So far as I know, two reasons are assigned. The first is, that the power of Congress is doubtful. It is natural that those who do not sympathize strongly with the Equal Rights of All should doubt. Men ordinarily find in the Constitution what is in themselves; so that the Constitution in its meaning is little more than a reflection of their own inner nature. As I am unable to find any ground of doubt, in substance or even in shadow, I shrink from a proposition which assumes that there is doubt. To my mind the power is too clear for question. As well question the obligation of Congress to guaranty a republican form of government, or the abolition of Slavery, or the prohibition upon States to interfere with the rights and privileges of citizenship, each of which is beyond question. Another reason assigned for a Constitutional Amendment is, its permanent character in comparison with an Act of Congress, which may be repealed. On this head I have no anxiety. Let this beneficent prohibition once find place in our statute-book, and it will be lasting as the National Constitution itself, to which it will be only a legitimate corollary. In harmony with the Declaration of Independence, and in harmony with the National Constitution, it will become of equal significance, and no profane hand will touch its sacred text. It will never be repealed. The elective franchise, once recognized, can never be denied,--once conferred, can never be resumed. The rule of Equal Rights, once applied by Congress under the National Constitution, will be a permanent institution as long as the Republic endures; for it will be a vital part of that Republican Government to which the nation is pledged. Dismissing the reasons for the Amendment, I turn to those which make us hesitate. There are two. The Amendment admits, that, under the National Constitution as it is, with its recent additions, a Caste and an Oligarchy of the Skin may be set up by a State without any check from Congress; that these ignoble forms of inequality are consistent with republican government; and that the right to vote is not an existing privilege and immunity of citizenship. All this is plainly admitted by the proposed Amendment,--thus despoiling Congress of beneficent powers, and emasculating the National Constitution itself. It is only with infinite reluctance that I consent to any such admission, which, in the endeavor to satisfy ungenerous scruples, weakens all those texts which are so important for Human Rights.