The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1866-11-01
If the Am e n d nm ent be Ratified
What Then1

a few days slnce,' in the columns of the
Times, touching the conditions of Recon
struction, which it deems worthy of oul
regard. They had not escaped our attcn
tion; but we have no spare hours to de-
vote to satisfying the curiosity of anony-
nous and irresponsible luerists. To ask
question that requires time and thought
to frame fit answer. yet hide your face
and name from the person catcchized, is a
prevalent impcrtincncc which we are dis
inclined to encourage.
The Times favors us with the following
| editorial statement and query:
Congress, ut its last session, refused to
pass bill for the admission of representa-.
tivcs from Southern States, even after
those States should adopt the Constitu-
tional Amendment. There were variety
OF causes which cooperatcd to secure its
rejection. Some members were opposed
to imposing any terms as conditions prece
dent to the admission of representatives
Others did not wish to go before the coun
try under any distinct pledge upon the
subject. Some were willing to admit a
State whenever its Legislature would rat-
fy the amendment and others wished to
iisist that the amendment should first be-
come par, and parcel Of the Constitution
And about thirty or forty members were
for excluding the Southern States until
they would adopt Negro Suffrage, a, we'll
as the Constitutional Amendment.
"What is the Tribune's view of this
subject! Will it counsel the admission of
representatives from the Southern States,
upon their rattle ,tion of the Constitution.
al Amendment? Will it accept this as a
sufficient guarantee, and as sufficient
evidence of loyalty on the part of the
Southern people ?"
THE TRIBUNE's ANSWER.
The Southern Confederacy was based on
the cornerstone of natural necessary.
eternal subordination, socially. industrial
ly, politically, OF "Blacks to Whites" Its
triumph would, in our view, have resulted
in the Reconstruction" of the Union on
the basis of universal and perpetual bon
dage for the entire Afric- American race.
We cannot realize that the permanent bi
section and division OF our country. upon
any conceivable east and-wcst line of de
marcation, was moral possibility. As
MIR Lincoln said in his Springfield speech,
1T will become all one thing or ali the
other" And if the Confederacy had won
rs independence, State after State north
OF lis original boundary would, under the
guidance Of the thencctorth Ascendant
Democratic party, have knocked humbiy,
at its portals for admission, adopting the
Montgomery Constitution, and thus rcco.
nizing the right of every STAKEHOLDER t,
work or sell his bondmen, the same as his
horses in any part of the country. Sever
al OF the mere northerly States might long
have stayed out, or been kept out; but,
substantially. the Conicderacy would have
taken no; half the country merely, but the
whole Of ii; claiming it all incxurably to
the car OF triumphat Slavery.
And as the Confcdcracy meant simply
Slavery, universal and perpetual, so we
understand the Union, from and after the
attack on Sumter, to have sy,nboizcd and
embodied Impartial and Universal Free
dom. That there were many who did not
perceive this proves no more than does the
fact that some do not even yet see it
w..
feet the essential truth. And the one re.
naming source of embarrassment, unccr.
tainty, agitation, distrust, antagonism and
peril, is the inability or stubborn unwll.
lingncss of many Americans to realize that
Slavery is dead, and that all its incidents
and rappings should be buried in its grave.
Our platform OF restoration-U niversal
Amnesty, Impartial Suffrage-was long
ago proclaimed, and has not been modified
We believe it simpler, broader, more hu.
name, more benefi ,ent, than any rival.
And we believe Congress might have Sc.
cured its adoption last Winter by prescrib-
ing and insisting that each State which
has been in rebellion should be restored
only on condition that it should guarantee
irrevocably to all it's sleadiastly loyal in
habltants every right, franchise and immu.
nifty, with which the State should see fit
to invest its citizens who had been impl.
Gated in the Rebellion And we believe
this requirement would have been sustained
by the people.
But Congress was not prepared to take
this ground. For variety of reasons, it
saw fit to adopt instead the Constitutional
Amendment now awaiting ratification by
the States. And our recent State Convcn.
tion, in its Platform committee, voted
down our distinct affirmation of Jefferson 5
doctrine that "every one who fights or PAYS
should be invested with the Rioht of Suc