164 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



we are endeavoring to restore order, to secure 

 private rights to the rebels as well as to the 

 Union men. We are not undertaking to set up 

 one law for one class of people and another 

 for another, but we are only endeavoring to 

 maintain equal security and equal privileges in 

 those States. 



" Now, is it not wise, as a matter of precau- 

 tion, to say to these very people, in the lan- 

 guage of my friend from Illinois, who have 

 shown so unanimous a disposition to restore 

 themselves to a friendly condition of progres- 

 sive republicanism : ' We accept you in the 

 same spirit in which you come; and, feeling 

 that your spirit is both generous and genuine, 

 we apply to you the same guarantees and tests 

 that we have to others ? ' Now, if the people 

 of Mississippi are sincere, they will accept it 

 without any complaint whatever ; if the people 

 of Mississippi are not sincere, these conditions 

 and limitations imposed upon them are the very 

 things that their condition absolutely requires 

 of us. If the condition there is, as I do not 

 doubt it is, as the Senator from Illinois thinks, 

 they will not feel that they are imposed upon 

 or insulted, or coerced in any unfriendly spirit 

 by finding in the bill as to them the very same 

 provisions that are in bills as to all their sister 

 rebellious and restored States, every one of 

 them. 



"Now, I do not w^nt to go into this "argu- 

 ment any more than my friend does. I only 

 wish to state the view that I entertain, as one 

 member of the committee, of the high propri- 

 ety of standing by the House bill." 



Mr. Norton, of Minnesota, said : " Mr. Presi- 

 dent, like the Senator from Vermont, I do not 

 care to open up the discussion of the questions 

 incident to the admission of these States, and 

 those questions that have been discussed in the 

 Virginia and Georgia bills ; but, at the risk of 

 taking up the time of the Senate, I would wish 

 again to call the attention of the Senate to the 

 provisions of the Constitution. I know how 

 much it is slighted, and how lightly it is treated 

 here ; but I would wish again to call the atten- 

 tion of the Senate to the provisions of the 

 Constitution. I quote its words : 



The Senate of the United States shall be composed 

 of two Senators from each State. 



"And, when that provision of the Constitu- 

 tion has its legitimate operation and force, a 

 State of this Union is entitled, not by the law 

 which you now propose to pass, not by the 

 provisions of this bill as reported by the com- 

 mittee, but by the Constitution itself, to rep- 

 resentation and to two Senators upon this 

 floor. Congress may admit new States, but, 

 when they are admitted, they are States like 

 other States, and all upon an equal footing in 

 every respect whatever. 



"This bill, as reported by the committee, I 

 do not object to, because it is an effort of the 

 majority in the Senate to preserve their con- 

 sistency, and by it they declare that the State 

 ftf Mississippi is entitled to representation in 



Congress. Sir, if Mississippi is a State in this 

 Union, she is entitled to her representation in 

 this body by virtue .of the provisions of the 

 Constitution, and not by this act. If Missis- 

 sippi is a State in this Union, she is entitled to 

 two Senators upon this floor, just as much as 

 any other State, Minnesota, Illinois, Vermont, 

 or Ohio ; and she has the right to it by virtue 

 of the provisions of the Constitution, and not 

 because you pass this act. 



" True, I am not objecting to the passage of 

 the bill reported by the committee, declaring 

 'that the State of Mississippi is entitled to 

 representation in the Congress of the United 

 States ; ' but I do object to this continual thrust- 

 ing in the face of the Senate and country the 

 fact that the majority in this body deem it 

 necessary to preserve their consistency- con- 

 sistency with their reconstruction acts and the 

 measures that have been passed with reference 

 to the restoration of the Southern States. Pre- 

 cedents are referred to the precedents of the 

 laws admitting the other States. Conditions 

 have been applied to them, and, it is said, be- 

 cause we did it with them, why not do it with 

 Mississippi ; because we made fundamental con- 

 ditions for the other States, why not for Mis- 

 sissippi ; and why not for Texas when she 

 shall apply for admission ? Sir, it is these 

 precedents and the attempt to preserve politi- 

 cal and party consistency that have brought to 

 us all this trouble. 



" I shall not go into a discussion of the pol- 

 icy of these reconstruction measures, but I do 

 say, and I put it now to the Senate, that the 

 whole difficulty you have had in your recon- 

 struction was that you wanted to preserve 

 your consistency, and have not adapted your 

 legislation to the wants and necessities practi- 

 cally of the people of these States. You say 

 that they are not reconstructed or restored to 

 their practical relations to the General Gov- 

 ernment until you have admitted them to rep- 

 resentation, making the existence of the State 

 depend upon the fact whether it has represen- 

 tation in Congress. If they have Representa- 

 tives in the other House and Senators upon 

 this floor, then, you say. they are States. But, 

 sir, the fact of their right to representation in 

 the other House and here depends upon wheth- 

 er they are States independent of their repre- 

 sentation. 



" Now, if Mississippi is a State in this Union, 

 she is entitled, not under your law, but under 

 the Constitution, to representation ; and the 

 qualification, election, and returns of the mem- 

 bers are the only questions for you. If Missis- 

 sippi is a State in the Union, she is entitled, 

 without your law, without your act, to repre- 

 sentation upon this floor, and upon the other. 

 I shall vote for this bill, because I choose to 

 let all your reconstruction acts go. I care 

 nothing for the preservation of your consist- 

 ency in these matters ; but I so vote for the 

 purpose of bringing these States back to their 

 proper practical relations to the General Gov- 



