5. E[dward] C. Walthall, The Federal Election Bill. Speech of Hon. E. C. Walthall, of Mississippi, in the Senate of the United States, Friday, December 12, 1890 (Washington, DC: n.p., 1890). (27 p.)


Speech objecting to the passage of a federal voting rights act, known in the South as “The Force Bill,” designed to counter the disfranchisement clauses in new constitutions being ratified by Southern states. Mr. Stone has marked several passages of this speech, particularly this one. “But, sir, race prejudice, however unreasonable and unrighteous it may be considered, seems to have been implanted in us for a purpose, and this will probably serve to spare us the curse of mixed schools, at least as a system generally established. Those who want the proof of this will find it in many localities in the North, where the serious disturbances produced by the attempt to educate the whites and blacks together show that the instinct of race repugnance is confined to no section nor latitude nor political organization.” (The Lodge Federal Election Bill passed the House but was defeated in the Senate.)