Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-01-14
1elalvare Tribu,re
Thursday, january IA, 1885,
WILMINGTON, DEL, Jan. Z, 1868.
IoN. B. +. BUTLER,


of State governments your doubt whether
more power or more explicit Constitutional
language is needed in that regard and your
regret concerning some of the features of the
Fourteenth Amendment you close with the
query, "What say you?" Taking this ms
permission to further press my views upon
your attention, let me, then say;-
l. | am sure-and understand you to
agree with me-that Congress now has, un-
der Article ", Section 4, of the Constitution
the power and duty Of preventing, in any
State, single step of departure from Re-
publican form of Government. The Ian
guage could not be more explicit that "The
United States shalt guarantee" such gov
4 crnment to every State in this Union.
>. Coming to inquire the meaning of the
term, am equally sure that no State can be
Republican, unless every mature, sane and
law-abidng citizen has full and equal oppor-
tunily to share in its government.
If this definition Is correct, then the logic
1 Of these propositions seems to me conclu-
sive, and to afford no escape. And surely
neither the coolest philosophical reasoning,
nor the warmest of American impulses, can
J lead to u definition of Republic, short of
tii i"~s"aue have used. A Democracy less
broad, less equal, or less just, will never
satisfy the ideal which, consciously or not,
the great people Of this great Republic earn
cstly and faithfully cherish The hour of
its birth mus, come and it be born into per-
feet existence. We are all, this day, sub
santially agreed that our government, in
/ It's aggregtte, and in its separate parts,
must be Republic, and cannot be anything
else. Whoever stops short, or goes beyond,
breaks the Inv of our written Constitution,
rs well rs oilends the great unwritten law
of our political existence. The State which
thus transgresses demands proper,
prompt and effective check, for without ii
where may her career of transgression end ?
The reasoning which leads us thus far is
surely not defective We may define the
II intent Of the Constitution, and discover an
offence against it, but our difficulty is n
practical one, when we come to apply the
i prescribed remedy. There are at this mo-
II mcut objections, conclusive in their charac-
ter, TO the enforcement of the Guaranty
clause, by law of Congress, or through
the exclusion from that body of Senators
and Representatives from un-Republican
n States These objections, which to my
mind answer your doubt as to the necessity
Of more distinct language in the Constitu-
II iiun, are =
|. The poison distilled from the old foun-
tain Of State Pride, has pcrmeatcd all par
~ ties, aid th-i. are even some Republicans
IN who seem to accept a false and dangerous
n ilca instead of the jus. and appropriate mca-
sure of States Rights. (Thcy haue rights,
~ aud important ones, but none which will
81 permit them to enact the injury of Ameri-
ctn cilizenship.) These of our own party
are yet unwilling to consent to, and would
"'-''ti~'@ Ys 49, ""anoli to prevent,
the full success of any measure by which
Congress should proceed to supervise the
suffrage laws Of the States, even though they
could not coatrovert the authority by which
HE step was taken.
.. A law Of Congress may be repealed. -
n Even it it should receive the sanction of tht
Supreme Court-an event upon which nc
clear logic permits us to rely-its repea
4 wonld certainly not be unconstitutional
And iione Congress should deny admission
W lo the Senators from Massachusetts because
III its government was In one or more respects
IN essentially un-Republican, the next Con
H gress would be equally competent to take
contrary view, and admit them.
D. In the nature of things, this great ques
lion must find comprehensive and final is
sue This it can never have in anything 81
shifting as ordinary legislation. An cndur
ns and vital principle must rest upon tn
Sccurest foundation possible.
t. But what is practically as conclusiv
as any of these reasons, is the last objection
The "Fourlcenth Amendment" whic
III was not only the enactment into our high
H cst law OF safeguards against new Rebe
( 3 lions, but was also designed to be a melho
y Of reconsructng the rebel States, is nov
&& adopted. As plan Demonstration, 1t wa
IA fatally defective, from the first. 1t comprt
missed between Absolute Justice and Abst
.&H lutte Outrage. Rejected by the revived reb'
X spirit, it was not less decidedly rejected b
8 the maturcr conclusions of the loyal people
X II died in its birth, and was never used in
single instance to rehabilitatc the shalterc
4@ Commonwealths of the South. Kicke
III aside, thus, by all ; condemned for all III
\f3 useful purpose which il could ever ha,
~ served; the pernicious feature of the Fou
teenth Amendment has nevertheless gon
k along with the good ones, into the Constitl
{T tion. 1t has made obscure that whic
~ was clear. II has failed to strengthen, b
succeeded in injurng. 1t does not stop IL
q leak which threatened to founder the shi
but has opened other seams, previous
" sound and staunch. This batch of unpra
tcal, unrepublican patchwork, conceived
Va the mind of natural tinker, and broug
forth to discredit the craftsmanship of ou
whole party, contains this language
"Section .. Representatives shall be a
portioned among the several States accor
ing to their respective numbers, oountir
the whole number of persons in each Stat
excluding Indians not taxed.] But wht
the right to vote at any election for Il
choice Of electors for President and vi
" lives in Congress, the executive and judic
officers of IL State, or the members of t
r. legislature thereof, is denied to any of
male inhabitants OF such State, being twenl
one years Of age, and citizens of the Unit
States, or in any way abridged except
participation in rebellion or other crime, t
basis of representation therein shall be
duced in the proportion which the numt
of such male citizens shall bear to the VIII,
number of male citizens twenty-one We,
of age in such State"
&c When The right to Uote.....is de,
fd !" " Or in any aUdy abridged ~
These expressions, startling and most
rlous, point plainly to the possibility Il
the individual States may deny or abrd
the Suffrage of their citizens. Here is |