But Mr.Lincoln, with his habitual caution and wise foresight, had specially avoided any form of guaranty, or even suggestion to the States whose reconstruction he was countenancing and aiding, that their senators and representatives would be admitted to seats in Congress.

Admission to membership he took care to advise them was a discretion lodged solely in the respective Houses.
What he had done was in his own judgment clearly within his power as Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the Union, and was thus obviously and solely an Executive act.
Mr.Lincoln was not therefore in the humor to be rebuked by Congress.
Though the least pretentious of men, he had an abounding self-respect and a full appreciation of the dignity and power of his office.

He had given careful study to the duties, the responsibilities, and the limitations of the respective departments of the Government, and he was not willing that his judgment should be revised or his course censured, however indirectly, by a co-ordinate branch of the Government.

He therefore declined to sign the bill.

He did not veto it but let it quietly die.