180 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or 

 offer, or promise thereof, or otherwise unlawfully 

 prevent any qualified voter of any State of the Uni- 

 ted States of America, or of any Territory thereof, 

 from freely exercising the right of suffrage, or by 

 any such means induce any voter to refuse to exer- 

 cise such right ; or compel or induce, by any such 

 means or otherwise, any officer of an election, in any 

 such State or Territory, to receive a vote from a per- 

 son not legally qualified or entitled to_vote ; or inter- 

 fere in any manner with any officer of said elections 

 in the discharge of his duties ; or, by any of such 

 means or otherwise, induce any officer of an election, 

 or officer whose duty it is to ascertain, announce, or 

 declare the result of any such election, or give or 

 make any certificate, document, or evidence in rela- 

 tion thereto, to violate or refuse to comply with hia 

 duty or any law regulating the same ; or knowingly 

 and wilfully receive the vote of any person not en- 

 titled to vote : or refuse to receive the vote of any 

 person entitled to vote ; or aid, counsel, procure, or 

 advise any such voter, person, or officer to do any act 

 hereby made a crime, or to omit to do any duty the 

 omission of which is hereby made a crime, or attempt 

 to do so, every such person shall be deemed guilty 

 of a crime, and shall for such crime be liable to in- 

 dictment in any court of the United States of com- 

 petent jurisdiction ; and on conviction thereof shall 

 be punished by a fine not exceeding $500, or by im- 

 prisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or 

 both, in the discretion of the court, and shall pay the 

 costs of prosecution. 



And be it further enacted, That, if, at any registra- 

 tion of voters for an election for Eepresentative or 

 Delegate in the Congress of the United States, any 

 person shall knowingly personate and register, or 

 attempt to register, in the name of any other person, 

 whether living, dead, or fictitious; or register, or 

 attempt to register, at a place where he shall not be 

 lawfully entitled to register ; or register, or attempt 

 to register, not having a lawful right so to do j or do 

 any unlawful act to secure registration for himself 

 or any other person; or by force, threat, menace, 

 intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer, or promise 

 thereof, or otherwise, unlawfully prevent or hinder 

 any person having a lawful right to register from 

 duly exercising such right ; or compel or induce, by 

 any such means, or otherwise, any officer of registra- 

 tion to admit to registration any person not legally- 

 entitled thereto; or interfere in any manner with 

 any officer of registration in the discharge of his 

 duties ; or by any such means or otherwise induce 

 any officer ot registration to violate or refuse to com- 

 ply with his duty, or any law regulating the same ; or 

 knowingly and wilfully receive the vote of any per- 

 son not entitled to vote, or refuse to receive the vote 

 of any person entitled to vote ; or aid, counsel, procure, 

 or advise any such voter, person, or officer to do any 

 act hereby made a crime ; or to omit any act, the 

 omission of which is hereby made a crime, every such 

 person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall 

 be liable to indictment and punishment therefor, as 

 provided in the first section of this act for persons 

 guilty of any of the crimes therein specified. 



And be it further enacted, That if any person shall 

 by force, threat, menace, intimidation, or otherwise 

 . unlawfully^ prevent any citizen or citizens from as- 

 sembling in public meeting, to freely discuss or hear 

 discussed the claims or merits of any candidate for 

 the office of Representative or Delegate in Congress, 

 or of any officer of the Government of the United 

 States ; or the laws or measures of Congress, or any 

 measure existing, pending, or proposed, affecting 

 the Government of the United States, or any Depart- 

 ment or officer thereof; or if any person shall by 

 any r such means break up, disperse, or molest any 

 such assemblage, or molest any citizen in or of such 

 assemblage ? every person so offending shall be 

 deemed guilty of a crime, and shall be liable to in- 

 dictment and punishment therefor, as provided in 



the first section of this act for persons guilty of any 

 of the crimes therein specified." 



Mr. Thurman: "Mr. President, it is eighty- 

 one years since this Government went into 

 operation. During that period almost every 

 party that has existed in the country has at 

 some time or other been in the ascendency in 

 these Halls; but never until now was such a 

 proposition as that made in the Congress of 

 the United States. For eighty-one years this 

 people went on in a career of prosperity, of 

 liberty, and of constitutional law " 



Mr. Stewart : " Will the Senator from Ohio 

 allow me to interrupt him for a moment ? " 



Mr. Thurman : " I beg the Senator not to 

 interrupt me in the middle of a sentence 

 without any human being supposing for an 

 instant that such a proposition as that amend- 

 ment could receive the sanction of an Amer- 

 ican Congress. But now, sir, within thirty 

 days of the adoption of the fifteenth amend- 

 ment, or the proclamation of its adoption, on 

 the bill to enforce the fifteenth amendment, 

 this proposition, which has no more relation 

 to the fifteenth amendment than it has to the 

 solar system, is introduced here in the last 

 hours of a night session, and the American 

 Senate is asked to adopt it. 



" Mr. President, I do not know what this bill 

 is to become. I do not know how much is to 

 be carried under it. I do not know how much 

 this love of the colored race, or, as I believe 

 it, this struggle for negro votes, I do not know 

 how much that proposition, that expectation, 

 and that desire, are expected to carry with 

 them. I know they will carry a great deal ; 

 but I trust there is still enough of reflection in 

 the American Senate to prevent their carrying 

 such a proposition as this. It is in no wise 

 germane to this bill ; it has nothing to do with 

 this bill; and unless you want to make this 

 a perfect omnibus bill, this amendment, which 

 the mover of it has not seen fit to stay here 

 and defend, ought to be cast out, and to stand 

 on its own merits. 



"But, sir, that is not all. This amendment 

 is offered here without ever having passed the 

 House of Representatives, or without ever 

 having been considered by any committee of 

 the Senate. You are asked here, at the hour 

 of midnight, to adopt an amendment which no 

 committee of the Senate has ever considered, 

 which nobody in the Senate has considered. 

 You are asked to adopt this amendment going 

 into the most sacred rights of the States and 

 of the people; to adopt an amendment the 

 necessity for which, if there is any, equally 

 existed eighty years ago, and yet which no 

 statesman, no lawyer, no politician, for eighty 

 years ever thought of proposing to the Ameri- 

 can Congress. You are asked at the hour of 

 midnight to adopt this long amendment of 

 three sections, without the slightest considera- 

 tion by any committee whatsoever of this body. 

 That is legislation for you ! That is legislation 



