“_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.”
I may be mistaken, Sir, but I think it difficult to read this
proposition without being painfully impressed by the discord and
defilement it will introduce into the National Constitution, having
among specific objects the guaranty of a republican form of government.
The discord appears on the face. The defilement is none the less
apparent. Go back, if you please, to the adoption of the Constitution,
and you will gratefully acknowledge that the finest saying of the
times was when Madison, evidently inspired by the Declaration of
Independence, and determined to keep the Constitution in harmony with
it, insisted, in well-known words, that it was “WRONG to admit in the
Constitution the idea that there could be property in men.”[40] Of all
that has come to us from that historic Convention, where Washington
sat as President, and Franklin and Hamilton sat as members, there is
nothing with so much of imperishable charm. It was wrong to admit
in the Constitution the idea that man could hold property in man.
In this spirit the Constitution was framed. This offensive idea was
not admitted. The text, at least, was kept blameless. And now, after
generations have passed, surrounded by the light of Christian truth
and in the full blaze of Human Freedom, it is proposed to admit in the
Constitution a twin idea of Inequality in Rights, and thus openly set
at nought the first principles of the Declaration of Independence, and
the guaranty of a republican government itself, while you blot out a
whole race politically. For some time we have been carefully expunging
from the statute-book the word “white,” and now it is proposed to
insert in the Constitution itself a distinction of color. An amendment,
according to the dictionaries, is “an improvement,” “a change for the
better.” Surely the present proposition is an amendment which, like the
crab, goes backward.
Such is the appearance, when you regard it merely in form, without
penetrating its substance; but here it is none the less offensive. The
case is plain. Still among us are four million citizens robbed of all
share in the government of a common country, while, at the same time,
according to their means, they are taxed, directly and indirectly, for
the support of the Government. Nobody will question the statement. And
this bare-faced tyranny of taxation without representation it is now
proposed to recognize as not inconsistent with fundamental right and
the guaranty of a republican government. Instead of blasting it, you go
forward to embrace it as an element of political power.
If you expect to induce the recent slave-master to confer suffrage
without distinction of color, you will find the proposition a delusion
and a snare. He will do no such thing. Even the bribe offered cannot
tempt him. If, on the other hand, you expect to accomplish a reduction
of his political power, permit me to say that success is more than
doubtful, while the means employed are unworthy. Tricks and evasions
are possible, and the cunning slave-master will drive his coach and six
through your Amendment, stuffed with all his representatives. Should
he cheat you, it will only be a proper return for the endeavor on your
part to circumvent him at the expense of fellow-citizens to whom you
are bound by every obligation of public faith.
I know not if others will see this uncertainty as I see it; but
there are two practical consequences, having direct influence on the
times, which all must discern as following at once from the adoption
of the so-called Amendment. In the first place, it will be a present
renunciation of all power under the Constitution to apply the remedy
for a grievous wrong, when the remedy, even according to your own
recent example, is actually in your hands. You have already in this
Chamber, only last Friday, decreed civil rights without distinction
of color.[41] Who can doubt that by the same title you may decree
political rights, also, without distinction of color? But, having
the power, it is your duty to exercise it. You cannot evade this
duty without becoming partakers in wrong. And this brings me to the
second practical consequence that must ensue from the adoption of
this proposition. You hand over wards and allies, through whom the
Republic has been saved, and therefore our saviours, to the control of
vindictive enemies, to be taxed and governed without their own consent;
and this you do for a consideration “nominated in the bond,” by virtue
of which men may do a great wrong, provided they submit, as a _quid pro
quo_, to a proportionate abridgment of political power. Who does not
admire the Scottish patriot of whom it was said that he “would lose
his life readily to _serve_ his country, but would not do a base thing
to _save_ it”?[42] I hope we may act in this spirit. Above all, do not
copy the example of Pontius Pilate, who surrendered the Saviour of the
World, in whom he found no fault at all, to be scourged and crucified,
while he set at large Barabbas, of whom the Gospel says in simple
words, “Now Barabbas was a robber.”
I speak with sincere deference for cherished friends from whom I
differ; but I submit that the time has come, at last, when we should
deal directly, and not indirectly, with the great question before us,
and when all compromise of Human Rights should cease, and especially
there should be no thought of a three-headed compromise, which, after
degrading the Constitution, renounces a beneficent power essential to
the safety of the Republic, and, lastly, borrowing an example from
Pontius Pilate, turns over a whole race to sacrifice. These objections
I present briefly on the threshold, without argument, and advance to
the main question which must dominate this whole debate. By way of
introduction, I send to the Chair a counter proposition, which I wish
read. It is entitled “A 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.”
This was the joint resolution introduced February 2d,[43] in
anticipation of this debate, but made applicable “anywhere
within the limits of the United States or the jurisdiction
thereof.” After its reading by the Secretary of the Senate, Mr.
Sumner proceeded.
MR. PRESIDENT,--In opening this great question, I begin by expressing a
heartfelt aspiration that the day may soon come, when the States lately
in rebellion may be received again into the copartnership of political
power and the full fellowship of the Union. But I see too well that it
is vain to expect this day, so much longed for, until we have obtained
that security for the future which is found only in the Equal Rights
of All, at the ballot-box as in the court-room. This is the Great
Guaranty without which all other guaranties will fail. This is the sole
solution of present troubles and anxieties. This is the only sufficient
assurance of peace and reconciliation. To the establishment of this
Great Guaranty, as a measure of safety and of justice, I now ask your
best attention.
* * * * *
The powers of Congress over this subject are ample as they are
beneficent. From four specific fountains they flow, each sufficient,
all four swelling into an irresistible current, and tending to one
conclusion: first, the necessity of the case, by which, according
to analogy of the Territories, disloyal States, having no local
government, lapse under the authority of Congress; secondly, the
Rights of War, which do not expire or lose their grasp, except
with the establishment of all needful guaranties; thirdly, the
constitutional injunction to guaranty a republican form of government;
and, fourthly, the Constitutional Amendment, by which Congress, in
words of peculiar energy, is empowered to “enforce” the abolition of
Slavery by “appropriate legislation.” According to the proverb of
Catholic Europe, all roads lead to Rome; and so do all these powers
lead to the jurisdiction of Congress over this whole subject. No
matter which road you take, you arrive at the same point. The first
two have already been discussed exhaustively.[44] The two latter have
been considered less, and it is on these that I shall speak especially
to-day. I propose, with the permission of the Senate, to show the
necessity and duty of exercising the jurisdiction of Congress so as
to secure that essential condition of a republican government, the
Equal Rights of All. And I put aside, at the outset, the metaphysical
question, worthy of schoolmen in the Dark Ages, whether certain
States are _in_ the Union or _out of_ the Union. That is a question
of form, and not of substance,--of words only, and not of facts;
for the substance is clear, and the facts are unanswerable. All are
agreed, according to the authority of President Lincoln, in his latest
utterance before his lamented death, that these States have ceased to
be in “practical relation with the Union”;[45] and this is enough to
sustain the jurisdiction of Congress, even without the plain words of
the Constitution in two separate texts.
The time has passed for phrases, which have been the chief resource in
opposition to a just reconstruction. It is not enough to say “a State
cannot secede,” “a State cannot get out of the Union,” “Louisiana
is a State in the Union.” These are mere words, having no positive
meaning, and improper for this debate. So far as they have meaning,
they confound law and fact. It is very obvious that a State may, in
point of _law_, be still in the list of States, and yet, in point of
_fact_, its relations to the Union may have ceased through violence,
foreign or domestic. In point of law, no man can commit suicide; but
in point of fact, men do. The absurdity of denying that a man has
committed suicide, because it is unlawful, is equalled by the kindred
absurdity of saying that a State cannot do a certain thing, because
it is unlawful. Unhappily, in this world, the fact is not always in
conformity with the law.
Therefore I put aside all fine-spun theories running into the
metaphysics of Constitutional Law. All such subtilties are absolutely
futile. They must end in nothing. I found myself on existing facts,
which are undeniable. Of these I select two.
Whatever may have been the effect of the acts of Secession in point
of law, it is plain that _de facto_ the Rebel States have ceased to
take any part in the National Government. All loyal government in
those States has been _de facto_ subverted. They are all without
magistrates or officers bound by oath to support the National
Constitution according to its requirement, so that _de facto_ there
are no magistrates or officers of the Union in these States; nor are
there any _de facto_ Senators or Representatives in Congress from those
States. Such are unquestionable facts, all of which concentre in the
great unquestionable _fact_, that for the time being there are no State
Governments in these States which the National Government can recognize
as such.
There is another fact equally unquestionable. It is that the Rebel
States have been _de facto_ in war against the National Government.
Armies have been mustered, battles have been fought, and the whole
country has been convulsed by this war. An immense national debt,
mourning families, widows and orphans, attest this terrible fact.
Everything has a natural consequence, and the consequence of this
condition of things is that necessity which I have announced. These
States cannot subsist without legal governments in just correlation
with the other States and with the Nation.
Necessity and duty commingle. If what is necessary is not always
according to duty, surely duty is always a necessity. On the present
occasion they unite in one voice for the Great Guaranty. It is at once
necessity and duty. Glancing at the promises of the Fathers, I shall
exhibit,--
_First_, the overruling necessity of the times;
And, _secondly_, the positive mandate of the Constitution, compelling
us to guaranty “a republican form of government,” and thus to determine
what is meant by this requirement; all of which has been fortified
by continuing Rights of War, and by the Constitutional Amendment
authorizing Congress to enforce the abolition of Slavery.
* * * * *
In the life of a nation, as in that of an individual, there are moments
when outstanding promises must be performed under peril of ruin and
dishonor. Such is the present moment in the life of the Republic.
Sacred promises, beginning with our history, are yet unperformed,
although the hour has sounded when continued failure on our part
will open the door to a long train of woes. And there are yet other
promises, recently made, for the national defence against a wicked
rebellion, which, like those of earlier date, are also unperformed. But
the latter are all included in the former; so that our whole present
duty centres in the performance of sacred promises coëval with the
national life.
Our fathers solemnly announced the Equal Rights of all men, and
that government had no just foundation except in the consent of the
governed; and to the support of the Declaration heralding these
self-evident truths they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor. Looking at this Declaration now, it is chiefly memorable
for the promises it made. Mighty words! Fit utterance for the infant
giant then born! Fit device for the great Republic taking its place in
the family of kings! Fit lesson for mankind! And now the moment has
come when these vows must be fulfilled to the letter. In securing the
Equal Rights of the freedman, and his participation in the Government
which he is taxed to support, we shall perform the early promises of
the Fathers, and at the same time supplementary promises only recently
made to the freedman as the condition of alliance and aid against
the Rebellion. Failure here is moral and political bankruptcy. It is
repudiation of moral and political duties, ending in repudiation of the
financial obligations. So are duties to the national freedman linked
with obligations to the national creditor, that you cannot repudiate
the former without impairing the latter. Whoever disowns any of the
promises of the Republic leads the way in repudiation.
But you cannot be thus guilty. Even if indifferent to the vows of
the Fathers, necessity, in harmony with the plain injunction of the
Constitution, will constrain you. On this there can be no doubt. You
must perform these promises; and this brings me to the overruling
necessity of the times.