The suggestion was favorably acted upon.

That prayer,--one of the most impressive and eloquent prayers that had ever been delivered in the Senate Chamber,--made Revels a United States Senator.

He made a profound impression upon all who heard him.

It impressed those who heard it that Revels was not only a man of great natural ability but that he was also a man of superior attainments.
The duty devolved upon that Legislature to fill three vacancies in the United States Senate: one, a fractional term of about one year,--the remainder of the six year term to which Jefferson Davis had been elected before the breaking out of the Rebellion,--another fractional term of about five years, and the third, the full term of six years, beginning with the expiration of the fractional term of one year.

The colored members of the Legislature constituted a very small minority not only of the total membership of that body but also of the Republican members.