The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-16
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1868.
Universal Suffrage by Constitutional
Amendment.

Congress al the approaching session, Will be
ore looking 10 the amendment Of the Federal
Constitution in such way that the right of
suffrage will be secured to all men throughout
the length and breadth of the land, without
any regard to the color of their skins or the
comparative sensitiveness of their shin-Oones.
In other words, it is proposed to dispose at
Onoe and for ever Of the vexatious suffrage
question by so amending our fundamental law
as to specify clearly and unmistakably the
Glasses which are to be entitled to the fran
chise, or to place in the hands of Congress the
sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the subject
In all likelihood the movement will ASSUME
the former bearing, and the proposed amend
ment will explicitly declare that the ballot
is an inherent right of manhood, coordinate
with the other rights which are enumerated in
the Declaration of Independence as 'inaliena-
ble." AS matters now stand, but few of the
most extreme men who act with the Republi-
can party dispute the claim of the States to
regulate the franchise within their own limits,
without dictation or interference by Congress-
The case of the States which engaged in the
nefarious attempt to destroy the life of the
nation, 1t is generally conceded, does not come
within the scope of this principle, Congress
having acquired jurisdiction over the suf
irage question in reference to them by
virtue of that constitutional provision
which requires 'the United States"-
meaning Congress and the executive branch
of the Government, if it mean anything at all
to guarantee to every State in the Union
q republican form Of government" But if a
black man be entitled to a vote in Rhode Island
or South Carolina he is certainly, according
to the common sense view of the case, entitled
to the same privilege in Pennsylvania or Mary
land. Yet, while the franchise is regulated
and controlled by each State for itself, this
uniformity, which is so desirable, will for
years remain impracticable, since the preju-
dice of color will continue to linger in SONS
benighted corners of the country, long after
the last vestige of it has disappeared from
others.
So much for consistency and uniformity,
but whenever we come down to the inherent
Justice involved in the issue, We maintain, as
we have long done, that the color of a mans
skin should not have anything more to do
with his political privileges than with his right
to breathe the air OF heaven and enjoy unmo-
lested the fruits of his own toll For this reasen'
as we'll as for the sake of consistency aud uni
formity, we should rejoice at any practicable
solution ofthe pending question. Beyond all
doubt, the most practicable of all Imaginable
solutions would result from the adoption Of
such an amendment as is proposed-either the
incorporation of the doctrine of uni ver5al SUIT
frage in the Constitution ITSELF or the cloth
ing of Congress with exclusive jurisdic-
tion over the subject. Continued and syste-
matte opposition to the principle involved in
this issue can spring only from lingering
adherence to the pernicious doctrine of State
sovereignty, which was the curse of the ma
tion from its foundation up to the attack on
Fort Sumter, and from that day forward the
entering wedge which came near resulting iu
its disruption. AS opponents Of the pro
slavery dogma of State sovereignty, and of all
its infamous offshoots, therefore, if for no
other reason, We advocate the adoption OF such
an amendment to the fundamental law of the
land as will either remove the suffrage ques-
tiOn forever from the arena of politics by
final and impartial settlement, or will consign
it to Congress, where it properly belongs.
Yet, desirous as we are of seeing one or the
other of these results brought about, we can.
not conceal from our readers the doubts OF its
success at the present time which We are
forced to entertain. As the political complex
ion of the lower house of the Fortieth Con-
gress now stands, the Republican majority
will fall little below two-thirds, and oOnse-
quently, if the proposed amendment, in either
shape, is to be submitted to the Legislatures
of the States, according to the forms provided
in the Constitution, it must be done by the
present Congress, which has still three
months lease Of power, and the Republican
preponderanoe requisite to accomplish
the object in view. But, even il
Congress should, at the approaching
session, perform its portion OF the work, the
proposed amendment would still have to en-
counter the ordeal of the State Legislatures, 8
ratification by three-fOurths Of the number
being requisite. When we look over the lis
of States, from Alabama to Wisconsin, we are
inclined to the belief that the dream of uni
versal suffrage through the instrumentality o
q constitutional amendment is not destined Il
witness a very speedy fulflment Indeed, o
the twenty -one Northern States we can coun
with certainty only on the following
- Maine, Rhode Island,
New Hampshire, Iowa, and
Vermont, Minnesota.
Mossachuaatt