The weekly Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1872-1882, 1872-05-18

.'.~l:,, : '...ss ~; ii =.
ancient Israeites, the: Egyptai,
monarch, with lis; multitude q
horsemen and chariots were burie,
in the waters of the Red Sea, Will
our foes have crossed with us. YET
perhaps, by the inscrutable order o
Providence, the very dangers tha
menace our rights are intended te
admonish Us to be vigilant in guard
ing them. Those rights can. only b
preserved by an earnest devotion. t.
the principal of free government il
which they are founded, and by ar
unswervipg, adhesion to the great
party, organized to maintain and
defend those principles.
The emancipation Of the American
slave is not the grandest moral act
of our Great Republic. That was
due largely and Immediately to the
unplanned march, of events. It
|.sprang directly from the rule OF
military expediency, and not from
the golden rule of universal justice,
embodied In THAT epitome Of Chris
tian morals, .':Do unto others as you
would that others should do unto
you: :: .'.~: ! -...,'.s.s':> -.
The brightest jewel in the crown
Of the Republic, was placed there
by the Republican majority which
secured the adoption Of the Four
teenth and Fifteenth Amendments
to the Constitution Of the United
States, and thereby enacted the
civic emancipation places in our
hands the smeans Of maintaining the
first. 1t imposes upon us all the
duties, and invests us with all tho
responsibilities and rights and pri-
vileges Of American citizens. Let
us faithfully perform the one, and
in a spirit of true manhood and ar
dent loyalty to the country Of which
we are citizens, guard and assert the
other.
I trust that it will not be deemed
inopportune if 1 should refer to
those Amendments and their sig-
nifcance, constituting as the do,
the new charter of American iber-
ty.
The Declaration of Independence,
issued on the 4th LAY Of July, 1776,
asserted the freedom and sovereign
ty of the thirteen American States.
It affected and determined the re-
lations Of organized political COM
munities, and announced the disso-
luton Of Ill the ties that had bound
the Colonies to the British Crown.
The Fifteenth Amendment, on the
contrary, was designed to assert
and secure the political rights of the
citizen against the States themselves
in both their individual and fedora
tive capacities. This amendment,
coupled with the one Immediately
preceding it, and which was its ma
tural and necessary forerunner may
be termed the Declaration of the
Independence Of the American citi-
zen. The Fourteenth Amendment
declared that, '"All persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens Of the United States
and of the State wherein they re-
side" The Fifteenth Amendment,
in language equally unmistskable,
declares that s'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." The Four
teenth Amendment defines Ameri-
can citizenship, while the Fifteenth
Amendment throws around it as an
inviolable safeguard, the right to
vote. Indeed it goes further and
plants itself on still more exalted
ground; It recognizes the right of
citizens of the United States to vote
as 4 right inherent, and inhibits its
denial or abridgement for any of
the causes therein recited; which
causes embraced all the reasons at
that date, on which any of the
State constitutions or statutes based
their denial or abridgment Of such
right Of citizens Of the United States;