The weekly North-Carolina standard., 1866-06-13

/ tendency Ut continuing the domination OF
such class by leaving it in the exclusive
possession of political power would be to en-
courage the same spirit and lead to a similar
result Doubts were entertained whether
Congress had power even under the amended
Constitution to prescribe the qualifications of
| voters in State. or could act directly on the
| subject. It was doubtful in the opinion of
| your committee whether the States would
consent to surrendera power they had always
exercised, and to which they were attached.
| AS the best, not the only method of sur
mounting all difficulty, and as eminently
!, just and proper in itself, YOU committee
comes to the conclusion that political power
should be possessed in all the States exactly
! in proportion as the right of suffrage should
! be granted without distinction of color or
race. This, it was thought, would leave the
whole question with the people Of each State,
holding out to all the advantage of increased
| political powekas an inducement to allow
| all to participate in its exercise. Such a
proposition would he in its nature gentle and
pursuasive, and would lead, it was hoped at
no distant day, to an equal participation of
all, without distinction. in all the rights and
privileges of citizenship, thus affording
full and adequate protection to all classes of
citizens, since we would have, through the
ballot-box, the power of selfprotection.
Holding these views, your committee pre-
pared an amendment to the Constitution to
carry out this idea, and submitted the same
to Congress. Unfortunately, as we think,
it did not receive the necessary constitutional
support in the Senate and therefore could
not be proposed for adoption by the States
The principle involved in that amendment
is, however, believed to be sound, and your
committee have again proposed it in another
form, hoping that it may receive the appro-
baton OF Congress.
Your committee have been unable to find
in the evidence submitted to Congress by the
President under date of March 6, 1866, in
compliance with the resolutions of January
s and February 81, 1866, any satisfactory
proof that either of the insurrectionary States,
except perhaps the State of Tennessee, has
placed itself in condition to resume its po-
litical relations to the Union. The first step
toward that end would necessarily be the es-
tablishment of a republican form of govern
ment by the people. 1t has been before re-
marked that the provisional governors APP
pointed by the President in the exercise of
his military authority could do nothing by
virtue of the power thus conferred toward
the establishment Of State government
They were acting under the War Department,
and were paid out of its funds. They were
simply bridging over the chasm between re-
bellion and restoration. And yet we find
them calling conventions and converting
Legislatures. Not only this, but we find the
conventions and Legislatures thus convened
acting under executive direction as to the
provisions required to be embodied in their
constitutions and ordinances, as conditions
precedent<fo their reorganization, by the
President. The inducement held out by the
President for compliance with the conditions
imposed was directly in one instance and
presumably thereafter in others, the immedi-
ate admission of Senators and Representa-
tives to Congress. The character of the con-
ventions and Legislatures thus assembled
was not such as to inspire confidence in the
good faith of their members Gov. Perry, of
South Carolina, dissolved the convention as
sembled in that State before the suggestion
had reached Columbia from Washington
that the rebel war debt should be repudiated,
and gave as his reason that it was "revolu-
tionary body" There is no evidence of the
loyalty or disloyalty of the members of these
conventions and Legislatures except the fact
of pardons being asked for on their account.
Some of these States now claiming represen-
tation refused to adopt the conditions i'm
posed No reliable information is found in
these papers as to the constitutional provis-
ions of several of these States, while in not |
one of them is the slightest evidence to show
that these " amended constitutions" as they
are called, have ever been submitted to the
people for their adoption. In North -Caroli-
ma alone an ordinance was passed to that et-
feet, but it does not appear to have been act
ed on. Not one of them therefore, has been
ratified. Whether with President johnson
we adopt the theory that the old constitutions
were abrogated and destroyed and the peo- |
pie =" deprived of all government" or wheth- !
er we adopt the alternative doctrine that !
they were only suspended and were revived |
by the suppression of the rebellion, the new |
provisions must be considered as equally |
destitute of validity before adoption by the |
people. If the conventions were called for |
the sole purpose of putting the State govern
ments into operation, they had no power !
either to adopt new constitution or to |
amend an old one without the consent of the |
people Nor could either a convention or |
Legislature change the fundamental law
without power previously conferred In the
view of your committee it follows, therefore,
that the people of Slate when the constitu- /
tion has been thus amended might feel them |
selves justified in repudiating altogether all |
such unauthorized assumptions of power, and
might be expected to do so at pleasure.
So far as the disposition of the people of
the insur-ectionary States and the probabili-
ty of their adopting measures conforming to
the changed condition of affairs can be in
ferred from the papers submitted by the
President as the basis of his action, the pros
poets are far from encouraging 1t appears
quite clear that the anti-slavery amendments,
both to the State and federal Constitutions,
were adopted with reluctance by the bodies
which did adopt them and in some States
they have been either passed by in silence or
rejected. The language of all the provisions
and ordinances Of the States on the subject
amounts to nothing more than an unwilling
admission of an unwelcome truth. As to the
ordinance of secession, it is in some cases de-
clared ''null and void" and in others SIM
ply repealed" and in no instance is refu-
tation of this deadly heresy considered wor-
thy of place in the new constitutions
If, as the President assumes, these insur-
rectionary States were at the close of the war
wholly without State governments, it would
seem that before being admitted to partici-
pate in the direction of public affairs such
governments should be regularly organized !
Long usage has established, and numerous
statutes have pointed out, the mode in which
this should be done. A convention to frame
a form of government should be assembled
under competent authority. Ordinarily this
authority emanates from Congress, but under
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