Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-29
SPEECH


trict, were sent by the people as delegates
to this Convention wholly without instruc
tons for myself can truly say the posi-
ton was not sought by me openly o
coyertly. In accepting the nomination
suddenly thrust upon me, being unused {
popular speaking and much embarrassed,
saidlittle more than that had no rightto de
cline the duty TO which I had been assigned
but that l wanted no man TO vote Tor me
In ignorance Of my political sentiments,
which had ever been those of a State s-rights
Democrat; that as such / accept the decis
ion of the sword in the late war only as tC
the questions which were at issue in thai
war. The question now before the Conven-
ton was the question then before the
country, and my immediate constituents
= we're satisfied to send me here no other.
wise committed than by that short speech.
The time has arrived when l must vote
upon the question, and as man of honor,
shall do SO in accordance with the Ian
guage in which 1 accepted the position.
said was States Rights Democrat
and l am so in every nerve and fibre.
know of no other principles on which a
Federal Union can or would be worth hav-
ing; and on the day when such amend
ments shall be forced into the Federal Con-
stitution as will make the principles OF
States Rights Democracy to be reasonable,
on that day am monarchist; believing
that the last hope Of constitutional liberty
In a republican form is lost. ] realize fully,
now, that this Convention is not a repre-
sentative body, but that it speaks with
the original voice OF a sovereign State. Il
may be that a sword is suspended over oul
head, but no power on earth shall make me
formally recognize the fact. If the sword
falls let it fall; we shall have lost all but
our honor, and that is what we have done
once before. / shall vote and speak on
this question as if no such danger threat
ened Us. It may be, as has been urged in
argument by one or two delegates, that we
are threatened with a Military Governor.
in other words, that Brennus, She Gaul,
will be sent here to cast his sword into the
scale, while fatuous Congress shall sit
by and call that appropriate legislation.
Let him come A Roman Senate gravely
kept their seats until the barbarian entered
the capitol, and surely we can be as
digniied as they If the Federal Govern
ment, a government Of enumerated powers
only and itself the creature of these States,
shall assume, for any cause to strike down
the great State whose sovereignty is here
embodied, she will simply raise against one
of her own creators the sacrilegiOus hand
of a parricide. Such are my views of the
true relations Of the States to the general
Government, and such believe will be the
unanimous verdict Of pOsteuty | am a
Democrat of the old school
Now sir when we turn from Federal
to State affairs, we find the theory Of true
Democracy Is essentially consistent in its
two wholly different fields of action. In the
first the States are sovereign. At home the
people are sovereign, for the people are
the State Not all the books that ever
were or shall be written can frame a theory
of government at once 80 simple and so
sublime, nor which promised 50 fairly to
last to the end of time had it only been let
alone. 1t is for the people at home that
we are now framing Constitution. If in
our sovereign capacity we were suggesting
amendments to the Federal Constitution,
perhaps my views on this and on other
questions before the Constitution would, as
a Democrat, be greatly changed But the
people Of this sovereign State are IN Con-
veution assembled TO consider their dOmcS-
tic Constitution, and for one shall speak
and vote on all the questions before Us as
if there was no other Government but the
State Of Tennessee.
The first aspect of the question is-WhO
are the people Of Tennessee? We can not
shut our eyes to the fact that the yoke was
removed from our necks by the decision of
the Supreme Court, which declared that
the right to vote was a property right, and
that registers certificate made il res judi
cata, not afterwards 10 be inquired into
When We look, then, at the first section of
the Fourteenth Amendment TO the Consti-
tuition of the United States, we see that we
strike the ground from under our own feet
when we deny that every negro who has
ever had a certificate to vote is protected
in that right forever, by the Constitution Of
the United States Here are the words Of
that section
ARTICLE XIV.
Section l. All persons born or natural
lied in the United States, and subjeC to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and Of the State wherein
thew reside. No State shall make or en-.
force any law which shall abridge the priv.
Seres or immunities Of citizens Of tbs
United States; nor shall any State deprive
any person OF life. liberty, or property
without due process Of law, nor deny t.
any person within its jurisdiction the equa
protection Of the law.
Delegates may say that so-cGlied amend
ment was never fairly and consti
tutionally adopted. If l was q Northern
man. should say so; bEt being a Southern
man. il does not lie in my mouth to max,
such an assertion. It was passed fairly a
to rs. We staked everything on the 6r
bitrament Of the sword, and the decision
went against US We surrendered unCOn
ditionally and the terms thereafter imposes
upon us were the Thirteenth and Four
tesnth Amendments, which we had no han,
in passing, but which were there to OIL
knowledge when we were readmitted int
the Union at our own request.
Upon tho supposltiOn, however (bu
which. as lawyer, | cannot admit to b
truel, that this is an open question, l d
state with tho most perfect candOr that, as
Democrat of the old school, tho weight q
lhe argument seems TO me TO he in favor q
the complete emancipation of the negro.
use the word emancipation designedly. i
INV opinion the greatest crime that va
ever perpetrated in the name of humanit
WAS the precipitation Of freedom upon th
De5roes Of the South. That crime does nc
lie at our door; but ! think We will b
voluntarily assuming almost One-half of i
should we allow him TO live among us FIRE
but without the privileges Of a freeman
A vast Lazzaroni class with no hope of in
movement. is q burden which no commun
ty could sustain without fearful oppression
Il was hard enough on him TO set him free
let US not add TO that great wrong the ad
ditional one of making of him prescribe
class. We want no Mcriecai sitting at OF
gate.
Let us take a step farther forward in Il
argument and see if it does not open SIT
stronger in favor Of the negrO's compile
emancipation. In home affairs 1t Is u
fundamental article of a Democrats cre'
that the people who are least governed q
the people who are best governed. No'
sir. let me ask how many negro voters a
there in this State, fairly tested | belle
not more than 30. 600, which is about fife
per cent Of the voting strength Of the Stat
The number Is harmless for much misch
as voters. II they combine we will col
bina and one or two such experiments W
satisfy them Of its futility. But VIII
30 600 colored votes, even if they could
kept massed, arc not to be feared; on
other hand that number of Pariahs-oI
cazts-with their women and children, IA
oned broadcast on society, would indie
Toe an element Of weakness. They woI
be simply what the despised mere Fl
negro has always been. The slaves ms
to look down upon them. As a class, !
with honorable exceptions, they were
receivers. the go-hatweens, the acco
plicas in all petty yiIIaiuy. Strike, No
- one fe,l blow. all Of our colored popu
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