Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1866-03-15

Clerks desk and have read his bill
which he proposed at the proper time
to move as a substitute for that now
before the House.
Mr.. Raymond's bill was read, as fol
lows: ~
SECTION 1. That all the Acts of Congress,
relating to naturalization, be and the same
are hereby amended by striking out, wherever
they occur, the words Being a free white
person and the words Free white" and
the words - free white person. so that in
the matter of naturalization there shall be NO
| distinction as to race or color.
SEC. 2. That all persons born or hereafter to
be born within the jurisdiction of the United
States, shall be deemed and considered and
are hereby declared to be citizens of the Uni.
ted States and entitled to all rights and privi.
leges as such.
SEC. 3. That nothing in this act contained
shall be construed to natnralize or authorize
the naturalization of any member of the In
dian tribes.
Mr. Shanklin {Ky.) gave notice that
he would offer the following amend
ment as an additional section of the
bill
That nothing in this act contained shall be
SO construed as to confer upon any negro, mu-
latto or Indian the right to vote at any cleo
tion or to invest them with any other political
OF social right not expressly named herein
Mr.. Wilson owa)-That would be
only reassuring what is already in the
bill.
Mr.. Rogers IN. j. said, as mem
ber of the Judiciary Committee, he felt
it his duty to eXpatiate somewhat on
the bill, not only with regard to its con-
stitutionality but with regard to its
policy No member was more W ling
than himself to extend to the negro all
his rights of life, liberty and property.
He was willing to treat him i'll the
most kindly and Christianlike manner,
and to extend to him every privilege
which ought to be granted to any man
in the United States for his protection
But he had, when he came to this Con-
gress, taken a solemn oath to support
the Constitution and defend it against
its enemies, either within or without !;
and it could not be pretended by any
lawyer, whatever his political opinions
might be, that the Constitution gave
any authority to Congress to enter the
domain of State and interfere with
it's internal regulations. The Consti-
tutional amendment reported the other
day from the Reconstruction Commit
tee was in itself an evidence of the
truth of what he said for that amend
ment proposed to give to Congress the
very power which the pending bill as
sumed it now to possess. He referred
to the bred Scott decision to sustain
his position, that negroes were not cit.
izens, and that no law of Congress
could extend to them the status of
white citizens, and declared if the bill
were passed the President would have
to veto it, because it sapped the very
foundation Of American liberty He
alluded to the anti-negro laws Of ILL
nois.
Mr.. Farnsworth (lll) interrupted,
saying that the statement had been
made several times that the statute of
Illinois prohibited free negroes from
going into that State. He would now
and forever state, to deny that slander,
that that old relic of barbarism on the
statute book Of Illinois had been wip.
ed out.
Mr.. Rogers-But it was there once,
was it not?
Mr.. Farnsworth-Certainly.
Mr.. Rogers-Then | was right.
tf., IF
evidence of the soundness of my argu,
ment that there is no constitutional
power in Congress to enter the domain
of State for such purpose as is con-
templated by this bill In the course
of his speech he said that he was vii.
ling to trust the Southern people He
believed that the masses of the peo.
pie Of the Southern States when they
were fighting against the flag of the
country, We're moved by high conscien.
tious convictions. In the spirit OF
Christianity--in the spirit which Jesus
Christ exercised when he gave mp his
own life as propitiation for fallen
world he was willing to invite these
Southern men To come back into the
halls of Congress and participate in
the passage of laws to govern the -four
million of people who have been habili'
tated within their lines.
Mr.. Thayer Penn THE gentleman
has told the House that he is a progress
sive man, in favor of the expansion Of
human liberty. ask him whether he
voted for the Constitutional Amend
ment abolishing Slavery.
MIR. Rogers-No, sir ; | thank Goo
| never did. Laughter | could not
go home and lie down at night with {
clear conscience before God, if hat
been guilty of robbing the people o
this country of thousands of millions
Of dollars, invested in negroes unde
the Constitution adopted by our fathers
for the protection of that property
for which our Revolutionary fathers
fought as much as for the protection o
any other rights, Laughter.l
j Mr.. Niblack lind )-The gentleman
. says he did not vote for the Constitu
, tional Amendment abolishing Slavery
: want to ask him if he voted agains
. it?
Mr.. Rogers Il was unable to vot
against it. Laughter. If ! had bee
here, l would have voted against it
but | had a very good reason for no
being here. Renewed laughter.
Whatever insinuation any gentlema
. may throw out, am clear in my col
) science before God, and ! am willin
. to appear before him at the JndgmeI
! Seat on the last day, and answer fc
/. the truth Of the assertion which nov
make that if had been here | woul
8 have cast my vote most unhesitatins
Q ly against that most wicked and III
0 just measure. Laughter.
Mr. Cook (Ill) spoke in support /
the bill. In listening to the remark
r of the gentleman from New Jerse
i (Mr. Rogers), he had been astonishe
n to find that in his apprehension tn
bill was designed to deprive somebod
v of some rights. He was sorry the ge