Day. Article in the New York Independent, January 5, 1871

ADMISSION OF MISSISSIPPI TO REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS.

Speech in the Senate, February 17, 1870.

MR. PRESIDENT,—Throughout the long struggle anterior to the Rebellion, and then throughout the Rebellion itself, Slavery had two voices by which it was heard in this Chamber and in the country. The first was that by which its continued existence was vindicated, or, if you please, the right of Slavery; the other was that of State Rights. By these two voices was Slavery heard. Happily, the first is silenced; but the other is still sounding among us, crying out against those generous efforts by which Human Rights are assured.

I am not wrong in this statement. From the beginning it has been the same. How often in times past have we heard the cry of State Rights! At every proposition concerning Slavery, at the presentation of every petition against this tyrannical wrong, at every allusion to it, the cry was heard. And when the Rebellion broke forth, the same cry was raised against those great measures of self-defence by which Slavery, our real enemy, was assailed; and then at each stage of Reconstruction it was the same. Not a measure of Reconstruction which has not encountered this pretension of State Rights. It broke forth in the Virginia debate. It breaks forth on the present occasion. Again we hear the voice of Slavery.

This pretension, which is so constantly manifest, finds partisans naturally on the other side of the Chamber. It is easy for Senators who have upheld Slavery to uphold that interpretation of the Constitution which was the constant ally of Slavery; but it is incomprehensible how Senators fresh from the great battle with Slavery should continue in dalliance with the constant ally.

The argument for State Rights proceeds on a misapprehension. Nobody doubts the right of a State to local self-government, through which are supplied the opportunities of political education, and also of local administration adapted precisely to local wants. This is the peculiarity of our national system, wherein it differs especially from the centralized imperialism of France. But while recognizing the State as the agency for all matters properly local, it must not be allowed to interfere with those other matters, being rights and duties, which are not local, but universal.

Now, Sir, nothing can be clearer than that the Equal Rights of All must be placed under the safeguard of one uniform law which shall be the same in all parts of the nation,—the same in Charleston and New Orleans as in Boston and Chicago. It is absurd to suppose that the rights of the citizen can differ in different States. They must be the same in all the States; but this can be consummated only by the national authority. Therefore, on grounds of reason, I repel that pretension of State Rights which would take this just prerogative from the nation. Understand me, Sir, I do not seek to centralize, but to nationalize. The partisans of State Rights, in their efforts to decentralize, would denationalize. In the name of local self-government they would overthrow the nation.

If I am asked where I find these national powers, I answer, that they are in those two great title-deeds of the Republic, the Declaration of Independence and the National Constitution. Whether viewed apart or together, these two are one and the same; but the two reinforce each other. The Declaration of Independence finds proper machinery for its great purposes in the National Constitution, while the National Constitution is explained, invigorated, and elevated by the Declaration of Independence. By the National Constitution the nation is bound to assure a republican government to all the States, thus giving to Congress the plenary power to fix the definition of such a government; but by the Declaration of Independence the fundamental elements of this very definition are supplied in terms from which there can be no appeal. By this Declaration it is solemnly announced, first, that all men are equal in rights, and, secondly, that just government stands only on the consent of the governed. Other things may fail, but these cannot. Whenever Congress is called to maintain a republican government, it must be according to these universal, irreversible principles. The power to maintain necessarily implies all ancillary powers of prevention and precaution, so that republican government may be assured. All these powers are essentially national, and not local; they belong to the nation, and not to the State.

So long as Slavery existed, this definition was impossible. State Rights were set up against Human Rights; but with the death of Slavery, followed by the extinction of the Rebellion, this definition takes its just place in our national system. Therefore whatever tends to maintain a republican government and to place it beyond assault, whatever tends to maintain the great principles declared at our birth as a nation,—all this is constitutional. As well deny that the sun shines,—as well with puny arm attempt to drag the sun from the sky; still it shines. God be praised! the day has passed when State Rights can be exalted above Human Rights.

It is for Congress to determine, in its discretion, how republican government shall be maintained. Whatever it does in this regard, whether by general law, or by condition or limitation on States, is plainly constitutional beyond all question. All is in the discretion of Congress, which may select the “means” by which this great guaranty shall be performed. It