1T6 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



for the support or in aid of any theological school 

 or seminary, or of any school or seminary teaching 

 the peculiar religious doctrines or subject in any 

 respect to the control or direction of any church, 

 religious society, sect, or denomination. And no 

 special or denominational system of religion or re- 

 ligious belief shall in any State or Territory or in 

 the District of Columbia constitute any part of the 

 course of study or instruction in any school or in- 

 stitution of learning supported wholly or in part by 

 taxation or by the douation of any money or prop- 

 perty by any State or by the United States. 



" This substitute, as I have said, covers the 

 entire ground. It takes up the poisonous tree 

 by the root, while the resolution sent us by 

 the House cuts off but a minor and unimpor- 

 tant branch. I will send the substitute to the 

 Chair and ask to have it referred to the Com- 

 mittee on the Judiciary, with the resolution of 

 the H<ouse." 



Mr. Morton, of Indiana, said: "I wish to 

 express my surprise at the reading of this res- 

 olution as it has come to us. It is very clear 

 that you can drive an omnibus through it. All 

 it provides is that a fund raised for the benefit 

 of the public schools already dedicated and set 

 apart for that purpose cannot be diverted to a 

 sectarian school; but it does not prohibit a 

 State from appropriating money out of its 

 general Treasury that was not raised for school 

 purposes for the support of sectarian schools ; 

 and it does not prevent a State from levying 

 an original tax for the support of sectarian 

 schools. It simply protects a school-fund 

 raised as a general school-fund dedicated for 

 that purpose from being afterward diverted to 

 sectarian schools, and leaves every State free 

 to make an appropriation out of the general 

 Treasury, out of moneys raised for all purposes, 

 to the support of sectarian schools or even to 

 create a special tax for that purpose. It is 

 competent, therefore, for any State to appro- 

 priate money out of the general Treasury of 

 that State for the support of Catholic schools 

 or Protestant schools, or to levy a tax directly 

 upon the people for that purpose. This 

 amendment would not interfere with any 

 legislation of that kind. I hope it will be 

 properly amended and sent back to the other 

 House in time to be passed, so that it may go 

 before the States next winter." 



The joint resolution was referred to the 

 Committee on the Judiciary, with the various 

 amendments proposed. 



On August llth the Committee on the Judi- 

 ciary reported an amendment to strike out all 

 after the enacting clause of the joint resolu- 

 tion, and in lieu thereof to insert the following : 



That the following article be proposed to the Leg- 

 islatures of the several States as an amendment to 

 the Constitution of the United States, which, when 

 ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, 

 shall be valid as a part of the said Constitution, 

 namelv ; 



AKTICLE XVI. No State shall make any law re- 

 specting an establishment of religion, or prohibit- 

 ing the free exercise thereof; and no religious test 

 shall ever be required as a qualification to any office 

 or public trust under any State. No public property 



and no public revenue of, nor any loan of credit by 

 or under the authority of, the United States, or any 

 State, Territory, District, or municipal corporation, 

 shall be appropriated to or made or used for the 

 support of any school, educational or other insti- 

 tution under the control of any religious or ant.- 

 religious sect, organization, or denomination, or 

 wherein the particular creed or tenets of any relig- 

 ious or anti-religious sect, organization, or denomi- 

 nation shall be taught. And no such particular 

 creed or tenets shall be read or taught in any school 

 or institution supported in whole or in part by such 

 revenue or loan of credit ; and no such appropriation 

 or loan of credit shall be made to any religious or 

 anti-religious sect, organization, or denomination, or 

 to promote its interests or tenets. This article shall 

 not be construed to prohibit the reading of the Bible 

 in any school or institution ; and it shall not have 

 the effect to impair rights of property already vested. 

 Sec. 2. Congress shall have power, by appropriate 

 legislation, to provide for the prevention and pun- 

 ishment of violations of this article. 



The President pro tempore: "The question 

 is on the amendment reported by the Commit- 

 tee on the Judiciary as a substitute for the 

 House resolution." 



Mr. Randolph, of New Jersey, said : " The 

 amendment proposed by the Judiciary Com- 

 mittee is an altogether different affair from 

 that the people have asked for or the press 

 discussed. It opens, if adopted, many grave 

 questions, good enough for the welfare of the 

 legal profession, but bad enough for the body- 

 politic. It will leave in doubt much that is 

 now deemed settled, and, as it seems to me 

 from the hasty perusal I have been able to 

 give to the paper to-day, instead of disposing 

 of a vexed question, taking it out of politics 

 and contention, its main result, if it is not its 

 object, will be to arouse anew, and unneces- 

 sarily, an element of discord. 



" I can take no part in any such legislation, 

 save to attempt to prevent it. I have labored 

 hard all the session to have an amendment 

 passed substantially like that sent to us from 

 the House. It is reasonable in character, ac- 

 ceptable to most men of all creeds and denom- 

 inations, has no latent purpose to excite, no 

 new scheme to add to the already dangerous 

 powers of Congress, and, as is believed by 

 most men, would prove a just and peaceful 

 settlement. 



" For the House amendment I shall steadily 

 vote ; for all alterations of that proposition I 

 shall vote against, as I believe most of the 

 true friends of education should. The adop- 

 tion of the House amendment concludes con- 

 gressional action and relegates final action to 

 the States." 



The result was announced, as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Allison, Anthony, Booth, Bout- 

 well, Burnside, Cameron of "Wisconson, Christiancy, 

 Conkling, Cragin, Edmunds, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, 

 Harvey, Hitchcock, Howe, Ingalls, Logan, McMil- 

 lan, Mitchell, Morrill, Oglesby, Paddock, Patterson, 

 Sargent, Spencer, Wadleigh, and West 27. 



NAYS Messrs. Bogy, Cockrell, Cooper, Davis, 

 Eaton, Gordon, Kelly, Kernan, Key, McCreery, 

 Maxey, Norwood, Randolph, Eanscm, and Steven- 

 son 15. 



ABSENT Messrs. Alcorn, Barnum, Bayard, 



