I  do  not  say  that  this  bill  repeals  State  laws  on  the  subject  of  marriage
between  the  two  races,  for  as  the  whites  are  forbidden  to  intermarry
with  the  blacks,  the  blacks  can  only  make  such  contracts  as  the  whites
themselves  are  allowed  to  make,  and  therefore  can  not  under  this  bill
enter  into  the  marriage  contract  with  the  whites. I  cite  this  discrimina-
tion, however,  as  an  instance  of  the  State  policy  as  to  discrimination,  and
to  inquire  whether  if  Congress  can  abrogate  all  State  laws  of  discrimina-
tion between  the  two  races  in  the  matter  of  real  estate,  of  suits,  and  of
contracts  generally  Congress  may  not  also  repeal  the  State  laws  as  to
the  contract  of  marriage  between  the  two  races. Hitherto  every  subject
embraced  in  the  enumeration  of  rights  contained  in  this  bill  has  been
considered  as  exclusively  belonging  to  the  States. They  all  relate  to  the
internal  police  and  economy  of  the  respective  States. They  are  matters
which  in  each  State  concern  the  domestic  condition  of  its  people,  varying
in  each  according  to  its  own  peculiar  circumstances  and  the  safety  and
well-being  of  its  own  citizens. 