Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1860-05-04
CLARKsVILlE, TENN., FRIDAY, MAY a. 1860

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that he has the right of petition, and ais
to claim 10 protection Of his Government. Thes
belong to Ei N as q member of the body
politic, and the possession of tn EN- is. wla
separates citizens of the lowest condition from alien
and slaves. To suppose that a State can make al
alien citizen Of the State, or TO present the ques
ton more specifically, can confer upon him th
right of voting Vould involve the absurdity of Civ
ing him direct and immediate control over tn
action of the General Government, fien which h
has no right to claim the protection, and to whcl
he has no right to present petition. (See speecl
\ in Senate, April q 1927
! alt viii be seen that Mr.. Calhoun held that th,
| right Of voting apettains to citizenship The Su
preme Court expressed the same sentiment in. othe
words; that is that the citizens form the sovereign
ty, hold the power, and conduct the Government
For the right of voting is the power to conduct th'
Government Mr.. Jefferson said, "a republic is &
government by its citizens in mass, (see letter tC
John Taylor) and again, that the true foundation
Of republican Government is the equal right ofevery
citizen in his person and property, and in theii
management (See letter to Mr. Kercheval.) These
are but various forms for expressing the funda
mental principle. So general has become this con.
currence OF opinion among the most accredited ex-
Founders Of the Constitution, that Webster in his
dictionary, defines citizen to be, in the United
States, person, native naturslized, who has the
privilege Of exercising the elective franchise or the
qualifications which enable him to vote for rulers
and to purchase and hold real estate elsewhere he
says, the right to vote for Governors Senators and
Representatives, is franchise enjoyed by citizens
and not belonging to aliens Mr.. Madison said
(see The Federalist p 24s.) The definition of the
right OF suffrage is very justly regarded funda-
mental article of republican government. 1t was
incumbent on the convention, therefore, to defDe
and establish this right in the Constitution And
this they accordingly did in the second section Of
the first article, as follows:
1.-THE House OF Representatives shall be compos-
cd of members chosen every second year by THE
PEOPLE of the several States and the electors in
each State shall have the qualifications requisite for
electors of the most numerous branch of the State
Legislature
Here the words thc people of the several States
are, as the Supreme Court has declared equivalent
to the citizens of the several States and therefore
unquestionably exclude all but citizens The word
qualifications in the last clause OF the section ex-
cludes even portion Of the citizens; such portion
as may be excluded for want of freehold, or other
qualification requisite in the several States In
some of them the Constitution was framed all citi-
zens not possessing freehold were excluded !;
while in others qualifications were requisite for cleo
tors OF the most numerous branch ofthe Legislature
lWome, all citizens allowed 10 vote in none,
however, was the right granted to unnaturalized
foreigners. Such thought as allowing aliens to
take part in the election of members Of Congress
never seems TO have occurred TO the convention
The word qualifications was unquestionably intend
ed to limit to restrict TO conne the body of voters
to such portion of the citizens allowed to vote
in the several States, while the words the people of
the several States absolutely excluded all others (;
because the aliens were no part of the sovereignty
owing it no allegiance, and under no obligations to
defend it,
upon this point, fortunately, we are not left to
conjecture. The whole debate in convention on
the adoption of this section of the Constitution is
before us, and it throws flood oflght this ques-
ton. Here is its substance. GouverLeur Norris
moved to strike out Of this section the clause rela-
ting TO qualifications and TO insert instead that
none but 'freeholders should vote The debate then
turned wholly upon this precise issue. Mr.. Wilson
opposed the motion Of Mr.. Morris, on the ground
that 1t would be hard and disagreeable TO exclude
from voting those who vote for representatives in
the State Legislature. Mr. Ellsworth said the cooe
will not regularly subscribe to the national Consti-
tuition if ii should subject them to be dsfranchsed
Colonel Mason said, eight or nine States have ex-
tended the right of suffrage beyond freeholders.
What will the people there say if they should be
dlsimnchisedF Mr.. Butler opposed abrdgmenti
Mr.. Dickinson supported the amendment advocat-
ing restriction of the right of suffrage TO freehold
ers. Mr. Madison said the right of suffrage is GER
tany one of the fundamental articles Of republican
government and ought not to be left to be reguls-
ted by the legislature Whether the constitution
al qualification ought to be freehold would with
him depend much the reception such change
would meet with by the people, &c. In several of
the States freehold was now the qualification.
Dr. franklin was opposed 10 the elected narrowing
the limits of the electors Mr. Mercer objected to
the footing on which the qualification was put Mr.
kutledge opposed the idea of restraining the right
of suffrage to the treeholders'
HhtYs fho n.ll. l..l.. r 1t
word qualification nothing but restriction limita-
ton, narrowing the limits of the electors The iaal
conclusion was to narrow the limits only where the
States had themselves expressly done so-that is
everywhere to let those citizens vote for Represen-
tatves IN Congress who were permitted to vote for
members of the most numerous branch Of the State
Legislature. But the idea of letting aliens vote is
not only excluded absolutely by the first clause of
the section confning the right TO the people or
citizens, but from the whole tenor of the debate it
is manifested that it did not enter the brain of any
solitary member of the convention.
"The undersigned does not mean 10 assert that
Congress can look into the constitution of State
asking for admission further than TO see that it is
republican, and not in conflict with that ofheU s.
or that the General Government can regulate the
right Of suffrage in the States Far from it, II is
the right ofeyey State to determine who of its own
citizens shall vote for every Office and in regard TO
OiNNs 9hiN'il huHlClpdlj tue states may cOnstltu-
tonally, il they choose permit aliens TO vote But
whilst the States may confer upon aliens right Of
citizenship in matters pertaining exclusively to the
State, they cannot constitute the status Of citizen
ship they cannot convert aliens into citizens that
power having been conferred by the Constitution
upon Congress alone and they cannot, therefore,
give to aliens the right Of citzenshpn matters per-
taining 10 the Federal Government But to give 10
aliens the right TO vote for members of the State
Legislature, as is the case in the Oregon consttu-
tOn, gives them incidentally power Of control
over every department fthe General Government,
and therefore II is our duty to resist this nnsyation
upon the rights of the very threshold As the peo-
pie framed, and the States ratified the General Gov
ernment as il is constituted, they are bound by
every consideration Of good faith TO stand by Il in
its letter and spirit Whilst the rights of the States
as they have been reserved should he scdulously
maintained, those rights which have been conceded
to the General Government should not be ruthless
ly ignored. Especially Is this true with regard to
those elemental principles upon which rests its self
preservation. The General Government stands he
tween us aud all foreign inoyatien or Invasion. II