“Section 1. The right of any citizen of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of the race, color, or previous condition of slavery of any citizen or class of citizens of the United States.
“Sec. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce by proper legislation the provisions of this Article.”—
Mr. Sumner offered the following bill as a substitute:—
Section 1. That the right to vote, to be voted for, and to hold office shall not be denied or abridged anywhere in the United States, under any pretence of race or color; and all provisions in any State Constitutions, or in any laws, State, Territorial, or Municipal, inconsistent herewith, are hereby declared null and void.
Sec. 2. That any person, who, under any pretence of race or color, wilfully hinders or attempts to hinder any citizen of the United States from being registered, or from voting, or from being voted for, or from holding office, or who attempts by menaces to deter any such citizen from the exercise or enjoyment of the rights of citizenship above mentioned, shall be punished by a fine not less than one hundred dollars nor more than three thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the common jail for not less than thirty days nor more than one year.
Sec. 3. That every person legally engaged in preparing a register of voters, or in holding or conducting an election, who wilfully refuses to register the name or to receive, count, return, or otherwise give the proper legal effect to the vote of any citizen, under any pretence of race or color, shall be punished by a fine not less than five hundred dollars nor more than four thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the common jail for not less than three calendar months nor more than two years.
Sec. 4. That the District Courts of the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all offences against this Act; and the district attorneys, marshals, and deputy marshals, the commissioners appointed by the Circuit and Territorial Courts of the United States, with powers of arresting, imprisoning, or bailing offenders, and every other officer specially empowered by the President of the United States, shall be, and they are hereby, required, at the expense of the United States, to institute proceedings against any person who violates this Act, and cause him to be arrested and imprisoned or bailed, as the case may be, for trial before such court as by this Act has cognizance of the offence.
Sec. 5. That every citizen unlawfully deprived of any of the rights of citizenship secured by this Act, under any pretence of race or color, may maintain a suit against any person so depriving him, and recover damages in the District Court of the United States for the district in which such person may be found.
On this he spoke as follows:—