on january 20, 1900, white introduced the first bill in congress to make lynching a federal crime to be prosecuted by federal courts; it died in committee, opposed by southern white democrats, who were making up the solid south block. a month later, as the house was debating issues of territorial expansion internationally, white defended his bill by giving examples of crimes in the south. he said that conditions in the region had to "provoke questions about ... national and international policy." he said,