The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1869-03-05
THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

Houses of Congress, the constitutional
amendment is now passed finally
The text of the bill is as follows:
Be IL resolred, &C., Two-thirds of both
! Houses concurring, that the following
amendment to the Constitution of the
| United States be submitted to the leg
/ islatures of the several States, and when
ratified by ythree-fourths thereof, it shall
be part of said Constitution.
/ Art. 15.-The right of the citizens of
/ the United States to vote shall not be
/ denied or abridged by the United
/ States or by any State on account of
! race or color, or previous condition of
/ servitude.
Sec. ?. The Congress shall have pow
er to enforce this article by appropri-
ate legislation.
1t viii now go out to the legislatures
of all the states for ratification. The
approval of thfee-fourths of them is
requisite. This will require the radi-
calls to control twenty-eight State leg
islatures. They have at this time not
more than twenty six in their power,
and of these, there are several which
cannot now be fully relied on to adopt
the amendment. The radicals in Ne
vada will not ratify unless they have
the assurance that Congress shall so
! exercise the power conceded in the
second section, as to exclude the Chi
nese from suffrage.
And now this measure which yields
to the general government complete
and exclusive control over the entire
/ question of the qualification of voters,
comes before the Pennsylvania legisla-
ture for ratification. 1t robs, in one
sweeping line, every state of the T.
nion of the dearest privilege which it
can own. Without this power over
/ the question of suffrage, the States will
cease to exist as members Of the Amer
lean Union, and become mere provin-
ces subject to the authority Of the gov
ernment at Washington. 4 national
registry law will follow rapidly on the
heels of this ratification, and sWarms
Of federal officers will take the places
of the local assessors, just as the govern
ment collectors and assessors of reve-
nue. usurp the places Of the old State
officers. This amendment will not
leave to the State legislatures the poor
/ privilege Of fixing the times and pla-
ces Of holding elections, Congress eX-
ercising complete power over every
subjec pertaining thereto. 1t is need
less to argue that this amendment will
subject the people Of Pennsylvania to
the power of strangers in the manage
ment of their domestic affairs. The
carpet-bag governments of Florida and
Arkansas, such rotten borough States
as Kansas, Minnesota, and Nevada,
and breeches pocket States like Yer
mont, New Hampshire and Rhode Is
land, are relied on by the radicals to
impose this measure of iniquity upon
the great States of New York, Penn
sylvania and Ohio, possessing ten times
the population. When the act of des-
pot ism shall be accomplished, the rep
resentatives in Congress from these
| petty States will have it in their pow
er to prescribe the very conditions of
existence to the great States.
In Pennsylvania, it is by no means
cert ain that this amendment will be
adopted 1t will have to be done now,
for 10 succeeding legislature will be
entrusted by the people with the power
to transfer their rights to the general
government. If the present legisla-
ture ratify it, the act Will be as fraud
/ fuI an exercise Of power as radicalism
has yet ventured on. Its members
! w ere not chosen with reference to the
question of this important amendment.
Many of them owe their seats to stur-
/ dy denials that the subject of suffrage
would be agitated. If they shall dare
now to support this amendment,
they will stand self-convicted of trea-
son to their constituents, and Of the
violation of the most solemn duties
they owe as representatives. Every
member of the legislature who shall
vote to ratify this Amendment, will
vote to invite the people of the
rest OF the States TO meddle in the
most delicate and important con-
Germs of Pennsylvania. He will sol
emnly vote to deprive her of the rights,
power and dignity which she has al
ways possessed in the government
By his vote he deliberately proposes to
subvert the present form of govern
ment by taking from the States high
prerogative which they were careful to
retain in the Constitution. If the
proposition now made had been sub.
mitted to the Convention of 1897, it
would have been impossible to form a
Union of the States. Every citizen
who has studied the early history Of