everence either for the Constitution or its illustrious
founders. I beg leave, at all events, to say, with all possible
respect for that gentleman, that I do not recognize the right of any
man upon this floor, who was a representative of that party which
denied the right to defend the Constitution of his country by arms
against armed rebellion, to become my accuser.

"In seeking to amend, not to mar, the Constitution of the United
States, we ought to have regard to every express or implied limitation
upon our power imposed by that great instrument. When gentlemen object
to amending the Constitution, when they talk sneeringly about
tinkering with the Constitution, they do not remember that it is one
of the express provisions of that instrument that Congress shall have
power to propose amendments to the Legislatures of the several States.
Do gentlemen mean, by the logic to which we have listened for the past
five days on this subject of our right to amend, that we are not to
add any thing to the Constitution, and that we are to take nothing
from it? I prefer to follow, in this supreme hour of the nation's
trial, the lead of a wiser and nobler spirit, who, by common consent,
was called, while he lived, 'the Father of his Country,' and, now that
he is dead, is still reverenced as 'the Father of his Country,' and to
be hailed, I trust, by the millions of the future who are to people
this land of ours as 'the Father of his Country.' In his Farewell
Address, his last official utterance, Washington used these
significant words, which I repeat to-day for the consideration of
gentlemen: "The basis of our political systems is the right of the
people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.' We
propose, sir, simply to act in accordance with this suggestion of
Washington. We propose, in presenting these amendments, to alter, in
so far as the changed condition of the country requires, the
fundamental law, in order to secure the safety of the republic and
furnish better guarantees in the future for the rights of each and
all.

"The question that underlies this controversy is this: whether we will
stand by the Constitution in its original intent and spirit, or, like
cravens, abandon it. I assert it here to-day, without fear of
contradiction, that the amendment pending before this House is an
amendment conforming exactly to the spirit of the Constitution, and
according to the declared intent of its framers.

"My frien