[Sidenote: The President's first annual Message.] This was the situation when Congress met on the first Monday of December, and received President Johnson's first annual Message. This document contained a disquisition upon the political system of the United States, as "an indissoluble union of indestructible States," with the natural conclusion that by attempting secession, the "States" impaired, but did not extinguish, their vitality, suspended, but did not destroy, their functions. It then proceeded with a narration of the facts above stated, in which the President sought to establish, upon the basis of his power to pardon and withdraw military rule, and to guarantee a republican form of government to every "State," his authority to reconstruct "State" government, or at any rate to permit the pardoned citizens to do so under his direction. Finally, this paper contained the official notice to Congress that the President had admitted the reconstructed "States"--and that would mean all that had passed the secession ordinance, except perhaps Texas, whose convention did not assemble until March of 1866--to participate in amending the Constitution of the United States. The President concluded his narration and argumentation upon this all-important subject in these words: "The amendment to the Constitution being adopted, it will remain for the States whose powers have been so long in abeyance to resume their places in the two branches of the National Legislature, and thereby complete the work of restoration. Here it is for you, fellow citizens of the Senate, and for you, fellow citizens of the House of Representatives, to judge, each of you for yourselves, of the elections, returns and qualifications of your own members." {41} It is entirely evident from all this that the President denied the power of the Houses of Congress, either separately or jointly, to prevent the Senators and Representatives from the reconstructed "States" from taking their seats upon any other grounds than defects in the election and return, or in the personal qualifications, of the particular persons under consideration. {42} CHAPTER IV THE CONGRESSIONAL PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION The Stevens Resolution--Legislation of the Reconstructed "States" Concerning the Status of the Freedmen, and the Freedmen's Bureau--Vagrancy, Apprenticeship, and Civil Rights in the Reconstructed "States"--The View Taken of this Legislation by the Republicans--The Ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution--The Demand of the Senators- and Representatives-elect from the Reconstructed "States" to be Admitted to Seats in Congress--The Joint Committee of the Two Houses of Congress on Reconstruction--Thaddeus Stevens's Ideas on Reconstruction--Mr. Shellabarger's Theory of Reconstruction--Mr. Sumner's Theory of Reconstruction. [Sidenote: The Stevens resolution.]