“That, in further enforcement of the provision of the Constitution prohibiting Slavery, and in order to remove all relics of this wrong from the States where this constitutional prohibition takes effect, it is hereby declared that all laws or customs in such States, establishing any oligarchical privileges, and any distinction of rights on account of race or color, are hereby annulled, _and all persons in such States are recognized as equal before the law_; and the penalties provided in the last section are hereby made applicable to any violation of this provision, which is made in pursuance of the Constitution of the United States.”[265] Still further, on the same day I introduced “Resolutions declaratory of the duty of Congress in respect to guaranties of the national security and the national faith in the Rebel States.” One of these guaranties which I proposed to establish was as follows:-- “The complete suppression of all oligarchical pretensions, and the complete enfranchisement of all citizens, _so that there shall be no denial of rights on account of color or race_; but justice shall be impartial, and all shall be equal before the law.” I added also a provision which I was unable to carry,--it was lost by a tie vote,--as follows:-- “The organization of an educational system for the equal benefit of all, without distinction of color or race.”[266] Such, Sir, were the measures which I had the honor of bringing forward at the very beginning of the session. During the same session, in an elaborate effort which occupied two days, February 5 and 6, 1866, and is entitled “The Equal Rights of All: the great Guaranty and present Necessity, for the sake of Security, and to maintain a Republican Government,” I vindicated the necessity of the colored suffrage in order to obtain peace and reconciliation, and I placed it on the foundations of Constitutional Law as well as natural justice. Here is a passage from this speech:-- “And here, after this long review, I am brought back to more general considerations, and end as I began, by showing the necessity of Enfranchisement for the sake of public security and public faith. I plead now for the ballot, as the great guaranty, and _the only sufficient guaranty_,--being in itself peacemaker, reconciler, schoolmaster, and protector,--to which we are bound by every necessity and every reason; and I speak also for the good of the States lately in rebellion, as well as for the glory and safety of the Republic, that it may be an example to mankind.” The speech closed as follows:--