Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1866-03-27
EXTRA
Message From
the President.
VETO OF THE "cIvm RIGHTS
.. .r'n1 BILL ,..'

thereto. IL Is rs follows; H Oh. ''.
| To the Senate Of tia 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 for
their yindication, contains provisions which
I cannot approve, consistently with my sense
of duty to the whole people, and my obiiga.
tions to the Constitution of the United
States. / am therefore constrained TO re-
turn II to the Senate, the house In which II
originated, with my objections to its becom.
ing q law. ,nD Boo q
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 DO citizens Of the Uni
ted States This provision comprehends the
Chinese Of the Pacific States, Indians subject
to taxation, the people called Gypsies, as
we'll as the entire race designated as blacks,
people Of color, negroes, mulattoes, and per-
sons Of African blood. Every individual Of
these races, born in the United States, is by
the bill made a citizen Of the United States.
It does not purport to declare or confer any
other right Of citizenship than Federal oiti-
zenship. II does not purport 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 citi-
zenship is Just rs exclusively with the several
States as the power to confer the right Of
Federal citizenship is with Congress.
The right Of Federal citizenship thus 10 be
conferred on the several excepted races be-
rorc mentioned, isnow, for the 6rst time, pro-
posed to be given by law, If, as is claimed
by many, all 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. II. on the other hand, such per-
sons are not citizens, as may be assumed from
the proposed legislation to make them such,
the grave question presents itself, whether,
when eleven Of the thirty six States are un-
represented in Congress, at this time IL Is
sound policy to make our entire oolored pop.
ulation and all other excepted classes citizens
| of the United statesl Four millions Of them
have just emerged from slavery into freedom.
Can It be reasonably supposed that they pos
sess II e requisite qualifications TO entitle them
to all the privileges and immunities Of citi-
Gems Of the United States' Have the people Of
the several States expressed such a conviction?
Il may also DO asked whether II Is neces-
ssry that they should be declared citizens, in
order that they may be secured in the enjoy
ment of civil rights2 Those rights proposed
to be conferred by thu bill, are, by Federal
as well as State laws, secured to all domiciled
aliens and foreigners even before the compile
ton of the process Of naturalization; and II
may safely be assumed that the same enact
mentS are sufficient to give like protection
and benefits to those for whom this bill pro-
vides 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 tho end Of which, be.
fore attaining the coveted prise, they must
give evidence Of their fitness to receive and to
exercise the rights of citizens, rs contemplated
by the Constitution of the United States
The bill, in effect, proposes determination
against large numbers Of intelligent, worthy
and patriotic foreigners, and In favor Of the
negro, to whom, after long years Of bondage,
the avenues to freedom and intelligence have
now been suddenly opened. He must of me-
cessity from his previous unfortunate condi-
ton of sorvitudo, DO less Informed as to the
nature and character Of our institutions than
he who, coming from abroad, has to some
extent at least familiarized himself with the
principles Of a government TO which he vol.
UNFAIRLY eutrusts "life, liberty and the pur-
suit Of happiness" Yet II Is now proposed,
by single legislative enactment, TO confer
the rights of citizens upon all persons of AZ
rican descent bora within the extended limits
of the United States, while persons of foreign
birth, who make our land thoir homo, mus,
undergo probation of Ave years, and car
only then become citizens upon proof that
they are Of good moral character, attached
to the principles Of the Constitution Of the
United States, and well, disposed to the good
order and happiness of the same"
The first section Of the bill also contains
an enumeration Of the rights to be enjoyed
by these classes, SO made citizens, ''in every
State and Territory in the United States. u
These rights are: "To make and enforcs