The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1867-08-08

NAll elections ought to be free and
frequent, and every freeman having
Sufficient evidence Of a permanent com
mon interest with, and attachment to,
| the country, hath right of suffrage" "
Up. 213.) Here again we find no trace
Of color.
MARYLAND.
This State adopted its first COnsti-
tuition August, 1875. Its preamble
contains this declaration: tThe right
of the people to participate in the
Legislature is the best security of lib
erty, and the foundation of all free
Government. For this purpose cleo
tions ought to be free and frequent in,
and common interest with, and at
tachment to the community, ought to
have a right of suffrage" Up. 237.)
IT provides: NAll freemen above 21
years of age, having freehold of fifty
acres of land, and all freemen having
property in this State above the value
of thirty pounds, shall have a right of
suffrage" (p. 246.) No trace Of color
to be found.
| VIRGINIA.
The Constitution of Virginia was
adopted July 6, 1776. It provided
that the right of suffrage shall remain
as exercised at present. The law then
existing, which regulated suffrage, is
found in Henning's Statutes at large,
Of the State Of Virginia, vol. 8. p. 3O6;
and it provided that "EYery person
having an estate of freehold
shall have a right to vote; but no
married or unmarried woman, infant
under the age of 21 years, nor any free
negro or mulatto, or Indian, although
such persons be freehOlders, shall have
a vote" .,s. .-..
In all the States so far examined,
this is the only one in which there is
any distinction on account of of color
and during the sitting of the COnven-
tion, Jefferson was writing to mem
bers of it, urging that all who pay
taxes and fight should vote.
NORTH CAROLINA.
Constitution adopted December IS,
1875. Its preamble declared that all
IeIections should be free. (p. 1927 1t
provided: "Every freeman of the age
of 81 years, who have been inhab-
itants of any one county in the State,
twelve months Immediately preceding
the election, and possessed of a free
hold within the same county, of fifty
acres, &c, shall be entitled to vote. "
! (p. 35O) No distinction of color.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
Constitution adopted in March, 1870.
It provided, ''the qualifications of
electors shall be that every free white
man, and no other person, shall be
deemed a person qualified to vote"
(p. 325)
Here, for the second time, we find
suffrage limited to white men.
GEORGIA.
Constitution adopted February,
1777. Its preamble contained this
declaration:
awe, the Representatives Ofthe peO-
pie, from whom all power originates,
and for whom all government is in
tended, do ordain" &c. (p. 345.)
1t provided: "Every male white
inhabitant of the age of twenty-One
years, and possessed of a freehold of
ten pounds value, and liable to pay
taxes in this State, &C., shall have a
right to vote" (p. 35O.)
We find from this examination that,
of the thirteen original States of the
Union, ten allowed whites and blacks
to vote on the same conditions three,
tO-wit: Virginia, South Carolina and
Georgia, prohibited black men from
voting. The three States named were
represented in the Continental Con-
gress, and by their voices, as express
ed in the Declaration of Independ-
ence, declared that all men are by ma
turg free and equal.
OTHER WORKS OF THE FATHERS.
Nor is this all that the fathers did.
In 1887 the Congress of the United
States passed what is known as the or
dinance for the Government of the
Northwest Territory, from which we
have carved the States of Ohio, Indi-
ana, Illinois, Michigan and wisconsin,
and in this great act, which forever
prohibited slavery in all that immense
domain, and which spoke the senti-
ment of the leading minds of the
country at that time, there was a pro-
vision regulating suffrage which made
no distinction between white and
black men. (See Hickey's C0nstitu-
ton, page 417.)
OF the New States, formed and adj
mitted after the adoption of the Ma
tiOnal Constitution, all except Tennes-
see, Vermont and Maine, disfranchised
black men. G. S. II.