Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1869-09-30

The F1leemth Amendment.
AS we suggested last week, the res
olution Of both wings Of the Demo
cratic party at the North to resist thu
Fifteenth Amendment gives a pecu
liar and unexpected importance tt
the political situation. That amend
ment provides that no State shall
iisfranchfse q citizen by reason Of
color, and it Il opposed upon two
grounds fsrss, that the subject should
DO. f.e regulated by the National
Gevgrnnaenss and. second, thai cor
cred citizens ought nof g. fx allowed
se puae In.sn egnnl terms with others.
T'he sone adopted in pressing the
first INFECTION. ~ II there were some
oufrarr In submitting o proper uue--
fion To- the rsssansrv In the ronsiifr-
tsanal manner, Is merely ridiculous.
ssess. sr :. --ssrfT undesirable that riae
conditions al suffrage shoulG I've de-
serTsinea BY the National Govern
rneB:, il l. certainly mot inaproper
fhat the people should be asked to
decide the question III the manner
that they have themselves provided
Consequently the assertion OF the
Ohio Democratic platform that "fhe
attempt 10 regulate suffrage i'm Ohio
nv means Of the so-called Fifteenth
Constitutional Amendment is sub
vcrsive Of the principles of the Fed
era! Constitution" is transparent folly.
The Federal Constitution is the body
OF fundamental laws, to which adj
ditions are made as experience and
reflection suggest. The principle of
the CONSTITUTION, so to speak, is that
1t shall be supreme over all the States
in every particular that shall seem
expedient for the general welfare.
Thus, the Thirteenth Amendment
forbids any State to tolerate slavery;
the Fourteenth secures the equal civil
rights of every citizen Of the United
States in all the States; and the Fiji
feenfh proposes to prohibit unreason-
able Acknowledgement.
Is it desirable, then, that the States
should be allowed to prescribe quail
ification for the suffrage founded up
on color? Unquestionably not, be-
cause nothing is gained by it but the
qualification Of prejudice. Color
does not determine intelligence or
political capacity. The color of the
skin is disqualification as unreason-
able as that of the hair or eyes. More
over, it is disability which, by per-
petuating distinction of casteamong
citizens, forever renews the freshness
of the feelings from which the war
arose. The Pennsylvania Democratic
platform declares that the party in
that State lis opposed to comforting
upon the negro the right to vote" 1t
gives no reason, and how could IL?
How could party which courts ig-
norance, and which does not consider
habitual drunkenness to be valid
bar to the suffrage, offer any plausi-
BILE reason for excluding honest, in
telIigent, sober colored men from tho
polls? 1t is opposed to the voting of
the cOlored citizens because it knows
that the votes Of class which the
Democratic party has done its best to
degrade will naturally be cast against
it. il the colored vote of Pennsyl-
vania and Ohio were sure for that
party, does any observer suppose the
party would object to the voting of
the negroes? II the same vote were
not sure to be thrown against the
party In New York, is 1t supposable
that the Democrats would insist upon
the present inequality Of the suffrage
in this State? The Democratic party
endeavors by every kind of fraud, as
at the last election in New York, to
secure the voting Of the most igno-
rant foreigners, who have, and can
have, no possible knowledge of the
merits or tendency of the issues; is it
conceivable that such party OPP
poses the equal voting of intelligent
native citizens because they are col
ored?
Until this question Is settled there
can be no escape from the old issues;
and the question may be postponed,
but It can be settled In one way only.
No man in his senses can imagine
that this State, or this country, will
finally rest in policy of discrimina-
ton among citizens SO baseless and
infamous as this. A qualification of
residence, Of education, Of familiarity
with the language, Is reasonable and
ineligible, but one Of color is con-
temptible and exasperating. APP
parently the Democratic Convention
this State will declare against the
Fifteenth Amendment, and against
the provision Of the new State Con-
stitution that equalizes the suffrage.
1t will then be for the orderly and
intelligent citizens to determine how
the public welfare is to be promoted
by the success Of party pledged to
perpetuate upon such grounds the
Iineronee that has 80 long and 80