Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-09-27
RUTLAND HERALD.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1866.
Amending the Constitution.

President Johnson, in his late stump
ing tour, cleft the Constitution in the
hands" of those he addressed all along
the line from Washington TO Chicago
and st. Louis, and back again. AS the
issue Latween him and Congress is the
propose amendment of the Constitution,
the INF, renee is that Mr.. johnson so
cleft" the Constitution in order that it
might not be amended. The Democrats,
who lately afforded aid and comfort to
the rebels in their armed attempt to
violate and subvert the Constitution,
now all profess such a veneration for
that instrument that they treat it as
sacrllege even to propose to amend it.
Yet the fathers who framed the Consti-
tuition provided therein for its amend
ment as circumstancesishould arise re-
curing it. This provision shows that
they did not profess such superhuman
wisdom as should enable them to foresee
all future contingencies and adapt the
fundamental law of the land thereto.
There is danger both ways in the mat
ter of amending the Constitution. There
is the danger Of meddling with it too
frequently and rashly; there is the still
greater danger of never changing it so as
to adapt it to q new and unforeseen con-
dition Of things. The latter danger is
the one which now threatens us under
the issue made by President Johnson
and the Democracy. The amendments
proposed by Congress all grow out of
the rebellion and the abolition ofslavery,
matters which the trainers of the Consti-
tuition could not foresee any more than
we foresaw them half a dozen Years ago.
These amendments are now necessary to
an equal representation OF the different
sections Of the Union in Congress, and
are necessary to the safety and peace of
the country, By the Constitution, three
tfths of their slaves were counted in the
apportionment Of representatives to the
slave-holding States. Slavery being now
NbNAASASN5 - hS" buolS vi epDOI
is of course required, and an amendment
to the Constitution in this regard be-
comes necessary. Otherwise the peliti-
cal power of the conquered rebels would
be actually increased by their treason,
as the remaining two fifths of those who
were lately slaves (and are not now
voters) would be added in the apportion-
ment o. representatives to those States.
The Constitutional amendment provides
substantially that the apportionment
shall be based upon the voting popula-
ton ia every State of the Union, and
leaves to each State to determine who
shall be voters therein. And so, too, the
other proposed OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES ex-
GLIDING prominent traitors from holding
office, and that providing for the inviola-
bility of the national debt and against
the assumption of the rebel debt-are
rendered necessary by the late rebellion
and are essential to the permanent ex-
istence Of the Union and of the Constitu-
ton itsels Instead of being fanatics and
radicals, therefore, those who advocate
the proposed amendments are the only
true Conservatives, for they strive to
"conserve" and perpetuate the spirit Of
present institutions by making such
necessary changes in the letter of the
law as justice and safety, under an
altered state Of circumstances, demand.
And so all through the war, those who
strove against traitors South and cop
perheads North though stigmatized as
radicals, were the only conservatives"
for they preserved fer US and for posteri-
ty the Union and the Constitution.