The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-09-09
Communicated
sAsEORt;fA AND HER CONSTITUTION.

sAsEORGlA AND HER CONSTITUTION.
The chief object of this work IL to make
MlkU constitution beloved. The means em-
xfoyed will be 10 make II known. Journal
@sszts dgnis de la Constitution.
The state and people of Georgia have been
Aiways remarkable among Southern commu-
mites for peculiar and original system Of
G1ouRht and action. II has never suffered
sffum Dbstfactions, never been ruledby parti-
skssus. and has always adopted systems of
1psnipn or industry adapted TO the great
Blsiects of liberty and popular prosperity.
tscorgia has never submitted to the influences
ssgf her more renowned sisters Of Carolina or
Virginia. With the same devotion to the
principles Of civil liberty she has chosen TO
nsfrsue common object In her own way.
This determination has relieved her from the
Embarrassment Of traditional ideas and insti-
&ntiors which have always 80 much restricted
Tho progress of nations. She never had a
law Of primogeniture, or an established
church. nor u system Of landgravea, or of
property qualifications for suffrage Lying
oil The current and In the eddy of immigra-
tiDn, there is,perhaps, no better specimen ofthe
AnRIo-Saxon republican and representative
"
by Georgia. As examples of this
independence, originality, common sense
And common justice, II may be re-
Eaarked that Georgia was tho first State to
establish the gift land or homestead
system. In this, preceding the Federal gov
ernment itself, she has always fostered popu-
lar education. She built the earliest and most
2srztensive system Of railroads In the South,
without creating a public debt by employing
the labor, supplies and superintendent of her
her own citizens to effect that which other
States effected by the sale Of bonds and the
importation of outside contractors. With
Mput accepting the constitutonality of
sprotective tariff, Georgia appreciated
the indispensable importance of the
mixed Industries, SO organ zed manufae-
tures OF every kind for the employment of
all her people. Practical In her purposes and
entirely intractable In her politics, it was not
yuncominon TO hear Georgia spoken of as
wanting In that heightened hostility to COM
merce and manufactures which distinguished
the more extreme class of Southern states
], yet the presence of q common danger
sund her with military leaders as able sol
uicrs as devoted and people as enduring as
any others, while she furnished peculiar re-
sources of food, clothing, and transportation
dnvaluable In the prosecution OF the common
cause.
Georgia was one among the first Southern
States to accept the consequences of con-
quest, and by expelling the Adventures who
Ind come to prey upon her people, regained
The control of her own affairs. Under the sa-
tgacloas and successful policy of the President
she has been left free from any external influ-
eflces TO readiust her institutions to the con-
siitions In which they have been left by the in
sssxorable decree of conquest. This reorgani-
nation has been recently effected by popular
sennvention called by the Legislature for the
purpose of amending the constitution of the
Stale. AS the first among the Southern
States to demonstrate a policy proper under
the existing relations between the States and
Ike Federal government, the actions of Geor-
gia must be looked on with much interest.
She IL to afford not only an example of
Che legislation necessary to freedom
and prosperity, but of the sincerity
with which the Southern people ac-
accept and respond to this act committing to
4iicm the control of their own affairs and the
protection of the rights of others entrusted
80 Ak1tslI PIotettiuI n peTuSal pt%aHe SreOTRIa
constitution, reported for submission to popu-
tar vote, will show that she has kept her
parole. The paramount authority of the
FEDERAL government is admitted Both
slavery and involuntary servitude, except
sAapnn specified conditions, are forbidden. Al
Enough there was not eolored member in
the convention, the rights of the colored race
were conscientiously protected. nor is there
any discrimination against them percepti-
bile in any part of the instrument
nf competent authorities, one of the best and
szgost applicable to the Southern problem
which exists. 1t is in this sense that, regard
.ang the necessity which presents itself for a
specification of the constitution of Louisiana
IL may not be unwise to offer some comment
xspon some particulars in which the constitu-
sfinn of Georgia differs from the present as
yell as from those of other States whose
nalitieal condition is as anomalous as her
,swn
T. Bill of rights. In the very liberal guar
antaes of religious freedom and rigid re-
strfctions upon the relations between Church
and State, imposed by the constitution, Geor-
sSia guards against any possible imputation
ssE irreligion by placing the welfare of the
state under the protection and guidance of
Almighty God" All political power is de-
ITfved from the people and their representa-
zxes, and officers are sthe servants Of the