16G 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



'protection,' as there used, means not simply 

 the protection of the person from violence, the 

 protection of his property from destruction, 

 but it is substantially in the sense of the equal 

 benefit of the law ; that it is intended to pro- 

 mote equality in the States, and it refers to 

 the laws of the States. 



"I am willing to rest this whole question 

 upon the construction of this clause of the 

 fourteenth amendment. I believe the power 

 to pass this bill can be derived from other 

 sources, but it is sufficient to derive it from 

 this." 



Mr. Frelinghuysen said : " Mr. President, I 

 have a word to say in reference to the applica- 

 tion of the amendment of the Senator from 

 Massachusetts to churches. In my judgment 

 it is not wise for Congress to begin legislation 

 on that subject; it is opening a crevice which 

 may carry away all the barriers and work 

 destruction. Governmental tyranny in former 

 ages joined hands with ecclesiastical tyranny 

 and by the unholy alliance rivers of blood 

 flowed. When our fathers established this 

 Government they determined to destroy eccle- 

 siastical tyranny by severing it from govern- 

 mental power. 



" The words of the constitutional amend- 

 ment do not mean that Congress shall pass no 

 law regulating man's external conduct, for that 

 is morality. The ' exercise of religion ' means 

 worship. It can mean nothing else. So the 

 Constitution provides that Congress shall pass 

 no law prohibiting the free exercise of wor- 

 ship. Now, the Japanese, in California, see 

 proper to make nationality, we will suppose, 

 a part of their religion, and to exclude all who 

 do not belong to their people from their wor- 

 ship; or, the Huguenots of South Carolina 

 might form a religious society, and one of their 

 regulations be that no one should be a mem- 

 ber unless a descendant of the Huguenots; or, 

 the Scotch Presbyterians might declare that 

 none shall be connected with their church un- 

 less producing a certificate from the church at 

 home ; or, the Africans might form a church 

 making emancipation an essential to member- 

 ship. It is clearly a restriction upon the per- 

 fect freedom of religious worship to provide 

 that in these cases there shall not be liberty to 

 exclude those who do not meet the require- 

 ments stated. If, in the cases that I have sup- 

 posed, there is a right to exclude those who do 

 not meet the description and requirements 

 laid down, then a like right of exclusion for 

 other reasons incident to their peculiar views 

 belongs to all other churches. 



" In answer to this view of the subject, it is 

 said that the proposed amendment only ap- 

 plies to churches that are incorporated. But 

 I ask whether that limitation is found in the 

 Constitution ? Does it say that Congress shall 

 pass no law prohibiting the free exercise of re- 

 ligion to churches that are not incorporated, 

 but may pass laws restraining that free exer- 

 cise when the association is incorporated ? If 



such had been the provision of the Constitu- 

 tion all the churches would have been and 

 would now be outside the protection of the 

 Constitution, for all were and are incorporated. 

 We may not thus interpolate the Constitu- 

 tion." 



The Presiding Officer (Mr. Morrill, of Ver- 

 mont, in the chair) : " The question is on the 

 amendment of the Senator from Wisconsin to 

 the amendment of the Senator from Massachu- 

 setts." 



The question being taken, resulted as fol- 

 lows: 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Carpenter, Chandler, 

 Cole, Conkling, Corbett, Fenton, Ferry of Michigan, 

 Frelinghuysen, Hamilton of Texas, Hamlin, Hitch- 

 cock, Morrill of Maine, Pool, Eamsey, Scott, and 

 Wright W. 



NATS Messrs. Ames, Blair, Boreman,Brownlow, 

 Cameron, Clayton, Davis of West Virginia, Ed- 

 munds, Ferry of Connecticut, Goldthwaite, Harlan, 

 Hill, Johnston, Kelly, Logan, Morrill of Vermont, 

 Morton, Norwood, Osborn, Pomeroy, Kice, Kobert- 

 Bon, Saulsbury, Sawyer, Sherman, Spencer, Sprague, 

 Stevenson, Stockton, Sumner, Trumbull, Vickers, 

 West, and Wilson 34. 



ABSENT Messrs. Alcorn, Bayard, Buckingham, 

 CaldwelL Casserly, Cooper, Cragin, JDavis of Ken- 

 tucky, Flanagan, Gilbert, Hamilton of Maryland, 

 Howe, Kellogg, Lewis, Nye ? Patterson, Pratt, 

 JSchurz, Stewart, Thurman, Tipton, and Windom 

 22. 



So the amendment to the amendment was 

 rejected. 



The Vice-President : " The question recurs 

 on the amendment of the Senator from Massa- 

 chusetts." 



Mr. Sherman : " I now offer the amend- 

 ments I suggested yesterday to the amendment 

 of the Senator from Massachusetts. In sec- 

 tion two, lines six and seven, I move to strike 

 out the words ' and such allowance for coun- 

 sel fees as the court shall deem just.' 



Mr. Sumner: "I accept that. The Senator, 

 I think, is right in his suggestion." 



Mr. Sherman: "I also move to strike out 

 the last section but one. I ask that it be read." 



The Chief Clerk: "The section proposed 

 to be stricken out is : " 



g E c. . That every law, statute, ordinance, regu- 

 lation, or custom, inconsistent with this act, or mak- 

 ing any discriminations against any person on ac- 

 count of color by the use of the word " white," is 

 hereby repealed and annulled. 



Mr. Sherman: "I will simply state that 

 neither the Senator from Massachusetts him- 

 self nor any Senator in this body can tell the 

 scope of this section. I have already found 

 out that it changes the policy of the naturali- 

 zation laws since the foundation of the Gov- 

 ernment, and it may strike in many places not 

 only at the laws of the United States but at 

 the laws of all the States, so that we are grop- 

 ing blindly in the dark in passing a provision 

 so general as this. If there are any laws which 

 the Senator from Massachusetts can point out 

 where the word ' white * is used in violation 

 of the spirit of the Constitution, I am willing 

 to vote to repeal, modify, or change them ; 



