THE PRACTICE OF JUSTICE OUR ONLY SECURITY FOR THE FUTURE.
REMARKS
OF
ON. WILLIAM D. KELLEY,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
IN SUPPORT OF HIS PROPOSED AMENDMENT
TO THE BILL
GUARANTY TO CERTAIN STATES WHOSE GOVERNMENTS HAVE
BEEN USURPED OR OVERTHROWN A REPUBLICAN
FORM OF GOVERNMENT;"
DELIVERED
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 16, 1865,
WASHINGTON:
1865.








REMARKS.
The House having under consideration tiie bill " to guar-  the eve of overthrow.  It belongs to us to govern
uanty to certain States wvlhose governments have been  tlle territory we have conquered, and the question
usurped or overthrown'a republican fbrm ofgoverniert,:f  of reconstruction presses itself upon our attenar. KEIEY  moved o0 ameand the bill byiilseretil  teri thle  tion; and our legislation in this behalf will, though
words "to enrollll  ti wite     itiens ofe United   it copl'ise no specitic povisions  on the subject,
States?' ti-e words:: ad all other inale itizens of tle UniStte       od' l  le iis o t  U  determiiee whether guerrilla war shall harass
ted States whlo nmay bIe abie to re d tlhe constitution    ommunities for lo  eas,  ore suppressed in
commu~nities for long-years, or0be suppressed in
there.f'-" and said:                -..
the~re~l;"'sod said'                         ta brief timne by punislhments administered through
lMlr. SePAsEt   r LE Thlse are inde,Cd terrible times   courts and law, to marauders for the criales they
foir  irnid peoep'' Use and. siont u o lio Iger serve   may commit utider the name of partisan warfa~re.
us.  The gu.s traitorously fire.d upon (    Fot Sum-  At the close of an international war, the wronged
ter threw  us all out of" the well-beaten ruts of  but victorious party may justly make two claims:
habit, and as the war plrogresss' teii  find them-   indemnlity for the past, arnd security for the fLuselves less and less able to expres' tlheir 10olitical  ture; indemnity for the past in money or in terviews by naming a party or uttering it.s shllibbo-   ritory; security for the future by new treaties, the
leth.  It is no longer safe foi' any of us to wait till  establislrnent of lew boundaries, or the cession
the election cornes aRd accept the plat'oirrn and   of mnilitary powei and the territory upon which
ticklets presented  by a party.   We niay have   it dwells.  Indemnlity for the past we canrnot
served in its ranksfor alife-tirne and find atlast —-   hope to cltain.  WWhen we shall have punislhed
costly and painful experience being our guide —   the conspirators    who inivolved the country in this
that to obtain the ends we had in view we slhould!  sanguinary  war, allsd pardoned the dupes and viehave acted independcently of, and in opposition to  tin;s who lhave arrayed themselves or been forced
it and its leaders.  In seasons liie this, an age on   to do battle uider their flag, we shall but have reages telling, the feeblest man in whom there is faith   possessed our anicient territory, reiastablished the
or honesty is made to feel that lie is not quite   boundaries of our country, restored to our flag
powerless, that duty is laid on hliln too, and that  and Constitution their supremacy over territory
the force that is in hnim ought to be expressed in   whlich was ours, but wulich  thl il lsurgeilts meant
accordance with his own convictions andt ini a way   to dismember and possess.'Ihe other demandl
to promote some end seen or hoped for.               we may and must successf'u!ly make.  Security
The questions with which we have to deal,tlhe   for the future is accessible to us, and we must
grave doubts tlihat confound us, the difficulties that  demand it; and to obtain it with amplest guaranenviron us, the results our action will produce,  tees requires the adoption of no new  idea, the
fraught wit  weal or woe to centuries and con-   making of no experiment, the entering uponi no
stantly-iicreasing millions,are such as have rarely   sea of political speculation.  Ours would lhave
been confided to a generation.  But happily we   been an era of peace and prosperity, had we and
are not without guidance.  Our situation, though   our fathers accepted in full faith the great princinovel, does not necessarily cast us upon the field   ples that impelled, their fathers to demand the inof mere experiment.  True, we have not specific   dependence of the United Colonies, gave them
precedents which we may safely follow; but the   strength in counsel, patience, courage, and long
founders of our Government gave us, in a few   endurance in the field, and guided them in estabbrief sentences, laws by which we may extricate  lishing a Conistitution which all ages will recogour generation and country from the horrors that  nize as the miracle of the era in which it was
involve them, and secure peace broad as our coun-  framed and adopted, and the influence of which
try, enduring as its history, anid beneficent as   shall modify and change, and bring into its own
right and justice and love.                          similitude, the Governments of the world.  Had
The organized war power of the rebellion is on   we, and the generation that preceded us, accepted:




4
and been guided by the self-evident truths to         Third, that "Governments derive their just
which I allude, the world would never have known   powers from the consent of the governed;"
the martial power of the American people, or          Fourth, that "whenever any form of governrealized the fact that a Government that sits so   ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
lightly as ours upon the people in peace is so in-  right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to
finitely strong in the terrible season of war.      institute a new Government, laying its foundations
The founders' of our institutions labored con-  on such principles and organizing its powers in
sciously and reverently in the sight ofGod. They   such form as to them  shall seem most lilkely to
knew that they were the creatures of His power,  effect their safety and happiness."  And in these
and that their work could only be well done by   four propositions we have an all-sufficient guide
being done in the recognition of His attributes,  to enduring  peace and prosperity.  If in the legisand in harmony with the enduring laws of His  lation we propose we regard these self-evident
providence. They knew thatHis ways were ways   truths, our posterity shall not only enjoy peace,
of pleasantness, and His paths the paths of peace;  but teach the world the way to universal fireedom;
and they endeavored to embody His righteous-  but ifwe fail to regard them, God alone in His infiness and justice in the Government they were   nite wisdom knows what years of agitation, war,
fashioning for unlknown ages, and untold millions   and misery we may entail on posterity, and
of men. Their children, in the enjoyment of the   whether the overthrow  of our Government, the
prosperity thus secured to them, lost their faith   division of our country, and all the ills thus enin these great truths, treated them with utter dis-  tailed on manlkind may not be justly chargeable
regard, violated them, legislated in opposition to  to us.
them, and finally strove to govern the country in     The tables of the census of 1860 exhibiting the
active hostility to them. And for a little while   population of the eleven insurgent States, show
they seemed to succeed.  But at length we have   that it numbered,and was divided as follows:
been made to feel and know that God's justice
does not sleep always; and -amid the ruins of the                                         Colored popcountry and the desolation of our homes let us              States.           White    ulation, slave
resolve that we will return to the ancient ways,                            population.  aid free, inclulook to Him for guidance, and follow humbly in                                          ding Indians.
the footsteps of our wise and pious forefathers;  Alabama..............   526,271         436,930
and that, as grateful children, we will erect to   Arlkansas...............  324.14'     111,307
their memory and to that of the brave men who   Florida.................    77,741:     61,677
have died in defense of their work in this the   Georgi         a............... 59,550    465,736
Louisialna............   357,456      350,546
grandest of all wars, a monument broad as, our        lsippi...........    3590            437,04
country, pure as was their wisdom, and enrduring   Nortli C;larolina..........  9942      362,680
as Christian civilization. So shall we by our firm-   South Carolina..........   291,300  412,408
ness and equity exalt the humble, restrain the'l'eP    essee......          816,712      283,079
equit       1' exas...............    420,891       183,324
rapacious and arrogant, and bind the people to   Virginia.........  1,047,99           549,019
each other by the manifold cords of common sym-                                         -
pathies and interest, and to the Government by                              5,447,222     3,666,110
the gratitude due toa just and generousguardian.
But, Mlr. Speaker, I heargentlemen inquire how      This table, as will be observed, embraces the
this is to be done.  The process is simple, easy,  whole of Virginia as she was in 1860; and as I
and inviting': it is by accepting in child-like faith,  have not the means of distinguishing the proporand executing with firm anld steady purpose three   tion of her population that is embraced in the new
or four of the simple dogmas which the founders   State of West Virginia, I permit it to stand as it
of our Government proclaimed to the world, and   is. The new State is in the Union; her citizens
which, alas! too often with hypocritical lip ser-  never assented to the ordin ance of secession; they
vice, are professed by aIll Americans, even those   have provided for the extinguishment of slavery
who are now strivingg, through blood, and car-   within lier limits; arind my remarks, save in the
nage, and devastation, to found a broad empire,  general scope in whichl they may be applicable to
the corner-stone of which was to be human sla-  any or all of the States of the Union, will not be
very.                                               understood as applying to her.  It is of the terIn announcing the reasons which impelled the   ritory for which it is the duty of Congress to procolo nies to a separation from the mother country,  vide governments that I speak.  I should also
the American people declared that " a decent re-  call attention to the fact that the Superintendent
spect to the opinions of mankind" required "a   of the Census includes the few  Indians that redeclaration of the causes which impelled them to   mained in some of these States in the column of
the separation;" and in assigning those causes   white inhllabitants.  Their number is not imporannounced a few general propositions, embody-  tant; but it certainly should not be so stated as to
ing eternal and ever-operating principles, among   create the impression that they enjoyed the rights
which were,                                         or performed the duties of citizens. How unfair
First, that " all men are created equal, are en-  this classification is will appear from the fact that
dowed with certain inalienable rights," and that  the following section from the Code of Tennessee
"' among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of  of 1858, section 3,858, indicates very fairly the
happiness;"                                         position they held under the legislation of each
Second, that "to insure these rights, Govern-  and all the above-named States:
ments are instituted among men;"                      ",A negro, mulatto, Indian, or person of mixed blood,




5
descended from negro or Indian ancestors, to the third gen-   Their sinewy arms have felled the forest, opened
eration inclusive, thougll one ancestor of each generation   the farm and the plantation, made the road, the
may have been a white person, whlether bond or free, is  canal, the railroad.  It was by the sweat of their
ocil or crimial   canal, the railroad. It was by the sweat of their
incapable of being a witness in any case, civil or criminal,   brow  that the snny   out  was made to bloom;
excerpt for or agTainlst eacll otller."'           n  brow that the sunny South was made to bloom;
e t ogt,    each other."                   it is they whose labor has quickened the wheels
Correcting the error of the Superintendent o of  of commerce and swelled the accumdlating wealth
the Census, I have enumerated the Indians with    of the world. Upon their brawny shoulders rested
the people to whose fate the legislation of those   the social fabric of the South, and an arrogant arisStates assigned them.  It will be perceived that   tocracy. that strove to dictate morals to the world,
when that censts was talenl the white population    boasted that one product of their toil was a king
numbered 5,447,222, and the colored population    to whom  peoples antd Governments must bow.
3,666,110.                                               Most of them are ignorant and degraded; but that
It thus appears that the colored people were   cannot be mentioned to their disgrace or disparconsiderably more than two fifths of the whole   agenent.  Not they nor their ancestors enacted
population of the insurgent States; and that while   the laws Which made it a felony to enable them to
we have professed to believe that their right to   read the Constitution and the laws of their counlife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was in-   try, or the Boolk of Life through which their fairer
alienlable-could not be alienated or relinquished   brethren hope for salvation.  Dumb and voiceless
by them, nor taken away by others-we have ig-   most of them  are; but let not want of intellectual
nored their humanity, and denied them  the en-   power be ascribed to them  as a race, in view  of
joyment of any single political right.                    the wit, humor, sarcasm, and pathos, of the learnThat, while we have professed to believe that   ing, logical power, and scientific attainments, of
governments are instituted among men to secure   a Douglass, a Garnet, a Remond, a Brown, a
tlheir rights, the history of our country for the   SellaMartin,aWilliam Craft, and scores of others,
last fifty years proves that the whole power and   who, evading the bloodhound and his master in
constant labor of our Government have been ex-   the slave-hunt, have made their way  to lands
erted to preve-nt the possibility of two fifths of   where the teachings of Christ are regarded and the
the people of more than half our country ever   brotherhood of man is not wholly denied.  Others
attaining the enjoyment of political, civil, or so-   of them  are and have been free, at least so far as to
cial rights.                                              be able to acquire property and send their chilThat, while we have professed to believe that   dren to foreign lands for culture.  Let some such
all Governments derive their just powers from    speak for themselves.  ln tie  petition of the colthe consent of the governed, we have punished    ored citizens of Louisiana to the President and
with ignominy and stripes and imprisonment and   Congress of the United States, they respectfully
death the men who had the temerity to assert that   submit:
it was wrong to deny to two fifths of the peoplere naives of Louisiana and citizens of t
of a country, and, as in the case of South Camo-   Unitud States; that tley are loyal citizens, sincerely atlina and Mississippi, a large majority of the people   tatched to the country and tile Constitution, and ardently
of the State, the right even to petition for redress   desire tle maintenance of the national tnity, for which
of grievance,                                            they are ready to sacritice thleir fortunies and their lives.
Tlhat a large portion of them are owners of' real estate,
And while we have been swift to assure, ill   ad all ofttllen are owners of personal property; tllat many
terms of warmest sympathy, and sometimes with   of ttiem are engared in tie pursuits of corinmerce and inactive aid, any oppressed  and revolting  people   dustry, wvile otlhers are emrployed as artisalns in various
beond the seas that we believed it to be ttrades;  that they are all fitted to ernjoy tihe privileges and
beyond the seas that we believed" it to be thle rigit ifnlmunities belonging to the condition of citizeiis of tihe
anid duty of such people, " whenever any form of  United States, ard anoong tlermr may be founrd mlany of
Governrment becomes destructive of the ends"   the descendants oL those men r whorn the illustrious Jackaboveindicated," to alterorabolish it, and to isti-  son styled his'fellow-citizens' whenr lie called upon them
to takle up arms to repel the enemries of tlhe couintry.
tute a new Government, laying its foundatiorns on          " Your petitioners Ifurther respectftlly represent that over
such principles, and organizing its powers in such   arnd above thle right which, in:- tlre language of thle Declaraform, as to them  shall seen) most likely to effect  tion of Independence, tihey possess to liberty and tire purtheir safety and happiness,"  we save, even to thie   suit ofllappiness, tihey are supported by tire opirion ofjlust
and loyal mnern, especially by that of ilon. Edclward Bates,
boundaries of the lakes and to the far Pacific   Attorney General, in the clairn to the riglt of enjoying tihe
shores, stood pledged and ready to lay down our   privileges anird inurituntirs pertainingl to tirle cornditionl of'
lives in the suppression  of any attempt these   citizens or the Unlited States; and, to support tire legitiAmnericans rnigit mnale to carry into effiect this   rclcy of this cri, tihey believe it siirply necessary to
subinit to your Excellency,  and to the honorable  Congress,
cardinal doctrine of our professed political faith.   suthe fillowiri ng considerationsi which thiey beg ot' you to
Is it any wonder that God, seeing millions of His   weilgh in tirle balance of law arid jistice. Notwitlistandpeople tisus trampled   orrl,opprePssed,loutraged, and   irig tlheir fiolretthers served in tile Arny of the United
rnade voiceless by tlose whose fathiers  ad placided   States, ir 1814-Is, arid rided irr epellilg fi'oln tile soil of
Louisi;rana a hIaughty enemy, over-confidlent of success, yet
their feet in His  ways, and  vwhose lips never   they  arnd tlseir dscenldats   have ever since, ald until tile
wearied in beseeching  His guidance and care,   era of tire present rel)ellion, been estrangedl and even reshould fill the oppressors with madness and open   pulsed,excludedt our allibiancisesevetn tie srrnallest,wlsen
thlrougll tleir blood arnd agorly ai way for tire   their brave forefiathers offered their bosorns to tire eneirmy
to ipreserve tire territorial integrity of the Republic! Durdeliverance of their long-suffering victims?             ing this period of forty-mnine years they lhave never ceased
But, Mr. Speaker, it is aslked, who are these   to be peaceable citizens, payinrg their taxes os ans assesspeople?  They are the laboring  masses of the    ireit of more than fiftees million dollars!
feld hadte  house servant, the me-  " Atthe call of General Butler they hiastened to rally under
South-the field hand, the house servant, the me-   the bnner of t     he Union and liberty; thley havespilled their
chanic, the artisan, the engineer of that region.  blood, and are still pouring it out tor the maintenance of




the Constitution of the United States; in a word, they are  see how careful they were at a later day to guara
soldiers of the Union, and they will defend it so long as   the rights of the people:
their hands lhave strength to hold a musket.
" While General Banlks was at te siege of Port udson      ART. 1. Congress shall msake  no law respecting an esand tile city threatened by the eneimy, his Excellency Gov-   tlablisllllent of religiol, or prollibiting tlhe fl-ee exercise
ernor Shlepley called for troops for thle defense of tlse city,  thereof; or abridtging the freedom ofspeelh or of the press;
anis they were foremost in responding to the call, having   oi tie rilt ol the ieopre petceiluly to nssle   and to peraised tise first regimient in thle slhort space of forty-eiglit  tition tile Goveirnmentfor a redress of grievances.
I1s1ou. c':eAT. 2. A wsil-regullated militia beiiri necessary to the
"' II consideration of this fact, as true and as clear as the   securitv oi a iree State, tile riglt of the peolle to lep and
sile which liilts this great continent, isl consideration of   bear arimis slall nrt be ioit in'el.7
thle services already performed and still to be rendered by  "ART. 4. Tihe riglit of thtepjeople to be secure in their perthlem to their COirinoiI couintry, they humbly    beseech youlr   Sons>, itses,'osers, irdi a LfU'eets, against unireasonable
Excellency and Congress to cast your eyes upon a loyal  seaLrchles andll  seizures, shall iot be violated."
populatioin, awaiting with coInfidenlce and dignity the   "ART. 9. The enumeratioll in tile Constitiition of certain
proclanmation of those inalienable rights whicrh belong to  rights shall not Lhbe construed to deny or distarage others rethe condition of citizens of the great Aierican Repub-  tained by I/ie people.
lic.                                                      "AcrT. 10. Thle powers not delegated to the Uniited States
" Theirs is but a feeble voice claiming attention i:i the   by ile Constitutioi, nor prolibited by it to the States, are remidst of the grave questions raised by this terrible con-   served to the States respectively, or to the people. "
filet; yet, conlideit of the justice which guides tile action  I. has, 1 know, been fashionable to deny that
of the Governmenit, thiey have no hesitation in speaki    e fraers of te Constitution i            ed to e
what is prompted by their hearts:' We are men; treat us   e                            
assuclh."                                               brace colored persons when they used the word
" people;" and it is still asserted  by some that
This petition, which it is within my knowledge   it was used with a niental reservation broadl and
was prepared by one of the proscribed race, lsks   effective enough to exclude them; but the Jouronly for what the fathers of our coun try i ntended   nals of the Convention and the general  history
thlley should enjoy. They discovered in theAfrico-   of the times abound in contradictions of this false
American the attributes and infirmities of their   anId mischievous theory, the source of all our presown nature, and in organizing governments, local   ent woes.  A  brief review  of contemporaneous
or general, made no invidious distinctiotn between   events oughit to put this question at rest forever.
him  and his fellow-men.  Under the Articles of           The Coingress of the Con federationl was iin sesConfederation, arid at the time of the adoption   sion on the 25th of June, 1778,.the fourth of til
of the Constitution of the United States, and long   Articles of Confederation being under considerasubsequent thereto, the fiee colored man was with   tion.  The terms of the article as proposed were
their c6nsent a citizen and a voter.  Our fathers   that " the free inhabitants  of each of these States
meant that he should be so.  Their faith in the   (paupers, vagabonds, atind fugitives from justice
great cardinal maxims they enunciated was un-   excepted) shall be etntitled to all privileges an!d
doubting; and1 they embodied it without nlental  irnrnunities of fiee citizens in the several States."
reservation when they gave form  and action to   We learn by the Journal that " thle delegates firom
our Government.  No one who has studied the   South Carolina, being called on, moved the folhistory of that period doubts that they regardetl  lowing amendment in behalf of tleir State: in
slavery as transitory and evanescent.  Neither   article four, between thee words'firee inhabitants'
the word " slave," nor any synonym  for it, was   insert' white.' "   How  was this ptoposilion,
given place in the Constitution.   Wie  know  by   identical with that now made to us, received by
the oft-quoted remark of Mr. Madison that it was   the sagoes there atnd tthen assembled? Eleven States
purposely excluded that the future people of the   voted on thle question.  Two, South Carolina becountly nliight never be reminded by that instrut-   ing one of them, sustainedt the proposition; the
merit that so odious a condition had ever existed    vote of one State was divided;  acnd eight, affirmamotng the people of the Unritedl States.  T hatin-   ing the colored  mlan s rilght to thle privileges of
strument nowhere contemplates any discrimina-   citizenslihip votedl "no,"and thle 1roposition was
tion in reference to political or personal rights on   thuis negatived. South Carolina —the l, as sihe has
the ground of color.  In defining tile rightsguar-   ever been, persistent in mnischief —further rmoved,
antied by tile Constitutiorn they tare never limited   throughl her delegates, to aniend by insertinge after
to tile wlite popujation, but the word 66 people"   tile words "' the several State's" the words,' acis used without qualification.  Whein in that il-   cording- to the law of sucli States respectively for
strucment its framers alludedl to those who filled   tile government of their own free zhite inhabitthe anomalous, and, as they believed, temporary   ants."'   This proposition was also negatived by
position of slaves, they spolke of " persons hield   the same decisive vote, as appears by tIe Journal
to service," and in the three-fifths clause of'" all   of the Congreas of the Confederation, volume
other persons.' They confided all powerto" the   four, pages 379, 380.  What two States did not
people," and provided amply, as they believed,   vote uporin tile question the Journal dloes not infor the protection of the whole people.  Thus in   dicate; but when it is remembered tlhat Pennsylthe second section of article one, they provided as   vania led l1er sisters in thie grena worsi  of ematicifollows forthe oranization of the House of Rep-   pation, and that it was not till nearly two years
resentatives:                                           after that date that she abolished slavery, it will
"1 The I-louse of Representatives shall ble composed of  be seen that it was by a vote of slaveholders repmenlbers chosen every second year by the people of the   resenting slave States, that the proposition to deny
several States, annd thle electors in each  State shall have   citizenshlip, its rights, privileges, and immunities,
the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numer-  he colored pe              s
ous branch of tlse Stoate Legislature."                 to the coloe   people was so emlphlatically     rejected.  The delegates could not, with propriety,
And in the amendments of the Constitution we   have voted otherwise.  To have done so, they




would have agreed that, in violation of all comity,   public taxes during that time, shall enjoy the right of an
while they secured the righlts of citizelship within    elector; provided always that suns of freellolders of the
the limits of their State to citizens of others, those   ane of twenty-one years siall be entitled to vote although
other States might deny them  to citizens of their
own. \Thley did not probably foresee that South               The constitution  of Delaware declared thatCarolina miglit cast the shipwrecked citizen of               "Tlse right of suffrage in the election for ienmbers of
another State who  had  been thrown  upon  her   both houses shall remain as exercised by law at present.")
shores into a jail, because of the decree of the              The declaration of rights, prefixed to the conAlmighty, whio had given him  a complexion not   stitution, contained the following:
agreeable to thle eyes of her people, and in default          "Every freeman, having suficient evidence of permaof the ability to pay jail fees thus unwillingly in-   neat commoi interest vitl andcl attacsment to the commucurred, doom lthim  antd his posterity to the woes   nity, lath a eight of sufage."
of perpetual slavery; but they did see that such              The constitution of Maryland provides thata proposition opetted the door to inequality, and             "All freemen, above twenty-one years of age, having a
possibly to opptession, and they resisted it with   fieehold of fifty acres of land in the county in which they,,*possibly to oppresion, an they resisted it withoffer to vote, and residing therein, and all fieesmen having
a. firmness and forecast which their posterity have   property in this State above the value of thirty pounids curfailed to honor or emulate.                                 rent money, and halving resided in the countyin which they
Again, they cou~ld not have consistently voted    offer to vote one whole year next preceding the election,
for such a proposition; for, by the constitutions   shall have a;ilt olf suffrage in tile election of delegants for
of their own States, free colored mten were voters,           The costitutio   of Vir
and  in the enjoyment of the rights of citizen-                                                   contained a proship.  Not onily then, but in 1789, at the time               ion tat
of the adoption of the Constitution of the United             "The right of suffrage in the election of members for
both Ihouses shall remain as exercised at present."
States, there was but one State whose constitution           o      ses sised at resent
distinguislled  in this respect agairnst the colorenl         The declaration of rights, prefixed to the conman.  This odious distinction, so fraught with    Stitutiost, contained the following:
unforeseen but terrible conlsequences, marred the             "All men having sufficient evidence of permanent comconstitution of South Carolina alone at the latter   mon iiterest o itf      r al attaclfme.t to the colu"ity  have
the right of suffrage."1)
date.
The constitution of Alassachusetts provided that
th atElvery imale personi (beingtwenty-one years of age,and'
residenlt it any particular town in this Conaiitonwealth lbr    "'All freemen of the age of twenty-one years, who have
the space of oiie year next precedingr) having a freehold   been illlhailait s of anly otne county withlin tle State twelve
estate within tile samie townv of the anlnual inicome of tlree  Imoniths imnmediately preceding the clay of any election, and
pounds, or aniy estate. of' the value of sixty pounds, shall  shall have paid public taxes, shall be entitled to vote for
have a right to vote in the clhoice of a representative or  imeinlmbers of tile House of C'oniio ns for thle oeunty ill which
representatives for tile said town."                        they reside."
Rhode Island had adopted no constitution, but               The constitution  of Georgia dleclared thatcontinued under colonial charter, which provided              "Tlle electors of the inembers of botl brainches of the
for the election of members of the General As-   General Asseillly sliall be citizens and inhabitasits of this
senmbly by " thie major part of the freemesn of the   State, and shall have attainied to the age of twenty-one
years, antl have paid tax  hor tile year preceding the eleerespective towns or pElaces.                                ioan sall hveresided sixlontllswithi;l tlecounty.'
Connecticut also continued under colonial char-                 d shall ave resided six       s within  e county.
The  constitutiont  ofo South Cioihna provided
ter, according  to which the qualifications of an    thatelector were" maturity in years, quiet and peaceable behavior, a civil conve sation, and fot ty shiil-,        Tlhe clalifieations of an elector shall be, every free
-able behavior, a civil conversation, and forty shil-  iwiite in;lt, Ild so otlelr prson, who acknlowledges tile Sbelings freellold, or forty poulnds personal estate.".   ing of a God, aind believes in a ltuture state of rewardl; and
i'he constitution of New Yorli provided that-            piunishlillcts,, and who hias attained tlhe ae  ot one and
"Every nt-ale inhabitant of full age, who slhall have   tveity ye55s, tl  tit.i l ts   In iliat itaIit Itd resident it
personally resided withiil one of the cousities of this State   ttis St'-te for the slice of ose whole year befose the day
or six iontl imeiately prceig the day of eletion,   appointed for the election Ihe offers to give his vote at, and
5heal) i at six usontlis                                    lsnsmcrlflely  ell ditc  tcvoe   l- eepeseita    haths a freehold at least of fifty acres of land or a town lot,
shall, at such election, be entitledi to vote for represents  d hath been   ally sd  and possesed  of' t  sae  at
tives of the said counity in tite Assembty, if, during tlime   Iad hatis  eet l ally neizel sni psses ti   tle sat  at
afuy'esaid, le slhall have been a frieeholder possessing a free- ast s    ts revious to sc  eectio, or   t    d 
oldal of tlle nvaitle onnf tw-elty pounlds withino the said~ ~cUl~    tax the precedling year, or wvas taxable tlhe present year, at
hor have seited a teseoiveslt leeiu  of tst leywittse  sd clusyo,  least six msoinths pirevious to the said election, in a suln
forty slhllirts, aend have ratetdi aid actually paid taxes to   equal to tile tax on fifty acres of land, to tile support of this
forty shillings, and hrave rated and actually paid taxes to   I      ent, shall le a person qualified to vote fbr, and share
this S~tats.",       tgovernment, shsall be t person qualified ti vote for, si all
The constitution of New Jerseyv"contained titis   be capable of electing, a representative orrepreseltatives."
The constitution of New Jersey:contained this'provision:'.PBut, Mr. Spealcer, to evade the force of this
overwhelmin g array of facts, the pro-slavery  De"All inhttbitants of this colony of full age, Ivwto are wort    ovew   enin   ray of facts, t   p -slavey Dfifty pounds proclamation money clear estate in the same,   mocracy and purblind conservatism  of the counanid have resided withiiSi the county its whviich they claim to   try have suggested that the thought of the black
vote for twelve nlolntlis ismmnediately precedilg the electiot,   manl was not present in the minds of those who
shall be entitled to vote for representatives itl Counicil anid   f
Assembly, and also t;r all other public officers that shall be
elected by the people of the county at large."              that they could not have imagined that the freed
The  constitution  of Pennsylvasia p1sovided    slave or his posterity would have the audacity to
that-                                       -,        ask that they should be recognized  as freernen
and citizens of our country; and with unblushing
Every freeman of the full age of twenty-one years, hay-   effrontery they have made the ignorant believe
intg resided in thills State for the space of' one whole year
next before the day of election for representatives, and paid   that the Government was organized, not for man



8
kind, but for the white man alone.  The falsity   upward, possessing  a freehold in the county wherein he
of these suggestions is fully exposed by the fact  may vote, and being'aln inhabitant of this State, and every,that South Carolina made the distinction, and in  freeman being an inhabitant of anyone county in the State,ltsix months  innediately preceding the day of election, shall
the Congress of the Confederation pressed it on   be entitled to vote for memljers of the General Assembly for
the attention of the whole country, but will be   the county in which he may reside."
still more amply demonstrated by the facts I shall     This constitution, as will be seen, endured for
hereafter cite.  In every State but South Caro-   forty years, during which the free colored inen
lina, and possibly Virginia and Delaware, in   of the State enjoyed their political rights, and
which the right of' suffrage was regulated by   exercised, as will appear, a powerful and salutary
statute, and not by constitutional provision, the   influence upon public opinion and the course of
fiee colored man at that time was a voter. In no   legislation.
State constitution except that of South Carolina,      In 1834, a convention to revise that constituwhich was replete with aristocratic provisions,  tion assembled at Nashville, and, accepting the
was the right of suffrage limited by express terms   suggestion of South Carolina, by a vote of 33 to 23
to the white man; consequently butfew, if any,  limited the suffrage to free white men.  During
of the members of the Convention that franled the   those forty years free negroes had enjoyed a right
Constitution of the United States could have failed   which made them a power; and no chapter in our
to meet him as a voter at the polls.  I remember   history better illustrates the value of this power
well to have seen negroes at the polls exercising   to both races, or how certainly great wrongs of
the right of suffrage in Pennsylvania, where they   this kind react and punish the wrong-doer.  Cave
enjoyed it from the foundation of the government  Johnson is a name well known throughout the
to the year 1838, when the growing influence of  country and honored in Tennessee; and it was
the increasing slave power of the country, op-  his boast that the firee men of color gave his sererating on the political ambition of those whom    vices to the country by electing him to Congress.
the people had charged with no such duty, de-   On page 1305 of the Congressional Globe for the
prived colored men of this right by following the   session of 1853-54, will be found the following
example of South Carolina and inserting the word   statement of Hotn. John Pettit, of Indiana, made
"' white" in the constitution of the State. Similar  in the United States Senate, May 25, 1854, while
action restricted their right in New Yorlk, making   discussing the suffrage clause of the Kansasit dependent on a property qualification, and de-   Nebraska bill:
prived them  of it in New Jersey and other States      1 "Many of the States have conferred this right [of sufnow free.  To her praise be it spoken, except in  frage] upon Indians, and many, both North and South,
Connecticut, which State, in 1817, in complaisance   have conferred it upon free negroes without property. Oltl
to South Carolina, inserted the word II white" in   Cave Johnson, of Tennessee, an honored anid respectable
her constitutioin, they still enjoy tihe right through-  tgentleman, formerly Postmaster General, and for a long
time a member of the other I-ouse, told me with his own
out New England, not as a concession from men  lips that the first time he was elected to Congress frioml
of modern days, but hereditarily, from the times   Tennessee (in 1828) it was by the votes of free negroes; andl
in which the foundations of the Government were  lie told me how. Free negroes in Ternessee were then
allowed by the constitution of the State to vote; anti lhe
laid.  Gentlemen around me from  the State of   was ian iron manufacturer, and had a large number of free
Maryland doubtless well remember the days when   negroes as well as slaves in his employ. I well recollect
the free colored man voted in their State.  It was   the number lie stated. Oie hundred aid forty-four free
only in 1833 that lie was deprived of that inesti-  legroes in his employ went to the ballot-box aidd elected
him to Congress the first time lie wvas elected."
mable right by constitutional amendment withina
her limits.  That the negro enjoyed this right in       Few will now deny that slavery is a curse alike
lNTorth Carolina until he was deprived of it in the   tothe masterandthelservile race.  None will deny
same way is prioven by the following extract firom    that slavery has been a curse to that State in view
the opinion of Judge Gaston, of that State, in the   of the vast mineral resources of Tennessee; her fine
State vs. Manuel, which was decided in 1838, and   natural sites for great cities; her capacity to feed,
may be found in 4 Devereux and Battle's North   house, clothe, educate, and profitably  employ
Carolina Reports, page 25:                          fiee laborers; her recent history, the abundant
"It has been said that before our Revolution free per-  source of future song and story; the pious and
sons of color did not. exercise the right of voting tfor mem-  patriotic endurance of the brave and God-fearing
hers of the colonial Legislature. How this may have been   people of the eastern section of the State, and the
it would be difficult at this time to ascertain. It is certain,  perfect abandon with which their more aristoliowever, that very fiew, if ally, could have claimed the
right of suffrafge for a reason of a very different character  cratic fellow-citizens of the western section of the
fronn the one supposed.  i'The principleoffreelloldsuffi-age   State espoused the cause of the rebellion; the
seems to have beeii brought over from England wit the   cruelties inflicted on the loyal people by the traifirst colonists, and to have been preserved almost invariably in the colony ever afterward."           " Ther
very Congress which framed our constitution [the State   warfare that hlas desolated her fair fields, and the
constitution of 1776] was chosen by freeholders. That  rancorous feuds and intense hatreds, which the
constitution extended the elective franchise to every free-  grave can only extinguish, that have been enman who had arrived at tile age of trventy-one and paid awar. And
public tax; and it is a smatter of universal notoriety that  gendered amonghel people by the radr. And who,
under it f'ree persons, without regard to color, claimsed'and  if the apparently well-founded tradition be true,
exercised the franchise until it ewas taken Jrom free snens of  that a proposition to incorporate in her constitucolor a fetv years since by ousr amentled consstitutionl."  tion of 1796 a clause prohibiting slavery was lost
Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796.  by a majority of one vote, will estimate the evil
Her constitution provided as follows:                done by the man who thus decided that moment"Every fieeman of the age of twenty-one years and   ous question?




9
The history of slavery in Tennessee, and the   in which they shall be used, and that, too, in lands which
determinedl resistance so long  made against its  (lo not boast either of tle light antl science we enijoy or of
struggles for supremacy, will, I am sure, justify   tie liberty qinl cqlity liicli I ise ls; bove ail distiiI" -,...     guishl us Il Olllll tile nlatiolls of tle globe."'
a brief dligression. There were in 1796, it is said,                                         t
considerably le'ss thian five thousand slaves within          Not' did tie movement, as appears nt lcmtst from
her limits, who had been  brought thither by the   this eaddliess          coltern plate'.c e hlo lition of slavely
earli.er settlers of what was thie  krnown as te                ennessee   a        fo    te ludit  to te greit
territory south of the Ohio. The influence of the   doctriries piomulated  ln tie Declaiatiol of Iidecolored citizens is traceable throughout her earrliei   pendeice, it says
history. So early as 1801, before shie thad existed            On ti certailty oftlte nali'ua allenessoftllese trtitis,
wej ustityt on. sepriatioi It',oi Ithe Goviwrnmt t titol Grait lritfive years as a State, the Legislature conferred thie        j    t,,  oir septioll n Ojt      t of timstt pzli! G  icritpower of ermancipation upon the county courts of   titiliers williiisly niietli;itit;lll  surrelideredl their lives nuiar
the State by art act, tile preamble to which sigiifi-   tyrs. They bhilteat.ihel tlitiei to lis as tile gretlecit of 1iiiiIn
cantly says:                                                le-gacies. Yet slavery, as it exists ili tile Unite(d State, is
iln direct oppuositioni to telcse sell:evidetlct maximsii.   Eve-ry
" Whereas the number of petitions presented to this  line of our history, esvery l)attle in our trstrglIe for indepeiuidLegislature prayilng tlhe emancipation of slaves, not oinly  t(ice, ivevry;itlliversary of oil. natiiolll birth condeleins
teditis to inivolve the Stat.e in great evils, but is also pro-   tlie principles of slavery, anl(n fixes onl iustihe clilr'ge ofglarductive of great expense."                                  inl inllcoistenlcy; antI  every law pa!ssed biy Legislatures in
lftvor of slavery is ill (irect o)ipositioii to tie pri ilciples of
In 1.81-2, the ilntroduction of slaves into the State   our natiotnal existc-ee.   Let its williigly  tlo tihat whilch
for sale was prol libited by law. Yetiii the twenity   twe juistI blanleGreatBritain fol reltsigtodouitil iteed,
yesars between  1790 aidl 1810, by  tile power of  tiateld, acknoiwiedge the rights of' cne, and eiue, it a suitaerigrlation fiom  slave States aiid  atural increase,   tiles sa, Inore thaii oeLe inilliOi ald a hayf of people to enjoy
these sacred rights."
the nlumber swelled from  less tlian four thioisalnd
to elupwzaril offlorlty-fou' thiousnat~nd.   T his X api -In  1834, when  the convention to rtevise the con.
crease of slave population alarmed thle people and    stitultoil assembled, the slaves in the State numemnancipationl societies were organized in different   beied  note thou  one hundred and fifty thousand.
parts ot the State.  Extracts fiom an address de-   The powei of tle slave oligaichly had incieased,
live  o   te 17h  of A t, 1816, by  st   arid opposition to the institution had perhaps beof one of these societies, anld repented with its au-   come less poweiful.  But in the fist week of the
roval  on  the 1st of Jaiiuai'y, 1817,  uid  whiichl,    conventiot, petitions on the subject ofemancipaiaving been  plriited, rtot atitonymoisly, but by    tion were presented from  the citizens of Maury
Heiskell &  Brown, was largely distributed by the   county, acd wete soon  followed  by others from
society, are before me.  It proposes to sihow,              Robertson, Lincoln, Bedford, Overton, Roane,
First, the object or design of the society.               Rhea, IKiox, Monroe, McMilin, Blount, Sevier,
Secotid, that the principles of slaveiy arie in-   Cocle,JefflsonGreene,and W ashiigton,  mary
conisistent with the lawvs of natureand revelation.   of the si nls beiig slaveholders, aid all prayThierd, some of its evils, both moral and polit-   ing that all thle slaves should be made free by the
ical.                                                      year 1866. By an unforeseen process, the prayer
Fourth, that no solid objections lie against grad-   of those petitioners will be granted, though the
ual emaicipation.                                           convention to whlich they addressed their prayer
To shiow  thie fr eedom  with whisch the sub ject   gave an unfavorable response, and as if in derision
was thlen d iscussed,'I offer a brief extract or two.   of the petitioners, attempted to fasten his shaclles
in  those days  the people of America had not   more firmly on tie slave.  God, whose
learned, nor did they yet pretend to believe, that' Ways seein dark, bit, soon or late,
the Constitution of the United States denied them                 They touch the siinaing iills of day,"
the right to think of the condition of any classof  -in His infinite mercy and wisdom  has in this resuffering people, or made it a crime to utter their   spect reversed the decrees of man. Well for Tenconrvictions anid  their philanthropic  emotions.   nessee and her bleeding  people would it have
Tlius this address to the people of Tennessee    been had the members of that convention bowed
says:                                                       reverently to His will, as did the framers of the
Conrstitution of the United States, and so worded
tiSlavery, as it existsamongcus,givesamaster atproperty
in the slaves and their descetndants as muchl as law call give   the instrument they fashioned that it would not
a property ini land, ciattle, goods, andt chattels of ally litind,   have infoimed posterity that so odious an instituto )(be usetl at tie tliscretioni of tile imtaster, or to be sold to   tion as slavery had ever been  tolerated  by the
whiom, whlnl, and whlere lie pleases, with thli dlescendlants   State
foriever. It is trule, if tile niaster take away the life of thle
sl;ave unidr certaii circumlstanlces, our laws pronounce it  During the second week of the session, Matltirler. Btut tlie laws letuve it iii tle power of the riaster   thew Stephenson, a farmer of Washington county,
to ldestroy his life lIy a tlouisatnd acts of lingeing cru elty.   a native of Roclingham county, Virginia, moved
Ile inaly starve                           ofRoik ton oeultl by degrees, mor lie mav whip.
lie mty  starve hitni to ldeth by degrees, or hue may whip  " that a committee of thirteen, one from each.conhim to deathlt if lhe omly take long enoutgh time, or lie may
s(, uIlite tile rigors oufhallrd labor, stinted diet, anld exposure   gressional district, be appointed to take into conas to shorten li'e. Thlelawswatcliaga;list-sld(leii lurder,   sideration  the propriety of designating some peas if to leave the Itrlorn wretches exposed to anuy slowe tolerated in
death that the cruelty and malignant passions of a savage
ma d ictte.  Nor is the cruelty an  m estrint    t  seons e of a savage   this State, and that all memorials on that subject
may dictate. Nor is thuere auty restniuiuit itat a. sense of leculli;ay loss, feeble lilrrieragaitiLttl.eeficets ofthe irnalevo-   that have or may be presented to the convention
leut pt assions Ilmuct are kilomvi to residle in the hi!linln c heart.   be referred to said committee to consider and reThie inost inhiuman. wretel h iay  own slaves, as well as the
Ih;ulnie ui~nntl grituitlre     to     wsleaves  ella   e   port thereon;" which resolution, by a vote of 38
htumae and gientle. Should laws leave one human being
in the power of itotlier to sucll an extent? In Ilaly couI-   to  20, was laid on the table on the lst of January,
tries where slavery exists tile,laWs prescribe- the manner:1835.
$.'




10
This action of the convention was not readily    duce a feverish excitement, alike destructive to the happiacquiesced in by the people; and to avert popular    iess of bot  parties?  Would  lot the cnditioii of ire
indignati~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~heson ittl wasrties? Would othathe  erltorn  of' i',ef people or color, under the operation of the causes already
indignation it was "' resblved that a committee of   people ofcolor, uiiler the operation of the cinoee lrvady
cu0enumerateld, be more wretched than  ile condition of tihe
three, one from  each division'of the State, be up-   slaves?  Would not the white portion q/.' the colmmusnity be
pointed to'd raft the reasons that governed this con-   more insecure with sueh a multitude am ong  thicm  who  had,vention in declining to act upon the memorials on    Io commnon interest wilth, no bond of union to, fit pairt of
the c ommulnilty settl whom thic, were smixed, uiiif stet 11 em
the subject of slavery."    The address   repared   tleo                  i ith  ho  the wee nix,  l yeom
whom  they were for'ever separated by al mark o' distiiction
by the committee appointed under this resolution    that tine itsel could not wear away?  The ipelple o color,
does not attempt to defend or apologize for sla-  niumerous is they would lie, with no kiiitlired feelilg to
very;does not deny that it is a greatwrong; speaks    initetlieta tollatpartoftie conriieit3, whom tIley woild
both envy and hate, would nevertheless hiave~ at tlieir eomiof" the unenviable  condition  of the  slave;" of   toth eiivy aiid lisle, would nevertheless   lass t it then eiiiniand a portion of physical strengtlh that miight anid probaslavery as " unlovely in all its aspects," and de-   bly would be wielded to the worst purposes.  They would
plores'the bitter draught the slave is doomed to   look across the southern boundary of the State, nd there
drink."   It rests the defense of the coivention on    they woild see in a state of servitile a people of tlheir own
color an~d kindred, to whom tlhey were bound by tile strougf
other grounds than  divine sanction of this mon-   co                     de   to  ho  te  were bond    y the    l
hbonds ofcconsantgui11ity, and withI whom   they coUhl  Iinake
strous wrong, this. hideous outrage upon  every    acoinmon cause, aiid would they not be strongly temptcl to
precept of Christianity, this violation  of every    concert plans witi thliem to exterminate the whoite ilnai  aid
clause of tile decalogue.  It puts its defense on    te possesio               f te conty?   ly wl  tl    IS
thle meanls of consulting together, o{'co'~perating withi each
the ground of policy, and asserts that a constitu-'te   ns    COultigtoeti       oi ati     with 
other, and let it not be.forgotteis that they wozuld be avlitional provision looking to gradual emancipation    Iaatei by every feeiing oj' the human heart that imupels to
would deplete the State of its laborers; that men   actioni."
would hurry their slaves into Alabama, Missis-                  Our millions Will not look across the boundary
sippi, Louisiana, Missouri, or Arkansas, where    and beholda people of tleir color and ltiitlreiin
they would be less kindly treated than in Tennes-   bondage.  In all tile States of Central America,
see, aiid where the prospect of ultimate emancipa-   as in  Mexico, the colored man is not only free,
tioti would be more remote.  This address to the   but a citizen in the full enjoyment  of all the rights
people of Tennessee admonishes us of the peren-   accorded to any man under his Government.  But
nial fountain of evil they would inflict on the peo-   on this point I shall have a few words to say hereple of the insurgent district, who would doom  thie   after.
more than three million six hundired and sixty-six              How blinded by the pride of caste were te   -
thousand people of color, dwelling within its'lir            thos   of the udrbess  fiom  which  I niake  these eauthers of the address fi'om which I Imake these, exits, to that dubious measure of f'reedom  enjoyed    tacts                ow ftally did they inoe tl  ft tlt
tracts!  How fatally did they ignore tile fact th-at
by men to whom  political rights are denied, by the    God had made all nations of one blood i  It wis
following pointed passage:
follvin   pointed passage:                    not necessary that Tennessee should  expatriate
"T'le condition of a free man of color, surronnded by   heir laborers, or maintain slavery, or create ii hier
peersons ofi a difierent  caste and complexion, is thile most   midst so dangerous a class.  It was open to tlihat
l'leIbr10rn' ndwretchied that can be. imnagined!.  e is astrang-er
in thi  lanld of his nativity; hlie is all outcast ill thile place of
his residelee; hlie has scarcely a motive to prompt him to   appears, a majority of its mrembers Ilad predetervituious actioii or to stimulate htiiim to hlonorable exertions.  tmined, namely, the deprivation of the freie colored
At every toils atd corner of the walks of' il  t he to beset   man of the political rights lie had enjoyed fir foirty
wivlh temptations, strong, nay, almost irresistible, to the
years, and to have  maintained  the existing rifalrs
force of which in most cases lie miiay be expected to yiell, y
the cisiisequence eofwhieih  imust be tint lie will be legralede,    of those whose  labor  was giving  considerationa to
despisedi, and trampled upon by tile rest of thleeommuiinity.   the State and wealtli to its people.  But they had
When thIe free man of color is oppressed by thile proud, or   already forgotten the maxims of the fithers;'asd
circumvented by the cunning, or betrayed~by those in                      Z
circuivented     by t   cuiiig,   i bets     sby those     itwill be well if we do not adopt their folly as our
vhoni le hains reposed confidence, do tile lawrs of tile land
aff)rd hiiii more tha'n a nominali protection?  Denied his   wisdom.  Let us profit by their sad experieince,
oitlhi ill a court' of justice, niable to call any oh his own   and be warned by the voice ofJelfferson, who cxcolor to be witnesses~ it' the injuryle econiilhiiin  of has   claimed:
beens comnimiittedl by'a white mnns, hiw many of his wrongs
must remain unredressed; how miany of Ihis rights be vio-        With what execration shiould the etatesman beloaded,
lated with imipunity; hlow poor a booiin does lie receive   who, permitting one Ihaflt' the citizens tiis tus to rsiplh oil tlle
when lie is recciving freedoise ir whait lie receives can be   rights of the otlier, t'ussisris tiose islodespots  and muhlwes
clledl by thiat nanme. Utienvible as is tle condition of tChe   into ctneunies-destroys the morals of the one part, uand the
slave, unlovely as slavery is in all its aspects, bitter as tile   amor patrit of the other!"
draiight may be that thle slave is doomned'to all'ink, neverdr1iighit Aiisy le that the shave is snerl'to   simk, tiver-   And let us remember, too, that a wiser than lie
thlicess his condition is better than the conditios of the firee   has saidmIin of'colorin the inidst ofa communilty of wuite mnen with
whoinm he hais no common interest, no fellow-f.ehling, no      "Woe tnto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and
equality."  write grievousiess which they irave prescribed;' to turtn
aside the needy from  judgment, and take away the riglht' And  it speaks to such with more pertinency   from the poor."
thaIn it did to those for whom it was'written when              But plausible as were the reasons set forthl in
it says:                                                     this address, its authors did not intimate to the
"Whlat, theIn,wou be the condition of th  e commtn'ity,    people  that even  they doubted  that thle  great
with sueh' i miultitud eof human beings turned loose in so-   wrong of slavery would sooni disappearl; and, as
ciety,wiuths all thiehiahmits, morih, aisufl m ansiesssof tie shaive,?  appears by pages 92 and 93 of the Jourinal, they
with only the name and nominal privileges, but uithout ay   futher said:
c'.the seal blessings of liberty or the real privileges of the   further said:
feemsan?  Would not two distinctclassesof'peoi le iui the      "Bsut the friends ofhumaility need not despair; the mesanme communiy array' themselves; against Ceach other in   morialists need not dread that slavery will be perpetual in
perpetual hostility and mutual distrust? Would.,not the   ourhighliy-fayored  country."  *              *      Under
constant collision that would take place between them pro-   the approving smile of Heaven, and the fostering: oare of




Providence, slavery will yet be extinguished in a way that   yearns with bowels of, coinpassion and' paternal tendernsst
will, work no evil to tile whilite nlal, while it produces the    fr til iewiild cliildreof his boso, w     are hoe o   i
happicstclccts Upoll the whiole Airical   racc."'      *      *    booe a id flesh of Iiis flesh?  Ile crainot.  Or canl tih  cihil*          t I te b it  be  ireetiiered that thlire is ain a-  ircii  te liil(l miotldil lhe   torlllfonli her b0soIi 1vnilV  lcr
propi ati e.cor c1 very work belcCath   f/t  s11,1  ted a  t'('- pIral't  is WIl111a wViti distress, and s'e1a gonizces in {Ip::p; ir
mIalture attc tlllpi to iio  iny wVorlkh par iticularly alilly  greatot 01)1 h  l   1t ournIl'r tll1    ii VI wil lot. be colibrteto   Imea:; e
seldoi iili  tO prievenlt siCeess.    A prein  tunto   attel)ot oil   they are iiot?  T'iiis canolot ble done.  Tlihen do'tes this Sl,)t
the partr ofa sick an l to leItave his bed and liis eh'ainbcr    sweeten ill'tIdi Ir1ght1' which the firee man of: c olor daily
would inevitably prolong Iiis disease,  or pperhaps  pllace it   drinks? i'iost i1ll tiblhly it does.'Are these blessin;I sebeyond the power of  cdicitn.   A simiilar attempilt oil. tile    cured to thi slave?  \Vc have  seenl thCev'ie not.   Vliat il
palrt o1 thiie p10 11ii1n to pl:ce hiiiiase i iii  st1te   f i ndepend-[   it, thliin whichI coinstitlteS 1  oI SitLitiOll o(' tle slave beCtter
(111ce: by et1gagi nill ill some llausil)le but imprudelnt sIltet-         liit  i tlehan   tha t othefreem  of color     Does tilhe superior 11aplanti.on, would prtoba;bly involve him inl embarrassment   fri'oti    piness anicd collbtlort of t1h0 slave over that or' thl6 free  i'anl
whichi liei could nlot extricate lililself  tlir10liouot tliie vwllole   of, colior co sist ill tile  illolIllt of' Lbrad'and'11a1t, wlviehc I1e
reliaiiiiinig -port'ion (of his liii.   Soa a prtiatur e at1emrIpt on    receives at. Ii e ihanllds'i f hli  Iastea to tubsistlml, wtiici
tilhe part o)1the blieiievlent to "et rid of tile evils.of slavery    lie has niot to troible  iiiiimsel'   about tile procuring  ofh   Tie
would ecertlilnly  las;vehlt oli  II f pc101    tponingo     1t  a frl' dis-   report seeiMS to )Ireldiieat': goo)d portl (f1 tlhe s1lid 11 11oiaIl1t 1day  the accom11p1islishien t   oi   all''celt devoultly an1ti    it o1)   thle 11slave u[olif tile ha iy Iatit''wh1ic1h lie drawli s
arldetlly desiredI by the wise and thlie good in cvery part of 1     fro1 m his tiasters stores.  Bit thiis conctlus-'ibn ti'e 1111derour beloved couItry.,                                               signlmdl canno}t suliseri;, Jto;. as all Jimeric(an  citizen    he
0woubl d0s ti  a higlhe estimCate t 11,o9 thie  liberty w11ichlils ciisTle  sophisms of this report were not permitted    joycd eIven by the fr'ee Inait o1coh1r.  ihIlit! wil i it besaid
tO  Ipass     witbout notice.    Stout old  Mattlhew                 tait his rih ts, lrivileges, and l11plpiless shill be balanetd
Stepliensoni, (for hlie  was then  in the fifty-eiithll   ill tile scale  11101ist the allownce ot' coarse   i w wh                     i
b    given. fo~r daily subsistence- to thle slave, utnd thm tattered
year of his age,) sustaiined by severial of his asso-                        for  iy  usistce      te s e id   e  ltre
garlIets that arie iutl'islhed hlii  to defend hiis 6ody agi1linst
iates, caused their protest to  be entered onl tile    tile inllcleict)n of thie season, and tlte'eliiniswtvitl whiclt
journtls.      They  saittd  among othier tli111s:           h       lit 111y be SIoutd il i orderito send ti1m to a fbr:ign m1 arket?
lii    11 u t, ar diiloiitiiOlso~   1111111liilei   Cunilot~ the iree  51111 ii ~t clrut   with~'Ve beieive thie principles assumed in the report                 t and
Mlonstrouis dletrinc!Cannnot time fi'ee mani of' colorwt
the labo)r of' his hanlds, one sixthl part of his fti me, procuI Ire
the arsu'iieets used1 ill their support are inl ttheir tilendenicy                                                   III    ti
t,,I-,;~~~~~~~~~~~a ampl(. a supply or lbod antd raiment as is fri se tie
subversive of tile true principep.0io rtllbicl   ise,  id In-   sa  lle a sipYla    of food  and reale:iist it  is firdinii'ed the
slave?  Yt~a. ittl~( call lie no~t'ithen sit clowui Illllclr h~is owny
tfore we can consistently give itieii our ulqualif1ii a               hss vent     i iiiittiil         iiviI      v      h im 1
we must renounce tile doctrine that I all 11i111 Ire i created    vil  ii till t1100111(11 his faiily  iid  ijy i, aid tere
viinl   e, inth e to dstur oF~   a    hisniliy   afrid?Ijo  it  n  t'r
e.qual; that tlhy are etdlowedi by their CIreator with icertaiin
unalienable rights;  thiat aliong these   ill' ic, libeity, 1111d.or id t tile controver sy eid  ileie;  1b1 tile corntilhe lrsuit ot'(lliappiness.l Above all we believe tile relpot mlnittee  imade     a sui[)plemn entar  yreipoirt, a id  trueis at viariance witlhie Spiritor tile gospul,  Wlici J  thi e        itec                ttiiew   S    iieison   i        is the
gliory or outr latil, the pirecepts andiil  laximis of whiclih are
iiritl ill tile Bible.  One of its ex ellent   rules  is, I As ye    cites sentered their  second protest on the Journal
would tihait iiie  should do unto you, (lo ye evetin so  nto         of tihe coivention..
themi.'   Now, [o apply this golden rule to the c        itof 11s-      In driawing  the picture of the condition   of the
ter andl thein slaive, wCe have just to pla t ac  1 ill tile oter'    fiete 111w7 ofig tcl     Sue  omfnittce cepesenti g t   o the
free ilarn of color, tile committee representing thie
steall, Selnl cob thile llcquestioll honicstly     I   Ihat (would CI tlat
my servant, tlhus placed ii powoer, should dlo uito  ie?I  majority of the convention evidently ihad  in view
wlat  tliey intended to inalke his fuiture and not his
" But we are told natu re lhis placed on t0   e S n1  of colori   past cotiiditllor   in  that Stute; for tlhe convention,
ai. mnark of distinitiion whichi neiither   tine nor circuill-   instead of providing for tihe abolition  of slaivery,
5staincCes cali obliterate,
t e t:idet t/ic flit!e, [(aeitlhesilethrtew  around  thalIt iistitution an aldditional safb"t Ve adit    te/bc'.et~ bt are, neveith.eless niable  to p~erceizve
in tLhat 0   od0011 -easol'al ilenyig to t/ienthn fhe oetoru/ilsIts   guarld by providing that "thile General  Assenmbly
of ma.  TIlie words of eterinil tiruth are, tS; Godl lis mii ade    shtall hiave t no  power to pass laws for tile erialociof onie blood11 all naltion  that dwell u1po(  tile earth, a1ld tile    patioi ofslaves withou t the consen t oftliei r owner
uldc'rsig-ned, in tlhe language o'f' Cowler, alre  unwillingo to                           by
or owners;"adbavoeo':3o 3chnd
liiid thlueir illov- ereamre guilty ofa skill not colred likt                        ad         a vote of 33  o 23  c          nged
huii   101; iiii si~ct  e(mif ro jot f~/i  rie t/aE  1011ld   tie latguage of the clause  regulating tlieelective
ass'ia t a mevi Iiheir ~righs aording to t1/e I ireiirctsh.tades ofri fmarom ise  fi'orn.  freemeni,   as it had:stood fioom
cohoi.   l the (,pililioin of tile uiindersigned, all the evils so    the organlization of the State,to S ifree whlite  hen,"'
striking~ly    anI(d so eloquently portrayed ill tile report, re-    8it!ee  which time   the  negro has had no voice or
sI~etii"  helic  pipleti coor  hie llli~li  Sii~a~lly s1li nce tviiiei  Shut Slit negro, has lited rio voice or
spectifi g thle free: pe ople of color'while among  p% apply
wivthm   euaqilt way, withi greaIter liorce to theis ne    ole s lleole hare in the manlagement of time public affi'ims of
whlile ill slavery  biles, indeil, slavery gives  diuuiity to    tiat  State.  Thus South Carolina triumphed over
Il1an.  Aid although the menimorialisits 11o lIot  iit iat retaiti       d      i
fi' eedom  in Telttlessee,
ill, tie people of color aniln, Iis 1when fire,  1but ask tlhat
Mile ~s Le (visel   flr thr rer l or  would th        B ut  to return  to  my  line of argurrient, having
silulie IiImiIIs lie (hevised loiSli'i thic!'emosal  111(1 woulld ti'  Bttorc~rat
unIlertsiginld b1 tulnerstoo(d11    as advocating aniy system  of   wandered too far in thisinterestinig digression.
emancipatioii uincii ctcl   d with or without a view tottleir          Ample as  thisis, we do not depend oil hie action
colonizatiouil; yet (we blieve  tliey woul  le haphpier alu       of tile Cosygrevs o' the Confederatio,   aind of' the
saf'cir  uljlects ot  Il' G')vrilllllmenlt s   fi'e mlu'ch thaiai.s slaves..as ne /hol1 itiise oitciyt iu ectrryC terel ttto la/Ce  i l/e i    Convention  for framning  tile Conlstitutioi    of tile
inlterest oj atll its sufiects to su"iport, dec/edtl, all jlcpertuate    United States, and  the  provisions of: tile several
its civil itstitutions  is it reasonable to sutlpose t/mt man  wouutd    State  coostitutiosms  for all tihe proof the  ancun of
dtsiire t/ie~   (l.l)C'aeut cexlsteli. eJ of/e  thas ermvent w/hich  hap
sit       Ike totitanuilfeui  xistenc of' thart e Governmlo nt  wh ih, that period left that they recognized the righ~t of
denied to therm all t,~e rights Of f'ccmeni     S Solomron in hJis
wivstloirn has said,' Oppuessio limkts a wise mauni maId.' ~    man, by reason of his manhood, to the enjoym nent
of' all tile rights of citizenship.   A  long aid uniDr. Joseph Kineaid, ofBedfordcony      ltr
n'. 5ost l l Ircounty,a native    form  course of' legislation   relating to anrd regulatof Madison  county, Kentucky, also  prepared  a                        g        url   o   leis      on lt          t   sa    ec t
ing territory stretching frona the lakes soutimward
protest against the doctrines o" -the address, arid
~pr~otest r ~gainst  time doctrines 01  thn nddess    rnud    So the Gulf of Mexico, confirms thie foct.  Co lcaused  it to  be entered  on the Journals.   Fronm
gress, under  the Articles   of Confederation, twice
thiat protest I make but the following   extract:                     le,    ir th   A           e      of      editon, 1
iprovid'ed for the government of Territoliv 4, oilld':Car u tlie free  1a1n on color be toirn f'rom 1iis sifo  1nd un de'r our present Constitution  the  Coanre  
family and dlriv:!n ill chlauils to a bforeignl land anidthller e sold
In the market like m duimu  lilrte to Ihi   who will give time   tthe Ulited  States  much  more  frequently.  Tbe
greatest sum  fbr hilit, though lds heart bleeds rsmd bosomin  1 distiniuishcd  men  who  occupied  seats  rl thol0




12
bodies prior to 1812 had not been enlightened by   son of the color of the citizen.  In none of them
the sibylline mysteries giver: to the world in the   was the word," white" used to limit the right to
celebrated letter of General Cass to Mr. Nicholson,  s u ffrage.
nor by the doctrine of " popular sovereign ty " so   The next territorial act was that of June 4,
persistently reiterated by Douglas as his "great  1812, providing for the government of Missouri
doctrine;" nor by Calhoun's theory, which.was  Territory. More than twenty-two years had then
finally accepted as the cardinal, if not the sole  passed since the adoption of the Constitution;
doctrine of Democratic faith, that the flag of the   arid the men who had achieved our independence
Ulnited States, wherever it may be borne, on land   and fashioned our institutions in harmony with
or sea, carries with it and protects t uman slavery,  the fundamental truths they had declared, and
as announced by roombs in his Boston address   who during this long period, more than the averof January 24, 1856. They knew that it was the   age active life of a generation, had resisted the
duty of Congress, alike under the Articles of Con-  aristocratic and strife-engendering demands of
federation and tile Constitution  of the United   South Carolina, were rapidly par.sing, indeQc.
States, to legislate for the Territories and provide   most of them had passed, from  partieipation ii
govelrnmentsfor tleir regulation. Theresolutions   public affairs.  Meanwhile, slavery had becmi
of the Congress of the Confederation for the tern-  strengthened by the unhappy compromise of the
porary government of territory ceded by the in-  Constitution conceded to South  Carolina and
dividual States to tile United States, adopted April  Georgia, by which "the migration or importa23, 1784, provided for the establishment of terri-   tion of such persoens as any of the States now ex-,
torial governments by the " free males offull age;"  isting shall thinkl proper to admit" was permitted
and the famous Ordinance of July 13, 1787, for the   for the period of twenty years.  Mean while, too,
government of the territory northwest of the river  the people of the country, enjoying unrreasured
Ohio, which repeals the resolutions of 1784, and   and unanticil:)ated prosperity,foirgottlhat " eternal
the salient point of which was known first as tile  vigilance is the price of liberty," and that " powC:e
"'Jefferson proviso,"anid later, ill connection with  is ever stealing from the many to the few;" arnt
the Oregon struggle, as the " Wilmot proviso,"   proud of their own achievements began to loo!n
vested the night of suffrage in the- "firee male in-  with contempt upon thle ignorant laborers the'habitants of full age," with a certain fieehold   owned or employed, and their kindred newly irn.
qualification.  ihis Ordinance was reienacted irn-  ported friom the coast of Africa; and began thamediately after the adoption of our present Corn-  longand rapid series ofconcessions to the fell spirit:
stitution, by tle act ofCongress ofA ugust 7, 1789;  of slavery which made the present war inevitable.
and in this respect was the precedent for every  if free laborand the doctrine ofafair day's wagea
subsequenit territorial act passed urntil 1812. Thle   for a fair day's work were to be maintained i n any
several acts passed fiom  the foundation of the   part of the country.  In the adoption of tle ter-~
Governnment to that date, were as follows:         ritorial bill of 1812, South Carolina and slavery
Under the Congress of the Confederation, those  triurmplied over freedom antl the more powerful
to which I have referred, namely, that of April  North, and the word " white," rejected in 1778t
23, 1784, " for the temporary government of ter-  and thenceforth, was now inserted in tile clausoe
ritory ceded or to be ceded by the individual States  regulating suffrage in the fundamental law of va
to the United States;" and that of July 13, 1787,  Territory.
" for the government of the territory of the Unlited  Successful resistance to that innovation on wellStates northwest of the river Ohio."               established precedent would Ilave secured free
And by the Congress of the United States since   dom  to Missouri, and in all probability avertetd
the adoption of the Constitution:                 the border wars of Kansas and the grander con
The act of August 7, 1789, already referred to  troversy in which we are engaged, and of whiclh
as rebnacting the Ordinance of 1787;               the Kansas feuds were but the sure precursor.
The act of May 26, 1790, for the government    Can any candid man, in the face of this mas.
of the territory of the United States south of the   of concurrent evidence, assert that the fathers o
river Ohio, under which, as we have seen, the   our Government found in the fact of color caus
State of Tennessee was organized;                  for the denial of citizenship and the exercise o.
The act of April 7, 1798, for the establishment  suffrage to any freeman?  But more and if pos
of a government in'the Mississippi territory;     sible more pregnant proof on the pointexists: no
The act of May 7, 1800, establishing Inidiana   ontly did they assert the right of negroes to suf:
Territory;                                          frage by rejecting the proposition of outh Careo
The act of March 26, 1804, for the government  lina in the Congress for framing Articles of Conof Louisiana, which provided for a legislative   federation, and protect it by the Constitution o!'i
council, to be appointed by the President of the  the United States, and confirm it by twelve terri
United States, and not for an elective Legislature,  torial laws; but, as I shall proceed to show, they,
as did all the rest;                                by express treaty stipulation, first with Franc,.
The act of January 11, 1805, for the govern-  arnd again with Spain, guarantied them  " the
ment of Michigan Territory;                        enjoyment of all the rights, advattages, find impThe act of March 2, 1805, for the establish-  munities of citizens of' the United States," ani'
ment of the Territory of Orleans; and              tile "free enjoyment of' their liberty, property, anlt
The act of February 3, 1809, for the govern-  the religion which they professed."  To show'
ment of Illinois Territory.                        how unqualifiedly this was done under the adminr
And in no one of these ten acts was any re-  istration of Mr. Jefferson, I beg leave to read ~,
striction placed on the right of suffrage by rea-  brief extract from that most interesting and ir..,




13
structive  pamphlet, "TIue  Emancipated  Slave   question of its ratification was submitted; and as
Face to Face with  his Old Miaster'," by  J. Mc-   that Constitution contains  no  clause which exKaye, special commissioner friom  the War De-   pressly or by implication deprives them  of tihe
partment to the valley of the lower Mississippi,    protecting power and influence of tihe instrument
and also a member of the Freedmen's Inquiry    they participated in creating, I may well say that
Commissioni                                                  to secure-internal peace by the establishment of
" The valley ofthe lowerMississippi, from an early period   political homogeneity, and perpetuate it by the
of its settlement, contained a proportionately large free   abolition  of political classes and  castes whose
colored population. III 1803, when the territory of whiich    coniictin  rialits and interests will provoke inces-.thie State of Louisiana folBrms a part, was ceded by thile. L      -3                              re
French republic to tie United States, thiese free colored   sntitatio   and everand anonas the opessed
mien were already quite numinerous, and many of tlhei were   may be inspired  by  the  fundametital priuciples
possessed of considerable. property. They were notonly as   of our Government, or goaded by wrongs excite
tifree as any othlier portion of the population, but inll geneIl   armed insurrectionl, we need adopt io new theory,
as well educated nid intelligent.  Many oftlite  were the
chilidren or tlhie early white settlers, and had always enjoyed    but accept tile principles of our fahthers, and ada certain social as well as civil equality.  As to tlie eniijoy-    minister in good faith  to all meni tile institutions
nient of'political rights ulder tile old Spanish amil French   they founded onil them.
r6gimrnes, ineither white nor black settlers ever had niuci     As a step to  this, my  amendment proposes,
experience;  consequen tly the're had niever arisen amnion
theim iiuch questiot of these rights, or as to whmni they be-   not that thile entire mass of people of African (telonriiged. The French republic, Ihoundetl on  libert, equal-   scent, wlhorn our laws and customs have (deg aded
ity, lIaternity,' had nriot yet quite Iforgotten lie imiport of   ni   bru t I ized, sliall be immediately clot ied with
these wvordts, antid Ieice caused to be iniserted ill the treaty   all   e rigts ofiize.        Ily to
of cession a solemni stipulatioln inl thile words Ifollowing, to
wit:                                                         grant the righ t of suffrage, inesti mniable to ill roen,
ART. 3. The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall  to those who nimay be so fir fitted by educatioli f'oi
be. iicoiporated into tile tUioi of the! Uiiited States, intl.  itsj udicious exercise as to be able to read tlie Coii -
admlnitted as soon as possible, according to tihe principles of   stitiol   d   as of te cory,  i   dditi     to
the Federal Constittion, to to he e:joyiieit of all the righits,
Federal Constit ~ ~    ~      ~      ~      titutintoteeioymn (atkl hergts t ad laws of.the eountry, in atldition to
advattages,   and itninmuillities otfcitizens ol'tlie Uiitcd St;ttes;   the brave menii, who, in tile rnare of law sid liblantl in the neoan tine they shall be ninaitainied atd protected   erty, and in the Ilo pe o0f'leavingo thlei r clii I dren lII e iras
ia the tree enjoymentl of their liberty, property, and the rc-   to both, have welcomed tile  la ptism of battc itt tile!i-ion whichl they profess.~ 1)
tigioii ivticti  they itrofess.'                           tunaval and rnilitaty service oftlie Uniited States, anti
The Floritas,  thioughl  less populous  than the    who are embraced by the amendment reported by
Louisiana territory, had quite as large a propor-   thile committee.  IThis, I td nit, w ill be  Iii a  enteritg
iotnale part of negroes aind mulattoes aiYlotig lheir   w          e,  by te aid   f wic    i a  rief lite, ti
wed-ge, by tlhe aid of whiich, in}abif  ie  h
population.  By the treaty of February 22, 1819,   wilole mass   improved, eiriched,  and  eligIttntel
witll Spain, shte ceded to the United States "atill   ty thie fast-comicg tnd  beneficettt ioovidcnccs   of
the territories which belong to Iher, situated to thle   God, wili be qtalied for oid  Ptrinutttid to etjoy
eastward of tihe Mississippi, knowit by the  iamre    tlhose rigilts   by which thiey may p)rotect tl       heselvcs
ofEastantd West Floridas.''   Thie sixth article of   and aid ini givitig to aill otlhers that inear approaIch
tile treaty is as follows:                                   to exact justisice whichi we hope to attain from thu
" Tile inilbitantts of thile territories which his Catholic   intelligent exercise of universal suffrage arid the
Maijesty cties to tise Uttited Sitates by treaty shah i be incor-   submission  of all trials of law:in which a citizen
pori;Ltedl in theic Utnioni of the United States as soont as tmay
Ike coiisistett with tileic princilples of tihe Federail Constitu-   may be interested to the decision of his peers as
tiolt, and tlitiitted  to the etijoyllent  of all the privilecges,   jurors.
righits, aiid imtnrttniittiesofthiecitizeiis oftheUiiitndSi tes,".I'  I am, Mr. Speaker, under  but one specific
My proposition  is that the Governiment of the   pledge to my coitstituents other thian tlhat whiclh
United States was instituted  to secure the righlts   promised to vote away the last dollar firom  each
of all the citizens of the country, and not for the    man's coffer and tile last able-bodied soil from  his
benefit of men of one race only, anrid I know  riot   Iicharthside, if they should be needed for the eflfectwhlere to look for evidence thiat would strengthen    ual suppression of tihe rebellion, anid thatis, that
thle conclusiveness of the mass of proof I have    I will in their behalf consent to no proposed systhius adduced,. embracing as it does tihe action  of   tem  of reconstruction Whtich sliali  place tile loyal
I lie firamers of all the State constitutions but one,   men of the insurrectionary district under thie unof the Congress for firaming Articles of Confed-   bridled control of the wicked  arid heartless traielration, of the Convention for firaming the Consti-   tors who have involved us in this war, arid illustution of the Untited States, the acts of Congress   trated their barbarity by tile fiendish cruelties they
it) unbroken series throughout the active life of a   have practiced on their loyal neighibo's, negro satlgetueration,and the solemn obligationsassumed by    diers anrid unhappy prisoners of war; and to that
the executive department of the national Govern-   pledge, God helping me, I mean to prove faithful.
neat in the exercise of the treaty-making power.   Tile future peace and prosperity of thie country
if other source of proof there be it can only serve   demand  this much at our hands.  Thie  logic of
s toake  assurance doubly sure.                            our institutions, the principles of the men who,Mr. Speaker, it is safe to assert that in every    achieved our independence and who fiamed those,tate, save South Carolina, and possibly Virginia   institutions, alike impel us to this course, as ne-:nil  Delaware-in which two States the question    cessary as it will be wise anid just.
4f suffrage was regulated  by statute and riot by              Let us meet the question fairly.  Do ourinstitui1u1sittttional provision-negroes participated in   tions rest on complexional differences?  Can we..istituting  the  Convention which  framed  the   cement and perpetuate them  by surrendering the'oistitution of the United States, and votedi for   patriots of the iisurgent district, shorn of all poheumbers of the State convections to which  the  Ilitical power, into the hands of the traitors whom




14
we propose to propitiate by suelh a sacrifice of  of Charleston harbor.  Are we to declare that one
faith an -d lonor?  Did God ordain  our country   white citizen of South Carolina is entilei  to more
for a single race of meii?  Is tllere reason wliy   weight ill the councils of tle nation thlan two citi'
tile intellireilt, wealtly, loyal man of color shall   zens of a nortliern State; andallre tile 291,300 to he
stand apart, abased, on election day, while hiis  vested with the absolute government of 7{03,708?
iglnoralt, intemperate, viciour, and disloyal white  Is the entire loyalty of that State to beconlfiied to
etibriitor p)arliicipates ill making laws for his  the ternder mercies of the chagrined anlld humiligovernment?  What is the logic that denies to a   ated, but unconvertedanid devilish traitors of the
non tile  riglit to vote with or against his father,   State that engendered antd inaugulratedl this blood y
because it hIats pleased Heaven tlat lie sliould par-  rebellion? An(l sialld tley wllo lhave fouglit for our
take more largely of hlis mother's thian of that   flag, sheltered outi soldiers wlhet flying friom loathfather's complexion? And is it not known to, all  some prisons, guided them through lhiddel patlhs
of us that well-niighi forty per cent. of tie colored   by nighit, saving thlem: from starvation by sharint g
people of the South are children of white fathers,  witlh tlem their poor and sctnty food,altd wliose
who, after we subjugate them, will with profes-  uitceasingprayer to God lias been for our triumph,
sions of loyalty only lip deep, eltjoy the right of  be ihanide d over to the laslh, the lion collar, arid
_sulfflage ill the reconstructed States?  Shall lie,  the teetl of the blood-hlound,to gratify our pride
tliougll black as ebony be his skin, who, by pa-   of race anrid propitiate our maiignant, foes?
tietit industry, rbedience to tile laws, and unvary-.ASain, the census shows that Mississippi, in
ini  good lha )its, ihas accumulated property on   18b0 lied  but 350,901 white inlhabitanits, arid
which lie cl:r:rfully pays taxes, be denied tile   437,404 colored.  Disloyalty wasalmost asprevrighit of a vy,:e in the government of a State to   alenit amnong'the white men of Mississippi as
whose support andt welthre he thus contributes,  among those of South Carolina.  But wlto  has
while the idle, reckless, thriftless man, of fairer   heard from traveler, corresporldent, returning solcomplexionl shall vote away his earnings and   dier,.or other person, that lie lias found a eolored
trifle withl his life or interests as a juror?  Shall  traitor withtin tlie limits of that State? And( shall
the brave man who has periled life, and maylhap   we, ignoring out' theory that   Governnients (delost limb, wlho has endured tthe dangers of the   rive tleir just powers from  tie consent of tle
marcli, the camp, and the bivouac in defense of  governed,  say to tile majority in these States,
our Constitution anrd laws, be denied their pro-  " Stand back! time arid labor cannot qualify you
tection, while the traitors in tie conquest of whom    to take care Of yourselves?  We spurn you for
lie assisted enjoy those rigllts, and use them  as  tlhe service you have rendered our cause, atd hland
instrumentts for hiis oppression alld degradation?  you over to the degradation, the unrequited toil,
SlShall lie who, in the language of my amendment,  the slow but sure arid cruel exterminiation whicil
may be able to read the Contstitution of the lfni-  your oppressors in their pride anid madnless will
eedl States,and who finds his pleasure in the study   provide for you?"
of history and political philosophy, wlhose in-        And markl you, Mr. Speaker, again, how nearly
\egrity is undoubted, whose means are ample, be   the races are balanced in Louisiana, Georgia, and
voiceless in the councils of tile nation, and read   Alabama.  In Louisiana there are 357,456 wlites,)nly to learn that the people of free and enllitght-  and 350,546 coloted people. Of whites inI Georgia
enedl America, arnongf whom hlis lot las been   there are591,550, and of coloted people tilere ale
cast, sustain the ollly Government which punishes   465,736. 1ii Anlabamna tlhe whiites ntiurber 526,271,
a race because God in His providence gave it a   while there are of colored 437,930.  And ili Florcomplexion whlichl  its unhappy members would  ida there is the same near approacIh to equality of
not have accepted hlad it beeni submitted to thieir  numbers, tile white population being 77,747 anid
choice or volition? And can le whio will answer  the colored 62,677.  Are tliese people by our dethese questions aflirmatively believe that Govern-   ciee to remiain.lumb and voiceless irn fieedom?
meeits are instituted among men to secure their  They are nto longer  slaves.  War and tile lighll
rights, that thiey derive their' powers from  tlie   prerogative of the President, called into exercise
consent of the governedl, anti that it is tlhe duty   by the war, have made them fiee.  WVill you inof a people, when any Government becomes de-  flict upon them all the miseries predicted for thle
stiuctive of their rights, to alter or abolish it, and   free colored pieople of Tennessee in thle extiact
establish a new Government?  Sir, out' hope for   which I  rhave read to you?  No, ratiler let us
peace, wtile we attempt to govern two fiftls of the   bind them to our Government by enabling themn
peoplle of one half of our county   in violation of  to protect their interests, share its powe, and apthese fundanmerntal prinlciples, will be idle as thie   preciate its beneficenlce.  This we can do, arid
breeze of summer or tile dreams of the opium    thie alternative is to so degrade them that tiley will
catel'.                                              prove an annroyance and arn object of distrust to
In thlis connection let me call the attention of tIle  their white neighbors, anl ele-merit of weakness
House to a fact to which I have already invited   to the Government, alrd a constant invitation to
tlet of many members arind other distillguishled   diplomatic intrigue and war by the ambitious
gentlemen.  By tile census of lk60 it appears   man wlho dreams of a Latin empire in America,
that Southl Carolina ihad but 291,300 white irnhab-  and who, following tile example of tlhe States of
itants, and 412,408 colored.  Aronor  tile former   Central and South America, williaccept tile dlewve have no reasoni to know otr believe that, since   scendanut of Africa as a Basque arid a citizen of
thie death of Pettigrew, there is a single loyal   his proposed empire.
manl; while the latter, welhave no reason to doubt,    And here it may not be amiss to pause for a
are all as loyal as Robert Small, the patriot piloe  moment and contemplate some ulterior conse



15
quences of our action on this subject.  Trained    battle, and who are no longer debarred  by statin the school of Democracy,]l am  a believer in   ute firom  access to the sources of thiought and
the "manifest destiny" of my country.  Having   klnowledge, they will, let me reiterate the fact, be
regarded  tihe acquisition by Mr. Jefferson of tile   a ready and powerful ally to any power that may
Louisiana tetrritory as wise and beneficent, thoug Ii   be disposed  to disturb our peace and that will
unwarranted by tihe Constitution, beholding great   promise thenl the enjoyment of tile rights of men
advantages in the acquisition of Florida, and hay-   as accorded  to every citizen by its Gover~lment.
ing believed that, without war, could we have                But it may  be said,', history vindicates your
patiently waited, Texas would have come to us   theory; our fathers did mei tlhat thle black man
naturally as a State or States of tile Union, I am    shliould be a citizen and a voter; to deny him  his
used to dreaming of the just influence the United    rights is illogical as you have suggested; it would
States are to exercise, from  end to end of the   be better to secure his loyalty to the Government
American continent. Among the most ephemeral   by its even-handed justice, but such an act would
products of ourt era will be the Franco-Austrian   exasperate  the southern people, and we do not
empire in Mexico, if we be but true to our own   think it wise to do that; hIIis race is inferior; and,
rinciples in tttis season of doubt and perplexity.   in short, we will not do it."   Who says his race
0ur infidelity to principles alonie can give it per-  is inferior?  Upon  what theater have you perpetuity.  Willthin its limits the question of color   mitted h-iim to exhibitor develofp hiis powev? Give
is not a political or asocial question; it is purely   ltim an opportunity to exhibit his capacity, and
one of taste.  There, as in Central and  South   let those whio follow  you and  liave  before them
America, the colored  man is a freeman.  And    tire results lie produces in freedoin iudge as to his
we are to determine whether the sympathies of   relative position irn the scale of liurtlan power and
these millions of people within our own borders   worth.  To whom  anrd to  wlrat:'!'b) you say tihe
are to be witih tie Government whose supremacy    American negro and mulatto are rWferior?  Was
they have aided ii re;stablishing or with the wily   our Government fitshioned  for the  Caucasian
and anibitious man who will pledge them citizen-   alone?  Willyont,asThieodo-re'Tilton wellasked,
shipon condition thiLat they aid hirr iii carrying tire   exchange thIe negro for tie Esquitnaux, for the
limits of liis Latin empire to tihe nortihern bound-   Pacific islander, for the South American  tribes 
ary of tile Gulf States of Anmerica.   To them  tile   Will you exchange our negroes for so many MonUnited States or Mexico will be the exemplar na-,,olians, Ethiiopiains, Atnerican Indians, or Mation of the world.  Belore her ruder lawsall men   lays?   I apprehend that tire universal answer to
are equal.  Let ours be not less broad anrid just.    these questions will be in the negative; because,
Tire -tropical  and malarious  regions   ofCentral   oppress them  as we mray, we rate the American
America have, during thie prevalence of slavery,   negroes as next to our own proud  race in tihe
seemed to be the natural geographical  boundary    scale of humanity.  And shall we erect around
of our' influence ill that directiorn.   Tropical re-   our civilization, our privileges, and imnmunities,
gions are riot tihe homne of tle  iwhite man. They    a more thani Chinese wanll? Shliall America, proud
were not made for him.  God did niot adapt him    of her democracy, become tihe mniost exclusive of
to them]  They are prolific in wealth, invite to   all nations of tire world?  Or shall shie carry liher
commercial intercourse,yield many things neces-   faitl  into her life rand becomre thIe home of mansary to thie success of our arts and inldustry, and    kind, tihe empire of fireedorm,and, by her example,
will one day afford a  market for immense masses   the reformer of tile world?
of our productions. But we cannot occupy them;               Let us firanlkly accept Jefferson's test as to the
we cannot develop tlheir resources.  Nor can the   right of suffrage, arid give it practical effect.  In
negro, in tIre ignorance antd degrladtion to which   a letter dated July 12, 1816, in discussingr  a prowe have hitherto doomed irim. We have at length    posedl amendtrienrt to the constitution of Virginia,
made  him a soldier', rind if need be lie will carry   Mr. Jefferson said:
our arms and our,flag triumnphantly over that' Tihe true fountdation of republican government is the
to us pestilential reion; terd, if we make him  a   eqtit risht of every citizen i         a       n Iri person rih praopirty, aind
lit the         ir aaene.t.  Try by thvlis ais atally every pr.-vis3citizen; open to his children the sclhool-house;       io tori' o ura'conesit. utry tr ttiit  ins naty every othvieioll of uin coistitatiolr innd see it it muglies directly on ttei
give him tihe privilege of tile wvorksiop, tihe studio,   will of the teoptie. ItIedtie your Legislature to i ciiver>
tire ltall of science; adnmit him  to the delights and    rent ntrnierirnr for fuli bat orrderly diseussi(nim. Let everyjarn
inspirations ofliterature,  philosoplhy, poetry-ir    i  f'/U/ oi pays exrciee  hisiust and eqnul rig/t ii iheir
3 p                   ~~~~~~~election." —JejJerson's Works, vol. 7, page 11.~.brief, it' we recognize him as a manl and open to    eci'-Jfrss     Wrs, v. 7,  e  11.
him the broad fields of American enterprise and              Ad a n, in a letter written April  9, 1824,
culture, lie will see that nature has given him tire   Ire said
monopoly of tihe wealthi of that region, arid will          "      ev    nnnry,   y ment or pysa dqnt-?n           ~~~~feations, have markfed inlh'nts alnd ifIe, weak~er sex fin' timo
bless tile world by monting Iimself the, master of it.   fc'i"'i""1'L'~    ~i'~"'l''  "IC e   irt~
bless theworld by  ainhimselfte   aster of it.  protection srather i illa tihe direction of Goverllrent, ret
By this rmeans,anhd this alone, can we extend our'  amorig mniwho e cither pay orfig/tftr /heir thhcountryno linre
influence over thiat region, and prepare fir tre   of rigrht can be idrawn.""wor/s, vol. 7, rage 345.
ultimate Americanization  of those  drained  by              And again, as if to show  how well considered
theO,'.rinoko, thIe Anrazon, and the Parana.  As   hiis opinion was, in tihe Notes on Virginia, speaka citizen, nature  will prompt the colored  man   ing of thie then constitution ofthiart State, lie said:
to alchieve these grand results.  But if we leave              Tlhis conirstitution was viuneret whien we were new aind
the race a disfranclised sd and disaffected class ir ineeriii   ile tin ciii            itvnrtt  I Vi  ie
is   n inexperiencedl inl ti e  scee of, governllent. It was tim1
our midst, numbering miiiliorns, and embracitng   first, tiat ti Was iConneu i thi' tWtrae Uiiitet Stares.. N'o
wonde-r, then, that timre and trial have discovered very caphundreds of thousands of imen who in pursuit of   vuita ter, ite, tht tr   ad i ive  scv                d vy cp-..r      hve bred teir  reass to  he sorm   f               I.. TPe,aoity themennpayaita deietsi
freedom  have bared their breasts to the storm  of, "1. Tre majority of the menu ithe State Woay            asd




16
fi~htforitssupportare unrepresented in tileLegislature, the   age will prevent it.  The humanity of the age has
roll (' frtcelollCrs etitledl to vote, lot inclul(dingllgenerally   not prevented  similar outrages.   Neither tile
the hll, of r;e militia or of the tax-gaterers."- s, e thnlumalnity of tle age,  nor the prudence of the
people of the South, nor their sense of justice,nor
By adopting this sound test, which, be it re-  tleir love of country prevented a bloody war for
rembered, was the only one recognized by tile   tle purpose of overthrowing democratic inslitufatllers, atnd adhlering to it, our practice will liar-  tions and tou rnding an empire, the corner-stone of
monize with our theories, and tle repugnance be-  which should be human slavery.  Let us not,
tween the races will graduallydisappear. Wealth  therefore, while it is in out' power to embody
and power conceal many deformities, and will  justice in laws anrd constitutions, be content to
make the black man less odious to all thian lie now    rely upon man's abstract sense of justice or Iis
seems.  Thus will consistent adherence to prin-  love for his fellow-rman. Every genitllnan kniows
ciple give strength arind peace to our country.      that it liis been the usage of every slave State to
Bit if, on tile other hantd, we ignore thle rights  reduce free men, wornell, and childlren to bondof thlese four million people and tileir posterity,  age.  Did not New  Jersey, so late as 1197 —as
the demon of agitatioi will halunt us in the f'u-  aptpears firom  thie State vs. Wvnaggoner, 1 Hilture fearfully as it has in tie past. Tlle appeals of  stead's Reports-lhold  that American Indlians
these milliolis for justice will not go forth itl vail;  miglit be reduced to an(d leld in slavery?  Has
and the liberal, tle conscierltious, tleplllilan tltrol)-  it not been lawful in Virginia, as appears by
ic, the religious, nlow  thlat our Cliistiaii cliu cliI her Revised Code and the Constitution of 1851,
recognizes her oltg, off-cast chlildl philanthrotllopy,   to  ppreh endt arind sell, by the overseers of the
will be found inllostileairrayagainlstwlattheecon-   poor, " for tile benefit of the LITERARY FUND,"
imercial and planting interests will regard as the   any emancipated slave that miglt trelmain within
consetvWtism  of tile day; and thoughl we find tthat  tile State mrore than twelve montl.s afteir his or
we have buried tlhe slavery question, our peace   her right to freedom had accrued?  Has not South
will be disturbed by thle negro question constantly,   Carolinla sold free colored citizens of' Massacl-uand fearfully as it has been by tile struggle be-   setts itito bondage, because site hlad torn thlem
tween slavery and fiee labor.  To which party   from tlhe vessels onl wlhiclh they liad entered her
ultimate victory would be vouchsafed in such a   ports, imprisoned themn ardl  brought the m, though
conitroversy I need not ttsi, as tle nation acknowl-  accused of ito crittlitnl offeise, uLiderl charges for
edges that God still lives and is omnipotenrt.       jail fees which she had deprived them of the means
Again, such action is necessary to prevent the   of paying?  Anld has not North Carolina, unlder
reeistabllishmentofour old lormerntot, slavery. It  her act of 1741, been in the habit of dooriing  to
is hloped tlhat the proposed amelldment to the   slavery thle urnoffenling offspring of any white
Constitution, forever ptoliibitinig slavery, may be   womnai-servanlt and a riegro, mulatto or Indian.
adopted. But it has not yet passed this House; and   How horrible must have been the crime of the iriif it hlad, who cant guaranty its adoption by three   flnt born of a wlhite niotlier anrid ant Indaian father
fourths of thie State Legislatures?   I hope and   that itsllold thus, by special statutory provision,
believe that tllht amendrneitntwill be adopted; but  be puntishted by lifie-long, unrequited  servitude,
t is within tile range of possibility that it may be   and be made the progenitor of a race of slaves.'defeated.  And how, itn that event, save by the   How  dark indeed mniust have beent thie African
suiffrage of tile colored man, by his right to pro-   blood of the child whose inother  was a white
tect himself, his lowerat the ballot-box, shall we   woman and whose fatthie an American Indian!':
prevent his subjugation, or the bloody war tihat    1 know tiotthat ti ebooks,fullastheyare ofsuch
suchian attempt tnigilt provoke-the reenactrnent  instances, furnish any more absolute illustration
on thle broader theater of our soutilerlt States of  of the power of a State over its people than this.
the terrible tragedies that ensued upon the attempt  And yet other and gralider illustrations of that
to again reduce to bondage the freed slaves of St.  power on this arnd cognate questionis rush upon
Domingo?                                              my  memory.  But a few  years since, it was
Let it be borne in mind that States within the   gravely proposed by the Legislature of Maryland
Union determine throughi their organism  who   to expel from the lintits of that State sonmeeighty
shall be citizens utnd under what condition the   thousand people, becausethey were ofAftiicati depeople may enjoy thieir rights, and tlat, if the   scent. Tile act passed both branchlesoftheLegisproposed amendml ent to the Constitution fail by   lature and was referred-to tile people for popular
want of the approval of a suffcieent numberof the   sanction.  And the main argument by wh ich tthe
State Legislatures, and South Carolina, when   proposition was defeated at the polls was the
readmitted shiould determine to reihnslave hter ftieed   selfish one thiat the land of the white citizeun would
men, and they should resist by force, although   remain untilled if these laborers were driven from
they constitute so largely the majority of iher peo-  their homes.  Had it been determined othlerwise,
pile, it would -be the duty of the Government to  thie people or the Govern mernt of tile United States
bring the naval and military power of the United   could not have prevented the execution of tile inStates into action in support of the authority of  famous decree, but could have been called to enthe State, as it did to suppress the Dorr rebellion   force it.  A  similar proposition, at a later tdate,
in Rlhode Island and repel the invasion of Virginia   found favor in Tennessee; but thle litgering spit-it
by John Brow-n and his twenty-two undisciplined   of lier earlier settlers rejected it upont tile simiple
~,volunteers.,                                       and higher ground of hlutrianity.  Yet had such
But gentlemen may say that we need not fear   a law  been enacteil, and had the fiee peopleof
such an effort as this; that the humanity of the   color resisted it with force,;did -ndt we -and every




17
man in the North stand pledged to sustain the   impossible it was for these poor and illiterate peoGovernment in the use of the naval and military   ple to make their exit from that State and through
power in carrying it into execution?  Dorr's re-  those coterminous to it whose laws contained the
bellion, and the manner in which the United States   same bar}barous provisions.
Government suppressed it, have a'place in the        The humanity of the act is embodied in the
history of our country, and illustrate the working   eleventh section, which provides for the support
of our system of Government.                        of "children under the age of seven years who
But why speak of unsuccessful propositions,   have no mothers, and who cannot be put out for
about which perverse ingenuity may raise ques-  their food and clothing," and for " the aged and
tions? Surely we have not forgotten the act by   infirm  negroes and mulattoes who may be aswhich the State of Arkansas summarily decreed   certained to be incapable of leaving the State, or
the banishment of fiee negroes and mulattoes who   cannot be sold after being apprehended."  Less
had their homes in that State, and the enslave-   merciful than Herod, the citizens of Arkansas
ment of all such as might not be able to make their  did not slay all these innocent children, but with
escape within the brief time allowed for the pur'-  wise regard to the fuiture welfare of the treasury
pose.  They numbered many thousands.  Some   of each county, having deprived them of the supof them had been given fieedom by their fathers,   port their natural guardians and fond parents
whose lingering humanity would not permit them    could and would have provided them, and having
to sell the children of their loins.  Others had   torn from the aged and infirm who were incapaearned their freedom  by honest toil, by acts of  ble of leaving the State, and " could not be sold,"
patriotism, or by deeds of generous philanthropy,  the stout sons or gentle daughters whose years
the requital of which had been the bestowal of the   would have been gladdened by toiling to sustain
poor measure'of liberty that the free negro might  those weary and aged ones in their declining
enjoy within the limits of that State.  The act to   years, they made it the duty of the county courts
which I refer is No. 151 of the acts of the General  to makle provision out of the proceeds of the sale
Assembly of the State of Arkansas for the session   of the able-bodied for the support of' those who
of 1858-59, and may be found on page 175 of the   they thus robbed of their natural support and
pamphlet laws of that session.  It was approved   protection, leaving the aged and infirm  to travel
February 12, 1859, and contains twelve sections.  rapidly toward paupers'graves, and the children
Time will not permit me to cite the whole of this  to be sold into slavery as cupidity might bring
iniquitous statute; but two sections I must give   purchasersto the almshouse.  Let nen no longer
entire.  Section first is as follows:               speak of the laws of Draco, but say that an
"1'Be it enacted by the General dtssesnbly of the State of'  American State has, in the infernal inhumanity.lr'kansas, That no free negro or mulatto shall be permitted   of her legislation, exceeded in cruelty the despots
to reside witlhin the limits of this State after the 1st dayof  of all nations and all ages.  Had the colored peoJanuary, A. D. 1860." 11ple of Arkansas had the right of suffrage their
And the tenth section reads thus:                 party influence would have saved us the shame," Be it Jfhrther enactedl, That it shall not be lawful for  we feel as we contemplate this page of American
any person hereafter to emancipate any slave in. this State."   Iistory.
Could language or rhetoric give force and am-       The possible repetition of such acts as these by
plitude to these provisions?  The intermediate  the aristocracy of the old States, when they shall
sections provide for the arrest and sale of any free   again be fairly in the Union, is not matter of specunegro or mulatto over the age of twenty-one years  lation.  The purpose is already avowed.  I have
who might be found within the limits of the State   myself heard it said by men, now  professedly
after the date indicated in the first section, and   loyal, that the condition of the negro will bemade
the disposition to be made of the funds arising   more horrible as freemen than it has ever been
from their sale. As a bribe to the people of the   in slavery; and they have said to me, "You know
several counties of the State to see the law faith-  that where the laborers are ignorant and power-fully executed, the surplus of each sale, after de-  less, as these will be, the will of the employer is
ducting the costs, was to be paid into the county   their supreme law."
treasury.  They provided also for the hiring of    Among the witnesses examined by the freedthose free colored persons who were not twenty-   men's inquiry commission was Colonel George
one years of age, and for the sale of such of these   H. Hanks, of  the fifteenth  regiment Corps
hirelings as might be found within the limits of  d'Afrique, mernber of the Board of Enrollment,
the State thirty days after the expiration of their  and superintendent of negro labor in the departterm  of service.  When it is remembered that,  ment of the Gulf. Colonel Hanls went to Louisiby a reversal of the immemorial and universal pre-  ana as a lieutenant in the twelfth Connecticut
sumption that man is free, it had been provided   volunteers, under General Butler, and was apin this and all other slave States that the pre-  pointed superintendent of the contrabands under
sumption that he was a slave arose from the fact  General Sherman.  His testimony illustrates the
that any measure of African blood flowed in a  fitness of the colored people for freedom, and
man's veins, and that it was the duty, not only   proves the determination of their old masters that
of police and other officers, but of every citizen   they shall never, by their consent, enjoy it. Thus
who found a person ofAfrican descentat large to   he says:
arrest him and  demand the evidence of his free-    " The negroes came in scarred, wounded, anld some with
dom, and, in default of the production thereof, to  iron collars round their necls.   set them at work on abalcast him into jailon, and thate fobrtifications. Ar. one time
cast  im into jail, tfor the jail fees thus  we had six thionsand five hundred of tllemn; there was not
accruing he might be sold, it will be seen how   the slightest difficulty with them. They are smore willing




18
to work, and more patient than any set of human beings I          Mr. Commissioner McKaye, in his invaluable
ever saw.  It is true theire is a general dislike to return to   pamphlet, to which I have already referred, contheir old miasters; and those who have remiained at home          i
atiepei~nasol aoplayaid t l' Iitto be iee say to  ofirms  the general correctness  of the  views  of
are suspicious of fbiul [play, at-id feel it to be neeesary   to   Colone'l   Hanks, and  savs they were concurred
run away to test tlieir fireedoni   This year the dislike has
very mucli lessened;  they begin to ifeel themlselves more   in  by  many  other intelligent persons  familiar
secure anid do inot hesitate to return Ibr wages. iThe ne-   with the subject, and  that his own personal obgroes willigly accept the corlition of labor bor their o       sevation flly confirms them.   He says:. "I                                   ~~~~~~~~servelion fullcofrste.[esa:
mai itenance, aend thle m usk eCt for their freedo in.    kniew a
family of five whlio were freedi by the volmitary enlistment      "In'a stretch of three hundred miles up anrid down the
of one of' tihe boys.  ie eatered the ranks lobr the avowed    Mississippi, but one creole planter was found (there may,
purpose of freeing his fiiily.   HiPs nanme was Maioore; lie   of cour-e, have been othliers  with wllhan. (did not coine is
was owned by the Messrs. Leeds, iron funidcrs; tlhey re-   coniitact) who heartily and unreservedly aiiloted tile idea
sided witliin oniie of tile parislhes excepted in the proclsa-   f free labor; and honestly carried it out upon his plantaination of' einantcipation.   -He was tile first inan to fall at   tionii. Anid altlhoug h    he declared tiati in itsell, it was sucPascagoula.  Uponi starting lie said to his family' I inow    cesseul muchi bevotnd his expectationi, yet, he said,  my life
I shall fall, but you will be friee.'                           aid thiiat of ity family are rende'red very unhappy by the'A niegro sold ier demanded his children at my Ihads. I   opposition and contumely of my neigltbors.
warinted to test his affTection.  I said Ithey had a gooid home.'' Thie simiple truth is, tihati tile virus of slavery, the lust
Ile said,  Lieuiteanit,     I  wantto seeid iy children to school;   of ownershliip, in the liearts of thliese old mnasters, is as virmy wife is not allowed to see theli;  I am in your service;   ulent aind active to-day as it ever was.  MIany of themt adI wear military clothles;    I have been in three battles;.i   mit that the old form of slavery is fir the present broken up.
was ii tile assault at Port IHudso; I want my children;    IThey do not hesitate even to express tile )opinioi that the
they are my flesh and blood.' "                                 experjient  of secessioni is a failure;,but they scofi' at tile
Ag~~~~aiiin ~~~:  ~idea of freedlom i                         r tihle negro, andi repeat the old ar.ument
~~~~~~~~Again:     ~of ii i1 incapacity to take care of himiself'  or to entertain any:-Tie  colored people manifest the greatest anxiety to    higher notive for exertion t!a  tlihat oi the whip. They
educater thiir ihildreii, and tlhey thoroughly appreciate thile   awavit with iinpatience the  itldramwal of tilhe military auhenefitsa of educatioi n.  I have knoiwn ai ftiaily to go witli   tlhorities, and the rieestablishmenrt of tilhe civil power of the
two ieals a day i order to saive fifty cenits a week to pay   State, to be controlled andl nus(e  as hitherto fbr the teainaii iuififrient teaclier for their chiildreni."                 tenniiee of whiat to them doubtless lappears the paramount
objectretail civil authority,, of thle State itself', soine form oi!
After   i aving  spent nearly two years in daily    ojt o ll civil atoi                    f  e tate   scl  ore form o
with.~ the  iii thee~tile slave system.
inteircourset  wth the planters in the depairtneit                   With slight modifieation, thie languite used recently by
of the Gulf, Colonel Hankls, in his sworn  testi-   Judge lHumpiirey in a speecli dlelivered at a UJtioii nmeetitng
Molly, says:                                                    at Huntsville,  Alabama, serins miost aptly to express tite
"Ahi i ty begii to see thataveryis deadyettie    opes and purposes  of a lae  proportionii of' the oltd Inasters
l am ~y stillhesiriati thiti  af   are e    iitie valley of the Mississippi whio ihave consented to
spirit of slavery still lives aniong them.    Many of them1 are
spiritI01  Many   theta        qualify their loyally to the Union by takinTg the oath preeven more ranpant to enslave  tile niegro than ever belore.   scilc   y the  riets ptc aii     o  rnesy.   ter
scribed by tile Pre,-idelnffs proclamnation oainanesty. Aft~er
Thliey miake great  iideavors    to recover rwhat they call thei?  diin"tht   AlhCia  /sdot oe re                  ts th  i
I                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~advisinu that Alabamfa sho~ud at oTnce return to the Untion
out neeroes. One planter oilbred iie $5,000 to return his
by simp'y rescinding the ordinance of secession, and arie' elnegroes. They  iave eveii liired ineii ti steal thicii froii    pressing tuie o inion that thitt old institution of slavery  was
mry owni cap.  (The. ol  spirit still prompting to the old                               says,   believe, i     sr    i
gone, Jud'ge Htumphrey says, I I believe, ill case of a return
criite,  which loniig ago was declared felony by thile law of'
nritions~ it' g~pe:rt'ated in Afrrica.):~    *  *
i ) p] teil is Atoteoi.)ii  a       a     e       tite Union, we would receive politicalcorperation, so as
to, Vti-i  in Aralica-~ Ssn nd c pesn to secure thel n aagement of that labor Iby those who were'Phi's' yield to the ideaoff icdoin~ only under compulsion.   slaves. Tlhere is?really no diff-rence, iu myi opiion, uwhecther'Phiey susttiit to the ternis thettited by tile Goveruneto be-   se hold them as I nbcc lte     slaves or obtain t/eir Ilacor by some
caise obliged soi to (iso   Mr V  I. iipritlon, onre oft rte       iiother menthod.   Ofcourse we prefer the old mrethiord.  But
richt tush urtast sextensive  sugir planters in. the whiole val-   tlt  estio    is ot        before us.' "
that question is not now before us.'"
ley of the osississippi, took the oathi of allegiance, but refused to work  his owu iplintatisnitihess lie could Iave /is       To the sane effect was the -testimony of the late
ovcr nteeroes returned to    hi. Hle had fourteen lihtindred a       on di    Genal Jaes              ad s            whse
I                                         ~~~~~~~~~~Brigadier General James.'Wadsworth, whose
fifty acres of'caiue uidler cultivation; his whole fmtnily of
plantatotion   hnds le.t him and came toNew Orleans, report-   official tour through the'alley of the Vlississippi
infg  itemselves toi me. Amonig rithemi could bie faiitud every   gave hiim  ample  means of arrivinri  at an intelti
species of mnechanic and artisanu.      called theri uip tied is    gen- t udgmeit
liirmed themir ithat tiie Govevrndentu had taicna posr;ession of'
old maisterts crop, and  that they uere neeided to take it'ill'' There is one tlitr  that mist be tahien into account,
and would be paidl fbr their labor.  All consented toret in;     andt that is, that thiere will exist a very stsrong  disposition
but next mornintgu  wt e  the timee catre for their departur i  aniong  the Iimasters to cotitrol thiese pesople  and Ireep them
not one vwould go. One of themr said,'1 willgo anywhe re   as a s     ubordinat e anitl suitieted class. iUndoubtedly they
else to worck,  but you usiay shoot ine before I will return to   intetind to do thatl.  I thilk thei tendency  to estaiblish a systhe oldr plantatit n.    I afterwards ascertained tiat, itar  il-  tern of seri.toin is tile great rdang6re   t bi  guarded against.
lon, waharom tiy cclled oh  11td  Cttoitn iBear,' ri;t]att       ti boaed d i    Ital   with a planiter  in the La Fouriche distriet, near
the presence of two colored girls, house servants, houw lie   Tibadouville;  lie said lie was tiot ins favor of secession;
would serve  herien whlei too onace mnore hiad thdm ini his  lhe ravowed his hope and expectation that slavery would be
power.  These girls had walkedv  more than thirty milesiu   rcstored there in sume fori.  said,  -' we went away
the  iight to bring this ifuorfrmation to their fiiends.c       anid left these people now do you suppose you could reduce
theli again to slavery'  -ie laughed to scorin the idea that
Colonel Hainks adds:                                         they could not.'  hatt said I,' threse men who have had' It is undoubtedly true that this year  a change for the   aruts in their lanids?'' Yes,'  lie said;   we should taken
better seems to be takini, place. ]n some parishes the   tie anrms away frion them, of course.'
letting of plantations  to northeru mnen has a powerful effeet. T'he  disposition of the planters,       howecver, toward    While we cotnfront these facts, let me, Mr.
their old slaves, whem  they consent to hire thiem  is by nio    Speaker, ask of you and the House whetherm  wen
means frhiendly. I toldt a planter recently  that it was tie    shall lest consult oui country', welfare by  iviuSc
express order of General Banks that the negroes should be   to the laboring peope of te   out   te   lot   y
educatedl.  lie replied that' no one should teach his ne-       o hels     on   y pi o    te             u d   al g
groes.''                                                       which they may protect themselves, and inspiring
Andt lie further declares it as his deliheratejudg-   them  with  the  hopes and  disciplining  them  by
meat thlat —                                                    thie duties ofecitizenship, or by predetermining that'If civil government be establishled here and military   ours shall be a military Government, and hut the
rule withdrawn, thiere is the greatest danger thatthe negro   first-born son of every north ern household shall be
would becomne subject to some form of serfdom."                 liable to pass his life in the Army, maintained to




19
protectthe aristocratic South against the maddened   speaking. There are other loyal men than these
and degraded laborers whom she oppresses.  It is  in the South.  Andrew Johnson, Horace Maywe who are to decide this question; we who are  nard, William H. Wisener, sr.,John  V. Bowen,
to determine who shall select delegates to the con-  W'. G. Brownlow, though not alone in their loyventions that are to fiame the future constitutions   alty, represent but a minority of the white peooftheinsurgent States; we who are to say whether  ple of Tennessee; and Thomas J. DUrant, and
the constitutions which they will submit to us   Benjamin F. Flanders, and Rufus Waples, and
when asking readmiission are republican in form,  Alf'ed Jervis have had thousands of adherents
as required by the terms of the Constitution of' the  and coworkers among the whites of Louisiana;
United States; and if we fail here, to our timid-  but they, too, are but a minority of the white peoity, arrogance, prejudice, or pride of color will  pie of that State.  Andl as our armies go or0 conbe justly attributable the conversion of our peace-  quering, we may learn tiat even on some hillside
ful country into a military Power, and our democ-  in South Carolina there have been men whose loyracy into an aristocracy.  "We cannot escape   alty to tile Union lias never yielded.  IH-ow shall
history."                                         these protect themselves il the reconstructed
This is not mere idli', fancy. Let us for a mo-  State? What millennial influence will induce the
ment suppose, not what is alone within the range   envenomed spirit of the majority of the people by
of possibility, but what is within the scope of  whom they will be surrounded to treat them with
probability; nay, what is almost certain to hap-  loving-kindness or human justice?   lVho willgo
pen-that the two hundred and ninety-one thou,-  with them to the polls in their respective districts?
sand pardoned rebels of South Carolina should  WVhere will they find an unprejudiced judge and
demand fr'om their Legislature an act reducing to  an impartial jury to vindicate their innocence when
apprenticeship, serfdom, or other form of slavery,  falsely accused or maintain their right to characthe foour hundred and twelve thousand colored peo-  ter and property? WVe must remember  that it is
ple of the State, or that they deny them all polit-  the power and not the spirit of the rebellion we
ical rights, tax them without their consent, legis-  are conquering.  Time alone shall conquer this.
late, not for thleir welfare, but fot their degr-adation   The grlave, long years hence, will close over those
and oppression.  Cormposing this unrepresented   who to the last day of their life would, were it in
mass would be those who have passed througlh  theilr power, overthrow the Government or reGeneralSaxton's schools and learned to read,thiose   venge their supposed wrongs upon those who
who by toil have ear-ned the means to purchase   aidedl in sustaining it. The truly loyal white men
at sales for taxes, or under the confiscation laws,  of tile insurrectionary districts need the sympathy
a home and land; and others scarred and war-  and political support of all the loyal people among
worn in the military or naval service of the coun-  whom  they dwell, and unless we give it to them
trty, who would hurry to alnd ft-o, rallying their  we place them as abjectly at the feet of those who
fitiends to resist the outrage, and maintain their  are now in ainls against us as we do the negro
right to life, liberty, and property. Here would   whom their oppressors so despise. I cannot conbe the beginninin g   of civil war; war in whlich we   ceive how the American Congress could write a
who believe in the doctrine of man's righits, that  page of history that would so disgrace it in the
Governments are instituted to protect those rights,  eyes of all posterity as by consenting to close this
that they rest on the consent of the governed, and   war by surrendering to the unbridled lust and
should be overthrown when they infringe those   power of the conquered traitors of the South,
rights, would bid the insurgents God-speed. Ah!  those who, through blood, terror, and anguish,
this we might do as men, as individuals; but as  have been out friendts, true to ouri principles and(
citizens of the United States what would be our  out' welfare. To purchase peace by such heartduty and how must our powelr be exercised? The  less meanness aind so gigantic a barter of princi..
minority, though vested with political power,  ple would be uniparalleled in baseness in the hisfearing thle superior force of the majority, would,  tory of rrmanlkind.
in the name of the State, appeal to us; and, re-    This is felt ini the South.  The black man alpugnant as the duty might be, we would owe it  ready rejoices in the fact that, if we are guilty of
to the sacred compromises of' the Constitution to  so glreat a crime as this, he will riot be alone in
yield our pride, our conscience, our fidelity to   his suffering; it will not be his prayers or his
God anid nan, and become againi the protectors   curses only thlat will penetrate the ear of an
of slavery or the pliant instruments for reducing   avenging Godl againist those who had thus been
the majority of the people of the State into sub-  false to all His teachings anti every principle they
jectiont to the ar rogant aristocrlacy of South Calro-  professed.  I find in the New Orleans Tribune of
lina. lin God's name let us, while we can, avert  December 15, 1864, which paper, I may remark,
sulch a possibility. Let us conquer our preju-  is the organ of the proscribed race in Louisiana,
dices.  Let us prove that we are worthy of the  and is owned and edited and printed daily in the
heritage bequeathed usby our revolutionarysires.  French arid English language by persons of that
Let us show the world that, inheriting the spirit  race, an adlmirable article in response to the quesof out- forefathers, we regard liberty as a right so  tion, " Is there any justice for the black?" which
universal and a blessing so grand tihat, while we   was drawn forth by the acquittal of one Michael
are ready to surrender our all rather than yield   Gleason, who ihad been tried for murder.
it, we will guaranty it at whatever cost to the     The crime was established beyond all peradvenpoorestchild that breathes the air of our country.  ture. It was abundantly proven that the victim,
But we owe a provision of this kind to another  Mittie Stephens, a colored boy, had been quietly
class of citizens than that of which I have been   sitting on the guards of the boat, watching the




20
rod withl  which he was fishing, that other boys   to the wise, the learned, the powerful that we
sat near him, when the defendant came behind   accord the rightof suffrage? Are there not within
him, leaned over, and deliberately pushed him   the knowledge of each one of us scores of the chilinto the water, and folding his arms on his breast  dren of this proscribed race who, in the conduct
stood and saw the boy rise thrice to the surface   of their daily affairs, in the acquisition of' propand then sink forever; that a colored woman ex-   erty, in the tenderness and good judgment with
claimed,'" That is not right," and the defendant  which they rear their families, in the genarosity
answered, "I would do the same to you;" and   with which they contribute to their church and
thus neither rescuing the child nor permitting   the fidelity with which they obey her high beothers to do it, coolly and deliberately committed   hests, prove themselves infinitely better fitted
murtlder.  There was no dispute as to any of the   for citizenship than the denizens of the swamp,
facts of the case.  The New  Orleans Era, noti-   Mackerelville, and other such reeking localities,
cing the case, says that it establishes the theory   who swelled the majority in the city of New York
that " a man may, whenever lie has no other way   at the last election to thirty-seven thousand? And
of amusing himself, throw a negro boy overboard   shall no culture, no patriotism, no wisdom, no taxfrom a steamboat, prevent any of' is friends from    paying power, secure to the native-born Amerirescuing the drowning struggler, stand quietly   can that which at the endlof five years we, with
looking on while he goes to the bottom to rise no   so much advantage to our country, fling as a boont
more, and be considered' not guilty' of murder  to every foreigner who may escape frona the povor any other crime;" and adds, having evidently   erty and oppression and wrong  of the Old World,
hoped for better things under freedom than it had   to find a happier home and a more promising
been used to in the days of slavery, "This is  future in this?  The question is not whether each
almost as enlightened a verdict as we were accus-   man is fitted for the most judicious performance
tomed to in the palmy days of thuggery."             of the functions of citizenship, but whether the
Tlhe colored edlitor of thie Tribuiie avails him-   State is not safer when she binds all her children
self of the case to point a moral, and well says:  to her by protecting the rights of ali and confid"Tie trial by jury is considered as the safi-guard of ini-  ing her affairs to the arbitrament of their common
nocence.  It has Ibeen found that a man indicted for a  judgment.
criminal offense cannot be impartially tried and convicted,    1But
uless by his own peers. But an exe parte jury is the worst    But colored people have shown  themselves
of all judicial institutiols.                        abundantly capable of self-government.  Under
"' The security afforded by the composition of a jury has  oppressions exceeding in infinite degree those
to be of a twofold character. Tle jurymen have to repre-  suffered by the oppressed people of Ireland-y,
sent the communiity at large in all its classes and varieties
ofcoiiposition.'lie ltiry ora jury is as well to viidicate   by the subjects of the Czar of Russia —they have
insnocence alld punis crimne as to protect the man unduly  shown themselves capable of caring for themselves
arraigned before the Court. Justice lias to strike tile cul-  and others.  Buying the poo' privilege of proprit and avenge the blood of tihe innocent, as well as to de-  for temelve
ae6nld the accused party against undue prejudices. Why   ng                  by paying to t
have we no representativ es in thle jury? Are our lives,  lhundreds ofdollars per annumn,thousands of them
honor, and liberties to be leti in the lhands of imen who are'have maintained homes and kIept' their families
laboring under the most stubborn and narrow prejudice?  togethem, ald reared their children to such an age
Is there any protection or justice lbr us at their hianids? It    b
is in vain that, in the present inistance, the press hiave so  that the lordly master,  anting cash for current
strongly supported the right. The wrong has been com-  purposes, has plucked the gracefuildaughter from
mitted, alnd we are notified that there is no redress for us.  her home to sell her to a life of debauchery, or the
" ButfJr every Union mana in the city the last verdict is a   son, wlose developing muscles promised  supwarning. It the event-as impossible as it mnay appear —that  port in age to his parents, to sell him to a life of
rebel rule shotld tessporarily be establishedh cre, we can fore-  port in age to his parents, to sell him to a life of
see thefate ofthefsiesds of t/re Unions. Then, thre will be   unrequited toil.  Snatched from. these horrors a
no more jsustice, so mnore protection for them than for the  few thousands, some ten or twelve, have been sent
hIated siegro. It will be lawifil to pursue them in the streets,  durin  the last forty years to the western coast of
drowi th,  i thes, st iar illefate t  se             duiing the last forty years to the western coast of
tdrowe  thrdere7s. Let the  Unio neury will bestafnd tos cnset,  Africa.  There, under the auspices of American
the?murderers. Let the Union men understand the case,
andi look to a coliplete reform in our laws relating to the   benevolence, they founded a republic, and with
ftormation of tle jury. "                            almost American greed for land have extended
The fate predicted to the real fiiends of the   the jurisdiction of the little colony till the reUnsion will be meted to them  by the pardoned   public of Liberia, as I learn from  the National
rebels, who will if we permit it rule them  in the   Almanac, now  embraces twenty-three thousand
future as assuredly as it would if their military   eight hundred and fifty-nine square miles.  And
power should again possess the city.                 the people have assimilated fiom among the heaStill comes the question, are these more than   thensamong whom they weresettled men,women,
two fifths of the people of the insurrectionary dis-  and children, until their flag protects and their
trict fit for citizenship? Let me reply by a ques-   jurisdiction regulates four hundred and twentytion or two.  Is the question of fitness put to the   two thmousand.mostofwhom,taughtiin the schools
foreignel by the judge who administers the oath,  of the colony, find their enduring hopes in the
the taking of which invests him with all the power  old King James Bible, which they are able to
of a native-born citizen and all its promises save   read.  But for our jealous contempt of the race,
one, that of the Presidency? Is the white native   the flag of that Afi-ican republic. so extensive has
of our soil who, at the close of a reckless youth,   her commerce already become, would be familiar
the victim, perhaps, of early poverty and the deg-  in all our leading ports.  Our arrogance liashithtadation of parents, is unable to read his native   erto excluded it; and by reason of our arrogance
tongue, when first he comes to the polls to deposit  we pay tribute to our haughty commercial rival
llis ballot interrogated as to his fitness? Is it only   and treacherous friend Great Britain, by purcl-as



21
ing at second-hand from herthe tropical products   Heber, Cowper-the poets, preachers, philosowhich the republi'cans of Liberia would gladly   phers, historians of all Christian countries-the
exchange directly with us for those of our more  thought and knowledge time has garnered?
temperate region.                                    No, Mr. Speaker, history is not repeating itFit by culture and experience they may not be;  self.  We are unfolding a new page in national
but let us regard the characteristics of our civil-  life.  The past has gone forever.  Thlere is no
ization and see whether the future should, by rea-  abiding present; it flies while we name it; and,
son of this fact, be made liable to such moment-  as it flies, it is our duty to provide for the thickous consequences as would be involved in error  coming future; and with such agencies as I have
on this point.  The abundant proof is before us  thus rapidly alluded to, we need not fear that even
of their eagerness and ability to acquire informa-  the existing generation of freedmen will not prove
tion.  Wet are equally able to provide them with  themselves abundantly able to take care of themthe means of culture; aiid happily, the good peo-  selves and maintain the power and digrnity of the
pie of tile North, carrying the frame of tile school-  States of which we shall make them. citizens.
house and the church in the rear of each of our      We are to shape the future. We cannot escape
advancingarmies, have shown themselves prompt  the duty. And " conciliation, compromise, and
to provide them with the means of instruction-   concession" are not the methods we are to use.
to give to eaclh and every one of them the Iceys to   These, alas! have been abundantld tried, and their
all knowledge in the mastery of the English lan-  result has been agitation, strife, war, and desolaguw.rge, the artof writing,and the elementary rules  tion.  No man has the right to compromise jusof' arithmetic.                                    tice; it is immutable; and HIe whose law it is
Though the gentleman fiom New York [Mr.  never fails to avenge its compromise or violation.
BrooKs] insists that history is but repeating it-  Ours is not the work of construction, it is that of
self, I tell himn that ours is a new age, and ask him   reconstruction; not that of creation,but of regento be kind enough to let me know who invented   eration; and, as I have shown, the principle of the
IHoe's "last fiast printing-press" in the age in   life we are to shapeglares on us,lighting ourpathwhich it first existed, and by whose steam-engine   way, from every page of history written by our
it was propelled, andt whether he edited the Ex-  revolutionary fathers.  Would we see the issue
press that fell in myriad thousands friom its revolv-  of " compromise, concession, and conciliation?"
ing forms?'The limits of what former America   Sir, we behold it in the blazing home, the charred
d id the magnetic telegraph traverse, making man,  roof-tree, the desolate hearthside, the surging tide
even the jlumblest, well-nigh omnipresent within   of fratricidal war, and the green mounds beneath
its limits?  In what antique age and country,  which sleep half a million of the bravest and best
broad as ours, was distance reduced as it is by the  loved of our men.
locomotive engine in this? From among the hid-      South Carolina, representing slavery, demanded
den treasures of what buried city, or from  the  the insertion of the word " white" in the fundaprinted pages of what lost nation, did John Erics-  mental articles cf our Government.  Our fathers
son steal tile subtle thoughts with which he has  resisted the demand; and, as I have suggested,
blessed the world and which we credit to him as   had their sons continued to do so, slavery had
inventions?  In what era, will the gentleman tell  long since been hemmed in as by a wall of fire;
me, did a nation convert by the stroke of a pen   its true character would have been known among
and the act of occupancy its landless and desti-  men, for then would the freedom  of discussion
tute people into independent farmers and pillars   not have been assailed, and men been legally punof the State by a homestead law such as that by   ished by fine and imprisonment, and lawlessly by
which we offer estates to the emig.rant and the   scourging and death, for speaking of its horrors.
freedman? If history be but repeating herself,  And by resisting this demand, as I have shown,
will the gentleman point me to the original of the   man was accorded iris right in the Territories till
American Missionary Society, aind show me from    1812. Then our fathers yielded, and without traexperience what influence its labors are to have   cirg the rapid retrograde career which ensued,
upon those whom we have hitherto doomed to the   we find the results of conceding and compromisdarkness of ignorance? Wllence did the founders  ing principle in the attempt to abandon justice as
of the American and other Tract Societies borrow   established by the fathers, and settle a Territory
the idea of their great enterprise?  From  what  under the conflicting theories of Cass and Dougage or what clime comes our common school sys-  las, and of Calhoun and Jefferson Davis-the two
tem? And what chapter of human history did  former striving to establish slavery under phrases
they reinact who founded the American Sunday   full of professed devotion to freedom; the latter
School Union? Will the gentleman draw fiom   proclaiming boldly, through the lips of Robert
his historic stores a sketch of the influence that  Toombs, that " Conaress has no power to limit,
institution alone is to have in developing and   restrain, or in any manner to impair slavery;
training the intellect and regulating the life of the   but, on the contrary, it is bound to protect and
freedmen and the " poor white trash," now that  maintain it in the States where it exists and
rebellion has opened the way to the teacher, the   wherever its flag floats and itsjurisdiction is para.
daily journal, and the printed volume to their fire-  mount."  (Boston Address, January, 1856.)
sides?  In what ample depository did its ancient    We can trace the influence of compromise and
prototype conceal the stereotype plates for more  concession again in its effects upon the constituthan a thousand books that it so cheaply pub-. tion ofStates. Behold the colored and white voters
lished, imparting many of them in the simplest  mingling peaceably at the polls in North Carolina,
sentences, and others in those of Bunyan, Milton,  Maryland, Tennessee, and other slave States, and




22
run the downward career until, at the dictation of   be effectually, though it must be gradually, wiped away,
South Carolina and slavery, you find States which    and earnestly looks tr thie means by whiclh this necessary
have become firee by constitutional amendment   oet ma   e ttined.  And until it  al be  ccomplished, until the titme shall comne when we can point
and others which never tolerated slavery yielding   wvithout   a blush to tlhe langunage held in the Declairation of
to their demand to insert the word'' white'" in   independence, every friend oftlumaniity will seek to lighbten
their constitutions, and so creating a proscribed    the galling chain of slavery, and better to the utnost of
2n             h~~~Is power the wretched condition of the slave.:Such was
class in their midst; others even denying  a dwell-           i       t        td ctitio   f th  sV           h w
i l pw   t   Mr. Grutber's object in that part of his sermon of which 1
ins place upon His footstool within thleir limits to   ain now speakin. T'hose whIo have compllained of him
the children of God whose slkins were not colored   and reproached ihhn will not find it easy to answer  him,
lile their own; and finally Arlkansas writing  a Iiuless complaints, reproaches, and persecution shliall be
considecred an answer."
chapter of history which redeems Draco's name
from  the bad pireeminence it had so long borne.              But under tlhe influence of the doctrine of"  conTriumphant wrong is ever aggressive, has ever   ciliation, concession, and compromise,"  the aubeen, will ever be.   Look back also  upon  our   thor of this language soon learned  that for an
ambitious rman these brave and good words were
churches, practically ignoring for half a century   ambitious mcii tlte   brave and  good words were
the existence of nearly four million  people who    folly and  noidness.   Pure  in his personal life,
were held in contempt of every one of the beati-   beautiful in the ielations  that characterized  his
tudes, and compelled to live in violation of every    fmily and  iis social circle, his history will never
clause  of the decalogue, and  whose  existence   beforgotten; his name will ever head the list of
befrgotten; hinave Thrtwight yearvfer theathlito
made the utterance of the Lord's prayer seem, to    " ermined     knaves.            Thirty-eight  years  after the
foreigners who comprehended the wrongs of sla-   Gruber case, in the chief temple of j.ustice of our'very, lire a hideous mockdry as it dropped from    country, in the presence oflier ministers, of whom
American lips.                                              he was himself the chief, when  speaking of the
And these results, be it remembered, did but   free coloret  mei of New  Englntd and  those of
express the influience which  aristocratic and dic-   their ace  trouout te couty,   e   claed,
tatorial South Carolinit, whose spirit now  pos-   in violation of all truth  thatsessed the entire South, bh, throuh           "The legislation and histories of the times, and the lainconcession, and conciliation, p compomise    guage used in the Declaratio n ofIndepeitdence, show that
concession, and conciliation, produced upon the   neither the class of persons who had been itported as
mind antd heart and conscience of the American    slaves nor tliheir descendants, whether they hash become
people.  Let me illustrate this by one striking    free or not, were then ackniowledgcd as a part of tihe peoexample.  While yet Missouri was a Territory                pe, no  iten   t  i iclued ii te  eiel  os used
in that memnorabl itistrumrent.
-seven years, however, after the South hadt been                It is ilicihitlt. at this day to realize tihe state of public
made imperious by her triumph in inserting the   opinion in ieluiioil to that unfoiitunate race which preword'' white'' in the territorial law for M issouri    rvailed in the civil iz:d andt enlightened portions of the world
at the trime( of the Decclaration ~of lIndepend~ence, and when
and while' she was busy fashioning  that great                 th  ti    flr Ictio  ofdepeenc,    i   h
the Constitution of' the United States  was fi'amed and
State north of the Ohio line into the future home    tadopte:d.    ut tlie public listoryr of evesy Europt   n Iratitio
for slavery-thie   aolition of the institut.ion was   displays it ini a nianner too plain to be mristakein.
being agitated in Maryland as well as in Tennes-               "T    Id  trore  in  centur bre bei regrde
see.  Notistandin  te  ecent trimhs  f s-   as beings (ilan inrferior orlder, and altogether unrfit to asso~ee.   Notwithsxtandiing thei rec'ent triuimp.hs eflsi-          1 
ciate witr the whlite race, either in social or political revery it was still possible for a man to oppose tihe   lations; arid so fir inf'erir,sr      that leyhad no righits which the
spread of the inustitution, point out its atrocities,   white roan reas bound to respect.:'
and favor its abolition, and yet loolk for prefer-            Mr. Speaker, shinll we in providing for the rement and  honor at the hands of his fellow-citi-   construction of the Union, accept and proclaim as
zens; and when Jacob Gruber, a Methotdist cler-   out faith the hideous donxma that four millions of
gyman, was indicted by  the Frederickl  county    our people have "' no righlits which the white man
court, of Maryland, on the cliarge of "attempt-   is bound to respect," or,in thevery hour in which
ins  to  excite insubordination         and insurrection    our arms are breakring  thle power of the rebellion,
among slaves," Roger B.  Taney stepped forth to   malke any concession to the spirit that evolked it?
defend  inme, and in the course of lids argument   South  Carolina may shake her gory locts and
used thIe fobllowiig lainguage:                             bloody hands at us in imnpotent iage; but let us
Mr. Gruber did quote thee langriage of our great act of   not quail before lIer now  as we rave done for the
natitonal independence, andl insisted on the prilnciples con-   last half century.  Through thie lips of northern
tained iii tliat veriited instretiint. iciit e did rebukre those' Sons of Liberty"' ard memeebers of the order of
nmasters who, itn the exercise of powr, ate deaf' to the   "American Kuigts,' she demands tert, as a
calls of lumianity;,tanied he warned themi of the evils they 
migh!t britg thetselve s  He dis speak  withahoe   eo       grace ful concession, we shall comply to-day with
those reptiles vwho live by trading iii human Ilesh anrd en-   tlie proposition our forefdthers rejected  on the 25th
rich themselves by tearing the husband firomi the wis fe, the   ofJuine, 1778, and insert the word "' white"' in the
*infant frre the bosomn of tire teothir;  tad thus T aill itt-   fundanmental law of the land; on tlie other hand,
struetedt was the headt and front of his offending.   Shainll I
content myself witih saying e he ad a right to say this that   the shades of our patriot fathers, hutmanity, the
there is nio law to puntisht him? So fiar is hifrtom beiirngthe   spirit of the age, the welfare of the nation, the
object of punishment in any form  of proceedings, that we   hopes of the countm ess millions who will throng
are prepared tIo maintain the samne triunciples, andt to use, if   our country tlhrougJh tie long a-es, inplore us to
necessary, the same language here iu the temple s''justice,
neesa~,I~~ s~e  ng~cce heeinth  elp  tNutie           listen to the' voice of justice and obey the itnjuncand in the presence of those  whio aire the riisters of the    iste  to te  voice o ustice ad obey the  ijunlaw. A ihard necessity, indeed, crompels us to endure the   notins of the Master, who hlns assured us that "'inevils of slavery Jbr a time.  It was imiposed upon its by   asmuclm as ye have done it unto one of the least
another nation while we were yet in a state of colonial
antter  tir  he  e were yet i  a stat of clonil    of these nay brethren, ye have done it unto me."
vassalage.  It cannot be easily or suddenly removed. Yet
while it continues, itisa blot si our national chlaracter, and   Let not, I pray you, the South achieveh ergrandevery real lover of fieedom  confidently hopes that it will  est triumph in the hour of her humiliation.  Let




23
not the spirit of a prostrate foe practice on our    I desire further to ask my collealgue in this conpride and prejudice, and exult through all time  nection, because his speech has tended toward
over a lasting victory. Peace is the offspring and  universal equality, whether he is in favor of givhandmaid of Justice, and let us in reconstructingr   ing negroes universally the riglit of sufilago now.
the Union erect a temple in which she may abide    Mr. KELLEY.  1 am in favor of' giving that
for ever.                                          righlt, in the words of Jefferson, to " every man
Mr. STILES.  Mr. Speaker, I did not desire  who fights or pays."  I stand by tile doctrine of
to interrupt my colleague [Mr. IiEtLEY] in the  Thomas Jefferson, the father of the Democratic
delivery of his carefully prepared  speech.  It  party, in which I was trained.
would have marred its beauty and power.  But    Mr. STILES.  In the event of the passage of
if I understand him correctly he stated that prior  the amendment to the Constitution proposed, is
to the adoption of the constitution of 1838, ne-  my colleague in favor of equality between the
groes enjoyed the rightofsuffrag e in the State of  races? AInd will lie regard negroes as equal to
Pennsylvaniia.  My question is, whether the con-  the wlhite man?
stitution or laws of that State gave them such a |  Mr. KELLEY.  I could not possibly regulate
right; and further, whetherthey ever did exercise  the equality of' men. 1 caninot malie my colleague
such a right; whether he does not know that by  so moral or intelligent as a man of darlker comthe decision of the Ilighestcourts of that Statethey  plexion who is more mroral and renoe intelligent;
were not aliowed to vote there.                    nor could I degrade my colleague to the level, in
Mr. KELLEY.  They were allowed by the  morals and intelligence, of the colored man who
constitution to vote, and they did vote; and it  is less moral or less intelligent thlan he. My colrequired a constitutional amendment-the inser-  league does not, according to his theory, vote by
tion of the word " white" in the clause regulating  reason of hlis intelligence, but simply by reason
suffrage-to deprive them of that right.            of his color.  I miglht be willing to exclude fionom
Mr. STILES.  I desire to ask my colleague  the privilege of voting antimmoral oravolunrtarily
further, when atld in what portion of the State of  ignorant rmant; but I want no senseless rule that
Pennsyivanlia they ever exercised that right.      al lows a fool or a scoundrel to vote if' lie be white,
Mr. KELLEY.  Why, I have seen them ex-  and excludes a wise and an honest man if lie be
ercise it fiequenitly at the polls in Philadelphita,  black.
and that, too, whether the election officers be-    Mr. STILES.  Mr. Speakler, the remarkable
longed to one party or the other.                  speech just delivered appeals to passion and not
Mr. STILES.  That must have been confined  to judgmnenlt, and is in favor of a principle that in
to my colleague's own precinct.  It was never  years hence will be regarded as the heiglit of the
known in the history of that State.                fanaticism of these days.  The right of negroes
Mr. KELLEY.  I beg leave to say that it was  to become voters, jurois, and in all respects equal
done throughout the State, and was in some in-  with the white man, is the favorite theory of the
stances made the subject of litigation.            times aind of the party in power. The day will
Mr. STILES. Itwasneverdoneexceptinone  come when the men who avow such priinciples
county-the county of Bucks-so far as I know   will be condemned by the popular voice everyand then only in one instance.                    j where.