214 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



" Now, sir, I take it we have to inquire, while 

 we are examining the provisions of this bill, first, 

 whether we have the power to pass it, and 

 whether, if so, it is wise that we should pass it. 

 What are these governments now existing in the 

 Southern States which we propose thus to su- 

 persede? They are governments having actual 

 force and effect within the territory subject to 

 their jurisdiction. They are de facto govern- 

 ments. They originated, as all gentlemen here 

 know, by the act of the people of those States, 

 under the lead and guidance, and, if you choso 

 to say so, under the authority and direction 

 of the President of the United States. It is pro- 

 posed to annul these governments partly because 

 of their origin, because they did thus originate in 

 the acts of the Executive, and partly because 

 the governments thus established do not protect 

 the rights, liberties, and property of their citi- 

 zens as we think they ought to do. 



" The war has developed certain principles 

 and sentiments in the national mind which 

 ought to find a place in the structure and Con- 

 stitution of the Government. I believe the na- 

 tion demands that they shall in some way be 

 made the basis upon which the Union is to be 

 fully restored and the practical operations of 

 the Government resumed. The settled senti- 

 ment of the nation, in my judgment, demands 

 guarantees against future attempts at secession, 

 guarantees against an inequality of rights and 

 franchises based upon arbitrary distinctions of 

 race or color, guarantees for the inviolability of 

 the national debt and the sanctity of the public 

 credit. I have no doubt at all that the will and 

 purpose of this nation to-day is, and has been 

 ever since the war closed, that there shall be in 

 the Constitution some provision more effective 

 than any yet existing for an equality of rights 

 of all men in this country, and for their protec- 

 tion in the enjoyment of them ; for an absolute 

 and immediate equality of civil rights, and for 

 an equality of political rights just as soon as the 

 other and more pressing necessities of the na- 

 tion will permit. 



" I think there should be embodied in the 

 Constitution a provision for the absolute equal- 

 ity in civil rights of all the inhabitants of the 

 land ; and I believe that there will be soon, if 

 there is not now, from the people, not of one 

 section, not of one class of States, but of all sec- 

 tions and of all States, an equally strong and 

 equally resistless demand for a corresponding 

 equality of political rights. 



" I think in the next place that the nation as 

 a nation demands an absolute guarantee against 

 future attempts at secession. The people intend 

 that this effort at secession and revolution shall 

 not be repeated. They do not intend to go 

 through again what they have already gone 

 through ; nor do they intend that the suffering 

 and the sacrifices they have already experienced 

 shall be without their due effect upon the fun- 

 damental law of the nation. 



" It is not a passing caprice, but the settled 

 judgment of the nation, that these guarantees 



are essential to the development of the national 

 power and the protection of the public liberties. 

 It is a condition which is much more likely to 

 grow stronger than tp grow weaker, for it is 

 founded on justice and consults the public good. 

 If these guarantees were once imbedded in the 

 written Constitution, as the principles and sen- 

 timents which demand them are already imbed- 

 ded in the unwritten but real Constitution of 

 the nation, and the Government were then re- 

 stored to full, regular activity in all its functions, 

 we should have the highest promise of rapid 

 and peaceful national growth and prosperity 

 for at least another generation, which, as Jeffer- 

 son held, was quite as long as any Constitution 

 ought to last without revision. 



" Now, sir, let us see what provision we have 

 attempted to make for meeting this strong and 

 just demand of the national will. "We have 

 first the constitutional amendment adopted by 

 Congress at its last session and submitted to the 

 States for their ratification. And now we have 

 this bill intended to supply what that amend- 

 ment lacked. 



" Now, the constitutional amendment meets 

 the demand of which I have spoken partially, 

 but only to a certain extent. Jt does provide 

 for an equality of civil rights. It holds out an 

 inducement to the people of the Southern States 

 for the extension of political rights an.d the elec- 

 tive franchise to the colored race, by increasing 

 their representative power in the national coun- 

 cils in proportion as they shall thus extend the 

 suffrage. Whether this goes far enough or not 

 is a disputed question. Congress at the last ses- 

 sion thought it was as far as we could wisely 

 and safely go^t present, and I think the people 

 concur in that opinion. And the amendment 

 guarantees the sacredness of the public debt, 

 and clothes Congress with such an enlargement 

 of power as these new provisions may require. 



" All these provisions are just and wise, and 

 thoroughly in harmony with the sentiment of 

 the nation. But these are all which the amend- 

 ment contains which are in the nature of a guar- 

 antee at all. There is a partial and temporary 

 diminution of political power imposed upon the 

 South, which is just and right, but wholly in- 

 effective as a guarantee ; and disabilities are 

 imposed upon classes of the Southern people 

 somewhat more sweeping than the public safety 

 requires, and calculated to do more harm by ex- 

 asperating the South than it does good by secur- 

 ing the peace and security of the nation. The 

 amendment should be maintained, though I 

 believe slight changes might be made in the 

 section to which I have thus referred, which, 

 without in the least degree impairing its value 

 to the nation, would insure its ultimate accept- 

 ance by the Southern States, and thus render 

 it of practical value in the restoration of the 

 Union. 



"But on the subject of future attempts at se- 

 cession the proposed amendment contains noth- 

 ing which can, except by the remotest inference, 

 be construed into a guarantee. The learned and * 



