Now, Sir, I insist that the constitution presented to us is not republican; and I further insist that it is inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence. My excellent colleague will certainly not maintain the contrary. He will not say that a constitution which undertakes to exclude persons from equal rights on account of color is consistent with the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Independence; and that, Sir, is the very requirement of the Enabling Act.
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I think it ought not to be proceeded with at all. I think the cause of human rights suffers every moment you give to this question. But I began this morning by simply opposing the consideration of it to-day. If you choose to make a sacrifice of human rights, do it on some other day than this.
After interchange of opinion, the question was postponed till the next Tuesday, the 24th instant, when it was made the special order.
April 24th, the debate was renewed, when Mr. Sumner said:—
Mr. President, on the 13th of March last, after a debate of two days, the Senate rejected a bill for the admission of Colorado as a State into the Union. This was by a vote of 21 nays to 14 yeas, being a majority of 7. And now, after an interval of more than a month, a motion is brought forward to reconsider that vote. An attempt is made to revive a question which at that time seemed buried. Of course, those who press this motion have a right to do so, if they are satisfied in their minds that it ought to be pressed. I do not complain of them. But I meet the attempt on the threshold. I do not content myself with waiting to another stage and entering into the discussion after we have allowed the reconsideration. I oppose the reconsideration. I insist that this subject, once closed by such a majority, and on such good grounds, shall not again be opened here.
Sir, the proposition is nothing less than the admission of a State into this Union. I need not remind you that in other days no such attempt could be made in this Chamber without exciting great and wide-spread interest. Some of the most remarkable debates in the Senate have been on such occasions. The proposition has two aspects: first, as it concerns the people in the Territory itself, who, I submit, are not prepared to assume the responsibilities of a State government; and, secondly, as it concerns the other States in the Union, who, I submit also, ought not to be obliged at this moment to receive this community into full equality as a State.
Formerly I felt it my duty to remind you of the position, the responsibilities, the powers, and the prerogatives of a State in this Union. I held up before you what you would convey to this small community, if you invested it with the character of a State. I showed you that you would impart to it a full equality in this Chamber with the largest States in the Union,—with New York, with Pennsylvania, with Ohio, with Massachusetts,—and that, in the exercise of this constitutional equality, Senators from this small community, on all questions of legislation, of diplomacy, and of appointments, might counterbalance the Senators of one of these large States. Assuming that this small community was already a State in the Union, I had no criticism to make on that equality of power; but I did present to you as an unanswerable argument, that a community so small in the proper attributes of a State should not be admitted to the enjoyment of that high equality.
Permit me to say, Sir, that you cannot adequately consider this case without giving some attention to the present condition of the country. We are, happily, at the close of a long, bloody, and most expensive war, throughout which there was one question dominating all others: it was the question of justice to the colored race. And now, Sir, that the war is closed, and our soldiers are no longer in the tented field, that same question enters perpetually into your debates, challenging decision; it is before you at every stage of legislation. With this question staring you in the face, what do we behold? A small community in a remote part of the country, petty in population,—even according to the statements of its friends not amounting in numbers to more than twenty-five or thirty thousand people, according to the statements of others even as few in numbers as ten or fifteen thousand,—with agricultural products already diminishing, with mining resources that during the last two or three years have been constantly failing, with accounts at the Post-Office which during the past year have been reduced,—we have this small community coming forward and asking admission to equality as a State in the Union, with a constitution that tramples on human rights. This new candidate, pressing for recognition, holds up a constitution excluding all persons from the electoral franchise who are not white; and the question before you is, whether this small body, so slender in every respect, of such inferior condition, and with a declaration of human inequality in its constitution, shall be admitted to the equality of States in this Union. You are not obliged to admit it. Your discretion is ample. The language of the Constitution is plain: “New States may be admitted into this Union,”—not must, but “may.” You may admit, or you may reject. Therefore, when called to act, you must exercise your discretion. You cannot decline to exercise it. You must bring your judgment to bear upon the case; you must consider well all the facts and all the elements which enter into the civilization of this candidate community; you must consider, of course, its population, its resources, and also the character of its constitution. In doing so, you can have no feeling except of kindness and sympathy for the people there. God knows that I wish them well from the bottom of my heart; there is no aspiration which I do not offer for their welfare; but on this occasion we must consider the requirements of duty. And here the way is clear.