“We do not ask the passage of any law forcing us upon anybody who does not want to receive us. But we do want a law enacted that we may be recognized like other men in the country. Why is it that colored members of Congress cannot enjoy the same immunities that are accorded to white members? Why cannot we stop at hotels here without meeting objection? Why cannot we go into restaurants without being insulted? We are here enacting laws for the country and casting votes upon important questions; we have been sent here by the suffrages of the people, and why cannot we enjoy the same benefits that are accorded to our white colleagues on this floor?”
1873, Speech on Civil Rights Act (1873)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Joseph Hayne Rainey14
politician 1832–1887Related quotes
John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge (1820–1894) British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician
Reg v. Solomons (1890), 17 Cox, C. C. 93.
“We cannot make a law, we must go according to the law. That must be our rule and direction.”
John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) (1642–1710) English lawyer and Lord Chief Justice of England
Parkyns' Case (1696), 13 How. St. Tr. 72. Compare: "We cannot make laws". Reg. v. Nash (1703), 2 Raym. 990; Powell, J., Queen v. Read (1706), Fortesc. 99.
John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) (1642–1710) English lawyer and Lord Chief Justice of England
Parkyns' Case (1696), 13 How. St. Tr. 73.
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1963, Third State of the Union Address
William T. Sherman (1820–1891) American General, businessman, educator, and author.
1860s, 1864, Letter to the City of Atlanta (September 1864)
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party
Reported as refuted in the Congressional Record: Lou Hiner, Jr., "Hitler's Phony Quotation on Law and Order", May 21, 1970, vol. 116, pp. 1676–77, reprinted from the Indianapolis News; and M. Stanton Evans, "The Hitler Quote", August 11, 1970, vol. 116, p. 28349, reprinted from the National Review Bulletin (August 18, 1970).
Misattributed
Ursula K. Le Guin book Four Ways to Forgiveness
"A Man of the People", p. 106
Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995)