The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-08-02

IOf the federai stltutlon,z OoN.s w OTtn anu
his friends will soon he seen with hat in
hand before Congress, and with their mouths
in the dust, begging that body to relieve
them of their disability and allow them to
| hold office. We call the attention of the
C7sronicle to this. We hope that journal will
remember it, and will aid US, when the time
arrives, in exposing these hypocrites and
traitors to the Congress in their true colors.
There are some Union men among us who
are opposed to this amendment, because it
places secessionists and Unionists on the
same ground There is force in this, but,
after all, Congress will do justice. 1t will
not be difficult to induce that body to relieve
the great body of our Union friends, while
{" the pressure will be kept on those restless,
malignant, and traitorous spirits who are
preventing restoration, and who, if they
could see their way clearly, would plunge
our people again into the horrors of civil
| war.
Our people Greatly desire" to return to the
Union, but they are powerless-tied hand
and foot. The oligarchs and traitors have
complete control of the State government
They have The railroads, the banks, the cor
porations of all kinds. The people have but
few mails, and thus very little information
reaches them. The Union people are de-
| pressed and cowed, and their leaders for the
most part are in the same condition. Devo-
ton to the Confederacy is the passport to
Office, to success in business, and to respect
ability generally; while devotion to the
Union brings losses in business, loss of office,
loss of social standing, and is met every
where by these ruling oligarchs with the
sheer of scorn. So far from accepting the
proposed constitutional amendment, these
leaders will not even carry out the Presidents
plan, mild, liberal, and generous as it is
They spit upon it. They are mastering their
forces to defeat the State Constitution, to be
submitted to the people to-day. We learn
| from various sections of the State that they
openly declare they have no respect for
Johnson's" and ''Holdens" Constitution
that they owe no obedience to the ordinances
of the Convention-that these ordinances, be-
| ing the result of " despotic usurpation" on the
part of the President, are null and void, and
therefore slavery has not been abolished, nor
secession branded as treason, nor the rebel
debt repudiated, nor indeed any thing done
under the orders of the President to restore
the State to the Union.
We tell the Chronicle that these leaders are
looking for and desiring a civil war among
the people of the North, in the hope that, in
the confusion that would follow, and with
probable foreign intervention, they would
have an opportunity to strike for and estab-
fish the independence OF the Southern States.
This is their great hope, and this is the main
secret of their conduct.
What is wanted to aid our Union people,
to put them on their feet again, to place
the government in loyal hands, and to teach
malcontents and traitors that they must take
back seats, is the strong hand of the govern
ment of the United States. This strong
hand would be extended and would be felt,
if the President would require these States,
in peremptory terms to carry out his plan in
good faith; or if the proposed constitutional
amendment could be adopted, which would
enable the Congress to keep traitors under
the ban while It relieved the true and loyal.
So far as we are concerned, our lot is cast
and fixed unalterably with the Union men
of the country. Nothing shall move US from |
this position. In the language of the Presi- |
dent we are "deuoted'' to the Union. We |
regard the Union under any and all circum-
stances as preferable to anarchy, disintegra-
ton, and ultimate general civil war. We |.
love the flag OF our fathers, and we have no
respect for those who insult Or slight it. We |
first saw the light in WAsHINGToN's Union, |
and we trust that our last look may be on |
all the stars shining in their allotted places |
over one common, reconciled, indissoluble
national Union.
We publish below in full the proposed |
constitutional amendment
Joint Resolution,
PRoPos1Ne AN AMENDMENT TO THE CoNsT1TU-
TON OF THE UNITED STATES.
Resoluetl By the Senate and House Of Representa-
tires of the United States of america in Congress
Sena6ed (two-thirds of both Houses concurring,) |
That the following article be proposed to the |
legislatures of the several States, as amend |
ment to the Constitution of the United States, |
which, when ratified by three-fourths of said leg
islatures, shall be valid part of the Constitu- |
ton, namely:
ARTICLE IA.
SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in |
the United States, and SUBJECT TO the JuriSdlctlon
thereof, citizens of che United States and of |
the State wherein they reside. No State shall |
make or enforce any law which shall abridge The |
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any person |
of life, liberty, or property without due process |
of law, nor deny to any person within its juris- |
dictioI. the equal protection of the laws.
SEC. = Representatives shall be apportioned |
among the several States according to their |
spective numbers, counting the whole number |
OF persons in each State excl Iding Indians not |
taxed. But when the right to vote at any cleo |.
ton for the choice of electors for President and
Vice President of the United States, representa-
tives in Congress, the executive and judicial Off
of State, or the members of the legislature
thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants
of such State, being twenty one years of age |
and citizens of the United States, or in any way
abridged except for participation in rebellion or
other crime, the basis of representation therein |
shall be reduced in the proportion which the |
number of such male citizens shall bear to the |
whole number of male citizens twenty-one years |
of age in such State.
SEC: 3. No person shall be Senator or Repre- |
sentative in Congress- or elector of President and |
Vice-President, or hold any office, civil mill |
tary, under the United States or under any State,