CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



143 



inn of the court of chancery, quoting 

 ;lio decisions of tho chancellors, of course 



Senator assents to his propositions: but 



..under is to see what they have to do 



with tliis question. Docs tho Senator from 



Massachusetts seriously maintain that Con- 



iias tho power to amplify its jurisdiction 

 according to tho generous theory of a court of 

 cliancory, to meet any case which, in its judg- 

 ment, calls for a remedy? Here is the Consti- 

 tution, it is still in print, it still lies on your 

 s and wo still go up to tho President's 

 and swear to support it. Turn now at 

 random to anyone of its provisions: "No 



shall coin money." That is the pro- 

 vi-ion, notwithstanding the civil war, and not- 

 withstanding the fourteenth and fifteenth 

 amendments. Does it still mean what it used 

 to mean, or, in tho light of modern progress 

 nnd American ideas, may a State coin money ? 

 Tho provision in the Constitution is as fol- 



No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or 

 confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; 

 coin money ; emit bills of credit ; make any thing but 

 gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; 

 pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law or law 

 impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any 

 title of nobility. 



"Now, sir, since the war, and conceding 

 every thing to modern progress and new Amer- 

 ican ideas, which can properly be conceded to 

 them, does the Senator maintain that a State 

 may enter into a treaty ; may grant letters of 

 marque and reprisal ; may coin money ; may 

 emit bills of credit; may make any thing but 

 gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 

 debts ; may pass any bill of attainder, ex post 

 facto law or law impairing the obligation of 

 contracts ? 



"Now, I ask the Senator to descend from 

 his tripod, to emerge from his oracular and 

 profane mysteries, and meet the precise ques- 

 tions. Can Congress do any one of the things 

 which the provisions of the Constitution say 

 it shall not do ? For instance, can Congress, 

 since the war, grant titles of nobility? Many 

 a soldier has earned them ; but can Congress 

 grant them ? If the Senator does not maintain 

 the affirmative of any one of these questions, 

 what docs ho mean by all this wantonness of 

 speech ? If no particular provision of the Con- 

 stitution has been changed, or can be disre- 

 garded, how is it that every provision or the 

 whole Constitution has ceased to be obliga- 

 tory ? This loose method of construction, this 

 utter contempt of the Constitution, bodes evil 

 to onr country, and nothing but evil. 



" Sir, we all understand that we are en- 

 gaged in the transaction of grave and impor- 

 tant business. The admission of a political 

 community into the fellowship of the Union as 

 a State is no trifling matter. It should not be 

 done lightly, nor in heat, nor in haste, nor in 

 passion. We are free men to-day, the fifteenth 

 amendment being secured. "We have a per- 



t'.-.-t right, and it is our bounden duty, to giro 

 the most elaborate investigation and mature 

 deliberation to this subject. We are consider- 

 ing tho bill which lies upon your table for the 

 admission of the State government of Georgia 

 into this Union as a State. From tho first 

 organization of the Government down to the 

 < nil war in 1800 the admission of new States 

 was matter of frequent occurrence. Vermont 

 and Kentucky were the first two States admit- 

 ted into the Union. They wore declared to be 

 admitted as 'new and entire' States of the 

 Union. This terse and masculine phrase, 'new 

 and entire,' has deep significance. Take now 

 the Statutes-at-Large, and it will be found that, 

 in the instance of every State admitted into 

 the Union prior to 1861, it is declared to be 

 admitted 'on a footing with the original States 

 in every respect whatever.' 



"But, sir, the bill now before us for the 

 admission of Georgia is a different thing alto- 

 gether. It declares, indeed, that Georgia shall 

 be admitted as a State, but it says not much 

 about her coming in on a footing of equality 

 with the other States. The first two lines of 

 the bill declare that she shall be a State. Then 

 follow three pages of solemn enactment de- 

 signed to prevent her being admitted to tho 

 full rights of a State. It does not declare her 

 equal to the other States, but it does provide 

 that she shall not be. 



"In the first place, here is what is called 

 the Bingham amendment, which I will pass 

 over for the present, and then comes : 



And provided further, That the State of Georgia 

 is admitted to representation in Congress as one of 

 the States of the Union, upon the following funda- 

 mental conditions : 



First, that the constitution of Georgia shall never 

 be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen 

 or class of citizens of the United States of tho right 

 to vote, etc. 



"And tho next condition is: 

 Second, that it shall never be lawful for the said 

 State to deprive any citizen of the United States, on 

 account of his race, color, or previous condition of 

 servitude, of the right to hold office under the con- 

 stitution and laws of said State. 



"That is of course not covered by any 

 amendment to the Constitution of the United 

 States. The fifteenth amendment to the Con- 

 stitution of the United States is this : 



The right of citizens of the United States to vote 

 shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, 

 or any State, on account of race, color, or previous 

 condition of servitude. 



"That is as far as you have gone. in your 

 'fundamental law. You have said that no dis- 

 tinction of race or color shall exist in voting, 

 and that is the law in New York and Massa- 

 chusetts, in Wisconsin and in Indiana, and 

 everywhere else in this Union ; but in Georgia 

 you advance a step further and say that she 

 shall never so change her constitution as to de- 

 prive any citizen of the United States, on ac- 

 count of his race, color, or previous condition 

 of servitude, of the right to hold office under 



