Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-02-05
REPORTS ON THE BLACK LAWS.
In HousE-JANUARY ., lS47.
MAJORITY REPORT.

tue SUBJECT Oh laws MIXING distinctions on
account of color, made the following report:
The select committee to whom was re-
ferred sundry petitions praying for the repeal
of an act entitled " an act to regulate black
and mulatto persons" passed January 9th,
1904, and all subsequent amendments to said
act-and also that portion of the Governors
Message relating In the same subject, re-
spectfully report THAT having given to the
subject that consideration and reflection v hich
its importance demands, a majority Of your
committee are compelled, by their oCn con-
s:iousness Of what is right, to express the opin-
ion, that the repeal Of said enactments is de-
manded by the religion and philanthropy Of
the age in which we live by a consistent
regard for that great charter of our liberties,
which asserts, - that ALL MEN are created
equal-lhat they are endowed by their Crea-
tor with certain inaIienable rights-that
among these are life, liberty and the pnrsui,
of happiness-that, to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, de-
irving their JUST POWERS Gr0m the con-
seni Of The goreyned and by the same spnti-
ments repeated in the ordinance Of Congress,
for the government Of the Northwest Terrific
~, including the State If Ohio, passed July
I3, 1887, which declares, "the inhabitants
Of said territory shall always be entitled to
the benefit of the writ of hdbeas corpus, and
of the trial by jury of a proportionate repre-
sentation of the people in the Legislature,
and of judicial proceedings according to the
course of the common lam. And in the Just
preservation of rights and property, it is m
derstood and declared, that no law ought e yer
10 be made, or have force in said territory,
that shall in any manner whatever, interfere
with or affect private contracts or engagements.
bona hde, and without fraud, previously form
ed;" by a decent respect for our State Con-
stitution, which we are sworn to support,
wherein it is declared, that "ALL MEN
are born equally free and independent, and
have certain natural, inherent and innHenaGIe
rights-amougst which are the enjoying and
defending life and liberty, acquiring, possess
ing and protecting property, and pursuing and
obtaining happiness and sgfety." These are
the fundamental principles OF all republican
governments; it was these principles which
nerved the arm, encouraged the heart, and
animated the hopes of the patriots of the Re-
v~olution. BY our love OF these glorious
truths of mans equality, contained in the
several instruments named-and. more than
all, by a regard for Gods Word, which de-
clares, that he hath made of one bAoOd all
nations Of men for to dwell on all the face Of
the earth /" a majority of your committee
feel constrained to say that said laws, in their
opinion, are a disgrace to the State, a foul
stain upon the name and good character of our
otherwise Justly celebrated Ohio. With these
enactments on our statutes, every citizen is
liable to the charge of hypOcrisy-a charge,
too, which 1t seems to your committee impos-
siLle to exculpate ourselves from having de-
clared in our bill of rights, that "aH men are
born equally free and independent, and hav-
ing asserted this TO be a SeIf-erident fruih,"
when al the same time we are denying to more
than tUenty M0usand OF Our fellow beings,
these very rights, which We have declared to
be I" Inherent and in1ienabLe " and that, too,
for no crime, for nothing over which this OPP
pressed portion of our race have any control
but merely because the God of nature has,
in his all-wise Providence, seen fit to give
them a sable complexion.
These laws are, in the opinion of a maio-
ri,y OF your committee, in plain and palpable
conflict with the Constitution of this State,
of the United States, and of lie ordinance Of
l7S7, which the Supreme Court hive deci-
ded, in the 9Th volume Ohio Reports, page
40, are as binding on the State as her con-
s%titution, and consequently, every member of
the Legislature is sworn to support. In sec
ton second, OF the fourth article of the Con-
%stiiution of the United States it is declared,
&" that the citizens of each State shall he en-
titled to all the privileges and immunIties OF
citizens in the several States" BY the laws
Of all the New England States, the colored
man is allowed all the rights and privileges
which are conferred upon the white man; aud
in the State of New York the colored man is
permitted to enjoy the sam rights that are
enjoyed by any other citizen, if he owns pro-
perty to the amount of two hund red and fifty
dollars but if any Of these colorpd citizens
of any Of thnse States ~e,nigrate to this, by oul
laws he is required TO give bonds for his good
behaviour and maintenance, and to have a
stair certificate from some court within the
United States, of his freedom :" and thus
that old law maxim, "that every man shall
he considered innocent until he is proven
guilty." is reversed, and the law presumes
the colored man is a slave. unless he car
prove himself a free man! Every white mar
who employs one of these colored men, ir
any DaY or for any purpose, who has not thu;
given bond and got a certificate, is liable to Z
fine not to exceed " one hundred dollars-tht
one half to the informer, and the other half
for the use OF tue poor of such township il
which such person may reside-to be reco.
vered by an action of debt, before any cour
having competent jurisdiction, and moreover
be liable for the maintenance and support" o.
such colored person. if he shall ever become
unable to support himself. 1t will readily
be perceived, that we require Of the colorec
citizen coming from other States what is re-
quired of no other men, from any other Sc Z,
ton of our country it must therefore be OBJ,
vious to the mind of every rejecting man,
that the colored citizens Of other States, whc
come here to reside, are not by our laws en-
titled to the same "pririieges and immuni
ties" as the citizens of this State, and conse
auently these laws are in direct conflict with
this provision of the Constitution, and there
fore void,