Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1869-02-23
NEW CONSTITUTIONAL AMEND
MENT,

TIE following is the language of the new
amendment to the Constitution, as lately adopt
ed by the Senate:
ono discrimination shall be made in the
the United States, in the exercise of the cleo,
tive franchise or in the right to hold Office in
any State, on account of race or color, nativ-
ity, property, education or creed"
The proposition which passed the House
was very different affair. That provided
that no one should be excluded from the cleo
tive franchise or the right to hold Office on
account of Grace, color, or previous condition
of slavery" Under the House amendment
any State might have imposed an educational
or property qualification for voting or hold
ing Office. Under the Senate amendmentit
will be impossible, should it hereafter appear
desirable, to get rid of universal suffrage, or
to modify it in any form.
In its effects (says the Richmond Enquirer
the Scnatc's proposition is probably one of
the most important which has ever passed
that body. 1t really revolutionizes the gov
ernmcnt. When the Federal constitution
was framed the leading idea was that tho
general government should only infringe upon
the State governments where it was absolutely
necessary to protect the central authority
All local administration scrupulously left
to the States, and every State maintained in
consequence its individuality and anatomy.
No State, if this proposition becomes part
of the constitution, can even require the pre-
payment of taxes as condition of voting or
holding Office; and negroes Indians, Chinese,
will all be admitted to the privileges without
restriction. How disastrous soever negro suf-
frage may prove, we can never get rid OF it
except by another constitutional amendment;
no matter what numbers Of Chinese land on
on the Pacific coast, all of them will have
the right to vote and hold Office. The latter,
under many discouragements, already mani
fest the strongest disposition to come to this
country; and when more active intercourse
Gas will soon be the casc) is established be-
tween our Western territory and the empire
of China, we may have in brief space one
million, five millions, twenty millions of Chi
ncsc citizens.
Our present political rulers manifest dis
position to pause at nothing; in order to as
sert some transient political sentiment with
regard to the negroes, they subvert the fun
damcutal character of our government, and
invite pcrils that are great enough to alarm
the most sanguine votary of democratic insti-
tutions.
Perhaps the sweeping character Of this
amendment may be the very means Of de-
feating it, either in the House of Represen-
tativcs, or before the Legislatures of the
States; or, perhaps, if it should ever become
the law of the land, it will from its very ex-
treme features be the more easily repealed;
and thus it may be that it suggests the very
door through which we may hereafter escape
from universal negro suffrage.
The very heat of the present era Of politi-
cal and social reform implies a cooling pro-
cess at no distant day and the more bolster
Gus the agitation which is now in progress,
the sooner will the elements rock themselves
asleep. A great day Of reaction is coming
and in America. indeed, in all countries in
this age, events move with startling rapidity
aud We may be much less farther off from a
return to the quiet ways of our wiser ances-
tors than VIC are disposed to hope in the midst
of such tempest.