Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-22
ty has at present. no issue, may turn out to

Fred. Douglass is charscteristically out
spoken. H declares that the decision has
act the colored people back twenty years
in their struggle; that it remands them
substantially to the condition they were in
at the close of the war, and that the great
mass of colored people living in the South
were turned over to the tender mercies of
their worst enemies. 1t was practically
turning tie lamb over to the guardianship
of the wolf.
II regard the decision as far as 1 understand
it, he say, ''as part of the general reaction
naturally following the increased friendship be-
tween The North and the South, which comes Of
the dying out of the old controversy on slavery.
Nearly all the concessions that the colored PEG
pie have received have been tho result of the an
taeonis of the two sections, and as that antag-
| oaIsrn vanishes l have expected partial return
| of the old ideas and usages which preceded the
war. Ten years ago l told the colored people
| that rs they had gained everything growing out
of the attem pted dissolution of the union, it
behooves thea to inquire what they were likely
to lose by the friendship OF the two sections.
1.-THE decision, take it, is in the direction
and interest Il the old Calhoun doctrine of state
! rights as against federal authority. l do not,
however, despair of the ultimate return of the
liberal spirit towards the colored people which
prevailed Immediately after the war.''
Ex-senator and Register Bruce, who
met the decision as he returned from the
campaign il Ohio, said Of it:
SIT IS a most unfortunate decision and grieves
me and thous ,nds of others very much. think
It's effect will De to carry the Country backwards
fifteen years at least. 1t does not reflect the
sentiments Of the people as a court decision
ought to, and 1t is, in my opinion, q revival of
Calhoun's theory of state rights. Its effect
Upou the colOred race would not attempt TO
predict. But l do say that nothing has occurred
since the war TO embarrass and discourage them
SO much as the decision of the supreme court
The civil rights bill was passed two dsvs before
l entered the senate. 1t was console I'd a fair
recognition of the rights of colored people and
of their services in the war. That it is declared
unconstitutional is discouraging to my race
very dlscouraglng, and 1t Will take many years
to place us where we were. The colored man
does not ask to be declared the social equal of the
white man, and does MT expect his association;
but am very sorry that he cannot be granted,
under the constitution, the rights that are COM
mon to all people,"
John M. Langston, above referred to as
the author of the bill, is quoted as saying
while this law gave to the colored people no
rights that they did not possess before its pas
sage, il was that direct legislation necessary to
carry into effect the fourteenth amendment In
ratifying that amendment the states agreed that
congress should provide the means to make the
article effective, and the act of March /, 1875,
was simply the exercise of that power by con-
gress-nothing MORE nothing less. As citizens,
we have the right under the old common law to
bring an action in the state courts against any
ore whe denies us the privileges extended to
any citizen of that state. We are all equal be-
f.,Va Hol Il
Will be that the states have either by legisla-
ton or Judicial decisions Disseminated against
us, the question will be brought squarely before
! congress TO determine what legislation will be
! required to secure to the citizen of a state and
the United States the enjoyment of his civil
rights under the fourteenth amendment"
Prof. Greener says that in his view of
the decision ''every colored man with any
self-respect must continue to demand the
fullest protection OF the law, both as a
man and as an American citizen, and that
he does not think the civilization of the
age can be turned back, even by the
Supreme Court of the United States"
Arthur st. Clair Smith, a colored journal
ist of Washington, was asked if he CUES
tened the soundneas of the decision of the
! court:
No, not by any means,'' said 1Tr. Smith.
''Hhe more Intelligent colored men who under
stood the Jaw have always believed that it was
not good law"
'How do you propose, then, to get good laws +?
! Do you intend to secure laws in the states?'
THAT would probably be the easiest way,''
sid Mr. Smith; shut what we want is an
amendment to the constitution If the thir-
| tenth and fourteenth amendments don't answer,
! we want another. The colored men you can see
| by recent events are becoming independent, and
L believe that the party that wants their votes
will guarantee them civil rights. 1t is going to
| be party question"
These quotations from representative
men among the colored people sufficiently
indicate the reception of the decision and
the future course they will pursue on the
subject. The more candid among these
people do not bring the decision in ques
ton from legal view at all, but merely
from sentimental standpoint. It is 6
misnomen to designate this law as the
civil rights act, as that is clearly q con-
founding of terms and intent. The Law
which the court has passed upon adversely
is, correctly understood, social rights
law, quite different thing from an enact
ment to protect the colored people in al
their civil rights.
The civil rights OF the negro are mad
wholly secure, and are clearly defined by
law which the counts have sustained an(
will forever sustain. This law of the lant
guarantees to the colored citizen the sam
recognition in the courts, the same. RICH
of contract, the same privileges in tn
civil institutions of the country as are pos
sesed By the white citizen. In his civi
rights the black men is secure and full,
the equal of the white man.
The assumption that the decision of tn
supreme court the other day re-afirms tn
states-rights dogma is nonsense and dema
gogism. The constitutional amendnen
prohibits the states from passing laws dis
eliminating against the black man en-
denying him privileges an,
immunities accorded to tn
white man. But it is ridiculou
to assert that congress has more powe
over the social rights of the black ma,
than over the social rights of the whit
man.
Congress has no power to NEEDLE will
affairs merely social. When the Langstol