OONGEESS, UNITED STATES. 



181 



history, you shall hold firm in the future ; that 

 your power shall not be torn from you by pub- 

 lic disapprobation; that, by majority votes in 

 those States which you represent, you shall not 

 be removed from that position of authority 

 and of dominating influence which you hold in 

 the Government of the United States. Is not 

 that your purpose ? Does it not inspire your 

 conduct ? Does it not lie behind all these your 

 acts and speak them into being ? Does it not 

 infuse into your conduct that energy and zeal 

 by which it is characterized ? Does it not 

 touch the tongue of the Senator from Massa- 

 chusetts as with a coal of fire? Does it not 

 keep us here at an untimely hour of the night 

 to press through its last stages this bill ? 



"I hold, and at least one-half of the popula- 

 tion of the States represented in Congress hold, 

 that your body of reconstruction laws are in- 

 valid; that they are without warrant of au- 

 thority in the fundamental law. You have 

 taken from the Supreme Court the power to 

 pass judgment upon them. You have with- 

 drawn a case which would have elicited the 

 opinion of that court suddenly from its juris- 

 diction, and prevented a decision upon the va- 

 lidity of your laws. 



"Mr. President, what are we to expect in 

 the future ?. "Will this work of yours stand ? 

 You say yourselves it will not stand investi- 

 gation in court and a judicial judgment. 

 You have said so by your conduct. You 

 know that at least half of the people repre- 

 sented in Congress are firmly and strongly 

 against it, for they have said so within the last 

 twelve months in most emphatic language. 

 You cannot question the fact. How is your 

 work to stand in the future, the work of which 

 this bill is supposed to be the guarantee of se- 

 curity and endurance? " 



The bill "was passed by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony^, Cameron, Chandler, Cole, 

 Conkling, Conness, Cragin, Drake, Ferry, Freling- 

 huysen, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Morgan, Morrill of 

 Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Nye, Patterson of New 

 Hampshire, Poineroy, Eamsey, Boss, Sherman, Stew- 

 art, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Wade, Wil- 

 liams, Wilson, and Yates 31. 



NAYS Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, McCreery, Pat- 

 terson of Tennessee, and Vickers 5. 



ABSENT Messrs. Cattell, Corbitt, Davis, Dixon, 

 Doolittle, Edmunds, Fessenden, Fowler, Grimes, 

 Henderson, Hendricks, Johnson, Morton, Norton, 

 Saulsbury, Sprague, Van Winkle, and Willey 18. 



The title of the bill was amended to read, 

 " A bill to admit the States of North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, 

 and Florida, to representation in Congress." 



In the House, on June 12th, the Committee on 

 Reconstruction reported in favor of concurring 

 in the amendments of the Senate. The recom- 

 mendation was agreed to, by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Ames, Delos E. Ashley, 

 James M. Ashley, Bailey, Banks, Beaman, Beatty, 

 Benjamin, Benton, Bingham, Elaine, Blair, Brom- 

 well, Broomall, Buckland, Butler, Churchill, Eeader 

 W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Coborn, Cook, Cor- 

 nell, Covode, Cullom, Dawes, Delano, Dixon, Dodge, 



Donnelly, Driggs, Eckley, Eggleston, Ela. Eliot, Fer- 

 riss, Ferry, Fields, Gariield, Gravely, Griswold, Hal- 

 sey, Harding, Hawkins, Higby, Hopkins, Chester D. 

 Hubbard, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Judd, Julian, Kelsey, 

 Ketcham, Kitchen, Koontz, Laflin, Lincoln, Loan, 

 Logan, Loughridge, Lynch, Mallory, Marvin, May- 

 nard, McClurg, Mercur, Miller, Moore, Morrell, Mul- 

 lins, Myers, Newcomb, O'Neill, Paine, Peters, Pike, 

 Pile, Plants, Polsley, Pomeroy, Price, Baum, Eob- 

 ertson, Sawyer, Scnenck, Scofleld, Selye, Shellabar- 

 ger, Spalding, Starkweather, Aaron F. Stevens, Stew- 

 art, Stokes, Taff'e, Taylor, Thomas, John Trimble, 

 Trowbridge, TwichelL Upson, Van Aernam, Eobert 

 T. Van Horn, Ward, Elihu B. Washburne, Henry D. 

 Washburn, William B. Washburn. Welker, William 

 Williams, John T. Wilson, and Wmdom 111. 



NAYS Messrs. Archer, Axtell, Barnes, Boyer, 

 Brooks, Burr, Eldridge, Getz, Glossbrenner, Golla- 

 day, Grover, Holman, Hotchkiss. Marshall, McCor- 

 mick, McCullough, Morrissey, Niblack, Nicholson, 

 Phelps, Eandall, Robinson. Stone, Taber, Lawrence 

 S. Trimble, Van Auken, Van Trump, and Wood- 

 ward 28. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Adams, Anderson, Arnell, 

 Baker, Baldwin, Barnum.Beck, Boutwell, Cake, Gary, 

 Chanler, Farnsworth, Finney, Fox, Haight, Hill, 

 Hooper, Asahel W. Hubbard, Eichard D. Hubbard, 

 Humphrey, Hunter, Jenckes, Johnson, Jones, Kel- 

 ley, Kerr, Knott, George V. Lawrence, William Law- 

 rence, McCarthy, Moorhead, Mungen, Nunn, Orth, 

 Perham, Poland, Pruyn, Boss, Shanks, Sitgreaves, 

 Smith, Thaddeus Stevens, Burt V an Horn, Van Wyck, 

 Cadwalader C. Washburn, Thomas Williams, James 

 F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Wood, and Wood- 

 bridge 50. 



In the House, on March 18th, Mr. Broomall, 

 of Pennsylvania, moved to reconsider the vote 

 referring to the Judiciary Committee the bill 

 to guarantee to the several States of the Union 

 a republican form of government. The bill 

 stated that the form of government of several 

 of the States of the Union was not republican 

 in this particular : that by the constitutions and 

 laws of such States political rights were made 

 to depend upon parentage and race, and were 

 hereditary in certain families, to the exclusion 

 of others equally citizens of the United States ; 

 and that it was the constitutional duty of the 

 United States to guarantee to every State- a 

 republican form of government. 



The first section provided that all provisions 

 and enactments in state constitutions and laws 

 which make distinctions in political or civil 

 rights among citizens of the United States, or 

 deny such rights to any such citizens on ac- 

 count of parentage, race, lineage, or color, 

 shall be, and are hereby declared to be, void 

 and of no effect. 



Tfye second section provided that if any per- 

 son should prevent any qualified citizen of the 

 United States from exercising the right of suf- 

 frage at any election in any State, under the 

 pretence that such citizen was disqualified by 

 the constitution and laws of such State on 

 account of his parentage, race, lineage, or color, 

 such person should be deemed guilty of misde- 

 meanor, and, on conviction thereof in the prop- 

 er court, should be sentenced to pay a fine, not 

 exceeding $5,000, or to undergo imprisonment, 

 not exceeding five years, or both, at the discre- 

 tion of the court. 



