ridge the right of its
citizens to vote or hold office, on account of race, color, or previous
condition." It was reported from the Judiciary Committee by Mr.
Stewart of Nevada, with an amendment proposing another form of
statement; namely, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote
and hold office shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or
any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

During the debate on the question Mr. Hendricks of Indiana reproached
the Republican party for forcing this question now upon Congress, when
in the platform of principles upon which they appealed for popular
support they had distinctly waived it, and when the Legislatures to
which it must go for ratification had been elected without the
slightest reference to it in the popular mind. In order to prevent
what might seem to be an unfair submission of the Amendment, Mr. Dixon
of Connecticut proposed that it should be referred to conventions in
the respective States instead of to the Legislatures, and thus give the
people, in the election of members of the conventions, a full
opportunity to pass upon the merits of the question. It was contended
on the other hand by Republican senators, that no subject had been
more fully matured in the popular mind than this had been by the
discussion which had taken place since the beginning, and especially
since the close, of the war. But this was not a candid or truthful
statement of the case, as had been abundantly shown by the action of
the National Republican Convention. Only a few of the leaders of the
party had openly announced themselves in favor of negro suffrage in
the Nation; a few were openly hostile, while the great majority of the
prominent members feared it and refrained from open expression in
regard to it. The mass of the party, as is usual on questions of this
character, had made their own conclusions, and their earnestness of
convictions finally forced, if it did not persuade, the reluctant
chiefs to adopt it. When they at last came to it, there was a natural
disposition to represent it as one of the cardinal principles of the
party. The Democratic criticisms, as to the time and method of
presenting the Amendment, were well aimed and practically remained
unanswered for the simple reason that no adequate or logical response
could be made to them.

Mr. Garrett Davis of Kentucky charged that the Republican party, in
proposing this Am