142 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



it is attempted to confer upon the negro ? It 

 has been beautifully said that ' we go to man 

 for philosophy and to woman for consolation ; ' 

 and, although I am no advocate for woman 

 suffrage, I believe that, if the Congress of the 

 United States had been composed exclusively 

 of women, we should have had no civil war. 

 We might have had a war of words, but that 

 would have been all. 



" The Senator from Massachusetts seems to 

 think that^ if he can accomplish this result and 

 extend the right of suffrage to the negro, we 

 shall have peace. Sir, he may call it peace, 

 but such a peace will be at the price of consti- 

 tutional liberty, at the price of the destruction 

 of the landmarks of your Constitution. What 

 sort of peace is that which is achieved by ag- 

 gression upon and destruction of the very 

 Constitution under which we live ? It is but 

 the beginning of strife. The Senator thinks 

 it would produce peace, but I say it would 

 not produce peace. He assimilates the con- 

 duct of the Democratic party, in case this 

 question is not settled in the way he pro- 

 poses, to the witches in Macbeth. But, is it 

 not known to the Senator that he who 

 sought the bubbling caldron was destroyed? 

 And if this bubbling of the political caldron is 

 to be assimilated to that described in Shake- 

 speare, I should think the honorable Senator 

 would be willing to see it come to pass, be- 

 cause it would be but the forerunner of the 

 destruction of that party which he denomi- 

 nates the advocates of slavery. 



44 1 could not but contrast in my own mind 

 the sentiments and constitutional positions as- 

 sumed by the Senator from Massachusetts to- 

 day with the principles and the doctrines of 

 constitutional law which were promulgated by 

 his illustrious predecessor who had secured to 

 himself the appellation of the expounder and 

 defender of the Constitution. There is not a 

 word in any thing he ever wrote, in his ora- 

 tions or in his arguments, which can sustain 

 the views of the honorable Senator from Mas- 

 sachusetts, the latitudinarian views which lie 

 expressed to-day upon the subject of the con- 

 struction of the Constitution of the United 

 States. Nor did I see any thing in the au- 

 thorities which were produced by that Senator 

 from Hamilton and Madison. What he read 

 from these great men related to the enumera- 

 tion of inhabitants of the country in reference 

 to fixing the proportion of Representatives, 

 and had nothing to do with suffrage. 



" If we introduce these votes which are to be 

 cast, not with an intelligent understanding of 

 the purpose and object for which they are 

 placed in the ballot-box, if we are to receive 

 them from a class of persons who are unedu- 

 cated, illiterate, who cannot read your Con- 

 stitution, who know nothing about its checks 

 and its balances, about its relations to the 

 State governments, it is an injury, a positive 

 in.jury, to those who have the right to vote. 

 Why is it that we punish illegal voting severe- 



ly ? It is because illegal voting is a fraud upon 

 legal voters ; it impairs and weakens the weight 

 and force of the legal votes which are cast ; 

 and if we introduce these unmeaning votes, 

 which are not cast with an intelligent refer- 

 ence to the purposes and objects for which the 

 right of suffrage is given, shall we not thus 

 weaken and impair the rights which those 

 have who are entitled to vote ? J | 



Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, said:- "Mr. 

 President, I have proposed for submission an 

 amendment to this resolution. It is very brief, 

 and relates to the manner of submitting this 

 proposition of amendment to the Legislatures 

 of the States, viz. : 



That the foregoing amendment shall be submitted 

 for ratification to the Legislatures of the several States, 

 the most numerous branches of which shall be chosen 

 next after the passage of this resolution. 



" My amendment proposes to submit the con- 

 stitutional amendment covered by this joint 

 resolution for ratification to the Legislatures 

 of the several States, the most numerous 

 branches of which shall be chosen next after 

 the adoption of this resolution by Congress, 

 and to confine its consideration to those Legis- 

 latures of the respective States who shall be 

 so elected immediately or next after we adopt 

 the resolution, and in view of it, and who shall 

 assemble in pursuance of their several local 

 constitutions for a performance of their gen- 

 eral duties, among others this duty of passing 

 upon amendments to the Constitution which 

 Congress may submit to them. 



" Now, sir, what are the facts in regard to 

 the last amendment which was submitted by 

 Congress to the several States ? Two or more 

 States proceeded by formal act of their Legis- 

 latures to ratify the amendment, and afterward, 

 at succeeding sessions, proceeded to withdraw 

 that ratification, to withdraw the assent which 

 they, in the first instance, had given. In the 

 case of one, and perhaps more I recollect dis- 

 tinctly in the case of one State the constitu- 

 tional amendment was rejected by the Legisla- 

 ture, and at the next session, opinion having 

 changed in that State, the Legislature proceeded 

 to ratify it. You see what confusion may arise 

 in the action of the States upon an amend- 

 ment submitted by Congress, in case we do not 

 decide, when we submit such amendment, what 

 authority shall act upon it. 



" I am not in favor of submitting this amend- 

 ment, or any other amendment, under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, to conventions in the sev- 

 eral States, not so much for the reasons which 

 were stated by the Senator from Connecticut 

 (Mr. Ferry) as because of the inconvenience 

 and expense which are entailed upon the people 

 of the States by that mode. That is a reason 

 which has always operated upon Congress 

 since the Government was founded, along with 

 other considerations, to prevent the submission 

 of any amendment to conventions of the peo- 

 ple in the several States a form of submission 

 which it is competent for Congress to adopt. 



