240 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



jnittee, believing there was no practical impor- 

 tance in the Senate amendment, as there was 

 believed to be no colored person in the Terri- 

 tory, and probably would not be any colored 

 persons actually resident in the Territory who, 

 by an possibility, could vote on this occasion, 

 did not see that it was worth while to make a 

 question on what the honorable Senator from 

 Massachusetts perhaps might regard as a prin- 

 ciple, when, by no possibility, could it affect 

 the question practically." 



Mr. Sumner replied : " I hope the Senate will 

 adhere to its original position, and I believe that 

 the statement of that principle at this moment 

 is more important than the bill." 



Mr. Wade, of Ohio, thus expressed his views: 

 " The bill was presented here with the old form 

 that had grown into a custom in the days of ne- 

 grophobia, when it prevailed to the highest 

 extent here, and the word "white" was in- 

 serted everywhere wherever there was any 

 chance to insert it, in order to discriminate be- 

 tween white and black. I was always opposed 

 in principle to that, and I do not propose now 

 to depart from my principle. I have no con- 

 cealments to make on this subject or upon any 

 other. I am opposed to this discrimination 

 between white and black in voting. I do not 

 think it forms an intelligible line of demarka- 

 tion. Some black men are infinitely more 

 capable of voting intelligently than a great 

 many whites, and vice versa. The color of a 

 man, whether black or white, is no criterion, 

 and I will never consent to make it a criterion 

 of voting. I think that in a republican form of 

 government like ours a man has a right to vote, 

 an inalienable right to vote ; although I know 

 that that principle is combated here by some. 

 I believe that the right to participate in the 

 Government under which we live is as sacred 

 and as much a natural right as any other ; and 

 I believe that no other rights that belong to 

 man can long be maintained when he is de- 

 prived of this; and therefore, sir, I go right 

 straight to the work when there is any occasion 

 for it, and I should have said nothing now on this 

 subject only that the vote I intend to give here 

 might be construed to be a vote by me against 

 the principle that I have now avowed. 



" I never legislate or act in reference to mere 

 shadows. Gentlemen may call them principle 

 or not principle. I look to the effect of a meas- 

 ure when my vote is required. I cannot be 

 bluffed off by the mere form or shadow of a 

 thing. "What is this? "When I agreed to the 

 original bill it had the word ' white ' in it, and 

 I so reported it. I did not like it ; but when 

 I came to consider that it was the mere shadow 

 of a shade, that it would not affect the rights 

 of any body, I did not care to make a contro- 

 versy over it. I did not care to compel gentle- 

 men to vote upon that question when I saw 

 difficulties in the way. I had much rather it 

 had passed there, and I did not care which, be- 

 cause the effect of it would be just nothing at 

 all. There are no negroes in the Territory. It 



is not pretended that there is a black man in 

 this _ whole territory. "Why then should we 

 detain the Senate here in fixing a principle that 

 can have no application whatever? It is a bare 

 abstraction as it stands, I do not care in what 

 form of words it is ; but I give gentlemen notice 

 whenever this question shall be raised in such 

 sort as to affect the rights of any man, I shall 

 take the broad principle of right and stand by 

 it as firmly as anybody else. But when the 

 principle is invoked in a case where it can have 

 no effect, I am not going to be biassed by it ; 

 nor am I going to be prevented from effecting 

 a good purpose because I am told that I violate 

 the ghost of some principle." 



Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, replied : "If 

 there is any thing in this principle, I differ en- 

 tirely with my honorable friend from Ohio in 

 this particular : if you want to assert a princi- 

 ple that you believe in, it is vastly more easy 

 practically to assert it in reference to a wilder- 

 ness where there is not a man, than in reference 

 to a mixed people consisting of the various 

 classes that would be affected by your legisla- 

 tion." 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, further said : 

 " Senators may say that our fathers in the Dec- 

 laration of Independence were not practical. 

 I am not of that number. Senators may say that 

 our fathers in the Constitution of -the United 

 States, which contains no discrimination of 

 color, were not practical. I am not of that 

 number. Sir, I believe that the authors of this 

 ordinance and also the authors of the Declara- 

 tion of Independence, and of the Constitution 

 of the United States, were eminently practical 

 when they excluded from ah 1 of those instruments 

 any discrimination of color. But it is said that 

 there are no persons in the new Territory to 

 whom this principle is now applicable. This 

 can make no difference. It is something to de- 

 clare a principle, and I have no hesitation in 

 saying that at this moment the principle is 

 much more important than the bill. The bill 

 may be postponed ; but the principle must not 

 be postponed." 



Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, moved that the 

 Senate adjourn, saying : " It is very seldom, as 

 the Senate and the country know, that I speak 

 on a subject of this character, and therefore I 

 apologize for saying a word on the present oc- 

 casion. I think we have had enough of the 

 negro to-day for all the members of the Senate 

 who wish to transact the legitimate business of 

 the public." 



The motion was lost, and the vote on agree- 

 ing with the report of the committee was taken, 

 as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Buckalew, Carlile, Collamer, 

 Cowan, Davis, Doolittle, Foot, Foster, Harding, 

 Harris, Henderson, Hendricks, Howard, Johnson, 

 Lane of Indiana, Morrill, Nesmith, Powell, Ramsey, 

 Saulsbury, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Wade, 

 Wilkinson and Willey 26. 



NAYS Messrs. Anthony, Chandler, Clark, Dison, 

 Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Lane of Kansas, Morgan, Pom- 

 eroy, Sprague, Sumner, and Wilson 13. 



