.

It should also be remembered that in legislating for the District of
Columbia under the Federal Constitution the relation of Congress to
its inhabitants is analogous to that of a legislature to the people
of a State under their own local constitution. It does not, therefore,
seem to be asking too much that in matters pertaining to the District
Congress should have a like respect for the will and interest of its
inhabitants as is entertained by a State legislature for the wishes
and prosperity of those for whom they legislate. The spirit of our
Constitution and the genius of our Government require that in regard to
any law which is to affect and have a permanent bearing upon a people
their will should exert at least a reasonable influence upon those who
are acting in the capacity of their legislators. Would, for instance,
the legislature of the State of New York, or of Pennsylvania, or of
Indiana, or of any State in the Union, in opposition to the expressed
will of a large majority of the people whom they were chosen to
represent, arbitrarily force upon them as voters all persons of the
African or negro race and make them eligible for office without any
other qualification than a certain term of residence within the State?
In neither of the States named would the colored population, when acting
together, be able to produce any great social or political result.
Yet in New York, before he can vote, the man of color must fulfill
conditions that are not required of the white citizen; in Pennsylvania
the elective franchise is restricted to white freemen, while in Indiana
negroes and mulattoes are expressly excluded from the right of suffrage.
It hardly seems consistent with the principles of right and justice that
representatives of States where suffrage is either denied the colored
man or granted to him on qualifications requiring intelligence or
property should compel the people of the District of Columbia to
try an experiment which their own constituents have thus far shown
an unwillingness to test for themselves. Nor does it accord with our
republican ideas that the principle of self-government should lose its
force when applied to the residents of the District merely because their
legislators are not, like those of the States, responsible through the
ballot to the people for whom they are the lawmaking power.

The great object of placing the seat of Government under the exclusive
legislation of Congress was to secure