The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-27

tlK0& TOT me to Hpe8ks 00t " nv know or did 1t out of compliment 70 me or did 1t for the purpose of ma king a contrast and saying. here is the Hyperian to the satyr, . Royal Ben gal tiger to a singed cat, or the tow ering peaks of the Maeterhorn to the foot hills beneath it. I am unable to say. but being of charitable dispo- sition. am willing to assume that this Committee, in assigning me this po- sition, meant to compliment me.
 Now, like Flannigan of Texas. Gen tlemen. for what purpose are we hereF' It is, as outlined in the enabling act of calling this Convention. to amend and revise the Constitution of the State of Alabama. They had to put 1t that way in order to make 1t constf- tutional under the Constitution of the State. but gentlemen. we know the purpose for which 1t was called. There is not man upon this floor but what knows the great supreme purpose for which this Convention was called, and that it was to reform the suffrage of the State. and to reform 1t in such a way that the white people might re- main supreme in the control of It's af- fairs. and to prevent the possibility, even though at remote times. of negro domination in this State. Let me in the beginning say that I am in full sympathy with the movement. am glad, however. that this Committee in its wisdom put plank in its ordinance by which negroes of good character in this State should be recognized and given the right to vote, and I am glad that embodied within the provisions or this able instrument, that these able gentlemen have furnished for our con- xastat prevent the vicious of that race or any other race in the State of Alabama from casting ballots at our election.
 Gentlemen. dislike to appear in op- position to the article reported by this Committee, which as has been said upon this floor, is one of the ablest State papers that was ever drawn up. It is in my judgment. an able docu- ment with one exception, and that 10. what is known and called "The Grand father Clause" In the magnificent peroration made by the gentleman in closing his speech. as to the inscrip. tion on the tombstone of Thomas Jef- ferson. he might well have added. Who struck down the law of primo geniture in the United States of America. making 1t impossible to ever have any class or hereditary distinc-
 
 vision.
 Fellow delegates, the Committee and it's champions say that this provision Is constitutional. Some of the opposi- tion say that 1t is unconstitutional. l believe that 1t is so doubtful 1t ought not to be embodied in the organic law of the State of Alabama. because we cannot tell. gentlemen. what Q hostile court may do, or a hostile Congress will do even though 1t be constitution al in one aspect of the case. If we should have a close presidential elec- ton. the result of which depended up- on the vote of the State of Alabama. with a court unfriendly to us. but friendly to the views of our opponents, they would find the means of saying that 1t was unconstitutional. Governor Jones and Captain White have ably argued to you that the courts will not necessarily look at the face of the instrument itself fUr the purpose of determining whether 1t is constitutional or not. They shll look at the purposes which actuatad the Convention that passed 1t. They will look at 1t to see whether 1t is scheme devised for the purpose of deprtving citizens oe 4he United States of the right to vote on account If race, color or previous condition of servi.ude. Do not forget. gentlemen, that in the bis- tory of past decisions. an! past con- gressional enactments in this coun.ry growing out of reconstruction, that they will put tbe X-rays upon 1t. They will use Roetgen rays to discover an infirmity in the body of the enactment. Being somewhat of a reader If not c student of history, have taken occa- sion to look into the question to as- certain for what purposes the four teenth and fifteenth amendments were enacted. I knew that there must have been some purpose in view in enacting those amendments. The war had clos ed. and the thirteenth amendment hed been passed emancipating the slaves of the South. Two or three years later the fourteenth amendment followed and the fifteenth amendm mt followed shortly afterward. I have looked into the question and students of history upon this floor will bear me ont. in the statement of the reason for the legis- lation. Mir Blaine, whom they say was an unfriendly historian, ln his book. gives a reason. Samuel s. Cox, . friendly one. gives identically the same reason. and they say that t was on account of the antagollstic, and as some of them classed 1t, d:aoolical legislation of the Southern States, to- wards the negro. as a freed man. In discussing the question, MT. Blaine lay particular stress upon the character of the legislation that was levelled at the negro in a state of freedom by the leg islature of Alabama, which had not yet been abolished by reconstruction enactments. I have here the penal code of 1866. passed by that legislature. and in 1t I find the acts that MT. Blaine and Mir. Cox refer to in their histories of that period. and it Is so encountered by enactments for the pur- pose of keeping the negro in a species of slavery. that the sentiment of the North was outraged. They felt that the four years of deadly struggle had accomplished nothing; that the legis- lature would override what they had done. and they immediately got to- gether and as soon as possible passed the fourteenth amendment, that for bade any State to deprive any citizen of the United States of his rights or to abridge his privileges or immuni- ties. to deprive them of the equal pro- lection of the law. The enactments that had been passed by the legisla- lures of the Southern States immedt- ately fell to the ground. and the negro had all the rights of citizenship before the law that the white man had. Thereafter they passed the fifteenth amendment to prevent these unfriend- ly legislatures from depriving the me- gro of the right to vote on account of race. color or previous condition of servitude.
 Now, you may ask what bearing that has upon the question at issue here today. It shows that if they con- slider that this strikes at the general