New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-26
LOOKING BACK TO ORIGINAL PRINCIPLES

LUUkl0G BACK TO ORIGINAL YklNUlEA6S
4 On the sieA ss@th Of scsmb@, 1866
the thirteenth amendment to the constitu
ition of the United States was declared rati
| fed, which provides that
Neither slavery nor involuntary servi
tude, except az q punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been dui!
convicted, shall cyst within the United
States or any place subject to their juris
diction.
| On the twenty-eighth of July, 1868, th'
fourteenth amendment was declared rati
fed, the first section of which provides
that
All persons born or naturalized in tht
United States and subject to the Jurlsaic;
ton thereof are citizens of the United
States and of the States wherein they re
side. No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges OF
immunities of citizens of the United States,
nor shall any State deprive any person OF
life, liberty or property without due pro
cess of law, nor deny to any person within
it's jurisdiction the equal protection OF the
| laws.
And on the thir eth Of March, 1870,
the fifteenth amendment was declared
ratified, which provides that
The right of citizens Of the United States
to vote snail not be denied or abridged by
the United States, or by any State, on
account of race, color or previous condition
OF servitude.
To each one Of the above amendments
to the cons tuition is fixed an article
substantially as follows, that
The Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
Much legislation on this subject has
been enacted.
Article ninety-eight of the constitution
Of the State of Louisiana, adopted in
1868, provides that
Every male person of the age Of twenty
one years or upward, born or naturalized
in the United States, and subject to the ju-
risdictiOn thereof, and resident OF the State
one year next preceding an election, and
the last ten days within the parish in which
he offers to vote, shall be deemed an elector,
except those DISTINGUISHED by this constitu-
ton and persons under Introduction.
The amended article ninety-nine of the
constitution of Louisiana, adopted on the
seventh of November, 1870, provides
that
No person shall hold any Office, or shall
be permitted to vote at any election. or to
act as q juror, who, in due course Of law,
shall have been convicted of treason, per
able by imprisonment in the Penitentiary,
or who shall be under introduction.
Article eighteen Of the constitution Of
Louisiana of 1868, provides that
Every elector under this constitution |
shall be eligible to a seat in the House Of |
and every elector who has |
reached the age of twenty-five years shall |
be eligible to the Senate; provided, that no
person shall be y Representative or Senator, !
unless at the time of his election he be a |
qualified elector of the representative or
senatorial district, Of which he is elected.
And article los Of the constitution of |
Louisiana, Of 1868, further provides that
All civil officers OF the State at large,
shall be voters of, and reside within the |
State. and all district or parish officers |
shall reside within, their respective dis
,ricts or parishes and shall keep their Offices |
1t such places therein as may be required
~ law.
These articles of the constitution of the
United States and of the State Of Louisiana
IRE cited to show, first, who are citizens
If the United States and Of this State;
second, the perfect political and civil
lights of all citizens, and third, the pro-
libition to the United States or Of any
State to create distinctions between citi-
ems The right of every male citizen in
louisiana to vote and hold Office is fixed
y the constitution of the State.
The above constitutional provisions
light to be familiar to every one, and the
lights guaranteed under them ought to
e conceded and protected by every good
itizen, but as many do not trouble them
elves to read the constitution at large, it
eems to US well to put these leading pro-
isions before them in connected shape.
reference to first principles is always i'm
ortant in forming correct judgment on
Official issues.
1t is proper to remark that all these
to the constitution of the
nited States were carried by an almost
luminous support of the Republican
arty Of the United States against the
Iually almost unanimous opposition of
q Democratic party, and that the con-
tuition of the State of Louisiana Of 1868
as the work of a convention almost
Republican, thus showing
at the civil, political and other rights )
w enjoyed by colored citizens are due
ltirely to the action Of the Republican
.rty, and thata time when the colored
ople had no power to vote or otherwise .
pport those rights Now, since they u
We been given the right to vote and hold !.
ice, they will certainly assist in pro- d
;ting and perpetuating those rights.
The above constitutional provisions I,
the right of the colored man to vote u
d hold Office on exactly the same basis a.
that Of the white man; in other words, b
y both derive those rights from the I;
ne laws. Then, so far as the law is Il
accrued, their political rights are the n
ne. ~
Every voter in this State has the right 81
be candidate for any Office, from that "
Governor down to the lowest, but no n,
. has a right to an Office unless he has o,
N legally elected or appointed. Then CT
en- a man exercises his right to be a fo
'didate, the voters have a right to exer- d.