NEW JERSEY. 



541 



of inhabitancy, causes a reduction of the State's rep- 

 resentation. 



The resolution itself is in these words : 



1. Resolved by the Senate and General Assembly of 

 the State of New Jersey, That the joint resolution ap- 

 proved September llth, Anno Domini eighteen hun- 

 dred and sixty-six, relative to amending the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, be and the same is here- 

 by rescinded, and the consent on behalf of the State 

 ot New Jersey to ratify the proposed fourteenth 

 amendment to the Constitution of the United States 

 is hereby withdrawn. 



2. And be it resolved, That copies of the foregoing 

 preamble and resolution, certified to by the President 

 of the Senate and Speaker of the General Assembly, 

 be forwarded to the President of the United States, 

 the Secretary of State of the United States, to each 

 of our Senators and Bepresentatives in Congress, and 

 to the Governors of the respective States. 



3. And be it enacted, That these resolutions shall 

 take effect immediately. 



Having been submitted to Governor Ward 

 for his approval, these resolutions were re- 

 turned by that official to the Senate, in which 

 body they had originated, with his objections, 

 stated at considerable length. Such resolu- 

 tions, he said, had no validity. The ratifica- 

 tion having already been made, no further ac- 

 tion could he taken by the State, unless the 

 matter were again submitted by Congress. No 

 time was set for ratification by a sufficient 

 number of States, and therefore New Jersey 

 could not avail herself of any right to with- 

 draw her assent because of delay by other 

 States. Notwithstanding the Governor's ob- 

 jections, the resolution's passed both Houses 

 by a two-thirds majority, and were forwarded 

 to the proper authorities at Washington. They 

 were submitted to the consideration of the 

 House of Eepresentatives by Charles Haight, 

 a member from New Jersey, and were returned 

 to that- gentleman before the reading of them 

 had been completed, under the following reso- 

 lution: 



Resolved, That the resolutions of the Legislature 

 of New Jersey, purporting to withdraw " the assent of 

 the said State to the Constitutional Amendment, 

 known as the Fourteenth Article," be returned by 

 the Speaker of the House to the gentleman who pre- 

 sented them, for the reason that the same are disre- 

 spectful to the House, and scandalous in character, 

 and that their title only shall be referred to in the 

 journal and in the Congressional Globe. 



When this action of the House of Represent- 

 atives was made known in the Senate of New 

 Jersey, that august body vented its resentment 

 in the following set of resolutions, which were 

 promptly acquiesced in by the Assembly and 

 sent to the President, " to encourage him in 

 his efforts against a disloyal Congress." 



Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Assembly 

 concurring, That the return of the joint resolution 

 of the Legislature, withdrawing the assent of this 

 State to the proposed amendment to the Constitution 

 of the United States, entitled Article Fourteen, to the 

 Representative who presented the same, by virtue 

 of the resolution of the House to that effect, and 

 the passage of a resolution, pronouncing the joint 

 resolutions of New Jersey " disrespectful to the 

 House and scandalous in character," when only a 

 portion of the paper had been read, was a violation 



of the national and constitutional rights of the people 

 of this State, oppressive, arrogant, and imperious. 



That the manner in which the said joint resolu- 

 tions were received, demonstrates the wholesome 

 truths contained in them. It confirms the statement 

 that " the origin and objects of the said proposed 

 amendments wero unseemly and unjust, that tho 

 necessary result of its adoption must be tho dittturb- 



tive power necessary to secure to itself immunity for 

 the unconstitutional acts it had already committed, 

 and those it had since inflicted on a too patient 

 people. 



Resolved, That if it be true, as stated by tho House 

 of Eepresentatives, that the joint resolutions sent to 

 them by this Legislature were " disrespectful to tho 

 House and scandalous in character," they were only 

 disrespectful to the House, inasmuch as they recited 

 its acts, and scandalous only because they recited tho 

 scandalous proceedings of Congress. 



Resolved, That the order made " that the title of the 

 resolutions should only be referred to in the journal and 

 Congressional Globe," after a portion of the resolutions 

 had been read, made the record untruthful and un+ 

 faithful. It recorded not what transpired, but what 

 the prevailing faction desired to be recorded. It was 

 an effort to close the ears of the people at large, as they 

 had closed their own, to a fair and constitutional state- 

 ment of grievances ; to a recital of their own actings 

 and doings ; by demolishing the record and making 

 it only a partial witness of the proceedings. 



Resolved. That the statement made by the mover 

 of the resolution on the floor of the House of Eepre- 

 sentatives, that it was done " as a rebuke to a disloyal 

 T^aao7a*t*gt) ghould have been sufficient to have pre- 



vented any representative from this State from voting 

 for said resolution. That we, on the part of the Legisla- 

 ture of New Jersey and all the people of the State, 

 deny the truth of the statement that the Legislature is 

 disloyal, or ever has been, but pointing proudly to the 

 record for the evidence of our past devotion to the gov- 

 ernment of our fathers, and constitutional liberty, wo 

 solemnly appeal to the people of this State to main- 

 tain, unabridged, the sacred right of freedom of 

 speech and petition, so grossly violated by the action 

 of the House in the presentation of these resolutions ; 

 and to that end we call on them so to speak at the 

 polls, that the House of Eepresentatives will be 

 obliged to hear, be they never so unwilling, and so 

 to record the protest of New Jersey against the un- 

 constitutional acts of the present Congress, that no 

 resolve of the House of Eepresentatives can mar the 

 record. 



On the general question of negro suffrage 

 the House of Assembly adopted the following, 

 by a vote of 35 to 7 : 



Whereas, The Eepublican State Convention, which 

 assembled at Taylor Hall, in the city of Trenton, on 

 the 22d of July, 1867, did adopt, among others, the 

 following resolutions, viz. : 



" Resolved, That pledging ourselves for the eradica- 

 tion of the word "white" from the constitution of 

 New Jersey by every legal and honorable means, we 

 also call upon Congress to take measures to induce or 

 compel all the States of the Union to establish a joint 

 and uniform rule of suffrage, excluding all distinc- 

 tions of class, and race, and color, so that the citizens 

 of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and 

 immunities of citizens in the several States, and the 

 United States shall redeem its original promise to 

 guarantee to every State in the Union a republican 

 form of government. 



"Resolved, That the Eepublican party of New Jer- 

 sey, encouraged by the past, and proud of the record 

 of its Executive, and its legislative, and its Senators, 

 and Eepresentatives in Congress, cheerfully accept 

 the issue of impartial suffrage, as one of the most 



