Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-10-13
,rho Constitutional Amendment.

The Constitutional Amendment.
Considerable discussion is now going on
in the South as to the proprlety of adopt
ing the proposed Constitutional Amend
ment. On the 4th inst, the N. 0. Crescent
SAID this of it:
ut is perfectly plain thai, tf principle
of representation based on population be-
ing adm tied, it can make no possible diff
ference to one State or section, as to rela-
tive weight in Congress, what may be the
extent of the constituencies by which the
Representatives are elected in other States
or sections. The only motive for insisting
that new class shall be added to the vOt-
ing list must be that of strengthening some
particular party, or some peculiar form of
opinion, fit is just to make the Southern
States conform to general rule of suffrage
laid down for them by a majority section,
why would it not be just at any time to de-
nv to particular States or sections the
right of representation In Congress until
they consent to adopt some new pro-
gramme of domestic policy? Why would
1t not be just for the great States of the
center and the West to exclude the
New England members from Con-
gress until the six New England States
should consent to adopt plan of Sena-
torial representation based on population?
If the precedent be once established
that the power of the Federal Government
may be exercised to impose conditions of
representation on one or more States, that
power may and probably will be exercised
hereafter for very different purposes from
those to which it may have been originally
applied. Any party acquiring control In
Congress, and determined to perpetuate its
supremacy, might, by use of the power
to determine the qualifications OF members
of Congress, in the way in which that pow
or is now construed, disfranchise any of the
States and compel them to ratify any con-
ditions as the price of readmission. 1t Is
not too much to say that the complete sup
preston of the idea of State rights, which
this method involves, would ultimately lead
to an agitation for the abolition of Senator
rial representation, as at present consti-
tuted; In eonsequenceof which, the small
er States of New England would be sure
to lose their relative weight and import
ance in the Union, and, finally, their State
identity. The attempt to coerce the people
of the South into the ratification of the pro-
posed amendment, whether by offering it
as the price of representation, or as means
by which they may aid in Overthrowing
the existing system of protection and
taxation, is long step in the process Of
consolidation" ...
The Mobile Gazette questions the legality
of Congress, and hence the legality of the
Constitutional Amendment. Thus it dis
courses:
'If any State which is ready and willing
| to send Representatives and Senators TO
Congress is denied the constitutional right
by .juntd assuming to be Congress, it is
plain that there is no Congress; and it Is
immaterial whether this juhtd consists of
majority or minority of the whole
number of the members elect. We have
not so much to look at aoho haze done
IL, as to 1chdt n Is that has been done. If the
act Is such as to prevent a constitutional
Congress from assembling, it can matter
very little whether it is General Grant or
Mr.. Speaker Colfax who has done it. Nor
do the facts that President johnson has
sent messages to this junta and recognized
| it as Congress, Quoad the public business,
make it a Congress. 1t Is by the Constitu-
tion that we are to test it, and not by any
acts of the President. The President has
| found himself in an anomalous position,
and has done a great many inconsistent
things, which, probably, he does not ap-
| prove of himself. II he had not acted as
he has done, with reference to acknowledge
ing this juntd as Congress, the public
business would have come to a stand-still,
and we should have anarchy, and possibly
civil war in the land. There has, then,
been no body in existence constitutionally
competent to send an amendment of the
Constitution to the State Legislatures"