Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1885-06-04

SOME weeks ago the Steele Herald As.
serted that "Prt s,dent Cleveland could
with as much propriety revoke L,ncoln's
proclamation and remand the negroes
INTO slavery as revoke Arthur's procla-
nation opening the Wlnnebago rcserva-
ton"
We tried to show the Herald its error
at the time but it seems to be not only
not convinced of its error but confirmed
IN the correctness of its position. The
Herald does not seem to perceive any
distinction between emancipation OF
slaves and abolition Of slavery. ltssys
III we accept the Alert's statement
that LincoIn's proclamation only applied
to those states and parts of states that
were in armed rebellion against the gsv-
ernment on the first day OF January 1868,
then from that date to the ratification of
the thirteenth amendment to the United
States constitution, what was the condi.
ton of the negroes in those states Were
they slaves Did slavery exist at all with
in the states and parts Of states des,gna-
ted by Lincoln's proclamation Surely
not"
f. What the Herald pIeases to call the
"Alert's statement" is the statement of
the emancipation proclamation itself.
After designating the states and parts OF
states to which the proclamation should
apply, 1t says: "And winch excepted
parts are, for the present, left precisely as
as If this proclamation were not iss,,ed
And by virtue of the power, and for the
purpose aforesaid, do order and declare,
that all persons held as slaves within said
designated states, and parts Of states, are
and henceforward shall be free.''
The 'condition of the negroes from
the date of this proclamation eman-
cipatlng them as slaves to the ratification
OF the thirteenth amendment forever pro-
hibtiDg slavery is better expressed than
any more elegant words would express
it BY the quaint old saying brought up to
the new version, viz: "Between sheol
and powder house, and especially so un-
uci 1onI.e..-.~---- ---------..a.,
when the famous anl infamous "6l0ck
codes" were enacted by those states while
under provisional government. The name
"freedmen" was comparatively speaking,
but a nockery until slavery was root and
branch forever abolished and prohibited
by constitutional amendment.
THIS was the rock upon which president
johnson and the republican party split,
which finally eliminated in his impeach.
ment The system of reconstruction in
augurated by johnson would have nulli-
fed Llncoln's proclamation. Within two
months after his accession he appointed
provisional governors for the purpose of
r. rtorganizing the southern states IN which
the ex-slaves were excluded and pardon
ed rebels were gwen the power Into their
own hands so far as the executive could
control the subject TO reinstate themselve-
into the union with slavery as one of
their institutions, but this scheme was
thwarted by congress which refused to
0uuIiV NuC Representative VI tuOoC AS"A
ganize'i states. President johnson had
the power 10 revoke Lincoln's proclama-
tion, but he dared not do it in the face Of
public sentiment. He sought to nulhfy
it by c,rcumvention through "my policy"
and would have successfully accomplish.
ed 1t had not his plans been frustrated
by congress as before stated.
Lincoln's emancipation proclamation
has been abrogated and swallowed up in
the constitutional amendment. There ls
not a single point of vitality left iE it any
more than there IS in the Articles OF Con-
federation which preceded the federal
constitution. Its revocation ty president
Cleveland or any other power would not
in the least affect the condition of SIN,
gle former slave or colored person within
the bounds of the United States, nor Of
any other country for that matter.