Letter from Washington

During the current Congressional Session, it is to be determined if the Southern states will be admitted back to the Nation by the end of the session or if it will be pushed back into the following session.

It is reported to-day that before very there will be a full attendance of the southern representatives to Congress elect in Washington, to ascertain definitely what Congress proposes to do in relation to the admission of their States, and whether, if the amendment should he adopted, further guarantees would he demanded. This report, which receives some credit, does not appear to be based upon a very solid foundation, as from all accounts received from reliable quarters in different parts of the South there is no disposition whatever to accept the amendment upon any terms; and at the same time there are many indications that Congress will hasten to adopt measures much more obnoxious than those at present proposed for the purpose of keeping the States out at any rate until after the next presidential election. To secure that is the main object and sole idea of the present machinations. There is much speculation on the subject of the bill for southern reconstruction which Mr. Ashley, chairman of the House Committee on Territories, intends to introduce when Congress reassembles. It has not yet been completed, and its originators steadfastly refuse to give any information concerning it. They have concluded, however, that any movement looking to the reduction of the excluded States to territories! I

“Letter from Washington,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed June 1, 2023, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/479.