Richland beacon., 1878-04-06
The constitutional Amendments

since the adoption Of the or'g'".'' y"
rludiu9 ,hose proposed st the 'a-' seq
sion Of our General Assembly an" u
h. voted on at the general election
next November. none have at'ec'ta or
propo.ed to affect the m"si "n)ec''on'
shls features of ,be organic law ny
which the people Of ibis SAFE are
,rammellcd. Hence. our principal
obirc,iou 10 tbr ratification of these
nro,osed amendments by the voters
h this State. As We have before
sta,rd. or intimatsd 1T least. it ID net
SO much because Of our objection 1"
these amendments themselves that we
oppose them, a. it is Tbs, they do not
relieve Us Of The objectionable FEATURES
Of the origina. which .bey propose TO
sm~nd. some Of which arp huniIiat.
ing and deg, aiding 10 free people,
VI o demand that they he abolished.
While We find very seriOu. Ohjec-
ton to many Of these amendments.
We discover merit in Others, which we
would like to see incorporated into
our Constitution but We are opposed
to ENGRAVING them iDto articles which
make us blush every lime ne read
them, and shall vote for their rcj.c-
ton for this reason and for the reason
tha, We believe that the people ought
10 have had the privilege granted by
this Legislature If framing C"nsti.
tuition for their government, to be
adopted by free people. setting With
out the restraint Of bsyOuets and
shoulder sirnps.
We NIL know that the Constitution
We now have Was forced upon sn un-
willing people. and that the election
at which it is claimed that they
adopted il was q farce. q cheat aud
fraud that il wss not q free express
sion # their will. but choice OF the
lrss o: two evils; il was. adopt this
objectionable Consti,u tion. or contin.
ne to be recognized and treated as
conquered aliens; it was swallow THE
bitter pill. or remain . victim'to the
disease with which you are suffering.
+ The pill was gulped down. but We
still remained a prey 10 the disease
the bsyODet was net removed. BY a
powerful effort the people. aided by
public opinion 10 other States. did
free themselves of the disease. but the
pill still remains. ani the chosen rep.
resentxtives Of the people refused to
remove its bi,terest ingredients.
We will not be deferred by fear of
} political defeat, nor Influenced bv pol.
icy. FROM stating precisely what ar.i.
cles in the Constitution we do object
to. although our Legislators seemed
afraid to touch them. We want arti
cles l3, SO, ls9. 139 aud 1873 totally
. abolished. Article 10 il an infringe.
ment upon the private personal rights
; Of individuals. which the people de-
: msnd shall be eliminated from our
laws. together With all acts based
thereon. There is no reason why the
, , people should be debxrrrd from elect
ing the same person Governor for q
!. secOnd tenn If they choose article
so prohibits it. There is no need u
; article 1879. snd it should lie wiped
out, snd l35 amended So as not t.
forbid the separate organization Of
public schools. and not hing short al
that will satisfy ,hs people. Article
+ 1873 IL absurd aud wrong. We have
the same ohj~c,iun to article l42 thai
We have to les. and had rather have
the University abolished than to have
; it continue to exist under such law
. There are objectionable features il
:. several other articles of the Constitu
ton. but the most objectionable il
contained 10 article 80. from the mid
. die Of the second paragraph to ID,
. end Of the article. which di.franchiset
7 I'll "Thosc who held Office, civil o
q military. far one year or more. unde
o the organization styled THE Confrd
. crate States Of America )" those wh'
{ registered themselves .. eoenirs t
l. the United States; those who acte,
% Is leaders Of guerrilla bands durinl
the late rebellion; those who 10 th
advocacy Of treason. wrote or pub
/! lishrd newspaper articles or preoche'
y sermons during the late rebellion
. and those who voted for aud signe'
. an ordinance Of secession 10 an,
. STATE" We want this and all VI ,b
u next paragraph Of this 99,h ar,icl
IL eliminated from our Constitution. L
o fact. We want a new Constitution
u that will not make W. angry and caus
" to blush every time We read il; ID
people want it; they have . right Z
t. have it, and they are going to euforc
% that right.
/" Some other Of our objections to th
y proposed amendments will b. state
nl hereafter.