I say to the senator from Kentucky that the struggle of the last eight years to give freedom to four and a half millions of men who were held in slavery, to make them citizens of the United States, to clothe them with the right of suffrage, to give them the privilege of being voted for, to make them in all respects equal to the white citizens of the United States, has cost the Republican party a quarter of a million votes." The House of Representatives had been considering the question of the suffrage amendment at equal step with the Senate.

On the 11th of January Mr.Boutwell of Massachusetts, from the Committee on the Judiciary, proposed an Amendment to the Constitution in these words: "The right of any citizen of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State, by reason of the race, color, or previous condition of slavery of any citizen or class of citizens of the United States .-- The Congress shall have power to enforce by proper legislation the provisions of this Article." Mr.Boutwell made one of the strongest and most pointed arguments delivered in Congress for the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment.
He showed that by the Fourteenth Amendment we had declared that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they reside." "There are," said he, "citizens in Kentucky and Maryland eligible to-day to the office of President or Vice-President of the United States, yet who cannot vote for representatives in Congress, or even for a State, county or town officer.

What is the qualification for the office of President?
He must be a native-born citizen of the United States and thirty-five years of age.

Nothing more! These are the only qualifications for the office of President.

By the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, we have declared that all the black men in Maryland and other States shall be citizens of the United States.