CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (1867). 



119 



In the Senate, veto of the District of Colum- 

 bia bill considered, 144; a question as to who 

 shall vote, 144 ; peculiarly a question for Con- 

 gress to determine, 144 ; what right have the 

 white people to say negroes shall not vote? 

 144; objections of the President considered, 

 144; not time to try the experiment, 145 ; not 

 the place for the experiment, 145; this the 

 time and place to try it, 145 ; to say the peo- 

 ple affected by the measure shall have no voice 

 in it is laying the axe at the root of the tree 

 of liberty, 145 ; what will be the line when the 

 negro votes in this District, 146 ; of what use 

 is the ballot to the negro ? 146 ; a question of 

 dominion, 146 ; is it right to force this measure 

 upon the people of this District? 147; passage 

 of the bill in both Houses, 147. 



In the Senate, the bill for the admission of 

 Nebraska considered, 148; seeking now to ob- 

 literate the word " white " from all institutions 

 and constitutions there, 148; features of the 

 bill, 148; amendment offered relative to the 

 elective franchise in this Territory, 148 ; what 

 right have you to say a State shall be admitted 

 not on an equality with every other State? 

 149; Nebraska is not a State now, and ex- 

 cluded from this action, 149; is this proposi- 

 tion fair to the people ? 149 ; terms of the late 

 enabling act, 149 ; the late proposition to the 

 Southern States, 150 ; we have got to be ruled 

 by those people or rule them, 150 ; no desire 

 to exclude Nebraska from the Union, 150 ; it 

 only proposes, when the State comes in, that it 

 shall only be on the explicit ground that there 

 shall be no denial of the rights of citizenship 

 on the ground of color, 150 ; the broad doc- 

 trine of the equality of the States has been as- 

 serted here, 151 ; the terms of the enabling 

 act have not been complied with, 151; the 

 principle of the amendment, 151 ; another kin- 

 dred doctrine, 152; distinction between this 

 measure and the legislation for the District of 

 Columbia, 152; the admission of Tennessee, 

 152; the case of Missouri cited, 153 ; the pro- 

 position hostile to the Constitution of the 

 United States, 153; can we override the Con- 

 stitution? 153; nothing to do with the negro 

 question, 154; is this State constitution pre- 

 sented to us by the people of Nebraska in ac- 

 cordance with the Declaration of Indepen- 

 dence? 154; the right to vote is not one of 

 those rights referred to in that Declaration, 

 154 ; the people of Nebraska have not violated 



the condition prescribed in the enabling act, 

 155 ; these Territories have fairly and substan- 

 tially complied with all the conditions imposed 

 upon them, 155 ; the thing which Congress is 

 authorized to do is the admission of the State 

 into the Union, 155 ; the conditions said to be 

 of no practical importance, 155 ; this is a Union 

 of equal States, 156 ; the authority of Con- 

 gress to affix conditions to the admission of a 

 State, 156; what right can you take away? 

 157; power to adopt the amendment, 157; 

 what is a republican form of government ? 157 ; 

 every government is republican in form which 

 corresponds with the governments in existence 

 when the Constitution was adopted, 158; I 

 shall vote for this bill with all my heart, 158 ; 

 we are neglecting our duty to take the govern- 

 ments of the rebel States out of the hands of 

 the rebels, 158 ; this matter of admitting a State 

 is one of compact, 158 ; what inquiries proper 

 to be made, 159 ; what is proposed here, 159 ; 

 every step in this discussion shows its magni- 

 tude, 160; motion to adjourn lost, 160; no 

 reason to delay the vote, 160 ; said to be a com- 

 monplace question, 161 ; can a question of hu- 

 man rights be a technicality? 161; this con- 

 stitution must not be allowed to pass this body 

 so long as it undertakes to disfranchise persons 

 on account of color, 161 ; we must meet this 

 question as it is, 161 ; powers granted by the 

 Constitution, 162; denied that Congress may 

 annex as fundamental conditions any require- 

 ments it may see fit, 162 ; we have an equal 

 right to give the ballot to the whole population, 

 male and female, 162; it is merely converting 

 the Congress of the United States into a man- 

 ufactory of new States and new State constitu- 

 tions, 162 ; this principle will never meet the 

 approbation of the people of the United States, 

 163 ; to vote for this amendment is equivalent 

 to rejecting the Constitution, 163 ; nothing has 

 occurred which seems of such evil omen as the 

 course of the Senate, 163; provisions of the 

 enabling act, 163 ; three things required as con- 

 ditions precedent, 164; Nebraska fails in all, 

 164; equality of all men, 164, 165; amend- 

 ment rejected, 166; new section moved, 166 ; 

 agreed to, and bill passed, 166. 



In the House, an amendment offered, 166; 

 the consummation of the great war is the 

 recognition of the rights of all men to partici- 

 pate in the government of the country, 166; 

 we have recognized the doctrine that the right 



