y, rose and spoke as follows:

"It appears to me, the gentleman has read the history of his
country to little purpose. When the Constitution was framed, in
every State but South Carolina free Negroes were allowed to vote.
Under British rule this class was free, and he interpreted that
'we the people' in the preamble of the Constitution, meant all
the people of every color. The mistake of that period was that
these free Negroes were not represented _in propria persona_ in
that constitutional convention, but by the Anglo-Saxon. Congress
is now correcting that mistake. The right of franchise is due the
Negroes bought by the blood of forty thousand of their race shed
in three wars. The troubles now on the country are the result of
the bad exercise of the elective franchise by unintelligent
whites, the 'poor whites' of the South. I could duplicate every
Negro who cannot read and write, whose name is on the list of
registered voters, with a white man equally ignorant. The
gentleman can claim to be a friend of the Negro, but I do not
desire to be looked upon in the light of a client. The Government
has made a solemn covenant with the Negro to vest him with the
right of franchise if he would throw his weight in the balance in
favor of the Union and bare his breast to the storm of bullets;
and I am convinced that it would not go back on itself. There are
thirty-two million whites to four million blacks in the country,
and there need be no fear of Negro domination. The State laws do
not protect the Negro in his rights, as they forbade their
entrance into the State. (Action of loyal convention of '64). I
am not willing to trust the rights of my people with the white
men, as they have not preserved those of their own race, in
neglecting to provide them with the means of education. The
Declaration of Independence declared all men born free and equal,
and I demand the enforcement of that guarantee made to my
forefathers, to every one of each race, who had fought for it.
The constitution which this ordinance would reenact it not
satisfactory, as it is blurred all over with the word 'white.'
Under it one hundred and eleven thousand beings who live in the
State have no rights which white men are bound to respect. My
people might be ignorant, but I believe, wit