Speech #560004712

If the Senator will look at the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution he will see that there can be no reasonable question about the power of Congress to protect this class of people in the exercise of their rights and privileges: All persons born or naturalized in the United States. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they resideSays this amendment. I know. Mr. President. that my belief may not be entirely popular with certain classes in the United States. but I hold to the doctrine that the power to make citizenship carries with it the power to protect that citizen in the exercise of his right. and that the constitutional shield and statutes enacted pursuant to the Constitution follow the individual in protecting him not only in the exercise of his political rights but in his person. and if he is a citizen of the United States as distinguished from a citizen of the State. a distinction created for the first time by this amendment to the Constitution. the Federal power may follow him wherever he may go within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and protect. him wherever he may be.