MR. PRESIDENT,--Only a few days ago there was a call for three hundred
thousand more troops. The country needs them, and it is the duty of
Congress to supply them. To this end there must be no difficulty,
impediment, or embarrassment in the way. All these must be removed.
This is not all. There must be encouragement of every kind; and such
is the character of the present proposition.
There can be no delay. The country cannot wait the slow action of
Constitutional Amendment, as proposed by the Senator from Wisconsin
[Mr. DOOLITTLE]. Congress must act to the extent of its power, and any
neglect of power on this question would be injurious to the public
interests.
All will confess the humanity of the proposition to enfranchise the
families of colored persons who have borne arms for their country. All
will confess the hardship of continuing them in Slavery.
But the question is asked by many, and even by the Senator from
Wisconsin, What power has Congress to set the families free?
MR. DOOLITTLE. I did not ask that question.
MR. SUMNER. The question has been put again and again, and the purport
of the speech of the Senator was in that sense. He argued that we
were about to have a Constitutional Amendment which would supersede
everything; that therefore this proposition was unnecessary, if not
injurious. I so understood the argument of the Senator, and that
it pointed directly to the question of power,--because I know the
patriotism of the Senator too well to suppose, that, if in his opinion
the power of Congress was beyond doubt, he would hesitate. I do not do
the Senator injustice. I say, then, the question is asked, What power
has Congress to set the families free? This is the single point on
which I shall express an opinion.
My answer is, that Congress has precisely the same power to enfranchise
the families that it has to enfranchise the colored soldier. The two
powers are coincident, and from the same source.
It is assumed that Congress may enfranchise the colored soldier.
This has been done by solemn statute, without reference to the
conduct of his pretended owner. If we are asked the reason for such
enfranchisement, it must be found, first, in its practical necessity,
that we may secure the best service of the slaves, and, secondly, in
its intrinsic justice and humanity. In brief, Government cannot be
so improvident and so foolish as to seek the service of the slave
at the hazard of life, without securing to him the boon of freedom.
Nor, if Government were so bereft of common sense as to forego this
temptation to enlistment and efficient service, can it be guilty of
the unutterable meanness of using the slave in the national defence
and then returning him to bondage. Therefore the slave who fights is
enfranchised.
But every argument, every consideration, which pleads for the
enfranchisement of the slave, pleads also for the enfranchisement of
the family. There is the same practical necessity for doing it, and the
same unspeakable shabbiness in not doing it.
There is no principle of law better established than this, that an
acknowledged right carries with it all incidents essential to its
exercise. I do not employ technical language; but I give the idea,
founded in reason and the nature of things. It would be vain to confer
a right or a power, if the means for its enjoyment were denied. From
this simple statement the conclusion is irresistible.
In conferring upon Congress the power to create an army, the
Constitution conferred therewith all the powers essential to the
exercise of the principal power. If Congress can authorize the
enlistment of slaves, as it indubitably can, it may at the same
time authorize their enfranchisement, and by the same reason it may
authorize the enfranchisement of their families,--and all this from the
necessity of the case, and to prevent an intolerable baseness.
A Scottish patriot, nearly two centuries ago, exclaimed in memorable
words, which I am always glad to quote, that he would give his life
to serve his country, but would not do _a base thing_ to save it.[44]
If there be any value in this declaration, it may be invoked, when
it is deliberately argued that the National Government can create an
army, and in this service can enfranchise the slave it enlists, but is
impotent to enfranchise his family. I know not how we can use his right
arm and ask him to shed his blood in our defence, and then hand over
his wife and child to bondage. The thought is too vile. The human heart
rejects the insufferable wrong.
But it is said the slave has no family. Such is the argument of
Slavery. For all that he has, as well as all that he is, even wife
and child, belong to another. Surely this unrighteous pretension will
not be made the apology for a denial of rights. If the family of the
slave be not designated by law, or by the forms of legal marriage,
_then it must be ascertained by the next best evidence possible_,--that
is, by cohabitation and mutual recognition as man and wife. And any
uncertainty in this evidence can only be regarded as a natural incident
of Slavery. As men cannot take advantage of their own wrong, so
slave-masters cannot take advantage of Slavery. Any other rule would
practically unite with Slavery in denying to the slave wife and child.
There is a well-known French maxim, that “it is only the first step
which costs”; and here permit me to say, it is only the first stage
of the argument which merits attention. Concede that the soldier may
be enfranchised, and then by the same constitutional power his family
may be admitted to an equal liberty. Any other conclusion would be
illogical as inhuman, discreditable alike to head and heart. There is
no argument, whether of reason or humanity, for the enfranchisement of
the soldier, which does not plead equally for that of his family. Nay,
more,--I know not how we can expect a blessing on our arms while we
fail to perform this duty.
I cannot close without declaring again my opinion, that Congress
at this moment is complete master of the whole subject of Slavery
everywhere in the United States, even without any Constitutional
Amendment. It can sweep all out of existence, precisely as it can
remove any other obstruction to the national defence, and all this
by virtue of a power as indisputable as the power to raise armies or
to suspend the _Habeas Corpus_. Future generations will read with
amazement, that a great people, when national life was assailed,
hesitated to exercise a power so simple and beneficent; and this
amazement will know no bounds, as they learn that Congress higgled for
months on the question whether the wives and children of our colored
soldiers should be admitted to freedom.
January 9th, after further debate, the joint resolution passed
the Senate,--Yeas 27, Nays 10. February 22d, it passed the
House of Representatives,--Yeas 74, Nays 63; and March 3d, it
was approved by the President.