The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-09-06

bleeding, I should be compelled to say
he was down and bleeding, but who
would call that a confession that the
villain who outraged him had done
what was proper. Laughter So
when these men throttled the constitu-
ton and ruined the peace Of the coun-
try, when they made the South al
most as ruinous as in the midst OF war,
we remontrated and opposed them,
and now because we cannot deny that
they have done it, because we cannot
deny that the thing has been accom-
plished, because we are compelled to
admit the fact that the reconstruction
| laws have been executedand the amend.
ments to the constitution fastened up
OH us we are told forsooth that we ad-
NIT that the radicals were right and
we were wrong. That's logic for you.
The fourteenth amendment was pas
sed. We opposed it. Why did we
oppose it? Because it provided that
all people in the United States should
be equal before the law There is
not one Democrat from the Ohio river
to Canada-nor one in the United
States-who opposed it upon any such
grounds. That has always been the
law in Ohio-that has always been
the law in Northern States. The
Democrats, he said, opposed the four
tenth amendment just because Of its
DISTINGUISHING clause-because it dis
franchised the men of influence, of in
tellect and education, who-e aid was
most necessary to restore peace to the
South.
Secondly, because the language was
ambiguous and such as would enable
an ambitious President and Congress 10
usurp the power that belongs to the
individual States, and to overthrow
every one of the reserved rights of the
people of the States; and were we not
right? For it is under the ambiguous
and bose language. of that amendment
that the infamous Ku Klux bill was
passed, under a pretense of authority
derived from that loose and ambiguous
language. If this Interpretation were
correct, the President would have pow
er in the State of Ohio to displace the
Governor, dethrone the Legislature,
turn out of office our judges and es
tablish martial law from end of
the State to the other, whenever he
thinks, or pretends to think, it is ne
cessary for him to take martial pos
session of Ohio in order to protect the
rights of individuals. We we're right
then in opposing that amendment,
| 4L,,. I~-.al 81 tI,,e rhroso1
The fifteenth amendment we oppos
| ed because, first, it was a fraud upon
the people in the way that the thing
was prepared and carried out and a
direct violation of solemn pledges OF
the dominant party made in their plat
form at Chicago. We opposed it for
I stronger reasons than that. We said
it was monstrous that you shoGld turn
over at least one-half of these South
ern States to the control of a race, not
one of ten could read, much less write,
and OF whom not one in q thousand
had the least idea Of the government
under which be lived, end under which
they are now to discharge the duties
of lawmakers. If the time should
come when they should he educated
up to a proper standard to enable them
to exercise this right with intelligence
and to the welfare Of the country, we
said it would he right.
Now, what has been the effect of
this on the reconstructed States down
South, with their preponderance of
negro voters? The result has been
that they are the worst governed part
of Gods globe this day, Those States
have been delivered ove to the tender
mercies of the carpet-baggers and adj
venturcrs of the North, and of the
meaner men, the scalawags of the
South !; and with the negroes in com
bination with them they govern almost
every one of those States. And how
do they govern them? When the war
ended, those States were Frustrated
to a degree we can hardly realize !;
ravaged by their armies rs well
as ours E; the people were Frustrated,
their currency was worth nothing, and
thousands and tens of thousands OF
their farms lay desolate under the
scollrge of the var They were ruin
ed in fortune and humbled and pros
trated in spirit. That was a time
when it behooved US to take them by
the hand AID help them up. Just at
that time this Republican party-these
carpet-baggers and scalawags-took
hold of the government in these States.
As to the thirteenth amendment,
abolishing slavery. Senator Thurman
said they had never made any ohjec-
lions to it, and that no man could
point to any act of the Democrats in
the Northern States that even approx
ed of slavery.
The rest of his speech was devoted
to a review of the finances of the Ad-
ministration and the Ku-klux act.