re expected to accomplish
what, if American statesmanship does not incite, it contemplates with
apparent satisfaction."

Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, profoundly regretted to see indications
that the amendment was doomed to defeat. He said: "My heart, my
conscience, and my judgment approve of this amendment, and I support
it without qualification or reservation. I approve of the purpose for
which it is introduced. I approve it because I believe it would sweep
the loyal States by an immense majority; that no public man could
stand before the people of the loyal States in opposition to it, or
oppose it with any force whatever. I approve it because I believe if
it were put in the Constitution every black man in America, before
five years could pass, would be enfranchised and weaponed with the
ballot for the protection of life, liberty, and property."

Referring to the opposition brought to bear against the measure by his
colleague, Mr. Wilson said: "We are also told that it is immoral and
indecent, an offense to reason and to conscience. Sir, this measure
came into Congress with the sanction of the Committee on
Reconstruction, composed as it is of men of individual honor and
personal character, and as true to the cause of the colored race as
any other men here or elsewhere. It comes to the Senate by an
overwhelming vote of the House of Representatives. It is sustained by
ninety-nine out of every hundred of the public journals that brought
the present Administration into power, and were it submitted to the
American people, it would, I am quite sure, be sustained by men in the
loyal States who believe that the soldier who fought the battles of
the republic is the equal of the traitor who fought against the
country. I see no compromise in it, no surrender in it, no defilement
of the Constitution in it, no implication that can be drawn from it
against the rights or interests of the colored race. On the contrary,
I believe the black men, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, would go
for it and rejoice to see it adopted."

Mr. Wilson described the results that would follow the adoption of
this amendment. "Being incorporated in the Constitution, the practical
effect would be this, and only this: it would raise up a party in
every one of these States immediately in favor of the enfranchisement
of the colored race. That party might be animated and influenced by
the love of power, by pride, and by ambition. These men might begin