The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-05-15

dccouuC VI race, cQ'Or, or previous cOOOl.
ion of servitude." The negro having,
by the 18th amendment. been declared
TO be a citizen of the United States is
thus made a voter in every State Of the
Union.
We repeat. then, in the light of this
recapitulation Of events. almost too re-
cent to be called history, but which are
familiar to us ali, and 90 the most
casual examination Of the language Of
these amendments, no one can fail to
be impressed with the one pesvading
purpose found 10 them all, lying at the
foundation of each, and without which
none Of them would have been suggest
ed We mean the freedom of the slave
race, the security aud firm establish
mani Of that freedom, and the protec-
ton Of the newly made freeman and
citizen from the expressions Of those
who had formerly exercised unlimited
dominion over him. It is r u that
only the 18th amendment, in terms,
mentions the negro by speaking of his
color aud bis slavery. But it is just
as true that each of the other articles
was addressed to the grievances of that
race and designed to remedy them as
the 18th.
We do not say that no one else but
the negro can share in this protec.
ton. Both the language and spirit
Of these articles are to have their
fair and just weight in any question
of construction Undoubtedly while
negro slavery alone was in the mind
of Congress which proposed the 18th
article, it forbids any other kind of
slavery, now or hereafter. If Next
can peonage or the Chinese coolie
labor system shall develop slavery of
the Mexican or Chinese race within
our territory, this amendment may
safely be trusted to make it void.
And so if other rights are a%ssailed
by the States which properly and
necessarily fall within the protection
of these articles, that protection will
apply, though the party interested
may not be of Africa descent. But
what we do say, and what we wish
10 be understood, is that in any fair
and just construction of any section
or phase of these amendments it is
necessary to look to the purpose
which we have said was the pervad-
ing spirit of them all, the evil wbic5
they were designed to remedy aud
the process of continued addition to
the Constitution until that purpose
was supposed to be accomplished as
far as constitutional law can accom-
plish it
The lst section of the 18th article,
to which our attention is o
especially invited, opens with a
definition Of citizenship-not only
citizenship of the United States, but
citizenship of the States. No such
definition was previously found in
the Constitution, nor had any attempt
been made to define it by Act Of
Congress. 1t had been the occasion
of much discussion in the Courts, by
the executive departments, and in
the public journals. It had beer
said by eminent Judges that no man
was a citizen of the United States,
except as he was a citizen of n Of
the States composing the Union.
Those, therefore, who had been born
and resided always in the District of
Columbia or in the Territories,
though within the United States,
were not citizens. Whether this
proposition was sound or not had
never been ~judlcially decided. But
it had been held by this Court, in the
celebrated bred Scott case, only a
few years before the outbreak OF the
civil war, that a mai of African
descent, whether a slave or not, was
not and could not be a citizen of a
State or Of the United States. This
decision, while it met the condemna-
ton Of some of the ablest statesmen
and constitutional lawyers of the
country, had never been overruled
and if it was to be accepted as a
constitutional limitation OF the right
of citizenship, then all the negro
race who had recently been made
freemen were still not only not citi-
zens, but were incapable o. becoming
so by anything short Of ar amend
ment to the Constitution.
To move this difficulty primarily,
and to establish a clear and compre-
hensive definition of citizenship
which would declare what should
constitute citizenship Of the United
States, and also citizenship of a State,
the first clause of the LIST section was
framed
".All persons born or naturallzed IN
the United States and SUBJ ect to the