The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-26
Tho Fifteenth Amendment.

OK the 1lth of March the State Senate passed
9 joint resolution ratifying the proposed IF
teenth amendment to the Constitution Of the
United States, the vote being strict party
one-18 yeas to 15 nays. The House of
Representatives yesterday concurred in this
action, by vote of 81 yeas to % nays, and the
fifteenth amendment is therefore the law of
the land, as far as It can be made so by the
action of Pennsylvania. This action by our
State Legislature will assuredly receive the
hearty endorsement of large majority of the
people Of the State. Simple justice demanded
the amendment, and common deoency forbids
that the people should repudiate the action Of
their representatives in oonsenting to its ratif-
cation. The number of persons to be affected by
the measure In this State is comparatively
insignificant. According to the census of 1860
the entire population OF the State was 1906
215, Of whom 2,s49, ,259 were whites, 56,S49
blacks, and Indians. At the same date the
oity of Philadelphia had a population OF
566,529, of whom 543, ,344 were whites, and
22,l85 blacks. This gave one negro to every
twenty five whites In the city, and one to
every fifty in the State at large. Assuming
that the oolored element of our population
has increased as rapidly as the white
element since 1860 - which is far
from being the case--the vote cast for Audi
tor-General in October last would indicate an
increase in the voting population of the city
by about 1850, and In that of the State by
about 19, ,O6O, which does not amount to much
in total of over $50, 900, but is quite suhi-
oient, of course, to throw our Democratic
friends into paroxysm Of mingled disgust
and dismsy.
II is not necessary to recount here the tribu-
lations through which the proposed amend
meat passed before it assumed the milk-snd-
water shape in which it secured the assent Of
both houses of Congress-. Fearful that another
reference of the conflicting propositions Of the
two houses to conference committee would
prevent its submission to the State Legsla-
latures in any shape, before the fourth OF
March witnessed the disappearance of the
two-thirds Republican vote in the House OF
Representatives, the most jealous friends of
equal and impartial justice in Congress
thought 1t wise to assent to the conference re-
port which was submitted on February %,
lust one week before the close of the session.
AS dootored up by the conference committee,
the proposed amendment then read as fol-
lows:--
"Sect.on ]. The right of citizens OF the United
States TO vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the United STATES, or by any state, on sc
count OF raoe. color. or previous condluon of
''Seotion 2. The Congress shall have power To
enforce this article by appropriate legislation"
On the 25th of February, the House of Re
presentatives adopted the report of the con
ference committee by vote of 143 yeas TO 43
nays; and the Senate, on the following day,
took similar action by a vote of 80 yeas to l3
nays, Senator Fowler, of Tennessee, of un
savory impeachment memory, casting mega
tive vote with the twelve Democratic Sena-
tors, because he regarded the amendment, in
its present shape, as imperfect and unequal to
the exigenoies Of the times.
Kansas was the first State to give its assent
to the proposed amendment, which it dill on
the 9th of February, the vote in the State
Senate being unanimous, AID in the House
standing Cd yeas to only nays. West Vir-
ginia, the first fruit of the great pro-slavery
Rebellion, as Kansas had been the scene of
the opening conflicts, was the second State to
ratify the amendment, which its Legislature
did on March 3. On the same day, the Assem-
bly, Of Wisconsin ratified it, the Senate of
that State concurring on March s. On this
day, also, the Legislatures of Illinois aud
Michigan wheeled into hae. The Senate of
Maine likewise ratified the amendment ON
March 5, but the House did not concur until
March IL, the same day witnessing the aflirma-
live action of both branches of the LeUislatpra
of South Carolina and that of the PennsvI.
vania Senate. On March l6 the recon.
stEuoted Legislature of Arkansas gave it's
assent, as also did the lower house of the
Georgia Legislature. But on March Is the
Georgia Senate, through the treachery Of
two or three of the Republican members, re-
jeoted the amendment and on the same day
the Senate of the mighty sovereign State Of
Delaware dropped the divorce business long
enough to enter its indignant and almost
unanimous protest. On March II the lowel
house OF the Legislature Of New York gave ar
Affirmative response, and then, on March 25
name the Pennsylvania Senate, completing the
action of this State by its assent. Thes,
twelve States are the only ones which hav,
thus far taken vote on the amendment, thei
action being summed up in the following
RATIFICATIoNs.
Kansas. reu.
Waat Virgin Marcu
wisconsin Starou
Illinois arsh