The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-31
The Fifteenth Amendment.
The Law Of the Land.
The Action of the State Legislatures
Effect of the Amendment
on the Vote of this City
and the State.
Etc, ETC.. ETC.. ETC., Etc.

rhe Jassage by both houses of the bill re-
storing Texas to representation in Congress was
All Lhat was necessary to permit the President
to issue a proclamation announcing to the coun-
try the complete ratification of the fifteenth
am ndment to the Constitution of the United
States. Yesterday Texas was fully restored to
her place in the sisterhood of States, and the
event was followed quickly by the promulgation
of the amendment, the official documents con-
cerning which will be found in full on one of
our inside pages.
The measure of equal justice to all men, with
ont regard to race. color, or condition, which is
thus auspiciously consummated, encountered
not little tribulaton in Congress before it as
sumed q shape that commanded the assent of
both houses. After the passage of proposed
amendment, embodying its prime features in
different shapes, by each house. the end of the
Fortieth Congress drew near, and the measure
was in jeopardy. With the exit of Andrew
Johnson the two-thirds working maj ority in the
lower house was to disappear, and the fact that
but a single week remained of the session when
a conference committee reported the final pro-
position to both houses, caused the friends of
more extreme measure to rally around this one
as being the best they could then get and, weak
as it was, infinitely better than nothing. The
compromise was reported to Congress on the
25th of February, 1862 and read as follows:--
"Secton /. The right Of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States, by any State on account OF race,
color, or previous condition OF servitude.
''5ection q The Congress shall have power to en-
force this article by appropriate legislation"
On the 25th of February, the House of Repre-
: sentatives adopted the report of the conference
committee by vote of 143 yeas to 43 Nays and
the Senate, on the following day, took similar
action by a vote of 80 yeas to 13 nays, Senator
Fowler, of Tennessee, alone voting with the
Democratic Senators, not because he was op-
posed to the amendment, but because, in his
spasmodic zeal in behalf Of extreme Republican
doctrines he regarded the measure in that shape
as imperfect and unequal to the requirements of
the times.
Action of the Stntes the Amendment.
Kansas was the first State to ratify the pro-
posed amendment, which it did on the 9th of
February, 1869; but it's zeal was something like
that of Senator Fowler, and in the haste with
which it attempted TO give its assent, 1t neg
lected to see that the wording of the second
ection was perfect. In the case of Missouri,
which passed resolutions of ratification on
March /, similar degree of haste caused the
omission of the entire second section. Both of
these States. however, subsequently remedied
their defective action, and their votes are there
fore included among the list of States ratifying
tie amendment. The action of the Legislature
of every State in the Union upon the amend
ment is given below as fully and accurately as
1t has been possible to ascertain it,
Ala6ama.-Ratifed by the Senate November
16 1S69-yeas "a, nays 0. Ratified by the House,
November 16, 1869-yeas 90, nays 16.
Arkdnsds.-Ratifed by the Senate, March l3
1S69-yeas 10, nays 2. Ratified by the House,
March Is, 1S69-yeas 53, nays 0.
H0Ijf0Y.ni0 Reiected nv the Senate January
81 1870-yeas s, nays 90. Rejected by the
House, January 49, 1S70-yeas 8, nays 81.
Connecticut.-Ratifed by the Senate, May z,
1S69-yeas 13, nays g. not voting 2. Ratified by
the House, May l3, 1S69-yeas 125, nays 1O5, not
voting6
Dclaware. Rejected by the Senate March 1s,
1S69-yeas 2, nays7. Rejected by the House a
day or two after-yeas 0, nays 81.
Floridd.-Ratfed by the House, June IL,
1S09-yeas 26, nays 13. Ratified by the Senate,
June ID, 1S69-yeas 13, rays 8.
Georgid.-The action of this State has been
fearfully mixed up. The Senate, March 10,
1869, refused to lay on the table a joint resolu-
tion ratifying the amendment, by vote of 13
yeas to 16 nays; March IL, the joint resolution
was adopted-yeas 81, nays 16; March 13, this
vote was reconsdered- 10, nays Ia; March
IL, the joint resolution was indefinitely post
poned-yeas 1S, nays II; and finally, March Is,
the vote to postpone was reconsidered-
yeas II, nays IA, aud ON the same day the
amendment was rejected-yeas 13, nays 16. The
House, March H. 1859, passed joint resolution
Hratifying the amendment-yeas 81, nays
60; March IL, this vote was recon
sidered-yeas 60, nays 45; and, finally,
on March 16, the amendment was ratified
yeas GA, nays So; but the ratification was in.
operative because of the action of the Senate
After the State underwent the reconstructine
process the second time, the colored members
being restored to their seats in the Legislature
and the ineligible whites replaced by thei
highest opponents, the amendment was ratified
by the Senate February 2, 1s70-yeas 81, nay
10, and by the House February 2, 1S7O-yeas 80
nays "a.
Iuinois.-Ratifed by the Senate March 3, 1855
yeas 1S, nays 7. Ratified by the House MarcI
5, 1S69--yeas So, nays %.
Indiana Ratified by the Senate May IL, 1856
yeas 27 (all Republicans), nays o, IL member
GALL Democrats) being present and refusing t
vote, and II (all Democrats) absent. The DE
mocratic members present announced that the
had sent their resignation to the Governor tina
morning, but the Lieutenant Governor rule
that the Senate had no official notice of their re
ignation, and declared the ratification CON