The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-21
"Ths oonstttuttoa AsItIs."

"The Constitution As It Is.'
From ne Tribune.
The New York Times has one Of its peculiar
editorials on the ''The Constitution, and the
Changes Wrought by Rebellion" which
clearly indicates a return Of that journal to
those ideas and purposes of the Philadelphia
Arm-in-arm Convention which it has pro-
fessed to renounce We do not know that it
was written to aid the Copperheads in their
desperate struggle to carry Connecticut; we
do know that it will be used to that end
After asserting that "the Constitution provides
for every case that can arise, and for every
state of things that can exist, and accusing
Congress of having nevertheless repealed,
abolished, annuled that Constitution" sub
stitutng thel efOr its own arblti airy Will, or (t
Won please) its conception of what the public
exirency, the national safety, required, the
Times proceeds
.pr,s,,ant Johnson attempted at the outset
of IIs sAdm1nlsiraLiDn 10 carry on the Govern
tof the United states under the ConsJltu'
tion of the United states as IL existed before
tho wnr-reguectiug all its Limitations anu re-
striCtions oil power COncedlng 10 states al Jue
rights it guaranteed, ana carry on CLe UUV-
ernment within the channels ana upon Jhe
grooves which it provides. The attempt proved
a failure. The popular resentment against Jhe
Rebellion. the sense of eXultatlon at the victory
achieved over IL, the demand for guarantees,
for new liberties, larger powers, ana more per-
manent sectional and party control, We're 100
strong to be resisted. The wal had wrought a
revolution in public sentiment, whlch IN llS
turn wrought q corresponding revolution the
practical administration Of the Government.
Congress represents that revolution to-day ana
acts under its inspiration, and in the exercise
OF power which 1t coniers."
Now if Mr.. Johnson attempted to do what
is here attributed to him, then the attempt
was surely unjustfable and virtual usur-
al. L'..l,, ,,.o1 itr1fip
existed before the war; is no longer our
supreme law, having been vitality changed in
the manner prescribed in its teXt-changed
by the deliberate, well-consdered and COM
manding vote OF the American people. Arti-
Gle XIII was reported to and thoroughly de-
bated by Congress before the last Presidential
election, was voted for by the Republicans,
sanctioned by the Senate (3S to -, and in the
House only defeated (Neas 9j nays 66-less
than two-thirds in the ahirmative) by party
vote The question Of engratting that amend
ment on the Constitution was thus throwninto
the Presidential canvass wherein twenty-five
States-all except New Jersey, kentucky, and
Deaware--voed to re-elect Mr. Lincoln and
thus to sustain the amendment. So, when
Mr.. Lincoln had been reelected, the question
came up on reconsideration in that same
House which had rejected it, and it was
now sustained by ll9 yeas to 56 nays
every Republican chosen to that
House, with at least a dozen Democrats,
voting yea. And that amendment was
promptly, heartily ratified by every State that
voted for Lincoln, and subsequently by New
Jersey, which voted against him. 1t is now
just as much in the Constitution as any other
section; and he who dsregards or dehes it is
Just as dislOyal to that instrument as though
he denied the right of the President to veto a
bill And though it may be said that its rati-
tication had not IN terms been perfected ''at
the outset" of Mr. JOhnsOn's rule, the pub
lie determination so to ratify it had been SO
unequivocally, undenably manifested, that
no functionary could then attempt to carry
on the Government under the Constitution
as it existed before the war;" without being
Tecreant to his duty. He was not at
liberty to ignore facts as palpable as the
sun in heaven; he was under the clearest
obligation to take note that the Con-
stitution was in process of amendment, and
govern himself accordingly.
Now look at the Thirteenth section, and
note wellits elemental, Transforming nature:-
"Artiele Mi. q. Neither slavery nor involun-
tary servltude, except as punishment for
crime. whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States
or any place subject TO their jurisdiction.
"22 Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation"
Did any man ever hear of "Conserva-
tive' canvasser quoting the section as part Of
the Constitution, and insisting that it be re,
spected and obeyed We never did. Yet
they who ignore and practically nullify it are
always reproaching us who uphold and honor
it as reckless of the Constitution
By ''the Constitution as it existed before the
war" the States were the exclusive guar
dians of the liberties of their own people re
spectively; by thenew Thirteenth section, thi
important duty has been deyOlved on Con
gress. The Civil Rights act, and nearly every
act of Congress denounced as usurping anC
revolutionary, were absolutely required t,
give due effect to that section. Not to hav,
passed them would have been to defy tn
Constitution in the interest Of slavery, insteac
OF invoking the unjust accusation that the,
have subverted it in the interest of freedom
Which course is the BETTER the people hav
already decided and not in accordance wit