The South Carolina congressman Richard Harvey Cain’s speech to the U.S. House of Representatives of January 10, 1874, given the title “All That We Ask Is Equal Laws, Equal Legislation, and Equal Rights,” was one of two that he made in support of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The legislation had been first introduced by Senator Charles Sumner and Congressman Benjamin Butler, both of Massachusetts, in 1870. The original all-encompassing bill would have prohibited segregation or discrimination in public accommodations, transportation, jury service, public schools, and churches. It languished in the Senate for five years, until Sumner begged on his deathbed that it be passed. His plea energized the bill’s supporters, and it was approved by the Senate, minus, however, its provision banning discrimination in churches.