Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-03-19

The Right of Negroes TO Hold Office,

Inc tlHnL OF NcRlOeS W NINA OAAASS'
The fifteenth amendment made voters of
The negroes-that is 10 say, the effect OF its
ratification was TO compel the several
States to confer upon them the elective
franchise. That amendment, however. did
not secure 10 them the right to hold office
in any State. There is nothing in the Fede-
raj Constitution which prevents any State
from denying 10 them that right. This
fact seems to have been lost sight OF by
Che Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. as we
shall show. Last week we wrote the fol-
lowing little paragraph;
more RACE TRoUBLrs.-Why will Mr.
HARRISON and his Cabinet persist in appoint
inc negroes 10 Office when there are so
many white Republicans asking for all the
offices TO be given out by the AdmlnIstra-
ton? An Athens telegram in the Atlanta
Constitution SAYS that the white citizens OF
the High Shoals are indignant over the ap-
pointment of a negro gauger: A gentle
man from Oconee county said that While
her people were law-sbiding and peaceful,
thev had come to the conclusion. after
calm and considerate dellberation, that no
negro officer should be tolerated in Oconee
county. There are various rumors aboat
rs TO race troubles in Oconee, but we trust
they may prove TO be untrue "
Whereupon our Cincinnati contemporary
comments as follows:
"The constitutional rights OF the colored
peOple and their representative rights as
good citizens do not seem TO be seriously
considered Law-abiding people who
will not tolerate a negro in Office have not
in a reasonable sense finished their educa-
ton"
Here the Commercial CARTE assumes that
the right of the negroes to hold office Is
constitutions" right-meaning that it
is secured to them by the Federal Consti-
tuition. But the facts are that the thir-
toenth amendment did nothing moro than
free the negroes the fourteenth i'll terms
comedies the right of the several States TO
deny the right of suffrage to them; and
the fifteenth did nothing more than secure
10 them the right to vote. The State Con-
etituton of Virginia provides that the ne
gro shall be eligible TO Office; but there is
nothing in the Federal Constitution that
touches his right to hold office. Any State
in the Union has the right to exclude
the negro from the ballot-box.
The failure Of the Federal Constitution
10 say anything upon the subject of the
negro's right to vote was not an accidental
but an intentional omission. Whilst the
fifteenth amendment was pending in the
United States Senate senator proposed to
make it read. THE right of citizens of
the United States to vote and ho'd c1tce
shall not be denied" &c, &c. But the
Senate voted down this proposed amend
ment.
Our Cincinnati contemporary must not
assume that there is any violation of the
Federal Constitution upon the part of
those southrons who ask the President of
the United States not to appoint negroes
to Office. Even if that instrument should
be amended and be made TO read as the
Senate twenty years ago refused to make
it read, the southern people could not be
charged with the offence with which the
Commercial Gazette by implication charges
them. For such provision would mean
nothing more than that no State should by
law exclude negroes from office. 1t would
not take effect upon persons at all. The
fifteenth amendment as it stands does not
apply to persons, and Of course it would
not have applied TO persons If 1t had been
amended as was proposed in the Senate.