Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-23
AnAn1CAn COUP n,ErAT.

| INT. Lawrence, tfOlh eAiO IeOSonSeA~
ton Committee, reported bill to enforce
the amendments to The Constitution.
Adopted.
| The character of the bill thus intro
duccd and passed appears not to have at
| tractcl attention. But some one curious
to see how the amendments to the Con.
stitution were TO be enforced by the Radi-
cal Congress, has dug up the bin and it
is as follows:
Gan Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the
Constitution
abe it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives Of the United States Of America, in
Congress assembled:
| ''Section l. 1t shall be the duty of the
| Secretary of the Interior to appoint, or
cause to be appointed, three Commission
ers for each election district of the several
Congressional districts of the United
States, to enforce the provisions of the
| fifteenth amendment to the constitution.
The said Commissioners for such purpose
shall have the sole right to decide on the
| qualification of all voters who shall offer
to vote for members of Congress or elect
ors for President and Vice President, and
the exclusive authority to receive the
ballots cast at any such election.
| ''Sec. q 1t shall be the duty of such
| Commissioners to certify the result of the
election in their districts respectively, du-
| ly sealed, to the said Secretary of the In
| terror.
''Sec. 3. The Secretary of the Interior
shall certify under his hand and seal the
names of the persons who appear to him
| by The aforesaid returns to be elected
members of Congress or electors for Pres
ident or President, and the persons
who shall receive such certificate of cleo
ton shall hold the Office or exercise the
authority therein designated, subject TO
the sixth section of this act.
''Sec. I 1t shall be the duty of the United
States Marshals in their respective dis
tricts to sustain the Commissioners of
Election herein provided for in the per-
| Torrance Of their duties, and shall detail
a sufficient force of deputies TO secure or
der at the elections herein provided for;
and in the event of the force of any such
Marshal proving inadequate, the Marshal
shall have the right to call on the nearest
commanding officer of troops of the
| United States to aid such Marshal to pre-
serve order.
''Sec. 8. 1t shall be the duty of the Sec
rotary of War TO so station the troops of
the United States, Immediately preceding.
any election herein provided for, at con-
| venient points adjacent to the principal
| polling places of theseveral Congressional
districts, and in the principal cities com
handing force of such troops shall be en-
! camped in the parks or other suitable
places of such cities, at and preceding any
election as aforesaid.
''Sec. 6. All questions in regard to the
regularity and fairness of the election of
members of Congress shall be referred by
| the Secretary of the Interior to the House
| of Representatives, who shall have ex-
elusive jurisdiction thereof; and in like
manner all questions relating to the cleo
| ton of electors for President and Vice
President shall be referred TO the Presl-
| dent, who shall appoint q committee of
| not less than three suitable persons to ex-
anime and decide all such questions,
whose decision shall be final and con-
elusive.
"Sec. z. This act shall go into effect
when Congress shall, by resolution, duly
declare that three ourths of the States
have ratified the proposed fifteenth amend
ment, and have decreed that the consu-
tuition is amended accordingly"
There is Radicalism pure and unde-
fled, stopping at nothing short of abso-
late control by Congress of the whole
election machinery of the country. The
Radicals claim that the fifteenth amend
men. has been ratified by the necessary
number Of States TO give it the force aud
effect Of law, but it appears they are not
willing to wait for the formal official an
nouncemcnt Of the fact. When this bill
was introduced some of the States that
are claimed to have ratified the amend
meut had not been rc-admitted into the
Union, and Mississippi and Georgia still
chang fire" But it shows the haste
with which the Radicals are usurping the
supreme power of the land in
order to continue the power of
key government in their own hands.
. certain were they that the amendment
would be ratified under the Congressional
pressure, that two or three weeks before
the work is completed, the Roconstruc-
ton Committee take up the subject, frame
bill, report it TO the House of Repre-
sentaGves, and it is passed through under
the pressure Of the previous question,
and two weeks after this is done very few
people are aware that the Radicals have
even Canvassed the necessity for the pas
sage Of bill to enforce an amendment
not yet in existence, and which there are
as yet no indications would be resisted or
even disTegarded. The second section of
the fifteenth amendment provides that
Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation"
The bill reported by Mr.. Lawrence from
the Reconstruction Committee, and
passed under the pressure of the previous
question, shows what the Radicals regard
ss appropriate legislation 10 en-
force this amendment. The sec
oDd section is brief, but as will be
seen by their action in Congress, the
Radicals interpret it as comforting upon
Congress the most unlimited power. That
section means revolution, and the iniqui-
tOus bill reported from the Reconstruction
Committee carries out the intention.
Without waiting for so much as an indi-
cation any where that the enforcement of
the fifteenth amendment would be resis-
ted or even disregarded, the House of
Representatives takes from the States the
right they have exercised from the foun-
dation of the government of holding cleo
tions for members of Congress and cleo
tors for President and Vice President.
The next step will be the passage of an
act by Congress to control the elections
for the State Legislatures on the ground
that they elect United States Senators.
Thus they may grasp the whole machinery
Of election for al offices, and is there a
doubt that the Radicals are not preparing
to do this that this may be made thor
oughly centralized government This bill
which has been so quietly put through the
House of Representatives as to escape
public attention altogether, creates in