Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-04-23
QNortestrr Daily Spp.
THE DISFRANCHISING AMENDMENT,


DISTINGUISHING amendment There can be no
question but that, if it were now before the
Legislature with the responses which have
been made to it from all parts of the free States
1t would meet with a decided defeat Many
members of that body have expressed their
regret at its passage, and said they should have
voted otherwise if they had been aware of its
Importance, while Others say that they voted
merely to submit it to the people without there
by intending to sanction it, and they shall vote
against it at the polls. 1t is certainly most
unfortunate period in our political history, on
which to engraft on the fundamental law, the
discrimination it proposes At time when
the voters of foreign nativity hold the balance
OF power in all the Western States-when the
Germans have arrayed themselves in body
against slavery-when even the ranks of the
Irish, hitherto on the side of the Democracy.
have been broken, and Freedom is drawing
recruits from them-this new and uncalled for
distinction, fraught with all the evils of a longer
term, and with none of the supposed advan-
tages of such longer term, is thrust in the
faces of this class of men, naturally enough
sensitive and jealous of their rights Already,
in large bodies, they have declared their fixed
resolve to renounce cooperation with the Re-
publican party IN case the amendment is car
ried, regarding it as an Indication of the future
national policy of the Republican party. And
can we afford to lose such brave and enthusiast
tic allies Where shall we supply their
places Go to the Western States, and
wherever the Republican majorites are the
largest, approaching unanimity, as in Northern
Illinois, there the foreign population is found
In the largest proportion. In Missouri, they are
supplanting the unpaid toll of slaves with the
free and productive labor of citizens, and form
the body guard of Frank Blair, Gratz Brown.
and the other pioneers of Emancipation From
these men, and from the Republicans in all the
Western States, there have come the most
amendment, imploring its defeat. Can the
Republicans of Massachusetts, be needless of
the exigencies of the cause z Will they be deaf
to the unanimous appeals of their brethren in
the West?
The amendment is most Objectionable in
form. Its either loosely or ingeniously drawn,
making determinations which were not de-
signed, or Intentionally DISTINGUISHING persons,
contrary to the professions of its friends.
1t is as follows: "No person of foreign birth
shall be entitled to vote, or shall be eligible to
office, unless he shall have resided within the
jurisdiction of the United States for two years
subsequent to his naturalization, and shall be
otherwise qualified, according to the constitu-
ton and laws of this Commonwealth procid-
ed, that this amendment shall not affect the
rights which any person of foreign birth pos
sessed at the time of the adoption thereof: and,
provided, further, that it shall not affect the
rights of any child of a citizen of the United
States born during the temporary absence of
the parent therefrom."
The amendment excludes foreigners from
voting until they have resided in the United
States seven years, two of which shall be sub
sequent to naturalization 1t excludes them
equally, whether at the time of its adoption
they have not declared their intention to be-
come citizens-and even though they have OBJ
tanned their final papers and become fully nat
uralized. In this last respect it differs from
the Two Years Amendment proposed and car
ried in the Senate of 1851 1t will probably be
construed to exclude foreign born citizens
whose names are not on the voting lists at the
time of its adoption, although they may have
already voted. Its proviso is that "the amend
ment shall not affect the rights which any per-
son of foreign birth possessed at the time of the
adoption thereof" Suppose a naturaIized citi-
zen, who had been in the country Just five
years, and received his final papers, and being
otherwise duly qualified voted at the recent
domicil to the adjoining town, and begin to re-
side there by the first of May, we submit that,
as he would not possess" the right to vote
anywhere at the time of the adoption of the
amendment, on the ninth Of May, he could not
acquire the elective franchise either at the next
State or the next Presidential election. Had
the proviso been drawn as was the the one
which passed the Senate of 1851 and which
imposed the two years additional residence
only on those thereafter to be naturalized,"
this result would have been avoided. Still
further, the amendment is open to the con-
struction (although this result may not have
been intended) of excluding foreigners whose
names were on the voting lists at the time of
its adoption. 1t saves only rights possessed at
the time of its adoption, using the language
generally employed in Legislative acts relative
to rights of property. Now the elective fran
chise is by perhaps a majority of theorists, and
particularly by such conservative men as oc-
cupy seats on the bench, regarded not as
right, but as a privilege or trust-and If it is
not right then the naturalized citizen possess
es no right to vote which the amendment would
save. The amendment, which passed the Sem
ate of 1857, used no such indefinite language.
Whether the peculiar phraseology of the pro-
posed amendment, which accomplishes results
certainly not intended by most members who
voted for it, arose from inattention or design,
we are unable to say. 1t ought to be rejected,
if for no other purpose, in order to be properly
drawn, and its language be made to conform
to the theory on which tits defended.
But if the amendment did not apply to for
eigners already in the country, or already natu-
rallied, or those who had once had their names
on the voting lists it would still be invidious
and impose an unnecessary, and because UNI
necessary, an unjust discrimination. The nat
uralized citizen has naturally some regard for
men of his own lineage, who are now embark
ing or are soon to embark their fortunes in the