CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



127 



of the District agree with the people of that 

 State, I do not well see how a Senator can im- 

 pose such a law upon the people of the District. 



" It is not my purpose to discuss the ques- 

 tion, but simply to call attention to the fact 

 that the expression of opinion in the Northern 

 States in the recent elections has been very 

 emphatic against this policy. Notwithstand- 

 ing the bill passed at the last session, it is not 

 necessary that we should now pass it, for the 

 pleasure of the people had not then been so 

 emphatically made known as it now has been." 



Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, followed, saying : 

 "But the objections to the measure upon your 

 table, sir, in my view, are much stronger than 

 those which were applicable to the other ques- 

 tion of granting them the right of suffrage. 

 From the consequences of the exercise of that 

 right there is comparatively, as far as the gen- 

 eral public is concerned, little to be appre- 

 hended. The large numerical majority of 

 white people in the United States is perhaps a 

 security against any serious disadvantage which 

 might happen to the country at large. But 

 that is not the case as far as concerns the 

 measure upon your table. In that we and all 

 our constituents of the white race have a very 

 direct interest. We are to be tried civilly and 

 criminally, we and our constituents, if we are 

 charged with having violated any right, pri- 

 vate or public ; and the question for the Sen- 

 ate to decide is whether we are willing to have 

 ourselves tried by a jury of black men for the 

 most part just emerged from slavery, without 

 the capacity absolutely necessary to a faithful 

 and intelligent discharge of that duty. And 

 it is more especially important in relation to 

 criminal cases, because in cases of that de- 

 scription the jury may, in the exercise of its 

 power, decide conclusively for itself, disre- 

 garding the opinion of the court ; and thus our 

 citizens and ourselves may be subjected to a 

 judgment over which there is no revising 

 power, practically pronounced by twelve igno- 

 rant black men. 



" But that is not all. The number of the black 

 race in this District is very large and promises 

 to become larger. It may be able to elect out 

 of its own numbers to every office*, judicial or 

 otherwise, that is not now to be filled by the 

 Executive with the consent of the Senate. 

 We may give them the authority to elect their 

 magistrates ; we may give them the authority 

 to elect their judges; there is nothing to 

 paevent it ; and then we should be placed in 

 the condition of having a tribunal to decide 

 upon our rights, civil and criminal, constituted 

 of persons of that race alone. Now, for one, 

 although, as I said in the beginning, I would 

 secure them in the possession of every right 

 which a man has the authority to claim as a 

 right, I am against giving to them a privilege 

 which may be exercised to the detriment of 

 the rest of the public, and which is not at all 

 necessary to the vindication of all of their own 

 rights." 



Mr. Pomeroy, of Kansas, in reply, said: 

 "Mr. President, I only wish to remark that if 

 what has been said be true, as I think it is, 

 that the colored people are very numerous in 

 this District, it is worthy of consideration that 

 they, too, have rights. They are to be tried 

 by somebody, and it maybe quite as objection- 

 able to them to have their rights adjudicated 

 by twelve ignorant white men as it is for white 

 men to have their rights adjudicated by twelve 

 ignorant black men. If this argument is good 

 for any thing as against the negro, it is equally 

 so as against the white man, because intelli- 

 gence, loyalty, or patriotism, is not confined in 

 this District, nor anywhere, to any class or any 

 color. If a Senator is in favor of giving to this 

 class of persons all the rights that are given to 

 white men, then this is one of the rights cer- 

 tainly to be given. There is no State in* the 

 Union where a man has the right to be an 

 elector, where he has a right to vote, that he- 

 cannot be voted for. In the nature of the 

 case the man who carries the ballot, in all the 

 States of this Union outside of this District, 

 has the right himself to be elected. This is 

 one of the facts that stare us in the face, that 

 under our own legislation we have made elec- 

 tors of a class, and yet they are not allowed to 

 hold office themselves. This bill remedies that 

 defect." 



The bill was subsequently passed by the 

 following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, Cattell, Chan- 

 dler, Conkling, Corbett, Cragin, Drake, Edmunds, 

 Ferry, Fessen den, Fowler, Harlan } Henderson, How- 

 ard, Howe, Morgan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Ver- 

 mont, Morton, Kamsey, Boss, Sherman, Stewart, 

 Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Wade, Willey, 

 Williams, and Wilson 32. 



NAYS Messrs. Buckalew, Davis.Dixon, Doolittle, 

 Hendricks, Johnson, Norton, and Patterson of Ten- 

 nessee 8. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Cole, Conness, Freling- 

 huysen. Grimes, Guthrie, Nye, Patterson of New 

 Hampshire, Pomeroy, Saulsbury, Sprague, Van Win- 

 kle, and Yates 13. 



On December 9th, the bill was passed in the 

 House, without debate, by the following vote : 

 YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Arnell, James M. 

 Ashley, Bailey, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Beaman, Ben- 

 jamin, Benton, Bingnam, Elaine, Boutwell, Brom- 

 well, Broomall, Buckland, Butler, Churchill, Reader 

 W. Clarke, Cobb, Coburn, Cook, Cullom, Dawes, 

 Dixon, Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs.Eckley, Eggleston, 

 Ela, Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferriss, Ferry, Fields, Gar- 

 field, Halsey, Hamilton, Harding, Hawkins, Holman, 

 Hooper, Hopkins, Chester D. Hubbard, Hulburd, 

 Hunter, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Judd, Julian, Kelley, 

 Kelsey, Ketcham, Koontz, Laflin, William Lawrence, 

 Lincoln, Logan, Loughridge, Lynch, Maynard, Mc- 

 Clurg, Mercur, Moorhead, Mullins. Myers, Newcomb, 

 Nunn, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Perham, Peters, Pike, 

 Plants, Poland. Polsley, Price. Robertson. Sawyer, 

 Schenck, Shanks, Smith, Starkweather, Aaron F. 

 Stevens, Thaddeus Stevens, Stewart, Stokes, Thomas, 

 Trimble, Trowbridge, Upson, Van Aernam, Robert 

 T. Van' Horn, Cadwalader C. Washburn, Henry D. 

 Washburn,William B. Washburn, Welker, Thomas 

 Williams, William Williams, James F. Wilson, John 

 T. Wilson, and Windom 105. 



NAYS Messrs. Adams, Archer, Axtell, Barnes, 

 Beck, Boyer, Brooks, Burr, Chanler, Eldridge, Getz, 



