The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1851-02-05
ADDRESS.


A meeting composed principally 81
Western members Of the Legislature
without distinction Of party, was held
in the Capitol an the evening of the Isl
OF January Instant, to consider what
measures were necessary to be adopted
TO securc to tile People of North Caro-.
lima the right 10 amend their State Con-
stituti0h so as fully to answer the great
ends for which il was originally estab.
lished; and TO maintain that equality
OF rights which lies at the foundation
Of all free and popular governments.
Ii is remarkable feature in the his
tory Of our State, that the Free People
Of the State never hare had a voice in
the formation Of that instrument by
which alone their lives, their fortunes,
and their personal liberty is protected.
The first Constitution was formed al
HALIFAX. 18th December, Ire, imme-
diately after We had thrown of the Brit
ish yoke, when our ancestors were not
fully alive to the interests of the peo-
ple-but still retained a reverence for
British usages. where property was al.
ways more respected, and had more
political weight than the rights of the
people. The Delegates to that Con-
vention, in consequence Of that natural
Difference 10 their ancient customs,
were elected onl, by FreehoIders and
Householders; and that Convention
made the Constitution so formed the
Organic Law Of the State. The peo-
pie who formed neither Of these class
es, and who constituted a much larger
mass of the population of the State, had
no voice in the election of Delegates;
and the Constitution was not submitted
to them for their approval or rejection.
At the time this Constitution was
formed, all the counties in the State
except eight, lay East Of Raleigh, which
has been regarded as the dividing line
between the Eastern and Western por-
tons of the State. BY its provisions,
each county, without regard to its
wealth or population, was entitled to
send one Senator and two members to
the House of Commons and the towns
Of Wilmington, Newbern and Halifax,
to which was added, in 1888, Favette-
vile, in the East, and Hillsborough and
Salisbury, in the West; each one men,
Der in the House Of Commons. Under
this Constitution we lived, suffering
grievances the memory Of which has
not yet left us, constantly struggling
to amend it, until l855-when the Lee
gislature, in the plenitude Of its mercy,
granted to the people Of the State the
to say whether they should
amend the Constitution in some few
points. The Delegates to that Conven-
ton were required to be sworn not to
transcend the limits prescribed to them
BY the Legislature, itself but the SER
want of the people.
The result Of their labors was the
Constitution under which we now live.
BY it, the number Of members in the
Senate is fixed at fifty; and in the
House of Commons at one hundred and
twenty. Each county is entitled to
elect one member at least and the re.
mainder are elected by the counties in
proportion to their federal popslation,
that is, to all whites are added three
out Of every five slaves, and the sum
total constitutes the federal population
In the Senate, the counties elect Sena.
tors in proportion to the taxes paid in
to the public treasury without regard
to the sources whence those taxes orr.
ginated, whether from the permanent
wealth Of the country, or from those
taxes imposed to restrain the vices Of
the community.
The clause prohibiting any one from
voting for Senator unless he was the
owner in fee Of fifty acres of land, con.
tanned in the Constitution Of 1875, was
still retained. To this clause in our
Constitution public attention has been
directed for the last two years; and its
anti-republican and arlstocratic charac
ter severely denounced as remnant Of
Feudal times, when the people were
mere serfs or servants of the landhold-
ers.
In consequence Of this denunciation
Of one particular feature Of our Consti-
tuition, public attention has been direct
ed to its other provisions. Our people,
in 1885, when called upon to decide
upon the amendments submitted to
them, only had to decide between the
old and new; and they naturally pre-
ferred the latter, as it gave, in one
branch, more political weight to the
mass Of the people of the State. 1t was
the first instance when they were re-
garded at all by their own State Con-
stitution. Being naturally lovers of
peace and order, and always obedient
to the laws of the land, they raised no
clamors against them, until they were
called upon to look INTO their charter
of liberty and see that it contained one
feature wholly repugnant to republican
equality. In this opinion we all cum
cur. 1t is right and proper that the
people who are governed, should elect
those WIN govern them. and dirocfI v