United States, expressly prohibiting the States from any such abuse of
power in the future. You propose to make it a penal offense for the
judges of the States to obey the Constitution and laws of their
States, and for their obedience thereto to punish them by fine and
imprisonment as felons. I deny your power to do this. You can not make
an official act, done under color of law, and without criminal intent,
and from a sense of public duty, a crime."

[Illustration: James F. Wilson.]

Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio said: "I do not understand that there is now
any serious doubt anywhere as to our power to admit by law to the
rights of American citizenship entire classes or races who were born
and continue to reside in our territory or in territory we acquire. I
stated, the other day, some of the cases in which we naturalized
races, tribes, and communities in mass, and by single exercises of
national sovereignty. This we did by the treaty of April 30, 1800, by
which we acquired Louisiana; also in the treaty of 1819, by which we
acquired Florida; also in the treaty of 1848, by which we acquired
part of Mexico; also by the resolution of March 1, 1845, annexing
Texas, and the act of December 29, same year, admitting Texas into the
Union, we made all the people not slaves citizens; also by the treaty
of September 27, 1830, we admitted to citizens certain heads of
families of Choctaws; also by the treaty of December 29, 1855, we did
the same as to the Cherokees; also by the act of March 3, 1843, we
admitted to full citizenship the Stockbridge tribe of Indians."
Referring to the first section which his colleague had proposed to
amend, he said: "Self-evidently this is the whole effect of this first
section. It secures, not to all citizens, but to all races as races
who are citizens, equality of protection in those enumerated civil
rights which the States may deem proper to confer upon any races. Now,
sir, can this Government do this? Can it prevent one race of free
citizens from being by State laws deprived as a race of all the civil
rights for the securement of which his Government was created, and
which are the only considerations the Government renders to him for
the Federal allegiance which he renders? It does seem to me that that
Government which has the exclusive right to confer citizenship, and
which is entitled to demand service and allegiance, which is supreme
over that due to any State, may--nay, must--protect those citize