Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-06-19
COLUMBUS, O., FRIDAY MORNING,

OoVernment, or Dy VIGOROUSLY leVylnS
war against it, or adhering to its enemies,
giving them aid and comfort, but who
have not expatriated themselves, nor
have been convicted of any of the crimes
mentioned in the first paragraph of this
article, are hereby restored to the said
right, except the following: Those who
held office, civil or military, for one year
or more, under the organization styled
"The Confederate States of America -
those who registered themselves as enc
mics of the United States; those who
acted as leaders of guerilla bands DUR
ing the late rebellion; those who, in the
advocacy of treason, wrote or published
newspaper articles or preached sermons
during the late rebellion and those who
voted for and signed an ordinance of Sc
cession in any State. No person inclu-
ded in these exceptions shall either vote
or hold Office until he shall have relieved
himself by voluntary writing and sign
ing a certificate setting forth that he ac-
knowledges. the late rebellion to have
been morally and politically wrong, and
that he regrets any aid and comfort he
may have given it; and he shall file a
certificate IN the office of the Secretary
of State, and it shall be published in the
official journal; Provided, That no per-
son who, prior to the first of January,
eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, ia
vored the execution of the laws of the
United States popularity known as the
Reconstruction Acts of Congress, and
openly and actively assisted the loyal
men of the State in their efforts to restore
Louisiana to position in the Union,
shall be held to include among those
herein excepted. Registrars Of voters
shall take the oath of any such person
as a'rima .facie evidence of the fact that
he is entitled to the benefits of this pro-
viso.
ART. 100. Members of the General
Assembly, and all other officers, before
they enter upon the duties of their
offices, shall take the following oath or
affirmation: 81 CA. b. do solemnly
swear Tor afirm) that 1 accept the civil
and political equality of all men, and
agree not to attempt to deprive any per-
son or persons on account of race, color,
or previous condition, of any political
or civil rights, and support the Consti-
tuition and laws of the United States,
and the Constitution and laws of this
State, and that will faithfully and i'm
partially discharge and perform all the
duties incumbent upon me as -,
according to the best of my ability and
understanding. So help me God.'
We publish these articles in full,
without comment. Sweeping disfran-
chisement is made the cornerstone of a
State Constitution. Its extent will be
limited only by the exigencies of the
party in power, and by the vindictive-
ness of accidental rulers. Your knowl-
edge or character, of the working of
election laws, and of the dangerous ten
dencies of political ambition, will deter
mine whether this article, by itself, will
not establish negro domination in this
State. To enforce the obnoxious legis-
lation that will ensue, whatever be the
consequences. the negro has practically
secured the organization of the militia,
by requiring all its officers to take the
"iron-clad" oath. Wide Art. 144.)
Other provisions could be cited to prove
that by this Constitution the negro has
established his supremacy in this State.
We will not argue the question of race
it is not a political question. The Amer
lean people know that the white and
negro races do not rank upon one level
in nature; that legislation can peace
ably no more change the mould and
stamp of nature than it can disturb the
order of creation. The governing in
tellect of the white race has ruled this
country. The white race has never r-yet
entrusted any of its interests to the ne
gro. This determination springs from
no local, sectional, unreasoning preju-
dice. Every State in the Union has
fixed the status of the negro. The free
negro in Ohio and Indiana could not tes-
tify in court in a civil suit in which a
white man was interested as late as 1851
If he can to-day. In Louisiana he
has always been competent witness in
such cases. The Massachusetts law of
17SS, furnishing with Imprisonment and
stripes any negro, without exception,
who committed the offense of residing
sixty days in that State, was repealed
only in 1884. 1t was only in 1868, for
reasons which we pass over, that Mas
sachusetts removed another badge of dis
honor ON account of race, and allowed
the negro the privilege of bearing arms
in her militia. The new Northern
States, moved by the same reasons that
prompted the legislation of the older
States, vigorously carried out
this principle of excluding the
negro from their limits, though
at the same time, they were max
ing strenuous efforts to increase their
population. The laws prohibiting inter
marriage and Withholding the elective
franchise, fixed the negro's status of So
cial and political inferiority. We repeat
that this prejudice is not sectional. The
result of the late elections at the North
are not calculated to hatter the hopes of
any one that the American people have
changed their estimate of the claims and
character of the negro. The popular
will to-day is as it has been ever since
the formation of the Goverment-the
white race must govern the State. When
Legislation has been so uniformly exclu-
sive and unbending, it finds its justifica-
tion in the strong convictions of its me-
cessity, and yet it is proposed that we
shall have for social equals and political
superiors a race that carries on its fore
head the stigma of degradation, stamped
by the Legislation of every Northern
State. Our Governors, our Legislators,
our Judges are to be of that race which,
by your usages, is ostracised from the
lowest grades of human society: The
menials of your households would scorn
to associate with those who are to fill