The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-03-13
WHAT SHALL THE STATE Do?

lit becomes a question what shall the
: Southern States do towards the fornla-
| ton of Constitution and their read
mission into the Union as provided tor
| by the Act. We observe a telegraphic
dispatch in the New Orleans papers an
nouhcing that the Legislature of Vir-
1 ginia had passed bill calling a State
Convention, but we are unable to learn
whether it is to be q Convention in ac-
cordance with the Congressional Act,
or whether it is only a Convention to
4 amend the Constitution of the 'sproyis-
ionalp government. We are inclined
to believe, however, that it is the for
mer. and that the Old Dominion is
about to take the advice of Governor
Pierpont and to lead off in the fruitless
search after the benefits that are sup
posed to flow from rcadmission into the
Union with sacrifice Of honor, self
respect and self-interest. A party
1 seems to have also arisen in Georgia
under the lead of Ex-Governor Brown
and other greedy Office seekers, having
for it's object the Reconstruction" OF
that State, but at last accounts the new
party did not seem to be making much
Roadway. We presume that Governor
Orr, the prince Of trimmers, will soon
issue a message depicting the beauties
of the Stevens bill, and Governor Pat
ton, of Alabama, will doubtless follow
suite; to change his opinion, however,
as soon as he finds that any one else
disagrees with him. On the other
hand, the Legislature Of North Carolina,
in spite of Poole and Holden, has re-
solved to decline the polite invitation
of the Federal government to sell its
birthright for q more worthless price
than mess fpottage.
AS our own Legislature is in session,
and as we have Governor whose
opinions are antagonistic to those OF
nearly every voter in the State, from
one of which departments Of the gov
eminent some action on the subject
may be expected, 1t becomes serious
question, what should the State of Lou
isiana do with reference to the terms OF
reconstruction which have been offered
to her. We shall endeavor to show
that she should not hesitate to reject
them.
The first step towards the formation
of the reconstructed government, is to
call Convention to form a COnstitu-
ton. Who is to call this Convention,
whether the Legislature of the "provis-
ional' government, the exhumed de-
funct Convention Of 1864, or IN ire
sponsible self-constituted Committee OF
the mendicant loyaists, does not ap-
pear, and will depend perhaps on the
measure of obsequiousness which each
of these bodies shall see fit to display.
In the election of delegates to the Con-
vention the qualifications of voters are
not left to the State authorities to de-
termine, but are laid down by the Act
itself. If we can gather from the un-
grammatical obscurity Of the Act any
Ineligible idea On this point, those
qualifications are briefly residence OF
one year in the State Of all male citi-'
zens Of twenty-one years and upwards,
of whatever race, color, or previous
condition, except "such as have been
disfranchised by participation in the
rebellion" BY very careful study of
several other provisions Of the bill, to-
gether with the Constitutional Amend
ment which is annexed to it, it may be
discovered that none are "disfranchised
by participation in the rebellion" ex-
cept such as having held State Or
Federal Office previous to the war, and
having as such took an oath to support
the Constitution Of the United States,
afterwards took part in the war for the
independence Of the South. In the
election of delegates to the Convention,
therefore, every male negro over twen-
ty-one years old, and every male white
man who has not held State or Fede-
raj Office, whether he took part in the
war or not, has the right to vote and to
be elected a delegate to the Cenven-
ton.
The Convention once elected and in |
session, under ordinary circumstances
it would not be difficult to say what
would be the next step towards the re-
Mobilization of the State. A Conven-
ton being supposed to be the represen-
tatiye of the sovereign will of the peo-
pie, one would think that it would be
perfectly competent to form such a
Constitution as it should see fit, and
particularly that the qualifications OF
voters rested entirely with the dele
gates. But such is not the case under
the bill just passed by Congress. In
stead of being sovereign the Conven-
ton is mere automaton which is to
60 through with the forms of adopting
Constitution that has already been
made at Washington, and which it has
not the power to change. 1t is made
imperative that the new Constitution
shall confer the right to vote and to
hold office only ON the same classes.of
persons who voted for delegates to the
Convention and that ap1v thaso ,,or,opc