138 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



State who are excluded in the next State. I 

 am not discussing the propriety or impropriety 

 of these regulations, but I am speaking of their 

 inconsistencies. In the State of Massachusetts, 

 for instance, they have an educational test ; in 

 the State of Rhode Island, if I am correctly in- 

 formed, there is a property qualification. The 

 population of that State is so numerous that 

 the voting ratio must he reduced by requiring 

 a property qualification. In some States a 

 residence of six months is required ; in other 

 States a residence of twelve months is required, 

 and perhaps there may be some other condi- 

 tions of suffrage prescribed. In the State of 

 New York I believe that colored men are al- 

 lowed to vote if they are worth $250 in real 

 estate. 



"Now, sir, when we come to amend the 

 Constitution of the United States on this sub- 

 ject, would it not be proper to make suffrage 

 uniform ? And it is as easy to amend it in the 

 one way, I believe, as it is in the other. This 

 amendment leaves the whole power in the 

 States just as it exists now, except that colored 

 men shall not be disfranchised for the three 

 reasons of race, color, or previous condition of 

 slavery. They may be disfranchised for want 

 of education or for want of intelligence. The 

 States of Louisiana and Georgia may establish 

 regulations upon the subject of suffrage that 

 will cut out forty-nine out of every fifty col- 

 ored men in those States from voting, and 

 what may be done in one of these States may 

 perhaps be done in others. They may, per- 

 haps, require property or educational tests, and 

 that would cut off the great majority of the 

 colored men from voting in those States, and 

 thus this amendment would be practically de- 

 feated, in all those States where the great body 

 of the colored people live. Sir, if the power 

 should pass into the hands of the rebel popula- 

 tion of those States perhaps I should beg 

 pardon now, I should rather call it the Con- 

 servative or Democratic population if they 

 could not debar the colored people of the 

 right of suffrage in any other way, they would 

 do it by an educational or a property qualifica- 

 tion. 



" Mr. President, I am not sure, on looking 

 further at this amendment, but that the lan- 

 guage itself can be dodged without establishing 

 cither a property qualification or an educa- 

 tional test. Take the State of Kentucky, Mary- 

 land, or any of these States choosing to do so ; 

 may they not dodge it? It says the right of 

 citizens of the United States to vote and hold 

 office shall not be denied or abridged by any 

 State or by the United States ' on account of' 

 ' by reason of ' is the language of the amend- 

 ment of the House ' race, color, or previous 

 condition of servitude.' I should suppose that 

 the words * race or color ' would be sufficient. 

 I am somewhat averse to putting the word 

 * color ' into the Constitution. I am somewhat 

 averse to making any reference to slavery in 

 the Constitution. 



" Now, Mr. President, why is it necessary 

 to insert these words, ' or previous condition 

 of servitude ' or ' slavery ? ' It says they shall 

 not be debarred of the right of suffrage on ac- 

 count of race or color or previous condition 

 of servitude. It is because some of these 

 States might say, ' We will debar these men 

 from voting, not on account of their race, not 

 on account of their color, but because they 

 have once been slaves.' Suppose that one of 

 these States should say, ' We will debar these 

 men from voting, not by reason of color or 

 race or previous condition of slavery, but be- 

 cause they are deficient in natural intelligence, 

 incapable of improvement, and incompetent to 

 take a part in the administration of the Gov- 

 ernment.' If they put it upon that reason, it 

 might be perhaps a strained construction 

 amendment ; but we ought not now to be pro- 

 viding an amendment that is susceptible of a 

 double construction. They say they do not 

 disfranchise these men on account of their 

 color, race, or having been slaves, but because 

 they are naturally inferior in point of intellect, 

 and unqualified to take part in the administra- 

 tion of the Government. I am not sure but 

 that in that way the whole provision may be 

 dodged. That is just the position taken by the 

 great body of the Southern people. If you will 

 ask them their opinion of the colored race, 

 they will tell you that they are an inferior race, 

 and hardly human beings, and disqualified 

 from taking part in the administration of the 

 Government ; and if they put that in their con- 

 stitutions, and give that as a reason, it becomes 

 a question whether they have not dodged the 

 whole provision. We would deny the truth or 

 soundness of their reason ; but they would 

 insist on it, and claim that it is not provided 

 against in the amendment. 



"Now, Mr. President, I would prefer an 

 affirmative amendment, an amendment declar- 

 ing who shall have the right to vote, not a ne- 

 gation but an affirmation, and one that defines 

 the right of suffrage, and does not leave it open 

 for the construction of different States ; and I 

 think that, if we are not to have an affirma- 

 tive definition of suffrage, the amendment of- 

 fered by the Senator from Michigan (Mr. How- 

 ard) is perhaps as good a one as has been pre- 

 sented, and certainly better than the one that 

 came here from the House ; and I will ask the 

 Secretary to read it." 



The Chief Clerk : " The amendment of Mr. 

 Howard proposes to strike out section one of 

 the House article, and insert : 



Citizens of the United States of African descent 

 shall have the same right to vote and hold "office as 

 other citizens." 



Mr. Morton : " That pertains simply to citi- 

 zens of African descent. This amendment re- 

 fers also only to citizens of African descent ; 

 but that gives them an affirmative right, says 

 they shall have the same right to vote that 

 other citizens have. It therefore cuts off every 

 possible construction of the amendment as it 



