Two men in the Republican party wielded the chief power in influencing that party to adopt the theory of reconstruction which was finally to prevail as the congressional theory.[34] One was Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, and the other Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts. The latter was a recognized leader of the Senate, and his views concerning the mutual relations of the States in rebellion and the federal government were clearly expressed in a series of resolutions which he submitted February 11, 1862. These resolutions, although never brought forward for consideration, were printed, and coming from so influential a man had considerable influence in shaping the general attitude of Congress towards the question, and affected to some extent its future policy. They[35] were nine in number, with a well-worded preamble which put forward as a premise that "the extensive territory, thus usurped by these pretended governments, and organized into a hostile confederacy, belongs to the United States, as an inseparable part thereof, under the sanction of the Constitution, to be held in trust for the inhabitants in the present and future generations, * * * The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, cannot be displaced in its rightful operation within this territory, but must ever continue the supreme law thereof." The first resolution declares that a vote of secession is void as against the Constitution, "and when sustained by force it becomes a practical _abdication_ by the State of all rights under the Constitution, while the treason which it involves still further works an instant _forfeiture_ of all those functions and powers essential to the continued existence of the State as a body politic, so that from that time forward, the territory falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress as other territory, and the State being, according to the language of the law, _felo de se_, ceases to exist."