37(5 pH8^ 'OF\i THE PARTY OF FREEDOM AND ITS CANDIDATES. The Duty of the Colored Voter. PubliBhed hj the Unioa Sepublioan Oongressional Committee, Waahington, D, 0. ^i^M Llj^ .i. ^^-iiS S. Q • ^^ THE EMANCIPATOR, Assassinated April 14, 1865. HIS SUGGESSOR, Will be elected Pposident November 3, 1868, The following is a dialogue between a newly-raade citizen and a Radical Republi- can. The new voter. is seeking light upon the subject of his political duties ; his Rad- ical friend gives him plain' fac-ts, and demon- ptrates clearly with which party all like him should act. It would be well for colored voters generally to seek out some tried Radi- cal and question him upon all subjects about which they have any doubt : TIU: DIALOGUE. Question. With which party should the colored man vote ? Answer. The Union Republican party. Q. Why should the colored man vote with that party ? A. Because that party made him free and has given him the right to vote. Q. Was Mr. Lincoln a Republics i ? A. He was a Republican Presideut. Q. Are Republicans in favor^of universal freedom ? A. They are. Q. Are the Radicals and Republicans one and the same party? . A. Yes; and they are in favor of freedom and universal justice. Q. What is the meaning of the word Rad- ical as applied to political parties and poli- ticians ? A. It means one who is in favor of going to the root of things: who is thoroughly in earnest; who desired that slavery should be abolished, that every disability connected therewith should be obliterated) not only from national laws but from those of every State in the Union. Q. To which party do th<^ friends of ths colored men in Congress belong? A. To the Republican Party. Q. What is a Democrat ? A. A member of that party which beforsi the rebellion sustained every legislative act demanded by the slave-holders, such as the Fugitive Slave Law. and the attempt made to force slavery up(5n the Western Territories- Q. Who said that " a negro had no rights that a white man was bound to respect?" A. Chief Justice Taney, a Democrat. Q. Was this sentiment approved by the Democracy ? fi' A. It was ; and by them only. Q. Why did the Southern States rebel ? A- Because the Republican party in 1861 elected Abraham Lincoln Presideirt, who was opposed to the extension of slavery. Q. What did they propose to do by re- bellion? A. Establish a govornment of their own ; the corner-stone of which should be human slavery. Q. Did any leading rebel- make such a declaration ? A. Yes ; Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, in a speech in May, 1861, at Mont- gomery, Alabama. Q. What position did Mr. Stephens hold in the rebel Confederacy? A. He was their Vice President. Q. What was the position of tlie Demo- cratic party during the war? A. It opposed the war; declared Mr. Lincoln's management of it a failure; re- sisted every measure in Congress looking to emancipation, and denounced the Govern- ment for employing colored men as soldiers. Q. What has that party done since the surrender of the rebels? A. It lias sustained Mr. Johnson in his efforts to restore your old masters to power in the country, and opposed every act for your, benefit which the Republican Congress has adopted. Q. Would the Democrats make slaves of the colored people again if they could ? A. It is fair to presume that they would, for they have opposed their freedom by every means, have always labored to extend sla- very, and would now try to deprive them of the right to vote, whi«h they have always opposed in Congress and in the various State Legislatures. Q. Who abolished slavery in the District of Columbia? A. A Republican Congress and Abraham Lincoln, a Republican President. Q. Who freed the slaves in the South ? A. Abraham Lincoln, the Republican President, by proclamation. -Q. Who made colored men soldiers ? A. The Republican party. Q. Vv ho opposed this ? A. The Democrats. Q. Who refused to recogni.'^e colored sol- diers as prisoners of war? A. 'J-lie rebels. Q. By whom were they murdere'l or used as slaves when captured? A. By the rebel Government. Q. W hat party sympathized with the r^'^^el ■ Government? A. 1 he Democracy. Q. Who passed the Preedmen'g Bureau bill? A. A Republican Congress by more than a. two-thirds vote over the veto of Andrew Johnson, the leader of the Democratic or Conservative party. Q. Who gave us th-e Civil Rights bill? A. The same Repi;blican Congress. Q. What party gave us the right to vote ? A. The Republican party, through its majority in Congress. Q. What has the Democratic, Conserva- tive, or Copperhead party ever done for the colored people? A. It has tried to keep them in slavery, and opposed giving ^hem the benefit of the Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights bills, and the right to vote. Q. Why cannot colored men stipport the Democraiic party ? A. Because that party would disfranchise them, and, if possible, return them tc^ sla- very, and certainly keep them in an inferior position before the law. Q. With whom do the disloyal white men of the South desire the colored men to vote? A. With the Democratic party. Q. Why do the Democrats pretend to be the best friends of colored men? A. Because they contend they are of a lower race, and are, therefore, happier in an inferior position, or in slavery. Q. How would it suit them to be served in the same manner? A. They would not endure it. They call themselves a superior race of beings, and claim they are born your rulers. Q. Why do they not do unto others as they would be done by ? A. Because they are devoid of principle, and destitute of all sense of justice where the colored man is concerned. Q. Do all white persons belong to a party which would treat us in that way ? A. They do not. There are many who have stood up nobly for you=r rights, and who will aid j'ou to the end; indeed, all true Re- publicans are such. Q. Are there any white persons who have always contended ibr our liberty ? A. Yes ; there are many such. Q. To which party do these tried friends of ours now belong ? A. The Republican party. Q. To what party do the white people of the South belong? A. The larger portion belong to the Dem- ocratic party. Q- Are the former slave-holders and leaders of the rebellion members of ttat party ? I A. Most of them are ; they would not re- gard yon as having any rights if they were in power. Q. Colored men should then vote with the jlepublican or Radical party? k. They should, and shun the Democratic -^ party as they would the overseer's lash and " tie auction block. Q. Has the Republican party deceived the colored people? A. It has not. While the Democratic f.arty has always been opposed to their free- dom, their education, and their right to vote, the Republican party has maintained these rights. Q. By whose exertion are we now being ! Jucated ? A. By the efiforts of loyal teachers and. through the benevolence of Republican friends. Q. By whom have school-houses been burned, and our teachers persecuted? A. By rebel friends ©f the Democratic party. Q. Who passed the military Reconstruc- tion acts? A. The. Republican majority in Congress. Q,. By whom have the reconstructed States been admitted to Congress, under the new free constitutions? A. By the Republican party. '• Q. V/hat would the people think if the j colored men voted with the Democratic I party ? A. The people of the North would think that they did not fully understand their own rights nor the duties devolving on them ; and the people of the South would proudly say : '•We have always told you that the negro did not wish to be free." Q. What use has been made of the money which the colored people of the Southern States have paid as taxes ? A. It has been used to establish schools for wJnte children ; to pay the expenses of mak- ing and executing laws in which the colored men have had no voice, and in endeavoring to have set aside the laws which gives you the right to vote. Q. We have been discharged from work because we voted with the Republicans. Vv^ho did it? A. Your former masters, who are all Southerfi Democrats. Q. How are we to live if they continue this course? A. You must remember that this is a rule that works both ways. Your labor is as val- uable to the employer as the wages paid are to yon. That game cannot be continued. In any event, you must defend your vote as you wou'ld your freedom. Q. Then you advise us to vote with the Republicans, and disregard the threats of our employers? A. Most certainly I would. There is noth- ing dearer in life than liberty. To allow yourselves to be driven into voting against your convictions, is to accept degradation worse than slavery. Q. The white people South say that north ern Republicans do not care for the colored men only so far as they can use them to con- tinue in political power. Is that true ? A. It is not. Q. What is the reason that several of the northern States do not give us tke right tc vote ? A. Chiefly because they have in the past been controlled by the Democratic party.' In the Western States where what are called the " Black Laws" have existed, which did not allow colored people to live in them, there are largo bodies of whites who moVed originally from the slave Sta+es, and carried the hatred and prejudices of slavery with them. Q. What has the Republican party done in those States about such laws? A. Abolished them as fast as it obtained power? Q. To what is the Republican party now committed? A. To equal rights for all men ; to the ad- vancement of labor and its elevation by just laws ; to common schools, open to all ; op- position to slavery in every form ; prot.ec- ti©n to free speech and a free press ; the maintenance of the rights of all men to vote and share in the Government under which they live ; the perpetual preservation of the Federal Union, and of the national honor l)y faithfully discharging all obliga- tions incurred in suppressing the late rebel- lion, and thereby enfranchising four million slaves- Q. How does it propose to do these things? A. By electing loyal men to office ; by de- fending loyal State governments formed un- der and by authority of the Reconstruction laws, and above all by placing the Executive power of the General Government in the hands of those who favor the purposes oi the Union Republican party. Q. How is the latter to be accomplished ? A. By the election on Tuesday, the od day of November next, of General U. S. Grant and Honorabi.k Schuyler Couax, the nominees of the Republican party for those high offices, as President and Vice Pres- ident of the United States. By their ckc- tion, as v/ell as the election of Republican Representatives to the Forty-first Congre.-s. the Government will be placed in the hands- of its friends, and, consequently, of yj:r defenders and emancipators, for the Pi\-i dential term beginning the 4th d.iy of ]\larc]i. 1869, and ending on the same date, 187o. Q. What claim has Genekai. Grant on i..<. colored man '! A. He is the successful leader of the Unioi. armies who fought for freedom again.st the- ' rebel armies, that sought to maintain sla- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS i_ ' 013 78 6 538 5 VCT7. Ho defeated all the rebel Generals who opposed him, and finally received the surrsn- dc.» of the rebel army and its General-in-Chief. Robert E. Lee. Early in the war, General Gp.axt pronounced agaijist slavery; declared that it must be destroyed in order to defeat the rebellion. He encouraged tlie enlistment of colored troops, and directed all officers to aid in the work. He always recognized their courage and gave ihem honorable mention. Siuce°the rebellion closed, he has been in chief command of the army, and has been charged with the jirotection of the loyal peo- plet)f the South. Under his direction re- construction has succeeded to its present ex- tent. He has always*been in sympathy _with the lojTil majority of Congress, in opposition to the efforts of Andrew Johnson and the leaders of the Democratic party to restore the rebels to power, and thus virtually to re-enslave the freed people of the South. Q. Who is Schuyler Colfax? A. He is Speaker of the House of lleprc- sentatives, and has been a Ilepublican mem- ber of Congress since 1855, having been first elected in opposition to the attempt then be- ing made by the Democratic party to force slavery on Kansas, against the vnll of the people. Mr. Colfax is an able man, upright and honorable in private character, an elo- quent speaker, and a faithful and sagacious statesman, whose voice and vote has always been cast for equal rights for all men. Q. Upon what platform, and where were they nominated ? A. They were nominated at Chicago, Mav •_Yi, 18G8, by the Ilepublican National Cor vention, v/hich contained delegates from all the States, among them being many colored men, representatives elected by yourselves. Tlie platform embraces the following points : 1. Congratulates the country on the suc- cess of reconstruction, and declares it to be tho duty of the Government to sustain the free institutions established under them. 2. Declares the guaranty by Congress in those laws of equal suffrage to be demanded alike by justice and the public safety. 3. Denounces the Democratic doctrine of repudiation of the public debt as a crime. 4. 5, and 6. Declares that taxation should be equalized and reduced ; that the payment of the national debt should be extended over a fair time, the rate of interest be reduced as far as possible, and that thebest way to do this is to preserve the public credit, so that capitalists will readily loan money on low rates. 7. Declares- that the General Govern- ment should be economically administered, and that the corruptions fostered by Andrew Johnson should be sternly repressed. 8. Deplores the untimely death of Presi- dent Lincoln, and declares Andrew John- son a betrayer of the trust reposed in him, and a usurper of unlawful power, for which he was properly impeached and pronounced guilty by the votes of th.rty-five Senators. 9. Declares that all Americ