The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-14
THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT AND
THE COLORED VOTE.
From the Baltimore Sun.

From the Baltimore Sun.
1t is stated that several colored men-a
very few only-offered to vote in this city
upon the question of approving the Jones
Falls ordinance, and that they did SO under
the advice of certain white people, who not
only assumed that they had a right to vote
on that occasion, but contended that the
exclusion of their votes would invalidate the
whole election. AS their votes were refused,
not because they were colored men, but be-
cause they were not registered voters-just
as the vote of any white person not regis
tered would have been refused for the same
reason-the assumption appears, upon the
face of it, sufficiently groundless. AS
the idea has been gravely put forward, how
ever, and by some who might be presumed
to know better, it is worth while to refer to
the language of the fifteenth amendment to
see what countenance, if any, it has in the
terms of that now celebrated provision. We
have no idea that in the present case any
practical question is likely to arise out of the
matter, but it is well to consider what change
in existing laws the amendment does effect,
and what not. Its precise language is as
follows
''Article XIV. Section /. 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.
e
force this article by appropriate legislation"
The first observation to be made upon this
article is that, strictly speaking, its design is
not so much to confer rights upon individuals
as to restrict the powers of legislation of the
United States and the several States. 1t
qualities the right which the States have here
tofore exercised and enjoyed OF declaring
what persons shall exercise the right of suf-
frage within their limits, by forbidding them
-, -, Son,
account of race, color, or previous condition
of servitude." With other qualifications and
distinctions which the States may choose to
enforce it does not interfere. 1t does not
confer the right of suffrage upon black men
except to the extent, and in the cases, and
under the same conditions and restrictions,
under which the same right is enjoyed by
white men. If, for example, the people of
any State should choose TO require property
qualification of all voters, there is nothing in
the fifteenth amendment to forbid such a
limitation of the right of suffrage. Only the
qualification must be exacted of black and
white alike. To do otherwise would be to
discriminate ''on account of color" The
same may be said of an educational test-of
law requiring that in addition to the usual
qualifications of age, citizenship and residence,
every voter must possess a knowledge of
reading and writing or the elements of
common school education. In other words,
the States retain under the amendment
full power to limit, qualify, or restrict the
right of suffrage as they may see fit, provided
that the laws enacted for the purpose are
made to operate upon all persons alike, with
out any distinction "on account of race, color
or previous condition of servitude." So with
respect to any extension of the right of suf-
frage. If in any State or Territory white
women are allowed to vote, the same privilege
must be conceded to black women; but where
women do not vote at all by the State law,
the amendment confers no right to vote upon
colored women. From these obvious dis
tinctiOns it follows that the State registration
! laws, except where they discriminate in