The following joint resolution, introduced February 2d, is
a modification of a bill introduced at the beginning of the
session.[38]
Joint Resolution carrying out the guaranty of a Republican Form of
Government in the Constitution of the United States, and enforcing the
Constitutional Amendment for the Prohibition of Slavery.
Whereas it is provided in the Constitution, that the United States
shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of
government;
And whereas, by reason of the failure of certain States to maintain
governments which Congress can recognize, it has become the duty
of the United States, standing in the place of guarantor where the
principal has made a lapse, to secure to such States, according to the
requirement of the guaranty, governments republican in form;
And whereas, further, it is provided in a recent Constitutional
Amendment, that Congress may “enforce” the prohibition of Slavery by
“appropriate legislation,” and it is important to this end that all
relics of Slavery should be removed, including all distinction of
rights on account of color:
Now, therefore, to carry out the guaranty of a republican form of
government, and to enforce the prohibition of Slavery,
_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled_, That in all States
lately declared to be in rebellion there shall be no oligarchy,
aristocracy, caste, or monopoly invested with peculiar privileges or
powers, and there shall be no denial of rights, civil or political, on
account of race or color; but all persons shall be equal before the
law, whether in the court-room or at the ballot-box. And this statute,
made in pursuance of the Constitution, shall be the supreme law of the
land, anything in the Constitution or laws of any such State to the
contrary notwithstanding.
The joint resolution was printed and laid on the table. Mr.
Sumner gave notice that at the proper time he should move it
as a counter proposition to the resolution of the House of
Representatives proposing a Constitutional Amendment.[39]
THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF ALL: THE GREAT GUARANTY AND PRESENT NECESSITY, FOR
THE SAKE OF SECURITY, AND TO MAINTAIN A REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT.
SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
FIXING THE BASIS OF REPRESENTATION, FEBRUARY 5 AND 6, 1866. WITH
APPENDIX.
Taxation without representation is Tyranny.--THE REVOLUTIONARY
FATHERS.
* * * * *
Remember, O my friends, the laws, the rights,
The generous plan of power delivered down
From age to age by your renowned forefathers,
So dearly bought, the price of so much blood:
Oh, let it never perish in your hands!”
ADDISON, _Cato_, Act III. Scene 5.
* * * * *
But if any among you thinks that Philip will maintain his
power by having occupied forts and havens and the like, this
is a mistake.… Impossible is it, impossible, Athenians, to
acquire a solid power by injustice and perjury and falsehood.
Such things last for once, or for a short period; maybe, they
blossom fairly with hope; but in time they are discovered and
drop away. As a house, a ship, or the like, ought to have the
lower parts firmest, so in human conduct, I ween, the principle
and foundation should be just and true.--DEMOSTHENES, _Second
Olynthiac_, tr. Kennedy.
* * * * *
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O
house of Israel! Is not my way equal? are not your ways
unequal?--EZEKIEL, xviii. 25.
* * * * *
’Twere better, O my son,
To cultivate Equality, who joins
Friends, cities, heroes in one steadfast league;
For by the laws of Nature through the world
Equality was established: …
Equality, among the human race,
Measures and weights and numbers hath ordained.
EURIPIDES, _The Phœnician Damsels_, tr. Wodhull.
* * * * *
That all might free and equal all remain.
LUCAN, _Pharsalia_, tr. Rowe, Book IX. 336.
* * * * *
Upon what principle is it that the slaves shall be computed
in the representation? Are they men? Then make them citizens,
and let them vote.--GOUVERNEUR MORRIS: _Debates in the Federal
Convention_, August 8, 1787: Madison Papers, Vol. III. p. 1264.
* * * * *
He took his ground carefully, and propounded only what he felt
sure that Hardy himself would at once accept,--what no man
of any worth could possibly take exception to. He meant much
more, he said, than this, but for the present purpose it would
be enough for him to say, that, whatever else it might mean,
_Democracy in his mouth always meant that every man should have
a share in the government of his country_.--HUGHES, _Tom Brown
at Oxford_, Vol. II. Chap. XIX.
* * * * *
The Equal Rights of the colored race occupied the constant
attention of Congress in different forms. One measure was
known as the Civil Rights Bill, securing the right to sue and
testify in court, introduced by Mr. Trumbull January 5, and
passed April 9, 1866. Others were intended to secure suffrage
for colored citizens in the District of Columbia and generally
in the Rebel States. The efforts of Mr. Sumner were applicable
to all these measures. He insisted always upon the equal title
of all to rights of white citizens, whether civil or political,
and he wished to act directly. Not doubting the plenary powers
of Congress to provide for the equal rights of all, political
as well as civil, especially since the Constitutional Amendment
prohibiting Slavery, he pressed action by “appropriate
legislation.”
Meanwhile the House of Representatives undertook to meet
the Suffrage question indirectly, and by a proposition for
an Amendment of the Constitution, reported by Hon. Thaddeus
Stevens from the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. Proceeding
originally from Hon. James G. Blaine, a Representative from
Maine, afterwards Speaker, it was known familiarly as “the
Blaine Amendment.” After elaborate discussion, the joint
resolution containing the Amendment was adopted by the House,
January 31st,--Yeas 120, Nays 46,--in the following terms:--
“Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
States which may be included within this Union according
to their respective numbers, counting the whole number
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed:
_Provided_, That, whenever the elective franchise shall
be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or
color, all persons therein of such race or color shall be
excluded from the basis of representation.”
Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, who was the Senate Chairman of the
Joint Committee on Reconstruction, promptly gave notice that
he should call for its consideration in the Senate February
5th. This opened the whole subject in all its branches, and Mr.
Sumner seized the earliest opportunity to discuss it, beginning
the important debate. His speech, after asserting the equal
rights of all, vindicated the plenary powers of Congress,
especially under the clause requiring the United States to
guaranty a republican form of government. Though made on the
Constitutional Amendment, it was equally applicable to Mr.
Trumbull’s Civil Rights Bill, then pending, as also to the Bill
for Enfranchisement in the District of Columbia, and to all
measures of Reconstruction.