With the advice and consent of the Senate, the necessary officers were
appointed and appropriations made by Congress for the payment of their
salaries. The proposition to amend the Federal Constitution, so as to
prevent the existence of slavery within the United States or any place
subject to their jurisdiction, was ratified by the requisite number
of States, and on the 18th day of December, 1865, it was officially
declared to have become valid as a part of the Constitution of the
United States. All of the States in which the insurrection had existed
promptly amended their constitutions so as to make them conform to the
great change thus effected in the organic law of the land; declared null
and void all ordinances and laws of secession; repudiated all pretended
debts and obligations created for the revolutionary purposes of the
insurrection, and proceeded in good faith to the enactment of measures
for the protection and amelioration of the condition of the colored
race. Congress, however, yet hesitated to admit any of these States to
representation, and it was not until toward the close of the eighth
month of the session that an exception was made in favor of Tennessee
by the admission of her Senators and Representatives.
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