American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-05-29
REGULATION OF SUFFRAGE.

| Inc primary element in free government.
theldetermination Of how. many people shall
have share in it, in America depends not
upon the government, but upon certain sub
ordinate local, and sometimes, as in the
South now, hostile bodies" And the wri>
ter easily shows the danger of such sys-
TEN. There is no doubt that ii is cardi-
nal defect in the constitution that it does
not exactly define the qualification for the
suffrage, and in leaving it to the various
States to determine who should be the voters
iu the nation, the convention of fl789 ex posed
the country to the peril through which it
has recently passed. Yet there can be lit>
tie doubt that If the constitution had made
every innocent male adult in all the States
of the proposed Union voter, it would not
have been ratified by the necessary number
of States. This, however, does not disturb
the fact that the omission was radical err
rori nor the other fact, that the cOnstitu-
tiou may contain in other clauses remedy
for the omission. ta o. s'
Senator Sumner has written letter sug.
gesting three methods by which the eonss,
quenees Of the omission may be obviated
under the constitution and ths laws as they
now exist. He thinks that the necessity for
equalizing suffrage before the Presidential
election is SO pressing that it is impossible
to wait for the usual method Of amendment
by State Legislatures, which, in this in
| ufapna al he fhipbs ia Zoo ,,nca,to;, - -
trusted, His propositions are: First, That
Congress is bound 10 secure to every State
a republican form of government, and the
war has settled that political disability by
reason of color is unrepublican. Second,
The amendment abolibhing slavery gives
Congress power to enforce emancipation by
proper legislation. 1t has, consequently,
passed the Civil Rights bill for the whole
country, and it can equally pass Political
Rights bill. Third, The amendment pro-
posed by the Reconstruction committee, and
adopted BY threef fourths of the loyal States
defines citizenship, and torbids any State to
abridge the privileges Of citizens.
The second of these propositions seems to
US untenable. The amendment sbolishes
chattel slavery, and authorizes Congress to
enforce emancipation with proper legislation.
But it cannot be fairly asserted, in the or
dinary meaning Of the words, except by .
rule of Interpretation which 10 wholly inad>
missble, that equality of suffrage in New
York is necessary to maintain emancipation
in Florida.
The third proposition is equally untena-
BILE. The amendment was indeed adopted
by three fourths of the States; and that
should Of course, under the circumstances,
be sufficient. But Congress has not made
it SO. 1t is the opinion Of Mr.. Sumner, it
is our opinion, il is the opinion of many
others, that the States which maintained
| their Interpretation Of the constitution and
were competent to legislate through the war,
were equally and Of necessity competent to
amend the constitution. But they did not
decide that they were. They have. not pro-
claimed the amendment adopted by three
fourths Of them as part Of the constitution (;
and until that is done nobody isentitled to
act upon it as if it ,cere part of the eonsti-
tuition.
But the first Of these propositions is un>
questionably correct. Congress must be the
judge Of the republicanism Of the State govs
ernment which it is bound to guarantee,
just as it must determine in conflict be,
tween two claiming goyernments-as in
Rhode Island in l843-whieh is the lawful
government. But how and when shall it
exercise this power are purely questions of
exPediency. Insisting even upon an un>
doubted authority is often the extremestfol
ly. Burke never denied that Great Britain
had the right to 4ax the Colonies, but he de-
but he declared that it was wrong, under the
circumstances, to exercise the right. So it
would be very inexpedient for. Congress,
merely because it has right, to assert that
republication required the voting Of all
girls between the ages of ten and fifteen,
| and then call upon all the States to make
their constitutions conform. Yet Congress
is the final and unatubted Judge Of what
1 lsppubi AhO
constitution does not require it to ask the
supreme court or any other authority to de-
fine such a government 10 the nature Of
the case it must decide for itself, and from
its decision there is no appeal except to the
people at the polls Therefore Congress
must decide to exercise the power discretoly.
which controls il viii be thrust from power.
1t win be said that the trainers Of the
constitution, BY leaving the suffrage to be
settled by the various States in which the
electoral qualifications differed, and in many
Of which slavery existed, conceded that sla-
very and political exclusion by reason of
color were compatible With Republican
Government and twill be urged that as
| the intention Of the makers must coastrue
the instrument, We cannot fairly say that
authority to guarantee q republican form Of
government empowers US to call tho disabil-
lity of color unrspublican. To this there
are two replies. In the first place the po-
litieal disability Of the colorsd people in the
States that foymed the Union did not spring
| from their color but from their condition.
| In other words, they were not freemen be-
EHH I n aFsliI q .