CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



233 



'territorial government, opposed to it. I prc- 

 Biniu' IK > question will bo raised hero as to the 

 loyalty of tin- people of Colorado, because they 

 volunteered largely, tlioy helped us through the 

 war, and they havo sent hero two of the most 

 l.t\:il, c(>iisistent, and earnest Republicans (if 

 tliat is any test of loyalty) that they havo in. tho 

 Territory." 



Mi-. Salisbury, of Delaware, said : "I shall 

 occupy the attention of tho Senate but a mo- 

 ment. I wish simply to say that if I could 

 vote for tho admission of Colorado under the 

 circumstances, I should do so with great pleas- 

 ure; because I find one fact connected with 

 the history and character of that people that 

 commends itself to my most favorable consid- 

 eration. I find that there are at least eight or 

 nine sensible men in that Territory to one of a 

 contrary character ; because when the proposi- 

 tion to allow negro suffrage was submitted to 

 the people of that Territory, there were 4,192, 

 according to the statement laid on our tables, 

 opposed to it, and only 476 lunatics in the whole 

 Territory in favor of it. That is a fact that 

 commends itself to my most favorable consid- 

 eration ; and had Colorado, in my judgment, a 

 sufficient number of inhabitants to bo entitled 

 to admission into the Union, I would most 

 cheerfully vote for her admission, because I 

 think she has presented in this vote the evidence 

 of the good sense of her people." 



Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, in opposition, said : "It 

 appears that a census was taken in 1861, 

 when there was a total population in Colorado 

 of 25,859. Of these, the adult males were 18,- 

 233 ; minors, 2,622 ; and females, 4,484. In all 

 the Territories there is a large preponderance 

 of adult males, and especially is that so of Col- 

 orado ; and although I am told by my fellow- 

 citizens of Iowa who are in the habit of going 

 to Montana, some of them almost monthly, that 

 there has been a considerable increase of fe- 

 males in that Territory, yet there is a very largo 

 preponderance of adult males there yet. In 

 1861, when that enumeration was made, there 

 was a vote taken, and tho correct aggregate 

 vote was 10,580. Out of a population of 25,- 

 329 there were 10,850 voters. In 1862 th'ero 

 was another election. "What was the number 

 of voters then ? Eight thousand two hundred 

 and twenty-four. 



" In 1864, the vote of Colorado was 5,769. 

 On the adoption of the constitution on the 12th 

 of September, 1864, the total vote was 6,192. 

 They had at that time a very exciting election. 

 I was in correspondence with some of tho gen- 

 tlemen who were interested in that election. 

 Every effort was made to bring out every pos- 

 sible voter that could be found within the limits 

 of the Territory, and I suppose they were all 

 brought out; and the total vote polled was 

 6,192. Now, just examine and see, if you 

 please, what relation 6,192 voters bear to the 

 total population of the State if the same ratio 

 still exists between males and females as existed 

 in 1861. Why, sir, you have got a population 



of somewhere in the neighborhood of from 

 twelve to fifteen thoti- 



"Then, again, on the 5th ,ber, 1865, 



there was another exciting n the ques- 



tion of tho adoption of a State constitution, 

 and what was tho result then ? Tho total vote 

 was 5,895, less than in 1864, and the majority 

 in favor of tho adoption of the State constitu- 

 tion was only 155. Now it is seriously pro- 

 posed here that we shall admit a State into this 

 Union which, in an exciting election over the 

 question whether she shall come in at all or 

 not, when all tho office-seekers who expect to 

 bo Senators and Representatives and Judges and 

 Governors are arrayed on one side and are using 

 all their influence to bring men to the polls, 

 and when the tax-payer^ who were conscious 

 that they are to be oppressed with the burdens 

 of taxation if they come into the Union, are 

 arrayed on the other side, can only poll 6,895 

 votes, and that a mining State where there is a 

 vast preponderance of males over females 1 I 

 confess that it strikes me as the sublimity of 

 impudence for the State to come hero and ask 

 to be admitted into the Union and be entitled 

 to the same power and influence in this body 

 as the State of Ohio or New York or Pennsyl- 

 vania." 



Mr. Lane, of Kansas, said : " Would the Sen- 

 ator have voted for the admission of Kansas 

 with 4,600 voters, with the knowledge that that 

 constitution not only confined suffrage to the 

 whites, but actually excluded blacks from the 

 State ? The same day that the people of Kan- 

 sas voted for the constitution confining suffrage 

 to the whites, they voted, by a vote of 4,000 to 

 400, to exclude blacks from the State ; and the 

 Senator from Massachusetts, and every Repub- 

 lican in both branches of Congress, indorsed 

 that constitution, and the Republican party 

 throughout the Union indorsed it." 



Mr. Wade, of Ohio, in explanation, said: 

 "I ought to say, in justice to the committee 

 that passed this enabling act two years ago, 

 that the proof before us then convinced us that 

 some very rich mines had lately been discov- 

 ered in Colorado; that there was great excite- 

 ment all over the country on the subject, and 

 that people were flocking in there from all parts 

 of tho United States as they did in California 

 when the precious metals were first discovered 

 there ; and we were assured by those who ought 

 to know, that by tho time we should get this 

 State into the Union there would bo the usual 

 number of people there that Territories had 

 ordinarily at the time of their admission ; for 

 as far as I know we have not been very partic- 

 ular as to the exact number of people that 

 should be sufficient to constitute a State. ^ The 

 old rule was (and it was a very good and intel- 

 ligible one), that there ought to bo about as 

 many as would furnish a Representative, what- 

 ever tho ratio of apportionment should be at 

 the time. That is a kind of gauge, but then 

 that is departed from frequently, according to 

 circumstances. F it is a State that is not fill- 



