St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-07-07
A. B. F. HILDRErH d. D. W. CARVER, EDITORS
St. Charles City, Iowa, July Z, 1859.
The Massachusetts Constitution.

!, The Massachusetts Constitution.
= The Democratic orators, editors and
' wire-workers of Iowa are making a
, great hullaballoo about the recent
amendment which Massachusetts has
\ thought proper to make to her State
; constitution, requiring foreigners to
:, be naturalized two years before they
. are permitted to vote. Massachusetts
S has always been understood to be a
+ sovereign State, and quite as capable
of taking care of her affairs as any of
her sister States. Her great and con-
slant increase of wealth and prosper
ity abundantly prove this, however
much demaSogues may unevt ~ aio,
like her politics or really envy her
prosperity.
When it is understood that con-
slant flood of the very dregs of Ire
land-creatures whose intelligence is
scarcely above that of the brutes-
has for many years been pouring in
to Massachusetts, and that these
creatures, VIGOROUSLY clanish, are the
sport of knavish politicians who lead
them to the polls as so many cattle ;
no honorable man will object to any
wholesome regulation by that sove-
reign State which shall promise the
protection and safety of her political
rights.
One would suppose that the Demo.
cratic presses and orators who are
crying out against the recent amend.
ment of the constitution of Massachu-
sets, are quite oblivious to the fact
that the unfaltering Democratic State
OF South Carolina adopted law only
three years ago in reference to natu-
ralization, precisely similar-in fact,
that the Massachusetts, bill is almost
a literal copy Of the South Carolina
law. Nobody deemed the Democracy
of the Nation responsible for the &C.
ton of single State, except SO far as
that State was type of the society
and government aimed at in the Gin
cinnati platform-which it undoubted-
ly is. The bred Scott decision is
there the great textbook Of law and
morals, resulting in an oligarchy only
one remove from monarchy, and in
tinitely meaner and more detestablc
But we do not hold the Democratic
party of the nation responsible for the
South Carolina law, though it is clear
ly as responsible as the Republican
party of the nation is for the Massa-
chnsetts enactment.
But we apprehend the same plea
will not hold with reference to the pro-
vision inserted in the Enabling Act of
Minnesota, by the Democratic men,
bers of the United States Senate, to
prevent foreign born residents from
voting on the formation and adoption !
OF the State Constitution. The bill
was passed by Congress in the ses-
sion of 1861. As it came from the
House of Representatives, (then in
the hands of the Republicans it au-
thorized all persons to vote on the fun
damcntal law under which they were
to live, who had been permitted to |
vote under the laws of the Isrritwy-
including foreign born residents who
had been two years in the United |
States, and had declared on oath their
intentions to become citizens. When
the bill came to the Senate Demo-
crat from North Carolina, (Mr Biggs,)
moved to insert the following:
Provided, That only citizens of
the United States shall be permitted
to vote at the election provided for by
this act"
The vote on the Bggs amendment
was as follows:
YEAs-Messrs. Adams, Bayard, Bell
of Tenn, Benjamin, Biggs, Broadhead. {
Brown, Butler, Clay, Crittenden, Evans, I
Fish, Fitzpatrick, Foote, Geyer, Green ,
Houston. Hunter, Iverson, johnson,
Jones of Tenn, Mason, Reid, Rusk, <
Slidell, Thompson of KY, and Thomp- I
son of New Jersey. I
NAys-Messrs. Allen, Bigler, Bright
Cass, Collamer, Dodge, Douglas, Dur
kee, Fessenden, Fitch, Foster, Hale,
Jones of Iowa, Nourse, Pugh, Seward,
Stuart, Toombs, Trumbull, Wade, i
Weller, Wilson and Wright.
For the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS !
-; Americans, 4; Republicans, /. :,
Total p. "
Against the Amendmont-Demo- b
rats, IL; Republicans, IL. Total "a. c.
Here was the Democratic party of e.
he nation, by its authorized repre- G.
recorded as voting by a r.
arge majority against the right of u
Orelgn born citizens to have a voice
Il the formation of their fundamental u
ava right previously conferred up a
n them by the people of the Territory c
AS lately remarked by the Chicago d
'ribunc, the Democracy love foreign
rs just as drayman loves horse, !,
nd their liberation of foreign voters :,
measured precisely by their ability :,
o get work out of them. Where \
'hey are strong enough to get along :,
without them, as in South Carolina, =
hey cripple their political power by =
amending the naturalization laws :"
Where they apprehend an apostacy "