certained and certain, and
adventure myself upon a sea of experiment, at the same time I
feel as much of that strength, that elasticity, that vigor, and
that desire for the advancement of my race, my countrymen, and my
kind as anybody can feel. I yield to no one in that respect. All
I have asked, and all I have desired heretofore, is that we go
surely. I believe with my fathers and my ancestors that to base
suffrage upon the white males of twenty-one years of age and
upward was a great stride in the world's affairs; that it would
be well for the world if its government could progress, could
advance upon that basis, and that all the rest of the world who
did not happen to be white males of the age of twenty-one years
and upward could very well afford to stand back and witness the
effect of our experiment. I was of that opinion, I lived in the
light of it, and I rejoiced in its success; and when I saw this
Rebellion, when I witnessed the differences of opinion which
convulsed this part of the Continent; when I saw the fact that
one-half of the United States was upon the one side and the other
half upon the other side as to the understanding of the true
theory of this Government of ours, simple as it may be to the
lawyer, complex as it may be when examined more thoroughly, I was
more than ever disinclined to widen the suffrage, to intrust the
franchise to a larger number of people. I trembled for the
success of the experiment; I hesitated as to where it would end.
I may say, Mr. President, that I hesitate yet. The question is by
no means settled, the difficulty is by no means ended, the
controversy is by no means yet concluded.

But the first step taken, from the very initiative of that step,
I have announced my ground and my determination. When a bill was
up here before, proposing to enlarge and widen the franchise in
this District, I stated that if negroes were to vote I would
persist in opening the door to females. I said that if the thing
were to be taken away from the feudal realms and from feudal
reasons, which went on the idea that the man who bore arms, and
he alone, was entitled to the exercise of political power, and if
it was to be put upon the ground of logic, and if we were to be
asked to give a reason for it, and if we were to be co