e Senator from Kentucky thinks so obnoxious.
We are in the midst of revolution. We have revolutionized this
Constitution of ours to that extent; and every substantial change in
the fundamental constitution of a country is a revolution. Why, sir,
the Constitution even provides for revolutionizing itself. Nay, more,
it contemplates it; contemplates that in the changing phases of life,
civil and political, changes in the fundamental law will become
necessary; and is it needful for me to advert to the facts and events
of the last four or five years to justify the declaration that
revolution here is not only radical and thorough, but the result of
the events of the last four years? Of course, I mean to contend in all
I say that the revolution of which I speak should be peaceful, as on
the part of the Government here it has been peaceful. It grows out, to
be sure, of an assault upon our institutions by those whose purpose it
was to overthrow the Government; but, on the part of the Government,
it has been peaceful, it has been within the forms of the
Constitution; but it is a revolution nevertheless.

"But the honorable Senator from Kentucky insists that it is a
usurpation. Not so, sir. Although it is a revolution radical, as I
contend, it was not a usurpation. It was not a usurpation, because it
took place within the provisions contemplated in the Constitution.
More than that, it was a change precisely in harmony with the general
principles of the Government. This great change which has been wrought
in our institutions was in harmony with the fundamental principles of
the Government. The change which has been made has destroyed that
which was exceptional in our institutions; and the action of the
Government in regard to it was provoked by the enemies of the
Government. The opportunity was afforded, and the change which has
been wrought was in harmony with the fundamental principles of the
Government."

The Senator from Maine opposed the theory that this is a Government
exclusively for white men. He remarked: "It is said that this
amendment raises the general question of the antagonism of the races,
which, we are told, is a well-established fact. It is said that no
rational man, no intelligent legislator or statesman, should ever act
without reference to that grand historical fact; and the Senator from
Pennsylvania, [Mr. Cowan,] on a former occasion, asserted that this
Government, that American society, had been established