CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



165 





:it; an 1, so fur as they inform us it is 



10 bring prosperity, peace, law, and 



10 those States, I prefer to do what I can 



t about." 



Willey, of West Virginia, moved to amend 

 -iking out the third proviso, and insert- 

 - follows : 



That BO much of tho act of Congress entitled " An 

 act to admit tho State of Virginia to representation 

 in th. Congress of the United States," approved Jun- 

 ;, 1870, as declares that Virginia is admitted to 

 11 upon certain fundamental conditions 

 i expressed, bo, and the satno is hereby, re- 

 Mr. Sumnor, of Massachusetts, said : " Tho 

 argument for State rights proceeds on a mis- 

 apprehension. Nobody doubts the right of a 

 State to local self-government, through which 

 are supplied the opportunities of political edu- 

 cation, and also of local administration adapted 

 precisely to local wants. This is the peculi- 

 arity of our national system, wherein it differs 

 especially from the centralized imperialism of 

 France. But, while recognizing the State as 

 the agency for all matters properly local, it 

 must not be allowed to interfere with those 

 other matters, being rights and duties, which 

 are not local but universal. 



" Now, sir, nothing can bo clearer than that 

 the equal rights of all must be placed under 

 the safeguard of one uniform law, which shall 

 be the same in all parts of the nation the 

 same in Charleston and New Orleans as in 

 Boston and Chicago. It is absurd to suppose 

 that the rights of the citizen can differ in dif- 

 ferent States. They must bo the same in all 

 the States ; but this can bo consummated only 

 by the national authority. Therefore, on 

 grounds of reason, I repel that pretension of 

 State rights which would take this just prerog- 

 ative from the nation. Understand rne, sir, I 

 do not seek to centralize, but to nationalize. 

 The partisans of State rights, in their efforts 

 to decentralize, would denationalize. In the 

 name of local self-government they would over- 

 throw the nation. 



" If I am asked where I find these national 

 powers, I answer that they are in those two 

 great title-deeds of the Republic, the Declara- 

 tion of Independence and the national Consti- 

 tution. Whether viewed apart or together, 

 these two are one and the same ; but the two 

 reenforco each other. The Declaration of 

 Independence finds proper machinery for its 

 great purposes in the national Constitution, 

 while the national Constitution is explained, 

 invigorated, and elevated, by the Declaration 

 of Independence. By the national Constitu- 

 tion, the nation is bound to assure a repub- 

 lican government to all the States, thus giving 

 to Congress the plenary power to fix the defi- 

 nition of such a government ; but by the Dec- 

 laration of Independence, the fundamental 

 elements of this very definition are supplied 

 in terms from which there can be no appeal. 

 By this Declaration it is solemnly announced, 



first, that all men are equal in righto; and, 

 secondly, that just government stands only on 

 tho consent of the governed. Other things 

 may fail, bat these cannot. Whenever Con- 

 gress is called to maintain a republican gov- 

 ernment, it must be according to these uni- 

 vrr^d, irreversible principles. The power to 

 maintain necessarily implies all ancillary pow- 

 ers of prevention and precaution, so that 

 republican government may be assured. All 

 these powers are essentially national, and not 

 local. They belong to the nation, and not to 

 the State. 



"So long as slavery existed, this definition 

 was impossible. State rights were set up 

 against human rights ; but with the death of 

 slavery, followed by the extinction of the re- 

 bellion, this definition takes its just place 

 in our national system. Therefore, whatever 

 tends to maintain a republican government 

 and to place it beyond assault; whatever tends 

 to maintain the great principles declared at 

 our birth as a nation all this is constitutional. 

 As well deny that the sun shines ; as well with 

 puny arm attempt to drag the sun from the 

 sky. Still it shines. God be praised, the day 

 has passed when State rights can be exalted 

 above human rights ! 



" It is for Congress to determine, in its dis- 

 cretion, how republican government shall be 

 maintained. Whatever it does in this regard, 

 whether by general law, or by condition or 

 limitation on States, is plainly constitutional 

 beyond all question. All is in the discretion of 

 Congress, which may select tho ' means ' by 

 which this great guarantee shall be performed. 

 It is a guarantee by the express text of the 

 Constitution, and it must be performed. In se- 

 lecting the means, Congress cannot hesitate at 

 any requirement calculated to secure the benefi- 

 cent result. By condition precedent, by con- 

 dition subsequent, by prohibitory legislation, 

 by legislation acting directly on the States or 

 the people by each and all of these, Congress 

 may act, bearing in mind always the great defi- 

 nition supplied by our fathers, which must be 

 maintained at all hazards. 



"It is vain to say that onr fathers did not 

 intend this great power and foresee its exercise. 

 There it is in the Constitution, clear and com- 

 manding, and there is the great definition in the 

 Declaration of Independence, clear and com- 

 manding. If our fathers did not fully appre- 

 ciate their mighty act, neither did the barons 

 at Runnymede when they obtained Magna 

 Charta, the perpetual landmark of English 

 rights. The words of the poet are again ful- 

 filled : ' They builded better than they knew.' 

 But they did build. They built this vast tem- 

 ple of republican liberty, and enjoined upon 

 Congress its perpetual safeguard, 'any thing 

 in the constitution or the laws of any State to 

 the contrary not withstanding;' and, sir, by the 

 oath which you have taken to support the Con- 

 stitution, are you bound to watch and protect 

 this vast temple. The recent war has had its 



