The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1860-03-14

Since the Supreme Court ofOhio has become
Republican, pure and simple it has made two
decisions relating to the negro. This is the
first case:
The Board Of Education Of Logan, in Hook
ing county, excluded certain muIatto children,
five-eights white, from attending the white
school. The parents Of the children brought
suit, and the case finally came be fore the Su-
preme Court, on error. Peck, G. T., delivered
the opinion of the court and sustained the
Board in the exclusion Of the children. The
right Of admission, or the duty Of exclusion,
depended on the construction of the statute Of
1858, which divides the children of the State
into two classes, white and colored, and pro-
yides fer schools for both It becomes necoS-
say for the court to decide whether a mulatto
child belonged TO the white or to the colored
class. The COURT endeavoring to ascertain the
intent Of the Legislature, followed the line of
argument pursued by the Supreme Court of the
United States, in the Drei Scott case when it
sought to ascertain whether the Constitution
contemplated the citizenship Of the negro
"In determining" says Juitce Peck, "what is
to be understood by terms white and cOlored
as used in this act (or 1859 we may look to the
state Of things existing at the time" He then
proceeds to say that they had been prescribed
and degraded race in Ohio, prohibited from vot.
ing and restricted in the privil ge Of immI.
L. T I,o,
to include such persons in the class white
lie then quotes WebSter's definition Of 'colored
people, to wit Black people, Africans, or their
descendants, mixed or unmixed, and adds that
such is the common understanding OF the
phrase. From all ofwhich the court sen>iblycon
culcs, that mulatto children are not white; and
that the Legislature of 1858 did not intend to
include them in the class which it designated
sclite; and that mulatto children belong, with
the wholly black, to the colored class.
| The second case is this:
A mulatto resident Of Butler county, proffer.
ed his vote TO the Board of trustee OF his town.
ship, or ward, and his ballot was rejected -
lie instituted suit against the Board, which at
last came before the Supreme Court for adjudi
cation. Constitution of Ohio has defined the
qualifications of an elector. lie must by white
/ male citizen of the United States. Therefore
the same question, identically, which was ad
.udcated in the former case, was again present
ed to the consideration of the court, to wit
Does the molatto belong to the ,chite, or the
clorel class Of our inhabitants? In determn
ing the meaning Of the makers OF the Constitu
tion precisely the same line Of argument was
applicable as employed in the school case; tht
prescription Of the race--the definition of Web
ster--and the poplar understanding Of The
word 'colored.' Tn, same conclusion seemec
unavoidable, viz: That the mulatto belonged t.
the colored class Of people, was not white, ant
therefore was not entitled to vote.
But the court, in the very face Of its deiber
ate decision OF fow weeks before adjudge,
to the mu!atto to be white; that the makers c
the Constitution designed TO inclule him in tn
class OF white citizens of the United States; an
asserted therefore his right to vote.
These decisions clash directly They ar
utterly irreconcileabe. Either the court erre
when it DECLARED mulatto children not white
or it erred when it declared mulatto adult
not colored logan GazeHe.