The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1866-10-04

S10ef now mOmenC0O9 were the QueS-
tiohs involved, the issues pending. Con.
slider how novel and extraordinary was
the situation. Consider how utterly
silent and blank is the Federal Constitu-
ton touching the treatment Of insurgent
States whether during their flagrant
hostility to the Union or after their dis
Consider with how many
and difficulties the
problem is bcset, aud you will not won
der that months were required to devise,
perfect, aud pass by two thirds vote In
either house, a just and safe plan Of re-
construction. trusrrss~ T..
Yet that plan has been matured. 1t has
passed the Senate by SO to IL, and the
House by 1873 to SO. 1t IL now fairly be-
fore the country, having already been
ratified by the Legislatures of several
States and rejected by none. Under II,
the State of Tcnnessee has been formal
~ restored to all the privileges forfeited
by rebellion, including representation in
either house of Congress. And the door
thus passed through stands iDvitingly
open to all who still finger without.
Are the conditions thus prescribed in
tolerable, or even humiliating? They
are in substance these: r5.....
/. All persons born or naturalized in
this country are henceforth citizens of
the United States, and shall enjoy all the
rights of citizens evermore; and no State
shall have power to cOntravene this most
righteous and necessary provision.
IL. While the States claim and exer-
else the power of denying the elective
franchise to part of their people, the
weight of each State In the Union shall
be measured by, and based upon its en-
franchised population. If any State
ical rights to any race or caste, it must
no longer count that race or caste basis
.06 pOlitical power in the Union.
LII. He who has once held office on
the strength Of his solemn oath to sup
port the Federal Constitution, and has
nevertheless forsworn himself and treas
OnablyiplOtted to subvert that COnstitn-
ton, shall henceforth hold 10 political
office till Congress, by two-thirds vote,
shall remove or modify the disability.
Nv. The national debt shall be nowise
repudiated nor invalidated and no debt
incurred In support of the rebellion shall
ever be assumed or paid by any State;
nor shall payment be made for the loss
or emancipation Of any slave.
V. Congress shall have power to en-
force these guarantees by appropriate
legislation.
Snch, fellow-citizens, are the condi-
tions Of reconstruction proposed by Con-
grcss and already accepted by the loyal
Legislature Of Tennessee. Are they
harsh or degrading? DO you discern
therein disposition to trampie On tho
PROSTATE or push an advantage to the ut
termost? DO they embody aught of
vengence, or any confiiscation but that
Of slavery? We solicit your candid, inn
partial judgment.
What is intended by the third section
Is simply to give loyalty a fair start in
the reconstructed States. Under the
Johnson policy, the rebels monopolize
power and place even in communities
where they are decidedly outnumbered.
Their Generals are Governors and menu
Iers elect of Congress; their Colonels and
Majors fill the Legislatures, and officiate
as Sheriffs. Not.only are the steadfastly
loyal prescribed, but even stay-at-home
rebels have little chance in competition
with those who fought to subvert the
Union. When this rebel monopoly Of Of
flee shall have been broken up, and loyal
ty to the Union shall become general
and hearty, Congress may remove the
disability and will doubtless make haste
to do SO.
We do not perceive that the justice or
fituess of the fourth sestion-prescribing
that the Union prblic debt shall be
promptly met, but that of the rebel Con-
federacy never-is seriously contested.
There remains, then, but the second
section. which prescribes in substance
that political power in the Uniin shall
henceforth be based only on that portion
Of the people Of each State who are
deemed by its Constitution fit deposit.
ories of svch power. In other words: A
State which chooses to hold part Of IT.
population in ignorance and vassalage-
powerless, uneducated, unfranchiscd
shall not count that potion to balance
the educated, Intelligent, enfranchisee
citizens of other States.
We do not purpose to argue the justice
( a this provision. As well argue thu
shape of cube or the correctness Of thu
| Multiplication Table. He who doe
| not feel that this is simply and mildly
just, would not be pursuaded though
one rose from the dead to convince him
That there are those among us wh'
would not have it ratified, sadly demon
strates that the good work of emancipa
ton is not yet complete.
But" say some, this section is de
signed to coerce the South into accord
ing suffrage to her blacks" Not so, w
reply; but only to notify her rulin
caste that we will no longer bribe then
to keep their blacks In serfdom. Al
aristocracy rarely surrenders it's priv
leges, no matter how oppressive, from
abstract devotion to justice and right
1t must have cogent, palpable reason
for SO doing. We say, therefore, 4
4