160 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



* "As the Suprema Court has decided that 

 the above constitutional provision was intend- 

 ed to confer upon Congress the power to pre- 

 vent distinctions and discriminations when 

 made on account of race or color, I contend 

 that the power of Congress in this respect is 

 applicable to every office under the constitu- 

 tion and laws of any State. Some may think 

 that this is extraordinary power ; but such is 

 not the case. For any State can, without vio- 

 lating the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment 

 and the provisions of this bill, prohibit any 

 one from voting, holding office, or serving on 

 juries in its respective limrtis, who cannot read 

 and write, or who does not own a certain 

 amount of property, or who shall not have 

 resided in the State for a certain number of 

 months, days, or years. The only thing these 

 amendments prevent them from doing in this 

 respect is making the color of a person or the 

 race with which any person may be identified 

 a ground of disqualification from the enjoy- 

 ment of any of these privileges. The ques- 

 tion seems to me to be so clear that further 

 argument is unnecessary." 



Mr. Finck, of Ohio, said: "Mr. Speaker, I 

 rise for the purpose of opposing the passage of 

 this measure. A bill of this character, sir, is 

 not to be disposed of by mere appeals to pas- 

 sion, if the Constitution of our country still re- 

 tains its vigor and the force to control our action. 

 It is a question to be disposed of in accordance 

 with the organic law. If it violates any prin- 

 ciple of the Constitution, then it ought not to 

 be passed by this House. The provisions of 

 . the first section of this bill are as follows : 



That all persons within the jurisdiction of the 

 United States shall be entitled to the full and equal 

 enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facil- 

 ities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on 

 land or water, theatres, and other places of public 

 amusement ; and also of common schools and public 

 institutions of learning or benevolence supported, in 

 whole or in part, by general taxation ; and of ceme- 

 teries so supported, subject only to the conditions 

 and limitations established by law, and applicable 

 alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless 

 of any previous condition of servitude. 



" Other sections of the bill provide penalties 

 by fine and imprisonment for a violation of 

 the provisions of the first section. 



" Mr. Speaker, I have read the first section 

 of the Senate bill. There are various amend- 

 ments proposed in the House by which it is 

 endeavored in some manner to modify the pro- 

 visions of this section, but substantially the 

 question remains whether or not the Congress 

 of the United States has the constitutional 

 power to pass this proposed measure. I intend 

 to be very brief, but in order that we may con- 

 sider the question it is necessary to advert to 

 the nature of our Government. The Federal 

 Government is a Government of limited and 

 defined powers. It exists only by virtue of the 

 Constitution of the United States, and it can 

 exercise no powers except such as have been 

 granted by that instrument. If it should be 



found upon examination of the Constitution 

 that there has been no power delegated to the 

 Federal Government which warrants this legis- 

 lation, then if our Republican friends are will- 

 ing to abide by the Constitution and its lim- 

 itations they will reject the measure. 



"My opposition to this bill is not founded in 

 any hostility to the colored race. I entertain 

 no such hostility. 



" Mr. Speaker, soon after the adoption of the 

 Constitution of the United States various 

 amendments were made to it, eleven in num- 

 ber, and all these amendments provided limi-' 

 tations upon the powers of the General Gov- 

 ernment. An additional amendment was made 

 in the year 1803, but after that, and after a 

 lapse of more than fifty years, there were 

 three other amendments made to the Consti- 

 tution, namely, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and 

 fifteenth amendments. The first section of the 

 fourteenth article of amendment, under which 

 the advocates of this bill claim the constitu- 

 tional power to pass it, reads as follows : 



All persons born or naturalized in the United 

 States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are 

 citizens of the United States and of the State 

 wherein they reside. No State shall make or 

 enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges 

 or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor 

 shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or 

 property, without due process of law ; nor deny to 

 any person within its jurisdiction the equal protec- 

 tion of its laws. 



" In the Constitution of the United States 

 there are various limitations and restrictions 

 upon the powers of the Federal Government ; 

 and so cautious were the statesmen of the early 

 days of the republic that the Federal Govern- 

 ment should exercise no power not delegated 

 to it, that they made provision by an amend- 

 ment adopted soon after the ratification of the 

 Constitution that 



The powers not delegated to the United States by 

 the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 

 are reserved to the States respectively, or to the 

 people. 



" It will be observed, Mr. Speaker, in the 

 reading of the bill now under discussion, that 

 it is a proposition by the Federal Government 

 to go into the States for the purpose of exer- 

 cising legislative power over the people of the 

 States, and to control and regulate the local 

 concerns and affairs of the citizens of the sev- 

 eral States. 



"I deny that under any delegation of power 

 which has been provided by the Constitution 

 or by the amendments which have since be- 

 come part of the Constitution, any such power 

 can be exercised by the Federal Government. 

 Gentlemen claim that this power can be exer- 

 cised under the provisions of the first section 

 of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitu- 

 tion. What is it ? 

 No State 



" I am reading the clause under which the 

 power to pass this bill is claimed : 

 No State shall make or enforce any law which 





