UNITED STATES. 



697 



State and Federal officers elected, and the 

 fifteenth article, above mentioned, ratified in 

 Virginia. The work advanced no further dur- 

 ing the year. (For details the reader is re- 

 ferred to VIRGINIA, MISSISSIPPI, and TEXAS, re- 

 spectively.) 



The fifteenth article of amendment to the 

 Federal Constitution, the ratification of which 

 was made a condition precedent to the restora- 

 tion of these States to the Union, was brought 

 forward by Congress at its session during the 

 first months of the year. It was adopted as 

 a joint resolution on February 25th (see page 

 1T1). A large portion of the time of this session 

 was consumed in the discussion of the subject, 

 and the arguments and objections will be found 

 fully stated under the title CONGKESS, in the 

 preceding pages of this volume. The object 

 of this amendment was to secure the right and 

 the privilege of suffrage in every State of the 

 Union to each person who had been heretofore 

 excluded on account of race, color, or previous 

 condition of servitude. This was intended to 

 give a free ballot to all persons of the African 

 race. The regulation of suffrage in a State had 

 hitherto been under the control of its Legisla- 

 ture. This amendment so far limits that con- 

 trol as to forbid that it should be withheld 

 from any one on account of race, color, etc. 

 This amendment was ratified in nearly all the 

 States in which the ^Republican party held the 

 ascendency, and whose Legislatures assembled 

 before the close of the year. The number, 

 however, did not reach twenty-eight, which 

 was required by the Constitution, until it was 

 completed by Mississippi and Texas, early in 

 the ensuing year. 



Some other amendments to the Federal Con- 

 stitution were unofficially brought before the 

 public during the year. A sixteenth amend- 

 ment was offered in the House of Kepresenta- 

 tives, on March 16th, by Mr. Julian, of Indiana, 

 in the following words : 



The right of suffrage in the United States shall "be 

 based on citizenship, and shall be regulated by Con- 

 gress, and all citizens of the United States, whether 

 native or naturalized, shall enjoy^ this right equally, 

 without any distinction or discrimination whatever 

 founded on sex. 



The design of this amendment was to secure 

 to females in all the States the right of suffrage. 

 During the year an incessant discussion of the 

 subject was maintained by a number of men 

 and women who devoted their efforts to ac- 

 complish this object. Through their exertions 

 conventions were held in many of the States, 

 and also a National Convention, the proceed- 

 ings of which are mentioned hereafter. 



Another amendment, proposed by religious 

 bodies, was so to change the preamble of the 

 Constitution as to contain a recognition of a 

 Supreme Being, and to read as follows : 



"We, the people of the United States, acknowledging 

 Almighty God as the source of all authority and power 

 in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler 

 among nations, and His will, as revealed in the Holy 

 Scriptures, as of supreme authority, in order to con- 



stitute a Christian government, form a more perfect 

 union, establish justice, etc. 



On May 19th the President issued a proclama- 

 tion, directing that there should be no reduc- 

 tion in the wages paid by the Government by 

 the day on account of a reduction in the hours 

 of labor by an act of Congress. This act 

 was passed in June, 1868, and fixed the time, 

 constituting a day's work of laborers in the 

 employment of the United States, at eight 

 hours. A question was raised by the Secretary 

 of the Navy, as to the operation of the act on 

 the wages to be paid. The Attorney-General 

 expressed the opinion that the act had nothing 

 to do with compensations to be paid to work- 

 men in navy-yards. The rate of compensation 

 was left to be determined under the rule pre- 

 scribed in the statute of July 16, 1862. This 

 provides that "the hours of labor and the 

 rate of wages of employes in navy-yards shall 

 conform, as nearly as consistent with the pub- 

 lic interests, with those of- private establish- 

 ments in the immediate vicinity." 



An important case came up for decision be- 

 fore the Supreme Court, which involved the 

 question of " the status of the State of Texas. 1 ' 

 The State appeared before the Supreme Court 

 as the complainant in a bill of equity relative to 

 certain bonds formerly issued to the State by 

 the United States. An objection taken by the 

 opposite party was, that the recent hostile pro- 

 ceedings in the State had disabled her from 

 prosecuting suits in the national courts. The 

 opinion of the court was delivered by Chief- 

 Justice Chase, and a dissenting opinion by Mr. 

 Justice Grier. The Chief Justice said : 



It is needless to discuss at length the question 

 whether the right of a State to withdraw from the 

 Union, for any cause regarded by herself as sufficient, 

 is consistent with the Constitution of the United 

 States. 



The Union of the States never was a purely arti- 

 ficial and arbitrary relation. It began among the 

 colonies, and grew out of common origin, mutual 

 sympathies, kindred principles, similar interests, 

 and geographical relations. It was confirmed and 

 strengthened by the necessities of war, and received 

 definite form, and character, and sanction, from the 

 Articles of Confederation, By these the Union was 

 solemnly] declared to "be perpetual." And, when 

 these articles were found to be inadequate to the exi- 

 gencies of the country, the Constitution was ordained 

 "to form a more perfect Union." It is difficult to 

 convey the idea of indissoluble unity more clearly 

 than by these words. What can be indissoluble, if a 

 perpetual Union made more perfect is not ? 



But the perpetuity and indissolubility of the Union 

 by no means imply the loss of distinct and individ- 

 ual existence, or of the right of self-government, by 

 the States. Under the Articles of Confederation each 

 State retained its sovereignty, freedom, and indepen- 

 dence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, not 

 expressly delegated to the United States. Under the 

 Constitution, though the powers of the States were 

 much restricted, still all powers not delegated to the 

 United States, nor prohibited to the States, are re- 

 served to the States respectively, or to the people. 

 And we have already had occasion to remark at this 

 term, that " the people of each State compose a State, 

 having its own government, and endowed with all the 

 functions essential to separate and independent exist- 

 ence ;" and that "without the States in union there 



