The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1866-04-12
THE VETO MESSAGE.

The following is the message of Presi-
dent johnson vetoing the Civil Rights
Bill:
7 } the Senate Of the United States
regret that the bill which has passed
both Houses of Congress, entitled "An Act
to protect all persons in the United States
in their civil rights, and furnish the means
which l cannot approve, consistently with
my sense of duty to the whole people, and
my obligations to the Constitution of the
United States, am, therefore, constrained
to return it to the Senate (the House in
which it originated) with my objections to
its becoming law.
By the first section of the bill, all per-
sons born in the United States, and not
subject to any foreign power, excluding
Jndians not taxed, are declared to be citi.
zens of the United States. This provision
comprehends the Chinese of the Pacific
States, Indians subject to taxation, the peo-
race designated rs blacks, people of color,
negroes, mulattoes and persons of African
blood. Every individual of these races,
born in the United States, is by the bill
made n citizen of the United States 1t
does not purport to declare or confer any
other right OF citizenship than Federal cit
izenship; it does not propose to give these
classes of persons 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 cit.
izenship is just as exclusively with the
several States, as the power TO confer the
right of Federal citizenship is with Con.
gress. The right of Federal citizenship,
thus to be conferred in the several except
ed ratios before mentioned, is now, for the
first time, proposed to be given by law. If,
as is claimed by many, al persons who are
native born, already are, by virtue of the
Constitution, citizens Of the United States,
the passage of the pending bill cannot be
necessary to make them such. IT., on the
other hand, such persons are not citizens,
Us may be assumed from the proposed leg
islation to make them such, the grave ques.
tion presents itself whether, where eleven
of the thirty-six States are unrepresented
In Congress at the time, it is sound policy
to make our entire coored population, and
all other excepted classes, citizens of the
United States. Four millions of them
have just emerged from slavery into free
dom. 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 1t may also
be asked whether it is necessary that they
should be declared citizens in order that
they may be secured in the enj .yment of
the civil rights proposed to be conferred
by the bill? Those rights are, by Federal
rs well as by State laws, secured to all do
miciled aliens and foreigners, even before
the completion of the process of naturaIi-
zation; and it may safely be assumed that
the same enactments are sufficient to give
Ike 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 laws, should pass through a certain
probation, at the end of which, before at
tanning the coveted prize, they must give
evidence OF their fitness to receive and to
exercise the rights Of citizens as contem.
plated by the Constitution of tho United
states, The bill in effect proposes dis
crimination against large numbers Of intel
iigent, worthy and patriotic foreigners, and
In favor OF the negro, to whom, after long
years of bondage, the avenues to freedom
and intelligence have just now been sud
denly opened. He must OF necessity, from
ms previous unfortunate condition of ser
Situde, be less informed as to the nature
ana Character of our institutions than he
who' coming from abroad, has to some ex-
tent, at least, familiarized himself with the
principles Of Government to which he
voluntarily entrusts life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. Yet it is now nro
posed by single legislative enactment. to
confer the rights OF citizens upon all per
sons OF African descent, born within the
extended limits of the United States, while
persons OF foreign birth, who make our land