Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-02-18
The Flneonth Amendment.

over the neeto qucstiunis over. The vote
of the Georgia Legislature, announceu III
our issue of yesterday, was the nnishlng
stroke For more than a generatlon tue
"nirper" has been In the political fence.
A million men took the field In war that
formed chapter in the struggle which
has now passed rom the domain of cur
rent. events TO the pyramid OF history.
Twenty-eight States have now ratified this
Amendment
ARTfciE xv.
SECTION l. The right Of citizens OF the United
States 10 vote shall not be denied or abrlagea W
the United States or by any state on account o r"0'
color or previous condition Of scryitndo. ,,,or a.,
enforce tnis article by appropriate legislation
The people have thus decided, beyond
the possibility of revocation, to eliminate
the black man from politics by en-
grating him into the body polite. This
final measure was initiated twelve months
ago. A Committee of Conference agreed
upon its exact terms on the 26th of Feb
ruary, 1869. The Senate agreed TO It by
vote of 30 to 13, strictly party vote, un'
less we count Fowler and Pool as Kepub-
licaus and they had previously lost caste
in the party. The vote of the House stood
144 to A. Not single Democrat voted
for il. Three Republicans, we are sorry
TO saw, went over to the enemy, Lough-
ridge, Mallory and Hawkins. The former
represents as radical constituency as
there is in the Countrywide Fourth
Iowa-and he is himself in favor of negro
suffrage. We do not recall the exact
ground of his objection, but presume that
Il was some minor point.
The subject engrossed large share OF
attention during the third session oil the
Fortieth Congress. The very first step
was taken ON the Both of January. There
were a great many forms proposed. The
main difficulty was TO so phrase the article
as 10 enfranchise the negro, but not nee
cssarily the Chinese, or the Indians. Mr..
COrbett wanted it expressly stated, But
Cinnamon not born I'M the United States,
and Indians not taxed, shall not be deem
ed or made citizens" but the Senate voted
il down, preferring TO get at the thing in
some more adroit way. The phrascology
at last adopted was conceded to meet the
case exactly. 1t was suggested by Sena'
tor Stewart, of Nevada.
Mr.. Sumner proposed an article with
five long sections. Its very length was an
insuperablc objection. II set forth in ex-
plicittcrns "that the right to vote, to be
ootcd for, and TO hold office shall not be de-
MED or abriged anywhere in the United
States under any pretencc of race or
color" The debate that cnsued showed
that in the opinion of the Senate the right
to hold Office inhered in the right TO vote,
and there was no need of specific enact
ment on the point. In the House the
original amendment was specific on this
point. General Logan proposed to so
amend it as to strike out the words " or
hold office" but the House refused TO do
So by vote of 80 to 20, Mr.. Judd voting
with his colleague. The House finally
agreed TO the present wording of the
amendment on the ground that II really
covers the whole ground.
We have now revived the essential fea-
lures of the proceedings of Congress upon
this eliminating issue because they leave
no room for misinterpretatiOn. They
show the true and exact intent of the
iclc.-Chicdgo Journal, FEB. 4.
THE keystone in the grand arch of re-.
construction is now firmly and symmetri.
cally in place--irrovocably in place, too,
for the revolution in favor of the black
mans manhood and to the enlargement of
hisIpolitical status, is not likely to prove
an exception to the old adage about revo-
lutions never going backward. Hence.
forth, the colored citizens Of the United
States in every nook and corner of the
Union, will stand upon the same suffrage
platform occupied by those who are of the
Caucasian race. II Is urged, however in
objection, that ingenuity, tathercd by
prejudice and eN-rebel vindictivcness, will
be able practically to set aside the mean
ing and intent of the new amendment, by,
for example, requiring of electors n proper
~ qualification, while so marking the
course of legislation as TO bear heavily
against the acquisition of real or personal
estate on the part of the prescribed race
or that intelligence or some other test may
be set up as u measure of qualification tC
vote. We do not think much can be &c
complshcd in such directions to abatc
the right conferred by the suffrage amend
ment.
The cure-all for all rccalcitrant logisa
tion in the States is to be found in the
authority conferred upon the National
Legislature in the second section. Any
state attemptao evade the manifest and
necessary import and design of the
amendmcnt could not well escape the
COgnizance of Congress. Specifically The
power remains with that body to enforce
both the spirit and letter of the article
subject only TO the supervisory overloOl
ot the United States Supreme Court
With this saving clause, we do not ap
prehcnd that any State will attempt any
very serious and conspicuous evasion o
the new Constitutional amendment.
1t is somewhat significant that this new
article is the second, in the whole history
of Constitutional amendments, which real
lyrepeals any part of the articles of Union
unless we except that abolishing slavery
The first instance was when the ratifica
tion of the eleventh amended article
restricted the jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court of the Nation. Now, the ratitica
ton of the Fifteenth Amendment repealS
the provision in the Fourteenth Amend
ment which permits States to dislranchisc
citizens ON account of participation in the
rebellion, or, with a penalty regarding the
apportiOnmento of Representatives in Con
gress, allows the exclusion of colored
citizens from the ballot box.
Under the new amendment, all clasi
restrictions, so far "a concern the right &
vote, are stricken out of all State consti
tutons, Property, intelligence, or othe
legislative provision, restricting tn
elective franchise, in the fundamental Law
of any State, or any statute enacted unde
the authority of any constitution of an
State, becomes null and void unless
applies equally TO all, black and whit,
Caucasian or African, formerly slave q
always iree.-ChicGg0 Republican, Ft6.
Address 10 the COlOrcd People.