Two of the earliest efforts in Congress to enfranchise black men concerned the federal territories and the District of Columbia.  In March 1864, Republican Senator Morton Wilkinson of Minnesota introduced an amendment to the House bill establishing the Montana Territory that  deleted the word “white” from the territory’s voting qualifications.  The amendment and the bill passed the Senate.  Because no blacks lived in Montana, the issue was a matter of principle, not practical application.  As the U.S. House was considering the measure, editor George William Curtis humorously related the floor debate between Democrat George Pendleton of Ohio and Republican John Broomall of Pennsylvania.  The Harper’s Weekly editor hoped that the House would vote in favor of the bill’s incorporation of the Declaration of Independence’s precept that all men are created equal.  The House, however, rejected the Senate version, and then a conference committee reinserted the word “white” to disfranchise future black voters in the Montana Territory.  Congress enacted the bill in that form.