MR. BRECKENRIDGE. Mr. President, the Senator from Oregon is a very
adroit debater, and he discovers, of course, the great advantage he
would have if I were to allow him, occupying the floor, to ask me a
series of questions, and then have his own criticisms made on them.
When he has closed his speech, if I deem it necessary, I will make some
reply. At present, however, I will answer that question. The State of
Illinois, I believe, is a military district; the State of Kentucky is a
military district. In my judgment, the President has no authority,
and, in my judgment, Congress has no right to confer upon the President
authority, to declare a State in a condition of insurrection or
rebellion.


MR. BAKER. In the first place, the bill does not say a word about
States. That is the first answer.


MR. BRECKENRIDGE. Does not the Senator know, in fact, that those States
compose military districts? It might as well have said "States" as to
describe what is a State.

MR. BAKER. I do; and that is the reason why I suggest to the honorable
Senator that this criticism about States does not mean anything at all.
That is the very point. The objection certainly ought not to be that he
can declare a part of a State in insurrection and not the whole of
it. In point of fact, the Constitution of the United States, and the
Congress of the United States acting upon it, are not treating of
States, but of the territory comprising the United States; and I submit
once more to his better judgment that it cannot be unconstitutional to
allow the President to declare a county or a part of a county, or a town