The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-01-27
PORTLAND.


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~ Reading Matter on all -Four Pages.
The Proposed Constitutional Amen dment
The following is the form of the amend
ment to the national constitution, regulating
the basis of representation and direct taxation,
proposed by the Committee on Reccnstruc-
ton:
ARTICLE Representatives and direct taxes shall
be apportioned among the several States which may
be included within this Union, according to their re-
spectve numbers, counting the whole number ofper-
sons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed;
PROVIDED, that whenever the elective franchise shall
DC denied or abridged in any State, on account Of
race OF co'or all persons OF suchrace or color shall
pe excluded from the basis of representation.
We have taken occasion heretofore to give
our views in relation to the leading feature,
OF this proposition. ITS adoption would avert
the great injustice to the people of the North
of largely increasing the political power of the
Southern white men, giving to one voter in
South Carolina the same power in the House
of Representatives and in the election of
President that is welded by two or three legal
voters in the loyal States of the North. The
proposed amendment also silences the objec-
ton to changing the principle of representa-
ton by making legal voters instead of popula-
ton its base, and excludes none from the ba-
sis who are allowed, directly or indirectly, the
exercise of their fair share of political power.
Still, the proposed amendment does not 90 far
enough to suit class of persons who insist,
and with much force and reason, that the
rights of the newly-made citizens of the re-
public should be protected, not simply by neg
ative legislation, but by positive and efficient
enactment.
The Worcester Spy-whose editor is MEM
bcr of the House-represents this class, and
we quote from its able columns to show pre-
cisely the ground they take and the arguments
by which they maintain it. After admitting
tnat 'it is advocated on the ground that it
"rests upon settled principle of the govern
"ment, that representation does not belong to
"those who have no political existence, but on
ely to those who have; that it brings into the
"basis both sexes and all ages, and so counter
"acts, as far as possible, the casual geographi-
zeal inequalities of population; that it puts
"every State on an equal footing as to the re-
'quirements prescribed, and leaves each one
free to extend or withdraw the franchise as IL
"pleases, without affecting its representation,
"except in the case where a class or race are
excluded for the reason specified in the amend
'ment; and that, as applied to the Southern
Estates, it viii offer an inducement to remove
determinations against color, and tend to
make suffrage universal" !" the Spy puts its OBJ
jections as follows:
The objections to the amendment are that
the Constitution ought not to recognize that
State may disfranchise large portions of its
citizens by general designations; that while IL
would limit the federal power of the voting
class, it would offer no protection and secure
no jnstice to the non-voting class; that in til
present state of opinion at the South, instead
of fastening the enfranchisement of the
blacks, it would tend to consolidate the politi-
cal power of their enemies, and make them q
permanent and exclusive aristocracy; and
that it would stand in the way of present and
future effort to secure the franchise to all
classes OF men under our laws. There is
weight to all these objections, but the first of
them is vital. 1t ought not to be allowed in
the Constitution that one class of men may
exclude another class from the exerci ,e of po-
litical rights, upon the condition that their
representation is diminished in proportion to
the Injustice committed.
The men represented by the Spy would pro-
vide distinctly and positively for the exercise of
suffrage by the colored people of the South
They also insist that this suffrage should be
| independent of color or race, so that whatever
condition should limit its exercise for the col
ored man should be equally forcible against
the white man. The suffrage may be condi-
tional as in Massachusetts,, or universal as in
Maine, provided it be the same for all races
and colors. And we infer from the reasoning
employed, that the advocates of this doctrine
propose to require the late rebel States to
adopt the principle, the same as President
johnson required them to ratify the abolition
amendment to the Constitution, as a condition
precedent to their restoration to full privileges
within the Union. An objection to this propo-
sition is anticipated and effectually answered,
as follows:
1t is said principle cannot be applied to
| the Southern States which some of the North
en States do not recognize. The cases are
very different The Constitution guarantees
certain rights to the States; it guarantees no
rights to States in rebellion. The President
and Congress exercise authority over Virginia
and South Carolina, and Mississippi, and Ten
nessee, to-day, which they cannot exercise
over Connecticut, or Wisconsin. The Presi-
dent required of various States in rebellion
the adoption of the amendment abolishing
slavery at a time when Kentucky and Della
ware held their slaves with impulty. He
found his authority, not in the Constitution,
but in the "higher law,"-the supreme law OF
public safety. The same power which author
lied the general government to require oi
South Carolina what it could not require of
Kentucky in regard to slavery, authorizes il
to require of all the disloyal States what they
cannot require of any loyal State in regard to
the franchise.
The Spy closes its able article with pre-
/ diction:
This amendment is, in its purpose, one o.
the best yet submitted; but it does not meet
the difficulty in the way of just and perma-
nent reconstruction. 1t viii undoubtedly be
strongly supported; but there is little prospect
of its securing the necessary vote in Congress
or, if it passes that ordeal, of receiving the ap
Il ~