286 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



therefore, in a great measure, the voting popu- 

 lation of Louisiana entered into the military 

 service of the confederate government ? Do we 

 not know that the result of their entering into 

 that service is that nine- tenths of them have for- 

 feited their lives upon the battle-field ; and do 

 we not know also that those who were beyond 

 the age of military service or under the age of 

 military service have gone elsewhere, or if they 

 remain in the State, that they have remained 

 in the State not as loyal citizens of the United 

 States, but as disloyal citizens? So then it by 

 no means follows that the number of votes cast 

 is not a large majority of the actual number of 

 voters to be now found in the State of Louisiana, 

 or however doubtful that may be, it is not only 

 not certain, but the opposite fact would seem 

 to be much more probable, that there was a 

 single person excluded from the privilege of 

 voting who should have been entitled to vote, 

 if it be true that those who have been in the 

 military and naval service of the Confederates, 

 or who have been in any way instrumental in 

 bringing about or assisting the rebellion, should 

 not be entitled to vote ; and I understand the 

 Senators on the other side who object to the 

 admission of Louisiana into the Union are of 

 that opinion. 



" That being the case, Mr. President, another 

 thing is to be considered. What was the con- 

 dition of the loyal citizens of Louisiana, in the 

 relation in which they stand to the Govern- 

 ment of the United States, by the act of se- 

 cession? Did they cease to be citizens of 

 the United States? Nobody pretends that. If 

 loyal, were they not entitled to be protected 

 by the power of the United States? If loyal, 

 is it to be said of them that they have for- 

 feited any of the rights which belonged to them 

 before the rebellion commenced? I suppose 

 nobody will say that. None of the laws of 

 the United States have been violated by 

 them ; no obligation imposed upon them by the 

 Constitution of the United States has been vio- 

 lated, but on the contrary observed. They have 

 been kept from expressing their opinion by the 

 power of the rebellion. They have had no voice 

 by which they could ask to be admitted into 

 the Union, because to speak such a desire was 

 to subject themselves to punishment. They re- 

 mained, however, loyal in point of fact; they 

 remained entitled to the protection of the United 

 States ; and when the protection of the United 

 States was afforded them and they saw that they 

 could speak their sentiments without hazard, 

 they met at their several election polls, organ- 

 ized their government under the existing con- 

 stitution, and then, wishing to change it, met 

 in convention and adopted the constitution 

 which is now before us? Why should we not 

 receive it ? 



" I suppose no one will deny that it is just as 

 much in the power of the people of Louisiana, 

 or of any one of the seceded States, when they 

 are entitled to vote, either before they come 

 back or after they are received into the Union, 



to change their existing constitution. They 

 have exercised an inherent right belonging to 

 the American citizen; and he who questions 

 the right of the eleven thousand men who have 

 met together and adopted this constitution, 

 questions it upon the ground, not that it is not 

 a right which they originally held, but because 

 there are others who have not joined in assert- 

 ing it; and who are those others? Those who 

 are in arms against the United States, men whom 

 you would not receive if they were elected as 

 members of the other House ojr appointed as 

 Senators to this body, men who could not be 

 received because they would be unable to com- 

 ply with the provisions of a statute which you 

 say, no doubt correctly, you had the authority 

 to pass. 



" Now, if it he true that the secession ordi- 

 nance had no operation to carry the State out, 

 and that I understand even the Senator from 

 Massachusetts (Mr. Sumner) admitted last night; 

 if it be true that the State is in the Union not- 

 withstanding the ordinance, then the only ques- 

 tion to be considered is, who are the people of 

 Louisiana that are to exercise the sovereign 

 authority belonging to the State of Louisiana? 

 Are they the loyal or the disloyal ? There can 

 be but one answer to that inquiry. It must only 

 be the loyal. 



" If the State is not to be brought back in 

 the way provided for by this joint resolution, in 

 what way can the State come back? The hon- 

 orable Senator from Michigan (Mr. Howard), 

 in his speech this morning admitted that it is 

 not in the power of the United States to change 

 the territorial limits of the States that have gone 

 out, because the Constitution prohibits it. If 

 he had thought for a moment, he would have 

 seen that the Constitution equally prohibits any 

 interference on the part of the General Govern- 

 ment with the exercise of the right of suffrage 

 in a State. He and the member from Massa- 

 chusetts who intimated his opinion last night, 

 seem to suppose that under the Constitution of 

 the United States Congress has the authority 

 to interfere for some general undefined purpose 

 with the exercise of the right of suffrage. I 

 never heard it intimated before. The provision 

 of the Constitution on that subject is, I submit, 

 with due deference to the honorable members 

 who entertain a different opinion, too clear for 

 serious question. The fourth section of the first 

 article says that 



The times, places, and manner of holding elections 

 for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed 

 in each State by theTiegislature thereof, but the Con- 

 gress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such 

 regulations except as to the places of choosing Sen 

 ators. 



" That is to say, the whole power of Congress 

 over the subject of the time, the place, and the 

 manner of holding these elections is to alter the 

 regulations of the State ; but how the election is 

 to be held with reference to those who are to 

 vote is not only not given to Congress by what 

 I have just read, is not only, according to my 



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