Year: 1878

the recent elections, delivered in the United
States Senate on Wednesday, Dec llth:
Mr.. President The pending resolution was Of.


fered by me with twofold purpose in view;


1. To place on record in definite and autben.


tlC lorm, tne frauds and Outrages by which some


recent elections were carried by the Democratic


party In the Southern States.


2, To find If there be any method by which a re-


peullOn OF these crimes against free ballot may


be prevented.


Ihe newspaper is the channel through which


the people OF the United States are Informed OF


events, and the accounts given In the press


represent the elections In some Of the Southern


SIate 10 nave been accomplished by violence in


not few cases reaching the destruction OF life. to


nave been controlled by threats that aWed and


inundated large class of voters to have been


manipulated by fraud Of the most shameless and


shameiul description. Indeed in South Carolina


there seems to have been no election at all in any


proper sense OF the term There was instead se-


rles OF skirmishes over the State in which the poll


ing places were regarded as forts to be captured


by one party and held against the other, and
| WheIe this could not be done with convenience


irauds in the count and tissue ballot devices were


resorted to In order to efectuay destroy the voice


OF the majority. These, in brief, are the accounts


given in the non.partisan press Of the disgraceiul


outrages that attended the recent elections, and


30 far as have seen these statements are without


serious contradiction. II is but just fair to all par.


ties however, that on impartial investigation Of


the facts shall be made by Committee of the Sen.


ate, proceeding under the authority Of law and
| representing the power Of the nation, Hence nv


resolution.


But we do not need investigation to establish


certain facts already of official record. We know


that lO6 Representatives in Congress were recently


chosen in the States formerly slavebOldir g, and


that the Democrats elected lOl or possibly 1872 and


the Republicans four or possibly FIVE We know


that thirty five of these Representatives were as.


signed to the Southern States by reason of the col.


oTed population and that The entire political pow


er thus founded on the numbers Of the colored


people has been seized and appropriated to the


aggrandizemenL of its own strength by the Demo-


cratic party Of the South.


The issue thus raised before the country. Mr..


President is not one Of mere sentiment for the


rights Of the negro though far distant be the day


when the rights of any American citizen, however


black or however poor, thall form the mere dust


In the balance in any controversy; nor Is the issue


one that involves the waving Of the bloody shirt"
to quote the elegant vernaCular Of Democratic vi.
tuperatioD; nor still further is the issue as now
presented only question of equality of the black
voter OF the South with the white voter ofthesouh


The issue, Mr Precedent, has taken a far wider
range, one OF portentous magnitude-and that is,
whether the white voter Of the North shall be eoual
to the white voter of the South in shaping the pole
Icy and fixing the destiny Of the ,counhy or
whether to pat 1t still more boldly, the white
man who fought In TIE Union army shall have az
Weighty and II huential a vote In the Government
OF the Republic as the white man who fought in
the rebel army. The one fought 10 uphold the
other to destroy the Union Of States and to-day
he who fought to destroy is a far more important
factor in the Government of the Nation than he
who fought to uphold it.


Let me illustrate my meaning by comparing
groups of the States Of the same representative
strength North and South. Take the States of
South Carolina, Mississippi and louisiana They
send seventeen Representatives 10 Congress. Their
aggregate population is composed Of 1C9S 600
whites and twelve hundred and twenty-four
thousand COlored the Colored being nc arly two
hundred thousand in excess of the whites OF
the seventeen Representatives, then it is evident
that nine were apportOned to these States by rea-
son OF their coored population, and only eight by
reason of the white population ; and yet in the
choice Of the entire seventeen representatives the
colored voters had no more votes or power than
their remote kindred on the shores of Sene.
ga mbia or on the Gold Coast The 1O95 OCO white
people had the sole and absolute choice Of the en-
tire seventeen Representatives. In contrast take
two States in the North, Iowa and Wisconsin with
seventeen Representatives They have q white
opulatiOn Of 247,t00-cOnsiderabl more than
double the entire white population Of the three
Southern States l have named In Iowa and
Wisconsin, therefore, 1t takes 1862 900 white popu-
lation to Eend Representative to Congress, but
in South Carolina Mississippi and Louisiana
every 10000 white people send o Representative.
In other words CO. 900 white people in those South.
ern States have precisely the same political power
in the Government Of the country that $4,000
white people have in Iowa and Wisconsin,


Ia ke another group Iof seventeen Representa-
tiVes from the South and from the North. GeOr.
gia and Alabama have white population of l.
goo and colored population Of 100000. They
send seventeen Representatives to Congress- of
whom nine were appointed on account Of the
white population and eight on account of the col
ored population. But the colored voters are not
able to choose single Representative, the white
Democrats choosing the whole seventeen. The
four Northern States, Michigan, Minnesota, Ne
braskR and California have seventeen Represen.
tstives, based on white popul alton Of of22b0OO0or
almost double the white population Of Georgia
and Alabama 80 that In these relative groups OF
States we find the white man South exercises by
his vote double the political power Of the white
man North.


Let us carry the comparison to more compre-
hensive generalization. The eleven States that
formed the Confederate Government had by the
last census population Of 950O,0O0, Of which in
round numbers 1000 were white and 100000
colored. On this aggregate population seventy
three Repre- esentatves in Congress were apportion-
ed to those States, fortytwo or three Of which
were by reason Of the white population, and thir-
~ or thlrty-one by reason Of the colored popula-
ton. At the recent election the white Democracy
Of the South seized seventy Of the seventy. three
districts, and thus secured Democratic majority
In the next House Of Representatives Thus It
appears that throughout the States that formed
the late Confederate Government $1,000 whites
the very people that rebelled against the Union
are enabled to elect Representative In Congress-
while in the loyal States It requires $4,000 people
that fought for the Union TO elect Representative,
In levying every tax, therefore In making every
appropriation Of money, in fixing every line Of
pu blic policy, in deoreeing what shall be the fate
and fortune Of the Republic, the Confederate SOL
dier South is enabled TO cast vote that is twice
as powerful and twice as influential as the vote of
The BniOn soldier North,


But the white men Of The South did not acquire
and do not hold this superior power by reason Of
aw or justice, but in disregard and defiance Of
both. The fourteenth amendment to the Consti-
ution was expected to be and was designed to be
l preventive and corrective Of all such possible
lhuses, The reading Of the clause applicable
% the case is instructive and suggestive Hear
t:


Representatives shall be appoItioned among
he several States according to retrospective num-
,ers, counting the whole number Of persons in
Zach State Including Indians not taxed. But
when the right to vote at any election for the
,hoice for electors for President and Vice Presl-
lent OF the United States, Representatives in Con-
ress, the executive and judicial officers Of State
)r the member Of the Legislature thereof Ia deni.
ed TO any Of the mole inhabitants Of such state,
being twenty gna YeAIa Of age. and cin2anh Of iha