190 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



joying a charter from Congress which dedi- 

 cates them and sets them apart to the cultiva- 

 tion of medical science, they have undertaken 

 to exclude persons otherwise competent simply 

 on account of color. They have set up a test 

 of membership founded on color. The evi- 

 dence is irrefutable; and yet I have been unable 

 to bring the Senate to a vote on that bill ; and 

 meanwhile colored physicians in this District 

 are subjected to the indignity of exclusion from 

 the society, and thus are shut out from oppor- 

 tunities of medical instruction. 



" There is another bill which I reported from 

 the Committee on the District of Columbia, 

 May 6, 1870, entitled ' A bill to secure equal 

 rights in the public schools of Washington and 

 Georgetown.' That, also, I have tried in vain 

 to press upon the Senate. There is then an- 

 other bill which I had the honor of introducing 

 May 13, 18 70, entitled 'A bill supplementary 

 to an act entitled " An act to protect all citi- 

 zens of the United States in their civil rights, 

 and to furnish the means for their vindication," 

 passed April 9, 1866. ' This important bill was 

 duly referred to the Committee on the Judici- 

 ary, but I have heard nothing from it since. 

 It slumbers on the table of the committee. 



" Of all these measures which concern equal 

 rights, the only one which I have been able to 

 bring before the Senate is that under consider- 

 ation ; and I am now pressed to withdraw it 

 so as to avoid a vote. "Why, sir, again and 

 again in other years have I been pressed in 

 the same way, but it has not been my habit to 

 yield. 



"I doubt if Senators are aware of the prac- 

 tical bearing of this proposition on the Atlan- 

 tic seaboard, and even in California. I said 

 on Saturday that I had letters from various 

 parts of the country attesting that there are 

 colored aliens shut out from equal rights by 

 that word ' white ' in our naturalization laws. 

 Here are Africans in our country shut out from 

 rights which justly belong to them, simply 

 because Congress continues the word ' white ' 

 in the naturalization laws. These men are 

 humble, but they are none the less worthy of 

 protection. Ay, sir, it is your duty to protect 

 them. Even if few, you cannot afford to let 

 them suffer wrong ; but they are numerous ; 

 in Florida counted by the hundred and even 

 the thousand. 



" Strong as this measure is, as an act of 

 justice, whether to many or few, it has another 

 title. Its highest importance is found in its 

 conformity to the requirement of the Declara- 

 tion of Independence. Sir, this is the Fourth 

 of July, when our fathers together solemnly 

 declared as follows : 



We hold these truths to be self-evident ; that all 

 men are created equal ; that they are endowed by 

 their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that 

 among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit 

 of happiness. 



" Now, sir, the great, the mighty words of 

 this clause are that these great, self-evident, 



inalienable rights belong to 'all men.' It is 

 ' all men,' and not a race or color, that are 

 placed under protection of the Declaration; 

 and such was the voice of our fathers on the 

 4th day of July, 1776. Sir, such was the bap- 

 tismal vow of this nation. According to this 

 vow, all men are created equal and endowed 

 with inalienable rights. But the statutes of 

 the land assert the contrary ; they declaring, 

 that only all white men are created equal. 



"Now, sir, what better thing can you do on 

 this anniversary than to expunge from the 

 statute that unworthy limitation which dis- 

 honors and defiles the original Declaration? 

 It is in your power to make the day more than 

 ever sacred. 



"How can you hesitate? There are the 

 words. Does any one question the text? 

 Will any one move to amend the text ? Will 

 any one insist that hereafter as these great 

 words are read on our great anniversary the 

 word ' white ' shall be inserted to qualify this 

 sublime Declaration ? No one will venture 

 such a suggestion. There they are ; there they 

 will remain as long as this republic endures. 

 But, if you are not ready to change the original 

 text, you must then change your statutes and 

 bring them in harmony with the text. The 

 word ' white ' wherever it occurs as a limita- 

 tion of rights must disappear. Only in this 

 way can you be consistent with the Declara- 

 tion. 



"Senators undertake to disturb us in this 

 iudgment by reminding us of the possibility of 

 large numbers swarming from China ; but the 

 answer to all this is very obvious and very 

 simple. If the Chinese come here they will 

 come for citizenship or merely for labor. If 

 they come for citizenship, then in this desire 

 do they give a pledge of loyalty to our institu- 

 tions, and where is the peril in such vows? 

 They are peaceful and industrious; how can 

 their citizenship be the occasion of solicitude ? 



" We are told that they are imperialists ; but 

 before they can be citizens they must renounce 

 imperialism. We are told that they are for- 

 eigners in heart; but before they can take 

 part with us they must renounce their foreign 

 character. Therefore do I say if they come 

 for citizenship there is no peril ; while if they 

 come merely for labor, then is all this discus- 

 sion and all this anxiety superfluous." 



Mr. Williams, of Oregon, said: "Two ob- 

 jections are made to the adoption of the 

 amendment by the Senator from Massachu- 

 setts, founded the one upon the Declaration of 

 Independence and the other upon the Consti- 

 tution of the United States. Now, sir, I ask 

 the Senator, and I ask every candid man in 

 this body, does the Declaration of Indepen- 

 dence mean that Chinese coolies, that the 

 Bushmen of South Africa, that the Hottentots, 

 the Digger Indians, heathen, pagan and canni- 

 bal, shall have equal political rights under this 

 GDvernment with citizens of the United States? 



"Sir, this is the absurd and foolish inter- 



