FLORIDA. 



1 of other* who have already received the ex- 



clemency for the Mine offence, and respect* 

 I'ullv u['|>n < lutiui! i, magnanimity, ana JO*> 



lent of the United States : 



td by the Si*at and Jfovie of Ittprttent- 



atirt* of tk Statt of Honda in General Autmlly 



to9t*MJ, That his excellency Andrew Johnson, 



President ol . States, whose administration 



has I 1 in a most extraordinary degree 



uos of clemency nnd mercy, be re- 



1 to extend a pardon to the said Jefferson 

 Dtrfc. 



In tho :! :" additional penalties for 



lesion of olienccs against the State, 

 ry loth, tho 12th section forbids 

 ''gro, mulatto, or other person of color, to 

 >r keep in liis possession or tinder his 

 <>1 any bowie-knife, dirk, sword, fire-arms 

 ..munition of any kind, without a license 

 ; ho judge of probate, issued on the recoin- 

 ! ition of two respectable citizens, etc., etc. 

 The question arose whether this section of the 

 .as not in violation of the Constitution 

 which declared, " all the inhabitants of the State, 

 without distinction of color, are free, and shall 

 the rights of person and property without 

 di-iiiiotion of color." Tho opinion of the at- 

 cral given to tho Governor, gays 

 that the liberty to keep and bear arms is a right 

 of person and property, and the Legislature is 

 expressly prohibited from passing any law which 

 a u discrimination in this respect on ac- 

 count of color. lie further said : 



The intention of the Convention of this State to 

 make no legal distinction between the white and 

 colored inhabitants of this State, is apparent from 

 tho whole tenor of the constitution. Having re- 

 served to the white inhabitants of the State all tho 

 political power thereof, the constitution expressly 

 provides that no distinction as to legal rights of per- 

 son or property shall exist. As to the policy of this 

 provision I have nothing to say. It was the opinion 

 of tho Convention that it was best, and it appears in 

 the constitution of our State. The distinctions that 

 have been made in various States of the Union, both 

 North and South, between the legal rights of white 

 and colored persons, have been made under consti- 

 tutions differing from the constitution of this State 

 in this respect. In some of these States the consti- 

 tution expressly authorizes the distinction, in others 

 it is silent on the subject. The constitution of this 

 State expressly prohibits it. 



About February 1st tho Legislature adjourned 

 to November 14th. Tho question which ex- 

 cited the greatest interest at this session was 

 tho amendment to the Federal Constitution, 

 proposed at the last session of Congress. Gov- 

 ernor Walker, in his message, thus presented 

 the subject : 



The constitutional principle is, that Federal repre- 

 sentation and taxation are based upon the census, 

 while the exercise of suffrage is regulated by State 

 The number of representatives due to a State 

 is expressly made to depend on its population, and 

 that alone ; while it is as expressly remitted to the 

 State's own discretion to say who among its citizens 

 shall constitute the voters or electors to make choice 

 of or appoint those representatives. Accordingly, 

 the States have exercised this function in entire 

 freedom, and, in point of fact, very variously. Some 

 have conferred suffrage upon every male above twen- 

 ty-one years, without distinction ; some on every 

 white male ; some have required, in addition, quali- 



fications of residence for greater or lest periods: 

 some have required alo the payment of taxes, and 

 some possession of freeholds. The proportion! of 

 rotcri to population have therefore been an various 

 as tho State laws. Nobody over conceived that in 

 this any unfairness was operated by one State a* 

 against another. 



The idea seems to imply that a representative rop- 

 s merely the voters, instead of the people gen- 

 erally ; instead of which the voters ? whether few or 

 many, are in fact only the appointing power. No- 

 body imagines, for instance, that the Senator repre- 

 sents merely the Legislature or Governor that ap- 

 pointed him ; or that the President of the United 

 States is the President of the electoral college, in- 

 stead of the people; or that our wives and children 

 aro not represented because they do not vote. Rep- 

 resentatives in Congress are based upon population, 

 and represent population, while the designation of 

 the citizens who are to nominate them is matter of 

 State discretion and regulation. This is the whole 

 statement. There is no unfairness in it, and none 

 would ever have been suggested, but for the fact that 

 the liberation of our slaves has incidentally added to 

 our representative population. 



Let us look at the consequences of making voters 

 and not numbers the basis of representation. Vir- 

 ginia requires two years' residence for suffrage, while 

 some States, perhaps, require none. Virginia thus 

 reduces comparatively tho number of her voters. 

 Suppose the reduction to be one-half the degree 

 does not affect the principle can it bo said in any 

 fair and equitable sense that she thus gains an ad- 

 vantage over a sister State, and that to meet the evil 

 Virginia's representation must be cut down 1 Let us 

 take a possible case. Suppose Pennsylvania should 

 conclude that, as she makes her sons fight at eight- 

 een years, she ought to let them vote at the same age, 

 and should thus add to the number of her voters as 

 compared to Ohio ; would this give her a right to ex- 

 claim as against Ohio that a voter there had more 

 weight than a voter in Pennsylvania, and that Ohio's 

 representation ought therefore to be cut down ac- 

 cordingly ? 



Take another not only possible, but probable case. 

 Suppose Massachusetts snail adopt female suffrage, 

 and thereby double the number of her voters ; will 

 this give her a right to have the representation of 

 Pennsylvania cut down one-half? I think I have said 

 enough to satisfy any reasonable man that it is best 

 to let the basis of representation remain as our fathers 

 fixed it on the census, and not the voters. 



He objected to tho third section of the amend- 

 ment as designed to punish certain classes of 

 citizens, not more guilty than others, by de- 

 priving them of their right to hold office under 

 the State and Federal Governments, and said : 



Look around yon and see how few persons will be 

 left in office after this amendment is adopted, and 

 you will see that to vote for it is to vote for the de- 

 struction of your State government. Alter taking 

 out all the proscribed officers, there will not be 

 enough left to order elections to fill the vacancies, 

 and a military government will become a necessity 

 And who ore those whom we are asked thus to dis- 

 grace with official disfranchisement ? Aro they not 

 those whose experience and abilities are most neces- 

 sary to the State m this her hour of trouble ' 

 they not those whom we have always regarded as the 

 very best men in our land ? Are they not those whom 

 we have loved and trusted above all other men in 

 the State? Are they not those, in thousands of 

 instances, who witnessed the act of secession with 

 bleeding hearts, and engaged in the rebellion only 

 out of deference to the will of their State ? Are they 

 not those who sacrificed themselves to serve their 

 State ? And will their State now turn round and re- 

 pay their devotion by putting a mark of infamy upon 



