644 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



short residence, a privilege they find nowhere else. 

 It is within their power, in one year, to come into 

 the District in such numbers as to have the supreme 

 control of the white race, and to govern them by 

 their own officers, and by the exercise of all the 

 municipal authority among the rest, of the power 

 of taxation over property in which they have no in- 

 terest. In Massachusetts, where they have enjoyed 

 the benefits of a thorough educational system, a 

 qualification of intelligence is required, while here 

 suffrage is extended to all without discrimination, as 

 well to the most incapable, who can prove a resi- 

 dence in the District of one year, as to those persons 

 of color, who, comparatively few in number, are per- 

 manent inhabitants, and having given evidence of 

 merit and qualification, are recognized as useful and 

 responsible members of the community. Imposed 

 upon an unwilling people, placed, by the Constitu- 

 tion, under the exclusive legislation of Congress, it 

 would be viewed as an arbitrary exercise of power, 

 and as an indication by the country of the purpose 

 of Congress to compel the acceptance of negro suf- 

 frage by the States. It would engender a feeling of op- 

 position and hatred between the two races, which, be- 

 coming deep-rooted and ineradicable, would prevent 

 them from living together in a state of mutual friend- 

 liness. Carefully avoiding every measure that might 

 tend to produce such a result, and following the 

 clear and well-ascertained popular will, we should 

 assiduously endeavor to promote kindly relations 

 between them, and thus, when that popular will leads 

 the way, prepare for the gradual and harmonious 

 introduction of this new element into the political 

 power of the country. 



It cannot be urged that the proposed extension of 

 suffrage in the District of Columbia is necessary to 

 enable persons of color to protect either their inter- 

 ests jr their rights. They stand here precisely as 

 they stand in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. 

 Here, as elsewhere, in all that pertains to civil rights, 

 there is nothing to distinguish this class of persons 

 from citizens of the United States ; for they possess 

 the " full and equal benefit of all laws and proceed- 

 ings for the security of person and property as is 

 enjoyed by white citizens," and are made " subject 

 to Irke punishment, pains, and penalties, and_ to 

 none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, 

 or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." Nor, 

 as has been assumed, are their suffrages necessary to 

 aid a loyal sentiment here ; for local governments 

 already exist of undoubted fealty to the Government, 

 and are sustained by communities which were among 

 the first to testify their devotion to the Union, and 

 which during the struggle furnished their full quotas 

 of men to the military service of the country. 



The exercise of the elective franchise is the highest 

 attribute of an American citizen, and, when guided by 

 virtue, intelligence, patriotism, and a proper apprecia- 

 tion of our institutions, constitutes the true basis of 

 a democratic form of government, ih which the 

 sovereign power is lodged in the body of the people. 

 Its influence for good necessarily depends upon the 

 elevated character and patriotism of the elector, for 

 if exercised by persons who do not justly estimate 

 its value, and who are indifferent as to its results, it 

 will only serve as a means of placing power in the 

 hands of the unprincipled and ambitious, and must 

 eventuate in the complete destruction of that liberty 

 of which it should be the most powerful conservator. 

 Great danger is therefore to be apprehended from 

 an untimely extension of the elective franchise to 

 any new class in our country, especially . when the 

 large majority of that class, in wielding the power 

 thus placed in their hands, cannot be expected cor- 

 rectly to comprehend the duties and responsibilities 

 which pertain to suffrage. Yesterday, as it were, 

 four million persons were held in a condition of 

 slavery that had existed for generations ; to-day 

 they are freemen, and are assumed by law to be 

 citizens. It cannot be presumed, from their pre- 



vious condition of servitude, that, as a class, they 

 are as well informed as to the nature of our Govern- 

 ment as the intelligent foreigner, who makes our 

 land the home of his choice. In the case of the latter, 

 neither a residence of five years, and the knowledge 

 of our institutions which it gives, nor attachment to 

 the principles of the Constitution, are the only con- 

 ditions upon which he can be admitted to citizen- 

 ship. He must prove, in addition, a good moral 

 character, and thus give reasonable ground for the 

 belief that he will be faithful to the obligations 

 which he assumes as a citizen of the Republic. 

 Where a people the source of all political power 

 speak by their suffrages, through the instrumentali- 

 ty of the ballot-box, it must be carefully guarded 

 against the control of those who are corrupt in prin- 

 ciple and enemies of free institutions, for it can only 

 become to our political and social system a safe con- 

 ductor of healthy popular sentiment when kept free 

 from demoralizing influences. Controlled through 

 fraud and usurpation by the designing, anarchy and 

 despotism must inevitably follow. In the hands of 

 the patriotic and worthy our Government will be 

 preserved upon the principles of the Constitution in- 

 herited from our fathers. It follows, therefore, that, 

 in admitting to the ballot-box a new class of voters 

 not qualified for the exercise of the elective fran- 

 chise, we weaken our system of government instead 

 of adding to its strength and durability. 



In returning this bill to the Senate, I deeply 

 regret that there should be any conflict of opin- 

 ion between the Legislative and Executive De- 

 partments of the Government in regard to meas- 

 ures that vitally affect the prosperity and peace 

 of the country. Sincerely desiring to reconcile the 

 States with one another, and the whole people to 

 the Government of the United States, it has been 

 mv earnest wish to cooperate with Congress in 

 all measures having for their object a proper and 

 complete adjustment of the questions resulting from 

 our late civil war. Harmony between the coordinate 

 branches of the Government, always necessary for 

 the public welfare, was never more demanded than 

 at the present time, and it will therefore be my con- 

 stant aim to promote, as far as possible, concert of 

 action between them. The differences of opinion 

 that have already occurred have rendered me only 

 the more cautious lest the Executive should encroach 

 upon any of the prerogatives of Congress, or, by ex- 

 ceeding in any manner the constitutional limit of 

 his duties, destroy the equilibrium which should 

 exist between the several coordinate departments, 

 and which is so essential to the harmonious working 

 of the Government. I know it has been urged that 

 the Executive Department is more likely to enlarge 

 the sphere of its action than either of the other two 

 branches of the Government, and especially in the 

 exercise of the veto power conferred upon it by the 

 Constitution. It should be remembered, however, 

 that this power is wholly negative and conservative 

 in its character, and was intended to operate as a 

 check upon unconstitutional, hasty, and improvident 

 legislation, and, as a means of protection against in- 

 vasions of the just powers of the Executive and Judi- 

 cial Departments. It was remarked by Chancellor 

 Kent that 



To enact laws is a transcendent power; and, if the body 

 that possesses it be a lull and equal representation of the 

 people, there is danger of its pressing with destructive weight 

 upon all the other parts of the machinery of Government. It 

 has therefore been thought necessary, by the most skilful 

 and most experienced artists in the science of civil polity, 

 that strong barriers should be erected for the protection and 

 security of the other necessnry powers of the Government. 

 Nothing has been deemed more fit and expedient for the pur- 

 pose than the provision that the head of the Executive De- 

 partment should be so constituted as to secure a requisite 

 share of independence, and that he. should have a negative 

 upon the passing of laws ; and that the judiciary power, rest- 

 ing on a still more permanent basis, should have the right of 

 determining upon the validity of laws by the standard of the 

 Constitution. 



