CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



141 



black man, and the brown man. Now, I ask 

 if it is not competent for a Legislature to dis- 

 franchise or to withhold the elective franchise 

 from any one of these races ? Is not color the 

 distinctive mark of the race? And because 

 here is a distinct race, an inferior race, and 

 because this race has color, the race is dis- 

 qualified. It is not altogether on account of 

 the color of the skin. That is only one of the 

 indications and marks by which you distin- 

 guish the race. Have we not a right to with- 

 hold the elective franchise from the Chinese, 

 who are of a different color from us and from 

 the negro ? Would the Senator say that, be- 

 cause the Chinese have a certain complexion, 

 therefore we have no right to disfranchise 

 them because of that complexion ? If they are 

 a different race, if they are pagans, according 

 to the speech of the Senator from Oregon (Mr. 

 Williams), have we not a right to disqualify 

 them and withhold from them the elective 

 franchise ? " 



Mr. Sumner : " That is not the question. I 

 do not say that they may not be disqualified 

 for their paganism. That is another question. 

 That is a question of character. A man may 

 cease to be a pagan ; he may change ; he may 

 become a Christian ; but a man cannot cease 

 to be a colored man if he is so made by Provi- 

 dence. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin. 

 The point that I put to the Senator, and on 

 which I want his frank, explicit answer, is, 

 whether the mere color of the skin, or the color 

 of the hair, or the color of the eyes, can be 

 made, under the Constitution, a qualification 

 for a voter ? That is the point." 



Mr. Vickers: "If the color of the skin, the 

 color of the hair, or the color of the eye, dis- 

 tinguishes one race from another, then I say 

 the color of the skin, of the hair, or of the eye, 

 can make the disqualification, and the Legis- 

 lature has a right to make it. It matters not 

 whether it be of the skin, the hair, or the eye ; 

 if it be the distinguishing mark of that race, 

 and distinguishes it from our race, then we 

 have a right to do it. Why, sir, the Senator 

 from Nevada (Mr. Stewart), in his speech here 

 in 1865, said that this was a white man's Gov- 

 ernment ; that we were of a different race ; and 

 the honorable Senator from Ohio, now occu- 

 py ing the chair, said that two races, being 

 different, could not exist prosperously and 

 happily together, and that it would be better 

 that this black race should be sent to the 

 tropics, where he understood they would 

 thrive and develop all their faculties, and that 

 in the same region a white man would depre- 

 ciate. It matters not whether it be the color 

 of the hair, or of the eye, or of the skin, if that 

 distinguishes one race from another." 



Mr. Sumner: "I see my honorable friend 

 does not flinch from the conclusion." 



Mr. Vickers : " But, sir, I was going to say 

 that the qualifications which the Constitution 

 speaks of are the qualifications of voters for 

 Representatives to Congress, for they are to 



have the same qualifications that voters for 

 members of the Legislature are to possess. 

 Then, to show that this is the true meaning 

 of the Constitution, let me refer to the clause 

 as to presidential electors : 



The Congress may determine the time of choosing 

 the electors, and the day on which they shall give 

 their votes, which day shall be the same throughout 

 the United States. 



" That is all the power which Congress has 

 in reference to the subject. They may deter- 

 mine the time for the choosing of the electors, 

 and the day on which they shall cast their 

 ballots ; and when that is exercised the power 

 of Congress over the subject is exhausted. 

 But in the second section of the second article 

 of the Constitution it is provided that 



Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the 

 Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, 

 equal to the whole number of Senators and Eepre- 

 sentatives to which the State may be entitled in the 

 Congress. * 



" The State Legislature may appoint the elec- 

 tors to vote for President and Yice-President 

 of the United States. They may elect them 

 or may direct them to be elected by the people 

 of the State if they see fit. The whole power 

 is in the Legislature, and it was designed to be 

 placed there. They are the best judges of 

 the mode and manner in which the elections 

 should be held, and they are the best judges 

 of the qualifications of the voters. 



" Mr. President, I had never heard, until the 

 honorable Senator from Massachusetts asserted 

 it to-day, that when human rights and the 

 Constitution came into conflict, the Constitu- 

 tion was to yield to human rights. That is the 

 broad doctrine which he laid down. Why, 

 sir, if that doctrine is to prevail, how many 

 diiferences of opinion are there in reference to 

 human rights ? We should have no Constitu- 

 tion ; it would be undefined, and there would 

 be nothing tangible in reference to the funda- 

 mental law. But if the doctrine of the Sena- 

 tor from Massachusetts prevails, if human 

 rights are to override the Constitution of the 

 country, then does not the doctrine of human 

 rights asserted by the Senator apply as well to 

 females as to males ? The Senator from Kan- 

 sas would say it did ; and I ask if human rights 

 are not as applicable to woman as to man ? 

 And if the doctrine of human rights is to be 

 the rule by which the Constitution is to be 

 construed, then it must be so construed as to 

 admit female suffrage ; and yet I suppose the 

 Senator from Massachusetts would not support 

 a measure of this kind. It is not unusual for 

 Senators to lay down a general principle and 

 argue upon that principle, and then in the 

 practical application of it to come short of its 

 results. This general doctrine comprehends 

 woman as well as man, and shall our sym- 

 pathies be limited to the latter? Shall our 

 affections go out only for the black race? 

 Shall we not rather include the women and 

 give them the same privileges and rights which 



