Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-02-25
Constitutional Amendment.
REMARKS OF HON. ]. M. BROOMALL,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,

On tnc JOINT resolution IN. IL. NO. fU2) pro
posing an amendment to the Constitution
Of the United States.
Mr.. BRooMALL Mr.. Speaker, In the de
bate upon n bill introduced by myself at til,
last session OF Congress, providing for uni
versal suffrage, gave my views at length
upon that subject. Those Views may be
stated in short thus: every person owing
allegiance to the Government and not undel
the legal control of another should have m
oqua. voice in making and administering the
laws, unless debarred for violating those
laws; and in this | make no distinction ol
wealth, intelligence, race, family, or sex. II
just government is founded upon the con.
sent of the governed, and it the established
mode of consent is through the ballot box,
| fragc can in no sense 6e held as conseaiing,
| and the Government which withholds that
| right is as to those from whom IL is withheld
no just Government.
The proposition before the House is so to
change the Constitution Of the United States
that no State shall hereafter discriminate
among citizens OF the United States with re-
spect to the right of suffrage on account of
family or race. This, though not going to
the e:tcnt which desire, is great stride in
the right direction, and therefore il COM
mands my most hearty support.
Ii is no argument against inserting this
provision IN the Constitution that we have
already the power to effect the same thing
by legislation. Laws may be repealed, and
1t is not advisable that so important prin-
ciple of republican government should be
left to the capriccs of party. Its proper
place is in the organic law.
A bill providing for impartial suffrage in
hn bau
the same committee, and is now pending
before the House. 1t is alleged that there
is Inconsistency In the same Congress pro-
posing the amendment and passing the bill,
both having the same object. This is d
mistake, because, first, the bill is intended to
produce Immediately the same result which
1t may require the amendment several years
to accomplish and second, II is cminently
right and proper that al these who arc in
tended To be affected by the amendment
should have an Equal voice in its adoption
or rejection. ] shall therefore support the
bill, as well as the proposed amendment.
IL is interesting and instructive to trace
the progress Of the great party which is
carrying into practical operation The cher
islicd dreams ot our fathers, step by step,
toward the cOnsummaiion of its holy pur-
poses. II began less han fifteen years ago.
carry their huniap ehatlels into the Terrific
rics against tho viii of " majority of the &c.
cupants. In 1860 ii declared not that slavery
was illegal, hut thai it could only exist by
virtue Of Safe laws and within the States
whose laws recognized il.
Then came the rebellion aud ii Is huml-
iating to remember that in its carly stages
black men who had deserted thcirrebel mas
ters in order not BIZ compelled to abel lrea-
son, and had sought the Federal camps to
tender their lecLle aid to the Government
to which they owed so little, were arrested
by men wearing the uniform of the nation
and sent back to their masters to be scourg-
ed. But this could not long continue; and
the next step, treating these poor fugitves
still as chattcls confiscated them as contra
bands of war aud employed them in menlal
services about the camps.
Next came the proclamation of emancipa-
ti0n, which was worthy OF him who issued
it,and this is saying much, and which shock
ed the nerves OF gentlemen of nice conscrva-
tive stnsibiliics by declaring all slaves with
in the rebel lines free. Soon followed the
amendment to the Consultation by virtue of
which the footprint of no slave shall ever
again be found upon American soil. About
this time il was suddenly discovered that the
negro could fight, and the uniform of the
nation was placed upon his limbs and its
arms in his hands. In the fore front of the
battle circumstance gave him the courage of
desperation. He knew that for him capture
was death, and he did fight let the history
of the country tell how calamity. 1t was
not to he wondered ut that at times he rtflls-
ed the quarter whicA he knew he never could
receive. To have done otherwise woyld
hayc proved him either more or less than
human.
The armiug of The blacks tolcd the knel
of the rebellion, and in 1865 its last armed
forces surrendered. Then came II period
fransht with more danger to the cause of
human progress than any since the firing
upon Fort Sumptcr. A generous victor
might have been lullcd into false security
by show OF submission and repentance, and
the rebels might have gained by political
strategy all they lad lost in war except their
slaves, and these they might have put under
an iron rule compared with which enslave-
mcnt would have been mercy, but au ac-
cidenlal and fiithless Executive became an
unconscious instrument of good. That man,
the living cyempliticatOn of the declaration
that Gud hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
stimulated the conquered rebels imperiOusly
to demand rights instead of graciously ac-
ccpiin. iayors. The result was the recon-
struction of the South upon the basis of i'm
partial suffrage. Thus far is written history.
Frequently in the progress of those great
events, the patriot heart dcspaired, and
cried ont, GLOW long, Oh, how long." But
in all that time there was taken no step
backward, and we shall never know that
any advance was delayed beyond the period
when it could be safely made.
The measure now before the House is ne
ccssary to the complete fultilment Of what
has gone before it. To hesitate now is to
put in peril all we have gained. Lei this,
too, pass into history rs an accomplished
fact. Let it be followed, in due course of
time, by the last crowning act of the series
An am 'ndment to tbs Constitution secur-
ing 10 ull citizens of full aye, without regard
to sex, an equa! voice in making and nd
minis ering the laws under which they live,
to be forfeited only for crime. Then the
great mission Of the party in power will be
fulfilled then will have been demonstrated
tAc capgcity of man for self-fiovcrnment
then IL just nation, founded upon the full
and free consent of its citizens, will be no
longer dream of the optimist.
-
(iullpn R,Ear tha rayno outlou, ba,r,J