“Provided, That, whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or color, all persons therein of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis of representation.”
I may be mistaken, Sir, but I think it difficult to read this proposition without being painfully impressed by the discord and defilement it will introduce into the National Constitution, having among specific objects the guaranty of a republican form of government. The discord appears on the face. The defilement is none the less apparent. Go back, if you please, to the adoption of the Constitution, and you will gratefully acknowledge that the finest saying of the times was when Madison, evidently inspired by the Declaration of Independence, and determined to keep the Constitution in harmony with it, insisted, in well-known words, that it was “WRONG to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men.”[40] Of all that has come to us from that historic Convention, where Washington sat as President, and Franklin and Hamilton sat as members, there is nothing with so much of imperishable charm. It was wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that man could hold property in man. In this spirit the Constitution was framed. This offensive idea was not admitted. The text, at least, was kept blameless. And now, after generations have passed, surrounded by the light of Christian truth and in the full blaze of Human Freedom, it is proposed to admit in the Constitution a twin idea of Inequality in Rights, and thus openly set at nought the first principles of the Declaration of Independence, and the guaranty of a republican government itself, while you blot out a whole race politically. For some time we have been carefully expunging from the statute-book the word “white,” and now it is proposed to insert in the Constitution itself a distinction of color. An amendment, according to the dictionaries, is “an improvement,” “a change for the better.” Surely the present proposition is an amendment which, like the crab, goes backward.
Such is the appearance, when you regard it merely in form, without penetrating its substance; but here it is none the less offensive. The case is plain. Still among us are four million citizens robbed of all share in the government of a common country, while, at the same time, according to their means, they are taxed, directly and indirectly, for the support of the Government. Nobody will question the statement. And this bare-faced tyranny of taxation without representation it is now proposed to recognize as not inconsistent with fundamental right and the guaranty of a republican government. Instead of blasting it, you go forward to embrace it as an element of political power.
If you expect to induce the recent slave-master to confer suffrage without distinction of color, you will find the proposition a delusion and a snare. He will do no such thing. Even the bribe offered cannot tempt him. If, on the other hand, you expect to accomplish a reduction of his political power, permit me to say that success is more than doubtful, while the means employed are unworthy. Tricks and evasions are possible, and the cunning slave-master will drive his coach and six through your Amendment, stuffed with all his representatives. Should he cheat you, it will only be a proper return for the endeavor on your part to circumvent him at the expense of fellow-citizens to whom you are bound by every obligation of public faith.
I know not if others will see this uncertainty as I see it; but there are two practical consequences, having direct influence on the times, which all must discern as following at once from the adoption of the so-called Amendment. In the first place, it will be a present renunciation of all power under the Constitution to apply the remedy for a grievous wrong, when the remedy, even according to your own recent example, is actually in your hands. You have already in this Chamber, only last Friday, decreed civil rights without distinction of color.[41] Who can doubt that by the same title you may decree political rights, also, without distinction of color? But, having the power, it is your duty to exercise it. You cannot evade this duty without becoming partakers in wrong. And this brings me to the second practical consequence that must ensue from the adoption of this proposition. You hand over wards and allies, through whom the Republic has been saved, and therefore our saviours, to the control of vindictive enemies, to be taxed and governed without their own consent; and this you do for a consideration “nominated in the bond,” by virtue of which men may do a great wrong, provided they submit, as a quid pro quo, to a proportionate abridgment of political power. Who does not admire the Scottish patriot of whom it was said that he “would lose his life readily to serve his country, but would not do a base thing to save it”?[42] I hope we may act in this spirit. Above all, do not copy the example of Pontius Pilate, who surrendered the Saviour of the World, in whom he found no fault at all, to be scourged and crucified, while he set at large Barabbas, of whom the Gospel says in simple words, “Now Barabbas was a robber.”
I speak with sincere deference for cherished friends from whom I differ; but I submit that the time has come, at last, when we should deal directly, and not indirectly, with the great question before us, and when all compromise of Human Rights should cease, and especially there should be no thought of a three-headed compromise, which, after degrading the Constitution, renounces a beneficent power essential to the safety of the Republic, and, lastly, borrowing an example from Pontius Pilate, turns over a whole race to sacrifice. These objections I present briefly on the threshold, without argument, and advance to the main question which must dominate this whole debate. By way of introduction, I send to the Chair a counter proposition, which I wish read. It is entitled “A joint resolution carrying out the guaranty of a republican form of government in the Constitution of the United States, and enforcing the Constitutional Amendment for the prohibition of Slavery.”
This was the joint resolution introduced February 2d,[43] in anticipation of this debate, but made applicable “anywhere within the limits of the United States or the jurisdiction thereof.” After its reading by the Secretary of the Senate, Mr. Sumner proceeded.
Mr. President,—In opening this great question, I begin by expressing a heartfelt aspiration that the day may soon come, when the States lately in rebellion may be received again into the copartnership of political power and the full fellowship of the Union. But I see too well that it is vain to expect this day, so much longed for, until we have obtained that security for the future which is found only in the Equal Rights of All, at the ballot-box as in the court-room. This is the Great Guaranty without which all other guaranties will fail. This is the sole solution of present troubles and anxieties. This is the only sufficient assurance of peace and reconciliation. To the establishment of this Great Guaranty, as a measure of safety and of justice, I now ask your best attention.