126 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



night shall require Georgia to ratify it, it will 

 be regarded throughout this whole country as 

 settling the question; for, with all the other 

 contingencies against us, still, if we require 

 Georgia to ratify it, the amendment will be 

 ratified, and then all opposition will cease. 

 The very moment it is announced by the wires 

 that this Congress has required Georgia to 

 ratify it as a condition of representation, op- 

 position to the amendment will cease. The 

 Democratic party will not make strenuous ex- 

 ertions to secure the little handful of men that 

 hold the balance of power in the Ohio Legis- 

 lature. All doubt in regard to the Legislature 

 of Khode Island will disappear in the face of 

 that vote; and in the face of that vote the 

 New York Legislature will not rescind her 

 ratification, because all will understand that 

 the ratification of the amendment has been se- 

 cured, and then all will want to be on the 

 strong side, and my distinguished friends from 

 Delaware and New Jersey, instead of further 

 denouncing the amendment, instead of further 

 denouncing the negro race, I imagine, will be 

 found putting themselves in a position where 

 they will be acceptable to the new voters, 

 American citizens of African descent ! 



" Then, in every point of view it is important 

 that we shall require Georgia to ratify this 

 amendment just as we have done with other 

 States. If we have done wrong, it is too late 

 now to talk about it. To go back in the case 

 of Georgia would be inconsistent ; it would be 

 regarded as weakness, as cowardice, and, in- 

 stead of bringing us respect, would simply 

 bring us contempt, that contempt which has 

 already been manifested in strong language by 

 the Senator from New Jersey this evening. 

 But, sir, if we require Georgia to do it, the 

 question is settled from that very hour. It 

 will be regarded as a certain thing, and all op- 

 position will pass away. 



"Will the Legislature of Georgia on this 

 subject go any further than you require them? 

 No, sir; they will not. In my opinion there is 

 not one chance out of fifty for the Legislature 

 of Georgia to ratify the amendment unless this 

 condition is placed in the bill. As I said be- 

 fore, we cannot tell the condition of that Legis- 

 lature when it is called together. Several of 

 its members have been killed, a number have 

 been run out of the State, some are missing, 

 some have resigned, and, when they come to- 

 gether, we cannot tell whether or not there 

 will be a Republican majority.'' 1 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, said : " Why 

 would it not be well, then, in order to make 

 the thing sure, to insert an additional clause 

 directing the military commander down there 

 to put the amendment through, and compel 

 people enough to vote for it to adopt it at 

 once ? " 



Mr. Morton : " Ah, Mr. President, why did 

 not the Senator ask that question when he 

 voted to require the ratification of "the four- 

 teenth amendment as a condition precedent ? " 



Mr. Edmunds: "The Senator will permit 

 me to inform him that I never did any thing 

 of the kind. I voted against it." 



Mr. Morton : " The Senator, then, is con- 

 sistent. He has been against this business 

 from the first. I am glad to understand that. 

 I know the Senator voted against this provi- 

 sion in regard to Virginia, Mississippi, and 

 Texas, but I was not aw are before that he voted 

 against the original reconstruction bill which 

 contained it in regard to the fourteenth 

 amendment." 



Mr. Edmunds : " If my friend will permit 

 me, I will explain to him exactly what I did. 

 I voted against it in the case of Virginia, Mis- 

 sissippi, and Texas, and resisted it all in my 

 power upon the grounds that I stated yester- 

 day, not that I did not wish to attain the re- 

 sult, but I wished to attain it in a way that 

 would leave no court and no future Congress 

 any thing on the record to found a pretext 

 upon for undoing what we have done. But, 

 after the amendment was inserted against my 

 objection, I voted for the bill finally, yielding 

 my judgment to that of my friends, as I shall 

 do in this instance if the amendment of the 

 Senator from Indiana should be adopted. I 

 shall vote for the bill, then, but I think this 

 provision very unwise." 



Mr. Morton : "Mr. President, we do not ask 

 the military to force the Legislature of Georgia 

 to ratify the amendment ; we do not propose 

 to force it. All that argument about coercion 

 is without substance. But we have a right to 

 say to them, ' If you are not willing to give us 

 this security against future rebellion, against 

 future revolution in the State, you can remain 

 in your present condition ; take your choice. 

 If there is coercion in that, let it be coercion. 



" Mr. President, in the absence of this re- 

 quirement the Legislature of Georgia will not 

 ratify the fifteenth amendment. The members 

 of that body would be at once besieged by 

 their enemies not to go further than Congress 

 had required them to go. They would be told 

 by the rebel Democracy, ' If you will refuse to 

 go further than Congress requires you to go, 

 we will forgive all the past ; we will support 

 you.' Every influence, every argument, every 

 inducement, will be brought to bear upon those 

 men, and they will not go further than Con- 

 gress requires them. But for this requirement 

 Virginia would not have ratified the fifteenth 

 amendment. We know that just as well as we 

 know any thing. The Legislature of Tennessee, 

 elected at the same time with the Legislature 

 of Virginia, led by a Republican candidate for 

 Governor just as Virginia was, have spurned 

 the amendment. I believe it got but ten votes 

 in that body. Sir, this requirement in regard 

 to the fourteenth amendment, and the require- 

 ment in regard to the fifteenth amendment in 

 reference to Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia, 

 were all that saved the fourteenth or that will 

 save the fifteenth amendment. And now, sir, 

 when the ratification hangs on the vote of one 



