The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-31
iiI!iiilijajjiiiid|'' 'Yliisi 'ji|ii 1
wEDNKsDAY.a...0CTOBE 81, 1855.
Tne Constitution and Negroes.

e The Constitution and Negroes 81.
: In commencing Few days ago upon the
absurd question which few fanatics In
New. Jersey have raised, and upon which
thay have invoked the Judgment Of the
coutts--namoly, whether that lisa republic
can form Of government under which ne
grocs ore excluded from the polls-we re.
marked that the "giittering senera'i''es
Of the Consultation and Of the peciaf..ou
Of Independence were written w''noa' 'ne
reinosest supposition that they wouo over
be apu,ied 10 the negro race. The Alex.
.naris Nat. .JosUmal, the only respectable
Radical paper published in Virginia, takes
.vcen,,ou to this remark, and enters into .
re.;,sl Of historical facts to prove that "at
tho adoption ofthe Federal Constitution in
,7ss there was but one State whose con-
st,ut,on made any distinction In the mat
ter Of citizenship on account Of color"
That is, . negro born FREQ could be citizen
OF any State except one.
Whuoever argues with rs must stick to
the question. We cannot appreciate the
force Of that sort Of reasoning which de-
monstrstes that two and two make four in
reply to tho assertion that the square Of
the hypothenuse is equal to the sum Of the
squares Of the other two sides Of . right
angled triangle. The propositions are not
conflicting ones. The question in this
case Is, whether that clause Of the Consti-
tuition which declares that the United
States shall guarantee to each State In the
Union . republican form Of government
was intended to guarantee any rights Of
any sort 70 the negro race! We answer
unhesltatingly, No. And the evidence in
the negative Is SO overwhelming-or
rather, there Is such an utter absence OF all
grounds to support the affirmative-that
we are sstonished that any one should
seriously question the correctness Of our
original assertion.
The Constitution, as We said before, was
framed by shareholders and slave traders
shareholders from the southern States and
slave traders from the northern States. AT
the time of its adoption slavery was recog-
nized by the constitutions and laws of nearly
all the States. The trainers Of the Con-
stitution knew of course that all Of these
States recognized slavery, and so knowing,
they decided that they all had "republi-
can forms Of government" If State
could make slaves of black men on &C
count Of their color, and still be "repub-
fcan," it follows inevitably that State
might deprive him Of the right Of suffrage
and still be republican. This demonstrates
that "color " ,caS then disqualification;
for no State would have been admitted
into tho Union as republican in its form of
government which should have enslaved
white men. But this is not all. The
State Journal admits that South Carolina
not only had negro slaves, but excluded
all black men from the polls on account of
color; and yet South Carolina was one Of
the States which ratified the Constitution,
one of the States which were recognized
as having q republican form Of govern
lnent, and one Of the States which pro-
missed to guarantee republican form of
government to every other State in the
Union. Surely these facts prove that the
glittering generalities Of the Constitution
were not intended or expected to be APP
piled to negroes.
The case is much stronger in our favor
when we add that the Constitution of the
United States provided for the pursuit, re-
capture, and return to slavery Of any negro
who might escape from . slaveholding into
q non-slaveholding State, and also for the
importation Of free negroes from Africa
into the United States, and their reduction
to state Of slavery. To pretend to be-
lieve that q. constitution which thus recog-
nized slayeholdiDg States as republican in
form, and which provided for the rendition
of fugitive slaves, and for the conversion of
free negroes into slaves, was written by men
who could have even dreamed that any Of
It's provisions would ever be tortured into
a recognition of right on the part Of these
same negroes to the elective franchise, is
evidence that the person SO pretending is
either fanatic or one whose mind is not
capable of understanding constitutions,
laws, or the English language. ts
At the time when the Constitution Of the
United States was adopted, the Constitu-
ton OF Virginia excluded from the polls all
white men who were not freeholders. No
one ever pretended that these disfranchised
whites could claim the right to vote under
the Constitution Of the United States.
Yet, according othe State Journal, negroes
may DO that which whites may not. That
paper, like all other Radical ones, Is suffer-
ing from the worst species Of phrenitis-
negro madness. 1t needs q physician, not
argument, and we are wasting our time.
We dismiss the subject.
$685. #
Mr.. baldwin, LEcrURE.-O. p. BALD
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