May 29th, Mr. Sumner introduced the following amendment as a substitute for the first section of the bill:—
That, when any State lately in rebellion shall have ratified the foregoing Amendment, and shall have modified its constitution and laws in conformity therewith, and shall have further provided that there shall be no denial of the elective franchise to citizens of the United States because of race or color, and that all persons shall be equal before the law, the Senators and Representatives from such State, if found duly elected and qualified, may, after having taken the required oaths of office, be admitted into Congress as such: Provided, that nothing in this section shall be so construed as to require the disfranchisement of any loyal person who is now allowed to vote.
The bill was never called up after the printing of this amendment.
INTER-STATE INTERCOURSE BY RAILWAY.
Remarks in the Senate, on the Bill to facilitate Commercial, Postal, and Military Communication in the several States, May 29, 1866.
A measure relating to inter-State intercourse, especially by railway, which had been considered by a former Congress, reappeared in the present Congress. The bill of Mr. Sumner, “to facilitate commercial, postal, and military communication among the several States,”[33] was introduced into the House of Representatives and adopted, with a proviso touching stipulations between the United States and any railway company. In the Senate it was considered from time to time.