168 



CONGEESS, UNITED STATES. 



ized governments. What the power of Con- 

 gress is with reference to that matter is a differ- 

 ent question from that we are now called npon to 

 consider. My own opinion is that when, by an 

 arbitrary rule, a State deprives a particular 

 class of men and their posterity for all time of 

 participation in the government under which 

 they live, just to that extent the government 

 fails to be republican in form. "Whether the 

 exclusion of any small number of persons from 

 participation in the government of any State 

 furnishes occasion, under the Constitution, for 

 the intervention of the Congress of the United 

 States is a very grave question, and one which 

 we are not now called upon to consider. But 

 whether we shall admit into the Union a State 

 formed out of a Territory, over which we have 

 exclusive and continuing jurisdiction, is a dif- 

 ferent question; because, under the Constitu- 

 tion, we can hold the Territory as a Territory 

 until its people frame a government which we 

 are willing to accept as republican in form." 



Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, said: "Mr. 

 Speaker, several gentlemen have asked exult- 

 ingly if anybody denies that this is a republic, 

 and that the States are republics. Sir, any thing 

 is a republic which you choose to call a re- 

 public. Eome was a republic under her worst 

 consuls and emperors. They called it so. There 

 have been republics everywhere in the midst 

 of despotism. You may call what you choose a 

 republic. What I am to speak to now is the 

 Eepublic intended bjr the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence, and I deny that this Government has 

 ever been such a republic ; I deny that the 

 State of Pennsylvania, to which reference was 

 made, is a republic ; and that is an answer to 

 the gentleman; I wish this Congress would 

 take it in hand and make it a republic. 



" Now, what was the Eepublic contemplated 

 by the Declaration of Independence ? ' All 

 men are created free and equal ' and ' all right- 

 ful government is founded on the consent of 

 the governed.' Nothing short of that is the 

 Eepublic intended by the declaration. But we 

 are now attempting to build a perfect republic. 

 We are now attempting to finish a structure 

 whose foundations were laid nearly a century 

 ago. That structure is the temple of liberty, 

 where all nations may worship. Men who, if 

 ever there-were demi-gods, deserved that name, 

 suddenly appeared on the scene, of political 

 action the Adamses, Thomas Jefferson, and 

 their compeers and created an epoch in the 

 science of government. Eejecting the old doc- 

 trine of hereditary succession and the divine 

 right _ of kings, they boldly proclaimed the 

 equality of the human race, and asserted that 

 the right of all government was founded on the 

 consent of the governed. Upon this declara- 

 tion alone stood the American Eevolution. The 

 people then had no actual grievance which 

 would justify the shedding of one drop of hu- 

 man blood. 



"But they fought and bled for this sublime 

 idea. In this sign they conquered. But when 



peace and security had come, and the several 

 sovereignties attempted to 'form a more per- 

 fect Union,' they found themselves obstructed 

 by a pernicious and unyielding institution in 

 direct hostility to their avowed principles, and 

 they were obliged to trust to time to eradicate 

 it. They left the foundation firm, beautiful and 

 imperishable, and waited for the arrival of this 

 propitious period to complete the superstruct- 

 ure. What a glorious sight it were to look in 

 upon this hall and see those great men revived, 

 rejuvenated occupying their seats and finish- 

 ing their imperfect work, proclaiming universal 

 liberty and equality to the human race! But 

 that may not be. They have left this scene of 

 action, as we soon shall, never to return. They 

 enjoined upon their posterity to complete their 

 labor. Are we that posterity or are we bas- 

 tards? Are we the legitimate descendants of 

 the men of the Eevolution, or did some untu- 

 tored horde of the dark ages break in and cor- 

 rupt the progeny ? If we fail to complete this 

 superstructure in harmony with the foundation, 

 we must be dwarfs in intellect or in moral cour- 

 age. 



"Gentlemen loudly ask is not this a repnb-. 

 lie? I measure it by the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence, as I did twenty years ago in this 

 hall when I denounced it as a despotism. Call 

 you that a free republic where there are twenty 

 million rulers and four million slaves human 

 beings without one human right ? 



" South Carolina has two hundred thousand 

 whites and four hundred thousand men of color. 

 Both are men ; both have immortal souls. The 

 two hundred thousand absolutely rule the four 

 hundred thousand. They have no voice in any- 

 thing connected with the government which 

 rules them. Is this a government deriving its 

 force from the consent of the governed ? Shame 

 upon American statesmen, who in this day of 

 their power hold such vile doctrine! Do not 

 delay, give us now the Eepublic of the Decla- 

 ration of Independence, and let the world be- 

 hold and admire. I would like to add a few 

 things more, but am not well enough." 



Mr. Eaymond, of New York, said : " I am 

 inclined to vote for that amendment for this sim- 

 ple reason, that it makes clear and explicit the 

 purpose which the third section of the bill leaves 

 very vague and uncertain. 



" The thu-d section professes to make provis- 

 ion for extending all civil and political rights 

 to all races and conditions of men in Nebraska 

 as the fundamental and imperative condition 

 of the admission of the State of Nebraska into 

 the Union. But gentlemen on this floor do not 

 agree whether the section accomplishes that 

 objector not; the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 

 Bingham) says he will vote for this bill, because 

 he regards that third section as utterly null and 

 void ; the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Farns- 

 worth) says he will vote for the bill, because he 

 regards that third section as full and effective ; 

 and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Allison) 

 says he shall feel constrained to vote against 



