The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1870-05-26

amendment may DO ratified by three
fourths Of the States. and thus be-
come part of the supreme law Of
the Republic"
On the Goth of February, 1869, the
vote was taken Oh the passage of the |
amendment in the House. ] voted !
for it, as did every Republican on
the floor. This vote on the passage |
Of the amendment is found on page
1923 of Globe.
This is the record, and yet, in the
face of this record, gentlemen will
stand up and assert that voted
against the Fifteenth Amendment.
But it will be asked, what is the vote
which is referred to, and given in the
Almanac, as the vote GU the Fifteenth
Amendment
It was not the vote on the amend
ment, but it was the vote on the
adoption of the report of a committee
of conference in relation to the
amendment; and that it may be un-
derstood, Will give brief history of
the facts in the case.
A joint resolution for the Fifteenth
Amendment, having passed the Sen
ate, was reported to the House, and
was in the following words, (omitting
the preamble)
"The right of citizens of the United
States to vote and hold Office shall
not be denied or abridged by tho
United States, or any State, on &C
count of race, color, or previous con.
dition of servitude." 4
This resolution was taken up, and
Mr.. Logan moved to strike out of the
resolution the words, "and hold
Office" On this tho vote was--yeas,
20; nays, 95. A righteous vote. All
the Democrats and some of the Re.
publicans voted in tho affirmative.
l voted in the negative. See page
1923 of Globe.
On motion Of Mr.. Bingham, the
House then amended the resolution
of the Senate so as to insert the words
nativity, property, creed;" so that
the resolution read as follows:
"The right of citizens of the United
States to vote and to hold Office shall
not be denied or abridged by any
State on account of race, color, ma
tivity, property, creed, or previous
condition of servitude."
| The House having amended by in
serting nativity, property, creed;"
as thus amended, the final vote Oh
the passage OF the joint resolution
was taken up by the House on the
Goth Of February, 1859, every Repub.
lican, myself among the number, vot-
ing for it, and every Democrat
against it.
Both Houses had TINS passed the
joint resolution, but they differed as
to the words, nativity, property,
creed" which the House had insert
ed, and which the Senate refused to
agree to; but both Houses had agreed
that the eight to hold Office should
be included.
The two Houses disagreeing on the
aforesaid amendment, a committee Of
conference of three men from each
House was appointed.
| That committee met, and after
wards made thosfollowing report to
the House:
"The committee of conference or
the disagreeipg votes of the two
Houses y = have agreed to rec
ommend, and do recommend, as fol
lows: That the House recede from
their amendment and agree to the
resolution of tho Senate
' with an amendment, as fol
lows: In section one, line two, strike
out the words sand hold Office anc
that the senate agree to the same.
g The committee thus recommended
to the House not only to recede from
their amendment of "nativity, prop
erty, and creed" but also recon-
+ mended the House to do what they
had refused to do before by vote Of
70 to 95, viz: to strike out the words
"and hold Office"
i The question before the House
then, was upon the adoption Of the re-
port Of the committee Of conference.
The form OF the question was
Shall the House concur in the reports
| (See Globe, p. 1879
l voted no; and this is tho vote re.
ferred to by gentlemen when they
say l voted against the Fifteenth
Amendment.
| l voted, not that the 10Th Amend
ment should not pass, bat that the
fright to hold Office should not be
stricken out ct the amendment, as
also the words nativity, property,
and creed and | am not ashamed
of that vote, nor shall l ever be; and
it matters not to me who votes with
me, or who against me. The ques-
ton is, is the vote right? and l am
not to be frightened from it because
Democrats voted with me, or because
Republicans voted against me.
Now, to show that that vote was
not in any sense against the amend
ment, suppose that the noes had pre-
vailed, what would have been the
effect of tho vote?
| 1t would simply have been refu-
sal on the part Of the House to agree
to strike out the words nativity,
property creed" and the words ''and
the right to hold Office" Another
committee would have been
appointed, and we could have had
report which would have left those
words in, as they ought to have been
The following is the Rule of the
House in relation to committees of
conference:
"ln tho ordinary parliamentary
course, there arc two free conferen-
ces, at least, before an adherence,
and there are sometimes three, and
evenfour before q matter of difference
is disposed Of"
| l felt q peculiar interest in the
matter at the time, for the reason
that the colored members of the
Georgia legislature had just been
turned out of their seats on the
ground that the right to vote did
not carry with it the right to hold
office, and l wanted the right secured
by the Constitution.
| Now, sir, Ihave written at greater
length than | intended when 1 com.
menced this letter, but the injustice
and the unmanliness of the attempt