can soldiers now lie, than were killed of British soldiers in Wellington's four great battles in Spain, and at Waterloo, at Alma, Inkerman, and Sebastopol."

Mr. Stewart wished it distinctly understood that he was not opposing the passage of the bill. He was in favor of legislation that would secure the equality of the freedmen before the law, but he thought this could be done without holding the Southern States in territorial subjugation.

Mr. Wilson considered time wasted, which was consumed in disputing whether those States were in, or out of the Union. "I believe," he said, "our power is full, ample and complete, to bring back those States, to restore them, and to preserve also, the rights and liberties there, of all who breathe God's air. I would not degrade a single man in the rebel States. I would not have them degrade others, and I do not mean that they shall do it.

We must see to it that the man made free by the Constitution of the United States, sanctioned by the voice of the American people, is a freeman indeed; that he can go where he pleases, work when and for whom he pleases; that he can sue and be sued; that he can lease and buy and sell and own property, real and personal; that he can go the schools and educate himself and his children; that the rights and guarantees of the good old common law are his, and that he walks the earth, proud

into

and erect in the conscious dignity of a free man, who knows that his cabin, however humble, is protected by the just and equal laws of his country."

Mr. Wilson said he had read hundreds of pages of records and testimony that would make the heart sick, and he had proposed this bill for annulling those cruel laws, so that Congress could calmly proceed with the proper legislation. It was now apparent that the bill was not to pass at present. The constitutional amendment had been adopted, and he had that day introduced a bill based upon it, which had been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and they would probably enter on the discussion of the broader question of annulling all the black laws, and putting those people under the protection of just, and equal, and humane laws.

Mr. Saulsbury denied that there was anything in the Constitutional Amendment giving Congress power to enter a State and regulate the relations existing between the different classes and conditions in life. He did not doubt that would be the decision "when the passions of the maddened hour shall die away, and reason shall resume its throne, and the clear-headed jurists of the land shall sit in judgment upon such a question." The bill went over to the next day and was not called up again.

CHAPTER IV.

CIVIL RIGHTS.

Mr. Sumner's bill.-Mr. Wilson's bill.-Mr. Trumbull's bill.-Mr. Trumbull's speech.-Mr. McDougall.-Mr. Trumbull's amendment modified.—Mr. Johnson's speech.-Mr. Lane's motion to amend Mr. Trumbull's amendment.-Speech of Mr. Morrill.-Mr. Guthrie.-Mr. Lane.-Mr. Wilson.Mr. Cowan. Mr. McDougall.-Mr. Trumbull's reply to Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Cowan.-Passage of the bill.-The bill considered in the House.Mr. Wilson's speech.-Mr. Raymond.-Mr. Dumont's motion to amend.Mr. Washburn's motion to amend.-Mr. Bingham's motion to amend.— Mr. Shellabarger's speech.-Mr. Wilson's speech.-Closing debate.-Passage of the bill.-Concurrence of the Senate.-The President's veto.Passage of the bill in Senate and House over the veto.

In the Senate, on the first day of the session, Mr. Sumner introduced a bill supplying appropriate legislation to enforce the amendment to the Constitution. It provided that all laws or customs establishing any oligarchical privileges, and any distinction of rights on account of color or race, should be annulled, all persons in such States recognized as equal before the law, and that the Courts of the United States should have exclusive jurisdiction of all offences committed by persons not of African descent upon persons of African descent. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee, and on the 31st of January Mr. Trumbull reported it back with a recommendation that it be indefinitely postponed.

On the 19th of December, 1865, the Secretary of State made proclamation that three-fourths of the States had ratified the Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. On the 21st Mr. Wilson introduced a bill to maintain and enforce the freedom of the inhabitants of the United States. It provided that all laws, statutes, acts, ordinances, rules and regulations heretofore in force, or held valid, whereby or wherein any inequality of civil rights and immunities among the inhabitants was recognized, authorized, established or maintained, by reason of, or founded upon distinctions or differences of color, race, or descent, or upon a previous condition or status of slavery, should be declared null and void, and that it should be unlawful to make, institute, ordain or establish any such law, statute, act, ordinance, rule or regulation, or to enforce or to attempt to enforce the same. The bill was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and on the 31st of January Mr. Trumbull reported it with a recommendation that it should be postponed indefinitely.

On the 5th of January, 1866, Mr. Trumbull of Illinois introduced a bill to protect all persons in their civil rights, and to furnish the means for their vindication, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. On the 11th Mr. Trumbull reported it with amendments, and on the 12th the Senate proceeded to its consideration. It provided that there should be no discrimination in civil rights

on account of color, race, or previous condition of slavery; but the inhabitants, of every race and color, should have the same right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, and should be subject to like punishment, pains and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding.

On the 29th the Senate proceeded to its consideration, and Mr. Trumbull moved to so amend the first section as to declare that all persons of African descent born in the United States should be citizens of the United States. In support of the bill, Mr. Trumbull declared that it was the most important measure since the adoption of the Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery; that the measure was intended to give effect to that declaration and to "secure to all persons in the United States practical freedom." The bill was intended to secure civil rights, and "with this bill passed into a law and efficiently executed, we shall have secured freedom in fact and equality in civil rights to all persons in the United States." Mr. McDougall of California desired an interpretation of the term "civil rights." "The first section of the bill," replied Mr. Trumbull, "defines what I understand to be civil rights: the right to make and enforce con