Weekly Clarksville chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 185?-1857, 1857-05-01
MR. CALHOUN ON ALIEN SUI
FRAGE. M

Extracts from a speech delivered by
John G. Calhoun in the Senate Of the y.
States, April I'd, 1886, on the motion Of
Senator Porter, Of Louisiana, to rccommit
the bill to establish the Northern Bouuda-
ryof Ohio, and for the admission Of Mich.
igan into chs Union This speech will be
found IN vol "a ofthB Works Of Mr.. Cal
houn, page 400 TO 5o9. It was not pub
Iishel in the Congressional debates, but
was retained for revision by Mr.. Calhoun,
and only published in his works, edited by
III, CraIIe, IN 1851
"The constitution eonfers on Congress-
the power to govern the Territories, and.
of course, TO prescribe the qualification of
voters within them-without any restric-
tion--unlcss, indeed such as the ordinance
and the constitution may enforce--a power
that expires only when Territory be-
comes a State.
"But though we may not be able to say,
with precision, what a citizen Is, VIC NAV
say with the utmost certainty, what he is
not He is not an alien Alien and citi-
zen are corrclative terms, and stand in con-
ttadistinction to each other. They, of
course, cannot exist together"
"The Constitution confers on Congress-
the authority to pass uniform laws of nat
uralization. This will not be questioned;
nor will it be, that the effect of naturaliza
ton to remove alienage."
s"Tbc next position ] assume is no less
certain; that when Congress has exercised
its authority by passing a uniform law of
naturalization Gas it has, it excludes the
right OF exercising similar authority on
the part Of the State. To suppose that
the States could pass naturalization acts of
their own, after Congress had passed an
uniform law of naturalization, would be to
make the provision Of the Constitution nu :
gatory" '4ta2 ~ M rs e'4fA
~ am now prepared to decide the qucs-
tion which my colleague has raised. have
shown that citizen is not an alien, and
that alicnage is an inseparable barrier till
removed, 10 citizenship; and that it can
only be removed by complying with the
act of Congress. It follows, of course.
that State cannot, of its own authority.
make an alien a citizen without such com.
piiance. To suppose it can, involves, in
my opinion, confusion of ideas, which
must lead to innumerable absurdities and
contradictions 81 5.-E
ITO suppose that State can make an al
len citizen of the State-or, to present
the question more specifically Y, can confer on
him the right Of voting, would involve the
absurdity Of giving him direct and i'm
mediate control over the action of the
General Government, from which he has
no right to claim the protection, and to
which he has no right to petition"
"In comforting this power the power of
Congress to pass uniform law of natu-
Balization the trainers of the Constitution
must have had two objects in view: one to
prevent competition between the States in
holding out Inducements for the emigra-
ton of foreigners, and the other to pre-
vent their improper influence over the
General Government, through such States
as might naturalize foreigners, and could
confer on them the right of exercising the
elective franchise, before they could be
sufficiently informed of the nature of our
institutions, or were interested in their
preservation. Both of these objects would
be defeated, if the States may confer on
aliens the right of voting and the other
privileges belonging to citizens"
"To illustrate what have said-sup-
pose the dominant party in New York,
hnding political power about to depart
from them> should, to maintain their as
cendanry, extend the right of suffrage to
the thousands of aliens of every language
and from every portion of the world, that
annually pour into her great emporium
how deeply might the destiny of the whole
Union be affected by such measure. 1t
might, in fact, place the control over tic
General Government in the hands of those
who know nothing of our institutions and
arc indifferent as to the interests of the
country. New York gives about one sixth
OF the electoral votes in the choice of
President and Vice President; and it is
well known that her political institutions
keep the State nearly equally divided into
two great political parties. The addition
OF few thousand votes either way might
turn the scale, and the electors might in
fact, owe their election, on the supposition,
70 the votes Of unnaturalized foreigners
The Presidential election might depend on
the electoral vote Of the State, and Pres
ident to be chosen in reality by them; that
IS, they might give MS king-for, under
the usurpations of the present Chief Mag
istrate, the President is in fact a King"
of Tho meant by the people of Michi-
gan, the qualified voters under her incipi-
cnt constitution, Gas stated by the Seuator
from New York; then are we sanctioning
therightof aliens to vote. Michigan has
attemptedto confer this right on that por-
ton OF her inhabitants. She has no au-
thority to confer such right under the con.
Htltution. have conelusively shown that
a State does not possess t--mueh less
territory which possesses no power ex-