The amendment could not probably be incorporated in the Constitution for a year and according to the original proposition of the House, therefore, it would only have excluded those who participated in the Rebellion from the ballot-box for a period of three years,--until the 4th of July, 1870; whereas the third section, as adopted, perpetually excluded the great mass of the leading men of the South from holding public office, either in Nation or State, unless their disabilities should be removed by a vote of two-thirds in each House of Congress.
No adequate explanation was given for the preference, and the final vote substituting that which was incorporated in the Constitution for the House proposition was 42 in the affirmative to 1 in the negative.
The negative vote was given by Reverdy Johnson; while such staunch Democrats as Guthrie of Kentucky, Hendricks of Indiana, McDougal of California and Willard Saulsbury of Delaware voted to prefer the one to the other.

Mr.Johnson afterward explained that he voted under a misapprehension; so that the substitution was made, in effect, by a unanimous vote of the Senate.
On the final passage in the Senate of the consolidated amendment the _ayes_ were 33 and the _noes_ 11.

When the amendment was returned to the House, Mr.Stevens briefly explained the changes that had been made in the Senate.

The first section was altered to define who are citizens of the United States and of the States.

Mr.Stevens declared this to be an excellent amendment, long needed to settle conflicting decisions between the several States and the United States.