Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-02-01
LAST OF THE KUKLUX LAWS.

One by one nearly every provision OF Cne So
called civil rights legislation of Congress has
fallen to the ground. The ostensible design
of the legislation was to enforce the amend
ment of the constitution in behalf of the freed
men of the South but its partisan object was
to confirm the power of the carpet-bag govern
ment and put the voters more completely un-
der the control of the adventures who made
them the basis of desperate political rule
Since the passage of the Civil Rights laws
the Supreme Court has made numerous decls-
ions declaring them invalid as nvasions of the
authority Of the State governments. In Au-
gust last the Record reviewed at length the de-
cision of Judge Barr, of the United States
Circuit Court in Kentucky, dismissing the
case of Belle Smoot against the Kentucky
Central Railroad, for damages for ejectment
from train. The Court held that as Ken
lucky had passed no law abridging the civil
rights guaranteed by the amendments to the
Constitution, the case was one for civil dam
ages in the State Courts and that the Federal
Courts, therefore, had no jurisdiction.
The decision just delivered by the Supreme
Court of the United States in a case involving
the validity of a provision of the Kuklux law
of 1871 enforces this doctrine and repels the
pretension that the fourteenth amendment to
the Constitution extends the criminal jurisdic-
tion of the Federal Courts over cases that are
cognizable by the State Courts. An indict-
ment was found in the United States Court
in Tennessee against Harris and others, for
attacking, wounding and beating four colored
persons when in custody of deputy sheriff.
The Indictment charged the defendants with
conspiracy under provision of the KukluX
laws which makes the offense punishable by
fine from $500 to $1,000 and Imprisonment
from six months to six years. In PennsylVa-
mia or any other northern State such case
could not have found it's way to the Federal
courts but in Tennessee it was considered q
good case for prosecution under the Kuxlux
law On the trial the judges of the Circuit
Court in Tennessee could not agree concern
ing the constitutionality of the law, and the
question was certified to the Supreme Court
for decision.
In delivering the nearly unanimous opinion
of the Supreme Court Justice Woods holds
that the amendment to the Constitution under
which the law of Congress in question was
passed in design to operate upon the States
and prevent them from abridgng the rights
and privileges of citizens of the United States.
Tennessee had made and enforced no laws de-
priving citizens of the rights OF person and
property, and therefore this was not a case for
the interference of the Federal Courts to en-
force the amendments to the Constitution.
The Fourteenth Amendment was designed to
compel the States to respect the rights which
belong to the American citizen, and only when
the States fail in their constitutional obliga-
tons in this respect can the power OF the Cen
eral Government be invoked for his protec-
tion. 1t is the province of the State authori-
ties to stamp out such acts of violence as are
involved in this case and to punish them, and
if the Federal Courts can interfere here under
strained Interpretation of the Constitution
their jurisdiction can be stretched over theft,
burglary, arson and all the other crimes in the
catalogue.
This is the sound doctrine of State rights
which the Republican Justices of the Supreme
Court lay down. 1t not only sweeps away the
whole body of KukluX laws which have been
ruthlessly enforced by Federal Judges in por-
tions of the country, but it calls halt in the
march toward the Capitalization of power in
the General Government. This legislation,
no longer potent for mischief, stands on the
statute book as monument of the partisan
fury that succeeded the civil war. While it
afforded no protection to the rights of the
freedmen, it served to confound the ancient
landmarks which separate the power OF FEEDER
al and State Governments. What partisan
maiorities in Congress have refused to do in
abrogating this unconstitutional legislation
has been effected by the judgment of the high
est court. Philadelphia Record.