CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



123 



tion here proposed, and the right of every citi- 

 zen, whether black or white, native-born or 

 naturalized, can be secured within a reasonable 

 period of time, I am in favor of legislating so 

 far only as may be necessary to secure those 

 objects, not waiving, however, or in any way 

 qualifying the assertion of the constitutional 

 right in Congress to legislate upon the subject 

 of the franchise, even in reference to the elec- 

 tion of officers not named in this section of the 

 bill. Those who are familiar with the debates 

 which took place in the convention that framed 

 the Constitution of the United States, and 

 especially those who have read the debates 

 that took place in the several State conventions 

 upon the subject of ratifying the Constitution 

 of the United States, must have been struck 

 with the circumstance that all the friends of 

 the Constitution asserted that there was power 

 in the Constitution over the elective franchise 

 to an extent which would enable the national 

 Government to preserve its own existence in- 

 dependently of any action on the part of the 

 States. If this Government be not a mere 

 confederacy, held together by the merest 

 thread, this must be true in the nature of the 

 case. If the declaration in the preamble, that 

 we are a people, has any meaning ; if the Con- 

 stitution, which the people of the United States 

 as one people established, has any virtue or any 

 force, any power to accomplish the purposes 

 of a government, then in this Government 

 there must be constitutional means by which 

 those charged with the administration can pro- 

 vide for its preservation and continuance. 



" I am now dealing with general principles, 

 and not with the text of the Constitution, to 

 which I shall come ere long. Upon general 

 principles there must be power in the national 

 Government to provide whatever is necessary 

 for its own preservation. But, if the doctrine 

 of those who maintain that the whole question 

 o.f suffrage is vested in the States be true, then 

 the States may refuse to choose electors ; they 

 may refuse to send members to this House ; 

 they may refuse to choose Senators by their 

 Legislatures, and thus the Government of the 

 United States would come to an end. There 

 would be no President; there would be no 

 Senate ; there would be no House of Repre- 

 sentatives, and the Government would conse- 

 quently cease to exist. 



" Sir, I know not in the darkest days of the 

 republic, when State rights were triumphant, 

 I know not^ of any theory more destructive to 

 national existence and public liberty, more di- 

 rectly opposed to the nature of our Govern- 

 ment, than that which is now avowed. It is a 

 remnant of ancient and false traditions not 

 supported by the Constitution. I shall ask the 

 House to consider what the Constitution does 

 declare upon the subject of suffrage. It will 

 be found that there is no word or phrase in the 

 instrument which tolerates the idea that the 

 existence of this great Government, continen- 

 tal in its dimensions, is at the mercy of the 



States through defects in our fundamental law. 

 I come now to the provisions of the Con- 

 stitution of the United States bearing upon the 

 question of suffrage. I read first that provi- 

 sion on which I suppose much reliance is 

 placed to sustain the doctrine that the power 

 over the question of suffrage is, to a certain 

 extent, vested absolutely in the States. The 

 second section of the first article of the Con- 

 stitution is in these words : 



The House of Eepresentatives shall be composed 

 of members chosen every second year by the people 

 of the several States ; and the electors in each State 

 shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of 

 the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. 



" It has been assumed, upon this section of 

 the Constitution, that each State has the power 

 absolutely to fix the qualifications of electors 

 of the most numerous branch of the Legisla- 

 ture, and that therefore the power of Congress, 

 if it existed at all in reference to the election 

 of Representatives to Congress, was controlled 

 by what the State might have done in refer- 

 ence to electors for members of the most nu- 

 merous branch of its Legislature. But, if gen- 

 tlemen will look at the phraseology of this 

 section as it stands, they will see that it does 

 give power to the United States in reference to 

 the qualifications of voters ; that it does not 

 take power from the States, nor does it take- 

 power from the United States. It merely de- 

 clares the fact that the voters for Representa- 

 tives in Congress shall possess the qualifica- 

 tions of voters for members of the most numer- 

 ous branch of the State Legislature. It is an 

 injunction to the States, if they have the power 

 to prescribe the qualifications of voters ; it is 

 an injunction to the national Government, if 

 the national Government has that power. But 

 there is no declaration in this section that 

 either has the power, and certainly not that 

 either has the power to the exclusion of the 

 other. But the fourth section of the same 

 article of the Constitution further provides 

 that: 



The times, places, and manner of holding elections 

 for Senators and ^Representatives shall be prescribed 

 in each State by the Legislature thereof. 



"If the provision ended here, the theory 

 which is maintained by gentlemen who deny 

 the propositions contained in this bill would 

 be well supported by the Constitution. The 

 word 'manner,' in this connection of course 

 becomes important. All writers upon words 

 have considered the power and scope of three 

 words which have a great similarity of mean- 

 ing, ' mode,' * method,' and ' manner ; ' and it is 

 uniformly agreed that ' manner ' is the largest 

 and most comprehensive of the three in 

 its scope. Patrick Henry, of Virginia and I 

 shall read his declarations to the House gave 

 his view of the meaning of the word * manner,' 

 which coincides with the view that I now take. 

 It includes, as I maintain, every thing relating 

 to an election, from the qualification of the 

 elector to the deposit of his ballot in the box. 



