No Former Slaveholder shall ever be president or vice-president

In a speech, Mr. Boutwell admitted that it is unlikely that President Johnson will be impeached, but he did offer an optimistic prediction for the future.

No former Slaveholder shall ever be President or Vice-President.--In a recent Boston speech, Mr. Boutwell said the President had disgraced the country, but he would not be impeached for it, and added : I want to say one thing, and so deeply am I impressed with the conviction that no man can ever hereafter be trusted in the office of President or Vice-President who has bought or sold human flesh, that I conjure you and my fellow-citizens forever after to make it a rule of your public policy that no such man be clothed with the highest oflice in the gift of the people. [Great applause, and cries of " Good."]

“No Former Slaveholder shall ever be president or vice-president,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed March 29, 2023, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/370.