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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



States which will deny to the State a power 

 which the Constitution gives to the State ? Is 

 Congress above the Constitution, or is the Con- 

 stitution above Congress? Such a provision, in 

 my judgment, will be perfectly null and void. 



"Besides, I have one further objection to 

 my honorable friend's amendment, and it has 

 nothing to do with the negro question at all. 

 There are hardly enough negroes in Nebraska 

 to count. There are probably more than there 

 were in Montana when we had that question up. 

 There was but one negro in that Territory, and 

 he had died really before the question was raised 

 in the Senate. The objection which I am about 

 to present may grow out of the fact that I have 

 been connected more or less with Indian affairs, 

 and hence it is that I think of the Indian some- 

 times when he seems to be entirely forgotten 

 by all the other members of this body. This 

 proposition of my honorable friend would con- 

 fer the right of suffrage on every Indian in Ne- 

 braska. There are Omahas and Ottoes and 

 Sioux and Cheyennes and Arapahoes in Ne- 

 braska, and in an excited election had in this 

 new State the Indian agent or somebody else 

 might bring up the whole Indian tribe of that 

 Territory under this amendment and vote them 

 all at an election. That is a question that does 

 not concern the negro, and upon which we are 

 not yet so much and so deeply interested but 

 that we can actually see what the result would 

 be. Now, look at the proposition : he imposes 

 as a fundamental article of the constitution of 

 Nebraska forever that they shall admit every 

 Indian in that Territory to the exercise of the 

 right of franchise, for it covers the Indian just 

 as much as it does the negro ; it covers all per- 

 sons ; it forbids the denial of the right of suf- 

 frage to any person on account of race or color. 



" Mr. President, that is all I desire to say as 

 to the present pending amendment of the Sena- 

 tor from Missouri. I desire to say a single 

 word in relation to the bill itself. I gave notice 

 of an intention to introduce an amendment 

 which has no effect upon the constitution, but 

 is to have effect simply upon the question of the 

 admission of the State into the Union, to wit, 

 that the constitution shall first be submitted to 

 the people of the Territory of Nebraska, and if 

 they vote in favor of its admission and in favor 

 of the constitution, then, without any further 

 proceeding on the part of Congress, by procla- 

 mation of the President, they may be declared 

 admitted into the Union as one of the States. 

 A similar provision was adopted in the case of 

 Wisconsin. In one of the acts passed by Con- 

 gress for the admission of Wisconsin it was pro- 

 vided that the constitution should be submitted 

 to the people, and if ratified by them, then, 

 upon the proclamation of the President, the 

 State should be admitted without further action 

 by Congress." 



Mr. Howard, of Michigan, said: "Now, sir, 

 is this State constitution presented to us by the 

 people of Nebraska in accordance with the De- 

 claration of Independence ?. My honorable friend 



from Massachusetts and my honorable friend 

 from Missouri object that this constitution is not 

 in accordance with the principles of that decla- 

 ration. I deem it hardly worth while to enter 

 into a discussion of that question, but I will 

 venture to say a few words upon it. 



" It is insisted by these gentlemen that in 

 order to bring this constitution within the terms 

 of the condition here prescribed, and to make 

 it accord with the principles of the Declaration 

 of Independence, it ought to contain a provis- 

 ion allowing all persons, without distinction of 

 color, to exercise the right of voting, and the 

 honorable Senator from Missouri has presented 

 to us an amendment which is based upon that 

 idea. With great respect for the opinions of 

 my learned friend from Massachusetts, and for 

 those of my friend from Missouri, I must be al- 

 lowed to take issue with them. I assert that 

 there is nothing in the Declaration of Independ- 

 ence, or in the principles of that Declaration 

 which, when properly understood, requires any 

 State or any Territory to permit all persons 

 without distinction of color to vote. There is 

 not in that Declaration one word upon that 

 subject, nor any intimation that such is the pro- 

 per construction of any of its provisions or any 

 of its language. It is said that the Declaration 

 declares that ' all men are created equal,' and 

 hence it is sought to draw the inference that if 

 one man of a white complexion is permitted 

 to vote, it is equally the right of the colored 

 man to do the same thing, because he, like the 

 white man, has been created by our common 

 Creator and is the equal of the white man in re- 

 spect to rights. 



" I deny the correctness of the inference. I 

 deny that the right to vote is one of those rights 

 referred to by Mr. Jefferson, who penned the 

 Declaration. The elective franchise is a privi- 

 lege granted by the community to such of its 

 members as a majority shall see fit. It is not 

 one of the rights given us by nature. It is not 

 the same as the right to breathe the air, with- 

 out which we must instantly perish. It is not 

 the same as the right to drink the water that 

 falls from the sky, or that runs down the limpid 

 stream, without which we should also perish. 

 It is not in any sense, according to my judg- 

 ment, a natural, inalienable right. It is not the 

 right of liberty even ; not one of those inalien- 

 able rights referred to in the Declaration, con- 

 ferred upon all men in virtue of their creation, 

 but a convention alright, to be granted or with- 

 held as society may deem best ; one which has 

 always been treated as such ; one which can- 

 not and does not exist without law, without a 

 law founded on the will of the people in a re- 

 publican government; that is, of the majority 

 of the people ; for the will of the majority of 

 the people is the very foundation, the essence 

 of republican government. 



" The people of Nebraska have not seen fit to 

 incorporate in their constitution a provision 

 allowing colored persons to vote ; and I do not 

 think, for the reasons I have given, that they 



