The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1871-04-14

The House having ander consideration IL
bill { II. K No. 32a} TO enforce the provisloE
| OF the fourteenth amendment TO the C0nstitl
ton Of the United states, and for other pu
poses
Mr.. LOWE said:
Mr.. SPEAKER:l =. The questions pre-
! scented for consideration upon the bi
1 before the House are of the very frs
Importance. We are confronted wit
the two inquiries whether the proposes
legislation is needfuI and whether it
lawful. If these conditions concur,
the exigeDcies of the public welfare de
mand it, and if the bill may be consti
/ tutionalIy enacted into law, then Their
can be no doubt of the duty of tn
House and of Congress to provide sue
redress as this bill proposes. That lii
and personal rights are insecure AM
systematically invaded in several of tn
States may be palliated, but cannot b
l isuccessfuliy1 denied. The evidence
Icontained in the Voluminous report o
1 the Senate committee elected from
a crowd of witnesses and il Is aisC
brought to us by the public press anC
by the mouths Those Who speak o
| what they know and have seen.
| While murder is stalking abroad il
disguise, while whippings and lynch
ings and banishment have been visited
upon unoflending American citizens
J the local administrations have beer
foend inadeqnats or unwilling to APP
ply the proper corrective. Combina
tons, darker than the night that hide;
them, conspiracies, wicked as the wOrs
! of felons could devise, have, gone I'M
| whipped of justice. Immunity is giver
| to crime, and the records of the public
| tribunals are searched in vain for any
evidence of effective redress. If there
| is no remedy for this, if the rights o.
citizenship may be denied without re-
dress, if the Constitution may not BIZ
enforced, if life and liberty may not bG
effectively protected, then, indeed, is oul
civil Government q failure, and instead
of enjoying liberty regulated by law, its
| subjects may live only by The sutferanA
Of Iawiess and exasperated conspirators
The cardinal doctrine of our Institutions
| is that all citizens are equal before the
law, and that the law shall equally sc.
cure to all, their natural and inalienablt
rights. $3.50 sa
1t is well to remember these funda-
mental doctrines. It'll well to remem-
Der for what purpose Government is or
ganized, that it may be so administered
as to secure its appropriate ends. 1t is
for the purpose OF practically enforcing
these cardinal principles that this bill is
proposed. The President has advised
the House that the condition of the
country in certain districts is such that
life aud property are insecure and the
carrying of the mails and the collection
of the revenue dangerous, and that the
power to arrest these evils is, in his
Judgment, beyond the control of State
authority. If this condition does not
any " here exist, if there is nothing, in
fact, for this bill to operate upon, il
there are no outrages committed, if
there are no organized bands of disguis-
ed conspirators, why such opposition to
this measure? If there is nothing for
the bill to apply to, nobody can be in
conyenienced by its passage. If there
are no Ka Klux organizations cOnspir-
ing to Danish and destroy, then nobody
rights, whether real or fancied, can be
injured by bill to put them down.
Il 1t is not impossible that in some in
stances exaggeration of the violation OF
law may have been made in reporting
them to the public, but it must be IA
very stubborn incredulity which after
perusihg the report Of the Senate COM
mittee, after hearing the credible nara
lions of eye witnesses, would deny the
substantial fact that in many districts in
the South there is demand for some
further safeguards to life, liberty, and
property, safeguards that may involve
the. element of sufficient power andforce
to carry into execution the guarantees
of the Constitution in favor of personal
security and personal rights.
1t is claimed with great vehemence
and pertinacity on the other side of the
House that there is no constitutional au-
thority in Congress to pass this law ;
that, even admitting the facts to be true
No ali Gnnorpooa ia nnVUnPlQ90 fn
grant relief within the scope of the just
powers of the Federal Government. Ii
l were of that opinion, should never
give my vote for the bill, for there is
no evil so great but that the obligations
of the Constitution are paramount to
any necessity for the removal of the
evil.
But this is not the first time the Con-
stitution has been invoked as barrier
against the preservation of the liberties
and the rights of the people. When
war was fragrant against the Govern
ment, when State after Stae was falling
away from the Union, when armies
were marshaled to subYert the Govern
ment, we then were met with bold as
sertion and ingenious argument to show
that the Government could not use its
own war powers to preserve its own
existence and suppress insnrrection and
rebellion of the States. But happily
the patriotism and practical Judgment
of the country were to the contrary, and
all branches of the Federal Government
have affirmed the power of, the Govern
ment to wage the war it did for its own
reservation and for its perpetuation to
posterity. :l-1s. saaf a
Again, when peace succeeded to the
land, saHd it became necessary to legis-
late for the. restoration OF the States, and
provide for the new status, every meas
ure of the Republican party to that end
yves sdghatizedas npconstitutionala and
opposed as illegal. But, notwithstand-
ing the arguments and inFectives adj
vanced in support of that proposition,
reconstruction has proceeded upon the
policy inaugurated by the Republican
party, and "a result we sec every State
again constitutionally represented in
Congress. But while the restoration of
The States has thus been happily accom-
pIished, the party " hich fought the bat
ties of the Union for constitutional lib
erty and equal constitutional rights
would have left their work incomplete
if they had failed to provide against fu-
ture contingencies for the preservation
of those rights and of that personal Sc
rfnfity for which seas of blood and
~
In this they were not wanting in the sa-
gacity aud statesmaBship to provide by
constitutional amendment for the pres
ervstion, of the rights and privileges of
all citizens.
Knight concede, Mr.. Speaker, with
out impairing the strength of our posi-
ton on this side of the question, that
under the Constitution, without the
fourteenth amendment, it would be
doubtful whether Federal authority
could intervene in cases like those un-
der consideration, except when it was
invoked by State authority. But, in
my judgment, the first section of the
fourteenth amendment to the Constitu-
ton furnishes ample authority for the
legislation proposed. Its language is
ssNoState shall make or enforce asy law
ties of citizens of the United States, nor shall
any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or properly without due process OF law, mol
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection Of the laws"
And the fifth section provides that
"The Congress shall have power to enforce,
by appropriate legislation, the provision Of
this article" -'- 50
was rejoiced, Mr.. Speaker, TO hear
the distinguished gentleman from New
York, (Mr. Wood,) in the course of bis
remarks, concede the validity and bind
| ing obligation of the fourteenth and fif-
teepth amendments. 1t was decided
adHA1eesupoDth the doctrines of thel Dem