The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-12
rhirteenth and Fourtssnsh Amend-


 Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amend- Fourteenth Amendment.
 We come now to consider the power or Congress over the whole subject un- der the Fourteenth Amendment. That amendment. differing from the Thir- teenth Amendment. had no purpose to confer general legislative power, upon Congress. Its purpose was to give Con- gress a limited and conditional author lty In certain contingencies, to correct hostile State action, including therein the acts of its officials fin executing it's laws as well as the laws themselves, whenever amounting to deprivation of life, liberty or property without due process of law, or to denial to any person within its Jurisdiction of the equal protection of the laws. As said in Strauder V. West Virginia. 100 U. S., 311, the Fourteenth Amendment makes no attempt to enumerate the rights it fs designed to protect. It speaks in general terms. and these are as compre- prohibitory. but every prohibition im- piles the existence of rights and fnn- munities. A right, whether created Dy the Constitution, or only guaranteed py 'it even without any express delegation gress." As said in Ex parte Virginia; loo U. S., 345-e, Tt Is the power or Congress which has been enlarged. Con gress is authorized to enforce the pro hibition by proper legisiasioh, n. ana sks so tte amendment fully effective. WnateveI legislation Is proper, that Is adapted to carry out the objects the amend ments have in view, whatever tehos to enforce submission to the proy,lsrons rs they contain, and to secure to all per, sons the enjoyment of equality or civil rights and the equal protection Of the laws against State denial or invasion. If not prohibited, Is brought witnin tne domain of constitutional power. Rignts and immunities created by Or depend. ent upon the Constitution of stheSIniteo States can be protected by congress- and the time and manner or the pro- tection may be such as Congress. m the legitimate exercise Of It's au.nor''s' Legislative Power Under Fourteensn
 Amendment. s .'s.s
 The command of the Fourteenth admendment, when its prohibitions are read as the Supreme Court $deciares they must be. Is that the state mus afford due process of law, and must give equal, protection of the law to every person. It thereby creates an immunity or right springfng from the Constitution of the United states m favor of every person. and certainly of citizen of the state, to have srSn ,,s. protection afforded by the State. The purpose of the amendment was that the state should afford this protection, not merely by refraining from passing vicious laws, sut by the enforcement or proper laws. Does not whatever oe- feats the enforcement by State au- thority of proper laws Of the state, Is not the result. of successful perform : ance of this duty by the State, the vital obiect the amendment seeks to secure! Is the power of Congress, under this amendment, limited only to laws to compel the performance of this duty in view of the objects for which 1t was given, include the power to deal with the acts of private individuals as well, when they resist officers of the State in the performance of the duty? Do not such acts by preventing the protection which would follow from the enforce ment of State laws. defeat the great object the amendment intended to secure to all persons; which was not merely that citizens should have a parchment acknowledgment of their rights and that officers should endeavor to do their duty. but that the duty should be so enforced that 1t would result in the enjoyment of the protec- tion the amendment designed to secure Certainly Congress has power under the Fourteenth amendment to legislate against lawless resistance to State au-
 
 citizens, unless we blot out the doctrine of Prigg vs Commonwealth, Is Peters, 5ss. which in the language of Story Is. that when the end Is required. the means are given" In the Civil Rights Cases, 109 United States, 15. which in- xolved the power of Congress to pass general laws, providing for the enjoy ment of equal privileges fin inns. public conveyances. theatres and like. and to punish denial of such privileges, with out any reference to provisions of ex- isting State laws. there are general ex- pressions which would confine the power of Congress to legislation, under this amendment, solely against faults of the State or its officers. The reason ing. however, does not bear out that idea. The act before the court was declared unconstitutional, because it stepped into the domain of local jurisprudence and lays down rules for the conduct of individuals in society
 (Continued on Page Eleven.)