Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-21
OOERCING STATES INTO RATTFYING
AMENDMENTS.

ratifying such amendments as the
may propose to tlseonstitution O
the United States. This is the Rad
ical idea of a government by con.
sent. When the bill TO reconstruc
Virginia, Mississippi and Texas
came to the Senate from the Hous
OF Representatives on the 9th inst.
Mr.. Morton, Of Indiana, offered al
amendment providing that befor,
these States should be entitled t.
representation in Congress, the,
should ratify the proposed fifteenth
amendment to the constitution O
the United States. Mr.. Thurman
OF Ohio, said of this proposition
- "This is not 4 question that cons
Germs Virginia, Mississippi ant
Texas alone; it is a question thai
concerns every State in the Union
whether the proposed fifteenth
amendment shall be part of the
constitution of the United States
Now, what is proposed to be done
The power given to Congress is
simply power to propose amend
ments, and when Congress has exc
cuted that power it is functuS o6ici0,
as the lawyers say; it has no right
whatsoever to coerce the States into
action on them. The States are en-
titled TO their free and unbiased
Judgment upon the proposition that
Congress is authorized to submit.
The power of Congress is at an end
when it has made the proposition.
But now the Senator from Indiana
proposes that Congress shall not
onl y propose an amendment to the
constitution, but that Congress shall
coerce three States into the adOp-
tion of that amendment, not for
themselves alone, but for every
State in the Union; that they shall
force that constitutional amend
ment, not simply upon Virginia,
Mississippi and Texas, but upon
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois as well,
whatever may be the opinion of the
three last named States. When you
coerce Virginia, Mississippi and
Texas to put this article in the con-
stitution of the United States, to
vote for it as a part of the constitu.
ton of the United States, you do
not coerce them alone. You coerce
Ohio, you coerce Indiana, you CO
cree every State whose people are
unwilling TO adopt the amendment" =
There was 4 number of Republi-
can Senators who conceded with
Mr.. Thurman that the wrong was
not confined to the States of Vir.
ginia, Mississippi and Texas, but
that it was an act of coercion
against all the States that refused
to ratify the amendment. 1t is very
evident, says the Savannah RepuJ-
licaR, that if the amendment should
become a part of the constitution
through the votes of States that
Congress has ordered to ratify un-
der a penalty for their refusal, it
can never stand before a judicial
tribunal that is not wholly subs
servient TO Congress. A constitu-
tiOnal amendment in the matter of
its validity stands pretty much in
the light of a contract at law, and
is subject to the same conditions,
Nyiz There must be q party able to
contract; he must be willing TO
contract, and he must actually con-
tract. All of these conditions must
be fully met before a contract can
he considered valid in law. In the
case under consideration, not one of
them is complied with. If Vir-
ginia, Mississippi and Texas are
not States, or being States are not
in full fellowship with the Union,
they can take no part in framing or
modifying the fundamental law; in
other words, they are not parties
able to contract. As regards the
second condition, it is so manifest
that the States named are unWil-
ling TO change the constitution in
the respect indicated by the pro
posed amendment, that it would be
a work of supererogation TO argue
it. The very fact that Congress has
found it necessary to require the
adoption of the amendment, and to
prescribe 4 penalty for failure or re-
fusal, in conclusive. A perform
b anee of the third condition is i'm
possible under the premises laid
down. 1t is, therefore, evident 10
our mind that the fifteenth amend
ment, if adopted, will be null aud
void in law, as will also be every
act Of legislation that claims the
amendment as authority. The same
NAV also be said Of the fourteenth
amendment, already claimed to bC
q part Of the constitution of thC
United States. Neither can stand
for an hour under the test Of al
honest judicial investigation. 1t il
true, a corrupt and cowardly Su
preme Court, such as we have a
present, may abdicate jurisdiction
and in a string of fsnfaronade abou
political laws, as weak As it is con
temptible,. leave the legislative de
partment free to overthrow tn
States and the liberties Of thepeo
pie; but it is evident that no gov
eminent thus founded on force an