It is not too much to ask [he said], in the name of the whole people, that, on the one side, the plan of restoration shall proceed in conformity with a willingness to cast the disorders of the past into oblivion; and that, on the other, the evidence of sincerity in the future maintenance of the Union shall be put beyond any doubt by the ratification of the proposed amendment.... The amendment to the Constitution being adopted, it would remain for the states ... to resume their places in the two branches of the national legislature.[53] That Congress was not entirely pleased with the President's course; that it did not agree with him considering the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, the most that could be asked of the southern states, and that it did not intend to give effect to his last suggestion, soon became apparent. In the Senate, on the day on which the President's message was read, Sumner offered resolutions to the effect that before the southern states should be admitted to representation in Congress they must enfranchise "all citizens," establish systems of education open to negroes equally with white people, and choose loyal persons for state and national offices.[54] The resolutions concluded: "That the states cannot be precipitated back to political power and independence, but they must wait until these conditions are in all respects fulfilled."[55] The House of Representatives, after organizing, immediately proposed to the Senate a joint committee to "inquire into the condition of the states which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house of Congress." The Senate accepted the proposal, and on December 13 the committee was formed.[56]