I only feel myself called upon to say
enough to indicate the general direction of my reflections upon
the questions before us; to show why it is that I am immovably
opposed at this time to extending our system of suffrage in the
District of Columbia or elsewhere so as to include large classes
of persons who are now excluded; and to state my opinion that
reform or change should be concerned with the correction of the
existing evils of our electoral system, instead of with the
enlargement of its boundaries.

Mr. DOOLITTLE: I move that the Senate do now adjourn.

Several SENATORS: Oh, no; let us have a vote.

The motion was not agreed to.

Mr. DOOLITTLE: Mr. President, this amendment, in my judgment,
opens a very grave question; a question graver than it appears at
the blush; a question upon which the ablest minds are divided
here and elsewhere; a question, however, on which we are called
upon to vote, and therefore one upon which I desire very briefly
to state the views which control my judgment when I say that I
shall vote against the amendment which is now offered.

For myself, sir, after giving some considerable reflection to the
subject of suffrage, I have arrived at the conclusion that the
true base or foundation upon which to rest suffrage in any
republican community is upon the family, the head of the family;
because in civilized society the family is the unit, not the
individual. What is meant by "man" is man in that relation where
he is placed according to nature, reason, and religion. If it
were a new question and it were left to me to determine what
should be the true qualification of a person to exercise the
right of suffrage, I would fix it upon that basis that the head
of a family, capable of supporting that family, and who had
supported the family, should be permitted to vote, and no other.

While I know that the question is not a new one; while it is
impossible for me to treat it as a new question because suffrage
everywhere has been extended beyond the heads of families, yet
the reason, in my judgment, upon which it has been extended is
simply this: if certain men have been permitted to vote who were
not the heads of families it was because they were the exceptions
to the general rule, and because it was to be presume