Mr. Henderson felt obliged to move his amendment as a substitute for the counter proposition of Mr. Sumner in order to compel a vote upon it.
Mr. Sumner stated that he was for this proposition, and that he should vote for it, and, on its failure, press his own.
The question, being taken by yeas and nays on Mr. Henderson’s amendment, resulted—Yeas 10, Nays 37—as follows:—
Yeas,—Messrs. Brown, Chandler, Clark, Henderson, Howe, Pomeroy, Sumner, Wade, Wilson, and Yates.
Nays,—Messrs. Anthony, Buckalew, Conness, Cowan, Cragin, Creswell, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foster, Grimes, Guthrie, Harris, Hendricks, Johnson, Kirkwood, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, McDougall, Morgan, Morrill, Nesmith, Norton, Nye, Poland, Ramsey, Riddle, Saulsbury, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, Stockton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, Willey, and Williams.
Absent,—Messrs. Foot, Howard, and Wright.
So the amendment to the amendment was rejected.
The question then recurred on the substitute of Mr. Sumner, when the vote stood,—Yeas 8, Nays 39; so it was rejected. Those voting in the affirmative were Messrs. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, Chandler, of Michigan, Howe, of Wisconsin, Pomeroy, of Kansas, Sumner, Wade, of Ohio, Wilson, of Massachusetts, and Yates, of Illinois.
Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, then moved to amend the House proposition by striking out the proviso and inserting these words, being an amplification of the proviso:—
“Whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State in the election of Representatives to Congress, or of any other officer, municipal, State, or national, on account of race, color, descent, or previous condition of servitude, or by any provision of law not equally applicable to all races and descents, all persons of such race, color, descent, and condition shall be excluded from the basis of representation, as prescribed in the second section of the first article of the Constitution.”