Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-04-05
THsEe CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
= "a The Presidents Veto Message.


which 7 cannot approve consistently with
NV sanse Of duty 10 the whole people, and
~ obligations to the Constitution Of the
TTnitad States | am therefore constrained
~ ~ra4urn Il to the Senate-the House in
which II originated-with my objections to
its becoming law.
By the first section Of the bill, all persons
horn 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
as 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
shin than Federal citizenship. 1t 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 eZclu-
sively with the several States, as the power
to confer the right Of Federal citizenship is
with Congress. The right Of Federal citi-
zenship, thus to be conferred in the several
excepted cases before mentioned, is now,
for the first time, proposed to be given by
law If, as it is claimed by many, all per-
sons who are native born are already 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, as 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 all other excepted classes,
citizens Of the United States. Four millions
of them have just emerged from slavery ill.,
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? 1t may also be
asked, whether it is necessary that they
should be declared citizens in order that
they may be secured in tie enjoyment of
the civil rights proposed be conferred
by the bill. These right; re, by Federal
as well as by State Laws secured to all
domiciled aliens and fore A,hers, even before
the completion Of the pI Tess Of I1aturaliza-
lion; and it may safe.J De 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 orig 10 the present time, seems to have
been That persons who are strangers to and
unfamiliar with our institutions and our
our laws, should pass through a certain
probation, at Tie end CT which, before al
lowing the coveted prize they must evince
their fitness 10 receive and TO exercise the
rights Of citizens as 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 to 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-
funate condition OF serVitude be less in
formed as TO the nature and character of our
institutions than he, who, coming from
abroad, has, to some extent at least, famil-
iarized himself with the principles of
government to which he voluntarily intrusts
mis- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness. Yet it is now proposed, by single
legislative enactment, to confer the rights Of
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
30 probation of five years. and can only
then become citizens upon proof that they
are of good mopal character, attached to the
principles Of the Constitution Of the United
States, and well disposed to the good order
hav Of ha G-.,+
ton of the bill also contains an enumeration
of the rights to he 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 prop 9rty; and to have full and equal
benefit 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 is attempted
TO be fixed by Federal law in every State in
the UaiOn, over the vast field of State iuris-
dlctlon covered by these enumerated rights.
In no one of them can any State exercise
any power of discrimination between differ
ent races. In the exercise of State policy
over matters exclusively affecting the people
of each State, il has frequently been thought
expedient to discriminate between the two
races By the statutes of some of the States,
North rs well as South, it is enacted, for in
stance, that no white person shall intermarry
with a negro or mulatto, Chancellor Kent
says, speaking of the blacks, that marriages
between them and the whites are forbidden
in some States where slavery does not exist,
and they are prohibited in all the slavehold-
ing States by law; and when not absolutely
contrary TO law, they are revolving and re-
garded as an offence against public decorum.
do not say that this bill repeats State laws
on the subject of marriage between the two
races, for as the whites are forbidden to in
fermarry with the blacks, the blacks can
only make sucn contracts as the whites
themselves are allowed to make, and there
fore cannot. under this bill, enter into the
marriage contract with the whites | cite
this discrimination, however, rs an instance
of the State policy as to discrimination, and
TO inquire whether. if Congress can abrogatC
all State laws of discrimination between the
two races in the matter of real estate OF
suits, and of contracts generally, Congress
may not also repeal the State laws as to the
contract of marriage between the two races
Hitherto, every subject embraced in the
enumeration of rights contained in the bill
has been considered rs exclusively belonging