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 The Great Question for the People 
 
 ESSAYS 
 
 ON 
 
 THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE ? 
 
 J H N -H A N C C K , 
 
 COUNSELLOR AT LAW. 
 
 P II I L A D E L P H I A : 
 
 M E 11 R I II E W & SO N, PRINTER S, 
 
 No. 243 Arch Street, below Third St. 
 
 1865. 
 
The Great Question for the People 
 
 ESSAYS 
 
 ON 
 
 THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE; 
 
 OR, 
 
 WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE ? 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK, 
 
 COUNSELLOR AT LAW. 
 
 " The right which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections, is one of the most 
 important rights ; and in a Republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law. It is a 
 right by which we exist as a free people." ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 MERRIHEW & SON, PRINTERS; 
 
 No. 24f Arch Street, below Third. 
 
 1865. 
 
Entered according to Act ot Congress in the year 1865, by 
 
 JOHN HAXCOCK, 
 in the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
TK 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE subject of these few pages is of itself of the highest importance. 
 To no people on earth can it be destitute of interest ; and to ourselves 
 at this time it may well take precedence of all others. 
 
 The stiff phrase " elective franchise" means the right of choice, and a 
 moment's reflection will show us that those who choose the rulers are 
 the virtual governors ; and thus the question, " Who shall vote ?" re- 
 solves itself into the question, " Who shall rule ?" If ever a grave 
 theme came before an earnest people, this is one. We shall need all the 
 discoveries of former time, and all the wisdom of our own, to do it jus- 
 tice ; and even with all these, we may deferentially exclaim, " Who is 
 sufficient for this thing !" 
 
 But while thus impressed with our great responsibility, let us not forget 
 that cowardice is no element of safety. We have not officiously gone 
 out of the .beaten track of duty to meddle with this matter. It lies full 
 before us, and will allow of no evasion. The stern necessity of present 
 consideration lies upon us, the grand panel of the nation, the present 
 voters of our great republic ; and the sacrificed dead and the helpless 
 living unite to remind us in loving earnestness, " for this end were ye 
 born 1" 
 
 The author, in his search for precedents, has gleaned from the whole 
 field of the past. Greece and Borne, and all the intervening govern- 
 ments send their tributes of experience. Our European fathers are 
 brought to the witness-stand, and after them appear our own wise men 
 from PATRICK HENRY down to EDWARD EVERETT. The amount of valu- 
 
 245 
 
able testimony here condensed is very great, and could not be attained 
 otherwise without much time and expense. We here have the voice of 
 the wise and good speaking to us in grand harmony, and just at the time 
 when the counsel is needed. 
 
 We are called upon to fix, or at least to initiate, a new order of things 
 for half a continent! We have uprooted the Thistle and Jamestown 
 weed from the Southern soil ; how and with what shall we plant it anew ? 
 We find society there actually made up of extremes of white men and 
 black men alike unfit for responsibility and trust ! What fearful mate- 
 rials of which to build the great temple of peace and safety ! Of the 
 former dynasty we have as much to deplore as to remember ; not a 
 charred beam from the old building will serve us for the new ! The 
 former structure as a whole was a warning, and its details each a sepa- 
 rate disgrace. The mangled ruins around which EZRA gathered the 
 remnant of Israel, were a good assortment of stone and timber com- 
 pared with those among which we now walk in the South at once in 
 sorrow and anger. 
 
 Shall we then call the former architects to build for us? They set 
 their own house upon shifting sands and made it lean so as to fall upon 
 ours ! They had laws to produce and protect crime through a few gene- 
 rations, and to ensure ruin of the whole State at the last. What they 
 have suffered and what we have barely escaped should make us careful 
 for ever. 
 
 Whatever else is doubtful, this is clear, our Rebel leaders must never 
 return to power. However we may pass over their forfeited lives, per- 
 petual banishment from citizenship is theirs. Better leave the field in 
 continual fallow, than gather again the tares and cheat as bread for the 
 nation. If the loyal black may not yet vote, the rebel white must not,v- 
 " Be just and fear not," is the true watchword of the day. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Grecian and Koman customs of Representation and mode of Voting 
 Cause of their downfall English Nation during the Feudal Age 
 Magna Charter Frequency of elections under William III. and 
 Charles II Elections in Ireland Representation in the British Ameri- 
 can Colonies. 
 
 AMONG all the absorbing questions of the day now dis- 
 cussed, relative to the future policy and well-being of the Ameri- 
 can Republic, there is no one that is paramount to that of the 
 rights and privileges which belong to the people in their individ- 
 ual political capacities ; particularly since the recent abortive 
 attempt to overthrow the Government of. the Nation has had the 
 effect to change, very materially, the character and political ca- 
 pacities and rights of a large class of the community who, here- 
 tofore, have been debarred, except incidentally, of those rights 
 which have been confined, as a general rule, to the privileged 
 classes. 
 
 As precedents, however, as well as interesting matters of his- 
 tory, before entering directly upon the subject in question, we 
 shall cite those of ancient Greece and of Rome, as well as that 
 of the more modern Kingdom of Great Britain from which our 
 ancestors undoubtedly borrowed much of the system upon which 
 our own is based, as examples of the dangers and disorders 
 which have arisen from the earliest periods down even to the 
 present hour, from the abuse of the political powers entrusted to 
 the general populace, as well as the too great abridgment of their 
 undoubted rights and privileges. 
 
 The ancient Greeks and Romans had but very imperfect notions 
 of the value of representation ; the number and power of their 
 popular assemblies were so great and so liable to disorder, as to 
 render it a provident jneasure with them to be guarded in diffus- 
 ing the privileges of free citizens. Not a tenth part of 
 the people of Athens were admitted to the privileges of voting 
 
in the assemblies of the people, and, indeed, nine-tenths of the 
 inhabitants throughout all Greece were slaves. 
 
 During the most flourishing period of the Athenian Democra- 
 cy, every citizen of the age of eighteen had a right to hold of- 
 fice, and to give a vote at the assemblies of the people. The 
 most crowded assemblies rarely exceeded 8000, though Attica con- 
 tained 20,000 citizens. All were reckoned citizens whose parents 
 were such. To assume unlawfully the rights of a citizen was 
 punished by being sold into slavery. The assemblies of the peo- 
 ple were convened by magistrates, and the chairman or president 
 presided at them, and proposed the subject to be discussed, and 
 had the bills, which had been previously prepared and sanctioned 
 by the senate, (for the fundamental law allowed none others to 
 be considered,) recited, and gave permission to the orators to 
 speak, though the liberty of addressing the people on the subject 
 was open to all. The chairman also put the question to vote, 
 whether to adopt or reject the proposition. The assembly had 
 the right to vary or alter it. The people generally voted by 
 show of hands, and sometimes by ballot. They voted by tribes 
 (of which there were ten,) but a majority of the whole assembly, 
 collectively, decided. 
 
 It was owing to this system of assembling the people in masses, 
 and not by representation, to make laws ; and from a want of 
 well-defined and distinctive departments, that that celebrated Re- 
 public terminated its career in anarchy and despotism. 
 
 So, also, in ancient Rome, no tests of property or character 
 were required ; and as the people assembled within the walls of 
 that City in immense masses, not merely to vote, but to make 
 laws, it produced the utmost anarchy and corruption, and has 
 justly been regarded as precipitating the fall of that Common- 
 wealth. The Roman slaves were not represented, and Rome ex- 
 ercised the right of absolute sovereignty over the dominions of 
 its auxiliaries. The Roman citizens, who exclusively exercised 
 as voters the power of government, bore, therefore, a very small 
 proportion in numbers to the gross amount of inhabitants. The 
 Roman mode of passing laws, and voting, was under great checks, 
 during the best period of the Government. When a law was 
 proposed and discussed, the people proceeded to vote. The origi- 
 
nal mode of voting was viva voce, but at a later period it was by 
 ballot, and applied equally to the election of magistrates, to public 
 trials, and to making and repealing laws. The people were made 
 to pass over a narrow plank into an enclosure, where certain of- 
 ficers delivered to every voter two tablets, one for and one against 
 the proposition, and each person threw into a chest which 
 of them he pleased, and they were pointed off, and the greatest 
 number of points either way determined the sense of the voice 
 of the whole people, who either passed or rejected the law.* 
 
 The English nation, during the Feudal Age, enjoyed the bless- 
 ings of popular representation, and the knights, citizens and bur- 
 gesses were intended to represent the farmers, merchants and 
 manufacturers, who composed the several orders and classes of 
 people of which the nation was composed. f But the mutations 
 of time and commerce, says Justice KENT, in depopulating an- 
 cient boroughs, and in establishing new cities, and great manufac- 
 turing establishments, without any direct parliamentary repre- 
 sentation, changed the structure of the House of Commons, and 
 rendered it, in theory at least, a very inadequate and imperfect 
 organ of the will of the nation. But, notwithstanding the great 
 imperfections, at this early period, of the constitution of the 
 English House of Commons, nevertheless, in all periods of Eng- 
 lish History, it felt strongly the vigor of the popular principle. 
 
 While on the Continent of Europe the degeneracy of the feu- 
 dal system, the influence of thej^apal hierarchy, the political 
 maxims of the imperial or civil law, and the force of standing 
 armies, extinguished the freedom of the Gothic Governments, 
 and abolished the representation of the people ; the English 
 House of Commons continued to be the asylum of European lib- 
 erty. And when we take into consideration the admirable plan 
 of their judicial polity, and those two distinguished guardians of 
 civil liberty, trial by jury, and the freedom of the press, it is no 
 longer a matter of astonishment that the nation, in full posses- 
 sion of these inestimable blessings, should enjoy greater security 
 of person and property than was ever enjoyed in Athens or 
 
 *Mitford's Greece, vol. i. p. 354, 357. Kent's Com., vol. i. part 2, p. 
 '232. 
 
 1 1 Blackstone's Commentaries, p. 174. 
 
8 
 
 Sparta, Carthage or Rome, or in any of the commonwealths of 
 Italy during the period of the middle ages. 
 
 Agreeably to the English historians there existed no delibera- 
 tive legislative assembly in England prior to the reign of Henry 
 III., which was the era of the establishment of Magna Charta, 
 and the introduction of popular representation in England, and 
 of the establishment of the House of Commons, in the time of 
 Henry III. and Edward I. By its provisions no taxation was 
 to be imposed but by Parliament, which was to consist of the 
 higher clergy and nobility, and the tenants of the chief under 
 the crown. 
 
 Under the reform acts and down to the present period, the 
 names of electors are required to be registered and to possess 
 certain property qualifications. 
 
 The scheme of representation, as a substitute for a meeting of 
 the citizens in person, being but imperfectly known, it is in more 
 modern times that we are to expect examples more instructive 
 and analogous to our own particular case. 
 
 The history of this branch of the English Constitution, ante- 
 rior to the date of Magna Charta, is too obscure to yield instruc- 
 tion. The very existence of it has been made a question among 
 political antiquarians. The earliest records of subsequent date 
 prove that Parliaments were to sit only every year, not that they 
 were to be elected every year. And even these annual sessions 
 were left so much at the direction of the monarch that, under 
 various pretexts, very long aifd dangerous intermissions were of- 
 ten contrived by royal ambitions. To remedy this grievance, it 
 was provided by a statute, in the reign of Charles II., that the 
 intermission should not be protracted beyond a period of three 
 years. On the accession of William III., when a revolution 
 took place in the Government, it was declared to be among the 
 fundamental rights of the people that Parliaments ought to be 
 held frequently ; and under Charles II. it was expressly enacted 
 that a new Parliament shall be called within three years after the 
 determination of the former.* From these facts it appears that 
 
 * For an interesting history of this subject see Blackstone's Cora., 
 vol. i. chap. ii. p. 145. 
 
9 
 
 the greatest frequency of elections which has been deemed neces- 
 sary in that Kingdom, for binding the representatives to their 
 constituents, does not exceed a triennial return of them. 
 
 Elections in Ireland were formerly regulated entirely by the 
 discretion of the Crown, and were seldom repeated, except on 
 the accession of a new prince, or some other contingent event. 
 The Parliament which commenced with George II. was con- 
 tinued through his whole reign, a period of about thirty-five 
 years. The only chance for representation by the people con- 
 sisted in the right of the latter to supply occasional vacancies 
 by the election of a new member, which death or some other 
 event might render a new election necessary. 
 
 What effect may have been produced by these partial reforms, 
 the example of Ireland can throw but little light upon the sub- 
 ject ; and the conclusion may be drawn, that if the people of 
 that country have been able, under all these disadvantages, to 
 retain any liberty whatever, the advantage of biennial elections 
 would secure to them every degree of liberty, which might de- 
 pend on a due connexion between their representatives and 
 themselves. 
 
 In the British-American Colonies, the principle of represen- 
 tation was established in one branch of the Legislature, but the 
 periods of election varied from one to seven years. 
 
 The right of representation in Parliament, it will be recollect- 
 ed, was among the causes which led to the dissatisfaction of our 
 colonial ancestors to. the mother-government, and the final 
 separation from British rule. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Equal Suffrage among the States an exceptional part of the Confedera- 
 tion Opinion of Hamilton Definition of Bight of Suffrage Difference 
 of Opinion between Hamilton and Madison Right of Suffrage under 
 the First Continental Congress Origin of the Three -Fifths Appor- 
 tionment. 
 
 HAVING thus briefly traced, from the earliest periods, the 
 origin and operation^ of the " Jlight of Suffrage," or "Elec- 
 tive Franchise," as it is also sometimes called, we are brought 
 
10 
 
 down to that interesting cycle in political economy which is the 
 more immediate subject for our own investigation, viz. : the 
 American " Right of Suffrage." 
 
 " The right of equal suffrage among the States was an ex- 
 ceptionable part of the Confederation. Every idea of propor- 
 tion, and every rule of fair representation," said Mr. HAMIL- 
 TON, " conspire to condemn a principle which gave to the smaller 
 States an equal power with the larger. Although the States 
 may be of a majority, yet, at the same time, may not contain 
 one-half of the number of inhabitants of the minority. At that 
 period, the States of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jer- 
 sey, Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina, and Maryland were a 
 majority of the whole number of States, but they did not con- 
 tain one-third of the people. 
 
 " Under such circumstances, if the States, in their sovereign 
 capacity, should control the electoral vote instead of the people, 
 only one-third of the people would be represented. 
 
 " That the larger States would acquiesce in the privation of 
 such an unequal importance of their political power, it would 
 neither be rational to expect nor just to require of them."* 
 
 The rule of suffrage adopted^by the First Continental Con- 
 gress was one of necessity, for the reason that it was impossible 
 to ascertain the relative importance of each Colony. The mem- 
 bers being only an assembly of committees of one from each 
 of the Colonies, called together to deliberate how each could aid 
 the other in obtaining redress of grievances from Parliament 
 and the Crown. 
 
 The character of the government under the Articles of Con- 
 federation was, that each State should have an equal voice with 
 every other. In order to nationalize the government, it was 
 necessary that this system should be changed, so that the rela- 
 tive population of the several States should be properly repre- 
 sented. This gave rise to much discussion and opposition from 
 the smaller States. 
 
 The question was, upon what basis this representation should 
 be placed, whether it should be confined to those on whom some 
 of the States had conferred the elective franchise ; or, whether 
 it should include white inhabitants only, or free inhabitants of 
 other races, excluding slaves ; or, whether it should embrace the 
 
 * Federalist, No. xxn. page 184. 
 
11 
 
 whole population of each State. To have adopted this last 
 mode of representation in the National Legislature, it would 
 have consisted of one presenting great inequalities. 
 
 The elective franchise had been conferred in the different 
 States upon very different principles, according to their pecu- 
 liar policy and manners. These inequalities could scarcely have 
 been removed ; for the right of suffrage in some States was 
 more or less connected with their systems of descent and distri- 
 bution of property, and those systems could not readily be 
 changed, so as to adapt the condition of society to the new in- 
 terest of representation and influence in the general govern- 
 ment. This plan was therefore out of the question. 
 
 It was nearly impracticable to confine the basis of represen- 
 tation to the white inhabitants of the States, for the reason that 
 some of the States, where slavery had become extinct, contained 
 a large number of free blacks, who were regarded as citizens in 
 some of these States, which contributed to increase the aggregate 
 numbers and wealth of the State, and thus to raise its scale of 
 relative rank but not so in the Slave States. A State con- 
 taining several thousand of these inhabitants might well say, 
 that, although a distinct race, they formed too large a portion 
 of its free population to be omitted without inquiries into the 
 condition and importance of other classes of its free inhabitants. 
 
 It was equally impracticable to form a national government 
 in which the basis of representation should be confined to the 
 free inhabitants of the States. The five States of Maryland, 
 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, includ- 
 ing their slaves, were found by the first census, taken three 
 years after the formation of the Constitution, to contain a frac- 
 tion less than one-half of the whole population of the Union.* 
 In three of those States the slaves were a little less than half, 
 and in two of them they were more than half as numerous as 
 the whites. There was no good reason, therefore, except the 
 theoretical one that a slave can have no actual voice in govern- 
 ment, and does not need to be represented why a class of 
 States containing nearly half of the whole population of the 
 
 * They contained 1,793,407 inhabitants ; the other eight States had 
 1,845,595, when the Federal census of 1790 was taken. 
 
12 
 
 Confederacy should consent to exclude such large masses of 
 their population from the basis of representation, and thus give 
 to the free inhabitants of each of the other eight States a rela- 
 tively larger share of legislative power than would fall to the 
 free inhabitants of the States thus situated. It became neces- 
 sary, therefore, to regard the peculiar social condition of each of 
 the States, and to construct a system of representation that 
 would place the free inhabitants of each distinct State upon as 
 near a footing of political equality with the free inhabitants of 
 the other States as might, under such circumstances, be pra"cti- 
 cable. This could only be done by treating the slaves as an 
 integral part of the population of the States in which they were 
 found, and by assuming the population of the States as the true 
 basis of their relative representation. 
 
 It was upon this idea of treating the slaves as inhabitants, 
 and not as chattels, or property, that the original decision was 
 made in the committee of the whole, by which it was at first de- 
 termined to include them. Having decided that there ought to 
 be an equitable ratio of representation, the committee went on 
 to declare that the basis of representation ought to include the 
 whole number of white and other free citizens and inhabitants, 
 of every age, sex, arid condition, including those bound to servi- 
 tude for a term of years ; and they then added to the popula- 
 tion thus described, three-fifths of all other persons not compre- 
 hended in that description, excepting Indians not paying taxes. 
 The proportion of three-fifths was borrowed from a rule which 
 had obtained the sanction of nine States in Congress in the year 
 1783, w r hen it was proposed to change the basis of contribution 
 by the States to the expenses of the Union from property to 
 population. At that time, the slave-holding States had consented 
 
 that three-fifths of their slaves should be counted in the census 
 
 i 
 
 which was to fix the amount of their contribution ; and they asked 
 that, in the apportionment of representatives, these persons might 
 still be regarded as inhabitants of the State in the same ratio.* 
 
 " The definition of the right of suffrage, is very justly regarded 
 as a fundamental article of republican government. It was in- 
 
 
 
 *Curtis's Hist. Constitution, vol. ii. pp. 35 to 49. 
 
13 
 
 cumbent on the Convention* therefore, to define and establish this * 
 right in the Constitution. To have left it open for the occasional 
 regulation of the Congress, or to have submitted it to the legisla- 
 tive discretion of the States, would have been equally improper. 
 For the reason that it would have left that branch of the federal 
 government too dependent on the State governments, which 
 ought to be dependent on the people. The provision made must 
 be satisfactory to ever y State as well as safe to the United States ; 
 because, being fixed by the State constitutions, it is not alterable 
 by the State governments, and it is not to be feared that the 
 people of the States will alter their Constitutions, so as to abridge 
 the rights secured to them by the Federal Constitution.*" 
 
 "A share in the sovereignty of the State, which is exercised by 
 the citizens at large, in voting at elections," wrote Mr. HAMIL- 
 TON, "is one of the most important rights of the subject; and in a 
 Republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law. 
 It is a rightly which we exist as a free people.^ The qualifica- 
 tions both of the electors and the elected ought to be fundamental 
 in a republican form of government, not liable to be varied or 
 added to by the Legislature, and they should forever remain 
 where the Constitution left them."J 
 
 The theoretical opinions of Mr. HAMILXTON upon this subject 
 were directly in conflict with those of Mr. MADISON, whose birth 
 and education was in a 'planting State which limited the suffrage 
 to persons having an interest in real estate. Mr. MADISON held 
 that "the free-holders of the country would be the safest de- 
 positories of American liberty." Mr. HAMILTON, on the con- 
 trary, who entertained more enlarged views, sought to organize a 
 system by which all the great powers should be derived from the 
 body of the citizens : "the only theory," said he, "consistent 
 with the natural and constitutional rights of a free people.'' 
 
 *Federalist, No. LII. pp. 403, 404. 
 f Hamilton's Works, ii. p. 315. 
 JHist. Eep. iii. 207. 
 
14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Elective Franchise in the General and the State Governments Fre- 
 quency of Elections Opinion of Hamilton Extent of power and ex- 
 tent of Territory considered Madison on stability of Government 
 Evils of too frequent changes. 
 
 HAVING defined the fundamental principles upon which the 
 elective franchise should be based, and its defects under the Con- 
 federacy, we will next consider in what manner it is exercised 
 under the present Constitution, in the General and State Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 First. As to the frequency of elections. 
 
 "As it is essential to liberty," writes Mr. HAMILTON, u that the 
 government in general should have a common interest with the 
 people ; so it is particularly essential, that the branch of it under 
 consideration should have an immediate dependence on, and an 
 intimate sympathy with the people. Frequent elections are un- 
 questionably the only policy by which this dependence and sym- 
 pathy can be effectually secured. But what particular degree of 
 frequency may be absolutely necessary for the purpose, does not 
 appear to be susceptible of any precise calculation and must de- 
 pend on a variety of circumstances, with which it may be con- 
 nected. Let us consult experience, the guide that ought always 
 to be followed, whenever it can be found. 
 
 ******* 
 
 " Have we any reason to infer from the spirit and conduct of 
 the representatives of the people, prior to the revolution, that 
 biennial elections would have been dangerous to the public liber- 
 ties ? The spirit, which every where displays itself, at the com- 
 mencement of the struggle, and which vanquished the obstacles 
 to independence, is the best proof that a sufficient portion of 
 liberty had been every where enjoyed, to inspire both a sense of 
 its worth, and a zeal for its proper enlargement. This remark 
 holds good, as well with regard to the then colonies, whose elec- 
 tions were least frequent, as to those whose elections were fre- 
 quent. Virginia was the colony which stood first in resisting 
 the parliamentary usurpation of Great Britain ; it was the first 
 also in espousing, by public act, the resolution of independence. 
 In Virginia, nevertheless, if I have not been misinformed, elec- 
 tions under the former government were septennial. This par- 
 
ticular example is brought into view, not as a proof of any 
 peculiar merit, for the priority in those instances was probably 
 accidental ; and still less of any advantage in septennial elections, 
 for when compared with a greater frequency, they are inadmis- 
 sible ; but merely as a proof, and I conceive it to be a very sub* 
 stantial proof, that the liberties of the people can be in no danger 
 from biennial elections." (Federalist, No. LII. 404 407.) 
 
 The extent of the power that is to be conferred, and the extent 
 of the territory in which that power is to be exercised, are sub- 
 jects to be considered, with the frequency of elections. 
 
 In the separate States themselves, where the Capitol of the 
 State is situated at a convenient distance to the members of the 
 Legislature, and where the extent of the territory is limited and 
 does not require a very extended power, the frequency of the 
 elections would not be so objectional, as they would where greater 
 power and greater distances exist. Therefore, such shorter period 
 of time generally one year have been fixed by the States them- 
 selves, as best suited their convenience and policy. 
 
 Besides, where the laws are uniform throughout the State, 
 and the general affairs are not much diversified, it is presumed 
 that all the citizens are more or less acquainted with them, and 
 that they occupy much of the attention of all classes of the 
 people. 
 
 When we consider the General Government, however, in re- 
 spect to the frequency of elections, it presents quite a different 
 aspect. The local laws are so far from being uniform 
 that they vary in every State ; whilst the public affairs of the 
 Union are spread throughout a very extensive region, and are 
 extremely diversified by the local affairs connected with them, 
 and can with difficulty be correctly learned in any other place 
 than in the central <jguncils, to which a knowledge of them will 
 be brought by the representatives of every part of the country. 
 
 In regard to the extent of the Union and the distance from 
 the several States to the capitol of the nation, any former ob- 
 jections that may have been brought, or inconveniences expe- 
 rienced by the members of Congress, are being constantly les- 
 sened by the great " anmhilators both of time and distance," 
 the steamboat and railroad. 
 
16 . 
 
 Relative to the frequency of elections, therefore, in the Na- 
 tional Government, the danger lies in other directions. 
 
 " It is a misfortune, inseparable from human affairs," says 
 Jlr. MADISON,* "that public measures are rarely investigated 
 with that spirit of moderation which is essential to a just esti- 
 mate of their real tendency to advance, or obstruct, the public 
 good; and that this spirit is more apt to'be diminished than 
 promoted bv those occasions which require an unusual exercise 
 of it." 
 
 >}e :j * * * * >K 
 
 '' The genius of republican liberty seems to demand on one 
 side, not only that all power should be derived from the people, 
 but that those entrusted with it should be kept in dependence 
 on the people, by a short duration of their appointments ; and 
 that even during this short period, the trust should be placed 
 not in a few, but in a number of hands. Stability, on the con- 
 trary, requires that the hands in which power is lodged should 
 continue for a length of time the same. A frequent change of 
 men will result from a frequent return of elections ; and a fre- 
 quent change of measures from a frequent change of men; 
 whilst energy of government requires not only a certain dura- 
 tion of power, but the execution of if by a single hand." 
 
 After an experience of nearly one century, it is found that 
 one of the most serious evils that have existed in the operations 
 of the General Government, and tended as much towards its 
 destruction as any other, has arisen from the too limited pe- 
 riod of the Presidents term of office and too frequent elections. 
 Such has become the rage for party measures, that so soon as a 
 President of the Republic is inaugurated, and a new epoch in 
 the national administration commenced, it is made the starting- 
 point for schemes of opposition and for seeking its overthrow. 
 
 These constant changes in the executive department have 
 tended to keep the whole country in a constant state of excite- 
 ment and instability ; affording to designing demagogues (wire- 
 pullers) opportunities for continued party agitation, and to the 
 corrupt seekers of power and place, means to carry out their 
 designs for pillaging the national treasury and robbing the coun- 
 try of its government resources in all its various departments ; 
 which evils could be remedied by longer terms of the executive 
 * Federalist, No. xxxvn 282285. 
 
17 
 
 administration, with vigilant surveillance over all these several 
 departments, thus holding forth less inducements for political 
 intrigue. 
 
 One of the greatest safe-guards of government rests upon 
 those into whose hands its administration falls. 
 
 Although the executive department of the United States may 
 he of long duration, yet, as the legislative department meet an- 
 nually for the supervision of the affairs of all the different de- 
 partments of the National Government, and the members of 
 Congress come from every part of the Union, having different 
 interests, and composed of different party influences, there is 
 but little opportunity for abuse of power to any great extent in 
 the executive department. 
 
 Therefore, should the President be'elected for a term of longer 
 duration, it would have a tendency towards further establishing 
 the stability and tranquillity of the Government, and abridge 
 the inducements for corruption and misrule than the shorter 
 terms that now prevail ; at the same time, it would lessen the 
 evils of political party organizations, which are the constant 
 disturbers of the national tranquillity. 
 
 Notwithstanding any designs on the part of the President 
 himself, or any intrigues or corruptions that may exist in his 
 cabinet councils, either to destroy the Government, or misdirect 
 its powers, or exhaust its treasury, with the numerous checks 
 by which they are surrounded, a long period of his administra- 
 tion would afford much less inducement and be much more 
 likely to detect any such existing evils. 
 
 " In republics," says Mr. HAMILTON, " persons elevated from 
 the mass of the community, by the suffrages of their fellow- 
 citizens, to stations of great pre-eminence and power, may find 
 compensations for betraying their trusts. Hence it is, that his- 
 tory furnishes us with so many mortifying examples of the pre- 
 valency of corruptions in republican governments. How much 
 of this contributed to the ruin of the ancient commonwealths, 
 has already been disclosed."* 
 
 * Federalist, page 190. 
 2 
 
18 
 
 Our own republic may not now inaptly be cited, in the future 
 pages of history, as affording instances of betrayed trusts. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Members of Congress and their Qualifications Hamilton's 
 Opinion of their Competency Remarks of Justice Story. 
 
 THE next subject for important consideration is the character 
 and competency of the member of Congress, to whom is en- 
 trusted the supervision of the general affairs of the nation, as 
 well as the construction of new laws and regulations. 
 
 Independent of a thorough knowledge of the United States 
 Constitution, he should possess not only a knowledge of the Con- 
 stitution and laws of his own State, but also of those of all the 
 other States. For he is not sent to legislate for his own State 
 alone, but for the welfare of the whole Union. He should possess 
 also some knowledge of the foreign affairs of the country and 
 the law of nations, so as to be able to act understandingly upon 
 questions of commercial policy and treaties, which are among the 
 leading objects of the national administration. 
 
 The great object of the electors, then, should be to obtain for 
 rulers men who possess the wisdom to discern, and the virtue to 
 pursue, the common good of the country ; and next, to take the 
 most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous, whilst they 
 continue to hold their public trust. This precaution should con- 
 sist in such a limitation of the term of appointment as will secure 
 a proper responsibility to the people. 
 
 From all past experience, however, it may be safely asserted 
 that a large number of the members are sent to this branch of 
 the government for party purposes, and in order to secure into 
 their own hands the controlling power, the emoluments of office, 
 and the seizure of the Treasury of the nation. 
 
 What language more appropriate for this place than that of the 
 late Justice STORY, upon the subject of the neglect of the people 
 to watch and guard the true interests of the republic, and the ap- 
 pointment of proper persons to offices of responsibility and trust. 
 
19 
 
 "America," said he, "free, happy and enlightened as she is, 
 must rest the preservation of her .rights and liberties upon the 
 virtue, independence, justice and sagacity of her people. If 
 either fail, the republic is gone. Its shadow may remain with 
 all the pomp and circumstance, and trickery of government, but 
 its vital power will have departed. 
 
 " In America the demagogue may rise as well as elsewhere. 
 He is the natural growth of republics ; and like the courtier, he 
 may by his blandishments delude the ears and blind the eyes of 
 the people to their own destination. If ever the day shall arrive, 
 in which the best talents and the best virtues shall be driven 
 from office by intrigue or corruption, by the ostracism of the 
 press, or the still more unrelenting persecution of party, legisla- 
 tion will cease to be national. It will be wise by accident and 
 bad by system. 
 
 "It is in vain that statesmen shall form plans of government, 
 if the inhabitants suffer the silent power of time to dilapidate its. 
 walls, or crumble its massy supporters into dust, if the assaults 
 from without are not resisted, and the rottenness and mining from 
 within are never guarded against. Who can preserve the rights 
 and liberties of the people when they shall be abandoned by 
 themselves ? Who shall keep watch in the temple when the 
 watchmen sleep at their posts ? Who shall call upon the people 
 to redeem their possessions, and revive the republic, when their 
 own hands have deliberately and corruptly surrendered them to 
 the oppressor, and have built the prisons and dug the graves of 
 their own friends ? This dark picture, it is to be hoped, will nev- 
 er be applicable to the Republic of America. And yet it affords 
 a warning, which, like all the lessons of past experience, we are 
 not permitted to disregard." 
 
 The people of the nation, as well as the friends to American 
 liberty throughout the world, have just cause for thanks to Him 
 who is the governing power of all empires and kingdoms, and for 
 congratulation to themselves that the Union, through the virtue 
 and patriotism of its citizens, has been happily rescued from the 
 impending brink of ruin by which it has so recently been threat- 
 ened ; that the dark picture, portrayed in the warning language 
 of this eminent patriot, has vanished from view, and his fondest 
 hopes for the preservation of the institutions of the country, 
 for which he seemingly entertained some misgivings, bid fair to 
 be realized. 
 
20 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Who are citizens of the United States ? Opinion of Justice Curtis in 
 case of Dred Scott Constitution of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia 
 and North Carolina, relative to Negro Suffrage Opinion of Judge 
 Gaston, State v. Manuel. 
 
 HAVING thus briefly traced the " right of suffrage " from its 
 origin, and examined its powers in the several States the fre- 
 quency of elections, etc., we shall now consider the classes of 
 citizens to whom this right constitutionally belongs. 
 
 The first question that arises under this head is Who are 
 citizens of the United States ? 
 
 The whole of this important subject was very ably discussed in 
 the late case of Dred Scott v. Sanford, in which case both 
 Justices McLane and Curtis dissented from their associate Justi- 
 ces. The truly patriotic stand which those eminent jurists main- 
 tained in that noted case, so vital to the interests and welfare of 
 that class of our citizens whose change of condition to free men 
 has placed them on an equal footing with the white population, 
 bids fair to more fully develope the soundness of the doctrines 
 upon which they based their opinions. 
 
 The remarks of Mr. Justice CURTIS on that occasion, covering 
 the whole ground, are embraced in the following quotations : 
 
 u One mode of approaching this question is, to inquire who 
 were citizens of the United States at the time of the adoption of 
 the Constitution. 
 
 " Citizens of the United States at the time of the adoption of 
 the Constitution can have been no other than citizens of the 
 United States under the Confederation. By the Articles of Con- 
 federation a Government was organized, the style whereof was, 
 ' The United States of America.' This Government was in ex- 
 istence when the Constitution was framed and proposed for adop- 
 tion, and was to be superseded by the new Government of the 
 United States of America, organized under the Constitution. 
 When, therefore, the Constitution speaks of citizenship of the 
 United States existing at the time of the adoption of the Con- 
 stitution, it must necessarily refer to citizenship under the Gov- 
 ernment which existed prior to and at the time of such adoption. 
 
 "Without going into any question concerning the powers of 
 Confederation to govern the territory of the United States out 
 
21 
 
 of the limits of the States, and consequently to sustain the rela- 
 tion of Government and citizen in respect to the inhabitants of 
 such territory, it may safely be said that the citizens of the sev- 
 eral States were citizens of the United States under the Con- 
 federation. 
 
 u That Government was simply a confederacy of the several 
 States, possessing a few defined powers over subjects of general 
 concern, each State retaining every power, jurisdiction and right, 
 not expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assem- 
 bled. And no power was thus delegated to the Government of 
 the Confederation, to act on any question of citizenship, or to 
 make any rules in respect thereto. The whole matter was left 
 to stand upon the action of the several States, and to the natural 
 consequence of such action, that the citizens of each State should 
 be citizens of that Confederacy into which that State had entered, 
 the style whereof was, ' The United States of America.' " 
 
 As we remarked in the commencement of our present sub- 
 ject, recent events in the history of our country having mate- 
 rially changed the political condition of a large class of the 
 colored population, by the extinction of slavery, who have here- 
 tofore been debarred of the rights of suffrage excepting by the 
 system of proxy adopted under the Constitution the important 
 question for solution now remains, what is to be their future 
 status relative to those rights belonging to citizens? or whether 
 the negro is, in fact, a citizen of the United States ? 
 
 " To determine whether any free persons, descended from 
 Africans held in slavery, were citizens of the United States 
 under the Confederation, and, consequently, at the time of the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United States," continues 
 Justice CURTIS, " it is only necessary to know whether anv such 
 persons were citizens of either of the States under the Con- 
 federation at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. 
 
 " Of this there can be no doubt. At the time of the ratifica- 
 tion of the Articles of Confederation, all free native-born 
 inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
 New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, though descended 
 from African slaves, were not only citizens of those States, but 
 such of them as had the other necessary qualifications possessed 
 the franchise of electors on equal terms with other citizens. 
 
 " The Supreme CoVrt of North Carolina, in the case of the 
 State v. Manuel, (4 Dev. & Bab., 20), has declared the law of 
 that State on this subject in terms which I believe to be as 
 
22 
 
 sound law in the other States which I have enumerated, as it 
 was in North Carolina." 
 
 In the State of North Carolina, at this period, the elective 
 franchise was allowed 
 
 " To all persons possessed ot a freehold in any town of this 
 State, having a right to representation, and also all free men 
 who have been inhabitants of any such town twelve months next 
 before and at the day of election, and shall have paid taxes, 
 shall be entitled to vote." 
 
 Judge GASTON, in the case of the State v. Manuel, just 
 referred to, (2 Dev. & Bab. 20), declares, with respect to this 
 early provision, that " it is a matter of universal notoriety that, 
 under it, free persons, without regard to color, claimed and 
 exercised the franchise, until it was taken from free men of 
 color, a few years since, by our amended Constitution." 
 
 The change made in the amended Constitution of 1835 met 
 with much opposition, and was effected by a vote of sixty-six to 
 sixty-one ; the general sentiment being based on the ground of 
 the natural title of all men to equal rights. 
 
 It thus appears that freemen of color in North Carolina were 
 deemed citizens of the State, and exercised the right of suffrage 
 for more than half a century till, in 1835, it was taken from 
 them. Nor does there appear to be any evidence produced, 
 other than that of mere prejudice, to show why they should have 
 ever been debarred of that privilege, where they possessed the 
 necessary qualifications. 
 
 In the Constitution of the little State of Delaware, which 
 evinces the patriotic sentiments of its citizens during the period 
 of 1776, the Elective Franchise clause reads as follows : 
 
 "That the right in the people to participate in the Legislature 
 is the foundation of liberty and of all free governments ; and 
 for this end all elections ought to be free and frequent ; and 
 every free man, having sufficient evidence of a permanent com- 
 mon interest with and attachment to the community, hath a 
 right of suffrage." 
 
 In the State of Maryland, in 1776, it was declared, 
 
 " That every man having property in, a common interest 
 with, and an attachment to the community, ought to have the 
 right of suffrage." 
 
In accordance with this principle, it gave the right to " all 
 freemen above twenty -one years of age," having a certain free- 
 hold or amount of property; and complaints were made that 
 the free negroes, at one time, controlled the elections in Balti- 
 more. But, in 1801 and 1809, amendments were passed which 
 restricted the vote to every free white male citizen, in elections 
 in the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis. - 
 
 In the General Assembly of Virginia in 1777, in the first 
 year of the Commonwealth, an act was passed for disciplining 
 the militia, in which " The free mulattoes were employed as 
 drummers, fifers, or pioneers. (Hening's Stat. at Large, vol. 
 ix. p. 267). It was also made " not lawful to enlist any negro 
 or mulatto into the service, until he produced a certificate from 
 a justice of the peace that he was a free man." (9 Hen. 270, 
 280.) 
 
 In the preamble to an act passed in 1783, Chap. III., it 
 recites that many slaves, during the war, " were enlisted into 
 the army as substitutes, being tendered as free men, and that, on 
 the expiration of the term of enlistment of such slaves, the 
 former owners attempted to force them to return 'to a state of 
 servitude, contrary to the principles of justice, and to their own 
 solemn promise ; * * * as it appears just and reasonable 
 that all persons enlisted, who have faithfully served agreeably 
 to the terms of their enlistment, and have thereby contributed 
 towards the establishment of American liberty and independence, 
 should enjoy the blessings of freedom as a reward for their 
 toils ; it was, therefore, enacted that all such should be held and 
 deemed free, as if each of them were specially named in the 
 act." (11 Hen. 308). 
 
 It thus appears that the colored freemen of Virginia took the 
 oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth as citizens, were 
 enrolled in their militia, were enlisted in the service of the 
 United States, and, during the revolution, fought the battles of 
 the country, and contributed towards the establishment of 
 American liberty and independence. 
 
 In Massachusetts persons of color, descended from African 
 slaves, were, by the Constitution, made citizens of the State, and 
 such of them as had the necessary qualifications have held and 
 
24 
 
 exercised the elective franchise, as citizens, from that time to the 
 present. (See Conn. v. Aves., 18, Pick., k. 210.) 
 
 In the State of Pennsylvania, so identified with that of Mas- 
 sachusetts in all its philanthropic measures for the establishment 
 of Liberty and universal freedom, and in the City of Philadel- 
 phia, where was signed the Declaration of Independence, which 
 important event was announced to the world by the venerated 
 bell, upon which is inscribed that passage from holy- writ : " Pro- 
 claim liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants there- 
 of ;" as early as 1682, WILLIAM PENN, the founder, promulgated 
 " The Frame of Government " for Pennsylvania, under authority 
 of the Charter granted him by King Charles II. In this docu- 
 ment the right of suffrage is given, without restriction, to " the 
 freemen of said province." (Conventions of Pennsylvania, page 
 20.) And in 1701 PENN granted what is known as the " Charter 
 of Privileges," by which instrument the right of suffrage was 
 broadly given to " the freemen of each respective county." (Ibid, 
 page 31.) 
 
 The first Constitution of Pennsylvania was adopted in 1776 ; 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN presided over the Convention. It gave 
 the right of suffrage to " every freeman of the full age of twenty- 
 one years." 
 
 In 1790 a new Constitution was framed, which also gave the 
 'right to vote to "every freeman over the age of twenty-one 
 years." 
 
 "For one hundred and fifty-six years black men," says a con- 
 temporary, " if black there were, voted in Pennsylvania on pre- 
 cisely the same conditions as white men. None of the evils 
 now predicted of black suffrage were experienced. Neither the 
 mental nor social quality of the two races was thereby established. 
 Amalgamation, either through matrimony or without, was not 
 encouraged. Not a black man was made Governor or Judge, 
 member of the Council or the Legislature. Social order was not 
 subverted. The Government was not by white men, for white 
 men, but by all men, for the benefit of .all. 
 
 " In 1838 this democratic basis of government was overthrown, 
 and the rights of suffrage restricted to white folks. That the 
 State has been governed any better since then, no intelligent 
 man will peril his reputation by asserting." 
 
 According to the Constitution of New Hampshire in 1784, 
 
25 
 
 "Every male inhabitant of each town and parish, with town 
 privileges, and places unincorporated in this State, of twenty- 
 one years of age a-nd upwards, excepting paupers and persons ex- 
 cluded from paying taxes at their own request, shall have a right 
 at the annual or other meetings of the inhabitants of said town 
 and parishes, to be duly named and holden annually forever in 
 the month of March, to vote in the town or parish wherein he 
 dwells, for a Senator in the district whereof he is a member." 
 
 In the Constitution of New York, adopted in 1777, the follow- 
 ing provision is found in the elective franchise clause : 
 
 " That every male inhabitant, of full age, who shall have per- 
 sonally resided in one of the counties of this State for six months 
 immediately preceding the day of election, shall, at such election, 
 be entitled to vote for Representatives of the said county in As- 
 sembly ; if, during the time aforesaid, he shall have been a free- 
 holder, possessing a freehold of the value of twenty pounds with- 
 in the said county, or have rented a tenement therein of the 
 yearly value of forty shillings, and have voted and actually paid 
 taxes to this State." (See Constitution of New York, Art. II., 
 Rev. Statutes, Vol. i. p. 126.) 
 
 In the Convention to amend their Constitution in 1821, which 
 confined the right of suffrage to white citizens, Chancellor Kent 
 said, " it deserved consideration whether such exclusion would 
 not be opposed to the Constitution of the United States." 
 
 In the same debate, Mr. Rufus King, who had been a leading 
 member in the Convention which formed the Constitution of the 
 United States, said 
 
 " That a citizen of color was entitled to all the privileges of 
 a citizen and entitled to vote ; he comes here, he purchases prop- 
 erty, he pays your taxes, conforms to your laws ;. how can you 
 then, under the Act of the Constitution of the United States, 
 exclude him ?" (Rep. and Deb. of N. Y. Conven., 1821, p. 190, 
 etc.) 
 
 The above amendment was modified by substituting the word 
 ''citizen" for the word "inhabitant," and provides that no man 
 of color, unless he had been a citizen of the State for three 
 years, and for one year next preceding any election, and posses- 
 sed of a freehold estate valued at two hundred and fifty dollars 
 above all debts, and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote. 
 This amendment was carried, Kent, King and Van Buren voting 
 in its favor. 
 
26 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Act of Congress 1778, fourth Article of Confederation Attempt of 
 South Carolina to introduce the word "White" into the Constitution 
 and exclude free blacks from citizenship Mr. Madison on Naturali- 
 zation Mr. Hamilton to Mr. Jay, on N.egroes as Soldiers, etc. 
 Patrick Henry. 
 
 THE fourth of the fundamental articles of the Constitution is 
 as follows: 
 
 " The free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vaga- 
 bonds and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all 
 the privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several 
 States." 
 
 " The fact that free persons of color were citizens of some of 
 the several States, and the consequence that this fourth article 
 of the Confederation would have the effect to confer on such per- 
 sons the privileges and immunities of general citizenship," said 
 Mr. Justice CURTIS, in his able argument in the case of Dred 
 Scott, " were not only known to those who framed and adopted 
 those articles, but the evidence is decisive that the fourth article 
 was intended to have that effect, and that more restricted lan- 
 guage, which would have excluded such persons, was deliberately 
 and purposely rejected. 
 
 " On the 25th of June, 1778, the Articles of Confederation 
 being under consideration by the Congress, the delegates from 
 South Carolina moved to amend this fourth article, by inserting 
 after the word "free," and before the word "inhabitant," the 
 word "white," so that the privileges and immunities of general 
 citizenship would be secured only to white persons. Two States 
 voted for the. amendment South Carolina being one of them 
 eight States against it, and the vote of one State was divided. 
 The language of the article stood unchanged, and both by its 
 terms of inclusion, "free inhabitants," and the strong implica- 
 tion from its terms of exclusion, " paupers, vagabonds and fugi- 
 tives from justice," who alone were excepted, it is clear that, under 
 the Confederation, and at the time of the adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion, free colored persons of African descent might be, and, by 
 reason of their citizenship in certain States, were entitled to the 
 privileges and immunities of general citizenship of the United 
 'States. 
 
 "Did the Constitution of the United States deprive them or 
 their descendants of citizenship ? 
 
27 
 
 " That Constitution Vas ordained and established by the peo- 
 ple of the United States, through the action in each State of 
 those persons who were qualified by its laws to act therein, in 
 behalf of themselves and other citizens of that State. In some 
 of the States, as we have seen, colored persons were among those 
 qualified by law to act on the subject. The colored persons were 
 not only included in the body of the people of the United States, 
 4 by whom the Constitution was ordained and established,' but in 
 at least five of the States they had the power to act, and doubt- 
 less did act, by their sufferages, upon the question of its adoption. 
 It would be strange if we were to find in that instrument any- 
 thing which deprived of their citizenship any part of the people 
 of the United States who were among those by whom it was estab- 
 lished." 
 
 " I can find nothing in the Constitution which, proprio vigoer, 
 deprives of their citizenship any class of persons who were citi- 
 zens of the United States at the time of its adoption, or who 
 should be native-born citizens of any State after its adoption ; 
 nor any power enabling Congress to disfranchise persons born on 
 the soil of any State, and entitled te citizenship of such State by 
 its Constitution and laws. And my opinion is, that under the 
 Constitution of the United States, every free person born on the 
 soil of a State, who is a citizen of that State by force of its Con- 
 stitution or laws, is also a citizen of the United States." 
 ******* 
 
 " It has been often asserted that the Constitution was made 
 exclusively by and for the white race. It has already been shown 
 that in five of the thirteen original States, colored persons then 
 possessed the elective franchise, and were among those by whom 
 the Constitution was ordained and established. If so, it was not 
 true in point of fact, that the Constitution was exclusively for 
 the white race, is, in my opinion, not only an assumption not 
 warranted by anything in the Constitution, but contradicted by 
 its opening declaration that it was ordained and established by 
 the people of the United States, for themselves and their poster- 
 ity. And as free colored persons were then citizens of at least 
 five States, and so in every sense part of the people of the United 
 States, they were among those for whom and whose posterity the 
 Constitution was ordained and established. 
 
 "Again, it has been objected, that if the Constitution has left 
 to the several States the rightful power to determine who of 
 their inhabitants shall be citizens of the United States, the 
 States may make aliens citizens. 
 
 " The answer is obvious. The Constitution has left to the 
 States the determination what persons born within their respec- 
 
28 
 
 
 
 tive limits shall acquire by birth citizenship of the United States; 
 it has not left to them any power to prescribe any rule for the 
 removal of the disabilities of alienage. This power is exclusively 
 in Congress. 
 
 " It has been further objected, that if free colored persons, 
 born within a particular State, and made citizens of that State 
 by its Constitution and laws, are thereby made citizens of the 
 United States, then, under the second section of the fourth article 
 of the Constitution, such persons would be entitled to all the 
 privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States ; and if 
 so, then colored persons could vote, and be eligible to not only 
 Federal offices, but offices even in those States whose Constitu- 
 tions and laws disqualify colored persons from voting or being 
 elected to office. 
 
 "But* this position rests upon an assumption which I deem un- 
 tenable. Its basis is, that no one can be deemed a citizen of the 
 United States who is not entitled to enjoy all the privileges and 
 franchises which are conferred on any citizen. (See 1 Lit. Ken- 
 tucky R. 326.) That this is not true, under the Constitution of 
 the United States, seems to me clear. 
 
 "A naturalized citizen cannot be President of the United 
 States, nor a Senator till after the lapse of nine years, nor a 
 Representative till after the lapse of seven years, from his nat- 
 uralization. Yet, as soon as naturalized, he is certainly a citi- 
 zen of the United States. Nor is any inhabitant of the District 
 of Columbia, or of either of the Territories, eligible to the office 
 of Senator or Representative in Congress, though they may be 
 citizens of the United States. So in all the States, numerous 
 persons, though citizens, cannot vote, or cannot hold office, 
 either on account of their age, or sex, or the want of the neces- 
 sary legal qualifications. The truth is, that citizenship, under 
 the Constitution of the United States, is not dependent on the 
 possession of any particular political or even of all civil rights ; 
 and any attempt so to define it must lead to error. To what cit- 
 izens the elective franchise shall be confided, is a question to be 
 determined by each State, in accordance with its own views of 
 the necessities or expediencies of its condition. What civil 
 rights shall be enjoyed by its citizens, and whether all shall en- 
 joy the same, or how they may be gained or lost, are to be de- 
 termined in the same way. 
 
 u It has sometimes been urged that colored persons are shown 
 not to be citizens of the United States, by the fact that the na- 
 turalization laws apply only to white persons. But whether a 
 person born in the United States be or be not a citizen, cannot 
 depend on laws which refer only to aliens, and do not effect the 
 
29 
 
 status of persons born in the United States. The utmost effect 
 which can be attributed to them is, to show that Congress has 
 not deemed it expedient generally to apply the rule to colored 
 aliens. That they might do so, if thought fit, is clear. The 
 Constitution has not excluded them. And since that has con- 
 ferred the power on Congress to naturalized colored aliens, it 
 certainly shows color is not a necessary qualification for citizen- 
 ship under the Constitution of the United States. It may be 
 added, that the power to make colored persons citizens of the 
 United States, under the Constitution, has been actually exercised 
 in repeated and important instances. (See Treaties with the 
 Choctaws, of September 27, 1830, Article 14 ; with the Chero- 
 kees, of May 23, 1836, Art 12 ; Treaty of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, 
 Feb. 2, 1848, Article 8.)" 
 
 In regard to the question, who are citizens of the United States, 
 MB. Madison remarks : (Fed., No. XLII. p. 335.) 
 
 " That the dissimilarity in the rules of naturalization has long 
 been remarked as a fault in our system, and as lying a founda- 
 tion for intricate and delicate questions. In the fourth article 
 of the confederation, it is declared, 4 that the free inhabitants of 
 each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from jus- 
 tice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities 
 of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each 
 State shall, in every other, enjoy all the privileges of trade and 
 commerce,' &c. There is a confusion of language here, which is 
 remarkable. Why the terms free inhabitants are used in one 
 part of the article, free citizens in another, bud. people in another ; 
 or what was meant by superadding to i all privileges and immu- 
 nities of free citizens ' ' all the privileges of trade and com- 
 merce,' cannot easily be determined. It seems to be a construc- 
 tion scarcely avoidable, however, that those who come under the 
 denomination of free inhabitants of a State, although not citizens 
 of such State, are entitled, in every other State, to all the privi- 
 leges of free citizens of the latter ; that is, to greater privileges 
 than they may be entitled to in their own State : so that it may 
 be in the power of a particular State, or rather every State is 
 laid under a necessity, not only to confer the rights of citizen- 
 .ship in other States upon any whom it may admit to such rights 
 within itself, but upon any whom it may allow to become inhabi- 
 tants within its jurisdiction. But were an exposition of the- term 
 4 inhabitants ' to be admitted, which would confine the stipulated 
 privileges to citizens alonft, the difficulty is diminished only, not 
 removed. The very improper power would still be retained by each 
 State, of naturalizing aliens in every other State. In one State, 
 
30 
 
 residence for a short term confers all the rights of citizenship ; in 
 another, qualifications of greater importance are required. An 
 alien, therefore, legally incapacitated for certain rights in the latter, 
 may, by previous residence only in the former, elude his incapa- 
 city ; and thus the law of one State be preposterously rendered 
 paramount to the law of another, within the jurisdiction of the 
 other. 
 
 " We owe it to mere casualty, that very serious embarrass- 
 ments on this subject have been hitherto escaped. By the laws 
 of the several States, certain description of aliens, who had ren- 
 dered themselves obnoxious, were laid under interdicts inconsis- 
 tent, not only with the rights of citizenship, but with the privi- 
 leges of residence. What would have been the consequence, if 
 such persons, by residence or otherwise, had acquired the char- 
 acter of citizens under the laws of another State, and then as- 
 serted their rights as such, both to residence and citizenship, 
 within the State proscribing them ? Whatever the legal conse- 
 quences might have been, other consequences would probably 
 have resulted of too serious a nature not to be provided against. 
 The new Constitution has accordingly, with great propriety, made 
 provision against them, and all others proceeding from the defect 
 of the confederation on this head, by authorizing the general 
 government to establish an uniform rule of naturalization through- 
 out the United States." 
 
 In a letter from Mr. HAMILTON, of March 14, 1779, addressed 
 to Mr. JAY, then President of Congress, in which it appears 
 that the Southern States were unable to raise a sufficient force 
 of troops, without resorting to the negro population, he says : 
 
 " I have frequently heard it objected to the scheme of em- 
 bodying negroes, that they are too stupid to make soldiers. 
 This is so far from appearing to me a valid objection, that I 
 think their want of cultivation (for their natural faculties are as 
 good as ours], joined to that habit of subordination which they 
 acquire from a life of servitude, will enable them sooner to 
 become soldiers than our white inhabitants. Let officers be men 
 of sense and sentiment, and the nearer soldiers approach to 
 machines, the better. 
 
 " I foresee that this project will have to combat much opposi- 
 tion from prejudice and self-interest. The contempt we have 
 been taught to entertain for the blacks makes us fancy many 
 things that are founded neither in reason nor experience ; and 
 an unwillingness to part with property of so valuable a kind, 
 
81- 
 
 will furnish a thousand arguments to show the impracticability 
 
 or pernicious tendency of a scheme which requires such sacri- 
 fices. ******* 
 
 An essential part of this plan is to give them their freedom with 
 their swords. This will secure their fidelity, animate their 
 courage, and, I believe, will have a good influence upon those 
 who remain, by opening a door to their emancipation." * 
 
 On the 29th March, 1779, the committee, consisting of Mr. 
 Burke, Mr. Laurens, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. 
 Dyer, appointed to take into consideration the circumstances of 
 the Southern States, arid the ways and means of their safety 
 and defence, referring to the negroes of the States of South 
 Carolina and Georgia, reported : 
 
 " That the state of the country, and the great numbers of 
 these people among them, expose the inhabitants to great danger 
 from the endeavors of the enemy to excite them to revolt or 
 desert. That it is suggested by the delegates of the said States, 
 and by Mr. Hugar, that a force might be raised in the said 
 State from among the negroes, which would not only be formid- 
 able to the enemy, from their numbers, and the discipline of 
 which they would very readily admit, but would lesson the 
 danger from revolts and desertions, by detaching the most 
 vigorous and enterprising from among the negroes. * *> * * 
 The United States ought to defray the expenses of said 
 negroes. * * * That every negro, who shall well and faith- 
 fully serve as a soldier to the end of the war, shall be emanci- 
 pated, and receive the sum of fifty dollars." (Secret Jour, of 
 Old Congress, vol. i. p. 104.) 
 
 At the time these subjects were under consideration in the 
 State of Virginia, that eminent and noble-hearted patriot and 
 illustrious orator, PATRICK HENRY, said : 
 
 " Is it not surprising that at a time when the rights of human- 
 ity are defined with precision in a country above all others fond 
 of liberty that, in such an age, and in such a country, we find 
 men, professing a religion the most humane and gentle, adopting 
 a principle as repugnant to humanity as it is inconsistent with 
 the Bible and destructive to liberty ? Believe me, I honor the 
 Quakers for their noble efforts to abolish slavery. Every think- 
 
 * Works of Hamilton, vol. i. pp. 76, 77. 
 
32 
 
 ing, honest man regrets it in speculation, yet how few in practice 
 from conscientious motives. Would any man believe that' I am 
 master of slaves of my own purchase ? I am drawn along by 
 the general inconvenience of living without them. I will not, I 
 cannot justify it. For however culpable my conduct, I will so 
 far pay my devoir to virtue as to own the excellence and recti- 
 tude of. her precepts, and to lament my own non-conformity to 
 them." 
 
 When discussing the Constitution upon the subject of appor- 
 tionment, Mr. Hamilton remarked : 
 
 " The Federal Constitution decided with great propriety on 
 the case of slaves, when it viewed them in the mixed character 
 of persons and of property, for such was, in fact, their true 
 character. But," said he, " if the laws were to restore the rights 
 which have been taken away, the negroes could no longer be 
 refused an equal share of representation with the other inhabit- 
 ants." (Fed. 417, 418.) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Bill of Rights first established by Hungary South Carolina the first 
 State that introduced the word " White" into their Constitution, in 
 1778 Political rights of the negro considered Social prejudices. 
 
 IT was to secure the people against tyranny and oppression 
 in the early part of the thirteenth century, that the patriotic 
 people of Hungary the land of Kossuth enunciated the first 
 Bill of Rights that was ever written. This example was fol- 
 lowed a few years later by the people of England, who extorted 
 from King John that great platform of civil liberty, the Magna 
 Oharta. 
 
 The fundamental principle of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence is of the same tenor equal rights to all. It contains not 
 
a word nor a clause regarding color. Nor is there any provision 
 of the kind to be found in the Constitution of the United States, 
 or either of the Constitutions of the original thirteen States, even 
 including the State of South Carolina, until the year 1778, when 
 the word " white " was inserted in their amended Constitution. In 
 this, as well as in all other acts of inhuman barbarism and 
 oppression against the citizens of the Union, she has been the 
 instigator and leader ; and for which acts she will sink down to 
 future posterity with ignoble and unenviable fame. 
 
 If the mere question of a state of slavery was the apology 
 for depriving the black man of the rights of suffrage because 
 he was considered in the light of property if we trace back 
 our ancestors to England, and to the Feudal age, we learn that 
 a majority of the ancient Britons were held in a state of 
 servitude more degrading in many respects than was that of the 
 colored population of the Southern States ; and under the Roman 
 Republic, the native Greek, the Briton, the Moor, and the 
 Ethiopian, were all alike held in virtual bondage. 
 
 If color is the objection to the black man, it is a very poor 
 criterion by which to judge of intellect, notwithstanding the 
 many futile arguments which have been raised to prove to the 
 contrary. " The contour of the countenance which the Creator 
 has stamped on human beings, does not give one class the right 
 to inflict wrong and injury upon another. It does not give us 
 the right to say to one class that we have rights which are natu- 
 ral and inalienable, and to another class, l You are deprived of 
 those rights.' 
 
 If negro suffrage, in the very organization of the Republic ? 
 was considered expedient and in accordance with the principles 
 of right and justice by our ancestors, why not so at the present 
 period ? Has the native negro retrograded in character or in- 
 tellect by having daily business intercourse with the white popu- 
 lation ? We can discover no evidences to prove it. On the con- 
 trary, there has been an improvement in his whole mental con- 
 dition. Whatever education he possesses it is necessarily an 
 American education. In America he was born and reared. All 
 he knows of civilization is American civilization and it may 
 also be appropriately added American Barbarism. 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Does the objection to the colored man arise from social preju- 
 dices ? Prejudices exist in all ranks and grades of society, and 
 must ever so exist. It arises from the peculiar condition and 
 habits of the people. It is to be found particularly among our 
 foreign population, on their first arrival into the country. Lan- 
 guage, customs, habits and nativity, incline them to clan together 
 until they become familiarized with the new order of things. 
 This, however, does not debar them from the rights of citizenship, 
 or from their political rights at the proper period, when they can 
 maintain them as citizens of the country of their adoption. While 
 we admit that the distinction between the colored race and the 
 white race is marked and definite, yet we can see no reason why 
 the one who is a native born subject should be deprived of the 
 political rights of suffrage allowed to an alien, simply on account 
 of his complexion ; especially, if compelled to bear the burdens 
 of taxation and otherwise aid and assist in the defense and main- 
 tenance of his native country. 
 
 Is social equality with the white population, the objection ? 
 
 Granting the negro the right of suffrage does not necessarily 
 bring him upon an equality with the white population, any more 
 than any other right he may or does possess to protect either his 
 person or property, or to procure his means of livelihood, in the 
 same manner as the white citizen. All the various industrial 
 branches are carried on by the colored population among them- 
 selves ; and it may be argued with eqjial plausibility, that be- 
 cause a white man was a mechanic or artizan, a colored man 
 should be debarred from any such privileges. Such reasoning 
 is too trivial to be entertained, either in the light of human justice 
 or common sense. 
 
 The right of suffrage should be extended to every native-born 
 or adopted male citizen of the United States, of. the age of 
 twenty-one years, who is not otherwise disqualified, and who 
 has sufficient knowledge to read the Constitution, and intelligence 
 to comprehend the principles of the Government, either intuitively, 
 or by his own study of the subject.. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Patriotism of the negroes of the Revolutionary war Mulatto Attuoks in 
 Boston Negro Salem at Bunker Hill Remarks of late Hon. Edward 
 Everett Mr. Forten of Philadelphia Charles Pinckney of South 
 Carolina Proclamation of Gen. Jackson at New Orleans. 
 
 WHATEVER laws may have prevailed at an earlier period, or 
 whatever they may be even at the present time relative to the 
 colored population of the Union, it cannot be denied that they 
 possess, in the majority of the States at least, rights as dear to 
 them as to the white citizens. They are the owners of real as 
 well as personal property, and have an equal interest in the wel- 
 fare of the States, the Union and the National Government and 
 its flag, under whose folds they were born and reared. They 
 have volunteered their services entered into the combat, and 
 fought as valiantly for the defense and preservation of our Na- 
 tional rights and liberties as they have for their own, side by 
 side with their white fellow-citizens, from the days of the revolu- 
 tion under Washington, down to the present hour. The first 
 blood spilled in that cause was that of the mulatto ATTUCKS, in 
 King Street (State street) Boston, on the memorable night of the 
 15th of March, 1770, who led the people on that eventful occa- 
 sion. 
 
 It was the black soldier SALEM who slew the British Major 
 PITCAIRN, at the battle of Bunker Hill, on the 17th of June, 1775. 
 When that officer mounted the works and exclaimed " the day 
 is ours," Salem shot him through, and he fell into the arms of 
 his agonized son, who bore him to the boats at the foot of the hill. 
 For this valiant act a contribution was made in the army for the 
 colored soldier, and he was presented to Washington as having 
 performed this feat. 
 
 Major Pitcairn, it will be recollected, had command of the 
 troops, and caused the first effusion of blood at Lexington ; at 
 which time his horse was shot under him, while he was separated 
 from his troops. Says the fiarrator of that event, " with presence 
 of mind, he feigned himself slain ; his pistols were taken from his 
 holsters and he was left for dead, when he seized the opportunity 
 
and escaped." He next appeared at Bunker Hill, to pay the 
 penalty with his life in the cause of tyranny and oppression. 
 
 The late Hon. EDWARD EVERETT, in his oration on the erection 
 of the " Warren Monument " to commemorate the heroes of that 
 day/alluded to the above incident as follows : 
 
 " It is the monument of the day of the event of the battle of 
 Bunker Hill ; of all the brave men who shared its perils alike 
 of Prescott and Putnam and Warren the chiefs of the day, and 
 the colored man Salem, who is reported to have shot the gallant 
 Pitcairn as he mounted the parapet. Cold as the clods on which 
 it rests ; still as the silent Heaven to which it soars, it is yet 
 vocal, eloquent in their undivided praise. Till the ponderous 
 and well compacted blocks of granite, which no force but that of 
 an earthquake will heave from their bearings, shall fall asunder, 
 it will stand to the most distant posterity, a grand, impartial 
 illustration (nature's own massive lithography) of the noble page, 
 second to no other in the annals of America, on which history 
 shall write down the names and the deeds of the seventeenth of 
 June, 1775." 
 
 Numerous are the instances of the heroic acts of bravery 
 performed by the blacks during the revolutionary war, the war 
 of 1812, as well as the recent Rebellion. 
 
 The celebrated Mr. FORTEN, (colored) of Philadelphia, who 
 had been a soldier in the Revolution, and was a prisoner on the 
 old Jersey prison-ship, says : 
 
 "He saw the regiments from Rhode Island, Connecticut and 
 'Massachusetts, when they marched through Philadelphia to meet 
 Cornwallis, who was then overrunning the South, and said that 
 one or two companies of colored men were attached to each. The 
 vessels of war of that period were all, to a greater or less extent, 
 manned by colored seamen. On board the Royal Louis, on which 
 Mr. Forten enlisted, there were twenty colored seamen." 
 
 The celebrated CHARLES PINCKNEY, Esq., of South Carolina, 
 , in his speech on the Missouri question, alluded to the colored 
 people as follows : 
 
 "At the commencement of our revolutionary struggle with 
 Great Britain, all the States had this class of people. The New 
 England States had numbers of them ; the Northern and Middle 
 States had still more, although less than the Southern. They 
 all entered into the great contest with similar views. Like 
 
37 
 
 brethren, they contended for the benefit of the whole, leaving 
 to each the right to pursue its happiness in its own way. Thus 
 they nobly toiled and bled together, really like brethren. * 
 They were, in numerous instances, the pioneers, and, in all, the 
 laborers of your armies. To their hands were owing the erec- 
 tion of the greatest part of the fortifications raised for the pro- 
 tection of our country. Fort Moultrie gave, at an early period of 
 the inexperience and untried valor of our citizens, immortality 
 to American arms. And, in the Northern States, numerous 
 bodies of them were enrolled, and fought, side by side with the 
 whites, the battles of the revolution." 
 
 General JACKSON, after the famous battle of New Orleans, 
 which gained him so much renown, in his proclamation from 
 his headquarters, at Mobile, appealed to the colored men in the 
 following language : 
 
 " Through a mistaken policy, you have heretofore been 
 deprived of a participation in the glorious struggle for national 
 rights in which our country is engaged. This no longer shall 
 exist. As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend 
 o'ur most inestimable blessings. As Americans, your country 
 looks with confidence to her adopted citizens for a valorous sup- 
 port, as a faithful return for the advantages enjoyed under her 
 mild and equitable government. As fathers, husbands and 
 brothers, you are summoned to rally around the standard of the 
 eagle to defend all which is dear in existence." 
 
 * * * * * * * 
 
 Again : 
 
 " SOLDIERS ! When, on the banks of the Mobile, I calle/1 
 you to take up arms, inviting you to partake of the perils and 
 glory of your white fellow-citizens, I expected much of you ; for 
 I was not ignorant that you possessed qualities most formidable 
 to an invading enemy. I knew with what fortitude you could 
 endure hunger and thirst, and all the fatigues of a campaign. 
 / knew well how you loved your native country, and that you, as 
 well as ourselves, had to defend what man holds most dear his 
 parents, wife, children, and property. You have done more than 
 I expected. In addition to the previous qualities I before knew 
 you to possess, I found in you a noble enthusiasm which leads 
 to the performance of gieat things." 
 
38 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Duty of every citizen to acquire a knowledge of the Constitution Cus- 
 toms of the Roman Republic and of the early English Government 
 On what the stability of government depends Opinion of John Quincy 
 Adams Importance of educating the ignorant Southern classes the 
 great question at issue. 
 
 THE first duty incumbent upon every citizen in the community 
 is to acquire a thorough knowledge of the Constitution and the 
 Government under which he lives. By the unlettered yet intel- 
 ligent mind, this knowledge may be acquired in some degree, 
 by experience. In the present age, however, when the advantage? 
 of an ordinary education, at least, is free to all classes of the 
 youths of the land, excepting in the late Slave States, there is 
 no apology for any individual who has arrived at maturity, for 
 not having acquired the art of reading and writing, or the ru- 
 diments of learning sufficiently to enable him to comprehend the 
 principles of the Government the duties he owes to it, and the 
 rights and privileges he possesses under it, without being subject 
 to the necessity of relying on designing demagogues to teach him 
 the application or exercise of them. 
 
 During the flourishing days of the Roman Republic, the boys 
 were obliged to learn by heart the twelve tables of statutes, in 
 order to imprint upon their youthful minds an early knowledge 
 of the laws and constitution of their country. And in the early 
 period of the English government the Magna Oharta was required, 
 by the British Statute, to be read in all the Cathedral Churches 
 twice a year, for the information of the people and the preserva- 
 tion of their liberty. Yet, in our own country, there is no 
 statute provision for the general education of the youths, to 
 qualify them, as they approach to manhood, to discharge, advan- 
 tageously to themselves and with justice to their fellow-citizens, 
 the political duties which they are destined to assume. Conse- 
 quently, if they acquire any of this knowledge it is by general 
 observation, rather than by any systematic training ; excepting 
 in the higher seminaries, or where it is occasionally introduced 
 into the common schools. 
 
 The stability of government depends upon the veneration in 
 
39 
 
 which it is cherished, and on the ability to distinguish between 
 the chicanery of intriguing demagogues and the patriotic motives 
 of honest-hearted statesmen. 
 
 Said one of the ablest statesmen and patriots our country ever 
 possessed the late JOHN QUINCY ADAMS in an oration before 
 the Historical Society of New York : 
 
 u Fellow-citizens, the Ark of your Covenant is the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. Your Mount' Gerizim is the CONSTITU- 
 TION OP THE UNITED STATES. There is not a blessing or a 
 curse which you may not enjoy or suffer from your .adherence to 
 or departure from the principles of the Constitution. Lay up 
 these principles in your hearts. Teach them to your children 
 when sitting in your houses or walking by the way ; when rising 
 up or lying down. Write them upon the door-posts of your 
 houses; cling to them as the issues of your life." 
 
 In a speech upon the suffrage question in Congress, during 
 the year 1842 alluding to William Costin, a free colored man, 
 who had been porter in the Bank of Washington, D. C., for 
 twenty-four years, in which capacity he maintained so excellent 
 a character for integrity and punctuality, that, on his sudden 
 death, the officers of the Bank unanimously passed a resolution 
 expressive of the highest respect for his memory, and that he 
 possessed their unlimited confidence, and in no instance was 
 there ever discovered the slightest defalcation Mr. Adams 
 remarked that, " though Costin was not white, he was as much 
 respected as any man in the District ; and the large concourse 
 of citizens that attended his remains to the grave as well 
 white as black was an evidence of the manner in which he 
 was estimated by the citizens *of Washington. Now, why 
 should such a man as that be excluded from the elective fran- 
 chise, when you admit the vilest individuals of the white race to 
 exercise it ?" 
 
 It has ever been through the ignorance of a large class of 
 the people of the true principles of the Constitution and 
 Government, that demagogues have succeeded in accomplishing 
 their designs, by appealing to them as a balance of power. It 
 was through the ignorance of the people of the Southern States 
 that the leaders of the late rebellion succeeded in getting their 
 only supporters and strength in the attempted overthrow of the 
 
40 
 
 Government. On the contrary, it was through the education 
 and intelligence of the loyal people of the Northern States, that 
 they succeeded in overpowering these enemies of the Union. 
 
 The momentous subject of importance then, connected with the 
 present condition of the late slave population, is to prepare their 
 minds for the new position they are to occupy as free citizens of 
 the Republic, and the duties and responsibilities that will be 
 imposed upon them as such.* 
 
 It is the education of the ignorant Southern classes of the 
 people, therefore, irrespective of color, in their political rights 
 and duties, which is the important and vital question at issue. 
 What method shall be adopted for the accomplishment of this 
 great object, whether by an act of the general Government, or 
 by those of the several State Governments, is a subject for 
 further consideration. As before remarked, there is no apology, 
 at this age, for the young men of the country, who have re- 
 ceived a common education, to plead ignorance upon these 
 points. No citizen, who will not inform himself upon these im- 
 portant duties and responsibilities, should be permitted to vote 
 away the rights and liberties of his fellow-citizens, and thereby 
 endanger our sacred institutions. 
 
IN COUESE OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 SOUTHERN POLITICS; 
 
 AN EXPOSITION 
 
 TKUE CAUSES OF THE SOUTHEEN EEBELLION, 
 
 EMBRACING ALSO 
 THE OPINIONS OF THE ABLEST STATESMEN AND COMMENTATORS 
 
 ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF THE 
 
 Constitution and Government of the United States, 
 
 BY JOHN HANCOCK, 
 
 COUNSELLOR AT LAW. 
 
 n 
 
 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
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