Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1869-03-24
REM
OF 9hE
HON. RUSSELL ERRETT,
Senator from Aiiegheny County. o'

Fifteenth Constitutional Amendment,
In the Senate 1hmrsday, March llth, 1868
Mr. Speaker when the majority OF thi
body consulted tugethe aud resolved TO pu
this resolution through 10 Its third reading
| IA night. aud agreed, IN order TO attain
that euu without tall, To refrain from taking
part III the discussion, II was not becaus
they were ashamed OF their cause or afrait
10 discuss IT, but because. III order TO secure
It's eaiiy passage, prudence dictated ina
scu slo !, on tnI part, should be post
pon.u until the TesuiU non was completel.
under tnelr control On its tiiai passage.
Ii any Justification had been needed to-
their action IL was toaud IN the weak, himsl
augmentation that characterized all tht
speeches on the other side-Ihe utter absence
1 may say, oI anything Ilsiug TO the dignity
OF AN argument Certainly no answer wa:
needed To auy logic used last night, Tor none
was used and the fact that when the ma
jority courteousiy yielded to the Senator
from Cieartieid All extension OF time beyond
his halt hour, he repaid the courtesy by an
Insulting fiiug at those who had just shown
their generosity toward him, knowing We
were cut of from reply by the expiration OF
the time fixed for terminating the debate,
aud the additional fact that the Senator from
1
ator from Ciearheid, broke out into hOarse
cries for .'the orders OF the day." showed
conclusively that the gentlemen on that side
feared nothing 50 much, at that time, as an
answer IRON this side, aud that they knew
| full well we were fully prepared with an an-
swer that would in a few minutes have rid
died the sophistries of the Senator from
Clearield.
Tue gentlemen on that side were very
| bold, IN the early part ofthe evening; they
! dared Us to discussion they taunted US with
our silence and challenged us to the combat !;
| yet. when the time came that the answer
they had been challenging was apparently
ready, they shrunk from the combat, and
skuiked like towards behind the orders OF
the day" We were silent in the early part
OF the evening, because it served our pur
pose to be so, just then, and their courage
was Of the most exalted kind, as long as they
thought we would not strike back but as
soon as they thought they saw a hand raised
for Counter blow their courage oozed out
at their tingaIs' ends, and all their affected
horror OF gag law could not keep them from
resurtIug to II to save themselves from the
answer they had been challenging. Like
parcel OF boys they kept crying out all night
''uare ye dare ye YET turned tail and
run, On the first show OF resistance.
a repetition OF the stale and oft exploded
arguments that have been retailed here,
session after session, ever since 1850. 1t ha-
nI,nerIo been comprised IN the cry OF mig
ger uigger nIgser We have all heard
/, So .. ten th-t We ca always te beforehand
Wuat The range OF sucn discussion Is gong
tu be. 1t Is the sole stock III trade of the
Democratic party. If 1t had no prejudices
tu appear To, It would lose The breath of Its
iIie.
\ ct | could not hel observing, last night,
that that there has been manifest improve
ment III the tone vi our Democratic friends
Oar coiored citizens were negroes, last
night. Instead of ''niggers, as heretofore
the party bas at last learned to spell that
word with Que K Instead of two !; and the
poor AFRICAN who, only last year or the year
ueiure, was IN the estimation ot the Senf tor
from CiearIieid, vile, degraded being, only
viIe step aUoyc a baDoun, has since so risen
iu tile scale OF human excellence as to ext0rt
from that Senator the confession that he is
wiling 10 acknowledge and recognize his
ua,uia Al rights As a man.
This is indeed progress-a progress as great
as that evluced uy the Senator from Fayette,
who, iasi year, made the mountains OF his
district ecuu with Ills denunciatiOns of the
Chicago Platform, Yet last night endorsed
hear,ii. the suffrage plank OF that platform.
Ihe u, mocratlc party, | am sure, is vel
cuuie Cu uur cast-otf clothes; but il would be
much better Ii 1t would take bold stride,
at oncc, lne tTout rank, and stanl up
niahIuiy iur human rights, as all true Dem
ucia ought 10 do.
This Improved tone O.. our Democratic
frIcuds to tne African Is certain y hopeful
indication TO the cniored race. They oppose
this amendment now, bitterly yet, as soon
"a it is adopted, have no doubt we shall
find them courtlng the negro vote assiduous-
iy Ii they had been Aboiitionists from the
year one. and doing II with that utter abne-
gallon OF the past which characterized their
southern Democratic brethern last year. who
he'd cuiured Democratic mass meetings.
gave coiored Democratic barbecues, appeal
ed to the negroes as political Drethern, and
lavlshcd upon them every political art to
obtain their votes. Down in Georgia and
Alabama negro is as good a white man, in
Democratic eyes, If he votes the Democratic
ticket, and why not III Pennsylvania Down
there they have got over dread of ne
gro equality, aud have no doubt it will be
the same IN this State when the fifteenth
amendment becomes a part of the supreme
law OF the land. We shall have, in five
years from now, to get up affidavits to prove
that Democrats voted against giving them
horrors as sure to follow their exercise of iJ.
The argument OF the Senator from Clear
field aud his Democratic colleagues against
this amendment may be briefly summed up
thus:
l 1t is unconstitutional to amend the
Constitution.
2. The people are the only ones who can
amend 1t.
3. The right of suffrage is not natural
but political right, and therefore the negro
is not entitled TO 1t.
4. This State has always refused to recog-
nize the negro's rights and therefore should
continue to do so. And
3. Ii degrades one race to elevate another.
OF these in their order.
|. LIZ is unconstitutional. say they, to |
amend the Coust tuition This has been |
tavorite Democratic argument. You must |
not change that instrument. they say, from
the spirit or its original conception, because
you have no power under it but what it gives |
you. 1t this were true, there could bh no
such ihtng as progress, no such thing as |
adapting yoIr Constitution to the changing /
wants aud circumstances of the nation. Lit |
must remain uua. tered and unalterable. |
like the laws oi the Medes and Persans,
and rhe United States of 1887 be no further
advanced than the United States of 1897, |