CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



163 



tended by the Congress which proposed these 

 amendments, nor by the Legislatures, of the States 

 which ratified them. 



" Now, mark the language of the court : 

 Having shown that the privileges and immunities 

 relied on in the argument are those which belonged 

 to citizens of the States as such, and that they are 

 left to the State governments for security and protec- 

 tion and not by this article placed under the special 

 care of the Federal Government, we may hold our- 

 selves excused from defining the privileges and im- 

 munities of citizens of the United States, which no 

 State can abridge until some case involving those 

 privileges may make it necessary to do so. 



" Mr. Speaker, if the Supreme Court of the 

 United States has decided any question in this 

 case it has decided that the rights, privileges, 

 and immunities of citizens of the States, as 

 such, are left to the protection of the States, 

 and not to the protection of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment; and it has decided that the rights 

 and immunities belonging to citizens of the 

 States cannot be controlled by the Federal 

 Government. That is the effect of this deci- 

 sion in what are known as the ' Slaughter- 

 house cases.' 



"Now what does this bill propose to do? 

 It proposes in the first section to enter into 

 the States and regulate the local affairs and 

 concerns of the people of the States. It pro- 

 poses to go into the State and say how its 

 school system shall be conducted. It proposes 

 to define and regulate how a hotel within a 

 State shall be conducted. It proposes also to 

 regulate the rights of citizens who enter thea- 

 tres, places of public amusement, and public 

 conveyances. If the Federal Government has 

 the power to go into the States to regulate 

 these affairs within their boundaries, among 

 their citizens, where is the limit of the power 

 of the Federal Government over the domestic 

 concerns of the States ? If the Federal Gov- 

 ernment may do this, there is no limitation 

 which can be set to the power it may exercise 

 within the States. I say, therefore, at the 

 very threshold, that the provisions of this bill 

 are without authority ; there is no power con- 

 ferred upon the Federal Government to pass 

 the proposed measure. The Supreme Court 

 of the United States has already decided, in 

 the case adverted to, that no such powers have 

 been conferred upon the Federal Government 

 by the fourteenth amendment." 



Mr. Rainey, of South Carolina, said : " The 

 fact of the determined and earnest opposition 

 to which this measure has been subjected is an 

 additional argument in favor of its passage in 

 order that we may have the constitutional 

 rights guaranteed us, being citizens. The time 

 has come under this Government when we 

 must no longer be looked upon and judged by 

 the color of our skins. Yes, the time is at 

 hand when you must cease to take us for 

 cringing slaves. We may have been such in 

 the past, but you should not fail to remember 

 that we are freemen now, and citizens of this 

 great country in common with yourselves; 



therefore entitled to the full enjoyment of all 

 the privileges and immunities incidental to 

 that condition. 



" Now, I take the ground that there will be 

 no difficulty in any of the States on account 

 of this bill. There is no argument offered by 

 the opposition to it that was not presented 

 here years ago. True, it was not upon this 

 subject, but subjects of a kindred nature affect- 

 ing the Government more .vitally than this 

 ever will. I assert that this ' genus ' in argu- 

 ment has gnawed at the vitals of this republic 

 for nearly half a century, until it was aroused 

 from its masterly inactivity, throttled the de- 

 mon of rebellion, and asserted its potency. 



" It was declared, sir, that if we were en- 

 franchised it would provoke conflict and create 

 strife ; that if we were placed in the jury-box 

 it would create a similar result. We have 

 been in the jury-box ; we have sat upon cases 

 involving the interests of our fellow-citizens, 

 and have rendered verdicts, and I can say with 

 confidence and pride that as regards my own 

 State our action in this respect has been recog- 

 nized and accepted even by the Democratic 

 lawyers, who frequently select colored jurors. 

 We have also had the pleasure of voting ; and 

 the only trouble to-day is that the colored man 

 is so loyal to the Government and true to the 

 party that has given him such rights as he has, 

 that he cannot be prevailed upon to enter the 

 ranks of the opposition. That is the reason 

 why gentlemen on the other side are fighting 

 so strenuously against our advancement. But 

 I will say to them that we intend to continue 

 to vote so long as the Government gives us the 

 right and the necessary protection; and I know 

 that right accorded to us now will never be 

 withheld in the future if left to the Republican 

 party. The sooner those opposed to us will 

 understand and concede the fact the better it 

 will be for the tranquillity, prosperity, and 

 happiness of the whole country. 



" I do not doubt that there are privileges ac- 

 corded to the colored people in Virginia ; that 

 they are allowed to live quietly and without mo- 

 lestation ; but I ask why ? The answer is, since 

 the election of Governor Walker in that State 

 colored men have been compelled, to a great 

 degree, to vote as the Democracy dictated or 

 else not vote at all, without detriment to their 

 business. Whenever the Democrats get con- 

 trol of a State, they say, ' Every thing is lovely, 

 and the negroes are happy and prosperous ; ' 

 but just as soon as the Republicans obtain con- 

 trol, then the cry is made loudly that anarchy, 

 ruin, and general destruction are upon the peo- 

 ple; that they are oppressed nigh unto death 

 by burdensome taxation, and that the Govern- 

 ment is a failure. 



" Sir, in the State of South Carolina, where 

 we have a republican form of government in- 

 deed, where the colored people are in a ma- 

 jority, we are endeavoring, with a fair pros- 

 pect of success, to demonstrate that the recon- 

 struction policy is not a failure. You may 



