CON<;I:I:-S. UNITED STATES. 



HI 



p irticipating in tlie late rebellion, m 



i'i wlion gaid constitution shall 



iiluniited i mi State, as 



r.itiiieati >r rejection, and when 



nion, if ratilied by Hi" people 



ill liavo been submitted 

 .md approval, said Stale shall, if its 

 i !), approved l>y Congress, lie deelaivd 



illation in Congress, aud Senators 



ves shall be admitted therefrom on 



the oath prescribed by law, and then and 



the preceding sections of this bill shall be 



.:id State. 



Mr. Sewart, of Nevada, said: "I regret ex- 

 iu'ly that tho Senator from Oregon lias 

 I his mind with regard to his amendment, 

 and ha- not offered it as he proposed to do yes- 

 ten]:!;.. Tho military hill without that, it seems 

 to UK-, is an acknowledgment that, after two 

 years of discussion and earnest thought, \ve are 

 unable to reconstruct and are compelled to turn 

 the matter over to the military. It seems to me 

 that tho people of the United States want and 

 demand something more than a military gov- 

 ernment for the South. It seems to mo the 

 emphatic vote they gave last fall indicates 

 that they desire the programme which Con- 

 gress agreed upon should be carried out. It 

 seems to me that they desire aud demand that 

 there shall be some voting; that somebody in 

 the South shall have the right to vote. I am 

 still in favor of universal suffrage as soon as it 

 can bo obtained, and universal amnesty when- 

 ever it is practicable and advantageous. I am 

 aware that the Southern States do not stand in 

 i:ne position that they did twelve months 

 ago. I regret that we cannot do for them wb at 

 we \vouM have done for them then. But Con- 

 did pass a certain constitutional amend- 

 ment, and several Senators have stated upon 

 this floor during this session that, if that amend- 

 ment had been adopted, they would have re- 

 garded it as a finality. I myself wanted some- 

 ihing more ; I wanted impartial suffrage in the 

 S nit h. I do not believe that wo can reconstruct 

 in the South until the people of the South are 

 invested with power there." 



.Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said : "I move 

 to amend the amendment by inserting after the 

 words ' common law,' in tho twelfth line, these 

 words : 



And have provided by constitution and laws that 

 all citizens of the United States shall equally possess 

 the right to pursue all lawful avocations and business, 

 to receive the equal benefits of the public schools, 

 and to have the equal protection of all the rights of 

 citizens of the United States in said States. 



" I am disposed, sir, to vote for this bill as it 

 came from the House of Representatives with- 

 out amendment ; but if it is to be amended at 

 all, I desire that the amendment I have offered 

 shall be adopted. The original amendment of- 

 fered by the Senator from Maryland provides 

 that on the adoption by any of the Southern 

 of the constitutional amendment and tlu! 

 extension of suffrage by the adoption of tho 

 principle of manhood suffrage, such as we have 

 established in this District, without qualification, 



and when it shall have amended it* constitution 

 to conform to the Constitution and law- 

 United States, i' 'ilntives who c:iii tk< 

 the. prescribed oath shall be admit 1 . 

 seats in Congress, and that then this bill 

 cease to be effective in -uch State, l Dimply 

 propose to add this provision that tl, 

 also provide that all cili/ensof the l'n i ted States 

 within its limits shall have the right to j 

 all the avocations and business of life, that they 

 shall have the equal bencfitsof the public schools 

 and that they shall have the equal protection of 

 the laws. I believe this provision ought to be 

 adopted. We have as much right to ask this as 

 we have to ask the other conditions contained 

 in the amendment of the Senator ft om Maryland. 

 We have a right to ask for every thing that ia 

 requisite to put every human being in those 

 States upon a footing of equality under the pro- 

 tection of equal laws. 



"I believe, Mr. President, that tho. wisest 

 thing would be to pass this bill just as it came 

 from the House, and then to pass the Louisiana 

 bill, and then to pass a resolution reciting the 

 fact that the constitutional amendment In: 

 adopted by a sufficient number of States, and 

 providing that those States hi rebellion, which 

 will assent to the constitutional amendment, 

 change their constitutions and laws in conform- 

 ity with its requirements, give manhood suf- 

 frage, and put all its citizens, without distinction 

 of color or race, under the equal protection of 

 the laws, so that they may engage in all the avo- 

 cations of life, have tho benefits of the public 

 schools, and stand on the same ground with all 

 others, protected by just, humane, and equal 

 laws, shall be thereupon entitled to repn- 

 tion in Congress, by those who can take the 

 prescribed oath. In such a resolution as that fol- 

 lowing this legislation we can declare, if we wi-h 

 to do so, that this act shall cease to operate 

 in any State which adopts that course. Besides, 

 if we pass this act now, we can amend it at any 

 time hereafter, but it seems to me dangerous to 

 send it back to the House of Representatives 

 at this stage of the session, and dangerous to 

 send the Louisiana bill back. I think we ought 

 to pass those bills and pass them immediately. 

 They will be, like the constitutional amendment, 

 great steps, great means to the the final adjust- 

 ment and settlement of this whole question. 



" Sir, universal manhood suffrage has ceased 

 to be a contested issue in America. Although 

 it is not yet incorporated into constitutions and 

 laws, it is just as much an achieved fact in the 

 ten rebel States as it is in the District of Colum- 

 bia, the State of Tennessee, or the Territ 

 The battle of manhood suffrage is fought jind 

 won ; all we have to do now is to provide for 

 the formal incorporation of that principle into 

 constitutions and laws." 



Mr. Howard, of Michigan, said: ''The prin- 

 ciple upon which the bill proceeds is the princi- 

 ple for which I have all along contended, that 

 the rebel States, as communities, have been con- 

 quered by the arms of the United States in the 



