This limitation of the power of the President, and the distribution of power among the departments, is an essential requisite of a republican government, and it is one that an army officer, accustomed to give or receive orders, finds it…

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

The declared object was to secure impartial suffrage to the negro race.

The practical result has been that the wise provisions of the 14th amendment have been modified by the 15th amendment.

The latter amendment has been practically nullified by the action of most of the states where the great body of this race live and will probably always remain.

This is done, not by an express denial to them of the right of suffrage, but by ingenious provisions, which exclude them on the alleged ground of ignorance, while permitting all of the white race, however ignorant, to vote at all elections.

If the principle of the 14th amendment had remained in full force, Congress could have reduced the representation of any state, in the proportion which the number of the male inhabitants of such state, denied the right of suffrage, might…

This simple remedy, easily enforced by Congress, would have secured the right of all persons, without distinction of race or color, to vote at all elections.

The reduction of representation would have deterred every state from excluding the vote of any portion of the male population above twenty-one years of age.

As the result of the 15th amendment, the political power of the states lately in rebellion has been increased, while the population, conferring this increase, is practically denied all political power.

I see no remedy for this wrong except the growing intelligence of the negro race, which, in time, I trust, will enable them to demand and to receive the right of suffrage.

In other words, it was a compromise which, like many other compromises, was in its results an injury of great magnitude, but it was an honest difference of opinion between the Senate and the House, in which, tested by the march of time…

This was proven to be an error within a short period, for securities of the United States bearing three per cent. interest have been sold at par.

It overthrew, not only the mode and manner of borrowing money, but the character of our public securities, and was the beginning of a new financial system, unlike anything that had been ventured upon by any people in the world before.

This new policy was adopted under the pressure of the severest necessities, and only because of those necessities, and was intended to meet a state of affairs never foreseen by the framers of the constitution.

Now, sir, it is important to understand the principles of this act; for this act was the foundation of all the financial measures during the war.

Extraordinary power was conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow money in almost any form, at home or abroad, practically without limitation as to amount, or with limits repeatedly enlarged.

We recognized the existence of a great pressing necessity that would tend to depreciate the public credit; and we took care, therefore, not to make these loans for a long period, so as to bind the future to the payment of the rates which…

We provided for gold interest and gold revenue, to avoid the extreme inflations of an irredeemable currency.

We wished to rest our paper fabric on a coin basis, and to keep constantly in view ultimate specie payments.

There was nothing to anchor it to the earth except the collection of duties in coin and the payment of the interest on our bonds in coin.

This could be accomplished by reducing the amount of these notes outstanding, and, thus, by their scarcity, add to their value.

They were a legal tender in payment for all debts, public and private, except for duties on imported goods and interest on the public debt.

They were much better and in higher favor with the people than the state bank notes which they replaced and which were not only depreciated like United States notes but had been often proven worthless in the hands of innocent holders.

Still, with all their defects the United States notes were the favorite money of the people, and any attempt to contract their volume was met by a strong popular opposition.