Abstract

Editorials. Enforce the Constitution

The article presents an editorial for the July 1956 issue of the periodical, The Nation. The basic fault or weakness in the American Constitutional scheme of things has always been the disenfranchisement of a substantial part of the population. Initially the denial of equal citizenship reflected the federal character of the government established by the U.S. Constitution. The adoption of the, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments--the Civil War amendments--was intended to correct this structural weakness, but the amendments were largely nullified, of course, by judicial interpretation. The purpose of this special issue of The Nation is to sharpen public awareness of the opportunity that exists for effective political action on this one major problem in what otherwise promises to be a dull campaign.