Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-28

VlSeQ, De REFERRED 10 the committee OIL
Correction and Enrolment. Carried.
THE FRANCHISE.
!, The President announced the I'm.
finished business in order to be the
q consideration of the franchise question.
Q Mr. Gordon said he had been attached
to the institution of slavery, but the ne
, gres were now free. He was in favor of
giving them the right of suffrage, but he
! wanted them to pay poll tax; he wanted
the white man brought up to the enjoy
ment of his Just rights. Men who did not
help to support the Government by pay
ment of taxes should not be allowed to
vote He claimed that the making
of the payment of poll tax q re-
quisite to voting would cut off great
many irresponsible voters. He thought
that the white man and black man could
get along peaceably together. The negro
was dependent upon the white man, who
had the wealth and intelligence. He
thought the policy of the people should
be to see how the two races could be best
harmonized.
Mr.. Fentress rose simply to question
of order He said in the discussion gen.
tlemenhad talked as though twas proposed
to enslave the negro race or disfranchise
It, This was not the question at all. 1t
was simply, should the question of negro
suffrage be submitted as a separate prOpo-
sition to the people.
The chair ruled that both the majority
and minority reports were before the Con-
vention for discussion.
Mr.. Garner said he did not rise to dis
| ,is =,
is sealed-it is altogether beyond our con-
/ troll We have had many propositions
before US; many we have acted upon;
many more have been reported upon by
| your committees. As to all these propO-
sitions we have some discretion-some
power. We can, at least to some extent,
| control them.
But this is question that is beyond
| our control, and fixed, for the present,
| like ''the laws of the Modes and Per-
SLAMS, which change mott And yet, more
than three days of the precious time of
this body have been spent in its discus
siOn Never have l observed a more
courteous, or more working body than
this, or one more independent. l feel as
sured that not one vote has or will be
changed by this debate Every delegate
came with his mind made up on this sub
ject, and will vote precisely as he in
tended when he came here
Mr.. WilliamsOn-Does the delegate |
from Robertson hold that this question is |
sealed by the Fourteenth Amendment to |
the Constitution Of the United States2
Mr. Garner-It is sealed like slavery
was 1bolished. Some say that was done
by Mr.. LiCOln's emancipation prOclama-
ton; some by the late war; others, by the |
vote of February p, 1865, changing the ]
Constitution of Tennessee. | think that |
it was done ike the Yankee run his saw
mill: 1t was good mill; it sawed a great |
deal of timber and made excellent lum-
per; but it did not run by steam. by wind, |
nor by water-it simply run by the force |
Of circumstances. Great laughter.
Mr.. Thompson, of Davidson, said that
for several days he had been physically |
unable 10 speak. But now that he could /
speak imperfeCtly, he should present
few head notes which he had taken down /
during the progress of the debate. He |
thought that this question was one of the |
most important which had been anywhere
discussed, and he disagreed with gentle
men who thought that time was lost in
this debate. 1t might be that this body |
acted with a sword suspended over it, but
no power on earth would ever make him
finally acknowledge the fact If the
sword falls, let it fall, we shall have lost
all but our honor; and that we have done
once before.
He had been elected as a delegate
against his will, and came here unCOm-
mitted to any course. He had told his
constituents that he was a States rights
Democrat, he reiterated, States rights
Democrat in every fibre. They had been
threatened with Congressional inter
ference; let it come. The people of Ten
nessec had met here to consider their own
domestic affairs, and he should act as
though there were no other Government |
under the sun. The Supreme Court of
Tennessee had decided that the right to
vote was a property qualification. If
they took the right to vote from the ne
gro they struck the ground from under
their feet Independent of this, the
Fourteenth Amendment provided that no
citizen should be deprived of any priv
leges or property.
In his opinion, the greatest crime that
had been precipitated in the name of hu-
manly had been the emancipation of the
negro. This could not be laid, however,
at their doors, but he thought they would
be open to one-half the guilt if now they
he5itated to completely emanCipate the
negro by placing in his hand the ballot.
Let them not make the negro prescribed
class. He claimed that the best governed
people was the least governed. He be-
lieved the deprivation of the negro race
of the franchise would result in entailing
upon the State evils of the worst charac-
ter. He did not believe that under the
most favorable circumstances more than
90, 900 votes would be cast by the race.
He was not afraid of social equality.
The blood of the two races would not
mix if it were poured together in bowl.
They had since the war tried several
conditions of the two races, all wrong. |
l. No class were enfranchised, but all
under military law. 2. A small portion
of the white population enfranchiSed, and
all the rest of the population, both black
and white, DISTINGUISHED. 8. A small
portion of the white population, together
with all the black people, enfranchised,
and the great mass of the white people
disfranchised. As they now stood they
were practically in fourth step, in which
all men were free and equal before the
law As a Democrat, he desired to
give that state a long and patient trial
before he went to the fifth experiment,
viz: That of completely cnfranchising
one race and DISTINGUISHING the other
Ifihe adoption of universal suffrage should
secure only temporary calm, as dele
gates had said, that was enough. Giveu US |
genuine peace for five years or ten years,
and the negro would hardly be an appreci-
able element in the community. He |
heartily believed that they would identify
themselves with the people of the State.
The negro race was the only one perfectly |
SUI gcHeri9, and his most distinguishing
Characteristic was not his color, but the
fact that he alone lives and fourishps in
immediate contact with any superior race
Most of the negroes who would not work
would die. All things else being equal, he
thought it would be the pride of the col
ored people to claim affinity with the old
names and people of the country who were
here before the war
Mr.. Jones, of Giles, said the debate
had been protracted SO long that he felt it
due to himself to state his views. He
came here to do what be could TO strike
the chains from the limbs of the white
man-tO restore back the ballot to the
hands of men whose heads were silYered |