The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-04-04

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TIME CIVIL RIGHTS BILL
The Presillont's Vote Message,
Nd 70 .the Senate Of the United Sta.e.. I 70
greet that the bill which passed both Houses
Of Congress-, entitled can Act TO protect
all persons in the United States in theil
civil rights, and TO furnish the means o.
their vindication," contains provisions
which l cannot approve consistently with
my sense of duty to the whole people, and
my obligations TO tho Constitution Of the
United States. am therefore constrained
to return il to the Senate--the House in
which it originated-with my objections 10
Its becoming . law. fat
by the first section Of the bill, all persons
born in the United States and not subject
to any foreign power, excluding Indians
not taxed, are declared to be citizens Of the
United States. This provision comprehends
the Chinese Of the Pacific States, Indians
subject to taxation, the people called Gyp-
sizes, as well as the entire race designated
d AZ blacks, people Of color, negroes, mulAt-
toes, and persons Of African blood. Every
individual OF these races born in the United
States, is by the bill made citizen Of the
United States. 1t does not propose TO de-
clare or confer any others right of citizen
. shp than Federal citizenship. Il does not
propose to give these classes any status as
citizens Of States, except that which may
result from their status as citizens Of the
United States. The power to confer the
right Of State citizenship is just as cxclu-
sivcly with the several States, as the power
to confer the right Of Federal citizenship IL
- - - N.A -
zenship, thus to be conferred in the several
excepted cases before mentioned, is now,
for the first time, proposed to be given by
law. II, rs it is claimed by many, all per-
sons who are native born ore already BY
virtue of the Constitution, citizens of the
United States, the passage of the pending
bill, cannot be necessary to make them such
If, on the other hand, such persons arc not
citizens, rs may be assumed from the pro.
posed legislation to make them such, the
grave question presents itself whether,
where eleven Of the thirty six States are
unrepresented in Congress at this time, it
is sound policy to make our entire colored
population, and oil other excepted classes
citizens Of the United States. Four millions
of them have just emerged from slavery in
to freedom. Can it be reasonably supposed
that they possess the requisite qualifications
to entitle them to all the privileges and i'm
.munities Of citizenship Of the United States
Have the people of the several States ex-
pressed such conviction? II may also be
asked, whether it is necessary that they
should be declared citizens in order that
they may be secured in tft enjoyment of
the civil rights proposed be conferred
by the bill. These right re, by Federal
as well as by State Law. secured to all
domiciled aliens and fore Ahcrs, even before
the completion Of the process Of haturalisa-
ton; and it may safely 90 assumed that
the same enactments are sufficient to give
like protection and benefits to, those for
whom this bill provides special legislation.
Besides, the policy of the Government from
its origin to the present time, seems TO have
been that persons who are strangers to and
unfamiliar with our institutions and our
our laws, shouid pass through certain
probation, Mt Tie end CT which, before al
lowing the coveted pr.ze they must evince
their fitness 10 receive and to exercise the
rights of citizens rs contemplated by the
Constitution Of the United States. The bill.
in effect, proposes discrimination against
large numbers Of intelligent, worthy, and
patriotic foreigners, and in favor of the
negro; 10 whom, after long years Of bond
age, the avenues Of freedom and intelligence
have Just now been suddenly opened. He
must, Of necessity, from his previous unfor-
funatc condition vf rcr~ituls, 30 l.es ;..-
formed As TO the nature and character Of our
institutions than he, who, coming from
abroad, has, ia. some extent at least, famil-
iarizcd himself with the principles of
goyernment to which he voluntarily intrusts
his life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness. Yetit is now proposed, by single
- a a. swEf u,f
citizens upon all persons Of African descent,
born within the extended limits of the Uni
ted States, while persons Of foreign birth,
who make our land their home, must under
20 probation Of Eve years, and can only
then become citizens upon proof that they
are Of good moral character, attached to the
principles of the Constitution Of the United
States, aud well disposed to tho good order
and happiness Of the same. The first Sec
ton of the bill also contains an enumeration
of the rights to be enjoyed by those classes
SO made citizens in every State and Territory
of the United States. These rights are to
make and enforce contracts /; to sue parties,
and give evidence; to inherit, purchase,
lease sell, hold, and convey real and per-
sonal property; and to have full and equal
bene6t Of all laws and proceedings for the
security Of person and property as is en-
joyed by white citizens. So, too, they are
made subject to the same punishment, pains
and penalties in common with white citizens,
and to none others. Thus perfect equality
Of the white and colored races il attempted
to be fixed by Federal law in every State in
the Union, over the vast field Of State juris-
diction covered by these enumerated rights.
In no one of them can any State exercise
any power Of discrimination between differ
emit races. In tho exercise of State policy
over matters exclusively affecting tho people
Of each State, it has frequently been thought
expedient to discriminate between the two
races. BY the statutes of some Of the States,
North ~ well as South, il is enacted, for in
stance, that no white person shall inermarry
with negro or mulatto, Chancellor Kent
says, speaking Of the blacks, that marriages
] between them and the whites arc forbidden
in some States where slavery does not exist,
and they arc prohibited in oil the slavehold-
ing States by Law; and when not absolutely
contrary TO law, they are revolving and re-
garded rs an offence against public decorum.
/ do not say that this bill repeats State laws
ON the subject of marriage betweeA'the two
races. for ne the whites arc forbidden to in
termarry with the blacks, the blacks can
only make such contracts as the whites
themselves are allowed to make, and there
fore cannot, under this bill, enter into the
marriage contract with the whites. I cite
this discrimination however, ms an instance