Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-05-29
Negro Suffrage in Connecticut
THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT.
[From he Hartford lime. ]


The Convention that formed the present Con,
stitution OF this state, and there were able men
In il refused TO confer the right OF suffrage upon
negroes or Africans On several occasions since
that time the people have voted down, BY over
whelming majOrities propositions 70 confer upon
colored men that political privilege In only
three States In the Union, we believe, are negroes
allowed 10 vote. and In those three States the
right Is conferred solely upon money qualihca-
hi has been the settled conviction Of the people
of this country that no good could result from
allowing negroes to vote. IL Is probable that
this opinion is founded to good degree in the
instructive feelings Of repugnAnce OF the white
race, who are the governing class in this cOun.
try 10 equal social or political relations with an
interior race. Indeed, il is question Of races,
and neither the white nor the COloTed can be ben
ehtted by legislative enaetments TO force an
equality that nature itself has forbidden.
An able writer very truly remarks that the
idea Of white supremacy Is not adhered TO In any
spirit OF intolerance toward the inferior race, but
Only as 4 means OF preserving our own race from
the deplOrable consequences VI hyoIidism, and OF
saving our country from that mongrelism which
has DESTROYED some hOurishing repnblics, which
now live only in history.
Tso distinct races never have and never will
live together upon equal political and social re-
lations-and an equal political position demands
similar equality In the sOc.e relations. The class
that vote must be voted for, and the officers who
preside over our affairs cannot consistently be
deprived Of the ordinary social relations Of the
community whose political affairs they are OH
ciAly administering.
Ii s not more in our opinion a question of in
telhgsnce than il is Of races and we believe that
il is not a good policy for Connecticut TO attempt
by constitutional provisions 3 cOmmingling Of
two distinct races, especially as there IS natural
repugnance on the part OF one 20 close intimacy
with the other.
President Johnson evidently comprehended
this subject fully, when few days since he IN
formed q delegation Of colored ministers that,
if the blacks could not get along well with the
whites he hoped they would soon be gathered
into some other country better adapted to their
concitOn; and as Chef Justice Chase lately
remarked In Charleston, the Constitution Of
Tennessee. adopted under his auspices as Mill
tary Governor, fOrbids negro suffrage When
President Lincoln, q short time before his
death, declared that possibly colored men in
the army and those who were very int .hgent
might be allowed TO vote without harm he
evidently felt that colored voting had better not
he adopted. Indeed, IL Is well understood that
President Lincoln in private conversation had
opposed the doctrine Of suffrage 70 the black
race.
mittse on COnst tutional Amendments, recently
submitted 70 the Legislature
MINORITY REPORT OF COMMITTEE on CoNsTIru-
rIoNAL AMENDMENT.
The subscribers, minority Of the committee
10 whom was referred the proposed amendment
Of the Constitution Of Connecticut, striking the
word white from laid Constitution, not con-
curing In the views entertained By the majority
Of the committee, beg leave respectfully TO state
the reason for their dissent.
The object Of the proposed amendment is to
extend the right Of suffrage TO negroes. While
the subscribe entertain no other feeling than
that Of kindness to the negro race, and would do
nothing % njure or Cypress them, they are unable
70 perceive that any bene1t would arise from pla-
eng the ballot in their hands
That this race is inferior 70 the Caucasian race
that has hitherto controlled the political Affairs
of the State, the subscribers fully believe.
For more than hat q century they have been |
free men in many of the States, and slavery was |
prospectyely abolished in this State about eighty
years since but the negroes have shown Is yet |
no capacity 70 compete with the white race in /
the march Of civilization No inventive faculties,
no genus for the arts, or for any Of those Occu-
patiOns requiring intellect and wisdom, have |
been developed.
Living as they have in the same States with |
many citizens who claimed 70 take the deepest /
inteles in their welfare, TO regard their capaci- /
ties az equal 70 those Of the whites and 70 de- /
vote themselves to their elevation the labors Of
these enthu Iiastic philanthropists have not been
effective in developing those marks Of Intellectual
and moral power that everywhere distinguish /
the Caucasian.
However strong the efforts Of the numerous
class of our citizens who consider the negroes
ecu Al 10 themselves, they have not succeeded /
10 any extent worth naming in improving them /
sufficiently to permit them 70 act as intelligent Il
assistants in their business operations, as stu.
dents Of art or Of the learned professions or as
skilled artisans and they have practically /
proved the failure Of their theory by excluding /
them from their own Onices, counting rooms,
studies and manufactures.
This race, so inferior in the highest qualities of
manhood 70 our own, cannot in our view be ben
sdtted by the right OF suffrage.
n as yet, with all the aid of their special
advocates, they have not exhibited those quail.
ties, there is no charm in the ballot TO create
them.
The right of suffrage would merely make them
the instruments OF political schemers, and the /
subjects Of partisan intrigues and the introduc.
ton Of this new and degraded element into our
poltical contests will be only the creation of az
agent Of Generalization. There is q special OBJ.
lection to the proposed amendment on account
Of its inetcacy.
The amendment grants to every male citizen
having certain qualifications what 10 now enioyed |
only by every white male citizen possessing those
but as the Superior Court OF the
,,tate of Connecticut State agL Crandau 10,
conn. DID, 344 has decided that the negro is not
citizen OF the United states and As said deci-
.ion still stands as the law Of the United States,
ne object Of the trainers Of the amendment can.
not be gained without revision OF the judicial
decisions Of the Courts Of Connecticut and OF
ne United States. II it Is proper that negroes
should vote, it il proper that the right be con-
fsrred on them In unmttakEbe terms.
The subscribers recommend that the amend. Il
nent be rejected. HENRY LYON,
BENJAMIN A. JARVIS.