This bill was vetoed by the
governor of the Territory, who held that by the laws of the United
States negroes and mulattoes are citizens, and subject to the duties, as
well as entitled to the rights, of citizenship. The bill, however, was
passed, the objections of the governor to the contrary notwithstanding,
and is now a law of the Territory. Yet in the bill now before me, by
which it is proposed to admit the Territory as a State, it is provided
that "there shall be no denial of the elective franchise or any other
rights to any person by reason of race or color, excepting Indians not
taxed."
The incongruity thus exhibited between the legislation of Congress and
that of the Territory, taken in connection with the protest against the
admission of the State hereinafter referred to, would seem clearly to
indicate the impolicy and injustice of the proposed enactment.
It might, indeed, be a subject of grave inquiry, and doubtless will
result in such inquiry if this bill becomes a law, whether it does not
attempt to exercise a power not conferred upon Congress by the Federal
Constitution.
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