It  is  true  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  existence  of  the  States  was
terminated  by  the  rebellious  acts  of  their  inhabitants,  and  that,  the  in-
surrection having  been  suppressed,  they  were  thenceforward  to  be  con-
sidered merely  as  conquered  territories.  The  legislative,  executive,  and
judicial  departments  of  the  Government  have,  however,  with  great  dis-
tinctness and  uniform  consistency,  refused  to  sanction  an  assumption  so
incompatible  with  the  nature  of  our  republican  system  and  with  the  pro-
fessed objects  of  the  war.  Throughout  the  recent  legislation  of  Congress
the  undeniable  fact  makes  itself  apparent  that  these  ten  political  commu-
nities are  nothing  less  than  States  of  this  Union.  At  the  very  com-
mencement of  the  rebellion  each  House  declared,  with  a  unanimity  as
remarkable  as  it  was  significant,  that  the  war  was  not c<  waged  upon  our
part  in  any  spirit  of  oppression,  nor  for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or  sub-
jugation, nor  purpose  of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the  rights  or
established  institutions  of  those  States,  but  to  defend  and  maintain  the
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  all  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof,
and  to  preserve  the  Union,  with  all  the  dignity,  equality,  and  rights  of
the  several  States  unimpaired;  and  that  as  soon  as  these  objects*'  were
" accomplished  the  war  ought  to  cease."  In  some  instances  Senators
were  permitted  to  continue  their  legislative  functions,  while  in  other
instances  Representatives  were  elected  and  admitted  to  seats  after  their
States  had  formally  declared  their  right  to  withdraw  from  the  Union
and  were  endeavoring  to  maintain  that  right  by  force  of  arms.  All  of
the  States  whose  people  were  in  insurrection,  as  States,  were  included
in  the  apportionment  of  the  direct  tax  of  $20,000,000  annually  laid  upon
the  United  States  by  the  act  approved  5th  August,  1861.  Congress,  by  the
act  of  March  4,  1862,  and  by  the  apportionment  of  representation  there-
under also  recognized  their  presence  as  States  in  the  Union;  and  they
have,  for  judicial  purposes,  been  divided  into  districts,  as  States  alone
can  be  divided.  The  same  recognition  appears  in  the  recent  legislation
in  reference  to  Tennessee,  which  evidently  rests  upon  the  fact  that  the
functions  of  the  State  were  not  destroyed  by  the  rebellion,  but  merely  sus-
pended; and  that  principle  is  of  course  applicable  to  those  States  which,
like  Tennessee,  attempted  to  renounce  their  places  in  the  Union.
