Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-08-28


CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
The constitutional amendment eOnfers
suffrage on the negro, and takes it away
from the white man. We hear many
theories on this question of voting-uni'
versal suffrage manhood suffrage
Gentlemen, / will not stop to RnalyZe
them all, nor trace in each the premises
to its logical conclusion. But this
will atfirm-that never in history-nevef
in any gOvernment-never by any party
in any gOYernment-even including pro-
life New England, has the right Of sur
frRge been In practice, held to be natu-
/ raj right. Women are excluded-minors
are excIuded-aliens are excluded. Pure
minded, well-informed, patriotic per-
| sons, not stained with crime, not tainted
with mental or moral defect, for some rea-
son or other, have always been excluded ;
and that exclusion has proven that the
right is neither natural or universal.
The necessity of that stste-the good of
| the Ommunity-pOliticel wisdom have
| always controlled the enjoyment of this
/ right-and have established, as far as
uniform practice can establish it, that
| the governing powers of every civil
society may, subject to moral laws and
! the revolutionary right Of every minor
ity, decide in whom the political power
! shall reside. In England the rule OF
wealth has been the rule of exclusion,
perhaps l ought 20 say the rule Of adnois-
sion. In France, ever since the constit-
uent assembly deereed duniversalsuffrage
nativity and residence have been the
tests. 10 New York, and perhaps some
other states, while white male citizens
have been all admitted to suffrage,
negroes were required % have a
property qualification. In the west
ern states negroes were not ad-
mitted 20 suffrage on any terms
In Massachusetts, the test is not color or
wealth, but their capacity to read the
constitution. In the south to day, as
administered by military power, in
spired by the ideas of the republican
party, neither universal suffrage nor
manhood suffrage prevails. The dis
tinctiOn of color alone is destroyed, but
the rule of sex, birth, residence, age,
sanity, and above all, "loyalty," is
maintained. Wonderful is it not, that
amid all the rules heretofore adopted, no
ingenious individual, no self-righteous
community has invented or adopted the
rule of intelligence, or virtue, or fitness
The right of suffrage then,is not natural.
1t is given or withheld according TO the
discretion of the governing power. Shall
il in Ohio be given 70 the negro? l an
swer no! / disdain to respond to the
mere vulgar abuse that this is prejudice,
or caste, or association. 1 disdain to an
swer that brutal levity which asserts
this opinion 10 belong to those who
would delight in infiieting cOrpoTeal
punishment, or separating families. l
know and respect many cOlored men
and women. They are honest, industri-
Gus, virtuous. j would not only do them
no harm; l would do them good. I
would open every avenue of mental, and
moral and physical ADVANCEMENT. The
means of acquiring wealth and educa-
ton should be within their reach. But
l would not give them political power.
They belong 70 different race. They
have different blood and bones and or
ganization. They have different tastes,
and habits and capacities. 1t is not
merely q difference Of climate, or sun, or
birth, or education, or color. Ii is an in
herent and radical difference of race, Of
blood, OF nature, OF intellect, OF capacity,
which no training can efface, no assOcia-
tions, or habits, or discipline can exIia-
guish. God made them different, man
cannot make them the same or equal
And all the teaching of history, and all
the observation Of our experience is that
the cOmiDgling of the blood of the white
and black race Injuries both. Go int9 the
southern states, where circumstances have
been favorable to this amalgamatiOn
go into our cities, where affection has
sought to establish the happiness OF the
hybrid offspring, and you viii see that
every animal passion is more developed,
every moral quality more depressed,
every physical intimity more exagger-
ated than in either of the pure races.
The elements OF contrarieUy are so
strong that combination develOpes the
worst qualities Of both. There is philo-
sophie wisdom in the governments of
Liberia and Hayti, which excludes white
men from political power 1t is the phi
losOphy of the separation of the races,
not the separation of distance, but of
communion. 1t affords TO the negro the
only chance of iudependence-it enables
him to prove whether he is capable to
the cares OF government. IT is thesame
philosophy which is expressed in the
doctrine so often repeated by Douglas,
9 that this is a white mans govern
ment; established by white men, to be
administered by white men, for them
vania, nor Indiana, nor Illinois, nor
Wisconsin, nor Michigan, admit negroes
TO suffrage Shall we, by granting
extraordinary privileges, invite an i'm
migration of this character? Do the la
boring men of the state wGnt either the
contact or the competition d? viii the
resources Of the state be built up by the
accessionP The tyranny of the federal
government may enforce negro suffrage
in the southern states. It may, by the
unlawful exercise ofmere brute force, re-
duce those states to negro communities.
Shall we open our doors to receive their
supersbundant negro population, and
thus reduce ourselves to their condition
The republicans tell Us that slavery has
imbruted the negro-thGt it has degraded
his nature--that it has inflsmed ms pas
siOns, deadened his sensibilities, and de-
prived him of the advantage OF culture.
Would you then invite him, thus de-
graded by his old position, and thus in
famed by newly acquired position, to
come in and participate in the control Of
our government? What interest of the
negro in Ohio requires this change Has
the white race oppressed him9 His life,
his liberty, his property, are subjected to
and protected by in the same manner.
His rights are protected by the same
courts, the same judges, the same jurors,
the same witnesses, the same rules of
evidence. r.
never heard Of case in which in
justice was done to a suitOT because he
was a negro. But this amendment not
only admits the negro, but it excludes
the white man. 1t excludes not only
tod ~
lion, but those who have. deserted or
nN.nidnh the draft Rv its Terms 81 urntnId