CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



101 



. ;.HI which the Senator from Massachu- 

 :ri\es to that instrument. Did the men 

 \\li.i in. i.li- tho Declaration uf Indopendcnoe 

 under-tan.! it to moan any such thing? I'M 

 'uthciN df tliis republic tmdorstaud tho 

 :i:itioii uf Independence to contain any 

 doctrine .' Ilavo any statesmen in this 

 r\ |. iv. -riling those now upon tho stage 

 of pablio life claimed tlmt tho Declaration of 

 [naependpnco was susceptible of any such conr- 

 >: ruction? Sir, tlie Declaration of Indepen- 

 dence says that ' all men are created equal ; ' 

 but that, is not all that it says, for to that are 

 ml. K-d these other significant words, that it 

 duty and the right of the nation to so 

 organize the powers of its Government ' as to 

 1 iu'in shall seem most likely to effect their 

 safety and happiness.' 



N'ow, if it bo the judgment of the Ameri- 

 can people in Congress assembled that the ex- 

 clusion of the Chinese or any other people 

 from citizenship will conduce to tho safety and 

 happiness of this nation, it is the right, of the 

 Government so to decide under the Declara- 

 tion of Independence. 



u Sir, the Declaration of Independence has 

 nothing whatever to do with the question of 

 citizenship ; for, if the position of the Senator 

 be correct, then every nation and tongue and 

 tribe on the face of God Almighty's earth havo 

 the same right to vote and hold office in the 

 United States as has the Senator from Massa- 

 chusetts. Does the Senator mean to say that 

 the subjects of the British empire have the 

 same right to vote in tho United States as citi- 

 zens of this country ? Does he mean to affirm 

 any such doctrine as that upon the Declaration 

 of Independence ? Does he mean to say that 

 the enemies of republican institutions, wher- 

 ever they may bo found upon the face of the 

 earth, have a right under the Declaration of 

 Independence to come into this country and 

 take control of the Government and so destroy, 

 if they please, the* existence of this nation? 

 Did not the men who made the Declaration of 

 Independence, and have not all tho statesmen 

 of this country from the beginning of the Gov- 

 ernment down to tho present time, understood 

 that the question of naturalization was a ques- 

 tion exclusively within tho jurisdiction and to 

 be decided according to the judgment of Con- 

 gress ? 



" Sir, the Senator says that my amendment 

 is not compatible with tho Constitution of tho 

 United States. Does the Senator know that 

 the Constitution of the United States expressly 

 provides that no man who is not a natural- 

 born citizen of this country shall fill tho office 

 of President? Did not the men who made the 

 Constitution proscribe persons who were born 

 out of the United States so far as that office is 

 concerned, and deny even to a foreign-born 

 citizen, after he was naturalized, the right to 

 hold that office? Does the Constitution, in 

 that respect, violate the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence? Does it not make a political dis- 



tinction li.tv.i-. :i persons born in tho United 

 and ;,.!-!!- horn in foreign countries? 

 Will tin- Senator Bay that this violates tho 

 principles laid down in the Declaration of In- 

 dependence? 



" Moreover, the Constitution provides that 

 no person not a citizen of the United States 

 shall be a Representative in Congress or a 

 Senator; and even after a man is naturalized 

 and becomes a citizen, on account of his for- 

 eign birth he is for seven years ineligible to 

 the office of Representative, and for nine years 

 to tho office of Senator in Congress. 



"Does not tho Constitution make a political 

 distinction between persons of foreign birth 

 and persons who are born in the United States ? 

 Does not that principle pervade the whole in- 

 strument from beginning to end ; and is there 

 any man so stupid as not to know that, if this 

 nation was to destroy all political distinctions 

 and powers between its own citizens and the 

 subjects of foreign powers, this Government 

 would cease to exist as a republican Govern- 

 ment as soon as its enemies could sufficiently 

 combine for its overthrow ? 



" Now, sir, Congress has plenary power over 

 this question of naturalization. Congress may 

 require persons to reside in this country one 

 year or forty years, according to its judgment. 

 Congress may require one oath or another oath 

 as a qualification for naturalization, or it may 

 dispense with all oaths. Congress, on this sub- 

 ject, is invested with exclusive power over tho 

 question of naturalization, and when it pro- 

 poses to legislate it must exercise its judgment 

 as to it may seem most conducive to the safety 

 and happiness of the American people. 



" I deny, therefore, that the Declaration of 

 Independence or the Constitution of the United 

 States requires us to admit to naturalization 

 Chinese, or cannibals, or Indians, or anybody, 

 except as in our judgment their admission to 

 political rights may comport with the best in- 

 terests of the nation." 



Mr. Schurz, of Missouri, said : " A heated 

 fancy I cannot use any other expression 

 is drawing the picture before our eyes of 

 thirty, forty, fifty, or one hundred million 

 Chinamen suddenly flowing from their native 

 homes across the Pacific Ocean, sweeping over 

 this country, and fairly submerging, as un- 

 der a deluge of barbarism, our whole civil- 

 ization and all that is dear to us. It is a 

 horrible picture. Now, sir, let us look the 

 facts in the face. Chinese immigration to the 

 Pacific coast commenced, as I understand, in 

 the year 1848. From 1848 until 1868 the 

 yearly average of that immigration amounted 

 to not quite six thousand. Last year the num- 

 ber of Chinamen who arrived upon the Pacific 

 . coast was twelve thousand. "We will suppose 

 that it goes on increasing, and that for a num- 

 ber of years ahead the average will bo twenty 

 thousand. How long will it take to bring over, 

 at that rate, a million Chianamen? Just fifty 

 years; and considering that the immigration 



