The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-07


taxation; and for the protection of both tn
poll and the lands, it provides that for Stat
and County purposes the poll tax shall
never exceed two dollars, and that this ia,
shall he equal to the tax on property val
ued at three hundred dollars in cash, thu.
balancing the land against the poll tax, ano
preventing injustice or oppression to either
1t makes the most stringent provisions fo
maintaining State credit.
1t provides for a homestead for every head
of family, and, as far as it was possible t.
do so, secures such homestead against al
debts or obligations.
1t very tenderly provides for the rights OF
married women, 10y exempting all their prop.
erty from the debts of their husbands, and
giving them power, with the assent of the
a9ssahs g esnyey ssnfll propertE ssstliez
It provides for tho poor, for the orphan,
for the deaf and dumb and blind, for the
insane, for idiots and inehriates, and, in fine,
for all who are benighted, wretched and for
lorn.
1t separates from each other the three
great departments of the Government, leg
islative, executive and judicial and it makes
them all dependent on the people as the
only righttul source Of power.
1t provides that every male citizen shall
tons, shall he eligible to office Suffrage
has thus been bestowed upon all. The col
ored man has the same right with the white
man to vote and hold office. do not in
quire whether it was necessary to do this to
accomplish reconstruction. 1t is sufficient
that justice is always a necessity in found
ing governments that are TO operate upon
all, and that without 1T no government can
he expected to endure. The ballot, thus
bestowed upon our recently enfranchised
people, will remain with them. There is no
power that can deprive them of it, without
plunging US into protracted and terrible
civil war. Four millions of human beings
who have once tasted the blessings of free
dom, would not surrender these blessings
without struggle. They would find pow
erful friends here and elsewhere in the
country. Greater calamities and sufferings
than those endured by our people in the
late rebellion would come upon us with such
a struggle, but the result, though long de-
layed, would not be doubtful. Liberty for
all would again triumph. Those who had
provoked "war of races" would disap-
pear from the earth, and their possessions
would pass from their children to the con-
querors. There can be no danger of such
conflict if every one will faithfully submit
to the Constitution and laws, and follow the
IuiuSS IudG MAKE lOT peace anu SOou Will
among the people. The friends of recon-
struction will prevail hereafter, as heretofore,
not only in the State but in the nation, and
the coored people will, therefore, retain
the right of suffrage, and exercise it as it is,
in common with the white race, with no
qualification save that of manhood. There
is no reasonable ground to fear that it will
not operate beneticially for all. The repug-
nance to it, which exists AMONG many of
our people, will gradually subside, when
they shall be convinced by actnal experience
that none of the evils they anticipate have
resulted from it.
This Constitution fellow citizens, must be
administered by its friends and supporters.
The people have so decided. The interests
it guards are too precious to be committed
to any extent to unfriendly hands. Every
office and every employment under the State,
from the. most inferior to the most exalted,
must be filed by the friends of reconstruct
ton and of the new State Constitution. So
far as the Executive is concerned this pur-
pose will be infiexibly maintained, not only
from sense of propriety and justice, but as
Indispensable to full and fair trial of the
principles contained in the new Constitution.
These principles are dear to the friends of
liberty and of The government of the United
States; and no opportunity should be at
forCled to those who are opposed to them to
occupy official positions or to have employ
ments, in which they would be tempted, as
they certainly are disposed, to pervcrt, dis
government must conduct the government in
all its departments. Yet it does not follow
that others will be singled out to he wronged
or oppressed. The people do not Cypress or
wrong any one when they say that certain
persons shall not have office, on account of
their political opinions. Office is privilege,
which may be bestowed or withheld with
out infringing any right. Every citizen of
the State will be free. The laws will be
made for all, and will operate equally upon
all. Every citizen will enjoy, in equal
measure the protection of the Courts. There
will be no social prescription. No effort
will be made to blacken the names of even
unrepentant rebels. as was the case with the
tories of the revolution; but it will be left
to history to assign to their appropriate
places all the actors in the late tragedy of re-
bellion. In fine, those who will conduct the
government are not the enemies of any por-
ton of the people of the State. They desire
to do justice to all, and, as far as may be, to
be the friends of all. If the administration
Of public affairs shall bring peace, prosperity
and happiness, al will share in these bless
ings; if, on the contrary, it shall produce
disorder, and further suffering and misery,
none will be exempt from these calamities.
The Injunction of the Constitution regard.
ing education should be faithfully observed.
Colleges, high schools, Normal schools for
the education of teachers, and public schools
for all, should be established at the earliest
practicable period, and literally sustained
from the public treasury. We should so
conduct our public schools as to render them
superior to all Others of similar kind in
the State, and thus make it the interest, as
we'll as the duty of parents to regard them
as common to all, the rich and the middle
classes as well as the poor. The first duty
of a free State is to educate its children. 1t
cannot he too often repeated that the
and perpetuity of free institutions
depend on the intelligence and virtue of the
people. We must either prepare to educate
thoroughly the rising generation of both
races, or abandon the hope that we shall
continue a free, selfgoverning State. 1t
does not follow, nor dues the Constitution
require, that the white and colored races
shall be educated together in the same
schOnls IT. is believed TO he better for both