200 



a part of the Constitution ; the question will be 

 taken out of our politics forever, and the Dem- 

 ocratic revolution in Indiana will have failed ; 

 otherwise this question will be kept open during 

 the elections of 1870 and 1872. Therefore, I 

 repeat, I would rather see this bill fail, and the 

 whole matter go over until the next session 

 of Congress, than to have it pass without this 

 amendment. Sir, it is right in itself. There 

 is no breach of faith involved. It is of vast 

 importance to the country, and it is of vast im- 

 portance to the party to which I claim to be- 

 long. If the people of the Southern States, in 

 coming in, are not willing to put this amend- 

 ment into the Constitution of the United States, 

 it will be proof that they are not accepting 

 their State constitutions in good faith, and that 

 they are relying upon subsequently amending 

 their State constitutions so as to strike colored 

 suffrage from them. 



" In every point of view this amendment is 

 right, proper, and necessary ; and I trust that 

 no member of the Senate who is a friend to the 

 fifteenth article will refuse to vote to put it on 

 this bill." 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio, said : "Mr. President, 

 this is not a question that concerns Virginia, 

 Mississippi, and Texas, alone ; it is a question 

 that concerns every State in the Union whether 

 the proposed fifteenth amendment shall be a 

 part of the Constitution of the United States. 

 Now, what is proposed to be done ? The 

 power given to Congress is simply a power to 

 propose amendments, and when Congress has 

 executed that power it \&functus officio, as the 

 lawyers say; it has no right whatsoever to 

 coerce the States into action on them. The 

 States are entitled to their free and unbiassed 

 judgment upon the proposition that Congress 

 is authorized to submit. The power of Con- 

 gress is at an end when it has made the prop- 

 osition. But now the Senator from Indiana 

 proposes that Congress shall not only propose 

 an amendment to the Constitution, but that 

 Congress shall coerce three States into the 

 adoption of that amendment, not for them- 

 selves alone, but for every State in this Union ; 

 that they shall force that constitutional amend- 

 ment, not simply upon Virginia, Mississippi, 

 and Texas, but upon Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- 

 nois as well, whatever may be the opinion of 

 the three last-named States. 



"When you coerce Virginia, Mississippi, and 

 Texas, to put this article in the Constitution 

 of the United States, to vote for it as a part of 

 the Constitution of the United States, you do 

 not coerce them alone. You coerce Ohio, you 

 coerce Indiana, you coerce Illinois, you coerce 

 every State whose people are unwilling to 

 adopt the amendment." 



The yeas and nays were ordered, and, being 

 taken, resulted as follows: 



YEAS Messrs. Abbott, Brownlow, Buckingham, 

 Carpenter, Chandler, Cole, Drake, Harris, Howard, 

 McDonald, Morrill, Morton, Nye, Osborn, Pool, 

 Pratt, Ramsey, Eice, Robertson, Ross, Schurz, Sher- 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Warner, 



man, Stewart, Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, 

 Williams, Wilson, and Yates 30. 



NAYS Messrs. Anthony, Bayard, Boreman, Cas- 

 serly, Conkling, Davis, Edmunds, Fenton, Ferry, 

 Fessenden, Fowler, McCreery, Norton, Patterson, 

 Sawyer, Sprague, Stockton, Thurman, Trumbull, 



and Willey 20. 

 ABSENT Messrs. Cameron, Cattell, Corbett, Cra- 



g'n, Gilbert, Grimes, Hamilton, Hamlin, Harlan, 

 owe, Kellogg, Pomeroy, Saulsbury, Scott, Spencer, 

 and Yickers 16. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, said : " I move, in 

 line seven of section one, to insert the word 

 'then' before 'registered,' so that the consti- 

 tution shall be submitted at a time to be des- 

 ignated by the President to 'the then regis- 

 tered voters.' " 



The President pro tempore: "That amend- 

 ment will be made if there be no objection. 

 It is a verbal amendment." 



Mr. Trumbull: "I move, in section two, line 

 seven, after the word 'revised' to insert the 

 word ' enlarged.' " 



The President pro tempore : " That amend- 

 ment will be considered as adopted if there be 

 no objection." 



Mr. Trumbull: "Then I move, after the 

 word ' election ' in the same line, to insert the 

 words ' according to law.' The reconstruction 

 acts already provide how this is to be done." 



The President pro tempore: "That amend- 

 ment will be considered as adopted if there be 

 no objection." 



Mr. Trumbull: " I move to strike out in 

 lines ten and eleven of the second section the 

 words ' election ordinance adopted by the con- 

 vention which framed said constitution,' and 

 to insert the words 'acts of Congress com- 

 monly called the reconstruction acts ; ' so that 

 the clause will read : 



And said election shall be held and returns thereof 

 made in the manner provided by the acts of Congress 

 commonly called the reconstruction acts." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



Mr. Trumbull: "There is another slight 

 amendment that I wish to offer. In line four 

 of section five the word ' States ' should be 

 'State,' and the word 'respectively' ought to 

 be stricken out." 



The President pro tempore : " Those amend- 

 ments will be made, being verbal." 



Mr. Trumbull: "In section six, lines four 

 and five, the word 'respectively' should be 

 stricken out." 



The President pro tempore : " That amend- 

 ment will be made." 



The bill was then further amended by strik- 

 ing out the sixth section. On motion of Mr. 

 Edmunds, the following additional section was 

 adopted : 



And le U further enacted, That the proceedings in 

 any of said States shall not be deemed final or oper- 

 ate as a complete restoration thereof until their action 

 respectively shall be approved by Congress. 



The first section was further amended by 

 striking out the words " registered voters of 



