CONGKESS, U. S. 



ticular for six of the judges, I think, supposed 

 that there was a difference between cases 

 brought into the Supreme Court of the United 

 States upon writ of error or appeal from the 

 circuit courts of the United States, and cases 

 brought before it by appeal or writ of error un- 

 der the twenty-fifth section of the judiciary 

 act; that in the latter class of cases, by the 

 very terms of the judiciary act of 1789, the 

 jurisdiction of the court was 'confined to cer- 

 tain specific questions ; questions involving the 

 Constitution of the United States; questions 

 involving the constitutionality of a law of a 

 State on the ground that it was in conflict with 

 the Constitution of the United States; ques- 

 tions involving the constitutionality or con- 

 struction of an act of Congress; but he sup- 

 posed, speaking for the court whether cor- 

 rectly or not I am not here to contend that in 

 a case brought up from a circuit court of the 

 United States, it was the right and duty of the 

 Supreme Court to decide the case upon all the 

 grounds on which it had been decided in the 

 court below ; and, inasmuch as the court below 

 decided against the plea to the jurisdiction, and 

 then went on to decide that having jurisdiction 

 the party was not entitled to his freedom, to 

 which the Supreme Court concurs, yet the Su- 

 preme Court thought it proper to examine into 

 the latter question as well as the first." 



Mr. Sumner answered: "The Senator from 

 Maryland invoked the Dred Scott decision as a 

 reason why Congress should not recognize col- 

 ored persons as citizens. In the remark which 

 I made, it was my purpose to vindicate the 

 right of Congress to interpret the Constitution 

 without any constraint from the Supreme 

 Court. Each branch of the Government must 

 interpret the Constitution for itself, according 

 to its own sense of obligation under the oath 

 we have all taken. And God forbid that Con- 

 gress should consent to wear the straight-jacket 

 of the Dred Scott decision ! 



Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, said : " I do 

 not propose to enter into this discussion, but 

 simply to make a single remark, in which I am 

 compelled to differ with my honorable friend 

 from Massachusetts. He says that the Dred 

 Scott decision was a disgrace to the Supreme 

 Court of the United States. I do not believe 

 that I think any better of that decision than he 

 does : I think it was an outrage upon the civ- 

 ilization of the age, and a libel upon the law ; 

 but I do not think it was a disgrace to the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States." (Laughter.) 

 The bill was then passed by the following 

 vote: 



YEAS Messrs. Brown, Clark, Collamer, Conness, 

 Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, 

 Hale, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howard, Howe, 

 Lane of Indiana, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, Pome- 

 roy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trum- 

 bull, Wade, Wilkinson, and Wilson 29. 



NATS Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Johnson, Pow- 

 ell, Riddle, Saulsbury, Van Winkle, and Willey 8. 



The House, on the 31st, refused to concur in 

 the amendments of the Senate, and, on a mo- 



tion to reconsider the vote on April 2d, Mr. 

 Pendleton, of Ohio, said : " The provision of 

 the particular amendment to which I refer ig 

 intended, and I think it will be so admitted by 

 all its friends, to give to negroes the right to 

 vote at the first election in the Territory of 

 Montana. The amendment differs in its provi- 

 sions from any bill organizing a Territory of 

 the United States which has ever been passed 

 by either House of Congress. It strikes out 

 the words 'free white inhabitants,' and substi- 

 tutes for them the words ' male citizens of the 

 United States.' If I may be permitted to al- 

 lude to what has since been made public, the 

 debates in the other House, although attention 

 was called to the fact that under the decision 

 of the Supreme Court no man of the African 

 race can be a citizen of the United States, yet 

 the amendment was expressly intended to over- 

 rule that decision, and to provide that all per- 

 sons, of whatever color, who are otherwise 

 qualified, shall have the right to vote in that 

 Territory. I only desire to state this proposi- 

 tion to the House. I only desire that the 

 House shall be thoroughly informed of the 

 character of the amendments sent to it by the 

 Senate. I only desire them to understand that 

 now, for the first time in the history of the 

 Government, one of the branches of Congress 

 has endeavored to establish negro political 

 equality. If they do so, they can vote under- 

 standingly upon this proposition." 



The motion to reconsider was then with- 

 drawn, and a committee of conference was ap- 

 pointed by the Senate and House. On the re- 

 port of this committee, the House adopted the 

 following resolution : 



Resolved, That the House non-concur in the report 

 of the committee of conference on the disagreeing 

 votes of the two Houses on the bill of the House 

 (No. 15) to provide a temporary government for the 

 Territory of Montana ; and further insist on disagree- 

 ing to the Senate's amendments, and ask a further 

 conference ; and that said committee be instructed to 

 agree to no report which authorizes any others than 

 free white male citizens, and those who have declared 

 their intention to become such, to vote. 



The vote was as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. James C. Allen, William J. Allen, 

 Bailey, Augustus C. Baldwin, Francis P. Blair, Bliss, 

 Brooks, James S. Brown, William G. Brown, Chan- 

 ler, Clay, Coffroth, Cox, Cravens, Creswell, Henry 

 Winter Davis, Dawson, Dennison, Eden, Eldridge, 

 Finck, Ganson. Grider, Hall, Harding, Benjamin G. 

 Harris, Herrick, Holman, Hutchins, William John- 

 son, Kalbfleisch, Kernan, Knapp, Law, Lazear, Long, 

 Mallory, Marcy, McBride, McDowell, McKinney, Wil- 

 liam H. Miller, James R. Morris, Morrison, Nelson, 

 Noble, Odell, Pendleton, Radford, Samuel J. Ran- 

 dall, William H. Randall, Robinson, Rogers, James 

 S. Rollins, Ross, Scott, Smith, Smithers, Stebbins, 

 John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Strouse, Stuart, 

 Sweat, Thomas, Tracy, Voorhees, Webster, Whaley, 

 Wheeler, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Win- 

 field, Fernando Wood, and Yeaman 75. 



NAYS Messrs. Alley ; Allison, Ames, Anderson, 

 Ashley, John D. Baldwin, Baxter, Beaman, Elaine, 

 Boutwell, Boyd, Broomall, Ambrose W. Clark, Cobb, 

 Cole, Dawes, Deming, Driggs, Dumont, Farnsworth, 

 Frank, Gooch, Grinnell, Higby, Hooper, Hotchkiss, 

 Asahel W. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, Jenckes, 



