The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-01


 the caprice of State action. and in many cases moved and controlled by local interests. and subject to local prejudice. and the uncertain political, such conditions. I shall now attempt to establish this by what to my mind Is unquestionable history.
 Civil War to not only take a judicial view of the great men who controlled the Government at that time and Tor judge of their motives. and do justice
 Speaking for myself-.while I was a Confederate soldier. and as such felt my duty-I was not at all disheartened at the result of the war. I believed that ultimate sovereignty rested with the people of the State; s as suGh, al and i'd from the compact. or secede from the Union. if you please; but at the same time I never doubted that the Govern to preserve its existence, and that if 1t had the power to do this, 1t was its duty to It's people to use such power to that end. The manner in which ,ii, the e of the war; the patriotic concentration of our Union today. gives assurance that we can fairly judge the men and
 
 not only this, but only and along. could the present condition of things be pro- duced by Anglo-Saxon civilization.
 Debates on Amendment.
 Ordinarily debates of legislators are not competent to explain the intention and meaning of a statute or provision of a Constitution. but they are not only competent, but highly valuable. in as certainins the true history Of such en-
 'sThe Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States assembled In December, 1865. and soon thereafter a joint com
 "on the part of the Senate, William E.; Fesseaden I of Ma Mainsi ls James . IVY; "; York. Jacob M Howard of Michigan, ReyeFdy Johnson of Maryland.
 the of part Ga hs ha Washburne of Illinois. Justin s. Nor Till of sSIa Vermont I9hn A Bingham , of eS Seonxe S of S Henry T. Blow of Missouri. A. J. Rog- CTS of New Jersey and Henry Grider
 Judge Judd said the fourteenth amendment was introduced in the Sen ate by Senator Howard of Michigan and quoted literally from the arSu, quoted extTssts from the spesches of of Thadeus Stevens of Pennsylvania.
 Judge Judd spoke of an argument and q leading member of the Recon struction Committee. in 1882. before the Federal Supreme Court in a case from California in which Mir. Conkling used this language:
 At the time the fourteenth amend ment was ratified, as the records of and joint stock companies were appeal ing for Congressional and administra- tive protection against invidious and discriminating State and local taxes, company, whose stock was owned largely by citizens of the State of New York. who came with petitions and them In restricting what they deemed oppressive taxation in two States, and oppressive and ruinous rules of dam ages applied under State laws. That property and other rights, made by the citizens of Northern states who took up residence. in the South. were rife. In and out of Congress, none of us can forget; that complaints of oppression In various forms. of white men in the South-of Union men-were heard on every side. I need not remind the
 Occasion for Amendment, "The. war and it's results, the condi- dSty Owed to she no dosbt Saonss on the occasion for the constitutional amendment. but when the occasion came, and men set themselves to the within the purview of the work were the surrounding circumstances. in the light of which they strove to increase and strengthen the safeguards of the Constitution and the laws"
 In the same case Judge Judd said Senator Edmonds of Vermont in argu- me7t rscd this language concernin< tne Frs: section of the Fourteenth Amend ment.
 There is no word in it that did not There is no word in it that was not scanned, and intended to mean the full and beneficial thing that 1t seems en,,atsao to mean' .,or There was no discussion posture of affairs to the people who had 1t In hand which was not consdered."
 Continuing. Judge Judd asked:
 Can any man. in the light of this history contemporaneous with its en- actmrnt. end that. too. given so soon ttr Edmonds, doubt that while as MT, Conkling said. the results of the Civil War gave occasion for its enactment. that when the occasion came. those and intended that 1t should so strengthen the central government. that that government should be able to fully protect the rights. and immuni- ties of the citizens of the United the other? But how sadly the real purpose of this amendment miscarried- but for a while only-as have before lntimated In this paper, Is due to the judgment of the Federal Supreme Court Justice Miller. one of the gpeatest duced.