o more from Georgia than from Massachusetts.
They are each equal States in the Union, held together by the same
Constitution, neither being the superior of the other in their
relation to the Federal Government as States."

Commenting on the first section, designed to insert a recognition of
civil rights in the Constitution, Mr. Finck said: "If it is necessary
to adopt it in order to confer upon Congress power over the matters
contained in it, then the Civil Rights Bill, which the President
vetoed, was passed without authority, and is clearly unconstitutional."

To this inference, Mr. Garfield replied: "I am glad to see this first
section here, which proposes to hold over every American citizen
without regard to color, the protecting shield of law. The gentleman
who has just taken his seat undertakes to show that because we propose
to vote for this section, we therefore acknowledge that the Civil
Rights Bill was unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Bill is now a part
of the law of the land. But every gentleman knows it will cease to be
a part of the law whenever the sad moment arrives when that
gentleman's party comes into power. It is precisely for that reason
that we propose to lift that great and good law above the reach of
political strife, beyond the reach of the plots and machinations of
any party, and fix it in the serene sky, in the eternal firmament of
the Constitution, where no storm of passion can shake it, and no cloud
can obscure it. For this reason, and not because I believe the Civil
Rights Bill unconstitutional, I am glad to see that first section
here."

Mr. Garfield opposed the section disfranchising rebels as "the only
proposition in this resolution that is not bottomed clearly and
plainly upon principle--principle that will stand the test of
centuries, and be as true a thousand years hence as it is to-day."

Mr. Thayer, while favoring the proposed amendment in all other
particulars, was opposed to the third section. "I think," said he,
"that it imperils the whole measure under consideration. What will
continue to be the condition of the country if you adopt this feature
of the proposed plan? Continual distraction, continued agitation,
continued bickerings, continued opposition to the law, and it will be
well for the country if a new insurrection shall not spring from its
bosom."

Mr. Boyer denounced the proposition as "an ingenious scheme to keep
out the Southern States, and to prevent the restora