This amendment was adopted,—Yeas 26, Nays 20. It was afterwards withdrawn by the mover, with the unanimous consent of the Senate.
The next question was on a legislative substitute, not unlike that of Mr. Sumner, moved by Mr. Yates:—
“That no State or Territory of the United States shall, by any constitution, law, or other regulation whatever, heretofore in force or hereafter to be adopted, make, or enforce, or in any manner recognize, any distinction between citizens of the United States, or of any State or Territory, on account of race or color or previous condition of slavery; and that hereafter all citizens, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of slavery, shall be protected in the full and equal enjoyment and exercise of all their civil and political rights, including the right of suffrage.”
This was rejected,—Yeas 7, Nays 38.
Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, then moved to amend the proposition of the House of Representatives by inserting after the word “legislatures” the words “next hereafter to be chosen in each State.” The motion was rejected,—Yeas 12, Nays 31.
Mr. Sumner then moved to strike out the proviso in the House proposition, as amended on the motion of Mr. Clark, and in lieu thereof insert,—
“And the elective franchise shall not be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or color.”
In moving this Constitutional Amendment, Mr. Sumner remarked that it was “a direct, positive proposition, slightly different from that [Mr. Henderson’s] on which the Senate had voted.” It was rejected,—Yeas 8, Nays 38.
Mr. Sumner then moved to add at the end of the House proposition the words, “And they shall be exempt from taxation of all kinds.”
Before the vote he remarked:—