This whole debate is in the nature of a diversion or a deviation, and therefore I bring it back to the precise point from which it started. The Senator from Maryland invoked the Dred Scott decision as a reason why Congress should not recognize colored persons as citizens. In reply I simply asserted the right of Congress to interpret the Constitution without constraint from the Supreme Court, and this I now repeat. Each branch of the Government must interpret the Constitution for itself, according to its own sense of obligation under the oath we have all taken. And God forbid that Congress should consent to wear the strait-jacket of the Dred Scott decision!
Mr. Johnson closed his reply by saying: “And without meaning to offend the honorable member from Massachusetts, and with all the personal regard which I feel for him, and recollecting the courtesy that he has extended to me, and which I have reciprocated from the bottom of my heart, I say to him, without any purpose of offence, that, if I am obliged to act upon the weight of authority upon all questions of Constitutional Law, I shall prefer holding to the opinion of Taney than holding to the opinion of the honorable member.” Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, after remarking that he differed from Mr. Sumner, said: “I do not believe that I think any better of that decision than he does. I think it was an outrage upon the civilization of the age and a libel upon the law; but I do not think it was a disgrace to the Supreme Court of the United States.” [Laughter.]
The bill passed,—Yeas 29, Nays 8.
The House of Representatives disagreed to the Senate amendment, and a Committee of Conference was ordered, which reported in its favor. But the House again disagreed, and, April 15th, another Committee of Conference was appointed, under instructions, moved by Mr. Webster, of Maryland, “to agree to no report that authorizes any other than free white male citizens, and those who have declared their intention to become such, to vote.” The vote of the House on these instructions stood, Yeas 75, Nays 67. The Senate refused a further conference upon the terms proposed, which were abandoned by the House, and a conference without limitation was agreed to. May 19th, the Conference Committee reported, in lieu of the Senate amendment, the following clause: “All citizens of the United States, and those who have declared their intention to become such, and who are otherwise described and qualified under the fifth section of the Act of Congress providing for a temporary government for the Territory of Idaho, approved March 3, 1863.” The reference to the Idaho Act required explanation, when the following dialogue took place.
Mr. Sumner. I should like to know the nature of the substitute, if the Senator from Maine [Mr. Morrill] will be good enough to state it.
Mr. Morrill. I will state in a word that the effect of the amendment of the Committee of Conference is to authorize the temporary organization of the Government of Montana by that class of persons that were authorized to organize the Territory of Idaho.
Mr. Sumner. What class of persons was that?
Mr. Morrill. They were, as I recollect the qualification, white citizens of the United States, and such others as had declared their intention to become citizens. As it now stands, the qualification in Montana will be that the voters at the first election will be citizens of the United States, and such as have declared their intention to be citizens of the United States, and such as are qualified by the fifth section of the Act organizing the Territory of Idaho.
Mr. Sumner. That is, free white persons, I understand.