Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-04-18

| was African slavery.
In that struggle Slavery, as q legalized
social relation, persisted. It persisted as 3
necessity of the bitterness and force OF the
conflict. When the armies OF free dom
| found themselves upon the soil OF Slavery
they could do nothing else than free the
| Door victim whose imposed servitude was
| the foundAtio1 of the quarrel. Aud when
hard pressed in the contest these men (fol
| they proved themselves, men in that terri
| Bile crisis) offered their services, and were
/ accepted by thousands to aid in suppress
| ing the unlawful rebellion. Slavery was al
an end wherever the Federal Government
succeeded in that purpose. The proclana-
| tion of President Lincoln expressed an &C
| complished fact as to large portion OF the
| insurrectionary districts, when he
declared Slavery abolished In them all
But the war being over, those who had sue
ceeded in re-establishing the authority o.
| the Federal Government, were not content tC
| permit this great act of Emancipation to rest
| on the actual results of the war, or the proc
| lamation of the Executive, both OF which
might have been questioned in after times;
and they determined to place this main and
most valuable result of the war in the Con
stitution of the restored Union, IS one Of
| its fundamental articles. Hence the Tbir-
teenth Article OF amendment of that iustru-
ment. It's two short sections seem hardly
to admit OF construction, so vigorous is theil
expression and so appropriate to the pur-
pose we have described:
1. Neither Slavery nor involuntary servi-
tude, except as 3 punishment for crime,
whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United
States or ang place subject to their juris,
diction.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
= To withdraw the mind from the contem-
plation of this grand yet simple declaration
of the personal freedom of all the human
race within the jurisdiction of this Govern
ment-a declaration designed expressly to
establish the freedom of four millions OF
slaves-and with a microscopic search en-
deayor to find in it a reference to the servi-
tude which may have been attached to pro-
perty in certain localities, requires an effort,
20 say the least.
MEANING OF THE THIRTEENTH AMEND
MENT.
That it was q personal servitude that
was meant, is proved by the use ofthe word
sinvoluntarY," which can only apply to hui
man beings. The exception of servitude as
a punishment FOR criI gives an idea ofthe
class of servitude that is meaut. The word
servitude is of larger meaning than Slavery,
as the latter is popularity understood in this
country, and the obvious purpose was to
forbid all shades and conditions of African
Slavery. 1t was very well understood that
in the form apprenticeship for long terms,
as it had been prscticed in the West India
Islands on the abolition of Slavery by the
English Government; or By reducing them
to the condition Of serfs attached to the
plantation, the article might have been
evaded, if only the word slavery had been
used. The case of the apprentice slave,
held under a law of Maryland. libe rated by
Chief Justice Chase Oh a writ of habess
corpus under this article, illustrates this
course OF observation. Matter of Turner
abbott, U. S R. S4). And it is all that
we deem necessary to say on the application
of that article to the statute of Louisiana
now under consideration.
The process of restoring to their proper
relations with the Federal Government and
with the other States those which had sided
with the Rebellion, undertaken under the
proclamation Of President johnson in 1865,
and before the assembling of Congress, de-
veloped the fact that, Notwithstanding the
formal recognition by those States of the
abolition of Slavery, the condition Of the
slave race would, without further protection
of The Federal Government, be almost as
bad as it wss before. Among the first acts
of legislation adopted by several of these
States in the legislative bodies which
claimed to be in their normal relations
with the Federal Government, were laws
which imposed upon the cOlored race oner-
Gus disabilities and burdens, and curtailed
their rights in the pursuit of life, liberty,
and property to such an extent that their
freedom was Of little value, while they had
lost the protection which they had received
from their former owners from motives beth
Of interest and humanity.
They were in some States forbidden to
appear in the towns in any other character
than mental servants. They were required
20 reside on and cul'ivate the soil without
the right to purchase or own it. They were
excluded from many occupations of gain,
and were not permitted TO 2iTe testimony
in the cou IS in any case where 3 white man
was a party. 1t was said that their lives
were at the mercy of bad men, either be-
cause the laws for their protection were in
sufficient, or were not enforced.
These circumstances, whatever of false
hood or misconception may have been
mingled with their presentation, bore upon
the statesmen who had conducted the Fed
eral Government in safety through the crisis
Of the Rebellion, and who supposed that
by the Thirteenth Article of amendment
they had secured the result of their lab
ors, the conviction that something more
was necessary in the way of constitutional
protection TO the unfortunate race which
had already suffered 80 much. They &C
cordingly passed through Congress the pro-
position for the Fourteenth Article of
Amendment; and they declined to treat as
restored to their full par1c patton in the
Government CT the Union, the States which
had been in insurrecsion, until they ratified
that article by formal vote of their legs.
lative bodies.
Before we proceed to examine more criti.
cally the provisions of this amendment on
which plaintiffs in error rely, let us COM
plete and dismiss this history of the recent
amendments, as that history relates TO the
general purpose which pervades them all.
A few years experience satisfied the
thoughtful men who had been the authors
of the other two amendments that not
withstanding the restraints of those articles
on the Sta es, and the laws passed under
the additional powers granted to Congress,
that these were still inadequate for thai
protection in life, liberty, and property,
without which freedom to the slave was 30
boon. They were in all those States de-
MED the right of suffrage. The
laws were made and administered
by the white man alone. It was urged
that race of men distinc:ively marked, as
was the negro race, living in the midst of
another and dominant race, could never be
fully secured in their persons and their
property without the right of suffrage.
Hence the Fifteenth Amendment, which
declares that '"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 negro hav-
ing, by the Fourteenth Article, been de-
cl&red a citizen Of the United States, is
thus made voter in every State Of the
Union.
We repeat then, in the light of this recap
itulation of events almost too recent to be
called history, but which are familiar with
US all; a. d on the NEST casual examination
ofthe language of these amendments, no
one can fail to be impressed with the one