The question was then taken on the passage of the bill as amended, when it was rejected,—Yeas 33, Nays 19,—two-thirds not voting in the affirmative. Democrats opposed to the Civil Rights Bill voted against Amnesty with this association.
The attention of the Senate was at once occupied by other business, so that Amnesty and Civil Rights were for the time superseded.
May 8th, another Amnesty Bill, which had passed the House, being under consideration, Mr. Sumner moved to strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the Civil Rights Bill. Mr. Ferry, of Connecticut, promptly objected that the amendment was not in order; but Vice-President Colfax overruled the point, and was sustained by the Senate. The next day Mr. Ferry moved to strike out of Mr. Sumner’s bill the words applicable to “common schools and other public institutions of learning,” which was rejected,—Yeas 25, Nays 26. Mr. Blair, of Missouri, then moved that “the people of every city, county, or State” should “decide for themselves the question of mixed or separate schools,” and this was rejected,—Yeas 23, Nays 30. Mr. Carpenter moved to strike out the section relating to “juries,” and this was rejected,—Yeas 16, Nays 33. On a motion by Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, to strike out the first five sections of Mr. Sumner’s bill, the votes being Yeas 29, Nays 29, the casting vote of Vice-President Colfax was given in the negative, amidst manifestations of applause in the galleries. The question was then taken on the motion to substitute the Civil Rights Bill for the Amnesty Bill, and it was lost,—Yeas 27, Nays 28. Mr. Sumner at once moved the Civil Rights Bill as an addition, with the result,—Yeas 28, Nays 28, and the adoption of the amendment by the casting vote of the Vice-President. This amendment as in Committee of the Whole was then concurred in by the Senate,—Yeas 27, Nays 25. On the passage of the bill thus amended, the vote stood, Yeas 32, Nays 22; so that, two-thirds not voting in the affirmative, the bill was rejected.
Again there was a lull in the two measures.
May 10th, Mr. Sumner introduced another Supplementary Civil Rights Bill, being his original bill with such verbal changes and emendations as had occurred during its protracted consideration, and the bill was placed on the calendar of the Senate without reference to a committee.
May 21st, the Senate having under consideration a bill to extend the provisions of the Enforcement Act in the Southern States, known as the Ku-Klux Act, and entering upon a “night session” in order to pass the bill, Mr. Sumner, who was an invalid, contrary to his habit left the Chamber. In the early morning the bill was passed, when the Senate, on motion of Mr. Carpenter, of Wisconsin, took up Mr. Sumner’s Civil Rights Bill, and, striking out all after the enacting clause, inserted a substitute, imperfect in machinery, and with no allusion to schools, institutions of learning, churches, cemeteries, juries, or the word “white.” The bill thus changed passed the Senate in Mr. Sumner’s absence. Meanwhile Mr. Spencer, of Alabama, had moved an adjournment, saying, “It is unfair and unjust to take a vote upon this bill during the absence of the Senator from Massachusetts.… I insist on the motion to adjourn, as the Senator from Massachusetts is not here.” The motion was rejected. A messenger from the Senate informed Mr. Sumner of the effort making, and he hurried to the Chamber; but the bill had been already acted on, and another Amnesty Bill on the calendar taken up, on motion of Mr. Robertson, of South Carolina, and pressed to a final vote. Mr. Sumner arrived in season to protest against this measure, unless associated with Equal Rights. At the first opportunity after reaching his seat, he said:—
Mr. President, I understand that in my absence, and without any notice to me from any quarter, the Senate have adopted an emasculated Civil Rights Bill, with at least two essential safeguards wanting,—one concerning the Common Schools, and the other concerning Juries. The original bill contains both, and more; and I now ask the Senate, most solemnly, to consider whether, while decreeing equal rights for all in the land, they will say that those equal rights shall not prevail in the common school and in the jury. Such I understand to have been the vote of the Senate. What will ensue, should it be confirmed by the other House? The spirit of Caste will receive new sanction in the education of children; justice will find a new impediment in the jury.