The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1870-01-29
MINORITY REPORT.

We, the undersigned members of the
Committee on Elective Franchise, beg leave
| te submit the follo%ing report, to-wIt
We cannot concur with the majority Of
the Committee in drawing a black line
across the word white in the Constitu
ton of Tennessee; /; and, in their action, re-
/ fusing to submit the question of negro suf-
| frage to be voted upon q separate propo
sition by the people
! W e hold that the negro race Is the lowest
order of human beings incapable in them
| selves Of a vIrtuous, intelligent or free gov
ernment and for the truth of this we ap-
/ peal to history, and challenge the world to
| show a single exception.
! We hold that the infeTiority of the negro
| to the white man, in race, color, aud capaci-
| ty for permanent, well ordered government,
| has been fixed by Him. who doeth all things
! well, and whose natural or revealed law has
never been violated by any human govern
ment without disaster and confusion. The
proud Castlian violated this natural law,
when, instead Of recognizing in the body pol
| itic the distinction which God had made
! between him and the Aztec, the Indian, and
| the negro, he made them politically equal
and swift destruction came upon him, in
somuch that his pare blood cannot now be
/ traced in the mongrel, miscegenating horde,
| who, by never-ceasing revolution and civil
I
! of Mexico.
We hold that the Elective Franchise is
/ the highest crowning right which can be
| held by d freeman. The which, when a man
shall be legally entitled to enjoy, there doth
| necessarily follow those incidentals-the
right to sit on juries, to hold Office, and
| (what is more terrible to contemplate the
| right to social equality and intermarriage
We hold that this Convention should not
| h ID Av E
shut their eyes to the light experience, and,
falling in with the fanaticism of the hour,
deny the truth, and blindly rush, in defiance
of the natural law of God, to the con fusion
! of our race, and deSt1 action of the Govern
ment our Fathers left us
We hold that the people of Tennessee
have the right to consider this tremendous
| question for themselves, as a separate, dis
| tinct proposition, as the people of New Y ork,
Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Kan
/ sas, Missouri and Connecticut have lately
doue; and, having considered it in all It's
hearings, to decide it for themselves, free
from the incumbrance of any other ques
| tons; and that any attempt by this Conyen-
ton to prevent a fair expression of their
will by refusing TO allow the people to vote
upon it as a separate question, will be
gross violation Of the rights of the people,
and of the principles of Republican and
Democratic government
Especially so in this case, because no ex-
preston of the viii Of the people or general
discussion upon it was had, pending the
election, in a large majority of the districts
| represented by Delegates in this Convention,
and in a great many the question was not
even menuoned, and deliberate discussion
was impossible in the breif time between
the call of the Convention and election of
Delegates; Therefore,
In behalf of the people of Tennessee, and
in view of the fact that no Convention of
any State in the United States has refused
to submit this question as separate propo-
sition back to the people, and following the
precedent of the States above mentioned,
and in order that due discussion and deliD-
Grafton, and the light of events which may
transpire between the adjournment OF this
Convention and the time fixed for the vote