MISSOl l:l. 



517 



! a- the birthright of all citizens. No 



; ha<l tin- ccnitlii-t ended, and the bitter 

 feeling which it hud produced begun to sub- 

 side, tlian a roactioa commenced. It was felt 



.MV thut tho proscriptivo features of this 



onstitution wore not in harmony with tho 

 genius of American institutions ; and, so soon 

 as tho people whoso sympathies and services 

 had lie> n iji \i-n to tho movement for Southern 

 independence showed a disposition to return 

 to their allegiance, and net tho part of upright 

 and fait 1 1 t'ul citizens, it was thought a new 

 policy looking to a removal of political dis- 

 abilities should bo inaugurated. J'ho question 

 "i" doing away with the test-oaths, and to a 



r or less extent revising the constitution, 

 has boon tho prominent topic in all public dis- 

 cussions for tho last four years. In tho year 

 1867 several suits were instituted for the pur- 

 pose of having the test-oaths declared uncon- 

 stitutional, and the cases were steadily car- 

 ried to tho highest tribunal in tho country. 

 1'inally, on the 2d of February last, the Su- 

 premo Court of tho United States declared 

 in favor of tho validity of the provisions 

 requiring these oaths. Meanwhile the party 

 of proscription remained in power, and in 18G8 

 had framed a registration law which was in- 

 tended to serve the purpose of carrying out, 

 with tho utmost rigor, the disenfranchising 

 clauses of the constitution. The energetic en- 

 forcement of this kept alive animosities which 

 should have been allowed to pass away, and 

 made every political campaign little less than 

 a civil war in itself. A more liberal spirit was, 

 however, growing up in the ranks of the Ke- 

 publican party, and was destined sooner or 

 later to redeem the State. 



As early as December, 1866, a movement 

 was set on foot, of which Colonel 13. Gratz 

 Brown, a prominent Republican, and formerly a 

 Senator in Congress, was the leader, which had 

 for its ultimate objects universal amnesty and 

 universal enfranchisement, together with impor- 

 tant reforms in tho revenue system and civil 

 service of the country. The movement, which 

 was begun at a private meeting at St. Louis, 

 was soon felt throughout the State, and Colonel 

 Brown was looked upon as the champion of 

 the disenfranchised class in their endeavor to 

 regain tho rights of citizenship for the purpose 

 of taking an honorable and patriotic part in the 

 direction of the public affairs of their own 

 State. Ho found a powerful ally in Carl 

 Schurz, a prominent German statesman of the 

 West, who came from Wisconsin in 1867, and, 

 as tho editor of an influential German news- 

 paper, and a popular speaker among his coun- 

 trymen, rendered efficient aid to the liberal 

 movement. 



Tho influence of this movement was felt in 

 the Legislature of 1870, and an attempt was 

 made to carry through anew registration law, 

 to take the place of tho harsh regulations in- 

 stituted two years before. A. joint committee 

 of the two Houses was appointed for this pur- 



poso, and a liberal bill was drafted and di- 

 cutscd at HOUR- length. This required that no 

 person should be excluded from registration, 

 unless testimony was produced against him, 

 and registrant \\ : i.d from excluding 



voters on their own knowledge or I 

 Tho bill, after having its most important pro- 

 visions trimmed out by amendments, was passed 

 by tho Lower House, but i me a law. 



It was felt, however, that something must be 

 done, or tho demands even of that portion of 

 tho people who still exercised the right of 

 voting wonld not be satisfied. Accordingly, a 

 committee on constitutional amendments was 

 appointed, and in the course of tho session 

 several important changes in the organic law 

 of the State were proposed and debated. It 

 was finally determined to submit to a vote of 

 tho people, at the next election, six separate 

 aim ndmentsto the constitution, three of which 

 related to the exercise of tho right of voting 

 and holding office, and were in the following 

 words : 



CONCEBKINQ THE KIGUT OF SUFFRAGE. 



SECTION 1. Every male citizen of tho United States, 

 and every person of foreign birth who may have de- 

 clared his intention to become a citizen of the United 

 States according to law, not less than one year nor 

 more than five years before he offers to vote, who i 

 over the ago of twenty-one years next preceding his 

 registration as a voter, and who daring the last sixty 

 days of that period shall have resided in the county, 

 city, or town where he seeks registration as a voter ; 

 who is not convicted of bribery, perjury, or other in- 

 famous crimes, nor directly or indirectly interested in 

 any bet or wager, depending upon the result of the 

 election for which said registration is made, nor 

 serving at the time of such registration in the regular 

 army or navy of the United States, shall be entitled 

 to vote at such election for all officers, State, county, 

 or municipal, made elective by the people, or any 

 other election held in pursuance of the laws of the 

 State ; but he shall not vote elsewhere than in tho 

 election district where his name is registered, except 

 as provided in the twenty-first section of the second 

 article of the constitution. Any person, who shall, 

 after the adoption of this amendment, engage in any 

 rebellion against this State or the United Statesj phall 

 forever be disqualified from voting at any election. 



SEC. 2. Hereafter it shall not be required of any 

 person, before ho is registered as a voter, or oflers to 

 vote, to take the oath of loyalty prescribed in tho 

 sixth section of the second article of the constitution, 

 but every person before he is registered as a qualified 

 voter, shall take an oath to support the Constitution 

 of the United States and of the State of Missouri. 



SEC. 8. Sections 5, 15, 16, 17, 18, of the second 

 article of the constitution and all provisions thereof, 

 and all laws of the State not consistent with this 

 amendment, shall upon its adoption bo forever re- 

 scinded and of no effect. 



QUALIFICATION TO HOLD OFFICE. 



No person shall hereafter be disqualified from hold- 

 ing in this State any office of honor, trust, or profit 

 under its authority, or of being an officer, council- 

 man, director, trustee, or other manager or any cor- 

 poration, public or private, now existing or hereafter 

 established by its authority, or of acting as a pro- 

 fessor or teacher in any educational institution, or in 

 any common or other school, or of holding any real 

 estate or other property in trust for the use of any 

 church, religious society or congregation, on account 

 of race or color or previous condition of servitude, 

 nor on account of any of the provisions of the third 



