The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-27
THE NEGRO IN THE WAR AMENDMENTS
JOHN w1rHERsPooN DuBosE.

State" except the Northern States, where | their numbers were known to be too | Scantv and race prejudice too firmly fix ed to endanger society from the opera tion of the article.
 ! The Senate resolution went promptly to the House to find pending there the | indignant protest of the Legislature of Oregon. against the adoption of the Four teenth Amendment, accompanied by a demand for the resignation of two Sem atorR from that State, Messrs. Williams and Corbett, because of their affirmative vote on the objectionable document. the July before.
 The House Committee on the Judiciary met the Senate resolution with a substi- | tute of its own. joint resolution. as fol- | lows:
 Section 1. The right of any citizen 1 of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of the race. col or or previous condition of slavery of any citizen or class of citizens of the United States
 "section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce by proper Legislation the provisions of this article.' (Cong. Globe. 40 Cong. 3rd Sess. D. l 2S6).
 MT. Shellaberger. Republican, of Ohio
  the words to exclude from the electorate "all persons who have (sic) engaged or may hereafter engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States" MT | Brooks, Democrat, of New York, moved 1 to amend by inserting words to prohibit | the exclusion from the electorate of any person "by reason of his or her race, sex, nativity or age over twelve years. color ar previous condition of slavery. Ea resolution on February 9, 1869. The House had stricken out the Senates proviso. right to mold office" This trick gave the Democrats and Senator Sumner some- thing to talk about from different stand points. Sumner moved that the words | "citizens of the United States" be ex- punged. He had letters in great num- bers from the South expressing the de- Sire of West Indies negroes to come to the South to live but under existing nat uralzation laws only white" persons could be naturalizcd. He had had a bill for long time before Congress to strike white" from tho naturalization laws and he wanted to prepare the expected West India negro citizen to vote in the Southern States. Mir. Sumner said: The Declaration of Independence speaks for all men, without any distinction of color and we must bring all our institutions into harmony with that text" Senators replied that Mir. Summers amendment would open the country to Chinese voters and Indians. MT. Summers amendment was voted down.
 The Senator from Massachusetts be- came incensed He saw the Southern States Arriving their coach and six with all their Representatives through the adopted Fourteenth Amendment and he saw that the proposed fifteenth article must fall far short of any real advantage
 ifNy for so long, his heart. In indignation he moved to strike out the entire joint res olution that had come from the House, after Ire enacting clause and osubstttnfe resolution of his own. The Sumner Substitute proposed to take away rom the State and the State courts all or lenses" charged against voter ana to place the offender within me eNcIuslS" jurisdiction oe the District Courts or the United States" "All offences against the voter were left undehned by the bill. The penalty on conviction was not less than $500 nor more than $4.000," to which fine must be added the farther punish- ment of imprisonment In the common jail of not less than three calendar months or more than two years" The power of arrest and practically the pow CT to complain, was vested in "District attorneys, marshals, deruty marshals and commissioners appointed by the cir cult ana territorial courts Of the United States"
 The bill of the Senator from Massa- chusetts fared no better than his amend ment to the joint resolution of the House. It met defeat. F to g. SO decisive that he seems to have lost heart The presiding officer of the Senate, Senator Benjamin F. Wade from Ohio, was one of the ni1e
 The amendments proposed to the Housu joint resolution were numerous. Senator l T1h t5,ta ,Ao the Constitutions of at least thirty States