

CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



i ;:, 



The bill failed to pass by the following vote : 



VISAS Messrs. Anthony, Oattell, Chandler, <'n- 



\M-1I, 1'nul.T, rri-lin^liii\ -i-ii. llrn- 



denon, ll.'M.in!. ll.>\\,', Kirkwood, Lane, Morrill, 



l'i>l:illil, I'oim-ru SluTllllllI, 



i,', Sii-w.irt, Trumbnll, Van Winkle, Wade, 

 \\ill.-y. Williams, Wilson, and Yates 29. 



-M-S. llni'kalew, Cowan, David, Dixon, 





I i', Kdmiinds, KoM'iiilrn, Foster. Crinio, llar- 



! -iidricks, .liihii.snii, McUniiuall, Morgan, Nes- 



niitli, Norton, I'.itirrson, Kiddle, and Saulsbury 19. 



Messrs. Brown, Fogg, Guthric, and Sum- 



ner 4. 



In the Senate, on January 7th, Mr. "Wade, of 

 Ohio, moved to take up the House bill relative 

 to tin- 'IVrritories. He said: "It is a bill to 

 prevent hereafter any distinction on account of 

 color in any of the Territories belonging to the 

 Unit .'d States." 



Mr. Edmunds: " That will be debated." 

 . Mr. SummT: '' Oh, no, I think not. Lotus 

 pass it through now. Let us crown what we 

 have done to-day with that." 



The motion was agreed to; and the Senate, 

 as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the 

 consideration of the bill to amend the organic 

 acts of the Territories of Nebraska, Colorado, 

 1 >akota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Arizona, 

 Utah, and New Mexico. 



Mr. Wade : " I move to strike out all after 

 the enacting clause of the bill and to insert 

 what I send to the chair." 



The President pro tern, said:' "It will be in 

 order immediately aftet disposing of the amend- 

 ment now pending, which is to strike out the 

 (ninth) third section of the bill, as follows: 



SEC. (9) 3. And be it further enacted, That within 

 the Territories aforesaid there shall be no denial of 

 the elective franchise to citizens of the United States 

 because of race or color, and all persons shall be 

 equal before the law. And all acts or parts of acts, 

 either of Congress or of the Legislative Assemblies of 

 the Territories aforesaid, inconsistent with the pro- 

 visions of this act, arc hereby declared null and 

 void. 



Mr. Sumner: "Let that be stricken out." 



Mr. Wade: "Very well; let it be struck 

 out, then." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



Mr. Wade : " Now I move to strike out all 

 of the bill after the enacting clause, and to in- 

 sert the following : " 



That in all the Territories of the United States 

 there shall be no denial to citizens of the United 

 States of the elective franchise by reason of race or 

 color, and all persons shall be equal before the law. 

 And all acts or part of acts, either of Congress or of 

 the Legislative Assembly of any Territory, incon- 

 sistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby 

 declared null and void. 



Mr. Williams, df Oregon, said : " I object to 

 hurrying this bill through without any con- 

 sideration. In all the Territories, according to 

 this proposed amendment, all persons are to be 

 equal before the law. I should like to know 

 what that means before I vote to incorporate 

 into the organic acts of the Territories such 

 phraseology as that. What is the precise mean- 

 ing and effect of it? Suppose an Indian should 



insist upon the right to wit upon a jury. He U 

 authorized to do so, and his right cannot be 

 denied by that amendment. All person* are to 



bo equal before the law, without distinction of 

 race or color or sex, according to that amcnd- 

 iin-iit. I wish Senators to remember that in 

 tin- Territories there is a very large population 

 of wild, untamed Indians, and in attempting t<> 

 provide for the black race within tin; States I 

 think Senators ought not to use language that 

 will put those Indians in the Territories who 

 are wholly unfit to perform any of the duties 

 of a citizen, who are wholly unable to perform 

 any of the duties of a citizen, on an equal foot- 

 ing, and entitle them to all the rigl ts and privi- 

 leges which the white people of the Territories 

 enjoy." 



Mr. Wade: "That is not the intention. Does 

 not the amendment use the word ' citizen ? ' I 

 believe it does." 



Mr. Williams: "No, sir; it says 'all persons 

 shall be equal before the law ; ' and I think 

 that such phraseology as that in legislation is 

 exceedingly dangerous. Specify what particu- 

 lar rights you intend the people of the Terri- 

 tories should possess. If you will say that the 

 citizens of the Territories shall have the right 

 to vote, then I will agree to the proposition. 

 Or if you desire that they shall have any other 

 rights, and you specify them, then I can under- 

 stand for what I vote ;" but to use that sort of 

 phraseology, that ' all persons shall be equal 

 before the law,' when there are so many rami- 

 fications of government and society to which 

 the language applies, seems to me to be a dan- 

 gerous mode o/ legislation. I hope this amend- 

 ment will not be adopted in this hasty man- 

 ner." 



Mr. Lane : " I move that the Senate do now 

 adjourn." 



The motion was agreed to ; and the Senate 

 adjourned. 



On the 10th, the bill was considered, and Mr. 

 Wade withdrew his amendment, and offered 

 the following : 



That from and after the passage of this act there 

 shall be no denial of the elective franchise in any of 

 the Territories of the United States, now or hereafter 

 to be organized, to any citizen thereof on account 

 of race, or color, or previous condition of servitude : 

 and all acts or part of acts, either of Congress or of 

 the Legislative Assemblies of said Territories, in- 

 consistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby 

 declared null and void. 



This was concurred in, and thobill passed 

 by the following vote: 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Conness, Cragin, Ores- 

 well, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fogg, Foster, Fowler, 

 Grimes, Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, 

 Lane, Morgan, Morrill, Poland, Sherman, Stewart, 

 Sumner, Wade, Willey, and Williams 24. 



NATS Messrs. Buckalew, Hendricks, Johnson, 

 Patterson; Riddle, Suulsbury, and Van Winkle 7. 



ABSENT Messrs. Brown, Cattell, Chandler, 

 Cowan, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Frclinglu. 

 Guthrie, Harris, McDougall, Nesniith, Norton 

 Pomeroy, Ramsey, Ross, Sprague, Trumbull, Wilson, 

 and Yates 21. 



