CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



151 



of tin- people of Nebraska to como 



1'nion I sliuuld hesitate very much 



to opp-e thi-ir desire, Init that I felt \'-ry 



much relieved from my t-mharnissment, \>\ the 



.Icratii'ii <>f the fad that, of the 7,776 



uho voted upon tho constitution, 8,888 



1 against it, lacking hut fifty of being one 

 half df flu- people who voted upon the subject. I 



-<cd my gratification at the liberal- 

 i tin- views expressed by the Senator from 

 i Hiio < Mr. Wadc).on this question views that I 

 had not expected from him and judging from 

 his opinions generally expressed on such ques- 

 tions. That Senator said, speaking of tho 

 amendment of the Senator from Missouri (Mr. 

 Brown) : 



The pending amendment proposes to attach a 

 condition to the admission of this State. I do not 

 know whether you can do that. She ought to be 

 admitted, if at all, on tho same footing with all the 

 other States. Up to this hour the regulation of the 

 elective franchise has been regarded as a State 

 question. It belongs, under the Constitution as it 

 now stands, exclusively to the States of the Union. 

 We have not proposed to take it away from any 

 State. 



"Then, sir, after expressing some views in 

 regard to the power of Congress over the South- 

 ern States, in which I do not concur, the Sen- 

 ator went on to say : 



I do not know what right you have to say that a 

 State shall be admitted not on an equality with every 

 other State, and shall not be allowed to regulate her 

 elective franchise as she pleases. 



"The broad doctrine is here asserted that 

 when a State is admitted into this Union she must 

 be admitted on terms of equality with the other 

 States; the broad doctrine of the equality of 

 all the States in this Union. And, sir, when 

 Nebraska is admitted I shall regard it as a pre- 

 cedent, after consideration of the question by 

 the Senate, that a State of the Union is to be 

 admitted to representation without reference to 

 tho character of her domestic institutions which 

 do not affect her relations to the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. In other words, I shall regard it as 

 establishing the doctrine that the people of a 

 Territory in forming their State government 

 have a right to form it according to their own 

 pleasure, subject only to the condition that the 

 government shall be republican in form, and 

 that when a State has a right to come here and 

 to be represented she has a right to bo repre- 

 sented without reference to the character of her 

 domestic institutions or without complying with 

 any conditions other than those required by the 

 Constitution of the United States. 



" The Senator from Ohio (Mr. Sherman) has 

 expressed the opinion that we are committed 

 to the admission of Nebraska by the enabling 

 act passed in 1864, for he says that the people 

 of Nebraska have complied with the conditions 

 required of them In some respects the con- 

 ditions of the enabling act have been agreed to 

 in the constitution which Nebraska has pro- 

 posed for herself, but certainly the Senator 

 did not wish to be understood as saying that 



ill-- requirements of the enabling act have been 

 complied with in the adoption of the con,titu- 

 tion which is now presented to us. \Vh. 

 in no respect whatever has the enabling act 

 liecn complied with. I understand the facts to 

 be that the delegates were elected pursuant to 

 the enahling act, that the delegates met in con- 

 vention at the time required by that act, and 

 that having thus met, so strong did they know 

 the judgment of the people of the Territory to 

 be against tho formation 'of a State government 

 and the adoption of a constitution, that they 

 adjourned at once without making any consti- 

 t ui ion, without taking any steps in that direction. 

 The popular opinion in Nebraska was under- 

 stood to be eo decidedly against the policy of 

 forming a State government at the time the 

 delegates met, that they adjourned without 

 agreeing upon any provisions of a State con- 

 stitution whatever, and afterward, at what 

 time I am not prepared to say, the Legislature 

 of the Territory of Nebraska formed this con- 

 stitution itself. This is not the work of a con- 

 vention. This constitution was formed, as I 

 understand, by the Legislature of Nebraska. I 

 ask the Senator from Ohio if that was within 

 the spirit, or letter either, of the enabling act ? 

 Is it a legislative act to form a State govern- 

 ment and to present here a State constitu- 

 tion? Certainly not. And when the territo- 

 rial Legislature adopted a constitution, that 

 constitution was without legal authority or 

 force ; but I am free to say that if the people 

 of the Territory being of sufficient numbers had 

 afterward agreed to that constitution in such 

 manner and in such numbers as to satisfy us 

 that it was the choice and desire of the people, 

 then the act of the people would give force and 

 validity to such a constitution. It brings us 

 not to the question whether this State ought to 

 be admitted under the enabling act, but to the 

 question whether the people of Nebraska have 

 agreed to this State constitution." 



Mr. Wade, of -Ohio, said: "This amend- 

 ment contains a principle which I have been as 

 earnest in advocating as any other member on 

 this floor. I wisli that principle prevailed over 

 every State in this Union, and where it does 

 not now prevail I trust it very shortly will. 

 But still I have objections to it in this connec- 

 tion, and as an amendment to this bill, for rea- 

 sons that I do not now intend to consider at 

 very great length, because most of what I wish 

 to say on this subject I said on a former occa- 

 sion when it was before the Senate. 



" It was argued by the Senator from Missouri, 

 and perhaps one or two other Senators, that 

 there was a precedent for annexing such an 

 amendment to a bill for the admission of a 

 State, or an amendment limiting the power of 

 the State when it should come into the Union ; 

 that there was such a precedent by what was 

 called the Missouri compromise. Mr. Clay, I 

 believe, on that occasion offered the provision 

 which is cited as a precedent. That is my rec- 

 ollection of it, though I have not looked at it 



