rrm.ic IHHTMENTB. 



C49 





the fundamental eon* 



,, .|,.,ll b*M 



llllrr fill,. 



liy :i Mill-inn 



' in- :-:il.| lii!i<l:inici 



LllMllll til tin- I'll -l(li Ml 



.n't. il|xui icrript w 

 ill ill. in, t-liull f.ntliw l(!i aiiii.iiiiir.- 

 .1 r-.ii.l fiimliimi-iiliil r,, in hit, ,n -li.ill lie 

 , lau nl'tlu- Slate ; ami tlirtvupiiii, 



<m Hi,- |i;irl df ( 

 M Stair int. i ill.' I'nlon ahull be - 



This condition is not mentioned in the original 

 enali!; not eonteinpliiteil at the time of it -; 



lit liv tlic people thru. 



! heretofore lieen applied to tlie inhabitants of 

 any Sl:i(e asking admission, ami is in direct conflict 



with the i ititntion adopted by the people and de- 



iii the jireamlile "to be republican in its form 

 of government ;" for in that instrument the exer- 

 t the elective franchise and the right to hold 

 ire e \prc.v-lv limited to while eiti/ens of the 

 I'nited States. I 'ongre.-s thus nmlertakcs to author- 

 1 emu pel tin- Legislature to change the con- 

 stitution, which it is declared in the preamble has 

 I the sanction of the people, and which by 

 11 is "accepted, ratified, and confirmed " by 

 the Congress of the nation. 



The first ami third sections of the bill exhibit yet 

 further incongruity. By the one, Nebraska is " ad- 

 mitted into the Union upon an equal footing with 

 : initial States, in all respects whatsoever;" 

 while by the other, Congress demands, as condition 

 '-nt to her admission, requirements which in 

 our history have never been asked of any people 

 when presenting a constitution and State government 

 for the acceptance of the law-making power. It is 

 expressly declared by the third section that the bill 



Shall not take effect except upon the fundamental condi- 

 tion that within the State of Nebraska there shall be no 

 denial of the elective franchise or of any other right to any 

 person by reason of race or color, excepting Indians not taxed. 



Neither more nor less than the assertion of the 

 right of Congress to regulate the elective franchise 

 of any State nereafter to be admitted. This condi- 

 tion is in clear violation of the Federal Constitution, 

 under the provisions of which, from the very founda- 

 tion of the Government, each State has been left free 

 1.1 determine for it self the qualifications necessary for 

 the exercise of suffrage within its limits. Without 

 preeedent in <mr legislation, it is in marked contrast 

 with those limitations which, imposed upon States 

 that from time to time have become members of the 

 Union, had for their object the single purpose of 

 preventing any infringement of the Constitution of 

 the country. If Congress is satisfied that Nebraska 

 at the pi. sent time possesses sufficient population to 

 entitle her to full representation in the councils of 

 the nation, and that tier people desire an exchange 

 of a Territorial for a State government, good faith 

 would seem to demand that she should be admitted 

 without further requirements than those expressed in 

 the enabling act, with all of which it is asserted in the 

 preamble her inhabitants have complied. Congress 

 may, under the Constitution, admit new States or 

 i In m ; but the people of a State can alone 

 make or change their organic law and prescribe the 

 qualifications requisite for electors. Congress, bow- 

 ever, in passing the bill in the shape in which it lias 

 been submitted for my approval, does not merely re- 

 ject the application of the people of Nebraska for 

 present admission as a State into the Union on the 

 ground that the constitution which they have sub- 

 mitted fi-striets the exercise of the elective fran- 

 chise to the while population, hut imposes condi- 

 tions whieh, if accepted by the Legislature, may, 

 without the consent of the people, so change the 

 organic law as to make electors of all persons within 

 the State without distinction of race or color. 



In \iewofthi, i. .-i. I suggest for the cnniidera- 

 Oooftwat, whvtber il would not i 



-. and in aecoi d.mcc ujth t| H . piinciples of 



i.icnl In allow tin- pi-op|.-, i 

 vote or through a convention cho-, 

 for that purpose, to declare whether or 'not tin ;. will 



the ti-rms upon which it i, now | 

 admit them into Ihe I'nion. ThU enur-e w 01: 



11 much L'lvater ili-lav than that which the hill 

 contemplates when it requires that the Legislature 

 shall lie convened, within thirl V da\ > al'.-i thi- i 



ure shall have become a law, for the purpOMof con- 



M. lei in:; and deci, editions which it im- 



poses, and gains additional force when .- c<>:. 

 that the -s aticmlinir the formation . 



State constitution were not in conformity with tin- 

 provisions of the enabling act ; that in an aggre- 

 gate vote of 7,776 the majority in favor of the consti- 

 tution did not exceed one hundred, and that it is 

 alleged that in consequence of frauds even this result 

 cannot be received as a fair expression .if the w i-hes 

 people. As upon them must fall the bur- 

 dens of a State organization, it is but just that they 

 should be permit ted to determine for themselves a 

 question which so materially affects their interests. 

 Possessing a soil and a climate admirably adapted to 

 those industrial pursuits which bring prosperity and 

 uivatness to a people, with the advantage of a cen- 

 tral position on the great highway that will soon 

 connect the Atlantic and Pacific States, Nebraska is 

 rapidly gaining in numbers and wealth, and may 

 within a very brief period claim admission on 

 grounds which will challenge and secure universal 

 assent. She can therefore wisely and patiently * 

 afford to wait. Her population is said to be steadily 

 and even rapidly increasing, being now generally 

 conceded as nigh as forty thousand, and estimated, 

 by some whose judgment is entitled to respect, at a 

 still greater number. At her present rate of growth 

 she will in a very short time have the requisite popu- 

 lation for a Representative in Congress ; and, what 

 is far more important to her own citizens, will have 

 realized such an advance in material wealth as will 

 enable the expenses of a State government to be 

 borne without oppression to the tax-pajer. Of new 

 communities it may be said with especial force and 

 it is true of old ones that the inducement to im- 

 migrants, other things being equal, is in almost the 

 precise ratio of the rate of taxation. 



The great States of the Northwest owe their mar- 

 vellous prosperity largely to the fact that they were 

 continued as Territories until they had grown to be 

 wealthy and populous communities. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



WASHIXGTON, January 29, 1867. 



The bill was as follows : 



(("//raw, on the 21st day of March, A. D. 1864, 

 Congress passed an act to enable the people of 

 Nebraska to form a constitution and State govern- 

 ment, and offered to admit said State, when so 

 formed, into the Union upon compliance with cer- 

 tain conditions therein specified ; and whereas it 

 appears that the said people have adopted a consti- 

 tution which, upon due examination, is found to 

 conform to the provisions and comply with the 

 conditions of said act, and to be republican in its 

 form of government, and that they now ask for ad- 

 ini-^iou into the Union: Therefore, 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 

 Stateg of America in Congress as- 

 Ki'intil'il, That the constitution and State govern- 

 ment which the people of Nebraska have formed for 

 themselves be, and the same are hereby accepted, 

 ratified, and confirmed, and that the said State of 

 Nebraska shall be, and is hereby declared to be, one 

 of the United States of America, and is hereby ad- 

 mitted into the Union upon an equal footing with 

 the original States in all respects whats. 



SBC. 2. And be it further fnactetl, That the said 



