a police power, given to Congress as such, not a power, 
 under which, by any possible mode in which it could be exer 
 cised, any conquest, in the proper sense of the term, was to 
 be achieved, not a power by which there was to be extinguished 
 any existing institution in any one of the States, and, above all, 
 not a power to destroy a State or States. 
 
 The Federalist and the unanimous opinion of the 
 Supreme Court in the Prize Cases were cited in confir 
 mation of Johnson s view that the "power actually 
 given was a power to preserve, not to destroy," to make 
 the government perpetual. It seemed to him to follow 
 that a continued use of the police power was "a simple 
 absurdity," when an insurrection is suppressed and the 
 condition which required resort to that power was at an 
 end. If the ordinances of secession were void, they 
 could not take States out of the Union. "If the citi 
 zens had not a right to be disloyal, their disloyalty could 
 not put them out" and they always were in the Union. 
 
 8 On December 19, he spoke in favor of printing Carl Schurz s report on 
 conditions in the South. 
 
 9 Three decades of Federal Legislation 354. 
 
128 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Lincoln s proclamations in 1861 spoke of "the insurrec 
 tion." The United States now collect customs in the 
 Southern ports under laws passed antecedent to the re 
 bellion. The Sea Islands had been sold to pay for South 
 Carolina s direct tax. District attorneys and marshals 
 had been appointed in the South, yet, by the Supreme 
 Court s decision, 10 the judicial system would not extend 
 to it, if the States had become territories. The Supreme 
 Court, even during the war, allotted judges to the rebel 
 States. The Federal authority conquered, "in the name 
 of the Constitution and laws of the United States," 
 and declared 
 
 to the insurgents this is your constitution and your laws and 
 you are bound by them, as you were before you attempted to 
 resist their authority. ...... We said that, notwith 
 standing their acts of secession and hostility, they were still 
 States and their citizens were bound to obey the Constitution 
 and laws of the United States. They denied this and we won, 
 but have gained what may scarce!} be called a victory, if we 
 have put down an insurrection and have lost States in so doing. 
 
 If the secession ordinances had any validity, the "war 
 upon our part has been a great crime." If the "Consti 
 tution confers no right of separation," the ordinances 
 were void and separation can not be "effected by the 
 conduct of the individual citizens." Every man in the in 
 surrection was a traitor, whether he can now be presented 
 for treason or not, and he is still a traitor, if he attempted 
 to resist by arms one hour before hostilities terminated, 
 since "he was then and is still a citizen of the United 
 States." The result did not depend on the number of 
 citizens in insurrection. "The offence of these citizens 
 was a refusal to participate in the councils of the nation. 
 
 10 Canter v. Am. Ins. Co. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 29 
 
 The proposition is that that refusal has put them in a con 
 dition, in which they "have no right to participate in 
 such councils and cannot participate, unless we, here 
 after, at any time when, in our judgment, we may 
 think proper, give them the right." Yet at the beginning 
 of the war, the statutes authorized the President to 
 collect revenue on shipboard off the ports of the seceded 
 States and to declare a state of insurrection there, where 
 upon commercial intercourse should cease, "so long 
 as such condition of hostility continue." Castine and 
 part of Maine were seized by the British during the war 
 of 1812, but, "the moment the place was abandoned, the 
 authority of the United States became reinstated proprio 
 vigor e n . . . . It revived just as animal life revives 
 in certain cases, after temporary suspension." This 
 remarkable speech closed with the expression of hope for 
 harmony and prosperity. 12 
 
 In January, Mr. Elaine proposed in the House a reso 
 lution which developed into the provision of the Four 
 teenth Amendment in reference to citizenship and the ap 
 portionment of representation. The amendment passed 
 the House in the latter part of the month and in the 
 debate upon it in the Senate on February 9, Johnson 
 spoke at length in opposition to granting negroes suffrage. 
 Under the old mode of ascertaining representation in 
 Congress, the country had "prospered wonderfully," 
 except only during "the four years through which we 
 have so sadly but triumphantly passed." There are no 
 longer slaves and "we all stand upon the same platform. 
 As we came from Nature s God, we stand together upon 
 
 11 U. S. v. Rice 4 Wheaton. 
 
 12 On January 26, he asked Howe whether a Senator, once admitted to the 
 Senate, can be expelled on the ground that his State is not a member of the 
 Union. 
 
I3O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 an equality, as far as related to human rights. The 
 proposed disqualification is a safe one for New England, 
 which had few blacks; but if Maryland makes a different 
 qualification for her 171,000 blacks, all of them are de 
 ducted. Are you afraid of the power of the South? We 
 had believed that Maryland possessed a republican 
 government. The States will not admit the right of 
 Federal government to regulate suffrage within their own 
 limits." Sumner said that the civil rights bill had been 
 passed, can not the same be done as to political rights? 
 Johnson replied that he considered that the earlier bill 
 was unconstitutional. "I had hoped that the time had 
 passed when we were to esteem ourselves a different 
 people. Our fathers esteemed us as one." Northern 
 States have just voted against negro suffrage, yet the 
 effect on them is nothing, compared to what it would be 
 in Maryland and the South. The negro should be left 
 without suffrage to educate himself, "until he can raise 
 himself to the elevation of the white race, as I think he 
 may, and then, if possible, change your organic law." 
 Racial distinctions come from God. By the proposed 
 amendments, Maryland s tax is increased, as the blacks 
 are free, and yet representation is reduced. Kirkwood, 
 who had been born in Maryland, asked why negroes 
 should be counted, if they could not vote, and Johnson 
 replied that he followed Madison, in saying that the 
 right of suffrage and of representation were distinct. 
 Negroes should be counted, for the same reason as women 
 and children who are protected by the State. The edu 
 cational qualification for suffrage in Massachusetts 
 proves that there is no inalienable right to vote, but that 
 the question is one of governmental discretion. We 
 want amity now, as in 1774, when every Southern 
 State rushed to the rescue of Massachusetts. The South 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 13! 
 
 was not wholly to blame for the war. " Although the 
 treason was culminated into actual perpetration by the 
 South, it never could have occurred, but for the misjudged 
 conduct of the North." Johnson labored to defeat 
 the parricidal effort to destroy the government," but now 
 he longed for peace. Lincoln had once used words, as if 
 he believed in the right to secede, and so had Jefferson 
 in the Kentucky resolves, "a terrible document, a mis 
 chievous document." States once admitted are in the 
 Union forever, as far as Congress is concerned. The 
 Southern States have reorganized themselves and their 
 representatives should be received. The Supreme Court 
 in Luther vs. Borden, decided that the President had the 
 right to determine when a State had a republican form 
 of government. 
 
 Johnson spoke again on the status of the Southern 
 States upon March i. Having thought over the matter 
 carefully, he felt more strongly than ever that he was 
 right. The war is over and the " paramount obligation 
 due" to the United States is recognized everywhere by the 
 Southerners. They do not wish to resist and the govern 
 ment should give them the same privileges as residents 
 in loyal States. Sumner discussed the character of the 
 United States, as if we lived under one government, 
 " paramount everywhere without limitation." Johnson 
 recited the events leading up to the adoption of the Con 
 stitution, which for the execution of its own powers looks 
 to no State interference, to no State assistance, but to the 
 direct responsibility of each individual citizen to the 
 government within the limit of the powers conferred upon 
 the government." The government is "partly national 
 and partly federal." The States are absolutely necessary 
 for the existence of the government. "He who seeks 
 to blot out of existence a State, strikes a blow at the 
 
132 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 very life of the government;" for the "continuing whole 
 some existence of the government depends upon the 
 continuing existence of the States. The general govern 
 ment is infinitely more dependent upon the States than 
 the States are upon the general government." The 
 Constitution never contemplated that the government 
 should " possess, under any state of circumstances, the 
 power to put an end to a State." Sumner s suicide 
 theory, now approved by a majority of the Senate, was 
 not received in 1862. "If, flagrante hello, the Senate 
 considered them as States, in the name of reason, why are 
 they not to consider them as States, now that the war 
 is ended." If they are States still, their relation is the 
 same as before secession and they are entitled to repre 
 sentation in the Senate, if they can present persons who 
 have the individual requirements to take seats there. 
 There would be no danger to the public weal to permit 
 this and party danger is not to be recognized. Anyone 
 should be admitted, who can take the oath. In such be 
 lief, Johnson had presented a number of credentials for 
 Southern Senators, who are now as loyal as Sumner him 
 self. 13 
 
 The government of the United States is not a government 
 over the State at all. The government of the United States 
 and the government of the State are equally, as far as the 
 people of that State are concerned, the government of the 
 people of that State. They owe allegiance to a much greater 
 extent to the government of the State. 
 
 The judicial system of the nation and the Senate depend 
 on the States. The Supreme Court is now receiving rec- 
 
 13 He claimed that Wade and Chase had supported secession resolves in 
 1859, but promptly apologized, when Wade denied this as to himself and 
 Sherman as to Chase, vide March 2. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 133 
 
 ords from decisions of courts in rebel States and hearing 
 cases from these States. A government can not conquer 
 itself. During the war, Wade himself had said: "Once 
 a State of this Union always a State." As a member of 
 the Judiciary Committee during the war, Johnson had 
 agreed that it would be improper (not illegal) to admit 
 the representatives from the rebel States without an 
 act of Congress. "Now the war has been over for a year 
 and you are trying to find out whether Southerners are 
 kind to freedmen." Johnson had ever thought slavery 
 was wrong, but did not quarrel with the other view. He 
 believed that the results of emancipation "will be ex 
 ceedingly advantageous," but thought that those van 
 quished in the greatest rebellion the world had ever 
 witnessed should be taken back and granted peace, as 
 Vattel advised should be done, when a rebellion was 
 crushed. 
 
 It meant much to the country to have in the Senate, so 
 fair-minded a man as Johnson, who could say 14 that the 
 Committee of Fifteen was perfectly impartial and gave 
 subpoenas when asked. " I differed from the committee, 
 but never saw the slightest reason to suspect that they de 
 signed anything that was not perfectly just and fair." 15 
 
 An echo of a controversy which has not yet died down 
 was heard on May I, when Johnson read a letter from 
 Wade Hampton, who had written him as South Carolina 
 had no Senator, denying Sherman s charge that Hamp 
 ton burnt Columbia, accusing Sherman s soldiers of 
 burning the town, and asking for an investigation of the 
 matter. Johnson vouched for Hampton s veracity, 
 having known him long before the war and asked that 
 
 14 On March 15. 
 
 16 His eulogy on Solomon Foot of Vermont on April 1 2 is another proof of 
 his friendly relations with northern Republicans. 
 
134 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 the letter be referred to the Committee on Military 
 Affairs. Fessenden objected to the reading of private 
 letters and John Sherman defended his brother, where 
 upon Johnson rejoined that he considered the letter as 
 a memorial and had shown it to John Sherman, who 
 thought it might well be presented with Sherman s reply. 
 He then withdrew his motion, remarking that he was far 
 from justifying Hampton, who may have thought his 
 conduct right, though "he sinned very materially against 
 his duty," and that " nobody can think higher of the 
 gallant general," Sherman, "to whom we are indebted so 
 much for the termination of the rebellion, than I do." 
 He favored a constitutional definition of citizenship 
 which 16 was recognized, but not defined, by the original 
 instrument. Without such definition he was not pre 
 pared to say that everyone born within the United 
 States is a citizen. The Indian tribes are subject to our 
 jurisdiction, but we recognize some sort of national exist 
 ence of theirs, though under no constitutional obligation 
 to do so. The grant of citizenship to them should be 
 avoided and the term, "Indians not taxed," which had 
 a fixed meaning, should be introduced in the definition as 
 an exception. The proposed Fourteenth Amendment 
 excluded too many from office. 
 
 All history shows, as I think, that, on the conclusion of a 
 civil war, the more mild, consistently with the safety of the 
 country, the measures which are adopted, the better for the 
 restoration of entire peace and harmony. 
 
 The South will refuse to accept the amendment, 
 which will disfranchise nine-tenths of the whites. Har 
 mony is yet far off and the South is kept in thralldom, 
 wherefrom it is less prosperous and the whole country 
 
 16 On May 30. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 135 
 
 suffers. If the amendment were divided the difficulty 
 would be less. This war was not like many civil wars, 
 for it grew "out of a difference of constitutional opinion," 
 in which opinion the South was honest, although its 
 view was " wrong, dangerous, unconstitutional, and in 
 consistent with the continuance of the Union." Treason 
 had been committed, but the men who formerly held 
 public offices are no more traitors than those who did 
 not. He cited 17 the case of ex parte Garland, which had 
 not yet been decided, but which he had argued before 
 the Supreme Court, and urged that the operation of 
 the President s pardon was to clear the person pardoned 
 from the obligation to take the iron clad oath. He was 
 forced by Howe to admit that the power to pardon from 
 the operation of a statute was greater than from the oper 
 ation of a constitutional amendment. All his attempts 
 failed to have the exclusion of the State officials removed 
 from the resolution, or the length of time diminished 
 during which the oath of allegiance had previously been 
 taken. He even struggled to prevent 18 the diminution 
 of votes from applying to municipal elections. 19 Up till 
 the passage of the amendment, everyone thought the 
 basis of representation depended on the entire number 
 of the people represented; but "the effect of the excep 
 tion is to deny to the black man the right of representa 
 tion, unless the State shall secure him the right to the 
 franchise." The right of the State to control the fran 
 chise is thus admitted. In Maryland, the exclusion of 
 the blacks, who are a fourth of the population and who 
 
 17 On May 31, vide 2 Elaine Twenty Years 209. 
 
 1S On June 6 
 
 11 2 Elaine 212 calls attention to the fact that the disqualification clause 
 was made stronger in the Senate than in the House and Johnson was the only 
 man who voted against the substitute, while even he afterward said that he 
 did so under a misapprehension 
 
136 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 are the only class of people excluded from the suffrage 
 will cause the South to lose at least one Congressman. 20 
 The result will be ruinous to the South. In Maryland 
 there is a contest for negro suffrage and this amendment 
 is a provision to force such suffrage on the State. The 
 free States have a majority of seventy-two now in the 
 House of Representatives, which is surely enough to 
 protect their interests. Johnson appealed to the Sen 
 ators not to interfere with the "rights secured to the 
 Southern States now by the Constitution, which our 
 fathers gave us, upon the pretext, utterly without founda 
 tion, that the rights of your respective States will be sub 
 ject to the slightest peril, by continuing the representation 
 as it stands." In 1787, the fathers determined that a 
 nation was to be created by means of their wisdom and a 
 nation they did create, awful in war, happy and conser 
 vative in peace. It is an anti-republican doctrine that 
 people within the limits of a State are not represented. 
 Representation and franchise are different. The whole 
 effect of the proposal is to strike a blow at States now in 
 the Union, unless they will agree to a policy at war with 
 the past and exclude some of the best and wisest of their 
 men. All the States except Texas have organized and 
 the executive and judiciary departments recognize them. 
 Reference of the amendment to them for ratification 
 recognizes them also. Let us wait until these States are 
 represented in Congress and advise with us as to consti 
 tutional amendments. In 1865, Judge Nelson said South 
 Carolina was entitled to the full enjoyment of her con 
 stitutional rights and privileges. 21 We should terminate 
 present conditions, readmit the Southerners to Congress, 
 and make the Union prosperous and happy. His words 
 
 20 On June 8. 
 
 21 Egan case. He was tried by a military commission. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 137 
 
 fell on deaf ears and he voted with the minority against 
 the amendment. 22 
 
 His anxiety to have the States restored was shown by 
 his voting to recognize Tennessee, though he had no 
 official knowledge of the truth of the statement made in 
 the preamble of the resolve that that State had, in good 
 faith, adopted the Fourteenth Amendment. 23 He was 
 also urgent that Senator Patterson from that State be 
 admitted 24 to take an oath, subject to the possibility of 
 punishment for perjury. 
 
 He still insisted 25 that loyal slaveholders be paid with 
 interest for slaves who enlisted in the Union army and 
 who were properly declared free because of that fact. 
 
 If there are any men in the United States who should be 
 treated with generosity, to say nothing of justice, it is the men 
 who remained loyal to the Union and true to their duty and 
 the flag of the Union in Maryland, who were slaveholders and 
 who were willing to let the institution go, rather than see the 
 government of the Union put at hazard. 
 
 When the Fourteenth Amendment shall have been 
 adopted, no further payment can be made on this account, 
 consequently this payment should be made quickly. 26 
 
 22 On July 7, he made a strenuous struggle to be permitted to present a 
 report made by the minority of three in the Committee of Fifteen on Recon 
 struction. Johnson had been in Pennsylvania in the end of June and asked 
 Hendricks to present it, but he had been refused permission so to do; because 
 he was not a member of the committee, because it was not customary to re 
 ceive such reports, and because it was not presented with the majority report. 
 Johnson showed that such minority reports had been made in at least three 
 previous years and won his fight to lay before the people views on the Consti 
 tutional Amendment different from those of the majority. 
 
 23 On July 21. 
 
 24 On July 26. 
 
 25 On July 23. Creswell supported him. 
 
 26 He was more successful in urging, on July 24, as an act of humanity and 
 justice to the exceedingly improverished South, the suspension of the direct 
 tax, in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee of Fifteen. 
 
138 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 During all this struggle, his relations to his Republican 
 associates continued cordial. They recognized in him 
 a Union man, who could say, in his eulogy 27 on Collamer, 
 that he died just after the fratricidal blow, aimed "at 
 the nation s life by wicked ambition, proving for a time 
 able to mislead the honest masses of the South, was 
 so utterly defeated and crushed that its renewal is im 
 possible." 
 
 During the session he frequently spoke on the affairs 
 of the District of Columbia. He held that a corporation, 28 
 chartered there by Congress, would have no power to 
 transact business outside of the District; but, if no law 
 of a State prevented, the corporation might go into a 
 State and buy land there. He discussed the proposed 
 alterations in the jurisdiction 29 of the courts of the Dis 
 trict, the marriage laws, 30 the privilege of railroads there, 31 
 and the enlargement of the capitol grounds. 32 He felt 
 there was no danger of annulling the provision of the 
 Maryland Bill of Rights 33 and permitting people to 
 give to churches what they think proper, free from re 
 striction, because we have no state religion and the many 
 sects are watchful of each other. Johnson had been a 
 member of the Senate in 1846 and defended the recession 
 of Alexandria to Virginia, which he thought clearly 
 within the Federal power. The rest of the District might 
 also be receded and the site of the capital changed. We 
 had a government before we had a capital and the ab 
 sence of it will not destroy the government. If Congress 
 
 27 On December 14. 
 
 28 On March 7 and 21. 
 
 29 On April 2. 
 
 30 On April 3. 
 
 31 On May 21. 
 
 32 On July 10. 
 
 33 On July 20. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 139 
 
 remove the capital, they are not compelled to remain rulers 
 of the land, but may surrender it, as forts or dockyards 
 are surrendered to the States, when the exigency demand 
 ing their use terminated. 34 
 
 If the act of secession was unconstitutional, it is void; 
 if constitutional, Congress can not impair it. It is folly 
 to say, as Howard did, that Alexandria was receded at 
 the beginning of the rebellion. The fact that Alexandria 
 voted in favor of returning to Virginia does not make the 
 law void. 35 If Alexandria was not retroceded, how is 
 West Virginia a State. To take back the territory would 
 increase Federal expenses. The District needs no in 
 crease in territory, while some paramount consideration 
 should be urged to justify the legislating for and taxing 
 people without representation, contrary to the very 
 spirit of our government. 
 
 Questions of interstate and foreign commerce brought 
 Johnson often on the floor. 36 "Under the authority to 
 regulate commerce," he held 37 that 
 
 Congress has no power to construct a bridge, unless it owns 
 the land on either side, but that the authority to construct is 
 vested in the States alone, where the States have jurisdiction 
 on both sides of the river over which the bridge is to be thrown. 
 Congress, however, have the authority, under the commercial 
 power, to prescribe what draws are necessary, in order to avoid 
 any impediment to navigation, or whether bridges are to be 
 built without draws and with an elevation which will remove 
 all danger of impediment to the river. 
 
 34 July 10 and n. 
 
 35 In this speech, Johnson referred to his great contemporary, Henry Winter 
 Davis, as "eminent as a lawyer, as well as a politician, and, in my judgment, 
 more often wrong in the latter capacity than he was in the first." 
 
 36 On January 15, he spoke on the Wheeling Bridge case. 
 
 37 On July 1 8. 
 
I4O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Neither the commercial nor the war power gives 
 Congress the right to keep out the Asiatic cholera.* 1 
 He believed that the commercial power was intended 
 to be exclusive and, if Congress failed to regulate com 
 merce entirely, it would have declared that it had 
 placed matters in the condition in which they should 
 remain. The commercial power does not conflict with 
 the police power of the States to preserve the health or 
 morals of their citizens and with their exclusive power to 
 establish quarantines. If Congress can legislate as to the 
 health, it can do so after a disease comes into the coun 
 try, and if it has authority to prevent the spread of 
 disease, it could prevent it through restrictions on inter 
 state commerce also. 
 
 He objected to the bill for interstate intercourse. 89 
 
 A Constitution is worth nothing practically, if it is not to 
 be considered as authoritatively decided after years of deliber 
 ation and frequent decisions by every department of the 
 government. 
 
 It has been decided that commerce within the State 
 is purely under the State s control. Individual judgment 
 must not be used. 
 
 When we swear to support the Constitution of the United 
 States, we are bound to construe it, in order to support it, as 
 the framers of the Constitution are known to have construed 
 it and the people by whom it was adopted are known to have 
 construed it and to have adopted it because of that construction. 
 
 The States may prescribe the terms of railroad chart 
 ers, and provide for their forfeiture, while Congress may 
 not grant such railroads powers not in their charters, 
 which franchises will be unforfeitable by the State. He 
 
 as On May n and 15. 
 39 On April 26. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 14! 
 
 defended 40 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for its con 
 duct during the war, when Lincoln and Stanton held 
 it to be invaluable to the Union. It was planning a 
 branch to Port of Rocks and was anxious to complete 
 the Connellsville Railroad to Pittsburg. In the Circuit 
 Court at Wilkesbarre in the preceding summer, Johnson 
 had won a decision that the Pennsylvanian repeal of that 
 charter was unconstitutional. 41 He proposed that the 
 rates be not greater than the State allows. 42 Fessenden 
 remarked that "a very selfish and odious condition" 
 resulted in Maryland and New Jersey from monopoly 
 given railroads. Johnson at once defended his State and 
 the Baltimore and Ohio charter, which had been opposed 
 by the Baltimore and Washington turnpike men. In 
 stead of a bonus for the charter, a fifth of the fares on 
 the Washington branch went to the State. Fessenden 
 said that Maryland levied contributions on the citizens 
 of other States. Johnson said that Maryland was not 
 ashamed. Fessenden came from an inhospitable part 
 of the country, surpassed by Maryland in climate and 
 in such natural products as oysters, terrapins, crabs, 
 and ducks. 
 
 If Maryland had been, as Maine has been from the first, a 
 free State, she would have had a population now as numerous 
 and as enterprising as is the population of the State of Maine. 
 
 As it is, Maryland will soon outnumber her. 43 
 
 John P. Stockton, the Democratic candidate from 
 New Jersey for the Senatorship, had been returned as 
 
 40 On May 3, Creswell spoke in defense of Maryland. 
 
 41 He explained why the Baltimore and Ohio and the Northern Central 
 Railroads would not sell through tickets and checks from Washington to 
 Harrisburg. 
 
 42 On May 29. 
 
 43 In spite of his irenical disposition, Johnson had frequently such argu 
 ments, e.g., with Trumbull on February 23 and March 26. 
 
142 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 elected by a plurality vote of the legislature, in accord 
 ance with a resolution passed by it, after it appeared 
 that no candidate could command the votes of a mcijor- 
 ity of the members. His right to a seat was disputed 
 partly on constitutional and partly on partisan grounds. 
 Johnson took part in the debate and maintained 44 that the 
 Constitution did not settle what constitutes a legislature. 
 In 1787, Pennsylvania s legislature consisted of one House 
 only. The joint convention of the legislature had the 
 right to elect, when a majority of the whole number was 
 present, although not one member of one of the Houses 
 were present. The convention had also the right to 
 provide that a plurality should elect a Senator. Stock 
 ton voted on his right to a seat and Senator Morrill broke 
 a pair in order to vote against Stockton. The vote stood 
 22 to 21 in Stockton s favor. Stockton was ill advised in 
 voting, for, in the case of a tie, he would have remained 
 in the Senate, with a prima facie title. When the Senate 
 met again, Sumiier attacked Stockton, moved to cor 
 rect the Journal, by striking out Stockton s vote, and 
 said that Morrill had broken his pair, after obtaining 
 the approval of Sumner, who in turn had consulted with 
 Johnson. Johnson defended Stockton s act, as the case 
 was one of the State of New Jersey, and Stockton s 
 only interest was the insignificant one of his pay as Sena 
 tor. 45 Though the Journal was not corrected, parlia 
 mentary steps were taken, which led to the rejection 
 of Stockton from his seat, by a vote of 22 to 21, in the 
 absence, through illness, of Stockton s colleague from 
 New Jersey, who would have voted for him. Johnson 
 
 44 On March 22. 
 
 45 On March 26. White s Lyman Trumbull at page 264 speaks of this 
 speech as "a pathetic appeal to the fraternal feeling and gentlemanly instincts 
 of Senators." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 143 
 
 properly reprobated the refusal of the majority to post 
 pone the matter and claimed that "I speak in no party 
 sense. Those, who know the political principles which 
 I have entertained, from the time I came into public 
 life up to the present time, are not warranted in calling 
 me a Democrat. I never was." 46 The statement is 
 paradoxical but true, for Johnson was, to the end of his 
 life, a border State Union man and an old line Whig, 
 though, for want of another party to advocate his 
 principles, he found, at times, a more congenial refuge 
 with the Democrats than with the Republicans. 
 
 He favored relieving Supreme Court Judges of Circuit 
 Court work, but wished to continue appeals in many 
 cases to the higher tribunal, feeling that the law would 
 thus be more uniform and more respected by the State 
 courts. He opposed allowing a judge who sat on a case 
 below to sit in bane on an appeal, but 47 saw no objection 
 to clerks being related to the judges. 
 
 Johnson defended a bill for the protection of federal of 
 ficers. 48 In every well regulated government, he thought, 
 the judicial department should be coextensive with the 
 legislative. If the rightful authority of the government 
 could not have been maintained by the courts, our insti 
 tutions would have failed and the general government 
 would have been comparatively futile. The provision 
 of the judiciary act of 1/89 that cases involving Federal 
 questions might be carried, by writ of error, from State 
 courts to the Supreme Court was very important. 
 Whenever the validity of Federal law is questioned, 
 the United States should have jurisdiction. If the State 
 court tries to execute its judgment in spite of such re- 
 
 4fi On March 27. 
 
 47 On April 2 and 4. 
 
 48 On April 20. 
 
144 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 moval, its officers should be punished, for it would not 
 be a case of erroneous judgment, but of a violation of a 
 Federal statute, which Congress has authority to pass. 
 Many abuses of authority have been committed by 
 those to whom the management of the suppression of 
 the rebellion has been intrusted. "1 believe the sup 
 pression would have been just as effectual, obeying 
 the constitutional limits. I believed, in the beginning, 
 that it was all important that the writ of habeus corpus 
 should be suspended," and supported Lincoln against 
 Taney in that position. "If I were wrong, every officer 
 who refused to obey the proclamation would be respon 
 sible." Johnson thought military commissions merely 
 covered the army, the executive thought differently and 
 many were punished under them. Johnson tried in 
 vain to persuade the Commission, who tried Lincoln s 
 assassins, that they had no power, but, in ex parte Mil- 
 ligan, he won from the Supreme Court a decision that 
 there was no authority for a court martial, or a military 
 commission, to try a civilian, unless he happened to be 
 a spy and so brought within the scope of military law. 
 Johnson upheld the power of the President to reappoint 
 to an office a man whose appointment had been rejected 
 by the Senate. The breach between Andrew Johnson 
 and Congress was widening daily, and the conservatism 
 which was characteristic of Reverdy Johnson, as a true 
 Marylander, led him to support the President. The 
 discussion over the post office appropriation bill led 
 Johnson to express his views on April 23. The power to 
 appoint to office can not be taken from the President 
 and, as it is his duty to keep the offices filled, recess 
 appointments continue until the end of the next ses 
 sion of Congress, in spite of rejection of the men ap 
 pointed. The appointee has a right to the salary and, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 145 
 
 if Congress can not prevent an appointment, they should 
 not prevent the pay. If a man die during the session 
 and the fact is not known, the President does not have to 
 wait the Senate s convening to fill the vacancy. The 
 President has also the power 49 to remove, a power not 
 expressly put in the Constitution, but inferred. The 
 Senate abandoned any attempt to attack Jackson for 
 his removals. Congress may refuse to pay salaries, 
 but has no moral right to do so. A President may be 
 starved out as well as impeached, but such a precedent 
 may return to plague the inventor. Arguing with Trum- 
 bull, Johnson continued that to grant the President 
 power to remove and deny him that to appoint is to 
 hinder the government. "It is not my good fortune 
 to see President Johnson, except very seldom and 
 that upon matters of business." He is a "man of firm 
 ness." Johnson, not being under the influence of party 
 spirit, emphasized the danger of trouble between Con 
 gress and the President and of divided counsels, 
 when there was danger of war with Austria and France 
 over Mexico. We are not legislating for the hour and 
 the President can not properly man the offices, if he has 
 to find persons disposed to take place, on the contin 
 gency that the Senate will approve their nominations. 
 He can see 50 to the faithful execution of the laws only 
 through subordinates, and, although he may abuse 
 the power of removal, all powers, even those of Con 
 gress, involve such possibilities of abuse. The proposal 
 "strikes a vital blow at the executive department and is 
 inconsistent with all the objects which it was the pur 
 pose of the Convention to have accomplished through 
 the instrumentality of that department." "Nobody 
 
 4> On April 30. 
 
 "On May i. 
 
146 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 has ever impeached the personal integrity of any Presi 
 dent, though members of Congress have been expelled 
 for improper conduct. 51 Fillmore removed a territorial 
 judge, who applied for a mandamus, but meantime 
 the Senate had approved a nomination in his place. 
 Did that remove from office the original incumbent? 
 In any case, the proposed provision is not fittingly 
 placed in an appropriation bill and, if the bill should 
 be vetoed because of the provision, it might be neces 
 sary to close the post offices. 
 
 I will not discuss the differences between the President and 
 Congress, but think those who differ from the President ought 
 charitably to conclude that he, as they, believes he is right 
 and that the differences are honest. Otherwise we will have 
 a distracted country, in more peril than in the Civil War. 
 
 "Andrew Johnson is carrying out Lincoln s policy. 
 It never occurred to the people in the past that the Pres 
 ident could be compelled to retain, in his cabinet, of 
 ficers in whom he had ceased to confide, no matter upon 
 what grounds his confidence was lost." If he must 
 report reasons for the removal to Congress, it must 
 mean that, if the reasons are not satisfactory, the officers 
 must be reinstated and a cabinet of officers, in whom he 
 has no confidence, is forced on the President, or there is 
 laid before the Senate some ground upon which the House 
 of Representatives may impeach the President. The 
 wise prescience of these words was to be proven in the 
 coming months. Johnson discussed, 52 with great incisive- 
 ness, the constitutional decisions on the right to remove 
 officers and called to the attention of the Senate the fact 
 
 51 In Marbury v. Madison the Supreme Court "committed a very grave 
 fault .... by deciding a controversy in a case which was not before 
 them." 
 
 52 On May 2 and 7. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 147 
 
 that, as cabinet officers are not provided expressly by 
 the Constitution, Congress might repeal the laws estab 
 lishing them and leave no such officers. The good sense 
 and patriotism of the men of 1789 showed how important 
 it is to give the President advisers. You must vest 
 powers somewhere and chough the patronage of the gov 
 ernment should not be used for political purposes, 
 precedent shows that removal may be made without 
 assigning cause. 
 
 When the consular and diplomatic bill was debated, 
 Johnson opposed depriving of his salary, Mr. Harvey, 
 the minister to Portugal, who wrote Seward a private 
 letter reflecting on Congress. There was no complaint 
 against Harvey s conduct of his office and it was unjust 
 to force him to serve without pay, or to resign. Johnson 
 was "not in the habit of writing private letters," but 
 did not think they should count against a man. 53 
 
 He opposed the admission of Colorado on the ground 54 
 of want of population. Inequality between States is 
 bad and would not have been ignored in 1787, had not 
 the small States been perfectly independent and un 
 willing to corne in on other terms. Colorado contains 
 only 35,000 people, part of whom are Mexicans. State 
 hood is not needed to protect the people there, since we 
 protect the District of Columbia, which contains 100,000 
 people. "My opinion is that the moment the State is 
 admitted, it is wholly independent of any legislation 
 that Congress may adopt, except such as falls within 
 its delegated powers." 
 
 There is a danger in admitting too many States. 
 Not wealth, but citizens, make a State. It was uncertain, 
 whether the people of Colorado really wished statehood, 
 
 53 On July 20. 
 
 54 On April 25. 
 
148 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 which they rejected in 1864 and now requested by a 
 returned majority of only 155 in 6000 votes. A State 
 constitution should not be forced on the people. The 
 bill passed and was vetoed by the President, 65 and Rev- 
 erdy Johnson defended his right to do so, though the 
 act had no precedent. Congress did not repass the bill 
 and Colorado waited for a decade, before she became a 
 State. 
 
 He felt the condition of the country imperatively 
 demanded a bankruptcy law, 56 and opposed a direct 
 cotton tax. 57 He favored 58 permitting collectors of 
 taxes to deposit funds in national banks, instead of 
 compelling them to use the subtreasury, which would 
 put on them the burden of converting their receipts into 
 legal tender notes. So long as the national banks and 
 the subtreasury are in existence, legislation must enable 
 each to get on without unnecessarily embarrassing the 
 public. He objected to a bill against smuggling, be 
 cause it failed to provide a jury trial and placed the bur 
 den of proving innocence on the defendant, as the pur 
 chaser would have to prove ignorance of the wrongful 
 importation. 59 He opposed a reduction of mileage of 
 members of Congress to twenty cents, 60 as we "have got 
 into the good practice of bringing our families" to Wash 
 ington. Calhoun had rightly said that one of the bonds 
 of the Union is the mileage, and the amount proposed is 
 
 55 On May 21. 
 
 56 On July 23. 
 
 67 On July 6. 
 
 68 On July 19. 
 
 59 On May 14. On July 23, he advocated the act of 1864, which made 
 passage money a lien on real estate and a personal obligation to be paid 
 within twelve months by an immigrant, and provided that the Commissioner 
 of Immigration see that means should be afforded him of being transported 
 whither he might wish to go. 
 
 On July 24. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 149 
 
 not enough to bring the Congressmen s families on it. 
 He defended the graduates of the military academy 
 from the charge of treason. 61 The fault of those, who 
 left the government and were guilty of treason, was 
 palliated by the fact that they received their early edu 
 cation in a part of the United States, where constitu 
 tional secession was taught. 62 
 
 Johnson opposed the purchase of the library of his 
 old friend Pettigru of Charleston, whose last letter, re 
 gretting South Carolina s secession, had been written 
 to Johnson. 63 Old editions of law books are not of much 
 value. Pettigru was not buying books in recent years, 
 relying, as most lawyers do, on bar libraries. Johnson 
 himself bought Wirt s library of four or five thousand 
 volumes for $3000, when he had unfortunately lost his 
 own through the mob s acts. 64 
 
 His charitable disposition was shown by his proposal 
 to appropriate $50,000 for the relief of sufferers from 
 a fire in Portland, Maine. 65 He cited the precedents of 
 appropriations for the sufferers from an explosion in 
 the Washington arsenal, of $20,000 to Alexandria in 
 1812, of lands to the sufferers from the New Madrid 
 earthquake, of $5000 to sufferers from a Venezuelan earth 
 quake in 1812, and of the sending of a ship to Ireland in 
 time of famine. Trumbull objected to the proposition 
 and asked its reference to the Finance Committee. John 
 son replied that Trumbull had recommended the Freed- 
 men s Bureau, which was a charity. Here "is a loss by 
 fire, such as never occurred anywhere else," and individ- 
 
 41 On May 17. 
 
 81 A member of the Peace Convention, who was a secessionist, had just told 
 Johnson: You were right and I was wrong. 
 48 Published in the Intelligencer. 
 4 On May 14. 
 "On July 19. 
 
I5O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 ual aid is inadequate. Buckalew remarked that noth 
 ing had been given Chambersburg when the Confederates 
 burned it, and Johnson replied that it was "impossible 
 to indemnify against the consequences of war," after 
 which speech he had the pleasure of seeing the bill 
 pass the Senate by a vote of twenty-two to eighteen. 66 
 
 Near the close of the session, on July 28, he opposed 
 permitting Fenians to hold their meetings in the build 
 ings of a soldiers orphans home. The Fenians "avowed 
 purpose is to make war upon England," which country 
 would have good right to complain, if such permission 
 be granted. Whether England did right during the 
 rebellion is not now the question. Our recent steps to 
 enforce neutrality laws do us great honor. We want 
 the approval of mankind and Great Britain already 
 shows such admiration of us that the time is near ap 
 proaching, when she will wake up to her own default 
 and pay us damages for it. Europe is in convulsion. 
 We should abstain from doing anything to participate 
 in the struggles. We have won in our own conflict and 
 displayed our powers to an astonished world. Our duty 
 now is to heal our own disorders. England, with all her 
 faults, "is the only constitutional government now upon 
 the face of the habitable globe, except our own, where 
 personal liberty and personal rights are maintained." 
 
 He was so busy with legal practice in those days, that 
 
 GG On miscellaneous topics we note that Johnson opposed, on December 13, 
 a measure for improving the reports of the proceedings of Congress in the 
 Associated Press, as he did not see how it would accomplish anything and 
 considered that the newspapers did no harm in reporting speeches wrongly; 
 spoke on April 20, on rescue of San Francisco passengers in 1853; prophesied, 
 on May 24, that the official history of the rebellion would cost two or three 
 million dollars; advocated, on May 17, raising the salary of clerks, particularly 
 in the Treasury and State Departments; and suggested, on May 16, Round 
 Bay on the Severn River as a freshwater basin for ironclads. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 15! 
 
 he was known to leave the Senate, argue a case in the 
 Supreme Court, and then return to his desk. In the 
 interval between sessions, he was occupied in the work 
 of the law in the Maryland and Pennsylvania courts. 
 On August 14, 1866, a convention of conservative 
 Unionists 67 was held in Philadelphia, in which gathering 
 Johnson took part. An address to the President was 
 there prepared and was presented to him by Johnson 
 in a courtly speech 68 four days later. In the autumn, 
 he took a prominent part in aiding the Democrats in 
 State politics, joined other lawyers in an opinion that 
 the registration law 69 did not apply to elections of 
 municipal corporations, and published with J. H. B. 
 Latrobe 70 an opinion, in opposition to that of Alexander 
 Randall, that new registry lists could be used in Balti 
 more. On November 3, he delivered a speech at Towson 
 "on the questions connected with the condition of the 
 country," 71 in which he took strong ground for speedy 
 readmission of the States, now that the "insane attempt 
 to dissolve the Union" had failed, and for the repeal of 
 the iron clad oath in Maryland. Yet so conservative 
 was he, that he discouraged the calling of a constitu 
 tional convention in the State during 1867, after the 
 Democrats had gained control of the State government, 
 lest the Convention cause too much disturbance. In 
 the Towson speech, after attacking the abolitionists and 
 disunionists, he blamed the South for secession, because 
 of the great inferiority of their power and because the 
 
 67 The so called arm-in-arm convention. DeWitt s Impeachment of Andrew 
 Johnson, in. 
 
 68 Gideon Welles (Diary II p. 582) wrote that Johnson read the address 
 "with some earnestness and emphasis." 
 
 69 3 Scharf Md. 680. 
 
 70 In the Sun for October 2, 1866. 
 
 71 Printed in pamphlet form. Baltimore, 1866, pp. 32. 
 
152 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 ground, on which the legality of their act was placed 
 was "without reasonable w r arrant and was, in its very 
 nature, fatal to an effectual union of States, few or 
 many." He justified, by historical argument, the right 
 of the nation to suppress insurrection. The United 
 States has a " government vested with every necessary 
 power to enforce its jurisdiction against individuals, and 
 to preserve and not subvert its own existence." It has 
 "no power to destroy itself." 
 
 Its extended life depends upon the continuing existence of 
 the States, as its own life is made up of the lives of the States 
 and is totally, or partially, lost, as the latter shall cease to 
 exist totally or partially. . . . Unfounded as the doctrine 
 of State secession was, that of State expulsion by the general 
 government, is, if possible, yet more unfounded. 
 
 This latter doctrine was first announced by Sumner, 
 on February n, 1862, but, in July, 1861, Congress had 
 voted that the war was not waged for any purpose of 
 conquest, or subjugation, and thus had pledged the 
 faith of the nation to a contrary policy. Under that 
 resolution, it mattered not how many States seceded, 
 and Senators and Representatives of such States, like 
 Andrew Johnson, continued in Congress. Under the 
 new doctrine, there might be changes of boundary, or 
 consolidation of the seceding States, and all congres 
 sional restrictions are destroyed as to them, while the 
 laws to be applied to them satisfy an alleged public 
 justice and the "low vulgar passion of avarice." The 
 army makes no such suggestion, knowing that the South 
 can not be properly governed as a conquered province 
 without hundreds of thousands of soldiers. To prove 
 that the States continue as such, Johnson referred to 
 the reapportionment act, to the admission of West 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 153 
 
 Virginia, to the direct tax laws, to the appropriations 
 for salaries of officers of the Federal courts, to the 
 change of judicial circuits in the South, and to the re 
 quirement that the Southern States ratify the constitu 
 tional amendments. The Supreme Court entertains 
 writs of error from the Southern States, which is con 
 clusive proof that the tribunal regards them as States. 
 The presidential plan of reconstruction, "had it pre 
 vailed, when first announced, would long since have 
 restored the Union and, thereby, have brought peace, 
 prosperity and happiness to our now distracted land. 
 The Congressional plan has unwisely and, I think, un 
 constitutionally delayed these happy results and prom 
 ises to delay them indefinitely." It is a most "inex 
 pedient and mischievous proposition, endangering the 
 South s great material interests," and hence endangering 
 the whole nation, which must be kept united to "lead 
 the world on to freedom." Southern men are to be 
 trusted. The power to readmit their States is not legis 
 lative. He even feared a renewal of strife and suspected 
 that the party in power wished to keep out the Southern 
 States for party purposes, until after the next presi 
 dential election. The "enlightened sentiment of the 
 world" was with Johnson, who was only carrying out 
 Lincoln s policy, and the threatened impeachment and 
 suspension of the President, for doing what half of the 
 people approve, is alarming. In Maryland, a large 
 majority of the citizens are excluded from the franchise, 
 and the "best feelings of the heart are made grounds of 
 expulsion of voters from the polls." Even George Pea- 
 body s utterances would exclude him from voting, if he 
 resided in Maryland. "The blood of our patriotic 
 ancestors cries out from the grave against" this state 
 of affairs. Its continuance is inconsistent with the vital 
 
154 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 spirit of our free institutions. It is absolute political 
 despotism. Owing to "the wise and patriotic course" of 
 Governor Swann, "the wrongs are being diminished." 
 Johnson believed the provision of the Constitution of 
 Maryland as to oaths was invalid, being an ex post facto 
 law, but the Court of Appeals decided in favor of its 
 validity, and the hope is now of relief from the new 
 legislature, or from an appeal to the Supreme Court. If 
 it decides against us, the majority of the people have the 
 right, " with or without legislative sanction," to elect dele 
 gates to a convention, whose work should be submitted 
 to the people to form a new, or modify the existing, 
 Constitution. Maryland is " happily located, geographi 
 cally, with a salubrious climate, a fertile soil, capable of 
 almost every agricultural product, exhaustless supplies 
 of coal and iron, unsurpassed water power." She needs 
 "only a free and contented people to make our State 
 one of the most prosperous of the Union. But all her 
 natural advantages will avail little, without freedom of 
 opinion, equality of rights, and kindness of feeling." ^ 
 * In^the winter of r866 and 1867, men saw Johnson* 
 taking a notable stand. On the one hand, he showed 
 the Senate, by masterly argument, that the President s 
 power to pardon was constitutional and could not be 
 taken from him; he opposed "making a cipher of any 
 department of government," and he insisted that the 
 clause in the Constitution, guaranteeing a republican 
 form of government to each State, had no possible refer 
 ence to negro suffrage, but meant a government, "which 
 corresponds with the governments in existence when 
 the Constitution was adopted." On the other hand, 
 without consulting his political friends, he introduced 
 an amendment to the reconstruction act of 1867, pro 
 viding that when the Southern States should have 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 155 
 
 adopted negro suffrage, they should be readmitted to 
 the Union, inasmuch as nothing could be worse than 
 the present condition. Some time should be set, at 
 which the military dominion over these States should 
 end and the country truly become one. When this 
 amendment was adopted, Johnson voted for the bill 
 and did so a second time, when Andrew Johnson vetoed 
 it, as he believed that the States should be brought 
 back, even with negro suffrage, and feared that if this 
 bill failed, the temper of the North, steadily growing 
 sterner, would demand even harder terms. In March, 
 at the extra session, he voted for the supplementary 
 reconstruction bill and supported it over the presi 
 dential veto. But here he stopped and returned to the 
 ranks of the minority. He had always believed that 
 the President would enforce the laws and, having re 
 ceived assurances to that effect from him, protested 
 against the attempt to take from him the command of 
 the army. 
 
 At the beginning of the session of Congress 72 Johnson 
 moved that the bill to repeal the pardon act be referred 
 to the Judiciary Committee, as he took the position that, 
 if the President could pardon under the Constitution 
 by a general amnesty, or even if he must pardon men 
 one by one, the bill was not needed. He maintained 
 that the constitutional power of the President to pardon 
 was as comprehensive as words can make it, and, 
 as the Constitution says nothing as to how he shall 
 perform the power, he may grant a pardon by a general 
 or a special proclamation. 73 
 
 Washington s course after the whiskey insurrection 
 and Hamilton s language in the Federalist confirmed 
 
 72 On December 4. 
 
 73 On December 17. 
 
156 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 this view. The power to pardon could not well be given 
 to two departments of government and the only control 74 
 Congress can have over offenses created by statute is 
 to repeal the statute. A pardon is matter in pais and 
 must be proved to a court, but a proclamation must 
 be noted by a court, as the blockade proclamation was 
 noted in the prize case. The President, who had implied 
 powers as well as Congress, may pardon conditionally. 
 The clause authorizing Congress to pass laws " necessary 
 and proper" has "no operation whatever," as the courts 
 show. A power without authority to carry it out would 
 be a gross absurdity. The Constitution was made for 
 war, as well as for peace. If the President, or the Attor 
 ney-General, had listened to Johnson s advice, a gen 
 eral amnesty would have been declared long ago, except 
 in one or two test cases, in which the courts might 
 decide whether there was a right of secession and 
 whether, after the close of an insurrection which was 
 so great that it was necessary to treat those engaged 
 in it as public enemies, they stood, as to a charge of 
 treason, as subjects of another nation. As to the first 
 question, Johnson thought the opinion would be unani 
 mous; as to the second, he was in doubt. Some said 
 that when belligerent rights were granted, the commis 
 sion of treason became impossible. While the failure 
 to give amnesty is the President s, the failure to try 
 those accused is that of the grand jury and of the 
 court. It is a reproach that Jefferson Davis had been 
 incarcerated for nearly two years without a trial. If he 
 is a prisoner of war, he should have been discharged at 
 the end of the war. The civil authorities were not 
 ready to take him from the President. Reverdy Johnson 
 
 74 On January 4. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 157 
 
 would have paroled, or bailed, Davis "long since" and 
 thought that, if he should die in prison, our responsi 
 bility would be like Napoleon s, when he killed the Due 
 d Enghien. The apparent purpose of the repeal act is 
 that, "in the future, hard, inexorable justice is to be 
 meted out to our Southern brethren, that generosity, 
 forgiveness, mercy, pardon are no longer to be our 
 policy." Our subdued enemies are loyal. Robert E. 
 Lee s son recently refused to drink to the fallen flag, 
 while our experience with Tories, in Shay s Rebellion, 
 and in the whiskey insurrection, shows the value of 
 clemency. Howe said that John Brown had been hung 
 and Jefferson Davis should be hung. Johnson responded 
 that he did not attack the "humanity, during the war 
 of the government," which had no "more zealous sup 
 porter" than he. Johnson had disapproved of hanging 
 Brown and thought that Virginia lost hold on the human 
 ity of the other States through that act. He thought 
 Davis could be tried in any State, in which there was 
 an overt act of treason during the rebellion, but the 
 attorney-general thought he could only be tried in 
 Virginia. Johnson also thought that a district judge 
 alone could try capital cases, but Taney had held that 
 a circuit judge must be present in such trials and, as 
 the Supreme Court judges had not yet reassigned them 
 selves, the trial of Davis was further delayed. In spite 
 of Johnson s efforts, the bill passed the Senate by a vote 
 of twenty-seven to seven. 75 
 
 Johnson was no blind partisan of the executive. He 
 thought that pension agents should be appointed with 
 the consent of the Senate and that it would be "an 
 
 7i The President probably agreed with Reverdy Johnson and neither signed 
 nor vetoed the bill, vide 2 Elaine s Twenty Years, p. 282. 
 
158 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 abuse of the power of the President" to reappoint a 
 rejected man. 76 In another speech, 77 he said such re- 
 appointment would be "a decided outrage upon the 
 Constitution," as it would enable the President to destroy 
 the power of the Senate, by recess appointments. The 
 President, however, had a precedent for that power, in 
 an opinion of the attorney-general. Johnson never had 
 the question to decide when he was attorney-general, 
 but told President Taylor that, if it came before him as 
 an original question, he would decide against the 
 power. The matter was different as to the removal of 
 officers. In the first session of Congress, this matter 
 was decided in favor of the power of the President, by 
 the casting vote of Vice- President Adams, and, in Jack 
 son s administration, the Senate and the Bank of the 
 United States both acquiesced in the President s removal 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury, while the Senate re 
 jected the view that, in the appointment of Taney 78 as 
 Secretary, the President was guilty of usurpation and 
 violation of the contract between the United States and 
 the Bank. If a President reappointed a rejected man, 
 he should send to the Senate a statement of reasons, 
 such as newly discovered facts. It is a serious question 
 whether continued reappointment is not ground for im 
 peachment. We should not have a dual President. A 
 man who always agrees with the President ought not 
 to be in the cabinet. Johnson was not "for making a 
 cipher of any department of government, yet he felt 
 that it was all important that the executive should be 
 a unit," in order that the President may see the laws 
 faithfully executed. If he has a Secretary of State whom 
 
 76 On January 8. 
 
 77 On January 10. 
 
 7> Johnson thought the Senate was right. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 159 
 
 he does not trust, he should not leave him in office and, 
 if he suspend him and because the Senate thinks the 
 reason is insufficient, the Secretary of State should 
 remain in office, "the organ with foreign nations will 
 be a Secretary of State of the Senate. So of other 
 portfolios no man will take them temporarily." 
 
 On January II, Johnson spoke upon the tenure of 
 office act, which prevented the President from removing 
 officials, without the consent of the Senate, and provided 
 for the punishment of one taking office contrary to the 
 act. Johnson secured the amendment of the act, by 
 permitting the President to continue making recess ap 
 pointments. Edmunds, who had charge of the measure, 
 yielded, when Johnson showed the absurdity and expense 
 of calling the Senate together, whenever there should 
 be a death of a district judge or a minister who was 
 carrying an important negotiation with a foreign court. 
 The Constitution had not so intended. The Senate 79 is 
 part of the appointing power and, if the possession of 
 that power carries the possibility of abuse, it shares 
 in that possibility. Commentators say that the legisla 
 ture is more apt to usurp power than the President. 
 
 Few agreed with President Johnson, who followed 
 Lincoln s policy as to the Southern States. In our gov 
 ernment there will be parties, but the Senate was merely 
 trying to secure a party end, when it provided that, if 
 the President reappoints those rejected by the Senate, 
 they shall have no salary. John Adams had said 80 that 
 he thought that there would be danger from the Senate s 
 wishing to use its influence for its political friends and 
 against its enemies. After the election of 1828, Clay 
 and the Whigs found fault with Jackson for his removals, 
 
 7a On January 15. 
 80 Vide 2 Story 394. 
 
I6O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 following Marcy s "mischievous doctrine" that "to the 
 victor belong the spoils," but the people voted that the 
 President was clothed with that power. Williams of 
 Oregon had cited Hamilton as writing, in the Federalist, 
 that the Senate must join in removals. As DeWitt 
 remarks, 81 " It was a dangerous experiment to cite author 
 ities when Reverdy Johnson was to reply," for he proved 
 that Hamilton changed his mind, after he became Sec 
 retary of the Treasury. 82 After an examination of 
 cases, 83 he warned the Senate that these acts may cause 
 revolution, as the alien and sedition laws did. 
 
 A latitudinarian construction of the Constitution, the absorp 
 tion of nearly all power into the legislative department of the 
 government, an unwillingness to submit to the judgment, an 
 interference with what may have heretofore been considered the 
 legitimate powers of the President .... these are the 
 symptoms of the times. 
 
 He appealed to reason and to the ballots and believed 
 that, when the excitement was over, the "Constitution 
 will be restored in all its integrity and each department 
 of the government be permitted to exercise every power 
 which the Constitution, as construed in the past, vests 
 in it." 84 On the eighteenth, he made another powerful 
 address. He was "no party friend of the President of 
 the United States, in the strict sense of the term." 
 The President has erred, but he is honest and patriotic 
 and has fallen in the estimation of the Representatives, 
 
 81 Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, p. 186. 
 
 82 See also speech of January 16. 
 
 ^Marbury v. Madison; Dred Scott Case, which did not deny presidential 
 power to remove; U. S. v. Guthrie 17 Howard; Ex Parte Hennen 13 Peters 
 250. He also then and on January 14 defended Madison and Jefferson for 
 their acts in 1798 and maintained that neither contemplated nullification. 
 
 84 On January 17, Johnson s irenical disposition was shown in his smoothing 
 down trouble between McDougall and Sumner. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON l6l 
 
 "because a new state of things has arisen," since his 
 election, "in which he differs from the men by whom 
 he was elevated to power." Johnson believed that the 
 President would rejoice to have peace and harmony. 
 He had been "true to his duty to the country, according 
 to his understanding" of it, had tried to make the United 
 States the honor and admiration of the world, and had 
 endeavored to secure to each individual his rights. The 
 President had said many things he had better left unsaid 
 and was by nature impetuous. "Sprung from the hum 
 blest walks of life and uneducated," he made too many 
 stump speeches, but he never quailed before difficulties. 
 During the war he had been patriotic and, as President, 
 he had tried to reorganize the States, as Lincoln had, 
 and to have them brought into the Union at once. He 
 submitted to the overriding of his veto. Sumner said 
 he should be "kicked out" and then, in righteous indig 
 nation, Johnson rebuked him as having put himself out 
 of the pale of Andrew Johnson s judges, if the threats 
 of the House of Representatives to impeach him were 
 carried out. Sumner was a friend of Lincoln and never 
 objected to his turning men out, and he should not 
 now have attacked the President as he did, since he thus 
 .prejudged the case. 85 
 
 For the last time, Johnson spoke upon the tenure of 
 office bill upon February 6. He referred again to the 
 removals of cabinet officers by Jackson and asked 
 whether we should allow precedent to rule, or always 
 reopen questions. Cabinet officers are not appointed to 
 thwart, but to aid the President of the United States. 
 It is proposed to say to any President, "who may have 
 been mistaken in relation to the character or the ability 
 
 85 He showed Edmunds that his amendments would prevent men appointed 
 during a session from holding office until its end. 
 
1 62 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 of the men whom he had selected to advise him," that 
 he shall not change them. 
 
 When Sumner attacked the Secretary of the Treasury 
 in the debate on the legislative appropriation bill, 86 
 Johnson came to his defense and praised him for refus 
 ing to change employes for political reasons. It is a 
 vice to appoint men, "who had nothing to recommend 
 them but mere party services, in some ward controversy 
 or some county controversy." These assaults on high 
 officials, unless founded on well ascertained facts, serve 
 no purpose whatever, but to injure the good name of 
 the country. 87 He stated his regret, in another speech, 88 
 that Motley, our minister to Austria, should have spoken 
 disrespectfully of the President and the Secretary of 
 State and should have expressed an opinion hostile to 
 the republican form of government and favorable to 
 monarchy. 
 
 Johnson favored 89 a six years term for the President 
 without reelection and felt there was no danger for the 
 liberties of the people in the change, for it was clear 
 that the President was impotent to carry out a policy 
 against Congress. The President is the constitutional 
 commander of the army and a provision in a bill that 
 the general of the army shall have headquarters in 
 Washington and that no orders of a military 90 character 
 shall be issued, except in accordance with this bill, is 
 unconstitutional. Fessenden said that the people are 
 
 86 On February 7. 
 
 87 On December 20, Williams of Oregon objected to receiving anonymous 
 letters, because the clerks pay had not been raised, and Johnson, sympathizing 
 with him, managed to include in his speech a defense of the Supreme Court from 
 attacks in the Republican newspapers, because of the decision in Ex parts 
 Milligan. 
 
 88 On February 2. 
 
 89 On February n. 
 
 90 On February 26. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 163 
 
 sovereign, that they have retained sovereignty over the 
 army and that the legislative department is the one in 
 which the absolute sovereignty of the people is placed. 
 Johnson quickly responded: 
 
 In one sense, the people is sovereign. They can, in constitu 
 tional mode, change their political institutions from time to 
 time; 91 but, in the exercise of their sovereignty, it is for them 
 to decide how, in any particular constitution, that sovereignty 
 shall be exercised and they have delegated such portion of it 
 as they thought proper to delegate to each of the three depart 
 ments of the government. To Congress are intrusted "the 
 particular legislative powers," to the President the whole execu 
 tive power and the commandership in chief of the army, even 
 against the will of Congress. If Lincoln, or any other man 
 who had the confidence of Congress, were alive, no such law 
 would have been passed. If the President should order Gen 
 eral Grant to leave Washington and he should refuse, the 
 President could not go himself and issue orders, under the 
 provisions of the bill. To depart from the Constitution, under 
 any circumstances, is hazardous. I said during the existence 
 of the rebellion, and I repeat it now, that, if I had been the 
 President of the United States, I would have often done acts 
 which the Constitution of the United States would not have 
 authorized, if, in my judgment, I believed they were necessary 
 to maintain the integrity of the government. 
 
 For this reason, he had voted for recent measures of 
 reconstruction and, in spite of censure, would do so 
 again, if necessary, to escape from a revolutionary con 
 dition. This bill was not necessary. 92 
 
 Johnson held that the bill for the payment of claims 
 in insurrectionary States should include citizens in such 
 territory as Louisiana, which was in possession of the 
 
 91 Johnson showed that Sumner was mistaken in quoting Kent. 
 
 92 The obnoxious clause was carried by vote of 28 to 8. 
 
1 64 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 United States from the early part of 1862 and which 
 contained many loyal men, or, indeed, in any territory 
 which came into the possession of the Union forces 
 during the war and so continued until its end. 93 He 
 maintained that a pardon reinstated 94 a person to the 
 condition he occupied prior to his offence and that it 
 was wrong to refuse to pay disloyal pardoned men 
 claims accruing before the rebellion. Loyal men are 
 creditors of the South and rely on these claims to meet 
 part of their debt. Whether the claims were assigned 
 to loyal men before or after the rebellion mattered not, 
 for the United States should not confiscate debts because 
 the creditor had at one time been guilty of treason, 
 when the confiscation would injure a loyal man. 95 A 
 few days later, an interesting colloquy, showing John 
 son s courtesy, took place between him and Trumbull. 
 Johnson said it was our duty to pay assessors who acted 
 in 1865, but could not take the oath. Trumbull re 
 marked that this was demoralizing, as it was equivalent 
 to saying that the man should be paid, whether he 
 collected the money illegally or not. Johnson replied, 
 with asperity, that, in reading him a lecture, Trumbull 
 was lecturing three-fourths of the Senate, who "may 
 have as nice a sense of morals and honor" as he. Trum 
 bull retorted that Johnson, with "all his self-compla 
 cency," cannot have forgotten that he raised the point 
 of morals, and Johnson closed the incident with a soft 
 answer that he never knew Trumbull when he was not 
 right on questions of morals or law, "and I sometimes 
 doubt whether I am." 96 
 
 93 On February 5. 
 
 94 On February 23. 
 
 95 Johnson, in vain, voted against the resolution which passed, 25 to 6. 
 
 96 The amendment then passed, 33 to 13. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 165 
 
 On the bill providing for the government of the South 
 ern States, 97 Johnson offered the Elaine amendment to 
 the effect that, when in any State, the Fourteenth Amend 
 ment had been adopted and the franchise given to all 
 male citizens (except felons and traitors) and a new 
 constitution adopted, the State shall be readmitted. 
 He believed the Senate was independent and was bound 
 to exercise its own discretion without regard to the fear 
 that, with that proviso, the House might defeat, or the 
 President veto, the bill. He acted " without consulting 
 the political friends, with whom it is my pleasure gen 
 erally to act." Differing from the majority of the Sen 
 ate, he held that the Southern States are now in the 
 Union and that the citizens of these States are entitled 
 to all Constitutional guarantees of personal liberty." 
 When the Civil War ceased, the power to suppress insur 
 rection, under which the Federal government carried on 
 the struggle, came to an end. The executive and judi 
 cial departments have recognized the Southern States. 
 If Virginia has not been a State since secession, she 
 could not consent to the division of her territory and 
 so West Virginia is no State. Men have an instinctive 
 repugnance to military rule. The reconstruction bill of 
 1866 was intended to " provide for restoring the States 
 lately in insurrection to their political rights." Now 
 there is no insurrection, nor do occasional acts of vio 
 lence, nor the fact that the murderer of a black man 
 can not be punished, constitute it. He believed there 
 was less crime in the South than in Massachusetts or 
 New York. In Oregon, the constitutional convention, 
 of which Senator Williams had been a member, had 
 provided that no negro should come into the State and 
 yet Oregon received no military government. The war 
 
 97 On February 15. 
 
1 66 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 had convinced the Southern people that their peculiar 
 notions of State sovereignty can not be maintained and 
 they are now loyal. Military despotism for the South 
 is now proposed, indefinite in length; but, with this 
 amendment, the bill provides for the termination of that 
 despotism. Is the Supreme Court to be told that they 
 shall not issue a habeas corpus writ? Johnson applauded 
 the statement of the chief justice that he would not 
 hold court in a State where martial law prevailed. 
 Johnson should vote against the bill, if amended, as 
 he believed the Federal government had no right to 
 control suffrage in the States; but, with the amendment, 
 the bill would be less objectionable. He closed with a 
 defense of the law-abiding character of Maryland. 
 
 On February 20, he spoke again upon the bill. Hold 
 ing that the South had the right to be represented, he 
 had solicitude beyond words on account of its exclusion; 
 but, since Congress took a different view, there seemed 
 no hope of seeing it reinstated at an early day. The 
 reputation and the material interests of the whole coun 
 try suffer. Nothing could be worse than the condition 
 in which the South was placed. The character of the 
 Southerners, "as men, had been aspersed, in terms which 
 have caused me nothing but the deepest regret .... 
 In all particulars, moral and political, intellectual and 
 Christian, they are our equals. The very battles they 
 have waged, in seeking to destroy the government, 
 exhibited deeds of valor, of which Rome in her proudest 
 days might have boasted." Johnson had reconsidered 
 his position of opposition to the bill. He must acquiesce 
 in the decision of the majority, " believing it will end, 
 in a comparatively short time, in restoring the Southern 
 States. I am unwilling to have this Congress adjourn, 
 without adopting some measure which holds out hope 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 167 
 
 that this will be the result of our deliberations." He 
 would vote for the bill, in the hope that it would "rescue 
 the country from the perilous predicament" in which 
 it stood. "If there be a feeling which should animate 
 the heart of every American, it should be one of gener 
 osity, magnanimity and charity for the men who, al 
 though they sought to break asunder the cords of the 
 Union, are now looking with solicitude to their being 
 reinstated." He longed to see the United States, "at 
 the earliest period, a people one and indivisible." 
 
 The supporters of the President were enraged at this 
 change of base and Gideon Welles wrote in his diary 98 
 that Johnson, "the Senatorial trimmer, gave his vote 
 in the Senate for this infamous bill." Stan ton quoted 
 him as an example and authority. The President vetoed 
 the bill and it passed over the veto, the vote in the 
 Senate, on March 2, being 38 to 10. In explaining his 
 vote against the veto, Johnson said that he regretted 
 the conclusion and tone of the veto message, which 
 contained unsound legal propositions and errors of rea 
 soning, and feared that it may result in continued tur 
 moil and peril. When Johnson announced that "I 
 shall give the same vote as before," there was applause 
 from the galleries, until checked by the President. John 
 son, in an eloquent speech, said he was not governed 
 by desire of applause. 
 
 My motions, if I know myself, were pure and patriotic. I 
 see before me a distressed, a desolated country and, in the 
 measure before you I think I see the means through which 
 it may be rescued and restored ere long to prosperity and a 
 healthful condition and the free institutions of our country 
 
 preserved I have reached that period of life, when 
 
 I can have no other ambition than that of serving my country. 
 
 M February 7 2, Diary III, p. 49. 
 
1 68 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 He had always hoped for success and a firm establish 
 ment of the forms of government, securing their respec 
 tive rights to the States and the Union. If the South 
 " had succeeded, the cause of constitutional liberty would 
 for years, if not forever, have terminated. The effort, 
 thank God, failed. The power of the government, under 
 the Providence of God, has proved able to arrest and 
 defeat it and the South now, as I believe, is willing, in 
 good faith, and anxious to abide by the result." How 
 shall the government be restored "to its original integ 
 rity and the States, as vital to that integrity, be restored 
 to their former constitutional condition." Johnson be 
 lieved that, at the moment when the war ended, the 
 States were in the Union and possessed the exclusive 
 power to change their government, so that "no terms 
 can be enacted, either by the President or by Congress, 
 as conditions to be performed, before they are entitled 
 to representation." He had never justified the position 
 of Lincoln, nor of Johnson, who held that the executive, 
 without the sanction of Congress, had authority to 
 require conditions of readmission. The recent Congres 
 sional elections show that the people of the United States 
 agree to the Congressional theory that that body could 
 alone give the right of representation, so the States are 
 only to be restored by submitting to the Congressional 
 conditions. Johnson, differing both with Congress and 
 the Executive, sought "complete restoration of the 
 Union" and saw "no way of accomplishing it, but by 
 the adoption of the measure." The country is now in 
 a state of quasi-war, for ten States are held as conquered 
 provinces. This condition is full of peril and, if not 
 arrested, the government will be destroyed. The bill 
 is no more unconstitutional than the civil rights and 
 Freedman s Bureau bills, which the President enforced, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 169 
 
 "as I think he was in duty bound to do." The Supreme 
 Court may well refuse to decide on the constitutionality 
 of the bill, holding that the termination of the war is a 
 political question. The bill is less objectionable than 
 the previous ones, for it provides a way for ending the 
 military rule. Reflecting and intelligent men of the 
 South say they will organize States under this act. If 
 the bill fail, one of harsher character will be adopted, 
 founded on "the hypothesis that the people of the South 
 were to be esteemed legally as conquered enemies and 
 their land and other property on that account, as liable 
 to confiscation and forfeiture." The Supreme Court 
 might declare such a law unconstitutional, but, in the 
 meantime, the uncertainty would produce ruin and, if 
 the law proved constitutional, the South would be sur 
 rendered to negroes and the whites driven out. Johnson 
 wished to prevent calamity and must throw aside party 
 for country, seeking the restoration of the Union, which 
 he believed would be accomplished by this bill. Buck- 
 alew attacked Johnson s position as inconsistent and 
 Johnson replied: 
 
 Consistency in a public man can never properly be esteemed 
 a virtue, when he becomes satisfied that it will operate to the 
 prejudice of his country. The pride of opinion, which more 
 or less belongs to us all, becomes, in my judgment, in a public 
 man a crime, when it is indulged in at the sacrifice, or hazard, 
 of the public safety. 
 
 The President and the minority party were powerless 
 and the question confronting Johnson was: "What shall 
 I do for the South in this present exigency and for the 
 country?" He had no fear to submit his conduct to 
 the judgment of posterity. He would have rejoiced at 
 a Democratic victory in the past autumn, but there was 
 
I7O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 none. Since the Supreme Court said the insurrection 
 was a war and one of the incidents of war is confisca 
 tion, that Court may also say it is a political question, 
 if Congress holds the Southerners to be public enemies 
 and thus the South may be destroyed. 
 
 In his disgust at Johnson s action, Welles bitterly 
 wrote" that in the Senate party dominated over 
 country." If several hesitated, "the recent extraordi 
 nary course of Reverdy Johnson decided them to submit 
 to the demands of party." Johnson violated his oath 
 in voting for the bill, and "his apostasy" came, because 
 his son-in-law was an "earnest candidate for the office 
 of district-attorney of Maryland and he could not, 
 under existing circumstances, expect to be confirmed by 
 the Senate were the President to nominate him." Welles 
 thought that Johnson fancied "that his position as 
 Senator, and one of the judges of the President in case 
 of impeachment," would secure the selection of his son- 
 in-law. In his rage, Welles added: 
 
 I have no doubt this old political prostitute has been governed 
 by these necessary personal considerations. He has a good 
 deal of legal ability but is not overburdened with political 
 principles. This conduct occasions less surprise on that ac 
 count. Sad is the condition of the country, when such men 
 influence its destiny. 
 
 On the next day, Welles wrote that the President told 
 him 100 that Reverdy Johnson had just written, asking 
 that his son-in-law, Ridgely, be nominated as district- 
 attorney, which was "as cool a piece of assurance as 
 he had ever witnessed." Welles added "It does not 
 surprise me," and, on the next day, when Ridgely had 
 
 99 Diary III 55. 
 180 Diary III 58. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 171 
 
 been nominated and confirmed, Welles wrote 101 that he 
 wondered who influenced the "forbearing" President, 
 and added in his Diary, "so much for disregarding prin 
 ciple, conviction and duty." 
 
 When it was proposed to admit Nebraska as a State 102 
 and to require negro suffrage there, 103 Johnson delivered 
 an elaborate historical address, discussing the right to 
 make such a requirement through the power to admit new 
 States and guarantee a republican form of government. 
 He discussed the history of the change of the predominant 
 interest in the eastern States from commerce to manu 
 factures, through the influence of the war of 1812 and 
 the protective policy since that date. During the last 
 five years, the United States had passed through "a 
 trial, to which no country in the world was ever before 
 subjected," during which "everything was supplied that 
 human industry could furnish, every species of manu 
 facture entering into the necessities of an army in the 
 field was near at hand, fashioned by the skillful industry 
 of the workmen of the United States." He admitted 
 that the system "increases, in time of peace, the cost 
 to the consumer of everything which he is obliged to 
 get from the manufacturer" and that it is difficult to 
 say how much of that tax the consumer paid, but the 
 protective system was so useful to the country that he 
 was very cautious about admitting new States in the 
 West, which seemed to turn to free trade. Nebraska, 
 
 1W Diary III 59. 
 
 lw On January 29, he voted to sustain Johnson in his veto of the bill admit 
 ting Colorado as a State. 
 
 103 On December 19. On the i7th the bill had come up and Johnson asked 
 that a notice of the death of Wright of New Jersey might be made and questioned 
 what would happen, if the ten days, during which the President might hold a 
 bill, fell within a recess of Congress. 
 
172 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 with not over 50,000 people, had too small a population 
 for a State, in any case, and had better be kept a terri 
 tory, unless it were necessary for the protection of her 
 citizens to have her admitted as a State. The North 
 cannot say this, for they propose to place ten States 
 under a territorial government, and the only argument 
 for admission remaining is the desire to protect a politi 
 cal party. 
 
 "Nullification is at an end, thank God for that, seces 
 sion is equally dead" and the South will never leave the 
 Union, but the great West should be looked to, for she 
 will not long consent to have the East manage her 
 affairs and, if a constitutional convention be ever called 
 and the West have a majority in it, there is nothing to 
 prevent her from insisting on a change of the equal 
 representation in the Senate of the States. When Ne 
 braska is admitted, she may disregard the restriction 
 on the right to regulate the franchise, for that is a sub 
 ject in the power of a State and Nebraska, being equal 
 with the older States, will possess all their powers. 104 
 Before the adoption of the Constitution, the States were 
 equal and that document changed nothing, except to 
 delegate certain powers to the United States. It would 
 lead to very perilous consequences to hold that a State 
 constitution was unrepublican, which denied to any citi 
 zen the right to vote. The Federal Convention had not 
 for its object to change the forms of the State govern 
 ments, but to preserve and protect life, liberty and happi 
 ness, which the declaration of independence said were 
 inalienable rights of the people and which were thought 
 to be in imminent jeopardy, because of the demon 
 strated inefficiency of the government of the Confeder- 
 
 104 Brown interrupted with the statement that " we can take away the right 
 to do wrong", and Johnson asked him what that right was. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 173 
 
 ation. Contemporary construction is controlling, to the 
 effect that the Federal Constitution made it no duty of 
 the United States to assail every State constitution. 
 Even the Committee of Fifteen of the last session, by 
 drafting the Fourteenth Amendment, showed they 
 thought they had no power in the matter. Pushing the 
 point further, he asked whether, if Oregon would be 
 forced to permit the Chinese to vote under the guarantee 
 clause, the Pacific Coast would not soon become disloyal 
 and exercise that inherent right which belongs to every 
 State and every people to war against tyranny." The 
 term "Government" does not mean the Constitution, 
 but those exercising the power. The guarantee clause 
 means that, "whenever the criminal ambition of those 
 who are in the possession" of the government "induces 
 them to pervert its powers and to assail the people, 
 the people are to be protected against any change in 
 the form of government that may be brought about by 
 such causes." "Every government is republican in 
 point of form, which corresponds with the governments 
 in existence when the Constitution was adopted." Most 
 of these governments, in 1789, excluded the black man 
 from voting. No one then thought that the United 
 States was given a right to interfere with the existing 
 conditions and a different view of the Constitution would 
 place the country in the power of Congress, which might 
 destroy it. Otherwise, 
 
 I have no fear but that the political institutions of the United 
 States will endure for ages, and I trust forever, extending as 
 they do from ocean to ocean, distributing their blessings 
 everywhere and enabling men, with perfect assurance, to feel 
 mo apprehension, and that they never will be called upon to 
 feel any apprehension against any violence from within, or 
 anv invasion from abroad. 
 
174 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Some weeks later 105 he opposed Edmunds, who had 
 said that Congress might keep Nebraska as a territory 
 forever and might impose whatever condition the mem 
 bers pleased, at the time of admission. Johnson replied 
 that the power of Congress was to admit a new State, 
 that is one 
 
 partaking precisely of all the characteristics, and possessing 
 all the powers, and having all the rights that characterize and 
 are possessed by the States that were in the Union, when the 
 Constitution was ratified. Otherwise there would be no har 
 monious whole. There is no provision in the Constitution 
 which gave Congress the power to interfere with elections, as 
 is shown by the provision that the electors of the House of 
 Representatives should be the same as for the most numerous 
 house of the State legislatures. 
 
 Johnson had just won in the Supreme Court, for hold 
 ers of Arkansas swamp lands, a case, in which they 
 claimed exemption from taxation. He held that a State 
 might "enter into a contract," not alone in relation to 
 the right of taxation, but also " in relation to any subject 
 which did not impair her sovereignty and take away her 
 ability to hold an equal place among her sister States." 
 Nebraska had already elected her Senators and, if the 
 bill for admission of Nebraska pass, Edmunds will not 
 object to swearing in these men, which fact showed 
 that, in a sense, Nebraska is already a State. Congress 
 cannot create a State. "It must be the work of the 
 citizens." The follower of Stephen A. Douglas had 
 not recanted from the creed of popular sovereignty. 
 
 When Sumner asked for further guarantees before 
 reconstruction be completed, 106 Johnson replied that 
 there should be delay, to see if the South would accept 
 
 186 On January 9. 
 1M On March n. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 175 
 
 the previous exaction. He had assured Southern corre 
 spondents that nothing more would be required and 
 hoped not to have to retract this statement. The 
 Southerners had been punished and both the loyal men 
 and the freedmen will be safe under the bill already 
 passed. Sumner wished to see the South restored, but 
 wished to see those States "come back" by the vote of 
 the blacks just emancipated and that of some three or 
 four thousand men, calling themselves loyal men, many 
 of whom in the beginning were Secessionists, " while the 
 intelligence, the virtue, the refinement of the South is 
 to be neglected." From that course of action the horrors 
 of Santo Domingo may come. 107 In the debate on the 
 supplementary reconstruction bill, Johnson urged that 
 we cannot subsist long with ten States out of the Union. 
 It is a government of States and it was the duty of 
 Congress to bring back the rebel States as soon as possi 
 ble. "There did not exist, in the States of the Union, 
 any authority by which they could legally escape from 
 the Union." "The attempt to escape, therefore, was of 
 itself illegal and imposed upon us the duty of arresting 
 and defeating it, not for the mere purpose of arresting 
 and defeating an insurrection, but for the purpose of 
 restoring the Union." The authority to add territory 
 was only that the people of the territory might be fitted 
 for Statehood and we are guardians for them. If there 
 is a majority in one of the seceded States "inimical to 
 a restoration of that particular State," that majority 
 should be forced in. Howard of Michigan had said 
 no government, founded on the will of a minority, can 
 be republican, yet he voted to exclude a large portion 
 of the people of these States from voting. To continue 
 
 107 On March 9, he defended Alexandria for excluding the blacks from voting, 
 on the advice of all the lawyers in that town. 
 
176 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 military rule will be expensive and will sacrifice the 
 principles of freedom and liberty upon which our insti 
 tutions rest. The majority of those voting, and not 
 of the electors, should be sufficient to adopt the new 
 Southern State constitutions, lest 108 some whites may pre 
 fer to keep the States under military rule and may induce 
 negroes to stay away from the polls by misrepresenta 
 tions, as these negroes are in a "state of absolute igno 
 rance, by the policy of the South for the past twenty 
 years, lest the institution be in peril through the knowl 
 edge of what were the rights of man." A State govern 
 ment should not be forced on an intelligent people, but 
 the negroes, whom Johnson was willing to permit to 
 vote, were not intelligent. 
 
 I vote for the original bill, or the amended report by the 
 Committee on the Judiciary, 109 from a sincere desire to have 
 the States back, on almost any terms. I would not be in favor 
 of negro suffrage, if I was permitted to vote upon that ques 
 tion alone, but I believe that the interest of the country requires 
 that the States should be back, even requiring negro suffrage. 
 
 Persistent in his opposition to a requirement that a 
 majority of the registry be cast for the proposed constitu 
 tions, he carried a narrow majority of the Senate with 
 him. 110 
 
 His patriotism was again shown when he voted to 
 pass the completed supplementary reconstruction bill 
 over the President s veto. 111 He had been so assidu 
 ous in devotion to the business of Congress that he 
 objected to an adjournment over the holidays, 112 yet he 
 
 198 On March 16. ul On March 23. 
 
 109 On March 18. On December 14. 
 
 110 The vote was 24 to 21. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 177 
 
 denied Sumner s 113 assertion that, on the adjournment 
 of the session at the end of March, eight million people 
 were left unprotected and subject to a despot, as well 
 as Chandler s claim that the President would not exe 
 cute the reconstruction laws, on the ground that he 
 thought them unconstitutional. Reverdy Johnson had 
 talked with the President and had been told by him 
 that it was an insult to suppose he would not execute a 
 law passed in a constitutional way by Congress. Mili 
 tary governors had been appointed as soon as possible. 
 There was no danger that the Supreme Court could 
 decide the laws unconstitutional before Congress met 
 in December, as that Court can only hear appeals. Nor 
 was there need to watch the President, as he had been 
 left no power except to execute the laws. The people 
 desire Congress to adjourn, not because they are dis 
 satisfied with what has been done, but rather for fear 
 that it may do something rash, if it continues to sit. 114 
 He urged 115 that a corporation could not be disloyal 
 and, therefore, the banks, who alleged that the money 
 captured with Jefferson Davis had been seized from 
 them, should have the right to sue for the money in 
 the Court of Claims. He said 116 it would be a hardship 
 to deprive masters of enlisted slaves of the payment 
 previously provided by law. Maryland had paid $100 
 to each master pari passu with the national govern- 
 
 113 On March 23. 
 
 114 On March 28, he stated that he agreed with the proposition that Con 
 gress, by agreement of both houses, can adjourn from month to month, or to 
 any specified time. He held that there was no ground for believing that the 
 minority can adjourn from day to day, when the houses have voted to adjourn 
 to July i and then, unless otherwise ordered by Congress, from July 2 to 
 December. 
 
 116 On March 16. 
 116 On January 7. 
 
178 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 ment. 117 He voted against suspending the payment to 
 the masters for slaves who had volunteered in the army, 
 as it would violate the plighted faith of the nation, and 
 on March 23 he protested against moneys for colored 
 troops being paid General O. O. Howard unless he 
 were bonded. 
 
 When the bill to regulate the suffrage in the District 
 of Columbia was under discussion, Johnson spoke in 
 opposition to woman suffrage, which did not then exist 
 elsewhere in the United States. 
 
 Ladies have duties peculiar to themselves which can not 
 be discharged by anybody else;. the nurture and education of 
 their children, the demands upon them consequent upon the 
 preservation of their households. 
 
 If the question of voting were submitted to "the 
 ladies, in the true acceptation of the term," it would be 
 rejected. They would feel it dishonor to " undergo, 
 what is often the degradation of seeking to vote, particu 
 larly in the cities, getting up to the polls, crowded out 
 and crowded in." Men vote because they serve in the 
 militia and perform similar duties, which women are 
 not expected to do. Woman is protected by man and 
 needs not to protect herself. 
 
 Nature has not made her for the rough and tumble, so to 
 speak, of life. She is intended to be delicate. She is intended 
 to soften the asperities and roughness of the male sex. She 
 is intended to comfort him in the days of his trial, not to par 
 ticipate herself actively in the contest, either in the forum, 
 in the council chamber, or on the battlefield. 
 
 The strong minded women are exceptional. The pres 
 ence of ladies at the polls will not turn a blackguard into 
 
 "On March 21. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 179 
 
 a gentleman. In Baltimore elections are as orderly as 
 elsewhere, but, 
 
 in times of high party excitement, it is impossible to preserve 
 that order which would be sufficient to protect a delicate female 
 from insult, and no lady would venture to run the hazard of 
 being subject to the insults that she would be almost certain 
 to receive. 
 
 The bill, as passed, gave no suffrage to women, but 
 gave it to negroes. Andrew Johnson promptly vetoed 
 the bill and Reverdy Johnson was one of the minority 
 of ten who voted to sustain the veto, 118 while twenty- 
 nine voted to override it. He said that Congress had 
 a right to pass the act, for the only limits to its powers 
 over the District were found in the guarantees to indi 
 viduals. For many years after the adoption of the Con 
 stitution, it was thought that, having accepted the terri 
 tory from Maryland and Virginia, Congress should not 
 interfere with slavery in the District. He had not 
 accepted this view, though Calhoun and Clay had done 
 so and even Adams had said it would be wrong to abolish 
 slavery there without a popular vote. The people of 
 the District who protest against this act, have a right 
 to be respectfully heard and their views should be fol 
 lowed, if they are well founded. Congress had not yet 
 given the freedmen in the States the suffrage under the 
 Constitution. Morrill said that in 1789 negroes voted 
 in every State but South Carolina and Johnson retorted 
 "Well, the States regulated suffrage." The negro had 
 not been given the right to vote in Ohio or Maryland, 
 and should not be given it in the District, where many 
 of them are living "in squalid misery, in a sense paupers." 
 He referred to the Chinese and maintained that there 
 would be distinction on account of color, so long as the 
 
 118 On January 7. 
 
ISO REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 races were not blended. He had no fear of the founda 
 tions of the country being shaken, by executive or by 
 legislative usurpations. If these come, they will be re 
 dressed by the " patriotism and the power of the Ameri 
 can people." 119 
 
 Maryland matters demanded much of Johnson s atten 
 tion at this Session. On January 3, Sumner complained 
 of the sale of negroes services for six months, for a year, 
 and for two years, as had been done in punishment of 
 crime at Annapolis during December and asked that the 
 judiciary committee consider the case. Johnson replied 
 that slavery may be a punishment for crime according 
 to the constitution, and that it is better to wait, as the 
 judge, who sentenced the negroes, had already been ar 
 rested and the case is in the United States courts. 
 
 Perhaps there is no State in the Union, in which there is a 
 more fixed determination that Slavery, .... on any 
 account except for crime, shall not exist, than there is in 
 Maryland. 
 
 Creswell, the radical colleague of Johnson, said that 
 the Maryland law only referred to blacks and that the 
 only service exacted from criminals should be that rend 
 ered the State, which change may be effected by the 
 civil rights bill. Maryland s attachment to freedom 
 was doubted by Creswell, who advised the Senate to 
 watch the State legislature, in any repeal of the slave code. 
 
 119 As to minor matters concerning the District, on January 19, he advcv 
 cated postponing action on the charter of the Baltimore and Potomac Rail 
 road, until Maryland had acted, for that State, having a deep interest in the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, may refuse to permit the new road to pass through 
 its territory. On February 9, he objected to disturbing the dead, b"y removing 
 bodies from the Foundry Methodist graveyard, but finally yielded; he spoke 
 in favor of the newsboys home, and opposed limiting the National Capitol 
 Insurance Company by its charter to do business in the District alone, as it 
 should be empowered to enter such States as may permit it. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON l8l 
 
 Later in the session, the Maryland legislature elected 
 as Creswell s successor, Philip Francis Thomas, who had 
 been Commissioner of Patents and Secretary of the 
 Treasury under Buchanan s administration. He had 
 lived in retirement during the war and had made an 
 intemperate speech against the acts of the majority of 
 Congress, when notified of his election. On March 1 6, 
 Johnson presented Thomas s credentials, opposed a 
 reference to the Judiciary Committee, and defended 
 Thomas s loyalty at the beginning of the war from a 
 charge that he had transferred money to the sub-treasury 
 at New Orleans. 120 Howard complained of Thomas s 
 remarks made after his election and Johnson replied 
 that, like himself, Thomas may have thought that the 
 government of Maryland, as recently administered by 
 the suffrages of not more than a fourth of the population, 
 was not republican. Nye of Nevada took the position 
 that the election, by which the legislature of Maryland 
 was chosen, was fraudulent, in that the law prohibiting 
 rebels from voting had been disregarded and charged 
 that Thomas resigned from Buchanan s cabinet, because 
 he did not believe in reenforcing Sumter. Investigation 
 should be made before Thomas is sworn. Johnson re 
 marked that, if rumors are taken, we may all be in 
 trouble. Sumner and I differ, yet neither is disloyal. 
 Investigation may follow Thomas s taking the oath. 
 The Senate has no jurisdiction over the legislature of 
 Maryland. Nye persisted. The Senate should decide 
 for itself on the election of its members and good loyal 
 men of Maryland wish to appear before the committee 
 to show that Thomas was disloyal. If the Maryland 
 legislature is fraudulent, we have the right to inquire 
 
 120 He had already transferred money from Arkansas to New Orleans, which 
 was all expended before the secession of Louisiana. 
 
I 82 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 into it. Trumbull supported Johnson and said that, 
 after the admission of Thomas, the Senate could investi 
 gate the legislature of Maryland. Not everyone disagree 
 ing with us is an enemy of the country. The debate 
 became general. Fessenden recalled that, in only two 
 cases, had reference of credentials been made to a com 
 mittee 121 and, in both cases, there were affidavits against 
 those bearing credentials, when they presented them. 1 " 
 Here, however, there was only rumor and no remon 
 strance had been made. On such rumors, all Democrats 
 might be kept out and this is a more extreme case than 
 that of Stockton, for there the question was, had the 
 legislature elected him rightfully and here the question 
 is, was the Maryland Assembly rightfully elected. When 
 Sherman said he favored reference of the case to the 
 committee, since Thomas s resignation of the Treasury 
 Department had been possibly on the same ground as 
 Floyd s, Johnson at once replied : 
 
 If I had been in his situation, I would have concurred with 
 the majority of that cabinet, because in the then condition 
 of things, I would not have enquired whether there was a law 
 or not. I would have enforced the collection of the duties. 
 
 As to the speech reported recently to have been made 
 by Thomas, it was printed in the American, a "most 
 violent partisan paper," which had often misrepresented 
 Johnson, though he took no notice of it. Thomas had 
 authorized him to say that "he has not the slightest 
 recollection of saying a word, which would have justified 
 such a statement" as made in the American. What he 
 
 121 Stark of Oregon during the war and since that time Patterson of Tennes 
 see, who had taken an oath of office under the Confederacy. 
 
 122 In both cases the reference was made so as to avoid the need of two-thirds 
 vote to expel. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 183 
 
 said was what had been said in Congress. 123 The fact 
 that Thomas had not volunteered during the war was 
 no proof of disloyalty. 
 
 Stewart of Nevada thought reference should be made 
 to a committee, since men will be coming from the States 
 lately in rebellion and it will be a dangerous precedent 
 not to refer credentials. When Johnson asked if there 
 was not a difference between Maryland and the seceding 
 States, Stewart replied that there was none between a 
 disloyal individual in Maryland and one in South Caro 
 lina, except that the former was more guilty, as the 
 whole people were not disloyal and there was Federal 
 power to protect him. Johnson asserted that the pre 
 sumption was that a man presenting himself as a Sena 
 tor from Maryland was as loyal as one from Nevada. 
 Stewart replied that this might be true as a presump 
 tion, but, "when there is a suggestion that there may 
 be guilt, it is then incumbent on the body to investi 
 gate it." The only question was the order of procedure, 
 for it was admitted that an investigation will be proper 
 at some time. "If we refuse to examine this case at 
 this stage, when the suggestion is made hereafter for a 
 reference, it will be regarded as a condemnation." 
 Conness remarked that he was surprised at Johnson s 
 position, for Thomas s resignation of the Treasury in 
 1 86 1, on the ground that he could not agree with the 
 majority of the cabinet as to the policy to be pursued 
 towards South Carolina, showed that there must be 
 "a close investigation." He would never vote to admit 
 to the Senate, a man, "either so weak or so vicious in 
 
 123 Johnson cited Andrew Jackson s calling two Congressmen traitors, with 
 out any one proposing to impeach him for it; Webster s statement that he 
 would not appropriate three mills to Andrew Jackson for war, if the enemy was 
 thundering at the gates of the Capitol (which J. Q. Adams said was treason) ; 
 and the bitter denunciation of Andrew Johnson in either house. 
 
184 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 1 86 1, as not to be able to find law enough to defend the 
 honor and existence of this country" and who even 
 left the cabinet for that cause. Sherman added that 
 Thomas s singular letter of resignation stated that seces 
 sion was a constitutional act and that South Carolina 
 had so withdrawn from the Union that there was no 
 authority to enforce the law of the United States in that 
 State. Thomas had not aided in the suppression of the 
 rebellion and should not be allowed in the Senate, if he 
 had really said in his recent speech that in the Senate 
 he " would face these men, who now and always were 
 traitors to the Union." 124 Saulsbury of Delaware said 
 that the Republicans call opponents names and the 
 Gazette had a different report of the speech. " I know, 
 living not far from Thomas, that he lived a quiet, peace 
 ful life during the war" and, though a military force 
 seized Judge Carmichael for disloyalty, no charge was 
 made against Thomas. Johnson attempted to show 
 that Sherman and Conness misunderstood Thomas s 
 letter. Davis of Kentucky advocated immediate admis 
 sion of Thomas and Howard closed the debate by urging 
 reference of the credentials and stating his belief in 
 Thomas s disloyalty. 125 
 
 On March 29, Johnson gave up the fight and moved, 
 at Thomas s request, that the credentials be referred 
 to the Judiciary Committee, which was promptly done. 1 * 1 
 
 Maryland s political condition was brought before the 
 
 124 Morton agreed to this. 
 
 125 On March 20, Johnson wrote to Governor Bradford that he would try 
 to secure his confirmation in office, but was doubtful of success and very 
 doubtful of Thomas s admission. On the 2ist, he wrote Bradford again that, 
 in spite of CreswelPs telegram that Bradford s rejection was absolutely neces 
 sary, he secured confirmation by a vote of 22 to 16. 
 
 125 On the same day, Johnson opposed the publication of the laws in the 
 Southern papers. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 185 
 
 Senate on March 28, by the receipt of resolves from the 
 Maryland Republican Convention, 127 protesting against 
 a scheme for a State Constitutional Convention and by 
 Francis Thomas attacking the Democratic State Admin 
 istration on the floor of the House of Representatives. 
 Johnson moved reference of the protest to the Judiciary 
 Committee and said that he felt that there should not 
 now be such a convention, as it would be "fraught with 
 more or less of peril to the peace and prosperity of the 
 State" in the present condition of the country and the 
 state of feeling in Maryland. When Sumner, on the 
 following day, used as an argument for negro suffrage, 
 the fact that returned rebels, but not negroes, could 
 vote in Maryland, Johnson, prompt as ever in the defence 
 of his State, said "there is no State in the Union, where 
 private rights of person, and rights of property, are more 
 amply protected. There is no judiciary in the land, 
 whose duties are more honestly and impartially ad 
 ministered." 128 
 
 He favored the bankruptcy law, but opposed giving 
 the chief justice power to make appointments under 
 it, thinking this might tend to make him a party man 
 and make people think him such. 129 The Supreme Court 
 had never lent itself to partisanship and the duties of 
 its head should be confined to high constitutional and 
 legal ones. 130 He learnedly discussed 131 the effect of 
 
 127 Signed by Frederick Schley. 
 
 128 On January 31, in the tariff debate, Johnson said that he lived in a State 
 which stands between the extremes" and quoted from the message to the 
 Assembly of the first Maryland governor elected by the people: "We are not 
 given to the rude boreas of northern fanaticism or the hot simoon of Southern 
 impetuosity." 
 
 129 On January 19. On March 22, he reiterated his views on this joint. 
 
 130 Johnson preferred giving the appointive power to District, rather tha 
 *o Circuit Judges. 
 
 131 On February i. 
 
1 86 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Supreme Court decisions, which were pertinent to this 
 law, 132 and urged that while the law must be uniform, 
 it ought not to appropriate to the payment of debts 
 property which is not liable under existing State exemp 
 tion laws. The civil troubles had swept away 133 many 
 men s property, especially in the South, and the law 
 should be liberal, so as to relieve men from the slavery 
 of debt, whether or not they could show assets equal to 
 half their debts and whether or not the insolvent was a 
 trader, and the debt a mercantile one. Corporations 
 should be allowed to partake of the benefits of the law, 
 without forfeiture of their franchises, which are property 
 to be sold for the benefit of creditors. He opposed 134 
 a provision that no discharge should be valid, except 
 with the consent of three-fourths of the creditors, as 
 it made the creditor the judge rather than a disinterested 
 tribunal. A man who can not pay his debts is no 
 repudiator. 
 
 No bankrupt law has ever been passed, except because of 
 the large amount of existing debts which were depressing the 
 industry of the country and ruining the debtor. When, there 
 fore, a man contracts a debt, the creditor is supposed to know 
 that there is in Congress power to discharge a debtor, on his 
 delivering up the assets. 
 
 Consequently, the act is valid as well to prior debts 
 as to subsequent ones. He objected to Sumner s prop 
 osition to give a test oath to petitioners in bankruptcy, 
 who may have been protected by the grant of belliger 
 ent rights. They were once traitors, but are now citi 
 zens and may contract debts. The test oath has hitherto 
 
 132 E. g. Sturgis v. Crowninshield and Ogden v. Saunders. 
 
 133 Q n February 4. 
 
 134 On February 5. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 187 
 
 been only used for officers and quasi-officers. It is 
 absurd that a law should not apply to all. The question 
 as to whether a rebel debtor is discharged or is allowed 
 to do with his property as he will, should not depend 
 on a loyal creditor applying for the benefit of the law. 135 
 Finally, on March 29, he voted with the majority against 
 the bankruptcy bill. 
 
 When the tariff bill came up for discussion, 136 Johnson 
 said: 
 
 I have, from the first, been in favor of protecting the domestic 
 industry of the country by Congress, having no doubt either 
 as to the power or as to the expediency of doing so. 
 
 Since 1828, Congress had several times passed such 
 laws and the prosperous condition of the country, which 
 enabled it to win in the war, was largely due to the exist 
 ence of the protective system. Since States can 
 not protect industries by laying duties, no one can 
 do so, unless the United States lay them. Protection 
 may be carried to a ruinous extent, of course, and may 
 injudiciously reduce revenue from imports, so that the 
 country will not have money to pay its debt. The 
 tariff should protect the wool grower as well as the manu 
 facturer, 137 and the Maryland coal from the Nova Scotia 
 product, so as to give the former the Massachusetts 
 market, 138 which the Canadian reciprocity treaty took 
 
 135 On March 26, he objected to preference given to creditors and to the post 
 ponement of the effect of the law from June to January. On March 28, he 
 advocated abolishing preferences in bankruptcy made after the law passed 
 but before June i . 
 
 136 On January 23. 
 
 137 Yet he was not in favor of protecting wool growing and leaving other 
 interests unprotected. Speech of March i. 
 
 138 On January 25. 
 
1 88 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 from it. 139 The tariff system 140 was forced on New Eng 
 land by Southern votes and though she protested, she 
 availed herself of it and grew rich thereunder. He also 
 was interested in having efficient merchant shipping and 
 believed that shipbuilding should be fostered, since the 
 "arm of the country in case of danger is strengthened 
 through the instrumentality of a commer 
 cial marine." 141 When the internal revenue act was 
 under discussion, 142 he opposed a tax on cotton, as bad 
 policy, liable to injure an industry much greater than the 
 wool one. 
 
 He maintained that a "violation of a national agree 
 ment, under any circumstances, is full of peril, and it 
 is especially mischievous when that violation relates to 
 some financial operation of the government." There 
 fore, 143 he favored the taking up of the compound interest 
 notes and the issue of three per cent notes in their place, 
 for the government had made a contract with the holders 
 of legal tender notes, not to issue over $400,000,000 of 
 them. The original issue of legal tender notes was open 
 to great objection, but they can not be gotten out of the 
 way at once. 
 
 On miscellaneous topics, we find Johnson asserting 
 that a married woman should not be made a feme sole 
 at law, 144 and advocating the preservation of the Choctaw 
 
 139 Creswell also defended the tariff on coal, but Fessenden replied that the 
 Baltimore and Ohio and the Chespeake and Ohio freights were the enemies 
 of Maryland coal. 
 
 140 On January 29 and 30. 
 
 141 On March 23, he opposed the bill permitting the sale of ships to belliger 
 ents, saying that the proposed law might complicate matters with England and 
 would repeal the excellent neutrality laws of 1798. 
 
 142 On March i. 
 
 143 On February 27. 
 
 144 On February 9. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 189 
 
 and Chickasaw funds that their schools be not closed. 146 
 He had "always voted 146 against intrusting the custody of 
 the Indians to the army." 147 He advocated larger sal 
 aries for those very important officers, the judges of the 
 Court of Claims. 148 Congressmen have other sources 
 of income, but judges have not. Heads of bureaus are 
 mere accounting officers, do not require the same kind 
 of ability, and should receive less salary. Judges of the 
 Supreme Court also receive too small salaries. Taney 
 "lived in the most economical way possible" and could 
 not entertain a single person at his table, yet "left the 
 world with a family almost wholly dependent upon 
 others." When it was proposed to vote indemnity 
 to military officers, 149 Johnson expressed doubts as to 
 whether an indemnity act would be sanctioned by the 
 court and opposed prohibiting courts from entertaining 
 jurisdiction in the case. He felt that we should go to 
 the verge of the Constitution in protecting officers, in 
 all acts they honestly believed necessary to protect the 
 government from the effort to destroy it, but this bill 
 went too far and prevented an injured citizen from suing, 
 in a civil tribunal, any person who acted under presi 
 dential authority. Congress assumed to say that all 
 the President s acts are legal and are legally performed 
 and, even if Congress is without power to pass such a 
 law constitutionally, that the Court shall not examine it. 
 Though he appreciated the importance of the Court 
 
 145 On March 20. 
 
 " 6 On March 9. 
 
 147 In a speech on the printing of the Congressional Globe, on February 8, 
 which he thought ought to be printed by the government were it not for the 
 existing contract. Johnson said "the true mode of interpreting a law is to 
 interpret it by itself without any reference to facts aliunde." 
 
 143 On February 8. 
 
 149 On March 2. 
 
190 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 of Claims, yet he felt that the Senate was competent to 
 pass on legal questions, such as grants of public lands, 
 and opposed reference of such a claim 150 to the Court. 
 He favored appropriations for such internal improve 
 ments as were in the river and harbor bill, believing 151 
 that it was "important to the whole country that the 
 navigation of the western waters should be as good 
 as it can be made." 152 
 
 On May 8, 1867, he argued, unsuccessfully, for the 
 defendant in the case of Virginia v. West Virginia in 
 the Supreme Court. 153 He first considered whether the 
 case entitled the complainant to relief. Berkeley and 
 Jefferson Counties, in 1863, voted in favor of annexation 
 to West Virginia and Virginia now denied the validity 
 of the election. Johnson argued that the certificate of 
 the loyal governor of Virginia in 1863 as to the election 
 was conclusive, that the absence of voters in the Con 
 federate army could not invalidate the election, that 
 Congress approved West Virginia s constitution which 
 provided that additional territory might be admitted 
 into the State with the consent of the legislature, and 
 that Congressional approval to the annexation was 
 given in 1866, within a reasonable period of the election. 
 
 He then considered whether Virginia was a State 
 competent to act. "The Union consists of States, equal 
 in all respects in dignity, and possessing the same rights. 
 The most important of these rights, the one upon which 
 all its other rights and interests depend for protection 
 and enjoyment, is the right of representation in Con 
 gress." If Virginia does not possess this, she is not a 
 
 160 That of Milwaukee and Rock River Canal on January 3. 
 
 161 On February 25. 
 
 163 Vide remarks on Clinton Bridge on February 21. 
 
 M His argument was printed in pamphlet form p. 18. Stanton and Lee were 
 with him. Curtis and Hunter opposed him. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 State, within the meaning of the Constitution. "My 
 own opinion has been" that the Civil War, "in the sense 
 of the Constitution," was an "insurrection and not a 
 war, that the power conferred upon Congress to declare 
 war referred exclusively to an external conflict." The 
 Constitution could not have "intended to authorize 
 Congress, through the war, or any other power, to con 
 quer a State, annihilate and govern it as a territory and 
 its citizens as enemies. The framers of the Constitution 
 looked to the happening of two events : one a war with 
 a foreign nation, the other an insurrection among the 
 people of one or more States. For the first, they in 
 vested Congress with the war power; for the second, 
 with the power to call out the militia. The power to 
 suppress insurrection was given to preserve and not to 
 destroy the States." Congress, however, acted on the 
 inference that, when started, the conflict is a war and 
 the parties are enemies, though they must again become 
 traitors and no longer enemies, at the end of the con 
 flict. The Supreme Court s decision as to the Constitu 
 tional character of the struggle is not binding upon 
 Congress, of which each House "has the exclusive power 
 to decide that a State is entitled to representation, or 
 to state it more correctly, whether a community is a 
 State for that purpose, within the meaning of the Con 
 stitution." As Congress does not recognize Virginia, 
 it is not a State and cannot bring suit. 
 In an eloquent peroration, Johnson said, 
 
 It is not for me . . . . to censure or taunt Virginia s 
 sons, now that the war is over, by unfriendly reference to their 
 recent error. I know well how sincere and deep was the affec 
 tion they bore their State. Their mistake has been that in 
 indulging it they forgot what they owed to the government 
 of the Union. In the blindness of their State love, they did 
 
I 92 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 not see it was their duty also to love the Union 
 
 It is absolutely necessary that the powers delegated to the 
 Government should be paramount to State powers. This neces 
 sity creates an allegiance, to which State allegiance must be 
 subordinate. The South forgot or denied this. They acted 
 upon a different theory. They maintained that the allegiance 
 of the citizen was first due to his State and the late war was 
 the consequence. The result of that war, I hope, has convinced 
 them that their theory is unsound, or at least that it can never 
 be successfully vindicated in practise. Secession, therefore, as 
 a State right is at an end. 164 
 
 At the extra session of Congress, in July, Johnson 
 was consistent with his previous position. He success 
 fully moved that no person who gave aid and comfort 
 to the rebellion after holding office should vote, 155 but 
 that men who did not actually enter into the rebellion 
 should not be excluded, being impelled by a letter from 
 General Sickles who, wrote that there were many now loyal 
 in the Carolinas, who saw the error of their ways and were 
 anxious to help "reestablish the Union." With earnest 
 opposition he met the proposition that there be any 
 increase in the number of persons to be disfranchised, 
 or that persons who acted in any official capacity in 
 the rebel States be excluded from voting. Without these 
 men, there would have been anarchy and the judges, 
 at least, stood in the situation in which Lord Hale stood, 
 when appointed Judge by Cromwell. He defended the 
 Attorney-General 156 for expounding the Reconstruc 
 tion Act to the District of Columbia Commissioners, 
 at the direction of the President. He did not believe 
 that the Attorney-General wrote the veto message and 
 
 154 On July 1 1 , he referred in a speech on the floor of the Senate to the 
 overruling of this demurrer. 
 166 July 10. 
 166 On July ii. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 193 
 
 took the opportunity to say that the law has put the 
 civil under the military authority, and that the Supreme 
 Court, in cases such as those of Texas and Virginia, 
 had entertained writs of error and even heard cases in 
 original jurisdiction, concerning the seceding States. 
 
 In a later speech, 157 he states that he did not regret 
 voting for the original reconstruction acts even after 
 the President s veto, but that no additional law is neces 
 sary. He is willing, however, to vote for a new bill, 
 lest a still worse one come later. "It is high time that 
 the Union should be restored, as it was before the at 
 tempt at its disruption," and should be again, "what it 
 was, when it was originally established, a union of hearts, 
 as well as a union of men." It is a "reproach to the 
 wisdom of the Government" that there are ten States 
 still out of Congress. 158 
 
 Consistent to his theory, he 159 held the President wrong 
 and his message unnecessarily harmful to our credit in 
 saying that we are responsible for the debts of the 
 Southern States. Johnson instanced our relation with 
 Spain, when Napoleon controlled it. When we recon 
 struct the States, their debts revive. They never had 
 right to leave the Union and so their rebel debts were 
 void. If we conquer the States, we have the right to 
 pay for their government while under federal control, 
 by taxing them. The States are for a time out of the 
 Union, but Johnson rejoiced to hear Sumner say that 
 a State can never die, as that statement agreed with 
 Johnson s theory. 
 
 167 On July 13. 
 
 188 He objected to voting money for reconstruction expenses without the 
 recommendation of the President, or Secretary of War. On July 18, he stated 
 that the Secretary of the Navy was censurable, for not examining a man for 
 admission to the Naval Academy. 
 
 169 On July 15. 
 
194 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 In an eloquent speech, on July 12, he defended Maxi 
 milian s course in Mexico, in that he treated guerrillas 
 as criminals as we did and in that he died rather than 
 flee, because he loved honor more than life." There 
 is no civil liberty in Mexico and we must not vindicate 
 his executioners. Six days later, he protested against 
 the idea that the United States are unable to keep their 
 faith pledged with the Indians. White men on the 
 frontier had treated Indians wrongfully without the 
 interference of the government, which can and should 
 enforce obedience there, as in the South. A place must 
 be found for the harmless Indians within the broad 
 limits of the United States. 160 
 
 It was at this Session, that Sumner, who had experi 
 enced many a conflict with Johnson, paid him the high 
 compliment of saying that "we all know" Johnson s 
 "eminence at the bar of the Supreme Court. He has 
 no superior." 
 
 In October, Johnson published a tract 161 entitled "The 
 Dangerous Condition of the Country, the causes which 
 have led to it and the duty of the people, by a Mary- 
 lander." He felt that the country was in peril, for its 
 very existence depends upon the equality of States, yet 
 that equality is at an end, for ten States are under 
 military rule. The legislative department has brought 
 the country into this predicament and has lost the 
 potential wealth of these States to the Nation. The 
 
 160 On July 19, he defended the court of claims and protested against taking 
 cases from it. In April, 1867, John Bigelow was in Washington and called 
 upon Seward, who was anxious over the ratification of the treaty for the annex 
 ation of Alaska. Seward told Bigelow that Sumner had said that consideration 
 of the treaty might have to be deferred because Reverdy Johnson opposed it, 
 but that Johnson, "who is very untruthful," charged Sumner with being the 
 cause of the delay. 
 
 * Pp. 24. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 95 
 
 war, "which grew out of the insurrectionary attempts 
 of the people of the South," had been over more than 
 two years previously. Congress voted in July, 1861, 
 that its sole object was to " defend and maintain the 
 supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union 
 with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several 
 States unimpaired." President Johnson tried to carry 
 out this resolution. It is a glaring absurdity to construe 
 the Congressional power to preserve the States into one 
 to destroy them, yet the war is over and the Union 
 continues suspended. The distinction between a domes 
 tic insurrection and a foreign war is dwelt upon. The 
 insurrection became so formidable that, on grounds of 
 humanity and to give the government the means to 
 assist in its suppression, belligerent rights were given 
 the insurgents. The Prize Cases did not mean that 
 the South was a conquered province, but the perpetual 
 relation of the States was only suspended by the war, 
 although Congress says the Southern States are subject 
 to its unlimited power. A Government can not make 
 conquest of its own territory and Stevens is wrong in 
 finding such power outside of the Constitution, as Con 
 gress possesses no power except those delegated thereby. 
 Sumner s suffrage bill is not rightly under the guarantee 
 clause, and suffrage should be as much a State matter 
 as education, or the control of corporations. Congress 
 already claims the right to charter companies to con 
 struct railroads in the States without their consent. 
 There is no danger from the executive, but there is 
 from Congress, whose radicalism tends to disorganize 
 the country, make it less easy to pay the debt, and keep 
 alive animosity. There is especial danger in the threat 
 to suspend President Johnson, "which nothing but his 
 
IQ6 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 patriotic forbearance can prevent from terminating in 
 another civil war." 
 
 A month later, he published a second pamphlet. 162 
 In this publication, he deals more particularly with 
 Maryland affairs. After discussing the meaning of the 
 clause of guarantee, he turns to the charges that the 
 State s government is not republican, because of the 
 limitation of the suffrage and the unequal representa 
 tion of the counties. A Congressional Committee, sit 
 ting in secret and permitting no representative of Mary 
 land to be present, had inquired into the question and 
 heard witnesses from the members of "that very small 
 party in the State known as Radical." The Constitu 
 tion of 1864, however, was "declared by competent 
 authority to have been legally adopted" and excluded 
 white men from the franchise "by restrictions, in their 
 nature unjust and punitive," yet there was no protest 
 at Washington. A large majority of all the males in 
 Maryland, white and black, support the government 
 and the Democratic candidate for governor had been 
 elected by a majority twice as great as that given the 
 Constitution of i867. 163 Congress had no right to make 
 a Constitution for such a State as Maryland. The 
 Fourteenth Amendment, whose object was to define 
 citizenship, gives no power to regulate the elective fran 
 chise. The President is threatened with impeachment, 
 yet "any alleged violation of supposed duty, not made 
 a crime by Statute, any alleged violation of party fealty, 
 any use of his official patronage which politicians may 
 find fault with, or which may have proved injurious 
 to the public interest, are not causes of impeachment." 
 One must remember that, during an impeachment trial, 
 
 162 Also anonymous "A Further Consideration, etc., pp. 23. 
 163 44, 742 votes for Bowie, 24, 124 for the Constitution. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 97 
 
 the President holds office. The dominant party does 
 not observe the Constitution. The address of the white 
 citizens of South Carolina, protesting against reconstruc 
 tion, causes "sympathy and pain. They should have 
 peace and, throughout the land, the white men should 
 determine to have the Constitution respected and to 
 continue the governments, State and National, exclu 
 sively in the hands of men of their own race." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE IMPEACHMENT SESSION (1867-68). 
 
 In this session and in the trial of President Johnson, 
 Reverdy Johnson took a most important part. He was 
 one of the committee on the rules of the Court. To 
 him largely was it due that the President was acquitted. 
 He opposed in vain Wade s sitting in the Court. He 
 filed an opinion, stating that the President was not 
 guilty, which opinion was forceful and conclusive. He 
 influenced several senators, who had been uncertain 
 what course to pursue, and induced them to rely on 
 President Johnson s integrity for the enforcement of 
 the reconstruction acts. During the early days of the 
 Session, we find him 1 spending the evening with General 
 Sherman, devising some adjustment of the complica 
 tions in the War Department, as a result of which con 
 ference both he and Sherman urged the President to 
 appoint General Jacob D. Cox as Secretary. 2 As the 
 questions at issue were grave and the report of the 
 Committee on Military Affairs was an able one, he wished 
 it printed with the President s message. 3 
 
 On February 24, the House of Representatives voted 
 to impeach the President for "high crimes and mis 
 demeanors" and, on March 5, eleven articles of impeach 
 ment were presented by the House to the Senate. That 
 body was ready to receive them. Johnson had been 
 appointed on February 25 as one of a committee of 
 seven, 4 to which were referred the resolutions of the 
 
 1 On January n. De Witt s Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, 322. 
 z Welles Diary III, 260-261. 
 8 On January 28. 
 
 4 Howard, Trumbull, Conkling, Edmunds, Morton, and Pomeroy were the 
 others. 
 
 198 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 1 99 
 
 House, passed on the preceding day. In the discussion 
 of the rules of the Court 5 Johnson took active part. 
 He thought the Southern States should be restored, 
 but had bowed to the majority and, holding that the 
 authority to try impeachment was the same as that to 
 pass laws, maintained that a quorum of the Court was 
 a "majority of those whom the Senate have decided to 
 have been elected," pointing out that any other theory 
 would invalidate all acts passed since April, 1865, al 
 though the Courts had sustained them. He suggested 
 taking up the proposed rules seriatim, as was done, and 
 insisted that as a Court, the Senate should adhere to 
 precedents. He opposed, both in the committee and 
 in the Senate, a rule to require the aid of any officer 
 military or civil, to enforce the Court s decree, as the 
 judgment could only be removal from office and ina 
 bility to hold office and no process was needed to enforce 
 such judgment. The mode of enforcing the judgment 
 was a matter of legislation and the Senate alone had 
 no legislative power. If the President were convicted 
 and refused to leave the office, it would be for his suc 
 cessor to enforce the removal, but Johnson had confi 
 dence, although he had not conferred with the Presi 
 dent, that he would obey the judgment of the Court. 
 He also opposed any limitation of discussion of any pre 
 liminary points which might be made, such as a motion 
 to quash the indictment because it contained no aver 
 ment of criminal intent, as he was particularly anxious 
 to preserve for the Senate " without suspicion, its honor, 
 its justice, its impartiality." 
 
 On March 5, the first day of the trial, Johnson spoke 
 in opposition to Senator Benjamin F. Wade s sitting in 
 the case, as he was president pro tempore of the Senate 
 
 On February 29 and March 2 
 
2OO REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 and would succeed to the Presidency, if the accusation 
 should be successful. Johnson was careful to make his 
 protest, which was overruled, on purely legal ground, 
 having no personal objections. He cited the precedents 
 brought forward by Sumner and others of the majority 
 in the Stockton case, 6 and insisted that it was improper 
 to place any man in a position, where he would be a 
 judge in his own case, no matter what was the character 
 of his interest. In sitting on the impeachment, he was 
 ever emphatic in reminding his fellow members that 
 they acted as a court and the court must be a consti 
 tutional one. He also insisted 7 that, in a case where 
 the issues are so " fearful," order must be preserved in 
 the galleries and, that there be no suggestion of mob 
 violence, he suggested that admission be by ticket. 8 
 
 At the close of the trial, he gave an opinion which 
 Cox 9 called "unanswerable to the unprejudiced reader" 
 and which left the prosecution no constitutional ground 
 to stand upon. In this opinion 10 he took the position 
 that impeachment lay only for acts for which one would 
 be liable to a criminal prosecution and that it did not 
 lie for speeches, which were protected under the amend 
 ment protecting freedom of speech. The tenure of office 
 
 6 3 Impeachment of Johnson, 68. 
 
 7 In the Senate on March 10. 
 
 8 Col. W. H. Emory testified in the trial that he understood that other 
 officers consulted Reverdy Johnson. On April 14, Johnson advocated printing 
 the proceedings of the trial separately. On April 13, he brought up the ques 
 tion of Sherman s conversation with the President as to his purpose to remove 
 Stanton on January 27, 1868. i Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, pp. 236, 
 517. On March 17, Col. W. G. Moore wrote (19 Am. Hist Rev., Oct., 1913, 
 p. 1 26) "During a visit to the Capitol today, Senator Reverdy Johnson expressed 
 anxiety" that the " President should do something to help himself" and appeared 
 to entertain the opinion that a change should be made in the State and Treasury 
 Departments. 
 
 Three Decades of the Federal Legislation, 361. 
 10 3 Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, 50 & ff. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 2OI 
 
 act did not take away the right to remove Stan ton, as 
 he came under the clause forbidding such removal for 
 the term of the President by whom he was appointed 
 and for one month thereafter, and so Stanton s term 
 expired a month after Lincoln s death. It would be 
 most unwise to force on a President a cabinet of men 
 in whom he had no confidence and the tenure of office 
 bill was framed with the intention of allowing him to 
 change them. Precedent established the right to remove 
 without the Senate s consent and the act of 1795, allow 
 ing the President to appoint a secretary of war ad 
 interim, had never been repealed, expressly or by impli 
 cation. In any case differences of opinion as to the 
 construction or constitutionality of the tenure of office 
 act may honestly be maintained and there is no crimi 
 nality in holding either view. If there were a constitu 
 tional power to remove, the President is bound by his 
 official oath to maintain that power. 
 
 The doctrine that the President is forced to execute any 
 statute that Congress may pass according to the forms of law 
 upon subjects, not only not within their delegated powers, 
 but expressly denied to them, is to compel him to abandon his 
 office and submit all its functions to the unlimited control of 
 Congress and thus defeat the very object of its creation. Such 
 a doctrine has no support in the Constitution and would in 
 the end be its destruction. 
 
 He must execute the Constitution and obey only acts 
 passed in pursuance thereof, or break his " sworn obli 
 gation to support the Constitution. Otherwise the effect 
 of the Constitution would depend on Congress," which 
 would have practically all powers of government, "a 
 result clearly destructive of liberty." The fact that the 
 President wished to have the case referred to the Supreme 
 Court showed that his intent was good. The resolution 
 
202 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 of February 6, by which the Senate declared Stanton s 
 removal in the preceding August to have been contrary 
 to the Constitution and law, was passed in the Senate s 
 legislative capacity and without much deliberation and 
 did not preclude any Senator from changing his mind 
 in a judicial proceeding, where he must, under oath, 
 decide as to the law and justice, nor may he consider 
 what will be the political result of failure to convict, 
 even if it be "civil commotion and bloodshed/ 
 
 Not only did he so argue in public but, when some 
 doubtful senators told Grimes of Iowa that they feared 
 lest Andrew Johnson, if acquitted, would try high 
 handedly to stop Congressional reconstruction, Reverdy 
 Johnson brought about a casual meeting at his house 
 of the President and Grimes, without the foreknowledge 
 of either, at which meeting the President was led to 
 express sentiments, proving that there was no such 
 danger. Grimes conveyed these sentiments to the wav- 
 erers with the desired result. 11 On May 16, the vote 
 was taken and the President was acquitted on the two 
 leading articles by one vote, as the prosecution lacked 
 one vote of obtaining the two-thirds of the Senate neces 
 sary to convict. Senator Grimes was ill at the time 
 and it was uncertain that he would be present. At the 
 most dramatic moment, just before the vote was taken, 
 Reverdy Johnson rose and said of Grimes: 
 
 The Senator is here. I have sent for him. He is down 
 stairs. He will be in the chamber in a moment. He is here. 11 
 
 After the trial was over, Johnson was prompt as ever 
 to defend his friends. A Committee of the House of 
 Representatives summoned Senator Henderson to appear 
 
 11 DeWitt Impeachment of Andrew Johnson 546, Cox, Three Decades, 592. 
 
 12 DeWitt Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, 551. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 203 
 
 before it, as he was accused of having been corruptly 
 influenced in his vote, and Johnson defended him, 13 
 taking the position also that no Senator should appear 
 before the House. He added: " I am the oldest member 
 of the body, I believe, if not in point of service, in point 
 of age. Its honor is as dear to me as the government 
 itself, and I believe there is no corrupt Senator." So 
 too when a false newspaper report said that Henderson, 
 Johnson, Sprague, and Chief Justice Chase had dined 
 together during the trial and thus discussed the forma 
 tion of a new party, Johnson came to the jurist s defence 
 and declared that "such slanderers as the reporter 
 who concocted the story should never be allowed to 
 polute this chamber by their presence." 
 
 As to the opinions of the Chief Justice 14 they were not better 
 known to me than they are to everybody else. What his 
 opinions were with reference to the impeachment, if he had 
 any decided opinions, and what were the reasons which led 
 him to adopt such opinions are unknown to me. I had my 
 own. I had no desire to consult with him. 
 
 Hereafter, "the public judgment will be pronounced, at 
 least to the extent of saying" that those who voted to 
 acquit the President, 
 
 did what they did from conscientious conviction, that what 
 they did was the result of their calm and deliberate consider 
 ation of the law and the evidence, and that they were bold 
 enough, defiant enough of all efforts to control them in the 
 
 13 On May 21. 
 
 14 On June i, he explained, however, that he voted by mistake for a resolu 
 tion thanking the Chief Justice for the manner in which he discharged the pre 
 siding office, as he thought the resolution was a vote of thanks to the Sec 
 retary of the Treasury. He thought that the resolution which had been passed 
 was calculated to bring the judiciary into political contests. 
 
204 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 discharge of a judicial duty, finally to decide as they did 
 decide. 15 
 
 John A. J. Creswell, a radical Union man, by guber 
 natorial appointment, had replaced Hicks as Johnson s 
 colleague. To succeed Creswell, the Maryland legisla 
 ture elected Philip Francis Thomas, a Democrat, in the 
 spring of 1867, as we have seen. After long argument, 
 in which Johnson took an active part, Thomas was not 
 allowed to take the oath of office. On December 18, 
 Johnson moved his admission. The motion was referred 
 to the Judiciary Committee, which took testimony and 
 reported on January 6. Johnson then addressed the 
 Senate, urging that Thomas be admitted. He had been 
 Secretary of the Treasury in the closing days of Bu 
 chanan s administration and had been accused of sym 
 pathy with secession then and with bad financial man 
 agement. Johnson denied these charges and claimed 
 that the New York bankers had asked Thomas s resig 
 nation, merely because he was a Southern man. The 
 condition of affairs in Maryland, at the time of Thomas s 
 election, was also alleged to be such that he should not 
 be seated, but the most important accusation was one 
 not brought forward previously, namely that his son 
 had been in the Confederate service and that the father 
 had given him one hundred dollars ($100), when he left 
 home to enlist at the age of eighteen in 1863. Johnson 
 cited the instance of a son of Governor Bradford, who was 
 also in the Confederate service and asserted that Thomas 
 did not give the son money to aid the insurrection and 
 never wrote him, after he left home. The boy would 
 go, money or no. The father gave money to prevent 
 
 13 He assailed an officer of the Senate for editing a paper which bitterly 
 attacked the minority. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 2O5 
 
 calamity befalling the son afterwards. The unreflect 
 ing youth of Maryland were easily induced to go South 
 and, through their erroneous belief in slavery, to resist 
 what they believed to be the unconstitutional proceed 
 ings of the Union. Senator Edmunds said that he felt 
 he must vote against Thomas, since, previous to his 
 son s enlistment, he "was in full sympathy with the 
 enemies of his country." Howard also opposed admit 
 ting him, but Howe, while admitting the force of the 
 charge said that Maryland, as a State, had a right to 
 be represented by Senators of her choice and that Thomas 
 should be permitted to take the oath. After admission, 
 the Senator might be expelled; but the Senate is judge 
 of the constitutional qualifications only of those elected 
 to its membership and may not add to these qualifica 
 tions. Because men do not receive the penalties, which 
 the law denounces against treason, "it does not become 
 the Senate to sit and make faces at them." A judge 
 would not exclude testimony, by refusing to allow a 
 witness to swear, lest, if he take the oath, he commit 
 perjury. 
 
 Conkling doubted the possibility of exclusion for past 
 treason and Howe replied that, in any case, the penalty 
 might follow present perjury, but that there were no 
 limits to the power to expel. He did not think Thomas 
 more dangerous than any other Democrat from Mary 
 land and, although Howe did not like to trust the wel 
 fare of the country to any Democrat, the man repre 
 sented the opinion of Maryland and the Senate may not 
 disfranchise a State. 
 
 Trumbull next took part in the debate, opposing 
 Howe s position. A man can not be both a citizen and 
 an enemy and, as Thomas had shown himself to be 
 the latter, his case is similar to a man convicted of bribery. 
 
2O6 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Howe controverted this, for the briber is disqualified, 
 because of sentence of court; but the Senate had no 
 jurisdiction to try crime and the statutes do not define 
 disloyalty. Doolittle and Trumbull maintained that 
 Congress might disqualify, by imposing punishment for 
 crimes generally, and Edmunds added that Thomas 
 should not be given a vote on the question of his own 
 expulsion. At first, Trumbull had favored seating 
 Thomas and then examining the case, but believed it 
 competent for the Senate to examine into the case first, 
 as it was a continuous body. The object of the oath is to 
 protect the country against disloyal men holding office. 
 Stewart opposed Thomas, in the last speech of the day, 
 and said the Fourteenth Amendment covered the case 
 and gave 16 the Senate authority, as Thomas had taken 
 the oath to support the government and later, by help 
 ing his son, was accessory before the fact to aiding 
 rebels. The "trouble is that we are not in the habit of 
 regarding rebellion as a crime." 
 
 The subject did not again receive discussion until 
 January 20, when Hendricks favored Thomas, who was 
 a "constitutional Union man, dissenting from the politi 
 cal policy of the administration at that time, but con 
 curring in the necessity of the maintenance of the Union 
 through the power of the general government." His 
 assistance of his son had no criminal design, but might 
 be compared to helping a wounded Confederate, or pay 
 ing a debt to a man going South. Frelinghuysen spoke 
 on the same side. The question is judicial, not politi 
 cal, and Thomas was "guilty of a grave mistake," but 
 was not disloyal. 
 
 The debate continued on the next day. Howard im 
 pugned Thomas s conduct in 1861, and his mild dis- 
 
 16 Howe said he did not know whether the amendment had been adopted. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 2O7 
 
 suasion of his son, merely saying Maryland had not gone 
 out of the Union, when he should have had the youth 
 arrested by the provost marshal. Morton of Indiana 
 followed in a strong speech opposing Thomas. 
 
 Every deliberative body has the right to protect itself from 
 the presence of disloyal men, or of great criminals. Thomas s 
 disloyalty is shown by his speech, when notified of his sena 
 torial election, and by the fact that his son testified that he 
 was uncertain as to his father s position in 1861. Thomas s 
 letter resigning the Treasury portfolio showed him to be "one 
 
 of the original conspirators of this rebellion He 
 
 expected his own State to go into it. It was known at that 
 time that there was not a more disloyal city in the Union than 
 the City of Baltimore. If it had not been for the subsequent 
 course of events, by which Maryland was held for the time in 
 the Union by the force of arms, I have no doubt Maryland 
 would have passed an ordinance of secession. We, gentlemen, 
 talk about the loyalty of Maryland. Allow me to say that 
 it was a constrained loyalty. 
 
 Williams followed, speaking in behalf of Thomas and 
 urging the Senate to accept any man with the constitu 
 tional qualifications, sent by a legislature. It is dan 
 gerous to make admission to the Senate a political ques 
 tion, and investigation and punishment for perjury, if nec 
 essary, may properly follow taking the oath. Rebellion 
 is not a private crime and, although Thomas may have 
 sympathized with the rebels, he did not give them aid 
 and comfort. It was not likely that Maryland would 
 elect a better Democrat and a loyal State should not 
 be denied the right to representation. Morrill, oppos 
 ing Thomas s admission, held it disloyal to resign the 
 Treasury at the crisis and the gift to his son was mis- 
 prision of treason. If Thomas is admitted, w r here shall 
 the Senate stop? A. H. Stephens had already applied 
 
2O8 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 for admission. Stewart closed the day s debate, sum 
 ming up the objections of previous speakers, develop 
 ing the Congressional plan of reconstruction, blaming 
 Thomas for not keeping his son from going South, and 
 claiming that there was no evidence that Thomas was 
 willing to protect every Union man and enforce the 
 civil rights bill in Maryland. 
 
 The debate continued on January 22, and several 
 other Senators took part. Doolittle reminded the Sen 
 ators that they acted in a judicial capacity and should 
 not cite extreme cases, such as that of Jefferson Davis. 
 The only question is as to a person doing acts "suscep 
 tible of a double construction." If a man would take 
 the oath, he should have his seat. The fact that Thomas 
 had a wrong opinion of the power of government in 1861 
 did not show disloyalty, for many loyal men, such as 
 Greeley, had it. Drake asserted that the intent of the 
 oath was to search the innermost recesses of a rebel con 
 science. The Senators must not be made accessories 
 before the fact to perjury nor let Thomas take the oath, 
 if they were satisfied that he would perjure himself in 
 doing so. If a small rebel is admitted, a big one can 
 not be kept out. 
 
 On the contrary, Tipton felt that none of these charges 
 were sufficient to keep Thomas out and that he had a 
 "right to retain his States rights heresies at home." 
 Buckalew felt that the charge of disloyalty in 1861 was 
 absurd. Thomas had some degree of sympathy with 
 the rebels, but settled down on his farm and did no 
 wrong. The speech in 1867 is not important. If you 
 concede everything in regard to the gift to his son, still 
 the Senate is not competent to try questions of criminal 
 law. If Thomas s intent was benevolent, there was no 
 crime. In point of law, there was no power to turn 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 2OQ 
 
 away a man with regular credentials, willing to take the 
 oath, except in case of a traitor, excluded under the 
 power of preserving public safety in time of public dan 
 ger, which was not now the case. Fessenden announced 
 that he should vote for Thomas, as there was no extreme 
 need of exercising any extraconstitutional power. A 
 refusal to permit Thomas to take the oath is a mere 
 arbitrary decision, making a precedent which is apt to 
 degenerate into a party question. The speech of 1867 
 and the resignation in 1861 were not important. Thomas 
 was following the existing law, when, as Secretary of the 
 Treasury, he refused to permit tariff duties to be col 
 lected on shipboard. He doubtless loved his son better 
 than his country, and was willing to let him go, but did 
 not give aid and comfort to the South. The Senate 
 must not exclude all Democrats. Johnson closed the 
 debate, on January 23, urging haste in settling the 
 matter. He took advantage of the opportunity to de 
 fend the judges of the Supreme Court and to say that 
 he did not believe that five of them had said they 
 believed the reconstruction measures to be unconstitu 
 tional. 17 
 
 On February 7, Johnson announced that he proposed 
 soon to call up the case of his colleague, inasmuch as the 
 legislature of Maryland was in session and, if Thomas 
 were ousted, could at once elect another Senator. Six 
 days later, the debate was resumed, upon a motion of 
 Sumner that Thomas was guilty of misprision of treason 
 for his conduct in reference to his minor son. Loyalty 
 was a qualification for admission to the Senate under 
 the Fourteenth Amendment. Trumbull responded that, 
 if Thomas is now loyal, he should be admitted. He 
 
 17 "I am so situated," he added, "that I read the papers very seldom and 
 indeed I am hardly able to read them at all." 
 
2IO REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 defended Thomas s administration of the Treasury, 
 though it had not the confidence of moneyed men and 
 was unpatriotic, and he called attention to the facts that 
 Thomas advised his son and other young men not to 
 enter the rebel army and that the money given the son 
 was all expended before the rebel lines were reached. 
 As a juror, he would not find Thomas guilty. Letters 
 expressing rebellious sentiments in 1861 had been written 
 by men, like Colonel Stokes of Tennessee, who had 
 continued loyal throughout the war and was now a 
 Congressman. Fessenden followed in Thomas s behalf 
 and remarked that Sumner and Trumbull had sat in 
 the Senate and heard men say they were going home to 
 secede, but had not informed on them, while Brecken- 
 ridge even sat there, when the battle of Bull Run was 
 fought. Thomas s duty should have led him to do more 
 than he did, but his act did not make him a traitor. 
 Edmunds spoke in opposition to Thomas and insisted 
 that the war began before January II, 1861, when 
 Thomas resigned. In a long and eloquent speech, he 
 claimed that Thomas had associated with rebels and 
 had stopped speaking to Union men, while he had 
 merely dissuaded his son from making war on Maryland, 
 because it had not gone out of the Union. Yates and 
 Sherman also spoke against Thomas, the latter speaker 
 laying stress on Thomas s resignation of the Treasury 
 Secretaryship two days after the "Star of the West 
 had been fired upon, because he did not agree with 
 Buchanan as to measures to be taken in reference to 
 conditions in South Carolina." The resignation was 
 an act of assistance to the rebels and Thomas had never 
 expressed regret for it. He had applied to vote in 
 Maryland, but had refused to take the prescribed oath, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 211 
 
 both before and after the adoption of the Constitution 
 of 1864, and would have been glad to go out of his State. 
 Corbett closed the day s debate, with a declaration 
 that Thomas was one of the original conspirators against 
 the government and with a comparison of him to John 
 son, a loyal Senator, who " stood forth like a giant in 
 1 86 1 to maintain the rights of the Union." On the 
 fourteenth Thomas was defended by Tipton and Buck- 
 alew, the latter of whom called attention to the fact 
 that, when Thomas found his son tarried in Washington 
 for two months, he induced his wife to write urging the 
 youth to come home. Speeches in opposition to Thomas 
 were made by Yates, Morton, Stewart, Fowler, Drake 
 and Howard, the last of whom said that, when the 
 Subtreasury funds were seized at Charleston on January 
 8, 1861, Thomas uttered no rebuke and made no at 
 tempt to defend the treasury. The debate then went 
 over to the eighteenth, when it was taken up by Trum- 
 bull, who thought that the Judiciary Committee should 
 have expressed an opinion in the matter, instead of 
 merely reporting the evidence and saying that there 
 was nothing to keep out Thomas except his conduct 
 in reference to his son. Thomas was too loyal to agree 
 with Buchanan and the distrust of Thomas felt by the 
 New York capitalists was the real cause of his resig 
 nation. We fed rebel prisoners and Thomas did no 
 more for his son. Ferry made a speech in opposition. 
 Johnson then spoke in Thomas s behalf, and endeavored 
 to prove Maryland s loyalty. 18 On the question of ad- 
 
 18 On January 31, he wrote Governor Bradford, asking for facts for a speech 
 to prove Maryland s loyalty and saying that the failure to reelect Johnson to 
 the Senate, had, in the estimation of Congressmen of both parties, done the 
 legislature of Maryland harm. 
 
212 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 mitting Thomas, the Constitution made each Senator a 
 judge. The legislative branch of the government de 
 pends for its existence on the States, whose legislatures 
 have right of choice of Senators, subject to the constitu 
 tional restrictions. If Thomas is excluded, it is on 
 ground of implied power to add qualifications for admis 
 sion. The authority to impose an oath is questionable, 
 the right to go back of that oath is also questionable, 
 and there is no need to do so here, for Thomas is a man 
 of honor and a gentleman, so that he may be trusted to 
 take the oath. If Thomas is guilty of misprision of 
 treason, the son was guilty of treason, but an intent 
 to join those who levy war against us is not treason. 
 Thomas had been commissioner of patents, until he was 
 called to the Treasury on December 12, 1860, and he 
 found that Buchanan, "by a policy which I forbear to 
 characterize as I think it should be characterized, be 
 cause he is an old man and has rendered service to the 
 country, by a policy of imbecility and inactivity, had 
 permitted the authorities of the State of South Carolina 
 to encircle Sumter with a range of forts." If Thomas 
 had been a secessionist, he would have remained in 
 office to embarrass the administration. Thomas showed 
 loyalty, by removal of the revenue cutter officer who 
 had turned over his vessel to the South Carolinians. 
 Many men still hoped for peace at that time and the 
 Peace Convention of the early months of 1861 was, for 
 the most part, animated with the purpose to obviate 
 war, without seriously affecting the character of the 
 government. Even Lincoln underestimated the Con 
 federate strength and called for 75,000 instead of for 
 400,000 men. Many Marylanders, "greatly and lament 
 ably in error," went into the rebel army from a con 
 viction that the South had a just cause. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 213 
 
 In the struggle of arms, the men of Maryland were true to 
 their lineage in either army, their daring and impetuous cour 
 age was strikingly exhibited. Hundreds and thousands of them 
 now sleep upon the fields which were the scenes of their valor. 
 In this, I feel, as I hope, an honest and blameless pride. I 
 can point to them, as demonstrating that the sons of Maryland 
 have not degenerated, that they are the worthy descendants of 
 ancestors, who, in the war of the Revolution, when under the 
 command of Williams, Smallwood, or Howard, never turned 
 their back to the foe and rarely ever met him but to conquer 
 .and who, in 1781, at the battle of Cowpens, led on by Howard, 
 by a brilliant charge, threw the enemy into confusion and, 
 snatching victory from defeat, changed the fortunes of the 
 day and achieved historic and deathless fame for the Maryland 
 line and its gallant leader. 
 
 On the nineteenth, the debate closed. Howard showed 
 that Thomas was intimate with such secessionists as 
 Floyd, Cobb and Thompson, and engaged in discussion 
 with Trumbull over a statement that the order to reen- 
 force Sumter caused Thomas to resign. Buckalew spoke 
 in behalf of Maryland and then Johnson accused Howard 
 of vituperation in saying that Thomas would perjure 
 himself and suborn his son in order to take his seat. 
 Thomas is a "frank and an able man, an honest and an 
 intelligent man and, notwithstanding all that has been 
 said of him, a patriot, in the true sense of that term, as 
 pure and perfect as the honorable Senator for Michigan." 
 Thomas was an honest man who left the Treasury as 
 poor as when he entered the office, while his loyalty 
 was shown, by refusing to pay a claim which Floyd 
 advocated, and by transferring $350,000 from St. Louis 
 to New York, while he transferred not a dollar to the 
 South. War was not flagrant in January, 1861. As 
 late as the end of February, loyal men thought com 
 promise was possible. The result was not certain. 
 
214 RE VERB Y JOHNSON 
 
 We trembled, lest England or France should interfere 
 and the Union be dissolved. Queen Victoria probably 
 prevented British interference. "I believed and was 
 thought oversanguine that, in the end, all would come 
 right, but when and after what loss, I knew not/ Even 
 Stephen A. Douglas, Union man as he was, on March 
 15, 1 86 1, offered a resolution in the Senate to have the 
 Secretary of War inquire, if it were better to retain the 
 Southern forts. 
 
 Conkling now moved that Thomas be refused admis 
 sion, as he can not with truth take the oath of office, 
 and Drake moved that Thomas, having voluntarily given 
 aid to persons in armed hostility, is not entitled to be 
 a Senator. Howe disliked Thomas, but felt that the 
 parties to the controversy were Maryland and the United 
 States and that Maryland had the right to elect and 
 send here any man who had the constitutional qualifi 
 cations. The Constitution does not insist that a man 
 have been loyal in the past, but that he swear to be 
 loyal in the future. The power to expel is to be dis 
 tinguished from that to admit and gives Congress the 
 needed safeguard. Davis agreed to this position; but 
 Conness, though a Democrat, thought slavery and war 
 rose above all other questions and that the Senate should 
 be preserved from "living rebels." "At the beginning 
 of the war, the Devil had a mortgage on nearly all 
 Maryland which, during the war, he could not foreclose, 
 but has now done so." In a final speech, Johnson cited 
 the acceptances of the resignations of Robert E. Lee 
 and Franklin Buchanan by the Secretaries of War and 
 Navy in 1861, which acceptances were mistaken, as 
 Johnson thought, who "was here at the time and sensi 
 bly alive to the dangers." He asked in vain, that by- 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 215 
 
 gones be permitted to be bygones. Thomas was refused 
 admission by the vote of 21 to 28. 19 
 
 The Maryland legislature soon elected Harrison W. 
 Vickers of Kent County to fill the vacant senatorial 
 seat and Johnson presented his credentials on March 9. 
 Sumner moved to refer them to the Judiciary Committee, 
 to see if Maryland had a republican form of govern 
 ment, since fourteen counties, with one-fourth of the 
 white population, elect fourteen of the twenty-four Sen 
 ators; but he withdrew the resolution and Vickers was 
 sworn in. 20 
 
 Together with the impeachment proceedings and the 
 defence of Thomas, the questions arising out of the 
 reconstruction of the Southern States occupied John 
 son s attention. On December 5, he opposed the equal 
 rights bill for the District of Columbia. He was willing 
 to give the negroes every privilege necessary to their 
 
 19 In the discussion with Cameron, the latter misunderstood Johnson to 
 speak of Joseph E. Johnston s resignation and said Johnson told him that he 
 would not act against the government. Cameron also said that he had arrested 
 the legislature of Maryland to prevent them from taking the State out. John 
 son responded that the Maryland legislature could not have done any harm, 
 but that Lee did. Cameron then told a hearsay tale of Lee s deserting the 
 army under false pretences, which Johnson doubted, as not in keeping with 
 Lee s honorable character, and reiterated his old position that Buchanan s 
 capital error was in confounding war against a State with the duty of enforc 
 ing, as against citizens, obedience to the Constitution. On February 21, when 
 Harvey, the Minister to Portugal, was blamed for his alleged statement that in 
 1 86 1 Lincoln had authorized him to say that Sumter would not be reenforced, 
 Johnson defended him and said that Harvey acted, at the time, at the request 
 of Seward, who was then, in some particulars, conducting the War and Navy 
 Departments. Cameron said that this was a reflection upon him and Johnson 
 responded that he doubted not that Cameron did his duty, but insisted that 
 Seward did things which were properly in the sphere of the War Department. 
 
 20 Conness opposed Sumner and Nye supported him, saying that Swann s 
 appointment of registers of voters was a fraud on the Constitution of 1864, 
 and that R. B. Carmichael s letter to Governor Bowie proved that Swann s 
 act was the result of a corrupt bargain. 
 
2l6 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 protection, but he did not feel that allowance of suffrage 
 to them was politic or demanded by any ground of 
 principle. 
 
 That right, according to my understanding of it, is the creature 
 of positive law, not one of the inalienable rights with which 
 we are endowed, and may or may not exist in any particular 
 community, as that community may think is advantageous or 
 not advantageous to the interests of the whole. 
 
 He objected, seriously, to permitting black men to 
 serve as jurors, especially in criminal cases, since for 
 the most part they had just emerged from slavery. 
 The number of negroes in Washington may even lead 
 to the election of judges of that race, which would be 
 detrimental to the rest of the people. 21 Yet, when the 
 bill was passed and was not returned within ten days 
 by the President, Johnson held it became law, though 
 Congress was not in session at the time, as there had 
 been no close of the session, but only a recess for the 
 Christmas holidays. 22 Drake had been much offended 
 at the President s message and offered a resolution of 
 censure. He had also printed in the newspapers an 
 open letter to Reverdy Johnson, saying that the supreme 
 authority over the people everywhere, in relation to 
 all things, is in the government of the United States 
 and, especially, in its legislative departments, and that 
 there are no rights which can be called, in any proper 
 sense, sovereign in any of the States of the Union. 
 Johnson defended the President s message and answered 
 Drake s "constitutional heresies" in an able historical 
 
 21 Recent elections showed that Siimner s policy was not altogether palatable 
 to the people. 
 
 22 Vide speech on January 7 and 24. On March 24, he said, if the body be 
 not in actual session, the bill may be returned to one of its officers. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 21 / 
 
 speech. 23 When the Confederation, creating a league, 
 had been adopted by free and independent States, they 
 soon found the need of a "government vested with 
 powers adequate to its own preservation, a govern 
 ment, therefore, authorized to enforce those powers, not 
 through the instrumentality of other governments, but, 
 directly, upon the citizens individually, and above all 
 having the authority absolutely necessary to maintain 
 the interests of all against the nations elsewhere and to 
 prevent conflicts among the States themselves," but 
 not to extinguish the States. Only such powers were 
 transferred to the United States as were "necessary 
 and adequate to maintain our independence against the 
 world and preserve peace among ourselves." Curiously 
 enough, Virginia is "now, in the estimation of some, 
 supposed to be out of the Union by means of a war waged 
 for the purpose of preserving the Union unbroken." 
 The Supreme Court, for example in the McCulloh case, 
 had held the view of State sovereignty and Drake him 
 self, sitting in the Convention which framed the Missouri 
 Constitution, though he oposed exacting an oath of 
 loyalty from the clergy, did not object to it on the ground 
 that Missouri had no sovereign power. The executive 
 power is not detailed in the Constitution and the Presi 
 dent also has veto, treaty making, and nominating 
 powers, his sole responsibility being by impeachment. 
 He was not bound to approve bills for reconstruction, and 
 was right to state his opinion of those laws, but he had 
 enforced them faithfully. Drake would have done bet 
 ter to answer the message. Despite their difference in 
 views, "the relations between the honorable member 
 and myself are such and, I am glad to say, they are 
 equally friendly with every member of the body, that 
 
 23 On December 12. 
 
218 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 he will never receive at my hands anything but what 
 will be most cheerfully rendered, the greatest courtesy." 
 
 The President is not subordinate to the legislature. 
 Jackson, who wrote the nullification message, also wrote 
 the bank messages, which Johnson analyzed at length. 
 President Johnson s position is stronger, for no court 
 has said that the reconstruction laws are constitutional, 
 those laws whose only warrant is that the Southern 
 States have no existence and their citizens possess no 
 individual rights, but "are bound to submit to the abso 
 lute and uncontrolled will of the legislative depart 
 ment." Clay had once carried a resolution of censure 
 against Jackson and, although "I can never men 
 tion him, but with reverence and admiration. He was 
 impulsive and strong willed, of masculine understanding 
 and of the purest patriotism," yet he "could bear no 
 brother near the throne. Let the Senate beware of a 
 popular uprising against its policy and, instead of war 
 ring with the President, let it restore peace, revise 
 taxation, maintain unbroken plighted faith and preserve 
 unsullied the honor of the nation." 
 
 When the supplementary reconstruction bill was under 
 discussion, on January 27, Johnson delivered a long and 
 able address, attempting to show that the doctrines 
 advanced in the bill were "unwarranted by the Consti 
 tution, unsound and mischievous." He defended, with 
 great erudition, the power of the Supreme Court to 
 declare laws void and maintained that, without this 
 power, the government would not have had its great 
 success, nor its prosperity. The object of the Conven 
 tion, which formed the Constitution, was to preserve 
 republican liberty by preserving a republican form of 
 government, not to guard against the abuses of those 
 who might be called upon to administer a government 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 219 
 
 of that form." Morton was wrong in saying that the 
 word "loyal" may be interpolated in the guarantee of 
 republican government of the States. When the Con 
 stitution was adopted, in most of the States there was 
 slavery and in none was there universal suffrage. None 
 then supposed that, in that guarantee, lurked a pro 
 vision which might be used by Congress, for the pur 
 pose of taking away from the States authority to regu 
 late suffrage. The Federalist shows that the clause 
 gave Congress no power to create a government for a 
 State, "but merely to defend the States." What is 
 disloyalty? Is it to "entertain abstract opinions upon 
 the meaning of the Constitution, to have believed in 
 the doctrine of secession in the past, or to believe in 
 it now," to disagree with Congress? "No, it may be 
 an error of opinion, no more," and Reverdy Johnson had 
 differed with each department of government. 
 
 In the exercise of my own honest judgment and having at 
 heart the prosperity and safety of my country, I did, from the 
 commencement of the rebellion and before, denounce it, as 
 resting upon a doctrine finding no support in the Constitution 
 of our country, but, on the contrary, at war with many of its 
 express provisions. I had, however, the charity to believe, 
 and I believe now, that the opposite doctrine to my own was 
 maintained with equal sincerity by hundreds and thousands 
 of citizens to be found in every State in the Union 
 
 When Jefferson wrote the Kentucky resolves of 1799, 
 he was wrong, but not disloyal. The men, who govern 
 Maryland now, do so rightfully, as far as the laws are 
 concerned. "That they erred in the past in sympathiz 
 ing with the South, nobody is more satisfied than I 
 am," and they know now that secession would have 
 ruined Maryland, which would have been the battle 
 ground of the war. This war was insane, as well as 
 
220 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 unconstitutional in its origin, and, as Johnson predicted 
 from the beginning, it was fatal to slavery, "the very 
 institution which its authors thought to preserve by 
 it." The fact that slavery is gone is "compensation 
 almost entire for all that has occurred, terrible though 
 the losses were." The doctrine of secession is also dead 
 and prosperity may now be looked for. We must re 
 member the clauses as to ex post facto laws, treason and 
 jury trials, as well as the guarantee clause. The bill pro 
 posed to place ten States under the dominion of the 
 military forces and make the genefal-in-chief a despot. 
 "I would not entrust George Washington himself with 
 such power." From the first, Johnson believed that 
 the Southern States never ceased to exist as States, and 
 repudiated, as absurd, the doctrine that the United 
 States, exercising its power of self-preservation, could 
 work the destruction of a State. He appealed to the 
 decision of Chief Justice Chase in proof of the con 
 tinued existence of the States. 24 The war ended in 
 April, i865, 25 since which time no man can be tried, 
 except in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, 
 which knows no doctrine of necessity, but was made to 
 meet every emergency. Johnson had favored a general 
 amnesty at the end of the war and now pleaded that 
 the South be brought back in peace. 
 
 On January 31, he favored permitting Ohio to with 
 draw her assent to the Fourteenth Amendment, as he 
 believed that, before the full number of States had 
 assented, a State s vote is a mere promise to assent, 
 when others are ready. Three days later, Ferry re 
 ferred to Johnson s vote on March 2, 1867 for the recon 
 struction bill and said: 
 
 24 On deciding on the invalidity of the sequestration act of North Carolina. 
 
 25 Vide decision in Ex parte Milligan. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 221 
 
 I thanked God in my heart that there had come down to 
 us, from the palmy days of the Republic, one Senator, who 
 would place country above party and give his vote accordingly. 
 
 Johnson explained: 
 
 I did it from a conviction that the measure for which I voted 
 was calculated, sooner than any other that I thought was likely 
 to be introduced, to heal the troubles of the country and bring 
 peace to the South. It is equally true, that never, for one 
 moment from the time I gave that vote to the present hour, 
 have I regretted it and, under the same circumstances,! should 
 vote as I did then. 
 
 He had thought the bill inconsistent with the Con 
 stitution, but 
 
 I yielded my opinion, in order to heal the troubles in which 
 the country was placed, and I did it, under a belief .... 
 that that measure would be a final one upon the part of Con 
 gress A Senator of the United States, who really 
 
 believes that his country is in danger, unless its condition is 
 changed for the better, has no right to stand upon his own 
 convictions of constitutional duty, in time of admitted peril 
 to the country, when he finds that he differs with many gentle 
 men of acknowledged ability and whose sincerity he had no 
 right to question. 
 
 But the desired result had not come. u The country 
 is not at peace. The measure for which I voted has 
 not proved a finality." Johnson had received commen 
 dation for this vote from many men in the South, even 
 those who " perilled their lives in the effort to establish 
 for her a separate independence." If I could be mor 
 ally convinced that the South would in a short time," 
 if the supplementary bill be "adopted, be restored to 
 the condition in which she was before the war com 
 menced," he would vote for it, but he did not feel that 
 
222 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 this would be the case. He defended the attorney- 
 general, for giving the President an opinion as to the 
 constitutionality of a bill before it passed Congress, as 
 it would be improper for one to defend in the Supreme 
 Court a law he thought unconstitutional. 26 He also 
 opposed 27 strongly the passage of the Supreme Court 
 jurisdiction bill, to take the McCardle case from that 
 tribunal. 28 
 
 It was a defect in the Constitution that it did not 
 provide what courts are to exercise judicial power. But 
 for the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to examine all 
 cases arising under the Constitution, the government 
 would have ended long since. It is a great and peace 
 ful tribunal, "having no power except that which reason 
 gives, having no voice except that which speaks the 
 law." Stewart had attacked the court and, sneering 
 at his "peculiar style of oratory," Johnson denied that 
 
 it was for the political department of the government to deter 
 mine whether a citizen of the United States is a public enemy. 
 If he has forfeited the protection of the law, it is a case for the 
 courts. If the court, in a case brought before it legitimately 
 between parties, .... finds that the law .... 
 was one which Congress had no authority under the powers 
 
 26 On February 5. 
 
 27 On March 26. 
 
 28 McCardle had been arrested for disturbing the public peace, exciting to 
 insurrection, libeling General Ord, and preventing contracts from being carried 
 out. The act of February 5, 1867 had been passed to protect colored people, 
 to prevent officers from being harassed by suits for damages and to ascertain 
 what were the powers of the government during the war. Under the act, if 
 the State courts caused an officer s arrest, application might be made to the 
 Federal Courts for a writ of Habeas corpus. The government claimed that the 
 Circuit Court had no jurisdiction and the Supreme Court stated that it would 
 decide the case, when the case came for trial on its merits. McCardle was 
 not arrested until November., 1867, and so could not have been engaged in 
 rebellion. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 223 
 
 vested in them by the Constitution, to pass, they have no 
 discretion, they must so hold, or violate their duty and their 
 oath. 
 
 The fact that the act repealing that which allowed an 
 appeal was passed in two days is criticised. It is "a 
 dangerous thing to deal with courts of justice in this 
 suspicious spirit." "There are but two modes by which 
 controversies can be settled, as we all know, force and 
 law. Force necessarily leads to destruction. Law, if 
 observed, leads to peace." 
 
 When the Washington city charter was debated, 
 Johnson stated that, though he had the kindest feeling 
 for negroes, he would not appoint them to offices of 
 any consequence. Most of them are wholly unedu 
 cated and came to Washington during the war, so they 
 have no interest in the city. Even Sumner did not 
 give them tickets to the impeachment trial. 
 
 It is one thing to give to them all the rights of citizenship, 
 to place them upon an equality, political, with all the white 
 race and another thing to enable them to be placed in a situa 
 tion, through some political contrivance, some party measure, 
 to get possession of the offices of the government. 
 
 If their safety depended on it, he would even give 
 them office, but they can enjoy their rights without it 
 and the prejudice against their holding office of itself, 
 looking to the peace and quiet of the community, is a 
 reason against granting the privilege. 
 
 When Arkansas asked for readmission, his calmness 
 and wisdom were shown 29 by advocacy of a reference 
 of the new State constitution to the Judiciary Com 
 mittee. There will be no harm in delay and admission 
 
 29 On May 13. 
 
224 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 might lead to the charge that new Senators had been 
 added as judges in the impeachment trial. Such addi 
 tion would be improper and no suspicion of the possi 
 bility of it should be allowed. The question of admit 
 ting Arkansas came up again on June I, and Johnson 
 said that the States had the right to control the fran 
 chise, just as if there were no Federal Constitution, and 
 that Congress had no power to limit it. If the general 
 government can not take the regulation of the franchise 
 directly from a State, it cannot do so indirectly, nor can 
 it impose on Arkansas as a condition of readmission, 
 that she shall not regulate the franchise. There are no 
 express terms in the Constitution, assuring the equality 
 of the States, but, without absolute equality, the govern 
 ment could not exist and the intendment of the Consti 
 tution Avas clear, from the equality of senatorial repre 
 sentation. If New York and Maryland can regulate 
 the suffrage and Arkansas can not, they are not equal. 
 A State differs greatly from a territory, which Congress 
 may govern as it thinks best for the interest of the 
 people, as the territory is held by Congress in trust for 
 the benefit of the people of the United States and of 
 the territory. 
 
 If we can insist that negroes vote, we may insist that 
 women and aliens vote. 30 Congress may not restrict a 
 new State from its necessary attributes as an independ 
 ent sovereign government. "I want the union to be 
 what it was, in every respect, except slavery." He 
 wished reintroduction of the seceded States, not from 
 recollection of their past renown, but from hope of future 
 renown. Government by military rule through the cen 
 tral government, is unsuited for the States. 
 
 30 On February 25, he said that, in Maryland, naturalized citizens must pro 
 duce their naturalization papers in order to vote. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 225 
 
 Not that I have any prejudice against the army as such, 
 against the officers who have led it during the last war to vic 
 tory upon so many battlefields and have won for themselves 
 such imperishable renown, frustrating, as they did, the great 
 est rebellion ever known among men; but because, from the 
 very nature of military power, it is dangerous to individual 
 freedom. 31 
 
 Although he urged the admission of the Southern 
 States speedily, and opposed "the imposition of any 
 fundamental condition" thereto, he objected to the ad 
 mission of Georgia with a constitution containing a 
 clause impairing the obligation of contracts, which was 
 unconstitutional. 32 
 
 Questions of taxation interested Johnson and he 
 moved 33 to exempt the crop of 1867 from the cotton 
 tax, 34 which he thought unconstitutional, as he could 
 not distinguish it from a direct export tax. Taxation 
 ought to fall as lightly as possible on the people, while 
 the cotton tax is not only oppressive but ruinous. It 
 might have been borne when slavery existed, but "that 
 labor we have now, and I am glad to know, terminated 
 forever." As it is desirable to have cotton growing, \ve 
 should give a bounty, rather than discourage the culti 
 vation. It was not a question of rebellion or of loyalty, 
 
 31 On June 23, when the credentials of the Senators from Arkansas were 
 referred to the judiciary committee, Johnson said that if Congress did not 
 recognize the Arkansas legislature, neither had it that of California, when the 
 first Senators came therefrom, and remarked that he had once given an opinion 
 in Maryland that, if the Governor refused to sign a certificate of election, cre 
 dentials signed by two presiding officers of the General Assembly would be 
 sufficiently authenticated. 
 
 32 On June 23. On June 30, he advocated the admission of Florida s Sena 
 tors, although that State said it adopted instead of ratified, the amendments 
 to the Federal Constitution. 
 
 33 On December 16. 
 
 34 On January 7. The cotton tax was 10 per cent. 
 
226 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 but of financial policy. We desire to have the South 
 reinstated in all the resources of wealth formerly hers 
 except slaves. 35 
 
 He advocated a drawback on materials for the build 
 ing of vessels, as he believed that 36 "there are some indus 
 tries of the country that are more exclusively national 
 than others and, if any one can be said to be more na 
 tional than another, it is the marine, the shipbuilding 
 industry of the country," which was virtually extinct 
 in the United States. It was an art requiring high skill 
 and the Maine shipyards were deserted, while the glories 
 of the privateers of 1812, of the Baltimore clippers, and 
 the New England boats had passed away. 
 
 I have, for years, felt regret .... at the fact that 
 we were about to leave the ocean, the scene of so many of our 
 noble exploits, the scene upon which we won such imperishable 
 renown in the past, to the hands exclusively of other nations, 
 
 who may become enemies A name upon the 
 
 ocean, one that will not only be respected but feared, is of 
 great value to a nation. 
 
 He was a protectionist, but favored 37 a tax on the 
 manufacture of sugar, arguing that the manufacturers 
 had made great fortunes during the war and had better 
 reduce expenses. 
 
 Whether free trade, in the absolute sense of that term, would, 
 at this time, be the proper policy of the government is a ques- 
 
 35 Negroes already were growing the cotton crop on shares and so .lose 
 twenty-five per cent of the compensation. On March 12, he defended the 
 permission given exporters of distilled spirits to export, within thirty days, 
 alcohol and rum made before January. On March 28, he opposed granting 
 internal revenue collectors the power to compromise, in cases of fraud in pay 
 ing the whiskey tax. On April 6, he said that the departments have probably 
 used unexpended appropriations for the ensuring year and have sent in esti 
 mates on that basis. 
 
 36 On March 17. 
 
 37 On March 19. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 22J 
 
 tion which I do not propose to argue. I do not think it would, 
 but very many reasons might be given in support of the doc 
 trine. One thing is certain, that we do not mean to adopt 
 it. We mean to continue what we have done in the past to 
 protect our domestic industries. Then the question in rela 
 tion to every article of domestic industry is, what protection 
 does it need, if it be an industry of interest to the country. 
 
 During the session, he spoke several times on District 
 of Columbia matters. 38 He denied the right of Con 
 gress 39 to charter a corporation in the District, with 
 right to have an office and hold meetings in a State 
 without its consent. On another local matter, his last 
 senatorial speech was made, advocating 40 an appropri 
 ation of $7000 for the Mt. Vernon Association, as the 
 government during the war had seized the steamer 
 which plied to Mt. Vernon and so the Association lost 
 revenue. It was important to prevent the catastrophe 
 of Washington s house going to ruin. Johnson felt the 
 place was properly in the hands of women, through 
 their sympathies. 
 
 All sorts of miscellaneous subjects were dealt with in 
 his speeches. The stationery room needed investiga 
 tion. 41 It was better to run the risk of abuse and permit 
 the President to send secret agents abroad unofficially, 
 than to require their nomination to the Senate. 42 The 
 "great measure" passed in 1862 for the building of the 
 Union Pacific Railroad was passed in pursuance of a 
 
 38 On December 20, he advocated paying certain claims in reference to the 
 District jail. On February 12, when the case of negroes ejected from a Wash 
 ington street car came up, he said he travelled often on the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad and had been counsel of the company ever since its organiza 
 tion, but never heard of such wrongs being done on it. On April 7, he objected 
 to assessments for public improvements in Washington. 
 
 39 On January 31. 
 
 40 On July 6; the bill passed on the ninth. 
 
 41 On December 19. 
 
 42 On January 30. 
 
228 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 "wise and enlarged policy" and constituted a national 
 undertaking, pregnant with national benefit," which 
 private wealth could not accomplish. The Central 
 Branch of the railroad should be completed 43 and will 
 help St. Louis, Baltimore, and other cities, while it 
 will also gain for us the India and China trade, which 
 made England and will make us. 44 The naval pension 
 trust fund of 1800 should be preserved. 45 Marine hos 
 pitals are constitutional under the commerce clause 46 and 
 should be established on inland waters. An appro 
 priation should be made for a copyright library in the 
 Department of the Interior. 47 Officers of the army may 
 be allowed to bet, if they stake their own money, and 
 it is sufficient 48 to prohibit betting by those who are 
 intrusted with public funds. Congress alone may pre 
 scribe rules and regulations for the army 49 and cannot 
 delegate this power to the President. The newspapers 
 cause all men to form impressions on criminal cases, 
 but a man should be allowed to serve as a juror 50 who 
 has formed an impression, but who swears, to the satis 
 faction of the court, that he will be able to render a 
 fair verdict. There is no greater disposition to appoint 
 to office on party grounds, than there was for twenty 
 years past. 
 
 The system commenced as a dangerous one, a mischievous 
 one, .... in the days of General Jackson, .... 
 and will be continued .... until healthier sentiment 
 
 43 On March 16. 
 
 44 The time in which railroads (on May 18) in Wisconsin and Michigan were 
 to be constructed should be extended, so that they may not lose the land grant. 
 
 45 On March 7. 
 
 46 On June 29. 
 
 47 On July i. 
 46 On June 29. 
 
 49 On June 29 
 
 50 On April 8. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 22Q 
 
 governs the country. 51 The Senate should not consider nomi 
 nations to petty offices, such as those in the navy yards, for 
 to do so would take up its whole time and unfit the body for 
 its " constitutional functions." 
 
 Johnson spoke on diplomatic affairs, advocating that 
 a minister be sent to Ecuador, to the intent that we 
 may prevent South American commerce falling into the 
 hands of England and France, 52 and insisting upon the 
 need of a second assistant secretary of state. 53 Early 
 in the session 54 speaking in opposition to recognition as 
 belligerents of the Abyssinians who were at war with 
 England, he declared that the only result of the resolves 
 would be to induce some of our people to take the 
 Abyssinian flag and prey on English commerce, which 
 might lead to war between us and Great Britain, thus 
 enormously increasing the debt. He could imagine no 
 greater calamity to human liberty and to the two coun 
 tries than war between them. Without calling into 
 question the right of the British government to recog 
 nize the Confederates as belligerents, the act had been 
 a "gross error," unkind to America, and it would have 
 been almost suicidal to Great Britain, if she had accom 
 plished the division of the United States. England had 
 violated her neutrality in permitting the cruisers, espe 
 cially the Alabama, to go out. Russell was especially 
 unfriendly and even yet delays a settlement. "England 
 owes it, not only to us, but to her own honor, to pay 
 every dollar of the losses which American citizens sus- 
 
 51 On March 2 7. 
 
 52 On March 10. 
 
 53 On June 22, he also defended Hunter, the veteran holder of the office 
 of Assistant Secretary of State, and urged the appointment of an examiner of 
 claims for that department. On March 13, he had advocated the payment of 
 the claim of the heirs of Asbury Dickins, who had acted as Secretary of Treasury 
 and of State, while chief clerk. 
 
 54 On December 19. 
 
23O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 tained, in consequence of the cruise" of the Alabama. 
 Our claims should be arbitrated, but the question of 
 belligerency is not necessarily connected with them. 
 If we recognize the Abyssinians as belligerents, our act 
 may jeopardize our Alabama claims. Our relations with 
 Great Britain are now friendly and we should not re 
 taliate upon her, when she apparently regrets her past 
 conduct. "Peace between the two is the interest of 
 humanity. Peace between the two is in the interest 
 of constitutional freedom." Such strong and wise words 
 on so important a subject naturally made men feel that 
 Johnson could be trusted with our interests in London, 
 especially after it became evident that he would not 
 be reflected to the Senate, on account of his votes in 
 March, 1867, for the reconstruction programme. 55 In 
 speaking upon the rights of naturalized citizens, 56 John 
 son said 
 
 This government never can permit her naturalized citizens 
 to be punished by England, or Germany, or any other nation, 
 for acts which, as citizens of the United States, they had a right 
 to perform. 
 
 If England would not admit the doctrine of alienable 
 allegiance, "it would form just cause for war," which 
 he hoped might not happen. 
 
 In the summer of 1868, Charles Francis Adams re 
 turned from England to the United States and the 
 President offered Reverdy Johnson 57 the vacant post of 
 
 65 Vide letter of James Touchstone to A. W. Bradford, who had urged re 
 election, January 8, 1868. The Bradford papers were used through the 
 courtesy of Gov. Bradford s son, Mr. Samuel W. Bradford, of Bel Air. 
 
 56 On December 19. 
 
 57 George B. McClellan was first named and was rejected. Vide 12 Harper s 
 Weekly 42 (July 4, 1868) for picture and sketch of Johnson with reference to 
 the English appointment. The nomination is there called "judicious." 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 23! 
 
 minister to Great Britain. The offer was accepted, a 
 unanimous confirmation by the Senate followed on June 
 12, and, on July 9, Johnson rose in the chamber and, 
 overpowered by his feelings, asked Vickers, his colleague, 
 to read his farewell address. He retired, with the " deep 
 est regret and with a grateful remembrance of the kind 
 nesses received from his fellow members." He went to 
 London, "influenced by a sincere wish to secure to both 
 governments, an adjustment, honorable to both," of the 
 difficulties existing between them. The Congressional 
 Globe contains a remarkable note, stating that, at the 
 close of the valedictory, the Senators rose, simultaneously, 
 and grasped Johnson s hand in turn, to wish him suc 
 cess. 58 He had not overstated the facts in saying that 
 he had " contracted friendships, which have been a con 
 stant source of pleasure and which I shall ever value. 
 I cannot retire without the deepest regret." In the 
 important period in which he had served, " although 
 differing widely in regard to most" subjects "with a 
 majority of the Senate and supporting my opinons with 
 earnestness, it will always be a great gratification to me 
 to remember that, at all times, by every member, I 
 was treated with uniform courtesy and, I need hardly 
 say, Mr. President, that such courtesy I never failed 
 most gladly to reciprocate." He was going to Great 
 Britain looking "with hope to the approval of my asso 
 ciates. They will do me the justice to believe that I 
 have been governed throughout by an earnest desire 
 to maintain all the rights and promote the interests of 
 our beloved country." He should "never cease grate 
 fully to remember the kindnesses evinced for me in this 
 
 a At Johnson s suggestion, the Governor of Maryland named William 
 Pinkney White as his successor. The formal resignation to the Governor of 
 Maryland was filed with the Senate on July 10. 
 
232 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 chamber" and, gazing into the future, felt that, with 
 unity of government, "imagination itself will be at a 
 loss adequately to conceive the future greatness of our 
 land." 
 
 In Mr. Elaine s words, Johnson " carried with him 
 the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens. Ap 
 pointed directly after the impeachment trial of Presi 
 dent Johnson, he was among the few statesmen of the 
 Democratic party who could have secured the ready 
 confirmation of the Senate, for a mission which demanded 
 in its incumbent a talent for diplomacy and a thorough 
 knowledge of international law." 59 
 
 59 2 Elaine s Twenty Years, 489. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 MINISTER TO ENGLAND (1868-69) 
 
 Johnson s selection as Minister to England was well 
 received, Harper s Weekly 1 said: 
 
 He fully agrees with the views of the government on the 
 intricate questions with England and will probably pursue, 
 under the same policy and general instructions, the work so 
 well conducted heretofore by Mr. Adams. 
 
 The President might have nominated an agent more 
 acceptable," as to political principles, " to the Senate 
 and country, but hardly one of greater ability, or higher 
 character" than Johnson. Once A Week 2 thought the 
 appointment to be of the "happiest augury for the 
 friendship of the two countries. When speaking in the 
 Senate as he often did on foreign relations of the 
 United States, his tone was ever one of moderation and 
 of conciliation." 3 
 
 1 Vol. 12, p. 42, July 4, 1868, with picture of Johnson and sketch. 
 
 2 October 31, 1868, vol. 2, p. 351. 
 
 3 The article bears witness to the fact that his "public and private character 
 is without a blemish" and his "abilities have been sincerely used in aid of 
 honest convictions." His later years had been "spent in unceasing efforts to 
 benefit his country and to soften the bitterness which had gradually grown up 
 
 between the two sections The lucidity and penetrating quality 
 
 of his mind, his great experience, his intimate knowledge, no less of the lore 
 and general spirit, than of the details of the law, the clear and forcible manner 
 in which he seized and urged his points, the intellectual strength which he 
 always displayed in grasping the whole scope of his case, gave him advantages 
 possessed by very few, if any, of his professional competitors." In the Senate, 
 "he shone forth, as one of the most powerful orators of that body, nobly sus 
 taining the cause of the Union, heartily voting the war supplies, advocating 
 the extinction of treason, and lending all the strength of his marked abilities 
 to the best interests of the land." 
 
 233 
 
234 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Johnson made a speech at the North Western Saenger- 
 bund festival at Schuetzen Park in Baltimore 4 on July 
 14 and, on the next day, a complimentary banquet was 
 tendered him at the Eutaw House. 5 Five days after 
 ward, Secretary Seward gave Johnson his instructions, 
 which emphasized the importance of friendly relations 
 between the United States and England and stated that 
 the most important question requiring attention was 
 the recognition of the alienability of allegiance, so that 
 our naturalized Irishmen might visit England and be 
 treated as Americans. We had been neutral during the 
 Fenian troubles, with much difficulty and inconvenience, 
 and felt that we had the right to insist on this conces 
 sion. The location of the boundary line in Puget Sound 
 was also to be considered and, if Great Britain makes 
 satisfactory agreement as to these points, Johnson should 
 advert to the "subject of mutual claims of citizens and 
 subjects of the two countries against the government of 
 each other, respectively." In other words, he was to 
 sound Stanley, the English foreign secretary, as to his 
 willingness to have the Alabama claims referred to a 
 joint commission like that of 1853, although the United 
 States should not be distinctly committed to such a 
 proposition. 6 
 
 Sumner, who was chairman of the Senate Committee on 
 Foreign Affairs, wrote the Duchess of Argyll on July 28 : 
 
 Reverdy Johnson came to see me last evening. 7 He will 
 begin on the naturalization question and has every reason to 
 
 4 Scharf , Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 676. 
 
 5 A. W. Bradford papers. 
 
 6 The dispatches, etc., passing between Seward and Johnson are found in 
 I Diplomatic Correspondence, 4oth Congress, 3rd Session, pp. 328, 347 to 441. 
 An incredible story as to Johnson s ignorance of English history may be found 
 in 10 Cent. L. J. 106. 
 
 7 4 Pierce s Sumner, 359. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 235 
 
 believe that it will be settled harmoniously. He is more truly 
 a lawyer, than any person sent by the United States, except 
 perhaps Pinkney. He is essentially pacific and detests the 
 idea of war or wrangle with England. On this account, I am 
 sorry to lose him from my Committee in the Senate. 
 
 Sumner s biography states that Sumner had thought 
 "our interests in England were too important to be 
 hazarded on a compromise and preferred to have the 
 post vacant;" but, when he found the majority of the 
 Senate were not inclined to this view, he thought that 
 the next best thing was to avoid a contest, so that 
 Johnson might feel an obligation to the Republican 
 majority. 8 
 
 He was thought to be a better person for the post than any 
 other the President was likely to name, he had shown him 
 self, on the foreign relations committee, uniformly conservative 
 and wise; he had risen above his surroundings in his support 
 of the Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment, he was very 
 amiable with his associates of both parties in the Senate, and 
 there was a general disposition to give him the compliment of 
 the brief term of service which remained under the present 
 administration. 
 
 This statement shows where Sumner stood in refer 
 ence to Johnson. From the same authority, we learn 
 that Johnson had not waited to call on Sumner, until 
 he was on the eve of sailing, but had gone there the day 
 after the confirmation of his appointment and had 
 thanked Sumner warmly for the unanimous action of 
 the Senate. 
 
 In their conversations, naturalization and the ques 
 tion of San Juan Island in Puget Sound were discussed. 
 No reference was made to the Alabama claims, which 
 
 8 4 Pierce s Sumner, 383. 
 
236 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Sumner supposed would not be considered by Johnson, 
 but would go over to the next administration. In spite 
 of his outward friendliness, Sumner gave Johnson no 
 letters of introduction in England. 
 
 Johnson arrived in England in August, charged by 
 Seward with the commission to negotiate three treaties, 
 viz. : recognizing our right to naturalize those who had 
 been born British subjects, defining the boundary be 
 tween Vancouver s Island and the United States with 
 special reference to San Juan Island; and arranging for 
 an adjustment of the claims arising out of Great Britain s 
 alleged failure to assume a proper neutral position during 
 the Civil War, the so-called Alabama claims. 
 
 From his first arrival, Johnson received the warmest 
 possible welcome. An English magazine said that his 
 appointment was "of the happiest augury for the friend 
 ship of the countries" and quoted with approval his 
 statement that he came, "hoping to be the envoy of 
 peace and good will, and more, of friendship and cordial 
 cooperation, in the progress of the race." It was said 
 that his reception was "worthy of the distinguished 
 statesman, high-souled gentleman and accomplished 
 scholar that he is." On August 18, Johnson was in 
 London and sent a copy of his credentials and a note to 
 Lord Stanley asking for an audience. The reply was 
 made that Stanley was on the Continent with the Queen 
 and would not return until the middle of September. 
 While waiting for this, Johnson visited Disraeli, the 
 Prime Minister, at Hughenden Manor, his country seat 
 in Buckinghamshire, and met the Lord Chancellor and 
 others of the House of Lords. He wrote Seward, on 
 August 29, that nothing of a political character was 
 discussed, but the friendly feeling shown had made him 
 hopeful. Lord Stanley returned to England and John- 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 237 
 
 son met him on the tenth of September. They talked 
 together, very satisfactorily, for more than half an hour, 
 speaking of the subjects in dispute, in general and frank 
 terms. On September 12, Johnson wrote Seward of this 
 conversation and stated that he would endeavor to show 
 Lord Stanley that Parliamentary action would not be 
 necessary on the matter of naturalization, so as to avoid 
 the delay incident to the passage of an act. As to the 
 other matters, Johnson was convinced there will be 
 no serious difficulty," and asked that he might go on 
 with the other questions, without waiting for the con 
 clusion of the naturalization treaty, if there was delay 
 therein. 9 Johnson fyad an audience with Queen Victoria, 
 September 14, when she spoke in "very friendly terms." 
 On the twenty-fifth he saw Stanley, with such satisfac 
 tory results, that he was hopeful of agreeing, in a week 
 or two, to a protocol of a treaty of naturalization, which 
 will settle matters, as far as possible, previous to legis 
 lation which cannot be expected before spring. On 
 October 7, he wrote Seward that he and Stanley 10 had 
 nearly agreed on the protocol and that he continued to 
 "receive the strongest evidence from the other mem 
 bers of the government, as well as Lord Stanley and 
 from the English public generally, of the friendly feel 
 ing entertained by them all for the government and 
 citizens of the United States and I, therefore, entertain 
 no doubt that all matters now in controversy will soon 
 be satisfactorily arranged." Two days later, he cabled 
 news of the signing of the protocol and wrote that the 
 document "shows that the government does not hold, 
 
 9 He was also trying to secure the release of two Fenians, Warren and Cos- 
 tello, and was hopeful of success. 
 
 10 Johnson steadily felt (Despatch of February 17 to Seward) that Stanley 
 was as "anxious" for the settlement of all difficulties, "as I was." 
 
238 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 but, on the contrary expressly renounces, the principle 
 of alienable allegiance and admits the right of expatria 
 tion." He was assured, both by the present government 
 and also by the Liberals, "who may possibly succeed 
 them," that Parliament would pass the desired act. 
 
 Meanwhile Seward, sanguine of success, had written 
 him 11 on September 23. 
 
 In event that you become convinced that an arrangement 
 of the naturalization question, which would be satisfactory to 
 the United States, .... can be made, .... 
 you may open concurrent negotiations upon the two questions 
 but that these negotiations shall not be com 
 pleted, nor your proceedings deemed obligatory, until after the 
 naturalization question shall have been satisfactorily settled, 
 by treaty or by law of Parliament, since the United States 
 must negotiate with proper deference and respect to the state 
 of opinion which prevails in the Senate, in Congress, and among 
 the people. Without a satisfactory naturalization treaty, the 
 Senate might " reject even the very arrangement, which other 
 wise might have proved satisfactory, in regards to the San 
 Juan and claims questions. It was desirable that the new 
 administrations of the United States and of Great Britain 
 should find themselves relieved of all the international ques 
 tions, which, although they are not intrinsically difficult, have, 
 nevertheless, so long and so painfully embarrassed both nations. 
 
 So wrote Seward to Johnson and the latter replied 
 on October 9, that he would next proceed on the San 
 Juan question and expected to discuss it with Lord 
 Stanley on the sixteenth. So speedily did they agree 
 on this point that, on the seventeenth, Johnson wrote 
 that he had just signed a protocol for settling the San 
 
 11 On September 22, Sumner wrote Bemis: "Seward is sanguine and Johnson 
 writes that he shall settle everything. Nothing just yet, but everything very 
 soon. The naturalization treaty comes first. Seward then expects a com 
 mission to hear and determine everything" (4 Pierce s Sumner, 371). 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 239 
 
 Juan boundary controversy by arbitration, the conven 
 tion not to go into effect until the naturalization question 
 be settled. 
 
 On the question of the Alabama claims, Johnson set 
 to work at once and, on October 20, cabled Seward, in 
 cipher, a request to be allowed to sign a convention, on 
 the basis of the treaty of February,, 1853, leaving the 
 questions to the King of Prussia as arbiter. Seward 
 was out of Washington, but Hunter, the Assistant Sec 
 retary of State, submitted the dispatch to a cabinet 
 meeting, on the day on which it was sent. 12 Four days 
 later, Seward replied by cable that Johnson should insist 
 on a convention like that of 1853, without naming an 
 arbiter. Seward cabled again, on the next day, that 
 the naturalization protocol was approved: "Can you 
 hasten the claims convention?" A day later, he trans 
 mitted by cable the President s commendation for John 
 son s diligence in the naturalization matter. Johnson s 
 interview with Lord Stanley, on October 29, was so 
 satisfactory that he sent Seward word that he expected 
 to sign a convention as instructed, within a week, and 
 that he hoped that the President s message to Congress 
 in December may communicate a satisfactory adjust 
 ment of all matters which "weaken the friendly rela 
 tions" of the two countries. Meanwhile, the presiden 
 tial election occurred, with its great majority for Grant, 
 and Seward feared the "claims protocol will meet oppo 
 sition." 13 Johnson had pushed forward so vigorously 
 that he was able to notify Seward, on November 10, 
 that he had signed a convention "for settlement of all 
 
 u 3 Welles Diary, 4 59- 
 
 13 He called, on November 7, to have the President of Switzerland named as 
 arbitrator. On November 7, Johnson sent a hopeful message as to the Claims 
 Convention and, on the loth, reported an amendment of the San Juan protocol 
 
240 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 the claims that the citizens of either country may have 
 against" the other. "What are known as the Alabama 
 claims are, of course, embraced by it." The question of 
 the recognition of belligerency was included and the 
 convention was to sit in London, as most of the evi 
 dence was in Liverpool. Seward did not like this ar 
 rangement as to location and insisted, by a cable dis 
 patch, that the convention sit in Washington. Johnson 
 replied, on November 12, that he would try to obtain 
 the change, though it would cause delay to hold the 
 sessions in Washington, as the proof was in England. 
 He had not understood that the place of the convention s 
 session was important, as a dispatch sent to Adams, 
 while he w^as minister, had stated that this was a matter 
 not to be insisted on. Seward cabled an immediate 
 reply that, in view of the " highly disturbed national 
 sensibilities," the naming of Washington was "indispen 
 sable." As Lord Stanley was absent from London for 
 a few days, Johnson could not act immediately, but, on 
 the sixteenth, he replied that he was hopeful of success 
 and, on the twenty-third, sent Seward word that the 
 British ministry had agreed to Washington and the 
 "people of all classes, especially the opposition leaders, 
 wish a satisfactory solution" of the difficulties. On the 
 next day, Johnson cabled a request to make the San 
 Juan protocol a convention and was surprised to receive 
 an instant reply that that question may rest for the 
 moment and that the claims agreement, "unless amend 
 ed, is useless." The protocol provided that all claims 
 should be submitted to an arbitration of four commis 
 sioners, two from each party and, if they could not 
 agree, the points of dispute should be submitted to some 
 sovereign as umpire. Seward took the dispatch to the 
 cabinet meeting and told Secretary Welles, of the Navy, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 24! 
 
 that he was sick, for he "had got the daonnedest strange 
 thing from Reverdy Johnson for a protocol." He sub 
 mitted it to the cabinet, with a "lugubrious look," and 
 said that the whole thing was contrary to his instruc 
 tions and must be sent back. The members present 
 were surprised, but did not inquire into the points of 
 difference and Welles recorded, in his Diary, that he did 
 not believe in a speedy settlement of the difficulties with 
 England. 14 Seward sent Johnson his views, in a long 
 cablegram on November 27, stating that he was willing 
 to accept a convention like that of 1853, pure and simple, 
 but that the one which Johnson had submitted was 
 unacceptable, as it did not put the Alabama claims on 
 the same basis as the others, though they constituted 
 the largest and most material part of the American 
 claims. If Lord Stanley be offended, Johnson should 
 explain matters to him. If he accepts Seward s amend 
 ments, Johnson may sign a protocol as to the claims 
 and convert the San Juan protocol into a convention. 
 Johnson replied to Seward that he could not under 
 stand the validity of the objections and that Lord 
 Stanley would not 15 yield to Seward s requirement that 
 a foreign arbitrator be appointed; but that he hoped 
 that the new liberal government, which was about to 
 assume office would be more satisfactory. Lord Claren 
 don would hold the foreign office and Johnson, who 
 thought he entertained sincere friendship for the United 
 States, intended to renew negotiations with him, as 
 soon as possible. 16 Johnson was as good as his word 
 and, on December 16, apprised Seward that he had met 
 
 " 3 Welles Diary, 468. 
 
 15 Cables of November 28 and December 5. 
 
 16 On December 14, Seward wrote that the views previously given are en 
 tirely in accordance with the expectations of the country. 
 
242 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Clarendon and hoped to conclude a satisfactory arrange 
 ment. Two days later, Johnson spoke of a new arrange 
 ment in which, if the commissioners can not agree and 
 think there should be a friendly government as arbi 
 trator, they shall report to Great Britain and the United 
 States,which nations shall select one within three months. 
 Just before Christmas, Johnson informed Seward that 
 Clarendon refused to make the agreement in the form of 
 a protocol and insisted on signing the convention in Lon 
 don. 17 Seward suggested minor amendments to John 
 son, on January n, and said that, if these were made, 
 the residue was satisfactory and signature could be 
 made, either in Washington or London, so that the 
 convention might go to the Senate at once. The same 
 directions were given as to the San Juan convention. 18 
 Clarendon agreed to Seward s requests and, on January 
 14, Johnson was able to cable that the conventions were 
 signed as directed. In a letter which followed the dis 
 patch, Johnson wrote that he takes it for granted that 
 the treaty will meet the approval of the President and 
 the Senate. Great Britain had yielded two grounds 
 asserted previously, for they now agree to refer to arbitra 
 tion our demand and also the right of Great Britain to 
 recognize the Confederate States as belligerents, "I have 
 reason to believe," Johnson added, "that the abandon 
 ment of the grounds originally taken, to which I have 
 referred, has been due, in a great measure, to the growing 
 friendly feeling for the United States, which has been 
 so strongly exhibited since my arrival in this country. 
 Anticipating that that would be its effect, I determined 
 to lose no time in cultivating such a feeling, whilst never 
 forgetting scrupulously, to regard the rights and honor 
 
 17 Vide dispatches of December 23 and 24. 
 
 18 Vide also dispatches of January 12 and 13. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 243 
 
 of my country. This has been my sole motive in the 
 speeches, which I have delivered since reaching Eng 
 land." The Alabama claims were especially named in 
 the treaty, which provided for the appointment of two 
 commissioners by each government, who should meet 
 at Washington and name an arbitrator. If they can 
 not agree on one, he is to be selected by lot. If 
 two or more of the commissioners prefer a friendly 
 sovereign, they must report to their governments, who 
 shall choose one within six months. 
 
 Johnson had done much to establish an entente cordial. 
 In a speech at Leeds, for example, Johnson assured the 
 English that the Americans looked on them as brothers 
 and that a war between countries so united would be 
 as bad as the Civil War. He stated that he was struck 
 with the similarity of the political institutions and had 
 come with full power and with every disposition to 
 settle all outstanding disputes. Even the hostile Satur 
 day Review admitted, 19 in commenting upon this speech, 
 that the English had done wrong and that Johnson had 
 an opportunity to accomplish definite results, but his 
 courtesy, his pacific disposition, and his dislike to quarrel 
 with men had, undoubtedly, led him too far. 20 On Sep 
 tember 24, at the Cutlers banquet at Sheffield, Johnson 
 was a guest and spoke of "ties, stronger than links of 
 iron, which bound the two nations." He was followed 
 by Mr. Roebuck, a member of Parliament, who had 
 sympathized with the Confederates and who spoke of 
 the "monopoly of the government of the United States 
 by the buccaneering element," and the exclusion of edu- 
 
 19 Vol. 26, p. 414. 
 
 20 Rhodes (6 History of United States, 334) remarks that, in after dinner 
 speeches, Johnson "spoke, in effusive terms, of the friendly sentiments that 
 should obtain between peoples of the same race, speaking the same language 
 and reading the same literature." 
 
244 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 cated men from public life. 21 The Nation, 22 which was 
 friendly neither to Johnson nor the administration, 
 praised him for saying nothing in reply at the time and 
 for correcting Roebuck s "absurdities in perfectly calm 
 and temperate language," 23 when replying to an address 
 on the following day. He said in his reply: 
 
 If either country wrongs 24 the other, or suffers the other to 
 be wronged, when it could have prevented it, it should not hesi 
 tate, when convinced of the error, to redress the consequences 
 which may have resulted from it and I have so much confidence 
 in the enlightened judgment of your government and its love 
 of justice and I have like confidence in my own, that I feel 
 convinced, if either commits a wrong, it will, when satisfied 
 of it, confess it and do whatever may be necessary to redress 
 it. 25 
 
 The Times severely criticised Roebuck for his discour 
 tesy 26 and Johnson came out of the encounter with prob 
 ably increased popularity in England. In America also, 
 he had not lost much ground. Harper s Weekly, it is 
 true, commented on "Mr. Reverdy Johnson s Indis 
 cretions," but the Nation, 27 while feeling that "decency 
 does require that he should hold aloof from persons 
 opposed to the United States," added that he should 
 
 21 Rhodes censures Johnson rather harshly for going to the dinner, after he 
 knew Roebuck was to be present. 
 
 22 Vol. 7, p. 242. 
 
 23 Rhodes, not realizing the habitual use of the courteous phrase "my friend" 
 by Johnson, objects to his using it in reference to Roebuck in the reply. 
 
 24 Vide dispatch of February 17 to Seward. 
 
 26 The answer was published, Johnson wrote, "with approbation, by almost 
 the entire press." 
 
 26 Rhodes casts it up against Johnson that Roebuck wrote the Times that 
 Johnson "has given me every assurance that he felt greatly pleased by all 
 that had happened since his arrival here and to myself, personally, he used 
 expressions of kindness and friendship, which touched me very nearly." 
 
 27 October i, vol. 7, p. 266. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 245 
 
 not be condemned too strongly, till it were known 
 whether, "behind his fair words, there is any real con 
 cession on the subject of the rights of the country." 
 A month later, a banquet was given to him in Liverpool, 
 at which Lord Stanley and Gladstone both spoke and 
 at which Johnson made a more serious mistake, by shak 
 ing hands with Mr. Laird, the builder of the Alabama. 
 It is true that Laird was the representative in Parlia 
 ment of Birkenhead and part of Liverpool, but his act 
 led the Nation to say that Johnson s "performances 
 make the judicious of all parties grieve deeply." To 
 the American people, he appeared to talk too much and 
 to fraternize with "notorious enemies and revilers of 
 the United States." 28 The feeling was strong that he 
 had "disgraced his government" 29 by persisting in his 
 "foolish courses." ^Welles wrote in his Diary on Decem 
 ber 2 1, 30 that Johnson "is doing neither himself, nor the 
 country, credit in England. By last accounts, he was 
 corresponding and dining with Laird. There is in much 
 of his conduct, and especially in this, a degree of ser 
 vility that is disgusting." Undoubtedly Rhodes is cor 
 rect in thinking that, in the United States, Johnson s 
 actions "injured his standing and impaired his author 
 ity," but he does not attribute sufficient importance to 
 the influence and popularity in England that Johnson 
 gained by his course. It was much to have the Saturday 
 Review, which had been hostile to our nation, say that 
 the Liverpool banquet was a great success and that 
 "Mr. Johnson is an excellent example 31 of what "experi 
 enced and conciliatory men of business" can "do in a 
 
 28 Vol. 7, p. 342, October 28. 
 
 29 Nation, vol. 7, p. 383. 
 
 30 Vol. Ill, p. 488. 
 
 31 Vol. 26, p. 544. 
 
246 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 very short time, when they set about their task in the 
 right way. He has not only made himself popular in 
 England, although he has only been a few weeks here, 
 but he has done much to make his countrymen popular 
 here. He does this by being, at once, cordial and 
 straightforward." The same feeling marked a cartoon 
 published in the number of Punch for December 26 
 and representing Johnson, Uncle Sam, and John Bull, 
 "Under the Mistletoe." 
 
 Seward had been optimistic as to Johnson s success, 
 for sometime before the treaties were concluded. As 
 early as December 4, he relieved Welles from anxiety 
 by saying that he had "great confidence in the success" 
 of Johnson s plan. "Does it," said Welles, "embrace 
 claims of England for cotton and other property, cap 
 tured or destroyed during the war?" Seward replied 
 emphatically, "No, it does not." In reply to further 
 queries, Seward asserted that the plan shut off all claims 
 for prizes condemned in American courts and consid 
 ered nothing "which could come within our admiralty 
 or local jurisdiction." 32 On January 15, immediately 
 after receiving the cablegrams announcing the conclu 
 sion of the treaties, Seward told Welles that he had all 
 three treaties. Welles asked if they permitted England 
 to present claims for loss of property by their people 
 during the Civil War and, when Seward said yes to 
 this question, 33 continued: 
 
 Such a treaty, including prize captures and cotton, is, in 
 every point of view, adverse to us. The balance of account 
 will be against us; but why should we consent to submit to 
 arbitrament at all the destruction of British property sent to 
 assist the rebels or which was destroyed within rebel lines. 
 
 32 3 Diary, 474. 
 M 3 Diary, 506. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 247 
 
 When Seward protested that: "We could not have a 
 treaty, unless it included all claims on both sides," 
 Welles replied: "But why permit, or admit, that such 
 property, captured on rebel vessels, or in rebel terri 
 tory, can be recognized as a claim, a matter of contro 
 versy?" Seward asked a counter question, instead of 
 replying directly: "Did not we claim for the Alabama 
 captures?" but Welles rejoined: 
 
 That was a very different question. They had improperly 
 interfered, against our government, with which they had trea 
 ties and were at peace, without cause and to our injury. We 
 had done no such wrong towards them. While, therefore, we 
 had a just and equitable claim, they had none. If they have 
 consented to arbitrament on the question of British municipal 
 law, in permitting the Alabama to be built, fitted out, and 
 manned in England, they have done it to get an advantage of 
 us in the matter of sovereignty and other particulars also. 
 
 Later in the cabinet meeting, McCulloh, the Secretary 
 of the Treasury, agreed with Welles that England would 
 "make a balance against us," and expressed doubts 
 "if these matters would be adjusted in our day they 
 would pass down to another generation." Seward 
 showed annoyance at this speech, but said nothing, while 
 Browning remarked that he was gratified that the Ala 
 bama claims were specifically named. No other mem 
 ber of the cabinet expressed an opinion, but President 
 Johnson, who appeared to Welles to have previously 
 consulted with Seward, said: "Right or wrong, I shall 
 try it." 
 
 The treaties were submitted to the Senate at once 
 and Sumner seemed at first rather favorably inclined 
 towards them. He wrote John Bright, on January 17, 
 that "they would have been ratified, at any time last 
 
248 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 year, almost unanimously. 34 1 fear that time will be 
 needed to smooth the way now r . Our minister has 
 advertised the questions by his numerous speeches, so 
 that he has provoked the public attention, if not oppo 
 sition You are aware, of course, that the feel 
 ing towards Mr. Seward will not help the treaties." 
 Two days later, Sumner wrote Bright again and, in 
 speaking of a conversation on the preceding evening 
 with General Grant, the President-elect, stated that: 
 
 He did not seem to object to the naturalization and San Juan 
 negotiations but, I think, he had a different feeling in regard 
 to the claims convention. He asked why this could not be 
 allowed to go over to the next administration. 35 
 
 A favorable opinion of the treaties at first impression 
 was also expressed in the Nation 36 on January 21, that 
 Johnson, " after all, seems likely to come home from 
 England with credit, his fraternizations with unworthy 
 persons, his post-prandial oratory, and his difficulties of 
 all kinds about dinners, to the contrary notwithstand 
 ing." Of the claims treaty, it was also said that "he 
 has obtained not only the concession of all he had asked 
 for, but of all M r . Seward chose to ask for in addition." 
 Two weeks later, 37 the wind had veered and it was an 
 nounced that the treaty would be rejected, on the ground 
 that England had prolonged the war for a year by her 
 actions. The opposition grew and, on February II, 
 the Nation stated that "Mr. Johnson cuts a pitiable 
 figure," that the public was in favor of keeping the 
 question open, and that even the private claimants of 
 damages from the Alabama supported this course. As 
 
 34 4 Pierce s Sumner, 368. 
 
 35 4 Pierce s Sumner, 368. 
 
 36 Vol. 8, p. 42. 
 
 37 Nation, vol. 8, p. 82. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 249 
 
 a proof of this fact one of the heaviest sufferers had 
 signed a petition against ratification of the treaty. 38 The 
 objections arose from many causes. 39 Some declared 
 that Johnson had " truckled to the British aristocracy 
 and ought to have snubbed them, instead of mak 
 ing friendly treaties and after dinner speeches. Some 
 thought the treaties must be wrong, because the English 
 had agreed to them. Others wanted no treaty, but 
 rather a standing grievance, as a basis for future war 
 with England," and still others considered that "the 
 fact that they were made by President Johnson s Secre 
 tary of State and minister was reason enough for refus 
 ing to accept them." Justin McCarthy, whose attitude 
 was one of friendliness, thus sums up the situation. 40 
 Johnson, "with a kindly and good-natured purpose to 
 put an end to an internal quarrel," seemed not 
 
 to have considered the difference between skinning over a 
 wound and healing it. The defect of his convention was that 
 it made the whole question a mere matter of individual claims. 
 It professed to have to deal with a number of personal and 
 private claims of various kinds, pending since a former settle 
 ment in 1853, claims made on the one side by British subjects 
 against the American government and on the other by Amer 
 ican citizens against the English government, and it proposed 
 to throw in the Alabama claims with the others and have a 
 convention for the general clearance of the whole account. 
 Now it must be evident to any one, English or American, who 
 considers what the complaints made by the American govern 
 ment were, that this way of dealing with questions could not 
 
 possibly satisfy the American people The claim 
 
 set up by the United States on account of the cruise of the 
 Alabama was first of all a national claim. 
 
 38 Vol. 8, p. 102. 
 
 39 3 Seward s Seward, 395. 
 
 40 History of Our Own Times, vol. IV, p. 158. 
 
250 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 Johnson sent Seward two long dispatches defending 
 his course. 41 He had deemed it important to ascertain 
 what was the public sentiment of Great Britain and to 
 "cultivate, on every proper occasion which offered itself, 
 the friendly feelings of the English, and so had made 
 after dinner speeches. The fixing of the date of claims 
 at 1853 should cause no offense. No provision was made 
 for the submission of the losses which our government, 
 as such, may have sustained, for "a nation s honor can 
 have no compensation in money, and the depredations 
 of the Alabama were on property in which our nation 
 had no direct pecuniary interest. If it is urged that 
 England was at fault in recognizing too soon the bellig 
 erency of the Confederate States, why is not complaint 
 made also against France? The time allowed in the 
 treaty was not too long and the admission of English, 
 as well as American claims was necessary, for it was 
 as absurd as it would be insulting to suppose that 
 a government, alive to its own honor as the English 
 had ever been, would consent to negotiate upon the 
 hypothesis that they had forfeited it." This "able and 
 elaborate" exposition of Johnson s views was not given 
 the Senate by Seward, as it reached him at the close 
 of the session of Congress. 
 
 The Senate Committee on Foreign * Relations voted 
 unanimously, in February, to report the claims treaty 
 unfavorably, but did not report it until March 16, after 
 Grant had been inaugurated. The treaty undoubtedly 
 gave almost "personal offense to the mass of people" 
 in the Northern States and seemed to them to admit 
 
 41 On February 17 and 20. On February 6, he had written that the Fenian 
 prisoner Costello had been released and, on February 15, he stated that Queen 
 Victoria, on the tenth, had answered favorably the request which he had made 
 on January 27 that he might appear in plain citizen s evening dress at court 
 ceremonials, without cocked hat or sword and knee breeches. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 251 
 
 that the "claims of the United States against the con 
 duct of Great Britain as a government were mere rant." 42 
 Sumner spoke ably against the treaty, on April 13, and 
 Lowell wrote Leslie Stephen 43 that Sumner had "ex 
 pressed the national feeling of the moment pretty faith 
 fully" and that "the country was blushing at the maud 
 lin blarney of Reverdy Johnson and that made the old 
 red spot, where we felt that our cheek had been slapped, 
 sting again." The treaty received but one favorable 
 vote and Welles wrote this 44 epitaph : 
 
 Thus end the labors of Seward and Reverdy Johnson on that 
 important subject. I never thought that this was the time, 
 or that they rightly appreciated the question, or that they 
 were the proper men to adjust or to attempt the settlement 
 of it. 
 
 After Johnson s death, however, the Nation summed 
 up the matter more accurately in saying: 
 
 Even his Alabama negotiations, now that the passions of 
 the time are no longer active, 45 must be acknowledged to 
 have been creditable to him and it requires a good deal of dis 
 crimination to make out, wherein the settlement obtained by 
 him fell short of what was afterwards obtained by General 
 Grant. The real objection to his treaty was that it was nego 
 tiated by a Johnsonian Democrat, who was too polite to the 
 British aristocracy, at a time when we hated the British 
 aristocracy. 
 
 Meanwhile Johnson was closing his English ministry. 46 
 He continued to attend dinners and spoke at the inaugu- 
 
 42 Vide 2 Elaine, Twenty Years in Congress, 489. 
 
 43 On April 24, 1869, 2 Lowell s Letters, 26. 
 
 44 3 Diary 578, April 16. 
 
 45 Vol. 22, p. 106. 
 
 46 On Seward s leaving office in March, Johnson wrote him, 3 Seward s 
 Seward, 398, a personal and grateful note, congratulating him on the adminis 
 tration of the department of state. 
 
252 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 ral banquet of the Colonial Society on March io. 47 
 The Times extolled him, but the Spectator said, 48 "there 
 is an end of Mr. Reverdy Johnson at last and we can 
 not affect to be sorry. Never was a man so bespattered 
 with senseless praise. He wanted to forgive and forget 
 all around" and "put forth enormous demands," while 
 he "professed enormous friendship." 
 
 Arriving in New York early in June, 49 he spoke of the 
 hospitality he had received, alluded to Sumner s speech 
 as a preposterous performance and looked for a reaction 
 in his favor. 
 
 The completest defense of his treaty, which I have 
 found, is contained in a letter which Johnson wrote on 
 November 28, iSyo, 60 to John A. Parker, president of the 
 Great Western Insurance Company, in answer to an 
 inquiry for information. "Under this convention," 
 Johnson wrote, 
 
 I have not the shadow of a doubt that all the losses to our 
 citizens inflicted by the Alabama and other vessels, fitted out 
 as she was, would long since have been fully discharged. The 
 public sentiment of the people of Great Britain exhibited to 
 me on visits by invitation to all the large towns in England 
 and Scotland obviously favored such payment .... 
 
 47 2 Morleys Gladstone, 401. Johnson made some facetious remarks about 
 the colonies being transferred from the Union Jack to the Stars and Stripes, 
 and Lord Granville replied that England was not prepared to open negotiations 
 for the cession of Canada. An eulogistic article on Johnson at the time of 
 his return to the United States may be found in 2 Balto. Law. Trans. 460, 
 May 18, 1869. 
 
 <8 April io, vol. 42, p. 442. 
 
 49 8 Nation 446, June io, from interview in New York Times. He spoke of 
 the hospitality he had received, alluded to Sumner s speech as a preposterous 
 performance and looked for a reaction in his favor. (He also made a depre 
 ciatory allusion to Smalley, who had attacked him in the Tribune.) John 
 Bigelow s Memoirs, vol. 4. pp. 230, 244, 245, 269, 278, 287, show the popular 
 feeling in 1869 with reference to the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty. 
 
 i0 John Bigelow s Memoirs, vol. 5, p. 423. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 253 
 
 Under this convention the question of the recognition of South 
 ern belligerency, as well as any other question which either 
 government might think proper to raise before the Commis 
 sion, could have been presented. 
 
 He maintained that during the interval between the 
 transmission of the treaty to the Senate and its rejec 
 tion, he was not advised by any member of the body, 
 or by the State Department, what were the objections 
 to the convention, or that there were any." The news 
 papers led him to believe that objection was made, 
 because the treaty contained no provision for "the 
 settlement of claims which our government then sup 
 posed it had in its own right upon Great Britain. Up 
 to this time, I had never heard that the United States 
 contemplated such a demand. My instructions, as did 
 those of Mr. Adams, looked exclusively to the adjust 
 ment of individual claims." When Johnson learned that 
 some Senators thought that the United States had a 
 "claim of its own for alleged pecuniary losses, caused 
 directly or indirectly by the conduct of the British gov 
 ernment, I proposed to Lord Clarendon, first in a per 
 sonal interview and afterwards in an official note dated 
 the 25th of March, 1869, the signing of a supplementary 
 convention, which should only so far modify that of 
 the fourteenth of January as to provide for the settle 
 ment of any claims that either government might have 
 upon the other." Clarendon s answer, on April 8, led 
 Johnson to believe that, "if I was expressly instructed 
 to make such an offer, it would be acceded to," where 
 upon Johnson telegraphed Fish, the new Secretary of 
 State, that he thought he could obtain "such a modifi 
 cation, if instructed to propose it." Fish telegraphed 
 back that the convention was before the Senate and the 
 President, therefore, "did not think it advisable to change 
 
254 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 it." Johnson could not see the force of this reason, "if 
 the administration really desired an amicable settlement 
 of the controversy," and told Parker that he believed 
 that individuals had the right to apply directly to Great 
 Britain for redress, without violating any federal law 
 and that underwriters who have paid insurance had also 
 a right by the doctrine of subrogation to apply to Great 
 Britain. He was surprised to hear that the administra 
 tion thought otherwise. 
 
 There were important postscripts to Johnson s English 
 ministry in two pamphlets which he printed in 1871 
 and 1872, in response to a speech of Sir Roundell Palmer, 51 
 afterwards Earl of Selborne, and to a resolution intro 
 duced into the House of Representatives by Hon. J. A. 
 Peters. 52 Grant had taken up the matter of settling 
 disputes with England and the treaty of Washington 
 had been concluded, referring the question to arbitrators 
 at Geneva. Johnson felt that our claims were well 
 founded and that it was proper to leave to arbitration 
 the decision as to the rightfulness of the British proc 
 lamation of May 13, 1 86 1, recognizing the Confederates 
 as belligerents, especially as Lord Russell had used extra 
 ordinary haste in issuing it. It was "more than prob 
 able that, if they had not been recognized as belliger 
 ents, the war would have terminated much sooner than 
 it did." Our government, had refused to arbitrate, unless 
 the English had included the consideration of the bel- 
 
 51 The Reply is dated September 8, 1871, and contains 50 printed pages. In 
 his Personal and Political Memorials, Part II, vol. I, p. 209 and 224, the Earl, 
 with whom Johnson claimed a slight acquaintance, said that the Reply con 
 firmed, rather than displaced, his reasons for preferring the settlement made 
 by the treaty of Washington. 
 
 52 Letter from Hon. Reverdy Johnson to Hon. John A. Peters, on the subject 
 of the Washington Treaty and its construction in relation to the claim of the 
 United States for Consequential Damages. Baltimore, 1872, pp. 19. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 255 
 
 ligerency in the treaty. The Johnson-Clarendon treaty 
 had been hailed with delight in England and had been 
 rejected in the United States, through causes wholly 
 irrespective of its merits. The value of arbitration is 
 shown in the disastrous results of the recent Franco- 
 Prussian war and the decision of the case will not im 
 peach England s honor. Our position was that the 
 losses for which damages are claimed were incurred 
 through England s violation of neutrality, as defined 
 by international law, or through intentionally failing to 
 enact municipal laws coextensive with her neutral duty, 
 or through her failure to enforce such of her laws as 
 fulfilled her neutral obligations at international law. 
 
 It had been the uniform doctrine of the United States 
 that neutrality is a part of international law and that 
 the "Law of nations is as much a part of the law of 
 every civilized government, as is its own municipal 
 legislation." The manner of fulfilling the international 
 obligations of a neutral rests on municipal law and, if 
 such law was inefficient, the neutral power may not 
 defend itself, by saying that it executed the law in good 
 faith. The Jay treaty is a precedent, as it provided for 
 the consideration of English claims by reason of cap 
 tures "taken by vessels originally armed in the ports" 
 of the United States. The duty of vigilance is involved 
 in the duty of neutrality. "It is for a neutral nation 
 herself to guard against its violation. She has no right 
 to call upon the belligerent to assist her" and he is un 
 able to ascertain what goes on in her ports. England 
 failed to exercise due diligence as to the Florida and the 
 Alabama. The Florida was allowed to depart from 
 Liverpool and from Nassau and the crew of the Alabama, 
 who burned captured ships, as the Confederacy had no 
 ports which they might be taken, committed treason 
 
256 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 against the United States. The fact that the vessels 
 were not fully armed when they left England does not 
 relieve her of responsibility, for she used no "diligence 
 at all, in the legal sense of the term." He examined the 
 evidence in detail and said that Laird s rams were seized 
 later on no greater evidence, when England feared de 
 mands for indemnity and could see that the South s 
 cause was lost. Johnson praised Adams, his predecessor, 
 and Sumner, whose support of the recent treaty did him 
 honor. Although the people of Liverpool had winked 
 at the slavery in a foreign land through which they had 
 acquired riches, yet, when Johnson visited that place 
 as a guest of the city, he 
 
 was truly glad to find that whatever of hostile feeling towards 
 the United States had been entertained by the people, pending 
 the insurrection, no longer existed. The attentions paid me, 
 as the official representative of my country, by every class and 
 the manner in which they received the expression of my hope 
 and belief that the friendly relations of the two countries 
 would soon be perfectly secured, satisfied me that they as 
 sincerely desired such a result as I did. 
 
 In the pamphlet addressed to Mr. Peters, who had 
 introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives 
 to the effect that the claim for consequential damages 
 be withdrawn and with whose views Johnson agreed, 
 the latter set himself to consider what was the true con 
 struction of the treaty of Washington, irrespective of 
 extrinsic circumstances, what was the effect of such 
 circumstances in showing the purpose of the two gov 
 ernments, and what course our government should adopt, 
 if Great Britain should refuse to submit the claim for 
 consequential damages to arbitration. England ex 
 pressed regret for the depredations, but her expressions 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 257 
 
 do not cover indirect or consequential damages. Such 
 immense losses would surely have been made the sub 
 ject of arbitration in clear terms, if the government in 
 tended to include them. The claim for consequential 
 damages rests on the assumption that the cruisers col 
 lectively produced such damages, through the cost of 
 pursuing the vessels, the transference of vessels in the 
 commercial marine from the American to the British 
 flag, the increased premium of insurance, and the pro 
 longation of the war. Johnson held that the arbitrators 
 had no right to decide on the result produced by the 
 cruisers in the aggregate, but to find what is due on 
 account of each cruiser and so no indirect damages 
 should be allowed. The precedent treaties, viz., that 
 of Jay, that of 1853, the Johnson-Stanley protocol of 
 November 9, 1868, which had not been satisfactory to 
 President Johnson, and the Johnson-Clarendon conven 
 tion, had not included consequential damages. Sumner s 
 speech of April 13, 1869, was the first suggestion that 
 this omission was a fault. The war was far from an 
 end at the battle of Gettysburg and it continued through 
 the "indomitable courage and consummate skill of the 
 armies of the Confederates and of their resolve to con 
 tinue the struggle, until all hopes of success were lost." 
 The chief causes of the rejection of the Johnson-Clarendon 
 treaty were the circumstances attending its negotiation, 
 which circumstances, as Hamilton Fish, Grant s Secre 
 tary of State, wrote Motley on May 15, 1869, "were 
 very unfavorable to its acceptance, either by the people 
 or by the Senate." 
 
 The nation had just emerged from its periodical choice of 
 chief magistrate and, having changed the depository of its 
 confidence and its power, looked with no favor on an attempt 
 at the settlement of the great and grave questions depending, 
 
258 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 by those on the eve of retiring from power, without consulting, 
 or considering, the views of the ruler recently intrusted with 
 their confidence and without communication with the Senate, 
 to whose approval the treaty would be constitutionally sub 
 mitted, or with any of its members. 
 
 Our government should withdraw its claims for con 
 sequential damages, since "the leading object of the 
 treaty, and that which has challenged for it the approval 
 of mankind, is that it substituted a peaceful and honor 
 able termination of national controversies by arbitra 
 tion, for the uncertain, inhuman, unchristian arbitra 
 ment of the sword." Should the administration per 
 sist in the claim, Congress should express an opinion 
 on the subject, having a right to do so, from being 
 invested with the war power, inasmuch as the conduct 
 of the executive would be likely to lead us into contro 
 versies with foreign power. The public spirit shown in 
 these pamphlets and the cogency of their arguments 
 are noteworthy and the fact that Johnson prepared and 
 published them showed his continued interest in na 
 tional affairs. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 LAST YEARS AND DEATH (1869-76) 
 
 Johnson returned from England early in June, 1869, 
 and took up the practice of the law with such zest that 
 his seventy-three years seemed to have brought no old 
 age to him. Judge Dennis writes of him that, in these 
 latter days, "he seemed to me, half the time to be try 
 ing a case for the fun of it;" but that, "in the general 
 conduct of the case, his skill, his resourcefulness, his 
 pertinacity, and a courage, which no difficulties, or un 
 foreseen adverse happenings, could ever daunt, made 
 him an antagonist to be dreaded to the end." He was 
 said to be "most dangerous," because "you never could 
 be sure when you had him beaten." Governor John 
 Lee Carroll 1 said: 
 
 I always considered him a great leader, in the days when 
 there were giants at the head of the Maryland bar and his 
 manly courage was as great as his ability. 
 
 Sergeant wrote in 1873,2 that Johnson s name was 
 
 1 Letter of May 2, 1906. 
 
 2 N. Sergeant, Men and Events. Another interesting testimonial is found in 
 Scharf s Baltimore City and County at p. 715. "A man of wonderful power, 
 both physical and mental, combative yet subtle, acute, yet never wasting time 
 on hairsplitting. Mr. Johnson s scope and range were remarkable. He could 
 talk to a jury of plain farmers in a simple diction of which they understood 
 every word, or thought they did, and so make them have perfect faith in a 
 new medical theory of moral insanity, invented by him for the nonce and 
 reenforced by precept and example. He knew, none better than he knew, 
 how to address the venerable justices of the Supreme Court, so as to win their 
 approbation, while securing their attention and giving them the pleasing sense 
 of relief from the deluge of verbiage perpetually rising round and threatening 
 to overwhelm them. He was the readiest of debaters in the Senate, where his 
 
 259 
 
26O REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 "familiar to every man of intelligence in the United 
 States and designated one not less universally respected 
 than known." As a lawyer, he was a "colossal and 
 familiar figure" and was held, by "his legal associates," 
 as the "head of the bar of the Supreme Court." He 
 "combined the suaviter in modo with the for liter in re 
 and denunciation, or harsh charges, were foreign to him." 
 He possessed "ready and most felicitous oratorical pow 
 ers" 3 and a "happy tact in after dinner speeches." 
 
 He continued to appear in important cases, such as 
 the one concerning the fraudulent stock of the Parkers- 
 burg Branch Railroad, 4 the one concerning the capitation 
 tax on the Washington Branch Railroad 5 and the one 
 
 profound grasp of constitutional subjects kept him ready armed in any emer 
 gency. He was skillful, astute, and au fait in all the language and terms of 
 diplomacy, never losing sight of the main issue of his case, while affecting, with 
 the politesse of Talleyrand, the indifferent attachment of a Walpole to the middle 
 way of a compromise, and, as an after dinner speaker, he was as clear, as genial, 
 as sparkling, and as delightful as a draught of old South side Madeira, sunny 
 and golden as the rays in which it had ripened. His capacity for work and 
 business was almost miraculous. It despised the weight of years and the loss 
 of sight." 
 
 3 Mr. J. V. L. Findlay writes that Judge Hugh L. Bond told him that when 
 Johnson was counsel for the members of the Ku Klux Klan, indicted in the 
 United States Court in South Carolina, he showed his gift for repartee. A 
 member of the Klan had turned State s evidence and was an over smart witness. 
 He had given a description of the meeting of the Klan, of the oaths taken, 
 and the ritual, in his examination in chief, and Mr. Johnson, at the close of it, 
 asked him, whether he had told every thing he knew about the Klan and he 
 then, with apparently timid reluctance and with a cunning sort of reserve, 
 said, "No;" whereupon Mr. Johnson said: "Out with it, we want to hear it 
 all." The witness then said there was one thing he had failed to mention and 
 that was that, at the close of the meeting to which he had referred, a hat was 
 passed around to take up a collection for Mr. Johnson s fee, whereupon Mr. 
 Johnson, as quick as a flash, said "I hope the meeting did not appoint you to 
 carry the hat." 
 
 4 In 1870, Scharf s Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 681. 
 
 * Johnson gave an opinion against the constitutionality of that tax whicb 
 was published in pamphlet form in 1870, pp. ic 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 26 1 
 
 concerning the North Carolina special tax bonds. 6 His 
 very last case was an ordinary damage suit for false 
 arrest and imprisonment, which, like other nisi prius 
 cases, he took, in Judge Dennis s opinion, "largely for 
 the fun he got out of it." 
 
 In the beginning of the Presidential campaign of 1872, 
 on April 26, Johnson wrote Governor Bradford, that it 
 was important for the latter to go to the Cincinnati 
 Convention. Johnson believed that Judge Davis would 
 be named and believed his nomination for the Presi 
 dency to be the strongest one that could be made. 
 
 His high character, great talents, great firmness, and liber 
 ality can not fail, if he is nominated, to obtain for him the 
 votes of thousands of Republicans in all the States, as well 
 as to obtain the general support of the Democratic party. 
 
 When the Convention, however, named Greeley for 
 the Presidency, Johnson decided to support him against 
 Grant and in July published an opinion of Greeley, as pos 
 sessing extraordinary ability, perfect patriotism, and in 
 corruptible integrity." 7 The faults of Grant s adminis 
 tration were set forth in detail and Greeley s protectionist 
 ideas were not considered sufficient reason to reject him. 
 He had been a friend to peace and to the South from the 
 end of the war. As a "constant and ardent friend of 
 general amnesty and of universal suffrage, he cannot but 
 have commended himself to the good opinion of the 
 white and colored citizens of that region." 
 
 Johnson spoke in public for the last time on January 
 
 His opinion in favor of the legality of these bonds was printed in 1873, 
 
 P- Q. 
 
 7 A correspondence between the Hon. James Brooks of New York and the 
 Hon. Reverdy Johnson of Baltimore on the State of the Country and the 
 way to avert the peril which threatened it, 1872, p. 15. 
 
262 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 J 5> J875, 8 at a meeting held in Baltimore, when he 
 attacked the Federal administration for its policy in 
 Louisiana. He put the responsibility for the action of 
 the United States troops in that State entirely on Grant 
 and said he would have voted to convict Andrew John 
 son, at the time of the impeachment trial, if like accusa 
 tion had been made against him. On September 15, 
 he presided at a mass meeting in Baltimore, held in 
 favor of the Democratic State ticket, which contained 
 the name of his son-in-law, C. J. M. Gwinn, as candi 
 date for attorney-general. He wrote a speech for that 
 occasion, which was read for him, and which defended 
 the nominees and the party organization, "Party tri 
 umphs," he said, "depend as much upon discipline as 
 triumphs on the battlefield." He denied that corrup 
 tion had characterized the city or State governments 
 and claimed that a Republican victory in the State 
 would show confidence in the "national administration, 
 whose continuance is pregnant with danger, both to 
 our material interests and to the very forms of govern 
 ments." 9 At that last meeting, he showed his interest 
 in younger men, by reminding John V. L. Findlay, one 
 of the other speakers, as he rose on the platform, to use 
 an anecdote which he had recently told Johnson and 
 which the latter had enjoyed. The same kindliness of 
 heart was shown in his habit of having his little grand 
 daughter read to him every night after dinner the jokes 
 she would cut from the daily papers, whereupon he 
 would place the clipping in his pocketbook for preser 
 vation to show his appreciation of them. His kind 
 heart 10 was also shown in that, whenever Johnson went 
 to Annapolis, he bought from an old colored woman, 
 
 8 The Louisiana Matter, Address of Reverdy Johnson at the Meeting of the 
 Citizens of Baltimore held in Masonic Temple, 1875, p. 20. 
 
 9 Speech delivered by Hon. Reverdy Johnson, 1875, p. 16. 
 10 Told by Edwin Higgins, Esq. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 263 
 
 whom he had known all his life, several packages, each 
 containing a pound of taffy for one of his grandchildren. 11 
 
 On November 6, 1875, Johnson, with a son-in-law, 
 Mr. Charles G. Kerr, went to England on legal busi 
 ness concerning lands in Florida, from which trip he 
 returned on January 19, 1876. Shortly after his return, 
 on February I, he wrote Senator Bayard that he had 
 no doubt ot the constitutionality of a Congressional 
 appropriation for the Centennial Exhibition. Although 
 he had taken the side of the Democratic party in Mary 
 land in 1875, when libel suits were brought by public 
 officials against the American, the Republican news 
 paper, shortly after the close of the campaign, Johnson 
 volunteered his services as attorney for the defense, 
 thinking the liberty of the press was in peril, and con 
 ferred with the senior editor of that paper on the very 
 day before his death. 12 
 
 In the Spring of 1875, he argued his last cases in the 
 Supreme Court, but he continued to appear in the State 
 Courts and, on February 10, 1876, went to Annapolis 
 to be the guest of Governor Carroll, expecting to argue 
 a case before the Court of Appeals on the next day. 13 
 
 11 1 B. R. Curtis s Life, 44. 
 
 12 When the editor of the New York Tribune was arrested at the suit of ex- 
 Governor Shepherd of the District of Columbia, Johnson left Baltimore for 
 Washington and sent his son at once to see if there was imminent danger, act 
 ing on the double ground of sympathy and personal friendship for the defend 
 ant. Before going to Europe in December, he took pains to see that the case 
 could not come up in his absence and, on his return, he wrote, advising the 
 editor of that fact and asking that he be notified to appear at the trial. 
 
 13 The case was Metcalf v. Brooklyn Life Insurance Company, in which 
 Johnson was associated with Edwin Higgins, Esq. Mr. Higgins writes that 
 "in this case he gave his time and abilities .... without compensa 
 tion, because our client was the son of one of his old friends, at one time clerk 
 of the Criminal Court of Baltimore." Mr. Higgins was invited to Governor 
 Carroll s to dinner that evening and, as he had opposed Carroll at the election 
 the previous autumn, asked Johnson s advice as to accepting the invitation 
 and was told: "Never mind the politics, accept by all means." 
 
264 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 A number of gentlemen were invited to meet him for 
 dinner. After dinner, Johnson asked permission to lie 
 on a sofa in the library for a few minutes. When he 
 was sought there, the room was found empty and his 
 dead body was discovered lying on the ground on the 
 north side of the Executive Mansion. Some thought he 
 had mistaken an open window for a door and had stepped 
 out and fallen into the paved area below, but it was 
 more probable that he had left the house for a short 
 stroll, turned close to the wall, stumbled on a lump of 
 coal and fell against a projecting corner of the building, 
 thus fracturing his skull. 
 
 On the next day, his death from an "unaccountable 
 and unwitnessed accident" was announced by the Gov 
 ernor to the General Assembly, which was in session, 
 and the flag on the State House was placed at half mast. 
 Both Houses met, in the Hall of (.he House of Delegates, 
 in the early afternoon and proceeded in a body to the 
 Governor s Mansion, to join there the students of St. 
 John s College, and the members of the Court of Appeals, 
 in acting as an escort for the body to the depot. A 
 joint committee of the General Assembly prepared reso 
 lutions of regret, which speak of Johnson as having 
 "the consummate ability and commanding intellect, 
 which exalted him as the foremost jurist of America 
 and which bear testimony to his patriotic impulses, 
 unsullied private character, and ennobling virtues. On 
 the sixteenth, the resolutions were considered in the 
 Senate, the gallery being filled with ladies, and several 
 speeches were made, among them one by Dr. Lewis H. 
 Steiner of Frederick, who stated that "there was some 
 thing indescribably grand in the resolute firmness with 
 
 14 Dr. Lewis H. Steiner, who was one of the physicians called in, wrote 
 " I saw the body about 9.30. There were two cuts on the left side of his head, 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 265 
 
 which the veteran lawyer continued to tread the labor 
 ious paths of an exacting profession, after the eye had 
 ceased to furnish the aid to research and study that 
 would seem almost indispensable." 15 
 
 The family declined a public funeral, but seventy 
 carriages followed the hearse from his residence 16 to 
 Greenmount Cemetery, where the burial took place on 
 Sunday, February 13. On Friday, tributes had been 
 paid him by lawyers in the Court of Appeals at Annapolis 
 and in the United States Court in Baltimore, 17 while, 
 on Saturday, a Bar Meeting had been held in his honor 
 in Baltimore, at which Governor A. W. Bradford bore 
 witness to Johnson s " lucid and logical arrangement, 
 his cogent and resistless argument, and his matchless 
 cross examination of a reluctant witness." At the same 
 occasion, Thomas Donaldson spoke of his kindness of 
 heart, courtesy, quickness of mind, and cheerfulness; 
 and George William Brown remarked upon the way in 
 which his "powerful mind fastened itself, with intense 
 concentration, on the case which he had in mind." 
 
 A meeting of Marylanders resident in Washington 
 was held in his memory, presided over by Dr. C. C. 
 Cox. The Department of Justice was closed, and, after 
 
 the skull was crushed, the ossa nasi broken, one finger on the left hand dis 
 located and bruises on various parts of the body. It is surmised that he fell 
 and struck his head against the wall." 
 
 15 The writer of a sketch of Johnson s life in Richardson and Bennett s 
 Baltimore, p. 329, said of Johnson: "Simple in his taste, kind and generous in 
 his impulses, a warm and confiding friend and a most forgiving enemy, he is 
 not only entitled to the place we have given him among lawyers and states 
 men, but he commands an equally exalted position as a man." 
 
 16 n8 Park Street. 
 
 17 R. Stockett Matthews spoke of him in Baltimore "as a most accessible 
 man and as not a case lawyer, but a reasoner." The Proceedings in the Court 
 of Appeals may be found in 43 Md. Reports XIII. Johnson s death was 
 announced by Edwin Higgins, Esq., and S. T. Wallis. Alexander Randall and 
 Judge J. L. Bartol spoke. 
 
266 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 the funeral, on February 18, a meeting of the Bench and 
 Bar of the Supreme Court was held in the Court Room. 18 
 Matthew H. Carpenter presided over the meeting and 
 said: "I loved the old man." He "gave me fatherly 
 recognition, became my adviser and ever after remained 
 my friend." "His compact, firm knit frame, his heavy 
 shoulders, his round head, his striking face, bearing the 
 furrows of many sharp professional and political con 
 flicts, but from which there still shone his gentle kindly 
 nature all indicated a man of genial nature, yet reso 
 lute of purpose a man easy to court, but dangerous in 
 conflicts." 
 
 Considering the extent and variety of his practice, his natu 
 ral resources and professional attainments, his thorough self- 
 possession and steadiness of nerve, when the skill of an opponent 
 unexpectedly brought on the crisis of a great trial an oppor 
 tunity for feeble men to lose first themselves and then their 
 cause his fidelity to the oath, which was anciently adminis 
 tered to all the lawyers of England, to present nothing false, 
 but to make war for their clients, the audacity of his valor, 
 when the fate of his client was in the balance, he believing his 
 client to be right, while every one else believed him to be 
 wrong, remembering all these traits, we must rank him with 
 the greatest lawyers and advocates of this or any other country. 
 
 A committee of fifteen illustrious lawyers was appointed 
 to prepare resolves. Senator George F. Edmunds of 
 Vermont was chairman of the committee and spoke of 
 the "extensive and varied contributions that he has 
 made to jurisprudence and to its application to the 
 affairs of men." "His great mind has been brought to 
 the consideration of every variety of question that can 
 
 18 Proceedings, etc., Washington, 1876, p. 23. The Proceedings in the 
 United States Supreme Court may be found in 92 U. S. Reports. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 267 
 
 arise in the affairs of men, from the lowest and simplest 
 to the highest and most complex." Thirty years later, 
 Mr. Edmunds wrote, 19 "He was a great lawyer, a power 
 ful debater and a highbred gentleman, for whom I had 
 much admiration." Philip Phillips followed Edmunds, 
 bearing testimony to the fact that Johnson and B. R. 
 Curtis were the " acknowledged leaders of the American 
 bar and their experience, learning, and intellectual power, 
 justified fully the high position which, by common con 
 sent, was awarded to them." Johnson uniformly dis 
 played "ability" in "the argument of his causes in the 
 Supreme Court" and, "amiability" in his "intercourse 
 with his professional brethren." Theodore F. Freling- 
 huysen came next, saying that, "as a statesman he had 
 large views and compassed the interests of his whole 
 country. Eminently familiar with and learned in inter 
 national law, in constitutional law, in the history of 
 his times and of his country, at any moment and on 
 any emergency, he was ready to come to the front and 
 there, courageously and ably, contend for what he be 
 lieved the best interests of his country." Johnson was 
 "eminently a ready man" and a "patriot, with whom 
 the love and the duty he owed his country was para 
 mount to any allegiance he owed to a party." Courage 
 and generosity were his marked characteristics and "he 
 delighted in words and acts of kindness. He withheld 
 his sympathy from no one in trouble." George Ticknor 
 Curtis bore testimony to his ability in the Dred Scott 
 Case and E. N. Dickerson to his "reputation as a pro 
 found jurist, a wise legislator, and a noble, generous 
 hearted friend," whose fame "fills the whole country 
 and is cherished, wherever men rely on law for safety 
 
 19 Letter of May i, 1906. 
 
268 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 and protection." John Randolph Tucker spoke of his 
 generosity of disposition and Henry S. Foote paid a 
 tribute to 
 
 his learning, his high powers as a reasoner, his acknowledged 
 skill as an advocate, his remarkable moral courage, .... 
 his freedom from all party or sectional bias, his noble fidelity 
 in friendship, his kindness in social intercourse .... 
 The disappearance from the public arena of one so gifted, so 
 pure, so magnanimous, so free from petty jealousies of every 
 kind, from low and overselfish schemes for the acquisition of 
 illicit gain, or for the attainment of official station, may well 
 be looked upon .... as one of the severest national 
 calamities which have so lately fallen upon the American 
 people. 
 
 Last, Garfield spoke, who saw in Johnson "united 
 the eminent citizen, the public servant, and the great 
 lawyer," and who added that: 
 
 More than any man we have known, Mr. Johnson has illus 
 trated the truth that the highest human symbol of omnipo 
 tence is found in the power of unremitting hard work. His 
 monument was builded by his own hands. He made his for 
 tune and his fame by powerful, continuous, earnest, honest 
 work. During the fourteen years of my acquaintance with 
 Mr. Johnson, I never looked upon his face, without feeling that 
 he was a Roman of the elder days, the very embodiment of 
 rugged force and of that high culture which comes from con 
 tinuous persistent work. 
 
 This remarkable meeting, where such notable testi 
 monies were given by such eminent lawyers was fol 
 lowed by the announcement of Johnson s death to the 
 Supreme Court, on February 23, when the Attorney- 
 General spoke of him as "one of the most eminent law 
 yers of this country and one of the very foremost coun 
 sellors of this court" and Chief Justice Waite replied 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 269 
 
 that " extensively employed, with scarcely an interrup 
 tion, in the most important causes," Johnson "was 
 always welcome as an advocate, for he was always in 
 structive. His friendship for the Court was open, cor 
 dial, sincere. We mourn his loss, both as counsellor and 
 friend." 
 
 Of the numerous tributes from all sources, which ap 
 peared at the time of his death, two more may be cited. 
 The Nation, 20 which had sometimes opposed him, said 
 that his death 
 
 can hardly be said to be a loss to public life, as that career had 
 been practically closed, .... but the bar loses in him 
 one of its oldest and most respected members. He belonged 
 to a past generation of lawyers, who made their entrance into 
 life, when the practice of the law was a better school for sound 
 thinking, good breeding, and good morals than it is now and 
 he used his opportunities to such good advantage that he rose 
 to prominent position, which he held easily to the day of his 
 death. 
 
 John W. Forney, who was Secretary of the Senate, 
 and had often enjoyed his hospitality, wrote: 
 
 I knew well his unrivalled abilities as a lawyer and as an 
 advocate, and I had many occasions to prove the sincerity of 
 his friendship, the dignity of his bearing, his genuine toleration, 
 and his large and unexampled benevolence. But it was in his 
 public relation to great questions that I fully appreciated his 
 intense and devoted patriotism. A Southern man with South 
 ern sympathies, he loved his country with unchanging affec 
 tion. He was never an extremist and his natural and innate 
 moderation always made him an invaluable medium between 
 the ultras of both sides. Never shall I forget how often in 
 the dark hour he pleaded for reconciliation. More than once 
 he helped to decide questions in aid of the government and, 
 
 20 Vol. 22, p. 106. 
 
270 REVERDY JOHNSON 
 
 although often brought into conflict with the radical leaders, 
 I think I can say that he never once lost his temper. Others 
 differed to the verge of personal hostility. Many old friends 
 in public life were separated forever and died enemies, but 
 Reverdy Johnson was so consistently a gentleman, belonged so 
 entirely to the statesmen of the better days of the Republic, 
 that, when he finally retired from the Senate, he did so with 
 the respect and the confidence of both parties. Few men have 
 lived a life of such comparatively unbroken happiness, of such 
 wholly unbroken integrity. 21 
 
 So simple a character as Johnson s needs little further 
 summing up. He had the virtues of the school of legal 
 ethics to which he belonged and his faults were also 
 those of that school. At times, he was so carried away 
 by his duty to his client as to permit a slight obscuration 
 of his duty to the state and his kindliness and love of 
 mercy caused him sometimes not to be insistent enough 
 upon a just punishment for wrong doers, but in his 
 faithful fulfillment of the duty of good citizenship we 
 find few other defects. His political position was mar 
 vellously consistent and changed but little from year 
 to year, because he had carefully thought it out and had 
 based it upon fundamental principles. 
 
 There have been three men and only three, to whom 
 by common consent there has been given the proud 
 title, leader of the bar of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. It is not likely that any man in the 
 future will attain the unquestioned preeminence which 
 these three gained in the past. The proud boast of the 
 Maryland bar is that two of these three came from her 
 numbers, that William Pinkney was the first of them 
 
 21 Johnson s will, written by the late Hon. David Fowler, at his dictation, 
 was interpreted by the Court of Appeals in Johnson v. Safe Deposit and Trust 
 Company, 79 Md. 23. 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON 271 
 
 in time, and that, after the death of the great orator, 
 Daniel Webster, the first place came back to a Mary- 
 lander lawyer and was held by Reverdy Johnson. Yet 
 this great title is only part of his right to remembrance. 
 His urbanity, his courtesy, his irenical disposition, his 
 hopefulness, his consistency of purpose were such that, 
 in a time of great national crisis, he deserved well of 
 the Republic. The same qualities enabled him to inau 
 gurate the era of good feeling toward England, which 
 has ever endured and which bids fair to endure far into 
 the future. He was skillful as a lawyer, he was wise 
 and able as a statesman, but best of all it can be said 
 of Reverdy Johnson, as of the Roman of old time, that, 
 in spite of all threatening storms and in the darkest 
 hour of peril to the nation, he never despaired of the 
 Republic. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abyssinians, 229, 230. 
 
 Adams, C. F., 230, 233, 240, 253, 256. 
 
 Adams, John, 158, 159 
 
 Adams, John Q., 79, 179, 182. 
 
 Admiralty law, 36. 
 
 Admission of States, conditions up 
 on, 86. 
 
 Agricultural education, 33. 
 
 Alabama Claims, 229, 230, 234 to 
 236, 239 to 243, 249, 251, 252. 255, 
 256 to 258. 
 
 Alaska, annexation of, 193. 
 
 Albany penitentiary, 94. 
 
 Alexander, Thomas S., 57. 
 
 Alexandria, 149, recession to Va., 138, 
 
 139, i74- 
 Allegiance, alienable, 230, 234, 236 to 
 
 239- 
 Allegiance to Nation, paramount, 45, 
 
 56, 132, 192. 
 Amendment of the U. S. Constitution, 
 
 48. 
 
 Amnesty proclamation, 70, 79. 
 Andrew, Gov. John A., 76. 
 Annapolis, 2, 12, 13, 25, 85, 262, 263, 
 
 265. 
 
 Annapolis, Naval Academy at, 87, 88, 
 i93- 
 
 Annapolis post office, 19. 
 
 Annexation of territory, 46, 49, 124, 
 175- 
 
 Appeals, 143, 222. 
 
 Appropriations, expenditures, of 89. 
 
 Argyll, Duchess of, 234. 
 
 Arkansas swamp lands, 42, 174; re 
 construction, 86, 223 to 225. 
 
 Army of the Potomac, defended, 82. 
 
 Army regulations, 228. 
 
 Bacon, Rev. Thomas, 2. 
 
 Balch, L. P. W., 13. 
 
 Baldwin, Roger S., 48. 
 
 Baltimore, 3, 12 13, 19, 23, 38, 96, 179 
 262, 265; politics in, from 1857 to 
 1860, 41; union meeting in, 44: 
 fighting on April 19, 1861, 50, 53 
 71, 207; troops in, 52; prisons in, 71 
 103, 107; wharf privileges in, 112; 
 courtesy on Johnson s leaving fot 
 Europe, 224. 
 
 B. & O. R. R., 6, u, 22, 93, 112, 141, 
 179, 187, 227. 
 
 Baltimore County, 56. 
 
 Bank of Maryland, n, 12. 
 
 Bank riots, 12. 
 
 Bankruptcy law, 148, 185, 186. 
 
 Banneker. Benjamin, 94. 
 
 Bartol, J. L., 265. 
 
 Bayard, James A., 66. 
 
 Bayard, T. J., 263. 
 
 Bel Air, 12, 13. 
 
 Belgium, 97. 
 
 Belligerency, 62, 84, 98, 128, 156, 229, 
 240, 242, 250, 253, 254. 
 
 Benjamin, Judah P., 55. 
 
 Benton, Thomas H., 24. 
 
 Berry, John S., 57. 
 
 Betting by army officers, 228. 
 
 Bigelow, John, 193. 
 
 Bingham, H. A., in. 
 
 Birkenhead, 245. 
 
 Elaine, James G., 63, 113, 129, 165. 
 
 Blair, Gen. Frank P., 83. 
 
 Blair, Montgomery, 37, 117. 
 
 Bond, Hugh Lennox, 16, in, 260. 
 
 Bonds of U. S., 89. 
 
 Book publishing, tax on, no. 
 
 Border States, 46, 85, 103. 
 
 273 
 
274 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Boston, 43. 
 
 Bowie, Mary Mackall, 3. 
 
 Bowie, Oden, 215. 
 
 Bowie, Gov. Robert, 3. 
 
 Bowie, Thomas Contee, 3. 
 
 Bradbury, James Ware, Senator, 38. 
 
 Bradford, A. W., 46, 63, 64, 72, 75, 88, 
 
 184, 204, 211, 261, 265. 
 Brazil, 96. 
 
 Breckenridge, John B., 210. 
 Brengle Home Guard, 52. 
 Brewer, Nicholas, 2. 
 Bridge, power of federal government 
 
 to construct, 113. 
 Brght, John, 247, 248. 
 Brodhead, Richard, 112. 
 Brooklyn, 64. 
 Brooks, Preston, 39. 
 Brown v Maryland, n, 91. 
 Brown, B. Gratz, 172. 
 Brown, George William, 265. 
 Brown, John, 40, 50, 157. 
 Browning, Orville H., 247. 
 Buchanan, Franklin, 83, 214. 
 Buchanan, James, 39, 181, 204, 210, 
 
 211, 212. 
 Buckalew, Charles R., 150, 169, 208, 
 
 211, 213. 
 
 Burke, Edmund, 68. 
 Burnside, Ambrose, 82. 
 Butler, Benjamin F., 54, 58, 59, 88. 
 
 Cabinet officers, position of, 147, 158, 
 
 161, 201. 
 
 Calhoun, John C., 22, 52, 80, 148, 179. 
 California, 23, 26, 30, 34, 42, 96, 112, 
 
 225. 
 
 Cairns, Lord, 37. 
 Campbell, J. M., 37, 41, 109. 
 Cameron, Simon, 54, 215. 
 Canada, 98. 
 Canal tolls, 92. 
 Carlile, John S., 113. 
 Carmichael, Judge R. B., 184, 215. 
 
 Caroline County, 103. 
 Carpenter, Matthew H., 116, 266. 
 Carroll, John Lee, 259, 263. 
 Carroll, Thomas King, 57. 
 Cass, Lewis, 25, 32. 
 Centennial Exposition, 263. 
 Chambersburg, 150. 
 Chandler, Zachariah, 90, 177. 
 Chapman, Gen l. John G., 20. 
 Charleston (S. C.), 40, 43, 211. 
 Chase, S. P., 17, 52, 89, 132, 203, 
 
 220. 
 Chesapeake Bay, steamships on, 55; 
 
 land about, 95. 
 Chestertown, 71. 
 Chicasaws, 188. 
 Chinese, 173, 180. 
 Choctaws, 188. 
 Christianity, 42. 
 Citizenship of U. S., 119, 123, 126, 
 
 134, given to residents in annexed 
 
 territory, 124. 
 
 Civil rights bill, 123, 130, 168. 
 Civil Service, 160, 162, 228. 
 Claggett, T. J., 54. 
 Clarendon, Lord, 241, 242, 253. 
 Clay, Henry, 19, 159, 179; opinion of 
 
 Taney, 77; character, 218. 
 Clayton, John M., 18. 
 Clerks in departments, salaries of, 
 
 150, 162. 
 
 Cobb, Howell, 40, 213. 
 Cobb, John A., 44. 
 Collamer, Jacob, 48, 81, 109, 138. 
 Colorado, admission as state proposed, 
 
 147, 171. 
 
 Columbia, S. C., burning of, 133. 
 Commerce, Interstate, in, 139, 140. 
 Confederate States, Status of, 85. 
 Confederate States not recognized by 
 
 foreign powers, 65. 
 Congress, adjournment of, 177, 216. 
 Congress, power of, 68, 70. 
 Congressional Globe, 97. 
 
INDEX 
 
 275 
 
 Conkling, Roscoe, 198, 205, 214. 
 Connecticut, 93. 
 Connellsville R. R., 141. 
 Conness, John, 183, 184, 214, 215. 
 Conservative Unionist Convention of 
 
 1866, 151. 
 Constitution, loose construction of, 
 
 73, QO. 
 
 Constitution in Confederacy, 85. 
 
 Constitution to be obeyed by legisla 
 ture, 92. 
 
 Constitution of U. S., eulogy of, 39, 
 
 47- 
 
 Constitution of U. S., acts on citizens, 
 45, 46, 56, 67, 87, 107, 131, 217. 
 
 Constitutional Amendment, neces 
 sary vote upon, 96. 
 
 Contracts, obligation of, 225. 
 
 Consular service, 97. 
 
 Cooke, Jay, 89. 
 
 Copyright library, 228. 
 
 Corporation in District of Columbia, 
 138, 179, 227. 
 
 Corporations not disloyal, 177. 
 
 Cotton tax, 225. 
 
 Court of Claims, 189, 
 
 Courts martial, 103. 
 
 Cowpens, 213. 
 
 Cox, C. C., 265. 
 
 Cox, Jacob D., 198. 
 
 Cox, S. S., 50, 127, 200. 
 
 Crawford, G. W., Secretary of War, 35. 
 
 Creswell, John A. J., 57, 71, 122, 123, 
 137, 180, 181, 184, 187, 204. 
 
 Criminal law, 97. 
 
 Crisfield, J. J., 46, 49. 
 
 Crittenden, John M., 19, 36. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 192. 
 
 Cumberland Road, in. 
 
 Cummings, Rev., 117. 
 
 Commutation for drafted men, 84. 
 
 Currency, 90, 91. 
 
 Curtis, Benjamin R., 17, 38; friend 
 ship for, 39, 117, 267. 
 
 Curtis, George Ticknor, 37, 267. 
 Curtis, Gen. Samvel R., 97. 
 Customs administration in rebel states, 
 128, 129. 
 
 Davis, David, 261. 
 
 Davis, Garrett, 68, 69, 81, 97, 101, 184, 
 
 214. 
 
 Davis, Henry Winter, i, 3, 57, 139. 
 Davis, Jefferson, 56, 59, 100, 156, 157, 
 
 177, 208. 
 Davis-Wade plan of reconstruction, 
 
 65, 109. 
 
 Debt of United States, 89, 90, 92. 
 Debts of Confederate States, 193. 
 Deficiency bill, 89. 
 Democratic party, Johnson s opinion 
 
 of, 29; his affiliation with, 39 40, 43, 
 
 143, 151, 169 262, 263. 
 Dennis, J. Upshur, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 
 
 35, 259, 261. 
 Denmark, 35. 
 
 Departments of government, separa 
 tion of, 163. 
 
 Dickerson, E. M., 36, 267. 
 Dickins, Asbury, 229. 
 Diplomatic service, 97. 
 Direct tax, 128, 137, 148, 153. 
 Disloyalty defined, 219. 
 Disraeli, Benjamin, 236. 
 District of Columbia, 94, 112, 138, 178, 
 
 179, 215, 216, 227. 
 Dix, John A., 54. 
 Donaldson, Thomas, 265. 
 Doolittle, James R., 206, 208. 
 Dorchester County, 113. 
 Dorsey, Walter, 4. 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 40, 43. 174, 214. 
 Drake, Charles D., 208, 211, 214, 216, 
 
 217. 
 
 Dred Scott Case, 37, 40, 43, 47, 49, 77, 
 
 113, 119, 123, 267. 
 Duelling, 15, 18. 
 
276 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Eastern Shore, 71, 122. 
 
 Economy in administration of govern 
 ment, 75. 
 
 Edmunds, George F., 159, 160, 174, 
 198, 205, 206, 210 266, 267. 
 
 Electoral votes, counting of, 108, con 
 gressional power over, 109. 
 
 Ellicott City, 6. 
 
 Emancipation of slaves in Maryland, 
 3 2 , 73, 76, 79, 88, 105, 106, 180. 
 
 Emancipation proclamation, 64, 73, 
 79, 106. 
 
 Eminent domain, 96, 97. 
 
 Emory, W. H., 200. 
 
 England in Mexican war, 23. 
 
 England, Oregon difficulty, 22. 
 
 England, Johnson s visits to, 18, 37, 
 263. 
 
 Enlistment for 3 years, 84. 
 
 Enlistment of 100 day volunteers, 82, 
 
 83- 
 
 Enrollment act, 69, 70. 
 Ecuador, 229. 
 Ericsson, Capt. John, 85. 
 Everett, Edward, 50. 
 Evidence of parties to suit, 9, 57, 77; 
 
 of negroes, 76. 
 Ewing, Thomas, 50. 
 Express companies, tax on, 92. 
 
 Farragut, David Glasgow, Admiral, 
 
 64. 
 
 Federal officers, protection of, 143. 
 Fees from clients while Senator, 54, 66. 
 Fenians, 150, 234, 237, 250. 
 Ferry, Orris S., 211, 220. 
 Fertilizers, tax on, no. 
 Fessenden, William P., 62, 92, 97, 118, 
 
 134, 141, 162, 182, 187, 209, 210. 
 Field, David Dudley, 117. 
 Filmore, Millard, 50, 146. 
 Findlay, John V. L., 57, 262. 
 Fish, Hamilton, 253, 257. 
 Florida, the, 255. 
 
 Florida, reconstruction of. 225. lands 
 
 in, 263. 
 
 Floyd, John B., 182, 213. 
 Foot, Solomon, 133. 
 Foote, Henry S., 267. 
 Foreigners, property of, 58. 
 Forney, John W., 268. 
 Fort Delaware, 63. 
 Fort Fisher, 103. 
 Fort Pillow massacre, 83. 
 Fort Sumter, 46, 53, 103, 181, 212 
 Fortification of ports, 103. 
 Foundry Methodist Graveyard, 179. 
 Fourteenth Amendment, 119, 129, 
 
 137, 164, 173, 196, 206, 209, 220. 
 Fowler, David, 270. 
 Fowler, Joseph S. 211. 
 Fox, G. V., no. 
 
 France, 250; in Mexican war, 23. 
 Frederick City, 10, 13, 52. 
 Freedman s Bureau, 103 121, 149, 
 
 168. 
 
 Frelinghuysen, Theodore F., 206, 266. 
 Fugitive slave acts, 80. 
 
 Galphin claim, 35. 
 
 Garfield, James A., 267. 
 
 Garland, A. H., 42, 116, 117, 135. 
 
 General Assembly of Maryland, 9, 
 56, 264. 
 
 General welfare clause, in. 
 
 Geneva award, 254. 
 
 Georgia, reconstruction of, 225. 
 
 Georgia, Sherman s campaign in, 98. 
 
 Germany, 35. 
 
 Gettysburg, battle of, 56, 65, 257. 
 
 Geyer, Henry S., 37. 
 
 Ghieselen, Reverdy, 2. 
 
 Giles, Wm. Fell, Judge, 17. 
 
 Gill, R. W., 14. 
 
 Gilpin, Henry D., 36. 
 
 Gladstone, William E., 245. 
 
 Gold in U. S. treasury, 89, 90; specu 
 lation in, 89, 93. 
 
INDEX 
 
 277 
 
 Gold, tax on, no. 
 
 Goldsborough, W. T., 46. 
 
 Gooding v Oliver, 37. 
 
 Granger, Francis, 19. 
 
 Grant, Ulysses S., 82, 84, 239, 248, 
 250, 251, 261, 262. 
 
 Granvil e, Lord, 252. 
 
 Great Britain, friendship for, 230, 243, 
 245, 249. 
 
 Great Britain, reception of Johnson in, 
 236. 
 
 Great Britain, peace of 1815 with, 39; 
 neutrality of, 98, 150, 214, 239, 256; 
 treaty of 1817 with, 101; treaty of 
 1853 with, 239, 246, 249, 250, 257. 
 
 Great Lakes, 101. 
 
 Greeley, Horace, 261. 
 
 Greenmount Cemetery, 265. 
 
 Grimes, Gen., 23. 
 
 Grimes, James W., 73, 202. 
 
 Guarantee Clause of the Constitu 
 tion, 154, 171, 173, 195, 219. 
 
 Guerillas, punishment of, 84. 
 
 Gunboat contractors, payment of, 58. 
 
 Guthrie, James, 50. 
 
 Gwinn, C. J. M., 54, 262. 
 
 Habeas corpus, suspension of writ of, 
 51, 115, 144. 
 
 Hale, John P., 65, 69, 113, 115. 
 
 Halleck, H. W., 82. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 19, 101, 155, 160. 
 
 Hamilton, Andrew, i. 
 
 Hammond, William H., 63. 
 
 Hampton, Wade, 133, 134. 
 
 Harding, George, 36. 
 
 Harlan, James, 71. 
 
 Harper, Robert Goodloe, 4. 
 
 Harris, Thomar, 10. 
 
 Harvey, James E., Minister to Portu 
 gal, 147, 215. 
 
 Hayne, Robert Y., 45. 
 
 Henderson, John B., 36, 106, 202, 203. 
 
 Hendricks, Thomas A., 137, 206. 
 
 Hicks, Thomas H., 46, 52, 56, 57, 113 
 
 to 115. 
 
 Higgins, Edwin, 3, 4, 19, 263, 265. 
 Hooker, Gen. Joseph, 82. 
 Houston, Samuel, 15. 
 Howard, Frank Key, 54. 
 Howard, Jacob M., 139, 175, 181, 184, 
 
 198, 205, 206, 211, 213. 
 Howard, John Eager. 213. 
 Howard, O. O., 178. 
 Howe, T. O., 126 129, 135, 157, 205, 
 
 206, 214. 
 
 Hunter, R. M. T., 109. 
 Hunter, Asst. Sec. of State, 229, 
 
 239- 
 
 Immigrant s passage money, 148. 
 Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, 198 
 Income tax, 92, 102, no. 
 Indians, enlistment of, 62, 84; status 
 
 of, 123, 134, 189, 194. 
 Inhabitant, 124. 
 Insane, enlistment of, 102. 
 Interior Department of, 34. 
 Internal improvements, 190. 
 Internal revenue taxes, 92, 93, no, 
 
 226. 
 
 Iowa, banking in, 24; troops, 71. 
 Irish famine, 149. 
 Iron clad vessels, 103. 
 Iron, railroad, import tax on, 93. 
 
 Jackson Andrew, 31, 125, 145, 158, 
 159, 161, 182, 218. 
 
 Jay treaty, 255, 257. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 78, 219. 
 
 Johnson, Andrew, 86, 120, 121, 126; 
 vetoes civil rights bill, 124, 144, 
 145; 151 to 153, 155, 159 to 161, 
 167, 170, 171, 177, 182, 193, 195 
 to 198, 218, 224, 247, 262; carries 
 out Lincoln s policy, 144. 
 
 Johnson, Deborah, 2. 
 
2 7 8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Johnson, John, Jr., 2. 
 Johnson, John, Sr., 2 
 Johnson, Mary Mackall Bowie, 3, 55. 
 Johnson, Reverdy, Jr., 14. 
 Johnson, William Cost, 20, 21. 
 Johnson-Clarendon treaty, see Ala 
 bama claims. 
 Johnston, Joseph E., 215. 
 Jones, Walter, n. 
 Judges, election of, 31. 
 Judicial system of U. S. in South, 128, 
 
 133, IS3i 2 22. 
 
 Jurors, 228. 
 
 Jury, negroes on, 216. 
 
 Jury trial, 97, 103, 148. 
 
 Kennedy, John P., 20, 21, 54. 
 Kentucky, 68; federal interference in, 
 
 64, 103; invasion of, 69; tobacco, 
 
 93; resolves of 1799, 219. 
 Kerr, Charles G., 263. 
 Key, Judge Edmund, 3. 
 Key West, 95. 
 Kirkwood, Samuel J., 130. 
 Know Nothing party, 40. 
 Ku Klux Klan, 260. 
 
 Laird, John, 245. 
 
 Laird s rams, 256. 
 
 Lands, public, 22, 23, 25, 42, 96, 
 190. 
 
 Lands, can federal government buy 
 for freedmen, 121. 
 
 Lane, James H., of Kansas, 123. 
 
 Latimer, W. K., 42. 
 
 Latrobe, John H. B., 5, 151. 
 
 Lee, Robert E., 214, 215. 
 
 Leeds, 243. 
 
 Legal tender notes, 188; constitution 
 ality of, 91. 
 
 Legislature of Maryland, See General 
 Assembly. 
 
 Le Grand, J. C., 44. 
 
 Lieber, Francis, 101. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 36, 46, 50, 52, 53, 
 58, 59, 63, 75, 100; 141, 161, 212; in 
 presidential campaign of 1860, 43; 
 Johnson defends in 1861, 51; proc 
 lamation of 1861, 128; Johnson 
 breaks with, in 1864, 64; denounced, 
 69, 81, 109; power supported, 82, 
 reconstruction policy, 86, 104; pow 
 er over treaties, 101; appointment 
 of Lieutenant General, 82; refuses 
 exchange of prisoners, 102; acts in 
 regard to Maryland, 103; appoint 
 ments by, 107; early sympathy with 
 secession, 109, 126; signs Thir 
 teenth Amendment, no; assassi 
 nated, 115. 
 
 Liquor taxed, 92. 
 
 Liverpool, 240, 245, 256. 
 
 Loan bill of 1865, in. 
 
 London, 240, 242. 
 
 Louisiana, memorials from, in 1847, 
 24; exhausted in 1864, 70; recon 
 struction in, 104 to 106, 163, 181 
 to 262. 
 
 Lowell, James Russell, 251. 
 
 Luther v Borden, 69. 
 
 Lynch, A. A., 54. 
 
 McCardle case, 222. 
 McClellan, George B., 56, 64, 82, 230. 
 McCormick, Rev. Thomas, 10. 
 McCormick reaper, 36. 
 McCulloh v Maryland, 91. 
 McCulloh, Hugh, 247. 
 McDougall, James A., 113, 160. 
 McKim, Isaac, 9. 
 McLane Louis, u. 
 McLean, John, 34, 36, 38, in. 
 McMahon, J. V. L., n, 12; testimo 
 nial to Johnson, 14. 
 Maddox, blockade runner, 65. 
 Madison, James, 109, 125, 130. 
 Magruder, A. C., n. 
 Maher, 19. 
 
INDEX 
 
 279 
 
 Mail transportation, 96. 
 
 Mails, secrecy of, 104. 
 
 Maine, 108, 129, 141. 
 
 Mangum, Willie P., 34. 
 
 Marbury v Madison, 146. 
 
 Marcy, William L., 160. 
 
 Marine hospitals, 228. 
 
 Married women, 188. 
 
 Martin, Luther, 4, 10. 
 
 Maryland, border State, 185. 
 
 Maryland, constitution of 1864, 65, 
 88, 103, 105, 106. 
 
 Maryland constitutional convention 
 of 1867, 151, 154, 185, 197. 
 
 Maryland elections, 70, 103, 115. 
 
 Maryland, federal interference in, 64, 
 71, 72, 103, 
 
 Maryland, has it republican govern 
 ment, 215. 
 
 Maryland, lawabiding, 166. 
 
 Maryland, political campaign of 1866, 
 
 151, J 53- 
 
 Maryland, politics in, 1867, 181, 185, 
 196. 
 
 Maryland, politics in 1876, 262, 263. 
 
 Maryland, share in B. & O. R. R., 1 1 2. 
 
 Maryland, tobacco, 93. 
 
 Maryland, Union sentiment, in, 44, 
 52, 53, 57, 59, 62, 71, 72, 74 76, 77, 
 88, 114, 137, 207, 212 to 215, 219. 
 
 Mason & Slidell, seizure of, 98. 
 
 Massachusetts, 86, 106, enlistments in, 
 74, 76; in 1812, 81. 
 
 Matthews, R. Stockett, 57, 265. 
 
 May, Henry, 54. 
 
 Meade, George B., 65, 82. 
 
 Meredith, William, n. 
 
 Meredith, W. M., Secretary of Treas 
 ury, 35- 
 
 Merrick, William D., 20, 21. 
 
 Merrimac, The, 85. 
 
 Merriman ex parte, 51. 
 
 Metcalf v. Brooklyn Life Ins. Co., 263. 
 
 Methodist Church case, 36. 
 
 Mexican independence, 37. 
 
 Mexican territory, annexation of, 30. 
 Mexican war, 23, 25 to 30, 32. 
 Mexico, danger of war in 1865, 145. 
 Mexico, Maximilian s empire in, 194. 
 Mileage for Congressmen, 148. 
 Military officers, indemnity to, 189. 
 Military rule, 225. 
 Military tribunals, 103, 107, 115. 116, 
 
 136, 144, 220. 
 
 Milligan, ex parte, 116, 144. 
 
 Minnesota lands, 96. 
 
 Miranda, Juan, 96. 
 
 Mississippi, exhausted in 1864, 70. 
 
 Missouri Compromise and the Dred 
 
 Scott decision, 77, 123; Pinkney s 
 
 speech, 86. 
 
 Missouri constitution, 217. 
 Money bills amendment by Senate, 
 
 112. 
 
 Monitor, The, 85. 
 Monroe, James, in. 
 Montana negro suffrage proposed in, 
 
 77- 
 
 Moore, W. H., 200. 
 Morrill, Lot M., 142, 179, 207. 
 Morris, John B., 14. 
 Morton, Oliver P., of Indiana, 184, 
 
 198, 207, 211, 219. 
 Motley, John Lothrop, 162, 257. 
 Mt. Vernon Association, 227. 
 
 National Bank Stock, taxation of, 90, 
 
 91. 
 Naturalization, 40, 98, 124 to 126, 224, 
 
 230, 235- 
 
 Naval pension trust fund, 228. 
 Navigable streams, 112. 
 Navy on Great Lakes, 101. 
 Nebraska, 171; admission, 172, 174. 
 Negroes, capacity of 94, 120, 122, 124, 
 
 130. 
 
 Negroes, cruelty to, 38. 
 Negroes, enlistment of, 62, 69 to 73, 
 
 75, 76, 83, 84, 99, 102, 137, 177, 178. 
 
280 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Negroes, growing cotton, 226. 
 
 Negroes in D. C., 180; not to hold 
 office there, 223. 
 
 Negroes, in mail service, 76. 
 
 Negroes in street railway cars, 94, 227. 
 
 Negroes, need of protection in Mary 
 land, 121, 122. 
 
 Negroes, not citizens, 123. 
 
 Negroes, persons, 124, 130. 
 
 Negroes, protection of by federal gov 
 ernment, 125. 
 
 Negroes, relation with whites when 
 freed, 81. 
 
 Negroes, service sold in Maryland, 
 1866, 180. 
 
 Negroes, status of in general, 119, 120; 
 in Maryland, 69, 72, 122, 130, 135. 
 
 Negro suffrage in Alexandria, 174. 
 
 Negro suffrage in D. C., 179, 180, 216. 
 
 Negro suffrage in Maryland, 185. 
 
 Negro suffrage in Montana, 77. 
 
 Negro suffrage in Nebraska, 171. 
 
 Negro suffrage, in seceded States, 106, 
 107, 119, 129, 135, 154, 176. 
 
 Negro suffrage, not in free States, 33, 
 130, 165, 173, 180. 
 
 Nelson, Thomas, Judge, 136. 
 
 Neutrality law, 35, 98, 188, 229, 255. 
 
 Nevada, 112. 
 
 New Jersey Legislature, 142. 
 
 New Madrid, 149. 
 
 New Mexico, 26, 96. 
 
 New Orleans, 58, 59, 181. 
 
 New Orleans, Dutch Consul at, 58. 
 
 Newport, R. I., Naval Academy at, 88. 
 
 New York Tribune, 263. 
 
 Norris, William H., 8, 41. 
 
 North Carolina, 220, bonds, 261. 
 
 Northern Central R. R., 141. 
 
 Northern States partly to blame for 
 war, 131. 
 
 Nye, James Warren, of Nevada, 181, 
 215. 
 
 Oath of loyalty, 65, 71, 104, 115 to 117, 
 135, 151, 154, 164, 186, 211, 214, 
 217; for senators, 66, 68; import of, 
 112. 
 
 Ohio, 220. 
 
 Ord, Edward O. C., General, 222. 
 
 Ordinance of 1787, 106. 
 
 Oregon boundary, 22. 
 
 Oregon territory, 32, 33, 165, 171. 
 
 Original Package doctrine, n. 
 
 Pacificus letters of Hamilton, 101. 
 
 Palmer, Roundell, 254. 
 
 Panama Railroad, 34. 
 
 Parker, John A., 252. 
 
 Parkersburg Branch Railroad, 260. 
 
 Patterson, David T., 137, 182. 
 
 Peabody, George, 153. 
 
 Peace hoped for, 100. 
 
 Peace mission, 104. 
 
 Peace Congress of 1861, 46 to 50, 97, 
 
 212. 
 
 Pearce, James Alfred, 20. 
 Peck, H. W. H., 60. 
 Peckham of New York, 116. 
 Pennsylvania, 24. 
 Pension agents, 157. 
 Percival, Captain, 34. 
 Peters, J. A., 254, 256. 
 Pettigru s law library, 149. 
 Phelps, John W., Gen., 59. 
 Phelps, Charles E., 8, 16. 
 Philadelphia, Conservative Union con 
 
 vention at, 151. 
 Phillips, Philip, 267. 
 Pierce, Franklin B., 50. 
 Pinkney, William, 5, 86, 270. 
 Police power, n, 123. 
 Polk, James K., 19, 20, 23, 26, 29, 31. 
 Pomeroy, Samuel C., 198. 
 Porter, David D., 64. 
 Porter, Fitz John, 55. 
 Portland, Maine, 149. 
 Post roads, in. 
 
INDEX 
 
 28l 
 
 Potomac, 24. 
 
 Poultney, Evan, n. 
 
 President of the United States, term 
 of office, 162, power of, 217, 218; 
 veto power of, 30, 125, 171; appoint 
 ing power of, 30, 144, 158; power 
 to suspend writ of habeas corpus, 
 51; commander of army, 162, 163; 
 power to declare rebellion ended, 
 108; power to pardon, 109, 135, 154 
 to 156; power of removal from of 
 fice, 120, 145, 146, 158, 159, 160, 201; 
 power to recognize state govern 
 ment, 131. 
 
 Presidential election of 1864, 87. 
 
 Price, William, 20, 57. 
 
 Prisoners, exchange of, 102. 
 
 Prisoners, federal, 94, 101. 
 
 Prisoners, rebel, 101, 102. 
 
 Prize cases, 67, 79, 98, 101, 127, 195. 
 
 Promotion of wounded officer, 84. 
 
 Protective tariff duties, 92, 94, 171, 
 187, 226, 261. 
 
 Prussia, King of, 239. 
 
 Puget Sound boundary, 234 to 236, 
 238 to 242. 
 
 Punch, cartoon in, 246. 
 
 Quarantine laws, 140. 
 
 Quicksilver duty on, 92, mine in Cali- 
 
 fornia, 96. 
 Quorum of Senate, 96, 199. 
 
 Railroads, 112, 138, 140, 179, 195, 260. 
 Railroads, land grants to, 96. 
 Randall, Alexander, 2, 151, 265. 
 Rebels, 104. 
 
 Rebels, disfranchisement of, 192. 
 Reconstruction of Arkansas, 86. 
 Reconstruction of Louisana, 104. 
 Reconstruction, act of 1866, 165. 
 Reconstruction, act of 1867, 154, 155. 
 Reconstruction, supplementary act, 
 iSS, i?5, T 76, 218. 
 
 Reconstruction, Congressional plan, 
 153, 1 68, 218. 
 
 Reconstruction, Davis- Wade plan, 65. 
 
 Reconstruction, Johnson s theory of, 
 63, 68, 86, 87, 105, 107, 108, 119, 
 120, 121, 126, 127, 131 to 134, 136, 
 151, 153, 163, 165 to 169, 175, 176. 
 
 193, 194, 22O, 221, 224. 
 
 Reconstruction, joint committee on, 
 
 120, 133, 137. 
 Reconstruction, Lincoln s policy, 86, 
 
 153, I 59, 168. 
 Reconstruction, Sumner s theory, 66, 
 
 86,87, 105, 132, 152, 175. 
 Removal of deposits from U. S. Bank, 
 
 10. 
 Reports of Congressional debates, 25, 
 
 97, 150, 189. 
 Resignation of army and navy officers, 
 
 83- 
 
 Revolution, right of, 80, 173. 
 Richardson, George R., 18. 
 Richmond, 72, 104. 
 Rider to appropriation bill, 146. 
 Ridgely, Andrew Sterrett, 170. 
 Right of persons, 172. 
 Riots of 1835, 12. 
 
 Rock Island arsenal, 97, bridge, m. 
 Roebuck, John Arthur, 243, 244. 
 Roman, J. D., 46. 
 Roman Catholic Church, 40. 
 Round Bay, 150. 
 Russell, Lord John, 229, 254. 
 
 St. Alban s raid, 98. 
 
 St. John s College, 2, 264. 
 
 Sales, tax on, no. 
 
 San Francisco, 42, 103, 150. 
 
 San Juan Island, see Puget Sound. 
 
 Sangster, Lawrence, 54. 
 
 Santa Anna, 26. 
 
 Saulsbury, Willard, 85, 94, 184. 
 
 Saunders, George, 44. 
 
 Saving banks, tax on, 92. 
 
282 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Schenck, Robert C, Gen., 83. 
 Schley, Frederick, 185. 
 Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 94. 
 Schurz, Carl, 177. 
 Scott, Gen. Winfield, 82. 
 Secession, Calhoun upon, 22, 52. 
 Secession, danger of, 32. 44, 48, 49, 53, 
 
 56. 
 Secession, effect of, 105, 108, 121, 127, 
 
 128, 135, 139, 152, 1 60. 
 Secessionists, Johnson s efforts for, 
 
 54, 55, 58, 65. 
 
 Secret agents of executive, 227. 
 Seddon, John A., 48, 49. 
 Selborne, Lord, 254. 
 Selden, Henry R., 36. 
 Senator, admission of, 141, 181, 204. 
 Senators, credentials of, 225. 
 Senator, election pf, 142. 
 Senator, expulsion of, 129. 
 Senator, not civil officer, 68. 
 Senate of Maryland, 8. 
 Seward, William H., 34, 40, 58, 193, 
 
 215, 234, 236 to 241, 246 to 248, 250, 
 
 251. 
 
 Sheffield, 243. 
 Shepherd, Alexander Robey, Gov. of 
 
 D. C., 263. 
 
 Shepley, George F., Gov., 59. 
 Sheridan, Philip H., 64. 
 Sherman, John, 132, 134 182, 184, 210. 
 Sherman, William T., 60, 98, 133, 134, 
 
 198, 200. 
 
 Shipbuilding, 226. 
 Shipping favored, 188. 
 Sickles, Daniel B., 192. 
 Sisters of Mercy, visitation of by offi 
 cials, 112. 
 
 Slave trade, interstate, 81. 
 Slave trade, foreign, 106. 
 Slavery abolition of in Maryland, 65. 
 Slavery in D. C., 179. 
 Slavery, extension of through Mexi- 
 
 ican war, 27, 30. 
 
 Slavery in Oregon, 32, 33. 
 
 Slavery in territories, 32, 47, 49. 
 
 Slavery, cause of the war, 56. 
 
 Slavery, Johnson s opinion of, in 1847, 
 28, 30; in 1848, 32, 33; in 1859, 41; 
 in 1860, 43; in 1864, 63, 64, 67, 70, 
 73 to 75, 77, 95, 99; in 1865, 106, 
 
 107, 122. 
 
 Slavery, Johnson s view as to its ter 
 mination, 78, 79, 99, 220, 225. 
 
 Slaves, without family relations or 
 education, 74. 
 
 Smith, General Samuel, 13. 
 
 Smuggling, 148. 
 
 Somerset County, 103. 
 
 Soule", Pierre, 58. 
 
 South American trade, 96, 229. 
 
 South Carolina, secession of, 44 to 46, 
 74, 128, 136, 180, 183, 184, 197- 
 
 Speed, James, 117. 
 
 Sprague, William, 203. 
 
 Squatter sovereignty, 40, 43. 
 
 Stamp tax, 92. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 234, 236 to 240, 241, 
 245- 
 
 Stansberry, Henry, 15, 117. 
 
 Stanton, Edwin M., 36, 88, 141, 167, 
 200 to 202. 
 
 Stark, Benjamin, 182. 
 
 State Banks, tax on, 91, 92, no. 
 
 State, characteristic of, 190, 191. 
 
 State sovereignty, 80, 107, 112, 125, 
 126, 216, 224. 
 
 Statehood, qualifications for, 148. 
 
 States, essential to nation, 132, 152. 
 
 States, equality of, 86, 106, 172, 174, 
 224. 
 
 Steamship subsidies, 96. 
 
 Steiner, Lewis H., 264. 
 
 Stephen, Leslie, 250. 
 
 Stephen, Judge, 2. 
 
 Stephens, A. H., 109, 207. 
 
 Stevens, Thaddeus, 36, 195. 
 
INDEX 
 
 283 
 
 Stewart, William M., 183, 206, 208, 
 
 211. 
 
 Stockton, John P., 141, 142, 200. 
 
 Stokes, William B., 210. 
 
 Street Railway cars, negroes in, 94; 
 on Sunday, 95. 
 
 Strieker, Gen. John, 8. 
 
 Sub treasury bill, 25. 
 
 Suffrage, a privilege, 120, 130, 216. 
 
 Suffrage, women s, 178. 
 
 Suffrage in States, 105, 130, 135, 161, 
 166, 1 80, 195, 22 4. 
 
 Sugar, tax on, 226. 
 
 Sumner, Charles, 105, 106, 112, 113, 
 118, 130, 131, 142, 160 to 163, 174, 
 175, 177, 1 80, 185, 186, 194, 195, 
 200, 209, 213, 215 216, 223, 234 to 
 236, 238, 247, 248, 250, 252, 256, 
 257; friendship for, 39; conflicts 
 with, 62, 67, 76, 77, 80, 81, 86, 87, 91, 
 95, 1 03, follows his opinion, 104; his 
 opinion of Johnson. 
 
 Sunday observance, 95. 
 
 Supreme % Court of U. S., 31, 33, 44, 
 143, 162, 166, 185, 189, 209; power 
 to declare laws void, importance of, 
 
 2l8, 222. 
 
 Surratt, Mrs., 115, 116. 
 Swann, Richard, 19. 
 Swann, Thomas, 88, 123, 154, 215. 
 Switzerland, 239. 
 
 Taney, Roger B., 10, 11,31, 38, 40, 47, 
 51, 77, H3, 144, 157, 158, 189. 
 
 Tariff of 1846, 24; of 1 86 1, 90; of 1864, 
 93; of 1867, 187. 
 
 Taxation, necessary, 90; of goods in 
 bond, 90. 
 
 Taxes, collection of, 148. 
 
 Taxing power of U. S., 92. 
 
 Taylor, Zachary, 34, 35, 158. 
 
 Tea, tax on, 93. 
 
 Tennessee, 86, 137. 
 
 Tenure of office act, 159, 161, 201. 
 
 Territories, laws in, 34, 224. 
 Texas, annexation of, 23, 26, 29, 32. 
 Texas, navy of, 30, 34. 
 Thirteenth Amendment, 63, 78, 79, 
 
 81, 99, 100; signed by Lincoln, no. 
 Thomas, Francis, 185. 
 Thomas, Philip Francis, 181, 204. 
 Thompson, Jacob, 213. 
 Tipton, Thomas Warren, 208, 211. 
 Tobacco, tax on, 93. 
 Toombs, Robert, 100. 
 Towson, 151. 
 Transport of troops, 103. 
 Treason, 69, TOO, 128 135 156. 
 Treasury notes in 1846, 24. 
 Treaty of 1854 with England, 37. 
 Treaties, President s power over, 101, 
 Trumbull, Lyman, 62, 97, 104, 113, 
 
 118, 121, 123, 124, 126, 141, 145, 
 
 149, 164, 182, 198, 205, 206, 209, 
 
 213- 
 Tucker, John Randolph, 268. 
 
 Union feeling of Johnson in 1848, 31; 
 in 1860, 42; in 1861, 56; in 1864, 75, 
 80, 81, 91, 93; in 1865, 100, 107, 109; 
 in 1866, 129, 131, 138; in 1868, 168, 
 173, 182, 219. 
 
 Union men in Confederate states, 67 
 79, 80, 85, 175. 
 
 Union, permanence of, 97. 
 
 Union Pacific Railroad, 227, 228. 
 
 United States Bank, removal of de 
 posits, 10, 158. 
 
 Upper Maryborough, 3. 
 
 Upshur, Judge, 19. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, 19, 32, 44, 50. 
 
 Venezuela, 149. 
 
 Vice President, power of, in electoral 
 
 count, 1 08. 
 
 Vickers, Harrison W., 215, 231. 
 Victoria, Queen, 214, 236, 237, 250. 
 Virginia s secession, 191, 192, 217. 
 
284 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Wade, Benjamin F., 99, 113, 132, 133, 
 
 198, 199. 
 
 Waite, Morrison R., 267. 
 Walker, A., 59. 
 Wallace, Gen. Lew, 72, 103. 
 Wallis, S. Teackle, 6, 41, 265. 
 War of 1812, 2, 22, 81, 108, 129. 
 War power, 62, 67, 79, 101, 108, 109, 
 
 121, 127, 152, 165, igi, 195. 
 War, probable duration of, 70, 72, 84, 
 
 87, 98, 100, 104. 
 Waring v. Clarke, 36. 
 Washington, George, 75, 95, 107, 155, 
 
 220. 
 Washington City, 39; registration of 
 
 voters in, 94; arsenal, 149; charter, 
 
 223; named, 240, 242, 243. 
 Washington Branch Railroad, 267. 
 Washington, treaty of, 254, 256. 
 Watson, P. H., 36. 
 Webster, Daniel, n, 19, 23, 45, 182, 
 
 271. 
 
 Weed, Thurlow, 36. 
 Welles, Gideon, 151, 167, 170, 171, 240, 
 
 241, 245 to 247, 251. 
 West Point Military Academy, 87, 149. 
 West Virginia, 138, 165, 190. 
 
 Western States, danger of their growth, 
 
 172. 
 
 Wheeling Bridge case, 36, 139. 
 Whig party, 9, 39. 
 Whig Convention of 1839, 18. 
 Whig Convention of 1844, 19. 
 Whiskey insurrection, 155, 159. 
 Whiskey, tax upon, 88, no. 
 Whyte, Wm. Pinkney, 231. 
 Willey, Waitman T., 95, 115. 
 Williams, George H., 118, 160, 162, 
 
 165, 207. 
 
 Williams v. Gibbs, 37. 
 Wilmot Proviso, 27. 
 Wilson, Henry, 27, 69, 70, 113, 120. 
 Winans, Ross R., 54. 
 Winder, W. H., 54. 
 Winnebago Indians, 94. 
 Wirt, William, n, 13, 149. 
 Wisconsin, banking in, 24; road in, 96. 
 Woodsworth Planing Machine, 36. 
 Worcester County, 123. 
 Wright, William, 171. 
 
 Yates, Richard, 210, 211. 
 Yucatan, 36. 
 
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