CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



187 



time the States are not restrained from viola- 

 ting tin- |irinci]>lc8 embraced in them except by 

 their own local constitutions, which may be 

 altered from year to year. The great object of 

 tin- first section of this amendment is, therefore, 

 mill the power of tin- States and compel 

 tin-in nt nil times to respect tbcse great funda- 

 mental guaranties, How will it be done under 

 the piv>cnt amendment? As I have remarked, 

 they are not powers granted to Congres", and 

 therefore it is necessary, if they are to bo effect- 

 uated :snd enforced, as they assuredly ought to 

 be, that additional power should be given to 

 Congress to that end. This is done by the fifth 

 section of this amendment, which declares that 

 ' the Congress shall have power to enforce by 

 appropriate legislation the provisions of this 

 article.' Here is a direct affirmative delegation 

 of power to Congress to carry out all the prin- 

 ciples of all these guaranties, a power not found 

 in the Constitution. 



"The last two clauses of the first section of 

 the amendment disable a State from depriving 

 uot merely a citizen of the United States, but 

 any person, whoever he may be, of life, liberty, 

 or property without due process of law, or from 

 denying to him the equal protection of the laws 

 of the State. This abolishes all class legislation 

 in the States and does away with the injustice of 

 subjecting one caste of persons to a code not ap- 

 plicable to another. It prohibits the hanging ot'a 

 black man for a crime for which the white man 

 is not to bo hanged. It protects the black man 

 in his fundamental rights as a citizen with the 

 same shield which it throws over the white man. 

 Is it not time, Mr. President, that we extend to 

 the black man, I had almost called it the poor 

 privilege of the equal protection of the law? 

 Ought not the time to be now passed when one 

 measure of justice is to be meted out to a mem- 

 ber of one caste while another and a different 

 measure is meted out to the member of another 

 caste, both castes being alike citizens of the 

 United States, both bound to obey the same 

 laws, to sustain the burdens of the same 

 Government, and both equally responsible to 

 justice and to God for the deeds done in the 

 body ? 



" I Jut, sir, the first section of the proposed 

 amendment does not give to either of these 

 classes the right of voting. The right of suf- 

 frage is not, in law, one of the privileges or im- 

 munities thus secured by the Constitution. It 

 is merely the creature of law. It has always 

 been regarded in this country as the result of 

 positive local law, not regarded as one of those 

 fundamental rights lying at the basis of all so- 

 ciety and without which a people cannot exist 

 except, as slaves, subject to a despotism. 



" As I have already remarked, section one is a 

 restriction upon the States, and docs not, of itself, 

 confer any power upon Congress. The power 

 which Congress has, under this amendment, is 

 derived, not from that section, but from the 

 iiftli section, which gives it authority to pass 

 aws which are appropriate to the attainment 



of the great object of the amendment. I look 

 upon the first section, taken in connection with 

 the fifth, as very important. It will, if adopted 

 by the States, forever disable every one of them 

 from passing laws trenching upon those funda- 

 mental rights and privileges which pertain to 

 citi/ens of the United States, and to all persons 

 who may happen to be within their jurisdiction. 

 It establishes equality before the law, and it 

 gives to the humblest, the poorest, the moat 

 despised of the race the same rights and the 

 same protection before the law as it gives to 

 the most powerful, the most wealthy, or the 

 most haughty. That, sir, is republican govern- 

 ment, as I understand it, and the only ono 

 which can claim the praise of a just Govern- 

 ment. Without this principle of equal justice 

 to all men and equal protection under the shield 

 of the law, there is no republican government 

 and none that is really worth maintaining. 



"The second section of the proposed amend- 

 ment does not recognize the authority of the 

 United States over the question of suffrage in 

 the several States at all ; nor does it recognize, 

 much less secure, the right of suffrage to the 

 colored race. I wish to meet this question 

 fairly and frankly ; I have nothing to conceal 

 upon it ; and I am perfectly free to say that if 

 I could have my own way, if my preferences 

 could be carried out, I certainly should secure 

 suffrage to the colored race to some extent at 

 least; for I am opposed to the exclusion and 

 proscription of an entire race. If I could not 

 obtain universal suffrage in the popular sense 

 of that expression, I should be in favor of re- 

 stricted, qualified suffrage for the colored race. 

 But, sir, it is not the question here what will 

 we do ; it is not the question what you, or I. 

 or half a dozen other members of the Senate 

 may prefer in respect to colored suffrage ; it is 

 not entirely the question what measure we can 

 pass through the two houses; but the question 

 really is, what will the Legislatures of the va- 

 rious States to whom these amendments are to 

 be submitted do in the premises ; what is it 

 likely will meet the general approbation of the 

 people who are to elect the Legislatures, three- 

 fourths of whom must ratify our propositions 

 before they have the force of constitutional pro- 

 visions ? 



"Let me not be misunderstood. I do not intend 

 to say, nor do I say, that the proposed amend- 

 ment, section two, proscribes the colored race. 

 It has nothing to do with that question, as I 

 shall show before I take my seat. I could wish 

 that the elective franchise should be extended 

 equally to the white man and to the black man ; 

 and if it were necessary, after full considera- 

 tion, to restrict what is known as universal 

 suffrage for the purpose of securing this equal- 

 ity, 1 would go for a restriction ; but I deem 

 that impracticable at the present time, and so 

 did the committee. 



''The committee were of opinion that the 

 States are not yet prepared to sanction so fun- 

 damental a change as would be the concession 



