The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-03

| States lt IS matter or history, that had the Fifteenth amendment finally passed as amended in the Senate, the | States would have been stripped of all power and Congress would alone have dominated all elections and regulated the qualifications of voters.
 Senator Williams of Oregon did pro- pose to amend the original resolution | offered by Boutwell,. by asserting the | power of Congress to regulate the right
 to vote and Keeping the whole matter | within the control of the national gov | ernment. The entire Democratic ma | jority resisted this radical innovation, | and the Republican leaders were forced | to agree to their views. Finally Will | son of Massachusetts offered a substi-
 ute to the effect that no discrimina-
 ton should be made in the right to vote | in any State, on account of race, color, nativityN property education, or reli- gious creed, which substitute passed by
 a small majority The House declined | to agree to this substitute, and the resolution was passed in the form in
 which 1t now appears, but only after | repeated efforts had been made to so | amend 1t as to make every citizen 21 l years of age or over, voter, not to be disfranchised except for crime. The his- | tory of this debate shows that while | the Democratic minority were unable to
 defeat a suffrage amendment, they did
 determine its form, and did compel the Republican majority to so word the
 amendment as to recognise the sover- | eighty of the States, and to practically
 continue in the States the right to
 regulate the elective franchise.
 Congress T ss0ss refused used to % transfer 0 to % conn | gress the control of the suffrage, shows | by what narrow margin, the courage | and fidelity of the Democratic minority defeated an innovation which would | have fettered and degraded the State | governments by subjecting them to the | control of Congress in the exercise of | a power heretofore universally con- ceded to them of the most fundamental l would have stripped the States of all
 power and changed the form of our government.
 This brief review of the history and purposes Of the two amendments, re-
 powers of the federal government as
 to the elective franchise, largely due to
 misunderstanding of the fundamental principles governing the suffrage. that power to regulate the suffrage still remains in the States, subject only to
 the exceptions contained in the Eff teenth amendment. The debates in Congress and the decisions of the constrring these two amendments, es- l tabiish the following propositions:
 Ffrst-The Fourteenth amendment made the negro citizen. It did not ufdhS u VOteF, or ueny Ine TiknC
 of the State to exclude him from par ticipation in the elective franchise. Neither the Fourteenth nor the Fif- | teenth amendments conferred on the
 citizen the right of suffrage. In the | language of the Supreme Court of the United States. 'The right to vote in the States. comes from the States. and
 has not been granted by the United States. The Fifteenth amendment
 simply invested citizens of the United
 States with the right of exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the | elective franchise on account of race, | color. or previous condition of servi- | tude."
 second-Participatio in the elective
 franchise is privilege rather than a right, and is granted by the State on | grounds of general policy. Any action
 of State not directed by way of dis | crimination against the negro as Q
 class, on account of race. does not
 come within the amendment. These | propositions of law. sustained by the
 highest judicial tribunals. justify the | assertion that there is no limitation on the sovereign power of the States to | impose such restrictions or qualifica- tions on the elective franchise of It's | citizens as It may see proper. which is | not directed in hostility to the negro as
 race, and that such regulations and | restrictions, when tested by judicial construction, will be sustained Be- fore the passage Of the Fifteenth amendment the former slave holding States had the power to confne the | suffrage to the white race, and could have accepted the penalty imposed by the Fourteenth amendment. The will ingness of the South to accept this re- duced representation rather than risk
 the horrors and profound degradation
 which would follow making a race of ignorant slaves their voters, and law
 givers. their judges and representa-
 tlves, was the cause that induced the ha
 This amendment withdrew from the States the power to discriminate against the negro on account of race.
 in the exercise of the elective fran
 confine its voting population to the White race aloen. As declared by the
 Supreme Court of the United States.
 Beyond question the adoption of the
 law to remove from the State consti-
 tuttpns, or render Imperative that pro
 vision which restricts the right of suf- rage to the white race"
 The Fifteenth amendment in effect re-
 pealed that portion of the Fourteenth amendment which recognised the un- limited power of the States to control
 the suffrage and to limit the elective
 franchise to the white race. Any dis
 crimination by State by way of denial
 or abridgment of the right to vote on
 account of race. color, or previous con
 dition of servitude, was rendered inop-
 0ideiNe ana VOlu by the Fifteenth
 amendment. No congressional legis- lation was necessary to give 1t force and effect. It Swas self operating.
 The passage of the Fifteenth amend
 ment withdrew from Congress the con
 stltutional power to reduce the repre-
 sentation of a State on account of any
 legislation which discriminated against
 the negro as a voter on account of his
 race. If a State passed a law which
 violated the Fifteenth amendment, a
 law which Is unconstitutional, 1t was void. If the law was void, how can it
 deny or abridge the right of the negro
 10 vote? How can Congress reduce
 the representation of a State for en-
 acting by its constitution or by
 statute. laws which discriminate
 against the negro in the exercise of
 the elective franchise. on account of his
 race. or color-laws which by operation
 Of the Fifteenth amendment are void
 ab initio-which possess no more force
 or efect than If they had never been placed on the statute books? A State l law containing such discrimination
 against the negro Is void, and when
 tested In any court, State, or Federal,
 will be so declared
 usurpatton asserted by the Republican
 platform, Is for Congress to determine
 whether State has passed a law In
 violation of the Fifteenth amendment. congress can only determine, decide
 this question by exercising Judicial
 functions. converting itself into a court and sitting in judgment on the con
 sltutionality of the laws of a sovereign State of the Union, Having thus usurped the functions of the Judiciary, should 1t decide the suf- fraRe law of Stata fo ha