Speech #510170228

Mr. President. the resolution of the Senator from Oregon relates to the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The first clause of the first section of that amendment reads as follows: Al persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisliction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they reside. A question arose under that clause of the fourteenth amendment and went before the Supreme Courtof the United States and before the Committee on the Judiciary of this body. as to whether an Indian was a person "born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." and whether as such he became.A citizen of the United States. andit was held and it has been uniformly held by all - the jurists who have given any utterances upon this subject that the fourteenth amendment in thatprovision and in fact in all the other provisions related to the negro race. that it was not intended to apply to Indians or Chinamen or any other personswho might be in the United States. but to those persons of color who belonged to the African family or were of African descent. and the fifteenth amendment absolutely prohibits-