178 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



class of citizens of the United States of the right to 

 vote who are now entitled to vote by said constitu- 

 tions respectively, except as a punishment for such 

 crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof 

 they shall have been duly convicted ; and no person 

 shall ever be held to service or labor as a punish- 

 ment for crime in said States, except by public officers 

 charged with the custody of convicts by the laws 

 thereof. 



And in lieu thereof insert the following : 

 That the constitutions of said States shall never 

 be amended or changed so as to discriminate in favor 

 of or against any citizen or class of citizens of the 



tied to vote by said constitutions respectively, except 

 as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies 

 at common law, whereof they shall have been duly 

 convicted ; and no person shall ever be held to ser- 

 vice or labor as a punishment for crime in said States, 

 except by public officers charged with the custody of 

 convicts by the laws thereof. 



The House divided ; and there were yeas 

 57, nays 46. So the amendment was adopted. 



The bill was ordered to be engrossed and 

 read a third time ; and, being engrossed, it was 

 accordingly read the third time. 



The question was taken ; and it was decided 

 as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Arnell, 

 Delos E. Ashley, James M. Ashley, Bailey, Banks, 

 Beaman, Beatty, Benjamin, Benton, Bingham,Blair, 

 Boutwell, Bromwell, Broomall, Buckland, Butler, 

 Cake, Eeader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Co- 

 burn, Covode, Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, Eckley, Eg- 

 gleston, Ela, Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferriss, Ferry, Fields, 

 Garfield, Gravely, Harding, Hawkins, Higby, Hill, 

 Hooper, Hopkins, Chester D. Hubbard, Hunter, In- 

 gersoll, Jenckes, Judd, Julian, Kelley, Kelsey, 

 Ketcham, Kitchen, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, 

 William Lawrence, Lincoln, Logan, Loughridge, 

 Mallory, Marvin, McCarthy, McClurg, Miller, Moore, 

 Morreli, Myers, Newcomb, Nunn, O'Neill, Orth, 

 Paine, Perham, Peters, Pike, Pile, Plants, Polsley, 

 Price, Eaum, Eobertson, Sawyer, Schenck, Scofield, 

 Shanks, Smith, Aaron F. Stevens, Thaddeus Stevens, 

 Stewart, Stokes, Taffe, Taylor, Thomas, John Trim- 

 ble, Trowbridge, Twichell, Upson, Burt Van Horn, 

 Van Wyck, Ward, Elihu B. Washburne, Henry D. 

 Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, William 

 Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, and 

 Windom 109. 



NAYS Messrs. Adams, Bake*, Beck, Boyer, 

 Brooks, Burr, Eldridge, GetZj Glossbrenner, Golla- 

 day, Grover, Holman, Hotchkiss, Humphrey, John- 

 son, Kerr, Knott, Loan, Marshall, McCormick, Mor- 

 gan, Mungen, Niblack, Nicholson, Phelps, Pruyn, 

 Eandall, Eobinson, Eoss, Sitgreayes, Stone, Van 

 Auken, Van Trump, Thomas Williams, and Wood- 

 ward 35. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Archer, Axtell, Baldwin, 

 Barnes, Barnum, Elaine, Gary, Chanler, Church- 

 ill, Cook, Cornell, Cullom, Dawes, Dixon, Finney, 

 Fox, Griswold, Haight, Halsey, Asahel W. Hubbard, 

 Eichard D. Hubbard, Hulburd, Jones, Koontz, Lynch, 



Sps 



ble,Van Aernam, Eobert T. Van Horn, Cadwalader 

 C. Washburn, John T. Wilson, Wood, and Wood- 

 bridge i5. 



The bill was reported to the Senate, with 

 amendments excluding Alabama and adding 

 Florida. 



On June 9th, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, 

 said : " I rise, Mr. President, to express the 

 hope that we shall not exclude Alabama from 



the benefits of admission with these other 

 States. It seems to me that if there is any 

 one of these States which ought to be wel- 

 comed here it is the State of Alabama. That 

 State prepared its constitution earlier than any 

 other State. The vote was taken at an un- 

 propitious season of the year, at a time when 

 storms and floods swept the State. A larger 

 percentage of registered electors voted for that 

 constitution than for any one of the constitu- 

 tions of these States, with the exception of 

 South Carolina; forty-four per cent, of the 

 voters of Alabama voted for the constitution ; 

 in Georgia forty-three per cent, voted for the 

 constitution, and in Arkansas thirty-eight per 

 cent, voted for the constitution. In Alabama 

 there was a vote of seventy thousand given 

 for the constitution, and thirteen thousand of 

 the votes registered were in counties where no 

 votes at all were taken, including one county 

 where nearly three thousand votes were taken 

 and destroyed. I saw, when we adopted the 

 provision requiring a majority of the registered 

 voters to vote on the constitution, it would 

 cause the failure of these States, and, if we had 

 adhered to it in these six other States only, I 

 think we would have adopted the constitution. 

 If that law had not existed, and the people had 

 been summoned to vote for and against the rat- 

 ification of the constitution, I have not the 

 shadow of a doubt that the State of Alabama 

 would have adopted her constitution by from 

 thirty to fifty thousand majority. 



"I do not think we ought to take advantage 

 of our own mistake, not to say blunder. No- 

 body is harmed by the admission of the State. 

 Admit the State with the others ; let the State 

 government he organized ; let the people be 

 protected; let the State begin a career of peace 

 and prosperity and advancement." 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: "The only 

 subject to which I wish to address myself is 

 the question of the admission of Alabama. I 

 am convinced that in Alabama the people are 

 more in a condition to maintain a State gov- 

 ernment than they are in any other of the 

 Southern States, without exception. The con- 

 stitution of Alabama, as presented to us, is 

 very similar in form to the constitutions of the 

 other States. Their proceedings have been as 

 regular, and, perhaps, more regular, than those 

 of any other State. They have complied with 

 every stipulation in the law except one, and 

 the question now is, whether, on account of 

 their inability to comply with that stipulation, 

 they shall be excluded from restoration to the 

 Union. If that inability grew oui> of a want 

 of loyalty to the Government, or any cause 

 within their power of correction, I would hold 

 them to strict compliance with the law ; but 

 the official papers here on our table show that 

 they did all that was possible for them to do 

 to comply with the law, that they were de- 

 terred by physical causes totally beyond their 

 power to overcome, and that they did more 

 and made a greater effort to comply with the 





