The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-09


that State constitution must not may, accord
with the Constitution of the United States, which
Is the supreme law Of the land. The statute
uii NnGh violates tne Oonsttu1on IS swept away
always do le on the books. (Applause.)
iThat Constitution obliges Congress-it does
not leave IL optional-obliges Congress to gusran-
tee to every State form of government where
the people choose the representative that
is not only republican, but that's what the
United States Constitution guarantees guar
antee, we are told In the books, is an agreement
to answer for the payment of some debt or for
the performance Of some contract the duty Of
another, In case of the failure of such other to
pay or perform, warrantee, or security.
Therefore the mass OF the people OF South Caro-
lima, for instance, are excluded from the suffrage,
and large mum ber OF unrepTesented men, native
born citizens, in any State as Mississippi, Ala
bama, Louisiana, or else where, are excluded
from suffrage for 10 crime, except that of color.
Congress must, it it be loyal to the law of the
land sweep away the invidious distinction raised
by the State, and hung over the citizens, black
or white, or the representatives Of citizens. (Ap
plause.)
II cannot make decisions and do you permit
them to be citizens before the law until this is
done? This is only justice. The United States
Constitution, We are told was framed to see
Justice and suffrage in this land and to secure
the blessing Of liberty. This, then is its leglti-
mate sphere and purpose, no and ever. 1t re-
cogDizeS that natural birth in q country gives
citizenship. ArlCe I'd, Section Let, Clause 9th,
born citizen, anu go forth, shall be eligible to
the office of President, etc. Article 4th, Section
30, CLAIM that the citizens of each State shall
be entitled to all The privileges and immunties
OF citizens in tn" several States.
First, then, atural birth confers citizenship:
and, second C,uzenship Is TO be thus recognized; /;
in every State al ke free suffrage belongs to all
natural born citizens at least except that which
is forfeited by CRIME. IL we fall back upon the
Declaration of Independence, upon which the
Constitution is based, the argument is at every
step fortified.
In l776, INF the morning of American repub-
hcanism, when It sent forth on the wings of the
WIND one of the greatest docum ents the world
has ever known, traught with respect to the
nation, to humanity and to all coming time, it
SAID, as you know, I'VE hold these truths to be
seli.evident" so evident that they need not be
proved, that all men," all men "are created"
politically of course, land endowed by
their Creator with certain inalenable rightsn
rights that may not Justly be taken from them;
that among these are life, liberty, and the pur-
suit OF happiness.
TO secure tn at this Government was estab-
lished, and 1t derives its powers from the con-
sent of the governed. Not that the doctrine of
political equality had not been before an
nounced-not that liberty in Its largest sense
bad not been before proclaimed. 1t had been
announced; it had been believed. The doctrine
had beer proclaimed amidst the unapproacha-
BILE darkness OF Mount Sinai, where God with
His thunder tipped with flame wrote Himself
Antl-Slavery, gay ng, 81 am the Lord thy God;
who brought thee out of the land of Egypt out
Of the house of bondage; thou shalt have no
other gods before me-" (Applause.) And the
10th verse Of the following chapter should also
be read, Liberty, permanent and inalienable.r
And then spanning that Scripture like a rain
bow are the words of Jesus, whatsoever We
would that men do to you do We also to them"
Peter thundered it forth IN the ears of the aston
lshed Jews, "Ot truth perceive that God is
not respecter OF persons;" and Paul also said,
I'll would to God that not only thou but also ali
that hear me were both almost and altogether
such as am, except these bonds.n (AppIause.)
And that voice has been going around the
world on wave OF fire, looking up the des-
potisms OF the world, and yet stopping to whis-
per in the ear of the bondman, up, thou thy
self also art man, and with others may stand
upon the platform created for thee by thy God"
(Applause.)
The Declaration of Independence was not
merely the voice OF God thus proclaimed, but
the voice of the people (Which Democrtus says
is the voice OF God) but the voice of all heroes,
of all ages, mingled into one. They speak
through General Washington, who led the
young nation through tempest and storm, up to
the brightest sunlight of prosperity. They
spoke through Patrick Henry, the captain, who
freedom here; and from Patrick Henry, the
orator, who echoed from the Virginia House of
Burgesses the cry "Give me Liberty, or give me
DEATH" (Applause.)
That voice thus uttered proclaimed, first, that
the business OF Government is TO equally pro-
tect all within is pale, and, second, the Gov
eInment which fails to accomplish this is not
Just Government; and the protest raised at the
beginning of the netion's existence is still
echoed against Injustice, to which they signed
and sealed their blood. The nation waged a
seven years war in defense of this.
Remember the bloodred altars OF liberty were
strewn over the country, and as If there should
be no mistake as to the meaning in the con-
fict of ideas, it was said these are the rights,
not OF a class, but of all human nature. Gap
plause.) If these rights had been before that
tramI led hard down by the heel of despotsm,
the heroes OF American Liberty eXhumed them
with their swords, and exhumed them forever
to US, because they were made ours through
blood and fire, and suffering, and death. You
will ask me, Why, then, did not the States adopt
this principle entirely l answer they did
begin to do it, until slavery which was always
a rebel in this Government, revolted against
law and constituted authority, by its unIlring
energy and meanGess.
When in l776 az if it should be an echo OF the
Declaration OF Independence, Virginia abolished
the external slave trade. In 1850 Pennsylvania,
New York. and Massachusetts abolished theirs.
The emancipation of 1884 by Connecticut and
Rhode Island, who did the same in 1892 and
New Hampshire followed their example. In
1894 even New jersey followed the example of
the States aforementioned, and passed mea-
sures of emancipation. (Applause) And when,
in 1884, Virginia and other States ceded the
Northwest Territory to this country, Thomas
Jefferson introduced what is called the Jeffer-
sonian proVisO, declaring that there should
never he slavery or involuntary seryitude in that
Northwest Territory, except for crime; and
though that position was denied, and the report
laid away, battle after battle was fought by
the slave power, by this rebel in the Government,
to sustain itself against freedom, and against
the advancing ideas of the Revolution, of which
freedom was but the first.
In 1920 they fought another battle, and won
the battle against these advancing principles.
Still there was enough OF liberty left, and