Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-12-04
NO. 81
The Naxt sten.


/ Right glad are we to be informed that
4 among first measures to be brought be-
| fore the approaching Congress viii be
! q constitutional amendment .ordaininR
q uniform rule of suffrage throughout
/ the Republic.
/ Hitherto an American citizens right
/ to his ballot has been determined by the
/ various states. But so great a function
I of government belongs justly TO the
/ United States. Thaddeus Stevens, not
long before his death, proposed to en-
franchise every negro In the nation by
Summer, with a noble eloquencs, has
repeatedly advocated the same summR-
rY method. UnquestiOnably, if Con-
gress had the authority to invade the
domain of state sovereignty so far as to
enact bill for the citizens civil rights,
it has equal authority to enact bill for
bis political rights, But, in order to
silence all oavtl against any alleged un-
cOnstitutionGltty of such a mere con-
gressional act, let Congress itself make
haste to shape the same idsa into con-
stitutional amendment 1t viii then
take very stupid man to doubt tho
constitutionality of the Constitution it.
self.
Under our present system, there are
half dozen different rules of suffrage
in different parts of the country. In
some states there is q qualification Of
property; in others, none; in some, a
Qualification of intelligence; in others
none; in some, qualification OF colors
In others, n0nes Instead of these glaE-
) ing INEQUALITIES, there ought to be from
Maine to California, Uniform Suf-
frage. just as there is a Uniform Curren-
cy. Nay, the Government ought to
have attended to the suffrage first, and
the currency afterward; but, although
our forefathers in their poverty, dedi-
Gated this country to liberty, yet we,
Al ErI1 FGu IL
ne of money first, and the value OF men
Taking North and South together,
there are sixteen states which possess
the boon of negro suffrage. ALI the
others are still without 1t. But why
should one state exclude from the ball
lot-box a certain class of citizens, and
another state invite to it exactly the
same class? Such arbitrary capriceis un-
statesmanlike, ,disgraceful, and pitiable.
It bewilders foreign nations into doubt
ing the equity of democratic institutions
and staggers all the world into belief
that republics are not only ungrateful
but unjust.
The fourteenth amendmeDt-Which
Congress offered to the South as the
basis of reconstruction, and on which
eight Southern states have been already
readmitted-was a Well-meant step in
the direction of Justice to the negro.
But this much-lauded amendment fails
to secure the very settlement which 1t
aimed to fix forever; for this same
amendment-which many persons inno-
Gently regard as having already p ced
the negro's rights on q rock of adaLIant
that cannot be shaken-neVerthele
permits any southern state to disfran-
chise its black citizens, whenever the
state shall be willing merely to omit
them from it's basis of representation
This puts the political rights of the
Southern negro into the hands
of the Southern white! What is
the consequence? A shepherd once de-
Iivered sheep from the VOLTS teeth,
and then proceeded to butcher it,
Whereupon the sheep exclaimed, Il
saw YOU deliver me from the wolf; and
now / see YOU act the wolf yOurselfP'
This is exactly like rescuing the negro
from the STAKEHOLDER, to give him back
to the rebel.
sidered as a measure in the interest Of
the negro, stops far short of equity
The time has now come to supplement-
its fucompleteness by a more bOuntiful
provision of absolute justice.
With Joy and rejoicing, we learn that
Gen. Grant heartily favors the propos-
ed new amendment; and that, without
waiting to be President, he will use his
influence as President-elect to urge it
through Congress. IF he shall fulfill
this cheerful hope, he will earn for him
self something like the affectionate
gratitude which the nation pays to the
unforgotten author of the great Act of
characterization. Such an amendment,
giving suffrage TO a1iloyRl men in the
land, without distinction OF color or
race, will take rank among the most il
lustriOus acts of human history. God
prosper it to a speedy adoption IN. Y.
Independent.