148 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congsesses of the 

 United States, withdrew from their seats, and aided 

 the rebellion. 



Second. All persons who, having held the office 

 of Judo-e of the Supreme Court of the United States, 

 or head of one of the Executive Departments of the 

 Government of the United States, in the year 1860 or 

 1861, shall have engaged in rebellion against the 

 same. 



"I will simply say that this amendment 

 makes no exclusion from the benefits of this 

 bill, except of members of the Thirty-sixth and 

 Thirty-seventh Congresses who went out and 

 engaged in rebellion, and Judges of the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States, and heads 

 of the Executive Departments ; and I desire to 

 vote for it, because I believe that is what the 

 bill should do. Therefore, I ask for the yeas 

 and nays upon it." 



The question, being taken by yeas and nays, 

 resulted yeas 4, nays 55. 



So the amendment was rejected. 



Mr. Morton : " I offer the following amend- 

 ment, to come in after the word ' removed,' 

 in line nine of the first section: " 



Provided, That this act shall not be construed to 

 relate back to or validate the election or appointment 

 of any person to the position of Senator or Kepresent- 

 ativo in Congress, or to any office, civil or military, 

 under the United States, which person was, at the 

 date of such election or appointment, ineligible to 

 the office or position to which he may have been so 

 elected or appointed. 



" The object of this amendment is to exclude 

 from the benefit of this bill any man who has 

 consented to be elected, or has procured him- 

 self to be elected, to an office in defiance of the 

 fourteenth amendment any man who, while 

 resting under the disabilities of that amend- 

 ment, and in defiance of it, has attempted to 

 obtain office. It is also intended that we shall 

 defeat the purpose of those who have defied 

 that amendment by knowingly electing or pro- 

 curing the election of those who are disquali- 

 fied by the Constitution of the United States. 

 If there be such persons who have thus acted 

 in defiance of the Constitution, who have set 

 at naught a solemn amendment adopted by the 

 people of the United States, they ought not, 

 under any consideration, to be entitled to the 

 benefit of this bill. They have no right to it 

 in point of justice ; but, on the contrary, hav- 

 ing shown a disregard of the law, having wil- 

 fully defied the Constitution of the United 

 States, they are not proper persons afterward 

 to hold office under it." 



Mr. Edmunds : " It is a new treason." 

 Mr. Morton: "Yes, sir. I therefore hope 

 that this amendment will be adopted. If it 

 should not be, this bill ought not to pass. This 

 bill ought not to have the effect to legislate men 

 into Congress, or to legislate men into the en- 

 joyment of office, of influence, and of power, 

 who have acted in open defiance and contempt 

 of the Constitution." 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio, said : " I wish to in- 

 quire if that is not precisely the same amend- 

 ment that was voted down? " 



Mr. Morton: "There has been some slight 

 change. 1 ' 



The question, being taken by yeas and nays, 

 resulted as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Ames, Anthony, Brownlow, Buck- 

 ingham, Caldwell, Carpenter, Clayton, Conkling, 

 Corbett, Edmunds, Ferry of Michigan, Flanagan, 

 Frelinghuysen, Howe, Morrill of Maine, Merrill of 

 Vermont, Morton, In ye, Patterson, Pomeroy, Pool, 

 Pratt, Kamsey, Kice, Scott, Spencer, Sumner, Wil- 

 Bon, and Windom 29. 



NAYS Messrs. Alcorn, Bayard, Blair, Casserly, 

 Cooper, Davis of Kentucky, Davis of West Virginia, 

 Fenton, Ferry of Connecticut, Hamilton of Man-land, 

 Hill, Hitchcock, Johnston, Kelly, Lewis, Logan, 

 Norwood, Robertson, Saulsbury, Schurz, Sherman, 

 Stevenson, Stewart, Tipton, Trumbull, and West 

 26. 



ABSENT Messrs. Boreman, Cameron, Chandler, 

 Cole, Cragin, Gilbert, Hamilton of Texas, Hamlin, 

 Harlan, Kellogg, Osborn, Sawyer, Sprague, Stock- 

 ton, Thurman, Viekers, and Wright 17. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 



The bill was now reported from the Com- 

 mittee of the "Whole to the Senate, and the 

 report accepted. It being thus before the 

 Senate, Mr. Sumner renewed his amendment, 

 known as the Civil Rights Bill. 



Mr. Kellogg, of Louisiana, said: "As I have 

 already said, the colored man in the State of 

 Louisiana now has all the rights that the Sena- 

 tor's bill would give him. I am in favor of 

 every provision of that bill ; but, while I am 

 willing to vindicate every right of the colored 

 man, I still wish to be consistent, and, believ- 

 ing it to be, not only sound policy, but a meas- 

 ure of justice, I am for a measure of universal 

 amnesty that, with the laws already upon the 

 statute-book (and, if they are not sufficient, I 

 will cheerfully vote for others), will give to 

 every man in the South, white or black, high 

 or low, rich or poor, the same equality before 

 the law. I want to inaugurate a policy in this 

 and other measures that will set the South 

 upon the high-road to prosperity, and enable 

 her to emerge from the difficulties that unfor- 

 tunately environ her at the present time, and 

 retard her progress and development. More 

 than that, sir, I want to see the people of the 

 South turning their backs upon the prejudices 

 and hostilities of the past, looking forward 

 only to the reconciliations and consequent 

 prosperity of the future." 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio, said: "The Senator 

 from Massachusetts has declared that, if his 

 amendment be not adopted, he will vote 

 against this bill. I have to say that, if it be 

 adopted, I shall vote against the bill, and I 

 shall vote against it, if it be adopted, just so 

 long as I believe, as I do believe, that his 

 amendment is the most flagrant violation of the 

 Constitution that ever I have seen proposed in 

 this Senate, and I have seen some that I 

 thought were pretty bad. It goes a whole 

 bow-shot length beyond the Ku-klux bill." 



Mr. Robertson, of South Carolina, said : "I 

 see plainly that the amendments now tacked 

 on this bill are calculated to defeat it, and the 



