236 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



our courts sit; and therefore in those States 

 where such a law exists these colored people 

 cannot be witnesses, and hence they cannot 

 be safely intrusted with the carrying of 

 the mails ; but it is within the power of Con- 

 gress to render them competent witnesses in 

 the United States courts, and therefore the 

 committee reported the amendment which is 

 the second section of the bill." 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, followed, say- 

 ing : " Before the vote is taken, I desire for 

 only one moment to call attention to the origin 

 of the legislation which it is now proposed to 

 sweep out of our statute-book. I think if the 

 Senator from Indiana who opposes the bill 

 under consideration were fully aware of the 

 origin of the legislation which it seeks to re- 

 move, that we should have his vote, notwith- 

 standing his eloquent speech. 



" I have before me the American State 

 Papers, the first volume, relating to the Post 

 Office. Iii that volume, on page 27, is a letter 

 from Gideon Granger, dated March 23, 1802. 

 He was at the time, it will be remembered, 

 Postmaster General of the United States. This 

 letter is addressed to the Hon. James Jackson, 

 Senator from Georgia. It is as follows : 



GENERAL I^VST OFFICE, March 23, 1802. 



SIR: An objection exists against employing ne- 

 groes, or people of color, in transporting the public 

 mails, of a nature too delicate to engraft into a report 

 which may become public, yet too important to be 

 omitted or passed over without full consideration. 

 I therefore take the liberty of making to the commit- 

 tee, through you, a private representation on that 

 subject. After the scenes which St. Domingo has 

 exhibited to the world, we cannot be too cautious in 

 attempting to prevent similar evils in the four south- 

 ern States, where there are, particularly in the eastern 

 and old settled parts of them, so great a proportion of 

 blacks as to hazard the tranquillity and happiness of 

 the free citizens. Indeed, in Virginia and South 

 Carolina (as I have been informed) plans and con- 

 spiracies have already been concerted by them, more 

 than once, to rise in arms, and subjugate their masters. 



Every thing which tends to increase their knowledge 

 of natural rights, of men and things, or that affords 

 them an opportunity of associating, acquiring, and 

 communicating sentiments, and of establishing a 

 chain or line of intelligence, must increase your haz- 

 ard, because it increases 'their means of effecting 

 their object. 



The most active and intelligent are employed as 

 post-riders. These are the most ready to learn, and 

 the most able to execute. By travelling from day to 

 day, and hourly mixing with people, they must, they 

 will acquire information. They will learn that a 

 man's rights do not depend on his color. They will, 

 in time, become teachers to their brethren. They 

 become acquainted with each other on the line. 

 Whenever the body, or a portion of them, w : sh to 

 act, they are an organized corps, circulating our iu- 

 islligence openly, their own privately. 



Their travelling creates no suspicion, excites no 

 alarm. One able man among them, perceiving the 

 va'.ue of this machine, might lay a plan which would 

 be C3mmunicated by your post-riders from town to 

 town, and produce a general and united operation 

 against you. It is easier to prevent the evil than to 

 cure it. The hazard may be small and the prospect 

 remote, but it does not follow that at some day the 

 event would not be certain. 



With respect and esteem, GIDEON GRANGER. 

 Hen. JAMES JACXSON. Senator from Georgia. 



"There, sir, is the origin of the offensive 

 legislation which we now seek to remove. It 

 grew out of a proposition to sustain Slavery, 

 communicated in private to a Senator from 

 Georgia. The legislation is a part of that sys- 

 tem which Congress has so long imposed upon 

 the country under the domineering influence of 

 Slavery, and it was expressly recommended on 

 the ground that if colored persons were allowed 

 to carry the mails ' they would learn that a 

 man's rights do not depend on his color.' It 

 was to subvert that principle that the offensive 

 legislation was enacted. But now, since the 

 resurrection of our day, since liberty is at last 

 asserting her rights in the Eepublic, Congress, 

 it seems to me, can do nothing less than to go 

 back to its original policy under Washington 

 and the fathers of the Eepublic, when no such 

 legislation existed." 



Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, moved to amend 

 by inserting after the word "States," the words : 

 " in all cases for robbing or violating the mails 

 of the United States." 



No further progress was made in the bill. 



Subsequently on June 25th, the Civil Appro- 

 priation bill being before the Senate, Mr. Sum- 

 ner offered the above proviso. To this Mr. 

 Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, offered the follow- 

 ing amendment : 



Nor in civil actions because he is a party to or in- 

 terested in the issue tried. 



The entire amendment was as follows : 



Provided, That in the courts of the United States 

 there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account 

 of color, nor in civil actions because he is a party to 

 or interested in the issue tried. 



It was concurred in by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, 

 Conness, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, 

 Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howard, Howe, Lane of 

 Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Morrill, Pomeroy 

 Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner Ten Eyck, 

 Wade,*Wilkinson, and Wilson 29. 



NAYS Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Hendricks, 

 Hicks, Nesmith, Powell, Saulsbury, Trumbull, Van 

 Winkle, and Willey 10. 



It was approved in the House by the follow- 

 ing vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Arnold, Ashley, 

 Bailey, John D. Baldwin, Beaman, Boutwell, Boyd, 

 Broomall, Cobb, Cole, Thomas, T. Davis, Dawes, 

 Deming, Dixon-, Donnelly, Driggs, Eckley, Eliot, 

 Farnsworth, Fenton, Frank, Garneld, Gooch, Higby, 

 Hooper, Hotchkiss, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, 

 F. W. Kellogg, Orlando Kellogg, Knox, Littlejohn, 

 Loan, Longyear, McBride, McClurg, Moorhead, Mor- 

 rill, Daniel Morris, Amos Myers, Leonard Myers, Nor- 

 ton, Charles O'Neill, Patterson, Perham, Alexander 

 H. Rice, John H. Rice, Edward H. Rollins, Schenck, 

 Scofield, Shannon, Sloan, Smithers, Spalding, 

 Stevens, Thayer, Upson, Van Valkenburgh, Elihu 

 B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Williams, 

 Wilder, Wilson, and Windom 67. 



NATS Messrs. Ancona, Augustus, C. Baldwin, 

 Blair, Bliss, Brooks, William G. Brown, Chanler, 

 Coffroth, Dawson, Dennison, Edeii, Edg_erton, El- 

 dridge, Finck, Harding, Benjamin G. Harris, Charle? 

 M. Harris, Herrick, Holman, William Johnson, 

 Knapp, Le Blond, Mallory, Marcy, James R. Morris, 

 Morrison, Noble, John O'Neill, Pendleton, Perry, 

 Samuel J. Randall, Rabinson, Ross, John B, Steele, 



