The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-09-01
Rirlrlltoltd Dispatfh.. J.
1.1-rsn.y SEPTEMBER i, 1868.
The Howard Amendment.


civic &c executory." They are those when N
are 70 be executed hereafter" a consul
+,t;onal amendment seems to be " execu-
.nrvsn in it's nature. 1t does not operole
from, the instant of it's ratification, although
il becomes at once q part OF the Con ns'"
ton. The HOWARD amendment is no e.,
cention to the general rule we haSe ia'u
down. Leaving out Of view the argumsA
TINT Virginia is not yet recognized as
"sta.e,, and that, therefore, her 0inoe.s
are not affected by the amendment 9 gAnoe
.. tho amendment itself and at existing
soo,s NIL, show that Judge UNDERWOOD
,-os wrono in his effort to displace our OH
.:a,. on1 Generals SLOVENIAN and ScHo-
r,r, = right in refusing to listen to his COM
-1a;,ts Let us see what the HOWARD
amendment is. We quote:
asEcr1oN |. All persons born or natural
ICED in the United States and subject 10 tne
jurisdiction thereof are citizens OF the UNI
ted States and of the State wherein they re-
side. No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges OF
;mmunities of citizens of the United States !,
nor shall any State deprive any person Oh
life. liberty, or property, without due pro-
ces of law, nor deny to any person WITHIN
its jurisdiction the equal protection OF 'he
laws" .f*a# - ,..-,..... .....~..
This is quite indefinite. 1t is evident
however, that, according to Radical IDEAS
there are several States which are account
ed "loyal" that are now enforcing laws IN
direct violation of this section. But Let
that pass. Here is
asEcrtoS 2. Representatives shall be
apportioned "wong the several states ac-
cording to their respective numbers, count
ing the whole number of persons IN each
State, excluding Indians not taxed. But
when the right to vote at any election LOT
the choice Of electors for President and
Vice President of the United States, repre-
sentatiyes in Congress, executive ana judi
cial officers of State, or the members OF
the Legislature thereof, is denied to any OF
the male inhabitants of such States being
twenty-one years of age and citizens OF the
United States, or in any way abridged
except for participation in rebellion o.
other crime, the basis of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion
which the number of such male citizens
shall bear to the whole number of male
citizens twenty-one years Of age IN such
State"
If any part of the HOWARD amendment
operates instantly, this second section does
Yet Kentucky, Maryland, and West Vir-
ginia, all deny to negroes the right to vote
at any election, and no one has proposed to
exclude from the House of Representatives
any one of the members from those States
A number of the northern States also de-
prive negroes of this right, but the number
of negroes in any one Of them is probably
not large enough to cause it to lose repre-
sentative. Such, however, is not the case
in Kentucky and Maryland. The former
has some 100000 negroes, and Maryland
over 10 900. If, then, the HOWARD amend
ment of it's own vigor operates the exclu-
sion of disqualified persons from office in
Virginia, it must also operate the exclusion
of at least two of the Kentucky and one OF
the Maryland members of the House of
Representatives. If this amendment takes
instant effect in Virginia, it takes instant
effect in every State of the Union. But
this is not all. The third section, which is
the only one that the carpet-baggers and
scalawags are particularly anxious to
see enforced, is as follows:
"SECTIoN 3. No person shall be sena-
tor or representative in Congress, or elector
of President and VicePresident, or hold
any office, civil or military, under the United
States or under any State, who, having pre-
yiously taken an oath as a member of Con-
gress or as an officer of the United States,
or as member Of any State Legislature, or
az an executive or judicial officer of any
State, to support the Constitution Of the
United States, shall have engaged in insur-
rection or rebellion against the same, or
given aid and comfort to the enemies there
Of. But Congress may, by vote of two
thirds Of each House, remove such disa-
bility."
Now, as we have just said, if the validity
Of the acts of our State officers may be
questioned because they would not bt
qualified to hold their places should this
section be made operative in Virginia, thu
validity of the acts Of hundreds of officials
in Maryland, Kentucky, and even, we sup
pose, in New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl
vania, and other northern States, may ais
be questioned for there can be no doub
that there are many persons in office il
those States who gave aid and comfort t.
the "rebels" during the war. But the
fact is that the acts Of our State officers will
never be questioned in court except b.
some such ass as UNDERWOOD for thei
official acts will be valid as long as the,
shall hold their positions. As we have
quoted so large part of the amendment
We will add the other two sections:
"SEcrIoN 4. The validity of the public
debt of the United States authorized BY
law, including debts incurred for paymen
Of pensions and bounties for services il
suppressing instruction or rebellion, shall
! not be questioned. But neither the United
States nor any State shall assume or pay
any debt or obligation incurred in aid Of
insurreotion or rebellion against the United
States, or any claim for the loss or enamel.
patton of any slave; but all such debts
obligations, and claims, shall be held ille
gal and void.
" SECTION 5. The Congress shall have
power to enforce by appropriate Legislation
the provisions Of this article
Section fifth, it will be seen, clearly indi
Gates that the amendment was not expected
TO execute itself; but on the contrary that
If ratified, it would be carried out by " an.