Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-09-28
q. Statesman. /,
saa'bSvg .Taqhiid1 s,sH napufy ,
The Constitutional Amendment
Ifs PurpOae 10 Compel The south q
~" Y ADOPT Negro Suffrage. U" '.'
The Testimony -of Radicals Admit
ting this, and Showing it Unjust
TO the West.
[From the Dayton Empire ]

The second Section of the first Article of
| the Constitution reads'as follows:
%RepresentatiVesd and direct tdbes shall be
apportiohed among the several States
which may be eincludeda within this, Union,
according to their respective, numbers,
which shall be determined by adding t6the
whole number of free persons, including
| those bound 10 service for term Of years,
and excluding Indians not taxed, three
fifths Of all other persons" .'l .lJ 5'In
The proper basis for REPRESENTATION is pop
ulatton. 1Td1es should be apportiObed ac--
cording to acedith. But our forefathers
compromised in the Constitution. '-v v
| Now that the war is over, the Radicals
are tiHkerihg at the Constitution with no
less than seventy new propositions In one
| winner. They don't want the old Union or
| the old Constitution. '.'loI'
All amendments or PROPOSITIONS to amend
are out of order when ten States are, ,fOTci1
bly, kept from representation, =, And nothr
| ing can be more unconstitutional and revo-
| lutionary than the keeping out OF ten
States because they will not adopt negro
suffrage, or cut down their constitutional
representation One-third. l,y yo,... .....
| The Radicals have laid it down as law
| that no State shall be entitled to represen-
tation,unless the five constitutional amends
ment reads as follows: N, -a..... H.. te.l.
REPRESENTATIVES, shall be apportioned
among the several States according to their
respective numbers, counting the whole
number Of persons in each State, exclud-
| ing Indians not taxed. But when the
| right TO vote at any election for the choice
| of electors for President and Vice Presi-
| dent of the United States, Representatives
| In Congress, the executive aud Judicial
officers of State, or the members Of the
Legislature, is denied to any of the male
| Inhabitants of such State being tWenty-one
years of age and citizens Of the United
| States, or in any way abridged, except for
| participation in rebellion or other crime,
the basis of representation therein shall be
reduced in the proportion which the num-
Der of such male citizens shall bear to the
| whole number of male citizens twenty-one
years of age in such State"
The objections to this amendment are
numerous: r... ..r,yI .-.q.. ..... ...r...
First-It attempts to control suffrage in
The States and to force negro suffrage upon
| the Southern States. '.T Ji.
Second--It will deprive the West of pow
er aud add strength to New England. ,.,.
If the basis OF representation is to be
changed by excluding any of the nom
voting population, exclude all bur voters
and leave to the States to regulate whoshall
vote. But while Rhode Island complains
of the negro population of the South, how
stands the case with her? In 1860 she
polled 19,90l Uotes yet by the census of
| that year she received too representatives
/ in Congress, In the same year the present
Third District Of Ohio polled over $4,000
U0tes to one representative. That is, under
the proposed amendment one man in Rhode
I I,lo hog turia hal tha -,
Congress of citizen of Dayton. ..
| But the purposes, objects and working of
the amendment are shown in the following
extracts from speeches OF Radicals. And
| it must be remembered that Gen. SchenclS
| introduced a substitute, basing representa-
| tion upon UoterS, which was defeated /; and
| that he made a speech against the present
| amendment in so far as it decreased the
power of the West. .,nif..,,.dT ..v.f. .
EXTRACTS FROM JOHN sHERMAN's SPEECH.
| LFrom the Cougressiona Globe of 1896, page l3I,
| XXXIXth Congress, First Session.
s'Mr. Sherman-Mr. President, the real
| question of difficulty is how this change
in the basis Of representation shall
occur. The committeeof Fifteen have re-
ported plan that l shall probably vote for,
but Lmust express R'y preference for another
do it now, so that | shall not take up the
time of the Senate hereafter. In my judg-
ment the true basis of representation In
this country is voters.IaI know this was
discussed in the House, and have read the
debate there, but the result was not satis-
| factory to me. All the objections that have
been made TO that system were objections
that might be easily obviated and easily
answered. Suppose the basis of represen-
tation was the very one suggested by An-
drew johnson, that all men above the age
of twehty-one years, citizens Of the United
States, who, by the laws of. the States, are
entitled to vote, shall be the basis of rep
resentation., What then ?, What is the OBJ
lection to that plan? 1t IS Simple, uniform,
applying to all sections without any APP
pearauce of legislaling against any par
ticular interest or a particular section. 1t
is fair, manly and honorable. The true basis
Of representation are men who cast the
votes. lt saR .4lHf tr.t''i i') N'i
..fn r. al0,*u - g. ~ #.uHI
$50 of New England, It's said that New
England VIII lose something because she
has aigreatnumber of beautiful women and
children more than she has men. That Is
true; butI ask YOU Mr.. President, your
self a distinguished n representative from
New England, where are the men who rep
resent these women? They are the best
blood of your country who go westward
and there !soon give tone to society, and
come back here to represent themselves
and the, mothers and sisters and kindred
they left behind. New England at this mo-
ment Is not only represented BY her twelve
Senators. but by siX0r eight more who are
sons of New England, who moved, to the
West and carried with them their religion,
their principles, and, in some cases, their
wives, or where they did not, we provided
wives for them. They ,oameiJbacl0 here as
Engldnd ideas and Neeo England principIes.
Suppose New EnglaAd should lose amem-
ber 6rstwo because the young mem have
gone West? q, ,@t,j, g. JErfc,# ,dF -
"Sir, / ought not to say anything, further
in regard to a proposition made BY the Sen
ator from Missouri, so el6quently and ablvi
defended in q long and elaborate Oration,
by the Senator from Massachusetts, that we
ought now to start de noyo, to go back to
first principles and base representation on
population, and take away from States the
powerto fix the qualifications of Votersand,
proclaim that. .nobodg should be excluded from
U0tin1, on account of color. It has always
seemed TO me best to attempt that which is
attainable i,and when, i say, to You that no
man can really believe that we can Keep
these States otit from representation here
until we can educate the people of the
United States upto change oftheir Cont
stitntion 50. as to compel any State to adopt
negro suffrage, il, Is q proposition SO clear
that need scarcely discuss It. '' iloi'i''i ~
s1fiweIpfOpOse to exclude those eleven
States from the Union 9ntilowe cam cOm-l