The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-11-08

Negro Suffrage to be Enforced by Con-
SreSS.

habit of frequently consulting Mr.. Ste
vens on public affairs for many years:
Whatever construction shall be given
to the Constitution in its present cOndl-
ton by this Congress, and those near
est the great events which have modl-
fed it, will be likely to be accepted,
through future time, as its true mean
ing. 1t is important, therefore, that
the most beneficent Interpretation
should be given to it, and that it should
be most literally construed, so as to Sc
cure all human rights.
In the changed condition of our coun-
try and of that instrument, which,
while it, as to the old States, may not
be perverted, is not so inef1Xible as to
be incapable of yielding to the chang
ing necessities of humanity.
Before the constitution was amended,
| could not agree with some OF my
learned friends that Congress could IN
termeddle with State laws relative to
the elective franchise in the United
States. The circumstances OF slavery
seemed, while it was submitted to, to
prevent it. Alter the amendment "a
polishing slavery / still doubted, and
proposed a constitutional remedy, on
the 5th day Of December 1860, in the
following words: "All national x
laws shall be equally applicable to eve
nv citizen, and no discrimination shall
be made on account of race or color"
Since the adoption of the fourteenth
amendment, however, have no doubt
of our full power to regulate the cleo
tive franchise, so far as it regards the
whole nation, in every State OF the U
Mon, which, when tried, hope VIII be
so formed as to be beniticial to the ma
ton, just to every citizen, and carry out
the great design of the trainers OF the
Government, according to their views
expressed in the Declaration Oflndepen-
dence.
The Iawgivers of America are now as
free to act as Samson when the fire had
touched the flax. May they never a.
gain be beguiled by any conservative
Delilah-sutfer their locks to be shOrn,
and their limbs to be bound by the
withes of twisted Constitution. The
laws which were intended to be univer-
sal, the principles which were inten-
ded to govern the whole American ma
tionality, must now be made to cover
and control its whole national action
throughout this grand empire. Towns,
corporations, and municipalities may be
allowed their separate organization not
inconsistent Herewith, but must not
incorporate any principles in conflict
with those great rights, privileges, ana
immunitieS.
What are those rights, OriUHeges and
in1znt0aities? ? Misunderstanding others,
three are specifically enumerated: Life,
h ,Fif nt H/fy11
These are universal and inalienable.
1t follows that everything necessary
for their establishment and defence Is
within those rights.
You grant lot or easement in the
midst of your estate, you thereby grant
the right of way to it by ingresS and e.
gresS.
Disarm a community, and you rob
them of the means of defending llte.-
Take away their weapons of defence,
and you take away the inalienable
right of defending liberty. This brings
us now directly to the argument by
which we prove that the elective fran
chiSe is a RIGHT of the Declaration, and
not merely privilege, and is one OF
the rights and immunitieS pronounced
by that instrument to be "0ldiie1d6te." ."
Ii, DIS our ldtIlClS uCCldlCOJ al JuSb SON
ernment is derived from the assent OF
the governed :" if in Federal republics,
that assent can beascertained and estab-
lished only through the ballot 1t follows
that to take away the means of cOmmu-
nicatiOn, is to take away from the cltl-
zen his great weapon of defence and re-
duce him to helpless bondage. 1t de-
prives him Ofan inalienableright. This
clearly proves that the elective fran
chiSe ranks with "Hfe" and "H6erty''
in it's sacred inalienable character.
But while the Declaration clearly
! proves what the intention then was,
the action of the convention in framing
the Constitution of the United States,
it seemed to me, bartered away, tOr
the time being, some of those lnaliena-
BILE rights, and in5tigated by the he'll
lish institution of slavery, suspended
one Of the munimentS of liberty. Hav-
! ing thus shown that the elective fran
chise is one of the inalienable rights OF
man, without which his liberty cannot
! be defended, and that it was suspended
by the arbitrary Constitution Of 1888
| let us see if that suspension has been
removed, so as to leave our hands un-
restrained in restoring its full vlgOr
while still acting under the COnstitu
ton. That right appertainS to every
citizen. But while this suspension eX-
listed, the natural love of despotism in
duced communities to hold that each
State might fix the qualifications
rights, and deprivatiOnS of its own cltl'
| Zens.
The fourteenth amendment, now SC
happily adopted, settles the whole
question, and places every American
citizen on a perfect equality of rights
so far as merely national rights and
questions are concerned. 1t declares
that "all persons born, or naturalized
in the United States, and subject to the
| jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State where
in they reside. No State shall make
or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges and immunities OF
citizens Of the United States nor shall
any person be deprived OF life, liberty
or property, without due process of law
nor deny any person within its juriS
dictiOn the equal protection of the
laws"
If by the amended Constitution eve
ry American citizen is entitled to equal
privileges with every other American
citizen; and if every American citizen
in any OneOf the States should be found
entitled to impartial suffrage with eve
ry other American citizen in any State
then it follows as an individual conclu
sion that suffrage throughout this ma
tIOn is impartial and universal, so tal
as every human being without regard
to race or color shall be found concern