Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-08-11
4 RIGHT TO VOTE.
An Able, Clear and Candid Review Of The
XVIII Constitutional Amendment.
All Power Is in future Vested In Congress
and is not TO be Regarded inner
ent In the PeopIe,
An Expose of the MischIevous Policy and
Legislation of the Radical Party
IA Campaign Document.

e. .
In a work now IN preparation for
the press by VIM. G. Bateman, Esq,
Of Philadelphia, author of CONNER,
cial Law" and other valuable legal
works, is contained an article on the
meaning and true construction of the
XVIII Amendment, which is worthy
OfstudX The following is an extract,
for which w are indebted to the Phil
adelphia Age:
Some have supposed that one OF
the rights, privileges or immunities'
off citizen of the United States, is
that Of voting at public elections. NO
thing can be further from the truth.
Not a vote is cast from one end of the
country to the other, by any person in
virtue merely Of his being a citizen oil
the United States.' (Pomeroy's Con-
stitutional Law, p. 20S.) Nor is it in
the name, character or capacity Of
such citizen, that any political rights
or powers are ever enjoyed. but only
in the character or caDacIty of an
e%LectOr, that is, of a memDer of the po-
LiticdJ body or State. a an
"What, then, IS the meaning or eff
feet of the Fifteenth Amendment to
the Federal Constitution? The
right of 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, color or
previous condition of servitude.? This
Is generally understood to meal that
citizens of the United States shall not
be denied the right TO vote, or that the
right to vote shall not be denied to
citizens OF the United States, norshall
the right be abridged, by the United
States or by any State, on account Of
race, color, etc. The amendment un-
qUestiOnably presupposes. as the basis
and possibility of its obligation, that
a right Of power somewhere exists,
other than that of any State, by
which the right of suffrage, the essen
tiaI sovereignty of "the people' OF
a State may be controlled with
out their consent. Inthis, the amend
ments:. isl simply subversive Of the
sovereignty of the people, which has
always existed, and could only exist
in a union of States, as the supreme
and uncomfortable right of each body
of electors to say who should or
should not be admitted to a participa-
ton insthes sovereign deliberations
and resolutions. No matter what
view is taken of the amendment, the
aIi-important objection that it takes
rom tthe people, offeaeh State the pc
cuiiar essential Of their Internal right
Of selfsgOyeFnment, must remain an
uuanswerable one. In addition to
this, the meaning fpefhaps the con
version of the States into a single
StateJ is hidden under a very unusual
and ambiguous form OF expression
the right Of citizens OF the United
States To vote In this connection, II
Is peculiarly important TO recollect
who we're citizens oa the United
States and in whom 1.-THE right to
vote was vested, prior 10 this amend
ment. . ~ Fsb nfG nW ~mo b. satl "
There are in our system, and ever
have been, as we have formerly seen,
three sorts or kinds of communities or