11

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LIBRARY

The
EDWIN J. BEINECKE, '07
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 -_ Occasional Papers, No. 1 1.
"^XLbe Hmerican IRegro Hcabemg.
THE NEGRO AND THE
..ELECTIVE FRANCHISE..

APERIES OF PAPERS AND A SERMON BY
Archibald H. Grimke, « Charles C. Cook,
John Hope, « John L. Love, a Kelly Miller
and Rev. Prank J. Grimke.
PRICE: 35 CENTS.

WASHINGTON, D. C.
PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY.
I905.

OCCASIONAL PAPERS.
No. i — A Review of Hoffman's Race Traits and Tendencies
of the American, Negro,/ kelly miller 2$cts.
No. 2 — The Conservation of Races, w. E. buRGhardT DUBOIS. i5cts
No. 3 — (a) Civilization the Primal* Need of the Race; (b)
-The Attitude of the Amefticten-Mind toward IheNe -
gro Intellect. Alexander cruMmell. i$cts.
No. 4— A Comparative Study of the Negro Problem
OHARLES'C. COOK. T^CtS.
No. 5 — How the Black St. Domingo Legion Saved the Pa
triot Army in, the Siege of Savannah, 1779
T. ,g. steward, y. s), a. JScts.
No. 6 — The Disfranchisement of the Negro, john l. loVE. 15c?.?
No. 7— Right on the Scaffold, or, the Martyrs of 1822.
ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKE. I$CtS.
No. 8 — The Educated Negro and his Mission.
W. S. SCARBOROUGH.-- l$CtS.T
ATo. g—The Early Negro Convention Movement.
JOHN W. CROMWELL. I$CtS
No. 10 — The Defects of the Negro Church.
ORISHATUKEH FADUMA. l$CtSS
Orders for the trade.or single copies filled through the Corres^
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Occasional Papers. No. II.

"*"ZTbe Emerican Hegro Hcabemg.
THE NEGRO AND THE
..ELECTIVE FRANCHISE..

A SERIES OF PAPERS AND A SERMON BY
Archibald H. Grimke, • Charles C. Cook,
John Hope, • John L. Love, • Kelly Miller
and Rev. Frank J. Grimke.
PRICE: - - ¦ THIRTY-EIVE CENTS.

WASHINGTON, D. C.
PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY.
I905.

CONTENTS.
1 . Meaning and Need of the Movement to Reduce
Southern Representation, Mr. A. H. Grimke  3
2. The Penning of the Negro [The Negro Vote in
the States of the Revised Constitutions]
Mr. C. C. Cook  15
3. The Negro Vote in the States Whose Constitu
tions Have Not Been Specifically Revised,
Mr. John Hope  51
4. The Potentiality of the Negro Vote, North and
West, Mr. John L. Love,  61
.5. Migration and Distribution of the Negro Popula
tion as Affecting the Elective Franchise,
Mr. Kelly Miller,  68
6. The Negro and His Citizenship,
Rev. F. J. Grimke  72

THE MEANING AND NEED OE THE MOVEMENT
TO REDUCE SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION.
In 1787 when the founders of the American Republic were
framing the Constitution they encountered many* difficulties in
the work of construction, but none greater than the bringing to
gether on terms of equality under one general government of the
slave-holding and the non-slave-holding states. The South was
willing to enter the Union provided always that its peculiar la
bor and institutions received adequate protection in that instru
ment. And this the North had finally to consent to incorporate
into the organic law of the new nation. One" of these conces
sions was known as the Slave Representation Clause of the Con
stitution, which gave to the Slave section the right to count five
slaves as three freemen in the apportionment of representatives.
This concession did not probably seem at the time like an exorbi
tant or ruinous price for the North to pay for the Union, but sub
sequent events proved it to be both exorbitant and ruinous in the
political burden which it imposed upon that section, and in the
political perils which grew naturally out of the situation, and
which were produced by it.
Everybody now-a-days seemsto forget, or makes believe to have
forgotten, this lamentable chapter in- our history, and its applica
tion to present day evils — everybody but a few far-seeing Ne
groes, and a few far-seeing white men at the North. It is well
not to forget this chapter ourselves, or to let the country make
believe to have forgotten it, as it contains a lesson which it is
dangerous to forget.
History repeats itself and will continue to do so just as long as
men are men, and the passion for power and the struggle for do
mination lasts among them. Such a struggle set in between the
two sections almost immediately after the adoption of the Con
stitution. With industrial and political ideas, interests, and in
stitutions directly opposed to each other, rivalry and strife be
tween them became from the beginning unavoidable. Any one
not totally blinded by the then emergent needs of the moment:
could not fail to foresee something of the consequences which
were sure to follow such a union of irreconcilable forces and pas
sions under one general government. Each set of antagonistic
ideas and interests was compelled by the great law of self preser
vation to try to get possession of the government in its battle with
the other set. And in this conflict of moral and economic forces
and ideas the three-fifths slave representation clause of the Con
stitution gave to the South a distinct advantage, an advantage
which told immediately and powerfully in its favor. For' the
right to count five slaves as three freemen in the apportionment

4 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
of representatives among the several states placed the political
power of the Southern states in the hands not of all the whites but
of a small and highly trained and organized minority only! name
ly ; tljejaaster class. This circumstance solidified the South, and
gave to itTaSttoff a unity and energy of purpose which the indus
trial democracy of the North always lacked. As a consequence,
Southern men obtained speedy possession of the National Govern
ment, and shaped National Legislation and policy to advance best
the peculiar ideas and interests of their section. The big end of the
National Government lay plainly enough well to the south of Ma
son and Dixon's line during the first twenty-five years of the exist
ence of the Union. The course of events during this period re
vealed this bitter fact to New England. For she was outwitted,
out-voted and over-matched again and again in national legisla
tion and administrative measures by the slave oligarchy, which
ruled the South and dominated in national affairs.
For instance, New England opposed the embargo and the retalia
tory measures of Mr. Jefferson's administration, which destroyed
her splendid carrying trade, and bore distress to hundreds of
thousands of her people. She opposed the War of 1812 because
it seemed to her inimical to her interests, but regardless of pro
tests and cries the embargo was laid on her ports and shipping,
the War against Great Britain was declared. She was forced to
dance, volens-nolens, to the rag-time music of her Southern rival.
She danced in both instances while discontent grew apace in her
hot, surcharged heart. She did -not disguise the ugly fact that
she was sick of her bargain under the Constitution — was discon
tented almost to disaffection with Southern domination in the Un
ion. Out of this widespread discontent and incipient disaffection
sprang the Hartford Convention to voice this growing Anti-
Southern sentiment, and to cast about for a remedy for what was
rightly deemed bad political conditions. The great question with
which this celebrated convention grappled was, in fact, the undue
and disproportionate power wielded by the slave oligarchy in na
tional affairs, and how best to impose a check upon its further
growth. It could think apparently of but one remedial measure
to relieve the situation, and that was the imposition of a check on
any further increase in the then existing number of states. But
while the resolution which embodied this rather doubtful remedy
referred to states in general, it was intended when read between
the lines, to refer to slave states in particular.
That was the first blow aimed by the industrial democracy of
the North at this aristocratic feature of the National Constitution,
namely : the right to count five slaves as three freemen in the ap
portionment of representatives among the states. It was felt at

MOVEMENT TO REDUCE SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION. 5
the time and much more strongly and generally afterward, that
Ihis three-fifths slave representation clause which enabled a small
minority of the people of the South to wield the political power
of that section, and in any controverted question between the sec
tions to neutralize the free-will of every three freemen by the dum
my-will of every five slaves, was an unjust and dangerous advan
tage possessed by the slave oligarchy over its sectional rival, the
free democracy of the North.
The consciousness of this political wrong and danger was at the
bottom of the bitter opposition on the part of the North to the ad
mission of Missouri as a slave state, to the annexation of Texas,
and to the Mexican War. It was at the bottom of the fierce cry
which rose all over that section at the close of that war, "No more
slave territory, no more slave states." It was the soul of the
great movement which beat back the slave tide from Kansas and
saved that state to freedom. It was, in fact, this struggle of the
free states to reduce to a minimum the peril to its industrial de
mocracy which grew out of the slave representation clause of the
Constitution, and the resistance of the slave states to such a move
ment, which produced the war between the sections. This war
ended in the destruction of slavery and as the North supposed and
intended, in the total destruction of this right of the South to
count five slaves as three freemen in the apportionment of repre
sentatives among the several states in the newly restored Union.
But wrong does not die under a single stroke. It has a strange
power of metamorphosis, i. e. ability to change its form without
losing its identity. The slave power, which everybody at the
North imagined to be dead, re-appeared almost at once as the
Southern serf power, in consequence of legislation enacted in the
then lately rebellious states by the old slave masters. They had
lost their slaves, to be sure, and the political power incident under
the Constitution to such ownership, but they had not lost the po
litical cunning and determination to create a similar power out of
the social forces and material which lay in disorder about them.
The reconstruction of the South by the old slave oligarchy re
sulted in the threatened rise in national affairs of an African serf
power more formidable to the North than was the old slave power
than five is greater than three in federal numbers. This threat
ened rise in national politics of an African serf power aroused the
North to the danger which girt afresh the supremacy of its indus
trial democracy in the Union. It thereupon set about the work
of removing this peril forever. In doing this work it unfortu
nately limited itself exclusively to the use of political agencies.
But there is no doubt that what it did in reconstructing the old
slave states was meant to be thorough. It meant to extirpate

6 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
root and branch, from the Constitution the right of the South to
count five slaves as three freemen, or five serfs as five freemen in
the apportionment of representatives among the states. This was
the plain purpose of the whole body of congressional legislation
looking to southern reconstruction. It is the plain purpose like
wise of the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution.
All of these great acts were intended to destroy utterly the ba
sis on which rested the old slave power, and on which would rest
the new serf power, namely : inequality and race subjection. The
13th amendment abolished slavery, the 14th raised the former
slaves to citizenship, and the 15th conferred on them the right to
vote. The whole scheme for removing forever this evil seemed on
paper complete enough, and in practice it would undoubtedly have
proven effective had not an unexpected difficulty arisen when it
was put into operation. This unexpected difficulty was the atti
tude of the Supreme Court in interpreting the laws made in pur
suance thereof. The effect of the decisions of this tribunal has
almost invariably been against the Negro's claim to equality, and
in favor of the Southern contention of the existence of two
races in the south, one permanently dominant and the other per
manently servile, and that the maintenance of this state
of race superiority on the one side, and of race infe
riority on the other furnished the only working plan of their
living in peace together or of their making any further progress
in civilization. Owing to this deplorable attitude the Supreme
Court has been a hindrance rather than a help in the settlement
of this question. No relief need be looked for from it, therefore,
under the circumstances. Relief, if it comes at all, must come
from another quarter of the political system under which we live.
And for such relief fortunately, the 14th amendment has ade
quately provided. All that is necessary to render the provision
of this amendment, which is applicable to the present situation,
effective are courage and common sense. But alas, courage and
common sense in respect to this subject seem to be sadly lacking
to-day both at the North and among the Negroes as well.
The provision of the 14th amendment just referred to reads as
follows : "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
states according to their respective numbers counting the whole
number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not ta.'sed.
But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of elec
tors for President and Vice-President of the United States, repre
sentatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a
state, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any
of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of
age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged ex-

MOVEMENT TO REDUCE SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION. 7
cept for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of rep
resentation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the
number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of
male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state."
Every Southern state has virtually by one device or another,
since the adoption of the 14th and 15th amendments, denied to its
colored citizens the right to vote. This was first done by the shot
gun method, which gave place in time to fraudulent manipula
tions of electoral returns, and this in turn to "grandfather" and
understanding clauses" administered by prejudiced registra
tion boards in those states which have revised their constitutions.
Says Professor Dunning in an article on "The Undoing of Re
construction" in the Atlantic Monthly for October, 1901 : "With
the enactment of these constitutional amendments by the various
states, the political equality of the Negro is becoming extinct in
law as it has long been in fact, and the undoing of reconstruction
is nearing completion." Now this statement is exactly true. The
South has everywhere nullified in practice the 14th and 15th a-
mendments to the Constitution. It denies to black men the right
to vote, but it counts at the same time those same black men in
the apportionment of its representatives. The present serf power
therefore, enjoys to-day a right far greater than that enjoyed by
the old slave power, for it counts five of its disfranchised black
citizens not as three but as five free men. It has achieved the ex
traordinary feat of eating its political cake and keeping it at the
same time.
In South Carolina, for example, where the blacks outnumber
the whites by 224,326, and in Mississippi where the colored popula
tion is in excess of the white by 263,640, "the influence of the Ne
groes in political affairs," as put by Prof. Dunning, "is nil." And
this is substantially true of almost everyone ' of the old slave
states whether they have or have not revised their constitutions.
Says Prof. DuBois : "To-day the black man of the South has al
most nothing to say as to how much he shall be taxed, or how
those taxes shall be expended, as to who shall make the laws and
how they shall be made. It is pitiable that frantic efforts must
be made' at critical times to get law-makers in some states even
to listen to the respectful presentation of the black side of a cur
rent controversy." ,
Entrenched in the South to-day is an aristocracy based on race.
The whole tendency of things down there is to de-citizenise the
blacks, to reduce them to a state of permanent political and indus
trial subordination to the whites. This is aristocratizing the re
public with a vengeance. For with the right to vote, the right to
a voice in making the laws, denied to any class of people in an in-

8 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
dustrial republic like ours, such class must go from bad to worse
in the struggle for bread, for existence, in competition with more
favored classes. It does more : it reduces the efficiency of such
a class as a producer of wealth not alone in respect to itself, but
in respect to the section in which it lives as well. For whatever
degrades and wrongs such a class degrades and wrongs the com
munity and the country of which it forms a part. And there is
no help for it, for such is the natural law of retribution which
no "understanding" and "grandfather clauses" and registration
boards, however adroitly devised, can in the long run possibly e-
vade or nullify. This then is the deplorable economic situation
with regard to whites and blacks alike in the Southern states, as
a direct consequence of the undoing of the 14th and the .15th a-
mendments to the Constitution by those States. The degradation of
their black labor will ultimate in the degradation of their white
labor also. In fact, the disfranchisement of the blacks operates
practically everywhere down there as a disfranchisement of the
great body of the whites likewise. For disuse of a power, wheth
er physical or political, begets in time disinclination and then in
capacity for exercising the same. The right to vote, under pres
ent political conditions which prevail throughout that section, is,
as a matter of fact, exercised but by a small minority of the
whites only. The total vote, for example, cast for representatives
in Southern congressional districts is surprisingly slight in com
parison with that cast in Northern congressional districts. The
same is true of the vote for presidential electors, and for the ex
ecutive, legislative and judicial officers of the various southern
states for that matter. A handful of ruling whites, and that not
of the best class as in antebellum times, casts to-day the entire
vote of that section as represented by all of its black and a large-
majority of its white citizens, at national and state elections.,
For instance, the average vote cast for Congressmen by North
ern congressional districts during the election of 1898 was over
35,000. while that cast by Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missis
sippi and South Carolina, which are operated in effect on the Mis
sissippi plan, was less than 5,000. The total vote cast for 37 con
gressmen by those five Southern states was only 184,602, while
the total vote polled by the state of New York for 34 congressmen
was 1,250,000, i. e. 184,602 electors in those five Mississippi- ized
states had actually a larger congressional representation by three
than had the 1,250,000 voters of the Empire state. Again, take
the case of Kansas, which though casting 100,000 more votes at
its congressional election in 1898, than were cast by these same
five Southern states combined, yet Kansas had but seven repre
sentatives in Congress to guard and promote her peculiar inter-

MOVEMENT TO REDUCE SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION. 9
ests against the 27 who sat in the House to guard and promote
the peculiar interests of the ruling oligarchy of those five de-re-
publicanized Southern states.
But let us look more closely into this matter. Alabama with
a population of 1,828,697, and nine representatives in Congress
polled at the Congressional election, in 1902 a total vote of 90,105
for the nine districts, while the new state of Washington with a
population of 518,103 and three representatives polled at the same
election a total vote of 93,681, i. e., there were 3,000 more votes
polled to elect three congressmen in Washington than Alabama
polled to elect nine. Again, Mississippi with a population of 1,
531,270 and eight representatives in Congress polled at the same
election a total vote of 18,058 for the eight congressional districts,
while little Idaho with a population of 161,772 and one represen
tative polled at the same time a vote of 57,712, which exceeded
more than three times the vote polled by Mississippi for eight re
presentatives. Or let us take Louisiana with a population of 1,
381,625 and seven representatives in Congress, and her total vote
of 26,265 during the same election fof seven districts and con
trast these figures with those of Rhode Island with a population
of 428,556 and two representatives. The Rhode Island figures
are 56,064, or nearly double the vote of Louisiana for seven con
gressional districts. Or again, let us glance in passing at South
Carolina with a population of 1,340,316 and seven representatives
in Congress, and New Hampshire with a population of 411,588
and two representatives. The first polled in 1902 at the election
of her seven congressmen 32,085 votes, and the second at the el
ection of her two representatives polled at the same time 74,833.
In other words, there were nearly 43,000 less votes polled in
South Carolina to elect seven Congressmen than were polled in
New Hampshire to elect two. To sum up : Alabama, Louis
iana, Mississippi, and South Carolina with an aggregate popu
lation of 6,106,908 and 31 representatives in Congress cast in
1902 a total vote of 166,576 in 31 congressional districts, while
Idaho, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Washington with an
aggregate population of 1,500,000, and eight representatives
polled at the same general elections a total vote of 282,294 in
their eight congressional districts. The average vote for each
of the 31 Southern congressional districts was 5,530; while that
for each of the eight Northern districts was 35,287. Why
Massachusetts alone with a population of 2,805,346 and 14 rep
resentatives rolled up a vote to elect these 14 congressmen
more than double that which the four Southern states with a
population of over 6,000,000 polled to elect their 31 representa
tives !

IO OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
Again: At the presidential election last November the com
bined vote of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Car
olina, for 39 electors was less than 200,000 or to be exact was
just 186,253, while the vote of Massachusetts for 16 electors
was 442,732. In other words, the vote of Massachusetts for
her 16 representatives in the electoral college, exceeded that of
the four Southern states for their 39 in the same body by more
than 250,000 polls. Once more: Is it not immensely omi
nous and significant the marked shrinkage in 1904 of the pop
ular vote for electors in Alabama, North Carolina, and Virginia,
states which had but recently revised their constitutions, as com
pared with the popular vote of the same states for electors in
1900? There was for example a shrinkage of the popular vote
in Alabama of nearly 50,000 polls ; in North Carolina the shrink
age amounted to nearly 85,000, and in Virginia it ran up to
more than 135,000. These figures are eloquent of great wrongs
done the Negro. They are not less eloquent of great dangers
which now threaten to subvert free institutions in the Republic.
Since the elections of 1898 things in the South went rapidly
in respect to this subject from bad to worse. Alabama, North
Carolina and Virginia followed the example of Mississippi and
revised their constitutions. This reactionary movement of the
Southern oligarchy has reached as far north as Maryland, and the
work of aristocratizing her constitution and of Jim-Crowing her
laws is now nearing completion. Where is this movement to stop ?
Will it halt south of Mason and Dixon's line unless drastic meas
ures are speedily adopted by the National Government to arrest
it? No, this aristocratic revolution will certainly, unless checked,
invade the North, attacking and overthrowing first the political
rights of black men in that section, and later those of other classes
of citizens industrially and politically feebler than the rest until
one after another of the states now free shall have succumbed to
the rule of class and plutocratic power. Then indeed will the un
doing of the 14th and the 15th amendments, and of democratic in
stitutions in America, be complete. Not until then will the move
ment, which is fast aristocratizing the Republic, stop its steady
advance. I am no alarmist, but am telling the sober truth. Those
who have eyes to see, let them look around at the ominous signs
of this advancing evil. Those who have ears to hear, may hear
everywhere about them the foreboding sounds of this rising flood
of wrong and inequality, this growing disregard for law, this de
nial to the people of a voice in government, whether state, colon
ial or national, which characterize the present period of our na
tional history.
It will not be impertinent for me to add by way of concluding

MOVEMENT TO REDUCE SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION. II
this article, a few words regarding some of the political con
sequences, which would be sure to follow a reduction of South
ern representation in Congress and the electoral college. It
would, in the first place, reduce the political strength of the South
as a factor in national legislation, diminish its relative importance
as an element in national politics. That section is insolent, ex
acting and aggressive to-day on the Negro question because it
has so much numerical strength in Congress and the electoral col
lege by reason of its suppressed Negro vote. Reduce that
strength by a judicious blood-letting to the number of twenty-
five or thirty-five representatives and there will follow in due
time a corresponding reduction of its arrogance and aggressive
ness on the race question. For as it declines in relative strength
in Congress and the electoral college it will decline in relative im
portance in management and leadership of the democratic party
also. It will gradually lose its controlling influence over that
party, cease ultimately to dominate it on the Negro question.
The relative decline of the South in Congress and the electoral col
lege means, of course, the relative increase of the North in the
same branch — means that in time the North will pay less heed to
the claims of the South, to its threats, and more to the claims, to
the case of the Negro. It means more. The relative decline of
the South as a factor in national politics means the relative in
crease of the northern wing of the Democratic party in the con
trol of that party, in the shaping for that party of a more liberal
policy on the Negro question. For as the northern wing of this
party gains in relative strength, in numerical importance over
that of the South, it will be tempted more and more to solicit the
support of the Negro vote of the North. In close elections and
in pivotal states the Democrats of the North will thereupon make
liberal declarations and positive bids in order to win this vote
from the Republican party.
This consideration brings me to a second consequence, which
would follow a reduction of southern representation. And that
is this : lt will put an end to the present period of good will and
peace between the sections, so disastrous to the rights of the Ne
gro. Such a measure will usher in a period of bitter difference
and strife between the two sections again. These differences
will not arise merely between the Republicans of the North and
the white South, but between democrats of the North and demo
crats of the South on the Negro question as well. For the north
ern wing of the Democratic party cannot bid for the colored vote
of its section without offending the South and therefore sowing
seeds of alienation and strife between them on the question of the
rights and wrongs of the Negro, as a citizen. There will follow

12 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
such differences and strife between the sections, a reaction at the
North in favor of the Negro. Public sentiment for juster treat
ment of the race will gain thereafter steadily in strength. It will
influence the Republican party to give to the question a more rad
ical treatment than it now gives it, to take steps to enforce by ap
propriate legislation the 15th amendment of the Constitution.
Such growing public sentiment in favor of according the Negro
fairer treatment may do more, it may be able to reach even that
pro-Southern tribunal, the Supreme Court, and put like the bees
of the Bible honey for the race in its hitherto cold and unrespon
sive body. Even it may be influenced in time to twist the law in
favor of human liberty, not against it, as now. And lastly, it
will give the silent South a chance to be heard on the Negro ques
tion. It will give it a chance to appeal from those states drunk
on the race question, to their sober second thought, a chance to
show them the folly and madness of their disfranchisement and
consequent degradation of their Negro labor as an economic fac
tor in their development and civilization. And so liberal senti
ment towards the Negro may be awakened in the South and be
made thus to spread slowly downward as a leavening influence.
And in the third place, reducing Southern representation in
Congress and the electoral college will not hurt the Negro. It
will not take away from him any right which he now enjoys down
there. The doing so cannot in any way change his actual status
either in law or in fact. He is now disfranchised ; Congress will
still have power to enforce the 15th amendment by appropriate
legislation and it will do so whenever it can screw its courage to
the sticking point. The reduction of Southern representation
will certainly break up the present apathetic state of the country
in respect to the Negro. With this breaking up there will follow
a reaction in favor of freedom, and there will arise in due time a
public sentiment which will bring legislation to enforce the right
of the Colored people of the South to the ballot well within the
range of the possible, yea of the probable, if the South persists af
ter reduction, — but it will not long persist, — in its present purpose
to nullify the 15th amendment, and to reduce its Colored people
to a condition of a permanently subordinate and servile class,
without rights as men or as citizens which southern white peo
ple are bound to respect. Let southern representation in Con
gress be therefore reduced. The sooner the better it will be for
the Negro and the Nation.
The law department of the United States Government has at
last moved effectively against the meat trust. And I see that
the Interstate Commerce Commission is looking into the charge
that certain railroads are practicing by a system of rebates dis-

MOVEMENT TO REDUCE SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION. 13
crimination against shippers of live stock, and in favor of pack
ing house products and dressed meats. But alas, how different
has been the attitude of the national government toward investi
gating that greatest of all discriminations in the Republic, name
ly : the wholesale disfranchisement of Negroes in the South be
cause they are Negroes. A few years ago one of the bravest and
most far-seeing of the representatives of Massachusetts in either
branch of Congress offered a resolution to investigate the sub
ject merely. The administration, which was then, and they say
is now opposed to meddling in this particular manner with the
Southern question, was found equal to the occasion. When it
failed to silence the voice of Congressman Moody regarding the
matter, it lifted him with masterly state craft from the floor of the
House, and landed him safely in the Cabinet where he is still, and
where his silence might the better be secured. Thus passed the
Moody resolution to dusty death, and the place which knew it
once in Congress hath known it no more, and will know it no
more forever.
But there is another Congressman who for years has watched
keenly the growth of this threatening evil, the growth of this
wrong so subversive of the rights of the blacks at the South, and
so harmful to the interests of our industrial democracy at the
North. Five years ago he thought it was high time for the gen
eral government to address itself to that subject, and according
ly proposed from his place in Congress suitable measures for that
purpose. Unfortunately for Congressman Crumpacker's propo
sition the presidential election of 1900 was at the time approach
ing and which, in the opinion of the McKinley administration,
called loudly then for silence and oblivion on this vexed question.
In obedience to this loud call of the Moloch of party success at
the polls, Mr. Crumpacker's bill suffered death by asphyxiation
in committee.
The matter was, however, revived by Mr. Crumpacker in a sub
sequent Congress in the form of a resolution which provided for
the appointment by the Speaker of a select committee of thirteen
"whose duty it shall be, and who shall have full and ample power
to investigate and inquire into the validity of the election laws of
the several states and the manner of their enforcement, and wheth
er the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for
President and Vice President of the United States, representatives
in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of any of the states
or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the
male inhabitants of any of the states, being twenty-one years of
age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, ex
cept for crime." This resolution so reasonable, moderate, and

14 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
just, fell a victim, so it was reported at the time, to a shrewd bar
gain struck between the Southern oligarchy on the one hand and
the Republican managers of Cuban reciprocity on the other. The
Crumpacker resolution was put to sleep amidst the dust heaps of
old congressional documents, where it has slept without waking
until the present session of Congress, when its profound slumber
has been disturbed by renewed attempts made in both branches of
the National legislature to revive the subject, and to dowhat theRe-
publican national platform of 1904 pledged that party to do in the
event of its triumph at the polls, according to the plain meaning
and purpose of the following plank in that platform.
"We favor such Congressional action as shall determine wheth
er, by special discrimination, the elective franchise in any state
has been unconstitutionally limited : and if such is the case we de
mand that representation in Congress and in the electoral college
shall be proportionally reduced as directed by the Constitution of
the United States."
And while the Republican party hesitates to redeem its solemn
pledge made to the people before the elections last November, the
tide of intolerable wrong, of imminent peril :— of intolerable wrong
to the blacks and of imminent peril to the Republic, is
advancing nearer and rising higher and higher toward the point
where to ignore it much longer will mean widespread and far-
reaching disaster to our industrial democracy, to Republican in
stitutions in America. On its crest I see approaching forces
strong enough to subvert the Constitution, not only in the South
but in the North — forces strong enough to uprear on its ruins the
vast fabric of plutocratic empire and despotism.
The warning is sounding in our ears, it is sounding in the ears
of the people all over the land. Do we heed it, will they ?
ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKE.

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 15
THE PENNING OE THE NEGRO.
The following States have revised their constitutions for the
purpose of excluding colored voters, and in the following order :—
(1) Mississippi.
Section 241, Article 12, constitution of Mississippi, defining
who are electors :
"Every male inhabitant of the state, except idiots, insane per
sons, and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United Stares,
twenty-one years of age and upwards, who has resided in the state
two years, and one year in the election district * * * in which
he offers to vote and who is duly registered as provided in this
article, and who has never been convicted of bribery, burglary,
theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretence, per
jury, embezzlement, or bigamy, and who has paid on or before the
ist day of February of the year in which he offers to vote, all taxes
which may have been legally required of him and who shall pro
duce to the officer holding the election satisfactory evidence that
he has paid his taxes."
Section 242 of Article 12, further provides that persons offer
ing to register shall take the following oath :
"I do solemnly swear that I am twenty one years old and that
I will have resided in the state two years and (this) election dis
trict for one year preceding the ensuing election, and am now iri
good faith a resident of the same, and that I am not disqualified
from voting by reason of having been convicted of any of the
crimes mentioned in the constitution of this state as a disqualifi-
' cation to be an elector, that I will truly answer all questions pro
pounded to me concerning my antecedents so far as they relate to
my right to vote and also as to my residence before my citizenship
in this district, that I will support the constitution of the United
States and of the state of Mississippi and will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same — so help me God.
Any willful and corrupt false statement in said affidavit or in
answer to any material question propounded as herein authorized
shall be perjury."
Section 244, Article 12, constitution of Mississippi, requires
that: "On and after the first day of January, 1892, every elector in
addition to the foregoing qualifications, shall be able to read any
section of the constitution of this state ; or shall be able to under
stand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpreta
tion thereof."

l6~ occasional papers, no. ii.
(2) South Carolina.
Subdivision (c). "Up to January 1, 1898, all male persons of
voting age applying for registration, who can read any section of
this constitution submitted to them, or understand and explain it
when read to them by the registration officer, shall be entitled to
registration and become electors."
Subdivision (d). "Any person who shall apply for registration
after January 1, 1898, if otherwise qualified, shall be registered:
Provided that he can both read and write any section of the con
stitution submitted to him by the registration officer or can show-
that he owns and has paid taxes collectible during the previous
year on property in this state assessed at three hundred ' dollars
($300) or more."
(3) Louisiana.
Section 3. He (the voter) shall be able to read and write, and
shall demonstrate his ability to do so when he applies for registra
tion, by making, under oath administered by the registration offi
cer or his deputy, written application therefor, in the English lan
guage, or his mother tongue, which application shall contain the
essential facts necessary to show that he is entitled to register and
vote, and shall be entirely written, dated, and signed by him, in
the presence of the registration officer or his deputy, without
assistance or suggestion from any person or memorandum what
ever, except the form of application hereinafter set forth:
Provided, however, That if the applicant be unable to write his
application in the English language, he shall have the right, if
he so demands, to write the same in his mother tongue from the
dictation of an interpreter; and if the applicant is unable to
write his application by reason of physical disability, the same
shall be written at his dictation by the registration officer or his
deputy, upon his oath of such disability. The application for
registration, above provided for, shall be a copy of the following
form, with the proper names, dates, and numbers substituted
for the blanks appearing therein, to wit :
I am a citizen of the State of Louisiana. My name is  .
I was born in the State (or country) of  , parish (or county)
of  , on the  day of — — , in the year  . I am now
 years — — months and  days of age. I have resided
in this State since  , and am not disfranchised * by any provi
sion of the constitution of this State.
Section 4. If he be not able to read and write, provided by sec
tion 3 of this article, then he shall be entitled to register and vote if
he shall, at the time he offers to register, be the bona fide owner of
property assessed to him in this State at a valuation of not less

the penning of the NEGRO. I 7
Uian $300 on the assessment roll of the current year, if the roll
of the current year shall not then have been completed and filed
and on which, if such property be personal only, all taxes due
shall have been paid.
Section 5. No male person who was on January 1, 1867, or at
any date prior thereto, entitled to vote under the constitution or
statute of any State of the United States, wherein he then re
sided, and no son or grandson of any such person not less than
21 years of age at the date of the adoption of this constitution,
and no male person of foreign birth, who was naturalized prior
to the first day of January, 1898, shall be denied the right to reg
ister and vote in this State by reason of his failure to possess the
educational or property qualifications prescribed by this consti
tution : Provided, He shall have resided in this State for five
years next preceding the date at which he shall apply for regis
tration, and shall have registered in accordance with the terms
of this article prior to September 1, 1898; and no person shall
be entitled to register under this section after said date.
(4) North Carolina.
Section 4. Every person presenting himself for registration
shall be able to read and write any section of the constitution in
the English language ; and, before he shall be entitled to vote, he
shall have paid, on or before the 1st day of May of the year in
which he proposes to vote, his poll tax for the previous year as
prescribed by Article V, section 1, of the constitution. But no
male person who was, on January 1, 1867, or at any time
prior thereto, entitled to vote under the laws of any state in the
United States wherein he then resided, and no lineal descendant of
any such person, shall be denied the right to register and vote at
any election in this State by reason of hisfailure to possess the ed
ucational qualification herein prescribed, provided he shall have
registered in accordance with the terms of this section priortoDe-
cember, 1908.
The general assembly shall provide for the registration of all
persons entitled to vote without the educational qualifications
herein prescribed, and shall, on or before November 1, 1908, pro
vide for the making of a permanent record of such registration,
and all persons so registered shall forever thereafter have the
right to vote in all elections by the people in this State, unless dis
qualified under section 2 of this article : Provided, Such person
shall have paid his poll tax as above required.
(5) Alabama (in effect Nov. 28th, 1901.) entitled to register: —
These sections of the Alabama constitution were before the Su-

18 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
preme Court in the case of Giles v. Harris, (189 U S. 475,) and
the general plan of voting and registration was summarized by
Mr. Justice Holmes, delivering the opinion of the court as fol
lows :
"By section 178 of article 8, to entitle a person to vote he must
have resided in the State at least two years, in the county one year
and in the precinct or ward three months, immediately preceding
the election ; have paid his poll tax, and have been duly registered
as an elector. By section 182, idiots, insane persons and those
convicted of certain crimes are disqualified. Subject to the fore
going, by section 180, before 1903 the following male citizens of
the State, who are citizens of the United States, were entitled to
register, viz : [First. All who had served honorably in the enum
erated wars of the United States, including those on either side
of the 'war between the States.' Second. All lawful descendants
of persons who served honorably in the enumerated wars or in the
war of the Revolution. Third. 'All persons who are of good char
acter and who understand the duties and obligations of citizenship
under a republican form of goverment.' By section 181 after
January 1, 1003, only the following persons are entitled to regis
ter : First. Those who can read and write any article of the Con
stitution of the United States in the English language, and who
either are physically unable to work or have been regularly en
gaged in some lawful business for the greater part of the last
twelve months, and those who are unable to read and write solely
because physically disabled. Second. Owners or husbands of
owners of forty acres of land in the State, upon which they re
side, and owners or husbands of owners of real or personal estate
in the State assessed for taxation at three hundred dollars or more
challenge is untrue before his vote shall be received. By Section
183, only persons qualified as electors can take part in any
method of party action. By section 184, persons not registered
are disqualified from voting. By section 185, an elector whose
vote is challenged shall be required to swear that the matter of the
challenge is untrue before his vote shall be received By Section
186, the legislature is to provide for registration after January 1,
1903, the qualifications and oaths of the registrars are prescribed,
the duties of the registrars before that date are laid down, and
an. appeal is given to the county court and Supreme Court if
registration is denied. There are further executive details in
section 187, together with the above-mentioned continuance of
the effect of registration before January 1, 1903. By section
188, after the last-mentioned date applicants for registration may
be examined under oath as to where they have lived for the last

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 19
five years, the names by which they have been known, and the
names of their employers."
(6) Virginia, (in effect July ioth, 1902.)
Article II, Section 18. Every male citizen of the United
States, twenty- one years of age, who has been a resident of the
State two years, of the county, city or town one year, and of the
precinct in which he offers to vote, thirty days, next preceding
the election in which he offers to vote, has been registered, and
has paid his state poll taxes, as hereinafter required, shall be en
titled to vote for members of the General Assembly and all offi
cers elected by the people ; but removal from one precinct to an
other, in the same county, city or town shall not deprive any per
son of his right to vote in the precinct from which he has moved,
until the expiration of thirty days after such removal.
Section 19. There shall be general registrations in the counties,
cities and towns of the State during the years nineteen hundred
and two and nineteen hundred and three at such times and in such
manner as may be prescribed by an ordinance of this Convention.
At such registrations every male citizen of the United States hav
ing the qualifications of age and residence required in Section
Eighteen shall be entitled to register, if he be :
First. A person who, prior to the adoption of this Constitution,
served in time of war in the army or navy of the United States,
of the Confederate States, or of any State of the United
States or of the Confederate States ; or
Second. A son of any such person ; or
Third. A person, who owns property, upon which, for the year
next preceding that in which he offers to register, state taxes ag
gregating at least one dollar, have been paid ; or
Fourth. A person able to read any section of this Constitution,
submitted to him by the officers of registration and to give a rea
sonable explanation of the same ; or, if unable to read such sec
tion, able to understand and give a reasonable explanation thereof
when read to him by the officers.
A roll containing the names of all persons thus registered,
sworn to and certified by the officers of registration, shall be filed,
for record and preservation, in the clerk's office of the circuit
court of the county, or the clerk's office of the corporation court
of the city, as the case may be. Persons thus enrolled shall not
be required to register again, unless they shall have ceased to be
residents of the State, or become disqualified by section Twenty-
three. Any person denied registration under this section shall
have the right of appeal to the circuit court of his county, or the
corporation court of his city, or to the judge thereof in vacation.

20 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
Section 20. After the first day of January, nineteen hundred
and four, every male citizen of the United States, having the
qualifications of age and residence required in section Eighteen,
shall be entitled to register, provided :
First. That he has personally paid to the proper officer all state
poll taxes assessed or assessable against him, under this or the
former Constitution, for the three years next preceding that in
which he offers to register ;
Second. That, unless physically unable, he make application
to register in his own hand-writing, without aid, suggestion1 or
memorandum, in the presence of the registration officers, stating
therein his name, age, date and place of birth, residence and occu
pation at the time and for the two years next preceding, and
whether he has previously voted, and, if so, the state, county and
precinct in which he voted last ; and,
Third. That he answer on oath any and all questions affecting
his qualifications as an elector, submitted to him by the officers of
registration, which questions, and his answers thereto, shall be
reduced to writing, certified by the said officers, and preserved
as a part of their official records.
, Section 21. Any person registered under either of the last two
sections, shall have the right to vote for members of the General
Assembly and all officers elective by the people, subject to the fol
lowing conditions :
That he, unless exempted by section Twenty-two, shall, as a
prerequisite to the right to vote after the flrst day of January,
nineteen hundred and four, personally pay, at least six months
prior to the election, all state poll taxes assessed or assessable a-
gainst him under this Constitution, during the three years next
preceding that in which he offers vote ; provided that, if he regis
ter after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and four, he
shall, unless physically unable, prepare and deposit his ballot
without aid, on such printed form as the law may prescribe ; but
any voter registered prior to that date may be aided in the prep
aration of his ballot by such officer of election as he himself may
designate. Section 22. No person who, during the late war between the
States, served in the army or navy of the United States, or the
Confederate States, or any State of the United States, or of the
Confederate States, shall at any time be required to pay a poll tax
as a prerequisite to the right to register or vote.
Section 23. The following persons shall be excluded from reg
istering and voting : Idiots, insane persons, and paupers ; persons
who, prior to the adoption of this Constitution, were disqualified
from voting, by conviction of crime, either within or without

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 21
this State, and whose disabilities shall not have been removed,
persons convicted after the adoption of this Constitution, either
within or without this State, of treason, or of any felony, bribery,
petit larceny, etc.
The intention of these acts needs no showing. They have
three points in common: (a) Some device enabling all the white
voters to evade the force of the disfranchising clauses ; (b) The
limiting clauses themselves which deprive a majority of the col
ored voters of their franchise; (c) The reservation of sufficient
discretionary power in boards of registrars to enable them to give
full effect to the acknowledged purpose of the framers of the
constitutions. I know of no lesson they can teach us, except how
to do the things we ought not to do. In some cases, by knowing
the way down, one ma}", by reversing the steps taken, regain the
lost height. But it is not so here ; our fall, like our rise, has been
too sudden. We have been thrown from a window, and before
we could understand our position, legislated out of a back gate.
Only by superior chicane can we repair the second injury, only
by superior force repair the first — unless there be justice in the
heart of the nation. It behooves us then to study carefully the
state of public opinion in the country, which underlies these laws,
and gives them whatever stability they possess.
There is, of course, a series of events leading up to this rad
ical change in the institutions of the Republic, a history begin
ning before the formation of the Union itself. The first part
was African slavery. Religious, moral and economic forces had
acted upon serfdom, the more common sort of slavery in Europe,
and aided by the resulting increase of vigor among the serfs
themselves, had disintegrated it. But these forces either did not
act upon the trade in Negro slaves, when profits to be obtained
from that traffic filled the minds of merchants, or were helpless
to stop it. The New World was not, like the Old overcrowded,
but in need of laborers — and the slaves were blacks. Tropical
South America, the West Indies, and the hot belt of the United
States absorbed hundreds of thousands of Negro slaves. All the
forces above enumerated set to work again after a time and
slavery once more began to disintegrate. In this country it had
become firmly rooted in the Southern states, where the same A-
merican people who had fought in '76 for the freedom of two
million white men, women and children fought as stubbornly to
keep in slavery four million black men, women and children. But
victory was again to crown the cause of freedom, and by the will
of the victors, forced forward by the unbroken spirit of resistance
of the conquered, these four millions of slaves were declared pos-

22 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
sessed of freedom, civil rights and political privileges.
Said Lord Shaftesbury to Charles the Second, when called on
for his resignation as Lord Chancellor, "It is only to lay aside
the gown and take up the sword." The South, defeated in arms,
reversed the process, and laying down the musket, put on the
gown of the law-maker, and began to accomplish by legislation,
the reenslavement of the millions set free. Hampered in this,
for a time by the armies and the northern civil officers, who ob
tained power largely by the suffrage of the colored people, and
by the colored voters themselves, the Southern men waited for
the withdrawal of the Union armies — an event hastened by out
er)- at home — and then taking out the side-arms, which the gen
erous terms of surrender had permitted them to retain, they
rapidly dispersed the opposing force, and took the reins of gov
ernment again into their own hands. With musket in one hand
to retain political power, and pen in the other to undo the Re
construction legislation, they soon deprived the black millions of
all their transitory political and civil rights. It is hard to see
that anything remained to be done. Emancipation laws and
proclamations to the contrary, the Negro seemed safely penned.
But moral and economic forces were still at work, and the end
was not yet reached.
The South could no longer close its eyes to the want of pros
perity. In 1890, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ala
bama, Mississippi and Louisiana, in spite of their 262,175 square
miles and abundant resources, had but 8,346,667 people and
288,405,107 dollars worth of manufactured products. An equal
territory in the States of the North, namely ; Maine, New Hamp
shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio and Illinois
with 260,823 square miles had 25,074,143 people and 6,484,643,
842 dollars worth of manufactured products — which is to say, the
Southern states had but one-third of the population, and one-twen
ty-second of the manufactures of the same area North. The
South wanting prosperity began to seek ways of obtaining it.
This led to the consideration of obstacles : and first among these
was the large and economically inefficient colored population. It
must be made, for want of other labor, productive, a contribu
tor}- agent to the new industrial prosperity of the South — and
not the less, cut off from any sort of control, even of the indus
tries, which by its labor must mainly be built up. The problem
was a difficult one, yet such as the South felt itself able to solve.
And many in the North stood ready to help.
In 1890, however, came troubles so serious as to require a di
version of attention from economical to political problems. The

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 23
Republican party pledge to secure for all citizens 'a free bal
lot and a fair count' was yet unredeemed ; and in that year a
debate broke out in Congress over the fulfilling of its promise.
with an Elections bill as the means. Simultaneously, the Popu
list movement was growing to threatening proportions. Before
this, the cry had been that the Negro by sheer numbers could
dominate, if not prevented from doing so. But now there pre
sented itself a new and .more threatening danger. "In any state
where the whites divide," said Mr. Tillman in the Senate in 1900,
"and they have divided in every Southern State except mine and
Mississippi — into Populists and Democrats — the Negro has been
the balance of power." The Populist movement died, but this
phantasm once evoked, of a black man poised at the centre of the
party see-saw, continued to hover at the beck of its creators until
again wanted. The occasion, this time a lasting one, has been
found in the balance of the Republican and the Democratic par
ties in the "border" states. So in Maryland, for a while, a
"doubtful" state, where the colored population is but one-fifth of
the whole, a disfranchising law is justified, apparently, by the
danger to good government of allowing the Republican party to
obtain control. Again, in the ciunty and town election con
tests, even in the Southern states where the Democratic party is
in entire possession of the State government, this com pact (?)
and mobile(?) army of black voters occupies a position of such
strategical importance that unless they be dislodged by the most
radical method their mastery must be forever acknowledged (?) .
Now, to conclude, since a dozen colored voters might hold thebal-
ance of power in town or county, the bitter irony of the situation
is overwhelming.* The South is simply driven by its own irrefu
table ( ?) logic to total disfranchisement of the Negro, there be
ing no safe stopping point short of the practical exclusion of the
colored inhabitants of a dozen or more states from any part in
the making or administering of the laws, national, state or muni
cipal under which they live( !). All this the South, impelled by
her honest desire (!) for good government, and resolutely

*In West Virginia there are, on the Census basis (958,8oo=whole popu
lation, less 43,499-colored population=9i5,30i=white population, divided by
3. 6=ratio of white population, generally to white males of voting age,)
-254,250 white voters; and (43.499=colored population, divided by 4 3=-ratio
of colored population to colored male adults, =10, 116 colored voters, of
whom 32.3 per cent, are illiterate, ^3207 illiterate colored men,) but 3.267
illiterate colored voters, or about one eightieth of the electorate (257.517
divided by 3,267): yet, even though the national ticket threatened to be
hurt by it, it was impossible to stifle the cry for disfranchisement of ignorant
black voters as the paramount issue of the West Virginia democratic
campaign of 1904.

24 OCCASIONAL PArERS, NO. II.
turning her back upon past methods of fraud and violence, ( !)
means to accomplish legally — provided Congress and the Su
preme Court throw over her naked but unalterable will the broad
mantle of legality.
We are reminded of the story of the princess, who wandering
in rags, came to a palace and begged accommodation there be
fitting one of royal blood. The old queen, not sure that she was
a princess, determined to test her veracity in this way: She lay a
pea upon the floor and piled upon it a dozen feather-beds. If she
felt the pea, it was plain that she was a true princess. Morning
came none too soon for the unhappy lady, who confessed to the
queen having spent a miserable night, something hard iu her bed
having bruised her till she was black and blue. No longer could
the queen doubt that she was a real princess, for who else could
have been so delicate. And she was forthwith married to the
heir apparent to the throne. So the South acts on the belief that
if she be absolutely intolerant of the slightest degree of political
power in the hands of colored men, that the North must see in the
very violence of her antipathy, the hopelessness of any other solu
tion. This happily settled, the South after fifteen years of uncertain
ty, hopes to be able to turn her attention to material problems.
But though the Caesars may rob February of days to enrich July
and August, the seasons remain unchanged. The economic and
moral laws of the universe remain in operation and give assur
ance that no solution can be more than temporary in which the
Negro is dealt with falsely and unjustly.
Meantime what had been the course of the Republican partv,
which, by its own declaration "had reconstructed the Union with
freedom instead of slavery as its corner-stone?" Listen to the
reading of the suffrage planks in the platforms of ten presiden
tial campaigns : — [1868.]
The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men
at the South was demanded by every consideration of public
safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained ;
while the question of suffrage in all the loyal States properly be
longs to the people of those States.
The recent amendments to the National Constitution should'
be cordially sustained because they are right, not merely tolera
ted because they are law. and should be carried out according to
their spirit by appropriate legislation, the enforcement of which
can safely be entrusted only to the party that secured those a-
mendments.

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 25
[1872.]
Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civ
il, political and public rights should be established and effectually
maintained throughout the Union by efficient and appropriate
State and Federal legislation. Neither the law nor its adminis
tration should admit any discrimination in respect of citizens by
reason of race, creed, color or previous condition of servitude.
[1876.]
The Republican party has preserved these governments to'
the hundredth anniversary of the Nation's birth, and they
are now embodiments of the great truth spoken at its cradle —
"that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; that for the attainment
of these ends governments have been instituted among men, de
riving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Until these truths are cheerfully obeyed, or, if need be, vigorous
ly enforced, the work of the Republican party is unfinished.
The permanent pacification of the Southern section of the
Union and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free
enjoyment of all their rights is a duty to which the Republican
party stands sacredly pledged. The power to provide for the
enforcement of the principles embodied in the recent Consti
tutional Amendments is vested by those amendments in the Con
gress of. the United States, and we declare it to be the solemn
obligation of the legislative and executive departments of the
Government to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all
their constitutional powers for removing any just causes of dis
content on the part of any class, and for securing to every Amer
ican citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the exercise
of all civil, political and public rights. To this end we impera
tively demand a Congress and a Chief Executive whose courage
and fidelity to these duties shall not falter until these results are
placed beyond dispute or recall. [1880.]
The dangers of a "Solid South" can only be averted by a
faithful performance of every promise which the Nation has-
made to the citizen. The execution of the laws, and the pun
ishment of all those who violate them, are the only safe methods
bv which an enduring peace can be secured and genuine pros-

26 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
peritv established throughout the South. Whatever promises
the Nation makes the Nation must perform. A Nation cannot
with safety relegate this duty to the States. The "Solid South"
must be divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all
honest opinions must there find free expression. To this end
the honest voter must be protected against terrorism, violence or
fraud. [1884.]
The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance
of a free ballot, an honest count, and correct returns. We de
nounce the fraud and violence practiced by the Democracy in
Southern States, by which the will of a voter is defeated, as dan
gerous to the preservation of free institutions ; and we solemnly
arraign the Democratic party as being the guilty recipient of
fruits of such fraud and violence.
We extend to the Republicans of the South, regardless of their
former party affiliations, our cordial sympathy, and pledge to
them our most earnest efforts to promote the passage of such leg
islation as will secure to every citizen, of whatever race and col
or, the full and complete recognition, possession and exercise of
all civil and political rights. [1888.]
We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the national Constitu
tion and to the indissoluble union of the States ; to the autonomy
reserved to the States under the Constitution ; to the personal
rights and liberties of citizens in all the States and Territories in
the Union, and especially to the supreme and sovereign right of
every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or foreign born, white
or black, to cast one free ballot in public elections and to have
that ballot duly counted. We hold the free and honest popular
ballot and the just and equal representation of all the people to
be the foundation of our republican government, and demand
effective legislation to secure the integrity and purity of elections.
which are the fountains of all public authority.
[1892.]
We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be al
lowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public elec
tions, and that such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast ;
that such laws shall be enacted and enforced as will secure to

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 27
every citizen, be he rich or poor, native or foreign born, white or
black, this sovereign right guaranteed by the Constitution. The
free and honest popular ballot, the just and equal representa
tion of all the people, as well as their just and equal protection
under the laws, are the foundation of our Republican institu
tions, and the party will never relent its efforts until the integ
rity of the ballot and the purity of elections shall be fully guar
anteed and protected in every State.
[1896.]
We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be
allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot, and that such
ballot to be counted and returned as cast.
[1900.]
It was the plain purpose of the fifteenth amendment to the
Constitution to prevent discrimination on account of race or
color in regulating the elective franchise. Devices of State
governments, whether by statutory or constitutional enactment,
to avoid the purpose of this amendment are revolutionary, and
should be condemned. [1904.]
We favor such Congressional action as shall determine
whether by special discriminations the elective franchise in any
State has been unconstitutionally limited, and, if such is the
-case, we demand that representation in Congress and in
the electoral colleges shall be proportionally reduced as direct
ed by the Constitution of the United States.
From '68 till '96 there was posted on the bill-boards of the
party, the same declaration in favor of a free and unrestricted
ballot, supported by the unyielding determination of the party
to protect this right. But in that year there came a change.
Perhaps it was that the mass of unredeemed pledges fell of
their own weight, and the time seemed opportune to substitute
a less weighty declaration; perhaps the party only sought a
more efficient means of accomplishing its unalterable purpose.
Whatever the cause, there began from this time, a diminuendo
which has grown fainter until in 1904 the 15th Amendment
was heard no more. To time, some say, must be left this task,
too great for a political party to perform. But there is grave
danger in leaving to time the' execution of justice. The evil

28 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
grows, the power of correcting it diminishes. Early in its
course injustice may be stopped, later perhaps not at all. The
future course of the party with regard 'to the supreme and sov
ereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or poor, white or black,
to cast one free ballot in public elections and to have that ballot
duly counted," is gravely complicated by the rapid and momen
tous changes taking place in American society.
The gulf between the sections, which the Constitution merely
bridged proved so deep, because it grew out of differences in the
social, if not the moral natures of the inhabitants of the two
parts of the country. These types have been compared to those
opposed in the English Civil War, and hence called Puritan and
Cavalier. But whatever the name, the differential fact was this :
in the North men and women did their own work, while in the
South others did their work for them. Until this great econom
ic and social difference, which made diverging ideals, diverging
habits, diverging tastes, ceased to be, real sympathy was impos
sible. That gulf, which widened into bitter civil war, is now
closing ; the two types are drawing nearer ; the divorce between
sections is shifting around to a divorce between classes. There
fore it is that in a part of the writing and ruling class, we feel
that there is a gravitating of morals southward.* The North,
which spent millions in lives and money to destroy Negro slavery
in the South, seems engaged in making white slaves at home. If
the political and social position of the white laborer in the North
is declining, our chance of obtaining justice through active
Northern sympathy is greatly lessened. In this issue which re
mains that of the comparative "hideousness" of the slave-holder
and the slave, every foot added to the social separation of the
Northern employer and employee is a stroke in the knell of polit
ical equality for the Negro.
It is a mistake, therefore, to assume that there is active in the
country a spirit of freedom strong enough to set us free ; a power
emploved in doing justice, strong enough to do justice to us.
The country is returning to the conditions existing before '61,
even passing these and returning to the conditions existing be
fore 1776, — in politics, because it is doing the same in morals.

*"The Republican party in its work of imposing the sovereignty of the
United States upon eight millions of Asiatics, has changed its views in re
gard to the political relation of races and has at last virtually accepted the
ideas of the South upon that subject. The white men of the South need
now haye no further fear that the Republicar party, or Republican admin
istrations, will ever again give themselves over to the vain imagination of
the political equality of man."
[Burgess-Reconstruction and the Constitution, page 298.]

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 29
Moral betterment requires that we put a deeper, broader and
stronger foundation under the old foundation of our lives ; and
this can only be done by removing each day a bit of sand and fill
ing in the space with stone. Days of tremendous business activi
ty, or national triumph are not likely to be so spent.
We must not make the mistake of assuming that there is pow
er in the nation to do us justice. "Not in a republic," some one
may ask? No! Von Hoist says: "That virtue is the specific
vital principle of republics is a delusion. The historical course
of development, natural circumstances, material interests and po
litical and social customs are the elements by which, in all states
without exception, the form of the state is in the first place con
ditioned." Not after the pledges of the Constitution, again
it may be asked? No, the Constitution is an ideal, not a real
body of law. Von Hoist wrote: "Polk had once stated that the
nature of American institutions offered the world ample security
that the United States would never pursue a policy of aggressive
conquest. Notwithstanding the commentary that he had him
self given on this proposition, it contained a kernel of significant
truth. The nature of their institutions forbade the United States
to hold in violent subjection, under the iron hand of conquest, a
realm of the extent of Mexico for any length of time. This
would soon have become so perfectly clear to the people that they
would either have driven the originator and guiding spirit of the
war in shame and disgrace from his office and dignity, and have
reduced all these conditions of peace to the utmost moderation,
or they would have proceeded to a formal and complete incorpo
ration of Mexico with the Union." And before 1900, as a re
sult of the war with Spain, the impossible, the absolutely forbid
den by the nature of their institutions had been accomplished.
How obscure the vision of the historian! The Constitution is
not written in the hearts of the American people, but in the sky,
where it is hidden every cloudy day. And yet again, it will be
asked : Not in the New World, not in America ? Justice de
mands a careful consideration of every case ; it cannot be ma
chine-made; it cannot be wholesaled. The exact measure of
justice is hard to find, harder to administer; it cannot be had
without patient search, calm temper, righteousness, courage. I
know not whether America has time to seek the intricate path of
justice, or patience and courage to follow it when found. The
crv 'forward' grows even louder, more insistent, more passion
ate. Can the country safely put down the brakes ; dare it turn
from its rapid way to material prosperity? But a little greater
momentum is needed and reactionaries will rise only to be irresist
ibly swept aside. Doubts, weariness, exhaustion even will not

30 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
stop the rapidly revolving wheels. Only in the wake of such
frenzied progress there will follow rest, the rest of death. Study
the wreckage in the South in the trail of slavery, black, and what
is far worse, white illiteracy, brutality, wretched sloth. Ob
serve the turning of defeat in the struggle into despair, then stag
nation upon which forms a film, a scum, a crust which becomes
strong enough to defy efforts to break it So is brought about
the stratification of society called caste. Above, the upper world,
ever turning to law and punishment to crush those who threat
en this floor, upon which they stand from beneath, ever appeal
ing to the prejudices of their class to persecute into submission
those whose sense of justice or generosity threatens the crust
from above. Beneath, the under world, sweating, spawning,
gathering from its own misery and the dregs of vice and lux
ury from above poison, and shaping from its own eager thous
ands of ambitious men, — yes, and after the boldest men of the
class above, fangs, that it may become all that revolution is wont
to be.
In such a society is born the conqueror, man of destiny, as he
seems. In mountain, in desert or in slum, he may have his
birth. Oftenest he is a military, yet sometimes a spiritual con
queror. In the west of Europe, two thousand years ago was born
Julius Caesar ; in the East, Jesus Christ. From mountain, wil
derness and slum, each drew his followers. Caesar gathered the
driftwood of the decaying Republic into an army, and upon this
bridge crossed the Rubicon and established empire. Christ, too,
gathered up the driftwood of decaying Rome and fashioned out
of it that noble band which is the inspiration of every true Church
in the Christian world. The classes you would disfranchise will
become the makers of a political slum. They are materials for
working out the glory or the ruin of the nation. Exclude them
from the benefits, the privileges of other classes and you invite
criminality : from outcast to outlaw is but one step. Include
them, and who can measure the addition to the sum of human
happiness? In the answer to the question: what forces are
at work checking the too great increase of a people? what is
the principle of selection? what sort are disappearing, what sort
preserved? — may be read the country's destiny.
Outside of the slave states, equal participation in the govern
ment by all citizens has been the foundation stone of the Repub
lic. For a brief moment slavery was dead, and all men were
freemen. But slavery is alive again, and if its growth is not
resisted, will again be restored in all but name. The words of
Calhoun deserve to be called a prophecy. "Without political and
social equality," he said, "to change the condition of the African

s

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 31
race would be but to change the form of slavery." The South
accepts the alternative and resolves that, whatever the cost, polit
ical and social equality shall never be. The North must yield;
he will not. While some are trusting to the finality of the 13th
Amendment, others to industrial opportunity, others still to po
litical without social equality, the South with bull-dog tenacity
sticks to her resolution that there shall be none of these. But a
year ago Carl Schurz declared : "There will be a movement
either in the direction of reducing the Negro to a permanent con
dition of serfdom .... or a movement in the direction of recogniz
ing him as a citizen in the true sense of the term. One or the
other will prevail."
Are there reasons wanting why the nation should keep true to
its foundation principles? Granting that the pathway to free
dom is now harder to follow, should the forward movement be
abandoned? How else than by manfully pressing on to a
broad humanity, can the Republic, reconstructed with freedom
as its corner-stone, remain? As the old cords fail to hold to
gether the more distant and divided political and ethnic units of
population, there must be woven new bonds of sympathy, — at
least, of toleration, else some must be hung with chains. There
are many, many reasons, rulers of the commonwealth, why the
electorate should not be reduced : —
Above all, it is selfish. "The continual and diligent elevation
of that lower mass which human society everywhere is constantly
precipitating," to borrow the words of Cable, is incompatible
with the spirit of restriction.
It is inequitable. For, again quoting from this author:
"There is no safe protection but self-protection: poverty needs
at least as much civil equipment, for self-protection as property
needs: the right and liberty to acquire intelligence, virtue and
wealth are just as precious as the right and liberty to maintain
them, and need quite as much self-protection."
It is subversive of the republican basis of the state, — tending
as it does to deposit more and more political power in the hands
of fewer and fewer men. From "all up" to "some down" in the
matter of political rights is a precipitous leap : but this step once
taken, a gentle slope succeeds. From many to fewer members of
the privileged class, the mind advances easily, with no intrusive
principle to block the way. If a poll tax of one dollar can be
made a condition of voting regardless of ability to pay it, then
why not ten or twenty ? If a poll tax, why not a property tax,
or wealth ? If ability to interpret the Constitution, why not a
college education?

2)2 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
As restriction is practiced in the South, it breeds contempt for
the law :
And increasing unrest, for like a snow ball it swells and gathers
fresh resistance as it goes :
And dishonesty, for the disfranchising laws are not being
lived up to. This is inherent, for the acquisition of the required
knowledge or wealth would defeat the very object of the law. It
puts a premium upon ignorance, for thereby the desired end of
disfranchisement is furthered: — And upon thriftlessness, for the
same reason ; — And upon criminality and false charges of crime,
since even this price must be paid by those determined to work
their will.
What evils of universal suffrage are equal to these? Can an
appeal be made in the name of minority rights by those who
would themselves efface minorities?* When slaves were escap
ing, they demanded that the constitutional guarantees be ful
filled to the letter, clamored like Shylock for the pound of flesh
which the law allowed. Now, too, they demand of the amend
ments as before of the clauses of the instrument reserving pow
er to the states, that they be construed by the letter: — but with
what a change of object,— no longer that the rights of minori
ties may be respected but that they may be utterly suppressed.
And if it be asserted that the superior must be allowed to rule,
is superiority to be proved by a fiat of brute force? Is mere
armed lawlessness the index of superior worth? When the na
tions agreed to fix limits to the cruelties of war, did they there
by place a penalty upon brains?
Finally, is it claimed that a free ballot signifies unlimited cor
ruption? Read the answer in England's purification of her pol
itics : I quote from Sir Thomas Erskine May : —
"Political morality ma}- be elevated by extending liberties : but
bribery has everywhere been the vice of growing wealth." "The
first election of George the Third's reign was signalized by un
usual excesses :" A seat in Parliament was for sale, like an estate
and they bought it without hesitation or misgiving. "Nor were
they regarded with much favor by the leaders of parties; for

*In two states, viz; Mississippi and South Carolina, the colored people
are in the majority. In the other four disfranchising states, as well as all
other Southern states, they are in the minority.
In the group of states disfranchising the colored voters, viz; N. C , SI C,
Va., Ala., Miss., and La., the white population is 5,396,649-55 per cent.
" colored " " 4,453,253-45 per cent.
" total " 9,849,902-100 per cent.
BY THE I2TH CENSUS (190O.;

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 33
men who had bought their seats, — and paid dearly for them, —
owed no allegiance to political patrons. "They sought admis
sion to Parliament, not so much with a view to a political career,
as to serve mere personal ends, to forward commercial specula
tions, to extend their connections and to gratify their social as
pirations. But their independence and ambition well fitted them
for the service of the court .... They soon ranged themselves a-
mong the king's friends: and thus the court policy, — which was
otherwise subversive of freedom became associated with parlia
mentary corruption. "When the return of members was left to
a small but independent body of electors, their individual votes
were secured by bribery: and where it rested with proprietors or
corporations, the seat was purchased outright." Gatton e. g.
was sold for £75,000. Of the 658 members of the House of
Commons 487 were returned by nomination. . .not more than
one third of the House were the free choice of the limited bod
ies of electors then intrusted with the franchise. . . . Representa
tives holding their seats by a general system of corruption could
scarcely fail to be themselves corrupt. What they had bought,
they were but too ready to sell. And how glittering rhe prizes
offered as the price of their services ! Peerages, baronetcies,
patronage and court favor for the rich — places, pensions and
bribes for the needy. All that the government had to bestow
they could command. . . . Another instrument of corruption was
found in the raising of money for the public service. In March
1763, Lord Bute contracted a loan of three millions and a half;
and having distributed shares among his friends, — the scrip im
mediately rose to a premium of 1 1 per cent. . . . Here the country
sustained a loss of £385,000  Stock jobbing became the fash
ion; and many members of Parliament were notoriously con
cerned in it. Again in 1781. . .a loan of £12,000,000 was con
tracted to defray the cost of the disastrous American war. . .Its
terms were so favorable that suddenly the scrip rose nearly 11
per cent. It was computed by Mr. Fox that a profit of £900,000
would be derived from the loan; and by others that half of the
loan was subscribed for by members of the House of Commons.
Lord Rockingham said. "The loan was made merely for the pur
pose of corrupting the Parliament to support a wicked, impolitic
and ruinous war.
Now as to the electorate. "In Scotland in 1831, the total
number of county voters did not exceed 2500; and the constitu
encies of the 66 boroughs amounted to 1440  The county of
Argyll, with a population of 100,000 had but 115 electors Caith
ness with 36,000, contained 47 free holders. Edinburgh and
Glasgow, the two first cities of Scotland, had each a

34 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
constituency of 33 persons. ... A great kingdom, with more than
two millions of people, — intelligent, instructed, industrious and
peaceable, — was virtually disfranchised. . . . According to a state
ment made by the Duke of Richmond in 1780, not more than 6,
000 men returned a clear majority of the British House of Com
mons. . . It was alleged in the petition of the Society of the
Friends of the People (presented in 1793.) that 84 individuals
absolutely returned 157 members to Parliament. . .and that a
majority of the House were returned by 154 patrons 
"The glaring defects and vices of the representative system
which have now been exposed, — the restricted and unequal fran
chise, the bribery of a limited electoral body, and the corruption
of the representatives themselves, — formed the strongest argu
ments for Parliamentary reform. . . . The theory of an equal re
presentation, had in the course of ages, been entirely subverted. .
The Reform bill of 1832 supplied the cure. "It was," says May,
"a measure, at once bold, comprehensive, moderate and constitu
tional. Popular : but not democratic : — it extended liberty, with
out hazarding revolution. In 1850 the representation of the
country was reconstructed on a wider basis. Large classes had
been admitted to the franchise: and the House of Commons re
presented more freely the interests and political 'sentiments of the
people. The reformed Parliament, accordingly, has been more
liberal and progressive in its policy than the Parliaments of old,
more vigorous and active; more susceptible to the influence of
public opinion : and more secure in the confidence of the people."
Here let us leave the history of English political corruption
and the remedy which was found in a fairer representation of the
people. In truth, we might well have left it sooner— if not alto
gether ; for it is likely to be said that all of this is nothing to the
purpose. The South has before her the practical problem of
dealing with some millions of Negroes, to the solution of which,
the experience of the English people furnishes no aid. Once
more, then, we must consider the actual situation in this country
to-day. The Negro problem has been stated What does justice to the
Negro demand? Approaching our subject from this point of
view, we may try to conclude : —
ist. What justice does demand; and
2nd. What the Negro must do to get it.
What, to begin with, is the answer of the South to the former?
It is familiar to us all and would seem to be the nearly unanimous
voice of the Southern people. The Negro, they say, is ignorant,
lazy and vicious. Slavery, so far as its effect on the slave is con
cerned, was a beneficent institution, raising him from his prev-

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 35
ious savagery to a plane of humble usefulness. There, however,
his incurable inferiority destines him forever to remain. This,
the South insists she has settled in wisdom and kindliness. The
North, so runs her speech, misunderstanding the South and the
Negro, unjustly forced on the Civil war, to compel her to change
her domestic institutions. But that attempt, foredoomed to fail
ure, has resulted in nothing more than the abolition of slavery,
and a cruel loss of life and property, partly compensated for by
the consequent revelation of her boundless resources of courage,
loyalty and united resolve. Slavery, while a Southern institu
tion, was not a bond of perfect union ; but upon the platform of
black inferiority and white domination, every Southern man has
his foot squarely planted. Her answer, therefore, to all criticism
is to point with pride to the solid South.
How often are we called upon to see with pain and wonder
that opinions, theories, even the mind itself is shaped by actions.
Nature, aiming at preservation of life, is quick to heal all possi
ble wounds, to reconcile warring impulses, to gloss and beautify
deformities, and even to conceal dangers and snares. She gives
men language to justify their misdeeds, teaches them how to em
balm their errors in the secretion of their intellects, and even pre
serves the lying epitaphs which they inscribe over the remains of
their vanity and pride. To change an opinion, it is necessary
commonly to change a course of action, and until the life of the
South changes, there seems no reasonable expectation that her
opinions will change. Disfranchisement is but a symptom of the
diseased Southern body politic, and who can tell whether the
surgeon's knife will not reach the sources of life itself in seek
ing for a cure.
Sufficient then to herself, — wholly insufficient, false, and cruel
to us, is this answer. If there were but these two parties to the
cause, there would be no need to consider it. There remains,
however, the still hesitating, ever-divided public opinion of the
North — now the judge in the Freedmen's case. It is fitting that
in her court, our replication should be boldly made. There we
proclaim that the South is not doing justice to colored men.
The Negroes, say Southern men, are ignorant, lazy, vicious,—
a perpetual menace to the rule and order of white men. Is this
believable? Did God so make the world that after three thous
and years of progressive white civilization ; — in a country where
there are sixty millions of white men, entrenched in their posses
sion of armies and navies, wealth, power and endless resources
of trained intellect ; — that nine millions of colored people, rich in
nothing but their sufferings, threaten to put the bottom on top ?
And if chance rules the world, and ignorance, laziness and vice

36 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
are as likely to prevail as knowledge, industry and virtue, we may
as well believe that ignorance and laziness and vice underlie
white civilization and supremacy. No, we may confidently an
swer : this is not believable. Either these nine millions of colored
people are not ignorant, lazy and vicious, or there are no grounds
for the fear that they can for an hour put into danger the contin
uance of white domination, even in the blackest portion of the
black South.
There is indeed proof obtainable that they are neither ignorant,
lazy and vicious, nor a menace to rule and order. If they were
near neighbors of the brutes would the elaborate defensive prep
arations be necessary which the South continues feverishly to
make? Do the savages of Africa enact disfranchising clauses
to keep apes and monkeys out of their political affairs? If ig
norance so submerges the black man, why does not the Massa
chusetts principle of protecting the ballot prevail in the South?
Why is it necessary to require the voter to. read, yes, and interpret
satisfactorily, any clause in the state constitution?* If sloth
curses the Negro with unfruitfulness, why require property to
the assessed value of $300? If the assessed value be two thirds
of the real value, this means that nearly $500 ; if one third, then
nearly $1000 is fixed as the minimum possession of the black
voter. Does this precaution point to shiftlessness? If vicious-
ness be indelibly stamped upon his nature, why not rely upon his
disfranchisement for crime to eliminate the colored voters? Are
the white juries not to be trusted to condemn the accused? Are
the leased convicts not worth their cost of keeping? It has
been more than once said that 90,000 of the 90,000 colored peo
ple in the District of Columbia are criminals. If the same pro
portion maintains elsewhere, what more is needed to accomplish
the desired end?
Yet disfranchisement for ignorance, for thriftlessness, and
vice all together are acknowledged to be insufficient, and resort
must be had again to manipulation, juggling, and confessed dis
honesty. Rev. Edgar Gardiner Murphy, Executive Secretary of
the Southern Education Board, a distinguished witness, testify-

*The requirement that the voter be able to read (or write) and
interpret satisfactorily, in the Virginia registration requirement be
fore Jan. 1, 1904, is an advance upon the earlier clauses, which left
the alternative. I am not sure but that it reappears in the Maryland
law not yet in operation. It is an interesting fact that it was Sena
tor Daniels of Virginia who once called the attention of the Senate
to the injustice done the South by Senator Spooner's assertion that
voters were, without alternative, required to interpret passages from
the Constitutions.

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 37
ing against interest, says : "The instrument of discrimination
has been found in the discretionary powers lodged in the board
of registrars, by which worthy Negro men, fairly meeting every
test of suffrage have been excluded from registration." ( ?')
Where the fact is so freely admitted, proof seems wasted, yet a-
bundant corroboration may easily be had*.
The fact as well as the extent of disfranchisement is revfaled
by the statistical summaries: — [See Page 38]

-The following clipping from the Baltimore American, I cannot re
frain from reading: — ,
"In the recent election the democratic judges of election in many
of the counties proved that they were unable even to count ballots
properly marked, and when it came to putting a reasonable interpre
tation on the intention of a voter they were either wholly ignorant
or wholly dishonest. It is perfectly safe to say that not one-third of
the democratic judges who served at the Maryland election of las*
week could themselves give an intelligent interpretation of any sec
tion in the Constitution. Many of them do not even know what the
Constitution is, and the man who suggested that they would take it
to be a new kind of drink did not overshoot the mark. Fine pro
fessors of constitutional history these men would make!"

STATISTICAL SUMMARIES:

ADULT MALE OR COLORED
VOTING POPULATION, 1900.

(BEFORE)

(AFTER) PASSAGE
OF REVISED CONSTITUTIONS.

ESTIMATED AT I IN 4.3.

REPUBLICAN VOTE.

REGISTRATION OF COLORED VOTERS.
LITERATE. REGISTERED.

Virgin/a
Nor, Oar.

060.732 divided by 4.3 equal 140,123.
624,469 divided by 4.3 equ"! 127,1 14 .

Census of Negroes (1900) 115,805, (T.
13 t,0~Sf, '

Al.) (19*4) 47,880, (W. A 1.) equal 69,358.

82,442,

59,625 .

South Car , 7S2.3J1 divided by 4.3 equal 152,800,

TiSiK) 13,334,"

'Less than 6,000.

(19i0) 3,579, Hres. (T., i
(1904) 3,554. Pres (W.A1.)

1,242.

Alaban.a 827,307 divided by 4.3 equal 181 ,471,

(1900) 55,512, Pres.

Mississippi 907,1*30 divided by 4.3 equal 197,936,

(18S8) 30,090,

_( I m^&^mj. W_A_1. )  73 474.
(1000) 5,753 Pr. s . (T Al.) 92,605.
(]904> 3,189 Pres. (W. Al.) 

-Hardly2,5(lU.

Louisiana 650 801 divided bv 4.3 equal 147,348,
Total 4,451253

(l8Ss)30,:oi,

(1900) 14,2.i4 Pres. (T. Al.)
(1904) 5,335 Pres. (W. & 1.)

57 086. 1,147
(Newspaper estimate.)

REPUBLICAN VOTE IN THE SIX STATES —VOTE AFTER DIS
FRANCHISEMENT SCORED. -
(World APnanac- ¦ f 1904. )

VIR GINIA.
93 468
76 093

NO CAR
OLINA

SO. CAR
OLINA.

ALA BAMA
90 272
68 230

<

MISSIS SIPPI.

LOUISIANA.

1872
1876

94 783
108 419

72 290
92 0§I

82 175
52 605
34 854
43 509
30 096
1 4o6

59 975 *
75 3'5

(Tribune Almanac of 1895- )

1880
1884
18881892

83 639
'39 356
150 43§
113 217

115 874
T25 068
134 7§4
100 846**

58 071
21 733
13 736
13 384

56 I78
59 144
57 197
9 197

38 016
46 347
30 701
26 563 f

Due toPoi.ulists.
1900 I115 865 [133 o8r I 3 579 | 55 512 I 5 753 1 i4 234
1904 I 47 880 I 82 442 I 2 554 I 22 472 | 3 189 I 5 205

World. Almanac. | Republican and Populists.

Due to Populists.

THE PENNING OP THE NEGRO. 39
Every fresh barrier erected in the South simply publishes to
the world the weakness and inefficiency of those already raised.
Each time dishonest methods are newly justified, and violent de
clarations, applauded, fresh evidence is given that these South
ern men cannot on its merits win their case. The policy of white
domination is stripped to unblushing nakedness, and confident of
the fear of those who remained for two hundred years enslaved,
the South narrows the issue to one of physical courage, inviting
the Negro to wrest from her the power, which stands between
him and justice, freedom, happiness. It is not then in the ig
norance, laziness, and vice of the Negro, that the ivhite South
trusts, for the continuance of her policy, but in his defenceless-
ness. To these Southern men, zve can make but one reply. Unmis
takably our courage is the issue. But before considering how
best to treat their sinister challenge, let us answer to the Repub
lican party the question: What does justice to the Negro de
mand? Our reply is simple, — the fulfillment of the promise,
which was treasured up in the. hearts of four million men as they
passed through the doors of slavery into the light of freedom ; —
,the promise, which they have left to their children as their one
priceless inheritance: "The guarantee by Congress of equal
suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every
consideration of public safety, of gratitude and of justice, and
must be maintained" — this was the promise of the Republican
party in 1868. The freedman appeals to the creator of his polit
ical rights, as Tennyson to the Creator of his being : —
Thou wilt not leave us in the dust ;
Thou madest man, he knows not why;
He thinks he was not made to die;
And Thou hast made him, — Thou art just.
Is it then fair to leave to us the vindication of the Reconstruc
tion policy against men of the South, the North and even influ
ential members of the party's own councils ? Must we. meet the
charge that the Republican party was moved by revenge and
folly, and prove that there was no other way to secure the foun
dation of freedom, which hundreds of thousands had died to
win? Were those terrible years of death a mere night over the
gaming table, with two haggard players, 'breaking even' at
dawn? Is it left to us to rescue from their own sons the fame
of the heroes of the war against slavery and restore the honora
ble inscriptions recorded on their tombs? When men talk of
'the greatest error of Reconstruction,' has the murder of Lincoln

40 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
no claim to the place ? Does not John Wilkes Booth better mer
it derisive canonizing than "Saint" John Brown? If it was iron-
y for the "Reconstruction" legislatures to impose heavy taxes
upon a people who had just emerged from a ruinous war
and by bonded indebtedness extend the obligation to future gen
erations, was it not also irony to punish and re-enslave by vagran
cy laws the men who without an acre pr a dollar were now called
free? And if it ivas hate, and revenge, and folly, which brought a-
bout the 'War Amendments,' can they be honorably -withdrawn
now? Is there no doctrine in law, which forbids one's renoun
cing an act after he has profited by it ? But could the elections
have been won and the policies maintained without the aid of the
colored voter? Is there need of a statute of limitations to stop a
political party from withdrawing the promises upon which it has
encouraged millions of trusting people to build for forty years?
Can it be honestly claimed that three-fourths of the States of the
Union gave the ballot to the slave just out of the slave pen, with
•the implied condition that if he failed to prove himself able from
the outset to resist temptation to childish indulgence and childish
dishonesty, seduced as he was by the Northern men whom grat
itude bade him trust and follow, he should lose it forever? Is
this the Eden where we met our "fall?" A sober Anglo-Saxon def
inition of justice is given by Sidgwick: "Justice is realized (i)
in the observance of law, and contracts, and definite understand
ings, and in the enforcement of such penalties for the violation of
these as have been legally determined and announced; and (2) in
the fulfilment of natural and normal expectations." That the
nation's laws will be upheld is the first requirement of justice.*
But yet again are we broughtbacktotheignorance,shiftlessness
and criminality of the Negro. Their fathers, so say these wiser
Northern sons, could not know of these evils, which to them have
.been revealed. No, they could not : had their lives been spared
till now there had been no such evils to reveal. Under freedom's
blaze ignorance was sucked up as the stagnant waters from a
pool. With nearly the entire number of slaves illiterate, with no
Schools yet built, and only those large hearted teachers to face

*Here is an instance of a President's devotion to existing laws:
With the Confederate government fully installed two weeks before,--
Lincoln said in his inaugural address, that "he had no purpose di
rectly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery." Is
a manual needed in the United States to tell for what purposes and
under what circumstances the law will be enforced?

THE PENNING OP THE NEGRO. 41
the enormous educational work whose ministrations to the needy
were their only pay, more was done in the years just after the
liberation of the slaves, to remove, their ignorance, than twenty-
five thousand teachers in hundreds of schools have done in the
last decade since.* Progress in earning and saving correspond
ed. And there was little increase of crime. A few years more
of the sunlight and who doubts that these charges could never
have been brought against us! And by whom are we charged
with being criminal? Surely not by the South?
Is it credible that our millions lived under the benign influence
of slavery, almost without crime and continued even after the E-
mancipation Act to live peacefully and honestly : — and then, upon
the passage of the 14th Amendment dropped suddenly from this
moral zenith ? Such sudden transformations are not natural :
either slavery made the criminality of the African : or held it in
a grip barely strong enough to -prevent its issue in acts of vio
lence: or, else this record of crime is false. One of these three
explanations, we cannot choose but accept. The South at least,
cannot admit the first, for slavery, they declared, even before God
at His Altar, to be a benign institution; neither can they admit
the second, for it, too, is inconsistent with the gentleness and be
nignity of slavery. But will they admit the third ? "Nine tenths
of the illicit gains," says James Bryce, speaking of Reconstruc-
Per cent, of illiteracy.
*Colored population in i860 4,441,830
Of this about 9 per cent.
(488,070) was free — per
haps % of this was lite
rate, i. e., about 5 per
cent of the whole Equal 95 per cent or higher.
Colored population above 10 years in
1870 equal whole population, 4,8So,oo9
less 2S.7 per cent, equals under 10, leaving
3.464,8o6.
Above 10 unable to write 2,789,689 Equal 80 per cent.
-Colored population above 10 years in
1880, 4.601,207.
Above 10 unable to write 3,220,878 Equal 70 per cent.
•Colored population above 10 years in
1P90, 5.328,972.
Above 10 unable to write 3,o42,66S Equal 57.1 yer ;ent.
•Colored population above 10 years in
1900, 6,415.581.
Above 10 unable to write, 2,853,194 Equal 44.5 per cent.

42 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
tion, 'went to the whites." Into like parts, Woodrow Wilson
divides the responsibility and the discredit. "Negroes," he
writes, constituted the majority of their electorates, but political
power gave them no advantage of their own. Adventurers
swarmed out of the North, to cozen, beguile and use them 
They gained the confidence of the Negroes, obtained for them
selves the more lucrative offices, and lived upon the public treas
ury, public contracts and their easy control of affairs. For
the Negroes there was nothing but occasional allotments of a-
bandoned or forfeited land, the pay of petty offices, a per-diem al
lowance as members of the conventions, and the state legisla
tures, which their new masters made business for, or the wages-
of servants in the various offices of administration. Their ig
norance and credulity made them easy dupes. A petty favor,
a slender stipend, a trifling perquisite, a bit of poor land, a
piece of money satisfied, or silenced them." This is the record
of crime until the quickly passing day of freedom was ended.
And if crime has increased since, so presently will ignorance in
crease and idleness unless their growth is checked by the restor
ation of freedom and justice and hope. Punishment will fail to
stop the growth of idleness, vice and crime, as it has always
failed, and if brutal punishments are next resorted to when mild
er ones have failed, one sickens at the prospect. Can Southern,
abetted by Northern men strew the earth with the seeds of ac
cursed slavery, bastardy and treason, secret conspiracy, callous,
sneering fraud and the brutality of the mob, and think to stop
by lynching the harvest of black duplicity, bred of fear, and black
criminality, bred of misery and hate, — when they have gathered
enough of the fruits to make an exhibit of Negro vice? The de
parture of lynching waits for two events : the breeding of the an
imal out the most wretched Negroes until they find greater satis
faction in something higher than sensuality and revenge ; and
the breeding of savage cruelty out of the white man until he can
find pleasure in something more humane than torture by fire. As
our counsellors bid us turn our attention to the dark side of- our
life, we bid them turn theirs from it. Your boasted civilization
on its under side is but a progress from rape to adultery, from
brute to devil. The savage honors the brute and tortures the devil;
the civilized man tortures or crushes the brute and honors the dev
il. There is a pitcher plant of California, which is so described ;•
Above a funnel shaped stem, it flaunts a crimson banner. The
hood of the flower is transparent, so that the wary are caught
even in their efforts to flee. From the mouth downwards the
walls exude intoxicating sweets but multitudinous hairs, all point
ing downward, lower the victim farther with every struggle.

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 43
At its bottom a charnel heap, poisoning the air. Such plants flour
ish amidst civilization, and millions are their victims, who de
bauch their appetites until their intellects shrink to the size of
their already shrunken consciences, and they are helpless to do
anything but die. Liberty is perilous, a very 'valley of the shad
ow of death,' but the history of every nation which has lived and
died teaches us that the danger of a false step is even greater
near the end of the journey than at the beginning. Egypt, As
syria, Judea, Greece, Rome — the history of every nation is a
light-house marking a reef in the harbor of humanity.
When Cain had killed Abel, he hid the body, and when God
called, replied, "Am I my brother's keeper?" A chill forebod
ing comes over us with these Northern doubts of the wisdom of
Reconstruction, and we cannot refrain from wondering if the
North still retains the sense of duty of 61 ; if the North can do,
can even will to do justice. And here let us turn from our first
question: What does justice to the Negro demand? To the second:
What can the Negro do to get justice? My end has been reach
ed if there is felt more than before the need of answering the lat
ter question.
Underlying the civil laws of the nation are certain high ideals.
The fidelity of the nation to these is measured by the quality and
the force of public opinion. Just as long therefore as the repub
lic endures, the executive, legislative and judicial powers will o-
bey the people's will. To this oracle the "rulers have again ap
pealed, and its answer has been an expression of renewed and in
creased confidence in the Republican party. The hour of the
new administration has almost come, and the message may be
now- on its way to the country that the party pledges are to be
redeemed. It may be that there are brighter days before us ; but
if, as in the past, we stand on no securer footing than two men
wrestling on a steep and icy hill-side, where both roll over and
over, and there is no chance between throwing and being thrown,
— then it matters not whether we appeal to President, or Con
gress, or Supreme Court; to the 14th or 15th amendment, for the
righting of our wrongs.
Congress is empowered to enforce the 14th and 15th amend
ments by appropriate legislation. Such legislation has been en
acted and by one President, at least, enforced. But, now, it is
held that it must be shown that the amendments are being vio
lated, and this cannot be done until the Supreme Court fully in-
•terprets them. What a mockery it has all become ! Insolently,
sneeringly, the violators of the plain intent oi the law rise from
their seats in Congress and demand how far they are going to
be obliged to walk around these Amendments instead of kicking

44 OCCASIONAL PAPERS. NO. II.
them aside. By law, or by force, colored men are being de
prived of the right to hold office; by law or by force excluded
from the jury; by law or by force sent into slavery for crimes of
which they were convicted by these juries from which they are
excluded ; by law or by force, they are being disfranchised. The
alternative is clear. Southern men do not evade it. The re
vised Constitutions stand boldly for disqualification by law.
Southern Congressmen in debate as boldly proclaim the force.
More cautiously Mr. Murphy testifies to the same effect, denying
that "the abuse of discretionary power by the registrars of elec
tions, — an abuse which the State permits, but which the Stace
does not necessitate or prescribe, brings the State within reach
of the penalties of the Constitution."
If not by law then the Constitution is nullified by force, and it
becomes the duty of Congress to maintain it. But is Congress
so near the performance of this obligation that we can profita^
bly advise as to the method? Shall we say that candidates for
Congress, by force or fraud elected, shall be refused their seats
or that an election bill shall be passed, guaranteeing just laws;
or that the penalty clause of the 14th Amendment shall be first
enforced? At least, we had better wait until the House has re
versed the policy outlined by its Committee on Elections, whose
concluding words in the Dantzler— Lever case follow : — "How
ever desirable it may be for a legislative body to retain control
of the decision as to the election and qualification of its members,
it is quite certain that a legislative body is not the ideal body to
pass judicially upon the constitutionality of the enactments of
other bodies. We have in this country a proper forum for the
decision of constitutional and other judicial questions. If any
citizen of South Carolina who was entitled to vote under the con
stitution of that State in 1868 is now deprived by the provisions
of the present constitution, he has the right to tender himself for
registration and for voting, and in case his right is denied, to
bring suit in a proper court for the purpose of enforcing his
right or recovering damages for its denial.
"That suit can be carried by him, if necessary, to the Supreme
Court of the United States. If the United States Supreme Court
shall declare in such case that the "fundamental conditions" in the
reconstruction acts were valid and constitutional and thatthe State
constitutions are in violation of those acts, and hence invalid and
unconstitutional every state will be compelled to immediately
bow in submission to the decision. The decision of the Supreme
Court would be binding and would be a positive declaration of
the law of the land which could not be denied or challenged.
"On the contrary, the decision of the House of Representatives

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 45
upon this grave judicial question would not be considered as bind
ing or effective in any case except the one acted upon or as a pre
cedent for future action in the House itself.
"A majority of the Committee on Elections No. v doubt the pro
priety in any event of denying these Southern States representa
tion in the House of Representatives pending a final settlement of
the whole question in proper proceedings by the Supreme Court
of the United States. Some of the members of the committee be
lieve the "fundamental conditions" set forth in the reconstruction
acts to be valid and the constitutions and election laws of these
States to be in conflict with such conditions, and hence to be in
valid. "Some of the members of the committee believe the "fundamen
tal conditions" set forth in the reconstruction acts to be invalid
and the constitutions and election laws of the States claimed to
be in conflict with such conditions to be valid. Some members
of the committee have formed no opinion and express no belief
upon the subject.
"Your committee on Elections No. I therefore respective1}* re
commend the adoption of the following resolution :
"'Resolved. That Alexander D. Dantzler was not elected a mem
ber of the Fifty-eighth Congress from the Seventh Congressional
district of South Carolina, and is not entitled to a seat therein.' "
If not by force then the Constitution is nullified by law, and
the Supreme Court must be looked to to maintain its vigor.
Turning to the Supreme Court, what do we find to be its answer ?
In the following words, the Court concludes in the case of Giles
vs Teasley, (the 4th Alabama case) decided Feb. 23d, 1904:  ¦
(from this decision Justice Harlan dissented.)
"It is apparent that the thing complained of, so far as it in
volves rights secured under the Federal Constitution, is the ac
tion of the State of Alabama in the adoption and enforcing of a
constitution with the purpose of excluding from the exercise of
the right of suffrage the Negro voters of the State, in violation of
the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States. The great difficulty of reaching the political action of a
State through remedies afforded in the courts, State or Federal,
was suggested by this court in Giles v. Harris, supra.
"In reaching the conclusion that the present writs of error must
be dismissed the court is not unmindful of the gravity of the
statements of the complainant charging violation of a constitu
tional amendment which is a part of the supreme law of the land ;
but the right of this court to review the decisions of the highest
court of a State has long been well settled, and is circumscribed
by the rules established by law. We are of opipion that plain-

46 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
tiffs in error have not brought the cases within the statute giving
to this court the right of review."
Far be it from me to imply that the Supreme Court will never
decide the State constitutional clauses to be in violation of the
national constitution; but as Yon Hoist has said: "The wit of man
is not equal to the task in the shaping of political life of invent
ing forms which may not be employed as weapons against their
own legitimate substance or contents." The law, it might be add
ed, without strong-siding conscience, is a mere magician's hand
kerchief, and surely we can no longer think of ante-election prom
ises embodied in the Republican party platform as binding ob
ligations. To those who ask : how long shall men wait for justice? I
can only answer : Wait we must, but we need not idly wait. Our
future is largely our own to make. Our radius of activity is
.slowly enlarging. Our daily question : what shall we do ? settles
into a demand for a defined policy. "A bitter and perplexed,—
What shall I do? — we are coming to find "worse than worst ne
cessity." Mere agitation, we know will not suffice. The coun
try is not floating upon a rising tide of indignation at the un just
ness of our treatment, as it was fifty years ago. And even if the
doing of justice hung upon he casting of a clie, I do not know
why the throw should be the higher for violent shaking of the
box. Some sort of planning of our future and united effort of
at least a few to realize their plans is indispensable.
Resolved, therefore, that we strive for all happiness whatsoev
er, which may be fairly won. A good name and a level glance
from those around us are essentials of happiness. If that is so
cial equality, then, resolved that we strive for social equality.
"This," says Cable, "is a fool's dream." If so let us not shrink
along with Christ, to be called fools. Once past slavery there is
no insuperable barrier between us and freedom. Where is this
line between civil and private rights? Is not the path from one
to the other continuous? Workshops and offices, public convey
ances, the theatre, hotels and restaurants, apartment-houses, the
boarding table, barber-shops and bath rooms, the public school
and college, the scientific society, the church, the alumni dinner,
the church sociable — in city, town and village: — what are these
but the way to the home ?* There is an upward slope from sla-
*That public conveyances come within the social sphere is assert
ed by Burgess: Reconstruction and the Constitution pp. 150 — ¦
"During the winter and spring of 1867-8 the work of these con
ventions went on under the greatest extravagance and incompetence
of every kind. (The constitutions which came from them provided
for complete equality in civil rights, and in some cases, in advanta
ges of a social character, such as equal privileges in public convey
ances etc.")

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 47
very,, where a man is a thing, to freedom, where a man is a man.
Millions, the better part of mankind, live and die' on the hill-side;
but all push on, as long as hope and manhood survive. That
those above should acknowledge the brotherhood of those below
and descend to help them is not to be generally expected ; for that
requires such love of their fellows as few possess. It is foolish .
then to demand the concession of social equality ; but it is quite
as cowardly to give up obtaining it, as long as an upward way
exists. That the path -is open is proved by the cry of those who
hate us : Turn the hill-side into a precipice, — slavery is the only
alternative to equality ; build an unscalable wall of caste founded
upon the color of the skin, the lowest white man by law and
force raised higher than the highest black. Yes, the first of all
our resolutions must be this one, to strive for social equality.
Not only, however, our indomitable instinct, but an urgent rea
son makes this our foremost consideration. National responsi
bilities, great civic or industrial responsibilities we are as yet cut
off from. Through private relations then we must educate our
selves to the realization, that only through the just performance
of duties can true rights be won. As we perform our trust over
a few things will we perform our trust over many. Already we
are reminded that our claims as individuals are mixed with those
of the mass of our people. In vain we urge our greater culture
or refinement, we are judged by the average of our race. In our
own interest then, if not from a higher motive, we must turn to
the lifting of our fellows. Our solidarity is already great: let us
hold to it and increase it. Far from being a curse it is a people's
greatest blessing. Yet we are losing it ; our fellow sympathy and
active helpfulness are not as great as were our fathers' This is
of crucial importance, since our best chance of winning friends
among the women and poor of the other race is by justice to the
women and poor of our own. And it is the women and the poor
of the other race that we need most to win : for it were hard to
say which is the greater obstacle to our progress, those left be
hind among the race ahead, or those left behind among our own.
We must face sex inequality and class inequality among our
selves, lest we bitterly denounce others' injustice when the same
spirit of uncharitableness is deep buried in our own natures.
Why is there such intense emphasis placed upon this issue of
social equality? Largely because it arouses the jealousy of the
white woman and the white poor. She, with her heart full of
fear and distrust, is the first to shut the door upon the stranger.
The next step after being a slave is wanting one; and she, who
has been for untold ages in forced servitude to man clings jeal
ously to that social order which provides a place for another more

48 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
to be pitied than she. She, it is who holds the keys of the home,
and with them, of church, school, restaurant, theatre and' car.
And with women are joined the poor. They bar our way to
industrial employment; they stand guard over the polls. Why?
Because they have learned uncharitableness in the school of bit
ter experience; because they, who have themselves never known
aught but inequality, cannot even think of an even balance be
tween men. Of little avail, then, the zvisdom and bounty of the
few enlightened, zvhen the serried ranks of the masses bar o-'-r up
ward way. . . As each occasion of hardship or slight works up
on them, — high prices made by monopoly, failure of strikes,
the miseries of war, unequal laws, the scorn of the rich and
well-born, — they turn and empty the full reservoir of their dis
content, through the ever open vent of race hatred upon any that
are weaker than they. And ever and again the crafty among the
ruling class, discovering this means of averting danger to them
selves make haste to profit by it. The greater our show of pro
gress, — the more actiye the resentment of these classes of those
above us becomes. Upon the removal of this antagonism much
of the welfare of the Republic as well as our own depends, and I
know of no other way to accomplish it than through fairness to
the women and poor of our own race. Then those just ahead
will see that they have no cause to fear that among us are to be
found a new set of masters to make fresh multitudes of slaves.
We cannot, then, afford to go on, confident that justice and wis
dom will prevail ; for the best among ourselves know how diffi
cult it is to be just and wise. Let us who know the way to jus
tice and can follow it, but strive to do so, and others, and yet
others will be drawn into the current until its pressure becomes
too great to resist.
Resolved, secondly, that we will continue to form party ties
from fundamental principle and not momentary prospect of ad
vantage. Last of all classes, can we afford to consider trim
ming our political sails to catch a chance breeze. Before it can
even be granted that we hold the actual balance of power, this op
portunism must have become our settled policy, — else we are not
the most precarious body of voters. But suppose we were able
to bargain for our vote, how wise would it be to do so? Can
our voters afford to indulge in a prospect of profit to be obtained
from their franchise? No, beyond question, our position is yet
too insecure to warrant our driving a bargain with the Republi
can party, backed by the threatened withdrawal of our ballots.
For not only would an artificial value, given to our vote because
it was pivotal, — which, to repeat, it could only be if it were the
most precarious, — double its venality, but the likelihood of our

THE PENNING OF THE NEGRO. 49
being put off with mere promises would be increased. Would
not the prize be made just tempting enough to keep us vainly
hoping? Would the rich with all their abundance do more than
"rub our chains with crumbs?" We have all to fight to keep up
our faith in the Republican party and its fidelity to the pledges
of forty years, but all our political funds are invested with it,
and unless in pursuit of some better principle than gratitude the
time has not yet come to withdraw them.
Resolved, thirdly, that we will contend for the political and so
cial rights we crave, by modern rules of war, using every protec
tive means we can, but scorning every dishonorable stratagem.
Under the present stress a line of division is appearing between
those among us who believe in open, and those who believe in se
cret methods of protection. In spite however of the merciless
fire we are subjected to by the press, which makes any one a mark,
who so much as strikes a match, we will resolutely oppose secret
bodies, secret measures, secret policies. Nothing so quickly
brings out all the cruelty of hatred as fear of secret danger. Let
not the awful power and unrebuked successes of Ku Klux Klan
or white caps mislead us. We must be free from the charge of
having suggested even such means to those whom oppression has
made desperate, but for whom imitation would spell merciless re
venge without even the check of Northern censure. And another
evil scarce less results : a premium is hereby put upon treachery.
Temptation is already too great to those among us who might be
induced to betray.
On the other hand, no reasonable precaution should be left tin-
taken. Our position is hardly yet so perilous that we need seek
the mountains., deserts or swamps for safety. Other protective
measures however should be sought. First among these, is or
ganization, which, however is only worthful when there is real
community of interest and feeling. These it will be hard to se
cure without neighborhood and common business dealings. By
such means too, we shall better come under the protection of the
common law, with its broad mantle spread over all contractual
relations. It is hard to get justice wholesale, harder still when
one cannot offer the market price. The earlier resolutions lead
ing up to the 15th Amendment forbade restriction of the fran
chise on account of creed, ignorance or poverty. These addi
tions were laid aside before the passage of the bill. The Civil
Rights bill in its earlier stages required equality in the public
schools and the jury service. These failed first. The best help—
this cannot be said too often— is self-help. Self-dependence will
not only strengthen our own defenses, but it has a value yet high
er  it strengthens the Republic. Appealing as we now do to cen-

50 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
tral authority, embodied in the Republican party, we help uncon
sciously to build up centralized power. This disadvantage of our
faithful adherence to that party must be confessed. By striving
to obtain land and independent businesses, and towards munici
pal political privileges, we will increase our responsibilities, our
interest in good government and our stake in the democracy of
America, — and by so doing become sturdier defenders of the Re
public. To the man who zvorks, the man who wants and con
sumes, in short to every man belong the common benefits and
privileges due to his common humanity ; but if we mean to secure
these heights which in the United States only have yet been won,
we must win firm ground to stand on. The law is not grounded
in such principles, he who would fight for the rights of men, must
be more than a mere man to get standing in her courts.
By such protective measures we may so shield ourselves from
attack, that if any should wish to destroy us they must first de
stroy what they have themselves built. This means much : but
who so thoughtless as to suppose that ownership of land and
home, or business interests or even municipal or other cor
porate franchises, — with the knowledge needed to maintain them
— are of themselves enough ! Who so weak as to trust in mere
segregation, that if we only stay on our side of a high board
fence we will be let alone What of Africa? What of China?
What so absurd as unguarded wealth? The day of high board
fences is passing. While segregation will supply certain oppor
tunities, which we may profit by, if we use them as stepping-
stones to higher things, it can only do so, if there is courage to
defend what has been won. Without courage no man can hope
to keep anything another covets. Somewhere in the foreground
of all our policies, — if we are true men and women, — must be
the determination to part with them only at a reasonable price.
Let common sense, and scorn of dishonesty, or pretence, guide us
in moulding them, but then let us adhere to them. Let all be
done in God's name, as does the man who builds an altar, gath
ers wood, then cleanses himself from all impurity before he ap
proaches it to do sacrifice. When these steps have been taken, we
may appeal to the God of justice, and with the confidence of him
who dares ask, and receive an answering sign from Heaven, strike
for the right.
CHARLES CHAUVEAU COOK.

NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN THE STATES. 51
NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN THE STATES WHOSE
CONSTITUTIONS HAVE NOT BEEN
SPECIFICALLY REVISED.
So much has been said about almost every phase of the so-
called "Race Problem," so many good things and so many bad
things, that we are apt to believe all has been said that can be
>aid and to wish that if there is anything than has ::ot vet been
said, it may remain unsaid. Certainly little that is new can be
said on the franchise until we have some new developments. You
will get nothing new from me. I am to speak on a current topic
that is as well known to you as to me. Yet it is sometimes help
ful to hear your own thoughts expressed by some one else. With
this possibility of doing a service, I apologize for having consent
ed to write on the subject of "Negro Suffrage in the States
whose Constitutions have not been Specifically Revised. But even
here I feel unable to speak about all these States and prefer to
¦confine myself to my own state, for of this I may speak with the
assurance that comes from contact. ,
The State of Georgia probably shows as little revulsion and re
version of sentiment and law as any distinctly Southern state,
except perhaps Texas, since the Reconstruction period. Re
publican rule was short lived and, while it remained, was less ag
gressive and revolutionary than in other states. The population
has been fairly evenly divided between the two races with a ma
jority always on the white side. The agrarian class has been less
powerful than in some Southern states and the ignorance of both
races has been rather mitigated and softened by centres of infor
mation, towns and cities, less remotely distant from one another
than is the case in several other Southern states, railroads and
factories exerting a great influence in this respect. So Georgia
may be taken as a type of those states in which the best things
have happened or rather the worst things have not happened fof
Colored people.
Of course, in Reconstruction times Georgia Democrats did act
harshly, .but my remarks rather have to do with the period after
-that. For instance, more than thirty Colored Republicans were
expelled from the Georgia legislature and the state had to have a
sort of second reconstruction before it was finally recognized by
the United States Government.
Georgia had only one Republican governor, and sent to the
National House of Representatives at least one Colored Repre
sentative. But for many years, even this has been a thing of the
past. White men have held all offices, occasionally having the

52 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
monotony of complexion broken by a Colored representative from
Camden, Mcintosh or Liberty county in the state legislature.
The passing of the lepublican party in the state as an aggres
sive elective organization has been due to several causes, but so
hidden and studied have two of them been, so free from shot
guns, leaving out, of course, the Ku Klux and Patrollers of the
'6o's and '70's, that you cannot lay your hands on these causes so
easily as in some other states where the change has been revolu
tionary and sudden rather than gradual. You will notice that
I say Republican party, for when the Colored vote was most ef
fective it was organized by the Republican party. One of the
causes of this passing of the Republican vote was intimidation at
the polls on election day, threats and intimidation before the day
in communities of Colored people, and official rascality in the
counting of ballots actually cast. Probably, as a result of these
a third cause came — the indifference of the state and municipal
Republican organizations to making a canvass for the state and
city officers.
Then the Colored vote began to divide on Democratic candi
dates and was exceedingly effective, holding the balance of pow
er, as it did, in choosing white Democratic governors, congress
men, state legislators, city and county officers. This went well
for awhile, but white office-seekers soon began to fear this Col
ored balance of power. They wanted their certaintyof amajority
of the white vote to guarantee their office ; so the Georgia legisla
ture passed a law making it legal to have primaries to nominate
candidates for office and also throwing such safeguards about.
the management of primaries as aimed to secure lawful practices
on these occasions. Here was a perfectly harmless movement,
apparently harmless. The next step was made by the Democrat
ic party assembled in State Convention when it decided that can
didates for state and county officers on the Democratic ticket
should be nominated by a primary, but leaving the conduct of the
primary to the community in which it might be held,
provided this should not run counter to the primary
law as passed by the State. Here too, was a perfectly fair
and harmless provision, apparently fair and apparently harmless.
But the way was then open for the primary to take on a local
coloring. In communities where the colored vote was an em
barrassment, the Democratic party there decided to have a white-
primary. In one of these communities aicolored man that I
know went to vote at the primary. He was a "good Negro" a
very good Negro, his goodness dating back to the time when the
'Yankees" were about to confiscate his .master's cotton and he-
claimed the cotton as his. Even this transaction did not enlarge

NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN THE STATES. 53
liis cranium, and after saving his master thousands of dollars
and gradually amassing a fortune for himself, he still knew how
to approach his former master from the kitchen door. Well.
this good Negro went to cast his ballot. The courteous man at
the polls said: "George, this is a Democratic primary." "Yes,"
.said George, "but I am a Democrat." "Well," said the courte
ous gentleman, "but George, this is a white primary." This col
ored man found himself without a Republican for whom he might
vote, and was informed that the Democratic party was a close
'corporation so far as the Colored man was concerned. This is
'quite interesting when I tell you that white Republicans, avowed-.
ly Republicans, have not only been permitted but even requested
to participate in the primaries of the Democratic and Populist
parties. The reason for the elasticity of the primary is quite evident,
that is, why Colored people are allowed to take part in the pri
mary in one community and not in another, or why they are al
lowed at one time to vote 'and at another time in that same com
munity are not allowed to vote. The purpose is to have the Col
ored voters as a harmless balance of power between the Demo
crats and any other party that may show strength, that is, to have
the Colored man to settle disputes among white people without
becoming obstreperous because of this valuable assistance. There
were some communities where the Populists used the Colored
voter to defeat Democrats and others where the Democrats used
this vote to defeat Populists. Of the State as a whole, it may be
said that Populism was defeated by the Colored voters espousing
the Democratic side. And be it said to the common sense and
good reason of many Democrats that this fact is acknowledged
and to an extent appreciated by the party now in power — to the
extent at least of staving off any further disfranchisement meas
ures thus far.
But the most flagrant high-handedness and palpable confession
of purpose on the part of white people with reference to our cit
izenship rights is to be found in a state legislative enactment that
looks to the municipal management of two Georgia towns where
the Colored voters are so overwhelmingly in the majority that or
dinary subterfuges would not fulfill the requirement. Darien
and St. Mary's are two coast towns with a large Colored popu
lation. The mayor and aldermen are not elected by the voters
in these towns; but, instead, these towns enjoy the unique dis
tinction of being managed by officials appointed by the govern
or of the State. What is more simple ; what more high-handed ;
what more tin-Democratic and subversive of national principles
of government than this?

54 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
Now let us ask the question : Can the Colored man cast his
ballot in Georgia?
In the first place, any party of any race may hold a primary.
Second, Any man of any party or race may vote in the general
election for any candidate he may wish.
Let us ask next, whether these ballots will be counted? That
depends entirely upon whether the need is to count them or de
stroy them ; or furthermore, to count them as ballots for some
one for whom they were not cast. The election boards and the
management at the polls are not bipartisan and the party in pow
er may do what it chooses.
We raise the question now whether it is for our best interest
economically to exercise the franchise? Do men vote to help
their economic interests? Are not taxation and other fiscal pol
icies settled by the ballot? May not property be enhanced or
lessened in value by voters? Colored people have some real estate
and securities, but their practical capital is their labor ; yet they
have not the least power, the real power, of influencing legislation
in reference to a single labor measure that may arise, although in
Georgia nearly half the population is colored and in the laboring
class the colored people are in the majority. Now suppose, as
white union labor in the South grows stronger, it should influence
such legislation as would eliminate colored labor where it came
into competition with white labor, the colored laborer would be
politically powerless to resist this legislation. Now is this a mere
idle dream when we reflect that within the past few months a Texas
legislator introduced a bill to confine Colored labor to the farm
whenever it was found in city and town communities to be com
peting with white labor.
Then there is another side that really has its argument, effec
tive, though perhaps not very logical. The fact that we are, as
a people, laborers and not capitalists, makes us, as any other peo
ple similarly placed would be, under obligation to the capitalist
who, in our case, are white. The point is made that to enter pol
itics against the wishes of this people would raise such antagon
ism as to lower our earning power. Hence we are told to keep
out of politics until we get a better money basis. Here we stand
between two 'difficulties, staying out of politics might jeopard
our earning and entering politics might jeopard our earnings.
Many honest and thoughtful white and colored men stand on both
sides of this question.
Now, is it Educationally best for us to vote? This question
requires some amplifying. Do we mean what educational value
comes from this training in citizenship? If so, then certainly the
value is great. There was a time when we knew conditions in

NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN THE STATES. 55
our state and town, but so little influence does a Colored man
have in politics now that I do not even know the name of the al
derman in my ward, although I am a registered voter, have paid
my poll tax and voted for President Roosevelt. I know of noth
ing more benumbing to us as citizens than this deprivation. Men
who are philosophic may consider matters that are not of mater
ial concern, but the average person does not load his mind and
spend his time with things that, for one reason or another, have
no concern for him. Any discussion as to the fitness and hon
esty of municipal and state candidates hardly touches me, as I
know I cannot lift a finger to promote the interests of any one of
them. I have no voice.
There is another position from which this question may be
viewed and that is whether the advantages from schools would
be lessened or increased from participation in politics. It is
quite evident that without the ballot any people are suppliant and
must beg rather than make a manly demand. But, assuming
that the lack of the ballot has become a condition with us, would
a demand or threat about our ballot result in a counter threat
that if we forced the issue, we should not only be denied our bal
lot, but that for our arrogance the appropriation for Colored pub
lic schools would be cut down and we should receive only what
we paid in as our share of the school tax? This too, is no dream ;
but has actually been considered by colored men as a possible rea
son for not causing such antagonism as would arise from Colored
men endeavoring to enter aggressively into politics again.
What now about fears for disfranchisement such as has been
compassed by the revised constitutions in many Southern states?
Some one may say that there is no difference between constitu
tional disfranchisement and that quasi disfranchisement effective
for all practical purposes such as we have spoken of as now ob
taining in Georgia. There is a tremendous difference. If a
wave of civic righteousness should sweep over those states still
without constitutional disfranchisement, the primaries would be
a very slight embarrassment to those willing to do right by all ra
ces alike ; while in the states possessing constitutional disfran
chisement, the reactionaries would have such means of stopping
fair play and honest elections free for all, that they could easily
check the purpose of the fair-minded citizens for a long while.
Now, do we really have to fear disfranchisement? I say dis
franchisement must at all times be feared and be guarded against
as far as it lies within our power in an honorable and manly way
to hold it off. Just at the time North Carolina and Maryland
seemed most secure to us we found ourselves deprived of our
rights ; and it may be safely stated that whenever on a specific oc-

56 OCCASIONAL PAPERS. NO. II.
casion the Colored vote exerts the balance of power over any
considerable area, there disfranchisement may be feared.
We need to fear disfranchisement because it is found
ed upon the sprit of injustice and that same spir
it fosters it. So palpable is this, that the South bewails
the fact. Governor Warfield in speaking about the repeal of the
Fifteenth amendment says : "The privilege to vote could then be
bestowed without respect to the expedient of unwise constitution
al amendments that strain the conscience of our best people and
arouse criticism." Yet the repeal of the Fifteenth amendment
would not relieve those apostles of disfranchisement of the odium
of violating the spirit of truly American democracy and of set
ting at naught that mighty decision on human rights that was
rendered by the bloody arbitrament of war— Disfranchisement of
whatever sort, if designed to embarrass a citizen because of his
race, must always "strain the conscience of our best people."
Does Georgia show any signs of the disfranchising spirit? We
fear it does. The State Legislature now expects some measure
of this sort at each session, and in recent years has not been dis
appointed, although good sense has thus far triumphed. Then a-
gain men in high places, congressmen and at least one of our U.
S. Senators from Georgia have begun to say some things that
may easily be construed as an advocacy of disfranchisement. It
occurs to me that the marked difference between the condition in
my boyhood and to-day is this : then the opposition was to Repub
licans, to-day it is to Negroes. It is not a party line, but a race
line. Now the white primary has not clone all that was claimed for
it. In the first place it has not purified elections. Far from do
ing away with the purchase and sale of votes, it has, by lowering
the supply, relatively increased the demand and brought up the
price to a really fancy figure. In the second place it has failed
to do that for which it was ostensibly introduced especially to do,
namely ; to put into office those men most eminently fitted by abil
ity and character to administer the office to which they might be
chosen. On the contrary, primary elections have been questioned
on the ground of fraud ; and the mayor of one very prominent
Georgia city has been arrested for drunkenness. Then why is
the primary kept? Well, the "fixers" for instance, can more eas
ily fix things. With the Colored man's vote eliminated, the work
becomes simplified and even though the amount of money spent
illegally may now be more than the total amount in the days when
colorcl as well as white were in the market y<t those interested
in "fixing" elections can now work with more assurance; and

NEGRO SUFFRAGE IX THE STATES.

57

promises may more easily be carried out in the matter of deliver
ing the goods.
For instance, I know of a city election where the voters in one
ward were so evenly divided and the candidates had calculated
their strength so accurately, that one candidate felt safe in buying
three white votes at the rate of one hundred ten dollars. Large
-corporations may now operate easily in state and city; and some
of the most flagrant cases of political jobberv that have been
charged against Reconstruction rule are easily equalled by the
bare-faced graft and bribery by which large business interests
win their way through the assistance of white voters.
What are the possibilities of white aspirants bolting the pri
mary? It is my impression that they are fewer than they were
twenty years ago. Judge Gartrell once ran independently a-
gainst Alexander Stephens for Governor and Judge Emory
Speer in his younger days ran on an independent ticket ; but such
.-a step on the part of a candidate means outlawry for life. Speer
was read into the Republican party, Thomas Watson into the
Populist ; and since the exile of such giants, the small fry find it
easy to be good and not to lift their heads in rebellion, no matter
what rascality has compassel their defeat at the Primary. No.
It is my impression that the primary is more firmly established
to-day than when it was first started. White unity has become
white slavery ; and while the yoke galls, the white aspirant pre
fers the yoke to extermination.
But, suppose there should be a general Democratic "rough
house" and the colored vote should be called in to quell the dis
turbance, the Colored voter would have no guarantee that such
would mean his return to political standing. On the contrary,
it might, as in several states, cause the passage of constitutional
-disfranchisement that would make his last state worse than the
former. Our status is truly unenviable, and the ground on
which we stand is exceedingly uncertain.
I desire now to treat more fully what has already been touched
upon : Why do the Republicans not nominate candidates for state,
county and city offices and make a general canvass ? There are
two classes of Colored men, those who think the party should
and those who think it should not. Unfortunately each of these
classes makes severe charges against the other with reference to
this matter. I much prefer to accept the explanations of both
as honest. The following are at least some of the reasons for
not making a canvass : first, it is difficult to get desirable men to
accept the nomination ; second, it would be still more difficult to
secure sufficient funds to pay the ordinary and perfectly legiti
mate expenses of a campaign; third, the injustice of the party in

58 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
power would make a fair election an impossibility. Hence a.
candidate would be doomed to defeat. from the moment of his
nomination and the fact that he and the party would know this,
would make the campaign lifeless, futile and perfunctory^
Fourth, the prominence of Colored people in politics and the ex
tra trouble to which they would put the ascendant party might
result in still further curtailment of the few rights still left to us.
To all of this the side that clamors or appears to clamor for a
ticket says : You assume too much, you see ghosts. Yet sup
posing the worst, it is far better to keep Colored voters orga
nized for several reasons : first, because the organization gives a
valuable training in citizenship that cannot be gained by stand
ing aloof and waiting for better things ; second, because if an
opening should come suddenly, the Colored people would be bet
ter able to decide quickly and intelligently where to throw their
strength solidly on one side 'or another for their own best inter
ests and the interests of the government ; thirdly, because a show
of opposition to existing political injustice and repression would
relieve us of the charge of indifference to our condition and
.would strengthen the courage of those who might champion our
icause — our efficient, powerful champions, who have grown doubt-
(ful about our real manhood. I believe in the honesty of both
these classes of colored men ; and it is exceedingly difficult for a.
man, living in the midst of these conditions and knowing the tem
perament, attitude and unlimited power of the white people, to
say which one of these two courses is the more rational and help
ful to pursue. ,
What have the Colored people lost through disfranchisement?'
They have lost the privilege of influencing legislation, since the
legislator feels under no obligation to them. The "Jim Crow"
car law. the separate tax bill and almost any other bill may be
passed so far as pressure from Colored people is concerned. A
very clear case is the public library in Atlanta which is supported
by the taxes of all citizens, yet not a single Colored person may
enter that library to read or borrow a book. Some months ago
Mr. Carnegie offered the city ten thousand dollars for a library
for the Colored people on the condition that the city furinsh a lot
and agree to appropriate one thousand dollars per annum for the
maintenance of the library. The whole matter has been tabled'
and the Colored people have no redress, since their mayor and al-
jdermen were elected without the Colored vote. Do you suppose
i, the city of Atlanta would have refused so paltry a favor, if its city
^council were dependent upon our vote?
Not only have we lost influence among the law makers but a-
mong those who interpret the law and administer justice. Neith'

NEGRO SUFFRAGE IN THE STATES. 59
er judge nor jury has to consult the Colored man's wish. This
independence of us makes the court a place of injustice as fre
quently as of justice, and policemen may be cruel with impunity.
Then too, the chain-gang with its revolting influences on men
and women, boys and girls ; the lack of Negro reformatories in
some places where they do exist for white boys find much of their
meaning in the fact that the Colored voter cannot make sentiment
and bring things to pass through the ballot. We have had the
"Jim Crow" law forced upon us, our public schools have become
poorer in equipment and teaching force, and the salary of teach
ers has been lowered.
In a word, the loss of the franchise has changed our status to
such a degree that we no longer demand, but beg and supplicate
even for those fundamental needs, without which education and
general improvement would be very doubtful.
Now are there some things to be effected that are regarded as
of more vital interest to Colored people at present than the ballot?
In the face of what has already been said, this seems almost an
unnecessary question, since the ballot is no abstract thing, no
merely academic theory, but a vital agent in the promotion of
improvement and happiness. Yet as obvious as all this seems,
when people have already lost the ballot they may ask this ques
tion : Are there some things to be effected that are of more vital
interest to Colored people at present than the ballot?
I heard a sweet-spirited Colored man say at the conclusion of
his remarks one day — he was a college president and is now in
Heaven away from this turmoil — well I heard him say : "I have
come to the conclusion that all we can do in this country is to
take what the white man gives us." An eminent Colored preach
er said recentlv in my hearing : "You can't drive these white
folks, you must knuckle to them and you can get anything you
want."' Within the last two months an interesting white southerni
clergyman in his exhortation to Colored people to be good Ne-j
o-roes, told them not to get mad about "Jim Crow" cars and to be,
slow to urge their rights. Said he : "You Colored people are un
dertaking a heavy task when you attempt to reform the Anglo- j
Saxon " Now our present needs are numerous and vital, manvj
growing out of the curtailment of privileges, a condition made
possible through our lack of the ballot. Many Colored men be
lieve that we can get these needs supplied most quickly and sure--
ly bv beo-ging and not resorting to a futile ballot ; many, moreover
think that the voting would retard the granting of these much
ne-ded privileges. On the other hand, others say our condition
grows steadily worse and our only redress, our only hope, is in
the ballot.

OO OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
Now what do I believe about all this ? I believe that we ought
to vote, and I vote on every public question when the privilege
is accorded me. I believe that our leaders ought to give us the
opportunity to vote and let us stand forth as men, whether suc
cessful or not. willing to do all within our power to be full-fledged
citizens. Certainly our attitude ought never to allow the white
people to say: the Negro cares nothing for the franchise and
does not exercise it when he does have the opportunity. What
are we waiting for ? Not more education, I hope. And here I must
remind you that one thing is much over-talked : the for
wardness of the Colored child and the backwardness of the white
child in the matter of getting an education. Colored children
are not being fitted as are white for their responsibilities. A real
intellectual awakening is going on among the whites of the South
— more and better school houses, better teachers and longer
school terms ; and the white children are learning with avidity.
The Colored children are getting poor school houses, poorer
teachers, more poorly paid teachers and shorter school terms ;
and we cannot change this disparity by begging the state and
city. Unless we force better things for ourselves by the ballot
or go into our own pockets, the next generation of colored voters
will be relatively less prepared for the educational qualification in
comparison with the white voter than the Colored voters of to
day. Oh! you say: "Pessimist, looking on the dark side." A-
way with that contemptible sentimentality and aversion to ugly
facts that make some of my people call a man a pessimist every
time he lifts a warning voice. I know the white country school
house and the Colored country school house. There is a tre
mendous difference.
Now I believe in education, but I also believe in manhood ; and
any education bought at the price of manhood is worthless and a
mill-stone about the neck. I believe in the ballot as a developer of
manhood and as it procures the right of men. I believe in the
ballot in spite of threats of disfranchisement, if we use this bal
lot. I see no difference in purpose between the states that have
outrightly disfranchised us and those states that do it stealthily or
by indirection.
I believe that the purpose of all is the same : a hatred for Col
ored people and a determination to have white supremacy at any
cost of life and honor. I do not think Northern sentiment is a
deterring force, though I think Northern sentiment could become
a deterring force to disfranchisement. In the face of all this,
why delay voting in the hope of better things ; better welcome dis
franchisement as men than suffer from it as cowards.
JOHN HOPE.

THE POTENTIALITY OF THE NEGRO VOTE. 6l
THE POTENTIALITY OF THE NEGRO VOTE IN
THE NORTH AND WEST.
The potential voting strength of the Negro population in the
United States is, according to the last census, three times as great
as was that of the white population in 1775 when the Declaration
of Independence published to the world the modern, though
sound, practical and eminently safe political creed that govern
ments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
The number of Negro males of voting age is approximately
three millions, a number equal to the entire white population at
the beginning of the war for Independence. The total Negro
population in the United States in 1900 was three times larger
than was the total white population which battled against King
George and the British Parliament for the purpose of securing a
voice in the choice of those who levy taxes and enact the laws
whose weight and obligation fall equally upon the whole body of
citizens. In the North Atlantic, the North Central, and the Western cen
sus divisions of the United States, the potential voting strength
of the Negroes is more than a quarter million. It is larger than
was the combined prohibition and socialist vote in 1900 and ex
ceeds by nearly a hundred thousand the total combined vote cast
for the present governors of the four states of Mississippi, South
Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama. In many sections of the
North and West the Negro population is sparse and scattering,
varying all the way from one in Scott County in Indiana to 63,
000 in Philadelphia. Yet in many localities where there is al
most an even balance of the two chief parties, the Negro vote is
competent to decide the results of election. In the states of Dele-
ware, Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut, New Jersey, and several dis
tricts in New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois, a united, cohe
rent Negro vote may frequently determine both local and national
elections. This is shown by the returns in 1902 for Congression
al election in four districts in Indiana, two in New Jersey, four
in Ohio, and two in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the
Negro vote was of sufficient size to have thrown the election to
either party. In state and local elections where party fealty is
not always so strong as in national elections, owing to dissatisfac
tion with both men and measures, the potentiality of the Negro
vote can be made very real and effective as well as respectable.
The municipal wards and legislative districts in the large com
mercial and manufacturing centers of the North and West furn
ish undoubted opportunities for the Negro vote to make itself felt

62 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
and to win regard and respect as far away as the United States
Senate. The foregoing facts and considerations suggest interesting pos
sibilities and, in view of the conditions affecting the political, civ
il, and economic well being of the people of color in the United
States, they create a demand and an obligation with reference to
the use of which the Negro voter should make of his right of the
franchise. The chief tenet of modern political philosophy is that the par
ticipation of the people in the government is the only way by
which their liberties can be guaranteed and their economic and
industrial happiness safe-guarded. Out of this conviction which
has taken hold of men almost everywhere has resulted iu the uni
versal movement towards democracy. The democratic triumph
which has marked the past hundred years and has been accom
panied by marvelous achievements of human endeavor-achieve
ments which could not have been accomplished except under con
ditions of freedom — has not been won without stupendous strug
gle and temporary defeats and disappointments. At every for
ward step, the movement has encountered unrelenting and seem
ingly irresistible opposition of privilege. Even here is the Uni
ted States where, barring absurd contradictions, the spirit of
democracy began so conspicuously to assert itself under the foster
ing genius of Jefferson, skillful and powerful resistance has been
constant and implacable. Aristocratic privilege, intrenched in
power, has grudgingly given way to the demands of manhood
rights, and manhood suffrage, and even to-day, in the attempt to
rehabiliate itself, it is bold enough to make the ridiculous asser
tion that the right of suffrage, even in a republican form of gov
ernment, is not a natural and inherent right of citizenship, but
merely a privilege to be granted or withheld at pleasure by a se
lect few for whose assumed authority no power on earth or in
heaven is responsible.
Whatever opinions may be entertained contrary to the doctrine
and increasing practice of government by the consent of the
governed, the fact is undeniable that as man has gained and ex
ercised the right of participation in government, special privilege
for the few has had to give way to the condition of equal oppor
tunity for all. Abuses have been swept away and the door of
opportunity has been opened for all. Thus has the ballot prov
en to be man's sure and effective weapon of defense against tyr
anny and proscriptive government.
All classes of our varied population, with possibly one excep
tion, have recognized this truth and have acted in accordance with
it. German, Irish, Jew ; artisan, farmer and merchant — all have

THE POTENTIALITY OF THE NEGRO VOTE. 6j
found the ballot a remedy for social, economic, and political ills
that have had their origin in unjust laws or the partial administra-
iton of law. All have used it with wonderful effect) towards the bet
terment of their condition. Grievances of one group have been
allied with those of another group ; industrial discontent growing
out of capitalistic wrongs, political distempers due to govern
mental abuses or the enforcement of discriminatory laws ; the
deep seated consciousness of ethnic injustice in the industrial or
political scheme — all have combined and arrayed themselves for
redress which every branch of the political machinery has in the
end endeavored to grant. The demands of the Slavonic yeoman
ry of the Northwest that a check be placed upon railroad combi
nations are not less effective in securing compliance than those
of the merchants and shippers of our commercial centers that just
and equal rates of transportation shall be enforced. The under
ground toilers of the mining regions of Pennsylvania and Illinois
know that their grievances will receive the same respectful atten
tion and consideation as the mandates of the coal barons, and
they systematically scrutinize the attitude and the actions of pub
lic servants and hold them to a strict performance of promise and
duty in so far as their rights and interests are concerned. Thus
it is that in the United States as in all representative governments
the ballot is the surest means of securing a "square deal ;" and it
is incumbent upon the three hundred thousand Negro voters of
the north and west to recognize its value and to make the same
use of it as is made by all other aggrieved elements of the body
politic. A catalogue of the wrongs and injuries suffered by the Negro
citizens of the United States, first on account of discriminatory
and proscriptive legislation: secondly, on account of the failure
to enforce the laws designed to uphold and protect their citizen
ship ; and thirdly, on account of the most palpable and outrageous
violation of the sacred rights of life, liberty and property, make
the "long train of abuses and usurpations" committed, according
to the Declaration of Independence, by the King of Great Britain
against his colonies in America appear as the gentle chastise
ments of a benificent ruler. Of all the complex elements of A-
merican citizenship, the Negro is the solitary victim of legal, so
cial, industrial, and political discrimination. He alone is singled
out by the law for disparagement which fact encourages and en
forces the multitude of civil and industrial discriminations and
injuries that tend to deprive him of the respectability due not only
to a citizen but to man. To the tax levy, to the obligation to bear
arms for the common defense as well as to all other mandates of
the o-overnment, he is equally amenable with other citizens; but

64 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
he is excepted from a full share of the benefits of citizenship. In>
all stations of society and in all departments of government, his
protests fall upon deaf or indifferent ears, and the very sufferings
and wrongs which he suffers are frequently made the text for
sermonizings on his shortcomings. If the homilies published
from the pulpits, in the press, and even sometimes from the high
er branches of the government are to be believed, the Negro is
the most unsaintly citizen of the republic, in spite of the fact that
lie stldom conmits "the robust crimes of the whiles " or has the
chance to defraud the government, to wreck financial institutions,
or rob widows and orphans.
The burden of these outrages lies heavily upon the hearts and
minds of the black men of America, yet the remedy, if they could
but realize it, lies largely within their power. Throughout the
republic, every man identified with the Negro race, though he
may not be personally or locally subjected directly to the humilia
tions and wrongs which oppress and degrade the great mass of
his kind, feels their bitter sting and resents them. In public as
semblies, upon the public highways and common carriers, in the
drawing room and around the secrecy of the fireside, the fact of
injustice is the one inevitable and irrepressible theme of conver
sation and reflection ; and the perennial and ever present question
in the minds of all, whether of low or high degree, is By what
means can the situation be altered? Men of different opinions
are endeavoring more or less honestly to answer the question, but
one of the surest and quickest means is at the command of the
three hundred thousand Negro voters of the north and west, who
have it in their power by an intelligent, united, and courageous
exercise of their high privilege and right to demand the same re
spect and consideration for their interest and well being as any
other class of men who register their wills at the ballot-box.
Thaddeus Stevens once said that control of republics depends
upon numbers and not upon the quality of the citizens. In the
last analysis this is true, but in all governments by parties the
smaller number is often more important than the larger. The
strength of the Negro vote n the North and West in times of par
ty crises consists not so much in the number of that vote as in the
use which is made of it. In thirty northern and western cities,
it can very effectively contribute to the improvement of existing
conditions. It is wonderfully powerful, if intelligently directed.
in the cities of Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland,
Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and New York.
The effectiveness of this vote depends more upon the use
which is made of it in local and state elections than in national
elections. The bonds which unite the interests of the local, state

THE POTENTIALITY OF THE NEGRO VOTE. 65
and national officials and politicians are very real and subtle—
the weakest point being always the local politician. His election
and success often turns upon less than a score of votes and con
sequently he is not inclined to disdain a single viter. His inter
ests are inseparably connected with the interests and ambitions
of the men who occupy luxurious berths in Congress and in the
national or state government. In all matters concerning the in
terests of the Negro, the local politician's position can be known
and his actions are open to close view. When his acts do not
accord or square with the interest of the colored voter, he can
be left to find other friends and supporters.
In the second place, the effectiveness and potentiality of the
Negro vote in the North and West depends upon an absolute and
courageous disregard of traditions. There are times when par
ty fealty may be both proper and commendable. There is to be
sure a great deal of hypocrisy and humbuggery in our political
parties, yet back of these they do stand for certain great and vi
tal principles. When the latter are put to the test our fealty may
properly be demanded, but under normal conditions, when stress
and strife of class and selfish interests, invidious discriminations
and outrageous injustice prevail, the only safe and prudent course
for the individual or class of individuals to pursue is absolute in
dependence of parties and uncompromising devotion to the
paramount interest. When we cannot act advantageously, we
may act punitively, so that the public servant may know that if
he ignores or hypocritically juggles with our interests, he will be
held to a strict accountability. If on the eve of an election the
party or the individual candidate attempts to cajole by a state
ment of principles or policy which is ignored after a successful
contest, reprisal should be swift and terrible as soon as the op
portunity permits.
In the third place, the Negro vote of the North and West
needs, if it does not at present lack, intelligent, honest, straight
forward, and unselfish leadership. Until it has this, its poten
tiality will be nil.
To impute dishonesty or insincerity to those who from time to
time act in the role of leaders of the Negro voters would be un-
pardonably reprehensible. Men generally act according to their
light and it is not an uncommon observation that the average
public man gets his light through the medium of a self-interested
reflector. Amid the competitions and conflicts, the struggle for
place and temporary power and emoluments which characterize
all phases of modern life and especially political life in the United
States, the calm, clear-eyed, far-seeing man is rare. Yet men of
unusual foresight, of clear perception of the fundamental and vi-

66 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
tal issues with the tact and ability to gain an advantage and an
uncompromising determination to hold what has been gained —
such is the type of men needed to make the Negro vote potent.
The leadership which boasts of its capacity to keep silent under
terrible wrongs is not calculated to carry the race far on the road
towards real and permanent betterment.
Redress of political wrongs is not the fruit of grim and sancti
monious silence. Whenever it has come, it has been forced by
long, continuous and implacable outcry, and Negro leadership
must follow the example of men in other lands and in other
times who fearlessly cried out against the wrongs which their
people suffered. In "The Making of England," John Richard
Green states that the Roman conquerors were able to completely
subjugate and enslave the Britons because they were able to make
terms with their leaders. The finest skill of the dominant element
in governments founded upon tyranny has always been employed
in making terms with the leaders of the oppressed.
Silence has its part in our fight and many times the cause has
been lost because of failure to observe it, but it is not silence in
respect to wrongs. Neither upon battlefields nor in the mad
clash of passions and ambitions that mark the control of states is
victory won or success achieved by a boisterous parade of the
plan of attack. In the subtle operation of American political
methods, silence is the sphinx that baffles the most astute and in
sinuating politician. The silent vote is a greater dread to the
party leaders than was the sword to Damocles.
The Negro ballot has almost lost its potency on account of the
unconcerned cocksureness of one political party that the other
side will not get the benefit of it. The party managers have no
concern about the certainty of the Negro vote and therefore
spend all of their effort in trying to satisfy the demands of the
other elements and are never able to know whether or not they
have succeeded until the vote is counted. They fear the silent
vote. It is thoughtful, analytic, decisive. It scans, records, and
registers every dodge, retreat, and juggle which the honorable
candidate or the party has been guilty of in matters which con
cern it.
In the exercise of the suffrage, the Negro voter has never been
indifferent to the best and noblest interests of the republic. For
more than forty years he has voted with the majority of his fel
low countrymen on all the great questions which have divided the
people. This he has done out of regard more for what men have
considered the welfare of the country than for what he has
¦deemed advantageous to himself. There is now a need of a change
He must now consider his well-being and safety identical with

THE POTENTIALITY OF THE NEGRO VOTE. QJ
the well-being and safety of the republic and must require all men
who seek his vote to consider it likewise.
To-day we are on the eve of a great national festival. The
peaceful succession of government is a boon not enjoyed by all
the peoples of the world. It is an event which deservedly ap
peals to the enthusiasm and civic pride of the nation. From all
corners of the state have come delegations of citizens represent
ing all classes, who come not only to honor and grace by their
presence the event but, I believe, to pay honest and manly tribute
to a man who is beloved and trusted by the whole American peo
ple. His battles against civic wrongs and in behalf of weaker
classes and his policy of "all men up and no men down," not only
make him the paragon of public officials, but a lovable and trusted
man. Among the throngs that shall honor him and in turn be
honored in the escort which will make the Avenue the most
splendid pageant which can adorn any modern government, none
will march more proudly than the brave and valiant regiment of
Hack men who, with him whom they honor, risked all and won
glory on the field of San Juan. Yet by the laws of the land and
by the policy of the government, their rights and their manhood
are not on a parity with those of other citizens who with less de
sert shall follow in his train. It is the possibility of such a state
of affairs, that the Negro vote of the North and West, yea the
great body of all good citizens must exercise itself to prevent.
JOHN L. LOVE.

68

OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NOi II.

MIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE NE
GRO POPULATION AS AFFECTING THE
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.
Population lies at the basis of all human problems. The first
command given by the Creator to the human race was to multi
ply and replenish the earth. The growth and expansion of the
Negro population in the United States must be the controlling
factor in the many complex problems to which his presence gives
rise. In order to gain adequate as well as accurate knowledge
on this subject, it is necessary to take a comprehensive view of its
progress since its transplantation in America. It is well known
that the first ship load of African slaves was landed at James
town, Va. in 1619. This original handful augmented by frehs im
portation and by its own rapid multiplication had swollen to three
quarters of a million when the first census was taken in 1790.
The following table will reveal the essential facts as to the expan
sion of this population.
NEGRO POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES-

DECENNIAL IN

PER CENT OF

PER CENT OF

YEAR.

NUMBER OF NEGROES

CREASE.

INCREASE.

TOTAL POPU
LATION.

1790

757.208 .

I9.27
1800
1,002 037
244,829
32 33
I8.l8
l8lO
1,377,808
375.771
37-50
1903
1820
1,771.656
393.848
28.50
18.39
1830
2,328,642
556,986
31-44
I8.IO
1840
2,873,648
545,006
23-44
16.84
1850
3,683.808
765,169
26.63
15-69
i860
4,441,830
803,022
14 13
I4-I3
1870
4,880,009
438.179
9.87
11.68
1880
6,580,793
1,700,784
34 85
13.12
1890
7,47o,o4o
889,247
13 51
H-93
1900
8,840,789
1.370.749
18 35
n-57
There are certain noticeable irregularities in this table, due in
part to known disturbing causes, and in part to imperfections in
census methods. It is thus seen that the Negro constitutes a rap
idly increasing element, though a slowly diminishing minority of
the total population. This relative diminution is due wholly to the
influx of white immigrants, more than 14,000,000 of whom have
come to our shores since i860. If the two races should continue
to grow at the same relative rate of increase as during the last
decade, according to the law of diminishing ratios, it would re
quire more than one hundred years to reduce the Negro to one-
MIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION. 69
tenth of the total population. So far as any practical calculation
is concerned, we may regard this as an irreducible minimum. So
long as the Negro constitutes one-tenth of the entire body of the
American people we may expect to have the race problem, both
in its general and in its political features.
From the foundation of our government the Negro has consti
tuted a serious political problem, mainly because of his unequal
geographical distribution. If agricultural and economic condi
tions had been uniform, and the slaves had been evenly scattered
over the whole area, the political phase of the race problem would
have been far different from what it is and has been throughout
our national life. The fact that the bulk of this race has been
congested in one section has constituted the cause of political
friction from the foundation of the Constitution till the present
hour. This population persists in remaining in that section
where it was most thickly planted by the institution of slavery.
The center of gravity is still moving slowly towards the gulf of
Mexico. Ninety-two per cent of the race is still found in the
sixteen states where slavery prevailed at the outbreak of the civil
war. The coastal states, from Maryland to Texas, contain three-
fourths of the total number.
While there has been a steady stream of Negro immigration
towards the North and West, yet it has not been sufficient to ma
terially affect the mass tendency. It would seem, on first view,
that the Negro who complains so bitterly against political restric
tions in the South would rush to the freer conditions of the North
as a gas from a denser to a rarer medium. But political and
civil freedom offered by the North are more than off-set by in
dustrial restrictions and by the inertia of a population devoid of
the pioneer spirit. The warm blooded, warm hearted child of
the tropics is chilled alike by the rigid climate and frigid social
¦atmosphere that prevail in the higher latitudes. In all New
England there are fewer Negroes than are to be found in a sin
gle county in Tennessee.

SECTION.

POPULATION.

INCREASE,
1890 TO 1900

RATE OF
INCREASE.

United States
GeorgiaMississippiAlabama
South Carolina
31 Northern States

8,840,789 1,034,813 907,630827,307782.321759,788

1.370,749 175,998
165,071148,818 93,387
181,876

18.35
20 5
22.2
21.9 13.6
31 5

JO OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
We learn from this table that there are four states in the union,
each of which contains a larger number of Negroes than all the 31
free states combined. While such free states show a much more
rapid decennial increase than any of the far south states, still the
total increment scarcely exceeds that of the single state of Geor
gia. These figures reveal no mad hegira to a fairer and better
land. The increase in the Northern states is due almost wholly
to immigration from the South. It is entirely probable that the
Negro population, left to itself, would not be a self sustaining
quantity in the higher latitudes. During the last decade there
was an absolute decline of the Negro population in Vermont,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada,
Oregon and California.
The political significance of this Northern movement is out of
all proportion to its absolute weight. It is only in the North that
the Negro vote has dynamic power. In several of the border
states, this vote is at present unhampered, but there is no guaran
tee of future security. In Mississippi there are 197,936 Negro
males of voting age, but this potential vote does not affect the
choice of a single official of that state. The black vote of that
commonwealth is as completely nullified as the last two amend
ments had never been appended to our national constitution. On
the other hand the 5,193 adult Negro males in Mich, are accounted
of considerable consequence in the political equation of that state.
In the Northern and Western states where men feel free to align
themselves according to conviction, the two parties are so nearly
even that the Negro vote constitutes the balance of power. Ow
ing to unusual political conditions, which cannot be counted on to
continue, the last three presidential elections were practically one
sided. The Republican party triumphed by a margin that far
exceeded the entire Negro Contingent. It is only in several of the
border states that this vote could in any way have affected the
fate of presidential electors. The Negro vote, however, has been
quite effective in state elections, and in the choice of congress
men. As the parties gravitate to normal conditions, the Negro
vote will again become the balance of power in the controlling
states of the North. At the beginning of every campaign each
party feels that it has a chance of success. At such times the
black vote looms up large and significant. In national affairs the
colored vote usually adheres to the party of Lincoln and Sumner.
As the margin between the two parties is a shifting and uncertain
quantity, the rapid increase of the Negro vote in the Northern
States becomes a matter of great political importance.

MIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION. Jl
NEGRO MALES OF VOTING AGE IN THE NORTHERN STATES.

 STATE.  j  1890.  |  1900. 
Pennsylvania 34,873 5i,668
New York 24,231 31,425
Illinois 18,200 29,762
Ohio 25922 31.235
Indiana I3)o79 18,186
New Jersey 14,564 21,474
Massachusetts 7 967 10,456
Rhode Island 2,261 2,765
Connecticut 3.497 4,576
Kansas 12,543 14,695
Michigan  5.193
These figures tell their own story when we consider the normal
relation between the two parties in these several states. It is also
interesting to note that the Negroes in the North are found very
largely in the cities. This makes this vote of considerable impor
tance in municipal elections. There is, however, a tendency on
the part of this vote to distribute itself between the two parties in
purely municipal and local matters, which to a great degree neu
tralizes its special significance.
NEGRO VOTERS IN NORTHERN CITIES, 1900.

CITY.

NEGROES OF VOTING AGE .

Philadelphia 20,095
New York 18,651
Chicago 12,424
Pittsburg 6,541
Indianapolis 5>2°°
Boston 4,44i
Cincinnati 4,997
Detroit i,732
The most effective use that the Negro in the North can make of
his political privilege is to uphold civic righteousness in municipal
affairs, and to support those men and measures pledged to sup
port the integrity of the constitution and its vital amendments.
KELLY MILLER.

~J2 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP.
acts 22:25-29. — And when they had tied him up with the
thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for
you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondcmncd? And
when the centurion heard it, he zcent to the chief captain and told
him, saying. What art thou about to do? for this man is a Roman.
And the chief captain came and said unto him. Tell me, art thou
a Roman?. Aud he said, Yea. And the chief captain answered,
With a great sum obtained I this citizenship. But Paul said, But
I am a Roman born. They then that zcere about to examine him
straightzcay departed from him : and the chief captain also was
afraid zAicn he kuczc that he was a Roman, and because he had
bound him.

In this passage attention is directed to four things : To the fact
that Paul was a Roman citizen ; to the fact that he was about to
be treated in a way that was forbidden by his citizenship ; to the
fact that he stood up for his rights as a Roman citizen ; and to
the fact that those who were about to infringe upon his rights
were restrained, were overawed.
I. Attention is directed to the fact that Paul was a Roman cit
izen. Citizenship was a possession that was very highly es
teemed, and that was obtained in several ways, — by birth, by pur
chase, as a reward for distinguished military services, and as a
favor. Paul's came to him by inheritance; his father before him
had been a Roman citizen : how it came to the father we do not
know. At one time the price paid for it was very great. The
chief captain, in the narrative of which our text is a part, tells us
that he obtained his with a great sum; and therefore he seemed
surprised to think that a man in Paul's circumstances should have
it. At first he seemed a little incredulous, but it was only for a
moment. The penalty for falsely claiming to be a Roman citi
zen was death ; this fact together with the whole bearing of the
apostle finally left no doubt in his mind: he accepted his state
ment. It was not only a great honor to be a Roman citizen, but it
carried with it many rights and privileges that were not enjoyed
by others. These rights were either private or public, — Jus
Quiritium. and Jus Civitatis. Among Private Rights, was the
Right of Liberty. This secured him against imprisonment with
out trial ; exemption from all degrading punishments, such as
scourging and crucifixion ; the right of appeal to the emperor
after sentence by an inferior magistrate or tribunal, in any part

THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP. 73
¦of the empire ; and also the right to he sent to Rome for trial be
fore the emperor, if charged with a capital offence.
Among Public Rights belonging to Roman citizens the follow
ing may be mentioned : ( i ) The right of being enrolled in the
censor's book, called, Jus Census. (2) The right of serving in
the army, called, Jus Militiae. At first only citizens of the em
pire were permitted to engage in military operations, to bear
arms and fight in its behalf. (3) The right to vote in the differ
ent assemblies of the people, called, Jus Suffragii. This has al
ways been and is to-day one of the most important functions of
citizenship, and one that should be highly prized and sacredly
guarded. (4) The right of bearing public offices in the state.
There were many other rights enjoyed by Roman citizens, but
I will not take the time to enumerate them : these are sufficient to
show us the value, the importance of Roman citizenship ; and this
citizenship the apostle Paul was invested with, with all the rights
and privileges which were involved in it. On one occasion he
said, "I am a citizen of no mean city," referring to Tarsus, which
was one of the free cities of Asia Minor ; but more than that, as
Tie tells us here, he was a citizen of the empire.
II. Attention is called to the fact that Paul was about to be
treated in a way that was forbidden by his citizenship; that was
contrary to Roman law. He had gone up to Jerusalem to attend
the feast of Pentecost. After meeting the brethren and rehears
ing to them the wonderful things which God had wrought
through his ministry among the Gentiles, they congratulated him
upon his success, but said to him: "Thou seest, brother, how
many thousands there are among the Jews of them that have
believed ; and they are all zealous for the law : and they have been
informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who
are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to cir
cumcise their children neither to walk after the customs. What
is it therefore? they will certainly hear that thou art come. Do
therefore this that we say to thee : We have four men that have
a vow on them ; these take, and purify thyself with them, and be
at charges for them, that they may shave their heads : and all
shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof they have
been informed concerning thee but that thou thyself walkest or
derly, keeping the law." It was in compliance with this request,
that Paul went into the temple to do as he was asked to do : and
while there was seen by certain Jews of Asia, i. e., the province
of Asia, who at once stirred up the multitude and laid hands on
"him, crying out, "Men of Israel, help : This is the man that teach-
eth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this
place; and moreover he brought Greeks also into the temple and

74 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
hath defiled this holy place." It was like touching a match to a
powder magazine. The people were aroused. Instantly there
was a response to the call ; and dragging the apostle out of the
temple they were in the act of beating him to death, when the
chief captain, learning of the tumult, rushed down with a squad
of soldiers and rescuing him, brought him into the castle. The
next day with a view of ascertaining what the trouble was, the
real ground of complaint against the apostle, the chief captain-
proposed to examine him by scourging, and issued orders to that
effect. In obedience to this order the apostle was stripped and ac
tually tied up. The process of examination proposed was very se
vere. The culprit was stripped and tied in a bending posture to a
pillar, or stretched on a frame, and the punishment was inflicted
with a scourge made of leathern thongs weighted with sharp
pieces of bone or lead, the object being to extort from the suf
ferer a confession of his guilt or the information desired.
If the chief captain had understood the Hebrew language, and
could have followed the address of the apostle which was deliv
ered on the steps of the palace, he would have understood what
the trouble was, without attempting to resort to this brutal meth
od of finding out ; but evidently he did not. Everything indica
ted, however, that it was something very serious, judging from
their treatment of him, and from the intense excitement which
his words produced upon them, and hence, he was all the more
anxious to find out. If the apostle was guilty of any offence a-
gainst the law, it was the duty of the chief captain to take cogni
zance of it, and to punish him accordingly, but if he was innocent,
if he had in no way transgressed the law, it was his duty to re
lease him. The law also provided how the guilt or innocence of
an accused person was to be ascertained ; and it was the duty of
the chief captain to have followed the course prescribed by the
law : but it is clear from the narrative that he had determined
upon another course : the prisoner is ordered to be scourged, in
stead of calling upon those who had assaulted him to make their
charges, and to substantiate them, and then giving the apostle an
opportunity of defending himself.
III. Attention is directed in the text to the fact, that the apos
tle stood up manfully for his rights. After they had tied him
up, as if waiting to see just how far they would go, and just as
the process of scourging was about to begin, he challenged their
right to proceed : he said to the centurion, who was standing by,
and who was there as the representative of the chief captain, to
see that the scourging was properly done, and to make note of
what he confessed, — he said to this man : "Is it lawful for you to
scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned ?" The law

THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP. 75
expressly forbade the scourging of Roman citizens ; it was an in
dignity to which no Roman citizen was to be subjected. This
was what was known as the Porcian law, and took its name from
Porcius, the Tribune through whose influence its adoption was
secured. And this is the law to which the apostle here appeals,
whose protection he invokes. Paul, as a Roman citizen, not only
knew what his rights were, but he stood up for his rights. He
insists here upon being treated, as he was entitled to be treated, as
a citizen of the empire. They are about to scourge him, contrary
to law, and he says to them, Stop ; you have no right to treat me
in this way, intimating and they evidently understood it, that if
they did not desist, they would hear from him ; he would bring the
matter to the attention of the emperor.
This is not the only place where Paul falls back upon his rights
as a Roman citizen. He did the same thing a little later on. He
was removed from Jerusalem to Caesarea, as you will remember,
where he remained a prisoner for two years. During that time
he was frequently placed on trial before various officials, — before
Felix, before Festus, before Agrippa. It was during one of
these hearings, that Festus the governor, in order to curry favor
with the Jews, intimated that he might be sent back to Jerusalem
to be tried : and doubtless this was his intention, having entered
into a secret arrangement with the enemies of the apostle, who
had resolved to kill him at the first opportunity. This they felt
that they would have a better chance of doing if they could only
induce the governor to return him to Jerusalem. The apostle, of
course, knew all this ; he knew how intensely they hated him, and
what their plans and purposes were, and he was determined not
to be entrapped in this way. The record is : "Paul said in his de
fence, 'Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the tem
ple, nor against Caesar have I sinned at all.' But Festus, desir
ing to gain favor with the Jews, answered Paul and said, 'Wilt
thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things be
fore me?' But Paul said, T am standing before Caesar's
judgment-seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I
done no wrong, as thou also very well knowest. If then I am a
wrong doer, and have committed anything worthy of death, I
refuse not to die ; but if none of these things is true whereof these
accuse me, no man can give me up to them. I appeal unto Cae
sar.' Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, an
swered, 'Thou hast appealed unto Caesar, unto Caesar thou shalt
go.' One of the great privileges of a Roman citizen was the right of
appeal ; the right of being heard directly by the emperor, of taking
his case out of the hands of all inferior judicatories, up to the

76 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
highest : and this is the right which the apostle here avails himself
of. It was the only thing that saved him from being turned over
by a corrupt official into the hands of his enemies ; and it forcibly
illustrates the importance of citizenship. Had he not been a Ro
man citizen clothed with the sacred right of appeal he would have
been basely sacrificed to the malice of his enemies ; or, though he
had been a Roman citizen, if he had cowardly surrendered his
right, if he had failed to exercise it, he would have equally per
ished ; but the apostle stood upon his right, and so succeeded in
thwarting the purposes of his enemies.
IV. Attention is directed in the text to the fact, that those who
were about to scourge this man, were restrained by the knowledge
of the fact that he was a Roman citizen. The moment they be
came aware of this fact ; at the mere mention of that sacred name,
citizen, everything came to a stand still; the uplifted hand, ready
to smite, is arrested, and we find the centurion running off, in
great excitement in search of the chief captain, and saying to
him, "What are you about? Do you know that this man is a Ro
man :" and we see the chief captain coming in great haste and say
ing to the apostle, "What? can it be possible! Are you really a
Roman?" "Yes," said the apostle, "I am; and my father before
me was." The chief captain is astonished ; yea, more, fear takes
hold of him ; he becomes suddenly alarmed.
There are two things in this incident that are worthy of note :
first, this indignity that was offered to the apostle was through
ignorance. It was not known that he was a Roman citizen. The
law was violated, but it was not purposely done. It was not the
intention of the chief captain to ignore the rights involved in cit
izenship ; for he himself was a Roman citizen, and was interested
in maintaining those rights. And, second, to trample upon the
rights of a Roman citizen was a very grave offense, a very serious
matter; and it became a serious matter because, back of this cit
izenship was the whole power of the empire. These rights were
¦carefully guarded, were rigidly enforced, so that the term, Roman
citizen, was everywhere respected. No one could infringe those
Tights with impunity: hence you will notice what is said here,
"The chief captain was afraid when he knew that he was a Ro
man because he had bound him." He recognized at once the
gravity of the offense. That was old pagan Rome; but under
its rule citizenship meant something ; it was a sacred thing ; back
of it stood the strong arm of the Government to give efficacy,
power to it. This man was afraid when he realized what he had
done ; and that is the feeling which outraged citizenship ought
everywhere to inspire. It .ought to mean something ; and there
ought to be power somewhere to enforce its meaning.

THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP. "JJ
But it is not of Roman citizenship that I desire to speak at this
time, but rather of American citizenship, and of that citizenship
as it pertains to ourselves. In the providence of God we are cit
izens of this great Republic. The Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution declares : "All persons born or naturalized in the U-
nited States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens
of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Un
der this provision of the Constitution we are all citizens ; and we
have earned the right to be citizens. We have lived here as long
as any other class in the Republic ; we have worked as hard as
any other class to develop the country ; and we have fought as
bravelv as anv other class in the defense of the Republic. If
length of residence, if unstinted toil, if great sacrifices of blood,
if the laying of one's self on the country's altar in the hour of per
il, of danger, give any claim to ciizenship, then our claim is be-
vond dispute ; for all these things are true of us.
We are citizens of this great Republic: and citizenship is a sa
cred thing : I hope we realize it. It is a thing to be prized ; to be
highly esteemed. It has come to us after 250 years of slavery,
of unrequited toil ; it has come to us after a sanguinary conflict,
in which billions of treasure and rivers of blood were poured out ;
it has come to us as a boon from the nation at a time when it had
reached its loftiest moral development ; when its moral sense was
quickened as it had never been before, and when it stood as it had
never stood before upon the great principles enunciated in the
Declaration of Independence, not as glittering generalities, but
as great realities : it was at that sublime period in our history,
when the national conscience was at work; when the men who
were in charge of affairs were men who stood for righteousness ;
when the great issues before the country were moral issues, issues
involving human rights— that the nation saw fit to abolish slavery
and to decree the citizenship of all men, black and white alike
When we think of what this citizenship has cost, m blood and
treasure- of the noble men through whose influence it was
brought about ; and of the fact that it came to us from the Na
tion when it was at its best, when it was living up to its highest
light, and to its noblest conceptions of right and duty— we ought
to prize it, to set a high value upon it. .
\nd we ought to show our appreciation of it : (1). by being
crood citizens ; by doing everything in our power to develop our
selves along right lines, intellectually, morally, spiritually, and
?lso materially : and to do everything in our power to promote the
General good; everything that will help to make for municipal,
state, and national righteousness. We are to remember that we
are part of a great whole, and that the whole will be affected by

78 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
our conduct, either for good or bad. If we live right, if we fear
God and keep his commandments, and train our children to do the
same, we ennoble our citizenship; we become a part of the great
conservative force of society, a positive blessing to the commun
ity, the state, the nation. It is especially important for us, in
view of the strong prejudice against us, the disposition to view us
with a critical eye, to hold up and magnify our short-comings,
that we be particularly concerned to be constantly manifesting,
evidencing our good citizenship by allying ourselves only with
the things that are true, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of
good report. We ought not to lose sight of the fact that the
strongest fight that is being made against us to-day is by those
who are doing most to discredit us, to array public sentiment a-
gainst us, — those who are parading our short-comings and imper
fections, who are giving the greatest publicity, the widest circula •
tion to them. There are persons in this country, who are
determined, and who never lose an opportunity to blacken our
good name. Dr. DuBois, in that splendid document of his, "Cre
do," said among other things, "I believe in the Devil and his an
gels, who wantonly work to narrow the opportunity of struggling
human beings, especially if they be black; who spit in the faces
of the fallen, strike them that cannot strike again, believe the worst
and work to prove it, hating the image which their Maker
stamped on a brother's soul." And this is one of the conditions
that confront us in this country, and that we must not lose sight
of. The fact that there is this determination on the part of our ene
mies to prove that we are utterly unworthy of this great boon of
citizenship, should have the effect of creating within us a counter
determination to show that we are worthy, — to do our level best
in every sphere of life. Now I do not mean by this to say that
we are not proving ourselves to be good citizens ; for we are : a
great many of us are ; but I have called attention to it because
I feel that it ought to be emphasized ; that we need to feel more
keenly and more widely than is felt, the meaning of this great
boon and the demand which it makes upon us. It is a challenge
to every man to live a straightforward, upright, worthy life.
And what is needed is, not only that we, who have had exception
al opportunities, should feel this way, but that the great mass of
our people should be educated to feel the same, to be animated by
the same spirit. And zve are to be their educators ; it is through
us that this spirit is to descend upon them, and take possession of
them. If this citizenship means anything, it means that we
should be concerned about everything which makes for law
for order, for good government, for individual, municipal, state,
and national purity and righteousness ; it means that each one of

THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP. 79
lis ought to be a living example of the best type of what a citizen
ought to be.
But this is not all : if we value our citizenship we will not only
seek to make the most of ourselves, to live on the highest plane
but we will also stand up manfully for our rights under that citi
zenship. I have no patience with those who preach civil and po
litical self-effacement. I never have believed in that pernicious
doctrine, and never will. When you have effaced a man, civilly
and politically, in a government like our own, what is he? What
does he amount to? Who cares for him? What rights has he
which any other class is bound to respect ? He is a mere nonenti
ty, entitled to no consideration, and with no refuge to which he
can fly in the hour of his need. To be civilly and politically ef
faced is to be civilly and politically dead; and to be civilly and
politically dead is to be at the mercy of any and every political
party or organization, and to be under the iron heel of the worst
elements in the community without any means of redress.
We are citizens of this Republic : and I want to direct attention
to this fact for a moment ; and I am glad of the opportunity ot
doing it at this time, when we are in the midst of celebrating the
inauguration of our President. I thank God for the man at the
White House ; for his courage ; for his high sense of righteous
ness ; for the many splendid things which he has said ; and for the
noble stand which he has taken on human rights ; on equality of
opportunity ; on the open door for every man in the Republic ir
respective of race or color. I rejoice in the fact that we have
such a President. I commend him heartily for what he has done.
I hope he will do more ; I hope there are yet larger things in store
for this race through him. But whether he does more or not ;
or whatever may be his future policy, or the future policy of the
leaders of either of the great political parties, or the rank and file
of those parties, it cannot, it will not affect in the least, our atti
tude in regard to our rights under the Constitution. We are cit
izens, clothed with citizenship rights ; and, thereTs no thought or
intention on our part of ever surrendering a single one of them.
Whatever others may think of it, or desire in regard to it, we do
not propose to retreat a single inch, to give up for one moment
the struggle. I say, we and in this, I believe I speak for those
who represent the sentiment that is taking more and more firmly
hold of the heart of this race. I belong to what may be ca'led
the radical wing of the race, on the race question: I do not be
lieve in compromises ; in surrendering, or acquiescing, even tem
porarily, in the deprivation of a single right, out of deference to
an unrighteous public sentiment. I believe with Lowell,

80 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
"They enslave their children's children,
Who make compromise with sin."
And this, I believe at heart, is the sentiment of the race ; at least,.
it is the sentiment of some of us. There is where we have
taken our stand and there is where we propose to stand;
to the end. What belongs to us as citizens we want; and
we are not going to be satisfied with anything less. We are in
this country, and we are here to stay. There is no prospect of
our ever leaving it. This is our home, as it has been the home of
our ancestors for generations, and will be the home of our chil
dren, and of our children's children, for all time. It is of the-
greatest importance to us, therefore, that our status in it, as it is
permanently fixed, should be, not that of a proscribed class, but
that of full citizenship with every right, civil and political, accord
ed to us that is accorded to other citizens of the Republic. This is
the thing that we are to insist upon ; this is the evil against which.
we are to guard.
What our enemies are seeking to effect is to make this a white
man's government ; to fix permanently our status in it, as one of
civil and political inferiority. The issue is sharply drawn ; and
it is for us to say whether we will be thus reduced, whether such
shall be our permanent status or not. One thing we may be as
sured of : such will surely be our fate unless we clearly compre
hend the issue, and set ourselves earnestly to work to counteract
the movement, by resisting in every legitimate way its consumma
tion, and by using our influence to create a counter public senti
ment. What are some of these citizenship rights for which we should
earnestly contend ?
(i) The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. In one section of this country, at least , and
the area is growing, and is fast including others, the life of a Ne
gro isn't worth as much as that of a dog. He may be shot down,
murdered, strung up to a tree, burnt to death, by any white ruf
fian, or band of lawbreakers and murderers with impunity. The
color of his skin gives any white man liberty to maltreat him, to
trample upon him. He has no rights which white men are bound
to respect. If he goes to law, there is no redress ; his appeals a-
vail nothing with judge and jury. That is a condition of things
that we ought not to rest satisfied under. As long as the life of
a black man is not just as sacred as that of a white man, in every
section of the Republic ; as long as wrongs perpetrated upon him
are treated with greater leniency than wrongs perpetrated upon
white men, his status is not the same as that of the white man ;
and as long as it is not the same an injustice is done him, which

THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP. 8l
he ought to resist; against which he ought to protest, and con
tinue to protest.
(2) Another citizenship right is that of receiving
equal accommodations on all common carriers and in all hos-
telries ; on railroads, steamboats, in hotels, restaurants, and in all
public places. When we travel, whatever we are able to pay for
we are entitled to, just as other citizens are. To-day this is
largely denied us. The hotels are not open to us ; the restaurants
are not open to us, even the little ten cent lunch counters, in
this the capital city of the nation, are not open to us : we are shut
out from all such places, and shut out because of the color of our
skin. If we attempt to travel, and turn our faces southward, we
must ride in Jim Crow cars ; we must be segregated, shut up in a
little compartment by ourselves. The privilege which we once
enjoyed without stint of taking a sleeper or Pullman car, even
that now is being taken from us. One state has even gone so far
as to make it unlawful to sell a ticket to a person of color on a
sleeper. That is the state of Georgia ; a State that has in it At
lanta University, and Clark University, and the Atlanta Baptist
College, and Spelman Seminary, and the Gammon Theological
Seminary, and Haines Institute, and many other schools of learn
ing ; a State that has within its borders some of the very best type
of Negroes in this country. The meaning of all this, don't let us
misunderstand : it is a part of the general policy, which is being
vigorously pushed by our enemies, to fix our status as one of in
feriority, by shutting us out from certain privileges. The whole
thing is wrong. Such invidious distinctions ought not to be
permitted in a republic. It is inconsistent with citizenship. Ev
erything ought to be open to all citizens alike: — railroad cars,
hotels, restaurants, steamboats, the schools and colleges of the
land : our public schools ought to be open to all the children alike.
There ought not be separate schools for the whites, and separate
schools for blacks : all the children of the Republic ought to be
educated together ; and sooner or later it is bound to come to that.
Some one has said, "It isn't so much the Jim Crow car, as it is the
Jim Crow Negro in the car." The fallacy of this statement, and
its attempted mitigation or justification of the Jim Crow car, lies
in the fact that the Jim Crow car has nothing whatever to do with
the Jim Crow Negro. It was not instituted for him, but for all
Negroes, whether Jim Crow or not : in fact, it was designed, par
ticularly, not for the Jim Crow Negro, but for the intelligent,
progressive, self-respecting Negro. If there are Jim Crow Ne
groes among us we owe them a duty ; we ought to seek to im
prove them, to lift them to higher levels ; but while we are do
ing this don't let us forget that there is a Jim Crow car, and

82 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
what it stands for. It stands for a hostile public sentiment ; it is
a part of a concerted plan which seeks to degrade us, to rob us of
our rights, to deprive us of privileges enjoyed by other citizens,
because of the color of our skin. If there were no Jim Crow Ne
groes, we would have the Jim Crow car all the same. We
should fight the Jim Crow cars, therefore, not only because of the
personal discomfort to which we are subjected in travelling, but
also because of the general system of which it is a part, — a sys
tem which seeks to establish a double citizenship in the Repub
lic, based upon race and color ; the one superior to the other., and
carrying with it privileges which are denied to the other.
(3) Another citizenship right is that of serving in the Army
and Navy ; the right to take up arms and to fight in behalf of the
country. This is our right, and we have exercised it, and are
still exercising it. We have fought in all the wars of the Repub
lic ; and are represented to-day in both Army and Navy. We
have made a glorious record for ourselves in this respect. There
is no better soldier in the Army of the Republic, than the black
soldier. This right has not been denied us, but let us, neverthe
less, keep our eyes on it. There are some things even here that
need to be looked into. It has been many years since we have
have had a representative in the great Naval or Military school of
the country ; and there have been some rumors about limiting the
aspirations of Negroes in the Army, of not permitting them
to advance beyond a certain point. If there is such a thought or
intention on the part of those in authority, it must be resisted.
The Negro must be free — in the Army, in the Navy, — in every
part of the Army and Navy,~as other citizens are free ; to advance
according to his merit. His color must not be allowed to operate
against him.
(4) Another citizen right is that of suffrage, the right of the
ballot ; the right to have part in the government ; to say who shall
make the laws and who shall execute them; and what the laws
shall be; the right to have an opinion, and to have that opinion
counted in determining what shall be and what shall not be. This
is one of the greatest of rights. In a republic citizenship means very
little without it. It is this which marks the difference between a
representative government, a government of the people, by the
people, and for the people, and a despotism, an absolute monarchy.
The glory of the age in which we live is the triumph of democra
cy; and what is the triumph of democracy but the right of the
people to say who shall rule ; and how is the will of the people ex
pressed ? Through the ballot ; at the polls. The ballot therefore
is the symbol of the sovereignty of the people. If we are to be
sovereign citizens of the Republic therefore, this right to vote

THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP. 83
must be preserved. The old despotic idea of government was,
that some people were born to rule, and that others were born to
be ruled ; and the idea that exists in the minds of some people in
this country, in democratic America, in face of the affirmation of
the Declaration of Independence, that all men are born free and
equal, is that in this country, there are some people who are born
to rule, and others who are born to be ruled ; and that the people
who are born to rule are the whites, and those who are born to be
ruled are the blacks : hence the effort that is being made to divest us
of this symbol of sovereignty, — the ballot. Let us not be deceived ;
let us give no heed to any teaching, never mind from what source
it may come, which seeks to minimize the importance of the bal
lot. What difference does it make whether we vote or not? I
have heard some weak-kneed, time-serving representatives of our
own race say ; and the thought has been caught up by the men in
the south who have been seeking to rob us of our rights, and by
those in the North who have been playing into their hands ; and
they have said, Yes, What difference does it make ? Are you not
just as well off without it? What difference does it make? It
makes all the difference in the world : the difference between a
sovereign citizen of the Republic, and one who has been stripped
of his sovereignty; between one who has a say in what is going
on, and one who has not ; between one who is ruled with his con
sent, and one who is ruled without it. If we are just as well off
without the ballot, how is it that the white man is not just as well
off without it? And if he is unwilling to give it up, why should
he ask us to give it up ? Why should we give it up ? If he needs
it in order to protect himself, much more do we, for we are weak
er than he is, and need all the more the power which comes from
the ballot.
(5) Another citizenship right is, that of holding office, the
right to be voted for, and of being appointed to positions of honor
and trust by the executive power. This is also a right that be
longs to us, and that we must contend for. It is one of our
rights that is now being especially contested in the South The Ne
gro must not be appointed to any office, is the demand of Southern
white sentiment. I am glad that the President has not yielded
wholly to that sentiment. The fight which he made in the Crum
case was a notable one, and clearly indicated that he was not wil
ling to shut that door > of opportunity to the Negro; that he was
not willing to takethe position thata man was to be debarred from
oublic office simply because of the color of his skin. That was
the right position for him to take, and the only one that was con
sistent with his oath of office, and his position as President of all
the people I hope that he will continue to act upon that pnnci-

84 OCCASIONAL PAPERS, NO. II.
pie ; and that he will do more than he has done. There is room
for improvement in this direction. A few more appointments
of colored men in the North, as well as in the South, would be a
good thing. It ought to be done. The right of colored men to
receive appointments ought to be clearly and distinctly emphasized
by multiplying those appointments. There is nothing like an ob
ject lesson in impressing the truth. I hope that the President
will give us many such object lessons during the next four years.
The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; the right
to receive equal accommodation on railroads, steamboats, in ho
tels, restaurants, and in all public places of amusement ; the right
to be represented in the Army and Navy ; the right to vote ; the
right to hold office : these are some of our citizenship rights, for
which we should earnestly contend. Sometimes, we are told, that
it would be better to say less about our rights, and more about our
duties. No one feels more the importance of emphasizing our
duties than I do, — I think I have done about as much of it as any
body, — but among the duties that I have always emphasized, and
still emphasize, is the duty of standing up squarely and uncom
promisingly for our rights. When we are contending for the
truth ; when we are resisting the encroachments of those who are
seeking to despoil us of our birth-right as citizens ; when we are
keeping up the agitation for equal civil and political privileges in
this country, are we not in the line of duty ? If not, where is the
line? Duties? Yes. Let us have our duties preached to us, —
line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there
a little ; but at the same time don't let us forget that we have also
rights under the Constitution, and to see to it that we stand up
for them ; that we resist to the very last ditch those who would
rob us of them. And in doing this, let us remember that we are
called to it by the stern voice of Duty, which is the voice of God ;
and that we need not apologize for our action.
And now in conclusion but a word more and then I am done.
The fight before us is a long one. You will not live, nor will I
live to see the triumph of the principles for which we are con
tending; let us not become discouraged however. Things look
pretty dark at times, but it isn't all dark. Now and then there
are gleams of light, which indicate the coming of a better day.
There are forces working for us, as well as against us ; and with
what we can do for ourselves, we need not despair.
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the
Lord;
He is tramping out the vintage where the grapes
of wrath are stored !
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible

THE NEGRO AND HIS CITIZENSHIP. 85
swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never
call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his
judgment seat;
O, be swift , my soul, to answer him ! be jubilant,
my feet!
While God is marching on."
Let us take courage ; let us gird up our loins ; let us stand at
our post ; let us be true to duty ; let us hold ourselves to the high
est ; let us have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of dark
ness ; let us be temperate, industrious, thrifty ; let us do with our
might what our hands find to do ; let us trust in God, and do the
right : and then, whether the struggle be long or short, there can
be no doubt as to the final issue. We shall come out victorious ;
we shall be accorded every right belonging to us under the Con
stitution, and every avenue of opportunity will be opened tous,
as to other citizens of the Republic. The future is largely in our
own hands. If we allow ourselves to be permanently despoiled
of our rights ; to be reduced to a position of civil and political in
feriority, the fault will be, not "in our stars," as Shakespeare has
expressed it, "but in ourselves." Others can help us ; others will
help us, as they have already done ; but the final outcome will de
pend mainly upon what we do for ourselves, and with ourselves.
If we are to grow in the elements that make for a strong, intelli
gent, virtuous manhood and womanhood, we have got to see to it,
to be concerned about it; to be more deeply concerned about it
than anybody else. And so, if the agitation for equality of rights
and opportunities in this country is to be kept up, and it ought to
be kept up, we are the ones to see to it. As long as there are
wrongs to be redressed, from which we are suffering, we ought
not to be silent, ought not for our sake as well as for the sake of
the nation at large. Whatever can be done to develop ourselves ;
whatever can be done to create a healthy and righteous public
sentiment in our behalf; whatever can be done to check the en
croachments of our enemies upon our rights, we must do it,
whether others do or not. May God help us all to realize this,
and to address ourselves earnestly to the work that lies before us.
"Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift."
FRANCIS J. GRIMKE.

THE AMERICAN NEGRO ACADEMY
ORGANIZED MARCH 5TH, 1897.
REV. ALEXANDER CRUMMELL, founder.

OBJECTS:
The Promotion of Literature, Science and Art,
The Culture of'a Form of Intellectual Taste', .
The. Fostering of Higher Education,
The Publication of Scholarly Works,
The Defense of the Negro Against Vicious Assaults.

PRESIDENT,
ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKE,
VICE-PRESIDENTS;
Kelly Miller, W. H. Crogman,
Rev. J. Albert Johnsoii, Rev. Matthew Anderson,
TREASURER,
REV. F. J. GRIMKE.
RECORDING SECRETARY,
G. N. Grisham, . ;
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY,
John W. Cromwell,
1439 Pierce Place, Washington, D. C.

executive committee.
kelly Filler, george m. lightfoot, c. c cook,
*walter b. hayson, john l. love.
REV. F. J. GRIMKE, ax-OFPicio, J. W.CROMWELL, ex-officio .
-^Deceased.

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