Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-01-26
Negro Suffrage In the District OF C0iun.
hin

UIds
The bill establishing negro suffrage
without qualification in the District of
Columbia passed the House on the 18th
inst. by vote of 116 to 52-being two
thirds majority and IL votes to spare.
The bill, as introduced by Mr.. Wm.
d. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, and report
I'D back by the Judiciary Committee by
Mr.. James +. Wilson, of Iowa, and as
passed by the House, is as follows:
Be it enacted By the Senate and House
Of Representatives Of the United States
of America IN Congress assembled, That
from all laws and parts of laws, and pre-
seribing the qualifications of electors for
any office i'm the District of Columbia.
the word white" be and the same is
hereby stricken out, and that from and
after the passage of this act no person
shall be disqualified from voting at any
election held in said District on account
cfcolor. ".
SECTION 2. An1 be it further enacted,
That all acts of Congress. and all laws
of the State of Maryland in force in said
District. and all ordinances Of Washing
ton and Georgetown inconsistent with
the provisions of this act, are hereby re-
i)eaieu anu atlnulleU.
Most of the Republican members who
were known to favor qualification re-
corded their votes with the majority in
favor of the bill. We are glad to know
that all the Iowa members gave their
votes In the Affirmative. We had fear
I'd that Mr.. Kasson, Of the Fifth Dis
trict, would place himself among the
nays; but the pressure was too strong
for him, and he fell in with the majori-
ty. E.# rffltus .... ....
Strong efforts were made to postpone
the subject, and proposition to recon-
nit the bill to the Committee of the Ju.
dietary for amendment was VIC ted down
by III against SO. Mr.. Kasson, of this
State, voted to recommit; the other
four Iowa members voted against re-
committing. There was a general out
burst of applause on the floor and in the
galleries when the passage of the bill
was announced.
The New York Tribune, In Its eiito-
rial remarks on the passage of the bill,
says: .... .s.,..
"This 10 the bill originally introduc.
cd by Judge Kelley of Pennsylvania,
reported back by Mr.. Wilson from the
amendment, and now passed in its in.
tcgrity by an unexpected and most graf.
flying majority. Among the nays there
are Il few Republicans from the Pacific
and Western States; but it is remarlSa
bic that, on the fullest vote of the ses
sion, and on q measure concerning
which q wide division of opinion was
supposed 10 exist, the Radical maioi ity
proves compact and rresistably tri
unlphant. Far more do we rejoice that
such n vote, against such opposition
discouragcDlent, and doubt as have at.
tended this long debate, should be given
ut last for Freedom and Humanity
We hail it rs a pledge that this Con-
gress means 20 DO Justice to the heroic
race which devoted its all to save the Re
public, and that it will omit no effort to
re-establish a Union permanently free,
wherein the humblest citizen shall have
the same political and civil rights of
which the proudest can boast"
"A Washington dispatch says, at is
expected that the Senate will follow the
example of the House ut an early day,
and then the work of reconstruction on
the basis of universal justice will be in
augurated" The Senate is composed
of IL Republicans and IL Democrats {;
therefore the expectation that it will
pass by handsome majority is not I'M
reasonably founded.
The best of this matter is the assurance
given to the people that Congress is
Radical, aud will be satisfied with 70
halfway measures of reconstruction.-
The advantages of compromises hereto
fore have always been on the side of
the Sou.h-thc side of Caste and Slav-
cry; in the present adjustment the peo-
pie of the North demand that the adj
vantagcs shall accrue to Liberty and
the advancement of Equal Rights.