CONGRESS, UNITKD BTA1 





Mr. llalc, <'f Ncu York, followed, 

 |; MO preposterous to claim th.-it ;i 



tliis I'nioii, which limits or re-tric;s 

 in the inamici- ami to tlie 

 it which the almo-t universal and un- 

 .ictice of tin- States and of the Fid- 

 Minciit from the adoption of the Con- 

 inn luis sanctioned, has not u rc|nil)lican 

 of government within the meaning of the 

 ion. 



I., t nu' put the question back to the distin- 

 atleman from Pennsylvania. Is tliat 

 ib'.ican form of government, according to 

 liis theory, in which one hundred male citizens 

 of full ago may vote and one hundred female 

 citizens of equal intelligence and equal qualifi- 

 cations in every other respect cannot vote? 

 \\ e have always recognized the doctrine that 

 the right of suffrage might be limited. AVo 

 ni/.e it to-day. 1 tru-t we shall never fail 

 to do so, and also to recognize the doctrine that 

 under our Constitution this whole question 

 ought to remain where the Constitution puts it, 

 in the control of the States themselves and not 

 of the Federal Government." 



Mr. Le Blond, of Ohio, said : " It has never 

 been claimed until within the last four years that 

 -TOSS has any power over the elective fran- 

 chise in the States, but on the contrary that 

 that power was conferred upon the States by 

 the provisions of the Federal Constitution, and 

 they alone can exercise it. Now, sir, if it be 

 true that we can prevent this State from com- 

 ing into the Union by fixing conditions prece- 

 dent to its admission, and that upon the ground 

 that it is not republican in form, then I say that 

 this Coiunvss luis power to say to the State of 

 Ohio, which I have the honor to represent in 

 part, that because she permits none but white 

 male citizens over the age of twenty-one years 

 to vote she shall be turned out of the Union as 

 not having a republican form of government. 

 Yet that is the doctrine that is enunciated here 

 that those States which do not confer upon 

 their citizens suffrage without respect to race 

 or color are not republican in form, and there- 

 fore not entitled to representation here. I re- 

 peat, if you carry out this doctrine in the ad- 

 mission of Nebraska, you can doit -with reference 

 to the States that are in the Union to-day." 



Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, said: "I think 

 that we ought, in justice to ourselves and to 

 the people we represent, and to what we must 

 regard as their deliberate judgment, to send this 

 iuestion back to the people of Nebraska, and 

 iiether they are willing to give us and the 

 country a guarantee either in the form of a pop- 

 ular vote, u conventional ordinance, or even an 

 act of their Legislature, that in the future they 

 will adhere in good faith to this great principle 

 of mi 



Mr. Delano, of Ohio, said: "I understand 

 that the objection to the government of Ne- 

 braska as being anti-republican is that it does 

 not extend the right of suffrage to the negro 

 race. I know of no other objection to it, and I 



shall take it for prai.ted that thut in the only 

 '.on to it. 



w, it the State government of Nebraska 

 is for this reason not republican in form, I auk 

 how many State governments in this IVioQare 

 republican in form { I live in u S: 

 exactly the same constitution in that respect; 

 and New York has the same form virtually, 

 there heing only qualified negro suffni 

 New York. And 1 venture to assert that there 

 are not over one or two States in the Union 

 that have governments republican in form if the 

 form of government presented to us ly the peo- 

 ple of Nebraska is not republican in form. 



" Sir, it is worse than idle for us now to assert 

 that the form of government presented by Ne- 

 braska is not republican in form, for that asser- 

 tion cannot be sustained. The whole history 

 of our nation gives the lie, so to speak, to the 

 assertion that the Nebraska State government 

 is not republican in form. Yet \vo are asked 

 to refuse the admission of this State, because 

 it has not conformed to the modern idea that 

 we have adopted, that suffrage should be ex- 

 tended to the black race. "When the question 

 comes to me in the State of Ohio whether I 

 will vote to reform her constitution or not, I 

 am not prepared to say that I should not vote 

 for its reformation, because I do not wish to be 

 understood as standing behind any gentleman 

 in reference to the question of universal rights 

 and privileges ; but I do say that the whole 

 history of our government s.hows that we have 

 recognized such governments as this of Ne- 

 braska as republican in form, and have admitted 

 the States having them into the Union. And 

 how can wo stand back now and deny to this 

 young State the right to come in as a member 

 of the Union upon the same terms? How can 

 we impose upon her conditions which have 

 never been imposed upon the other States now 

 in the Union ? Upon what principle can we 

 say to the people who live in Nebraska, " You 

 shall not come into this Union as a State unless 

 you come upon conditions other than those 

 which have been recognized as fit to constitute 

 a State a partner in the great Government of 

 the United States ever since that Government 

 was formed ? 



" Sir, let us see to it that no vain theory or 

 speculative opinions lead us into legislation 

 which will cause us to stand before the world 

 in a position where wo cannot defend our- 

 selves." 



Mr. Hale, of New York, said : " If the gen- 

 tleman's doctrine is correct that a State which 

 does not grant impartial suffrage to all men has 

 not a republican form of government is it not 

 the duty of this Congress to change the consti- 

 tutions of New York and Pennsylvania, and 

 make them republican in form?" 



Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, said: "Mr. 

 Speaker, that is entirely aside from the present 

 question. There is no existing exigency culling 

 upon Congress to interfere in refeivnce to the 

 institutions of the old States that have organ- 



