The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-05-15

mentlS IN these words: All persons
born or naturalized in the United States
and subject 10 the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens Of the United States and OF
the State wherein they reside. No
State shall make or enforce any law
which shall ahridge the privileges OF
/ immunities of citizens Of the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty or property with,
out due process of law nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws"
Article Is of the amendments to the
Constitution reads: Section l. The
right of citizens of the United States tc
vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on
account of race, color or previous con-
dition of servitude.
'Section 3. The Congress shall have
power to enforce this article by appro-
pirate legislation.
The Congress has given to the Cir
cult Courts of the United States Jurls
diction of all suits to enforce the right
of citizens Of the United States to vote
in the several States.
We find now that a citizen of South
Carolina is a citizen of the United
States residing in that State. The
rights, privileges and immunities be,
longing to him as a free citizen are his
as citizen of the United States, anc
do not depend upon his citizenship Of
that State. The plaintiff Mills, a citi
zen of African descent, is a citizen Of
the United States and of the
State of South Carolina; by the
Fourteenth Amendment he ha:
been made a citizen of the United
States and by the Fifteenth Amend
ment he is voter in the State IN which
he resides. Previous to the adoption
of these amendments the race towhlch
he belongs
HAD NO RIGHTS
that the white men of this country
were bound to respect, and ii was moi
possible for any one belonging to 1t tc
be citizen of the United States. In
the slaughter house cases. the Supreme
Court of the United States, referring
to the time Immediately preceding and
following the adoption Of these amend
mentS, said:
The institution of African slavery
as it existed in about half the States OF
the union, and the contests pervadine
the public mind for many years be
tween those who desired its c"1iall
ment and ultimate extinction anc
those who desired additional safe
guards for its securitv and perpetua
ton eliminated in the effort on the
part of most of the States in which
slavery existed, to separate from the
Federal government and to resist It's
authority. This constituted the Wal
Of the Rebellion and whatever auXili
ary causes may have contributed tc
bring about this war, undoubtedly tie
overShadowing and efficient cause was
African slavery.
In that struggle, slavery, as le
galized social relation, perishsd. 1t
perished as necessity of the bitterness:
and force of the conflict. When the
armies of freedom found themselves
upon the soil of slavery they could dc
nothing less than free the poor victims
whose enforced servitude was the
foundation of the quarrel. And when
hard pressed in the contest, these men
for they proved themselves men IN
that terrible crisis offered their ser
vices and were accepted by thousands
to aid in suppressing the unlawful re
beilion. Slavery was at an end where
ever the Federal government succeed
ed in that purpose. The proclamation
of President Lincoln expressed an ac
complished fact as to large portion
of the insurrectionary districts, when
he declared slavery abolished IN them
all. But the war being over, those
who had succeeded in re-establishine
the authority of the Federal govern.
ment were not content to permit this
great act of emancipation to rest on the
actual results of the contest or the pro
clamation of the executive, both Of
which might have been questioned In
after times, and they determined tc
place this main and most valuable re
suit in the Constitution Of the restored
union as one of its fundamental artl
cles. Hence the Thirteenth Amend
ment to that instrument. Its two
short sections seem hardly to admit o1
construction, so vigorous is their ex
preston and so appropriate to thep pur
pose we nave indicated:
"'1. Neither slavery nor lnvolun
tary servitude, except as punishmen,
! for crime; whereof the party shal
have been duly convicted, shall exis1
within the United States or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.
"'2. Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate leg,
islation.
1.-The process of restoring to then
proper relation with the Federal gov
ernment and with the other State:
those which had sided with the rebel
lion, undertaken under the proclama
ton of President Johnson in 1865, anc
before the assembling of Congress, de
veloped the fact that, Notwithstanding
the formal recognition by those State:
of the abolition Of slaves, the condition
of the slave race would, without fur
ther protection Of the Federal govern
ment, bealmost as bad as twas before
Among the first acts of Legislation
adopted by several of the States in the
Legislative bodies which claimed to bt
in their normal relations with the
Federal government, were laws which
imposed upon the colored race onerou:
disabilities and burdens, and curtallet
their rights in the pursuit of life, lib
erty and property to such an eNten
that their freedom was of little value
while they had lost the protection
which they had received from theil
former owners from motives both o
interest and humanity.
They were in some States forbidden
to appear in the towns in any otheI
characters than menial servants. They
were required to reside on and cult
vate the soil without the right to pur
chase or own it. They were excluded