Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-04-27
BEDFORD. Pa. FRIDAY. APRIL 27. 1866.

ttASiuhEuS dCiIf .duu Va p4@1Aats ttt~ AAslS poA-
/ itician in sending veto message to the Con-
gress of the United States
The President also makes some other al
/ lusions in this veto message Of a similar
character For instance, he speaks Of the
| impropriety Of marriages between whites
and blacks, and then be goes on to say, i
do not say that this bill repeals State laws
on the subject of marriage between the two
races Then for what purpose is it intro
! duced into this message 2 Not surely as an
| ad cdptdRdana argument to excite prejudice,
the argument of a demagogUe and politi-
! clan. Mr. johnson could not do that, hay-
ing condemned such bubbles in Mr.. Bueh-
auan.
CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS.
The president further says, Ifit be gran
ted that Congress can repeal all State laws
discriminating between whites and blacks In
| the subjects covered by this bil why, it may
| be asked, may not Congress repeal in the
same way all State laws discriminating be-
tween the two races on the subjects of suf .
frage and office? If Congress can declare by
| law who shall hold lands, who shall testify,
who shall have capacity to make a contract
in State, then Congress can by law also
! declare who, without regard to color or race,
shall have the right to sit as a juror or as a
judge, to hold any Office, aud finally to vote
in every State and Territory of the United
States
Perhaps the best answer could give to
| this would be the answer Of Andrew johnson
| himself lie undertook to recognize State
governments in the disloyal States. When
he did so to whom did heextend the right of
suffrage? To the blacks? No, sir; but he
extended the right of suffrage to those who
were authorized to vote under the laws of
those States before the Rebellion: and,
when urged to allow loyal blacks to vote,
| what was his answer That he had no pow
| er; it was unconstitutional But he has
! claimed and exercised the power to protect
colored persons in their civil rights and if it
| be true that protection in civil rights carries
with it the right of suffrage what becomes of
| the position which he assumed when he ex-
! tended civil rights to the negroes, that he
had no constitutional power to extend TO
| them the right to vote,--that it was right
vested in the State with which he could not
interfere? But, sir, the granting Of civil
| of rights does not, and never did, in
this country, carry with it political rights,
or, more properly speaking, political priv
ileges. A man may be acitizen in this coun-
! try without :. -:ght % vote OF without
right to hold office. The right = vote and
to hold office inthe Statss depends upon he
| legislation Of the various States. The right
to hold certain offices under the Federal
| Government depends upon the Constitution
of the United States. Mr. r. then intro
duced several quotations from Blackstone,
Kent, and others, shown what are meant by
civil rights
''The equality ofrights is the basis of the
commonwealth, is said in note to Kent;
and Kent himself, in speaking of these rights
says, The absolute rights of individuals
may be resolved into the right of personal
security, the right Of personal liberty, and
| the right to acquire and enjoy property.
| These rights have been justly considered
and frequently declared blythe people Of this
country to be natural, inherent, and lnallena-
blel'
The President, in his Annual Message,
says, THE American system rests on the
assertion Of the eqtqI rights of every man to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
How is it that every person born in these
| United States owes allegiance to the govern
ment? Every thing that he is or has-his
| property and his life-may be taken by the
| Government Of the United States, in its de-
fence or to maintain the honor of the nation;
| and can it be that our ancestors struggled
through long war, and set up this Govern
ment, and that the people of our day have
struggled through another war, with all Its
sacrifices and all its desolation, to maintain
| it; and at last that we have got a government
which is all powerful to command the obe
dience Of the citizen, but has no power to
afford him protection? Is that all that this
! boasted American citizenship amounts to?
| Go tell it, sir, to the father whose son was
starved at Andersonyille; or the widow
whose husband was slain at Mission Ridge;
or the little boy who leads his sightless faith
er through the streets of your city. made
| blind by the winds and sand Of the Southern
coast; or the thousand other mangled heroes
to be seen on every side that this Govern
ment, in defence of which the son and the
husband fell, the father lost his eyes, and
the others were crippled, had the right to
call these persons to its defence, hut has no
right to protect the survivors or their friends
in any right whatever, in any Of the States.
Sir it cannot be. Such is not the meaning
Of our Constitution. Such is not the mean
ing of American. citizenship. This Govern
ment which would go to war to protect its
meanest-I will not say citizen-inhabitant
If you please, in any foreign land, whose
rights were unjustly encroached upon, has
certainly some power to protect It's own citi-
protection are reciprocal rights.
Judge TrumbuH proceeds to consider the
other sections of the bill, and in detail to
defend them, with great ability and logical
acuteness, from the objections which Mr..
johnson had brought against them. He de-
rives the materials Of his defence in great
measu. from the President himself, those
acting under his authority. Thus
THE BILL UNNECESSARY. 7"
But, says the president, II do not ap-
prehend thatthe conflicting legislation which
the bill seems to contemplate is so likely to
occur as to render it necessary at this time
to adopt measure of such doubtful eonsti-
tutionality That statement makes it neces-
sary that I should advert to the facts, and
show whether there is any likelihood ofsuch
conflicting legislation; and my testimony
comes from the President himself, or those
acting under his authority. Mr. I. then
quotes statements in respect to laws in sew
eral States. Now, sir, what becomes Of this
declaration that there is no necessity for any
measure of this kind2 Here are the laws Of
Texas, of Mississippi, Of Virginia, to which
/ have referred; and laws equally oppressive
exist in some Of the other States. Is there
no necessity to protect freedman, when he
| is liable to be whipped ifcaught away from
homer No necessity to prosect freedman
in his rights, when he is not permitted to
hold or lease a piece of ground in a State?
No necessity to protect freedman in his
rights, who will be reduced to slavery worse
fLan that from which he has been elnanciDa-