Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-08-07
The Old dLanamarks.


There appears 70 be . widespread i'm.
preston among the people, doly fostsrsd
and encouraged By the COppsrhsad press,
that negro suffrage is something ur-
known to the earlier and pursr days Of
the rspubliei--thAt il is . modern limo
vation, ''ths ofspripg Of fAnAiisisus and
abolition, and there is no warrant for
it except in "the new tangled creed Of
those who are seeking to put negroes on
= soeiAl equality With white people
The truth is, it Is aFight As old IS the
Government itself, and lila only since
slavery propagapdisss Of the sap,h have
had the conteol OF the country and have
been permitted TO impress their opinions
upon IT'S legislation, that the right has
been either questioned or curiailed- IL
a recent apeech At Ravenna, Ohio, Gen.
Garfield gave the following interesting
history in reference to the question Of
negro sunfagetsrlE assh ,sbia 1a.aa
I. Daring the war Of the Revelation,
and in 1888, the date of The adoption Of
Our national constitution, there was but
one State among the thirteen whose con-
stitution refused tke right Of Suffrage TO
the negro That State was South Car
oliua. s Some, il was true, established q
pre-requisise, bat none save South Carr
olinA made color . condition OF ahf-
fraae. a sa b fR4 moa aHGaaf aff
z. The Federal Constitution makes
no such distinction, nor did the Articles
Of Confederation. In The Congress Of the
Confederation, on the 25tk Of June,
1898. the fourth article was under dis
cnssion. Il provided that. THE free Ia.
habitauts of each of these States shall
be entitled to all privileges and immn-
mites of free citizens OF the several
States"
The delegates fsom South Carolina
moved to insert between the words
"iree inhabitants the word white, .
thus denying the privileges and immu.
mites Of citizenship to the colored man.
| According to the rnles OF the Conven-
ton, each State had but Que vote.
Eleven States voted on the question.
One was divided. Two voted Aye, and
eight voted Ne ;See Elhott's Debates,
vol. /, page 90 }. 1t was thus early and
almost unanimously decided that free.
dom, not color, should DO tae test oi
citizenship. Apptause.
3. No Federal legislation prior "a
1872 placed any restriction. on the right
of suffrage in consequence Of the color
Of the citizen Daring that period Con
gress passed ten separate laws estab-
fishing new territories In all these
freedom, not color, vas the basis Of sui-
frsge. s8asa. fsseb ,so.ia1 a9sls
f. After nearly quarter OF century
OF prosperity under the Constitution, tbs
spirit Of slavery 90 far triumphed ovei
the early principles aud practics of ths
Governm eni, that, in 1912, South Caro-
lima and her followers in Congress suc
ceeded in inserting the word white
in the suffrage clause OF the act esiab
fishing territorial government for Mis-
souri,. One By one the Slave States, aps
many of the Free States, gave war be
fore this crusade Of slavery against ne
gro citizenship.
S. In 1917, Connscticut caught th,
infection, and in her Csnstitutiou shl
excluded The negro from the ballot-boK
In every other New England State ihi
ancient right Of suffrage has remained
ana still remains undisturbed.
g. Free negroes voted in Marylau,
until 1898; in North Carolina nnh
1885, 10 Pennsylvania until 1888 /
was the boast Of Cave johnson, of Ten
nessee, that be owed his election 70 Con
grsss, in 1928. to the free negroes wh'
worked in bis mills They were ex
cludsd from suffrage in 1884, undsr th
nsw EConstitutioa Of Tennessee, By
vote Of 80 TO % As new Srates yer
formed, their conaftations for the mos
part excluded the negro from citizen
ship. Then followed tbs shameful eAta
logus Of black laws-expatr alton an
,, ostrseism in every form-which have 9
deeply disgrsced the record Of Isgisla
ton in many Of shs States o5a sH