Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-01-16
The Action Of Congress Oh the
Suffrage Question.

The Action Of Congress Oh the
Suffrage Question.
The action of Congress on the question OF
suffrage is considerably contradictory and it
is not easy to predict with certainty what
their action will be in any case where the
question of equal rights is presented to that
body. With tolerabe promptitude, the Sem
ate. before the holidays, passed the House bill
making suffrage impartial in the District of
Columbia This wss'a grand step in advance
of all former legislation, and led hopeful
nation to conclude that the standard of the
Repub leans in Congress was a. last planted
on that high vantage ground. and would not
be Lowered before any oomers. But this e1-
pecta ton was disappointed the next day when
Senator Wade and other leading Republicans
became csmorous for the admission of Ne
braska as a state, with the word 50 white"
just stricken off the suffrage law of tie Bis
trics of Columbia embodied 10 the csnstitu-
ton of the proposed state. A great many
excuses were gwen by Senator Wade for his
course, bu, none that relieves his course or
that of those who voted with him from a plain
abandonment of the principle esta bished In
the Distric. suffrage bill. S,nator Brown o.
Missouri proposed, as an amendment to the
bill admitting Nebraska, provIso, making
the adoption of constitution guaranteeing
equal sufoage, condition precedent to the
admission of the state, but the Senate, more
than two-thirds Republican, promptly voted
down that observation-disclosures we are
glad to state that our two Senator'S voted for
the amendment. Senator Eimunds then Of
fered the amendment (printed in our Con-
gressional summary, which at first was
defeated by a tie vote, and afterward was
adopted by only two ma Jrity ; and with that
amendment the bill, as well as the bill admit
ting Colorado, pissed the Senate. We were
not sorry, however, co see tina. the House Is
not inclined 20 pass the bill hastily, and VIC
sIust it will yet, IN some way, be defeated.
There is danger in the admission of Ne
braska in this way. Whether Senator Ed
munds Amendment would be held to be bind
ing upon the state is a matter of considerable
doubt. 1t in any event leaves that uncertain
which ought to be made certain. /. RENTS
to the courts what Congress ought TO keep
away from that tribunal. 1t postpones wha.
ought to be done now. Ii admit, to the prvi-
legs and rights of state, political body
whose Organization is, confessediy, radically
wrong. L. s true, it endeavors to right this
wrong by STIMULATING that it shall be inopera-
tive; but this stipulation may bs imperative
and the wrong may remain.
How much better and more consistent
would it have been for the Senate to have ad-
hsred stOusly to its position. thai henceforth
thers should be no denial Of rights In the
constitution of any state asking admiss on
into the Union. Ii Nebraska choss to stay
out rather than come in on those terms. it
could have continued to enjoy Its territorial
condition But il would not have chosen to
stay out. 1t would have reformed its consti-
tuition, and striker out the obnoxious feature.
Then, if Congress cho,e to exact equal suf-
frage at the South, tn. rebels could not re-
buks the national legislature for making one
law for Nebraska and another for South
Carolina We hope Tie House will yet defeat
the bill or, If 1t passes that body, trust the
President will veto It, and that enough Re-
publicaus will then be found steadfas. to their
principles to preventits passage over the veto.
Let US have no more states with the word
80 white In their constitutions.
We do not intend to condemn Senator Ed
munds In this matter, for We do not doubt
that he regards his amendment sufficient to
secure equal suffrage In the state a; or, if not
sufficient, as the best that could be done under
the circumstances We know ne contended
stously and ably against Senator Wade's
effort to have the state admitted Just 8 1t was,
and that 1t was not 80 admitted is due In
great measure to his efforts. We think, how
ever, it would have besn still IN Jre in agree
mens with the demands oil these times, If ne
and Sumner and Howe and Grimes aud
Brown, and a few other K idicals In the SEN
ate, had insisted equal suffrage as a con-
dtIon precedent, instead of leaving 1T as now
an open q Iest,oa, to be settled aiter the state
IL admitted. and when Congress has no more
control over 1t.