To that announcement, Senator Chandler of
New Hampshire, who had been one of the most zealous advocates
of the National laws, expressed his assent. That statement
has been repeated once or twice on the floor of the Senate.
So far as I know, no Republican has dissented from it. Certainly
there has been no Bill for that purpose introduced in either
House of Congress, or proposed, so far as I know, in the Republican
press, or in any Republican platform since.
The question upon which the policy of all National election
laws depends is, At whose will do you hold your right to be
an American citizen? What power can you invoke if that right
be withheld from you? If you hold the right at will of your
State, then you can invoke no power but the State for its
vindication. If you hold it at the will of the Nation, as
expressed by the people of the whole Nation under the Constitution
of the United States, then you are entitled to invoke the
power of the United States for its enforcement whenever necessary.
If you hold it at the will of the white Democracy of any State
or neighborhood then, as unfortunately seems to be the case
in a good many States, you will be permitted to exercise it
only if you are a white man, and then only so long as you
are a Democrat.
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