CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



177 



people were allowed to vote with- 



, \.nu-tH in sijjlit, without any soldiers 



ti. iiiakr tin-in at'raid, without any thing to in- 



timidatc the vot.-r-i in tho shapo of military 



.PH. And yet, hero in a republic, you 



confer upon one man, who may be 



:i randidato for election himself, the power to 



mil-round any poll ho pleases in the whole 



I'uiteil States with his troops to see that the 



flfi-tion law is not violated 1 I say again, if 



:m lie done, it is idle to talk about free 



:utioii< any more." 



M-. K'lmunds: " If my friend had made the 

 speech that lie has now favored us with (and 

 it is a very ingenious one, and in many respects 

 a sound one), twenty years ago, when his own 

 party was pressing almost exactly such a sec- 

 tion as the eighth section of this bill, in order 

 to aid in the rendition of fugitive slaves back 

 to slavery, he would have performed a greater 

 service to his country than ho performs now. 

 I ask the Secretary, in order that the Senate 

 may see the comparison between these two 

 sections, to read the fifth section of the act of 

 1850, passed by tho party of which my friend 

 from Ohio is the exponent ; and I ask Sen- 

 ators to take the eighth section of this bill and 

 compare it as the Secretary reads, to see if we 

 have not pretty good authority for that kind 

 of legislation." 



Mr. Thurman : " Mr. President, times have 

 changed when the Senator from Vermont 

 goes to the fugitive-slave law of 1850 to 

 find a model for legislation, and times have 

 changed wonderfully. Now, Mr. President, 

 if I had the slightest doubt in the world that 

 I was right, I could entertain that doubt no 

 longer. When so astute -and able a man as 

 the Senator from Vermont can give no better 

 reason for the defence of this section than that 

 which he has given, I know my objections to it 

 must bo well taken. What possible connec- 

 tion, or parallel, or similitude, has the use of 

 tho troops of the United States to enforce the 

 execution of the writ of a court against resist- 

 ance, to the case provided for in this bill, of 

 surrounding the ballot-boxes with tho troops 

 of the United States to compel the judges of 

 election to receive the votes or to compel them 

 to reject them?" 



Mr. Edmunds: "My friend will pardon me. 

 I was only alluding to what he said respecting 

 the eighth section, which he condemned. I 

 made no allusion at all to tho twelfth section, 

 which I will consider when we reach it." 



Mr. Thurman : " I do not know that I have 

 said one word about tho eighth section to-day. 

 I do not think I have said one word about the 

 eighth section to-day; and therefore I am 

 again strengthened by the fact that, instead of 

 coming up to the defence of his eleventh and 

 twelfth sections, my friend runs back to tho 

 eighth section, about which I think I have said 

 not one word to-day. That is not quite as 

 brave as my friend from Vermont usually is. 

 Let him stand up to his work, if he undertakes 

 VOL. x. 12 A 



to father this bill and defend tho proposition. 

 What is the language of this amendment? 

 'The right of citizens of the United States 

 to voto shall not be denied or abridged by,' 

 whom? Not by an individual acting in breach 

 of tho law ; that is not tho language. Not by 

 a combination of individuals constituting a 

 mob; that is not the language. It is not 

 against them that this provision of the Con- 

 stitution is directed ; but it is explicit, ' shall 

 not bo denied or abridged by the United States, 

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

 previous condition of servitude.' 



"It is a prohibition upon the United States 

 and upon the States, and no stretch of inge- 

 nuity can extend it one hair's-breadth further. 

 Why the prohibition to tho United States? 

 Because the Congress of the United States 

 fixes the qualifications of voters in the District 

 of Columbia and also in the Territories of tho 

 United States; and therefore the prohibition 

 upon the United States is proper. Why tho 

 prohibition upon the States? Because the 

 States, each for itself, fix the qualification of 

 voters in the States. Before the passage of 

 this amendment to the Constitution the power 

 of a State to fix the qualifications of its voters 

 was without any limit or restriction whatsoever. 

 It was so completely without limit or restric- 

 tion that in several or the States persons not 

 citizens of the United States were allowed to 

 vote ; as, for instance, foreigners who had de- 

 clared their intention to become citizens, but 

 had not completed their naturalization by a 

 residence of five years and taking the final 

 oath. That was the case, if I mistake not, 

 formerly in the State of Illinois, and perhaps 

 in some other States where foreign-born per- 

 sons who had declared their intention to be- 

 come citizens were allowed to vote before they 

 had fully become citizens of the United States. 

 I may be mistaken in respect to that particular 

 State, but I know that that was the case in 

 some of the States." 



Mr. Davis : " On a residence of six months." 



Mr. Thurman : " Then comes this provision, 

 the sole provision in the Constitution of the 

 United States which limits that heretofore 

 complete and plenary and unconditional power 

 of a State to fix tho qualification of the voters 

 in that State; and what is it? How can any 

 man say that it is any thing more than a limi- 

 tation upon tho power of the State? Is it not 

 just as much a limitation on the power of the 

 State as is the provisipn in the Constitution 

 that no State shall coin money ; that no State 

 shall keep or maintain an army or a navy with- 

 out the consent of Congress? Just as these 

 are limitations on tho powers of the States, so 

 is this fifteenth amendment a limitation on tho 

 power of the State, and nothing else, so far as 

 the State is concerned. 



"What is the effect? Simply this, that if 

 there is in a Stato constitution a discrimination 

 on account of race, color, or previous condition 

 of servitude, that provision in tho Stato con- 



