“Should Minister Bassett himself, indorsed by the Union League,
return home and arrive late at night, there are probably not
two hotels, such as a gentleman of his station would wish to
stop at, where he could be accommodated,--not a theatre or
place of amusement which he could visit without insult or
degrading restrictions,--not a church, except it be a Quaker
or Catholic one, where he would not be shown into the gallery,
or else be made to feel uncomfortable: so outrageous are the
current American ideas of common hospitality and refinement;
so vindictive is this persecution of a humble class of your
fellow-citizens.”
Lastly he vindicates the pending measure, and asks for a two-thirds
vote:--
“The Supplementary Bill ought to pass by a two-thirds vote.
If it passes by a simple majority, we shall, of course, be
satisfied, and understand the reason why. If Republican
Senators, elected by colored votes, give their influence and
votes against this measure, it might be well for them to
remember that Negroes, along with instinct, have ‘terrible
memories.’”
And now, Sir, after these brief illustrations, where our colored
fellow-citizens have spoken for themselves, showing the necessity of
legislation by the Nation, because only through the Nation can the
remedy be applied, I come to the precise argument of the Senator. He
asks for the power. Why, Sir, the National Constitution is bountiful
of power; it is overrunning with power. Not in one place or two places
or three places, but almost everywhere, from the Preamble to the last
line of the latest Amendment; in the original text and in all our
recent additions, again and again. Still further, in that great rule of
interpretation conquered at Appomattox, which, far beyond the surrender
of Lee, was of infinite value to this Republic. I say a new rule of
interpretation for the National Constitution, according to which, in
every clause and every line and every word, it is to be interpreted
uniformly and thoroughly for human rights. Before the Rebellion the
rule was precisely opposite. The Constitution was interpreted always,
in every clause and line and word, for Human Slavery. Thank God, it is
all changed now! There is another rule, and the National Constitution,
from beginning to end, speaks always for the Rights of Man. That, Sir,
is the new rule. That, Sir, is the great victory of the war; for in
that are consummated all the victories of many bloody fields,--not
one victory, or two, but the whole,--gleaming in those principles of
Liberty and Equality which are now the pivot jewels of the Constitution.
My excellent friend from Maine takes no notice of all this. He goes
back for his rule to those unhappy days before the war. He makes the
system of interpretation, born of Slavery, his melancholy guide. With
such Mentor, how can he arrive at any conclusion other than alien to
Human Rights? He questions everything, denies everything. He finds no
power for anything, unless distinctly written in positive and precise
words. He cannot read between the lines; he cannot apply a generous
principle which will coördinate everything there in harmony with the
Declaration of Independence.
When I refer to the Declaration, I know well how such an allusion is
too often received on this floor. I have lived through a period of
history, and do not forget that I here heard our great title-deed
arraigned as “a self-evident lie.” There are Senators now, who, while
hesitating to adopt that vulgar extravagance of dissent, are willing
to trifle with it as a rule of interpretation. I am not frightened.
Sir, I insist that the National Constitution must be interpreted by the
National Declaration. I insist that the Declaration is of equal and
coördinate authority with the Constitution itself. I know, Sir, the
ground on which I stand. I need no volume of law, no dog-eared page,
no cases to sustain me. Every lawyer is familiar with the fundamental
beginning of the British Constitution in Magna Charta. But what is
Magna Charta? Simple concessions wrung by barons of England from an
unwilling monarch; not an Act of Parliament, nothing constitutional
in our sense of the term; simply a declaration of rights: and such
was the Declaration of Independence. And now, Sir, I am prepared to
insist, that, whenever you are considering the Constitution, so far
as it concerns human rights, you must bring it always to that great
standard; the two must go together; and the Constitution can never
be interpreted in any way inconsistent with the Declaration. Show me
any words in the Constitution applicable to human rights, and I invoke
at once the great truths of the Declaration as the absolute guide to
their meaning. Is it a question of power? Then must every word in the
Constitution be interpreted so that Liberty and Equality shall not fail.
My excellent friend from Maine takes no notice of this. He goes back to
days when the Declaration was denounced as “a self-evident lie,” and
the Constitution was interpreted always in the interest of Slavery.
Sir, I object to this rule. I protest against it with all my mind
and heart and soul. I insist that just the opposite must prevail,
and I start with this assumption. I shall not make a long argument,
for the case does not require it. I desire to be brief. You know the
Amendment:--
“SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.
“SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.”
Here is an Amendment abolishing Slavery. Does it abolish Slavery half,
three-quarters, or wholly? Here I know no half, no three-quarters; I
know nothing but the whole. And I say the article abolishes Slavery
entirely, everywhere throughout this land,--root and branch,--in
the general and the particular,--in length and breadth, and then in
every detail. Am I wrong? Any other interpretation dwarfs the great
Amendment, and permits Slavery still to linger among us in some of
its insufferable pretensions. Sir, I insist upon thorough work. When
I voted for that article, I meant what it said,--that Slavery should
cease absolutely, entirely, and completely. But, Sir, Congress has
already given its testimony to the true meaning of the article. Shortly
after its adoption, it passed what is known as the Civil Rights Law, by
which the courts of justice throughout the country, State as well as
National, are opened to colored persons, who are authorized not only to
sue and be sued, but also to testify,--an important right most cruelly
denied, even in many of the Northern States, making the intervention of
the Nation necessary, precisely as it is necessary now. That law was
passed by both Houses of Congress, vetoed by the President, and passed
then by a two-thirds vote over the veto of the President, and all in
pursuance of these words:--
“Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.”
Remark, if you please, the energy of that expression; I have often
had occasion to call attention to it. It is a departure from the old
language of the Constitution:--
“The Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be
necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing
powers.”