They declared that "the action of the present Congress in passing the pending Constitutional amendment is wise, prudent and just.
That amendment clearly defines American citizenship and guarantees all his rights to every citizen.

It places on a just and equal basis the right of representation, making the vote of a man in one State equally potent with the vote of another man in any State.

It righteously excludes from places of honor and trust the chief conspirators and guiltiest rebels, whose perjured crimes have drenched the land in blood.

It puts into the very frame of our Government the inviolability of our National obligations, and nullifies forever the obligations contracted in support of the Rebellion." The resolutions further declared it to be "unfortunate for the country that the propositions contained in the Fourteenth Amendment have not been received with the spirit of conciliation, clemency and fraternal feeling in which they were offered, as they are the mildest terms ever granted to subdued rebels." The members of the convention were in a tempest of anger against the President.

They declared "that his attempt to fasten his scheme of Reconstruction upon the country is as dangerous as it is unwise; that his acts in sustaining it have retarded the restoration of peace and unity; that they have converted conquered rebels into impudent claimants to rights which they have forfeited and to places which they have desecrated.