The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-05-18
From the New York Evening Post
Negro Suffrage.

I'VE hold it wise policy in every government
20 motas Il tho ;ntarest Of all its subjects to
supnort. defend and perpetuate its civil lnsti-
tut;onsn No one will doubt the justice OF
this san,onee; and as in this country the peo-
ple are the government, i must be held to be
the neople's interests that all should have equal
rights before thelaw. q
The question whether negroes shall vote is
getting a very generally discussion at this
time. Southern Union men are, without ex-
cepti5n, so far as we know, In favor of giving
to the black man precisely the rights possess
ed by any other man. We have spoken
with number Of persons born and bred IN
the South, and have found then all OF one
opinion on this question. So far as anything
has been lately published by Southern Union
men on the subject, we remember nothing oil
contrary tenor. A letter of Gen. CAN'T, oil
Arkansas, dated the 9Th instant, is the latest
ana perhaps Tne cTcarcsv ucn..as.>-- >f Southern
loyal opinion on this question. Gen. CAN'T
says: fis Sta "fsF
"That the negro is needed at the South, that
he capable Of culture and improvement, is
certain; and that self-prOsection will compel
the South to protect and improve him, is rea-
sonable to suppose. That all loyal men should
accord to him the principle of suffrage and
equality before the law Is becoming a wide
spread conviction, and will gain strength the
more narrowly it is scrutinIzed ads
y "As to suffrage for the colored
free man, he once had it In the South. 1t was
taken away from him, not because he was un-
worthy OF it, but because his exercise OF it
rendered the slaves around him discontinued,
and endangered the slave fabric by his future
influence. But now that slavery is destroyed,
need men be afraid of the freedmen? What
do the people want? The perpetuation of lib
erty by wholesale laws. What more jealous
and watchful sentinels could it have than
those who themselves had come up from bond
age, or learned OF its, horrors, with perhaps
many exaggerations, from the traditions of
their fathers?
"What is tia duty of the nation? what the
interest of the Southern white men in this
connection? The elevation of the black
What stronger incentive could you give him
for commendable effort than the protection of
equal laws, and the right of suffrage when he
prepared himself to exercise it?"
General CAN'T says truly that the negro
once enjoyed suffrage at the South In
every Southern State, except tory and Sc
cession South Carolina, the right of suffrage
was originally held and exercised by "aIl free
men," The Declaration Of Rights prefxed
70 the constitution of Delaware, and part OF
that document, declared:
"Every freeman having sufficient evidence
of permanent common interest, with an at.
tachment to the community. hath right o.
suffrage" 90
The constitution of Maryland provided:
GAIL freemen, above twenty-one years O
g age, having freehold of fifty acres of land in
the county in which they offer to vote, and re
siding therein, and all freemen having proper
ty in this State above the value of thirty
pounds current money, and having resided ID
the county in which they offer to vote one
whole year next preceding the election, shall
have right of suffrage in the election of del
egates for such county," vygf-r
6 The Virginia Declaration of Rights pro
vided: ak8Cs 3NiAa3ei4
.a@Ah men having sufficient evidence Of per
manent common interest, with an attachmen
to the community, have right Of suffrage."
The constitution of N nth Carolina con
) tanned this provision: q =
All freemen Of the age of twenty -one years
who have been inhabitants OF any one county
within the State twelve months immediatei,
-RASSOSdAh6- VIC AaJ vi dlly OA6CblOuy anu Suttl
have paid public lakes, shall be entitled tx
2 vote for members of the House of Commons
for the connty in which they reside"
The constitution of Georgia declared that:
"The electors Of the members of both
branches of the General Assembly shall be
citizens aud inhabitants OF this State, and
shall have attained to the age of twenty-one
years, and have paid tax for the year preced-
ing the election, and shall have resided six
months within the county" fAA5 hlA
So far not a word about distinctions ON &C
count of color CAN freemen,n "every free
man." that is the phrase. But now we come
to South Carolina Ia State which never
had republican OF democratic form Of gov
ernment-whose people never voted for Presi-
dent; where only the few wealthy citizens
were hello capable of holding office; the con
stitution of this aristocratic tory State pro
vided that fEF17 ssN8
"The qualifications OF an eector. shall be ev
cry tree Uhtte man, and no other person" &c
Colored people voted in Pennsylvania till
1888; in Connections they voted till 1917. In
New York, originally, white and black stood
upon the same ground, the right to vote in
both being dependent upon property quail
hcation. About the year 1926, an amend.
ment Of the constitution abolished this proper
ty test as regards the white man, but left it
unrepealed as regards the blacks. That is to
say, it was a half reform
Within the memory of men now living, ne
groes voted regularly in North Carolina and
in Tennessee. In the former State, it is relat.
ed that wealthy slaveowner secured his cleo
ton to Congress by setting free a consider
able number of slaves, who went to the polls
and voted for him in body. In Tennessee, a
person well known in his day, was first elect
ed to Congress by negro votes. John Petit OF
Indiana said in his place, in the Senate, in
1854.
Many of the States have conferred this right
lof suffragel upon Indians; and many, both
North and South, have conferred it upon free
negroes without property Old Cave johnson
s OF tennessee, an hon0red and respectable gem
tlemen, formerly Postmaster General, and for
long time member Of the other house, told
me with his own lips that the first time he was
elected TO Congress from Tennessee lin 1921,
u was by the votes OF free negroes: and he
loid me how. Free negroes in Tennessee were
tnen allowed by the Constitution of the State
70 Vote and he was au iron manufacturer.
anu MAD large number of free negroes as we'll
~ slaves IN his employ. L we'll recolect the
numoer ne stated. Oae hundred aud forty-
iour negroes IN hts employ went to the ballot
pox ana elected him to Congress the first time
he was .elected'' E7-sSs '--o NOV ''ule
In Maryland colored men voted until 1929.
In North Carolina, as we have said, they orig
inally voted. Judge Castor, in legal ouin-
ion, In 1888. said: k Il - r.
E "The very Congress which framed our con-
stitution (the state constitution of l77s, S wao
chosen by freeholders. That constitution s~,
tended the elective franchise to every freeman
who had arrived at the age of twenty-one, and
paid public tax; I'd it is matter Of univer-
sal notorlety that under it free persons, with
out regard to color, claimed and exercised the
franchise until it was taken from lraa men ~