The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-13

On Tuesday, February 6, 1866, the third week from the introduction of the report of the article of amendment, Senator Sumner from Massachusetts delivered aa eight hour oration against it. He said to sacrifice the freedmen by such legislation would put In jeopardy the peace of the country. They would organize and rise up against it. "rhe whole land will gape with volcanic fire ready to burst forth in a fatal flood," cried the senator. Al ready repeatedly on this floor during the present session I have said that colored suffrage was the only guarantee of fu- ture peace and security in this country. The senator did not like the article of amendment because it did not make a community of white and black men, On the contrary, 1t provided for definite line of division between the races. He would have no amendment at all. None was needed. The legislation needed was a simple reaffirmation of the Declaration of Independence. He would reaffirm the declaration by the joint resolution which he now offered, as follows:
 That there shall be no oligarchy, aris- tocracy, caste or monopoly invested with peculiar privileges or powers, and there shall be nc denial of rights, civil or po- iitical on account of color race any where within the limits of the United States or the Jurisdiction thereof; but all persons thei ein shall be equal before the law, whether in the courtroom or at the ballot box And this statute made Tn pursuance of the constitution shall be the supreme law of the land, anything in the laws and constitution of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
 MT. Thadeus Stevens, chairman of the reconstruction committee and probable author of the revolution, spoke to 1t at length on March 10
 Mir. Stevens said the resolution, thus far limited to the first two sections of the ultimate article of amendment, was neces- sary to the government of the country. The southern states had broken off all connection with the government or the United States and under a powerful gov ernment of their own had Waged a long and desperate war for independence. He appealed to the teaching of Vattel on civil war and read to the House Vattel on the attitude of the two combatants in civil war toward each other Said this high authority: The state is dissolved and the war between the two parts stands on
 the same ground in every respect as
 war between different nations
 It was necessary to the illustration of
 his argument. by quoting Vattel. that Mr. Stevens should keep in the back
 ground the fact that Vattel died nine years before the birth of the American
 idea of government.
 The nations of which the great authori- ty on the law of nations wrote were Kingdoms and empires. Vattel instruct ed kings and emperors on their relations to themselves, the relations of subjects to sovereigns. He knew not nor con ceived in any day of his life the west ern phenomenon risen upon the horizon of a new epoch of civil life. the republic of republics The resemblance between the American union, a compact of nations or states and a state of Europe, known to Vattel was insufficient to justify a parallel in argument
 Our purpose here is to ascertain and ex-
 pose the mind of the men who essayed
 tc write and enact the fourteenth article of amendment, and thus to arrive at an
 historical estimate of the weight of that
 article in the scheme of American con- stitutional government
 The author of the article, the orator here, did not propose to keep the south ern states out of the union. On the con- trary, he desired their return. He would introduce the negro into the electorate.
 the former non slave holding class would unite with the negro at the ballot box and the two, acting as one, would place
 the former slave states in the republican
 party. If any of you have technical
 scruples you can have none as to the
 power of the conqueror over the con-
 ouered. Cut the Gordian knot if you can
 not unite it and save the great repub-
 lc," spoke the orator in exordium.
 The article of amendment if adopted.
 lNl Tas eff most salutary changes in the structure of southern society. It would in course of
 natural effect divide great bodies of land tetween the freedmen Each family ac-
 ouiring a hold on the soil by the di-
 vision, the freedmen would spring to the
 front, a great class of prosperous far
 ners, the bone and sinew of the Rnd.
 The climate and products of the soil suite
 their physical pecularities and all they
 needed was power in government.
 The general benefit from the division of
 the lands would not stop there. It was
 important to the promotion of the blacks
 to reduce their old masters. strip the
 proud whites of their bloated estates and
 reduce them to a level with plain repub-
 loans; send them forth to labor and teach
 their children to enter the workshops or
 handle the blow and you will thus humble
 the proud traitor. teach their posterity
 to respect labcr and eschew treason, .
 exalted the. House leader. "Conspiraeies
 are bold among the rich and the vain,
 see our, confsca.ion laws fully executed.
 the ambitious aristocrats. hope to
 The fraGmentary Congress was tempest
 tossed and delrious in rage. The angry
 debate on the proposed article of amend
 mcnt was general. long speeches were
 made for and against 1t. for weeks, even
 for months.
 The democrats, few in number. but
 <irelsss in opposition. displayed q perfect