The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-04-07
Ratification of the Fifteenth
Amendment.
Message of the President.
THE PROCLAMATION.

A0OW HC tuuV LAO AOASlSS6 VA Vic
United States, on or about the 9th day
of February, in the year 1869, passed a
resolution III the words and figures fol-
lowing to wit:
A RESOLUTION proposing an amendment TO
the Constitution of the United States.
Res0Ioed, BY the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of
America, in Congress assembled, two.
thirds of both Houses concurring, that
the following article be proposed to the
Legislatures of the several States as an
amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, which, when ratified by
three fourths of SAID Legislatures, shalt
be valid as part of the Constitution,
namely:
cart Is, Section I. The rights Of
citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abriged by the United
States or any state, on account OF race,
color, or previous condition of servitude.
SEC g. Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate legis-
latiun"
And further, That it appears, from
official documents on file in this depart
ment, that the amendment to the Con
stitution of the United States, proposed
as aforesaid, has been ratified by the
Legislatures of the States of North
Carolina, West Virginia, Massachusetts,,
Wisconsin, Maine, Louisiana, Michigan,
South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arkansas,
Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa,
Indiana, New York, New Hampshire,
Nevada, Vermont, Missouri, Virginia,
Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Minnesota,
Ohio, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Texas,
in all Twenty-Five States; and further,
that the States whose Legislatures have
go ratified said amendment constitute
three fourths of the whole number of
further, that it appears from an
official document on file in this de
partment, that the Legislature of the
State of New York has since passed reso-
lutions claiming to withdraw said ratif
cation of said amendment, which had
been made by the Legislature Of that
State, and of which official notice had
been fled in this Department. and,
further, that it appears from an official
document on file in this department, that
the Legislature of Georgia has, by reso
luton, ratified said proposed amendment
NosO, therefore, be it known, that l,
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State of the
United States, by virtue and in pursl-
ance of the second section of the act OF
Congress approved on the goth day of
April, in the year 1918, entitled IAN act
to provide for the publication of the
laws of the United States, and for other
purposes do hereby certify that the
ornou1rnout ofCracoi1 hoo hoo0roo valid
to all intents and purposes as part of
the Constitution of the United States.
In testimony whereof, have hereunto
ct my hand, and caused the seal of the
Department of State to be affixed
Done at the city of washington, this 30th
day of march. in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and seven
ty, and Of the independence Of the
United States the ninety-fourth.
(Signed) HAMILTON FISH
WASHINGTON, March 80.
To the Senate and House of Representa-.
tives:
1t is unusual to notify the two Houses
of Congress by message of the promulga-
ton by proclamation of the Secretary OF
State of the ratification of constitu-
tional amendment. In view, however,
of the vast Importance of the Fifteenth
Amendment to the Constitution, this day
declared a part of that revered instru-
ment, deem adeparture from the usual
custom justifable A measure which
makes at once four millions of peorle
voters, who were heretofore declared by
the highest tribunal in the land not
citizens of the United States, nor eligible
to become SO, with the assertion that at
the time of the declaration of independ.
ence the opinion was fixed and universal
in the civilized portion OF the white race,
and regarded as an axiom in morals as
we'll as III politicts that the black man
had no rights which white men were
bound to respect, is indeed measure of
grander Importance than any other one
act of the kind from the foundation Of
our freegovernment to the present time. In
situations like ours, in which all power is.
derived directly from the people must
depend mainly upon their intelligence,
patriotism, and industry. l call the
attention, therefore, Of the newly enfran
chised race to the importance of their
striving in every honorable manner to
make themselves worthy of their new
privilege. To the race more favored
heretofore by our laws, I would saw
Withhold no legal privilege of advance
meat to the new citizens. The trainers
of our Constitution firmly believed that
republican form of government could not
endure without intelligence and educa-
tion generally diffused among the people.
The Fathei of his Country, in his farw Eli
address, used this language: Promote,
then, as matter of primary Importance.
Institutions for the general diffusion Of
knowledge. In proportion as the struc
ture Of the government gives force to
public opinion, it is essential that public
opinion should be enlightened"