New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-04-09

1 . OI0V0 pDoo0o . AOW O0O lux t00 xIKQC
suffrage to colored men, it is fritterinR d
amendment away.
Mr.. ChristiAncy-1f that were the who
effect of it, would it not render to pow
given to Congress to pass appropriate Leg
lation simply n0nsensicals Would it not
simply . judicial question for the FEEDER
courts to decided
Mr.. Morton-The Senator states the poll
} very clearly; and l remember that vel
} point was discussed on this floor on Il
night of the passage of the fifteenth amen
ment. If it is confined to case where
State by law denies a col0red man the rigl
to vote, Congress has nothing to do with i
because that act is in violation of the col
stitutlon of the United States, and ever
State and United States Court would b
bound to hold it so, and it Is not importar
for Congress to legislate on the subject.
is not the business of Congress to saw tbs
State law is unconstitutional; Congress
has never done that; that is for the courts
but when Congress had the power given I
1t to enforce that amendment, it was il
tended to enable Congress to punish tn
men who deprived the colored men of tn
right of suffrage
Mr.. Neutrality-suspicious. is one part O
these constitutional amendments which
do not think the Supreme Court has eve
attempted to weaken, and which seems t.
me to be the very foundation of liberty an.
order in this country. will read it:
"Al persons born or asturalized in tn
United States, and subject to the iurisdic
ton thereof, are citizens of the United
States;and OF the State wherein they reside
The Congress shall hav,
power to enforce, by appropriate legislation
the provisions of this article"
When you make q man q citizen of thu
United States, you do something more thar
give him . pleasant name; you do some
thing more than put q badge upon him
You invest him with the rights Of citizen
ship-freed0m, the protection of the law
The people Of this nation have declared,
and no Supreme Court has yet questioned
it, that Congress has the right to enforce
that citizenship by appropriate Liquidation.
The argument which is made, that this ia
opening the field of all criminal jurispru-
dence to Congress, has nothing in it. You
can readily distinguish between infraction
and Infringement Of a right which is an
an infringement Of the rights of Q citizen
and of those natural rights which the State
protects. l simply wished to call the at.
tention of my friend in this connection to
that important view of these amendments.
Mr.. Morton-Mr. President, agree with
the Senator from New Jersey; l think his
position is impregnable; and / venture to
say that when once it comes to be the es-
tablished doctrine that the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments only prohibit the
States by legislation from depriving the
colored people OF the right of suffrage or
the equal protection of the laws-whenever
that comes to be the doctrine, then the
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments will
be destroyed, and what we have done will
be lost. l repel that construction for nv
self, now, here, and forever.
My friend from Michigan MR. Christian
cyl suggests that the decision of the Su.
preme Court does not cover that ground at
all; they do not put themselves upon that
ground. l hope he is right. He has read
those decisions more carefully than have;
but, if he is right, the Senator from Della
ware ia necessarily wrong.
Mr.. Bayard-May ask the Senator from
New Jersey, did understand him to saw
that he considered that the fourteenth
gave the right of suffrage az q
right to q citizen!
Mr.. Frelinghuysen-No, sir. I trust my
friend did not understand me go. If it had
done that it certainly would have been un-
necessary to pass the fifteenth amendment,
in order to confer that right.
Mr. Bayard-Does the Senator consider
that the fifteenth amendment conferred
the right of suffrage9
MIR. Frelinghuysen-I consider that the
fifteenth amendment prohibits any citizen
ot the United States from being deprived
)t suffrage on account of race, color or
previous condition of servitude.
Mr.. Bayard-That l might have learned
without the Senator being put to the trouble
If reply; but misunderstood him posi-
by at first when he read with such
emphasis the first paragraph of the four
zenith amendment, that all persons nstu-
allied in the United States or born in Q
state should be citizens of the United
states and citizens of the State where thew
eeide; and understood him to say that
hat gave them something more than .
mere name; gave them rights and gave
he right to vote. l may have misunder-
TODD him.
Mr.. Frelinghuysen-It gave them q right
be protected by Congress under the ex-
rcise Of all the rights of citizenship, and
y subsequent enactment suffrage was
made to be one of the rights of citizenship |
o far az race, color or previous condition OF |
ervitude was concerned.
Mr.. Bayard-I have the impression that |
be Supreme Court have in the most dis |
met manner decided, net only in these two |
sst cases, but long before, that neither the |
ourteenth nor the fifteenth amendment be- |
towed any right of suffrage upon anybody; |
hat it is right given by the State, with |!
ne single prohibition. and that is that the
t'tas shall c1t L:soiiri;n ate in bestowing
as to race, color or previous condition Of
srvitude; that is all.
Mr.. Frelinghuysen-The question as to
neither these citizens have the right to
lttrage is not before US. We all know
lat they have the right of suffrage in
very one of the States, no matter how
ley got it. Having the right of suffrage,
lat is one of the rights of citizenship, and
Q are authorized by the fourteenth
nendment to enact all laws to protect
lat citizenship in all its rights; and suffrage
no matter how they got it, an admitted
ght of these citizens.
Mr.. Morton-Mr. President, have occu-
ed the floor longer than intended to do.
think there need be no obscurity on this
lestiOn. The point is vital one, and can
1t be asserted too strongly here, that
here State fails by it's weakness, or will
lily, or ignOrantly, to protect cOlOred men
the right of suffrage, the government of
% United States has the power to do it,
I'd it is its duty to do it; and wherever a
give to all the equal protection of the
We, and where the equal protection of the
We is denied to one class Of men, the gov
nment of the United States has the power
enforce the enjoyment of that right, and |
is the duty of the government to do it. |
lat is what Congress meant when it passed |
Ose two amendments. That is what the J
bates show; and whenever those amend
ents are narrowed down to the mere point
these things being denied by legislation
the part OF a State, the amendments are ,
rtually destroyed, and the concluding part
each one is made nonsense where it is
i'd that Congress shall enforce the same
appropriate legislation.
Mr.. President, in regard to this resolu- 3.
N of investigation, tind just here an ar.
ment that is unanswerable, if there we're
other, in regard to the right and the {
wer of the Senate. In the Kentucky {
SO lust decided there was an Indictment I