DOC

No. 12

Report of A. BLAIR, from the Committee on the Judiciary, upon the subject of the extension of the right of suffrage to colored persons.

The undersigned, one of the committee on the judiciary, to whom was referred a "joint resolution proposing to amend the second article of the constitution relative to the elective franchise," together with a very large number of petitions very numerously signed by citizens of the state generally, praying such amendment, respectfully reports:

That, he has given the subject all the consideration which a very limited time and the various duties of the committee would allow. And though the undersigned is not able now to go into so thorough an examination of this question in this report as he would be glad to do, it is still hoped that a very long continued agitation of the question of the extension of the right of suffrage to all inale citizens above the age of twenty-one years, without distinction of color, outside of this hall and the enlightened advance of public opinion consequent upon it, have rendered lengthy argument unnecessary here. The extension is demanded more particularly in behalf of our fellow citizens of the long neglected (and I think I may safely say, long oppressed) African race. In the consideration of this subject, I have had no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that the prayer of the petitioners ought to be granted. Any other conclusion is deemed to be directly at war with the very spirit of our republican institutions, based as they are upon the doctrine, that a perfect equality of rights, both civil and political, is the birthright of every man of whatever name or color or nation. The constitution of Michigan, which it is now proposed to amend, in the very first line of its first article, as the fundamental proposition upon which all the rest is based, asserts, that "all political power is inherent in the people." Believing as I do, most fully in the truth of this doctrine, I am entirely at a loss for any pretext upon which a large class of the people can justly be

denied the free exercise of the right of suffrage. If the word "white" was to be inserted anywhere in the constitution, surely it should have been in this first and fundamental proposition, and then it would have read "all political power is inherent in the 'white' people"-a principle, the absurdity of which, is too palpable to escape the notice of the most obtuse intellect. There is in this country but one way by which political power is manifested by the people, and that is by the right of suffrage.

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He who may not vote is as powerless practically as if he were dead or enslaved. How monstrous a wrong then do we commit, when we forbid a portion of our people the ballot box, acknowledging at the same time the inalienable right of all to the exercise of political powSuch is the wrong now done to the colored race→a wrong we venture to say without a reason-without cause or excuse, unless an unjust and wicked prejudice, which is a disgrace to those who feel it, ought to be called an excuse. Our laws require of the colored man that he shall submit to the government we have established, and be obedient to the laws of its making, and more than that, he must pay taxes and take share in the burdens incurred for the support of that government. And yet he is denied any the least voice in the choice of his rulers, or in the making of the laws. What better is this than the oppressions against which our fathers rebelled? If "all just government is instituted for the benefit of the governed," then what opinion must we form of the justice of Michigan towards her colored citizens? To these questions there can be but one answer. Michigan must make haste to repair this great wrong-her people must be free. I would willingly leave this subject here, but feel it my duty to advert for a moment to some of the arguments by which the denial of the right of suffrage to the colored man is sometimes attempted to be sustained. It is said that the race is ignorant and degraded and therefore unfit for the exercise of so important a right as that of voting. This, like every other argument in a bad cause, is untrue in point of fact: But suppose it were true, does it furnish any ground for continuing a system which has had such a result? So far from it, that it is one of the strongest reasons why our system, as it regards this race, should be changed at once. If by our unjust laws we have degraded the man and besotted his intellect, it is a refinement of cruelty to make

this the pretext of further continued oppression. And that such is the case, so far as there is any shadow of truth in the charge at all, who can deny? We have by the scorn of the community and its oppressive laws driven the colored man in most instances into the most meniel employments, (none other being left open to him,) and thus has he become a blacker of white man's boots, and a sweeper of white man's chimneys! But who shall say that under a system of just and equal laws-laws which shall strengthen his hopes, protect his rights and elevate him to the right of a citizen, he will become nothing else. All experience in this country has proved that the best way to make a good and intelligent citizen, is not first to strip him of all the rights and the hopes of one. But on the contrary, whenever you extend the duties and the responsibilities of the citizen additional motives are furnished him to be prepared to meet them, and he has been but a poor observer who has not been convinced by the history of our country of the full ability of man to govern himself. But there is still an easier answer to this cavil. If even ignorance and degradation are a sufficient reason for denying the right of suffrage, they should apply as well to the white as the black man, since neither of these are the nececessary adjuncts of any color. If we will drive the colored citizen from the ballot box because he is less learned or less virtuous than we could wish him, then by every rule of right the unlearned and vicious white man should go with him. But we adopt no such rule when the white race is concerned. No degree of ignorance or vice excludes them, come they from whatever quarter of the globe they may.— Is it not a shame then, that in a land which boasts of liberty, a colored man may not be treated with equal fairness? Is it a crime that he cannot be white, that we should thus punish him?

One objection more seems to require a remark and then I have done with the question. It is said that great numbers of blacks will flock to this State as their residence, if the proposed amendment should be made. That this would be the case to any very great extent is doubted. But if it should prove true to the utmost of the fears of the most timerous, then would it indeed be an honor to Michigan, that the justice and humanity of her laws caused the oppressed of other states to seek a home within her borders. Besides, it is yet to be proven that the black man necessarily makes a bad citizen. The very effect of

the law which attracted him here would be to elevate him, and the fact that he came would be evidence that he at least had spirit enough to love liberty and respect himself. From such a man most evidently the state has nothing to fear, but very much to hope. And shall it go for nothing that by the adoption of this amendment we take a great step towards the elevation of an oppressed race? Does their common humanity with us give them no claim to the consideration of the state?

Believing most fully that the time has come when the colored men of America should be allowed to assume their rightful position as cicizens of the republic, upon an equality in all respects with their white brethren, and especially that Michigan ought not longer to permit in her constitution a word which creates an unjust distinction between her citizens, and denies that great principle which lies at the very foundation of her whole political fabric, I can come to no other conclusion than that the joint resolution ought to pass. The committee report back to the House the joint resolution referred to them and respectfully recommend its passage; but for the reasoning of this report the undersigned is alone responsible.

All which is respectfully submitted.

AUSTIN BLAIR.