Speech #780017852

And then he goes on to observe: At least the States have perhaps granted that through the thirteenth. fourteenth. and fifteenth amendments. which we know were adopted in a time of hysteria in the countryAnd then he makes the remarkable concession. for himbut it is the law in the Constitution never.theless. You. of course. caught the significance of his statement that the thirteenth. fourteenth. and fifteenth amendments were adopted "in a time of hysteria in the country." Let us see what are the provisions of the Constitution of the United States which Judge Darr says were adopted "in a time of hysteria in the country." Of course. the implication is. and the plain inference to be drawn from the language he used is. that but for the existence of "a time of hysteria in the country" the people of this Nation. through the machinery set up by the Constitution. would not. by the thirteenth amendment. have abolished involuntary servitude. and would not have clothed Congress with the power to enforce this provision against human slavery by appropriate legislation. Nor would the people of this Nation. through the fourteenth amendment. have provided that: 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 reside. 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. In this connection. may we not here observe that again and again. in the history of this Nation. have men been snatched by the power of the Federal courts from the very shadow of the gallows.