The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-12-06
two hundredyears, and was intimately

two hundred years, and was intimately
interviewer witch the whole social, indus
trial and financial fabric of the State.
We obeyed. When the Legislature as
sembled, we were required to ratity, the
Constitutional Amendment abolishlng
slavery in the United States, and were
made, in part, instruments to accomplish
stkats result in Kentucky and Delaware,
when those States had refused to 40 so OF
their own volition. We obeyed. In ad-
dition to this, all the citizens OF South
Carolina, with scarcely al exception, TOOK
the amnesty oath, which required them
to sustain and support all the proclama,,
fions and laws made during the war, and
particularly those relating to the abolition
Of slavery. These oaths have been OBJ
served by the great mass OF the; PeoPle
with singular fidelity, and every essential
attribute of a true and thorough loyalIy
to the Constitution and Union mas oeen
exhibited and praoticed. In addltlon ~ 70
all this, the General Assembly OF Tue
State has, by solemn enactment, accorueo
b. the black race all the rights OF person
and property enjoyed by the white race;
They. can buy and sell, grant, convey ana
devise. If their person or personal rights
ara invaded, the same judicial tribunals
vindicate them. They go upon the wit
ness stand and testify; they are permit
ted to testify in their own cases, even
when on trial for the gravest offences.
How many of the States now enjoying a
representation in that Congress which
proposes this amendment to us for ratlh-
cation accord by their own laws the same
general rights and privileges to the BLACK
MANI They have but a meagre number
sc negroes in their midst, and It allowed
10 vote, their ignorance and depraylty
would produce no appreciable effect upon
the result, being less than one-and-one-
eigth per cent. of the voting population,
whereas their relative number here ls as
forty-one blacks to thirty whites. DO
sensible, fair and just men at the North
desire that these people, without lnfor-
nation or education IN lgno-
rance, crime and vice, should go to the
polls and elect men to Congress who are
to pass laws taxing and governing themf
Now, that all this has been done. what
further or higher pledge of honorable
obedience can be given by one people to
another? Does the majority who now
rule Congress expect to make us better
men or better citizsns-more serVlceable
to the country in peace and in war, by
further humiliating and degrading Us I
Notwithstanding all these pledges and
concessions, it is sought still further to
hunliliate and degrade the South Eleven
Of the Southern States, including South
Carolina. are deprived of their represen-
tstien in Congress. Although their SEN
ators and Representative have been duly
elected, and have presented themselves
for the purpose of taking their credentials
have, in most instances, been laid upon
the table without being read, or have
:been referred to committee, who have
failed to make any report on the subject.
In short, Congress has refused to e1er-
else its Constitutional functions, ana de-
eide either upon the election, the return,
or the qualification Of those selected by
The States and people to represent us.
Some of the Senators and Represents
tiyes from the Southern States were pre-
sDared to. take the test oath, but even
these have boen persistently ignored, and
kept out of the seats to which they were
entitled under the Constitution and laws.
Hence this amendment has not been pro
posed BY "two-thirds of both Houses" OF
Illegally constituted Congress, and is not,
3Constitutionally or legitimately, before
single Legislature for ratification. Wav-
ing this point, however, is it compatible
with the interest, or consistent with the
honor. OF this State, to ratify that amend |
.nrent7 Do not its first and last sections,
IS adopted, confer upon Congress the abb !
eoInte ripht of determining who shall be
citizens Of the respective States, and who
shall exercise the elective franchise and
enjoy any and all of the rights, privi-
.leses and immunities of citizenship
The sections referred to not only do
this, but they subvert the theory and
practice of the Government since Its
Foundation, by abrogating the right OF
fixing the elective franchise conferred
q,pon the respective State Governments,
and by giving the representatives OF Or
sgens or California in Congress the power
.So:declare what shall constitute the meas
ure OF citizenship within the limits OF
South Carolina or Georgia. Who is most
likely to exercise this power judiciously,
the citizens of the State wherein the
regulation is to be made, or non-residents,
who are entirely ignorant of the popula-
tion, the intelligence, necessities and
resources for which legislation is under
taken? With this amendment incorpo-l
rated in the Constitution, does not the
Federal Government cease to be one of
sIini6ed powers" in all of the essential
.dualities which constitute such q form Of
Goyernment9 Nay, more; does not its
adoption reverse the well approved doc
sFine, that the United States shall e1ar,i