Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-08-14

AUGUST A. 1865 aaol as'9ss1s ,,,,s
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having then laid'down two INTERPRETATIONS
of the word aetite. it will be certainly wis
dom on the part of the Senate to adopt the
rule established as to common, schools, be-
cause 1t accords with the ordinary accepta-
tion of the word tohite. The eases of Polly
Gray VS.. theState. 9Th Ohio Rep, s353; Will
bams r vs. vs. the School Directors, Weights
fRep 519; Jeffries vs.. Ankenny Undian
case). 1lth Ohio Rep, 372, were decided
without argument, and rest orno authority
save the arbitrary distinction assumed by
the court that the word nluldtto did not em-
brace all shades of color between. black
and white, which is the well known popu-
lar meaning ofthe term. The word is de-
rived from asstlus, a mule, and, defined in
Weoster,s Dictionary to mean "any animal
produced by the mixture of different spe-
cies''-a mohgrel,7 and includes all Che
shades derived from the Spanish refine
ments OF language, to-wit: iquadroon,
tucky, where political rights were de-
MED to people of color, the language "mu-
Iatto'' was employed to designate all shades
mot black. These facts were well known to
the trainers of our old onstitution, and the
action In the Convention proves it. Under
le.11 ochiiDOEldl OTSdulZdtlOn bI6 6WO nu0-
lrreu people of color in Ohio had never
claimed the right to vote under the words
.'free male Inhabitants" used in the Ordi-
dance of 1887, and the debates in the Con-
vention show that the words H"white male
inhabitants" were adopted in the Coustitu-
any such Claim, Judge Burnet, whose au-
thority should be Conclusive, says Of the
old Oonstitution:g gsad IisiAi gnivad s813A
sit seemed also to be understood that it's
phraseology should be SO guarded as, to
show that people of color were not consid-
cred as parties to it.; and that as they had
no agencyin its formation they should
have none in its administration. With that
view they were carefully excluded from
the description of persons recognized as
citizens of the counties who were to be rep
resented In the General Assembly. The
Constitution requires that representation
shall always be in the proportion of, popu-
lation, which was understood to compose
the body by whom and for whom it was
made. "'l hi Ht 4ain 'H1ss
Every county is entitled to representa-
tion in proportion to its number of citizens;
of course those only can be considered as
citizens who are included in the class for
whom representation is provided. Per-
sons of color are not included, and there
fore cannot be citizens. Hence it is that,
in taking the enumeration of citizens, di-
rected by the Constitution, people of color
cannot be included-that tile Legislature
are required to apportion both Senators
and Representatives among the counties,
according to the number of eutite male in
habitants, and that the right of suffrage is
confined to the totite population.
s'Every person who reads the CONSTITUTION
must discover that colored people cannot
be represented in the Legislature and that
they have not and cannot have any agency
in conducting the government, or in max
ing, or administering t the laws. In these
respects they stand on the ground of the
aborigines, who remain in the State, after
they have ceded their lands to the Govern
ment. While they are suffered to continue,
they have right to claim the protection
of the laws of the State, and to be treated
wit. with Justice and humanity, but beyond
that. no claims are secured to them" Notes
on North~estern Territory, PIP. 355, 1856.
This view of the rights of the colored
people is further strengthened by the fact
that, though the Black Laws had been re-
pealcd at the time our new Constitution
was framed, that the Convention used the
words white male citizens of the United
States" in prescribing the qualification of
an elector, with the full knowledge of the
legal Specification attached to the term.
In the celebrated Broad Seal New Jersey
case, in 1910, the committee of Elections in
the House of Representatives, composed of
such men as Truman Smith, of Connecticut,
Randall, of Maine, Fillmore, of New York,
Bolts, of Virginia, and Gov. Frank Thomas,
of Maryland-the latter now a leading
Radical member of Congress unanimously
decided that mulattoes and those having
any visible admixture of black blood were
not white male citizens of the United States
as required by the laws of New Jersey, and
the colored votes were struck out from both
the Wing and Democratic polls without an
objection, in House presided over by such
man as John Quincy Adams.
In the Dred Scott case, 10Th Howard Re-
ports, page 1893, it was decided chat negro
was not citizen of the United States, and
that point was not controverted even by
those who declared the rest of the opinion
obiter dictG. The late President Lincoln,
whose authority should be conclusive on
this subject with the Attorney General, in
/. his reply to Senator Douglas, at Charles
ton, Illinois, says: Judge Douglas has
said to you that he has not been able to get
from me an answer to the question whether
am In favor OF negro citizenship. *** He
shall have no occasion to ever ask it again,
for tell him very frankly that am NOT In
favor of negro citizenship. This furnishes
me an occasion to say a few words on the
subject. l mentioned in certain speech
of mine which has peen printed, that the
Supreme Court had decided that negro
, could not possibly be made citizen, and
} without saying what was my ground of
L
had any ground of complaint, Judge Doug
J las has from that thing manufactured near
ly everything that he ever says about my
disposition to produce an equally between
; the negroes and the white people,. If any
I one will read my speech, he will find L
mentioned that as one of the points decided
in the course of the Supreme Court opin-
p ions, but did not state what objection i
: had to it. But Judge Douglas tells the
people what my objection was when / did
, not tell them myself. Now my opinion is
that the different States have the power to
make negro citizen under the Constitu-
, tion of the United States, if they choose.
The Dred Scott decision decides that they
have not that power. If the State of H.
linois had that power should be OPPOSED
to the exercise of it." Foster and Follett's
debates. p. l56. js -.r. .l.r l..-- ...i .s..a
Why then. insist that the State of Ohio
shall exercise power which the Supreme
Court of the United States holds she does
not possess? The citizenship which Mr..
b Lincoln said State could confer, referred
to State citizenship, which allows aliens to
vote in some of the States before they have
9 taken out their final papers of naturaliZa-
tion. But this confers no rights as citizen
of the United States, and our Constitution
expressly limits suffrage to that class. The
authorities are conclusive as to the inten-
: tion of the original trainers of our old Con-
? stitution to limit the franchise to the white
race, and when the hair-splitting OF our
courts had, by an erroneous decision, de-
feated in measure this purpose, our new
Constitution reaffirms the old idea in lam
guage, which at the time, it was thought
could not be evaded.
Senators, you are called upon under your
Oaths to enforce this true Interpretation of
our Constitution. The rule of a distinct
and visible admixture of AFRICAN blood,