CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



163 



same necessity for the supplementary provi- 

 sion that I propose as there is for the pro- 

 vision which has his support. If the clause to 

 which he calls attention is inadequate to pro- 

 tect persons in their rights of citizenship, in- 

 cluding the right to vote, it is inadequate to 

 protect them in any thing ; the clause is so 

 much waste-paper. Now, are we in earnest ? 

 Are we disposed to close this question up so 

 that no petitions hereafter shall come to us 

 asking equal rights protected either by Con- 

 gress or by constitutional amendment ? I say 

 I want to make complete work and finish it so 

 that hereafter there shall be no question. It 

 is on that account that I would make the ad- 

 dition to the proposition of my friend from 

 Michigan." 



Mr. Edmunds : " I hope the Senate will not* 

 agree to that amendment. It does not, as it 

 seems to me, stand on any principle. It limits 

 constitutional privileges to persons of African 

 descent, selecting one particular and peculiar 

 nationality. It does appear to me that there 

 is nothing republican in that. It may do as an 

 expedient for to-day." 



Mr. Ferry, of Connecticut, said : " I am in 

 favor of the proposition of the Senator from 

 Michigan, because it meets and remedies the 

 one existing evil with regard to which there 

 is yet an omission in the Constitution of the 

 United States." 



Mr. Williams, of Oregon, said : " I hope this 

 amendment will be adopted, because it is ex- 

 plicit and declares just exactly what we mean. 

 We either mean to enfranchise the African or 

 not in this country by means of this amend- 

 ment. If we mean that, we say it, and it is 

 understood by everybody. If we mean to pro- 

 vide that all foreigners of all races and condi- 

 tions and classes, whether from Asia or Africa, 

 shall come in here and enjoy the privileges of 

 this amendment, then we ought to adopt some 

 language to accomplish that purpose ; but, as 

 suggested by the Senator from Connecticut, 

 the practical evil in this country at this time 

 is that persons of African descent are disfran- 

 chised. We propose to provide a remedy, and 

 we do not exclude anybody else by this amend- 

 ment, but we provide that those persons shall 

 have the right to vote and to hold office, if it 

 becomes necessary, as I have no doubt it will." 



Mr. Cole, of California, said: "I am in favor 

 of the amendment of the Senator from Michigan 

 which has just been read. It will effectually 

 leave out of the question the subject of the 

 Chines immigration which has excited so 

 much feeling on the part of Senators not from 

 the Pacific coast. I am not myself apprehen- 

 sive of any great difficulty arising from that 

 source. The Chinese, to be sure, in sc-me 

 numbers come to the Pacific coast, but not 

 with the intention of becoming citizens. I 

 presume no application on the part of a single 

 one of them has been made to become a citizen 

 of the United States. So wedded are they to 

 their native country, the Celestial Empire, that 



even the dead are taken back there. This 

 proposition of the Senator from Michigan goes 

 to the extent of enfranchising native-born 

 Americans. It is entirely different in its scope 

 and extent from one which would include the 

 Chinese." 



Mr. Edmunds: "Mr. President, we are now 

 coming to an important practical question, and 

 I shall be excused, for one, I have no doubt, 

 for expressing my views briefly upon it; be- 

 cause I regard this amendment, if adopted, as 

 fatal in its consequences to the very ends that 

 gentlemen wish to attain. I wish gentlemen 

 to bear in mind that all that we propose to do 

 to amend the Constitution is to confer upon 

 citizens, not upon aliens, certain rights that 

 we suppose them now to be deprived of either 

 legally or illegally. It has nothing to .do with 

 the question whether the Asiatic race should 

 be received into the family of this nation as 

 citizens. It only speaks as to the political 

 status of citizens of the United States. Now, 

 I should be glad to know what sort of a spec- 

 tacle we shall make in history, dealing with 

 our male adult citizens, if we declare in the 

 fudamental law which regulates the very sub- 

 structure of society that the citizens of African 

 descent shall be entitled to certain privileges 

 by name." 



Mr. Ferry: "Entitled to the same rights 

 with other citizens." 



Mr. Edmunds: "Yes, entitled to the same 

 rights with other citizens ; and then the ques- 

 tion arises, what are the rights of other citi- 

 zens? Taking the view that in the present 

 state of constitutional law it belongs to the 

 States and is with them, the rights of some 

 citizens of Connecticut are one thing and of 

 other citizens another thing. Which class of 

 citizens of Connecticut is to furnish the stand- 

 ard of comparison ? " . 



Mr. Warner, of Alabama, said : " I hope this 

 amendment will not be adopted. I hope the 

 Congress of this country will not single out 

 one race for protection ; but that we shall go 

 at once to the broad, grand, affirmative propo- 

 sition which shall secure the object the Senator 

 from Vermont so well states that of securing 

 to all the citizens of this country their rights. 

 I think this proposition to single out one race 

 is the weakest one that can be put before the 

 country. If we want to strengthen it and give 

 it a chance of adoption, we ought to amend it 

 and insert the Irish and Germans. I think to 

 single out one race is unworthy of the country 

 and unworthy of the great opportunity now 

 presented to us. We ought to go to the root 

 of the matter by putting in the fundamental 

 law a provision which will make the Constitu- 

 tion beyond doubt mean what the Senators 

 from Vermont and Massachusetts now under- 

 stand it to mean." 



Mr. Patterson, of New Hampshire, said: "I 

 hope that this proposition will be adopted ; for, 

 of all the amendments which have been offered, 

 I think it is the best. Our object is to meet a 



