Year: 1879

THE DIFFERENCE.


From the Louisville Courier-Journall


The Cleveland Leader says: The
difference between the Democratic and
Republican parties in their respective
appeals to the constitution is that the
former knows only the constitution as
it was; while the lattef appeals to the
constitution as it is. The three amend
ments adopted after the war and en-
bodying the results of the war are just
as much parts of the constitution as
those ratified in 1889. 1t is true that
the more ot1tspoken Of the Democratic
party In the South re udiate those
amendments and threat d to tear them
and all legislation made under them
from the statute books, and that the
less frank members of the party North
and South preserve discreet silence as
to them, but the Republicans and the
great mass of citizens at the North, if
not elsewhere, hold the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth amendments as much en-
titled to obedience and respect as the
Tenth


The real difference betwaeh the Demo
cratic and Republican parties is that
the Democrats fully and patriutieally
accept the constitution as 1t Is, and the
Republicans do not regard the consti-
tuition either as it was or is. Mr.. Hayes,
the head of the Republican party, is at
this moment travelling about with great
pomp through the country Under the
care of the General of the Army, who
declares constantly in his speeches that
the President Is an absolute" ruler.
This of itself is sufficient proof that the
Republican party does not accept the
constitution as it is, for that instrument
confers no shadow of absolute authority
on the President. Absolute" is an
ugly word to be sd proclaimed in q re-
public by a servant of the people. It
marks, however, very distinctly the
chasm between the constitutional Dem
ocratic patty and the centralizing anti
constitutional Republican party.


The three amendments, which are
fully accepted by the Democratic party,
do not by any means destroy the con-
stitution as 1t tuds. The tenth section
remains in full force, and the relation
between the State and Federal Govern
ments is unaltered save in the one par
ticular indicated by Chief Justice Waite,
of the United States Supreme Court,
who, in the case of the United States
vs.. Cruikshank, said: "In Minor vs..
Hafersett, 81 Wallace, 17S. we decided
that the constitution of the United States
has not conferred the right of suffrage
upon any one, and that the United States
have no voters of their own creation in
the States. In United States VS.. Reese
ct al, we hold that the Fifteenth amend
ment has invested the citizens of the
United States with q new constitutional
right, which is exemption from discrim-
ination on account of race, color or pre-
vious condition of servitude. From this
! it appears that the right of suffrage is
not necessary attribute of national
citizenship, but that exemption from
discrimination in the exercise of that
right on account of race, ETC., is. The
right TO pote I'M the States comes from
the States, but the right of exemption
from the prohibited discrimination
comes from the United States. The
first has not been granted or secured by
the constitution of the United States
but the last has BEEN"


This "new constitutional right the
Democratic party fully indorses. No
body in that party wants " to tear them
and all legislation made under them
from the statute books" but if the
Democratic party gets into power some
of the laws which have been pro
nounced unconstitutional by the high
est tribunal and which are based moi
on the three amendments, but on the
suppuration of diseased partisanship
will undoubtedly be taken off the stat
ute books. The amendments will stand
and be enforced. The Republican State
of Rhode Island has been for Ions
time the most persistent advocate of tht
right of State to legislate voters from
the polls. Among the legal voters thu
excluded are many Union soldiers WHIT
fought faithfully through the war. L
is needless to say that no Republican
organ is addicted to trotting out Rhod,
Island as q State devoted to the "na
tional-supremacy" doctrine, especial,
as one of her Republican Senators ha
declared that the State was free ant
sovereign, and could not be interferet
with by the Federal Government in tn
matter of suffrage.


We need scarcely remark that th
Democrats hold the Fourteenth AM
Fifteenth amendments as much entities
to respect and obedience as the Tenth
The Tenth will stand bulwark agains
the unconstitutional centralism whicl
has, by the Republican party, bee
falsely based on the Fourteenth an
Fifteenth amendments.


The tenth section embodies the Dem
ocratic and constitutional doctrine G
State rights, without which we woul
no longer have republic. The Reput
icans in 1860 made extreme State right
plank in their platform. To-day the
would give good deal to have tn
tenth section of the constitution wipe
out.