144 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



to interfere with this right of the States to pre- 

 scribe the qualifications of voters not only 

 within their own limits, but as to the Federal 

 Government. 



"Now, sir, on looking over the amendment 

 which has been proposed to us by the Com- 

 mittee on the Judiciary, although I am in favor 

 of conferring the right of suffrage on the col- 

 ored man as such, I do not find the provision 

 expressed so clearly in that amendment as I 

 wish it were. Indeed, sir, the frame of the 

 amendment, its form, its legal intendment, in- 

 terpretation, and effect, are to me all very ob- 

 jectionable. It declares that 'the right of 

 citizens of the United States to vote and hold 

 office shall not be denied or abridged by the 

 United States, or by any State, on account of 

 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.' 

 Observe, sir, and I call the attention of ^ Sena- 

 tors to the clause, 'shall not be denied or 

 abridged by the United States.' Sir, the United 

 States have never granted to any citizen of 

 the United States in the States, nor abridged 

 to him, the right to vote. The Government 

 of the United States has not intermeddled, nor 

 has it the right to intermeddle, with the right 

 of voting ; and it is hardly proper language, 

 therefore, to say that this right, with which 

 the -Government of the United States cannot 

 intermeddle, shall not be denied or abridged 

 by the United States. It is hardly intelligible 

 language to me, as a lawyer. 



"Again, there arises from that peculiar form 

 of expression, * shall not be denied or abridged 

 by the United States,' what, to my mind, is & 

 very plain implication that in respect to other 

 matters except race, color, or previous con- 

 dition of servitude, the United States may, 

 through its proper organs, if the Government 

 shall see fit, abridge, or deny to citizens of the 

 United States in a State, the right to vote or to 

 hold office. For instance, the implication arises 

 that for any other cause, whether it be religious 

 belief, or a want of moral training, or defect of 

 education, or whatever other test Congress 

 may see fit to prescribe, the right to vote may 

 be taken away from the citizen of the United 

 States by act of Congress. Certainly I do not 

 apprehend that the Committee on the Judiciary 

 intended any such thing ; but so plain to me is 

 this implication that under such a clause Con- 

 gress would have the right to deny or abridge 

 the right of voting for some other causes than 

 those mentioned in the article, that I certainly 

 can never give that amendment my vote, for I 

 will never agree, here or elsewhere, that the 

 Congress of the United States or any State 

 government shall have it in its power to say 

 to a citizen of the United States, ' You shall 

 not vote or hold office because your religious 

 creed is not so and so, or because you do not 

 belong to and commune with this, that, or the 

 other religious denomination*' I prefer to 

 adhere to the present provisions of the Con- 

 stitution of the United States in all these re- 

 spects the Constitution which prohibits ut- 



terly and forever the setting up of any religious 

 test. 



" I am willing, as I have already remarked, 

 to extend to the colored man, who is a citizen 

 of the United States, the right to vote and to 

 hold office, like any other citizen; but I prefer 

 to do it in direct and plain terms, so that he 

 who runs may read, without circumlocution, 

 without indirection, but plainly, in terms that 

 are intelligible to the lowest capacity. I shall, 

 therefore, at the proper time, propose an 

 amendment to the amendment now before us, 

 which will be in the following words : 



Citizens of the United States, of African descent, 

 shall have the same right to vote^and hold office in 

 States and Territories, as other citizens, electors of 

 the most numerous branch of their respective Legis- 

 latures. 



" Thus adopting the constitutional language 

 of electors having the qualifications of electors 

 of the most numerous branch of the State 

 Legislatures. It seems to me that this expres- 

 sion meets exactly the case which is before 

 us. "Why not come out plainly, manfully, and 

 frankly to the world and say what we mean, 

 and not endeavor to darken counsel with words 

 without knowledge, by circumlocution, by con- 

 cealing, or endeavoring to conceal, the real 

 thing which we aim at? Give us, then, the 

 colored man, for that and that only is the 

 object that is now before us. The sole object 

 of this whole proceeding is to impart, by a 

 constitutional amendment, to the colored man 

 who has become free in the United States, the 

 ordinary right of citizens of the United States, 

 and that is the whole of it. I do not wish by 

 any form of words to conceal the fact or to 

 blur the fact that I am in favor of extending 

 to this class of men the right to vote and to 

 hold office in the United States. 



" Sir, it is impossible, in the very nature of 

 things, that so large a portion of citizens of the 

 United States as the black portion now are can 

 for any considerable length of time remain in 

 our midst without enjoying the right of suffrage. 

 That would be a great anomaly in our condi- 

 tion. It would be a state of things entirely 

 inconsistent with the genius and mild, benefi- 

 cent, democratic spirit of our Government. 

 Sir, if they are to remain citizens of the United 

 States, to have the right of eating the bread 

 which they earn, of having a title to the 

 clothes which they earn ; if they are to be per- 

 mitted to purchase houses and lands, to become 

 fathers and mothers, with all the domestic 

 rights which pertain to that condition belong- 

 ing to them, we must sooner or later see to it 

 that they are citizens possessed of the. right to 

 vote and to be represented in the legislative 

 bodies who have control of their persons and 

 their property. Upon the principle of repub- 

 lican government they are entitled thus to be 

 represented ; and it will be impossible for the 

 American people, however strong may be the 

 spirit of caste, however odious the black man 

 may be in the eyes of some of our fellow-citi- 



