15

the qualifications of the voters are settled upon the same uni-
form basis. So that we have the most abundant proofs that
among a free and enlightened people, convened for the estab-
lishing their own forms of government, and the rights of
their own voters, the question as to the due regulation of the
qualifications has been deemed a matter of mere State pol-
icy, and varied to meet the wants, to suit the prejudices, and
to foster the interests of the majority. The subject has been
fully canvassed, as one of mere civil polity, to be arranged
upon such a basis as the majority may deem expedient, with
reference to the moral, physical and intellectual condition of
the particular State."

The clause as it stands in the Constitution was adopted by
a unanimous vote, and the Federalist remarks "the provisions
made by the Convention appear to be the best that lay with-
in their option."

The object of this second section is unmistakable. There
are fifteen States of the Union having a large negro popula-
tion, most of whom have been recently set free from domes-
tic servitude. The object is to require these States to confer
upon the negro the right of suffrage, or to deprive them of a
large number of their present Constitutional representation.
Otherwise, it is said, the Southern States will be great
gainers by the rebellion. "The question betore Congress,"
says the Report, "is, whether conquered rebels may change
their theatre of operations from the battle field, where they
were defeated and overthrown, to the halls of Congress, and
through their representatives seize upon the government they
fought to destroy; whether the National Treasury, the army
of the nation, its navy, its forts and arsenals, its whole civil
administration, its credit, its pensioners, the widows and or-
phans of those who perished in the war, the pnblic honor,
peace and safety; shall all be turned over to the keeping of
its recent enemies without delay, and without imposing such
conditions as, in the opinion of Congress, the security of the
country and its institutions may demand." It is somewhat
difficult to conceive how this "change of base" could be success-
fully accomplished. The institution of domestic servitude
and the right of secession, both involving the right of self-
government as it was asserted by the Confederate States,
were the subjects of contest upon the "battle field, where
they were defeated and overthrown." How "in the halls of
Congress, through their representatives," they could hope
for better success, reverse the decision of the "battle field,"
and "seize upon the government," passes our comprehen-
sion.

It is undoubtedly time that freeing the slaves enlarged the
basis of representation in the former slave States. But it
was an incident which it was well known constitutionally
attached to the fact of freedom. Leaving those States still