Second, Involuntary servitude shall be forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons in the State guaranteed.

Third, No debt, State or Confederate, created in aid of the rebellion shall ever be paid.

In the event of a constitution being framed with these provisions inserted, and then adopted by a majority of the popular vote as already enrolled, the governor shall certify that fact to the President, and thereupon the President, _after obtaining the assent of Congress_, shall recognize the State government so established as a legitimate and constitutional government competent to elect senators and representatives in Congress and electors of President and Vice-President.
This bill was passed on the last day of the session, July 4, 1864.

It was commonly regarded as a rebuke to the course of the President in proceeding with the grave and momentous task of reconstruction without waiting the action or invoking the counsel of Congress.

Some of the more radical members of both Houses considered the action of the President as beyond his constitutional power, and they were very positive and peremptory in condemning it.