Tennessee pursued, however, the course of reconstruction upon which she had set out. Her test oath, as we have seen, required virtually that the basis of her reorganization should be the men who had _remained_ loyal throughout the rebellion. It differed thus from Mr. Lincoln's oath, which rehabilitated those who would promise future loyalty. The vote in favor of the new constitution, which was the old constitution of the "State" amended by articles abolishing slavery, nullifying secession, and repudiating the debt created in aid of the rebellion, was more than twenty-five thousand, nearly twenty per centum of the vote for Presidential electors in 1860. This certainly much more than fulfilled all of Mr. Lincoln's conditions. [Sidenote: Civil government re-established in Tennessee.] Governor Johnson issued his proclamation on February 25th, 1865, declaring the adoption of the new constitution, and ordering the election of the Governor and legislative members under it for March 4th. W. G. Brownlow was chosen Governor. The newly elected legislature did not meet, however, until April 2d, and Mr. Brownlow was not inaugurated as civil Governor until April 7th. As Mr. Johnson was inaugurated Vice-President on March 4th, he had been obliged to lay down the military governorship on that date, in fact, a few days before, and Mr. Brownlow had been appointed {26} in his stead. Upon Brownlow's inauguration as civil Governor, the military régime in Tennessee was formally ended. Lincoln acquiesced certainly in this change. It remained now for Congress to show its attitude, when the Senators and Representatives from Tennessee should present themselves for admission to seats in the two Houses. As this could not happen until the following December, the history of this point must be deferred until the events between March 4th and December 4th are related. [Sidenote: The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.] The experiences of the year 1863 with the slavery problem had convinced the President and the leaders of the Republican party in Congress that abolition must be effected by a constitutional amendment. The military acts of the President in this direction were, as all the purely military measures of the Executive, temporary, and with the re-establishment of peace would cease to have force; and it was by this time pretty clear that but few of the "States" would abolish slavery by their own act. Already on January 11, 1864, had the proposition for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery throughout the length and breadth of the United States been presented in the Senate by Mr. John B. Henderson of Missouri, and referred to the Judiciary Committee of that body for consideration and report.