The object of the second section of the bill is to afford discriminating
protection to colored persons in the full enjoyment of all the rights
secured to them by the preceding section. It declares--

That any person who, under color of any law, statute, ordinance,
regulation, or custom, shall subject, or cause to be subjected, any
inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of any right
secured or protected by this act, or to different punishment, pains, or
penalties on account of such person having at any time been held in a
condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason
of his color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of white
persons, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction
shall be punished by fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not
exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.


This section seems to be designed to apply to some existing or future
law of a State or Territory which may conflict with the provisions of
the bill now under consideration. It provides for counteracting such
forbidden legislation by imposing fine and imprisonment upon the
legislators who may pass such conflicting laws, or upon the officers or
agents who shall put or attempt to put them into execution. It means an
official offense, not a common crime committed against law upon the
persons or property of the black race. Such an act may deprive the black
man of his property, but not of the _right_ to hold property. It means
a deprivation of the right itself, either by the State judiciary or
the State legislature. It is therefore assumed that under this section
members of State legislatures who should vote for laws conflicting with
the provisions of the bill, that judges of the State courts who should