SECOND SPEECH IN THE SENATE ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE
CONSTITUTION FIXING THE BASIS OF REPRESENTATION, MARCH 7, 1866.
This second speech was in continuation of the debate on the
proposed Constitutional Amendment, and in reply to those who
had spoken after Mr. Sumner, especially Mr. Fessenden. The
history of the debate and its result appear in the Appendix to
the speech of February 5th and 6th.[221]
MR. PRESIDENT,--I hesitate to intrude again into this debate, which
now, after the interposition of another debate on another question, is
again renewed. I do it with unfeigned reluctance, and I hope not to
trespass too much on your patience.
The question before us, even in its simplest form, is of incalculable
importance; but it has added interest, as opening the whole vast
subject of Reconstruction. Into this field I shall not be tempted,
except to express a brief opinion on the general principles we should
seek to establish. Treason must be made odious, and to this end power
should be secured to loyal fellow-citizens. In doing this, two
indispensable conditions cannot be forgotten: first, all who have been
untrue to the Republic must, for a certain time, constituting the
_transition period_, be excluded from the partnership of government;
and, secondly, all who have been true to the Republic must be admitted
into the partnership of government, according to the sovereign rule
of the Constitution, which knows no distinction of color. Following
these two simple commandments, there will be safety and peace, together
with power and renown; neglecting these two simple commandments, there
must be peril and distraction, together with imbecility and dishonor.
In the one way, Reconstruction is easy; in the other way, it is in
any just sense impossible. It may seem for the moment to succeed;
but it must fail in the end. This is all I have to say at present on
Reconstruction, and I turn at once to the precise question before us.
* * * * *
Pardon me, Sir, if I remind you that there are two modes of debate.
One is to attack the previous speaker with personality of criticism
or manner. The other is to speak plainly on the question, and to deal
directly, according to your convictions, with the principles involved.
Sometimes the two modes are allowed to intermingle. If ever there was
occasion when the first should be carefully avoided, when the question
alone should be handled, and not the previous speaker, when attention
should be directed exclusively to principles involved, and not to any
subordinate point of mere form, it is now, when we are asked to insert
a new provision in the Constitution, fixing the basis of political
power at the expense of fellow-citizens counted by millions. In this
spirit I shall try to speak. To my mind, the occasion is too solemn for
personal controversy, and I shall not be drawn into it.
* * * * *
The proposition before you is the most important ever brought into
Congress, unless, perhaps, we except the Amendment abolishing Slavery;
and to my mind it is the most reprehensible. The sentiment which
inspired us to hail the abolition of Slavery with gratitude, as the
triumph of justice, should make us reject with indignation a device
to crystallize into organic law the disfranchisement of a race. With
intense regret I differ from valued friends about me, but I cannot
do otherwise. I bespeak in advance their candor, and most cheerfully
concede to all from whom I differ the indulgence which I claim for
myself. With me there is no alternative. Seeing this proposition as I
do, I must speak frankly, as on other occasions, in exposing the crime
against Kansas, or the infamy of that enactment which turned the whole
North into a hunting-ground where man was the game. The attempt now
is on a larger scale, if not more essentially bad. Such a measure,
so obnoxious to every argument of reason, justice, and feeling, so
perilous to the national peace, and so injurious to the good name
of the Republic, must be encountered as a public enemy. There is no
language which can adequately depict its character. Thinking of it, I
am reminded of words of Chatham, where he held up to undying judgment
a barbarous measure of the British Ministry. The Englishman did not
hesitate, nor did he tame his words, but exclaimed:--
“I am astonished, shocked, to hear such principles
confessed,--to hear them avowed in this House, or in this
country,--principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman, and
un-christian.… I call upon your Lordships and the united powers
of the State to stamp upon them an indelible stigma of the
public abhorrence.”