Andrew Johnson actually said...

"I yield to no one in attachment to that rule of general suffrage which distinguishes our policy as a nation."

"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 th..."

"Great danger is therefore to be apprehended from an untimely extension of the elective franchise to any new class in our country."

"It should be remembered, however, that this power is wholly negative and conservative in its character, and was intended to operate as a check upon unconstitutional, hasty, and improvident legislation..."