human
State or Territory whose jurisdiction is being defended by the Government of the United States. Such was not the condition anywhere in the South. The Executive had proclaimed that such resistance had ceased everywhere several months before; that he had appointed civil officers throughout the South for the execution of the laws of the United States, in many cases with the advice and consent of the Senate; that these laws were in operation everywhere; and that the United States courts were open everywhere and in the unhindered discharge of their functions and duties. It was not pretended, of course, that there was armed resistance to the execution of the laws of the reconstructed
gpt
States, and that the military of the United States was to act simply in support of
human
State authority. There were here and there, it is true, some of the remains of the military authority of the United States, exercised during the period of the insurrection, but they were a very poor basis upon which to found a resumption of the reign of martial law throughout the length and breadth of the South. No sane and just mind can consider for a moment such a ground as sufficient in policy, morals or constitutional law. While the people of these districts {114} which had attempted to secede from the Union had forfeited their rights to the
gpt
State