d, established, or maintained, by
reason or in consequence of any distinctions or differences
of color, race, or descent, or by reason or in consequence
of a previous condition or status of slavery or involuntary
servitude of such inhabitants, be, and are hereby, declared
null and void; and it shall be unlawful to institute, make,
ordain, or establish, in any of the aforesaid States
declared to be in insurrection and rebellion, any such law,
statute, act, ordinance, rule, or regulation, or to enforce,
or to attempt to enforce, the same.

SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who
shall violate either of the provisions of this act shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a
fine of not less than $500 nor exceeding $10,000, and by
imprisonment not less than six months nor exceeding five
years; and it shall be the duty of the President to enforce
the provisions of this act.

On the 13th of December, Mr. Wilson called up his bill, which the
Senate proceeded to consider as in Committee of the Whole. The author
of the bill presented reasons why it should become a law: "A bill is
pending before the Legislature of South Carolina making these freedmen
servants, providing that the persons for whom they labor shall be
their masters; that the relation between them shall be the relation of
master and servant. The bill, as originally reported, provided that
the freedmen might be educated, but that provision has already been
stricken out, and the bill now lies over waiting for events here. That
bill makes the colored people of South Carolina serfs, a degraded
class, the slaves of society. It is far better to be the slave of one
man than to be the slave of arbitrary law. There is no doubt of the
fact that in a great portion of those States the high hopes, the
confidence, and the joy expressed last spring by the freedmen, have
passed away; that silence and sorrow pervade that section of the
country, and that they are becoming distrustful and discontented. God
grant that the high-raised expectations of these loyal and deserted
people may not be blasted. God forbid that we should violate our
plighted faith."

Mr. Cowan moved the reference of the bill to the Committee on the
Judiciary, but its author was unwilling that it should be so referred,
since it was highly important that action should be had upon it before
the