The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-09-01
THE DAILY EMPIRE.
n. n. ROBINSON,
PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR.
From tho Cincinnati Enquirerr
Negro Suffrage Fixed in the Com
stitutiOnaI Amendments.


AS general rule our loyal contemporaries
nave kept the Constitutional amendment
out of the field Of discussion. This ls re-
markable in connection with the fact that
they were the most anxious to have the
amendment made the platform of their
party in Ohio, in the current canvass. and
that 1t was made the platform in pursuance
OF thelr urgency. fact so strange can
only be accounted for upon the presume
tloh tiaI on more intimate acquaintance
with the amendment, they found that the
less they had to say upon the subject the
DETER; that it was one of the things which
was sweeter the less il was stirred. In this
they are undoubtedly correct: and we an
pland their cunning though we are com
PEELED To do il at the expense of their hon
esty' Ihey are laithiOl servants of their
party. very unfaithful ones of the people.
1t will be remembered that the original
Constitution of the United States does not
! touch the question of citizenship, nor ap-
| proach It, except it may be in the provision
winch gives to Congress the power to pass
uniform laws upon the subject of naturaliza-
tion, 1t took the political habits of the peo-
pie where 1t found them, and went Iipon
the assumption that all the descendants of
those who founded government in this
country, of whatever sex or age and AL
were or should be naturalized, were cit-
zens, and that of these, all males of the ape
OF twenty-one years were, by virtue of
their citizenship, entitled to political fran
chises. This Is the rule which pre-existed
the Constitution, aud which has. thus far,
been acted upon since its establishment.
In the absence of orders of nobility, we
know no higher civil title than that of
cltlZen. 1t expresses, according to the age
or sex of the person to whom il attaches
the largest right of which we have any
knowledge; and if native-born women and
. a lRnN alWdn not. . Ne...lN
us Il is not because they are not citizens,
hut because they are not men. All are
cltiZens; but custom, sanctioned by i'm
usage, and universal rccognition
has restricted political functions to males
of twenty-One years.
Naturalization is conferred only upon
males of adult age. When natnralizrd.
such persons are citizens. We know of no
other term applicable to them; and the
word citizen is used popularity. and in the
law. as synonymous with that of elector
IL puts the party upon Il political equality
with other citizens of equivalent age and
The same sex, and all together they make
up what is known as the civil body of the
state: the body in whose hands the politi-
,al power is reposed.
The first section of the amendment pro-
Vides that ''All persons born or naturalZ-
I'd in the United States, and subject to the
Jurisdiction thereof. are citizens of the
Y Inited states. and of the State in which
.hey reside. No State shall make or en-
force any law which shall abridse the priv
leges or immunitles of citizens OF the
United States" &c. ita tR
The particular snbiect-matter OF this
provision is the negroes. Now there Is no
violence in the assumption that il is its
purpose to place the negroes of the United
states, according to their age and sex, upon
the same ground with that occu-
"a 1+ng 81.
ems as white men, women aud children
re citizens; and 1t makes them citizens
1Dject 10 the custom which restricts po-
itical franchises tO males of twenty-one
ears-in the same sense that naturaliZcd
hen are citizens, with whom citizenship
Means the right to vote at elections.
The argument, therefore, that if this see
ion eOnicrs political franchises upon the
egroes, it conters them upon women and
hildren of all colOrs, falls to the ground.
urpose it does so, it affords no argument;
or that may be the design of its authors.
here is no law of the United States. nor
ny provision of the Constitution. which
cnies the franchise to women: and the oh
'ct OF this provision Is to override and an
al all State laws and regulations. There
nothing but custom that stands in the
ay of women and infant suffrage; and
ic extent of this section of the amend
tent Is to put the two races upon an canal
y, ieaNlhG Jhe custom 10 stand or fall, ms
ay be decided by circumstances. Admit
ng the custom to remain, as il is the par-
mount law, IL is easy TO see how it might
e, rs perhaps it was, taken advantage of
do that under general terms, which,
ore distinctly expressed, would have eX-
ted feelings of race antag0nism, and .
eated an opposition which it was hoped
escape.
Had it been the design simply to give Che
'groes equal protection with the whites
.der the law. other modes of expression
r more appropriate, and less liable 10
ouse suspicion, could easily have been de-
scd. In afiording them the protectlon of
W in the States, there was no reason for
lking them citizens of the United States
} be made IA citizen of the United States
der the process naturalization. is To he
lde an elector. When the courts trans
'm an alien into acitizen, they transform
into a voter. That is the snie
ect of the proceeding land when the Com
tuition Is made Ia declare virtually that
the negro men horn in the United Stats
, hereafter TO be citizens what else can
mean but that they are 10 be voters?