Speech #480009217

Nor is it sufficient to say that the elections referred to were not national elections in the sense that they did not involve the election of a President or of a member of Congress. While the power of Congress over the election of Senators. Representatives. and the President extends to making and altering laws and regulations passed by the respective States. and therefore is fuller than in respect to State elections. yet the Constitution provides that "The right of the people to be secure in their persons. houses. papers. and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated." that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. are citizens of the United States." that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. nor shall any State deprive any person of life. liberty. or property without due process of law. nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Iand that "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." It was also declared that "Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States or in hny Department or officer thereof." Power is also given to Congress to enforce the recent amendments by appropriate legislation. If the essential rights of citizenship are overthrown by a State or by the people of a State with the sanction of the local authorities within the limits of the State. then Congress. as the legislative power of the United States. is bound to provide additional safeguards. and should exhaust all the powers of the United States Government to maintain these essential rights of citizenship within the limits of all the States in as full and complete a manner as it will guard and protect the unquestioned rights of citizens of the United States within the domains of the most powerful nations of the world. Surely a citizen of the United States has as much right in any one of the States as he would have in a foreign land. however remote or how powerful its government may be.