The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-11-21
Constitutional Weakness.

A great many people seem to have
lost .'the spirit of acquiescence" in the
decisions of the Supreme Court, which,
we are informed, so marks the law-abid-
ing citizen in this country. Mr.. Samuel
r Reed publishes strong article Wig
orously dissenting from Justice Brad
lev's dictum in the Civil-rights opinion,
asserting that the Justice has made the
common mistake of substituting parti-
san opinions for constitutional princi-
piles. The paramount purposes the
founders of our Government had in
view was the protection of the rights OF
man, and. by the very nature of the
case. as necessity to the. preservation
of the Government, there is the amplest
grant of power to do this. Mr.. Reed
says: So long as the State Govern
neRts fulfill this duty it is well. In
has full power" Indications of the rec
ognition of this fact are observable on
all hands. The necessities of modern
ing jurisdiction of the National
Government, and there is wide
demand that the National authority
be extended over the telegraph
and railroads and over the matter Of
divorce. "The existence of the power
in the National Governmental do what
ever may be necessary to protect hu-
man rights in the States, although it
may be unused and latent, is a safe
guard, and its importance is growing" !"
Historically, Mr.. Reed shows that all
parties have always held that Con-
gress had ample power to protect rights
of person and property in the States
wherever made necessary by the default
or hostility of States, or in anticipation
of their unfriendliness. 1t was exer-
cised to protect private property by the
Fugitive-slave act, to an extent which
includes the principle of complete
National establishment of tribunals and
| officers to administer National laws for
the protection of private property. The
claim will hardly be made that Congress
may not go as far to protect persons as
to protect their property" But that is
precisely the claim. The Democratic
party held that the Constitution was
ample to carry slavery into all the Ter.
ritories, and to allow slaves to be
| taken into free States. There was
no dissent from that doctrine on
the part of the Democratic party, and
a great war was instituted by that party
to prove the correctness of the
! position. 1t is q remarkable fact that
| the only time we hear of the weakness
of the Constitution is when justice is tC
/ be enforced The Constitution wa:
powerful enough to make all the terri
! tory of the country slave, but it was no
strong enough to free a single bond
man. The Constitution was too
weak to resist secession or retake a sin
gle dollars worth of property stolen by
the rebels. 1t was too weak to permi
of the call for single company q
| troops to save the life of the Govern
| ment 1t was too weak to issue single
/ greenback to pay the soldiers or to bu.
| munitions OF war. 1t was too weak Il
permit of the enlistment of a singh
| colored soldier. 1t was too weak Z
permit of the emancipation of the slave
as war power for the preservation
of the Government. The Constitution
has been notoriously too weak T.
do anything for Justice and right, an,
now the Supreme Court, by the moutl
of Justice Bradley, steps onto the oil
States Rights Democratic platform
and pronounces upon the weakness o
the Constitution much more decided,
than was necessary for the purpose O
the case in hand. The dicta of tn
Bradley decision are the dangerou
things in it, and not the mere Judgmen
of the Court overthrowing two section
of the Supplementary Civil-rights bill
In the hand of a Democratic Suprem
Court, thoroughly imbue1 with tn
Democratic virus, animated by tn
spirit against which the people hav
fought for the past twenty-five years
the logic of that decision can be used t.
paralyse the power of the General Gov
ernment, and to practically nullity
large part of what has been accom-
plished during this period of radica
change. The people intended to max
a strong Constitution-strong enoug
to preserve the Government and to'Pro
tect the rights and privileges it pre-
posed to confer. That purpose will nc
be defeated. though it may be bake
and delayed. Revolutions do not g
backward, even to the common law
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