It is to be remarked, however, that had he counted none of the "States" that had passed secession ordinances, either in the whole number, or in the three-quarters necessary to adopt, the Amendment would in that case also have been adopted. There would have been, in that case, twenty-five "States" in the Union, and of these nineteen had adopted the Amendment. And if any controversy had arisen over the use of fractions in making nineteen three-fourths of twenty-five, this would have been quickly overcome by the fact that the legislatures of four more of the loyal "States" adopted the Amendment soon after Mr. Seward's declaration, making twenty-three out of twenty-five. It will not, of course, be disputed that, if the "States" that passed secession ordinances should have been counted in arriving at the whole number of "States" in the Union, those of them adopting the Amendment should also have been counted in making out the three-fourths majority {56} necessary to adoption, and that if, on the other hand, they should have been excluded in arriving at the whole number, they should also have been excluded in making up the three-fourths majority. In other words, it does not matter from which point of view we regard the subject, the Amendment was regularly and lawfully adopted. It must be admitted, however, that Mr. Seward followed in this most solemn procedure, the amending of the Constitution, the Presidential plan of Reconstruction, and gave great encouragement to the Senators- and Representatives-elect from these reconstructed "States" to expect that they would have the aid and influence both of the Democrats in Congress, and of the Administration, in securing their seats. [Sidenote: The demand of the Senators- and Representatives-elect from the reconstructed "States" to be admitted to seats in Congress.] They had gone to Washington and, bearing themselves confidently from the first, they now became defiant in demanding their rights. Many of them were men who, less than twelve months before, had been in arms against the United States, and one of them was the person who was the Vice-President of the Confederacy at the moment of its downfall, Mr. Alexander H. Stephens. Such an attitude on his part and their part roused again great bitterness of feeling among the Republicans, many of whom conscientiously thought that the real deserts of such persons were the penalties of treason. Moreover, the legislatures of some of the other "States" reconstructed under the President's plan enacted, during December, January and February, measures concerning the status and rights of the emancipated slaves similar to those passed by the legislature of Mississippi, and in some respects even more illiberal than those passed by that body; and it was evident that all of them would finally stand upon the same general ground in regard to this subject.