The enterprise which is to complete the railroad connection between the Pacific and the Atlantic belongs to this class.

When these two points were brought into telegraphic association, the first link was made in the chain destined to bind the two continents together.

By conjoint exertions of the two countries the cable was stretched from continent to continent in 1858.

He was the Alpha and the Omega of a triumph which has few parallels in history.

He has been honored by the popular voice, but it remains for Congress to embody this voice in a national testimonial.

If it be said that there is no precedent for such a vote, then do I reply that his case is without precedent, and we must not hesitate to make a precedent by this expression of national gratitude.

Thanks are given for victories in war: give them now for a victory of peace.

Resolved, That other things remain to be done, as clearly within the power of Congress as the elective franchise, and it is the duty of Congress to see that these things are not left undone.

Existing governments, now declared illegal, must be vacated, so that they can have no agency in Reconstruction, and will cease to exercise a pernicious influence.

Provisional governments must be constituted as temporary substitutes for the illegal governments, with special authority to superintend the transition to permanent governments republican in form.

As loyalty beyond suspicion must be the basis of permanent governments republican in form, every possible precaution must be adopted against Rebel agency or influence in the formation of these governments.

Not less important than education is the homestead, which must be secured to the freedmen, so that at least every head of a family may have a piece of land.

The resolutions are on the table; they are plain; they are unequivocal; they are perfectly intelligible; and they make a declaration of principle and of purpose which at this moment is of peculiar importance.

I am anxious for practical legislation to that end; but, to pave the way for such legislation, I would have Congress, at the earliest possible moment, make a declaration in general terms of its purposes.

In common times and under ordinary circumstances there would be no occasion for such a declaration, but at this moment there seems peculiar occasion; you must give notice; and the failure of our bill to meet the present exigency throws…

I believe that all familiar with the processes of Reconstruction have felt that our work would be incomplete, unless in some way we secured to the freedman a piece of land.

Only within a few days, gentlemen fresh from travel through these States have assured me, that, as they saw the condition of things there, nothing pressed upon their minds more than the necessity of such a provision.

The more you reflect upon it, and the more you listen to evidence, the stronger will be your conclusion as to this necessity.

To give a homestead will be no more than to give a vote.

You have done the one, and now you must do the other.

We are told that to him that hath shall be given; and as you have already given the ballot, you must go further, and give not only education, but the homestead.

No; the homestead stands on the necessity of the case, to complete the work of the ballot.

The freedmen are not excluded from the Homestead Law; but I would provide them with a piece of land where they are.

I put it to my friend, I ask his best judgment, can he see a way to complete and crown this great and glorious work without securing land?

By a process of confiscation we should have had enough; and I have no doubt that the country would have been better, had the great landed estates of the South been divided and subdivided among the loyal colored population.