136 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



this feeling, strong as it is, difficult as I .know 

 it is to conquer, is mere prejudice, the result 

 of the educational influences to which we have 

 been subjected by the institution of slavery. 

 People in other countries where slavery has 

 never existed do not cherish the prejudice 

 against the negro that exists in this country. 

 Sir,' I have' seen negroes as slaves sitting on 

 the same seat in the same coach and convey- 

 ance with white people without objection ; but 

 when that identical black man becomes free 

 then his presence in a coach or a conveyance 

 is very obnoxious to the same white person. 

 Is not the negro as black as a slave as he is as 

 a free man? Is he not as odious and offensive 

 in every way as a slave as he is as a free man? 

 Nobody will pretend that there is any change 

 in the person ; but slavery makes a negro agree- 

 able, while freedom makes him odious and hate- 

 ful. That is all there is about it." 



Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania, followed, say- 

 ing: " I am not afraid of negro suffrage, if you 

 allow female suffrage to go hand in hand with 

 it. I believe that if there is any one influence 

 in the country which will break down this 

 tribal antipathy, which will make the two 

 races one in political harmony and political 

 action not in actuality as races by amalgama- 

 tion, but which will induce that harmony and 

 that cooperation which may bring about the 

 highest state, perhaps, of social civilization and 

 development it is the fact that woman and not 

 man must interfere, in order to smooth the 

 pathway for these two races to go along har- 

 moniously together. And it is for that reason 

 that I insist that when you do make this step, 

 this step forward, which, once made, can never 

 be retrieved, you must do that other thing 

 which assures its success after it is made. Let 

 the negro male vote now, and you open the 

 arena of strife and contention ; let both sexes 

 vote, and then you close that arena of strife ; 

 you ^ bring in that element which subdues all 

 strife, which has made America what she is, 

 which has made the American political meet- 

 ing which has made the American political 

 convention not the scene of strife or angry 

 contention, where armed men meet together to 

 settle political differences, as in the Polish Diet, 

 but a convention where all were subjected to 

 reason, influenced, as it might properly be, by 

 eloquence and by that ' feast of reason ' which 

 is 'the flow of the soul' to those who enjoy it. 

 And therefore, Mr. President, I beg to assure 

 everybody and especially my honorable friend 

 from Rhode Island-who agrees with me, I know, 

 upon this topic, that I am serious and in ear- 

 nest in urging this amendment in dead earnest, 

 in good earnest and why not? I am not so 

 blind as to mistake the signs of the times." 



Mr. Wade, of Ohio, said: "If I believed, as 

 some gentlemen do, that to participate in gov- 

 ernment required intellect of the highest char- 

 acter, the greatest perspicacity of mind, the 

 greatest discipline derived from education and 

 experience, I should be convinced that a repub- 



lican form of government could not live. It is 

 because I believe that all that is essential in 

 government for the welfare of the community 

 is plain, simple, level with the weakest intel- 

 lects, that I am satisfied this Government ought 

 to stand, and will stand, forever. Who is it 

 that ought to be protected by these republican 

 governments? Certainly it is the weak and 

 ignorant, who have no other manner of defend- 

 ing their rights except through the ballot-box. 



"The argument for aristocracies and mon- 

 archies has ever been that the masses of the 

 people do not know enough to take care of the 

 high concerns of government. If they do not, 

 the human race is in a miserable condition. If, 

 indeed, the great masses of mankind, who are 

 permitted to transact their own business, are 

 incompetent to participate in government, then 

 farewell to the republican system of govern- 

 ment ; it cannot stand a day ; it is a wrong 

 foundation. Our principles of government are 

 radically wrong if gentlemen's fears on this 

 subject are well grounded. Thank God, I know 

 they are not. I know that all the defects and 

 evils of our Government have not come from 

 the ignorant masses; but the frauds and the 

 devices of the higher intellects and the more 

 cultivated minds have brought upon our Gov- 

 ernment all those scars by which it has been 

 disfigured. 



"Why should there be any restriction? Is 

 it because gentlemen apprehend that the female 

 portion of the community are not as virtuous, 

 that they are not as well calculated to consider 

 what laws and principles of the government 

 will conduce to their welfare as men are? The 

 great mass of our educated females understand 

 all these great concerns of government infinitely 

 better than that great mass of ignorant popula- 

 tion from other countries which you admit to 

 the polls without hesitation. 



" But, sir, the right of suffrage, in my judg- 

 ment, has bearings altogether beyond any rights 

 of persons or property that are to be vindicated 

 by it. I lay it down that in any free commu- 

 nity, if any particular class of that community 

 are excluded from this right they cannot main- 

 tain bheir dignity ; it is a brand of Cain upon 

 their foreheads that will sink them into con- 

 tempt, even in their own estimation. My judg- 

 ment is, that, if this right was accorded to fe- 

 males, you would find that they would be ele- 

 vated in their minds and in their intellects. 

 The best discipline you can offer them would 

 be to permit and to require them to participate 

 in these great concerns of government, so that 

 their rights and the rights of their children 

 should depend in a manner upon the way in 

 which they understand these great things. 



" They will then understand that they are 

 nyide responsible for the government under 

 which they live. In my judgment, this is the 

 reason why the fact exists, which is acknowl- 

 edged everywhere, that the great mass of our 

 population rise immensely higher in intellect 

 and every quality that should adorn human 



