The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-19
Letters to the Editor.
Our Text Books.

in use in the institution. The Governor 1 insisted that State was not at liberty
 to inculcate in the minds of its infants and youths early lessons of contempt of the character of their fathers and fore fathers and the confirmed habits of their
 daily lives and the aspirations of their patriotic ambition.
 As briefly as possible, propose to take
 a cue from Governor Winston's solemn | warnings. half a century ago, to indicate
 the wonderful aggravation of the evil to
 which he pointed in the progress of time and events.
 I take up for the merest mention the | work of Schwinn and Stevenson on Civil Government"
 Text-The Fourteenth Amendment is adjudged to be right, because in making up the census these persons freedmen) | were counted .. hence they should be
 represented in Congress" So the text
 reads and presents untruth.
 | Answer-Article l, Section of the Con-
 sttution of 17S secured to every free ne- gro in the United States and his poster tty the political right ito be represented' in Congress. The Fourteenth Amerdmend
 deliberately and for purpose takes away
 from the negroes of each State this su-
 preme Federal right and gives them
 nothing of Federal right in lieu. The ! Fourteenth Amendment deprives the ne- | gro as a race of all Federal right by plac-
 in Congress in the absolute control of the State laws and the State Constitutions l that are willing to pay the expectations ! price for the possession.
 l Text-"When the war broke out many
 of these men (who had taken the oath
 to the Government of the United States
 at various earlier dates), contrary to theG
 oaths to support the Constitution CD of the United States, enlisted in the Con-
 federate army. Having broken their
 oaths, 1t was thought best that they
 should be disqualified for holding any
 office in the United States or State office |" on 1TrNOr I, NN1a | thor releases his pent-up wrath.
 l Answer-The unbiushing mendacity of 1 the allegation properly consigns 1t to sl-
 lent contempt in the mind of every hon. | est man. But the line Is in print, and the
 print Is intended for the school desks of
 hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting l children
 The American doctrine, of the right of | expatriation in the individual, Is the
 American foundation doctrine We went l to war with Great Britain for the asser-
 ton of it as colonies first and few
 years later as an independent world
 power % No man from the South ever
 States to violate 1t. Never The text ! writer knew the falseness of his writing when he set it down. All members of the | United States Congress. all officers in the
 United States army resigned. expatriated
 themselves before entering the Con | federate army" Their resignations were
 accepted by the power which had con ferred the offices. United States District
 Judge W. G. Jones of Mobile resigned when the war broke out" and President | Davis appointed him to the same office. United States Marshal John Hardy, after | the war. arrested Judge Jones on the | substance of this text, charged with trea- | son. His case was heard before Judge Busteed, his successor, Thomas H. Watts | and William P Chiffon conducted his de- | fence, and he was discharged a free man. On pages 106 and 250 of this text book, | nndpr 10 GIlh-ra ntiOO term Is used in manifest opprobrium and | no example of nullification is offered in the entire range of American history but | the case of South Carolina, in 1832-33
 Elsewhere in the book eleven States are | enumerated as secession States In order to bring out the ingenious falsification of the facts of Government perpetrated by the text in this connec- | ton, 1t is convenient to be somewhat re- dundant here, perhaps, in refutation. The only practical, persistent and un-
 recalled act of ''nulification'' in the his- tory of the United States, up to this date,
 teen States that elected MT. Lincoln in
 lS60 The case of Massachusetts is the | case of all the nullifiers. All copied in ef- | feet the Massachusetts nulliflcation stat l ute. We shall now see something of that statute:
 "The volunteer militia shall not act in any manner in the seizure, detention or | rendition of a person for the reason that
 
 | from service or labor. Any member thereof who offends against the provisions | of this section shall be punished by fine not less than one thousand and not ex- ceeding two thousand dollars, and by inn prisonment in the State prison for not less than one year, nor more than two years." Page Al General Statutes of Massachu- setts).
 This act was in force in Massachusetts long before the election of 1860, and in thirteen other States. It applied to every sheriff, constable, justice of the peace, | jailor, "or other officer of State, county or town"
 The statute and the others cognate,
 there and everywhere, referred to and were intended to nullify two separate
 provisions of the Constitution of the United States, to wit: Art ", Sec, 3. | enjoining the rendition of fugitive slaves | taken from original laws of New England for the security of slavery therc and | Art VI, Sec. 2, which declared the Con- l stitution of the United States and the | (constitutionaO laws of the United States the supreme law of the land" The first named, Art. W. Sec. 3. had
 been repeatedly construed by the Supreme Court since the first administration of Washington. The State statute was in- tended to nullify both of these cited con stitutional provisions to nullify the act
 of Congress of 1850. and of 1854. and to nullify each and all decrees of the Su- preme Court in defining and enforcing the aforesaid constitutional provisions l and the aforesaid acts of Congress. Now the South Carolina case becomes permanently and chiefly interesting in this, that a bill was reported from a spe- | cial committee of the Senate, of which l Felix Grundy was chairman and Daniel | Webster was the main working member, | and this bill become the act of March ?, lSS3, by terms of which the State of South Carolina. because of her "nullifca- | tion," (never enforced) was wiped off the face of the earth as a civil community. The act of March 2. 1883. placed the life, | liberty and property of every man, wo-
 man and child in the bounds of the State
 under military rule, with the President as military chieftain in command be- cause of her nullihcation of Federal | revenue law that was immediately re- pealed Apply the principle of the act of March 2 1888, to the fourteen States that elected Mir. Lincoln one generation later, and the eleven States in secession were, to say
 the least. in quite as good standing in the Union, and quite as competent to elect
 Mir. Davis. as the conditions permitted At greater length than I had contem- plated, I have touched upon an mex haustible theme. the abuse of the public school system of Alabama as Governor Winston inttmated half a century ago J. W. D.