The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-08-13

General, whether foreign-b born wo-
men, naturalized= under these Acts of
Congress, are or are not American
citizens? If they say they are net, L
reply that it is a great pity that IL Q
Acts Of Congress are so egregiOusl-'
mistaken, for these Acts are just stu
pid enough to say in so many words
that these women are citizens. Ii
they answer that these women are
citizens, then | ask the further ques-
ton, have they the right to vote in
Indiana or any other Slater .lfG1
But again, the Act of Congress of
1902 provides, That the children of
persons duly naturalized under the
laws of the United States being under
the age of twenty-one years at the
time of their parents being so nat
uralized, shall, if dwelling In the Uni
ted States, be considered as citizens of
the United States. ;" aag
Now, as the lawyers sometimes say,
| wish to put case: [ have an estima-
BILE neighbor, German lady, who
came to Indiana with her father when
mere child twenty-five years ago, and
she has ever since lived in the State.
Twenty years ago her father was duly
naturalized by competent Court. If
Joseph, the Patriarch of the Church
of the new dispensation, says this wo-
man is not citizen of the United
States, then all | have to say is that
either he or the act of Congress I
have just quoted is mistaken. If, on
| the other hand, he admits that this
woman is by express declaration ofan
act of Congress a citizen of the United
States, then [ am commissioned by
her to solicit Joseph's legal opinion
as to whether it will be competent for
her to vote the Union ticket at the
| October election.
| But / must not in this discussion
neglect to pay my respects to the : tall
| Sycamore of the Wabash" Voor-
hees has also been on defining ex-
petition, and while he, too, deduces
the, right of negroes to vote under the
| proposed Constitutional Amendment,
! he does not agree with the Mcdonald
Cofroth definition, but propounds one
of his own. His definition is as fol-
lows, viz. " A citizen is one who has
the right to vote, and hold Office, and
sit on juries." By this, you see that
Voorhees, leaves out of McDonald's
definition the right to hold real es-
tate, and inserts in lieu thereof, the
right to hold office and to sit on
jatrtes." asHsb3a"orq ed1 Hi 5sara
The right to hold office is one
which Copperhead politician could
not be expected to overlook, but I
never heard of their being very tena-
cious of the right to sit on juries. Is
not, fellow-citizens, the right to sit on
juries precious right to incorporate
into the definition Of American citi-
zenship? Ii the author of this defni-
ton will allow it, / will move to add
to the definition two more rights of
which we are all reminded every year;
mean the right to pay poll-tax and
fnition would then read as follows,
viz: A citizen is one who has
right to vote, right to hold Office, a
right to sit on juries, right to pay a
poll-tax, and right to work the
roads. PHO bs's1iq g fa .vfi 500
The Mcdonald definition, as have
shown, deficiencies all the female
citizens, ofour country, but the Voor-
hees definition not only does this, but
it actually decitizenizes Voorhees,
himself. He, you know, is a practicing
lawyer, and by the very fact that he
is practicing lawyer, ne is incompe-
tent as juror in the Federal Courts
by express rule of Court. and In the
State Courts by immemoriala usage
which has ripened into law. Ilhad
supposed that what Voorhees, calls
the, right to sit on juries was not a .
right or privilege at all, but. that it
was in its very nature liability or
burthen to which, like the liability to |
be drafted for military duty, some
citizens are subject. eahA T. 9fs1@.
~ The exemption from liability to
serve on iuries Gkenexemption from
taxation, is an immunity, whilst the
liability. to serve, like. the, liability to
be taxed or to perform military duty,
is a, burden, and yet this profound
lawyer with hisHlong dCongressional'
experience, mikes up burthens and !
Iimmunities ooind the same delight
full confusion in which LOYAL men
copperheads and rebels are proposed |
to be mixed up in the Philadelphia
Convention9 and with about the same
regard to truth and deceney.. ~ 1o
The truth is, as these men we'll |
know, that the right to vote, to hold
Office, and the liability to act as jurors, |
are not privileges or immunities ne
eessarily pertaining or belonging toll
American citizenship, The right to
vote and the liability to perform jury
duty have already been considered.
1t remains to consider one other item
in the Voorhees, definition, namely,
the right to hold Office, or rather eli
glbility to official position.
III will not detain you by proving as
! might do, did time permit, that many
instances have occurred in our history
In which men. have held high official |
positions in the civil as we'll as in the
military service of the Government,