Newspapers / The Durham Recorder (Durham, … / Nov. 28, 1866, edition 1 / Page 1
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I UNION. THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS THEaGU AUDI AN 8 OF OUfi LIBERTIES. Vol. XLVX HILLSBOROUGH, N,C, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1B6.6. No. 2365. III III . Ill III III III I 111 . V I QESS AGE OF , GOV. JONATHAN WORTH. Jt jt$ UonanlUt tkt General Aucmbly of Forth v Coniina. UxnxiwMr Tho attention of this whole nation h now specially directed to the euomslous condition of our national affairs. It seems fit. therefore, that our considera tion should be primarily directed to the restoration of national order and harraonj. Although wesre now denied any legisla tlve jiartictpation in the conduct of the got ernment f the United States, we should not be listless as to passing events, nor un mindful of the benefits to be dewed from en occasional review of the past. More than eighteen months ago a blood MCtional war was closed bj the tstal over threw of the weker bj the stronger sec tion. Its declared object, oa the one side, was to break ip the Union; on the other to preserve It. The commanded of the South ern armies, after the south was completely exhausted, as to everything which consti tutes strength in war, and after exhibitions f valor, in the field, which astonished the .world, surrendered on the stipulation of im me oil to the surrendering force. Arras tad established the supremacy of the Un ion. Not a guerilla party in the South re mained under arms. The whole people'of the south, whether the had favored the inception of the war or sympathised with .their section after it began, or not, gave cverv evidence the could give of tbeir submission to the result of the conflict, and their willingness to obey the constitution and laws of the United States. What wss then in the war cf an imsae- diate restoration of the Union ? The ma chinery of government io the southern tates was in the band of those who had given their.adhesion to the rebellion. This was s state of things not contemplated by the constitution of the United Stiles. Pre cedent furnished no guidance ia filtering the machinery of the rebellious state gov ernments so as to work in harraonj with the natioi al gavernmeot. The President, who owed hi elevated pcsitioi to his re putation for statesmanship and the tonal s tent devotion of his life to the preservation of the Union, held that he ought nut to re eogoire the o.'Sccrs of the staus who had given their adhesion to the rebellion, evet. o far aa to make them the instruments of I VVI ISIIISSilVU I IMS V ilvreTVWn d, and the Union tad been preserved, there were, in those states, no legislative, judicial or executive officers, lawfully con stituted. To enable the states to reform their con stitutions, and the ma chin or of their gov ernments, he granted amnesty to the peo 1'le who had favored the rebellion, ,jith certain exceptions, on the condition of their renewing their allegiance to the Unit ed States by taking an oath to support the cooatitution reserving the right to grant psrdons upon special petition to such in dividuals of the excepted c linen as he might deem deserving of them. IJ ap pointed provisional governors, under whose orders elections were held for delegates to state conventions, those only being al lowed to vote at such eleiIor.a to whom ireneral or spvciai pardon haJ been grant ed. The great body of the p-eple compli ed with the conditions, and voted st such elections. When our convention ainbl(d. it was understood that the president, and the peo ple of the dorainantstates, expected of us three amendments of our constitution, as -futia1 to hsrmaolous union sud perman nt reconciliation f to wit; the renuncia tion of the ductrioe of secession ; the aboli. tin of slavery ; and the repudiation of the debt contracted in the prosecution f the rebellion and the ratification,' by the leg islature, thereafter to assemble", of an a nendearot to the constitution of the Unit ed Slates, proposed during the war, abol ishing slavery throughout the United States. From all we could learn from the ores!. the avowals of the representative men of ice norm, and au the tourccs or iniorma tiuo, we entertained no doubt that these views of the President were approved by the great body of thoae who elected him. Man j of oar people deemed some of these terms hard and injurious to the wall being of the atate ; bat regarding them ss the .conditions to restored amnesty, pre scribed by our conqueror, they were ac cepted with remarkable unanimity, and have since been observed with strict fideli ty. One of them reduced from affluence to proverty a large number of our people in no wise responsible for this sectional war. We accepted them because we thought these termSfWere required by the victors from the vanquished, aa all that was re quired of us, as preliminaries to the res toration of concord between the late belli gerents. We elected senators and representatives to Congress with all the qualifications pre acribed in the constitution. We were not ignorant that congress, during the war, had prescribed an oath of office, commonly known as the test oath,' which very few, IS any, of our people who had remained ci tizens of the atate during the war, coald conscientiously take. We regarded this act as unconstitutional. Article 6, section of the Constitution of the United States provided that " senators and representa tives and other officers, shall be bound by oath sr affirmation to support the constitu tion of the United States." If Congress has the power to add to this oath, such further oath as it may deem expedient, it is manifest that an y party, having tempora ry ascendency m congress, can prescribe an oath which will exclude from congress all who do not agree io sentiment with the d ominant pcrty. This principle would de stroy the very basis of our national gov ernment It was never intended that a par ty, having temporary ascendencv, should have authority tjr bake its ascendence per petual. We believed from the resolutions of con gress passed during the war, and the mani fest requirement of enlightened policy, that the north was willing to restore friend ly relations with the south, and nobody could expect any cordiality to be restored white thts statute w& held ta be in force. We expected it to be repealed or to b de clared unconstitutional and void by the su preme court of the United fetste, m which tribunal, fortunately for the cause of civil liberty, psrtizanthin has as yet made but slight inroads. We believed that the constitutional guards, and the virtue and intelligence ol the elector, were a suffi cient protection against disloysl men find ing their way into the national councils; or, if experience should indicate the neces sity of others, tbey would be provided in sruendments'of the constitution, and not in pariixan legislation. In the nutter of electing our senatori and representatives to congress, every ci tizen who bad advocated the doctrine cf secession before the war, or taken conspi cuous part in the military conflict, deli cately ftrebvre to ask for a scat io con gress. AltLough human fxpetience has uught that those who (right or wrong,) have exhibited manly courage iu military conflict, rarely disregard the terms of ca" pituilion when conquered, in this state no wee who had favored the initiation of ti e war, or distinguished himself in the field during its progress, aked to be made a oi e titter of conre. Every senator and ii'presentativc electtd hd always oppos ed secession until the United Suites could uo looker protect his person or property. Up to this time thought the wise a'nd magnanimous policy of the President wn about to produce, at an early dav, me be nificent results lie contemplates. A few days before the meeting of Congress, after we had complied with all those supposed pjelimioartr to national reconciliation, speeches cf distinguished pattixsn leaders of the congress, soon to assemble, gave us premonitions of the purposes of the domi nant partv. I need not remind you of the chilling shock we received when the action of the dominant party in congress an nounced that our members, irrespective of their qualifications, wonld not be received, and that the Union, for the preservation of which so many lives had been lost, and so frightful a national debt had been created, should be practically dissolved until it should be the pleasure of the dominant party to restore it. Up to this time, this fraction of the Congress contemplated by the constitution of the United States, ex ercise the legislative power without declar ing when, if ever, or upon what conditions, the people of the other states they govern shall have representation, and ,the recent elections in the dominant states sanction this action, It is proper to refer to the action of the people and the authorities of this State in the interim of these extraordinary national movements. Not a guerrilla party existed in the late rebellious states. In this state note single instance has occurred where a sheriff has had occasion, since the surrender, to re quire a posse ox other aid to execute civil process. Our bench of judges have executed their duties io a manner which would have giv en lustre to the judiciary of any period in the history of the world. The steadiness with which our judges have held the scales of justice has, at last, extorted praise from those who studied to malign them. A few of the agents of the freedmen's bureau, and I grieve to say, a few of our own people, who seek to propitiate the favor of our con querors by furnishing aliment to their un just prejudices, have sought to make the impression, at the north, that freed men and Union men could not hare justice at the hands of our courts. To this end, emissaries hare been employed to traverse the country and record cx-parte statements to cast o dium on the administration of justice ; peti tions have been covertly gotten op by some of our own citizens and sent to the President of the United States, charging disloyalty to our people and favoritism in our courts, to embitter against us the virtuous classes of the north. Amongst us these ' machina tions are well understood. The virtuous and intelligent men ot the north who have settled among us, and especially the sol diers who stood io front of the fight, on both sides, in the late conict of arms, de spise these slanders. Through the agen cies of whole fouled men, public opinion, it is hoped, will soon reach a healthy state. Our judges, unmoved by these unworthy imputations, and unawi'd by intimations that they w ould be suspended from the ex ercise of their functions, if their adjudi cations did not accord with the dominant power, have silenced slander itself. No murmur is now heard against the fairness with which justice is administered in our courts. The fearful increase of criras a natural consequence of a civil waa, in which disrespect for the rights of non-combatants was authoritatively countenanced, it not encouraged is being rapidly re pressed, and reverence for jasttce is hav ing its nstural triumph. Our legislative department has been anx iously endeavoring to alter our code to suit our novel situation, and to bring order out of the chaos produced Ij the late convul sion. This review of ournat'cril affairs brings us to the present period. In June last 1 received from the Hon. Wni. II. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, communication herewith transmitted to you, covering sn attested copy of a joint resolution ol torgress, pro posing a fourteenth article in amend ment to the 'Constitution cf the United States. It proposes First. That "all persons born sr naturalised in the United States sod subject ti the jurisdiction there of, are citizens of the United State and rf the State wherein they reside. Second, That no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or ttfltnttfitttaa ftf nflka 1 Tn!tst Third. That "no State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without iiue process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws Fourth, That rrprrsentatires shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective num. brs, coaming the whole number of persons io oach State, excluding Indians not taxed. wnon we ngnt w vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, rep resentatives in Congress, the executive and Judicial officers of a State nr th m of the I egislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty -one years of age and citizens of the United States, or ia any way abridged, ex cept for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of Tnrpsntinn tk&:n shall be reduced in tie proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear t the whole number of male eitin twenty-one years of age in such State." Fifth, That " no person shall be a Senator, or Repiesentatlve in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, af hni any office, civil or military, under the Unit- cu owes, or unaer any state, who, having f'criuuiiy uk en an oatn as a member of Congress, or aa an officer of th lTnitJ States, or as a member of any State Lesi- lawrc, Br as an executive or judicial offi cer Of anv Stite. in imtnArl flies Pnfierirn. tion of the United 6tates, shall have en gaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a twic in iwomirui oi eacn nouse, remove such diiahilitr " fi'iTik Tk. U-.t: ... . j. iiav, luc r dtty of the public debt of the United States. aumorizea oy law, including debts incur red for payment of Decaions and hooetios for services in suppressing insurrections or rebellion, shall not be questioned." seventh, That, ' neither the United States, nor any State, shall assume or pat any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the Unit ed States, or any claim for the loss or eman cipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and Toid.' Eighth. That " tha shall have the power to enforce, by appro priate legislation, the proriaionsxjtius ar- ucie. The Constitution crosides that th Uoufe of Representatives shall be compos ed of members, chosen every second year by the people of the several States," and that the feenate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State.' This proposition is not made to us by a Congress so composed ; this State, :.u -I .1 c . wiin cictcu tuners, ueing ueuiea repre sentation in the body which proposed thus to-amena me fundamental law. jt was ttis clear intention of the Constitution that every State should have a right to repre sentation in s Congress proposing sltera tions in the original articles of compact; and on this sccount, alone, no State, pre tending to have rights under the Constitu tion, can, with proper scrupulousness or dignity, ratify an amendment this proposed.' It is rematkable that this proposed amend ment contemplate, tinder one article, to change the Constitution in eight particu lars, some of them altogether incongruous, to be ratified as a whole. We are not al lowed to ratify such of them as we approve and reject those v& Disapprove. This is the first attempt to introduce the vice of omnibus legislation into the grave matter of changing the fundamental law. In 1789, Congress proposed to the States, pursuant to the fdi article of. the original constitu tion, twelve new articles, as amendments, Ten of those were ratified by three fourths of the States. The resolution, by nbict these articles were submitted to the States, authorizes the Ststes to ratify ' all or any of them." Ten of them were ratified two were rejected. Each of the other three amendments which have been adopted, to wit: the eleventh, recommended in 1704, the twelfth in 1803, and the thirteenth in 1835, was confined to one matter. To some of the provisions of this proposed fourteenth article, constitutionally, submitted to us, there would probably be no objection. 1 o others, or to the heterogeneous whole, it is hoped the State will never give her assent. A commentary on all the proposed amend, ments would make this document inordi nately long. A few remarks on one or two of them, may not be inappropriate. Unde f our laws, made in conformity to the Ceo
The Durham Recorder (Durham, N.C.)
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Nov. 28, 1866, edition 1
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